A Study of Personal Narratives and Point of View

Since returning from our Thanksgiving Break, we have taken a very close look at the personal narrative with an emphasis on point of view. Students can be pretty adept at identifying first person from third person point of view and even third person limited from third person omniscient. Understanding and analyzing how point of view impacts a story is an entirely different endeavor and this is why taking so much time with it.

Students are reading rich personal narratives and are also writing their own. They may have been asking about the history of their name and we will be turning what they learn into a graphic essay.

A Visit from the Sierra Watercolor Society

We were very fortunate in having the Sierra Watercolor Society visit our classroom and share their expertise with us. We engaged in careful observation of how watercolors work, learned more about the medium of watercolors and were instructed on specific techniques to take full advantage of the watercolor palette we worked with.

The finished product will serve as a terrific holiday gift. Moreover, there was no cost to the students or Roy Gomm. Instead, the four volunteers shared all the necessary supplies and a lot of their time.

Sharing our Google Slides Presentations

The students started sharing their Google Slides presentations on Friday and we will continue to do this throughout next week. The presentations look great and showcase how “digital natives” can fluidly blend a traditional book report with 21st Century tools.

Many students already emailed their reports to parents and in some cases, to their classroom peers.

Author’s Chair

Although we are unable to do it as frequently as I like, we did fit in another Author’s Chair this morning. Author’s Chair is a chance for students to share a completed work and hear feedback from their classmates. Some students wrote a text-based response to Cisneros’ Eleven, others about compromising who we are to maintain friendships, and some following a lesson and the mentor text Dog Breath.

A Visit from NevadaTeach to Learn about Isopods

With facilitation from NevadaTeach, students learned more about isopods and hypothesized about the conditions isopods would most prefer living in. The University of Nevada Reno students did a great job leading the students through an experiment to verify and refine their understandings.

2016 Halloween Celebration!

Thank you parents for sharing such a great celebration with the kids!

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Meet the Masters, Session 1

Today Gomm parents volunteered their time to facilitate art learning and creation for all of the students in 5th grade. The session started with some history about artist M.C. Escher followed by a chance for children to create their own tessellation pieces–based on Escher’s work.