Our Pumpkin Patch

Room 102 is creating their very own pumpkin patch. Pumpkins make everyone think of fall and fall holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving. But did you know that pumpkins are healthy to eat? Do you know how long it takes a pumpkin to grow? Did you know there are many different kinds of pumpkins? During parent/teacher conferences, come into our pumpkin patch to learn more about pumpkins. Plus you can enjoy our fall poetry displayed in the hall. We're feeling rather festive!

A shout out to Martha Stewart for sharing the pumpkin pattern found here.

Who Wants to Win a Recess?

Recess in fifth grade?  Students in Room 102 are playing Who Wants to Be a Millionaire to win a recess.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is a popular television game show which offers prizes for correctly answering a series of multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty. The maximum prize in Room 102 is a recess.

Students are playing this game on the classroom Smart Board.  Hope runs high of making it to the top tier. The questions in the game challenge student understanding of figurative langauage. The game has generated some real excitement over STUDYING the figurative language terms.

Blake takes the class to the next level.

Fall Poetry

Can you feel the autumn wind stirring?

Students are experimenting with fall poetry. They are writing diamante poems  - a diamante poem takes the shape of a diamond. Each line uses specific types of words, like nouns, adjectives, and –ing words. It does not have to rhyme.

Students have discovered the thesaurus is a friend!  If you are a writer, this wonderous book should be a quick reach. Thesaurus.com  makes it even easier with online access. Microsoft Word's synonyms are easily accessed by simply right clicking the word in question. Students have added two great resources to their writer's toolbox.

It's a great time of the year to snuggle in and read. As the weather turns cooler, I'm enjoying homemade pumpkin spice lattes and the poets in Room 102.

My Best "Bud" in Class

Using earbuds and the Ipod Shuffle, Alex listens to an audio book.

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21st Century Literacy Skills is a term that is used a lot these days.  What does it mean?  It is learning core subjects with application of technology skills. Students in Room 102 are getting lots of "technology time." 

Earbuds for each student is a great idea. It isn't fun using ear phones that someone else has stuck in their ears. You can get inexpensive earbuds at discount stores. Most students probably already have their own earbuds at home. It would be a great idea to tuck the buds in a Ziploc® bag and carry them  in the binder.

Our Pardner

Howdy Pardner!

Adopt a Classroom . . . Build a CommunityX

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Our class has been partnered with 106 KIX.
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The program strives to encourage high self-esteem in students and support teachers and strengthen the business community's commitment to education. Students are provided with the opportunity to relate studies to experience. We're rather excited to work with this local radio station.

A big thanks to the Norfolk Area Chamber of Commerce for our new pardner!

What a Character!

September's Character Ed Assembly honored Ali  from Room 102. Ali was among several middle school students honored for the character quality of TRUST.

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Congratulations, Ali! You're having a great start to the school year.

Our Shelebration

Nearly a dozen years after his death, Shel Silverstein once again hit the shelves with a new book of poems titled Every Thing On It.  Shel's family went through his notebooks to put together this collection of poetry.  WOW! That should communicate to students the importance of a writer's notebook.X

I am a huge fan of Shel, so I stood in line at Hastings Book Store to purchase the book. Actually, I was the line. At midnight, I was the first and only person in Norfolk to own the new book. 

We shelebrated in the classroom with  a party. X

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Plus students are experimenting with their own poetry immitating Shel's style. He makes use of rhyme, stanzas, irony, and nonsense words. 

There are some awesome poets in Room 102. Read our entire collection of poems on the bulletin board outside Room 102.

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Click the Shel Silverstein icon to visit his site for children. Do not skip the intro. It's a whole lot of clever.