All About Opals

Luke's Uncle Gene (Mr. Eugene McDevitt) kicked off our "Spotlight on Science" weeks with a memorable presentation on his life in the opal business. He not only mines the opals in Queensland, Australia, but cuts, polishes and markets them. We learned about the hazards of living in the bush with minimal creature comforts among some pretty strange and highly dangerous creatures. Opals can be highly varied in appearance and price.



Here's Uncle Gene explaining how veins of opal material are found in other rock. Notice the jackhammer on floor as well as samples of polished and rough opals. Uncle Gene used a power point slide show and then answered great questions from most of the students. Check out Uncle Gene's website.

Reading is Everything

We all read for almost an hour.....part of "Reading Week" here in the Lower Division.

Speaking of Owls

We've been catching glimpses of the two horned owls perched high in trees over by the garden as we come and go to music, art etc. Here's a fantastic slow motion video of an owl in flight.

Tiny Triumphs: Monitoring the Math of Our Daily Routines

We are always looking for examples of math in everyday life experiences. Recently I became aware of the opportunity for data collection and analysis in our daily commutes and routines.

After 3 years of always hitting the stop light going south on MLK jr Blvd at 38th Ave....recently I have an unbroken streak of 16 green lights in a row. And I don't speed up or slow down....just a steady 35.

So what are your personal best records recently? Where are there opportunities to notice, tabulate and analyze math-related times in your daily routines? Once noticed they can become wonderful tiny triumphs, right?

Linsanity & Maddon Madness

Today I discussed two sports figures in the news: the Rays' manager Joe Maddon and the NY Knicks' Jeremy Lin.

Joe Maddon, signed a three year extension to his contract recently. Joe's a two time American League manager of the year and could have earned much more money accepting a job to manage a team in a larger city with more money and fan support. But he said money has never been the most important thing to him. He knows that being happy in the place you are is more valuable. Joe loves to come to work for the Rays each day. He treasures the atmosphere at the Rays to try new things, think differently and be creative. He also appreciates the Tampa Bay area as a place to work and live. He was quoted as saying that the Rays are the most interesting team in all of baseball.

Jeremy Lin (the first Asian-American pro basketball player) is a really great story....even if you aren't an NBA fan. He was one of the best California high school players but not offered a college scholarship. He went on to star for Harvard College and break Ivy League records. Then he was mostly overlooked by the pros and/or mostly benched and traded...until the Knicks had some injuries...and the rest is (recent) history. Lin mentions that he never stopped believing in himself and working hard. All sorts of highlights on the web...like his recent game against the Lakers.

Getting Sun Smarter

Dr. Mary Harris (Owen's mom) discusses with the class how we all can be more "sun" smart. We learned about her experience with melanoma on her leg for which she had surgery. She is working with us on several projects about this important topic.

Valentines Day Backgammon Tournament Winners

Erin M. won our latest holiday party tournament defeating Tyler in the final. Congratulations to you both.

Creating Multimedia Posters about Invasive Species

Sophia V. works on her "glog" a multimedia poster about the nile monitor lizard, an invasive species causing trouble in Florida. She uses a rubric created by Mrs. Baralt (who taught the class how to create glogs) to determine if she has met all the criteria.



Students helped one another finish their glogs.

An Invasive Species Turns Up Here

This colony of fire ants was discovered as a result of the sun awning construction work at our picnic area. They were taken care of soon after.

Used Book Donations Needed

Help fill our box, so the Oldie Goldie Book Sale (Friday the 24th) will be more fun.

Great Horned Owl

Early morning visitors, a pair of Great Horned Owls usually are gone by 7:05. But yesterday this female stayed around to be admired by one and all.



We observed the bone and fur fragments in its droppings.

Colorful Shapes Help Teach Fractions

Henry's getting it done.

Happy Valentine's Day

Reflections

Students are writing one paragraph reflections about some recent projects and experiences. These hand written first drafts will be included in their electronic portfolios to be published at year's end. The subjects are: "We Haz Jazz" experience, the jazz musician glog project with Mrs. Baralt and the invasive species unit with me. The invasive species unit includes the research and essay as well as a glog and short story.

The parts of a complete reflection paragraph include: identifying what each subject is about and its purpose.

Examples:

Identity-------What was the 4th grade musical? What is a glog? What is an invasive species?

Perspective-----Why did you do this project, put on this play etc?

Perspective-----How did you grow as a learner/performer?

Problem/Solution------What was hard for you? What challenges did you overcome?

Looking Forward To......

Tuesday students may wear valentiney colors to school.....our party is the last 40 minutes.

Wednesday is optional wear a purple top for our Relay for Life kickoff lunch. Come see the new picnic area awning under construction.

All this week each student is planning and writing first draft of a realistic fiction story that features the invasive species each has been studying. I started this off by reading my own short story about the flock of black-hooded green parrots that visit my yard daily.

Everyone is working on a multimedia electronic poster called a glog about their invasive species.

Next week is "Reading Week" here. Everyone is encouraged to dress on Tuesday the 21st as their favorite book character (or author)? We're collecting books for our Oldie Goldie fun book sale on February 24th Friday. Book collection boxes are in the hallway.

A Fine Celebration of My Birthday....Thanks

Corgis singing happy birthday....gotta see.

Invasive Species Project: Update

Students are to word process their first drafts of the species essay over the weekend. If possible please assist in this process by attaching a copy in an email or sending it in via a flash drive. Print outs are optional.

The four paragraph essay includes:

---introduction.... identity and perspective of the species (its purpose and place in nature); the first paragraph begins with a must read lead sentence and ends with the theme sentence or thesis (what is the writer's opinion or solution to this invasive species problem)

---second paragraph explains the problem....how is this species hurting Florida

---third paragraph describes the solution and explains the theme sentence

---fourth paragraph is a summary of the main points of the first three paragraphs. Since the reader understands the problem now he/she will agree with your solution.

Homework: Study for Reading Assessment and Finish Science Research

Students will use various materials to prepare for Friday's first assessment on the novel Phantom Tollbooth. They have a vocabulary and spelling study list, answers to their questions in their reading logs and another study guide to look over. We will have practiced all the questions and words several times in class as well.

Students are also expected to finish up their species research by finding with parental supervision and bringing in the exact URL addresses for images and short videos (where possible) of their species. The URL addresses can be sent to me in an email as well.

Hip, Hip, Hooray, for Charles Dickens Birthday!

We enjoyed (iced) tea, biscuits, strawberries (thanks Bella) and shortbread as part of our celebration of a great life that began two hundred years ago today.

Check out the videos in my previous post that we watched today. Including one of the first silent movies made from one of Dicken's books. This is the 1913 Pickwick Papers.



Students demonstrated admirable self-control....as they waited for all to be served.

Happy 200th Birthday Charley!

The Lower Division sang Happy Birthday Charles Dickens at yesterday morning's Town Meeting. The two pound coin features his portrait created out of all the titles of his books.

Here's a link to the official celebration site.

See this partial list of events worldwide.

Dickens video tribute

BBC animated cartoon on Dickens life

1913 silent film of The Pickwick Papers

Happy 200th Birthday Charley!

The Lower Division sang Happy Birthday Charles Dickens at yesterday morning's Town Meeting. The two pound coin features his portrait created out of all the titles of his books.

Here's a link to the official celebration site.

See this partial list of events worldwide.

Dickens video tribute

BBC animated cartoon on Dickens life

What's Going On This Week?

Parent conferences are Thursday....with some on Wednesday and Friday after school.

The science project research on a species needs to be finished tomorrow. Students will take what they have learned about an invasive species to write an essay in class on the theme of how this species is hurting Florida and what can be done about it. Next week students will begin a unit on realistic fiction that will use what they've learned about their invasive species to create a story on this topic.

We are also working on a project to have our class more sun smart. Dr. Mary Harris led a discussion on the topic last week with the class taking notes to start things off.

We're having the first of regular assessments in for Reading Comprehension. On Friday there's a quiz about the first 5 chapters on our class novel Phantom Tollbooth. Students are expected to be able to spell and define select words from chapters 1-5 as well. They have study guides for both. We also have a math box quiz on Wednesday.

Oldie Goldie book sale is coming up...please send in for resale any kids books no longer needed.

"We Haz Video"

"We Haz Jazz": the entire show here.

Author Share

What a great event and turn-out!





Celebrating young writers.....yes!

It's the Lens: Yeah!

This just in....vote of 7 to 1 for the Lens.

We watched some of the City Council discussion live this afternoon. We saw Mr. Ballestra busy answering questions as the proceedings headed for that big vote.

Invasive Species Project

http://www.buzzle.com/img/articleImages/30122-37.jpg

Pythons have devastated small animal life in the glades. Where will they go next? Listen to this.

Homework for the next few days will be for students to complete their research on an invasive species hurting Florida. They all have research folders with work sheets and guidelines. Please supervise their looking at various resources on the web including images, videos, news articles and other links. We started with information on Wikipedia. But we did not click the various external links found at the bottom of each page. Students are also expected to know something about the homeland of the species they are studying. They are to ponder why these species do not cause such ecological damage in the places in which they are indigenous.

All this will lead to an essay in which students will be challenged to come up with some possible solutions to the problems created by these invaders.

In addition, what they learn about these species will become part of a piece of realistic fiction writing project to be introduced next week.

We Haz Jazz: Back Stage Views

Second performance is Friday at 8:30.