State House

Written by guest bloggers Shawn & Joey

The State House was so fun to visit. Let me tell you ALL about it! First, we went on a bus from Howe Manning to the State House. When we arrived at the State House we saw… The GOLDEN Dome! It was so shiny and did you know that the golden dome is made out of 23k Gold. Did you know that more than a thousand people work at the State House?

When we went into the State House we had to go through security and there were big gates in front of the State House to keep it safe. There is a nice beautiful garden in front of the State House. When we got through security we had to walk up so many stairs. Then we went under the Golden Dome and under the Golden Dome is the Senate room.

Representative Jones got us special permission to go into the House of Representatives Chambers. The House floor is where the House of Representatives works to make laws and take votes. We even got to sit in the House seat.

After that, we took a picture on the grand staircase with both representatives and Senator Tarr. Then we headed over for a picnic in the Boston Public Garden and for a ride on the swan boats.

 It was a great day in our state's capital.

Patagonia 360

Written by Guest Bloggers: Maya & Penelope

Miss Klipfel's class went on an unexpected expedition today! Miss Klipfel told us to get our passports and run to the airport…“We're going to PATAGONIA!” she announced excitedly. Well, we didn’t actually go to Patagonia but we got the next closest thing. Patagonia VR!!! 

Miss Klipfel put each kid in expedition partners each with their own VR headset. Then you got to choose a video from four different Patagonia locations. Once you finished the 360 video from one location you had to solve the puzzle that went with it.

There were super fun activities to go with each location! For the first stop, Staten Island, in the VR we saw a king penguin and then went to the Lighthouse at the End of the World. After we read a passage about Staten Island to learn about the conservation work happening there then filled in the sentences. For each word, there was a circled letter and all of the circled letters would make a word. On the second stop, Karukinka National Park, the activity was a puzzle to learn more about plastic pollution and how it's impacting Patagonia. When you finished the puzzle it gave you the next clue word.

The third stop, National Geographic Explorer, which is the ship Miss Klipfel lived on, we got to see the library, the observation deck, bridge and stood on the bow while in the Chilean fjords. After we had a Patagonia map and you would answer questions like, if you were to go from Ushuaia to the Pia Glaciers would you head North, South, West, or East? Right next to the answer was a symbol and that symbol had a letter and those would make up the next word. The fourth stop was the Bernal Glacier, the activity that went with this was a mystery picture. So you would have to answer math questions about how climate change is impacting glacial recession and adding to sea level rise. Every time you got the answer right you would get a part of the picture which gave us our final word.

We put all four clue words, explorer, curious, empathetic, and empowered into the Google Form to earn our cool Patagonia Explorer Badge. Check out the website Miss Klipfel made here with all the activities on it. 

We still can't believe how real the VR felt like we were really standing in Patagonia and even felt like the elephant seals were coming right towards us. Lots of us liked the waterfall in Karukinka National Park and being able to stand on the bridge with the captain and see how the ship navigates. We are so lucky we got to go to Patagonia with Miss Klipfel!

Fashion Disaster

Written by Guest Bloggers: Gianna & Natalie

Have you seen the new fashion trends at Howe Manning School? These glamorous and eye-catching outfits are sure to blow your mind. Below are some of our top high fashion picks. Which one is your favorite? There’s a sports player, a butterfly, and just a speechless-worthy fit! You should come swing by to see some of the most fashionable, breathtaking, bold outfits in town if we must say.

As we walked down the red carpet, fans clapped along to the music as we posed our way down the runway. At the end we turned, showing our sass, hitting all the poses. Also if you ever wanted some slay fashion inspiration, we got you! Just wear these inspirational outfits inspired by the people above.

In Ms. Klipfel’s class, Levi won the first place title. Mykela won second place rocking the butterfly outfit. And then in third place was Addison, looking like every single 4th-grade boy. Then from Ms. Week’s class, Austin won, and Natalie and Gianna tied for second

Now we will explain what this day was really for. This day was used to make opinion writing about how we liked our outfit and how we turned our everyday objects into a classic mismatched crazy outfit that would win the best dressed at fashion week. We loved making these outfits and it was very fun to dress up into everyday things all put into one.

 

It was super duper cool and fun! You should buy some of these outfits! You will surely stand out! Who knows you might see these outfits at the mall, school, supermarket, or even wedding attire. See you on the runway.

Nonfiction Surgery

Welcome to Howe-Manning Hospital! 4th-grade doctors earned their medical license (nonfiction medical license that is) and performed a day of surgeries. Upon entering Howe-Manning Hospital and Teaching Hospital, medical students took their Medical Board Exam to obtain their surgical license. Medical students needed to apply everything they have been learning about nonfiction text features in order to pass their "exam". After congratulations, handshake, and official job offer from the chief of surgery (aka Dr. Klipfel) doctors scrubbed in and dressed for surgery.

 Once surgical teams were ready it was time to meet patients, read patient charts to learn their symptoms, and determine a diagnosis. Symptoms included confusion on finding where to locate information in a nonfiction text, complaints of not knowing what sections were about in nonfiction, and even difficulty knowing what words in nonfiction texts meant. Luckily patients were in the right place and doctors were ready to help. 

Doctors determined which nonfiction text feature organ patients needed. They prepared organs with scalpels (scissors) and stitched them back up (with bandaids). They then made sure to complete their post-op reports.

Luckily every patient made it through surgery and no doctors suffered any malpractice suits.