October News

Writing: We are working on stories about our life. We used a story arc to plan our stories by setting the stage, developing tension in the rising action, developing a climax, falling action and ending. We have a lot of work! Our stories are about whatever we want them to be about. Everyone has to write stories about their life.  We are also writing drafts and revising.  One day we all went out to the playground and we brought our writer's notebooks.  Mrs. Graves taught us how to use our senses and zoom in on things that are small in our lfie. Then we all spread out among the playground and observed things that we usually would not notice if we were playing out at recess.  After all of us got down things with our five senses, we went inside to share the things we noticed.  Mrs. Graves got a large piece of paper and we called out the things we wrote down. We used the five senses to write paragraphs that created mental images for the reader. Then the class revised their own writing by making a senses chart. We added some senses into our writing We will add these stories into a book that we will publish at the end of the year. 

We are observing what they see, hear, feel, smell, and think. 
We are recording those things in their notebooks.

An example sentence might be: "I stared down at the root

of the tree wondering how old it was. As I felt the cool

breeze in the air, I felt relaxed and calm."

Reading: In reading we are working on a paper plates about character analysis. We used the book My Rotten Red Headed Older Brother. Most of us chose the main characters, Trisha or Richard. For the names, we think of all the names that the character are called in the story. Ex: We used the name, "weasel with glasses" for Richard. For the physical description, we describe the character, such as, he has orange hair or has freckles. For traits, we chose words about the character's personality. For Richard we put "mean and determined." For actions, we found examples in the book that would prove the trait. For actions, we have to copy the exact words from the book. On part two (which is on the back of the paper plate) we did dialogue, impact, reactions, and comparisons. For dialogue, we wrote all the important things the character says in the book. For impact, we explained how the character effected other characters. Then we wrote our reactions, what we thought of the character personally. Finally, for comparisons, we compared our character to another book character. This project was really fun!

We used paper plates to "round out" the character.
Here we figured out the names, physical descriptions, traits,
and actions for the characters.



This is part two. We figured out dialogue, the impact one character
had another, comparisons to other characters in other books, and
wrote our reactions to that character. 

Computer Lab: 
We read a book called, The Memory String. We went on two different web sites and wrote about one of the characters in the book. We wrote words that described the character that we chose and different things that the character did in the book. One on of the wensites, we got to design how we thought the characters would look.

 

Book Buddies:  We have adorable little PK or 2nd graders for class partners. Mrs. Graves's homeroom class is teaching the 2nd graders to read. The 2nd graders like to bring their own books, and we read to them. We know that we are their role models so they are learning how to read longer books now!



I interviewed Daniela and Ashley, a fourth and second grader.
Ellie: What do you like most about book buddies?  
Ashley:  I like to read.
Ellie: Why do you like book buddies?  
Daniela: I like book buddies because you can read to other kids that like to read.
Ellie: What books do you like to read?
Daniela:  I like to read mystery and scary stories.



Blake is reading to  Fernando, his book buddy.
They both are really into the book!



Social Studies: We are making Texas maps to learn about the different regions in Texas. There are four different regions, which are the Central Plains, the Mountains and Basins Region, the High Plains, and the Coastal Plains. We are learning about the subregions, natural resources, and major cities in each place. We had to write summaries about each region.
Ellie interviewed Carolina about Texas maps.

Ellie: What is you favorite Region?
Carolina: My favorite region is the Central Plains region.
Ellie: Why is that your favorite?
Carolina: Because I have been there, and I really like going there.

This is a picture of the four regions of Texas.

Math: We are doing many things in math such as work stations.In the work stations we practice addition,  subtraction, multiplication, and division. Some of us have been working with Ms.Merrifield to make sure that our answers are right. Others work on the computer and visit math websites such as Khan Academy and Odyssey. The rest of us play math games. Also, we practice target math every day (well mostly). When we finish our work we get to do our projects.  Another way to say it is menu items. Lately we have been doing word problems as well as a few mathfact tests.   

Ellie interviewed Taylor:

Ellie: Do you like doing multiplication?  

Taylor: Yes, It's my favorite kind of math.

Ellie: Do you like two numbers times one number or one number times one number?  

Taylor: I like two numbers times one number.
Ellie: Why?
Taylor: It's just easy to me and Ms. Merrifield makes it really fun!

Science: We are working on moon phases, and we're learning about the sun too. We made a Moon Phase Chart shown in the picture below. Lately we have been watching videos on the earth and moon and learning a little bit about landforms. The main two moon phases are the full moon and new moon. The other phases are waxing and waning gibbous, waxing and waning crescent, the first quarter and last quarter. The first phase is the new moon. During the new moon phase you see nothing. The second phase is the waxing crescent. During this moon phase you see a small part of the moon. The third phase is the first quarter. During the first quarter you see only half of the moon. The fourth phase is the waxing gibbous. During the waxing gibbous a small part of the moon is not showing. The fifth phase is full moon. During the full moon you see the whole moon.The sixth phase is the waning gibbous. During this phase you can only see a small part of the moon gone. Next is the last quarter. During this phase you only see half of the moon. The last phase you see is the waning crescent. Then the whole moon phase starts over again.

We interviewed Adam about the moon phases.

Leslie: What's your favorite moon phase?

Adam: Waxing Crescent

Leslie: Why?

Adam: I feel like it's the Moon's natural phase.

Leslie: Are moon phases your favorite subject in science?

Adam: So far!

We made moon phases charts using construction paper and CD inserts!

Art: In art, we are learning about color patterns and techniques to mix colors together. We've been working on making action figures and tracing around them. After you trace it several times, it makes weird, but cool, shapes. Can you find the shapes in the pictures below?



Ms. Lehman likes to make sculptures. This
is a sculpture of a bird on a tree. 



This is Ellie's picture. She had the idea to
make the green stand out. 

This is Kyra's picture. She decided to use hot, cold, hot, cold

patterns to make the bodies stand out. 

 The blog team thanks their special guests: Ms. Lehman, Austin, Carolina, Adam, Taylor, Ashley, Ethan N., Blake T., and Daniela.

The blog team: Kyra, Ellie, Ashton, Rachel, Leslie, Hannah, Jake, Michael G., Alex and Aidan