With summer just around the corner, it is a good time to start gathering up your books for summer reading. Click on the Books tab to see bookmarks for our Book Lists. These lists are a good starting point to explore new books. What books are you planning on reading this summer?
Add a comment by signing in using d3classroom@gmail.com and our classroom password. If you want, you can sign your comment using your classroom screen name.
Now that it is the end of the school year, we are wrapping up Social Studies with a research report on about California history topics. Our reports are modeled in the question and answer format like If You Lived at the Time of the Great San Francisco Earthquake by Ellen Levine.
Here is a snapshot of our questions:
How long did it take for the miners to get to the Gold Rush?
Who founded the San Diego Mission?
What was it like in World War II?
Why is Sacramento the capital city of California?
Who tried to change civil rights?
Why is Charlotte Parkhurst such an important figure in California history?
When did Cabrillo set sail for the coast of California?
Why did the government send Japanese Americans to Internment Camps?
Why was gold so important back in the day?
Why was Biddy Mason a slave?
Why did the government spend money on weapons after World War II?
Why were the Ohlone called the Ohlone?
What is the Modoc War all about?
Why are deserts so dry?
How did Walt Disney feel about his family?
Why is Elvis Presley so important?
What is California's largest city?
How did civilians survive underground during World War II?
Who found the first piece of gold?
Why didn't Levi Strauss look for gold himself?
When were railroads first invented?
Why did the Japanese plant bombs in Hawaii in World War II?
How old was Marilyn Monroe when her real father died?
How did the first man find gold in California?
How did people mined gold during the Gold Rush?
Today our class continued our study of Maya Christina Gonzalez's work by illustrating Francisco X. Alarcon's poem, "Words are Birds." Maya Christina Gonzalez illustrated this poem in the book Laughing Tomatoes. If you would like to see a slide show of our illustrations, visit our "Pictures" link.
If you'd like to read the poem in it's entirety, click on the attachment below.
Today we had the Jump Rope for Heart assembly. Students who register online at www.americanheart.org/jump and raise at least $50 will earn a chance in a Warriors jersey raffle.
You can also learn more by watching the embedded "It Takes Heart to Be A Hero" video on the side bar.
Remember, Jump Rope for Heart is important because some kids have special hearts and need your help.
Yesterday, Maya Christina Gonzalez, an illustrator and author, came to visit our school. She taught us three important tips:
1) Everyone is an artist.
2) There is no right or wrong way to do art.
3) Art is ALWAYS an act of courage.
After her presentation, our class emailed her including artistic graphics in the email.
Today Maya Christina Gonzalez repsonded to our email and said, "Never have I seen such a creative looking email. So sparkly and fun!"
Our thoughts:
"The Movie said that Yellow Fin Tuna is starting to get extinct."
"The Galapagos Marine Iguana is endangered. It looks like a regular iguana, but it can swim."
"The whale shark has broom teeth, baleen, that scoop up krill, a little type of shrimp."
"There is a large type of shrimp that fights back and protects its' home if someone tries to attack it. I know that that type of shrimp has something that looks like suction cups that makes the opponent drowsy."
"Some fish clean other fish by eating away stuff that die in the other fish's mouth."
"When baby turtles hatch, only one in a thousand will make it to the water to grow up to be an adult.The reason for this is because a lot of birds swoop up the baby turtles and eat them. But if they were born at night, they have a better chance of growing up to be adult sea turtles. The mama turtle lays the eggs in sand at night and some eggs hatch in the morning. During night time, the birds are sleeping so the turtles have a better chance."
"The blanket octopus looks like a blanket so it is probably very good at disguising itself when other predators come around. It probably is one of the safest creatures out there. Another idea is that the octopus could actually stand out. That may make it less safe."
"I remember that there is a sea slug whose back looks like a Spanish dancer."
"The stone fish looks like a rock. It disguises itself and when a fish comes by it just gobbles it up. The stone fish can't swim very fast."
* Eat a healthy breakfast.
* Dont Rush.
* Don't stress. Relax.
* Prepare by paying attention.
* Sleep early the night before.
* Remember the test isn't as important as you are.
Especially for Language Arts:
* Read all the options before choosing one answer.
* Try to think of a definition for a word when you are looking for a word with a similar meaning.
* Read the questions so that you know what you are looking for in the passages.
SMART BOARD FUN:
You don't draw at the same time when someone else is already writing.
You can draw on it.
You can use your finger and touch it to make marks.
The pens don't really have ink when you try to write.
You can drag things with your fingers, but they have to be clean and dry.
You can't click on two different things at the same time.
If you do click at the same time, the mark will go right in the middle.
The SMART board sometimes acts dumb.
When you use the SMART board you can use it as a computer.
You can go to Google.
MATH:
I learned what a mean is. You add up all the numbers and divide them by how many numbers there are.
We did the Topic 16 Test.
I learned about the median, mode, and range.
The median is when you put the numbers in order from least to greatest and then you find the number in the middle.
The mode is the number that is most common of all the numbers.
The range is the greatest and the least numbers subtracted from each other = the difference between the greatest and least numbers.
SCIENCE:
I learned how to make an electromagnet.
I learned how to make a light bulb light up with a battery and wire.
I learned what a series and a parralel circuit are.
A series circuit is like Christmas lights when the wires connect the bulb together. When one bulb goes out, the whole set goes out.
A parralel circuit is when there are two batteries or two light bulbs and you connect the wires at the right spot. (Teacher note: We'll work on this one a little more.)
READING/ WRITING/ LANGUAGE ARTS:
In Response to Literature, you have to explain the details of the book.
I learned how to find a theme in a book.
Before you publish, you have to have pre-writing and a draft and edit your writing.
I learned that Charlotte in Riding Freedom, tried to turn into a boy because she was running away.
