Narrative (Report Cards) and MAP Scores

Inside of the envelope will be the narrative with a percentage for each subject area with comments and your child's MAP scores on a report called, Student Progress Report. If you need help understanding it, there are explanatory notes at the bottom. If you need more clarification of what the MAP test is, please see theNWEA Parent Toolkit website(http://www.nwea.org/support/article/930/parent-toolkit).

DESPERATE!!

We are in desperate need of healthy snacks!  We appreciate whatever you are able to donate.


As always - thank you for your generosity.

Milestone #1 for our Amazing People Exhibition is Due February 9th.  I've been encouraging the students to bring them in early in order to correct any errors before February 9th.  This milestone requires 3 book sources and 3 website resources.  Any student who completes the milestone in time, with all correct information, will participate in Fun Friday!

Our students’ first narrative for the 2011-2012 school year was scheduled to come home today, January 27, 2012.  However, due to technical difficulties we will send them home next week.  The expected date I Monday, January 30, 2012.

COLLEGE PROJECT UPDATE

I’m so IMPRESSED WITH HOW THE STUDENTS HAVE WORKED ON THEIR COLLEGE PROJECTS.  THE FOLLOWING STUDENTS HAVE ALREADY COMPLETED AND SENT THEIR BUSINESS LETTERS:

              Morgan

              Lauryn

Micah

Madison

K’myiah

Kayla

Devin

Darnishia

Joshua

Now we need to wait for all the packages from the colleges to come in. That is always exciting to see what is sent!

We have started Phase 2 of the project this week.  We have looked at Feature Articles and the characteristics of the articles.  Some of these are: a title, captions, pictures, maps, graphs, paragraph chunks.

Students do not have the information yet to actually write the articles.  So far the only homework assignment was to bring in an article and find some of the characteristics.

The following 2 steps are needed to complete Phase 2 of the College Project:

Phase 2

Compare the information about the three colleges with assigned criteria on the Facts and Figures sheet.

Write a feature article comparing two colleges and picking the best one out of the 3 colleges that they sent letters to)

This will be written mostly in class, however information on how to access it on Google Docs will be forth coming.

 

UPA is participating in fundraiser to help Leukemia patients. The students have collection boxes that they should have brought home already. They can collect pennies and bring them to school for our class' box. The class that raises the most money gets a pizza party from the organization.  We have one more week left to collect.  This is our second community service project and the kids are really excited about helping other children.  

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

View more presentations from sgwagner.

Wyoming

View more presentations from sgwagner.

Pennsylvania good 1

View more presentations from sgwagner

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