Welcome to Mrs.Truskowski's Home page!

Lisa Earnhart, our student teacher from APU, is a marvelous addition to our class. She is working well with the students and is transitioning into teaching more of the day. Currently she is competently teaching Science, Math, and Calendar. In the next few weeks she will take over more subjects and begin her 6 week "solo" experience. I will step back into a supervisory role, and will never be far away.

We have been doing several interesting units and projects in Reading/Language. From the story Annie and the Old One in our anthology we learned about the Navajo culture and created beautiful weavings similar in technique to Navajo rug weaving. We also completed a "senses writing" that focused on using adjectives to describe a picture from the story. Some of these outstanding pieces are included on this Web page.

We also combined Social Studies and Reading in completing a book about the Yup'ik and Inupiaq Eskimos. This nonfiction text gave us a chance to refine our "reading for information" skills. Students completed a packet with questions designed to have them look for an answer on certain pages. Some of the questions were straight forward, while others required some inferencing ("reading between the lines") and paraphrasing. The students worked very hard on this, increasing their ability and confidence on this important reading skill.

Currently we are delving into the past and studying Medieval times. This is a fun unit with a tremendous amount of potential - so much so that we probably won't be able to get to it all! The students are working on Heraldry and making their own Coat of Arms, which they will describe in Heraldic language and present to the class with an explanation of what their Coat of Arms represents about them.

Math = Multiplication! The "big event" for many of the third graders has finally arrived! We are learning the concepts behind the multiplication facts, and Mrs. Earnhart is doing an outstanding job ensuring that students don't just memorize the facts, but KNOW them conceptually.

Science: Changes of State is the theme, and we have been dong many things with ice cubes! Finding the best place in the room for ice cubes to melt, and why those places are good; melting an ice cube as fast as possible; preventing ice cubes from melting - Whew! These activities, while teaching properties of liquids and solids and exploring outside factors impacting them, also are teaching important skills such as group cooperation, listening, and compromising.

These are just a few of the many things happening in our room. Stop by and check it out for yourself! Our door is always open.

 The following pieces of work are examples of senses writing. The students were to describe a picture from the story, Annie and the Old One, using their 5 senses.

I see a smokey bright fire lighting our hogan. I see my grandmother's wrinkly hand when I hold it. I hear a coyote yipping during the full moon. I hear a vulture crowing before I sleep. I feel my mother's warm hand. I taste the sweet juicy berries. I taste the meat from the sheep. -Tracy
I see the smoky fire. I see the stars shining in the moonlight. I feel the touch of sheep's wool wrapped around me. I feel the warmth of the fire around me. I hear the breeze of the wind. I hear a rustling fire. I hear the coyote howling at night. I smell the desert air. I taste a sandy taste in the air. -Andrea		I see smoky fire in the hogan. I see bright stars in the sky. I hear crackling in the fire. I hear the wild coyotes in the distance. I hear the sheep baaing in their pen. I feel the prickly cactus in the desert. I feel my smooth skin. I smell a barbecue in the hogan. I taste crunchy sand. -Jared

Back in February, we studied Medieval times. We learned about heraldry and coats of arms, and made our own shields that reflected our personalities. We learned a bit about the language heralds used to describe coats of arms, called Blazon. We found out that they used different words for colors: purple is purpure, gold is or, silver is argent, and blue is azure, for example. There were also certain rules to follow when making shields: gold or silver had to be present but not used together, and colors (called tinctures) could not be put on top of another. Patterns were also used on shields, and these had special names like chevron, cross, and lozenge. Finally, pictures of animals or "heraldic monsters" were placed on shields that reflected the personality of the person or family receiving the coat of arms. Examples of these are lions, roosters, dolphins, mermaids, crowns, trees, and, in one case, even cooking pots! We designed our own shields and then described them in Blazon. We finished this activity by having a "knighting ceremony" in our "Kingdom of Truskhart" to name knights and dames and formally present coats of arms. We even had a "queen" to present these prestigious shields! We also learned the social history of the time, how girls and boys were treated and educated differently, and the steps necessary to become a knight. Yahooligans.com has some interesting sites about this time period. Type "medieval" on the Search box.
		Queen Truskowski during the knighting ceremony.

We will try to update this page on the first Friday of every month.

The fifth grade helpers that will be updating this page are Justin and Brooke.

Updated: April, 2000

Please e-mail Mrs. Truskowski with suggestions or comments .