….and so there were 3

We are down to 3…3 days of school people….left for the whole. entire. year! Tomorrow is our last full day and then we have 2 half days next week! This week has been a blast and the kiddos have definitely been Living the Ice Cream Dream! This unit has been so much fun {actually even better than I had anticipated}. They have worked so hard and haven’t even let on that it is the last week of school. They are simply…awesome!

Yesterday, the kiddos were super excited about our popsicle meltdown to find out once and for all which popsicle melts the fastest! We split up into groups of four, wrote our scientific questions, turned our questions into a hypothesis, and set up our experiment.

I planned this activity towards the end of our day so that we could get all of our jitters out while we were experimenting, but we were running a tad late. We set the popsicles out at 2:10 {We dismiss at 2:30}. I thought it would be PA-LENTY of time. In fact, I was rushing to get the popsicles out of their wrappers because I didn’t want them to begin melting until they were placed into the cups. Welllllllll….it was 2:30 and those darn popsicles still were not melting! No even a drop! AYKM???? It was the craziest thing ever! So, today we had round two! {We began a little earlier today!}

And about 30 minutes later…we finally saw some results! Holy brain freeze! So why is it popsicles are running down their arms within two minutes on the playground???

After the experiment, the little scientists concluded that the darker colors do indeed melt faster than orange {our lighter color}. They completed their chart and graphed the time it took for each popsicle to melt.

Today during writing, we reviewed writing a comparison essay. Ever since I gave the students a little preview of our unit this week, they have been DYING to try the astronaut ice cream. Today was finally the day!

After the taste test, the students completed a Venn Diagram to compare/contrast this new treat to our good ol’ earth ice cream {as they called it}. Then they turned that information into a comparison essay.

We displayed our writing with the cutest astronauts you have ever laid eyes on! LOVE how these dudes turned out!

In other {nonrelated ice cream} news, we also had our featured author autograph session today. The kiddos’ published books came in last week, so today the students autographed their work! They were beyond thrilled to finally be able to take their books home! This was a great way to end the year and get them excited about reading and writing! 

Tomorrow is it! My last full day! We will be busy with our classroom superlatives, a whole lotta cleaning, and a little milkshake tasting!

Happy Thursday!

Just Like Pen And Paper

Recently I posted about an online journal/diary application called Memiary.  This application asks users to focus on five specific thoughts for a given date.  No sooner had I written about Memiary than I read about another web 2.0 service, Penzu.

Penzu is not a new application having been in use for at least four years, including beta.  According to the site:

Penzu is an online diary and personal journal focusing on privacy.  With a unique and compelling user experience, it makes writing online as easy and intuitive as writing on a pad of paper. 

Penzu is free to users over the age of thirteen (13) but can be upgraded to the Pro version for $19.00 per year.  If users are between the ages of 13 to 18 they must have parental or guardian approval with full knowledge of the terms of use and privacy policy.  To sign up for use click on the green Create Your Free Journal button on the home page.

To register enter in your first and last name, email address and a password.  The terms of use and privacy policy must be read and accepted. The next screen hosts a leather bound journal requesting you to select an avatar. 

You are next advised that you can like on Facebook or tweet on Twitter about Penzu.  The Looking Glass feature is offered, on or off, and explained further.  Next a series of email reminders to journal are available.  Finally the settings are completed with twelve fonts listed from which to choose for your default font. 

On the cover of your journal appears your name.  To the left of your name the book icon, when clicked, takes you inside your journal to begin writing.  To the right the gear icon is your settings and the lock icon presents your privacy. 

At the first page (entry) of your journal on the left is a cursive lower case i; signifying access to your account.  Across the top of the page are a series of icons representing from left to right:  new entry, save, print, insert photo, share, lock entry, and format (bold, italics, and underline text, change font, change font size, text color, margin justification, strike through, background color, two bullet options, spell check, insert date, insert link and remove formatting).  The remaining icons are for Pro users only; tag, customize, and versions.  Of course comments can be left on either of the Penzu.

When you wish to insert an image it can be uploaded from your computer or Flickr.  As images are uploaded they appear across the top of the page.  They can be inserted, attached to the left margin of the page or deleted. 

At any time you can toggle back and forth between the pad and all the entries by selecting the pencil or the book icon to the right of the paper.  Recent entries are numbered in the small black tab in the upper right of the screen.  As you work the application is continually saving your work or you can save it manually. 

Be default everything in Penzu is private.  You can also put an additional lock (password) on each entry.  When you choose to share you are presented with several choices, email or public link.



When you send an email enter in one or more addresses and an optional message.  You can send this as yourself or anonymously. The public link can be viewed by anyone but only you can edit the entry.  The link can be sent to Twitter.

Here is the link for the simple Penzu I wrote as part of the Caldecott Challenge in which I am participating.

The overview of Penzu is complete and interesting.  Under the Why Journal heading there are many ideas that could be altered or expanded to make this application work in a classroom setting.  Mobile apps are available.  For more expansive and sophisticated journal keeping than Memiary this comes highly recommended.

The Fight at Queniborough Partizan 2012

The little, historic village of Queniborough awoke on Sunday morning to the distance sounds of vehicles moving and men marching.









Meanwhile in the  village Princess Elizabeth was having talks with several of the local faction leaders but the others had got wind of this and planned and moved against her.

The Duke of Rutland raced forward his BUF troops, the elite of his army, towards the small village but others had plans too. The Bishop of Bath and Wells visiting the local Anglican League encampment pushed up from Launde Abbey with his movements being tracked and follows by the Somerset Freedom Fighters. Others loyal to King Edward VIII in the shape of the WI and Melton Hunter rushed forward to help, capture the Princess. The socialist force raced out of the city of Leicester to head off the BUF and Al forces operating too close to the city while a force of Albertines came as a relief force the Princess.

And it was not long before the first shots were fired, actually it was a jam jar bomb at the local Everads Morris Troop causing them to retreat into the pub where they stayed. Before long the SFF was attacking the hunt, the socialists push up hard in the centre, the Albertines flanking the SFF and marching at the socialists. Meanwhile the Bishop of Bath and Wells moved his troops together the house where the Princess was and the BUF forces having problems crossing the walls and hedges.

The Hunt charge toward the yellow house but the SFF took advantage of this and caused casualties in there ranks. in the meantime the Albertine forces clashed with the socialists but the Albertine cavalry got cut down but the post office trade union personnel. in the meantime the Bishops troops advanced to take up good positions and started to range in mortars on the BUF causing them to retire but they also still suffered from the walls and hedges and not being able to climb over them.

More to follow later.

Did I Really Say Yes?

By the time I reached high school permanent lines of worry had found a home for life on my forehead.  As a member of Girl Scouts I took the motto, Be prepared, and the slogan, Do a good turn daily, more seriously than most.  For these reasons empathy for certain people and characters in literature is second nature; much like every breath I take.

Sophie's Fish (Viking) written by A. E. Cannon with illustrations by Lee White is a brief exploration into the mind of a young boy who commits to a good deed but is plagued with second thoughts.  Without a doubt this little guy has inherited a Murphy's Law gene.  Reality is quickly overshadowed by one very vivid imagination.

Sophie, a classmate of Jake's, asks him just before school is out on Friday if he will take care of her fish while she visits her gram.  Not giving it a second thought, (How hard can it be to babysit a fish?), he says yes.  At home with the minutes ticking by before her arrival, he begins to wonder about the wisdom of his decision.

He truly has no understanding about proper fish habits.  He pictures the fish wanting:  to eat a snack, to play a game, to hear a story before naptime, to be covered in a special blanket or Sophie to come get him.  Yikes!  This is a major disaster waiting to happen.

He has no ideas; none whatsoever.  What's a worry wart to do?  What else can he do but to say...  The doorbell rings.  Jake and Sophie surprise one another...bigtime.

A. E. (Anne Edwards) Cannon, employing an economy of words, manages to convey every nuance of young Jake's emotional state.  Her projections of fishy desires mimic those of acquiring an unknown human house guest.  Her "what-ifs" are candidly comical.

What if Yo-Yo gets cold while listening to a naptime story and wants me to cover him up with his special blanket?  Do fish care if their special blankets are all wet?  

Naming Sophie's fish Yo-Yo is the final perfect touch.

Before the cover is even opened you know that a red-haired, bespectacled boy in shorts, vest and bow tie is hesitant about a fish belonging to a rosy-cheeked, Sophie in pigtails.  Plain sea green endpapers, front and back, enhance the fish theme as the title page, verso and dedication are placed on a background replete with fish depicted in various sizes and mediums.  Lee White, using watercolor combined with mixed-media collage heightens the story with detail and a keen sense of humor.

At each reading the most intricate of fish images become apparent; depictions on the blackboard at school, as leaves on the trees, the tree bark resembles fish scales, the hands on Jake's clock, and the pattern on Jake's towel.  Suppositions by Jake are exaggerated; the potential game is depicted with a large fish attired in pirate garb, eye patch in place, sword in hand, splashing in a tub riding a large yellow rubber ducky.  Newsprint, patterned paper or fabric used in likely and unlikely portions of his illustrations adds texture, visual interest and an engaging uniqueness.

The splendid array of artwork by Lee White coupled with the polished narrative of A. E. Cannon make Sophie's Fish a charming, funny story that readers will beg to hear again and again.  If you want to learn more about A. E. Cannon and Lee White follow the links to their names at the beginning of this post.  A. E. Cannon's blog posts are hilarious.  Lee White shares artwork from his many books as well as several pages from this title. 

Attack of the Cherries and a Bleezer FREEBIE

Today, we were in heavy discussion about adverbs. We talked about adverbs answering the question how and modifying a verb. We also discussed that adverbs frequently end with –ly. My students’ suggestions were spot-on (you know…quickly, quietly, insincerely, nearly, precisely) until my one love bug suggested shelys! I said, “can you please give that to me in a sentence?” He said “she leads the class in the pledge.” Ummmm…can you tell I live in the south??? So, as we say in the south to excuse such a moment {I call those special occasions “moments”}…Bless. His. Heart!

After our lesson together, and once my sweetheart figured out that you can’t just add -ly to a word to make it an adverb, we turned our adverb fun into a very competitive friendly competition! Right along with all of the sweetness that we have going on in our classroom with our ice cream unit this week, we created ice cream shakes…with cherries on top, of course! The students wrote as many adverbs as they could think of on cherries. Then, they stacked them on top of their shake! Finally, just to be sure that we could apply this concept directly into our writing, the students switched shakes and wrote sentences using their friend’s adverbs.

This was such a fun activity and can easily be adapted to practice any basic skill.

  

  

In math, we continued enjoying all things ice cream as we reviewed making change. We read Bleezer’s Ice Cream Store by Jack Prelutsky. Then, the students worked in pairs to buy/sell ice cream in Bleezer’s store. They looked at the menu…

decided on a flavor, and paid Mr. Bleezer {their partner}. The buyer used a five dollar bill to pay for each scoop, {they bought one scoop at a time} and then the seller would give them the correct amount of change. Then, they showed their work here….

If you would like this free download, you can snag it {HERE}, or by clicking on the pictures above! If you would like to check out our unit that we will be working through during our last few days together, click on the picture below !

 

That’s all for me, friends! I am off to prepare for our writing celebration and pancake breakfast! The end is near my friends!!!!

Bad News for Me

I am sorry that I have not posted the report and pictures as yet but I have had a crappy couple of days. My external hard drive which is only a year old has decided to give up the ghost. Now this would normally mean I would loose a few films and a few books but I had recently moved all my artwork, including the pieces that I am working on recently and it looks like I have lost the blooming lot, which is two and a half years worth of work. To say I am pissed off is a little bit of an understatement and I am hope that I can recovery at least the artwork and research that is on there. Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow and get to posting again. Again I am sorry for not getting the reports done.

"Sing A Song", Slide By Slide

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On May 17th Larry Ferlazzo posted on his blog, Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day..., about a new free web 2.0 application for creating slideshows.  For registration  Slide.ly  requires you are 18 years of age or older, (or) have your parent's or guardian's permission to enter into this agreement.  To register enter in your first and last name, email address and a password.  A confirmation email is sent immediately.

When you click the link in the confirmation email, a new working screen appears in Slide.ly.  Across the top you can enter a term in a search box, click on Create one now!, view most popular slidelys, view recently created slidelys, view slidelys within categories (art & design, entertainment, kids, other, wedding & events, birthdays, family, music and sports) or access your account information, your slidelys or logout.

On the left of the screen is a list of sites from which to obtain images, Facebook, Google Images, Flickr, Instagram, Picplz, Picasa and your computer.  As you toggle through each the access options appear on the screen.  For example, if you choose to bring pictures from Facebook, it asks you to connect.  Then you are asked who on Facebook can see your slidelys (privacy) and whether you allow Slide.ly to access your basic information, email address, profile information, your stories, friends' birthdays and photos shared with you.  I tend to err on the side of caution; uploading images from my computer.

You are allowed a maximum of ninety images.  When the upload is complete scroll down to the overview.  When mousing over each image it can be switched to the cover photograph, a caption can be added or it can be deleted.  Images can be dragged and dropped, randomly arranged or the entire array can be deleted.

To continue move down the page to choose the music.  Selections can be taken from YouTube or Soundcloud under the categories of popular music, movies & TV, all time classics, beautiful or thanks.  Suggestions are shown or a search can be conducted.  When you mouse over a selection you can play it or add it to your slidely.

When your music is determined another screen overlays allowing you to add an effect (normal, spots, orange glow, colors, dots, dust, a birthday clipart, seventies or old film) to your slideshow as well as play it to figure out the timing with your images and the music.  You can adjust the slideshow speed which for me was a tad bit tricky.

Tags can be entered into a text box and you can decide to make your slidely public or not by unchecking the checkmark.  To see how any captions appear it is a good idea to enlarge your preview to full screen.  Be sure to click the blue button at the bottom right of the preview screen to save and publish your work.

Your finished slidely can always be edited by selecting My Slidelys beneath your name.  Off to the left of your completed slidely it can be liked on Facebook, tweeted on Twitter, made public on Google +, pinned on Pinterest or submitted to StumbleUpon.  Beneath are more options:  share on Facebook, send an email, copy a URL or embed the HTML (four sizes are offered) code in a website or blog.

Slide.ly offers many options for getting images, a variety of music choices and special effects.  The ease of use and seamless results make it a good application to use for creating slideshows. My slidely is shown below.

Living the Ice Cream Dream and a FREEBIE

We are down to the last 6 days in second grade and I don’t know about you, but I like to squeeze in as much learning as possible. Not only for the kiddos…but for my sanity as well! There is just something about a schedule that makes the day go by so much faster! If you are in survival mode, this sweet treat may be just for you!!!!

To keep things light and fluffy this week {while getting in lots of review…shhh don’t tell the kids} we are getting into all things ice cream! Check out a few of the things that we will be doing this week while living the ice cream dream and scroll on down for a tasty freebie!

     

     

And a little math (a little idea adapted from my sweet friend, Amanda Nickerson!)

You can snag a little freebie from this unit by clicking on the picture below!

Or…you can snag the unit HERE!

Included:

• Parts of Speech Word Sort and Writing Activity
• What's the Scoop on Similes Writing and Craftivity
• Cherry Stack Craftivity (Can be used with a variety of skills)
• Astronaut Ice Cream Craftivity and Writing Activities (Compare/Contrast)
• Design a Flavor Writing and Craftivity
• Ice Cream in a Bag Experiment and How To Writing
• Scooping Up Math (Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division Practice)
• Popsicle Meltdown Science Experiment
• Ice Cream Acrostic
• ABC Order

What are your plans for the final week(s) of school?