May 2005                                                                    Third Issue


Enjoy this third edition of the Durkin Digest!
Room 25 has been doing many wonderful things! We have been keeping busy learning and having fun. Here's an update on some of our recent classroom happenings...
 

The American Revolution
By T.J.
       The American Revolution started in 1775 and ended in 1783. The people of the 13 colonies were called colonists. Even though they lived here, the King of England made them pay taxes to him. The colonists did not like the King and they did not want to give him money, and he wanted money for everything. The King's men didn't treat the colonists well either. One time, five colonists were killed for throwing snowballs at British soldiers.
      The colonists decided to get even. They threw 342 chests of tea off a boat in Boston Harbor. Then they wrote a letter to the King telling him that they wanted to be free. It was called the "Declaration of Independence". The colonists had to fight hard. They had no money, little training, and old weapons. The British army was rich and powerful, but the colonists fought and won their freedom.
 

Minuteman National Park
By Alex
       On April 6, 2005 third grade classes from Estabrook went to Minuteman National Park. The park is all about the Revolutionary War. There was a multi-media presentation about the first battle of the war. There was a musket-firing demonstration that included touching a bullet. There were copies of old newspapers and paintings about the war. The park is a good place to go to learn about the Revolutionary War.
      I interviewed two classmates (Hannah and Joshua) about Minuteman Park. I asked them what their favorite part was and would they like to go again. Hannah liked the multi-media presentation. Joshua liked the musket demonstration. Joshua and Hannah both would like to go again. It was a fun field trip!
 

Volleyball
Fun Exciting Strange
By Alec
       Here's how you play volleyball. Volleyball is played in a rectangular court with a net in the middle and a round, easy-to-hit ball. You need two teams, which we can call team one and team two. Team one serves the ball over the net. Team two tries to return the ball. If team two hits it back, team one tries to return it again, etc. If team one does not hit it back, team two gets the serve. If team two fails to return it, team one collects a point. Doesn't volleyball sound fun to play?
      Volleyball in gym has been fun and exciting. It always has a lot of action. You need a lot of teamwork. It is a challenging game. These are only some of the reasons volleyball is fun and exciting.
      Volleyball in gym has also been very strange. First, in most sports, teams that are well-matched have close scores. In our gym's volleyball, even well-matched teams have widely separated scores! Second, the best players in other sports are sometimes the worst players during our volleyball games. Third, players don't always try to hit serves that are angled high, because they assume the serve will not go over the net. As you can see, volleyball is a strange but unique sport.
 

Here Come the Tucks, Everlasting
By Diana
       The book Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt, is about a young girl named Winnie Foster and the Tuck family. The Tuck family has a mom called Mae, a dad called Tuck, and two boys named Miles and Jesse. Winnie lives with her mother, father, and grandmother near a forest. One day Winnie discovers the Tuck family's secret. They can live forever by drinking water from a spring. The Tucks take her away on a horse through the forest. A man in a yellow suit finds out where they have taken her and their secret.
      What will happen next? What will the man in the yellow suit do next? Will the Tuck family get caught? Will Winnie go home or choose to live forever?
Our class loved this book!!!

Yo, States and Capitals!
By Arman
      Did you know that the capital of Florida is Tallahassee? My class does. In my class we've been studying states and capitals. We are given sheets of paper with a picture of the region we're studying and underneath it a capital, that capital's state, and that state's abbreviation (Example: Dover, Delaware, DE). As soon as we get the practice sheet we start studying. On the test day we are given a sheet of paper with the capitals on the left side and the states on the right side. We draw lines to connect the correct capital to the correct state. Then on the lines below we write a capital, a comma, a state (Example: Dover, Delaware).
      Sometimes our teacher, Mrs. Durkin, reads from a book called Yo Sacramento!. The book gives us sayings to help us remember which capital belongs to which state. For example: "The heart that drives a ford (Hartford) connects cuts (Connecticut), Hartford, Connecticut." Now I'm going to test you. What is the capital of Massachusetts? (obvious) Boston!
      Oh, by the way if you're wondering what a capital is, read the definition. Definition: A capital is where the government of the state/country is.

Turtles in Art
The Funky Turtles
By Johnnaya
      We have art on Fridays. The recent project was TURTLES! Here is an interview:

Jeshawn: What kind of turtles?
Reporter: Clay turtles, I say.
Jeshawn: What color is clay?
Reporter: The clay we used was a very light brown.
Jeshawn: What did you do with the turtles?
Reporter: The art teacher put them in the kiln.
Jeshawn: Are they hard now?
Reporter: No, we just put them in.

The End.

The Scrambled States of America Game
by Emily
      Mostly everyone in Mrs. Durkin's class runs to play this game. It is a fun way to learn about geography of the United States. The goal of the game is to have the most cards in your pile at the end of the game. Here is how you play: 1) Only five people can play at a time. 2) There are 2 card decks, one blue and one red. 3) The judge gives everyone five blue cards and a map of the United States. Players keep the cards face up on the floor. 4) The judge then picks a card from the red deck, which might say something like, "Capital has 3 syllables". 5) The players check their cards to see if any of the states on their cards has a capital with a three syllable name. 6) If they have one, they slap it. 7) The judge checks to see if it is right, and then the player can put it in his pile. If it is wrong they have to take another card from the blue deck.
      The judge might also pick a red card which says, "Go the Distance". In this case the judge picks a blue card with a state name. The players check their map to see which of their state cards is closest  to the judge's state card. The player who has the card closest to the judge's state wins and puts the card in their pile. The game continues until a player has no more cards on the floor. Everyone counts the cards in their pile. Whoever has the most cards in their pile wins! This game is important to my class because we learn more facts for our states and capitals tests.