Mrs. Ewing’s 5th Grade

In my perfect world, we would have school 3 days a week and Summer Vacation the other 4 days!  I love summer, but at the same time, I can’t help but get excited about the start of school.  Nerdy, I know!  Well, school is almost here, and hopefully you new 5th graders have been checking out all the teacher’s websites. 

One item that all of you will need for 5th grade Science is a hardback composition book.  We use these for our scientist’s notebooks.  They run about $.50 at Wal-Mart.  Office Depot usually puts them on sale for $.25 around this time of year, also.  We use these nearly every day in class.  It doesn’t matter what the cover looks like, and the $.50 ones at Wal-Mart have several designs.

I will be contacting parents this week to schedule parent meetings!  I look forward to meeting with you all.

More to come!

 

Here is my experiment trying to make a digital scrapbook for our class.  Again,  I sound very, very, very, Southern.  Folks up north might need an interpreter.  lol….Enjoy!

But….that’s not all!  With VoiceThread, you can add your own comments to the scrapbook.  All you need is a microphone on your computer.  When it gets to a picture that brings back a memory, you can record an audio comment that people can click on to listen to your memory of that photo.  How cool is that!!!  Anyway, to leave a comment, you have to sign up with VoiceThread.  It’s free.  You just need an e-mail address.  Remember, if you use Gaggle, the e-mail they send you will be blocked.  Send me an e-mail if you do this, and I will set it up for you.  It even lets you use an image for your comments!  I think it would be awesome if the whole class could add their own comments to our scrapbook.  That would make it so much more special!

Well, enjoy your summer!  Don’t worry about me here, slaving away in Summer School.  I’ll manage!

Love,

Mrs. Ewing

 

 

5th grade is nearly over!  This school year felt incredibly quick to me.  Well, okay, those two weeks before TCAPs were kind of slow, but the rest flew by in a busy blur!  You’ll soon be on to 6th grade, and Mrs. Ewing will only be a distant memory.  Don’t worry about 6th grade.  I am very confident that you’ll be completely successful.  I will be here if you need me.  Just remember to be organized and disciplined.

You all have been a wonderful class, and I will never forget you.  You have been a pioneer class! 

• My first blogging class
• My first class to use a wiki
• My first class to incorporate technology into Science Fair projects
• My first class to have Webkinz!
• My first class to do a video news feature!  (That was pretty cool, wasn’t it?)

You all paved the way!  Be proud!  I sure am!  We have two more days left, and remember that I have resolved that I WILL NOT CRY THIS YEAR!!!!  No! No! No!  I’m going to be a brave soldier!!!!

Read the rest of this entry »

Teachers know that nothing quite compares to the last month of school!  It’s a chaotic, jubilant, stressful, crazy, bittersweet roller coaster ride to that final day.  It’s funny how, just when I’ve got them perfectly trained, I have to pass them on to the next teacher who’ll be part of their lives!  Year-end activities occupy our every moment, and TCAP no longer hangs over our heads!  May flies by, kids!  You’ll be 6th graders in the blink of an eye.

What’s Up?

Science Fair!  That’s what!!!  Most of you should be conducting your experiments this week.  I’m anxious to see the results!  We’ll also begin planning our display boards.  Be sure to check the Science Fair wiki to monitor your progress.  Let me know if your progress page hasn’t been updated properly.

The tech department has let us use 5 laptops from the mobile lab.  (Oh yeah!!!) This will really speed things along!   I will post a checklist on the Science Fair wiki to keep you updated on the technology stuff you need to do as your project continues.

I am absolutely amazed at how effortlessly you’ve incorporated technology into your project with the wiki!  I’ve got more ideas for you, so stay tuned!

We are in the planning phase of our Webkinz convention.  I have added a page on the wiki to post ideas for the convention.  I’m thinking possibly the 27th?  I’ll let you know.  It’s going to be a blast!

This week we go back to our morning blogging schedule.  If there are no glitches with the  laptops, then we’ll have two groups blogging every other day. 

Group 1 (starts Monday)

Kristopher, Monica, Chance, Eric, Madison, Shanna, Lauren, Teagan, Zack,

Group 2 (starts Tuesday)

Samantha, Alex Mo, Hannah, Becca, Ashley, Eryn, Brooke, Bronson, Elizabeth, Alex Ma.

More later….

Our feature with Kingsport Times-News reporter Jeff Bobo went well today.  I was impressed with how well you all handled the interview process.  You could have knocked me over with a feather (idiom) when I realized that it was a VIDEO feature.  I thought it would just be a regular newspaper feature.  You can take a look at the video here.  Go down on the left side until you get to the Video Reports section. 

Here’s the link to the full newspaper article.

Mr. Bobo did a great job editing the video!  However, I was shocked and dismayed to hear how completely “countrified” I sound!  Wow….totally Southern!  I do love the South, but I had no idea how strong my Southern accent is!  I also found out that (on average) I use the phrase “you know” every 2.8 seconds!  I will totally do better next time!

The story was also wired to the NEA’s (National Education Association) publication, The Opening Bell.  Now, if you’re not a teacher (or politician) that may not seem very big, but they have over 3 million members!!!! 

It was very exciting to share our project!  Keep writing and learning!  I’m so proud of your work!

Okay, okay, okay…back to the real world!  You should finish up research for your Science Fair projects this week.  I’ve been going through the wiki, and a select few haven’t been gathering research as you should.  We don’t want to “hog the lab” much longer!  Make good use of your lab time this week.  Let me know if you’ve run into a brick wall!  I’ll help!

Love,

Mrs. Ewing

Finally, a Friday night at home!  I was spending a little “quality time” with my precious laptop when I came across a blog that mentions…..can you believe it……us????  Not just one, either!!!  Here are the links:

http://simplethoughts-complexmind.blogspot.com/2008/04/blogging-as-part-of-curriculum-for-5th.html

http://blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/silence/archives/2008/04/blogging_added_1.shtml

Okay, well maybe it’s not that big of a deal, but it is pretty cool!

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Speaking of pretty cool…..

The Science Fair!!!  I am absolutely amazed at the progress you all are making!  Quite honestly, I expected disaster to strike!  (It may still strike!) Preparing for the Science Fair is always challenging, but doing it while using such Web 2.0 tools as wikis….that’s just plain ‘ol asking for it!  I think that it may even be (gasp) easier!!!

Parents and other visitors, check out the Science Fair Wiki.  You can see your child’s progress on the project, look at other helpful links, and generally be impressed at your kid’s scientific prowess. 

What’s a wiki?  A type of website that allows multiple users to update content.  It’s a great tool for collaboration.  The kids act like they’ve been using them all their lives!

That was a basic definition.  Watch this video from the folks at CommonCraft.  (Love their videos - Why didn’t I think of that?) If you’re watching from school, watch the versions posted on TeacherTube.  YouTube ones will be blocked at school.

Later note:  Below is the YouTube version of the video.  For some reason, after Edublogs upgraded to the latest WordPress version, the TeacherTube embed code doesn’t work.  I’ll keep working on it so that it can be viewed at school.  JE 5/26/08

This is the link to go directly to TeacherTube and watch it, if you’re trying to view the video at school.

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=c04c7bfc822caf7c7459

 

 

 

 

Other info:

• Jeff Bobo is coming this week to do a feature on the blogging project.

• We have another college student coming to observe us in action this week.

• Hypothesis due date will be pushed back until April 29th because of the EMS presentation.

• Procedure due date is still this Friday

  

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Mrs. Miller left us!  I guess graduation is a good enough reason!  We wish her best of everything in the future. 

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Friday will be our Arbor Day ceremony. We’ll plant a tree (graciously donated by Martin’s Greenhouse), and we’ll announce the winners of our 5th grade Arbor Day poster contest.  State Commissioner of Agriculture, Ken Givens, will be present for the ceremony.

More later….

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Is this you?

This reminds me of my kids in the morning!  

It’s funny how Spring Break accomplishes one thing:  it makes you wish school was out!  It won’t be long!  Time is going to zoom by, and we need to focus on our goals for the remainder of the school year:

• Making sure you are prepared for 6th grade

• Producing fabulous Science Fair projects

• Enjoying our last few weeks together

  

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This week will be Mrs. Miller’s last week!  She’s graduating!

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We have new playground stuff!!!  6th grade and Mrs. Eidson have provided an area for the game Ga-Ga.  Click here for instructions for playing.  

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The presentation for our blogging project went very well!  The Kingsport-Times is supposed to come by one day this week to do a feature on it!  Exciting!  You’ll have to look “extra cute” that day.  Don’t forget that you’ll get to meet your partner “in person” on our Park Day!   Keep up the good writing!

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I need your opinion on something: on the right side of the site I’ve posted an example of me doing a fractions example using something called SketchCast.  It’s pretty cool, and you can even add sound to it.  Watch it for me, and let me know what you think.  I’m thinking of posting examples from Math homework on our site like this so kids (or parents) can watch the teacher doing it while at home.  Do you think this is something you would use when doing homework or reviewing for a test?  Leave a comment to let me know.

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Well, I’ll write more later.  I just got back from Ren’s volleyball tournament in Louisville (long drive) and I’m going to “hit the hay”. 

 

TCAP is looming overhead!  It’s crunch time, and we’ve got to really push ourselves.  I think “March Madness” should refer to the time of the school year before TCAPs, not college basketball tournament time.  It can get pretty crazy!  As we finish covering the necessary material, it’s a good idea to review the topics we learned earlier this year.  Check out our  TCAP Review page to refresh your memory!

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It’s Official: Blogging’s Good for You 

The folks at ABC Science Online report that a study conducted at Swinburne University of Technology showed that people who blog feel less isolated and were more content in both face-to-face and online friendships!  Check out the report on Discovery Channel’s Discovery News site.

Keep writing!

Miss Geiger’s class is beginning their blog project, and we should be able to comment their blogs soon.  They’re reading Among the Hidden ( you remember how much we loved that book).  We’ll have to be careful not to give anything away. 

Meanwhile, keep commenting other students’ blogs. 

Alex received a return comment from one of the Trinity students last week.  I am looking for some other good class blogs for us to comment.  Let me know if you come across one.

For those of you who are blogging in Tier II, I’m looking forward to reading your research entries this week.  We’ll also be learning about tagging our entries, making hyperlinks, and proofreading what we’ve written.

Here’s a video that shows how blogging benefits your learning!

<a href=”http://www.teachertube.com/flvideo/838.flv” title=”Anarchy Media Player - Right click to download file”><em>Download Video:  </em></a><b> Posted by  <A href=”http://www.teachertube.com/uprofile.php?UID=669″><font color=#3399FF SIZE=2>rachelboyd</FONT></A></b> at <b><a href=”http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=be6ec9b852b0a542e2f3″>TeacherTube.com</a>.</b>

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The best student quote I’ve heard this week:

Teacher: Why is it important to know how to use irregular verbs?

Eric: So we won’t talk irregular.

I love it! 

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Our new student teacher, Mrs. Miller, started teaching Language this week.  Hopefully, she’s recovered from the culture shock of moving from 2nd grade to 5th grade.  You all have done a great job of training our pre-service teachers!

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Look forward to: The Science Fair!!!!  It’s coming soon to a classroom near you!  Okay, it’s coming to YOUR classroom!  Fun!!!Keep working hard!Love,Mrs. Ewing

Ahh…..do you hear that sound?  It’s the sound of 19 kids and 1 teacher sighing in relief!  The Writing Assessment has passed!  While the assessment may be over, writing is not.  We are getting ready to take our blogs to the next level and spend some quality time expressing ideas and thoughts.

One exciting development with our blogs is the addition of some of Mrs. Hartness’s homeroom.  They’ve been writing up a storm!!!  Thanks, Mrs. Ewing’s homeroom, for being such willing mentors to the new bloggers. 

As if that weren’t enough, Miss Geiger’s 5th grade across town has taken up blogging!  We’re going to be doing some writing together.  That’s just cool!!!!  More on that later…

How did the Writing Assessment go?  Pretty well…afterwards we shared our ideas for developing the prompt.  This year, 5th graders had to write a story about something a friend had found.  Some of the ideas we had for what the friend found were:

• a snow machine

• Confederate money

• a slave tag

• $100,000

• a time machine

They all sound like the beginnings to some great stories!

Today was our DARE graduation!  Congratulations to all our graduates. 

The next two months will be the most challenging of this year.  TCAP is coming, and I’ll be pushing you hard so that you’ll be prepared.  Because of this, you need to:

• be disciplined

• keep focused

• stay relaxed

• take care of yourself

You’ll be great!!!!   See you in class!

Love,

Mrs. Ewing