Artsy Fifth Graders

We tried a bit of cross-contour. It went way better than I expected.

Artsy Fifth Graders

It's been awhile. These pictures are fuzzy.

Those were not apologies.

We'll be doing a lot with 3D and optical illusions this semester.

Artsy Fifth Graders

This week's project started out the same as the art project from two weeks ago. They chose a word or phrase and wrote it in block letters. Then they turned the paper upside-down and wrote the same phrase in block letters again, overlapping the first letters. Then they chose three colors- one for each letter and one for where the letters overlap. It took them a little while to get the hang of it, but they turned out pretty interesting.

Adjectives + Artsy Fifth Graders Week 7

Teaching adjectives is one of my favorites. Every year I have my students complete a worksheet called "Kiki's Kitty" in which they have to come up with an adjective fore every letter of the alphabet.

I allow them to use their dictionaries if they are unable to think of an adjective. The results are pretty hilarious.

After they completed this worksheet, I had them make acrostics with their names. They had to think of an adjective for every letter in their name. Again, I let them use their dictionaries if they couldn't think of one.

Again, excellent results.

        Nice                                       Artistic                                 Jealous
        Overseas                                Adverbial                             Alight
        Irate                                       Nice                                    Multilateral
                                                     Unhappy                              Multiple
                                                     'Nother                                Yellowish

       Jobless                                High-so                                 Kafkaesque
       Ornamental                          Angry                                   Innocent
       Eligible                                Naughty                                Thinker
      Yellow                                  Nice                                      Asian Lover Songs
                                                 Artistic
                                                 Hungry

Artsy Fifth Graders Week 3

This week's art assignment was similar to last week, but in color!

Artsy Fifth Graders Week 2

This week we did some paper cutting to create positive and negative space.

I love the way they look together on the bulletin board!

Artsy Fifth Graders

I'm so excited to be teaching art in my classroom this year! Because of the growing number of students at my school, the primary students' art classes were moved into their main classrooms to be taught by their homeroom teacher.

I have TONS of artsy ideas. For the first week of school, I decided to have them cut their names out of colorful paper using a graffiti art style. It mostly turned into a lesson about overlapping letters and trying to fill the entire paper. Here are some of the finished products!

Memories from the School Year

Not to be redundant, but SERIOUSLY. How is it possible that this school year is over? Here are a few sweet memories from throughout the school year.

I miss these students already! If the three Lao girls sitting at the table across from me weren't staring, I think I'd be getting a little weepy.

A Hilarious Test Answer and a Sunrise

Final exam week is DONE and my 5th graders are SO ready for summer break. Unfortunately, vacation doesn't start until June 1, so Monday commences the awkward almost-four-weeks of me trying to resume teaching even though the students know that their grades are already in.

Anyway, on their science final exam, they had to write three ways that a cactus has adapted to live in the desert. Can you guess what this student was trying to say? (The answer is at the very end of this post)

In the meantime, here are two pictures of the beautiful sunrise that we had a couple days ago. I love having a window that faces East!

ANSWER- He was trying to say that the cactus has sharp needles. Though now I can't get the image out of my head of a noodle shaped cactus attacking desert animals. With noodles.

Math Competition

A couple of weeks ago, some 5th and 6th graders (including some of my students!) participated in an inter-school math competition. The test included logic puzzles as well as basic math. About 300 students competed. Last sunday we all found out the results in a ceremony held at the Cultural Hall.

They first called the students who received places 4 through 20 (clearly not all the students turned up!)

 That's us in the plaid! Two are 6th graders and five are 5th grade. Three are from my class!

Then they called the names of the students who got places 1, 2, and 3...

 ...and two sixth graders got places 1 and 3! (one of them from my class last year.) I'm so proud of them! (and loving the primary colored shoes!)

The actual awards ceremony went quite quickly and the rest of the night was filled with performances from different schools.

There was a fashion show in which kids were dressed up as bunnies, birds and trees. Someone even had on a Goofy mask. 

 These girls did a traditional Lao dance.

 Then there was a traditional Vietnamese dance.

And finally another Lao dance which told the story of silk-making.

(Try not to let the misspelling on the sign bother you too much!)

We like Mrs. Miller!

I like you, Mrs. Miller!

Thailand Trip part 3- Pupils

I am so blessed to have the opportunity to teach these delightful students! We stayed in Thailand for three days and two nights and (besides ordering room service at 11:30) there were ZERO major behavior problems. They are excellent and I love each of their unique personalities!

(Go here for Thailand Trip part 1!)
(And go here for Thailand Trip part 2!)

Origami Hearts

 I really enjoy having the students decorate our classroom for holidays. For Valentine's day, we made a ton of origami hearts and made garlands for the door and window. (inspiration from this blog!)

Before I gave them colored paper, we practiced making the hearts using old scrap paper. I ended up liking them even better! It was fun to look at them and be reminded of lessons already taught and learned.

 My favorites were these hearts made from worksheets used in a unit about sound!

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Legend of the Chinese Zodiac

10:30 on the 24th of January 2012 found 14 of my 5th graders performing in a play about the Chinese Zodiac. After the performance, they graciously allowed me to use their masks to re-create the story! Enjoy!

The Cast of Characters: Monkey, Rooster, Horse (unicorn?), Boar, Rat, Goat, Dragon, Tiger, Rabbit, Cat, Ox, Snake, Dog, and the Jade Emperor.

  Long ago, in China, the Jade Emperor decided there should be a way of measuring time.

On his birthday he told the animals that there was to be a swimming race. The first twelve animals across the fast flowing river would be the winners and they would each have a year of the zodiac named after them.
All the animals lined up along the river bank.

 The rat and the cat, who were good friends, were worried because they were bad swimmers. Being clever they asked the strong ox if he would carry them across the river.
'Of course' said the kind ox. 'Just climb on my back and I will take you across.'
The rat and the cat quickly jumped up and were very excited when the ox soon took the lead in the race.

 They had almost reached the other bank when the rat pushed the cat into the river leaving him to struggle in the water. Then just before the ox was about to win the race the rat leapt on his head and on to the bank to finish first.

'Well done,' said the Jade Emperor to the proud rat. 'The first year of the zodiac will be named after you.'
The poor ox had been tricked into second place and the second year of the zodiac was named after him.

 Shortly after, the exhausted tiger clawed his way to the river bank to claim third place. Swimming across the river had been an enormous struggle for him against the strong currents.

 The Emperor was so delighted with his efforts that he named the third year after him.

 Next to arrive was the rabbit, who hadn't swam across at all. He hopped across on some stepping stones and then found a floating log which carried him to the shore.

'I shall be very happy to call the fourth year after you,' the surprised Jade Emperor explained.

Just then a kind dragon swooped down to take fifth place.
'Why didn’t you win the race, as you can fly as well as swim?' the Jade Emperor asked.
'I was held up because some people and animals needed water to drink. I needed to make some rain,' the dragon explained. 'Then when I was nearly here I saw a poor little rabbit on a log in the water and I blew a puff of wind so that the log would float to the river bank.'

 'Well that was very kind of you and now you will have the fifth year of the zodiac named after you.'

 The next thing the Jade Emperor heard was the sound of the horse’s hooves. Just as he was thinking the horse would be the next animal to arrive, a sneaky snake wriggled out from around one of the horse’s hooves. The horse was so surprised that he jumped backwards giving the snake a chance to take the sixth place in the race. The poor horse had to be satisfied with seventh place.

The horse was so surprised that he jumped backwards giving the snake a chance to take the sixth place in the race. The poor horse had to be satisfied with seventh place.

 Not long afterward, a raft arrived carrying the goat, the monkey and the rooster. They explained to the Emperor how they had shared the raft that the rooster had found. The goat and monkey had cleared weeds and pushed the raft to the shore.

 The Emperor was very pleased that the animals had worked together. He said the goat would be the eighth zodiac animal, the monkey the ninth and the rooster the tenth.

 The next animal to finish was the dog.
'Why are you so late when you are one of the best swimmers?' asked the Jade Emperor.
'The water in the river was so clean that I had to have a bath on the way,' explained the dog.
His reward was to have the eleventh year named after him. Now there was one place left in the zodiac and the Emperor wondered when the last winner would come.

 He had nearly given up when he heard a grunt from the boar.
'You took a long time to cross the river,' said the Emperor to the boar.
'I was hungry and stopped to eat,' explained the boar. 'After the meal I felt so tired that I fell asleep.'

 'You have still done well,' said the Jade Emperor. 'The last year of the zodiac will be named after you.'

As for the cat who had been pushed into the water by the rat, he finally crawled out of the water but was too late to have a year named after him. He felt very angry with the rat and since then cats have never been friends with rats.

The End!