Back From Summer-Welcome home to astronomy fanatics...

It was a great summer, but now it' back to school.
Over the summer, my son introduced me to subredits.org. It's one of those sites like dig where people recommend web pages for you. Inte science reddit I found this great you tube video showing asteriod discoveries in our solar system over time. From the author of the video:
View of the solar system showing the locations of all the asteroids starting in 1980, as asteroids are discovered they are added to the map and highlighted white so you can pick out the new ones.
The final colour of an asteroids indicates how closely it comes to the inner solar system.
Earth Crossers are Red
Earth Approachers (Perihelion less than 1.3AU) are Yellow
All Others are Green

Rancho Calendar 2010-2011

RanchoCalendar2011

Read this summer!

Make a Splash This Summer At

The Marin County Free Library

June 12^th is the Starting Date for the 2010

Summer Reading Program.

Read for at least 20 minutes a day for 20 days and receive

cool prizes.

Grab your library card and swim on over for a summer of storytimes,

programs, and prizes. Beginning June 12th drop by your local branch,

sign up and pick up an events flyer!

 Go to the Marin Free Library Kids site for more info.

The unfolding tragedy in the gulf: spillcam comes to Rancho

Wheels of Freestyle assembly this week

This week we had the rare privilege of hosting the Wheels of Freestyle Assembly  , thanks to the efforts of the Box Top Committee, chaired by the ever efficient and energetic Mary O'Hara. As you can see, there were some amazing freestyle bikers performing stunts that had the kids yelling and screaming with excitement. They also seemed to get the point of the assembly, as described on their webiste:
The NEW "Go BIG" school assembly is just as the name indicates. A school assembly that teaches youth to "Go BIG" in life! To set BIG goals, BIG dreams and make a BIG commitment to doing it all drug and violence FREE!


A big thanks to all involved!

Close to wrapping up Accelerated Reader for the year...

Rancho students have now tested on 8,178 books, and read at least 152,731,019 words. Along with learning how to take MAPS tests, learning how to use and Study Island, and so much more....

Keeping up with Mrs. Thornton's first grade class

The last time I was in Mrs. Thornton's class, we had a very good  converstation about Butterflies,and I was asked some questions about butterfly migration. Here's the best site I know about butterfly migration(among many migrations of many animals).The site, Journey North, also has links to the migration news of gray whales,robins, and hummingbirds.
This conversation also gives me the opportunity to remind everyone what a great teaching aid the internet i, given the speed of innovation and research these days. Here's an article, Migrating Thousands of Miles with Nary a Stop(New York Times, registration required) about how advances in transmitters allowed  researchers to finally determine the migration routes of birds who travel long distances. It turns out the truth was stranger than anything the researchers had imagined. One bird, the bar-tailed godwit, traveled 7,100 miles in nine days without stopping. Ruby throated hummingbirds leave the Yucatan Peninsula in the evening and arrive in the southern United States the next afternoon.
A great article to share with your children!

more pictures from career day

Pictures from Career Day

Acclerated Reading Update

Total books read: 7,191
Words read:
134,445,164
Book of the week:

Using the internet for current affairs

When my wife worked for the Apple Multimedia lab in the late 80's, the people who worked there always told me"Only use computers for things you can't do better with an existing tool." That's why I still don't own a kindle; I prefer books. But when it comes to current events, sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, and more often that not that picture is on the internet. Here's an image from the NASA image gallery of the oil slick currently off the Louisiana coast:

20th anniversary of the Hubble Telescope

To see a full screen image of this image,go to the NASA website. While there, you and your child(ren) should check out some the other images from The Image of the Day Gallery. I know that the kids in Mrs. Thornton's class will get extra points for looking at this picture.

The Academic Coach is guest blogging today....

4th and 5th Grade GATE Claymation Movies

In six short sessions, our Rancho students directed, filmed, and produced their very first stop-motion film!

The students developed story lines and created clay characters. They then made backdrops and prepared to film. Each movie consists of 80 to 150 photos taken with a digital camera. After all the pictures were taken, students imported them into Windows Movie Maker and added titles and credits.

Please enjoy their videos! The students had a great time working on the projects.
Catherine Nam

Author's Day at Rancho with Jon Agee March 24th

This year we had an old favorite author back- Jon Agee, author of such favorites as The Return of Freddy Legrand and The incredible Painting of Felix Closseau. His website is here. The kids loved his drawing lessons he gave in the multipurpose room. Thanks for a great day, Jon!

Yet another Accelerated Reader report

5, 944 books read. 109,304,715 words read.
Third and fourth grade both at over 90% participation over the last three weeks.

Ranchoburg is here!

Three quarters of the other grades have already visited Ranchoburg today. Everyone had a good time. All the comments from the kids in the lab were extremely positive. They thought the fifth graders did an awesome job. Kudos to Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Dees,and Mr. McDonald for organizing such an amazing educational experience for all Rancho students.

The day before Ranchoburg

Tomorrow is the day that all the hard work of the fifth grade parents and teachers finally pays off. Ranchoburg will be open for business in the Multipurpose Room, and now the other grades can come and see the proud fifth graders acting out everyday colonial life. The militia has been drilling under the watchful eye of Sons of Liberty leader,colonial militia officer, and minuteman captain ,Kevin"bulldog" McDonald. Today, the parents are building the town, and I took a few pictures. As you look at the pictures in the slide show, pay particular attention to the stocks. It's one of the favorite props-everyone wants to pose in them. Not sure why, but there it is..

Third Grade Poems again

Sun, Moon, and Stars Acrostics

 

 

 

 

Sun's sunspots can be wider than the earth

Unbelievably hot gases hot gases form millions of circular pools on its

surface

Not the biggest star but a medium-sized star

 

 

 

Moon is earth's one large satellite

Only one moon orbits earth

Other planets have many more moons

Never fully lit or never fully dark always half and half

 

 

 

 

 

Stars bright lights gleaming in the night sky

There are stars that wander in pairs known as double stars

A group of billions of stars is called a galaxy.

Really big stars and small stars whiff off layers of gas and start to fade

away

Shooting stars as we call them are actually meteorites

Thinking about science and boys and girls

As we move through the school year making sure we have taught the children "the standards" so that they will be ready for their next year, we sometimes forget that we are trying to something else; installing a lifetime love of learning and a desire to learn more. It's in that spirit that I offer this video, that has inspired both my boys to learn more about Rockets(Warning-it's nine minutes long and builds slowly-but has an explosive ending):

Fourth grade Poems (2)

Gabriela

Smart, athletic, fun, tall, strong, funny

Daughter of Martha and Salvador

Sister of Andrea

Enjoyer of swimming, Puzzles, Baking, Drawing, and Reading

Who believes that anybody can reach their goals

Who needs a little bit of love

Who wishes for people to face their fears

Who wishes to be an Olympic swimmer

 

Fourth grade poems Number 1

Tony

 

Cool, Nice, Funny, Athletic, Smart, Awesome

Son of Terry and Mitch, Brother of Chris and Reese

Enjoyer of Fun, Sports, Apples to Apples, and Reading

Who believes that if all the people of the world work together we can Clean the planet

Who needs to move and exercise

Who fears of dying at a young age

Who wishes for world peace and no more war

 

Third grade poem

Ms. Garaventa's class is writing poems this week. They come into the lab to type their poem. When they've finished, they get to change the color of the font to any color they want. Now there's choice you can believe in! Here's one of my favorite poems from this year(and remember-Ms. Garaventa only edits for spelling):

If I was a color, I would be orange because I’m hyped and on the go all the time.


If I was a song, I would be a jazz song because I’m cool and sly.


If I was a food, I would be a taco because I’m fiery and nummy

If I was a car, I would be a viper because I’m cool and fast.

If I was an animal, I would be a chimpanzee because I’m wild and funny.

If I was a place, l"d be an art studio because I love to draw.

If I was a feeling, I would be happy because I’m a happy person.

If I was a plant, I would be a Venus Fly Trap because I’m hungry all the time.

If I was a climate, I would be hot and sunny because I’m hot and spicy.

If I was a musical instrument, I would be a Spanish guitar because I’m different in many ways.

If I was a shape, I would be a scalene triangle because I am an odd person.

Accelerated Reader

We are now over 100,000,000 words and 5,300 books read. A special shout out to the fourth grade-99% participation over the last 30 days!

Why you sang to your child before childbirth

Babies, it turns out, cry in their native tongue. Who knew? It turns out they really are listening those last few months before they venture out into the wide wide world. I played Ewan MacColl's Songs of Robbert Burns. to mine. That's why they cried in Scots.

Fooling around on the net over break...

My wife's currently reading a book by Paul Theroux, The Great Railway Bazaar. She was just reading the last chapter, on the Trans-Siberian Railroad , when I saw this article in the Guardian about a beautiful site Google Russia just announced. It's a virtual tour of this, one of the most famous railroads of the world. The photographs of Lake Baikal are stunning.

AntiMalware protection at home

One of the most common questions Parents ask me is "How can I get rid of the spyware my (son, daughter, teenager,mate)has put on my home computer? It takes forever to start, and then I keep getting random popups, and it takes forever to get to the page I want..."
Here's how we get rid of mal ware at home(two teenagers, many computers infected, hours spent until I figured this out)
First, I go to an uninfected computer. In my house,that would be my mac. I insert a pocket (usb) drive. I then search cnet download.com for one of the following programs: Ad-Aware, AVG free edition , or AVAST. I prefer AVAST, but I have friends in the trade that swear by AVG and Ad-Aware also.
When I find the application I want, I click on the download now button, and save the app to the pocket drive. I then eject the pocket drive, take it to the infected computer, and insert it into a vacant usb slot. I then open up My computer, then my pocket drive, launch the application from the pocket drive and follow the instructions on the screen. It's always less than 30 minutes from start to finish.

Accelerated Reader

I just remembered that I haven't updated the Accelerated Reader Book totals. The students are now at 4,449 books read;85,367,498 words read. Compare this to January 20th:
3,979 books read
77,853,322 words read.
The new total shows slightly fewer words per book; indubitably due to the 5th grade being at Walker Creek last week.

View Walker Creek Ranch Retreat and Conference Center in a larger map

February is Black History Month

If you're looking for articles about famous African-Americans, Don't forget to look at Enchanted Learning's Website. Thanks to our great PTA, Rancho has a yearly subscription to this wonderful site that has so many resources for our students!
And of course, I always enjoy listening to Doctor Martin Luther King:

A picture for third grade

Third grade is when many students get their first taste of how beautiful the Universe can be in their study of Astronomy. One of my favorite sites is APOD(Astronomy Picture Of the Day).
This is a picture of the Annular Solar Eclipse of January 15th of this year. I encourage you to go to the site- the picture there is larger and more detailed than the one I've posted here.

For Fourth Grade

San Francisco in 1906

Testing at Rancho

As I'm sure many of you know, NUSD is now using the Northwest Evaluation
Association's student assessment tool,Measures of Academic Progress (MAP).
Because students take the test on a computer, it immediately adapts to each individual student's ability, getting easier or harder as students answer each question. The assessment results are available immediately and provide teachers with an accurate and clear picture of what a child knows and needs to know next. It's another useful tool for making sure that all Rancho Students get the personalized study plan that they need.

The test is for grades 2-5. The test is given in the Rancho Computer lab. NWEA's website is here. Information for parents can be found here on their website. The Parent Toolkit will give you more information here. I've also provided a link to the toolkit in the Parent Links on the right side of this page.

All grade 2-5 students were tested in the fall. We'll be testing again the first two weeks in February. The kids seem to enjoy the testing as a break from everyday work.

First post of new year::Continued Progress in Accelerated Reader

A new year, new things happening at Rancho

The first document camera/video projector/laptop has been deployed in a classroom.
I'm finding it's more complex to do this than I thought. More later.

The Librarian got a brand new computer for check out. The old one was terribly slow, incredibly old, and crashed frequently. Hopefully the new computer will make check out/ check in much easier and speedier.

Rancho students continue to read as if there were no tomorrow. Today's Totals:

3,979 books read
77,853,322 words read.
99% participation in grades 2-5.