Godzilla and Friends

This was an absolutely wonderful week and I’m thrilled to share some highlights with you. By far the highlight this week was the STEM challenge we had with Mr. Patrick, Ms. Anna, and Ms. Beth’s classes. This was a sprint challenge, with only 30 minutes to work on Thursday and then races on Friday. The tight time, limited supplies, and random groups all got the class fired up and ready to tackle the challenge. Our boats were relatively diverse and I was thrilled to see the diversity of designs represented in the finals. Congrats to our winners, finalists, and everyone that competed!

Another highlight from the week has been our continued Odyssey exploration. This is not an easy read, but the class has been tackling it wholeheartedly. They are talking about it between classes, comparing notes, and creating their own story maps to track characters and events. This is all reflected in the depth of our classroom discussions and their scores on the daily comprehension quizzes. I am so excited to see this deeper comprehension reflected in their work as we continue moving through the story.

Finally, a little treat from the week was our grammar work. While the inclusion of social knowledge is always tricky (compared to something like math that can be discovered independently), it was so cool to see the class diving into a study of grammar and see it reflected in their writing this week. Grammar and punctuation is critical, so seeing them understanding and internalizing the logic behind it is wonderful to see. We will continue practicing and building these skills, so I can’t wait to share more of their work.

Great job everyone and happy National School Choice Week!

Hi everyone! We finally started reading the Odyssey and I could not be more impressed with the class. Not only did we view a few historical translations (including the first English translation from 1616), we dove into the historical context of the work itself. While we are going slow, the class is having great discussions about the motivations of the characters, the culture that produced the Odyssey, and their predictions. To help keep track of the cast, the class is making and updating character maps. During our check ins today, I was happy to hear a number of students saying that they considered it an easy read, which really speaks to the endurance and deep reading skills the class has built up. While we’ve just started, I can’t wait to see how they do in the weeks ahead.

Another highlight of the week was the class starting up their Leadership Day cover letters. Leadership Day is a great opportunity for our students to hear a great speaker, visit the Holocaust Museum, and even meet students from other schools. Similar to last week, the shift to business writing has helped the class stay focused on the purpose of the piece. They have done a great job explaining the leadership they have displayed, why they would be a great selection, and why they want to attend. We will be revising next week, so I am excited to see their progress.

Finally, we had our Battle of the Books finale on Tuesday and it was a nail-biter. The teams did fantastically well, and there were multiple times that students were tied because of perfect scores. In the end, Charlie Haworth won for her team and Timo Mantas won his round (by a single point!), but congrats to all our competitors! We will be having more single and group competitions in the spring, so be ready everyone!

The focal point for our week was certainly our 1492 problem. This served as the capstone for our exploration of expressions and the order of operations. The class attempted to find a way to create the numbers from 1-100 with only the digits 1, 4, 9, and 2. They could use any operation (addition, subtraction, square roots, exponents, multiplication, division, and factorials), any or all of the digits in any order, but they couldn’t just place them next to each other (1 and 4 doesn’t make 14). As of this writing, we have a most wanted list  with 88, 89, 91, 92, and 93, but we’ve found everything else. It was great to see the class sitting and staring at the list, recognizing patterns and techniques to help them out. We got so into it we we’re almost late to dismissal one day! I am incredibly proud of their persistence and creativity in tackling this problem.

Our other highlight was watching each other’s history flipgrids. The class divided the groups living in America in 1491 between themselves, researched them, and then created informational flipgrids about those groups. I admit some of the class felt a bit embarrassed, but it was cool seeing them building their knowledge together and learning more about the history of our country. Next week we cross the pond and discuss the forces that led to European exploration of the Americas, so that should be exciting as well.

We continued reading The Misfits, charted the planets in a scale model of the solar system that went the length of the school, and even learned a little Latin (in our logic exploration). Next week we start debate prep, expand our history focus, and start the transition to our next math topic. As a note, our use of technology is going to start ramping up as well, so if your child has a computer or tablet they can use for schoolwork, please make sure they are bringing it to school. If they do not, please let me know and we will see if we can work something out. Have a great weekend everyone!

I’m gonna have a full write up tomorrow and a goodbye, but wanted to give a few updates. Don’t forget, be at the Bridge tomorrow at 9:45 in Khakis and a white shirt. Also, the students received a few things from me. The first is a shark fountain pen. I included a replacement ink pack and the refillable converter, but who knows if the kids will ever even want them. If you have any questions about that, let me know. Also, Godzilla gave them a little treat: chocolate covered crickets! They were processed in a facility that also processes nuts, for those with allergy concerns, but do not contain nuts. They are food safe and quite tasty, but obviously up to you if you want your child to eat them. See everyone tomorrow!

Mr Chris

Wow, today was an absolute sprint and I couldn’t be prouder of our class. We started with a whole school song practice, which was beautiful and I can’t wait to see them on stage. Next, we had our walkathon for clean water. The class really began to understand how hard it would be to carry water everyday and we even had some dropped water and discussed what it would mean if Princess GieGie dropped her water. In all, the class went almost 20 miles and has raised over $600. I cannot believe the work the class is doing and am inspired by the good the class is doing with this service project. As a note, we are going to be serving water and lemonade at the donut social next week, so stop by and say hi. Finally, to wrap up the day, we used the natural dye in flowers and leaves to decorate our field day shirts, which look pretty amazing. Don’t forget to wear the shirts on Tuesday for Field Day. I’m off to graduation, hope to see everyone there!

So, some updates.

First of all, don’t forget to bring in a 1 gallon jug and your walkathon pledge sheet tomorrow. We will be walking, so make sure to wear comfortable shoes.

Second, don’t forget to be practicing our songs and lines for the end of the year program. The finalized lines and choreography can be seen here.

Finally, just so you know, the class found and investigated a dead bird today. We discussed how it was decomposing and how it made us feel. None of the class touched it and it was in a sealed container the entire time, but I thought you would want to know.

Excited to walk with the class tomorrow!

Today was an absolutely beautiful day to be in Room 3. Some of the class started by using their free time before school to write their own books, which they continued working on throughout the day. Timo wrote his own story about a giant waffle (it explodes), while Gia was inspired by the new additions to our class and wrote a non-fiction book about butterflies. Anja enjoyed making a rhyming book, which turned out pretty funny. Paolo and Yianni realized that they could make copies of their library books and then never have to return them, so that’s going pretty well! Great creative work everyone.

Our explorations today were pretty neat. We painted our canopic jars, which was an interesting challenge. Niki realized she could hold them inside so it wouldn’t get on her fingers, while Juniper struggled making the paint not smeary. The class also discussed the races I’m running this weekend (Ragnar relay and Chicago Half Marathon) and looked over the gear I packed for the races. Teddy made sure that I wouldn’t see the card he made to encourage me, while Max made sure I used my good shoes on my longest race, since it would be the hardest. Rebecca wondered why everything was in separate bags (I’m a bit of an organization junkie when it comes to preparing). Taking what we had talked about before, Sokrates wondered how many laps I would be running around the playground (140 laps or so). I’m super excited to do this race and see everyone next week!

I know some people were confused about the pledgathon and a typo didn’t help with that. The walkathon is NEXT THURSDAY, MAY 23rd. On the sheets, please record the person that is making the donation, the amount they are donating per lap (our goal is 16 laps) OR if they are making a flat donation. They do not need to give you money at that time. Then, send the sheet back in next Thursday. After the walk, we will send the sheet back home with an envelope to collect the pledges. If you have ANY questions, feel free to reach out. Thanks for all you have done to help bring water to West Africa!

Today we checked back in on our water table mystery and discovered that the unbumped cups had water on the plastic bag over the water, which prompted some questions and hypotheses. Sokrates put the question really well when he asked where the new water came from, if the water cup wasn’t splashed. Timo hypothesized that rain came in through a leak in the window, while Teddy wondered if it might have tipped over at some point and spilled water on the plastic. Gia and Rebecca  thought the water might have wiggled and splashed. Anja knew that wind moves water around, so maybe the wind moved it up to the plastic? We also colored our canopic jar lids today, which was pretty neat. Paolo was a little bummed that his lid broke, but then he realized it made it easier to color and then glue back together. Yianni was impressed by all the different colors people were using and couldn’t wait to see our finished mummies!

Today, as we were walking to the park, the class pointed out that the Des Plaines Historical Society was being painted, so we stopped by to check it out. Niki pointed out that we knew another house painter, Mr. Popper, and Tove wondered if the painter also had penguins at home. Max pointed out some features of the sketch the painter is basing his work on, while Juniper explained that the outlines are to help him paint the building cleanly. We also discussed at length how this is similar and different from graffiti, so that was a blast too. We are excited to see how the painting turns out.

Don’t forget, we are going to the bank tomorrow! Also, keep getting those pledges for the walkathon! Our goal is 16 laps, but I don’t know if we’re gonna be able to make that. Finally, please send in a 1 gallon jug for your child to carry for the walkathon, it could be an empty milk jug, a water jug, whatever works as long as it is 1 gallon and has a cap. Don’t forget to practice our end of the year song (lyrics below picture)!

Just a couple of quick notes. First of all, Happy Mother’s Day! We had a blast making seed paper and talking about how our Mom’s make love grow in our lives. Thanks to all of you. Second, we counted up all of our donations and found out that have raised $734. 67 for the Georgie Badiel Foundation, which is already enough to fix one well in Africa and help a town get water! Finally, we sent home forms for our Walkathon on May 23rd. To help raise money and help us understand what Princess Giegie went through, we are going on our own walk for water. Carrying either a half gallon or gallon jug of water, we are going to walk laps around the big field at the playground (1/4 mile laps). Everyone brought home pledge forms today and can get pledges for either each lap or a flat donation. The money won’t be due until AFTER the walkathon. If you have any questions, contact me. Have a great weekend everyone and thank you for a wonderful Teacher Appreciation Week!

Today’s blog is a bit of a weird one. First, thanks to all of those that have already donated or sent in coins with their children. We’re doing so much to help people in West Africa and I couldn’t be prouder. To help raise more donations, today the class summarized our campaign and wrote lines to say in a video production. The video will be included below, as well as on the facebook donation page. Also, I’m including the link to the video for our end of the year songs, both for our class and for Spanish. Please make sure your child is practicing both regularly. Finally, directly below, I have included the miracles and hopes each of the students came up with for the end of the year program. They will be saying this together during the program, so make sure they are practicing it as well. If you have a conversation with them and want to change it, send me a message. Thanks and enjoy the videos!

Link for audio of the song is here.   The professional recording is here.

Spanish song is here.

You can also see it on youtube and share it here. Or check it out on our facebook page here.

Here are everyone’s lines for the end of the year program, order will likely change:

Yianni: my miracle is for my family and sisters to be happy.

Rebecca: I believe we can work together.

Juniper: I pray for something beautiful

Timo: I pray for more kindness

Max: My Miracle is love

Teddy: I believe we can help each other.

Gia: I believe we can be nice to each other.

Sokrates: I believe we can help others.

Paolo: I pray for more love

Niki: My Miracle is more love

Tove: My miracle is more love

Anja: I believe we can be great

Here were everyone’s lines for the video project:

Anja: Not everyone has access to clean water like we do.

Juniper: Some people in Africa don’t have clean water.

Teddy: They have to walk 4 miles to get water.

Rebecca: It can take them all day.

Niki: They carry heavy pots on their heads.

Tove: Most of them are girls

Gia: That means only the boys can go to school.

Sokrates: We’re raising money to send to them.

Max: We want to help them get water.

Paolo: Your donation helps them build wells

Yianni: Please help people have water

Timo: It feels good to help.