Books Galore!

Today, Dr. Bomhold visited our 3rd graders to discuss her career as a librarian specialist. She is a "super" librarian, who trains future librarians at our local university. Dr. Bomhold discussed how libraries are important for not only finding books to read for pleasure, but for research as well. As information professionals, librarians are also responsible for organizing and purchasing books. As an activity, Dr. Bomhold shared some books from her personal collection and had students organize them into categories such as animals and adventure. Students had to scan the books as well as determine and justify how to categorize them. Finally, students picked 3 books to not "purchase" for the library and pick a favorite to share with the class. We also received a book and a notebook to continue our journey with literacy. Thanks so much, Dr. Bomhold!

Making Cents

This month, Mrs. Jessica McCarthy came to visit our REACH class to speak about her career as a CPA. She currently operates her own accounting firm and brought along some Comic Books for the students. She also discussed the accounting component that goes behind the scenes when opening a business. Thanks for the talk, Mrs. McCarthy! 

Mona Lisa Parody

The Mona Lisa. We have all seen her or heard of her. Perhaps the biggest mystery is the reason behind her smile. This is what we think she's smiling about. We hope our creations have put a smile on your face!

Mona Lisa Parody 

Reading Project Showcase

We have been so busy in REACH. So busy in fact that we are just now getting to post our awesome reading projects! This summer students read a novel of their choice that they then had to share. Instead of writing a book report, they decided to share their books in creative ways. Have a look at some student samples. You can also view projects in the Office Foyer at our school.

Novel Voice Overs

This project was for the tech savvy! The objective was to advertise their novels using a voiceover. After examining several professional examples for television series, students created their own scripts and added sound effects using Garageband. The challenge was to summarize their novels in ways that will engage listeners and utilize media that complimented the theme or mood of the novel.

Walker- Tunnels 

Max- I Survived Pearl Harbor 

Nick- Mrs. Frisby & the Rats of Nimh

*Click on the student names to listen to their voiceovers. 

Theme Meme

We see memes frequently online, but not at school. Not until now that it is. For this project, students had to capture the mood and themes of their novel through a meme. Their meme had to include a word and tagline to explain the theme. Students used their advanced vocabulary skills and summarizing skills in novel ways.

Hansini: Moon Over Manifest 

Andrew: 39 Clues: Maze of Bones  

Scene It: Readers' Theater

This project was for those students that enjoy acting and making costumes. Students were responsible for recreating and acting out a scene in their book. They had to include a script, props, a set, and puppets to bring their scene(s) to life.

Character Suitcase

To explore characters, we created a suitcase for them. Students had to answer the question, "If your character had a bag or suitcase, what would he/she put in it?" This project was for students who enjoy designing and creating.

Peyton: The 68 Doors

Gabriel: Island of the Blue Dolphins

Message in  Bottle

For this project, students had to write a message to another character in their story. They also designed the bottle to send their message. This was an excellent option for those students that enjoy creative writing.

Ethan: 

Setting Illustration/Portrait

Finally, this project was meant to unleash the inner artists. Students had to illustrate a painting or picture for the setting of their story. Students researched a famous artist's style and had to recreate their setting using that style.

Emori: Mashup of Impressionism & Pop Art

Skype Sharing

Today we had our first Skype call to share projects with Ms. Lasher's class. We presented our Reading Projects and explained the products we made for our novels. Ms. Lasher's class shared independent projects such as a Cardboard Challenge Game, Perplexers, and Mystery Stories. They are even willing to send the Perplexers to our class so that we can solve them! We enjoyed seeing what other gifted classes are working on and look forward to solving some puzzles.