Handchime Performance

This morning we traveled over to the high school to hear a Christmas Handchime Performance from Ms. White's 8th grade General Music Class. They were very good and the students really enjoyed hearing the festive holiday music. Here are a few pictures from the event. Enjoy!

Tacky Christmas Sweater Day

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from your teachers!

Christmas Party

Christmas Party

December 20, 2011

Dear Parents,

      Our Christmas party will be Tuesday, December 20^th.  We thought we would relieve some stress and time off of your hands this year and do something a little different…If your child is going to attend the Christmas party, we would appreciate it if you would send $3.00 for the treats.  We will go purchase the treats.  This will allow us to have a variety of treats and make sure that we don’t have too many duplicates.  Please send $3.00 by Thursday December 15th. 

Merry Christmas!

Mrs. Murders, Mrs. Reeves, and Mrs. Chuang

***If you are willing to help by sponsoring another student that would be great!! You can just send the extra money with your child. Thanks in advance for your generosity!!

Binders

Today we had “The Great Binder Cleanout of November!” (lol)  Everything in your child’s binder right now should stay in there until we tell them they no longer need it. We will make sure the students know what to keep in their binder and when to throw it away that way there is not confusion and we can avoid unnecessary signing. We appreciate your support and help in this situation as we try to mold responsible students.

Help, Please!

Parents,

I need your help! On October 18 and 20 we will be having Parent/Teacher Conferences from 3:05-6:05. One thing the school district would like is for parents to take a survey while they are at school. It is my job to see that the survey is taken and that we have a good turn out to take the survey. However, I will be having conferences with some of you! I need some volunteers to direct people to the computer lab and have them fill out a slip to be entered in a drawing for prizes. If you would be willing to do this please let me know what day and time would work for you. You can send me an email or send a note to school with your child. Thanks in advance for your help!

Mrs. Reeves

Social Studies Update

Parents,

Beginning Monday (9-12-11) we will start learning the states, capitals, abbreviations, and locations of the states in the Northeast Region of the US. These states include:

·        Maine

·        New Hampshire

·        Vermont

·        New York

·        Pennsylvania

·        Massachusetts

·        Rhode Island

·        Connecticut

·        New Jersey

·        Delaware

Students will get a study guide on Monday with the state name, capital, and abbreviation code. They will have approximately 2 weeks to learn these. Please encourage them to study these at home. If they will study a few each night, they’ll know them in no time flat!

          The first time they take a test like this it is obvious who studied and who didn’t. I want ALL students to be successful in school and will encourage them to study each night. We will not be spending a lot of class time reviewing this information. However, It will be talked about briefly each day.

          Social Studies is my favorite subject and I hope the students enjoy it too!

Mrs. Reeves

What a Difference a Day Makes

Well, 2 days down! So far things have run rather smoothly. We have a few "hiccups" to work out, but we have great kiddos! (Well, you have great kiddos, we just get them for a little while!) We started having students sign their agenda for things like talking and not following directions today. We'd like to get a handle on it now and not have it be a problem later on in the year. We know you all appreciate that! And thanks in advance for your support. We are all excited to see what this year brings.

Remember, if you need us at any time please call, email, or send a note. And check back here on a regular basis to see what is going on at school! Thanks

Welcome Back

Welcome Back! We hope you had a fabulous summer! It was way to short for us. We are glad you found our blog and hope that you will follow us along the year. Please check back periodically to see the awesome things going on in our pod.

Weather

Please be careful this afternoon and tonight with all the severe weather we are supposed to get. Even though we have had bad weather it has been a great opportunity to talk to the kids about their safe spot, items to have in case of emergency, and what to do in these types of situations. Please be careful!

Also, there is a pink note in gold folders today about a Fun Day planned for May 13 at the Optimist Park. Please read through it carefully as we need some volunteers! 

Special Guests

Since Spring Break, we’ve had lots of neat happenings going on. When we came back from Spring Break we had Miss Arkansas, Alyse Eady, come visit the school. Everyone wanted their picture made with her, especially the boys!

That same day, Dr. Brian Peters (Kaitlynn’s dad), a local vet came to our classes to talk to us about vertebrates and invertebrates. Since we were studying them at the time, it was just perfect. He brought his St. Bernard and a 7 foot Boa Constrictor. He also let us look at a tapeworm that had been removed from an animal and a heart that had heartworms. Most of the kids were amazed and grossed out at the same time.

This past week, Doyet Moore (Kadin’s grandpa), was on Watch Dog duty. Instead of patrolling the halls, he wanted to do some amazing science experiments. The students were in awe!  He made them think, challenged their minds, and made them laugh.

No worries! He advised the kids not to try this last one at home! :)

Heads up! May is going to be crazy with activities! Check your student’s gold folder and agenda regularly!

Literacy News

In Literacy, we recently started reading the book Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio by Peg Kehret. The book is an autobiography. It discusses the year that she, Peg Schulze, was diagnosed with Polio. The book does a fabulous job of describing everything that 12 year old Peg went through during that horrible time in her life. The kids are enjoying the book and learning about the 1940's epidemic.

Also we are beginning something new this semester...READING HOMEWORK!!!!! Reading homework consist of 60 minutes of reading at home per week. The students must fill out a reading log, and then have their parent or guardian sign the form. The only way to receive full credit is to read the full amount, fill out the form, and then have a parent sign the form. Homework is due EVERY TUESDAY!!!! 

HAPPY READING!!!!!