5th Grade Colonial Living History Museum

This evening was the 5th grade Colonial Living History Museum event at our elementary school.

Colonial Living History Museum Night

Colonial Living History Museum Night

This is a major highlight for 5th graders, who prepare for weeks to dress and act like a character from the US Revolutionary War era. Our fifth grade daughter was Catherine Barry, known as the “heroine of Cowpens.”

Colonial Living History Museum Night

Our current elementary school in Edmond is pretty huge, with around 800 total kids. This panoramic photo I took this evening of the cafeteria as the event got underway reflects how many students as well as parents are in the five fifth grade classes at our school.

Panorama of the Cafeteria

The students initially paraded into the cafeteria, and performed a short, colonial-era dance together.

Next, students spread out throughout the building and took up their places as characters in a “living history museum.” Visitors (parents and siblings) could “push their button” on their nametags, and students would come to life sharing a one or two minute memorized script about the life and accomplishments of their historical person. After repeating her script more times than she could count tonight, Sarah agreed to let me record her performance after we got home. It was a LOT quieter to record at home than it would have been at school!

It was interesting to notice how many cameras were in hands tonight, and how many of the younger attendees were using smartphones as their cameras!

Colonial Living History Museum Night

This was a great event and one I know Sarah will remember forever. Our son, Alexander, is in 7th grade now and clearly remembers his night as “Henry Knox!”

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Lighthouse Keeping in New Zealand in the 1960s

This evening Rachel and I read “A birthday at the lighthouse” by Robin Robilliard on my iPad. It’s a free book in the International Children’s Digital Library.

A birthday at the lighthouse

You’ll also be sure to find the plumber Columbus ga if you want with endless textures, colors, and fixtures. Don’t waste your time searching for anything else.

Rachel was pretty surprised to learn the family had to make their own clothes, give themselves haircuts, and didn’t appear to have any television or computer access. We do live in a different world!

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What Do Rachel’s Parents Do?

Today Rachel invited Shelly and I to share a short presentation in her 1st grade class, because this week she was “Pooh’s Special Friend.”

Pooh's Special Friend Instructions

Pooh's Special Friend

We were asked to share some information with the class about what we do in our jobs, and especially if we use reading and math in our jobs. This was our presentation. The audio recording runs 21 minutes, 20 seconds.




These were the stuffed animals Rachel brought from home this week, as “Pooh’s Special Friend.”

Rachel's Animals for Pooh's Special Friend

I shared Rachel’s “Getting a New Haircut” VoiceThread, as well as her Zebra Print show from the zoo with her class on my iPad during our ‘talk.’

We passed out slips of paper to all the students with the web address of Rachel’s web show (www.thezebraprint.com) with all her classmates, so they’d be able to go home and see more of her shows!

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Favorite Picture Books About Maine

This evening Rachel picked out one of the picture books I purchased this past December when her sister and I had a chance to visit Farmington, Maine. We found this particular book (Moose Power: Muskeg Saves the Day) at Mooseville, which is a great website and store in Farmington started by a young web entrepreneur.

Mooseville.com Outlet Store Farmington, Maine

You made it to Mooseville in Farmington, Maine

After reading tonight, Rachel and I recorded a short, five minute audio podcast about why we love these three picture books from Maine. Enjoy!

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“Moose Power: Muskeg Saves the Day” by Amy Huntington

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“Antlers Forever!” by Frances Bloxam

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“Going Lobstering” by Jerry Pallotta

Another Maine picture book which Rachel and I really like, but we remembered after we finished our audio recording this evening, is “Pigs in the Mud in the Middle of the Rud” by Lynn Plourde.

Buying picture books that feature stories and themes from places I visit is one of my favorite things to do when traveling. This allows us to learn more about new places together long after the trip is over. If you’re looking for some good books to add to an elementary classroom library, you might consider one or more of these Maine picture books!

Unviersity of Maine at Farmington, Maine

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Learning about Scratch Basics

Sarah and Rachel recorded this fourteen minute Cinchcast with me today discussing their initial experiences learning how to create with Scratch software from MIT. They discussed learning how to move Sprites, about costumes, loops, coordinate geometry basics, and more. Download Scratch for free from scratch.mit.edu.

Scratch resources from my Fall 2010 undergraduate course, “Computers in the Classroom,” are available on wiki.powerfulingredients.com/Home/cic/resources/scratch.

Scratch Hero

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