I Wonder...

QUESTIONS NO ONE KNOWS THE ANSWERS TO

Take 12 minutes to watch this video and just wonder about things. Think critically; imagine; don't try to Google it. Expand your mind and know that creativity is an amazing quality to cultivate, and it starts with wondering.

GUEST BLOGGERS

Famous Person

My famous person is a very famous one. He plays soccer and is on Barcelona’s team. He is the wealthiest soccer player of 2014! He was born on June 24 in Rosario, Argentina. He was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency which was stopping his normal growth rate at the tender age of 11. His first contract was on a napkin, yes you read correctly, on a napkin! His nickname is “The Flea” because of his amazing speed. He was the sixth youngest soccer player to score a goal in the world cup games. You will never find out who my famous person is, but if you do, keep it a secret.

-Jose

Question of the Week

I asked Hayley how her week off was and what she did. She said, “I had a great week off because I got to spend time with my dad and grandma. What I did was go shopping with my grandma. She gave me $10, and I bought leggings.” I also asked her if she met any friends that week. She said, “ I went over to my friend Natalie’s house. We went to the movie theater to watch Hunger Games Mockingjay part 2. I spent the night at her house we had so much fun!” 

-Easton

2 Truths and a Lie

1. I have had three concussions in my life. The first one happened when I was in preschool I was on the monkey bars and fell off. The second one happened when I was riding horses with my grandpa. The horse was going too fast and I fell off into a field all by myself and it was scary. The third one happened in football. I got hit in the head too hard and my head started to hurt really bad.
2. I have also broken my arm before. This also happened in preschool when I got a concussion. I broke it in two places. I got a blue cast and I had it for six weeks. All my family members got to sign it. I could not do anything for six weeks.
3. I am a football player. I am #67. I am a linebacker and a d-end. I play for the Oroville Rhinos. My favorite football team is the Seattle Seahawks. my favorite players are Marshawn Lynch and Kam Chancellor.

-Clayton

6-Word Memoirs

Happy Thanksgiving Break!!

Check out the three slide shows below that were created by the students with their illustrated 6-Word Memoirs. I couldn't figure out how to add music except for clicking on the link in the first slide. It takes you to a Youtube copyright-free music link that can play in the background while you watch the slideshow. 


Amber Class   (click on the class)


Ruby Class


Sapphire Class

6th Grade is GREAT

I know a teacher named Doug. He is known as The Weird Teacher. He has a few books published about good teaching strategies. He focuses on creativity and letting kids be kids. I really like this blog post of his. You may like to read it.

I think about your kids all the time. I am constantly trying to come up with ways to engage them with their learning. I lose sleep; I take up family time; I read and read and read-- always looking for ways to make better readers, writers, speakers, citizens.

If you have ideas for me, I am always open to trying new things. I want 6th grade to be successful, challenging, and rewarding.

****************************************

PEN PAL

Here is a post from Peter and his mom!

Hello, Dawn and class.

Peter's been swamped with schoolwork/homework. Sorry this has taken so long. He loved all the letters he received. He is writing back to each and every one. Here is his blog post and some photos.


Cheers,

Linda for Peter

I have no idea how to start this blog post, so here goes. First off, my name is Peter and your teacher is a friend of mine and my family. Since I have been traveling in Asia, she thought it’d be cool for me to write a couple blog posts. So… I present…

Life From Halfway Around The World A Blog Post Thingy By A Child Who Knows No Chinese. In Asia.

Anyway, here’s a few things about where I live:

1. Lots of yummy food.

2. Lots of cobras.

3. Lots of fun.

4. Lots of idiot scooter drivers. (Driving on the sidewalks!!!)

5. Lots of Sasparilla beverages.

Cobra warning sign in our elevator. Olivia saw a cobra in the lobby of our building RIGHT before we moved in.



Friday night dinner eating at a Korean barbecue with some school friends.



Hanging out on the roof of our 7 story building.



The inside of my school bus.



Eating oysters at a fish market with our neighbor, Olivia.

Please ask your class what questions they want answered for the next blog post. You can send the questions as a reply to my mom and I will answer them.

What photos do they want to see?

Peter

*************************************
GUEST BLOGGERS

Famous Person

My famous person was born on April 6, 1976 and is still present today. Her career was mostly acting, but did some dancing too. Her acting career included a famous 90’s show, Full House. She played as Danny Tanner’s oldest daughter. Her full name in Full House is Donna Joe Tanner. Her sisters in Full House are Michelle and Stephanie. She will be starring in 2016’s new show, Fuller House. In this show, directed by John Stamos, Danny Tanner’s oldest daughter becomes a widow raising two sons, and Stephanie and Kimmy move in with her to help her. Can you guess my famous person?

By: Kate


Question(s) of the Week

I asked Zach, “What are Pokémon?” 

“Pokémon are made-up creatures that have roamed the earth since time was created. Humans and Pokémon live together, and people bond with Pokémon to help them become stronger.”

Do they have powers?

“Yes and no. They have moves and abilities.”

How many types are there?

“There are 18 types: fire, water, grass, ghost, electric, bug, normal, flying, fighting, steel, rock, ground, ice, dark, poison, dragon, psychic, and the new fairy type.” 

Are there legendaries?

“Yes, there is the normal everyday Pokémon like Picu, the mythical Pokémon like Mew, and the rarely seen legendaries like Kyoagar.”

Makayla H. 

2 Truths and a Lie

1. When I was 9 we went to Alaska to visit family. When we were there my uncle and I went on a walk. We brought the dogs along with us. After a while it was getting dark. We were walking for at least 2-3 hours, so we headed back. Then suddenly we heard something in the bush. We noticed the dogs were gone, so I thought it was the dog. My uncle thought it was a bear and the bear ate the dogs, but no. It was a … baby wolf cub just wanting to play. We took it to our grandparents’ house, and they kept it. Its name is now Dakoda.
2. The day before the Fourth of July we went to San Diego. It was a 10 hour drive. We got there at like 7 o’clock, so we went to my uncle’s and aunt’s. Then we went to our cabin. We went to bed then. When we woke up, and all we did was watch people play baseball. After the baseball game, we played with our cousins at the beach, we rode some rides at the boardwalk, then we got food and went home. 
3. On Christmas Eve we go to my aunt's house and open presents, eat, and lots of other things. Every christmas they come to our house and eat lots of food, but the bad thing is that we have to wait for them to get here before we open presents, so it's never a good Christmas.

-Tristen

Spoken Word

In class, we are talking about performance art and spoken word. The kids seemed to like this video:

It has powerful messages about everyone having a story to tell.

Students are also working on 6-word memoirs. Read some written by students from another school in this video: 

I am going to have your kids use their 6-word memoirs for spoken word in the classroom. It will be a good speaking and performance opportunity for them in a safe place.

*****************************************
We have some new seating in class. Here are the students appreciating the new options:

******************************************
Guest Bloggers

Famous Person

My famous person is 23 years old. She was born on July 22, 1992. She is 5’5.” She was raised in Grande Prairie, Texas. My famous person is an American actress, a singer, and a fashion designer. She was first featured on “Barney and Friends” in 2000. She was Alex Russo on a Disney show called “Wizards of Waverly place.” She was also an audio character for the movie “Hotel Transylvania.” Some of her popular songs are, “Same Old Love” and “Good for You.” Do you know who my famous person is?

                                                                                               

By Mariah 

Question of the Week

I asked Yadira, “What is your favorite thing to do after school?”

She said, “My favorite thing to do is go home, and when my mom gets home we all sit down at the dinner table. After that we go to the living room and we sit down on the couch and see if there are any favorite shows to watch. If there are any new episodes or returns that we have not watched, then we watch that. Our favorite shows to watch are comedy shows because a little into the shows we start to crack up.” She also said she likes to play with the little kids at the Honcut after school program because they are so cute and tiny. 

Alejandro

Two Truths and a Lie

1. I lived in the Bay Area, and I played outdoor and indoor soccer at the same time. My teams won the semi-finals and the finals in 1^st place.
2. I’ve played soccer my whole life since I was 1. I still play and we are going to play on Saturday to see if we go to the semi-finals.
3. The person who introduced me to soccer was my uncle who has played for 7 years. He still plays for a local pro-team. The day my uncle showed me soccer I knew I found the sport I wanted to play forever.

by Jorge

Save the Planet

In class we read an article about bee and butterfly populations dying out. Here it is. You can read it, too. It inspired a conversation about the myriad of ways that humans are collectively wasting, overusing, and mismanaging resources.

Then we watched a satirical video called "The Man."

sat·ire

ˈsaˌtī(ə)r/

noun

1. the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.

   • a play, novel, film, or other work that uses satire.

     plural noun: satires

     "a stinging satire on American politics"
   • a genre of literature characterized by the use of satire.
   • 
     

(I removed "The Man" video because at this time, Youtube suggests other "popular videos" at the end that I did not thing were appropriate. We want to be good digital citizens and avoid certain topics. Maybe I will upload it again in the future when the suggested videos at the end have changed.)

This is "The Man" video. It is satire about human interactions with the world around them.

I asked students what they could do now or in the future to make a positive contribution to the planet. These are some of their responses: 

Becca: One thing that I could do in my life right now is eat beans and other products that don’t have animal meat in them.

Bella: One thing I could do is recycle paper not waste it.

Tyler M: One thing I would do in the future is recycle as much as I can and not smoke (cough!).

Raiden: One thing I could do in the future to help the planet is to not pile up garbage but instead reuse it or not make more garbage.

Russell: One thing in the future I can do is be an engineer so I can design environmentally friendly stuff.

Patrick: One thing I can change in my house is how we eat. We could eat only organic and not chemical food.

Natalie: One thing I can do in my life right now is give my extra food to the homeless instead of wasting it.

Asher: Something I can do to help in the future is start a campaign to not kill animals.

Aaron: What I would do to help in the future is pick up as much trash as possible, rescue spiders, and stop destruction of trees and land.

Makayla M: One thing I can help with right now is not hurting or killing bugs.

Riley: Something I could do in the future is pick up trash.

Margarita: Something I could do in the future is give food to people who need it and not waste food.

Brenna: I could feed the food I don’t eat to my chickens or dogs and stop it from going into the garbage.

Shantelle: One thing I can do in my life right now is help keep the animals from getting put in the zoo by telling people to let animals be free and wild.

Faith: One thing I could do in my life right now is I could help plant trees.

Kylynn: One thing I can do in my life right now is to keep animals healthy and fat and to kill them in a responsible way so we can have food.

*********************************************************************

"Reading and Riding" 

Students really enjoy using their quiet reading time on the exercise equipment.

*********************************************
GUEST BLOGGERS

Famous Person

I’m thinking of a famous person

He is in Star Wars 4,5,and 6. He cut off Luke Skywalker's hand in Star Wars 5. He battled Ben Kenobi in the death star in the movie Star Wars 4 and also killed the emperor in Star Wars 6. He became a sith lord in Star Wars 3. He is in the games Star Wars 3 the Revenge of the Sith, Lego Star Wars 3 the Clone Wars, Star Wars the Force Unleashed 1&2, and I am sure many others. I might wear a shirt with the Sith Lord holding a guitar. I also know that I nicknamed him “darth baker man.” He had to wear a suit after his battle with “Obi-wan” Kenobi on Mustafar. The emperor convinced him that he killed Padme when really she died from having kids (Luke and Leia). In my opinion it is a sad story, but Star Wars 3 is a good movie.

Who is the Sith Lord I am talking about?

-Kaidin

Question of the Week

I asked Roy, “What did you do for Halloween?”

He told me that he went trick or treating. Roy dressed up as a wolf because his sister dressed up as little red riding hood. He told me that he went to a couple haunted houses. He said none were scary. He told me he had two bags full of candy. He saw me, Anthony, Luke, and Patrick. Roy’s dad paid him 30 dollars to go as a wolf. He went around 18^th street a couple of times. Roy spent the 30 dollars his dad gave him on more candy. It was a fun night.

-Ryken

Two Truths and a Lie

1. I had a dog and her name was Devon she passed away because she had Parvo. It was very sad. It felt like a piece of me died with her. When she was a puppy we sold her to a nice family who loved her. She was not even a year old when we got her back. We had her for a couple of months and I grew very close to her. She died about a month before her first birthday.
2. I have a puppy named Sadie. She is almost a year old. She has more energy in one day than I could have in a week! She is scary to play with because she runs at you with full speed. Then at the last second, she goes the other way. If she has a toy, you don’t want to take it because she will find a way to get it back no matter what
3. One time when I was at the fair my pig peed in my boot. It was so gross! It all started when I washed her to put clean shavings in the pen, but if you know pigs, they like to make messes out of things you just cleaned. She decided she had to go pee to make a mess but the mess went in my boot.

-Brenna

Doodle 4 Google

Have you noticed that the letter art on the Google Search page changes every day? click here

Every year there is a contest for students to create doodles for that page. YOU could have your art displayed for all the world!

Check out this website for more information about Doodle 4 Google. We will not be completing this activity in class, but your life could be improved by participating in this contest. You will make art; you will share art; you could win worldwide fame for a day; and there are lots of prizes!

*****************************
PEN PAL

Peter received our mail in Taiwan. Keep writing to him. He loved it. He will respond soon. 

*****************************

SUPER STARS

These are kids who demonstrate role model behavior. They are Safe, Responsible, Courteous, and they show Integrity. These certificates are coming home to keep.

*****************************

GUEST BLOGGERS

Famous Person

I'm thinking of a famous person.

This person was born on April 16, 1971 in Lake Jackson, Texas. She died on March 31, 1995. She died because of a gunshot from the president of her fan club. One of her songs are {Dreaming of You} which was released after her death. She was also a fashion designer. She began performing around the age 10. She has her own movie where she talks about her life and how she became a singer. Her love was Christi Perez.  One of her dreams was to have her own farm. Towards the end of her life, she and Chris had purchased 10 acres of land just outside of Corpus Christi, on which they planned to build a farm, raise horses, and build their own house.

Who is this person?

-Erika

Question of the Week

I asked Nolan about his wrestling. How many wrestling matches have you done? He said that he has done more than he can remember. I asked him how many matches he has won, and he said about 12. Then I asked him how many he lost, and he said that he has lost quite a few matches. He said he has gone to a bunch of tournaments. I asked him if he has won trophies and he said yes; he has won trophies and tournaments.

                                      

-Gavyn

Two Truths and a Lie

1)      I wrestle for the wildcats. I got 3^rd, 8^th, and 7^th in state. This will be my sixth year wrestling but only my fourth with the wild cats. My 1^st two years was for the Oroville Rattlers.

2)      I have a dog that ran off so any times that I don’t even know how many times she has run off. Her name is Delilah. We don’t have Delilah anymore because my dad is not chasing after her anymore, and he’s not bailing her out of the pound.

3)      My favorite song is “Levels” by Nick Jonas. My second favorite is “Downtown” and finally my third is “Locked Away” or “Hotline Bling.” I can’t decide.

- Gage

End of Trimester

The end of Trimester 1 is November 6th. 

In Reading and Language Arts we have four assessments to give.

1. Fluency- Students read aloud for 1 minute. We count students' words per minute. 127 is proficient for the first trimester.
2. SRI- This computer-generated reading test checks vocabulary and comprehension. 800 is the goal for the end of 6th grade.
3. Multiple Choice Standards Assessment- 10 questions test students' ability to read informational text. 70% is proficient.
4. Writing Assessment- Students write a personal narrative to demonstrate their ability to communicate ideas effectively in writing. On a 1-5 rubric, 4 is proficient.

Students have already completed #1. The multiple choice trimester assessment is Monday. The SRI is Tuesday of next week. Students are writing the Personal Narratives now in class. Whew! So much good work! Report Cards will come home after the end of the trimester, followed by conferences.

*************************************************

DROUGHT

Here's a reminder to SAVE WATER. We are in a drought. Reservoirs are at all-time lows. There are communities in Central California with wells running dry. That means they have no water running for showers, flushing, hand washing, eating/drinking, pets, etc. Here are some ways to save water at home:

• take shorter showers
• turn water off while brushing teeth, shaving, washing hair
• use water on plants or pets instead of pouring it down the sink

What are some ways that you and your family are conserving water at home? 

******************************************

ALTERNATIVE SEATING

Students hard at work in their seats of choice.

Read and Ride (or Step)

Couch and Lapdesks

Ms. Davis, reading aloud to class and stair-stepping

*********************************************
GUEST BLOGGERS
Famous Person

I’m thinking of a famous person.

My famous person is a wrestler. She is married to Cm Punk, the wrestler. She is 32 years old. Her nickname is Greek Goddess. She began her career on the New Jersey Independent circuit. In 2007, she performed as Miss April. She signed with WWE in 2009, and she won the Divas championship. She paid almost $20,000 to enter the Divas. She has a record of tying three times. She lost sometimes. She is the best wrestler I know. You will never figure out my famous person.

By Saira                        

Question of the Week

I asked my friend Anela what she likes to do in her free time. She said, “I like to play video games on my 2DS." She also said, “One of my favorite games is Animal Crossing New Leaf, [ACNL].” She said she loves playing Animal Crossing with me. “My second favorite is any kind of Mario games. All the games I have are ACNL, Mario Kart 7, Super Mario Bros 2 and the first one, Donkey Kong Country Returns. I also have Tomodachi Life, Style Savvy, and Super Mario 3D Land.”

By Isabella 

Two Truths and a Lie

1. On a family trip to Blue Lakes me and my sister were riding our quads up a really steep hill, and on the way down, she realized she didn’t have any brakes. The quad kept going faster and faster and she was screaming and crying and almost flew off the cliff!

2. I went to Fort Brag on a camping trip and my family and I were walking to the beach. My nephew took off running towards a cliff, and I threw him back just in time so he wouldn’t run off the cliff. He would have died if I didn’t do that because my dad said it was a 100ft drop.

3. When I was at the beach I saw a shark lying in the sand and I thought it was dead, so I picked it up. It jumped out of my hands! It bit my shoe, and I kicked it up in the air.

By Nolan