December 17, 2010

WINTER BREAK IS HERE!!!!!

YAY!!!

Let's start off with our picture from this week. It is actually from an activity we did today. Every year I do a Holidays Around the World activity where the kids color and create a globe with picture representations of the different Holidays. As they are coloring, I teach about the many different Holidays: Christmas, Advent, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Saint Nicholas. We also talk about how Christmas is celebrated down in Australia where they don't dream of a white Christmas, they dream of a nice hot summer day. We had a special guest in this year to add to the discussion as to why Jehovah's Witnesses don't celebrate any. Again, much thanks for that! Below is a picture of one of the students working on her picture:

Just a few announcements to make before I wrap it up for the next few weeks. With the movie day at hand, I was able to get in just about all of the missing assignments to this point in the year. Thank you to the students (and parents whom I'm sure supported them) for getting those in. It'll be nice to be able to start the new year off fresh.

Our class play has finally been scheduled. Please keep your schedules clear for January 13 at 10:00. That will be our one and only performance of "Little Red Riding Hood". Our class is doing the acting, and Mr. Albrecht's will be our choir. It finally looks like it's coming together and will be a great performance! With that in mind, I have talked with the students about what they will need for their costumes. Please do your best to work with them to get in the parts that I need them to bring. Again, I truly appreciate all you do from home to support us here at school!

I wanted to take just one quick second to say thank you for all the gifts that were brought. It touches my heart and really just brings it home to me why I teach. These kids mean everything to me, and these gifts are a great reminder that I really am making a difference for them. Thank you so much!

With that, I will bid you all a happy break! Our class's grades are as updated as they can be online. Take a look at them, and be proud of your students for getting their work caught up before the break!!!

"Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love." ~Hamilton Wright Mabie

December 12, 2010

Only one week left until the biggest break of the year! Are we all excited for it?! I realize that Thanksgiving break just happened, but I think we're all in need of Winter break. If nothing else, it will clear our minds (hopefully not literally), and let us begin the new year fresh.

A lot has been happening at the school the last little bit. I think it might be easiest just to give you a quick run of pictures. A few weeks back, the students had a visit from author Frank Cole, who wrote the Hashbrown Winter series. The first picture is during his assembly.

A week or so after that we had a visit from the University of Utah's Tanner Dance clinic. It was a fun assembly because it was their students, ages 5 to 15, performing for our students.

The final picture I have is actually a bit of a collage. With just a few to be made up this week, we have most all of our masks completed. They turned out super cute! Can you find your student's mask?

With that quick run down of the exciting parts of the last few weeks, let's take a quick look at the future. This week, we will have only a couple of math lessons, one on fractions and decimals, and one on finding the percent of a number. The week will conclude with a day of review and then the December benchmark test.

In reading this week they will be doing The Skill of Pericles, which is based on Greek Mythology. This is the last story of the theme which means on top of the story quiz, we will also be taking the Theme 3 test this week.

Science is continuing even further into the heat, light and sound unit. This week they are having a fun activity where they are going to be making tin can phones. Mrs. Dezember has asked that each student bring in one can, like a soup can, for the project. If your student has already, thank you, if not, please send one. If you can't for whatever reason, I know there's at least a few students so far that have brought extras.

Arts and Tech will moving on with the Newscasts.

Social Studies should be wrapping up their unit on Mesopotamia this week.

All in all, the craziness is continuing. With one week left until the break, I hope we can come in, work hard Monday thru Thursday, and then have an enjoyable day, with some fun activities on Friday. This hint should give part of Friday away to the students: They'll want to make sure they have no missing assignments on Friday!

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

"What I do today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it." ~Thomas Simmons