Our Zero Count!

Hey, Jackson here. 

This month we have been reading and for every 10 minutes, we fill out a zero. This week we had 362 zeros filled out on Monday and Tuesday, 77 zeros filled out on Wednesday, 54 zeros filled out on Thursday, and 134 zeros filled out on Friday. That brings us to a total of 627 zeros!  

Just from our own classroom!

News from Technology Class

Hello Waukazoo Families!

     As I was reading the Waukazoo newsletter, I came across Mrs. Whitbeck’s technology notes and I thought, “Hmmm!  That’s not what we’re doing!”  Mrs. Whitbeck and I follow the same curricular guidelines and we share ideas all of the time, but we don’t do exactly the same thing at the same time.  So…Mrs. Croel-Perrien was kind enough to share my news with you!  I may send notes bi-weekly, or it may be once each month, but I definitely want you to know what your child is learning about in Technology!

     Some children have said they are having a hard time getting to Moodle from home.  Moodle is a website that districts can manage and teachers can create.  I love the fact that it requires a password and lets me create groups.  To get to Moodle from home, go to moodle.westottawa.net.  (You can just click on that link, or you can copy and paste the link.  If you add “www,” it won’t work.  If you Google it, it’s hard to get to the correct Moodle site.)   After getting to the correct site, your child will need to enter his/her user name and password. 

     Once they get to the correct site, your child can click on my name and scroll down to find assignments and learning websites.  Our keyboarding goal for the end of the year is:

4^th Grade: 10 Words per Minute

5^th Grade: 14 Words per Minute

At the bottom of the Moodle course, there are some fun typing sites that will give students extra practice.  If students haven’t quite reached their words per minute goal and they only practice with me, they probably won’t make the gains we’d them to make.  If they practice a few times a week for 3-5 minutes at a time, their scores will improve a great deal!!  Several of those sites have short activities that will give the kids a words-per-minute score.  (And, they’re fun!!)

     Your child has uploaded projects in Moodle that he/she can share with you!  If they click on the name of the assignment or the forum, they will find the document they’ve uploaded.   Recently, they experimented with creating a new animal!  (Technology is so much fun!)  They used the site “Switchzoo” to create an animal.  Then they used the “print screen” function to copy the animal and paste it into a Word document.  From there, they formatted/cropped the picture to get it just the way they wanted it.  They did some creative writing to tell us how their mixed up animals got that way.  This is a very creative group!

     This week, they used a web tool called Google Story Builder.  They experimented with the tool to see what it can (and cannot!) do.  If they finished a story, they created a hyper link in a Moodle forum so they could share their story with us.  Next week, we’ll use Story Builder to create a story using characters from the American Revolution. 

** I’ll be at the Waukazoo conferences on Tuesday evening from 5:00-8:00.**

  Please stop by the computer lab.  I’d love to meet you and talk to you about your child’s technology time!  You can also reach me via email at obrienp@westottawa.net.  I’m in different buildings throughout the week, so it’s hard to reach me by phone, but my home-base number is 786-1484.

Thanks so much and have a great week! 

Mrs.  Pam O’Brien

Colonies Research

Southern colonies research:  http://matsumoto.eesd.org/TM28/col09/colsc.html

New England colonies research:  http://matsumoto.eesd.org/TM28/col09/colne.html

Middle Colonies research:  http://matsumoto.eesd.org/TM28/col09/colmc.html

WO Art Show at the Holland Area Arts Council

The West Ottawa Schools elementary art department is holding a celebration of student work at the Holland Area Arts Council.

This show will include selected works from all the elementary grade levels and schools.  The exhibit will run from March 6 - March 26 on the second floor gallery of the HAAC.

A reception will be held on Thursday, March 14th from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Several of our Upper Montessori students have work in the art show!

Common Core Standards and Smarter Balance

Parents-

For the last several months (actually over a couple years) the educational community has been abuzz about the Common Core State Standards.  They are being discussed in Congress and among other community leaders.  To learn more about the common core feel free to visit the following site:  http://www.corestandards.org/.

The core standards have set grade level expectations at a national level.  So far, the CCSS is written for English Language Arts and Math.  It has been adopted by 45 states.  Regarding science, the standards will be called the Next Generation Science Standards.  They are currently in a draft form and have been available for peer review.  The second draft is scheduled to be released this month.  You can find more here:  http://www.nextgenscience.org/.

At this time there are no standards released for social studies.  I believe it is in the works, but it could be a while before we find out more.

To find out about national assessments for these disciplines visit the following:  http://www.smarterbalanced.org/.  Smarter Balanced is the assessment group for the state of Michigan.  At this time Michigan schools are scheduled to give these assessments in the spring of 2014.  As parents you are able to view assessment items and even take sample items and performance tasks, plus try out a few assessment questions.  To do that go here:  http://www.smarterbalanced.org/sample-items-and-performance-tasks/.  You'll need to select ELA or Math sample items.  I believe that the more we know as parents, the better able we are to prepare our children (and students) for the rigorous work that awaits them over the rest of their educational career!

Be sure to let me know if you have questions!

Mrs. Perrien

Conference Reminder

Conferences begin tomorrow!  Please be sure to bring your child.  We have been reflecting on ourselves as learners this week and even practicing for our conferences.  Just a quick reminder:

• Conferences have been scheduled in 15 minute increments.  This means it is incredibly important to start and end individual meetings on time.  The children know if the bell rings they may walk into the classroom to begin THEIR meeting.  
• If you find at the conclusion of your child's time that you would like more time to talk please be sure to let me know me know and I'll be in touch to schedule an additional meeting.  
• MEAP scores were sent home on Monday in a sealed envelope.  Remember that the test was many months ago (six!) and we have covered a great deal of content since October.  However, I can give you some general recommendations on ways to help your child improve his or her overall test taking skills or what your child should focus on regarding content.

I look forward to seeing you tomorrow!

--Mrs. Perrien

March is READING Month!

In the Upper Montessori classroom we celebrate READING all year!  We work hard to grow as readers and to become deep thinkers.  For the month of March we are celebrating many of the building's special reading events.  This Friday is Read-in-the-Dark Day!  Students may bring flashlights for this day and a pillow/stuffed animal. (Don't get too crazy!)

As a homework project we are also completing a March is Reading Month Bingo Board.  Students need to complete 4 rows of their Bingo Board by March 28.  (For every student that completes the WHOLE board I will enter my name in the human bowling game!)

Bingo Boards have been out in the classroom for days.  If your student doesn't have one make sure they grab one tomorrow!

**Regarding Graphic Novels:  I had to think about this for a bit.  I've decided that to grow as readers we need to push ourselves a bit!  Therefore, I am going to restrict graphic novel reading to Fridays in the classroom and furthermore, graphic novels may count toward 1/2 of the weekly homework reading total.  Be sure to let me know if you have questions!