Al Capone Does My Shirts Book Trailers

Here are some book trailers that the class (and teacher) made after completing the novel Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko.

Genius Hour

After a long hiatus to our class blog, I wanted to share some notes about and photos of projects students were working on before and after Winter Break. With a pause in enrichments, we had some extra time to devote to student selected topics. We called this time Genius Hour. Ranging from 40-60 minutes 3-4 times a week, students had ample time to explore a subject they found interesting and get creative in a very hands on way. Some students tried out Makey-Makeys with no direct instruction. Makey-Makeys are simple color coded parts that when combined in “right” order allow electric current to flow through creating a circuit that can run a light or small motor. It was great to see the enthusiasm and even though there weren’t enough sets for each student that was interested to have their own, it fostered collaboration, patience, and teamwork.

                                     

Other students went the art route, yet in many different forms. Some students focused on holiday decorations and created a tree, colored construction paper chains, pipe cleaner bows, and even faux presents. Other students worked on a large mural and gained an incredible amount of respect from me when another student accidentally spilled water on it and they had to work on something else while it dried. Another student, when not assisting others, diligently worked on creating cardboard blades from a character in a game League of Legends. By the end, another student had created a cardboard mask/head from a different game. Even projects that weren’t aren’t specific had some type of flair.

                               

Some students gravitated towards cardboard and a group of boys made a jet pack and others laser blasters. Some students created a ping pong ball toss game using cardboard and a few girls took it further and created a target for a bow that shot unsharpened pencils.  In the final stretch of time, two more cardboard arenas were created, one for football and one for basketball, including raised hoops for the latter and advertising billboards for the former.

I was even impressed by those who started out simply wanting to play some games. A group of boys started by playing Connect Four, but by the end had created modified rules to make the game more fun and challenging. Another group of girls were simple passing around a putty ball, and when encouraged to think about ways to expand, created a styrofoam bordered arena complete with goals and the ability to play 2-on-2, much like foosball.

The process did require some patience on my end, as well as a willingness to at times let things get a little messy, and even a little more noisy than usual, but the final (and sometimes still incomplete) projects show that it was a worthwhile endeavor. I highly encourage offering time to your children to just mess around. With simple supplies that were found around the class as well as things that were being unused at my home, there was more than enough to stimulate curiosity and creativity. On a last note, if lack of cardboard is ever the determining factor, Costco will gladly give it away when asked. That’s an insider tip, just don’t tell anyone that you heard it from me.

              
                                                     

LPA Conference

Hi my name is Aidan and I had a great weekend in October. Let me tell you about myself before I talk about the weekend. Did you know I have a dwarfism! I was born with achondroplasia (man that’s a long word, mom had to help me with that spelling). No big deal. I’m just little and will always be little. I can still ride a bike, and build legos, and play sports.

Now for the weekend. Over a weekend this October, I was at a Little People of America Regional Conference right here in Sacramento. I met a boy named Peyton, who is about the same size as me. When I met him he was playing Minecraft on his iPad. There were lots of kids that were my size there. I had lunch with Bradley. I have known him since I was a baby. At the conference I hung out with lots of kids.

I went to a banquet with my family and there was a dance afterwards. I was so sweaty from the dance!

There was a photobooth there too. We had fun in the photobooth.

What a great weekend!

Trip to Europe (from earlier this month)

Here is Kiana's account of her trip to Europe. The link following has a slideshow presentation of pictures and captions.

Today is the last day of my vacation. That means  have to do everything I can! It also means back to…….. SCHOOL! I remember the first day I left. I missed my family and friends. Then BAM! My vacation is over. BOOOOOOOO! It was  good 12 days of fun. So let me tell you about my trip. The first place we went to was Copenhagen, Denmark. We went shopping, ate at good restaurant food, and we went City sightseeing. After two days it was time to get on the cruise! I stayed in a room with my mom and grandma.The same thing in The Crown Plaza.It was really awsome becuase theres doors room to room so my mom asked if we could open the doors so we can see my grandma and aunt.The first stop was Berlin, Germany. We had a two hour train ride just to get there. Then we went to Tallin, Estonia. Russia was my favorite excursion! We saw The Great Palace, The Catherine’s Palace, even lunch was included with our tour. The next place was Helsinki, Finland. It was the most boring one. It was only 2 hours. They did a photo stop and time to get souvenirs. At  least we got free Wi-Fi at the store by our ship. The last place was Stockholm, Sweden. That tour was only 3 hours. So it was a little bit like the Finland one. We went to a museum. After we stayed in a store by the ship. Believe me when ever we go to the stores it’s always packed. Just for the free Wi-Fi. All the workers and guest stay until they hear to get on board noise. Did you know Sweden does not have Swedish fish? Unless you get one in the ocean! Hahaha! Today was the last sea day. Then we are coming back home. Did I tell you I got to sleep on the top bunk on the ship? Well I did. Did you ever went on a vacation.



SLIDESHOW

"Princess and the Pea" projects

Here is one example of a student created project as a response to the story the Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Andersen.

Student Blog Entry #1 - A Surprise Trip

I thought the night of September 17^th was going to be a normal night, oh but no it wasn’t.  That night we finished eating my dad’s birthday dessert and then my mom and dad said that we would be going to Hawaii the next morning.  At first I thought they were joking but they were serious.  I was so happy I thought I could scream my lungs out.  And they were serious.  The next morning we woke up at 4:00 in the morning had a quick breakfast and took a taxi to the airport.  We flew to LA and then from LA to Maui.

When we got there I was surprised again— my friend was there!  I then figured out that my parents had been setting this up for a few months. 

We all left the airport and got lunch, then drove a rental car to our hotel, The Westin.  We then played at the pool and the beach.  The pool had an awesome waterslide! The next day we played some more at the pool and the beach and went parasailing.  I was nervous about parasailing, but Mateo talked me into it. It was really fun, and we were really high up in the air. The next day we went snorkeling off of a boat at Molokini and saw the coral reef.  We also got to see this huge tree which is one tree but has a bunch of stems and covers a whole park!  It’s in Lahaina and it’s called a banyan tree. The next day we drove the road to Hana (which is like 6 hours) and got to see Twin Falls, a black sand beach, and the Seven Pools of Serenity (we only saw 2).  The next day we went to the pool and beach and went to a luau and saw fire dancing and hula dancing.  The next day we went the pool and beach and snorkeled at a place by our hotel called Black Rock.  A turtle and a sting ray swam right up to the beach! The next day we went the pool and beach and went to Black Rock and then at night we drove up to the top of the volcano Haleakala and saw the stars.  It was really cold at the volcano, and very windy. The next day was our last day.  We went the pool and beach and then started a night flight back home.

This was a great surprise trip to Hawaii. It was really fun having one of my best friends with me to have fun on the island. 

Feelings and Emotions in Writing

As we continued working on our personal narratives this week, we spent some time one day focusing on how great authors include feelings and emotions of characters in their writing. We tried going beyond simple use of synonyms for describing feelings to use of character response and behaviors to draw a reader in.  Students have only just begun typing up their own personal narratives and the goal will be to revise and add in descriptions of feeling through the revision process. We focused on five emotions and these are some of the descriptions they came up with.

Confused

*eyes wandering *dazed *weirdly gasping *sweat on brow *discombobulated*dizzy *inquisitively *don’t know what’s going on *unsure *flabbergasted*anxiously seeking *dumbfounded *baffled

Angry

*mad *clenching her fist *with a tornado at the top of his head *not happy/unhappy *stomping *his face burned with anger *eyes scrunched up with little stars*his hair going up everywhere *making his hands into fists *at the top of his voice*shaking fists *grumpy *thundercloud in brain

Sad

*with tears in his eyes *teary-eyed *glum *depressed *tears welled in her eyes*downcast *dejected *upset *melancholy *shivering

Happy

*excited *tears of joy *giggling *jumping up and down happily *jumpy*giggling *feeling like you could give anyone a big hug *ecstatic

Scared
*heart pounding *gasped in horror *throat was dry *eyes wide *unable to breathe