Christmas Blues

Is anyone out there feeling a little blue since Christmas is over?  If so, I have a prescription for those blues....  Go rent or buy the game Michael Jackson's Experience.  For real!!!  I got this game as a gift this Christmas and it is GREAT FUN!! I am sure I look silly dancing along with the great Michael Jackson but it has been a blast pretending I am the King of Pop!!  LoL!!

Can't wait to see all my students and fellow teachers at Highland on the third. I hope all of you are gearing up for a great start to the new year. I know I am!!!!

Happy New Year!!!!!

WOW!! What a day!!

Friday was sooo much fun at Highland. We started the day off with our holiday breakfast party which was amazing. My homeroom brought in an abundance of breakfast items that made our breakfast fantastic!! I want to thank all of the parents, grandparents and other family members who helped make our party a huge success. Then we participated in the Holiday Basketball Classic. We lost our first game but we watched all the other games and cheered on our 5th grade classmates. The basketball tournament was great!! Huge thanks to Mrs. Witcher for organizing this event. It is a highlight at Highland and the students loved it!
I also want to wish everyone at Highland a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

GOOD TIMES AT HIGHLAND

Friday students at Highland participated in an anti-bullying program. Before the show the presenters got the crowd pumped up by singing and dancing to Justin Bieber. As you can see, 5th grade students had an awesome time.

Theories of "The Lost Colony" at Roanoke Island 12-10-10

Students have been learning about the mysterious disappearance of "The Lost Colony at Roanoke Island off the coast of North Carolina in 1587. Historians have various theories on what happened to these colonist as John White returned with supplies and found they had all disappeared. The only evidence found was the word Croatoan carved into a tree near the settlement.  After researching this event students had to make a journal entry explaining what theory they believed in the most. I recorded some of these below. Enjoy!

December 6th

Deck the Halls of Highland was a great success thanks to the hard work and support of our students, parents, volunteers, faculty and staff.  Deck the Halls is always an exciting way to kick off the holiday season.  I would like to personally thank the 5th grade elves who volunteered their time to work in the cafe, lead games, and run errands for Santa. All of you did an outstanding job and took your elf duties serious.

This week in Social Studies we continue our study of European Explorations to the New World. We are focusing our learning this week on the reasons these explorers took such a risk in order to make it to the Americas. All of the different countries in Europe had different reasons for coming. The 5 main countries who sent explorers that we are studying are Spain, England, France, Denmark, and Portugal.

We will be focusing on the interactions of the Europeans and the Native Americans. Some of these interactions will be friendly while others will bring on conflict between the two groups.

We have already learned the reason each country listed above was so interested in the Americas and now we are beginning to discuss specific first settlements such as, St. Augustine, FL. This was the first European settlement in the Americas settled by the Spanish. Then we will learn about Roanoke which was England's first attempt to build a colony, but were unsuccessful. The English try again with the settlement of Jamestown in Virginia. With the cooperation of Pocahontas, John Smith and the settlers of Jamestown barely make it through their first year.

TRIVIA??? What is the origin of the word  AMERICA?