Class Spelling Bee Winners

Yesterday we held our class spelling bee, in preparation for the school-wide spelling bee in January.

We had 8 students who participated....that's half our class!! I was very proud of their willingness to come in front of the group and try to spell words.

I am proud to announce that our class winner is Sohani! Our runner-up is Jonathan.

Stay tuned to see if Sohani will be our school champion!

The Brass Ensemble

Today we had an assembly for the fourth and fifth graders. The Brass Ensemble from our city's symphony orchestra came today to put on a mini-concert for the students. The symphony does this every year in anticipation of the concert they put on for all the fifth grade students in the entire city.

Today was the Brass group. The Strings came earlier in the school year. I enjoy these musical assemblies, mostly because I played clarinet in middle and high school. I enjoy hearing the different groups.

There were some parts of the program I think stood out to the students. They liked seeing how each instrument played its notes. They enjoyed seeing which instrument could play the lowest notes.

I think the best part was when the musicians demonstrated the different types of mutes. A mute is the piece the musician puts into the bell of the instrument in order to change the sound of the notes. I never knew this, but the role of the "teacher" on Charlie Brown was played by a trombone with a mute in it!

Mrs. Staton

Rhinos

Today I read about rhinos. I know that rhinos have two horns in front of their head and they have dry grey skin. I wonder why they have hair on their ears? Well they have hair on their ears because when they are born they have hair all over their body. I learned that they eat plants and have up to two babies. A rhino's horn is made from the same thing as a human's fingernail. It is called keratin. Rhinos can run at a speed of 30 miles per hour!

There are five species of rhinos. The sad thing is that rhinos are almost extinct. There are only 14,000 left in the whole world. This is because of humans. They hunt the rhino for their horns.

By: Francisco

***Mrs.Staton says "Welcome" to Francisco...the newest member of our class***

Blue Jays

I read a non fiction book about Blue Jays. What I know about blue jays is they have a little blue on their feathers. They have three nails on each claw, and they have black eyes and black beaks. Their predators are owls and hawks. I learned that they can have up to five babies. Jays are omnivores, which means they eat meat and plants. Some of them have black and white feathers.They also eat nuts, seeds, acorns, and wild fruit. Many Jays get their name from their color. There's the blue jay, green jay, gray jay, and brown jay. There are 35 species, or kinds of jays. They are related to magpies, ravens, and crows. They have a nickname called "camp robbers" because when people are camping out, the blue jay sneaks over and takes their food to feed her babies.

By: Jamiece

Cheetahs

Today our teacher made us do a K-W-L chart on a book of our choice,I chose ''Cheetahs'' By:Jenny Markert, and this is what I learned about cheetahs.

The Cheetah's most favorite prey are gazelles but they also hunt for hares and other small animals. They're technically cats. They can't roar like lions but they can purr like house cats and yelp like dogs. They can run up to 60 MPH ,they're also carnivorous. They don't have sharp claws to protect themselves like cats, they only have bold claws to stick in the ground so they won't slide.They carry their prey by the throat,and have three to five cubs at a time. Eagles hunt for cheetah cubs when they're alone,and some lions hunt for cheetahs too! This is what I read about cheetahs.

By: Jorge