Update September 6th

Hey! 
   The first week is done!  What a WONDERFUL group of kiddos I have this year! You all deserve a pat on the back for raising such sweet, generous, caring kids.

Schedule Books Schedule books need to come home EVERY night. This is so you can be up to date on what has gone on during their school day.  Schedule books only have to be SIGNED however, once a week. Tuesday is our designated day to do this.... but due to chaotic family activities I will totally understand if it doesn't get signed exactly on Tuesday. The signature is my way of knowing that you have seen it, verifying that they are in fact bringing it home.

The white box above the yellow box where you sign is where their "homework" assignments for the night should go. Don't ever let them tell you "I don't have any homework"... because they do!  If they don't have anything specific written in that spot, then they ALWAYS can be reading their 30 minutes a night, working on spelling, or working on memorizing their science term cards.

Spelling Spelling lists will come home on Monday of this next week.  Each week on Friday the kids take a "Pretest" . This pretest determines what level of difficulty of words they will get to study for the week.  I divide the lists into "list 1", "list 2" and "list 3". List 1`words are the most difficult, and list 3 words are the most basic. Each week kids have a chance to test up into higher levels of words, so if your student is on list 3 one week, they may very easily be at list 1 the next. Each pretest covers different spelling word skills... like ei and ie combinations, silent letters p, gh etc.  The kids will have a spelling page to do each day in class that we will discuss and go over, and they will have an additional homework page on Wednesday night.

     Spelling tests are given each Friday. If students do poorly on a test, they can retake it again at the beginning of recess and then go outside when they are done.  I try to have them corrected and back to the students by the following Monday... but this year with 76 science warmup sheets to grade every weekend, I'm going to play it safe and say  that I'll have the spelling tests returned at the latest on Tuesday.  If you DON'T get a test back, call or email me and I can tell you the score... sometimes tests "disappear" in the hallway trash cans if the score is low. :)

   Spelling lists are always sent home Monday or Tuesday via infinite campus and are also posted on the blog. In the event that your student forgets them, you can pull them off line for them to study.

A.R. (Accelerated Reader)  Accelerated Reader will start next week on Tuesday. The kids took the Star test today (which helps us to determine their reading level after summer vacation) and will go to Library to check out books on Tuesday afternoon.  I will have the kids write their first marking period goal in their schedule book.... so ask to see it and talk with them about what books, and how many books they will need to read to reach this goal.

Though students are encouraged to read books at their level... I  am very well aware that there are FANTASTIC books below and above their level that they might like to read. I encourage them to do this. I'd rather have them LIKE what they are reading, than to be stuck with some they do not, and end up not liking to read.  I will keep careful track of their progress, and as long as they are steadily progressing or improving, an occasional above or below level book is fine.

Extended Learning Assignments:

I'll will be providing extended learning assignments for science and writing throughout the year.  This month for science, students have the opportunity to do the following:
1. Take home and identify a rock or mineral specimen I have in my room or one they have at home.

2. Take home a (clean and bleached) animal skull, and use the internet or library books to identify the species, age etc.

The knowledge they gain will need to be shared with me orally and in the form of a report in which they state their "claim" of what they think their specimen specifically is, write "evidence" that lead them to this conclusion, and their "reasoning" or reason their evidence backs up their claim. ( I will provide this form)

An FYI on my rock books.  The BEST and most accurate one that I have has a page in the front that talks about chakra's and meditations that can be done with crystals.  I didn't notice this until after I bought the book.... but its such a small section I don't think they'll even notice it. The rest of it is all the rock types, divided by color, grains size, chemical compositions etc...  So just a heads up on that.  If you don't want this book coming home with your kid, just call me or let me know and I'll give them a different one.

Kids can use materials or books I send home with them, or they can visit the internet and pull their information from there. I'll let that be your choice.

Term Cards We have started putting together our term card sets.  If you have students who have had me in the past, they are more than welcome to use the sets their brothers and sister's created.
   There are 114 terms.... Most of these will be memorized via the games that we play to help them memorize them. The reason we do these cards is two fold:

1. Due to the big district push for math and literacy, most kids didn't get very much science in 1st - 4th grade. Therefore they have holes in their learning that I need to cram in before they take off to middle school.

2. A question on the meap test in 2004 ( The last year we as teachers were even allowed to look at the test) was as follows:

    "In a Riparian habitat, how does an overpopulation of consumers affect the producers?"

... most kids read this and thought... "huh?"  If they didn't know the word Riparian, population, consumer and producer, they didn't have a chance at even making a good guess. (If you think that question was hard you should have seen the rest of the test!)

So for SURVIVAL'S sake... they have to know these words before the MEAP or they will start the test already at a disadvantage.  If you know anyone at the department of education who designs these tests, feel free to convey my angst!

And Last but not least.....Deer Hunters ... I need a favor!

When you get your deer this year, (Michigan deer only.. no out of state deer ) can you do me a HUGE favor and save the heart, the lungs, the kidney's, the liver and the upper section of the Aorta for me?  One of our unit's studies all the body systems... and the best way to teach this is with the real thing. Please package them as follows with your name on each bag:

Heart - Rinse out the chambers as best as you can. Even hearts perforated by bullets/arrows  are good as it allows me to show the inside of a chamber during dissection. Then fill a large ziplock bag full of water and put the heart inside the bag so that it will freeze in the water. This will keep it from getting freezer burnt or damaged while it freezes.

Lungs, liver, kidney's, aorta - Even if there are holes in them, they are still good! Rinse, and follow the same procedure as above for storing. I will disinfect all the organs prior to use... but if you notice or think the interior cavity of the deer you harvested contains any ulcerations or disease, don't send me those organs. Most deer diseases are not transmittable to humans but I don't want to be the exception either! :)
Write your name or include a piece of paper with your first and last name and attach it to your bag/bags. The DNR doesn't have an issue with me doing this as long as I/they can verify the deer were taken legally by a registered hunter.

The reason the deer must be from Michigan is due to the infiltration of chronic wasting disease in deer in other states surrounding Michigan. We have yet to have this contagious disease spread to our deer in Michigan and I want to keep it that way :)

Thanks so much!