Toontastic App for Realistic Fiction

Writing can be fun, so long as we create opportunities to make it fun.  In our "Work on Writing," we always encourage our students to choose topics/themes that are of high interest to them, for example: bugs, Africa, the Declaration of Independence, math stories, etc.  

Our next major writing theme is realistic fiction.  To get our students psyched to write this sort of genre, we are reading as much realistic fiction as possible, in guided reading, whole group reading, and our read aloud (Freak the Mighty).  We are also encouraging students to begin trying to write realistic fiction.  We have chatted about the basics of realistic fiction, pointing out the need for character and plot development.  

One way we are practicing organizing a realistic fiction story is using the app Toontastic as a graphic organizer, practicing story development, and of course for some fun!  Toontastic is a free, educational app, which can even provide adults with lots of entertainment.  

In the app, students must develop their characters, choose the setting, and create a plot.  The plot builds all the way up to its climax, and finishes with a resolution.  Students are able to create their own characters, or use the ones provided.  They also get to choose music apporopriate to the "mood" of their story.  A final tidbit of fun, the creator does his/her own voice overs.

In the past (I don't know why) we did not introduce this app in the same way as this year.  It will be exciting to see if the app develops into a favorite this year.  As with all the apps we use in our classroom, the goal is to introduce something educational and fun.  We love hearing when our students go home and download the same apps at home as what we use at school.  Educational apps can be fun!

Congratulations Mr. Hendricks!

I just wanted to update everyone and congratulate the Hendricks' family on the arrival of their new baby girl! She was born on October 24, 2012.  We started our first day with Mrs. Diefenthaler and the day went pretty smoothly.

Botanical Gardens Field Trip

Yesterday our class, along with Mr. Slempkes' and Ms. Ermers' class, went to the Green Bay Botanical Gardens.  We visited three eco-systems: a pond, a forest, and a garden.  This field trip was in a way a wrap-up to our current science unit, which focuses on ecosystems.  We had a great day, despite some dreary weather.  Check out the slideshow/video below!

**WILL ADD VIDEO BACK IN LATER!!**

On a side note, we began our morning at Pamperin Park for some pre-field trip fun and lunch. 

Acids and Bases with the PH Scale

In class we are getting ready to move on from just knowing how our eco-columns work, to how pollution elements effect both the carbon-dioxide oxygen cycle and the water cycle.  Sounds complicated, but not so much.  We are focusing on three pollutants that are fairly common to the Pulaski area: Road Salt (winter is just around the corner...YIKES!), Acid Rain (using a water/vinegar solution), and Fertilizer (common house-plant fertilizer).  We will not be polluting our actual eco-columns, because they are still alive and well, but rather the three eco-columns we built specially for this experiment.  

That said, yesterday we tested the acidity level of seven commonly found household liquids  using litmus paper: tap water, coffee, Coke, liquid fertilizer, diluted vinegar  lemon juice, and lime juice   The goal was for our students to see how acidic or basic different liquids are, and to begin thinking how those liquids, in larger quantities could effect an environment.

Check out some of our activities below:

Win Looks "Likely"!

In math we began studying "Chance Events."  We are going to be spending some time using the Probablility Chart (to the left) quite a bit the rest of the unit and periodically throughout the remainder of the school year.  Today we discussed how with the probability chart students can compare fractions, decimals, and percents.  

Specifically today, we spent our time learning how to determine the odds of "something" occurring.  Some "things" occur more often than others.  For example, the odds that a baby will be born a boy or girl we learned is "50-50" or 50%.  We talked about the odds of various natural disasters occurring.  We thought about the chances that someone can swim.

After we did that, we finalized the afternoon by taking a guess at the chance that we think the Green Bay Packers will beat the Houston Texans this coming Sunday.  We had a "VERY" serious talk about factors that might play into their decision, for example: back-up running backs and wide receivers, Aaron Rodgers getting sacked too much, the Texans have not lost yet, etc.

With all that in mind, students put the percent chance (they think) the Packers will win this coming Sunday on our probability meter.  Take a look for yourself.  

Do you agree with our results?  

I guess we will find out just how close our guesses are this coming Sunday.  We will let you know the results then.

"Go Pack Go!"  

Lost Colony of Roanoke

In Social Studies we are discussing the arrival of the English in North America.  Today we discussed a group of colonists who came to North America (specifically an island off of the coast of North Carolina, called Roanoke Island) with governor John White.  The colonists came too late in the summer season for food to grow properly, so White and a crew went back to England to get more supplies.

However, because of a recently erupted war between England and Spain, White was forced to leave his family, friends, and community behind at Roanoke for THREE years!  When White returned, he was shocked to see NO evidence that the community existed at all.  The settlers whom he had brought with three years earlier were gone, including his family and grand daughter (Virginia Dare), without a trace.

In addition to reading about this in our text, we also watched the first 12 minutes of the video below to get a better idea of what happened at Roanoke.

Video used from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaqG6rC4hIw

Today, we are left only with many clues and theories as to what happened at Roanoke.  Below is an image of the book we used to learn about five theories, which explain the disappearance of the colonists.

 Due on Friday (October 12), students need to write a 1,2,3,2,3,2,3,4 paragraph explaining which theory they believe.  If they want, using the provided evidence, they can create their own disappearance theory.  

A Few Views...

In our classroom we integrate lots of technology and 21st century skills.  That said, we also work on becoming independent learners.  The below collage is just a mini-glimpse into our classroom during one of our "Daily 5" rounds this morning.  Along with independence, students have choice.  As you can see, books are definitely alive and well in our class, whether it is paper or electronic.  Magnetic letters are great for word study, but so is our SMARTboard.  Google Docs are becoming the norm for work on writing.  

Homework and Technology Night 2012

Last night we hosted our second annual "Homework and Technology Night."  The evening was in some ways an open-house for families to come in and see what we are up to in our class, as well as explain various activities that we are doing both inside and outside of the classroom.

The evening began with free time, popcorn, and a soda...and ended much the same.  

Thank you to all that were able to attend.  There is nothing official yet, but ideas are already churning in our heads for a potential "Spring Showcase" event.  That is a ways down the road.  

Don't forget, our parent teacher conferences will be held on Monday, October 15 and Tuesday, October 16.  If you have not yet signed up, please do not hesitate to contact either of us to set up an appointment.

For those who were unable to make the event last night, below is the Slide Rocket presentation that we used for discussion points.

Making Word Study Fun with Story Lines App

Image borrowed from:
http://goo.gl/vlM1j

This morning we introduced Story Lines, one of the many educational apps our students will use on our iPads.  Story Lines is similar to the traditional game "Telephone," where one person passes on the message to the next person, until the final person reveals what was (hopefully) the original message.

Story Lines is a bit different, however.  In this game, the first player writes down a word/phrase. The very next person's job is to draw that word/phrase without using any words or phrases.  The third person then guesses what word/phrase the previous person drew.  You can choose this option to go on and on for several rounds.

The way we will use Story Lines in our classroom could vary from using it to practice word meaning (vocabulary) to retelling an important part in our Social Studies text.  It is all about being creative, and of course having fun!

One of the best parts about this app...it is free!  Follow this link to learn more about the app and/or to download it to your iDevice.

iTunes Store: http://goo.gl/o5r7g

**Currently, this app is not available on the Android Market.