Kate's Photos

 Kate Settle came by the classroom in December to take some photos to go with this article. Usually I can't stand photos of myself, but Kate worked her magic and even I like these photos!

This was pretty cool - for a while, we were the profile pic for the Kitchissippi Times Twitter account! I had to capture a screenshot!

Japanese Mom's Photography Project: Dreams - by Gabby

A Japanese mom is guessing what her daughter is dreaming about by making her dreams come to life. By putting ordinary things around the house to make the dream that she thinks she's dreaming of. Such as, guitars, clothes hangers, clothes and more. The baby is sleeping when she takes the pictures.

Link to the article.

This project is really weird. I like building stuff out of random things.

-by Gabby

DOGO News for Kids

In searching for a news article for Gabby, I found another news website for kids. Check out DOGO News!

Teach Kids News Website

I hope you have seen this WONDERFUL website before. If not, please take some time either at school or at home to check it out!

Teach Kids News is a news website designed for students. They have a wide variety of articles that you will be able to read and enjoy.

Article: Rescued Baby Seals are Released

Article

Article: A Victim Treats His Mugger Right

Article

Article: Superhero Window Washers

Superhero Window Washers

Computer Lab Assignment: YOU Are the Reporter

Welcome to the computer lab, boys and girls,

  Today's assignment has you becoming a news reporter! 

  Click on the "articles" label either at the bottom of this post or on the right-hand side of the blog to see all the different articles available to you.

  Read the headlines and the articles. See which one seems the most compelling to you.

  Read the article again and make sure you understand the main idea and the details of it.

  Once you have selected an article and have read it twice, take out your "Reporter's Notebook" (which you have brought up to the lab with you) and take notes on the article. You are NOT copying the article word for word. The notes will be in your own words and will form a summary.

  Here is one way you can write your summary: List the 5 ws and one h. This is a great reporter's tool. Write the answers to who, what, where, when, why and how. You can select an interesting order to answer those questions in. If you answer all of those, your summary will be quite complete.

  Can you come up with any other ways to write a concise summary? 

   After you have written a summary, write an attention-grabbing headline. Your article already has one, but you need to write a new one. Try to out-do the original author of the article by coming up with an even more compelling headline!

  After each of your classmates has finished this assignment, we will host a news show in our classroom and hear all the news reports!

Important Vocabulary 

compelling - something that pops, that is interesting

concise - short and accurate

reporter - someone who shares news with people (through newspaper or on TV or radio)

article - chunk of writing telling you a news story

headline - attention grabbing phrase to describe an article

summary - recap of a story

Hurricane Sandy

My cousin Courtney came and spent a day in Room 209 because she left her home in New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy. Luckily, her family, house and dog were all fine, but they had no power.

We got to ask her lots of questions about what it's like to stay in a house during a hurricane. It sounded pretty scary. Also, we were surprised to hear that Hallowe'en was "postponed" in her town.

Below are several links, some of which we've looked at in class, that will give you a better idea of what's going on in the eastern US because of Hurricane Sandy.

Before and After pictures

Hope After the Hurricane

Children Affected by Hurricane Sandy

Article: NYC Marathon Cancelled

10 Year Olds Take Over Ad Agency

I saw an article and video tonight that I had to share with you, my friends in Room 209.

An advertising agency in Toronto called Grip Limited just celebrated their 10th anniversary. In order to commemorate this, they hired 10 year olds to run the creative parts of the company for a day. The process of planning the ad campaigns and the final results are pretty amazing.

Please watch the video here.

Do you think YOU could run an ad campaign? What company or product would you like to create advertisements for? How would you help them sell their product or service?