Pictures on Photobucket

Hello everyone, I will be adding photos to the class Photobucket page this weekend. I'm adding photos from the biome fair, a recent science lesson, and even from Spirit Week!

Enjoy!

Science

Building electrical switches in science.
More pictures have been added to the Photobucket site from this day's activities!

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED next week or the week after to do pop can returns. Please email me if you are able to help!

Thanks!

Mrs. Perrien

5th Grade Orchestra Trip

Parents--

I apologize for the late notice of this reminder! 5th graders will be leaving Waukazoo tomorrow morning at 10:30 a.m. to head to the PAC for an orchestra concert. This will give students the opportunity to learn more about the orchestra program. 5th graders have the opportunity to be in orchestra this year! Students will return to Waukazoo before lunch.

(I apologize for the late notice of this next part. I did not receive the usual communication from the middle school.) A parent meeting is scheduled for Thursday, October 29th at 7 p.m. at Harbor Lights. I will have a note going home to you tomorrow!

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mrs. Perrien

Spelling--Finally BEGINS!

This week we begin our spelling component of the weekly workplan. Despite the existence of spell-check, spelling words correctly is a necessary skill! We practice spelling both in the classroom as weekly work and at home as homework. Students circle their missed words on the word list to help you target at-home spelling practice. I recommend having students practice their words in several different ways each week. A few minutes practicing their words orally (remember spelling bees?), another few minutes writing their words, another few minutes looking for definitions, plus simply using their word list to recite and write. Try studying the words in a different way each night. These small moments of practice add up to 100% scores on Friday and carry over into a student's daily spelling.

Spelling groups are created using a student's reading record independent level, plus a student's sight word decoding score. However, an individual will occasionally need an easier list or a more difficult list. Please make sure to contact me if you believe the words to be either too easy or too difficult for your child.

Give Your Cans to Help Us Travel Across the Hand!

The following announcement will be in Friday's school news:

The Upper Montessori classroom is sponsoring a pop can drive to raise money for our March field trip to travel “across the hand” to Lansing. We “can” really use your help!

Please send in your pop cans and bottles—we’ll take whatever you have! Please help us out by rinsing out the cans or bottles. A collection bin will be just inside the front doors. We’ll be collecting cans and/or bottles from November 2 – November 13.

THANK YOU!

**If you are able to volunteer 2 hours in the morning on November 4, 6, 10, and/or 13 to help with bottle or can organization and returns, please contact Mrs. Perrien!

Dates for Parents and Pastries

Today your son or daughter should have brought home a "Parents and Pastries" note. This note lists the Dads and Doughnuts plus Moms and Muffins dates for the school year. Our first moms day is Friday, November 13. If mom is unable to make it, feel free to invite Grandma!

On a side note, Sam told me today it "made a lot of sense" that I was charging students when items are left out in the classroom that Miss Cowen or I have to pick up after school! (Students must buy back their items if they forget to put things away. The charge is $10 per item. This works great at home as well!)

Well...I figured it out!

I have figured out how to use feedburner to add a subscription link to the blog page. Make sure you sign up to receive an email whenever a new blog topic has posted. (Scroll down on the right)

Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Fogg, for the idea!

Classroom Updates

October is just flying by in our classroom and exciting things are taking place!

Miss Cowen is beginning to add grade level lessons and whole class subjects to her list of teaching responsibilities!

Genre Study--to accompany an independent project in the library special our class is doing a year-long genre study. We are reading a different genre each month and creating a project in class to display our learning. This month the genre is "mystery" and the project is a character poster. Students are reading a mystery (we did set a minimum number of pages) and then creating a character traits poster of a main character. Students must display a minimum of 4 character traits that accurately describe the chosen character. Students also will be completing a rubric to self-assess their work. They will grade the poster--the final project plus their effort. Character posters will be up for display in the hall at the beginning of November. The genre study for the month of November will be announced on November 1st.

Science and Social Studies lessons--this year I have chosen to focus our lessons by the week. We study a curricular area each afternoon for the entire week. It allows for projects & experiments to carry over more easily and we are actually getting more done each week! Last week we focused on science; this week we concentrate on social studies.

Spelling begins next week...the kids are SO EXCITED! :)

Many of the 5th graders are studying decimals, plus decimal operations. If you aren't already, this is a great time to begin working with your child on budgeting--having your child help you with your household budget or having your child create his or her own budget (based on allowance). These are wonderful lessons for teaching your child decision-making and personal responsibility!

We have just two left for the MEAP test--Tuesday (Math) and Thursday of this week. After MEAP, students will be fully integrating into a regular workplan schedule.

Volunteer schedules are coming home this week. On Monday students brought home a spelling, classroom store, and math list. I'll have the classroom helpers calendar out at the end of the week. I'm just waiting to hear from a couple of interesting volunteers.

Thanks for all your help, your support, conference suggestions, and more!

Mrs. Perrien

New gadgets for the blog!

I have added two new gadgets on the blog page. The first is a fun gadget--swimming fish! (I'm sure the kids will enjoy this one!) The second gadget is much more practical. Parents and family members can subscribe to the latest classroom news. Look for the heading, "Want the latest news?" Click the posts button-from here you'll be able to add the classroom blog to your iGoogle page.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Laptop Lunches website

I found an interesting website while searching online for lunch-from-home ideas. Laptop lunches has great recipe ideas, lunch ideas and combinations. They have lots of photos of lunch ideas as well. One can even subscribe to a weekly lunch ideas email!

I can't wait to try some of their ideas! :)

Calling the Classroom During the MEAP

Just a reminder that I will not be able to answer the phone in my classroom during the MEAP. If you need to get in touch with me, please make sure to call the school office. We are taking the MEAP on the 13th, 15th, 20th, and 22nd of October.

Thanks!

Amy Perrien

Spelling

Parents--

I had planned to begin doing weekly spelling this first week of October. However upon further reflection I have decided to begin spelling the week of October 26th. The MEAP assessments will begin next week (first day of testing is October 13) and we do not do any spelling the two weeks of the MEAP assessments because these tests take so much of our time and energy during the week.

If you have agreed to volunteer with spelling tests I will be in contact before October 26th.

Thanks!