November 16, 2012

"Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving." ~W.T. Purkiser

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol

Back in October, I auditioned for the Terrace Plaza Playhouse's performance of Scrooge: A Christmad Carol.  This is something I told the students about as I feel it important that (a) They realize we teachers have a life outside of school; and (b) They know that there truly is a reason I'm teaching at an art school.  Anyway, I was cast as Fred, Scrooge's nephew.  When the students found out I'd be performing, they wanted to know how to come see it, so I'm posting that information here.  This is in no way an assignment or requirement, just something fun you could do as a family if you wish.

The show runs from November 23 - December 22.  It does play every Friday, Saturday and Monday at 7:30 at the Terrace Plaze Playhouse, 99 East 4700 South, Ogden.  It is a show that typically sells out, so if you are interested, I would recommend calling and getting reservations, 801-393-0070. 

I am in both casts of the show so you could come any night and I would be performing, however, I am only Fred every other show. My performance schedule as Fred would be as follows:

Friday, November 23

Monday, November 26

Saturday, December 1

Friday, December 7

Monday, December 10

Saturday, December 15

Friday, December 21

Again, this is not by any means a requirement, just sharing information. Thanks so much!!!

"Though Christmas has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it." ~Fred in Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol

November 9, 2012

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit." ~Aristotle

Primary Children's Delivery

As cautiously optimistic as I was that I might be able to hand deliver a few of the toys we collected, it just wasn't possible, though, I still came away from the delivery with a story to share.  When Mrs. McGuire and I arrived at Primary Children's we were greeted by an employee and a volunteer.  It is the volunteer which truly brought joy to my heart.  As I was filling out the form above, she was going through the boxes, to see what all we'd brought, and my goodness, it was like Christmas for her.  She told us about how she had just made the rounds delivering very similar things.  She was able to give us a secondhand account of the smiles that these toys will bring to the faces of so many children.  She just couldn't believe that there were so many toys sitting there in front of her.  She was elated by the fact that she would be able to deliver them to the kids, and help brighten up so many days.

 

Though it's her that gets to be the one that delivers them, it would not have been possible without  each and every family who helped contribute to the cause.  I just want to say how truly thankful I am for how well this drive went, and how big a difference we will be able to make because of it.

 

I did take the time to stamp the school's return address on every letter we delivered, so my final hope is  that even just one of the recipients will write back and give the children some form of recognition for what they did, but even if we don't get a single reply, we can walk away from this knowing how big a difference we made!  There are 256 children that will have a brighter moment on a rainy day because of us, and for that, to have been a part of that difference, I am truly thankful.

November 5, 2012

The last day of the term is very rapidly approaching!  Only two days left in Term 1!  The only subject where you will see any new scores will be Science.  I will be giving them a work day during rotations tomorrow to get a handle on any missing assignments they might have.  However, I'm cheating a little with Science as I want to get all of Microorganisms on Term 1.  We will be taking the final microorganisms test  on Thursday.  That is the only score not in gradebook yet that willbe for the first term.  With that in mind, they will be bringing home a study guide on Wednesday to study for the test that we'll be taking on Thursday, so please make sure they study as there will be no time for retakes.

Beyond that, just know that things are moving along as usual.  Once the gradebook has shifted so I can enter grades for term 2, I will get that updated.  I do have quite a few scores already that will be counted, however, I will not start counting the "5 days" on those assignments until after I can get them into gradebook.

I will close by saying how wonderful a job I think our students did on the Egyptian Wax Museum.  They were super cute!  In random selection, here are a few of the pictures I took from that day.

"Live and follow rules. Don't be like my father Ahkenaten." ~King Tuthankhamun

Toy Drive: FINAL UPDATE!

WE DID IT!!!!!  Our goal was to collect 200 toys over a period of 3 weeks.  With one day left, we still needed 18 toys, and come Friday, the last day of the collection, we had an astounding 74 toys come in!  I am so, so, so proud of our students!  We, as teachers, are going to have to come up with some sort of reward for them for the amazing job they've done!  I will be delivering them to Primary Children's on Friday.  I'm hoping, while down there, I can hand deliver a few of them to bring back some stories for the children, so they can hopefully personalize this project, if even just a little bit.  I will share those stories here if that happens.  Thanks again for all your support parents!  We did an amazing job!

"No one has ever become poor by giving." ~ Anne Frank

October 28, 2012

Holy smokes!  It takes me sitting down at my personal computer at 8:00 at night, but I finally feel like I have a few minutes to truly update you on what's been going on in the classroom!  To start with, here's our homework board for this last week:

Things have seriously been moving!  We've completed our second unit in math, and hopefully they know everything they'll need to know about decimals: adding, subtracting, multiplying dividing, comparing, ordering, etc.  We also learned about some new techniques for greatest common factor (GCF) and least common multiple (LCM). I'm not going to lie.  I, as a teacher, learned a new way to teach a few things this year that really excited me.  Hopefully my excitement passed onto the children.  Let me give you an example.  For instance, let's take the fraction 18/24.  Using what we referred to as the cake method, we can find the GCF and LCM of those two numbers, and simplest form of that fraction, all in the same calculations.  Take a look at picture below.  The numbers to the left are common factors (numbers that will evenly divide into both numbers).  When you multiply all of the common factors together, you get the GCF.  The two numbers across the bottom are the fraction in simplest form (3/4).  Multiply the GCF by those two numbers and you have the LCM!

I knew the cake method before this year, but it wasn't until this year that I realized the power of it!  As I previously said, I just hope my excitement over my learning translated to the kids and their learning.

The other really exciting thing I have to share is math related as well.  A while back I told you about our PEMDAS Music Video!  Well, here it is, fresh for your debut!

I'm so proud of the kids for how well they did during the filming of this.  I may have conceptualized the video, but the song is original, and the acting and singing is all them!

All in all, things are really just moving.  The end of the first term is just around the corner!  Some things, I've already started moving assignments to second term.  Math and language will end the term with the tests we just took.  anything knew we do won't appear until I can start putting grades in for fourth term.  Spelling will end after the tests this week and science will pretty much continue until the last day.  As for the other rotations, I think they should stop collecting first term assignments here soon.  The official end of the term is November 7.  The estimated date for report cards to come home is November 19.  I'll keep you posted if that changes, but keep an eye out around that time frame!

That's pretty much all I have.  I feel much better having updated more than just the homework board this week!  Things are going great here.  We'll live, laugh and learn and before we know it, sixth grade will be over!

"Nothing right can be accomplished in art without enthusiasm." ~ Robert Schumann