Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to  yours!

Enjoy the beautiful snow!

Throw a few snowballs for me!

More Reading Congrats!

 

November Book-It Goal Met!

Camden, Zach, and Trystan!

Alexis - 50 Point Club

Trystan - 25 Point Club

More Coming Soon!

Multiplication Matters

Our current unit of study in Mathematics is Multiplication. Students are working hard to learn with automaticity (knowing the answer within three to five seconds) the multiplication facts from 0-10. In addition to the tasks we complete in class, I've been sharing some online games to help students practice the multiplication facts.

Car Wash

Moles

 

Math Magician

This is the one we use most often! 

Flight of the Knight

 

 The Knight and the Princess

 

Jungle Jim

The Table Trees

 

Diaper Derby

Georgia on Our Minds!

We are happy to present to you our completed Georgia Habitats display! We worked diligently for 10 weeks exploring each habitat and learning what make each one unique to the animals found there. We created a hall display to show the plant and animals in each habitat. We worked in small groups to create posters for each habitat with important facts you should know. Here are a few photos from our display!

 

For more information about the habitats in Georgia, click on the links below!

Coast and Barrier Islands

Mountains

Swamp

Piedmont

Atlantic Ocean

Red Ribbon Week

Gilbert Elementary School celebrated Red Ribbon Week the week of October 25-29th. Students had fun dressing up each day to show our promise and commitment to being DRUG FREE! Each classroom was challenged to create their own slogan and decorate classroom doors with that theme. We came up with "No Bones About It - We're drug-free!" Enjoy the slide show of photos from Friday's book character dress up and red balloon release!

1st Nine Academic Pep Rally

Here are some photos taken during our first Academic Pep Rally in October. Congrats to everyone for working so hard!

Reading Congratulations!

 

 Congrats to Camden for earning his 25 point tag! 

 Congrats to Alexis and Isaiah for meeting the Book It goal for October!

 Congrats to Alexis and Isaiah on meeting the Book It goal for November!

Writer's Workshop

We have been working on informational writing for the past few weeks. Mrs. Massey shared a lesson with us that helped us immensely! She said to visualize our paragraph as a hamburger. I know it sounds strange, but it really works. When you are making a hamburger, you always start with the bun. In writing, we start with a topic sentence. So in keeping with her analogy, our topic sentence is our bun.

The "meat" is our first major detail. The lettuce and tomato are details two and three. The you end with the other "bun" or closing sentence which restates your topic sentence. Mrs. Massey showed students how to add more to our paragraphs by adding in supporting details. She likened this to the mayonnaise, mustard, and ketchup. Students were able to relate to this graphic organizer very well. Below are some videos of Writer's author chair sharing. Enjoy!

P.S. These video clips were taken with Gilbert's new Flip Cameras. What an awesome addition to the technology available for students! We have some great ideas for using them to share student learning! Thank you to the WACOPEP business partners who made their purchase possible! More to come soon!

WDEF Channel 12 Visits Our Classroom

Last Tuesday, we were treated to a visit by Renee LaSalle from WDEF News 12. Mrs. Lori Baker, Isaiah's mom, nominated me for a Golden Apple Award from Bi-Lo and News 12. Ms. LaSalle and her cameraman showed up on Tuesday for an interview and some video footage of our classroom. Students were very excited about the visit! They were all smiles for the camera! Click here to see the video and learn more about the award!

I am very honored to receive this award! Thank you, Mrs. Baker and Isaiah for the nomination! However, I must admit, I was extremely nervous when the camera was in our classroom. I think I'll definitely stick to teaching and let Ms. LaSalle handle the local news!

Thoughts on Thurgood!

Our class has been learning about Thurgood Marshall and his contributions to American History. Students learned that Thurgood often worked with the NAACP as a lawyer. He tried numerous cases concerning civil rights.

One very important case was Brown v. Board of Education. It all started in Topeka, Kansas. A black third-grader named Linda Brown wanted to go to a white school close to her house. The principal refused to allow her to attend school. Linda's parents decided to take the matter to court. With Thurgood Marshall's help, they won their court case. Linda Brown was able to attend the school near her home.

Mrs. Long and I presented students with the following challenge...

Pretend you are Linda Brown. You finally get to go to the white school. But kids look at you because you are different. How does it feel?

 I am always amazed at the insight our children sometimes have about things in life. Here are a few of their responses.

Chyanne said...

I feel very sad but happy because it is close to my house. The kids snarl their noses at me and laugh. All I do is walk away. When I answer a question in the classroom, kids just stare at me.

Alexis says...

They stare at me. I tell them we're the same on the inside. They just laugh at me. I get mad. I don't have any friends just because I'm different on the outside. At lunch, nobody wants to sit by me. At recess, they won't let me play with them. When I go to the slide, everybody runs away like I am sick.

Kai says...

I would feel bad because everybody would call me names, pick on me, and threaten me. I wouldn't have any friends.

Spencer shares his thoughts...

The first time I walked in the white school I was scared. Then I walked in. People made fun of me because of my color. They looked at me very strange for some reason. Then, I said to myself, "Why wouldn't any kid talk to me?" Then at lunch, no one sat with me. At recess no one would play with me. I was very sad.

 Emmeleigh says...

People would make fun of me every day. But, I will not care. Because all that matters is learning.

 This was a great writing assignment. It required students to think of themselves in another person's shoes and feel empathy. I am proud of my students' ability to put their feelings and thoughts into words to share with others. Way to go, guys!