The Daily Blog (Nov 30) - Dominic

Today started out with us doing the usual Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. We then shared with Mr. McMurray and the class about our weekends. Most people talked about their Thanksgiving but I didn't share in front of the class. Claire shared about how she completed an 8,000 word essay this month and received an announcement that she'd won the writing test for which she wrote the essay. That is very impressive!

The class then did nine math review problems on multiplying fractions, whole numbers, and mixed numbers, that were not that hard. Shortly after, the band people went off to band practice and the rest of worked on our Newspaper reports but some of us forgot - including me -to bring back our report papers. We have to make sure to bring those to school from now on so we can work on them during the day.

Once the band people returned to class, Mr. McMurray showed the student that were sick, and for all of our benefit, how to complete the book report packet. We couldn't wait to go out for our first morning recess and play for 20 minutes.

When we returned to class, Mr. McMurray read a couple of chapters from our new book, "Among the Hidden." This is a story about a place where families can only have two children or else they have no choice but to turn in their third child to the Population Police. Obviously, it is a fiction story. Anyhow, the main character, Luke, is being kept hidden, as he is a poor family's third child. Right now, he is feeling very lonely because he is trapped in the attic of his house, unable to really do anything. I wonder what will happen next?

After we discussed the book, Mr. McMurray introduced the vocabulary words we would hear in our new story, "La Bamba." These words are words you might hear when talking about being in a talent show. The words included

• volunteered
• embarrassed
• debut
• limelight
• duo

and a few other words. This was helpful because now when we read the story, we'll be able to better understand what these words mean. Mr. McMurray also showed us information about words with multiple meanings, and then discussed the background of the song, "La Bamba," which was made famous in the 1950s by singer, Ritchie Valens, who tragically died in a plane crash.

Like we do with every story we read, we spent a few minutes writing a prediction about what we thought would happen with the main character, Manuel, when he signed up to enter his school's talent show, and then read the first page or so of the story before lunch.

After lunch we had PE where we played hand soccer which most people think is okay but I would have rather played Straddle Hog. Our PE teacher gave us an "Awesome" report to our class, which made Mr. McMurray happy.


After PE, Mr. McMurray reviewed who turned in their California Healthy Kids survey permission slips, and those kids spent the rest of the day before dismissal answering those questions. The rest of the class was reading this week's Scholastic News and some were with M. McMurray doing the oral reading fluency test. And really that is how we pretty much finished our first day back to school after Thanksgiving break.

Thanksgiving Break

I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving break!

~ Mr. McMurray & Will (son)

Dining @ our favorite local hotspot - the Ice Creamery!

The Daily Blog (Nov 19) - David

Hi! My name is David I’m the Roving Reporter for Thursday. The day was off to a good start for it opened with everyone coming to class on time. First, Mr.McMurray sent off the first computer group to the Mac Lab. While the first computer group was gone we rotated in our Literature Circle groups, taking turns meeting up with the teacher. At the same time approximately 10 to 12 students were taking the 1st trimester test.

Once the first computer group returned to class, the second computer group was sent off. We had a choice of playing either Type to Learn 3 or Slam Dunk. Then, we had free time on the C tab on the computer. Following this we had recess.

When recess was over, Mr.McMurray came and picked us up. When we returned to class the second computer group had their turn at the library, were they checked out books of their choice. During this time, the first computer group was doing the math trimester test.

Once the second computer group returned to class, the other group had their turn to go there. When the whole class was finally joined together, they all went off to the best part of the day: lunch.

Upon returning to class we listened to about five explorer presentations.

Something new to our school is a language arts program. This is composed of different reading levels. When we were in the classroom we made introductions and how we do this new program.

All in all, this was a important and fun day for the class

The Daily Blog (Nov 18) - Claire

Hi, I'm Claire and I'm the daily blogger for Wednesday, November 18!

When we came in today, Mr. McMurray told us to read. Then, he stopped us and announced that today was Julia's birthday. We all stood up and sang "HappyBirthday" to Julia..."Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happybirthday dear Julia, happy birthday to you." And then, as most kids do here when it's someones birthday, everyone (except me) said, "Cha cha cha, ooh lala, HiYa!" And while saying "HiYa" they all took their hands and karate chopped their desks (not succeeding), and then all said "Ouch!" They are silly, in my opinion.

Julia then passed out red velvet cupcakes. Some had chocolate and vanilla frosting and others had just vanilla. Yet others had just chocolate. I got one with vanilla frosting on it. Then, while Mr.McMurray got ready for the school day, we ate our cupcakes while reading.

When McMurray was finally ready, we corrected our math assignment that we had for last night. We had to do all of the even numbered problems last night, but I did the whole sheet for extra credit.

Then, the whole 5th grade went outside and the 5th grade teachers took turns talking about the new program they were starting with us called "Language Arts Centers" and then we 5th graders asked questions. Once we were done, we all went into our classrooms and then it was time for recess. While at recess, I ate a bag of Goldfish Colors and then played Chase with my friends. Chase was simple, yet fun. One of my friends said that I'm harder to catch than a chicken. I took that as a compliment.

When we got inside some kids shared their Explorer Reports. The kids and their explorers were: Eric with Columbus; Julia (the birthday girl) with Hernando Cortez; Andrew with Marco Polo; Mason with Francisco Coronado; Brandon M. with John Cabot; David with Columbus; and Marcus with Francisco Coronado.

Once we were done listening to the Explorer Reports, Mr. McMurray told us to clear our desks and put our backpacks outside. Then, once we were all inside,he passed out privacy screens, answer documents and test booklets to us. He told us that these were for the First Trimester Language Arts Test. He told us to put up our privacy screens, and look with him at some of the problems inside the test booklet. He told us that tomorrow we would be taking the First Trimester Language Arts Test and talked to us about it.

Then, we were dismissed.

That was our day. It was fun and went by quickly, in my opinion. And that is all.

The Daily Blog (Nov 17) - Andrew

The first thing we did was review last night's homework on Social Studies Unit 2, Lesson 4 , which was all about the lands in the Americas claimed by different European countries such as Spain, England, France, and the Netherlands. Below is a map detailing all of the different land claims made by the European countries in North and South America.

After Social Studies, we numbered off 1 to 4 and split off into groups to work on our Study Guide for Thursday's 1st Trimester Math Test. We worked in groups for a half hour and then went to the board to show our work in front of the class on a problem of our choice. It was a good idea to study for Thursday's test so that we can do well!

We also corrected math on multiplying mixed numbers.

After our math workshop, we left to the Science Lab to study the Inner Planets, Outer Planets, and beyond. Today was our final lesson on the Solar System.

At recess, our flag football game was canceled because something was happening in the field. The Trojans vs. Stanford is going to happen at lunch recess on Thursday.

We had to write a quick summary of what we learned in science lab. The computer groups for Monday and Tuesday got to go on to complete a few assignments and watch a few videos on the solar system that Mr. McMurray assigned.

We got to get some of the Explorer Report presentations done after lunch recess. Mr. McMurray got a projector to hook up to his laptop and brought us to the Arts Center so we could see a few Power Point presentations that Sarah, Kannen, and Ethan made for their reports. Others shared as well, including Kailani who made a poster of her explorer, Francisco Pizarro.


Tonight, for homework we had to do a math worksheet and possibly work on the Literature Circles jobs if our reading or assignments haven't been completed.

The Daily Blog (Nov 16) - Marcus

At first when we came in the door we did warm up math questions. It was multiplying fractions with mixed numbers.

After we did the Problem of the Day , we spent more time math multiplying fractions .

Then all the kids went to band and we read our books.

After band we shared our weekends, and then it was time for recess. There was a football game the Koalas won, 12-0.

When we returned to class, Mr. McMurray read from our new book, Among the Hidden. Following that, we read a story called Michelle Kwan: Heart of a Champion and we wrote and checked our predictions about the story. After reading, then we shared our predictions then we read the letter from a fan of hers after that we read the Michelle Kwan story.

It was time for lunch. After lunch, we had P.E.. It was fun. We played soccer.

At the end of the day, we shared our book reports. They were great. Then we went home.

VOLCANO BROCHURE PROJECT

The Daily Blog (Nov 12) - Bella

The day started with Mr. McMurray bringing us down from the upper field. Once in the classroom, he told us what we would do today. Mr. Mc Murray asked who had their homework and who didn’t. Some people forgot their work so he took off a paper clip from our Paper Clip Chain.

The first group went to the computer lab including me, G’ana, Claire, Madison and Krystalina. The group that stayed in class did Literature Circles. After working on Slam Dunk or Type to Learn 3, we had free choice and then switched with the other group and went back to class for Literature Circles.

My group acted out a play called Persephone, the Daughter of Demeter while other groups worked with Mr. McMurray. That was followed by DEAR (Drop Everything and Read). Next we corrected our homework.

We had recess from 10:30 to 10:50, then came back to class and did math. Half of the class continued with math while the other half went to library. We multiplied fractions. Then we all came back and corrected math.

After lunch, we had DEAR and then as a class we did DLR, which stands for Daily Language Review.

At the end of the day, Mr. McMurray gave us our homework assignment: Finish Explorer Report!

Red Ribbon Week Posters - Room 16

Student Council Pumpkin Carving and Decorating Contest

The Daily Blog (Nov 5) - Rada

Hi my name is Rada and I am your daily blogger for today, Thursday, November 5, 2009. Unfortunately, this morning was not as sunny and beautiful as yesterday. In the morning Mr.McMurray brought us all to our classroom and explained what we would be doing at computers and library. After he explained the first half of the class went to computers.

At computers we first took our science test on weather then we had free choice. It was fun.

When the first group came back we all switched and the second group went to computers. In the classroom the first group took turns with Literature Circles, and we also did our Theme Skills test. Once the second group came back it was time for recess!

When we all returned from recess, half of the class went to library. At library everybody had to pick out one book with at least 150 pages to read for the upcoming book report. They also could pick out two free choice books.

Then the first group came back and it was the second groups turn for library. At the classroom we worked on our volcano brochures. At last the second group came back and Mr. McMurray read to us from the book called Bridge to Teribithia. It was great and we getting much closer to the end of the story.

Then the whole class went to enjoy their delicious lunches!

After lunch we worked on history about the European Explorers. We learned about the Triangle Trade Route between Africa, the West Indies, and the Colonies. We examined the differences between Spain's explorations in North America (gold and land) and France and the Netherlands' explorations (searching for a Northwest Passage to Asia and land).

In math we learned all about turning a fraction into a decimal and how to turn a decimal into a fraction. It was something new for us so it was really cool.

At the end of our marvelous day Mr. McMurray told us what we had for homework and we went home. As you can see today was an awesome day!

The Daily Blog (Nov 3) - Brandon M.

Today at 8:15 we did our Daily Exercises packets. In the packets we had math, language arts, and geometry. We are learning about projection maps in geometry.

Last week we learned about the Robinson Projection Map and how you can show the round earth using a flat map. On this kind of projection map, the waterways and oceans are distorted, but the continents are drawn accurately.


This week we're learning about a Mercator Projection Map. The land masses are distorted, but the latitude and longitude lines are all straight making it easier to find the coordinates of a location.

MERCATOR PROJECTION MAP

GERARDUS MERCATOR

After we were done, we had to work on our Explorer Report.

Then we worked on our math Problem of the day. Mr. McMurray told us about how helpful a model can be helping you figure out a math problem. We worked out a few problems together in our textbook and were given an assignment to complete tonight for homework from today's lesson.

We began our new chapter in science by watching a 20-minute video on the planets and solar system. Next we went to the science lab and learned about the sun. Mrs. Foy-Couche had us use ultra-violet beads today to see which would be a better filter for sunlight. We learned about sunspots and Galileo and about the inside and outside parts of the sun itself.

We went to our buddy class in Room 6 after the Science Lab and helped our kindergarten buddies make November calendars. As helpful fifth graders, we had to cut out the picture of the turkey and help our buddies color in the days of the month in an A-A-B-B pattern and glue on turkey feathers.

We had lunch after buddies. But when we returned to class Mr. McMurray discussed our volcano brochure project. Subsequently our class president, Will, picked our partner. Next we discussed who would tackle each different project until 1:45.

Mr. McMurray then shared the permission slip to our upcoming field trip with us and passed out copies to everyone in the class to get signed and returned as soon as possible. We're going to AT&T Park for a geometry lesson and stadium tour on Thursday, December 3. It should be awesome!

Afterward we had to work on finishing the rough draft on our Explorer report. Lastly we received our homework and were dismissed for the day.