5-16-08

SOS!!

I'm worried about camp week. I was going to set up the tents after school today so our "campsite" would be ready when the kids walk in on Mon. At this point we have zero tents here at school!! Is anyone planning on bringing one later? I'd really like to have them set up today if at all possible. If the tents come in Mon. morning it is more difficult to set them up with the kids all in the room and with all their supplies with them. I was planning on clearing out the desks to make room for the tents today but if we're not going to have tents- there's no need- we will need to do "camp" at our desks. Please let me know if you have a tent so I know which way to prepare for Mon.

Thank you Mrs. Tsang for bringing a cooler & popsicles for field day.

5-12-08  I hope all the moms enjoyed their Mother's Day. Hopefully your child gave you the coupon book we made. Be sure to cash your coupons in for chores, hugs, etc. Thank you so much for the gift card from the class. The stars on the door are a very special gift too. I had a great teacher appreciation week. I definitely felt appreciated!!! I hear there's more to come- breakfast, lunch, day spa!! Wow!,  the parents here know how to spoil us!!! Remember field day was moved to this Fri. A big thank you to Monique Florez for getting our t-shirts made. They are going home today along with an envelope to send the payment back to her. We are working on our class banner. Go Sigmon's Sharks!!!! We usually have some parents who will be attending field day bring a cooler w/ ice to store our water. Everyone will need to bring a sack lunch on field day. We will have to eat early- in our rooms- b/c the events start at noon. Can anyone bring Popsicles? The second request is for parents to bring in some medium-sized tents. I think we need about 5 of them. Third, if there are any parents who can stay after school this Fri. , after field day, to help set up the tents. In year's past, I have set up tents in about 15 min. With 2-3 people- it takes no time at all. No experience needed. Remember on Mon. your child will be bringing in a pillow, sleeping bag ( or blanket) and flashlight. There are many fun activities planned. If any parent wants to coordinate a day of making smores... that would be great too. Awards are the last day of school at 8:30. If you want to take your child home afterwards ( it's early dismissal) you can plan to. We will probably just be straightening the room, etc. Thank you for all your support and help & for all the volunteering of your time. ( Please be sure to RSVP to the VIPS luncheon this Wed.)Sack lunches are needed on this day too.  Volunteering/ helping in the classroom makes the class run smoother. No matter how old they get, remember to stay involved with their school life. Volunteer & go on field trips- they will act like they don't want you there... but it makes them feel special and loved when you show up at their school. Keep being involved!!!!  And with that said... Can anyone watch the class for about 30 or so min. on the 28th? I need to go to Lewis' kinder awards from 8:30 til about 9. Then later that same day... I need someone to watch the class at 1:30 for about 30 min. so I can attend Jackie's 4th grade awards. Please e-mail me & let me know if your are available. Thanks for another memorable/ great year.

4-28=08 There is no homework tonight. I gave the homework assignment in class for them to do. Some did not use the time effectively & may need to finish up at home. Make sure your child gets a good night sleep & eats a good breakfast. You may want them to bring a snack if the normally don't. We have voted. We will be the Sigmon Sharks for field day. Congrats to our May Star of the Month- Grace Ling. 

4-24-08 Field day has been moved to the 16th of May. Our field day color is red- we have not voted on a mascot yet. Mrs. Florez is buying the t-shirts & will have a design put on ( as soon as we know our name). She will let you know the cost soon. We will need a few parents to bring popsicles and possibly some extra water bottles for field day. The everyday math test has been moved from last Fri. to this Fri. It is over mult. The grammar test we were going to take this past Tues. has moved to May 1st. which, as a reminder, is an early dismissal day.

4-11-08

 I've up dated the calendar through the end of the year as far as I know. Reminder that in the red folder this past week was a bright yellow form that confirms your property address. Be sure not to toss it out. It is due back to Mrs. Rodriguez by the 22nd of April. There are 11 class days left before the math TAKS test. We are ready!! Enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend- it will be summer before we know it!!

4-7-08 There are 11 parents who have not signed/ returned the promotion standards form that was given out in last Tues.' folder. I pointed out to the kids where it was & that I needed it back- but have only gotten half back. This is a form that is put in their permanent record folder. After some explaining, I was able to get the office to run the back page & it will be sent home today. Please ask your child for it, sign it, & have them return it tomorrow. Your help with this is greatly appreciated!! There is also a form about PYP conferences that will take place on April 16th. I have either confirmed the time with the form you sent in- or have sent you another form to turn in. The 4-4:30 time slot is now full. It was nice seeing everyone at the Bash. I haven't gotten my list to see which kids will be attending my pool party. Thanks for supporting the school.

4/2/08 Sorry I have not kept up w/ school notes for awhile. I guess I never recovered from being off from spring break!! Actually, I want to congratulate my class on their reading TAKS scores and Stanford scores. I am so proud of their growth!! The class is really enjoying our human rights planner. We've had some great discussions. Congrats to Sam, our new student, and our March star of the month. Our last planner will start in a week and cover habitats. Please check the calendar for upcoming tests. I hope to see many of you at the Huckleberry Bash. I'm sponsoring a pool party at my house the first week of June as an item to bid on. Thank you to the Ling family for sponsoring my husband & I's ticket. The art deco flower basket/ classroom creation looks great. A big thank you to Monique Florez for coming up to school & helping the kids be artists.

3/12/ 08 Great play today about Frederick Douglass. Thanks for my helper- parents who came. The comp. test tomorrow over Cesar Chavez is an open note test. All questions can be answered using the notes we took in class. We have started watching the movie, Ruby Bridges. It is the story of a first grade girl being integrated into the New Orleans school system that previously was not integrated. It shows some of the hatred she faced. Although it is a made for children presentation- many students were "mad" about how she was treated while watching today. Please take time tonight at the dinner table to discuss what your child felt while watching the first half of the movie.

 3-05-08 the summative assessment tomorrow is a combined test over ch. 7& 8 of the sci. book. some fill in the blank, mult. choice, & short answer.

3-3-08 We are beginning our human rights planner- probably one of my favorite planners. We will have lots of discussions in class and my guess some will spill over  to home (hopefully). Many students become angry at some of the injustices we study whether it be civil rights, worker's rights, or women's rights. I encourage you to ask your child what they learned in class on a daily basis. We are reading 2 books. Both take place during WW ll. We are beginning to talk about the injustices black Americans faced and Jews faced in the 1940's. Big stuff. There will be no reading log this week. Today there is no math either. I had 5 students not turn in their moon calendars. It is for a science grade. Remember the TAKS test for reading is Wed. Get a good night's sleep Tues. We got a class pet today- a hamster. Thank you to the Waterland & Huggans families for helping out. The class voted to name her Chubby. Congrats to Katherine our Feb. star of the month. We want to welcome our new student from Guam- Sam!!! The calendar has been updated somewhat.

2-25 The grammar test has been moved from Tues. (tomorrow) to Mon. March 3rd. We still have 1 opening for the field trip on March 12th. The cold season is in full swing in our room. We are out of tissue again.

2-18-08 Field trip money ( $ 9.25) was due today. I am missing 8 people's. Thank you to Mrs. Huggans, Mrs. Chandler, Mrs. Carmicheal, and Mrs. Griffin for going with us. We do have one more spot open. Parent cost is $5. I have updated the calendar. Thank you for the tissue & zip lock baggies. We should be set for awhile. We had a great time at Space Center Houston. We were the only school there- so we practically had the place to ourselves. The weather was great and we learned a lot. Thank you for my flowers, candy,  and cute cards for Valentine's Day. I hope your child enjoys the small bag of candy & pencil from me. Speaking of pencils.... Many students are coming in each morning without even one pencil to work with. Please check with your child to see if he/she has pencils. Book order money (No cash please) is due Fri. **** A total lunar eclipse will take place on Wed., Feb. 20th between 9 and 10 PM. Please try to go outside to see this with your child. They say you can see the rings of Saturn too at that time ( 4 degrees to the bottom left of the moon).

2-11-08

We made flashcards of the Ch. 7 science words in preparation for the sci. test Fri. There are 4 pages of math going home tonight. ( A total of 27 problems) as an overview of the hardest part of the Unit 5 test that is tomorrow. Remind them that decimals and counting tenths and hundredths are like counting money!! ( Which they are all good at =-) We will have a Valentine's Day exchange of cards. Be sure to bring one for every student. A list of names is in the school directory. I will try to put one in the Tues. folder too.  Please don't send cookies, candy, etc. at this time. We're only allowed 2 parties a year, PLUS we will be handing out the cards in the morning before we leave for our field trip that same day. There will be very limited time to get this done. Reminder that on Thurs. your child will need to bring a sack lunch, wear comfortable shoes, and wear a red t-shirt ( that helps me locate and group my class quickly). There was no reading log last week b/c I wanted the students to have more time w/ their LDC journal responses. There IS reading log this week. Please be sure you help your child keep up with their moon calendars. They need to be filled in on a daily basis. I have 2 classroom needs: More tissues and one box of gallon sized zip lock baggies.

FIELD TRIP MONEY DUE MON> IN ORDER TO GET THE DISCOUNTED PRICE. THE COST OF TICKETS( MONEY TURNED IN AFTER MON.) WILL BE $2.00 MORE. We are getting a discounted price by pre-ordering the tickets. Those who are not paid for the pre- order ( by Mon. ) will have to pay the regular group price of $16. I have 7 unpaid (including some moms who said they will go). The Feb. calendar has been updated. I will put the math tests in soon.

1-28-08 I have stapled a moon phase calendar into each child's homework folder. Every night til March 1st ( for 1 month) your child needs to step outside & observe what phase the moon is in. They will then draw the phase on the calendar. If it's rainy or cloudy- I did give them permission to look it up on the Internet. Please monitor & make sure they don't go on-line & fill in the entire calendar in one day- kinda defeats the purpose. Thanks for your help with this!!

1-25-08 Thank you for the scrap book paper. If your child has not brought in his/her sheet- there's still time. My goal is to try to finish the scrapbook by Feb. 5th, the 1 mth. anniversary of Matthew's passing. I am sending home the grammar book this weekend. There is no homework. If you would like to have some review pages to look over/ do w/ your child for the upcoming Unit 3 test (on Wed.) Pages 130-140 in the textbook are extra practice & cover every lesson I have taught in class. Don't forget about the international festival tonight(5:30-7:30 pm). A field trip notice is going home today for Space Center Houston. The date is Feb. 14th. The following 5 people signed up to help out:Kim Jarrell, Sharon Huggans, Shiyolanda Griffin, Dawn DeBoe, and Gem Dickens. Cost for the adults is $8 & $14 for the students (We don't charge bus fare for the adults). Students will need a sack lunch and we are asking for the money to be turned in by Feb 4th. We get a discounted price if we pre-order & pay for the tickets in advance. Have a great weekend and thanks for all you do!!

1-22-08 I'm sending home a review for the architecture planner's summative assessment. Please review it w/ your child. The test is tomorrow. It is over information we have learned for the past 6 weeks. I have updated the calendar for this week & next. There is a grammar test coming up on verbs. I'd like to put together a scrapbook for Matthew Resnick's family of the cards, letters, & pictures I have of his 3rd grade year. I thought it would be neat if every student in our class brought in one sheet of decorative scrapbook paper to glue their note on to. If you could get those to me some time this week- I'd like to try to work on it this weekend.

Going home today is a science review for Chapter 4- simple machines. It says Ch. 10- sorry- that's a mistake. It is 4 pages long & is optional. The test is Mon. We made flashcards today- they're going home. Those students who complete the packet will receive 10 bonus points on their test grade. The math packet that went home last night( Stanford practice) is also optional. We ran out of time to take the spelling test (unit 19) today. I will give it on Mon. There will be no spelling test next week - due to Stanford testing. The testing calendar is on this web site. The testing is broken down into small sections. Each section only takes about an hour & a half. We will be having math & reading lessons for the remainder of the day. I plan to give tests in reading & math on Fri. as normal. If the class seems too tired- I may rethink it. The following Mon. is MLK holiday- so I'm worried about postponing too long... We also took a practice Stanford test- that's going home today. Report cards went home today too. Have a restful weekend. This has been a week to remember.

1-09-08  Matthew's funeral was very, very nice. It was amazing to see all the the people whose lives he touched. So fitting for what kind of boy he was. We talked about the funeral and our feelings from it and other funerals the children have attended. We talked about what we do when we're sad & what kinds of things we do to make ourselves feel better. The HISD psychologist led the discussion. You may want to continue discussions at home. Please let me know if you or your child is having difficulties.

January calendar has been updated. Stanford testing starts Mon.

1-6-08  I'm sure you have all heard the news of the tragic death of our beloved classmate, Matthew Resnick. Thank you for the thoughts and prayers you have offered me. I will try to answer questions and offer comfort to all my students the best way I know how tomorrow. Counselors will be available too. I was able to go by the Resnick's house tonight and your e-mails have meant a lot to their family. Now is the time to stand together as a Mark Twain family and give them all the support we can. Matthew was a beautiful, beautiful soul. I miss him already.

12-12 Thank you to the Ling family for providing a jacket for our child in need & the Zhu family for a shirt. I also got monetary contributions from the Lee & Lotze family. I think I'm going to buy 1-2 pair of pants, socks,& if there's enough left, a book for a "learning thing". If there's anyone who can buy a soccer ball tonight or a learning game- I think the list will be taken care of. Thanks so much for your help. I will put the items- they do not need to be wrapped- in the bag the YMCA provided & drop it off Thurs. after school.

SOS   SOS  SOS   Tomorrow is red folder day. It's 3rd grade's turn to stuff the folders. Ginny- a super volunteer stuffed all of them by herself- or so the rumor has it & was at school til 11:45 finishing last Tues. The problem w/ that, other than there should be some other parents helping, is that her elderly mother is in the hospital w/ bronchitis. Ginny will be there to help care for her mom tomorrow & will not be able to do folders. If there are any parents who can help... I know she would appreciate it. I just got an e-mail from her- so I know this is on her mind right now & shouldn't be. Let's try to help her out. If there's 3-4 people even- it goes super fast. Lastly, thank you to the Huggans family for donating a remote control car & batteries for our YMCA boy.

 12-10-07 Our class has chosen a "Giving Tree" child from the YMCA's list of needy children. We have an 8 yr. old boy. His wish list includes : a soccer ball, toy car, learning game, clothes, jacket, and socks. Most of these items are easily purchased at a variety of stores. His shirt sz. is a 10, pants size 10-12, ans shoe size 2 1/2. If you & your child would like to purchase some item together- just e-mail me what you got & I'll put out a list. Also, if you'd like to give cash & have us purchase items on your behalf, we will need the cash Tues. or Wed. so that we may purchase things Wed. night. The items have to be delivered/ returned to the YMCA by Thurs.

Today we had a bus evacuation drill right at ancillary time. We were unable to have time to write in our agendas. Here is the homework for tonight. Spelling - Write unit 17 words three times each. Math- EDM worksheet 4.3(division) LDC- Reread ch.1 (can be used for reading log time/credit) and answer the questions. Parents sign rubric/syllabus Reading log- Mon. entry.

12-3-07 Reminder: the Nutcracker field trip is THIS Thurs. Children are encouraged to dress up for the occasion- like they're going to the theater- which they are!! We will load the buses around 9:45 and return around 1pm. Please be sure your child eats a good breakfast b/c we will be eating lunch (late) in our rooms. Have them bring a sack lunch. Also, when you e-mail me from the school notes web site- it doesn't let me respond back b/c it does not show the e-mail address where it came from. It often does not say who the e-mail is from either- so if you could type your name at the end of the message, it would help. I am writing the tests for this week on the calendar. There are only 4 parents going on the field trip (that's fine really). I will let the other classes who have a waiting list know we have an extra ticket for them. Finally, the classroom party will more than likely be on Wed. Dec. 19th from 1-2pm. We will do a paperback book exchange ( $5.00 max). We will need volunteers to coordinate food/drinks, etc. Room parents will give more info. later.

11-29 A review we did in class for the unit 3 EDM test tomorrow should be in the purple hm. wk folder- if you want to review it w/ your child. Please turn in any Scholastic book order forms by Mon. Dec. 3rd. Remember tomorrow is LIBRARY day- bring in your books so you can check out new ones! Thanks :-)

11-26-07 I need 3 parents to attend the Nutcracker. The cost is $26.00. You may ride the bus, so there is no cost for parking. This is the performance by the actual Houston Ballet Co. and it's held in the Wortham Theater with all the same sets as the performances they do at night for 3 times the price!  If I do not hear of any interest from anyone by this Fri. I will open up the tickets to parents from other classrooms. (The school has already paid for the tickets & there are no refunds so we need to have the seats filled.) Please let me know asap if you are available/interested.

 11-20 There are 2 parent openings for the Nutcracker ballet field trip on the 6th of Dec. The first 2 that respond to this e-mail can go. The cost is $26.00. Also, I did not send home the conduct sheets today for fear they would be lost forever at Grandma's house over the break. Have a GREAT Thanksgiving!!!

11-19 No spelling or voc. list this week. No spelling, read. comp. or voc. test this week. No math test. No reading log. I did say those who have a "P" in conduct Mon. or Tues. will have to do a reading log. Enjoy the time w/ your family!! There is one sheet of math tonight.

11-13-07 Remind me to never be absent on a Fri. again!!! I have 3 students who were out of the room & didn't take the spelling test, the comprehension reading tests were just found- so they are ungraded, and I have about 8 students whose math tests are still missing. I went ahead & posted the grades I had on the conduct sheets. Please sign & return them tomorrow & I will update the rest of this week's grades by next Tues. Reminder there is a field trip tomorrow. Students are to wear a red t-shirt, comfortable shoes, & bring a sack lunch. There was a mix up on the budget show & tell. Some students brought their things Mon. & we went ahead & showed them. We are scheduled to do the rest this Fri. We have had a couple of incidences where inappropriate language is being used. (Usually at lunch or recess). Please remind your child not to use these types of words at school. There is one more correction- we will start the architecture planner when we return from Thanksgiving instead of this Mon.

11-7-07 Thank you to all the parents who came to the student -led conferences. I was VERY PROUD of all the students. What a great job they did. I gave an extra credit assignment yesterday worth 5 pts. on the Ch. 10 soc. studies test. We did an activity where we looked at the tags on our t-shirts. We mapped out where all the t-shirts were made. We found out that most were made in countries in Central America and Asia. My question to them is why is this? They can give me a short 3-5 sent. answer on paper and I will add 5pts. to their test. You may need to participate in the discussion in order to steer them in the right direction. I have not received any responses yet. While you're having a discussion about economics... we're going to the Museum of Fine Arts next Wed. Please remind you child that the human body is one of the most drawn, painted, and sculpted objects in art. They will be passing by sculptures and pictures where there is no clothing on them. They do not have to look, but please don't be silly and laugh out loud. We want to be good guests and not be disruptive to the other visitors there. Bring a sack lunch in case we do not get back in time to eat in the cafeteria. There is no math homework tonight b/c there is extra reading. Your child should read the story Cocoa Ice in the red reading book. This can count for reading log time.

11-05-07

Tomorrow is our Ch. 10 soc. studies test. There are 14 mult. choice questions. We made flashcards & began studying the words in class. Ask your child for them & help him/her memorize the vocabulary. I hope most terms are already memorized, as we have been talking about import, export, etc. in class the past 3 weeks. I told them if homework is taking too long, to skip the reading log for today & do it on another day such as Fri., Sat., or Sun. Tomorrow the field trip form for the Nutcracker ballet will be going home. The cost is $26 including the bus. They are orchestra tickets & the value if bought for an evening performance would be at least $100. It's a great chance to see the performance w/ great seats. Thank you to Mrs. Flores, Mrs. Vargas, Mrs. Tsang, Mrs. Huggans, & Mrs. Griffin for signing up to be chaperons. If you have not signed up for a time for parent conferences this Wed. - a note is going home to you to sign up for a time. This is pretty much a mandatory thing. Goals will be set and plans for the future year will be discussed with you & your child. Just an FYI- the final draft of the how to carve a pumpkin paper was due today. There were 4 students who did not turn one in. It is worth 2 language arts grades. Two zeros will really hurt an average. Ask your child if his/hers was turned in today.

11/2 Congrats to Haeyun our Oct. star of the month.

10/30 THANK YOU FOR THE GIFT CARD, CAKE, & WELL WISHES FOR MY B-DAY!! It was really special. I realized, as I was writing out the conduct sheets, that I never got around to grading the spelling tests last Fri. We were so busy w/ carving pumpkins. Thank you to all the parent helpers w/ that project too. =) You will see a circle around the spelling grade to remind me to put it in next week. Please go ahead & sign & return the conduct sheet tomorrow. Remember during LDC weeks the students can use the same LDC book for their reading log. They don't have to read extra. They do still need to fill out the reading log form. Finally, remember to bring a sack lunch tomorrow. We may not get back from the field trip in time for our regular lunch schedule. Wear pants, long sleeves, & closed shoes w/ socks for the field trip.

10/29 I added some test dates & info.to the calendar. Remember the dress code rules for the field trip on Wed. to Mrs. Baird's Bakery. I promised the class there will be no homework given on Halloween if we can have a good field trip to the bakery. Look for the field trip notice to the Nutcracker Ballet coming in the red folder soon. An example is going home today of what we did in LDC this morning. 10/25REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR PUMPKINS AND ANY CARVING KITS(optional) TOMORROW. NO KNIVES. 10/19 Thank you for coming out for our classroom party & for those parents who helped organize it. We had great weather!! This upcoming Fri. we are going to be carving pumpkins in the classroom. Every child needs to bring a MEDIUM-sized pumpkin by Fri., Oct. 26th. So, if you're out shopping this weekend... Please let me know if you are planning on coming to help so I have an idea(we will begin about 10 AM). Remember these pumpkins can be entered in the spooky spaghetti contest the following day. (You'll thank me later for not having to stay up Fri. night doing this messy project at home b/c your child insists on entering =) . Scholastic book orders came in today. Thank you Mrs. Huggans for helping our class w/ that. Speaking of the Huggans- Congrats to Alexia who won 10th place for selling the most Sally Foster in the school!! She won a $10 gift card. Way to go. We have junior achievement for the first time today. Wed. there will be a sub. we have another PYP planning day. 

10/16 If you have a lot of sally foster to pick up (more than one box or one big box), I did not pass yours out to your child today. I will leave my room open if you want to pick it up from after school, extended day,  after the class party tonight, or in the morning.

10-15 I mistakenly wrote the grammar test was today. It is next Mon. Hope there wasn't any stress about this.

10-12 The calendar has been updated. A notice about the class party is going home. Please rsvp so we know how much pizza to order. I will be attending. Hope to see everyone there!!

10-3-07 Correction: the cost for the buses is $4.50 not $4.00. Also, the sign up sheet for spooky spaghetti is outside my door. Please sign up for an hour shift. We need people to help take down the booth ( moon walk & slide). There are slots for 10 people to work throughout the spooky spaghetti event. Please make sure you read the Twain attendance policy that was in the red folder yesterday. An absence is only excused if a signed note is brought in within 3 days after the absence. Other guidelines were clarified too.

10-2-07 Today in the red folder are 2 field trip permission slips. One is free to the Museum of Fine Arts on Wed. Nov. 14th. I have Julia Tsang, Keshil Waterland, Gem Dickens, Ann Lotze, and Eunjoo Choi signed up as helpers(this field trip is full). The second trip costs $4.00 for the bus & is to Mrs. Baird's Bakery on Oct. 31st. I have Adriana Vargas signed up as a helper(this field trip is full). Students need to ride on the bus to the event. I need them to bring a sack lunch in case we do not return in time for our regular lunch time schedule. You will find an LDC grade in the red folder. Please sign next to the grade & return it so it can be put back in their LDC folders. Reminder that student pictures are Thurs.

 9-21 Scholastic book orders went home in the red folder Tues. I sent 3 of them: Lucky (reading level 2nd/3rd grade) Arrow(reading level high 3rd, 4th & 5th grade) and a software/ DVD order. You may write one check for the entire order. They do not accept cash. Please send orders with money back to school by Oct.5th. Thank you to Mrs. Huggans(Alexia's mom) for volunteering to place the orders for us this year. While I'm giving out thank yous.....  Many parents have been bringing in supplies for the classroom. Thank you!! Finally, a BIG, BIG thank you to Monique Flores (Daniel's mom)for putting together our class directory. It turned out ssoooo cute! Thank you for the attendance at open house- I think 17 parents out of 23 were able to make it. I know some had conflicts in the date/time. I hope those unable to attend received the handouts & directory I sent home. I will put the field trip sign up sheet & art a la carte sheets on the bulletin board outside my room. If you signed up for more than 1 field trip, please put a star next to your #1 choice. Feel free to e-mail me questions or concerns throughout the year.Oh ya, when I got home I thought about another difference in my little boy/girl social experiment I wanted to tell you about. The book says boys need to hear the directions and repeat them in their head 3 times in order to process the info. I've been asking the boys to repeat my directions before they begin an assignment. A couple of days ago I called on a boy to repeat the directions aloud. They were wrong. I called on a second boy to repeat the directions- they were wrong. I think I went through 4 boys before I repeated them myself. These were not boys who were not paying attention or playing. They just didn't process the info. So, I'm trying to train them to repeat the directions (in their head) 3 times before beginning an assignment. You may want to try this at home & see if it helps. The research shows the girls' brains process & retain this type of info. & therefor repeating them is not as beneficial unless the girl has ADD or other learning disabilities. Have a great weekend. We will not start LDC til Tues. The 3rd grade is doing a 6 experiment rotation of water experiments. The kids will have completed 6 water experiments by the end of the day and rotated through 6 teachers' classrooms. It should be fun!!

9-18 Sorry, sorry!! I left my grade book at home with the students' conduct sheets inside so there will not be a conduct sheet or graded papers passed out in the red folder today. I will send them out tomorrow in the purple homework folders. Please sign the conduct sheet & return it on Thurs. Remember tonight is open house from 6:30-8:00. I'm going to try to finish as close to 7:15 as possible so that I can attend my son's kinder open house & my daughter's 4th grade open house for the last few min. I will send the handouts home to those parents unable to attend. Please remember this is not a time for individual conferences with me. I do not feel comfortable discussing your child's conduct or academic grades in front of other parents.

9-12-07 We have finished a 2 page review for the grammar test( pg. 49-50). The class is still a little shaking on finding the subject of a sentence and finding the predicate of a sentence. There are some extra pages of examples you can use on all the 6 sections the test will  be over. They can be found found on pages 53 thru 58 in the hardback grammar book. Every child is bringing their grammar books home tonight. The test is tomorrow. I added some updates to the Oct. calendar. Please remember to sell Sally Foster!!

9-7 Reading log is due Mon. Please be sure it is signed. Our first grammar test ( unit 1 - The Sentence) will be Thurs. Have a great weekend.

9-4-07 Tonight is the first time red folders are going home. In the red folder you should find from me: a conduct sheet that needs to be signed. On it is the weekly conduct grade, test grades, and homework( c= complete). You will also find the 2 math tests (stapled together), the voc. test & comp. test. The spelling tests are kept in their spelling folders and do not go home. Conduct sheets are due tomorrow- signed. You may keep the tests. My hope is when you have time... if there is such a thing... you will go over any missed problems. See if your child can find his/ her mistake on their own, first, then help them out if they cannot. We had a great first week. Thank you to those parents who have signed up as support help. We will still need 2 or so parents who will be the room parent. I promise to make your job as easy as possible. Tonight is the first night of reading log. I'd like the students to pick a book to read at home on the third grade or higher reading level. We have a light blue reading log folder with daily assignments. We did Mon. assignment in class today, so please have your child do Tues. These folders do not need to be returned to me until Mon. Sept. 10th. They will be due every Mon. That way if you have dance or baseball practice one night, you will have Fri., Sat., or Sun. to do the reading log missed. Please be sure you sign the reading log before it is turned in on Mon. As always, thank you for your help with this!!

8-29-07 Sally Foster gift wrap forms go home today. Each child is asked to sell at least one item. The money raised this year will go to funding the outdoor science lab. We have almost 100% of the forms turned back in- which is amazing. I think this breaks all records of past classes of mine. Thank you so much!! There are a couple who are missing like one sheet. I will let your child know. Be sure to ask your child about the 7 reading vocabulary words. There will be a test Fri. (matching). We've studied in class & I will make sure the reading folder goes home tomorrow night.

8-28-07 Parent letter from me went home today. First night of homework.

8-27-07

Dear Parents:   We had a great first day. I heard a lot of comments where math problem solving was refferred to as "fun"- so I think we're off to a good start. I will be communicating most information through school notes. I will also post tests and events on the  school notes calendar. More to come later....