Tynker: for the Advanced Coder

Some may say code.org is the best coding site there is. WRONG! Tynker.com has much more advanced and fun games, such as Debugger. When you are playing Debugger you fight a large number of bugs by hacking into many machines. As you hack, you unlock new skills

such as ground pound, double jump, blast, and way more. You can also customize your character, there are many possibilities.

Time for another game! So you liked Debugger? If you do, you should like Cannon Crasher,

where you fire a cannon at targets using code! This gets extremely hard after a little bit, only experts should even try it. Now for the best part… YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN… wait for it … wait for it… GAME! Using java you can code your own game! This is hard for people new to code, it is only for “code masters”, this means you have completed hour of code and understand code very much. I have started coding my own game but have not gotten close to finishing.

Are you still there? GO and have some fun! just type in tynker.com into your computer and bravo there it is.

~Patrick A.K.A- The King of Code.

We are Superheroes

Our class has a superhero theme! If you have been in our room you probably noticed this, but are you wondering why?  There are lots of reasons I think my teacher picked this theme.

I think superheroes don’t give up and I admire that. Also, I like the idea

that they are the people that everybody looks up to. Why though? Why not look up to a cashier? Because they make a difference. The thing is that  making a difference is  something you don’t have to be superhero to do. Mr. Hershey was an  ordinary guy who made the first milk chocolate bar! Ferdinand Magellan was the kind of guy that no one liked and yet his crew was the first to sail around the world! Marie Curie had a normal childhood as a normal girl in poland and she ended up  discovering two elements on the periodic table and won the nobel prize! These ordinary  people made a difference, you can make one too!

~Patrick

Classroom Library

Some teachers don’t have a classroom library! How will kids become expert readers? You need to do something for 10,000 hours in order to be an expert on that subject. Our classroom library provides books for readers at any level.  Having a classroom library benefits students by surrounding kids with books and improving literacy.There is also a wide variety of genres. Anywhere from fiction to autobiographies. Our classroom library also has many different complete series. Some examples are Percy Jackson, Margaret Peterson Haddix, and Nancy Drew.   

Also, there are four rice paper lamps, two end tables and a area rug to make the space feel homey. There is also a bubble chair and foot stool. It is very comfortable to read and work in. Many students like to read in the library during DEAR. (Drop everything and read). Many students need to be comfortable to focus on reading. Or they like to feel at home. Our library provides comfort  and great selection of books. Try to think about the world if nobody could read. That could be your  classroom without a library.

-Elli

Fall Crops

At our school one of the unique things we have are gardens! We planted cabbages and onions to eat later in the year. The plants are looking so good that when we eat them they might give us a lot of energy! We go to look at them every day. So we know they are fresh and no bugs got to them. In our class we have some plant jobs. One person takes photos for the teacher, and the other waters the plants.

My teacher really cares about the plants. The other teacher helps us get the water, she is next to the garden.I  can’t wait till we get to eat the vegetables! I bet everyone in my class will  like them. Our garden is certainly something to check out the garden! The cool thing is that all of the students learn how to be responsible, and caring to plants, people and other things, in this process.

-Rojman

So Many Dots- Art Literacy

Georges Seurat was a famous artist. He only painted with dots. when your up close all you see is dots, but when you go back you see an elaborate design. We painted a design that we created with a pencil eraser. We grabbed a stencil and started painting.

We made a design about 6in by 8in. Seurat usually used a board the size of a large wall. It took two years to make his most famous pieces. Such as A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. He started a new way of art so there could be a variety. This particular art literacy was fun because it was something I had never tried before.

-Amanda-

Why Classroom Jobs?

Have you ever had a classroom job?  If you have had one, then you know how it works, if you have not had one, than I will tell you all about it.  Some classroom jobs can be fun, some are worth doing but aren’t as interesting.  Anyway, in my 5th grade classroom, we have a ton of classroom jobs. We have so many that we don’t have enough students to fill them.  

The jobs that I have are pretty cool so far!  So far I have been a pencil pilot (sharpens pencils), mail carrier (passes out mail in mailboxes), census  bureau (does attendance), and technology supervisor (checks to see if technology is safe).  Luckily, those jobs have been interesting.  Out of these jobs, I think the mail carrier is the best.  I think it is very cool and interesting to do, because you get to be responsible for passing out people’s work.  Without the mail carrier, people wouldn’t get their grades back. A good benefit is that it really helps the teacher out.

You might have had some jobs that are not the best, not me (at least not yet).  It is really fun to help out my teacher.  . . Stop what you’re doing right now, and make sure your child is doing their classroom job.  Ask if they like theirs.   School goes much smoother with classroom jobs!  Classroom jobs are really cool to have!
~Madeline

Free Seating for All!

This year our teacher  is trying something new. Free seating! We can sit wherever we want as long as the spot we choose is not distracting. There are many places we can sit like the classroom library, at the short round table, and on the floor. The reason why my teacher is doing this is because she knows that if you are comfortable while learning, you will learn better. When kids can sit where they want the will start to participate more because they are not forced to sit where they don’t want to sit. With free seating the kids who always sit in the back row are starting to move up front to participate in class discussion.  

There are many different free seating choices, like standing at a higher table or sitting on the floor at a lower table. Free seating is fun but we have to make good choices if we want this fun to last all year.  Some of the tables are painted with whiteboard paint and one of the chairs are inflatable. Free seating is a great fun way to learn I hope it lasts all year.
~Sophie

We Have Technology!

Last year, we got a special grant that allowed us to get technology! The technology we have, is only for 4th and 5th graders. We got this grant from my teacher and another staff member that works here. They worked together to write the grant. Included technology was: ipads, and Chromebooks. We used the iPads last year for an app for Classroom Dojo. This year we used the iPads for creating public service announcement. When I was in fourth grade we got our Chromebooks and iPads… For the first time!!!!

We also got a 3-D printer last year. We got the 3-D printer from a 5th grade student, (last year) who did some research on the benefits of a 3-D printer in schools and asked the Parent Club to buy one.     We are  going to use the 3-D printers for 3-D arms we were working on. (We haven’t printed them yet.) It’s fun having technology at our school.

~Jake

Hokki Stools for Better Learning

It all began when our teacher announced to the class that we were getting new chairs. The problem was not everybody would get one, but everybody was happy anyway. The reason why is because it wasn’t those plastic hard chairs that hurt a lot. We all waited weeks for the chairs to arrive. Then one day in the cafeteria our teacher was walking toward me and my friends and showed us a Hokki Stool.

After lunch the teacher showed the whole class the Hokki Stools and a lot of people wanted to sit on one including me. To make it fair she pulled popsicle sticks and I wasn’t one of the names called. Once in awhile my teacher would call out names to sit on the Hokki Stools. Then the next day all the students in my class sat on a Hokki Stool and people kept it at their desk.

The Hokki Stool helps me comfortably wiggle while I work. I like to play with things at my desk, my body doesn't always stay very still and with the Hokki Stool I can just wobble around and it helps me be a better learner because I can focus more with it. As I am writing this I am sitting on one of the Hokki Stools right now.

~Kayley

Multiple Solutions to the Same Challenge

So far this year we did a lot of awesome things! My favorite thing we did this year was working on making cardboard prosthetic arms in class. We took the cardboard our teacher gave us and cardboard we got from home and we designed a prosthetic arm that could move ninety degrees, and the string that moves the arm has to be attached to the arm like a muscle would be. Designing the arm was hard because you had to make your arm strong enough to hold weight. Then we had a contest against a another 5th grade class next door. The contest was to see whose arm could lift the most weight.

The weights were very small because they had to be able to fit in in the prosthetic arm. Are arm had a little pocket that we put the weights in, but other groups used a basket that helped hold the weights. The weights were all measured in grams. The basket that helped hold the weights were 70 grams. In this project I learned how to work in a group, that you will need strong materials to build a strong arm that could lift a lot of weight, and finally I learned many ways to build a prosthetic arm. For example usually the bigger arms that had thicker cardboard usually lifted more weight than the arms with flimsy cardboard. If I am an engineer when I grow up then I will use this information to make better prosthetic arms for the people who need them.

-Alex