It's Been a Great Year!

Enjoy this slide show of pictures from the year. It's been a great one!

Service Learning Field Trip

Yesterday, we had a great time visiting Denver Health to help the Newborns in Need program.  The students took all the baby supplies they had collected over the past month and created bags for families with newborn babies.  They also made cards for the families.  It was a wonderful opportunity for us all to help those less fortunate than us.  The students were all really engaged in all of the activities and were so excited to help out!  Click here to see photos from the day.

The 2015 Biography Tea!

Thank you for all of your support and hard work at home to make today's Biography Tea a great success. The students were so excited and all did such a great job. I hope you had as much fun as we all did! Click here to see some pictures I took today.

It was an honor to spend the day with such an influential group of people!

Happy Earth Day!

Today we talked about Earth Day and ways we can help the Earth. Watch our video of ways we are going to take care of our planet.

Grandparents and Special Friends

Despite the inclement weather, everyone kept safe and dry today during Grandparents' and Special Friends' Day.  It was great to meet so many people who are special in the lives of these children.  They are so loved! Click here to see pictures of the day.

Let the Research Begin!

It is hard to believe that the time has come to begin the Road to Research for the Biography Tea! After using the process as a class to research Molly Brown, then using the process with a buddy to research an important person in Colorado's history, the students are finally on their own to research the person they have chosen. Today is all about Stop 1: Read. The students read the book from cover to cover. No one begins note taking until they have read the entire book at least twice, so we'll be at this stop for a day or two. Here are some pictures of them in action.

Journey On!

Today we hosted Ms. Karst's first graders to celebrate all the literacy learning we have done this year. The students all chose a station they wanted to teach their first grade buddy about.  After they did that, all of the students watched the first graders' video of their reading of How the Leopard Got His Spots and then they watched the second graders' video of their reading of Officer Buckle and Gloria.  Click here to see pictures from this fun event.

The Road to Research

Second graders have started learning how to implement the research process to write a report on a person who has made a significant contribution to society.  We call this process 'The Road to Research'.  Your child should know all the stops and be able to explain them to you.  To practice for the Biography Tea, we are working together on the steps of the Road to Research by researching Molly Brown.  Here are some pictures of them in action.

Stop 1:  Read!  The students read the book at least two times.  Our motto is:  You can NEVER read the book too many times!

Stop 2:  Highlighting.  Students use sticky notes to indicate important events on each page.  They write a code on the sticky note that corresponds with the category the fact belongs in.

Stop 3:  Note taking.  Students look at the facts they've highlighted and write that information in their own words.  

Once the fact has been written on a note card, it is placed into the envelope that corresponds with the correct category.

Stop Four:  Ordering.  Once all the notes are taken, students use the book to help them put each of the facts in the correct order.

Once the facts are in order, students write numbers on the cards in case they get out of order.

Stop Five:  Drafting/Writing.  Students use the facts on the note cards to create a cohesive paragraph about each category.

New Table Names!

I hope you are all as curious as I am to find out what the new table groups will name themselves.  After a long discussion about compromising, giving in, being kind, and using inside voices, the students had great conversations about how to create a table name they all agreed upon.  Without further ado... meet the new tables!

The Cheesy Mammoths

The Magnificent Ponies

The Golden Snails

The Prehistoric Dalmations

Valentines with our Buddies

On Monday, our 6th grade buddies visited for some Valentine's Day fun.  We exchanged Valentines, got to know each other a little better, and worked together on creating a bag for collecting Valentines on Friday.  Here are some pictures of the kids hard at work!

Journeys Practice Book

Happy Friday!  You will notice that the Journeys Practice Book has come home in your child's backpack today.  Many of the pages were not completed in class because they were not assigned.  If you'd like extra work for your child, he or she has the skills necessary to complete any of the pages in the book.  It does not need to be returned to me.  Please let me know if you have any questions!

Learning the Metric System

Over the past few weeks we have been learning how to measure length in centimeters and meters and how to measure mass in grams and kilograms.  Ask your child about benchmarks for each of these units of measure to help with estimating the length and mass of items around the house.  Yesterday, the students spent time estimating and measuring the mass of various classroom items.  Here are a few photos of them in action!

Chase and Oliver carefully weighed the mass of a bunch of crayons.

Avery used a balance scale to measure the mass of a water bottle.

Is it balanced?  Charlie and Anne wait in anticipation to see if they have the correct amount of weight in the balance scale to determine the mass of a can of Coke.

The Molly Brown House

We had a great time at the Molly Brown House today!  The students got to see many authentic items that were in the house when she and J.J. lived there and learned all about life in the time of Molly Brown.  Your child should be able to tell you about her trip on the Titanic, her work to help children and animals in Denver, and what interesting and different items were in her house that we don't have today.  Ask some questions to see if you learn anything new!

United in Orange!

Look at this spirited group of Bronco fans!