Monday, January 30, 2012

Amazing Angles!


In geometry, we are learning about angles!


An angle is a  figure formed when two rays share the same endpoint.

 
Below is a special angle called a right angle
It is also called a 90˚ angle.
Any angle less than a right is called an acute angle. 




Any angle greater than a right is called an obtuse angle. 



Below is a quiz. Can you guess each kind of angle?



Angle Quiz! on PhotoPeach

 





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Do you see any acute, right, or obtuse angles in your house?

Tell us about them!

Monday, January 23, 2012

Classy Clauses!

Mrs. Ranney's students have learned that one clever way to add class to your writing is to use a 
variety of sentence types!

One type that we have learned to write is a sentence that starts with a dependent clause.

Dependent clauses start with special words:
After, Before, Since, While, When, If, During.

 A dependent clause ends with a comma and cannot stand alone as a sentence. It must be followed by an independent clause
which is a sentence that can stand alone!


Here are some excellent examples of sentences with dependent clauses
written by students in our class:



If mischievous Badger Claws had not gone into the 
hot sweat house, he would not have been caught!
(by Aviv and Gregory) 


After the Shaman left the brave Badger Claws in the high mountains, Badger Claws took a nap.
(by Maya and Nicole)


If Badger Claws shoots the fluffy, furry rabbit, he will have to skin it, clean it, and cook it before he eats it.  
(by Hayley and Melissa)


Since Badger Claws couldn't shoot a furry rabbit, he practiced shooting down the bumpy trail.
(by Arielle and Eve)


After Badger Claws shot a furry, little rabbit, he needed to skin the rabbit's soft fur.
(by Adam and Michael)


When Badger Claws woke up in the freezing night, 
he saw monstrous "grizzly bears!"
(by Bella and Vanessa)


Since brave Badger Claws found out the tracks were 
little raccoon tracks, he was laughing like crazy!
(by Jace and Nate)

After Badger Claws saw tiny raccoon tracks, he laughed 
super hard at himself!
(by Andrew, Josh, and Oliver)


When Badger Claws saw the scary coyotes, he 
was terribly frightened!
(by Grace and Sydney)


When Badger Claws saw the scary coyotes, he stood still like a frozen statue.
(by Adar and Dylan)




If Badger Claws had thought of the hard rain first, 
he would have collected dry wood earlier.
(By Francesca and Quynh-Anh)





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How did you like our classy clauses!

If you have a sentence with a dependent clause that you'd like to share, we'd love to read it! 
(Hey, that was a dependent clause sentence!)

It can be about any subject!

Mrs. Ranney's students:
Remember that you may submit you spelling 
homework this week here rather than on paper!


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Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Chumash Adventures with Badger Claws!


Mrs. Ranney's Class has been reading Badger Claws of Ojai, the story of 
a Chumash Indian boy.



In the story, Badger Claws encounters a grizzly bear 
named Old Silver Tip!
We learned about the Alaskan relatives of the grizzly, 
the Kodiak bear, from Mr. Yollis!
If you'd like to see more about what we learned,
check out the exciting post on
Mrs. Yollis' Classroom Blog called
Mr. Yollis Shares About Kodiak Grizzly Bears!




Recently Mrs. Ranney spent a beautiful Saturday morning 

on the western edge of the Santa Monica Mountains 
National Recreation Area.




Within the park is the Satwiwa 
Native American 
Indian Cutural Center which includes some interesting exhibits about the Chumash Indians.


Mrs. Ranney thought the class would enjoy some photographs and information.





Satwiwa Native American Indian Culture Center on PhotoPeach





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What fact did you find the most interesting?

What other facts do you know about the Chumash tribe?

What have you enjoyed most about the Badger Claws story so far?

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Our Exciting Expedition to South America!



Mrs. Ranney's class was so excited when the National Geographic Giant Traveling Map
of South America came to our school!

We love to learn about geography!




 We used the COUNTRY cards to locate all the COUNTRIES in South America. 
How many countries were there?


Within each country's borders, we found the capital city. We noticed that the capital cities
were marked by a special symbol, a star inside a circle.




Do you know which countries match to these capital cities?









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 Since Brazil is the largest country in South America, 
we were all able to fit inside its borders!



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 We found that the Isthmus of Panama, which is actually part of North America, 
connects North and South America.


 At the southernmost point, we discovered Cape Horn,
which is only 600 miles from the continent of Antarctica!




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 We visited the equator where it is very hot!




 Then it was off to the Atlantic Ocean to cool off!


In the Pacific, some of us took a voyage to the Galapagos Islands!
Do you know about the amazing animals there?




 Later, we trekked to the top of the longest mountain range in the world, the Andes!


Some energetic Andean explorers climbed to the top of Mt. Aconcagua,
the highest point in South America!




Another summit in the Andes is Mount Chimborazo!


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 We even took a journey along the Amazon River!
Do you know in what direction it flows and where its mouth is?



Look what we found lurking in the waters of the Amazon!
Do you know what it is?




Speaking of amazing bodies of water, we also located the
tallest waterfall in the world, Angel Falls!




Still other explorers discovered Iguazu Falls, which are huge 
and beautiful waterfalls in South America!
Do you know in what country Angel Falls and Iguazu Falls are located?

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 It was obvious to all of us that South America is almost surrounded by ocean 
and has many miles of coastline. Only two countries are landlocked


 These travelers were able to locate the landlocked countries.
Do you know which ones they are?



 These explorers noticed that only the narrow country of Chile separates Argentina from the Pacific Ocean!



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 As we explored South America, some of us were surprised to discover cities with the 
same names as cities in the United States!








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 One explorer found the country and city where her mother was born!




Our newest classmate showed us where
he is from!
                                                                                                                            


                                                                        
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 Next, we decided to create a human ClustrMap!




 We studied the South American ClustrMap from our blog and 
noticed that most of our visitors are located on the west coast or in Brazil.


 We scouted out those locations and placed our red dots!



Check out our human ClustrMap!




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Have you ever visited a country in South America? 
If so, tell us about it!
Research and share some interesting facts about South America. 
 You can use World Book Online!
Remember, do not plagiarize!  
(To plagiarize mean you copied someone else's work and are passing it off as your own.)