Post #17

December 19-22, 2016

Our crew created a wonderful idea for the Atwater Community Crew.  They created a chant, along with movements
that were easy enough for kindergarteners to learn, figured out what to say, then taught the Community Crew.  I am so proud of their energy and creativity! Thank you to Mr. Stanco for taking pics of our crew. See more pics. 

 

Every year, Mr. Bower organizes class music recitals held during music class. Here are our performers from our crew. Thank you to all of the families that joined us! It was an enjoyable recital by very talented performers!

Auguste played Two Grenadiers.

Kaiden, Daphne and Mary Jane played Jingle Bells.

Angela played Alpine Melody. 

Owen played Go To Sleep.. 

Petra played The Erlking.

Masha played Etude Op.. 29, No. 8.

Tristan played drums to a song by the Twenty-One Pilots. 

Congratulations to Masha for earning a XtraMath
certificate.

Way to go, Petra, for earning a
XtraMath certificate!

Congratulations, J.P. for earning a
XtraMath certificate!

Way to go, Auguste, for earning a
XtraMath certificate

Mr. Rinka's 18 month daughter is giving Aiko a hug. They made a surprise
visit. She was very comfortable with our crew. See pics. 

We debriefed about "The Having of Wonderful Ideas" in
our crew meeting. See pics. 

Petra, Levi and Masha acting while Henry leads
Bippity Boppity Boo.  See pics. 

Here is our snowball fight during crew. (It's really a greeting!)

Cleo, Liam, Geoffrey and Mary Jane add inventions to the
ABC note catcher from I is from Idea. See pics. 

Auguste, Finn, Owen and Angela read a mystery story
(some important words missing) to determine the invention
by Mary Anderson from Girls Think of Everything: Stories of
Ingenious Inventions by Women by C. Thimmeah. See pics. 

Eliza, Aiko and Owen add their own invention ideas to
the ABC note catcher. See pics. 

Allen and Jacoby play Shuffle to 100. This involved making
two two-digit numbers that come close to 100 by estimating,
then finding the difference to 100, adding the differences and
seeing who had the lowest total score. See pics. 

Henry and Eliza complete tests on different minerals to see if
they can determine the three mystery minerals in their rocks
that they made and then broke open. Students also observed
the layers of the sediment and compared it with their predictions.
See pics. 

Cleo and Nadia help their K-4 buddies practice their lines
for their play. A huge shout out to Mrs. Thoreson, Mrs. Braun
and their crew for a wonderful job! See pics. 

After we watched our K-4 buddies practice their fantastic
Three Little Pig play for their case study, our crew helped
their buddies use a rubric. Here is Angela helping her buddy.
See pics of the play. 

Henry leads us in Mindfulness. See pics. 

Go Noodle. 

Tristan, Henry and J.P. walk through the treat buffet before
our winter party movie, "The BFG. " Mrs. Malloy's crew
also joined us. Thank you Henry C., Henry T., Angela,
Geoffrey, Finn and Nadia for providing party treats. Thank
you to Kaiden, Daphne and Mary Jane for setting up the buffet!
See pics. 

Other Activities this week:

Students are working hard to word process personal narrative stories and writing publishing center stories. Crew members working on Word Masters, Math Enrichment, MOD or spelling bee worked on those advanced learning opportunities, students self-assessed first trimester goals and wrote second trimester goals (most of the students had copies in Thurs. bags)

Notes for Parents:

Thank you so much to the crew and families for the very thoughtful holiday gifts! The crew and I are very grateful for the Tibetan Singing Bowl that we will use during Mindfulness (picture of one below.) Both  of our Mindfulness teachers used one.  Thank you also for the delicious truffles from Indulgence Chocolatiers-what a treat! I am also thankful for the money so that the crew can choose something they would like for the classroom. I'm sure they will have wonderful ideas!  Thank you so much to Shawn Brown for organizing the gifts and to Ellie Travanty for communicating to families about the winter party treats!  Thank you so much to all of you, wonderful families, for being so thoughtful, caring and supportive. It is an honor to teach your amazing children!

1.   Reading Log : Reading Logs are due totaled on Tuesday.  The minimum amount of days is ten days for this log and students should read at least 200 minutes.  Please ask your child to total his/her minutes before s/he brings it to school on Monday. An example reading log is in the Parent Orientation booklet. 

2.  XtraMath :  NO XtraMath unless working on subtraction facts and only 2 times the entire two weeks

3.  Labeling Snow gear: Please label all snow gear (hats, gloves, scarves, snow pants, etc.) with either your last name or initials. It would save time when students are getting ready for recess, lunch or leaving at the end of the day when they know quickly who's snow gear belongs to whom. Black snow pants are very popular and we have a few pairs of gloves that are the same. Thank you so much!

4 . No School and Conference Dates: There is no school for students on Thursday, March 9th and Friday, March 10th.  The district calendar says differently. Your child is leading the conference so please plan to have your child join us. 

5. Box Tops: If you have any Box Tops, please send them in. We are collecting them! Thank you!

6. Advanced Learning Dept. info:

A.  Spelling bee lists: (if your child chose to participate)

The lists are in a pack-e.g. Rookies start with third grade list, after you learn that, continue to fourth grade list, etc. The spelling bee will begin with third grade (or fourth grade for Vets.) Once, the word list is finished, the spelling bee will continue with the next grade level. 

Third grade bee-Friday, Jan. 13th

Fourth grade bee-Tuesday, Jan. 17th

B. Word Masters (if your child chose to participate)

The new lists came home yesterday in manila envelopes. I thought it would be easier to keep them in those. Your child should also add the "word posters" from the previous challenge to the envelope as those words are used again. There is a new word study sheet this time and extras are available in the classroom. Your child will have some time to work on it in class and the rest should be completed at home. Envelopes should be kept in your child's binder. The next competition in in Feb.    Online practice: www.quizlet.com. Most students tried this at school so they know how to log in. 

C. Geography Hunt: 

There were two notes in previous Thursday bag and the questions are on-line. The questions are available on-line.  www.ShorewoodAdvancedLearning.weebly.com  Due: Friday, Jan. 6th.

Calendar:

Winter Vacation: Friday, Dec. 23-Monday, January 2nd- Enjoy!

Monday, January 2-No School

Tuesday, January 3- School Resumes, reading log due, Thurs. bag due, band lessons

Wednesday, January 4-

Thursday, January 5- orchestra lessons

Friday, January 6-Geography Hunt due

Monday, January 9-Reading log, Xtra Math 3 times, and Thursday bag due

Tuesday, January 10- band lessons, MOD Competition #3

Wednesday, January 11- 

Thursday, January 12- Orchestra Lessons

Friday, January 13-Rookies Spelling Bee

Monday, January 16-No School-Dr. Martin Luther, King, Jr. Day-Inservice day for teachers

Tuesday, January 17-  band lessons, reading log, Xtramath and Thurs. bag due, Vets spelling bee

Wednesday, January 18- 

Thursday, January 19-  orchestra lessons, PrinciPals

Friday,January 20-

Thank you all for your support and cooperation! I look forward to seeing your children soon!

Happy Holidays to you!

Deb

Blog-Post #16

December 12-16, 2016

Petra represented our Crew at the PrinciPal
meeting with Mrs. Russick about "The
Having of Wonderful Ideas." See pic.

Here's the picture that sits outside of the art
room for Mary Jane, Artist of the Month.

 

Our Crew said and sang "Good-bye" to Mr. Isaacs. We will
miss him and wish him well in CA!

Liam and Owen help Finn celebrate his birthday. See pics. 

Some of the Crew stayed in their PJ's for Spirit Day! See pics. 

Kaiden leads our crew in Bippity Boppity Boo
with her own wonderful idea. See pics. 

Our Crew formed an Inner Outer Circle to discuss where they create their wonderful ideas. See pics. 

Our Crew created a "Wonderful Idea" and will teach a chant and movements to the Community Crew on Tuesday. 

Liam and J.P., along with their K-4 buddies, create masks
for the K-4 play, which is their case study. See pics. 

 

Angela, Auguste and Owen first guess and then write down
inventions on an ABC note catcher as they listen
to I is for Idea: An Invention Alphabet by M. Schonberg.
This book relates to "The Having of Wonderful Ideas>"
See pics. 

Masha and Levi chose books and are practicing them to read
to the residents of HarborChase. Each Crew member also
created a holiday card to give to the residents. See pics. 

Students take a brain break in math to do 1,2, 3. They were
working on open response questions, involving using a
rubric, explaining how they solved a problem in writing
and with partners,  plus revising their work. See pics. 

For our rock and mineral unit, the following students
chose to create a note catcher at home. Owen created posters
with research for each of his specimens, including a flag of Brazil. Then,
the students displayed their specimens. Other crew members
took a Gallery Walk around the room and wrote comments,
connections or compliments for each presenter. Lastly, students
took time with each presenter to ask questions and discuss.
The students did an impressive job!

J.P. created a turn table with "J.P.'s Awesome Rock Collection"
with research for each specimen. 

Aiko displayed her specimens in boxes with each box
labeled where she found each specimen. 

Masha wrote notecards explaining the type of specimen,
facts and where she found them.  Her specimens were
numbered and labeled. 

Petra researched her specimens, explained where she got
them and created a poster for each one. 

Cleo brought in Agate specimens and wrote about why
they were special to her and where she got them. 

Mary Jane created a poster about Amethyst with questions
that crew members could answer to accompany her
specimens. 

All students were engaged on the Gallery Walk. Kudos to our presenters who worked very hard!  See pics. 

Henry found one of his mystery minerals as he broke apart
his rock that he made. Students looked for their three
mystery minerals, their fossils, including a shell and the
indentations left in their rocks.  They also predicted the order
that layers of rock ingredients would settle in a vial and put
ingredients into a vial. They will check results next week.
See pics. 

Cleo leads us in Mindfulness. See pics. 

Winter in WI! See pics. 

Go Noodle!

Cleo, Eliza, Aiko and Nadia create with Legos during
indoor recess. See pics. 

Henry, Tristan, Daphne and Mary Jane enjoy hot cocoa
on PJ day. They crew earned it! See pics. 

Other Activities this week:

Students are working hard to write, revise and edit Publishing Center stories, they reviewed their "What Kind of Smart Are You?" data and completed a reflective sheet about this

Notes for Parents:

1.   Reading Log : Reading Logs are due totaled on Monday.  The minimum amount of days is five days and students should read at least 120 minutes.  Please ask your child to total his/her minutes before s/he brings it to school on Monday. An example reading log is in the Parent Orientation booklet. 

2.  XtraMath :  Mrs. Malloy's and Ms. Sakai's crew-Please practice Xtramath three times (three different days) each week. The week runs Mon.-Sun.



3.  Progress Report Manila Envelopes:  Please keep the progress report, sign the envelope and send with your child to school (due last Fri.)

4.  Winter Party:  Ellie Travanty sent you an email. Please confirm with her.
Henry Tissot-24 bags of pretzels (small)-confirmedAngela-24 bags of m+m's  (in a  snack-sized bag or snack size pkg.)
Geoffrey- 24 bags of m+m's (in a snack-sized bag or snack size pkg.)
Finn-50 small candy canes
Nadia-50 small candy canes
Henry Christiansen-24 juice b

5 . No School and Conference Dates: There is no school for students on Thursday, March 9th and Friday, March 10th.  The district calendar says differently. Your child is leading the conference so please plan to have your child join us. 

6. Box Tops: If you have any Box Tops, please send them in. We are collecting them! Thank you!

7. HarborChase -Young Reader's Program-Tuesday, Dec. 20th (10:15-12:15 pm) We will be walking to HarborChase to start a Young Reader's program with the residents and continue our wonderful relationship with them. Our plan is to visit once every month. We've changed this to a snack, instead of a lunch. Please still send a lunch with your child and please be sure your child is dressed for walking. 

8. Advanced Learning Dept. info:

A.  Spelling bee lists: (if your child chose to participate)

The lists are in a pack-e.g. Rookies start with third grade list, after you learn that, continue to fourth grade list, etc. The spelling bee will begin with third grade (or fourth grade for Vets.) Once, the word list is finished, the spelling bee will continue with the next grade level. 

Third grade bee-Friday, Jan. 13th

Fourth grade bee-Tuesday, Jan. 17th

B. Word Masters (if your child chose to participate)

The new lists came home yesterday in manila envelopes. I thought it would be easier to keep them in those. Your child should also add the "word posters" from the previous challenge to the envelope as those words are used again. There is a new word study sheet this time and extras are available in the classroom. Your child will have some time to work on it in class and the rest should be completed at home. Envelopes should be kept in your child's binder. The next competition in in Feb.    Online practice: www.quizlet.com

C. Geography Hunt: 

There is a note coming home in the Thursday bag and the questions are on-line. The questions are available on-line.  www.ShorewoodAdvancedLearning.weebly.com  Due: Friday, Jan. 6th.

9.  Tuesday, Dec. 20th, please wear Atwater t-shirts or blue and gold shirts for our Community Crew!

Calendar:

Monday, December 19-Reading log, XtraMath 3 times and Thurs. bag due, music recital 1:45 pm

Tuesday, December 20-  band lessons, HarborChase walking trip-10:15-12:15 pm , movie perm. slip due, wear Atwater Gear for Community Crew

Wednesday, December 21- 

Thursday, December22-  orchestra lessons, Winter party: Please see above for party treats

Friday,December 23-No School-Vacation 


Winter Vacation: Friday, Dec. 23-Monday, January 2nd- Enjoy!

Monday, January 2-No School

Tuesday, January 3- School Resumes, reading log due, Thurs. bag due, band lessons

Wednesday, January 4-

Thursday, January 5- orchestra lessons

Friday, January 6-Geography Hunt due

Monday, January 9-Reading log, Xtra Math 3 times, and Thursday bag due

Tuesday, January 10- band lessons, MOD Competition #3

Wednesday, January 11- 

Thursday, January 12- Orchestra Lessons

Friday, January 13-Rookies Spelling Bee

Thank you for reading! 

Please stay safe and warm,

Deb