Corderman's Kiddos!

Week of January 30th

2012-01-27T15:56:00.000-06:00

Hi Families!! Here is the new week's agenda:

Reading - The children should finish their second mystery book by the end of this week. The skill we will focus on is the main idea.

Math - Long Division

Spelling - List 16 (plurals) Enriched list - x, y, z words

English - Online stories

Social Studies - The children will teach their classmates about their SE Region topic. We will create a study guide during these presentations. Their test over this information will be on Friday.

Science - We will finish up our space unit this week and create a space book of all the planets. We will be making space habitats in the near future, so stay tuned for this exciting event!!

The children's Solar System Projects were Out of this World!!!! I am so proud of them!!

****Remember that the 100th Day of school is Wednesday, February 1st! If you signed up to donate an item for our 100 Snack, Thank you!! I sent home a note about what to send with your child this past week. Don't forget that the 100 Day Project is due that day too! We will have 6 winners from our room on the most creative displays! I have several turned in already that are awesome!! Can't wait to see the rest! The children can dress like 100 year olds too. Pretty funny!! Ha!

Week of January 23rd

2012-01-20T15:34:00.000-06:00

Hi Families! Here's what's ahead for next week:

Reading - All the children should be finished with their mysteries and case files by Friday. Most are done with that and reading their second mystery! Good job kids!! Our skill for the week is cause and effect.

Math - Long Division

English - Story Writing

Spelling - Spellings for /er/ List 15 on spellingcity.com The enriched list are the "W" words.

Science - Space

Social Studies - SE Region partner project The children will present their projects and facts to the class on Thursday. They've been doing a fantastic job!

***Don't forget to turn in your Solar System Projects on Monday if you haven't done so!!***
Can't wait to see them all! The ones that have been turned in are FABULOUS!!

***Don't forget to READ, READ, READ!!!!*** Let's try to pull ahead in our Super Bowl Challenge!!

Week of January 17th

2012-01-13T12:21:00.001-06:00

Hello! Here is next week's agenda:

Reading - We will continue reading our leveled mysteries. The skill focus for this week will be making inferences.

Math - Long Division

Spelling - List 14, Suffixes - er, est Enriched list - "V" words

English - Story Writing

Science - Space

Social Studies - The Southeast Region partner projects

The children are doing awesome with reading at home!! I'm so proud of them! They have turned in lots of slips this week and also taken lots of AR tests! On Monday, we will find out which class is in the lead! I will let you know!

The children seem to be very excited about their Solar System Projects too! I'm glad! Many have shared their neat ideas. Several have even started their project! Good job! I can't wait to see them all! Remember the due date is Monday, January 23.

Quote: You are unrepeatable. There is a magic about you that is all your own. D.M. Dellinger

Week of January 9th, 2012

2012-01-06T15:33:00.000-06:00

Hi Families! Hope you had a joyous Christmas! January will be a busy month for Corderman's Kiddos! Here is what is on the agenda:

Reading - We started the Mystery genre this past Wednesday. I assigned each of them a mystery on 4th grade level or on their individual level. We talked about vocabulary words such as alibi, suspect, evidence, etc.. The children will be writing about clues, suspects, and possible red herrings while reading their stories. They have really been excited about this genre! We will also focus on the skill: making predictions.

Math - This week we will finish up multiplying large numbers, 3 digit x's 3 digit and start division. We will begin by focusing on division facts and then next week move on to long division.

Spelling - Suffixes, List 13 on spellingcity.com. I will start enrichment words again next week.

English - We will begin writing stories. These stories will actually be published!! More information will follow.

Social Studies - We will begin to study the history of the Southeast Region. The children will be assigned a partner. With their partner, they will research a person, place, or event from the Southeast and complete a project over that topic. They will then teach the rest of the class about thier topic.

Science - We will begin studying about Space!

*********FYI**********
We have started the Super Bowl Reading Challenge! We are competing against the other 3 4th grade classes as well as a 5th grade class. We hope to win! Winning requires READING AT HOME and taking AR tests with an A or a B grade. Hopefully, you received the information about this challenge on Wednesday. On February 7th, we will have a Super Bowl Party to celebrate all the reading! We talked about being a TEAM player and participating. (Together Everyone Achieves More) I explained to them that if they are to participate in the party, they have to participate in the reading. :) The winning class will get the coveted Reading Trophy to display in their room!

I sent home 2 Homework Assignments on Friday. One assignment is to create a Solar System Model. In the past, my families have really enjoyed this project and have come up with some awesome models! This project is due on January 23rd. The other assignment is related to our 100 Days of School celebration. The children are to collect 100 of one item and display it in a unique way. All the 4th grade classes are participating and we will be voting on each other's displays. 6 small trophies will be awarded in my class for the top amount of votes! This project is due on February 1st. Have fun and don't procrastinate! :)

Week of 12/19

2011-12-18T16:08:00.001-06:00

Wow!! Christmas is a week away! I'm such a planner, but I'm behind on my Christmas shopping this year! Ugh! Thursday will be my day to finish I guess, along with my child's dr. appt. and my dog's grooming appt.! I know you are just as busy! Tis' the season!! This week we will mostly concentrate on Reading, Math, and Christmas Fun!!  Activities to remember:

Art Lesson from our Art Teacher - Tuesday at 1:00
Christmas Party - Tuesday at 2:15
Polar Pajama Day - Wednesday (Learning Stations 10:00 - 12:00)

Spelling Bee and Geography Bee winners!!!!! - Spelling Bee - Colby Vanhooser 1st place, Alexis Goben 2nd Place   Geography Bee - Kylie Little and David Sandoval (Tied for 1st place after 2 playoffs!)    Great job kids!!

Week of 12/19

2011-12-09T13:55:00.000-06:00

Hi Families! Hope you are enjoying the busy, but wonderful Christmas season! The children have been busy little beavers this week! They have been multiplying large numbers, turning their owl research into nicely written reports in paragraph form, (This is challenging because there is so much to remember.....complete sentences with capitalization and punctuation, indention, paragraph form, holes on the left side of the paper, not going past the margins, having enough content!!!) dissecting owl pellets, a challenging, but beautiful art project, leveled book assignments, etc.... Wow! So proud of them though....they are doing awesome!! Here is next week's agenda:

Reading - Leveled books with assignment

Spelling - Christmas words

English - Pen pal letters

Science - Ben Franklin and Thomas Edison

Math - 2 digit X's 2 digit multiplication

We will also be doing benchmark testing in reading and math on Tuesday and Wednesday.

One other important note: We had class spelling and geography bees this week. Monday will be the playoff class bees. The winners of the geography bee are: Kylie, Rebekah, David, Gabi, Makayla, and Colby. The winners of the spelling bee are Haylie, Cyson, Colby, Rebekah, and Alexis. Monday's playoff will determine our class winners that move on to the school bees. I sent home study guides on Wednesday.

Week of 12/5

2011-12-04T14:08:00.000-06:00

Hi Families!! Hope you've had a great weekend! Here is the agenda for the week:

Reading - We will be reading a nonfiction article on owls, as well as an owl legend and answering some comprehension questions. The children will create an owl book with important facts about owls. They will need to know these facts for their test on Thursday. They will also be continuing their leveled books this week. Some are already done and ready to start on the related work. Wow! These kids are such readers!! We have the 2nd highest amount of AR points in the school! I'm so proud of them for all that reading!! The more you read, the better reader you become!

English - Last week, the children researched a type of owl. This week they will take their notes and turn them into a report.

Spelling - List 12 on spellingcity.com Compound words

Math - Last week we began double digit multiplication. This week we will continue to work on this. Boy, did the children learn quickly how hard it is, when you don't know your facts! Ouch! We were consistently taking speed tests until a few weeks ago when we started computers and had less time. Many children completely quit studying as a result of that. They really need to work on times daily, even just for 10 minutes. Even some of the children that passed their speed tests through 12's had forgotten a lot. I told the children we would make time for speed test for the next 2 weeks. I have some that are so close to passing them all and want that opportunity. We did take 2 speed tests last week. They knew what days they were having them too, but I don't think many took the opportunity to study though. I did have a few pass and move on. As it stands, I have about half the class that have passed all the facts, 4 or 5 that are on 7's or 8's and the rest are on 9's or above.....pretty darn good, if they will keep reviewing so they will retain them. :)

Science - We will be dissecting our owl pellets this week! Gross, but fun!!

Social Studies - We are done with the Northeast. We will take a hiatus from social studies until January when we start the Southeast region.

I sent home a note Friday about materials needed for gingerbread houses. These materials are: 6 graham crackers, 1 tub of frosting, and 1 package of candy. ( We talked about what might make good candy for gingerbread houses, so seek your child's input.) These items are due on December 14th. Thanks so much!!

Week of November 28th

2011-11-22T15:52:00.001-06:00

Hey Families! Hope you are enjoying your Thanksgiving holiday! Here is next week's agenda:

Reading - We will finish up our Owls in the Family book this week. The children will begin a new leveled book as well. We will work on comprehension, setting, predicting, visualizing, inferring, and character analysis.

Spelling - Owls in the Family vocabulary words (under Owls on spellingcity.com) December is a very busy month, so we will take a temporary break from spelling enrichment until after Christmas.

English - Adjectives, Adverbs, and Pronouns

Math - Line graphs, circle graphs, and Venn diagrams

Social Studies - NE Region Posters We will take a test over the locations of the Northeast states on Thursday and a test over the Northeast states/capitals on Friday. I sent home a study guide 2 weeks ago so the children could be looking over them, but if they need a new one, I will be glad to copy some more. They need to let me know.

Science - Owls I ordered the owl pellets! Thanks to all who contributed to this worthwhile project!! Hopefully, they will come in soon!!

Week of November 21st

2011-11-18T15:18:00.000-06:00

Short Week! These 2 days will be filled with activities ranging from Owls to Thanksgiving to Graphing!! Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!!!

Week of November 14th

2011-11-11T15:30:00.000-06:00

Hey Families!! Here is a look at next week:

Reading - We will begin the book Owls in the Family. We will work on both literal and inferential comprehension questions as well as new vocabulary with this story. The children also have a leveled book by Roald Dahl assigned by me to complete. They will be graded on their AR test and a conflict/resolution flip chart pertaining to their book.

Spelling - List 11 - contractions The enriched list are the "U" words.

English - Adverbs

Math - Pictographs, Bar Graphs, and Double Bar Graphs

Social Studies - More on the American Revolution, Boston Tea Party, Ellis Island We will take notes on the American Revolution on Monday and have a test on Thursday over it.

Science - Owls

The turkeys are awesome!! I will be hanging them up soon! Such creativity was used !! Their turkey speeches are funny too!

Please remember to send in $2 for owl pellets by Wednesday. Thanks to those who have already done so!

Don't forget to be looking for and pressing leaves this weekend.

Most of the children did super on their human body test! So very proud of them!!

Don't forget to fill out the address booklet for our easy fundraiser and send it in Monday. The children will get a prize for participating and our school earns $2.75 per booklet returned. Thanks for your help!

Thanks for all you do to help make this school year successful! I absolutely LOVE your children! They are gifts!

Week of November 7th

2011-11-06T16:07:00.000-06:00

It's been a windy, but beautiful weekend!! Hope you've enjoyed yours!

Agenda:

Reading - We will finish up the BFG this week! It's been a very enjoyable story! The children have finished their leveled books and will complete their story maps this week. The maps are due on Wednesday. I will then give them a new leveled book by Roald Dahl. (The same author of BFG!)

Spelling - List 10....."schwa" words The enriched list are the "T" words.

English - Adjective Comparatives, Adverbs

Math - Telling time, elapsed time, calendar elapsed time

Social Studies - 13 Colonies and William Bradford, Woodland Indians, George Washington Last week, I sent home a paper that included the states and capitals of the Northeast Region. I told the children that they need to keep this paper in a safe place, like on the frig., and to be getting familiar with these states and capitals. Our tests over these won't be for a couple weeks, but it's always good to be looking over them ahead of time. :)

Science - Human Body We will take notes and create a study guide on Wednesday for a test over the human body on Friday. Be on the lookout for the study guide!

***Don't forget to bring in your disguised turkey homework project. It is due this Friday. ***

***I'm noticing the changing leaves. They are beautiful! Every year, we do a really cool art project with pressed leaves! I want the children to be looking for leaves in a variety of shapes, colors and sizes. Then they should press them. These pressed leaves will be due next Friday, November 18th. I will send home a more specific "how to" this week. ***

Week of 10-31

2011-10-30T14:56:00.001-05:00

Yikes! Halloween is upon us! Craziest.Day.Of.The.Year!!!! The parade will be in the morning, so send your children in their outfits with a change of clothes. The party will be immediately following the parade. Should be a fun day for the kiddos!

Academic Agenda:

Reading - BFG - class story with related work (I think they are really enjoying this funny story!)
The children are also reading an independent book on their level and creating a story map with it. We did a mini lesson on making a story map last week. A story map involves these elements: Title/Author, Characters and Character Traits, Setting, Conflict and Resolution, and Theme.

Spelling - List 9 on spellingcity.com (Time and Calendar words) The enriched list will be the "S" words.

English - Adjectives, Pen Pal letters

Math - The children will complete a study guide on Tuesday covering all the math we've learned so far. We will immediately go over the study guide when they are done, but I want them to take it home and go over it with you. This way you can make sure they understand everything before their test on Wednesday. We will also begin telling time and figuring elapsed time.

Social Studies - We will begin a study of the Northeast Region of the United States. This week we will go over the states located in the Northeast as well as the geography of that region.

Science - Human Body

Thank you all for sending a pumpkin or more on Friday. The children created pumpkins with personality! They were so cute!! It was fun to see their creations!

Quote - Mistakes are proof that you're trying.

AR- So proud of the children! They are rockin' on AR! They have become such little readers!!

Your child should bring home a homework assignment on Monday involving creating a turkey disguise! Please look for it. :)

Week of October 24th

2011-10-23T15:13:00.003-05:00

Hi Families! I hope you've had a fantastic Fall Break! We sure did! This week is Red Ribbon Week. Your child should have brought home a note on Wednesday that indicated what the theme was for each day. I don't have a copy of that paper, but I do know that everyone is supposed to wear red tomorrow. :) Here is what's on the agenda for this week:

Reading - We will begin a class book called The BFG by Roald Dahl. It is a wonderfully fun story the children will love! We will be studying story elements while reading this book as well as doing some predicting and comprehension questions too. I will also assign the children a leveled book to read independently. When they are done with their leveled book, they will take an AR test and they will have a few assignments to complete that is related to their story.

Spelling - List 8 Double Letters      The enriched list are the "q" words.

English - Verb recognition, Adjectives

Math - More practice with addition properties and equations       New concepts - input/output, and balancing equations

Social Studies - Oklahoma Road Maps, Oklahoma symbols quiz (They will be able to use the book they created with the quiz. )

Science - Human Body

Quote- The word LISTEN contains the same letters as the word SILENT. Alfred Brender

***Please have your child bring in one or two mini pumpkins (about the size of an apple or orange) no later than Friday.   Thank you so very much!!*****

Week of October 17th

2011-10-16T16:52:00.000-05:00

This week will be a busy, but short week! Here is a look ahead:

Reading - The children should be completing their leveled novels this week and taking an AR test on it by Wednesday. We will review context clues. We will also discuss predicting and visualizing.

English - Being verbs

Math - Addition properties, equations, multiplication facts

Spelling - No spelling this week. :) We didn't take an enriched spelling test last week due to a copier breakdown. If it is still not fixed by Monday afternoon, the children who want to take the enriched test(who don't have computer access at home)may copy the list from spellingcity from our class computer. We will take the test on Wednesday.

Science - The Human Body unit begins.....beginning with the brain and the heart!

Social Studies - Reading an Oklahoma road map and how our Government works

That's about all! The children did great in the jog-a-thon! If you are donating or have other donations for this school fundraiser, please send in the envelope with money on Monday.

We won the Wings to Go party!! Yeah! Thanks to all who ate at Wings to Go on Glenwood's day to help us win!! We will have the party on Wednesday at 11:30, so your child may bring a special drink that day!

Week of October 10th

2011-10-09T16:00:00.001-05:00

Are you loving this rain??? It's been a great rainy day weekend! We needed it so badly! Hope you've enjoyed it! Here is a look at the week ahead:

Reading - The children are working on finishing up their leveled novels independently now. They have to be completed and an AR test taken by Fall Break. I have about 4 early finishers already! Wow! I will give them about 20 - 30 minutes daily to read this book silently. They may take the book home as well, if needed. We will also be working on the reading skill, context clues.

Spelling - Sounds of "u" List 7 on spellingcity.com The enriched list are the "P" words.

English - Verbs and helping verbs

Math - Mixed adding and subtracting, estimating sums and differences, word problems, and subtracting across zeros We are still not showing consistent accuracy when doing these concepts, so we are spending one more week on them. They will get there! Practice, practice, practice! Don't forget to study those multiplication facts with your child! Most of them are doing much better now!! Yay! Perseverance!!

Science - We will finish up our geology unit this week. We will talk about the earth's crust, earthquakes, and volcanoes. We will also review some notes on Monday. The children need to take these notes home then to study for their Thursday's test.

Social Studies - We will be discussing the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl days as well as working on our Oklahoma Symbols Book. The children will have a test on Friday over Oklahoma history. We will be making a study guide on Tuesday to take home. I suggest the children study a little each day on both the science study guide and the Oklahoma history study guide so that it's not too overwhelming. I know evenings can be super busy, but even 10-15 minute reviews for each subject would be beneficial.

That's it for this week! Don't forget that Student-led conferences are Monday evening! Looking forward to the other half of the class coming in! See you then!

Week of October 3rd!

2011-10-02T16:33:00.000-05:00

Wow! Can't believe that it's October already!! I love Fall! I've got my apple scent in my Scentsy and the windows open! Think I will bake some banana bread too! :) Hope you've had a great weekend! We had a terrific one!

Here is this week's agenda:

Reading - Guided reading groups, Scattergories, and 50 State Research

Spelling - Sounds of "o" List 6 on spellingcity.com The enriched list are the "L" words.

English - Plural Nouns.......We didn't get to it last week, but will for sure this week. We were busy preparing for student-led conferences which included writing a letter in "friendly-letter" format to you! That's the best kind of English......real life application English!!

Math - Subtracting large numbers, subtracting across zeros, estimating sums and differences.......They need lots of practice with these concepts believe it or not. They have really struggled with accuracy.

Social Studies - Oklahoma - Oil.....We are also making an Oklahoma Symbols flip book.

Science - Fossils, landforms, and caves

Remember to study multiplication facts with your child. We will still be taking speed multiplication tests for the next several weeks. We usually take them 2 to 4 times per week depending on our time. The kids need to study daily. Even if we don't take a test rain or shine, they either know them or they don't. It needs to stick in their brains for good, not just temporarily for the test. I have given some kids card tests, because they panic with the paper test, but actually know their facts well, so if they can recite them to me fast with the cards then I pass them on. After we are done with speed tests, I will give them mixed fact review sheets weekly to help ensure practice and "stickablility"! Ha!

Don't forget the Turkey Creek School field trip coming up this Wednesday. The children need to bring a sack lunch, unless they ordered a school one. We will leave around 8:45 and return around 2:15. Remember also that the admission price was raised to $5. Pictures are still $7. If they want to bring extra money for the gift shop, they can. Dressing pioneer style is encouraged, but not mandatory. I am looking forward to it! The children will have a great day!!

The first round of student-led conferences are this Tuesday evening. On Friday, your child should have brought home a reminder with your time and day on it. They have worked so hard so far preparing for the conferences. Tuesday we will prepare a little more. :)

On Monday, I will not be there. My little guy has an eye specialist appointment.

Quote - Remember happiness doesn't depend upon who you are or what you have; it depends solely on what you think. Dale Carnegie

With our busy Apple Day on Friday, I didn't quiz the kids on last week's quote, so I will do that this Tuesday. Last week's quote was: Be a Fruit Loop in a world full of Cheerios Anonymous

Week of September 26th

2011-09-25T14:37:00.001-05:00

Hi Families! Here is the agenda for this week:

Reading - Guided reading groups - I think the children are enjoying their novels. They are doing a great job rotating in literacy centers and staying focused and on task! So proud of them! This week in their centers they will do a reading comprehension page that is focused on our science topic: minerals, they will play a 5 W's reading game, and they will work on the computer researching the Oklahoma symbols. Each week they will add to their 50 state folders with the information they discovered about different states!

Spelling - Sounds of "i" - List 5 on spellingcity.com The enriched words for this week are the "k" words on spellingcity.com

English - We will finish our animal reports this week! Finally! :) We will also continue to do a Daily Language Review that involves various concepts such as: punctuation, capitalization, spellings of words, parts of speech, etc.. We will work on making nouns plural as well.

Math - Decimal place value, place value test, adding and subtracting big numbers We will continue taking speed tests on multiplication facts almost daily. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE spend time studying those multiplication facts DAILY! It is so very important that the kids know them with speed and accuracy. I can't stress this enough. It is essential for future math success. They have got to know them to do large number multiplication, long division, fractions, etc. Quiz them on the way to practices, play games with them, let them play on multiplication.com, have them write them with special smelly markers or in shaving cream, reward them.......anything you can do to help them get those facts stuck in their heads. Please also remember to keep it positive and encouraging. Kids can get stressed out by learning the facts....you don't want to cause anxiety by being too hard on them or negative. We play a card game almost everyday before we take the test. I have a silly duster made up with a face that is Brain Builder Bob and he christens the kids' heads right before the test! We also take calming deep breaths before starting. I know so many of you are doing such a great job at working with your kids and it will pay off! I promise! My mom and I thought I would never learn my facts, but she worked everyday with me and they FINALLY started sticking!! :) Hang in there!

Social Studies - Oklahoma Native American groups, Trail of Tears, Civil War, Cattle Drives, and the Oil industry in Oklahoma

Science - Geology - minerals, the 3 types of rocks - This week, we will "earth eat", "rock eat", and make homemade geodes! Fun!

Quote: Be a Fruit Loop in a world full of Cheerios Anonymous

***IMPORTANT REMINDERS***

The mouse house is due this Thursday. Don't forget to include a letter of persuasion to Ralph convincing him to live in the house you built for him. Some of the children have already turned their mouse houses and letters in and WOW! I am so impressed with the creativity!! I can't wait to display them!

We go to Turkey Creek School next Wednesday. Don't forget to turn in your $3 admission money this week. If the children want a picture, remember to send $7 more dollars.

I wanted to let you know that if your child has a "D" or an "F" on a paper, they may correct it at home and I will average the 2 grades for a better grade. (Only D's or F's)

If you have any rocks to temporarily donate to our class rock museum, please do so. We will make sure it gets back to you. Thanks!

Apple Day is this Friday. It will be a great day! Please remember to send 2 apples by Thursday. I will be peeling, coring, and slicing apples Thursday evening for our Friday's homemade applesauce. Yum!

Look for a note home this week about Student-Led Conferences coming up! The children's book orders should come in this week too!

Week of September 19th!

2011-09-16T15:57:00.003-05:00

Hi Families!

It's been a great week shared with your sweet kiddos! We had a lot of fun today on our field trip! The children learned a variety of things from "how to make butter" to "how to wash clothes in a washtub"! We are very excited about our Turkey Creek School field trip coming up on October 5th.. Hopefully your child got the note home about it. The admission is $3 due the last week of September. If your child wants a special class picture, the cost is $7. We will be touring the museum and there will be a gift shop available if the children want to bring some spending money. A note was also sent home this week about 2 special days coming up......O.R.E.O. Project Day and Apple Day. The O.R.E.O. Project Day is this coming Thursday, September 22nd. We will be conducting our experiment shortly after 11:00. Thanks so much to those that signed up to donate a bag of Oreos! I greatly appreciate it! Our Apple Day will be on September 30th. Thanks to those that signed up to help with it as well! I could still use a couple more volunteers for that day if you can. :)

Here is the agenda for this week:

Reading - We will start our guided reading groups this week. I will be meeting with 4 groups separately. Each group will begin a new novel. I also sent home a homework assignment on Wednesday that is due on September 29th. It involves building a house for Ralph.....the character out of The Mouse and the Motorcycle. Ask your child for the note about it if you haven't seen it. :)

Spelling - Sounds of "e" List 4 on spellingcity.com The enriched list are the "h" enrichment words.

English - We will finish our animal reports this week.

Math - Rounding, money and decimals, making change, probelm solving

Social Studies - We will begin learning about the earliest people of Oklahoma, the Trail of Tears, the Indian Removal Act, and cattle drives. We will also paint our dough maps! The children did a great job on them!

Science - We will finish up our habitat posters. The children are so imaginative and the posters all look so exceptional! Such a creative group I have!! We will also begin our geology unit this week. We will be creating a rock museum soon, so if you have any rocks to temporarily share with us, that would be terrific!

Art - We will have a guest this week giving us a special art lesson! It should be fun!

Quote: Your friend is the one who knows all about you, and still likes you. Anonymous

We reached our class goal of a $275 book order!! Yippee! That means more learning materials for our class! Thanks to all who ordered! There is still time if you want to order. The book orders are due on Tuesday.

Pictures!!

2011-09-09T20:19:00.000-05:00

Building creativity!!! If your picture is not here, never fear, I will catch you soon!! :)

Duct tape wallets and foam frames!! Thanks volunteers!!

Week of September 12th!

2011-09-09T20:08:00.000-05:00

Hi Families! Hope you have had a terrific week! Hasn't the weather been beautiful?!! My family has sure enjoyed the wonderful evenings! We've had supper picnics, long walks, played with sidewalk chalk, and went on trips to feed the neighborhood goat!

This past week was sure a full one! District mandated testing took a good 4 hours of our time this week! Yuck! I am sure looking forward to a "normal" week! We had to postpone a few of the things I planned because of the testing, so some of the agenda for the new week will look familiar! :)

Reading- We will finish the Mouse and the Motorcycle story this week. Look for a related homework assignment this week. The children have all taken their Star Test now, so I will be sending home their AR level based on this test.

Spelling - Sounds of "a" List 3 on spellingcity.com Our first set of enrichment words will be the "g" enrichment list on spellingcity.com. This is a list that is optional for those that want an extra challenge. :)

English - Animal Reports

Math - Place Value test - Tuesday Rounding begins on Wednesday. We only had time for one day of multiplication speed tests last week. This week, we will hit it hard. Your child should be studying their 3's. If they know their 3's, they can study other facts.

Social Studies - Oklahoma! Please don't forget to send your 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 cup salt mixture by Tuesday. We will be mostly looking at Oklahoma's land features and natural resources this week, as well as Oklahoma's Native American groups.

Science - We will start our habitat murals this week! Fun!

I am so proud of your kiddos! Many of them are working really hard on the Mastery Club!

Don't forget to send in Sunny D labels. :)

Remember to take a look at our Scholastic book orders. If our class has a $275 order, that means 5000 bonus points! That equals a lot of free learning materials for our classroom, such as books and games, etc.!! We are already up to $50 in orders! You can order books online as well. I will send home a letter with directions on Monday. The book orders are due September 20th.

I want to thank all my volunteers! I so appreciate you! Mrs. Ramirez has copied for me and Mrs. Clegg will be copying for me. Mrs. Stong has done several odd jobs that has saved me time! Today, Mrs. Humes, Mrs. Stong, Mr. Goben, and Mrs. Masengale volunteered in the class to help with duct tape wallets and foam frames! Wow! What a job it was!! I couldn't have done it without them!! Thanks so much!! I think the children had fun and were proud of their crafts!

Don't forget the Map Homework Assignment that is due on Tuesday!!!! If you have any questions about it, let me know!

Week of September 6th!

2011-09-02T15:18:00.002-05:00

Hi Families!! So enjoying your sweet kids! Here is what the next week looks like:

Reading - We will continue the Mouse and the Motorcycle story checking after each chapter for comprehension.

Spelling - Consonant Diagraphs List 2 on spellingcity.com

English - Animal Report

Math - Comparing and Ordering numbers, Place Value Test (Thursday), Rounding We will also be beginning our speed multiplication tests this week. Practice with your child, and please help them to not worry and be anxious about it. They have plenty of time and we will practice a lot. :) You can help as parents by setting aside a few minutes everyday to practice with your child. Give them lots of praise as well!

Science - Habitats

Social Studies - Equator/Hemispheres, Coordinates, Road Maps Look for a Map Homework assignment this week. :) Fun project!!

Thanks to those that sent in Box Tops and Sunny D labels!!

I hope you have a fantastic Labor Day weekend!!

Quote of the Week: Only surround yourself with people who will lift you higher. Oprah Winfrey

Welcome!! August 29th......1st full week of school! Yay!

2011-08-28T10:19:00.001-05:00

Hi Families! I'm so excited to get to know you and your children this year!! We've had a wonderful first 3 days of school! Your children are absolutely precious!! I already love them!! Every weekend, I update the blog to let you know what we will be up to in the classroom that week! This is what's ahead for this week:

Reading - We will be reading a novel as a class, called The Mouse and the Motorcycle. It is a great 4th grade story! The children will love it! We will be doing comprehension checks after each chapter, as well as talking about the vocabulary in the story and making predictions. The story should take us about 3 weeks to finish and then I will be assigning a fun homework project for the kids related to the story.

Spelling - Consonant Blends......You can find this list (List 1) on spellingcity.com. Click on the link to the right called Spelling Practice. We will take a practice test on Thursday and those that make an A do not have to take the test on Friday. If your child wants to do spelling enrichment, we will start those words the second full week of September.

English - Nouns

Social Studies - Mapwork

Science - We will begin an animal unit. This week we will discuss 5 different animal groups and also begin to look at specific habitats.

Math - Place Value

Every morning, we will do morning work that consists of math and English practice. We will also do journal writing. We will be working on memorizing quotes each week too. Memory work is good for the brain! The quote this week is: Nobody is perfect, that's why pencils have erasers. Anonymous I will quiz the children individually on Friday to see if they have memorized the quote. :)

Ask your child about the Mastery Club. You can click on the link to the right to learn more about it too.

Don't forget to join our class Facebook page found under Gina Corderman's Class if you have Facebook.

Week of May 16th

2011-05-15T14:58:00.001-05:00

I can't believe this is the last post of this school year! Time really does fly! So glad we had such a great family turnout this past Friday. Your kids were anxious all day about it! It meant a lot that you came. :) Well this week, I will basically be babysitting! Ha! We will be doing a variety of things from Haircut Day on our grassheads, making memory books, and spending time with our kindergarten buddies to watching a movie, cleaning the classroom, and having Grizzly Day! It should be a fun last week of school! As I stated before, I will miss your sweet babies. I wish them many blessings and lots of happiness!

Tuesday will be our auction! The children have been working towards this day all year. Some of them have managed to save a lot of money, and some not so much, but everyone will get something! :) Many of the children were debt free which met they were able to buy their desks and not pay rent which enabled them to save more each month. A couple even managed to buy someone else's desk! Some children saved more each month because they didn't purchase much at the class store. I also gave bonus bucks for test scores that were a C or better. I gave bonus money to those children that went above and beyond what was required as well. Accelerated Reading earned $1 per AR point. Briley came in first in AR with a whopping 657 points, so she will get $657! Wow Briley! Congratulations! Roy came in second with 262 points! Good Job Roy! Cooper came in third with 188, Shelby O. with 186 and Sydney with 165! Super work Cooper, Shelby and Sydney! I had over half the class earn over 100 AR points this year! I am so proud of all my kiddos though because all of them either met our class reading goal or the individual goal I set for them! Another way to earn bonus bucks was to do spelling enrichment and participate in the Brainiac Club. In spelling enrichment, Jack takes 1st place with 182 points! He will earn $182! Awesome Jack! Ellie takes 2nd with 169 points and Kayla takes 3rd with 149 points! Super job Ellie and Kayla! Brennan, Shelby O. and Roy participated as well and will be earning bonus bucks too! I'm proud of you! As for the Brainiac Club, Jaycee takes top honor with completing 24 mini assignments! I am giving double bonus points for the Brainiac Club, so Jaycee will earn $48! You rock Jaycee! Other participants were Jack, Shelby O., Ellie, Lexi, Cooper, Ben and Sydney! Good job kids for going above and beyond what was expected!

Wednesday will be the school awards assembly. Awards will be given out by the librarian for AR, the P.E. teachers for Little Olympics, and the music teacher for Tri-State.

Thursday(weather permitting) will be Grizzly Day, so be sure and send your child to school in play clothes and shoes.

Friday will be a Game and Feed. Your child can bring a game to school (electronic is allowed too) as well as a snack and drink. That's about all. :) Have a terrific summer!! I will see you next year!

Week of May 9th

2011-05-08T18:06:00.002-05:00

This will be a crazy, busy week, but a fun one!!

Reading - Historical Fiction
Spelling - List 23 on spellingcity.com   List 23.5 is enriched
English - Parts of speech review and editing sentences
Math - Long Division (2 digit divisors), Math review, and Algebra
Science - Plants
Social Studies - State research in computer lab
Art - Marble Mazes (We were too busy last week to get to this!)

Things to remember:
   Little Olympics field trip - Monday morning (buses leave at 8:05) (kids can bring money for concession)
   Leonardo's field trip - Wednesday - remember to pay your $5 admission fee (sponsors are $5 as well) Buses will leave Glenwood at about 9:45 and return around 2:30. Sponsors can ride with us or meet us at Leonardo's.
   State Floats are due Thursday.
   Family Day is this Friday at 1:30. It should last around 30 minutes. Please try to come. It is very important to your child. You will enjoy it! :)

Week of May 2nd

2011-05-01T14:57:00.000-05:00

Hello Families! Here is this week's happenings:

Reading - We will begin partner historical fiction books this week.

Spelling - List 22 on spellingcity.com (ight,ought, and aught words) Enriched - List 22.5

Math - We will be revisiting long division this week with a jump into 2 digit divisors. We will also continue do do morning math review of previously learned skills.

Social Studies - Great News! Everyone passed their online 50 state location test with 100%!!! I'm so proud of them! This week, I will send home directions for the state float project and will post a link to some pictures of last year's floats. All the children have chosen a state now to research. We will also be doing a couple of projects on states in the computer lab.

Science - We will finish up our unit on geology this week. We will also learn more about our butterflies, write in our observation journals and do a plant project.

English - This week we will finish up our last two poems for our poetry folder and choose our favorite for our PowerPoint presentation. We will also continue to work on parts of speech, punctuation and capitalization.

*Don't forget that the Egg Drop containers are due on Friday. Mr. Starks has graciously volunteered his time and bucket truck to drop the containers! It will be such a fun event!

*Thank you to those that have donated an auction item or have signed up to donate an item! I GREATLY APPRECIATE it! You can send your donation anytime. The auction is coming up in about 2 weeks.

We still need 2 more Leonardo's volunteers for our field trip. I know it's a busy time of year and many of your work, so I TOTALLY understand. We are just kind of in a crunch because we have to have 1 adult per 5 children to go. I know many of you are trying or have tried to work something out in order to come! Thanks for trying!!

We will be doing a cool project on Friday. We will be constructing marble mazes. I will provide white index cards for the children, but many of the children have expressed interest in making a colorful marble maze like some of my former students have made. If your child wants to make a colorful marble maze, you can find a pkg. of 100 fluorescent index cards at Walmart for $1.88. One package will be plenty. This purchase is of course optional. I know sometimes you get a different story at home.....like the fact that they HAD to have a motorcycle for their Mouse House. I told them that was OPTIONAL too. A couple of my sweet kiddos, I know, told their parents they had to have it. :0 Children! If you only knew the stories I hear at school! Ha ha! I will believe half of what I hear if you will do the same! Hee hee!

*Don't forget to look at the A to Z Countdown Calendar for this week's topics! :)

Week of April 25th

2011-04-24T22:07:00.000-05:00

Happy Easter to all my kiddos and their families!! Hope you've all had a wonderful weekend!

Testing is this week! Please make sure your children get adequate rest and a good breakfast. :) We will be testing in the mornings Monday through Thursday. Testing works up a good appetite, so you might want to pack your child a good snack too. Our afternoons will be focused mostly on science and social studies. In science, we will be looking at rock types and minerals, doing an experiment, and rock eating :). We will also be learning more about the butterfly larvae we have in our classroom. In social studies, we will be doing some USA work. I have 18 children that have passed their online 50 state location quiz on expert level with a 100%!! I am super proud of them. I know the rest will make it as well!! Several of the children are now working on passing their 50 state capitals quiz with an A and several have passed it and have now moved on to locating countries in Africa and Asia. Four students have even made it to Europe! Wow! They are blowing me away!

In celebration of testing being over, we will have a POP Party on Friday. The children may bring anything that has the word pop in it such as.......popcorn (popped please), pop, pop rocks, popsicles, pop tarts, etc.

Don't forget to look at the A to Z countdown calendar. Tomorrow afternoon is Game Day. Also, don't forget to return the letter I sent last week if you can help out with the auction or Leonardo's. I really need your help. Thanks so much!

Week of April 18th

2011-04-17T17:47:00.000-05:00

Hi Families! Check out the kids' space habitats below! Here is this week's agenda:

Reading and Math - Test Prep

No spelling for 2 weeks (due to test prep and testing)

Science - Geology (Fun unit!) :)

Social Studies - We will finish up our West unit. The children will have a West location test on Wednesday and the West capitals test on Friday. I sent home a study guide this past Friday. Hopefully, it made it home. :) We will also begin doing some USA assignments. They are working on locating all 50 states on a website located on my blog under USA. Some of the children are really close to getting all 50 already! Yeah!!

English - Poetry

Don't forget to look at the A to Z calendar I sent home last week. Monday is Beach Towel Day so the children may bring a beach towel to read on outside. Tuesday is Candy Day so they may bring their favorite candy to school to eat.

Space Habitats!

2011-04-15T20:30:00.001-05:00

Week of April 11th

2011-04-09T09:00:00.001-05:00

Hey Families! Hope all is well with everyone!! I can't believe we have only 6 weeks left! This is when I start to get a little teary. I truly love your children and will miss them so very much! The children have been working so hard and I am super proud of them!! Here is this week's agenda:

Reading - We will be finishing up The Mouse and the Motorcycle book this week! The children and I are really enjoying it! Their homework project for this story is to collect a shoebox and items that will create a mouse house for Ralph. We will make the mouse house in class on April 22nd, but they need to be collecting items and can bring them to school anytime. We talked about making furniture out of egg cartons, wallpaper out of scrapbook paper, etc. The children are creative. I'm sure they can think of a lot of things! :) They were coming up with quite a few things when we talked about it yesterday! We will make Ralph out of clay. It should be a fun project!

Math - Fractions - reducing fractions and adding/subtracting fractions with unlike denominators    We will also continue to REVIEW everything we've learned this year!

English - We will finish up our online stories this week in computer lab. Please help your child at home if he/she needs pictures scanned and please also edit your child's work.   The stories are due in completion by Friday. Thank you to those that sent the signed order forms back on time. I sent a new copy to those that didn't. I NEED them by Monday. I have to send them to the company before our production date happens.   Remember, you don't have to order a book for your child to get a free one. I just need the form signed and returned.   Also this week, we will continue to work on poetry.

Spelling - List 21 on spellingcity.com and List 21.5 is enriched

Social Studies - We will begin studying the final region, the West, of our country this week. We will look at the states within this region as well as landforms, resources, and economy. We will also talk about the Oregon Trail, the Gold Rush, as well as other key events in this region's history. The test over the state locations and capitals will be next week.

Science - We will finish up our unit on the body. There will be a test over the main organ locations and their functions on Friday. We will create a study guide on Tuesday for them to take home.

That's about all! Our Countdown to Summer Vacation starts on Friday! Friday will be "A" Day. A stands for Art, so we will have an artist from Leonardo's come and do a cool art project with the kids! Fun! Look for the A to Z list on Monday!

****ALSO***** I forgot to put down an important event on the "Dates of Important Events and Projects" list I sent home.   Oops! Friday is our school's Spring Fling! This is a very fun event! You should have received a few papers by now about this event and how you can help as well as how to buy tickets and how much they are. You don't want to miss it! I go every year and have a lot of fun. I am anxious to take Eli this year!

One more thing......I promised the children they could have a Read and Feed in their Space Habitats on Friday. They may bring a snack and drink to school then. Make sure their drink has a cap/lid. They may also bring a stuffed animal. After our Read and Feed, we will have a drawing to determine who gets to win the Space Habitats. By the way, they did awesome constructing their habitats!! This was a challenging, higher level thinking activity, but they rose to the challenge. I will post pictures and video soon of this project!!

Week of April 4th

2011-04-03T16:11:00.001-05:00

Hey Families!! Hope you are enjoying this beautiful weather! So glad it's Spring! Can't wait to dig in the dirt and start planting flowers! It's therapeutic to me! :) Whew! Last week was one busy, but productive week! I'm so proud of how hard the children worked! I sent home an agenda for the remainder of the school year. I told the kids to post it somewhere in a safe, visible place. Here is what the week ahead looks like:

Reading - We are going to be reading The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary as a class. We will be doing comprehension questions with each chapter as well as studying some of the vocabulary used in the story. *Remember* The children's Cereal Box Book Report is due this Friday. This report is over the story they just finished.

Math - Measurement ...... After measurement, we will have covered everything that is in our state testing. We will continue to review everything, but we will also revisit fractions now to do a more in depth study of that concept. I always cover concepts that we will test over first, to make sure they are prepared, then I go back and do more expanded lessons on certain concepts to prepare them for 5th grade. 5th grade curriculum is way more intense. This week in fractions, we will begin by finding equivalent fractions, and changing mixed and improper fractions.

Spelling - List 20 on spellingcity.com.......List 20.5 is the enriched list.

Social Studies - We will do a week long unit on the Southwest Region of our country. This region has only 4 states in it! One of the states is Oklahoma. We have already covered Oklahoma history which also encompassed the whole region for the most part. We will take a look at our region's land and resources as well as learn about the Navajo Indians and compare/contrast the Trail of Tears to the Long Walk. We will have our location/capital test on these 4 states and their capitals on Friday.

Science - Body

English - We will be writing poems this week and taking a look at different types of poems. We will also continue to use our computer time to type our online stories. Your child may want you to help them download some pictures from home. Please take the time to do this as well as help to edit your child's story. This is a very special project! You will be amazed at the quality of the book. I will be sending home a letter/order form this week. You may choose to buy copies, but your child will get one free book regardless of a purchase.! Isn't that great?! In order to get the free book, the letter home has to be signed by a parent. Please look for that and get it signed and sent back.

Please consider volunteering for our field trip in May to Leonardo's. I need 4 more adults in order to go. Please let me know if you can come. We will leave school around 9:45 and return around 2:30. The cost will be $5 per person, both children and sponsors. Club membership doesn't count....so sorry. I will begin to collect money in a few weeks. Let me know if you can volunteer. :) It is an awesome day!!

Week of March 28th

2011-03-27T13:23:00.000-05:00

Wow! Last week was one of the hardest weeks ever!! Moving back into my classroom is a wonderful thing, but oh what a job it was! Your children were amazing! They helped me so much! They were also very well behaved which enabled me to get a lot done! Love them dearly!! Everything is almost back to normal. We are so very thankful to be in our big beautiful classroom with a sink again! The room looks awesome! Henson construction did a terrific job, especially following the lead of Randy, their site foreman! Our custodians and Mr. Rainey worked their tails off this week helping to move everyone. So thankful for them too!

We have 8 weeks of school left.....can't believe it! We will be very busy these last weeks! There are lots of fun days ahead. I will be posting and sending home a letter of events and dates soon. Here is what this week looks like:

Reading - We will be finishing up our leveled novels....they need to be read by Friday. Some have already finished their books. I will give them their book report homework project when they complete their stories. These book reports are due next Friday, April 8th.

Math - On Monday, we will finish up our Geometry Towns. They are doing a fabulous job on them! Tuesday - Reading thermometers, Wednesday - Range, Median, and Mode, Thursday - Area and Perimeter on a grid, Friday - Polygons and Solid Shapes. On Monday, I will send home a homework assignment which involves constructing 3D shapes. This project is due on Friday.

Spelling - List 19 on spellingcity.com, List 19.5 - enriched

English - Usage of I and Me, We will spend the whole week in computer lab on our stories.

Science - Our body unit begins! Fun!

Social Studies - The Midwest Unit study is due in completion on Friday. About 2/3 of the class are managing their time well and have all or most of the work completed, but the other 1/3 are struggling. They will be having homework this week. :( During our work time, I enforce a quiet working atmosphere. Some are just simply not using their time wisely. They have a lot to learn and hopefully through these experiences will understand how to better manage their time for future success. :) We will get them there!

Friday will be our March Madness Reading Celebration! We are currently in the lead against Mrs. Herbel's class. I don't know yet the results of last week, because we were too busy moving, but I will check the current score on Monday. Hopefully, they can get my computer and smart board hooked up correctly and working too! That helps me in checking AR totals.

That's all for now. Please be checking the blog for current information as well as the dates of events coming up! You may want to mark your calendar with due dates and also the family day event when I get the list out. :)

Americana Basket Donations needed

2011-03-22T18:19:00.000-05:00

If anyone can donate an item for our American-themed basket, (for the Spring Fling auction) please do so soon. I've received word that they are needing to get the basket made. As of yet, we have had no donations. Thank you in advance if you can help with this. :)

Week of 3-21

2011-03-11T13:37:00.000-06:00

Happy Spring Break! Hope you have a great week! Unfortunately, we didn't get to move to our new classroom today. :( It was a big disappointment, but one more week after Spring Break and we will get to move. We can't wait! After Spring Break, we will be doing the following:

Reading - 2 reading groups - One group will be reading How to Eat Fried Worms and one group will be reading Maniac Magee. Both are wonderful stories! The children will have a book report project for homework after their stories are complete. They will have 2 weeks to finish their book......due April 4th. The book report project will be due April 8th.

English - online stories...We have also been working on and will keep working on figurative language.

Spelling - List 18 on spellingcity.com (soft and hard "c" and "g") The enriched list is List 18.5.

Math - We will review long division and large number multiplication. We will also be doing geometry......polygons and line relationships. We will begin a math project in which the children will draw a map of their own Geometry Town. The Geometry Town will have directions and specifications to follow. It should be a fun project!

Social Studies - We will continue to work on our Midwest Individual Unit.

Science - Clouds and Precipitation

Hopefully, the children told you that we are no longer required to do Spanish.

Geography and Spelling Bee Class Champs!

2011-03-06T15:17:00.000-06:00

Brennan won the class championship for the geography bee, but unfortunately was sick the day of the

school bee. Sorry Brennan, but good job for winning first place in the class bee!

Shelby tied with Jack for second place in the class geography bee, so the day of the bee, I drew names between the two and Shelby won the drawing to represent our class in the school bee. Proud of you Shelby!

Kayla won the class championship for the spelling bee and then went on to win the school championship in the 4th and 5th grade division! Wow! Super work Kayla! She went on to represent our school and was the youngest contestant there!

Jack won 2nd place in the class spelling bee and tied for 2nd in the class geography bee! Talk about a well-rounded learner!! Great work Jack!

Week of 3-7

2011-03-06T15:04:00.000-06:00

Here is a look at the agenda for this week:

Math: Long division, estimating quotients, geometry, review

Reading: We will finish our reading BINGO that we started last week. Most of the kids only have their biography and biography poster to do. These posters are due on Friday. The kids have been taking AR tests like crazy! We won the first week's round of March Madness against Mrs. Herbel's class! Go Corderman's kids! The score is 146 to 110. Please encourage your child to read at home. The top reader last week was Jack with Hayden in second place, and Sydney in third! Great work kiddos!

Spelling: List 17 on spellingcity.com with list 17.5 being enrichment

English: online story writing....These stories will be a continuing assignment over the next several weeks. We will work on them in computer lab 2 to 3 days a week. The children are practicing making good sentences, as well as working on grammar, spelling, and punctuation. When children start to finish typing their stories, I will have them peer edit as well. They will learn A LOT through this way of editing! Some of the children have taken their codes home and have been typing at home as well. I encourage you to look at their stories and help them to edit as well. Last year many of my parents helped their children to download pictures for their books. The published books turned out fabulous!! In May, we will have a Family Day. This is a very special event! I will let you know ahead of time, so that you can hopefully take off work for an hour to come. The children will be sharing their published books, as well as reciting their poetry. We will also be having an art show displaying your children's favorite art of the year!
Social Studies: Midwest independent study......The children are learning about important events and people of the Midwest like skyscrapers, railroads, Henry Ford, and Sitting Bull through reading nonfiction books, articles, and passages. They will also view videos on Lewis and Clark and the Wright Brothers!

Pictures!

2011-02-27T10:56:00.001-06:00

Valentine's Day Activities!

Who can stack the most on their finger?

And the winner is........Roy with 7!

Battleship with candy hearts!

Edible Valentines!

Getting ready for our program!

Our beautiful snowman art!

SE partner projects!

The newest members of the Debt Free Club!! Good job kiddos!!

Week of 2-28

2011-02-27T10:29:00.002-06:00

Hi Families! Hope your weekend has been great! So excited that March is here!! I am sure a Spring person! The best news of all lately though is our move back to the building! YEAH!!!! I have been putting off a few of the things I normally do in hopes of getting back to our room. The portable is just not big enough for certain activities. :O The children have been working so hard and getting along well. I've also noticed such a helpful and kind attitude towards each other. I'm so proud of them! We will be doing our space habitats a week or 2 after Spring Break. Now that we will be back in the building, we can do them all at the same time instead of a couple groups at a time. Whew! That will be so much easier! This week, we will be practice testing again. We will do the math practice test on Monday and the reading practice test divided between Tuesday and Wednesday. The following is a look at what else the week will hold:

Read Across America Week - The children should have brought home a list of fun ways to dress to celebrate Dr. Suess and the week! We will be doing a Reading BINGO card this week. The BINGO card will consist of various genres of books I want the kids to read. Here are a few examples: Biography, picture book, Dr. Suess book, nonfiction book, Robert Munsch book, joke book, poetry book, tall tale, etc. They will be doing assignments with these various books as well. We will also start a contest against Mrs. Herbel's class called March Madness! This is like our Superbowl Challenge that we did in January except with basketball! Go Corderman's class! We can do it!! On Friday, we will have our Read-a-Thon! Your child should have brought home an envelope and information to collect donations for this event. Our class would sure like to be the top collecting class so that we can win a water balloon fight against Mr. Rainey! I told the children to ask parents' employers or their churches to donate. Every dollar counts. Remember, the money earned goes to our school playground. We will be having a Read and Feed on Friday for our Read-a-Thon, so the children may bring some treats to eat, as well as some comforts from home....blanket, pillow, and a stuffed animal.

Math - Long division, Geometry, Continued Review - I am so very proud of how far the kids have come with regards to retaining what we've learned! We are finally getting to the point of almost everyone getting a "C" or better on our cumulative reviews! That's awesome!

English - Online Storybooks

Social Studies - The children will begin learning about the Midwest Region of our country. This week we will look at the states in that region as well as learn about the landforms and resources. They will also begin an independent study covering important topics of that region.

Spelling - List 16 on spellingcity.com Enrichment words will be x,y, and z words. I will add them to spellingcity.com soon.

FYI

2011-02-22T13:45:00.003-06:00

GREAT NEWS!!!

We will be moving back into the building soon! Yeah! We will be packing up and moving some of our things the week of March 7th. This is the same week of parent/teacher conferences. If you would like me to schedule you a conference, please let me know. I will be happy to schedule you one. If I don’t hear back from you, I will know things are fine. I know the children are as anxious as I am to move back into the building! Our room looks awesome. I will try to post some pictures, but you will have to try to stop by after Spring Break when we are finally settled in, to take a look for yourselves!

Week of February 22nd!

2011-02-20T14:51:00.000-06:00

Hasn't the weather been awesome this last week?!! Love it! Can't wait for Spring! The kids sure did awesome on their program! I was so proud of them and all their hard work! Here is the agenda for this 4 day week:

Reading - Leveled fiction dog themed books....many children have finished their stories and are now working on their climax project. Their fiction dog books should be finished by Monday, February 28th and the climax report is due by March 2nd. For those children done early, they may choose one of the dog picture books to read and do a picture book report. This second book and report are due for everyone on March 4th.

Math - We will finish up fractions this week and begin division. We will continue to review, review, review previously learned skills! I am so proud of how well they are doing in math!

Social Studies - We will finish up the Southeast region this week. The children did fabulous on their SE history presentations last week! They took notes over each other's information and we will test over that information on Thursday.

Spelling - List 15 on spellingcity.com I will announce spelling enrichment words on Tuesday.

English - We are going to spend a lot of time working on our stories this week. Some children have completed their rough drafts and have started to type their stories online. The goal this week is for everyone to complete their rough drafts! :)

Science - I have decided to postpone our geology unit for a few more weeks. The unit is so fun, but our experiments will do better with more consistent temps. They won't do well in real cold temperatures and our portables can get so cold at night. If the temperature stayed like it has been this past week, it would be great, but I don't look for that to happen! We will wait until after Spring Break! In the meantime, we will be doing some weather related topics of study for science!

The children have had wonderful behavior and integrity! Let's keep up the good work! I have not forgotten the space habitats! We will be doing them, but that too will be sometime in the Spring.

Week of February 14th

2011-02-12T16:22:00.000-06:00

Happy Valentines Day!! Hope you enjoyed the snow days!! My family sure did! We did crafts, cuddled under warm, fuzzy blankets, played in the snow, read, and just enjoyed a slow down! I am ready, however, for warm weather and a routine now. The agenda for this week hasn't changed much from last week. :)

On Monday, we will do lots of fun Valentine math activities. These activities will cover the concepts: coordinates, bar graphs, fractions, median and mode, estimating, probability, and analogies. We will also make our Valentine card holders and a special Valentine for our kindergarten buddies. We will meet with them to share our Valentines right before our party. Our Valentine party will be at 2:15. Fun Day!!

The rest of the week will find us catching up from missing so much school. We will finish up our SE partner projects and share our knowledge with the class as they take notes for social studies. In math, we will continue to review previously learned skills and work on our new concept, fractions. Did your child finish the math review sheet I sent home on Tuesday? Hope so. :) This might just be the miracle week to test on our List 14 in spelling that we started 2 weeks ago! LOL In English, we will continue to work on our rough drafts of our stories. I will give the children their codes this week, so they may begin to start working online. We will continue reading our dog books and hope we haven't forgotten the storyline. Ha ha! Last week, I talked to the children about what the climax of a story means. A few of the children have finished their dog books and have started on their dog project involving the climax of their story.

We will, I'm sure, be practicing a lot for our 4th grade program. Remember, the program is on February 17th at 6:30.

Also, don't forget that our SE states location test is on Wednesday, and our SE capitals test is on Friday. If your child has misplaced the studyguide I sent home, he/she may take home a SS text book to study.

The Ligers will get to have their victory reward for the Superbowl Reading Challenge this Wednesday.

Have a great week!!

Week of February 7th

2011-02-06T19:28:00.001-06:00

Hi Families!! Here is this week's agenda:

Reading - Leveled books with the theme being "Dogs".......We will work on finding the climax of a story with their books this time. The children will also read a picture book on dogs and do a summary and illustrations page on it.

English - Creative writing ......The children have started writing their own story recently. They are very excited about their stories! The best part is that they will get to put their story together with an online publishing company and get their stories actually published! Every child will get a free paperback of their published story!! Last week the children simply brainstormed and started writing. A few actually even finished their stories. Towards the end of this week, the children can start typing their stories. I will give you your child's password so that he/she can type at home as well. You can download actual pictures for their stories or scan their artwork or they can illustrate by using the online web tools and clipart. It is a really neat website and project!!

Spelling - List 14 Because of the 2 snowdays, I decided to postpone this list until this week. Enriched words will be "Q" and "V" words.

Math - The children did awesome with decimals! We are ready to move on to fractions and relate the two concepts once again. As far as morning math goes, I am very proud of how many children turned in their math review homework page! We have 2 teams......Team A and Team Z. As of this past week, Team Z is in the lead! The children rocked the classroom with their math review test on place value!! Wow! Everyone of the children got a C or better!!! That is awesome! This week, we will review multiplication and estimation. Look for a homework review sheet to come home soon. Please check over this page as your child works on it to check for understanding. There are 24 of them and only 1 of me and sometimes a child will just need a little one on one help to boost them into understanding.

Social Studies - This week the children will finish up their SE partner projects and present their new found knowledge to the class. ****Heads up****The SE locations and capitals tests will be coming up next week....locations on Wednesday and capitals on Friday.

Science - Our next unit will be geology..rocks and minerals! We will begin this unit in a couple of weeks. As for our space habitats, we will be doing them, but it will be awhile. I will let you know when. I am watching for consistent class and student integrity. It's been pretty inconsistent lately. They are really an awesome group of children. I totally ADORE them. But, between the weather, the portable, 4th grade boy/girl relationships (too young) and Valentine's Day coming up, many have been having a few issues. They will have to rise above it, however, to do the extra fun stuff though!! INTEGRITY - that's a biggie to me!!

We are getting ready for our 4th grade program. The program will be February 17th. It will be about Oklahoma musicians. Our class is in charge of decorating the front of the stage. If anyone has any ideas or can offer any help to do this decorating, I would greatly appreciate it! One idea could be to hang some pictures of Oklahoma singers like Toby Keith, Carrie Underwood, Garth Brooks, etc. If anyone has any pictures to loan us, let me know. I thought about the project we did in the Fall, 5 Pocket People. Some of the kids did Oklahoma singers. They were really cute. I wondered about even using them. Please think on it and get in touch with me. Thanks!!

Week of January 31st

2011-01-30T14:52:00.000-06:00

Moving into February! Here is the agenda for this week:

Reading - Leveled Reading - Dog theme

Math - Comparing and ordering decimals, decimals and mixed numbers, rounding decimals

Spelling - List 14 on spellingcity.com (suffixes: er and est)

English - Story writing

Science - Planets, Constellations, and Moon Phases

Social Studies - SE region partner projects

Spanish - Continue Unit 9 - plants and habitats

Wednesday will be the last day of our Super Bowl Reading Challenge. The Ligers are still in the lead, but it's anyone's game until the last quarter!!! Keep reading!! I will announce the winning team Wednesday afternoon.

We have postponed our Space Habitat project for a few weeks. The children have been lacking the self control needed to do such a huge project. They are going to have to work really hard over the next few weeks to show me they have what it takes to handle this project. I know they can do it! Temperance!!

Don't forget to send clean, empty cans.

Week of January 24th

2011-01-23T15:36:00.001-06:00

Hi Families! Can't believe it's already the last week of January!  I don't know about you, but I am so ready for the Spring already. This cold weather is not for me! I think being in the portables makes it tougher! We are warm in our class, but traveling outside to go anywhere gets old! Take a look at this week's agenda:

Reading - Last week on the genre, Mystery - Your child should have picked out a 2nd mystery book on his/her level by now. This book needs to be read and an AR test taken by February 4th.  Skill focus - Cause and Effect

English - Daily English Review, Figurative Language

Spelling - List 13 on spellingcity.com (Suffixes) I will let the kids know Tuesday what the enriched list is for the week.

Math - 2 and 3 digit times 2 and 3 digit multiplication
We will also begin reading, saying, and writing decimals to the tenth place this week, as well as take another cumulative review test.

Science - Continuous study of the planets

Social Studies - Partner projects on important events, places, and people of the Southeast

Spanish - Test on Thursday over family member names. Study guide will go home on Tuesday. We will also begin a new unit this week over habitats and plant parts.

*******Things to note and remember************

Super Bowl Challenge - I have been so very proud of the kids on their reading!! We have 3 teams:
     Ligers, Flaming Flamingos, and Grizzly Bucks. The Grizzly Bucks started out way in the lead. Then the Ligers came back with a vengeance, so they are now in the lead with the Flamingos in second. Keep reading!!! We will have a Super Bowl Party on February 4th to celebrate all the reading the children have been doing and to gear up for the Super Bowl on February 6th! The winners of our challenge, however, will get to eat lunch in the classroom with me and get a prize!

We will be starting a new challenge this week that involves MATH!!  This challenge will last about 3 months!I will divide the class into 2 teams. Our objective is math mastery of skills we have covered. I try not to move too fast and work to mastery before we ever move to the next concept, but sometimes the kids will still forget unless they constantly see the old concepts. We do math twice a day. Our morning math is going to start being skills that we have already covered. I will be testing them over old concepts periodically. Before the test, I will send home a study guide to work on. The contest will involve the completion of these study guides. The children will earn 5 points for their team for the study guide being completed, and 10 points if it is signed by a parent. The children will also earn 15 points for an A on the test, 10 points for a B, and 5 points for a C. We will have a math celebration in May for all their hard work with an extra privilege for the winning team!

I need clean, empty, labels peeled off, vegetable or fruit cans. I need 25 by Friday. If every child brought one, we will have enough. Please remember. :) If you could send more than one, that would be great, just in case! I have a cool project planned!

I almost have enough to do our space habitats, but am missing several children's money. I went ahead and purchased all the duct tape myself, but I need your help to purchase the expensive plastic. If you have not sent your child's $2, please help us out. Thank you.

Week of January 18th

2011-01-17T14:00:00.000-06:00

Hope the kids are enjoying their 3 day weekend! :) Here is what's ahead:

Reading - We will continue our "mystery" month. All the assignments for their first mystery are due this week by Friday. Next, they are to choose a 2nd mystery on their reading level to have read by the end of the month. The only grades for the 2nd mystery are their AR test result and a quick fluency check by me.

Spelling - List 12 on spellingcity.com I will let the children know the enriched list tomorrow.

English - Daily English Review (I don't always list this, but we do this every week.) Skill focus: Contractions and Pen Pal Letters

Science - Planets If you have not sent in your $2, please do so by Tuesday.

Social Studies - SE Region of the USA We will be looking at the landforms, resources, and location of the SE states on Tuesday and then dive right into the wonderful, rich history of the SE on Wednesday! This is a fascinating unit, the children always enjoy. I make a lot of the learning student-led with this unit. I assign the kids each a partner to become experts on an important person, event, or place of the SE. They will do 2 inclass projects on their topic and then teach the rest of the children about what they learned. We then put all the events and people into a timeline, so that the children will understand the order of happenings...such as Pocahontas and Harriet Tubman living in different centuries!

Math - Double Digit Multiplication We will be practicing for mastery of this important skill all week. I taught the children 2 ways to get to the right answer. I will let them now choose what way best fits them.

Week of January 10th

2011-01-09T14:02:00.000-06:00

Hi Families! It looks like this week will be a really cold one! Make sure your kiddos are bundled up! We will be doing lots of long distance walks to various classes such as computer, library, music, etc.

This week's agenda:

Reading - Mysteries -leveled readers - We have been working on vocabulary related to mysteries. Ask your child what a red herring is. :) The children are also doing an Ingredients to a Mystery checklist, a Suspect List, a Components to a Mystery Report, as well as a Surprise Window Book Report.

Spelling - Contractions - List 11 on spellingcity.com Enriched spelling will start back up this week. I will let the children know what list.

English - Prepositions and Possessives

Math - Double Digit Multiplication - Practice at home with your child on this important skill. It will be hard for some of them, especially if they do not know their multiplication facts.

Science - Space - We will be looking at comets, the zodiac, and will become detectives solving meteorite mysteries! For the last couple of years my students have made space habitats. This is the coolest project! We not only relate science to it, but math as well! The children have loved this project. This year because of limited funding, Mr. Rainey will not be able to purchase the supplies for this project. The children really want to do it and I want them to do it as well, so I am asking each child to contribute $2 towards this worthwhile project. Please help us out by sending $2 to school by Friday. My husband helps me purchase the materials at Lowes and cuts the pieces for me. It is a pretty big undertaking and I want to give him time to do this. Thanks in advance for your support. I really appreciate having such involved and supportive families.

Don't forget the Mitten homework assignment is due on Wednesday!

Week of January 3rd!

2010-12-31T15:29:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year Everyone! 2011.....it hardly seems possible! Better hold on tight to your cute little 4th graders because you will blink and they will be in middle school like my baby girl! Cherish them, make time for them, cuddle them, play with them. Can you tell I'm feeling a little emotional.....my soon to be 14 year old is away at Winter Retreat with our church youth group and I am missing her like crazy!! Giving her roots was the easy part, but giving her wings is very hard on this mama!

Hope you have had a magical and wonderful Christmas! Can't believe the break is over, but it will be nice to be back in a routine!

Remember that Monday your child may bring a game from home, including an electronic one. We will have some game time while we settle in to our new classroom.

I don't have my lesson plans at my fingertips (they are in a box in my class marked "important stuff"), but I do know the main things we will be doing ! :)

Reading: Leveled reading groups studying the genre: Mystery.....We will be exploring plot, character, and setting.

Science: Space

Math: 2 and 3 digit by 1 digit multiplication

We will be doing spelling and English as well, but can't remember the specifics. The children will get a new spelling list Monday.

I wanted to thank you so very much for the thoughtful cards and gifts I received for Christmas. It touched my heart deeply to be thought of so warmly. The children will receive a thank you note in the mail from me sometime soon. I also wanted to update you on our Boxes of Hope project. It was a beautiful scene to watch unfold! The children all did a wonderful job. I think they really enjoyed this project and hopefully learned a little about the true spirit of Christmas...the giving of ourselves. :) Thank you for helping to make it so special.

Talk to you soon!

Week of 12-20

2010-12-17T14:05:00.001-06:00

Merry Christmas Families!

Just a short post to let you know what we will be up to for our 3 day week:

Practice Testing
Review Work
Fun Work
Christmas Movie
Kindergarten Buddies
Packing up our belongings to move to our portable

****Things to Remember****

Banana Split Reward Party - Tuesday at 1:00
Christmas Party - Tuesday at 2:15
Box Buddy Gift Exchange - Tuesday morning

Week of December 13th

2010-12-12T15:03:00.002-06:00

Hello Families! Here is the agenda for this week:

Math - Adding and Subtracting with Decimals

Reading - Leveled Independent Reading

Spelling - Christmas Words

Social Studies - First of all I wanted to say "WOW"....the kids rocked at their American History Test! I was so impressed with the majority of their test scores! They did so well! I could tell most of them studied with test scores like A's, B's, and C's! Now let's rock the classroom again this week! We will be finishing up our NE Region Posters this week. (Due Thursday) We will also take a NE Region Location Test on Wednesday and a NE Region Capitals Test on Thursday. I will send home a study guide on Monday. This first location test usually gets some of the kids. Make sure to spend some time helping your child study for this test. It can get kindof tricky remembering where all those New England states are. The test will include the states and they will match them with their correct location. The capital test will be matching as well, and the children need to study for this too. I try really hard to teach the children about that BIG word called PROCRASTINATION. They have got to learn how to use their time wisely and to not put off things until the last moment. This is an important skill necessary for future success! As a mother of an 8th grader, I'm telling you the truth. :) As my pastor's 8 year old daughter told her daddy. "School is a lot like Mario Brothers with each level getting harder!" I thought that was a clever analogy! We as parents and teachers need to prepare our children for that next level!

***Side note: We will still remember to have fun though and enjoy 4th grade as we stretch and grow!***

English - We will finish up our Owl Reports. They are due Thursday as well.

We will get back to Spanish in January.

****THINGS TO KNOW AND REMEMBER****

Show and Tell will be Thursday.  (No pets...sorry)

Friday is Polar PJ Day! Your child may wear their pajamas and slippers. We will be doing learning stations in the morning that include reading, science, social studies, math, and art. In the afternoon, we will watch the movie Polar Express and drink hot cocoa and eat s'mores! This should be a fun day!!

Box Buddy packages are due Tuesday, December 21st. Remember, this is a wrapped gift for a secret friend that includes:
              1) 5 Thoughtful Compliments
                     2) Acrostic Poem
                     3) Letter of Encouragement
                     4) Drawn and Colored Picture or Collage
                     5) Handmade Gift
We have been working secretly behind homemade tents on our desks :) on the first 3 or 4 items, but the children need to make their handmade gift at home as well as wrapping their package with all 5 things inside it. Please help me to help your child follow through with this special and worthy project. It would be awful if your child's secret friend didn't get a special package that day because your child didn't finish it. I love each and every one of my students and I am putting my trust in them and you to complete this assignment. I don't want anyone left out. The children and I talked about how this gift will be probably one of the hardest gifts they will ever make and give, but oh what a lesson in the giving of ourselves!! Hopefully, they will realize that in blessing others, they will in turn be blessed, probably more. :)

I want to thank all my volunteers that helped on Gingerbread House Making Day! What a crazy, but fun day!! Thanks in advance for all who signed up to help on Polar PJ Day this Friday! Also thanks to those who are donating to our Banana Split Party! Look for those two information notes to come home on Monday if you signed up.

Week of 12 -6

2010-12-05T14:51:00.000-06:00

Good Day Families!

Here is this week's agenda:

Reading - We will begin leveled books this week. The children will be doing a book report in class when they finish their books.

English - Owl research reports

Spelling - Time and Calendar words List 9 on spellingcity.com

Math - Money!

Science - Disecting Owl Pellets! Fun! We will also have a test on owl facts on Thursday. We will create an owl fact study guide on Tuesday to go home.

Social Studies - NE Region Posters. We will also be reviewing the (NE Region) American History. That study guide will go home on Tuesday as well. That test will be on Friday.

****Things to note or remember****

Science(Owl) Test - Thursday

Social Studies (Amer. History) Test - Friday

Gingerbread Houses - Friday - Don't forget to send in: 1 container of frosting, 6 graham crackers, and 1 large bag of candy by Thursday. If you can help out by mixing the candy and putting it into bags on Thursday or Friday morning, I would greatly appreciate it! Let me know. The gingerbread house event will be around 1:15 ish on Friday, so parents that signed up for that, please come around that time. Thanks so much!!!

Box of Hope and Inspiration - I sent home a letter about this special project on Friday. Please help your child at home with this. We will work in class some on it too, but not for all of it.

Thanks for your continued support and help!! I greatly appreciate it, but mostly I appreciate your sweet children. They are an absolute joy to me!!

Week of November 29th

2010-11-29T09:03:00.001-06:00

Hi Families! Hope your Thanksgiving was as wonderful as mine! Time with family is priceless!

Here is the agenda for the week ahead:

Reading - Owls in the Family - We will work on story vocabulary as well as literal and inferential comprehension.

English - Owl Research Report, prepositions

Spelling - Double letters - List 8 on spellingcity.com The enriched list is list "v".

Math - Multiplication Properties, Word problems, Order of Operation

Social Studies - Liberty Bell, Ellis Island, NE poster project

Spanish - We will finish up Unit 7 this week and have a test on it Friday. I will send home a study guide on Tuesday.

I will be sending home a note about the supplies needed for our gingerbread houses this week. Please look for that.

If your child has not finished learning his/her multiplication facts, please continue to work on that at home. In January, we will be doing large multiplication and then moving on to long division.

Have a geat week!!

Thanksgiving Week

2010-11-21T16:08:00.001-06:00

Two day week....wahoo....I think we all need a break!! These two days will be spent reviewing concepts through Thanksgiving themed work. We will also be continuing our owl story and comprehension questions.
Take a look at the three that mastered their multiplication speed tests this past week! Good job kiddos!!

Marquise mastered his 12's!

Amanda mastered her 12's!

Shelby mastered her 12's!

These smarties became debt free this month!! Awesome work!!

Week of November 15th

2010-11-14T15:16:00.000-06:00

Hi Families! Let's take a look at the week ahead!

Reading/Science - We will begin a thematic unit on owls this week. It is always one of my favorite topics of study as well as one of my students' favorites. I will be reading a book based on a true story called Owls in the Family. The children will be answering both literal and inferential questions about the story. The children will be reading several nonfiction passages about owls on their own as well as an owl legend. We will also be working on the skills, fact and opinion, comparing/contrasting using a venn diagram, vocabulary, and reading for information.

Spelling - We will be learning the meanings and spellings of our owl story vocabulary. Look for the list called "Owls" on spellingcity.com.

English - We will finish up a story project we started last week using the book 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving. The children have been making a story map finding rhyming words, colorful adjectives, and vivid verbs from the story. They will also write a character description and a summary. Once they complete their story map, they will peer edit and complete their final project.

Math - Relating multiplication with division

Social Studies - 13 Colonies, William Bradford, How the Revolutionary War began, Boston Tea Party, George Washington, and Declaring Independence

As always, we will work on daily math and English review as our bell work.

This week is American Education Week. Here is a list of Glenwood's daily themes for the week:
    Monday - Wear Red, White, and Blue to support American Education Week
    Tuesday - Wear your favorite college wear to support higher education
    Wednesday - Wear your pajamas to follow your dreams to a higher education
    Thursday - Wear your sweats to get your educational workout
    Friday - Wear your school colors or school shirt to support your school

Don't forget to have your recipe in to me by Tuesday. Thanks so much for all you do to support education, your children, and me!!

Week of 11/8/10

2010-11-06T15:51:00.001-05:00

Hey Families! Here is a glimpse into our week:

Reading - We will be finishing up the BFG. The children have done well on their comprehension and vocabulary pages! We will be watching the movie on Friday and will compare/contrast the book to the movie.

English - Pronouns and Possessive Nouns

Spelling - Sounds of "u" List 7 on spellingcity.com

Math - Coordinates, Line and Circle Graphs

Social Studies - We will begin studying the NE Region of the United States. We will start with looking at the geography and resources of this region, as well as the states included in this region.

We continue to do daily review work in English, math, and reading.

*****IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER**********

Our Turkey Creek School field trip is scheduled for Tuesday. Please don't forget to send the $3 admission charge for the trip to school by Monday. Your child will need to pack a lunch that day, and try to dress as the pioneers did. The dressing up part is optional but encouraged.

Pressed leaves are due on Friday for our science/art project. The pressed leaves are worth 100 points in science.

We are going to have a Read and Feed on Friday, so the children may bring a special snack and drink, as well as a stuffed animal, pillow, and blanket.

The edible animal cells were absolutely phenomenal!!! I so enjoyed looking at all of them! The children loved sharing too, but they especially enjoyed eating them!! Here are pictures of your cuties with their cells:

Our winning door!!

Week of November 1st

2010-10-31T11:33:00.001-05:00

Hi Families! Hope you had a fun Halloween! We had a ton of fun at our church's Trunk and Treat last night! Eli didn't quite know what to think. :)

This week we will be back to normal with Red Ribbon Week and Halloween over. Whew! Here's the agenda:

Reading - BFG We are loving this fantastic tale! The children are doing great on their comprehension pages! We will also be doing some nonfiction comprehension pages in the morning.

English - Adverbs, Daily English Review

Spelling - Sounds of "o" List 6 on spellingcity.com

Math - Graphs - pictograph, bar, and double bar graphs

Science - We will finish up our animal unit this week. The children did fabulous on their biomes! Most worked well with their group, but we still are definitely learning how to get along and give and take when working with others. This is a huge skill that we will practice a lot this year! People skills are very important in life, wouldn't you agree? We will also watch a Ben Franklin video on Thursday and learn a little more about electricity. We had a guest speaker from OG&E come about a week and half ago to teach the kids about electrical safety. It was interesting and I think the children learned a lot!

***Don't forget that the edible animal cells are due this Friday!*** It should be fun seeing all the examples...don't forget to label the parts...either with toothpick flags or by a written key.

I will send home a note Monday about our Turkey Creek field trip! It will be lots of fun...the children will always remember it. Please send $3 to school by next Monday, November 8th or $10 if you are going to purchase the class picture they will take. The picture is really neat!

I will also send home a note about leaf collecting and pressing this week. This is a science grade that is due on November 11th. The children should be watching for the leaves to change colors and collecting 10 - 15 leaves in various shapes, sizes, and colors. I notice that most of the trees are still green, so if that doesn't change soon, I might postpone the project for a little longer. We want to collect some of those awesome shades of red, yellow, and orange!

We won the Red Ribbon Week door contest! Yay! We won a pizza party, so they will be letting us know soon when that is.

Take a look at your kids at work on their biomes and their finished murals!

Need help.....

2010-10-28T09:35:00.001-05:00

The lunch ladies have received $7 cash from my room to pay on a lunch bill. There was no name on the lunch envelope. This happened last week. If you know you paid $7 cash on a bill, please let me know.

I received a book order with no name for 2 books: the newest Wimpy Kid book and a book called Oregon Trail. If you ordered those 2 books and did not receive them, please let me know.

If you would like to email Tamira Crawford your email addresses, she will vote for you on our school playground grant. We have only a few more days to try to win this grant!! Her email address is:
usha_majere2000@yahoo.com

Week of 10/25

2010-10-24T15:25:00.001-05:00

Hi families......hope you had a terrific Fall Break! My family had an enjoyable one. We had a couple disappointments with being rained out on Eli's first zoo trip :( and OU losing. Oh well, there will be other zoo trips and OU games. :) This week will be a busy one with Red Ribbon Week and Halloween! Here is what's on the agenda:

Reading - We will begin the novel, the BFG by Roald Dahl. It is a great and funny story! I think the children will get a kick out of it. We will be working on webbing characteristics of main characters, along with answering literal(answers stated in the story) and inferential(answers inferred from the story) questions.

Spelling - We will be working on a poem for fluency this week called Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich. Our spelling words will come from the poem. They will be listed under "Halloween" on spellingcity.com.

English - Adverbs, Animal Report -We have been studying biomes in science. The children got to pick out animals to research that were found in the biome they were studying. We spent 2 days in the computer lab researching and taking notes on the animals' habitats, life cycles, descriptions, etc.. We will now learn how to turn our research notes into paragraphs for our reports.

Math - Telling Time Please work on this skill at home with your child, as well as elapsed time....such as, "It's 5:00 now, what time will it be in 2 and half hours? or It's 3:30, what time was it 1 hour and 15 minutes ago?" Also, don't forget to continue studying multiplication facts with your child...(if he/she doesn't know them).

Science - We will finish our biomes and work on our animals to put into the biomes. We will also be reading about animal characteristics during our morning work time. *Remember that the edible animal cells will be due next Friday, November 5th.

****Other things to remember:

Red Ribbon Week
   Monday - Wear your PJ's and Follow your dreams, don't do drugs
   Tuesday - Wear your favorite team jersey and Stay in the game, don't do drugs
   Wednesday - Wear your clothes inside/out and remember that Drugs will turn you inside out
   Thursday - Wear a tie-dyed shirt and say Peace out to drugs
   Friday - Wear red for Red Ribbon Week

Halloween Party
   The Halloween Parade will be first thing in the morning with the party directly following it. The children need to come to school in costume(if they are dressing up) and will take turns changing into their regular clothes during the party.

Fall Leaves
   I've been watching the trees. Some of the leaves are starting to turn colors. This is a beautiful time of year. Children, you need to be on the lookout for pretty leaves in the next 2 weeks. We will be doing an art project on November 12th that will require leaves. Look for different colors, sizes, and shapes. You need to collect around 12 to 15, maybe even more. Once you have collected them, you need to rinse and press them. I always soak them in a sink of water for around 10 minutes, take them out, blot dry them with a paper towel, and then lay them in between layers of newspapers. I then will stack heavy books on top of them. They need to press for at least 3 days. Do not try to bring in leaves that have not been pressed. Your art project will not work. You have plenty of time to do this, if you start watching and thinking about it now. Happy leaf collecting....have fun.....our art project is really cool!

Spider cookies!

Pumpkin measurement!

Pumpkin Playdoh

M & M math

Video and quiz on the history of Halloween!

Pumpkin candle holders!

Just finished painting acorns!

Halloween Diorama

Finished pumpkin candle holders!

But the cutest pumpkin is my little pumpkin!

Week of 10/18

2010-10-17T14:27:00.002-05:00

Hope you have enjoyed your beautiful weekend! Yay for Fall Break this week! Since the week will be a short week, we will be changing things up a little bit! Here is what's ahead:

Reading - This will be the final week to complete our leveled books. Many of the children have finished their stories and are working on or have completed their story skeletons (book reports). The due date for the story to be completed is October 25th. The due date for story skeleton completion is October 29th. Please ask your child if he/she is done with his/her story. These stories have been quite a challenge for some of the children. A few of them have really struggled, not because it has been too difficult of a book (I made sure it was on their level), but because it's their first long chapter book. Most have risen to the challenge though! I'm super proud of them!!! We will be doing more leveled books in the future.

Math - multiplication practice

Spelling - no spelling this week

English - creative writing

Science - Biomes

Spanish - Our last lesson of this unit will be on Monday. We will have a test on Wednesday. I will send home a study guide on Monday.

We will be doing special learning centers this week as well! They should be a lot of fun! We will be covering art standards, math, science, and history.

Please don't forget to send a pumpkin to school tomorrow......Monday. Thanks so much for all you do to help your child succeed!!

Take a look at our fantastic 5 Pocket People!

I am super proud of my newest kiddos to pass their 12's!! Great job Jack, Jaycee, Roy, Matt, Hayden, Alexia, Kendrick, Lexi, Shelby O, Cayti, Sydney, and Cooper!!

Oops.....I didn't mean to mix him in with the kids....he didn't actually pass his 12's, but isn't he a cutie! He is a bear to represent Glenwood Grizzlies and Corderman's Cubs painted by our very own Matt! Thanks Matt for representing our class in the pumpkin decorating contest! You did an awesome job!

FYI

2010-10-12T13:00:00.002-05:00

*IMPORTANT*

The Edible Animal Cell Project due date has changed.

After thinking it over, I feel that I could have planned the timing of the Edible Animal Cell Project a little better.  The first reason is that we just had a big homework project due 1 week ago and I usually like to space things out a little better. The biggest reason, however, is that most of the children will want to use candy to represent their cell parts. Candy can get expensive when you have to buy several different kinds, so I thought what better time to have the project due, then to do it after Halloween when most of the children will have plenty of candy at their disposal!  The new due date will be Friday, November 5. Please save the information that I sent home with you for use later. Thank you!

Mrs. Corderman

Pictures!

2010-10-10T14:26:00.001-05:00

Briley is rocking out at mulitplication! She is the 4th to pass tests through her 12's! Yay Briley!

I took some shots of the kids with their birds they sewed with their own hands! I'm so proud of them because this was a somewhat challenging project for many of them! Now I ask myself......will I do this project again? I don't know about that....it was quite challenging for me to sew with 24 - 9 and 10 year olds! We made it through though...lol! The character lesson in all of this is first of all perseverance! Next, is just like our birds, we are all unique and special individuals........all worthy and beautiful!!

Last, but certainly not least, is Ellie! She is rocking at multiplication too! She came in 5th place in passing tests through 12's! Great finish Ellie!!

Week of 10/11/10

2010-10-10T14:11:00.000-05:00

Hi Families! Hope you have enjoyed your weekend! I have GREAT news!! My owl grant has been fully funded!!!! Yay! I had some anonymous donors, some donors that I don't even know, and then the Build-a-Bear Foundation finished it off with a donation! Wow! I am so excited! What is really neat about this is that it will tell the children that they matter, that their education is important, that people they don't even know want to invest in them! Thanks to all of you who voted for my project! I appreciate it so much!

Here is what is on the agenda this week:

Reading - The children will work on finishing their leveled novels this week on an individual basis. We've worked in literature circle groups for 2 weeks, but now I want them to finish up on their own. I will still have them meet to discuss their books though. When they are done, they will be doing a fun book report project called Story Skeletons! This is not a homework assignment. We will be working on them in class. We will also add short reading passages with comprehension questions to our morning work. The passages will be science related on the topic of animal adaptations.

English - Adjectives, daily morning English review

Spelling - Sounds of "i" List 5 will be up on spellingcity.com on Monday. Our Friday ended up so busy, we completely forgot to take our "O" spelling enrichment test! :o So sorry. I will give this test on Tuesday, and we will do the next enrichment list, listed after "O" words on Friday.

Math - Balancing equations, review of equations, expressions, function machines, and other previously learned skills We will have a test on Thursday. I will send home a study guide on Wednesday.

Social Studies - We will finish up our Oklahoma Symbols book and take a quiz on it. We will also learn how to read a road map of Oklahoma. This will be the last of social studies for awhile, while we concentrate on science.

Science - Animals and Biomes I will be sending home a homework project this week that will be due next Monday, October 18th. The project will be to create an edible animal cell. I will send home the specifics tomorrow. This is a super fun project, and especially fun when we get to eat them!

I want to BRAG about the children's 5 Pocket Biographies! Wow! They are exceptional!! I am so super impressed by how creative they are! We have had so many compliments on them. The children, I think, have been proud of themselves and they should be! Success breeds success......you should have seen the smiles on their faces when they brought them in......warms my heart! I also want to BRAG about the Oklahoma History test results!! Wow! They rocked the classroom with their scores! You should be so proud of them because they know their stuff!! Did you know all the answers? I would venture to say....no, you've slept a lot since you had to know this information. :) I'm sure they were excited they knew some things mom and/or dad didn't know!

The week after this week is Fall Break week. Since it is a short week, we will not be doing things like usual. We will be having learning centers for those 3 days along with other things, but the children will need to bring a pumpkin to school for those learning centers. The pumpkin can be as small as an apple or as large has they can carry. Please have the pumpkin to school by October 18th. The children can bring the pumpkin early if they want, since the animal cell is due that day too.

Please remember Fall Fun Day is this Wednesday. It should be a fun evening! Also, please remember to vote for our school playground at http://www.powerabrightfuture.com/. You will need to register first, but you can vote everyday. Search by: Glenwood There will be 3 Glenwood projects, but you can tell which one is ours by the picture of our playground. This would be incredibly beneficial to your child, so please take the time to vote. Thanks!

Book orders are due on October 14th. You can postdate the check for October 20th.

Saving Fred footage!

2010-10-03T14:46:00.000-05:00

Week of 10/4

2010-10-03T13:59:00.000-05:00

Hi Families! Hasn't the weather been beautiful?! Hope you're getting outside some to enjoy it! My son could live outside if I let him! :)

I will be gone on Monday to take my son to his pediatric eye specialist, but will be back on Tuesday.

Reading - We will continue our leveled literature circle groups working to find main ideas throughout their stories as well as identifying parts of speech in text.

English - We will finish up verb recognition and start identifying adjectives. We also continue to do a daily English review in our morning work.

Spelling - List 4....sounds of "e" I will put the list up on spellingcity.com on Tuesday. Last week we forgot about spelling enrichment until Thursday. I still had a few that wanted to do it anyway, but this week, just know the list is entitled "o enrichment words" on spellingcity.com. One night is usually not enough time to study these harder words.

Math - Expressions, Addition properties, Equations, Finding rules in patterns We will also continue to do our daily math review as well.

Social Studies - Oklahoma symbols, Great Depression and Dust Bowl Days We will be creating a study guide on Wednesday for our Oklahoma History Test. The test will be on Friday. This is the children's first major test. They will probably need to study both on Wednesday and Thursday evenings for it. We have talked quite a bit about the history in class and will continue to do so, but nothing helps more than follow-up at home.

*****Don't forget that the 5 Pocket People Biographies are due on Tuesday!***** I have had 2 already turned in that were phenomonal!! I can't wait to see the rest!

The Scrip orders are due on Tuesday by noon. I was mistaken in my earlier post thinking they were due this past Friday. There is still time to turn it in! :)

On November 9th, our class will be visiting the Cherokee Strip Museum and Turkey Creek School. The children will get to spend a day as a typical student in 1910. This is a very special and fun field trip for the kids! Most of the children dress up as pioneer children. The boys either wear jeans and a button up shirt, sometimes with suspenders, or overalls. The girls wear an old fashioned (floral or calico print) dress usually past the knees, many wear a bonnet as well. Some of the girls wear an apron as part of their dress too. It is definitely NOT mandatory to dress pioneer style, but encouraged. I wanted to give you plenty of notice so that you had time to find something or make something. Sometimes, I've had parents find things at thrift stores or they have borrowed something from someone. I've also had a few lucky ones that either knew how to sew or knew someone that did. I will send home a more detailed letter about the trip in a couple of weeks.

Don't forget that parent-teacher conferences are on Tuesday and Thursday afternoon/evenings. Hopefully, you have written down your time.

The children took home a fundraiser packet on Friday. We are all working hard to raise enough money to put in a new playground for our school. The goal for this fundraiser is for everyone to sell 4 items. I realize if you have more than one child doing this fundraiser, that's harder to do, but please, if you can, try to participate in this worthy cause! :)

Thanks for being such awesome, involved parents, and most importantly, for sharing your beautiful children with me!

Here are your cuties "Saving Fred"! This was a science experiment we conducted on Friday! Fun!

The newest student to Rock at Multiplication! Ben passed his 12's this week! Yeah Ben!

Week of September 27th

2010-09-25T16:52:00.002-05:00

Hi Families! I can't believe that it is already going to be October this coming Friday! Wow! We sure had fun this week watching Because of Winn Dixie on Thursday and having our Apple Day on Friday. I was amazed when we watched Winn Dixie at how many details the children could pick out that were different between the story and the movie. I love it! Everyone brought their apple for Apple Day! Yeah! I am so proud of the kids! We had a good time and hopefully they learned a lot! We had stations where I worked with one group at a time. They included: finding their apples' weight in grams and ounces, finding their apples' circumference and height in both centimeters and inches, apple taste testing, and using the scientific method to determine whether an apple would sink or float. I read a tall tale called Johnny Appleseed and we topped off our day eating homemade applesause with our kindergarten buddies! Fun! Thanks to Jumbos for donating apples to our class for our applesauce and taste testing! I really appreciate it!!

This week looks like this:

Reading - We will be enjoying our literature circles again this week. The skills we will be concentrating on are fluency and finding the main ideas of each chapter.

English - Verbs.....I will also give the children highlighter tape to highlight verbs in their literature circle books.

Spelling - List 3(sounds of 'a') This week I will make sure I add the list to spellingcity.com. Sorry I failed to do that last week...it completely slipped my mind! (I think I may be losing a little of my mind parenting a teenager and a toddler at the same time......I can't believe the similarities! Ha!) I will also start spelling enrichment this week and will add that list as well. Spelling enrichment, remember, is completely optional, but I really encourage it for those that find our regular spelling list unchallenging. :)

Math - Estimating sums and differences, adding and subtracting 4 digit numbers, and subtracting across zeros

Social Studies - Native American Removal, Civil War, moving West, land runs and cattle drives.....We will also make a clay artifact typical of the earliest people of Oklahoma...the Spiro Mound people. I also sent a homework project home with the children on Thursday. This assignment is due on October 5th. It is both a social studies grade and a reading grade. It is called a 5 Pocket Person. Make sure to ask your child for the directions I sent home describing the project.

Please continue to vote on our limeadesforlearning.com grant......remember to click on Find a Project and search by keyword: owl.........it's called "Hands on Learning right from the Owl's Mouth". Thanks!

***Also, don't forget about the Scrip Gift Card Program. Orders are due October 1st. This is a great and easy way to support your school! It's money you already spend anyway. For instance, I spend a few hundred dollars at Walmart each month, so I will just buy the Scrip Gift Card to Walmart. I will pay with it when I shop and money will go back to Glenwood. My family eats out sometimes, so I will buy a $25 Scrip Gift Card to Chilis. It's money that I will spend anyway and Chilis will give some back to Glenwood. I encourage you to take a look at this program if you haven't done so yet. It is such an awesome way to help our school. Believe me, with all the budget cuts lately, every dollar helps!

Take a look at our 2 kiddos who have passed their multiplication tests through 12's!! Kayla came in first with Brennan a close behind second!! Good job kids!! We have several more headed to their 12's possibly this week!!

REMINDERS

2010-09-23T19:06:00.000-05:00

Don't forget to bring your apple tomorrow if you haven't brought one yet. Also, please, please vote for our owl project. Directions for voting are on the previous post. Thanks so much!

Week of September 20th

2010-09-19T14:21:00.003-05:00

Hi Families! This will be an exciting week. There will be lots of fun to look forward to! Here is what it looks like:

Reading - We will finish Because of Winn Dixie on Tuesday. We have really enjoyed reading this wonderful story. On Wednesday, we will begin Literature Circles reading books matched to the children's reading levels. I hope that you set aside time each evening for your child to read. Reading is so important! You need to ask your child what his/her reading level is. I wrote down each child's reading level based on an Accelerated Reading Assessment tool online. I gave the children their level privately. I want them to use this level when checking out books. Many of my students are below grade level. At the beginning of 4th grade they should be between a 3.8 to 4.2 level to be on level for beginning 4th grade. Some are above, many are on level, but many are below. The best way to become a better reader is to simply spend time reading. In our busy world, I know that it's hard to find time to do that, but please make it a priority. I can assure you it will pay off! :)

English - Verbs

Spelling - Consonant Diagraphs - I will post the words on spellingcity.com on Monday....List 2. We will also begin enrichment spelling for those that want to participate. I will post that list online as well.

Math - Rounding, Estimating sums and differences, Multiplication Facts....please continue to practice at home

Social Studies - Natural Resources of Oklahoma, Native Americans of Oklahoma

THINGS TO REMEMBER FOR THIS WEEK:

On Monday we will have our first payday! This is an exciting day! Most of the children have been working very hard! If you haven't had a chance to check out the link, Economy System, on the right, please take a minute to do so.

The children have earned a Behavior Bingo! We will watch the movie Because of Winn Dixie as a reward! We will compare/contrast the movie to the book. We will do this on Thursday. The children may bring a popped bag of popcorn and a soft drink.

On Friday, we will have Apple Day! We will read the story Johnny Appleseed and do many learning stations and activities related to apples. I need each child to bring an apple to school by Thursday. If they do not bring an apple, they do not get to do the stations.

I was very disappointed that 8 children forgot their flour/salt mixture last week for our dough map. I really need family support to pull off many of the activities that I do throughout the school year. I fined the children (a fine they will pay on payday) and mixed up 8 more bags for these children, but told them that the next time they forget, they won't get to participate. 4th grade is a HUGE year for learning about RESPONSIBILITY. We talked about this in class and the fact that they are old enough to start doing for themselves. Parents are busy often times, so it's time the children step up to the plate and take some responsibility. They are old enough. This is very hard for me as their teacher to even think about leaving anyone out of an activity, but if I coddle and always save them, they will not learn anything. They will think, "Oh well, Mrs. Corderman will provide what I need and let me do it." I hope you understand and will help me to help your child become more independent and responsible this year. :)

I wrote a grant and submitted it to limeadesforlearning.com and donorschoose.org. I'm hoping to get enough votes on limeadesforlearning.com to get this grant funded. It goes with our Owl Unit in November. The project is dissecting owl pellets! The children love this project! I do this every year, but this year with budget cuts, we will not get to do it without outside funding. I'm so sad about this, but hopeful about the grant! Please go to limeadesforlearning.com and follow these directions to help us win this grant! :)

On the right there will be a link called Find a project....click on it.
Next, in the middle area of the page, search by subject...math and science, then search by keyword: owl.
My grant is called, Hands on science right from the owl's mouth!
If you vote on it, you have the option of getting a daily reminder to vote, I suggest this.
Please spread the word and if you are on Facebook, that is a great way to help out too.
Voting ends on September 30th. :O

Week of 9/13

2010-09-11T21:13:00.001-05:00

Hi Families! Hope your weekend was a good one! The children are doing awesome! I'm so proud of them! This week will be a busy one. Here is what it looks like:

Reading - We will continue reading the novel, Winn Dixie and working on comprehension, fluency, visualizing, and expanding our vocabulary. The children and I are enjoying this beautiful story. :)

Spelling - Vocabulary words from Winn Dixie.....I forgot to post the words on spellingcity.com but they should have brought home a list last week. I will post the words for sure this week. The first test will be Thursday and the final test will be Friday. Remember, if they make an A on the first test, they don't have to take the test on Friday.

English - More proper nouns

Math - On Monday, we will complete and go over a place value study guide. On Tuesday, we will have a test over place value. Please go over the study guide with your child on Monday evening to make sure they get all the concepts involved. We will begin rounding numbers on Wednesday. Please keep working on multiplication facts as well. Some of the children started their speed tests last week and are doing awesome!!!

Social Studies - We will begin our Oklahoma unit. We will begin by going over the land and regions of Oklahoma. We will also make a salt relief map of Oklahoma! Fun! :) Please send a ziplock bag with a salt/flour mixture. (1/2 cup of flour and 1/4 cup of salt) Please have this bag to me by Wednesday. If anyone can mix up the dough balls for me Wednesday morning, it would be extremely helpful!! Let me know if you can help out.

On Friday, we will be going on a field trip to the Cherokee Strip Museum to celebrate the Cherokee Strip Land Run. It should be very fun! We will leave school around 9:15 and get back around 10:45.

Thank you for helping us to reach our $200 goal with the Scholastic Book orders!!!! I was able to order almost 100 books with this order and still have lots more bonus points to order more books in the coming book orders. Thank you again!

Week of 9-7

2010-09-03T20:56:00.001-05:00

Hi Families!

Hope your week was a good one! I'm really enjoying your children. They are so fun and have such sweet spirits!

Here is what the week ahead looks like:

Reading - We will be reading the novel Because of Winn Dixie. Our text book just had an excerpt of the story and it's such a great story, I thought we needed to read it together as a class. We will be working on comprehension, prediction, visualizing, and fluency with this novel.

Spelling - We will be working on vocabulary words from Winn Dixie. The words are somewhat challenging, so between that factor and the short week this week, we will be spending 2 weeks on the words. We will have our first test on Thursday, September 16th. If your child makes an "A" he/she will not have to take the test the next day (Friday).

English - Plural Nouns

Social Studies - Map work - Look for a homework assignment coming home on Friday. This assignment will be due the following Friday, September 17th.

We always begin our day with morning work that includes both math and English. We go over all the answers in class each day. We have a test over the math part each Friday. We also journal write each morning. I write back to them as well. This is a great way for me to get to know your child!

I sent home our first Scholastic book order last Thursday. It's got a lot of great books for awesome prices. Remember, if our class collects a $200 order, then we get 6,000 bonus points which will purchase tons of books for our classroom library! Please help us reach our goal if you can! :)

I am in need of parent volunteers. If you can help out, please let me know. I need help copying papers each week. That involves about 30 minutes, once a week. I also will need help with some fun events coming up. If you can help out in any way, please let me know! I would SO APPRECIATE it!!!

Thanks for sharing your beautiful children with me this year! It's going to be a learning enriched, fun-filled year!!!

Week of 8/30/10

2010-08-29T15:42:00.000-05:00

Hi Families! It has been a great first 3 days with your kiddos! So anxious to get to know them even better! They have been delightful so far! This week will find us getting into more of a routine. I will let you know each week what we will be covering in our various subject areas, so be sure to keep checking back at least every Monday.

Thursday, the children applied for a classroom job and on Friday they found out what their title would be. It was quite exciting stuff!! Ask your child what his/her job is and check out the link at the right that says "Economy System" to find out more about it.

Your child also has an opportunity to join our class Brainiac Club. Most of the children have already jumped on board. Basically, this is a club that encourages learning new things, as well as remembering the old! I'm so proud of the kids and their excitement level with this! I have several children that have already earned a few stickers for tasks accomplished. Yay!! This club is not mandatory, but fun!

We are in desperate need of playground balls. If any of you have an extra ball laying around, please consider donating it to our class. We especially need bouncy balls (like for four square).

Here is what's ahead for the week with our academics:

Reading - We will be reading the story in our text called Because of Winn Dixie. We will be working on vocabulary, comprehension, and the reading skill, sequencing.
Math - Place Value
English - Nouns
Spelling - Consonant blends......please check out spellingcity.com for list 1. I have a link to the right called "Spelling Practice" that will take you there. I will add the list on Monday morning sometime. I will start spelling enrichment in 2 weeks.
Social Studies - Map work

We will begin Spanish in 2 weeks. I take turns with Social Studies and Science units so that I can more thoroughly teach each concept. We will be doing Social Studies first starting with map skills and then our Oklahoma unit. Next we will be studying geology for science.

Welcome!

2010-08-22T14:41:00.002-05:00

Welcome to 4th grade! I'm so excited about getting to know your children! It's going to be a great year! Please bookmark this website so that you can get to it easily. I recommend you check it every Monday at least. I usually update once a week, but sometimes I will add more news as the week goes on. Please check the links to the right of the page to find out about policies/procedures, our economy system, how to contact me, and lots of other beneficial sites. This week we will just be settling in getting to know each other and learning expectations. I'm looking forward to a wonderful year!

Last Week.......:( .........:) ........ Bittersweet!

2010-05-15T15:36:00.009-05:00

Time to say goodbye............:(

I'd be crazy to say that I don't love summer because of course I do! On the flip side of that though, is the fact that I have to let go of my kiddos. Please know they are loved, cherished, and will be missed. You've raised great kids!

This week, I will basically be babysitting! We have a lot to keep us busy though with volleyball, the auction, awards assembly, Grizzly Day, movies, fun worksheets, K-9 officer, kindergarten buddy activities, game day, cleaning, helping Mrs. C take apart the room, and other things! Whew! It will be a whirlwind week!

Thanks so much for being such wonderfully involved and supportive parents this year! What a blessing you have been! So long families! May all of you be blessed on all your future endeavors!

Before the water balloon fight!! Look! Someone played a sneaky!!!

Thanks Mr. Rainey, Mrs. Parker, and Mrs. Albright for being such good sports!! You rock!!

After the water balloon fight!

The annual egg drop! Thanks Mr. Starks for helping us out!

In celebration of our egg drop, we made edible bird nests complete with eggs!

Leonardo's field trip!

State Float project! Awesome work kids!

Our terrarium project....thanks Mrs. Hinote!

Grassheads!

A few things to note:

Wednesday is Grizzly Day, so make sure your child wears old clothes and shoes to school.

Thursday is Game Day. Your child may bring a special snack/drink and game(electronics included) to school.

Here is Lisa Bozeman's Snickerdoodle recipe! The kids love them! So do I!

Snickerdoodle Cookies

These cookies are easy and Yummy!! They're so soft, it's like eating air!

1 c butter

1 1/2 c sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 3/4 c flour

cream butter & sugar.

add eggs, beat until fluffy.

sift together dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture a little at a time.

using a cookie scoop, I drop each ball of dough into cinnamon & sugar mixture and squish with a fork with a cross hatch.

bake at 350 for 8-9 minutes.

My best tips:

1)use an electric mixer, you can't beat the eggs enough doing it by hand

2) I take them out of my oven at 8 min, whether they look done on not & I let them cool a few minutes on the cookie sheet.

3) I store the cookies in the freezer, I pack them up as soon as their cool and when we want one they microwave in a few seconds to be like they were just baked.

Frozen cookies also travel well in lunch bags to school.

enjoy!!

from Clay's mom
Lisa Bozeman

Butterflies

2010-05-13T19:29:00.005-05:00

The children were very excited to receive their very own Painted Lady Larva. These caterpillars will turn into beautiful butterflies in a couple of weeks. I put a link to the right of the page on how to raise these caterpillars. On that link is another link on caterpillar care that will show you what each stage looks like as well as how to make the sugar/water mixture for the newly emerged butterfly. This link also tells you how to construct a shoebox habitat. Once the caterpillar changes into a chrysalis, you will need to move it into this homemade habitat. I have one other suggestion for a habitat: get a pop up hamper from the dollar store and put some tulle material from Hobby Lobby to lay over the hamper. That would make an easy habitat. :) Enjoy this beautiful metamorphosis!!

FYI

2010-05-11T16:50:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow will be our balloon fight with Mr. Rainey and the secretaries! It will be at 2:00. We won't worry about changing clothes because school will be almost out anyway! Get your strategy on!!! Yeah!!!!!!!

Week of May 10

2010-05-08T09:34:00.002-05:00

I can't believe how fast these last days are ticking away! I had to shed a few tears this morning about letting these precious babies go! I pray many blessings over them in the coming years!

Busy week ahead!

Reading - We are reading Stone Fox as a class. The children have comprehension pages and vocabulary work that accompany the story. On Thursday, we will get to watch the movie and compare/contrast the book to the movie.

English - Review work

Math - Review work

Science - Weather - We will also continue to journal about our terrariums and grassheads. One day this week, we will have hair cut day with our grassheads too! Fun! Also, we will be doing the scientific method with our egg drop containers.

Social Studies - Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell

Spelling - done

Reminders - Our Egg Drop will be Thursday at 9:00. The Egg Container is worth 200 points in science. Can't wait to see what you all come up with!
We will have 3 guest speakers this week.......1 on Tuesday and 2 on Wednesday.
The Leonardo's field trip is on Friday! Yeah! We can't wait! Let's pray for good weather. It looks like we have a chance of rain.
The Spring Fling is on Friday too! It starts at 5:30!

Thanks for coming to Parent's Day! It meant a lot to your children! I thought they did an awesome job!

That's all for now! Oh, I wanted to say though, that the State Floats were unbelievable! Wow! I am amazed at the creative ability of you all! They all are terrific! We have had lots of compliments!!

Week of May 3rd

2010-05-01T13:16:00.002-05:00

Looking forward to another great week with your special kiddos! Here's what's happening:

Reading - Literature Circles

English - Poetry - power point

Math - Review - Order of Operations, place value, multiple addend addition, sequencing decimals

Social Studies - USA fun facts - America's grizzly bears and Franklin Roosevelt *Don't forget that the State Floats are due on Tuesday

Science - Observation Journals on plant projects (grassheads and terrariums), climate and wind

Spelling - States (2nd half)

Don't forget about the important events coming up! This week will be the Little Olympics on Wednesday and Parents Day on Friday.

Important Dates to Remember

2010-04-27T16:17:00.006-05:00

Hey Families! Isn't this a crazy time of year.....and then you have to deal with a teacher who is the Queen of Big Projects!! :O Thanks for putting up with me though! You are awesome, but most of all your kiddos are! I am going to miss them like CRAZY! Here is a list of events coming up:

May 4th - State Floats are due
May 5th - Little Olympics (The kids can bring concession stand money that day.)
May 7th - Parent's Day (1:30) - (A formal invitation will be sent home next week.)
May 11th - Guest speaker 9:00
May 12th - Guest speaker 9:00
May 13th - Egg Drop (More info to come......another project.....but the kids want to do it and some parents encouraged me to do it.....so blame them! :))
May 14th - Leonardo's field trip 9:40-2:30, Spring Fling
May 17th - Auction 9:00, Awards Assembly 1:30
May 18th - Guest speaker 9:00, Volleyball-Teachers vs. 5th graders 1:30
May 19th - Grizzly Day (morning), Yearbook signing 2:00

One more thing to note - The last spelling enrichment test will be next Tuesday. This is list 27.5.

One more thing.........

2010-04-23T11:50:00.002-05:00

Could you please edit your child's story this weekend. We need to submit for publishing no later than Tuesday. These stories are absolutely fabulous! I am so proud of the kids and can't wait to get the published books back!!

Week of 4-26

2010-04-22T08:45:00.003-05:00

Hey Families! Wow! The weeks are just zooming by! I am so going to miss your children!

Here is what's ahead for the week:

Reading: We will finish up our Tall Tale unit.

English: Poetry

Spelling: States 1st half (look for this title on spellingcity.com) Last enrichment list will be List 27.5

Math: Subtracting fractions with unlike denominators, finding the percents of numbers

Science: Plants

What's ahead for the week of April 19th!

2010-04-16T06:37:00.006-05:00

Reading - Tall Tales

Math - Reducing fractions, adding fractions with unlike denominators

Spelling - Homophones, list 26 on spellingcity.com (enriched list 26.5)

Science - Plants

English - Poetry

Social Studies - State research is due Tuesday. I am so proud of your children! This has been a big assignment.......... easy, but time consuming. They've had a month to do this assignment, and hopefully learned the all important skill of time management. I have about half the class done early! Great Job!! Most of the rest are 3/4 of the way done which is good too! A couple of kiddos have more to learn about this concept though. :0 They are going to have to really work hard over the next several days to get it done. Procastination hurts!! I totally understand life is busy. My daughter in 7th grade is still learning about procrastination and its effect, and how to balance extra curricular activities with school work. It's a tough concept to learn! They will get there with our help though! :)

The following pictures are examples of our next long term homework assignment. If your child is done with his/her state research, I will send home the directions for this project today. These are state floats! They are pretty cool to make and share! They are due on May 4th. Thanks for those that sent extra "pop" treats for our whole class! It was so generous of you!

Thanks too, to those who have volunteered to go to Leonardo's with us and signed up to donate an item for our auction! You are greatly appreciated! I honestly could not pull off all that I do without your help and support! Parents and teachers working together make all the difference in making memorable school years for our children! They deserve it!

We will be having a Parent's Day on May 7th at 1:30. We will be presenting a poetry powerpoint presentation! Each child will be creating a slide in the presentation to share. We will also have an Art Show and serve cookies and lemonade to you. Hopefully, you can make this special day!

We are out of kleenex, PLEASE HELP! Believe me, you don't want to be in a room with 23 children and NO KLEENEX! If you can pick up a box when you're at the store this weekend, it would be AWESOME!

I need your signed book order form on Monday. Even if you don't order a book, I have to have a signed note from you in order for not only your child to receive the free book, but for the company to do this free project for all of the children. Please don't forget to send the note back!

We are missing a Because of Winn Dixie book belonging to the library. Please, check to see if you accidently have it. You might check a backpack too.

FYI

2010-04-14T08:50:00.004-05:00

I've already had parents ask about what they could donate for our auction. :) I have 12 items purchased already ranging in price from $1 to $20. Types of items I have are: slime, poster, detective kit, and 2 "build an animal" kits. Parents in the past have sent Nerf items, balls, water play toys, craft kits, legos.......whatever your child likes, I'm sure other children will like too. If you work for a company that could donate things, that is an option too. I had a parent that was the main manager of Cato's a couple years ago, so Cato's donated lots of purses, earrings, and shoes! Feel free to donate whatever you can in the price range I listed. Don't feel like you need to spend a lot or that you even have to do it. I know it can be an expensive time of year right now.

Needing help

2010-04-13T17:04:00.002-05:00

Here is a letter that will be going out tomorrow.

April 14th, 2010

Dear Families,
I have 2 big events coming up that I need to tell you about and request your help with.
Auction – As you know, we have had an economic system in place in our classroom this year. It has been a great and enriching experience for the kids to learn how our world works. Having job responsibilities, paying rent, or buying a home, learning how to save for the future, paying for mistakes, learning how to delay gratification and wait for things, has all been a rewarding experience for me to watch your children learn. I do have to say that some of the children, I predict, will do very well financially in their future, while others have a little more to learn. J It has been funny! Here is where I need your help. Our auction will be held around the second week of May. The auction is for the kids to spend the money they have managed to save all school year. I have been collecting items all school year for this, but it would really help if you could donate a gently used, or new item for the auction as well. I really want the auction to be fun and special for the kids.
Field Trip – We have been approved to go on a field trip to Leonardo’s! We are so excited! The field trip is Friday, May 14th. We will leave school at about 9:45 and get back about 2:30. I need some parent volunteers to go with us to help supervise a group of 5 children.
If you can help with either of these events, please fill out the bottom portion of this letter and return it to school. The end of this school year is hard for me because I have grown to love your children. They are a very special and sweet group of kids. I will miss them so much. Thank you for all your support this year and for sharing your dear children.

With much appreciation,

___ I can donate an item for the auction.
___ I can be a volunteer for the field trip to Leonardo’s

_________________ ______________________
Child’s name Parent’s name

Week of April 12th

2010-04-09T08:18:00.004-05:00

This week will be testing week! Yeah! It's finally here and we can get it over with! I am so proud of your kiddos! They have been working so hard preparing! They are going to do great! We will take the reading test on Tuesday and Wednesday and the math test on Thursday. I am so thankful they agreed to break up the reading test into 2 days this year. It is very long and grueling for a one day test. Two days will be much, much better! Please make sure your child gets adequate rest and a nutritious breakfast! You may send a special snack with your child on testing days as well as a juice.

The other things we will be doing during testing week are 2 big projects. We will be constructing a marble maze! Fun! This project covers both math and science objectives including, but not limited to: measurement, angles, line relationships, and forces at work! The second project is our writing project! The kids are so excited about this! We are busy writing stories to get published! Your child has a code to access a website to begin the process of publishing his/her story. On this website, your child can type the story, design the cover and illustrations, and even scan photos from home. Check it out! You might want to get involved with this process to help your child make the best story ever! Every child will get a free paperback book of their story, but I will send order forms home in case you want to order more paperbacks or a hardback book. I will be sending that form home next week sometime. Please make sure you sign the form regardless of whether you are purchasing more copies. I have to have it back in order for your child to get the free one. Our publication date is April 27th, but I'm encouraging the children to get their story done sooner, so that we won't risk not getting the books back before school is out. After testing, I will be taking the kids to the computer lab 2 times a day, so that one time can be spent completely on the story. I encourage working on it at home when there is time as well.

Our 50 state research assignment due date is fast approaching! Next week, we will begin working everyday in computer lab on this assignment, but please continue to work on it at home as well. Yesterday, the children averaged about one state every 10 minutes. Next week, I will be sending home the big assignment for their chosen state to the children who are done early. This assignment will not be due until May sometime. As we get closer, I will give you the due date. I have 3 students already done and they have chosen New York, Florida, and Colorado.

In celebration of testing being over and your children's awesome work ethic, we will be having a "pop" party next Friday. Your child may bring any food that has the word "pop" in it, such as pop tarts, pop, popcorn, popsicles, pop rocks, etc.. :) They may also bring games from home.

That's about all for now!

Projects and due dates!

2010-04-05T09:41:00.003-05:00

Wow! Your children are so fun to work with! They have such great work ethic and tons of creativity! I assigned a project last Monday that I intended to make a 2, maybe 3 day assignment, but your kiddos got so into it that I decided to give them more time. Their job was to design their own zoo with a partner. I gave them poster board and graph paper. We then brainstormed things that would be found at a zoo. Then they went to town! They are doing a spectacular job! I told them they could use animal stickers if they wanted, but to NOT tell their parents they HAD to have them. :) Talk about competitive! They are so competitive with their posters, but it really sets the standards for all of the kids when they are turning out SO terrific! The objective in all of this is to understand area and perimeter. They have to find the area and perimeter of each enclosure in the their zoo. Hopefully, they will remember these concepts after this project! :O This poster project is due Wednesday morning. They will have 2 more class times to work on it. Many have chosen to take the posters home. You should be very proud of them. You are raising great kids! Next year may be hard for me because I will always want to compare this class and their work ethic! They will be great future leaders of tomorrow!

I wanted to mention a couple more things that are coming up:

50 state research - due April 20th This seems like a lot, but it really isn't that hard, and I'm giving them plenty of time. A very important concept for them to learn for future success is time management. We talked about procrastinating and how that causes unnecessary stress. Through this project, I want them to get familiar with each state and choose one to dive further into for a special project. I hope they will choose a state that they want to learn more about, not one they already know a lot about. :)

I will be sending home a math homework assignment today that is due on Friday. It is constructing 3 dimensional objects. This assignment will give them a better understanding of what shapes make 3 dimensional objects. Example: To make a square pyramid, you would need 4 triangles and 1 square. Please talk to your children about this concept as they are constructing.

We will have 2 more homework assignments before the end of the year, one that will be due at the end of April and one that will be due in May. One assignment is the state assignment that I mentioned before. The other one is for a very fun day coming up after testing!! I will let you know more specifics later.

Week of April 5th

2010-03-31T11:35:00.004-05:00

Hey Families!

This week we will be very busy gearing up for testing next week! We will continue reading our historical fiction books and making a timeline of important events from our stories. Our spelling list this week is List 25 on spellingcity.com. This list covers open syllables. The rest of our week will consists of review, review, review!! We will be reviewing using our smartboard and responders as well as playing a jeopardy type game! This makes reviewing way more fun! :) Please remember that the Measurement at Home homework assignment is due on Tuesday. I will be sending home a new homework assignment on Tuesday involving constructing 3 dimensional objects. This assignment is due on Friday. I will be sending home a Spanish study guide on Monday for our test on Thursday. The test will cover animals. It's not too hard, but the children still need to go over it. :)

I am EXTREMELY proud of your children! They have been reading like mad! Our March Madness contest was a great success! They all did super! We celebrated on Wednesday with a "puppy chow" snack and a basketball movie, Like Mike!

The SPCA forgot about us! They apologized a lot and rescheduled for next Wednesday.

Hope you have a great week! Keep checking the blog for future updates!

Update!

2010-03-26T21:21:00.004-05:00

The SPCA is coming on Wednesday to talk to the children about their organization, dog and cat care, and a few other things. They will be answering questions as well. It is always lots of fun and very informative! At that time, they will be picking up our donations. Thanks so much to those who have donated. If you haven't donated and would like to, please have your donations to the classroom by Wednesday morning. PLEASE DO NOT FEEL OBLIGATED! It is purely optional. :) Thanks a lot!

Week of 3-29-10

2010-03-26T10:23:00.002-05:00

Hi Families!

Hope you enjoyed student-led conferences! I thought the children did fabulous! You should be VERY proud of them! Hopefully you got a better feel for our classroom environment. :)

We have 2 weeks until state testing! We will be doing a lot of review these next 2 weeks. We review old concepts ALL the time anyway, but we will be reviewing even more now. Some review will be on the smart board and some in a game format to make it more fun! We will be so glad to get these tests over with, but the kids do NOT need to worry about it. They will do fine!

This week in reading, we will finish our nonfiction book reports and begin historical fiction books. These historical fiction books are awesome! They cover historical events that we have covered such as the Underground Railroad, the Revolutionary War, and the Oregon Trail. They are told through the eyes of a child during that period in history! I think the children will love them.

Math: Measurement - look for a measurement homework assignment to be sent home on Wednesday.

No spelling or English these next 2 weeks to make room for state testing review.

Science: We will finish up our geology unit this week. We will talk more about minerals and also talk about volcanoes. I will send home a study guide on Monday for the geology test that's on Thursday.

Social Studies: I taught the children this past Thursday how to use worldbookonline.com for their 50 state research project. They did super! 5 or 6 of the children were already pros at this because they had already started their research at home. Wow! Impressive! The rest of the children should know how to do it now too, and seemed to like it. Most were eager to get going! The research is due April 20th. The kids will be doing a very fun homework project for a chosen state when they are done with their research.

Well, the kids are doing super with our March Madness Reading Challenge! I am so very proud of them!! Here are the results so far:

Week 1: Boys-66pts. Girls-91pts.
Week 2: Boys-51 Girls-41
Week 3: Boys-81 Girls-57
Total: Boys-198 Girls-189

The last day of the competition is March 30th, so anything could happen! Keep reading! Our record holder reader for the boys is Nick Anderson and for the girls, Brielle Walker!! Super job you two, and everyone else for reading at home!! I'm proud of you! I will announce the winner on Wednesday, March 31st. We will celebrate with a pizza party on Thursday! More details about that on Wednesday! Keep reading!!!!

Debt free update and a "for fun" pic!

2010-03-21T12:08:00.002-05:00

I missed sweet Clay for my February Debt free kids! Congratulations Clay on being debt free! These 3 cuties all wore the same shirt on the same day without even planning it! Great minds think alike!

Week of 3/22

2010-03-12T14:35:00.007-06:00

I hope you enjoyed our 4th grade program last night! I thought the kids were fantastic! They worked so hard preparing for it. We will be glad to get back in our routine though! :)

Here is what's ahead for the week after Spring Break:

Reading - We will continue with our dog theme. The kids have been reading great 4th and 5th grade level books like Shiloh, Because of Winn Dixie, and News for Dogs. They've been passing AR tests like crazy! They are currently working with a partner creating a poster advertising one of these books. We will finish these posters when we get back from Spring Break. We will also read a nonfiction dog book and do a nonfiction book report. The skill we will focus on this week is inference.

Spelling - List 24 on spellingcity.com (spellings of /shun/)

English - We will choose a dog breed to research and create a dog book.

Math - Relating fractions to decimals on a number line, adding and subtracting decimals

We will be testing 3 weeks after Spring Break. There are so many objectives the children are tested on, that we have to move pretty fast. By the time testing gets here, we will have covered most all of our Oklahoma PASS objectives. There are a few concepts, however, that I feel we need to go more in depth on. When testing is behind us, we will be revisiting some concepts to review and some to dive further into.

Science - Geology - crystal experiment, weathering and erosion

Social Studies - Make your way through the USA! This 9 weeks will be spent traipsing through the USA gathering basic information about each state. The goal is to learn about each state. This is somewhat of a race to the finish with the first kids to get all 50 states having 1st pick of a state to do special projects on. We will be working in the computer lab on this project on Thursdays, but the kids may work on this at home as well. A good source online is worldbookonline.com. The password and username both are glenwood. The info sheets for this project are accessible to your child at school. Some of the children have already picked up some sheets and are already on it!!

Today, I sent home a sheet with your child's information in regards to Accelerated Reader. It gives a website that you can access from home to see how your child is doing with AR. It's pretty awesome! You can also set it up, so that you can receive email results each time your child takes an AR test. Be sure to check this out!

The week we get back from Spring Break, will be conference time. I do conferences a little different than most. I do student-led conferences. Please look for the link about this type of conferencing on the right. I will be sending the following note home on Monday, March 22. If, however, you already know a time and would like to email me, please feel free to do so.

Dear Parents,
For the last several years, I have held student-led conferences. This is a type of conference where your child gets to be in charge. Your child will greet you with a letter. He/She will go over his/her strengths and weaknesses, as well as his/her report card. He/She will then take you on an adventure in our classroom. You will get to have a chance to take a peek at a typical day in our classroom. I have had wonderful response from both my students and parents using this type of conferencing. It seems to give the children ownership of the choices they make, as well as a chance to analyze themselves on what they are good at and what they struggle at. It gives them focus too. As for parents, it helps you to see your child in a different light. You may walk away having learned something about your child that you didn’t know before. The time during conferencing is a good connecting time. Please cut off and fill out the form and return it to me. If after these student-led conferences, you would like to talk to me personally, please let me know and we can schedule a time to meet.
Respectfully,
Child’s Name_______________
Thursday, 3-25 Friday, 3-26
3:15-3:45_____ 8:30-9:00_____
3:45-4:15_____ 9:00-9:30_____
4:15-4:45_____ 9:30-10:00____
4:45-5:15_____ 10:00-10:30____
5:15-5:45_____
5:45-6:15_____
6:15-6:45_____
6:45-7:15_____

Thanks for all your support this year and for sharing your beautiful children with me. They are truly precious. Hope you have a wonderful Spring Break!

FYI

2010-03-10T21:45:00.001-06:00

I sent a note home today about the program and where to meet. Boys meet in Mrs. Rust's room and girls meet in my room between 6:05 and 6:10. After the program, wait outside those same classrooms for your child.

FYI

2010-03-09T19:16:00.002-06:00

We need the game Twister for stage decorations. If any of you have that game, please share it with us. We could use more than 1. Thanks!

The kids asked if we could NOT take a break from spelling enrichment. How could I say no to that?! It is list 23.5 on spellingcity.com.

This month, we are reading dog books and will be doing some dog projects after Spring Break. I am reading The Autobiography of a Stray to the kids. It is a wonderful, somewhat heartbreaking story of life through a stray. The children are feeling moved to have a donation drive for our local SPCA. We brainstormed a list of items that we could donate. They include:

treats
collars
blankets
towels
toys
shampoo
bowls

These donations can be for either a cat or a dog. This is of course totally optional. I've had several classes choose to do this project and all found it to be very rewarding. I have the SPCA come and talk to the kids about what they do and they also teach a mini animal care course. They then take our donations. It's a pretty neat day! If you would like to donate something, we will be collecting donations over the next few weeks.

Pictures!

2010-03-07T09:44:00.008-06:00

February Debt Free Kids! Good job Nick, Brett, and Brielle!Camping out with a good book!

Group project working on cause and effect and sequencing with flashback!

Nice shades Austin!!

January Debt Free Kids! Awesome job Bradon, Ryan, and Maddie!

Clay, that apple is almost as big as your head!

Red Day for Read Across America Week! Yeah! We ALL wore red!

Week of 3/8/10

2010-03-04T12:57:00.003-06:00

Hi Families!

This week, we will be very busy practicing for our 4th grade program. The program dress rehearsal is at 1:30 on Thursday and the real performance is at 6:30 Thursday. More info from Ms. Salisbury will follow. It is such a fun play! Can't wait for you to see your cuties!

Agenda:

Reading - We will continue reading our dog books and finding the main ideas of each chapter while we read. When the children are done with their stories, they will fill out a character, problem, solution flip report and work with a partner to create a poster advertising their book. Some of the kids are done with their book already and have started a new dog book. I'm so proud of them!

Math - Relating fractions to decimals, equivalent decimals, and comparing decimals

English - Linking verbs (didn't get to it this past week) and pen pal letters

Social Studies - Wagon types, gold, Alaska and Hawaii Our West location test will be on Thursday and our capital test will be on Friday. Your child will need to take the text book home to study, unless he/she still has the guide I sent home last week. We've been doing a website almost every Thursday practicing all 50 state locations, so most of the kids are pretty good at knowing where all the states are, but the capitals are a different story. Make sure your child knows both things for the West tests.

Science - Geology - We will be studying the layers of the Earth (including an edible model), the 3 types of rocks (We will rock eat too!), and fossils (We will make fossils also!).

Spelling - silent letters (spellingcity.com list 23) We will be taking a spelling enrichment break this week.

We only need 6 postcards to have a postcard from all 50 states! Yeah! This class will be the first class to do this! Those states are: Wyoming, North Dakota, W. Virginia, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Delaware. We need Alabama too, but Holly is visiting there right now and will bring it to us when she returns! Thanks to all who have helped us to reach our goal! I will tell you about a new challenge for the kids involving the states soon!

T-shirt sizes needed

2010-03-01T16:38:00.002-06:00

If you haven't sent back the note requesting your child's T-shirt size, please do so. If you have lost the form, just send a note with a size and your signature. Thank you! We really need these back tomorrow.

Week of March 1st!

2010-02-26T12:57:00.003-06:00

Wow! March is here already! Now if only Spring weather would get here! Here is a look at next week:

Reading - Literature Circles - Dog themed books - Skill focus - main ideas

Math - Comparing fractions, comparing and ordering fractions, adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators

Spelling - List 22 ight/ought/aught Enriched list 22.5 will be added soon

Social Studies - Comparing the Long Walk to the Trail of Tears, the West region landforms and resources, Navajo Indians, Oregon Trail

Science - This is our last week studying the body. We will be watching a series of 20 min. organ videos and taking an open note test on Wednesday.

English - Commas in a series and linking verbs

Don't forget that this week is Read Across America Week! Thank you to all who have and will donate goodies for Read Across America week! I will be sending home a note about our March Madness Reading Challenge on Monday! Fun Fun!!

Read Across America Week is next week!

2010-02-22T21:24:00.001-06:00

The following is a note going home on Tuesday:

Next week is Read Across America week! We will celebrate as a class and as a school! We could use your help with supplies. Here are the days of the week themes:

Monday: We are popping over good books! (eat popcorn)
Tuesday: We are toasting a good book! (toast a good book with juice)
Wednesday: We are pickled green over books! (eat pickles)
Thursday: We are camping out with a good book! (wear pj’s, bring a sleeping bag and flashlight)
Friday: We are sweet on books! (eat cookies)

The school will be sending home a letter to explain the school wide themes. I tried to make mine work with the school’s themes.

Please cut the bottom portion of this note if you can donate something for next week! Thank you in advance for helping out!

We will also be doing a very COOL March Madness Reading Challenge, so stayed tuned!

*********************************************************
Child’s name_____________

I can help by donating:
___jar of pickles
___pkg. of cookies
___bag of pre-popped popcorn(like the big bags sold at Walmart)
___pkg. of juice boxes

Week of 2-22-10

2010-02-19T11:33:00.003-06:00

Thank you to those who have donated antibacterial wipes!!! We have 11 containers now! We really appreciate it! The kids were actually excited today when they got to use a wipe to clean their desktop! Funny! :) Here is a look at next week:

Reading: We will finish up our mystery books and related work this week. The kids have become little bookworms. I tell them it's reading time and they get excited and almost instantly they are all absorbed into their books. I LOVE it! We have had some great discussions about the plot and climax of a story. I'm so proud of them! We will also do a cause and effect project.

Math: Reducing fractions, converting improper fractions and mixed numbers

Spelling: Spellings of /f/ spellingcity list 21, enriched list 21.5

English: Capitalization and Combining sentences

Science: We will finish up learning about our bodies.

Social Studies: Southwest region - We will begin with learning what states it includes and learning about its products and resources. We will then study Westward Expansion.

Spanish: We will review the current unit on Monday and Wednesday and take a test on Friday. I will send home a study guide on Monday.

Week of 2/16

2010-02-15T14:22:00.002-06:00

Hi families! It's nice to be among the living again! I hated to miss the Valentines party with the kiddos! I had a lot of sweet treats and gifts on my desk when I returned today as well as a precious get well card. Your children are such sweeties! Thanks so much! The kind words and thoughtfulness mean a lot!

This week we will continue with our mystery genre in reading. The children seem to love this genre! We will also work more on cause and effect since I didn't get to it last week.

Spelling: ou and oi words List 20 on spellingcity.com Enriched list is 20.5

Math: Fractions! We will also, as always, continue to review previously learned concepts.

Social Studies: Midwest Region unit independent study Thursday will be our state location test and Friday will be our state capital test for that region. Please make sure your child has his/her study guide or text book to study.

Science: Human Body

English: Noun review

We are out of antibacterial wipes. If everyone could send 1 container, that would be awesome! We go through quite a bit. If you think about it, 1 round container usually contains 36 wipes. With 23 students, we go through 1 container with 1 and a half uses. We usually use them to sanitize our desks on Friday(cleaning day). Sometimes, we use them for other things as well. Thanks in advance for helping us to stay clean and well.

FYI

2010-02-10T16:31:00.002-06:00

I sent home a math study guide today for a test on Friday and midterm grade reports.

States needed for postcard contest!

2010-02-10T08:12:00.003-06:00

Here is the list of states we need:

Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, W. Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, N. and S. Carolina, Wisconsin, N. and S. Dakota, Wyoming, Oregon, and Arizona.

FYI

2010-02-09T17:17:00.004-06:00

Hi families! Just a couple of things.......The Valentines party is this Friday. We will be making valentine sacks tomorrow to hold valentines. It is much easier and quicker for the kids to pass out valentines if they do not have names on them. Just put who it's from. If your child is one who really loves to pick out specific ones for people then by all means put who it's to also. :) It's really ok. Your child should have a class list in their desk for a project we've been doing. They may take that list home if they need it, but just be sure to bring it back.

I wanted to tell you about a year long project we've been doing that I thought you all knew about. Evidently, you don't know. Sorry. I have a contest every year on collecting postcards. We are trying to get all 50 states. So far in the past, the most we've collected is 37. Please help us collect all 50 this year! Beau made a list of the states we still need. I will post that as soon as I get that from him.

I sent home the Midwest state study guide the children made yesterday. Hopefully, you saved it and put it in a safe spot. The tests will be next week probably on Thursday and Friday with locations first and capitals second. They may also take their text books home.

That's about it for now. I will post any new news as it comes! Have a great rest of the week!

Week of 2-8

2010-02-05T15:07:00.004-06:00

Hi families! Well, Chinese New Year was lots of fun! I was excited to see that many of the children could use chopsticks! :) They were awfully cute! I will post pictures as soon as I get parent permission from the kindergarten parents to post their children's pictures on the blog.

Here is the agenda for this week:

Reading - We will begin new independent books with the genre, mystery. We will also continue to work on the skill, cause and effect.

Spelling - Spellings of /oo/ List 19 is on spellingcity.com. with the enrichment list being 19.5.

English - Verb tenses and guide words

Math - Congruent shapes, transformations, and symmetry, review previously learned skills

Social Studies - We will continue with the Midwest unit study. We will go over the states and capitals on Monday. The children will make a study guide to take home.

Science - Human Body We will be making an outline of our bodies and be learning about and adding a different organ each day. This is a FUN project!

Everyone of the solar systems turned out phenomenal! I am so proud of the children's hard work! We received countless compliments on them! The kids can take them home if they haven't already done so, or you may come and pick them up.