4th Grade O.R.E.O. Project

We participated in the O.R.E.O. Project again this year with Projects by Jen.  Students stacked Oreos to see how high they could get.  We found the mean, median, mode, and range of the data.

We also made sculptures when we finished the math!

Our Days of Play

So, it started innocently enough.  I shared a book called Not a Box by Antoinette Portis.  The plan was to share the book, then students would create "something" from a cereal box.  From there, we would write stories about our projects.  Well, after reading the book, I showed "Caine's Arcade".  If you haven't seen it yet, you so should!  Caine and his fabulous cardboard arcade inspired all students 3-6 to create their own arcade games out of cardboard.  The projects took a few weeks, so we deviated from the plan, but that's ok.  We can totally do that!  Each grade level had their own Day of Play!

Week one - CHECK!

What a fabulous week with my Pathfinders classes!  We accomplished a lot and planned for the future. On the first day, students from 1st and 2nd grade came to Jamestown.  These students had some engineering fun with gumdrops, marshmallows, and toothpicks!

 They were also challenged to construct the longest linked chain with only a piece of construction paper and tape. Our winners chose a combination of big links and smaller links.  Congratulations, girls!

Before all this engineering, we discussed how the two sides of the brain work, then we made our own thinking caps!  Here are a few on the table:

On the right side, we wrote CREATIVE and on the left CRITICAL.  

3rd and 4th grade students missed our day together because I had training to attend to :(  However, this week is going to be fun for both them and me!

The big project that we worked on in both 5th and 6th grades is called Body of Needs Map.  We talked about Glasser and his five needs that all people have:  survival, fun, power, love and belonging, and freedom.  We made lists of things that we like to do by ourselves, with friends, and with family.  Then we got in groups of 3 or 4 and created a body map.  One person was traced and then the body was decorated creatively to include an example of each of the needs.

Sabal Pathfinders 2013-2014

So very excited for the start of this school year!  I have tons to learn, but am ready for the challenge!

New year...New Position

Although it is very hard to be as excited as I want to be, because of my teacher friends who do not have a position for next year yet, I am excited for my new position next year.  I will be the new teacher of the gifted and talented!  There will be all grade levels coming and going each week.  So many plans...so many ideas...so much work to do!  The Jamestown Blog needed to be revamped.  I like the template that I have chosen for our Pathfinders' blog.  Hopefully, this year more students will be posting.   Please send me any ideas that you might have!  I am truly blessed with wonderful teacher friends who are helping me get started on this new adventure!  Have a wonderful summer!  Next week, I am going to work in my classroom to ready it for its new inhabitants!

Before Spring Break...

Well, Spring Break is finally here!!!  I am not sure, but I am probably looking forward to a week off even more than my kids!

Before the break, we had lots of testing to do.  District Required Math and District Required Reading tests.  We practiced math and we reviewed skills learned from Unit 5 in reading.

This is our review chart to get us ready for the DRLA test.

For most of the week, we worked on projects that were fun and review:

Using tangrams after reading Grandfather Tang's Story

After reading about the moon, students did a Moon Fact Poster.  Some students chose to do the ABCs of the moon.  Great Job!

Caterpillar turns into butterfly:

Students wrote poems about butterflies.

To review test features, we used old Time for Kids magazines and made collages.  I love the title in the middle made from the magazines!

We had two students go to District fairs!

Kayla went to the District Art Fair.

Her hummingbird is incredible!  Congratulations!!!

Michael went to the District Science Fair...

He won second place in his division!!!  Congratulations!!!

Mayor James...proud teacher!

Enjoy your break from school!!!

February in Jamestown

Earlier this month, we went to Fort Christmas.  We learned about life in Early Florida...

We learned about the History of Florida Flags

Buddies!

King of the Tomahawk Toss!

Our first camp was all about weaponry!

A real Sioux...his great grandmother was born into the Sioux tribe.

...Valentine's Day...

Graphing Candy Conversation Hearts

February 26th is National Pink Shirt Day.  I learned this from Runde's Room.  She has a fabulous activity for talking about bullying from different perspectives...the bully, the bullied, and the bystander. We followed her plan and had discussions in groups, wrote an "I am" poem, and designed our own pink shirt.  Here is the link to the story behind National Pink Shirt Day and Ms. Runde's activity:

http://www.rundesroom.com/

My students had wonderful conversations, and did a fabulous job with the poems and t-shirts.  I am hoping this is a visual reminder of how we should treat each other.