Rockin’ Redwoods Report
While several students were excited to share what they had learned about water, a few of Chris’ Rockin’ Redwoods wanted to write about a special interest or learning opportunity that created a spark. Here are those reports.
Sharks
By Spencer G.
Today I want to teach you about Sharks. Did you know sharks have six senses? Their first sense is touch like we have. Their 2nd sense is smell. They have a really strong sense of smell. Their 3rd sense is hearing. Did you know they have inner ears instead of outer ears like we do? The 4th sense is taste. But sharks don’t have tongues so how do they taste? They have taste buds. A taste bud is something that helps sharks taste. Their 5th sense is electroreception. Electroreception is when prey hides but they still make electric fields and sharks can sense it. But what is a electric field? A electric field is something that prey gives off all the time! The last sense is seeing. That is all I have today!
My Favorite Fieldtrip
By Dalton B.
The second graders went to Levi’s Stadium. It was a STEAM trip. STEAM stands for, Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math. It was fun we went to Levi’s Stadium. We went to the museum, the field, and the locker rooms. There is a TV in the locker room did you know that? I didn’t know that. We went through the tunnels near the end zone too. There were carts driving around the tunnels. We watched a movie that was so fun. The movie was about the 49ers’ history. Then, we went to the field. It was very very very very really really really really really really so cool. It was cool because it was my first time going to a football stadium in the Bay Area. Next, we went to the locker rooms. It was very fun. After, we did drills how the 49ers do drills. We did passing and catching drills. Do you know that the first team to play in Levi’s Stadium was the San Jose Earthquakes? That was the first team that played in the Levi’s Stadium. Then we went back to the Village School. That was the best fieldtrip ever!
Reading Without Walls
Reading Without Walls is a national campaign that challenges students (or anyone) to broaden their reading choices by exploring books about characters who look or live differently than you, topics you haven’t discovered, or formats that you haven’t tried. Teacher Chris recently introduced this program in his classroom and said, “this challenge energized the students to choose new books they might not have tried otherwise.”
By Rockin’ Redwood Dalia C.
Reading Without Walls helps me a lot because I find a lot of new books every day. Reading Without Walls is a program that helps us find new books. There are three challenges. The first is to find a book with a character that doesn’t live like you or look like you. I read Wayside School by Louis Sachar because it is about a class that is not like my class. The second challenge is to find a book about a topic you have never read before. I chose Nancy Clancy by Jane O’Connor because I have never read that book before. The final challenge was to find a book with a new format. I read the Dance Class series by Beka and Crip because they are graphic novels. My teacher made a poster so that every kid has to write on a piece of paper what book they like and then tape it on the Recommendation Poster. In my opinion Reading Without Walls is very fun! The reason we do Reading Without Walls is because my teacher wants us to find new books that we had never read before and step out of our comfort zone.
Rockin’ Redwoods’ Reading Without Walls Recommendations:
Cam Jansen by David A. Adler
Miss Nelson is Back by Harry Allard
Name That Dog by Peggy Archer
Dance Class series by Beka and Crip
Journey by Aaron Becker
The Cow That Laid an Egg by Andy Cutbill
Fly High Fly Low by Don Freeman
This Bridge Will Not Be Gray by Dave Eggers
The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig
Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth
Nancy Clancy by Jane O’Connor
The Littles by John Peterson
Wayside School by Louis Sachar
Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
The Never Girls by Kiki Thorpe
The Essential Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
They All Saw a Cat by Brendan Wenzel
War Heroes: Voices from Iraq (10 True Tales) by Allan Zullo
MythBusters series
Rocks, Gems and Minerals
The United States Atlas