We've been reading McBroom and the Big Wind. This kind of story is called a tall tale.

1. Go to the websites below and read the tales about Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill. While you're reading, try to see if you can figure out why tall tales are called "tall tales."

Paul Bunyan:

http://www.americanfolklore.net/paulbunyan.html

Pecos Bill:

http://www.americanfolklore.net/pecosbill.html

2. If your parents tell you to "Stop telling tales," what does that mean?

3. Go to: www.visuwords.com and type in the word exaggerate (make sure you get both the Gs in there). See if you can find 7 other words or phrases that describe what you might find in a tall tale.

Answer the three questions above in your own post titled: Tall Tales. Use: dlindsay, genre, tale in your keywords.

Now it's your turn:

In another post, called: My Tall Tale, write a tall tale involving a story about yourself. It could be some outrageous story about how you got to school today. Now's your chance to really lay it on thick!

     We had a great field trip yesterday (3/8). Students, please think about what you learned on the trip. Think about the different activities that you did with Mrs. Bastians, Mrs. Sonksen, and Mrs. Hancock. Write a blog post that explains what you did and what you learned at the agency.

     Structure your writing in a way that makes sense to you. To help make your blog more visual, feel free to use pictures that I took, found here: http://students.saugususd.org/dlindsay/files/194.

     To link a picture do this:

1. click on it
2. copy the web address
3. go to your own blog post
4. click the little picture of the tree
5. paste the web address in the space called "Image URL"

Having trouble remembering one of those rascally scientific words? Check out the USGS site that has every water word you could think of.

Want to learn more trivia about water from the people who brought your field trip to you? Check out: http://www.clwa.org/kids/

For your 3D shapes reference guide, you'll need to be able to draw some of the 3D shapes that we've learned about.

For the polyhedra, check out this demonstration:

Next, for the curved shapes, try this site recommended by Eddie: Drawing 3D Shapes

For your lettering, how about 3D lettering?! Learn how here.

For your information, use the notes that we created on our graphic organizer, look in your math book (check the glossary too), and review some facts about the number of edges, faces, and vertices of pyramids and prisms.

1. Go to the website: http://www.pitara.com/magazine/people/online.asp?story=22 and read the article about Gandhi
2. Imagine that you could meet with Gandhi. What would you say to him or ask him? Pretend you interviewed Gandhi. Write a transcript for your interview. Create a version for the blog and post it. Your transcript should have this structure:
3. Me: Can you tell me your name for the record?
4. Gandhi: My given name is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, but many people call me Mahatma Gandhi out of respect. I’m not sure that I like it, though. It seems very…prideful. It means “great soul.”

use key words: clements, dlindsay, literature, extension

These boxes are easy to make and are great for holiday gift giving.

Here are the directions:

http://www.origami-instructions.com/origami-star-box.html

and someone demonstrating...

and another...

It turns out Rudolph is sick this year. Luckily there is a good stand in for him- a flying squirrel!

Pick three adaptations that you think make the flying squirrel a good substitute for Rudolph.

Make sure you give your squirrel a name. Alliteration works well; Freddie the Flying Squirrel and Gilly the Glider, are a couple of examples.

In each paragraph, describe one of the adaptations and why it will help on Christmas Eve. When you're done, summarize your reasons in a conclusion, and introduce your flying squirrel to Santa in your introduction.

If you'd like to draw an illustration for your story, try these links:

http://www.exploringnature.org/db/detail.php?dbID=46&detID=609

http://www.ratemydrawings.com/drawings/cartoons/287511.html

Share your story with the title: Santa's Dilemma

Here are some keywords that you can use: santa, adaptation, flying squirrel, holiday, writing, dlindsay

Feel free to post drawings of your flying squirrel too!

Here's my picture. It's Freda the Flying Squirrel in harness and air traffic control lights.

Here's a great site with an interactive pan balance. It's great for building algebra concepts.

http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?id=33

Read and answer the questions below in your own post. Call your post: Rainforest Fact Hunt.

Use this website: http://teacher.scholastic.com/researchtools/researchstarters/rainforests/

to find your answers. One of the things that is great about this site is if you don't know a word, you can just double click it.

Here are the questions:

1. What is a rainforest?

2. What kinds of rainforest are there?

3. Why is there so little sunlight at ground level in a tropical rainforest?

4. List three animals you might find in a tropical rainforest.

5. List three animals you might find in a temperate rainforest.

6. What is the "canopy?"

7. What is an "evergreen?"

8. What is a "conifer?"

9. Follow one of the research links at the bottom of the site. Tell which topic you researched, and list some interesting facts you learned.

*Don't forget to include as keywords: dlindsay, rainforest, science, webhunt

After reading Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, head over to Read Write Think's website to create a bio cube: http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/bio_cube/

Choose either Wells or Fargo as the subject of your cube. Refer to your notes and to your book for the details you need for the cube.

For the section of the cube asking for a quote, you'll have to make it up since there aren't direct quotes in the story. Just try to think of something that you think your person might probably say.

Print out the cube and assemble it.

As an extra  part to the assignment, try taking a screenshot to post to your blog.

Today, we'll be exploring different functions. We'll also be learning about function tables, also called input output charts, and you'll be posting your own functions as well.

Here's what you'll do:

Go to: http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/functionmachines.html

Explore the function machine program by choosing different functions, typing in a number, and observing the output.

After that, decide on a function, and then create an input output chart for it like we did in class.

On your blog, create a post called "Function Machine."

Inside the post, record the input output chart like this:

  x     y

 3      6

 7      10

10     13

Make sure you make your own function up. Make sure you record at least 3 pairs of input output. Don't tell us what your function is!

In the keywords section, use: dlindsay, function, input, output

Post!

Next week, you'll be able to look at other students' functions and try to guess what their function is (by posting your guess in a comment for their function).

Today you're going to create a number by stamping place value blocks. Then you're going to take a picture of your blocks, post it to the blog, and write what number you made.

To start:

Go to: http://macmillanmh.com/math/2009/ca/student/grade4/index.html

Choose the tool chest button:

Then click:

From here, open up the place value blocks:

This is what you'll see:

Use the stamps on the right to create a number. When you're happy with your number, use the directions I gave in class to take a screenshot. We'll upload it to your blog and create a post out of it.

Good luck!

This animal is very rare and strange. What do scientists know about it? You decide. Press the "comments" button to leave me a message about this amazing find.

Ancient Chinese Inventions

The Ancient Chinese are famous for their inventions. You are to choose one invention and present it to the class by creating an informational sheet about it. Think of the sheet as a mini-poster. You may include illustrations in addition to text that you either write or type. Please do NOT cut and paste text from websites directly to this page. That is considered plagiarism and is illegal. You MAY take notes by looking at websites and other informational sources and rewrite that information in your own words to serve your own purpose.

Information Checklist (please provide the following information about your invention):

What is the name of your invention? (1 pt)

When was this invention made, as far as historians know? (2 pt)

During which dynasty was it invented? (1 pt)

What does the invention do? (1 pt)

How was it used? (1 pt)

Is it still used today? (1 pt)

Include a section on your fact sheet that lists the resources, books and websites, that you got your resources from. (1 pt)

You will also get up to 2 points for your poster design.

-----------------------------

Below are some websites that you may use (although you are not limited to using only those sites). I've specifically included some websites that aren't as reliable as others. As part of following up with last week's Olmec assignment, please use what you learned last week to choose wisely from the list below (or other websites you've found).

This assignment will be your homework for this week and the beginning of next week. The assignment will be shared on 6/3 (Wed. of next week).

------------------------------

http://www.computersmiths.com/chineseinvention/

http://sln.fi.edu/tfi/info/current/inventions.html

http://www.casp.us/justin/china/

http://inventors.about.com/od/chineseinventors/Chinese_Inventions.htm

<picture from http://www.flickr.com/photos/mexicanwave/34640397/>

The Olmec civilization is interesting for many reasons. Today you'll be touring some of that information, answering some questions, and evaluating the information that you read.

Directions:

Read this whole post before doing anything. Make sure to refer to the checklist provided in the comments to make sure that your post is complete.

For this assignment, create a new blog post entitled: "The Olmec"

For key words: "dlindsay, ancient, history, olmec"

In the body of the blog post, copy and paste the questions below:

----------------Begin cut and paste below this line---------------

When was the Olmec civilization active?

Where was the civilization located?

What innovations or contributions did the Olmec make? For example, did they invent anything?

Who do the colossal Olmec heads represent, according to archaeologists?

----------------Stop cutting and pasting above this line-------------

For each of the questions above, provide an answer and the website that you used to answer it. You must use one of the websites listed in this post. So, for example, an answer to the last question might look like this:

Who do the colossal Olmec heads represent, according to archaeologists?

Archaeologists think that the Olmec heads represent gravestones. (from www.olmecbadanswers.com)

After you've answered all the questions, you're still not quite done. Below your answers, list the websites in order of which one you think is the best source of information and why. In other words, rank the websites from best (top of list) to worst (bottom of list). Under your list, explain how you judged the websites- like, what made you think one site was better than another. Comment on if you found your answers on the "good" or "bad" sites. You can look at:http://technologypresentations.com.au/building-literacy-skills-information-age to help evaluate (read the "Sorting Gems from Junk" section).

*Important-

Save (post) your blog post early and often to avoid losing work.

All of this work is to be done by yourself. Do not share your answers or opinions with your classmates. You will have an opportunity to do that after everyone has completed their posting.

List of websites to use:

http://micahwright.com/olmec.htm

http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/12-1-2005-82836.asp

http://www.aztec-history.com/olmec-civilization.html

http://archaeology.about.com/od/olmeccivilization/a/olmec.htm

http://library.thinkquest.org/18778/olmec.htm

Here's a website recommended by Education World.

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/101_earth_facts_030722-1.html

There are some interesting facts that upper grade students can learn from the reading provided by this website.

Want to know more about erosion and the transport of sediment by rivers, wind, waves, and glaciers?

Download the document below, visit the links, type your answers into the text boxes, print, and turn your paper in to your teacher.

Agents of Sediment Transport.doc

--> Answers <--

Answers

Try this activity out.

So far, so good. Several of you are picking up on the idea of using personification. The one thing I'm seeing a lot of is a common mistake. That is that some of you are treating your desk as if it like a piece of furniture in Beauty and the Beast's enchanted castle. Personified objects do not actually come to life, and they don't actually do things like talk and eat and so on. Instead, use personification to create a description of something that conveys more feeling, as if there are emotions that you have toward that object. It might be playful, sad, angry. The idea behind it is that you can create a mood using this device and tell your feelings about something at the same time.

For our quickwrite in personifying our desk, here are some examples (but don't plagiarize mine):

My desk looked empty, alone, and neglected as I took one last look and closed the classroom door. Summer break was here, but I felt like I was leaving something behind in that room I had spent so many days of my life in.

My desk was shifting around excitedly as the clock ticked closer to three. My elbows tried to hold it down as my knees pistoned up and down like sewing machines. Was the ticker on the clock actually moving slower?

I recklessly started to shove papers into my desk when all of the sudden I stopped, suspicious of what their fate might be. I eyed its gaping, cavernous maw. It eyed my papers with greedy hunger. Would these assignments end up like so many others, a half-digested mass of desk chewings?

Quadrilaterals are named by their increasingly demanding qualifications. To get into the quadrilaterals club, all you need is 4 connected sides and to be flat. To join the more elite club of trapezoids, you need a set of parallel sides. The even more exclusive club of parallelograms requires 2 sets of parallel sides (which means opposite sides have to be congruent as well). Even more exclusive is the rectangle club. Not only do you have to be a parallelogram, you also have to have 4 congruent angles (i.e. 90 degrees since the sum of the angles in a quadrilateral is 360 degrees). Another exclusive club of the parallelogram society is the rhombus. They have 4 congruent sides rather than 4 congruent angles (and of course they think they're much more upper crust than rectangles because having sides of equal length, in their opinion, is much better than having angles of equal measure. Last, but certainly not least, is the president of all the quadrilateral clubs, the square. The square possesses the most discerning qualities. Not only are the square's sides congruent, but its angles are congruent as well.

Try identifying these quadrilaterals. To what club do they belong? 

Using the website links below, try to create your own web hunt. Don't know what a web hunt is? Well, it is a set of questions that can be answered specifically with information found on the websites that you provide to your reader, or should I say, websurfer? Post your web hunt with the title: "Dr. Seuss web hunt" using keywords: read, seuss, dlindsay. Don't forget to provide links for your surfers to use in answering your questions.

http://www.seussville.com/main.php?section=home&isbn=&catalogID=&eventID=

http://www.catinthehat.org/history.htm

And for your Dr. Seuss enjoyment:

Cat in the Hat maze

Teachers:

NEA Read Across America Resources

Dr. Seuss Theme Ideas

Here's a link to a movie that shows how to use Firefox to quickly and easily search for Creative Commons licensed material. Media under this licensed can be used under certain restrictions, but those restrictions are very friendly for classroom use. Unless you're planning on modifying the content, even the most restrictive license of attribution, no derivative works, no commercial use, etc. is perfect for the classroom. Basically all you need to do is give the original owner of the work credit (by naming them or, in some cases, copying the web address of where the material came from).

Students, following this simple guideline will allow you to add media to your blogs and projects that are not only legal, but give due credit to the original person who worked hard to create that media in the first place.

Using a standard deck of cards, you can have some fun while learning math. Here are some great rules to help you do so: Math is in the Cards

And here's an interesting and award-winning game that involves superheroes and a not-so-standard deck of cards: Numbers League

For building logic skills, check out Icehouse games, created by Looney Labs. A set of pyramids provides opportunities for several games. For teachers (or anyone who is interested) they've got a site that correlates national standards to their games and provides some lesson plans as well.

All of these games are compact and portable, easy to learn, and brain-exercising. The components also lend themselves to creating new games. Looney Labs actually has a design contest for their Icehouse pyramids.

Of course, old favorites like Scrabble are also great. Scrabble, for example, employs vocabulary, spelling, and math skills (score multipliers and addition) all at once.

Have fun and engage your grey matter!