Halloween: Who Were 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.


Wow! Great image!

Next, students could choose to compose a descriptive paragraph about the costume
or
use the photo as an inspiration for a creative writing piece.

Enjoy!

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Jack the Jailbird

By Trent

I am Jack the Jailbird, and I escaped from prison two months ago. I love to take candy from the houses that leave bowls out for trick-or-treaters on Halloween. Halloween is my favorite holiday because there are so many opportunities for candy. I enjoy candy because it is delicious. This year on Halloween, there happened to be a police officer with his child walking to many houses in his neighborhood. He spied me pouring candy from the bowl into my pillow sack, and he arrested me because he noticed I was on the FBI top ten list of most wanted candy thieves. Now, I am back at the same prison where it all began.

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Phineas Phantom

By Richie

Behold! The mighty Phineas Phantom! I can get away with any crime I commit. In fact, I once took candy from a baby! I have a very sharp scythe, a black robe, and flashing red eyes. My sidekick, Boxy the Boxman got to turn another phantom into a box! I just created a potion that is made with lava and poison. Anyone who touches it will be a servant of the dead, for me. You better watch out!

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Ben Potter

By Ben

I am Ben Potter fighting the Dementors in a dark, narrow alleyway. Trying to think of a delightful memory is very hard, which is the only way my Patronus charm will work. A Patronus charm is a difficult spell to cast. I’m in dueling stance which makes it much more comfortable to conjure the charm. Okay, here it goes…

Wow! It worked, and now I know that my Patronus is a white stag with glowing, sparkling antlers.

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Wendy the Witch

By Anais

I am Wendy the Witch, and I dwell in a old, haunted mansion. On Halloween day, I plan to embark on my broom into town. I will hide behind a green bush and then steal all the candy from trick-or-treaters. I am not going to share my candy with anyone!

Soon I will zoom on my broom. Beware!

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By Gal

I am Dr. Danielle, and in my career I have helped 1,ooo adults and children. In this image, I am using my stethoscope on the infirmed and am trying to see if her heart is beating. The best skill I have in my job is assisting people toward good health.

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By Corey

I am Garrett Gladiator, a rookie marauder. As you see, I have two weapons with me, my black and gray shield and my two-handed sword. Crouched next to my pool, I am prepared for battle with General Eugene from Keyboard Land! This blocking stance helps me work with other gladiators to be triumphant!

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By Ava

I am Wortanager the Wise Witch. I am going today to destroy the world to make people into fascinating insects and encourage people to be my slaves. Right now, I am going to zoom off. Wait! My broom is broken! I’ll just put a spell on it. Yeah! I was triumphant! I will take off now to destroy the world!

I finally landed. Wait, I can’t destroy the world... nobody is here! Maybe I already eliminated them...

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By Kendall

My name is Violet the Vampire. The costume I am wearing is a long, midnight black dress with white sparkles you can barely see. My netted sleeves are hanging down at my hands, and are covered with black spiderwebs on it. Here I am, ready to bite!

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By Kayla

My name is Becky Bride. I am getting married today, and it’s the 10th of January! Itai (E-tie) is the handsome groom. In this picture, I am emerging from of a limousine. The place I will be wed is a beautiful hotel in California. The hotel has a enormous dance floor. Itai and I invited about 300 people to our spectacular event.

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By Ethan

I am Ninja Night, and I have a death sword in my powerful hand. It looks like I’m flying, but I am really battling a burglar. My crimson mask hides my identity. Attacking is what I am about to do to the burglar. In my pose I am striking my foe with a sword.

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By Nick

My name is Skull the Skeleton, and I am scaring and haunting the trick-or-treaters in my neighborhood. The kids are getting very frightened, and youngsters believe I am alive!
However, I am really dead. I died January 31, 1865.

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By Jared

I’m J. J. the closing pitcher, and I’m ready to blast the batter with my 100 m.p.h. fastball. My team’s uniform is dark blue . My coach always relies on me in the ninth inning to strikeout the challenging batters and to be victorious. My fans in the stadium cheer me on! I lead my team to victory. We strike them out all the time.

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By Jaxon

I am Rebecca Referee. My black and white vertical striped uniform is easy for players and spectators to see me. I’m tossing the violet and silver soccer ball to the Dragonflies. I’m blowing the whistle at the Firecrackers because they had a hand ball foul.

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By Moraiya (featuring Poncho)

I am Fern the Fairy. Something I want to do makes me very nervous. My mom will not buy me a dog, so I will use my magic wand to transform her into a white, fluffy hound.

Poof!

It worked! How do I change her back?

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A Thriller!

By Caleb

My Halloween costume is Michael Jackson. As you can see, I’m donned in the famous jacket that Michael Jackson used in Thriller, and my hand is dressed in the sparkly glove he wore in practically all his concerts. I like Beat It and Thriller because when I experience those songs, I sing along!

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By Charlie

I am Boxy the Box and I find pleasure in sneaking up on innocent citizens in my community. Inhaling people is what I enjoy. The smiley face on my front inhales the humans, and the smiley spits them out as a box. Hiding in my box is another thing I enjoy.

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By Sydney

Behold! I am the world’s greatest eight-year-old championship boxer, Becky B. Boxer . I am planning on defeating the Great One on April 6, my lucky day. I am wearing a extra professional boxing robe will help me master my skills. My boxing skills are amazing! (At least I think that.) My fans appreciate them, and that’s what matters. By the way, the B. stands for Best. So it is Becky Best Boxer.

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By Paul

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By Sam

I’m Frankie the Phantom. There’s another killer phantom dwelling here in California, so I’m going to get her. I’ll sneak up on this human who calls herself a phantom while she’s slumbering. I'll eliminate the poor phantom. My next fleshy victim is my unfortunate sister. She embarrassed me when I was three in Sydney, Queensland, Australia. I will destroy her in no time. She will bow down and pay the consequences.

Ha! Ha! Ha!

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By Kate

I am a villager from the town of Matilha. For three moons, I have been surviving in the mountains by myself. My bow and arrow is so frail that if something goes wrong, it will break. The bow I made with a piece of string and willow. That's how I got my name. My friends in the villager will be excited to see me, and I long to be back home.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Which character did you enjoy reading about and why?

Which pose told the best story?

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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

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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?

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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.


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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.


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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?