Galileo would be pround of 5th grade STEM!!

Dear STEMers,

      We hope this works.  Your STEM teachers have tried to attach the video of our Galileo vs. Aristotle experiment.  If you make observations of the video you will see what our experiment looked like.  The observations we made during the video will now be used for the last parts of the PROCESS we call THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD.  

      Our next step in the PROCESS is to use our experiment and observations to DRAW A CONCLUSION.  That means look back at our HYPOTHESIS to see if it is CONFIRMED, BUSTED, or still PLAUSIBLE yet unproven due to a lack of information. 

      Take a look at the footage.  Let your teachers know what you think by posting a comment or two.  Have fun and enjoy. 

Always remember...  DO YOUR BEST AND FORGET THE REST!! 

Yours Truly

C, Mr. Murray, and Mrs. Lambert

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Hello 5th Graders,

      Remember today during class I used a big word called METACOGNITION.  This means that you think about your thinking.  When you dive into your reading homework tonight this is what I am asking you to try.  Think about your own thinking. 

1. Reflect on the past work you have done in your double entry diary.  
2. Choose the best entry you did and highlight it. (You may hightlight more than one if you are proud of another)
3. Give yourself a grade and tell me why you think you deserve that grade. 

      Do your best and forget the rest! 

Yours truly,
C

P.S.  It is optional to post, but I love reading your comments. 

HAPPY MONDAY!!

Good Morning Guys And Gals,

Today is Monday, October 25, 2010.  We will have our spelling test this morning to start off our day.  Before we do that I would like to play an energizer I call sparkle.  It will help us see our spelling words and get out mental juices flowing for the test. 

After the spelling test I thought I'd give you all more time to work on your writing so we can share some more before recess.  What doyou think?

During our rotations today We will be looking at AUTHOR'S PURPOSE.  Think about what we know about those two words.  Author's  Purpose

For STEaM time this afternoon we are carving pumpkins!  Make sure you are responsible, and showing me you can handle it. 

Sincerely,
C

Saturday at school...

Hello all you silly students,

      On a wonderful Saturday afternoon your teacher is here in the classroom looking over all your great Blog comments.  It is a great feeling to see all you guys and gals having fun posting comments to each other. 

      Does it even feel like homework?  My hopes and dreams for THINK SPOT is to have great disscussions and responses to each others ideas.  LEARNING IS SHARED!!  Remember that and continue to share your learning with me and others. 

Have fun!

Yours Truly,
C

High Five Friday!!

Hello readers and writers,

      Today is Friday, October 22, 2010.  I hope you are looking forward to the weekend as much as I am.  This blogging thing is kind of fun.  I found out from another teacher last night how to post comments.  If you check out the blog post that precedes this one you will see a little exercise in writing.  As a teacher i believe writing should be FUN, shared, interesting, a choice, a gift, and oh yeah did I mention FUN! 

      Our learning target for today is as follows...
Text can be analyzed: Students will analyze fiction and nonfiction text.
I CAN... EVALUATE AUTHOR'S PURPOSE, POINT OF VIEW, AND EFFECTIVENESS.

      As you dive into your books and read today, think about what the author's voice is.  What is the author trying to say?  What does the author want to tell you?  What does the author want you to think about?  The two "P's" of reading and writing are PROCESS and PURPOSE.  Authors have a purpose just like readers do. 

Can you find your AUTHOR'S PURPOSE?

Yours truly,
C
P.S. McFly, those boards don't work on water.  You need POWER!

Popcorn thinking...

 Hey reader's and writer's,

Someone once said, "A picture is worth a thousand words."  Here are some photos I've taken during my adventures.  Look at the three photos and write THE FIRST THING THAT COMES TO MIND!! 

      Sometimes people experience something called writer's block.  A great way to get over that is to just start writing.  As the Nike slogan says, "JUST DO IT".  By starting somewhere our mental juices start flowing and our thoughts begin to do something I call POPCORN.  They just start popping. 

      So, peruse(skim) the photos and choose one.  Choose all if you like, but once you have a thought just write it down.  What do you think the people in the photos are thinking?  What would they say at the time of the picture?  Do the pictures remind you of a memory of yours?  Write it down...

 

CAFE Menu!!

CAFE Menu!!

Hey readers and writers!

Today we will be perusing a menu, a CAFE Menu to be exact.  Check out out learning target from yesterday:

 

      Learning Target: TEXT IS MEANINGFUL...

      I can... preview text before reading to set a purpose for reading     

      Our Learning Target today is this...
      Text can be evaluated and extended.
      I CAN... read for a purpose, decide what is important and unimportant information, identify a need for additional information, and pinpoint likely sources.

      I found this crazy video I wanted to share with you.  It's about an interactive computer menu that restaurants in Israel have started to use.  How would this connect to what we are doing here in reading today?

http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/154/2002.html

Have fun choosing your purpose from our CAFE Menu.

Yours truly,
C


     

Faces of Innovation

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/innovation

Here is the definition from the websearch we did yesterday on INNOVATION.  Let's make another 5th grade definition before we get started. 

OUTLINES!!!!

Good Afternoon

Hey kiddies!!

This is my first Blog.  I have no idea what I'm doing with it yet, but I wanted to share my learning with you as you begin an afternoon of your learning.  My vision and dream of this blog is to eventually use it in class.  It would be nice to let you all post things on it during STEaM time.  It would be awesome to have each one of you follow it and use it to remember homework, show parents, and look up important reminders. 

I hope it will be fun and you all will learn along with your teacher on how to blog. 

Yours truly,
Mr. C

Blogging PD

Help! 

What would be best practice to get this set up for student's and parents to access?

What kind of protection would I need?

Video?  Photos?  KID POSTINGS???