Bringing the Blog Back!

As some of you know, I had to take a break from the blog for awhile (okay, okay, a couple years).  For the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 school years I was an EST, or engagement and support teacher, for California Virtual Academies.  This meant I had a smaller classload and the majority of my responsibilities revolved around teacher support.

I am so happy to resume my role as teacher and provide support and enrichment opportunities to each of you!  With that being said, I am bringing our classroom blog back!  This will be a place where you can connect with peers, share ideas, and explore additional enrichment material and educational tools!  Hopefully you will find it to be fresh and fun!

It's good to be back,

Mrs. R

  

Be Back Soon!

As you've probably noticed, the classroom blog is on hiatus while Mrs. R is finalizing work records, report cards, and attending end of the year celebrations and graduations.  Please check in soon, I will be posting some amazing work samples from our spring semester!  Until then, enjoy summer vacation!  It's been a great year!

Sincerely,

Mrs. R

April Student of the Month

Meet Sam!  Sam is a veteran CAVA student!  He is a member of National Junior Honor Society and an excellent student.  As you can see, Sam is very active in his community.  He assists military families whose spouses are deployed on leave, and he collects and makes frequent donations to his local Goodwill store.  Thank you, Sam, for all your hard work both in school and in your community. You are a wonderful role model for students everywhere!

March Student of the Month

Meet Nina!
She is a 7th grader with California Virtual Academies.  This is her first year with CAVA and she is already a member of National Junior Honor Society and a straight A student.  She has a brother who is also in CAVA.  Here are some of her favorites! 
Favorite Food:  Shrimp Chow Mein
Favorite Subject:  Language Arts
Favorite Color:  Pink
Special Talent:  She can sing and play the ukele! 
I also found out that although Nina does not have any pets at the moment, that she would love to have a Yorkie!  She is also much too modest to tell you this herself, but she is a math whiz as well!  Nina is a very sweet and caring young girl.  She babysits at her church during Bible Study and also teaches Sunday School!  We are so lucky to have Nina as part of our CAVA family.  She is a stellar student and certainly an excellent role model for other kids her age! 

Keep up the great work Nina! 

February Student of the Month

Meet Corey! 

Corey is a 6th grader with CAVA!  He has two older sisters named Meagan and Rachel.  He also has an older brother named Chad.  His favorite things to do are play and watch baseball!  Corey has LOTS of pets!  He has two dogs named London and Shorty, two fish named Finny and Black Knight, a rabbit named Thumper, and a cat named Bella.  Here are some of his favorites:

Favorite Subject:  Latin
Least Favorite Subject:  Math
Favorite Food:  BBQ Ribs (yummy!)
Favorite Colors:  Black and Purple
Role Model:  Tim Lincecum
Favorite Sports Team:  San Francisco Giants

Corey says the one thing that makes him very special is that he is tall for his age.  He is also very proud of the fact that he helps out around the house.  If he could have one wish come true, it would be to win a million dollars and pay off his mom's house!  What a considerate wish! 

When asked to pick three words to describe himself, Corey said he is funny, friendly, and a leader!  He knows a lot about baseball and would like to learn more about math. One day he would like to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Corey gets such great grades and is involved in so many extracurricular activities that he was nominated for National Junior Honor Society!

A new goal for Corey this year is to play basketball.  Ooooh, sounds like he is branching out into a new sport!  Best of luck to you in all of your endeavors, Corey!  Thank you for being a model CAVA student!

(Keep checking the blog, maybe next month's Student of the Month will be...YOU!)  
 

If you live in the Sacramento area you should definitely check out one (or more!) of the amazing museums our region has to offer tomorrow!  Free admission to most and half off admission at Fairy Tale Town and the Sac Zoo.  What a great opportunity!  ...

Sacramento Museum Day
Saturday, February 4, 2012

Now in its 14th year, a record Twenty-eight (28) museums from the greater Sacramento area will be offering free or half price admission for the Annual Sacramento Museum Day. This event is presented by the Sacramento Association of Museums (SAM), and proudly supported by Umpqua Bank. Sacramento Museum Day takes place Saturday February 4, 2012 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. All participating museums close at 5 p.m. with the last guests admitted at 4 p.m.

NEW for 2012:
Museum Day welcomes two new museums – The Center for Contemporary Art, located at 1519 19th Street in Sacramento; and Sacramento Children’s Museum located at 2701 Prospect Park Drive in Rancho Cordova. Both locations will be open free to the public during Museum Day.

Two regular destinations, Sacramento Zoo and Fairytale Town, located in William Land Park will offer half-priced admission during Museum Day.

Shuttle busses will not be operating this year. However, several museums are in walking distance of each other. Pick up a Museum Day Guide at any participating Museum for a map to help you plan your day.

Museum Day is a Sacramento cultural tradition and we invite all members of the community to experience the region’s incredible wealth of art, history, science and wildlife at numerous participating museums.

PARTICIPATING MUSEUMS for SACRAMENTO MUSEUM DAY 2012:
Aerospace Museum of California
California Automobile Museum
California Foundry History Museum
The California Museum
California State Capitol Museum
California State Indian Museum
California State Military Museum
California State Railroad Museum
Center for Contemporary Art
Crocker Art Museum
Discovery Museum Science and Space Center
The Don and June Salvatori California Pharmacy Museum
Fairytale Town*
Folsom History Museum
Governor’s Mansion State Historic Park
Heidrick Ag History Center (Woodland)
Leland Stanford Mansion State Historic Park
Museum of Medical History
Old Sacramento Schoolhouse Museum
Old Sacramento State Historic Park
Sacramento Children’s Museum
Sacramento Zoo*
Sacramento Historic City Cemetery
Sacramento History Museum
Sojourner Truth Multicultural Arts Museum
Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park
Wells Fargo History Museum (Old Sacramento and Downtown locations).
*All listed Museums will offer free admission on Museum Day except for the Sacramento Zoo and Fairytale Town which will offer half-priced admission.

http://www.sacmuseums.org/museumday.html

Happy 100th Day!

Happy 100th day of school!  Can you believe that our school year is already over halfway through? 

New Year, New Look!

As you can see, there have been some changes to our class blog!  I hope this new year finds you refreshed and ready to take on the second semester.

RESOLUTION  (re-solu-tion)
re = again
solution = a way to solve a problem

(solve = from the Latin root meaning "loosen", as in "solvent" 
tion = act or process of )

So, what we can take from this is that the act of making New Years resolutions is to help people solve some of their problems.  Gee, had you ever really thought of it that way before?  Makes perfect sense!

What are some of your resolutions for this new year?  Please feel free to share below in the comments section!

-taken from a middle school lesson plan by Penelope Bartsch

Wonderful Work Samples!

Hi Families! 

I want to congratulate those of you who turned in EXCELLENT work samples! 

Here are a few AMAZING samplings of what I found when I was looking over your work.  Keep in mind, this is just some of the stellar work that I saw from my students.  Due to space and time constraints, I was not able to publish everything to the class blog.  Many of you turned in exemplary work samples!

Read over the following excerpts from student work, maybe one of them is YOU! 

An 8^th grader who was commenting on his Art sample:

“In this picture I created an abstract tree by using simplified shapes and colors.  I used repetition by using several ornaments on the tree in similar shapes and sizes.  I arranged the white ornaments in a way that it drew your eyes down the tree...”

A 7^th grader who wrote about Johannes Gutenberg for her History essay:

“…the most influential person in European history was Johannes Gutenberg.  He invented the printing press with moveable type.  This was a groundbreaking invention, and without him and his printing press, knowledge would not have spread nearly as fast.  As a result, the world would be nothing like it is today.”

A 6^th grader comparing and contrasting early civilizations in her History paper:

“…So are there any more interesting facts about these civilizations?  Yes, there are many little bits and pieces of fun information that I haven’t yet told you.  For example, did you know that China is the world’s longest-lived civilization?  Sumer has actually built humungous temples layer-by-layer to form five-story monuments!”

An 8^th grader writing about conservation in America for her History paper:

“Sometimes too much of a good thing turns out to be not such a good thing.” (GREAT HOOK!) “Because we Americans were so rich with so much land, we became very wasteful.  We had so much land and resources that we thought we would never run out.  America grew so rapidly.  Thomas Jefferson though we had enough land to last us until the hundredth or thousandth generation.  That was obviously not so.  In 1980, when the US Census Bureau said that there was no more land, it came as a shock to the people of the United States.”

A 6^th grader’s artwork:

An 8^th grader’s artwork:

Great job students!  THIS is the reason why I love being a CAVA teacher!  Keep up the amazing work!!  

January Student of the Month

Meet Aliya!

She is new to CAVA and is absolutely loving it!  I have had the opportunity to meet Aliya on a couple occasions and have always been very impressed with her positive attitude and ambition.  For example, she fulfilled a semester's worth of Study Island requirements in just a few short weeks!  She has been so successful with CAVA that her older sister was encouraged to join just a couple weeks later!    

But more about Aliya:  she is a musician and plays gigs locally with her mother and sister.  What instrument, you ask?  The drums!

She is also a fantastic artist.  I have seen some of your work from Art and it is absolutely amazing!
   

December Student of the Month

Meet Jacob!  He is a second grader with CAVA and our student of the month for December!  I had the opportunity to hang out with him this week and find out a little more about him.  Here is what I discovered:

Do you have any brothers or sisters?  Yes, a big brother.
What is your favorite thing to do? Play on the computer.
Do you have any pets?  Yes, a dog.
What are your favorite subjects?  P.E. and music.
What are your favorite foods? M&Ms and french fries!
What is your favorite color? Blue.
What is your favorite vacation spot? The beach.


Thanks Jacob for being such a cool kid!  We hope you are having a wonderful winter!  Congratulations on being Student of the Month!


Maybe next month it will be YOU...

Sacramento Children's Museum

Tuesday I met with one of my K-5 Sutter families to visit the new Sacramento Children's Museum.  The museum is designed for children ages "birth to eight" so it is a great place to go if your family has younger kids!  We had fun with air tubes,the golf ball racetrack, playing in the water, trying on costumes, and painting!  Thanks to Jamie M. for finding this great resource!

The Sacramento Children's museum is located at 2701 Prospect Park Drive in Rancho Cordova, CA.  Click on the link below to visit their home page! 

Visit the Sacramento Children's Museum home page!
 

Water play

Solar powered "cars"

Movable art

Painting wall

"Airways" tube rockets

Occupational "dress-up" station

If you find (or have a favorite) educational place to visit in your area, please email me or comment on this page so we can share.  Perhaps we will choose yours as a future CAVA outing!  

Random Trivia

In what year was the tomb of Tutankhamun discovered?
Please post your answer below!  First student to respond will receive a surprise...

Check out the Hunger Games trailer!

I am so excited to see this movie!

Homeschool Days at Discovery Kingdom

Hi Everybody!

Check out Homeschool Days at Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo.  Click on the link below for additional information and the flyer you will need to print out and bring to receive discounted admission to the park on November 11th.

http://www.sixflags.com/discoveryKingdom/assets/pdf/SFDK%20Homeschool%20Day%202011.pdf 

(Remember, this is not an official CAVA outing, as Friday is a school holiday!)

Study Island Stars this Week!

Pumpkin Carving Winner

Congratulations to Matthew L. for his wonderful submissions in our class Pumpkin Carving contest!  His amazing pumpkins have earned him a surprise that will be delivered shortly!  Thank you for participating Matthew and making our fall a little more festive!  You rock!  

CAVA Canned Food Drive

Guess what…Your Student Council wants to hold canned food drives all over the state of California to help the hungry in each of our areas.  YOU can help.  If you would like to:
·        Decorate a food donation box,
·        Be at the drop off spot (at scheduled CAVA Close-Ups),
·        Count the cans of food (to see if your area collected the most),
·        Take a picture to celebrate this great service;
then you should:
1.    Ask your parents to make sure it’s ok with them,
2.   Email Mrs. Lenhart mlenhart@caliva.org .  Let her know that you live in the Sutter or Sonoma area and that you would like to help too!

Let’s do good things together!

PUMPKIN CARVING CONTEST

Check this out for Pumpkin carving inspiration! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPAa7BqgSbw.


Thank you for those of you who have already submitted entries! 


WOW!  This is definitely getting me in the Halloween mood! 

Haunted House Pumpkin - Matthew L.



Spider Web Pumpkin - Matthew L.



High Heel Pumpkin

Remember, it's not too late to enter!  Submit your pictures to Mrs. R by Nov. 1st to be eligible for the class vote!

Holiday Card Art Contest



THEME:  The Future of Our Nation

ENTRY DEADLINE:  November 11, 2011

MAIL ENTRIES TO:  Middleton, Young & Minney, LLP

                                     Attn: Art Contest

                                     701 University Ave.  Suite 150

                                     Sacramento, CA  95825

Good luck!  Send me pictures of your entries before you mail them in and I'll post them!