Challenge #2

Our students in response to the Challenge #2 our students created their own M&M Character.  We loved the site and suggest that Miss Wyatt add it to the list of potential avatar creators. As half-creator of the C-O Connections, Mrs. Odom has posted all about these creations on her blog that is linked at the top of our class blog. You can Read all About It on Odom’s Sweets. We have also posted on Jan Mader’s blog, Ignite to Write, which has some excellent open-ended sentences to motivate writing.

At the end of the challenge this week, we were asked to be careful about what kinds of personal information we posted.  To the question, “When do you think it is appropriate for students to use real photos of themselves on their blogs and why?” we post real photos on our campus blog when students have earned honors or been acknowledged for student accomplishments. However, we never post first and last names together with photos. We have one of the best technology instructors, Mrs. Peery, and she has some outstanding lessons on her blog, Keystrokes on internet safety.

On the advice of Miss Wyatt, we did visit and read 8 Commandments for Bloggers. He has some helpful rules and we discussed these with our students. Again, Mrs. Peery also has some Rules for Commenting that you might find useful for younger bloggers.

Finally, we want to share a little bit more about our school so that you have a glimpse into our school day. We are a small East Texas school and would like to share our campus with you here in this slide presentation.

buses



Challenge #1 – Thanks for the Pingback!

Blog orange

Once again for the third year, the C-O Connections are participating in the International Student Blog Challenge. We were so excited this week when we read about the first student challenge in the Challenge 1.  Part of the challenge was to update your “About” page to reflect your 2010 students, and there right on the fourth bullet was OUR BLOG, CO CONNECTIONS, cited as an example to all. Thanks so much, Sue Wyatt and Sue Waters for encouraging and motivating students to write. This has really revved up their motors.

We have customized our theme, revised our About page, added the Edublogger badge to our sidebar, and visited the blogs listed on either side of ours in the student challenge listing. So now in order to complete Challenge 1, we would like to tell you why you should visit our blog.

Alex thinks you should visit our blog because there are lots of activities here, like our Game page. We also like to link lots of fun things into each of our posts. You can also find out a lot of information about us and our community by looking at the sides of our blog.

Kristen said that you will see that it snowed here last year. Now this is really something because we rarely get snow. Once it snowed on Valentine’s Day when we were studying the book Snowflake Bentley and we took a snow day. Also, we have a new class this year called Healthy Bodies and it is teaching our students to exercise and eat healthier.

Adrian comments that too much junk food can make you fat.

Mrs. Odom thinks you should visit our blog because we have links to all of our campus blogs  listed on the right sidebar. Also, you will find links to the Blog Challenges.  Some of our favorite blogs which we still follow are linked and if you will hover your mouse over the titles you will see a description, or location of that blog. This is very helpful to students when looking for a place to comment.

Mrs. Cranford thinks you could spend hours surfing around this class blog. She especially wants to invite you to visit “Mrs. Cranford’s World” because she has pictures of her grandchildren there. See if you can find them.   Another great link is to our Moodle Courses. These are online lessons. You can login as a guest using the name given to you on the home page of Moodle. You can go into the Course INDEX which contains ALL of the teachers’ lessons. If your school has Moodle lessons, Mrs. Cranford will email you any lessons you want to import into your own course.

Spend some time with us on C-O Connections.

Facts4Me and Trees

636cdWe are now enjoying the fall season. Outside our classroom window we can see the leaves as they are changing colors almost daily. What a beautiful time of the year!

During this week, students will be learning about John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed. He is credited as the individual responsible for the introduction of apple trees in America.

Please go to the  Assignments Online page at the top of our blog and click on letter A, B, or C.  Print out the pdf file and enjoy  answering these questions about trees using the research database for children, FACTS4ME.

When you have finished and turned in your paper, you may want to watch “Maine’s Autumn Magic”. This video explains why the leaves change color in the fall. USA Today also has an interactive site that shows students what happens to leaves as the weather changes.  Thank you to Richard Byrne and Larry Ferlazzo for these great sites.

U. S. Constitution Day

Constitution2Friday, September 17th, is U. S. Constitution Day and we wondered just how much our students knew about the history of this memorable document.  Recently our fifth grade social studies teacher, Mrs. McFall, posted on her class blog, Historical Moments, some interesting facts about our United States Flag. The history of any country is not just past events that soon become forgotten, but steps that slowly shape and give reason and purpose to the future of that country.

So just how much of your country’s past do you know?

As citizens of a free country, we must never take for granted the high price that was paid by others to ensure that we are still guaranteed that freedom from day to day.  So stop today and think about the history of your community, your state, and your country.

Then take a look at the symbols below and see if you know the meaning behind any of them. If you are a student reading this blog post who does not live in the United  States, please leave us a comment and tell us about the symbols of your country. If you have a picture, you may email it to [email protected].

Here are some sites that may help you.

NOTE: IN ONE OF THE COMMENTS LEFT ON OUR BLOG POSTING, Mrs. Tatiana, World Star Academy, left this link. Click to participate in an interactive reliving of the constitutional convention.

http://games.sunnylandsclassroom.org/Preview/Games/ConstitutionalConvention/Default.aspx

eagles uncle sampledge bell seal symbols

Salute to Careers

careersWe are celebrating Labor Day by saluting a variety of careers. There are limitless career choices, but we will take a look at just a few of them. You will need to visit the Online Assignment page and click on the letter that your teacher assigns for you.  Complete the five questions and turn in your assignment to your teacher. After you finish, you may want to look around the site Facts4Me and read about other careers.

Have you ever thought about what you might want to be when you grow up? Be sure to leave me a comment and let me know.

Labor Day Holiday

[Video Credit to CBS News]
Schools will be closed on Monday to celebrate Labor Day. Labor Day celebrates American workers, but not everyone will be off from work on this Monday even though it is a national holiday. However, government offices, schools, and banks will lock their doors. Do you think this is fair? Could every business in America close on the same day? Why or why not? Can you think of another national holiday that is not celebrated by all people? Do you think that people in all countries celebrate the same holidays as we do in the United States? Let me know your thoughts.

School Lunches

School Lunch

Well it is that time again and school has begun.  One of my favorite times during the school day is LUNCH TIME.  Sometimes I bring my lunch and at other times I eat in the school cafeteria.  Our cafeteria tries really hard to plan a well-balanced meal each day, and I do like some of those meals.

I would like to know what is your favorite meal served by your school cafeteria.  If you are a student at White Oak, please tell me which days are your favorite days to buy your lunch.  If you are NOT a White Oak student, please share with us some of the meals cooked by your cafeteria.

Click here to see our school lunch menu.

End of School – Beginning of Summertime

summertime

Where did this school year go?  It seems like we just bought new folders, sharp crayons, and fresh pencils, but the folders are now ragged around the edges, the crayons are all blunt on the ends, and the pencils…..who can find a pencil?

So what are you summer plans? Will you be taking a vacation out of town or will you just use this time for resting and refueling for the next school year?

We are interested in hearing all about it, so please leave us a comment and share those plans with us.