Tuesday Tic Tac Toe

Even if you can't make it to the celebration at the Warwick Mall this Saturday, you can download lots of Dr. Seuss games and puzzles at seussville.com.

Here are some of the students who came to the library on Tuesday having fun figuring out word searches, opposites, mazes, and tic tac toe. I couldn't decide on which pictures to use of the Room 1 tic tac toe table, because they all have such great facial expressions, so I posted a whole bunch. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

  

Tour the World with CultureGrams

After using the atlas to locate countries on a world map, fourth-graders are learning more about the history and culture of their countries. For example:

• Spanish children wait for Ratoncito Perez, the tooth mouse, to exchange their lost teeth for gifts.
• Japan gets hit by more than 1,000 earthquakes each year - an average of three a day!
• Every Icelander is required by law to learn how to swim.
• Most of Canada's population lives within 100 miles of the US border.
• The president of Argentina lives in a pink house.
• India's national fruit is the mango.
• In Wales, there are more sheep than people.
• There are ancient pyramids still standing in Sudan.
• Bhutan is the only country to outlaw tobacco.
• The word "Mali" means "hippopotamus" in the Bambara language.
• Pets outnumber children in France.

How did they find this information? By using CultureGrams! This online resource is written and reviewed by natives and updated every year to ensure that it reflects the most accurate information (for example, South Sudan is already included).

It includes slideshows, interviews, national anthems, and all kinds of charts and tools like currency converters.

To use CultureGrams at home, you can follow the link under "Reference/Resources" on the Garden City RICAT page, or just click here.

See Ms. Moore for the user name and password if you forgot it.

Have fun exploring the world! If you find out something especially fascinating, feel free to share in the comments below.

Celebrate Read Across America on March 1!

The National Education Association (NEA) sponsors the Read Across America event each year on or near March 2, the birthday of beloved children's author Dr. Seuss, who epitomizes a love of learning.

NEARI will celebrate Read Across America on March 1, at Warwick Mall.

The fun begins at 10:00 a.m. and continues until 4:00 p.m. Read Across America is free to the public and includes stickers for every child; a chance to register to win prizes donated by NEARI; puzzle and activity sheets, and reading advice for parents; a book give-away table, sponsored by NEARI education support professionals; and an opportunity to visit and pose with Cat in the Hat herself.

As the Saying Goes ...

We are discussing paraphrasing in 6th grade, and I gave Room 14 a challenge: the team that could translate the most reworded idiomatic expressions from an 8-sentence list would win STICKERS.

For example, can you figure out what proverb can be paraphrased as "Exercise your visual facilities prior to executing a jump."?

Answer: "Look before you leap."

See the full list here.

This assignment made it clear that we need some more advanced dictionaries in the library to look up words like hemoglobin and viscous (as in "Blood is thicker than water.").

Here the kids are at work:

Tied for first place.

Tied for first place.

Common Core standards addressed: L.6.4 - Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 6 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies; L.6.4a - Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence or paragraph; a word’s position or function in a sentence) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase; L.6.4c - Consult reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning or its part of speech; L.6.5 - Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

Room 14 Sticker Faces

Who knew that 6th graders still loved stickers? Behold:

Room 5 Mittens

Today we read The Mitten by Jan Brett, which is about EIGHT different animals who squeeze into one mitten to keep warm and cozy. We could not even believe that they all fit.

Then the students colored a mitten and set of animals to take home and retell the story to their families. Many thanks to my 6th-grade volunteers Sharon and Erode for helping to cut and glue all the mittens this morning. You can find the printables here.

And here are the students in action:

First Checkout for AM K

AM K had their first checkout today. They did so well with the new procedure, I was very proud of them! 

More PM K Pigeons

 

More AM K Pigeons

I just found another folder of photos. Enjoy ... the most useful tips are at the end.

 

 

Grade 5 Advertising Agency

The Superbowl is tonight, and part of the draw isn't the football, but the commercials. Advertisers pay dearly for the opportunity; in 2013, a 30-second spot cost $4 million. While most of the ads are entertaining, they're still trying to get viewers to do or believe something.

Fifth-graders learned about three advertising tactics to be aware of: exaggeration, generalization, and scare tactics. They suggested TV commercials they liked, and we analyzed the ways in which they tried to convince us to buy their product. For example, the Old Spice Moms commercial uses exaggeration (and led to a discussion on brand repositioning), while the Pepsi One Direction/Drew Brees commercial uses celebrity endorsement as a generalization tactic (and covers two major demographics in one spot).

Then they created their own ads using at least one of these tactics:

 

  

Please note, I do not really poke kids with sticks!

Extra credit opportunity: If you watch the Superbowl (or the Puppy Bowl!), make a note of ads you like and ads you don't. Leave a note in Ms. Moore's box with the following information:

1. Product or service being advertised
2. Why you liked the ad
3. Any tactics you noticed

Common Core standards addressed:  RL.5.6 - Describe how a narrator’s or speaker’s point of view influences how events are described. / RL.5.7 - Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text / RI.5.8 - Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text..