Friday, May 11, 2012

Spirit Week

Spirit Week - May 14 to May 18

Monday: Sports day (dress like your favorite sports player)

Tuesday: Totally Twins Day (dress like someone else in the school, OK to be triplets)

Wednesday: Fun Hair Day (make your hair look fun but still wear your uniform)

Thursday: International Day (dress to represent Egypt)

Friday: Calibre Spirit Day (dress as red as possible)

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Walk like an Egyptian!

Hello A-Team!
International Festival is taking place on Thursday, May 17th during the school day (from 1:00 to 2:30.) We will be representing Egypt this year. If you have attended International Festival in years past, this year’s event will be significantly smaller and much more low key – but still a great experience! We will only be touring the 4th and 5th grade classrooms.
 
Next week the students and I will begin our Egypt study. What a fascinating place and culture to learn about! Most of what we will review is Ancient Egypt. We will be learning about the myths, the people, and some of the Egyptian customs. One of the customs we will be focusing on is the food for the day of international festival.

I have linked a Cucumber-Feta salsa recipe that is served with pita chips. I need some help from the families to help prepare this dish for the students. We will need about 115 SMALL samples of this. I was hoping that a couple of families will make a large batch of the salsa, and I can portion it here – I have plenty of small cups. Add in a couple of bags of pita chips and voila! We are set to go.

I do need one or two parent volunteers the afternoon of the event. As the students are traveling to other classrooms, I need a parent in our classroom to help serve food. The students and I have not talked much about this event yet, but we will in the coming days.

Thank you for all your help and support this year – I have really appreciated it!


Monday, April 30, 2012

Today's Writing

Write two paragraphs answering: What would the be biggest change in your life without books? What do you like most about books. Each paragraph has a topic sentence with 3-5 supporting detail sentences.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

4 WEEKS!?!?!

A-Team,

I only have 4 weeks left with you! Where has the school year gone? I don't know about all of you, but it has been lightning quick for me. With that said, there is only 4 weeks left to turn in all missing work and get those grades up to 3s.

All students were given a copy of their progress report today (which is always viewable online in CLI) highlighting the work they have missing. Please review this over the weekend with your families and let me know ASAP if there are any assignments you need a new copy of. Otherwise, TURN IT IN!!! :) As always, your success is up to you - the 4th grader!

I'm looking forward to the remaining 4 weeks. Remember school is not over yet! Keep up the hard work!

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Xtra Math

A-Team,

We all have access to a new web-based program called Xtra Math. I have asked the students to try to login each day and complete the 10 minute daily challenge. Each session is only about 10 minutes and the students can do more than one activity a day. This is great way for me to see how the students are doing and a great way for the students to practice their facts daily. I sent home a flyer with user IDs and the pin numbers yesterday, Wednesday 4/4. Let me know if you need an additional copy.

Thank you for your support of our awesome learners!


Monday, March 12, 2012

Field Trip Wednesday!

Just a reminder that our field trip is Wednesday. Students should wear their Arizona Rocks T-shirt and jeans. They will want comfortable shoes, we will be doing quite a bit of walking. Students will need a sack lunch and something to drink. We will not have access to vending machines or a cafeteria. The bus will leave at 8:30 and return before dismissal at 1:45. Parents are encouraged to ride the bus, there should be plenty of room. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Missing/Late Work

All missing, or late, work must be turned in by Friday, March 9th. The quarter ends the following Friday on March 16th.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Field Trip

The 4th grade will be going on a field trip to the State Capitol Museum on Wednesday, March 14th. We will leave Carden at 8:30 am, and return about 1:30 that afternoon. We will be back before the 1:45 release time. Please keep this date open if you would like to chaperone.

Thank you!

www.lib.az.us/museum/

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Progress Reports

Check today's Tuesday Folder for progress reports. Please sign one copy and return to school.

Thank you!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

The Big Wave

This week in class the students will be reading The Big Wave. Instead of reading the excerpt in our Open Court Reader, we will be reading the novel. It is only 57 pages and I am confident that all students will be able to read the novel and complete the activities in one week. I am loaning all of the students a copy of this book. If you would like to purchase a copy of the book, it can be found at Barnes and Noble for just a few dollars.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

When Someone Forgets Their Math HW

Sometimes students might forget to bring their math HW books home. Here are the steps to printing the HW page from the online math book:

1.       Go to http://macmillanmh.com/ose/
2.       Enter in our access code: D9BDD83D9F
3.       Using the table of contents, choose the chapter the assignment is in – click the gray triangle to drop down the lesson numbers
4.       Select the lesson number of the nightly homework
5.       Click the “Resources” button, at the top next to the table of contents
6.       You can then select the Homework Practice
7.       The Homework Practice PDF will pop up in a new window, you can send to your printer.

Let me know if for any reason you aren’t able to access the math online student edition, or have any questions about how to do this.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Vocabulary Sentences Reminder

Reminder on how vocabulary sentences are to look:

All sentences will have at least 7 words in them (7-Up sentences); have a capital letter and punctuation mark; and answer at least TWO Ws (who, what, when, where, why, or how.) Students will skip lines so they can box their vocabulary word and label the Ws. Example: I know that it is treacherous to drive on icy roads in December. This sentence answered what: drive, where: icy roads, when: December. The students are to write two sentences per word; an example of the word, and a non example.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

100th Day of School Math Problem

The students are competing in a math challenge. The challenge is to use the alphabet, with points associated to each letter, to create words worth 100 points. Three students will win a mystery prize! Prize A: the longest 100 point word found. Prize B: the shortest 100 point word found. Prize C: the most 100 point words found. Here are the point values:

A = 1   N = 14
B = 2   O = 15
C = 3   P =16
D = 4   Q = 17
E = 5    R = 18
F = 6    S = 19
G = 7    T = 20
H = 8    U = 21
I = 9     V = 22
J = 10   W = 23
K = 11  X = 24
L = 12   Y = 25
M = 13  Z = 26

GOOD LUCK!

Monday, January 9, 2012

Island of the Blue Dolphins

A-Team,

We are beginning a novel study on Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O'Dell. We will be taking about 2 weeks to read the story and do activities related to the book. I have loaned all the students a copy of the book. If you would like to purchase your own copy, there are about $7 at Barnes and Noble. Happy reading!!