Friday, November 20, 2015

Thanksgiving is Nearly Here!


If our tree looks like this, it must be nearly Thanksgiving! 

Photo by Mrs. Yollis 

That means it is time to bake pumpkin bread! 
Thank you, volunteers!



Baking Pumpkin Bread on PhotoPeach


Besides baking bread,  we were able to help out our Journeys buddies. They put on a fabulous Thanksgiving show!
We are thankful to have such wonderful friends! 




The speeches, songs, and poems were so well done! Great job, Ms. Cuevas and buddies!





After a week of conferences, announcements, and fun activities, everyone was exhausted, including Beverly! 


Photo by Mrs. Yollis 


Enjoy your Thanksgiving break! 

What are you doing for Thanksgiving?

Do you have a special meal planned?

What are you grateful for? 


Thursday, November 19, 2015

Terse Verse :: Twitter Time!

We recently completed a unit on folktales.  
What are folk tales? 


folk tale
noun
plural noun: folktales
  1. a story originating in popular culture, typically passed on by word of mouth.



One type of folk tale is the fairy tale. 
Fairy tales have some basic elements:

  • Often start with "Once upon a time..."
  • Involve magic and enchantment
  • Royalty 
  • Wicked characters 
  • Good characters
  • Reward goodness
  • Often end with "And they lived happily ever after."

After students read and shared several fairy tales, they worked together to summarize the fairy tale for Twitter. Because Twitter only allows 140 characters, the summary needed to be brief. 




Behold! A Twitter Terse Verse


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More Terse Verses to come! 



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HOW did we write our Terse Verses?
We used a collaborative Google Doc!

First, students signed in to the shared Terse Verse Google Doc with their partner. It was fun to watch everyone arrive on the Google Doc!  It looked like magic as a plethora of cursors moved independently. Bit by bit the terse fairy tale summaries were written.   



Students read and followed the directions at the top of the Terse Verse doc. Everyone learned how to highlight words or phrases, and how to find out the word count of the summary.  





Which fairy tale was your favorite?

What do you notice about the photos?

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Stellar Spine


In class, we have been learning about bones and muscles. The human body can do some amazing things.

The spine is very important. It is made of bones called vertebrae (VER-teh-bray). The bones are like a chain. Together they can flex and move in many directions.

To demonstrate just how flexible and movable the human body is, we present Stella. "I have been taking gymnastics for four years," said Stella. "At first, I learned a cartwheel. After many lessons, I can now do a flip, a backbend, roundoff back handspring, and the splits. I hope you enjoy my floor routine."











What are some ways you use your spine?

What are your hobbies?





Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Thank You, National Geographic!

Last month, we were asked to help National Geographic film a two minute promotional video for their fabulous Giant Traveling Map program.  It was an exciting experience, and we were honored to be asked!







Erica and Kristen helped keep everything moving on schedule. 


The crew brought a lot of sound and video equipment. 






They even set up our classroom with a special camera and lighting. Here is where Erica, the interviewer,  conducted interviews about the giant maps. The crew is waiting for the next interviewee.  An interviewer is a person who interviews. An interviewee is the person being interviewed. 

Photo by Mrs. Yollis 


It was fun to have the Giant Traveling Map of Africa to explore! There are lots of games and activities included with the rental. 




 Here we are exploring with our reading buddies. Some students are in the northern hemisphere. Others are in the southern hemisphere. Ms. Cuevas is on the equator




Our music teacher, Mrs. Adler, taught some terrific African music lessons on the map while they filmed.  

Photo by Dan S.

Photo by Kristen


 Sitting in the Sahara Desert in northern Africa. That's the largest desert in the world! 

Photo by Dan S. 






Our principal and superintendent joined the learning. Each contributed their thoughts about geography and the giant map during an interview session. 




On the last day, Erica shared some stories and photos about her trip to Africa. She met the Masai people while filming in Africa. 




This week, we got a lovely thank you gift from National Geographic! We can't wait to read all the books you sent and continue our learning adventure!







The video will be available soon! 

What was your favorite part about the experience?

What have you learned so far from reading the gift books and looking at the cards?





Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Happy Veterans Day



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On November 11, America celebrates Veterans Day. It is the day we honor the men and women who have served in the armed forces. Veterans Day is a national holiday! 


Photo by Mrs. Yollis









Veterans: Men and women who have served in the armed forces.
Soldiers: Men and women who are currently serving in the armed forces.



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Here is a link to a wonderful BrainPop video about America's Armed Forces. 


What did you learn about the 
Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast guard?





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Here is a link to a patriotic Veterans Day blog post by Mrs. Hembree in Seattle, Washington. Read about her father-in-law's service and see photos from his Honor Flight to see the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.  




Photo honoring veterans at the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.


Photo by Joe Hembree





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To help us learn about Veterans Day and the men and women who serve, I asked my students if any of their family members are in the military or are veterans. We honor our soldiers with this blog post! 


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Meet our district superintendent, Dr. Stepenosky. As you can see, he served in the Navy. From 1990 to 1994, he was on the USS Chancellorsville which was a guided missile cruiser. It was 9,000 tons and had a crew of 330. Notice the destroyer in the background. 






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Meet Abigail's Uncle Ming. He is a major in the Air Force and is stationed in Qatar! Today we looked for Qatar on the world map. Where is our soldier located? 









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Meet Chris, Abby's uncle. He is in the Air Force stationed at March Air Force Base (AFB). March AFB is located in California. Chris is serving in the 452nd Aerospace Medical Squadron at March AFB and is in his 6th duty station. What is a squadron? What does he mean "6th duty station"?






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Meet Kate's grandfather, Elbert. He served in the Marines
August 1965 - December 1965 Camp Pendleton, San Diego, California / January 1966 - February 1967 Chulai, Vietnam /
March 1967 - May 1967 Camp LeJune, North Carolina /
June 1967 - June 1968 American Embassy, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic / July 1968 - July 1969 American Embassy, Montevideo, Uruguay / July 1969 - Discharged Camp Pendleton, San Diego, California.

We thank Elbert for his service and for his contributions to our Family Blogging Month post! 






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Meet Tom, Nicholas' grandfather. (Nicholas is my former student.) Tom was a Navy officer in World War II. He was a navigator on the USS Shaula in the Pacific Theater. He used celestial navigation to navigate the ship. Today they use satellites, but are going back to the celestial navigation he used 70 years ago. The reason is the threat of attacks on the satellites.






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Thank you for reminding the children in your class that many of us served in the military. It would please us greatly as the grandparents of Jock to recognize us for our service. Grandmom was a navy nurse stationed at the San Diego Naval Hospital caring for wounded Marines and Navy personnel from 1962 to 1965. 





I served in the Navy spending one year in Vietnam as a surgeon with combat Marines. I served from 1964 to 1969. 







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Meet Sawyer’s grandfather Thomas. He was an officer in the United States Air Force, with active duty assignments from 1962 to 1969 in the United States, Germany and Southeast Asia. He was actually in Vietnam when Sawyer’s dad was born. He retired as a major after thirteen additional years as a reserve information officer for the 440th Reserve Tactical Airlift Wing in Milwaukee. We honor his service every year on Veteran’s Day.





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Meet Lily's Aunt Eileen, Uncle Steven, cousins Ben and Samantha. Eileen and Steven have served in the Navy for the past 25 years. They met at the Naval Academy at Annapolis. Steven is a pilot and flew planes for the Navy.  Eileen is a supply officer and has earned the title of Captain. They current live in Virginia Beach.





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Meet Lily's great-grandfather, Charles Armond Wright. He served in the Army during WW II in Germany and Italy. He helped free the prisoners from the concentration camps. 



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Meet lieutenant Ted Fundoukos, Chloe's (Kostaki's sister) Godfather. In the Greek orthodox tradition, he is family. Ted went to the Naval Academy and served in a submarine!


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Meet Abigail's Uncle Roger. He retired from the Navy last year. He was a Captain in the Medical Corps. Roger served all over the world including the Pacific Rim as well as Europe. Here is a picture of his family from a few years ago. Abigail and her siblings love playing with them at family reunions.





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Are any of your relatives or friends veterans?



Please tell us about them and thank them for their service to America!