Mrs. DeBlock’s Blog

Valentine’s Day and the month of February help us to reflect on the ones (and things) we love! What is a book that you really just love?

Today we did a webquest for information on The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We know we have a special day set aside in January in his honor, yet I wanted you to find out some interesting information about him.

 Tell me an interesting fact about Martin Luther King Jr. that you didn’t know before today!

I have created a new addition to my 5th grade Webpage! It’s a WIKI!

 Have you heard of a WIKI before? Maybe you’ve heard of a site called WIKIpedia. Well my class hopes that you visit OUR CLASSROOM WIKI throughout the year and check it out. It will continue to grow throughout the year.

 Fun Fact: The Hawaiian term WIKI WIKI means quick! I wonder why that is?

Any comments on WIKI would be appreciated!

I’ve noticed that my 2006 – 2007 class of 5th graders (from last year) has been on this blog ALOT! I’m very proud of all of you and hope that you continue to strive to be the best you can be! Let us know all about 6th grade: what you like about it, what challenges you may have had transitioning from 5th grade to 6th, and any suggestions for my new 5th grade class! Please know that I miss all of you very much and hope you will come back and visit sometime soon!

I went to the new “Spirit” Halloween store up by the outlets this weekend with my husband. It was quite the experience. They have lots of gory masks and decorations, it made me think… where did the tradition or holiday that some celebrate known as “Halloween” come from?

After doing a little research I found out that the night we now know as Halloween is derived from a day that was once celebrated as “All Hallows Eve” or a religious celebration of Saints. After continuing my research I also found out that “Halloween” to those who were very superstitious, was also a night that was believed to be a time when demons and foul spirits roamed the world to celebrate the return of the cold and dark. Men were tormented by the evil spirits and tried to buy their freedom by offering food and assorted treats. This was thus marked by terrible noises, tricks, and pranks. Most of the common images of Halloween – the jack-o’-lantern, masked figures, bonfires, and the famous cry “trick-or-treat” all originated from these customs. The jack-o’-lantern is traced back to Central Europe as a symbol of the cemetery caretakers and the lamps they carried to light the way.

Interesting…

Now knowing a little about the ‘History of Halloween’ what do you plan on dressing up as this year?

I am excited to introduce myself as your fifth grade teacher. Fifth grade is going to be fantastic! I have already started planning lots of fun and exciting activities for us to do throughout the school year. I hope that you are as excited as I am about the upcoming year!

The purpose of this blog is to be able to communicate your questions and have them answered by not only me, but by my former students as well! If you have any questions about 5th grade you can write them here, wait a few days and you might have an answer back!

I certainly hope your summer is going well! School will be here soon! I can’t wait to meet you! 

What are you going to do this summer? Anything exciting with your family? Anything to prepare you for next year in Middle School?

Can you believe that we only have a few weeks left of school? With that being said, the end of the year is approaching fast! What “end of the year” activites are you excited about? Remember we have wonderful days like field day, beach blast, transition day and the hero assembly!

All of the NYS tests are FINALLY over in 5th grade! What did you think of the NYS Math exam? Do you think the state has a reason for giving us three hard tests in one year? What are the positives? What are the negatives?

The Holiday Season is upon us! With that in mind, and also knowing that so many people celebrate for different reasons, (Christmas, Kwanza, Chanukah) what Holiday traditions do you hold in your own household? Do you like the traditions that you and your family do yearly? Would you change them? I would love to hear about them!

Check this website out that I just found, thanks to Mrs. Pearsall! You can create your own snowflake, and the more snowflakes you make, the more money that will be donated to the salvation army! Imagine that, doing something fun to help out our global community! Cool! After you have created your own snowflake, come back and write about what you thought!

http://www.popularfront.com/snowdays/

Please remember when you are writing a blog, ALL UPPERCASE = you are shouting in online terms. So remember, when you are writing something, make sure it is in regular text form. Unless of course, it is something you want to shout out loud to everyone like, MISS GORDON IS THE COOLEST!

Also you do not need to sign your first and last name. If you want to put something like Erik M. or Ryan G. or Taylor B. that’s fine! First name only is good!

You also never need to put in your e-mail address or a website. I would prefer that you do not, Thank you!

Check out this awesome website that I found called Wikipedia click on the link and in the search box type in “blog” to find out what it is!

I am excited to introduce myself as your fifth grade teacher. Fifth grade is going to be fantastic! I have already started planning lots of fun and exciting activities for us to do throughout the school year. I hope that you are as excited as I am about the upcoming year! First, let me tell you a little about myself. My name is Miss Gordon and this will be my third full year in the William H. Barton Intermediate Building. You may have seen me around last year teaching in the fifth grade wing. Fifth grade is my favorite grade to teach. I know that this year is going to be the best year yet!

I always like to ask my new students to write me a letter before school starts; I would love it if you would write to me. In your letter, please tell me all about yourself, your family, your interests and anything else you would like to include. Writing this letter will help me plan things that will be enjoyable for everyone to do in the classroom.

I certainly hope your summer is going well! School will be here soon! I can’t wait to meet you! 

I am sure that some of my new 5th graders will be checking this site to see what 5th grade is all about! What are some ideas, experiences, tips, comments you can share wtih them about what 5th grade is like, since you first hand have already gone though the transition!  

Well the year is coming to an end, I can’t believe it is already June! I feel like it was just yesterday that I opened up my door and met all of you the first day of school. I want you to think back about all the goals that you made at the beginning of the year, did you achieve those goals? If so how? If not, how are you going to achive them in the coming years?

Today the class went to visit the Middle School. We teamed up with Miss Landry’s flex 9th period class to do a Q and A about transitioning to the middle school. I saw A LOT of my old students and was really excited to see them all! It really made me happy that when my students leave on the last day of school, I know they will keep on prospering, even if I am scared for them! I am glad that we went! Miss Landry’s class did a great job at answering all of the classes questions! I know that the class cannot wait until the big transition day in June!

What did you think of the Local Classroom Hero ceremony today? What did you think of our presentation? Write me some comments on what you thought!

I’ve been recently getting blogs from some of my past students. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to hear from all of you! I would love to hear how everyone is doing. Please know that I miss you ALL and hope that all is well with you! Feel free to stop by my classroom here at the Barton Building!

Anyone stay around here for Spring Break? What are you up to on your vacation?