Hour of Code

Computer Science Education Week

December 7 - 13, 2015

To celebrate Computer Science Education Week, Ms. Tulbure and her students participated in the global Hour of Code! This is the second year of participation for Ms. Tulbure's Class.

Thank you, Hadi Partovi for creating this project!

Computer Science week coincides with the birthdays of two computer science pioneers. 

A pioneer is a person who is one of the first to enter a field of study or explore a new area of thought. 

• Ada Lovelace, born in England on December 10, 1815, is considered the world's first computer programmer.

•  Grace Hopper, whose birthday is December 9, 1906, was an American computer programmer and Navy rear admiral. She 

  

  Photo Credit

  contributed to the development of theCOBOL language and is credited with popularizing the term "computer bug" in the programming community. 

Grace Hopper said: "To me programming is more than an important practical art. It is also a gigantic undertaking in the foundations of knowledge."

For students: 

We will be accessing these Hour of Code Tutorials on our Acers or iPads. 

A hearty thank you, Lisa Highfill for putting these Hour of Code tutorials into a useful hyperdoc! 

Students, you are free to go to these tutorials at home with your parents. Share what you've learned with the class in the comment section! On Monday, started our Hour of Code Tutorials and began to write and create with code.

What are you going to create with code?

What are some coding sites or apps that you like?

Teach us some code in the comment section! 

Congratulations Family Blogging Month Winners!

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Congratulations to our Family Blogging Month Winners, 

Hyunsuh, Ramin, Ryan, and Sammy! 

Each blogger received a free kid's meal to a local restaurant, a fabulous crown to wear, and a free choice post on Ms. Tulbure's Classroom Blog!

Photo by Ms. Tulbure

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Mrs. Yollis created the idea of Family Blogging Month back on April 1, 2010. This inspired Ms. Tulbure to participate as well. The participation, the quality of the commenting, the interaction and learning that transpired via this classroom blog makes Ms. Tulbure beam with pride.


Not only are her students and their family members becoming superior writers, but they are also honing important digital skills like how to communicate and contribute on line, how to limit personal information on the Internet, and how to develop a dynamic digital footprint. (To hone is a fancy verb that means to improve over time.) 

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Ms. Tulbure would like to personally thank all the parents and family members for their constant support.Your participation is the key to your child's educational success!

What did you think of Family Blogging Month?

Who commented from your family?

Where did your family comment from? 

Pumpkins and Turkeys!

The leaves are changing which means it's almost Thanksgiving!
Fall is a special time for us because it means that we are baking.....Pumpkin Bread!


We had wonderful parent volunteers helping us stir and sift, measure and mash our deliciously donated ingredients. Thank you volunteers!


Below is a slideshow of our hard work (also included some Halloween activities)
Pumpkin Bread Bake on PhotoPeach

I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving break! 

What did you do for Thanksgiving?

Did you have a special meal planned?

What are you grateful for?

Happy Veterans Day

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On November 11, America celebrates Veterans Day. It is the day we honor the men and women who have served in the armed forces. Veterans Day is a national holiday! 

Photo by Mrs. Yollis

Veterans: Men and women who have served in the armed forces.

Soldiers: Men and women who are currently serving in the armed forces.

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Here is a link to a wonderful BrainPop video entitled
Armed Forces. 

What did you learn about the 

army, navy, air force, marines, and coast guard.

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To help us learn about Veterans Day and the men and women who serve,  I asked my students if any of their family members are in the military or were in the military. Meet our family of service members!  

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Meet our district superintendent, Dr. Stepenosky. As you can see, he served in the Navy. He served from 1990 to 1994 on the USS Chancellorsville which was guided by a missile cruiser. The Chancellorsville weighed 9,000 tons and had a crew of 330 people. 

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This is Abby's Pops. His name is Charles and he was a Captain in the Navy. He also spent years working at the Pentagon. He went to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. He is now retired and living in Maryland with his wife Yvon (Mimi). 
What is the Pentagon? Where is it located?

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This is Abby's Pop Pop. He was an F-14 pilot in the Navy. He retired as a Commander and was in one of the first graduating classes of Top Gun, an elite training school for naval aviators. He will be visiting us next week from Arkansas. His call sign was Crash. He never crashed an airplane though.

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This is Helena's Uncle Matt. He serves in the Navy. He is stationed in Virginia Beach. Helena and family had the pleasure of vacationing in Italy where he was stationed for 3yrs. Sometimes he gets shipped out for over a month. That can be difficult for him because he doesn't get to see his family and friends. Helena's great-grandfather served as a Marine in WWII. Her mom's uncle Jerry served as a Marine in Vietnam. They are proud to serve their country. Helena and her family are proud of them also. We thank them for their service and contributions. 



  

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This is Collin's maternal great grandfather Fred. He was a medic in the US Army and served in WW2. He served for the entire war. He was born in Germany and came to the U.S. right before his mother and sister were sent to the Jewish ghettos.  He was used as an interrogator later because he spoke German, French and English.  It is hard to imagine escaping a country, knowing your family that stayed behind may not be alive, and then being sent back to that country to fight against them. 

 

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Are any of your relatives or friends veterans?

Please tell us about them and thank them for their service to America!

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November is Family Blogging Month!

Ms. Tulbure and her students ♥ to share what they are

learning and experiencing.


In an effort to include more family members in our 
online community, we are proclaiming: 


November is Family Blogging Month!

Each student made a list of their family members. After looking through the archive, students selected specific posts tailored to the interest of a particular relative. 

We're inviting everyone to comment: moms, dads, brothers, sisters, grandmothers, grandfathers, uncles, aunts, and cousins. 

We welcome friends, too!

Students will be inviting their family and friends to participate in a conversation! 
Maybe we'll get some 2-point comments! 

(We frequently evaluate the comments that our blog has received. In order to earn the 2-points, a comment must be error-free and add something to the post.   Many of Ms. Tulbure's third graders have already met the challenge!)

If you don't know what to say, here is a video made by Mrs. Yollis' third graders. 

Learn FIVE tips for writing a quality comment! 

If you don't know How to leave a comment, here is a video tutorial about HOW to leave a comment on our blog.

Here is the key we will use for  Family Blogging Month.

 

What do you think of our idea?

Who are you inviting to be a part of our online community?

Please leave a comment and introduce yourself!

Artful Artists

Last week, our art teacher took us on a journey back in time to explore some prehistoric art.  We spent the entire art lesson in a cave learning all about the ancient artists, cave painters! 

Our third grade artists learned about ancient techniques dating back to the Paleolithic, or Old Stone Age, era. This era ranged from 30,000 BCE to 10,000 BCE. Artists looked at examples from spectacular cave paintings found in southern France. Themes that inspired this creativity included nature and animals such as bulls and deer. Hunting was also a common subject featured on ancient walls.

Take a look below at our experience and our representation of Paleolithic art.

Photos by Ms. Tulbure

 

Research "cave painting" using Worldbook Online. Share what you learned. Remember, never copy and paste. Instead, take notes and write your own original sentences.

What type of paint did the artists use 

during the Paleolithic Era?

What are some of the most famous sites of cave painting 

and when were they discovered?

What has been your favorite art project so far this year and why?

Teaching Commenting Skills

WHY have a classroom blog?


Here is a video Mrs. Yollis made with her second and third graders about the value of blogging. I hope it convinces you to start a class blog!

Blogging has many parts: the post, the comments, and the sidebar.

If you do a good job with all of the parts, your blog will be more interesting.

Today we will focus on quality comments!

Content is key!

In our class, we evaluate our blog comments. A one-point comment is a general comment that doesn't add very much to the post.   Example: I like your blog. Please visit mine! 

A two-point comment adds something to the comment conversation. A commenter might compliment the writer in a specific way or add new information. Another idea is to make a connection. Maybe the post reminds you of an experience that you've had. Share that connection!  Try to end your comment with a relevant question. That way, an interesting conversation can develop.

What should I say in my comment?

Here is a video made by Mrs. Yollis' students called How to Compose a Quality Comment!  It offers FIVE tips to help you take your comments to the next level!

We like to open our comments with a greeting and end with a closing. We choose to do this as it makes it easier for us to follow the conversation within a comment section.

-For Advanced Bloggers-

Some bloggers like to use HTML code to make their comments better.  Learning to write HTML code, or HTML tags, is a somewhat simple way to take your comment to the next level.

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is a language.

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To write HTML code, use the following symbols:

Important: Do not add a space between the HTML tag and the word or sentence.

 

                                                                                                     

1.  To put text in italics, place this HTML code around the text:

 

 

The sentence will look like this when published:

 

Bloggers should always proofread a comment before publishing.

                                                                                                     


2.  To make text bold, place this HTML code around the text:

                           

The sentence will look like this when published: 


Bloggers should always proofread a comment before publishing.

                                                                                                     


 
3.  To make a hyperlink, it gets a little tricky.

Use the following HTML code around the URL and add your own link word/words:

  [The URL is the address of the web page. It starts with http://www…]

The HTML code below:

  

Will become this hyperlink when published:

                                                                 Mrs. Yollis’ Website

Sometimes it is hard to remember the HTML codes. I keep an HTML word document on my desktop with all the common codes, especially the one to create a hyperlink. Here is a video demonstrating how easy it is to a create a hyperlink if you have the code set up in a Word doc.

If you like to add fun shapes...here are those codes!

What did you learn about quality commenting? 

 Why is it important to proofread a comment before pressing publish? 

Have you ever had a conversation in a comment section?