16,000 Visitors!

I checked the stats on our classroom blog this morning and was shocked!  We have almost hit 16,000 visitors on our blog since I started it- keep visiting us in Studio 214!

Skype to Germany

          This morning fourth and fifth grade students got to visit with Ms. Margaret Henderson, our former art teacher, who is currently living in Germany!  We got to take a look at the culture and she sent us videos of the German Marketplace and shared some of their Christmas customs and traditions.  It was so cool to talk to her and hear her stories of her adventures half way around the world!

Our Class is in the KY Teacher Magazine!

http://www.kentuckyteacher.org/photos/2012/12/kentucky-teacher-has-kentucky-covered/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+KentuckyTeacher+%28Kentucky+Teacher%29


         The "Kentucky Teacher" is a magazine that contains articles about education and things happening around the state of Kentucky throughout all our school districts.  When you look through the pictures and you get to Cumberland County picture, you will see Studio 214 and some students who are now fifth grade students.  The reporter, Amy Wallot, visited our classroom toward the end of last school year.  When we saw the article and the picture, we were surprised!

CCES Christmas Skit

         Yesterday some of our fifth and third grade students performed in a Christmas skit during our morning assembly.  I was so proud of them!  It takes a lot of courage to get up in front of a huge crowd of people and sing and act.

Black Light Song- "O Holy Night"

          We watched a beautiful performance this morning by some fourth graders during our morning assembly.  They did a black light play with the song "O Holy Night" and I'll be honest, I teared up.  Beautiful performance, fourth graders!

Christmas Cafe in Studio 214

         

          In fourth grade, we always have a Christmas Cafe the last day of school and we enjoy breakfast together and watch the old holiday favorites with Santa and Rudolph!  The cafe and breakfast is my gift to them and is always one of my most favorite days that we do, because it is so special.  I hope we can create lots of memories together on this day!

Ugly Sweaters

   
          On Monday, some of the teachers at CCES wore their "ugly sweaters" for fun.  It was so funny to see everyone's ugly Christmas sweaters! 

Conservation Winner!

  
          Tayde won first place in the conservation poster contest and also won first place for the fourth grade!  Way to go, Tayde- keep up the great work!

Blog Report- Azura

Listen as Azura describes the events and happenings in Studio 214 last week!

Research- Detective Style

          We started working on a mini-research project yesterday concerning the major natural disasters on Earth.  Students were divided into groups and were told they were going to be private investigators and they were given a top secret file with information.  Their job was to search through the information and find the most important information and create a poster to display what they had learned about the disaster.  Today we will finish the posters and present them to the classroom of "undercover agents".

AR Bowling Trip

We got to go bowling this morning for meeting our second AR goals and boy was it fun!  This is always such a great reward for reading and just a great time to be together!

Vocabulary Skits Take Two

Here is another couple of video clips from this morning.  It was loading so slowly, I decided to break them into smaller sections.

Papers, Papers, Papers

          It is so easy to drown in paperwork when you teach every subject, every day.  A teacher friend from Georgia asked me what I did to keep the papers organized each day so it doesn't look like a paper machine has exploded on my desk.  Sadly, I am a neat freak and you could ask any of my students and they could tell you that everything has a place and everything must stay in it's place if we are not using it in class.  Life just runs more smoothly that way!  Below are some things I use to make sure I stay as organized as I can with just a few minutes each day to manage the paperwork.  I hope these tips help someone! :)

This organizer is sitting beside my computer.  I have a file folder for each unit that we are currently studying.  I started out color coding the subjects, I know- it's silly, but then by the end of the year, I started running out of certain colors, so their all mixed now.  :)

This basket is for papers to grade and sits behind my desk so that it's hidden away and I have a place to just place papers that we collect and it's out of the way.

The picture above is our drop box.  In the years past, we have had problems with students just laying notes on my desk or coming to hand them to me in the mornings when they got to school.  To rememdy the problem and make mornings more calm, we created the box, via Pinterest, and anytime students have a note for me such as a parent note or an excuse for an absence, they put it in the box and they leave the lid open so I know there is something in it, otherwise it stays closed.

Any weekly assignment that is completed each week or monthly task, like Book It, is placed in the cart.  Every tray is labeled and it sits up front.  We have a tray for our weekly spelling task, the weekly review sheet, the weekly math minute, a tray with notebook paper for any student who forgets paper for the day, etc.  This has been a huge time saver and keeps everything seperated, organized, and neat and everyone knows where their work goes each week!

This is the student mail station.  Every student has a number and they write that number on every assignment they turn into me and there is a basket on top where we place graded papers and Take-Home folders, once they have been checked and they are ready to be filed.  We send Take-Home folders home each Monday and they must be signed and returned by Wednesday or students have detention until they have been returned.  This usually is not a problem.



Lexington Children's Theatre Performance

Today the Lexington Children's Theatre came to CCES and performed a play.  The timing was great because we have been studying dramas in reading class.  It was great and a fabulous way to end the week!

Paris loves to have her picture made with the performers.

Here is a video clip of one of the scenes.





Hands-On Division

Today we had an introduction lesson on division.  We used counters to solve some division word problems.  Using manipulatives and working together really helps some students solve the problems.

Vocabulary Skits Take One

One of the areas we are really working hard to improve in Studio 214 is vocabulary.  Today we started doing vocabulary skits.  Students were divided into groups of 3-4 and were given a word that goes with the drama we are studying this week.  They had seven minutes to come up with a skit about the word, but could not say the word in their skits.  Their work this morning is one of the many reasons I love my job- the skits were so good and funny!  Enjoy and see if you can guess which word they are acting out (words are on page 442 in our reading book)!

Cyberbullying Lesson from STLP

The STLP club from the highschool visited Studio 214 today to discuss cyberbullying.  They explained what it is and how important it is to be careful when visiting sites ont he internet.  We also discussed how once things are placed on the internet, they are there forever and anyone can see it.  We would like to wish the STLP club the best of luck as they travel to Bowling Green to present their talk in a competition soon!

Winter Wonderland Hands-On Day

          Today was our hands-on day and we have worked so hard!  We tied in some winter things, but kept right on working on the standards we are studying on currently.  Our first station focused on analyzing a drama and students had to work together to analyze a play from our Storyworks.  The second station was analyzing an article "Race Against Death" and students had to find which paragraphs certain sentences would fit best in and it was super tough!  The third station was a science station and students learned about the soil horizons and we made edible soil- it was pretty yummy.  The fourth station was IXL and students worked on math standards.  The fifth station was another science station that focused on sorting cards according to whether it was an example of weathering, erosion, or deposition.  The last station was a Winter Wonderland Poetry Scavenger Hunt that focuses on using figurative language and finding examples of it in the winter poems.

1000 AR Points!

         
          Morgan, a former member of Studio 214, recently reached 1000 AR points!  We had a special day for her at CCES and this was her parade on Friday.  Keep reading, Morgan- we are so proud of you and all you have accomplished so far!

Blog Report- Makaela

Here is a blog report from Makaela for Studio 214!

Vocabulary Journals

We are starting vocabulary journals this week in our writing journals.  I have taken a picture of what students' first page looks like in their journal.  They are going to find ten words they read or hear throughout the week that they are unfamiliar with and record them in their journals.  They will also write the definition for each and choose one word to use in a complete sentence.  Every so often, I would like to have a "Word Parade" and have students create posters to illustrate and describe one new word they have learned each month.  We are doing this because we have noticed that with the new standards, we need to have a stronger vocabulary base and learn more fourth grade level words. 

This task will be due each Friday morning and students will have plenty of time to complete this at school each week if they use their time wisely. 

I'm sorry the picture is sideways...

"What I Am" Song from Seseme Street

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyVzjoj96vs

We have been singing this song during our morning assembly this week, thanks to our first graders for introducing it to our school!  It is such a great song because it talks about how each of us is special and unique.  We love it in Studio 214!

Weathering and Erosion Experiment

This week we have been studying weathering and erosion and the effects of the two on our natural resources.  We did this experiement to model what happened in nature with water, wind, and the elements in general.  What students noticed was what happened to the sand that was placed at the top of the "mountain"- it ended up at the bottom as deposition.

Constitution Webquest

Go to the link below to begin the Constitution Webquest!  Take your time and complete the entire assignment- look at the rubric before writing your summary and have fun!

http://misterteacher.com/constitutionwebquest.html

TATU (Teens Against Tobacco Use)

Some teens from CCHS came to speak to our students at CCES today about not using tobacco and the harmful consequences we have if we use tobacco or other drugs.  Before the visitors left, I just had to pull out their third grade class picture to show the class- they have grown so fast!  The link below was a website they showed us where you could so what happens after you have smoked for awhile.  Students drew pictures on place mats that will be placed in local restaurants telling why we should do not use drugs or harm or bodies.

http://www.smokingstinks-aaco.org/newgames.htm

Properties of Rocks Experiment

Today we conducted an experiment to test how hard different types of rocks are and we looked at them using a hand lens.  We used the nail, penny, and tile test to see what type of scratch it made.  The color it leaves will tell you how hard or soft the rock is.  We tested nine different types of rocks in all.  Tomorrow we will take a look to analyze the information to see which category the rocks would fall under: metamorphic, igneous, or sedimentary.

"Vote Like That" Song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hqme4X1b7E

Due to popular demand by students in Studio 214, I have added the link to this song we listened to in class a couple of weeks ago.  We analyzed the words to this song to compare the beliefs of both the presidential candidates before the election.  They loved the song performed by the Ron Clark Academy!

UK Opera Performance

Today we watched a performance by the U.K. Opera and it was amazing!  Paris had her picture made with the performers.  We told her to remember this day when she was a performer on Broadway in New York City someday!

Poetry Vocabulary Search!

Work with a partner and use the sites below to define the terms on your poetry vocabulary notebook!

http://www.poemofquotes.com/articles/elements-of-poetry.php

http://www.wjcc.k12.va.us/tms/faculty-staff/facultywebsites/elements-of-poetry/elements%20of%20poetry%20power%20point_files/frame.htm


If you finish early, preview some poems from this site:
http://www.fizzyfunnyfuzzy.com/poems.php

Rock Cycle Songs

We have begun studying our unit in science where we study about the rock cycle, the types of rocks, earth materials, and fossils.  Here are some great rock cycle songs from Youtube- we love them and they include such great vocabulary!

"World of Rocks"  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mfpmUNMtNc

"Types of Rocks" Song  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE3jR_RhxO4

Brain Pop: Types of Rocks

http://www.brainpop.com/science/earthsystem/typesofrocks/

Watch this video to complete your Y-Chart about the types of rocks.

State Research Project Live Binder

http://www.livebinders.com/play/present?id=303031

Use the site above to go to "Live Binders" to begin your state research project!

Students are deep in discussion.  Today was the first day we have used the IPADS also- which we love!  Today we started an election project.  Students are electing a president and vice president for our class.  They have a campaign team and are creating a slogan, a platform, and propaganda to distribute in the school.  We are tying electoral votes as well when we vote- each group has a different number of students and their electoral votes will be based on their size, so we will compare what happens with popular vote and electoral votes when we take a class vote next week to elect a class president of Studio 214!  The platform they choose has to be something they could actually talk to our school principal about and I have been really impressed to hear their concerns about our school.  Stay tuned to meet our new class president!  If elected they will get to be president for the day and have a "cabinet" lunch meeting and discuss their issues with our principal!

Class Presidential Election Project

Use the links below to help your candidate become class president!

http://kids.librarypoint.org/presidential_election_how_it_works
 (Background Information)


http://www.congressforkids.net/games/Elections_eletionpres/2_electionofpresident.htm
 (Background Information)

http://pbskids.org/wayback/
 (Background Information)

http://www.presidentsusa.net/campaignslogans.html
 (Past Presidential Slogans)

http://www.famous-speeches-and-speech-topics.info/presidential-speeches/
 (Famous Presidential Speeches)

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2012/05/running-for-president-chronicling-almost-200-years-of-propaganda.html
 (Past Presidential Posters)



Instrument Sound Projects

We are using some alternate assessments to get away from all paper- pencil tests.  One way we did this recently was to have students create a product and then score themselves and reflect using the rubric.  I was really impressed with their creativity and the care they took in creating their instruments and recording their information in their science journals!

Halloween Snack

Thank you to all the parents who sent a bag of candy for today's snack- we had several bags!  We had chips, cupcakes, drinks, and candy at the very end of the day- so be ready for some energetic kiddos!  I had a little surprise on my desk when I got finished passing out cupcakes! lol  The giggling gave it away, so I wasn't nearly as scared... :)

4-H Officers

We elected 4-H officers on Tuesday of this week.  Officers in Studio 214 are:

Cyrus- President

Braylee- Vice President

Colton- Secretary
Sarah- Reporter

Paris and Stacy- Recreation Leaders

Awards- First Nine Weeks

Last week, we had an awards ceremony for all students who made all A's or all A's and B's on their report cards.  We also had several students with perfect attendance.  Keep up the good work, Studio 214!  I'm so proud of all your hard work!