A busy week is ahead of us at Waukazoo. Just a few notes for parents...
Today is the first week of the returnable can and bottle drive. As much as possible, please return the bottles and cans you collect and send in the money collected. We've only had one parent volunteer to help return cans during the day; more parent help is needed! Please email me if you're able to assist.
We are all very excited about going to Camp Pendalouan! Please send in your camp-required health form and your camp fee as soon as possible. Some of the kids have asked about bringing a fishing pole. I don't believe we'll have time to go fishing but I will email the camp director and double-check. Remember the packing list I sent home is a generic packing list so some items are really not needed for one night in the fall.
4th GRADERS
It is COMMON for the 4th graders/new students to miss their old teacher, their old class, their old routines. They sometimes are sad about the change to a new classroom, new teacher, new responsibilities! What should parents do? Be positive about the new environment and be supportive of their ability to get used to the new routines! (Remember how scared we parents all were when we started a new classroom or middle school, high school, college...it WILL get better!) The 4th graders will soon be pros at managing the Upper Montessori classroom responsibilities.
SPIRIT WEEK PHOTOS
Fun Run--I hope to see everyone at the Waukazoo Fun Run on Friday night. It should be a FUN event!
I will be taking photos throughout Spirit Week! However, I can't guarantee how soon I'll be uploading any photos. Keep checking the blog every day in case new things show up!
WORKPLAN
These are underway and we are all learning how to work efficiently in a classroom of 27. Students are working at various levels in math and I've seen several examples of students helping other students. Mr. Edwards is showing his skills in math--helping students with difficult problems and reteaching when students have needed the practice. This allows Mrs. Perrien to teach lessons and present new material. You will find that students are reviewing skills they learned in the 3rd and 4th grade. Some of this is due to MEAP review, but at other times I have found that the review is needed as a particular student or group is preparing to move forward. We review as we move forward to promote a deeper understanding of the skills. We also review if the student has shown a weakness in that particular area.
Workplans from last week will come home without a weekly reflection. Please sign somewhere on the front of the workplan and return on Tuesday morning. Some look unfinished. This is common the first time or two as we are building stamina for our weekly workplan schedule. I find that this (a late workplan) is common the first 2 or 3 we have. Students are learning to pace themselves + we are working around other demands within the school (MEAP review, testing, Spirit Week, etc.). Make sure to ask YOUR child how efficiently he or she was with workplan time in the classroom.
We are also having to spend a fair amount of time practicing routines. This is a bit unusual that the class is still having to practice how to go into the hall QUIETLY, clean at the end of the day EFFICIENTLY, put names on our papers, make good work and partner choice, and make a lunch choice on time. However, as I mentioned in the previous paragraph, we are having to build stamina to be efficient classroom workers. It is just taking us a little longer to build that stamina!
Conferences--Please make sure to return your scheduling sheet as soon as possible!
FINALLY...CONGRATULATIONS to Katy (former WZ Montessori teacher) and Chris LeClair on the birth of their son, Enzo Christopher. Enzo was born this morning (Sept. 26) and weighed in at 6 pounds, 2 ounces. Yay Mrs. LeClair!
26 September 2010
23 September 2010
Spirit Week Information
Attached to this post is the spirit week activity list. Along with what to wear each day, the list includes what students are doing what lunchtime activity on what day!
Spirit Week is September 27-October 1. The fun run is the night of October 1.
Spirit Week is September 27-October 1. The fun run is the night of October 1.
Parent Questionaire
Hello parents!
I'm attaching a document for fourth grade parents (and 5th grade parents if you would like to update yours from last year) to complete and send in to school. This is a parent communication document; it lets me know more about your child, how homework and other tasks are completed at home, as well as goals you have for your child and questions you have for me.
Please complete the questionnaire (typed and emailed or handwritten) and return it by October 4, 2010. This is an important document! Thanks for your time.
--Mrs. Perrien
I'm attaching a document for fourth grade parents (and 5th grade parents if you would like to update yours from last year) to complete and send in to school. This is a parent communication document; it lets me know more about your child, how homework and other tasks are completed at home, as well as goals you have for your child and questions you have for me.
Please complete the questionnaire (typed and emailed or handwritten) and return it by October 4, 2010. This is an important document! Thanks for your time.
--Mrs. Perrien
22 September 2010
Autumnal Equinox
This is a very interesting article about why this year's autumnal equinox is a special treat. Enjoy!
18 September 2010
16 September 2010
Fun Run
Parents and Students,
Our class is dead last in the "Fun Run" class contest, let's hope we do better on Friday! Notice the graph..haha!
Our class is dead last in the "Fun Run" class contest, let's hope we do better on Friday! Notice the graph..haha!
15 September 2010
Vote for WO! in the Pepsi Refresh Grant Competition
Please consider supporting West Ottawa Schools in the Pepsi Refresh Competition
Dear Parents and Guardians:
Please help us promote reading by voting for West Ottawa in the Pepsi Refresh Grant Competition. We are competing for $5000, which we will use to buy books to supplement our school library’s collection, but we need your help!
What to do?
- Go to www.refresheverything.com/westottawabooks
- Sign in. (If you keep the bottom two boxes unchecked, you will not be spammed.)
- Vote for WO!
Please vote for West Ottawa today! You can vote for us again tomorrow and everyday for the rest of September.
Thank you so much for your support!
14 September 2010
Student Council
Students interested in running as classroom representatives for the Waukazoo Student Council should plan on giving classroom speeches on September 27, 2010. The class will vote to elect two representatives on September 28.
Each person running will need to prepare a 2-5 minute speech on why he/she would make the best student council representative for our class. We are asking that for classroom elections, students refrain from distributing campaign materials or from making campaign posters.
Student Council Information: The Waukazoo Student Council meets once per month before school at 8 a.m. Parents of elected representatives will be responsible for transporting their son or daughter to school for student council meetings.
09 September 2010
Math Fact Assessment
Today, students are bringing home their first "speedway" assessment pages. For homework tonight they are filling in or fixing their addition 5-minute assessment. How do we do these assessments in our classroom?
The upper Montessori students do a daily, quick math fact assessment. We do a one minute "speedway" assessment and a weekly five-minute timed test. This plan was developed based on a plea from middle and high school math teachers to make sure that students knew their facts! Our math speedway is a three or four day per week one-minute test with 10 problems. It covers basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Ideally, students move forward each time they take their speedway test. The five minute timed test requires students to move through 100 basic math facts with 100% accuracy. Students do addition and subtraction in the beginning of the year each year as a baseline assessment but the main focus is multiplication and division. For those students that pass out of division we have other five-minute challenges! Students compete against their own score each week. The goal is steady progress in memorizing the facts.
These assessments can be fun and the students look forward to them (That is also why everyone starts at zero for the addition speedway.) Most importantly, they take very little time each week out of the school day but the results are seen in our daily math lessons as well as simple fact recall.
What do these assessments tell you at home? What math facts students have mastered and where they struggle. If your son or daughter did great on this week's addition five-minute test, that is great! Next week we'll be doing a subtraction five-minute assessment. Watch for these to come home to see how students are doing on their facts. Look for speedways that are 100% correct. When a speedway test comes home with errors, this is a fact family to study and practice at home.
The upper Montessori students do a daily, quick math fact assessment. We do a one minute "speedway" assessment and a weekly five-minute timed test. This plan was developed based on a plea from middle and high school math teachers to make sure that students knew their facts! Our math speedway is a three or four day per week one-minute test with 10 problems. It covers basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Ideally, students move forward each time they take their speedway test. The five minute timed test requires students to move through 100 basic math facts with 100% accuracy. Students do addition and subtraction in the beginning of the year each year as a baseline assessment but the main focus is multiplication and division. For those students that pass out of division we have other five-minute challenges! Students compete against their own score each week. The goal is steady progress in memorizing the facts.
These assessments can be fun and the students look forward to them (That is also why everyone starts at zero for the addition speedway.) Most importantly, they take very little time each week out of the school day but the results are seen in our daily math lessons as well as simple fact recall.
What do these assessments tell you at home? What math facts students have mastered and where they struggle. If your son or daughter did great on this week's addition five-minute test, that is great! Next week we'll be doing a subtraction five-minute assessment. Watch for these to come home to see how students are doing on their facts. Look for speedways that are 100% correct. When a speedway test comes home with errors, this is a fact family to study and practice at home.
07 September 2010
First Day!
Parents,
I had a wonderful first day with the children! They were fun, engaging and eager to do their best. However, they are probably very tired! We spent a great deal of time working on homework policies and procedures--please look for your child's homework contract in his or her homework folder. If you have any questions about the homework folder or the homework contract, please let me know.
Our class also spent a great deal of time discussing classroom procedures. In fact, the first week of school is full of procedures--learning and practice. For this reason it can seem like a very long week. But the more we work on procedures now, the smoother our year goes!
During these first weeks we are primarily working in small groups or whole class. We won't be starting workplan for a few weeks. These first weeks are a time of team building; by putting in the time now we find the students handling the rest of the school year much better. I will be testing many of them to determine where to best begin them in the Upper Montessori math curriculum. Other tests (reading, writing) take place these first few weeks. We'll also begin our reading and our writing workshop schedules this week.
Thank you again for making the choice to place your child in the Upper Montessori classroom. I consider it a priviledge to be working with your son or daughter this year.
--Mrs. Perrien
I had a wonderful first day with the children! They were fun, engaging and eager to do their best. However, they are probably very tired! We spent a great deal of time working on homework policies and procedures--please look for your child's homework contract in his or her homework folder. If you have any questions about the homework folder or the homework contract, please let me know.
Our class also spent a great deal of time discussing classroom procedures. In fact, the first week of school is full of procedures--learning and practice. For this reason it can seem like a very long week. But the more we work on procedures now, the smoother our year goes!
During these first weeks we are primarily working in small groups or whole class. We won't be starting workplan for a few weeks. These first weeks are a time of team building; by putting in the time now we find the students handling the rest of the school year much better. I will be testing many of them to determine where to best begin them in the Upper Montessori math curriculum. Other tests (reading, writing) take place these first few weeks. We'll also begin our reading and our writing workshop schedules this week.
Thank you again for making the choice to place your child in the Upper Montessori classroom. I consider it a priviledge to be working with your son or daughter this year.
--Mrs. Perrien
05 September 2010
Updates and Information
The "links" section of the blog has been updated to include a link for www.sendmoneytoschool.com. This site is West Ottawa's new online payment and account viewing site for the school lunch program.
The Waukazoo PTA schedule is in your child's back-to-school packet. Please consider being part of the PTA. The Waukazoo PTA is a vibrant organization that works hard to support Waukazoo and its students!
The PTA is once again sponsoring a Fun Run/Walk Event. This will kick-off almost immediately this fall. The date of the Fun Run is October 1. This is the only PTA fundraiser in the school and the funds raised cover many Waukazoo opportunities, including but not limited to: Science Alive, Brainstormers, the Publishing Center, Discovery Days, Patriot's Day, the Tulip Time parade, playground equipment, field trips, teacher's supply budgets, and the Montessori 5th grade year end dinner.
Waukazoo's morning and afternoon procedures have not changed since last year. But I am once again appealing to parents to take advantage of the school bus system if possible. The parking lots at school are small and easily overwhelmed at the end of the day. If your child lives along a bus route please have him or her ride the bus if at all possible. Thanks!
Finally, the Upper Montessori students have their physical Wellness special on Tuesday. Please make sure that gym shoes are in backpacks on the first day of school. Students will be picking lockers and moving into both those and their cubbies on Tuesday.
The Upper Montessori parent night is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 14 at 6:30 p.m. I just discovered that this is the same night as the September PTA meeting. I apologize for this scheduling conflict, I didn't know the PTA meeting date when I planned my meeting. If you will need to attend this month's PTA meeting please let me know and we will work around the meeting time.
I'm looking to a wonderful first day of school!
--Mrs. Perrien
The Waukazoo PTA schedule is in your child's back-to-school packet. Please consider being part of the PTA. The Waukazoo PTA is a vibrant organization that works hard to support Waukazoo and its students!
The PTA is once again sponsoring a Fun Run/Walk Event. This will kick-off almost immediately this fall. The date of the Fun Run is October 1. This is the only PTA fundraiser in the school and the funds raised cover many Waukazoo opportunities, including but not limited to: Science Alive, Brainstormers, the Publishing Center, Discovery Days, Patriot's Day, the Tulip Time parade, playground equipment, field trips, teacher's supply budgets, and the Montessori 5th grade year end dinner.
Waukazoo's morning and afternoon procedures have not changed since last year. But I am once again appealing to parents to take advantage of the school bus system if possible. The parking lots at school are small and easily overwhelmed at the end of the day. If your child lives along a bus route please have him or her ride the bus if at all possible. Thanks!
Finally, the Upper Montessori students have their physical Wellness special on Tuesday. Please make sure that gym shoes are in backpacks on the first day of school. Students will be picking lockers and moving into both those and their cubbies on Tuesday.
The Upper Montessori parent night is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 14 at 6:30 p.m. I just discovered that this is the same night as the September PTA meeting. I apologize for this scheduling conflict, I didn't know the PTA meeting date when I planned my meeting. If you will need to attend this month's PTA meeting please let me know and we will work around the meeting time.
I'm looking to a wonderful first day of school!
--Mrs. Perrien
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)