Happy Holidays

Wishing you and your family a 

Happy Holiday and a prosperous New Year!

I look forward to seeing you on Monday, January 9^th

Milestone 1

Please make sure that your child is working on their interest project over Winter Break!

Milestone 1:

Due TBD

***Tentatively February 9^th***

All resources for the “STATE” interest project:

o   Students must bring in THREE books, the printed materials from each of the THREE websites, and the correct form with a parent signature.

Milestone #1 Reminder

Thank You

Mr. Nolen for your generosity of providing Piston tickets to our class! I can't wait to see the Pistons defeat Cleveland on Wednesday!


Toni and family for the Christmas cookies
Chaderra and family for the coffee mug and the hot chocolate
Alyssa and family for providing snack and Kleenex for the entire class
Ms. Stewart for helping me with the Winter Celebration. I couldn't have poured all of that hot chocolate without you!

Thank You

THANK YOU for all of my wonderful Christmas presents…

Charity and family for my teapot and mug.

Sharnay and family for a Christmas ornament.

Kamayah and family for the candy

Michale and family for the scarf, hat, and gloves

Jordan L. and family for the hand knitted scarves, blanket, and hats.

Maranda and family lighted library and chocolates

Jordan H. and family for the Christmas ornament

Asia and family for the chocolate drizzled popcorn

JeRon and family for the bracelet and ring

Trinity and family for the hand sanitizers

Joshua and family for the Piston tickets

January News

Please view the right-side of the blog for the important dates of January 2012!

Don't Forget to...

Congratulations

CONGRATULATIONS

…to JeRon who has already passed his Milestone 1 for his State project. All I can say is...

Brag Board-January

The brag board will be changing for the month of January. Please fill out the shooting star with the sentence starter,

“My New Year’s wish for (Child’s name) is…”

The template will be in this week's Friday folder, please return it to school on Monday, January 9th! 

A Note from Ms. Seikaly

The art room is in need of tissues and band-aids!

If you would like to donate to the art room, please leave your donation with the front desk or have your child bring it to Ms. Seikaly in the art room! 

Student Work

Thanks to Mrs. Nolen who typed all the student's poems, you are now able to click on the "Student Work" tab to view your child's circle poem about school.

Thank You

Joshua and family for donating a stapler to the clasroom

Chaderra and family for donating can goods to the food drive 

Charity and family for donating can goods to the food drive

Kamayah and family for donating can goods to the food drive

Sharnay and family for donating books to the classroom and cans to the food drive

Jordan L. and family for CONTINIUOUSLY donating snacks to the class!

Winter Celebration

The Winter Celebration is THIS Thursday, the 22^nd! In your child’s Friday folder is a reminder of the items you are donating. Parents are welcome to attend!

Thank you to those parents who are donating items! 

Can Food Drive

The Can Food Drive is now over. Our class collected a total of 324 nonperishable items that we will be contributing to UPA families and those from the community who are in need. YAY!!!

The winner of the food drive and the total collected from the entire school will be revealed on Friday, December 23rd. I will keep you posted!

A BIG SHOUT OUT TO:

KeyShawn, Toni, Asia, Na’Zyia, Maranda, Kamayah, Jordan L. Davon, Michale, Joshua, JeRon, Jordan H., Sharnay, Charity, and Chaderra, for donating items to the food drive!

FREE DRESS for a $1

 

Free Dress has been changed to THIS Friday, December 16th, not the 23rd! 

Stapler Anyone?

Because we are hard at work in room 318, we have went through 2 different staplers. We are hoping that someone has an extra one at home that they are not using that could be donated to the class. If you have an extra stapler or you don't mind purchasing a new one for us, we would be grateful!

AGAIN, AS ALWAYS, thank you for everything that you do to support the learning in room 318!

Food Drive ENDS 9/16

This is the last week for the food drive!

Thank you for all for your contributions as we help some UPA families and those in the community by providing them with food items this holiday season. Your support of this food drive has been overwhelming! As you go grocery shopping this weekend, if you could pick up any additional non-perish items, it would be greatly appreciate!


BIG SHOT OUT TO THE FOLLOWING FAMILIES WHO HAVE ALREADY CONTRIBUTED...
KeyShawn, Toni, Asia, Na’Zyia, Maranda, Kamayah, Jordan L., Davon, Michale, Joshua, JeRon, Jordan H., Sharnay, and Chaderra

Exhibition Week starts MONDAY!

Don't forget that Exhibition Week starts next Monday! Here is a reminder of the schedule.

December 12^th                    December 13^th

Toni Goss                            Sharnay Skinner

Davon Barker                       Joshua Nolen

KeyShawn Smith                 

Jordan Lewis                 

December 14^th                     December 15^th

Alyssa Lang                           Asia Greenlee

Trinity Anderson                   Kamayah Carr-Bunkley

Maranda Martin                     Jordan Harrell

                                           Chaderra Hayes

December 16^th

Michale Coffey

JeRon Wells

Charity Fells

Na’zyia Thompson

Milestone 3

Congratulations to the following students who passed their Milestone 3:


Trinity
Michale
Charity
Toni
Asia
Chaderra
Davon
Jordan L.
Maranda
Joshua
Na'Zyia

What can I say...

I absolutely appreciate YOU! It never fails. As soon as I request something, the parents of room 318 ALWAYS answer the call. 

Joshua and family for donating can goods to the food drive
Michale and family for donating can goods to the food drive 
Jordan H. and family for donating can goods to the food drive
KeyShawn and family for donating can goods to the food drive
Davon and family for donating can goods to the food drive
JeRon and family for donating can goods to the food drive and snack for the entire class
Chaderra and family for donating can good to the food drive
Asia and family for donating more can goods to the food drive
Na'Zyia and family for  donating can goods to the food drive
Toni and family for donating can goods to the food drive

Book Fair

Come to Our Book Fair Family Event

You’re invited!

December 8, 2011
12:30-6:30p.m.

UPA Ellen Thompson – Gym
Come and enjoy refreshments and a surprise guest!
Cash, Credit, and Debit are all welcome

"How To" Rubric

Below you will find the exact rubric that I will be using when grading your child's 1st Semester exhibition project. Please use this to assist your child in preparation for their presentation.
"How To" Rubric

Update: Exhibition Demonstration

It was so nice to see Mrs. Nolen, Ms. Lewis, and Ms. Scott at the Exhibition Demonstration in Mrs. Tiggs' class. Mrs. Tiggs tried making a youtube video of the whole thing for the parents who were not able to attend, but there was some sort of technical difficulty with the video and it didn't work. The good news is that all of my students were present for the demonstration, so your child should be able to tell you what my expectations are and what the exhibition was like. 

A few notes:

• Students are not allowed to read from notes/papers, etc.
• Students should memorize the information that was given in their milestone #2 (history/purpose, step-by-step directions, fun facts)
• Students should tell what their driving question is and explain WHYthey chose it (this should be done as part of their introduction)
• Rehearse the exhibition extensively in order to be prepared for questions. 
• Visual aids are to enhance the exhibition and to retain your audience's attention

Can 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 with the UPA Gives Generosity Award and receive a special treat!

We hope that you will join us in this school-wide effort to give back to our community and reach out to those in need.

A BIG SHOUT OUT TO:

KeyShawn, Toni, Asia, Na’Zyia, Maranda, Kamayah and Jordan L. who have already donated items to the food drive.

Some items you may donate include…

–Canned fruits and vegetables, canned soups…

–Dried fruit, fruit juice boxes, bottled water…

–Cereals, dry snack foods…

–Dry pasta, macaroni and cheese, pasta sauce, rice…

Exhibition & Learning Team Meeting

December 12^th                    December 13^th

Toni Goss                            Sharnay Skinner

Davon Barker                       Joshua Nolen

KeyShawn Smith                 

Jordan Lewis                 

December 14^th                     December 15^th

Alyssa Lang                           Asia Greenlee

Trinity Anderson                   Kamayah Carr-Bunkley

Maranda Martin                     Jordan Harrell

                                           Chaderra Hayes

December 16^th

Michale Coffey

JeRon Wells

Charity Fells

Na’zyia Thompson

Winter Celebration

Our class will be having a Winter Celebration on Thursday, December 22, 2011.  The Winter Celebration will be from 12:30-1:15 p.m in our classroom.  During this time the students will be sipping hot chocolate and enjoying other treats. 

Your child will need to bring in a coffee mug and the item(s) that they volunteered to bring. Please remember to bring in enough to share with the whole class. There are 17 students and 1 teacher. We are celebrating the wonderful achievements that each student has reached in 2011 and I cannot wait to see the possibilities of 2012!  Have a wonderful holiday and a Happy New Year.

Please click on the "Permission Slip" tab to donate items. Thank You!

Thank You

I’m going “Bananas” over…

KeyShawn, Toni, Asia, Jordan L. and Na’yia for donating can goods to the food drive.

Trinity and family for donating books to the classroom library and math manipulative

Sharnay and family for donating books to the classroom library and snacks to the entire class

Jordan L. and family for donating snacks to the entire class

Michale and family for donating a board game for indoor recess 

New AMPT Schedule

Please view the right-side of the blog to view our new AMPT Schedule!

WOW!!!

Joshua has already passed his Milestone 3, a whole week ahead of time!

Milestone 3 Checklist for those who need may need it.

Milestone 3 Reminder

Milestone 3 Example & How to Input Pictures into PowerPoint

Here is a sample of what Milestone #3 can look like. This example will be used during the exhibition demonstration on Thursday at 9:00. I hope to see you there!

Please pay close attention to the following when assisting your child with any visual aid.


1. Notice that there are NOT A LOT OF WORDS on the slides. 
***Remember that a visual aid should NOT contain words other than labels or titles, that was Milestone 2. Milestone 3 is visual. It is expected that your child memorize the information that they are presenting, to demonstrate the knowledge that they have gained.


2. There are pictures showing the step-by-step directions. 


3. The few words (which should be titles or labels) have not been copied and/or pasted from any website or book. Everything is in my own words.

4. As an added bonus, when copying someone else's picture from the web, the website was cited underneath the picture (for most). That way no one will be stealing or plagiarizing anyone else's work. 


Tutorial on how to input pictures in PowerPoint

Multiplication with Partial Products

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.


Example: 3 digit by 1 digit

Example: 2 digit by 2 digit




I hope this helps you as you assist your child in their learning. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you still have any questions or confusion.


Also remember, now is a great time to get into the habit of practicing facts every chance you get. Students should know multiplication and division facts up to 12. You can make your own flashcards or purchase them where  I did (The Dollar Tree) and help your child to memorize them. Mastery of math facts really helps students when the topics get more challenging (fractions!).

Brag Board-December

The brag board will be changing for the month of December. Please fill out the snowman with the sentence starter,

“My favorite winter memory of (Child’s name) is…”

*If you have a picture of your child playing in the snow, opening presents on Christmas, or any other winter activity, please allow them to bring it to school and I will make a color copy of it to include on the brag board. I will return your original the next day!

I will be keeping each of the brag board templates to make a small book at the end of the school year as a keepsake for your child. The children love reading your words on our board every day. Thank you for taking the time to complete them.