The Rookery

Remember – often the best way to use a web resource is to print the pages that are most key to your topic.  Record the webpage carefully on your resources sheet.  Include the information you’ll need to get back to the page if necessary. Bermuda Triangle http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/earth/bermudatriangle.html http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/videos/bermuda-triangle-mystery/ http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/bermuda-triangle.htm Gold…

Yes, the Wall came tumbling down…but not before it had snaked out of the Herons, down the stairs, by the office, back up the other stairs, down the elevator, along the concourse, into the gym and out the front door. The Herons have been thinking for a week about how…

We Made it Xi'an! Last Wednesday, we mounted the camels one last time and headed through the Jade Gates to Xi'an.  We passed through the Gobi desert and faced only one sandstorm (a roll of 1 on our 20 sided die) and then saw a long wall rising on the…

Today was a special day in the Herons.  For weeks the fifth graders have been pestering me, "When will you give us our mentees?"  Last year, they were guided through their personal projects by a fifth grader and now they were eager to pass on the knowledge they learned. I…

  A magic square from Albrecht Durer's Melencolia Special Persons' Day has a fragmented schedule.  Students are either performing or serving or giving tours (or giddiliy anticipating one of those things).  Visitors drift in and out.  It's wonderful but it is not usually a day when we do our highest…

Today was a beautiful day.  Excited chatter spilled out of classrooms and filled the halls.  Children held the hand of their grandparents or friends, sharing special spaces in the school.  And then the children sang together, raising their voices and stamping and clapping.  For me, they chased the shadows away.…

Apologies to The Clash, I know it's "Rock the Casbah" but I keep singing it this way instead.  It seemed appropriate for today's theme work where we were definitely rocking Kashgar. Before recess we left Merv and crossed 200 miles of desert.  I took the opportunity to use the big…

This morning at our all school gathering, the students huddled around a campfire (of paper logs) while Amy Brown told an Ojibwe story about Nanabozho stealing fire from the Sky Giant.  They were silent, hardly moving as the story unfolded, Amy's voice sometimes a quiet whisper in the otherwise soundless room.…

probability:
the chance that something will occur (how likely it is that an event will happen)  With games of chance set up on every visible surface, the carnival-goers streamed into the Prairie Creek gym wide-eyed tickets in hand. Each of the 4th and 5th graders had a game that they had developed set…