Tree Update

Our tree is now up and on display at the Berkshire Museum.  It is on the second floor to the right of the stairs as you go up the stairs.  It is in the group in the center of the second room.  The title of our tree is "Hike Safe" on the AT for yourself and the environment.

The children created over 150 ornaments that show the principles of hiking safe including mini water bottles and compasses.  The Appalachian trail winds around the tree from Springer Mt at the bottom to Mt. Khatahdin at the top.  Also on the tree is one copy of each post card that the children created.  They are all invasive species that can be found along the AT in the North east.  The focus was to teach not to track seeds while you hike.

The post cards will be going through a second printing and will eventually be displayed on the kiosk we will be building to place at an AT entrance point and the remaining cards will be spread throughout our community.  They will also be on display in our school.

The Festival of Trees will be up until Jan. 2nd.  Please take the time to take your family up to Pittsfield to see the show.  There are wonderfully creative trees to see as well as the normal museum exhibits.  Look for a notice next week to come home including a free pass for your child and a hint of how to get a museum pass for your whole family by using your library card.
Thank you for all of your support on this incredible project...

Making a Tree

Today we made oraments for a tree that we are going to put in the Berkshire Musuem.Yesterday we made ornaments for the tree and Mrs. Neet's class made signs for the AT.

I made a first aid kit with Trevor and then two 5th graders put them in plastic ornament holders.   Phoebe and Charlotte made some jackets to represent to bring clothes while you are hiking and to keep warm.  Justin and Mikel made little mapa of the AT and put them in the plastic ornaments.  Keenan and Justin took off tags to the little commpasses to hang on the tree.  Fifth grade girls put H2O on one side of the little bottles  and on the other side they wrote AT.  We made a rock out of a bowl and we put aluminum foil over the bowl to make it look like a rock.  Then we will put a  sign for Springer Mountain on the rock. The starting point of the AT is Springer mountain in Georgia.  Fifth graders made a sign that says Mt Khatadin, which is where the trail ends in Maine.

All of the ornaments are designed after the things you need to bring with you to be safe while hiking.  We are also putting our invasive species postcards on the tree.  They are being printed at Quick Print in Great Barrington.

Come see our tree at the Festival of Trees starting Nove. 24th and running through January 2, 2014.
Happy Holidays Everyone!!
by Keenan

Appalachian Trail Adventures

This month our class is working on essay.   Each student got to pick out a picture form the Appalachian trail calendar and write a story about it.

They could pick either a winter or a summer scene.  Justin and Charlotte did a winter scene and Phoebe and I did a summer scene.   Oh,  I almost forgot Mikel is so far writing a great story and it's in a summer scene.  Each story had to be at least five paragraphs.  It is really fun!!!   I wrote about a world inside a moutain.   The students all wrote about different things even thought they all are from the same trail,   the Appalachian Trail.   I hope we do another story!!!

By Maddie

literature studies

Journal entry by Keenan

For the next five weeks we are going to be studying literature.  We will do these studies instead of Journeys.  We have two groups.  One is studying Abel`s Island and the other is studying Ralph S. Mouse.

Journal entry by Maddie

We have these journals and every time we read we have to answer a question.   Then color a picture of something that has to do with the question.  It is pretty cool and we are having fun doing reading this way. 
By Trevor

Journal entry by Charlotte

Hexagons, Trapezoids and Triangles Oh My

Yesterday we created line plots graphs with real polygons.  The students were given random amounts of pattern blocks.  With a partner the students created graphs on their desks.

After we made graphs on our desks, we were able to answer many different questions about range, mode and comparisons.  This activity brought to life how important graphs are as a visual resource to understanding data.

Jug End Hikers

         Yesterday, October 22, we went hiking at Jug End.

We hiked with Christine Ward who maintains that section of the trail.  Mantain means to take care of something.  Our hike was mostly in the woods and across some wide, open, meadows, and a  lot of  walking across wooden bog bridges, which I liked.  My favorite bog bridges went across the meadow.  They were really long, twisty, narrow, wobbly, and hard to walk on.

About 90 percent of the hike was in the woods. The hike was truly amazing and Mrs.Ward taught us a lot. We were able to do a lot of hands on stuff, like going off trail to collect three different types of leaves and then share them with the class.

We also came across a tree with really big heart shaped leaves and we were each able to pick a leaf off the tree without hurting it. It's amazing how fat the trunk of a 200 or 300 year old tree can be. I really enjoyed the hike, and I want to hike that section of the Appalachian Trail again.  Written by Kathryn

Invasive Species Post cards

In class we have been doing research on an invasive species
that we got to pickto learn about. Our class and Miss Neat's class are doing a tree for the Bershire Museum's Festival of Trees. We drew a picture of our invasive and when we are done we got to do some resarch on the computer. 

Drawn by Logan

Drawn by Keenan

Some of the questions were hard but most of them were easy.We are going to be making two  invasives  if we want to. One is going to be a southern species and the other is going to be a northern.I can't wait to get started on my southern plant.Once all of our  research and drawling is done we will send them to a printer and they will make them look like a post card you would see in a store.

Drawn by Maddie

I hope you will get to see the tree while it's on display !!


  






written by,
Mikel