Escamilla5th
Community. respect.educating. inquiry. Life in Ms. Escamilla's 5th grade
As August was unwinding I spent those rainy and cool days preparing for another great year with Cherry Creek students. A few changes were made to the classroom this year. I am very excited to have my projector screen moved which now opens up the big whiteboard to be accessible at all times. More importantly the analog clock on the wall will be visible 24/7. Only myself and the students from last years class can truly appreciate this change.
I now have a whole corner dedicated to Genius Hour which I look forward to starting in September. I look forward to adding more to the walls and the bulletin boards as the year progresses with the student's work. Until now, just the template has been created by me; the masterpiece will come beginning September 8th.
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In reading groups we revisited figurative language and focused on idioms. The kids did idiom stations this week and were challenged to bring an idiom to school and we had to guess what the idiom was. Here are a few pictures of idioms that didn't require movement or speaking. The answers are at the bottom! Eyes on the back of your head, Rags to Riches
When pigs fly, Kill 2 birds with 1 stone Money burning a hole in my pocket, Apple a day keeps the doctor away Drowning in bills, Blessing in disguise It's not worth bending backwards, Hold your horses Penny for your thoughts, It's in the bag It is hard to believe that we are less than a month away from school coming to a close. It is always so sad when our 5th graders leave and move onto middle school.
With all that we have done this year with our field trips, kindness project, and Bay Cliff I wanted the students to take some time and really reflect not only on 5th grade, but also on elementary school. I came up with a vision for this bulletin board that I wanted to be a gift to students and staff. We began with an independent brainstorming day, where students reflected on their years at Cherry Creek. The following day each student was required to type up one word of advice to the younger grades, one elementary school memory, one special thank you to someone in the building, and one 5th grade memory. These then were shared with the groups they were placed in as well as their brainstorming sheet and a whole group letter as drafted and edited. The group then selected one person to write the final letter onto a large sheet of construction paper. Photos of our year, as well as a few photos donated by a 3rd grade teacher of the students 2 years ago are showcased, as well as their individual quotes of advice, memories, and special thanks. It is a touching piece to walk by and reflect on. Our 5th graders participated in their final young authors. We were lucky to have two buddy classes this year, Mrs. Longton's class from Superior Hills, and Mrs. Jurasin's class from Sandy Knoll. When we all sat down for our book sharing, the students were able to meet their cabin mates for Bay Cliff for the first time.
We followed up our book sharing with an early lunch in the MP. We ate lunch at the time that we normally eat snack at school. The kids were very respectful and enjoyed their chicken nuggets and ice cream sandwiches. Thankfully our special wasn't too far from where we needed to go, so we had some extra time to kill. I led the class to an open space on campus to have an impromptu game of ultimate tag. Despite the sunny photos, it should be noted that it was in the 40s outside. Regardless the students played hard and took the game very seriously, and were peeling off layers in no time. The game ended with a quote, "we should do that more often!" We went to our special which was about furs and trapping. Several animal furs were passed around as we learned about how animals are trapped, and why. Lastly, we sat down to hear our author, Buffy. It was awesome to have a non-fiction author this year. She is very talented and passionate about her work. It was great how she taught the students about how passion and hard work can create an awesome product to share! |
AuthorMy name is Ms. Escamilla. This is my first year teaching 5th grade and so far it has been amazing. Follow our journey as we continue down the road of independent thinkers and lifelong learners. Archives
August 2015
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