My Rock and Mineral Collection

By: William

My amazing rock and mineral collection is a treasure for me, and I never thought I would get this far. I have about 95 rocks, and my goal is to get 100. I don't just collect rocks, I make jewelry, and even grow my own crystals. When a person has a sweet tooth, I make a sugar crystal, which takes about 2 weeks to form. I make jewelry by tumbling rocks which takes about 1 to 2 months!!! I've been sharing these rocks in class for about 3 years! Because I have been doing this so long, I will continue collecting rocks and minerals and sharing them with my friends and family. In conclusion, on June 16th, I presented an end-of-the-year rock and mineral collection production in class! Below is a picture of my favorite rocks from my collection.

Comparing and Contrasting Cinderella Stories

We have been reading Cinderella stories from all over the world. We have read Cinderella from France in Europe, Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters from Zimbabwe in Africa, Moss Gown from Louisiana in the United States, and Yeh - Shen from China in Asia. We have been comparing and contrasting the stories to the original Cinderella story. In addition, I brought a Cinderella book from Israel in the Hebrew language to share with the class. We are also learning about fairy tales. For example, we have learned that fairy tales have a problem and solution, some kind of magic, a moral to be learned, evil characters usually receive consequences, good characters are rewarded, most fairy tales have a happy ending, and some have personification. We have enjoyed reading all of the Cinderella stories and learning about fairy tales. We hope you will enjoy learning about the stories we read!
By Danielle
(with revisions from classmates)








In the book Cinderella, the main character, Cinderella, is forgiving and beautiful. Cinderella's problem is that she can't attend the royal ball. The solution is the fairy godmother magically appears with the golden dress, so Cinderella can ride in a coach to the ball. In the end, Cinderella marries the prince and lives happily ever after.
by Brendan, Cameron, Cami, Jacob, and Lindsay






In the book Yeh - Shen, the main character, Yeh - Shen, is bright and gorgeous. The problem is that Yeh - Shen isn't treated right by her stepmother and stepsister. The solution is the king sees her beauty and marries her, while her stepmother and stepsister get showered with flying stones. The lesson learned is that good gets rewarded, while evil gets consequences!
by Danielle, Reed, Talia, Tamar, and William







In the book Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters, the main character, Nyasha, was generous and stunning. The problem in the story is that the king is looking for a queen, and both Nyasha and her evil sister, Manyara, hope to become queen. Nyoka, the king, turns himself into a snake, and sees that Nyasha is the loyal one. In the end, Nyasha gets rewarded by becoming the queen, but Manyara becomes her servant.
by Ben, Colin, Joshua, Mia, and Vasso








In the book Moss Gown the main character, Candace/Moss Gown, was grateful and loving. The story takes place in swampy, mossy Louisiana. Candace wants to win over her father's love, and in the end she succeeds in her task. She also marries the young master of a mansion, and her father comes to live with them.
by Alex, Juliette, Lucas, McKaelee, and Ryan



Please let us know which story is your favorite or if you have read another version of Cinderella.

Our Super Solar System Studies

Marvelous Mercury in Space by Lindsay
(With help from Ryan and edited by classmates)

Mercury is the first planet closest to the sun, so it is very hot. The highest temperature on Mercury is 800 degrees Fahrenheit, and the coolest temperature is -279 degrees Fahrenheit. Mercury is just larger than Earth’s moon, but smaller than all the outer planets, not counting Pluto. Did you know that it takes Mercury 88 Earth days to orbit the sun, and that it takes 59 Earth days for it to complete one rotation, or one full day on Mercury? Mercury has no moons. The closest planet is not the hottest, actually Venus is hotter than Mercury. Finally, this planet, known as Mercury, is very small, but very fascinating.

Superior Saturn in Space

by Ryan and classmates

Saturn is known as the sixth planet from the sun.  Saturn was
discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei.  A day on Saturn is
completed in only 10 hours and 30 minutes, and 1 year takes
a long 29 and one half earth years.  Our science text book
explains that Saturn has 47 moons, but now  it is said to 
have 59 moons! Saturn is known for its stunning rings which
are made from ice, dust, and rocks that orbit the planet.
Saturn's rings are labeled A through F.  Winds on Saturn
accelerate up to  a non-stop 1,100 miles per hour.  All in
all, Saturn is my favorite planet in this galaxy.

Volcanoes
by William and Brendan

The planet Earth has many extraordinary features. One example is a volcano, which is a kind of a mountain that is huge and has lava. The lava's hotness comes from the heat source of a hot core, or the center of our Earth. Just imagine this, where we live on the surface of Earth, the average temperature is 59 - 69 degrees Fahrenheit, but where the core is, it is a blazing hot 7,200 degrees Fahrenheit! This is as hot as the Sun is on the outside.

Many scientists believe Earth was made by pieces of rock colliding as they circled around the sun. This formed a mass heat source in the huge hot core of the Earth. This core is what fuels a volcano to this day. The magma, which is the lava before it comes to the surface, goes through many sections before the volcano erupts! First it transports through the large magma chamber and out the main vent. Some of the magma seeps out the side vent. After the magma has erupted, it is called lava. The lava flows down the side of the volcano. Last, but not least, it is followed by an ash cloud. All in all, volcanoes are very interesting features to explore.

Learning About Space by Juliette (Edited by classmates)

If you're looking for a fun way to learn about space, the Griffith Observatory is the place. One exhibit is a room with models of all the planets. You can even learn how much you weigh on each planet! There is also a show about space and who discovered it. You can see pictures of things in space. For example, there are amazing pictures of Neil Armstrong on the moon, a wonderful picture of the surface of Mars, and an awesome picture of the moon. I traveled there on June 3, 2009. When I explored the Observatory, my favorite thing was when I got to see how much I would weigh on each planet. On some, I weighed less than one pound! All in all, the Griffith Observatory is the place to have fun and learn about space at the same time.

Imaginative Constellations
by Mia
(Edited by classmates)

A constellation is a group of stars formed like a person, animal, or an object. For example, in the Roman times, they believed that some constellations looked like a lion, a dog, and a great hunter. Some famous constellations are called the Big Dipper, Orion, and Little Dipper. One time I went outside and saw a constellation that I thought looked like a snake. You can also do this, all you have to do is use your imagination!

Please leave a comment and tell us something you have learned about the Solar System!

Open House a Splendid Success!

Which Project was your favorite?

Our posters show the three branches of the U. S. Government, Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. We drew pictures of the places where these branches do their work: the Capitol Building, the White House, and the Supreme Court. The poster includes an American History Time line showing from the American Revolution up to the Bill of Rights.

These are our biography models and reports from the 1500's to the 2000's. From Abigail Adams to Thomas Jefferson, all of these people were talented and performed extreme acts. For the report we first took notes, then wrote a rough draft, and finally wrote the final report. Some people typed and some chose to write in cursive.




Our cold, yummy frozen fractions include math using fractions and our creative flavors. We all got to pick our own flavors and the number of scoops to make, either 6 or 8. No matter how many scoops or flavors we used, we learned that whenever the numerator is the same as the denominator, it equals one whole SUNDAE!

Our class wrote delicious, tasty, and fun restaurant stories. These restaurants were visited by our favorite Reading Counts characters. The stories involved a menu and a neat receipt. We even drew how the restaurants looked, and they looked awesome!




These are our fantastic 3 - D shape projects. When writing about our two favorite 3 - D shapes, we had to create an outline, write a rough draft, type it on our alphasmarts, and then download it onto the computer. We worked as hard as beavers working to build a dam. The shapes we created are made from paper or styrofoam.




These time lines show some of the first quicker moving modes of transportation in the United States. The wagon that can move only 2 miles per hour, the train that can accelerate up to 35 mph, the automobile that can rapidly move up to 70 mph, and the quickest of all, the jet that can zoom up to 600 mph were all drawn by us! These machines assist the whole world in getting to locations very swiftly.




These are our paragraphs about people we most admire. We each chose one person that we knew very well. Most of us wrote about family members or friends. High - level vocabulary, sentence variety, clauses, similes, and alliteration were all writing strategies we included in our paragraphs. The paragraphs were typed on our alphasmarts, downloaded onto the computer, and borders were added.




These fantastic, well-written paragraphs are about things, people, and abilities that are more precious to us than a pot of gold. We chose three different objects, beloved people, or special talents to write about. On the pot there are coins to which we added shiny gold glitter. Truly, these paragraphs came from our hearts!






These projects show our studies of specific animals from four different habitats: desert, grasslands, rain forest, and ocean. We wrote and typed multiple paragraphs about animal behavior and adaptations. Then we added jpegs. We all had a great time learning about these awesome animals.




Our animal habitats present the wonderful animals doing what they would most likely do on a daily basis. The four delightful habitats and animals were all hand - made by our classmates. The ocean also includes fish which each of us sculpted with specific coloration adaptations. We worked hard to make our habitats as realistic as possible. To finish off our project, we included a haiku poem about each animal in its wild habitat.



We hope you enjoyed this tour of our Open House displays. Be sure to comment and let us know what you enjoyed and learned!