Today, we had the unique opportunity to visit the BrainPop Headquarters in NYC.  While there, we got to see how they create movies.  We also got to share our ideas for new movies.  It was a very enlightening trip for all of us.  Share what you learned today.  Talk about how movies are made.  Or maybe about what you were surprised about.  How about telling us the highlights of the trip?  Perhaps you were inspired to try something on your own.  Let us know what inspired you.

Be sure to include:

• Your favorite part of the trip


• Your most surprising part of the trip


• Great language


• Excellent editing


• A fantastic grabber and a thought-provoking conclusion

If you would like to include pictures, our Flickr set can be found here.

Have fun with this blog!  It will be your last one of the year!

This blog is due Monday, June 18th.

We are still involved in Quad Blogging, found on The Writer's Club site.  We will be working with classes in Shanghai, China, Bloomingdale, Illinois, Colorado and Victoria, Australia. We are now working to build our conversations.  Each student from our class found a blog to connect with and blogged about that connection.  Come read our blogs and see what we've done.

We have just joined a great blogging project called Quad Blogging.  Found on The Writer's Club site, this exciting project will give us an opportunity to connect with 4 other classes of bloggers.  We will be working with classes in Shanghai, China, Bloomingdale, Illinois, Colorado and Victoria, Australia.  Each class will have one week to upload a blog.  The rest of the five weeks will be spent on commenting to other blogs and trying to make lasting connections.

Our week to blog will be  April 30th.  For now, think about what you would like to share with other children around the world.  Do you have a poem or song you wrote?  Are you an expert in something you can teach?  Do you want to talk about the environment? the government? the world?  Do you want to just share about you and the school?  We will spend time working on this in class so just be prepared with an idea.  And, of course, keep in mind that the information we put on the blogs cannot be specific (no last names, no addresses, no team names, etc.).  

This is going to be great fun!  Let's enjoy!

Today, we finished reading Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis.  This historic fiction novel brought us into the 1930s world of Bud Caldwell.  There were many themes in this book but the main one was search for family. Think of the different characters in the book and their thoughts and actions toward family: Bud, Bud’s mother, Herman Calloway, Lefty Lewis, and Miss Thomas.  How do they each feel about family?  How do you know?  How do Bud's feelings about family lead him to Herman Calloway and the band? 

Create a graphic organizer to help you sort your ideas.  Make a box for each character and put examples in the box of times they talked about family. Add character traits that pushed them toward their beliefs and ideas of family.  Then focus specifically on Bud.  Write about Bud and his search for family. Be sure to cover all of the following:

• 
  

  What does Bud remember about his mother?  What do you think these memories have to do with his ideas about family?

  
  


• 
  

  Why does Bud leave the foster homes?

  
  


• 
  

  Why does Bud keep his suitcase?  What is in the suitcase and how does it relate to his search for family?

  
  


• 
  

  Does Bud ultimately find family?  If so, how and who is part of his family?

  
  

Also, don't forget to stay organized with paragraphs, edit carefully for spelling, capitalization, and punctuation, and use high level language and voice to keep your piece interesting.

This blog is due on Tuesday, March 13th.  The early submission is due on Thursday, March 8th. 

2012 is upon us and a new year gives us a great opportunity to reevaluate our goals. In September, you created goals and blogged about them in your Hopes and Dreams blog.

Go back to that blog now. What were your goals? How have you been working to reach them? Is this working for you? Have you reached your goal? If you have, then it is time to set new goals. If you haven't, then it is time to rethink how you will achieve your goal. Write a new Hopes and Dreams blog that will take you through the rest of this school year. 



Think about these items:



1. What was your original goal? Did you reach it? Why or why not?



2. Do you have a new goal? If so, how will you achieve this new goal?



3. Are you keeping your old goal? What will you do differently to insure that you will reach this goal?



4. Write about at least two goals.

5. Write this as a personal essay.  Give clear small moment examples about how you worked on a goal and the results of that work.



5. Be sure to stay focused and organized. Use exemplary voice and vocabulary. Keep your introduction and conclusion interesting.



6. Edit, edit, edit.

This blog is due on January 13th.  Early submission must be in by January 6th.

We have been learning about how animals survive and interact with each other within a habitat.  We also got an opportunity to watch a Planet Earth video and study our crayfish.  Think about all you have learned about animals and habitats.  

Remember we learned that there used to be large cats, panthers, on Long Island.  Why don't they live here anymore?  What has changed among the other animals and plants because the panthers aren't here?  Could we have prevented this change and still settled Long Island? If yes, how?  If no, why not?

In your blog, be sure to include the following:

1. A description of the habitat and the food web within.

2. The reason panthers are no longer here.

3. The effect of no panthers on other wildlife.

4. How this could have been different.

5. Be focused, organized, and detailed. 

6. Use strong science vocabulary.

7. Edit carefully for spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar.

8. Submit early for suggestions.

This blog is due on November 21st.  Early submissions must be in by November 17th.

We have spent time in class learning how to write personal narratives.  We have learned to focus on a small moment, used lessons from mentor texts to improve our pieces, and worked on making them interesting for our readers.  It is now time to demonstrate all you have learned.  Choose another idea from your notebook and write a new personal narrative.  Follow the directions below:

1. 
   

   Write about a seed, not the whole watermelon.

   
   


2. 
   

   Use at least one idea we got from a mentor text.  It could be repeating ideas for emphasis, using specific words to get us into the mood of your story, or any other lessons we learned.

   
   


3. 
   

   Write a really great introduction (grabber) and be sure to conclude your story.

   
   


4. 
   

   Edit carefully for spelling, punctuation, repeated words/sentences, and grammar.

   
   

This blog will be due on Friday, October 28th.  Early submissions must be in by Wednesday, October 26th if you want suggestions.  Remember to do all work in your blog Google doc before submitting it here in Class Blogmeister.

Image: 'cut watermelon squared circle' 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53133240@N00/30626894

   7 Random Facts is a blog activity in which many classes are involved. It gives us a chance to look for connections all around the world. We post 7 things about us and everybody else posts 7 things about themselves. Then we can go around the world and learn about each other and leave comments!

As part of Responsive Classroom and writing, we began writing our Hopes and Dreams for the new school year. Now it is time for you to post your Hopes and Dreams. What are you excited about this year?  What are looking forward to working on?  What challenges will you try to overcome?

Here is Mrs. Parisi's Hopes and Dreams for you to use as a model.



My Hopes and Dreams for this year center around integrating math into more curriculum areas. I realize that math can be found in all subjects and I want us to solve math problems often during the day.  This will help us improve our math skills. It will also be fun and challenging to find math in every day topics.  I am looking forward to achieving this goal.

After you type up your blog, spend some time making it look nice.  Be sure to choose a font that is readable on your blog background.