October 27, 2014 Weekly Update

Hi, everyone!  I have a growing list of reminders, and a calendar getting full of special dates and activities, so I want to make sure you all know what is coming up each day and week!  Here goes (maybe grab your calendars) ....! 

Tuesday, October 28th:  Our school will be participating in a routine 'evacuation drill' during the first hour of the morning.  We will all walk out to the west end of our parking lot to practice orderly and efficient movement out of our school building. 

Wednesday, October 29th:  The school district transportation staff will be coming to WM to meet with each grade level group to review safe behavior on buses.  This session includes a video, discussion of safety rules and tips, and then actual practice with bus drivers on how to properly get off the bus in an emergency.  Also, on this day right after lunch, our class will be celebrating Autumn with a special treat, a game or two, and a creative project.  Many thanks go to Mrs. Pinka, Mrs. Comerford, Mrs, Engelke, and Mrs. Hull for coming up with fun ideas and providing the food and supplies.

Thursday and Friday, October 30th and 31st:  NO school for students!

Monday, November 3rd:  If you can, come to Culvers in Middleton for dinner or a snack!!  This is the fundraising night that Culvers is hosting to benefit West Middleton PTO!  AND, if you can come between 5:00 and 6:00 PM, Mrs. Hannam could very well be running your order and serving you!!  I hope I see you!  :)

Tuesday, November 4th:  Besides being Election Day, it is also Picture Retake Day.  This day is also the first day of SWIM class for all of our 4th graders.  They will board buses to the Middleton High School Pool at 9:00 am with Mrs. Odgren and return to school by 10:30.  Remember to pack a separate bag with swimsuit and towel.  The other days for swim class are:  November 6th, 10th, 12th, and 14th - mark your calendars!  

Tuesday, November 4th and Wednesday, November 5th:  Even though the annual Wisconsin State assessments (WKCE) have been replaced with Smarter Balance Assessments in Literacy and Math to be taken in Spring, 4th graders around the state are still required to take the WKCE Social Studies and Science tests.  Each test is a timed 45 minute session.  We will take the Science test on Tuesday afternoon between 12:15 and 1:15 pm, and we will take the Social Studies test on Wednesday morning between 9 and 10:00 am.  Please make sure your student gets an extra good night's sleep and a healthy breakfast! 

Monday, November 10th:  West Middleton will begin the great Box Tops for Education Contest!  Our competition between classrooms will last until December 5th, and the classroom that collects the MOST Box Tops will be rewarded with a pizza lunch from the PTO!  So start 'scrounging' now and raid all cupboards and pantries for Box Tops!  Each Box Top is worth 10 cents and can raise several thousand dollars for playground equipment, and other educational equipment and materials for our classrooms.

Tuesday, November 11th:  All 4th graders will be going to the Overture Center in downtown Madison for the morning (8:15 to 11:00 am) to attend the Symphony Youth Concert.

Monday, November 17th:  NO school!

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, November 18, 19, 20th:  Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences after school!  Please refer to your master schedule of appointments sent home last week on Friday (bright blue sheet), and I look forward to meeting together.  These are also the dates for the annual Scholastic Book Fair in our LMC!  You can shop for brand new books before and after your conference time!

Monday and Tuesday, November 24th and 25th:  The ONLY days of school this week!  NO school on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday!  Also, this is the END of the first trimester!

**If any more helpful details come to light, I will be sure to pass them along to you!  Happy Autumn Season to all!  Melanie Hannam 

October 6, 2014 Weekly Update

Hello to all!  I want to thank you all again for the amazing response we had with our first field trip last week to the World Dairy Expo!  I am sure we broke a record with 13 parent chaperones joining us for a very special experience.  The kids all seemed to be pretty engaged with all the new sights, sounds, (and really quite pleasant smells, believe it or not) they encountered there. The new facilities reminded me of luxury hotel accommodations for milking cows!  I was very proud of our group - not only was everyone very well behaved and attentive, they knew the answers to many of the questions that our guides asked them!  It was just a great day, and I love knowing that we created new memories together.  I took over 60 pictures, and will be sharing them with you.  I like to keep a photo album each year, so there will be copies entered there, and you can page through the album when you come for conferences in November.

We have half of our permission slips returned for next week's trip to Pope Farm Park on October 15th.  If you would like to meet us there and chaperone, just send me an email.  We will be there from 11:30 to 2:00 that day - and naturalists and archeologists and gardeners will be our guides.  Park in the lot at the top of the hill.  Let's hope we are fortunate enough to hit a good weather day!  (Lunches will be eaten - hot or cold - as usual, but at 10:30 again that morning!(

I sent home the new flyers for the October Scholastic Book Orders on Friday.  These will be due by October 13th - either paper form to me, or done online.  In September we had enough orders that gave us bonus points to add 20 new books to our classroom library!!  Awesome!  The kids get so excited by our books - pretty much fun!

We are moving to history and landforms (Glacial Age) of Wisconsin in Social Studies, as well as continuing to practice writing accurate addresses and phone numbers.  In Writers Workshop, we have begun to draft our Realistic Fiction stories, and in Readers Workshop, we are reading with renewed attention and following our book characters with deeper understanding.  Today's discussion was so rewarding - on their own, our students commented on how what we are practicing with our reading is helping us be better writers as well!  I am so happy they are making these connections!!  Woohoo!

We are halfway through our second unit in Math, which involves more work with place value, organizing and reporting data, graphing, and more practice adding and subtracting multi-digit numbers.  Remember, whenever possible, to provide some practice and review of basic facts in all 4 operations - thank you, thank you!!

Toward the end of the month, I will send home a sheet of time slots where you can mark your first, second, third choices for parent/student/teacher conferences during the week of November 17th.  I really believe in including our 4th grade students in our conferences, so please choose times that your 4th grader can also attend the conference.

If any other news bits come up, I will continue to forward them to you as I have been doing.  I am happy to answer any questions that might come up, at any time!   (Looking ahead - I think I would like to hold a "Harvest Party" in class on the afternoon of October 29th - probably from 12:15 to 1:00.  We don't have school on October 30th and 31st.  If any parents would like to do a bit of planning for snacks and activities centered on Harvest/Halloween, I would so appreciate that, and just let me know.  I can put all interested parents in touch with each other.)   Till next note -- Sincerely, Melanie Hannam