Google Banner Game: PONY EXPRESS

Google usually has interactive and artful banners on their main search page, and today's is perfect for this week's California Studies Weekly topic: the Pony Express.

Students are reading about what the Pony Express was and the purposes it served in the Western frontier.

The game's goal is to collect as many envelopes and deliver them safely to the final destination after switching horses in two towns. Obstacles like rocks, cacti, snow and bandits await your rider.

Here are some screenshots of the game I just played.

See if you can top my score!  (I only played it once.) ;)

Buckle Up: The End of the School Year is Near.

The end of Spring Break ushers in what is probably the most hectic period of the school year.

From the Spell-A-Thon to Science Fair projects and Open House to testing, the last forty or so school days that remain will be busy, busy, BUSY!

Here are the upcoming events (those I am aware of) for the rest of this month through the end of the school year:

APRIL
13-17 - Spell-A-Thon Week (Test on Friday); fundraising continues until 24th when $ is due
15 - Spring Picture Day; 4th grade teachers out for training (all-day subs); Walk-N-Roll
17 - PTA Movie Night: Penguins of Madagascar (6:00 p.m. doors open; 6:30 p.m. movie starts)
16-23 - Book Fair in the Library
21 - Science Fair projects due in the Multi; students will present in class after the 27th
22 - PTA Meeting (6:00 p.m., Library)
23 - Open House (5:30 - 6:30 p.m.); Book Fair is open late (4:30 - 7:00 p.m.)
21-24, 27 - SBAC testing
29 - Last Day of S.I. (after-school classes)

MAY
10 - Mothers' Day
13 - Student Leadership Play (during the school day); Walk-N-Roll; PTA Meeting (6:00 p.m., Library)
18 - California Weekly Explorer Class History Interactive Play
21 - Parent Volunteer Appreciation Tea (by invitation only)
25 - Memorial Day (NO SCHOOL)
27 - FIELD TRIP: Happy Hollow with the Little Buddies

JUNE
2 - Field Day (4th and 5th)
3 - Talent Show (during the school day)
8 - FIELD TRIP: 4th Grade Picnic (Cataldi Park)
10 - FIELD TRIP: Mission San Juan Bautista; Walk-N-Roll
12 - Last Day of School (11:30 a.m. dismissal)

HW - Monday, 4/13

PARENTS:

• Each month we will continue to practice for the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) Common Core Test.

1.  RuskinFIT (Physical Exercise) - 60 minutes
2.  Reading Is Cool - 30 minutes
Reading Goal of the Month:  Most PAGES Read
Keep track of the books you read daily by writing them down on the Reading Log, get your parent or guardian to initial, total your pages read, and turn it in  Monday, May 4 ...Receive a Prize!
Remember: Read your Accelerated Reader Book (selected with your ZPD in mind) and take the Quiz in class.
3.  Language Arts
- Reading Comprehension:  #1 "Legend of Sleepy Hollow"

- Scholastic News - page 8 + Map Quiz (pg. 6) + Debate and Sticky Situation (pg. 7) due Friday

4.  Math
- TEXTBOOK pages 353, 354-357
- WORKBOOK pages none
5.  Science - pgs. 256-257, 258 (math), 260-261 (#1-20, Map the Concept)

6.  History - California Studies Weekly (Week #21) due Thursday; Quiz on Friday.

Free Screenings of "Delano Manongs: Forgotten Heroes of the United Farm Workers" at Various San Jose Public Libraries

Starting tomorrow through this coming Tuesday, the San Jose Public Library system is offering screenings of "Delano Manongs: Forgotten Heroes of the United Farm Workers."

Tomorrow at 4 pm, Berryessa's Noble Library will be showing it.

When people think of UFW, they think of Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. But many don't think of Larry Itliong and the Filipino farm workers - and there were many, like my grandfather and his brothers - who joined with the Mexican farm workers to create the large labor union, UFW.

Marissa Aroy, an Emmy award-winning filmmaker, will be present to answer questions after the film.

You can file this under "labor history" or "Filipino-American experience" but this is most definitely California and American history.

Enjoy!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

From NPR, here are FIVE things you may not have known about today and the season:

What You Didn't Know About What You Already Know About Easter

APRIL 05, 2015 5:19 AM ET

EMMA BOWMAN

Employee Sandra Jaeckel adjusts a ribbon around the neck of a giant chocolate Easter bunny at the production facility of Confiserie Felicitas chocolates maker in Hornow, Germany, in 2014.

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Through centuries and across cultures, the holiday's iconic customs have been built upon with the help of storytelling. And the cotton-tailed creature that leaves us chocolate and eggs has a longer tale.

1. Pagan Beginnings

The story of Easter is as much rooted in paganism as it is in Christianity. The holiday owes its name to Eostra, the Germanic goddess of spring and fertility.

The University of Florida's Center for Children's Literature traced Easter's origins to pre-Christian Germany. An Easter Bunny character first hopped up in the 8th century with the English monk Bede's The Reckoning of Time. CCL recounts the tale:

A little girl found a bird that was close to death and prayed to Eostra for help. Eostra appeared, crossing a rainbow bridge — the snow melting before her feet. Seeing the bird was badly wounded, she turned it into a hare, and told the little girl that from now on, the hare would come back once a year bearing rainbow colored eggs.

But because this legend is held up exclusively by Bede, Easter's namesake continues to be a contentious scholarly debate.

2. The Bunny Tale

Legends featuring bunny imagery associated to Easter continued to be written down in 1500s Germany and the first story about a rabbit hiding eggs in a garden was published in 1680. As many Southwestern German immigrants settled in America, the Easter Bunny lived on in Pennsylvania Dutch tales of the Bunny as the "Oschter Haws," where Germantown, Pa., children were gifted with eggs in their Easter bonnets that, today, are replaced by Easter baskets.

3. Cracking Open The Egg

Egg decorating is at least a 60,000-year-old activity, practiced by the likes of Egyptians, Persians, Greeks and Kalahari Bushmen, who engraved ostrich eggs. Before giving colored eggs found its way into the modern Christian tradition, early Mesopotamian Christians dyed eggs red to symbolize the blood shed by Christ during his crucifixion.

An "Easter egg," as it relates to hidden symbols or messages planted in a pop culture medium by its creator, was first coined by the Atari programmer Warren Robinett, who designed a secret room in the 1979 video game, Adventure.

4. Less Than Humane

It wouldn't be Easter if we didn't eat candy animals. Easter bunnies turned edible in 1800s Germany when they were first made of pastry and sugar.

Animal rights activists have protested against the ritual of coloring chicks by infusing dye into the embryo before it hatches.

5. For Peeps Sake

Speaking of dyeing chicks, one of the reasons Peeps keep coming back every year is because they are so resilient and multi-purpose. Unless you're gulping down the marshmallow birds for a challenge, a common practice is to microwave Peeps. If you think that's inhumane, some enthusiasts even take it further with Peep jousting tournaments.

Born, the company who makes the marshmallows, even conducts research with Peeps. All Peeps are told the potential risks before voluntarily submitting to testing, of course.

A niche Peep diorama culture merges fine art history with the sugar-coated goodies. The first Peep diorama contest was held in 2004 by the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Take a look at the winner of this year's Washington Post 'Peep Show' diorama contest.

Because, who actually eats them?

Now, I wonder how future generations will adopt the American tradition.

Original Link:  http://www.npr.org/2015/04/03/397350707/what-you-didn-t-know-about-what-you-already-know-about-easter

The Hummingbird Lives!

And is FREE!

Thank you to all those who attempted to rescue the little bird as well as cheered his endeavor to escape.

Big thank you to Mrs. Coan for her broom and Mrs. Bisbee with the steady hand to escort the bird outside.

HW - Wednesday, 4/1

NO 

HOMEWORK!

April Fool's Day!

PARENTS:

• Tomorrow is a MINIMUM DAY (1:00 p.m. dismissal) and Spring Break vacation starts this Friday, 4/3. Classes resume on Monday, 4/13.
• We are finished with our classroom novel: Tuck Everlasting, and we will be working on culminating projects.
• STAR Reading and Tuck Everlasting AR tests continue tomorrow.
• Each month we will continue to practice for the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) Common Core Test.
• Learn more about California avocados here: http://www.californiaavocado.com and get the recipe for "The Best Guacamole Ever."

1.  RuskinFIT (Physical Exercise) - 60 minutes
2.  Reading Is Cool - 30 minutes
Reading Goal of the Month:  Most PAGES Read
Keep track of the books you read daily by writing them down on the Reading Log, get your parent or guardian to initial, total your pages read, and turn it in  Monday, May 4 ...Receive a Prize!
Remember: Read your Accelerated Reader Book (selected with your ZPD in mind) and take the Quiz in class.
3.  Language Arts
- Reading Comprehension:  #none

- Tuck Everlasting: Contrast due tomorrow
- Scholastic News - none this week

4.  Math
- TEXTBOOK pages 350-352
- WORKBOOK pages none
5.  Science - pgs. 244-247, 250-255 (both started in class)

6.  History - none this week