Dr. Johnson's Reading Blog

As we wind down towards the end of 2012 and the beginning of Christmas break, I wanted to send some pieces of information your way. Passing of the Cans is this Friday, December 14. We have done a great job of bringing in items for Passing of the Cans. So far, this group has brought in more items than any other class I have been a part of. On Monday or Tuesday, we will begin taking a count of how many items we have before we begin looking at nutritional labels, servings, and so on. On Wednesday and Thursday we are participating in two virtual field trips. Wednesday's virtual field trip is about the Mars rover. That is all the information I have at the moment since I'm waiting to hear back with more details. Thursday's virtual field trip is our monthly field trip involving Colonial Williamsburg. This VFT is called "Colonial Idol" and focuses on the music and dance of the colonial period. This includes the song and dance of Native Americans, the wealthy, slave

Hi Everyone- I wanted to send out a few pieces of information out your way: Please don't forget that we are collecting non-perishable items for Passing of the Cans. Passing of the Cans is only a few weeks away (Friday, December 14). We will use the items we collect to do some work in math involving servings and calories. This Tuesday at 9 pm, the History Channel is showing "Mankind: The Story of All of Us." I have been watching this series, and as a history nut, this series has been great. On Tuesday, they will be talking about the explorers, especially Christopher Columbus. While I wouldn't recommend watching all of it (the show ends at 11 pm), I think this show will be extremely informative. Don't forget this Tuesday is an early dismissal. This week we will continue studying the explorers by looking at explorers such as Magellan and John Cabot. In math, we will continue studying multiplication. We have been working on single and two-digit multip

We had a great time in Camden and I wanted to thank our chaperons for doing a wonderful job looking after everyone. I also wanted to thank your children for being on their best behavior. Everyone learned a lot about the Camden, South Carolina, and Revolutionary War history. Besides watching the local cat eat a mouse, students loved the quill writing and colonial games. The tours through the Kershaw and Craven house were insightful and informative. Quill Writing Group photo at Kershaw House Craven House

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving break. I know I look forward to it since it gives me an opportunity to take walks in the woods behind my house with my kids, do a little yard work, and drink my coffee without hurrying out the door. During this break, our family has rekindled our love for puzzles. So the last few days, we have had a new puzzle out on our dining room table and as the day goes on, we stop every once in a while to add to the picture. I forgot just how relaxing doing a puzzle can be. As I was working on the puzzle, I realized just how gratifying it is to accomplish something as small as a puzzle especially when it is collaboratively worked on. I think it is time for our class to take a break from taking things apart and begin working on putting things together. If anyone has some old puzzles they would like to donate to the classroom, I am going to dedicate a table (the one used for taking things apart) to putting together puzzles. I think the collaborative

I am posting a video that I put together of our election themed Lock In. Hope you enjoy! Scott

Ella made some Native American moccasins.

Ella shared some things she learned about Native Americans. She attempted to weave together strands of grass to make a basket. She did a tremendous job.

It has been a while since I have been able to send out some updates. I apologize for that but as you know, we will be sending narratives out next week. Narratives take a long time to put together but they are a labor of love. Last week we took a math test that covered addition and subtraction, median, mode, and range. Today, we spent some time going over that test. The point of going over the test is to reflect on what we did correct and what we need to work on. When you receive the test back, please do more than just look at the number correct. Take the time to ask your child if they understand why they scored the points they did or ask them if they understand why they may have marked an answer a particular way. I find this to be the most valuable part of taking any kind of test. When children get a wrong answer, sometimes they can't get pass the fact that it's wrong. We do this as adults. I believe it's important that children reflect on   a particular incorrect answer

Yesterday, one of our butterflies emerged from its chrysalis. This is a picture of the butterfly before we let it go.

Frogs by Breize and Madi

Defensive Positions by Colby and John

I'm sure you have all received Center Connections by now but just in case you haven't let me share a few things about Curriculum Night. Curriculum Night is this Thursday, October 11 from 6:15 pm to 7:45 pm . The structure of the evening has changed so this is important. Grades K through 2 will meet from 6:15 to 7:00. If you are attending one of these grades at this time, drop off your 4th grader in our class (Mr. Johnson). We are trying to minimize the amount of running around and noise in the gathering areas as well as cutting down on the amount of children coming into each room. At 7:00 pm until 7:45 pm, Curriculum Night will begin in our classroom. I do not plan on having students share. Since this is our first Curriculum Night together, I view this time more as you getting to know the workings our class. I want to spend time talking with you about our classroom structure, classroom expectations, homework, my expectations for your child, etc. If there are other things you

We have been using observation as a prompt for writing. This means we have been observing these plants and writing down what we notice. We have done this on several occasions and each time we observe the plant our noticings become and more sophisticated. For instance, during the last observation, students noticed that plant looked like concentric circles (a term we learned in math) and that the plant seemed to grow from the middle outward. This made us believe the largest and most outward part of the plant is the oldest. This also made us believe the smallest and middle part of the plant was the youngest. Resurrection Plants in windowsill Several weeks ago a couple of caterpillars were given to our class by Mr. O'Keefe's class. We have been watching the caterpillars form into a chrysalis. This one turned into a chrysalis about a week ago so we assume we may be seeing a butterfly pretty soon. Chrysalis in net This caterpillar escaped from the net above. We couldn&#

In preparation for next week's Curriculum Night, most students have finished what I call their "Me-Bricks." This refers to one of the bricks on the wall of the classroom acting as a palette to display information about that child. Besides the child adding items to their brick which reflects who they are as individuals, each brick contains a QR code. This QR code provides more information about the child and what is on their brick. While some may not know what a QR code is, you have probably seen them. A QR code is a type of barcode in the shape of a square and contains a complicated pattern of blocks and squares. These blocks and squares contain information such as text, a website, phone number, or whatever you would like to add. When read with a camera and the right software, the QR code will display the information contained in the QR code. Some phones contain QR code software while others you need to download. This website has a several links to QR code software for

Here is a presentation by Miyah, Julia, and Ainsley.

This presentation was created by Helen, Jasmine, and Mykaela.

As I may have shared earlier this week, I said I would send out more specific information on some research I will be conducting in our classroom within the next few weeks. I am about to begin the second phase of my dissertation research. The first part took place during a trip to Oregon in which teachers from CFI conducted climate change research alongside Dr. Brian Helmuth, former CFI parent and leading researcher in climate studies. While working alongside Dr. Helmuth, I identified a model of learning that seemed to take place naturally as we worked in the field collecting data, conducting experiments, and learning about climate change. This model of learning, an apprenticeship model, is when a more experienced person(s) guides the participation of less experienced persons in a variety of learning experiences such as problem solving or the use of culturally appropriate tools. This model is used much in the real world such as pairing mentor teachers with student teachers, when a par

As a part of explorations, students are allowed to explore those things they are interested in or passionate about. Andrew was interested in finding more information on Ford Mustangs. He spent some time at home finding pictures for his presentation and time during explorations discovering how to use Google docs to present his understanding.

By the way, this plant is also called the "Resurrection Plant." It can lay dormant for over 50 years and return back to life. They can be found on live oaks near Charleston, Edisto, and Beaufort). 

Today I am posting some pictures from class. Students are writing down their observations of this unique plant. We are writing about what we notice, writing specific observations, inferring what we think the object might be, and discussing where the object may have originated from.

I have had some questions this week about homework. I was not able to get homework out this week and with the somewhat shorter week (half-day, Zoo trip) I will not send out homework at this point.

I hate to do this but this week's update will have to be a quick one. Normally when I update the blog, I tend not to do one big blog post at the end of the week. I try to do what I believe most bloggers do and post as things come up. Now that we have finished gathering, I will go back to that format. But I do have some reminders and updates. Don't forget that Thursday night at 6:30 is Opening Picnic. We will eat outside before coming into the classroom the last hour or so. This part of the evening is not a Curriculum Night. Feel free to stop by, visit, and have your child give a tour of the class. This Friday (Sept. 21) we are walking to the Sandhills library. I believe I have everyone's card from last year. If not, I will try to get a reminder home. Tuesday, September 25 is a half-day for the district. This is our Parent-Teacher conference day. This day is reserved for parents and students who did not score well on their Spring 2012 MAP test or did not pass a par

You may have heard that our class put together a brief video demonstrating our understanding of early natives from Asia, about 25,000 to 14,000 years ago, traveling across a land bridge (Beringia) between what is now Russia (Asia) and Alaska (North America). These early natives were following large animals such as the mammoths. About 10,000 years ago, waters from the ocean began to rise and covered up this land bridge. These early natives could no longer travel between Russia (Asia) and Alaska (North America).  Enjoy our video!

Each day during explorations we have time to work on putting our "Me-Bricks" together. I am almost finished with several others. I have included two pictures of finished "Me-Bricks." Ella Mykaela

This is Helen's "Me-Brick." We should be able to finish a few more in the next few weeks. Please help nudge your child to bring in things that are meaningful to them to be placed on their "brick."

I wanted to begin posting a couple of the "Me-Bricks" we have been able to finish. This one was finished by Breize this morning.

While it still seems funny to say "Me-Brick," here is my example of one. I have placed some items within the confines of a brick located in our classroom. I have included my name which we are doing in class. I brought in some items that represented me such as pictures of my family, a card a former student wrote, coins from foreign countries, etc.  Hopefully seeing an example will help you help your child think about what they can bring in. I think our classroom will look awesome when 23 bricks will be painted with memorable items from these students' lives. Thanks again, Scott Johnson

Hi Everyone - I have set up Scholastic Book orders for the month of September. Here is the link for ordering books:  https://orders.scholastic.com/GPY4P . When I do Scholastic Book orders, I usually use two different catalogs unless the book selection in one catalog is not so good. Arrow  book catalog tends to be geared towards 4th - 6th grade. Tab  tends to be geared towards 7th grade and up. I choose these two catalogs because they seem to have a selection of books students are interested in at this age. Students at CFI love to read and write! I often have readers who read well beyond what might be typical for 4th or 5th graders. Often placing a level on a child's reading stifles the reading process for a particular child because they often lack access to books that might challenge them as readers. This is why I do not believe in choosing books based on a grade level or reading level. When students are interested, really interested in a particular text, they will want to re

Usually I don't have a lot to post but it seems this week is the exception. So I'm going to get right to it. Our Special Areas schedule seems to be finally set in stone. The most important part of this schedule to remember is PE since your child is asked to bring their tennis shoes in order to participate. Monday (12:30-1:20) - Art Tuesday (12:30-1:20) - Library Wednesday (12:30-1:20) - Music Thursday (12:30-1:20) - PE (please bring tennis shoes) Friday (12:30-1:20) - Technology We should be heading out to the Richland County Library in the next few weeks. I would like students to begin bringing their library cards. The library provides a great variety of books. It also offers me a great opportunity to make book recommendations from a larger variety of literature. Our first 4th grade gathering will be next week ( Friday, September 14 @ 2:20 pm ). For our parents who are new to CFI, during their week, each class comes up with a thought for the week  which is usually r

Hi Everyone - Welcome to Mr. Johnson's class blog! Instead of sending out a paper newsletter, on this blog I will attempt to keep you informed concerning what is happening in our classroom. I will post information such as what we are studying, work samples, pictures, quotes from students, etc. Whenever I update the blog I will send an email letting you know of the update. At some point in the school year, students will create their own blog which they will post information important to them including their work. Until then, we have a classroom writing blog ( http://mrjohnsonclasspublishing.blogspot.com/ ) in which students are invited to publish their writing. Thanks for stopping by! Scott Johnson

I have created my avatar using ClayYourself . I like it though it looks somewhat like myself.

Mrs. Trina is doing a wave simulation to show how wind affects wave movement. Student are blowing onto a plate filled with water and cinnamon. With the cinnamon, you can see the how the water moves in circles. Many students said it reminded them of square dancing - when they dance down the line and come back around their original position.

I shared this video/commercial with students in order to illustrate that we often don't notice things if we are not looking for things. Pretty amazing video.

Students are using their Chromebooks to inquire into mythology. By the end of the morning they are to creat their own definition if myth. Some of the definitions included: Shavon - " Before science people wanted to come up with reasons that we have seasons weather and other things they didn't know why we had so they came up with the gods to explain these things.Each god is in control of a different phenomena there story's explain why we have that phenomena and how we have it." Essence: " Stories that teach a lesson and explain an event in the world." Aaron: " A myth is a story that explains something, or teaches us something that we could not explain on our own. Now, obviously we can figure them out through new technology, but back then they wanted to have an explanation, so they made up gods, monsters, and other things that they included in their stories." You can view our LiveBinder to view our resources for our study.

On Monday we will begin looking at myths and legends (I know a lot of you have been excited). We are going to use this link  for some of our studies.