CONGRATULATIONS TO MADISON!  MADISON WAS THE FIRST ONE TO TURN IN HER MILESTONE #1.  IT IS GOING TO BE AN AMAZING EXHIBITION!

College Letter Project

Students have been completing their Phase I of the college projects.  The next phase is composing business letters to each of the 3 colleges of their choice.  The kids will be learning how to use google docs this year for various writing projects.  Their college letters will be composed in google docs. I have a letter template and a how-to video posted below.

IT’S COLLEGE PROJECT TIME!

On Monday we began a new project that all 4th and 5th graders will be completing. This is probably my favorite project of all time! The project consists of letter writing, a field trip, a college fair conducted by students, and making a commercial with a group. It's really exciting because students receive mail at school from the colleges. Sometimes there are boxes with lots of fun souvenirs sent by the college.

There are several parts of this project that we will be completing in school and some parts will need to be completed at home. Every student has chosen 3 states and is working on finding 1 college or university from each state.

In April, we will visit the campus of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, to see what college can be like. All phases of the project must be completed on time in order to go on the field trip. Teacher approval is required to move from one phase to the next.


The website to find colleges for all the states is in the "Websites for Students" tab at the top of the page.

Phase 1

•   Choose 3 colleges with programs (majors/academic programs) that are interesting to the child.
•    Find the Admissions Office addresses of all three colleges/universities
•   College ABC book with terms and vocabulary related to going to college
•    Write a letter to each college asking for information (& souvenirs) about the college and wait for responses. We will write & send the letters out from school.

Phase 2

•  Compare the information about the three colleges with assigned criteria on the Facts and Figures Sheet.
•   Write a feature article comparing two and pick the best one. This will be written mostly in school.

 Phase 3

•  Field trip to U of M (cost TBA)
•  Create a poster or tri-fold board advertising the best college for you (out of the 3 students sent letters to).
•  College Fair in school

 Phase 4

•  Commercials and website creation-the commercials will advertise colleges and universities across the country and help student around the world choose a college! We will publish the commercials on the Internet!
• There will be other multimedia components that are added later for those students who work ahead.

  

Second Trimester Amazing People Project

We finally have the dates for the Milestones for our AMAZING PEOPLE project:

Milestone 1:  Due Thursday, February 9^th

Milestone 2:  Due Thursday, March 22^nd

Milestone 3:  Duet Thursday, May 17^th. 

Below you will find the Form for Milestone one, along with an outline example for Milestone 2.  I will also send home a hard copy to be returned with a parent signature to acknowledge you have seen the form.  

Second Trimester Amazing People Project

HAVE A WONDERFUL, FABULOUS HOLIDAY….

SEE YOU ON JANUARY 9^TH

*Just a note – you should start researching for your AMAZING PERSON as Milestone 1 will be due at a date to be determined (sometime in the first week of February)

AND HERE'S OUR HULA TEACHER...

Here's Lauryn teaching us how to Hula:) 

DELICIOUS! YUMMY! FABULOUS! PART 2

Try our slideshow creator at Animoto.

DELICIOUS! YUMMY! FABULOUS!

Thank you to all for our successful Ice Cream PartyJ. We had everything we could want to celebrate the accomplishment of learning our math facts.  Every student that participated in the party made a huge effort to reach their personal goals.  See the video below of the party – happy faces, full tummies, dancing, singing, and lots of fun!

It's finally here!  Our long awaited ICE CREAM CELEBRATION! The kids have worked hard on their multiplication fact families and are adding ice cream scoops to their cones.  It's really exciting to see all the colors building on our wall, and the speed with which they are reciting and writing their facts.  

Thank you to all who are bringing in our fudge, toppings, ice cream, spoons, bowls, and juices.  What a great way to end our first semester! 

FREE DRESS FOR $1.00!!

FREE DRESS IS THIS FRIDAY, THE 16TH, AND NOT THE 23RD!!  

EXHIBITION WEEK IS HERE....

Exhibitions begin Monday, December 12th.   Here is our schedule for the week:


Monday, December 12th                                     Thursday, December 15th
Dylan                                                                K'myiah
Jaiden                                                               Kayla
Emetrionna                                                        Joshua
Cameron                                                            Khalila


Tuesday, December 13th                                     Friday, December 16th
Lauryn                                                               Devin
Morgan                                                              Madison
Brianna                                                             Micah


Wednesday, December 14th
Kiera
Moses
Darnishia

In math we are learning how to multiply larger numbers (example: 156 x 7 and 27 x 45 ). The students will be learning a new method called Partial Products. This involves breaking down the numbers into expanded form and multiplying those parts. Then you add the parts together to get the final answer.

Since this is a method that you probably didn't learn when you were a kid, here are two videos (courtesy of Mr. Curran) that demonstrate the steps of the process.

HERE ARE SOME MORE EXAMPLES OF STATE EXHIBITIONS....

The power point of Michigan was done by Mrs. Martin, and the other 2 power points were exhibitions by former students of Mrs. Martin.  I know these will give you more ideas!  REMEMBER-Early turn in is welcomed and appreciated!!

Michigan example

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Wyoming

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Pennsylvania good 1

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CANNED FOOD DRIVE

In the spirit of giving this holiday season, our school will be collecting non-perishable food items for a school-wide food drive.  During the weeks of November 30^th-December 16^th, each class will be collecting dried and canned food items to be donated to local area food banks and families in need.

At the end of the food drive, the class that has collected the most food items will be awarded the UPA Gives Generosity Award and receive a special treat!  PLUS-the 3^rd floor village is competing to see which class brings in the most cans.  Whoever wins will have our Village trophy in their room!  Of course I know we will be the winner – especially since we are already overflowing with donations! 

WAY TO GO for brining in donations:

Dylan Edgar and family

Cameron Norris and Family

K’myiah Nelson and Family

Brianna and Family

Darnishia and family

Some items you may donate include:

·          Canned fruits and vegetables, canned soups

·          Dried fruit, fruit juice boxes, bottled water

·          Cereals, dry snacks

·          Dry pasta, macaroni and cheese, pasta sauce, rice

·          Peanut butter, jelly

NEW AMPT SCHEDULE!

Please check the schedule at the right to see our new AMPT schedule.  We will have this schedule through January 20th.

OUR SUPER MATH ICE CREAM CHALLENGE!

I GAVE THE STUDENTS A CHALLENGE FOR LEARNING THEIR MATH FACTS.  THEY NEED TO HAVE ALL FACTS LEARNED AND BE ABLE TO TAKE A 2 MINUTE MATH FACT TEST BEFORE THE WINTER BREAK.  WHEN THEY DO THIS, WE WILL HAVE AN ICE CREAM PARTY!  EACH FACT FAMILY THAT THEY PASS, THEY RECEIVE AN ICE SCREAM SCOOP THAT IS PUT ON TOP OF AN ICE CREAM CONE.  BELOW YOU CAN SEE THE PICTURES AND THE GROWING CONES!  WE’RE GOING FOR MORE THAN A TRIPLE SCOPE OF ICE SCREAM!  **PLEASE WORK WITH YOUR CHILD ON THEIR FACTS EVERYDAY SO THAT WE CAN ALL CELEBRATE THIS ACHIEVEMENT!***

OUR CELEBRATION WILL BE ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22^ND.  I WILL BE BRINGING A SPECIAL SURPRISE!

THE STUDENTS AND I HAVE GENERATED A LIST OF ITEMS THAT WOULD BE FABULOUS ON OUR ICE CREAM.  PLEASE CHOOSE AN ITEM TO HAVE YOUR CHILD BRING IN, SIGN THE FORM, AND RETURN BY Friday, DECEMBER 16th.

THANK YOU for all your support this year:)

Multiplication Wrestling Lightsaber Lecture

Multiplication Wrestling Lightsaber Lecture

The kids are learning to use the partial products method to multiply a two-digit by a two-digit number (example: 27 x 45 ). This involves breaking down the numbers into expanded form and multiplying those parts. Then you add the parts together to get the final answer.

Below is a video showing how to "wrestle" multiplication done by another teacher.  The kids saw this video today and should now be able to teach you how to play multiplication wrestling!

EXHIBITION POWER POINT EXAMPLE

Below you will find a power point of a former student's (Mrs. Drain's student) State Exhibition Project. The kids and I went over the reasons that this power point is so well done: very little text, bullet points for the important points, graphics that relate to the bullet points, creativity, and all requirements on the outline. As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions/concerns at swagner@uprep.com.

State new york

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Social Studies-Assembly Line Photos

During our last week of social studies, the kids learned how the Ford assembly line worked. Students worked in different groups with different roles for adding different parts to a drawing of a Model-T. Please view pictures below.

SIGN UP FOR YOUR CHILD’S EXHIBITION!

EXHIBITIONS WILL TAKE PLACE DECEMBER 12^TH-16^TH.

There are 2 ways that you may sign up for the exhibition: 

         1.  Sign up on the blog: mrswagner310.blogspot.com

                        Click on the “Permission slips and forms” tab at the top of the blog

            2.  The sign-up sheet which was sent home on Tuesday, November 29, 2011

I will try to honor all first choices, but it is first come/first serve!