Fun Field Trip!

On Monday the entire fifth grade went on our annual field trip to a local YMCA Camp. We spent our day exploring water ecology, archery, and team-building. I knew it was going to be a great day when I got to school and realized that Bus 8 actually got to school on time! Bus 8 is late almost every day!

When we got to Camp, we split up by classes and rotated through the activities. Our class went to Water Ecology first.

Here we all are listening to Miss Taylor telling us all about.....LIVING THINGS and non-living things....Working Together! Insert cute shuffle dance here!! She also told us about all the living organisms we might possibly find in the lake and creek. She told us which ones could handle being around pollution and which could not. Then she told us some specific things about each organism so we could play a Pollution Tag game.

To play the game, a few people represented pollution and everyone else was a critter of some kind. Each critter had a special characteristic that had to be incorporated into the game. Then we had to run from one end of the field to the other without being "attacked" by pollution. Strongest Critter wins!

Uh oh....looks like pollution is winning!

Then we got to head for the lake and the creek and start looking for some living things. Here are a few classmates scooping up the lake "gunk". I think these guys found a huge tadpole.



Looks like this salamander has made a friend!

Here was the "catch" bucket with all the little critters we found. Check out the size of that crayfish! There are also several newts and tadpoles in here as well.

After Water Ecology, we headed to Archery. Here we are listening to Miss Hannah teaching us the finer points to shooting a bow and arrow. The key is to keep your bow arm straight out in front. I wish I had more pictures of students shooting, but I was helping you guys with your archery form. Some of you were naturals...Brenda got a bulls-eye! MehReh and Guillermo both got 2 arrows out of 3 on the target! Several others had at least one hit. I was so proud watching you guys shoot!

After Archery we took a lunch break. I told you that Camp Food was better than cafeteria food. We had burgers with cheese, lettuce, and tomato, onion rings, and grape Kool-Aid. There was also a salad bar and ingredients to make sandwiches. For dessert we had popsicles. Again, I wish I had some pictures of the dining hall, but I was enjoying the food as much as you guys were!

After lunch, we headed for our final activity...Team Building. Here we are listening to Mr. HB telling us some survival tips in case we ever get lost in the woods. Then he told us our mission....divide into two teams and build a shelter that can hold the entire team.

Each team had a base log set up between two trees, and had to build their shelter off this base. Here is one team's shelter as they are adding logs to serve as a "wall".

Here's the other team's shelter....looking good Team Jelly!



A finished product...a shelter with walls, and a fire pit by the door, made by yours truly!

I look forward to this field trip every year. The students have fun, the teachers have fun, and we all learn a little something too! I was so proud of how well you all behaved and participated on the trip!

Now, I want to hear your memories of our Camp Day. What will you remember most about this trip....and don't just talk about the food! :-)

Peter and the Wolf

On Wednesday, a group of students from the North Carolina School of the Arts came to our school and did a performance of Peter and the Wolf. The students danced ballet and were very talented. In this play, each character is represented by a different instrument. For example, the bird was a flute, and the cat was a clarinet. Peter was represented by a violin. Some of these students were as young as 8th grade.

One thing I thought was really neat was how each dance introduced his or her character. The narrator would tell which instrument represented them, and then they would dance a few steps. But what I thought was special was when the boy who played the wolf came out onstage. He started dancing at first without his mask. Then he stopped in the middle of the stage and made a big production of putting on the wolf mask, and then looking up at the students. I don't know if this was really part of the show, or something he did on his own. Either way, I thought it was a neat way to show all the young students that he wasn't scary!

I thought these young people did a wonderful job and the performance was absolutely magical! I can't remember the last time we had an assembly where all 523 students were totally entertained!!

Whatcha' Readin' ??

I love to read....even when I was your age, I always had my nose in a book. I read all the time. As a young girl, my favorite books were The Babysitter's Club. I loved to read about a group of friends and the problems they would encounter. It reminded me of my friends I had growing up. As I've gotten older, I find myself reading more books by the same author. I have several authors that I love to read their books. As soon as I hear their new book is out, I rush to the store or the library to get a copy.

I want to know what you are currently reading.

Right now I am re-reading the Twilight Series. Some of you may know this series because of the recent movies that have been made based on the books. I read the series last year, thanks to your 4th grade teacher Mrs. Raper! She told me about the books and I thought, how could I ever like a book about a vampire?? But I've always heard to never judge a book, and to always give it a try, so I told her I would read it. She brought me the first one, Twilight, and made me promise to read the first 3 chapters before I made my decision. That night, I read the first three, and about four more! I couldn't put it down. Now I am reading the whole series again, and I am about to start the second book called New Moon.

I am curious to know what book you are reading right now, or one you have just finished. Tell me the name of the book and give me a little information about what it is about. Don't tell me all the details. If your book gets me excited, I'll read it over Spring Break and tell you what I think about it!

Census 2010

A few weeks ago in Scholastic News, we read an article about the 2010 Census. It told us about the purpose of the Census, which is to get an official count of the United States' population. It will also tell us how many people in the United States are of which race, and how old they all are. We also learned that if people do not fill out the form, the Census committee will send someone to the home to get the information!

I even brought in my Census form and showed it to the class. We talked about how to fill it out and what information is needed for each person.

I'm curious....how has your family responded to the Census? Has your family received the form yet? Have you sent it back? Did you help your parents complete the form?

Spring is here!!

Saturday, March 20th, was the first day of Spring! I don't know about you but I thought this day would never come. We've had such a crazy winter, with lots of snow, rain and super cold weather. We've suffered through so many days of "Inside Recess", but you all have been such good sports about that. Now Spring is here and I am looking forward to seeing all the beautiful flowers, the green leaves on the trees, and feeling the warm sun on my face.

I have two questions that I want you to respond to.

#1. What is your favorite thing about Spring?

#2. Now that the weather is beginning to warm up, what is something fun you would like the class to do at recess? This could be a game out on the field, or any other idea you can think of. I will pick some of the best ideas and we will do them!!

"Hanging Around" with Mrs. Anderson

This past Friday, our student body witnessed a historic event. For the first time ever, we hung a teacher from the wall with duct tape! Our PE Teacher, Mrs. Anderson, promised us at the beginning of February that she would "do something CRAZY" if we met our goal of $1800 for Jump Rope for Heart. She was true to her word! She announced on Wednesday morning that not only had we met our goal, but we had surpassed it, raising over $2100!!

Here are some pictures of this special day!

This first picture shows Mrs. Anderson waiting to begin speaking to all the third, fourth, and fifth grade students. You can see all the tape strips on the wall, just waiting to be used.

Here she is talking to all of us. You can see a number hanging from the wall...that's how much money our school raised for the American Heart Association! We should be so proud of ourselves. And one of our own classmates, Angela, was the student who raised the most money!

This next picture shows Mrs. Anderson with all the tape on her. It took quite a while for the students and teachers to wrap her with tape...probably about 15-20 minutes. This is just before the stool was pulled from under her feet.

And here she is, just "hanging" out with us! Mrs. Anderson smiled and laughed the whole time. She sure is a good sport!

We were lucky to get to see this, since it did not work out the first time. When Mrs. Anderson tried to get taped for the Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd, she was not able to stay stuck to the wall. She told me later that she timed it, and she was stuck to the wall for 13 minutes!

What did you think about this! Let's hear your thoughts on taping a teacher to the wall. Was that a good motivator to help raise money for a good cause?

It's been "SNOW" much fun!

Well, boys and girls, can you believe how much snow we have gotten this school year? I cannot remember this much snow in our town since I moved here, and that was back in 2004. We had 5-6 inches just before Christmas break which allowed us to go home two hours early. Some of that snow was still on the ground a week later, or longer. Now we have just experienced another 8-9 inches, and this is our 3rd day out of school.

I enjoyed watching the snow fall on Friday night and Saturday. I tried to take my son Quinn out to play on Saturday but the snow was up to his knees and he couldn't walk in it. On Sunday when I took him out to play, he said "OH, Wow!", when he saw all the snow.

My best snow memory happened when I was in 4th grade. That year was 1988 and my dad said we got about 18 inches of snow over several days. School was out for over a week. I lived out in the country and on one side of our street was a strip of pine trees that went all the way down the street. Beyond the trees was a big field, which was really part of a local baseball field. Behind 2nd base and center field, the land sloped downward, creating a wonderful sledding hill. My dad, my cousin Jeff and I went sledding several days. The snow was so high (and I was so short) that my dad or Jeff (who was in high school) had to carry me up the hill. We would slide down and sometimes crash into piles of snow. Sometimes we would end up all the way to the trees. I only wish I had pictures of this day...I only have the pictures in my head.

So now I would like to know....what is your best snow memory? It can be from this recent snow, or it could be from a while back. I know some of you have only seen snow once or twice in your whole life. I want to hear about a snow day memory that you will remember when you are my age!