Buddy class

Today we made some gingerbread houses with our buddies!

Third Grade Performance

Today we got to see Mrs. Sabri's classroom musical.

Computers

Today we are getting in some math practice and earning awards with IXL.

NW Fire Visit

Inspector West is talking about hazards that you can find around the house.

ART

Today we are learning about different types of camouflage.
Concealing
Disruptive
Disguise
Mimicry

Leafy Friend

Today we found a "leaf-bug" out on the play ground!

Spelling Bee!

Good luck Richie & Julian!

Spontaneous Word of the Week

What is a word that encourages you to try harder?

Thanksgiving

Tell me about what you did over the long weekend.  What did you enjoy the most?

Crafty Crafters

The students wanted to make a few projects to share with their families for the holiday weekend. I certainly hope you all enjoy the long weekend and have a wonderful relaxing time.

To Give Thanks

This week we are thinking about things that we are thankful for in our lives.

Solar Stills Pt. 2

This was the follow up lesson for our field trip last week when we talked about thw water cycle.

"Our models showed us all of the steps within the water cycle in only a few short hours."

-Amaiah

Solar Stills

Today Ms. Linaman talked to us about the water cycle and what each of the steps is.  We talked about:

Precipitation
Condensation
Evaporation
Perculation

"We made a solar still that mimics the water cycle and uses the power of the sun!"
-Tanner

Field Trip

We are on way to the park!

Buddy Class

Today we get some free choice time with our buddies!

Junior Achievement

Today we are talking about expenses and income. Profit versus income and what the difference is, ask your junior achiever what each of these mean.

Class Visitor

He was trying to stow away with the backpacks, not today my friend!

IXL Math

Here is the page that I want you to visit and practice your math skills.  You have to use the password that I gave you and your username is your first and last name put together.

IXL Math

Music practicing site reading

Windy morning!

Today is early out, don't forget that next Thursday we don't have any school. 

Math Mystery!

Here is a fun and interactive Math Mystery story that you get yo read along with.  Click on the link below and see if you can figure out what is going on.  DON'T give the answer away to your neighbor, if you have it figured out keep the answer to yourself.  Once you have finished solving the mystery see if you can research some fun ideas that you could use for your upcoming book report.  What are some activities that you would like to do or use to tell me about a book that you have recently completed.  Leave me a comment to let me know what you have found.

MATH MYSTERY


BOOK REPORT: Scholastic 

Science!

Sunrise at Walker

Water Cycle

Soon we will be taking a field trip and discussing what the water cycle is and how it effects us.  Living in the desert, water plays an important role in each one of our lives.  I would like for you to watch the short 3 minute video and take the quiz that follows it.  Let me know how well you did.  REMEMBER to think about what the different parts of the water cycle are and how the relate to one another.  

Click here to make your way to the video and quiz.  

Fall Break

Well I hope that everyone had a nice week off and you had some time to relax.  The break seemed to fly by way to quickly but I made the most of it while I could.  What did Mr. M do over the break?  Well the first thing that I did was attend the wedding of a very dear friend of mine.  Here is a picture of Sara and I at the wedding.

After that I went up north and spent the entire week camping & fishing!  I really don't think I could have had a better week off.  Here is a picture of me and a trout that I caught out of Willow Springs lake.

As you can see I was wearing a sweat shirt and the weather was much cooler than it is here in Tucson!  I tried to do a little hiking around and take some pictures while I could.  Unfortunately Mr. M forgot to bring his tripod with him so he was unable to do any night time photography.   While I was camping I got to see a whole range of wildlife that we don't get to see here in the desert.  I saw skunks, squirrels, chipmunks, blue jays,  and even a bald eagle!  The trip was wonderful and I can't wait to go up there again.  Here are a couple of pictures that I took while up north.

Here is a picture of part of Fool's Hollow Lake in Show Low, AZ.

This is a picture of a flower that I have never seen before and don't know too much information about!  I want to hear about what you did over the break, tell me what you did and what you enjoyed doing with your time off away from school.  

It's Science

Today we are looking at what effects two different objects being dropped from the same height. Should be interesting to see what we learn!

Book Fair!

This week during conferences the book fair is open for business with some really great stuff.

Beat the Calculator

This is a game designed to encourage students to beat someone else who has a calculator only with their knowledge of math facts

Computer lab

I Spy!

Over the past couple of years I notice a lot of my students have become more and more interested in these I Spy books.  They can spend hours in search of random objects in cluttered pictures with extreme joy.  I found on the scholastic website an online version of the same game.  It is a virtual space that the students have to click on and interact with in order to locate the specific objects.  Check it out for yourself and let me know how you like it.  

You can find the link for this page here.  

Story Starters!

Here is a great resource for young writers who need some help getting ideas for writing.  It is a generator that gives you different writing scenarios and formats such as a postcard, letter, newspaper, or notebook entry.  I hope that you enjoy this as much as I do!  Click here to start a new and creative story.

Moving desks

Teaching with Video Games?

An opinion is something that is based on your own beliefs or views, I would like for you to read the following news article about learning using video games and give me your opinion.  Do you think that this is a good idea, why or why not?  Give me specific reasons why you think this might work and how we would be able to use it in the class room. You and your partner need to take turns reading the article and share with me what your opinion is as a comment.  Don't forget to put down your names (first only).

NY Times article Learning by Playing: Video Games in the Classroom

Bug!

We had a visitor on the playground this morning, can you help me identify what it is?

Collage

Last week Mrs. Peterson asked you to research what a collage is and who invented the process.  It is your job to locate reliable resources to use in order to answer that very question.  Remember that Wikipedia is not always the most reliable resource to use when you are looking up information.  Once you find one or two reliable sources write down your answer into a word document and post it as a comment into this blog post.

Morning Rain Showers

Buddy Class

Today our first grade buddy class came to visit and work on a poster that we are going to hang up when they are finished.

More students need a laptop computer for the classroom - USATODAY.com

More students need a laptop computer for the classroom - USATODAY.com

This article is talking about students owning laptops for use in the classroom. Between the laptops, iPods and iPads out in the world is this too unreasonable to think about? I think that within the realm of 21st century skills, if we are to be teaching children about collaboration and technology they should have access to the tools. Not to say that some of them will have access to these tools, but at sometime in the future each and everyone of my students will need to use a computer. They come by the skills so naturally that it seems logical to give them access to these tools at an early age in order to incorporate it into their lifestyle. Being able to use a computer appropriately along with Internet access can be powerfully motivating to a student not to mention empowering when the complete something using it. I think that it should be mandated by law that everyone in the United States has access to the Internet, there are other countries around the world that have started this trend and it speaks towards their vision for accessing information. How are we going to get these tools for our kids? They are expensive and I don't expect all of my parents to have to pony up the money for a laptop. What are some of your thoughts and options for more computers and media device tools for children to have access to in the classrooms?

Band and Orchestra Demonstration

Multiplication baseball

Happy Birthday Tucson

Happy Birthday Tucson

Here is a whole list of things that are happening in celebration of Tucson's Birthday!

Walker Pit Fire: 2010-2011 Pit Crew

Walker Pit Fire: 2010-2011 Pit Crew: "Hello and welcome to the 2010-2011 school year. We are looking forward to meeting and working with you to make this years Walker Pit Fire a..."

Letterboxing

Yesterday Mrs. Wright, one of our wonderful 3rd grade teachers brought to my attention something that is called Letterboxing.   This is similar to Geocaching, it is a mix between treasure and scavenger hunting.  I LOVE to go geocaching on the weekends with my wife but it requires that you have some sort of GPS locator device.  Not everybody has access to one of these.  is based off of a set of clues and navigational directions to geographical landmarks.  The whole idea behind it is to get people to explore their surroundings and discover something new.  I am thinking about setting up some Letterboxing discovery landmarks here at our school.  I think it would Letterboxing d be a wonderful activity for kids to participate in both in and outside of school.  What do you think about this?  Do any of you Geocache or Letterbox in your spare time?  

Math Introduction

Today we got a chance to look through our Everyday Math books. We also cut out some addition and subtraction triangles to help us practice our math facts?.

This is a wonderful example of the beauty that Arizona has to offer Lulu Walker. This was taken from our playground!

Jeffrey the caterpillar

This morning we had a new student trying to join us for the day. Luckily we found him before any damage was done and was able to relocate him to a safer environment.

Parent Information

Hello parents and students of the 2010 - 2011 school year.  I have already met some of you and am looking forward to meeting the rest of you on Wednesday when school starts up.  If you (parents) could take the time to fill out the information form I have created it would be much appreciated.  This gives me some important contact information about you and your young learner.  If you have already filled this form out once there is no need to do it again.  Thank you for your help and I will see you all very soon!

Parent Survey Form

Summer Must-Read for Kids? Any Book - Well Blog - NYTimes.com

Summer Must-Read for Kids? Any Book - Well Blog - NYTimes.com

Here is an interesting article that says kids should be reading throughout the summer time. I have always told parents to let kids read whatever they are interested in, the goal is to keep them reading!

Teacher Meeting

Today a handful of teachers came together at school to work on this year's schedule. Life around the school is starting to pick up more and more as the first day of school draws near. Looking forward to seeing and meeting my new students!

I woke up this morning feeling really brainy! Not sure what it is, but I feel like good things are going to happen.

Bookmans | Project: Educate

Bookmans | Project: Educate

This is mostly for any teachers who live in Arizona. Bookmans wants to take care of their teachers by giving them 20% off on everything that they sell. Look into it if you have never heard about it. I know I have!

Not sure what I should do first!

Picasa Web Albums Features

Picasa Web Albums Features Here is a great picture editing software that I got a chance to play around with a little bit over the summer. I am going to use this in the classroom this year as much as I can. Hopefully students will be able to make their own collages and share them with their families at home. This is software is FREE which makes me love it even more. I have posted a couple of small projects that took me no more than 10 minutes total to make both of them. Give it a chance and if you don't like it maybe you can share something that you do like to use.

Summer Fun

Here is a collage of some of the adventures that Mr. M has been on!

Here is a collage of some of the school events from last year too.