~Welcome To The V Safari~

Hey guys!

How is summer going for all of you?  I don’t know how many of you are still checking in here on the blog, but I thought I would give a shout out to anyone who is still checking in.  I have seen some of you at the pool, baseball games, and even at Camp Lookout!  I hope you are all having a great time this summer, and getting some time to enjoy the great weather:)  Tanner and I have been busy with camp, Recplex, pool time, and baseball.  We are going out of town next week…he’ll be staying with his grandparents in Nebraska, while I go to San Antonio to present at the National Technology Conference with Mrs. Matzat..WOO HOOO!!  I am really excited, because I have never been to such a big tech conference before.  Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Becky and Gayla from the tech office, and Mrs. Seaman are going too.  I will try to take pictures, and post them here for all of you to see later!   Meanwhile, drop me a comment to let me know what you have been up to this summer.  If you have been writing, feel free to cut and paste your story here, and we can have kind of an online journal share!  Miss you guys!

Just checking my blog today, and I can’t believe we haven’t blogged in so long!  I guess we have been too busy with voicethreads, story wiki, and other projects in our classroom.  Anyway, I am happy to say that our friend Kiana has commented in two places- once on the vchat, and once on “the stone”.  Go read her comments, then give her a little shout out here to let her know we miss her here at Branson!  Kiana, sorry it took me so long to find your comments and post them!  I’ll try to keep up better from now on…if you have added to your story, you could cut and paste it into the comment box, so we could keep up with what’s going on in the world of Alice and Arace:)  Miss you girl!

Yesterday in our book, Hector woke up and the stone he had dug up was glowing!  It led him to the dig site, right to the pit where the human bones had been found. What is that stone?  Why did it lead him to that pit?  What do you think Hector will do next?

Well, here we are again!  I had a couple ideas about what I might toss out for you to think about today, but I’ve decided on a simple task.  Usually at this time on a Friday, we would be creating our newletter- the V Safari Note- so I want you to write your own top 10 list for this week.  Think of what we have done this week, what we have learned, what special events happened, etc.  You can even stretch back into last week since it was a short week as well:)  This is your chance to tell everyone YOUR favorite activities from the week. 

Now, usually at the bottom of the newletter is my chance to make announcements to parents- so here are a few

FYI- we will take the spelling test Monday, and also a pre-test for next weeks words..so be ready. 
I can’t update my website from here, so next weeks lessons will not be up until Monday.
The spelling bee will be at 8:00 on Monday…Hannah and Holliday, good luck to both of you!
Limo rides to the pizza place will be happening this week, so plan accordingly if you wish to eat lunch with your student.

That’s all I can think of, so enjoy your extra day off, and we’ll see you on Monday!
 

Hello V Safari from St Charles, Missouri!  Today I want you to share with some teachers from all over the Midwest what you like about being in an eMINTS classroom.  What is your favorite tech tool or program?  How is our room different from other classrooms that you have been in?  What have you learned about yourself that you will take with you to 4th grade? 

I hope you all enjoyed playing in the snow!  It sure did melt quickly, but I want you to tell me about it here.  Let’s try something different.  I would like you to create a poem…any kind of poem about you playing in the snow, you watching the snow, or just snow in general. Here are a couple of ideas to get you started:
acrostic(make it good-more than 4 words please)

S-slippery to walk on
N-nose running while I build a snowman
O-on my tongue I catch a snowflake
W-wish it wouldn’t melt away

or maybe a 5 senses poem

FEEL the icy flakes on my face
HEAR the snow slide off my roof and land on the ground-THUD!
SEE my son sliding down the hill
TASTE the hot chocolate that warms me to my toes when we come inside
SMELL the clean fresh air of a snowy day

OK, got you thinking now?  Let’s write some poetry about SNOW!!

The fires are all out, the city is ruined, and tomorrow it will be decided.  Will the people of Sparks let the Emberites stay?  Will Ember be banished from the town they just helped save?  What will they do with Tick and the other warriors?  Let’s make some predictions!

Yesterday we spent a lot of time talking about how rock throwing could lead to war, and disaster.  We are beginning to see how Tick might be influencing what is happening in the story.  Doon seems hesitant to make weapons and fight…is he a coward?  What do you think will happen if the people follow Tick?  What would happen if Doon spoke up?  If Doon and Tick were running for president, and you could vote…who would you vote for, and why?  Use details about their character from the book to help you explain your answer.

Caspar, Maddy and Lina have finally made it to the city, and it’s nothing like Lina imagined in her drawings.  “How could people have wrecked their own city?…. seems like something only evil people would do.”   Lina has a hard time understanding how people could get so caught up in revenge that they would destroy themselves.  Have you ever been in a situation like this, where someone was mean to you, and so you felt like you had to be mean to them?  Did you have the courage to be good, and not seek revenge, or did you fight back?  Tell me about a time when you had to choose…good or evil? 

Hey V Safari!  Just finishing up some last minute techie gift downloads, and I thought I would send a shout out and say HAPPY WINTER BREAK!!!  If you have time, check out these fun holiday links that Mrs. Matzat sent out on her blog.  I hope you all have a great time these next two weeks!  I know I will:)  Chat with you later!