Mr. Klein's 5th Grade Blog

For a little change of pace, I’ve decided to change the look of the blog.  don’t worry though, all the features still remain!  Unlike the prior theme, the links to homework, forums, and documents are located on the right hand side instead of the top under the “Blog Pages” heading.  Other than that, nothing has changed!  Let me know what you think of the new layout…yeah?  Nay?  Yahoo?  Kazoo? 

Edit:  Looking at it now, let me know if the center column is too thin.  May just be my computer right now.  There is a second theme I was thinking of trying.  I might give that a shot as well.

Today was a interesting day! To start off the day we had P.E with Ms.Turvey. In P.E we were practicing our dribbling. At the end of P.E  we played keep away. After P.E we went to math. I have Mrs. Guerinni for math. Mrs. Guerinni’s replacing Mrs. Honiotes because she moved to Kansas City, Missuori. In math we went over our study guide for our test on Thursday. Afterwards we had writing. In writing we learned about matching voice and purpose so the letter you are writing make sense to the person you’re writing it to. We didn’t have reading today because we had full band. I’m in percussion. We had recess next. During recess some people played chess and some people drew on the board. Our class can’t play silent ball because too many people complain. After recess and lunch it was intervetion time. I go to Mrs. Munson for intervention but today she had to go discovery testing with the kindergarters so we played Scrabble in the hallway. In social studies our class learned about King George the 3rd not letting the colonist go on their land. That was called The Proclamation for 1763. Then the day ended nice and quietly.

                             Abby #23

Today was an exciting day! In the morning, we had art. We were coloring everday objects in different colors. After art, we had math. My math teacher is Mrs.Wagnon and in her math class we were studying transformation. We did a fun activity and watched a video to enjoy the lesson. Following math, we had reading. I worked on my literature circle packet and read The Westing Game. After reading, we had writing and made a poster about the Revolutionary War. After writing, we had lunch and recess. At first we played silentball but after a few minutes we had to go to Mrs.Demick’s room for the rest of recess. After lunch and recess we had intervention. I don’t go to another class for intervention, I go to Mrs.Munson. After intervention we had social studies and worked on our French and Indian War booklet. Following that, we did a little event with M&M’s, colonists, tax collectors, Parliament, and a King (in this case, Queen). After that, we ended the day with eating M&M’s and talking.

By: Matt #9

*Work In Progress*

I bet that got your attention!  What can I say?  I have not been getting entries up as quickly as I would have liked and now and a sizable backlog of some amazing student activities that I would like to share with the world.  From plenty of work in the room, out of the room, and many missed days this past quarter, I’ve been playing catch-up and the blog has suffered a bit.  But no more!!!

With the start of the new year comes a new blog.  Not “new” in the literal sense.  It is still the same blog, but changes will be happing more often.  Posts will be appearing more regularly.  You guys will have a part in getting your own entries up here, and hopefully we’ll see some more interaction going on in the forums!

If you are interested in taking on some blogging entries of your own, as some of the wonderful writers did last year, please come see me for information.  With the blogging form, the blogger’s digital camera, and a little creativity, you can be a published writer on our website!

You should have followed my advice!  Now one of the many monsters the word wizards have created may be “write” behind you.  For our most recent writing project, students were putting their organization and paragraphing skills to the tests as they imagined an encounter with a monster.  Students then recreated the experience, explaining how the encounter occured, what the monster looked like, and what the result was.  Students used a variety of organizers to help develop organize their thoughts and develop their paragraphs.  The revision process had the writers reading their description to a partner while they drew a picture based on the details.  From the picture, the writers went back to the drawing board to revise their writing include any missing features that were not included.

Once all the writing was completed, students built their monsters (Rise Frankenstein!).  The monsters were hung throughout the classroom giving the room a very spooky aura for the holiday season.  I was amazed at how well  the word wizards’ descriptions matched their physical monsters.  It was not difficult to spot the monster lurking around!

Take a peek below to see the monsters as they are constructed.

In Social Studies, our explorers have been taking a look at the first people to settle in the Americas. Our discussion began WAY back during the last Ice Age when the Bering Land Bridge allowed early man to cross over to the Americas from Asia. We talked about how those people followed the migration of their food (woolly mammoths!) and slowly worked their way south over thousands of years. As the mammoths died out, these early settlers discovered farming and began creating expansive civilizations. Many of these groups have evolved into the Native American tribes we see now.

Students took a look at the natural resources available to the Native Americans and how they used those resources to create art. That discussion led into fun! Just as pictographs were used as a means of expressions and communication back then, student created their own pictograph plates to say a little bit about themselves. Take a look at some of the creations below and ask your little explorer what they chose to put on their piece of art!

Be sure to click “Read the rest of this entry>” to see more pictures!

**Picture being added**

In our most recent writing project, our wonder writers took a close look at holidays.  What makes a holiday special?  Is it the traditions?  The smells?  The food?  We discussed some common holidays and some characteristics that “pop out” when thinking of it.  After reading a sample from a previous student (Leaf Day!!!), students used some think-time to brainstorm some things they enjoy.  Using one of those ideas a theme, students decided upon a holiday name.

I saw some really exciting, and tasty, examples ranging from Candy Day to Cheese Day  (think nachos, cheese fries, and all sorts of cheesy goodness!).  Keeping with the theme of ideas, students then began brainstorming using a word web.  What is the story behind the holiday?  What does it celebrate?  Are there any symbols associated with it?  Using those ideas as a base, students developed a rough draft organizing those thoughts.  Our mini-authors then paired up to peer edit their papers looking for any ways to improve upon the writing.  Finally, students composed wonderfully written final drafts with an accompanying illustration of their special holiday.  Take a look and see what they created!

Have you ever been to Cabbageland?  How about WWE Island?  Snowball Island?  If not, don’t worry.  You have not been missing out on any worldly travels.  What you have been missing out on our our wacky maps!

For this project, students applied their knowledge of geographical landforms and map features to develop a country of their own.  This country was based around a theme, ranging from cars to candy to (oddly!) cabbage!  Each feature on the map was named in relation to this theme.  For example a mountain may be called Milky Way Mountain or a river could be referred to as Racing River.  Each map included a set of specific features including a map key, compass rose, 8 landforms, scale, and title.  The way in which students applied these features was open-ended…and did the creativity flow!  Take a peek below to see some of the creative (and crazy) countries created by some of the students!

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Latitude, longitude, prime meridian, continents, ocean…how do we keep all these terms straight, or spherical for that matter?!?!  Our most recent unit in social studies explored these major concepts in geography.  Knowledge of these concepts will help us better understand the inter-relationship between the United States and countries throughout the world.  What features of the North America first grabbed early explorers’ attention?  Why did specific types of industry develop in certain areas of the country?  What were the geographical benefits of the United States working with the country of Panama?  These questions, and many others, can be explained in geographical terms!

As a cumulative project in the unit, students created mini-worlds using balloons.  On the balloons they included all the major geographical landmarks and concepts explored in class.  With a little creativity and a lot of effort, student had the whole world in their hands!

Take a peek below to see the worlds forming!

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