50 U.S. State Capitals

There are 50 United States capitals. How many have you visited? How many do you know? Not sure? Then...

Test yourself and you can sing the song (you learned in Music class) while you play (...ha)!

Click here to play an online game to see how much you know. Good luck and report back to me for ONE giant E point!

Gotta go! I want to see how much I know...

(This picture is the capital city of an Island. Can you guess which island?)

Special 401 Report: Global News

About this Photo:

_ _ _ _ _, Afghanistan

Miss Lou took this picture during her Summer 2006 nomadic adventure. Once upon a time, this was the local cinema theatre where the people of this capital city would go to watch the latest films and movies. (We Americans called this place a movie theater.) Anyway...can anyone guess what happened to this place and why it has not been restored for more than a decade? (over 10 years!)
____________________________________________________________

During our brief discussion on Current Events happening around the world, I asked some of the students to announce what they have heard from their parents, from the news, radio, Internet or what they have read in newspapers or magazines.

1. One student updated us on the latest in regards to bagged spinach. Care to share more? Click the **comment** below and write down your contribution. (Poor Popeye the Sailor man?!? Is he going to die?) Find out more...

2. Another student asked about the infamous and dangerous Osama Bin Laden. He is said to be hiding in and around the mountains between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Where was Osama Bin Laden born and when, and most importantly, why is he the one of the Top 10 Fugitives WANTED by the world?

3. Any other news reported by our class last week? **Comment** below.

**(Don't forget to type the "word verification" - the funny letters they have you repeat. This is for security purposes as well as eliminating spam mail. Who needs annoying advertisements from unnecessary companies? I need to hear from you! And YOU only.)**

Ocean Water and Fresh Water: Challenge Questions

Challenge Questions for Science

1. Where does salt come from and how did our Earth's fresh water become saltless?

2. Where does the salt in your kitchen come from and how did it get onto your table?

3. What kinds of things do you do with the salt on your table? What does it do to your food and why?

4. What happens to your body if you swim in the ocean for an hour versus swimming in a pool for an hour?

5. Write the scientific name for salt. How would you write it in a chemical formula.

(This picture was taken by Miss Lou upon her visit to Koh Samui Islands in Thailand. What a beautiful place this is, isn't it?)

401 News!

* Room 401 News! *
September 15, 2006

Welcome again to 5th grade in Room 401! This will be an exciting and challenging year. Thank you families for purchasing supplies, reading notices, and completing school forms and the Student Information Survey. For those who have not returned it, the same survey will be passed out next week at Back- to-School Night. I appreciate that parents have been willing to share with me and help me learn more about your child. I look forward to seeing you next Tuesday!

Announcements:
Our class blog is http://www.myschoolrocks.blogspot.com
You may reach me by emailing me at 4misslou@gmail.com, writing a note and sending it with your child, or leaving a voicemail message at school. I will try to respond promptly.

What's Happening in Our Classroom?
Building Community: We have been spending time getting to know each other and adjusting to procedures and expectations. I think it took this week to get used to having me back in the classroom and reacquainting with old and new faces.

Math: Students took a pre-assessment last week to help me find out more about their strengths and needs. This week, we studied Chapter 7: Analyze Data and Graphs, in the Harcourt Math textbook. So far, students are working with sets of data (groups of numbers) to learn about range, outlier, line plots, frequency tables, mean, median, and mode.

Reading: Students took pre-assessments last week on comprehension, vocabulary, grammar/ usage, and oral fluency. We are beginning Unit 1: Cooperation and Competition in the Open Court Reading textbook. In Lesson 1, we are reading the selection Class President.
Writing: In Spelling, Lesson 1 focuses on words with the short /a/ sound pattern. Students finished a writing piece titled, “This is Me.” The journal is meant to be a safe place for students to practice writing and communicate with me. We are also practicing writing complete sentences and grammar every morning during D.O.L. My goal is for students to move towards writing “5th grade level” sentences that include more details.

Science: This week, we also revisited Unit B: Weather and Space. In Chapter 1: Earth’s Air and Water, we discussed the changes of the Earth’s atmosphere. Will it get warmer with every hundred years or cooler? Our lessons and pacing will follow the weekly science lab activities. Science lab should begin next week with students first learning about expectations and rules.
Social Studies: We have begun our new Scott Foresman’s Our Nation workbooks and read The Argus to learn about national and international current events. We will continue to review geography skills and begin TIME for Kids next week.

In the Spotlight: Miss Lou

Dates to Remember:
‡ Tuesday, September 19th
Back-to-School Night 7:50 pm

‡ Wednesday, September 20th
Reading Quiz/Spelling Test – Unit 1, Lesson 2

‡ Thursday, September 21st
Miss Lou attending FLEP meeting (8:30-11:15)

‡ Friday, September 22nd
Book Orders Due
First Progress Reports will be sent home.

** Enjoy the weekend! - Miss Lou

What is this?!?

However, the REAL questions should be: Who drew this and how long did it take? What type of manipulatives did it take to create this masterpiece on the Room 401 chalkboard?

This - - - graph took a lot of measuring, but most of all, I witnessed cooperation and teamwork first hand. Thank you boys for working together to try to make it perfectly proportional.
_________________________________________________________
Room 401
Sept. 15, 2006

Today was our first Friday Class Meeting. We spent the first 10 minutes practicing how to make a circle by moving our desks to the side and making a circle with our blue chairs (which by the way, many students labeled with masking tape.) Do you remember the three important rules to keep in mind before beginning?

1) Safety First
2) Quiet
3)Efficient

Next, Miss Lou explained the reason for the "conch" (which was actually a porcelain statue given to her by a student.) Whoever holds the conch may conduct the meeting and call on students to speak. Miss Lou passed the conch around the circle and asked the students to each use one adjective to describe how they felt about making a circle and one word to desribe their sibling or neighbors. Words like: fun, weird, fast, super fast, boring, surprisingly efficient and safe were used to describe our circle making technique. Words like: cute, annoying, mean, evil and invisible were used to describe our brothers, sisters or neighbors. One student said, Monster!" (Is that an adjective???)

We played I Like My Neighbor Who and the students got shuffled up. The business portion of the meeting officially began to make announcements (some more important than others) and ended with a long discussion about respect and cooperation. We ended the serious portion of the meeting by going around the circle and making a verbal agreement to (at least) try to work together and create a less "challenging" community within our Room 401 walls and beyond.

Thank you students for a productive first class meeting. Of course, our meeting ended with yet another game we learned in Room 214. This game is called Mask. Five students ended up as the champions for mask and they won two prizes from the prize bucket. Other students received one prize. Then the students had free time after putting their desks back nicely.

Thanks again 5th graders and have a fabulous weekend!

Yummy!

What did we make here? It looks delicious!

Guessing Game

Rules: You can only comment one answer below and tagging on the Tagboard (the one on your right) does NOT count. Each answer right counts for a free homework point.

Good Luck!

1. What is the Room Number of this classroom?
2. What are those funny looking blue and gray things hanging from the ceiling and what is it for?
3. What year was this picture taken?
4. Who is the girl in the background?
5. What did the green little bits of paper say on the door?

Enya's Cake

This is Emma's little sister's birthday cake from the summer. I promised to put it on the blog and forgot! (Sorry En!) So here it is...the fabulous birthday cake for a fabulous little girl.

Happy Belated birthday, Sweetie!

Her name is "Puppy."

Tigger House
Kabul, Afghanistan

I went to an animal shelter and wanted to adopt this cute little puppy. The shelter named her "Puppy" so her new owner could give her a name. She is dusty gold in color, very friendly and whines when you put her back down. It was too expensive to ship her on an airplane, so I had to say goodbye. Sob!

However, the vet at the Tigger House is finding a way to get her back to the U.S.A. but I still think it would be too expensive....sigh.

This isn't Miss Lou.

Kabul, Afghanistan

This is a woman I saw walking out in the street after I came out of a bookstore.

Can you guess what direction she is headed?

Hi Students!

This is a picture of boy with his stubborn pet donkey. He is walking in the desert heat around the city of Kabul. Kabul is the capital of a war-torn country in Afghanistan. Where would you locate this place on the world map?

Dear Forest Park Students,

This is Miss Lou. Things are moving fast and I am safe now. Did you enjoy your first day back at Forest Park? What are the things that feel and look different? What are things that you missed about school? What are things you did not miss?

I look forward to the safety I feel everday at school. I look forward to all the happy students that give me hugs and watching them work hard to be better people. I look forward to reading with my students and having really good discussions. I look forward to seeing familiar faces and growing with a community of young hearts and minds.

What do you look forward to?

Miss Lou

Welcome Back 5th Graders!!!

This is Miss Lou talking to a woman from Afghanistan! She is wearing a blue burka. Do some research on the Internet to find out what a burka is! I will bring one back to show all of you...


Dear Parent and Students,

Welcome back to Forest Park for the Fall 2006 school year. I am looking forward to working with you (again!) and excited to get to share and explore life with all of you this year.

I will be returning from Kabul, Afghanistan as soon as possible.

Write, tag or e-mail me soon!

Your 5th grade teacher,
Miss Lou

4misslou@gmail.com

Happy Birthday Enya!

Dear Waspy Girl,

Tell me what you did for your birthday? Was it very, very hot? Did you go swimming? Who came to your party and what did you eat?

What gifts did you get??

I wish I was there!!

Love,
Miss Lou

Miss Lou Is Here Again???

Where are you now?

My Second-to-Last Day of My Entire...

2nd Grade Life at Forest Park Ever!!!

Wednesday, June 14th, 2006

How do I feel today? I feel excited and sad. I'm excited to clean the classroom like yesterday and I'm sad because after today and tomorrow, I will never be a student of a wonderful teacher called Miss Lou.

I want to cry, but I don't want to. I will miss everybody a lot.

I will miss all the arts and crafts we did that no other teacher would think of. i will miss Miss Lou very very very much. I think I have the best 2nd grade class in the whole wide world! If you think you have the best 2nd grade class in the...


(OH NO! Miss Lou can't find the rest! Who can help me!!!)

:)Title: My 2nd-to-Last Day of...

Second Grade in Room 401 at Forest Park School

June 14th, 2006

Dear Scary Second to Last Day of 2nd Grade,

What will you fell if it's the second to last day of second grade? I would fee so terrible I would feel terrible because tomorrow would be the last day of second grade. I'm already crying. Did you ever feel you're going to explore becuase it's the first day of school and your so happy and later when it's going to be the last day of school, you are going to flood to tears? I have. Do you know when? Now! But I'm not really going to flood in tears. I'm just sad and looking forward to 3rd grade and summer vacation. I'll still miss Felicia, Miss Lou, Sara, Katherine and others. But the good part is I'm going back to shcool when summer vacation ends. That's great and bad. The great part is I'm going to school again and the bad part is my teacher might really really really be strict. So far, I didn't get only strict teachers and I'm not hoping to get one. I will still be happy because I get to see my classmates again and Miss Lou

Love,
Claudia

P.S. Write back :)

Title: My 2nd-to-Last Day of School

June 14th, 2006

How do I feel about today? I feel sad and happy because today we had field day and it is almost the last day of school. I have another reason is becuase I might miss Miss Lou and my friends but I still have memories. I love my friends becuase they alwyas be kind to me. Now let me tell you about field day. During field day, I played games. Let me tell you how I played. Here is my favorite on, this game is called uh...I don't know, but let me tell you how you play. There is a container in a bucket and you have to fill it with water and put it over your head and run to the other bucket and pour the water.

That's it!

Guess who this is written by? The winner will have his or her picture with the author of this journal entry!!!

Good luck!

Self-Discovery...

I hope you are still writing...
Katherine is concentrating hard on her snack, but she always concentrates carefully when she does things. She is a hard worker. I bet she is the BEST ice skater EVER!

What do you like to do best?

How's your summer going?

Hi Claudia! You are soooo cool!
Kelvin is so clever!
Andrew and Ryan playing around or working?

Miss Lou misses you soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much!

Kids, Kiddy,...Kiddy Biddies!

Look at how much fun and laughter we had...
Is it really summer, or is it just a short break? I miss all of you sooo sooooo sooooooooooooo sooooooooooooooooooooooo much!