My Fair Lady

I'm posting this here merely as informational, for the parents of my class, if they're interested, but also for others, who I will be directing to this post for information.  As for parents of my students, if you're interested in coming to see it, I'd love to have you.  I'm not sure if the students would get it quite as much as they did Christmas Carol, but it is a family friendly show, so all are welcome.

My Fair Lady will be playing at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse in Washington Terrace from February 22 until April 6.  It shows every Monday, Friday and Saturday night.  Showtime is 7:30.  Adult tickets are $10-12, and children tickets are $7-9.  Honestly, it's not a show I anticipate will sell out too often, but making reservations will guarantee better seats.

I don't have a large part in it, rather several smaller parts, but it is still an amazing show, worth seeing.  Rodney Carlson, who plays Henry Higgins, and Annie Ferrin, who plays Eliza Doolittle are brilliant in their roles, and the rest of the supporting cast definitely follow suit.  A show is only as strong as it's weakest link, and by all means, we have a strong show!  Come on out if you're interested, see me sing and dance, and enjoy yourself a night of fine theatre at a reasonable price.

"Eliza?  Where the devil are my slippers?" ~Henry Higgins

Share-A-Book

February 11, 2013

Dear Parents and Students,

                With these final two terms, as part of our At Home Reading grade, we are going to be doing a book report.  We will only be doing one a term, but I would like to make sure that the students put their best efforts into each of the projects.  It’s not going to be a standard report.  Rather, the student should find a creative way to share their book.  We will be sharing them the Week of March 18-22.  I will assign exact days as we get closer, but the students should plan on being prepared for it starting that Monday.  

                I would like the students to get as creative as possible with their projects, but I would like to approve the ideas before they start.  On the back of this sheet is a list of approved ideas.  If the student has an idea that is not on there, just have them talk to me before starting it.

                Below is the rubric for how I will be grading the projects.  If there are any other questions, please, do not hesitate to ask.

Thanks,

Aaron Pratt

  

Category	Expectation		Received	Worth
Preparedness	Student should be completely prepared on the assigned date.			/    5
Time Limit	Student’s presentation should be 3 – 5 minutes long.  Shorter or longer than this will result in a deduction of points			/    5
Content	Student should be able to show a full understanding of the book being presented.			/   10
Creativity	Student’s idea shows a strong sense of art and creativity.			/   10
Effort	Student’s project should clearly representational of their efforts.			/   10
		TOTAL		/   40

Posted below are several pictures of quality book reports from previous years, the more creative, the better!

February 8, 2013

It's been a while since I've posted a blog of general classroom information: the 5Ws of the now.  To a point, that's okay because I have been in pretty constant contact in one way or another: specific blogs for specific things, like science fair, the field trip, etc; we've recently had PTCs whether in person or by e-mail; we've also recently had report cards, which I generally love writing comments for.  There are so many positive things for all these kids  I just love them, the good, the bad and the ugly.

Regardless, here's the 411 on the current goings on:

In math, we are currently finishing up the last of our Expressions and Equations units.  Believe it or not, we only have two more math units before we've taught everything they'll need to learn in sixth grade.  Crazy!

We've moved away from our textbook during Language Arts time.  We've started reading the book Tuck Everlasting.  It brings up a really interesting concept.  If there were a well of infinite youth, that would allow you to irreversibly live forever, would you drink from it?  We haven't gotten quite that far in the  book, but it will be a fun discussion  to hold.

We've now finished about two thirds of our science curriculum.  We've gone all through microorganisms.  We've finished up with heat, light and sound.  We've learned about the moon phases, though it is something we are not done touching on.  It is a harder concept to learn to actually understand all eight phases: new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, third quarter, waning crescent, and then back to the new moon.  Here is a picture of one of the projects we've done based around the phases.  As you turn the plate, it gives you an look at what all eight of the phases look like, the white part of the ping pong ball being the lit half of the moon, and the colored side being the ball being the shadowed side of the moon.  The moon being displayed in the picture is the waxing gibbous moon.

Other than that, just keep in mind what all we have going on.  The field trip is this Thursday.  Do not forget that we are meeting at the train station that day and that the kids need to be in field trip uniform: white top, blue bottom.  There will some time outside, so they'll want to have a coat as well.

The other big project we currently have going on is the Science Fair.  Remember the blog below that has all of the information for the science fair, including the calendar which each part of it comes due.

Also remember that we have tightened up on missing assignments, and we've gone through the first round of zeroes this last Monday, with another one coming up this Monday.  Each week I have given the students a missing assignment list, so as long as I hold up to my end of the bargain, I'm expecting that they do as well.

Other than that, we truck along!  Let me know if you have any questions, and I'll keep you up to date as often as possible.  Thanks for everything you do from home to help support us here at school!

"The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually afraid you'll make one." ~Elbert Hubbard