Ms. Kaley's Classroom Room 24

Hi Everyone!

Past Week:

This past week we talked about what an Economy is.  To learn how an economy works we are having the students earn fake paper money for tasks during their day.  This last Monday we held a classroom meeting and students talked about how they will earn money.  We all agreed that if you:

1. Do your classroom job you can get a $1.00 (a total of $5.00 if done every day at the end of the week.)
2. If someone borrows something of yours you can charge $1.00.  This will be the same for wanting to have or borrow something that belongs to the teachers or classroom supplies.  It will be the teacher’s decision on how much to charge depending on the item and the frequency of use.
3. Students can earn $5.00 for doing their assigned follow up works on time.
4. Students can earn $5.00 for completing all work goals done for the day
5. Students can earn $10.00 at the end of the week if all Spiral Math, Word Work, Text Time, and any needed writing assignments are in the “done” bins before recess on Fridays.

Students are also learning the business side of an economy.  If a student has completed all of their work goals for the day (Coming to lessons included), then that student may participate in what we are calling Market Time.  A student may open their own small business to sell a skill of theirs to others.  A lot of our students like to craft really inventive things and some students are learning to crochet.  Students who want to participate can then work on things to make and then on Fridays if your student gets to Earned Friday Time they can sell their crafts.

When we get to the week of conferences and Valentine’s Day week, on one of those half days we will have what is called Store Day.  If you have been with me in the years past, we have done this activity before.  Students can elaborate on the business they want to run and sell items during that morning with the money they are collecting over these next few weeks.  Students may make baked goods, do hair/nails, sell unused toys they don’t want anymore, auction something they no longer want, but someone else may want, and sell crafts (bracelets, drawings, origami etc.).  We like to debrief with the student after to see how much money they began with, how much they earned through their business, and how much they spent.

PTC- Mid Year is approaching!  Please sign up on Track It Forward for your time slot!  These conferences  are students led.  Each student has a portfolio that they have been doing reflections in and putting in works that pertain to a standard.  If a student isn’t quite achieving that standard then we will show you how they are working towards it.  If your student doesn’t have that piece for their portfolio then that student isn’t abiding by their turn in due dates.  We work with each child in our classroom at their own individual pace and each student works and different rates and paces.  Seeing real work samples of your child’s work will allow you to see how they are doing.  Since your student will be talking and showing their examples it will be a showcase of their current progress and how they want to progress on those standards for the end of the year.  The hope is to show growth and that your child isn’t just a number on a progress report 🙂

This past week was STEM Week.  What a week!  We had assemblies and project presentations throughout the week.  This past Friday we set up our class’s projects like a mini cultural festival and half the students presented and the other half visited the others.  Then we switched.  I was able to make it around to all the projects that were there to hear their presentations.  This week, our 3rd graders will display their projects in the hall on Wednesday.  2nd graders will display theirs on Thursday and 1st graders will display theirs on Friday.  After their display day they can take their projects home.

Home projects are on break for now and the rest of the themes have events to participate in.  The next one in February will be The Spelling Bee.  We will have each student participate in trying their best and then I will test who will represent our class at the MMA Spelling Bee.  Our students will have a month to practice and prepare.  The Spelling Bee will be February 26th from 9am-10am.  The last event will be in March for Literacy Week.

Upcoming Week:

We will be back to a regular schedule this coming week.  We will get into some Geography lessons for cultural and work on learning about the Westward Expansion for our Group History and Geography.  This week we will learn about the Louisiana Purchase.

Remember: Pizza Money is due Tuesdays!

We are in need of some snack!  The next few weeks are not signed up for.  If you can, please sign up for snack support 🙂

Have a great rest of your long weekend. Please sign up for conferences!

Ms. Kaley and Ms. Misha