It's June!

Here is the final calendar of 2015-2016!

Have all courses completed before June 24 (no OLS after that day).

(click on the calendar to enlarge) 

Hee hee.

Keyboarding

During our conferences this month, a few LCs asked about keyboarding programs for kids. Here are a few that were recommended by teachers and parents.

• Keyboarding Without Tears - http://www.hwtears.com/kwt
• Dance Mat Typing - http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/
• All the Right Type – http://www.atrtonline.com/new_index.php
• Power Typing - http://www.powertyping.com/
• Many, many more games and programs - http://typingsoft.com/all_typing_tutors.htm

Keyboarding is a great skill to work on over the summer! The recommendation for elementary students is 15 minutes a day of practice.

When my boys were learning to keyboard. They typed with a box lid over their hands, so that they couldn't look at the keys. This trick helped with speed, memorization and accuracy. Once your student learns the home keys, you may want to try it!

If you have a keyboarding program or game that you like, please let me know and I will add it to the list!

May Quick Writes!

Check out Ember and Lauren's awesome Quick Writes! 

Same prompts, completely different stories.

I reached for my umbrella when suddenly...

           I reached for my umbrella when suddenly a scaly figure leaped out at me. Giant, bat-like, icy, blue wings stretched, and glittery black claws reached for me. I screamed. The talons grabbbed me by my arm and yanked me into a pitch black tunnel. The claws leg go. I strained to see in the obsidian-black cavern. I turned around. No light. There was no going back the way I came. An icy chill of fear crept up my spine. Something was not right. I turned once more. The cave was filled with slanted, glowing, green eyes. A burst of fire caught my attention. It lit up the extent of the cavern with an eerie red glow. Huge, gray, black and red wings crowded the caves.

            “Dragons..” I breathed, amazed.

- Ember

The Leopard Print
I reached for my umbrella when suddenly it turned into a leopard! It was a new umbrella with leopard print on it and it came alive!!(Maybe that's why it was on sale...) I was afraid at first, but I love leopards though, so it felt great seeing one this close to me. He was so grateful for me letting him out of the umbrella that he agreed to being my pet and to not hurt my other pets. People may say, "Let the cat out of the bag," but I think it should be "Let the cat out of the umbrella..." 

-Lauren 

In another galaxy, far, far away...

            In another galaxy, far, far away, Zalica strapped on her CloudSuit 102 made of black dragon leather. The leather was heat and fire resistant, which was necessary on Zalica's planet Scolon 2 because the gas clouds were very hot. Zalica strapped on her helmet and grabbed her Fire Blaster 6000, the mechanical wings used as transportation. She buckled on the wings and leaped out the door , pulling the trigger for the gauzy wing's engine. The engine did not start. Panic began creeping up Zalica's spine. If she fell onto Scolon 2's crust of lava, there was no way she would live. She pulled the trigger again. A faint gutter, but it didn't start. The lava was looming towards her.

 - Ember 

R2D2 and C3P0
In another galaxy far, far away, there was a droid named R2D2 and his friend C3P0. They adventured together and had great times, but they fought a lot. One day, I flew there in a spaceship and took them home with me on Earth.

-Lauren

 I decided to pick the unusual flower when...

            I decided to pick the unusual flower when a burst of air, smelling like pine sap and maple syrup, blasted me off my feet I fell five yards away. I scrambled up and turned around. A giant scaled face met my eyes. I screamed. The dragon's head itself was larger than a house. The pearly green teeth were taller than me. The slanted green eyes stared down. It tilted its head. Then pointed to the flower, and shook its head. A large growl erupted from the enormous gray throat. I backed off. Suddenly, it sat down, as though satisfied, its weight causing a mini earthquake. A huge shadow enveloped the meadow. Another dragon.

- Ember  

Tiger Lilies I decided to pick the unusual flower (Tiger Lily) when suddenly it turned into a tiger! I fought the tiger off, because it wasn't as grateful for being let out of the flower as the leopard was with the umbrella. It finally left me alone, and went to live in a nearby jungle with some other tiger friends. (Once again there should be a saying of "Let the cat out of the flower...")

-Lauren

Way to go ladies! Keep it up!

...and remember...

Join us for more Quick Writes on June 1st!

Show What You Know!

Wordle-riffic!

www.wordle.net

Video Response - Lion Pride

So far this year, we've learned a lot about answering text based questions. You are all professionals when it comes to restating and answering the questions, citing information and explaining your responses by quoting directly from the text. Well done!

Now let's take what we know and apply it to video based questions!

Watch the following video as many times as you need to. Pause it and rewind if necessary! Listen and take notes, so that you can answer the questions completely. For question #5, remember to cite the video with quotes!

For help with the written response questions, you can use this modified version of the RACE method.

Please submit your completed "Lion Pride" Assignment via Google Form before Friday.

Thanks,

Happy Mother's Day!

This is my favorite Mother’s Day article. It was written by Cindy Lange-Kubick. It makes me cry every time I read it, so I thought I should share it with all of the devoted moms and grandmothers out there!

Here's to mothers, for every year is their year…

This is for all the mothers who didn't win Mother of the Year in 2015.

All the runners-up and all the wannabes. All the mothers too tired to enter or too busy to bother.

This is for all the mothers who froze their buns on metal bleachers at soccer games Friday night instead of watching from cars, so that when their kids asked, "Did you see my goal?" they could say "Of course, wouldn't have missed it for the world," and mean it.

This is for all the mothers who have sat up all night with sick toddlers in their arms, wiping up barf laced with Oscar Mayer wieners and cherry Kool-Aid saying, "It's OK, honey, Mommy's here." 

This is for the mothers who gave birth to babies they'll never see. And the mothers who took those babies and made them homes.

For all the mothers who run carpools and make cookies and sew Halloween costumes.

And all the mothers who don't.

What makes a good mother anyway? Is it patience? Compassion? Broad hips? The ability to nurse a baby, fry a chicken and sew a button on a shirt all at the same time?

 

Or is it heart?

Is it the ache you feel when you watch your son disappear down the street, walking to school alone for the very first time?

The jolt that takes you from sleep to dread, from bed to crib at 2 a.m. to put your hand on the back of a sleeping baby?

The need to flee from wherever you are and hug your child when you hear news of a school shooting, a fatal fire, a car accident, a baby dying?

I think so.

So, this is for all the mothers who sat down with their children and explained all about making babies. And for all the mothers who wanted to but just couldn't.

This is for reading "Goodnight Moon" twice a night for a year. And then reading it again. "Just one more time." 

This is for all the mothers who mess up. 

This is for all the mothers who taught their daughters to tie their shoes before they started preschool.  And for all the mothers who chose Velcro instead. 

For all the mothers who bite their lips -- sometimes until they bleed -- when their 14-year-olds dye their hair green. Who lock themselves in the bathroom when babies keep crying and won't stop.

This is for mothers who show up at work with spit-up in their hair and milk stains on their blouses and diapers in their purses.

This is for all the mothers who teach their sons to cook and their daughters to sink a jump shot.

For all the mothers who make mental notes of their children every time they hear a siren sound or a tire squeal or a bump in the night.

This is for all the mothers whose heads turn automatically when a little voice calls "Mom?" in a crowd, even though they know their own offspring are at home.

This is for mothers who put pinwheels and Teddy bears on their children's graves.
 

This is for mothers whose sons and daughters have gone astray, who can't find the words to reach them.

This is for young mothers stumbling through diaper changes and sleep deprivation. And mature mothers learning to let go. 

For working mothers and stay-at-home mothers. Single mothers and married mothers. 

Mothers with money, mothers without.

This is for you all. So hang in there.

And better luck next year, I'll be rooting for you.

 Thanks for all you do!