Saturday, March 31, 2018

5B Classroom News: Week of March 26th

A note from Mrs. Burke:
Students continued to learn about the regions of the U.S. this week.  This is an integrated unit and includes skills in language arts and social studies.  Students are using nonfiction books for this unit and have been learning about different text features found in these books.  Cordelia and Paige even wrote a song to help students remember the different text features.  Click here to see them performing their song.




Keep reading to see what our classroom reporters posted this week:


Integrated Studies:  Regions of the United States of America
Students are working in groups to learn about the regions of the U.S.  




I am studying the Southeast region of the United States. One thing I learned
is that there are 14 states in the Southeast region such as: Alabama, Arkansas,
Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
~Lucy

My group is studying the West region. I learned that earthquakes are caused
because of the plates in the earth shift. Many people die because of the
earthquakes in some parts of the world.
-Lily

My group and I have been learning about the southeast and I have learned
that in the southeast there are 14 states down there.
-Alexander

I have been studying the Midwest region of the U.S.  Things I have learned
include that all of the top corn producing states are located in the Midwest.
-Bennett

The region of the United States that I am studying is the Southwest region.
Over the course of my studying and filling in a facts note-catcher for my essay,
I have learned that the Southwest has over 300 days of sunlight each year, is
a very dry region, gets hit by tornadoes frequently, has four states (Arizona,
Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico), has many unique animals, some of the
Southwest used to be part of Mexico, only southern Texas borders the ocean
(the Gulf of Mexico), Texas is the second largest state next to Alaska, etc.
Overall, I think the Southwest is a very fascinating region.
-Nolan   

My group and I are learning about the southern region. I have learned that
Florida is one of the most popular states to live in the nation.  I also learned
that the District of Columbia has the smallest population in the southeast.
-Ella

In language arts we are learning about the southwest and its states and
traits that make it unique.
-Chandler












Second Step:  How to Handle Put Downs


Image result for second step



In second step we were learning how to deal with put downs and we did
exercises and we ended up doing a good put up and a put down.
-Chandler


I learned to just calm down if something happened.
--Makayla

Students demonstrated how it would feel if someone said negative comments to them; put downs, and positive comments; put ups:












Students practiced how to respond to put downs using strategies they learned in Second Step:













5B Girls Make a Point:





On Wednesday all the girls wore their hair up in the same hairstyle. We did this because we knew that everyone is beautiful no matter what you look like. This started out as Paige wearing five year old hairstyles for a week. Then I suggested that she could wear a certain hairstyle. Soon enough we had all the girls in 5B to wear that hairstyle (including Mrs. Burke). Paige and I  are proud that we were able to coordinate this.
-Cordelia

Most of the girls in 5B believe strongly that people, especially women, shouldn’t be judged by what they look like. Some people judge others on the way they look, and if they like them or not; if they are good looking, they are liked, if they’re not good looking, they’re not. It was important to us that we did that because people now know what we strongly believe in, and that we shouldn’t be judged on how we look. Cordelia and I may have started it, but almost all the girls in our class,including Mrs. Burke, took part and made it so special!!!!!
-- Paige

The girls in the class, including me, wanted to wear their hair alike  for many
reasons. One of these reasons is to show independence. Another reason is
that they were inspired by their friend Paige. And the last reason of many is
that they wanted to show that people shouldn’t be judged for what they look
like or act like.
~Jocelyn


The message many girls in class wanted to share by wearing the same hairstyle
is that people can’t judge you because of the way you look.
~Lucy


The message many of the girls in the class (including me) wanted to share by
wearing the same hairstyle on Wednesday was all because, three, to four girls
in our class were wearing little kid hairstyles. So a message passed around to
every girl in the class to wear little kid hairstyles on Wednesday. This experience
was really fun, and I hope that more things could happen.
-Lyssette

On Wednesday most the girls in the class wore our hair in a side ponytail.  Our
purpose of this is to remind people of how unique we are and to say it does not
matter what you want to wear.  Though the hair style we wore looked easy, it
was very difficult to put up.
---Addyson

The message I thought of was that just because some of us might be wearing five year old hairstyles doesn't mean we should be judged by it.
-Ella

Friday, March 23, 2018

5B Classroom News: Week of March 19th

A note from Mrs. Burke:
Thank you to all of the parents who attended parent/teacher conferences this week.  I enjoyed sharing all of the growth in learning I've been seeing in your children.  

The students take brain breaks at school using the GoNoodle program.  This gives them an opportunity to get out of their seats and move to a challenge or silly song.  This week they decided to dance around the room during one of their brain breaks.  So much fun!  Keep reading to see what student reporters posted this week.








Integrated Studies:  Regions of the United States of America
Students are learning about the Regions of the U.S. as part of an integrated unit.  They are applying what they are learning in language arts and social studies to projects about the regions of the U.S. Currently, they are focused on the Northeast region of the United States.


In integrated studies I have learned that in the Northeast region over 90% of
Maine is woodland/ forest area, and that in 2015 northern Maine temperatures
fell to -19 degrees Fahrenheit.
-Faith

In integrated studies I have learned that there are 9 states in the Northeast
region. They are: Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania,
Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey and New York.
~Lucy

It was fun learning about the northeast region of the United States. We got a
map to color in and write in and we are reading a book about the region.
~Logan

I like integrated studies because it tells me cool stuff about the Northeast
region that I didn’t know about before. It also told me about the history of
the states, and it gave me interesting facts about each one.
-Lily

In the integrated studies I have learned that in the Northeast region of the
United States the Revolutionary War took place in the northeast region.
-Julian

What I have learned in integrated studies about the Northeast region is
that Maine is 90% covered by woods or forests. Also, Vermont is the least
populated state with 633,000 people living in VT. Also, by the oceans of
Massachusetts whales glide through the water. Pennsylvania is home to
steel mills too. Learning about U.S. regions is very fun and I am excited
to learn more about different U.S. regions.
~Colby

In integrated studies I have learned lots. One thing that in the 1800’s the
issue of slavery divided the nation. The second thing I learned was the
over 15,000 people have hiked the entire Appalachian Trail. These are
some things I learned in integrated studies.
-Lyssette

In integrated studies I learned that the Northeast region of the United
States (based on what we know) does not include the states of Maryland
and Delaware.  However, It includes Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and our
very own Vermont.
-Bennett

Something I learned about in integrated studies is that the Northeast region
was the birthplace of the United States.  I also learned that the Northeast
region is the smallest region. I know this because on page 4 it says, ‘’The
Northeast is the smallest U.S. region in land size.’’  I got this information in
the book we have been reading by John Micklos, Jr. Each day we work on
a class packet to get us ready for the essay we will be writing in the end of
the unit.
---Addyson

In integrated studies I have learned that in the Northeast region is New York
and it has the most Puerto Ricans.  Also, that the Northeast is the birthplace
of the five regions. We also learned about many cultural centers. Did you know
that the Boston Children’s Museum is the second oldest children’s museum in
the world?  The last thing I learned was Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the 1990’s
was home to steel mills.
-Ella

In integrated studies we are learning about the Northern region and we are doing
a slideshow on it very soon.It's going to be fun!
-Chandler

In integrated studies I have learned many new things about the Northeast. One
example is that we learned the capitals of all of the states in the Northeast, like
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Providence, Rhode Island, Augusta, Maine, Trenton,
New Jersey, and the others, too. We also learned that the Northeast region is
the birthplace of the U.S. We learned all of the postal abbreviations as well.
We’re having a lot of fun!!!
-- Paige



Second Step:  Learning how to resist revenge

Image result for second step

In Second Step, we learned a few strategies to resist revenge. One of them
is to walk away and count from 10-1 and take deep breaths. I love doing
Second Step because it is very fun and it teaches a lot of strategies for
than resisting revenge.
~Jocelyn

The Second Step program addressed resisting revenge. Resisting revenge
is when someone might accidentally do something such as brushing up
against someone and the person they brushed up into might take it a step
too far and punches them. Instead of punching them you could take a
moment to realize that it was an accident and just walk away and take
a moment to get yourself together. In the lesson we we got to act out a
scenario about resting revenge, I was very impressed about how other
people handled the same scenario that my group had. I learned a lot,
and I will know what to do if I happen to want revenge on someone.
~Cordelia


From the Second Step video, I learned that 1 knocked over 2’s stand
in music class. 2’s music papers fell on the floor, with her stand. She
got mad at 1, so she ripped his music sheets. 1 was mad, and wanted
revenge, but he resisted the urge to do it, and walked away to cool
down. I thought this was good information.

-Lily

In Second Step we learned that revenge is not the way to solve your
problems. You should walk out of the room and use some calming
down strategies and when you have all of  your anger out, come
back in the room and say it was an accident.
-Sophia

I have learned that you could walk out of the room and count down from
ten or any number you want. After a little while you can walk back in there
and explain that it was an accident.
-Alexander

Strategies I learned in Second Step to resist revenge is to walk away and
take deep breaths. Also, count from ten down to one. Also, think positive
and don't think about negative things you are going to do. Think to the
positive side.
~Colby

In Second Step l learned that you should stop and think to yourself before
you start something more than what happened.
--Makayla

In Second Step we are learning about how to manage frustration.
-Larkyn

In Second Step I learned that resisting revenge is a hard thing and that you
can do things that you end up regretting later on.
-Bennett

In Second Step we are learning about resisting revenge. During this lesson,
we watched a video about a boy wanting to get revenge on someone, but
having to resist the urge by using one of the multiple effective strategies.
Some of these strategies include taking a deep breath, counting up or
down from ten, or walking away from the situation. So when you are
feeling angry at someone, try one of these ideas, they work!
-Nolan

In Second Step we did a unit on not going for revenge and it was fun to act
out the scene!.
-Chandler