Archery by Sara

On April 21st, 2017 5th graders at Glenridge Elementary School started a new unit in P.E. - Archery. The P.E. unit Archery is only available for kids 3 - 5 grade. P.E. teachers taught this unit to give kids of the appropriate age an opportunity to try an exotic sport with the teacher’s trust that they will have self control. There are three steps to make sure nobody gets injured in this unit.

Step one - Step to the line: for this step, kids will step to the edge of the mat, and turn a certain direction based on if they were right handed or left handed. Kids who were right handed would put their left foot to the edge of the mat so they would be facing towards the 4th grade rooms. Kids who were left handed would put their right foot to the edge of the mat so they would be facing towards the stage. There were two different types of bows - one for the kids who were left handed and one for the kids who were right handed. After you were in place, you would pick up your bow. Kids who were right handed had a yellow bow to pick up. They would pick up the bow with their left hand and hang it by their side. Kids who were left handed had a red bow to pick up. They would pick up the bow with their right hand and hang it by their side.

Step two - Knock your arrow: After everybody has completed step one, they would wait for the teacher to call step two - Knock your arrow. Once the teacher called step two kids would take an arrow from the cone (there is a hole at the top for the arrows to go in) and turn their bow sideways so the place to hold the arrow will be pointing towards the sky. The arrow feathers are colored two different colors. Two of the arrow feathers will be colored one color and the other arrow feather would be colored a different color. The arrow feather that is different from the other arrow feathers will be facing towards the sky when you knock your arrow. Once you make sure your arrow is facing the right way, you snap it in. There are cushions to put your hands when pulling back. Between those cushions is a small spot where the arrow clicks in. Make sure you hear the click before moving on to step 3.

Step 3 - Pull, Aim, and Release: Once the teacher sees that everybody has completed step 2, he will give permission to student's to do step 3 - pull, aim, and release. When doing this step, you want to line up your feet so you are parallel to the target. After this, you want to pull back. People who are right handed will pull back with their right hand, and people who are left handed will pull back with their left hand. After you pull back, you have to aim. When aiming, people who are right handed will close their left eye and people who are left handed will close their right eye. This gets you a better chance at getting a bullseye. When you close your eye, you can see the point of the arrow. Put the point of the arrow right on the bullseye. Once you are ready to let go, you just release your hand that is pulling back, and watch the arrow fly through the air. You can take us much time as you need, and people who are waiting their turn have to be quiet so you can concentrate.

One thing is for sure, most people in 5th grade will miss the wonderful P.E. unit Archery. If you enjoyed archery a lot in this 5th grade year and you are going to Summerquest, ask your parent/guardian if you can take archery as one of your electives. Archery sure is one thing that kids who leave Glenridge will never forget.

100 Word Challenge by Sara

“Come on!” yelled Marco “We’ve got to hurry!”. Percy gave a confused look to Marco and stopped walking. Marco turned around. “What's wrong?” he said. “Marco, you’re walking straight into a wall.” said Percy. “Who cares?” yelled Marco. He walked into the wall, but froze in the middle. “Keep going Macro if you want to prove it’s not dangerous!” yelled Percy. Marco didn’t budge. “Marco?” said Percy. He knew what was going on. “Oh come on Marco!” Percy said. “I’m stuck!” screamed Marco. Percy grabbed the nearest thing A hook. Then he went to get Marco out of the wall.

100 Word Challenge by Sara

“Pose for the picture!” Says Mark. Gabriella was in a beautiful white robe in middle of the forest. The brown trees swayed with the wind. “It’s so hard to get the perfect shot!” yells Mark. He tries all different angles with the camera but it would not focus! He’s worried. He thinks his camera is broken! “What's wrong?” asks Gabriella. Mark ignored her. He stomped his foot. “Come on Mark! Gabriella said. She was getting impatient. “Just take the picture!” Gabriella was getting so frustrated she started walking away. “Come on Gabriella!” shouted Mark, but he couldn’t change her attitude.

March Book Madness by Sara

On March 1st, 2017 5th graders in Mrs. Barnes room started voting for the book they wanted to win in March Book Madness. March book madness is kind of like the NCAA March Madness, but instead of college basketball teams, kids vote for the best middle school book.

The books were Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson, Counting by 7’s Holly Goldberg Sloan, Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein, Sisters by Raina Telgemeier, Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, The Honest Truth by Dan Gemeinhart, Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan, A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen, The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, Booked by Kwame Alexander, Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt, Pax by Sara Pennypacker, The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L. Holm, El Deafo by Cece Bell, Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff, and Crenshaw K. A. Applegate. The Elite Eight included Counting by 7’s, Sisters, The Honest Truth, A Night Divided, The War That Saved My Life, Pax, El Deafo, and Crenshaw. The Final Four included Sisters, A Night Divided, Pax, and Crenshaw. The Championship included Pax and A night Divided.

In the end, A Night Divided won and became the 2017 Champion in March Book Madness - The battle for the best book.

100 Word Challenge by Sara

Rachel fixes her goggles and takes a big, deep breath. She adds water to her mixture. The rest of her class has already left. “Rachel, I think you might want to save this for tomorrow.” says Mr. Koelen, Rachel’s science teacher. “I’m fine,” says Rachel. “I just need to add some olive oil…” Rachel slowly adds a drop of olive oil to the mixture. The mixture explodes everywhere. says Mr. Koelen. “Not everything has to be perfect.” says Mr. Koelen. Rachel feels like a bullet has hit her “So that’s why I am always last,” she says. “I never noticed!”

5th Grade Fantasy Book Clubs by Sara

On February 27th, 2017 Mrs. Barnes 5th grade class is starting fantasy book clubs. 5th graders every year aim to explore different genres in reading. They did this by filling out a sheet with different fantasy books.

The books were Kingdom Keepers - Disney After Dark by Ridley Pearson, The Books Of Beginning - The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens, Gregor The Overlander by Suzanne Collins, Poppy - Tales of Dimwood Forest by Avi, The Land Of Stories - The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer, The Sisters Grimm - The Fairy-tale Detectives by Michael Buckley, The Homework Machine by Dan Gutman, and Which With by Eva Ibbotson. On the sheet, students rate each book on a scale of 1 - 5 stars based on how much they liked it. They decided on how much they liked it by reading the first few pages of each book. Students also had to leave a comment saying what they liked about the book, or did not like about the book. After rating the books, students would turn them into the completed work basket and Mrs. Barnes would take them and put us into our book groups.

In the end, the books The Homework Machine, Wich Witch, and The Sisters Grimm all got voted out because they did not have enough people, but everyone is still excited to read their book and try every genre of fiction and nonfiction throughout the school year.

Hidden Valley Ski Trip by Sara

Glenridge Ski Trip

On January 12th, 2017 5th graders at Glenridge Elementary School got on a bus at 8:15 A.M. to go to Hidden Valley to go skiing. Some people went skiing for the first time in their lives and others went skiing to improve their skills.

When the 5th graders entered Hidden Valley, all of them were amazed. One 5th grader named Sara was amazed by how they could fit so much fake snow in a huge area. After the 5th graders got their skis, they were able to go out and head towards station one. Most 5th graders were wearing a long sleeve shirt and a winter jacket plus warm pants and snow pants. A 5th grader Ava says, “The ski boots were easy to put on and they were very comfortable because I have been skiing before.” One 5th grader says the ski boots feel like high heels with your toes squished up in the boot. After students go through station one, they go to the next station which shows you how to put on your skis. The 5th graders would put their foot parallel to the skis, move their body weight to their foot, wait for the  click, and one ski would be on. Skiers would do the same process for the next ski, and then they would be ready to go to station three.

Station three was learning about how to go up a hill without falling down. Skiers would point their skis sideways and slowly start inching up a small hill. Once they made it up the hill they would go on to station four.

Station four was about learning how to go down hill. Skiers would wait in a line with their skis still sideways. Once they made it to the top, they slowly skied down the hill they just climbed. They learned how to do the pizza wedge, where the skier points their skis towards each other making what looked like a pizza slice. This skill would slow them down if they went down the hill too fast. If skiers did not know how to do the pizza wedge, they would fall when going down hill. After skiers learned how to go down hill, they would go on to station five.

Station five taught you how to go up the magic carpet. Skiers would put their skis where the shoveled snow was, shuffle forward a bit, then the magic carpet would take them on a ride up the hill. Skiers would have to lean forward on the magic carpet so if the carpet stopped at any time because someone might have fell, the skiers will not fall over. When the skiers made it to the top, there was a small hill they would go down to make sure the person behind them does not crash into them. Then they would go on to the next station, station six.

At station six, skiers would practice going down a slightly steeper hill than station four. They would practice using the pizza wedge to slow down, and also learn how to turn. After skiers practiced the pizza wedge a couple of times, they would ski to the right side of the hill where skiers would practice turning. Orange cones were set up in a straight line down the hill. Skiers would wait in a line until it was their turn to practice. If they got around all the cones at a normal speed, one of the instructors would tell them to go to station seven.

Station seven was the last station before skiers graduated ski school. To make sure you were ready to free ski and go down steeper hills, station seven was a test to make sure you knew how to do all the skills. Skiers would ski down a steep hill with cones set up. Skiers would ski down the hill a bit more faster than station six and have to go around all the cones. Once skiers mastered station seven, they would get a mark on their ski lift ticket saying they have graduated from ski school. After ski school, skiers would be allowed to ski on steeper hills, go on the rope tow, and the ski lift.

In between skiing, there was lunch. Skiers would take off their skis and put them on a ski rack. A special number was put on their ski lift ticket that matched their skis so after lunch skiers would not get mixed up about which skis were theirs. After skiers put their skis on the rack, they would go inside to get lunch. Lunch was a slice of pizza and a cup of water or sprite.

After skiing was over, most 5th graders got back on the bus to leave to go back to Glenridge. The other group of people stayed with their parents and skied some more. A lot of people had a fabulous time at Hidden Valley. For the beginner skiers, it was a rough time. In the end though, everyone liked skiing and most would want to come back for another great time.

Sugar Skulls by Sara

On November 22, 5th graders at Glenridge Elementary School met in the Spanish room to make sugar skulls for the Day of The Dead. Leaded by Senora Kennerly, these special 5th graders use plastic skull molds that they fill with sugar. They remove the extra sugar before carefully picking the mold up and letting the sugar dry. When they come back the next day, their skulls are dry and they get to decorate them with bright colored homemade frosting.

The 5th graders had many different colors to choose from, but the hot pink frosting was the most popular. The frosting was made by Glenridge teachers and was put in easy open tabs ziploc bags. The ziploc bags had a small hole cut on one of the plastic corners to deposit frosting. Senora Kennerly was showing the 5th graders how to squeeze the frosting out of the bag carefully onto the sugar skull. She first said to wipe the hole so all the dry frosting is gone. Then she showed the 5th graders how to “massage” the frosting to the hole making sure the frosting does not come out of the bag. The 5th graders got to work. The most common design I saw was small frosting dots going from the head to the bottom of the skull. Another popular design was filling the eye holes with frosting. “My favorite design was drawing swirls with the hot pink frosting all over my sugar skull.” Says 5th grader, Sara. Senora Kennerly was telling the 5th graders how to make sure the frosting would not explode. After all, it was just a ziploc bag.

Before the 5th graders left with their sugar skulls, Senora Kennerly gave the 5th graders one last warning: The sugar skull is not for eating. Senora Kennerly said this because she had a cold when the 5th graders made the sugar skulls. Also, even if she did not have a cold germs from the last class have touched the frosting and the sugar spreading lots of germs. Some of the 5th graders teased about eating the whole skull in a day. Others followed Senora Kennerly’s directions and did not eat the infected skulls. “I’m not going to eat my sugar skull.” Says 5th grader, Sara. “I don’t want to get sick.” Will you eat the sugar skulls? Have a delicious snack but get sick? Or keep it until it rots but not get sick? You choose.

Unity Day by Sara

    Have you ever witness bullying or have been bullied? Well you should listen up. 64% of kids who have been bullied do not report it. That’s why there’s one day that really stands out. This day is called Unity Day.

   

    Bullying happens everyday. The most common reasons are for looks (55%), body shape (37%), and race (16%). Not only that, but both the target and the bully witness affects. Students who experience bullying and bullies have an increase (in %) of these effects. These effects include sleeping difficulties, anxiety, poor school adjustment, depression, headaches, stomachaches, and mental health problems.

Students can’t do this alone. We need your help. 5th graders at Glenridge Elementary School are helping put a stop to bullying. In Discovery time in Mrs. Barnes classroom, the students picked sides. Half of them were Socktober, and the other half was Unity Day. In this article, I decided to focus in on Unity Day. I looked at their list of Ideas. One of them was dancing to the song Never Ever. Others were thinking about social experiments. All of these were great ideas.

How can a one school put a stop to bullying? It is possible they can reduce the percentage of somebody getting bullied by 25%, but that is not 100%. “We need everybody to participate. It is possible if we all work together, we can put a stop to bullying.” Says Sara, a 5th grade student. To show your pride against bullying, wear orange on October 17th, 2017 to show that you care.

Cardboard Challenge By Sara

If you've ever heard of Caine's Arcade you're in for a treat! At Glenridge Elementry School in St.Louis, 5th graders are creating and learning new and old things. At the beginning of the year, 5th graders did the Pringle Challenge wich the objective was to take a pringle, make a safe home for it, and send it in a box to another school in Webster. But the 5th grade teachers decided to take to a whole, new, level.

Introducing, the Cardboard challenge! This challenge is worldwide you can do it anywhere. Have you ever heard the story of Caine? He made his own arcade out of cardboard! The sad part was nobody came. They just walked past Caine and his arcade. Caine was fine with it. He just persiveired and waited. One day, Caine got a customer! The customer paid 2 dollars, wich got him his own fun pass. A fun pass gets you 500 free turns on any of the games! He played, and played... but then he left. When the customer got home he sent out a tweet saying "Caine's Arcade Flashmob". The next day, Caine and his dad went out for pizza, and played a few arcade games. When Caine came back, he found his little cardboard arcade surrounded by thousands of people! He was freaked out! Most people baught fun passes, and stayed for hours. Some people donated extra money. This is where the cardboard challenge comes into place.

Based on Caine's story, the cardboard challenge is a fun, worldwide event that anyone can enter. If you want to donate money to the cardboard challenge or enter, just go to this link. The cardboard challenge is spreading quickly!

Now, let's get to the part where Glenridge comes in. The 5th graders at Glenridge have entered the cardboard challenge and are working on there project right now! "I'm working with Sara and Ceci, and we are making a basketball game called the Greyhound. We are all on the Greyhounds." Says Ava. I also saw a game called "Fireball" and a claw machine with many candies in it. I got very excited and asked if I could play the claw machine. They were very nice and they let me have a turn. I took the claw, pointed it at one of the delicious candies, and ate it up. I was fasinated when I heard about who was going to be their audience on friday.

I was astonished when I heard about their audience. Mrs. Seives kindergarden class and the other 5th grade classes were going to be their audience. No wonder they had 

5th Grade CLAYMO Fun! News Story by Sara

5th grade CLAYMO fun!

On September 8th 2016, the first CLAYMO of the 2016/2017 school year happened at Glenridge Elementary School. What does CLAYMO stand for? CLAYMO stands for Care Lots About Yourself and Many Others. CLAYMO is a creative program where you learn  to take care about yourself and others and do lots of life skills learning. CLAYMO usually takes place from 2:45 to 3:25. Two or three 5th graders lead each CLAYMO group with one or two supervisors. Each CLAYMO group has around 9 -12 people from all different grades. Usually two or three people from each grade are put in one CLAYMO group. I decided to get a closer look at one of the CLAYMO groups. I picked Mrs. Scotino’s CLAYMO group.

I noticed how well the 5th graders taught their CLAYMO groups. Today’s activity was having an olympic mindset while working with students from different grade level to make the highest newspaper tower that your team could build. In this CLAYMO group, there were three different CLAYMO leaders and two supervisors; Mrs. Scotino, a 5th grade teacher, and Mr. Kearney, Glenridge’s Science teacher. I walked in as they were splitting into two different teams: Team A and team B. As the teams started building their newspaper towers, I walked over to team B as I saw them already fooling around with their tape and newspaper. Some of the kids in team B were making fortune tellers with their newspaper as one of the CLAYMO leaders warned them that was all the newspaper they got. Some other kids of team B was playing with the tape as a 4th grader, who was going to be a CLAYMO leader next year, wrapped his face in tape and shouted to the other kids, “I’m the tape man!”, and team B started rolling on the floor laughing. As team B was goofing off, I walked over to team A. Team A was using excellent teamwork and an amazing strategy. As the timer stopped, team A and team B both let go of their structures and gathered on the rug in a circle. They waited patiently as one of the CLAYMO leaders came around with a tape measure measuring both of their towers. Team A smiled as the CLAYMO leader said their structure measured over 30 inches! Team B frowned as their structure was only 9 inches. Even since I was only watching, I learned a fantastic life lesson in this CLAYMO lesson. You need teamwork to make things go right.

As the lesson wrapped up, I asked one of the CLAYMO leaders, Sara if I could ask her a couple of questions before she went back to class. She was very kind and said yes. My first question I asked her was how does she cooperate with her other fellow CLAYMO leaders. “Well it was hard at first because i didn’t think I would end up with who I ended up with and in a totally different CLAYMO leaders in a totally different CLAYMO room.” Sara said. “ I did get through it and we did end up working really well together.” The next question I asked her was did you feel nervous about your first CLAYMO? “I do admit I was VERY nervous at first, but then my emotions changed to frustration about how nobody was listening to me,” said Sara. “If that was the only thing I could change in my CLAYMO group I would change that.”

As I went back to my house, I thought about why CLAYMO was really important to Glenridge. In my opinion, I think CLAYMO is a great program to teach younger students life skills and teamwork. Also, with 5th graders as the CLAYMO leaders, it prepares them for middle school next year. As Sara said, it could be very hard at times. Kids could mess around. 5th grade CLAYMO leaders could get stressed and frustrated. But we all need to know that you’re not alone.

If CLAYMO could spread worldwide, schools could be able to teach younger students life skills much easier. 5th graders would be better prepared for middle school. Life skills would be learned. If anyone is a teacher reading this article, talk to your principal about this. I can make a difference. You can make a difference. We can make a difference.