Photo #19: Mrs. Ellefson

Class Photographer: Ella

I chose this picture because I love to read books. This is Mrs. Ellefson our librarian. She works hard to help us find perfect books and check them out. Last week I checked out a book called Invasion Of The Plush Monsters it is good for people who want to sew. The book was cool because you can make cool things like alien purses, hats, slippers and toys. You can see that she lets/helps us get good books.

That's why I picked this photo!

Photo #16: Masks in the Art Room

Class Photographer: Caleb W.

These masks have been here ever since I can remember . But I can tell you a bit about them. Since our art teacher Ms. Rassmensen has been teaching us about masks we have looked at them, for example there are many cool masks in this picture like the one that looks like a evil person that is my favorite one. We have also been studying Grant Wood an Iowa artist he makes lots of landscapes of Iowa they are very good . Now I do not know who made these masks . But I do know that some of these masks come from Africa. So they have to be old

Photo #18: Our Star Students

Class Photographer: Caleb C.

This is our schools' star students display. Whenever you earn a set of 20 paw prints,you get to post a star, but only if you are in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade.If you turn in 60 paw prints, you can have 3 different stars, or you can put them all together and make a star burst. If you are in third, fourth, or fifth grade you get entered in this thing called breakfast club, which everyone who is in the upper grades and turns in a set of paw prints, you can get your name drawn have breakfast with the principal and the counselor, and your name stays in the drawing,so you might get picked to go again even if you don't turn in another set.

Photo #17: Our Social Contract

Class Photographer: Justin

We have been using computers a lot. One thing we did was a word cloud. We went to Image Chef.com and put in words that described our personality. We all chose words that said how we would treat each other. Then Ms. Day wrote a little note about it. It said "This is what we want in our classroom ,and we will all do our part." It had words like fair, respect, nicely, friendly, helpful, and peaceful. After that we all signed the contract. Even Ms. Day signed it. That`s how we are treating each other today. It`s still hanging up on our classroom door!

Photo #15: Our Class Blogs

Class Photographer: Sebastian

Our class blogs are where us as student can write on a blog. We all have our own passwords. We all have are own blogs. We all have posts on our blogs. Some published some not. An example is our personal narratives. Also on special ocasions like when one of us go on a vacations we can write about that vacation on the blogs.

Photo #14: Vocabulary Words

Class Photographer: Vicente

This is a picture of our vocabulary words for the week. Every week Ms.Day changes the words for the week for what we have that week. The words on the chart are the vocabulary word for that week. We have to put them in one of are journals. and we keep doing that every week I guess are journal is full. Some times we have more words than we have the week before. We do not do the words every week. The chart has the meaning of every word on it.

Photo #13: Lego Club

Class Photographer: Drake

Lego club is were you can build things.Like in this photo.This is my car and another car too.In Lego club you can build whatever you want.The first day you have to make a car then you can build whatever you want.as you can see the yellow thing on top is a yellow brick.It powers the little motor that what makes it run.It can go lot of ways how? A black thing that connects the yellow brick.We call that thing a connecter .A connecter can go any way you want it.But you got to face it the right way to make it work. A teacher help us too. Her name is Mrs.Prior-Sweet. she is very kind to us. We have Lego club every Monday.At 3:00 to 5:00.You can do thing with your friends too.It is very cool with a yellow brick.there are tubs with legos.

Photo #12: China

Class Photographer: Brooklyn


I WENT DOWN STAIARS AND TOOK A PICTURE AND ITS RELLY COOL. THEY HAVE SOME COOL STUFF HANGING UP IN THE HALLWAY. WELL I THINK IT IS COOL AND IT IS AWSOME TO ME. SO I THOUT ALOT OF PEOLPLE WOULD LIKE THEM. SO I DECIDED TO WRITE ABUT IT.

Note: The second graders at Phillips learn about China for Core Knowledge.

Photo #11: Masks

Class Photographer: Shaylah

Its me Shaylah and I'm going to talk about masks, we make masks at art for fun there not famous or anything, I told my cousin and she said I could where it for Halloween so i wont be cheep and I'm not cheep so I might where it but I'm wont be cheep and I might not but I'm still not cheep so my mask looks like : has fangs red cheeks and angry eyes and a skinny eyebrow, and every single mask is special in a different way they can be: tall skinny fat anything as long as you want it to be then i told Malena I'm not cheep and i might by my own suit for Halloween then she said NO WEAR THE MASK OTHER WISE YOUR SPOILED ! then i asked her am I SPOILED OR CHEEP then she said I'm both and she crossed the line that's all i want to say because me and her always argue!! :P . So now me and my cousin a would argue and get along argue get along why did mischief have to come WHY????????

Photo #10: Northeast Region State Posters

Class Photographer: Katie

In social studies we are studying on the Northeast region. The states that are in the Northeast region are Vermont, New York, Pensylvania, New Jersy, Connecitcut, Rhode Island, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, and New Hampshire. And we have to pick a state and write about it on a piece of paper. We have to write about the plant and animals,history,land and climate,natural resuorces,and write top ten facts.I put facts like the state's bird,flower,and the state's tree.And we had to draw the state and put some citys and rivers on the state and color it in. Also we put the state's name and nickname like Vermont nickname The Green Mountain State.

Photo #9: Ipads

Class Photographer: Eric

These are Ipads. We play edtiecation games like: Pop math, and Stack the states. We are the only class in the whole school that has Ipads. 0ther classes borow them from time to time, but Ms. Day still owns them. My favoriye game is Stack the states.

Ms Day says: I don't really own them, I just hog them.

Photo #8: Inside Recess.

Class Photographer: Lexie

When we have inside recess we play games like Dominoes. When we play with the Dominoes some people make A track and then knock them over. Sometimes people also make tracks so that when you knock them over they make something. Dominoes are fun to play with when you are bored. The thing that I like about Dominoes is that you can make A trap with the Dominoes when you are playing A game where you have to trap something. Here are the steps for when you play with Dominoes,#1.set up the Dominoes on A hard floor or table,#2. knock the Dominoes over,#3.always have fun.

Photo #7: Recess Games

Class Photographer: Madison

When we had recess today one of the games we played was The United States puzzle. This puzzle is where you get a puzzle piece that has a state name in the middle and you try to figure out where it goes. Then you keep on going. Here my friend is thinking about where a puzzle piece goes. But when she couldn't figure out where it went she went on to another piece. At recess we also did some drawing and a few other games. Like dominoes, When I was taking pictures I saw some people building a sort of like Y thing. I also saw some more people were making a sort of house and the other person was just making a line. At recess we also played Clue. In Clue there are sort of like people and you try to collect clues. Recess was really fun!

Photo #6: Our Library

Class Photographer: Melynn

Hi! This is our library. We have a lot's more books. There is a lots of good book that you can find. We can get 2 books or 1 book but if you bring a book in the library you don't have to get a book. But if you don't bing a book you have to get a book from the library. I like library becuse ever week i get a new book to read. Our libraryin reads us a book at the end of library. It is a good book and all of us like it a lot.

Photo #5: Bookmark Station

Class Photographer: Tyler W.

Here we make bookmarks. You can make it least two book marks per person. but if you want you can make one or zero. We can put stamps and write with marker's.You can put fuzzy animals like ,lady bugs,dolphins, buterflys, dragon flys ,and and a turtal.The colars that you can use is , green, wite, yellow, pink, gold, and orange. You can write what ever you want to write.The best thing to write is reading rocks or some thing like that. Up top in the picture you can see that there is a list that tells us who to tell to make a bookmark. When you are done you scribble your name out on the chart. And when you are done you take your hand made bookmark to your desk to dry. I forgot to tell you that the animals arent sticky. so you have to put a dot of bottle glue not stick glue in the space you need it and press it down jently so that the glue wouldnt splat all over your bookmark.The stamps you can use is a ,flower type thing, a bear , and lots more stamps that are in the picture.And the stamps are the same every day. And remember to put your name on it. As you see we got almost every one done with there bookmaks. We also have a little bite of stenciles in the station. If you are asking i have already done my bookmark. The mail boxe type thing and the drawres on the right have nothing to do with the bookmark station. it is for unfinished work people. and the bookmark station is on the right side of the room.
Lots of people like reading do you.

Photo #4: Library Books

Class Photographer: Kaiya

This is the BOB books. Which means Battle of the Books. This is what we do for Battle of the Books; we read up to about six or more books out of six months. Then we go aginst other schools in Des Moines. At our first meeting we get a list to what books that they have. Once you pick a book you get a fact tracker to remember what the book is about.

Photo #3: Bio Poems

Class Photographer: Skylar
I'm Skylar reporting the class's bio poems.They have done such a good job on these that I could not resit!The way I came to know of these bio poems is one day in November tho this of course did not take us one day,it took us a week."The process"
the process of this on project was awesome!The reason I think it is awesome because I love to write.how I came to love writing is when i was a kid my dad saw a career for me that i did not want it was to become a writer,but just look at me now.

Photo #2: Story Birds Rock!!!

Class Photographer: Tyler H.

In class we do this thing called a Story Bird on the internet. Step#1:Go to login at the right corner and click. Step#2:Go to I forgot my password and I for got my user name and make one.Step#3:Pick a artist and pick a front cover.Step#4:Make a title. step#5:Pick a picture and start a story. Step#6:When you are done with that page click on ADDPAGE and then just keep going. That is what a storybird is.

Photo #1: The Lunch Chart

Class Photographer: Alexis C.

This is our class lunch chart. Every morning we look at the menu and see what we are having then we find the little slips of paper and put it in our lunch chart. The slips of paper say,regular lunch,alternate lunch,cold lunch and going out to lunch. And then if someone is gone she can call them absent and she can tell the lunch ladies how many orders of the food they need to make. But some people forget to put there slip in the chart so you always have to look if there chair is up.

Photo of the Day

For the past year I have been taking a photograph, posting it to my personal blog, and writing about it. During that time I became a much better photographer and a better writer. It was also an excellent record of the places I went and the things I did last year. The added benefit was that it turned out to be a good way to let my friends and family know about the things I was doing.

For a long time I have been thinking about sharing this experience with my students. Now we have a brand new year, and it's time to give it a try. Each school day we will have a Class Photographer. That person will be responsible for taking a picture during the day, posting it on our blog, and writing about it. Hopefully this will help you to "see" some of the great things we are doing here at Phillips.