The Nexus 7s are here!

Today was a VERY exciting day-- we rolled out the Nexus 7 tablets to the students! It was amazing to see the curiosity on their faces and share in their infectious enthusiasm. 

Lilly's reaction upon taking her tablet out of the box.

Several people came to help us this afternoon: Mrs. Wolinsky, Mrs. Barr, the instructional technology integrator at YHS, Mrs. Lane, and YHS alum Ben Morse. Special thanks to the parents who were able to drop by: Camden's dad Erik, Ned's mom Carolyn, Xan's mom Whitney, and Carter's mom Amie (with little sister Meredith!).

Mrs. Barr helps Kate set up her tablet

We started by creating name labels to go on the outside of the case. Next, students unwrapped the cases, which was surprisingly exciting to them! Finally, they were able to start getting to know the tablets themselves. By the end of the afternoon, students had downloaded about a dozen educational apps from the Google Play store. We even had some time for exploring the different apps! The room buzzed with students excitedly sharing what they were learning.

Students watch as I use the Elmo to model how to change the settings on the tablet

 Tomorrow during morning meeting, we will work together to develop common agreements about using the tablets. Mrs. Wolinsky will join us for this discussion. Our goal is to create a contract that will be signed by all students and parents.

Stay on the lookout for updates as we discover more about how we will use the Nexus 7 tablets to transform learning in our classroom!

 

Weekly Post

Written by Maddy and edited by Madison

At the beginning of the week some people stayed in at recess to help design a poster for the Falmouth Elementary School. This is because the second grade teacher Mr. Grover died over the weekend. All of us each decorated a paper balloon. On the next day, Lilly and Madison glued and put the poster together. Then Mrs. Parkin delivered the poster to Falmouth Elementary School. 

Also, we finished editing our personal  narratives with Mrs. Parkin.

Then, we learned how to do algebra with open sentences.  

We also did a page of broken calculator. Which is where you have a broken key on the calculator but you can use any other key. It's very hard because you don't know what the answer is. We also took the Unit 3 assessment. Then we started the unit on decimals.

Our awesome review

Written by Odin and Edited by Madison 

On Wednesday our special was Guidance. And in Guidance we worked on teamwork by designing our own picture.We each had a colored crayon and we can only use that color on the picture. It's a picture of anything . Also we learned about number story's and how to figure out if they're true or false. At the end of the week we had a substitute and her name is Mrs.Garneau. Then, with Mrs.Garneau we had a writing prompt and the prompt was about your least favorite food and a character who was trying the food for the first time. Also, we did extra math which is basically studying our math facts.We practiced our math facts on times attack. Then we had Discovery Math. For spelling we worked on adding prefixes and suffixes. All throughout this week and next week we will be having conferences with Mrs.Parkin and she will be typing our personal narrative. 

Weekly Post

Written By Harrison Edited By Madison and Emma


This was a great week in Parkinville. Last Monday, we did awesome stations to help edit our personal narratives. Last Tuesday we had our first Mock Election. Our winner was our very own... President Obama. 
On Wednesday we talked about what to do if we were stuck with a knew book. Also we learned about division.
We had our multiplication facts test. Also, we had our addition and subtraction extension facts test.
On the thirteenth we did Algebra for instance, 8+y-3+m=17. Some of us had conferences this morning. Also, we finished editing our personal narratives (they're almost done)!

In conclusion we had a lovely couple weeks in Parkinville!

Election Day Update

Today the citizens of Parkinville exercised their right to vote! Harrison, our Blogger of the Week, will have more details for you about our Mock Election in Friday's post. In the meantime, though, please ask your child for details about this exciting project that we worked on with Mrs. Colfer's third grade class. I have also included a video below, courtesy of Patrick.

Tonight's homework will extend the student's thinking about the election. Instead of a math study link, students should watch at least 20 minutes of election coverage on TV or online. They can do this tonight or tomorrow morning. They should jot down what they're hearing and noticing on a piece of paper that they will turn in, and they should be ready to discuss the results tomorrow.

-Mrs. Parkin

A Very Exciting Week :)!

Written By: Austin Blogger of the week

Edited By: Emma  

It was a fun Monday. We learned about the storm and we started a new unit in math.  We also did our times tables in math because we're starting a new unit on multiplication. We cut multiplication triangles out of our math journals so that we can practice at home. We also learned new words in math: factors, multiples, prime numbers, and square numbers. We also learned how to make a multiplication and division chart for homework.

We also finished The One and Only Ivan this week. The One and Only Ivan was one of my personal favorite books. It was a little sad at the end, but I guess Ruby was happy. I thought Ivan's happiness was a little bit in the middle because he wanted to be with a family and maybe he thought his family wasn't as comforting as Ruby's family. But he was also very very happy that Ruby had a great new home. If I were Katherine Applegate (the author), I'd let Ivan and Ruby see each other a lot.

We learned a ton about presidents and the election. We are going to vote next week on Tuesday. Unfortunately they are not going to be real votes because we have to be 18 to vote, but this is a mock election. I learned about the Electoral College and I learned about how candidates need 270 votes to win.

In conclusion, it was a very fun week!

An Amazingly Exciting and Packed Week!

Written by: Emma and Parker 

It has been a very packed week in Parkinville.  On Monday we went to the Portland symphony! It was amazing I definitely would go again. On Tuesday we went to the book fair, there are too many books in the world to choose from. On Wednesday there was Chorus which was exciting because we are starting to work on harmony in fourth grade. Thursday, we went to the Portland Museum of Art and saw the Winslow Homer exhibit and went on our final visit to the book fair.  Today we had a substitute in the morning and in art. But then our awesome teacher Mrs. Parkin came back to the full alleyways of Parkinville and we are going to finish up the week with the auction!! It was an awesomely full week of fun and buses. We are definitely looking forward to another week in Parkinville!! 

Weekly Update

The last couple of weeks in Parkinville have been very exciting!  We had three citizens graduate from desk rental!  The three lovely citizens are...  Madison W., Parker, and Patrick!  We are looking forward to the book fair and writing more in our personal narratives!  The book fair will be next week on Tuesday and Thursday.  Also, the symphony orchestra and our field trip to the National Gallery of Art will be on Tues. and Thurs.  We also finished the lovely and exciting book Chasing Vermeer!  

Week 5 Update

Written by Margaret, Blogger of the Week.

Edited by Emma, October Blog Editor. 

This week was great.  We kicked butt in the NECAP using our ninja super powers. We had a review of name collection boxes in math. We are looking forward to the last day of NECAP testing. This week was the first week of desk rental, some people bought their desk.  We started a new book called The One And Only Ivan which is this years global read, so we get do Edmodo a Facebook like thing where you can talk to kids in different states. So far we are talking to kids in Illinois. We are in mini groups to talk about the book. We are also looking forward to reading and discovering more of Chasing Vermeer.  This week was great, we look forward to more!:)   

Global Read Aloud: Previewing The One and Only Ivan

Today is our first day participating in the Global Read Aloud! We watched the trailer for The One and Only Ivan by Katharine Applegate, then read the book jacket and the first few pages. Students then jotted down what they were thinking.

Here are some of our thoughts:

• Heartbreaking. A circus that only has Ivan.
• I think this book is going to be a sad book and is probably life-changing.
• Is Ivan really happy or has he just been away from the jungle where he was born so long that he thinks he's happy in a cage?
• Why does Ivan need to protect Ruby? I wonder what's going to be "heart-breaking" in this story? I wonder how Ruby's going to change Ivan's way of seeing things?
• I think The One and Only Ivan is going to be very good. When Ivan said he had no one to protect until now, does that mean when Ruby the elephant comes he protects her?
• How will Ivan meet Ruby? What is the flash of red light? Will Stella die? How is he friends with elephants if he lives in a mall?
• Ivan and Ruby are going to be best friends forever and I think Ivan will see his family and Ruby will see his family. 
• The book seems sad. I bet he will escape from the cage and save the elephant and they will have an adventure.
• Why is Ivan alone?
• What isn't as easy as it looks?
• Does Ivan want to save someone? Is the baby elephant scared? Does the elephant want someone to save him?
• I think that Ruby (the elephant) and Ivan (the gorilla) are going to become very close friends and I think that Ivan is going to take really good care of Ruby.
• I think that at sometime in the book Ivan will try to escape.
• How will Ivan protect Ruby and what will happen to the dog and the elderly elephant? How will art relate to the story?
• I wonder, is someone going to plot against Ruby? And is he going to see his duty through new eyes to save her?
• I am thinking this book will be sad and funny and smart too. 
• It seems like Ivan does not like his life and he is all alone with no one by his side to catch him when he falls but does Ivan like his life in the mall at the video game stop?
• I wonder if Ivan's going to quit the circus and go with the elephant?
• I wonder how popular the circus is?
• Is Ivan going to protect Ruby?
• I think this book is about a fantastic friendship of Ivan and Ruby.
• I think he is going to be sad and lonely. I wonder how it is hard to be a gorilla.

Thanks to Franki Sibberson's fourth grade class for the inspiration for this preview activity!