Walker's Wanderings

We had a really interesting week. First, on Tuesday we started to decorate our bulletin boards for our Greek city-states. It was really fun to start from scratch and be able to pick the colors and stuff. In science one day we started a lab when we would look in a microscope to see all different types of cells it was really cool and interesting but the hard thing was that we had to draw an exact drawing of what we saw. Also in science we had river kids. But we couldn’t find any creatures because it was so cold. Another day we started another book called Nancy Drew it is a really interesting book filled with mystery. On Friday we had an art show in the Media Center and all the art in are grade was on display. It was really cool to see what every one had made. Overall we had a really fun week!

-Rankin

This week (3/11-3/15) we are adjusting back into school mode and focusing on the amazing Greek Olympics! We all are organized into groups and we have our city-state names. In science, we are about to start the study of the body, which is really exciting! In math, we are leaving behind fractions and starting a new unit, circles! In PE, we are beginning lacrosse! In music, we are having another production, Narnia! Each music group is assigned a scene and we will be filming it as a movie. We are having an exciting week here in Miss Walker’s class.

-Claire

The faculty at Trinity School has begun a new blog project called Flourish. We have found it is a great way to share experiences or happenings around our community in an easy way. Teachers sign up to write short posts about anything they choose. I wrote my first Flourish post and it was published today.

Please click here to check out my post!

Happy Reading!

Miss Walker

Well it has been a crazy January and February here, especially this week. Since it would take forever to catch you up, I will spare you all the tedious details. Just know, we are learning and having a blast!

This week we had student-led conferences, which personally I love. I know it is not always the most convenient and the students may not enjoy it, but I find them very effective. It lights up my day to get to brag on all my students with their parents in the room. I know it pumps up a child’s self esteem to get to hear their teachers and parents brag about them, which we do with every kid. Some times we have to spend some time on areas of improvement and strategies, which may be hard but it is worth it to put power back into a kid’s hands. To allow kids to see and help us come up with strategies makes such an impact on their learning and growth, it allows it to become so personal to them.

Thursday was Valentine’s Day. Being a teacher makes Valentine’s Day so special, I was showered with love, flowers, and chocolates! Thank you so much! The kids were a little crazy, but that is to be expected on a non-uniform day and holiday.

Friday was Dad’s Day. It was such a treat to see all the kids with their Dad’s or special friends, we even had a baby visit! Check out the pictures on the website, there are some great photos, thank you to our volunteers for taking them. Click here to see them. We ate donuts (more sugar!) and they competed in groups to build the tallest structure with dry spaghetti and marshmallows, our tallest structure was 33 1/3 inches.

Next week is ERB’s so we will hunker down every morning and show off our crazy awesome academic skills! Please have your child eat a hardy breakfast and get some good sleep next week. Have a happy and warm weekend!

This week started out sort of gloomy, as it was raining all of the week except Friday, but it was still a very good one. Monday was a typical F-day, very busy and hectic. We learned a dance in music, and researched an artist for a project in art. We had volleyball in P.E., and then turned in our homework and practiced our language in World Languages. On Tuesday, it rained again, and we didn’t have any specials. On Wednesday, we made paper snowflakes with our pre-k buddies. On Thursday, we had our second book club meeting with our new groups and books. On Friday, we played more volleyball in P.E, and the sun finally came out. So, all in all, this was a pretty busy fun week.

BY: Jack and Seth

By: Kate and Claire

This week we learned about how to get inspired for writing. We did that by walking around the school listening and watching the things that were happening. In P.E. we did boot camp for half of the class and then finished with our ultimate Frisbee unit. Now we started the hockey unit that everyone is excited about. In math we have been learning about dividing with decimals “I love it!” (Kate speaking) In science, we are finishing our water unit, learning about pollution, and preparing for our test on 12/13/12, which is all very interesting. In music we are recovering from the post-nutcracker blues and getting ready for the Christmas concert. In art we are about to start an artist research project and in world languages we are doing our culture triangle project. And last, we are tingling with excitement for holiday break. Merry Christmas!

A Note From the Teacher:

This was a fabulous week, Kate and Claire are correct, we all have The Nutcracker blues. We are all thankful that the Christmas Concert practices are keeping us busy in the spirit of the Holidays. Several kids have brought in holiday decorations, so our room is very festive, in keeping with the season. Today we spent some time talking about Pearl Harbor, since it is December 7th. The kids were very interested in WWII and the history behind the Holocaust. Feel free to continue these important conversations at home. We also talked about Hanukkah, since tomorrow is the first night. We read some books, Seth and Julia talked to us about their family Hanukkah traditions, and we watched a fun music video called Candlelight by The Maccabeats. (click the title link to see the video)

Hope you have a wonderful weekend and Happy Hanukkah!

Miss Walker

I hate to be cheesy, but as we approach Thanksgiving I can’t help but think about being thankful. I know I can get caught up in everything else going on during the holiday and forget the real meaning of Thanksgiving.  We skip right to the yummy turkey and dressing, sweet pumpkin pies, and traditions that our families share. Some people even skip right over Thanksgiving all together and dive straight into Christmas, which can tend to be all about getting, instead of giving (but that’s another post for another day).  This year I want to be try and really think about being thankful, about every moment. I want to let the “first world problems” take a back seat during this holiday and I challenge you to join me!

Are you ready!? A couple of years ago I did an exercise where I had to write down 100 things that I was thankful for, in 5 minutes. So I had Walker’s Wild Things do this in class today. This list can include people, things that we take for granted, special traditions and why they are important, or simply just being alive. You will be surprised how easy it is to come up with a list and how much it will help you think about the small things we can all appreciate more.  The second part of this challenge is talking about your thankfulness. Take your list and go and thank the people on it or the people who have given you the things you are thankful for! The third part is writing a blog post. Pick one thing from your list that you are thankful for and write a post explaining why you are thankful for it.

So this Thanksgiving season I challenge all of us to have a thoughtful, grateful heart and pass it on. You will be surprised at how it can change your heart and the hearts of those around you. Walker’s Wild Things are writing blog posts about what they are thankful for. Check out the Trinity Web Blog Directory to read their Thanksgiving Blogs.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Miss Walker

This week we practiced A LOT for the Nutcracker. Each group had different practice times, even a few costume fittings. Our class is very excited for the performance. Most of us were very nervous about the dreaded student-led conferences, but they weren’t as bad as we thought! 🙂  Also, We finished our fall acrostic poems and watercolor paintings. During P.E., we worked on our football unit. Most of us have improved a lot in this sport, and most people are enjoying it. In math, we are preparing for the Olympiad tests, which are a series of five-question tests that 5^th and 6^th graders take. Then, they pick a few groups and kids that did well on the tests and ship them trophies and awards.  Also, in reading we started a new book called Homeless Bird. It is about an Indian girl who has to leave her family at 13 and marry someone she has never met. Most of us love this book so far. Finally, in science on Friday we took our science test on water. This week was very exciting and full of fun!

Sophie and Kate

Thank you Kate and Sophie! We had a busy week, as you can see. Below you will see more highlighted blogs. Check out their Slice of Life writing and more!

J.D.’s Baby Bird

Julia’s Trip to Cabo

Lauren’s Tragic Picture Day

Seth’s Scare Down Under

Enjoy and have a lovely weekend!

On Tuesday we were very excited to take home our laptops :-). On Tuesday we had music. We got to practice our parts for the Nutcracker. Hector practiced being a  Russian Baker and Julia practiced her Candy Cane dance. That was our day on Tuesday.

On Wednesday we came back with our computers! It was very different getting out of the car with them. We also continued to get ready for the Nutcracker in less than 3 weeks, it was very fun. We also had art, P.E., world languages etc…

On Thursday we had values. We presented our  “Who I am” projects to our family group. After values we went to science and math like usual. Our class went to world languages. After that we went to lunch. It was a normal lunch for Hector. Julia had Nutcracker rehearsal that we didn’t know about. The candy cane girls spent about 15 min on the dance during lunch. That was our Thursday.

On Friday we practiced our parts in the Nutcracker, we also went to P.E.. We worked on our acrostic poem. We had lots of fun this week.

By: Hector and Julia

This was a quick, but fabulous week! We are knee deep in Nutcracker rehearsal mode, so the students come and go as their groups have rehearsal. We will all be walking around with Nutcracker tunes in our heads for weeks, but seeing them perform will be a magical experience.

I look forward to meeting with you and your child next week for student-led conferences. I throughly enjoy seeing the students rise up and lead their own conference. Please sign up for one if you haven’t yet. Have a fabulous weekend, I am headed out of town to Asheville, NC, I am very excited to see the beautiful leaves and be surrounded by autumn colors.

Miss Walker

This week went by super fast for me. I’m going to tell it to you day by day.

Monday: Today we learned about a project we would have to called the “Who I Am” project. It is really cool because we get a lot of freedom on it. Today was also really fun because we had a lot of time to work on our Bud, Not Buddy projects.

Tuesday: Today we had music and we got to try out for parts in The Nutcracker. Today we also had Wordly Wise test. We had our last soccer P.E today too. We also had some time to work on or writing.

Wednesday: Today we had our Bud, Not Buddy tests, everybody was really nervous about them but after the test everyone said it wasn’t that hard. Today we had a lot of time to work on Bud, Not Buddy projects. And oh, I almost forgot we had River Kids.

Thursday: Today we had a special Trinity TV, you can watch it on the Trinity School Website.  We also had the second part of our Bud, Not Buddy test but this time, we got to use our books. We started our football unit in P.E, and don’t worry it’s not tackle football. We also had our Math test today. We also had a special artist come today. We went out in groups to work on the painting in the hallway. It was neat to get to paint with a real artist!

Friday: Today was devoted mostly to our Bud, Not Buddy projects. We got our test back in math to day too. Throughout the week we also worked on collective noun pictures, I think everyone really liked those.

Well that was our week, read again next week!

By: Riley

 Thank you Riley! I would also like to highlight some Slice of Life stories from the student’s blogs, just like I did last week. Just click on the story title and it will take you straight to the featured blog. You can comment, I am sure the student would really appreciate your praise and input.

Alejandro’s Meeting Real Madrid

Bryce’s The Chasing

Claire’s Self Confidence

Grayson’s First Black Diamond

Hector’s The Blob

Enjoy and have a lovely weekend!

Miss Walker