Mrs. Brown's Fifth Grade Class

Our Fifth Grade Journey

Tour of the Santa Barbara Courthouse

April27

As the fifth graders read about the establishment of law and justice during early colonial life in America, they were also reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond, a story about a young woman during the late 1600’s accused of practicing witchcraft in the colony of Connecticut. Tying in with our study of due process and the judicial system, we took a tour of the Santa Barbara Courthouse.

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Hanging Out With History

April23

We just finished our president reports. Check out our busts of the presidents we created with hangers!

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Barry Cappello–The Origins of Earth Day

April19

Barry Cappello gave a presentation to the Hope Ranch campus last Thursday about the impact of the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill on our coast. He explained how this catastrophic event raised the environmental consciousness of the entire world, giving birth to Earth Day.

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Visit From Commissioner Maxwell

April11

Since the fifth grade students have been reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond, the story of a young girl being put on trial for practicing witchcraft, we have had many discussions about what makes a trial fair. We have discussed the rights guaranteed to United States citizens in the Constitution. To further understand the judicial system, I invited Commissioner Maxwell to speak to our class about how the judicial process works. Commissioner Maxwell began her legal career as an attorney practicing in the area of civil litigation. She was later commissioned to serve as a judge, overseeing criminal cases involving infractions and misdemeanors  in Santa Barbara. This is her fourth year as a commissioner.

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Congratulations, Young Guns!!!

April9

The Young Guns, a band taught by Laguna’s MS Music Teacher Erland Wanberg, featuring 7th Grader Dominic Cappello on guitar, 6th Grader Torri McMullin on guitar and vocals, 5th Grader Vincent Cappello on keyboards, and Roosevelt School’s 6th Grader Noah Robinson on drums, won the Youth 12 & Under Division of the Battle of the Bands. The competition was held Sunday, April 6th at Soho.

YoungGuns

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

March17

Great job fifth grade! You were so spirited today with your green costumes, hats, bobbles, and face paint! Thank you, Portya for the leprechaun cookies!

St. Patrick's Day

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Congratulations, Emily and The Dream Team!

March17

The DreamTeam won the Page Youth Center league against the Lynx, finishing the season with a record of eight wins and two losses. They then went on to play the Liberty in the post-season tournament. They won and moved on to the championships against the Stars. They won 22-7! It was a very successful season. We are so proud of you, Emily!

Emily after The Dream won the tournamentThe Dream - Page Center 5-6th Grade Tournament and League Champions!

 

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Science Fair

March9

Great job fifth graders!!

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Rainy Day Yoga

February28

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Visible Thinking at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art

February28

Inspired by the work of Joni Chancer, a local teacher, author, and lecturer, the fifth grade students joined forces with the tenth grade students for an afternoon of “visible thinking” at the museum. Students let the art draw them in, selecting a painting or sculpture to study. They wrote down their observations, questions, and thoughts about the piece. This will be the inspiration for some poetry in class next week. Later, the fifth and tenth grade students will share their poetry.

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Book Reports

February28

We had some outstanding book reports this month. Here are a few examples: an oral report on Stephen Hawking’s book, The Grand Design, a detailed map for the book, Warriors #1: Into the Wild, some outstanding scripts, acted out by classmates, and dressing up as a character from a book. Here’s a video clip of Mr. Hershey.

map script

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Congratulations, phorses10!

February21

At a recent Santa Barbara Riding Club competition, phorses10 had an outstanding showing! Here are her results:

Champion–Green Rider Hunter

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Champion–Pony Equitation

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Reserved–Pony Hunters

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Champion–2013 Green Rider

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Congratulations, Maria!

February21

One of our many athletes in the class distinguished herself over the long weekend at the Central California Swimming Junior Olympic Swimming Championships. Maria competed in six events. She placed well in many of her races, including a second place victory in the semi-finals 100 Breaststroke!

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Santa Barbara Youth Symphony Concert

February20

Last Thursday, the fifth graders had the privilege of attending the Santa Barbara Youth Symphony Concert at the beautiful Granada Theater.

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Middle School Spelling Bee

February20

Spelling comes naturally to the Cappello brothers–they both made it to the final round of the Middle School Spelling Bee! Let’s give it up for Vincent, who not only made it to the finals but tied for third place overall!

Spelling Bee FinalsSpelling Bee Finals

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Colony Billboards

February11

Students made billboards to attract settlers to their colonies. They also gave sales pitches to persuade Europeans to come to America.

Billboards

Click on the link below to see more. The password is fifth2021.

Colony Billboards

Coding Club Update

February11

Coding Club is going strong! Thanks to our fantastic coach, Malte Muenke, students are catching on quick. We’ve been learning how to use Scratch, a program developed by MIT, to get the idea of how coding works. Our next club meeting is Monday, February 24. We will be entering the world of Java. Come join the fun!

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Literature Circles in Action

February11

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Literature Circles are a great way to share books, exchange ideas, and practice different roles within a group. Each week the students had different jobs (e.g., Discussion Director, Word Finder, Connector, Illustrator, and Correspondent. Fridays were meeting days to discuss the books they were reading.

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Scavenger Hunt at the SB Museum of Art

February11

Last month the fifth graders participated in a  scavenger hunt at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Although they didn’t run away to live at the museum like Jamie and Claudia, the main characters in From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, they did have a great experience searching for clues about many of the pieces in the museum. To read about their experience, visit their individual blogs!

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A Creative Tale, a Craft, and a Cookie

December19

Today’s field trip to the Lower School kindergarten class was the culmination of weeks of a cross-campus project. Since the kindergarten class has a unit on The Gingerbread Man, the fifth graders read the story to look for patterns and writing traits within the story. Next they wrote their own stories, which included these patterns and traits, yet unveiled an entirely original plot and dialogue.

After weeks of crafting their fairy tales, the fifth graders published their stories in Book Creator (incorporating text, images, original artwork, audio files, and narration) and shared them with the kindergartners as iBooks on the iPads.  Afterward, the fifth graders and kindergartners made a gingerbread man craft and shared gingerbread cookies. We had SO MUCH FUN!!!

Sharing Stories

Click on the link below to view the photo album. The password is fifth2021.

Pictures of our Visit

 

What did the kindergartners think?

Evie liked the Sweater Man story because the Sweater Man character spoke like he was tiny with a little voice.

Charlotte like the Sweater Man story because it was a short story.  She also like the one with the pig and the fish and the cheetah because she liked all the animals.

Jamie liked the kitty roller coaster story because it had all the roller coasters in it.

Nahum says, “Some pictures were real.”  Nahum liked roller coaster kitty because there were lots of different colors on the roller coaster.

Fiona liked the witch in her house because she had a block hat.

Brandon liked the boy who always lied because he learned a lesson, that he should never lie.

Skyla liked the cheetah story because she liked the animals.

Hayden liked the story about the boy who went in the woods and met a witch because the pictures had a lot of colors.

Miss Creel liked the voice of the toad in the story about the boy who always lied.

Here are the fifth grade reflections:

.    I liked when we were reading to the kindergarteners, and they were so into it that they didn’t pay attention to the surrounding noises.

  I learned that it is very hard to write a book for younger people.

4.     The most challenging part to me was when we were drawing the pictures (especially the portal) because you had to color the whole thing purple, and it took a very long time. 

    –Gus

.          I liked that I made some of the kindergarteners happy.

     I learned that anyone can make a good book.

     I think the hardest part was what the title should be.

—–Keenan

I liked thinking as the kindergartener when we were writing the story. I also like eating the gingerbread and making the gingerbread men.

I learned how to act like a kindergartener, and I learned how to write stories that a young kid would understand.

The most challenging part was definitely keeping the kindergarteners attention while we were reading.

–Ben

Meeting all of the kindergarteners was my favorite part of the project.

I learned that you have to describe everything carefully with a kindergartener. You also have to start the conversation; they won’t start one themselves.

The most challenging part of the project was trying to communicate with them and start conversations.    

–Zoe

   I liked sharing the books to the kindergarteners the most because of how interested they were in the book.

   I learned that making a book is not as easy as I thought or narrating in a clear voice.

  The most challenging part of making the book was thinking of an idea.

—–Carter

I liked how we got to draw the drawings.

I learned that it is harder than it seems to make a story for a younger person.

The audio was the hardest part.

–Conley

What I liked best about our visit to kindergarten is that we got to eat ginger bread cookies, we saw Mrs. G. again, and we got to read to the kindergarteners. I also liked illustrating it.

I learned more about quotation marks. I learned all of the kindergarteners names. I learned more about writing.

The most challenging part of this project was writing and drawing everything.

–Maria

   I liked reading to the kids because seeing their faces made all the hard work pay off.

I learned that making stories is a lot harder that it looks.

        The most challenging part of the project was finding out what the story would be about and making sure you stayed with the same patterns.  

–Portya

I liked drawing the  the pictures and coloring them in. I liked experimenting and showing what I’m capable of drawing.

I learned to work as a team, write a story, and communicate with younger kids more easily.

It was really hard for me to work with someone because I work better on my own.

–Jillian

The think I like the best was that I got to meet the kindergarteners because I think it’s very important to meet new people.

I learnt more about kindergarteners and that kids (little) like to be talked to in a way that boosts their confidence.

I think the most challenging part was keeping up with them; they were very fast.

–Chiara

I really enjoyed working with the kindergarteners and the feeling leading up to reading our book to a crowd.

I learned the thrill of being a young author and seeing the readers’ expressions as they read the book for the first time.

The most challenging part was probably picking the sounds because Chiara and I argued ALOT about which sounds to choose and which were better.

–Nicholas

What I liked most about the project was sharing them with the kindergartners. It was fun to see the reaction from all of them and they were very good listeners. Some of them were shy, but most of them were outgoing.

 

I learned that you have to be gentle and quiet so that you don’t scare the kindergartners.

 

The most challenging part of the project was coming up with the idea. Once you get the idea, things run pretty smoothly.

–Emily

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