Archive for May, 2016

Week 39

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Hello Everyone!

Thank you for another successful year!  The last week of school went by quick!

Monday we had our Store Day with Ms. Paula and Ms. Amy’s class.  The students also had their last PE class and attended Ms. Rachel’s student’s dinosaur projects right after.  We also welcomed our new 1st graders during their bridging ceremony!

Tuesday we cleaned out desks and supplies and then saw off our 3rd graders on their bridging ceremony to Upper El.

Wednesday we did our egg drop challenge in conjunction with an introduction to Newton’s Laws of Motion.

Thursday was yearbook and kickball game day!

 

Thank you for attending conferences! I love seeing all of you!

 

This coming week the teachers will be at the school to pack up the classroom and start planning out next year.  Tuesday is our planning day, so if your child forgot anything or you need to get into the school, I will be in the library most of the day.  The rest of the week I will be organizing/cleaning or running theater props back to Weber and Fremont High.  During a time this week, I will be putting together an email for you all (2nd and 3rd grade for now) that will have your child’s new Khan Academy username and password and also a reminder for your child’s MyOn login.

Have your student read 20 minutes everyday and keep up the skills they worked hard on this year.  Most children at this age need the involvement when it comes to reading.  Ask them questions about their book as it will help with comprehension.  I would even have your child practice writing.  Having them draw out a picture and then write sentences about it would be great.  Look for letter formation (capitals when needed vs not needed and punctuation).  New 3rd graders will need to keep up the handwriting and use MyOn for typing practice.  For any MyOn assignments I give, have them write it out first and then type (no matter what grade your child is in).

Have a great summer and keep an eye out for blog posts!  Think about if any of you want to be our room mom or dad!

Thanks for another fantastic year and being with me and Ms. Emilee!  We love our families and we’ll see you in about 2.5 months!

 

Cheers!

Ms. K

 

Week 38

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Hello Everyone!

The last week of school is about to begin.  I can’t believe it is here already!  It always seems that once Christmas rolls around it goes: Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Spring Break, end of school.

Let’s talk about what is coming up for this last week of school before we dive into what we did this past week.

Upcoming Week:

From MAPA: Heidi Bradley emailed the teachers to pass onto you that tomorrow, May 23rd, they want to do a thank you for the Office staff members, Ms. Magdelena (school cleaner), crossing guards/MAPA.  Anyone who wants to give our lovely staff members a little thanks you are asked to bring a thank you card, treat, or whatever you want to say “Thank You!”

May 23rd is a full day of school.  It is the last full day of school for the students!  The rest of the week are early outs (1pm dismissal).

Call for next year’s Room Mom!: Heidi Bradly also said to think about room moms for next year!  If you are interested in being our room mom, please please email me and let me know.  Being our classroom Room Mom will take on the responsibility of class parties, emailing parents about events, field trips, helping MAPA’s Gala, classroom help, and any other as needed help.

Monday May 23rd- Class Bazaar Day! (Store day)  Our classroom, Ms. Amy, and Ms. Paula’s classrooms do a special end of the year shopping event.  Have your child gather up any toys, games, books to price and sell.  Students may make treats (the healthier the better please! and have them wrapped), make crafts, sell flowers, take a turn on a game, hair braiding etc.  No nail polish or anything with a strong smell as we have s few kids with asthma.  Please have your child bring a bag to put their things in and shop with!

11:00am is Early Childhood’s Bridging Ceremony.  This will last until, 12:30 (picnic time included).  If you have a Kinder graduating, please bring your own chairs and picnic supplies (blanket, sunblock, sunglasses etc).  Our classroom, along with the other Lower El classes will have a sign for our class to sit for lunch and to have our tentative new 1st graders and 1st grade parents join us too.

We are (tentatively) welcoming:

Butterfield, Kaulin

Carlson, Jackson (Charles)

Cleverly, Evan

French, Ariana

Graves, Jaxston

Hadley, Lexi

Hodgson, Brett

Hunter, Ivie

Spruill, Kanon

Swenson-Peterson Janessa

In the afternoon, Ms. Julia is still willing to do PE with our students.  We will still plan on our time of 12:30 (after bridging) to 1:10.  We will hopefully have some time after that to do our egg drop science engineering challenge

Tuesday May 24th- Cleaning the classroom furniture. Please have your child bring a large bag for cleaning out their things.

10:30am is the 3rd Grade Bridging Ceremony!  Rain is called for on this day, but we hope to have it outside.  Parents, we will not have chair set up outside.  Please bring a blanket to sit on or outside lawn chair.  The students of our classrooms will sit by class facing the stage and then it will be the blanket area and then any chairs will need to be behind the blankets (so everyone is comfortable seeing).  When we call our 3rd graders, they will be welcomed by our Upper El mentor class- Ms. Stephaney’s.

Our Administration has put together a tentative list of where your 3rd grader will be going next year.  Like the Kinders, when new students are accepted to our school, some change may happen, so nothing is permanent yet.  Upper El teachers were chosen by who would work best for your child and what kind of class they have already to make sure it would be a good fit for your soon-to-be 4th grader.  Here is the list:

Tiffany- Amity

Bridger- Amy

Nicholas- Amy

Kennedy- John

Peyton- Kirsten

Aiden B- Nicoletta

Romeo- Paula

JayCee- Paula

Sophia- Stephaney

  • If you choose to check your 3rd grader out after bridging, please find me or Ms. Emilee and let one of us know.  Thanks!

Wednesday May 25th-  If our egg drop engineering challenge cannot happen on Monday afternoon, it will be today.  I have been talking to an old friend that went to elementary/middle school with me and she currently works for the National History Museum in California.  She used to do some work for NASA and has travelled all over the world and has met with famous physicists and scientists.  I am seeing if the museum will FaceTime with our class to show them some of their fossils and answer questions.  My friend said that if they can’t, she will!  We will also continue to bring items home from cleaning.

Thursday May 26th- Last day of School!  The morning will kick off with yearbook signing and then an outside kickball game starting at 10:30am.  If it is sunny, please have them bring sunglasses, a hat, maybe sunblock since we will be outside for a bit.

All early out days will include lunch! Please have a lunch for your child on those days 🙂

We need snack for this last week!  We don’t have anyone signed up and we haven’t had any new snack brought in for 2 weeks.

I think that is everything for this coming week!  PTC begins on Tuesday and goes until the last day of school (Thursday).  Please remember to bring your child as they are the presenter!  I will go over various testing scores with you, but the kids have worked very hard on their presentation packets this week.

 

Past Week:

Students filled out their conference packets this week for their work during the mornings.  Cultural ended and we did some group science engineering projects such as: the spaghetti building challenge, Save Fred (gummy worm challenge), and toothpick bridge challenge.

Music ended for the students too this week.

Field day was fun.  We were glad that the wind held off.  It was great to see our class cheer everyone on during the games that they did.

 

I know your child is excited for it to be the last week of school, but please do remind them that they are still in school and that our classroom rules and kindness towards one another still apply.  Even though we aren’t doing work cycle, we still have things to take care of and a schedule to follow.  I want to have the energy for you guys for your PTC, so please check in with your child every day this week to make sure they are hanging in there and that they get that reminder 🙂

Thanks everyone! Have a great upcoming week and I will see the majority of you soon!

Cheers!

Ms. K

3rd grade MyOn Assignment!

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Hello 3rd grade parents!

The goodbye letter that our 3rd graders are to write to our class are due by tomorrow evening.  2 have no started, and 6 are incomplete.  Aiden’s is the only one that complete according to directions.  Please have your child check their work.

Kennedy, JayCee, and Tiffany are almost there, just some detail cleaning up.

I put a writing check list for them on there to follow along with what kinds of details they need to include.

They are all excited to be done, but they aren’t done quite yet! 😉

Week 37

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Hello Everyone!

This past week we had lots of shadowing going on!  6 out of 9 of our 3rd graders shadowed in our Upper El partner classroom, Ms. Stef.  The remaining 3 will finish up this coming Wednesday.  This past Tuesday we had the Kindergarteners that will more than likely be in our class next year visit for on hour and get to see me and our class.

This coming week we will still be working on lessons, but some more group projects will happen this week.

Starting tomorrow, it is Spirit Week!  Here is the schedule:

School Spirit Days
May 16th – Dress as favorite BOOK character
May 17th – Crazy Sock
May 18th – Crazy Hat/Hair
May 19th – PJ Day
May 20th – Field Day – Dress Down Day/Sports team day.  PLEASE send sunblock, water bottle, tennis shoes, etc for outdoor play!
We will also start cleaning up the works on the shelves, checking the pieces to our works, and getting things cleaned up for the year.
Thursday is Ms. Connie’s Spring Concert.  Here is her reminder!
May 19th:
Spring Choir Concert
Those with last names that start with the letters A-K will come to the 6 o’clock performance.
Those with last names that start with the letters L-Z will come to the 7 o’clock performance.
The concert will only be about 30-35 minutes long.  All the children are encouraged to come, but not required.  The children should wear their nicest clothes…
Proper concert dress:  Sunday (wedding, funeral) best…Ties and collared, button up shirt, perhaps suspenders, or Dresses (not showing shoulders or back) with leggings or tights (no bare legs).  They do not need to have a collar on the dresses.  Of course they are encouraged to find these items but, they are not required.  They do not necessarily need to be school dress code, but appropriate and not distracting for the event.
This past week I spent time on individual lessons, but we did have 3 great group lessons this week.
Level 1s: M&M fractions for those who accomplished their work on time.
Level 2s: pizza fractions
Level 3s: pizza fractions
In cultural: Zoology/Physiology
Level 1s: Endangered Animals of the world and Utah
Level 2s: The Digestive System and Skeletal System
Level 3s:  Spiders and spider webs
Have a great upcoming week and please sign up for conferences!
Cheers!
Ms. K

 

Week 36

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Hello Everyone!

Thank you everyone for the wonderful generosities during Teacher Appreciation Week!  Ms. Emilee and I felt the love 🙂

Upcoming Week!:

3rd Grade Party:

3rd graders are now done testing! YAY! They get their chance to celebrate this coming Thursday afternoon from 1-2:30 for their 3rd grade party.

Here is the 3rd grade party sign up sheet if you would like to help out in some fashion: 3rd Grade Party!

Spring Concert:

Here is a note from Ms. Connie,

May 19th:
Spring Choir Concert
Those with last names that start with the letters A-K will come to the 6 o’clock performance.
Those with last names that start with the letters L-Z will come to the 7 o’clock performance.  
 
The concert will only be about 30-35 minutes long.  All the children are encouraged to come, but not required.  The children should wear their nicest clothes…
Boys:  Sunday best…Ties and collared, button up shirt 
Girls:  Dresses (not showing shoulders) with leggings or tights (no bare legs) for girls….
Of course they are encouraged to find these items but, they are not required.  They do not necessarily need to be school dress code.
 
The idea is to keep families together to watch their upper and lower Elementary children together.  If they have multiple last names of multiple children that are assigned to come at different times…they can choose which one they attend…this should only effect a couple of families.  I would encourage them to go to the 7:00 pm performance.  It seems there is more room at that time.
 
May 20th
9th grade graduation 
Harrisville park at 4:30-5:30
Honor choirs  (3rd grade honor choir and 6th grade honor choir) will be singing two songs, one at the beginning and one at the end.
I will have practice for the honor choir during lunch on specified dates.  The honor choir is by my invitation and their desire to accept only.  They will come in for 15 minutes during their lunches for about 2 weeks in May.  They will need to bring an easy lunch to eat quickly and clean up.  At 12:15 come into the library to practice until 12:30.  They will need to be there EVERY time and on time.  If this poses a problem for your class schedule or procedure please contact me asap.  Those that are chosen should use grace and courtesy and not rub their honor into the other children’s faces.   I will send a more detailed email of the Honor choir schedule out soon
 
May 23rd
Kindergarten bridging ceremony 
11-12:30 am
Kindergartners will be singing
 
May 24th
3rd grade bridging ceremony
10:00 am
3rd grader honor choir will be singing
 
May 25th
6th grade bridging ceremony
10:00 am
6th grade honor choir will be singing
 
May Calendar Adjustment:
Just for clarification, the last day of school is May 26th (a Thursday).  Parent Teacher Conferences begin that Tuesday at 1pm and go until the last day of school.
Parent Teacher Conferences!
Spring conferences are approaching!  Here is the sign up link!
3rd Grade Theater Plays!
My 3rd graders who are in the 2nd and 3rd studio are performing this coming Friday, May 13th.
Peyton, Bridger, and Tiffany perform at 10:00am and Romeo, Sophia, and Aiden will perform at 1:00pm.  If any of you would like to volunteer to do an activity with our class, I can make some room for that.  Emilee will watch the class for a little while and we are going to split up the class to go with other teachers for some time on Friday since the plays will be an all day affair for me.  The 2nd studio group are going to perform The Nightmare Before Christmas and then Little Red Riding Hood.  They will start setting up at 8:30am that morning and the 2nd group can come in costume and then change after their plays.  The 3rd studio group will perform Peter Pan and then Aladdin at 1pm.  Those students will start setting up and getting into costume at 11:30am.
Shadowing!
Shadowing for 3rd graders begins this week!  We are shadowing with our Upper El mentor class, Ms. Stef’s class.  Here is the schedule that Stef and I worked out.
Monday May 9th: JayCee, Aiden, Tiffany
Wednesday May 11th: Sophia, Romeo, Peyton
Wednesday May 18th: Kennedy, Bridger, Nicholas
Kindergarteners will do their shadowing in our classroom this coming Tuesday May 10th 9am-10am and then 1pm-2pm.

Past Week:

Our students began earning classroom dollars for our end of the year bazaar!  Like the store day we had back in December, this end of the year store day will be bigger.  We team up with 2 Upper Elementary classrooms and our students can enjoy an end of the year selling/shopping experience.  We made the money more challenging this time around with the students working with coins and then learning to exchange those coins for bills.  As we get closer to the last week of school, I will expand the details on Bazaar day, but the date will be May 23rd (a Monday).  Money will continue until May 20th.
MyOn Assignment for 3rd Graders:
3rd Graders began working on their last MyOn assignment this week.  They have until May 22nd to complete it.  They are writing a goodbye letter to our 1st and 2nd graders and are telling about their 3rd grade experience.  They chose this assignment and I am looking forward to reading all the letters.
In group lessons this week:
Level 3s: Math review
In cultural: History
Level 1s: Time to the 5 minute mark
Level 2s: The moon and its phases
Level 3s: Fossils
Hope everyone has a great Mother’s Day weekend and upcoming week!
Cheers!
Ms.  K