Why are we the Tiger Cubs?  Because we are ferocious about learning. Take a peek below to see what the class of 2010 is up to!  So far, we have...

~ Sent a video commentary to President Obama & heard back!                              ~ Created digital responses to Owen and Mzee
~ Hosted a Town Fair                                                                                               ~ Sequenced stories using Episodic Sequence
~ Created Virtual Field Trips                                                                                    ~ Held a Poetry (Slam) Cafe
~ Hosted a Culture Fair                                                                                            ~ Presented Shakespearean Tableaux

Look at our digital scrapbook of field trips & assemblies!  Remember to check out what the Technocrats & Poetic Force did, too!

As part of our poetry unit we dug into 3 Shakespeare plays: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, & Hamlet.  While working in book groups we read & discussed the plays.  Then, we completely immersed ourselves (& entertained our friends) with our tableaux.  Our body language accurately captured the important details in the plays.  Not to mention how much fun we had doing it!!!

Every year, our school has an Author's Day to celebrate our very own authors!  This year, the children first shared the poems that inspired them in some way.  Many of these poems led them to write their very own poetry.  Then, they performed the poems they wrote.  Listen to the complete play list of this year's poems below.
The grand finale of this year's Author's Day was the video the children made to the song "Don't Laugh At Me".  This song was part of our poetry unit as we learned to stretch our thinking about the words on a page.  Watch the video below!

We researched different ecosystems, focusing on ones that can be found in our town.  We determined importance to tell the difference between interesting & important facts.  Then we learned how to determine the main idea & supporting details.  And then, we could identify the overarching main idea.  We didn't stop there: we wrote our research the same way!  The entire time, we were compiling our new found knowledge into virtual field trips via Power Point (below), Museum Box, & a web site.

Summarizing can be a difficult skill to learn.  While reading, you need to determine which parts of the story are important.  Using the Episodic Sequence helps you know which parts are important.  After determining importance, use cohesive ties (and, but, because, so) to string the parts together.  You have now synthesized your way to a summary!  Below are videos displaying how we gradually became independent in writing summaries.

The Tiger Cubs hosted an East Windsor Town Fair.  To prepare for the fair, they gathered information from the internet, discovery walks, map work, phone interviews, guest speakers, and field trips.  Before they began their queery, they posed questions to set their purpose.  While reading, they connected their schema to the new information.  After reading, they synthesized what they learned to decide if town facilities were in an ideal spot, what they do, & if they were important to the town.   Regardless, of how they shared their thinking they used evidence to support it!

At the beginning of the year we created a life - sized versions of ourselves.  They showed what we liked to do &/or what is important to us.  We used them at Open House to see if our parents could figure which one was us.  We also use these as our on - line identities.

On September 8, 2009, President Obama gave a 15 minute speech to the students of America.  After watching the speech, we had strong opinions about what he said.  We decided to create a news show to highlight our thoughts.  In February, we received a letter from President Obama about our video!