CST Testing!

Good luck students! You have worked so hard this year and now is your chance to show what you know. I will be so excited to see your scores. Just a reminder that any student scoring higher in ELA from 5th grade will earn admission to my ALL STAR PIZZA PARTY when we come back to school in August.
Studying for the exam can be boring so I tried to make the review day fun. I made a custom game using "Numbered Heads Together" where students worked in teams to earn the most points. Here we are having fun and reviewing for the big TEST!

Acting out an Ancient Chinese Fable

The Ancient Chinese are not known for their fables, but they do exist. Students researched a few, then created a skit with a small group of friends to act out.
Students also made props to enhance their presentations.
Well done students!
Here is the link students used to research and choose their fables from:
http://www.chinavista.com/experience/fable/fable1.html

The following pictures show the students practicing and presenting to the class:)

The Silk Road Meets Movie Maker

      Students learned all about the Silk Road, then created a short movie about it using Windows Live Movie Maker. Students were instructed to include ten powerful images that represented the Silk Road with captions that described the images using Figurative Language. After the movies were made students added music and edited their work. Finally students shared their movies with classmates, then movies voted the most interesting were shown to the entire class on the projector. Of course I provided the pop corn! Students have uploaded their movies into Thinkquest for parents to see as well as into their Ancient Civilization PowerPoint. Our last step in this lesson was reflecting on the assignment using the message board in Thinkquest.
Awesome Job Students!

first, researching

 planning and working together

 getting the images into Movie Maker

 sharing the movies with small groups of friends

 then watching the "best nominated" movies on the big screen (with popcorn)

reflections:

Han Dynasty Inventions!

Students researched the impressive inventions of the Han Dynasty, then ranked them in order to what they felt was the most important to the least important. Then students further investigated their favorite one and wrote a short research report on it. Finally students recreated the invention using play doh and uploaded the work into the Ancient Civilization PowerPoint.
Well Done Champions students.

farming tools

 Terra-Cotta Warrior

 Uploading it

 The Wheelbarrow

What did Emperor Quin Shihuangdi Do?

Today in our study of Ancient China we learned about Emperor Quin Shihuangdi. He did some great and not so great things according to our research. After summarizing the good and the bad into our Ancient Studies PowerPoint, we made of model of both the Great Wall of China and a replica of one of the Terra-cotta Army leaders. Students then wrote a summary of what they made and why they are important.
Good job Champion Students!

Can You Make Yourself Smarter (YES)?

This article is amazing!

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/magazine/can-you-make-yourself-smarter.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=magazine

From this article I found a free website that has the n back game:
http://dual-n-back.com/

Try it!

Guest Speaker (Thanks Ms. Amy)

Ms. Amy just got back from Japan. She loves Japanese art and shared with us what she did on her trip.
She also shared some great visuals!

From the above image students wrote the following:


chloe h
April 20, 2012:
Anime Girls:
j. This reminds me of myself hanging out with my BFF’s. Normally it is just my three best friends, so these three girls remind me of us going to Simone’s or Surf and Yogurt and gossiping about today’s school day.

b. Purple hair: “Hey where should we go today.”
Blonde: “I don’t know, how about-”
Brunet: “Boo!”
Blonde: “Ahhh! What was that for?”
Brunet: “Sorry, I was just messing around.”
Purple hair: “Common guys, let’s just go to fro-yo.”
Brunet and Blonde: Yepperoni!

Today

Thanks Amy!

Delete

Julia F
Anime Drawing

Friday, April 20, 2012

f. I would title this art The Anime Girls because there are three anime girls in the drawing.

e. I think that the colors in the background make the drawing seem bright and cheerful. The three girls show confusion, happiness, and coolness. One girl looks like she thinks she’s all that, one girl looks happy to be with her friends, and one girl looks like she doesn’t know what’s going on.

n. Brown hair: “Come on girls, smile for the picture!”
Purple hair: “I would look good whether I smiled or not.”
Blonde hair: “Wha..wha…what’s going on???”

m. I think the artist wanted us to look and see three friends together, and give us a happy feel, because it might remind us of our own friends.

Today

Delete

Maritza D
4/20/12
A. I think the artist is a girl and this is a picture representing her and her two friends. Her inspiration was probably the love between the girls as friends. She represents them as girls in
Anime form maybe because all three friends love Anime.
B. I think the girl on the right side would say “oh come on it’s just a photo you look fine!” to the girl in the middle. I also think that the girl on the left side would say “yeah your hair looks fine and who cares that you’re wearing your school uniform?” Lastly I think that the girl in the middle would say “no I didn’t even have time to do my hair today come on I can just take retakes no don’t make me do this!”
C. I see three girls that look like they are friends. All three girls are wearing rundown school uniforms.

Today