Fancy Fall

Fall is here and in full swing! We've been very busy here in 5th grade - so busy in fact that we've already made it to conferences!


As a 5th grade teacher - we try to get our students to understand the important responsibility of being a student. Taking responsibility for their work, being responsible for their class items, and taking ownership of their learning & achievement. We support this idea with student-led conferences in the fall.

Student Led Conferences are brand new for students & parents - so we spend a few days allowing the students to practice their presentations before their parents show up. Student-led conferences mean that the student does the talking, they walk their parents through their work, their grades and this year through their data tracking binders. We've been graphing and reflecting and rating our learning so much this year so we have some great growth to show parents!
Each student will walk their parents through their binder/info and then if the parent has a question for the teacher they put a colored cup on the edge of their table to alert the teacher that they're needed!

The cups are color coded for each subject, so we know exactly which teacher they would like to talk to! This process has become so efficient and effective and the kids and parents really seem to love it. It pushes the students to explain their grades and progress to their parents - not the teachers talking their way through! Also, it gives the parents a different perspective on the conference experience and they get their questions answered after they talk to their parents first!
We love it - they love it and we get to run 3 conferences at the same time - seeing ALL of our kids for 20 minutes each!

I'm excited to work through this whirlwind - 3 days of conferences this week!!

We look forward to seeing all of our parents and explaining the amazing things we've been working on!

A land forgotten

I've been a bad blogger - for a while! With updating my classroom website (missbrown5th.weebly.com) and all of the craziness happening here with snow days and make ups - it's completely slipped to the bottom of the priority list. 

Let me update you on some things we've been doing. 

Kindles in the Classroom!                             

 Each student has been expanding their reading life

 by using Kindles to read some top books of 2013! 

 Cross Country Skiing!
We had perfect weather for our skiing trip! Not windy - not too cold and perfect snow!


Currently:
The 5th Graders in Rm. 14 are hard at work on their projects for our annual Reading Tea!
March is READING MONTH - so we are kicking our reading into high gear! Our Reading Tea is next Thursday in the Library - and parents are encouraged to attend if they can! ( I can assure you, you will not be disappointed).

Our Marking Period is coming to a close - so report cards will be going home next week - right before our spring break! :)

I'm sure we could all use some relaxing - now that the weather is resembling something close to spring-ish :)


Miss B.

Artful Thinking

This past Friday, we decided to expand our minds in one of my favorite ways : Artful Thinking.

The Artful Thinking program was developed in collaboration with the Traverse City, Michigan Area Public Schools. The purpose of this program is to focus on students appreciating art rather than just creating it. I like to use artful thinking to help students create connections between art pieces and the topics we study in class.

We have just begun a new novel study of Scott O'Dell's Sing Down the Moon, so I made this choice for Friday's art piece: 

The students were given some time to view the painting -- just to 'take it all in.' We paired our viewing with a See, Think, Wonder. The students were given 3 color coded post-its, one for their Sees, one for their Thinks and one for their very important Wonders.

 

We used our classroom Target Tabs to track our seeing, thinking and wondering and then they chose one to share with the class on our See Think Wonder chart.

I'm always amazed and the observations they come up with and the powerful impact art can have on young people. It's also a phenomenal platform for visualizing our novel's plot line.

Here are some of their thoughts:

Weekend Wisdom

Common Core Roadmaps!

As November opens it's eyes and we join it in truly welcoming Fall into our grasp, one other thing waits upon the horizon: Conferences.

Some of my teacher friends are already well underway with their conferences -- but here in the Western pocket we have a few more days.

After preparing conference folders last week, I came across some helpful tools that I will be using this year to help parents understand what we do here at school.

Here are some of the things in my toolbox this year.
They are mighty helpful ::: use them if you like!

First up: a video that concisely explains the Common Core and its expectations for students and teachers. This video is free to use as you'd like (meaning it can even be put on your school website)!







Next up:
Some really nice handouts and roadmaps to lead your parents through what the CCSS means and how they can be supportive of these expectations on their end!

These Parents' Guide to Student Success Printable Flyers provide an organized overview of what your child will learn by the end of their academic year in both math and English language arts/literacy.

Click here to access these flyers in color (they are also available in B&W)

Lastly,
Some printable  Parent Roadmaps from The Council of Great City Schools.

These resources guide parents about what their children will be learning and how they can support that learning in grades K-8. These Parent Roadmaps also provide three-year snapshots showing how selected standards progress from year to year so that students will be college and career ready.

If you're interested in checking these out: Click  here!


I hope this are as useful to you as they are to me!




Miss Brown

So long September

It's always hard to say goodbye to September -- the beginnings are over, my birthday is over and the very last reminders of summer are torn from my grasp.

However, the mourning doesn't last long when I think of all of my favorite FALL things.

• Boots
• Pumpkin things!
• Beautiful Colors
• Sweaters
• Scarves

Ah the wondrous excitement that fall brings to my wardrobe and palate.
As we settle into our routines (finally) and begin to dive deeper into the abyss of learning, I become even more excited about all of the things coming our way this year.

One of my most favorite things is turning my fifth grade friends into detectives and teaching them the skill of the inference.
This year we introduced: PIGEON IMPOSSIBLE -- and it is SO worth the time and rambunctious laughter that will surely disrupt neighboring classes.

Check it out ---

I wish you great days!

Miss Brown

Welcome Back!

How quickly the summer flew by!
Here we are again at the beginning of a new year and I am so excited for everything in store!

With a brand new building, the staff at CMS is ready to jump into the 2013-14 school year!


I can't wait to meet all of you at Parent Night on Thursday. Please join us from 5-7 at the Middle School to meet the teachers and tour the school!



-Miss Brown

Summer Salutations!

As our year comes to a close and we say our farewells, wishing happy and enjoyable summers to all -- some things are still on our minds for what we'll be doing all summer!

As Middle Schoolers -- we expect a lot from our 5th graders. This extends into the summer -- as we hate the dreaded "learning loss" that can occur from too much of doing nothing!
Letters have been sent home to our families, outlining the requirements for each student this summer.

Here's the gist:

• Students should be working on IXL. They should log-in and work on it throughout the summer. We are expecting that they gain a medal in every skill in their current grade level (5th). This is showing 70% proficiency in each area that they should've learned this year. 
• Students should also be reading. Push them to read every day -- 10, 15, 20 minutes -- any reading is good reading, if they're doing it all the time! At a minimum, we are requiring 1 AR leveled book that each child self selects be completed this summer. They are encouraged to take their time and take notes on this book -- in the fall they will be given an AR test on that book and that score will be entered into the grade book.
• Student should definitely be writing! Push them to write as much as possible! We request that students write 1-3 "journal" entries each week of the summer. These entries can be prompted (from websites in this post) or free-writes. They can talk about their days, their vacations, tell stories, etc. 

The importance of these tasks cannot be stressed enough. If your son/daughter keeps their math skills sharp, reads regularly and keeps writing -- they will enter next year so much more prepared! The transition will be smoother for them and their teachers next year and their successes will be greater!

REWARD! 

•  Our gracious and lovely PTO, as well as the 5th grade team have decided to purchase iPod shuffles for the students who complete their summer tasks. Every student, who has been promoted (not placed or retained) who completes their Math and ELA assignments will be entered into a grade level drawing to win an iPod shuffle! 
• We'd like to reward the kids for keeping their brains sharp and working hard over the summer with incentive and drive to keep plugging along.

 I know it's a lot to take in -- but if we band together, everyone will win!

-Miss Brown

Here are some websites that may help out this summer!

• IXL
• A link directly to the student's math website!
• AR Book Finder
• This site will tell students the level of the book as well as if it has an AR test or not.
• Students should be reading at or above their reading level. We encourage them to choose books that interest them, but to stay AT or go BEYOND their reading level!
• Book Lists
• This list offers books at various reading levels. This will help students to choose AR books at their levels!
• Scholastic Book Finder
• This allows you to search for books within a reading level!
•  Journal Prompts
• Possible Prompts for students to respond to! 
• More Prompts
• Reading Log
• A sample reading log for the kids to keep track of their reading.
• Scholastic's Summer Reading Challenge
• Scholastic allows students to log-in and track their minutes over the summer.
• Time For Kids
• A great resource for informational text options for the kids to work on! This will boost their test taking abilities, their science and social studies understanding and keep them sharp and ready for the high demands of the Common Core!
• Scholastic News
•  A great resource for informational text options for the kids to work on! This will boost their test taking abilities, their science and social studies understanding and keep them sharp and ready for the high demands of the Common Core!
• 
  

Keep checking back and there may be some additional helpful links -- if I come across any.

Springing into Break!

We've finally made it! Spring has sprung (sort of) and the weather is starting to reflect how we've all been feelings in Room 702.
As we prepared ourselves for a week's vacation -- we enjoyed ourselves a little week of spirited activities.
Our countdown had begun -- we wrapped up units, pushed through our Math topics and even had a celebratory Spring assembly to kick off vacation.

 We began our week with a Social Studies -- Gallery Walk!  I divvied up the kids and gave each group a different poster, as well as a different colored marker. They were each given 2 minutes to write anything they could remember on the topic we'd been discussing for the past month. All of our colonial knowledge, slavery, economics, and government came together through this summarizing activity. The groups then rotated through, so every group had a chance to work at every station. The results were really cool -- this is a great way for them to demonstrate what they know and review with the ENTIRE class! :)

The end of the week proved to be a bit crazy, but not any less exciting. Our amazing 6th grade Math teacher took on the task of doing the St. Jude's Math-a-thon. 23 of her students rose to the challenge of raising money for this amazing cause. The challenge: Raise $1,000 and their science teacher would shave his head. As the money poured in and these kids worked hard to complete their math activity books -- it became clear they were going to meet and surpass that goal. When they passed $1,000 -- they wanted another victim - they asked one of the Title Aides if he'd join in as well (at $1,500 would he shave his head?). He agreed and the donations continued. As a final tally -- the kids raised $1,800 for St. Jude and at our Spring Assembly -- two male staff members (the only two who weren't already bald) had their heads shaved in front of everyone.

The science teacher prepped himself for this endeavor by dying his hair school colors on Thursday morning. 

With all of that excitement the kids were sent on their way -- with hopes of happy and relaxing weeks off. As we teachers take a few minutes to relax ourselves!
Although I have lots of ideas circulating and some things to look forward to when we return!

Book clubs:

and beginning our fun and exciting unit of poetry!

Have great Spring Breaks and hopefully you all return refreshed and ready for the end of the year!

Appropriate Appreciation

This past weekend I took quite a risk and agreed to go fishing. Relying heavily on friends to supply me with necessary things (waders, fishing poles, bait, a boat...ya know common items), I rode 2.5 hours up to Baldwin late Friday night to a friend's cabin. Slept a few hours into the morning and then began to pile on layer...upon layer... upon layer of clothing. Pants, long-johns, waders, underarmour, patagonia layers, sweatshirts.... hats, gloves. The list could extend the length of this post.
I was sure to document -- since I knew nobody would believe me that I actually wore waders...and actually went fishing.

We arrived on the PM (Pere Marquette -- for those of you who don't fish .... me) and began the adventure.

I managed to land myself a wee little rainbow trout -- which I proudly boasted to anyone who would listen. 

After 8 long hours of floating the river -- I'd lost feeling in my finger and we'd all gone a little bit Castaway -- If there'd been a volleyball around -- we may have befriended it.

Overall, it's a new experience that offers up many new stories to share and laugh over -- which is worthwhile for me!








To wrap up this post -- and stick to the title theme -- I wanted to showcase and highlight that today was Joe/Willie Appreciation Day! We showed our gratitude for CMS's favorite custodians by making banners, cards and treats for our favorite guys!
Rm. 702 made a whole stack of cards that were scattered throughout Joe's day and I made a class card to post on his door.  Just a little thanks for keeping our school looking snazzy!

-T

Words of Wisdom

I'm intrigued and interested to have come across this today. I love public education.

A little Tuesday pick-me-up.

Q: "What is a nebula?"
A: "Nebula is a women's name."













Taught the kids about writing vignettes and was eagerly approached by one of my girls:
"Miss Brown, I finished my vinaigrette... will you look it over?"



These are a few of the many reasons I love and will always love my job.

Skiing across the country.

Since West Michigan (and now the rest of the state) has been blanketed in a bouncy layer of snow, 5th grade decided to take advantage and introduce the kids to Cross Country Skiing at the local nature center. On Wednesday, 3 of the 5th grade classes piled onto big yellow buses and made our way to Sarett. Bundled in snow clothes and wearing big warm boots -- the kids filed in for their crash course on the history of skiing. After learning the basics about the "babbish" on a snowshoe and how we don't want to be "high sticker-nose pickers..." but rather "low sticker - thigh flickers" with our ski poles -- we got our boots and separated into groups of 10. 

 We met our naturalist in the parking lot, skis in hand as we all fumbled putting on the (very) slippery skis. Once our boots were locked in, she taught us how to get up if we fell. The entire time I was thinking, "It's fine...I just need to avoid falling so I don't have to do that much scooting and rolling in the snow." (I wasn't that lucky).  The groups wobbled on their skis toward the "practice circles" so we could test out our skills gliding, walking, and pushing ourselves through the snow.

 Each group, like ducklings to their mother, disappeared into the woods. My skis were awesome! A nice pair of Crown skis and pretty blue poles. I know nothing about skiing and had never been on a pair of skis -- but I enjoyed my pair and really liked gliding around.






 We ended up with a perfect day, quite warm and sunny with beautiful, snow-covered trails to glide through. Eventually we made our way to one of the "baby hills" as our instructor assured us. By this time I'd fallen twice -- once landing my head right into the side of a tree. I was a little apprehensive of this hill -- so I played "photographer" at the bottom.                 

 We had some wipeouts on this hill -- as I watched it be quite difficult for some kids to stay in the track. Those that did fall, 
became experts at popping back up after wiping out! I had a dad from my class attend the field trip! Mr. Tavolacci was our seasoned expert on the skis -- and he raced his son down the hill a few times, which was fun to watch!

 After a tiring day of skiing -- the kids were quiet on the bus ride back to school. Most were chilled and had bright rosy cheeks, but had nothing but great things to say. One of mine came up to me while turning in his skis and said, "Miss Brown -- I can snowboard and not fall...but I fell 8 times on these things!" I asked, "Did you have fun?" "Well, yeah..." "Then it was worth the falling.." I replied. :)
I felt the same -- the kids were overly interested in how many times I fell on my skis -- I kept my number at 3 .. but one of them was because I crashed into one of my students.

It was a phenomenal day and a great field trip. I love getting out of my comfort zone -- and watching kids get to try something they might not have tried on their own -- or have never done before. I thank Sarett and the parent volunteer for giving us a great day in the snow!


To end this post -- I'd like to share a picture from yesterday. Yesterday was "Team Day" at school. Students were told to wear a shirt/jersey representing their favorite team. Our principal pushed for increased MSU gear...heavily biased in his favoritism :). I wore an old school hockey jersey -- representing the San Jose Sharks. Now, I'm a Wings fan all the way -- but I couldn't pass up wearing one of the old jersey to school -- plus it's TEAL! The kids had no idea it was one of the old jerseys..but they liked it anyways. A handful of staff members had a similar idea representing, MSU, Boston Bruins, and Chicago Blackhawks for hockey!

A FANtastic Friday!

Running Circles around Lit Circles.

 
Today is the exciting and long awaited day!
5th grade begins Blood on the River today! I've decided to take on the task of launching my group into self directed book clubs to work through this book. Coming off of our study of the establishment of Jamestown in Social Studies, I picked this book to dovetail what we've been studying.

I've spent the last 3 weeks preparing all of the materials, folders, comprehension questions, vocabulary, and projects that will accompany this book over the next 5-6 weeks. We got off to a delay with days off these past two weeks -- but we're off to a bang!
The kids like it... they're actually all participating and discussing what they read. I love peeking in and listening to them talk and work through the book on their own.

Each day begins with a task page that outlines what they need to accomplish in the circle for that day. The kids have already read, so they're ready to discuss --
I give them some possible discussion topics for the chapters assigned, and off they go.

Walking by hearing, "I think that word is an insult because in the book it says he whispered it."  or "How would you feel if you were stuck on a boat with people you barely knew?"
AMAZING.

I love literature and love watching students love literature. 

Wait... I'm a teacher?

It officially became winter here in the southwest corner of the mitten! That may be the understatement of the year, actually. We got hit with a LOT of snow and ice. Let's take it back a quick jog ... I was living life gloriously as a teacher with MLK Jr. day off. Spending the day just relaxing and mentally preparing to go back to work. Little did I know, Mother Nature had other plans.
    Tuesday morning I awoke with a jolt to the sound of my phone ringing, alerting me that "Coloma Community Schools would be closed" ... HALLELUJAH -- the first snow day of the season, in a district where I was assured, "we don't get snow days." Totally unexpected and totally awesome. I frolicked, yes frolicked in the snow that day  --- in the -20 degree weather -- I excitedly jaunted through the snow.

This is where I live -- and what it looked like on Wednesday by the lake. :)

Got myself all rested and prepared to go back on Wednesday --- psyche! Not happening -- Wednesday was called off too and then Thursday! It became sort of funny that we had all of these days off, but the snow kept coming and the wind chill kept dropping, so to keep the kiddos fingers and toes on their bodies - we gave them day after day off.

     It got to the point that we were joking about our jobs, "I think I'm a teacher... but I'm not sure anymore."
Friday was the day we, teachers, had all waited for -- back to school for a Monday sort of Friday. We reviewed, we played Math and Science games and we said farewell to our classes for the weekend (already). The weekend was odd, I felt like I was getting so much time off and that it was like Christmas break all over again!
       I spent the weekend, just as I had the past 4 days off of school -- lessons done, grading done... just enjoying time off. Monday came with a surprise -- 5:42am -- another day off. Sleeping in until 8 was becoming a bad habit -- but I was amazingly productive... cooked a delicious dinner and relaxed yet again.
Back to school today -- tough to get back into the grind, but I was SO ready. The kids love the days off .. but I know the consequences of too much time off and I was ready to see them again!

We spent today launching back into our units -- Dividing Decimals, Studying the Southern Colonies and Saturn. Oh, beautiful.. glorious .. ringed Saturn. We read from our textbooks as a class and then I showed this video:

I'm a BIG fan of Charlie -- but I had NO idea that he had a series on the Solar System! What a diamond to find -- the kids LOVE him because he's hilarious -- and he talks to them, just like I do. Like someone who is BEYOND fascinated by space and just oozes with excitement to share all of the crazy weird things that happen in space.

AMAZING.

Happy Happy Tuesday, teachers.

Welcome back.

Things Overheard: Holiday Edition

Today is a true day of organized chaos.
School is doing Santa's Workshop where the kids are working on gifts for their parents -- jewelry, frames, scarves, etc.

This has created a very open ended day of fun for me and for the class -- with a wealth of silly things being said.


After making lots of gifts for her friends and family, one student came by:O: I had to wrap the gifts for my family so they don't know what I got them.
Me: Well that's very nice of you to make things for them
O: Yeah, but they ran out of scarves so I had to improvise..
Me: Sometimes that happens...
O: (walking away)... I hate improvising


J: Miss Brown, what do we do with the gifts we made?
Me: You can put them on your desk or in your locker...
J: What if it's for your teacher? Do you give it to them now or wait until everyone gets back?
Me: umm, I guess that's you're decision..
J: Ok! Here ya go -- Merry Christmas, Miss Brown!



As I opened a card from one student -- I was given a gift card.
Me: Oh, thank you for the gift card!
Student: How much is it for?!
Me:... that's kind of rude...

A group of boys has decided to play Twister in the corner while we wait for the rest to finish making gifts --
M: "I need to take my scarf off -- I'm about to get worked up!"


Also, my amazing kids covered my desk in gifts today -- they're the best.

As one shouted as I opened them: "We must really love you to buy you so much stuff!"

True True -- Happy Holidays.

27 gifts of Christmas

Tis the season to begin receiving gifts from the young moldable minds that I interact with each day. I love them to pieces...and have really been enjoying the pleasant... surprises that are left on my desk. Sometimes prompted with a "Ms. Brown I got this for you... " or "My Grandma says I should give this to you.."

No matter the reason -- I find it all too funny not to share. 

Here are the 3 I've received thus far.  

One point for the funny gifts.

This one may have been accompanied by a proposal... I'm not sure.

Chocolate covered bacon -- they all know I HATE bacon. Hilarious.. >: (

They controlled the food network?

This week has been a whirlwind with Social Studies -- moving from explorers to discussing the Three Worlds and moving right along to the introduction of slavery by our good ol' pal Columbus. In studying the 3 worlds we dove right into learning about West African Empires -- Ghana, Mali and Songhay. Quite a fascinating little trip into history talking about salt for gold trade networks and taxation. I must say, I'm mostly posting this to boast the sweet map I drew of Africa so we could study together. As the unit progressed we added to it -- summarizing our information to make the map a study tool tracking the rise and fall of each empire as well as the region in which they grew to power. Pretty impressive I think.. :)
        (I suppose I should say things were going well        until I graded my assessments. The majority did well -- but one student made me laugh out loud with her response. When asked to "List two reasons that led to rise and growth of the empires." She wrote, "They controlled the food network."  I'm sorry I was unaware that Bobby Flay had anything to do with West Africa, but far be it from me to say he wasn't there in 1100. ) :)


In other news -- the long division hurricane has hit 5th grade and it's going surprisingly well. Estimation is still an area that needs improvement and with the Common Core Standards -- estimation and rounding are ALWAYS important in the lessons. We have introduced a multitude of strategies for solving division that allow the students options in solving -- however I notice they all like the standard algorithm. Cut and dry and easy to remember -- especially when you have a nifty little mnemonic device to remind you.


Let's see -- to scatter this update a bit more - I, along with my aide, have been trying to help the students better understand and remember the different parts of speech. As a class I've noticed that they often confuse them -- especially "The Big 3" -- which I feel shouldn't be happening. Verbs, Nouns and Adjectives are VERY different and definitely have different jobs in a sentence. In an effort to create a reference point for the kids to check into when they need assistance, we've been working on this anchor chart!

It's been a great time to just quote School House Rock songs when defining different parts of speech. They don't know that I'm being unoriginal -- they just think I'm clever. Oh the trickery. :)


And for your weekly dose of humor:

Student: "Ms. Brown I want to be a chiropractor when I grow up"
Me: "Well that sounds like a good choice!"
Student: "...and a substitute teacher because I like being in the classroom!"
Me: "You don't just want to be a regular teacher instead?"
Student: "No, because I have to be a chiropractor -- I'm going to take over Dr. Moss's office -- I started going there this year and I will take over after I go to school. I'm going to go to school -- but I can't remember how to say it."
Me: "College? Medical School?"
Student: "No... how do you say, I-O-W-A?"
Me: "Iowa..."
Student: "Yeah... I'm going there for 4 years."


Always a good time.

Stellar Solar System Study

 

Who would've thought that here I'd be teaching the unit I wrote for student teaching last spring? Well, if you asked me -- I did. 5th grade is my love and my "sweet spot." However, having it become an actual reality is another coin. I have a unit, that I wrote and I'm proud of --  that I get to teach AGAIN! I am finally understanding what it might be like to be a 2nd year teacher -- having taught something before and knowing what works/doesn't -- what the bugs are and how I can avoid issues. I still have the same excitement because this is an entirely NEW group of kids who haven't heard my stories, jokes, and songs.

We did our intro work (or the blah blah blah section as I call it ;) ) and introduced the planet line up today. I'm glad that My Very Energetic Mother Just Served Us Nachos is still a useful tool. Memorizing the order of the planets has never sounded so delicious -- and asking "Why isn't Pluto a planet?" is a question on everyone's mind. -- They refuse to let go of it until I personally address each of their inquiries. I set up some hype for the day we study eclipses -- needless to say, I'm excited when they start each day asking, 'Do we get to watch the eclipse today?!"

Oh the joys of teaching young minds.


Here is the video we watched today -- if you teach Science of any kind, I recommend his videos!

Rockets Away...

Let's Go to Europe

We have been working hard here in 5th grade -- studying the causes and consequences of European Exploration. In an effort to switch up our day to day -- I created a web quest for the class to go on, in groups, to research different explorers. I split the class into groups of 4, each group was in charg of a different explorer -- from Vespucci to Cortes, and each student was given an important job. Our jobs were as follows:
                 Mapper (draw a map of the route taken)
                 Historian (write a biography of the explorer and create a timeline of their life)
                 Press Reporter (create a newspaper of the important events and discoveries of your voyage)
                 Personal Secretary (Write a daily log of the events happening on the ship -- write letters back to sponsors who are paying for your voyage.

 I was so proud of the work the class put into making these. Such a great way to study and present exploration!

We spent a week researching, drawing, and drafting the pieces of our presentations. At the end of the week, the groups had to present to the rest of the class what they'd found. It was so cool to see what they had done and what they'd found out. To have them be the experts is a lot more fun than having me spout information or just read it out of a book. The kids were awesome -- especially applying their knowledge when we played Jeopardy to review AND when they took their unit test today! :)

I beamed with pride when one of my students approached me today and said, "Ms. Brown -- I knew that number 3 was Amerigo Vespucci -- because he was my explorer."

I love these kids.