Snowflake Luncheon

We had a great day today at theSnowflake luncheon. Thank-you to all of the parents who participated in putting on such a special celebration. The fifth graders all had a wonderful afternoon. Have a great winter vacation!

Mayan Projects

The class completed and presented their Mayan projects. Besides the walkthrough, where many classes came through to view the projects, we did two Voicethreads. The first Voicethread (seen here) presents some background information on the Mayan. The second Voicethread (seen here) present the projects. The class did a wonderful job. Here is our animoto video.

Voicethread on the Ancient Maya

This is the first Voicethread made by the class. It is on the ancient Maya. I can't get it to be enmbedded just yet, but you can get a preview of it here. It is still a work in prpgress.

http://voicethread.com/share/1602833/

Word Clouds

Today in class we practiced making work clouds with Wordle and Tagxedo. Here is a paragraph that Ben wrote describing something he is good at without using the word "good".

I am as amazing as the world’s 754th best artist. Once I drew a knife-headed dragon and it was striking. The next day I drew a gold winged dragon and that one was excellent. My friend drew a mustang and messed up so he gave it to me and I fixed it and made it a convertible. Then the next day I drew a no-winged rolling dragon and trust me it was remarkable. My teacher taught my class how to make a paper crane and my first one was outstanding. I am brilliant at drawing and in the art of paper folding. I have made 10 breathtaking paper cranes. One of them was about 2 or 3 inches long and the others are about 6 or 7 inches long. My paper cranes’ tails can move. That is stupendous.

Here is one example of Ben's paragraph after he pasted it into Tagxedo.

Here is a picture of one way it may look in wordle.

Weekly Reader Online

The class subscribes to Weekly Reader magazine. We have found that Weekly Reader has a digital edition of the magazine with added links, slideshows, movies, read-aloud, and other interactive features. Here are the links to previous editions that we have already read. Students know the "magic word" to gain access to the digital editions. Read, explore, and have fun!

Issue 1 Oil Spill Recovery
Issue 2 Bullying
Issue 3 Holding Court
Issue 4 The Search is On
Issue 5 After the Floods
Issue 6 Out for Blood
Issue 7 Run for It
Issue 8 Who Owns the Artic
Issue 9 Walking Tall

The Weekly Reader website also has a kids only page that you might want to check out.

Partial-Quotient Division

Just a reminder that you can find examples of how to do the Everyday Math algorithms online. This week we are reviewing the Partial -Quotient division algoryithm You can find many animations of the Partial Quotients Method here.

Ancient Maya Quiz

We are starting a unit on the ancient Maya. Here is a fun quiz from National Geographic for Kids that tests your background knowlege. Have fun.