School-wide Poetry Month: Day Twenty-Six (Bria)

I chose "Us" because today is my sister's birthday and she is turning 18. I also pick this poem because me and my sister always disagree. I would love my sister to see this because this does show how much I love my her. Happy birthday Chelsea!

Us 
Me and him
Him and me,
We're always together
As you can see.
I wish he'd leave
So I'd be free
I'm getting a little bit
Tired of he,
And he may be a bit
Bored with me.
On movies and ladies
We cannot agree.
I love to dance
He loves to ski.
He loves the mountains
I love the sea.
I like hot chocolate
He wants his tea.
I want to sleep
He has to pee.
He's meaner and duller
And fatter than me.
But I guess there's worse things
We could be--
Instead of two we could be three,
Me and him
Him and me.
Poem ©Shel Silverstein. All rights reserved.

Plymouth Murals (by Allie, Bria and Ellis)

Introduction
Now in Social Studies, we're studying the Pilgrims. We're making murals from big events in the Pilgrim's lifetime. Before this, we were writing journals of different Pilgrims: Stephen Hopkins, Giles Hopkins, Francis Cooke, John Billington, etc. From this (the events of Plymouth) we are drawing murals that will become fully painted and creative. We have seen many murals that take place in a Pilgrim's lifetime, so now we have amazing ideas for our murals. We hope you enjoy reading about the making of our murals!

Day One: Drawing with a Grid:
On the first day, Marc (Zack's dad) came in so we could start drawing our murals. We split into the following groups:

• The Mayflower Compact: Jane, Ellis, Allie, Bria
• Wampanoag Village: Katya, Sabina, Adina, Sydney
• The First Thanksgiving: Zack, Jonathan, Dylan, Elliot
• The First Encounter (with the Wampanoag): Jack, Michael, Sam
• Life in Plymouth: Alec, Andrew, Eric, Jason
• Journey of the Mayflower: Mayu, Ava, Leela
• Landing in the New World: Ida, Chloe, Emma, Charlotte

First, we drew our sketches on small pieces of yellow paper and added a 1 inch by 1 inch grid. Then, we drew a grid on large brown paper that was 3 inches by 3 inches. We drew all the big shapes on the paper from the little drawing. After this, we did all the details. Marc showed us pictures of murals so we could have a good idea of what murals look like. On day two, we will paint! All of our murals were very successful! We appreciated all the parents who helped on Day One!

Day Two: Painting Day

Zack's dad Marc came back to help us with painting our murals, as well as several other parents. Parents helped the groups mix different colors. Zack's dad encouraged us to think about colors and what's realistic for Plymouth. The parents did a good job with alternating in the different stations. That day was important because we put color into our murals. We painted the big spaces first. At the end, every mural was perfect, and we couldn't have done such a good job with our murals if the parents didn't volunteer and help a lot. 

Day Three: Details

Details. Details. Details. That's what we did on the third day. We did drawings and paintings before, so today was focused on details. With the detail part you can still be creative. You can mostly add any details as long as it's OK with your group. You get to use colored pencils and crayons to add details. It might not sound fun, but with those tools it really helps improve the quality of the murals a lot. Details are fun and can help your paintings. We call this detail day! 

Check out our upcoming posts to see pictures of our finished murals!

Spaceheadz Book Review (by Bria)

Spaceheadz is a must-read book in fourth grade. For example, it's something that you would get hooked on. One reason this book got me hooked is that Michael K. does stuff that you think he might not even do. Another reason is that the characters are different from the characters in other books. One reason I think this book has different characters than other books is that they think really differently than other books and have different personalities. Last but not least is that you can learn a few things in the whole book and really in the end. In Spaceheadz, I learned that people are not always what they seem. As you can see Spaceheadz is a good book for everybody, and I mean everybody. So I hope you read this because I love it and it was one of the greatest books that I read of all time!

Nerds and The Merman (by Bria and Jane)

Title: The Merman
Author: Dick King Smith
Stars: (One being the worst;  five being the best):





Comments: A very moving story that gets you hooked FAST! It makes you want to keep on reading it for  HOURS! Very EMOTIONAL! You will LOVE the story, THE MERMAN!

-Bria

Title: Nerds 1
Author: Michael Buckley
Stars: (One being the worst; five being the best):



Comments: A great, hilarious story with tons of action! Great characters with real personalities! Will satisfy the reader with a thirst for action!

-Jane