Celebrate Good Times

The end of another year has arrived.  This is always such special time of year, when we celebrate all that the students have accomplished and we say good-bye to our 5th grade students who move onto the next school building for 6th grade.

Matrix_Celebr

(Did you notice how many words have the suffix ?!?! Remember why we drop the non-syllabic !)

 

celebr + ate/ + ed –>  celebrated

celebr + ate/ + ing –>  celebrating

celebr + ate/ + ory –> celebratory

celebr + ate/ + ion + s–>  celebrations

celebr + ity –>  celebrity

celebr + ity/ (i) + es –>  celebrities

 

Each of my groups has their own celebration in which we pass out awards for demonstration of character traits that make each of us unique or that help our group learn well together.  It’s one of my favorite times of the year.  While we compliment or acknowledge many of these traits daily during our group time, there’s just something special about being recognized on paper — seeing the kids eyes sparkle, a smile form and seeing them sit a little taller after receiving their official recognition makes these moments special.

Ah, the 5th graders….such a tearful time — while I smile and celebrate with them, I am always holding back tears of knowing that I will miss them.  The crew this year, have all been with me for at least 2 years, some as long as 4 years.  I’ve watched them grow as learners and as young people. I’ve experienced a large part of their early learning journey with them.  After we passed out our Character Trait Awards, we read a poem and letter I wrote to each of them and feasted on some delicious pizza and snacks.  We ended our celebration with a game of Pie Face….it involves a huge dollop of whipped cream, a timer and a slap-stick hand that if you’re unlucky, or lucky…depending on how you look at it, may come splatting into your face!  Such a fun way to celebrate an especially fun group of kids!

Whipped Cream-Nosed Selfie

Whipped Cream-Nosed Selfie

Scroll down for a few pics and video clips of us anticipating getting creamed!  The videos uploaded sideways..don’t know why…but still fun to watch–be sure to turn on your sound too!

Thanks to all my students for a fantastic year of great learning!  Have a wonderful and relaxing summer!

 

Love, Mrs. B

The Debut of the SWI News!!

THE STAR GROUP’S LATEST ADVENTURE BEGAN WITH A SIMPLE SUFFIX LESSON AND ENDED UP AS A COOL NEW PROJECT!!  

They decided that others needed to know about this suffix information,

so they created the SWI News

Please take a few minutes (6 min and 12 seconds to be exact) to watch this informative and entertaining newscast.  The students are hopeful that teachers will show the video to their students and they are eager for their families to watch.  They are excited to pass along this nugget of knowledge to you!  Feel free to post a question or comment as well.

 

These 5th graders are hoping to make this a monthly Newscast Series to bring you the latest orthographic conventions, evidence and knowledge.  Orthography is spelling and they know that if you can spell a word, you can read a word!!

Today’s segment questions the suffix <-tion> and provides evidence of the real suffix being         <-ion>.

Note: after reviewing their first filmed event, the group would like to add a few notes for clarity.

  • When announcing word sums (base + suffix) they would like to point out that the word ‘equals’ should have been the phrase ‘is rewritten as’.
  • In the next video, they want to be sure to announce the spellings of each word instead of saying the base and spelling the suffix.
  • They would also like to clarify why there may be an ‘e’ crossed off on some of the base words. This is due to a common spelling convention of dropping the final, single, silent e when adding a vowel suffix. They also think this spelling convention might be a good one to make for their next newscast!

Thank you for your understanding of any small faux-pas due to their nerves as they participated in their very first filmed event!  We want to thank you for watching and hope that you learned something new today!

IMG_1865

Mrs. Barnett and the Star Group wish to thank our videographer and mentor, Fenton High School Senior, Nick Campbell for his time, videotaping & editing skills and for his advice on Newscasting!!