Life in the West
1 day ago
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
South Carolina Book Award Club
Each year our media specialist, Mrs. Kelley, puts together a book club for third, fourth, and fifth graders (and any teacher who wants to join), based on the South Carolina Book Award Nominees for the year. The expectation for members is that you read at least six of the twenty-one titles within a six week period (a book a week!). As she says...the club is not for wimps :)
While everyone had a good time and read a lot of books the above picture shows the ten students left standing at the end. We gave them a round of applause (as well as a pizza party and auction) for setting and reaching their reading goal in the club.
The South Carolina Book Award Nominees for 2009 are... (click on the comments to read some of the student/teacher reviews).
Attack of the Turtle by Drew Carlson
The Aurora County All-Stars by Deborah Wiles
Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything in It by Sundee Tucker Frazier
The Castle Corona by Sharon Creech
Dragon’s Egg by Sarah L. Thomson
Eleven by Patricia Reilly Giff
Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshis
A Friendship for Today by Patricia McKissack
Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen
Leepike Ridge by Nathan D. Wilson
The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies
Me and the Pumpkin Queen by Marlane Kennedy
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
The Mysterious Case of the Allbright Academy by Diane Stanley
No Talking by Andrew Clements
On the Wings of Heroes by Richard Peck
Paint the Wind by Pam Munoz Ryan
Rickshaw Girl by Mitali Perkins
Swindle by Gordon Korman
Two-Minute Drill by Mike Lupica
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Where in the world is Mossy Oaks Elementary School?
We have a lot of visitors to our site and in the spirit of a new school year I thought I would highlight where our school is located (geographically).
Mossy Oaks Elementary School is located in Beaufort (pronounced bwe-fort), South Carolina on the coast between Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina.
Beaufort is a picturesque town that features a historic district with antebellum homes, quaint shops, and moss draped oak trees as well as modern developments and shopping. It is situated on the Beaufort River, which is part of the intercoastal waterway, and is only minutes away from the Atlantic coast.
Welcome Back To School
Students across the county will be heading back to school Monday, August 17, 2009 after a nine week summer break. We have several changes in our school from increased security to implementation of a new uniform policy.
Our questions for incoming students are…What are your first impression of all these changes? How do you feel about entering the fourth grade? What do you hope will be different this year? What are you looking forward to? What are things that about yourself that you want to work on this year?
Please pick two of these questions to answer using complete sentences. Before publishing your comment run through the following checklist:
- Did I answer two of the questions asked?
- Did I answer in complete sentences (reread your post)?
- Did I put spaces after periods and commas?
- Did I post my name (remember first name only)?
We ask visitors who are commenting to also note where they are from. Welcome back to school and we look forward to reading your replies.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Spotted Around Town
Spotted this summer in Beaufort....- Ashton and Emma at the public library checking out their summer reading program
- Cassandra and her dad running errands at Bed, Bath and Beyond
- Guess who pictured checking out the alligator program at Honey Horn
- A whole group all fishing for toadfish at our local waterfestival
- More students at the waterfestival talent night with even one performing!
Who have you run into this summer?
Monday, June 22, 2009
Summer Update
I just got back from Space Camp for Educators in Huntsville, Alabama sponsored by Honeywell Corporation. Above you will see a picture of my team. We were put into teams of sixteen teachers and my team was called "Integrity." There were 80 teachers in all at Space Camp this week with more coming in the next two weeks. We had teachers from South Africa, Canada, Mexico, and Australia (along with teachers from the United States). I am the third one from the right. I'll post a video of my trip but am posting this quick picture and asking students and visitors to tell us what are you doing this summer (or winter if you are one of our vistors from the southern hemisphere)?Mrs. Heaton
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Summer Vacation
We have one more full week of school before our summer break starts (June 10th). What are your favorite memories of the fourth grade? What are things that can be improved? What are your plans for the summer?Mrs. Heaton
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Worm Stories - Explaination
In January our class received a grant to compost in the classroom. As part of the grant we created opportunities for students to get heavily involved with worms from reading, "How to Eat Fried Worms" to creating worm inspired stories for our younger students in the building.
These stories were written and illustrated by the students and put together in a photostory with their voices and music. Many of them chose to manipulate an already existing story like Rapunzel and others choose to create their own unique worm story.
I have posted their stories for family, friends, and visitors to enjoy.
Mrs. Heaton
These stories were written and illustrated by the students and put together in a photostory with their voices and music. Many of them chose to manipulate an already existing story like Rapunzel and others choose to create their own unique worm story.
I have posted their stories for family, friends, and visitors to enjoy.
Mrs. Heaton
Friday, May 29, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Pollution Solution #6
We had a lot of things on our land. Probably a little too much because we were not thinking about all the trees and animals we were affecting. But on our land we had....
Bike rentals
Nursing Home - Solar panels. Recyling.
Animal Shelter - Soundproof walls. Solar panels
School - Recyling, solar panels
Church - Solar panels, recycling
Hospital - Solar panels, soundproof walls, recycling
Garden - Grew food and sold it locally so people didn't have to drive in with big trucks. Used compost as fertilizer.
Hotel - CFC lights. Recycling. Purchased food from garden.
Pool - Fence around to keep trash from blowing into the water.
Restaurant - Recycled food scraps and sold to the garden people. Used natural lighting from windows instead of electricity.
Sports Stadium - Has solar panel with cells to store the light so it can be used for night play.
Housing - Every house has a recyling bin and people who live there have to recycle.
Store - Cloth bags instead of plastic.
Bank - CFC lightbulbs
Library - Windows are used instead of electricity
Recycling Center
Cassandra, Ashton, Jocelyn
Pollution Solution #5
Our Land Has:
Amusement Park- We have our amusement park indoors with sound proof walls so that the people that scream on the rides won't pollute the air with their noise. We use the sun instead of electricity by using solar panels for the rides
Habitat for Hummanity- Used recycled materials to build the house. Recycling bins will be in each of the homes.
Church- Use candles instead of electricity during certain times of the day.
Chick-Fillet - Smaller building to use less electricity. Fence to keep trash from blowing around into the water. Recyling bins for the trash.
Recycling Bins-We put them all over our property. The youth from the church would come on the weekend and pick up trash and separate it for recycling.
Mary Claire, Kyle, and Emma
MKEco Friendly Company
Pollution Solution - #4
Since we have three military bases in Beaufort we put a large military base on our property. We made it environmentally friendly by putting together a environmental training program for all soliders. We built a large wall around the water so things would not get in the water. We used solar powered energy for our buildings. We put together a research team to look into solar powered weapons and biodegradable bullets. We would also try to use recycled plastics in our weapons.Reece, Huntley, Dean
Pollution Solution #3
On our land we had -
Combined Police/Fire Station - We built it with soundproof walls and only had the lights tested not sirens to keep the noise pollution down.
Animal Shelter - Soundproof walls to keep noise pollution down.
Fences around the water so people could not throw trash in the water.
There were no cars allowed on our property. There were sidewalks. People could bike or use electric cars.
There would be trash cans and recycle bins around the property.
Gym and School - Soundproof walls. CFC light bulbs. We built an indoor sports fields to keep down the noise and trap in any garbage that might be left behind from going into the river.
Connor, Carson, and Cherri
Polution Solution #2
On our land we have:Tree Mill - On the mill when we cut the trees down for wood we replanted new ones them.
Combined Emergency House (hospital, fire department and police station)- We put them all together in one building in order to save electricity. We used solar panels.
Outback Restaurant - Instead of using stoves we had outdoor fire pits. We recycled the food scraps and sold them to farmers as compost.
Eco-Village - These are houses with solar panels and they have a strict recyling program.
School - We used candles instead of electricity (even though Mrs. Heaton said that wasn't the safest way to light a school).
Library - We had a glass roof so light would come in and be used on sunny days reducing the amount of electricty the building used.
Zoo - Used the animals poop to make compost.
Jackson, Jordan and Alexis
Pollution Solution #1
Walmart- We use cloth bags instead of plastic bags. We use solar powered lights, so we don't waste electricity.Power Plant- We use solar energy, we do not use coal, and we have the employees recycle.
Kobes-We use solor panels to use as light, Our workers recycle the left overs to farmers to compost.
Farm- The farm grows food for Walmart and Kobes. They also use the manure of the horse and they turn it into compost. Also, they use solar powered lights.
Taylor, Brandon, and Jesse
Pollution Solution #7
There was an uneven grouping with our Pollution Solution project so I took the last unused parcel of land to develop. On my land I put a school complex that had an elementary, intermediate, and high school. I put in a Park n' Ride lot where folks have to park and either walk, bike, or take an electric cart to their assigned school. All schools were powered in part by solar panels on their roof. There would be trash collection bins and recycling bins throughout the complex with a team of students from each school who would be responsible for collecting and emptying bins. Uniforms will be made from recycled plastics (something I saw at a training and thought was really cool - specifically the tshirts, which would be different color greens to tell the students apart from each eco-school). There would be an active greenhouse and garden so that the school could reduce the number of large trucks driving into the property and across country to deliver produce for our schools (part of the buy and grow local campaign). There would be a worm farm composting area so that scraps could be recycled and reused in the garden and greenhouse. Again, there would be student teams from each school who would maintain. There would be a nature trail by the water with trash collection bins there as well.
Mrs. Heaton
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Earth - The Movie
The fourth and fifth grade combined to see Earth the movie. We all enjoyed it and we were amazed at all the things that were in the movie that we have learned in class - from weather to space. This is definitely one to purchase for the classroom. We were excited to learn that next Earth Day another movie will be coming out about oceans.Mrs. Heaton
Pizza Party
Our class entered a contest held by Beaufort Jasper Water Authority to produce a water wise poster for Clean Drinking Water month (May). The grand prize winner came from our classroom and school and we received a pizza party!
Mrs. Heaton
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
Help Needed - IMMEDIATELY
A couple of months ago I had my students enter the Doodle for Google contest that asked students in various age categories to best represent the theme "My wish for the world" using the google logo. I turned this into their weekly writing assignment that I had students complete a doodle and a short writing assignment to go with it. I took the top six doodles and write ups and entered them into the competition.
They posted the regional winners today online and I just about fainted with excitement when I saw that our regions winner was none other then our own Hayden Furman!!!!
The contest has now entered the online voting phase that runs from today (May 11 to May 18). We need as many people from around the world as possible to help vote for Hayden Furman's doodle. Our school will win some much needed technology grant money should he take the top doodling prize.
Please help and vote for Hayden's google at: http://www.google.com/doodle4google/vote.html# (he is listed under grades 4-6 and is representing region 4).
Thank you!
Mrs. Heaton
They posted the regional winners today online and I just about fainted with excitement when I saw that our regions winner was none other then our own Hayden Furman!!!!
The contest has now entered the online voting phase that runs from today (May 11 to May 18). We need as many people from around the world as possible to help vote for Hayden Furman's doodle. Our school will win some much needed technology grant money should he take the top doodling prize.
Please help and vote for Hayden's google at: http://www.google.com/doodle4google/vote.html# (he is listed under grades 4-6 and is representing region 4).
Thank you!
Mrs. Heaton
Friday, May 8, 2009
Saturday, May 2, 2009
The Best Part of Me Assignment - Explained
As any good teacher does we borrow ideas from others and this was one I borrowed from a friend of mine at Beaufort Elementary School (thanks Mrs. Porter!).
We read the book The Best Part of Me, which is a collection of free verse poetry that upper elementary school students created about a part of their body they consider the best part of them.
Some of the writing scanned in lightly but if you click on the picture it will open up into a larger screen making it easier to read.
Mrs. Heaton
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