Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays

I hope that everyone is enjoying their break and the countdown to Christmas.  I have loaded up my sleigh and am up with my family.  Again, I want to thank everyone for their generous outpouring to help make our party a good one.  Nearly every student donated something, and we had plenty of variety.  The students seemed to have a lot of fun.  Did they talk to you about our Gift of the Magi comparison?  We watched a traditional telling and compared that to the Sesame Street version starring Bert and Ernie.  I was a bit nervous that the class would think themselves too big for Sesame Street, but they loved it.  It is one of my favorite Christmas specials each year!  

For those of you who may be interested in tracking Santa's progress on Christmas Eve, check out this link: http://www.noradsanta.org/en/ 

What are your plans for Christmas?  Leave a comment sharing what you are doing and what your favorite present is!

PS:  Don't forget to save those wrapping paper tubes!  Also, I have tried and tried to post the carols our class rewrote, but I am having trouble getting blogspot to accept and upload the new files.  I have not given up, but I am getting discouraged!

Merry Christmas everyone!!

3 Weeks and Counting!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.  I heard about some of the great trips you took last week.  I'm glad everyone made it back safely!  As we get into the final push toward the holidays, I wanted to update you on the service projects we will be a part of in the next three weeks. 

• Pajama Project--Our team is collecting change during lunch in order to provide pajamas and books to children in need.  We are doing this as a school-wide service project.  Each day some students from our class will man the table to collect the change.  On Wednesday we will actually sort, count, tally, and graph the collections from that day!  I am really excited to show the students how much can be accomplished when everyone helps out just a little bit!
• Care Packages to Soldiers--We will be writing letters and sending care packages to soldiers who are serving in Afghanistan over the holidays.  At this point, I'm not sure how many we will be adopting, but some of the items they would appreciate include snack foods, shelf-stable meals and soups, and white tube socks.  As you are shopping over the next couple of weeks, if you are able, consider adding one of these items into your cart. 

I know that financially, things are tight for many this year.  Please do not feel you have to participate.  I want the class to be a part of the projects so they can see that anyone can make a difference.  If you are able to donate, that is great.  If not, it's okay.  We all give back in our own ways! 

Finally in today's newsletter I mentioned that this month's book order will be online only.  In order to ensure that the books come back in time for our break, an online order is the quickest and easiest way to get it done.  All of the flyers are available for you to look through online, but I will send the paper flyers home tomorrow.  If you have any questions or problems, please let me know.  The website is: http://clubs.scholastic.com/  Our class code is HWFT6.  If you want to order books to give as a gift, let me know so I can pull them aside and keep it a secret!

Have a great week!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are within an hour of dismissal and I can almost taste the pumpkin pie!  I hope that this short little break brings you rest, good food, and some quality family time.  I will be headed up to the St. Louis area to visit my family and of course my little nephew; I can't wait!  I am eager to hear all about your trips.

Since the copy machines were broken this week, I was unable to send out a newsletter.  I did want to share an extra credit assignment offered over the Thanksgiving break.  In the spirit of our current essential literature book, students may write a letter to their favorite author.  The letter should include a brief introduction and then the students may ask the author whatever they want to know.  Upon our return to school, we will actually mail out the letters that are written to authors who are still alive.

Also our vertical team will be sponsoring a change drive the week following Thanksgiving.  All donated money will be used to support the pajama program-a charitable organization that provides needy children with pajamas and a book for the holidays.  Our team will collect, count, wrap, tabulate, graph, and share the results of donated monies. 

In the spirit of thanksgiving, our class wrote essays about those things for which they are most thankful.  Check out the comments section to read what they shared.

Math Book Login

Your child will start a new assignment this evening called daily math.  The specific information about how to complete this assignment is on the newsletter.  If you would prefer to access the textbook online instead of having your child bring the book home each evening, that is an option for you.  The directions for registering online are on the back of the daily math assignment sheet.  Visit the website on the assignment and use the Class access code: 7D90DF83A166C61EF0A4  Since it is such a long code, I figured I would give you a chance to cut and paste!   Please let me know if you have any questions.  Thanks!

Guess Who!! Trick or Treat!

 

EXTRA CREDIT

Okay, ladies and gentleman, here are the extra credit problems I promised you.  Although I would love for you to practice solving all of them, you can only share your solution for ONE problem.  In your comments/response you need to not only share the answer you found, but tell us HOW you solved it.  The more detail you share, the more possible points you can earn.  Good luck.

1.  There are 240 calories in a can of soda.  How many calories are in 6 cans of soda?

2.  Jennifer does 3 puzzles each day. There are 365 days in a year. How many puzzles does she complete in a full year?

3.  The pickle factory produces 780 jars of pickles per day. How many jars of pickles do they produce in a week?

4.  There is 135 feet of making tape on a roll.  Henry has 6 rolls. How many feet of masking tape does he have in all?

5.  A jet plane can travel 567 miles per hour.  How many miles could it travel in 4 hours?

6.  An adult panda can eat 138 pounds of bamboo each day. How many pounds of bamboo can a panda eat in a week?

7.  The company took 59 employees to a management conference across the country. Each round trip plane ticket cost $799. What was the total amount needed to take the employees to the conference?

8.  A popular rock band has scheduled 29 cities for the upcoming tour. Their goal is to sell 350 tickets for each show. How many tickets in all need to be sold for them to meet that goal?

Fall Break

I hope you are all enjoying your time off this week.  I also hope that there is reading going on during the week. 

Just a reminder that next week we are going to the Frist to see an exhibit on Egypt.  Students will need a sack lunch that day.  Then on Friday we will have our Fun Run.  Students will need to bring in  a drink and snack.  The main course will be hotdogs.  Remember that students are allowed to get donations and pledges for their Fun Run participation.  That information was sent home last week.

Also if you shop at Walmart and use Kellogg's products, check out this link to learn how you can get free books.   http://www.scholastic.com/kellogg/

Have a great week everyone!

TIMES LINE 5th edition

Here is the updated TIMES LINE!

TIMES LINE

1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 19, 21, 22

100's Club

4, 10, 12, 19

MIMers

6, 14, 21

Well done everyone.  We are getting closer and closer to our class celebration!

Up Coming Events

In the next couple of weeks, we have several major events going down.  

• Wednesday, Oct 12--school pictures  (Students still wear SSA.)
• Friday, Oct 14--teacher work day--no school for students
• Next Week, October 17-21--Fall Break--no school
• Tuesday, October 25--Book orders due in class or online
• Thursday, October 27--field trip to the Frist to see Egyptian exhibit  (Students need to bring a sack lunch for the day.)
• Friday, October 28--Fun Run (Students will need to bring a drink and snack; I will provide hotdogs.)

Make a note of it!    I will be sure to put all of this in the newsletter, too. 

TIMES LINE will be updated tomorrow!

TIMES LINE--part 4

We've gone a little backwards after our great high last week.  Keep practicing ladies and gentlemen!  We are getting close to having a celebration.  You CAN do it!

TIMES LINE

4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 21, 22

100s Club

5, 7, 10, 16

MIMers

3, 20

TIMES LINE part 3

I am so excited to share this week's TIMES LINE with you.  I am really starting to see the class come together and master these multiplication facts!  It is very impressive!  The class is working hard and it is paying off.  Here are your weekly results:

TIMES LINE

1, 4 ,5 ,7 ,8 ,10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22

100s Club

10, 11, 12, 14, 17

MIMers

2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 14, 18, 23

Well done everyone!  Keep up the studying and practicing!

Water Cycle

Yesterday we had a visitor from Metro Water Services come out and share with us the importance of clean water. She also introduced the water cycle.  After getting back to class we talked about conservation and taking care of our water resources.  The class then learned a song to help them remember the three parts of the water cycle.  I hope you enjoy their country version of "The Water Cycle Song." (It is Nashville after all!)



Times Line -- take 2

Here is the new and improved TIMES LINE!

4, 5, 7, 10, 12, 13, 16, 17, 19, 21, and 22

100s Club this week:
7, 10

MIMers:
1, 2, 5, 11, 12, 14, 15, and 18

We are definitely headed in the right direction!  Keep studying and soon we'll all be above the TIMES LINE!

Today's Seminar

Part of the Paideia philosophy, which I use as part of my educational philosophy, includes participation in what is called a seminar.  In short, a seminar is a conversation the students have in which they discuss a piece of artwork or topic for which there are no correct answers.  It is not a debate, but a discussion of ideas.  Today, to commemorate Patriots' Day and the anniversary of 9/11, the students participated in a seminar discussing the poem/song "There She Stands" by Michael W. Smith.  The students did a tremendous job with it.  Ask your child about what all they discussed today--including personification.  As a follow up to today's seminar, students are writing a journal entry from the point of view of any American flag in our history.   Some have chosen the flag from the World Trade Center, some chose the flag on the moon, and several others were selected as well.  I am really looking forward to reading their work later this week!  Below is the video of the song that was shared in class.

TIMES LINE volume 1

Here it is!  The first listing of how well our class is doing with mastering the multiplication facts.  There is a great deal of room for improvements, but I want to take the time to honor those who have been doing a tremendous job.  The TIMES LINE list is of students who have attained 85% or higher accuracy on the 8 minute timed test of multiplication facts.  The list of the 100s CLUB shows which students have earned a perfect 100% correct!  The final list is for MIMers (Most Improved Multipliers).  The students listed here have improved by at least 10% from the previous test.  By the end of the semester, we hope to have all 23 students listed on our TIMES LINE.  With practice each and every day and we will get there!

students above the TIMES LINE:

4, 7, 10, 12, 13, 16, 17, 19, 21, 22

students in the 100s CLUB:

4, 7 (twice!), 10, 13, 19

MIMers:

5, 8, 11, 12, 20, 23

Technical Difficulties

I know you are trying to leave comments, but something seems to be holding us up.  I'm working on it and will get it fixed!

I'm not sure what I did, but it would appear that the ability to comment has been restored!  I am looking forward to reading your suggestions!

Multiplication Woes!

After an honest discussion today, the class admitted that they had a lot of room for improvement with memorizing their multiplication facts.  I know that every teacher stressed multiplication last year in 3rd grade, but it would seem that many of our classmates didn't really take the time to learn all of the facts.  We talked about why it is important to have the facts memorized.  Ask them about "automaticity."  The easier it is for a student to recall a product, the easier it will be for them to use that information.  If someone has to stop and count fingers to figure out what 7 x 8 equals, he/she will probably forget why they were trying to find out in the first place.  Very few things is life need to be committed to memory: address, phone number, a loved one's birthday, e-mail passwords, and now add to the list -- multiplication facts. 

We are dropping back to pick up this 3rd grade skill in order to have success on so many of the up coming 4th grade skills.  It is worth the time IF the students take it seriously this year and get them memorized.  We have gone over several activities that can be done at home to help.  Here are a couple of sites that may be of some use:

http://www.bigbrainz.com/

http://www.mathscore.com/math/free/worksheets/multiplicationMathFactsWorksheetGen.php 

Students are welcome to visit the comment section and leave their classmates messages about and suggestions for learning the multiplication facts.  Look here in coming days for posting of the TIMES LINE results!

Week 2

Slowly but surely things are falling into place.  We have a great group and there are amazing things ahead for us.  I realize that with this group, I am the unknown variable for many of you.  I'd like to change that.  Although this is my third year at Shayne, much of my work and time was spent behind the scenes.  To be completely honest, that was absolutely fine with me.  I've always said I was not meant to be Gladys Knight-I'm satisfied being a Pip!  My job is to let others find their inner superstar.  That was how I approached working with teachers, but it is also the way I work with students.  My goal is to teach the students to think for themselves and be resourceful so they can solve problems without me.  If any of you are into educational philosophy and reading, much of my own professional philosophy has been molded by Mortimer Adler's Paideia model and Art Costa and Bena Kallick's Habits of Mind.

So, there is another little slice of what makes me tick.  As for class this week, it is all about reading assessments this week.  It's not my favorite time either, but I think the students really dislike the numerous assessments.  We'll get through them and move on.  To measure our growth, we have to know where we start.

Book orders came home today.  These are made available for your convenience.  It is a fairly low cost option for you if interested in purchasing books.  No pressure!

Several of you have asked, so I will add a class wishlist to the blog in a day or so.  If anything comes up between now and the next newsletter, you'll read it here first!  Have a good week!

1st Days of School

Welcome to what is going to be an amazing year!  I am so excited to be back in the classroom working with students.  After working mainly with teachers and administrators over the last two years, I am ready to jump in and help my students set the standard for success!  We are going to have a great experience together in 4th grade.  There are high standards and expectations for all of us, but by working together, our class, our team, and our school will meet and exceed any challenge set before us.  The key is working together.  During the first few days of school, our class will be working hard to build a community-an extended family-that provides a safe, positive, and fun learning environment for everyone.  So, buckle up and get ready to reach farther than you've ever dreamed!

Feel free to leave a comment here on the blog at any time.  It will be a great place for you to connect with one another and encourage the students.  From time to time, students will post work and leave comments, too.  Here's to a great first few days of school; I am excited to get to know everyone and start out on our journey together!

1st Post

I hope that everyone is enjoying their summer and getting plenty of rest (while still reading and practicing those multiplication facts.)  As the summer progresses and we get ready for the new school year, I'll start to post pertinent information and announcements.  Maybe by then I will actually have a class of students and parents to check in here and leave comments!  Enjoy the summer and I'll see you in August!