Well, as you can see the raindrops were falling in here on Friday. Kids worked very hard on their final drafts. It was interesting for them to use a pen. They had to be pretty careful. The raindrops and stories will be shared in class, and then hung in the hall. You will see them when you come for our Parent Teacher Conferences the first week of November. Please take time to read a few. As you know, this was quite the project and they worked very hard. I am super proud of all of them! The creativity in this class was very neat for me to see. Great Job!
First off, please, please put the fundraising forms in the backpacks ASAP. They are due on Monday. For the ice cream party, we will need 100% participation of at least one donation by Monday morning. We can do this! Thanks!
This week is a short week. Teachers have MEA conferences. I for one, will be presenting and teaching other teachers four different classes. Lot's of work, but I am excited to share. I am also excited to attend other sessions and learn even more great things to do with your kiddos. Kids will be out at noon on Wednesday and then all day on Thursday and Friday.
That will bring us to Red Ribbon Week the following week. We will be doing many things to get the most out of Drug Free Week as we can. I will send home an outline of the week on Monday. Some things will need your permission, others will not. Mrs. Hankins and I have worked very hard to plan out age appropriate activities and guest speakers for your kids. This week in no way will be scary, but it will be real. Like I have said in earlier posts, I have had students return to me years later and they remember these activities. What makes me take the time to do this week, is the fact that two of those returning students shared with me that they were faced with drug opportunities in high school, and they both had flashbacks of what we did in my class and found the strength to Just Say NO! It is a lot of hard work and many extra time of contacting people and setting it all up, but both Mrs. Hankins and I truly believe that it is worth it. Of course we will tie all of the activities to our character education. Please take the time each night to discuss the topic of the day at the dinner table. Not because there will be a money reward, but because if we are not open and honest with them now, it might someday be too late. And as a mom, I hate to even think it, but the someday too late is right around the corner for all of us.
Tomorrow is the NILE field trip. Students will eat in the classroom before we go. It would be easiest to have them have a packed lunch from home, but we will work with the kitchen to get them a hot one if needed. Please make sure they wear layers for the weather. Some of the trip is outside, and some of it is inside. Also, good walking shoes are a must. If your child is not attending the trip with us, they will have an alternative location for when we are gone. You know if this is your child, as I have called you and told you.
We will not have spelling this week. We will pick up Unit 8 next week.
Instead of spelling practice though, please study the SE states and capitals instead. Their test will be Friday, the 28th.
We will have our math test tomorrow before the NILE trip. Then, we are moving on. However, we will visit the concepts in this unit often as a review all year long. We have found that doing the same concepts over and over help kids send the skill to long term memory.
We did not get to computers once again on Friday. We were too busy with our final drafts. So, hopefully your child has been practicing on xtramath.org whenever they can. I told kids they would earn $100 for each day it shows up on my report. (F/S/Sunday). There are many kids that are already making this a daily part of their routine. I love that!! Thanks for letting them get on and practice. Come November, I will be switching all of them to multiplication. Oh my.
Halle was an awesome star of the week this week. She share so many interesting pictures and things. We met many of her stuffed animal friends. We also learned that she loves going to her cabin and playing soccer. Love the custom made shoes. Way to go Halle. Next up, Brady.
I am hoping to pass out the pen pal letters from my sister's fifth grade class in North Carolina this week. We will be writing them back soon. This is a great way to practice our letter writing skills, which is one of the 4th grade standards. We will also skype in with them soon to meet them in person via the computer. And....what better way to learn about the SE region, then to ask our pen pals a zillion questions!!! I will try to remember to hit record to put it on the blog as well. (But, I am still honestly looking for my brain. Any luck finding it???)
Lastly, I have had a few kids ask me what I want for my birthday. I love what Carla says to Bradley in our story, the best gift is one that comes from the heart. Please don't go buy me anything. A crafty BELIEVE sign or anything homemade is what I really love. I don't expect kids to get or make me anything, but I wanted to share this as I have had kiddos ask. Seeing, how I am a Halloween baby, I just might cast a spell on anyone that breaks my request. :0) Hee Hee!
Have a great Sunday! Remember those packed lunches tomorrow. Yee Haw!
