As Spring Break approaches, sometimes 5th and 6th graders are in need of some reminders as to what kindness means. Our read-aloud the past two months has been “Wonder” by RJ Palacio, so this theme of kindness fits right into our room.  A new picture book, “We’re All Wonders,” also by RJ Palacio (intended for younger readers to access the story) came out recently and the kids were excited to be finished with the novel so we could read the picture book.

Once we read the picture book together, we started discussing kindness. We began by  brainstorming a list of ideas and created an anchor chart for kindness.  Then, I asked the kids to think of all the ways that people were not very kind to Auggie (the main character).  The kids were able to fill our entire circle map in no time; it was easy to recall how people would scream in his face, recoiling at the way he looked. They remembered the names Auggie was called and the no-touching game that was played.

Next, I asked the students to think about how they personally treat others and how they could make better choices when speaking to others and show kindness to our classmates.  The kids were excited for our next step- incorporating an art project into our theme of kindness.

This afternoon brought fun with the TK/K class. Since it was such a pretty day today, instead of our weekly reading time with our buddies, we played a game of kick ball and had fun with collaborative chalk art on the blacktop.

Mrs. Becker’s second visit to Room 5 was packed full of fun tasks with clay. Students added colored slip to their very fragile greenware (unfired clay) pinch pot animals. On her next visit, Mrs. Becker gave a great demo on making slabs from a ball of clay. Soon after, students got to work creating their own functional or aesthetic slab piece. They had fun using textured bits that were found in nature at their recess to create impressions on their slabs. That same day, students added colored slip to their slabs and we sent both the pinch pot animals and the colored slip home with Mrs. Becker to fire in her kiln.

Her fourth time to our classroom our most simple day with clay yet; we added clear glaze to our bisqueware (clay that’s been fired once) and sent our pieces home with Mrs. Becker for its second and final time in the kiln. She delivered them to Room 5 last week and everyone was overjoyed to see the final results. We spent time on a “gallery walk” around the classroom, looking at everyone’s work and then discussed and gave shout outs to students whose art stood out.

The months of January and February were spent practicing our informative writing skills. Each student got to pick the subject he or she wanted to research, and spent time collecting and organizing information from credible sources. Once students were finished planning, drafting, revising and editing, and “publishing” their informational essay, they got to work creating Google Doc presentations to share what they learned with the class. It has been so nice to see everyone’s artistic slideshows over the past week. 

Our visiting artist from the Mariposa Art Council’s Artist in the School Program, Phyllis Becker, lead her first successful class in Room 5 today. Our classroom turned into a ceramic studio as she gave a slideshow of ancient pottery and gave a pinch-pot demo. Everyone had so much fun once they all got to work creating a pinch-pot turned animal! We also learned some basic ceramic terminology such as: bisqueware, greenware, glazeware, slipping, and scoring. The seven visits we have left with Ms. Becker will fly by!

We enjoyed a nice day at the Ag. Expo at Mariposa Elementary Today. Students learned about welding, farming equipment, and care for livestock in different stations hosted by students from M.C.H.S.