Jan. 2013 New QuadBlogging Buddies

I hope everyone has been enjoying the holiday break! I'm excited to share that we have NEW Quadblogging Buddies for 2013. You can check them out before we head back to school and leave any comments or questions here. Happy New Year!!

Natalie's Guess Who I am? Poem

What am I? Poem by Parry

What am I? guess in the comment section

What am I? poem by David

What am I? you can guess in the comments

Poetry Voice Threads by Mrs. DiBattista's Class

Our class has been busy learning about poetry- Here you will find some original poetry written, illustrated and recorded by our class- Enjoy!

Super Animal Projects

Students have designed a "Super-Animal" that has special features or adaptations that allow it survive in its environment.  Students were challenged to write a descriptive story about their Super Animal so that the reader sees it vividly in their imagination.

 Students have been assigned to read a blog entry and try to draw the described Super Animal, they are encouraged to leave feedback to the writer.  You are welcome to join in the fun!  Please try to match up the pictures on this blog with the Super Animal writing on the individual blogs to the right.  Leave comments for each essay when you think you found the matching drawing. 

Super Animal #1

Good job!  You are right, this is Nick's "Thor" Super Animal

 

                                                   Here is Parry's interpretation of Thor
Notice the differences and similarities?  Check out Nick's Outdoor blog (link at top right) to read the essay and see the partner's comments on his story.  Grace also drew a great picture, but I couldn't post it because there were last names on it.

                                      

 

Can you match this illustration to its writing on the individual student blogs?  Comment here if you know this animal's name.

 

Who is this?

Super Animal #2

 

 

Super Animal #4

What is this Super Animal's Name?

Quadblogging Animal Adaptations Writing Project

Students in Mrs. DiBattista's class are being faced with a challenge.  They need to design an original animal that could survive in a chosen environment.  The animal needs to have special features called adaptations that will help it hunt, protect itself and flourish in the environment. 

Once students have drawn a picture of their animal, they need to write a descriptive essay.  Here is where the fun begins.  Students exchange their essays by posting to their blogs (individual student blog link to the right of home page) the task then becomes for other students to draw the described animal to match the author's drawing.

 If the student is successful in completing a drawing, the writer gets points for their essay.  When a student is unable to draw the animal, they offer feedback to the writer about what needs to be improved in the essay and the author edits the essay and tries with a new partner.

If you are interested in participating in our project, check back later this week! Students are currently in the planning stages of the project. 

French Creek School Closed for Hurricane

What is going on at your house during Hurricane Sandy?

 Our trees are whipping and its been raining since yesterday.  Some of the local creeks are starting to flood and the brunt of the storm isn't even here yet! 

here is a video of 2 hours later... winds are really whipping and trees are bending (hopefully not breaking)

Winds and rain are supposed to pick up later today.  Here is a picture of our biggest trees outside the house, I hope they are still intact tomorrow! Let me know how you are making out at your house.  Mrs. D

4th grade hits the Smoke House!

Today, the local firemen came to French Creek Elementary School to kick off the Fire Prevention activities for the week. Kids from Mrs. DiBattista's class got to learn how to escape from a burning house through the simulated "smoke house". Students tried on the firemen's outfits and received activity books to help practice in case of a real fire.

QuadBloggers... Please check out students' Batty Facts stories

Hello! Individual Student Blogs can now be found in the side bar titled "Sassy Student Blogs". The kids are in the process of uploading their first written story titled Batty Facts. Please choose a few to read and leave constructive writing comments on for them, thanks! Mrs. DiBattista's Class

Lizzie from London

This picture is me after I did a very cool spy hunt in the rain around the parks and Buckingham Palace. It rains a lot in London.

Hi it's Lizzie and I am having a great time in London. We have walked all over the city and have seen the Queen's house and we went into the Tower of London and saw the Crown Jewels and maybe even a ghost named Sir Walter Raleigh just like Mrs. Minter's class said. It was behind my mom on the video camera!!! We also went on a big ferris wheel called the London Eye and it was so much fun. We also saw Big Ben, a giant clock, and we went to the theatre and saw the Lion King. We also went on the tube (the subway) and the lift (the elevator). I saw a bunch more things but I'll tell you about them when I get back. Bye from London!!! P.S. Hannah says hi!!

French Creek celebrated Grandfriends/Grandparents' Day today

Grandparents' Day is one of my favorite days of the year. The kids are so excited to have their grandparents/grandfriends in to their classrooms. One of our grandparents (Jack's Gram) was actually Analisa's mother's teacher, so they had a reunion across generations today! We played math games and had a grand time with our storytelling game. Kids asked grandparents questions like, "What was the worst thing my mom did when she was young?" or "How did you and Grandpa meet?" and the grandparents got to ask the kids questions like, "What exactly is an app?" or "How do you play that video game?". Today was a happy day for all, thanks for coming! We hope you enjoy our video- come again! Mrs. DiBattista's class

Student Blogs have landed!

Mrs. DiBattista's class is happy to announce that we are ready to start up individual student blogs. Look for them on the side bar titled "Sassy Student Blogs". The blogs are a work in progress, so check back often. The students are just learning how to change their avatar, background theme and create their first post! They are very excited! Hope to see you blogging this weekend. Mrs. DiBattista

Madeline is Where??

Hello from Madeline! She is LOVING her family vacation to the Grand Canyon.

Lizzie is off to London!!

What fun!  Lizzie is off to London to celebrate her 10th birthday with her family and our Quadblogging buddies in Mrs. Minter's class have put together a Sound Cloud presentation guiding her to tourist sites she shouldn't miss.  Check it out: Many thanks, Mrs. Minter's Class! You rock at QuadBlogging! We SOOO love the sound of your voices.

We just finished reading a great book titled Top Secret by John Reynolds Gardiner. 

What did you learn from the book?  What was your favorite part of the story?  Write a good comment here: 

Welcome QuadBloggers!

A great big friendly Helloooo to Mrs. Minter's class, Mr. Mitchell's class and Mrs. Asri's class!  We hope that your school year is off to a great start! 

We made 3 pages for you to learn about us and our home state of Pennsylvania.  Check out the pages titled "Let the Quadblogging Begin", "Tourist sites" and "Interesting Stuff".  This is where the kids have created presentations for you, we hope you like them!

Day 6 update

Hello bloggers!

Today was the 6th day of school here in the US, we are settling in nicely!  Students are coming in very excited to see if we have heard from our quadblogging buddies overseas.  So far, we have had a few conversations with Mrs. Minter's class from New Zealand, thanks Mrs. Minter!  We love hearing your students comments on the blog. 

We've noticed a few hits from Great Britian, we think that Mr. Mitchell and Mrs. Asri's classes are finding their way to our blog- Hooray!

This week in Social Studies the class has been brushing up on their map skills.  In a week or 2, we are going to do a Mystery Skype with Miss Crowther's class to try to find their location when they give us clues, and they will need to locate us!  Sounds like Fun!  Talk to you soon, Mrs. DiBattista's class

Question for QuadBlogging buddies...

Do you have a favorite quote? If so, what is it and why do you like it?

We need to introduce ourselves to our quadblogging buddies...

Hello class, Quadblogging starts on Monday, September 10th and WE are first! Yikes! We need to create an introduction that tells about our students, our school, our state,... what do you think the other classes will be interested in knowing about us? Here is what we have so far... Valley Forge- Paytan and Lizzie Hershey Park- Madeline and Jack Raising chickens- Nick and Lucas St. Peter's Village- Ryan and Natalie Knoebels Park- Charlie and Kendall School Day- Bruna and Mario Gymnastics- Keira and Kaylee Penn State University- David and Jared Mountain Biking- Carver and Williamsport, PA- Little League World Series- Sam and Great Wolf Lodge- Gavin and I have to look on my school laptop for the others that were saved, be back soon... Let me know if you have anything to add by Sunday night, thanks, Mrs. DiBattista

1st Day of School

I loved meeting each and every one of you today! I know you were tired and it was hot, but I think we had a great day :) Please leave a comment here- what was your favorite part of the day? Carver and Bruna already beat me to it and left their's, good job! See you in the morning! Mrs. DiBattista

Find the new student and who is missing...

Getting ready for back to school...

Hi kids,
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I spent my first day back at school today, learning how to print to the new copy machines, setting up lesson plans and getting to know all the new teachers. I'm guessing that you are gearing up for school next week, so I just wanted to send out a reminder for you to try to purchase a 3 ring binder with a clear cover sheet to bring to school on the first day. I will also be asking you to bring some of your favorite photos to slide into the sleeve, so try to start gathering those items. Don't forget to bring your "All about Me" bag to school on day 1, it should be filled with a few items that tell about you, I am very eager to get to know everyone. If you have any questions before school starts, you can leave a comment here and I will get back to you shortly. Love, Mrs. D

Are you in Mrs. DiBattista's class?

Back to School Soon...

Hey there! If you found this blog, chances are... you are in my class this year! Yippee! Please write me a note about your summer and what you are looking forward to about school, I love to chat on the blog. (look where it says "comments" click on it and you can leave your comments there, they will post as soon as they've been approved) Don't forget to sign your name or I won't know who it is from! See you soon, Mrs. DiBattista

What are you doing this summer?

I am very excited to head back to Mexico with my family this July! We plan to spend a lot of time enjoying the crystal blue waters, where we will snorkel until our hearts' content... we love to see the fishies! Emma and I will also be visiting our favorite place on EARTH- Xcaret! See photos above!! We will touch tropical birds, feed monkeys and swim with dolphins... all in the same day. When the sun goes down, we will watch ancient Mayan fire shows, as we are HUGE history buffs! I plan to eat exotic food (cooked by anyone but ME), spend time with my family and enjoy every second of our tropical vacation! What are your plans this summer?? I am very curious to hear what you are up to!! Please let me know. If you have any pictures to post, you can email me at kdibattista@ojrsd.com and I would LOVE to post your stories and pictures! Talk to me soon! Love, (as usual) Mrs. DiBattista :)

French Creek Rocks the OJR Summer Reading Olympics

Looking for a fun way to enhance your reading and technology skills this summer?
Check this out:
OJR Summer Reading OLYMPICS 2012


What do you have to do?  It's Easy... Read and keep track of your minutes then check out the non-digital or digital options available to you.

You can help French Creek Rock the Summer Reading Olympics- C'mon! what are you waiting for?? here is Emma's Glogster project:

Teacher trouble getting comments to work on Blogger- Check here!

Hello teachers!  This is for those of you trying to set up a Blogger/Blogspot account and get the comments feature to actually work... the trick is simple- you need to update your time zone to the correct one to get the comments to post.  Time zone fiddling can be done under the "settings" tab in the "language and formatting" area.  I couldn't find my exact time zone that I am familiar with, so I chose the closest one I could find and made sure the times really matched after I "saved settings"- then my comments posted and so did my friend's when I was helping her set up a blog. 

I also have a teacher blog that helps if you are starting a classroom blog, check it out at www.kdibat.wordpress.com and if there is something I can help with, don't hesitate to ask!  Happy Summer Vacation!!

Under Summer re-Construction

Hi kids,
 I can't believe the school year is over! 
Write me a comment or two on here over the summer to let me know what you are up to.
 See you in September!  Mrs. D

Today is the last day of school... for our little chickies

The 4th grade classes at French Creek Elementary School had a successful hatch.  Miss Borchard's class had a 100% of their chicks hatch and today, the 11 happy, healthy, fluffy, yellow chicks will be adopted out into the OJR community. Here is a video of the chicks' last day in their brooder box before they fly the coop.

As you can see, the chicks have been well-behaved in class.  The Cornish Whites will be well-cared for by some students and neighbors from French Creek Elementary School for the next 8 to 12 weeks. Kudos to FC and the teachers for doing a tremendous job incubating the eggs and caring for the the baby chicks! 

Chicks are hatching!!

Live Web cam info

Hello! The live web cam was installed in our classroom on Friday- It only works on OJR campus right now, I will let you know if you can access it from the internet, but as of now, it only works in school.

Here is a video I made using Flickr photo editor and Animoto.  I hope you like it!  I know you didn't go to Harrisburg this year on a field trip, but if you send me photos from your trip next week- I can make a new video for you, Love- Mrs. D

I just made your name poster on Wordle- it is fun!

Try to find me... on the Social Studies page!

Looking to brush up on your latitude/longitude coordinates?  Follow the directions on the Social Studies page to find out "Where in the world is Mrs. DiBattista?"  Good Luck!

Today we learned how to view and post comments to the blog!
Directions to comment come up after you choose the area you would like to make a comment on.  Where ever you see 0 Comments, or 1 comment, You click on that to see the other comments and directions for how to comment, then you should be good to go.  When in doubt- choose anonymous and sign your name! Give it a shot!

Here is a brief tutorial from Mrs. Yollis on how to add a comment
Mrs. Yollis's tutorial on how to add a comment

Welcome to our 4th grade blog!  Together we will learn how to become digital citizens of the 21st century... get ready to blast off!

Check out the "Science Corner" to find out information about our Embryology Project

This short video shows a chick hatch (not in real time)