Week of February 4

Language Arts: In LA we are reading books about the Civil War.  Then we journal about them.  There are 3 books-The Boys' War, I'll Pass for your Comrade, and Bull Run.  The girls finished their book and are reading another.  That's what we are doing in LA.

Math: We did some pages in our math book.  We also did Xtramath.com.  The math pages were fun.  Xtramath was even more fun!

Writing: This week in writing we are still doing our Civil War diaries and hopefully we finish them by next week.

Social Studies: We are working on FFF (Forum of Famous Faces).  Right now, we're writing information on note cards and sorting them in labeled pouches in a folder.  It's pretty cool.  When we're done, we're going to do a report.  Also we are making a tri-fold board, a presentation, and we get to dress up like our person. It'll be fun.

Science: In science we have been looking at water samples.  One has a fly in it (ick and ew!).  But it's also yum and taste bud!  It's pretty cool, the germs!  Can you believe what is crawling up your shoulder?  Woohoo! Oh yeah, groovy! (You must read this in a high pitched singish voice)

Computer: We made charts using Excel in computers.  This is what charts we did.  We did pie charts, donut charts and all sorts of charts.  We made charts for how many deaths were in battles of the Civil War, lots of wars, and of diseases.

Free Time: At free time we are doing a puzzle.  We first did a 300 piece puzzle.  We got a new puzzle that has 500 pieces because the cleaners finished our first one!

Brownie Points: We are two brownie points away from a brownie party.  We are trying to earn one for Monday.  Cross your fingers!

Pizza Party: We got a pizza party on Wednesday from Little Caesars for having the most walkers and donations for the Hunger Walk in the Fall.  We made a thank you card for Little Caesars.

Art: For art we are participating in the Google Doodle contest.  You had to draw it on the best day ever.

Silent Reading: So in silent reading we're reading reading things like Harry Potter, Taran Wanderer, and Percy Jackson books.  But most people are reading the classics like Peter Pan and Dracula, or better yet, Ivanhoe and King Arthur.

PE: This week in PE we are doing swimming lessons.  This week is the last swim week.  Everyone got better at swimming.  We go on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Performing Arts: We have played on our recorder.  Two songs were "When the Saints Go Marching in" and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."  That's it, bye!

Week of January 28th

I'm blogging on the blog.  Today is First Friday and there is school store.  Here is more information.

Language Arts: We are still working on Language Arts.  We're reading a chapter then we make a "trading card" for it.  The girls are on the last chapter.  The boys are working hard too.  We are all almost done.  

Writing: We started learning how to write in cursive.  We are going to have to write our spelling words in cursive this week.  

Math: We had a math test this week and it was fun.  We did XtraMath.com too.  Math is fun!

Social Studies: In social studies we have been doing our stuff that we do in social studies.  We are people from the Civil War like General Mitchell or Mary Chestnut.  So basically we are studying social things!

Science: For science we started a new experiment.  We are seeing the effects of mold on fast food.  Wendy's and Subway are growing mold the fastest.  McDonald's and Dairy Queen don't have any mold and it has been 11 days!  It is just plain gross.  

Lunch: So right now we are having pizza from Godfather's every Friday.  We also had a school store.  School store is a store that runs during lunch every other Friday.  Everything is over 25 cents and under a dollar.  It sells things like pencils, erasers, bracelets, lollipops and candy. Our lunch is pretty normal.  

Recess: In recess we are just doing the usual stuff.  Nothing much is going on.  

Gathering: In the First Friday Gathering we were talking about the auction.  It is called Cirque du Seabury.  We also watched a videos about Bradley Oberhofer and how he donated some albums and other stuff for the auction.  It sounds very fun!

French: In French we are learning about months and days of the week, you know, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.  You get it, only we do it like lundi, mardi.  It rocks, I mean learning with Madame Olliphant is so awesome.  I love it.  Woo!

Week of January 22

Blog: On the blog, we have been doing-well, the blog!

Language Arts: In language arts, we are reading books about people in the Civil War.  Then we make little "trading cards" in our reading notebook.  The girls are reading about women in the Civil War and the boys are reading about boys (not grown men but 12 year old boys) in the Civil War.  It is fun.

Math: In math we did palindromes.  I still have not found out how many steps it takes for 89 and 98 to become a palindrome.  We also did work on multiplying for the green group and coordinate graphs for the purple group.  Some people in the green group are working in the purple book and some of the purple group are working in the middle school book.  

Writing: In writing we have been working on our Civil War journal.  It is a journal from a Civil War person's perspective.  It is fun.  

Science: This week in science we finished our bread mold experiment.  We found that bagged bread with soda on it grew mold the fastest and homemade bread didn't grow much mold, but it did get hard.  But now we started a new mold experiment with fast food from places like McDonald's, Wendy's, Dairy Queen and Subway.  

Social Studies: In social studies we read Civil War letters by someone name J.J. White.  He was a real person who guarded the railroad.  He was in the Union.  He had a brother in the war.  When we read the last note we learned that J.J. White's brother dies in the hospital.  That's what we did in social studies.  

Library: It was the same old, same old.  We read books.  We checked out books.  

Performing Arts: So we have a new guy named Mr. Stockstad.  He is teaching us the recorder.  We are also learning about brass instruments.  Also we are learning about a couple of silver and wood instruments.  But, he is not our permanent teacher.  

Brownie Points: This week we didn't get a brownie party, but we still got brownies because of a birthday!  We earned 3 brownie points and we just need 5 more to get a brownie party.  Hopefully those 5 get earned next week and if we don't, well, good luck Creators.  

Week of January 14th

These are the things we have done this week-Gathering, writing, language arts, French, PE, social studies, performing arts, morning meeting, math, science and silent reading.  Here is more information about them!

Language Arts: In Language Arts we are doing a book on the Civil War.  The girls are reading I'll Pass for Your Comrade.  The boys get a choice of The Boys' War or Bull Run.  Every chapter you have to make a trading card with things like pictures and jobs.  Studying the Civil War is big for us so we are doing it in different subjects.  That is what we've been doing in LA.  

Writing: In writing, we are writing a "Civil War Journal" as if we were someone from the Civil War.  We can't be anyone famous though.  Mrs. Price read us some books about the Civil War for some ideas.  Then, we are going to turn them into real journals!

Math: In math this week we worked on In and Output problems and also problems like this: 53+(6x3).  It's actually pretty easy.

Science: In science we have been looking at stuff under microscopes.  We have also started a bread mold experiment.  We are seeing what types of bread with what on it will grow mold the fastest.  

Social Studies: In social studies we are studying the Civil War still.  We have been working on Civil War battles.  We were supposed to write the name of the battle, the main generals' names, the outcome of the battle, and other important facts.  

Silent Reading: Same as always, read, read, read.  It's real fun 'cause books are the spark of my life, I tell you! Life!

Morning Meeting: Right now we are working on making different handshakes for the week.  This week we have one that involves moving your arms up and down like a robotic Egyptian.  We are also working on how to greet people.  

Art: We finished our Civil War portraits.  It was fun.  Come to our class to see them.  

Gathering: This week in gathering we had a presentation from the First Lego League team.  They did a skit about taking your medicine on time.  We also learned a new song.  

PE: In PE we have been doing swimming at the Center at Norpoint.  It is very fun!

Performing Arts: In performing arts we have been practicing the recorder.  Most of us have gotten the yellow belt.  

French: This week in French we talked about Notre Dame de Paris (not the high school or wait is it a college?).  Also we looked at Quasimodo, gargoyles, and more.  So basically we were doing no French language.  

Here are some photos from swimming this week!

Week of January 7th

Language Arts: So right now we are doing our book reports about the books we read in December.  We read books like Peter Nimble, The 39 Clues, the Land of the Silver Apples and The Alchemyst.  We wrote out the same things as usual and then had to write a paragraph about what we would change about the book.  

Writing: For writing this week we're working on the Civil War and pretending to act like a nurse, soldier or even a normal person.  We have to write a journal as though we were that person.  We are still going to keep working on that.  

Math: We have been doing algebra like 2 + m = 8, m=6.  We have used variables and made tables of numbers for it.

Science: In science we have been using microscopes.  Also we are studying cells.  We are also growing bread molds on different types of breads.  

Social Studies: In social studies we have been studying the Civil War.  We are doing a report on a famous person in the Civil War.  We have to read a biography about our person.  We have also been doing some Civil War art and writing.  That's what we did in social studies.  

Art: We made half portraits.  It's where you capture a picture in half and draw the other side.  We drew people from the Civil War.  

Computers: In the computer lab we were researching slavery and stuff.  What I learned in the computer lab is that there are still slaves in different countries even today.  

Music: In music our class is learning how to play the recorder.  Don't you parents think that is exciting!  And we're learning how to do it with our substitute teacher, Mr. Stockstad.  He's very nice and we're having fun learning with him.  -0-0-

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PE: We will begin to have swimming lessons at the Center at Norpoint next week.  This week we were running with partners inside.  Then we did the circuit.  We do pull ups, dips, push ups, curl ups, lunges, and jump ropes.  Then we do some stretches and then we play a game.  This week we played Fire, Water, Tree Tag.  

Recess:  What we do at recess is we usually run around or play on the big toy.  

Gathering: This Gathering was First Friday.  We have Gathering every Friday but on First Friday we have classes like Legos, Art, Science, Reading, and others.  In Legos you build stuff.  In art you make stuff with paper.  In science you mix chemicals.  In reading you read books.  

Library: In Library we have been checking out books, just like always.  

Language Arts: We had a spelling test as usual.  Now everyone is finishing up their books.  Moving on to other books was fun.

Math: This week the green group took a test on Wednesday about graphs and a pretest.  Purple group did long division.  Also a mathematician came and talked to us a bit too.  We had to figure out how many squares we could find in a 3x3 grid, a 4x4 grid, a 5x5 grid, all the way up to a chess board (8x8 grid).  We found a cool pattern to it, so some of us found out how many squares there are in a 10x10 grid.  

Writing: We started on a new story this week.  Everybody has to write a story from somebody or something else's point of view that you can't talk to.  For example, we could write from Santa or a reindeer's perspective.  When you are done, you get to draw pictures around your paper.

Social Studies: For Social Studies this week we are starting to work on the Civil War and we just finished the presidents.  Also, Mrs. Price read a story about the civil way and it was VERY realistic, let's just say that.  We also started talking about what it was like for a slave.

Science: This week in Science we started our study of microbiology.  We're learning about things like bacteria, cells and germs.  We started by highlighting things in microbiology papers.  

Art: We are making very cool wrapping paper.  What we do is we have this tub of water and a little paper circle.  We put the circle in the water.  Then we have paint dropper thingies and we drop the drops of different colored paint onto the circle and it makes a really cool design in the water.  Then we put a piece of paper on the water and when we take it off, the design that was in the water will be on the paper.  

Gathering: The Octopi sang "12 Days of Christmas".  We started up SOS (Seabury on Stage) again.  This is where students can sign up to do some special talent at Gathering.  

Recess: Right now we are mainly playing blazer wars and freeze tag.  We also play with little fortresses of dirt and wood chips.  We use the wood chips as bricks and things as barbed wire.  

Math Games: This week we played 1,2,3 Nim.  The traps are multiples of 4.  For the original when you can take 1 or 2, the traps are multiples of 3.  We also found that for 1,3 Nim, the trap is an even number.  

French: We're getting into the holidays now so we're playing a really fun Christmas game.  We also learned Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman in French.  Also the decorations are good too!

PE: In PE we went to the Norpoint Center and did the climbing wall.  Then when we were done with the climbing wall, we went into the gym and played games.  

Here we are with the mathematician who came and taught us a cool lesson!

This post probably won't be nearly as interesting, as the kids weren't able to write about the week.  So, here was the week, according to Mrs. Price.

Language Arts: We are working hard to get our election chapter books finished before winter break.  The students also worked on a book report for their realistic fiction book.  They were asked to write the usual items, the characters, setting, problem, solution, and summary.  Then they also took one of the main characters and create a FAST Chart about them.  This included the character's feelings, actions, sayings, and thoughts.  We will begin books on the Civil War when we get back in January.

Math: The "green" group is finishing up their work on reading and creating graphs and probability.  They will have a test on this information next week.  The "purple" group is working hard to understand long division.  They too will be tested on this either next week or the week after.  

Writing: We are finishing the publishing of our 5 paragraph papers and will begin a new story next week.

Social Studies: The students finished their PowerPoint presentations on one of the presidents at the beginning of the week, then showed them to the rest of the class.  Many of the students showed an understanding of animation and the pasting of pictures into their work.  We also began our study of the U.S. Civil War.  We started a timeline of the events before the Civil War and will continue it with the battles and other important dates during the war.  We also watched 2 short films from the History Channel about the war.  

Gathering: Today was First Friday Gathering.  The students gathered together and spent about an hour snacking on hot chocolate and graham crackers, then read books with other students from a variety of grade levels.  It was a great, wearing pajamas and reading!

Recess: The students were very excited to earn four-square back during recess.  There are a few new rules and it was decided that if individual students are having issues with the game, they will not be able to play.  So far, things have gone smoothly.

Brownie Party: We had a brownie party on Tuesday this week.  They were s'more brownies with graham crackers and marshmallows.  Yum!

Our 2 candidates from the mock election fulfilled their duties on Friday.  They led the First Friday Gathering, brought all the teachers a drink from Starbucks, went out to lunch, and visited the middle school.  They also made some important decisions regarding the school that were important to their constituencies.  

Next week we will begin our study of Microbiology!

Here are some pictures from our read-in!

Our Head of School and Secretary busy at work.