Student's were assigned a writing prompt titled "If I were stuck in a snow globe...", and were asked to treat it completely realistic. The student's writing was absolutely amazing, and I was so proud of some of the things they came up with. Below you can check their pictures out and some writing samples!
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Good Morning,
I just want to give everyone an FYI before your child comes home today from school. Due to the pending snowstorm, I am giving them some extra homework tonight. I am doing this on the inkling that we will not have school tomorrow. Please note that if we do have school, I do not expect the extra spelling and Wordly Wise to be completed tonight. The students are aware of this as well. As soon as I hear anything about school, I will keep you all posted. Stay warm! Thank you so much,Ryann For those of you who had me last year as a teacher, you already know that I am completely obsessed with the website Go Noodle. It has many short fitness routines that you can do when the students are surely ready to explode from being inside for long periods of time during the the long, winter days. I have started to do it with my student's this year, and they will shortly experience a Go Noodle frenzy now that the temperatures are dropping. The kids absolutely love it, and it really does give their brains a "break". That being said, teacherpop.org just confirmed that having brain breaks and/or dance parties in your classroom when the kids are lacking energy, has been proven by science to have enormous positive effects on their learning. You can read more about it here. Thank you, Go Noodle, for helping us all survive indoor recess!
Did you hear? We have future computer programmers here at the Laurel School. In computer class this week the third through fifth graders have started to learn how to code. They started the "hour of code" here in class to "get their feet wet". The students are already asking me when we can do coding again! I am just as excited as they are. You can read all about the hour of code here!
Happy New Year! I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and long break! As I told the students today, we are on the upswing towards fifth grade now. Academics are really going to start to amp up, and I am going to be holding them more accountable for their work inside, and outside, of the classroom. If you can help to hold them at a higher standard, I think that we will have a super successful rest of the school year.
That being said, below are a few updates for the upcoming month. Also, I am starting a new spelling program with the students. They still have the same amount of basic and challenge words, it is just a more wider variety of activities that they will do each week. Their next Biography/Autobiography Book Report Title is DUE on Friday, January 9, 2015. I am attaching the options they have for this book report. They also have a questionnaire that they should be completing throughout the reading. This questionnaire is due a week before their report is due. I also would like to reiterate that the students are not allowed to change their books after they have submitted their titles without speaking with me. While I understand that sometimes the books don't turn out to be as wonderful as they hoped, I do think they need to stick it out. March 26, 2015 is the Annual Science Fair. I will be sending home a letter with the students describing how the science fair works, and all of the due dates for each scientific process of the experiment. For those of you who are new to the school this year, you should know that the entire experiment is done at home. The students will have due dates for each process to help make sure that they are on task throughout the process. Their actual boards, and each process, will be typed up and assembled here at school the last two weeks before the fair. The next Wordly Wise Quiz is Friday, January 9th. As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Best Regards, Mrs. Z The Award Winning Book Reports were absolutely fabulous! The students presented in front of several different classes, and they were not shy. The two different options for this book report were to create a scrap book about the characters, or to create a cereal box having to do with the book they chose to read. We had about half chose one of the options, and half choose the other. The books ranged from titles like "Dear Mr. Henshaw", "Mr. Poppers Penguins", "The Whipping Boy", "Kira, Kira", and "The Mixed Up Files of Basil E. Frankweiler". Great Job, fourth graders!!!
On Thursday, we had a visitor (Alyssa Miner) come into the class to talk to the students about the Hanukkah traditions. It was such a wonderful treat to get to learn about their traditions, and how they celebrate the holiday. Alyssa brought in traditional hot potato latkes with apple sauce and sour cream, and donuts, as well. The kids loved the food! She also read a story to the kids. This book told about the story of Hanukkah, and did so through the true story of how General George Washington came to learn about the holiday during the Revolutionary War. The students got to learn about how he gained his inspiration he needed to keep his troops going when he learns of how the Jews defeated the much larger, stronger forces of the Greek Army. The kids really enjoyed it! Afterwards, she introduced the dreidel game to them, and they each got to pick their "lucky" dreidel as they played. It was a wonderful time for all, and informative as well! Thank you, Alyssa, for coming in and teaching us all about the traditional holiday!
The Art and Literature Faire was once again, a HUGE success! Each year the students focus on a school wide broad theme, and each class picks something under the umbrella theme. This year the school's theme was Africa and fourth graders focused on South Africa. This faire celebrates a six week, school-wide, cross curricula exploration. The student's focus on art, music, literature, customs, and cultures, and create masterpieces after studying, learning, and doing many hands on, engaging activities related to their theme. They work on many collaborated projects, and some individual ones as well. Our students got to enjoy learning about Nelson Mandela, apartheid, Kruger National Animal Reserve, fables and folk tales, the Nbele Tribe and their villages, painted houses, the Zulu Tribe and their customs, and many other interesting facts about the country in general. Below are some great pictures of their final products, and also some pictures of them working diligently along the way. Thank you all for being such huge supporters of this amazing night! The students absolutely love it, and are so proud of all of their hard work!
Thank you to Gina Goodwin, for inviting us to the Nutcracker on Wednesday. It was such a great show, and the kids absolutely loved it!
Good Morning Parents,
I hope you are all doing well! I cannot believe that we only have two more weeks left until December break, the time is flying by! Below is a quick reminder of things coming up, I know this time of year can get very busy. Wednesday, December 10, 2014- Nutcracker at CCCC. We will be leaving school at 8:45, and returning at 12:30. Please make sure that your child is dressed nicely for the show. Sunday, December 14-Tuesday, December 16- Ski Trip. For those of you who are going on the ski trip, I will be sending some work with your children to complete (either in the car, downtime up north, or the weekend before they leave). This time of year the curriculum is ramping up, and I would hate for them to fall behind. Wednesday, December 17, 2014- Award Winning Book Report DUE. The students should be prepared to present these book reports to the class Wednesday morning. Thursday, December 18, 2014- Art and Literature Fair 5-6:30. The students must stay in the 4th grade classroom from 5-5:45 to escort visitors around, and talk about their work. After that, they are free to wander and check out the rest of the classrooms. Friday, December 19, 2014- Alyssa Miner will be coming it to talk about Hanukkah traditions. Later in the morning/afternoon we will be doing our annual Gingerbread House decorating. I will be sending another email with details about the gingerbread house activity. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you in advance for your help in making sure that your child has their book report ready and set to go. We will be starting our Biography/Autobiography Book Reports when we return to school in January. Best Regards,Mrs. Z |
Ryann Zabielski
Elementary Director Archives
May 2015
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