Knapp Ranch Baseball Opening day

By Trent and Charlie

Baseball is an American sport in which a player hits a ball with a wooden or aluminum bat. The batter runs around the bases and tries to get to home plate before he is out.

Knapp Ranch is our league. It is for kids ages 5 to 18 years old. We are on the same team in the "coach pitch" division. The name of our team is the Tigers. At the beginning of the season, we have an opening day.

The ceremony begins when the color guard marches on the field and we all sing the National Anthem of the United States - The Star Spangled Banner.

Each team marches around the field in a parade and all the parents cheer. This is also the day we take our team pictures. It is our least favorite part of the day.

Then the fun begins! There are many booths with carnival games. Our favorite game was the one where you throw a soft ball and try to get them into one of the big milk containers. If you get a ball in, you get a prize ticket.

A real crowd pleaser was the dunk tank! Charlie's brothers each took turns getting dunked into the water. Looks like Charlie is about to dunk his big brother!

There was a lot of food, too! One of our favorite foods was the snow cone. They came in different flavors like bubble gum and watermelon.

Mmmmmm....

We love baseball at Knapp Ranch because we get to play with our friends and family.

Art: Georgia O'Keeffe Lesson

Here is another great lesson from our fabulous art teacher, Mrs. Lowy!

Georgia O'Keeffe Art Lesson on PhotoPeach

What did you think of Mrs. Lowy's lesson?

Do you know any other facts about the American artist, Georgia O'Keeffe?

Birthdays!

 By Mrs. Yollis and her mom, Mrs. Pfau

We are special blogging friends with Miss McGeady and 2KM. They sent us a fun Australian package.

We suprised them with some American goodies!

Bianca and her mom, AA, from 2KM sent our class more fun gifts!

Many lovely exchanges have come about from this educational blog. The loveliest of all is this one...

Bianca, from 2KM,  found out that my mother turned 80 in April and sent her a beautiful birthday card all the way from Australia!

My mother found out that Bianca had an April birthday too!


Bianca has an 8 in the ones column!
Mrs. Pfau has an 8 in the tens column!

Here is a special birthday wish from Mrs. Pfau to Bianca!






Here it is on Vimeo if YouTube is blocked.


Bianca's Birthday from mrsyollis on Vimeo.

Thank you Bianca and AA!

From,
Mrs. Yollis and Mrs. Pfau

Do you like celebrating birthdays?

Visit: Bora Bora!

By Caleb

Bora Bora is an island in the Pacific Ocean!

Would you like to visit Bora Bora?

Have you ever visited an island like Bora Bora?

Do you have any questions?

Sing-a-long: Mr. B. and 3 Rs Song

Mrs. Yollis' class from California is friends with Mr. Salsich's class in Connecticut. These classes are blogging buddies and Skyped back in November.

On Friday, the two classes got together to share about their paperless classroom experiences  which you can read about here and here.

The classes also enjoyed singing some songs with Mr. B.

Three it's a magic number

Yes it is, it's a magic number

Because two times three is six

And three times six is eighteen

And the eighteenth letter in the alphabet is R

We've got three R's we're going to talk about today

We've got to learn to

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

If you're going to the market to buy some juice

You've got to bring your own bags and you learn to reduce your waste

And if your brother or your sister's got some cool clothes

You could try them on before you buy some more of those

Reuse, we've got to learn to reuse

And if the first two R's don't work out

And if you've got to make some trash

Don't throw it out

Recycle, we've got to learn to recycle,

We've got to learn to

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Because three it's a magic number

Yes it is, it's a magic number

3, 3, 3

3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36

33, 30, 27, 24, 21, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, and

3, it's a magic number

We then enjoyed singing This Land is Your Land and You're a Grand Old Flag.

At the end, Mr. Salsich's class sang a solo with Mr. B.

  Mr. Salsich's students were on the Atlantic coast and Mr. B. was on the Pacific coast. 

It was difficult because of a slight Skype delay. But they did it!

The two classes enjoyed discussing what they liked about the paperless day:

• Both classes enjoyed using the whiteboards instead of paper.

• A student from Mr. Salsich's class liked that there was no noise from a pencil sharpener all day!

• Mrs. Yollis' class liked the idea of paperless homework!

Thank you to our scribes (Sydney, Jaxon, Kendall,  and Ben) and our photographer. (Ethan)

What did you like about the connection?

How did you like singing together from opposite coasts?

Paperless Earth Day in Mrs. Yollis' Class!

Mrs. Yollis' class was totally paperless today!

They were part of the Teach Paperless Earth Day project!

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In preparation for Earth Day, the class talked about all the trash they were producing at lunch. 

One goal Mrs. Yollis' class set for themselves was to try and use more reusable containers for their lunches. 

Lots of plastic bags and paper in last Monday's trash:

Less trash on Earth Day:

Only SIX  reusable containers used last Monday:

52 reusable containers used on Earth Day:

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Having a paperless classroom was a challenge, but Mrs. Yollis' class was triumphant!

Whiteboards, computers, manipulatives, and creativity were put to good use on our paperless day!

Enjoy!

Even tonight's homework is paperless!

Here is a link.

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What did you think of the day?

How did you like the paperless homework?

Congratulations Mrs. Yollis' Bloggers!

Mrs. Yollis submitted three posts to the Los Angeles County Office of Education's - Digital Voice Awards. 

All three entries are winners!

Winner #1:   Video ~ Mrs. Yollis' Class Visits North America!

(This video documents the lessons learned while using National Geographic's Giant Traveling Map of North America.)  

Winner #2:  Our Collectors' Collections!

(This post integrates digital photography, descriptive writing, and commenting skills. Over 80 comments were collected in the comment section!)

Winner #3: The Nick Cool Blog ~ Chumash Museum post!

(This is the student blog. A visit to the local Chumash Museum was documented by Nick, a third grader in Mrs. Yollis' class. Nick wrote the post and shot the digital images. He was able to generate a lot of interest in the comment section from both students and adults!) 

 Everyone is invited to attend the 2010 Digital Voice Awards program on Saturday, May 22, 2010.

Congratulations to all the bloggers!

Skyping With Pennsylvania!

Mrs. Yollis' class has joined a project called  

Around the World in 80 Schools!  

They hope to visit and learn from 80 different schools around the world via Skype.

They've already met three schools, so they have 77 school left in the challenge!

Today the class visited to Pennsylvania!

Pennsylvania is nicknamed the Keystone State because of its important role in our nation's history. 

We learned all about the great state of Pennsylvania from Mrs. Schmidt and Mrs. O. and their two classes.

 

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(Click to enlarge the Venn Diagram.)

Do you have any questions about Pennsylvania?

Did you notice any similarities or differences?

Ethan's Halmoni Teaches About Korea

One of the stories in our Voyagers Unit is called Yunmi and Halmoni's Trip.

The story is about a Halmoni (Korean for grandmother) who lives with her granddaughter in New York City. Yunmi and Halmoni go back to Korea to visit  relatives.  Yunmi gets worried that Halmoni will want to stay in Korea and not return with her to America because Halmoni is having so much fun with the relatives.

To complement the story, Ethan's halmoni and mother visited our class and brought one of the dishes that was mentioned in our story. Mandoo are Korean dumplings filled with vegetables and meat.

Halmoni taught everyone some Korean! Mrs. Kim taught the class how to use chopsticks!






Please enjoy some picture from the wonderful cultural experience!


Korean Ambassadors! on PhotoPeach

Have you ever eaten Mandoo?

Do you know any facts about Korea?

Please share!  

Kate's Grandmother Teaches About Australia!

Kate's grandmother was born and raised in Australia. She visited our classroom and shared artifacts from her life growing up in Sydney, Australia.

(An artifact is a fancy word for an object made by a human being, typically an item of cultural or historical interest.)

Thank you Grandma Marty!

Do you have any question about Australia that you'd like answered?

Please, leave a comment!

Preparing for Earth Day ~ April 22

 Earth Day is an important day to think about our planet and how we treat it. What we leave behind really matters!

Mrs. Yollis and her students have been spending a lot of time thinking about how to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

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Changing behavior is difficult, but it starts with an examination of behavior.

On Monday, Mrs. Yollis' students collected the trash from snack and lunch.

  Students then sorted the trash into stack of paper bags, foil, plastic baggies, plastic utensils, wrappers, disposable plastic water bottles, and cardboard cartons.

*     *     *    *     *

Trent, Ayush, Charlie, Kayla, and Ethan have already discovered ways to limit trash.

They bring their lunches in reusable containers!

Behold!

In addition, some students are drinking out of reusable water bottles.

Check them out!

Many students have pledged to start using more reusable containers.

It is exciting to hear  the pledges people are making about creating less waste!

But, Panda says that actions speak louder than words.

Already, action has been taken!

Mrs. Yollis has changed her behavior. She used to use a disposable spoon with her yogurt every day. What a waste!

Now, she is using a reusable metal spoon!

*     *     *    *     *
 

Gal was using paper bags everyday, but now she has a reusable lunch box!

*     *     *    *     *

Are you trying to change your behavior?

Tell us about how you plan to reduce, reuse, or recycle!

Decimal Exploration!

Mrs. Yollis' students have been learning about decimals!

Here is a lesson about tenths and hundredths using dimes and pennies.

Decimals: Tenths and Hundredths on PhotoPeach

Do you see any decimals in your life?

Blogging Friendships

Making friends is just one of the many wonderful aspects of having a classroom blog!

2KM, our blogging friends from Australia,  sent us a surprise package on March 12.

On March 31, we received another generous gift from Bianca and her mother, AA.

We wanted to send our valued friends some things from America, specifically from our state of California. 

Miss McGeady and 2Km just got the air mail package and check out this thank you video they made for us!

A Surprise Gift from Kathleen McGeady on Vimeo.

Educational blogging has truly made learning more fun and so meaningful!

Getting Ready for Earth Day ~ April 22

Readers, please share your thoughts! 

What thing (little or BIG) can you pledge to do in order to make the Earth a better place? 

Double click on the WallWisher to add your pledge!

Here's a link to make it bigger:  http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/2010EarthDay

Blogging Challenge #4

The fourth assignment in the Challenge Yourself to Blog series is focused on the environment.

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Mrs. Yollis' class is participating 
in the Paperless Classrooms project 
on Earth Day, April 22.

The project is sponsored by TeachPaperless Blog.

Here is a link to the wiki that was set up to document the day.

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On that day, Mrs. Yollis has pledged to not use any paper in the classroom or for homework.

Instead, she'll use: whiteboards, Quia, and Spelling City!

*       *       *       *       *

Do you think this is a worthy project? 

Why or why not?

Blogging Challenge #3

The third assignment in the
Challenge Yourself to Blog series 
is to tell a little about where you live.
The place where Mrs. Yollis' students live can be describe in many ways!

City:  Los Angeles

State:  California

Country:  United States

Continent:  North America

Here is a movie Mrs. Yollis' class made about their continent!

Did you learn anything new about North America?

April is Family Blogging Month!

Mrs. Yollis and her students love to share what they are learning and experiencing.

In an effort to include more family members in our online community, we are proclaiming:

April is Family Blogging Month!

Each student made a list of their family members. After looking through the archive, students selected specific posts tailored to the interest of a particular relative.

We're inviting everyone to comment:

moms, dads, brothers, sisters, grandmas, grandpas, uncles, aunts, and cousins.

Students will be inviting their family to participate in a conversation! 
Maybe we'll get some 2-point comments!

What do you think of our idea?