If you are looking on this blog or accessing prior pieces you’ll find it’s not operating as it did.
Not by my choice.
I was “required” by my place of work to remove student photos.
Yes I actually have permissions, they required that of me, but not for these past entries in the form as they just exactly worded to me, I failed to put the blog address of this blog. So I feel a bit nervous…… well frankly I feel defeated….I’m not going to fight this or give them the permission parents allowed because my parents won’t be sure what’s up…and…frankly I’m not that interested in this.
It essentially disables a science project that was very meaningful Exploring Space and Time, will prevent families access to what we did, other schools, it is awful, awful but…I just did not get the things from them “worded” as they are now specifically requiring of me. I have another friend teacher there with nothing required and …it just is sad.
Next year I’ve had drafted what they require and if I do this agai I’l be careful. But for now, I apologize as this was linked and well respected, linked to the LA Times, linked to great sites and bloggers and a source of pride and within my context nothing came close. Nothing.
But wait and check because I’ll produce some content as I can without the kid images and make this a valuable experience.. Of course for free from me, free to you and in the spirit of good instruction.
Friday among the MANY things going on (including a great vaudeville show) we were introduced to our 12 new hermit crabs. Now we have 15! Since they like company, it was fun to watch them run around their cage.
If ONLY the teacher didn’t have a herniated disk. It’s really, really impossible.
Here is a video, okay slideshow, of our new turtle Lawrence, plus some Santa Barbara Zoo turtle pictures and Sharpee’s baby turtle ( same breed we were told)
Welcome back to Room 10….our teacher is very into science, computers and frogs…
So frogs…
Our 6th literature unit was Animals, Animals, Animals it corresponds with a science unit.
Right now we are making a Vertebrates flip book. And of course studying the rain forest of the world, the deserts, the northern forests, the many eco-systems and learning about animal adaption. So much to learn, with so many books and materials to support our work. The children are going to take home some work to make “Animal Reports” on animals they chose. They will present their information to the class pretty soon. This will then be presented here on our blog.
Our last story was called Red Eyed Tree Frogs.
It is a story of the nocturnal hunt for food of this frog, with an introduction to some of the animals that live within this animals home.
We have LOTS of posts waiting to be written up…and I’ll postdate and place….
…but these times at our school lately have been a bit hard with the well publicized death of a student (I taught this beautiful child in 1st/2nd grade several years ago).
In our room on Fridays we also have morning spelling and math tests to take. Workbooks to complete.
A theme that announces it is over. A new theme to meet Monday ( Animals, Animals, Animals). By afternoon as we watched Happy Feet to close our unit on Penguins, did a little Happy Dance and wrote eight sentences about penguins into paragraphs with third grade partners we were ready for a break. A fiddling afternoon.
So we were delighted to go see another Performances To Grow On Brian Bemel assembly brought to Hathaway School all the way from Alaska. A bluegrass afternoon (how perfect for a teacher from Appalachia in a hood.)
And so We’d like to introduce to you
Bearfoot Bluegrass….
An excerpt from their blog says… Bearfoot is a contemporary acoustic band from Alaska , featuring twin fiddles, fast picking mandolin and guitar, acoustic bass and incredible vocals. Likened to groups such as Nickel Creek in their fresh approach to bluegrass and acoustic music, their repertoire ranges from three-part harmonies evoking the high-lonesome sound of Bill Monroe, to original tunes, to bluesy covers of songs by Bonnie Raitt and Aretha Franklin. In 2001 they won the Telluride Band Competition joining Nickel Creek and Dixie Chicks, among others.
A brand new sound to hear, a new style and a way to understand the American experience.
The band asked us to remember Bill Monroe. Well it turns out Bill Monroe is a father of Blugrass. You can read of him here. and listen to him right now if you aren’t blocked as we are…
Here they are….
Now we go to You Tube playing a piece we heard too, just in a very different way…
The children had great questions they got to ask, questions about the pick-ups on the instruments, first performances, years playing, how instruments were made.
The ladies were remarkable players and singers explaining three part harmony with a wonderful song they composed in a car ride about never wearing a white dress.
Welcome to the work of our 1st grade in Oxnard, CA as we learn about the home, community, and the way houses hold the family we love. Our current theme in reading is “Home Sweet Home.”
Last week we learned two songs. One was “This is The Way We Build Our House.” It told about homes around the world, customs, holidays, and traditions. That was a great way to talk about how climate affects what we build our homes from, it lead to investigations into various ways to celebrate births and birthdays, all kinds of interesting things. Then we learned the song “Our House.” We happen to love it. It catches who we are.
Here it the text:
Our House
Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young
I’ll light the fire
You put the flowers in the vase
That you bought todayStaring at the fire
For hours and hours
While I listen to you
Play your love songs
All night long for me
Only for meCome to me now
And rest your head for just five minutes
Everything is good
Such a cosy room
The windows are illuminated
By the sunshine through them
Fiery gems for you
Only for you
Our house is a very, very fine house
With two cats in the yard
Life used to be so hard
Now everything is easy
‘Cause of you
And our la,la,la, la,la, la, la, la, la, la, la…..
Our house is a very, very fine house
With two cats in the yard
Life used to be so hard
Now everything is easy
‘Cause of you
And Our
I’ll light the fire
And you place the flowers in the jar
That you bought today
And if you aren’t blocked, as we are, here is the song…
Students are doing several projects connected to this theme.
Painting houses. Houses we call the dream houses.
Each child goes thinking about “The Napping House” by Audrey Woods a lovely story that starts off dreaming and wakes up a pile of granny, child, cat, dog, mouse and flea! All piled on a bed waking up to a day. A day in the ir life ready to be fully lived.
Another project is being made on our “dividers”, each student has a three sided folder that allows them to design the inside and outside of a house using the vocabulary that we are being sure to stabilize from our ELD lessons. Words like couch, davenport, banister, foyer….lots and lots of words that are illustrated and designed into their divider.
Each child painting or drawing has to interpret the projects for themselves and make both creative decisions as well as design decisions.
This one is not finished but the little bathroom made me chuckle…..
Check back tomorrow, the children will draw and type in their own house paragraphs.
I would like to add that many of our families are dealing with foreclosures, with renting, with homes that are very, very different than the ones we might dream about. But at six in their wisdom one little boy said it all today, “As long as I have my Mom I can live in anything.”
I told her after school and she just gave him a Mom hug.
Take a tour with Spotty to see the rooms of the White House from a dog’s point of view. Featured rooms include the Library, Vermeil Room, China Room, …
Virtual Tour. Directions to the Haas-Lilienthal House… CABLE CAR: We are 4 blocks from the end of the California Street Cable Car line, which ends at …
USNews.com provides an interactive tour of Bill Gates home that covers the Pool … The architects who designed Bill Gates’ famous residential compound in …
The Gamble House - The Gamble House in Pasadena, California, is an example of American Arts and Crafts style architecture. The house and furnishings were designed by Charles and Henry Greene in 1908. The house, a National Historic Landmark, is owned and operated by the University of Southern California and is open for public tours.George Washington — Take a virtual tour of George Washington’s mansion, Mt. Vernon.
Bringing an Online Museum Exhibit to Classrooms
by Laura C. Lewis
Laura shares her work in creating an on-line exhibit based on the Illinois State Museum exhibit “At Home in the Heartland.” The exhibit explores 300 years of family life in Illinois through the personal narratives of men and women who lived in Illinois and through objects from the home across the centuries. Read her article and then visit the site.http://www.techlearning.com/db_area/archives/WCE/archives/lewis.htm
Historic House Museums in the U.S. — This web site was prepared by the Victorian Preservation Association of Santa Clara Valley, California, but includes New England and mid-Atlantic historic homes listed are from the 17th, 18th and early 19th century.
Belongs to the Lewes Historical Society. “A Tour of Lewes” — a virtual tour of Lewes, …. list from Smithsonian Center for Materials Research & Education…
(this was never returned to my class, a book assembled to be shared-we hope it was appreciated as we sent it to the school board)
Today 1st graders made their Dr. King Portraits. Not an easy likeness to catch. We hope perhaps in this work is something that strikes you. The children wrote below the portrait with a little (okay, a lot on the typing) bit of 3rd grader help. They could NOT give them words though, because the 1st graders have lots to say and it is important for 2nd language learners to use their language expressing what they understand from lessons. Check back for Part two.
I knew when Martin Luther King Jr. Passed away. He got killed.
It was a sad day for us all. When I saw the movie I started crying.
And Martin Luther King helped the world.
Martin Luther King Jr. made the World a better place.
All the people who were black should not do the work for other people.
Dr. King made an important speech, “I Have a Dream.”
Martin Luther King Jr. helped people. He’s a good man.
He does not want the children to fight.
Now all students can go to school together.
And be friends.
He was strong and he was brave.
He made the world a better place because some white people hated
black people because of skin color. He changed it.
He helped us be friends.
Dr. King was nice.
Dr. King there was a lot of people in his marches.
He told us to love each other.
Martin Luther King is a real great writer.
The police took him to jail. NO, he was not bad.
He wanted people to be nice, treated fair.
Martin’s house was blown up, it did not stop him.
(coming soon, he was sick today)
Martin Luther King Jr. made a speech in Washington, D.C.
It was called the “I Have A Dream.”
He said skin color isn’t important.
He said judge by how people treat you.
Martin Luther King Jr. wanted to change the world.
He wanted things to be special and fair.
He liked it nicely.
Martin Luther King Jr. is brave.
Because he was, us learn not to fight.
He liked us to be peaceful.
Dr. King was talking people about treating each other nice.
He was killed because he was nice.
He really was not happy with the American people ways.
He wanted it to be fairer.
Martin Luther King Jr. was trying to change the peoples.
Martin Luther King I started crying because someone killed him. I cried a lot.
Martin Luther King’s house was blown up too. He said no fighting,
love like you do your family.
He is important because he teaches everybody that we should
not fight. Once there were water fountains for blacks and whites.
Now that’s gone.
Martin Luther King was a great man.
Martin Luther King made speeches so that the white and black children could go to school together.
He stopped the fighting.
The day was a downpour mostly. Here is the rainbow that started the day through the wires that surround us.
I was out very ill with acute bronchitis, so they watched a video ( “Our Friend Martin”, below) to learn about an important man, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that shaped his times, and helped create the conditions to allow all children to sit happily on our nice carpet for learning. (here is a site for teachers and kids)
By way of introduction we are learning about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This book helps and is in our classroom.
This year the holiday to celebrate falls next week on Jan. 21, 2008, with a call to children and adults for a National Day of Service.
Service can be seen as something we do to help others, help out, to lift each other’s burdens, lighten the load, make it a little easier. In my time there was a song, “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” it went like this….it helps explain service in a way, at least the feeling you need.
If you aren’t in a blocked district you’ll listen to a song talking about something King understood to be true, and gave his life to try to achieve. The idea we can serve and care for one another, that we go down the road of life together.
We seek fair chances.
You are very strong, you can help one another to be strong too.
A National Day of Service made me think of a poem that I write for all children.
Here it is, I’m working out chords to set it to music.
A Random Act of Service Is The Love Our Actions Do
Kiss a frog.
Dress your sister’s doll,
Climb an Everest in your way,
Give something to everyday
End this in a hug
Or Dig a flower bed
Or put a little spice in there instead
Any way you see it
When you look around
You can change the world By serving those you found.
Drop the subject
Carry her backpack
Plan a project
That sends blankets, its all healing logic
Go to places where people have lost homes.
You could cook
Take it over
When your grandma’s all alone.
Any way you see it
When you look around
You can change the world
By serving those you found.
Get a shiny quarter
Collect a dulling dime
Gather pennies in your shoe
It not a very hard
Thing to do
send them over
To someone who just really, after all, needs some more of you.
Any way you see it
When you look around
You can change the world
By serving those you found.
You have your two hands
And a beautiful face
You can be so helpful
In this earthly space
Clean a beach
Wash a car
Your actions can go so far.
Any way you see it
When you look around
You can change the world
By serving those you found.
Bending over
To pick up a spill
Is a way of saying I’m here
For you ever still
We serve each other
In the actions that we do
Every minute of our life what we do must be true.
Any way you see it
When you look around
You can change the world
By serving those you found.
Pick a pansy
Make your bouquet
Volunteer your time
There’s nothing like today
Brother Martin, he is here
Seeing the actions that you do
Proud of the helping and especially of you.
Any way you see it
When you look around
You can change the world
By serving those you found.
Make a friend
Reach out to those homebound
Take a bit of energy
Make o bit of synergy
You can be the answer
To the problems of the times
Give a little love and watch it spin around.
Any way you see it
When you look around
You can change the world
By serving those you found.
A random act of service is the love our actions do.
I remember Dr. King very well from when I was a little 6 and 7 year old.
I knew about his work talking about non-violence, peace, about giving all people equal opportunities, chances to be heard, chances to make a life from a fair starting place. He was a hero of mine.
I thought when I was 9 and he died that our world lost a light.
But , in a way, I was wrong. It just was a feeling I had because I was hurt over how he died.
The truth is the world has that light still. When you serve others, do kind things, care, try to make it better over worse. When you ask questions and when you demand that things be the best they can be for all you are carrying the light in you. It was the same light that I see closing my eyes each night and waking each day. A promise that we can make this day one that is beautiful.
Would you like some ideas to serve. I found a huge, huge list right here.
It’s a big, big list. You can make up one too!
Think, think, think. Help, help, help. Dr. King would respect that.
Here are some books that you should try…..
My Dream of Martin Luther King (Dragonfly Books) (Paperback)
by Faith Ringgold (Illustrator) Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King Jr. (Scholastic Bookshelf) (Paperback)
by Jean Marzollo (Author), J. Pinkney (Illustrator) Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. [BARGAIN PRICE] (Hardcover)
by Doreen Rappaport (Author)
Scholastic’s Research Tools -
Martin Luther King, Jr. articles, African American History articles, Heroes and Accomplishments articles, and Black History articles. Articles cover various civil rights leaders and their contribution to the rights of African Americans.
Tour Martin Luther King, Jr.’s house -
Take a virtual tour of the birth home of Martin Luther King, Jr. Click on a room in the floor plan to display a panoramic image of the room with a brief description.
Timeline of Dr. King’s Life -
A simple timeline of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life illustrated by elementary children.
Thematic Reading List - Kids Books
A list of books to have in the classroom for students or teachers to read during a Black History Study.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Wordsearch
Can you find all these Black History vocabulary words in this puzzle? Ten words are randomly chosen from this list of vocabulary words associated with Martin Luther King, Jr. : act, African, Alabama, American, assassinate, Atlanta, Birmingham, boycott, bus, court, demonstrate, discriminate, dream, emanicpate, equality, freedom, freed, injustice, justice, kind, leader, leadership, liberty, marches, Martin, media, minister, nobel, nonviolence, oppressor, oppressed, parks, peace, poverty, prejudice, protest, racial, racism, rights, riots, Rosa, Satyagraha, segregate, speech, struggle, surpreme, unjust, Vietnam, violence, voting, war
Jigsaw Puzzles
Snapshots of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life and work.
Word Scramble
Unscramble these words associated with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Activities
