5th Grade Blog Post

It's going to be a great year in room 201... here's your first assignment:

1. Blogs:  Make sure you can get into your blog, and write your first post!  If you don't have a blog, we'll get one set up for you first thing.  Call your first post "New School Year: 2019-2020." Your first post for the year should include the following:

• What do you love about school?
• What do you not like about school?
• What are you looking forward to this new school year?
• What skills do you have that will make you successful this school year?
• What challenges or obstacles might hinder your success this school year?
• What are your goals for this school year?  Be specific!  How do you want to improve yourself and grow as a student and as a person?  Make an academic goal, and make a personal goal as well.

2.  Publish your post.  Then go to "view blog."  Please e-mail the url (web address) of your blog to Mrs. Edlin at tena.edlin@fairfieldsfuture.org (go to g-mail and compose an e-mail, copy and paste that web address inside your e-mail and then send).

3.  When you're done with everything, you may go to any of the sites on my blog along the left hand margin under the category: Idleness Prevention Society.

Deep Thinking Friday: Six Word Memoirs

Watch the following:







Now, think of your own Six Word Memoir. Brainstorm several ideas on some notebook paper. Then, get a notecard and make a final copy. Make it something to be proud of.

Back to School & Back to GOAL

It's going to be a great year in room 201... here's your first assignment:

1. Blogs:  Make sure you can get into your blog, and write your first post!  If you don't have a blog, we'll get one set up for you first thing.  Call your first post "New School Year: 2019-2020." Your first post for the year should include the following:

• What do you love about school?
• What do you not like about school?
• What are you looking forward to this new school year?
• What skills do you have that will make you successful this school year?
• What challenges or obstacles might hinder your success this school year?
• What are your goals for this school year?  Be specific!  How do you want to improve yourself and grow as a student and as a person?  Make an academic goal, and make a personal goal as well.

3.  Check the right-hand margin of Mrs. Edlin's blog.  If you don't see yours there, please e-mail the url (web address) of your blog to her at tena.edlin@fairfieldsfuture.org.

4.  Goodreads Accounts:

If you DO NOT have a Goodreads account yet, we'll get you set up with one.
If you DO have a Goodreads account, you need to check/edit your bookshelves.

• You will need the following shelves to keep track of your books for this year:
• Science Fiction
• Realistic Fiction
• Poetry/Novels in Verse
• Mystery
• Historical Fiction
• Graphic Novels
• Fantasy
• Classics
• Action/Adventure
• Biography/Autobiography/Memoir
• Informational Nonfiction
• Add a shelf for "2019-2020 School Year."
• Make sure you're a part of the FMS GOAL group, and if you're not, request to join.
• Add friends from the FMS GOAL group, if you'd like to (the more friends you have, the more informative/helpful/interesting your news feed will be).
• Accept all friend requests from GOAL students in any grade.
• Adjust your notification preferences to whatever works best for you.
• Read through your updates, looking for books you might want to add to your "Want to read" shelf.

5. If there are any design modifications you'd like to make to your blog (background colors, margin widths, etc.), you may do it now.  Play around with it, and make it your own!

6.  When you're done with everything, you may check out books from my library and read and/or go to any of the sites on my blog along the lefthand margin under the category: Idleness Prevention Society.

End of the Year Evaluation!

Complete the following survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScRAElPJHkf1LqBWphc4tTVnoz8lOEEP1FCN_mGhtkHNrz3qA/viewform?usp=sf_link

2019 Images of Greatness Field Trip Reflection

Write a blog post reflecting on our field trip last week to Des Moines to visit the Des Moines Art Center, the State Historical Museum, the Iowa Hall of Pride, Des Moines University Medical School, and Charlie Hugunin's house.  Answer the following questions.  Include pictures to illustrate your points.  You can use this link to access Mrs. Edlin's pictures, and/or you can add any of your own personal pictures: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ExVkLqzLdqEkkyyHOxb-r169S5nG_qyS?usp=sharing

1.  We made 5 educational stops on the trip.  Rank them from least favorite to most favorite, and explain why you gave the rankings you did.

2.  At the art museum, you had to find 4 things: your favorite piece, best example of "art," famous artist(s) you saw, and an example of a piece that made you wonder why it is "art?"  Give titles and artists, reflect, and include pictures if you'd like.

3.  What was the most educational part of the trip, and why?  What is something specific that you learned?

4.  What was the most fun part of the trip, and why?

5.  How, in your opinion, does this trip fit the theme "Images of Greatness?"  

6.  If you could improve the trip in any way for the group of 8th graders next year, what would you change?  Explain.

Publish and comment on the posts of others.

Westward Expansion Projects

Create a new blog post.  Embed Google Slideshows and link Google Sites.  Beneath your project include reflection about the following:

1. Your topic and why you chose it
2. 2 of your most interesting facts
3. 1 useful piece of feedback given to you by the class when you presented

When you're done with your post, comment on at least 5 projects of other people in our class and then go to any of the sites along the left-hand margin of this blog under "Idleness Prevention Society."

Images of Greatness Reflection

This quarter has been all about Images of Greatness.  Using elaborated communication, reflect and respond on a new blog post to the following:

1. Upload an image of you with your display board.  You can find the images here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1EskPddvLGmdT6tIHt6xD1pWvSiftj3JT
2. Who was your Image of Greatness?  Why are they great, and what about them do you admire?
3. What part of your work on this unit makes you most proud?
4. What part of the unit was the most challenging?
5. How did you grow as a student/learner/person because of this unit?
6. How could you improve your work on this unit?  What would you do differently?
7. What was the best part of the actual Images of Greatness Celebration?

Publish, and then comment on the posts of others in GOAL when you're finished.

7th Grade: Mark Twain Webquest

You will find the Mark Twain Webquest here:  http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=185833

Your groups are made up of people from your GOAL class.  You will find your groups in the Google Doc shared with you through your e-mail.  You will be combining your answers together to make a Google Presentation.  Start at the "Welcome" tab, and then continue down the line with the following tabs.  They explain how to complete the project.

Nauvoo Field Trip Reflection

Reflect on your field trip to Nauvoo.  Write a new blog post, and answer the following:

1. What was your favorite part of the trip, and why?
2. What was the most educational part of the trip?  Explain.
3. What is something specific that you learned about how pioneers lived in the 1840's?  Explain.
4. What is something you learned about the Mormons and/or why they moved west in the 1840's?  Explain.
5. There are so many parts of Old Nauvoo that we didn't get to see.  It's open all year around, and it's free.  Would you ever go back to see the rest with friends or family?  Why or why not?

Feel free to include any appropriate pictures in this post that you took during the field trip.  Publish, and comment on the posts of others in the class.  If you forget how to write good comments, you can always refresh yourself with this video!

If you get done, start another post (you don't have to publish it yet), and embed your Westward Expansion slideshow.  We'll reflect more after everyone has presented.

Hannibal Reflections, 2019

Please write a blog post to respond to the following questions.  You may include any appropriate pictures of your own from the day.  The link to Mrs. Edin's pictures was shared with you through Google Docs.

1.  Give a summary of the field trip for anyone who might not know about our Mark Twain unit or might not have ever been to Hannibal, Missouri.

2.  What was the most educational part of the trip and why?  What did you learn?

3.  What was the most fun part of the trip and why?

4.  What part of the trip would you improve for next year's class if you could?  Explain.

5.  How did the Mark Twain video help prepare you for your trip to Hannibal?  Explain.

When you finish, comment on the blogs of your classmates (use this website for tips on good commenting, if needed), and then you may go to any site on the lefthand side of this blog under Idleness Prevention Society, or you may read for your independent reading contracts.