Breaktime News

Hey, there, folks! Mr. Carter chiming in here right after break just started.

I told the kids that they all need to have a new notebook to keep their journal writings in from now on. We're going to be doing more writing in class--some every day. Sometimes it will be a little, sometimes a lot, and sometimes it will be on the computer.

Also permission slips and money for BizTown are due on the Tuesday after break. The kids should have brought home these permission slips yesterday, but I know how that can go--especially when we give them out right before break like that.

Social Studies

In Social Studies each student has been assigned an explorer. The options were
Christopher Columbus
Hernando Cortes
Francisco Pizarro
Hernando de Soto
Juan Ponce de Leon
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca
Franciso Vasquez de Coronado

With each of these explorers we have to either write a paragraph about them or draw a comic. If you choose to write the paragraph you have to tell where they went and why they went there. If you choose to draw a comic you have to do the same thing, tell where your explorer went and why, but you have to do all of this in drawing. You at least have to have 4 boxes for your comic and at least 5 sentences for a paragraph. Another thing you have to do for this project is make a map of the route your explorer took. This project is due Wednesday the 19th. We will due all of the work in class.

Written by: Caroline, Megan, Katie, and Matt

Professors of Math

December 14,2007
Hello! Mr. Carter (of course) forgot to e-mail Dr. Goldberg again!! He never remembers! Grrrrr! Dr.Goldberg was Mr.Carter's math professor back in the olden days. Just joking Mr.Carter isn't that old! :^) (It's a smiley face!) He can only come in on Tuesdays! Now I am going to let Kaitlin write! Goodbye!
Taylor
Hi! Today is Twin day at school. You're supposed to dress up as a friend. Since next week the last week before Christmas we have no spelling. But next week we do have latin roots on Tuesday. Kaitlin

Famous Explorers

The Fifth Grade Ski Trip is Feb. 5. Recently in Social Studies class we learned about famous explorers such as Christopher Columbus, Juan Ponce De Leon, Hernando De Soto, and Fransisco Vasquez De Coronado. We just recently started a project on the examples above and more. We were assigned certain explorers to write our report on. We have to write at least a paragraph or a comic. We also had to grab a certain map and show the route our explorer took. We have to color the land on the map green and color the water on the map blue. This Social Studies project is due this Thursday. Our 5th Grade Ski Trip is February fifth. The Snow Biz musical is December 13, 7:00.

Andy, Michael, Murphy, and Harrison

Remember: Every Fraction Is a Division Problem

In Mr.Carters class we are learning how to convert percents into fractions and fractions into percents. So far it is pretty easy. We hope it gets a little harder. This is an example, 78% is equal to 78/1oo. If you simplify it you will get 39/50. If you have 1/4 it is equal to 25%. In Mrs.Jackson's class we are doing algebra. This is an example, t=1/2 of a century, t times 30= 1500. It is pretty easy. We hope it gets way harder!

P.S. Mr.Carter bought a new c.d. player for the classroom! We really needed a new one.

By,George ,Chad, Drew and Anthony

Reading is Sweet

In reading we were talking about our book report due on the 20 of December. We have almost finished the book Time Stops for No Mouse. We just started centers last week. Centers are seven different groups for centers, like hang man for our Spelling list, math games on the computer, making a comic, writing a journal entry, reading a paper story, Latin Roots on the overhead and blogging.
The choir had three field trips, two on Tuesday, two on Wednesday
and one on Friday. We are going on a field trip called Sunflowers in December, in honor of Maria's brother, Tyler. Today is also Jack and Megan's birthday! We hope you liked the blog!
By : Jack, Maria, Lindsey and Nick

Lost Post!

The kids wrote a nice post this morning about BizTown as well as their upcoming musical, Snow Biz. I was going to make a crack about how it's no wonder kids can't spell anything, but then I realized the only other shortening of "business" would be "bus", and that doesn't make much sense in the same terms. At least not in the way it was intended.

Anyway, the original post got knocked off somehow. It's not their fault. And it was really a good one, too. It was by Molly, Claire C., Brandon, and Zach.

Mr. C

Snow Biz!!!!!!!!

Upcoming events are
Tomorrow: Spelling test
Tues: Science test, field trip to "Sunflowers in December"
Thurs: Musical "Snow Biz"
Dec. 18: book reports due

In Word Study we've been learning many Latin roots this week such as
bio; auto; archy; chron; dec
life, self, government, time, ten
Our test was today and I'm sure everyone did great!

Claire B., Claire C., Dylan, Ben

Adding Fractions

In Mr. Carter's math class we are learning about fractions. We are multiplying, adding, and subtracting. Here is the problem. 3/5 + 4/9=?
Here is how to add fractions.
Step 1: Cross multiply
How to cross multiply: Take the bottom number of one fraction and multiply it by the numerator (top number) of the other fraction. Do this for both fractions. Replace the top numbers with the results you get for each one. 27/5 + 20/9=

Step 2: Add the top numbers.
Step 3: Multiply the denominators. 47/45
Step 4: Now reduce fraction. 1 and 2/45

Claire, Matt, Caroline, and Megan

Centers

December 4, 2007
Hi! Today we are going to tell you about the reading stations. There are 7 stations. The stations are blogging,comic creations, math online,overhead Caesars,journaling,and spelling hangman. Also remember choir performances tomorrow and today. The rest of the fifth grade is going to the planetarium at the high school! Did you know that the 5th grade musical, Snow Biz, is coming up on December 13, 2007.


Taylor,Kaitlin,and Haley

New Policy

You may notice a difference in this blog now. Each day, a small group of kids are assigned to blog and they are supposed to teach a skill or something that they've learned about recently in class. Today was the first day of said policy, and the results were mixed at best. But give it time. Anyway, look for more frequent updates, and hopefully we'll see some better bloggage.

How to Make a Resume

Recently in class we have learned how to make a resume. First you write your name. Then your address. Then your ZIP code. Finally your phone number and area code. For the next section you write what your work experience is. Then you write what you have achieved. Finally what your interests are. That is how to make a resume. This is what Mr.Carter's class learned recently in English. Also, we will be going on a field trip to the planetarium tomorrow, don't bring a sack lunch because we aren't having lunch in Mr. Turners planetarium! We also are practicing on an upcoming play. The date of the play is December 13 if you want to come see it. Also we are going to Sunflowers in December on December 11. I hope that you enjoyed this wonderful blog. Another group will blog again tomorrow, so don't go away!

Andy, Harrison, and Murphy

Lazy Sunday

Mr. Carter's To-Do List for December 2, 2007:

1. Set up centers in the classroom, complete with clear instructions for each one.

2. Divide the kiddos up into small groups. This can be very tricky.

3. Grade approximately 4,567,392,403,378 papers by tomorrow morning.

4. Clean off my pigsty desk.

5. Do new lesson plans for a week in which the choir will be gone for nearly all of it.

6. Manage to work out sometime today. And eat.

Wish me luck!

A Thursday

Today we started out with reading. We each read our own books for about twenty minutes. Then we read our class book, Time Stops for No Mouse. After this we started working on our booklet for JA Biztown. Then Mr. Carter started talking to us about money and how some people make only three dollars a week. To those people that is a lot. Next we went to music. In music we are practicing for our musical, Snow Biz.
Next we watched a five minute movie on the correct way to sneeze (while having snack). We also wrote m down our Latin Roots. After writing down Latin Roots, we went to Science. In Science we are learning astronomy. Here comes every kids favorite part of the day, recess and lunch. For lunch we had the choice of Pizza, Turkey Chef Salad or PB and J. Which leads us to now, Math. I have work to do. Bye.


Maria

Time Stops for No Class

Today we filled out practice job application's for Junior Achievements or JA, Biz Town . We read in Time Stops for no Mouse in Reading Class. In Social Studies we had a sub, we read pages in our S.S book. In English we did job applications for JA Biz Town.In Mrs.Jacksons Math Class we did dividing decimals and some pages in our math book. In Mr.Carters Math Class we did multiplying fractions.


Kaitlin

Proud Americans

I'm so proud of my class! We just put on the Veteran's Day program for the school, and this is the best one I've ever seen. The choir was every bit as good as they've ever been in the past, and they sang new songs and arrangements this year. But what really made me proud was my kids who all got up there, spoke their lines slowly and loudly, waited when they were supposed to wait, and did everything they were supposed to do. The flag carriers all went where they were supposed to go, and it all just went perfectly. I can breathe again.

By the way, this was typed up on Friday, I just didn't post it until now.

A Quiz Filled and Dangerous Wednesday

This morning, everyone was reading their books for their books reports,(I hope)! Everyone better have studied for science, because our science quiz on plant and animal cell parts was next. Then we all went to art and found out that Murphy's project exploded and shattered Lindsey's project. The people who aren't in Choir have to get speaking parts and are flag carriers for the Veteran's Day program and we practiced that today also. After that we continued to read in our book Time Stops For No Mouse. Then it was time to switch Science. We all had to read this book about stars and take notes on it. Outside was pretty cold for recess. Brr! In math there was a big test worth three grades!

See Ya!
Claire B.

The Monday Back

I'm sure that everyone had a great long weekend, but today it was time to come back to school. Today Innisbrook forms were due. We started of the day with silent reading. Then we finished our booklet called Believe it or Not. After that e read our Scholastic News and discussed whether online schools are a good idea or not. At 9:45 we went to gym and Maria and Andy broke the school records for running times.
Then we played Challenge the Sensei. After that we went to lunch and math. In math we learned about scientific notation.

By Claire B.

October 8th

Today we came in and started to read silently. Our reading time was extended because of conferences. After that, we did our DOLs and reviewed our spelling list. Then we went to art. There we put together their clay projects. When we came back, we went to English and Social Studies. In English we finished our Diamante Poems. In Social Studies we voted on which state was the best. Then we went to recess and lunch. We came back and went to our math classes. Then we packed up and went home! On Saturday Mr. Carter came and watched me earn my black belt.

Nick S.

Thursday Afternoon in Mr. C's Class

Today we took are latin routes quiz. We also read Scholastic News. Then we went to Spanish. At Spanish we took are North America and South America quiz. Then we went to English and Social Studies.
In English we worked on our poem. Some kids started typing for there poem
today others started making there pictures for there poem. In Social Studies we were assinged a sheet on chapter 2 in our Social Studies text book. It is due Monday. We also put our states up on the wall. There's a look at are day today.

Michael

Exponents!

Today,we got straight in to school and started reading for twenty minutes. After that we had reading class. In reading class we are reading a book all together. We went to gym specials. In gym our unit is volleyball.bAnd then we came back and had snack. After snack we had word study. In word study we studied spelling words and latin root words. After word study we went to science. In science we used microscopes. We went out to recess at 12:20. Then came in and had lunch,and then had math. In math we are doing powers.

George

Sleepy Mondays

Today in Mr. Carter's class we started with silent reading. After, we started a new book called "Milton Math Head: Football Hero?".
Next we went to Spanish!! During Spanish we studied South America and Central America. You know
*Panama *Costa Rica *Guatemala *Peru *Chile *Honduras
*Bolivia *El Salvador
and so on. We also practiced Spanish sentences.
THEN CAME RECESS!!!!! Next lunch! Which would lead us to now, Math. I think we're learning Algebra. Don't get mad at me, I was blogging I only heard a bit. But I was sort of listening.
I have to go it's 1:50.Bye!

Maria

Just So You Know

Okay, just for the record, Katie did a great post about what we did yesterday. I don't know why Murphy's printed twice.

But Katie did write a good one. Just so you know.

What We Did Today

We started of the day with 5 minutes of silent reading, and then we started the IN View test. The IN View test was based up with five tests, they were all about sequences. The first one was patterns, the second was analogies, the third was about quantities, the third was verbal reasoning (words), the last was was verbal reasoning (contexts). Then we went to gym, we practiced setting and bumping for volleyball. Then we went to recess and lunch (recess first). Then we came back and read I Was A Rat, it was about a boy that thought he was a rat (possibly as a fact). Then we had math. Finally we got to go home!

Murphy

The IN View tests

We started of the day with 5 minutes of silent reading, and then we started the IN View test. The IN View test was based up with five tests, they were all about sequences. The first one was patterns, the second was analogies, the third was about quantities, the third was verbal reasoning (words), the last was was verbal reasoning (contexts). Then we went to gym, we practiced setting and bumping for volleyball. Then we went to recess and lunch (recess first). Then we came back and read I Was A Rat, it was about a boy that thought he was a rat (possibly as a fact). Then we had math. Finally we got to go home!

Murphy

ISTEP Tested

Other than ISTEP, not much is going on right now.

The kids are working on their State projects for Mrs. Jackson today, and their final drafts for Mrs. Shearman are due on Friday. I gave no homework this week, but next week we'll have Spelling once again.

Fast Ball Special

Just a quickie today--but there is a Spelling test tomorrow. And ISTEP is next week! Make sure your appointments are scheduled so as not to conflict with this next week. The kids in my Math class have a study link due tomorrow, but most of them finished some of it in class.

Thanks!

Mr. C

A Great Wendnesday

Today in Mr. Carter's class we started off with some silent reading. After silent reading we did a D.O.L. Later we read The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen. Soon after we got ready for music. In music we are working with are recorders. After music we started are rotation. First we went to English class. In English we wrote down common mistakes in writing. Then after English we went to Social Studies. In Social Studies we decorated and finished are states. When we were finished with Social Studies we went out to recess. Very soon after we had lunch. For lunch today we had Nacho Supreme. Yum! After lunch we started are Math rotation. This brings me to now, in Mr. Carters Math class. Today was a great day!!
Reminder: Latin roots quiz and Meaning exercise due tomorrow!!

Caroline

Darn Good

With the kids having Math at the end of the day, I've started to slip on getting this blog out on a daily basis. My apologies, but when this does happen, I'll do my best to slip in here and get any important words out to everyone.

First off, I told the kids today that for ISTEP next week, they need to have something that they really want to read, because chances are they'll have some reading time. They did get their next book report "project" today, which isn't a huge deal, but make sure you ask them about it.

Also, I was really pleased with how well they did on their DOLs yesterday after we graded some in class. Almost everybody took them home and went over them at home, which is exactly what I wanted. I've never had a class that adapted to getting better grades on their DOLs so quickly. Most everyone has always wanted to just get them turned in about fifteen minutes after receiving them, but these kids learned from that mistake the first time. Hallelujah!

There is a spelling test on Friday, and the Latin Roots test is on Thursday.

A "so called normal" Friday

Today in Mr. Carters class, we started out with the pledge and warm ups. Our leader for the pledge was Molly. Our leader for warm ups was Anthony.
Then we had a Social Studies test and reading. In Social Studies we had a test on the South Western states. Over the week we read a certain part of our group books. Then today each group had a page, each person had a question, each group wrote down their questions then their predicates. Next We put all our names on it, then we were done. After this we read our class book "The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosem".
Next we had Spanish. We played "Spanish Speaking Countries Bingo". Nothing big but was part of our "so called normal" day. So it counts.
When we came back we had snack, went over our new Latin Roots list, then Mr. Carter gave us drawing lessons (only because he is the best). After this we had lunch and recess. Which leads us to now, math. The rest of the class is learning to multiply decimals while I blog. Well it's 2:00 so I should go learn to multiply decimals.
Bye!
Maria

Rush Hour

Today I forgot to have someone blog!

Here's the lowdown:

We did division once again in Math. They're really getting the hang of it. I'm so proud of them.

They have an assignment in Health/Science, page 99 1-3, but many of them got it done already.

They also have their book report due tomorrow! This is the one you've known about since the second day of school, so it really needs to be turned in by tomorrow.

Okay, that's all we did today of import. Come back in tomorrow and ready to learn!

A Brief Summary

First today we did reading and read in our reading groups. Then we went to English and edited our best excuses. We then went to social studies and worked on our state projects. After lunch and recess we worked on division. Latin roots quiz tomorrow.

By Ben

Update From Mr. C's Class '06-'07

My old class has told me several times that they want to still be part of the blog. I'm cool with it. Once a member of Mr. C's class, always a member of Mr. C's class, I say.

Laura writes:

Everything is going great this year. Sure, it’s all new and we’re still digesting it, but great nonetheless. It sounds like you guys are in for a full year form what I’ve heard.

I’ve got some really great teachers this year. I’m on outriders. My first teacher of the day is Mrs. M. She is the team leader and teaches honors humanities. I have her for two periods (but she gives us a break in between, thank goodness. Mr. McG, the other humanities teacher doesn’t give his kids breaks). My next teacher is Mr. El for Science. He’s OK. After Mr. E, I have lunch (at 10:55! I’m going to my second to last period when you guys are finishing up lunch!).

It kind of stinks because out of all the challenge girls, Sheen is the only one not on Outriders. She is on pioneers, but at least some people she knows are on it.

Ok, back to my day.

After lunch I go to seventh grade math with Mrs. K. I’m the only person at my table whose parents didn’t MAKE them do Seventh grade math. Kind of weird.

For sixth period, I go to keyboarding down in the seventh grade wing and do a program kind of like “all the right type”. Pretty easy since I already have that experience.

For seventh period, I have French, and finally band with Mrs. P (who rocks!!).

Truth be told, I’m a little bored. I guess I’m not as challenged this year. Oh well. They’re probably just reviewing for ISTEP (I hope).

I read a really great book. It’s called “A mango shaped space”. It’s about a girl who sees colors when she hears sounds and on letters and numbers. Very good.

Well, that’s it for now.

Keep you updated,

LauraJ

Ooh, that book sounds really cool, Laura. I'm not sure I ever told you guys about this, but I see colors when I hear songs. A kid who used to be in my class (not really much of a kid anymore, but there you go) hears colors when different people talk. Sounds like you guys are mostly having a good year now, eh?

Well, then I heard from Aaron, who reports:

Sorry about not contacting you, we have a lot of homework every night. Clay is o.k. I guess, it's actually smaller than you probably think. I have Mr. K for language arts and s.s., I have Ms. S for math and science, I have Mr. Martin for latin (Wimer and Mitch are in latin with me), I have Mrs. A for keyboarding, and the VERY FUNNY Mr. F. I'm on team Explorers and it only has 2 teachers instead of 4. Mr. K and Ms. S. She is nice, you would like her. She has a fish that is an algae eater and it sticks to the glass on the tank, and will sometimes swim, but almost all day it just sucks on the glass. I have lunch with Wimer, Jake, and a lot of students in your class for last year. The only thing I have with Jake is lunch so I try to sit with him. The lunch is way better than what we had last year. Get this, because last year the students would put gum like every where and the janitors had to spend hours scraping it off, so now we can't have gum. O well, I don't chew it that much anyway. It looks like the 7th and 8th graders got them selves in a STICKY SITUATION, get it, yeah I know, it was good. So far I have straight A's and I have 100.36% in keyboarding, I did a little extra. I will try to e-mail you more often.

Your former student,
Aaron P

Aaron, you crack me up. I'm glad to hear you guys are doing so well. I'm also sorry to know that everyone is all split up now, but that's life. I'm really happy that I got to have the group together that we did last year. You're all good kids. Have a good week, and please keep me updated (but, Aaron, that whole "sticky situation" thing? That's pretty bad, kid. Oh, and I have your picture that you gave me last year on my desk this year.)

It's Friday, the Greatest Day of the Year

Today we did lots of fun things, I'll tell you them in order. First we read silently for about 20 minutes. Then we waited to go to art after we did some fun activities. Mrs.Moon had something pop up so art class was a little bit late. Then we had snack, we get about ten minutes to eat it. Then we had word study with Mr.Carter and then switched to science, Mrs.Callahan teaches that. Then we went to recess and lunch. Then we had math class. Mr.Carter teaches us math, but soon we'll learn what grade of math we are in. Mr.Carter teaches sixth grade math and all the rest teach fifth. Finally it's the end of the day. We get to go home!

Murphy

You Could Hear a Pin Drop

I'd like to throw in here just how impressed I've been with the class for the last couple of days. Today they came silently back from P.E. without me even going and getting them! They're really good at getting themselves quiet whenever it's appropriate. I've been really happy with them, and I'm very proud of them.

Way to go, class! Bravo!

Macaroni Day

Welcome to Mr. Carters Dojo. We had a magnificent day. First we always start out with silent reading. Then we wrote letters to our parents about "Meet the Teacher Night". Then we went to gym. We played bowling. Then we had snack. After that we had to write a story about getting away with something. Then we went to do social studies. We worked on our state projects. I liked it. Then we went out for recess. Then we went to lunch. The top meal was mac n cheese. Now in math we are doing prime and composite numbers. We just did a fire drill. This blog part is coming to an end.

Brandon

A Wonderful Wednesday

Today we started the day off with silent reading. After that we did the pledge and the morning warm ups. The next thing we did was get into our reading groups and started reading our books. We finished the book "Whales On Stilts" so we started a new book called "The Clue Of The Linoleum Lenderhosen" it is very good. Today for our specials class we had spanish. I thought it was very fun. Spanish is always fun. After our specials we came back and had snack. Then after we had snack we went to science in Mrs. Callahan's class, we got to use microscopes. They were a lot of fun to use. Then we went out to reccess. It was SO hot out. Then we came back in had lunch. Lunch was so good. So after that we came back and had math. I love math so, I thought it was fun. We learned about divisible numbers. We also had a study link on them. And now it is time to pack up our stuff. So today was a wonderful Wednesday!!


Megan

An Open Letter to Yesterday

Hey, former students, you specifically requested that I give updates about your life in Jr. High, but I haven't received any. I can tell you that Alex, Jeff, Brady, Gene, and Brian are all doing well here in Mr. Vahle's class, but I know nothing of the rest of you. Send me an e-mail or something so that I can know how things are. I think of you guys often, and hope you're doing well.

Oh, and by the way, you'd never believe Barton right now. I don't know if it's all the extra kids in the room or the extra-deep water (yes, I finally took Brady's advice and it turns out he was actually right...go figure), but he's hopping around all over the place. Whenever you walk into the room, he's swimming up to the side and begging for food. Crazy.

August Skies

A note from Mr. Carter today. We were doing a math test at the end today, so we weren't able to have a student blogger. They took the right test this time, so it was much easier on them than the one they took last week.

Mrs. Shearman gave out an assignment to the kids today--many of them got it finished after their Math test was over. It was over the types of sentences; you know, declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory. This paper isn't due until Thursday, so I told the kids to keep it in their English folder until that time.

The kids have their spelling lists and their 3x each ABC order exercise is due tomorrow. Thursday the meaning exercise is due.

We finished up reading Whales on Stilts today. I love this book, and find it hilarious. Luckily, there's a sequel already out there. We'll read it right after we read our next book, I Was a Rat.

Looking forward to meeting everyone on Thursday night at Meet the Teacher Night. It starts at 7:30 pm.

Week Three Begins

Monday:

Today in Mr.Carters class we started the day off with silent reading. After silent reading we went to the computer lab and took tests. After we left the computer lab we went to Spanish class. In Spanish class we studied the Spanish speaking countries. After we left Spanish class we had our snack and did math. then we went to science class . In science class we looked to see if things could magnify a word in the newspaper. Then we went out to recess and came in and had lunch. After lunch we looked at our Latin stems for the week and we looked at or spelling for the week. Then we read "Whales on Stilts" the book Mr. Carter is reading to us. And at the end of the day we passed out papers. And we heard the letters LU [load up] and went home after another great day at school.

By: McKenna

Potential Powder Kegs

Okay, guys, here are some rules for leaving comments on the Dojo. First off, if you're going to post anonymously, that's fine, but you have to leave your name--preferably your first name only. Anyone who says they're going to post "anonymously" and not say who they are--well, you probably don't mean any harm, but it's the kind of thing that could become harmful. Let's make sure our comments are positive in nature, and completely lacking in any gossip.

Hmm, remind me to give you my "gossip lecture" tomorrow. :)

Collaborative Efforts

Okay, I have to run now, but I thought I'd throw an online version of this week's Carter Current (just in case anyone missed it...so far this class is much better over all than my last class was [overall, mind you] about taking it home.) up for everyone to see. And yes, I'm being irresponsible with a run-on sentence like that!

Welcome to a new school year! For those of you I have not yet met, I look forward to working with you and your child during the upcoming year. For those of you with whom I’ve worked before, welcome back to another school year. I try out and learn new things each school year, and I am anxious to get started with this one. I’ve certainly enjoyed meeting your children over the last few weeks. I had heard great things about this group, so I‘m expecting a lot out of them as the year goes on.
Being new to the fifth grade proper, having taught Challenge for the last several years, I have put a lot of work into finding the best way to operate this school year. I am still working out the bugs and details, but so far we’ve had pretty smooth sailing.
I know the schedule in fifth grade is a full one. You’ll find there is always some big event going on or coming up around the bend. If you ever have any questions or concerns because of this, please do not hesitate to call or e-mail. Just make sure you remember the “1” at the end of my e-mail address.


Specials Schedule
for 5-1
A: Art
B: Music
C: Spanish and Media
D: Gym
E: Spanish
F: Music and Gym

Reading
In reading this week we read through a story in our Junior Great Books series called “Ghost Cat”. I was pretty impressed with the feedback I received during out discussion on this book. This required some critical thinking, and I was very pleased what a lot of the kids came up with in response to this story.
As your child has hopefully told you, the kids will not be doing AR this year, but instead will have to do two book reports per six weeks. As you know, the first book report is due on September 6th. The second book report will be in written form, and I’ll go over the guidelines over that one during that first week of September.
If I have students finish their reading too early, or come to school without their books, etc. (we have silent reading at the beginning of each day), I will assign them AR goals and have them take AR tests based on their STAR reading grade in addition to their two book reports every six weeks.

Word Study
My subject during our rotations is Word Study. This encompasses Spelling and Latin roots. Hopefully everyone saw the sample test and letter that came home either yesterday or the day before that. Each day, we will also have Word of the Day, in which we’ll learn a new vocabulary word and use it correctly in a sentence. I’m looking forward to a great year with all of the fifth graders on this one.
After some discussion with Mrs. Jackson and Mrs. Callahan, it was decided that I’ll also be teaching some of the Social Studies and Science since they only have class two or three times a week. I told them, “Hey, I used to teach this stuff every day!” There’s nothing I’d love more than to pull out some of those old lessons and teach them whenever I can.
Math
We did a bit of brush-up work this week in Math, starting off with some arithmetic and some math games as well. We’re almost ready to start changing classes for Math, but in the meantime I’ve been making sure the kids are getting some Math every day. I will be teaching the Challenge-level Math this year, and the other teachers will be taking everybody else for Math this year. Regardless, your child will receive a top-notch educational experience.

Camp Tecumseh
Our trip to Camp Tecumseh will be here before you know it! It is from October 24-26. If you have not signed on to go along with us, we could use you--moms and dads alike! If you have a son, that doesn‘t mean a mom can‘t go with him, and vice versa. Give me a call or e-mail if you haven’t signed on board yet and would be interested in going. We also need for some of the parents to be instructors. You don’t have to be an expert teacher--just willing to lead some fun and interesting team-building activities.

“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.”
--George Washington Carver

Have a fantastic weekend!
--Mr. C

Friday

First the class took their spelling and latin roots test. In music the class played the recorder. After music the class went to Mrs. Shearman's class to learn English, Taylor got the mystery. Then the class went to Mrs. Jackson's room for Social Studies. There they read about their states. Then they went to recess and lunch.After we did some math on arrays.Then we did our math boxes. It was a fun day.

Nick and George

An ok Thursday

To start of our day we all read silently. Then we did the pledge. After that we read a little bit of whales on stilts, and sang happy birthday to Mrs. Pitzle and and we will rock you.

Then came Art. After Art we did some Social Studies, we talked about Americans who hunted wooly mammoths. Then we switched classes, we did science. The worst part of the day was that we could not go out to recess because it was too hot!

And as I am typing this we are testing and drawing. And that pretty much tells you what all we did today. Well gotta go we are getting ready to leave.


By Matt

Addendum by Mr. Carter: Today's homework is that the kids have to do page 57 in the Social Studies book, #2-4. Also remember tomorrow's Spelling test and Latin roots quiz!

Another Wednesday

This morning we all enjoyed our selves during silent reading . Many read a Eyewitness News book. I personally chose a Great Illustrated Classic.
At 8:45 we all pushed our desks out of the way and made a circle with and chairs and talked about Ghost Cat from the Junior Great Books.
Next we went to music with our new teacher Mrs. Ratner. We played the recorder.
After that we played soccer in PE. My team won. Yeah!
In English we discussed
1 brain storming

2 plot and idea
In S. S. we worked on our state projects.
During lunch we weren't quiet and now we can't talk for 3 days.
Now I close as we are playing math games. Today was fun but today is done.

Claire B

A Fine Tuesday

Today in Mr. Carter's classroom we started out with reading. We read "The Ghost Cat". During this time we also put yellow sticky notes in the spots of the story where we thought someone was:
1 avoiding the truth
2 facing the truth
3 was making something
When we finished this we went to Spanish. In Spanish we sang all the Spanish countries in a song. It was sort of interesting in a way. We also saw the countries on a map.
We almost lost our snack because we weren't listening. But since Mr. Carter is so nice, we obviously kept our snack.
Next came Word Study. All we did in word study was a page about homophones. then Mr. Carter started showing us how we will do spelling tests.Then went to Science. We studied pennies.
After all that work, we had recess and lunch. During recess I played soccer. Nothing huge happened at lunch.
Finally that brings me to now, everyone else is doing math while I blog. Well I have to go now bye!
Maria

Congratulations Are in Order

Big congratulations go out to Chris Hsu, who earned his black belt Saturday night! I know what a nerve-wracking experience it is, so he should be very proud of himself. In fact, I couldn't even go and watch him (and the other people) go through it this time. I was in class with a lot of those people, so it wouldn't have felt right to sit on their board of review.

Next time, I'll be there with a discriminating eye, though. But if you see Chris, give him some props and raise the roof silently for him.

Prelude to a Great Year

Well, our first week of school has come and gone. It's been a good week, trying to get into the groove of how things work in my classroom, the jobs, the routines, and of course, the rules.

One thing I told the kids this week is that when I ask them a question or ask them to do something, the appropriate response is "Yes, sir" or "No, sir". Maybe it's the fact that I'm a karate instructor, or maybe I'm just a Southerner at heart, but they're doing pretty well with it so far.

As you may know by now, not only do the kids have me for reading, but also for Word Study, and many of them will have me for Math as well. They will rotate around to Mrs. Callahan, Mrs. Jackson, and Mrs. Shearman for their other classes: Science, Social Studies, and English respectively. After some discussion, we decided that I will also be pitching in and teaching the kids some Social Studies and Science lessons as well. This excited me, because as someone who used to teach everything, I thought I'd lost my Social Studies and Science.

You also may have heard that the kids earned a drawing lesson on Friday afternoon. I discovered that we have a whole mess of blooming artists in the class. This behavior incentive worked really well, so I'll have to figure out a regular time to do this every couple of weeks or so.

This is a good class. I hope to see everyone at Meet the Teacher Night on Thursday, August 30th.

Hard to Understand

Hey, guys, since I know the only people who are reading this right now are my old students (seeing as how I haven't told any of my new students about this blog yet), I thought I'd let you all know that Mr. Vahle's mom died last night. I'm sure some of you have heard about it. I just got off the phone with him, and he seems to be doing pretty well right now.

I know that he and his family would all appreciate your thoughts and prayers right now.

Famous Firsts

We had a wonderful first day of school! Mostly we got to know each other, went over the rules, and all that kind of stuff. This seems like a great class! Looking very forward to working with them over the course of the year.

Date Set Match

Okay, guys, how about Wednesday from 2:00-4:00? Your parents can come too if they want to, and yes, Laura, your brother is welcome. (Unfortunately I didn't get him in my class...I get the feeling I didn't get a lot of people I thought I was going to. Tell him he's always welcome, though.)

Wild Blue Yonder

Well, guys, I got my class list yesterday, which means that you guys are officially no longer members of my class. Which also means that you guys are now lifetime members of...my class. Anyway, I have thirty kids this next year! That's going to be quite a switch from seventeen, huh?

My classroom is moved back to its old place, way down in the fifth grade pod. I've had some very helpful people come in and help me move it down. However, I'm thinking of having some of you guys come in and help me put my room back together next week sometime. How does that sound? If that works for you, please leave me a comment here or send me an e-mail.

Oh, and just as I wish you luck next year as sixth graders (or fifth graders, for some of you), wish me luck this year also. It's going to be hard--yet good--switching to the "regular" (how I hate that word!) fifth grade.

Barton is alive and well with brand new rocks and a new "cave" that he can fit under and jump off of. He likes it a lot better, but he misses you guys.

And sorry for the lack of posts this summer. I haven't been as good about it as I'd like to have been on this board. I'll post more about my summer later. In the meantime, why not leave a message or two about your summer?

The Pleasure Was All Mine

Laura asks what everyone's been reading. While I can't make any decent suggestions (summer is when I read grown-up books that would be of little interest to most of you), I would open it up to everyone to say what they've been reading this summer.

Oh, and Aaron still has Barton. And that's okay. I called his house, but haven't received a response yet. Hey, he can keep Barton all summer if he wants to.

Last night I went to the Reds game (thanks, Jake!). They looked pretty darn good last night.

Li'l Barton Needs a Warm Place to Stay

Sending out a distress call! I need someone who can take care of our dear friend Barton next week. I'll be out of town, and won't be able to feed him every day like I normally do.

If you can (make sure and ask your ma and pa, chillens!), and you'll be in town the whole time, please let me know by leaving me a comment here. Whoever leaves it first will get him.

Act fast, because time is running out!

Crawling Through the Wreckage

You guys should see my classroom now. I know I'm moving my room back to the fifth grade area, but my old room is now completely blank with the exception of the back counter. No desks, not even my desk. It's crazy. I no longer have a computer, although rumor has it that I'm getting a flat screen, so it's about time. Also, you can't really walk through the hallway outside Mr. Vahle's and my room because there's all the desks and everything out there.

New Duds

Nope, your eyes are not deceiving you. I changed the format! What do you think?

Relaying for Life

As Mr. C. told you, Relay for Life went very well. It was a lot of fun! I stayed for the entire 24 hours. The weather was frustrating to me, though. During the day it was really hot outside (lots of sunburn), and in the night it was unbelievably cold. I think everyone in our tent had their sleeping bags or blankets over their heads. In the morning, everyone was awake except for me. It was overcome by the light. It took awhile for me to adjust. All in all, I ran about six or seven miles, which is a little more than twice the distance I ran last year, so I'm satisfied. I hope all of you who ran it enjoyed it, and I hope that everyone joins in next year. It is a lot of fun!

Relayed

Hey hey, guys! It was good to see so many of you yesterday and today: Emma, Andrew, Michael, Jake, Chris, Laura, Aaron, Eric, and Erin all showed up to the Relay for Life. (And I really hope someone will tell me if I left anyone out!) You guys' luminary bags looked great last night all lit up in the dark. It was a real test of patience to get them all put up and taken down, but it was well worth it.

Altogether, Carmel raised almost $60,000! Not too bad for the second year, huh? Plus, Fishers and Westfield both had theirs this same weekend, so I think it's pretty incredible.

I'm sorry I didn't get to visit with you guys more than I did. There were so many people there that I needed to talk to. I even brought some things for you guys: your sticks of destiny, your attendance sticks, some DOLs...(speaking of which, next year the Fergusons are totally doing the Relay). I'm sorry I didn't get them to you--so many of you left before I had a chance to run to my car. Don't worry, I've still got them, and I'll get them to you one day in the hopefully-not-too-distant future.

Thanks for all your help! Mark your calendars: same Bat-time, same Bat-channel next year! Be there AND be square!

Sir Grumpington Turtlesworth

Hello again, erstwhile students and families.

I want to remind everyone that this Saturday (and a little bit of Sunday) is the Relay for Life! Just in case you've forgotten. And at 1:00 is the "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" show, so make sure you come on out to take on any takers. Actually, if you could show up at about noon so that we can go over everything, that would be even better.

Hope everyone's had a great beginning to their summer. Barton is still with us; he's doing just fine. He didn't want to come out and say hello today (you know how grumpy he can get).

It's....ALIVE!

Yes, this blog is still alive! And I did permit anyone to comment on here who wants to. I didn't realize that setting was like that. Sorry. It was actually pretty easy to fix.

I realize our last two weeks of school went relatively uncatalogued, but it was a good two weeks, I tell ya. We had a huge amount of fun, managed to learn a thing or two, heard some wonderful performances during the choir show and the talent show, caught crayfish (which all died...heh...um, guess those should have just been left in the wild).

Okay, so the Relay for Life is coming up this week. As you can see in the post below, the students have come up with questions for our part. I may have to make up a few of my own too. I'll make sure they're ones that my students will know the answers to! (Or at least SHOULD know the answers to...ahem.) (Oh yeah, and never end your sentence with a preposition.) Come on out, guys! Come out and see all the cool stuff going on, hang out with your buds, walk the track, and raise money for cancer research!

Hope to see y'all then.

Mr. C

Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?

Today, Mr.Carter had us write down questions for the Relay For Life Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader. Team Woodbrook is in charge of the entertainment there. This was a good way to review what we had learned throughout this school year. There are a lot of funny questions. We should be pretty entertaining at the Relay this year.



Bye,
Aaron

This Room Smells Like Wet Shoes

Today we had our last Social Studies lesson of the year (out of the book, that is...). We also continued working on a few projects from the past few days, including our Mother's Day presents, which are almost done; the first of our three end of the year Math tests (I have no choice, honest!), and we celebrated the kids' hard work with brownies and Root Beer today (we called it "Brown Day"). Today's Word of the Day is "tawny". We're almost finished reading The Westing Game, and yes, I realize we are long overdue in finishing this book up, but it's a crazy time of year.

We made a few basic plans for Asian Culture Day, except we're still not sure when it's going to be. We will know by tomorrow, because there aren't all that many days left in the school year!

Oh, and the title? Well, let's just say the kids went out for P.E. this morning on the soccer field. I was pretty startled when they came back inside and told me about it, but we made it through just fine.

O Mother, Where Art Thou?

A note from me today. Right now my Math class is working on just one of their end-of-the-year assessments. Yes, there are a handful of them.

However, in class today we did get to make our Mother's Day gifts. We used sticks found outside on the playground, a hot glue gun, and twine to make an easel to hold up a picture of the kids that I took on my camera. The kids were very creative in their pictures, some of them writing "I love Mom" on the white board or on their biceps. As long as it didn't get out of hand, I took their picture the way they wanted.

We also learned about Indiana Sports in Social Studies this morning. Oh, and good news; we do get to go to Cool Creek Park--just our class--on Tuesday, May 29th, so be on the lookout for a permission slip coming home soon.

Time to Whistle

On Wednesday Mr.Carter drew two pictures. He had half of the room look at one picture and he had the other half look at another. The class had to describe the picture that they were looking at. After that, he would randomly pass out the papers that describe the picture to the other side. Then, the class would have time to best draw the picture by what the paper said.


Thursday at about 2:10 pm in class Mr. Carter and I had some socializing time. We whistled for about a minute, then I had to get back blogging.

-Aaron

These Jolly Four Days

In the last few days, we have been doing alot of things. On Monday, we had our Spelling and Ceaser's Tests. We also had a test in Social Studies test on Indiana'sculture between 1900-1950. or the week in math, we have been studying fractions, percentages, decimals, and much more. We got our study guide for our math test on Monday.

We also had this sweet assignment where we describe a picture that Mr. C drew. Half of the class described one picture, the other half described a different picture. We drew the picture the other half described, while they did the same. I think that most people did very well on it.

On Thursday we went outside and studied the land. We wrote a journal about what we saw, and made an explorer's log. In the explorers log we pretended that we were aliens who saw this planet for the first time and we were only one centimeter tall.

This cool daddio named Michael made up some rad DOLs for Mr. C. Mr.Carter said that he doesn't want Ben streaking through the wedding. He also said that he doesnt want Mrs. Goldberg spunk'd.*


Stay cool readers:)
Blog by-

Andrew

Additions made by-Michael

*Edit by Mr. C: Michael has been making his own DOLs lately, and I have nothing to do with this process. Although they're slightly entertaining, they are not being incorporated into my curriculum.

Housekeeping Stuff

Today we did a lot of housekeeping things. We needed to have a Spelling test from the other day. Check. We needed to have our test for Caesar's English. Check. We needed to grade DOLs, and we got that done too. What we didn't get finished was a writing assignment I wanted to give the kids, but we ran out of time. Also, the kids know that their organ reports are due on Wednesday.

Tomorrow is a Social Studies test over chapter 11 in the book, and Wednesday is a test in Math. I know, I'm normally such a "testy" guy, but we are zeroing in on the end of the year.

Friday is the Art field trip to IMA, so if you haven't turned in your permission slips, please do so soon!

Sensei

Hey, everybody, I promised I'd update the ol' dojo with news about my black belt test.

I got it! Thanks so much for the good wishes!

You know what this means, don't you? I have a lot of papers to grade now.

See ya Monday!

Mr. Carter

The Haps

I'm happy to say that I am the first kid to blog on the dojo in awhile. So gather round, and I shall tell you about...... the haps!

MATH

In math Mr. Carter is teaching about ratios. We've learned about how to convert a large ratio into a small ratio, and learned how ratios will pop up in real life! I think this is cool because, not only are we just learning math, we are also learning about how it connects with the world. I know that this info will come in handy when I'm an adult.

MISC.

Tomorrow we're going to go to the Carmel City Courthouse. We will be watching a mock trial! I remember when, several years back, we had a field trip just like this, and I got to be the defendant. I'll never steal a bike again.

Also, next Friday, we are going to the Indianapolis Museum of Art with our art teacher, Mrs. Moon! I am really looking forward to that trip!

IN CONCLUSION...

Thanks for reading this post on Mr. Carter's Dojo! I'm sure Mr. Carter will remember to keep this up to date! Thanks!

--

Eric Wiegand
Searching Grasshopper

Electromagnets and Karate

Today, we learned about electromagnets. We used iron and stuff to test it with. We used 6 d-cell batteries to power it!

We also learned about the history of Karate. Mr. Carter had to review and memorize it if he wants to get his black belt (he is not one yet, but I am). He taught us the names of the people and where it started AND where the fights were. Did you know that Karate started in India? Well, it did! In 1946 it came to the United States of America by a soldier in the war. Today, many people take Karate or many other types of Martial Arts.

by,
Aaron

Mr. C's addition here: We spent some time as well talking about the nervous system. Ask your kids about it, and they should have lots to tell.

Slim Goodbody

Today the 4th graders went to spanish and the 5th graders went to art. After that we came back and had D.E.A.R. time. When about 45 minutes had passwed we did science. Mr Carter told us about a guy named Slim Goodbody. He was a man who tought kids about the body by wearing a skin-tight suit that had a picture of the internal orgins in the places they'd be in your body on the suit! After that we started learning about electricity, we learned how to make three light bulbs light up at once using a motor and a switch. We all had fun doing that. We all feel that it is very interesting to learn about electricity.

-BMcG

FDR for President

Today in class, we learned about the 2nd greatest president (behind Abe Lincoln), Franklin Delano Roosevelt, or FDR. He was president during the depression and helped our country out of it. FDR created the Tennessee Valley Authourity to study people's problems to make them better. He also hired people to paint murals on post office walls so they could feed their children bread they bought with the money they earned. FDR led our country through World War Two and was elected three times in a row! Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the creator of such programs as the post office murals and helped with eroision control and re-forestation. Now is that a great guy or what?
Laura

Chyme and Bile

Today we learned about the digestive system of the human body. We learned some different parts of the system and even what chewed up food was called. It was sort of gross, but it was also pretty cool. The fifth grade had D.A.R.E. , which stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education, while the fourth grade went to Mr. Vahle's room. We also made bags for Relay For Life, a walk to raise money for the American Cancer Society. We also looked a each other's biographies. The biographies where a school project. We had social studies as the last subject before the fourth graders went to lunch and the fifth graders had math.

-Jacob

I should add in that I didn't have to fix one thing about Jacob's post! Sweet job, Jacob. I should have you post more often. Uh, and I'm the one responsible for the title, not him. Hey, it's Science!

-Mr. C

Get Your Motors Runnin'

Today in class, we did a lot of science. We made a light bulb and motor go with a switch. We connected them with a bunch of wires and made them all go around with their tape flags. The fourth graders went for a field trip to the planetarium, so the fifth graders all came over and reviewed some math (number lines to be exact). We did a DOL and were really surprised with the outcome. Ask your child for the story of the Fergusons, Hooleys, Morty, Andrew, Pappy, Mrs. Goldberg, Oliver, and last but not least, Barky.

Laura

American Pie

Today, we had a spelling test. A l0t of us did very good. After that, the choir went down to the gym to practice for our all school sing. Meanwhile, when the choir was in the gym, Michael, Jake, Alex, Brian, Jeffery, Omar, Mr. Carter and I all sang along to "American Pie", except Mr. C wouldn't let us sing the h-word. After we finshed, the choir walked in the door. We all graded DOLs until the end of the day. After that was the All School Sing.



- BMcG

Save Kishon by Michael Wimer (not Mr.Carter)

Kishon, our canine companion is in risk of leaving Woodbrook Elementary. This is an outrage that has been generated by pure lack of knowledge. If you happen to go to the Woodbrook Mane Event on March 23, 2007, then please sign the Save Kishon petition. Thank you (we also had a Ceasar's English test).

Michael

This is Mr. Carter--I do not in any way endorse this. I do not in any way not endorse it either. I have no opinion.

A Day in Mr.Carter's Class

Today in Homeroom we had our daily "Word of the Day", the word was harbinger. In Social Studies we learned about the mass transit system. We also had a breif period D.E.A.R. or Drop.Everything.And.Read. It was quite the day in Mr. Carter's class.

Jake

The Kids Are Alright

I'm trying hard to make this blog a more critical part of my communications system, in case you haven't noticed. I wanted to make sure I posted this link to help out too:

http://www.ccs.k12.in.us/woodbrook/staff/grades/Jeff%20Carter%20Web%20Page_files/index.htm

This is my classroom website, which was recently updated (and I need to do more on it, I realize) by Brady McG. He did put everything on it I asked him to. You can see a class picture on there too. It's pretty cool.

We started reading The Westing Game today, which is a great mystery story. We're not done with our biographies yet, either, as the kids found out just today. It's not a big paper or anything, though, so don't worry. We've also still got one mystery play to do, but we're going to wait until tomorrow or Thursday.

DARE started today also for the fifth graders. That's what's going on right now, actually. Officer Pitman is working with the kids during this time.

Wires

Today we studied about the early transportation of Indiana like riverboats, canals, and trains. Later we were asked to do DOL's and write about any topic as long as we put all of our spelling words and Caesar's words for the 4TH graders. For the fifth graders, they have to do half of their spelling words and all of their Caesar's english words. Today the fifth graders did D.A.R.E. We did the Hoosier spotlight on Madam C.J Walker. and we will be going to her theater soon for a musical. Make sure that you get a field trip permission slip from Mr. C! For the fifth graders, they will be doing a worksheet and studylink 9.1.

By Jeff


These weeks, we have been studying electricity and magnetism. Yesterday, we lighted lightbulbs. First, we were supposed to light one by turning the switch. Then it got harder. We were to make one lightbulb stay on with the circuit open, and then make both lightbulbs light up when we closed the circuit with the switch. Today, we did it without the switch. That was a bit easier after we already did it once. Today, 5th graders are doing D.A.R.E. It started today.

By Alex

Sing the Body Electric

Today in class, we all finished our spelling lists and morning work! After that we read in our social studies book. We learned about glass and cars. An odd combination you might say, but when you read about it you see how they come together. We did science after that. We're working on how electricity works, the human body, and rocks all at the same time! We all really enjoy the electricity unit, I mean, how can't you. We are doing little experiments on how you can make electricity work.

By: BMcG

Carter Current for March 16th

Hello there! It has been a great week here in the Carter Classroom. We’ve learned about everything from electricity to David Letterman, with a little bit of everything that falls between those two subjects. It was very good to get back to “normal”, at least for a little while.

Reading
By now, the biographies have been read and turned in. Now the students should be working on their next book for the six weeks. Next Monday I’ll be handing out another class book for the kids to read, with probably a three week schedule for reading it. I’d say which book it is, but knowing these kids, half of them would have it completely read by Monday, and I want to at least all start together!

Social Studies
For Social Studies this week, in the aftermath of learning about the Civil War, we learned about various attractions around the state of Indiana, including all of its parks and a handful of its famous politicians. After that, we started something called “Hoosier Spotlight”, in which we will learn about a different famous Hoosier every day. We started off this week with David Letterman and Madame C.J. Walker, two disparate people with one thing in common—they hail from our great state.

Science
I was very proud of the kids after last week’s bones quiz. Learning the scientific names of the bones is a little daunting, but I think it’s something they’ll always remember—or at least it will be familiar to them when they get into high school biology. This week we’ve been learning about the digestive system, which is pretty interesting in its own right. The kids seem to think this is a pretty cool thing to learn about—of course, it may have something to do with the high percentage of boys in the class.

We also learned a thing or two about electricity this week. We found that electricity flows from the positive end of the battery, through the wire, and back to the negative end. If you put a light bulb in the path, it lights up--as long as it’s part of the connection. When that connection is bypassed, the kids realized something different altogether happened. We’ll be continuing this for awhile.

Math
In Math we’re wrapping up our unit on probability. The good news is that it looks like we’re going to finish the book early this year. That way we can go back and work on some of the areas where the kids struggled before.

Sound Effects

Today we had C Day which is our free day. The 4th graders went over to Mr. Vahle's class and the 5th graders stayed right here with the amazing Mr. Carter to have math.

-Brady

Mr. Carter chiming in here. Brady had to go to Math. We also went through some Social Studies (how the counties got their names!), graded DOLs, and worked on our radio dramas. Today the kids made up commercials of products to advertise during their radio commercials, and we watched radio personality and sound effects man Tom Keith at his best. In Math we learned about Venn Diagrams.

A Dull Day? No Way!

Hello, fellow reader if you are wondering why this blog's title is "A dull day," the reason is we have been doing junior acheivement, math, DOLs, we also learned about the Cincinatti Reds who rock the world, just like the Cubs. Even though we did do all of the previous (read top) this was an okay day. Keep learning new stuff.

Michael Wima

Final Products/ Spelling Test Mix-Up

Today, Mr. Carter's home room class showed their final products for the topic they chose. Some of the topics were U.F.O.s, bananas, platypuses, and Leonardo da Vinci. The products were anything they wanted to do (except for a PowerPoint). Some were posters, platypuses made out of Play-Dough, and a book. Everybody had a blast working on them and it was a fun experience.


Today, Mr. Carter's home room class had a spelling test. The 4th graders spelling test was normal, but, the 5th graders got mixed up on the front, so, we could put the words in any sentence.

Aaron

Magnetic Personalities

In science class today, we talked about magnetism and electricity -- stuff like how magnets have north and south poles and are attracted to the opposite side. We're wrapping up our social studies unit on the Civil War (I think). We have also been doing a lot of stuff to get ready for Exchange City. We got to name our shops (mine, the newspaper, is called Aletto Times) and think up speeches, ads, slogans, and logos. The day that we actually go to Exchange City isn't until next Thursday, but we are still having a lot of fun getting ready for it! I think that it is going to be a lot of fun.

-Emma

A Kind of Homecoming

We were supposed to have someone blogging last week, but evidently it was kind of a chaotic time around here, so I'm willing to forgive the lack of online documentation.

This week we're going to be back to normal, I promise! Ever since Christmas, I've been waiting for this week, which is kind of sad, in a way, and if we didn't manage to actually get so much accomplished during these last few weeks, I would feel more guilty. We will have a spelling list once again, we will have a Caesar's test tomorrow (Monday) and have a new list with a test on Friday. The kids are doing their radio dramas, complete with sound effects, and we will probably perform them at the end of next week. Our Social Studies will continue on as normal, and we're going to start a new Science unit now.

I'm actually breathing a huge sigh of relief. As nice as Florida was (and really, it was nice!!), I was talking to my fellow teachers at the conference on Friday and we couldn't wait to get back to our kids.

We're Back!

We're back online! We had some troubles there for awhile because the school's internet blocker banned our website from showing up on the computers. I guess something in this blog looked bad or something; I have no idea.

Right now the kids are recovering from three tests they took today. I haven't taken a look at them yet, so I have no idea how they performed. We decorated our Valentine's bags today and took it easy as part of a "Colts celebration" after their victory the other night. My wisdom teeth were killing me on Monday, I got them taken out that afternoon, and I haven't felt much like celebrating since. I apologize for that. Today I'm doing much much better, and I hope to be good as new by Monday.

4+a^2+3a=?

In math class we are currently working on using variables and exponents in number sentences, kind of like algebra. We work on simplifying sentences by finding alike digits. It's pretty slick. Math Bowl has also just started! Yesterday was the first meeting, and I can't wait until the next, not to mention the competition! We got into groups of three and worked out problems that Mr. Carter gave us. Each one is multiple choice, which helps. Anyway, math is going pretty good in Mr. Carter's class.

--

Eric
Searching Grasshopper

No Powerpoint

We are doing a project on a topic of our choosing. We have been putting facts on notecards and soon we will make a rough draft report. Sometime in Febuary we will make a project and it can be anything from a skit to a poster. But it can't be powerpoint!

We are reading a book called Behind the Blue and the Grey and it's about the civil war and what happened to the men in the war. It also has some real thoughts from some of the men that were in the in the Civil War. It tells us the emoitions of the men and how they felt during the war. this book tells us how they helped the United Staes stand as a free county.

Andrew

I Really Do Run a Normal Classroom

Okay, now the kids are just getting a little weird, but whatever.

Dear animals of the exotic world,

Today we gave three ideas to what we want to do for a new project we are working on. We are supposed to do one of the ideas that I just told about. The assignment is to get a topic, find research on it, type a paper on all the interesting things you found about it. Some people gave very interesting ideas, for example 70’s Rock Bands Still Playing, William Smith (Actor), and Ohio State University. The project will take up the whole grading period. We also have to do a bibliography on it.

Tally Ho for now,
-Anonymous British Writer
(Aaron)

Hello humans of this eerie planet,

I am doing today’s second blog. That’s right! Two blogs! Today we read Behind the Blue and Gray again. In case an earlier blogger didn’t tell you, it’s a book about the civil war and what they did. Of course, there were brutal battles. Did you know that they gambled and drank liquor when they weren’t suppose to? Things weren’t all bad though. The people that stood guard conversed by shouting across the border. Bet you didn’t know that.

Need to head back to the Mothership,
-Alien#195036 a.k.a Chris

Free to Choose

In Mr. C's homeroom class, we are doing a report about any topic we choose. We will be working on the report for this six weeks. For tomorrow, we are supposed to come up with 3 topics, and we will choose one of them to write about later on.

We are also finding someone interesting that we would like to interview. Our homework is to find the special person by Monday. That person can be someone who collects something interesting, have a special skill, or be someone you just want to get to know better. We will soon be making up our interview questions and actually interviewing the person. Remember, he or she has to be an adult, they have to be living on their own (not living with their parents), and you can't interview anyone in your direct family.

There are THREE tests on Friday. The Spelling Test, the Caesar's English test, and the Igneous rocks test. Make sure you study for all three of them!

Sheen

A New Semester

Today we started a new semester. It is great to see everyone again. We are all sick of watching Blues Clues, Dora, and other painful shows in the morning. Mr.Carter has started two new calenders that are all about The Simpsons and opinions of leaders around the world.

We also started a new Social Studies unit on the Civil War. We also have heard rumors of Ice Cream in our report on Minerals.

For more on making Ice cream got to http://www.makeicecream.com.

Michael