Monday, November 28, 2016

An Array of Compound Words




Today we reviewed compound words. 

First, we watched the BrainPop Jr. video.





Something new to students was the idea of different types of compound words. For this, we stopped by the teacher resources from Spelling City




There are THREE different types of compound words, closed, hyphenated, and open compound words! 




Next, Mrs. Yollis got out some compound word cards. Each student was given half of a compound word. The object was to find a student with the other half. Together two students made ONE compound word. 


Once all the compound words were formed, we started making an array to figure out how many compound words we had in all. An array is a multiplication word we recently learned. When you line up objects in equal rows and columns, it makes it easy to get the total, or product

The first attempt is shown below. Students thought they had eight rows of four. So, 8 x 4 = 32 compound words.

Students soon realized that we had eight rows. However, some rows had four compound words and some rows had three compound words.  

We did some figuring, and realized we had 30 words.





Once we realized we had 30 words, we started building real arrays. 



6 rows of 5




15 rows of  2






2 rows of 15







3 rows of 10





What arrays did we miss? 

Leave a comment using at least FOUR compound words! 


Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Thank You, Veterans!



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On November 11, America celebrates Veterans Day. It is the day 
we honor the men and women who have served in the armed 
forces. Veterans Day is a national holiday! 


Photo by Mrs. Yollis







Veterans: Men and women who have served in the armed forces.
Soldiers: Men and women who are currently serving in the armed forces.



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Here is a link to a wonderful BrainPop

 video about America's Armed Forces.





What did you learn about the 
Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast guard?





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Here is a link to a patriotic Veterans Day blog post by Mrs. Hembree in Seattle, Washington. Read about her father-in-law's service and see photos from his Honor Flight to see the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.  




Photo honoring veterans at the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.


Photo by Joe Hembree



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To help us learn about Veterans Day and the men and women who serve, I asked my students if any of their family members are in the military or are veterans. We honor our soldiers with this blog post! 


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Meet our district superintendent, Dr. Stepenosky. As you can see, he served in the Navy. From 1990 to 1994, he was on the USS Chancellorsville which was a guided missile cruiser. It was 9,000 tons and had a crew of 330. Notice the destroyer in the background.







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Meet Dylan's grandpa who served in the Air Force. This picture was taken in 1968 while he was in Vietnam. He was an air traffic controller which means he helped planes take off and land. Dylan's grandpa was in the Air Force for 27 years.











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Meet Seymour, Lola's grandfather. In 1942, Seymour signed up for the Army Air Corps (now known as the US Air Force). He went to training camps to learn to fly an airplane around the country before he was shipped out to Hawaii in 1944.


Seymour rose the rank of First Lieutenant and became the pilot of an airplane known as a B 25 Mitchell. In early 1945, he was deployed to the Philippine Islands. His mission was to pilot a crew of about 10 other air corps men.

While Seymour was away fighting in the war, his wife, Ruth, was also supporting the war effort by working in a factory in New Jersey. 

Seymour made it through the war with no injuries and came back home to New Jersey to be with Ruth and their young daughter, Barbara.  Lola's father was not born until many years later.  Below is a photo of Lola's grandfather and grandmother at one of Seymour's base camps.









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Meet Steven Burnett, Reese's step-cousin. He served two terms in Afghanistan with the Air Force. This picture was taken in 2011.











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Meet Dawson's cousin, Eitan, who is currently serving in Marines.   He is in the officers' program in VirginiaWe are very proud of him.  He is an amazing man!  








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Meet Nolan's great-grandfather, Dale. This is Grandma Barb's father. He enlisted in the Navy when he turned 18. He hadn't yet graduated from high school when he enlisted. He entered the Navy during World War II and was on a type of ship called a destroyer. He was on a tour of duty that took him many places including Japan. 




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Meet Josh's maternal grandfather. He served during WW II in the Air Force division in Burma from 1944-46. He job was an engineer who worked on fixing electronic communication systems .



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Meet Enzo's maternal great-grandfather, Grandpa John. He died when Enzo's grandma (his daughter) was just 15. He served in the U.S. Marine Corp. and was stationed in Haiti where he met Enzo's great-grandmother and fell in love. 




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Meet Allie's great-aunt Ellen. She is her grandmother's first cousin and is she is a veteran. Ellen is a colonel (ker •nel) in the U. S.  army, she's on active duty, and is also a radiologist. She works at a military hospital where they take care of our soldiers and their families, especially kids. Colonel Ellen thanks Allie and her class for remembering all of the veterans.




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Today, we had a fabulous Veterans Day assembly. Students wore red, white, and blue, and we had some very distinguished guests. Five veterans came to our school and were honored with a presentation and a guitar solo of the Star Spangled Banner


The assembly started with the pledge. Notice the veterans who saluted, while civilians placed their right hand over their hearts. 







One of the veterans was a non·a·ge·nar·i·an (nän É™ jəˈnÉ™ rÄ“ É™n). A nonagenarian is a person who is between 90-99 years old. He is a WW II veteran. 






Everyone wanted to thank the veterans for their service to America! 





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Years ago, Mrs. Yollis' family retired some old tattered flags. Click here to see one of the ways to respectfully retire a flag. 

Here is a wonderful patriotic song, You're a grand Old Flag. Mrs. Yollis' late mother is playing the piano. The words are below. Sing along! 


You're a grand old flag,
You're a high-flying flag,
And forever in peace may you wave.

You're the emblem of the land I love, 
The home of the free and the brave.

Ev'ry heart beats true 'Neath the Red, White and Blue, 
Where there's never a boast or brag. 

Should auld acquaintance be forgot 
Keep your eye on the grand old flag.


Are any of your relatives or friends veterans?



Please tell us about them and thank them for their service to America!


Monday, November 7, 2016

Meet Walter the Wombat!


Today the class got a surprise package! We were expecting a package that contained a mascot from one of our blogging buddies who are participating in the #GlobalPal project.  It was not from one of those classes. 

The package was big, and it was soft. As Mrs. Yollis tore open one end of the package, she smiled. What emerged from the surprise package?


Meet Walter the Wombat! 



First, we read the fact sheet about Walter the Wombat. 

No one had ever heard of a wombat! 







Walter the Wombat is a special mascot from our good friend, @RossMannell, a retired teacher from New South Wales, Australia. Walter comes to us through Mr. Mannell's support of a group called Backyard Buddies. Not only is Mr. Mannell kind, he often leaves us comments on our class blog. He just left us a comment on our Family Blogging Month post.


Here is Mr. Mannell's Family Blogging Month comment: 






Ellie's mom commented back. What an excellent blogger! 




Here is Walter the Wombat getting to know our students.










Would you like to take Walter home with you for the evening?
What kinds of activities do you think he'd enjoy? 

What are some facts you learned about wombats? 

What do you say to Mr. Mannell for his thoughtfulness?