This Monday is Memorial Day!

Guest post from Mallory, Mrs. Yollis' former student

This Monday, May 28, is Memorial Day in the United States. 

It is a national holiday!

LAST YEAR, 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

How do you celebrate Memorial Day where you live?

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

Minecraft Math!

Recently, Mrs. Yollis' class has become a BYOT (Bring Your Own Technology) room. During our geometry math unit,  students were building in Minecraft.

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Guest Post by Shayna 

During math,  students were allowed to make solid figures on Minecraft. First I made a cube, and then set my goal to make a square-base pyramid with five flat faces. However,  there was a problem. In Minecraft, it will not let you tilt a single cube, so I could not get the flat triangular faces I wanted.  I ended up with a stair-step square-base pyramid.  

As I was building it, Mrs. Yollis mentioned that it was hard to count how many cubes were on each level because they were all one color. She recommended that I make each cubic unit a different color, so the other classmates could count how many were in each layer. 

I started out with three colors, diamond, iron, and lapid lazuli. Then when I was almost done, two of the same colors were side by side making it difficult to count. So, I tried adding a fourth color, black obsidian. It worked! 


I took these pictures as I got closer to being done. When I finished I took a final screen shot. My pyramid had seven layers. 

As you can see, I am starting to color each layer. The top cube is diamond colored. 

The top layer is one cubic unit. 
The second layer is a 3 x 3 = 9 cubic units. 
The third layer is a 5 x 5 = 25 cubic units.

The fourth layer is a 7 x 7 = 49 cubic units.
The fifth layer is 9 x 9 = 81 cubic units. 

How does the pattern continue? 

What is the volume of my pyramid?

We noticed that the even square numbers (2 x2 and 4 x 4) were skipped. 

Later, we built my pyramid with the one inch blocks that Mrs. Yollis had. We also build a pyramid using all the square numbers. Then I took a picture of that and put it with the others.

In Minecraft, each square face must line up with another square face. That was the reason I could NOT build the pyramid on the right.   

Have you ever built a solid figure in Mincraft?

Your pupil,

Shayna

Thank You, Mr. Webb and Class!

Guest post by Nate, Samantha, Ali, Sheila, and Peter

Blogging is a great way to connect with other classes, learn about geography, and make new friends. 

Recently, we got a lovely package from our blogging buddies in the southern hemisphere!


Thank You, Mr. Webb and class from New Zealand!

 Thank you New Zealanders for the grand maps, stickers, calendar, posters, and pens. They are all wonderful things to have in our classroom. We especially like the the roadsigns and the map. Where we live, you do not see a sign that says, "PENGUINS and SEALS next 500 nautical miles." 

In addition, we do not see any kiwis or kiwi signs. We have kiwi, the fruit, but not the bird. We looked up facts about kiwis on World Book Online. Kiwi are interesting birds. They are flightless and nocturnal. We guess that you probably don't see kiwis during school. 

We also like the posters of the school mural and your QR code. We have murals on our walls too. However, our murals are all realistic animals from this area. The students painted the murals years ago. 


 The map of your neighborhood has a really big volcanic National Park. Does the volcano ever erupt or is it dormant?

What is the mascot of your school? Is it a kiwi?