Tales Of A 4-5 Something

Since Thanksgiving we have been doing an Immigration and Industrial Revolution Unit. For writing we interviewed immigrants from our community and wrote nonfiction narratives. Some people were from Burundi, Iraq, Ireland, and Vietnam. It was a fun project because we worked with two to four other writers. We tried to tell the story of fact but with a storytelling feel. We tried to incorporate a 'golden thread' through the piece. How do you think we did? Jack

Our K-1 Buddies in Stacey's habitat are learning about trees. They made stories about make believe tree creatures and we wrote them down. Then we made Puppet Pal videos together. We like being with our buddies because it is fun to read with them and do fun projects. Later we will go to the Fore River Campus for a trip before we start vacation. Yasmeen

Our teachers told us to make believe we were craftspeople and that we made the best boots. We got templates to make a pair of boots. We got a half an hour to color them in and make them unique. We played music and got popcorn and apple cider. Everyone was having a good time and we were enjoying ourselves. The the next day our orders doubled but we had the same amount of time to make boots. We did not have popcorn, apple cider and there was no music. Everyone was rushed and felt that their boots were more sloppy. On the third day we still got a half an hour without snacks or music. We needed to make as many boots as we could. We started out working alone and then we realized that we would not make many boots by ourselves. We worked together and each table group became a station. One cut the boots out, one table colored the top of the boots, another colored the bottom and the last coloring in the straps. This way we got work done much faster. We all felt very rushed bu...

In 4-5 we are making mill cities in Minecraft since we're studying Indusrial Revolution and Immigration. Every home station has a city. Tim’s is called Hebdaville, Linda's is called Clements Ledge, Nancy's is called Mill River, and Kai's is called Watertown. Every city has to have a river, canals, 2 mills, roads, four boarding houses, a store, school, police station, a town square, one park, paths, a city seal, city name, and a mission. We all applied for jobs to build and make these things. We had to do a lot of talking and planning before we built. You can see videos about that here . When we were almost done building we made a screencast tour of our cities. I love being able to build in the same world with our friends and see how the things we learned in class can be made in Minecraft. It is like it is our city. By Abie Here are our tours. Hebdaville: Waterberg: Clement's Ledge: Mill River:  

On Wednesday, December 14 we got on a boat to America. We were headed for Ellis Island. We did this because we are studying Immigration and Industrial Revolution. We also studies our family trees. We put it all together and got to be immigrants. We had a lot of fun. We wrote reflections after the day was over. Here are some of them: "I really had a lot of fun. I got an 'L' chalk mark which meant lameness. I was nervous and I rubbed off my letter. One person took their jacket off and turned it inside out." "The lines were long but then I thought they must have been longer when there were two hundred or so people doing this for real." "When I got in line I felt very nervous. It was confusing at first. All I had to do was follow the flow of the crowd. I thought it was funny when Ben sat me down and wiped down my seat when I told him I had $500." "Everyone was excited when we boarded the ship. Talia had some bread and shared it with us. ...

We had some snow this week and it was fun. A little bit fell on Monday and we got really excited. There was not a lot of snow but we still played in it. The next day some melted but we still played in it. There wasn't enough to sled down the hill but we pulled people on the sled. Then the snow went all away and there was just mud. We think it will snow this weekend so we might get more. We like playing in the snow!  

In Writing Workshop we are interviewing people who have come to our country. It is for a nonficiton narrative about immigrants. We have talked to people from Burundi, Ireland, Sweden, Lybia, Kenya, and more places. Some of us have to wait for the interview so we get to do some free writing. Here are some poems we write today. I glide to the ground  Greeting my friends We cluster to keep cold Not wanting to melt I look up seeing The rest of my Family coming down  To join me Snow  by Rose B-T I sit still, still, still under the cold brown dirt. Until, one morning, I want to stretch slowly rise, rise, rise Til soon I start to sprout. For years I watch children pass. Bikes, animals, runners. My friends, the ones that sing, build their nest. My favorite friend being the girl who climbs me. She tries, tries, tries till her strength builds and she reaches the top. The seasons come  Some cold, some hot, some breezy. I am fond of all because I am ...