Tribe Posters

Native American history is a large part of the 4th grade curriculum. Actually, it's California history, but so much of our state's history is Native American history, too.

We learned about the regions in California and the natural resources in those regions. From there we began to look at different tribes and how they lived according to the resources available. Lately, the class has been divided into tribes, with each tribe doing a little research on different topics (i.e. homes, dances, clothing, etc.). What you see in the photos that follow are the various stages of their posters... I'm loving how they're turning out.

Tomorrow... the presentations!

Mary comes to tell us about her tribe's culture

Meet Mary!
Mary belongs to the Hupa tribe. She came to Room 8 to share about her culture and tell us some stories. In this photo (above), this is part of her regalia. She described it to the class as her 'dress up clothes.'
Here, Mary is putting the dress on our Room 8 Mary! She told us that the dresses, with all their intricate detail, can weigh 20-75 pounds!
Mary also brought necklaces. She told us how men only wear one necklace as part of their regalia, but women wear many. Originally, women didn't wear tops like they do now, so they wore many necklaces to cover their chest. Now, even thought they wear shirts/tops, they still wear many necklaces...which can weigh about 30 pounds! She let all Room 8ers come up and put on the necklaces and see how they felt.

Mary had so much to share with us! Thank you for coming to Room 8!

The "Love Doctor" invades Room 8

Valentine's Day...

Friday, Room 8 made Valentine Bags. Walking around looking at all their ideas made me smile ... made me laugh!

All the bags are now hung at the front of the room. I'm sure some Room 8er's will bring in their valentines tomorrow. During recess, or whenever they finish work early, they'll put their valentines into the bags.

I didn't get a picture of all the bags, but I got quite a few.

"I thought we were going to do art?"

That was the question asked this afternoon in Room 8.

The answer: We did art...we did the preparation for an art project.

Lacey came in this afternoon and talked to us about different kinds of boats ... seiner, purse seiners, longliners, .... she also had lots of paintings of boats for us to look at.

March 14th, our parent club is hosting a salmon dinner. The salmon is coming from Lacey and her family... from Alaska! Along with the salmon dinner, there will be an art show. The art will be for sale...all to go towards helping our school.

Room 8 had so many great questions and Lacey was eager to share her love of boats and fishing.

The 4th Grade Recorder Concert

Yes, this is a shoe.

Edin's shoe.

He was tapping it to the beat of the music. I just had to take a photo...should have taken a video.

Last week, the 4th grade Recorder Concert took place. It is AMAZING to me how well they play, especially considering they only go to music once a week for 30 minutes. In addition, the concert was the first time all 3 fourth grades had played together, and the first time to play in the gym.BubbleShare: Share photos - Green Kids Toys

It was such a sweet night. The gym was standing-room-only, the musicians were mostly dressed in black and white... oh, it was just a wonderful time!

Lacey and Leslie show us how to tie knots

Edin and Galen.

Edin lives in Room 8...Edin is the one in the Lqallugsusqaq T-shirt. Um? I have no idea what that means...I'll have to ask Edin tomorrow.

Today, these adorable twins' mother, Lacey, and their sweetheart sister, Leslie, came into Room 8 to teach us how to tie knots. Knots are a big part of their life because they fish in Alaska during the summer months.

Room 8 was extremely excited for their turn to learn. Each student is making a small poster with all the knots they're learning to tie.

Before starting centers, (we divided up into 4 centers...each student did 2 centers today, and will do two tomorrow), Lacey gave us a little history of knots and showed us how to make a net. Watch:

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The Knot CenterTile Math CenterMath Paper centerLearning to order decimals center

Jade and her beautiful regalia and baskets

Meet Jade.

Jade is Yurok and she came to Room 8 today to talk to us about her tribal customs. She brought some absolutely gorgeous necklaces - some that she wears in dances, and one that she doesn't.
We learned from Jade that the necklaces all have leather on the part that goes around your neck. I asked her why... What we found out from this question is that the answer is only known by Yuroks close to the dance. It has a special meaning that we were not privy to.She brought 2 minks that are hair wraps - which she also wears when she dances. Most of the females braid their hair and wrap the minks around the braids.Jade comes from a family of skilled basketmakers. She brought one that she passed around for us to look at closer.
We learned so much from Jade's presentation. She left a poster for a couple of days...it shows Jade and some of her sisters in their regalia. Jade, thank you so much for sharing parts of your life with Room 8!

My Dog Ate Kisses...by Casey O.

The chocolate kiss smacked my brother, so he threw one back.

I was laying on the couch with my mom and Corey was playing PacMan on the futon. Our mom told us to stop throwing the chocolate kisses, but we kept throwing. Our mom was furious!

Then my dog, Bear, came in the room. A kiss fell on the floor. Bear ate it. My mom was really furious. Then more kisses fell on the floor. Bear ate those too. My mom was even more furious than the last time.

My brother yelled at Bear. My mom yelled at me. Then my mom made me pick up the left over kisses. I layed back down and pretended to be asleep. Then started to throw more kisses at Corey.

Then my mom yelled at me and she got really furious. I went to watch TV in my room when Corey threw kisses at me. The kisses fight was like the war. Then Bear ate more kisses and my mom was really mad. Then our mom yelled at us. She sent me and Corey to our room and Bear lay down.

Amber's Story...

I got up really early in the morning. I ate breakfast and played a tiny bit with my toys. I packed some toys for the plane, and some for Grama and Grampa's house. I picked out my clothes for the trip to New York. We got in the car and went to the airport to fly to New York.

We got on the plane. It was a very, very long plane ride. Every seat had a TV on it. It took eight hours till the plane landed.

When the plane landed, we got off, got our bags, and took off for Gram and Grampa's house. It had been about one and a half years since I had seen them. We opened presents when we got there. Then we all went to sleep.

The next day, we went to the mall. I got a new Build-a-Bear from the Build-a-Bear Workshop. I got a new jacket, but I don't remember the name of it. We went back to Grama and Grampa's house after the mall.

The very next day we got on the plane to go home. It felt good to be home.

Jack and I at the Snow...by Austin

It was a long trip to Horse Mountain. We took my dad's truck. I was so excited and I couldn't wait to play in the snow.

There was a lot of snow when my friend, Jack, and I got out of the car. "Let's make a fort," said Jack. So Jack and I built a fort.

Once we were finished building the fort, Jack and I made snowballs to throw at the parents. Once we were finished making the snowballs, we threw the first one at Jack's dad, Harold. That's when the snowball fight began.

My dad had a shovel to block the snowballs. He blocked every snowball Jack and I threw. Once the snowball fight was over, Jack and I had a snack.

Jack and I then went sledding. I fell off almost every time. Sledding was the fun part of the trip. After sledding, Jack and I had another snack and then went home.

The End