March is Reading Month

Monday morning begins March is Reading Month at Waukazoo! The Waukazoo staff has some exciting activities planned for this month. Look for a March classroom calendar--it will have reading month activities listed! Students will be previewing at the book fair this Monday; they will have purchasing opportunities on Friday morning.

Waukazoo Events

Blizzard Beach--Friday, February 26

Students may wear summer clothes, summer gear, and bring their beach towels. Lunch is served "beach style" in the lunchroom Friday (no tables). Please remember: no bathing suits --and--students WILL be going outside for lunchtime and afternoon recess. **PTA is serving ice cream at lunchtime!

Scholastic Book Fair

The Scholastic Book Fair will be going on next week. Students will be offered a day to preview and a second day to shop if interested. Purchasing is up to families, but all students will be going to preview day--it's a great time to peruse books and write down interesting titles. I believe the book fair is open during next week's conference hours.

Conferences

I am looking forward to meeting with you and your child at conferences next week. Please help me by being on time for your conference; I do my best to start and end conferences on time. It is important that I do this so that I don't impact other teachers' times! (Feel free to knock if the conference before yours runs over into your time.) If you will be more than five minutes late for your conference please call me to reschedule, unless you feel that we can cover everything in the remaining 10 minutes. Conferences have been reduced to 15 minutes in length and now begin and end on the quarter-hour.

ZOOlympics Photos

I have added an album to the Photobucket account for the Waukazoo Student Council. Inside that album are pictures from this week's ZOOlympics. Enjoy!

States of Matter: Slime and Oobleck

Today in class we spent most of the morning finishing up our science unit on States of Matter. Since I took most of the workplan time for science, the students will have all morning for workplan tomorrow morning!

During our morning work we got really messy! We made two fun mixes: Slime and Oobleck. Each student was given a paper copy of the recipe for slime; please let me know if you'd like another copy. (Slime is not safe for mouths, please keep it away from little kids.)

Oobleck--a really amazing substance. When pushed together, the mixture will appear dry and solid; as children let go of the mixture, it flows like a liquid.

Along with the science of Oobleck, we read about Oobleck! Bartholomew and the Oobleck by Dr. Seuss is a very funny story!

Classroom Updates

Box Tops for Education

Our class collected over 1800 box tops! We are anxiously awaiting the news to see if we are the pizza party winners!

Reading

Students continue to read novels in small literature groups. We are reading several wonderful books: Toad Heaven, The Report Card, The Seeing Stone, Wanderer, Loser, and Matilda. Great authors and great books! You can help your child by occasionally asking him or her if their current week's reading is finished and if they've responded in their reading response journal. Each group meets with Mr. Edwards or myself at least once per week for a book discussion. As a whole class we also cover reading skills and strategies, and learn more about literary elements. Most recently we have been learning about the four types of conflict found in literature: character vs. character, character vs. nature, character vs. self, and character vs. society.

Photos

New photos have been added to the classroom's Photobucket account, including several photos from our class' recent afternoon of square dancing! Enjoy!

Missing Books

Our classroom library is missing many, many books. I have always used the honor system for book checkouts. Students may take a book home and return it when finished. However, sometimes students forget to return what has been checked out.

Please ask your son or daughter if he or she has any books from Mrs. Perrien's classroom that should be returned. My books usually have a genre sticker on the outside and my name or initials on the inside front cover. If you find them on your shelves, under someone's bed, or in a backpack please return the books to school!

Thank you!

ZOOlympics begins this week!

February 22-26 begins the Waukazoo ZOOlympics! Each day students will compete in lunchtime "endurance" activities and end the week with Blizzard Beach on Friday!

Monday--WHITE OUT day; students wear white. This day is also the Frozen Mitten Race. Classroom competitors include: Logan W., Charlie, Evelyn, Olivia, Dimitri, and Julia.

Tuesday--Lunchtime activity is the Tug-o'-War. Competitors include: Will, Jamesohn, Ian, Sam, Sierra, Emily, Alexa, and Lucy. (Students might want to wear boots with a good grip that day!)

Wednesday--Lunchtime activity is the Ice Cream Eating Contest. Competitors include: Tyler, Juliette, Emeline, Logan S., and Julia.

Thursday--Classic Sled Race. Racers include: Evan, Kevin, Gorky, Charlie, Danni, Logan K., Erin, and Sophia.

Friday--Blizzard Beach. Students wear their summer gear, bring a beach towel, and enjoy lunch "at the beach!"

This promises to be a fun week!

PINK OUT!

Upcoming Parent/Teacher Conferences

Just today, the students and I discussed parent/teacher conferences. Many of them requested that I again involve them in their March conference.

Student led conferences are a very powerful way to organize a parent/teacher conference. These conferences involve the students in the planning and execution of the conference. I have used this format in the past with excellent results! Students will be able to present and answer questions about their classroom work. They will also be able to discuss their performance of the Zoo Rules. Past parents that were at first reluctant about this format were surprised by how much more meaningful these conferences turned out to be for both parents and child. If a parent feels that an adults-only conference is needed, I am willing to set up a second phone or in-person conference to answer any questions or concerns.

I have found this format meaningful and the most authentic when it comes to positive changes occurring as a result of a conference. This week and next week I will be working with the children to prepare for these conferences. If there is any reason why your child would miss the meeting (scheduling conflict due to sports, church, etc.) please indicate on the form that will come home on Wednesday, February 17. Otherwise, please plan on bringing your son or daughter to his or her parent/teacher conference. As stated previously, I am available for a meeting or discussion outside of the regular conference time if you feel it is needed.

Thanks for your time; I am looking forward to these conferences to showcase your child’s outstanding work!

Mrs. Perrien

What's Going On in Class?

CONFERENCES

Conference schedules should be coming home this week! If you requested a conference with a specialist we did our best to accommodate your request. However, we also had to work around their busy, two-building schedule. Look for your pink scheduling brochure this week.

BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION

The contest ends this Friday! If you still have box tops at home, please send them in before Friday, February 19.

PICTURES

New pictures have recently been uploaded to the Photobucket account. These include pictures from the West Ottawa PINK OUT day, as well as our recent Valentines afternoon!

HOPE BASKETBALL

Have you been following the Hope College Women's Basketball Team? They have had an amazing season! Their last two regular season games are this week, with the MIAA tournament taking place next week, February 23-27. My girls LOVE watching Hope College basketball!

This article made me think...and reevaulate!

Dr. Michele Borba speaks on kids and their exposure to media. What is too much? How many hours are kids "plugged in?" After reading this article, I find myself reevaluating the exposure my kids receive each day to their iPods, computer, and radio. Luckily, we already have a "no TV" rule from Monday - Friday night. This I know has cut down dramatically on the number of hours my kids are plugged in. However, I also recognize that my family could do an even better job!

When the TV isn't on we are running to dance classes and religious ed. We are also doing homework! We read, play games, and go outside.

I hope you find this article as intesting and thought-provoking as I did!

Science Fiction

This posting is a quick reminder to all students to make sure that they are finished, or will soon be finished, with their science fiction book. To make sure that everyone has enough time to work on the poster, it was earlier recommended that all students plan to have the book finished by February 14.

Poster board is available in the classroom for students that are ready to start their posters.

Happy Valentines Day!

--Mrs. Perrien

Science Fiction, Australia, and a Survey...

Science Fiction

Our genre study for the month of February is SCIENCE FICTION. Miss Marco has already talked with the boys and girls about the definition of science fiction. (involving science, aliens, time travel...something in the future). All students have received a rubric for this month's genre project--a movie poster! As a homework project, students will be responsible for creating a movie poster for their book, as if the book has been chosen to be made into a movie and the students are the designers. The rubric has specific points that are needed for the poster. If students have lost their rubric, they will need to purchase a new one for $200. I suggested that students have the book finished by the 12th/13th of February and spend the rest of the month working on their poster. Posters are due on the 28th of February.

Australia

We will also be studying the continent of Oceania in February. People often called the continent Australia, but the area is also composed of other island nations that are part of this ecozone. Some atlases refer to the continental area as Oceania instead of Australia.

On Friday, students chose a landform, landmark, animal, or plant from this ecozone to research. We will learn more about the countries as a whole class activity. Some of the most unusual names are the "running postman" (plant), "bandicoot" (animal), and the "breadfruit" (plant). Students will then be responsible for creating a fact mobile about their topic. This will be an in-class activity. Fun!

Surveys

After reading in our Time for Kids about a recent nationwide survey of kids and their worries, we decided to do a survey of our own! Each student has already developed their own survey question and written the basic part of the assignment. Don't be surprised if you find them polling people at home over the weekend! Everyone must poll at least 25 people and then begin to evaluate and calculate their results. We will be sharing our results in the form of a graph--students will have the option of a bar graph or a pie graph. This should be fun!

Upcoming Events/Useful Links

Please note the "Upcoming Classroom Events" section of the blog. This lists all the note-worthy classroom activities that will be taking place over the next few weeks. The NEW Celebration of Learning date is also posted. March 31 is the date this year. The time will be early: 4:30-5:30 p.m. (All Waukazoo teachers were only given the choice of two dates for their celebration of learning this year.)

I have also added "Useful Links." These tried and true links are for sites that are useful to the kids for research or current events as well as sites that might be helpful to parents. My favorite is the "Talking to your Kids About School," link. Great questions for parents!

Friday: Wear Pink!

Pink Out tomorrow at all West Ottawa schools!

Wear that pink, help fight cancer!! The WO staff will be wearing jeans after making a $10 donation!! At last count over 200 faculty and staff are wearing jeans tomorrow!

Then come to the PINK OUT West Ottawa basketball game vs. Rockford. The players will be wearing pink uniforms that have been sold to raise even MORE money in the fight against cancer.

All procedes go to the American Cancer Society!

Middle School Parent Night

Middle School Parent Information Nights!

For incoming 6th graders

I strongly encourage all 5th grade parents to attend these sessions to learn more about West Ottawa's middle school programs.

http://www.hollandsentinel.com/news/x979443013/Parent-nights-planned-for-West-Ottawa-fifth-graders

Evaluating Published Authors

Students are occasionally asked to study and evaluate published authors to take a look at writing strategies that are being successfully used in fiction. Tonight, students are working on this assignment!

The strategies we have been looking at include: balancing internal and external character traits, internal thought vs. external description. Barry Lane leads--big potato lead, misleading lead, snapshot lead. Using snapshots, thoughtshots, or "explode-a-moment." Balancing dialogue with internal thought is another strategy.

Ask your son or daughter to explain one or two of these strategies!