Thursday, December 23, 2010

3rd Grade - Christmas Break - What are your traditions?

Many people celebrate Christmas. Many people celebrate other holidays this time of year such as Hanukah and Kwanzaa. Many people create their own celebrations.

A tradition is something done on a regular basis. Putting up a Christmas tree is a tradition. Lighting a Menorah is a tradition. Always going skiing on New Years Eve is a tradition. I always do my Christmas present shopping on Christmas Eve, that is my personal tradition.

Over this vacation, what are your traditions? Do you always go to the same relative's house for dinner? Do you always eat the same thing? Do you always take the same trips?

What are the things you and your family do every year at this time? What are your traditions during the Christmas Vacation?

Post your traditions in full and complete sentences.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and of course Happy Vacation Week off!




Remember - Comment as "Name/URL" and use your first name and last initial (proper capitalization, no URL)- please respond in full and complete sentences - double check your work before posting your comment.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

5th Grade - Christmas Break - A birds eye view...

Welcome to the 5th Grade Christmas Break 2010 assignment...

The video below was captured using a model airplane and a camcorder.

New York City from trappy : TeamBlackSheep on Vimeo.


Watch the video. What do you think about the view? Have you ever seen parts of New York from that perspective? Seeing some of the sites up close, does it change your thoughts or impressions of those landmarks (Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, etc)?

Does anyone recognize the location of the start, and finish, of the flight? I know where it is, do you? Many of you might have even been there...

Posts your thoughts and reaction to the video, as well as the answers to my questions, as comments.

Have a great vacation!






Remember - Comment as "Name/URL" and use your first name and last initial (proper capitalization, no URL)- please respond in full and complete sentences - double check your work before posting your comment.

4th Grade - Christmas Break - New York to Nebraska...

4th graders of Brooklyn, meet 4th graders of Nebraska....

Mr. Casal has been in touch with Mr. Horst of Chadron Elementary school, in Nebraska, and we thought it would be interesting to have our 4th graders communicate and collaborate.

For the Brooklyn 4th graders here is a little information about Nebraska:
Chadron Public Schools is located in Chadron, Nebraska. Zip:69337
Our school website is www.chadronschools.org

We have approximately 340 elementary students K-4 in two buildings across town from each other. We also have a middle school (5-8), high school (9-12), and 4 rural attendance centers that serve k-8 in two or three classrooms.

Chadron is a small college town with around 6,000 residents and a college that has between 2500 and 3000 students.

Students of Chadron, here is some information about Brooklyn:
Our school is located in Brooklyn, NY Zip: 11215
Our school website is ps10.org (Mr. Casal also has a website, as do other PS 10 teachers too)

The New York CIty school system is quite large, over 1,000,000 million students in over 1,700 different buildings. Our school alone is over 700 in grades Pre-K thru 5th (New York City has over 8,000,000 residents, over 2,000,000 in Brooklyn alone)

Here is some more information about Brooklyn, and New York City...

Now, for the assignment....

1) Introduced yourself (first names and last initial only, no full names)
2) Give 1 fact about the city you are from.
3) Ask 1 question about the other city.

(If you are from Brooklyn, talk about Brooklyn/New York City and ask about Chadron/Nebraska. If you are from Chadron, talk about Chadron/Nebraska and ask about Brooklyn/New York)


Check the comments throughout the vacation to see the different questions and answers.


This will give each group a chance to learn about where the other is from (use the links throughout the post to learn about Brooklyn and Chadron.

Have a great vacation!






Remember - Comment as "Name/URL" and use your first name and last initial (proper capitalization, no URL)- please respond in full and complete sentences - double check your work before posting your comment.