Memorial Day 2016

Monday is Memorial Day in the United States. 

It is a national holiday!

Photo by Andrew's mom

Below are two Memorial Day posts from former students. Enjoy learning about Memorial Day through their experiences. 

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Guest post from Mallory, Mrs. Yollis' former student. First published in 2013

Two years ago, I celebrated Memorial Day with my mom and my Girl Scout troop in a special way. We went to the Los Angeles National Cemetery in Westwood to place American flags on the headstones of soldiers who have served our country in the military. There were so many other troops to help, including Daisies, Brownies, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, and Eagle Scouts.

Photo by Mallory's Mom

There was very specific way to place the flags. They had to be put 1 foot away from the headstone and 2 inches into the ground. Then we were told to stand and have a moment of silence to recognize and honor the soldier for their dedication to our country.

Photo by Mallory's Mom

I was very interested to read each soldier's headstone. Some fought in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, or the Vietnam War. There were many soldiers who even fought in more than one war.

This memorable experience inspired me to come home and learn more about Memorial Day. I found out many interesting facts on Wikipedia.

Memorial Day Facts:

• Memorial Day used to be called "Decoration Day" during the Civil War.
• It wasn't until after World War II that the name changed to Memorial Day.
• In 1967, it was declared a national holiday.
• There are 88,000 graves in the Los Angeles National Cemetery.

Photo by Mallory's Mom

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Andrew's post first published on Memorial Day 2011

Photo by Andrew's mom

Dear Mrs. Yollis,

Here are some pictures taken on Saturday at the VA Cemetery. Scouts from all over planted a flag at each gravestone, and then saluted. It is really an incredible and moving sight. Finn also was there. The second picture is a gravestone for a Medal of Honor recipient. There are only a handful at the cemetery. There are marked by special plaques and blue flags.

Enjoy your day off.
Andrew and Dana

Photo by Andrew's mom

How do you celebrate Memorial Day 

where you live?

Do you have anyone in your family who has served in the military?

What is the Medal of Honor?

BreakOut EDU!

Mrs. Minicozzi (aka @CoffeeNancy) came to our room today with a fabulous game! It was called BreakOut EDU! 

Photos by Mrs. Yollis 

The object of the game was to complete several tasks and unlock the box. 

TEAMWORK was important!
It you finished your task and unlocked one lock, you were free to go and help other teams. 

 Everyone was intrigued with the locks.  

QUESTION: How do we get the locks open?

ANSWER: Students were given 45 minutes to solve a variety of  puzzles and tasks. Each solution unlocked a lock.

Some students worked with codes.

Others made calculations. 

Hundreds charts and logical reasoning were used repeatedly.

A flashlight was unlocked and used to reveal a secret code.  

At the very last second, we unlocked the box! 

We loved this type of collaborative learning!  A tip of the hat to Jeanine Huebner for the BreakOut EDU tasks! 

Mrs. Minicozzi took this funny picture of Mrs. Yollis and tweeted it out! 

Nobody beats @lindayollis when it comes to getting a good camera angle! #breakoutedu #lvusd pic.twitter.com/LeA0rSr6Pe

— Nancy Minicozzi (@CoffeeNancy) May 26, 2016

Congratulations! 

We escaped with one second to spare! #lvusd #breakoutedu pic.twitter.com/mBqSzP9mwG

— Linda Yollis (@lindayollis) May 26, 2016

Without revealing too many clues, what was difficult about your task?

What did you learn about yourself from this task? 

Meet the Dictionary!

A resource that we have used quite frequently this year is the dictionary. To celebrate this great book, we made a Do Ink video celebrating the dictionary. There are many parts!

Enjoy!

We created this movie on the ipad using a green screen, Do Ink, iMovie, and the camera roll.

An online dictionary has many of the same features!

What are some words that you have looked up?

Please, help us learn your word by leaving us an 

original example sentence!

A Journey Through the Alphabet!

Over the last month, we worked with our reading buddies to create an alphabet movie. Our Journeys buddies will be graduating soon and will start kindergarten next year. The movie was a great way to review the 26 letters of the alphabet. 

First, each pair of buddies was given a letter. Then each pair chose an animal that started with that letter. Masks were made and a script was written that included the letter sound. A fun fact about the animal accompanies each segment. 

We hope you enjoy our alphabet movie!

The movie was done using a green screen. The third grade buddies gathered Creative Commons images and added them to a Padlet. The CC information is available in the Padlet. Click here to see the Padlet. 

Photo by Mrs. Yollis

We created this movie on the ipad using Do Ink, Padlet, iMovie, and the camera roll.

What what your favorite part of the project?

What are some additional facts you can share about your animal?

Tutorial: VCCV Spelling Pattern

Karissa and Keya had fun making a PuppetPals video explaining how to break words into syllables that have a VCCV spelling pattern. When you have a two syllable word with the VCCV pattern, break between the two consonants! 

Can you think of any words you can break using this VCCV tip?

Here are a few: 

rab • bit 

rep • tile 

can • dy

What did you think of their tutorial?

New Blogger: Practice Makes Perfect

My third graders are starting to set up their own blogs using the GAFE platform. First, I set up a blog for the student, then I invited the student to join their own blog via an email invitation. Next, the student accepted my invitation. Because I do not want my students to use their real names, they signed in with the blogger profile. Students used a pen name so their real name would not show up on the blog. Parents are administrators too! 

Here is our newest blogger, Soccer Girl! She would love a comment or even just a ClustrMap dot!

Practice Makes Perfect 

What are some way you use to connect young bloggers?

National Geographic Giant Traveling Maps!

Mrs. Yollis is a geography enthusiast! For many years, she has brought the National Geographic Giant Traveling Maps to her district. 

The Giant Traveling Maps are a fabulous, hands-on learning tool to help students develop a love of geography. We recommend you rent them for your school! 

In November, we helped National Geographic create three promotional movies for the giant maps.  Here are the results!

Giant Traveling Map




 History of the Giant Traveling Maps! 

Activities and Materials that Come With the Giant Traveling Maps! 

What do you like about the giant maps?

Share something you know about geography! 

Biographical Bonanza!

A biography is a true story about a person's life.

Mrs. Yollis' class is currently reading biographies about

people who have made significant contributions to our world!

Artists, inventors, statesman, composers,

doctors, inventors,

aviators, astronauts, and pioneers in many fields 

are among the amazing historical figures about whom we are reading!

We are each reading a library book, as well as doing research using 
World Book Online.


 

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After reading about your biography subject, 
please leave  a comment as if you are that person!

Be sure to include at least three facts you learned from your library book or the online encyclopedia. Try to use the HTML code to bold your facts!   DO NOT PLAGIARIZE! (Use your own words!)

Watch the comments to see if you can converse with another biography subject you may know!

Family members and friends: 
You are invited to choose your own biography subject and join in the conversation!