Music will be a very important part of our curriculum.
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We have a large classroom library to encourage reading.
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Students will use computers both in the classroom and in the Tech Center.
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Universal concepts and big ideas help children to connect knowledge across disciplines and to connect what they learn in school with their own experiences.
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Patterns will be our big concept for the year.
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Our three "trenches" -- one had artifacts of the Native period, another of the rancho period, and a third was from the more contemporary decades.
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There's such a feeling of excitement when you uncover something in the dig! Here we found an old camera in the "contemporary" trench.
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Recorders, sketchers, and classifiers examined each artifact in the lab.
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Colin, our dig boss, helped us understand the significance of what we found.
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Last Short Tuesday

Today was our last shortened day of the year. I'm not sorry! I'd rather spend the time with my students than at a faculty meeting any day!

It was a productive day. We spent our morning doing Reader's Workshop and Writer's Workshop. The current page totals are on the gradebook for you to check. Two students currently have well over 1000 pages since March! Wow! I'm a little behind on giving credit for the writing, but that should be current by Monday. I really enjoy working one-on-one with the students on their writing, discussing strategies and helping correct mistakes. We then started on the next story in Open Court, "Just Plain Fancy" by Patricia Polacco. This is a fictional account of two Amish girls who accidentally raise a peacock and fear they will be shunned because the showy bird is too "fancy." We just go started today, doing blending and vocabulary and reading about half the story.

After recess, we again split into two groups that worked on Mrs Caruso's play. I worked with the musicians on Tallis' Canon. It's starting to come together. After lunch, Mrs Caruso had to leave early to deal with an automotive crisis, so Ms Jan and I worked with both classes on their math.

Homework: Just keep working on the math workbook.

Country Fair Afterglow

Well, I had a chance to see a number of you at Country Fair on Saturday. Nida and Alejandro performed with Ms Kullman's group, and I thought they stole the show. I unfortunately miss Paolo's performance since some group times were rearranged. I'm sure he was great, too.

It was awfully hot, as I'm sure I don't need to tell you, and I spent too much time in the sun and felt it for the rest of the weekend. In fact, I still felt a little solar "hangover" today. At least my shoulders did! But I had a great time, and I was delighted to see our basket did quite well. Thank you to everybody who contributed!

Today, Mrs Caruso began rehearsing her play with the actors, and I started to work on the music. For the First Thanksgiving scene, we will be playing Thomas Tallis' famous "Canon" on recorder in four parts over a repeating "g" sounding on the metalophone to imitate a church bell. After each the canon, we will bridge over into having the whole "Pilgrim Chorus" (not Wagner's!) sing the tune to words which the students will help write.

Homework: Continue work on the math book. Students should be about 1/3 done with the text by now. Also, remember that Science Fair has been moved up from Friday to Thursday. Contributing a Science Fair project is not required, but will help students move from a "3" to a "4" in Science.

The Play's the Thing

Today we started to return to what Warren Harding famously called "normalcy." Testing is over, and our field trip is done. We can now get back to that wonderfully productive routine.

Certainly that's how our morning went. We had Reader's Workshop, and then during Independent Work Time we reviewed our last story on dairy farming and began to look at the next story about the Amish. We worked on a lot of hard words today during blending. Four-syllable words are now the norm for blending, but everyone seems to understand the way to look at the words and separate them into syllables. We then discussed some vocabulary. We read and discussed the story.

After recess, we turned our attention to the play that Mrs Caruso helped to write. It is pretty long! In the story, two children pick up their mother's cell phone and are instantly transported back to the Plymouth of the first Thanksgiving. They meet up with two Wampanoag children. After some initial hesitation, they become friends. The two Native American children are concerned that their mother might die unless she receives some medication, so once they learn about the time travel phone, they want to come along to the future to get the medication. From Plymouth, the children journey through the Cumberland Gap where they meet Daniel Boone, and then attend the unveiling of the Freedman's Memorial in Washington D.C. where they meet Frederick Douglas. They go to San Francisco to see the Summer of Love, and then journey 500 years to the future where they discover the genial reason for their adventures. It's an interesting romp through American history.

I proposed to Mrs Caruso that I would watch members of both classes after lunch while she held auditions for the major roles. With Ms Jan, the RST aide, to help me, this went quite well. Mrs Caruso should be announcing the cast tomorrow or Monday. Once she is working with the actors, I will work with the musicians.

Homework: (1) Write a summary of what was seen and learned on the trip to Cabrillo. (2) Continue to work on the math workbook.

At the tidepools.
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Our guide (and one of our mommies) -- guess which one is which.
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One giant (not that giant) starfish.
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Looking at sea creatures under the microscope.
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Cabrillo

A most pleasant trip to the Cabrillo Marine Museum today. We boarded the bus a little after nine o'clock, and we started the LONG drive down to San Pedro. Once we arrive, we were ushered into the auditorium where we watched a most informative slideshow about tidepools led by a smart, funny, and very cool guide. They then split us into two groups to take turns visiting the tidepool touch tanks and the lab. In both places, we got to really feel the creatures. Some of us thought that they were a little slimy, while others had a great time touching away. We had a short lunch (and we kept most of it away from the seagulls) and then we walked out to the tidepools themselves. We got a chance to see a lot of the things we'd seen in the slides. On the way back to the bus, a pod of dolphins popped up out of the waves as if to say, "Come again!"

Many of you had a chance to come to the parent meeting yesterday, and some of you VERY generously contributed. Mrs. Caruso and I will be splitting responsibility for the play that she and Talia's mom wrote together. She will be in charge of directing the play and designing sets and costumes. I will be responsible for working with a group to develop and perform appropriate music for the play. I'll help her out as I can with the sets, but I'm not nearly the artist she is! We don't have much time, but we'll give it our all.

Homework: Keep working on the math textbook. Other than that, nada.

Another of our Ox-Cart Man pictures. Note the wonderful use of color and the sense of perspective.
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New Math

Today was the Language Arts section of the CAT 6. This is currently the section of the testing used to evaluate students for placement in gifted programs, so I have always urged the students to do it with particular care. I think they did reasonably well, though I try not to look over their shoulders. The urge to say, "Think about that one again!" is so strong when you see a silly mistake. Unfortunately, the state does not let us give that kind of assistance on tests.

Since we are basically finished with the math book -- it's such a rush to "cover" everything by the first of May -- I gave the students some math books I've had in my cupboard for a few years. These will help review some of the number sense and problem solving skills and will also give them a taste of what to expect next year in fourth grade. They will be working on these books in school and at home for the next month. Students seem pretty excited by their new texts.

I just learned today that we will be putting on a play next month. The inspiration for this came from Mrs Caruso, and we will be involved with room 17 in doing this. There will be a special meeting about the play and about upcoming events next Tuesday at 7:45 am. If you can possibly attend, please come. If you cannot make it, please email Mrs Caruso to get details. Write her at kcaruso@lausd.k12.ca.us.

Homework: Finish Heartland questions if these were not completed in class. Continue work innew math books.

The ox-cart man starting to walk home from Portsmouth market with the kettle he bought.
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