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Government and Social Justice

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” In class we discussed the meaning of these words from the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence. We then brainstormed Read More >>

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Rain Forest

The eleven youngest students started the year learning about the Rain Forest. New concepts and vocabulary were introduced as they listened to and discussed the content of many books on the subject. If I Ran the Rain Forest by Bonnie Worth and Rain, Rain, Rain Forest by Brenda Guiberson helped the children learn about the Read More >>

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Electromagnetism

Last year the teachers began a long term project that integrated science, technology, social studies and language arts. As teachers we began by jointly reading an inspiring book called The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. We were able to ascertain that a young people’s version of the book would be issued in February 2015. Once Read More >>

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War Horse Book Club

A small group of fourth and fifth graders decided, after reading four short novels by Mildred Taylor that they wanted to continue with the book club and read another book together. They all voted to read the book at home. And so I selected a favorite book, War Horse by a favorite author, Michael Morpurgo. Read More >>

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Dictation

Students in dictation class have been focusing on reading and spelling words that follow the vowel-consonant-e pattern and comparing them with words that follow the consonant-vowel-consonant pattern. Students sort, compare, read, and write words and sentences using words with these patterns. We have emphasized spelling patterns for certain consonant sounds at the ends of these types of words. For example, Read More >>

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Fox Book Club

Some of our younger students have been participating in their first book club. We have been reading several of the Fox books by Edward Marshall, including Fox On Wheels, Fox and His Friends, Fox On the Job, Fox Be Nimble, Fox On Stage, and Fox Outfoxed. Each book is divided into three chapters, each a humorous story about Fox and his family, friends, Read More >>

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Phil Brill, Mystery Guest

Phil Brill, Valor’s Grandpa and author of a children’s book, The Red Bottle, was in town visiting his family. He offered to come to school and share his real life story that inspired him to write The Red Bottle. He shared the lovely story of his trip to the beach where he found sea glass. He talked Read More >>

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Writing Workshop – The Elements of a Good Story

A small group of older students have been discussing the important elements of a great story. First we considered setting and the children created a drawing or map of a place or setting that intrigued them. The following week we discussed character and the importance of considering the inner as well as outer traits of Read More >>

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Book Club: Two Tickets to Freedom

The oldest students have all read Two Tickets to Freedom: The True Story of Ellen and William Craft, Fugitive Slaves by Florence B. Freedman. This has been part of their social studies unit on the Civil War. After completing the assigned reading, they met in small groups to discuss questions that not only exercised their comprehension Read More >>

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Vanessa Johnson, Mystery Guest

Our storytelling unit has begun! The gifted Vanessa Johnson kicked it off as our fifth mystery guest. She started her presentation with a clever interaction between herself and three future generations, played by our own Glady, Frannie and Lola! Artfully she demonstrated how stories are passed on from one generation to another and how we Read More >>