Different Kinds of Resources

Written by Ryan (22), Alec, and Claire

Resources are an important part of life.  It's important that we save them.  There are three kinds of resources, which are natural resources, human resources, and capital resources.  

A capital resource is a tool, equipment or building that helps people, such as calculators, cars, and utensils.  The next type of resource is a natural resource.  A natural resource is something that is grown or found naturally on the earth, such as wood, water, minerals, and soil.  The last type of resource is human resource.  A human resource is a person who provides a service or produces a good, such as doctors, lawyers, construction workers, and electricians.

What do you do to take care of our resources?

The Digestive System

Written by Phoebe, Lily, and Niko

Today we are going to learn about the digestive system!  First, you break the food into smaller pieces with your teeth.  Next, you swallow the food, and it goes down your esophagus (which is the throat) and into your stomach.  Then, your stomach shakes the food into liquid and sends it through the small intestines while the food is getting thinner and thinner.  

The nutrients from the food passes out of the small intestine to your bloom, and the blood carries the nutrients to every part of your body.  Some of the food goes into your large intestine.  This is the waste that the body doesn't need.  You get rid of the waste when you go to the bathroom.

Have you ever wondered what is the digestive system?

Capture the Flag for PE

Written by Allison, Trinity, and Josh

Last week we played Capture the Flag with Mr. Adrian on Thursday.  We were split into two teams.  The goal was to run over to the other team's side to grab the flag without getting tagged.  Then you need run back over to your own side or throw the flag to a teammate on your team's side.  If that happens then you just scored a point!

If you get tagged by the other team when you're on their side, you get sent to the other team's jail.  To get out of jail, your teammate has to tag you, and then you and your teammate have to walk back to your side of the team.

Have you ever played Capture the Flag?

Nonfiction Text Features and Sharing Board

Written by Hannah, Tsubasa, and Ryan (22)

Today we will teach you about nonfiction text features, and then we will tell you about the nonfiction sharing boards that are class did.  First mission: teach you about some nonfiction text features.  These features are different things you will find in nonfiction books.  One feature is photographs.  Photographs are real pictures and can be of lions, pandas, walruses or anything that the book is about!  Another type of feature is table of contents.  The table of contents will tell me what chapter is about what and on which page the chapter begins.  For example, I have a book about butterflies that I am reading.  If I wanted to learn about the adult butterfly I would turn to chapter 4.   Now we will tell you about the nonfiction sharing boards.

We read a nonfiction book and show what we learned from the book on a sharing board.  The books we used are The Titanic: Lost and Found, Money in the USA, The Hard Stuff! All About Bones, National Parks, The Olympics Past and Present, and Dogs at Work.  On our sharing boards, we must show a couple of things:  title and author, the main idea of the book, an example of a chart or graph, some vocabulary words, an amazing fact, a connection, how we find more information about our topic, and examples of text features found in the book.  It was a lot of work, but we did it.

Have you ever made a nonfiction sharing board?  Do you know any other kinds of nonfiction text features?

Light and Mirrors in Science

Written by Andrew, Aliza, and Alex (3)

Last week we learned how to reflect light.  We divided into groups of four and turned off the lights.  We used flash lights to shine light onto four different mirrors.  The light bounced from one mirror to the other.  We used clips to hold the mirrors up so that we didn't need to use our hands.

Do you know anything else about light?  Have you ever done this before?

Literature Circles

Written by Enya and Kirti

In reader's workshop we are doing literature circles.  Each group has 4 people, and we do role sheets for our book every week.  The four role sheets are:  summarizer, vocabulary enricher, illustrator, and connector.  Every week we do different activities to prepare for our meetings on Thursdays.  At our meetings, we will discuss our activities and books.  There are 6 different books:  Stone Fox, Lemonade War, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Flat Stanley and the Flying Chinese Wonders, The School Mouse, and The Best School Year Ever.  Literature circles help us learn about different books.

Have you ever done a literature circle?

Editing in Writer's Workshop

Written by Alex (4)

We are editing our informational article.  We're looking for punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.  If something doesn't look right we fix it with a red pen.  When we're done editing we start publishing.

Do you edit your writing work?

Parallel & Intersecting Lines

What are parallel lines?  What are intersecting lines?



 

Possessive Nouns

Written by Amyyah and Trinity

A possessive noun tells who or what owns something.  A noun is a person, place, or thing.

Example:

• Person:  Amyyah
• Place:  Hawaii
• Thing:  bike

To make a noun posssessive add an appostrophe and s ( 's ) to the end of the noun.

noun + 's = possessive noun

 

Example:  girl + 's = girl's

 

"The girl's shiny bike" means that the shiny bike belongs to the girl.

 

When you have something belonging to more than one thing you put the appostrophe after the s.

 

Example:  ducks + ' = ducks'

 

"Many of the ducks' feathers have fallen onto the grass" means that a group of duck's feathers have fallen onto the grass.

 

And that's what we do for possessive nouns!

  

Can you think of any more examples of possessive nouns?

 

Lattice Multiplication

Written by Arya, Claire, and Josh

We've been learning how to do lattice multiplication.  Have you ever done lattice?  If you have, do you like it?  Watch this video to learn how to do lattice.  After you watch the video, please let us know:

Do you like lattice or partial products better?

Triangles

What is a triangle?  What's the difference between a right triangle and an equilateral triangle?

Symmetry

What is symmetry and what does it mean for something to be symmetrical?

Partial Products Multiplication

Written by Lily, Ryan (21), and Carly

In math we learned how to multiply larger numbers together.  One way is called partial products.  Take a look at our video to see how it's done.

Energy Sources

Written by Alec, Enya, and Niko

We are here to teach you about energy sources.  Did you know that water can be used to create energy because the water turns a wheel that turns a turbine to create energy?  You can also use solar panels that powered by the sun.  Batteries is another energy source.  If gasoline is burned it can fuel a car.

Can you name any other sources?

Irises Art

Written by Phoebe, Andrew, and Aliza

This week we learned how to draw an iris.  The flower can be blue, purple or a mix.  The supplies you will need are purple, blue, dark green, and light green oil pastels.  You will also need yellow water color to paint the background, a pencil, and water color paper.

Have you ever drawn an iris before?

Basketball

Written by Allison, Michelle, and Alex (3)

We did basketball for PE yesterday.  What we learned is how to dribble and bounce pass and chest pass.  We did bounce pass and chest pass while shuffling with a partner.  It was fun and enjoyable.

Do you like basketball?

Pen Pals

Written by Kirti, Aja, and Brandon

Our classroom is pen pals with Ms. Steiger's third grade classroom in Sandpiper Elementary School.  We write letters explaining important things in our letters.  We mail our letters back and forth.  Our pen pals get to know more about us, and we get to know more about them.  Also, we ask each other questions.  We have a lot of fun writing to each other.  

Who do you want your pen pal to be?

How to Write a Paragraph

Written by Aja, Kirti, and Brandon

Writing a good paragraph is part of writing a good story or article.  This traffic light will show you how to write a good organized paragraph.

A good paragraph starts with a topic sentence and should have important details about the topic sentence.  A topic sentence is the main idea.  Next, you should give a reason, detail, or fact about your topic.  Then, you should explain a little more about your reason or detail.  Next, you add a conclusion, which reminds the reader about the main idea.  That is how you write a good paragraph.

What is your next paragraph going to be about?

 

Solar Cells

Written by Amyyah, Alex (4), and Trinity

In science we also learned about solar cells, which are a solar panel.  If you let the sun hit your solar panel and your whole circuit is connected, your motor will start turning.  It creates solar power and makes the circuit that's connected rotate.  It works with any type of strong light.  Your wires have to be connected for your motor to work.  You need the light to activate with the panel.

Have you ever done this before?

 

Water Lily Art

Written by Phoebe and Andrew

This week we learned how to draw a water lily in art.  We used oil pastels, blue water color, and water color paper to create a scene of water lilies in the water on lily pads.

Have you ever drawn a water lily?

 

Ohlone Indians

Written by Allison, Michelle, Alex (3)

We are learning about  how the Ohlone Indians lived.  We are making an Ohlone diorama, which is a little scene on how they used to live.  They used to live around San Francisco.  Their house is made out of willow bark.  Some of the things they eat are wild fruits, vegetables, and animals that they hunt. 

Do you know anything more about the Ohlone Indians?

 

Circuits

Written by Alec, Niko, and Enya

In science we learned about circuits.  A circuit is where two wires are touching a power source and generating action.  The name circuit is circle because where you shape the wire it looks like a circle (see pictures below).  A circuit can be powered with different types of sources.  For instant, instead of batteries you can use a solar panel.

Do you have a circuit?

 

Creating an Expert List

Written by Josh, Claire, and Arya

This week in school we wrote expert lists.  An expert list is a list of things you know about.  These are different kinds of categories you can write for an example:  people you know, places you been to, things I've learned, and animals you like.

Expert lists help you write a good paragraph.  It helps you choose a good topic you know about to write.

Have you ever made an expert list?

New PE Games

Written by Hannah, Ryan (22), and Tsubasa

In PE we play games like Man Hunt, Hot Dog Tag, and Leap Frog.  First, we're going to teach you how to play man hunt.  It is like Infection Tag.  Once you're tagged, you're it.  If you are it and you tag someone then you are still it.

Second of all, we will teach you how to play Hot Dog Tag.  If you get tagged you have to lay down and yell, "I'm a hot dog!  I'm a hot dog!  Where are my buns?"  Then two buns (other people) have to lay next the hot dog.  Then the hot dog and the buns are safe.  We had fun teaching you about some PE  games.

What did you think about those PE games?  Would you play them?

Rays, Lines, and Line Segments

What is a ray?  What is a line?  What is a line segment?

 



 

Quadrilaterals

What is a quadrilateral?

 

Angles & Turns

What does it mean when an angle does a quarter turn clockwise?  How about a half turn counter clockwise?



 

Polygons

Are circles polygons?  What makes a shape a polygon?

 



 

Prisms

What are prisms?  How are they different from other shapes?



 

Literature Circles - Out of the Way! Out of the Way!

Summary

In this story there is a boy who finds a tree in the middle of a path.  This story takes place in a very crowded village.  But the tree is in the middle of a path so on every page it says, “Out of the way!  Out of the way!”  That’s why the book is called Out of the Way! Out of the Way!  Even though those words sound annoying it’s actually not. 

Theme

I think the author is trying to establish that a little thing can make a big difference.

Character

A nice and helpful little boy seems to like nature so much he plants a tree in a path were everyone walks.  The little boy has been yelled at so many times but the tree still grew.  He is a little boy with black hair and usually wears different cloths.

Review by Lily 
I really like this book Out of the Way! Out of the Way! a lot because it’s a little crazy in the town in the story.  It’s a little crazy in the town because it’s crowded everywhere.

My favorite part is when the boy in the story saw the tree and put rocks around it.  It’s my favorite part because he likes the tree a lot.  And also he’s helping it grow.  I like trees to, that’s why it’s my favorite part. 

I think this would be a good book for beginner readers since it only has 3-4 sentences per page.

Review by Alex (3)

I really recommend this book for kids that like to read.  My favorite part is when the boy brings nice things to the path.  I really like the book because one boy turned a regular town into a happy place.

Literature Circles - Yuko-chan and the Daruma Doll

Summary

Yuko-chan wants to help rebuild her village.   The volcanic eruption of Mt. Asama made some people die and a lot of people sick.  Can Yuko-chan save her village?  Or will it be too late?

Theme

Helping your village and believing in yourself are the themes of this book.

Character

Yuko-Chan is a very caring girl because she feed fishes when the fishes are hungry.  Her name means Warm Water girl.  She has shiny black hair.  Yuko-chan lives in Japan.  She lives in an orphanage with Osho-san.   Yuko-chan is blind and has an eye-seeing dog named Shiba.  Yuko will try to help and recover her village from the volcanic eruption.

 

Review by Hannah

I like the book Yuko-chan and the Daruma Doll because the author makes you feel like you are really in Japan.  If you like stories about believing in yourself then you should read this.  Sunny Seki is a talented author and illustrator and she writes amazing adventures.  I recommend the book Yuko-chan and the Daruma Doll because it is the best story ever.

Review by Ryan (22)

I like the part when they saved the village from the volcano because it’s interesting that they can save the village by selling the doll to raise money.  I recommend this book because it has a lot of action such as falling off a cliff and making the daruma doll.

Review by Aliza

I like Yuko Chan and the Daruma Doll because it means to believe and never give up.  Sunny Seki is a great author and if you like adventures books she’s the correct author for you.  I recommend it because it’s a good book because it gives lots of details I hope you enjoy it too!

Review by Tsubasa

I like Yuko-chan and the Daruma Doll because Yuko-chan is an adventure girl.  I recommend this book for people who like adventure books.   My favorite part is when Yuko-chan catches the thief because she’s like a police and catches the thief.  I think you should read this book because it is an awesome book.