Homer Price! Part one

Homer Price :

1. When was this book written? Look in the first few pages to see the publication date.  Copyright,then a year.  The earliest year is the year it was published. (My dad was 5 years old.  He read this book as a boy.) I put an asterisk*  by some interesting information. 

 Ch. 1 The  Case of the Sensational Scent

Do you think language has changed since this book was published?

Find what the following terms mean or  what might be a modern day equal to them.
(For example, Homer  builds radios.  What might be a hobby like that for someone today?  Would repairing computers or creating webpages be more similar?)

A.  Filling station
B. Icebox
C. Television receiver
D. News commentator
E. Mail order catalogue

* Homer's parents own a campground with cabins for people who drive on vacation.

Chapter 2- The Case of the Cosmic Comic
*the author uses Super-Duper as a replacement for Superman.  He probably would have been sued for using Superman in his story- so he used a fictional hero instead.

1. At the beginning of the chapter, Homer is listening to the  college game on the radio.  How is this event similar to something that might take place in your home today?

2. Do people still collect comics today? What's the same and what might be different about comic books now and then?

3.Would you be allowed to take a horse and wagon to another town and see a movie on your own?  What do you think about that?

4. What happened to the "honest-to-goodness" Super-Duper the boys met at the movie?


Ch. 3 "The Donuts"

*This is the most famous story out of the book.  Your parents can find a film of it on youTube if they are so inclined. 
1. A box social was a fundraiser like an auction. What do you think happened there?

2. We have "sandwichmen" like Mr. Gabby even nowadays.  Can you think of some things advertised by people wearing or spinning signs?

3. Look for some funny descriptions or language that express people's emotions.   My favorite is "in tarnation". What do you think that could mean?

4. The illustrations are essential to the story, without them we miss the reality of so many donuts!  What is a detail you liked or noticed? 

Stay tuned for part two next week. 

Washington City Reports

Hello, 3rd -5th  grade students!   It's nearly time to start a city project.  Several of you have given me your choices on what you'd like to study.   If you have given me your city and it isn't listed here yet, don't panic.  I will get them all up on this blog by the end of the week. Not all the slips got into the bucket~ they are in my classroom and I am not there when I am typing this.   (I know, teachers really should live at school, it is weird to think of them at home!)

Bella D. - Winthrop
Samuel- Bellevue
Selly- Edmonds
Jairus- Onalaska   
Judah-Tacoma
Liam-Forks
John-Leavenworth
Owen- Seattle
Stephanie - Pullman
Ellie- Walla Walla
Sophie- Everett
Jordan- Tri-Cities
Anna- Spokane
Jianna- Aberdeen
Bella C- Centralia
Blake-Puyallup
Isaiah-Wenatchee 
Maggie-Bellingham
Phoebe-Mt Vernon 

*fifth graders, make sure I have your correct city listed.  If not, email me, quick! Some things to think about researching or checking out in case you find yourself near the city you'd like to study: 

Famous people who grew up or lived there at some time in their lives
Special natural or man made landmarks 
Early history
Funny things about the town
Mayor
What people do for jobs (factories, university, timber industry, farming)
City motto

and more...

Phoebe's Book Report on Mocking Jay by Suzanne Collins

 Phoebe read the Hunger Games trilogy and responded to the last book with a quick synopsis.
Phoebe's book report

State Fair Instructions and Schedule and Directions! It's all here!

April 24, 2013

The State Fair is just around the corner!!! 

You are in the home stretch, yeah!  Starting this week you need to put the polish on your booth and prepare for your oral presentation. 

ORAL PRESENTATION REQUIREMENTS

You will need to prepare     SEVEN    note cards for your oral presentation:

1.      Introduce your state: tell us the name and why you chose to report on this particular state.

2.      Statehood: tell us when your state became part of the U.S.A. and tell us two important events from your timeline.

3.      Place of interest:  tell us the list of important sites we should visit if we ever go to your state.  Elaborate on one of the sites.

4.      Tell us about one of the economic products manufactured in your state.

5.      Something unique: come up with your own idea that you want to include in your oral report about your state.

6.      Closing: read your acrostic poem and give a strong closing sentence.

7.      Pass out a taste of your food: tell us why you chose this recipe to represent your state.

You will be graded on the following criterion as well:

• Eye contact
• Clear & audible voice that does not rush or use too many filler words “um”.
• A well practiced delivery & enthusiasm
• Meet all of the required State Fair booth expectations

Special lunch on State Fair Day:   

We will order pizza.  Plan to send about $5.00 to cover pizza, cookies, and drinks.

P.S. SAVE THE DATE! Thursday, May 16^th invite family & friends to visit Cornerstone Christian School’s annual State Fair. Reminder, visiting time is between 12-2:30.  Come cheer on our students for a job well done!

State Fair Booth Expectations

The annual Fifth Grade State Fair is on  Thursday May 16th. This is your big day to shine.  The whole school and some community guests want to join you to celebrate your hard work and accomplishments during the past three quarters. 

In order to produce a booth that you will be proud to display we have a list of expectations to follow. 

Dress:  Choose a costume that emphasizes your state’s attributes. For example, Washington is known for its wealth of recreational opportunities.  A sample costume might be: a skier, a logger, a hiker, a Puget Sound fisherman, or a Starbuck’s employee.

Display Board to include the following: 

1. Creatively letter the name of your state.
1. Take color copies of your state bird and state flag. Use them on your display board, leave originals in state binder.
2.  State Nickname.  Creatively displayed.
3. Acrostic poem that draws attention to your state.  For example,

World renowned Mt. St. Helens

Appetizing apples

Snow covered Mt. Rainier

Harvest time in the Eastern Washington orchards

Incredibly gorgeous landscapes

Notoriously wet & rainy reputation

Gallons of gourmet coffee

The home of the Mariners & Seahawks

Overflowing splendid waterways

Never-ending evergreen trees

5. State Trivia Cards:  Display your state trivia under your board on the table.  You can use the trivia to quiz the visitors who line up to view your booth.
6. Must See Sites: Access the internet to find photographs and snap shots that highlight at least two of your state’s important places to visit. Be sure to label the sites.

Food:  Prepare your state recipe to share throughout the day with each person that visits your booth.  It only needs to be a taste. YOU Provide disposable tasting cups and utensils if needed. Don’t forget your extension cord if you are keeping something hot or ice to keep your food item cold.  You will also need to bring a serving utensil to dish-up your food. We want to keep health & safety standards in mind.  (Must wash your hands often!)

Activity: Include a simple hands-on activity that highlights your state.  Here are a few ideas to get your wheels turning: Visitors to your booth could be challenged to try their hand at lassoing a cardboard cow; pan for gold; or go spear fishing, make a paper lei, etc   

Posters:  You need to incorporate the poster you made into your booth: State Economy Map. We will hang these from the fronts of the tables on Thursday morning.

Logistics of the annual State Fair

Parents and students arrive on the morning of May 16^th.  Parents help children to set up their state fair booths.

Each child will have ½ of a conference table to set up his/her display.  Additional props should be sprinkled around your area to make your exhibit appealing.  Some examples I have seen through the years: a bale of hay, large cardboard steer cutout, palm trees, music playing softly in the background, buffalo skins, crab pots, and fishing gear.  I think you get the idea. 

To make this grand finale project manageable you will need to START NOW.  Set up a small area in your house and start gathering your props and assembling your display board, adding one or two new things a day.  Ask family and friends to help. Be resourceful in gathering your state items and creating your props.  Again, ask around and borrow what you can. We do not want you to spend unnecessary money.

State Fair Schedule:

8:15 -9:00 Parent helps child set-up

9:00-10:20 individual students take turns giving oral presentation of their booth

10:20-11:00 Recess, bathroom and look at each other's booths 

11:00-11:40 Continue presentations

11:40-12:00 special lunch

12:00-2:30 classes, parents, grandparents and community members arrive to enjoy annual State Fair

2:30-3:00 Parents help their child clean up and disassemble exhibits. 

Please mark your calendars now to set aside time to support your child’s impressive achievement.  Invite family and friends to attend. You are welcome to invite the general public, especially families you may know of who are considering sending their child(ren) to Cornerstone.  (It’s a good way to publicize our school.)

State Timeline

State Timeline Due 3/21/13

1. Research significant events in your state's history.
2. Choose a minimum of 10 events to communicate your state's past.
3. As you construct your timeline, choose an imaginative way to record the events in time.  For example, if my state was Washington, I would draw the Columbia River and then draw ten salmon on a separate piece of paper.   After coloring and cutting my salmon out, I would glue the salmon on the paper swimming down the river. Then either on the salmon or underneath, I would write the timeline fact.  Please place them in chronological order. (Oldest to most recent).
4.  One of the state's historical events  MUST be the year it became a state.
5. Each event must include a date and a sentence.  Correct spelling and punctuation will be factored into your grade.
6. Colored pencils and a sharpie fine-point or a Uniball pen will be used. (No crayon, marker, or paint.) Please be neat.  Words should be neatly printed, not cursive.
7. Title the page:  (Your State's Name) Timeline in large letters at the top.


States and Capitals for test on 3/22-  NY, PN, NJ, DE, MD

Whew!  Nearly there!

Statehood Writing assignment

STATEHOOD WRITING ASSIGNMENT                                                                                                                Due 3/14/13

1.        Use the supplied paper to create your statehood writing assignment.  It should be written in the style of a newspaper article published on the day of your state’s entrance into the U. S. A.

2.        The article must have an attention grabbing headline and a date on the top which corresponds to the date of statehood.  Include your state’s name in the headline.

3.        A hand drawn illustration must accompany the article in the spot provided.  Use non- smearing colored media to draw a scene, person, or building important to that event of statehood.  Use a caption to explain your illustration in 5 words or so.

4.        The article should include the following information: important people such as governors, presidents, citizens; place of official state acceptance (a capital or other city), time of day if known, events leading up to and surrounding the statehood vote and acceptance.

5.        The number order of your state (i.e. Delaware becomes the first state to join the United States) should be included in a sentence in the article.

6.        Any interesting events or historically significant tidbits should be included in your article.

7.        Include your name in a byline at the end.

8.        Have fun!  The path to statehood was not always neat and tidy- you may find a wild fact!

Next week's states and capitals:  #40-42

NY, PN, NJ

Enjoy the weekend, may it be sunny and full  of God's blessings!

 

State Flower Component

 Hello, 4/5 families!
 The essays were tremendously good and I enjoyed reading them. We are taking a couple of class periods to share our trivia and props, and it's been very fun.
Now for the state flower:
This week's component is not too difficult, but it does require a certain thinking ahead.  The expectations are delineated very carefully for students with sequenced steps.  Following these steps is important to get the expected final product. If you find you need an extra paper, please let me know before Wednesday.

1.  Draw your state's flower freehanded.  While you can practice, no tracing of any kind is to be done.  The paper you'll use makes tracing even your own work nearly impossible. Go slow, use a light touch on your pencil and give yourself lots of time to get the picture you are happy with using.
2. Use only the white paper I give you for your flower drawing.  It's cut to the right shape and size.
3. Color with map pencils (colored pencils) only.
4. Outline your drawing with black fine point sharpie or uniball pen.
5. Mount your flower on the gray larger square supplied by school. It's cut to the correct size.
6. Glue your mounted flower on 8 1/2x11 white sheet of printer paper after you complete steps 8 and 9.
7.  Carefully and in smallish capital block letters write the name of your state's flower along all four edges of your mounted state flower on the gray part.  This creates a text border.
8.  Title your page:  name of your state State Flower.
9. At the bottom of the page: the state flower's name.
10.  For number 8 and 9 please use your computer to create the title and name.  It may be done in very neat handwritten thick Sharpie, carefully centered.  If you use Sharpie, use capital block letters.

There is a review the next two weeks for states and capitals.  March 8 will be a test using  their master list but concentrating on location. There will be a map put up which will be numbered differently and they will need to identify which states are which by location for #1-39.  Almost done!  11 more!

Thanks for all your hard work!

State Trivia Cards

 Good day, 4th and 5th class members!  This is one of my favorite assignments of the whole project because it is fun to do and adds a great deal of spark to our state booths.

Here are the criteria...please note that the highest score will be a nine out of ten because of number 8.

1. Do some research on your state.  (Keep track of those sources for your bibliography!)  This should be new information and not recycled/used on other components such as the state flower or famous person.
2.  You are to come up with five interesting trivia facts about your state.
3.  Three of your facts are to be accompanied by a fitting prop.
4.  Fact can be written as a question with a hidden answer.
5.  Use your computer to display your facts in a clever and creative manner-lettering, font, color, border.
6. Each fact should be printed on its own half sheet of paper.
7. Use a half sheet of paper for each fact, not a whole sheet or smaller than a half.
8. You will use your facts in your state fair booth. This will be graded at that time.
9. Mount your facts on slight larger half sheets like construction or art paper.  You may use paper from home or you may get some from me by Monday.
10. Your parent or adult helper may assist you with computer skills, but they do not get to do fact finding for you.

Next week's states and capital test:

Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida

Have a great week.

Famous Person Essay

Famous Citizen of Your State! This is due Thursday, February 21. 

A short essay of at least 5-7 good sentences describing a famous person from your state.
Paragraph #1 --History - birthplace, family, birthday or year.
Paragraph #2--Schooling, education, apprenticeship, or early life. 
Paragraph #3- Impact on the state, nation, world or life's work

Include a picture or photo of your person.  
Title your paper with the famous person's name.
Include your name at the end in a byline. 
Include at least three good detail sentences. 
Finish with a good sentence.

I have some forms that might help if you would like to wait and pick one up.  Alternately,  I will put some ideas on the blog later this week. 
Maps look GREAT!  Way to go, fourth and fifth grade students!


States and Capitals this week: #28-37 on the sheet. 

Enjoy the days off!


**Here's a sample of a complex sentence you might re-arrange for paragraph #1:

On a cold day in December, 1702, Petunia Picklebottom was born to SIr Frances and Penelope Picklebottom.   Making her entrance into the world on the 14th, Petunia was born in Stratford-Upon-Avon, also known as the birthplace of Shakespeare.  Her family emigrated to Virginia colony in 1705.