Book Challenge #4

Dear Students,

     I am making some headway on my challenge! The past few weeks I went back to my "happy reading place" and read a historical fiction book called The Girl in the Torch. WOW! This one was great!  It is about a girl named Sarah who lives in Europe.  Her parents are planning to come to America when tragedy happens.  Finally, she and her mother get to America only to have her mother be stopped at Ellis Island.  It looks like Sarah will have to go back to her homeland when she decides to jump off the ship and swim to Liberty Island.  For weeks, she hides out on the island getting food out of trash cans and actually sleeping in Lady Liberty's crown.  I thought the story would end there, but it doesn't!  Many times it seems like Sarah's dream of becoming an American citizen is going to not come true.  Even at the last chapter I was beginning to wonder!  If you enjoyed our study of Ellis Island, you will enjoy this one.  Lots of adventure, suspense and history all rolled into one.  Unfortunately, I cannot count it as a mystery!  Oh well! I know many of you will enjoy reading this one!

           

Your history loving teacher,

Mrs. Becky

Picture of the Week: October 26, 2015

As a teacher,

as YOUR teacher,

I want you to dream BIG dreams.

I want you to reach for the stars and the moon.

I want you to know I am always going to be there cheering for you.

STUDENTS: What are your dreams?  If you were climbing this ladder to follow your dreams, where would you want it to take you?

Pictures of the Week: October 20, 2015

Our picture of the week has quadrupled!

I am giving you 4 pictures of the week this week.

We are learning how to write opinions and we are going to apply that to our 

picture of the week this week.

Look at the following photographs that show each of the 4 seasons.

Fall

Spring

Summer

Winter

STUDENTS: Which season of the year is your favorite?

I want you to give reasons and evidence to support your opinion. 

I expect you to write more than one sentence.

In my comments though, I will just be focusing on your opinion since that is what we are 

focusing on this week in English.

** Be sure to write your name at the end of your comment.

Book Challenge #2 and #3

Dear Students,

          For the past forever (at least it seems like it), I have been reading The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail by Richard Peck.  I have had this book for a few years now and had never read it.  You all know how much I love (ha! ha!) fantasy books - especially animal fantasy books, so I thought I would read this one in order to say I had read it as well as to mark book #2 off of my 40 book challenge list! Even though I did not read this book quickly, I did enjoy it.  I loved the main character in the book very much.  He is not named until the very end of the book for a good reason, so I will call him Nameless as he refers to himself throughout the book.  Nameless believes he comes from nothing.  He is not the best at school.  He has no family except a dear old aunt who takes care of him.  He fights for everything, but especially trying to find out who he is.  He does not give up in the book.  We see him take his struggle of not knowing who he is all the way to the Queen of England herself which apparently mice do not show (or talk) themselves to humans.  It is against their rules.  I think quite a few of you would enjoy this book very much.  You can learn many lessons from Nameless, but the one I want you to learn as you read it is the idea that everybody is somebody.  You are important.  You can make a difference.  You matter.

          I was on a roll over Fall Break and finished another book!  This one I devoured!  You are probably thinking to yourself that it is a book that has to do with history, and, if you are, then you are correct!  The other book I read was Who Was Susan B. Anthony?.  I read this book because we are going to be studying her in social studies this week.  It dawned on me that I did not know much about this woman who is a big part of our history. How was I going to teach you about her if I did not know about her myself?  I enjoyed parts of the book because it mentioned a lot of people I have studied about in history - Frederick Douglas, Sojourner Truth, and others.  I enjoyed seeing how and why Ms. Anthony thought it was important that women have the right to vote.  The one thing that bothered me was how the women went about getting their ideas into place.  At times they were not very nice to others about it.  They spoke ugly words.  They were mean to others.  I found myself thinking that I didn't blame the men for giving the women the right to vote the way they acted!  I do appreciate what Ms. Anthony and her group did to help get women the right to vote so our voice could be heard in the American government.  I can't wait to see what you think about her, her life and her goal! I would love for you to read this book just so you can get a better understanding of what she did to shape our history.

          Well, there you go! 3 down and 37 more to go! See I can do math!  I have missed all of you this week and am ready to be back with our little family!

                   Love from your teacher who is almost done with her fantasy books,

                                                                    Mrs. Becky

Keep Sharing - That's It

If you are an educator or an instructional leader...you should read what George Couros has to say on a regular basis.  In his blog post, Why YOUR Sharing Matters, Couros states that educators can have an impact just by sharing.  

By sharing, we can help others continue to grow and learn.

You are able to view the power point used for this professional development here.

East Chester Elementary Educators have been called to Keep Sharing.  We have a desire to continue to grow and learn.  
We know that effectively communicating to someone else forces us to pay attention and learn more (Clive Thompson).  

We are going to Keep Sharing.

The comments posted below are the ways that East Chester models reading or math, creates assessing or advancing questions, sets goals for reading or math - how we...well...

It's not the subjects that matter, it's all about teaching the child.  

The comments below are from educators who make sure the learners are keeping up, who aren't afraid to change the lesson plan, who set high goals, and who love teaching the child.  

We hope you find something that challenges you to continue to grow and learn. What we have to share matters.

Leaders Changing the World

George Washington was the only president in United States history to have been unanimously elected.  

He was elected to the presidency twice.  

His presidency founded the United States Navy.  

He established the nation’s official money.  

George Washington created the Supreme Court.

Tutankhamun was only eight or nine when he became ruler of Egypt. Tutankhamun died when he was only 18.  

King Tut is well known because his tomb had everything in it when it was found.  

Along with a golden burial mask, King Tut's sandals were also found in the tomb. 

These had paintings of his enemies on the soles - so everywhere the king went, he trampled all over his foes!

STUDENTS: After reading the information about George Washington and King Tut. Use what you already know, in addition to these facts, to write an opinion paragraph answering the following question.

Which leader had the greatest impact on history, George Washington or King Tut?

Introduce the topic.

State your opinion.

Give reasons and evidence to back your opinion.

Restate your opinion.

                ** Remember to put your name at the bottom of the comment.