How Does a Story Get Published on this Blog?

Mrs. Yollis' Class shared their award-winning blog at a School Board meeting.


We used the following post at the School Board presentation.
It shows the steps we take to get a story published.


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Step 1: Students organize the main ideas and details for a blog post.

Step 2: Students type their blog posts on their wireless AlphaSmart computers.

Step 3: Students get their stories checked by a student Fact Checker.


Step 4: Bloggers upload their stories to Mrs. Yollis' computer.

Step 5: Students add images and hyperlinks to enhance their posts.

Step 6: Students PUBLISH!


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Comments help keep the blog alive!

Ask Comment Kitty where to type a comment
or
scroll down to the bottom of every post and click on comments.



Our blog has: tutorials, travel posts, music, lesson summaries, and videos!

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We have educational blogging friends around the world!
See "Blogs We Follow" in our sidebar!


Here is a picture of one of Mrs. Yollis' bloggers commenting on another educational blog!



If you'd like to be notified when Mrs. Yollis' class
posts a story or if you'd like to follow our comments, we offer an RSS Feed in the sidebar.

Click here to learn about RSS.

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We hope you enjoyed our presentation! Please leave a comment!

Video: National Geographic's Giant Map of Asia

Learning about geography has never been so much fun!

The map was 41' x 31' and filled our MPR.

Watch our movie below!


Mrs. Yollis' Class Visits Asia! from mrsyollis on Vimeo.

The National Geographic Giant Maps are excellent learning tools!




We hope you enjoyed our movie!

Please leave a comment!

It's Official - Our Blog's a Winner!

Congratulations to Mrs. Yollis' Bloggers!

A few weeks ago, I submitted our Winter Break Fun! post to the 2009 Digital Voice Awards.

The judges loved your
vivid vocabulary coupled with your interesting images.

I am proud of each one of you!

Spring Break!

Mrs. Yollis' Class is on vacation until April 20, 2009.

Here are some things to do on this blog during the break:

1. Go to Quadrilateral Queries. Lexi asked, "What's your favorite quadrilateral?" Tell us about your favorite in the comments.

2. Review multiplication by visiting the post Hip Hip Array! See if you can name the products without looking at the answers! Do you see an array in your house? Comment about it!

3. Listen to our video presentations at Dazzling Dioramas! Comment about the voice quality or the interesting details of each project.

4. Enjoy the "History Now!" podcasts over at Podcast Central on my website!

Thanks for visiting our blog!

Cheerful Chumash Assembly

By Taylor S., James, Lexi, and Jonah,

At our school, we experienced a fabulous assembly about the Native American tribe, the Chumash. In this assembly, we smashed acorns into flour, made string with yucca leaves, helped grind a Chumash bowl, tried to make fire, and created a rock art necklace.

Smashing Acorns

At the acorn station, we cracked acorns to make acorn flour. First, we took an acorn and cracked it out of its shell with two rocks.

Then we smashed the inside of the acorn into a powdery mixture.


Finally, we reached our goal… FLOUR!

(Warning: DO NOT EAT ACORN POWDER WITHOUT LEACHING IT. It's bitter!)

Yucca String

At another station we pounded yucca leaves.

After that, we soaked them in water for two minutes.

Once that was done, we separated the fibers and put them in a stack.

Later, we sat down all together and rolled the fibers together which made a sticky, but strong yucca string!

Beautiful Stone Bowls

The Chumash made their bowls by scraping sandstone with another rock. This was harder than it sounds though. A Chumash Native American would work on one bowl for a few years before it was finished!

They would start by searching for a round piece of sandstone. With another rock, they would scrape and scrape the sandstone until it was a deep bowl.


That’s a very long, but easy process. The powder from the rock looked like this.
Can you imagine having to do all that to have one small bowl?

Fire Station

At this station we used a spindle and a fire board to build a warm, cosy fire. First, we took the spindle and placed it in a hole in the fireboard. Next, we spun the spindle between our hands.

The friction caused the point of the spindle to heat up.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, no one was able to create a fire.

Rock Art

The Chumash were famous for their rock art. We were able to create rock necklaces using red berries (a red Sharpie) and coal (a black Sharpie).

Everyone drew their own unique design.

We even got to taste a few Chumash foods like chia seeds.

The terrific Chumash assembly was not only fun, but educational too!

Science: Lovely Light

By Lexi, Clementine, and Chloe

In science, our class was learning about light. We specifically learned that objects can be translucent, transparent, or opaque.

Translucent is a science term that means only some light can pass through an object.

For example, this blue plastic T lets some of the light pass through it, so it is translucent.


Another term we learned is transparent.

If an object is transparent, all the light can pass through it. The cylinder above is transparent.

I can see Pelly the Pelican inside the object.

If you have a window at your house, notice that it is transparent.

If NO light passes through an object then it is opaque.

Opaque objects create a shadow. Your body is opaque. No light will pass through it. Shadow puppets are a fun way to show an opaque object. One shadow puppet you can make with your body is a bird.

How do you do it?

First, go outside on a sunny day. Make an X with your arms, hook your thumbs, and spread your wings.

See the opaque bird that you made with your hands?

Here are some other shadow puppet animals you can make.

Now you know about lovely light!

The Hello Song!

Today we had music with the the wonderful Mr. B and Mrs. Ranney's class.

We recorded a special song for our new 2KM blogging friends in Australia.

The Hello Song! from mrsyollis on Vimeo.

Sing-a-long!

Hello, bon jour, buenos dias!

G'day, guten-tag, konichiwa.....

Ciao, shalom, do-brey dien,

Hello to all the children of the world!

We live in different places From all around the world.

We speak in many different ways!

Though some things may be different,

We're children just the same-

And we all like to sing and play!

Special thanks to Mr. B.! We hope you liked our singing!

Our Global Friends!

Yesterday Mrs. Yollis' Class made new friends with some young classroom bloggers in the southern hemisphere!

We met the interesting students from Australia when Mrs. Yollis discovered their blog. Click here to view the fabulous 2KM blog and be sure to leave a comment. They have a fun sing-a-long song called the Skip Count Song! Give it a listen!

2KM informed us about another classroom blog in Texas called C-O Connections Blog. We are going to investigate and comment on their blog as well!

It has been fun reading about what other students from different places are learning.


We had a wonderful time exploring all the visitor dots that were visible on 2KM's ClustrMap!

We look forward to our global friendship!