Proud Mommy Moment

So sorry!  Just had to share!

How does oral history change through the generations?

Students have been noticing that the stories they have heard about the Revolutionary time period are often inaccurate, or that sometimes different sources report different information.  We discussed today how oral history played a part in this variety.

Four students went out into the hall, and the students left in the classroom were told a story.  This story was then shared with one of the students in the hall.  This was our first student story. 

The person who came in from the hall first, called the next person in and said:

And then the third...

And the last...

But the real story was this: 

The Plight of Roger Newman

Roger Newman and his wife lived a nightmare last evening. It all started after

leaving a dinner party, when the Newman’s Porche

a wet surface into a retaining wall near a country crossroads on Highway 246.

Brenda Newman, although seat-belted, hit her head and lost consciousness.

skidded onQuickly

evaluating his options, Roger decided to walk to a gas station about two miles back.

What else could he do? It was 1:15 A.M. and his wife needed immediate care!

Ten

minutes into his walk, Roger saw a pick-up truck with three suspicious-looking

youths. They stopped and assessed Newman’s predicament. Seeing the headlights

of an approaching car, the boys quickly took Newman’s wallet (containing $175),

credit cards, wedding ring, and watch, despite pleas from Newman about his injured

wife up the road a quarter mile.

As the truck sped off, the on-coming car, driven by one of Roger’s co-workers,

Angela Rogers, stopped, was assessed of the situation, and drove Roger to his car.

Delicately removing Brenda and placing her in the back seat, the two then pursued

the truck for several miles but were never able to catch up.

From the Angels of Mercy Hospital the next day, Newman reported the incident

to the police, who told him there was little hope of recovering the stolen items.

On the other hand, Brenda Newman regained consciousness by early morning and

enjoyed a hearty breakfast of oatmeal, toast, and cranberry juice.

 

What are the kids doing who aren't in Band? Writing!

Non band students are getting some extra writing practice these days, and two Vielleux Crew students need to be recognized for their superb essays.  Congratulations to Kylee and Odin for their fantastic writing pieces.  Please read below.  I just had to scan them in, because the handwriting effort helped the writing be meaningful!  I could tell as a reader how much they really loved being Vermonters. 

Mr. Eastman takes over while Mrs. Vielleux is at a PBIS Conference

Who said having a substitute is terrible?  It had to be someone who never had Mr. Eastman.  Ever since his first appearance this year, the kids have been begging for Mr. Eastman to return.  I will be attending the PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) Conference during March 15-17.

An equally exciting piece of news is that Vielleux Crew students will be going to Havover High school next week to participate in their challenge course.  Please remind your kids to wear comfortable athletic clothing and sneakers.

Please mark your calendars for the annual Field Day prep meeting.  The meeting will be held the Thursday before April vacation at 6:30 pm in the library.  If you can't make it to the meeting but would like to be included on the email list, please let me know.

Wasn't there a movie about this?

Ok, so THEATER GROUP has started, and I will say that the kids in the Vielleux Crew are pretty DRAMATIC this year, but who knew they could dance too...

HACTC student to Illustrate our Stories

Students from the Hartford Area Career and Technical Center will be illustration our stories using a 2D flash animation.   Here are some photos from the first meeting of author and illustrator.

And, just for fun, here's a great shot of Brennan using his book as evidence for a reading log!

Welcome the NEW YEAR!

Today we welcomed in the New Year by discussing what a resolution is.  Together we made academic, social and personal resolutions and tonight for homework students should be finishing up a first draft of these.  This draft might be "all she wrote" since we have a new and exciting collaboration coming up with the HACTC (Hartford Area Career and Technology Center).  For this collaboration to work, students are going to need to write narrative stories.

Also, you will notice that "STUDY MATH FACTS" appears on the homework sheet all week.  We are beginning what I consider to be the most important unit of fifth grade in mathematics.  It includes multiplication, division and fractions.  Parents will notice that division looks different to begin with...  Be watching for instructional videos to appear in the blog.  These videos will help you to understand why we teach division a little differently to start off.

Our new Social Studies Unit is "Colonial America."  Kids will be learning about life in the colonies, and will begin to research a particular topic of interest and present his or her findings to the class.

And last, but not least, we have a student teacher for the next 7 weeks.  Mrs. Barlow is her name and she comes to us from Brigham Young University.  Her husband is a medical student from Dartmouth.  After working with us, she will continue to work with DBS students in the first grade.

Friction, what is Friction?

Your child has probably been singing that tune at home the past week... is it driving you crazy yet?  The good news is that it's a fabulous way to remember some science comcepts.  If you haven't heard it yet, here it is. 



We have been studying Newton's Laws of motion, and specifically, the concepts of inertia and friction.  Here's an example of what we did in class...



Would the toy cars travel faster on wax paper, sandpaper, or bubble wrap?  Kids made hypotheses and tested out their theories. 

Next, we will be studying speed and how to calculate speed.

Thankful for Traditions?

Each Fall at this time of year, I ask the students to write about what they are thankful for.  This year, the students got to choose between this topic and another-- their favorite family traditions.  We've been having a great time discussing these traditions in class.

The past few weeks, we have been reading The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi.  This is one of my all-time favorite read alouds, and has the kids intrigued from the beginning.  After all, it's not every day that a 13 year old girl is accused of murder and found guilty...

We hope to finish the book before Thanksgiving break and will later use the book to explore how characters change throughout the course of books.  

November News

It's been quite a while since the last post, and lots has been going on in the classroom.  First, a couple of photos. We hosted the kindergarteners for Mix-It-Up Lunch.  Thanks to some tablecloths brought in by the Zietz family and the super volunteer skills of Michele Miller, we transformed our classroom into a cafe, complete with placemats made for each kindergartener.  We learned a couple of lessons during this lunch...

Kindergarteners take a long time to eat.

Some are quiet and some are not.

They need help zipping coats and tying shoes.

They sometimes need help opening packages of carrots.

Even though they looked scared, they had a good time.

Eating lunch in the classroom is much quieter than in the cafeteria.

They had lots of interesting answers to our questions.

 And, they weren't quite sure what to make of our purple money.

And in other news, the iPad has arrived in our classroom thanks to a workshop I attended.  So far a few students have gotten the chance to try it out.  We have used it to practice math facts, learn about explorers and play a few fun games.  

Also, I am please to report that our color behavior chart is a huge success.  Students who move to yellow are quick to be reflective about their actions and rarely move to orange.  This was our hope.  Next week we are instituting a reward for students who remain in green for five days.  We are giving every student in the fifth grade a charm bracelet (much like the bracelets Mrs. C gave out for walking club).  Whenever a student gets five green days--not necessarily consecutive-- they will receive a charm.  Our hope is that they will fill the bracelets quickly.