Blog #21

January 25-29, 2016

Matthew, Mary Jane and Liam eat lunch for the
Third Grade Spelling Bee!

Eleanor, Noah, Jesse, Lauryn and Parth display their
certificates and ribbons from the Fourth Grade Spelling Bee!

Parth, Lauryn and Nadia participated in the All School
Spelling Bee! Congratulations to Nadia for placing
fifth for the Third Grade Spelling Bee!

Julia is showing her sports wear for School Spirit Day!

Congratulations to Nadia for earning a Xtra
Math certificate!

Bennett shares his trophy and ribbons from participating
in the IMX Challenge swimming meet!

Miss Janet from Growing Minds taught our first lesson on
Mindful Body and the brain.  She will be with us for ten
weeks. Thank you to the wonderful Atwater PTO!

Kaiden, Lauryn and Taylor at recess!

     It was a very busy and activity filled week!  I think I will share most in pictures! Please double click on bold or brown captions for more pics.

1. We begin Crew in our circle (oval.)

   

2.  We greet at least two people every
morning in Crew. These students
are greeting people who like the
same music style. 
3.  We discuss a quote, read a book.
or create norms. 

We changed the 1, 2, 3 activity
all week to make it more challenging. 

Mrs. Bennett also showed our Crew
to change "7 Shakes" to make it
more interesting!. Thank you
Mrs. Bennett for being part of
our Crew!

4. We have a check in (share time.) 
5.  We have an activity. 
Mrs. Bennett leads the Crew in 1, 2, 3. 

     We ended January with Self-Discipline and begin February with Responsibility.  Students will sign up to share a quote or a precept during a Crew meeting in February on Responsibility or March on Empathy.  I showed them how to search and sign up on a Google form that I shared with them.  Crew members should also think about what the responsibility or empathy quote or precept means to them so they can share it with our Crew.  The quote/precept is due the day before they share.

   

In Reading Workshop, Liam and
Teddy use  Gogomo to share inner
characteristics about Auggie
 from Wonder.

Mary Jane, Tyndall and Noah
add outer characteristics
to a largeAuggie.  Ms. Sakai started to read
Extra Credit by Andrew Clements.
This book ties in with reading work-
shop lessons, responsibility and
empathy.  We also MAP tested
in reading. 

Aiko, Rose and Jesse enjoy hot cocoa
and marshmallows, along with the
marshmallow experiment. 

In Writing Workshop, our Crew
 brainstorms for ideas for
realistic fiction stories for stories
they wish existed in the world. 

Tristan, Kaiden and Piper work on
Edutyping. 

Our Math Crew watches Andrina
and Lochlan inside a "fishbowl"
as they demonstrate a game.

Tristan and Olivia
play Multiplication Bingo.

Aiko and Cole complete a Speed
Sort with their spelling words. 

Rose, Tyndall, Finn and Maya
research for their Unwanted Poster.

                                                                 

Jesse, Finn, Parth and Matthew work together to carry a tennis ball onto a PVC pipe.  This is the focus ring activityand the first lessson in our A World of Motion unit! Thank you to Mr. Hamann for creating all of the materials for this unit!

Thank you to all who donated to the
Penny Wars to benefit the Leukemia
and Lymphoma Society!

       We also enjoyed a Milwaukee Youth Concert by the Milwaukee Symphony. The theme was "Heroes" and they played some songs that the 6th graders performed at their Winter Sing. Thank you to Mrs. Aldana and Mrs. DeWeerdt for chaperoning the trip!                                                    

Julia, Aiko, Jesse and Nadia start to
plan their Unwanted Poster.

Brain Break-High Five!

Brain Break-Would you rather? which
also uses an EL protocol called
InnerOuter Circle or
Concentric Circles.

While waiting in the hallway,
Aiko and Nadia lead "I'm going on a picnic."

Special Notes and Friendly Reminders for Parents

     Hi Parents! Next week, we begin our  labs for "A World of Motion" unit which is funded by a grant from Johnson Controls.  It will integrate STEAM (science, technology, engineering art and math.) Our daily schedules will be different for the entire month of February.  One of the changes is that we will have science and social studies every day, along with shortened math time.  Mrs. Malloy has been wonderful about planning for Social Studies every day and she will help students complete some of the data tables and word processing.  The changes to our schedule have been approved by Mrs. Russick and Mr. Tim Joynt, the new Curriculum and Instructor Director. This unit is truly a collaborative project with Atwater and Lake Bluff teachers, Mr. Ted Knight and engineers from Johnson Controls.  We are excited to jump right into the unit but please be patient with us, it's our first time!  Thank you!

   

1.  Thursday bags are due by Monday.

2.  Please turn in the Reading Log (totaled) by Monday, February 1st.  If your child misplaces his/her reading log, s/he can write the information on a piece of paper. 

3.  Important Math Fact information:  Xtramath 3 times or fact packet due Mon.

4.  Words Their Way/Spelling.  They will assess the circled words that were sent home on Monday, Feb. 1st.

5.  "No Trash Tuesday"-Please encourage your child to bring their lunches and snacks in reusable containers. 

6.  Tuesday, Feb. 2nd-Band lessons and lunch rehearsal

6.  Wednesday, Feb. 3rd-Rookies attend Art Docent-Shawn Brown is chaperoning. 

7.  Thursday, Feb. 4th-orchestra lessons and lunch rehearsal

8.  Order forms for Gordon Korman, author that we will see on Feb. 11th, are due on Feb. 4th. 

9.  Friday, Feb. 5th-advanced orchestra lunch rehearsal (Julia)

10.  Monday, Feb. 8th-BOB competitions begin (Bennett, Maya and Rose)

11.  Wednesday, Feb. 10th-Word Masters for students who are participating. They may practice from their packet that was sent home and from the quizlet links below.

(Third Grade) https://quizlet.com/jstanco/folders/wordmasters-3rd-grade-2015-16

(Fourth Grade) https://quizlet.com/jstanco/folders/wordmasters-4th-grade-2015-16

12.  Gordon Korman author coming to Shorewood on Thursday, Feb. 11th.  We will walk to Lake Bluff, weather permitting, to hear this wonderful author.  Order forms for his books were in the Thursday bag.  Orders are due Thursday, Feb. 4th. 


13.  Quote or Precept for February (Responsibility) or Empathy (March)-Please read our blog for more info. 

Important Dates

Monday, February 1st: Reading log, Xtramath or fact pack and Thursday bag due, Words Their Way spelling assessment

Tuesday, February 2nd: band lessons and lunch rehearsal, "No Trash Tuesday"

Wednesday, February 3rd;   Junior Art Docents Rookies and Mrs. Brown

Thursday,February 4th;   orchestra lessons and lunch rehearsal, Gordon Korman book orders due

Friday, February 5th;  MAP testing (Math), Adv. Orchestra lunch rehearsal (Julia)

Monday, February 8th-Thurs. bag, reading log and fact practice or Xtramath due, BOB competitions begin

Tuesday, February 9th:  band lessons and lunch rehearsal, "No Trash Tuesday"

Wednesday, February 10th: Word Masters

Thursday, February 11th:  Orchestra lessons and lunch rehearsal, Gordon Korman author at LB

Friday, February 12th: Vets-Junior Art Docent, Valentine's Party (more info soon!)

Hope you had a great weekend!

Thank you,

Deb

Blog #20

January 19-22, 2016

Congratulations to Piper and Mary Jane for earning
Perfect Attendance Awards for first trimester! Way
to go girls!

Eleanor, Jesse, Noah, Lauryn, and Parth participated in the
4th Grade Spelling Bee!  Lauryn placed 4th place and
Parth placed 2nd!  They will participate in the All-School
Bee on January 29th!  Huge appreciations to these students
who exhibited positive sportsmanship and showed encourage-
ment to the other participants.  Mr. Nadolsky, Mrs. Maxwell
and I were very impressed!

Julia, Liam and Zhi show their certificates that they received
from Mrs. Russick for representing our Crew at the PrinciPal
meeting!

Congratulations to Bennett for earning a Xtramath Certificate!

**Please double click on any brown or bolded caption above or below for more pics.**

Mr. Rinka's last day with our Crew was Friday.  We wish
him the best as he student teaches with Mrs. Brown and
Mrs. McMillan.  We will miss him!

Eleanor and Kaiden help Aiko celebrate her birthday!

Liam and Finn pose for a picture with Noah 
for his birthday!

Julia and Maya help Rose celebrate her early July birthday!

Our Crew on Winter Sing night-what a spectacular job they did!  As you can
imagine, they participated in music classes,  two practices and a dress
rehearsal to prepare for the wonderful performance!  Thank
you to Mrs. Aldana, Ms. Brown, and Mrs. Travanty for helping in the music
room before the performance1 We also watched the first-third grade dress
rehearsal.

Zhi, Julia and Liam take notes as
students share about self-discipline
to share at PrinciPals. 

Lauryn and Teddy lead us in 
"Who'sthe boss?"

      In Crew, we continued to discuss self-discipline norms in different situations which came in handy with our busy week.  We are continuing to work on using self-discipline norms throughout the day.

     In Reading Workshop,

Cole and his group performs a Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. play.

students used the concentric circle protocol to list facts they knew about Dr. Martin Luther, King.  After read Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport and we watched his biography on Pebble Go, students filled in the middle circle. Students chose parts practiced and presented plays about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Students listened for obstacles (people or things) that got in Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.s' way or prevented him from doing what he wanted to do.  These were added to the outside circle after each play.  Students also gave compliments to each group after they performed. Then, students discussed the character traits that he showed.  Students also did a wrap around share to tell us how they felt about participating in the plays and their take away from these activities.  It was a interesting discussion about history.  Thank you, Mr. Isaacs for your help!

Tyndall and Lauryn sort their words
at the standing table. 

Nadia and Sebastian do "Rock, Paper, 
Scissors" to see if that is a fair way
to decide who goes first in a game.

     In Writing Workshop, students continued to work on Publishing Center stories and visit the Publishing Center. Thank you also, to Mrs. Aldana for helping to publish our crew's stories.  Students also received a new Words Their Way list and sorted their words by patterns.

Using the Fishbowl protocol, we
watch Sebastian and Mary Jane
show us how to record information. 

Claudia and Aiko use the Gogomo
protocol to share multiplication facts.

     In Math in Mrs. Malloy's class, students worked on a review for their decimals unit.  Mrs. Sakai's class worked on probability and multiplication/division.

   

Matthew reads to a K-4 buddy
during our Reading Train.  Before we
read, our Crew chose a book and
practiced reading for fluency and
expressin. 

We took part in a PERKS Character
Assembly on Friday.  We sung theAtwater song, 
learned a PERKS chant,
watched a video and listened to
Mrs. Caton talk about "No TrashTuesday" 
and recycling. 

Our Crew organized the scarves for
Winter Sing a couple of times! It was
neat to see how each group chose to
do it!!

Bennett leads us in Mindfulness.

   

   



   

   













Thank you for reading our blog!

Special Notes and Friendly Reminders for Parents

Hi! I'm sorry this is late this weekend!  We celebrated Katie Adamczyk's (Kristopeit) and Tyler Kristopeit's wedding shower on Friday night!  I'm so grateful to work with such amazing people!
We also attended a birthday party yesterday and I managed to take a beautiful walk two times!

Last Monday, our inservice focused on EL!  We used the concentric circle protocol to learn more about EL as we worked with teachers across grade levels, including SIS and SHS.  Then, I spent time working on Crew targets and ideas with Mrs. Malloy and other teachers.  In the afternoon, Mrs. Malloy and I worked on realistic fiction writing learning targets. It was a productive day!

   

1.  Thursday bags are due by Monday.

2.  Please turn in the Reading Log (totaled) by Monday, January 25th.  If your child misplaces his/her reading log, s/he can write the information on a piece of paper. 

3.  Important Math Fact information:  Xtramath 3 times or fact packet due Mon.

4. Penny Wars begins on Monday, January 25th!  Please bring in your pennies. Information and boxes were sent home about a month ago. 

5.  Mindfulness lessons begin on Monday, Jan. 25th for ten weeks. Thank you Atwater PTO!

6. The permission slip for the Milwaukee Youth Concert is due on Monday, Jan. 25th. Thank you for your understanding with the quick due date. 

7.  The Rookies is on Monday, Jan. 25th. Students can study the words that were sent home. 

8.  "No Trash Tuesday"-Please encourage your child to bring their lunches and snacks in reusable containers. 

9.  Milw. Youth Concert-Wednesday, Jan. 27th-Please dress nicely. We will eat lunch early at school.

10.  Spirit Day- Friday, Jan. 29th-Students may wear a sports t-shirt, outfit or uniform if they would like. Please leave hats and helmets at home. 

11.  Friday, Jan. 29th-Atwater All-School Spelling Bee for Lauryn and Parth-you can study from the word list

12.  Words Their Way-Students have new words. They will assess the circled words that were sent home on Monday, Feb. 1st.

13.  Gordon Korman author coming to Shorewood on Thursday, Feb. 11th.  We will walk to Lake Bluff, weather permitting, to hear this wonderful author.  Order forms for his books were in the Thursday bag.  Orders are due Thursday, Feb. 4th. 

Important Dates

Monday, January 25th-Thurs. bag, reading log and fact practice or Xtramath due, Rookies Spelling Bee, Penny Wars begins, Milw. Youth Concert perm slip due

Tuesday, January 26th:  band lunch rehearsal, "No Trash Tuesday"

Wednesday, January 27th: Milwaukee Youth Concert (we will eat lunch early at school)

Thursday,January 28th:  BOB check-in, MAP Reading assessment, orchestra

Friday, January 29th: Sports Spirit Day, All School Spelling Bee

Monday, February 1st: Reading log, Xtramath or fact pack and Thursday bag due, Words Their Way spelling assessment

Tuesday, February 2nd: band, "No Trash Tuesday"

Wednesday, February 3rd;   Junior Art Docents Rookies and Mrs. Brown

Thursday,February 4th;   orchestra lessons, Gordon Korman book orders due

Friday, February 5th;  MAP testing (Math)

Hope you had a great weekend!

Thank you,

Deb

Blog #19

January 11-14, 16

Welcome, Mr. Isaacs!  We are glad to have you join our Crew!
His daughter is a 5th grader at LB! He will take
Mr. Rinka's position when Mr. Rinka begins student teaching with
Mrs. Brown and Mrs. McMillan on January 25th.

Please click on any bold/brown caption for more pics

Parth, Finn, Zhi and Aiko completed Geography Hunts
over Winter Break and received certificates!

Thank you to our generous PTO for providing
a grant for standing adjustable tables
in Mrs. Malloy's and our room! We love
our new special "seating" alternative!  Thank you!

Some of our Crew modified a crew activity to
 play during an indoor recess this week!

                                                                                                  

       

     

     Considering inside recess for three days in a row, our Crew was fantastic!  I love watching what they choose to do during inside recess!

     In Crew, we continued our focus and target on self-discipline with different activities. We discussed a quote "Why compare yourself with others?  No one in the entire world can do a better job of being you than you"  by Krystal Volney. It takes self-discipline to use mindset.

Eleanor and Tyndall greet each
 other during Crew. 

Cole and Bennett use the EL Gogomo
protocol during Crew to
share actions for "Who's the Boss?"

Parth tries to guess "Who's the Boss?"
during our Crew meeting. We discussed
how self-discipline fits in with this. 

Rose and Cole are reading a nonfiction
text and using the EL Protocol
"Say Something."

Cole, Tristan and Liam look at a
book together during
LibraryBook exchange. 

     In Reading Workshop, students watched a short video and learned vocabulary for a Scholastic News about 3-D printing. They also studied maps and discussed everything they could learn from it. Then, students read the article together while using the EL protocol called "Say Something."  After, students completed a note catcher about a problem and solution in the text.

Tristan, Kaiden and Piper use theEL
Protocol "Boxing" to show what
they know about dairy farms before a
speaker, Alice in Dairyland comes.
(We learned this week that her presentation
 is postponed until March.)

Julia, Aiko, Jesse, Matthew, and
Piper continue to research their
invasive species for their
 "Unwanted poster."

     Students are continuing to work on Publishing Center stories, Words Their Way and cursive.  

Nadia and Claudia toss ten coins
to collect heads and tails data 

     In math, in Mrs. Malloy's class, students continue to practice computation, especially decimals.  They are also using math workshop during some math classes. Ms. Sakai's class is working on multiplication, division and probability.  

In Social Studies, Mrs. Malloy prepared
the EL protocol"Quiz, quiz, trade" to
review for the assessment.  It was fun
having both of our crews together!
Teddy, Tristan and Sebastian practice
"Quiz, quiz, trade." Students also assessed
this week. 

     

We had many brain breaks this week
with two Winter Sing practices and
three days of inside recess. 

Aiko leads us in "I'm going on a
picnic."

We had an assembly to jump start us
for Jumprope for Heart!  Thank you
to Mrs. Albrightson for organizing.
Information was in the Thursday bag. 

Mindfulness-Body scan

Special Notes and Friendly Reminders for Parents

During our inservice today, we learned that our wonderful PTO is contributing funds to pay for Mindfulness lessons again this year!  We start once a week in late January and Mrs. Reinhofer will be our teacher. I am so grateful to our incredible PTO!  Thank you!

We spent most of the inservice day watching representatives from three different companies explain their math programs.  We also met with the Lake Bluff teachers to discuss pros and cons to each program.  It is always a pleasure working with the Lake Bluff third grade team!

On Monday, our inservice will evolve around Expeditionary Learning.  Should be a wonderful day!

   

1.  Thursday bags are due by Tuesday.

2.  Please turn in the Reading Log (totaled) by Tuesday, January 19th.  If your child misplaces his/her reading log, s/he can write the information on a piece of paper. 

3.  Important Math Fact information:  Xtramath 3 times or fact packet due Tues.  1/19

4. Band lunch rehearsals begin on Tuesday-please bring your instrument.

5.  Winter Sing Dress Rehearsal 9:00 am on Wed., Jan. 20th.  Students do not need to dress up for the rehearsal but please avoid white clothes.  

6. Winter Sing Performance: Wed., Jan. 20th-Please wear ALL dark and dressy clothes.  ALL clothing should be dark.  Please drop off your child in the music room at 6:00 pm and please take your child's jacket with you.  The performance begins at 6:15 pm.  Please pick up your child in the west hallway after the performance.  Thank you!

7.  PrinciPals: Thursday, Jan. 21st: Liam, Zhi and Julia

8.  Book orders due by Friday, Jan. 22nd in school or midnight on-line

9.  The Vets Spelling Bee is on Friday, Jan. 22nd and the Rookies is on Monday, Jan. 25th. Students can study the words that were sent home. 

10.  Gordon Korman author coming to Shorewood on Thursday, Feb. 11th.  We will walk to Lake Bluff, weather permitting, to hear this wonderful author.  Order forms for his books were in the Thursday bag.  Orders are due Thursday, Feb. 4th. 

Important Dates

Monday, January 18th: No School-Inservice Day for teachers

Tuesday, January 19th: Reading Log, Thursday bag, XtraMath or packet due, band rehearsal lunch, 

Wednesday, January 20th;   Winter Sing Dress rehearsal 9:00 am (You may attend if you're  unable to attend the night performance. Students should avoid white clothes during dress rehearsal.) 

6:15 pm is the 3/4 Winter Sing performance.  (Drop off at  6:00 pm to the music room, take your child's coat with you and they should be in  ALL dark and dressy clothes.) Please pick up your child in the west hall right after the performance. 

Thursday, January 21st;  PrinciPals: Liam, Zhi and Julia, orchestra lessons

Friday, January 22nd;  Scholastic book orders due, Vets-Spelling Bee, Atwater Movie Night-7:00 pm (Inside Out)

Monday, January 25th-Thurs. bag, reading log and fact practice or Xtramath due, Rookies Spelling Bee, Penny Wars begins

Tuesday, January 26th:  band lunch rehearsal

Wednesday, January 27th: Milwaukee Youth Concert

Thursday,January 28th:  BOB check-in, MAP Reading assessment

Friday, January 29th: 

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend! 

Thank you,

Deb