Tree Swallow Times: November 22, 2010

A two-day week and snow in the forecast?   It is guaranteed to be interesting!

      We will navigate the “week” with enthusiastic anticipation towards the impending holiday break and wishful glances to the skies to celebrate with snow. 

In Readers’ Workshop all book clubs met last week and began new books.   Groups are reading biographies about MLK Jr., historical fiction and non-fiction about colonial life, folk tales and well-known classics (Charlotte's Web).   These book clubs will engage in conversation about their reading, the content of the text and the writer’s craft.  Many of these Swallows will work toward goals of expanding vocabulary during this reading by collecting words from their texts.  Thee words will assist writing too.

Our Swallow Writers are exploding onto page after page.  I am not sure, but I think that the first Authors’ Tea inspired a BOOM in Swallow published writing.  Last week Swallows turn to their writing without pause.  Even though this week is just two days long, we are sure to see the same. 

The classroom is “rockin”…

Last week we collected rocks following given criteria for describing.  This week, we will explore the ways rocks are formed and try to sort our collection by rock type.  Tuesday, Chris (level 3) will invite the Tree Swallows to his FGCS rock museum in his classroom.  They will have a chance to further explore the three rock types and ask questions of Chris as an expert geologist. 

Baby, it’s cold outside…

Please help your Swallow dress for this winter weather.  Layers, a waterproof coat, hat and mittens make for a happy, healthy Swallow.

Home Communication Bags help keep things organized and offer a visual cue to both you and your Swallow.  You know how things end up in the bottom of the backpack…

Please help your swallow make sure to return their bag the very next school day after bringing it home. 

Tree Swallow Times: November 15, 2010

Keep your eyes wide open or you might miss something… the weeks are just sailing by!

Last week was short, sure… but oh, so sweet!  

   We started Readers’ Theater during Reader’s Workshop.  We practiced audience skills while we watched a dramatic reading of “The Homework Lesson” (a short about procrastination).    Very convincing performances, Waylon, Jayden, Finn, Ian and Natalie.

Tuesday’s chill and very wet forecast kept us at school and indoor most of the day.  We brought the rain inside to inspire teambuilding, dramatic play and creativity.  The rain shower in the storyline challenged the Swallow campers to create a shelter.  Each canoe-crew was given a length of rope and a sheet (tarp).  The campers learned a half-hitch knot and worked together to construct a shelter.   The Swallows had to practice skills of active listening, expressing ideas to a group and problem solving.  Groups celebrated with snack time in their tent.

Later that day, the tents came down but the rain stayed… or at least the sweet sound of rainfall.  With palms, snapping fingers, clapping hands and stomping feet, we created the symphony of a thunderstorm.   We then created rainsticks to celebrate water. 

Wednesday was largely about film:  The morning provided opportunity for digital story groups to revise and edit their storyboard and then their film project.  Some groups completed their project and will present at the All –school meeting this Friday.

In the afternoon, we met with Merlin Buddies to lean learn and practice acting, expressive narration and cinematography in preparation for our water movie. 

Friday Swallow Writers received their Writing Toolkits with much excitement.  The Toolkits are heavy-duty folders that act as carols and showcase high-usage words, editor’s checklists and story starters.  As the writers grow, more resources (tools) will be added.  Friday I announced that we would have our first Authors’ Tea this year, and some writers eagerly settled into publishing a piece of writing to share.

Whoo Hoo!  A full week at last!

This week writers will work to finish publishing a piece to read at our first Authors’ Tea this Wednesday.    We will be active-listening audience for our remaining Readers’ Theater presenters. 

On Tuesday, Robin will share a beloved book, “Everybody Needs a Rock,” and her Grandfather’s comprehensive rock collection.  We will use jeweler’s loupes and a digital microscope to examine properties of these rocks and minerals.

On Thursday, we will return toward Ash Street Field to walk the B-Street trail (last year’s Swallows created a brochure about this project), observe the creek habitat and hunt for rocks.

We will use this class collection to further study properties and types of rocks in the next couple of weeks.  We will also explore how rocks help support stream ecosystems.

Wednesday we have a library visit looking for recommended books.  Please help your child be able to participate by sending their library card.   I will not be able to check out books for students.  Library cards are free and easy to obtain.  Just take mail that shows current address and viola!

Friday we will gather with our Merlin Buddies to work on our water movie. Buddies will create shot lists (this is like a storyboard) for their selected page. 

What a week it will be!

Tree Swallow Times: November 8, 2010

                                                Stonefly and mayfly and caddis, oh my!

Our Tillamook Forest trip was a wonderful success, and boy, did we luck out with fantastic weather!   The Swallows explored how water supports the forest, looked for signs of wildlife (tracks, scat and homes) and collected macro-invertebrates as indicators of water quality.
  We found mayfly, stonefly and caddisfly nymphs- all indicators that we were exploring healthy waters!
Back in the classroom, the Swallows are writing and illustrating (watercolors) about their experience during this trip.
I hope to return to this site to support the Swallows in a full stream survey-- water quality (DO, pH and Macro collecting), stream mapping, stream flow and riparian wildlife inventory.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!
The Swallows are near completion of their first film project-- the Sense of Place digital stories.  Groups have been working together to lay out their storyboard with captions or narration.  Some groups will add music to their final short film.  With the goal of presenting at our next all-school meeting ( November 19th), this week, the  Swallows will revise and edit their films using a rubric.    

Scene 1, Take 2, and Action:
This week we will meet with our Merlin Buddies to continue work on our collaborative film project, "A Drop Around the World."  Based on a book, this is the story of a water molecule's journey around the world through the water cycle.  The buddies will learn basics of film (process and products) and expressive oral reading to create a film version of this book.  This week the buddies will rotate through three stations:  film basics, expressive oral reading and "showing, not telling (communicating with gesture and expression)."
Our goal is to present this movie as part of the Level 2 Water Festival in late December.  We will of course keep you posted.

In Readers Workshop, the Swallows have been busy creating book recommendations to support responding to reading through evaluation.  Inleveled reading groups,  the Swallows received Readers Theater scripts, chose parts and set to reading to practice fluent and expressive reading.  The groups will present their Readers' Theater for an audience of their classmates.

IT'S RAINING.... IT'S POURING
   It is raining in our storyline!   With rain pouring down over our campers, what else could we do but be inspired to explore it.  We will work together to create a thunderstorm symphony, first with our bare hands and then through student created rain sticks.  We will revisit where rain comes from and go on a rain walk to collect and measure accumulation.

ODDS AND ENDS (But no less important)...
  Just a reminder:  No school this Thursday, November 11 Veteran's Day)
  Please help your Swallow to bring their Home Communication Bag back to school each day.  New TFK and comprehension sheets went home today.  The sheets should come back no later than Friday and the TFK are for the Swallows to keep.

We are Family...

I really enjoyed meeting with all of you last week for Goal Setting conferences.  It is so great to see the Swallows so invested and enthusiastic about their learning goals.  The kids feel so empowered by the attention and support given toward their personal goals.  Thank you for helping to make some very ambitious projects happen!  What's in the works?   An all school talent show, an after-school comic making club, a student written and produced short play, chess club, a time capsule of the year, a native american drum and much, much more.   Be sure to check out the Goal Garden in the Level 1 hallway.  This is a  display to show and celebrate the progress of personal goals.  A seed marks the setting of the goal.  Once work toward that goal begins, the student will add a sprout.  When the goal is met/completed, a flower, vegetable or fruit is added to the garden.

We are partners...
One of the goals of the conference was to discuss and determine what support at home (Work at Home) looked like for your Swallow's learning goals.    Please watch the Home Communication bags for Work at Home support materials (if part of the plan) and an updated PLP.   Please let me know how the support at home is working for your Swallow and family.

Please take the time to give us feedback on the conference process this year.  It is a quick survey and it is confidential.

Yes... a full week at last! November 1-5

Even then... it will go so quickly...
In Readers Workshop, Swallows will practice strategies for reading for understanding -- rereading, reading ahead, thinking about what you already know and asking questions in Readers' response letters.  Swallows will also learn how to write book recommendations.  These will be the first of many throughout the year and will be displayed in the classroom to inspire readers.

In our Storyline, the students will investigate and work to identify animal tracks and create a riparian habitat.

This week, the Swallow film makers will continue working on their digital stories of FGCS and will meet with Merlin buddies on Friday to begin our Drop of Water film.

Wednesday is our all-day trip to Tillamook Forestry Center.  We will explore the creek, looking closely at for aquatic life, hike through the forest to explore riparian habitat, and explore the interpretive center.
Please send your child with boots, a large snack, a cold packed lunch and a water bottle.  Don't worry about pizza... if you have already ordered, your order will be moved to next week.

Due to our trip, we will not be visiting the library for three weeks.  Picture retakes are this Wednesday at 2:30.  We will be back at the school by 2:15 and your Swallow will have time to clean up a little.

Tree Swallow Times: October 25, 2010

Where we have been and where we are headed…

  We were scientists, film-documentarians, and stewards at Jackson Bottom Wetlands last week.  It was a tremendous success, thanks in large part to the crew of field experts and parent volunteers that came out to support the Swallows and Bulldogs.  You are all so fabulous!

Be sure to check out our Jackson Bottom Wetlands Blog for updates and pictures. 

http://stewardsofjacksonbottomwetlands.blogspot.com/

Although, our next survey date is not until January, we will continue to be researchers about this wetland in the classroom.  A visit or two to a more local wetlands, Ash Street Field, later in November will help us learn about this ecosystem in general and allow us to make comparisions.

We were storytellers and editors in our collaborative art project last week. The Swallow partners selected pictures that would best show what it means to be at FGCS from those they had taken the week before.  In the computer lab, partners worked with i-movie to create storyboards and begin to compose the narrative that will either be typed across the frames or voice-over.

 This week we will visit the computer lab to continue working on our digital story of  our place at FGCS.    

In Readers Workshop last week, Swallows talked about what readers do when they get to a word they do not know:

            Readers look at the letters and letter clusters and think about the sounds they make.

            Readers look at parts of words.

            Readers use what they know about other words to figure out new words.

            Readers think about what would make sense and check with the letters.

            Readers use the pictures and the surrounding text to help them solve words,

                                         and then practiced during their independent reading.

This week, we will collect ideas for writing—form and content, and use visualization to help us really understand the author’s message.

In read aloud, we have started to visually document our beyond text comprehension of The Miraculous Adventure of Edward Tulane.  This is such a imagery rich book and has already provided for great literary conversation.

Communication Bags went home today!  These bags should come back tomorrow.  You are encouraged to keep the contents.  Make sure to read through the PLP Plan.  This is the beginning of our conversation on Thursday or Friday about goals for the Swallows. 

In class we will discuss and set personal goals and your Swallow will share this with you at the conference.

Next week, Wednesday  November 2, 2010, we will go to Tillimook Forestry Center to look closer at riparian habitats and indicators for water quality (macros, mapping and pH and DO testing).

PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU WOULD BE WILLING TO COME.

Tree Swallow Times: October 18, 2010

 "Must Knows and  What's What..."

The buzz this week is about Jackson Bottom Wetlands and our first survey this year!  This Thursday, October 21, we will board the bus by 9:10.   We arrive at JB by 9:30 where we will meet up with our Bulldog buddies and begin our fall restoration monitoring.  The plan is to be at Jackson Bottom from 9:30 until 1:45.  We will have our first data monitoring in small groups at 10:00.  We will have a break for lunch at 11:00-11:30 and then  complete our data survey rotations from 11:30-1:30 (1 hour each). The Tree Swallows will board the bus at 1:45 and return to school by 2:15.

Swallows will spend most of the day at Jackson Bottom.  Please send a water bottle, healthy snack, cold packed lunch and layered clothes.  

THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS!  WATCH FOR A CONFIRMATION AND AGENDA THIS EVENING!  We could not do it without you :)

What's the Story?
   The past week held much excitement for our river campers.    We found our put in spot, high near the mouth of the Tualitan River and set up camp.  Our first morning at camp was really damp, but it had not rained a drop (ask your water explorer why it was wet then).  We made the best of it and made the best pancakes!  Aside from the syrup on the carpet it was a high-point for all of us.
   This week,  we began our journey on the river.   We discussed what a typically day on the river might look like--what we might do and see -- and then began writing imaginative stories about our adventures.
    
      Last week, we explored the water cycle in an active and more personal way--   each Swallow assumed the role of a water molecule and, with the help of a rolled dice, went on an incredible journey through various stages of the water cycle.  A colorful beaded bracelet recorded the water droplet's journey.  The Swallows have been writing about their journey during writing time.

In Readers' Workshop we are talking about strategies "good readers" use and then practicing them in our "just right books."  Today, we talked about how readers use the punctuation to help in understanding the author's message.   This was a good discussion for the Swallow writers too.
We have been sharing our thinking about the books that we are reading -- content and author's craft, with each other through weekly letters.  

Our collaboration with Teresa in Art:    Over the past several weeks, the Tree Swallows have been learning about and practicing still film shot composition to tell a story.  In small groups, they took photographs around FGCS campus.  This week, the groups will select shots that tell a story about this school and their interaction with it.  Students will create storyboard layouts, add necessary transitions, perhaps music and begin drafting the narration to go with it.

Next week are Goal Setting Conferences.  This an opportunity for Swallow,  Family and teacher to sit down together as partners and talk about strengths and goals for your Swallow.   Sign-up for a time in the office (or call at 503-359-4600).