Thursday, January 17, 2013

Cursive fun!

"Cursive fun!"  Whatever could that mean?

We've been practicing cursive all year...and the 5th graders are now required to do the majority of their work to turn in...in cursive.  To practice, I've run off papers for them to copy...papers that were written in cursive...a curriculum we bought.

Night before last as I was reviewing in my mind their cursive writing, I decided to alter it a bit.  Every morning at 9 a.m., Mr. S gives the 'morning minute'...it's an inspirational message, a message to think about.  We always stop and discuss it...but I decided in addition to discussing it,  the students would write about it - in cursive - in their journals.

This morning, it was a message from Desmond Tutu on how people are alike.  What did we do?  The students were paired up...making a VENN diagram...and talking together about their similarities and differences.  Then, each pair got up to tell us.

Caleb and Mikayla were first:
Their differences:
boy - girl
loves pizza - loves sushi
has 1 brother - has 1 sister
loves football - loves basketball
no favorite subject - loves writing
hates cheese - loves cheese
loves dolphins - loves sea urchins

Their similarities:
They both like:
cooking
TV
The Hunger Games
They both have brown hair
and they both like the color green!

*************************************
Karli and Ashlynn were next:

Their differences:
2 brothers for K - 1 brother for A.
2 sisters             - 1 sister
brown hair - blond hair
no freckles - freckles
Loves sour cream chicken enchilades - loves ribs
Loves In n Out - loves Sonic

Their similarities:
They both have blue eyes
They're both girls!
***************************************
David and Jade:

Their differences:
a boy  - a girl
Likes blue - likes purple
Likes dodge ball - likes Mathletes
Has an extremely limited menu - loves different foods
blond hair - brown hair
favorite animal is a wolf - fav animal is an electric eel

Their similarities:
They both have blue eyes
They both love to read

******************************************

Micah and Isabella:

Their differences:
Micah has blue eyes - Isabella has brown
M likes all colors - I likes pink and purple
Likes soccer - likes dancing
Pet's name is Garfield - Pet's name is Coco
Favorite subject is math - favorite subject is spelling

Their similarities:
They both like cats!

******************************************
Austin and Cameron:

Their differences:
Boy   -   Girl
3 sisters - 1 sister
Loves football and baseball - loves basketball and softball
1 dog  -  no pets
Likes blue  - likes purple

Their similarities:
They both like sports,
candy,
pizza,
and their favorite Friday group was woodworking!

********************************************

Aliya and Cayden

Their differences:
Girl -    Boy
Has long hair  - has short hair
likes donuts  - likes burgers
Can read a chapter book in 1hour - can read 2 chapter books in 1 hour

Their similarities:
They both like milk chocolate,
dogs,
pizza,
reading,
sandwiches,
sushi,
goldfish (food),
1 sister,
acting
soccer,
and they both have blue eyes!
***********************************************
Sabrina and Ian

Their differences:
Girl   -   Boy
Loves horses - likes Tasmanian wolves
Loves Saturdays - loves Tuesdays
likes rice  -  likes breakfast pizza

Their similarities:
They're both in 4th grade in my class
They're both doing 5th grade math!
**********************************************

Hannah and Jason

Their differences:
Girl    -  boy
loves dance  -  loves baseball
Wants to go to OU  - Wants to go to ASU
blond hair   -   brown hair
likes cows   -  likes ostriches
loves sushi  -  loves pickles
likes orange  -  likes red
blue eyes  -  green eyes
hates cheese  -  loves cheese

Their similarities:
They both love sports,
the Giants,
have a brother,
likes tacos,
likes NIKE,
and berries!

**Now, when Hannah and Jason were presenting this, Jason said they both loved cheese.  Well, Hannah doesn't like it at all...and she quickly responded that she hated it.  There is no way for me to reproduce what/how she said it...but we all started laughing...and laughing...and Lura gave me some tissues because you might have thought I was crying because I was laughing so hard.  It was hilarious!

***********************************************

Zoe and Sawyer:

Their differences:
Girl   -    Boy
wears glasses  -  doesn't wear them
Has a sibling   -  is an only child
likes pink   -   likes red
hates video games  -  likes video games
likes duck tape   -  doesn't like duck tape

Their similarities:
They both have brown hair,
they're both 10 years old,
they have a cat and dog
and they both love burritos!

**************************************************

Amara and Jayden:

Their similarities:
They both like riding bikes
and chocolate!

Their differences:
Girl      -      Boy
has brown hair  -  has 'blackish' hair
Don't like board games  -   likes board games
has long hair   -   has short hair

One more similarity:
they both have friends in their neighborhood!

**************************************************

Aaron and Gretchen:

Their differences:
Aaron is young   -  Gretchen is old
Has a cat   -  doesn't have one
Boy     -      Girl

Their similarities:
They both have blond hair,
like Taco Bell,
and Root Beer!

**************************************************

So that was everyone who was at school that day.  It was a great activity and a lot of fun...and it all started with cursive!

Thursday, January 10, 2013

December 14 groups

December 14...our "Friday groups" are almost to an end :(  Zoe was hard at work crocheting!
Jade caught on so well!
as did Ian!
You can see how much Elaine is enjoying learning to crochet...
Cole was hard at work in the cooking group...they were peeling potatoes...

Micah was helping with the peeling...
Mikayla was concentrating...she was focused...

Alex wasn't too sure where he was suppose to put the needle next....Trenton just kept going...
Austin was now grating some fresh parmesan for the potatoes...or was it for the meatballs????
Oops...we didn't have enough potatoes...Amara stepped in to peel...
Ok, looks like the parmesan was for the meatballs...
Austin was double checking what he was suppose to do next while Aliya and Karli pondered sticking their hands in the raw meat...raw meat and egg?
The potato peelers stayed away from the meat...

Outside, the woodworking group had some help from Gretchen...

This is the diagram Mr. C had each student fill out before they started on their hat rack...
Hold on, Sabrina!  Are your eyes closed?

Gretchen must be a woodworker!  Here she's helping Isabella with drilling holes...
Caleb was proud of FINALLY getting the corner sawed off his board!

Aaron was drilling the holes to hang his rack with...

 Yep, it's smooth!  thought Cameron.
 Now this is Debbie...
 and this is Sara...

neither of which cooperate with photographers!  But, I can be persistent!
 Debbie finally succumbed and gave me a smile.  Debbie is a saint!  She's in charge of our kitchen and willingly and graciously lets us share the kitchen space!  THANK YOU, DEBBIE!!!
 Back in our 'cooking room', Rachel was guiding Hannah and Aliya in the art of uniformed size meatballs...
 Karli was doing a great job rolling them just right...
 "OK, FINE!" was what I think Sara finally said when the camera didn't leave...
 Amara wasn't shy about getting her hands in to mix up the meat....
 Lauri was giving Zoe some pointers back in the crocheting room....
 Alex was working on making another bracelet...
 Cayden was concentrating on making his creation...
 while Trenton was just relaxing and visiting as he crocheted...
 Aliya and Hannah were on the clean up crew....

 While some of the rest of the cooking group were making the mashed potatoes....
 You can see the crochet group
Aliya was ready to add some half and half into the potatoes...
Austin decided it needed a little more... (actually, that's what the recipe called for!)

David dumped in some butter...
"This is looking good!" is what I assume Rachel told the group...
Karli started to mash...
Aliya did a bit of mashing, too...
They took turns...
Back in the kitchen, Sara and Hannah were taking the meatballs off the cookie sheets and putting them into a serving tray...

YeeHaw!  Here comes the chefs with meatballs and mashed potatoes!
Jade was quietly and calmly crocheting and had no idea what culinary delight was getting ready to walk into Room 5!
They're getting closer...................
David...
Aliya was ready to serve...
Mr. C was ready to eat and also was putting some of the supplies from the woodworking group away...
I LOVE this picture of Amara!  She has on her chef's hat!
Hannah served while David held the meatballs....
Austin held the potatoes while Aliya served them....


This is Aaron...in 8 sessions of woodworking, we only had one injury...

Amara took over serving the meatballs while Micah held the platter...
"Who is under there?" Mr. C asked Amara.

Rachel took over holding the potatoes while Karli dished them out..
Delicious!  was Trenton's response to his meatballs and mashed potatoes!