Ford Field Fun

Yes, that's me with Lions starting quarterback Matthew Stafford. The kids got to meet him, too, and hear him talk about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. It was all part of a special wellness event organized by Blue Cross. If you remember, it was Blue Cross that awarded UPA a grant last year which brought the Hop Sports and Organ Wise programs to our school. This was kind of a celebration of that.

The kids got to take part in several physical challenges and drills on the Ford Field turf. It was pretty exciting for all of them. A few even got to shake the hand of the superstar pictured above.

Special thanks goes out to Mrs. Young and Mrs. Stafford for chaperoning the event!

My First Trimester Exhibition

In an attempt to help students and parents, I will be doing my own Interest Project this trimester. My driving question will be: "What are the different birds of prey?"

I will be completing each of the milestones so that you can see exactly what is expected of the students.

Here's my list of resources for Milestone One, which is due Thursday:

• Wikipedia Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_of_prey
• Exploring Birds of Prey website: http://www.peregrinefund.org/explore_raptors/index.html
• Birds of Prey Foundation: http://birds-of-prey.org/cm/
• Birds of Prey by Robin Kerrod
• Birds of Prey (National Geographic Guide) by Amy Donovan
• Raptor! A Kids' Guide to Birds of Prey by Christyna Laubach

Please note that for my websites, I included the complete web address. For books, I included the title AND author.

Stay tuned for my Milestone 2--a list of facts--which for students is due October 21.

This Week in Room 302--volume 2

Here's our second podcast from our Learning Documentary Production Team. Please take a listen to find out what we've been working on in the last week.

This Week in Room 302--volume 2

This Week's Homework

So, last week, we didn't exactly follow the homework schedule that I posted here. Sorry. These things happen sometimes. This week is a short week, so we'll try to stick to it better:

Monday: Study Link 2-6
Tuesday: Study Link 2-7
Wednesday: Study Link 2-8
Thursday: Study Link 2-9 (due Monday)

There is no school Friday, so the Problem of the Week will be due Thursday. Slice of Life stories and Book-in-a-Bag record sheets will be due Monday, October 11.

And, of course, don't forget Milestone 1, due this Thursday. If you don't have the form anymore, that's okay, just turn in a list of 5-6 resources ( a combination of books and/or websites) on notebook paper or something like that.

Follow the Art Class

I should have blogged about this ages ago, but it slipped my mind, so I apologize to our art teacher, Danielle Seikaly. Danielle has been blogging this year about things going on in the art room. I highly recommend that you check out her blog and subscribe by typing in your email address in the form on her blog (just like on this one).

This week, she features a video about the DIA. I love the DIA. I was just there last weekend with my family and if you haven't been there in a while, I highly recommend it. They keep making changes and improvements and every time I go, it gets better. If memory serves me right, the DIA used to offer free admission for Detroit residents on Fridays (when they're open until 10:00 p.m.). You might have to look into that and see if they still do.

So, please check out Danielle's blog at: http://upaeart.blogspot.com/.

Lots of Weekend Work

I wanted to summarize the large number of things out there that can and have to be worked on this weekend...

REQUIRED:

• Finish Book in a Bag record sheet, including the paragraph on the back of the sheet.
• Write Slice of Life story. Can be done on paper or on Edmodo.

RECOMMENDED/OPTIONAL:

• Work on Milestone 1--find resources for your Interest Project. This is due Thursday!
• Finish drawing for The Little Prince if you haven't done so already.
• Join the Poetry group on Edmodo. (You'll see my instructions for how to do this on your Edmodo page)
• On Edmodo, reply to the question I asked in the Poetry group.
• Type the poem we wrote on our poetry walk. Use Google Docs to do this. (Look on Edmodo for instructions on how to do this.)

Announcements for Next Week

Some reminders:

Book in a Bag and Slice of Life are due Monday. The students who posted their Slice of Life story on Edmodo really enjoyed it, so I encourage them, and others, to try it again!

Our field trip to Ford Field for the BCBS Wellness and Fitness event will be Tuesday, October 5. Please try to wear a red shirt and gym shoes that day.

Milestone One is due Thursday, October 7. Paperwork went home for this yesterday. (Learning Plans came home yesterday, too.)

There is NO SCHOOL (for students) on Friday, October 8.

Have a great weekend!!!