Can you believe that we are nearing the end of another year at Innovations Academy? It has really gone by much to quickly. I would like to thank all of the parents, faculty, and students who attended the parent night at Barnes and Noble last week it was a huge success! I look forward to more fun events like this in the future.



We are finally coming to a close on our Revolutionary War projects. We just got through reading the Historical fiction novel My Brother Sam is Dead. The students were really excited to read the novel due to its suspense and relevancy to history. It had a very ironic twist in the end which led us to believe that war is both cruel and harsh. Tomorrow we will be writing a compare and contrast essay about the two main characters in the story.



In math we have begun exploring geometric figures. We have been designing different types of triangles. We are also studying different types of angles, parallel, perpendicular, and intersecting lines. We are looking at the types of angles as well. These include obtuse, acute, and right angles.



In language arts we are going to be starting to read a new book called The Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. It is a story about a child who runs away to a museum to solve a mystery. We are continuing to work on our grammar and wordly wise. If any work is not being completed in class when sufficient time is being given, I will start sending the work home to be completed.

December is here!

Remember that next week we are having our family night manditory meeting will be held at Barnes and Noble on December the 10th. Don't forget to do your holiday shopping there to support IA through a special fundraiser we have arranged. In addition to the meeting we will be having performances and artwork displayed from some of our classes. Also that night we will have another fundraiser at Applebee's located in the Hazard center.

In class we are continuing to work on our History projects. We are almost finished with our Historical fiction novel, My Brother Sam is Dead. We are just about to begin filming the Revolutionary war video.

For science we are using paper airplanes to study the scientific method. We are making the planes and researching plane aerodynamics. We are forming our hypothesis as to which type of plane will fly father. Next week we will send the planes off the balcony and record the distance that each one flew and record the results and draw conclusions.

For math we have been working with rounding decimals and multiplying decimals. We are continuing to have daily multiplication drills and just about everyone has got the basic facts down so far.

In language arts we are reviewing capitalization rules, wordly wise, and are working on our rough drafts for our personal narratives. We have also been working on similes and metaphores.

Hello out there in cyberspace!

Thank you all who attended the fair last Sunday. It was a lot of fun! We had Mad science activities, a jumper house, face painting, and treats for children and dogs.
Tony's class is having robot night on Friday November 20. They are going to be showing Transformers 2 and Wallie. This will be happening after school at 3:30. Snacks will be provided for, but will cost money. If you wish to see Transformers 2 you will need to obtain written permission from your parent. Also remember that next week is Thanksgiving break. Don't forget that we come back on Tuesday, since Monday is a staff development day.

For math we have been working on adding and subtraction with estimation and rounding to check. I will be sending all incomplete work home with your child. This is not homework but class work that is not finished. We finished our math assessment today I have graded some of them but not all yet.

We took a wordly wise test which I will be sending home as well. We also worked on capitalization and on our personal narratives. We came up with the theme of our stories today. Some of the themes were "do what you want to do not what your friends tell you to do, and always think before you act."

For our History projects we have been discussing The Boston Massacre, the Intolerable acts, and the Boston Tea party. Our book My Brother Sam is Dead is really getting suspenseful. We are having a hard time stopping the story each day.

Hola,
Some upcoming announcements are as follows- Tonight we are having a family night to present our "Me projects." You can purchase a meal from Pat and Oscars for five dollars if you like. This Sunday we are having a carnival to raise money for the sixth grade camp and get students to come to our wonderful, tremendously awesome school.

For language arts we are prewriting our personal narratives. These are autobiographical narrative that tell about a conflict in our lives and how it was resolved. We have been adding synonym tools and voice boxes and thinking bubbles to add quotations and dialogue to our stories. We are just about to start writing our rough drafts. For vocabulary we are continuing to use our Wordly Wise. We acted out the words and completed the packets.

In math we are doing division with decimals and remainders. Multiplication and division are fact families so it really helps to know all the basic facts. We also worked on estimation also known as "rounding numbers.."

For our read aloud we just finished reading Holes. Now we are reading a book about the American Revolutionary War. The book is called My Brother Sam is Dead. We are currently on chapter 6. Sam has run off to war to fight the British soldiers with the American militia army.

For our History projects we are creating a timeline of the events leading up to the war. Each student is responsible for completing their paragraph on the event that they were assigned to. They also need to come up with a test question for our assessment. For our final project we are going to be acting out the events of the war. Be looking our you tube video of our production.

This week we are going to be having our student led parent teacher conferences. These will be taking place during the afternoon on Wednesday November 4. If you have not already signed up for a time slot please contact me so we can scheduled a time to meet with you and your child. I still have some time slots available from 2:30 to 4:00. This meeting will give you the opportunity to discuss your child's progress as well as future goals you wish to make.

In our language arts curriculum we have continued to make progress in our writing fluency with our "power writes". The children have really been able to see the tremendous growth in their sustained writing. We have also begun to create our personal narratives. These stories are about some type of conflict we have had and how it was resolved. With the use of direct instruction and graphic organizers, I am confident that the stories will be great.

In math we are continuing to work with place value of decimals. We are ordering, adding, subtracting, and comparing them. As a warm up each day we are taking multiplication tests to make sure we understand our basic facts. I am pleased to discover that most of the students are pretty comfortable with them. This will allow for us to move on to more complicated math procedures such as division.

In our social studies project we are focusing on the American Revolution. We are currently putting science on hold so we can focus exclusively on this project. We are using time lines, creating books, and acting out these historic events. It has been a lot of fun so far.
Keep checking up with the blog and stay tuned for future announcements.

Sincerely,
Bill

There are a lot of exciting things happening in our class room these days and a few important upcoming announcements. Next week our class will be attending a field trip to Mission Trails Regional Park. There we will learn about 4 distinct ecosystems. We will be leaving on the morning of Wednesday, October 28th. We will return by early dismissal that day so we will not be eating lunch there. I imagine that we will need a snack and water at the very least so be sure to pack something to munch on. Also don’t forget to wear closed toe shoes and bring plenty of sunscreen and perhaps a hat.
Our class has begun working on our writing program that I went to training for a few weeks ago. I can already see that writing fluency has increased dramatically in the short time that the program has been implemented. We are working on creating powerful sentences and identifying key writing standards for fifth grade narratives. Ask your child about sentence “travelers, double whos”, and “triple deckers.”
For math we are continuing to work on place value for decimals and comparing them to percentages. We do this in a variety of different ways. Sometimes we play games to learn at other times we use independent skill sheets. We are also having daily multiplication skills to make sure that we have our basic facts in order to move on to more difficult concepts.
For our project right now we a focusing on the History of the American Revolutionary War. I decided that we are going to focus on social studies for our project time. After this project we will then switch to our ecosystems project.

Greetings from Bill’s class,
This week we continued to progress on our “Me projects.” We toiled over our family trees and learned about our family history. We set some due dates so we could be motivated to finish up the project. There are a few of us that are almost done, congratulations! This week on Wednesday we had our first substitute, Amy. Bill was diligently working at a conference learning how to better teach writing. Kim has taken the class and has had great results.
Don’t forget that tonight Justin’s class is hosting the breakfast for dinner. This is all going down at 5:30. The cost is 3 dollars for a single serving of 1 pancake, 1 sausage, 1 fruit, and o.j. After parents are welcome to come in to the classrooms and see their child’s work. Also, don’t forget that Friday is pizza day, so don’t forget your $3.75.

This week was a blast! We have been continuing to work on our “me projects”. We are almost finished with our personal artifacts essays. Today we made a pie graph representing ourselves with percentages and decimals. It was 100% fun, so much in fact, that we did not want to stop the activity. For math this week we learned expanded form, word form, and standard form. We also learned about place value. We practiced these skills by playing a memory game. We learned greater than and less than by rolling the dice.
This week we started our first class council to discuss issues that arise during the day. We have discussed whether or not to allow ipods during independent work time and if we want a class pet.
This week we started puppetry and breathing classes. We started making our own shadow puppets with different types of animals and people. During breathing and relaxation we had to relax and focus on our breath. We also did spider movements.
We finished our first read aloud, The Rats of Nimh. We are going to watch the movie and compare it to the book. We are going to start reading Because of Winn-Dixie next.
Just a reminder Chinese classes are starting next Wednesday after school, so if you would like to enroll talk to Donna. Also don’t forget that picture day is on Tuesday so please bring in your forms as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Bill’s class

This week was a lot of fun. We did lots of new and exciting things. The highlight of the week was when we went to the Wild Animal Park. We saw a Golden eagle and learned how they can actually slow down time when catching prey. Did you know that golden eagles have 36 vertebrae in their neck alone? We learned all about the endangered California condor that has over a 9 foot wingspan. We learned that the conservation efforts at the Beckman center have led to the release of one condor into the wild each year. This has led to the wild numbers going from 25 to more than 300.
We continued to write and work on our “me projects”. We would like to thank all of the parents who helped us with our surveys. We also completed our personal timelines and started our personal artifacts that we brought in. Martin brought in a picture of his first surfboard, Aolani brought in her poi balls, and Jon brought in a gold coin.
We had our first spirit day “hat day” and game night which went real well. We would like to thank all of the parents who made it possible!
Everyone seems to be getting along real well and we are a happy to announce that we have a new student in our class, Claudio. Keep checking back with us for future announcements.
Sincerely,
Bill’s rock’n’ roll class
P.S. Don’t forget to see Bill’s band (The Styletones) at Adams ave street fair!

Bill’s awesome class Blog
September 17, 2009
Welcome to the best class at Innovations Academy! Today we are writing our blog as a whole class project. This week we have had a lot of fun playing games and getting to know each other. Look forward to hearing about our class in our weekly blog.
Since school has started we have established classroom rules and daily jobs. One of our rules is to be prepared each day. We can do this by eating breakfast, drinking plenty of water, and getting plenty of sleep. We have agreed to keep our class clean and respect one another.
We have begun our “Me project” this week as well. We started off by discussing our “hopes and dreams” and making maps of our last year’s classrooms that included a key. This key told about what our difficulties and joys were last year. We also finished our “I am” poems and personal timelines. We also brainstormed some ideas about the project together.
We have also celebrated Aolani’s and Amanda’s birthdays. We celebrated them by parents bringing in healthy muffins and juice. Remember to avoid bringing in all types of tree nuts since one of our students is highly allergic to them! When we celebrate birthdays this year let’s make sure we bring in healthy snacks. This means no soda and refined sugars please.
We also have an upcoming field trip to the wild animal park on Thursday, September 24. Remember to arrive at school by no later than 8:00. Our first spirit day “hat day” is next Wednesday, so be sure to wear your hat that day.

History Project

I am excited to announce that we are going to have a new teacher Tommaso Grimaldi. He will be working with me for our 6th grade history projects. Tom has extensive knowledge with project based learning. I am pleased to be working with him on this current project, “How does ancient civilization connect to my life?” Posted below are the computer links that we will be researching to answer questions that we come up with. This project will be very student centered and driven.
Ancient Civilization PBL Links:
( Please note that some links will require you to “join.” I have done so with respect to all of the free sites, but thought to include the “pay” memberships just in case anyone wanted that option) Some of the 28 links are direct source links to information while others are indirect.

Here’s to “Pubble” Power…”P.B.L.” that is. J : t.g.

http://www.globalschoolnet.org/gsnpr/

http://www.netc.org/classrooms@work/references/howto.html

http://www.pblnet.org/

http://pblmm.k12.ca.us/index.html

http://www.jason.org/gated/

http://www.globalschoolnet.org/gsnpr/index.cfm

http://webquest.sdsu.edu/searching/stepzero.html

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/index_MVT.html

http://www.sdst.org/shs/library/pbl.html

http://www.sdst.org/shs/library/

http://ztomy.com/

http://innovationsacademy.org/teachers.php

http://www.google.com/educators/index.html

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ericwebportal/

http://www.crystalinks.com/sumergods.html

http://www.grifterrec.com/coins/kushan/kushan.html

http://www.hp.uab.edu/image_archive/uck/index.html

http://www.kushan.org/contents.htm
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/romans/

http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/greeks/

http://rome.mrdonn.org/

http://mesopotamia.mrdonn.org/

http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/westasia/history/earlydynastic.htm

http://cybersleuth-kids.com/sleuth/History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Middle_East/Mesopotamia/index.htm

http://www.kidsdiscover.com/default.aspx

http://www.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/TalmudPage.html

http://www.google.com/search?q=babylonian+talmud&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

http://www.google.com/search?q=babylonian+mathematics&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

http://www.google.com/search?q=babylonian+art&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a