Ms. Kaley's Classroom Room 24

Hello Everyone!

This week our school went through the accreditation process on Wednesday and Thursday.  In a nutshell, our school received above average scores than the national average!  Way to go Maria Montessori Academy!  We are all very excited about it.

The Gala is TONIGHT!  5pm-9pm.  Please come support our school!  Tickets are still available at the door.  The Gala is at HUB801 at 3525 Riverdale Road.  Catering is by J and J catering.  Come enjoy a nice night out!

Literacy Week information!  Please review this link!  LITERACY WEEK

YEARBOOK Info from Ms. Lisa in JR High:

Past Week:

We had a very productive short week.  Thursday we took a break from regular work cycle and did a few classroom games and then did some cultural activities to keep up with Geography.

In group lessons:

Level 1s: Types of lines continued in geometry

Level 2s: Angles in Piet Mondrian’s art work (right angles) and making our own art work version for geometry, MyOn assignment explanation.  DUE SUNDAY NIGHT!

Level 3s: MyOn assignment explanation DUE SUNDAY NIGHT!, Area and perimeter with quadrilateral review

Weekly writing (Tuesdays): Limerick poems

 

In cultural this week: Geography

Level 1s: Landforms finished, landform booklet and cookie activity

Level 2s: Rock cycle continued with igneous rock review, metamorphic rocks, sedimentary rock, how the rock cycle is a cycle, and Starburst candy rock cycle activity

Level 3s:  Weather continued with weather instrument review, water cycle review with Readers Theater play, and weather symbols in meteorology

 

Upcoming Week:

MyOn Assignments!-Please remember that MyOn assignments for all levels are due by Sunday night.  We have the cart of mobile computers Monday at 10:05am.  3rd graders will do some SAGE language test prep and first graders will work on reading some MyOn assigned books and do some in class writing.  2nd graders will follow regular work cycle.

 

Science Fair!– Science fair projects are due Thursday!  You are welcome to come see our student’s projects.  I’ve scheduled a sign up for classes in our school to come and review the student’s projects from 1:00-2:40pm.  I’m excited to see what all the experiments turn out to be!  Please see last week’s post to review the judging sheet that I and Ms. Emilee are going to use!

Parent Volunteers!–3rd Grade Breakfast for Lunch for Language Test Day!  A tradition I have established for all my 3rd graders is a breakfast on each test day.  Since this year’s test begins at 12:00pm, we could BRUNCH!  My tradition is scrambled eggs for the first test.  If any of you would like to come in on March 31st at 10:30am, our kids will eat their brunch at 11:00am and then go outside until 11:55am to be ready for testing at 12:00pm.  Email me if interested!

Studio ends on the 25th of March.  This is because testing is beginning.  After the 25th of March, all Lower El students will stay in their classrooms on Fridays. My 3rd grade theater plays will be scheduled in April.  I’m trying to work around testing schedules and PE classes.

 

Have a great weekend and hope to see some of you tonight at the Gala!

Cheers!

Ms. K

 

Hello!

Science Fair!

I’ll start with Science Fair!  Friday the kids and I sat down and we talked about Science Fair boards and they told me their hypothesis.  The kids are now on their own to do their experiments, record data, make conclusions, and make their board.  Here is the judging sheet!

Science Fair Rubric  (click on this PDF)

Science projects are due March 24th (a Thursday).  We will start at 1:00pm and go until 2:30pm.  Parents are welcome to come and see projects.  It will be in our room.

Past Week:

In group lessons:

Level 1s: Different kinds of lines in geometry, Mr. Will’s Thursday lesson

Level 2s: Finding angles in polygons in geometry, Mr. Will’s Thursday lesson

Level 3s: MyOn check in, Area and perimeter with difficult shapes in geometry, Mr. Will’s Thursday lesson

Weekly Writing: Facts vs. Opinion

In cultural this week: Zoology/Physiology

Level 1s: birds

Level 2s: the nose, the tongue, and the circulatory system. (Circulatory system packet to be completed by this coming Thursday)

Level 3s: Echinoderms (starfish, sea urchins, sea lilies, sea cucumbers)

Friday: Science fair

Spelling stars went pretty well this past Thursday!  We had students rotate between 3 computers.  I’m going to try and figure out to get JUST their list to show up on their end.  All the lists showed up and I had to show them which one was theirs.  Please have your child do their spelling online now at home!  There are a few games that they can play, practice tests, and then there is their real test section.

To find their new list- have them login and then go to TESTS 1st.  They will see which list I assigned to them.  Your child can then find that list in their games and practice to do.

 

Upcoming Week!

Early out this Thursday!  Please have someone pick up your child at 1pm.  Friday is no school for students.

Wednesday and Thursday, we have important people coming to our school!  Our school is going through the accreditation process this year and they are spending 20 minutes in each class.  I have a lot of meetings this week regarding the preparation of it, so if you need me this week, please know I may end up a day or two behind on emails (just in case).

The Gala is this Friday!  Tickets are still on sale after school or through the MAPA blog (if you buy online).  I hope to see you there!  It is a little fancier than years prior, so dress up and come enjoy a nice night out!

MyOn assignments!  New MyOn assignments will be open this Sunday afternoon!  Level 3s wanted to do a famous person assignment.  It was perfect since we are learning about opinions and just learned facts vs. opinion in this week’s weekly writing. 3rd graders will write about their famous person using facts about them, but also give their opinion.  A new assignment will be up for 2nd and 1st graders too!

I was able to get a computer cart date for March 21st later in the morning.  We will use that date to work with 3rd graders on SAGE practice tests as a group and go over MyOn famous person assignment.  Level 1s will have the computers this time during that morning.  They will be doing MyOn assigned reading that morning and will have to do some in class writing.

Literacy Week!  Our school is having Literacy week the last week of March!  Fun activities and even a Literacy Night at the school (Thursday the 30th) will take place.  My 3rd grade theater groups will have their plays pushed back until April.  Every 3rd grader is staring testing that week!  More on that week coming soon!

 

Have a great rest of your weekend!  Happy Daylight Savings Time (not!)

Cheers!

Ms. K

 

Hello!

Past Week:

We had a great week of Dr. Seuss reading and activities.  I was able to do a few group lessons, but we really focused on our fun activities!

Group Lessons:

Level 1s: 2D vs 3D through Whoville town building, health with Ms. Julia

Level 2s: drawing angles continued, health with Ms. Julia

Level 3s: area and perimeter continued, health with Ms. Julia

Monday- Cat in the Hat book, Who was Dr. Seuss, and writing activities

Tuesday- The Foot book.  We drew out and measured our right and left feet.  We then combine the class’ feet and measured them as a group.

Wednesday- Oh! The Places You’ll Go book.  We wrote about places we’d like to go and how we would like to see ourselves in the future.  We also read Wacky Wednesday in the afternoon.

Thursday- The Lorax book.  We focused on recycling and how we resources on our earth are so important.

Friday- Bartholemew and the Oobleck.  They built their Whovilles and I made Oobleck for those who wanted to learn how to make it and touch it.  If you want to make it at home it is a 2:1 ratio of cornstarch to water.  2 cups cornstarch and 1 cup water.  Use whatever food dye color you want.  We used 20 drops of green for the oobleck in the book.

In cultural: History

Level 1s: time to hour and half hour review. Quarter hour lesson this upcoming week

Level 2s: Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn

Level 3s: Cretaceous dinosaurs, dinosaur extinction theories

 

Upcoming Week:

Spelling Stars to Begin!

We had a small handful of kids try out Spelling Stars.  They said it was pretty fun.  To make spelling work, students can login at home and practice their lists and do the few games.  On Thursday, we will have students rotate to take their scored test in class.  The program automatically gives them their score.

Logins: student’s first name letter and entire last name (example: kparsons) (Jayce’s is the only exception because there was a user with jlopez.  His is jlopezrm19)

Password: mskaley 

Happy spelling practice!

Monday we will visit Junior High to see their Invention Convention right after Music is over.

Mr. Will is coming in Thursday to do his monthly art lesson and project with our class.  He will come in around 9am.

Due Dates for this upcoming week!

Tuesday: Persuasive recess writing (done in class)

Wednesday: 3rd graders to have worked on area and perimeter game or task cards, 2nd graders to have their writing from last week reviewed.

Friday: Science hypothesis due

 

Science Fair!

March 24th is our Science Fair!  Projects will be due on 3/24.  This past Friday, our students had their topics due (what they are going to do for their project)  Only a few students didn’t have their idea.  Those kids will have to have their topic AND their hypothesis for me by this Friday 3/11.  This is so I can make sure their project relates to the Scientific Method.  After this Friday students are on their own to conduct their experiments 3 or more times, record their data, and come to a conclusion.

Objective of project: Students are to choose a topic that can follow the steps of the Scientific Method

– Have a topic (what is your project called)

– What is your hypothesis?  (how do you think your experiment is going to turn out?)

– Experiment (students will conduct their experiment 3 or more times to see if they get the same result or different ones.  Either way, they should record what happens and be able to explain why it stayed the same or why it was different

– Data (students should be take pictures, write notes, have recorded explanations through graphs, pictures, measurements etc. to explain what happened in their experiment)

– Make a conclusion (what were the final results?  Was the hypothesis right or wrong and why?

Board: Students will make a project board that explains their project and experiment.  Help them make the Scientific Method steps into categories on their board

Judging: In Upper Elementary, students are judged on their boards, data, and presentation.  I do judge this project for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place ribbons.  Previous students in my class, who are now in Upper El, have won ribbons doing the Upper El science fair.  It is great practice for them since the Upper El science fair project is a heavily tasked home project.

Visuals: Students can bring in parts of their project if it helps them explain and show their experiment results.

Can I come?: Parents and other classes at our school are welcome to come visit!  We will start at 1pm and most likely go until 2:30.

 

 

Upcoming field trip: 4/21 to Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum

 

Have a great rest of your weekend and upcoming week!

Cheers!

Ms. K