6th graders, this past week, were treated to a special guest to learn about Passover and the Seder, which began last Monday at sunset. Check out this interactive Seder plate.

Click Here

Descriptive writing is a skill. To be able to write descriptively carries over to all genres of writing. The past week, my students have been practicing their descriptive writing skills. Yesterday, we were visited by a reading, writing, and teaching guru. He was showing us some tips on generating descriptive writing ideas. The lesson was a life changer indeed. I told them to post what they created after the lesson. Check out the links to the right. Each student wrote about a picture of a Native American chasing a buffalo.  Thanks a lot Mr. Ross!

Check out the world’s oldest trees. It would be really cool to do some research on these trees. Pando ( The Trembling Giant) is located in Utah.

Testing

Time moves so fast. Before you know it, the school year will be over. You’ll be on summer break. Some of you will be in high school.

If you are looking for an idea for a year long project. Try taking one picture every single day for a whole year!

Here is a website that explains what Project 365 is and why people take on a task such as this.

Project 365

Welcome to the Spider’s Web. We’ve been discussing, interpreting, and analyzing a quote we found in your biography.

“In the increasingly tarnished and complex world, I pursue capturing the evaporating, pristie elements in the world to try to illuminate how our lives can be lived more simply and purely”- Jered Barclay

We were intrigued by the imagery he used. It made students think of the planet earth and how we treat and interact with it.  I was surprised by the different perspectives of each student. Many of them were inspired to take more care of our earth, very fitting because this is an issue the world is trying to tackle in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Here are some interesting posts: Sebastian, Cassandra, and Itzel

I was watching the news this morning, and I came across a news story that had announced a startling number. According to WFP, The World Food Programme, one billion people are now going hungry in the world. How starling is this! Someone told me that if American would just simply stop wasting food, many of these people wouldn’t be starving. How many times have we thrown away left over food. I think we could be more conscious of the food we put on our plate.

I sometimes am a victim myself of my stomach and eyes “miss communicating” with each other about how much I actually eat. We should stop this.

Another thing we could do is educate ourselves. Become more aware of the problems in the world and then thinking about where we can fit in a solution.

Check out the WFP website and its One Billion for One Billion. Let me know if you are participating, and I will shout you out here on the web.

I was washing dishes the other day, and I looked down. Staring back at me was something nice. A smile to make me smile. This got me thinking. Out there in the world amongst the sadness and stress there are smiles. Smiles are all around us if we just looked.

Keep your eyes open. Share your smile pictures and stories on your blogs.

Check out this cool site. I spent 45 minutes designing and testing my “Coconut Carrier.” Johnson Controls believes that ingenuity goes a long way. “Somewhere in between common sense and brilliance, we find ingenious solutions to make the places where we live, work, and travel more comfortable, safe, and sustainable. Check them out here.  There is some really amazing thinking going on here!

Test Your Ingenuity

Welcome back from the Thanksgiving Break everyone! I hope that everyone had a great, relaxing break. I am now back to my laptop, Old Faithful.

Check out this great link. Anyone who has ever felt down after a bad day, or after an incident that happened in your lives, and anyone who just needs some hope, sometimes small and sometimes large, check out this site. It’s called “Gives Me Hope.” Check it out. Here are some samples of some really great stories.

There’s a really beautiful freshman in our school who a mentally challenged sophomore boy has a huge crush on. She got asked by at least 10 people to the winter formal dance, but she decided to go with the mentally challenged boy. Beautiful girls who are also beautiful inside GMH.

Me and my friends got into a fight a few days before my birthday. I was crying at school when a guy who I thought was a jerk saw me. He sat with me while I cried until my ride came. He then called me on my birthday to make sure I wasn’t spending it alone. His act of kindness GMH.

Calling all scientists out there! Well, calling everyone who wants learn about some really really cool things. There’s a little scientist in all of us.  I stumbled upon a really great blog by a Mr. Barlow. He seems to be a science teacher in high school.

His blog is called “A Bunch of Interesting Stuff.” It’s great, and you’ll learn SO much! Just try and pry yourself away from the computer screen.

A Bunch of Interesting Stuff

If you read my previous post about the history of space exploration, you listened to me talking about making your class presentations more dynamic and impressive.

I hear about this great new way to present things called Prezi. Check it out as an alternative to the usual powerpoint presentations. Try is next time you have to give a presentation.

I found this really neat multimedia time line that traces the history of space exploration. Multimedia means the use of more than one form of expression. Some people use photos or pictures to communicate. Some use audio. When more than one is used at the same time, it is considered multimedia.

Technology is just opening the doors to a whole new way to express your imaginations. Animations, video, and slide shows can take presentations in class to a whole new level.

Next time you have to present something in class, why don’t you try a multimedia presentation.

“Planet Quest”

A Wampanoag Riddle :

I am the shape of all things given by The Creator.

I have no end and no beginning.

I am the shape of Life itself.

What Am I?

Find out by reading further.

What REALLY happened at the very first Thanksgiving? Since Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Take the time to check out what it was really like to be at the very first Thanksgiving. Find out what it was like to be a young person on both sides of the tradition we still celebrate today!

Find out the TRUE story AND the answer to the above riddle by visiting this awesome site created by the Plymouth Foundation.

What REALLY Happened at the First Thanksgiving?

Great job every one. So far, I am really enjoying this blogging project. I’m addicted to reading your blogs. Many of them, I can’t wait till you blog again. You now have fans. Writing can be fun everyone. You just have to let yourself go. After reading more of your blogs, here are a few more notable blogs.

Fidel writes about music. If you know him, he always seems to be listening and moving to a great beat; even when he doesn’t have headphones in. He does a great job explaining how music moves him.

Eric shows us the appropriate way to use a poll as a blog. He wrote about the game Rock Band, and then his poll relates very well to his blog.

Jackie gives us a great link for some blogging inspiration. Check this out when you need ideas.

Mandy bring back some old memories with a blog about pumpkin pie ice cream

Cassy writes the first New Moon blog post.

and Melissa begins a great story about a girl  named Addon and her dog Hunter.

I was surfing through the blogs. I though I would create a running series as I read them to highlight some blogs for their creativity, originality, insight, or just humor.

Check out Andres’s blog. I think he’s going to be a director someday. He wrote about his Dunny video passion.

Shirley’s blog about Black Friday was interesting to be because I live in Camarillo where the Outlets are. It reminded me of how crazy it gets here.

Jackie’s blog was touching because she thanks all of the members of her volleyball team.

Jacqueline’s blog about “Going Green” was great!

Adriana’s blog about the fear of elevators was pretty interesting.

Keep up the great work everyone!

Hey classes,

Check this cool web app out. It’s called “Wordle.” It creates what they “word clouds.” You basically type in your text into a box and then it generates a nifty cloud of words. Words can be art. Try taking one of your blogs and copying and pasting it into Wordle and see what comes up!

Can you believe it? Students are excited to write! Writing can be fun! When something gets written in class, your classmates sometimes get to hear what’s on your mind. Through this exciting project, called the Spider’s Web, students are writing constantly about whatever is on their minds. The key here is that the students are constantly writing. Posting them onto blogs allows them and us to see their progress as they become accomplished writers.

Keep tabs on all your favorite writers and let them know what you think. Please be positive as you offer your feedback. Enjoy!

Check out this site where you can make your own posters. Sometimes you have a space on your wall that is just begging to be filled, and not just any poster will do, so make your own!

Take pictures of your poster on it’s wall and share with the class by blogging about it.

Block Poster

Poster of yourself? YES!

Learn about phototropism and create sculptures that react like plants to light. Phototropism