Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Luna Moth

This post was written by Guest Bloggers in Mrs. Sandman's Class who are lucky enough to have 2 Luna Moths in their classroom this spring. 
Look below for a video of one of the moths emerging from its cocoon.
 
By Nia
"Luna Moths are a kid of moth that are nocturnal, that means they are active at night.  They go around and find a mate then have babies.  Then they live for about 7 days, then die without food because the Luna Moth can't eat.  They live less time than most butterflies and moths.  How do you think you can tell a male from a female?  The females have small antennae and the males have big antennae.  That's how you tell a male from a female.  The Luna Moths have an interesting color.  Their colors are green with a brown outline on their wings.  It is sad they only live a few weeks then die.  Luna Moths are special creatures."
By Kevin
"The experience of the Luna Moth was great.  I'm glad they mated.  I learned something new this year about these insects that I never knew before.  That is how moths have scales.  This year there were two of them so mating was a new thing.  This was great and I hope Mrs. Sandman does it for the next few years."
By Marissa
"I feel so excited to have 2 Luna Moths in my classroom.  It is so cool seeing their eggs.  Also it's awesome seeing them day by day moving to different spots.  But the coolest part is seeing a video of a Luna Moth coming out of the cocoon.  It emerged at Proctor School"
By Sami
"Butterflies and moths are very interesting.  Most of the butterflies are active during the day.  They have a brightly colored body, skinny without fur.  Most have antennae with knobs and rest their wings above their body.  Most moths are active at night and are nocturnal..  Most are dull colors.  They have fat, furry bodies.  They have feathery antennae.  Most of the moths rest with their wings spread flat at the sides.  Moths have tiny hooks on bristles that link each fore wing and hind wing while in flight.
Moths and butterflies are both insects.  They both have the same body parts.  They are invertebrate (no backbone), exoskeleton (hard outer shell).  They have three parts to their body head, thoray, and abdomen.  They have two antennae, two wings and two compound eyes.  Their wings are covered with scales so their wings won't get wet.  Their enemies are bats and birds. 
One afternoon after math, Henry and I looked at the cage for the Luna Moths I saw the Luna Moth had come out of its cocoon.  I was so excited to see a real one alive.  They blend with the leaves on the trees because of their green camouflage."
By Sean
"I think Luna Moths are awesome because it is so amazing how they come out in such a tiny hole and have such massive wings.  The annoying thing is that they're nocturnal at night.  I wish I could touch them because they have such a fat, furry body, but Mrs. Sandman says I should not touch them.  When they sleep they spread their wings flat.  I wish they could stay alive more than seven days so I could do more observations until the end of the year."
By Henry
"Most Luna Moths are active at night.  Some are dull in color.  They have a fat, furry body.  they have plain or feathery antennae.  Most rest with wings spread out flat at the sides.  They have tiny hooks in bristles that link each fore wing and hind wing while in flight.  I think it was very interesting when the cocoon had a tiny hole in it and the Luna Moth is so big.  I wish I could see them fly but I can't because they are active at night.  They are very intereting'."
By Will
I think Luna Moths are pretty neat.  They are interesting to watch.  Did you know that they live for a week?  That is 7 days and that stinks.  Luna Moths are most active at night.  They look so warm in their little fat and furry bodies.  Luna Moth's antennae are feathery and sometimes plain.  Most rest with their wings to their sides.  In my opinion Luna Moths are cool and interesting."
By Taylor
"Luna Moths only live for a week.  Their only purpose is to mate and have eggs.  The eggs hatch into caterpillars.  They eat and then they go into a cocoon and soon will come out as a moth.  When they emerge from the cocoon their wings will be white.  They are only active at night.  They have good camouflage so you will never ese it.  You probably will walk past one today.  They have a green body and a line of brown along the top the the wings.  You usually think moth means ugly creature but Luna Moths are beautiful.  Luna Moths don't eat or drink.  They have no mouth.  That's why they only live or a week."

Click on the video below to see the Luna Moth emerge from its cocoon.

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Thursday, May 23, 2013

Touch Tank

A Day At the Beach!
 
When you can't go to the beach, you have the beach come to you.
Kindergarten students had the opportunity to see many sea creatures right at school.
A special thank you to TESPTO for funding this wonderful experience.
 
This post is written by guest bloggers in Mrs. O'Brien's Kindergarten Class.

"The Touch Tank visited the Kindergarten classes.  The animals all lived in the North Atlantic Ocean.  The water was so cold when we touched the animals in the touch tank.  We touched lots of animals like horseshoe crab, sun star, the spiny crab, the sea urchin that looked like a porcupine, the hermit crab, and a lobster.  We learned lots of new facts about sea animals." 
 
 
Click on the picture to view the slideshow. 

Touch Tank
  
 
 
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Wednesday, May 22, 2013

How To Plant a Seed

Spring is here and there is nothing cuter than kindergartners planting seeds and proudly carrying their little cups home.  (Hopefully with all the soil still inside the cup by the time they reach home or at least most of the soil.)
 
Mrs. Ragan's class decided to teach others How To Plant a Seed.
This group of kindergartners are becoming experts at using more than one app to complete their projects.  They love to say "smash those apps".
 
First, they started with the app Drawing Pad.  They artistically created each slide to show the 4 steps of planting a seed.  These were saved to the camera roll directly from the app. The camera was used to take a picture for the cover page.   The next app used was educreations where students inserted each drawing and then added text. The final step was to record students reading their work. 
 
Take a look below and learn How To Plant a Seed, kindergarten style.
 
 

Click on the educreations links below to learn How To Plant a Seed.
 
Mia
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/how-to-plant-a-seed-by-mia/8220107/?ref=link
 
Gabe
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/how-to-plant-a-seed-by-gabe/8157263/?ref=link
 
Ainsley
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/how-to-plant-a-seed-by-ainsley/8157145/?ref=link
 
Connor
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/how-to-plant-a-seed-by-connor/8156933/?ref=link
 
Kai
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/how-to-plant-a-seed-by-kai/8156917/?ref=link
 
Jake
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/how-to-plant-a-seed-by-jake/8156804/?ref=link
 
Chloe
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/how-to-plant-a-seed-by-chloe/8156615/?ref=link
 
Matty
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/how-to-plan-a-seed-by-matty/8155665/?ref=link
 
Cash
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/how-to-plant-a-seed-by-cash/8220248/?ref=link
 
Trey
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/how-to-plant-a-seed-by-trey/8220210/?ref=link
 
Evie
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/how-to-plant-a-seed-by-evie/8219833/?ref=link
 
Gabby
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/how-to-plant-a-set-by-gabby/8230107/?ref=link
 
Christofer
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/how-to-plant-a-seed-by-christofer/8229994/?ref=link
 
Alexa
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/how-to-plant-a-seed-by-alexa/8275257/?ref=link
 
Natalie
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/how-to-plant-a-seed-by-natalie/8274770/?ref=link
 
Ben
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/how-to-plant-a-seed-by-benjamin/8307775/?ref=link
 
 
 
 
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Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Kidblog

Kids Are Bloggers Too!
 
Students at Proctor School have begun blogging.  The students are very excited to be sharing their writing digitally and to a wider audience.  We looked at the cluster map on my blog and discovered that blogs are read all around the world.  Fasten your seat belt and take a journey with these young bloggers.
Comments are always welcome.



 
You might have noticed a new page listed at the top of my blog titled Student Blogs. We are using the site Kidblog.  Students have their own blog pages associated with their classroom.    As blogging was introduced, we had a discussion about rules for blogging.  Students signed a contract.(see below)  We talked about writing thoughtful blog posts and comments that add new information.  At times, classes will be using this as a way to post written assignments.  No more carrying notebooks back and forth. 

It has been a lot of fun reading original poems and stories.
Take some time and check out their blogs. 




 
 
"Kidblog is built by teachers, for teachers, so students can get the most out of the writing process. Our mission is to empower teachers to embrace the benefits of the coming digital revolution in education. As students become creators - not just consumers - of information, we recognize the crucial role of teachers as discussion moderators and content curators in the classroom. With Kidblog, teachers monitor and control all activity within their classroom blogging community."
 


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Sunday, May 19, 2013

3D-Heart App

This post was written by Guest Blogger Kevin Boucher who is doing his Senior project at Proctor School.
 
"This past Tuesday I held a pig heart dissection as part of my heart class I am teaching. When I set up the class, I had groups of two or three, each with one iPad and a heart specimen.  On the iPads I had an app called 3D Interactive Heart. The apps worked wonderfully alongside the dissection. I had them first use the app to go through and look at the different parts of the heart and explore it a bit. The app allowed them to view the heart at any angle, and they could select individual structures to look at in more detail. With this app, they could also circle specific heart parts and put labels on them so that they could identify them later. Once they acquainted themselves with the 3D representation of the heart, I had one member of each group start cutting up their specimen. At each step in the dissection, I had them compare the pig heart specimen and the 3D human heart to see the many similarities that let doctors and scientists use pigs as human substitute."
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Thursday, May 16, 2013

It's a Girl!

Welcome to Kiley Rose!
 
This post was written by guest bloggers in Mrs. Nicholson and Mrs. Ellis's Fifth Grade Class.
 
"Dear Kiley Rose (aka MVB- Most Valued Baby),
     Welcome to life.  We've been waiting for you.  Even though we thought you were going to be a boy, it doesn't matter because you're beautiful (we saw the pictures).  Earth has different seasons, but spring is the best.  Spring has sprung, and you have come.  Spring came because the earth is tilted on its axis.  Therefore the hemispheres get different amounts of sunlight, just like your mommy taught us.
 
     You're going to have an amazing mother because she has been amazing to us in the classroom.  She'll be as good at being a mom as being a teacher, so you'll turn out great.  She doesn't yell.  She is calm, easygoing, and has a gorgeous smile like new blooming wildflowers.
 
Love,
5N
 
Welcome Board to Baby Kiley!
 

Guest Bloggers!

 
 
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Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Weathering and Erosion

What is weathering?
What is erosion?
Have you ever seen a sand dune?
Do you know what a stalagmite is?
Have you ever visited The Grand Canyon?  Do you know how it was formed?  It is a spectular site!
 
Mrs. Boucher's class have become experts on weathering and erosion.  They have spent the last few weeks researching during science.  They created volcanoes and plate movement posters.  They read their science books and found pictures on the Internet.  Their final project was to show their new knowledge in an educreations project.
 
Click on the students' links below to hear them share their knowledge.


Students capturing weathering pictures on the playground.
Jessica
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/weathering-and-erosion-by-jessica/7781508/?ref=link
 
Michaela
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/weathering-and-erosion-by-michaela/7779241/?ref=link
 
Megan
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/weathering-and-erosion-by-megan/7763244/?ref=link
 
Elise
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/weathering-and-erosion-by-elise/7882225/?ref=link
 
Michael
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/weathering-by-michael/7881269/?ref=link
 
Lindsay
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/weathering-and-erosion-by-lindsay/7863105/?ref=link
 
Julia
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/weathering-and-erosion-by-julia/7862196/?ref=link
 
Danielle
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/weathering-and-erosion-by-danielle/7860758/?ref=link
 
Theo
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/weathering-and-erosion-by-theo/7860220/?ref=link
 
Kevin
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/weathering-and-erosion-by-kevin/8057461/?ref=link
 
Haley
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/weathering-and-erosion-by-haley/8057029/?ref=link
 
Will
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/weathering-and-erosion-by-will/8054131/?ref=link
 
Kyle
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/weathering-and-erosion-by-kyle/7990357/?ref=link
 
Billy
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/weathering-and-erosion-by-billy/7957003/?ref=link
 
Jared
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/weathering-and-erosion-by-jared/7952530/?ref=link
 
Sam
http://prezi.com/dfxrjistzx08/weathering-erosion/#
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Futaba

Fun Game App ~ Futaba

Futaba is a fun, fast paced game for 2 to 4 players.  This app allows you to manage the games by selecting the components from a long list.  You also have the ability to select sections instead of the whole category and you can even mix categories. 
Students sit around the iPad and choose their color.  They tap in and get ready. 
3, 2, 1...  Go. 
The center spins and the first person to tap the matching answer gets one point.
 

 
Kindergarten students in Mrs. O'Brien's class had fun playing Futaba.
 
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Saturday, May 11, 2013

Monday, May 6, 2013

Math Vocabulary

This week the Third Grade will be taking the Math MCAS and Mrs. Jordan's class decided to create a math glossary of terms to help them on the test.  This was a collaborative project where each student had one math term to explain.  The students first created their drawings in the app drawing pad and then they used the app educreations on the iPad to help screen capture this project.  They did an excellent job using math vocabulary in their explanation.  Good Luck to everyone this week on the MCAS.
 
 
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