Blazers Visit Gilbert Park

We had some special guests come to Gilbert Park today.  They are tall and like to slam dunk....Yep, the Portland Trail Blazers!!!  Our guests included Robin Lopez, Thomas Robinson, CJ McCollum, Earl Watson, Will Barton, and Victor Claver.  They were accompanied by some Blazer assistant coaches, Blazer radio broadcaster Antonio Harvey, and of course Blaze the Trail Cat.  They encouraged the students to read everyday, study, and listen to their teachers.  The assistant coach's message was when you look and listen, you will learn.  Antonio Harvey lead the students in a pledge to live, learn, and play.  There was even some silly string spraying by the players on the students.  Gilbert Park received an autographed basketball, the staff received t-shirts and tickets for opening night, and the school received an assembly they will never forget!  Thank you BLAZERS!!!

Reading Group Time

Reading groups are an integral part of our reading program here at Gilbert Park.  Students are divided into groups by their reading levels and receive small group reading instruction.  All the groups work on the same reading skill while using different books at their level!  While the reading groups are going on, the students who are not meeting are quietly working on their reading skills by silently reading.  These students are also given a reading task to work on.  A big thank you to Ms. Chin for being in this class and teaching the RED group and Mr. Kertay for teaching the YELLOW group.  I instruct the BLUE and GREEN group and the ORANGE group runs themselves.  Ms. Chin's group just finished reading The Littles and are moving into Forces and Motion.  Mr.  Kertay's group just finished Frog and Toad and are now reviewing the Viking text we read in class.  My groups are reading The Thief Lord and the ORANGE group is reading Savvy.

Zenger Farms Field Trip

The students of Room 24 had a wonderful time at their first Zenger Farms field trip of the year.  They started the day learning about ORGANISMS and what four characteristics they need to be considered an organism.  They next toured the farm and got to taste many of the crops like kale, peppers, fennel, beets, and many more!  They got to see and pet the chickens, turkeys, and saw the bee hives.  In the afternoon, they performed service work.  They picked weeds, sifted through compost, planted plants, and fluffed dirt.  The worked SO hard!

 

 

Here are some thoughts on the field trip by some students:

Are you a FLEXIBLE thinker?

Zach and Porter created a video to demonstrate the other success skill we are working on this term, Flexibility.  Great job boys!!!

Introduction

The WRONG WAY

A GREAT example of FLEXIBLE thinking

Some more great examples of FLEXIBLE thinking:

Curriculum Login

Our new curriculum, Forward, has a component that enables students to login to the curriculum and do some extra studying, review lessons, and do assignments.  I gave the students their login information today and instructed them to look around.  I will link the website below.

The other site that I encouraged the students to visit is iXL.  iXL is a site for extra math study.  It has problems that cover all the standards.  I will assign iXL homework starting next week.


Forward Login

Zenger Farms Field Trip Next Tuesday, October 15th

The students of Room 24 will go on a walking field trip to Zenger Farms next Tuesday, October 15th.  We will leave the school no later than 9:10 and walk directly to Zenger Farms.  The purpose of this field trip is to educate the students on ecosystems.  This is a partnership between the farm and David Douglas, so in return for them teaching our students about ecosystems and the environment, the students will in turn help the farm by weeding, mixing compost, picking up fruit, etc.  This is a very fulfilling field trip, because the students give back to the community by helping out the farm.

I sent home permission slips last Thursday and they are due by the end of this week.  I would love for some chaperones to come along to experience this worthwhile field trip!  Please let me know if you are interested and make sure your to fill out the Volunteer Form located in the front office.

I'll make sure to post pictures and videos of our experience!  Have a great day!

Attached is a copy of the permission slip.

Zenger Farm Permission Slip