Mrs. Cross' Last Week

I just wanted to say a special "thank you" to all the wonderful parents and students!  Thank you for all the support this school year.  I will miss you all!

"Frindle" Day

Today we finished the book "Frindle" by Andrew Clements.  In this story, the main character creates a new word for "pen": Frindle!  Misadventures ensue in this hilarious novel.  

When the students returned from related arts, they all had a "frindle" of their very own on their desks.  As a special treat, they may complete this week's homework using their frindle. 

Digital Stories

Our class has been hard at work on our digital stories.  We have been studying Author's Purpose. This week, the students created their own stories with a specific purpose in mind.  Can you tell which authors are trying to persuade, entertain, and inform you?

You're Invited!

Picture Source

Join us for our Christmas Party from 9:00-10:00 tomorrow!  Please don't forget to bring in your food item if you signed up.
Thanks!  Merry Christmas!

Our class featured!

The Tennessee Department of Education published an article about our class today!  Check it out here!

How To Add and Subtract Fractions... In the Words of the Students

Today in class, we used the iPad cart to create videos explaining how to add and subtract fractions. The app is called "Educreations" if you would like to use it at home. The students did an EXCELLENT job on their videos! After viewing the videos, we had a class discussion to clarify any misconceptions.

Noah and Devon

   
Khloe and Olivia


Jadyn and Alyssa


Carley and Tyra


Nathan


Miles


Keyon and Vaden


Justin


Alec

Animal Reports

Today we had an exciting adventure in class!  Our school has recently acquired an iPad cart of 30 ipads.  We will have this cart in our room for one hour once every week.  Today was our first day with the cart.

We have been working on animals and their environment in science.  The students worked with a partner to complete a graphic organizer about an animal that they chose.  From here, we had them use the app Educreations to create a mini-presentation.
Again, today was a "trial run", but I still think they produced excellent work!









This one starts about 14 seconds into the video.

Before we start a new unit, students take a guess at what our academic vocabulary words mean.  The majority of the class guessed that a food web was "spider food" before this unit!  We have learned many things since then!  Students move their own post-it note to show if they have confirmed their hypothesis, or if they no longer believe their original idea.  They can also post questions that they are still wondering, and we will try to solve their questions before the unit is complete.

Students read nonfiction text to create their report with partners