PIcture of the Week: September 14, 2015

STUDENTS:  This picture makes me think of many things.

1.  Harry Potter had to pull a dragon out of a bag in one of the books. 

He had to steal an egg from the dragon.

2.  We use to sing a song about bringing home a baby bumblee 

and how our mom would be proud of us.  However, the bee wound up stinging.

We are going to follow that line of thought. 

Study the picture.

PROMPT:

Imagine you have caught this dragon.

You want to keep it as a pet.

Why would you want a dragon as a pet?

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

Book Challenge #1

Dear Students,

     This past week I FINALLY finished Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo.  I have heard wonderful things about Ms. DiCamillo as an author, but have never read anything of hers.  That is one reason I am excited to be doing the 40 Book Challenge with you.  I really thought this book would be realistic fiction. However, I quickly found out I was mistaken.  It is for sure a fantasy book. (YAY for getting one of those crossed off my list!)  It is a fantasy because in the book the squirrel communicates with the humans around him and he writes poetry to express how he is feeling at the time.  I knew when he picked up the vacuum cleaner that this was not going to be realistic fiction at all!
     This is a different kind of book in that it mixes normal chapters with types of comic book features.  This is because Flora, the girl in the book who loves Ulysses the squirrel, reads a ton of comic books.  She relates everything that happens to Ulysses to the things that happen in her comic book world.  This makes it easy to read.  The chapters are pretty short, so if you can read a lot at one time or can just read a little bit.
     I think many of you would enjoy this book because it has a super hero and a villian (Flora's mother).  It would be a good transition for some of you from the graphic novels you are reading to a novel.  I hope many of you will choose to read this book at some point this year.

                                                         Love,
                                                            Your teacher who doesn't like to read fantasy books,
                                                                           
                                                                       Mrs. Becky
 

Mrs. Becky and Ms. Melodie with our first books in the 40 Book Challenge!                    

Marco Polo's Travels

Some of us have been reading about Marco Polo and his travels.

The kids have been extremely interested in the culture of that time as well as

the importance of Marco's travels.

STUDENTS: Study the map below of Marco's travels. 

Click on the link to see the sequence of Marco's travels.

Go through the steps on the website as you learn about where Marco traveled 

as well as what he discovered in his travels.

To interact with the map, click here.

Marco's travels to the far East introduced him to items such as gunpowder, paper, printing, paper money, silk and coal.  These items at the time were only known to places like China and India. Marco was one of the first people to bring these new items to Europe for people to see and use.

PROMPT:

Based on the items listed above that Marco was introduced to, 

do you think Marco Polo's travels were important to the world?

Why?  Give reasons and evidence to support your answer.

** Don't forget to type your name at the end of the your answer.

3 Branches of Government

As part of our social studies standards, 

we have to look at the Constitution of the United States.

With Constitution Day coming up, we are going to take some time to look at

this national document a little closer.

STUDENTS:  Our government is divided into 3 different branches.  These branches make sure all the jobs are covered so our country can operate smoothly. One of the jobs of the Constitution is to tell our nation's leaders what their job description is.  You are going to check out these websites to discover what each branch's job is.

As you search these websites, be sure to write down on your graphic organizer the jobs each branch has.

Branch #1 - Executive Branch

What's What in the Executive Branch?

What is the Executive Branch?

Branch #2 - Legislative Branch

What is the Legislative Branch?

Branch #3 - Judicial Branch

What is the Judicial Branch?

The 3 Branches of Government Review - Which branch does what?

3 Branches of Government Game

The 3 Branches of Government

Checks and Balances - How do these branches help each other?

Checks and Balances game

Checks and Balances

What was one WOW fact you learned about the branches of government?

Picture of the Week: September 8, 2015

STUDENTS:  Each week, I am going to place a photograph or picture on the blog.

I want you to use this time to look at the photograph,

and then answer the prompt underneath.

PROMPT:  

Finish this sentence.

Sometimes, I just like to lay on my lily pad 

and think about ___________.

Little House in the Big Woods Introduction

Today we begin to read

Little House in the Big Woods.

This is the first book of the Little House series.

The book is full of tales of 5 year old Laura as she lives in a cabin

in the woods of Wisconsin.

Today, the little house has been rebuilt so you can have a look at what it might have

been like for Laura, Mary, Baby Carrie, Ma and Pa to have lived there.

The woods is gone for the most part, but you can get an idea of what it might have been like.

Watch this video.

"Little House Wayside replica". Licensed under Public Domain via Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Little_House_Wayside_replica.jpg#/media/File:Little_House_Wayside_replica.jpg

"Caroline&CharlesIngalls". Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Caroline%26CharlesIngalls.jpg#/media/File:Caroline%26CharlesIngalls.jpg

Life back in those days was a hard life.

STUDENTS: Looking at the video and photographs, what do you see that might show life was hard back in Laura's days?

What do you think it might have been like to live back then?

Do you think you would have wanted to live with Laura and her family?

Ellis Island Through Pictures

Ellis Island

Those words hold many different thoughts and ideas to my students now.

They have dug DEEP into this special place from our nation's history, and have had wonderful

thoughts and questions from our study.

                 STUDENTS:      In keeping with our social studies theme

To seek...

To know...

And thereby grow...

Emma Lazarus was a poet who wrote these lines in a poem, The New Colossus, about The Statue of Liberty:

Give me your tired, your poor.

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

Please answer this prompt.

Do you believe these words from the poem describe most of the immigrants who came through Ellis Island?  

Please use evidence from the photographs as well as knowledge of what you know about Ellis Island in your answer.

Tuesday:

I want you to seek all you can through these pictures of immigrants at Ellis Island.

Wednesday
I want you to think about what you know about Ellis Island and all we have learned about it.
Work on organizing your paragraph for the prompt above.
Remember your paragraph needs to have:
1.  a creative introduction
2.  state your opinion
3. give reasons to support your opinion
4.  use evidence from the photographs
5.  restate your opinion

** You are more than welcome to have more than one reason as long as you back it up with evidence!

Thursday

Now, I want you to grow.

Emma Lazarus was a poet who wrote these lines in a poem, The New Colossus, about The Statue of Liberty:

Give me your tired, your poor.

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

Please answer this prompt.

Do you believe these words from the poem describe most of the immigrants who came through Ellis Island?  

Please use evidence from the photographs as well as knowledge of what you know about Ellis Island in your answer.