New Work up in the Gallery!

Our students have been working hard this month, so I decided to give them a couple of "Art Breaks."

Our first project was a Prehistoric Cave Painting to finish out our Early Humans unit in Social Studies, and to compliment our literature unit on Boy of the Painted Cave.  I was very pleased with how these turned out!  Extra points if you can find one student's prehistoric "shout out" to Star Trek.  :)

The art project we did this week was just a fun project for Fall.  We drew owls and colored them in crayon.  Then we painted over them with a black watercolor wash.  The paint bubbled away from the crayon, creating the effect of an owl at night.  I love how each child's owl is unique and how many of the students got creative with backgrounds.  I believe these paintings will decorate our room nicely throughout the Fall!

Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF

Our class is working on a service project with UNICEF to save lives and help kids around the world - children who need food, clean water or medicine, or who have been caught in natural disasters. UNICEF works to give these children healthier lives and brighter futures.

Your child can make a difference this October by Trick-or-Treating for UNICEF, or by bringing donations into class.  Money raised during this project will buy lifesaving supplies for children in need, like Nirmala in the video below.  For more information, please visit http://www.trickortreatforunicef.org.

Our Donors Choose Project has Been Funded!

A month ago, I wrote a grant on Donors Choose to get a set of four iPad Minis to add to the six we currently have in the classroom. These iPads would be used for research, educational games, and team tasks to enrich the school curriculum.  This week, I received the exciting news that two parents (THANK YOU) and Chevron have donated funds to our project, and iPad Minis are on the way!   Hopefully we will receive them next week, just in time to use for our Mesopotamia Flip Book projects.  As part of the thank you package for Donors Choose, I am required to send in 6 photos of students using the iPads in the classroom, in addition to thank you letters from the kids.  In order to do this, I need you to fill out a Donors Choose Photo Permission Form that will go home with your child sometime this week or next.  This will allow me to send photos of our students to Chevron to show them the impact their gift has made in the classroom.

I have also created another Donors Choose project for a subscription to DynaMath for my math class.  This project qualified for the SPARK Program, which means that any donations made by October 18th will be matched by Donors Choose!  If you would like to donate, search for the DynaMath project under my name on Donors Choose.  Then, enter the code, SPARK, on the payment page, and your donation will automatically be doubled!

Fingers crossed, our Donors Choose luck will hold, and we will be able to get more great resources for our students.  If you have any questions, feel free to contact me via e-mail or phone.  Thank you!

Mesopotamia Flip Book

As part of our unit on Ancient Mesopotamia, each student will create a flip book showing what s/he learned.   There are 12 sections to the flipbook including the title page.  For each of the other pages, students are to answer the questions about each aspect of Mesopotamia (geography, economics, religion, government, contributions to the civilizations etc.) Answers should be short, but written in complete sentences and in their own words.

·         For each section they also need to include an illustration that relates to that section.  For example, if  writing about the economics, the picture might include the food, jewelry they traded, and metal.  Only three pictures can be computer generated.  All others are to be hand drawn.

·         On the back, students must include the sources they used to find their information.  The sources need to include at least 2 books and one encyclopedia.Students 

           

·   Students do have time in class to work on this, but they should also be working on it at home each night.

·         When it is graded, I will be looking at the following criteria: 

       *All 12 pages are complete

 *All questions are answered in complete sentences

 *An illustration that relates to the subject is included for each section

 *Spelling and neatness counts

 *Complete bibliography

 *Writing needs to be in their own words.  Plagiarism will not be allowed.

This project is due on October 30, 2015.