Mr. Insley visits 6D!

Mr. Insley visited 6D today! He read us two Christmas stories, one of which is a personal favorite of mine: The Polar Express. After reading, we were treated to candycanes! Thank you, Mr. Insley, for visiting 6D! You are welcome to stop by for a visit anytime!

Holiday Cards for our Pen Pals!

We created holiday cards for our pen pals at Leithwalk! Each student was able to choose from a variety of glitter colors and a design for their mittens on the front of the cards! These cards will be delivered next week, as Leithwalk will be in session until Wednesday! We look forward to hearing from our pen pals again soon!

Elf Glyphs

We have been creating elf glyphs with Mrs. DeLorbe's math class all week! Our zoomed in photographs make for perfect elf faces! Tomorrow we will graph this information as a group. You can tell a lot about us from these glyphs:

red bodies- Our birthday is from January to June.
green bodies- Our birthday is from July to December.

Neck cowl dots- We don't like wrapping presents.
Neck cowl stripes- We like wrapping presents.

red hat- We are a girl.
green hat- We are a boy.

hat cowl dots- We would not like to be an elf.
hat cowl stripes- We would like to be an elf.

red mittens- We like warm weather the best.
green mittens- We like cold weather the best.

green shoes- We like to build snowmen.
red shoes- We like to go sledding.

candycane arms and legs- We like candycanes.
without candycane arms and legs- We do not like candycanes.

Our friends in 9B read their favorite holiday books to 6D yesterday! All books had wonderful pictures- some of which we were already familiar with. It was a treat to share this time with the girls- we look forward to seeing them again in January!

In a New York State of Mind...

I thought I'd start a new section titled: Who Is Mrs. Armstrong? I hope these posts will provide you with a better understanding of who I am and what I like to do outside of school.

This weekend I traveled to New York City with my best girlfriends, Katie and Molly. Our dads went to highschool and then law school together before we were born. Katie and I met at the YMCA when we were both 4 years old on our way to ballet. The first year she was a bluebird and I was a strawberry in the recital. I am still not sure to this day what ballet incoporates both fruit and animals, but if you have an idea, please let me know (haha). We would then go to elementary, middle, and highschool together. It wasn't until after college that we became roommates- we lived together for 3 years before I got married! Katie even introduced me to my would-be husband! No wonder she is my best friend!

I always knew of Molly growing up but we did not go to school together until highschool at Maryvale. Molly is very spirited, easy-going, and a great listener! We are still able to make time for early morning breakfasts despite our busy schedules (If you see me at the Evergreen early in the morning on a school day- Molly is probably by my side!).

Molly, Katie, and I lived together in Hampden for a year. We had so much fun! I still like to drop by unannounced for an impromptu dinner or evening out. I even have a key to make these visits feel "official".

Through thick and thin, Katie, Molly and I have been best friends. We even saved our pennies for a whole year to travel to Spain for two weeks a few summers back. It was amazing! We decided to open a "France" savings account this past fall to begin saving for our next trip- France Summer 2011! We want to take a cooking class, eat real croissants, and drink amazing wine. I can't wait!

For my birthday present this year, the girls and I traveled to New York! It was a short weekend but is packed with memories. We saw West Side Story (dare I say there were tears from us when the curtains closed?), ate at a fancy restaurant, and did some fun shopping. Our next trip together will be a spa day in the spring.

This picture of Katie and I was taken on an above ground park/garden in the meat-packing district, close to where we stayed. What a beautiful clear night it was!

word families

We are learning about word families in reading! Now that we are familiar with three short vowel sounds (/a/, /i/, and /o/)- we had a word family competition! After completing one example together as a group, each student was assigned a partner with whom to work. When the timer started, every person in the group took turns adding new words to a specific word family picture card. The team with the most words after five minutes won a sticker! Take a peak at these word family picture cards for some great rhyming and writing!

Alphabet Soup!

On Friday in reading we ate alphabet soup! To start, we sorted our alphabet pieces into two piles- recognizable letters, and mis-shapen letters. We were allowed to eat the mis-shapen letters before continuing! Second, we sorted our alphabet letters into separate letter piles- all As together, all Bs together, etc. Lastly, we took turns at our tables isolating each letter and sound, and then shared a corresponding word to coincide with this sound.

beads

The mathematicians estimated pink and white beads this week! This friend estimated the closest with 66. Nice job!

Getting in the Spirit...

My husband and I decorated our tree this weekend- I really can't believe the holidays are right around the corner! Speaking of "around the corner"- we live really close to a church and were able to carry our tree home. It makes things very easy! Merry Christmas!

Buzz!

Today we played Buzz! in reading! First we wrote our sight words on index cards. They are: help, too, want, now, and play. We were also given two Buzz! cards. We shuffled the cards and sat with a partner. Partners took turns flipping over cards and reading sight words. When a buzz! card was flipped over, the other partner had to buzz like a bee! The partner would then call them back by saying, "Return to the hive, bee!"

This was a fun and active game to play while learning new words. We were allowed to take our set home and play with a family member. Have fun!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Last week the 6th Age and Pilots celebrated Thanksgiving Calvert-style! The Pilots were the pilgrims and the 6th Agers were the Native Americans in a Grandparents' celebration. We had fun memorizing our lines, making our costumes, and singing holiday songs! I am very proud of my class for all of their hard work. Here is a sample video of us singing, and a few pictures of us in full costume. Happy Thanksgiving!

"Over the river and through the woods...to grandmother's house we go..."

Paul's Place Delivery!

On Friday afterschool I hand delivered our lasagna casseroles to Paul's Place. I took a few pictures of my adventure!

Outside of Paul's Place



The neighborhood



Inside the main building and kitchen area

Casseroles for Paul's Place!

This month we worked with the 9th Age girls to make four lasagne casseroles for Paul's Place. We wore gloves to protect our hands and keep germs at bay. We liked mixing together the sauce and ricotta cheese! Working together to help others makes us feel good! Nice job, 6D and 9B!

Having fun with friends!

We like to build and play with friends in 6th Age!

The Alphabet Tree

We listened to the story THE ALPHABET TREE by Leo Lionni. In the story, a tree has many beautiful green leaves, and on each leaf there lives a letter. One windy day the leaves are scattered about. A bug comes along and teaches the leaves to be stronger by linking together to form words. Later the words form sentences.
We made our own alphabet tree and letter leaves. It was fun to create words out of the letter leaves!

Median, Mode, and Range

We have started something new in math class! The mathematicians are learning about the median, mode, and range during estimation projects. We estimated on index cards this week, and then posted our estimates on the chalkboard. We were sure to sequence the numbers from least to greatest.
Then we calculated the median, or middle number. We started at the least and greatest numbers, and then worked our way to the middle.
Then we tallied the mode, or number repeated most often. This was easy to see visually with the numbers on the board.
Lastly we calculated the range, or the difference between the largest and smallest number.
Nice job, mathematicians! We will continue to calculate the median, mode, and range when estimating!

Star of the Week

We learned our Star of the Week loves to travel to warm, exotic places! She loves her family and can walk the tightrope! She is a ballerina!

Turkey Glyphs

We created turkey glyphs with Mrs. DeLorbe's math class! The glyphs tell the viewer data about ourselves. For example, if we chose a white body for our turkey, it meant we did not like turkey. If the body was dark brown, then we prefered dark meat, and light brown meant we prefered light meat.
Upon completing the glyphs, we worked to graph the data. We have been using our addition and subtraction skills, as well as our number sense to graph this information.

6D Tree

In the beginning of the year, 6D adopted a tree outside of our classroom. I think it is a maple tree, with beautifully lush green leaves in the summer, and a variety of colored leaves in the fall. In the early months of September, we brought crayons and pencils outside to color a picture of our tree for our journals. Most recently, I wanted to repeat this step to make note of any changes that have occurred with the tree since our last visit.
Behold the power of technology! It has been raining here for the past few days and drawing a picture of our tree outdoors would have been next to impossible. So...I gathered 6D and we walked outside to the tree for a great photo opportunity. I also took several photographs of the tree for later. Inside we went, where I was able to upload the tree photos. I quickly hooked them up to the smartboard, where we colored a picture of this tree indoors! The students were able to add as many details as before, while staying dry.

Pen Pals!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of hand delivering my reading group's pen pal letters to Mr. Bryden's 3rd graders at LeithWalk Elementary School! His students were eagerly anticipating receiving a note, but were delighted to additionally receive a photo of their Calvert pen pal, along with a video and some stickers. Mr. Bryden and his class gave our reading class a book titled Skippyjon Jones Goes to Outer Space! It even came with a CD, so we listened to the story today!

Thank you, Mr. Bryden and LeithWalk! We look forward to hearing from you again soon!