Six Little Pumpkins

I am the mean teacher that doesn't have a class pet for my students. I do have a dog at home named Sis (the students know this well), just not at school. To replace a "pet" we decided to create pet pumpkins this year. The kids had a great time painting, and dressing their pumpkin up! I am not sure where all these wigs came from!

Decision 2008: From Past to Present

Currently my students are busy trying to persuade their peers to reelect a former U.S. President. Although some of their candidates would be pushing over 200 years old, the students are working hard to research some main talking points when it comes to these past presidents. Will's father, Rich Rasmussen has introduced me to a great website called www.livingroomcandidate.org. I have had tons of fun checking out television commercials of election years past. The website has created a fascinating collection of presidential advertisements that date back to the early 1950s! Make sure to check them out and see how our focus, our attention span, and our priorities of changed throughout the years!

Make sure to also tune into the presidential debates tomorrow night!

Moms on the Move!

Over the last two days we have had two great guest speakers. They both have a daughter named Maggie, and they both are awesome at what they do! Mrs. Harbin came to talk to our class about the different forums of journalism. What a relevant topic with a huge election just around the corner. The students had a great time hearing the inside scoop when it comes to broadcast, newspaper, and radio journalism.

Then today in science Mrs. Trowbridge brought owl pellets for the students to dissect. Since we are currently studying about food chains and food webs, this was an awesome hands on activity. Students were able to pull apart their pellet, categorize bones, and then graph their findings. We have had an eye opening two days in fifth grade!

Thanks Moms! I encourage all parents to come share some of their expertise with our class!

Mini Terrariums

In science this morning we constructed mini terrariums. Within our containers we layered rocks to represent our earth's bedrock, moist soil, seeds, and organic materials. We will observe our terrariums over the next several days and see if our hypotheses are correct. This is a great way to see ecosystems at work!

Where In The World Is My Biome?

My young explorers headed out across the globe to journey through the world's great land biomes. A biome is a large ecosystem that has relatively similar organisms and climate. Some explorers treked through grasslands, rainforests, tundras, taigas, deserts, and decidious forests. Our planet is full of beautiful lands and we've enjoyed learning a little more about them. If your family hasn't sat down to watch Planet Earth, I highly recommend it. It will deepen your appreciate of the world around us.

CHASING THE FALCONERS

I found a great series or books called The Falconers.They are a great book to read.There are these two kids and there parents got accused of being spies so they got put in jail.The parents did not want their kids to be teased because their parents were in jail so they put them in juvenile camp.But when the older boy Aiden starts a fire and burns the place down they escape and try to find the person who framed there parents so they can set them free.

by Julia Pavlov

Trading Day

It is an indescribable feeling to have a job that you look forward to getting up for each morning. Even when the alarm sounds just after 5:30 a.m., I still feel fortunate to share my days with 22 wonderful children and a team of great teachers. My hope for each of my students is to find a job that they adore as much as I do teaching. My adoration for this profession comes mostly from the lives that I get to help mold, but also from working with innovative, funny, caring, and just all around dynamic teachers. Our team is "trading" one of our MVPs this week, and I'm not sure what I will do without her. Mrs. Urban is following her dreams and becoming an assistant principal. Her teamwork and charisma have been such an asset to our fifth grade. Although our team will feel the void, I have to smile at the thought that another team of teachers and students are gaining a shining star. Mrs. Urban we wish you the best of luck, and remember how much you are loved at Gilchrist Elementary School!