Archive for the Field Trips Category

Week 33 Recap

Posted in Conferences, Field Trips, Montessori Philosophy, Reading | No Comments »

Hello Everyone!

Upcoming Week!

We have our last field trip of the year on Wednesday!  I sent out an email Friday afternoon that outlined the needed information for this field trip.  Please read everything carefully!  Here the information restated:

Wednesday May 1st- Planetarium

For any of our students in our class who NEED a ride TO and/or FROM MMA (see link below) to go on the Planetarium field trip, I have a sign up ready for you all!
*Has to be a wejoinin sheet because I needed the two columns.  Add your volunteer time to Track It Forward.
 
If you can take a student(s) from our class, please sign up- certified or not.  If you are parent who’s child needs a ride to the TRAX station in the morning and a ride back to MMA after, please look at the drivers who are available and you can pick who you want your child to go with.
Drivers and student drop off will take place at North Shore.  Please catch your ride at 7:30am.  If you are willing to drive others, please be there at this time.  It is imperative to be on time for this field trip as the Frontrunner will not wait for anyone.  We are leaving a good amount of time so nobody feels rushed.
If you are dropping your child off/meeting us at the Ogden Station to catch the Frontrunner, we ask you be there at 7:50am.  This gives chaperones plenty of time to park, get a ticket to ride the Frontrunner (your child is covered!)  We can get the children banded with their Frontrunner wristband and do a headcount.
Information Quick Glance!
1. Catching rides from MMA to Ogden Station Frontrunner will need begin at 7:30am (PLEASE BE ON TIME!)
2. If meeting/dropping off at Ogden Station- 7:50am meeting time.  8:10am is the very latest I would like to see students being dropped off.   This is a built in buffer time.
3. Ms. Kaley and Ms. Misha will both be present at Ogden Station.  NOT facilitating rides at MMA.
4. First 8 chaperones to come to me at Ogden Station get a free Frontrunner wrist band.  If I am out, the ticket station is right where we meet.
5. Your child NEEDS a backpack, lunch, water dressed for the weather, comfy shoes, school dress code
6. There is a nice gift shop, food trucks, and places to eat around the Gateway.  We will be eating outside by the big fountains at The Gateway.  Money for your child to eat out or buy things is your decision.  Eating at a restaurant will depend on the chaperone.
7.  If you are chaperoning, you will get other kids who you need to help us look after.  I want to put those groups together and tell you as soon as possible.
8.  We leave the Planetarium at 1:10pm at the very latest.  We will meet at the front of the Planetarium beginning at 1pm.  Please be aware of time chaperones 🙂
9. We catch the Frontrunner back to Ogden Station at 1:31pm.  The train arrives back to Ogden Station at 2:24pm
10.  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE have your child picked up at Ogden Station at 2:24pm.  Every year we are waiting and are needing to call the office to call parents who are tardy.  This is important to be on time to pick up your child.  

*Please read Planetarium cover letter for further information.
Clark Chaperone Letter01_Adults Rules and Tips (1)  *The cover letter doesn’t attach to the blog, but it cover letter is attached in the email that was sent out Friday afternoon from me.
We will have an Evacuation Drill sometime Tuesday
Monday we will have Kindergarteners visiting for their shadowing experience.  Monday afternoon at 1pm we will gather the Lower El to have a mini assembly on how to travel on Frontrunner, go over the safety video, and go over rules.
Students will begin to earn classroom dollars again beginning next week May 6th.  The big end of the year Store Day that will take place with other classrooms will be on May 20th from 9am-11am.

Past Week:

This past week our students worked on their last Word Work!  Their Spiral Math has introduced them to their next grade level and is a review of the grade they are currently in and is getting them ready for their next grade.  We also finished up final drafts for the first opinion piece, “What Pet Makes the Best Pet?”  Starting Monday, students will pick their own topic they want to write an opinion piece on and do their last writing piece for the year!  It’s crazy how April is done this coming week, but that’s how it is every year!  May is going to be here and gone in a blink of an eye.
During May I will be doing some end of the year checking in on some skills for our portfolio.  We’ll focus on showing some current math, writing (from our opinion pieces), language arts, and some favorite cultural lessons.  We have pretty much wrapped up our scientific method processes for science at the beginning of April.
All reading testing from me is complete!  I focused on getting everyone done this past week andMs. Jamie, our reading specialist, has done the end of the year DIBELS reading part on everyone too!  Only thing that needs to be wrapped up is the 3rd graders need to do their DAZE (vocab word fill in the blank) part.  Ms. Jamie will grab them Thursday of this week.
Shadowing for the 3rd graders is underway!  We had about half of them shadow this week and rest will go next week.  Janessa will shadow this Thursday.
Thank you for everyone helping with transportation to and from our field trip to Sunshine Farms this past Wednesday.  I’m glad it was such a nice day to be outside.  It was interesting to hear how farmer Dan plans our his farm and gets the vegetables to local restaurants around Ogden.  The kids helped plant wildflowers, got a tour of the beds, helped move wood chips, and released lady bugs to help with the growing season.  For some students it was hard work that they normally don’t or haven’t ever experienced.  It was a good outside experience and it got our class their service time for the year by helping out farmer Dan.
PTC Sign Up: As a reminder, PTC sign ups are already up and ready for you all to sign up!  Students will run this conference to share their end of the year reflections and their portfolio.  I will have an end of the year progress report for Math and Language too. Please visit Track It Forward to sign up!
Have a great rest of your weekend and upcoming week!
Ms. Kaley and Ms. Misha

Week 32 Recap

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Hi Everyone!

Thank you everyone for a smooth field trip this past Thursday!  The movie was adorable and the kids loved it!

Farm field trip- For our field trip coming up on Thursday, please make sure to sign up on Track It Forward to let me know your child’s ride situation.  I will send out an email on Tuesday updating what I know about rides thus far.  The farm’s address is tricky, so please DO NOT plug the address into your phone.  Please refer to this map for where the entrance is, parking etc.  We will be meeting where it says shelter and then we will all walk over together. If you are giving rides, please be at North Shore at 12:25pm.  We will be out to catch rides at 12:30pm. Kids may be allowed to wear jeans and good shoes to work outside in (boots, tennis shoes recommended).  It is supposed to be in the 70s and sunny on this day, so make sure they have a hat or bring sunscreen and a water bottle to have.  If your child doesn’t wear a school shirt, please make sure the out of dress code shirt is appropriate logo or graphics wise for school (no violence or vulgar sayings etc.).  Pick up from the field trip will be at 2:45pm at the farm.  You don’t have to return to MMA unless you need to get another child or your child needs to go back to MMA to catch a ride at dismissal.

Sunshine Family Farms Map

Upcoming week

This coming week I will be beginning the UURC reading level test.  DIBELS will also be beginning for 1st and 2nd graders as Ms. Jamie is working around 3rd grade testing coming up.  She is beginning with the early childhood this week and might begin the lower el towards the end of the week.  Regardless, end of the year assessments and testing are now in full swing!

3rd graders will begin their Upper El shadowing beginning this week.  They are paired up with an Upper El classroom to see what it is like and become familiar with their environment.  Their shadowing experience will also play into their end of the year reflection for their portfolios at the end of the year.  The teacher they shadow with will not necessarily be their teacher.  Our class was just divided amongst the teachers this year.  The schedule will be as follows:

Franky- John May 7th
Jax C.- Laura April 24th
Lillian- Amy April 22nd
Lili- Shanan April 24th?
Janessa- Amity May 7th
Tenley- Kirsten May 9th
Lexi- Kotie April 22nd
Kaulin- John May 7th
Jaxston- Amity May 7th
Bronson- Shanan April 24th?
*waiting to hear back form Shanan on the date I gave her.
Thank you to those who signed up for snack for the rest of the year!
If you want to get a head start on signing up for end of the year conferences, my sheets on Track It Forward have been up and ready to go for you all.
The Spring Concert is May 1st beginning at 6:00pm.  Students should arrive at 5:45pm.  Please refer to the MMM newsletter for the flyer!  Solid black pants and a solid colored shirt for their performance dress code.  Thanks!
Happy Easter and have a great upcoming week!  See some of you Thursday!

Week 31 Recap

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Hello!

We had a wonderful week back from Spring Break.  The kids came back ready to rock and roll.  We talked this week how the kids want more of a challenge towards better themselves and as a community.  This class meeting talk took place before Spring Break and we worked on it on Friday.  The kids will complete a classroom goal to earn 10 points.  When a goal is reached by the of the week then they get a little incentive.  There are 5 goals and as the kids reach another goal (or level) then they still have complete the previous goal PLUS the new goal.  We did this last year and they really liked it.  The 1st goal is the “Quiet” goal.  This goal will need the kids to cooperatively work together in group times such as circle time and lining up.  If they complete this goal by Friday then they voted on having a scavenger hunt as their 1st group incentive.  Tune in next week to see if they make it!

We had a super cute moment this past Friday during a 2nd grade small math lesson.  2nd graders are working this year on their addition and subtraction skills, but understanding multiplication.  We continued our practice with arrays.  I had them build arrays with Cheerios.  I invited others if they wanted to come.  We ended up with practically the whole class engaged in a book I read and then building their arrays.

Movie Field Trip this Thursday!

This Thursday is the movie field trip to see Disney’s Earth Day presentation: Penguins.  We will need your child to be dropped off at the Ogden Junction- The Megaplex at 8:45am.  Ms. Misha will be there to collect our students.  I will be at MMA to make sure kids are catching rides and then meet our class over there.  The movie begins for the kids at 9:15am.  To my certified drivers who signed up, THANK YOU!

Ms. Jalee has the sign up for any child needing a ride back to MMA.  Even if you aren’t a certified driver and you have room to take another kiddo back to school, please  sign up on this sign up sheet:  https://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/jsiix

(Have room to take kids back to MMA!  No certification required!)
 
Reminders:
1. If you are taking your child to and from the field trip, have them keep their stuff in your car.  If your child isn’t going with you then they will take it into the theater.
2.  Please provide a lunch this day
3.  No snacks for the movie please and no money is needed to bring
4.  If you are picking up students to take them back to MMA- PLEASE be there out front by the stairs at 10:30am.  The movie is likely to end around 10:15am, so between 10:15-10:30 (at the latest).
PLEASE DO FOR ME THE FOLLOWING:
1. Email me your child’s ride situation TO the field trip and BACK to MMA.  Please do this by Sunday (homework for you!)
Permission Slips NEEDED:
Parker (told me he will bring it Monday.)
Madison
Amelia
Jax C.
*Please have to me by Wednesday at the very latest.  If your child does not bring me their permission slip, they will be helping Early Childhood or Upper El while everyone is gone.  They will return to class after we get back.
Next Thursday- April 25th is our afternoon field trip to Sunshine Farms.  Please sign up on Track it Forward to let me know your child’s ride situation.  This field trip is for our class and for Junior High students in Ms. Leigh’s Advanced Erdkinder class.
We will eat lunch at 11:45am on this day and then begin to catch our rides to the farm at 12:30pm.  Please be at the North Shore parking lot for picking up by 12:25pm. We will meet you all out there.  There isn’t a chaperone limitation for this field trip or for the Planetarium coming up.  Please let me know in the Track it Forward ride situation or via email if you are planning on chaperoning (if you haven’t already).  I will be sending out an email tomorrow (Monday) after school to let you know whose permission slip for the farm I am missing.  I have extra permission slips in the classroom if you just want to stop in real quick.

Past Week:

We had Botany with Ms. Rachael this past Monday.  She talked about some parts of the flower as spring has sprung and the kids can now see these parts of the flower!
The 3rd grade party has been scheduled!  This is only information for 3rd grade parents.  I will talk more about it soon, but mark your calendars for Monday May 13th.
We worked on rough drafts this past week for our opinion writing.  Students are working on writing an introduction, state 4 reasons with details, and then write a conclusion.  Their topic is “which animal do you think makes the best pet.”  Our students are using their feelings to understand opinions in their writing.  It’s been fun to hear the dog vs cat kiddos talk and challenge each other.
We worked on some Botany and Geography for cultural this week.  This coming week we will continue our study of plants in Botany and begin wrapping up learning time for 1st graders, the needs of humans for 2nd graders, and when humans appeared on the timeline for 3rd graders.

Coming Up!

April 22nd- an early out Monday
3rd grade shadowing- our 3rd graders will be checking out an upper elementary classroom soon!  Since we are partnered with a junior high class this year, your child has been assigned a room to shadow and check out.  I am working with all the upper el teachers to see what day and time works for them.  I will email you all that information once I have everyone scheduled.
3rd grade breakfast will take place on 3rd grade testing days.  We will need help to make these breakfasts happen.  I will be making the Track It Forward sign ups soon!
Spring Music Concert is May 1st.  Please see the MMM newsletter sent out for the big flyer with the times and information.  When I post it on here it posts small.
WE NEED SNACK!  Nobody has signed up for the rest of the school year!  If you are willing to help us out, please sign up on Track It Forward!  Please and Thank You!
Thanks and have a great rest of your weekend and upcoming week!
Ms. Kaley and Ms. Misha

Week 28 Recap

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Hi Everyone!

Upcoming Week:

Reminder that I will be out of town beginning Thursday.  I will return Tuesday of next week.  I will be attending the annual AMS Montessori Conference being held in Washington DC this year.  There will be 2 subs- Ms. Alicia will cover for Thursday and next Monday and Ms. Amber will cover for Friday of this week.  We will follow a pretty normal schedule for the week.  This Friday I have left Misha some South America lessons and art work to do with the kids in the morning.

A Fire Drill will take place on Wednesday

Gala– The school’s Gala is this coming Saturday!  You can still purchase tickets at the door.  It will be up at Snowbasin this year.

Past Week:

This past week was Literacy Week.  The kids enjoyed the Dr. Seuss story of the day in our class and little activities we had throughout the week.  Thanks to a lot of you who came out for Literacy Night!  I had a great time making bookmarks and seeing their familiar faces!  The themed book for the school was called I Am Peace.  It was a book that talked about mindfulness.  We as a class have talked about trying to incorporate more guided mediations to practice mindfulness in our classroom.

We had Botany with Ms. Rachael this past Tuesday and she went over food chains with the kids.  She even showed pond water from Harrisville Park under her projected microscope and the kids go to witness even the simplest of creatures doing their food chain jobs.  They really loved it!

In cultural this week 3r graders wrapped up all 3 periods in the Mesozoic Era and next time we meet we will go over the theories scientists use on how they believe dinosaurs have gone extinct.  1st graders have been working on time and most have done really well knowing time up to the quarter hour.  This is something you can work on and practice at home.  2nd graders are wrapping up fundamental human needs in relation to world culture and being a good citizen.  We talked about communication this past week and have been going over their research about what countries speak what languages.  1st graders went over external parts of a mammal in Zoology and 2nd graders are working at their own pace towards researching and reading about different kinds of animals.  3rd graders have begun studying each part of a flower and began with the stamen (the pollen producing part of the flower).

Upcoming Events:

The Earth Day movie field trip is a go!  It will take place on April 18th and the movie will begin at 9:15am.  Transportation for this field trip will need to have students dropped off at the Megaplex at Ogden’s Junction next to Fly High.  Please have them dropped off at the front by 8:50am.  Please email me and Katie, our room mom (misskt2558@yahoo.com) if your child needs a ride and pick up to and from the movie theater.  I will email certain families to see if they can chaperone as the movie theater only wants each class to provide 3.  The film should run about 70 mins or so we aren’t 100% sure how long the film is, so please be at the Megaplex for pick up at 10:30am.  Cover letters will be sent out soon!

Our Planetarium field trip is now May 1st.  This will be an all day field trip 🙂  More to come

 

Have a great rest of your week!  I will NOT be making a post this coming weekend due to traveling.

Ms. Kaley and Ms. Misha

 

Week 26 Recap

Posted in Classroom, Field Trips, Grace and Courtesy, Peace, Shared School | No Comments »

Hi Everyone!

Past Week:

We took a break from our morning Daily Starters and we read books as a class to get to know some famous African Americans that helped change history and were important figures.  The students worked on choosing an important figure for Black History Month.  We have a few students who need to finish up,  so we’ll work on hanging up their person of choice outside our classroom.  This past Monday afternoon I had a Harriet Tubman puzzle to put in order for each kid to do and also a timeline of Rosa Parks.

This past Tuesday was the school’s Spelling Bee!  The Lower El one was quite the nail biter at the end, but it was fun to witness!  It went for an hour and half and our class did a great job sitting.

Wednesday was our afternoon assembly from WSU’s Story Tellers.  Two storytellers came and told verbal stories to all of lower el.  Before we went to the assembly, our 3rd graders got to experience the dinosaur box I checked out for them from Weber State.  It cast models from real fossils that gave our kids some great fun visuals to see and feel regarding the dinosaur periods and dinosaurs we have been discussing.  The kids loved the box!

Friday in the afternoon we went back to review some scientific method skills and I had them do an activity called, The Cat’s in the Bag.  I had 8 bags and split the students up into small groups.  They had to guess the mystery items in their group’s bag and write detailed notes using as many senses as they could use.  The kids loved this activity and we will revisit it in a different way in the next few weeks.

 

Upcoming Week:

This upcoming week is our field trip to Union Station on Tuesday.  We will have recess at 11am and eat lunch at school at 11:30am.  After lunch we will restore the room and get ready to find rides at 12:30pm.  If you are taking your student or a carpool, please please arrive at the school no later than 12:30pm.  Ms. Misha doesn’t work on Tuesday afternoons, so I will need everyone to pick up their child/carpool at North Shore.  This way I don’t have to hang back with anyone and we can all arrive to Union Station at the same time.  Once you arrive to Union Station, please keep the children in the car until I arrive.  Pick up at Union Station will begin at 2:30pm.  If you have your own child, you don’t have to return back to MMA.  If a student is getting a carpool from you and needs to return to MMA, then they will head back and I will dismiss them from class at regular dismissal time.

We will continue to work on cultural acceptance lessons and skills.  This week we will talk about what does it mean to be a world citizen.

A Message from MAPA:

**Classroom Gala Basket Donations**

Parents, MAPA is in need of assistance for the classroom Gala baskets. We would ask that instead of donating items this year you donate money to MAPA and some of the volunteers will purchase everything for the baskets. We feel that this may alleviate any stress that providing items for the baskets may cause. We would ask you to be as generous as you can with your donation. We also ask that funds be donated by Thursday March 7th.
Thanks!!!
MAPA
March at a Glance:
March will be a busy time.  Next week is Literacy Week for MMA.  I will be doing Dr. Seuss activities each day along with their regular work cycle.  Next Thursday is also Literacy night at MMA.  More to come on Literacy Night soon for our blog.
Next Friday will be an early release on the 15th and that coming Monday the 18th will be no school for students.
March 21st-25th- I will be out of town.  I will be attending the AMS Montessori Conference in Washington DC.  We will have 2 subs that will come in.  Ms. Alicia and Ms. Amber both have Montessori experience.  Ms. Alicia will cover Thursday and Monday and Ms. Amber will do Friday.
March 27th- I will be at school in the morning and then will need to leave by 10:45am in the morning.  I will get the morning Math lessons in before I need to leave for an appointment.  Ms. Misha will cover the rest of the day.
Field Trips- We have the Planetarium planned for May 3rd, but we in the works of trying to plan 2 more field trips before the end of the year.  For Earth Day the lower el teachers are trying to see if we can go to Walker Theater to see the annual Earth Day movie.  I’ve been talking with Ms. Leigh, our Junior High class partner to see fi we can do anything together and she mentioned a farm trip to an organic dairy farm over by the Pepsi plant.  The kids would get to know farm life work and get to help out with some tasks.  I’ll keep you posted as those two field trips will both need field trip forms to sign.
Have a great rest of your weekend and upcoming week!
Ms. Kaley and Ms. Misha

Week 25 Recap

Posted in Classroom, Field Trips, Grammar, Home Projects, Peace, Shared School, Word Study | No Comments »

Hello Everyone!

Track It Forward ride sign up reminder:  Please remember to let me know what your child’s ride will be through track it forward.  Our field trip is next Tuesday on March 5th.  It will be an afternoon field trip.  Pick up is at MMA at the North Shore parking lot at 12:30pm.  Students will eat lunch prior to going.  We will meet at Union Station Museum on 25th street around 12:50ish. Our tours and lessons begin at 1pm and go until 2:30pm.  Pick up will be at the Museum at 2:30pm.

Spelling Bee Tuesday!  This Tuesday the 26th will be Spelling Bee day!  We have our top spellers ready to do their best for Tuesday’s Bee day.  Our spellers will be: Franky, Alex, and Jax.  Joseph is our alternate in case someone is absent or backs out.  The Lower El Bee will be from 9am-10am.  Parents are welcome to come and watch.  Parents with those students in our bee are highly encouraged to be there to support their student.

Wednesday– Class Pictures rescheduled day!  With the snow last week, we didn’t have everyone.  Again, we will try this Wednesday!  Our class and other the other lower el classrooms will attend a Storytelling festival assembly in the afternoon at 1:30pm.  Any cultural lesson we don’t get to will be made up Thursday.  WSU is also bringing us science boxes.  Our 3rd graders will work with the dinosaur box this Wednesday

Black History Month in Class Project:  This coming week is History Week for our school.  The Junior High is preparing their projects for March 5th’s presentation day, but for our lower elementary each classroom is running activities, lessons, and readings on a topic of their choice.  Our classroom will be honoring February’s Black History Month.  We have been reading Scholastics and we also did a learning on George Washington Carver (the inventor of peanut butter) this past week.  This coming week the students will get to choose an African American to learn more about.  We will hang up our classroom’s research and displays outside our classroom.

As we get into March we will honor Women’s Month.  This theme’s new bucket is Interdependence (Feb 25th-April 12th).  We will focus on cultural acceptance, peace lessons and how things we know and use have progressed over time (clothes, food, inventions etc.).  We will also move from the USA states to begin a South America study.  The last theme, Liberty and Justice for All will be a North America study.

We are reaching a stage in our curriculum where reviews will begin to take place on lessons already learned.  New language lessons pertaining to our word study and grammar towers are tapering off for some levels.  As we get into March I am going to hold lessons on poetry, figurative language, storytelling, and combine what they have learned in word study and grammar into these lessons.  Next week we will get into new writing lessons on opinions as well that will take us to the end of the year.

Have a great upcoming week and rest of your weekend!

Ms. Kaley and Ms. Misha

Week 23 Recap

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Hi Everyone!

Upcoming Week

Parent Teacher Conferences!– PTC is this coming week!  They begin on Wednesday the 13th and go until Friday the 15th.  My times start at 1:30pm.  On Wednesday at 1:45pm is my daughter’s PTC.  Since Wednesday turned out to be our busiest day, I will be there for that first conference halfway through.  These conferences are student led!  Our students have been working on samples to show in their portfolios.  We will not be handing out a progress report like before.  Since it is February, Utah’s state standards are goals for students to accomplish by the end the year.  If your student hasn’t mastered the standard yet, then they have until the end of the year.  Children learn at different paces and different ways, so please keep that into consideration.  Our portfolios have some really nice examples in them, so it should be fun for them to share!  I also will have DIBELS reading testing for the middle of the year also to give out.

Please sign up on Track It Forward at www.trackitforforward.com.  Sign in, click on event signs up (a green button) and find either Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday to sign up under the Ms. Kaley’s PTC!

Field Trip!– We have an afternoon field trip coming up on March 5th.  I have the information sheet to hand out to you.  If your child needs a ride or you can do a carpool then you can state that on our sign up sheet we will have out.  I will then send that information over to Katie, our room mom.  We will be going to Union Station on Tuesday March 5th.  We will need parent transporting for this field trip.  Pick up will need to be at 12:30pm.  We will arrive to the museum at 12:50pm.  Our tour and workshops are from 1:00pm-2:30pm.  Pick up will be at 2:30pm and then any kids needing to be transported back to MMA will then go home at regular dismissal. Our students will be learning about Utah History and American history as part of our USA studies for the year.

Valentine’s Day! -This Thursday is Valentine’s Day!  We are planning to have a Valentine’s Day activities morning in class since it is an early out day.  Students will be able to do a few crafts, some writing activities, decorate a Valentine’s Day “mailbox” for cards” and be able to distribute Valentine’s Day cards they bring in.  If your student has a piece of candy as part of their Valentine passing out then all cards and treats will go and stay in their bag.  Once they are done school and have permission to have some then they may.  To make distributing quick and easy, I recommend your student just writing their name on the “from” section instead of wondering about names in the “to” section.

Wednesday– Spelling Bee testing day!  I will be testing our students to see who will represent our classroom in the Lower Elementary Spelling Bee on February 26th!  If your student is not wanting to participate in trying for the Bee, please have them do something creative with the list of words and have that in on February 26th.  This past week we had a fun Pokemon story written that was submitted because that student didn’t want to do the Bee.

Friday– It’s STORE DAY!  This is some of our student’s favorite thing that we do!  We will be doing it twice this year and this our first round.  Our students have been earning classroom money and some students have created little businesses to earn money from others.  Our students have learned about the responsibility of having a wallet and not to leave it around.  They have also learned about money exchanging and how that works.  For Store Day, students may bring items to price and sell.  These items they choose might be baked goods, snacks, crafts, books/games/toys no longer wanted (but good enough for someone else to have), a service (I’ve had some girls wanting to do nails). Talk to your student about fair pricing.  If your student has a big ticketed item and wants to do an auction, please help them prepare for that.  Store Day lasts most to all of our morning.  At the end of the year we do Store Day again with earning and this time owing.  The stores also get larger as we team up with multiple upper elementary classrooms.  Have your child bring on Friday: a blanket or towel to set up their “store,” small shopping bag to carry items, and if your child is selling some kind of food item please have it packaged up for easier buying and storing.

Tuesday– On Tuesday we will have our monthly Botany lesson with Ms. Rachael.  This will be from 9:35am-10:25am.  3rd graders will still go to computers and will join us in the Library after computer class is over.

Past Week:

This past week we got everyone back into their Large Maths.  The 3rd graders exceeded the expectations on missing multipliers/multiplicands/products, so we will advance them with more division practice next time.  1s graders got back into their stamp games and 2nd graders reviewed addition with triple addends to add up.  We did some Zoology lessons as well as Geography/3rd grade science.  2nd graders caught up on their History from last week.

Level 1s: Birds and external parts of a bird, The Compass rose and directions in the town game

Level 2s: Fundamental Needs of Humans continued, Metamorphic Rocks

Level 3s: The Earth/Sun/Moon relationship

 

It’s a Boy!  We got the call on Wednesday late afternoon that I am expecting a boy 🙂  The kids found out Friday and were very excited to finally know (as was I!)

Have a great rest of your weekend and upcoming week!  See you at PTC this week!

Ms. Kaley and Ms. Misha

Week 13 Recap

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Hello!

Ogden Electric Lights Parade November 24th 5:30pm

November 24th is the annual Ogden Electric Lights Parade. Our school will be represented and the marketing committee has come up with a float that will represent MMA.

We are looking for students from MMA who would like to be part of our parade! The meeting place will be in front of the Ogden Temple. The parade starts promptly at 5:30pm. The floats will be lined up at 5pm. If you are riding or walking then please meet in front of the temple at 5pm.

Students 12 years and younger must ride in the trailer or truck. If your student is over the age of 12, then they may walk next to the float. Students who ride or walk will be carrying white peace signs or holding tea lights. All students will need to sign up to participate. Waivers will need to be signed at our meeting place, the Ogden temple. (The sign up is currently full, however, we are filling up a trailer and the back of a truck.  Come anyway and we’ll see what we can do!)

The parade starts on 22nd and Washington and then ends at 27th. The marketing committee advises our MMA parents whose child(ren) are in the parade park towards the end of the parade so when we are done you can find your child.

We have some, but if your child would like to wear glow necklaces and bracelets during the parade we highly suggest the more the better! (It is a light parade!) the glow wear is also our symbol to honor Troy and Molly Cox.  You can find glow in the dark necklaces and bracelets at the dollar store, Walmart, Smiths etc.

 

Thank you to all that came to the Cultural Festival!  The different project choices that related to the United States were really interesting to see and learn about!

The STEM fair projects will be in January.  The projects will be due on January 18th.  We will begin talking about project choices and displays when we get back to school.

November 30th half day Field Trip!

On November 30th, students will have a morning field trip to the Hill Airforce Museum!  Students brought home an information sheet about it this past week.  We will do a simple machines workshop and participate in a scavenger hunt.  Meeting is at 9am at the museum.  You can meet us there or catch a ride, if need be, at the school/North Shore.  Pick up will be at 11:15am and then students will have lunch and recess when they get back to school.  Please dress your child accordingly for the weather!  Please email me if you would like to be a chaperone!

The forms have already been signed, so the page that went home is just an information sheet.  Please email our room mother, Katie, if you are taking your own child/can take other students/or your child needs a ride.  Please email her and let her know by November 27th.  Thank you!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and great break!

Ms. Kaley and Ms. Misha

Week 7 Recap

Posted in Classroom, Field Trips, Home Projects, Reading, Shared School | No Comments »

Hi Everyone!  Important info below!  Please read carefully!

Upcoming Week:

Monday– Permission slips for our field trip Tuesday are DUE!  Please make sure you have emailed our room mom, Katie James, to let her know if you are:

  1. Taking your own child to and from the field trip on our wejoinin sign up sheet (that way I can see who is going with who)
  2. If you have extra seats and are willing to do a carpool (please also do that on our wejoinin)
  3. Email Ms. Kaley to let her know if you are chaperoning (if you haven’t already)

Tuesday– Please drop your child at regular time.  We will have a small work cycle in the AM and 3rd graders will do their computer class.  If you are driving, please be at MMA no later than 9:45am.

  1. Please make sure your child has a collared shirt on.  Jeans are allowed! (no holes).  Comfy shoes on
  2. Is dressed for the weather outside.  It is in the 50s this week, so hoodies, jackets etc. are welcome!
  3. A sack lunch.  We will be eating there at the farm
  4. Backpack to hold everything
  5. Water bottle

If you are chaperoning I have groups that our class is split into.  When we get to the farm I will put the students into their groups.  I am hoping to use colored stickers for the groups too.  Chaperones are responsible for watching those children in our classroom to make sure they stay in their assigned group.  We will congregate at 1:40pm to have students catch their rides.

Taking your child home after the field trip (if you are): PLEASE PLEASE call the office in the AM to let them know if you are checking out your child right after the field trip.  If you are returning to MMA after our field trip, you may also come in and sign your child out.  Have your ID ready 🙂

Pumpkins on the field trip are for purchase. If you would like your child to purchase a pumpkin you may provide them with $1 or $2.  I’ve been told that for every 5 pounds it costs $1 more.  1st and 2nd grade students who purchase a pumpkin will keep it in class for the week.  I have a fun scientific method activity they will be doing on Friday.  Students can also weigh, measure, and make stories this week on/about their pumpkin 🙂  3rd graders will be doing a candy corn STEM scientific method activity this Friday 🙂  3rd graders are totally welcome to still purchase a pumpkin and join in on measuring, weighing, and writing about their pumpkin this week too.

Wednesday– Since Tuesday we are on our field trip, we will be missing our normal PE/Music time.  Ms. Jalee and I have switched our days so that our classes can still have PE and Music.  Wednesday our class will make up their PE class from 10:50am-11:20am.  Lunch is after PE and then Music is from 12:20pm-1:10pm.  Cultural lessons afterwards and then we will restore early to provide an end of the day recess for our class.  Please let your child know that this Wednesday will be a little different.

Friday– Fall Festival after school starting at 4pm!  Come join in on the fun!  Purchase your wristbands and tickets to play the games and have your child enjoy the bounce houses and slides!  Food trucks on site for dinner 🙂   CHANGE PROJECT DUE TODAY!  Thank you to those students who brought in their projects early!  We will start sharing them and then display them outside our classroom.

 

PTC Sign Ups are Ready!

Parent Teacher Conferences are upon us!  Beginning October 15th we will have early outs.  Conferences run in 20 minute increments and begin at 1:30pm.  PTC days are on Oct. 15th, Oct. 16th, and Oct. 17th.  No School on October 18th and 19th.  Please sign up on Track it Forward!  

Monday- https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/439125

Tuesday- https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/439126

Wednesday- https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/439127

 

Original Art!

A yellow folder went home on Friday that I’m pretty excited about!  Every year, we do a special fundraiser that goes directly to JUST OUR CLASSROOM.  This year, we made a special piece of art for our classroom community- The Red Maples.  Students who are done, brought home that piece of art in the yellow folder.  Student who have been absent or are almost done, will bring their leaf art home very soon.  Your child’s classroom art can be turned into anything on that purchase sheet.  This is also a great time to think about Christmas gifts for family members 🙂  Please please review the papers carefully.  The purchasing is not online this year 🙁  It will be on the purchase form also provided in the yellow folder.  Money raised for our classroom will either go towards:

  1. a field trip for just our class
  2. materials/works for our classroom

 

Past Week:

This past week our students worked on a writing prompt about which Great Lesson was their favorite and what they liked best about it.  This coming week our students will write a formal assessment also related to the Great Lessons since our time with the theme of CHANGE has now come to an end!  We will now welcome the theme of INDEPENDENCE and students will work on learning about states in the eastern region of the USA, the 13 colonies, and intro to The American Revolution.  We will also look at Eli Whitney as an inventor and continue our study on the scientific method.

Students in our class wrapped up learning about the states in the northeastern region will now see how some of those states will be applied to the 13 colonies.

We made up some cultural lessons in Geography and Botany this week and learned about the Water Cycle as a whole class in science this week.  We also made our first Library trip too this past Friday.

Geography

Level 1s: Zones of the Earth

Level 2s: Zones of the Earth

Level 3s: Heat energy

Botany

Level 1s: Parts of a plant

Level 2s: Parts of a leaf

Level 3s: Seed germination

Reading Volunteers!

If you have signed up to be a reading volunteer for our classroom I am ready for you to come in!  Please email me if you can come in 1 day each week to help our students with reading goals.  I have sight words, group books, games, and materials for you to help our students with.  Please email me your best day and time you can come in and help out.  Helpers will work with students out in our kiva space or at the student’s work space.  As I gather the list of volunteers and their day they can come in I can then begin our reading volunteers after Fall Break 🙂 Thanks!

Picture Day!

Picture day will be Oct. 22nd.  Forms will be coming soon!

Week 6 Recap

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Hi Everyone!

It came to my attention that the list of projects didn’t post under the projects tab.  Sorry about that!  I had put it on, but it didn’t get saved in order to be updated.  Those project outlines are now up under the Projects tab 🙂

This past week we tried the COW laptops and had all students login and have the program know where they are reading at.  Ms. Misha and I will be making sign in cards and once we get those out then we will have students bring home a copy so they can use the program at home too.  The school is wanting all our students to do 45 minutes per week.  They will at least be getting 20 minutes while at school.  This week only a handful of the laptops will be out so that cultural lessons and Imagine Learning can go on at the same time.

With the early out, the COW, and our salsa making lesson this past Friday, our cultural lessons from last week will be made up this week.

Ms. Leigh’s ErdKinder class visited our room this past Friday and she and I had the children identify different kinds of fruits and veggies and learn how to classify which is which.  After the lesson was over then students helped prepare the ingredients and students got to taste 2 different kinds of fresh salsa.

A social skills lesson our students worked on this week is learning different voice levels and when it is appropriate to use such volumes.  This will be a great segway to our CHAMPS class management system that will help our students be able to know when it is appropriate to use which voice level.

Fall Festival!  Annually MMA hosts a Fall Festival!  This is a time when our students are allowed to show off their Halloween costumes and get to have some fun doing games and events.  In order to help run our Fall Festival the best it can be we do need parent volunteers!  If you log into your Track it Forward, there should be 3 sign ups to choose from.

A message from MAPA:

Purchase your tickets online at:
https://squareup.com/store/mapa-9

Any tickets/wristbands purchased online will be available for pickup at the “ticket drive-thru” or at the will call booth the night of the festival. Pre-sale prices are good now thru October 11th.

Ticket Drive Thru dates will be: October 8, 9, 10, & 11 in the north east corner of the North Shore parking lot from 2:45-3:30 pm or October 8 & 10 from 8-8:30 am

 

October Field Trip!  Our next field trip is approaching!  Our class, Ms. Jill’s, and Ms. Mikaela’s class will going to Gibson’s Green Acres Farm on October 9th.  This is a Tuesday.  We will need parent drivers and also chaperones.  There isn’t a number as to how many chaperones we can have, so if you would like to stay at our field trip, please email me as soon as you can so I can put together groups.  Out of 3 classes, the farm is asking us to split them up into groups of 5.  This will allow each group to rotate through their stations.  Even though some of Ms. Jill’s and Ms. Mikaela’s students will be with some of our students our parent chaperones will only be responsible for those students in our classroom. Permission slips go out tomorrow (Monday), but if you would like to have a digital copy on hand, here is the permission slip.

Please begin to contact our room mother, Katie, of you are able to make a carpool for other students or you are taking your own child.  Please email her this information by Friday October 5th.  Thanks!

Kaley

Kaley Cover Letter

 

Parent Teacher Conferences are also on the week of October.  Our first round of conferences will be going over our observations and progress we know so far.  The MMA progress report will be given out and we will begin to make and review goals.  Students are welcome to attend if they would like, but are not required.  We are looking forward to building portfolios for our February PTC.  I will have sign ups for October’s PTC soon 🙂

Have a great upcoming week!

Ms. Kaley and Ms. Misha