Bonneville Dam, Beacon Rock, and an ice cream

We had a wonderful day! We began our trip at Bonneville Dam at the visitor's center on the Washington side. We learned about how the dam had been added onto back in the 80s and we had to figure out the steps it takes to go from water to lighting up a light bulb. We then took a very long stairway down to a catwalk over a hydro-electrical turbine. It was clear on top so that you could see it working...very cool! We then walked over to where the fish ladder was and talked salmon.

We ate lunch at Fort Cascade and then drove to Beacon Rock for our ascent! We had just a little rain on the way up. The kids did a great job being safe and making their way to the top. We then rewarded ourselves with some ice cream at the East Wind Drive-in in Cascade Locks. Enjoy the pictures!

Field Trip

On Wednesday, May 18, we will be loading up a school bus and heading to downtown Portland to see A Wrinkle in Time. Thanks to Ticia Evans, a Corbett parent, we are able to watch this Oregon Children's Theater production with free tickets. Permission slips went home on Thursday and should be returned by Tuesday, 5/10. Students will need to bring a lunch (we will leave school at 10:30 and return about 2:00). We have room for three chaperones. Please let me know if you are able to attend.

Aboriginal Art

This week we took a trip down under to Australia to learn about Aboriginal art. We first found the word "original" in Aboriginal. That was a huge clue that "aboriginal" people were the first people of Australia. Australia Aborigines created stories to teach each other about the Dreamtime, these stories taught about life, including birth, love, food gathering, hunting, warfare, marriage and death. Aboriginal people reminded many of use of the Native Americans that we have learned about in our own exploration of the Gorge.

Here are a few pictures taken while we were painting while listening to Aboriginal music.

Area of Study - April 7th

Another amazing celebration of learning! I am always so impressed by these researchers and their variety of interests. We had monkeys, polar bears, deer, koala bears, bearded dragons, and giraffes to learn about. There were clarinets, Bermuda Triangles, Vikings, teeth, Origami, renewable energy, and many more subjects. Many books were written, interviews conducted, posters made, pictures painted, and models built. My favorite part is watching the pride and pure joy of children that love to learn about things that are special and interesting to them. Our celebration is a great time to share their new found knowledge with so many people. Thanks for coming!

I am attaching a slide show of the event!

A Visit with Craigmore Creations

On Wednesday, January 26th, we had the pleasure of hosting some wonderful people from Craigmore Creations. These folks were responsible for researching, writing, illustrating, and coloring the graphic novel that we just read called: Terra Tempo: Ice Age Cataclysm!. The story begins in Portland, Oregon and then travels back in time to the Missoula Floods.

Christopher Herndon showing us how he illustrates a graphic novel.

Erica Melville explaining how she uses a computer to color the illustrations that Chris draws.

David Shapiro explains how good writers develop a story filled with characters, a great setting, and an interesting plot.

David takes time to sign a few autographs...Faith just happened to a cast that needed signing!

Simple Machines and Rube Goldberg Challenge!

During the past few weeks we have been exploring simple machines. We have learned about levers, incline planes, pulleys, screws, wheels/axles, and a wedge. Each student had to figure out how force multiplied by distance equals work (W = F X D). This required putting our math skills to work!

We are also putting finishing touches on our Rube Goldberg Art Challenge. We had to take a simple task and make it complicated. The completed art will be displayed in the hallways. Each machine to have 10-12 steps that were drawn to show exactly how the machine would work. Each step also had to be written out and labeled.

For the next two weeks we will be working in teams of four to take on the Rube Goldberg Science Challenge. Each team will be given a bag of supplies to build a machine that is capable of moving a ping pong ball through at least ten steps and three simple machines to land into a Dixie cup. Each team will have a limited amount of time to plan and build (two 45 planning sessions and six 45 minute building sessions). The machine will be scored in four areas: Does the ball land in the cup? How long did the ball stay moving? How many simple machines were used? Was it appealing to look at? The winner of our classroom competition will represent our class in the school challenge on Monday, February 14th.

Upcoming Events and Happenings:
Jan. 31st - Feb. 3rd Fourth Grade State Writing Assessment
Jan. 31st - Feb. 9th Planning and building Rube Goldberg Machines
Feb. 9th Field Trip to Tears of Joy Theater (Bridge of the Gods)
Feb. 10th Classroom Rube Goldberg Challenge
Feb. 14th Winner of the Classroom Challenge competes
Feb. 21st Monday - No school President's Day
Feb. 25th Friday - School

Welcome Back!

Our first week back was very busy! We have been working on updating our Artist's Profile books, completing our own stories about what we LOVE about winter, and beginning a new science unit on simple machines.

For the next few weeks we be learning about simple machines and a man named Rube Goldberg. We will be exploring the six simple machines and how they will help us with a science challenge - to make a Rube Goldberg device!

Rube Goldberg devices are, in the words of the inventor, “symbol of man’s capacity for exerting maximum effort to achieve minimal results.” Generally, machines are used to exert a minimum effort for maximum results. Goldberg’s inventions became so widely known that Webster Dictionary added the term “Rube Goldberg” to its listings, defining it as “accomplishing by extremely complex, roundabout means what seemingly could be done simply.”

You can check out some examples on the web - http://www.rube-goldberg.com.

To help with the challenge we are asking for donations of the following:
toilet paper rolls
paper towel rolls
wrapping paper rolls
Dixie cups
pipe cleaners
ping-pong balls
rubber bands
3 x 5 index cards
old game pieces that might be helpful
other items - use your imagination!

In addition to all of this - we will be meeting with our buddies from Mrs. Wold's class to learn about the Lunar New Year.

While I enjoyed my time with my own family - I really missed the kids!! It is nice to be back.

Mix, Roll, Bake, and then DECORATE!

Jan Brett would be very proud of the Corbett Grade School kids. We love Jan Brett books because her stories are fun and her illustrations are beautiful. We were inspired to follow in the steps of a character in one of her books, Gingerbread Baby. In the story, Matti tries baking a gingerbread baby, when he becomes inpatient and doesn't follow the recipe exactly, the fun begins! To help solve his problem he bakes a gingerbread house. So with the help of the generous folks at Multnomah Falls Lodge, our own Erica Pace from our amazing food service program, and some amazing parents, the kids were able to make their very own. Our school was able to roll, bake, cut out, assemble, and finally decorate almost 300 gingerbread houses.

Houses will be sent home on Tuesday!

Shapes...

Ms. Hume presented a few lessons on shapes. First we explored 2-D shapes like triangles, quadrilaterals, equilaterals, hexagons, pentagons, and many more. We played a bingo game to review each shape. Today we moved to 3-D shapes. These shapes are not flat, like 2-D. They really "pop" out. They have length, width, and depth!

We talked about some good ways of remembering shapes and then we made a few ourselves using spice drops, toothpicks and some soapy water. We will remember that the spice drops are the vertices, the toothpicks the edges, and we made faces using the soapy water.

Area of Study Celebration

Amazing! It was so wonderful to see everyone so excited about sharing their topics with our buddies, parents, grandparents, and friends! I am surrounded by a bunch of curious kids that absolutely love to learn. The variety of topics and how each was presented was delightful! Just click on the picture to enjoy a slide show of our celebration!

Nov 18, 2010

Reminders

Picture retakes are Wednesday, November 17th.

Area of Study projects are due Wednesday, November 17th at 8 am!

Area of Study Celebration will be Thursday, November 18th at 2:30 pm! Family and friends are invited to come.

Reading Buddy Class

Here are a few snapshots of our class enjoying an afternoon of reading with Mrs. Wold's class.

Room 12 Happenings!

October always means a visit from our amazing Corbett Volunteer Fire Department. The firemen presented a film on the importance of designating a meeting area for the family and checking smoke detectors.

The past five weeks Ms. Hume has been presenting a new artist each Monday. So far we have learned a bit about Frida Kahlo, Frank Gehry, Alexander Caulder, Faith Ringgold, and Leonardo DaVinci. I have posted a few pictures of the art that has been inspired by these artists.

We have now met with our buddies from Mrs. Wold's class twice! Each time the kids have enjoy sharing stories with each other. This is a great time for each child to enjoy a wonderful story and share their love of literature.

We Are Back!

The past two weeks have just flown by. During the our first eight days we have been working on getting the basic routines down. In addition, we have been very busy beginning our exploration of elements of design, learning about geography, brushing up on our math, sharing books with one another, improving our writing and learning about two of our featured artists. Next week we will be adding geology to our classroom too!

Our first artist was Frida Kahlo, an artist from Mexico. We learned a bit about her life, looked at the paintings she created, and thought a bit about why she painted what she did. We then created are own self-portraits that are now hanging in our classroom.

Our next artist is actually an architect. His name is Frank Gehry. Mr. Gehry is famous for his buildings that are very much out of the ordinary. It was so exciting to watch Ms. Hume present this artist and the reaction that each child had. They are very excited to begin their own buildings, but we will need your help!

Children were asked to sketch and then create their building much like Frank Gehry does. We have some supplies to make this happen, but the future architects decided that they would like to bring more materials.

Our list included: paper or plastic bowls, wooden skewers, pipe cleaners, aluminum foil, wax paper, heavy cloth, special papers (the heavier the better). Wire that is flexible and easy to cut, cardboard (like cereal boxes are made of), natural materials (rocks, wood, etc.). We are also hoping to borrow low temperature glue guns (I have a couple).

State Projects...

After a lot of research and preparation our projects were complete. The books were filled with lots of interesting information. The tri-fold boards gave a quick look at the motto, state bird, flower, tree, animal, and a state map. The speeches were well crafted and packed full of history, politics, and fun facts. There were a wide variety of 3-D models representing each state that really captured a lot of our attention.