Check out my avatar for this month. These past couple of weeks I have been trying to set up a fifth grade blog. I have designed one using blogspot, however the students cannot comment...it is blocked. I have tried several times to have it unblocked without success. So if at first you don't succeed try, try again. I created another blog on edublog. One of the techs from our school system told me these were not blocked. I set it up so my groups of fifth graders could try it out. We (I should say "I")was very slow at walking them through it but we were successful!!!!! In the meantime, I revised my teacher web site but I needed to download a new version of Windows. The techs said I couldn't do that...so I re-created my own version of the old and I added a blog and photo gallery for parents and it is password protected. While I am learning new things each day, it is still not enough to keep up in this tech savvy world of ours. I must have over 9 blogs, websites, and portfolios to manage....whew! Any way, check out my teacher web at: http://www.highcroftes.wcpss.net/ click on the media center link which will show a photo of the doors of our media center. Click to enter and you will be directed to my new teacher web. Choose from the sidebar to direct you to learn about our media center. I will be posting more photos this week so please stop by. Students will be blogging from this site since it is EXTREMELY protected from public viewing. They will get their passwords beginning next week.
As for the other classes...
Fourth and Third graders have been enjoying reads from Roald Dahl. In fourth grade we are reading Danny, the Champion of the World and will continue that for sometime. Third Graders are reading The Giraffe, the Pelly, and Me which is about a little boy who wants to own his own grubber shop....(ask your kids:)
We have accessed the official Roald Dahl website and have read his biography, viewed his photo album and have completed his comparison question game titled "About Roald Dahl." The "treats" link on the website is controlled and blocked by our school system. However I shared with the students they could possibly ask their parents to view and complete the registration together to log in and play some of the games at home. (They are all based on Roald Dahl's books.)
Second graders are continuing their journey through reading books by Patricia Polacco. Her ideas for her stories come from her personal experiences as a child living in Michigan and California with her mother, bubby, grandfather, and rotten redheaded older brother, Richard. I sent home a recipe for Thunder Cake hoping the students might be allowed to try out the recipe with help. Two second grades will be reading Thunder Cake this week.
First graders have been learning the difference between fiction and nonfiction books. We have also discussed title pages and the information you can find on those pages (how we use this information will be discussed much later).
Right now we are on a fact finding journey:) We have also read many of the Rotten Ralph books by Jack Gantos and discussed how Ralph's behavior can really be rotten at times. Students share how Ralph could act differently.
Right now we are on a fact finding journey:) We have also read many of the Rotten Ralph books by Jack Gantos and discussed how Ralph's behavior can really be rotten at times. Students share how Ralph could act differently.
Kindergarteners are continuing to read books written by Eric Carle. Most classes have read the following: Very Busy Spider, Very Lonely Firefly, Very Quiet Cricket, House for Hermit Crab, 10 Little Rubber Ducks (based on a true story), and From Head to Toe. Book care, selection, and return are discussed each class period. Fingerplays and songs are introduced in each class as well and we have also done the Hokey Pokey! Time flies when you have fun!
