Blog Archives

The Hidden Army

1/25/2013

In 1974 local farmers near Xi’an made a big discovery. Buried beneath the ground were over 7,000 life-size statues of warriors from ancient China. The first emperor in China, Qin Shi Huang had craftsmen build life-size figures out of terracotta clay to depict the army with horses and chariots. It is believed that it took 11 years for the terracotta army to be built. The purpose of the terracotta army was to protect the emperor in his afterlife.

We read the Hidden Army: Clay Soldiers of Ancient China by Jane O'Conner about the terra-cotta Soldiers and viewed many pictures on the big screen to learn about the details of the soldiers. Students enjoyed thinking about the details and made their own paper doll soldiers using shiny papers and sharpie markers.

Fortune Cookies

1/25/2013

We have been studying the author, Grace Lin during our China Unit. Grace Lin write many books about her life growing up as a Taiwanese American. Fortune Cookies Fortunes is great book about fortune cookies and their messages. After Mei Mei's family finished dinner, crack, crack, here come the fortune cookies. Everyone reads their fortune and Mei Mei wonders if these fortunes will come true. As the story unfolds you get to see each family member’s fortune! What will your fortune be? Crack! Open up a cookie and find out! 1W students have been thinking about nice compliments to share with each other. This was a great extension to think about kind words or sayings you could say to people. Everyone made a page in our very own Fortune Cookie book.

Please click here to view the Voice Thread 1W students made_

MLK, Jr.

1/25/2013

We have been studying about the Civil Rights movement and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In music we learned many songs about freedom and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In class we watched the famous speech, "I had a dream." We learned about Rosa Parks and Ruby Bridges. After reading Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport students worked together to generate a list of words that were important to M.L.K, jr. Each student chose a word and then wrote what that word means to M. L.K and what that word means to them in their life. Students also helped draw and paint a world and each thought of their own word to make the world and Baker School a better place. Enjoy our slide show!

Baker Winter Assembly

1/14/2013

Fifth Grade Skit

What time is it?

1/14/2013

Last week we made paper watches. Each watch had a different time to the half hour. Telling the time to the half hour is a little harder than the hour. If the big hand (minute hand) is on the 6 and the small hand (hour) is between the 3 and 4 we say, it is 3:30. We try to remember that the hour hand points between two numbers. We read the hour and remember it is half past 3 but not yet 4:00.

Would you want to work on the Great Wall of China?

1/14/2013

After we made our topographic map, students learned about the Great Wall of China. Students learned that it took a very long time to build the great wall of China. The earliest part of the wall was build under the Rule of Emperor Qin over 2000 years ago. It took centuries to build and connect the walls. Can you imagine how difficult it was to build The Great Wall of China? How did the workmen carry the stone? Most of the materials used were found in the different regions. Was the materials found in the desert the same or different as the materials in the mountains? Why did they need watch towers? How many people did it take to build the Great Wall of China? In 1-W, students worked together with cooperation and various classroom materials to build the Great Wall of China. Although working on the Great Wall of China may have been a lot of hard work, we had so much fun in 1W.

1-W travels to China

1/8/2013

This month we are learning about China! It has been an exciting time in 1W! Students worked together for the past few days to create a big topographic map of China. Using the Elmo (screen technology) we projected a huge map of China onto a few pieces of pasteboard. Students helped to trace the different regions of China using different colored markers. We made a map key to label each part including the capital, rivers, deserts, mountains, flatlands, highlands, and the Great Wall of China. On Monday and Tuesday students worked together to glue on different materials. We used blue yarn for the rivers, hershey kisses (the kids favorites) for the mountains, gold glitter for the desert, toothpicks for the plains, and twisters for the highlands, and starbursts for the Great Wall of China.

How did we make this topographic map?

We put an outline of the map of China on the big screen using an ELMO and projector. We projected it onto a huge piece of poster board

Students used magic markers to trace the different regions onto the poster board.

It took two days to label and use key codes for the mountains, rivers, deserts, Great wall, Capital, Oceans, etc.

During the next few days students used Elmer's Glue to add glitter for the deserts, Hershey kisses for the mountains, yarn for the rivers, Twizzlers for the highlands, Starbursts for the Great Wall, and toothpicks for the lowlands. I bet this is an activity the students will never forget.

The Hidden Army

Fortune Cookies

Please click here to view the Voice Thread 1W students made_

MLK, Jr.

Baker Winter Assembly

Fifth Grade Skit

What time is it?

Would you want to work on the Great Wall of China?

1-W travels to China

How did we make this topographic map?

1W's masterpiece, MAP OF CHINA

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