Ken Bradbury

The fifth grade students were excited to spend part of their morning April 14 with author, Ken Bradbury. He came to speak with the students about how to make writing interesting and how to come up with ideas. The students will be competing in a writing contest this week among the entire fifth grade. One of the most important concepts they learned was to write about what you know, not things you have to make up. Mr. Bradbury was excellent with them and everyone enjoyed donuts and orange juice. The majority of the students also got his autograph!

Another Iditarod Newscast

Newscast

Some students chose to do the extra credit I offered for the third quarter. They were to write a newscast about the Iditarod. Here are a few that recorded their casts!

HiStOrY wAs MaDe...

on March 16, 2010 when Iditarod musher, Lance Mackey, crossed the finish line in Nome! This is the 4th consecutive year he has been the first across the treacherous Alaskan terrain to arrive in Nome during the Alaskan Iditarod. It took him 8 days 23 hours to complete the journey and he finished with 11 dogs on his tugline. He won $50,400 and a new Dodge truck. The students have loved watching him move his way to the top! Way to go Lance Mackey!!!

Let The Race Begin!!!

We have finished the Reading ISAT, so let the Iditarod race begin!!! The students have chosen their mushers and are ready to see if Lance Mackey can make history by winning for the 4th consecutive year. It will be an exciting trip over the Alaskan terrain and we are all looking forward to tracking the mushers with GPS and watching some live events. Stay tuned for more about the Alaskan Iditarod!

The Alaskan Iditarod

ATTENTION 5TH GRADE STUDENTS: Get ready to take an incredible journey through Alaska with a musher and his or her dog team. The study of the Alaskan Iditarod was a favorite among many students from last year! I love teaching about the Iditarod and enjoy this unit of study. I can't wait to experience this amazing journey through rugged terrain and bone chilling temperatures with all of you. The official site of the Iditarod can be found here: http://www.iditarod.com/

Other Useful Sites

Curriculum Connections - http://www.wadsworth.k12.oh.us/administrativeDepartment.aspx?aid=40

Glog- http://jacinday.glogster.com/jacindaiditarod/

Thursday, March 4

Iditarod- http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/iditarod-sneak-peek.html

A Musher's Life- http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/iditarod-a-mushers-life.html

Doggy Sweaters- http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/iditarod-insider-doggy-sweaters.html

Friday, March 5

Choose your musher! Lance Mackey will be the musher for the entire 5th grade. We did this last year and he won for the third year in a row! Will he make it four years in 2010? You also cannot choose Mitch Seavey. Mitch is the musher I chose last year, so I am going to stick with the same one! Go to this site to choose your musher and remember to print a picture: http://www.iditarod.com/race/musherlisting.html

Monday, March 8

Mushing Terminology- http://www.iditarod.com/learn/terminology.html

REWARDS, REWARDS, REWARDS

TODAY AT NGMS WAS A REWARD DAY! The students that did not receive a detention in January watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. We also had the no detention reward for the entire 2nd quarter. I had 14 students that did not receive a detention, so their reward was a candy bar and homework pass. Finally, we had our AR reward. The students that earned 15 points for the second quarter were able to wear pajamas to school, play board games, and eat popcorn. Here is a pictures of the students in the pajamas. WAY TO GO TO STUDENTS!!!

ISAT PRACTICE

Students click on the link below to do practice questions for the ISAT you will take in March. In order to do the reading practice, you will have to click on the name of the passage, read it, and then answer the questions.

http://metacat2.com/iltestlinks.html

Ringing in 2010

I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday break! We will be kicking off the new year with many activities that will help prepare for the ISAT that the students will take in March. We will be reading numerous non-fiction materials because students seem to struggle more with non-fiction versus fiction.

Letters, Letters, Letters

Instead of doing a gift exchange this year, I had the kids do affirmation letters to each of their classmates. We began the project right before Thanksgiving. The students had to write a paragraph in letter format to each student. Then, we had bags hanging around the room that each one decorated. When they were finished with a letter, they were able to put it in that person's bag. All the students finished the project by writing 23 letters each in a little over a month. I participated and wrote letters to each of them, so they had to write to me also. I could not believe their excitement when it came time for them to open all the letters. They were more interested in reading their letters than eating and drinking their treats. I saw lots of smiles around the room, so here are some pictures to share!