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!!!!

Okay….on to the news of the week!

Tuesday: 

It’s Webkinz day!  You get to bring your Webkinz or other small stuffed animal.  It’s not just a day..it’s a Webkinz Convention.  When you get to school, you’ll have to register your Webkinz and get his/her name badge.  (Well, now all the parents know I’m a loser…lol)  Anyway…some of the things I’m thinking of doing is of course game time on Webkinz, Create-A-New-Webkinz, Picture Spot with your Webkinz…any other ideas?

Also, Tuesday….you absolutely need to finish your blog posts.  You have several you need to do.

Also…Tuesday…I want to film your presentations!  (I know what you’re thinking, “She must be crazy!”)

Wednesday…Last field trip!  Wear comfortable shoes, sunscreen, and don’t forget your clothes still have to be within dress code.

Oh, and by the way, the best thing I overheard last week:

Student A:  Hey, you can’t write like that!  This isn’t texting!

Mrs. Ewing:  What’s going on?

Student A:  She’s using the letter “R” instead of “are”!

And then Mrs. Ewing smiled.

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

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

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

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.  

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!

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.

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!

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>

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! 

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

Happy New Year!!!

Welcome back!

As you know, we are in “heavy-duty writing mode” right now, and your blog is a big part of that. Last week, I showed you a few examples of class blogs. I want you to spend some time exploring those sites and reading what those kids have written. There a few entries that I definitely want you to read so I’ve put links to them below:

Read carri0708’s entry on Friendship. (You’ll have to scroll down to the bottom).

Allwyn.  Something tells me we’ll all be reading novels by her one day.

Both of those students are 6th graders at Trinity School.  The student blogs on that site are awesome.  Pick a few and scroll down to the entry on their “Creed”.  Amazing! 

“Uh…..Mrs. Ewing, what’s a creed?”

“I’m glad you asked, Sugarplum.”  Click here for the definition.

More “Must-Read” Blogs:

Wow, I had to include this one.  A boy named Grant writes about his sister being a bad boyfriend picker!  It’s hilarious!

Mr. Seufert’s Fifth Grade – Read AC’s post  “What Is Happiness?”  (scroll down a bit).

Mr. Brune’s 5th grade class in NY regularly writes about current events.  Check out JoJo’s and BalletGirl’s.  Notice how they respond to the news article and then place a link to it in the post.

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In other news….I re-posted the survey, so make sure you take it this week!!!  The link is to the right.

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And finally…..if you don’t mind……pray for S-N-O-W!!!!!  LOL!!!I’ll let you in on a little secret:  Teachers want snow as much as the kids do!