Ms. Kaley's Classroom Room 24

Hello Everyone!

Past Week:

This past Monday afternoon we welcomed Ms. Rachel for her 2nd monthly Botany lesson with our class.  She talked about different biomes and how even deserts can be snowy in certain parts of the world.

We had author Gary Hogge come to our school on Tuesday morning.  He presented to the students about using “their author voice.”  He came to our class after lunch and did a class writing workshop with our students.  3rd graders then went to a 3rd grade writing workshop while the Level 1s and 2s went to recess (Ms. Misha was at her monthly assistants meeting during that time). So, Tuesday was a very busy day of presentations!

Katie James, our room mom, contacted you all about our upcoming local field trip this coming Thursday afternoon.  On Thursday afternoon from 1:00pm-2:30 we will be walking around MMA and surrounding communities to pick up trash.  Students will be put into groups with Ms. Steph’s Upper El students and a chaperone.  I am hoping to get at least 5 chaperones.  I believe we are currently at 2 (as of Saturday).  She is also looking for ideas for our Halloween class party!  Once activities are planned, then supplies/materials can be donated.  I’m planning on having our party on Halloween in the afternoon from 1:00pm-2:40pm.

Wednesday the Imagination Learning accounts were ready for our 1st and 2nd graders.  We got everyone on and they began their learning about the program.  1st and ins graders logins are their MMA student ID number and their password is also their MMA student ID number.

On Friday I discussed the peacemaker project some more with the students.  I noticed the biography page on the Projects tab of our blog wasn’t working.  For some reason, this blog site can be iffy with PDFs.  I will be giving each child a hard copy this week to take home.  Sorry about that.  I tried to reattach it, but it wouldn’t work.  I may try emailing it to everyone and see if it will load for you as an email attachment.  We will be going over our first peacemaker, Mother Theresa, this coming Friday.

Yesterday, Saturday, I came across a really cool website for our students!  I’m pretty excited about it since it was free and seems easy to use.  It is called Prodigy Math.  I loaded in each student and then Prodigy made their username and a password within a parent letter.  The website checks student’s understanding of common core math standards.  I can assign students a standard to work on within a timeframe.  Since 3rd graders are needing to work on multiplication facts, I assigned 3rd graders to work on multiplication tables of 0s and 1s.  They have until Nov. 3rd.  I’m going to have the students take home their login paper this week so they can do their work at home, but also in school when we get the COW (computers on wheels cart).  I made an assignment for first and 2nd graders too to be completed by Nov. 3rd.  I want to use this website to help see hard data on what students know.  This will allow me to give better scores on the progress reports as the year goes on.  I know many of you have asked about what can you do at home to help your child and I’m giving you resources.  Last week, I posted a sight words list and a nonsense words for beginning readers.  The sight words list goes up to higher grades, so don’t feel like the sight words list is just for 1st grade.

October’s Writing Prompt– Every month, all students in Lower Elementary will receive a monthly prompt.  3rd graders will be typing theirs in Utah Compose and 1st and 2nd graders will write theirs.  They have all month to complete it.  The prompt is “Tell about a time you were scared.”  It is a personal narrative prompt.

We focused on Fraction lessons this past week with 2nd and 3rd graders.  2nd graders worked on naming the fraction within a group and 3rd graders worked on equivalent fractions.  Level 1s are continuing to work on labeling the fraction families.  They will get their 2nd fractions lesson next week.  Everyone will get Geometry this coming week

Progress monitoring also began for students who are red in DIBELS.

In cultural this past week we worked on Zoology/Physiology:

Level 1s: Vertebrates vs invertebrates

Level 2s: Why is breakfast important?  We did a class survey and graphed the results

Level 3s: Porifera review and Cnidarian intro (sea anemones, certain corals, jellyfish)

Upcoming Week:

Please let Katie James know if you can chaperone for our Thursday afternoon field trip.  If you would like to chaperone, please be at MMA in our classroom at 12:30pm.

Ms. Nikki, our new special educations teacher/support staff will begin her role full time.  She is working on servicing students from 3 classrooms (including ours) for 2 hours in the morning (8:30-10:30).  As she gets her schedule going, students who might need more practice or support in subject areas can work with her one on one or in small groups.  Does not matter if a student needs services or not, she is there for everyone.

Wednesday is picture day!  Picture forms went out awhile ago, but if you need another one, I have plenty.  You can also wait to buy them online.

Thursday afternoon we have our field trip and 3rd graders will have their dictionary assembly at 11:15am from the Utah Rotary Club.

Ms. Stef and I were discussing the COW situation since we only get the laptops for an hour on Wednesdays right after lunch until 1:30.  Ms. Stef’s class then gets the COW from 1:30-2:30.  We discussed that the timing isn’t enough once we get everyone settled after lunch and the students login.  We decided to rate our weeks so that we each get the laptops all afternoon!  Mr. James said this is fine and other classes are doing the same.  I will talk with Stef to see if we can begin this Wednesday or not.  This will allow us to have the COW every other Wednesday all afternoon.  On the days we have the COW I will pull for cultural lessons while students are on the laptops and then they can return to their laptops after their lesson.

Please sign up for Conferences!  I made conferences their own post 🙂

Have a great rest of your weekend and upcoming week!

Ms. Kaley

Hi Everyone!

Past Week:

This past week I introduced fractions lessons.  Level 1s are working on labeling the fraction families (whole, halves, thirds…up to tenths family).  Level 2s reviewed naming fractions and did super!  I will be giving them their own practice for this coming week to demonstrate their mastery and work with anyone who needs more time with naming the fractions. Level 3s went over the nomenclature of numerator and denominator and they are in a good place too!  I will begin Geometry with Level 2s and 3s this week and begin learning money with Level 1s this coming week (penny and nickel).

This week in cultural we finished the first cultural rotation with Botany.  We are back to History this coming week.

Level 1s: Parts of a plant, care & needs of plants, what plants give us

Level 2s: Parts of a leaf and leaf venation

Level 3s: Parts of a flower

Language groups were also introduced this week.  I have three groups that are mixed abilities, but each group moves at a different pace.  My three groups are: The Antelopes, The Badgers, and The Crocodiles (Crocs).  Each language group will be exposed to each part of speech appropriate to their grade level and will also learn what their roles are.  We will also go over writing skills, word study lessons, and comprehension.

Thursday was International Day of Peace.  Our classroom and Ms. Stef’s teamed up to color a peace flower.  Our class also went over the importance of peace and examples of peace.

October’s Peacemaker Report:  On Thursday I went over the October home project.  For clarity, your student will get to choose a peacemaker from history.   They can be living or have passed.  I noticed that the project is set to be due Oct. 20th, but that is during Fall Break.  I am moving the due date to October 27th!  Students will fill out the information page, but then are required to present their project.  Some ideas on how they present are: can write a report to read to the class, make a poster of the peacemaker, dress up as the person and tell about them, make a puppet to tell about their peacemaker- the choice is your student’s.  I’m going to attach the information needed for the peacemaker report in the Projects tab.  Print off the template and have your child find the needed information on their peacemaker.  More points for your child’s progress report will be given based on how well they know their person and having a complete project.

Friday we learned about the Morpho butterfly and did a Morpho butterfly craft.  The students then colored two more South American flags (Brazil and Chile) for their country collection.  We went over what earned Friday time is and those students who completed enough of their work cycle works got to take out some of the game, color, or make a paper craft.  Those who missed a few works had those works highlighted in their planners in orange and were asked to complete those works before beginning their Friday time.

Upcoming Week:

Tuesday I have in school all day training for DIBELS (a reading assessment tool).  All the lower elementary teachers are asked to attend.  Ms. Misha and our other assistant will help oversee the day.  The students will still have morning recess, cultural lessons, and then go to specials.  Ms. Misha and the other assistant will also roam for student work check off in the afternoon.

Tuesday from 5-8 is Skate Night in Layton.  A small flyer went home this past week.

Friday is the beginning of studio!  The mornings are dedicated to the three rotations that students attend.  In the afternoon, we will continue talking about the rainforest and how common foods we eat come from the rainforest. We will also do a grace and courtesy check in and go over what are socially accepted norms (saying please, thank you, holding doors etc.)

Have a great upcoming week,

Ms. Kaley

Hello Everyone!

Past Week

This week we got Math Facts up and running.  Math facts are 5 minute “time tests”.  I have split up everyone to go on different days during certain parts of the day.  These results are recorded and the information is used to make sure facts are being understood and if any reviews are necessary.

This week we had Geography in cultural:

Level 1s: Naming the continents, longitude and latitude, hemispheres

Level 2s: Parts of the Earth (inside) all week

Level 3s: The Sun’s size, Sun’s energy, and how we get day/night and seasons

Math groups have been going well and this coming week I will be adding Fractions lessons and begin language groups.  Students do their own independent language works that they need to practice, but the purpose of our language groups will be to go over follow ups to the shelf works, writing lessons, and reading/comprehension lessons.  I meet frequently with each student multiples times a week to make sure learning is being practiced and any adjustments to lessons/individual works are planned according to where it is needed.  Ms. Stef W’s class, our mentor class, will also play a part in some of those lessons.  Our mentor goal is to work together to give all students the lessons that are needed, no matter what age or grade.

Upcoming Week:

On Thursday, it is International Peace Day.  To honor this day, our class and Ms. Stef’s will do a craft in the afternoon.  Cultural lessons will still be given, but students will work on the craft until they are called.  Our craft will be a peace flower.  As a home extension you could have a conversation with your child about what peace means to them and why do they think peace is important to teach and practice.

Mr. James, MMA’s IT Specialist, is working on making everyone’s accounts for IXL and Imagination Learning.  This year my classroom will only receive IXL accounts for 3rd graders.  1st and 2nd graders will get accounts for Imagination Learning.  Once Mr. James has all the accounts updated we will begin our use of the Computers on Wheels (COW) every Wednesday afternoon for an hour will begin.  This will also be a time that 3rd graders will receive Utah Compose lessons and SAGE skills.

MMA’s 5K is coming up!  Reminder that it will be Sep. 23rd.  If you need a form I have a few extra.

Anyone been to South America?– We are learning about South America!  If you know anyone who has spent some time in South America and would like to come in one Friday afternoon to share their experience please let me know!

Studio Fridays begin!– Studio Friday is upon us!  Studio is an experience that allows each child to get an hour lesson on science, art/music, and social studies.  Studio begins at 8:40 am and ends at 11:30am.  Each lower elementary teacher teaches one of the 3 subjects for a certain grade level.  My role for studio is to teach 3rd grade science.  I will see all 3rd graders of every grade through 3 separate rotations.

Have a great rest of your weekend and upcoming week.

Ms. Kaley

Hello Everyone!

Past Week

We had a busy week 3!  I was able to get through most of the new students’ reading assessment.  I will finish those new students up Monday and then begin doing our 1st graders.  These assessments are first priority at the beginning of each day.

Tuesday-  We had the Loveland Aquarium for the 2nd graders come to our school.  Our group of 2nd graders went from 9:00am-9:55am and learned about the rainforest and animals that love there.  This was a great resource for them because we are studying South America for our continent study and we will moving into the rainforest this week!  We had a shaky start to PE and Music.  Our Music teacher got the schedule mixed up with the Aquarium’s.  I was able to tell her that this our music time and our students were able to get some of their music class.

*On Tuesdays,  we have PE and Music in the morning.  The students will have recess first thing on Tuesday as they enter the school.  At 8:50, they are called to line up and then cultural lessons are given until it is time to go.  The afternoon will hold the majority of Math and Language lessons.

Wednesday- We had a beautiful morning work cycle and the students got their first monthly Botany lesson from Ms. Rachel.

Thursday-  Thank you to all those who came to the Parent Open House!  I handed out a yellow Field Trip Schedule and 2017-2018 Home Project Schedule.  I revamped the project schedule to be more inline with our Peace curriculum and lessons on building a community.  You can now have access to both of those schedules in the above tabs!  3rd graders also attended their first computer class this past week.  They go every Thursday at 9:45-10:15

Friday- We spent the day learning more about South America.  The students learned the flag colors of Venezuela and Colombia.  I then introduced our first animal from South American, the llama!  The students then did a Peruvian llama art project where they made Peruvian textile patters with black and white crayons and then watercolored over top.  While the background dried, a second paper was used to create the face of a llama.  It was then cut out and glued onto the painted background.  They turned out great!

*Pizza Fridays also began this week!  Please visit our school website or social media pages for the pizza form.  Each slice is $1.75 and you can purchase for multiple dates or single dates.

Upcoming Week/Info:

Accountability program for our classroom- I am almost done designing our accountability program for our students.  We had a set back with Ms. Gaby leaving MMA, who was our part time co-teacher and Ms. Misha had training for 2 of the weekdays.  Misha and I will be making the final revisions and then getting the information out to you all.  We should have it completed by the end of this week.

5K- If you would like to register for the MMA Color Run 5K and haven’t, I have orange registration forms in our classroom.  Have your child bring one home if you would like one. The date is September 23rd.

Skate Night- I saw on our school’s social media that there will be an MMA Skate Night at Family Fun Center in Layton on Sept. 26th from 5-8:30pm.  There are rentals available there if you need anything and they have dinner specials.

Yarn donation needed- We could use some more yarn for our projects.  If you would like, it is not required, please feel free to donate any kind of yarn.

Computers available- Mr. James, our tech/IT specialist scheduled the moveable laptop cart to our class every Wednesday from 12:30-1:30.  These laptops will be great for any research, IXL lessons, SAGE practice, report writing etc.  Sometime I will hold whole class or small group lessons that will need the laptops, but if needed, a student can use one for an hour for educational purposes.

Slippers and placemats- please remember that some sort of inside shoe is required at MMA.  Our school also doesn’t have a lunchroom and we use placemats to keep the desks clean during lunch.  Please provide your student these supplies, if possible.  Thanks.

Have a great rest of your weekend and upcoming week.

Ms. Kaley

Hello Parents,

Past Week:

We had a busy week filled with activities that related to the Great Lessons!  We finished up the Great Lessons of the History of Writing and Math and extended the learning for the lessons on The Coming of the Universe, Coming of Life, and Coming of Man.

Our students also go to meet our Upper Elementary partner class (a mentorship), Ms. Stephaney’s and Ms. Ali’s class.  We spent an afternoon doing a partner group game called Saving Fred.  Students had to work together to save a gummy worm who capsized his “boat” (a turned over plastic cup) and put on his “life vest” (a gummy saver).  The kids loved it!  As our classroom and Ms. Stef’s classrooms normalize we will have the ability to send our kids to work with their mentor and also have some lessons in her room (if needed).  The same is with her students.

Cultural lessons began slowly this week. This week we began with History:

Level 1s: Months of the year and days of the week, made a calendar for September

Level 2s: What are the 3 States of Matter

Level 3s: Timeline of life overview and the Clock of Eras

Friday: South America and What is Matter?

Upcoming Week:

This coming week will be very busy!  I am excited to start giving lessons and begin the kids on their independent journey.

Monday- No School- Labor Day

Tuesday- The Loveland Aquarium is coming for just the 2nd graders at MMA.  All 2nd graders will attend a 55 minute class about the animals of the rainforest and the rainforest itself.

PE and Music begin on Tuesday!  Please make sure to have your child wear or bring sneakers to run around in!  This year, each special is an hour long.  Our time is at 9:50 and goes until lunch time.  To make the schedule work, students will be going straight outside for recess until 8:50am.  Once we come in then I will cultural lessons until it is their time to go to PE and Music.  After lunch, the students will do their math and language works as they usually do in the mornings of Mondays, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Wednesday- Hour long monthly Botany lesson with Ms. Rachel Bush in the afternoon 1:50-2:50.

Thursday- Computer class begins for 3rd graders only in the morning.  9:50-10:15

I will be doing the new students who are in 2nd and 3rd grade reading assessments first thing in the morning.  It has scheduled out to be 2 a day.  Next week, I will begin doing 1st graders.  The reading team will also begin their state DIBELS reading assessments too this week and into the next.

Reminders:

I will be sending home a bright orange form for the MMA 5K and Pancake Breakfast that will take place on September 23rd.  If you would like to be in the race, please fill out the form out and have your you or your student turn it into the office

Pizza Fridays will be starting!  You can find the pizza forms on our social media and I believe through the website.  Please have the forms filled out by Wednesdays in a sealed envelope with your student’s form inside and their name and teacher on the front of the envelope.  MAPA comes by our rooms and picks up the envelopes early Wednesday mornings.

Reading Volunteers- I am ready for you!  I have Wednesday scheduled for you all.  If you can’t do Wednesday, please let me know and I can make that work.  Please come at 9am.  We will be finishing up circle at that time.  Since I have more volunteers this year, some of you will see the first graders to check letter and sounds and begin nonsense words (ref, mak, tep etc.).  Some other students will need that kind of practice and some will be working on fluency to work towards grade level.  I should have a sheet for you all by Wednesday.

Consequence Program- My team and I are putting together a consequence program that helps students be accountable for their actions.  We wanted to design something that wasn’t a punishment program, but would allow them to see what goal they aren’t following in our classroom and levels that they can follow to help them work towards following all classroom and school rules/goals.  We will send out a parent letter soon with more information about it

The students are working on showing their circle rules when present during circle time.  There are 5 and the students know them pretty well.  It is getting everyone to follow them that is important.  Sitting next to a friend is a privilege.  Some of our students are consistently talking out of turn and will have to have an assigned circle space until they can follow that goal.  This is part of normalizing our class and laying a consistent foundation for our year that all students are held to the same standards.  On Friday, our class voted on their top 5 classroom community rules.  We have been talking about community within the school and within the world and how to be a good community member.  The goals that they made will be apart of our consequence program.

Yarn- Most students in our community are learning to finger knit.  They are getting faster and pretty good!  Some are ready for more weaving works and want to learn the beginnings of crocheting and/or knitting.  Ask your child if they are interested and if so, have them provide their own yarn.  Again, I have some, but to make your child’s project more efficient and organized, having their own would be ideal.

Have a great Labor Day and rest of your Sunday!

Ms. Kaley

Hello Parents!

We had a wonderful and very busy first week of school!  Monday we spent the day learning about the classroom and then learning about the eclipse!  It was such a wonderful moment to experience that with them.  I too hope you enjoyed seeing the eclipse, if you got to see it!  The rest of the week was filled with Great Lessons, getting to know our classroom and each other, and group games/learning.

What is a Great Lesson?– At the beginning of the year, each year, in a Montessori school, we as the teachers teach 5 Great Lesson stories: The Birth of the Universe, The Coming of Life, The Coming of Humans, History of Writing, and History of Mathematics.  We were able to achieve learning about the first three lessons this past week.  This coming week we will review these lessons and get into the History of Writing and Math.  These lessons are the big pictures to the lessons they will receive and expand upon throughout their educational experience.

Snack-  For those who are new to providing snack, please sign up to the right of the blog in the green area.  There is a link to follow.  Please sign your name up to two times to provide snack.  Some parents like to provide snack for the whole week and some bring in the snack allotment for each day.  Whatever works for you is fine by us.  We have a fridge where we can keep things cool and fresh and we have a snack cabinet to store dry goods.  Any left over snack is helpful for those who might not have a lunch or if one week we find ourselves without snack.

Healthy snacks are the only options our school’s snack policy asks for.  Our class doesn’t have any food allergies, but within MMA there are students who are severely allergic to peanut butter.  It would be advised that no peanut butter be brought for snack.

Please remember that beginning tomorrow dismissal is at 3pm.  Early Childhood students also begin.

Zippered Pencil Cases- If your student doesn’t have a zippered pencil case, please try to provide your child with one.  Something must have happened on my school supply list, but I have quite a few students who need one.  It really is the only supply I don’t have extra of to provide students who don’t have one.  I was able to take care of everyone’s organization and writing supplies.  We are ready to rock and roll!

Reading Volunteers- I am going to begin reading volunteers next week!  I have 3 moms: Lori, Jessica, and Heather, who would love to come in and run reading groups and individual reading help.  Please let me know if you would like to help out too.  Ladies, if coming in on Wednesdays can’t work for you, please let me know which day of the week would be best for you.  Thanks!

If any other reminders pop up, I’ll let you all know!  Thanks for a great first week and enjoy the rest of your weekend and upcoming week!

-Ms. Kaley

Hello Everyone!

Please review this post carefully as it has important information and volunteer opportunities for Eclipse 2017 on Monday!

School Reminders

Drop Off and Pick Up:  Regardless if you have social media or not, MMA put out a video about how cars should drop off and exit the parking lot.  Please visit our school website or Maria Montessori Academy of Utah on Facebook to review that video.

It is IMPERATIVE that you ALWAYS pull forward and NOT drop or pick your child up at certain spots along the way.  We as the teachers have designated spots that we will be at after school.  A few staff members have morning spots as well.  Please follow our directions and be kind and.  Have patience and please follow our rules so that students stay safe.  We will get your child to where they need to be.  My post for the year will be the crosswalk between North Shore and MMA.  THERE IS NO DROP OFF OR PICK UP IN THE STREET!  This is for safety reasons!  I will have this same post for 3/4ths of the year.

Early Out Week:  Pick up is at 1pm Monday-Friday August 21st-August 25th.  Full days begin August 28th.  Early Childhood begins August 28th.

Eclipse Glasses:  I cannot stress the importance of going over with your child the absolute importance of keeping your eclipse glasses on and even with them on, please do not stare for a long period of time.  Staring at the sun without the glasses during the eclipse can cause blindness or burning. Please please please go over this with your child.

Also, The school also has glasses only for the students.

Classroom News & Reminders

Monday- Eclipse 2017 Day!: Our class will be learning and working on eclipse activities during school hours on Monday August 21st.  I will be sending the students out to recess at 10:45am.  If you would like to volunteer to help make sure kids keep their glasses on and help any who need their eclipse paper filled out, please email me!  If you are wanting to help out, please come to the classroom at 10:45am and I will go over the eclipse papers and glasses with you.  We will be on the field at 11:15 until around 11:40-11:45 to view the eclipse.  We will eat lunch afterwards.

Supplies: Monday will also be the day that a lot of school supplies are coming.   I need you to please put your child’s name on the bag.  I have one bag with blueberries and strawberries on it with blue handles that was dropped off and I cannot for the life of me remember who dropped it off.  There isn’t a name on anything, so if this bag is your child’s, please email me.  I don’t want to get anybody’s supplies mixed up!

In the supplies that have been dropped off, I have only seen 2 students with a zippered pencil case.  Please make sure your student has a zippered pencil case so I and Ms. Misha can put your child’s supplies in it!

*If you are brand new to the classroom, the school supply list can be found in a tab to the top of our blog.

Snack:  We don’t have anyone signed up for snack for the 1st week of school.  Please sign up for snack up to 2 times for the year.  Also, where you see the name- Kanon Spruill on the snack sign up, that student had to unfortunately leave, so those dates are open.  Only you guys can delete your sign up.  I can only clear the whole sign up sheet.  To delete, please go the email that was sent to you thanking you  for signing up.  On there, there should be a link to edit or delete.

Friday- On Friday, the students are going to be practice rug spaces and their rug name tags.  Your child may bring a few board games or card games to share and build relationships with students in our room.  Please let them bring a few games to share on this day.

If you have any questions please feel free to email me!

Have a great rest of your weekend and week

Cheers!

Ms. Kaley

Hello Everyone!

It’s that time of the year again (already!).  I have updated our classroom’s school supply list for the 2017-2018 school year.  Please let me know if you have any questions about the list.

I will gladly take school supplies off your hands whenever you are ready.  Please make sure EVERYTHING is in a labeled bag with your child’s name on it.  Please DO NOT label your child’s name on the composition notebooks.  Everything else can have your child’s name on it.  We are room 24.  Email me if you are ready to drop off early.  I have already been popping in and working on getting the room ready for the new school year.

School Supply List 2017-2018

Cheers!

Ms. Kaley

Hello Everyone!

Past Week:

Thank you so so much for another great teacher appreciation week!  Many many thanks to all you wonderful parents.  Anna and I are truly thankful for all your help and thanks.

Everyone is hanging in there!  We continued work cycle this past week and all the 3rd graders finished up their SAGE testing! Yay!  I did UURC reading level tests the whole week in the morning.  I have 1 student to finish Monday morning and I’ll be done!

Book report due next Monday (22nd)!- Book reports are due soon!  Students should be working on a fantasy or science fiction book.  They will then present their book report visual.

Parent Teacher Conference Sign Up!  Here is the link that I emailed everyone.  PLEASE BRING YOUR CHILD!

CLICK HERE!

We didn’t have any afternoon math lessons this past week due to celebration of lives and other activities that went on.  We did do cultural lessons and a few more cultural activities will flow into this coming week

in cultural this week: Botany:

Level 1s: what do plants need and parts of a plant review.  End of the year parts of a plants salad

Level 2s: Tree review and adopt a tree activity

Level 3s: parts of a flower review and Georgia O’Keefe (a female artist who painted unclose details of flowers)

Upcoming week:

This coming week we are shaking things up!  We will be doing our end of the year packets for conferences, cleaning up the shelves, and doing group activities.

Store Day might get rescheduled for May 22nd.  I am waiting from Ms. Paula on that final decision.  If the rain is going to hold off for this coming Thursday (May 18th) then form 9am-11am we will be having Store Day outside.  Students will need to bring a blanket or sheet to put their sellable goods on.  If your student is planning on making food/treat to sell, please email me about it.  Nothing with nuts in it as we have a student who has a severe allergy.  Food must be pre-packaged as well.  It would be advisable to have your child bring a bag with  him or her to put his/her bought goods in.

Spirit week:

Monday– crazy hair/hat day.  Dress code applied.

Tuesday– crazy sock day.  Dress code applied

Wednesday– mix and match day.  Students can mix patterns and designs.  No logos or characters please.  Doesn’t have to be in collared shirts this day.

Thursday– PJ day.  Students may bring a blanket and pillow this day if Store Day gets rained out.  If we go forth with Store Day in the morning then blankets and a pillow can be brought Friday.  3d grade PARTY DAY 1:15-2:30.  If you have signed up to help or bring in something for the party then please bring the items in on this day.

Friday– Dress down day.  Please make sure your child is dressed for outside.  They will be running around and doing games.  Sneakers, sunglasses, sunscreen, water bottle, and hats are all highly advisable.  In the afternoon we will do a movie afternoon if we don’t end up doing it Thursday.  Kaulin’s mom was thinking of doing a nacho party Friday afternoon too.

I will email you about store day and if it is going to be on May 18th or May 22nd.  That will tell us when movie time will be scheduled.

Volunteers for next week! Next week the kids talked about wanting to do a pancake/waffle breakfast one morning and doing a pot luck lunch.  Email me if you can help with pancake/waffles and can bring some ingredients.  I have a griddle that can make multiple pancakes, but if we can have multiple then that would be even better.  If someone wants to also make either smoothies or popsicles with the kids then let me know about that too.  I will be putting together a sign up for our pot luck tomorrow.

Snack this coming week– Calvin

Have a great upcoming week and Happy Mother’s Day!!

Cheers

Ms. K

Hello Everyone!

Past Week:

May is off to a very busy start!  This past week we had our students do EasyCBM end of the year Math testing.  This information will be shared with you at our last conferences.

Our 3rd graders did their SAGE Math test this past Wednesday and have their ELA test in the Library this coming Wednesday.

We also had two celebration of lives in the afternoon this past week and we have another this coming week

Friday the students learned what Cinco de Mayo is and did crafts.  We had a lot of fun making the crafts and learning what the celebration is all about!

In group lessons:

Level 3s: Area and perimeter with their name on grid paper

In cultural this past week: Geography

Level 1s: Review of landforms and landform cookies

Level 2s: Sedentary rock and rock cycle review, starburst rock cycle activity

Level 3s: Hurricanes

This past week ended the take home reading homework

Upcoming Week:

Since our last parent teacher conferences are coming up quick, I am preparing the sign up.  wejoinin’s website isn’t fully working right now, so I am unable to reset and edit any sign ups.  I will have them up this week and I will email the link to you all.  Please bring your child!  They run this last conference and will share their end of the year fill out on what they learned.

Please remember the last book report on science-fiction or fantasy is due at the end of the month.  Please see the post I made before this one (Week 35).  Is has all the book report options.  Due Date will be May 22nd.

Monday– UURC reading testing for Level 1s. Ashley to do her SAGE Math

Tuesday– UURC reading testing for Level 2s.  Erik and Calvin to shadow in Upper El in the morning.  I have a morning meeting at 9:15.  Kindergarten students will shadow in our room this day in the afternoon.  Daxton’s celebration of life in the afternoon

Wednesday– SAGE ELA test in the Library for all 3rd graders.  Breakfast in the morning.  I’m hoping to do waffles for them with their scrambled eggs.  Since wejoinin is not currently working at the moment, we need some batter and syrup.  We have plates, cutlery, and juice. We do need more cups.

Thursday– UURC reading testing for Level 3s.  Lydia and Ashley will shadow in Ms. Steph’s.  Kindergarten will bring a group to shadow in the morning.

Friday– Art with Trudy, Electricity, and Mother’s Day activities

This coming week is also Teacher Appreciation week!

Teacher Appreciation Week May 8th-May 12th 

Monday– Best grace and courtesy from students and give a high 5, hug, or handshake

Tuesday– Bring a flower for your teacher and assistant teacher.  Flowers may be real, fake, a drawing, or homemade

Wednesday– Make a note/letter for each of your two teachers

Thursday– Bring a drink for each of your two teachers.  I like flavored waters and Arnold Palmers.  I also enjoy coffee and hot teas.  Ms. Anna likes any kind of juice

Friday– Teacher Spirit Day!  Wear your teacher’s favorite colors and maybe donate a classroom supply.  I will hint that we are on our last few pencils!  My favorite colors are aqua, green, and pink. Ms. Anna’s are green and blue

Next week we will do some cultural projects and group activities together for work cycle.  Next week, the week of the 15th, is Spirit Week.  I will review those days in next week’s blog post.

Snack- We don’t have anyone signed up for snack, but we have enough where I think we can go through the extra snack that we have.

Have a great upcoming week everyone!

Cheers!

Ms. K