Best Class Blog • First Runner-Up!

A big THANK YOU to everyone who voted for us!

The winners of the Edublog Awards - 2009!

Mrs. Yollis' students are on Winter Break until
January 4, 2010.

Holiday Sing-a-long

Christmas Time is Here!

By Mr. B. (Our music teacher!)





Christmas is here, Smiles all around All is so bright, All is so bright! Santa will come, To see our town, Into the night, Into the night!

And it’s Christmastime I love, People are smiling,
Holiday singing,
There’s a good feeling

(repeat)

Christmas is here, Gifts all around, All is a=light, All is a-light!
Santa will come, To see our town, Into the night, Into the night!

And it’s Christmastime I love, People are smiling,
Holiday singing,
There’s a good feeling

(repeat)





Oh Hanukkah! Oh Hanukkah,
Come light the menorah
Let's have a party,
We'll all dance the hora
Gather round the table,
We'll give you a treat
Dreidels to play with and latkes to eat

And while we are playing
The candles are burning low
One for each night, they shed a sweet light
To remind us of days long ago
One for each night, they shed a sweet light
To remind us of days long ago


Holiday Party 2009 on PhotoPeach

4 GB Flash Drive Gift!

Last Tuesday, several teachers and administrators visited Mrs. Yollis' class to observe the steps the class takes to prepare and publish a post.

The teachers were also interested in learning how to teach commenting skills to students.

Two days later, Mrs. Schillinger, the district's Assistant Superintendent of Instruction, came back to the class to personally thank the students for their blogging help.

In addition, she presented each student with a
4 GB flash drive!

* * * * *

How are you going to use your flash drive?

Who knows what a GB is?

Northern Hemisphere Skypes Southern Hemisphere

Today Mrs. Yollis' class MET their blogging buddies in Australia!

However, the word today meant two different things.

* * * * *

Today in Mrs. Yollis' class it was:
Tuesday, December 15, and the clock read 2:00 P.M.

Today in 2KM's class it was:

Wednesday, December 16, and the clock read 9:00 A.M.

Today in Mrs. Yollis' class, it is almost Winter Break!

Today in 2KM's class, it is almost Summer Vacation!

Students enjoyed meeting and sharing with Miss McGeady and their blogging buddies.

We noticed the our two classes had a lot of similarities and a few differences.

One difference: Australia uses the metric system and the U.S. uses customary units.

Here is a converter to compare the two systems.

* * * * *

What did you like about the experience?

What did you learn?

Multiplication Games

Now that all of Mrs. Yollis' students understand the concept of mutiplication, it is time to memorize the facts!

Games were played in class to help with the memorization.

In addition, students play games at home on Mrs. Yollis' website.

* * * * *

Have you mastered the facts?

Do you have any tricks to help with memorization?

We Have an Edublog Nomination!

Mrs. Yollis' class works together to document interesting stories about what we are learning. In addition, we have made fabulous classroom connections throughout the world.

Our hard work has paid off! 

There are 38 outstanding nominees.

Click Here to vote from your home computer or iPhone!
Voting closes December 16.

Students as Teachers!

Mrs. Yollis' students are not only students, they are also teachers!

* * * * *

Today several teachers from the district visited our classroom to learn about how we integrate technology in our learning.

* * * * *

During our Language Arts period,

Mrs. Yollis' class worked toward finishing a future post that uses student-created images and high-level writing.

Above, third graders

discussed and evaluated

their images for the post.

Questions included:

1. Why did you pose this way in your image?
2. What story are you trying to tell with your image?
   
3. What makes your image a good one for the Internet?

* * * * *

Above, students typed their text on their wireless computers and then peer-edited.

In Mrs. Yollis' class, everyone strives for high-level vocabulary words to insert in their paragraphs.

How did it feel to be a teacher?

What do you think your students will do with your information?

Technology Convention

Mrs. Yollis is not only a teacher, she is also a student.

This weekend, she attended the CLMS K-12 Technology Conference in San Diego.


* * * * *

There, she acted as a teacher by presenting a class on integrating technology in the classroom.

She also had the privilege of being a student and attended many fascinating classes about technology in education.


* * * * *

Her favorite part of the weekend was listening to keynote speaker, Alan November. Mrs. Yollis took a picture with him using her laptop camera!

Alan November talked about the roll of teachers in the the classroom and what students should be learning. Some of the ideas he shared with the educators were:

• Students should know how to do good research on the web.

• The classroom should be a global communication center.

• Students should be self-directed.

What do you think of his ideas about education?

The Chumash: Our Local Native American Tribe

Enjoy the photos from our Chumash Interpretive Center field trip.
The captions on each slide were composed by the students!
They learned so much!

Our Visit to the Chumash Museum on PhotoPeach

Below are the mule deer we spotted while walking the trail through the oak woodlands.

Below is a recording of a Chumash song!
Panther thinks we're perfect!

What was the most interesting fact that you learn about at the Chumash Museum?

If you were a Chumash Indian, what do you think would be the most challenging activity and why?

Rain Forest Discovered...in Connecticut?

Recently, Mrs. Yollis' class traveled over 3,000 miles to a newly discovered tropical rain forest.



They met with several knowledgeable guides who shared about

the flora (plants of a particular area)
and
fauna (animals of a particular area).

Okay, it wasn't a real rain forest... Mr. Salsich [Mr. Sal sic'] and his class created it.

Oh fine, we weren't really in Connecticut...we had a virtual tour via Skype from California.

However, it really was fabulous!

Here are some photos of the Skype tour! Mr. Salsich's class is full of experts!

Many students took notes and drew pictures to help with their learning.

Visit the tropical rain forest yourself!

Please be sure to leave a comment for Mr. Salsich's students.

What did you learn?

Which animal or plant was your favorite and why?

Educational Blogging Resource

Here is a link to a wiki Mrs. Yollis put together to help some teachers who are thinking of starting a blog: Education-Blogging.

Happy blogging teachers and students!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Lots of baking and writing 
in Mrs. Yollis' class this week! 

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Fun! on PhotoPeach

Writers in Progress!

Over the last few months, Mrs. Yollis' class has been learning how to write a quality paragraph.

* * * * *

It is important to brainstorm the

main ideas

and
details
of the topic before writing the paragraph.

* * * * *

Here is Gal's brainstorming.

She has two main ideas and several details.

Next, we wrote a rough draft using our brainstorming ideas.

Notice Anais'

green TOPIC SENTENCE

yellow TRANSITION and MAIN IDEA SENTENCES

red DETAIL SENTENCES

Next, students used dictionaries to help them spell the high-level vocabulary words and adjectives they were including in their paragraph.

Finally, the students proofread. Every writer carefully touched each word to make sure that each sentence was correctly written.
* * * * *
The paragraphs were scored on a 20 point rubric!

Learning to write a quality paragraph is a lot of work, but well worth the effort!

* * * * *

What was the most difficult part for you?

What writing skill did you learn or improve today?

Share a compound sentence you produced in your paragraph!

Our Collectors' Collections!

Mrs. Yollis' class read  The Talking Cloth, by Rhonda Michell. The main character, Aunt Phoebe, is a "collector of life."  Her home is filled with souvenirs from her travels around the world.

In class, we started talking about collections. It turns out many people have collections of their own.

Notice how many people arranged their collection in an array! 

*     *     *     *     *

Mrs. Yollis' Rock Collection

Like Aunt Phoebe, I like to bring home a souvenir from my travels. Wherever I go, I search for rocks. Not just any rock will be included in my collection, the rock has to be heart-shaped! I discovered my first rock about fifteen years ago.  At first I thought it would be difficult to locate heart-shaped rocks, but with a keen eye, it has been easy to do. My favorite rock is one that I got at Zion National Park. When I look at one of the rocks in my collection, it takes me back to the location where I found it and that fills me with happy memories.

*     *     *     *     *

Caleb's Video Game Collection

I collect video games, and I got most of my video games from Gamestop. My favorite game is Mario Super Sluggers because I love baseball, and baseball is my second favorite sport. In my image,  I have six rows of eleven which means I have sixty-six video games in my house.   I keep them in  u-shaped cases in a black drawer. The type of video games in my collection are Xbox games, Wii games, Nintendo ds and dsi games. I have lots of video games as you can clearly see.

*     *     *     *     *

Kendall's Rock and Mineral Collection

My collection of rocks and crystals is very special to me. They live in a clear plastic container in my bedroom. I started my collection when I was about two years old. My first rock that I ever got was a red volcano rock that I got in Hawaii. I have about 25 crystals and 50 rocks which makes 75 in all.   My favorite rock is my first red rock, and my favorite crystal is dark blue. My parents got me it in Canada. Every time I look at a rock or crystal, they remind me of where I got it.

*     *     *     *     *

Ben's Hockey Card Collection 

I have an enormous collection of all kinds of hockey cards. There are approximately 200 hockey cards in it. I keep my collection in a big black binder in the shelf next to my t.v. My favorite card is Sydney Crosby because he is the captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins. They are my favorite professional NHL hockey team. I bought the packs of cards at a giant Target store for a good price. I have a lot of old players that I got in a big 125 card pack. It also came with modern day cards, but more old ones. I have been collecting them for about two years.

*     *     *     *     *

                                                                                                                    

Jaxson's Stuffed Animal Collection

My precious collection is a group of stuffed animals. I have collected thirty-six  of them. The way I display them is on the top of my bed. My favorite is a teddy bear and her name is Sue. She is my favorite because it was the last one ever at a toy store in Seattle. I started collecting them was when I was three and now I am eight years old. Do you have a collection of stuffed animals?

*     *     *     *     *

Ava's Shell Collection

I have a precious collection of shells that I think are pretty. I got my beautiful shells at the Santa Monica beach. There are about 50 shells in my collection. As you can see from my picture, there are different kinds of shells in my collection. My favorite shells are the big ones. The colors on the big shells are pink and white. I love my shells!

 

*     *     *     *     *

Corey's Lego Collection

 

*     *     *     *     *

Ethan's Trophy Collection

 

My collection of shiny metal trophies is special to me. I keep my collection of trophies on my homework desk. My trophies are sports trophies that I earned playing basketball and baseball. A special one I have is my point guard basketball trophy. It has a handle and I can hold it in many different ways. I keep my collection on an extremely high shelf so my brother’s don’t touch them. When I look at my collection, I feel like a champion.

 

*     *     *     *     *

 Anais' Stuffed Animal Collection

My fabulous collection is a group of stuffed animals. I keep them on my wall. The wall has hooks so I can hang them. I have about 24 stuffed animals. Most of them are pink or purple. I got most of them when I was a baby. Sometimes I put them on the bed, but not a lot. My favorite one is my rainbow bunny because it is pretty. I love my collection. 

 

*     *     *     *     *

Charlie's Cap Collection

 

I have an awesomely radical collection of bottle caps. As you can see in my 18 x 8 array, there are 144 bottle caps in my big collection. My two favorite bottle caps are very spiky. I call them the Awesome Caps of Death because their spikes could cut someone. One of the caps is dark blue and one of them is light orange. When I get bottle caps, I either find them on the dirty ground or take them off of a water bottle. After I clean them, I add   them to my collection. My friends usually donate their small or big bottle caps when they are done with their drinks. I store my bottle caps in a huge bag. I feel glad that I collect bottle caps because it is a fun hobby. 

               

*     *     *     *     *

Jared's Car Collection

(The camera is strapped to a car!)

I have a delicate collection of toy cars. One of them has a camera taped on it because I thought it looked like a spy car. There are cars of all sizes. Some are big and some are small. I started collecting when I was three years old. My first kind of truck was a fire truck, and my first car was a van. Collecting cars is fun for me!                  

*     *     *     *     *

Sam's Collection

 

I have an awesome collection of things. These items remind me of fantastic experiences that I have done. Some are Dodger bobble heads. For example,  one is a bobble head of Rafel Furcal and the other is Russel Martin. In addition, one is a General Grievous from Star Wars. There are also some pictures of fantastic athletes in my collection.  Babe Ruth is one of my best pictures. I also got some souvenirs from Mexico. One is a metal picture of the history of Mexico. Finally, there is a coconut that my mom and dad got for me when they went on a cruise. My collection is on my huge, black desk. I usually look at them when I’m bored. These are really precious to me and are delicate. Thank you for reading about my collection. 

*     *     *     *     *

 Scarlet's Collect of Instuments

I collect many different instruments like drums, guitars, and pianos. My instrument was my black and red drums. My mom and dad got the set for me when I was two years old. I still play the drums. I keep the instruments in the living room and sometimes I play. My dad and sister join in, too. I love my collection of my favorite instruments.

*     *     *     *     * 

Sydney's Stuffed Animal Collection

I have many dogs, bears, and cats in my stuffed animal collection. They live in small cabinets, shelves, and my closet. My favorite stuffed animal is named Teddy, and he is my special one because he was my first stuffed animal I ever had. I named him when I was three years old. My collection has more than 100 stuffed animals. They are from all different places like hotels, stores, and ordered on the computer. When I play with them, I get cribs for them and I put washcloths as blankets and sheets. Do you have stuffed animals? If so, what are their name?

*     *     *     *     *

Jaxon's Mom's Perfume Bottle Collection

I collect perfume bottles.  I started my collection after I went to a beautiful home
where similar bottles were collected and displayed.  They looked so elegant. Soon
everyone was buying me bottles.  Some were perfect:  unique and special, handmade
artist pieces; others I didn't like very much.  They weren't unique or special.  So
I stopped collecting for a while and asked everyone to stop buying perfume bottles
for me as gifts.

When I stopped adding to my collection, I kept the bottles packed away in my garage.
 Then we moved into a new house that had glass shelves:  the perfect spot to display
those long forgotten bottles.  Now I get new perfume bottles mostly from my kids -
and that makes them very special to me.

*     *     *     *     *

 Moraiya's Stuffed Animal Collection 

Here is my collection of stuffed animals stacked on top of each other. I have about 50 animals, and I think they are really cute. Some stuffed animals came from Hawaii and some are from trips or birthdays. I keep them in a big box in my room. There are different kinds of animals in my collection. One horse is named Kaeenapoo, and it is brown with a colorful necklace. Another animal is named Poncho Number Two, an he is a Dalmatian.  Did you notice anything unusual in the pile?   

*     *     *     *     *

Which collection did you find interesting? 

Do you have a similar collection?

Do you collect something unusual?

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.

*     *     *     *     *
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
  

*     *     *     *     *

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

*     *     *     *     *

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?