Bird Report (Publishing)

Dear Families,

            We are happy to say that the writing of our bird projects is finally coming to a close.  Students have completed their rough drafts (and edited) and it is now time for the final step, publishing.  It is our hope that students will have their final drafts typed.  To make this possible, Ms. Pepitone and I would like to ask families to type up their child’s report.  I will take the time to format the reports, so all that is needed is a typed word document copy of the bird rough draft.

The end of the year bird report timeline:

·      Students/Parents type the rough draft of the bird report[1].

·      Parents email typed drafts to Mr. Erickson (nle@lclark.edu).

·      Bird Reports need to be typed and emailed to Mr. Erickson by the morning of Tuesday, May 21st.

Note: Please contact me with any questions or concerns regarding the ability to type student work.  Any student who does not have a typed report will hand write their final draft.  This is so each student will have a completed report for our upcoming publishing party.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Sincerely,

Nicholas Erickson

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[1]Common Core State Standard: W.2.6 With guidance and support from adults, students use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.

Special Interest Project (Michael Jordan)

Izak presented his special interest project on Michael Jordan.

[Five MVP awards, ten All-NBA First Team designations, nine All-Defensive First Team honors, fourteen NBA All-Star Game appearances, three All-Star Game MVP awards, ten scoring titles, three steals titles, six NBA Finals MVP awards, and the 1988 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award. He holds the NBA records for highest career regular season scoring average (30.12 points per game) and highest career playoff scoring average (33.45 points per game)]

Blue Heron Feed

To correspond with our Bird unit, we have been watching a live feed from a blue heron nest.  As of today, TWO eggs have hatched!

I will try to figure out how to embed the feed, but below is the link:

http://cams.allaboutbirds.org/channel/8/Great_Blue_Herons/

Special Interest (Mount St. Helens)

Yesterday (Wednesday) we had a special interest project by Jude on Mt. St. Helens.  

Franz

Last Friday we went on a walking field trip to Franz bakery.

The history of Franz Bakery

Getting ready for the tour

Special Interest Project (Turtles and Tortoises)

Yesterday we had a wonderful special interest project from Fox.  He created a poster and a booklet on the differences between tortoises and turtles.  He even had a very special guest to help him with his presentation, his tortoise Lazlo (a russian desert tortoise).

Bird Haikus (Continued)

Here are some additional bird haikus/paintings.

Raven

oh raven raven

oh black big Mighty  Raven

scraping claws so sharp

-Miles W

Black Capped Chickadee

Black Capped Chickadee

Snacking from my bird feeder

Hooping all around

-Moriah

Western Tanager

Northern Harrier

northern harrier

your are the fastest flyer

eating small things snakes

-Zoe

Brown Pelican

brown pelican diving

SPLASH filling it's pouch with fish

swallowing fish

-Sam

Classroom Update 5.7.13

Dear Families,

          We hope you have been enjoying the wonderful weather.  Here is our classroom update for the week of May 5th.

·We have swimming this Thursday (5/9).  We only have two more swimming times after this one!

·Friday (5/10) is our Franz Bakery field trip and there are two more spots for parent volunteers.  We will be eating lunch at Buckman, and will leave at 12:30 pm.

·This is a heads up that next week we will be sending home the bird reports.  It is our hope that you can help your student type up the report and email the document file (we will format and print them here).

·Next Wednesday (5/15) is a Late Opening.

Homework (due: 5/14):

·A math worksheet (on graphs)

·Reading log (20 minutes a night of reading)

·Daily writing journal (it is our goal to get 100% of the journals back!)

Sincerely,

Mr. Erickson and Ms. Pepitone

May Bulletin Board (Bird Haikus)

May is our classroom's month to adorn the bulletin board to the left of the office.  We decided to create  haikus about each students' bird with an accompanying watercolor.  These are just 10 of the 28 pieces (there are still a good number of students needing to finish), and the rest will be hung outside of our classroom.  The quality of each piece (both the poem and the painting) is astounding.  I am always thoroughly impressed the the artistic qualities of each student in my class.

Our Bulletin Board

California Quail

California quail
scratching at the ground for bugs
looking for worms

-Gillian

Cedar Waxwing

red spot on the wing
black mask stands out I love you
pretty in my eye

-Celia

Golden Eagle

endangered species
eat large number of rabbits
king of mountain top

-Asher

Pileated Woodpecker

woodpecker Peck Peck
are any insects home yet?
feasting on grubs bugs 

-Marlee

Red-Tailed Hawk

red tailed hawk up high
almost touching the sky then...
he dive he dives down 

-Fia

Western Meadowlark

western meadowlark
flies through the smooth air
songs like the wind 

-Mea

Peregrine Falcon

peregrine falcon
swiftly diving through the air
and punching its prey

-Tyler

Sandhill Cranes

Sandhill cranes so tall

reaching for the sky

spread out dancing wings

-Rosemary

Stellar's Jay

black crow king of birds

blue beak brave warrior bird

eats acorns and grains

-Daphne

Ruby Throated Hummingbird

Lost music spinning

Ruby throated hummingbird

flies past with a whoosh!

-Maddox

Japanese Maples

On Friday a parent was able to come into the class and talk to the students about tree starters.  He brought in some Japanese Maple starts and a few students were able to make one of their own to take home.

Upcoming Projects

With the year coming to a close, we have many projects in the pipeline.  To help students keep their assignements organized, I have compiled a list of the upcoming project components (this does not include the final project, a revisiting of personal narratives).

Project Components:

Bird Report:

[  ] Take bird notes
[  ] Write bird report rough draft
[  ] Edit and revise rough draft
[  ] Sketches and diagrams (at least one for each section)

Bird Haiku:
[  ] Write haiku rough draft
[  ] Revise and edit rough draft
[  ] Sketch bird
[  ] Watercolor bird
[  ] Final draft of haiku

Book Report:
[  ] Choose book (either one you have already read or finish reading a book for your report)
[  ] Use sticky notes to mark important places in your book
[  ] Write rough draft of report
[  ] Revise and edit your report
[  ] Final draft of report

Book Report

In addition to our bird report, our class is also starting book reports.  This additional project allows for choice during work time and multiple means of showcasing reading comprehension.


Book Report

Be sure to include:
[  ] Name: 
[  ] Book Title:
[  ] Author:
[  ] Setting:  The story’s time and place (provide examples).
[  ] Story Summary:  Write about the main events/parts of a story, giving an outline and description of what happened. Be sure to include Beginning, Middle, and End.
[  ] Main Characters:  List the main characters in the story.  Write their names and a short description about each.
[  ] Book Recommendation:  Would you recommend it to your friends?  Why?


In addition, choose 3 options from the menu to include in your report.  Each answer must be written in complete sentences (at least 4 sentences):
o Favorite Part
o Least Favorite Part
o Fancy Words to Remember and/or to Use Later (write at least 3 words, with definitions)
o Illustrate a scene from the book.
o Draw the main character (What do they look like?).  Be sure to include their age and personality (use quotes from the book).

Homework (4/30 - 5/7)

One piece of homework for this week (4/30 - 5/7) is a packet of math story problems.  

It is important that students show their work using numbers, pictures, or words:

1. Diane wants to buy a package of cookies. The cookies cost 65 cents. Diane has 27cents. How much more money does she need?

2. Andy had 31 Pokémon cards. His dad gave him some more. Then Andy had 50 Pokémon cards.  How many Pokémon cards did Andy get from his dad?

3. Zachary made 47 push-ups in gym class today.  David did 15 more push-ups than Zachary.  How many push-ups did David do?

4. The second grade class keeps track of all the pages they read.  They read 579 pages in March.  They read 145 more pages in April than in March.  How many pages did the second graders read in April?

5. 52 children and 29 adults went to the Timbers game.  The stadium has 95 seats.  How many seats were empty?

6. Kendra learns 12 new spelling words each week. Her goal is to learn 60 new words before her eighth birthday. She has already learned 36 new words. How many more words does Kendra need to learn?

7. The library purchased 320 new books this year.  168 of the new books are fiction.  How many of the new books are not fiction?

8. Evan has a large collection of books. He gave his best friend 14 books. He gave his little brother 8 books. Now Evan has 60 books in his collection. How many books did he have at first?

9. 94 students signed up for computer classes. There were 24 second graders and 29 third graders. The rest of the students were fourth graders. How many fourth graders took computer classes?

Sewing Project (Hand-Sewn Potholders)

Hand-Sewn Potholders:

Here is a step-by-step guide to our project (with fantastic accompanying visuals).

After the students hand sewed and ironed their tops, Maureen helped them use the sewing machine to finish making their pot-holders.

Sewing in the Classroom

Today we continued on with a sewing project that we started on Friday.  Maureen (who helped us make our quilt) came in to teach the students how to sew.

[Note: As you can tell, these pictures were taken on Crazy Hair Day]