IMPORTANT DATES UPDATE

Families, today's last field trip to the City Council building was very purposeful.  Students got advice on planning their islands from our Sustainability Director, Barbara Buffaloe, and we also learned a bit how city government works with a meeting with City Manager, Mike Matthes.  Students are spending the rest of the day working on their islands.  We also have a special performance today from the Music Makers, a relief foundation that supports musicians.  I have added some important dates to the right (including NO SCHOOL on Monday!) and the Travel Show next Friday.  See you all at the Grant School Blues Corps performance tomorrow at noon at Stephens Lake!

HAPPY ARTS N BLUES NIGHT!!! (followed by a long update)

The scene on the playground was festive!  What a great evening for Grant School!  I want to thank all the staff and family volunteers who organized this special event.  The kids have been practicing all week for their performance this weekend at the Roots n Blues BBQ festival.  Arts N Blues night helps support the fine arts at local schools and allows Ms. Sission to provide authentic arts experiences and learning opportunities for our All Stars.  Way to go, kids!  Way to go families!  Thanks TJ Wheeler!  We will see you this Saturday at Stephens Lake Park.

Our Blues Corps students also kept up with our academic load this week.  In reading, we practiced clarifying questions using short magazine articles supporting our community experience.  Articles included a piece on closing post offices, and forest firefighters.  Next week, we will have more time for reading our fiction books. 

For writing/ss, students primarily focused on drafting ideas for their Island Travel Brochure.  They used examples of past student brochures to help them brainstorm ideas.  Next week, we will create final copies of our Travel Brochures as we prepare to display our island work during the Travel Show next Friday afternoon, October 3.  At the Travel Show, we will also reveal our landform quilt from Art class with Ms. Christiansen.  Some students will also help edit websites from our Garden Ecosystem display so the display is ready to use at the annual CCUA Harvest Hootenanny. Students also addressed letters to our tour guides for all these field trips.  We are sending our helpers a thank you and an invitation to tour the Ecoschoolhouse!

During math, we practiced our large number and decimal subtraction and addition.  Most of our numbers and tasks during lessons came from measurements from our bird feeder science experiment or were related to our community experiences.  For example, we rounded times from the bus map and compared zip codes the day of the USPS trip.  We also had authentic task of subtracting decimals as we figured the weight of bird seed birds were eating out of our feeders. There will be a test over this unit next week.

Science this week consisted of four community field trips.  Photos of trips from this "Government Week" are on the CPBL link to the right.  This is our last week of trips!  We finish with time in the City Council room.  In one week, students have stood atop an ancient, immense limestone bluff and viewed historic limestone buildings downtown.  We viewed history of the city through art and relics.  Next week, we will finish our notes and reflect upon our observations.  We will also continue our bird feeder science experiment by looking at results, graphing and conclusions.

Part of my focus next week will also be settling into a classroom routine of all day focused classroom learning.  It will be great for our class to enjoy some more class learning time together as we close out a couple projects and look to the rest of the year.  I also will be preparing them for a substitute to take over as guest teacher for a time when my new baby daughter is born! 

SOLID COMMUNITY LEARNING

Today was a day of well integrated community learning.  We started our day practicing questioning and clarifying while reading a new Scholastic news article about forest firefighters. Next we practiced rounding decimals and subtracting decimals using information from the Columbia transit bus map. After lunch we observed resources at the Columbia fire department and learned about our local history at the Columbia bus station.  The bus station was built in 1910 from limestone blocks similar to the limestone cliffs we had class beneath last week. The students noticed many similarities of the bus station to the eco-schoolhouse such as reused materials, vaulted ceilings and a LEED Silver award (we have Gold!). Students may be drafting their paragraph about transportation for their island tonight. We even had a short lesson on matter as students learned about the triangle of fire and iron oxidation. Enjoy pictures below of our two classrooms from today:  

INSPIRATION!

Today was an impressive day of learning in the Ecoschoolhouse.  Students spent their morning observing Stewart Park with their preschool buddies.  The 5th graders assisted their young working friends with science tools to observe living and nonliving specimens in the park.  We celebrated our time viewing insects, plants, birds, and such with Chaco showing off his frisbee skills. 

After a walk back to the Ecoschoolhouse, we discussed the Commutative Property of Addition using decimals we recorded in the field yesterday observing stream organisms.  In the afternoon, students were very focused as they worked independently on their science notes from recent experiences.  We will use their notes to guide our discussion about our community science project for the year. 

I also met with every student today about reading and writing and on their island project. At the end of the day, we celebrated each student who made progress on their work habit goal for the week.  Every student was able to make a choice about how to end the day.  Most enjoyed free time on their new devices.  We discussed some appropriate use expectations and students had fun downloading a few fun apps to their device.  After all, we had been very professional and responsible with the iPads up so it was good to have the kiddos enjoy them in a personal way. 

Below you will see photos taken by students over the past 24 hours.  Students are organizing their scientific observations and questions of these expderiences.  After this time in the field, the kids did a wonderful job as focused learners in the afternoon today.  Enjoy!

This vulture shot was taken by an experienced student birder.

This prairie is burned in some Springs which helps promote native plants. We also observed a native plant rain garden this day.

We are seeing many more trees and rock on our walks.

This was the view of our classroom today!

This student appreciated the limestone landscape.

There is a lizard on the very edge of the cliff!

Jackson observed the tall tree on the left has a large nest.

I heard tales of a large caterpillar...

...and I'm so proud of this scientist for using their hand as a measurement landmark!  That's a big caterpillar!

This is a limestone cliff!

Scientists asked about plants growing in the cliff and we discussed the 3 types of rocks: sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous.

Okay, these bones are still in my science bag.  We will have to have an identification contest!

Great shot.

Scientist at work.

We have seen these grasshoppers often, as well as a longer, spotted brown one.

And yet another organism to identify!

We helped our preschool buddies observe with science tools.

Our buddies were already categorizing living and nonliving things before observed some together in observation jars. I was very pleased with how well our 5th grade All-Stars were serious in their job of modeling scientist behavior.  This a very successful buddy trip to Stewart Park.

GREAT BLUE HERONS, DRAGONFLY NYMPHS, SYCAMORES AND MOSQUITOES OH MY!

What a day!  Scientists shared great ideas in the field today.  We now have had 2 days of outdoors experiences.  Students have collected and observed stream and pond organisms, prairie insects and plants, and some impressive birds.  Many scientists have also noticed the forests around and how many trees have fallen.  Of course they are coming up with many questions and lists of natural resources.  At the same time, we have successfully added the new iPads to our experience.  In the field, students have reading, writing, math and social studies work loaded on their devices set in the context of our trip. This week we have worked on questioning in reading and reading nonfiction, writing descriptive words from the thesaurus and science notes, a math pretest and some adding and subtraction practice, and writing about our island in social studies. I was impressed especially with the kids today.  They have improved a lot with their observations and they were very inspired by the outdoors the past two days. Please enjoy the pics of all our trips on our 2014-2015 COMMUNITY PROJECT BASEd LEARNING link to the right.

OUTDOORS WEEK!

We start this week hot off the heels of our inspirations during our week of arts experiences.  This week, we will focus on outdoor experiences and observations while organizing our notes.  Below you can see the focus we will take in each subject.  Homework is becoming a challenge for many students.  Please know we will have homework assigned every night.

Reading: We will focus on Asking Questions as a reader through carious genres.  In 5th grade, we expect our readers to answer their questions, even with an inference or prediction.

Writing:  We will focus on descriptive phrases and words while completing our I AM poems.  We will apply our writing descriptions knowledge into our scientific descriptions in science.

Math:  Following our first unit test, we will make revisions and students will practice a few skills as needed before starting our next unit, focused on adding and subtracting decimals.  We have already been adding and subtracting decimals in science.

Science: We will continue to organize our community observations while planning our bird feeder experiment.

I will be sending home information about our outdoor field trips for this week which will be bus field trips on Wednesday and Thursday to local parks.

QUICK THINGS

Families, I wanted to make sure everyone was in the know about homework since there is homework assigned nightly.

1. Students write the same homework in their planner everyday as I post on the blog to the right.

2. The due date is always posted too. Notice some assignments are long range and some are due daily.

3. Even if students finish homework in class, I expect them to take it home to share with families.

4. I never want students to work more than 45 minutes at home.  If assignments cannot be finished, please write a not for me.

5. Usually, incomplete homework is finished during free time or independent work time.

6. Students who are absent will always have adequate time to make up work.

7. When I catch up with graded work I will send it home in the Friday Folder for families to view.  Students will bring back the graded work on Monday to file in their portfolios.

Please feel free to email or call me anytime if you have questions.

Enjoy this observation by students right in our own backyard.  Ysana and Lucy captured this image on a bush after lunch today.  We will take a closer look tomorrow.

BUSY WEEK AT GRANT!!

Families, I am excited to see everyone at the Grant School Potluck/Back to School Night from 5-7:30. There is a 5th grade parent iPad meeting starting at 4:45 in the Media Center.  This meeting will cover what parents need to do to set up their child's iPad.  There is a second iPad meeting on Thursday at 7:45 am covering the same information for those who need a morning time.

We had a nice day in the city today viewing a few iconic downtown spots.  Tomorrow, students will start organizing and reflecting on their notes about our downtown experiences.  You can see pictures of today by viewing the 2014-2015 tab to the right.  We will visit Lucky's on Wednesday and the Bridge/Artlandish on Friday.  See you tomorrow night!

ROLLING ALONG!

We finally finished our literacy assessments!  I now know the children a lot more as learners and individuals.  Soooo... desk change!  We will be moving around this Monday into new seats.  I must say I have been very impressed with the improvement we have made as a class in terms of transitions and staying focused during independent work time.  This week we will have even more independent work time since it is a full week and our field trips are shorter.  We will make a lot of academic progress this week in all subjects.  Here is what we are focusing on in each subject:

Reading: making predictions with various genres

Writing: I AM poem

Math: test on place value, ordering and comparing; practicing adding and subtracting decimals

SS: Geography from the text book, island maps

Science: experimental design with our bird feeders; organizing our place observations

I look forward to seeing families at the Potluck/Back to School night this Tuesday, September 9 from 5-7:30.

Check out the new Grant web page and find info about Tj Wheeler, our exciting Blues in the Schools at Grant week and the second annual Arts & Blues Night at Grant… http://www.cpsk12.org/gre 

THE WORLD IS YOUR CLASSROOM

Today we had a productive morning of work before heading out to observe on campus.  Upon walking below Memorial Union, Margaret spotted a poster advertising for study abroad.  The poster states our theme this year: ...the World is Your Classroom!"  So we had to take a class pic!

HAPPY LABOR DAY

I hope all have enjoyed their three day weekend.  We are right back to work today!

Most students finished their DWA today.  I was impressed with their focus as they finished writing a narrative about a time they experienced a strong emotion.  These will be graded and the results will help me know the students as writers.

We also started the DRA today.  We will finish our reading assessments this week and I am excited to learn about each student as a reader.

In math, we played a decimal game.  Kids have the cards to bring home and play at home.  Our recent math work revealed students are ready to practice decimal place value.  Each student has an independent work sheet to work on in the classroom too.  I crafted this work to match what each student showed me they could do on a pretest.

In social studies, I shared World Map scores with the students today.  Some students are bringing them home today to revise a few parts of their map.  Geographers can also start on their Island Map as well. We will have time in class this week to work on the Island Maps.  Today we looked over the scoring guide and theme calendar which each student has a copy of.  Each day we are also looking at various landforms and sometimes using those lessons to make math connections. For instance, today we looked at the average rainfall in various deserts around the world.

In recent science work we discussed scientists creating systems to study a scientific question.  We will be making bird feeder systems this week to study successful bird feeder designs.  I used experience to introduce some of the interesting science work students have done the past couple of years.  The pictures below are of students brainstorming their feeder designs.

 


Tomorrow we have a field trip to campus.  Students will observe the UMC children's garden and help plant spinach, weed, and view insects.  We will also tour the School of Natural Resources exhibits
Students will have work connected to these experiences.  Fun learning!