Here is Our 21st Century Symposium Presentation!

On Friday, October 23, Mrs. Yollis and ten of her students gave a presentation at the 21st Century Learners Symposium.

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Throughout the day, we demonstrated how we:

• create an appropriate Internet image that does not reveal too much personal information, yet tells a story

• compose and type our posts on our wireless AlphaSmarts

• upload our posts to our blog and publish
  

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Here is a link to project we made that day ~
Halloween: Who Are You?

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Below is a slideshow of the day's events!

Here is a video of the actual presentation! Thanks Mrs. Yumkas for filming us!

Great job student bloggers!

What do you think of our presentation?

Halloween: Who Are You?

For this post, each blogger created and emailed Mrs. Yollis a jpg image of them posing in their Halloween costume.

Rather than using a boring image of them standing in their costume, each student tried to create an image that told a story about who they were.

Next, students could choose to write a descriptive paragraph about the costume or use the photo as an inspiration for a creative writing piece.

Enjoy!

By Taylor S.

Rachel the Referee

I am Rachel the Referee and in this pose I am giving a time-out call in a championship football game. It is a professional game for the Chargers versus the Ravens. I put bold, black sunglasses on so I don’t show too much personal imformation. In the picture, I am one of the best referees in the U.S.A. That means I get to officiate at the Superbowl. I became a ref, so I could observe people play one of my favorite sports. I long for the Steelers to win. Even If I’m rooting for them, I ref like I don’t care who wins because I want to be fair.

By James

Walter the Werewolf

Ohhhhhhhh! I’m Walter the Werewolf, and I’m planning on scaring the town kids. Besides my scary, harry face, I ordered the Scary Potion from Wendy the Witch. She is very talented with blending Halloween potions. If the potion works, the trick-or-treaters are supposed to run into my Werewolf Skyscraper. There I will steal their candy and devour it whole! I hope it works, or else I’m getting a refund from that Wendy. So, beware of the kids who will be dashing to my Werewolf Skyscraper. Who knows, they might be sprinting by you!

True story. (not) Brought to you by Wendy the Witch. Money will be refunded if potion doesn’t work.

By Taylor G.

Hermonie

I am Hermonie from Harry Potter. Here I am wearing my black school robe, my beautifully carved wand, and my snowy white owl, Hedwing. I was fighting a wizard plant called Devil Snear. I wasn’t frightened, but I think Hedwing was. Here are some things you should know about me. I am friends with Harry Potter, and I am looking toward to Halloween. It is my favorite holiday. I am out of time, so I’ll see you at Hogwarts!

By Shane

Ned The Nerd

I am Ned the nerd from Nerdland. I have a dorky white shirt, green and white plaid pants, weird glasses, dark blue suspenders, and beige and brown ugly shoes. My hair is pushed to one side to make me look nerdy. What I am holding is a black briefcase and a LA Dodgers pen which I travel with to school in the morning. In this pose, I’m thinking about solving a math problem. I am writing down the answer on a white piece of paper. The problem I completed is 52 x 3 and I got 156. I adore being a nerd who can't wait for school tomorrow.

By Clementine

I am Alexis, a fierce attack-girl for lacrosse. Scoring goals is what I’m best at. At the end of a my fast-moving game, I am black and blue all over, exhausted, and covered in sweat. Right now, I am fighting a defender. Even though laccrosse is difficult, it’s the perfect sport for me. At the end of a long game, I race home and have my mom make me an ice-cold lemonade drink. I love the action-filled game of lacrosse!

By Lexi

The Angel Dressed in White

Once upon a foggy night, every thing was quite a fright.
But they weren’t as good as they might have seemed.
Jill was the person who received the dreams.
But really they were nightmares that made her scream.

Why were those dreams so bad you ask?
Because sending dreams was Alyssa’s task.
Alyssa did not know she was making the dreams bad,
But it was Jill who was getting really sad.

Then another misty night,
Jill saw a little glimpse of white.
And that glimpse of white she knew,
It was Alyssa, the angel that flew.

“Stop giving me bad dreams every single night,”
Exclaimed Jill who was getting uptight.
Then Alyssa cried, “Okay. Okay.
I will take the bad dreams away."

"I will give you dreams that are good,
Then you will sleep well, like you should.
So I will see you tomorrow night.
I’ll be the angel cloaked in white!”

By Emily

Danny Dracula

I am Danny Dracula from Transylvania. What I am cloaked in is a traditional Halloween night outfit. No, I don’t drink blood. I gulp red fruit punch so people believe that I am drinking blood. On Halloween night I trick-or-treat with the regular kids. Some of them think I am a real vampire and some think I am an imposter.

Do you think I am an actual vampire?

By Bethany

Alice in Wonderland
Alice’s dress is sky blue with puffy sleeves and white lacing. In my photo, I am gazing through the thick hedge, and I am astonished at the Cheshire cat with his broad grin that I see on the other side! I turned away from the camera so I would not reveal too much personal information. It looks like I am interested in what's on the other side!

By Matthew

Grassy Green Rocker Guy

Grassy Green Rocker Guy is a professional rocker who just performed the best concert of his life. He rocked his famous song, The Galaping Green Thing, for his finale. His pose shows people that he’s having a fantastic time. His future concert will have more colorful lights. His rectangular stage will rotate and rock up and down. Grassy Green Rocker guy's audience will be through the roof with excitement. He expects to have the biggest, best Halloween concert ever!

Benny B. Banana
By Jonah

Hello. I am a banana, and I’m delicious. Actually, I’m not. I taste horrible. Please, don’t eat me!

As I was saying, I’m a banana, and these are my best friends: Aaron Apple, Oliver Orange, Penny Pineapple, Sammy Strawberry, Lenny Lemon, and Greg Grapefruit. Don’t we look outstanding together? Pineapple and I both have super cool sunglasses! Is that awesome, or what? I have other terrific friends also, but that doesn’t really matter at this time.

Did you know that I’m famous? You don’t believe me? Ask other people if they know about me, and other bananas. They’ll say yes.

Then you’ll know. After that, you can spread the word everywhere about me and I’ll be famous world wide!

If you’re wondering why we’re all standing here, it is because we have a beautiful band called, “Fruit That Rocks” and everybody wants to take perfect pictures and get autographs from us. (You should buy our awesome albums). Our best selling song is, “Livin’ on a Tree,” written by Aaron Apple and me. It has a similar melody to, “Living on a Prayer.”

I’d like to talk more, but we’re about to get interviewed by Sir Chicken, a kind food who is the manager of a show called, "Ask the Chicken." We're discussing our newest album called "Invasion of the Veggies." Have a nice, fruity day!

What do you think of the images?

Which paragraph or story did you enjoy and why?

Chaparral Spirit Song!

(Sung to the tune of Take Me Out to the Ballgame)

Take me out to the schoolyard,
Take me back to my class,
I've got my paper and pencils too,
I have got some learning to do
At Chaparral Elementary,
It's the place for me,
To think, learn, and be with my pals,
Live is good at Chaparral!

Spirit song words by Trent and Mrs. Adler

How do you like the new school song?

Hip Hip Array!

Today we explored arrays!

Row x Column = Product

When the factors were different digits, the arrays were in the shape of a rectangle.

When the factors were the same...look at the new shape!

Which square arrays are missing?

Do you see any arrays in your home?

Tell us about it in the comments!

Mrs. Yollis' Class Presents at the 21st Century Learners Symposium!

Last April, Mrs. Yollis' Classroom Blog won two Digital Voice awards from the Los Angeles County Office of Education including Best Overall Elementary.

On Friday, October 23, Mrs. Yollis and some of her students will be presenters at the 21st Century Learners Symposium!

With AlphaSmarts in hand, a laptop computer, and a digital camera, the class will descend upon the campus of CSU, Los Angeles to share their blogging skills and demonstrate how a story gets published on the blog.

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What does it mean to be a 21st Century Learner?

What was learning like in the 20th Century?

 What will learning look like in the future?

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To answer these questions, 
we interviewed parents and educators. The oral histories are recorded in the VoiceThread below.

We invite you to add your thoughts to this oral history project!

To record:

1. Click on the word comment at the bottom of the slide.
2. Enter your email address and create a VoiceThread password.
   
3. Record your comment.
4. Save your comment.

Thank you for listening and hopefully sharing!

Are You An Expert?

The second story in our Celebrating Traditions Unit is called

"Anthony Reynoso: Born to Rope."

This is the story of a family's tradition of Mexican rodeo roping and riding. Anthony and his family work hard and practice their skills for their exhibitions. Because of their hours of practice, they are now expert performers! 

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Please share about a skill you have worked hard to learn.
What steps did you take to master the skill?

Was it difficult at first? 

Did anyone help you achieve your goal?

Please Share a Tradition!

This week Mrs. Yollis' class is starting a new unit in Language Arts called Celebrating Traditions!

 A tradition is something that family, friends,
or another group of people has done for many years and continues to do on a regular basis.

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The story for this week is "The Keeping Quilt".

 In the first story, "The Keeping Quilt," by Patricia Polacco, the author retells the story of her family's handmade quilt. In the story, a Russian immigrant mother and family arrive in the United States. She plans to make a quilt from a basket of old clothes, telling her daughter, "It will be like having the family in backhome Russia dance around us at night."  The quilt is passed along from mother to daughter for four generations. It becomes a Sabbath tablecloth and a wedding canopy. It even becomes a blanket for new generations of children. "The Keeping Quilt" is a heart-warming story about one family's tradition.

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In the comment section, please 

share a tradition your family celebrates. 

It can be an annual party, a holiday, or any traditional event.

Please include details about: special foods,  decorations, songs, and/or activities.

Remember: Be sure to have a parent proofread with you so your comment will get published!

Fun Friday!

Many students in Mrs. Yollis' class earned free-time on Fun Friday.

A popular center is always creating with clay.

Behold! Future sculptors!

Nobody could believe how fair one sculpture looked!
Wow!

One person opted for creatively writing his name:

Others played handball outside! 

What do you like best about Fun Friday?