Archive for the 'Special' Category

Ellis Island Simulation

Published on November 12, 2009 in Special. 0 Comments

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Today we are introducing the Ellis Island Simulation, a grade-wide event that will take place on Tuesday, November 24th.  We did this for the first time last year and it was a blast. This year because Mr. Andre and Ms. Gordon worked very hard on the materials, it will be even better!

So here are the basics you need to know:

  • Each of you will be receiving a description of a made-up immigrant to play during the simulation (which we are calling “an identity”).  These are based on real people who came through Ellis Island. ( You can download a document with all these here.)
  • Next Tuesday you will go to a special lab to learn more about the country your immigrant is from.
  • After this lab you will be (hopefully!) ready to consider your costume (to be put together at home with whatever you can find — please do not go out and buy things for this) and to write your autobiography.
  • This autobiography is something you will write in class next Wednesday morning (with Mr. Andre’s help).  You MUST have this with you on the day of the simulation.
  • You will  also need to have a passport, an immigrant check-list, money (in most cases as some of you are so poor you will have none) — all of which we will give you.

Model Identity, How to Read it,  and What to Do With It

Pierre Escargot (France) – 24 m

Living in the countryside of France, he works in his uncle’s bakery helping to make bread and manage the store; he has always dreamed of pursuing his love of painting and has saved enough money to join his brother in America where he hopes to attend art school; literate with several years of schooling; he is healthy but walks with a limp after an unfortunate bicycle accident involving a cow – Catholic, Republican

Consider the following for the autobiography

  • The role of the autobiography is to develop the story you are given.
  • Here, in the first paragraph, he works in his uncle’s shop.  Does he live with him?  Are his parents alive?  Where are they?
  • Where, in America, is his brother?  What’s his name?
  • Where in France does he live?  Name of village or region?
  • Tell more about the bike accident, details about injury
  • Consider the vocabulary words —  “republican” is not the same in France as it is in the US, for example.

When You Reach Me

Published on April 30, 2009 in Blog Posts, Books and Special. 0 Comments

I am coming to save your friend’s life, and my own.
I must ask two favors. First, you must write me a letter.

As you know, that is from the mysterious first note found by Miranda in Rebecca Stead’s When You Reach Me, the amazing book I just finished reading to you. It was very cool to sneak peaks at your faces yesterday as I read aloud the last part — you were absolutely riveted as all the different threads were tied up.  And so today it is your turn — to write your own letters about this remarkable book — on your blogs.  My hope is that you will all write thoughtful and interesting ones that I can mention on my blog so that others interested in how children respond to the book will come to see and read them (and, hopefully, comment as well).

First of all, a fun tidbit.  The book takes place, as you know, in 1979 and the television show, $20,000 Pyramid plays a major part in the story.  Go here to see a clip of the original show and then come back….

Back? Good.  Now here are a few ideas of things to consider for your blog post —we’ll add a few more today as well.

  • The title — what do you think of it?  Would there be a better one? (One person I know suggested The Laughing Man —what do you think of that?)
  • The cover — some don’t like it. Do you?  Do you want to draw a better one and post it on your blog? Explain why it is what it is.
  • Chapter titles are mostly “Things that…” which is the way to do your answer for The $20,000 Pyramid.
  • How did you feel about it being SO mysterious?  Were you able to wait until all became clear?
  • Veil metaphor — when was it lifted for you?
  • Wrinkle in Time
  • For kids who are comfortable with many different threads and things going on all at once.

The Graveyard Book Mural

Published on November 17, 2008 in Special. 0 Comments Tags: , .

After listening to me read aloud Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book the class made a truly spectacular mural showing the various places of the book.   I did a post about the reading, the kids’ responses to the book, and our mural at my blog, educating alice. I let the author know about it and he posted my email to him on his blog:

Hi Neil,

My 4th grade class has created a quite splendid (if I do say so myself) mural of The Graveyard Book. I’ve a post with some images from it and their responses to the book here:
http://medinger.wordpress.com/2008/11/14/in-the-classroom-the-graveyard-book/

I loved the mural — and even more than that, I loved the description of reading The Graveyard Book to a fourth grade audience. Thanks so much!

After that thousands came to visit the blog!  (On Saturday 4,128 came by!) Scroll to the end of the post to read the comments some of them left.  And here is the mural for you, your parents, relatives, and friends to enjoy. It is truly wonderful!

We Got an Award!

Published on April 21, 2007 in Special. 0 Comments

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I am writing to let you know that the members of the
RTEACHER listserv have awarded you “The Miss Rumphius
Award.” We present this award for your impressive
ideas for how to use a weblog to support classroom
literacy at your Edinger House blog site at
http://blogs.dalton.org/edinger/

Members of the RTEACHER listserv present the Miss
Rumphius Award to educators who develop and share
exceptional Internet resources for literacy and
learning. It honors teachers who make our world a
more beautiful place, like the title character in the
book Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney. Because Miss
Rumphius scattered lupine seeds wherever she went, we
use this flower as the symbol for our award. For more
information about the Miss Rumphius Award, you can
visit the International Reading Association’s website
at
http://www.reading.org/resources/community/links_rumphius_info.html

Third Grade Guest Bloggers

Published on February 14, 2007 in Special. 0 Comments

Today we went over to the First Program (our K-3 lower school) and helped our third grade buddies create posts on our blogs about their relationship with a school in New Orleans. The posts are really wonderful — do check them out!

“Half a Sixpence” – list of characters

Published on February 2, 2007 in Special. 0 Comments

From another production: http://www.stageagent.com/shows.php?id=1023

“Half A Sixpence”

Published on February 1, 2007 in Special. 0 Comments

Your next blog post is to be a response to (or review of) the MS muslcal, “Half a Sixpence,” which you are going to see this afternoon. The musical is based on the Novel “Kipps” by H.G. Wells, Music and Lyrics by David Heneker, Book by Beverley Cross, Directed by Kevin Gallagher, Choreographed by Emily Maltby ‘08, and performed by Middle School students.

Now, when writing about this you need to remember that people reading your post may know nothing about the musical. So you probably want to be begin with a few sentences giving your readers a sense of what it is about. But not too much — if you go on and on and on and on they will very likely stop reading!

Next you need to tell us about what you liked and what you didn’t like (if there was anything!). Be specific. Be careful too — these are your schoolmates so be sure not to write anything that would hurt their feelings. Remember our critiques — you did a great job making suggestions and giving what you liked as well. I am confident that you can do this when writing about this play too.

As you know I hope to let all of the Dalton community know about your reviews. In fact, they may be your first visitors to your blogs once we make them public!

So remember to:

  1. Begin by drafting your response/review in a MSWord document.
  2. When you are done check for spelling, punctuation, capitals, and sense.
  3. Have a teacher check it.
  4. Post it.

Ms. Edinger

Email Accounts: Rules for Class 4 License

Published on January 26, 2007 in Special. 0 Comments
  • You may only e-mail teachers (ask their permission first)
  • No bad language
  • Don’t say anything over e-mail that you wouldn’t say in person
  • Don’t write anything you wouldn’t say to a large group
  • You may only e-mail teachers if those teachers have given you permission or have e-mailed you first
  • No sharing passwords
  • For Class 4, your accounts will be 30 minutes per day
  • Your e-mail mailboxes will be accessible to your teachers (personal not private)
  • Your password must be of the form “noun” plus “number” and is to be shared only with your parents and teacher. Examples might be: sneakers45, guitar246 or books617.

Commenting Assignments

Published on January 11, 2007 in Special. 0 Comments

To be sure that each student receives at least three comments on his/her first post, I randomly* chose three students for each of you to comment on. By all means do more if you have time — try to do a variety so everyone gets a bunch of comments!

MB1 will comment on EC, OF, and LK’s blogs.

ZB will comment on AI, LK1, and MD’s blogs.

EC will comment on JG, MB1, and AF’s blogs.

MD will comment on FL, OS, and SF’s blogs.

SF will comment on MB1, ZB, and CK’s blogs.

OF will comment on AF, AI, and HU’s blogs.

AF will comment on SS, CK, EC’s blogs.

JG will comment on OS, LK, and FL’s blogs.

AI will comment on AM, FL, and BW’s blogs.

LK will comment on BW, JG, and MB1’s blogs.

CK will comment on OF, AM, and JG’s blogs.

LK1 will comment on ZB, SF, and AI’s blogs.

FL will comment on CK, AF, and OF’s blogs.

AM will comment on HU, MB, and SS’s blogs.

SS will comment on MD, EC, and OS’s blogs.

OS will comment on LK1, BW, and LK’s blogs.

HU will comment on SF, SS, and ZB’s blogs.

BW will comment on LK, HU, and AM’s blogs.

* I have slips with each child’s name in a teapot and draw from it randomly — in front of the class so they know I’m being fair.

Now Read and Comment!

Published on January 10, 2007 in Special. 0 Comments
  1. Read a classmate’s oral history book.
  2. Find their blog.
  3. Click on Login and enter your username and password.
  4. Click on View site at the top of the page to read your peer’s posts.
  5. For the post on which you would like to comment, click on the Comments link directly under it.
  6. Scroll down to write your comment in the field. When you are finished, click on Submit Comment.
  7. When you are finished, click on Logout.
  8. Now do this again with another book. See how many you can do in the next week!