Week of January 26

Swim classes continued this week. The students are having a great time learning skills and playing games.  

"Something cool is that we get free time before we get out of the pool!!!"

"Swimming is really cool because you get to learn more things."

"I like swimming because in the water, you feel free."

"What I like about swim is that I can brush up on my skills."

"Something cool about swim is that I was finally able to learn breaststroke kick."

"I think learning how to do a flip turn was cool."

"The swim coaches are really nice and they teach you a lot."

"Swimming is really fun, because I get to do swim with all my friends!"

We began work on our auction project this week.  We are very excited about what we are making, 2 Little Free Libraries.  We will make one specifically for the school and another for the home of the buyer.  Check out www.littlefreelibrary.org for more information about Little Free Libraries.  

To start our project, the kids got together in small groups to design paper models of their ideas.  We have small boxes, large boxes, and even a two story model.  We will continue to build, explore, and deciding what size we want, all before the kids create plans.  Once we have the plans developed, we will help build the libraries, decide on how we want to decorate them, and stock them with some of our favorite books.  Stay tuned for more information!

"I think the Little Free Libraries will be fun and turn out well."

"I think that our Little Free Library is going to be super-awesome."

"The Little Free Library is a chance to put our heads together and think."

"Our Little Free Library is really fun and cool."

"I love the idea of our Little Free Library."

"The Little Free Library idea is a good idea because kids should be able to read for free."

This week we also had the pleasure of having one of our parents talk to us about what a lobbyist does.  The students partook in a skit to represent how bills are made and passed.  We will go to the Washington State Capital on Monday to see this in action.  

"I learned that normally the bill goes through council before the house."

"I learned that in the government, when they are making bills, they talk like they are from the 1800s."

"I learned that lobbyists represent a company."

"From the skit, I learned that a bill can be passed with a few changes."

"I learned from the skit that there is a lot more to making a law than I thought."  

"I learned what a lobbyist was in the skit."

"I learned that there is something called a lobbyist."

"During the skit, I learned that making bulls can be very frustrating."

"I learned that the lobbyists in the play went to tell Rep. Gray that it wasn't fair that motorcycle people had to wait a really long time at the light."

Week of January 12

The students looked back at the goals they wrote the first week of school to reflect and revise them.  They were asked to write 2 paragraphs about how they were meeting their goals and how they might want to rewrite them.  I asked the students to really think about how they might challenge themselves for the second semester and how they can go further than the bare minimum.  Here is what they had to say:


     I met some of my goals but I felt like they were unrealistic.  First, we have brownie parties every two months (except for the winter vacation month).  Second, I also got better at percentages.  Last, I finished all my book reports before I had to stay in for recess for them.  Those are the goals I met but I felt like some of them were unrealistic. 
     I do not need to change any of my goals but I do need to change some things.  First, I think I can get in trouble at times instead of not at all.  Also, I need to stay in the homework club but not for the whole year!!!  Last, some of my writing stories need to be shorter so I can read them to the little kids.  That is why I don't need to change any of my goals but need to change some things.


     I met almost all of my goals.  I still need to read 50 book.  All the rest I feel good about.  That is because I completed them.  I almost met all my goals.
     There are some things I need to say.  Now I want to reach 40 million dollars and get to squaring in math.  I need to change some other reflections.  I am going to try not to do the minimum.  There, I got it off my chest. 


     I've gotten 3 out of 6 goals accomplished.  One is that I have 30-40 million dollars, way over in fact.  Second I've read more than 3 books.  Third is I've not gotten any run on sentences for a very long time.  I know that I've said this before, but I need to get more million dollars for other things besides planner and bizz-buzz.  I also think I need to change my goals because some I've surpassed quite a bit.  Those are the 3 goals I've accomplished. 
     I think some things for my goals I've surpassed.  I've gotten way over 30 million dollars and I've read more than 3 books.  My new goals would be over 100 million dollars and over 8 books by the end of the year.  I'm going to challenge myself by writing more than 5 sentences like 7 or 8 sentences.  Those are some things that I need to change. 


     I've done 2 things in my goals.  Write better and be good at math.  I felt very happy and proud.
     Yes the goal I need to work on is to stay in homework club.  I need to write about school in my journal and get more dollars, and staying in homework club.


     I accomplished readying a 100 books, writing a perfect summary, and having less nonsense sentences.  I feel awesome that I accomplished 3 of my goals.  I'm exhilarated that I only have a few more goals to accomplish.  This moment is very awesome to me. 
     Here are the new goals I made.  I want to read 1000+ books with more than 100 pages.  Learn more science and social studies.  Finish everything on time, and stay in homework club for the rest of the year.  I don't need to tweak my goals.  I really think these goals are challenging because the goals are amplified to be challenging.  I think these goals add a climbing wall in my path.


     I met only one of my goals.  I finished reading 100 books on my Kindle.  I was very excited about finding that out when I counted them.  Today I found out that Daddy had won an award in first grade for reading a hundred books.  He had to do a book report for all of them.  His teacher had them do a report for every book they read at home or at school.  I liked hearing that a lot.  Hearing that both of us had read a hundred books was exciting. 
     Next week I want to start a goal of reading one chapter book a week all the same genre as the one we're doing for our book report.  I'm going to read the first book in the Artemis Fowl series this week.  I started in yesterday.  It's really good so far.  I don't think I need to change anything.  I'm going to challenge myself this week by writing longer paragraphs.  I'm sure I can accomplish it all.


     I think I met a lot of my goals.  I've stayed in the homework club for 2 months.  I've read 26 books.  I have enough million dollars to last a long while.  All of this was extremely easy.  Those were the goals I met. 
     I have a lot of new goals and if you are looking for changes, check the next page.  I want to have forty million dollars for auction.  I want to read 56 books this school year.  I want to stay in the homework club for 5 more months.  I could challenge myself by using four detail sentences.  These are my goals. 


     I met one of my goals so far.  That goal was to read more chapter books.  I also must say the number of chapter books increased.  I feel very happy that I achieved my goal.  That is my goal that I completed. 
     I'm also adding a goal that says that I should slow down on my work.  I made that goal because my parents said that I should.  I'm also going to challenge myself by going above and beyond on work.  This is my new goal.


     I have not met any of my goals.  They are turning out to be really hard to meet.  I'm not even sure if I should make a deadline for "The Mermaid Tail."  I won't be able to write a good story if I have a deadline.  I still absolutely hate math with all my might. I think that goal is unrealistic as well.  I'm beginning to question all of my goals except for the cursive one.
     I definitely need to change some of my goals.  I should take away my Mermaid Tail goal and math goal.  I should replace them with, getting my assignments in on time and don't lose any million dollars.  I also need to change 50 million dollars into 65 million.  I am going to work on challenging myself very hard.  I think now I have it all covered. 


     I met 4 of my goals.  I think I worked hard on all of my goals.  But we really need to get more brownie parties.  If I work hard enough I think I can get more million dollars (not planner).  I will meet all of my goals next semester.  I feel good about finishing my goals.  I feel good when I meet goals. 
     I didn't think of new goals to add.  I did change my goals from like 30 million dollars to 100 million dollars and 70 in math to 90 in math.  I am going to challenge myself to even make extra paragraphs and stretch my comfort zone.  I am going to make 3 paragraphs in one and make super long paragraphs (I am also going to use the word "paragraph" 20 or more times in my paragraph).  I will work a lot harder next semester. 


     I feel I've accomplished two of my goals: be nice to everyone and read 10 books-more than 100 pages.  I feel good about those goals, because it's totally not cool to be mean to people.  I don't know why I only wrote 10 books.  I've read 3 books that were, like 700 pages long.  They would count at least 5 books.  That is how I feel about my goals.
     I feel I need to challenge myself more.  I changed 10 books to 25 books.  I'm trying my hardest to improve in language arts, but I need to work harder.  I'm going to challenge myself by making sure I never do paragraphs with only 5 sentences.  Those paragraphs are o.k.  I want to do good paragraphs.  This is how I am challenging myself. 


     I feel that I have met most of my goals.  I am pretty sure I got better at my run on sentences.  I also read longer books like Holes and Wrinkle in Time.  Holes was my favorite book ever.  I really feel that I got much better at division.  It feels really good that I'm still in homework club, because I brought in my homework.  It makes me really happy!
     There are a couple of goals I want to do.  Like I need to change get a lot of million dollars.  I already have a lot.  I want to challenge myself more like more sentences in a paragraph and on timed tests get under 3:10!  I also want to change stay in homework club, because I've only got out of it once.  It was an unrealistic goal.  I want to challenge myself by reading books over 200 pages.  That's how I want to challenge myself. 

Week of January 5

We came back from the holiday break with both feet running.  This week we began our book report for the December book.  We are making a video using the program Powtoon.  The kids are very excited about doing their book reports, even upset on days when we aren't able to get to the computer lab.  They should be able to log in from home and can show you their presentation, but should not be working on it at home. 

"I like to use Powtoon because they have lots of animations."

 

"I really liked Powtoon because it is more animated than PowerPoint, and we really used it."

 

"I loved working on Powtoon because making the animation was super fun.  I got to type the words instead of writing it."

 

"I liked Powtoons because of the characters that you can put on your Powtoon."

 

"I thought making a Powtoon book report was fun.  I like seeing my book becoming an animated video.  It is super fun to add all the effects."

 

"I like doing my book report on Powtoon because it's really fun to make a video for a book report."

 

"I love Powtoon because it is a movie!"

  

"I like doing Powtoon because it is animated."

 

"I liked Powtoons because it is much quicker.  There are better pictures."

 

"I like doing Powtoons because it is quicker to do reports and presentations like PowerPoint but quicker."

"I liked doing my book report on Powtoon because it is not boring like writing on a piece of paper.  It's animated and colorful."

 

 

We also did an interesting science experiment this week.  We gave each student a test tube with water in it, with 2 of the test tubes having a small amount of vinegar in it.  The students walked around and shared their water solution with 3 students, squeezing a few drops of their water into each other's test tube.  After the tree trades, the students tested their water with litmus paper to test the acidity of the water.  We had 9 students who became "infected" with the virus.  The students were then asked to become epidemiologists and figure out which two students started the epidemic.  There were many rich discussions that occurred among the students, with really effective arguments and reasoning shown.  We may never know which two students started with the virus, but I assure you that the students definitely understand how epidemics begin and spread. 

 

 

 

Here are a few of their reflections about the experiment:

"I observed that timing is important."

"I would make it so three people were it to make it even harder."

"We could change the experiment by checking who was pink more often and who was trading with who."

"I think it is these two suspects because they can be traced to their beginnings."

"I observed that you should expect the unexpected."

"I observed that the purple people (no acid) might have traded with pink people (infected), but are still purple."

"A.E. was one of the people who started it.  But the other one is not definite.  It could be 2 people."

"I observed that people did things that led to other things."

"The purpose of the experiment was to find out how germs spread."

"A.E. had it!  She gave it to A.M., who was her first person.  A.E. was A.M.'s last person, which explains why A.M. didn't give it to me or G.H."

"I observed that disease spreads fast."