Happy Spring!

Enjoy the next week of vacation!  If you are traveling, gather memories and pictures.  If you are staying home, explore your yard or a nearby park.  We wish you good weather, happy adventures and safe travels. See you after break!

Mrs. S and Mrs. M.

(PS: Don't forget-if you read, keep a log of your book time.  Every 5 entries earns you lunch out in the Habitat with Mrs. S)

Discovery Channel Series: Life

We hope that you get a chance to watch this amazing series.  Check out the Discovery Channel website to see special scenes and to get more information about the creation of the series.  This promises to be an exciting event!

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/life-creating-the-life-series.html

The Excitement Continues!

Week One of Web Building is coming to a close and all I can say is...WOW!!!!  The IMA kids created a welcome page, an "All About Me Page," and added a blog for daily writing.  The children are beginning to store finished writing projects on their website too.  Many children added a book log, documenting their reading for the entire year. 

Our next writing project is a literary essay, which will take the form of a book review.  We will study other reviews, develop our own check-list for a quality book review, and select a favorite book to share with an audience. 

Interesting observation:  The children are working so intently as they write and create that you can quietyly hear their brain cells humming and their creativity singing!  Feel free to visit our classrooms during writing workshop and check out our new websites.

Exciting News!!!! A new digital writing tool!

Today was a big day for the IMA kids-we started our own websites!  Using the templates from  IWeb, students created their own websites, crafting a welcome page and an "all about me" page.  Students also learned to use I-Photo and Google Maps.  The websites are part of the school's intranet and cannot be viewed outside of our school's network and our classroom community.  Each child's site is monitored by me and is password protected. 

Students intend to publish finished writing projects, poetry, and research.  They will also keep track of their reading life on their websites. Students will still use the wiki for drafting, revising, and editing written projects.  Each child's website will become a digital portfolio for many projects.  IWeb provides students with many creative options, so we look forward to sharing our work with you in the near future. 

If you would like to learn more about IWeb, Apple has a great website:

http://www.apple.com/ilife/iweb/



Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Fantastic New Science Resource!

If you are looking for a site with:

• many different options for reading
• research tools
• problem solving opportunities
• and fun science adventures

then I have the site for you!  Visit this scholastic site:

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/explorations/

and explore.  I spent some time exploring the many Charles Darwin resources.  

Check out one of the Galapagos treasures:  The Marine Iguana....so very handsome!

Let me know about your explorations.  Please post your discoveries here on the blog.

Mrs. S

Mrs. S's Favorite Websites

I added a link to my Delicious page, a shared site that collects our Internet resources for home reading and learning.  If you follow the link on the left side of this blog, click the address under the heading:  Mrs. Smith's Favorite Websites.  Enjoy!

New at the Zoo!

We added 2 new friends to the Room 137 Zoo!  We extended our family to include 2 Brown Anoles!  They are palm-sized, petite lizards that enjoy lounging under their special heat lights, munching on mini-crickets, and looking like they are doing long division in their heads....Mrs. Marlatt is very proud.  When male anoles are trying to look tough, they look like this:

 How funny is that?

If you would like to read more about Green or Brown (Bahamian) Anoles, start with this petcare page:
http://www.petco.com/CareSheets/petco_CareSheets_Nav_154.aspx#Lizards

Stop by and see our new friends!

Check Out This Great Reading Video

Looking for something to inspire you?  Visit:

https://www.ocps.net/lc/west/moo/Pages/default.aspx

If you visit this middle school's website, you can follow this link:

http://aelstream.ocps.k12.fl.us/schools/0342_ocoee_middle/readingv2.mov

Discover the really FUN video that encourages everyone to pick up a good book and READ!

You may even think about dancing...

Enjoy!