Thursday, January 31, 2013

Welcome to Proctor School

Our Lobby had a Make Over!
As you enter Proctor School you will see some new beautiful posters created by Mrs. Lantz's Fourth Grade Class.  During computer lab time the students worked in groups to create tagxedo posters to showcase the elements of our school's code of conduct.  I blogged about this previously in October when I explained the free word cloud site, tagxedo.
Mrs. Lantz took the students' creations to Staples and had the posters enlarged.  They look beautiful!
Today, our custodian hung these posters in the front lobby and created a cozy sitting area as well.
While this may not be an Extreme Home Makeover, host Ty Pennington would be proud of our efforts in using items we had laying around the school.
 
 
 
 
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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

The Arctic

Brrr It's Cold Myspace Comment

As our weather turns colder and colder with a sprinkling of snow, the Second Grade has been hard at work studying the Arctic.  They have learned about the climate and animals that live in this cold region.

They know that the Arctic is a polar region located at the northernmost part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Denmark, Norway, the United States, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Sunday, January 20, 2013

Animal Adaptations Mrs. Lantz

Fourth Graders in Mrs. Lantz's class created some fascinating animals in the CLIC lab.  Click on the links below as the students describe the animal and its ecosystem, physical adaptatons, diet, and behavioral adaptations.
 
Will
Riley
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/porkiorca-riley/3912830/?ref=link
Rachel
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/spikeoh-rachel/3912621/?ref=link
Madison
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/x-zar-madison/3912584/?ref=link
Sierra
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/seaosh-sierra/3912425/?ref=link
Natalie
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/zapper-natalie/3911989/?ref=link
Harrison
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/dirty-banana-harrison/3911568/?ref=link
Teddy
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/the-blue-red-night-teddy/3911220/?ref=link
Emma
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/the-slither-emma/3911139/?ref=link
Sarah Jane
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/the-claw-sarah-jane/3910717/?ref=link
Taylor
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/sharkasaurus-taylor/3910680/?ref=link
Benny
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/saw-tailed-turtle-benny/3910302/?ref=link
Haydn
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/mudslinger-haydn/3910301/?ref=link
Spencer
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/spike-spencer/3910273/?ref=link
Ian
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/chucker-ian/3909781/?ref=link
Brenna
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/sonar-beaked-whale-brenna/3804200/?ref=link
Max
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/sharp-tooth-max/3803347/?ref=link
Cally
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/tasmanian-bunny-cally/3802595/?ref=link
Naomi
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/antiler-naomi/3802489/?ref=link
Ashley
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/camo-dohn-ashley/3802413/?ref=link
David
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/joe-schmoo-david/3797089/?ref=link
Harry
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/venomous-spike-harry/3792607/?ref=link
Anders
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/sifer-anders/3792229/?ref=link

 
 
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Animal Adaptations Ms Scott

 
The students in Ms Scott's Class created their own animal creations in the CLIC Lab.  They then named them and created an ecosystem for their own animal.  Click on the links below to see their educreations presentations on Animal Adaptations.
 
Alexa
Gregory
James
Jessica
Sarah
Hannah
Abby
Keo
Isabel
Sarah
Alex
Nick
Jack
Julia
Olivia
Kate
Mikaela
Charlie
Jackie
Max
Jessica
 
 
 
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Animal Adaptations Mrs. Beirne

The students in Mrs. Beirne's Class did a great job creating their own animals.  Watch their Animal Adaptations presentations and learn about the ecosystems, behavioral adaptations, diet, and physical adaptations they created for their special animal. 

AJ
Ben
Jennifer
Emily
Uma
Whitney
Grace
Jack
Tucker
Annabella
Myles
Matthew
Robyn
Lexi
Michael
Cooper
Caroline
Ella
Kyle
Gage
Kate
Victoria
 
 
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Friday, January 18, 2013

How To Write a Fairy Tale

free glitter text and family website at FamilyLobby.com

Teaching Fairy Tales is one of my favorite units.  I have a collection of magic wands and I often sprinkle fairy dust on a regular basis so you can imagine how much fun this unit is for me.

In the land of make believe anything can happen.


fair·y tale
Noun
  1. A children's story about magical and imaginary beings and lands.
  2. Denoting something regarded as resembling a fairy story in being magical, idealized, or extremely happy.

Synonyms
story - fable - tale - fairy story
 
The First Graders in Mrs. Burke's class have been learning about Fairy Tales.  Last week they read different Fairy Tales and discussed the elements of a Fairy Tale.  The students worked in pairs to illustrate one of the important parts of a Fairy Tale.  It was magical watching them work together on the iPads.  The educreations project they created shows all that they have learned and answers the question: What is a Fairy Tale? 

This work addresses the Common Core Standards:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.6 With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.1.5 Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings.

 
 
 
 
 
**Tech Tip: 
Have the students write out their sentences before they begin.  Use word walls and other resources to help with spelling.
In the first sitting the students will create their individual pages:  adding text and illustrations.
Screen Shot each page. (Hold the power button and the home button at the same time)
Compile all the illustrations on to one iPad  either by emailing or adding to dropbox.
In the next session sprinkle a little fairy dust and record.
Be sure to share either on your blogs or website.
 
                      
 
 
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Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Wall Wisher

I love sticky notes!  The fun shapes and colors help remind me of all the things I need to do.  You will always find a stack on my desk along side all my other fun school supplies.  My children always said that the Teacher Store was like a Candy Store for Teachers.
Wallwisher is a site that I have used as an online bulletin board full of sticky notes.  This site allows you to add your own personal features by adding pictures and text.
The Third Grade wishes everyone a Happy New Year. 
After discussing New Year's Resolutions, the students used the iPads and scanned my QR code which brought them to Mrs. Klipfel's Blog.  "So Cool!"  They then added their 2013 New Year's Resolutions to their class Wall.
Please feel free to add your own resolutions to their Wall.
 
 
**Tech Tip:  Go to Wall Wisher.  Create an account.  It's FREE!
                       Add your Title and description.  This is where I ask the question for my Wall.
                       Choose a portrait or add your own.
                       Choose a wallpaper or upload your own. 
                       You can do a search for something special for your Wall.
                       If you are looking for an image that is animated add the word gif at the end of
                       the search.
                       Privacy~ I always moderate posts before they are published.
                       Address~ Wallwisher allows you to change the address.  Think simple.
                       Share~ You may copy the embedded link or the the QR code.
 
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Monday, January 7, 2013

Heredity

What is the color of your eyes?  Do you know why they are that color?
Mrs. Nicholson's class has been studying heredity and they can answer that question.

Definition
 the transmission of such qualities from ancestor to descendant through the genes


Heredity is the means by which an offspring acquires the qualities of its parents.
Genetics is the science that studies heredity

Click on the Virtual Lab~ Punnett Squares



Rebecca and Jacquelyn
Madi and Abbey
Alex and Peter
Wes and Cam
Matt and Henry
 
 
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Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Animal Adaptations Mrs. Kelleher

The Fourth Grade has been working on a fun project while studying Animal Adaptations. The students first studied animal adaptations in class.  Then then went to the CLIC Lab and collaborated with Mrs. LaRussa and designed their new animal.  The animals were created with some interesting adaptations.  Think lots of feathers and movable parts.  The final step was using educreations to create a slide show using nonfiction text features.  These are amazing pieces of art.  The last step will be to place all these animals in their ecosystem and display them on large posters.
 
 
 
Mrs. Kelleher's Class
Patrick
Caelen
Wells
Nina
Madi
Olivia
Sydney
Mark
Maddy
Joseph
Sebbie
Katie
Karleigh
Cooper
Sophie
Nicholas
Andrea
Matthew
Kyle
 
 
 
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Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy New Year

Good Bye 2012
 
Happy New Year! 
A fun idea for the New Year is to buy or make fun glasses to help celebrate.  New York City is full of them on New Year's Eve in Times Square!
Party hats and balloons are fun too. 
January is always a time to reflect on resolutions for the new year.  Take the students' pictures with their party accessories on in front of a shiny bulletin board with balloons attached.  I had my students raise one hand to look as if they were holding a balloon.  I then printed the pictures with a balloon cut out with their resolution attached and glued them on a large piece of construction paper.  Don't forget to add a ribbon from the students' hand.  A curled up piece of paper from the student's mouths looks like a party horn.
 
I found another cute idea on Classroom Magic from the classroom of Mrs. Smith.  Selina Smith provides a great graphic organizer and adorable cutouts of glasses for the students to make.  You can find these all in a google doc.
 

Happy 2013 to /everyone!
**Tech Tip: Have some fun in 2013.  Go to bitstrips and star in your own comics. Click on the picture above to go to bitstrip.  It will put a smile on your face!

Did you stay up until midnight on New Year's Eve?

 
 
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