Besides scaring the jeepers out of most of us, the earthquake centered in Maine that happened a couple of nights ago caused quite a stir in the school. Mother nature may have been cooperating with us a little since fifth graders had JUST finished taking their Earth's Changing Surface Unit test. Because they were experts, we sent four budding scientists to the first grades to share their knowledge. Watch the highlights:
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Friday, September 21, 2012
Roundup!
This week was busy with writing, reading and learning. We started the week by learning about prime factor trees. We then used these trees to help us solve number puzzles. Students should be comfortable with the terms: prime, composite, factor, commutative property, order of operations. In science, we've begun to study Earth's Changing Surface, a unit that focuses on the rock cycle, layers of the earth and changes in Vermont's landscape through time. Once again, we have a song to go with our learning:
We explored the basics of plate movement using hard boiled eggs from my hens! We carefully cracked the "crust" and experimented with how to make the shells simulate different plate movements. Next week, we're going to learn more about Pangaea, plate tectonics, volcanoes, and earthquakes. In the meantime, be sure to have some family fun making the volcano models. Be as creative as you want! We'll be sure to videotape the eruptions!
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| Divergent, convergent or transform? |
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| Cutting the Earth is serious business |
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| Is this the elusive raw eggs? |
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| Look at my egg! |
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| Is this the raw one? |
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| Pushing and squeezing to see the "plate" movements |
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| More pushing and squeezing |
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| More scientific slicing of the "Earth" |
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Why I Love Google Apps
We've just introduced Google Apps to the fifth graders this year, but I am reminded why I love it so much each and every time I check my email. Google Apps for education connects students and teachers after the school bell has dismissed for the day, and it maintains that connection throughout the years. Today when I checked my inbox, I was surprised with a shared document from a former student. He shared some of his favorite quotes from a book that he is reading at HMMS, and what the quotes taught him.
I also received emails from students tonight asking questions about assignments and projects! Using their email really empowers kids to communicate.
Oh, and I shouldn't forget that one student emailed me a presentation all about elephants. He had done some research about them because Sunday is National Elephant Day!
I also received emails from students tonight asking questions about assignments and projects! Using their email really empowers kids to communicate.
Oh, and I shouldn't forget that one student emailed me a presentation all about elephants. He had done some research about them because Sunday is National Elephant Day!
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Not Your Average Finger Trick
Check this out! I really thought this was going to be your standard finger trick for multiplication... not so! This trick will help you figure out 6x6 all the way to 10x10. WOW!
Water Cycle Comics
Great job, Vielleux Crew kids! Your water cycle comics look fantastic. This was a performance assessment task to see how well the students learned the basics of the water cycle. Here are some samples!
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| I love how this one shows the importance of the sun in the evaporation process. |
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| Fantastic example! |
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| And clearly, this student understands the process is ongoing! |
Friday, September 14, 2012
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Water Cycle Rap
Can you learn the water cycle song? Disregard the creator's poor spelling in places. The content is great.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Yo! Yes?
Today we learned about two important writing traits: Voice and conventions. Following a VERY INTERACTIVE lesson, kids used their knowledge of voice and conventions to create their own "conversation" using a very limited list of words and punctuation. Listen very closely to their intonation to see if they punctuated their conversation properly!
Conversation script #1
Conversation #1
Conversation script #2
Conversation #2
Conversation script #1
Conversation script #2
Conversation #2
Monday, August 27, 2012
First Day of School Questions
Vielleux Crew kids and parents: What questions do you still have after the first day of school?
What questions do you have after our first day of school?... at AnswerGarden.ch.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Out of my Comfort Zone
My theme for the week (self-imposed, of course) has been "out of my comfort zone." In my oldish age, I have fallen victim to the ruts and routines that I expect. This week, I branched out. On a shopping trip, I bought some school clothes that were out of my ordinary. I read some things that I wouldn't have normally. Why not branch out of my comfort zone with my final project for the course I am taking this summer, Techsploration 2012?
My project is a two part and focuses on a Google App that I am the least comfortable with-- Google sites. I find Google sites to be the LEAST intuitive App available, and the most confusing one to work with. However, I had a purpose. As president of the local teacher's union, I needed a way to stay in communication with members across more than 5 buildings, as well as a way to archive documents like meeting minutes and updates. I thought perhaps a Google Site might be perfect. I hope that the site can be one that members of the HEA can use as a resource or communication tool, while providing some stable, generic information about the mission of the HEA.
At the same time, I am newly recruited to help run the Greater Hartford Youth Football Association's Minicanes Teams. Next year, my football-loving son will be playing for the team, and I'll be there anyways, so why not? What a good way to become involved in a great program with two good teacher friends, Tracy Thompson and Gigi Stone! So I volunteered my less than stellar Google Sites experience to create the Minicanes' first website. I hope that coaches, staff members and parents are able to use the site to get valuable information like procedures, schedules, directions to games and forms.
The first site I created was the Hartford Education Association site. Here's a screen shot of the site:
It took me a whole to figure out how to edit the pages and get things set up the way I wanted to. I did a lot of googling like "How to __________ in Google Sites." You fill in the blank. I am sure I googled it. I have some basic information about the officers for both the teachers and the support staff, as well as meeting dates and times, and I even added a place where I can update members of issues. For example, the most recent issue was the fact that of the 17 companies that employees send 403b retirement contributions to, ZERO of them were compliant with the IRS regulations.
About a week later, I started on the minicanes site. For this website, we needed our own url-- something the parents and community would be able to remember. So I resisted the urge to call my computer nerd brother, and purchased the desired url from a website (yikes). Then I figured out how to add that url to the google site. This whole process was tricky to me, and hopefully I didn't make a mistake. All I know is that when you type www.minicanes.com into your browser, you get to the right site. Check it out!
I will know if I am successful with these sites if people use them. I haven't explored it too much, but I hope that google tracks data about the sites like blogger does. If parents and staff find the sites to be useful then I have done what I set out to do. While, I can't share the url for the HEA site until I share the site with returning members, please check out the Minicanes site, and provide any feedback you have!
My project is a two part and focuses on a Google App that I am the least comfortable with-- Google sites. I find Google sites to be the LEAST intuitive App available, and the most confusing one to work with. However, I had a purpose. As president of the local teacher's union, I needed a way to stay in communication with members across more than 5 buildings, as well as a way to archive documents like meeting minutes and updates. I thought perhaps a Google Site might be perfect. I hope that the site can be one that members of the HEA can use as a resource or communication tool, while providing some stable, generic information about the mission of the HEA.
At the same time, I am newly recruited to help run the Greater Hartford Youth Football Association's Minicanes Teams. Next year, my football-loving son will be playing for the team, and I'll be there anyways, so why not? What a good way to become involved in a great program with two good teacher friends, Tracy Thompson and Gigi Stone! So I volunteered my less than stellar Google Sites experience to create the Minicanes' first website. I hope that coaches, staff members and parents are able to use the site to get valuable information like procedures, schedules, directions to games and forms.
The first site I created was the Hartford Education Association site. Here's a screen shot of the site:
It took me a whole to figure out how to edit the pages and get things set up the way I wanted to. I did a lot of googling like "How to __________ in Google Sites." You fill in the blank. I am sure I googled it. I have some basic information about the officers for both the teachers and the support staff, as well as meeting dates and times, and I even added a place where I can update members of issues. For example, the most recent issue was the fact that of the 17 companies that employees send 403b retirement contributions to, ZERO of them were compliant with the IRS regulations.
About a week later, I started on the minicanes site. For this website, we needed our own url-- something the parents and community would be able to remember. So I resisted the urge to call my computer nerd brother, and purchased the desired url from a website (yikes). Then I figured out how to add that url to the google site. This whole process was tricky to me, and hopefully I didn't make a mistake. All I know is that when you type www.minicanes.com into your browser, you get to the right site. Check it out!
I will know if I am successful with these sites if people use them. I haven't explored it too much, but I hope that google tracks data about the sites like blogger does. If parents and staff find the sites to be useful then I have done what I set out to do. While, I can't share the url for the HEA site until I share the site with returning members, please check out the Minicanes site, and provide any feedback you have!
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