The Lipsky Team

Where'd you go Miss Lipsky?!

2009-09-28T16:03:00.002-04:00

Hello friends of The Lipsky Team!! I have missed you so! If you are looking for me I can be found at my new Second Grade blog, http://starsofbroadway.blogspot.com This year our Chets Creek theme is Orchestrating a Symphony of Success and 2nd grade is Broadway! Stop by and check out the new blog and feel free to leave a comment.

P.S. Roald Dahl plays will be up soon on this blog...I PROMISE!!

Career Day was Amazing!

2009-05-14T10:48:00.008-04:00

Yesterday, Chets Creek 5th graders got a treat, members of the Jacksonville community took time off of work to visit us and share information about their careers. We had an amazing mix of talented professionals visit us! Some of our guests were: Michelle Jacobs a meteorologist from NBC and ABC, Mr. Appleby our favorite FBI agent, Officer Bingham from the Jax Beach Police Department and Mako the crime Dog, Dr. Willingham a transplant surgeon, Ms. O'Neil a nurse, Mr. Joswick a computer genius, Mrs. Surrency a nurse who brought along the ambulance from Wolfson's Children's Hospital, Mrs. Acosta from a credit union, Mr. Nash a firefighter from Jax Beach Fire Department, Mr. Powell from Swason Fire Protection, and Commander Almon and friends from the U.S. Navy! We also had a Navy Helicopter piloted by Commander Metcalf land on our Baseball field! The entire day was such a great experience and we learned many things.

Here are some of the new facts we learned on Career Day:

1. News Anchors have great shoes!
2. When a Helicopter lands near you, close your eyes!!
3. Drug sniffing dogs don't like ambulance sirens!
4. You can have new kidneys put into your body!
5. Credit Unions can tell when you pay with counterfeit money!
6. Not all fires can be put out with water...
7. Don't mess with the FBI.

We want to thank all of our visitors for taking time from the busy schedules to share with us at Chets Creek! Career day was an awesome experience for the fifth grade and we have Ms. Symons and Miss Wickert to thank as well for organizing everything for us!!

The Best Show in Town!

2009-05-05T15:57:00.015-04:00

And now...the post you've all been waiting for... the cast lists for our play, The World of Roald Dahl! Please read the list carefully because you may have more than one role!!

Lipsky Homeroom Cast:

Narrator 1: Enrique

Narrator 2: Susan

Kid: Spencer

Charlie Bucket: Jeremy

Willy Wonka: Tristan

Grandpa Joe: Matthew

Veruca: Alexis

Mr. Salt: Nathan

Augustus: Taylor

Mrs. Gloop: Allison

Violet: Angela

Mike Teavee: Marc

The BFG: Nathan

Sophie: Kaylie

The Fleshlumpeater: Matthew

The Childchewer: Tristan

The Meatdripper: Taylor

The Bonecruncher: Marc

The Queen of England: Kasi

Matilda: Ally

Mr. Wormwood: Taylor

Mrs. Wormwood: Jhadae

Miss Honey: Alyssa

Miss Trunchbull: Kasi

Lavendar: Allison

Nigel: Matthew

Bruce: Jeremy

Wallace Homeroom Cast

Narrator 1: Mitchell
Narrator 2: Brandon
Kid: Jarod
Charlie Bucket: Jon
Willy Wonka: Kenny
Grandpa Joe: Nicolai
Veruca: Savannah
Mr. Salt: JheraMon
Augustus: Jakari
Mrs. Gloop: Emily
Violet: Jordanne
Mike Teavee: J. P.
The BFG: C. J.
Sophie: Tatiana
The Fleshlumpeater: Brandon
The Childchewer: JheraMon
The Meatdripper: Kenny
The Bonecruncher: Jakari
The Queen of England: Devora
Matilda: Jordanne
Mr. Wormwood: Jon
Mrs. Wormwood: Savannah
Miss Honey: Emily
Miss Trunchbull: Devora
Lavendar: Tatiana
Nigel: Nicolai
Bruce: C. J.

Symons Homeroom Cast:

Narrator 1: Magali

Narrator 2: Griseld

Kid: Cody

Charlie Bucket: Mario

Willy Wonka: David

Grandpa Joe: Jordan

Veruca: Kierstin

Mr. Salt: Randie

Augustus: Mohamed

Mrs. Gloop: Hayley

Violet: Lauren

Mike Teavee: Brett

The BFG: Nathan

Sophie: Evelyn

The Fleshlumpeater: Jordan

The Childchewer: Evan

The Meatdripper: Ian

The Bonecruncher: Isaiah

The Queen of England: Noha

Matilda: Bailey
Mr. Wormwood: Zach

Mrs. Wormwood: Kayla

Miss Honey: Kierstin

Miss Trunchbull: Tamia

Lavendar: Bre

Nigel: Brett

Bruce: Casey

Auditions are Coming! Auditions are Coming!

2009-05-04T14:34:00.004-04:00

This week The Lipsky Team students are auditioning for their class play "The World of Roald Dahl". This play tells the story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, and The BFG. There are 27 roles in the play and some students will get the chance to play more than one part! But before we get excited about our parts we must practice, practice, practice for the big audition. Here are some things the casting agents (Miss Lipsky, Mrs. Matthews, and Mrs. Stephens) will be looking for:

1. Can we hear you?

2. Are you reading with exciting expression?

3. Are you moving and acting like the character?

4. Are you reading with strong diction (can we understand your words?)

To get ready for the audition we suggest you read your script several times and focus on the long tongue-twister words. Some of the characters in this play talk in long paragraphs and you'll need to practice those parts more carefully than others (The Narrators, Willy Wonka, The BFG, Veruca, Miss Honey, and Miss Trunchbull all are very challenging roles!)

Questions for Leeza from Florida

2009-04-28T09:14:00.005-04:00

Hi Leeza! Thank you so much for reading and commenting on our blog. We have some questions for you:

Brandon wants to know what is the Forbidden Kingdom?

Alyssa wants to know what your school is like.

Jhadae asks what is it like in China?

Kasi wants to know about your animals.

Nicolai asks how long is the Great Wall?

Jarod wants to know how you feel about people eating scorpions and dogs?

Tristan asks what do YOU like to eat?!

Kaylie wants to know what kind of clothes you wear?

Jakari wonders what you're life outside of school is like?

Emily wants to know if you have any zoos?

Tatiana asks if you like anything other than swimming or dancing? (Tati loves your blog!)

Jordanne wants to know what language you speak most frequently?

Jon wants to know if you have four seasons unlike here where it's almost always mild?

Please answer any of our questions that you'd like! We know you're very super busy with school, dancing, swimming, blogging, etc. so don't feel like you have to answer everything! Thanks for being an honorary member of The Lipsky Team!!

Miss Leeza in Shanghai

2009-04-23T12:35:00.005-04:00

Leeza, a student at the Shanghai American School, in Shanghai China is an avid reader of our blog. On our Cluster Map (which was started over in January) we have 35 hits from Shanghai, China and we know most of them came from Leeza! She is also an frequent blogger herself and you can visit her blog to learn all about her life in China! Since we are studying Asia this year I think it would be an excellent experience for all members of The Lipsky Team to check out her blog and learn about China through the writing of someone your own age! Make sure to leave Leeza a comment about her blog because she is so good at commenting on ours! P.S. Above is a picture of Leeza's school in China that we found on Google (Leeza you'll have to tell us if that's really what your school looks like!)

Fun with the Green Generation!

2009-04-22T09:33:00.003-04:00

Happy Earth Day 2009! Today The Lipsky Team played around on the Energy Hog website! Check it out! You can learn simple ways to waste less energy and help keep our Earth Green!

Barefoot Second Graders Everywhere!

2009-04-16T10:18:00.006-04:00

What is going on in second grade?! No one is wearing shoes! This year at Chets Creek Elementary school our principal, Mrs. Phillips has sent us Around the World in 180 days! Our second graders have spent the year studying South America. During their studies Miss Patterson, a second grade teacher discovered TOMSshoes. TOMS is a project started by traveler Blake Mycoskie after he spent time with children in Argentina. Mycoskie discovered that many Argentinian children didn't have shoes. This is a huge problem because walking is their main mode of transportation and without shoes these children are getting horrible sores on their feet. Not having shoes is literally making these kids sick! Many children also cannot go to school if they don't have shoes because shoes are a required part of their uniform.

In 2006, TOMSshoes was founded. On the TOMS website you can shop for shoes and for every purchase made TOMS donates a pair of shoes to a child in Argentina. Not only do the good people at TOMS donate the shoes but they go to Argentina to make sure that the right pair of shoes gets on the right feet! This way everyone will get a pair of shoes that really fit them.

Upstairs right now Miss Patterson and our second grade friends are paying tribute to the children of Argentina and the people at TOMS by not wearing shoes in their classrooms all day. You can help the kids of Argentina by visiting TOMS and buying a pair of their comfy, slip on shoes. Miss Lipsky is going to buy the "University Yellow Rope Sole TOMS". Check out the video below for more information on TOMS and tell a friend about their website and their mission.

Roald Dahl Author Study

2009-04-13T08:35:00.005-04:00

"...Watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it."

These words are carved into a stone, placed on the ground in the garden that surrounded Roald Dahl's writing hut. Last week we began our amazing, fantastic, scrumdiddliumptious author study on Roald Dahl. Dahl is famous for the incredible books he wrote. We are currently working in book clubs to study several of his books: James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie and the Great, Glass Elevator, Danny the Champion of the World, The BFG, Matilda, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and George's Marvelous Medicine. Dahl's books are full of magic and wonder (his books are one of Miss Lipsky's favorite things to teach all year!) We have many creative projects coming up using Dahl's books including our big, end-of-the-year, out of this world play! To get a better understanding of who Roald Dahl was please visit his website: http://www.roalddahl.com/ You won't be disappointed!

We're Famous!!

2009-04-08T14:28:00.004-04:00

Check out the Big Chickens Project blog to see our readers' theater performances! Wow, think of all the people who are going to enjoy our play. We can't wait to meet Leslie Helakoski, the author of Big Chickens, who is visiting us in two weeks during our Arts Extravaganza! Thank you Mrs. K.K. for inviting amazing authors like Leslie Helakoski to our school! Mrs. Helakoski's picture above.

Cassidy is a what?!

2009-03-26T14:53:00.006-04:00

My students are very familiar with the latest news about my rabbit, Cassidy Marie Lipsky but I thought I'd catch the rest of our readers up to speed. Cassidy has been a member of the Lipsky family for about 9 years. She is a grey mini-rex rabbit who lives in a comfy cage in my sister's old room. Right after the Easter Holiday we found Cassy in the front yard where the neighbors' evil cats were trying to eat her. She loves watching television, eating carrots, cauliflower, and electrical cords, and running in circles around every one's feet. Sometimes we call her Thud or Thudly because she thuds on the ground at your feet to get you to rub her long, smooth ears. Usually, I just call her "The Bunny Lady".

Cassidy recently had to undergo surgery on her bunny knee (it's just like a regular knee but on a rabbit). Post operation, the veteranarian asked my dad why he kept calling the rabbit a "she". My dad replied that Cassidy was a girl rabbit, to which the vet laughed and responded "No.....". So now we are the proud owners of a boy rabbit named Cassidy. My students have been very concerned about my little boy bunny, who had to wear a cardboard cone around his neck for a couple weeks after the surgery so he wouldn't bite his stitches out. I wanted to share this picture so that everyone would know that the bunny is totally fine (though he is full of attitude for some reason) and back to ripping apart bags of wood chips. We're now calling her...I mean him, Butch Cassidy.

I hope your Spring Break is full of FUN and surprises! Love, Miss Lipsky

Just a bunch of BIG CHICKENS!

2009-03-25T21:29:00.005-04:00

After several tries to use Google video I switched to Vimeo.com and uploaded our readers theater productions of Big Chickens! This past book of the month was written by Leslie Helakoski, who will visit Chets Creek soon. We hope you enjoy our plays! (The wolves and the cows are Miss Lipsky's favorite parts!)

Big Chickens by, The Lipsky Team from Jessie Lipsky on Vimeo.

Big Chickens by, Mrs. Wallace's Homeroom from Jessie Lipsky on Vimeo.

Big Chickens by, Ms. Symons and Ms. Wickert's Homeroom from Jessie Lipsky on Vimeo.

Patriotic Fever

2009-03-25T11:36:00.002-04:00

Last month we read The Impossible Patriotism Project as our book of the month. The Lipsky Team submitted the patriotic drawings they had completed to Mrs. Holtsman and some of them made it into this video! See if you can find yours (these are drawings from our whole school!)

Patriotic Video from Melanie Holtsman on Vimeo.

Writing from a Galaxy Far, Far Away!

2009-03-25T09:35:00.010-04:00

Even though I have known the newest members of The Lipsky Team since August, I am still blown away by how creative they are! This week we have jumped full force back into writing. On Monday, we did several brain warming up, free writing activities. For one activity I asked the class to pick one topic (the beach, my brother, Hannah Montana, whatever) and write about the topic for 5 minutes. The team was told to be as descriptive as possible (we had just finished an adjective attack activity.) Savannah, picked "potatoes" as her topic and wrote an artsy and descriptive piece all about spuds! She even had a super potato with potato powers! Savannah's free write got me thinking...Super Heroes...interesting!

So, on Tuesday we began our Super Hero brainstorms! The we first thing we did was create and describe our Hero using a word web. Next, we created our villain. We found that the best villains were the ones who were the total opposite of our heroes and had super powers of their own. There are no rules with this writing project except: Your super hero must have at least one Earth saving power (for example Recycling Man sucks up litter and turns it into green plants) and there can be no guns or blood (because that's just icky.)

Here are Alyssa's and Mitchell's brainstorms from day one of writing. Take a look at the beginnings of Banana Man vs. Pizza Man and Good Looking Man vs. Bad Looking Man!

Banana Man and His sidekick Applesauce Man vs. Pizza Man

Good Looking Man vs. Bad Looking Man

Saving the World from Ugliness

Help Florida Schools!

2009-03-15T21:17:00.003-04:00

Florida currently ranks 50th in the amount of money it spends as a state on education. Florida schools are currently facing a budget crisis that will effect everything from art, music, and physical education to the ability of our county to continue busing students to school. If you are concerned about the state of our schools (and... you should be) please come by Chets Creek Elementary School tonight, at 7:00 P.M. to get the facts from our Principal, Susan Phillips.

If you are concerned for our schools here are some websites that might interest you:

http://www.saveduvalschools.org/

http://www.50thnomore.org/

Would you like to help save our schools and provide the best possible education for Florida students? If so, the please write your legislature! Addresses can be found at this website: http://www.box.net/shared/k8xbipk5ld Here are some short term solutions you could ask for:

1. One cent increase to the sales tax of Florida for just 3 years. It generates ten billion dollars over 3 years to plug the education funding cuts!

2. Please give flexibility to the school districts in the areas of categoricals, (SAI, Class Size, Instruction Materials, Reading, Safe Schools).

3. Please suspend unfunded mandates on the districts. (Examples: Transportation, Testing & Curriculum Requirements, Safety Nets, and Staffing Requirements.)

4. Please give flexibility of capital funds—so they can be used for General Revenue.

Ask them to find long term solutions to the critical funding situation in Florida and urge them to make public education a priority so that even our children's children can benefit from a right guaranteed them by our state constitution!

Patriotic Research

2009-02-26T12:01:00.009-05:00

After we read the Book of the Month, The Impossible Patriotism Project, The Lipsky Team realized... we don't know much about patriotism! The thing that really confused us was why the symbols in the book (the Liberty Bell, the Statue of Liberty, veterans, presidents, etc.) were supposed to represent patriotism. The first thing we needed to do was look up this patriotism thing!

We found out that patriotism means loving your country. Well, that seemed pretty cool but how could we decide if we loved our country if we didn't know much about it? We needed to learn about the things that make our country unique so that we could decide whether or not we felt patriotic. Using the following books we looked up all the patriotic symbols from our Book of the Month as well as some other things Miss Lipsky told us about like suffrage and civil rights. Here are the awesome books we used:

Old Glory, an American Treasure by, Robert Lang

Hail to the Chief, The American Presidency by, Don Robb

America, A Patriotic Primer by, Lynne Cheney

A is for America, An American Alphabet by, Devin Scillian

So You Want to be President? by, Judith St. George

Check out our Patriotic notes bellow:

We also visited the PBS Kids website and looked up some subjects like equality and liberty. After all of this research we are starting to understand why people feel Patriotic! Now, The Lipsky Team is totally into learning about the U.S.A. and feeling pride in our great country!

Patriotism Projects

2009-02-19T20:21:00.002-05:00

Check out our patriotic postcards inspired by the February book of the Month, The Impossible Patriotism Project and the website, Let's Say Thanks. All of these postcards were created by the fifth graders of The Lipsky Team in honor of the men and women fighting overseas for the U.S.A. Come back and visit us soon to see some U.S. history facts we have learned!

Lets Say Thanks

2009-02-18T12:39:00.017-05:00

Our February Book of the Month is The Impossible Patriotism Project by Linda Skeers with illustrations by Ard Hoyt. Patriotism is having a love for your country. In this book Caleb is challenged by his teacher to come up with a project to represent Patriotism. Caleb's peers have no problem coming up with great project ideas like a papier-mache Liberty Bell and a poster of the 50 states but Caleb can't think of anything. Finally, Caleb comes up with a fabulous Patriotism Project... but you'll have to read the book to find out Caleb's idea! In order to further study Patriotism, The Lipsky Team visited Let's Say Thanks, a sight that supports American troops fighting overseas. At http://www.letssaythanks.com/ you can pick a postcard to send to an American solider and write a personal message inside. The postcards were all designed by students just like us! You can see Miss Lipsky's favorite above and the class' favorite below. It is free to send as many cards as you like (this sight is sponsered by the Xerox company) so please visit and send, send, send! One way we can all be Patriotic is by supporting the troops that leave their friends and families to fight for their country (some of those troops are moms and dads of members of The Lipsky Team!)

As our homework on Tuesday, Miss Lipsky had us do our own Patriotism project. Come back soon to see the amazing postcards we designed!

Inferencing Interviews

2009-02-17T14:26:00.000-05:00

Like our last post mentioned, The Lipsky Team has been working on making inferences. Not sure how to make an inference? Well, check out our inference interviews below.

To practice making inferences, we read the second chapter from Esperanza Rising, by Pamela Munoz Ryan. In this chapter, the ranch that Esperanza lives on is preparing to harvest grapes. Miss Lipsky, typed up part of this chapter so that there would be enough room on either side of the text for students to make notes of the inferences they made as they read. Check out the AMAZING inferences Kiersten and Griseld made below:

Kiersten's Inferences

Griseld's Inferences

I Have a Dream

2009-02-10T13:37:00.001-05:00

The Lipsky Team has been studying an important reading strategy called inferencing. When you make an inference you take what the text says and add on what you know is happening. Inferencing is not guessing because you know what is going on even though it is not directly written in the text. We recently tackled Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have A Dream" speech. In his speech MLK Jr. states that he has a dream that one day all men, no matter the color of their skin, will be treated equally. Since February is Black History Month, The Lipsky Team took some time to look back over this speech and study the civil rights movement. We decided that we feel all people should be treated fairly no matter their race, religion, or anything else that make them different. Below you can see the inferences Angela made while reading the "I Have a Dream" speech. Listen to the famous speech above (notice all the people and the Lincoln Memorial in the background!)

7 Things You Don't Know About Me

2009-02-06T09:50:00.006-05:00

Ok...Ok... Mrs. Shall, my reading coach, tagged me on her blog post "7 Things You Don't Know About Me"... which means I better write about myself! So get excited to learn 7 things you don't know about Miss Lipsky!

1. I am a Jacksonville native! I was born at Baptist Medical Center on January 10th. I am actually third generation Jacksonville born because my grandmother and my dad were born here too! I grew up in Mandarin, on the Southside of Jacksonville and attended Solomon Shecter Day School, Crown Point Elementary, James Weldon Johnson Middle School, and Stanton College Preparatory High School.

2. I wanted to be an actress when I grew up. I was in at least 75 plays when I was younger. My favorite roles included: Wendy in Peter Pan, Cinderella in Cinderella, Cruella DeVille in 101 Dalmations, Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, Liesel in The Sound of Music, Sandy in Grease, Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof, and Benjamin the youngest brother in Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. From eighth grade to the end of tenth grade I played the most meaningful part to me, Anne in The Diary of Anne Frank. Working with all the children that played my younger brothers and sisters in the plays was what made me first think about going into teaching. You can see pictures of me from The Wizard of Oz (top), Cinderella (Left), Grease (right), and The Sound of Music (Above).

3. I was and still am a struggling reader. On the last day of first grade my teacher called my parents to say I couldn't read. I've had many people tell me I'd never be a "reader" but now I have a Masters Degree in Reading Education (specializing in working with struggling readers) so I think I'm doing alright! Reading still isn't the easiest thing for me to do because words and letters sometimes "jump" around the page but I read all the time and I love it! I owe my love of reading to my parents who never gave up and put me in theater where I had to read scripts over and over and over and over... Below is my first grade class, can you fins me? Hint: I wasn't into white, frilly dresses!

4. My sister and cousin are going to be teachers too! Emma and Reagan (my little sis and my cuz) are currently studying to be teachers. Education is a really big deal to my family! So watch out for another Miss Lipsky and a Miss Aaron (I bet they're going to be really tough!)

5. I have traveled to 12 countries. In college I left the U.S.A. for the first time, all by myself, and went off to study in London, England for a few months. In London, I met Miss Hoffmann (who teaches second grade here at Chets Creek) and we traveled on the weekends when we didn't have classes to some really cool nearby countries. Miss Hoffmann got me to do many things I would never have done on my own, like jumping off really high cliffs in Wales and riding scooters down giant mountains in Switzerland (she drove because when I tried I ran into a fence!) Since then, I have been back to Europe twice. I can now say I have been in emergency rooms in four different countries (but that's a story for another day!) Below is a picture of my sister and I in Paris last summer in front of the Arch de Triomphe. We took this picture to email to my mom because it was her birthday.

6. Abraham Lincoln is my Uncle. Now, I don't bring this up much because no one believes me but, on my mother's side of the family Abraham Lincoln in my Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great Uncle (seven greats!) I even have the family tree to prove it. I think I get my dark eyebrows from him!

7. Even if I won the lottery, I would still be a teacher. I know this sounds crazy but teaching is my favorite thing! Sure, I'd love there to be less paperwork and testing but I love working with students and seeing them grow and learn more and more each day. I feel really lucky to work with such awesome students and gifted colleagues! Below are some of my amazing colleagues and myself getting ready for Relay for Life (I'm on the right).

Hey! Where'd our dots go?

2009-02-02T09:25:00.003-05:00

As of January 31st our Cluster Map has been archived. Archives are collections of historical records and the places where they are kept. This is a great word to add to our vocabularies! Something in an archive would have happened in the past. To the left you can see what our final Cluster Map looked like as of January 31, 2009. We had readers stop by from India and more viewers in Asia that you might not know about! Our new Cluster Map started on February 1, 2009 and we've already had several visitors!

2009-01-29T14:52:00.006-05:00

Hello to our new blog readers in Saschatewan, Canada! We made a brief introduction movie to tell you a little about ourselves! We hope you enjoy! Feel free to comment and tell us about your teacher training in Canada! Sincerely, The Lipsky Team

Happy Birthday Blog!

2009-01-28T22:55:00.005-05:00

Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Bl-og, Happy Birthday to you!

Yesterday, January 27, 2009, The Lipsky Team's blog turned 1 year old! This has been a big year in the life of our blog since Miss Lipsky has been learning along with her students! So far, our blog contains podcasts, Voice Threads, slideshows, gadgets, videos, and more! We are honored by the 1,596 visitors we have had to our blog from near and far. Our blog hits have come to us from all over the U.S.A. and Thailand, New Zealand, China, Canada, Europe, Hong Kong, Australia, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Argentina, France, Taiwan, Peru, and the Philippines. We want to say a special hello to our friends in Bangkok, Thailand, and Leeza in Hong Kong! We'd also like to say hi to any of our new readers in Saskatchewan, Canada who are reading our blog as part of their education to become teachers! Who knows what exciting things we'll add to our blog before it's next birthday!

Making History: President Barack Obama

2009-01-20T15:22:00.005-05:00

Today, we watched the inauguration of President Barack Obama. After being sworn in and taking the official oath to be president, President Obama made a speech about hope and change. (Did you know that the bible he was sworn in upon belonged to President Abraham Lincoln?) In his speech President Obama talked about how the citizens of the United States should continue to work hard while the citizens of the world should know that they have a friend in the U.S.A.! Here is a picture of President Obama when he visited Jacksonville, Florida during the campaign. And as of today, the White House has a blog just like us! Now, you can visit the White House whenever you'd like!

Holidays and New Friends

2009-01-04T15:56:00.006-05:00

For our winter celebration this year The Lipsky Team decided that instead of chillin' in our class room we'd visit soom younger classes and party down with them. We visited three younger classes and set up different centers to run in each room all based on the book Snowballs by, Lois Ehlert.

Our Holiday Centers:

1. Listen to the book Snowballs while making snowmen rice cakses with vanilla icing.

2. Shaving cream snow table.

3. Candy cane pipe cleaner table.

4. Activity zone (complete with climb-through tunnel and jingle bells!)

5. Snowmen bowling.

The Lipsky Team did an amazing job of staying calm and focused as they helped Mrs. Bridges Kindergarten, Mrs. Alvarado and Mrs. Mackiewicz's first grade, and Mrs. Hoffmann and Mrs. Patterson's second grade have fun participating in the different centers.

Miss Lipsky would like the say a special thank you to...

1. All the teachers who allowed us to visit their classes,

2. Mrs. Matthews and Mrs. Stephens for helping with the centers,

3. Megan Matthews for being a good baby and patiently waiting for her mom,

4. and especially my 3 wonderful classes who treated our new friends with respect and kindness!

Auntie Claus and PJ's

2009-01-04T15:49:00.003-05:00

The fifth grade had a surprise visit from Mrs. Phillip's close friend Auntie Claus! Auntie Claus, Santa's sister, showed up in her red, fur lined cloak when we were having a Pajama party in the Media Center! Before leaving Auntie Claus read us a Christmas story and gave us yummy cookies. Check out the pictures above... it's amazing how much Aunite Claus looks like Mrs. Phillips...werid!

No Talking Hard!

2008-12-18T11:18:00.000-05:00

On December 17, 2008 The Lipsky Team participated in an amazing, horrifying, and fascinating activity...they went a whole school day without talking! (Ok, well...we tried to atleast!)

After reading No Talking, by Andrew Clements The Lipsky Team decided to try to have a no talking contest just like Dave and Lynsey did in the book.

Rules for the No Talking Challenge:

No talking to anyone except...

1. If a teacher or adult calls on you, you may only speak 3 words at a time.
2. Miss Lipsky will only use three words at a time when talking to everyone as well.
3. Mrs. Wallace, Ms. Symons, Ms. Wickert, and Mrs. Matthews will know about the contest and enforce the rules...but they can talk all they want.
4. The contest starts at 10 A.M. sharp and stops at 3:15 (with the bell.)
5. Other noises are not the same as talking.
6. You may write notes.
7. There will be a score keeper for the boys and a score keeper for the girls.
8. The team with the least amount of points wins the contest!
9. You may not do anything that will intentionally drive people around you crazy! (This should really be true everyday!)

Class Score Keepers:
Lipsky Homeroom- Tristan (boys) and Allison E. (Girls)
Wallace Homeroom- John P. (boys) and Devora (Girls)
Symons Homeroom- Brett H. (boys)and Bailey (Girls)

So Here's What Happened:
The morning of the No Talking contest the whole fifth grade went to see a exciting science show in the dining room. While The Lipsky Team was actively watching awesome experiments using dry ice they were also watching the clock and anxiously waiting for 10 o'clock to roll around. The minute they got back to their classrooms the contest began. "It begins Now!" Miss Lipsky exclaimed and first period fell silent. The beginning of the day was super easy for all three classes in The Lipsky Team. Mrs. Wallace loved having such a quiet and attentive class in science and Ms. Wickert and Ms. Symons felt the same way in math. In reading Miss Lipsky and Mrs. Matthews lead the class through the different activities the students participarted in during Mr. Burton's reading class in the book. The students wrote notes to one another discussing the books they'd been reading. After note writing the students sat in a circle and told a story (each student adding three words onto the story at a time.) Here is first period's three word story:

Three Word Story (Lipsky Homeroom):
Once Upon Time
Princess and Prince
Got married
Went to dinner
Saw the Queen!
Get eaten!
Then spit out!
Then yelled, "Gross!"
Because it's gross
Then went home
and played hockey
And puked
in toilet
then got scared
and ate pie!
And changed clothes
Then they kissed.
Vampire eat them!
Wrote on blog
because big day!
Went to Google.
And got busy
then went shopping
bought cute shoes!
Burned them up!
Then ate them.
And puked again!
Then ate Queen!
Then played Madden.
They farted
They got killed
by big ant!
Then thrown up
Swim in jello
said, "Boring!"
They kissed again!
Vampire eat remains
they eat Vampire!
Happily ever after!

Telling a story three words at a time was difficult but fun. It was interesting to see students getting frustrated when the plot of the story didn't go the way they expected. Next, Miss Lipsky called two students to the front of the class and had them sit down in chairs. Miss L slowly explained in three word sentences that the students were going to debate a topic using three words at a time. The first debate topic was whether or not students should get a longer recess time.

Debate for and against longer recess.
K: Longer recess
L: Is not good!
K: Like to play
L: Not for me
K: Everyone like play
L: No, some dont.
K: I like games.
L: Why bring games?
K: Games are fun!
L: I know but...
K: I like swings
L: Education is better!
K: Exercise is good!
L: Play shorter!
K: Longer is good!
L: Because of what?
K: Because of freedom
L: We have freedom!
K: Especially outside!
L: After school
K: Recess is fun.
L: Why is it?
K: Talking to friends!
L: Does not matter.

The next debate was about whether or not students should be allowed to wear hats in school.

Debate for and againt hats in school.
S: Bad hair day!
K: So what?
S: You are bald!
K: It doesn't matter.
S: It looks stupid.
K: Wear a wig
S: What if poor?
K: Cover your face
S: Need raise hand
K: What?
S: Need raise hand
K: They can tell
S: No calling out!
K: Hats are bad
S: Why?
K: Inappropriate
S: How?
K: Very rude!
S: They look cool
K: Not all hats
S: Most, though
K: But, not all.
S: Some people like.
K: Some people don't.

When the final debate got too heated Miss Lipsky announced it was time to switch classes. The day continued on with each class writing notes, telling stories, and debating while they were in reading class. But, as the day went on The Lipsky Team found it was very hard to remain so quiet. Some students became extremely frustrated with the rules of the contest and some gave up all together. Most students completely gave up for lunch and recess (Miss Lipsky included). And around lunch time Miss L decided to give up on the boys against girls contest as well!

The next day the team reflected on how they thought the contest went, what the thought was fun, and what was just too hard. Everyone agreed that it was much easier at the beginning of the day. Some students also thought it was easier in reading, where Miss Lipsky was only using three words at a time too. The Lipsky Team decided that three words are just not enough to express themselves properly! When asked if they'd do the contest again several students said yes and a few said "NO WAY!"

Below are the three word stories and debates from second and third period. Check out the interesting ways students manipulated the 3 word rule so that they could communicate more effectively.

Three Word Story (Wallace Homeroom):
It was dark.
There was monster.
People hate monsters.
Monsters very mean!
Don't like monsters.
Pizza fell down
Monster likes pie.
Monster eat child.
Monster finds pie!
Monster eats whole.
Child eats pizza.
Child is hungry
Big ferocious puppy
Puppy eats monster!
Super Garfield comes!
Muffin man comes!
Muffin kill Garfield.
Muffin die, bombs.
Garfield isn't really
Then everyone died!
Maggiano's eat.
Santa came!
Santa ate cookies.
Mitchell kill everyone
Legos over world.
JheraMon save people
from Lego invasion.
JheraMon is Superman!
Monster come back!
Monster eat cookies.
Hancock killed monster
Here comes Johnny.
What, crazy class!

Debate for and against Kindergarten students having class in the portables classrooms or "cottages" instead of the fifth graders:
A: Kindergarten get walk.
S: Where fifth go?
A: Get fresh air.
S: Fifth, fresh air.
A: Kindergarten get exercise.
S: Fifth get exercise!
A: Unique advantages.
S: What do mean?
A: Easier flag raising.
S: Fifth needs easier.
A: Why fifth easier?
S: Fifth getting old.
A: Kindergarten should easier.
S: Kindergarten is young!
A: Supporting my theory!
S: Safe outside?
A: Cottage both grades!
S: Very good idea!

Debate for and against running in the halls:
K: If you're late!
T: What about safety?
K: It's your choice.
T: Good choice, walking.
K: If late miss...
T: Explain to teacher.
K: Run before there.
T: Teachers get mad!
K: Me too.
T: Then why run?
K: Mad if late!
T: Teachers may understand.
K: What if not?
T: Then they're mean!
K: That you say.
T: They'll probably understand.
K: So no referral?
T: I guess so.

Three Word Story (Symons Homeroom):
Look! A dragon!
Eating a pie.
Delicious apple crumbly.
With people in,
Like a muffin
Muffins are good
Within his belly.
Muffins are delicious.
Back to story...
Then monkey came
Dragon burned him!
Pizza killing people!
I got nothing.
Pepporoni Pizza too!
Dragon eat pizza.
Dragon didn't like.
Monkey saying b-a-n-a-n-a-s!
Monkey like song!
Super mushroom fly!
Godzilla ate monkey.
Monkeys are stupid.
Mario catch mushroom.
Killer flying pie!
Dragon sneezed flame.
Man...weird kids.

Debate for and against brushing your teeth!
N: Without brushing cavities.
G: Tooth brushes hurt.
N: Teeth shiney.
G: Use whitening stripes.
N: Need tooth brushes
G: No we don't!
N: Teeth rotten.
G: Dentist for that.
N: Still, take care!
G: Takes too long.
N: Only two minutes.
G: Some people, five.
N: Gum will bleed!
G: Use paper towels!
N: Too rough!
G: Use toilet paper!
N: Not for teeth!
G: Just use water!

Debate for and against the driving age being lowered to 10 years old.
C: Will have fun!
K: Irresponsible children!
C: Nobody cares.
K: Parents do!
C: Who said parents!
K: How gonna pass?
C: Some kids smart.
K: Some kids aren't.
C: Call yourself dumb?
K: Not all time!
C: Back on topic...
K: We are broke!
C: Run over criminals
K: What if miss?
C: Hit in reverse!
K: Can't see road.
C: We have mirrors!
K: Can't reach pedals!
C: I'm calling President!

Debate for and against recycling:
M: Helps the enviroment!
K: Suck it up.
M: You will die!
K: Drink youth fountain.
M: Wastes water.
K: Longer life!
M: Dirty water!
K: Use science experiment.
M: You make crafts.
K: Crafts for babies!
M: Not most times.
K: I don't care!
M: You will...
K: When?
M: It'll be wasteland.
K: Take a vacuum!
M: Electricity woman!
K: Throw in water.
M: What'd we drink?

We Still Love Andrew Clements

2008-12-15T15:16:00.007-05:00

As you can read on the post below, we are about to finish No Talking, by Andrew Clements. Some of our students did research on Andrew Clement's website yesterday learning the following things about the author:

1. The book Frindle is called Drilla in Italian,

2. Andrew Clements was born in Camden, New Jersey.

3. Andrew Clements first job was working as a public school teacher!

Today, students that did not get to research Andrew Clements yesterday will get their chance! Here is your task: Visit Andrew Clements website. Try to find the answers to the questions below and leave a comment with your answers.

Questions:

1. What year was Andrew Clements born?

2. What subject did Andrew Clements teach when he worked as a teacher?

3. What is the book Big Al called in Germany?

Good Luck!

We Love Andrew Clements!

2008-12-15T08:31:00.006-05:00

We are about to finish our read aloud No Talking by, Andrew Clements. No Talking is the story of two students, Dave and Lynsey, who start a contest (boys vs. girls) to see who can make it two days without talking. This book is an interesting study into the importance of words as the students of Laketon Elementary have to find ways to communicate without words! We have been reading this book for a loooooooong time so I feel like it's time we did a little research on the author of No Talking, Andrew Clements. So, here is your assignment:

Visit Andrew Clements website and see if you can answer the questions below. You're going to have to use your best reference and research skills to attack these questions! Then, leave a comment with your answers.

Questions:

1. What is the title of the book Frindle in Italy?

2. Where was Andrew Clements born?

3. What was Andrew Clements first job?

Soon, we are going to see if we can go a whole day without talking! Who will win, boys vs. girls!

We've got Poetry Coming out of our Ears!

2008-12-11T10:26:00.015-05:00

The Lipsky Team has recently finished a study on poetry and we have so many poems we never got to share with the world! Here are some published poems and some drafts. You'll have to excuse any spelling errors...these poems were too great not to share! If you are looking for a fabulous book to use as an introduction to poetry check out Love that Dog by, Sharon Creech. The book is written as a response journal between a student who is learning about reading, writing, and language, and his teacher. You can get the sequel now as well, Hate that Cat!

The Wind

Anonymous

Friends

by, Susan

My Silly, Silly Sister

by, Savannah

The Wind

by, Jon R.

Underwater Fish

by, J.P.
The Beach

by, David

Family

by, Bailey

Cluster Map Obsessed!

2008-12-04T10:40:00.029-05:00

"Let's check the dots!"
"Do we have more dots?"
"Look, there's a dot in South America!"

"Our Thailand dot is bigger!"

This is what it sounds like everytime The Lipsky Team and I check our Cluster Map. Our Cluster Map shows us how many people are visiting our blog and the countries from which they are visiting. At first we only had the dot in Jacksonville, Florida where we live and a dot in Canada where my friend lives. Now we have a big dot over Bangkok, Thailiand where the students of Room 229 are working hard and sharing ideas with us! We also have dots up and down the east coast of the U.S.A, and in Argentina, Peru, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand!

Because of our obsession with meeting new people around the world and collecting "dots" on our Cluster Map, I have come up with a scavenger hunt for The Lipsky Team. We are going on a hunt for more blog readers. Here is your challenge (if you are brave enough to accept it):

1. Click on one of the blogs listed below.
2. Scrowl through the blog and try to figure out where the bloggers live.
3. Read a post on the blog (remember you don't have to read the top post).
4. Leave a specific comment about what you read on the blog.

5. Include our blog's address, http://lipskymatthews.blogspot.com in your post (you can just cut and paste it in) .

Here are the blogs to pick from:

Mr. Kootman's Class Blog

Leeza's Blog

Mr. C's Class Blog

Mr. Piper's 5th Grade Class- World Investigators

Room 5, Pinehill School

Mrs. Emmert's 5th Grade Class- Reflections

Mr. Cosand's 5th Grade- Dream Extreme

Remember, you can read and comment on these blog's from home (I picked these blog's because they are super safe and focused on things similar to what we're working on at Chets Creek!) Right now we have a little over 1,000 hits on our blog but if we get over 20,000 I'll make you a cake like the one the students of Room 9 in New Zealand received! Check it out!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-30T15:07:00.002-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving! Last week we made delicious Turkeys that you could eat in one minute! Check out our tasty creations! Miss Lipsky, Mrs. Matthews, and Mrs. Stephens can't wait to see everyone back at school this week! All your teachers will be back! :)

6 Word Turkey Tales! All fixed up!

2008-11-30T14:38:00.004-05:00

We just finished reading the Chets Creek November Book of the Month, A Plump and Perky Turkey by, Teresa Bateman. This is the hilarious tale of how a turkey out smarts a town and leaves them with nothing to eat but shredded wheat! To go along with the story (and all the work we've been doing on descriptive writing, the students wrote 6 word stories that retold A Plump and Perky Turkey!

Before we started writing we looked at these awesome examples of descriptive 6 word stories:

For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn. By, Ernest Hemingway

Harry Potter nearly kills Voldemort, again.

Dog comes on command, kids don't.

We discussed what each story was about and then we set to work on our own 6 word stories. Check out our Voicethread above to hear us reading our six word stories! Just push the play button.

Welcome to the Poetry Cafe!

2008-11-20T12:15:00.000-05:00

After a week of working on metaphors, similes, imagery, alliteration, mood, and tone and more, our poets have began publishing their poetry! Colin was hardly able to keep his pencil moving fast enough to keep up with the amount of poems pouring out of him! Here are some of the poems he has published so far:

Gamer Nerd

by, Colin

I am a gamer nerd.
I play different games all day and night,
I don’t like games that really bite.
I see some games that are really scary,
I play a lot of games while drinking dairy.
I do not stop until my bubble gum pops.
I like games that fight because there really tight.
When I grow up I’m going to be a game maker,
I can tell you right now I’m not a big faker.

Starwars
by, Colin

Starwars is an epic battle between

light and darkness,
Between good and bad,
Between right and wrong and what ever side you choose

light will always win.

My big dog buddy
by, Colin

My big dog buddy is a big fur ball,
My dog buddy drools a river of drool,
And even though he’s the same age as me
He’s less than half my size.
He’s a one of a kind dog and I hope he never
goes away.

Legos
by, Colin

Legos help my imagination wonder,
They help me let my mind loose
They give me so many ideas about different things,
it kind of reminds me of the thing

I’m doing right now.

Here are some more poems by members of The Lipsky Team! These poems were chosen for their imagery and imaginative use of similes, metaphors, alliteration, mood, and tone.

Happiness

by, Susan

Friendship

by, Kayla

Summer (The Season)

by, Griseld

Sun on Rain

by, Ally

Music

by, Alyssa

Kasi visits the Reptile Show!

2008-11-20T10:50:00.006-05:00

Today, Kasi was invited by the PTA to attend a reptile show in the dining room. Kasi received this honor because she sold 10 or more items in our fundraiser. Awesome work Kasi! Here is what she thought of the show:

The reptile show was cool! It had 5 ferrets, an albino python, & the other reptile was like an anaconda! I think the lady said the snakes names were E.T. and Noodle. The lady said snakes saved the humans from extinction! They ate the rats that were carrying the plague and make good pets if you have a rat problem, but you should know how to take care of them first. To take care of a snake you should always give them plenty of food and water. Snakes need to be in a warm, big, tank. Snakes also have to get plenty of exercise. If you touch another animal in their diet make sure to wash your hands because they could bite you!!!

For the ferrets you need to give them a lot of walks. Also, ferrets need their cages cleaned twice a week. You should look up their diet before you get a ferret. You should get ferrets in pairs, unless you're home a lot, so the ferrets won't get lonely. Ferrets LOVE exercise and playing around too! One more thing, keep your valuable stuff locked up because they often take it and hide it- Ferret means thief!

What's the deal with your Mood? Don't use that Tone with me!

2008-11-16T18:22:00.004-05:00

Today, the Lipsky Team is working on indentifying the mood and tone of poems they read, as part of their study of poetry. The mood of a poem is the overall feeling of the poem and the tone is the "voice" of a poem. Can you identify the different moods and tones in these animated poems?

Today
Headmaster's Hymm

Now check out the mood and tone of Hannah's poem from last year.

We'd love to hear what you think about these poems. Leave us a comment!

Look at how our Brains Work!

2008-11-13T10:36:00.015-05:00

This is Griseld's Connection Word List, his brainstorm for the newest unit of study in Room 123, reading and writing poetry! This is an exciting part of fifth grade because poetry has no rules and allows for out-of-the-box, wild thinking! To begin our study in poetry Miss Lipsky played some podcasts from Kenn Nesbitt's website (we especially liked the poems My Dog Ate my Homework and A fish in a Spaceship! After listening to the poems we discussed the ways that poetry is different from regualr prose (other types of writing). Here is what we discovered:

Poetry is...

Shorter (maybe)

Has stanzas (maybe)

Doesn't need the same type of planning to write

Rhymes (maybe)

Expresses feelings

Tells a story in a different way

Is decriptive

Has hidden meanings

Next, we read from different poetry anthologies around the room to see if the poems we read had the features we decribed above. We found that many poems are not written in stanzas and some don't even rhyme! After sharing the poems it was time to start writing poetry! As always, Miss Lipsky had us start with brainstorming! We have worked with Word Webs in the past but today we tried a new activity: Connecting Word Lists. For this brainstorm all you need is a piece of paper, a pencil, and your brain! To write a connecting word list you come up with one starting term, for example: Penguin. Then you simply write the first thing you think of when you hear the word penguin. Penguin, Cold. Then you write the first thing you think of when you hear the word cold. Cold, Ice cream. You keep going like this until your teacher tells you to stop writing. Then you have a long list of ideas and descriptive words that you can use in your poem! Here are some great examples from class.

Kenny's Connection List

Jhadae's Connection List

Bre's Connection List

Alyssa's Connection List

Learning to deal with Enemies by, Ally

2008-11-12T09:43:00.005-05:00

I am reading a book called, Dear Dumb Diary #4 Never do Anything Ever by, Jamie Kelly.

The book is about a girl who went to the store and saw a barrette that she wanted to buy. Her name was Angeline and there was another girl who also saw the barrette her name was Isabella. So, Isabella started writing a diary because she was mad that she didn't get the barrette and Angeline did! In her diary Isabella wrote down all the things that happened during her day (and some of those things can be pretty crazy!) My favorite part of this book is when, the plastic baby Isabella gets in gym class is run over by the bus!

I think you should read this book because it is really funny. You will laugh and laugh. This book also has descriptive pictures! If you are having a bad day you can start your own diary like Isabella. I would recommend this book for girls ages 10 and up! I hope you like it, Ally :)

Compare and Contrast

2008-11-11T14:53:00.005-05:00

Wondering what's been going on in room 123? Well, take a look at this lesson filmed on Friday, November 7th. Watch as The Lipsky Team learns how to compare and contrast story elements and character development (and Miss Lipsky tries desperately to avoid saying everyone's names!)

Fun Facts by, Hayley

2008-11-05T11:59:00.013-05:00

Hey! I just finished reading Discover the Extraordinary Stories behind the Inventions of Ordinary Things by Don L. Wulffson. I thought this book was pretty cool because it had some good information. I never knew simple things could be so interesting! Here are some of the fun facts that I learned:

1. Playing cards were invented by the Chinese.

2. Twenty-four million miles of chewing gum roll out of the U.S factories every year.

3. There use to be two hundred fifty alphabets now there is only about one fourth of those alive today.

4. A person will die faster from a lack of sleep than a lack of food.

5. The first traffic light was in London, England in 1868.

6. The traffic light was invented before the car.

7. Food was used as the first money.

8. The lead pencil contains no lead.

9. They used to wear glasses frames without any lenses to be stylish!

10. When forks were first invented they weren't used for eating.

IMAXin-it-up

2008-11-04T20:47:00.012-05:00

Yesterday, we went on our first field trip of the year to the IMAX theater at the World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Florida. We saw the thrilling story of the exploration of Antarctica. I sat between Jakari and Randie for the film and all three of us loved the parts where the camera would shoot along the ground and then suddenly it would look like you were going over the edge of a cliff! I also liked learning that inside of giant frozen glaciers there can actually be large crystalline caverns full of freezing cold water! The explorers where able to swim inside of glaciers! Since penguins are my all time favorite animal I was so excited to see the footage of them gracefully swimming under the water.

After the film we headed out to the picnic tables to eat our lunches. That's when I let Sloan walk around with my camera (I'm brave, I know!) You can see the great pictures he took of everyone eating their lunches below! Once our bellies were full we took a giant Pod picture (that'd be everyone in the Lipsky, Symons, and Wallace homerooms.) We finished our trip to the IMAX theater with a giant game of duck-duck-goose! Man can you guys run fast! Our next trip is to the Marine Science Center in January (Mrs. Matthews and Mrs. Stephens will be back by then!)

3 Years of Pumpkins!

2008-10-30T17:16:00.023-04:00

The Lipsky Team is working on comparing and contrasting stories. Can you tell what is the same and what is different in these stories about three years of pumpkin contest entries?

2006

Two years ago, Miss Lipsky's fifth graders, made pumpkins based around a book-of-the-month called Train Song. They took three medium sized pumpkins and painted them to look like the engine, coal car, and caboose of a train. Ryan drew a picture of a conductor that was placed on the engine and Tia drew passengers sitting in the caboose. Many students got to help glue on all the tiny, black beads that made the "coal" on the coal car.

When Miss Lipsky and Mrs. Matthews triumphantly brought the pumpkins downstairs to the lobby they found that they had been misinformed about the pumpkin decorating contest. This wasn't a small event, this was a pumpkin extravaganza! They saw a stack of turtles representing the Dr. Seuss classic, Yurtle the Turtle. Mrs. Lehane's fifth grade class had made the entire cast of Agatha's Featherbed, complete with old Agatha lying in her bed and covered by a patchwork quilt! The three pumpkins Miss Lipsky and Mrs. Matthews held began to look small and insignificant next to all the beautiful displays. They decided that next year they would work even harder to create an amazing pumpkin show like everyone else!

2007

The next year, Miss Lipsky had three English and Language arts classes (one more than she had the year before.) The three classes spent time brain storming what book they should use for the Literary Pumpkin Project. Miss Lipsky finally decided on a book called Jimmy Zangwow's out of this World Moon Pie Adventure. The students were excited when Miss Lipsky exclaimed "We can each make a tiny martian like the ones in the book and we can eat moon pies!!" The students worked hard decorating their pumpkins. Slowly, they began to look like the main characters in the book and the tiny martians. When Miss Lipsky and Mrs. Matthews brought the pumpkins to the lobby, it took four trips in Mrs. Lehane's red wagon to get them all downstairs!

After putting all the pumpkins in their spots the two teachers surveyed the lobby. This year's pumpkins were even better than last years! They knew they'd be lucky to win a prize over any of the other pumpkins.

"Good afternoon, imagineers and dreamers, I'd like to read off the names of the Literary Pumpkin winners," Mrs. Phillips' voice came over the loud speaker. Miss Lipsky's third period class sat silently listening to the names being read. Down the hall Miss Lipsky's homeroom sat quietly in Mrs. Sterling's classroom, while second period tried to contain their excitement in Mr. Ruark's room.

"And the winner for Most Creative is Miss Lipsky, Mrs. Matthews, Mrs. Shannon, Mrs. Phillips, and Mr. Pinchots' homerooms!" Miss Lipsky was so excited to win a prize but worried that they had spent too many days decorating pumpkins! Next year, she thought, I might do something a little more simple.

2008

This year the fifth grade team decided that each homeroom would decorate their pumpkin by themself. Miss Lipsky now works with Ms. Symons and Mrs. Wallace. Miss Lipsky and Ms. Symon's did pumpkins based on the book-of-the-month Amazing Pop-Up Pull-Out Atlas! Mrs. Wallace's homeroom made pumpkins based on the second book-of-the-month Grace for President! Miss Lipsky decided that after making over 60 pumpkins last year, she was ready to do something simple! Her homeroom made their pumpkin look like a physical globe of the Earth. First, they painted the entire pumpkin blue. Then Enrique's Grandmother and Mario's mom, skillfully painted each continent in black. The Lipsky Team pinched modeling Clay to look like moutains and stuck it to the pumpkin. Next, they painted on orange, yellow, and green to show the different elevations of the land. Finally, they painted on the polar ice caps and YES! they were done! The easiest pumpkin Miss Lipsky's class had ever made. "This turned out beautifully," Miss Lipsky told her homeroom.

When it was time to deliver the pumpkin Miss Lipsky simply picked it up and carried it to the lobby (no need for wagons this year!) When Mrs. Phillips came on the loud speaker "Ok, tour guides and adventurers...here are our winner..." Miss Lipsky was not surprised when her one pumpkin did not win but the whole class was thrilled to hear that Ms. Symon's homeroom had won an award with their globe pumpkin!

"That was fun anyway," said Kaylie.

"I wonder what we'll do next year...," thought Miss Lipsky.

Chet's Journey around Jacksonville

2008-10-30T10:00:00.006-04:00

I moved to Jacksonville a few months ago and Traveling Chet was kind enough to show me around! The first place we went was the Tinseltown Movie Theater to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Chet thought the movie would have been better with a little more "bear action!" Next, Chet and I went to a birthday party and stuffed our faces with delicious Hannah Montana birthday cake! We maybe shouldn't have eaten so much because then we went to my sister's soccer game. All that running up and down the sidelines made us regret all the cake we'd eaten. Even with our bellies full of cake, Chet and I loved cheering for the Lady Lightening!

The best part of our weekend together was when Chet and I went to The Mayport Naval Station. My dad is in the Navy but I still had to check in with an officer. He said "No bears allowed at the Naval Station!" but Chet was so charming they let him in anyway. My dad showed us a helicopter that needed to be fixed. Chet tried to fix it but got tangled up in all the machinery. We decided to leave that hard work to the officers! Then, Chet tried to fly the helicopter but that just made everyone upset! To avoid trouble I decided to show Chet the rules for the Naval Station. "The Sailor's Creed" made us feel very patriotic! The helicopters were an awesome sight from a distance and their blades look huge up close (especially to a tiny bear like Chet!) Looking at the Naval Station's maintenance schedule Chet decided there was no job for him here so he kept on going. Outside, we got to look at the big Navy ships and weapons! Chet really wanted to sit on one of the weapons so we let him for just a second! At the end of our visit to the Naval Station, Chet and I went to the commissary. The commissary is where people in the Navy and their families shop for groceries at great prices!

All that walking around and looking at food made us hungry so, Chet and I decide it was time for dinner. My family invited Chet to eat with us at O'Charley's! Later, we ended our night with an exciting game of "Sorry!" (I won, sorry Chet!) What an awesome way to learn all about Jacksonville, Florida. My time here has been great. I loved being in Mrs. Tillis and Mrs. Smith's class for a few months last school year and it has been an adventure working with Miss Lipsky, Ms. Symons, Mrs. Wallace, and Mrs. Wicker this year. I wish I could stay but it's back to Virgina for me! Take care of Traveling Chet for me CCE!

Written by, E.S. in first period!

First nine weeks? Done!

2008-10-25T16:10:00.014-04:00

Now that our first nine weeks are over (and your report cards have been bubbled in and turned in to the county) I thought it would be a nice chance to look back at all we've done already! So here is what we did during the first nine weeks of school:
1. Miss Lipsky carefully decorated our classroom with an Asian theme.
2. We narrowly avoided several tropical storms and hurricanes.
3. We heard a man talk about riding his bike around the world.
4. We wrote 50 word mini-sagas about a small moment in our lives.
5. We learned how to use an Atlas.
6. We took a whole bunch of spelling tests!
7. We met Megan Matthews!
8. Mrs. Stephens gave birth to her son, Reagan.
9. We read independently around the room.
10. We read in book clubs.
11. We painted literary pumpkins.
12. We listened to podcasts of writing all the way from Thailand.
13. Both Presidential candidates visited our city.
14. We read Reading Bingo Books and took TONS of Bingo tests!
15. Battle of the Books started.
16. We worked with Mrs. Stone to improve our reading skills.
17. We filled in Venn Diagrams all about what we like.
18. We directed, filmed, and aired the morning announcements for the whole school with Mrs. KK and Mr. Blair.
19. We read No Talking, by Andrew Clements.
20. We wrote responses to the book-of-the-month, Grace for President, by Kelly DiPucchio.
and much, much more!

Don't believe that we could do all that in just nine weeks? Well, here is the proof!

Here is more evidence of all our hard work!

We want to be scientists!

2008-10-19T14:37:00.001-04:00

Last Friday, The Lipsky Team had a visit from Mr. KO, a scientist working on his PhD at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He talked to all three of the Lipsky classes about conserving natural resources and protecting the environment. The students did an excellent job participating in the discussion about what will happen if we use up all of our natural resources. We all realized that we have to make some changes in our lives right now to start using our resources wisely. We talked about small changes we can make like turning off the water while you brush your teeth and the lights when you leave a room. You can also bring your own bags to the grocery store and a use a water bottle you can refill instead of always buying bottled water. One student was so inspired by Mr. KO's presentation that she started her own blog to share the things she had learned. You can visit her blog at http://omgknow.blogspot.com. Check out the posts she wrote about Mr. KO and polar bears.

While visiting Mr. KO also shared with our class that everything he does in science also involves reading and math. He first got interested in science by reading a book called, The Way Things Work by David Macaulay. This is a book that every teacher should get for his or her classroom. I bought the book last Monday and individual members of the Lipsky Team have been reading it nonstop ever since! This book is an awesome piece of nonfiction and has a great website where you can explore The Way Things Work!

Thank you Mr. KO for visiting us and inspiring us to work hard and conserve our resources!

FLOTSAM!

2008-10-19T14:02:00.012-04:00

Flotsam, a wordless picture book by David Wiesner, is an absolute MUST have for every classroom! Mr. Lipsky (Miss Lipsky's dad...not husband) discovered the book a few years ago because he is a photographer and Flotsam has a camera on the cover reflected in a fish's eye. Flotsam is a myterious story about one camera's journey floating across the ocean. Because there are no words in the book the only way the reader can understand the book is by making inferences and predictions. I use this book during mini-lessons when we begin to work on inferencing as a class. I show the class a picture from the story and everyone has to look at it for one minute before they can raise their hands to make inferences. At first my students tend to point out the obvious features in the pictures but as they look at them closer they are able to infer more information from the pictures. For example, on the third page of the book a young, blonde, boy is lying on the beach looking at hermit crab under a magnifying glass. At first the class infered: "The boy is hanging out at the beach" but as we looked at the picture more, here are some of the inferences we made:
1. I infer it's hot because the boy is in shorts and a t-shirt.
2. I infer the boy likes science and discovery because he has a magnifying glass and a microscope.
3. I infer the boy is trustworthy because his parents aren't paying attention to him and he is keeping himself busy with a good activity.
4. I infer the boy is interested in what he is doing because that is the face people make when they are really interested in something.

If you don't have this book in your classroom and you're going to work on inferencing soon come see me because I have two copies you can borrow!

Traveling Chet has arrived!

2008-10-19T13:42:00.007-04:00

Traveling Chet, the most famous teddy bear at Chets Creek Elementary, finally found time to stop by and visit with The Lipsky Team. Unfortunately, Chet showed up a little after all the students had gone home but one future student, Megan, was hanging out in the room with her mom so Chet decided to spend some time with her discussing his travels. Chet has journeyed to Africa, New York, Boston and more! Megan has pretty much only been to her house, Chets Creek, and the grocery store so she was thrilled to hear about all the amazing experiences Traveling Chet shared. Megan and Chet spent a couple of hours in room 123 drinking milk and listening to Miss Lipsky tell boring stories while Mrs. Matthews (Megan's mom) got some work done. After chilling with Megan for awhile Chet decided that this was a pretty cozy classroom and he made a home for himself on the back shelf amongst all the Atlases and books about Asia. We are so excited to have Chet in our room and we can't wait to read about all the adventures he goes on with The Lipsky Team!

P.S. Thank you Emma for donating the perfect backpack for Chet to wear on his trips!

47 Ways to Study for Spelling!

2008-10-07T18:50:00.012-04:00

Hey Lipsky Team! You get awesome grades on your spelling tests... how can we get awesome grades like you? Here are 47 spelling studying ideas directly from The Lipsky Team!Here are some other amazing spelling resources from Mrs. Shall and Mrs. Holtsman!
1. Look, Say, Cover, Type, & Check
2. Spelling City
3. Tutpup
4. Spin and Spell
5. Geo Spelling (type your word then see it spelled in a different language)

P.S. Hey! Lipsky Team! Keep studying for spelling!

Using an Atlas to learn about Asia

2008-10-06T11:03:00.036-04:00

For the September Book of the Month, Principal Phillips chose The Pop-up, Pull-out Picture Atlas! When I first saw this book of the month I was so excited because I love to travel and learn about new places. I was also a little worried about how I was going to use this book with my students. Mrs. Phillips anticipated my problem and had the teachers participate in several interactive projects to show us how to use this Book of the Month. Here are some of my favorite projects: The second grade team, with the help of clever Miss Patterson, wrote an advertisement inviting people to visit South America. The fifth grade team made travel brochures about Asia. The fourth grade team listed everything they could think of about Europe before attacking their Atlas.

I liked all the ideas that Mrs. Phillips had found and I decided to have my students do a combination of the activities. When we looked at the book in our room we made posters discussing what we thought we knew and what we learned about Asia (this year the fifth grade at Chets Creek is studying Asia). This project was similar to the old "KWL" charts (what we Know, what we Want to know, and what we Learned.)

During our Mini-lesson, I showed the class the "What I know/What I learned" poster I made about Europe. I'd drawn the Eiffel Tower, a bowl of pasta from Italy, the Swiss Alps, and tulips from Holland. For the active engagement portion of the mini-lesson the students turned and talked about what they know about Europe and then we added it to my poster.

During the work period, the students brainstormed together in their book club groups to come up with ideas for the "What we think we know" half of the poster. I labeled this half "What we think we know" because I figured some students would have misconceptions about Asia that they would fix by looking at the atlas. After the students filled out what they thought they knew they researched Asia in the atlas. I heard wonderful discussions about the animals, food, culture, land, and countries of Asia. The students then filled in the "What we learned" half of their posters.

When the students shared their posters with the class we all learned so many new things! Did you know that the Dead Sea is so salty that nothing can live in it but it's incredibly easy for humans to float in the water? Have you heard of Mt. Fuji, Mt. Everest, and K2? Do you know that a Komodo dragon is really just a big lizard?

Below are some of the posters from The Lipsky Team's work with the Pop-Up Pull-Out Picture Atlas.

Descriptive Writing from Thailand!

2008-10-02T10:29:00.023-04:00

Recently, Mrs. Holtsman helped me find the blog titled, Room 229. Room 229, is a class of fifth grade students lead by Ms. McAloon at an International School in Bangkok, Thailand. These students had posted podcasts of their first piece of published writing. I listened to all of the podcasts and they were amazing! These fifth graders really know how to use descriptive and exciting adjectives to help readers visualize their ideas. I played Allen's podcast for all three of my classes yesterday. Allen's story is about Christmas morning and opening presents. We were excited to hear they have PSPs (Playstations) in Thailand too! If you'd like to hear Allen's story look for the Podcast Gadget on the right and click where it says Posts. Scroll down, Allen's podcast is the last one. Then, click play to hear him read his story.

After hearing Allen's story, Sloan (a member of The Lipsky Team) jokingly wrote this totally not descriptive, boring version of Allen's story.

Yuck! That's not what our writing should look and sound like! Sloan's version of Allen's Christmas story was unimaginative and dull! We liked Allen's better! (But, thanks for the Funny version Sloan!)

We have been working to make our own narrative stories more descriptive and the writing of Room 229 has inspired us! Below are 3 of the stories written by The Lipsky Team. Soon, you will be able to hear the podcasts of these authors reading their stories... As soon as Miss Lipsky figures out how to convert these files into mp3 files :)

Laser Tag! by, Mario

Camping with a Flying Tent on a Windy Day. by, Alex (Hear Alex read her story by clicking on the Podcasts on the tool bar on the right.)

Canyon. by, Emily (Hear Emily read her story by clicking on the Podcasts on the tool bar on the right.)

More writing and Podcasts to come soon!!

Hello World!

2008-09-30T21:07:00.008-04:00

"We are learning to communicate our thoughts and
learning with a global audience." This is what I read on The Shaggy Dog's Blog. The Shaggy Dog's Blog belongs to students at The Russell Street School in New Zealand (hey... we've got a dot on our Cluster Map in New Zealand!) I was so impressed by the statement I read on their blog that I decided The Lipsky Team should probably discuss it and see what we think. So my fifth grader friends, what do you think? What does "We are learning to communicate our thoughts and learning with a global audience" mean to you? Please post your comments and we will discuss them in class! (Remember no last names.)

Blogging about Books

2008-09-29T11:57:00.025-04:00

This weekend students had the option of participating in the 45 page challenge. All you had to do was read 45 pages during your spare time and have your parents or family put a note in your planner stating "My kiddo read 45 (or more) pages!"

On Monday, (or on the day Miss Lipsky remembers and we don't have a fire drill and vision screening...) every student who did the page challenge gets their name entered into a drawing for a prize. Woohoo!

Here are some awesome student written reviews of the books they read this weekend:

Julie of the Wolves by, Jean Craighead George
I think you should read the book Julie of the Wolves because Jean craighead george used extravagant details that made you feel like you where a character in the book. the main character Miyax (julie) is trying to speak wolf so she can be apart of the pack. julie of the wovles is the best book i have read in my whole intire life!!! By, Emily

The Sea of Monsters by, Rick Riordan

I think you should read this book because it is filled with excrutiating detail.The action packed sequal to the Lightning Thief is good for you if are studying greek.The brave Percy Jackson has survived almost a year out of camp when he is attacked.Read more to fin out what happens.

By,Austin

P.s. I hope you really enjoy this book!

Mallory vs. Max by, Laurie Friedman

If you are an agravated sister you might want to read this book because you can read about Mallory a sister who is really mad! This story is about Mallory who has a cat and her brother wants a dog! She wishes she didn't even have a brother. In the end she learns that she can really get along with her brother and the dog is actually pretty nice!

By, Devora

The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Seeing Stone

by, Tony DiTerlezzi

The book I'm reading is about three kids Jared, Simon, and Malory Grace in an adventure about a feild guide that goblins want from them. Jared found this book in the house their grand-ma used to live in. The book used to be Lucinda's (the grandmother) father's book.I think this book would be awesome for any reader that likes mysteries because it is very intresting because Jared finds the book but then the goblins start to chase them and take their brother away and Jared has to find him with the seeing stone. By, Bre

Remember everything you read counts towards your Reading Bingo Board! Keep it Up!

The Who and The What

2008-09-23T18:04:00.018-04:00

Last week, we worked on putting "The who and the what" into our sentences. To have a complete sentence you need a subject (the who) and a verb (the what). To start this discussion each member of The Lipsky Team wrote down one sentence in his or her writer's notebook. Here are some of the sentences we came up with:

1. My grandma won the lottery.

2. I like fruit.

3. My cat jumped up on the bed.

4. I am so scared of spiders!

5. The penguin.

6. I wish it was time for lunch because I am so hungry!

We checked each sentence for a "who" and a "what" and almost all of our sentences contained a subject and verb. We had to fix sentence number 5 so that it contained both a subject and a verb. "The penguin" is not a complete sentence but here are some ways we turned it into a complete sentence:

The penguin was cold.

The penguin could not fly.

The penguin slapped me with his flippers.

After learning about complete sentences we returned to our writing to edit the sentences in our short stories. After reading through our stories, we looked to see if each sentence had a subject and a verb.

Spencer realized that one of his sentences did not have a subject so he wrote a new sentence below. Spencer wrote about his ride on "Kraken" the rollercoaster. (Miss Lipsky took her fifth graders in Tallahassee on this ride a couple of years ago when they went to SeaWorld... it's a good time!) When editing his writing Spencer discovered this sentence: "Five loops in a row". Spencer said "I think if someone else read this they might wonder 'What went five loops in a row?' I think my readers might get confused." Spencer edited his writing to say "The Cracken, went five loops in a row." Now he's got a Who and a What!

After reading some of our writing Miss Lipsky feels we need a few more lessons on writing complete sentences. Now, we all have subjects and verbs but where did our punctuation and capitalization go? This week it shall return! :)

Who are all these people?!

2008-09-21T14:50:00.012-04:00

This year The Lipsky Team has the privilege of working with three other teachers: Mrs. Stephens, Mrs. Matthews, and Mrs. Stone. Currently, Mrs. Matthews is out on maternity leave after giving birth to her beautiful, smiley daughter Megan Amanda (who Miss Lipsky calls M&M and sometimes Megamix.) Mrs. Stephens will leave us soon to have her baby (which is going to be a boy!) While these two awesome women are out The Lipsky Team is working with Mrs. Stone, our amazing substitute who just moved down from Virginia. WOW! There is a lot going on in this room. It is great having these three teachers working with us in room 123! On Friday, Mrs. Matthews visited with Megan. What a treat is was for us to have such a pretty baby in our room (and Mrs. Matthews brought real yummy treats too, so that was nice!) The students did an incredible job staying extra quiet to not hurt her baby ears. Unfortunately, our end of the day bell really scared Megan but she is a brave baby and we made it through that scary moment! We can't wait for Mrs. Matthews to come back and teach us and we also can't wait to meet Mrs. Stephen's new son!

P.S. Miss Lipsky isn't going anywhere, don't worry :)

Here is a picture of Miss Lipsky and Megan Matthews!

Donorschoose.org

2008-09-16T11:29:00.018-04:00

Dear Parents, Families, Friends, and Chets Creek Supporters,
Last year at Chets Creek Mrs. K.K., Mrs. Matthews, and I started a reading comprehension competition called Battle of t he Books. Battle of the Books was a huge success and over 150 students participated in the reading program. To make Battle of the Books an even bigger success this year we need to make sure we have enough of the 15 books in the program for the students to read. Unfortunately, it has been a challenge getting enough copies of the books for our eager readers! If you would like to help support Battle of the Books this year please visit Donorschoose.org. Donorschoose.org is an amazing website that let's donors decide what school related projects they would like to support. I have written three grants on the website to get the supplies needed for Battle of the Books. If you would like to support this reading incentive program you can give as much or as little as you would like (every little bit helps!)

At Chets Creek we have the most amazing parent and family support I have ever seen. Thank you so much for visiting our class blog today.

Have a great day!
Sincerely,
Miss Lipsky

Guess who got engaged?!

2008-09-14T19:34:00.023-04:00

Are you wondering who from The Lipsky Team got engaged? Well, the answer is every reader in Miss Lipsky's three classes after reading the amazing writing of their peers! (Wait... were you thinking someone got engaged to be married... don't be silly... we're only in fifth grade!) Friday, we worked on writing engaging leads for the beginnings of our stories... and our writers did a fantastic job! An engaging lead is important at the beginning of a piece of writing because it hooks the reader and makes them want to read more! You could ask the reader a question (like the title of this blog post) that makes them want to find out the answer. You could write a beautiful description, use onomatopoeia (like zip! pop! meow! bang!), give an interesting fact, and more. Below are seven examples of different engaging leads for you to read and enjoy but first I wanted to focus on Sloan's lead.

Sloan opens his short story with onomatopoeia and dialogue. As we read we can here his ferret Omally, knocking over things in the bathroom. Sloan jumps right into the action of his story instead of slowly leading up to it. Sloan's class agreed that his lead was descriptive and entertaining.

For more ideas on how to begin you writing, please read the examples below.

Leading with a simile (a comparison using the words like or as):

Leading with onomatopoeia:

Leading with onomatopoeia and action:

Leading with onomatopoeia and suspense:

Leading with a description:

Leading with a description of the setting:

Leading with music:

September 11th and 11 year olds

2008-09-10T18:08:00.002-04:00

Today, is the anniversary of the 9/11/01 attacks on America. As much as this is not a topic I like to discuss in detail with my 10, 11, and 12 year old students (I save that for parental discretion) I feel it is something I cannot ignore. Since my student teaching days in Tallahassee I have read my students the same book every year on September 11th. The book is called The Man who Walked Between the Towers by, Mordicai Gerstein. Gerstein tells the story of Philippe Petit a daring man who, at the age of 24, walked on a high-wire between the two buildings. Petit planned his walk for 6 years before sneaking 250 pounds of steel wire into the World Trade Center at night to set up his show. He braved the early morning air and danced across the wire 6 or 8 times, 110 stories over New York City before police officers made him come down. Two years after the Twin Towers fell, Philippe Petit wrote an essay called My Towers, Our Towers for The Wall Street Journal. On August 7, 1974, as he lay on the tightrope between the Towers Petit said "The twin towers became my towers." Petit describes the way he could feel the Towers breathing as he walked, danced, and played between them. "They welcomed a trespassing poet determined to etch his destiny upon the sky" wrote Petit. On September 11, 2001, Petit says "My towers became your towers, our towers." There are thousands of stories about the Twin Towers, each incredibly important but today The Man who Walked Between the Towers is the one I chose to share with my students.

Word Webs on the World Wide Web

2008-09-09T17:06:00.000-04:00

It's brainstorming time for The Lipsky Team! We are working on our first writing project: Mini-Sagas about a single moment from our lives. A Mini Saga is a story written in 50 words (not 49, not 51... just 50.) Yesterday, we began brainstorming ideas for our stories. After Miss Lipsky modeled her own ideas during the mini-lesson we listed tiny moments from our lives that could make interesting stories. Today, we looked at our list of ideas and picked one. We continued brainstorming about our topics by creating a word web. Like the World Wide Web, a word web, links one idea to another. We wrote our topic, or main idea, in the middle of our word web. Then, we wrote down any detail we could think of that had to do with our main idea. We added our details as branches of our web. Check out some fabulous Word Webs below:

Main Idea: "My Granted Wishes"

Main Idea: "A Sleepover with Noha"

Main Idea: "My Fractured Finger Becomes Reality"

Main Idea: "The Time My Dachshunds, Lila and Libbe, Played/Fought"

Main Idea: "My First Time on WCCE Morning Announcements"

Main Idea: "Kenny Chesney Concert"

Main Idea: "When I put Dry Ice in a Water Bottle"

Main Idea: "When I visited Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom"

Come back soon to see our story drafts!

20 Page Challenge

2008-09-07T23:17:00.000-04:00

Raise your hand if you read this weekend. (You can't see it but I am raising my hand.) This weekend was our second, optional, 20 page challenge. Optional, as we learned in class, means you don't have to do it... but it's awesome if you do! To participate in the 20 page challenge all you have to do is read 20 or more pages of something (books, magazines, websites, etc.) over the weekend and then have someone who takes care of you write a note in your planner that says "My amazing fifth grader read (number of pages)." On Monday, you'll be entered into a drawing for a small prize. Rock on!

This weekend I read the first 20 pages of The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. Wow! This is an awesome book! But, as a teacher I don't know how I feel about the first chapter being called "I accidentally vaporize my pre-algebra teacher!" I decided I better read this book because about half of my students have read it and I was starting to feel very left out! Plus, I really love reading books that are in a series and The Lightning Thief is just the first of four suspenseful books!

Leave a comment and tell us what you read this weekend. Tell us if you're enjoying it and why.

:) Miss Lipsky

Bloggin from 3rd Period

2008-09-05T15:05:00.000-04:00

Hello... Hola... Mochi Mochi (That's Japanese for hello.) People of the world! What's up?

We are third period! We come in peace! We read all the other writing and we thought it was "Fay-bulous!" (Get it? Tropical Storm Fay?!) Did you know that lots of people read our blog?

Peace on Earth! Aloha!

Third Period

A World Wide Audience

2008-09-04T14:43:00.000-04:00

In class today, we read the comments posted by students, teachers, friends, and other blog readers. We loved all the comments Sloan had written from his sick bed and the positive praise about our writing from our own Mrs. Stephens! One comment that really stuck with us was left by our Standards Coach, Mrs. Suzanne Shall. Mrs. Shall wrote that the writing we published on our blog has a "world wide audience." Wow, were we inspired! Now everyone wants to write and have their work on our class blog!

Talking about our world wide audience was the perfect time to introduce our Cluster Map (look on the right side of the blog for our Cluster Map). A Cluster Map shows the spots where people are reading our blog all over the world! The map also shows how many people have read the map in each place (for example, 100 to 999 people have read our blog in Jacksonville, Fl). People have also read our blog in California, Canada, and even in Europe! We were really impressed with our map until we looked at Mrs. Holtsman's Cluster Map and saw how many people are reading her blog! Check it out if you haven't seen it (she has readers on 6 continents!)

Below is some more writing from our classes. These students' introductions were published the other day and now they have added to their pieces. The first piece is a new piece written by a student in Miss Lipsky's first period. This student decided to write their 'Tropical Storm Fay' story as a poem! Check it out:
(If you click on the writing it will get bigger.)

Here are the new parts from the stories published on Tuesday:

More writing will come soon for our world wide audience!

Writing about Weather

2008-09-02T17:39:00.001-04:00

Today, the students began writing about Tropical Storm Fay.
The students were told that they
could write in any style they'd like (narrative, expository, poetry, etc.)
The point of this assignment was to provide Miss Lipsky with a sample of writing from each student. This writing sample will be compared to student's work throughout the year to see how far his or her writing has grown. What surprised Miss Lipsky was the creativity of this early writing!

Here are some awesome examples from Miss Lipsky's three classes:

This is just the beginning of the students' writing! Come back later to see the finished results! (And who knows, with Hurricane Hannah coming we may have more to write about!)

What's the deal with the Underlining?

2008-08-28T18:30:00.000-04:00

As we were reading the previous post, "Back from Faycation", one of the students in second period raised his hand and asked "Yo, Miss L. What's the deal with the blue underlining?" The underlining this student was referring to was the different links I had posted. Any time you see a word, or group of words, that looks like this , it is a link to a website. When you click on the link you never know what you'll discover! Most of the time Miss Lipsky will post website links that have to do with the topic being discussed. If you click on the links in the last post they will take you to Chets Creek's Website, The Florida Times Union's community photo gallery, and a website all about crustaceans. Sometimes, that crazy Miss Lipsky will put in fun, silly, and cool links just for you! So... you probably want to click on them all! Just remember, to get back to the blog you click on the back arrow.

Back from "Fay"cation!

2008-08-25T15:27:00.000-04:00

Welcome back everyone!

Today was a great second, first day at Chets Creek! The students arrived back from three Hurricane Days off, energetic and ready to learn. Many students had stories to tell about flooded streets, down trees, and power outages (no computers or T.V. for two whole hours) but, Miss Lipsky was the only person who had a story about a giant crab in her front yard! Here is a picture of my pinchy visitor:

This crab did not belong in my South side neighborhood! The students had many wonderful ideas about how he ended up in my front yard:

"Maybe it was so windy that he was blown out of the ocean and into your yard."

"Maybe when the river overflowed he was carried all the way to your neighborhood."

"Maybe he was scared of Tropical Storm Fay and wanted to hang out in your house with your rabbit."

Whatever the story was I decided that I needed to get this crab back to the water! So, I called my parents and we got a big, white, plastic bucket and got the crab to scurry inside. Then we drove Mr. Crab (as I now call him) to a nearby boat dock and set him free in the water!

Here is my mom (the real Mrs. Lipsky) setting Mr. Crab free:

And here is Mr. Crab back in his natural habitat:

I am glad everyone (including Mr. Crab) made it back safely to where they belong! Thank you for being so focused and on task after your five day weekend! See you tomorrow. :)

Fay didn't listen

2008-08-20T10:45:00.000-04:00

Hey friends!

Well, there will be no school today and tomorrow (and I hope you already knew that because it's almost time for second period!) I hope you spend the day inside, staying safe and dry with your family! I will see everyone on Friday (I hope I hope!!) If you'd like to study Fay some more check out Noaa.gov they always have the most accurate information.

Go Away Fay!

2008-08-18T18:45:00.000-04:00

Wow! I have never had such an amazing first day of school! Not only were students kind and respectful but they actively participated in lessons and even researched how to play Reading Bingo on our blog! We made our class rules and everyone got to see my impression of what a "Bad Attitude" looks like (it was pretty fun getting to throw pillows around the room!) Students filled out interest inventories that will help me tailor lessons to go along with their likes and hobbies. In honor of our theme, 'Around the World in 180 Days', we colored in various flags from Asia: Israel, Lebanon, China, Thailand, India, the Philippines, South Korea, and Vietnam. We are going to hang these flags in the hallway in front of our room. I can't wait to see all the fun things we get to do this year. Remember, the more good choices you make the more fun we get to have in my class!

Now, for some more serious news... Tropical storm Fay is heading towards Florida right now. Here at Chets Creek we do not have time for a Tropical Storm (plus Miss Lipsky really hates bad weather, especially storms that have their own names... like Fay. You can ask Miss Hoffmann and Miss Patterson who have had to deal with Miss L. during really scary storms, it's not a fun time!) So let's all think good thoughts so that Tropical Storm Fay will spin out into the Atlantic Ocean and far away from us! For more information on Tropical Storm Fay visit http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/.

Reading Bingo!

2008-08-17T18:59:00.000-04:00

In Miss Lipsky's reading class, students play a game called Reading Bingo! The purpose of Reading Bingo is to get students reading quality literature from a variety of genres. The bingo board is located on the back wall of our classroom, room 123. Each space on the board goes with a specific book, book genre, or author. Every time a student finishes reading five books in a row and completes five book mastery activities he or she gets a prize! Students who read 20 to 25 Bingo Books get to come to the "Big Bingo Bash" in January.

Now some answers to commonly asked Reading Bingo questions:

1. "By fifth grade, Chets Creek Elementary students are supposed to be independent readers who know how to pick out their own books. Why are you picking books for me?"

When you participate in the Reading Bingo game there are only four books that the teachers have picked for you (Castle in the Attic, Millicent Min, Number the Stars, and Sideways Stories from Wayside School.) For all of the other spaces on the Reading Bingo Board you get to pick the books yourself. For example, there are three Nonfiction spaces on the Bingo Board. Students can pick any nonfiction book they'd like to fulfill the requirement for that space. With Reading Bingo, students get to make many choices about what they read and no two students will end up reading all the same books.

2. "What do I do when I finish a Bingo Book?"

Each time a student reads a book from the board he or she chooses which activity to do to prove mastery of the book. Activities are listed on the back of your individual Bingo Board. When the back of your board tells you to look in the Reading Bingo Activities File, that file is located in the back of the room by the Bingo Board. Some examples of mastery activities are: Write a poem about the book you completed, compare and contrast two story characters, create a comic strip based on the book, talk to the class about your book, etc. If you are ever confused about an activity you can ask Miss Lipsky (or Mrs. Matthews or Mrs. Stephens) for help. As soon as you've finished an activity and show it to Miss Lipsky you will get a stamp on your Bingo Board.

3. "What if I try to read a book off the Board but it is too hard for me?"

If you start reading a Bingo Book and realize it is too hard for you then Miss Lipsky is very proud of you! When you understand that a book is too hard that means you are monitoring your comprehension (you're checking to see if you understand.) If we spent all our time reading books we didn't understand then no one would ever want to read anything! If a book is too hard Miss Lipsky will suggest another book for you to read instead for that Bingo space.

4. "How and when will I get Prizes?!"

As soon as you show Miss Lipsky that you have five stamps in a row on your Bingo Board you'll get your prize! The earliest you can win a prize is after you read four books (because the free space in the middle counts as one book!) Last December, some students were getting prizes every couple of days as they read books for their remaining spaces.

5. "What happens at the Big Bingo Bash?"

The Big Bingo Bash for those who read 20-25 books is awesome! We eat yummy food (cotton candy, popcorn, etc.) and play carnival games for prizes. Last year, each student that made it to the bash got a goodie bag full of prizes as well.

6. "When can I start reading Bingo Books?"

This week! Everyone will have a chance to check out Bingo books this week during class. We have many copies of the four titles we chose for you and a whole classroom full of options from which you can pick! When you turn in your mastery activity to get your prize, Miss Lipsky is going to ask you to hand her the book that you read... so no losing books! :) Each time your homework says "Read for 15 minutes" you are playing Reading Bingo! Every time you read in class during your book clubs, you are playing Reading Bingo! Every time you listen attentively to our class read aloud, you are playing Reading Bingo!

7. "This sounds like a really big goal... do you think I can really read 25 books by January?!"

This is a HUGE goal but Miss Lipsky, Mrs. Stephens, and Mrs. Matthews all believe in dreaming big. If you are on task in class and doing your homework and the occasional weekend page challenge (we'll explain that later) you will definitely be able to attend the Big Bingo Bash. We hope to see everyone at the celebration in January.

Remember, if you ever have any questions your teachers are happy to help.

Welcome new fifth graders!

2008-08-12T22:57:00.000-04:00

Hello new friends and families,
We are so excited to begin another year at Chets Creek Elementary! Our theme this year is Around the World in 180 Days and the fifth grade is going to Asia. We will not only be studying China and Japan but also India, Thailand, The Philippines, and more! We have been hard at work scrubbing desks, sorting books, putting up bulletin boards, and planning exciting lessons for you!

Here are some pictures of our room before we started preparing it for this year:

Not a pretty sight!

To see our completed room you'll have to come to orientation at 2:00 P.M. this Friday.
We can't wait to see you all there!
Sincerely,
Miss Lipsky, Mrs. Matthews, and Mrs. Stephens :)

The World of Roald Dahl

2008-05-02T13:56:00.000-04:00

Hooray! We are beginning our end of the year, readers' theater project, The World of Roald Dahl. This play is about three of Roald Dahl's books: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The BFG, and Matilda. The students have had their scripts for a few weeks and we have been reading them together in class. Readers' theater is an excellent way to boost reading fluency because of the repeated readings of scripts...and reading fluency is closely tied to reading comprehension! We have been practicing reading with expression, thinking about characters' feelings and motivations, and how to control ourselves physically during oral presentations. Now, we will begin practicing our play for Chets Creek audiences to see on June 3rd! Below are the Cast and Crew lists for each of our three class periods. Students chosen to be the "understudies" will have to practice their scripts closely because they will fill in for any cast members who are missing during rehearsals or performances. The students chosen to be assistant directors, stage managers, and scripts monitors, won those roles by being responsible, calm, and mature throughout the school year. The auditions were amazing and we know the play will be scrumdiddlyumptious!

Cast, 1st Period
Narrator 1- Carla
Narrator 2- Sareen
Kid- Amelia
Charlie Bucket- Angelo
Willy Wonka- Shymaan
Grandpa Joe- Jakob
Veruca Salt- Raegan
Mr. Salt- Breon
Augustus Gloop- Jeremy
Mrs. Gloop- Jeelz
Violet Beauregarde- Alexa
Mike Teavee- Sean
The BFG- Brandon
Sophie- Miller
The Fleshlumpeater- Devyn
The Childchewer- Domenic
The Bonecruncher- Tanner
The Meatdripper- Breon
The Queen of England- Sofia N.
Matilda Wormwood- Alandri
Mr. Wormwood- Joe
Mrs. Wormwood- A.P.
Miss Honey- Alexa
Miss Trunchbull- Cassie
Lavendar- Piper
Nigel- Jakob
Bruce Bogtrotter- Christian
Understudies- Joe and Cassie
Crew, 1st Period
Assistant Director- Amelia
Stage Managers- Jakob and Tanner
Script Monitor- Piper

Cast, 2nd Period
Narrator 1- Muizz
Narrator 2- Alexandria
Kid- Alyssa
Charlie Bucket- Kenneth
Willy Wonka- Antonio
Grandpa Joe- Troy
Veruca Salt- Hannah
Mr. Salt-Timothy
Augustus Gloop- Adib
Mrs. Gloop- Lauren
Violet Beauregarde- Sasha
Mike Teavee- Zane
The BFG- Skyler
Sophie- Rachel
The Fleshlumpeater- Kody
The Childchewer- Adib
The Bonecruncher- Kenneth
The Meatdripper- Timothy
The Queen of England- Jackie
Matilda Wormwood- Kelsi
Mr. Wormwood- Antonio
Mrs. Wormwood- Jackie
Miss Honey- Sasha
Miss Trunchbull- Zoe
Lavendar- Elizabeth
Nigel- Troy
Bruce Bogtrotter- Zane
Understudies- Rachel and Adib
Crew, 2nd Period
Assistant Director- Elizabeth
Stage Manager- Lauren
Script Monitor- Kody

Cast, 3rd Period
Narrator 1- Alex
Narrator 2- Sophia
Kid- C.J.
Charlie Bucket- Erwin
Willy Wonka- Hunter
Grandpa Joe- Ryan
Veruca Salt- Krystal
Mr. Salt- Michael
Augustus Gloop- Kyle
Mrs. Gloop- Tiffany
Violet Beauregarde- Marty
Mike Teavee- Chase
The BFG- Joshua
Sophie- Shirley
The Fleshlumpeater- Kyle
The Childchewer- Erwin
The Bonecruncher- William
The Meatdripper- Lorenzo
The Queen of England- Ashley
Matilda Wormwood- Emily
Mr. Wormwood- Hunter
Mrs. Wormwood- Daija
Miss Honey- Shebah
Miss Trunchbull- Taylor
Lavendar- Cindy
Nigel- Michael
Bruce Bogtrotter- Lorenzo
Understudies-Ashley and Joshua
Crew, 3rd Period
Assistant Director- Taylor
Stage Manager- Shirley
Script Monitor- Cindy

2008-04-29T20:21:00.000-04:00

Wow!! Excitement is in the air here in Miss Lipsky and Mrs. Matthew's fifth grade class! Why, you might ask, are we so excited? Three big reasons:

1. We are about to start our Class Play, an over the top readers' theater production all about Roald Dahl!

2. Battle of the Books is almost here! The first Battle is this coming Monday. 72 amazing Chets Creek Students will be competing!

3. Mrs. Matthews is going to have a baby!

Stay tuned for more exciting news (hopefully sooner than our last post!)

Change your Mood and fix your Tone!

2008-01-29T12:55:00.000-05:00

Today, we worked on establishing mood and tone in our poetry. Your tone can be happy, angry, excited, frustrated, etc. Your mood can match your tone, a happy tone can go along with a sunny, bright setting. On the other hand, your mood may contrast your tone. You may write in a serious style about a funny topic. Hannah wrote a free verse poem about Chets Creek. Her mood sounds hopeful and happy. Here is Hannah's poem:

Chet Creek shines like
a shooting star in the
dark of night.
Brightening my face as
I walk through the
door.
No longer alone
I can shine.
- Hannah, age 10

Poetry, Poetry, Poetry!

2008-01-28T12:57:00.000-05:00

We are currently studying poetry! Reading and writing poetry is a great way to express opinions and feelings. We have already studied writing similes and metaphors. Alliteration is adding interesting sounds to our writing. Today we are learning about rhyme scheme and free verse poems. Alexa wrote a beautiful poem that we wanted to share. It discusses our theme at Chet Creek Elementary this year: Dreams Begin Here!

Chets Creek beams
with all of our themes
and children's dreams
begin here.
Where you'll never shed a tear
and some alumni still stay near.
To teachers it's a shear joy
to see all the girls and boys.
This school is filled with magical love
as fifth graders all fly above
like wandering doves.
But we are eagles forever and always
and in spirit we're going to
never leave these hallways.
-Alexa, age 11

Alexa's rhyme scheme is A, A, A, B, B, B, C, C, D, D, D, E, F, E. This is a unique rhyme scheme but, as we discussed today, in poetry you can make poems rhyme anyway you'd like! Free verse poems don't have any rhymes. We will post some free verse poems soon!

Goodbye Old Blog!

2008-01-27T20:24:00.000-05:00

Our old blog, Mattskysmoments.blogspot.com has officially logged us out forever! We could sit around and cry about it, but that is not the Lipsky/Matthews way! We are going to forge ahead with a new, better, more amazing, fantastic blog. You can now visit us here at LipskyMatthews.blogspot.com to learn all about the incredible events occurring inside room 219 at Chets Creek Elementary. Thanks for coming back!