National Estuaries Day Event!

National Estuaries Day 2014 Sunday, September 21 2:00PM - 4:00PM Celebrate! Waquoit Bay Reserve invites the community to celebrate National Estuaries Day with Wampanoag Coastal Traditions at Reserve Headquarters    This event is part of the festivities for National Estuaries Day.    For information about other National Estuaries Week activities check http://www.estuaries.org/national-estuaries-day.html.      Reserve Visitor Center 131 Waquoit Highway, Waquoit, MA 02536  For more information about Waquoit Bay Reserve or this event call 508-457-0495 or check www.waquoitbayreserve.org . Celebrating Estuaries and Wampanoag Coastal Traditions    Come sample complimentary clam chowder and cranberry corn bread and listen to the Lady Hawk Singers.  Wander into the Visitor Center for an art show by Emma Jo Mills Brennan and Ramona Peters.  Join Kitty Hendricks in the wetu (traditional Wampanoag dwelling) for a traditional cooking demonstration or learn about how oysters can purify water through a demonstration by the Native Youth in Science students. Falmouth Water Stewards will also be on hand with an activity illustrating what everyone can do to protect the bay. The art show which includes paintings and clay objects will be on display through October. Families can also explore the outdoor exhibits and bring a picnic to eat on the bluff if they'd like. This event is free and open to all.

Welcome to our Class Blog!!!

Thank you so much for stopping by...here you will find the latest updates of what we are working on in ELA (English Language Arts) as well as STEAM ( Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math)

Please consider signing up to "follow" out blog which will allow you to sign in and make comments/ask questions. The children and I will take turns posting, and love sharing our learning with you!!!

Sincerely, Katie Martin

Writing Workshop Reflection

   Our class has really improved during writing workshop this year. We used to feel stressed out and frustrated when it came to writing, but now we feel confident and writing has become one of our favorite activities. Writing is an important skill that we will use for the rest of our lives. Here are what we have found to be the most important parts of creating high quality writing:

       1. Giving specific,  useful feedback to a writer.

   2. Using figurative language (alliteration, hyperbole, similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia, personification, etc.) helps entertain/ keep the reader’s interest. 
 

       3. Using supporting details to show, not tell.

       4 . Using high quality words to impress/entertain the reader

 

       5. Using organized writing…using an indent to start a paragraph, keeping to one main idea in each paragraph, using a topic sentence to start a paragraph…helps reader to comprehend. Using good punctuation such as commas, periods, colons, to help keep sentences smooth and organized.

6. Staying confident, taking risks, trying our best, knowing that we can always go back to improve, etc. 

7. Good writers use brainstorming techniques BEFORE they start writing, for example: A T-Chart, brain dump, list, etc. 
  
8. High quality writing is accomplished by using editing tools/strategies such as: A thesaurus, a dictionary, going back in a story/book to find EXACT details, Soft Buzz, simple strike, carrot, underlining a spelling challenge for later, circle worn out words, taking your time to write, etc. 
    

        9. Paraphrasing helps us to use another person's ideas, but make them our own.

 

       10. Your opening and closing sentences are your FIRST and LAST chances to impress your reader. 

       11. We came up with an analogy for writing: High quality writing is like catching a fish: you must prepare your bait, fishing pole, and boat. Then you take your time reeling in the fish. You bring your catch home to filet and cook. Finally, you end up with a  scrumptious fish dinner that leaves your belly full. Good writing takes time, is not a race, and should leave the reader felling satisfied! 

                   By: All of Ms. Martin's wonderful writers!

Captivating Canal!

On Thursday our class traveled to the Cape Cod Canal Visitor's Center. This year is the 100th anniversary of the canal.  The original canal was built back in 1914 by August Belmont. A lot of work went into digging the canal, but it was worth the time and effort because ships really needed a quicker and safer route to deliver their cargo. Going around Cape Cod meant lots of shipwrecks and extra time and money spent traveling. 
  The first canal was VERY narrow and twisty. The current was so strong that many vessels had accidents and it was also very challenging to take a ferry from one side of the canal to the other. We learned that school children had to carry buckets of sand with them on the ferry because the boat caught fire quite often! There is so much to learn and enjoy about the canal past and present. Here are some of our favorite facts that we learned while studying the Cape Cod Canal:
* There are 3 bridges that cross the canal: Sagamore, Bourne, and Rail Road.
* The canal's current changes directions ( East to West) every 6 hours. 
* The maximum height of a ship's mast that wants to enter the canal is 135 feet.
* Many animals can be observed in and around the canal including: whales, porpoises, seals, fish, birds, and lobsters. 
* The canal's length is 17.4 miles, its depth is 32 feet, and its width is 500 feet.
* There are cameras all along the canal to monitor vessels' activities.
* A vessel has the right of way at the Railroad bridge, so a train must wait. 
* Swimming in the canal is forbidden. You may only fish from the shore, not while on a boat. 
*Dynamite was used to break up the gigantic boulders that were in the way of digging out the canal.
*The construction of the canal turned Cape Cod into an island! 
*The canal connects Buzzard's Bay and Cape Cod Bay. 
* The Cape Cod Army Corps of Engineers bought the canal from August Belmont and improved it a lot by making it wider and straighter. They are still in charge of the canal today, and our tax dollars go to maintain the needs of the canal. 

During the field trip we saw the current change three times. We went on a scavenger hunt inside of a 40 foot patrol boat, had 3 different lessons from the expert rangers, played a trivia game,and finished by eating our lunches right next to the canal! Our behavior was superb and we really appreciate all of the parents who came along to chaperone!!!

 

Powerful Pollination

  

Pollination is when a new seed is made inside of a flower. Pollination partners work together to pollinate flowers. They work together like a honeybee and an apple tree. Did you know that pollinators don't try to collect the pollen on purpose?Most pollinators are attracted to a flower's nectar but, bees are an exception to the rule and take both pollen and nectar.

Bees collect pollen in their pollen baskets to make honey. All the food you eat like strawberries, blueberries and cranberries need to be pollinated. If pollination did not happen we wouldn't have all the food we eat. We also would not have milk or meat, because cows eat grass and hay, we also wouldn’t have chocolate, which is made from the cocoa bean. Those are only two of the things we wouldn’t have without pollination.  All of the food we eat depends on pollination.

 A flower must have a shape, color, and smell that appeals to its pollinator in order for pollination to happen. Most flowers give off a sweet smelling scent to attract their pollination partner, but one flower species smells like rotting meat to lure their partner...can you guess??? A fly!!!

In order for a seed to be formed a grain of pollen needs to get to an embryo, for example, a butterfly lands on a flower to get nectar and gets a light dusting of pollen. Next the butterfly lands on another flower of the same species and one of the grains of pollen gets on the stigma of that flower, after a while the pollen grows a little tube down to an embryo (also called the egg). The egg then gets fertilized and becomes a seed, but the only way a seed can be formed is with a pollen grain, getting on the stigma from the same type of flower as that the pollen grain came from.

We did an outside observation on drawing the parts of a flower. Here are a couple parts of the flower: ovary, style, stigma which all together is called the pistil. The pistil is the female parts.We also saw all of the male parts including the anther and filament, which together is called the stamen. Who knew how amazing flowers could be?!! Maybe the next time you are outside, you could try observing and identifying the reproductive parts of a flower!!!

Written by: David K, Jordan, Shaun, and AJ.

Iditarod!!!

   This week we have been learning about the Iditarod, which is  held each year in Alaska. The race began last Saturday and it starts the first Saturday of March. The Iditarod, aka " The Last Great Race" is a sled dog race honoring the time in history that mushers had to deliver special medicine to help people sick with Diphtheria. all the way from Anchorage to Nome. These towns are more than 1,000 miles away from each other and the weather was so treacherous that dog sled was the only way to make the delivery. If it were not for the heroic mushers and their dogs, many people could have passed away.
   Not just anyone can enter into the Iditarod. You must qualify and only 70 teams can compete each year. A musher can have a maximum of 16  dogs but a minimum of 12 dogs at the starting line. To finish the race the musher must have at least 6 dogs still pulling the sled. The Ididitrod is 1,180 miles long and usually takes at least 9 days to finish.
   A musher must bring their own supplies such as dog food, a propane stove, a headlamp,  a sleeping bag,  an axe, and 8 pairs of booties for each dog. Each team must complete an 8 hour rest stop and a 24 hour rest stop, but it is their choice when they do it.
   There is also a shorter version of the Iditarod for people ages 14-17 called the Junior Iditarod. This competition is 158 miles long and takes  more than 14 hours to complete. All mushers have to worry about moose because they are very territorial animals and are known to attack the teams.

BY: Averi, Callia, Alex, and David K.

Amazing Angles

   Lately we have been working with angles and using tools called protractors. One of the protractors is called a full circle protractor, it goes from 0 to 360 degrees around the perimeter of the circle. Also there is another measuring tool called the half circle protractor, it measures from 0 to 180 degrees. It is different because when there is an angle to measure that is bigger than 180 degrees, you have to just measure the smaller angle and subtract it from 360 to get your answer.
    An angle is a figure that is made by two line segments or rays that make up an acute angle, obtuse angle,straight angle, right angle or a reflex angle. An acute angle is between 1 and 89 degrees, an obtuse angle is more than 90 but less than 180 degrees. A straight angle is exactly 180 degrees and is 1/2 of a circle. Finally, a reflex angle is more than 180 and less than 360 degrees. 
   We also have been playing a game called "Angle Tangle". Player #1 draws an angle of their choice and player #2 estimates the measure in degrees. Then Player #1 uses a protractor to get the exact measure. Then, using subtraction,  the team finds the difference between the two. 
   The difference is how many points Player 2 earns, so you want to make your best estimate.  Player 1 and 2 keep switching positions and at the end of the round, they add up their scores and whoever gets the LOWEST score, wins!
   In closing, we feel that since we have spent time measuring, drawing, naming, and estimating angles, we have improved a lot in our understanding.
By: Nick and Troy