Author: anne1011

Nature’s Classroom By Anna

anne1011 0 - NATURE'S CLASSROOM, 6th Grade Writers
Last week the whole middle school went to Connecticut. We didn’t just go to have fun, we went to learn. We went to this place called Nature’s Classroom. My favorite part of the trip was going to the beach. We didn’t get to go swimming at the beach, because we were there to learn about all the animals and sea creatures that live there. My friend and I found a rock that looked like a chair. We sat on the rock, humming to  snails in our hands. Our field group leader told us that the snail would come out of it’s shell if we hummed. Sadly, the snail that I hummed to didn’t come fully out of its shell.
We also saw some seals laying out in the sun. They were a little far away so it was hard to see them. We got to look through a pair of binoculars but I still couldn’t see the seals very well. The part of the beach that we saw the seals, had all rocks and shells but no sand. When we went to the other part of the beach it was all sand. I found a bunch of cool things on the beach like sea glass and some cool shells. My friend found a dead spider crab that looked really scary. We weren’t allowed to keep any of the shells. We could only keep sea glass and other things that were man made. One kid in my field group even found an old tire.
By now you are probably wondering what a field group is. A field group is some kids in your grade and a teacher from Nature’s Classroom. And now back to the beach… After we had explored most of the beach we had lunch that consisted of a sandwich, chips and Oreos. Seagulls were flying up above everyone. There were two brown seagulls and they were pretty awesome.
After lunch we went to the nature center. The nature center had live snakes and turtles. You couldn’t hold any of them. There was also some other real animals but they were stuffed. In the basement of the nature center there was a touch tank. In the  touch tank they had a huge lobster, some crabs and another sea creature I don’t know the name of. I got to pet the lobster. I was the first to touch the lobster in my field group, I was a little scarred at first but then I overcame my fear.  It was really cool to be able to touch a huge lobster. I had only touched a small lobster before. I also got to hold the crabs. They were fast so I had to get one quickly. I wasn’t that afraid to pick one up because in 3rd grade my friend and I got a lot of crabs out of the ocean. The only reason I was afraid was because they might pinch me. Luckily none of the crabs pinched me. My only one complaint with the touch tank was that my shirt got  wet even though I had rolled up my sleeve.
When we got to leave the touch tank we went behind the nature center and there were some bones and a dead pelican. My friend and I sat on some sculptures that looked like shells. We didn’t want to look at the dead bird. We only had a limited time left to look at the bones and dead bird, and then we had to load the bus. I was sad to be leaving the beach because I love beaches and I had a really good time.

S.L.C by Anna

anne1011 0 - Student Led Conferences, 6th Grade Writers
Schools usually have parent teacher conference where the teacher talks about the students, but we at PDS have to talk about ourselves in front of our parents. Basically the students talk about how they are doing in their subjects, their achievements, their disappointments and lastly their goals. After you talk about all of that, you set a goal with your parents and teacher. We just had our student led conferences last week so we had Thursday off.
To prepare for the student led conferences, we read our report cards and highlighted the things we thought were achievements and the things that we thought were challenges. Then we had to choose some work from our classes to show our parents how we had improved and our challenges. We also had to fill out some work sheets to help us talk to our parent during our conference. In our classes we filled out reflections. The reflections were to help us reflect on ourselves and also to help us prepare for the conference.
I was really nervous about the presentation at first. I had never had a student led conference before (because this is my first year at this school). The conference went by really quickly and I didn’t mess up anything. I am always nervous before a presentation, but what I have learned is you need to be a little nervous. What I am trying to point out is that sometimes you need to be nervous for success.
I learned that I am getting better at giving presentations. I have never really been that good at giving presentations and now I am getting better. Last year we had a lot of reports and by the end of the year I still wasn’t too good. I have definitely learned a lot about public speaking this school year. I worked for a couple of days a week on this S.L.C. and I am proud of myself.

Imagination day By Anna

anne1011 0 - Imagination Day, 6th Grade Writers

At school we had a day where students could teach each other. Not all students had to teach, but I did. I also took a class on running, in addition to teaching brownies. I had a really fun time teaching, I taught middle students all about baking brownies. In the class we baked brownies and I had a fun time. I was really nervous about teaching. The night before, I was worried that something would go wrong. I also thought that some of the older kids might not like the class. Once I started teaching the class went well. In my running class an 8th grader taught the class. You might think, well what can I learn about running? Well there is a lot to know about running. When you are done running you might feel an endorphin rush. Some people don’t think they are real but it is where you are relaxed after you run. Also it is good to stretch before and after you run. It helps you loosen your muscles. Also when you are done running you should walk a little bit so then you don’t pull anything. I had a really fun time and I think all schools should do this.

Meeting Colbie Caillat By Anna

anne1011 0 - Choice Topics, 6th Grade Writers

A year ago I was in the city with my friend Sophia, going to see one of our favorite singers Colbie Caillat. I was so exited!!! My friend Sophia’s Dad mixes for Colbie Caillat, so I got to meet her. Once we got to the Roseland ballroom we showed our tickets and got to go on this platform that was separate from where most other people were. Before we got onto the platform, we had to show our V.I.P passes.
My friend and I were speechless because we were so exited. Once the show started we were silent but two bands took forever preforming before Colbie Caillat got on stage. When she started singing time flew by. I took as many pictures with my new camera as I could. I didn’t quite know how use my camera, so the pictures I took looked like they were from far away.
When the concert was we got to go backstage. My friend and I waited in a little line and then we got to meet Colbie. She was really nice to us. When we were done talking to her we got to go and sit in her dressing room where most of the people with backstage passes were. After an hour or so we got ready to go. Before we left Sophia and I got to talk to Colbie some more. It was a really fun night and I hope to meet Colbie Caillat another day.

Letter to Denis by Anna

anne1011 0 - In The Footsteps of Marco Polo, 6th Grade Writers

Hello Denis,
I was one of the kids in your audience at Vassar College. I really enjoyed listening to you tell us about your trip. My class had seen the video that you and Francis made. I was surprised that no one wanted to publish your book at first. I really liked all your pictures. The pictures really show all the different places you have been. I would love to go on the journey you took as it sounds like so much fun. It was a great experience to be able to meet you.

-Anna

What makes a great student. By Anna

anne1011 6th Grade Writers
A great student has to be willing to learn what the teacher is teaching them. A student also needs to pay attention in class instead of day dreaming. I also think that a student needs to not blame the teacher if they get a bad grade or they think the teacher is being unfair when the teacher is not being unfair. A great student also has to be fair to the other kids around them. For example, if one student is singing and another student asked them to stop, the other student should stop. Also if a teacher says something, but the student does not understand what the teacher is saying the student should ask the teacher what they said. Those are just a few basic guidelines to being a great student.

What makes a great teacher? By Anna

anne1011 6th Grade Writers
To be a great  teacher a person needs to enjoy teaching. Also a teacher would should make learning as fun as a teacher could, for students to enjoy school. To be a great teacher the teacher would work with the students instead of against them. For example, giving them way to much home work in one night does not work. A great teacher would not favor one kid over another or exclude one kid in any activity. A great teacher would give kids freedom but not too much so the kids won’t get out of hand. Those are just some of my guidelines to being a great teacher.

My favorite Web 2.0 tool by Anna

anne1011 6th Grade Writers

In class we just started using this website called Edmodo. It is like Facebook but you don’t have to give any personal information. You also have to have a code to join any group, so no random people can see pictures of you. This website helps in my class because now when we have a snow day we can communicate with each other so we don’t have to miss out on school. Edmodo is my favorite tool in the classroom because it helps me communicate with my class in a fun way.

Challenge 10 by Anna

anne1011 0 - Blogging Challenge, 6th Grade Writers
I have written 11 post on our blog and I am proud of all 11 of them. I worked hard on all my posts and I hope people enjoy them. I have written six posts that were school based, three of my own interests and two challenges. It is interesting to read all the post I have written and it is fun to look back at all of them.
I have gotten 2 comments from teachers, 1 from a classmate and 3 from relatives. I received most of my comments on two of my posts and I had two comments on win win win and a scary story I wrote. I think this happened because for my scary story, my parents both commented on it , Ms.Waters commented on my win win win post and the head of my school also commented, so that would make them the most popular.
I enjoyed writing  about what I did over the summer because it helped me remember what I did over the summer. We did not change our blog theme because it would mess up the blog. We only have 11 widgets and I think we could use a few more because you can never have too many widgets.

Edgar Allan Poe by Anna

anne1011 6th Grade Writers

Edgar Allan Poe was born in 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts, and died in 1849 in Baltimore. Edgar Allan Poe’s parents both died when he was a young child. He was taken in by John Allan, a merchant. John Allan never legally adopted Poe, so  Edger took  Allan as his middle name. Poe wrote many short stories and poems but not many of them sold, so he worked for some magazines where some of his work became famous. Poe married his 13-year-old cousin Virginia Clemm in 1836. Poe edited for The Broadway Journal, which failed, so then he moved into a cottage with his wife in the Bronx. Virginia died in the cottage in 1846  from a broken blood vessel. Poe was found on the streets on October 3, 1849, three years after Virginia died, he was delirious, he was taken to a hospital and died there on October 7, 1849. Poe became really famous for his short and scary stories like The Tell Tale Heart.

The Tell Tale Heart is a story we read out loud in class. It is really scary, not in the sense that it is horrifying but it is written in a way that you don’t know what is going to happen. Here is a scary sentence from The Tell Tale Heart, “ I cut off the head and the arms and the legs.” Edgar Allan Poe is also really descriptive, he has a great vocabulary of words, but since he lived a while ago some of the words are not from the present day. Here is a sentence to show you how descriptive he is, “The disease had sharpened my senses — not destroyed — not dulled them.” Poe’s Tell Tale Hart is a really scary story and if you don’t believe me then read the story yourself.

I think The Tell Tale Heart was a well chosen title for the story because the beating of the main character’s heart gives him away to the police. The main character is the killer. He thinks that the heart he hears beating is his victim’s so the killer tells the police where the body lay. I think Poe got his plot and characters from everyday life. He might have read a story or article about a murder and he might have known someone who was like the main character.
I think Edgar Allan Poe was a successful writer because he was one of the first people to write and publish short stories. He was also a very talented writer who wrote stories that were scary and not scary all at the same time. He is also successful because people still read his work today. I have read part of another story of Poe’s and I want to read more. I want to read all of his stories because he is such a talented writer. I would advise you to go and read Edgar Allan Poe’s stories too.
I got this picture from fliker cc