Holiday Sing-a-long

Christmas is here,
Smiles all around
All is so bright,
All is so bright!
Santa will come,
To see our town,
Into the night,
Into the night!

And it’s Christmastime I love,
People are smiling,
Holiday singing,
There’s a good feeling!

(repeat)

Christmas is here,
Gifts all around,
All is a-light,
All is a-light!

Santa will come,
To see our town,
Into the night,
Into the night!

And it’s Christmastime I love,
People are smiling,
Holiday singing,
There’s a good feeling

(repeat)

Oh Hanukkah! Oh Hanukkah,
come light the menorah
Let's have a party,
we'll all dance the hora
Gather round the table,
we'll give you a treat
Dreidels to play with and latkes to eat

And while we are playing
The candles are burning low
One for each night, they shed a sweet light
To remind us of days long ago
One for each night, they shed a sweet light
To remind us of days long ago




Write a comment about your favorite part of the holiday performance.

All About Sentence Combining

We have been working hard to learn how to write better sentences. One way we are improving our sentences is by combining two complete sentences into
one longer sentence.



To do this correctly, we have learned to

• Make sure we have two complete sentences to combine that belong together
  
• Connect the two sentences with a comma and a conjunction, like and, but, or so
• Look at the finished product to make sure there are two subjects, one from each of the two sentences we combined

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Below are some wonderful examples of sentence combining written by skillful students who really have the hang of it!

Notice that each subject has been highlighted in red!


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Lots of cows live in grassy meadows, and some cows live on dirty farms. By Natalie

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I walked into the peaceful meadow, and I realized that there was an enormous brown deer behind me. By Andrew

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The water from the giant spring ran down the canyon, and the farmers used the water in the meadow. By Iyla

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I went to the hot and dry canyon, and I had a fascinating voyage. By Carson

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The children like to play in the grassy meadow, and they like to play at the entertaining playground. By Cameron

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We explored a deep canyon, so we could get photos for our lovely family. By Eli

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I went for a walk in a big green meadow, and I saw some yellow daffodils. By Sam

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Please leave a comment by telling us something you enjoyed about one of the sentences, and try writing one of your own!



Make sure you start with two complete sentences that each have a subject.
Then combine them using a comma and a conjunction.

For an A sentence, be sure to add an adjective or two!




You may write about a topic of your choice!

The Chumash: Our Local Native American Tribe

Our Visit to the Chumash Museum on PhotoPeach
Enjoy the photos from our Chumash Interpretive Center field trip.
The captions for each slide were composed by the students!
They learned so much!







Listen to the Chumash song we learned.
Panther thought we were perfect!

What was the most interesting fact you learned about the Chumash at the museum?

If you were a Chumash Indian, what do you think would be the most challenging activity and why?

Happy Thanksgiving From Our Class!

We had a wonderful time measuring and mixing up the ingredients for our
pumpkin bread!

With the help of our able volunteers, our bread was baked.

After it was all baked, we wrapped it up, disguised as a turkey!

In addition, we read a clever Thanksgiving fable this week about Thomas T. Turkey. He had quite a dilemma to solve!

In the story, Thomas was invited to not one, not two, but three Thanksgiving dinners. Benjamin Bobcat, Fanny Fox, and Henry Hawk all told him they wanted to have him for Thanksgiving dinner and that it just wouldn't be the same without him!

In the end, Thomas decided he did not want to hurt anyone's feelings, so he declined all the invitations! He ended up staying home alone for Thanksgiving dinner.

We learned that it is better to eat alone than to be eaten!

After listening to the story, we created our own invitations for Thomas T. Turkey. He must have been overwhelmed by his sudden popularity this year!




We hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!



Please leave a comment and share your thoughts about our projects.

Classic, Captivating Collections!

Recently we read a story in class called "The Talking Cloth." In the story a special character, Aunt Phoebe, was called a "collector of life."
Many of us have collections too.
Please enjoy reading about them.

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Leanne's Littlest Pet Shop Collection

My collection is a Littlest Pet Shop collection. It is a very small collection. They are very small pets. I like the one that is a bunny, and I named it Lala. The bunny was named after me. Sometimes I get a paper napkin and cut out tiny clothes for all of the Littlest Pet Shops. I have about 30 Littlest Pet Shops. Every time somebody comes to have a play date with me, they ask to have one! Then I say no because they are all special to me. My littlest pet shops are really special because I’ve been collecting them since I was in kindergarten. I’m wishing to have 46 littlest pet shops soon.
By Leanne

*****





Marisa's Duck Collection

I have a duck collection. Sometimes I play with my ducks, or I put the ducks in sequence tallest to smallest. I like to look at the ducks’ clothes. My grandpa gives the ducks to me on a special occasion, or he gives the ducks to me just for fun. My grandpa orders the ducks in the mail. I love my colorful duck collection!
By Marisa

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Liam's Lego Collection

My collection is a lego collection. My favorite lego is the firehouse. I like the firehouse the most because I enjoyed building it the most. I treasure my legos because it was hard to build them. I keep my legos on a shelf in my room. My first one I got was like a blue tank. The last one I bought was a lego agent. One of my legos reminds me of my grandpa. The lego that reminds me of my grandpa is a construction builder. The construction builder is from my grandpa too! I love to build with my exciting lego collection.
By Liam

*****



Roxana's Eraser Collection

My eraser collection is amazing. The one I love best is my basketball eraser. My cousin, Saba, showed me where to get the erasers. The erasers work very well because they erase all the marks. I’m so happy now because I love my eraser collection!!
By Roxana

*****

Brandon's Japanese Eraser Collection

My Japanese eraser collection is interesting to me. I like my Japanese erasers because I can take them apart. I first heard about them about one year ago, so a month later I started buying them. When I buy Japanese erasers, I get them at Card Sharks. I have about 25 of them at my house. My favorite is the green frog one. I love collecting Japanese erasers!
By Brandon

*****




Evan's Pokemon Collection

My collection is about Poke’mon cards. In the middle is my Nintendo D.S., and it is playing a Poke’mon Pearl version on D.S. My favorite Poke’mon is Mew. I like Mew because it is the ancestor of all Poke’mon and can transform into all Poke’mon like Ditto. Ditto looks like a glob of D.N.A. I have too many Poke’mon cards to handle. I have a eye – splitting Poke’mon collection!
By, Evan

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Cameron's Skateboard Collection

My skateboard collection is awesome. I even made one of them in enrichment class. First, I drew a picture on a sheet of paper. Second, I painted lots of different colors, like red or yellow on the wooden board. The one on the right is my favorite. It’s amazing how all the skateboards go fast. It’s very fun doing an olly, which is a trick where you push on the back and make all the wheels come off the ground. Then you’re airborne! I can’t wait until I get another cool skateboard.
By Cameron

*****





Ethan's Glass Animal Collection

My collection is of glass animals. I have been collecting them for 8 years. One of the glass animals is not in the picture. It is my green, mean shark. My favorite is a very scary porcupine, which is in the middle of the back row. I love my collection because I think it’s awesome that I have so many.
By Ethan

*****

Carson's Basketball Jerseys

I have an awesome collection of jerseys. Seven are pictured here, but there are more! Some jerseys that I have are: Ladanian Tomlinson, Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Baron Davis! I like my jerseys because the players on them are the players I love to watch! Having the jerseys is as amazing as if I really met anyone of the players! The other players that I didn’t mention are: Andre Ethier, Rafael Furcal, Matt Kemp, and Manny Ramirez. I really appreciate having my jerseys!
By Carson

*****

Sara's Rock Collection

I have had my rock collection for 5 years. My first rock is the tiniest rock I have, and it is the blue rock. I got my first rock at Aquarium of the Pacific when I was only 4 years old. I was looking at the seals, and I got splashed with water. My head was down, and suddenly I found my first rock! At that moment I decided to collect rocks. I couldn’t wait to find more rocks. Now, I have around 20 of them.
By Sara

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Jack's Baseball Card Collection

I have a baseball card collection. I collect all sorts of baseball cards. I trade cards with friends like Carson, Eli, and my cousin Ben. I love baseball so much! Collecting baseball cards is the best thing that I have ever done! My favorite cards are Mickie Mantle, Sammy Sosa, and Babe Ruth! I love my baseball cards!!
By Jack

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Sam's Pokemon Collection

For the past three years have I collected Pokemon cards. I love Pokemon cards because they’re fun to battle with. Some are in 3D. Now I am 8 years old, and I have about 1,000Pokemon cards. Collecting Pokemon cards is the best thing for me to do.
By Sam

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Please leave a comment about our Classic, Captivating Collections.

Tell us which collection is the most interesting to you and why.

You can also include a bit of information about your own collection, if you have one!

Hip, Hip, Array!

We have been exploring arrays!

Row x Column = Product

When the factors were different digits, the arrays were in the shape of a rectangle.

When the factors were the same...look what shape it made!

Can you name one square array that is missing?

Do you see any arrays in your home?

Tell us about it in the comments!

Are You An Expert?

The second story in our Celebrating Traditions Unit is called
"Anthony Reynoso, Born to Rope."









 This is a story of a family's tradition of Mexican rodeo roping and riding. Anthony and his family work hard and practice their skills for their exhibitions. Because of their hours of practice, they are now expert performers!




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Please share about a skill you have worked hard to learn. 
What steps did you take to master this skill?  
Was it difficult at first?
Did anyone help you to achieve this goal?

Celebrating Traditions!

This week our class is starting a new unit in Language Arts called Celebrating Traditions! A tradition is something that family, friends, or another group of people has done for many years and continues to do on a regular basis.

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In the first story, "The Keeping Quilt," by Patricia Polacco, the author retells the story of her family's handmade quilt. In the story, a Russian immigrant mother and family arrive in the United States. She plans to make a quilt from a basket of old clothes, telling her daughter, "It will be like having the family in backhome Russia dance around us at night." The quilt is passed along from mother to daughter for four generations. It becomes a Sabbath tablecloth and a wedding canopy. It even becomes a blanket for new generations of children. "The Keeping Quilt" is heart - warming story about one family's tradition.

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In the comment section, please share a tradition your family celebrates. It can be an annual party, a holiday, or any traditional event.

Please include details about: special foods, decorations, songs, and/or activities.

Remember: Be sure to have a parent proofread with you, so your comment will be published.

Writing in Chinese!

Recently, as part of our first theme in reading, we read "The Ballad of Mulan," an exciting legend from China. Mulan was a brave young girl who became a great Chinese hero by taking the place of her old, frail father in a war against invaders.

During our studies of the Mulan legend, we learned to read and write several Chinese characters, which are symbols that represent words.



We used the Chinese characters we learned to create our own stories. Then we illustrated our stories and read them to each other in class. Please enjoy the photographs of our stories below.















Please leave a comment letting us know what you enjoyed about our stories. Do you know other Chinese characters or facts about China that we could learn? Perhaps you could even teach us a word or two in another language!