The Lily Pad: Landmarks and Power Points

Landmarks and Power Points

This week and last week students have spent several days in the computer lab researching a famous US landmark or monument. Students are learning more about Yellowstone National Park, The Gateway Arch, Carlsbad Caverns, The Washington Memorial, The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, The Great Salt Lake, etc. They are finding the monuments location, several keys facts, photos, and a map. They are using this information to create a Powerpoint presentation. We are almost done with this project and students will be presenting them to each other sometime next week. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me at the lab but I promise photos next week! I will also try to find a way to share the presentations with you.

Triangles, Right Angles, Polygons
In our math workshop partnerships have been examining and constructing polygons, in particular triangles, and right angles. We will be constructing other polygons next week. Students are solidifying their understanding of what is and what is not a polygon. Students are learning new vocabulary to supplement their learning: vertex, vertices, angles, edges, line segments, etc.

Writing Scenes for our Fiction Stories
This week in our writer's workshop, students have been working hard to develop the plot for their stories, keeping their character in mind. We learned that fiction writers walk in the shoes of their characters in order to create complex and interesting plots. We have been practicing this with a class story and then transferring this new found knowledge to their own stories and characters. Our class story is about a 3rd grade girl who has recently moved to a new town and is struggling to make friends. To make matters worse, there is a class bully who is making her life miserable. We developed this character and we are using her strengths and struggles to create interesting rising action.

Our writers are writing about characters who are being bullied, characters who want to excel at a sport but have to overcome an obstacle, characters who have to overcome fears, etc. These stories are taking shape and the student authors are doing amazing work. I have seen such growth in all the students as writers. They are adding dialogue, action, and internal thoughts to their writing and are becoming more independent with their revisions.

Timeline of the Capitol
Along with research of landmarks, we have again returned to studying more about the early days of Madison and how Madison became a city. We learned that land in the Madison area was being offered for $1.25 an acre! This pulled many people to migrate and immigrate to this area. Students read about a man named James Doty and discovered why he was so influential in early days of Madison.

James Duane Doty

Students also learned about the three different capitol building that were in Madison. We learned some interesting fun facts about our capitol and were amazed to learn that pigs were kept in the basement of the first capitol building, that the second capitol building was destroyed by a fire and that the volume of the current capitol building is larger (but shorter) than our nation's capitol in Washington, DC. Students then worked on creating a timeline of Madison as a capitol.