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?

 

Autumn Equinox:: Au Revoir Summer!

FACT: Seasons change as we orbit the sun.


Spring • Summer • Autumn • Winter

Twice a year, around March 20 or 21 and Sept. 22 or 23, our sun shines directly over the equator. That event marks the beginning of spring or fall. What is the equator?

Public Domain photo

e·qua·tor
[əˈkwā•dər]
noun
an imaginary line drawn around the earth equally distant from both poles,dividing the earth into northern and southern hemispheres and constituting the parallel of latitude 0°.




In March when the sun shines directly over the equator, the event is called the spring or vernal equinox. In September when the sun shines directly over the equator, the event is called the fall or autumnal equinox.



The Autumnal Equinox occurred in Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. on Wednesday, September 23, 2015. at 1:22 A.M.



Things to look for in fall:


1. Deciduous (di•si•jo͞o•əs) trees will change color and drop all their leaves. Evergreen trees will not. Evergreen trees will stay forever green. :-) Why do the leaves of deciduous trees change color? Use World Book Online to research. Remember, do NOT copy sentences. That is plagiarism, and it is against the law! Take notes, and then turn your notes into your own sentences.

Photo by Grandma Barb




Photo by Grandma Barb

2. On the equinox, there are exactly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night. The day and night hours are equal. However, as we continue into fall, the days will get shorter and the night hours will get longer. This pattern will continue until we reach the winter solstice. That is the longest night of the year and marks a new season, winter.




3. Because the northern hemisphere is now tilted away from the sun, the days will start to become cooler. People will change their behavior.What sorts of behavioral changes will your family make as the days get shorter and cooler? (In southern California, we have mild climate. We don't get too cold in our community.)


There are many fall festivals or holidays. Watch the BrainPop video about fall to learn about the many harvest festivals celebrated. Do you celebrate any of these autumn holidays? If so, please share so we can learn from you!

Check out the FREE BrainPop video about Fall.

4. Some animals in the northern hemisphere will change their behavior. As fall leads to winter, some animals migrate, or move, to a warmer area. Others try to fatten up for the winter they know is coming.

Again, BrainPop Jr. has a FREE video about fall.
Check it out by clicking here.



https://jr.brainpop.com/science/weather/fall/

Share some fun facts about fall!
Did you use BrainPop or World Book Online as a reference?

If you are in the southern hemisphere, tell us what season you are enjoying! How are you changing your behavior?

Lucky Hat Day!

On Friday we celebrated reading The Lost and Found by Mark Teague by bringing in our own lucky hats.

The Lost and Found is a story about Mona, a new student in school who is searching for her lucky hat in the Lost and Found bin. Two new friends, Wendell and Floyd join her by plunging into the incredible world in the Lost and Found bin.

Photo by Ms. Tulbure

Check out some of our lucky hats below:

We also compared texts by Mark Teague by reading Pigsty and The Secret Shortcut. We used a Double Bubble Map to compare and contrast The Secret Shortcut and The Lost and Found. We found many similar themes and characters when we compared, but we also found different adventures and character motivations when we contrasted the two books.

Photo by Ms. Tulbure

Which two books by your favorite author do you like?

Compare and Contrast two of your favorite book characters. How are they alike? How are they different?

Compare and Contrast your hat with a classmate's. How are they alike and different?

Place Value Palaces!

Today, we read The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! It was a very funny book told for the point-of-view, or perspective, of the wolf. In both stories, the pigs build homes or dwellings. For math, we built our own structures using ones, tens, and hundreds. It was a fun way to practice place value!

Photo by Mrs. Yollis

On an index card we wrote each part of the house and the number of units used (bricks). We also had a challenge to round the sum of all the units to the nearest hundred.

Check out some of our mansions, school houses, and modern three dimensional homes and calculations below

Photos by Ms. Tulbure

What was the value of your house? Was it odd or even?

Which dwelling do you like the most and why?

What is the value? Is it even or odd?