Travel Brochures

Today we created Travel Brochures containing information from the book, "The Greatest Wall of All." The students had to design the cover and on the inside they chose the most important information from the story. Next, we traveled around the room sharing our brochures with each other. Here are some interesting tidbits from the brochures:

• Fun Fact - By the time the Ming Wall was built they had simple machines called pulleys.
• The Great Wall of China was built to keep raiders out.
• No wall is tall enough to keep out modern planes and missiles.
• Make sure to bring your camera because it is such a pretty sight.
• The Great Wall had lots of rooms and stables for horses.
• You will see mountains, Chinese writing, and dirt
• 
  

Cooperative Groups

We finished day 4 of testing! One more to go! Whew! So instead of continuing to sit in our chairs to learn we worked on the floor, in the hallway, under tables and on the rug! Each group was assigned one chapter in the book, "The Greatest Wall of All." They had to read and determine the important information and then teach the rest of the class. Each group found a creative and innovative way to present thier information. Here are some examples: One group pretended to take a walk on the wall and wondered out loud about it. The wall responded with facts and information. Another great idea was pretending to be the teacher, teaching a group of students. Another group acted out the simple machines and tools used to build the wall.

Super Stars Classroom Wish List

I was asked by a parent to publish this list on the blog. Many thanks to those of you who have already contributed to the classroom. I appreciate all the things you do for me and for the classroom.

• paper towels
• Ziploc baggies (large and small)
• large glue sticks
• watercolor brushes
• clipboards
• dry-erase markers (fine point)
• pens (any color, any kind - we are writing so much the pens are all used up!!)

My special wish: a teaching tool called Megatimer with power adapter.

the 44th President!

We were all glued to the set as we watched Obama become the 44th President of the United States. There were moments of cheering, crying (mostly me) and prayer. The students were visibly moved by participating in this momentous occasion. It brought up many questions and great discussions about equality, Martin Luther King and what will happen in our future.

Place Value

Here we are working away with manipulatives. We are working in groups trying to count large numbers of place value blocks. The students developed a plan with their group and then implemented it. Great Job! We continue to explore numbers into the millions and next we will be working with decimals.

Spelling Bee

Congratulations on a job well done! D.O. and K. D. you made the Super Stars proud. It was very exciting sitting in the audience while you spelled the words. You were both great representatives for the class.

Building Our World

Our new planner How We Express Ourselves explores architecture. Today (since it was raining) we stayed inside and watched a video on United Streaming discussing lines and shapes in architecture. We used that information to create/design our dream house. The results are quite interesting.

2009!

The Super Stars did not hestitate for a second... they got right to work! We had a great day together and learned so much. We started by creating a pledge for our community.
I pledge allegiance
to the flag
of the Super Stars of Mark Twain
and to the school which it is in
to utilize my powers of
Friendship, Respect, Risk-Taking,
Cooperation and Patience.
To unite my community
by applying my attitudes
to the perimeter of our room
and beyond!
Next we delved back into multiplication and division facts. You can see from the pictures that your children were working hard. Our goal is to become experts at multiplication! I showed the students how to find websites listed on our blog to continue practicing facts at home.

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2009! I hope everyone had a wonderful break. I cannot wait to see everyone and hear all the stories about your holiday adventures.