Wow! Lots of great thinking and sharing of books but the writing, oh the writing! If it looks rough it is...because we have posted our rough drafts. As we learn about what makes a good book review we are also learning to revise and edit our work. Look for comments that help our writers improve their craft. Feel free to help out by posting a comment with compliments and suggestions.

Well, 2010 sure showed up quickly! It is amazing how fast the school year is flying by. Third, fourth, and fifth graders are now setting up blogs and writing, writing, writing! This week has been consumed with the District Writing Assessment in Portable C. In math students are working with geoboards and a computerized geography program called Logo. Ms. Conlon is uncovering what students know about energy as she kicks off a unit on Matter and Energy. Needless to say, students are writing about all of these things. Look to your right for a list of recently published student work and enjoy!

It is difficult to believe that ten days of school have already passed. We have jumped into the deep end of the learning pool, so to speak! Students are reading, setting writing goals, exploring numbers, and making terrariums. The first blog assignment is up and ready to go (look to the right, click the teacher link and choose Ms. Conlon's blog!) Enjoy reading about what we think about energy use!

Go! Larrabee opened its doors after a summer of construction on Wednesday afternoon and it has been non-stop activity ever since. Hundreds of boxes were moved into classrooms and hallways, waiting to be unpacked. In a repeat of last summer's late August days a wave of families, teachers, and communtiy members descended and brought order to chaos. On Friday families dropped in to match students with teachers. Now the fun begins. Students will arrive tomorrow and our year long learning journey will commence. Yipee!

The end of the year was, as usual, a whirlwind. From the many field trips (WWU gardens, Fairhaven Park, Cornet Bay) to the many activities and assemblies things were just busy, busy, busy. Now, the days are slow and I find myself amused by what I choose to focus on outside of the classroom. Things I have learned since school ended on the 18th: >How to make ricotta cheese! Not very difficult and it tastes just divine. I don't think I will ever buy mass produced ricotta again. >How to trade stocks online. No phone calls, just click and trade. Scary at first but I am warming up to this. > That raspberry plants can rust. Sadly those little orange spots on one of my raspberry plants is rust, not a nice disease at all. It doesn't seem to have stopped the plant from producing berries but I have not been successful eliminating it yet. That will be my next learning goal! 

Hope this finds you learning new things too. Have a wonderful summer!

Two weeks and six long tests later our WASL tasks are complete! Now, we are diving into poetry. Geometry with words! We started with the word "tidbit" which I always took to mean a small bit. Well, the proper definition is, "very pleasing bit of food, news, etc."  Some students felt that combining WASL with something pleasing was created and oxymoron. Others disagreed. Just like broccoli, some love the WASL and some don’t! Thankfully all of us are having fun with words; how they sound, how they look, and what they mean. Look to the left and click on the Poetry assignment to read poems from fifth graders!

Today representatives from Qwest foundation came to Larrabee to present Ms. Conlon with $10,000 to spend on technology. THANK YOU Qwest! Ms. Conlon, Mrs. Young, and Ms. Mueller are all looking forward to exploring energy use and conservation through math, science, and social studies. Look for student designed projects coming soon!

All fifth graders in the state of Washington must complete a “Classroom Based Assessment” (CBA) in Social Studies. This year students took a look at the Stamp Act for our CBA. We wrote essays and created presentations that addressed who wrote the Stamp Act, what it meant to accomplish, and how it fit within our democratic ideals. Take a look at our Revolutionary War wiki page to see a few examples of our work and read the blogs from our Revolutionary War assignments to find out what students are learning about!

 One of our "Big Questions" that we asked before we began our study of the Revolutionary War is, "When did cooperation turn into conflict?" Colonists stood united with King George during the French and Indian War but now things are beginning to change. Not all Colonists were happy with the Proclamation of 1763 and now they are learning about the tax on sugar. Take a look at our Revolutionary War assignments and follow along as we learn more about conflict, cooperation, and the birth of our nation.

We have officially embarked upon our study of the American Revolution. Students are assuming the roles of important Patriots (like Nathan Hale depicted on the stamp above), Loyalists, Native Americans, and Frenchmen. We will work our way through events from the end of the French and Indian War to the signing of the Treaty of Paris. Unlike the original participants, we won't use pen and paper, participants must use 21st Century tools such as blogs, wikipages, digital maps and Google Documents. I expect we will see more writing than ever! Check out the resources we will be using on our wiki page. You may have to ask your student for the necessary passwords.