Archives

Holiday Fever

Dec13

Last night the spaghetti dinner talent show was a great success. Thanks to all of you who helped make it happen.

Next week we will continue with our regular morning work cycle, Monday through Wednesday, with a slightly modified afternoon routine. Thursday morning is our pancake breakfast. The children wrote persuasive essays regarding “free time” Thursday afternoon. A couple of them were quite convincing, several suggested making a goal in order to have free time, and one even opposed free time. I love seeing their individual personalities come out in their writing.

At 10:30, Friday, we will be performing at our annual holiday program. Please have your children wear clothing that would be appropriate for performing in front of a crowd.

As always, thank you for supporting our efforts in the classroom. Keep practicing those math facts at home, and if you haven’t started, please do. I cannot stress how important it is that your children can quickly recall their multiplication facts.

Cheers.

Talent Show, Pancake Breakfast, Service Project and Important Updates

Dec8

I hope you all have had a wonderful and safe weekend.

First off, our sixth grade fundraising committee has been working hard to put together a spaghetti dinner/talent show with all proceeds going to the field trip to the Redwoods this upcoming April.  If you have a child who is in the talent show, please be sure and support them by making sure they are on time and ready to go.   If you don’t have a child participating in the talent show, take a night off from cooking dinner and entertaining the kids, and support our 6th grade class.

MMA Holiday Talent Show and Dinner

Date: Thursday December 12th, 2013

Time: 5:00 – 7:00pm

Price for tickets:

  • $5 Individual
  • $15 for family of 4
  • $20 for 5
  • $25 for 6 & 7
  • $30 for 8

Dinner will include Spaghetti and Salad.

Seating will be first come first serve.

Make checks payable to MMA – Hand in to the front office.

 

Second, we are having a class pancake breakfast on Thursday, December 19th and we need your help to make this happen.  Please follow the We Join In link and sign up to help out and donate food.  This will be a nice way for the students to kick-off their holiday break.  In addition to the pancake breakfast on the 19th, our class is participating in the school holiday program on the 20th.  More details about the performance to follow in the next day or two.

Thirdly, our room mom, Lacey Wolfinger, is spearheading a service project to help those in need this winter season.  We will be collecting gently used coats, hats, gloves, boots and blankets to donate to a local shelter.  Please start looking through your closets and consider donating anything you are not in need of.   A flyer with details will be coming home soon.

Fourth, please be sure you are practicing spelling with your children.  Each Monday, your child records their spelling words in his/her planner.   The students practice their words through a variety of activities, in class, on Tuesday and Wednesday and we have our spelling test on Thursday.    In addition to the spelling practice your child should be practicing their multiplication facts at home daily.   If they don’t know their multiplication facts, we cannot move on to the more difficult concepts that they need to know.   It is vitally important that you are also practicing with them at home so they can do their best.

Lastly, your children need to come to school with clothing that is suitable for going outside.  Unless there is a red air quality restriction, we go outside everyday for recess.  Children should come equipped  with snow gear, we use natural consequences at school and a forgotten coat results in a chilly experience at recess.   Also, if your child has been sick and isn’t well enough to go outside for recess, they should stay home from school.  We do not have assistants who can watch children in the classroom, and I use recess time to prepare what is needed for afternoon lessons.

Cheers.

What we’ve been up to in Room 24

Nov7

First of all, my apologies for not updating the blog sooner.  We have been so busy learning and working, the time slipped right by.

Our field trip last week was a lot of fun.  Everyone enjoyed the walk to the cemetery and looking at the old headstones.  We found the oldest person, she was 101 when she passed away.  We saw headstones from the 1800s, headstones with photos and headstones that were sculptures.  The children were all very respectful and sympathetic to those who had passed away.  I think it was a fantastic experience for almost everyone in the class.  It did get a bit cold at the end of our field trip, but thankfully, it didn’t rain.  Here is a photo from our outing.

 

Field Trip

 

On Halloween we had a read-a-thon and drank hot apple cider.  It was a nice break before the “big night”.

In History our 4th level students are studying early man, our 5th level students are finishing up Mesopotamia and our 6th level students are finishing ancient Rome.  We had our second set of presentations and the kids did great!  Our 5th level students did presentations on Mesopotamia while the 6th level students did presentations on Ancient Rome.   It is so fun to see them grow as the year progresses and while some students still have a bit of “stage fright” they are all doing so well.

In science our 4th level students had an in school field trip presented by The Living Planet Aquarium.  Thanks to the presenters who talked about wetlands to our students.  Wetlands are a vital part of our ecosystem so it was great to be able to have that experience.  Our 5th level students are studying our dynamic planet.  We have covered plate tectonics, volcanoes and earthquakes.  The level 5 students have a project due Dec. 2nd.  Please ask them about it.  Some chose to do a project on earthquakes and others chose volcanoes. We will have time in classes to begin working on it, but some of the work may need to come home as we have limited time and computer resources.   Level 6 science students are studying heat and light.

In geography we will begin our continent research projects.  This is a big project, with high expectations so the students will be given 2 months to work on it.  This project, in particular, will require at home time.  The expectations for this will be coming home with your students tomorrow.  Please go over it with them and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.

Ms. Kari is working diligently to get our in class reading groups up and running.  I know several of you signed up to read with our students, and within the next week we are hoping to be able to let you know the times we can use your help.

Last but not least, tomorrow is early out.  Students will need to be picked up at 1:00pm.

Cheers!

 

 

 

 

Traditional School Day

Oct24

There was a buzz at the lockers this morning as some students who had already come into the room returned to share what they had discovered.   I’m sure your children will come home with lots of stories about our school day.

Today, Room 24, conducted lessons as though we were in a traditional classroom.   Our desks were arranged in rows, we all did the same thing at the same time, had the same lessons and read the same story.   All students took bathroom breaks at the same time and went to the drinking fountain at the same time.   After our short break we went outside and the kids ran the track and then we came back in for the rest of our morning lessons.

This morning’s lessons consisted of reviewing our mathematical operations, number forms, reading the real story of Dracula, vocabulary riddles and the children had individual reading time with either NPR or Steck Vaughn.

Some of the children expressed their LOVE for the traditional school day and some expressed their utter distain for the traditional school day.   Most enjoyed the silent work time and order in the classroom and commented that they were better able to concentrate without distractions.

One thing I learned from the experience is, though it is certainly much easier to have every student doing the same thing at the same time, it is not an environment that works for every child.  It became quite apparent who could have been moving much more quickly through the lesson and who needed time beyond that which was available for a particular activity.  Following the child is nearly impossible in a traditional setting and I’m so thankful that I am teaching in a Montessori school where that is the expectation.  While not an easy thing to do with 24 different bodies having 24 different brains with about 240 unique needs, it certainly does work best for the children.

The thing that brought us to the traditional school day were behaviors, related to the freedom that our environment provides.  With all things, there are no absolutes.  Some students make wise choices everyday, some students make wise choices most of the time, and some students need help making wise choices.  With this experience, I hope the students gain an appreciation for the freedom we have in our classroom and an understanding that if the freedom is not used wisely, it will be taken away.

I know that it was quite a surprise for everyone when they walked into the classroom today, but I hope it was a valuable experience as well.

Cheers!

 

Snack Qualifications

Sep27

In our classroom we have expectations that must first be met in order to qualify for snack.  Please understand that this is not to withhold snack from your child, but to provide a motivator in order to get basic work done.  If your child is one who relies on this mid-morning mini meal to get through the day, talk with them about remaining productive.   The requirements vary slightly from day to day, but always include bringing their planner and having it signed, completing their DWL, and completing the morning writing practice (when present).   If your child is missing one of these requirements, they will not be allowed to participate in snack.