Project Central!

Project #1!

We have finished our study of the five regions of the USA, and...let me tell you...these kids are expects on both the regions as well as identify elements of economy, geography, government, history, and people. They can discuss not only features of our entire country, but explain what makes a region a region. Woohoo!!! Learning goals accomplished!!!

Our final project with this unit will be to choose either a region or topic (i.e.: economy) and write an essay explaining our learning.


Yesterday we each chose our topic and started recording key information and notes on notecards. This morning we worked through the process of reading each of our notes, sorting them into groups of information with a common topic or theme, giving each a category or title, and then arranging topics and subsequent details into one long row to create the structure for our writing. Tomorrow's task will be to begin building our essays using our knowledge of well-structured paragraphs, transitions, etc.

Here we are...working away!!!

Project #2!

Here is an example of how to set up our content for the filmstrip project. The graphic organizer shows one way to explain and sequence key events from the book Because of Winn-Dixie. Under the categories of Beginning, Middle,  and End I summarized the purpose or the main idea of each of these three "sections" of the book, and under these described three main details or events that supported this. You can see in the second sheet peeking out to the left of this is the beginning of my sketches of the filmstrip I would create to accompany the information I chose for my graphic organizer. Tomorrow I will begin distributing the actual film to those students who have completed these steps. 

Steps that you can support:

1. Finish reading the book (if your kiddo hasn't)
2. Analyze the book to determine roles of characters, significant events, theme or overarching issue...
3. Choosing the right type of graphic organizer to help organize information from your book and focus on either a key character, the full storyline, or a significant event or turning point
4. Plan what your filmstrip will look like and what you will want to say to accompany the slides as it's presented

We'll begin presenting these next Friday! Can't wait!!!!!!!

Wacky Wednesday

Coins for Caring is this week is going great!!! Our class has had phenomenal participation every day, and so far Washington has raised around $2500. It's so amazing to see our school family come together to support one of our own!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We had a GREAT celebration today in honor of St. Patrick's Day! Charlie's Grandma (Mrs. Kililea) visited our classroom to share about Ireland, her home country. She read us a story, shared a reader used to teach children Gaelic, showed us the Gaelic alphabet, taught us to dance the Reel, brought us each a Euro, and invited us all to make three wishes if we liked (as is the tradition in Ireland). It was a GREAT time, and since we had a few minutes to spare we were able to watch Riverdance on YouTube...man, can those dancers move!!! Thank you so much to Mrs. Kililea for coming in today!!!

Page Turners Project, March 20

For our Page Turners project this month we are going old school!!! I have a roll of film that I purchased way back in college (I won't say what year that was), and when the librarian at my first school discarded this ancient projector I nabbed it right up. How many of you remember watching filmstrips in elementary school growing up? Bring back a few memories??? :)

Book choice = a good quality chapter book (already selected or read since our last meeting)

Project = create a filmstrip to show in-depth understanding of your story's plot line, main character, or a significant scene / chapter

In class we had a long discussion about how to choose the best option for the book you're reading. For example, Because of Winn-Dixie centered around the character of Opal and how alone she felt due to a recent move, spending years with just her father, feeling abandoned by and missing her mom, and how gaining a dog leads her to create meaningful relationships with people in her new community and opens the door to a more honest relationship with her father. For this book we agreed we should focus on character development...struggles the character faced, events and challenges that affected them, and their personal growth and change throughout the story. Were we to use Inkheart (our current read aloud), focusing on a single character would never work. For this book we agreed immediately that we would need to focus on choosing key / significant events to show the plot line and the development of the story. A third and final option would be to focus on just a single, highly important chapter. Several students are reading LONG, intense books that match best with showing plot vs characters, but do to their length and complexity would be a monstrous undertaking. In these cases, students can choose just one event or chapter that holds significance to the story. It might be a chapter that shows a turning point in the story, a chapter that explains a character's struggle or problem, or the event that they felt was most important. For students choosing the chapter option, their filmstrip should probably begin with a slide or two to introduce their character and give enough background on the problem or storyline that the chapter makes sense to the rest of us. 

The picture below has 3 photos showing graphic organizers that the students will choose from today to help them choose and plan their presentation. The top left picture shows copies of blank filmstrip so that they can preplan their film (so we know how much length each student will need). Students will need to use fine point Sharpies (or another permanent marker) to create their film. I do have a small bin that they can use, but if you have fine point Sharpies at home that your kiddos could bring as we work on creating these that would be great!!! (no need to go purchase, despite what they might try to convince you of) :) 

We will present these next Friday, March 20th!

Realistic Fiction Review, Round 3

Praise for Dan's A School Day for Dominic

• I like how the character was mean at first, but by the end he was helping the kid he was mean to. 
• I like how you made the main character the bully instead of the bully being the person the main character dealt with.
• It was a good choice to have the story take place in only a day or two instead of five weeks, and you chose to have a narrator instead of the main character telling the story.
• I like how you made the character stammer every time he was nervous, that really showed that he was on the spot. It was great that you created a struggle for the main character and showed how he had to work through his own issues.

Praise for Ethan's Tornado Days

• I like that you used onomatopoeia words like, "Crack!" and then when he hugged his mom so hard he almost choked her. 
• I liked the description you used of the tornado and all the things that happened to him as he tried to escape, especially when you said "a light pole came flying down the stairs."
• That situation would have been SO scary for him...home alone with his cat when a tornado came, and not knowing where his mom is and whether or not she was safe. 
• At the very end you really showed all of the emotions the little boy had been dealing with, how they all came out at once, and how relief kind of washed over him at the end when he was reunited with his mom. 

Praise for Andy's Best Frenemies

• GREAT word choice: scrambled, hesitated, interrupted, yawned, rushed, forked, scuttled, banged, scurried
• I like how your story was a life lesson since you had two friends who got into a fight and had to figure out a way to become friends again. It was a very real story, so much that you almost feel like you want to cry with the character when they get into their fight.
• I liked how you described the characters, especially when Cal got to Joe's house and you expected him to be mad still. But then when Cal asks him to be friends again he screams, "Yes!"

Praise for Emily's Plans, Plans, and More Plans

• I liked how you lengthened your story and based it a little off of Dolphin Tale. That made the setting and storyline very unique and different from everyone else's story.
• I liked how the dialogue between the mom and the kids showed a lot of attitude. 
• I liked how you had so many characters but kept control of them. You were very descriptive in how you described the characters, what they were saying, the expressions on their faces... You could totally see Katelynn and her 3 siblings interacting. 
• The characters had a very clear plan for how to work together to save the dolphin. 

Praise for Aron's If I Could Win? 

• I liked all the description you had about people, like when he came home from sneaking away to the scrap yard, that his parents were waiting on the porch, and how they didn't look happy.
• I liked how you made everything seem so real,  like his mom made him go to bed at 8:00. His parents seemed so overprotective, even though he's 18. 
• I like how even though it's short, you really created an entire storyline. It was fast-paced and kept my attention.
• I liked how at the beginning he was kind of rusty and had to overcome a few obstacles, and then at the end he won his race.

Praise for Bailey's The Stunt

• You had a ton of chapters, but the way you eased them together made it really flow.
• I liked when your character met Katie and said, "I might have a little crush on her."
• You used great description like, "They ran down stairs so fast you would have thought they teleported."
• I liked relationship you created between Eric and his brother. They were constantly being trouble makers and calling each other names that were very quick witted and fitting to the situation, like "Hey, weatherman..." when Kyle came in yelling about a  tornado.

Living Ag

This afternoon we visited "Living Ag Classroom" to learn about everything agriculture! See the photos below, and be sure to check the captions for our favorite facts! 

Station 1 - Careers in Agriculture

5 major agriculture-related jobs in ND: farmer, veterinarian, agribusiness, food scientist, extension agent.

Station 2 - ND Honey

Worker bees live 45 days and make just 1/12 tsp honey during their lifetime.

Station 3 - Beans

North Dakota produces half of our nation's pinto beans. North Dakota and Minnesota together produce 40% of our nation's navy beans.

Station 4 - Soybeans

Cass County is the #1 soybean producing county in the nation.

90% of national newspapers used soy-based ink. 

Drivers of vehicles who use soy bio diesel say the exhaust smells like French fries. 

Station 5 - Soil Conservation

It takes 1,000 years to grow an inch of topsoil. Wow! That's a long time!!! It might be just a little important to protect our soil...

Station 6 - Corn

3 types of corn: popcorn, sweet corn, field corn

4 uses for corn: food, feed, fuel (ethanol), fiber

Station 7 - Dairy Cows

Cows eat 90 lbs of feed and drink 25-50 gallons of water per day. That's equivalent to us eating 500 hamburgers!

Takes 15 minutes to milk a cow by hand or 5 by machine. Each cow produces 6 gallons of milk per day, which is 90 cups, and produces 200,000 cups in her lifetime!

Station 8 - Composting

The 2 ingredients in compost are straw and manure (carbon and nitrogen). Compost can be used for crops, pots, gardens, etc. During this station we took turns acting as the "tractor" to shake the bucket of manure and straw to make compost!

Station 9 - Wheat

Wheat is the #1 crop in ND. 

1 bushel of durum wheat makes 42 pounds of pasta, and 1 bushel of hard red spring wheat makes 64 loaves of bread. 

If a loaf of bread costs $4, the farmer only gets $0.10!

Japan buys the most spring wheat from us, and Italy buys the most durum wheat (pasta). 

Station 10 - Beef

A serving size of meat is 3 oz (and is roughly the size of your palm), and we need 2-3 servings of meat each day to get our necessary nutrients.

One cow produces enough meat for 1800 quarter pounders. If we ate one quarter pounder a day it would take us until we are in 9th grade to eat them all!!!

Station 11 - Pork

Types of meat that come from pigs: ham, bacon, canadian bacon, ribs, roasts, pork chop, etc.

Many byproducts are made from other parts of the pigs, including gum...which is made from the stomach lining! Eewwwwwww!!!!! Other byproducts: Glue is made from hooves. Chalk, bar soap, and crayons are made from a pig's fatty acids.

Station 12 - Livestock

Sheep can live 8-12 years and have between 1-3 lambs at a time.

Pigs can have 8-12 piglets at a time. These pigs are 6 months old and 250 pounds each.

Cows live 10-15 years. Heifers weigh on average 900-1200 pounds, and a bull can get up to 2,000 pounds. Cows don't have feeling in their ears.








We learned a TON, and the class was SO attentive and well-mannered! Great field trip!!!!!

Realistic Fiction Reviews, Round 2

Praise for Ellie's The Unexpected Call 

• I loved your characters. They were very real, and the older brother added humor to the story.
• You created a great story without rambling, which is hard to do.
• The problem was something you couldn't fix (her dad was going back on active duty); it was very real life because it was something she just had to be ok with.
• It really seemed like real life with the way you described their home and the relationship between Sam and her brother.

Praise for Jack's My Aunt is a Fraud

• Excellent job creating realistic characters (i.e.: as her face turned as red as a fire truck).
• Great word choice! Our favorites... "Everyone ran out of school like a bomb dropped." "Miller kept giving me the death stare." You also used great words for said and action verbs. 
• I loved that your story had humor without overdoing it, you used just enough to make it light-hearted but not the focus of the story. The description of his sister's Fairy Failure Bedroom was hilarious. 
• Jake and the other characters seemed so real:, especially when Jake pranked his sister,  and how his dog seemed like a real person to him. I love the name Jack Crocket.  

Praise for Amy's Scary Party

• I liked how you had so many characters, but you kept control of them and knew who did what.  You kept everyone straight and managed the roles of who was more important, kind of like our  primary, secondary, background, and stock characters that we talked about in reading. 
• I loved that your story was scary, but not "ghost scary."
• Your illustrations were fabulous!!!
• I loved how they talked back to each other.  Your characters were very realistic and easy to picture.   My favorite line was,  "We don't run, we fight!" I also loved when the characters yelled, "Jinx!" at the same time.

Praise for Charlie's Brotherly Love

• I really liked the humor and how Zack and Tris kept playing tricks on them.
• I loved when the parents yelled at his siblings, "You're grounded for three months!" and then made them pick up dog poop outside (which was usually Mikey's job)
• Your title is so clever since it's the exact opposite of their relationship.
• Great voice from your character: "I'm taking a risk by having a sleepover...at my house. But it's so worth it..."  And the part where his parents apologize by saying, "I'm sorry, Zack and Tris don't usually act this way." (which they obviously know isn't true), and Mikey says, "Yeah, right."