44 Lizi Boyd Fans

It all started with a book. A beautiful, wordless book to illuminate the imagination and let it roam… Flashlight by Lizi Boyd quickly became a class favorite.

We studied it as storytellers,  artists, and even scientists. The book’s black and white pages with a flashlight beam flooding things in the dark forest with color  was a wonderful fit for our science unit on the human eye. As writers, using Flashlight was the perfect way to give students a chance to flex their narrative writing muscles, creating their own story inspired by the wordless journey of a little boy in the woods with a flashlight. The artist in each of us was curious to try Lizi Boyd’s whimsical style with black paper and white colored pencils. The flashlight beam was created by cutting white construction paper into the shape of the light and each student chose what item(s) in the forest the beam would illuminate (animals, plants, rocks…) and used colored pencils to highlight this choice. A few examples (you can click on the pictures for a close-up and to find out who drew it):

Writing the stories was a fun challenge. After studying the book a couple of times as readers, we studied it as writers. What stories were emerging for writers? Some connected to times they’d been camping, others borrowed from fairy tales and other stories they had encountered as readers, and many writers created a story from their imagination blended with real life experience. It helped that earlier in the year, we had studied photographs and created stories from what we noticed and observed.

Saved By the Flashlight by Eli Roche-Sanchez, 2nd grade

One night a boy went looking in the woods with a awesome, high tech, and cool flashlight. He set his tent up by a river. Then he leaped over the river like a pogo stick. The river led to a waterfall. Then he saw some fish. He was exhilarated to see the fish. He accidentally fell in the river but the fish saved him. He was scared after he fell in the river so he turned his flashlight on really bright mode. He liked that. So he went back to his tent and slept happily through the night.

Wandering Boy by Rylan Elwin, 3rd Grae

We like it in the woods at night. Nobody really even bothers us. But last night something unusual happened. The bravest, most courageous, and most curious boy came into our woods. He had a thing that shot light like the sun out of it. Then he dropped it, and we all tried to grasp it! My friend the raccoon got it first! The raccoon figured out it’s a thing called a “flashlight.” It lights up anything in its path. When he figured that out, he handed it to the boy, who was chasing the raccoon for his flashlight back! Then the boy stomped back to his tent, and the woods were peaceful again!

The end! But wait… Until the boy comes back tomorrow night! What will happen next?

Moon Boy by Lyla Hokanson, 1st Grade

One day there was a boy named Jay. He always said to his mom, “Can we go camping with my friends?” “Have you lost your mind? There are creatures out there that will eat you! And we will never see you again,” said the mom. So Jay went to school and he told his friends that he wanted to go on a camping trip. “Are you out of your mind?” said his friends.

When Jay got home, he stomped into his room. He decided that he would sneak out of his cottage close to the forest. Soon it was night so he got his flashlight. Out in the forest, he wanted to go to sleep, but he had forgotten his tent. “Oh, no!” he thought. Jay gazed up at the stars and he heard a quiet, “shhhh.” Jay was scared. Even though he heard a scary “shhhh” he still wanted to stay in the deep forest. He thought for a moment, “Why did I leave my home without asking?” Then Jay felt bad. The moon told him quietly “go home,” so Jay went home and had a good life after all and his parents were happy!

As we finished hanging the art and writing in our classroom, marveling at how wonderful this learning journey had been, Ms. Boyesen was compelled to share a piece of it with the author. She told the class, “you never know unless you try,” and emailed examples of the art and writing to the author in hopes of hearing back. With bated breath, we waited…and waited…and waited for a response (time slows down when you’re waiting for something as important as a response from an author). Nothing. Oh well, it was worth a try, Ms. Boyesen told herself at the end of the week. Then just as she’d given up hope, a cheery email reply appeared in her inbox.

“I LOVE where you took my book, Flashlight! I LOVE that you created your own stories. This is a very cool project!  When I did this book and made it wordless what I wanted was for it to truly belong to the reader; their eyes, their interpretations, their stories. You’ve done that and gone even further than even I’d imagined.” (excerpt from the first email from the author, Lizi Boyd)
Not only did the author reply, but it came with the promise of a box and a book in the mail! The author generously sent not only a brand new copy of her other lovely wordless book, Inside Outside, but also 44 beautiful little notebook and book marks for the class. The author shares her fresh, whimsical style via her paper company as well as her books. Here are a few shots of what she sent us in the mail:

“Keep drawing, writing and imagining,” was the author’s advice to our class. The kids were beyond excited. “I’ll treasure this forever!” one of our 3rd graders exclaimed about her notebook. The timing couldn’t have been better either. We’d just embarked on a “Gift of Words” project in our class before the holiday break. The idea was to collect words, phrases, paragraphs of words that spoke to the students in some way. The book marks Lizi Boyd sent us each had a little quote on it, which sent shivers of excitement down our writers’ and word-collectors’ spines… Such joy!

Showing gratitude in letter format is the perfect opportunity to write for an authentic purpose, and all 44 fans put their whole heart into it! Each writer had plenty of appreciation to share with our now-favorite author and many drew sweet little pictures of notebooks and flashlights. Then, carefully sealed in a large manilla envelope, we sent it off our thank you letters to chilly Vermont, knowing we had done the best we could to express our gratitude.  In an recent email from the author, we learned that two of our letters (thanks to the author sharing!) had been posted on Chronicle Books’ Blog! As Lizi Boyd said in her email, “And please, it doesn’t matter who’s letters were posted because they loved them all and your projects with the books…” We’re so excited to be included on a publisher’s blog (and it’s funny to note that they said we’re a local class. “Our” Lizi Boyd knows we’re from California…it’s all good). Here’s the blog:

http://www.chroniclebooks.com/blog/2015/02/18/dear-author-letters-from-young-readers/

As you might have guessed, Inside Outside became our next muse, this time with a design challenge. This cozy, wordless book takes us inside the “caramel cottage” (coined by one of our third grade writers) then outside in the snow, and back and forth… And not to give it all away, each page has a wonderful little window allowing a peek outside or inside depending on the vantage point. So the design challenge became to design an inside scene and outside scene, each with a little peeking window opening into the other. It’s not easy (for children and adults alike) to plan this out! We needed several iterations to accomplish our design goals, but no one ever said the things worth doing are easy! Embracing the challenge, we tried, and failed, and tried again. Here’s a little peek at the finished product (please notice the window connecting inside to outside):

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(If you want to see the page turning, check out this quick video:)Video 1

And, of course, we continued our writing journey as well. As teachers, we learned from the Flashlight stories that we needed to provide more structure for our young writers this time. Though the stories had turned out wonderful in the end (after writing meetings and conferring and editing…), we wanted to provide a scaffold to help writers think through their beginning, middle, and end. As many of you know, young writers will often meander down the story-telling road without an end in sight… Using story-boards helped students to think through parts of the story, including the ending, before they start writing.

Like Flashlight, these Inside Outside-inspired stories came from a mix of student imagination, experience, and encounter with story in their reading lives. This time around, we also added the element of “temporal words” and phrases, teaching kids various ways to show that time is passing. Many students chose to have their stories, like Inside Outside, encompass all four seasons of the year. It’s not an easy thing to be a six, seven, or eight year old writer, and keep the reader’s interest through several season. Did they accomplish this? You be the judge…

Times End but Memories Stay by Evie Naples, 3rd Grade
As the first snowflake touched the ground, I packed a bag of my favorite things as a snowman glimpsed through the window wondering what I was doing. So I scurried outside plunking my whole body in the snow, sinking like a deflated ball bathing in the cool crisp air, never wanting it to end. Of course, spring always has to come in its most playful way, but this spring was different… Clouds cried and trees whipped. As the boy hid inside hishouse surrounding himself with his “stuffies” for the day, he shivered with fear and was frightened from thunder. Then he burst up, threw on his raincoat, called his trusty assistant (his dog), and ran outside for a split second, but it was too cold and sohe ran back in, clinging to the walls every time the thunder
clapped. Finally, the rain stopped and the sun came out, bringing acolorful friend along for company, and even though the seasons have to come to an end you can always wish for it to come next year!!!!

Adventures Through Seasons by Elke Farrow, 3rd Grade

The winter snow fell softly onto the cold, hard, ground, and the wind whistled throughout the trees, as I prepared for spring. My name is Nia, and I am nine years old. To prepare for the season of growth, I gathered all the seeds I owned, and searched for my shovel. Once I was done, I decided to make the best of winter, and go make some snowmen in the light, crunchy, white snow, which was like a vast blanket covering hills and forests. Before I stepped out my big, red, door, I gave an invitation for my fuzzy, soft, loyal dog, Midnight, to come with me. But when my fluffy, playful, stubborn cat Sandy meowed loudly to go out, I refused, and explained to her, “Sandy, you won’t like it out there! Cats do not like water at all!” Suddenly, Midnight and I slipped out the door, and I made big, fancy, medium, plain, and small snowmen (who had lots of personalities), with the help of Midnight of course. Later, we strolled inside, and said hello to Sandy. Other days and months, we had many more adventures in the snow for the rest of a very white winter.

One warm, snow-clear day, there was a change in the air that everyone could feel…Finally, spring had arrived! Birds sang, “Tweet, tweet, tweet,” as they curiously peeked and gazed through the window. Outside, it seemed as if it was wonderland. Happily, all different kinds of birds cooed, and chirped. Then, I had a wonderful idea. “Yay!” I yelled as I raced to find my “spring bag”, and then scurried back outside. While planting, my mind drifted into daydreams of flowers and vegetables and fruits that the seeds would grow to be… while my pets daydreamed of rolling and jumping and scratching. After much gardening, meowing, barking and waiting, the rain came, so I got into my rain gear (rain boots, raincoats, and umbrellas) then skipped outside, to find a little friend waiting for me. Its head peeked curiously out of its shell, but then quickly shrunk back in. A turtle! “I’ll name you Joy!” I gently said, and brought her inside.

The next thing I knew it was summer! My plants were in full bloom, I picked some, and had wondrous meals. Way too soon, summer shrunk away to fall, and leaves dropped and scattered on the ground, leaving a lonely tree bare. Midnight rolled and barked in the leaves, Sandy meowed and stalked, and Joy enjoyed. Each day was similar, if not, the same… until I dressed in my magician costume, and Sandy, Midnight, and Joy all headed out with me to go trick-or-treating. It was a long night, but almost as soon as we arrived back, the first soft, feathery and delicate hexagonal snowflake cartwheeled to the ground. The first snowflake… that meant it was winter once again! Excitedly I sauntered through my bright    valentine-red wood door. Falling asleep quickly, I felt the cold chill of winter. Hours seemed to pass as quick as a blink of an eye, and soon I stretched awake. Remembering the snow, I hurried to the window. Unfortunately, the snow had melted, for it was not yet deep into winter. “It will come again soon, maybe even tonight,” I promised myself.

That night, I realized I was right. Bundled heavily in winter clothing, I waddled out the door with Midnight. Being inconspicuous, I climbed up the ladder to my tree house, and gazed outside. I watched the birds fly, listened to the wind howling through the trees, wondering what it would be like next year, and what adventures it would bring with it.

When the year started, we never in our wildest dreams expected that we would have the opportunity to do such an in-depth author study of Lizi Boyd with Lizi Boyd, but we’re thrilled and excited that the opportunity unfolded before us! And it all started with a beautiful, wordless book. It’s no surprise, really. You never know where a book will take you…

More about Lizi Boyd:
She shared this blog post with us so we could get a little peak into her creative world:

http://thelittlecrookedcottage.blogspot.com/2014/12/mr-pig-visits-lizi-boyd_29.html

Jog-a-Thon

It was a hot and sunny day in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, yet MAC students still ran their little hearts out! Thank you to the parents who supported this event, either by sponsoring their child and/or helping out at the event. It was most definitely a huge (albeit sweaty) and fun success!

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How Are You Helping in the Drought?

Friday February 6 was a sunny, balmy sea-side morning, like so many others in our community.  The blacktop at our elementary school campus was abuzz with excitement––kids dressed in karate uniforms, dance leotards, sports jerseys, and more, each settled down to join in the spirit day assembly. But for 15 kids from our MAC class, the excitement was more than “sports and hobby day;” it was opportunity to give a public service announcement (PSA) to the Cardiff community about saving water.

It started a couple weeks back with reading Water Wonders by Peter Reynolds (in collaboration with Fable Vision, the National Writing Project, and Reading is Fundamental) about two sibling mice, Sydney and Symon, whose curiosity as citizen scientists lead them to investigate the water cycle. The “Book Club” readers started talking about the drought we’re experiencing here in Southern California and what we can all do collectively to help. After brainstorming individually, with a partner, and as a whole group, we compiled a list of ideas to share with others.

We also discussed what a PSA is. A public service announcement, by nature, is created to serve the public with some sort of idea, information, or reminder. Each student set out to write a clear, concise script to communicate one of our collective ideas about saving water. The video above is of the PSA, and if you keep scrolling down, you’ll see close-ups of the posters students designed to visually help strengthen their point. At the end of the PSA, Stella and Evie reminded the audience (comprised of students, parents, grandparents, and community members) that it’s up to each person to make a commitment toward being a water-saving super-hero 🙂

We’re thrilled that Aaron Burgin, from The Coast News came to interview our Book Club. Check out his write-up here:

https://thecoastnews.com/blog/2015/02/cardiff-students-espouse-the-gospel-of-water-conservation/#more-78461

kidswithAaron AaronBurginInterview

And by-the-way, we’d love to hear what you think, so please leave your comments/reactions below. Thank you!

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Playing With Science: A Collaborative Field Trip (and a Collaboratively Written Post)

(This post was written collaboratively by the multiage table groups in our class.)

Our science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) field trip was filled with tons of science.  The MAC class paired up with the Ada Harris MAC class and more than 80 kids rotated around the auditorium working with science activities that the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center brought to us.  Here are some of the really cool science projects we got to experience:

mackids_STEM

Station 1:  Using beans is a good way to measure weight!  Grab a scale, a washer, beans and see how many beans it takes to make it balance.  Left to right, right to left, put a block under the scale.  When you move the block it becomes uneven again because the weight is closer to one side.  Can you think of another way to measure weight?

Station 2:  One of the stations was the paper rocket launcher.  We held a foam stick-like thing that had rubber bands and when we pulled the rubber bands back and let go, the paper rockets blasted off into the sky and then landed on the floor.  When the rocket was launched into the sky it went about four feet high.

Station 3:  Hey look at all of the primary colors!  (But instead of yellow we had green).  We used markers to put colors on the inside of the cup and then poked a colored light into a hole in the bottom of the cup to see how the different colored lights changed the colors of the markers.  If you put a red lights in your cup, then the red in your cup will become bright and the two other colors become more dark.  When we put a green light in, it looked a shade of greenish brown.  What colors would you mix?

Station 4:  Static electricity tubes, balloons, even plasma balls (but not all plasma balls).  When the salt and pepper met with static electricity on the balloon, the salt and pepper clung on.  When the static electricity tube was filled with the electricity balls, the balls would fly over to any static electricity close by.  The negative energy bolts would go to any positive energy atoms from your body that touched the glass.  You can get more positive electricity when you rubbed the balloon on your head because your body has more electricity than the wool does. If you want to try this at home all you need is a balloon, salt, pepper, and static electricity.  But do you know how to make static electricity?

Station 5:  As one of the MAC class groups arrived at station five, they were curious about the wheel and disk that were there.  But before they could ask why the equipment was there, a helper told the group to form a semi-circle.  “Who wants to stand on the disc first?” she questioned.  The first person picked stood on the disc gripping the handles of the single sheet.  Next the kids voted if the person on the disc would move or not.  Surprisingly, the person did not move!  “What if I spin the wheel?” the helper said, her eyes sparkling.  The group seemed confused, but when she spun it and asked the person to rotate the wheel, it moved.  Wide eyed as they all took turns spinning, they listened and learned that they spun because of angular momentum.  And just as they heard FREEZE and had to rotate to station six, they were still spellbound by angular momentum.

Station 6:  As raindrops trickled from the sky, the MAC classes worked busily on experiments and questions.  At the parachute station we used mylar, light plastic, stickers, washers, and string to make sure that the parachute caught the air and slowly floated down because if you were a person attached to the parachute you wouldn’t want to go fast and land with a thud!

Station 7:  At one of  our favorite stations we made catapults.  We learned that the spoon holds objects to throw forward.  We also learned that the force is your hand because your hand is pulling the the spoon to make it shoot forward.  When you let go the catapult works.  When your cork moves closer to the rubber band the object will go farther and when it is closer to the spoon it won’t go as far.  FREEZE!  Clean your station and smile.  It’s time to go to the next station kids.

Station 8:  Here comes a ship, watch out!  One of the stations was about buoyancy.  Buoyancy is floating objects in the water like a beach ball, basketball, and a buoy that’s in a dock.  In this station there was a tub filled with water.  We made a tin foil boat.  Then we put pennies in, one by one.  When we put the pennies in the boat we had to spread the pennies apart so the boat wouldn’t sink.  The boat would sink if the pennies were all in the middle.  Do you know anything that has buoyancy or floats?

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Station 9:  Crash!  Boom!  Crash!  The marshmallow, toothpicks, and straw houses vibrated in the “earthquake.”  Houses fell, houses stayed.  If you put the toothpicks in the straws you could make a mini skyscraper.  When earthquakes shake, will the houses break?  They might not if they are stable enough!  FREEZE!  Time to change stations.

Station 10:  On the tenth station, marbles were rolling away, speedily going into loops and step hills.  Whoosh!  “Look at the marble go down the styrofoam slide,” we yelled in excitement.  Everyone used tape to steady their loops, slides, and ramps.  “I caught the marble!”  “Remember how we did it last time?” “We can make it better!” people said exhilaratedly.  One of the things we learned is that the steeper you make the hill, the faster and longer the marbles go.  With lots of tape, and a few iterations, we managed to make our roller coaster for marbles stupendous.  “FREEZE!” Ms. Pat said into the microphone.  “Clean up, then everyone go to the next station.”

When the experience was over, many students left thinking…maybe I can go home and try some of these project again…

 

Helen Keller

Our whole class has been learning about the incredible life of Helen Keller, who as a child became deaf and blind due to a terrible fever. With the help of her life-long teacher and friend, Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller went on to accomplish a great deal in her lifetime. Our “Book Clubs” delved deeper into learning about the various stages of her life by reading “Who Was Helen Keller?” a biography by Gare Thompson. We were astonished to learn that she went to college, wrote books, acted in plays, traveled abroad, and persevered through innumerable hardships.

It’s challenging to distill such a rich and interesting life into six words, but that’s just what students did by writing 6 Word Memoirs about Helen Keller. Also, writing about someone’s life (as in a biography or a memoir) is different than writing a reaction or personal opinion about such a story. Read on to see what readers thought… (and please feel free to leave a comment! Thank you!)

6 Word Memoirs:

Angry child. Persevering teen. Successful adult. ~ Sasha

Angry, frustrated girl. Happy, skillful woman. ~ Beau

Dark world, silent world, happy world. ~ Clara

Smart, intelligent, blind, deaf, impressive adult. ~ Teagan

Darkness, frustration, better, risks, spellbound, accomplishment. ~ Joe

Dark, sad, mischievous, happy, excited, improved. ~ Stella

Disappointment, anger, learning, inspiration, realizations, happiness. ~ Ana

Reactions and personal opinions:

It’s amazing the accomplishments that Helen Keller made in her life, and how a confused and angry child turned out to be a smart and prolific adult with help from Annie Sullivan, her teacher. ~ Elke

I was really surprised that Helen Keller went from a really angry and bad-tempered child to a really caring adult. ~ Gabriel

All the fascinating things she did with her persistent heart really amazed me! ~ Evie

It made me, WOW, that she traveled all the way to Japan to prove that blind people can do amazing things, and they gave her an Akita dog as a gift. ~ McKinley

It was interesting that a mischievous child became a successful adult with Annie Sullivan by her side. ~ Ryan

I thought it was interesting that Helen Keller came to school in anger and learned so many things and never gave up. ~ Noah

I’m surprised that an angry, blind and deaf child can turn into a nice, sweet, famous woman. ~Rylan

It is a heartwarming, surprising, and full-of-facts story! ~ Cori

It was surprising that the Perkins Institute kicked her out of school and said she couldn’t go there any more, because they thought she plagiarized a story she wrote. ~ Max

Helen Keller was just an ordinary girl, but deaf and blind; when she grew up, she became famous because she learned how to speak and write in Braille. ~ Edie

Got Water?

The brain is the most amazing and complex organ in the human body. This three-pound mass contains billions of neurons and controls everything we humans do, both while awake and asleep.

Ms. Boyesen’s friend, Teena Woeber, came to talk with the class about Brain Gym® and why it’s important. Teena is an Educational Kinesiologist who’s back in college to make her way to medical school. Teena has incredible knowledge about the brain and tremendous heart to share. To prepare for her visit, the class made some pretty cool “brain hats.” (Thanks, Teena, for the cool link!)

Teena brought in three “energy balls” to prove a point about the importance of water for our bodies. She invited a group of students to show that energy, in the form of electric currents, run through us. Standing in a small circle, the group held hands with two people touching the energy ball between them. When they touched the ball, it lit up and made a little buzzing sound. Then one let go, breaking the electric current being conducted by humans, the ball went quiet and dark. MAC students were incredulous at the sight and sound and enjoyed several demonstrations.

To prove the point about water being crucial for healthy brain function, Teena added a jar of water to the human circuit. With the energy ball connecting two people, two other people next to each other put their fingers in the jar. The water immediately conducted the energy and the ball lit up and started buzzing! So in addition to exercise, sleep, and nutritious food, be sure to drink enough water so the messages in your body can be conducted at optimal speed! And if MAC students are stuck on a homework problem, they now know to try “hook ups,” “brain buttons,” taking a sip of water, and maybe even some cross crawls (ask your child!).

Thank you so much Teena for your enlightening lesson and the great reminders!

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The National Day on Writing: A Celebration of Community

In the MAC class we see ourselves as a learning community…and a community of writers.  And for the past couple of years we have celebrated the National Day on Writing by writing with our older MAC class friends at Ada Harris. We continued this tradition this year by inviting the older MAC class to come down to Cardiff School to write with us.

As the 80+ students headed into the auditorium, they each had a part of an animal picture to match to find their cross-age partner(s).  After spending a few minutes getting to know one another, partners were ready to begin a collaborative writing activity.

Believing that writers write best from abundance, last week students in both our classes drafted some poetry.  Our students had studied some poetry mentor texts from some of our favorite poets including Kristine O’Connell George and Valerie Worth and then, considering things they care about and know about, set off to write some poetry.  Once drafted, they separated their poems into individual lines and then cut the lines apart to store in a baggie. The other class used a similar process and came to our event with lines of poetry in a baggie as well.

Using this protocol, each student partnership then set off to create a single collaborative poem that incorporated ideas and lines from each partner.

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Once students crafted their poems, we all headed out beyond the school gates to make the poems public by chalking them on the new sidewalk…a chalk-a-bration!

Enjoy some images of our National Day on Writing chalk-a-bration in action!

 

Thinking Like Scientists

We wanted to start the year off by focusing on “thinking like scientists,” so Mrs. C (our science teacher) had kids experience oobleck and its wonderful, surprising qualities. Is it a liquid or solid? Working in table teams, students explored this substance, which sometimes had liquid properties (flowing in the hand) and other times solid (balling up into little solid bits).

In addition to making guesses as to what it was, teams also came up with words and descriptions for what they thought this mystery substance was.

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If you want to experience oobleck at home, here’s a resource:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/oobleck-bring-science-home/

As we delved into the scientific method of inquiry, we were simultaneously studying about the brain. The brain’s is able to form new pathways when we learn new things, which is why challenging ourselves makes us smarter! This is called neuroplasticity.

http://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-your-amazing-brain/

Combining measurement and reaction times, pairs of students were challenged to give each other the “ruler test.” You hold your hand out. Your partner holds a meter stick between your fingers, with the end just at the top of your fingers. Your partner releases the meter stick and you grasp it as quickly as possible, noting how many centimeters your reaction time measured.

Scientists are careful observers and take notes to record their findings. In order for the data to be interpretable by the global community, findings are recorded using the metric system (centimeters/meters, milliliters/liters…).

Scientists around the world are well-aware that things don’t always go according to plan…

Teaching the metric system to young children isn’t easy, since most kids here in the US have not had exposure to it, let alone experience with it. So, in more measuring fun, we moved on to volume…

Our young scientists gathered experience with milliliters (1,000/liter) using syringes and graduated cylinders. Mrs. C. taught us about the meniscus, the curve in the upper surface of a liquid, which makes it challenging to measure the volume correctly. The lowest part of a concave meniscus is where scientists measure the water level. Mrs. C. encouraged students to get eye-level with the graduated cylinder in order to read the water level correctly.

We will continue to think as scientists throughout the year; measuring carefully, observing closely, recording accurately, and learning a great deal along the way!

Making Our Mark

To celebrate International Dot Day, our class not only read The Dot by Peter Reynolds, but we also tried our hand at “making our mark,” like the girl in the book does.

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Each student started with three primary colors (yellow, red, and blue) and experimented with mixing their own colors.  After a practice session, students had a chance to use their knowledge of mixing paints to design their dot  (or dots).  We think the results are spot on!

Dot gallery

Students also created a collaborative piece of writing to accompany our dot gallery.  After painting their dots, they each wrote to describe what they had made and how they made it.  After sharing out a few of the sentences, the class decided that we needed to revise and improve our writing.  When everyone had polished their contribution, we strung all 44 sentences together to make this piece of writing called Dots.

Dots

Collaborative Writing By The MAC Class

(Each student contributed one sentence)

What you need for a dot, besides paints and paper, is a little inspiration, an idea for you, and the courage that it’s time to make your mark. Swirly, beautiful dots are unique.

Our class made a project where you could make as many dots as you want. Some dots were dot-ish and they ended up being the best. We created beautiful dots. We all made dots with lots of different colors.

To make green, you do blue and yellow. Mixing white and blue makes ocean color. The dots are swirling with cool colors! The first piece of paper was a trial run. The whole class worked really hard on their dot, impressed by Peter Reynolds. After we read The Dot, we mixed our very own colors from red, blue and yellow.

Different colors were mixed, like red with yellow to make sunny orange, and black with white to make dark and scary gray. Gingerly, dots appeared on paper. My dot is pink, dark blue, and light blue. There were dark blue dots dancing all around, getting lighter and lighter until they were sky blue.

Making my mark one dot at a time, colors red, white and blue swirling round and round. We mixed this color and that swirl to make dots dance around our page. One color is called “pirate’s fury,” which is red, black, and a little bit of blue with some white.

Lots of dots splashed on paper. It was like all kinds of dots. Pink and green and orange are my favorite colors; they are on my dot. Twisting side to side, a dot is born! There were a bunch of different, crazy colorful colors. A dark purple brown dot on my paper looks like grapes. I also made blue. Dots with double layers are fancy because they are purple, orange, green, blue, berry, and pink.

My mark is magical and unique; even though I’ve never been the girl who sits down to draw, I have my mark. My mark is made with a unique sky blue. All of my dots are big and small. A swirl of orange flows onto my paper, carefully making different dots.

There were different color lines inside the dots. Lots of interesting and unusual colors mix into dots. Dots have many different colors. I did big dots, small dots, medium dots and many more…

The reason my paper is filled with colorful, interesting dots is because they’re really cool and swirly to me. Making my mark with a yellow twist and a turn to never end. The dots that got created were colorful with pretty and wonderful dots to make one dot.

The colors red, blue and yellow make all kinds of colors. A bunch of little dots swirling around one big dot. I’ve made dots on paper…  And then I felt like dots are so much like rainbows…  Imagine a rainbow dot.

It was a party of colors!

We hope you enjoy our celebration of dots…and take the time to leave your mark in the comments section of our blog!

 

Back to School!

Welcome to the 2014-2015 school year! This year we’ll be paying attention to the conditions that impact change in ourselves, our community and in the natural world. We’ll design, tinker, build, explore, and iterate to explore the concept of change. Of course, we’ll be reading plenty, writing across the curriculum, computing, creating, collaborating, thinking, and so much more! We’re looking forward to an amazing learning journey this year!photo(53)