An A+ Week

Well I have to say that these kids are in the groove! We read a heavy-weight book this week that is part of our Reader's Workshop curriculum. The story was quite educational, moving, and tremendously sad. Below is the summary of Pink and Say, by Patricia Polacco. 

Pink and Say ISBN: 0399226710
Pink and Say highlights the brief and special friendship of two young boys, Pinkus Aylee (Pink) and Sheldon Curtis (Say), during the Civil War. When wounded attempting to escape his unit, Say is rescued by Pink, who carries him back to his Georgia home where he and his family were slaves. While the frightened soldier is nursed back to health under the care of Pink’s mother, Moe Moe Bay, he begins to understand why his new found friend is so adamant on returning to the war; to fight against "the sickness" that is slavery. However, it isn’t until marauders take Moe Moe Bay’s life, that Say is driven to fight. Although ultimately, both boys are taken prisoners of the Confederate Army, fortunately Say survives and was able to pass along the story of Pink and Say to his daughter Rosa, Patricia Polacco’s great grandmother. As it was told, Pink was killed just shortly after being taken prisoner, therefore Patricia’s book "serves as a written memory" of him. At the end of the story Patricia bids the reader, "Before you put this book down, say his name (Pinkus Aylee) out loud and vow to remember him always."
One of the more heartwarming moments of the story is when Say tells Pink and his mother that he once shook the hand of Abraham Lincoln. Convinced that his encounter is a "sign" of hope, Say reaches for Pink’s hand, exclaiming, "Now you can say you touched the hand that shook the hand of Abraham Lincoln!" At the end of the story when the boys are separated, Pink reaches for Say one last time to touch his hand. Ahhh, tear-jerker!!!

I'm so impressed with how maturely this class discussed the book. You would not believe the conversations I was overhearing about the Civil War, friendship, slavery, and our country. AMAZING!

Also this week, we used our ActivExpressions, also known as "the clickers,"to review pages upon pages of NECAP math problems. Math is 100% more fun and engaging when our lessons include this technology. 

Take a look at what we're asking these kiddos to do. They all brought the papers home tonight. They're paying close attention as I teach or review the skill because they are waiting to VOTE!! 

The Voice

Happy Birthday Shel Silverstein! He is my FAVORITE poet! I have memorized so many of the poems from his books, Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic. My little bloggers, if you read the poem below this post, and recopy it in your NICEST penmanship, I will buy you popcorn on Thursday. I hope you like his poetry as much as I do!

Practice Makes Perfect!

This Friday students have a test on the seven continents and five oceans. Yes, FIVE oceans! The Southern Ocean which borders Antarctica has been added since most of us learned this basic lesson when we were in school. Here  are a couple of links to games students can play to help them practice.

Are you a beginner, intermediate or expert? There's also a tutorial to watch.

Oceans & Continents

Matching Oceans & Continents 

Introducing...

Mrs. Gagnon working with her guided reading group.

This year Hallsville has four Title I certified teachers. Our class was assigned Mrs. Gagnon. She will be instructing reading groups with me and also is in our class during math and writing. She is so enthusiastic and a magnet for kids! We're psyched to have her in our class this year. I suspect she will be getting her own classroom ASAP-- we'll consider ourselves lucky for now!

CU-2MRW@theBBQ

Tomorrow night is the annual Hallsville barbecue, with a twist. Marinela is returning to teach Zumba. While I'm not planning on doing Zumba, I do plan on enjoying the music, food, company, and all of the raffles! I really hope you can all make it! Here is our chocolate themed raffle basic. I'd like to rig it so I could win this myself. It'd be sweet! (Pun intended:)

Miss Nelson is Back!

Nick, Miss Nelson, & Madison- such smiley faces

Today we were blessed with the presence of super-star teacher Miss Nelson! She is a fabulous teacher whose specialty is math. Miss Nelson is teaching math on Monday and Tuesday in our class. Her primary focus is test-taking skills. Miss Nelson has over 35 years of teaching experience. She is a former principal and has been a sister for fifty years. When she teaches, kids get it. She has so many tips and tricks to help students remember all of the vocabulary and terminology in math. The kids and staff at Hallsville adore her and we are so happy she is back!

Just the Basics...

Now that we're past the first couple of weeks, we are starting to really hit the books. As we are working in class I'm noticing that some students are missing some basic school supplies. I just wanted to mention that all students should have scissors, a glue stick, a pencil sharpener, and a ruler that measures both inches and centimeters.

P.S. The school store is open on Wednesdays :)

Thank You Very Much!

Thank you to all the parents who have sent in items for our chocolate themed basket! The fourth grade is collecting items for a basket to be raffled off at our annual barbeque on Sept. 21^st. Money raised from the raffle will be used to help our school's main office move to the front of the building.  If you haven't yet, and are able to, please send in an item to contribute to our basket. Here are a few examples of items that we are hoping to include: brownie mixes, hot chocolate, chocolate candy, chocolate scented candle, chocolate chips, chocolate chip cookies, basically anything that is chocolate! Please send in items by the Sept. 20. Thanks You!

Also, thank you for the Lysol Wipes, tissues, paper towels, and hand sanitizer that the students brought in recently. I'm hoping that this will help ease cold season. Knock on wood!

Student agendas arrived Friday. We will step up our organization this week and do some goal setting. Please sign the agenda next to the colored stamp each night after you see your son or daughter's homework completed.  I look forward to meeting with you all Thursday night at open house. Hope to see you then!

So far, So Awesome

Good morning all! I'm hoping today will be the day that our ultimate school supply- the planner, also known as the agenda will arrive via federal express. The fourth and fifth grades have been waiting for them to help us get organized. I'll let you know more details about how we use the planners for assignments, goal setting, and organization soon.

In the meantime, our first issue of Scholastic News came. It is a magazine with current events that integrates all subject areas, social studies, science, math, language arts, and even character education. I love the interactive piece too that lets us go online to learn even more about topics from each issue.

I hope the spelling menu assignment went smoothly for parents. I really try to stress to the kids if mom or dad cannot help you with a given assignment that is computer related, to just pick something else to do that evening. I'm finding that a lot of students have access to computers at home, which is fantastic. I asked a new student if he had a computer at home, and he said, "No we have four!" Sweet! Here is an example of a Wordle. Katie made this one by typing her spelling words into the website, http://www.wordle.net/ Katie's mom emailed it to me to print. Nice Katie!!