Frosty Situation

We have been making gingerbread houses in 5P.
We each brought in any candy that we could stick on the houses with a icing that taste like candy. Also, we brought in mini cereal boxes and juice boxes. The next day we started making the houses. It was a sticky situation!
The hardest part was putting on the cream. When we put on the candy Gabriel declared, “ This is very complicated!” Because when we put on the graham cracker walls they kept falling because if we hit the tables, the wall would collapse. And worst of all, we had to resist the sweet candy. One hour and thirty minutes we finally finished with our mouths drooling. This was an excellent experience and taught us how not to be afraid to add detail and to resist temptation.
In other words, save the best for last!

Finally, when we finished the gingerbread houses were delicious masterpieces.

By,
Nicholas K. and Nicholas L.

The Buzz of Reading

In 5P reading is one of the most important things. We have a cozy little area in our room called the Book Nook. It is filled with great books of many genres, sizes, and lengths. Some are tall and small and some aren’t. Each book is as different as the kids in the room. The Book Nook also comfy beanbags and mostly stuffed pillows (about 100% of the class prefers beanbags.)
I asked Soraya what her favorite book from the classroom library is and started thinking into the past, “My favorite book from the Book Nook is Because of Winn-Dixie is my favorite book and I started it at month and finished it… uhh… yesterday.” Ms. Pollock still has books from when she was young like: The Secret World of Teddy Bears and Light in the Attic, in our classroom library. We also have a huge school library filled thousands of books, encyclopedias, and our school yearbooks. Got to go 5P has got independent reading.
By:Ria

5P Extraordinary Hobbies By: Aya Abou-Jaoude

In 5P there is a great range of hobbies like: Sports, drawing, singing, dancing, reading, cooking, writing, and watching movies. I went and asked everyone to fill out a survey on their hobbies. They filled out the survey then returned them to me so I could make a graph. At the end we can realize that Sports and Watching movies are the most common and favorite hobby. If you want to hang out with your friends sports and watching movies might be a good choice.

The Marvelous Mind Maps

Our class, 5Pollock have been making mind maps about early humans. If you don’t know what a mind map is, we will tell you. A mind map is a way of organizing topics and sub-topics together. We used mind maps to help us combine all parts of information from our research.

Our resource for this topic is a site called www.becominghuman.org.
This website had four main topics. They were called Evidence, Anatomy, Culture, and Lineages. We wrote on our mind maps the four main topics mentioned. Our sub-topics were found in every documentary and articles located in the site written above.

We had a choice to make two types of mind maps; one was made on the computer using Inspiration and another was by hand. In this process we had to illustrate to help us visualize the subject we were learning. We got some pictures by drawing and off the computer. Mind maps are also useful for studying; the way the mind map is made is a fun way of learning. Mind maps can be fun because when you draw the topic branches you can be creative and draw the branch as the thing you are drawing the branch about!

Just recently we have finished a survey asking if the students thought that the mind maps were useful for their studying. Most people thought mind maps were just right for organizing our ‘Early Human’ research. You try it too!

By: Yeo-Jin, Brinda, Soraya

The Library: The Comfortable Learning Center

Our class enjoys going to the Library frequently. In the first few months of 5th grade we had fun programs that include biomes, PowerPoint, and other activities in the library. We've learned biographies, folktales, and fiction books. We also used World Book Encyclopedia Online. Recently we did a fun activity to help us know how to find a good website. We wanted to find information about octopuses, and found a site full of fake pictures and information about a make-believe tree octopus! We learned how to find out if a site is usable and truthful. Mrs. Masad the librarian teaches us lots of things that we use in the library. Some are how to renew books, how to check in and out, and how to use book sticks.

Mrs. Masad says that there are two things that 5th graders need to know, how to find books, and to know how to research. 5th graders are only allowed to check out 5 books. Besides having all kinds of books, the Library is a very comfortable and colorful place. There are many beanbags and soft chairs. The Library is also a place to do homework. After school many kids gather in the library to do their homework. The Library is open from 7:30 to 4:00. At recess quite a few children come to the Library. They don’t come in just to read. They also come into to relax, since it’s boiling hot outside.

Here's the link to our Elementary Library!

All About Art

Creative Thinking

Through out the first couple months with Mr. Marshall in the art room we have been working on a lot of interesting and fun projects. We have done Line Segments, Face Carvings, and Logo’s for a community service company called G.A.I.A. and now we are working on Cave Art settings. Mr. Marshall and his assistant Mrs. Carol have been excellent teachers so far. And every day we are more and more excited to see them and ask what our next project is going to be. We love how in the art room, we know that it is a place to have fun and chill but we also know that Mr. Marshall won’t let us get too out of control! We have tons of inside jokes with him and we love how laid back he is!! We have had loads of fun with Mr. Marshall through out the year and cant wait for the next art class!!!!

Up close and personal with the one, the only, Mr. Marshall…

Mr. Isaac Marshall age 27 studied art in Portland State University. He grew up in the “scenic and lush, green land of the great North West in the U.S.A.” He realized he wanted to be an art teacher after he finished his college degree in graphic design. The two things he wanted to do most were work with kids and work with them in art. Becoming a teacher became his ultilmate goal!!!! Isaac taught 5th and 6th grade at Sabin School in Portland. “ I am married to the most beautiful girl in the whole wide world- Jenni Marshall 2nd grade teacher at A.S.D.” quotes Mr. Marshall. I hope you learned a lot about Mr. Isaac Marshall because I can guarantee you we have!!!

Visit Mr. Marshall's website is for pictures of art class!!!



- Darby and Avantika

The World of Guppies

By Georgia Saad


In our class we have been doing a science project on guppies. We were put in four different groups. After one day we brought some objects like rocks, corals, shells, and all sorts of sea objects in the aquarium. All four of the fish aquariums looked amazing.
Each aquarium had a male and a female guppy. They were all about the same size. The female was almost transparent, but the male has an orange tale. When the girl is pregnant you can see a little black dot inside of her that keeps getting bigger. After about 20-40 days the mom would give birth to the baby guppies. Unlike any other fish, guppies hatch inside their mother’s stomach, and give live birth.
One of the guppies in one of the groups got a baby girl. As soon as someone noticed the baby everybody gathered around to see it. It was probably about half a centimeter long, or less. The baby also needs a few hiding places, because it’s parents would try to eat it.
We’ll continue to observe the guppies and tell you if there are any more babies.