Voki Spelling Stories

Click on the names to hear each student's Voki story:

 Luke

Victoria

Chloe

Addison

Jasmyn

Heather

Lilly

Zach

Colten

Devin

Allison

Human Body R.A.F.T. prompts

A few weeks ago, I (Mrs.Allen) went to a Differentiated Instruction workshop where I learned about a new strategy called R.A.F.T.  in which the role (R), audience (A), format (F), and/or topic (T) can be changed in multiple different ways, so students have more interesting options when writing. Last week, I came up with a R.A.F.T. prompt for Health because I thought our class would enjoy learning about the body's vital organs in such a unique way. 

 Here's the prompt and actual writing we did as a class before the students broke off into pairs or triads to write their own.

Role: liver

Audience: human body

Format: persuasive letter

Topic: why it's the most important organ 

                                                                                                                 5/6/2011

Dear Human Body,

    I am the liver speaking, and I want to tell you that I'm the best body part. I'd love to tell you why with these reasons: I can grow back; second, I work really hard to keep you clean; lastly, I do more than 500 things that are vital for your health!

    The first reason I am most important is if part of me or all of me gets sick or removed, I'll grow back! I'll grow back like a worm's head or a crab's leg. 

     The next reason I am awesome is because I am like a giant chemical factory working to keep you clean. For example, I create bile to help take care of bad pollutants in your blood. 

     My last reason why I rock and why I'm the most important body part is I do a lot to keep you clean. For one, I kill germs. I also keep pollution from hurting you. I remove all the dangerous chemicals and germs from your blood stream.

     So I am THE most important and most awesome part of you because of all those reasons. Anyway, I bet the other body parts don't grow back. 

                                                                                                       The Best Body Part Ever,

                                                                                                              Liver

P.S. I'll work extra hard to keep your blood clean!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here are some of the other letters:

Role: bones

Audience: human body

Format: persuasive letter

Topic: why it's the most important organ 

                                                                                                                                         5-9-11

Dear Human Body,

     Hello, this is the bones, and I want to talk to you about all my amazing features. I'm going to tell you my awesome features with these reasons: one, I keep you upright; two, you would not be able to move without me; and last, I also protect some of your main organs.

     The first reason I am important is because you would be like a floppy jellyfish without me. I also help you play sports or any of the other things you like to do.

     The second reason I am most important is you would be able do do nothing without me. You would not be able to talk, eat, write, etc., etc., and you would not be able to live! You could do nothing without me. 

     The last thing I want to tell you about is that I am a guardian of your organs. I protect your main organs like the brain, heart, and lungs. I do that with your skull and ribcage. Without me, your main organs would be unprotected and get many injuries, and you would not want to get hurt. 

     So I think you should think of me as V.I.B.P. (very important body part!) So take my letter into consideration. TTYL :-) 

                                                                                                               Your Fellow Bone,

                                                                                                                          Bone

**Written by K3 and Z6

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Role: lungs

Audience: human body

Format: persuasive letter

Topic: why it's the most important organ 

                                                                                  May 9, 2011

Dear Human Body,

     I'm the best because without me you wouldn't live. I'm pretty cool because I have 100 million air sacks. These are some reasons why I'm the best: I can float, I can get rid of carbon dioxide, and I allow you to breathe 20,000 times a day.

     The first reason I'm the best is because I can float. For example, I'm like a life jacket.

     The next reason I'm so important is because I get rid of carbon dioxide, so it doesn't hurt you. For example, I clean like a vacuum cleans the dust from a house.

     The final reason I'm awesome is because you breathe 20,000 time a day because of me. For example, like you do when you blink.

     Those are some pretty good reasons why I'm the best.

                                                                
                                                                                   Your Friendly Body Part,

                                                                                       Lungs

**By E12, D13, and R21

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Role: kidneys

Audience: human body

Format: persuasive letter

Topic: why it's the most important organ 

    

                                                                                                   5/9/2011
Dear Body,

     Hey, it's your buddy the kidney. And I just wanted to tell you that I am the best body part ever! 

     Because I keep you healthy and I filter your blood. We also give the bladder a job. 

     So what I do all the time is break down food and liquids and I send it to your bladder. And then you go to do your business.

     Okay, so I've told you what I do and I want you to drink lots of water and keep me clean. 
                                                                                                                 Thank you,
                                                                                                                The Kidney

**Written by H9 and T14

Creative Short Stories on Storybird

Last week, we used Storybird  for the first time ever to write creative short stories. These are just a few to share with the world; we will be adding more later as we finish, so stay tuned!


The Story of My Heart by C7174 on Storybird




pirate love by j2174 on Storybird



Relaxing in Candy Land by J10174 on Storybird

Brainstorming Dinner by L4174 on Storybird

What Happens on Saturdays by A17174 on Storybird

The New Kid by C11174 on Storybird

My Own Little Place by A8174 on Storybird

The Witch in The Jungle. by E12174 on Storybird

ZOMBIES!!!!!!!!!!! by R21174 on Storybird

The Fight of the Dragon by L19174 on Storybird

Math Word Problems on Bitstrips!

Area and Perimeter

Click on any of the following links to practice finding the area and perimeter of polygons:
Perimeter and Area
Shape Surveyor
Perimeter Explorer
Perimeter and Area

Go here & scroll down for the area and perimeter practice games. http://www.onlinemathlearning.com/geometry-math-games.html



When you feel you're ready for the quiz, click here: area and perimeter quiz


When you are completely done, you can go to any of the math games in this blog post or in the previous blog post.

Tuesday's Math Review: 3/29

Objectives: 

1. Use coordinate systems to specify locations, describe paths and find the distance between points along horizontal and vertical lines.

• Graph Mole
• Click on and read the "Introduction" before playing the games. The introduction will give you an excellent review of what we've been learning about coordinate systems in class.  
• If you feel you need extra practice, feel free to play any of the games below. If you feel ready for the quiz, go ahead and skip the games and take the quiz. You will need to score 45 or more correct to move on.
• Top Quark 
• What's the point? 
• Billy Bug
  
• Dino Dig 
• When you think you're ready, take the quiz: http://www.thatquiz.org/tq-7/
• Length: 50
• Level: 5
1. Let me know when you're done, so I can record your score

2. Analyze 2- and 3-dimensional shapes by describing the attributes. Predict, draw and describe the results of sliding/translating, flipping/reflecting and turning/rotating around the center point of a polygon.

• Types of Polygons 
•  Baseball Geometry 
• Choose the areas you feel you need the most review on and practice those skills. When you have done so for about 20-30 minutes, type a 1/2 pg of what you learned today in math. 

3. When you are done, you may choose any of these math games to play OR go back to any of the above games: 

•  Who want to be a mathonaire?
• Tangrams
• Sliders
• Cargo Bridge
• Were Box
• Fraction Poker

Makin' Carrot Soup w/ Chef Rob: 1.27.2011

Preposition Poems

Sliding Snakes

Snakes slide
around tall grass
over ant hills
across multch
into rabbit holes
over tree roots
If you look in a hole you might find a snake.

By Reid

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Bees Fly

Bees fly
above large lakes
around anoying people
in the hot summer
around dead animals
bees fly everywhere!!

By Halle

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Swimming Sea Turtles

Sea turtles swim
in the cool water
beneath the big sea
over colorful fish
between big rocks
Sea turtles swim most of their lives!

By Allison

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Prancing Horses

Horses prance
around the big tree
into the red barn
outside the small stable
behind the farmers house
Horses prance all day!

By: Addison

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By Colten

Jumping Monkeys

Monkeys jump
onto big trees
over small stumps
through big logs
monkeys spend most their time jumping and
playing.

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Frogs Hop
around the rocks
over the stick
past the flower
by the water
onto the lilypad
Frogs spend their life
hopping to different places.

By Jasmyn

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Seals Slide
on the slippery ice
toward the small penguin
on the white fluffy snow
into the big ice hole
toward the dark cold ocean
Seals spend their lives in Antartica

By Katelyn

Math: Personal Measurements

A17 is about to find out T14's arm span exceeded 50 inches!





C7 smiles while A8 measures her forearm.



C20 works diligently to ensure he measures J10's closed-finger span accurately.



Noun/Verb Tree w/ Santa "independent" Clauses

We made our own holiday tree and decorated it with noun/verb ornaments to review these crucial parts of speech that make up an independent clause. We then drew our own versions of Santa Claus and wrote three independent clauses in his hat--underling the simple subject once and the simple predicate twice.  An independent clause is a complete sentence that consists of a subject and predicate; the simple subject is a noun (or pronoun), and the simple predicate is a verb.

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To help us learn more about subjects and predicates, two essential parts of an independent clause, we watched the Schoolhouse Rock video clip of "Mr.Morton." We watched it a few times while making the Santa "independent" Clauses and the noun/verb ornaments as well.