The twelve days of Christmas

Today we made the twelve days of Christmas with a fun theme like winter, zoo, sea animals, dogs, ect. and made a powerpoint or moviemaker movie about them. each theme would have the things changed, like instead of a partrage in a pear tree, you could put an armadillo eating breakfast. this was fun and a good way to strech your brain.

AJ, grade 5!

This is the powerpoint "The Twelve Dogs of Christmas"
http://www.mediafire.com/?9ouo3tr9hho223j

Rube Goldberg

What an innovative and exciting day we had this past Thursday. Over the past couple of weeks, we have been ;earning about Rube Goldberg. Rube Goldberg was a cartoonist, known for creating funny drawings of overly complicated machines that would complete one simple task. In one of his drawings, he drew about 16 steps just to sharpen a pencil! We decided that we would become Rube Goldbergs ourselves and design our own machines. First, we brainstormed a list of possible simple tasks that our machines could use many steps to complete. Some of these included: moving a pawn on a chess board, throwing something in the trash, cracking an egg, and planting a seed. We then split into teams, and sketched our own cartoon diagrams of the steps that we would include in our devices. We had a special visitor come to our classroom, Mr. Joswick (Amanda's Dad), and bring the incredible Rube Goldberg machine that her older brother had created for his middle school project. It was amazing! This machine took 61 steps to crack an egg! Inspired by this creation, we set off to build Rube Goldberg machines of our very own and here are some video clips of our final products:)

Halloween Surprise from JenZ on Vimeo.

Crack the Egg from JenZ on Vimeo.

Trash Landing! from JenZ on Vimeo.

Seed-a-nater from JenZ on Vimeo.

Easy Button from JenZ on Vimeo.

Faucet and More! from JenZ on Vimeo.

What Book Made the Biggest Impact on Your Life?

Wow. Narrowing down what book made the biggest impact on my life? That's a tough one to answer. I feel like there are so many books that impacted my life, I have a difficult time narrowing it down to just one. There are all of the books that were read to me as a child by my Mom, my Dad, my grandparents, my relatives. Then there are all of the books that I picked out to read on my own that furthered my love of reading. But, okay, just one for the purposes of this, you ask? I'll do my best.

I would have to say...Matilda. by Roald Dahl. I loved Roald Dahl and read almost all of his books as a kid (and most of them more than once), but Matilda was my favorite, and one that I read again and again. I remember getting a beautiful, hardcover, fresh off the press version of Matilda from my Aunt Carol, a first grade teacher, for a gift. I was so excited as I loved Roald Dahl and this was a new one- and it was mine- not a library book that I would have to part with, but one that I could keep on my shelves and reread to my hearts content. And it was selected by Aunt Carol, a first grade teacher by trade, who's excellent taste in children's literature I greatly respected and trusted.

I loved Matilda. I loved the fact that she was a little girl who could not get her hands on enough books to satisfy her voracious reading appetite, just like me. I loved that Roald Dahl made me laugh throughout the book describing her awful parents who could not even comprehend her love of reading over television- the complete opposite of my family, all of whom loved to read. I loved hearing about her terrible principal-The Trunchbull. I was an elementary student at a public school in my NYC neighborhood, and as beautiful as my school was on the outside, it seemed to have its fair share of Trunchbull teachers roaming the inside. Granted, we weren't locked in a closet called "The Chokey," but we had some pretty scary figures that worked there. I took comfort in hearing of Matilda's trials with The Trunchbull as I faced our version of her in our school cafeteria!

What we needed was a Miss Honey- and there were a seldom few of that nature present at that school. Miss Honey- Miss Jennifer Honey at that, served as further inspiration to me. I wanted to be a Miss Jennifer Honey. I wanted to be that teacher that loved reading right along with her Matilda-like students. I wanted to be the Miss Jennifer Honey that loved all of her students and treated them with kindness and respect and inspired them to enjoy school.

As I studied education throughout graduate school, and as I began my teaching career, I kept my sights set toward being a Miss Jennifer Honey. Although I have become a Mrs. Jennifer Zawis, I keep Miss Honey's spirit and kindness at heart each day that I work and learn along with mys students. I am very happy to report that CCE is 100% Trunchbull free!

Class Poll- Mrs.Zawis' 4th graders

Mrs. Holtsman tasked us with the challenge of taking a class poll and blogging about it..Here we go! I asked my favorite 4th graders the following question:

What was your favorite part of the field trip to the "Super Scientific Circus"?

Franchesca: Robo-Man

Morgen: The mime act

Adam: Boomerangs

Brandon: Whip (Sonic Boom)

Acadiana: UV Lights
Noah: Needle in the balloon

Madison: UV lights and bubble disco ball

Ethan: Balloon (air pressure)

Angus: UV lights

Shannon: Sonic Boom whip

Rami: UV lights

Ian: Trent the Mime

Michael: Dancing puppet -UV lights

Nathan: UV lights

Luke: Bubbles and balancing acts

Will: UV lights

Olivia: Sharpening the pencil with the whip

Mandy: Balancing act- center of gravity

Preston: Robo-man and Trent the mime

Jack: UV lights and balancing act

Alyssa: Bubbles and UV light

Garret: Whip

Sam: mime

Looks like the UV lights were the favorite! We are really looking forward to trying out some of these concepts in class!

My Life as a Reader

Ok, ok, I know, I'm already a week off with my response to our technology coach's challenge of blogging for the next ten out of eleven weeks, but all the more determined I've become to stick with it. I am not one to give up, quit, anything of the sort- in fact, I'm more on the other end of the spectrum- can't ever seem to leave well enough alone.

My life as a reader, you ask? Reading is a huge part of my life and always has been. Speaking of being unable to leave well enough alone, I am ALWAYS reading several books at a time.

As long as I can remember, I have been an avid reader. If you were to ask any member of my family what activity I engaged in most as a child, undoubtedly, each and every one would respond, "Oh, Jen? She was always reading. ALL the time." I can just hear my Mom, laughing about how she would call me for dinner and I wouldn't even respond, I would be so deeply enthralled with whatever book I was reading. I can picture my Dad, coming into my room to check on me, and attempting to "scold" me for hiding under my covers with a flashlight, just so that I could read a little bit more. Little did I know he had to hide his smile as he headed off to share the news of my flashlight reading habit with my mom. I remember spending summers at the public library, beyond excited to partake in the reading challenges that they had in place for kids. I remember my mom reading "The Velveteen Rabbit" to me on the couch when I was sick. I remember reading my biology textbook out loud to my Dad. I remember reading countless Babysitter's Club books, Madeline L'Engle books, and loving every bit of "From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler." I remember that when my grandmother asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I said " a twenty dollar bill, so that I can buy five Nancy Drew books." Books- I loved them and still do. I grew up surrounded by readers and I really think that that made a difference in my life as a reader.

This love of reading continues today. I read to my children constantly. We take weekly trips to the library and check out tons of books. We go to the bookstore, just to sit there and leaf through the newest books out there. A stack of books sits at my bedside at all times. There are books in every room in our house.

As far as genres go, I enjoy fiction, primarily, although I often read some sort of non fiction book simultaneously. Currently I am reading " The Happiness Project", " Committed" , "Igniting Creativity in Gifted Learners", and various parenting books and blogs. I also love to read the New York Times. Not to mention the many books I read to my children each day, as well as those that I read to my classes at school!

Okay, I'm up and going on this blog challenge, but must wrap it up for tonight. Otherwise, I'll run out of time and not have the chance to - you guessed it-read, before going to bed (my reading spot). I'm already getting a late start, which means that my husband will be asking me to turn out the light and go to sleep. All isn't lost though, should that happen, I have a flashlight next to the bed and comfy covers to hide under.

Super Scientific Field Trip

On Friday, all of Mrs. Zawis and Mrs. Skipper's students headed off to see the "Super Scientific Circus" at the Wilson Center. What an amazing show it was, and certainly proved itself to be super scientific! Two very funny performers, Mr. Fish and Trent the Mime, took several scientific concepts, and explained and demonstrated them through circus and magic tricks. We saw the principles such as centripetal force, gravity, ultraviolet light, sonic booms, air pressure, and many more demonstrated through the use of boomerangs, bull whips, balloons, bubbles, and lots more. Each concept was explained to the audience, and furthermore, we learned how to do many of the science "tricks" and "magic" ourselves. We learned a great deal and really enjoyed the show. In the word of Mr. Fish, "Science is fun!"

Our 3rd grade day with Mrs. Skipper

Today in room 206  we learned how to make our own slide shows the slide show was about analogies .We could do animals sea creautures insects anything we wanted.There would be a tittle page and then at least three slides once we were finished we could make another. On the tittle page you could choose your own font  .Then you could choose your backround checkerboard stripes anything you wanted.You could also search for pictures on that website or from Google.So then you would write an analogie and either give the answer on that page or the next.Then you are doing it for the next .You did not have to only do 3 pages but you had to do 3 .Well thats what we did today.
Trinity

Open House!

Gifted Open House for 3rd-5th will be on Thursday, October 14th at 6:30 pm in room 206!!  Hope to see you there!

Picasso Heads and More

Today in 5th grade gifted we made Picasso heads online and on paper. You can pick the head,eyes,eyebrows, and as many features as you want to make the face look like a Picasso. Picassso painted mostly in an abstract style, and the heads that we worked on today were examples of cubism. We made two different pictures of heads (for example, yourself and an animal or cartoon character) and then we cut them up and rearranged them on a new head in Picasso cubism style.
Check out some of these links to our online picasso heads:

http://www.picassohead.com/?id=12711d2 http://www.picassohead.com/?id=9b3ab77
http://www.picassohead.com/?id=633833b http://www.picassohead.com/?id=1e0eb84
http://www.picassohead.com/?id=8d1e74a http://www.picassohead.com/?id=ec4579e
http://www.picassohead.com/?id=039e38c http://www.picassohead.com/?id=9c87b0e

We are also learning about the brain. Did you know that the brain can send a message in 1/5000 of a second? We made models of nerve cells out of pipe cleaners. They were made up of cell body, axon, dendrites, a protective myelin sheath, and a synapse.

On top of it all, Caroline's Dad came in and brought "Chessica" his electronic chess board to help us with our chess strategies.

Great day overall!

Luke, Jess, and Caroline

Joseph Picasso by Anonymous

Joseph Picasso by Anonymous: "Picassohead"

Future Time Cover Stories

Take a glance into the future through the eyes of our fifth graders as they envision the future achievements that will land them on the cover of Time Magazine.

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Chessmates

In gifted class, the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders are learning to play Chess. Chess is a game that involves a lot of critical thinking skills. You have to be able to concentrate well and have really good strategies. The goal of chess is to get the other person's king into check, and then eventually checkmate.

Here are the ways that each of the pieces can move:

Pawn: can move one or two spaces on the first move, one after that. Can capture other pieces by

moving diagonally. Once you get your pawn to your oponnants side of the board you can get a rook, knight, bishop, or queen.

Knight: can move two spaces away, and one space over , any directions. The knight is the only piece in the game that can jump over any piece.

Bishop: can move as many spaces as you want,diagonal only.

Rook: can move as many spaces as you want, vertically or horizontally only.

Queen: can move as many spaces as you want, any direction. The queen is the most powerful piece in the game so you should try to keep it safe along with the king.

King: can move one space, any direction. the king is the most important in the game so try to keep your king safe.

Written by: Mandy and Madison

Ready for a Remarkable Year?

Are we ready for a remarkable school year? Most definitely!
This week, the third, fourth and fifth graders discussed the definition of the word "remarkable" and how it could pertain to them this year. We learned about being a "purple cow" and how to make ourselves extraordinary, outstanding, notable-remarkable in some way. We designed "purple cows" to represent ourselves, highlighting some of the unique goals that we set forth. Musicians, artists, honor roll students, patrols of the month, athletes, friends- all sorts of remarkable goals were depicted on our cows!
In addition, we worked on a team building activity in which teams of students worked together to design a protective device for an egg. Each team was given a limited number of supplies from which to design their device and worked very hard at doing so. They were then instructed to "launch" their egg outside- not to mention give their egg a name and cheer of its very own:) The egg that traveled the farthest without breaking was the winner. All teams worked so well together and had the opportunity to work on their team building, creative, and critical thinking skills alike.
We had a great time and I cannot wait to see everyone again this week.

Welcome Back!

Welcome back! We are thrilled to help cultivate the creative minds of the gifted students at Chets Creek. Here is the schedule for each grade level and their designated day of the week to attend gifted class:

MONDAY: 2nd                    TUESDAY: K/1st                    WEDNESDAY: 3rd
THURSDAY: 5th                   FRIDAY: 4TH

Mrs. Zawis and Mrs. Skipper will be teaching the gifted classes. Mrs. Zawis will teach the Thursday and Friday classes while Mrs. Skipper will teach the Monday and Tuesday classes. Mrs. Zawis and Mrs. Skipper will alternate teaching on Wednesdays each week. We will all be working together to produce this year’s musical performance. Gifted classes will begin on Monday, August 30th. Please remind your child to report to their homeroom teacher before coming to gifted class. Each child needs a lunch, a snack, gifted folder, and composition book. Please don’t forget to send a snack each day as our lunch this year is from 12:55-1:25. We will send the students back to class prior to dismissal.

Needed Supplies-
Everyone: Composition notebook

Alligator

Alligator

This is a myth about how Google became the # 1 search engine by Jake, 5th grade.

NOTICE: THIS STORY IS INSULTING TO BING IN SOME WAYS AND IF YOU WORK FOR MSN, DON'T READ THIS.

A long time ago, there was a land called Internetville. The ruler of Internetville was Google. Many people lived there. But that didn't include Bing.

Bing used to live in Internetville, but he got banished and had to live in a dumpster behind the 7-Eleven in Boston.

One day, Bing was watching the Red Sox play the Yankees when he saw Google walk by his dumpster. Bing asked him, "What do you want?" Google answered with, "Boston will become a part of Internetville. Either move, or be arrested by the National Health Agency." Then he left.

Now, Bing wasn't happy. If he had to move, that meant no more free leftovers from 7-Eleven, And he wasn't about to give that up.
So Bing ventured all the way from Boston to Internetville. When he got there, though, he was immeadiately was kicked out by YouTube and Hulu, who were watching a movie.

When Bing got back to Boston, a garbage truck was taking his dumpster away, revealing a doorway with a smiling Google in it. Then, Bing suffered a fatl heart attack and everyone else lived HAPPILY EVER AFTER and walked into the sunset!

Rock On!

Everone rocked the house Wednesday and Friday! Wow what great performances! Enjoy the photos!

Operation Military Kids! Now in Session!

Ten Hut!! Operation Military Kids Now in Session! Last week we had a visitor from Operation Military Kids, which is a organazation that supports military kids. We had so much fun learning about deployment. Also, we did role playing. Rock On! Tomorrow is spring break! Lets Get Excited (our musical is in one month!)





By N&J

Gargoyles

Today in gifted, we learned about Gargoyles, which function as a rain spout carrying rain water off cathedrel roofs. Gargoyles were built on to Gothic style architecture. One of the best known examples of Gothic architecture and gargoyles is the Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris. Can you believe that it often took up to two hundred years to build a cathedral? It took from 1163-1250 to build Notre Dame. We made some Gargoyels out of clay today. Our teacher gave us some clay and we hade to make it into a Gargoyle. We were very creative!

James and Daniel

new netbooks!

today we got to use the media center`s new netbooks to play games, use prezi, and just have fun!

amanda

Architecture

Arcitecture is awesome! We have been working on architectural structures and how they stay up.Tension and compression help hold the structures up. We built many structures using books and saw where the tension and compression showed up. We learned that there were three types of columns and many structures that may or may not need columns.


-Rachel

prezi

today we went on prezi.prezi is a site that you can wright about anything.i wrote about choose your own adventure.but thats a nother story.
jessica

Choose your own adventure

In gifted,were doing somthing called choose your own adventure.You read a few pages and then it gives you normally two options and you cchoose one.It will tell which page you go to if you pick option number one and option number two.You keep on doing that untill the story ends.

By,James.

Musical!!!

Hey guys! every year the kids in gifted do a gifted play (the musical) and its is so much fun!!!! :) we have lots of fun songs such as..... Goodbye, Im So Exited, Wild Thing, and many more! we have all had fun choosing parts for the musical. there re groups of kids who each geta song. usually there is atleast 2 people per group. its fun because you get toget on stage in front of every one and sing your song and you make up a dance. no one can wait until the day of the day of the musical. but its alway s fun because we perform in ffrontof kindergarden through 2nd and then 3rd through 5th. THEN that night of you perform infront of your parents. its really crazy but its worth the trouble! MUSICAL ROCKS!!! : )

Emily w.

The stroop affect!!

green blue red purple
what are you suppost to say? green blue red purple? Or blue green purple red?
It makes your brain nerves criss cross literely!!! Try it! write color words on a peice of paper write them all in different colors than what the word is. how fast can you go? comment your results. My results were fith graders are two seconds slower than second graders!!! the reason why is that the older you are the stronger the reader you are and if your not a good reader you
focus more on the colors o fthe words not the words! hope you have a nice experment!

<3, Kayla =P

Six Word Stories

Fourth graders created "six word stories" today in gifted class. Six word stories allow students to practice the elements of story by telling the story using only six words. As we are in the midst of learning about various elements of architecture, we used this as our source of inspiration. We selected a famous architectural landmark or structure and uploaded a picture of it to a website called picnik. Picnik is a fun site that allow you to edit and add text to pictures. We worked in pairs to write six word stories and added them to the picture of the structure that we researched. Check out some samples of our work!

Fun with Arch-itecture!

Today we learned more about arcitecture.The romans came up with the idea of using arches which used less materials and was easier to build by hand and it was more sturdy.To get a feel for it we acted like we were arches and put are heals aginst the wall then bent over.We also used tooth picks with marshmallows on them to make creations [that are three dimensional] that Da Vinci created called Octahedroms,Icosahedrons,and Rhombicuboctahedrons.

Check out some of the pics we have from are investigation.


by: Caroline S. and Emily D.

Bridges

We have been learning about 3 kinds of bridges in GIFTED!!!

1. Suspension Bridge



2. Arch Bridge



3. Beam Bridge

We have been focusing mostly on the suspension bridges today in class!!! We did a experiment with 2 chairs, 4 books, a piece of cardboard, and lots of string!!!We had to make a suspension bridge out of all these materials!!! Then we tested the bridges by putting more weight onto the deck (where you drive)to see if the bridge can hold the weight!!!

Take the time to play around with the PBS bridges website- you can learn even more ...interactive labs, bridge building challenges, all sorts of great activities!

-Lexi and Jake :)

3rd Grade Iditarod Race Study

We're kicking the Iditarod off early in our classroom! We are studying the Iditarod race.We are learning the checkpionts. We are also studying the mushers. Orbir was a gold rush town ...but now its a ghost town! Did you know the checkpoint is the coldest checkpoint on the north trail? Did you know that white moutan is 1035 miles away from ancherage.Mushers have to stopover at white moutan for eight hours. To learn more check out this website....


http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/iditarod/index.htm

Written by: O, N, J, and I:)