April 14, 2023

Dear families,
Read this week's blog post through my students' voices. Have a fantastic spring break!
Math, by Pepper, Emily and Abby S. 
Hello, hola, and Bonjour! In Math we are working on arm spans, hand lengths, line plots, bar graphs, tables, and last but not least words for analyzing data! Which include; minimum, maximum, range, mode, and median. When we are talking about the minimum we are basically saying, “The smallest element of a set.” So in a set of numbers like: 2 3 3 5 7 8 8 and 10 the minimum would be 2 because it’s the smallest. When we are talking about maximum we are basically saying “ the largest element of a set.” So the opposite of minimum. Example: in a set like this; 2 3 3 5 7 8 8 the maximum would be 8. Another thing that’s very important when talking about analyzing data is the range. The range is; The difference between the greatest and the least values in a data set, Example: 4 6 7 8 8 11 13 {13 - 4 = 9} So the range would be nine. 
The word Mode is also important when we talk about analyzing data, The word Mode means: the value 
(or values) that appear most often in a set of data. Example: 4 6 7 8 11 11 13 It would be 11 because there is more elevens than any other number. And last but not least, Median; the middle value of an ordered set of numerical data in a set with an even number of data points, the median is the average of two middle points. 
Example: 4 6 7 8 8 11 13.We have also measured our hand spans and arm spans. We had organized that data beginning with a table. It organizes the data by putting the students name on one side and their arm length on the other side. It wasn’t organized in any way, which made it hard for us to find the maximum and the minimum. After learning a couple different ways to show it, we decided the easiest one had been a line plot. We all wrote our name on a sticky note, we made a line plot that went from 50-63 inches, we had put x’s on top of the length we had. The mode had been 53 inches which had four x’s. Arm span is another way of saying “the length between one hand to another.” Tip: when measuring your arm span you always start with your middle fingers because they are the longest finger on your hand. For example if you measure your left palm and your other palm you’re not going to get the right answer, you’ll always get a shorter answer because they are closer together than your middle fingers are. Hand spans are a little easier to understand because you only have to measure from your thumb to your pinky finger and that’s how long your hand span is! Tip: round the measurement to the nearest half inch of the ruler you’re using. Anyway we always have fun!
Trickster Tales Celebration, Emmy and Bree
This week we had a celebration for finishing our Trickster Tales writing that we worked on for 10 weeks guided by our writer-in-residence Motoko. Motoko presented a slideshow of the drawings we made. From each class there was two students who shared a bit of their story, from our class, it was Cora and Steven who shared, from Mrs. Keenan's class, Jackson and Madi shared, from Mrs. Rutkowski's class, Giana and Josh shared. After, the parents came upstairs so they could hear the other students’ stories.
Daily 5, Cora, Sam, Violet and Lilly (and guest poets :)
In Daily 5 this week we’ve been doing a few different things that include, Word Work, Greek Mythology, and Poetry. This week in Daily 5 we have been sort of finishing up our poetry. We aren’t completely done with poetry but we are finishing up the important things in it. If you choose poetry in Daily 5, you can either cut and glue poems you need to put in your poetry journal, or write your own poems.
In daily 5 this week we started working on Greek Mythology. We are doing an assignment on Greek Mythology. We have to read a book about a Greek hero and then we have to answer a few questions. You also have the choice to do it independently or with a partner of your choice. We were assigned books on Greek Mythology in Epic and we are able to choose any you would like. The options are Achilles, Icarus, Pandora, and many others. The assignment requires you to write about which story you chose and answer questions about the characters,  setting,  plot,  and theme. 
The words of the week for Word Work are enlarge ( means to grow bigger ) investigate (to look more into a subject) procedure (a way of doing something) and typical (what you do in your everyday life.)
(Mrs. Willinski: To celebrate National Poetry Month, your children have been creating amazing poems in their journals. A few of them have volunteered to share in this blog. Enjoy!)
Colors
By Emmy
Red orange, yellow, green, blue and purple all the colors of the rainbow.
If you look around you the colors they're sounds.
The colors are apart of everything your dreams too.
Love I red orange are butterflies,
yellow is the sun,
green are leaves,
blue is the sky
and purple are flowers in the leaves with the sun right on her
with the sun in the sky
and the butterfly flying so high in the sky
loving his life.

The Best Shot!
By Matthew Ukpo
 Seven seconds on the clock
then I made my shot.
And instantly my team is on top,
now four defenders towards me.
They all flop,
as the announcer observing saying
can he be stopped!
When my team wins I barely have a thought
all I know is I’d worked a lot.

Dreams
By Breanna Romano
Dreams
Dreams are your imagination playing tricks on you
One second you could be in the sky floating on the clouds
and the next you could be swimming in the ocean with mermaids
or on a tropical island.
Your dreams are beautiful

Blue
By Abby Zalenski
Blue is the sound of water dripping from a waterfall.
Blue is a taste of cotton-candy
it feels light and soft in your mouth 

The Window
By Abby Zalenski
It’s dark and black
there’s a shadow behind the window
black and scary
I see
I get out of bed
and under my feet I see some glass that scares me
and noises
I look out the window to see my dad is trying to scare me.

Red
By Jake Stone
Red is like a taste of strawberry Jolly Rancher
Red is like the smell of sweet
Red is a beautiful color
Red feels like a bumpy road
Red is the sound of cake

Dogs
By Abby Zalenski
Cuddly, soft 
playing, barking, running 
run and play as you
         Pups

Two Voice Poem
By Abby Zalenski
I am a monkey 
I am a panda
High in the trees
Laying on the ground 
And I’m a panda
I hate the sun 
I love the sun
I’m as lazy as a pig 
I’m fun as a roller coaster 
​WE ARE TWO OPPOSITES
I’m a monkey 
I'm a panda

Life of a Book
By Emily Moore
Crumpled and rumpled, shipped and ditched 
the life of a book is hard to accomplish,
I wait on the shelf that nobody goes to
but the few people that come look at me and turn away to isle three
 where books of all kinds get taken away
while I lay here day after day.

Maroon
By Emily Moore
Maroon is like a mood, sort of red sort of purple.
Now red is the color of madness, and purple is a mix of sadness and sleepiness.
Maroon is like waking up and going to work and finding out that you forgot something and you don’t quite know what that  “thing” is.
Maroon is like smelling a fire and the slightest crackle you get from it. Maroon is rough yet soft to the touch.

Yellow
By Pepper Langley
Yellow, Yellow is the sound
Of birds tweeting in the morning
Yellow tastes like biting into a vanilla cupcake or like a sugar cookie.
Yellow is the feeling of sand between your toes.

Water
By Pepper Langley
Water is a wet,
flowing liquid that runs faster than any human,
water can be warmth like a hot tub in the winter
or chilling like the ocean in the summer.
Water is water

Too Fast
By Pepper Langley
No, life’s too fast
I was seven then blinked and three years had past
Being a kid goes by way too fast
So make sure you enjoy it while it lasts

My Best Friend
By Abby Stover
They can rise me
high as the sky are
as low as you can go
but no one is alone
cause if you're down
I’m around
if your mad
I am so sad
if you're mine
I’m as happy as if just ate pie!

​Other Classroom Events, Pepper and Abby Stover
This week we went on a walk to the Taft Library, the Book Club was organized by Mrs. Zalusky and Mrs. Desruisseaux. The library is so close to our school that we can walk there! When we got there a nice librarian greeted us at the door, we went in and sat down, we noticed that there were six books on the table in front of us. The librarian explained that she was going to give us a short summary about each book (without spoiling it) and later we would get to pick which book we want to read in a book club. The books on the table were “El Defo”, “Land of Stories”, “Save Me a Seat” , “The One and Only Ivan”, “The Wild Robot”, and “Because of the Rabbit”. “El Defo” is a book about a bunny who is born almost deaf in one ear and had to get a hearing aid but the thing is she really hates the way it looks, but it’s the only way she can hear so she has to keep it on. But one day she imagines this cool version of herself that still has the hearing aid, so she tries to be more like that version of herself and ends up liking her hearing aid after a while. “The Land of Stories” is about two kids who fell into this magical storybook and now they’re stuck in the book so they go on an adventure trying to get back to the real world but they end up meeting a lot of fantasy characters like Little Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks. It’s a great fantasy book. “Save Me a Seat” is about one ordinary boy and the other is from India. He had just come to start a life in America. They had nothing in common until a class bully targeted both boys and they worked with each other to cope. “The one and only Ivan” is about a gorilla named ‘Ivan’ that was captured, then put in a zoo in a mall. Ivan was a very talented gorilla. He knew how to do many tricks, but he needed more space to live. One day he escapes the mall, and the book is all about his life. “Because of the Rabbit” is about a girl named Emma. Emma had been homeschooled her whole life and had never been to school. One day she decided that she wanted to try out public school. Emma’s dad worked to help wild animals. One day he had gotten a call about a wild rabbit stuck in a mean lady’s yard. (That call came in the night before Emma started 5th grade) Emma’s dad immediately went to help the rabbit, but the rabbit wasn’t a wild rabbit it was a pet rabbit who lost it’s owner.  Emma’s dad tried so hard to find who the rabbit belonged to, but he couldn’t. Eventually the rabbit became Emma’s pet and best friend. It wasn’t the best friend Emma had imagined but it was even better! “The Wild Robot” is a book about a robot named Roze who ended up on deserted island because of a boat crash. Roze eventually understood how to communicate  with those around her. She learned to develop feelings for the creatures and the wild life. Which book would you choose for the book club?

This week we also had community reader come and read to us. His name is Sean Nicholson who read the book “What the Road Said ” by Cleo Wade, with illustrations by Lucie De Moyencourt. The story is about a little boy who lives in the city and a road appears out of nowhere. One day he asked the road questions like “ How do I start?” “What if I get scared?”       
The road would answer “ The road smiled and said you have already started” and “ That is okay. You are brave.” We think the theme of the story is about even if you are scared, afraid or confused you can move forward  and be a leader. Thank you Mr. Sean for reading this to all of us!

(Mrs. Willinski: I think you will agree with me that my students are amazing writers. Take a look at this week's slide show!)