Hour of Code is Coming!

December 4-10

Hour of Code takes place every year during Computer Science Education Week. Students in over 180 countries participate. At South School we will participate in our own coding activities during the week of December 18-21st. Anytime is a good time to learn about code. Check out these websites below. Remember, children under the age of 13 should not create their own accounts but parents can do it for you.

Places you can go to code.

Code.org (web based)

Kodable (App)

Tynker (App)

Swift Playgrounds (Apple App)

Scratch and Scratch Jr. (from MIT)

Hour of Code

Big Blue Sea!

Kindergarten and First Graders are listening to books about creatures from the Big Blue Sea! Ask them what they have learned about whales and sharks and visit some of these resources for more information.

Discovery Kids has great videos, games, and coloring pages for kids. LINK

National Geographic Kids has a playlist of great shark videos. LINK

Here's a video about blue whales. LINK

Don't forget these websites on the left side of the screen, Britannica Encyclopedia, Pebble Go, Brain Pop, Arkive, San Diego Zoo, and Seaworld. You'll find them in the 590s, the Dewey Decimal number where information about animals can be found in the library.

Prevent Summer Slide!

Prevent summer slide with some of these simple activities.

Visit the Learning Commons Online, eslibraries.blogspot.com.

Read, Read, Read!

Listen to audio books, read magazines, books, websites, street signs… whatever you can find. Read with a buddy, read to your dog, read to a neighbor, just keep reading!

1. Sign up for the summer reading program at your local public library.
2. Read all of the books that are nominated for the Maine Student Book Award (grades 4-8) or the Chickadee Award, grades K-4.
3. Visit the South Learning Commons website for links to these free sites
1. StoryNory
2. Story Line Online
3. The Story
4. Open eBooks (Each student should have a personal username and password for this. It only works on an iPad.)
5. Tumblebooks (paid for by South School)
6. Our library has digital books that you can read on any device. Just go to the online library catalog and click on Destiny Discover. At the top right click on “Collections” and choose eBooks. Each child has a district username and password they can use to sign in with.
4. Get a subscription for Reading Rainbow’s Skybrary and read online.
5. Subscribe to a children’s magazine from Cricket Media.

Write about it!

1. Keep up on your writing and keyboarding skills. Use some of the free keyboarding apps that are linked to the Learning Commons Website. Try to practice 10-15 minutes per day. Links are near the top on the right side.
2. Login to your Google Drive account and create an online journal of all of your summer activities. Upload pictures and describe each event. Your district login is your 9 digit student number followed by @rsu13.org (no spaces) and your password is your district password, the same one you use for Lexia and Moby Max.
3. Send emails to family and friends and keep in touch.

Learn new things! Explore new worlds!

1. Learn more about the world outside your door. Create a nature journal and learn more about what you see on Pebble Go or Britannica. To use Britannica you will need to login with your public library card number and your last name.
2. Watch the daily featured video on Brain Pop or Brain Pop Jr. Take the quiz and play some of the learning games.
3. Explore the many links on the Learning Commons website and take a digital field trip! Travel to the San Diego Zoo or Seaworld. Visit distant planets and galaxies with NASA.
4. Get crafty with Made by Joel or Deep Space Sparkle.
5. Take that lemonade stand to a new level! Bake some cookies instead. Or, better yet, visit Super Healthy Kids (link is on the Learning Commons Website under the Health section) and find some recipes to make dinner for the whole family! Be sure to get an adult to help you in the kitchen!

Practice, Practice Practice.

Continue to practice those skills that you have learned in school this year.

1. Visit Lexia and keep up with your learning. Try to get in 20 minutes a few times a week. The first time you log in it will ask you for your teacher’s email address. It’s ok to fill that in. You can use mine if you want, dtibbetts@rsu13.org. Your login is your district username and password.
2. Visit Moby Max and do your fact fluency activities. Your login is your school ID number and your district password.
3. There are also math game links for the iPad and other devices on the learning commons website.
4. Our math curriculum, Everyday Math is available online. Link to it from the RSU13.org website. The login is the letter m plus your district ID number and your district password. There are math games as well as digital tools you can use here.

Visit me on the learning commons website all summer long! Enjoy your time off and keep learning!

Mrs. Tibbetts

Stop Motion Animation

Bugs!

It's the time of year when we would all like to spend more time outdoors. What a great time to learn more about the critters in the ARTHROPOD family, especially those that we need to be cautious of, like ticks! It's also a perfect time to observe the pollinators that are in our gardens, like bees and butterflies? In the learning commons we will be learning about INSECTS and ARACHNIDS, and all of the things that bugs do that help as well as hurt us.

This playlist has informative videos about bugs as well as information about how to be safe from ticks.

For additional information about ticks click on these links:

Maine.gov

Center for Disease Control

Brain Pop has videos about Lyme Disease as well as Arachnids, Spiders, Insects, and Ants. You can also read about Arthropods at Brittanica Encyclopedia Online using the Marvel Database.

Celebrate National Poetry Month

Take a look at these incredible poetry performances.

These are poems from some of my favorite poets. Who is your favorite poet?

Would you like to learn more about how to write your own poems? This playlist has videos to show you how.

Award Winning Books 2017

Take a look at some of these books that won prestigious medals in 2017.

If you could create your own award what would it be for? 

• Best fiction character
• Amazing author
• Most interesting informational book

Design your own medal and pick a book to award it to.

Float by Daniel Miyares

This week we are reading a new Chickadee nominee, Float by Daniel Miyares. It is a wordless picture book about a boy's adventures with a paper boat.  Click on the playlist below to learn how to create your own paper boat!

Hippos Are Huge!

Visit With An Author

What inspires a story?

How do authors make books?

How long does it take?

How do illustrators make the pictures?

How do you come up with characters?

Meet the Chicks

Each year South School students join with other kids from the state of Maine to help choose the next Chickadee Medal winner.  Join in the fun and read these books at home with your kids. If you would like to be a guest reader at South just let me know.  We are inviting people from the community in to read two of the nominees; Land Shark by By Beth Ferry, Illustrated by Ben Mantle, and Emmanuel's Dream by By Laurie Ann Thompson and Sean Qualls.

January is the month when many prestigious awards are given in the book industry. Watch for announcements for the new Caldecott, Newbery, Coretta Scott King, Theodore Geisel and Sibert award winners. Links are attached on the right sidebar of this website.

Click on this link to learn more about the Chickadee Award, LINK

Students in grades 4-8 are encouraged to read the 40 books nominated to receive the 2016 Maine Student Book Award.  Here is the link to learn more about them. LINK 

Many Chickadee nominees and MSBA nominees are available online from our South School Learning Commons Library and from the Rockland Public Library.  Please let me know if you need help accessing them.