December 18th, 2013

ROOM 6, 7 and 8 FIELD TRIP  TOMORROW!

     We will be going to the Symphonic Safari tomorrow! Our class will leave Camas Ridge at 9:30 and return at 11:00.  Also, we are having a winter celebration on Friday, December 20^th.  If you would like to bring snacks for our celebration we would LOVE IT!  Students can wear their PJ’s and bring pillows and/or stuffed animals to our winter celebration.  

     Homework this week is a reading log and an essay about 'Family Traditions'.  All homework is due Friday, December 20th. Have a happy and healthy winter break.  We will see you back at school in the new year!

 Thanks for your support,

~Ms. D

December 5th, 2013

Don't forget we have NO SCHOOL on Friday, December 6th. In class we are hoping for snow! This week we created snowflakes to decorate our windows, we placed a white crayon and a glue stick in the window, and at home I hear students were flushing ice cubes down the toilet to encourage snow to fall.

This week in science we discovered all three of our newly hatched fish died over the break! The good news is we have harvested one new egg and we are watching the two eggs which dried up to see if they survived the 'drought'. Students recorded observations of the three dead fish, and the three remaining eggs using our classroom microscopes.

Below is a picture of Dory laying eggs in the yarn mop.
This happened today!

Homework came home today. Students brought home a reading log for the upcoming week, week 7 spelling words to write in cursive, and a writing assignment to write a true or creative story about a snow day. All homework is due Friday, December 13th.

We wrapped up our week with the Nutcracker!

Here are some of our thoughts...
Jordan ~ I thought the 4 gumdrops were cool.
Josie ~ I thought it was really amazing how they could bend.


Cate ~ I thought it was really cool how they could balance on one toe and pull their leg up to their head.
Lucas ~ The timing of the turning of the wind-up key to the music was impressive.
Sarah ~ I liked in the beginning when the girls and the brother were receiving their presents.
Alex ~ I enjoyed the costumes and choreography and color.
Summer ~ I thought it was cool how well they could balance.
Lillian ~ I actually liked the tutu on the sugar plum fairy.
Lily ~ I enjoyed the beginning scene and I thought they worked very hard on it.
Zach ~ I thought the Aladdin dancer was very pretty.
Thomas ~ I thought it was really cool because it took a lot of work, and I know because I did gymnastics.



Have a wonderful week! ~Donna

Food for Thought on this Thanksgiving Eve...

It's Poverty, Not Stupid ~ December 3rd 2013 PISA test results will be available. This is the international test used to rank and compare the few countries who participate in this international assessment (65 in 2012, down from 75 in 2009). Before we begin interpreting these scores or worse yet, just believing what the media machine feeds us, please take into account how poverty factors into the US scores. With strong evidence that poverty lowers PISA scores, comparing US schools of poverty with international schools of poverty would create better comparisons. This becomes difficult as some countries will not report their poverty levels. The US poverty rate in 2009 was 21.7% and our score was 520. Finland who scored the highest at 536 only has a 3.4% poverty rate. Japan scored 520 and they have a poverty rate of 14.3%. New Zealand comes the closest to our poverty rate at 16.3% and their score was only one point higher than the US at 521. Breaking it down even further, if you only look at our schools with less than 10% poverty rate, the US score is 551, far exceeding Finland at 536. 

Read more at It's Poverty Not Stupid

Thanksgiving Break

Wishing each of you a happy and healthy Thanksgiving break.  There is no homework over the break, however as always it is important for students to read read read!!!  This week was full of excitement. We finished up our projects on Wednesday. On Thursday we created Thanksgiving placemats to put out on your holiday tables. On Friday we ended our week with a school wide viewing of The Lorax. I look forward to seeing all the students back at school Monday, December 2nd.

HOMEWORK ~ Nov. 8th - 15th

* Week 5 spelling words: Test Friday, Nov. 15th
* Reading Log: Read at least 20 minutes, 5 days this week and turn in your log on Friday, Nov. 15th

Conference Week!

Welcome to Parent/Teacher Conference Week,

I am looking forward to meeting each of you. Conferences are Tuesday evening, Wednesday evening, Thursday, and Friday morning.  Don't forget, there is NO SCHOOL for students Thursday, Friday, and Monday.  Enjoy your long weekend. Also, there is only a reading log. Students do not have writing or spelling homework this week.

NATIVE CULTURE PROJECT DUE NOV. 1

Don't forget, you have a Native Culture Project due at school on Friday, November 1st. Your project can be anything you choose representing your selected culture. You must also submit a written report explaining your project. This is always an exciting time in room 6. The sharing of research & projects allows everyone to explore many cultures.  I hope to post photos of some projects during November. I have posted some kid friendly native cultures links in the social studies section. See you Monday! :)

What's Happening in room 6???

Our science walk was very fun. Donna found a lottery ticket. Also working with first graders is awesome.


On Wednesday we walked to Amazon Creek and I was in a group with only 5th grade girls. We picked up a lot of trash and we were exploring the creek.


This week our class went to Amazon Creek to collect the water to test the salinity. We also found a bunch of trash which was sad to see there. It was also a good day to go there because it was sunny and not rainy like it always is!!!

Last Wednesday, our class went to Amazon creek and studied it for the second week in a row. We split into three groups, one to look at human impact at the creek, one to look at the animals near the creek, and one to look at the water in the creek. There were lots of animals near the creek including Mallards.

On Wednesday 23rd of October 2013, we walked to Amazon Creek with my mom and the 2010, teacher of the year Donna DuBois. She is my aunt . We had an awesome day there. We picked up trash to help the environment. We found a lot of trash at Amazon and we called the trash negative human impact.

This week my favorite day at school was writing with the first graders . It was AWESOME

I think that reading to first graders is really fun and helping them write is great too.

We drew scientific drawings of a picture of a killifish.

Welcome to 2013 - 2014 School Year!

Hi Families and Students,

  Perhaps this will be the year I keep up with this blog.  I am hoping to have students post things we are doing in class.  To start, I have comments from October in room 6. Actually, we have spent a good part of October outside of room 6.  We are doing things such as partnering with a first grade class to work on reading and writing.  We are also getting outside and visiting our local Amazon Creek. Here we are conducting water quality  analysis, observing nature, and doing some community clean up in the area. When the sun shines, you will likely find us walking to the creek to do real world scientific work.
  In class our big Native Cultures Project and Research Paper is due this Friday.  I hope parents and students alike are learning a lot together! Have a wonderful week, ~Ms. D