Civil War Night Success!

A big thank you to everyone who made it to Civil War night on Tuesday! The percussion ensemble did a great job playing the marching tune they learned.

Percussion ensemble playing and other students dancing

Demonstrating marching drills

Mr. Joseph and Andy Cortez playing a camp song with a harmonica and spoons.

Two infantryman soldiers from the 12th VA regiment

Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Watson debuted the bottle trees they have been working on. The first is a prototype for those that will follow in the coming months. Students in each grade level are working on painting the bottles in art class. The trees will eventually end up in our garden.

Civil War Night!

Civil War Night in the Garden is Tuesday, November 18th, immediately following the PTA meeting (6pm start time).

Join us in the garden to learn about a soldier's life during the Civil War. An infantryman soldier from the 12th Virginia Infantryman will be here to share. Our own 5th grade percussion ensemble will perform a Civil War marching tune and Mr. Joseph will come dressed as a popular Civil War figure to tell a campfire story. The new pergola and a school-wide project, the Important People Bottle Trees, will be unveiled. Light refreshments will be served. Bring a blanket to sit on and/or bundle up with!

In the event of rain or colder weather, the event will take place in the library.

Hope to see you there!

Lunar Eclipse

Did you see the lunar eclipse yesterday morning? I was out running and got to see the whole thing! It was amazing to watch the full, white moon turn reddish-orange. The only picture I snapped was close to the beginning:

Here's more information on lunar eclipses and a video of the lunar eclipse taken at the National Mall in Washington, DC.

Living Museum Trip

Earlier this week, we traveled to the Virginia Living Museum in Newport News, Virginia. We (mostly) enjoyed an interactive lesson called Snakes Alive! and explored the museum's exhibits. The museum is home to 250 species of animals found in Virginia and the exhibits showcase all of our state's regions and habitats.

Beavers! Check out those webbed back legs and the tail details.

Some of my group checking out the beavers

Red Wolf

Bald Eagle

A King Snake in our interactive lesson. King snakes are able to eat venomous snakes as large as they are!

A snake egg!

A snake skin. If you look closely, you can see where the eyes and mouth were. 

Milk Snake

Bioluminescent jelly fish

Shrimp

Three snakes sitting all on top of each other

My group inside a log :)

Fossils are under us no matter where we are!

You can tell how many times a rattle snake has shed its skin by counting the number of rattles it has. How many times has this snake shed?

In the Cypress Swamp exhibit. We saw elements of Virginia's endangered wetlands including cypress and tupelo tree trunks, an alligator, fish, and turtles. 

A turtle swimming in the Noland Chesapeake Bay aquarium

I don't have pictures with other students currently, but if you have some, please send them my way and I will add them to the post! We had a great time.

September Science Fun

In September, we investigated the steps of the scientific method and the characteristics of the ocean.

Dropping paper bunnies in the Dizzy Bunny experiment. We were investigating how changes to the bunny's appearance changed the time it took for the bunny to reach the ground.

Exploring the properties of salt and fresh water

Observing the difference between salt and fresh water under the microscope

Salt Dough ocean floor maps

Not everyone was thrilled with the salt dough texture

Salt Dough maps - working hard

Some of the salt dough didn't have the correct consistency to achieve the anticipated project outcome

A completed ocean floor model

Updated Pages

Check out the curriculum pages (science, math, geography, language arts) for updates on what we have been up to the last 3 weeks.

Hope to see everyone tonight at Back to School Night!

Open House

Open House is TODAY! at 4pm. Hope to see everyone!

Writing Workshop

Last week, the BES teachers took part in a writing workshop training. This year, all teachers will be working on honing in on our writing workshop routine and skills with our students. The hopes is that we will develop fluent writers who are able to write various types of writing. We will not have a writing SOL this year, so we will have the time to explore the possibilities of writing without feeling the time crunch and pressure that the SOL brings. We will teach 6-week units where students will work on 1 or 2 large pieces of a specific genre of writing. The writing notebook will be a big part of our workshop and potentially will come back and forth from school and home. There is a possibility of some writing homework from time to time.

Stay tuned for more information about how writer's workshop will be run in the classroom!

Summer

Hello! I have been missing all of you guys but I have also been enjoying some very relaxing time off. I have had this view (or a similar beach view) for the majority of the summer:

Sanibel Island, Florida

It has been lovely! I visited Hilton Head Island, SC;  Topsail Island, NC; and Sanibel Island, FL, with various friends and family members. While in Hilton Head, I attended a family wedding.

Me and Dad at a wedding on the beach at Hilton Head Island, SC.

 I also had the opportunity to practice yoga on the beach one morning with a few family members:

Yoga on the beach at Hilton Head Island, SC.

When I was visiting Topsail Island, NC, Hurricane Arthur rolled through.

Topsail Island, NC, the morning of the day that Hurricane Arthur came through

I especially enjoyed listening to the waves in the mornings while drinking my coffee. Mmm.

Coffee on the beach in Sanibel, FL.

When I haven't been away at the beach, I have been spending a lot of time visiting friends or reading at the pool. One day, Ms. Phillips and I went to the Richmond Metro Zoo and completed the ropes/zip line course they offer. We completed a ropes course and then zip-lined through the trees and over the animals.

Richmond Metro Zoo zip-line course with Ms. Phillips

I helped my littlest "brother", Jackson, celebrate his 16th birthday.

Jackson blowing out his candles

As always, I have been running quite a bit. I made a new goal for myself in the spring. I decided I would run the Richmond Marathon in November. I have been training with that goal in mind ever since! I meet a group of my running friends early in the mornings to run. We have been lucky to have the opportunity to watch lots of beautiful sunrises each week! Here is one I captured with my phone from last week:

Late July sunrise in Mechanisville, VA

I am officially back from all of my planned vacations! I will probably spend most of August reading at the pool and starting to think about preparing for YOUR upcoming fifth grade year! I have lots of exciting ideas about how we can have fun together this year.

I hope to see everyone at Open House night on Thursday, August 28th. Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Cool Kids

What a great year we have had! I will miss everyone over the summer, but I am excited to think about having the same great group again come September!

Class Picture

What a class!

It's that time again...

It's that time again... SOLs are upon us!

Please remind your students that they are prepared! With a good night of sleep and a proper breakfast, all that's left is to relax and do their best.

Reading Group Project

One of our reading groups, the Sweet Frogs, recently finished a book by Avi titled Something Upstairs. They created a project to showcase the main events of the story (and their summarizing skills) and they shared with the class today. A job well done, Sweet Frogs!

Field Day

Friday, we enjoyed a very HOT! and fun field day. A few pictures of the day:

Beach volleyball

Inside art project ... changing into the Hulk?

Roller floor hockey

Boys versus girls tug-o-war. Girls won!

Tug-o-war

Tug-o-war

And more tug-o-war!

Bouncy ball relays

Finally... last activity of the day .. sponge and water relays

We participated in many activities and had a great time! Thanks to Kim Arnall, our new PE teacher, for putting together the day.