Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Explorers! Explorers! Song
lyrics:
EXPLORERS! EXPLORERS! By Miss Coffey’s Class, January 2010
CHORUS:
Explorers explorers, brave and strong
They sailed the sea for oh, so long
Curious and determined to find new land
They sailed and sailed (PAUSE) 'til they hit the sand!
Columbus sailed for the Indies
Sailed across the sea
Looking for gold and riches
Spices, silk and tea
Verrazano was from Italy
I'm telling you boys and girls
He followed Columbus' trail
For a piece of the New World
CHORUS
Cartier sailed the St. Lawrence
Then gave Canada it's name
He made three trips and after that
The world was never the same
Champlain settled in Quebec
The Algonkians were his friends
He named Lake Champlain
After himself in the end
CHORUS
BRIDGE:
But the Native Americans were already settled
When explorers arrived
The explorers claimed the land they lived on
This ruined many lives
And sometimes the explorers' missions
Failed and went all wrong
But these were still special men
And for them we sing this song
CHORUS
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
A Night at the Museum: Explorer Style Script!
Here are the lines to our play, in case your paper copy isn't right with you!
PLEASE STUDY UNTIL MEMORIZATION!!!!
A Night at the Museum: Explorer Style
(All the characters are onstage in “dioramas”, frozen pictures, except the 2 Museum people. The Vikings are all in one group, the explorers from France are in one group, the explorers who are from Spain are in one group, The Italians are in one group, the Chinese are in one group, the First Nations people are in one group, but spread out. Each group has a big sign of their country and the room is divided into Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The map maker is frozen making a map, and Henry Hudson is with him, frozen looking at a map.)
(One of the MPs is looking around with a flashlight. Gets tapped, keeps weaving around and getting tapped. This is from what team 3 came up with! Then, turns and sees Hudson yell)
Hudson: Land Ho!
(Museum Person faints. Other Museum Person comes in and wakes them up)
Kachina/Museum Person 1: This is a very cool museum exhibit! How did you ever think of it?
Askook/Museum Person 2: Thanks! I got this idea because I used love studying explorers!
KACHINA/MP1:It’s really cool how you put everyone together by where they were from in the world.
ASKOOK/M2: Yeah, I don’t know. So many of the explorers from Europe were FROM one country but EXPLORED for another, like Columbus, who was Italian but sailed for Spain.
KACHINA/M1: Yeah, and Henry Hudson over there. How did an Englishman end up working for the Dutch? Anyways, I also felt weird about having the First People all together. I mean, so many different groups of people already lived in the Americas when the Europeans came. You know, like us, the Seneca and Cayuga.
ASKOOK/M2: Okay, so let’s move them into groups about WHY they sailed. Let’s put “Find a path to China and the Indies” over there, and “To create a settlement” over there. (Goes over and starts separating the French)
KACHINA/M1: Ready for my joke? Why did the explorer cross the ocean?
ASKOOK/M2: I don’t know.
KACHINA/M1: To get to the other side!! HAHAHAHAhahah (A couple of statues move)
ASKOOK/M2: You are so unbelievably not funny. Can we get to work here? (A couple of statues move)
KACHINA/M1: Sure. What do we do with Zheng He? I mean, he WAS looking for new trade routes, but he was coming FROM China. (Gets tapped on the shoulder) Stop it!
ASKOOK/M2: I didn’t do anything! Here, move those Vikings into “Create a settlement”. (Gets tapped) Now YOU stop.
KACHINA/M1: Stop what?
(They catch the statues moving and freak. All the statues come to life)
Henry the Navigator: (pointing) Look Christopher! Now there won’t be a mutiny! We won’t be forced to turn back!
Columbus: Land! I have discovered LAND!
Henry the Navigator: Well, technically I am the navigator……
Columbus: This must be the INDIES!!! I have found it! King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella will be so happy. They will get rich!
Ferd and Isabella: YAY!!!
Columbus: And since I am in India, all of you people must be INDIANS!
Bahamain Native: Indian? What are you talking about? I’m Lucayan.
Columbus: No, you must be Indians, because this is the INDIES, and I have found it!!!
Martin: Actually, if you look at my map, you can see that India is in a completely different part of the world. You, Mr. Columbus, are in the Bahamas.
Bahamian: Plus, you SO did not discover me. I was already HERE.
Columbus: (Fingers in his ears) Lalala I am not listening to you fourteen hundred and ninety two……
Champlain: (Asking Henry the Navigator) Is he always like this?
Martin: Seriously, Columbus? You are in the Americas. But you didn’t even land on a continent. I didn’t name anything after you, and my map is the first one to even show the Americas.
All but Native People, Martin, Zheng He and Tobey: It’s the Indies!
Martin: No, it isn’t! Come look at my map! (Everyone comes over to look.)
John Cabot: Look, Amerigo! (pretending to wipe away a tear of joy) I’m so proud! There’s our discovery!
John Cabot and Amerigo Vespucci: We found the Americas!
John Cabot: First in North America!
Amerigo Vespucci: First in South America!
John and Amerigo: 1497, baby!
Zheng He and his captain: Hello, people! 1421, yup we beat you.
Vikings: Excuse us? No. WE found the Americas.
Thorvald: 500 years before any of you! Vikings went first to Iceland, then Greenland, then Vinland, I mean, North America!
Thorfin: You can even still visit where our town was and see stuff.
Vikings: Vikings RULE.
First Nations people: We found the Americas, because we were already HERE.
Cheveo/Floridian Native: How do you think you guys were able to get anywhere? Once you got off your boats, you only survived and were able to make maps because we helped you.
Martin: Speaking of maps, come see mine! It’s 1507 and North and South America don’t really exist in the minds of people who don’t already live there. There IS no America yet for the rest of us, until I put it on the map and named them after YOU, Amerigo!
Everyone else: Okay. Let’s look. (They all come over. There is a loud sound from JAN! All kids go “Whoa” and twirl safely! It’s the vortex! Let’s write the next lines, about what happened)
Bailey the Navigator: Hey! Where’s Martin’s map?
Ferdinand: It appears to have disappeared!
Freydis: What in the world happened?!?
Zheng He: That was a vortex! Because the first map to show the Americas was stolen, we’ve all now been whooshed to the past and every map has NO North America or South America on it!
Zheng He’s Captain: That means the Americas No Longer Exist!!!!!
All: GASP!
Ferdinand: How does he know it was a vortex?
Zheng He’s Captain: He just knows.
Cartier and Bailey his navigator and Champlain: Without North America on the map, we won’t be able to pick up where you guys left off and explore inland!
Cartier and Bailey the Navigator: How can we name Canada if there’s no North America?
Champlain: How can I name a lake after myself, Lake Champlain? How can I help found some Canadian cities with my friends the Hochelaga and the Haudensaunee if there’s no North America?
Henry Hudson: How can I keep trying to find a way to Asia by water across the top of Canada if there’s no North America?
Dom Agaya(Hochelaga Person): Um, Henry Hudson? There IS no water way to Asia across Canada.
Hudson: Oh. Maybe that’s why they kicked me off my own boat. Well, Can I have a River named after me then?
All but Hudson: Not if there’s no North America!
Hudson: Right.
Cartier and Bailey the Navigator: But if the Americas have been wiped off the map, there’s no Caroline Elementary School, either!!!!
All (looking at audience): Whoooaaaa.
(Next part has some people finding clues, and each clue connects to a different group.)
Verrazano: Let’s look for clues!
(First: A Spanish gold piece is found as a clue, so everyone suspects the Spanish and we learn some stuff, including about Ponce de Leon. Write ideas/lines here:
Sam Champlain: Look! It’s a Spanish coin! The Spanish explorers must have done this!
Thorvald: That makes sense. They might have stolen the map to rename North America “New Spain” or something like that, and say it belonged to them!
Cheveo (Native Floridian) Person: It’s true that many Spanish conquistadors took over the people they met.
Henry the Navigator: It’s also true that King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella like gold and riches. A LOT.
King Ferdinand: Of course we do! We ARE the King and Queen, you know.
Queen Isabella: Being richer than everybody else is part of the job description.
Verrazano: And maybe you didn’t want anyone else finding out how to get to the Bahamas!
Cartier: And it wasn’t us French. It’s true we were also trying to find a quicker way to Asia, but we at least built the settlements WITH the people who lived there and didn’t just send all the riches home to a King and Queen.
King and Queen: Well we didn’t steal the map.
Leif: Who else would have a Spanish coin?
Columbus: I MIGHT have some coins, but so did Ponce de Leon, who sailed with me on my voyages!
All: GASP!
Ponce: Why me? You are always against me. I moved to an island, named it Puerto Rico, and became governor (eye rolls from everyone)! And then YOU (points to Columbus, King and Queen) kicked me out and replaced me with HIS son! (points to Columbus)
All: GASP!
Ponce: I was forced to drown my sorrows by discovering and naming Florida. So there.
Cheveo (Native Floridian): He’s annoying, but he is telling the truth. He was ADDING things to maps by naming them, like Florida and Puerto Rico—he wouldn’t have stolen the map and made North America disappear!
Second: Ponce de Leon finds another clue: jewelry with round symbols on them. We learn about Vikings. Write ideas here:
Ponce de Leon: But here’s another clue—some Viking jewels and Viking designs on this buckle! The Vikings must have STOLEN the Spanish coins AND the map, then accidentally dropped some when they were hiding the map!
Leif: What!? You are accusing US, the original discoverers of North America of stealing a map?
DomAgaya: Ahem!
Leif: I mean, What?!? You are accusing US, the first people to find the people already living here of stealing the map?
Thorfin: Ooooo, that burns my brisket!
Henry the Navigator: Maybe you were jealous you landed in the North and not in the Bahamas. The weather is so much better where we landed!
Freydis: Oh, brother.
Thorvald: Why would we steal a map? We were SO much earlier than you guys!
Thorfin: By like 500 years. Ahhh, the good life……
Amerigo: But you didn’t tell any of us, did you? We had to figure it out for ourselves.
Leif: You didn’t ask.
Zheng He: They didn’t ask me, either.
Zheng He’s Captain: I bet they never thought to ask us CHINESE the quickest way to China!
Amerigo: I see your point. Well, SOMEONE must have stolen some things from your settlement or from one of your ships….
Dom Agaya: AND stolen something from one of the Spanish ships….
Kachina and Askook (They look at each other): Oh, no. We have a serious thief on our hands!
Thorfin: Someone who knows about ships and their traveling routes.
John Cabot: Someone who wouldn’t be afraid to go up against a strong country.
Vikings: We are great warriors!
King and Queen: And we imprison people!
Amerigo: I have a sneaking suspicion I know who it is. Someone who would want a map, but wouldn’t want anyone else to have it! Are there any more clues?
(Third: They all look. Verrazano discovers a piece of paper with markings on it—Martin figures out it’s a treasure map!!!!!! Write lines here)
Verrazano: Here’s another clue! I found a piece of paper with some strange markings on it.
Martin: Wait, I know what that is! It’s a treasure map! That can only mean one thing---it’s the Dread Pirate!!!!
All: Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!! Not the Dread Pirate!!!
(Ms. Coffey comes out as the Dread Pirate)
Dread Pirate: Arrgghhh!! Yep, I stole the map and everything else, and you’ll never find it!
Thorvald: But why?
Verrazano: Yeah, why did you steal it?
Dread Pirate: Because! Like most great pirates of the Exploration Age, I hide my treasure on the small islands off the coast of the Americas! If there’s NO Map and NO AMERICAS, no one but me will ever find the treasure! BWAHAHAHA!
All but Zheng He and his Captain : Oh no! What will we do?
Zheng He’s Captain: We know!
All but Zheng He: What?
Zheng He: Their museum has been using modern technology to preserve old books and maps.
Ferdinand: How come he always knows these things?
Freydis: Let me see. (Laptop appears—holly hands it to her from offstage) Wow!! You scanned Martin’s map into the computer last week!
All: So there’s an online copy EVERYONE can see!
Dread Pirate: (smacks head) Doh! (sighs) I guess I’ll give the map back.
All: YAY!
Thorfin: Hey! It’s almost morning!
Bahamian: We should get back to our spots, before we become statues again.
Freydis: It was nice meeting you all—let’s have a party tomorrow night!
All: Yay! (They go back to their spots) Good night, good night! (All freeze)
Kachina and Askook: Just another night on the job. Good night! (Wave and exit)
SONG
PLEASE STUDY UNTIL MEMORIZATION!!!!
A Night at the Museum: Explorer Style
(All the characters are onstage in “dioramas”, frozen pictures, except the 2 Museum people. The Vikings are all in one group, the explorers from France are in one group, the explorers who are from Spain are in one group, The Italians are in one group, the Chinese are in one group, the First Nations people are in one group, but spread out. Each group has a big sign of their country and the room is divided into Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The map maker is frozen making a map, and Henry Hudson is with him, frozen looking at a map.)
(One of the MPs is looking around with a flashlight. Gets tapped, keeps weaving around and getting tapped. This is from what team 3 came up with! Then, turns and sees Hudson yell)
Hudson: Land Ho!
(Museum Person faints. Other Museum Person comes in and wakes them up)
Kachina/Museum Person 1: This is a very cool museum exhibit! How did you ever think of it?
Askook/Museum Person 2: Thanks! I got this idea because I used love studying explorers!
KACHINA/MP1:It’s really cool how you put everyone together by where they were from in the world.
ASKOOK/M2: Yeah, I don’t know. So many of the explorers from Europe were FROM one country but EXPLORED for another, like Columbus, who was Italian but sailed for Spain.
KACHINA/M1: Yeah, and Henry Hudson over there. How did an Englishman end up working for the Dutch? Anyways, I also felt weird about having the First People all together. I mean, so many different groups of people already lived in the Americas when the Europeans came. You know, like us, the Seneca and Cayuga.
ASKOOK/M2: Okay, so let’s move them into groups about WHY they sailed. Let’s put “Find a path to China and the Indies” over there, and “To create a settlement” over there. (Goes over and starts separating the French)
KACHINA/M1: Ready for my joke? Why did the explorer cross the ocean?
ASKOOK/M2: I don’t know.
KACHINA/M1: To get to the other side!! HAHAHAHAhahah (A couple of statues move)
ASKOOK/M2: You are so unbelievably not funny. Can we get to work here? (A couple of statues move)
KACHINA/M1: Sure. What do we do with Zheng He? I mean, he WAS looking for new trade routes, but he was coming FROM China. (Gets tapped on the shoulder) Stop it!
ASKOOK/M2: I didn’t do anything! Here, move those Vikings into “Create a settlement”. (Gets tapped) Now YOU stop.
KACHINA/M1: Stop what?
(They catch the statues moving and freak. All the statues come to life)
Henry the Navigator: (pointing) Look Christopher! Now there won’t be a mutiny! We won’t be forced to turn back!
Columbus: Land! I have discovered LAND!
Henry the Navigator: Well, technically I am the navigator……
Columbus: This must be the INDIES!!! I have found it! King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella will be so happy. They will get rich!
Ferd and Isabella: YAY!!!
Columbus: And since I am in India, all of you people must be INDIANS!
Bahamain Native: Indian? What are you talking about? I’m Lucayan.
Columbus: No, you must be Indians, because this is the INDIES, and I have found it!!!
Martin: Actually, if you look at my map, you can see that India is in a completely different part of the world. You, Mr. Columbus, are in the Bahamas.
Bahamian: Plus, you SO did not discover me. I was already HERE.
Columbus: (Fingers in his ears) Lalala I am not listening to you fourteen hundred and ninety two……
Champlain: (Asking Henry the Navigator) Is he always like this?
Martin: Seriously, Columbus? You are in the Americas. But you didn’t even land on a continent. I didn’t name anything after you, and my map is the first one to even show the Americas.
All but Native People, Martin, Zheng He and Tobey: It’s the Indies!
Martin: No, it isn’t! Come look at my map! (Everyone comes over to look.)
John Cabot: Look, Amerigo! (pretending to wipe away a tear of joy) I’m so proud! There’s our discovery!
John Cabot and Amerigo Vespucci: We found the Americas!
John Cabot: First in North America!
Amerigo Vespucci: First in South America!
John and Amerigo: 1497, baby!
Zheng He and his captain: Hello, people! 1421, yup we beat you.
Vikings: Excuse us? No. WE found the Americas.
Thorvald: 500 years before any of you! Vikings went first to Iceland, then Greenland, then Vinland, I mean, North America!
Thorfin: You can even still visit where our town was and see stuff.
Vikings: Vikings RULE.
First Nations people: We found the Americas, because we were already HERE.
Cheveo/Floridian Native: How do you think you guys were able to get anywhere? Once you got off your boats, you only survived and were able to make maps because we helped you.
Martin: Speaking of maps, come see mine! It’s 1507 and North and South America don’t really exist in the minds of people who don’t already live there. There IS no America yet for the rest of us, until I put it on the map and named them after YOU, Amerigo!
Everyone else: Okay. Let’s look. (They all come over. There is a loud sound from JAN! All kids go “Whoa” and twirl safely! It’s the vortex! Let’s write the next lines, about what happened)
Bailey the Navigator: Hey! Where’s Martin’s map?
Ferdinand: It appears to have disappeared!
Freydis: What in the world happened?!?
Zheng He: That was a vortex! Because the first map to show the Americas was stolen, we’ve all now been whooshed to the past and every map has NO North America or South America on it!
Zheng He’s Captain: That means the Americas No Longer Exist!!!!!
All: GASP!
Ferdinand: How does he know it was a vortex?
Zheng He’s Captain: He just knows.
Cartier and Bailey his navigator and Champlain: Without North America on the map, we won’t be able to pick up where you guys left off and explore inland!
Cartier and Bailey the Navigator: How can we name Canada if there’s no North America?
Champlain: How can I name a lake after myself, Lake Champlain? How can I help found some Canadian cities with my friends the Hochelaga and the Haudensaunee if there’s no North America?
Henry Hudson: How can I keep trying to find a way to Asia by water across the top of Canada if there’s no North America?
Dom Agaya(Hochelaga Person): Um, Henry Hudson? There IS no water way to Asia across Canada.
Hudson: Oh. Maybe that’s why they kicked me off my own boat. Well, Can I have a River named after me then?
All but Hudson: Not if there’s no North America!
Hudson: Right.
Cartier and Bailey the Navigator: But if the Americas have been wiped off the map, there’s no Caroline Elementary School, either!!!!
All (looking at audience): Whoooaaaa.
(Next part has some people finding clues, and each clue connects to a different group.)
Verrazano: Let’s look for clues!
(First: A Spanish gold piece is found as a clue, so everyone suspects the Spanish and we learn some stuff, including about Ponce de Leon. Write ideas/lines here:
Sam Champlain: Look! It’s a Spanish coin! The Spanish explorers must have done this!
Thorvald: That makes sense. They might have stolen the map to rename North America “New Spain” or something like that, and say it belonged to them!
Cheveo (Native Floridian) Person: It’s true that many Spanish conquistadors took over the people they met.
Henry the Navigator: It’s also true that King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella like gold and riches. A LOT.
King Ferdinand: Of course we do! We ARE the King and Queen, you know.
Queen Isabella: Being richer than everybody else is part of the job description.
Verrazano: And maybe you didn’t want anyone else finding out how to get to the Bahamas!
Cartier: And it wasn’t us French. It’s true we were also trying to find a quicker way to Asia, but we at least built the settlements WITH the people who lived there and didn’t just send all the riches home to a King and Queen.
King and Queen: Well we didn’t steal the map.
Leif: Who else would have a Spanish coin?
Columbus: I MIGHT have some coins, but so did Ponce de Leon, who sailed with me on my voyages!
All: GASP!
Ponce: Why me? You are always against me. I moved to an island, named it Puerto Rico, and became governor (eye rolls from everyone)! And then YOU (points to Columbus, King and Queen) kicked me out and replaced me with HIS son! (points to Columbus)
All: GASP!
Ponce: I was forced to drown my sorrows by discovering and naming Florida. So there.
Cheveo (Native Floridian): He’s annoying, but he is telling the truth. He was ADDING things to maps by naming them, like Florida and Puerto Rico—he wouldn’t have stolen the map and made North America disappear!
Second: Ponce de Leon finds another clue: jewelry with round symbols on them. We learn about Vikings. Write ideas here:
Ponce de Leon: But here’s another clue—some Viking jewels and Viking designs on this buckle! The Vikings must have STOLEN the Spanish coins AND the map, then accidentally dropped some when they were hiding the map!
Leif: What!? You are accusing US, the original discoverers of North America of stealing a map?
DomAgaya: Ahem!
Leif: I mean, What?!? You are accusing US, the first people to find the people already living here of stealing the map?
Thorfin: Ooooo, that burns my brisket!
Henry the Navigator: Maybe you were jealous you landed in the North and not in the Bahamas. The weather is so much better where we landed!
Freydis: Oh, brother.
Thorvald: Why would we steal a map? We were SO much earlier than you guys!
Thorfin: By like 500 years. Ahhh, the good life……
Amerigo: But you didn’t tell any of us, did you? We had to figure it out for ourselves.
Leif: You didn’t ask.
Zheng He: They didn’t ask me, either.
Zheng He’s Captain: I bet they never thought to ask us CHINESE the quickest way to China!
Amerigo: I see your point. Well, SOMEONE must have stolen some things from your settlement or from one of your ships….
Dom Agaya: AND stolen something from one of the Spanish ships….
Kachina and Askook (They look at each other): Oh, no. We have a serious thief on our hands!
Thorfin: Someone who knows about ships and their traveling routes.
John Cabot: Someone who wouldn’t be afraid to go up against a strong country.
Vikings: We are great warriors!
King and Queen: And we imprison people!
Amerigo: I have a sneaking suspicion I know who it is. Someone who would want a map, but wouldn’t want anyone else to have it! Are there any more clues?
(Third: They all look. Verrazano discovers a piece of paper with markings on it—Martin figures out it’s a treasure map!!!!!! Write lines here)
Verrazano: Here’s another clue! I found a piece of paper with some strange markings on it.
Martin: Wait, I know what that is! It’s a treasure map! That can only mean one thing---it’s the Dread Pirate!!!!
All: Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!! Not the Dread Pirate!!!
(Ms. Coffey comes out as the Dread Pirate)
Dread Pirate: Arrgghhh!! Yep, I stole the map and everything else, and you’ll never find it!
Thorvald: But why?
Verrazano: Yeah, why did you steal it?
Dread Pirate: Because! Like most great pirates of the Exploration Age, I hide my treasure on the small islands off the coast of the Americas! If there’s NO Map and NO AMERICAS, no one but me will ever find the treasure! BWAHAHAHA!
All but Zheng He and his Captain : Oh no! What will we do?
Zheng He’s Captain: We know!
All but Zheng He: What?
Zheng He: Their museum has been using modern technology to preserve old books and maps.
Ferdinand: How come he always knows these things?
Freydis: Let me see. (Laptop appears—holly hands it to her from offstage) Wow!! You scanned Martin’s map into the computer last week!
All: So there’s an online copy EVERYONE can see!
Dread Pirate: (smacks head) Doh! (sighs) I guess I’ll give the map back.
All: YAY!
Thorfin: Hey! It’s almost morning!
Bahamian: We should get back to our spots, before we become statues again.
Freydis: It was nice meeting you all—let’s have a party tomorrow night!
All: Yay! (They go back to their spots) Good night, good night! (All freeze)
Kachina and Askook: Just another night on the job. Good night! (Wave and exit)
SONG
Monday, January 25, 2010
Play Date
Miss Coffey's class and Hangar Theatre Present:
"A Night at the Museum: Explorer Style"
Wednesday, February 3rd, 1:00PM
on Caroline's Stage in the Cafeteria
Hope you can make it! All families of cast invited!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Exploring!
Today we did an AWESOME activity in the gym... Holly and I set up a large "land mass" and pairs navigated each other through blindfolded to check out this new land they discovered. Then we switched the land mass all around and the other blindfolded explorer was navigated through. When we went back to our room we drew maps of what we thought our land had looked like. Students brought up some awesome observations, like how they thought they were somewhere else when they took their blindfolds off, how it was difficult to remember all of the land they explored, how it was confusing and if they got off course they didn't know where they were any more, and how they thought they had traveled a lot longer than they actually had.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Beauty and the Beast
Today we were privileged to see two wonderful storytellers who call themselves "Beauty and the Beast." With expression, volume changes, and some animation, the two told several stories ranging from Greek mythology to an Icelandic story about "noodleheads" to "Why and How" stories, which are exactly what our Native American creation stories were (ex: How the Bear Lost its Tail).
Meanwhile, we're still working hard on our Hangar Theatre play. We got our parts today! Tomorrow both Holly and Jan will be in with us at some point of the day as we continue to edit our song and play script! We'll also take a trip to the computer lab to research our characters to see if we can find some clues about what they might say, do, and look like.
Meanwhile, we're still working hard on our Hangar Theatre play. We got our parts today! Tomorrow both Holly and Jan will be in with us at some point of the day as we continue to edit our song and play script! We'll also take a trip to the computer lab to research our characters to see if we can find some clues about what they might say, do, and look like.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
DIVISION!!!
Oooh we're getting into the hard stuff! Our math program suggests teaching long division differently than when adults today learned it in school. We call it the "Partial Quotients" division algorithm. Luckily I found a video of a teacheer explaining it step by step... just, they call it the "Forgiving Method of Division."
Monday, January 18, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Today we take a day off to remember and celebrate the peaceful efforts of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Here is a Wordle of his "I Have A Dream" speech. It sizes words according to how often they are used. Click on the picture to see it up close.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Making Songs
Today we met our musician from Hangar Theatre, Jan. We discussed what topics musicians sing about, what different musical genres there are, and Jan posed the question, "Is there anything you can't write a song about?" One person suggested a water bottle, and another suggested a light bulb, and in that moment on the spot Jan sang us two songs about a water bottle and a light bulb! He's a talented musician. Since we'll be writing a song to go into our play about Exploration, today we practiced writing a song for fun. The topic chosen was... a stolen frying pan! Check out what he have so far:
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Feeding Trout Experiment!
Today Bill Foster and a helper, Colleen, came in and led us in an experiment with our ever-growing hungry little trout! So far we've been feeding our trout three times a day this dry, crumbly, non-living fish food. But does that happen in nature? Do we go to streams and lakes and dump in enough fish food for all of the things living in it? NO! Our trout don't have parents to help teach them what to do in nature, so we took several trout out of the aquarium, put them in beakers, and dumped in some living Daphnia. The tiny Daphnia swam around and we wanted to see if our trout would have the instinct (a natural or intuitive way of acting or thinking) to eat the Daphnia or not. Ask your child what happened!
Cool picture of Daphnia in the shadows:
Watch what happened:
Cool picture of Daphnia in the shadows:
Watch what happened:
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Winterfest!
Today we had Winterfest this afternoon. From 12:15-1:15 we went outside and had a lot of fun in the nice weather! There were many outdoor activities, but I was stationed at the snowshoeing station so I only got a few pictures from that!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Magnet Detectors
Today in science we hid magnets in boxes and then switched boxes with different groups to see if we could be "magnet detectors" using only these two tools: iron fillings and a compass. We learned that a compass needle is a magnet and one end points to Earth's magnetic north pole and the other end points to Earth's magnetic south pole. Likewise, when we placed the compass on the box, the needle pointed to wherever there was a magnet! In addition, we discovered that since the iron fillings are, well, iron, they would be attracted to the magnet. So by dragging the plate with iron fillings over the box, the fillings started to get pulled toward wherever the magnet was hidden inside! Here's a picture of what they looked like right on top of a magnet!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Hangar Theatre Project!
In the next month we will be working with an artist and a musician from Hangar Theatre to learn how to act and sing about a 4th grade topic. We will be studying exploration through the means of theatrics! Today our artist, Holly, came in and did some acting exercises with us. Here is a video of us "acting" out our names!
Friday, January 8, 2010
NO Email
Dear Parents and Guardians,
The district changed our email over break and in the transition have not given me a new mailbox. The last email I had received was the Wednesday before break. If you have sent me anything after December 23rd, unfortunately, I did not get it. I’m sorry for the inconvenience. Until further notice, you should contact me by leaving me a message at the school (607) 539-7155.
Thanks,
Miss Coffey
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Magnetism
Today we studied magnets by testing which items "stick" and don't "stick". We hypothesized that magnets "stick" to metal, but then we found that it didn't stick to all metal. In the end, we found that magnets only attract iron and steel (because steel is made with iron).
Monday, January 4, 2010
Welcoming
Today we welcomed a new team member to our class, Andy! Here is us having a question and answer session with him to help us get to know him and to also help him get to know us and our routines!
Saturday, January 2, 2010
A New Year!
Hello class and families!
I hope you've been enjoying your break! I know I have! I've been visiting with family and friends, redoing my kitchen, snowshoeing with Koda, and relaxing!!! Right now I'm in school checking on the fish, watering the plants, and getting ready for 2010! The fish are doing great and we didn't lose ANY over break! They're a lot bigger, too!
Please be prepared to welcome a new student, Andy, to our class! I'm excited to get to know him and help him get acquainted to our class and routines.
See you in a couple days!
Miss Coffey
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