Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
November 18, 2011 Weekly Update
Hello, everyone. In many ways, the past week was a very satisfying one. It seemed like the kids felt the same way I did - that it just felt good to get back into our routine after our testing from the week before. We settled right in and got busy on completing the Unit 3 material in math, we dug in with our science and reviewed the final concepts of our electricity unit, we wrote two stories (turkey, anyone?), and finally found time to begin exploring our brand new social studies textbook. We also decided to tighten up our general classroom behavior - we are back to a quick and quiet response for attention, and our lines are looking good! Oh, and twice this week we won the "Golden Shoe" award! Ha - ask your student about that one! Speaking of awards, we are all still hot on the trail in our search for BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION! After taking second place the first week with 300, we fell down in the rankings the second week with only 60, but this week we rallied to collect 292 box tops! We don't know where that puts us now, but other classes are right up there with us, so don't be surprised to find your child rummaging in your pantry at odd hours of the night! :) We hope family gatherings at Thanksgiving will yield more help from the relatives! Thanks for helping us out until December 2nd.
We took the Unit 3 math test on Friday. On Monday we will review those tests with our groups, and you can look for the tests to come home for your signature. I keep these tests for reference, so please return them right away - thank you! On Tuesday, we will all take the pretest for Unit 4, and by the next week, new groups will be formed with possibly a switch in teachers as well.
I must say how pleased I am at the initiative and motivation of a number of our students. When we explored our new social studies textbook about Wisconsin, we discovered some pictures and brief information from 1904 when our Capitol building burned down. I challenged the students to dig deeper if they chose to do so, and, on their own, find out more details and information to educate the rest of us. Within the week, several students brought in posters and pictures and typed up information on this topic. We have mounted these on the wall along with our extra information on ginseng, turtle eggs, dairy cows, sea life, geometric shapes, Norwegian culture... it is endless how much extra information we can fit into our curriculum when our students are fired up about a topic and take it down a new path that interests them. I plan to grow this aspect of our 4th grade education as the year moves along.
In preparation for the West Middleton Spelling Bee on December 9 at 8:40 in the multipurpose room, we began some classroom rounds this week to determine the four representatives from our room. We have conducted 6 rounds so far, and will have time for a few more before our deadline on November 30. The words are so random, with easy ones mixed in with tougher ones, so doing many rounds makes it as fair as possible to give everyone several chances to rise to the top. The kids all seem quite excited to do this, and plead for time for more rounds, so this endeavor has become quite motivating. I want to ride this 'spelling wave' and begin giving our class some weekly spelling tests. I have a growing collection of words I have found as we edit our writing projects that will be perfect for their weekly lists. These are words not chosen by a textbook publisher, but are words used by our fourth graders - words they want and like and need to use, but stumble on the spelling! Creative ways to practice these words will in turn be excellent opportunities to give our students more writing experiences as well! I can't wait! :)
I sent in the November Scholastic Book Order last Monday. I plan to give out the new December offerings this coming Monday, in order to give ourselves enough time to receive our new books before the Christmas Break. Therefore, I would like to make a deadline of November 29 for you to hand in all December orders. This time, you will see three sets of choices -- Arrow, Tab, and also a special Christmas edition with even more books! Good luck deciding!
It was such a pleasure to meet everyone's families at conference time! I thoroughly enjoyed our visits. Our first trimester ends on November 30, and you can expect to see your student's report card within the following week. Do check the classroom website for other updated calendar events coming up, and make use of the homework page, which I add to every day after school. Remember that the coming week is brief - we have full days of school on Monday and Tuesday, and then Wednesday's CRT day means buses will be taking kids home at 11:00 am that day. May your family enjoy a wonderful holiday weekend. Sincerely, Melanie
We took the Unit 3 math test on Friday. On Monday we will review those tests with our groups, and you can look for the tests to come home for your signature. I keep these tests for reference, so please return them right away - thank you! On Tuesday, we will all take the pretest for Unit 4, and by the next week, new groups will be formed with possibly a switch in teachers as well.
I must say how pleased I am at the initiative and motivation of a number of our students. When we explored our new social studies textbook about Wisconsin, we discovered some pictures and brief information from 1904 when our Capitol building burned down. I challenged the students to dig deeper if they chose to do so, and, on their own, find out more details and information to educate the rest of us. Within the week, several students brought in posters and pictures and typed up information on this topic. We have mounted these on the wall along with our extra information on ginseng, turtle eggs, dairy cows, sea life, geometric shapes, Norwegian culture... it is endless how much extra information we can fit into our curriculum when our students are fired up about a topic and take it down a new path that interests them. I plan to grow this aspect of our 4th grade education as the year moves along.
In preparation for the West Middleton Spelling Bee on December 9 at 8:40 in the multipurpose room, we began some classroom rounds this week to determine the four representatives from our room. We have conducted 6 rounds so far, and will have time for a few more before our deadline on November 30. The words are so random, with easy ones mixed in with tougher ones, so doing many rounds makes it as fair as possible to give everyone several chances to rise to the top. The kids all seem quite excited to do this, and plead for time for more rounds, so this endeavor has become quite motivating. I want to ride this 'spelling wave' and begin giving our class some weekly spelling tests. I have a growing collection of words I have found as we edit our writing projects that will be perfect for their weekly lists. These are words not chosen by a textbook publisher, but are words used by our fourth graders - words they want and like and need to use, but stumble on the spelling! Creative ways to practice these words will in turn be excellent opportunities to give our students more writing experiences as well! I can't wait! :)
I sent in the November Scholastic Book Order last Monday. I plan to give out the new December offerings this coming Monday, in order to give ourselves enough time to receive our new books before the Christmas Break. Therefore, I would like to make a deadline of November 29 for you to hand in all December orders. This time, you will see three sets of choices -- Arrow, Tab, and also a special Christmas edition with even more books! Good luck deciding!
It was such a pleasure to meet everyone's families at conference time! I thoroughly enjoyed our visits. Our first trimester ends on November 30, and you can expect to see your student's report card within the following week. Do check the classroom website for other updated calendar events coming up, and make use of the homework page, which I add to every day after school. Remember that the coming week is brief - we have full days of school on Monday and Tuesday, and then Wednesday's CRT day means buses will be taking kids home at 11:00 am that day. May your family enjoy a wonderful holiday weekend. Sincerely, Melanie
Saturday, November 5, 2011
November 4, 2011 Weekly Update
Happy November to all~~
Our week began with the last day of October and a wonderful classroom party at the end of that day. I felt we were not only celebrating the holiday, but also our special classroom 'family' that we have established over the last two months. Many grateful thanks to Sharon Pertzborn-Jensen for planning and preparing our games and activities and many of the goodies. We got new pencils, played Trivia, and did a Trick or Treat Word Find. Sharon wrote our class a personalized 'haunted' story where every one of us in class were the characters! We sat in a big circle and passed around the small pumpkins she gave us to the 'left' or to the 'right' every time we heard those words in the story - which was MANY times! Our confusion got quite hilarious! Michele Joslyn was also there to help lead our games and make sure we all got enough treats on our plates! Jane MacLean brought in some extra snacks, and we were well supplied with festive tableware thanks to Tammy Bursac. Thank you to all for contributing to a really nice time together. By the way, copies of "our" haunted story will be added to our Writing Binders as a keepsake.
NEWS FLASH: Another social event will occur on Wednesday, December 7th -- the annual West Middleton Circle of Love Winter Tea. It will be held in our school's multi-purpose room, and the time slot that our class is attending needed to be changed this past week. Put it on your calendars: All families are invited to join us to share punch, cookies, and conversation that day from 12:35 to 1:00 PM. The lunchroom gets transformed into a Winter Wonderland with beautiful decorations by our PTO, live music from Middleton High School Orchestra students, and a seemingly endless supply of cookies and bars to sample.
Another event that our students are quite excited about is the 4 week-long contest to see which class can collect the most BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION. We are proud to announce we collected 300 BOX TOPS by Friday, November 4th! Our students are searching and hunting down all they can find from every friend and relative near and far - so any help from you is much appreciated! Could it be that their enthusiasm is spurred on by the fact that the winning class gets to throw a cream pie at the faces of their friendly principal and 'beloved' teacher???!
Meanwhile, back at the classroom... This week our class was also treated to an enlightening presentation by one our own students, Cecilie. She brought in and explained many items that were meaningful to her Norwegian heritage, and educated us all about this country and beautiful culture. To top it all off, we were generously treated to creamy ice cream and luscious fresh raspberries - thank you so much to Cecilie and her parents! Another eye-opening contribution this week came from Seth's mother, Laurie Luetscher, which caused quite a stir with the whole class! See for yourselves by going to www.worldometers.info/ . On Monday, October 31, it was estimated that our planet's population reached the 7 billion mark! The website shows the live ongoing count, along with the ongoing counts of many other statistics, and it is all quite mind-boggling. We took a look more than once during the week in class, and the kids were mesmerized. Thank you, Laurie, for clueing us in!
Our science experiments this week gave the students plenty of chances to discover what components make a successful and complete electrical circuit and what does not! Listening to all the inquiring, surprised, puzzled, and triumphant comments coming from every investigative team was such a treat for me as a teacher. After we came together to share and compare what was learned, and time came to summarize new information and vocabulary, it was evident the new concepts had found their way into our 4th grade 'scientists' brains. Very cool! I did catch more of this on video, and will share it with you.
The coming week, as you know from my email this past week, will be a different week with a revised classroom schedule for WKCE testing. We went over some practice items this past week, and I believe the students are ready to just try their best on each item, be thorough in their thinking, and know they do not have to be nervous about these assessments. I have told them this gives our state a chance to compare all the 4th graders in Wisconsin and see what they have learned so far. A good night's sleep and good breakfast will help concentration, and we will give ourselves some relaxing breaks between sessions. We've already got a big bag of string cheese in my little refrigerator, as well as cracker boxes and bags of bubble gum ready. Thank you! I also look forward to talking with you at conferences this next week as well (do let me know if you need confirmation of your conference time). Your child will have a chance to share with you some samples of their work so far this year, and we can all talk over together good goals for the coming months. See you next week! Melanie
Our week began with the last day of October and a wonderful classroom party at the end of that day. I felt we were not only celebrating the holiday, but also our special classroom 'family' that we have established over the last two months. Many grateful thanks to Sharon Pertzborn-Jensen for planning and preparing our games and activities and many of the goodies. We got new pencils, played Trivia, and did a Trick or Treat Word Find. Sharon wrote our class a personalized 'haunted' story where every one of us in class were the characters! We sat in a big circle and passed around the small pumpkins she gave us to the 'left' or to the 'right' every time we heard those words in the story - which was MANY times! Our confusion got quite hilarious! Michele Joslyn was also there to help lead our games and make sure we all got enough treats on our plates! Jane MacLean brought in some extra snacks, and we were well supplied with festive tableware thanks to Tammy Bursac. Thank you to all for contributing to a really nice time together. By the way, copies of "our" haunted story will be added to our Writing Binders as a keepsake.
NEWS FLASH: Another social event will occur on Wednesday, December 7th -- the annual West Middleton Circle of Love Winter Tea. It will be held in our school's multi-purpose room, and the time slot that our class is attending needed to be changed this past week. Put it on your calendars: All families are invited to join us to share punch, cookies, and conversation that day from 12:35 to 1:00 PM. The lunchroom gets transformed into a Winter Wonderland with beautiful decorations by our PTO, live music from Middleton High School Orchestra students, and a seemingly endless supply of cookies and bars to sample.
Another event that our students are quite excited about is the 4 week-long contest to see which class can collect the most BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION. We are proud to announce we collected 300 BOX TOPS by Friday, November 4th! Our students are searching and hunting down all they can find from every friend and relative near and far - so any help from you is much appreciated! Could it be that their enthusiasm is spurred on by the fact that the winning class gets to throw a cream pie at the faces of their friendly principal and 'beloved' teacher???!
Meanwhile, back at the classroom... This week our class was also treated to an enlightening presentation by one our own students, Cecilie. She brought in and explained many items that were meaningful to her Norwegian heritage, and educated us all about this country and beautiful culture. To top it all off, we were generously treated to creamy ice cream and luscious fresh raspberries - thank you so much to Cecilie and her parents! Another eye-opening contribution this week came from Seth's mother, Laurie Luetscher, which caused quite a stir with the whole class! See for yourselves by going to www.worldometers.info/ . On Monday, October 31, it was estimated that our planet's population reached the 7 billion mark! The website shows the live ongoing count, along with the ongoing counts of many other statistics, and it is all quite mind-boggling. We took a look more than once during the week in class, and the kids were mesmerized. Thank you, Laurie, for clueing us in!
Our science experiments this week gave the students plenty of chances to discover what components make a successful and complete electrical circuit and what does not! Listening to all the inquiring, surprised, puzzled, and triumphant comments coming from every investigative team was such a treat for me as a teacher. After we came together to share and compare what was learned, and time came to summarize new information and vocabulary, it was evident the new concepts had found their way into our 4th grade 'scientists' brains. Very cool! I did catch more of this on video, and will share it with you.
The coming week, as you know from my email this past week, will be a different week with a revised classroom schedule for WKCE testing. We went over some practice items this past week, and I believe the students are ready to just try their best on each item, be thorough in their thinking, and know they do not have to be nervous about these assessments. I have told them this gives our state a chance to compare all the 4th graders in Wisconsin and see what they have learned so far. A good night's sleep and good breakfast will help concentration, and we will give ourselves some relaxing breaks between sessions. We've already got a big bag of string cheese in my little refrigerator, as well as cracker boxes and bags of bubble gum ready. Thank you! I also look forward to talking with you at conferences this next week as well (do let me know if you need confirmation of your conference time). Your child will have a chance to share with you some samples of their work so far this year, and we can all talk over together good goals for the coming months. See you next week! Melanie
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