Check out our first slowmation!

Our class is super talented! Watch the video below to see what classification is all about!

Have you ordered your books?

Our class is loving the books we got from Scholastic today! We especially can't wait for the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever that will be arriving soon!

Parents,

I wanted to share an easy way you can order from Scholastic! Here's what you need to know!

Online Ordering Information
Web address: scholastic.com/bookclubs
Class Activation Code: JB2V3

Now it's easier than ever to find the perfect books for your child -- shop our NEW online Book Clubs Web site. Choose from a much-wider selection of books than in the printed flyer. Plus, you can send your orders directly to me online and use your credit card to pay.

Best of all, we earn a FREE book for the classroom library every time a parent places an order online.*

It's so simple! Here's how it works:

• SIGN UP at www.scholastic.com/bookclubs. On the parent page, click the "Register" button in the "First Time Here?" section. Register for your own user name and password. When prompted, enter the one-time Class Activation Code shown above. This unique code ensures that your order is sent to me.
  
  
• SELECT the books you'd like to order -- choose from thousands of titles -- many more than in our monthly flyers.
  
  
• SEND your order to me online by the due date and your child's books will be delivered directly to my classroom.

Ordering online is fast, easy, and secure.

Of course, you can still order using the form from the printed flyer. But why not see for yourself how convenient it is to order online?



That's the letter Scholastic has written to make it easy to understand! Let me know if you have any questions!

Happy Reading!! See you at the conferences in a couple of weeks!

The Extreme Germ

Today on The Extreme Germ we have another group of ladies telling us why it's important to wash our hands! Enjoy!

Another Special Guest

If you have been following our adventures this year, you'll notice we've enjoyed some visits from special guests. Well, yesterday we enjoyed having Mrs. Pennington teach a science lesson on classification. We all know science is her favorite subject, and this year she gets to teach the whole county a thing or two! Many of my students had her last year, so it was a special treat for them to see her again!

About 10 minutes prior to her arrival, I broke the news to my class. They were guessing who it was and got so excited when I confirmed it was indeed Mrs. Pennington!

Classification isn't the easiest thing to comprehend, but I am sure the students know it well enough to teach to a friend now!


Here's what went down:
They had a bag of trailmix with an invitation to look at it, touch it, examine it, but NO EATING or TASTING! I am sure it was hard for some to look at all of the sweet treats lying on their desk, but they refrained. We saw some students begin grouping things before even knowing that's what the lesson was on.

Next, they were asked to make sense of all of these objects. Then students started grouping by shapes, colors, sizes, texture, and types of food. It was awesome to stand back and watch the learning taking place! Students were recording what they were thinking in their journal.

Then, the dichotomous key was introduced and the cereal was sorted. Students divided it into color and no color, circle and not circle, squishy and not squishy, and the list went on. They classified everything down to the marshmallows.

They enjoyed classifying little creatures called Mellanarks as well. The result was a class full of not only trailmix scientists, but higher order thinking that helped them figure out the world around us!

Students will begin learning how to classify animals and plants soon! I can't wait to teach vertebrates and non-vertebrates and vascular and non-vascular!

Thanks Mrs. Pennington for allowing us to take part in a cool lesson!

Wash Your Hands!

We are wrapping up our Microbes Unit. The students are working on a project during ELT. I let students bring in props, build props, use technology, and they have blown my mind! I am loving all of this creativity. One group has finished up their project, and I wanted to share!

First, take a look at what I gave them for options on this project:

*Write from the viewpoint of the microorganism. Explain how you cause people to get sick.

*Compare and contrast two different microorganisms.

*Write why it is important for people to wash their hands.

*Write a paragraph explaining the importance of microorganisms to humans. Identify at least 3 ways and give an example of each.

*Write an explanation of the role a microorganism plays in an ecosystem.

*Write about how to prevent the spreading of germs in the classroom or in the school.

These ladies wrote a commercial script on why it's important to wash your hands!

Check it out!

Also, a big thanks to Mr. Wilcox for the music! We enjoy singing the songs Mr. Adams and Mr. Wilcox write! That's right teachers, I work with two incredible musicians!

Let us know what you think!

Classroom Blogger

I would like to introduce you to one of our classmates! Her name is Shidrika. I have invited anyone from our class to share anything they'd like! Shidrika asked if she could type up something, and since she is a rockstar and gets her work finished on time . . . I said YES!

Take it away, girl!

Dear Audience,

This is Shidrika here. Mrs. Doss is the best teacher you can have. I’ll bet you would’ve wanted her if you were in fifth grade. It's just plain out fun[she is great ]

.sweet

.nice

.crazy

.actress

.funny

.amazing

There are so many ways to explain her I can't even think right now see you later next time!!!!!! woohoo

I feel blessed to have a great class this year! We are learning about:

• microorganisms
• civil war
• multiplying decimals
• character, setting, conflict, and plot
• compound sentences, similes, and metaphors
  
• EXPLODING our writing

Have a great week!

This is a song my teammates wrote and performed! Our class is reviewing for the cell unit, so here's what we sing to practice! (to the tune of Breakfast at Tiffany's)

They say, “We’ve got parts in common!”

CYTOPLASM and MEMBRANES

Along with a NUCLEUS

You’ll see, ANIMAL and PLANT CELLS

Have these 3 ORGANELLES

And PLANTS CELLS have two more

My teach said, “What about ANIMAL and PLANT CELLS?”

I said, “I think, I can tell them apart.”

And as I recall, PLANT CELLS, have two extra helpers,

CELL WALLS and CHLOROPLASTS;

That’s what they got!

The CELL WALL, protects only the PLANT CELL

CHLOROPLASTS made of green gel:

They get food from the SUN

CELL MEMBRANES? Allow materials to pass through

CYTOPLASM is goo

With the NUCLEUS left in charge

Original Song by Deep Blue Something

REWRITTEN by Deep GOO Something

Some Outrageous Visitors...

Some fantastic visitors dropped in during our writing block yesterday! It was certainly alarming to us! Most of the students looked puzzled with their jaws dropped and eyes wide open! Some of our fabulous administrators helped us find ideas for writing. Their outfits and announcements were shocking to say the least! They were screaming, "We won a trip to Disney World" and going on about not having enough time to pack.



Once they left, the students looked at me unsure what that was all about! Then, I announced to them that we were going to write about an outrageous moment! It clicked for them, and they began brainstorming about all they had witnessed. We came up with some great testimonies. We will be publishing them later on! You may see a detailed account of our crazy event on the blog. Come back to find out!


Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Our Class Rewards

Students who move their clip up get to put their name in a lottery drawing held every Friday. Below you will see some of the choices the students are able to choose
from if their name is called!

I am loving the creativity of our class! Ask your students about our Cell song! :)

Day 2!

Every day we are going to open with journal writing. There will be a prompt on the board in the morning and students will write about what comes to mind. This morning we did this one, "Write about ONE person you are thankful for and tell why". I write along with them and we have a couple of people share. On Friday we decorated the journals (composition notebooks) to make them our "own". My mom, Miss Mary, came in to help us. The class had a blast! They are truly talented! Get them to tell you about their journal.

After lunch we played a communication game, which is similar to telephone. They had 4 people per team and everyone had a different job. One of them was the "looker" and would look at the lego object below and explain to a teammate how it looks. That teammate would tell the "runner" and the "runner" would tell the "builder"!




We had a great team get it in about 25 minutes! All of them were trying their hardest! Several requested we try it again.

Happy Monday!

The First Day!

What a great first day of school we all had! We created our own list of rules:
1. Respect yourself, others, and their property.
2. Use manners at all times.
3. Be prepared with all materials needed for school.
4. Be responsible.

They compiled their "must have" rules first with people at their table. Next, we presented the table rules and formed our class list. Great job!

After lunch 2 gentlemen got knotted together. No worries, no one was harmed! They listened to classmates to figure out how to get out of it. With a little help from their teacher they didn't have to get on the bus tied together! :)
Teamwork!

I hope that you all had a great day like we did!

Our Classroom!

Welcome!