Week 11 Highlights

Hello Room 307 Families!  Ms. Trapp here.  It's hard to believe that it's almost the end of November... where has this month gone?!  Before I recap our week, I just wanted to say a thank you to all of the families who let me participate in their student's conference this past week.  It was a wonderful opportunity for me to get to learn more about you and your students.  I'm very excited to get to know each family better throughout this year!

We ended the week with a fun field trip to 826 Seattle which recently changed its name to The Greater Seattle Bureau of Fearless Ideas.  Our class was actually the first group to visit after they changed their name!  Students worked collaboratively as a class to create their first own Choose Your Own Adventure story.  We wrote the beginning of the adventure all together and then broke up into groups to create the different story pathways.  Each student received a published copy of the class book - ask your student to share their copy of The Mysterious House at the End of the Cul-de-Sac!

We also held our second annual Thanksgiving Feast Potluck on Friday!  Students enjoyed a delicious meal together and shared some of the things they are thankful for.  Thank you to all of the families who made our feast possible!

Here are some of this week's other highlights...

Highlights:
-In math, we have switched over to small group and individual instruction.  Students are really enjoying the personal lessons as we continue our work with fractions.
-We introduced the USA Studies Weekly newspapers we will be reading as part of our nonfiction reading unit.  This week's theme was geography.  Students read about different types of maps and analyzed map perspectives.

-In Toy Company (our economics unit), students worked on creating names and slogans for their companies.  They also started designing their products.  In the coming weeks, students will put together formal product proposals and begin producing their toys.

Reminders:
-There is no school the week of November 24th - November 28th due to parent teacher conferences!

-We had a Dental Education presentation on Friday - please return the form if you would like your child to receive a dental checkup (during school hours) and teeth brushed with fluoride!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Week 10 Highlights

Hello Room 307 Families!  Ms. Trapp here.  This week was a busy week in 307 as we dove into a number of brand new units.

Highlights:
-In social studies, we began our new Civics unit by discussing the three branches of government in the United States.  Students sorted the different roles of the branches and made mobiles to represent the system of checks and balances in our government.  We ended the week by simulating the process for a bill to become a law.  Here are two students working on their three branches of government web-quest!

-In math, we are transitioning into more small group and individualized instruction as we begin our fractions unit.  This week, students worked on finding like and equivalent fractions, and began adding unlike fractions.
-We started a mini-unit in economics, Toy Company, this week as well.  Students spent time thinking about all of the different departments a company might need to run successfully.  Students chose which toy they were passionate about and began working together to create a charter for how their company would run.  Ask your students about their new company!

-This week, we also started a new nonfiction reading unit.  We did a scavenger hunt of nonfiction text features and learned how to take notes from nonfiction text. 

Reminders:
-Have your students wear their Discover Dance t-shirts on Monday to support the second graders who performed at McCaw Hall this weekend!
-If you have not done so, please turn in the pink permission slip for the field trip this Thursday to 826 Seattle!

Student Post #4: 5th Grade Camp & 4th Grade Adventure!

Last week the fifth graders went to Camp Orkila.  Here are some memories from the fifth graders:

Tyrese: There was this giant swing that goes up really high.  If you pull a level handle, you go swinging down.

Asa: My favorite part about camp was the zipline.  At first, I thought it was really scary because the place said that the zipline is 1,000 feet long.  So then I got really scared.  Then I had to go on because I was already latched on.  So then I said 3, 2, 1.  I was off and gone: it was fun!

Dane: I loved fifth grade camp.  I think the zipline was still scary even though I'm still alive.  I did tons of cool stuff.  Too bad I can't go to fifth grade camp again.

Jesse: At camp, we had a wonderful time.  When I went to the big swing I screamed, but we had a great time!  And my partner, Lydia was super nice and funny.  Although I was not with Tiana, I had a great time.  The zipline was very fun.  I went with Dane, I mostly hung out with Finn and Dane.  the food was also great.

Tamala: Camp was great.  Me, Amaija, Samara, Mya, and Brooklyn did a talent show.  There was this big swing where it dropped you down and swung you back and forth.  I mostly hung out with Mya.  It was so cool where we got to go in the kitch and grab the food for our table.  I was so sad when we had to leave.

Mya: I loved fifth grade camp, it was amazing!  We did a lot of game.  My favorite game was animal touch, because you can touch animals and feed them food.  The dinner and lunch was amazing.  The last night of fifth grade camp, we went to a talent show.  We also played a game called "Anything, Anything, Anything" and you would act out anything you want.  Then we all left.  We had a great time there!

Floyd: I liked fifth grade camp, because it was full of activities I like.  The ones I liked are: archery, because I am good at it.  The zipline, and the giant swing.  Camp was wet a lot, and I got wet.  It was fun.

Lucy:  Fifth grade camp was so much fun!  There were so many amazing activities!  Two of my favorites were the Giant Swing (I wish I went higher), and the zipline (I wish it was longer).  Camp was awesome!

Amaija: Camp was really fun.  I bonded with people who I mostly don't talk to.  I made new friends and went on the zipline.  I also got to know more about Roslyn and other kids.

Brooklyn: I loved camp, it was so much fun, I wish I could go back in time.  My favorite thing was the zipline and giant swing!

* * * * * 

While we were gone, the fourth graders had an adventure of their own with other fourth graders.

Noah: When the fifth graders were gone, it was interesting.  We spent a lot of time reading.  We also made peace cranes because we read Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes.  The paper cranes were fun to make.  I'm glad the fifth graders are back!

Check back next week to see what we blog about!

Your new Class Bloggers/Journalists,
Brooklyn & Tamala

Week 9 Highlights

This week in Room 307 we wrapped up many of our units and spent time outside for some more gardening with our Leschi Garden coordinator, Kim Blakemore. The weather held up for the most part, and students were able to build trellises and help weed and tend the garden. It is always such a nice change of pace to be outdoors and learning with our hands and working cooperatively in groups!

Finishing up our content area units means that we are starting new ones this week! Here are some of the updates:

Highlights:
-Realistic fiction published pieces are due on Monday and we will be embarking on a new social studies and writing integrated unit on civics! Using the election day this past week as a starting point, we will be learning about the three branches of government, Constitution, past presidents, and role playing different members in our government. The next couple of weeks will be spent learning about all of these topics, and after our fall conferences, students will be writing expert books/research papers on a topic of choice within our civics unit. This nonfiction unit will be a very different change of pace from our previous narrative writing.

-Math will transition more into small groups and individual lessons in the next coming weeks! We have started our fractions unit and students will need much hands-on practice and individualized instruction.
-As we ended our science unit on Models & Designs with our final go-cart challenges, we will begin another new social studies unit: Toy Company. This mini-unit is geared towards economics and learning how businesses work. Please ask your child about what role they play in the Toy Company and what item they will be selling in the next coming weeks - it will be exciting and engaging for all of us!

-We finished up our character unit along with our read aloud Something to Hold. Students completed a final project where they collaboratively with their reading partner designed and authored a poster recreating an Amazon Book Listing. Click here for the actual Amazon page, and up in our hallway, we will have our posters up - please check them out! Here are students working on their posters. It was amazing for me watch students work so well together without much guidance from me at all: they compromised when needed, shared the workload without me assigning, and figured out their strengths and weaknesses to divvy up the work.

-Veterans Day is on Tuesday, and in our classroom this week, we did a web-quest to learn more information about its history and why we celebrate this important day. Web-quests are inquiry-oriented lessons/projects where students research information using the internet in a guided format. We will be working on more web-quests throughout this year to hone our research skills and prepare for the Smarter Balanced Assessment in the spring!

Reminder: please return the pink field trip form this week for 826 Seattle. Also, thank you to parents who signed up to bring potlucks items for our Thanksgiving Lunch next Friday, 11/21!

Week 8 Highlights

Happy November! October was a jam-packed month full of activities and lots of events! 5th graders just returned from camp on Friday afternoon, and we had a wonderful time. I will post pictures along with a student post in the following week. Because we had a short week (two days) in the classroom, this will be a short post with a longer "Camp Highlights" post that will follow...

Highlights:
-We had our math test on Tuesday before we left for camp. We will look over our tests and students will have a chance to retake their tests if they did not receive 80% or higher.
-Go-cart challenges were in full swing on Monday and Tuesday with building self-propelled go-carts using rubber bands. This week, we will be wrapping up our Models & Designs science unit.

-On Tuesday, we also celebrated the end of October with some fall activities! We made caramel apples, and decorated our own mini-pumpkins. It was so fun to see students get creative and use the different supplies we had to decorate their pumpkins. Yes, 4th and 5th graders need to have fun with arts and crafts too! :).  Thank you to families who helped being apples on such a short notice!

-Lastly, we will have our second annual Thanksgiving Potluck on Friday, 11/21! If you are able, please sign up using Volunteer Spot to bring an item to share with the class.  Here is a picture of our spread from last year!  Yum!!

Thank you for reading and look forward to the next post!

Student Post #3: Welcome Mrs. Schlick Noe!

Here is the interview with Mrs. Schlick Noe, author of Something to Hold (our class read aloud) as promised!

Interview with KSN:
Q: What do you want us to call you?
A: Mrs. Schlick Noe

Q: What was Ms. Staab like as a student?
A: She was nice and worked well; imagine someone proud and kind to all.

Q: Was Tela a real person?
A: No, Tela wasn't a real person.

Q: Were Jewel and Raymond real?
A: They were based on 2 kids in my class.

Q: Was Walter real?
A: Oh no. He is terrible...

Q: Did you actually live on the reservation?
A: Yes, I lived there from 2nd to 6th grade; my father was a forester.

Q: Was your nickname Kitty?
A: Yes

Q: Was Pinky real?
A: Yes, she is still my friend today.

Q: Was Mr. Nute real?
A: He was based on a teacher who was good.

Q: Was Ms. Anthony real?
A: She was based on a real teacher I had.

Q: Is Sidwalter real?
A: Yes, and I have been there.

Lucy and Jesse's Personal Interview:
Q: How long did it take and was it hard to fit in?
A: It took a long time; I was really shy...

Q: How long did it take to write the book?
A: 14 YEARS!!!!!!

Thanks for reading our class blog this week!
Lucy and Jesse :)

Week 7 Highlights

Room 307 spent a lot of time outdoors this week! On Monday, we had our first Garden Club Class led by Kim Blakemore. She will be partnering with graduate school students to teach our class about water conservation and other forestry/environmental topics this year. Garden Club will happen once a month on a Monday. This time, we helped to thin out our Leschi Garden, find worms to put in our garden, trim some of the dead herbs, weed, and plant tulips! Here are some of the pictures from our time on Monday. If you would like to stay connected with our Leschi Garden website, please click here to check it out!

Yesterday (Friday), we went out to Peppi's Woods with one of the forest stewards, Jana, who led us through planting some native plants in Peppi's. Thank you to the families who came out to help make this happen in an organized fashion. It is so wonderful to be able to spend time outside to learn more about our backyard, Peppi's Woods!

Something different this week was that we had several guests come to observe our classroom! Ms. Trapp (our Resident Teacher) was spending time going to different schools, and other STR Residents came to see how Room 307 works! Students enjoyed having new teachers in the classroom and getting to know some of them. Ms. Trapp will be back with us next week!

This upcoming week, 5th graders will be going to camp from Wednesday-Friday! If you are a 5th grade family, please make sure that your child is packed up and ready to go days in advance. I would spend this weekend packing together, learning how to roll up/pack the sleeping bag, and making sure that everything they need is packed. If you need a packing list, please ask me! If you are a 4th grade family, your child will be with other 4th graders in our school with several substitute teachers. Those three days may look a bit different from our normal schedule in 307, but it should be a good time getting to know other 4th graders at Leschi.

Highlights:
-Writing: we have just a couple more weeks to draft and finish up our realistic fiction stories. Students have been really engaged in this unit and getting to make up many conflicts/struggles for the character in their story to make it really interesting for the reader. This was one of the tips that our guest author gave up when she came to visit on Tuesday. More about that in the Reading section!
-Math: students in Stanford/Princeton groups are working on their chapter review/study guides to prep for our Unit 2 test! Harvard students are working on long division and multiplication - please continue to practice these skills and concepts at home!
-Reading: we had a special guest author come in on Tuesday for a presentation! It was extra special for me because this guest is not only the author of our current read aloud: Something to Hold, but because she was my literacy professor in my graduate program for teaching at Seattle University! Katherine Schlick Noe came to read from her book and share about her life as she wrote about it in her novel. Students were SO excited to be able to meet her and ask her questions about how much of her novel was true. Our class bloggers/journalists took notes during the Q & A session as well as interview her privately. Please look forward to that post coming up! Katherine Schlick Noe is also the author of many teaching books on Literature Circles (book clubs, which I am a huge fan of)! Here is a link to her personal website if you would like to know more about her work: Katherine's website.