Our Lovely Classroom

It is hard to believe the big day is approaching tomorrow!  It was so satisfying to see everyone working so hard on their reports and presentation boards.  Everyone has come so far as a writer, reader, and researcher, that I cannot wait to see the fruits of their labors in the morning.  Some Final Announcements: Most students have finished their reports and most of their boards.  Some have printed up their photos at school and will assemble at home, while others made their photos at home and assembled the board at school.  Students were allowed to bring home scrapbook paper, poster board and other materials to finish their presentations.  Some may need help typing their final copy, while others may need some help with their costume. Students may arrive as early as 8:00am in room 102 without incurring a daycare charge.  We have colored hairspray and facepaint available for use to help students with their costumes.  Parents are invited to drop ...

By fourth grade, most students feel pretty comfortable using the internet to find answers to questions, what they may not realize is that not everything found on the internet is completely reliable.  This week, students will learn how to use the internet to find scholarly resources.  This means resources that are considered reliable enough to use for publication.  When we first had a talk about using the internet, students insisted that Wikipedia was the best place to go.  While even adults use Wikipedia for fast answers (myself included), using it to support facts being presented is not considered a valid source for published research because anyone with a computer can go in and change the information presented without fully backing up their facts. One of the first search engines that can be used to find scholarly research is Google Scholar.   click here  Using Scholar, you will have access to many scholarly journal articles and online books.  The d...

This was sent home the last week of September.  If you did not recieve it from your child, please feel free to send me an email. September 26, 2013 Dear Parents,                                                                           During the month of October, the upper elementary will be researching important historical figures and will create a living wax museum on the morning of Halloween.  This research project will take place during class time where the students learn how to use print resources such as biographies and autobiographies as well as scholarly internet resources to gather information.  ...