Ms. Wood's Class - mswoodsclass

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Classroom Photos

Beyond CRCT

You probably know me well enough by now to realize we will be learning each and every day through the end of the year. It's not over yet!

In writing we will be working on Poetry Projects and The Story of Me.

In social studies we will be working on our history projects in varying formats.

In reading we will be completing one last book study with a poster or analyzer.

In science we will be working on previewing for science next year and completing our science projects.

In math we will be fortifying our skills, pretesting for next year, and previewing for next year. We will have some fun projects here as well!

Please make sure to check the calendar and your agendas for upcoming dates that you probably won't want to miss!

Ms. Wood

CRCT Week

Our baby birds have flown the nest as of Friday, April 20th. It was their 13th day having broken free of their eggs, and they were already itching to fly. Fly they did! The photos are posted along with all the critters who visited our yard during the afternoon hours of their last feeding and the flight.

During our CRCT next week, I know that our students will do the same. They are prepared and ready to fly off to middle school. We only need to prove it with the standardized testing next week. Please make sure that a healthy breakfast is eaten each morning (protein for the long-haul!), you get to bed on time, and that you come in with a smile on your face. You should feel confident in what you know. We are ready!

See you Monday!
Ms. Wood

April 11, 2012

Good afternoon!

I hope you are enjoying the updates on the Robin nest that was built on my back deck at home. The baby birds are growing rapidly, and I am excited to get home each day to check their progress. It seems that infancy is a most magical time for all creatures. I want to share this event with you since one rarely has the opportunity to document the growth of a baby bird this closely. I was literally standing within 2 feet of the feeding today! Please know that I never feed, touch, or make any sudden movements around the birds. They are wild, and I am just lucky that Mama trusted our home and allows me so close to the nest that sits behind my deck chair.

After all the talk of birds and babies, you are probably wondering, "What are we doing at school?" We are completing our last social studies chapter & reviewing social studies, reviewing science curriculum, practicing our reading, and reviewing our grammar and language AKS. The CRCT is just around the corner, and we will walk in confidently that week. Please make sure that you are well rested, have eaten breakfast, and bring your smile the week of the test. It is our time to shine! We get to show all that we have learned this year and prove we have THE BEST 5TH GRADE STUDENTS in the state! I know you will make me proud, but most importantly, you will make yourselves proud if you come in and do the very best you can do. Set your goals high and reach!

It seems that this year has progressed as quickly as those baby birds are growing. Before long, you will all be flying from this nest to seek new adventures at middle school. I'm excited for you!

Ms. Wood

Wednesday, March 7th

What a wonderful day! Our kids did a wonderful job on the state writing test. They came in confident and ready to write. We were handing out Band-aids by the end of the test for a few blisters, but they were real troopers. I just know they all did really well!

After the test, we took our lunch break on the hill and had time to relax. The kids and the teachers enjoyed a few moments to unwind. We then headed in to specials while Mr. W.O. Smith and Mr. Summerlin of the Tuskegee Airmen were set up in the media center. We had a wonderful afternoon listening to their stories and asking questions. We had some photo opportunities afterward, and you are welcome to print those for yourselves once I have them posted on our site. I learned new things about our history, so I am sure you did, too! Can you believe that female pilots were Tuskegee Airmen members and flew through enemy territory, unescorted, and without the guns on the planes in order to deliver the machines to the pilots who would then fly in the fighter missions? Mr. Summerlin and Mr. Smith said those ladies were some of the best pilots they had. It sounds to me like we may need to head back to the media center for some additional research!

Have a wonderful evening and celebrate your successes. You survived the 5th grade writing test!

Q3-W7

It has been a short week, but we are not short on accomplishments!

Math - We are continuing our study of geometry and including fractions, ratios, and some review of older material. Mr. David came in on Tuesday to teach us about scale drawing. We measured some and drew some. The students have a project that they will continue to work on as the next few days progress.

Reading - This week we read a book from our 5th grade collection on the Holocaust Memorial Museum. It taught us a lot about the Holocaust, the museum in Washington D.C., and supported our social studies curriculum.

Writing - On Wednesday we took our mock writing test. They will be graded over the long weekend and returned to students on Tuesday. This will give them important practice before the big day, March 7th. We will have another practice writing on Wednesday, February 22nd. These papers will be graded, returned, and reviewed before the writing test. Both will be recorded in the gradebook.

Social Studies - Our study of WWII continues. We are working to learn maps of both Europe and Asia in order to better understand the invasions, battles, and the extent of the imperialism during that time. We will be testing over the map material next week.

Science - Thank you, families, for supporting our science labs. We appreciate the supplies you were able to send in for our chemical and physical reactions. We will continue these next week, as we have limited class time and many investigations to complete!

I hope everyone enjoys their long weekend and has an opportunity for rest! This is the first time in a few years we have been able to enjoy a February holiday. It is nice to have a mild winter every now and again!

Q3-W6

Math - We continue to work on area and volume while also practicing the metric system. On Tuesday, Mr. David will join us to teach us about scale drawings which will join our understanding of fractions and proportions with our study of area.

Reading - As part of social studies, we recently covered women's suffrage. Thus, students read "I Want to Vote" during reading time this week, and they answered questions regarding setting, vocabulary, and comprehension. On Friday, we reviewed the setting questions together in order to better understand the story clues.

Writing - This week we revisited narrative writing by drafting a story about an underwater city designed by scientists. This was an actual prompt used by the state of Georgia for the 2010 writing test. On Friday, we shared several writings and gave constructive feedback in order to improve our skills. Next Wednesday, all 5th grade classrooms will have our next writing practice test. Please make sure you are present for this practice!

Social Studies - We are currently studying World War II, and we have begun labeling and studying maps of both Europe and Asia. Students should be studying these maps at home in order to better support their understanding of the countries involved. I shared some great on-line resources that will make practicing fun and provide some enrichment. There will be a quiz on these maps soon.

Science - Chemical and physical reactions are the topics we are currently studying. This week students brought in ideas for chemical reactions we can do in our classroom. Observing these reactions will assist us in learning the difference between chemical and physical reactions. It is my hope to collect some of the supplies for these reactions, so we are able to do them in class in the upcoming weeks. I may need some assistance with this, so I will send an email later regarding our needs.

Q3-W5

Students and parents are aware that we are preparing for our upcoming writing test in an effort to pair good writing skills with how to fit it into a two hour writing time frame on a standard test. We are all working very hard, and I've seen so much improvement in our writing. We still have a month to prepare, and I just know we are all going to be great!

With that said, after grading 29 writing papers between Friday night and this morning, there are a few students I would like to recognize. The first is Jonce. He received the highest score in the class for this set of papers. Way to go, Jonce! Thank you again for sharing with the class that you had edited your paper four times, and you were continuing to find errors. It really showed in your conventions scores.

There are four other students I would also like to recognize for showing a vast amount of improvement in their writing from their last paper to this one. I am so proud of them because they are proving that hard work really does pay! These students are Dawson, Kaycie, Ally, and Emily. Thank you so much for going the extra mile!

On other fronts, my science students are continuing through their changes in matter unit which is always a lot of fun. Chemistry, chemical reactions, acids, and bases are all coming up in our curriculum. Please keep this in mind while doing your homework this week! The social studies class began WWII this week, and that is always an interesting unit of study. 5th grade students are able to make some amazing connections to this material.

Later today, I will be emailing a class list for Valentine's Day. Students are welcome to bring in small cards to share with other students on Valentine's Day. They may also decorate a small paper bag or box to sit on their desks in order to receive cards from other students. The bags or boxes should be on their desks by the day before, and the cards will be exchanged during morning work time on Valentine's Day. The boxes or bags may be explored during recess time on Valentine's Day.

Have a wonderful weekend! Oh! By the way! I read over this post in order to edit and revise before I shared it on our web site. That is what good writers do!

Q3-W4

We have received our presuasive writing practice test scores back. Unfortunately, they were not as high as what I would have expected. In response, we spent this week during writing time reworking those and practicing the persuasive genre again. I feel the students are building confidence this way and are seeing what they need to do to improve. During week 5, we will review how to analyze the prompts, work on practice plans (this seems to be where our errors were), and complete another practice prompt. We won't have the benefit of an 'outside' score with these, but I will continue to give feedback through the date we take our promotional test.

Rest assured, we will work to meet and exceed expectations on this test, but even more importantly in our core writing skills that follow us through life.

We continue to work diligently in all other subjects. The students are currently completing their study of chapter 7 social studies which introduced them to The Great Depression as well as the '20s. Our next study is of WWII which is always a 5th grade student favorite.

On other fronts, I will attempt to have a class list out to you the begining of February for our Valentine exchange. We will be allowed to share Valentine treats, but we will not have a party. Your students should have their cards addressed before school that day and be prepared to pass them out during morning work time. We will be allowed to open the treats and cards during recess that day.

The last reminder is to please make sure you are checking the Parent Portal in order to see how you are doing in all of your classes. The Portal will give you an idea of your averages, which assignments are in, which assignments are late, and where you may need to do a little bit of extra study. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

I hope you enjoy this beautiful, sunny weekend!

Q3-W2

As we prepare to enter the third week of the third quarter, I am once again amazed at how quickly our year is rushing by! In a few short weeks we will be taking our writing test and welcoming spring shortly after that.

Many of you brought home information this week regarding a writing tutorial class or a writing enrichment class that will be offered for the next five weeks. I recommend that you register for these classes if you were invited to one. It will either help you better your basic skills or enrich skills you already have in order to help you reach your fullest potential as a writer. We stress the state writing test in fifth grade, but even more than that, I want for each of you to build the skills you need to become excellent writers throughout your academic careers and adulthood.

In social studies, we are begining our study of the 2o's, The Great Depression, and then WWII. Students typically enjoy studying this era of our history, and I hope this year will be no different.

Science students are beginning their studies of matter and changes in matter. There will be some fun hands-on activities as we move through these units and prepare for our studies of electricity.

And of course, we continue to read. Reading will build our vocabulary and our imaginations. I thoroughly enjoy both those things!

Have a wonderful long weekend and stay warm!

The New Year

Good evening!

Well, I will be headed back into the classroom tomorrow morning to learn some new things and get ready for your return. Our lesson plans were finished before I left for the holiday, but I still need to work on our agenda for the week. I hope to have that up for you tomorrow afternoon since many of you try to record the week before you get to class.

Hopefully all of you have had a wonderful holiday. My family definitely had an eventful two weeks. We traveled to Washington D.C. for 4 days and found that we were staying at the same hotel as one of our 4th grade students. I never expected to be asked in Washington D.C., "Excuse me, but do you teach at Sugar Hill Elementary?" That is exactly what I heard one night as I sat in the dining area at our hotel, though!

While we were there, I visited the Holocaust Memorial Museum, all the memorials around the Potomac River, the White House, the U.S. Capitol, and several of the Smithsonian museums. The Holocaust studies were my favorite part of the trip because I learned so much while I was there. We will definitely discuss this more when we study WWII in the upcoming semester.

We headed home before Christmas Eve and then headed back out to Mississippi to visit Mr. Wood's family that day after Christmas. We spent 3 days on the road that time, and I was glad to be home for good after that trip.

I want to thank you for the wonderful treats before we left for the holiday. The gift cards, homemade goodies, gifts, and especially the hugs were a great way to start my break. I hope you enjoyed all the special things planned for you the week before break. I especially hope your party was enjoyed because I know Ms. Heather worked really hard to make it special for you. It appeared that everyone had a wonderful time. Please continue to enjoy the white boards as much I enjoyed getting them together for you.

Have fun on your one more day of Winter Break. I'll see you on Tuesday refreshed and ready to learn!

Ms. Wood

Q2-W7

It is difficult to believe that the end of the second quarter is upon us, and we are again completing our interim exams, planning for our winter parties, and preparing to export grades for progress reports. Time is flying at an unusually fast pace this year! Here are our updates:

Math: We have worked to review graphs, build a graph (please see our projects on the student highlights page), and learn a new graph type, box and whisker plots. We will have our test on graphs next Wednesday. Box and Whisker Plots will not be included on the test, but there is an acitivity that will be turned in for a daily grade. In addition, we used our fraction multiplying skills to bake brownies on Friday during our math class. They turned out well, though we were a bit noisy during the process!

Reading: We used our Story Works books to review skills such as underlining important facts, discussing plot points, and fluency. We made a social studies connection through reading a play about a ten-year-old girl who worked in a textile mill and went on strike.

Writing: This week we wrote small group persuasive stories, shared them with the class on Friday, and gave constructive criticism. We hope to finish by allowing one group per day to read their work to the class. If all goes well, a few of these will be published here, on our web site.

Social Studies: We continued our study of the turn of the century with a focus on mechanization and urbanization. Students should now understand the difference between urban and rural areas as well as how this transition from rural to urban and agriculture to machines impacted our country and its economy.

Science: We continued our study of earth science, plate tectonics, weathering and erosion. We had to postpone two of our labs due to schedule changes, but we hope to get to those this coming week. We will only meet for two class periods this week due to interim testing schedules. We will keep our learning fluid, however, by continuing our picture book projects. I can make myself available before school with advanced notice if anyone is interested in coming into the classroom to work or get extra help.

Thank you for sharing your learning with me and for teaching me new things each and every week!

Q2-W5 and W6

Good afternoon, everyone. It has been a busy month in our classroom and at school in general. The second quarter seems to be flying by as quickly as the first. It is remarkable how quickly our instructional time comes and goes.

Today we completed our mock writing test. Students were able to get a feel for what the real test will be like in March of 2012. This is a promotional test, but if we continue with our writing lessons, students remained focused, and we do our best, everyone will be fine. The test we took today will be mailed off to UGA for grading. When results are in, I will share your child's progress with you.

Next week is our Thanksgiving holiday. We are still growing accustomed to having an entire week off, but the break should give students an opportunity to refresh and come back ready to learn. In addition, our 2nd quarter interim exams will begin the week we return.

One last thing...if your child needs extra help in a subject, they are always welcome to ask for extra help during recess / study hall or before school. Before school is better for me, as I am usually in the building before our 7:30 a.m. contract day begins. If this option suits your family, please just have your child check with me during the day or email me at home. In addition, if your child is interested in a 'working lunch,' I will try to arrange this. Please remember I need notice for this option because approval must be obtained from the homeroom teacher if that teacher is not me. I can not however take a child's lunch away from him / her to do make-up work. I would be happy to eat with a small group of students (at their request) to provide extra tutoring or review skills that they feel unsure of. Please just contact me. Again, this must be a request from the student.

Thank you so much for sharing your children with me!

Q2-W4

I hope everyone has enjoyed their weekend. My Saturday was full of Longhorn football for the 11 year old team and their cheerleaders. It was a great game filled with awesome plays. I even saw one of you there!

This coming week will be busy as usual at school. We have a couple of tests coming up and we will continue with our writing. The mock writing test has been scheduled for November 15th. Please make sure you are at school that day. It is important to participate and get that feedback on your writing skills thus far. It will let us know exactly where we need to improve and where we are doing well.

I will see you bright and early tomorrow morning. Don't forget we fell back an hour!

Q2-W3

It is difficult to believe that we are already beginning the 4th week of our second quarter together. Time is flying by. Thankfully, our testing is behind us for a few weeks, and we get to focus on learning for a while.

There is a lot going on this week, and our agenda is posted for you. I know many of you will be busy on Monday evening, so I have tried to make sure that I've not given any homework assignments.

Please note that I realize there is a project due on Wednesday for science along with our test. This has happened due to two extensions and some extra lab time I've added. These projects were supposed to be completed in class, but I know some of our students prefer to work at home as well. I want to allow the students who wish to go that extra mile the opportunity to do so without feeling overly pressured. We will do a quick review of heredity and genetics in class on Tuesday, so that students feel more prepared.

Enjoy the remainder of weekend. I will do my best to have the social studies tests graded before tomorrow, so that students can see how they did. Remember to keep studying those chapter 3 notes as we progress. It makes studying the night before the test much less stressful!

Q2-W1

We have just finished the first week of our second quarter together, and progress reports for the first nine weeks were sent home Friday. Interims were finished this week as well, and second nine weeks grades should begin appearing on the portal next week. It has definitely been a busy couple of weeks!

Next week we begin our ITBS testing. These tests are very important as they are an indicator of learning and achievement throughout elementary school and may help guide schools in offering appropriate opportunities for their students. Please make sure you arrive at school on time having eaten a good breakfast. If at all possible, do not schedule appointments during the morning hours next week. Students tend to perform better when they are in their classrooms with their peers and teachers for testing.

Have a great weekend and enjoy the beautiful fall weather!

Q1-W9

It has been a really busy week of conferences, finalizing grades for the first quarter, and interim exams beginning. Please make sure to check the parent portal regularly in order to stay current on grades and conduct. We really want to make sure we are working as partners so that every child feels and is successful in 5th grade. Getting into this routine will only help our students during their first year in middle school. It is a big adjustment for both students and parents. Preparing now for that change will make the adjustment happen more smoothly. You will be surprised how quickly your 5th grade year passes. I know because I lived it with Morgan last year!

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns as we enter the 2nd quarter of school. This is an exciting time for students and their families as we grow into more independent students and develop good study habits.

Thank you for growing and learning with me!

Q1-W8

The first quarter of 5th grade is nearing its end. This week we worked to make sure that grades were updated, past due work was turned in, and that the Parent Portal was updated. Please take a look at your child's grades this weekend. If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know as I will be exporting grades for the progress reports sometime this coming week.

Here is the update for each subject area:

Math: We agreed to postpone our unit test until this next Wednesday. Some students wish to build confidence in modeling and choosing the correct operation for division and multiplication of decimals. They also wanted a refresher on the percent model. Once we reviewed it, they were smiling and thiking, "That's all? How could I have forgotten that?"

Reading: We finished our 2nd book study and tested on it Friday. Students who are behind should finish their book and book analyzer this weekend, and they should be prepared to take both thier AR test and their written test on Monday.

Writing: Students continued to work on writing on a topic without extraneous details but including details that make the piece better. They turned in their first completed writing, and I hope to get those graded this weekend in an effort to give you their new writing levels at conferences.

Social Studies: The section of chapter 2 that deals with the fighting of the Civil War was completed this week. We will proceed with Reconstruction next week and have our Civil War test on Friday.

Science: We learned how to use the microscope, labeled its parts, and viewed the specimens. Some students forgot to include their 'jobs' with the cells project and are handing those in on Monday. I explained that they would need to check their agendas more carefully, as this piece of the assignment was included and reviewed together. Not handing this piece in would have been extremely detrimental to the grade. All in all, the projects look great so far! I was really excited to see what the students turned in on Friday, and I am in awe at their artistic abilities. My own abilities in this area are lacking. Our cells and cell theory test is coming up this Friday.

I hope you have a great weekend. Don't forget to check the Parent Portal to see your child's updated grades. If you have any questions about missing assignments or averages, please let me know by Monday. I will be exporting grades one day next week.

Q1-W7

It is difficult to believe that we have spent 7 weeks together. The year is flying by and we have almost completed our first quarter together. As the first quarter ends, it seems that our study habits are improving, note taking is definitely coming along, and we are becoming much more comfortable with one another. With that said, behavior is improving and we are meeting those 5th grade expectations for the most part. We actually earned a smiley face in the cafeteria this week! Hooray! Please see below for an update on the subjects your child learns with me.

Math: We completed our lessons on discounts and sales taxes. In addition, I'm really proud of my 5th grade students for locating mistakes that adults had made on our math practice sight and for having the confidence to question it. That is real world application of math! Next week we will have a quiz on tax and discounts Tuesday and then our unit test for decimal multiplication and division on Thursday.

Reading: Our second book study is underway. Everyone should now be 1/2 way through their new books and prepared to test on them next Friday. Some of our more advanced readers were really caught up in their books and have finished the entire thing already! In addition, we have had another reader get caught up in a book and admit that it was good. I love it! It seems that our 5th grade reading class is the place where some reluctant readers realize that not all reading is hard labor!

Writing: The first draft of a complete 5th grade writing will be turned in for a grade. The students were supposed to finish it in class on Friday, but only 2 did. Thus, we will take 15 minutes in class on Monday to finish the final drafts and turn them in. Since these are such long assignments, it will take a bit longer to grade them. I hope to have them ready for you the week of conferences.

Social Studies: We continue to work our way through chapter 2 which covers the fighting of the Civil War and Reconstruction. We should finish the chapter and be ready to prepare for an assessment next week. The assessment will probably take place at the beginning of the 9th week of school. So, continue to work on those study cards. And when the test is finished, keep them. You will see all this information again on CRCT!

Science: We have worked through classification and are reviewing cells. For our cells unit, we must know cell parts (we extend the AKS, so make sure to check your child's notes for the extra ones), their functions, and some of the processes. We will be completing labs starting on Wednesday to see the processes in action and to actually look at the cells. This should be fun and informative. Also, I was able to finish placing each student's slide into our class Power Point Presentation this week and get them graded. I will be posting it to the web site as soon as I finish this entry. Your student should have his/her graded rubric and the slide should be saved on his/her jump drive. Please take a look at the completed project. Most students are electing to print it at home in color so that the graphics pop. With that said, I will print (upon request) for any student who doesn't have printing capabilities at home.

Have a great weekend and enjoy this beautiful weather!

Q1-W6

I hope everyone had great fun at the carnival last night. I was only able to attend for a little while due to other obligations, but I was happy to see a few of you. It looked like you were having fun with your crazy hair. Did any of you splat a 4th grade teacher in the face with a pie?

Here is a recap of the rest of our week:

Math: We worked on decimal multiplication and division. On Thursday we took our first test. Since there were 2 word problems students struggled to model, we used our actual manipulatives on Friday, I got them started, and they finished these two problems. We will continue to work on these skills as we move into other areas in math to make sure it is properly understood.

Reading: We worked on our Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon book analyzers. They were turned in this week and will be taken for a grade.

Writing: We continue skill lessons with good grabbers and endings. We will begin working on revising for good vocabulary and figurative language next week. Next Friday, we will use all of our work to write the final drafts of our penguin stories in class.

Social Studies: Many students took retests this past Friday. I hope to grade those this weekend. Students are beginning to develop study skills, and retests should decrease as we move toward mastery of this skill. In addition, we have moved into chapter 2. Start studying a bit each night in order to ward off an all evening cramming session!

Science: We took our plant classification test and scores were great. We have also moved into cell theory, cell components, and component jobs. The students should have each turned in one Power Point slide to me this week. This weekend, I will work to place these into a composite presentation which we will share in class.

Please dont' forget that we have CoGAT on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of next week. The test will be given in the mornings. Also, our Human Growth and Development lessons are scheduled for next Friday afternoon.

Have a great weekend!

Q1-W5

It's been another busy week in 5th grade, and I honestly can't believe we are over half way through our 1st quarter together. This week you should have received mid-term grade reports as well as conference time preference requests. Please make sure these are returned this week,and that you contact me with any questions regarding progress. In addition, I have asked students to let me know if they wish to retake the amendments test from the 2nd week of school. I will be offering that during a study hall toward the end of the week if they did not receive a passing grade on their first attempt. As we move into chapter 2 in social studies, we will be adding 3 amendments to their list, so it is very important that the first 10 have been studied and are understood.

Math: We continue to work on decimal multiplication and division. Most students are above 95% on their math fluency for multiplication. Their most recent test grade will be part of their 1st quarter grade as a common assessment for 5th grade.

Reading: We continue to work on comprehension strategies which include the points on our book analyzer. We are not fully prepared to use an analyzer as a grade, but the time is coming when they will be collected and graded for each student. I have completed initial reading inventories, and we have completed our first lit/book study.

Writing: We continue to work on narrative writing. We are currently discussing how to incorporate good hooks, conclusions, and conflicts. This coming week we will concentrate on revising for content to include good vocabulary, metaphor, simile, etc.

Social Studies: We have finished chapter 1 and are working on chapter 2. Test on chapter 1 was completed this past Friday.

Science: We are beginning cell theory and the study of cell parts and functions. Here come the upper grades AKS!

If you have any questions, please let me know. I hope to see the parents of my science and math class on Tuesday afternoon at 5:00. I will let you know what to expect this year and give you a feel for what your students will be learning in their accelerated classes this year.

Thanks!

Q1-W4

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend although we are getting a little wet. My family and some of Morgan's friends visited Lake Lanier and realized that the water is down. We love water sports, so I'm rather glad we are expecting rain for the next two days. I also hope to get in a run in between showers today. If not, I'll just have to get wet! What will you do during the rain storms?

On Saturday I did a bit of grading and I'm actually taking a quick break from grading today to post you on our last week. I hope to have papers graded and returned to you on Tuesday. Mid-term grade reports will be coming to you on Friday. Please make sure to review your averages on the Parent Portal regularly. The averages I am working on today, won't post until Wedensday morning. They will have to be updated with the Gwinnett County server once I am back at school and can sync my computer with our school's. The information I share on Tuesday will post over night for you.

Here is the run-down for our classes:

Accelerated Math: We completed a take-home quiz, worked with modeling decimal division and multiplication, and continued with our calendar and CML practice. We will continue the work with decimals this coming week.

Reading / Spelling: We worked through the first 1/2 of our book studies. If you are not at least 1/2 way through your book, make sure to get caught up on your reading today. Our book studies are due on Friday and we will have comprehension tests.

Writing: I have completed the grading of our first assessment for pre-writing. It was sent home on Friday to share with parents but should be returned on Tuesday to the writing notebooks. These will be used to write rough drafts for this prompt.

Grammar: We have been working on sentence of the week to identify sentence types and parts of speech. This coming week there will be several assessments in which you must use these skills.

Social Studies: We have almost completed the Civil War chapter 1 study. We will complete this on Wednesday, review, and test on Friday of next week. There will be a take home / morning work grade to help us think about what we have learned. The Power Point will be the study guide.

Accelerated Science: We have completed our study of animal classification and are moving through plants. Sometime this week, we should begin our first accelerated AKS by introducing cell theory. We will study cell parts which also includes accelerated AKS. Studying cells is always fun for the students because we make it very hands-on.

Another busy week awaits us. Time flies in 5th grade!

Q1-W3

Isn't it amazing that we have just completed the third week of this school year? Time is definitely flying by!

In the accelerated science class, we have completed our initial exploration of animal classification. Today, I shared preserved specimens that were borrowed from Lanier Middle as a review before our assessment. Our assessment was supposed to be two fold, but due to a technology issue (batteries to be exact), our Cricket system didn't get started on time. Thus, we will complete our hands-on assessment next week. If you were absent today, the Cricket assessment will be printed for you to take the conventional way. Photos of our explorations are coming soon!

In acclerated math, we have completed our study of factors, multiples, GCF, LCM, prime, composite, and divisibility rules. We will be moving into a review and discovering of patterns of decimal division next week through our learning centers. The assessment for this unit was completed in class on Thursday, and I will do my best to get it graded over the weekend. I was also able to build the Ten Marks class for extra practice and study. Feel free to use it as often as you like, but know that I will be making assignments from time to time.

During our social studies time, we began our study of the Civil War and are progressing through its causes. We will continue to delve into that information through Discovery Education video clips, discussions, mapping, Brain Pop, and completing our PPT notes. I think many of the kids are experiencing social studies lessons in a new way and will hopefully begin to enjoy the subject a bit more.

Writing...wow! We are covering some ground. We had our first assessment this week for RAFTS and planning. Then, we worked on extraneous details, staying on topic, and point of view. We will continue to work on these ideas as we progress next week into more focused paragraph writing. Students did write in computer lab on Monday by publishing their 'pretend' social profiles. These were not saved since they were completed through ReadWriteThink.org, but they were printed. Hopefully, we will have some displayed outside our classroom in the very near future.

And finally, reading. I have had the opportunity to complete about 75-80% of the initial reading inventories for students. We read with individual students in order to determine a good starting place for literature groups which I will begin on Monday. Accelerated Reader is up and running on-line this year, but you must still take tests at school. You may go in at home to look at what has been read as well as progress throughout the year. We are still in the process of setting point goals for the year, and I will let you know as soon as those are finalized. We are revamping the entire system this year, so it will take a bit longer than usual.

Thank you so much for sharing and learning with me. We have another busy week planned for Q1-W4, and as students are beginning to realize, if you miss even 5 minutes of 5th grade, you've missed a lot!

Have a great weekend!

Q1-W2

This week has given us an opportunity to get to know one another even better. I'm learning a lot about you all, and I'm enjoying it more than you can know! I think I am finally getting the names right for the faces and stories. With several different classes filtering through the door each day, this has been a challenge. Everyone has been great about it, though, and we are having a lot of fun laughing about my mistakes.

Our technology is up and running and students seem to be enjoying the interactive aspects of our classroom. What they don't realize yet is that they will be running it pretty soon. We are using the Mimio for games and presentations in social studies, interactive lessons in science, learning centers in math, and to share reading instruction. I also love our new document cameras in every classroom! Students really like seeing their work placed on my desk and projected for everyone in the room to see.

In addition to all of this, we are working already on our writing. How do we organize? How do we analyze a prompt? How do we turn all of this into a great paper? Over the next week, I also hope to complete reading assessments so that each student's instructional and independent levels are identified. This way, we can begin literature groups and book studies which will make reading much more fun and meaningful. In the meantime, we are learning to analyze books for conflict, plot, solution, character traits, relation to history and/or culture, etc. I am excited to reach a point where I can sit and discuss books with small groups of readers. You would be surprised at the insights of some 5th graders!

Whether I work with your family for math, science, social studies, or language arts, I want everyone to know that I am here for you and working furiously on the front lines and behind the scenes to ensure every student reaches his/her full potential. Learning and growing with my students is one of the many highlights of my school year and just one of many ways to light that fire rather than just filling the pail!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Q1-W1

Wow! It has been a busy first week of school, and time has flown by. I have really enjoyed meeting all the students I'll be working with in my homeroom, accelerated math, and accelerated science classes. This is a wonderful group of kids, and I know we will have a wonderful year together.

We are getting to know one another at school, and I'm working on a parent e-mail group so that we can stay connected outside of school hours as well. Please make sure to join our web site and visit frequently to see what we have going on in our classroom. I will post more photos this weekend!

Thank you for sharing your week with me!

Registration

Our class lists were ready on Friday, and I must confess. I have looked at mine at least 5 times since! I am steadily preparing for the new school year to begin, and my excitement is growing daily. With the new school year approaching so quickly, it is pretty typical for a new student in 5th grade to be excited but also a bit nervous. After all, 5th grade is a huge year! It is your last year as an elementary school student, you are getting ready for middle school, and it is the first year that many of you will experience learning with more than one teacher. What you probably didn't know is that teachers are excited but also a little nervous just like you. I am waiting to hear about middle school from the students I spent last year with, and I am receiving thirty new students to learn and grow with.

I remember being a student. You often wonder if the teacher is going to like you or understand exactly what you are thinking. Guess what! I still feel the same way, except now I am the teacher wondering this about my students! I tend to dance to the beat of my own drum, but I have a lot of fun learning and exploring with my students.

So, I will have to carry the excitement and nervousness about meeting all of you until Thursday morning when we have registration. I think I can do it. Until then, please feel free to check out the supplemental supply list for our class as well as the web site. You can get an idea of what to expect this year by looking at the photo galleries from years past. And of course, if you have any questions or just want to say hi, please feel free to e-mail me. I would love to hear from you!

Enjoy your last week of summer vacation!

The Last Day of School

It is 6:36 a.m. and I am sorting through my desk in preparation to move to my classroom for next year. While packing, I came across one of the many quotes I collect. I sometimes tuck them away in hopes that I will find them at the perfect moments in my life, the moments when I need that little bit of inspiration or satisfaction. This morning I found an idea that I had tucked away and hidden from myself in my desk. The quote was penned by Loris Malaguzzi, but I hope that I have and will live it each day in my classroom:

"Our expectations of the child must be very flexible and varied. We must be able to be amazed and enjoy like the children often do. We must be able to catch the ball that children throw us and toss it back to them in ways that make the children want to continue the game with us, developing perhaps other games as we go along."

Malaguzzi's quote is a pretty simple idea, but one that must be reflected upon from time to time in order to remain focused and dedicated to what it is we want to accomplish. I hope that we have accomplished this in our classroom this year. It has been an honor and a privilege to learn and grow with you. And for those of you who might wish to return for a visit next year, I will be located in the far left corner of the new building addition (the corner we round on the sidewalk to go to the playground).

I will miss you, but I also know that this class will go on to accomplish wonderful things!

Q4-W8

It is 7 a.m. on Monday morning, May 16th, and I find myself sitting at my desk preparing to write the last set of lesson plans for the 2010-2011 school year. It is difficult to believe that our time together is coming to an end. This is a very special class, and while I'm proud of our accomplishments together, there is a part of me that is very sad to see you and your family head off to Lanier Middle School. I know you will succeed there and accomplish great things. But, I also know that there will be a huge hole in my heart as I begin summer vacation.

I have so enjoyed learning and growing with you this year. Each and every class I teach is special. My accelerated math class has challenged me and my math thinking this year as much as I've challenged you. My writing class has made me one of the most proud teachers in the school,maybe even the world! And my homeroom is filled with wonderful young ladies and gentlemen who have come together to accomplish so much as a community of learners.

So again, thank you for sharing all that you have shared this year, and I wish you a wonderful summer. Please stay in touch, and know that this class will never be forgotten!

Q4-W7

Thank you everyone for a wonderful week. I have felt so appreciated with the kind words, notes that brought happy tears to my eyes, and the mementos that show our connections. What teacher could ask for a better week? I have had a day to play with my kids through field day and leading their PE special (since the PE teachers were tied up with another field day); I've had lunch with them on the hill; I had a wonderful teacher appreciation week and especially day. Thank you all so very much!

When the year begins to wind down, I know many of us are excited about summer. It is always a time for me to be proud of our accomplishments while digging a little deeper into the curriculum. But, it is also a time to reflect on every single moment I spend with you. This class is dear to my heart and will always be remembered as such. So, while we celebrate our year together, there is a certain empty feeling that creeps into my heart at the thought of handing everyone off to their new teachers. Don't worry, though. While I won't be able to hold back the tears, I've already invested in a tube of waterproof mascara!

Have a great weekend and thanks again for all you share with me!

Q4-W6

It is official! We have survived our 5th grade CRCT! Everyone is relieved and very tired, but ready to head into our last few weeks of school. We are also anxiously awaiting our individual score reports for our writing test. While we know everyone passed or exceeded, we hope to send home paperwork regarding the exact scores of each student sometime around the beginning of the week. I know the students are on the edge of their seats to know how they did, and I can't wait to discuss it with them! My pride in the work our students accomplished while working with Dr. Treadwell and me is overflowing. We are so lucky to share such wonderful groups of students.

Over the next three weeks, we will work to preview the 6th grade AKS and dig a bit deeper into the last portion of our 5th grade social studies unit. This portion of our studies was meant to be an overview, but there was a lot of interesting information the students want to know more about. I tend to keep my promises, so we will be working on group projects to help us explore this material.

The only other information I have comes in the form of reminders. Our field day is this coming Thursday. Please send a water bottle with your child. The PE teachers have asked that we do not bring other types of drinks or towels. I'll make sure to have my camera on hand, though. Our end of year celebration takes place on Monday, May 23rd and will last the entire day. We begin in the cafeteria, have a reception in the classroom, and then move to EE Robinson for a picnic. The students are going to have a lot of fun that day, and I can't wait to spend that time with them.

Have a great month. I know we will have fun at school!

Q4-W5

It has been a fantastic week! Our writing scores are in and everyone has met or exceeded standards on the writing test. Individual scores will come home in the next few days (we are waiting on that documentation). Dr. Treadwell and I are so proud of all of our students and can't wait to celebrate their individual scores with them! I would like to announce 5 perfect scores on the test, though. They are: Erick Turner, Kaelyn Vang, Leah Bell, Morgan Wood, and Oliver Wise.

This is great news right before our next big test! Next week we begin CRCT. Please make sure you are in the classroom by 8:15 each morning and that you have eaten a healthy breakfast. We have worked really hard to learn everything we need to know as 5th graders. We have reviewed our curriculum the last 2 weeks as well as discussed study skills and test preparation. Everyone is going to do really well on the tests, and I can't wait until we earn even more bragging rights.

I have a fantastic class. Thank you for sharing with me!

Q4-W3

Wow! It has been a wild ride this week, but we have survived! Spring break has officially begun and I know our kids are ecstatic. I hope everyone has a wonderful break and that they are ready to learn when we return.

Our plans include CRCT review games, maintaining skills, and introducing 6th grade curriculum once CRCT is over. Enjoy your remaining time with your elementary school connections. Middle school is just around the corner!

Q4-W2

It is shocking to realize I have been with your children for 3/4 of our school year already! I have grown so attached, and I am so proud of their accomplishments. There is a part of me looking forward to sending them to the next phase in their academic careers, but another part of me hates to see them go. We have learned and grown so much together, and I am a better educator for having experienced your children. They will most definitely be missed come May 27th. But, the plan is to proceed into the 4th quarter with enthusiasm, fun plans for learning, and the dedication to achieve all our goals!

Q3-W9

This week was eventful to say the least! Our class did a great job on their GA Writing Assessment. Dr. Treadwell and I are so proud of our students. Scores should be in at the end of April, and we just can't wait. Please congratulate your students for all their hard work in writing class this week, and remind them we still have more to accomplish.

Other great news includes the fact that we have begun our study of World War II. Our students have looked forward to this social studies unit most of the year. They are so pleased that it has finally arrived. We will be mapping Europe and Asia while studying battles, tactics, and the Holocaust.

Have a great weekend. I am looking forward to a baseball game played by 3 of our students tomorrow and the honors chorus performance tomorrow afternoon. If you have an extracurricular activity you would like for me to attend, let's see if it agrees with my calendar. This class is a lot of fun, and I really enjoy seeing you outside of school!

Q3-W8

We have had a really busy week this week, but that's not new! The writing test is upon us, but we are prepared. On Tuesday, we have a writing pep rally planned for all of 5th grade. Afterward, we hope you will cheer yourselves to bed early, wake on Wednesday to a scrumptious breakfast, and head to school on time. It is going to be a phenomenal day to show off all you have learned so far!

The homework load should be relatively light next week. I do ask that you continue to read through your notes and Power Points for social studies and science. We don't want to lose momentum there. We will have spelling and vocabulary tests on Thursday, but we will have no extra word work assigned.

Have a great weekend and stay well!

Q3-W7

It has been a wild week with Valentine's Day, another practice writing test, and the beginning of our WWII studies! A special thanks goes to our room mom, Kim Entrekin, for providing Krispy Kreme for the class on Monday. We really enjoyed our heart-shaped, sprinkled treats! I would also like to thank you all of you for making me feel so special on Monday. I enjoyed celebrating with my students. The flowers, chocolate, gifts, and especially the special notes made my day. This is a very special class. In fact, it is so special that we celebrated with lunch on the hill twice this week and lunch in the classroom once. Woo-hoo!

I'll see you all next week! Enjoy this wonderful weather!

Q3-W6

We are currently preparing for our upcoming writing assessment. It is scheduled for March 2nd. We are having practice tests, so students will know how to plan for their 2 hour writing task. I am seeing a lot of progress in our students and hope this will continue past March 2nd and into their real worlds. I love to write, so it puts a smile on my face to see a student find his/her style and voice. It definitely makes grading all those writing papers much more fun!

Please note that our CRCT has been pushed back a week due to the missed school days during our snowy conditions. We will not have it until the week of April 25th. This gives us additional time to prepare and hopefully exceed standards.

Don't forget that Monday is Valentine's Day, and your child may participate in a class exchange if you would like. Mrs. Entrekin, Katie's mom, will be sending in a special treat, and Dr. Treadwell and I have some fun writing activities planned throughout the day.

Have a great week. I know we will!

Q3-W5

We have had a great conference week with only a few meetings to reschedule. I look forward to meeting with the remaining families next week.

We continue to work to build reading skills with full understanding of problem/conflict, plot, and solution. Our students worked on these skills while enjoying Number the Stars. Next week, we will study with books of our choice. Students are also working hard with Dr. Treadwell and me to prepare for our upcoming writing test. It is scheduled for March 2nd. We definitely have some phenomenal writers and can't wait to see them shine during this assessment!

During math, we derived the formula for the area of a circle, and we did a fantastic job on the math assessment today. The kids really showed that they understand the application of the formula and were very enthused when I allowed them to use calculators on their quiz!

Have a great weekend. I am already looking forward to another great week of learning!

Q3-W4

It has been another amazing week in our 5th grade classroom! We are welcoming our student teacher, Mrs. Williams, with open arms. She taught her first lesson this week during reading on cause and effect and did a great job. We have also completed our study of WWI and are moving into the chapter for the Great Depression and Harlem Renaissance. Our FOCUS cluster has an exciting project coming up for this area. Our matter unit is on track and we are having a lot of fun learning the difference between density, mass, and volume. Just ask the kids about Mr. David and a water slide to get the full effect! Next week we will continue studying matter and move toward our next unit, Changes in Matter.

Last, but not least, we would like to send a big thank you to Mr. Clark, Noah's grandfather, for introducing WWII to us with stories of his experiences during that time. The kids behaved so well and asked some wonderful questions. Why did Kamikazes wear helmets?

Have a wonderful weekend! I look forward to seeing everyone next week for conferences!

Q3-W3

We have finally recovered from our snow days, and we are returning to our normal schedule. During the week, we explored mass, density, and volume in science. Some of our students even repeated the observations at home. I also issued a challenge for my math students. One student surpassed my expectations of 75 problems and completed 5000 problems in one week! We had a fun time celebrating this accomplishment with lunch in the classroom today. The momentum will continue into next week with a social studies presentation, circle explorations, matter observations, and literature studies.

See you Monday!

Q3-W2

Wow! Our entire 2nd week of the 3rd quarter was spent away from school due to snow and ice. It is my 7th year teaching at Sugar Hill Elementary and the first time I've seen an entire week off for snow! As soon as I have a confirmed make-up day calendar, I will post it for you. So far, I know you will be in school for Presidents' Day in February (priority 1 snow-make-up) and the student holiday in March (priority 2 snow-make-up day).

I hope you had fun playing in the snow last week. While I was ready to come back to school and get to work, I did have fun playing in the snow. I missed learning with you each day and our daily routines. On Tuesday, we will begin our learning again, so make sure you are awake and ready to go. I know I will be!

Enjoy your day off Monday. Hopefully you can reflect a bit on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and what his work and words mean to our nation. I'll see you tomorrow!

Ms. Wood

Q3-W1

We came back to school after winter break a bit sleepy, but we faired well. We regained our momentum as the week progressed and have a lot to be proud of. We are discussing our social studies unit which highlights the United States' rise to world power status, began our matter unit in science, and continued to develop our writing. On Friday, several students celebrated the attainment of their December AR goals with lunch in the classroom. They enjoyed a cookie I provided and a lunch time to socialize while they ate.

We are looking forward to another great week and 3rd quarter as we dive into the 2nd half of 5th grade!

See you there!

Ms. Wood

Winter Break

It is Christmas night, and the snow is beginning to blanket the ground. Hopefully, you will all be out bouncing through the fluff first thing tomorrow. Have fun, share photos, and tell me all about it when we return to school in January. I'm enjoying our vacation but thinking of you often!

Q2-W9

I would like to thank everyone for the kind words and beautiful gifts this week. I have truely enjoyed teaching and learning with all my students this year. You are amazing!

Have a wonderful winter break and please stay warm and safe. January will be here before you know it!

Q2-W8

It is difficult to believe we are headed into the last week of the 2nd quarter. It's quite chilly out, but we won't let that stop us! There is still a lot to do. In addition to our normal studies, we have a visit from 4-H Tuesday, a science benchmark test on Wednesday, a party on Thursday, and our human development lesson this week. What a busy time of year!

Please remember to bring in your books for the book exchange Monday or Tuesday so that they are ready to go and checked off the list for the party!

Have a great week!

Q2-W7

We all know this is a busy time of year with holiday and vacation planning. Our school schedules are no different! We have testing, special chorus performances, the end of a quarter, party planning, human development lessons, and our regular AKS to learn.

Next week we have our benchmark tests. We will complete one test for each day of the week. These tests are to assess the progress your child has made thus far in AKS mastery. The scores will be used to guide our teaching and learning as we return from winter break. Thank you for making sure your child attends school promptly next week so that we can assess each student's success this year.

5th grade is a very important year!

Q2-W6

It is really difficult to believe that today is the last day of the 6th week of the 2nd quarter. We have accomplished many amazing things this year, but I know we have many splendid ideas yet to share.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank every student in my homeroom and in my math class for sharing your days with me. It is a pleasure to learn and to grow with you each and every day. You may not realize this as a student, but you help me grow, and you teach me new things each and every day we are together. You also make sure that I sleep well each night by keeping me on my toes throughout our time together!

A special thank you is also being sent out to the parents who entrust their children with me every day. I am grateful that you allow me to share my days with your child and that you trust me with their learning. What we need to accomplish academically, socially, and emotionally is always at the forefront of my mind, my planning, and my heart. Thank you again for sharing your special someone with me!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Q2-W5

Thank you for a wonderful week of conferences! This is my 7th year at Sugar Hill Elementary, but it is the first time ever that every single family has attended their conference without the need of a reschedule. I'm amazed at your dedication and our partnership. Our children will only benefit from our teamwork. Your support is much appreciated.

I enjoyed meeting with you to discuss the individual strengths of our students while setting goals for improving areas that may need a bit of polishing. It is always fun to share with you all the wonderful things your children accomplish in the classroom. With that said, I would also like to thank you for the kind words regarding our classroom, my teaching style, and the benefits this year has provided our children. Feedback is always appreciated, but your kind comments were a bit of extra fuel to get me through twenty-seven conferences in five days. Fourteen were conducted on Wednesday alone!

In closing, I would like to say thanks to those of you who gave book fair gifts to me for our classroom and to a very kind parent who took time out of her busy schedule to deliver a latte to me during an afternoon conference. What special treats!

Q2-W4

It is 6:04 on a November evening, and it is already dark. The time change really does make a difference. Hopefully this will make your morning time rituals a bit easier tomorrow as your student will feel as though he / she slept an extra hour!

I am looking forward to conferences this week and hope to see everyone at their scheduled times. My first is at 7 a.m. tomorrow. While you wait for your conference, please feel free to peruse the projects and activities created by our children which is displayed on our wall in the hallway. I'm so very proud of our class. They are doing phenomenal work!

During the 4th week of the 2nd quarter, we completed our first persuasive writing plan. This coming week we will write drafts and then publish our final pieces. I am very excited to see their arguments and their counter arguments. They appear to be doing some great thinking!

Remember that the brochures and resumes for social studies are due on Friday. If anyone finishes early, please go ahead and turn it in to me. I will do my best to grade it quickly. I look forward to seeing some creative projects!

Q2-W3

Another busy week has flown by, and we are now headed into the 20th century, industrial revolution, and inventions for social studies. There are two projects assigned for next week, so your child will be creating either a brochure for an invention or a resume for an inventor. I have chosen the groups for each project, so that our class is balanced and every student has an opportunity for success. I hope they enjoy their research and creating their finished products.

In science, we wrapped up our life science studies with heredity and genetics. We should all know about the 2 types of DNA reproduction as well as the fact that most of our cells have 46 chromosomes which lend to us our inherited traits. This coming week, we will dive into our earth science unit. We will learn about constructive and destructive forces as well as weathering and erosion. I have posted our notes for you on the parent tab.

In math, we continue to work on algebra as well as our fraction unit. I am also introducing measurement. We compared a ruler to a fraction number line this week and will begin independent practice with that skill this coming week. Our centers will focus on multiplication and division of fractions with modeling and problem solving. Our students continue to improve in their ability to work through their centers and support one another in a group. This is a very important skill for this group of students and it will serve them well in life.

During our writing time, our focus is the persuasive genre. We've made a list of silly and serious persuasions and we will be writing with one of those topics this week. Once we have complete an organizer, a rough draft, and published this piece, we will try a persuasive piece based on a prompt.

Please remember that we do not have school on Tuesday due to election day. The student agenda for the week has already been posted on the parent tab, so you can go ahead and take a look at our assignments for the week if you choose. Students should have them all copied after morning work on Monday.

Have a happy and safe weekend. I look forward to seeing everyone bright and early on Monday and again at conferences.

Q2-W2

In one week, we have completed ITBS, cheered on Mrs. Tontillo and many other walkers when the 3 Day Walk for the Cure walkers passed our school, and completed our study of microbes. It has been a VERY busy week.

On Friday, we all had lunch outside in order to celebrate our learning how important it is to check our work. Aarsh and Timothy definitely win the most points for checking the most work and setting the example for other students. I am very proud of them as well as my entire class!

The week was also made successful thanks to the support we received from the families of Mikayla M., Noah, Oana, Rohin, Minsong, Christina, Parker, and Cameron. Each of these families sent in a snack for us to share after testing this week. The students really looked forward to their treats each day, and it helped make the transition back into our typical schedule more fluid. I would like to send a special shout-out to Katherine Ventimiglia who coordinated that schedule this week. She did an awesome job! Thanks to everyone who responded to her emails during CogAT and ITBS in order to support our classroom.

I am looking forward to conferencing with all of you as we've scheduled almost every family. We will continue to work hard and have immense fun doing it. Who knew learning could be such fun? I have to admit, I did! But I think our students are catching that bug as well!

Speaking of fun, please make sure to look for the pumpkin carving contest for our classroom. I'll be sending the email shortly!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Q2-W1

The year is flying by unbelievably fast! We have just completed the 1st week of our 2nd quarter and most of our life science studies. We need to study heredity and the parts of a microscope to finalize the unit. To really learn that microbes are everywhere, we completed a lab which allowed us to grow microbe colonies. The students chose areas to swab with yarn dipped in gelatin and then we closed those samples into plastic baggies with air and a small amount of water. Within a week, our colonies were visible! Yuck! The students were shocked to see that our microbe colony from the classroom door handle and 4th grade girls restrooms specimens were larger than the one taken from the kindergarten boys' restroom. One student asked if he could please use a Clorox Wipe to clean our door handle immediately! We continue to watch our colonies grow.

During week 2 of the 2nd quarter, we will be completing our ITBS. This is a standardized test that measures achievement for each child. It is a nationally normed test which means that our scores are compared to scores all over the nation. Katherine Ventimiglia, our room mom, has been kind enough to coordinate a snack schedule for us this week. This way, we are sure to have a fun snack to celebrate the end of each test section and relax a few moments before beginning the remainder of the day.

Planning for week 3 begins on Monday!

Q1-Week 9

I hope everyone is having a great weekend with this very odd, October weather. We can celebrate having officially completed the first 9 weeks of the 2010-2011 school year. It has flown by! The conference schedule was emailed on Friday, and I look forward to scheduling a time to meet with you in November regarding our progress this year.

Please make sure to look for your report cards in Friday folders this week as well as a new stack of graded papers. We are starting off our 2nd 9 weeks with some amazing social studies averages. The class did a splendid job on their Civil War and Reconstruction assessment this past week. I look forward to seeing some more fabulous work on the Microbes projects. Don't forget they are due this coming Friday!

Q1-Week 8

The weekend after our 8th week of 5th grade has arrived and is on its way out. I have not posted before now, as I have been busy grading and contemplating new class pets. As you know, Isabella passed away this week, and the students really wanted a new pet. I firmly believe that having a class pet is a wonderful way to build community and responsibility within our classroom. Thus, Mr. Wood, Morgan, and I headed to PetSmart Saturday and selected a pair of rats. One is a blondish color while the other is a grayish color with a white bottom and sides. The darker of the pair is extremely curious, so I immediately thought of George in honor of Curious George. The blondish rat is a bit more serious and contemplates things a bit, so she reminded Morgan and me of Josiah from the book, Bad Rats. Since both are female, we needed to make their names a bit more feminine. Thus, we now have Josie and Jorgie. I hope to introduce them to everyone Monday, but please remember that they need time to settle in. Thus, they may not be as easy going as Isabella at first. Just give them a bit of time. With that said, Jorgie did attempt a face to muzzle hello with Kevven this afternoon by crawling 1/2 way through her open cage door before I scatted her back in!

Oh yes...one more surprise is on its way. We visited Burt's Pumpkin Farm today, and I can never resist purchasing a small pumpkin for our classroom each year. Thus, there will be a fat, orange fruit on the table to welcome you tomorrow!

Have a great weekend!

Ms. Wood

Quarter 1 Week 7

We have officially survived our first standardized test in 5th grade. We completed CogAT on Wednesday morning, and we were able to return to a typical schedule on Thursday. The students truly appreciated the snacks that were sent in for post-testing. A big thank you goes to families of Hannah, Josh B., and Haley for taking such good care of us this week. ITBS is just around the corner in October, and Katherine V. is already scheduling snacks for that week. Thank you in advance for your support.

In addition to this excitement, we had our spirit wear contest today. Our class lost to Dr. Treadwell's by only 2 or 3 shirts, but we sure did have wonderful sportsmanship. At least one of our students congradulated her students and made me a very proud teacher!

Next week, we will have a cells test. There will be a 10 question multiple choice portion and a cell building assessment using PlayDough. The students took notes today regarding topics to study for the multiple choice portion, and the rubric I will use to grade the performance assessment is located under lessons and guides. Students should begin reviewing their notes on Monday evening so that their studying on Wednesday night is not as overwhelming.

Enjoy your weekend and make sure to check the GO2 Portal for grading updates tomorrow morning. The system should update overnight.

Quarter 1 Week 6

Good afternoon!

We have just completed the 6th week of school, and the year seems to be flying by! 5th graders had a very successful lemonade stand at the carnival last night. The total sales / profit will not be available until Monday, but our budget already needs to be changed. ALL of our expenses were covered through donations. We would like to thank all the families in our class who donated supplies and recognize Antigua Tex-Mex restaurant for donating ice, cups, and several drink dispensers for our use. The 5th graders and their families who worked the stand were fabulous! You all gave so much of your time and donations in order to make our project a success. Our study of The Lemonade War supported our 5th grade AKS in so many ways. We studied character traits, reading comprehension, problem & solution, plot, economics (which is a huge part of our social studies AKS), and had fun doing it! The students were able to gain a true understanding of some of those economics terms with this wonderful life experience. Thank you to everyone who supported our endeavor!

On a heavier note, please do not forget our CogAT testing on Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday mornings this coming week. Remember, since this is an aptitude test, there is no way to study for it. However, your child will be more likely to do his / her best if the test is taken with ample sleep, a good, healthy breakfast, and a good attitude. Please remind your child to do his / her best, because that it is really all anyone can ever expect.

Have a great weekend!

Quarter 1 Week 5

It has been an extremely busy week! We have begun our first literature circles, prepared for our lemonade stand, supported Autism Awareness, printed our first 5th grade mid-term reports, and met a new student teacher!

Ms. VanNus will be working with us on Fridays in order to fulfill her obligations for her teacher education program. We welcomed her for her first 1/2 day today, and will see her again next Friday morning!

In the mean time, we hope to continue preparations for our lemonade stand and fall carnival next Friday night. If you would still like to donate time, coolers, pitchers, mixing spoons, or 8 oz. cups, please send an email or a note in your child's folder. We would love to have your support.

I hope to see you next Friday evening at E.E. Robinson Park between 5:30 and 8:30!

Week 4

It has been another great week in 5th grade, and we have accomplished a lot. I think we are all ready for the 3 day weekend, though. We need to revive in order to tackle another busy month. Can you believe we are almost 1/2 way through the first nine weeks? Time flies when you are having fun and staying as busy as we are.

I've posted new photographs, and as you can see, the quality is not quite what it usually is. My hands have been full this week transporting other items back and forth from school, so I've used the school point and shoot rather than my own camera. I promise the quality will return soon!

In order to keep quality work in other areas as well, I would like to share a few housekeeping issues with you:

1. Please make sure that your child asks you daily to sign his/her agenda. This is a requirement that shows your child is prepared for class.

2. Red folders with graded work will come home most Fridays. Students are required to share the work, have you sign and date the inside cover of the folder, and return the folder and papers to school the first day of the following week. We have been lax in enforcement of this policy. Next week, we will begin checking regularly, as several folders didn't make it in this week. This is also a great time to review the Parent Portal. I am human and have been known to make a key error from time to time. If what you see there does not match what you see in your child's folder, please let me know!

3. Learning club will be held in the morning from 7:45 to 8:15 with Dr. Treadwell's class and mine. This way, your child will get recess 5 days per week rather than the 4 we originally scheduled. We are delighted to make this change! If your child is a car rider, it would be wonderful to have him/her here by that time on Wednesdays. This is our time to enrich, extend, or remediate in math without removing your child's social time. We know that is important, too!

4. A parent copy of our weekly agenda assignments is posted on the parent tab each week. This is your way to ensure that your child is copying his/her assignments and tests as directed.

5. The Lemonade Stand project for the carnival is coming along well. Please check your email daily for new information.

Thank you for sharing your children with me!

Make sure to wish Brigid a very happy birthday. She celebrates hers on Monday!

Week 3

We have finished another fantastic week of 5th grade, and we are really becoming acclimated to 5th grade expectations. This week, my reading class turned in their Lemonade Wars character study projects. The creativity I saw was awesome! I am very impressed. I hope to get those graded at the beginning of next week and have them on display. In addition, my reading class will be working on the budget for the lemonade stand at our school carnival, and Mrs. O'Rouke's will be completing the employee handbook. We are going to have a great time. Make sure you are checking on the lemonade mix prices this weekend!

As most of you know, our Parent Portal is up and running. Please make sure to verify your grades against the computer record when your red folder arrives home. I've just finished updating my grade book, so you should see new information on the portal tomorrow morning. Also, please make sure that a parent signs the inside of the red folder, dates the signature, and that the papers are returned on Monday. This helps you maintain a 'no check mark' status in your agenda and helps earn lunch in the classroom for the following week!

As always, it is a joy working with all of you, and please let me know if you have any questions regarding our classroom!

Week 2

Another week has flown by and we have accomplished a lot! Our study of Lemonade Wars has begun during reading class, and we are really enjoying our reading time. Hopefully, everyone has begun their character study projects that are due this coming Friday, August 27th. If you have questions, please let me know. We will also be discussing the 5th grade lemonade stand at the fall carnival on September 17th. It will be organized, built, and managed by our 5th grade teachers and students. Proceeds will support the carnival and our PTA, as they support our school and grade level needs. There will be more information regarding our stand in the near future.

In addition, we completed our first Cricket Quiz in social studies, shared that the platypus is a mammal (congratulations to Noah for bringing this information to us and earning the class a tally mark), and had a great turn out for curriculum night.

This coming week, we will transition from our study of animal classification in science to the study of plants, and we will celebrate Katie's birthday on Wednesday. Please remember to send supplies for our plant study on Monday if you signed up to help with this project.

Have a great weekend!

First Week

We have completed our first week of the 2010-2011 school year. We have learned about R.A.F.T.S., the three branches of government, The Bill of Rights, the classification of living things, and how to complete the Book Analyzer. In addition, we've read Love That Dog, begun our math classes, kicked off our A.R. program, started to build our classroom community, and learned the new systems that have begun around school this year. On Monday we will have our first in-class lunch for those who earned an E in both conduct and effort. I hope the students are really excited about this. We will have a great turn out this week!

I would also like to thank everyone who helped kick our school year off in a magnificent way. We have families who have donated to the treat bucket, cups, a jump rope, and side-walk chalk. In addition, other families began the week by bringing in flowers, chocolates to share with our students, and a beautiful jar of dried flower petals. I really appreciate everyone who shares in our making our classroom a special place!

Please make sure to place Curriculum Night on your calendars for 6:00 p.m. this Thursday, so you can come and share in all we have and will accomplish this year. We will begin our meeting in our classroom with pre-recorded PTA information and then begin our classroom specific information. I really hope to see every family there!

Have a lovely weekend!

First Day

We had a great, very busy first day of school! Everyone was excited to be together again and Jalin celebrated his birthday today. What a way to begin the new school year! Tomorrow we will begin our math class rotations and FOCUS language arts and enrichment classes will begin next week.

I hope everyone had a great day and that we are ready to go for day 2 tomorrow!

Don't forget to have those agendas signed and get permission for enrichment classes (if that applies to you). I can collect those as you arrive tomorrow.

Have a wonderful evening!

Registration

We had a wonderful registration today, and all 28 of our families attended. Now that all the papers are in, supplies are delivered, and faces are matched to names, I look forward to getting to know you better. It will be a great year full of exploring and learning. Photos from today will be posted soon, and I'll see each of you on Monday. Don't forget to wish Jalin happy birthday next week. We start school on his birthday!

2010-2011

The upcoming school year is quickly approaching and summer is winding down. Teachers are anxiously waiting news that we are allowed back into the school. Our school is under construction, and I hear that the media center looks fantastic! There is even more to be excited about, though. The 2010-2011 school year will be our first as the Sugar Hill Elementary Longhorns!

I look forward to meeting my new 5th grade students on Thursday, August 5th from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Please make sure to bring your school supplies if you did not order through PTA at the end of last year. While you are there, we will fill out necessary paperwork, gather addresses for our contact list, and hopefully snap a photograph of each student for our web page. This will be a great way to see your new class members!

Enjoy the remainder of your summer. I hope you are excited about next year!

Ms. Wood

Summer

It seems like only a few days ago that I was discussing with all of you how 5th grade would prepare you for middle school. Now, summer is here, you are headed off to middle school, and I am preparing for my 2010-2011 class. Wow! Time flies!
Thank you for leaving with me the beautiful scrapbook to commemorate our year together. Mrs. Norton and Megan did a great job putting it together, and all of you did such a nice job including photos, letters, and artwork. Don't worry. If you emailed me a note after the book was presented, I've made sure to include it. This was a very special year, and I am sure I will visit with my book often throughout this summer. You are the first class I've taught that I will not run into in the hallways of school next year. I am still trying to wrap my mind around that fact as well as the fact that there are no lessons to plan, activities to create, or papers to grade this week. What a transition!
I know that all of you will be great middle school students. Because of this, I want to maintain your site membership through August, at least. That way, you may visit the first week of school and type a note on our message board regarding your experience the first week of middle school. I'm sure my future students will love to hear what you have to say, as they will be dancing the same steps in the very near future!
Have a wonderful, safe summer and enjoy your time away from school (but don't forget all that we learned together in the process)!
Ms. Wood

Surprise Performance

Students and Parents,

What a phenomenal job you did last night. Everyone arrived in a timely fashion, and Ms. Levent was truly surprised. I am so proud of all of you and your performance. Thank you for such good behavior in the music room so that the other teachers could supervise you along with their classes while I photographed the performance and Ms. Levent. You were superb both onstage and off!

Smiles,
Ms. Wood

Housekeeping

Hi,

The photo area has been updated with our photos from this week. Enjoy!

Please note - students should not wear their red shirts during the day on Monday.

There are no silly bands allowed in class or on the playground. In addition, silly bands should not be traded or gifted at school. They have become a distraction to instruction.

Thanks for your support!

We survived!

Good Afternoon!

It is 4:05 on Friday afternoon and we have all officially survived the last day of 5th grade standardized testing! The students are tired, and I'll admit that I am a bit tired myself. In addition to that, we have received writing test scores at school this week. Thus, your student's individual scores should arrive in the mail soon. I have spoken with our students to let them know that they are o.k.!

Please don't forget that next week will be quite busy with field day and our trip to Lanier Middle for orientation. The day trip is for students and teachers. Parents will have their orientation that evening.

While we have accomplished a lot this year and have some fun activities remaining, please remind your student that we still have learning and growing to do every day. Our life stories will be one of those wonderful activities that will hopefully reinforce what we've done together this year.

Have a great weekend and be extra kind to your children. They've worked REALLY hard this week!

Back to School!

We all returned to school today and dove right into our normal routine. We have started reviewing our math curriculum with our CRCT test practice at the back of our book. It has some great questions to review numbers and operations, geometry, and algebra in ways that help us apply our learning.

In addition, 9 students completed their optional science, social studies, and economics reviews from the week we left for spring break. Those 9 students earned lunch on the hill complete with bubbles and a game of tag. Congratulations to these students:
Megan, Ashley L, Ashley P, Cole, Andre, Jennifer, Marina, Ana, and Nicole. We had a lot of fun!

Tomorrow we will celebrate students who achieved 70 Accelerated Reader points by the end of March. We will have this lunch time celebration on the hill (weather permitting) complete with bubbles and brownies that just emerged from the oven!

Beginning on Wednesday, the entire class will be eating lunch with me for 8 days. This will help make sure we have enough proctors for CRCT while also continuing with specials during that time frame. 1st and 2nd grade will have CRCT this Wed-Fri while 3rd-5th complete testing next Mon-Fri.

Take care and enjoy this beautiful spring weather. And thank you all for your support with our special, after-testing snacks for next week. Only a few more are needed to sign up and we will be all set!
You are appreciated!

Spring Break

Have a wonderful spring break, everyone, and remember to read some great books. Our last day for AR tests will be April 15th if you are planning to earn your Eagle Reader t-shirts. You can do it!
I'll see you all on April 12th!
Ms. Wood

Congratulations to Jennifer

Our very own Jennifer Pham is Sugar Hill Elementary's Gifted Student of the Year. She was recognized tonight at a GAGE celebration in Lawrenceville. Please congratulate her when you see her next!
Ms. Wood

March 26, 2010

Good Evening!

It has been a very busy week full of Cold War, Civil Rights, electricity, graphing, Holes, and story writing. We are gearing up for CRCT and anxiously awaiting our writing test scores. We will attend 4 more days of school next week and then have a day off Friday, April 2nd. The following week, April 5-9, we will have Spring Break holiday. Upon our return, we will have 1 week for a quick review of our curriculum before CRCT begins April 19-23. If you have noticed an area in which your child may need some refresher material, please make sure to visit our Web Links tab. We have several really good web links that will support our curriculum. They are divided by subject area for ease of use. In these links, you will also find our on-line math book: Eharcourt.schools.com . It provides review lessons in the left column, as well as practice activities.

As always, if you have any questions, please let me know. I'm usually available via Email.

Have a great weekend!
CWood

March 5th

Good Morning,

I hope everyone had a wonderful week. It was definitely an eventful one in our classroom. On Wednesday, we completed our state writing assessment, and Friday we had a middle school teacher from Colorado visit to tell us his father's story. His father was born in Poland and was a Holocaust survivor. It was very interesting, and he definitely knew how to engage this age group. Many of the students commented to me on the presentation and how moved they were (in 10 & 11 year old terminology, of course).

To carry over our momentum from this week, we will begin planning our digital stories next week. I've asked each student to bring in 8 to 10 photos either printed or on disc. We will scan and place them in our stories or we will insert them from the disc. This week I created a folder for each student on our student shared drive, so that we may begin the process as time allows. I am also creating an example for the students to help them get started. It will be a process, but the students will have something to be really proud of when they finish.

Have a great weekend!
CWood

02/26/10

We are preparing for our state writing assessment next Wednesday. Please make sure you get to bed an early time on Tuesday night so that you have plenty of rest. When you wake on Wednesday, make sure to have a great breakfast that will carry you through the morning, and please arrive at school on time. I can't wait to see how well you all do. I know the hard work this year will really pay off!

2010-2011 Calendar

The calendar for next school year may be found on the Gwinnett County web site.
Enjoy!

Upcoming Week

Good Evening, Everyone!

I have only a quick update for you today. Please remember the CRCT on-line practice with me before school on Monday morning (7:15-7:40) in the Success Maker lab. If you plan to attend, please let me know via email this weekend. In addition, don't forget to mark your calendars for the upcoming State Writing Assesssment on March 3rd.

We completed CRCT-D (predictor tests) this week on-line. The students really enjoyed having the tests scored on-line upon completion. They received immediate feedback and I am now able to review our scores and identify strengths & weaknesses. Please be assured the teaching and learning will continue through the end of the year. We will use these scores as guides to help us focus in needed areas.

The remaining update concerns PTA BINGO night on February 26th. If you are able to support the event with a cake donation, we would really appreciate it. A huge thank you goes to Alex's family for helping out with a cake. We need 2 more at this point. Remember, PTA works hard to provide us with our field trips, Brain Pop, Mimio boards, etc. They definitely make our school a better place.

Have a great weekend!

Feb. 14th

Good Morning!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend and a wonderful Valentine's Day and/or Chinese New Year. During your celebrations today, please don't forget about our CRCT on-line practice available on Monday mornings from 7:15 until the first bell. I'll be in the Success Maker lab at that time for any student who would like assistance and practice with test taking skills. A special thanks goes to Jennifer, Jason, Hector, and Ana who all arrived for our very first session last Monday.

At the end of last week, we enjoyed a Valentine's Day exchange together. Thank you to all the students who participated and helped all of us have a special day. In addition to cards and gifts, Jennifer provided a heart shaped cake which was wonderful, and Ashley P. provided mini-cupcakes which were equally scrumptious!

The same day, we also had our January A.R. celebration for anyone achieving 65 or more points. I hope to see even more students present for our next A.R. lunch!

Have a great weekend, and remember to email me if you will attend CRCT practice in the morning. I hope to see you there!

Links

Please make sure to investigate the new links added to our web links page. Math and social studies have some great new sites including area practice, shapes, and mapping Europe.

Upcoming Week

Hi Everyone!

Next week will be a very busy week for us. We have early release days for conferences as well as several tests. The one we should concentrate on first is our Chapter 22 Math Test scheduled for Wednesday. This is a challenging unit with multi-step problems. Students were given Chapter 22 Review papers today that are due on Tuesday. I encouraged them to begin the work during morning work today so that they are not overloaded with homework on Monday.

In addition, we will do Cricket Response System tests for social studies (chapter 6) on Thursday and science (chapter 10) on Friday. These are taken directly from the information on their Power Point Presentations. Each student has a hard copy. I've also included electronic files for student self assessment on the study guides area and parent copies in the Parents tab of the web site.

If you have any questions, please let me know. I look forward to meeting with you next week!

Chris

Upcoming Science

Our Atom building lesson went well last Friday. This week we will be moving on to molecule building. Thanks to Kent's family for volunteering the marshmallows for this adventure. In addition, we will be using our Mimio board for an interactive PPT presentation on our Chapter 10 science unit, completing our Chapter 7 social studies PPT in the lab this week, and incorporating Brain Pop lessons into both these subject areas. We are enjoying our hands-on lessons and our technology.

Remember that conferences are scheduled for next week. Hopefully we will have some of these lessons on display for you there!

January Updates

It has been a busy month and we are learning a lot of new AKS! Along with our AKS, we are learning new technology. We have a great new piece of equipment called a Mimio Board. It is a small, portable, interactive white board. Since I am the Technology Team representative for 5th grade, our class received the privilege of being the first to try it out. I want to begin by saying thanks to our wonderful PTA for funding 1 board per grade level. They are wonderful and can support every subject area!

So far, we have used it to record a lesson on how to find the area of a circle and used digital graph paper to show how to derive the area of a circle. I hope to have the video uploaded in the very near future. Next week, we will use it to complete a Power Point lesson in science. In this lesson, the Power Point will be displayed, written on by students, and have video embedded within the presentation. I am very excited to share this with our class.

Please make sure to ask your student about the use of this new equipment. I will be assisting the 5th grade team next Tuesday morning with a technology training initiative. I am sure the board will be in high demand afterward. Make sure to support our PTA so that more boards will be available in the future!

Upcoming Science

Dear Parents,

I am currently planning for our science unit on mass, density, molecules, atoms, elements, and compounds. In order to make this experience more hands on, we will be building atoms next week (Jan. 19th - 22nd) and molecules the following week (Jan. 26th - 30th). You will find a list of supplies for our classroom in our wish list in the left column of this web page. If you are able to contribute any of these items, it would be most appreciated.

Also, you should receive notice in the next couple of days regarding our writing presentation next Thursday, January 21st at 6:30 p.m. It will explain to you the requirements for the state writing assessment scheduled for our students in March. I really hope to see you there; as great information will be shared by the 5th grade team for the benefit of both you and your student.

In addition, thank you for your support in returning GROW writing forms this week and for communicating with me regarding your child's recorder (either through the agenda or the use of the form) for music class. This quick turn around has assisted our class in preparing for upcoming events and has reduced lost paperwork (which had become an issue for many of our students). This quick turn-around and the additional communication in the blue folder and agenda books also safeguarded parent receipt of those forms in a timely fashion. No opportunities for participation in these programs were lost this week, and one was gained!

Progress reports go home on Friday and you should be very proud of your student. We have an increased number of students on the A-B Honor Roll, the A Honor Roll, and for excellent conduct rewards. I am so proud of the work we have done as a class. We will continue to learn and grow this semester as we prepare for middle school. It seems that it is just around the corner!

Thank you for supporting your student and our classroom.
Chris Wood

Chorus Photos

Please spread the word that Chorus Photos have been added to our 5th grade web site. Go to:
http://sugarhillelementarys5thgrade.shutterfly.com/

Enjoy!

CWood

December Updates

I have just added our photographs from our wonderful chorus performance. I have many more, but since there are students from other classes who appear, I must double check media release forms before posting. In addition, you will find photos from our Earth Science investigation this week. It was fun making mud in our classroom!

In addition to these updates, I explained to students that we have one small box of our Scholastic order that has not yet arrived. I had asked for all book exchange books to arrive by Monday wrapped and ready for the party on Thursday. With that said, I understand these 3 students will probably have their books here on Monday. Please either send in a gift bag or paper to wrap or I'll send the book home on Monday night to be wrapped and returned.

Speaking of party, ours is planned and ready to go. If you signed up to send in an item, please make sure to have it here on Wednesday if possible. If you are one of our pizza people, please just bring it with you to the actual party!

I know there is a lot going on this week and next ,so if you have questions or concerns, please let me know. The calendar has been updated and should be very helpful.

Thanks!

CWood

Grade Reports

Dear Parents & Students,

Today is the end of week 7 and grade update reports are due home. Since we had several assessments at the end of this week that needed to be recorded, I have elected to send those reports home at the beginning of the week. This way, your student report will reflect the most current information we have completed and recorded.

Thank you,

CWood

Thank you and happy Thanksgiving!

Good Afternoon, Parents and Students!

And yes, it was a good afternoon! I would like to start this week's journal with a thank you for Amy Norton. She joined me this afternoon and waded through 25 10 and 11 year olds who were elbow deep in Oreo cookies, candies, and icing while building their Thanksgiving turkey's. They had a lot of fun with this project (we did it during our recess time) and there will be photos coming soon. It was fun to prove that they are still kids and enjoy these simple pleasures! With that said, another special thank you goes to the families of: Blake, Kent, Sydney, Marina, Noah, Ashley P., and Megan. They all sent in the supplies for the project this afternoon and are much appreciated. Photos will be posted later tonight or tomorrow. We have many, and I hope you enjoy witnessing our fun.

In addition, please check your child's blue folder to see their math grade from the Chapter 15 and 16 test. We had 21 students take the test today. There were 14 A's, 2 B's, and 2 C's. Keep up the good work. Next week, we will learn multiplication and division of fractions. The test will be scheduled the following week, Dec 9 or 10.

Currently, 50% of our students have responded in support of a book exchange at our winter party. 50% of our students have not yet responded. If you wish to participate, I need your response form the day we return from break, Nov. 30th. I will have Scholastic forms ready so that you may order from them if you want (They are running a special for a free book for any student who orders online. Ordering online helps process more quickly as well). We will search our flyers and exchange names Monday afternoon. Scholastic book orders will be due on Wednesday in order to insure prompt arrival for the winter party.

Thank you so much for all your support. It has been a great year thus far!

CWood

The Season for Giving Thanks

It is the season for giving thanks and today I am giving thanks for my students who did a spectacular job recording our first student driven news podcast. They are very excited about making reports and keeping our classroom and parents posted regarding what is happening in our classroom and our school.

I would also like to thank our wonderful parents for supporting our special snack activity next Tuesday afternoon. I think the kids will have fun during their recess time using Oreo cookies, Reese's Cups, and Whoppers to build their very own turkeys. And a very special thanks goes to our room mom, Amy Norton, who will be diving into cookie and candy chaos with us!

I hope each family enjoys their holiday next week. Remember that it begins on Wednesday. When we return, we will have 3 weeks until the end of the 2nd 9 weeks and the completion of the first 1/2 of our school year. Time flies when you are having fun!

Our Classroom News Reporters

We are currently working to produce our first student driven news report via podcast this week. We have a group of students waiting for their turns, but this week we have scheduled the following:
Megan - a report on upcoming projects and important dates
Cole - a report on our current picture book project and its purpose
Dominic - a report on our Wednesday afternoon Learning Club and its purpose
Alyssa - a report on our classroom hygiene standards and staying flu free this winter
Nicole - a report on Ms. McGovern's shoe collection
Alex - a report on Ms. Bond's holiday stocking program
I believe I may be forgetting at least one report, as my Post-It-Note is on my desk at work. With that said, our first student driven podcast is supporting informational writing as well as technology in the classroom. The students are excited and I love watching their faces light up when learning is involved. I can't wait for Friday and to get this posted for all our classmates to hear!

Wow!

What a great week! A special thanks goes to all parents who have been able to attend conferences or plan to next week. We have had 96% participation. In addition, Dominic's family arrived with more Clorox wipes for our classroom, so we will be able to ward off some of the cold and flu viruses for about 2 more weeks. Thank you! We want to stay well.

I would also like to point out our new podcasts in the upper, right corner of our web site. We will begin a weekly news show and your student is invited to apply for one of our several reporter positions. He / she will be responsible for collecting and writing one news story each week. It may be a classroom event or an upcoming event. The student will then read the news report aloud for our weekly report. It will hopefully be posted to our site on Friday evenings for your listening pleasure.

Thank you for your support. We have such a wonderful class!

Ms. Wood

Thank you for cups!

It may seem small, but the cup donation was actually huge! I supply treats for the kids on Mondays for good behavior and effort during our in class lunches. I also will be providing lunch parties each month for those students reaching their AR goals for the month. They love the drinks and the cups that were donated this week by Dominic's family and by Calvin's family are much appreciated.

Thank you again for supporting our classroom. It is amazing what a 5th grade student will do for lunch in the classroom and a cup of diet root beer!

Ms. Wood

AR Points

Congratulations to our students who earned the most AR points of any other class in 5th grade for the month of October. They earned the Soaring High Award for the grade level. Wow!

Our reading is really going well now. Our goal for the month of November is for every class member to earn a grand total (for the year) of 35 points. And remember, my AR reading doesn't count! So, read, students, read!

What is even better than the Soaring High Award? The best reward is seeing students enjoying their books and asking for me to help them select new ones from our shelves.

Don't forget the Scholastic Book Fair is at school next week. Stop by and support your child's love for books. What a valuable gift!

Ms. Wood

Thank you!

A great big thank you goes to Marina, Ethan, and Kent who worked on a beautiful pumpkin card to wish me a Happy Halloween. It is hanging on my special clip beside my desk.
Another great big thanks goes out to Mrs. Norton, our room mom, who provided a special snack for us today. What a great way to spend a rainy day recess!
I have a wonderful class!

Happy End of October!

Hi Everyone,

There is a lot going on today and in the upcoming weeks. I just want to make sure we are all aware, so I am going to provide a list below:

Conferences begin for some of you next week. Your child should have your date recorded in the agenda book. If you are still unsure, please contact me for verification.
Early release at 12:15 on November 11th and 12th.
We are covering fractions in math right now. This is a wonderful skill to reinforce in the kitchen and it will give you an extra hand with that holiday cooking!
I had the study guide for the upcoming test on microbes copied, so I went ahead and sent it home with your student this weekend. It is not homework for the weekend! But, if your child wants a head start, he/she has it.
Please check your child's homework nightly - before it is turned in the next day. We try to review in class as well, but that extra attention from an adult at home can make a huge difference in performance.
We will calculate AR points at the end of the day to determine who will be attending the lunch party next week (day to be determined) for meeting their monthly goals. Most students need 25 points by the end of the month in order to participate.
We continue to celebrate excellent weekly performance by allowing students with an E in conduct AND effort to have lunch in the classroom on Mondays. We sometimes have soda as part of that celebration (I provide the drink.) and are currently running low on cups. I have added cups as part of our wish list.
Today, we are sending home the math test and the social studies test we took yesterday. I asked your student to place it in that tab in their notebooks. Please review with your child, correct missed answers, and sign it showing you have done so. It should remain in the tab so that your child can use it to study for future tests.
Happy Halloween Birthday to Hector!
Happy All Saints Day Birthday to Ethan and his twin brother, Declan (Mrs. Todd's class)!

Thank you for supporting our classroom the way you do. It means so much to me, but most importantly, to our students!

Ms. Wood

Weekly Updates

Hi Everyone,

Testing week is almost over. I would like to extend a very special thank you to Jed, Sydney, Megan, Noah, and their families for supporting us with tasty treats. They revived our brains each morning after testing and gave us something to look forward to at the end of each section.

The most excitement we had all week was heading to the playground after testing yesterday and today. When we arrived, we were the ONLY class there! The kids ran about enjoying the fresh air and the wide open spaces. A small group of students played basketball with kick balls (our class doesn't have a real basket ball) while the largest part of our class played tag. It was such a joy to watch them all running, playing, and smiling their huge smiles. What was most enjoyable about this was watching our class come together as a team, decide the rules, and play together with absolutely no problems at all. I only stood and supervised. What a joy!

I hated blowing the whistle these mornings, but math awaited us. So, once I saw children beginning to slow and show signs of tiring, we went inside and learned using our math manipulatives and notebooks. Hands on learning is so much fun, and I am so glad that we are back to lessons that our manipulative boxes support.

Thank you for sharing with me. I really love watching everyone learn and grow while I do the same!
CWood

P.S. Cross your fingers that the rain doesn't arrive tomorrow until after our last private visit to the playground! One more day of wide open space and tag!

Plans and Agenda

Good Evening!

I know our lessons and agenda plans are not yet posted for this week. When I logged on to do it this morning at school, the county had blocked Shutterfly. I quickly placed a call to Mr. Bowler, our computer genius, and he requested that the filter be turned off. Many of us have built classroom web sites using this service and we didn't want to lose them.

Needless to say, by the time this was remedied, tests had been taken, breaks were over, and the day was in full swing. I will do my best to have these posted tomorrow morning. For now, remember that our only homework is reading to reach your October AR goal which is recorded in your agenda. Otherwise, all work should be completed in class or during study hall. If for some reason it is unfinished, you will need to use homework time to complete.

Thanks and enjoy our wonderful fall weather!
CWood

P.S. A big thank you to Dominic and his family for sharing ice cream with us on his birthday today. And a big thank you to Sydney's family for sending Rice Krispie Treats for snack tomorrow. Jed and family, the cookies today were awesome. Thank you, thank you, thank you for being such supportive families!

Classroom Update

Good Morning!

I hope you are all enjoying this wonderful fall weather. I know my family is! The fireplace is humming and jumping as I type this and the cats are cuddled on the chair beside me. Before I begin work on our papers, I thought a quick update regarding our classroom would be appropriate.

ITBS testing is scheduled Monday-Friday mornings of this week. Please make sure you are well rested, eat a healthy breakfast, and arrive at school on time (a bit early would be great!). Make sure that you have a book to read in case you complete your test before the allotted time ends. I know that you were excited about the possibility of class wide snacks this week rather than individual ones. I sent a request to the class via parent emails on Saturday evening. Jed's family will supply one day, so we only have 4 more to go. I can plan for Friday, so now we have only 3! Please let me know if you are able to claim a day.

We plan to have recess in the afternoons this week and all the weeks to follow. Please make sure to bring a coat every day and possibly even a sweater. We never know how many layers we will need by the afternoon, so let's be prepared. We don't want anyone to end up attending study hall because they forgot appropriate outdoor clothing.

In addition, conferences are approaching rapidly - they will be scheduled for the month of November! I will contact most of you via email for preferences. This way, if you can attend on early release days, we will have that time. If work schedules don't allow that, I will try to schedule you before or after school. In addition, we do have county interpreters available as well as our very own Mrs. Restrepo. If you need for me to schedule this assistance, I will be happy to do so. I will also have everything typed so that you have the written reference of our meeting.

The only other update involves classroom supplies. I would like to thank Alex's family for donating a container of disinfecting wipes. This is an easy way for students to help clean their desks and table tops each afternoon so that the cold and flu season is kept at bay in our classroom. Between the container I brought in and this container, we should have enough to last us for a couple of weeks. If you find a great deal on these anywhere, please let me know. Making sure our room is clean at the end of each day is one of our weekly job assignments, but I like to make it as easy as possible for the students.

Thank you so much for your support. We learn so much more when we form an alliance between teacher, students, and parents. The 5th grade year will be an amazing year when we are all working through it together!

CWood

Book Orders

I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of our new book order! I have a couple of really good ones heading our way. Don't forget to check out your agenda notes for next week. You will see a new listing: we will have a lunch party in the classroom for all students meeting their end of October AR goals. Some of you already have! Use this 4 day weekend to get some reading done. I know I will. Beach, tent, book, and family...great stuff!

Supplies

Dear Families,

I have found another new resource for our classroom. It is called: http://www.theschoolstop.com/

On this site, I am able to display a classroom supply list. Currently, I have listed items for which our supplies are quickly being used. In the near future, I will need to replace these items. Some of "luxury items" which help our students remained organize and many are just running on short supply because we've used so many already this year. Some I have supplied and now will need to replace. If you would like to support our classroom by purchasing some of these items and you order them from this site, we are also earning free points toward Scholastic book orders. I was so excited when I saw this tonight. We can order supplies and get book points at the same time! Hooray!

When you place this site in your browser and it loads, you will need to enter the zip code (30518) for the school, click Sugar Hill Elementary, and then "Ms. Wood." The list will then displayed.

Please do not feel obligated to participate, but some of you check from time to time to see what we may need. I thought this would make it much easier for us all.

Thank you for your support of our classroom through your donations, your time at home, and for supporting our grade level and classroom expectations.
We are having a great year!

Ms. Wood

Fall Carnival

I would like to extend a special thank-you to all the families supporting the fall carnival this year. Hopefully we have raised enough money for PTA so another fundraiser won't be necessary. And, if you did, you've made an excellent investment in your school. Those funds were spent on your children having fun and will be cycled back into our school through the support PTA provides our classrooms (in house field trips, purchases of printed materials, classroom supplies, etc.).
I definitely had a lot of fun seeing my studentsthere!
Ms. Wood

Thank you!

A special thanks to:

Kent's family for providing cup cakes on Wedesday to share with our class in celebration of his birthday!

and

Blake and Megan who supplied post-testing snacks on Thursday and Friday for our class.

All 3 were yummy and made the days brighter!

Ms. Wood

Grade Reports

Hi Parents,

I tried, but to no avail. Grade reports were not completed in time to send home today. They will be placed in the blue folder tomorrow, Friday and should be returned on Monday with your signature. In addition, some students will have an academic contract attached to their grade report. If so, both parent and student should sign the report and return to school with the grade report.

In addition, the health grades for this week have been pushed back due to school cancellation. You will see health tasks next week.

As always, if you have questions, please don't hesitate to phone or email.

Thank you and I am looking forward to 2 more great weeks in our 1st 9 week period.

Ms. Wood

Study Guides

Dear Students and Parents,

Please do not forget our section that supplies study guides and notes for at home study. These resources should be used throughout a unit to practice terms and concept application. If they are reviewed every few days, in addition to what we do in class, you should be ready for upcoming tests without the need for intensive study the night before a test. We continue to work on time management and planning at school and hope that you will do the same at home.

In addition, I have added a Life Science Unit Study Guide to our study guide section. Go to the Calendars and Info tab to find this information. It is in outline form and your student will need complete it with his/her ideas. This is an excellent way to review daily what we have done in class. Take it out every few days. How much more are you able to complete? Watch your knowledge grow!

Happy learning!

Ms. Wood

Cyber Safety

Good Morning, Parents and Students!

Over the past couple of weeks, our students have really begun using our media and technology in great ways that support our classroom, learning, and community building. I continue to look for new ways to have our children (who are normally more tech savvy than we are) engage in technology in meaningful and safe ways. Of course, we have safety features at school, but at home, it is up to the parent to police what our students are doing on the net. I want to commend parents who are watching, teaching, and, to be totally honest, learning from their students! And an extra special thanks goes to those of you who are joining web sites and accounts WITH your children.

I found a wonderful site this morning regarding online safety and wanted to share. It is published by the Australian government and looks pretty good. I went in to take a look at the "Kids" button. I also may have found a chat area specific for kids but need to look into a bit more before making a decision there. Please, when your children are working on the internet or building their own web sites, make sure they have their safety/privacy feature turned on! Many get so excited about their endeavors that they don't see the importance in this and they also don't realize the risk.

For example, during a classroom discussion in which our class site became a topic, several students asked me about Facebook. I think this is a wonderful area on the web, as I am able to follow several professional associations and colleagues in this way. With that said, I explained to students that this site is for age 13 and up and that I will not join them there. The discussion was closed as no student in our class is old enough to participate in this arena. With that said, I know (per this discussion) some of our students are using it. I can only hope that they have safety settings turned on and that parents are policing their activity.

To help with Internet safety, here is the web site I mentioned above. Hopefully it will support Mrs. Brannen's lesson regarding on-line safety that was presented during our floating specials time this week.

http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/Schools.aspx

I will also provide this link on our web links page. Happy learning and stay safe out there! Our world-wide connection is very helpful in learning and staying connected when we use it correctly and safely.
Ms. Wood

President Obama's Student Address

Parents and Students,

I understand you have seen the information sent home Friday regarding our viewing of President Obama's speech. Some parents have questions regarding the speech, so I am providing a link to the U.S. Department of Education. This way, you may learn about the intention and purpose of this speech directly. I will notify you at a later time of activities we will do following the speech. The last time a U.S. president addressed students (according to this link) was in 1991 by President Bush.

http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/academic/bts.html

Ms. Wood

Social Studies Quiz Tips

Tomorrow we have a 14 question quiz on the Civil War. This quiz is preparing us for our larger unit test that will happen next Wednesday. For review, your child should take a look at Chapter 1 Power Point, Chapter 2 Power Point (concentrate on slides 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14), and review the classwork that we graded together today.

We will also do a quick review prior to the quiz. This is a multiple choice quiz that will be recorded in the grade book. It should be recorded in agenda books for this week.

Have a great evening!

Ms. Wood

P.S. The completed PPTs have been posted for students on the information and study guides area of our site and for parents under the parent tab.

Life Science on Ms. Wood's Front Porch

Hello Students,
I shared with you the really cool critter we found on the porch after the rain last week. I also told you there were photographs. If you would like to see photos of our new friend, please check out the album I've added in the photographs tab. (Hey! That was an AAAWWUBBIS!) It is called "Life Science on Ms. Wood's Porch."
Enjoy!
Ms. Wood
P.S. Don't worry. I wasn't sure if it was venomous and it seemed that it really could have been. The zoom lens kept me at a safe distance!

Thank you!

I would like to send out a very special thank you to all the students who, with the help of their wonderful parents, made my birthday such a wonderful day. There were flowers, gifts, cards, and my favorite of all... smiles and HUGE hugs! I feel very special and enjoyed eating a cookie cake - yummy! - provided by Amy Norton shortly after lunch. The students who participate in chorus led the singing of the happy birthday song and then we started our read-a-loud just a tad bit late. Again, thank you so much for thinking of me in such nice ways.

CWood

Curriculum Night

Thank you for attending curriculum night. I know there was a lot of information to absorb and if you have additional questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I wish we had hours to sit and discuss what we do in our classroom each day. This is a wonderful place and I truly enjoy planning for our activities and most definitely relish in the execution.

There were a couple of items I wish that I had clarified for you. First of all, A.R. tests can be taken on books you read to your child at home (a wonderful way to build vocabulary by the way), audio books, books we read together in class, as well as books your child reads independently. Ask your child if he/she tested on Love That Dog. We finished it together last week. It is a one point book, but that is one point more toward their goal! Take those 70 points your child needs to earn for the Eagle Reader t-shirt and divide by the number of weeks in school between now and April. How many points should be earned per week to reach that goal? It really can be done!

Also, I am doing my best to set up our online calendar. This is normally done by now, but with the new grade level and new information, it has a taken a bit longer this year. Look there for homework assignments, projects, student birthdays, special events, testing dates, etc. These same items will be posted on the 5th grade web site as well.

And please remember your Scholastic orders. They are due this weekend. I have found that if I extend the due date more than a week, parents forget and our order totals decrease. In order to have free shipping (books = heavy, free = good) we must have a minimum 20 dollar order.

One more note that may seem a bit silly... I have placed a seat cushion in my chair. I also take it with me when I move to the hard floor in the hallway to work with a student. If you and your child would like to bring in a seat cushion (the size for a dining chair) to make our classroom more comfortable for him/her, I don't mind at all. They are welcome to bring it to the floor for group, use it in their chairs, etc. The only time I will need them to remove it is during standardized testing. We can stack them at the cubby area during those times. Otherwise, this is our 2nd home and it may as well be a comfortable one.

Thank you so much for trusting me with your children each day.
CWood

The First Week of School

We have successfully completed our first week of school together. It was great fun getting to know one another and learning about our plans and goals for the year. I am looking forward to our next week together as well as having lunch with my "no check in the blue folder" students for the for week ending 08/14. Congratulations...you know who you are!
Thank you for a fantastic week!

First Day of School

It is now 5:50 and I'm on my way home. We had a spectacular day together, and I couldn't leave without posting our first day of school photos. Enjoy! I can't wait to see everyone again tomorrow.

Registration Success

I would like to thank every one of you and your family members for attending registration yesterday. This is my 6th registration at Sugar Hill, but the first time I've had EVERY family attend. I am so very proud of this class.

As you can see, all of our photos from yesterday are posted and I hope you enjoy seeing your new classmates on our web site over the weekend. If for some reason I did not photograph you yesterday (I know I missed a few), please remind me on Monday. I know it will be another busy day for us, but it is important for everyone to feel and be included in our classroom community. I feel our web site is one way to begin building our sense of community and classroom partnership.

Have a great weekend and don't forget your crossword puzzle and desk shape for Monday. There will be a prize for those who bring one or the other and a VERY special prize for those who bring both!

Thank you so very much for such a wonderful day yesterday. It was a joy to meet all of you.

Ms. Wood

Registration

It is already time to begin the 2009-2010 school year and I can't wait to see everyone at registration tomorrow! I know there will be a lot of big smiles and bear hugs. Enjoy your afternoon and rest up for Monday!
Ms. Wood

School Supply Update

Dear Parents and Students,

Dear Parents and Students,

This summer we discussed our school supply request and have decided that we will no longer need the black crates that were previously listed. Please do NOT purchase crates. Instead, enjoy your extra school supply dollars and know that we look forward to seeing you in August!

Sincerely,
Ms. Wood & the 5th Grade Team

The New School Year

Dear Parents and Students,

The new school year is upon us. Though teachers and parents are concerned about the recent decision to furlough public school employees for 3 days, I want to assure you that our classroom and beginning of the year activities will be ready by August 10th. While we have concerns for our current situation, please help me to insure that we begin with a heavy dose of excitement about returning to school. I've spent time in our classroom this summer organizing, arranging, and decorating. In addition, I have spent time planning for our 1st week back at school and continue to do so. As our classroom bulletin board states, "Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference." With your help, this is going to be a great school year!

I am looking forward to this year and hope that you are as well. I hope to meet each of you on August 6th at Sugar Hill Elementary Registration from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

See you there!
Ms. Wood

Thinking

Hopefully your summer is off to a bright start and mine will be soon. I sit and look at a room that no longer looks like "our class." Most of my things are on the other end of the hallway and I only need to clear my desk. I've thought of you often this morning as I've worked to prepare for the move to 5th grade. Thank you for filling the end of our year(s) together with gifts, kind words, and lots of hugs. The notes of thanks are very appreciated. I truly enjoyed learning and growing with you!

CWood

2nd to Last Day of School

I have posted photos of our very eventful day. We celebrated those students who met their math goals when Mrs. Cuenca and I threw a party in her room. They played games, ate salty, ate sweet, AND got to take off their shoes. We also used shaving cream to clean our desks while having a little bit of fun and ate lunch together in the classroom. It is almost impossible to believe the year is coming to an end, but our kiddos are so excited about 2nd grade!

See you one more time tomorrow!

Ms. Wood

World Market Day

What a wonderful day we had today! Not only did we have our "Old School Recess" and Vicki George Memorial Walk, but it was World Market Day as well. This is by far one of the best projects we have done together! The students worked diligently to prepare their marketing presentations and wanted to know first thing today what time we would be shopping in our market. I was able to hold them off until Social Studies time, fortunately. We had bowling games, club memberships, model airplanes (I bought one!), model tanks, muffins, cupcakes, cookies, door hangers, bookmarks, potted plants (they sold out before I could make it over!), jewelry, folded paper stars, picture frames... I'm sure I forgot something!

The students were able to be consumers, producers, and experience scarcity. In addition, once they earned money, they were able to go back out and make additional purchases. What a great learning experience they had.

We also had a couple of budding business people in the classroom. We put items on sale to move left-over stock and one student even hired Mrs. Cuenca to be his assistant. He paid her 2 units of World Market currency to watch his table, continue to market his wares, and collect money while he shopped. When he returned, he was all sold out and it was Mrs. Cuenca's turn to shop. Even the teachers had a blast today!

Thank you so much for supporting our economics project through your at-home creativity. This was so much more valuable to our students than a worksheet. Parent/teacher partnerships are so important to a good learning experience. Please do the same for your child's 2nd grade teacher!

Off I go to finish projects for tomorrow. Have a wonderful evening!

Chris

What a Week!

We have had an exciting week. First we watched praying mantis babies. Then we were able to view a snake. On Friday we presented our marketing projects - WOW! We are really excited about our upcoming World Market Day on Tuesday and have our marketing pieces displayed in the hallway for everyone to see! Please make sure to check out the photos of the marketing projects as well as some new close-up shots of us showing how much we have grown.

Don't forget our party next week on Wednesday. Parents are invited. We will be opening our Time Capsule which was built and sealed the first week of school. Excitement!

Sometime after the party but before the last day of school, I will be sending home completed work folders that we have kept throughout the year as well as some things you can practice over the summer. Make sure to stay sharp and ready for second grade.

In addition, my web page will be changed and updated for my move to 5th grade next school year. I will, however, keep 1st grade photos on the site until next year and I will also keep 1st grade links up through the summer. You may want to sort through them and see which ones are useful for you in 2nd grade. This is a great time to start clicking into these sites and adding them to your favorites list.

It has been a great year - 2 for most of you. I love watching you grow and hope you continue to keep in touch as you grow!

Ms. Wood

Praying Mantis Update

Hello Everyone,

It has been a busy day and thus I am updating this right as most of you are headed to bed. I apologize for the late post!

Today, before this wonderful rain shower arrived, I was able to release and photograph most of our mantis babies. They are now alive and well in my back garden area - except for 4! I kept those with the hope we can feed them and watch them grow. Thus, we are all on a mission to collect as many aphids as possible. Last year we were able to grow 1 of the 4 until it was approximately an inch and a half long. Then, it escaped. Hopefully we can do the same this year - or better! With that said, they have enormous appetites so start checking the underside of rose bush leaves and lily leaves for small green creatures.

I hope to see you all bright and early in the a.m.! Sweet dreams!

Ms. Wood

Praying Mantis Egg Case

Hello All,

About 5:30 yesterday afternoon, Morgan noticed movement in the habitat holding the praying mantis egg case. It was hatching. There are not as many from this case as there were last year and they are much lighter in color. We will attempt to release most of them at home this weekend and save a few to feed. I am not sure how these hatchlings will do, but know that we are attempting to feed 2 or 3 so that we can get them back to you on Monday. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Ms. Wood

CRCT WEEK

Wow! What a week! We did a great job on our first CRCT and can't wait to have our scores returned! We would like to thank parents for all the special snacks that got us through our week. We celebrated each day with lunch in the classroom, the snacks you sent in, and special afternoon projects to kick off our Economics Unit.

In addition, many of our students were able to eat in the classroom ALL 5 days of this school week. On Monday, they were given the opportunity to eat here if they earned an E in conduct last week. On Friday, students were granted classroom lunch - PICNIC STYLE OUTSIDE - if they received good marks on desk organization check number 1 on Monday or the make up desk check on Thursday (students had an opportunity to correct their organization). Next Monday, April 27th, we will all eat in our classroom so that kindergarten para pros may join their classes for field day. On Tuesday we will have our reward day for E conduct this week. So, some of our students will actually be cafeteria free for 7 straight school days. Wow! What a treat!

Please make sure to check our calendar and homework assignments as there are several VERY important dates coming up. One of those dates is our April 30th due date for HTHT program money. If you have not already, please send in 8.50 for your child's participation in this hands-on science program based on sound. The First Grade Team has received very little financial response to the programming and we are at risk of cancellation. Our particular class currently has a 50% response rate which is one of the best on the grade level. Thank you and keep those responses coming.

As always, if you have any questions about our photos, homework assignments, upcoming calendar events, or our school life in general, please feel free to send an email. I will respond as quickly as possible. Thank you so much for being involved in our classroom and for supporting us the way you do. I promise you, your child's learning is more rich because of it!

Many Thanks,

Chris

First Day of CRCT

We did a great job today using our test taking skills. Our pencils were down between questions, we read and read again to confirm our answers, and we were all here on time. Hugs and high fives were how we began our day and we had lunch in the room after the test. After lunch, we celebrated with our special snacks. Thanks to all the families who are sending those in. It was a great day. Give your kids pats on the back tonight, send them to bed early, and feed them a good breakfast in preparation for testing tomorrow. They will be great!

CWood

Next week is almost here!

As many of you know, this is my first year teaching a grade level that administers the CRCT. Next week is our big week and I think the students are looking forward to it! We have talked about ways to better record the answers we all know onto our papers and good test taking strategies. After working with your students for as long as I have, I know they have been taught all the academic information to be prepared for this test. At this point, we only need to be concerned about strategies. One huge strategy is confidence. Poor confidence can only harm us - even the brightest students. And by the way, these are the ONLY ones I have in my classroom! It is up to me as their teacher and you as their parents to prepare them emotionally for this test. Will it be long? Yes. Will we have to act like a 'normal' classroom with lighting, eating, drinking, talking, etc.? Yes. Will they hear other students talk about being nervous? Yes. Are our students prepared? Yes. We just need to remind them of this as often as possible. When you are this age and have so many bubbles to fill and must sit still for so long, it can be a daunting task. With that said, it isn't so daunting if we build them up and remain positive. We had fun during the CogAT, let's do the same for CRCT. As a class, we are ready to do this. We are excited to prove to the world all that we have learned together over the past year; for some of us, over the past 2 years! There is not a student in this class who has not grown since I first met them. I can't wait for them to show off for our school, for me, and most of all for their parents next week.

Thank you for helping us celebrate this time together. Let's make it an even more positive experience by having lunch in the classroom each day of testing, sending in the special snacks that we have scheduled, eating an extra special & healthy breakfast with loads of protein for extra staying power each day, wearing comfortable clothing, going to bed & rising on time, and most of all, making sure to be sent off to school on time with a hug, kiss, and a "you are going to be great," while being greeted at school with a hug or high five and a smile.

Kudos to you and your students. Have a wonderful, fun, restful weekend. See you next week... WITH A SMILE!

Math Party!

We are working diligently for the ENTIRE class to score 100% on their fast facts test that we take each Friday. Our goal is to have 100% of our students at 100% by Friday, April 17th. Please practice in the car, at home, and any time in between! We are excited! Mrs. Cuenca and I will be providing a sweet and salty celebration if this happens for us. We are almost there...we can do this!

Ms. Wood

Spring is Here!

Hello Everyone,

Spring is here and we are growing like weeds! We are reviewing AKS that we have not visited since the beginning of the year as well as making sure our reading, writing, and math growth continues. We have begun using new organizers and editing paper in writing and hope our story details increase and become more interesting. Our social studies unit for the next 2 weeks definitely supports fantastic story telling since our focus is on American Folktales. We enjoyed visiting the media center to see the tall tale and fairy tale section. Speaking of media center, our book fair was a blast this week. We loved seeing all the new books and we really appreciate those donated to the class. Many of them will be used again when I move to the 5th grade team next year. Make sure to ask your child about a favorite Scholastic book titled Snot Stew. It was a great read with a wonderful lesson. Just one more note...A HUGE thanks goes to Mr. Rannals who has donated his time to lead our class through the Jr. Achievement lessons. The kids love having him here.

Have a great weekend!

Our Last Quarter

Dear Parents and Students,

We have completed the first 3 quarters of the year and we are now making our way into the 4th and last 9 weeks of our time together. There is much to reflect on, but still so much more to learn together. I hope that this 9 weeks will be a wonderful time together for learning, growing, and really gaining true mastery of the skills we have explored together. To accomplish this, we will need continued at-home support as well as motivation and excitement at school. I will continue to work here to insure your students make the needed gains. Please take some time to review the scores I sent home on our latest county benchmark assessments. Use these scores to help provide enrichment and remedial work at home. I have linked several new sites to our web page to make this fun and easy for you and I will continue to do so as I see needs arise.

Please let me know if I can be of assistance to you in any way. Let's make this the best 9 weeks yet!

CWood

Another Amazing Week

Hi Parents!

We have had another great week in our room where we accidentally transfered a magnetic force to paper clips during our experimentation, we borrowed Mr. Moore's super-duper magnet, and we completed 3 HUGE tests.

Once the tests are graded, we will work on remediation and enrichment as needed for each student. These should be a good predictor of how our CRCT scores will be. There is no doubt our students will do well because they are all such bright children. We will work on staying on task during tests and making sure to 'think before we bubble.' Other than being a little too quick to answer at times, we all did really well.

I do hope to see you at our rescheduled PTA meeting next Monday night. There are many offerings around the school afterward (the meeting itself should be quite short) to help you provide additional experiences for your child at home. These include enrichment and remedial skills.

We do look forward to being back on a more normal schedule next week. This should allow an opportunity to post additional writings as they are finished in the upcoming week. I would love for every student to have a piece they feel proud of posted on our web site. We are continuing to work on this - small steps!

Have a wonderful weekend and make sure to check out our student work section.

What a Week!

We have had such a wonderful week of learning. Even with ups and downs, I am amazed at what our students were able to accomplish.

First of all, I am story telling and writing for my students again. I read once that today's children have not been shown the art of story telling and so they have a difficult time forming stories of their own, let alone recording them on paper! Please check out The Story of Liver in our Interesting Topics section just below this one. I typed and told this story as I remember it with only a few stretches (which all good story tellers should do!) for your students during Writers' Workshop this week. It is good for the soul to have your students chant, "More, more, more," when you inform them you are finished for the day and it is their turn to write. Now, with that said, they weren't trying to get out of writing, they were enjoying the process. They also saw me edit and I promised to have it posted for them this weekend in final form. So, here it is.

The next item on the agenda was our Sound Unit Power Point assignment. This week, your children learned how to format a Power Point presentation by photographing, inserting photographs from a file, typing information, resizing the photo, and recording their names on their personal slide within this project. In addition, I formatted the first two slides, the ending slide, and followed their direction on the 3 slides prior to our final one. By demonstrating this piece for them, they were shown the use of clip art, sound clips, and recording pertinent points for each slide. They were very excited and even presented it for Dr. Patrick who stopped by on an impromptu visit. They were so excited! Please make sure to view it with them at home and praise their hard work. Believe me when I tell you, we all need a weekend after working on this project for 5 days!

Finally, we have Read Across America next week and I have posted the flier regarding those activities. Please feel free to have your child participate in as many days as possible. The first grade team planned these activities in order to off set our 3 full mornings of testing next week.

Enjoy your weekend!

CWood

Student Log In Numbers for World Math Day

Student Log Ins are now taped to the bottom, right of the daily, blue folder. Please let Ms. Wood know if you have any questions. This should be a fun way to practice math with children from all over the world!

World Math Day - Unite in Numbers!

Good Morning, Students!

I have just completed our registration for World Math Day. It begins March 4th and is a 48 hour math competition to see how many math problems can be answered correctly around the world. Log on to see all the participating countries!

We also need to say a quick thank you to Mrs. Carmen Smith in 2nd grade who shared the link with the teachers at Sugar Hill Elementary. If you see her at school, make sure to let her know how much we appreciate her idea.

You can get started now with practice problems. This is the information you will need to access our class each time you wish to play:

Your students can commence play immediately!
URL: World Math Day
Username: CW7834tj
Password: mswoodsclass

I will also post a link in our Math Links section for easy access.

Have fun!

Ms. Wood

The Worm Story...YOU can do it too!

Dear Class,

As promised, I uploaded photos to illustrate the worm story I created for you in class this week. I have also added comments in the photographs to show how you can use dialogue/conversation in your writing.

While doing this, I started to think. There is no reason you can't make your very own photo story. Why not? If you have access to a digital camera and a computer, your parents may be able to help you learn to do the same. And maybe, just maybe...if we could collect enough electronic photos for everyone...

Well, let's just say your teacher's wheels are spinning now!

Love,

Ms. Wood

Valentine's Day

I hope all of you have a wonderful Valentine's Day tomorrow. I want to thank you for the special goodies I received today. Enjoy your sugar cookies and reading all the wonderful new narratives we uploaded to our site this week. I'll see you on Monday at school!

Ms. Wood

100th Day and Inauguration

Your children were fantastic today! It is difficult to believe that our innocent children would know to some degree what an important part of history today is. We could hardly speak of it being the 100th day of school because they wanted to learn more and share more about our presidency. They learned about the ceremonies, they watched the Inauguration, and they cheered. And most of all, they showed such respect for the proceedings today. When you look at our photos and see them standing with the crowds or saluting the new president, know that they did that of their own accord. I only asked for them to use whisper voices so that we could all hear what was being said. Your children are amazing. They know history was made today, but I don't know - in their innocence - if they truly understand it all. When we discussed the fact that Obama was the first president who was not a white male and that all other presidents had been, one student responded, "You're kidding! Why?" Out of the mouths of babes! And another had assumed that Abe Lincoln was African American since he was on the brown coin, the penny. They also wondered which coin George Bush appeared on and when President Obama would appear on a coin.

Be proud of your children and enjoy their photos. We have the photos at the end of the 100th day of school as well as the students watching the Inauguration. Enjoy watching them grow - in both body and mind!

Most sincerely,

CWood

Good Morning!

Good Morning, Parents and Students!

I apologize for not posting our weekly newsletter sooner. The realization crept up on me this morning that I'd not visited the web site at the end of the week. Hopefully it has not arrived too late.

I hope you have enjoyed the new updates for our Links sections and the organization by subject area. It should make it easier for you to find exactly what you need.

We completed our first spelling test last week and did quite well. Please remember at this point your spelling grades will reflect both test scores and the ability to spell our basic list throughout our writing, throughout subject areas. Thus, to earn an S or an E, you must spell correctly on the test as well as in written responses to subject areas and Writing Workshop.

Our homework has also been the new budget calculators. Please remember that your child must return his/her summary sheet each Friday in order to earn classroom money. We will complete our unit on money this coming week and this is will be a great way to extend the learning and application throughout the school year. It also builds a solid background for the economics unit to be taught later in the year.

I hope you enjoy your MLK Holiday. We look forward to the 100th day of school tomorrow and observing the Presidential Inauguration at 11:00.

CWood

We're Back!

What a great week! We have returned from our winter vacation ready to learn and grow. There was much accomplished in our classroom this week, but the most obvious thing is how much we have grown. This growth can't be measured in inches...I am talking about the intensity of our questions and observations, our ability to learn new ideas and concepts, and our dedication to getting the job done. Our children are amazing!

With this new growth, we have earned some additional responsibility. Please make sure you are aware of the new behavior requirements for a satisfactory conduct grade. In addition, it is no longer teacher responsibility to calculate earnings for each student on our classroom economic plan. Each week your students will bring home their bank card. All classroom jobs, behavior expectations, and student responsibilities which credit or debit student accounts are listed. It is the responsibility of each student to complete this form with parent support and return the card to me on Friday mornings. I will then 'pay' each student his/her earnings for the week. Please remember that these earnings can only be used to make classroom purchases. If your student fails to return his/her card in a timely manner, no pay will be issued. This should be a fun way for students to learn about money while building schema for the economics unit during the 4th 9 week quarter.

Last, but not least...Kimberly returned this week. We are so glad to have our friend from last year return to our learning community. The students were extremely and pleasantly surprised at lunch time on Monday when she magically appeared!

Have a great weekend!

Thank you!

Dear Students and Families,

I want to send a heartfelt thank you for all you did to make our holiday party a success and for all the wonderful treasures you shared with me. I feel very lucky to have such warm and supportive students and families with whom to celebrate. The cultural foods we shared, the wonderful party trays and organization of Mrs. Mehrzad, the support and organization that Mrs. Pinkerton gave, our parent volunteers, the gifts we all shared, the hugs and kind words...this just scratches the surface of what our classroom community is all about. And those latkes! Go Strader Family! Yum! Yum!

A few pounds were gained by all yesterday, our hearts were full, and the hugs were bountiful. Thank you for making our last day of the 1st half of 1st grade such a memorable experience. Now, sit back and relax, enjoy the photos I took for you during the festive month of December, and get ready for January. We have a lot to learn and much growing to do. Be ready!

From the bottom of my heart,

Ms. Wood

Friday Surprises!

We can't wait to see you this Friday at 1:00 for our special sharing time and the party following at 2:00 p.m. If you have questions or need more information, please feel free to email. It will be a busy but fun week!

Happy December!

Well, I was a bit late in getting the web page updated this week, but please know it is because I am working on a lot of projects for your child's classroom right now! There are many wonderful learning experiences planned this month and I know your child will be learning and growing in magnificent ways. There are also several assessments as we prepare to end the first half of first grade. I want to make sure we are on target with our learning while all the fun is to be had. If your child will be absent for any reason this month, please let me know as soon as possible. I look forward to seeing you on Dec. 19th at 1:00 for a special sharing of our projects. I think you will be glad you came. The party follows at 2:00. See you there!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our students were in rare form today and excited to be spending the next 5 days at home with their families. While many of them informed me that they are thankful for me, I know their hearts are fullest when they are at home with you.

A special thanks goes to Richard's family for brownies, Chandler's family for the candy-coated pretzels, Tom's family for the adorable Turkey cookies, and Jaden's family for the juice to compliment our feast. I was able to provide pumpkin bread for the students and many of them tried something new! I would also like to officially thank Andrew and his mom for making the really cute Turkeys out of Oreos and candy corns last week. The students really enjoyed that treat - and so did I! We have feasted for several days with your help and appreciate all that you to keep our classroom a fun and festive place.

Hopefully you will enjoy the Thank You Trees your children "grew" in class this week, as well as their "What I Am Thankful For" stories and their Thank You poetry. I hope to have photos posted later this evening for you to enjoy. Maybe you can show off our site to your family members as you travel or welcome them home. First grade has changed a lot since we were in elementary school!

Thank you for your continued support and for sharing your little turkeys with me. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday.

Chris

Thanksgiving Quiz Fun!

Hello Everyone!

I just had a really fun Thanksgiving / Turkey quiz sent to me by another teacher at school. I have added it to our web links under Thanksgiving Fun Online Quiz. Check it out and see if you can make more 'educated' guesses than your teacher! I was only able to answer 13 questions correctly.

Have fun!

CWood

Conference Week

Good Evening!

This week you, our families, have attended conferences to learn more about your beautiful children and their progress at school. I am so very proud of each and every child and their accomplishments. I hope you are too. However, after bragging on the children all week, I want to take a moment to brag on you. This week, all conferences were attended but 1. These are amazing statistics! This proves to me how truly devoted you are to your children's continued academic successes. Thank you for your interest in our programs, achievements, and challenges. With your continued support we will have a wonderful year.

In addition to conferences, many of you supported our book fair this week. I know Mrs. Smith is proud of this event as are we. Our children were excited about their new literature and we can't wait to share the books you purchased from my wish list.

Thank you for sharing your time and your children with me this week.

Chris

Election Week News

This week, the students were very excited about the presidential election and asked several times how I had cast my vote. I was glad to see their excitement about our country and current events, but explained I would prefer, as their teacher, to remain neutral on political views!

We did get a lot done during our 4 day week - including using our new projector for an instructional video clip and our morning announcements. The technology is exciting and offers new possiblities for making instruction even more interesting.

You will also find that our newsletter format has been altered. It will now be completed in Word 07 with ability to open in Word 03. This way, all parents will be able to open and read the information on line if the need arises (and you have the Microsoft package on your PC). I hope this will help with communication. I attempted to make the format a bit more reader friendly and a bit less busy. A few comments were received regarding the previous format. I want all parents to feel comfortable sharing constructive criticism when I ask. After all, we are a team that supports your student. Communication is vital to this process.

By the way, there are some web problems right now and I can only update the text portions of the site. As of last night, the ability to upload documents was inoperable. I have emailed customer service and hope to have the problem remedied soon. When we are operable again, I will upload the latest Fish Food and you will receive online notice.

And finally, my student highlight of the week. Many of our students have achieved my classroom required level to participate in the AR program. Hana has been a great resource in assisting me during snack time to get the students new to AR up and running. Thank you, Hana, for your patience and willingness to help during your free time! You're wonderful!

October Excitement

We are having a busy and fun week. The students are informing me each morning of the number of days left until Halloween. We are also anxiously awaiting a visit from Miss Dinna (last year's student teacher / intern) at lunch time Friday as well as lunch in the classroom, book buddies with a homemade holiday treat right from my kitchen, and lots of pumpkin stories. Please have a safe and happy holiday and enjoy the cool fall weather!

I would also like to congratulate Samantha for being our highlighted student this week. She is such a dedicated learner and has become one of our most valued citizens. We can always count on Samantha to give a hug or lend a helping hand in an instant. A special thanks to a very special little girl who is a very special part of our learning community.

Chris

What a Week!

Dear Families,

We have had a wonderful week at school and have accomplished so much!

A parent emailed to say that her son used the EHarcourt Schools web site and LOVED it! He was able to move at his own pace, the computer voice spoke to him and gave him directions for the activities, and it was all online. It was great at-home practice. This is a fun way to reinforce skills.

I would also like to ask that parents take time to review student homework before sending it to school. Unless it is project based, I will take a quick look to make sure the concept is developing and understood. However, I won't grade each individual problem completed. I know that students receive help at home with their homework so it is not appropriate for the grade book. However, it will be recorded as having been completed and understood as part of your students' effort grades. If you have any questions on this, please let me know. This is a great way to review and practice skills.

This week's note is growing longer and longer but there is still one more very important thing to share. I have noticed a particular student over the last few days who is very giving of himself throughout our learning community. This student is Jaden. He is an excellent student with strengths in math and science. Many times a student like Jaden will be so focused on their own talents that their peers go unnoticed. This is not the case with him. I have witnessed him over and over taking time (while completing his own work) to guide other students in their math work and in our reading and news completion in science. His voice softens, he moves gently to direct them to the appropriate place in our materials, and supports them in ways that builds their confidence. He in no way intimidates them or makes them feel that they are less of a student than he. When I see qualities such as this in a 6 year old boy, I feel I must share with our learning community and thank him for his good judgment. Jaden, you are a wonderful student and friend.

On that note, I would like to thank you for sharing your beautiful children with our classroom and school learning communities. You truly are doing a fantastic job at home and I am thankful to share in the fruits of your labors here at school.

Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the fall weather!

Chris

P.S. Make sure to check the calendar! Photo retakes are October 29th!

Weekly Updates

Updates regarding a few things...

First of all, a very special thanks to the Ault family who donated an additional lamp to our classroom. We really appreciate everyone's dedication to making our room a perfect place for readers and writers. We are all set now! I can't wait to have our new computer equipment and possibly some flexibility in our room arrangement with fewer cords and wires (teachers are going wireless with new lap tops!).

Second, we have a new Scholastic Book Club order available on line. There is a short ordering window in hopes of having books arrive in time for Halloween. It will be close, so please do not depend on order arrival. We will give it our best shot, though. There are also some great non-fiction, science, and alternate holiday offerings. I have my eye on a few!

And last, our County-Wide Benchmark scores for the first quarter will be in the blue folders along with report cards for review this weekend. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me at my home address. Overall, we had great scores. Our class benchmark average was higher than the county-wide average for both math and language. We have super students!

1st 9 Weeks Progress

Last Friday was the end of the first 9 weeks. With that, we monitored our progress and prepared progress checks to send home this Friday. We also "upped" our behavior requirements and our children have met those standards. They are making fabulous choices in the classroom and almost all our students have S, S+, or E conduct grades. Unfortunately, I can't record those + marks on the progress reports, but you know who you are by looking at our weekly folders. We are working hard to master, and, in some cases, extend the Gwinnett County AKS curriculum in our classroom. Our students are thriving and we are all very excited about learning to learn. Please keep up the great work at home and keep our lines of communication open. You have no idea what a difference that makes in the life of your children and especially in their academic careers.

Have a lovely weekend.

Student Work

Our student work section has been updated with 4 new writing pieces. They managed to scan in very large and I've been unable to alter them from my computer. If you have difficulty viewing the full piece, please go to the edit button and reduce the size of the screen on the "movie." Hopefully I'll get the kinks worked out in the near future!

Enjoy!

New Fun Link

I have just added a link to our web site for those of you who celebrate Halloween. It is a fun activity online where your student may fill in the blanks with their name, colors, adjectives, and action verbs. When you press enter, a story is created using his/her name! I believe you may be able to print it too. This is such a fun way to use what we have been doing at school while celebrating a fun holiday with the kids! Look in our links section for Spooky Online Story, click, and create! There are other links on the page (which I have not experimented with). Use your judgment on those please.

Have a fun weekend!

Fall is Here!

Yes, Autumn has arrived and we are busier than ever. Friday, October 10th is the last day of our first 9 weeks in first grade. We have learned a lot and we are excited to keep growing together. We completed our Thomas Jefferson portfolios this week and we are looking forward to the school carnival tonight. I hope to see everyone there. I will be volunteering at the face painting table from 6:30 to 7:30. It should be a lot of fun!

Our writing is just as exciting as everything mentioned above and we have published works displayed in the hall way. We would love for you to come by and enjoy some light reading. The students are very proud ... so am I!

Please don't forget to send in 2 liter bottles for our upcoming science experiments. We have 4 total and need 17 more by October 20th.

Have a great weekend and enjoy some time with your very special student!

Radical Readers!

I continue to be amazed by the support our classroom receives from our parents through volunteerism, donations, and channels of communication. Our children have been amazed this year by your support with setting up our reading areas. Andrew's family has donated 2 lamps, 2 mats, and 2 chairs. Hana's family has donated a large chair. My daughter donated a child's chair and I purchased 2 floor lamps. Chandler's family donated 2 reading lamps. And on Friday, Luke's mom walked in with 2 brand new floor cushions. When the students returned from recess, they were so very excited! We now have enough room for all our reading groups to meet and spread out comfortably. Without the support of my family and the families of my students, I could have never set up such wonderful centers for our classroom. Thank you for supporting our initiatives and for always believing in our academic potentials! The students in a rush to read now that they have cozy places to sit and enjoy. Believe it or not, it has impacted our excitement for writing too! Who needs a desk when you have all this stuff?

Much thanks,

Chris

P.S. Another great, big thank you goes to all the parents who sent in large shoe box and copy paper lids. I can't wait to see how the students choose to represent what they have learned about Thomas Jefferson!

Wow!

I just completed the review of our Benjamin Franklin portfolios. While we all worked hard and learned a lot, 3 particular students stood above the crowd for effort and communicating what they learned during this study. I would like to recognize Hana Ault, Olivia Wang, and Reese Sundgren for their excellence in social studies, attitude, and effort. Way to go! Ben Franklin was a phenomenal scientist, inventor, writer, and leader. If you continue to work and learn like you are, you may one day be in a history book right along side Ben! I am so very proud of you.

Ms. Wood

Isabella's Vet Visit!

Well, Isabella Blue wasn't feeling any better last night and her cyst was still there. David, Morgan, and I took her to the veterinarian at the Buford Petsmart today and had her checked out. They decided the cyst was some type of infection and that she probably had conjunctivitis. Don't worry, pet rats and humans don't share illnesses! They lanced and drained her cyst, gave her an injection, and then sent her home with antibiotics. She seems to be feeling fine and had an almond on the way home. She still enjoys her head scratches and being cuddled. The staff at the animal hospital thought she was really cool and loved her affectionate personality. They all ooohed and ahhhhed over her before telling her good-bye. The vet wants to recheck her in a week - hmmm....I wonder if he really needs to see her or if he just WANTS to! ;)

She should be back at school on Monday, but we will probably take it easy with her and limit visits to quick hellos.

On another note, I found 2 floor lamps at Target today for a great price. I think we finally have enough lighting and seating for our room! Thanks again to the Mehrzad, Wright, and Ault families for your support in setting up our reading areas. I could not have done it without you.

Oh yeah! I picked up some PlayDough too. We are all set for next Friday!

See you next week. It should be a good one!

Ms. Wood

We Are A Super Class!

We are truly the BEST FIRST GRADE CLASS IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD! Not only are we smart, we are generous beyond what anyone could possibly expect of a 6 or 7 year old child! This week was our Change for Children fundraiser and our students gave it everything they had - literally! I have multiple stories of students giving up ice cream money in order to support this cause. In addition, we had students cleaning out their piggy banks and trying to hunt extra change to bring in each day. There was the extra enticement of a pizza party, but that wasn't what this was about for our kids.

Dillon's is the first great story I have to share. After he had worked to collect spare change from around the house and his own piggy bank, he decided he needed to do more. After much contemplation, he decided to donate his last 2 dollars - his TOOTH FAIRY MONEY! - to help students who may not have what they need to learn and grow at school. He decided this was the right thing to do. And, after all, he would be losing more teeth in the future. Surely the Tooth Fairy will come again!

The second story is Luke's. Luke's mom asked he and his sister to consider a thoughtful donation for Change for Children. After all was said and done, Luke presented our class collection with a gallon size storage bag 1/2 full of pennies, dimes, and other coins. He topped it off with a dollar bill! His mom reports that he donated his entire piggy bank that was full from gifts, collections, and Tooth Fairy visits. The second difficult thing to believe is that this little guy managed to get to school with this weight in his bag. We must have a body builder in the making!

These are just 2 stories that parents have shared with me this week. Thank you for making my heart full! Teaching must be the most wonderful job in the world. Where else can you experience pure joy such as this?

With all that said, we did win the pizza party for our grade level. How couldn't we with so much excitement about giving and sharing? We will have pizza on Friday in celebration of our community of learners, thinkers, and givers! It is also PJ day on Friday because we helped our school reach our Change for Children goal. Make sure your student wears appropriate PJ's and school shoes (no slippers, please).

If you have more stories to share, please feel free to do so in the comments section. We would love to share your child's story.

Your very proud teacher,

Ms. Wood

What a Week!

As you can see, our web site has been updated with photos, student work, and highlights. The most special part of our week was winning the door contest during the fund raiser competition. We took a moment to write about and draw ways we can help our school. Our class won for 1st grade! Our prize was a Webkinz toy for the teacher and another for the class. Because we are such a splendid learning community, we donated our frog Webkinz to a needy child who lost her toys in a fire. Ms. Bond stopped by (see the photographs) for us to present it to her as the leader of the Care Team. The students were so excited about their generosity. We will keep the teacher Webkinz and take turns taking it home. This should be fun. Whoever has it at home will either write a letter to the Hippo Webkinz or to the class to tell what fun they had together.

It has also been a fantastic week for writing and 2 of our student writings are published in the student work area of our web site.

I hope you are enjoying watching your student learn and grow. I know I am!

Ms. Wood

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."

A Little Bit About Your Teacher

David and I were married in 1992, and in February of 2000 our daughter, Morgan, was born. In addition to the 3 of us, we have our dog, Kevven, and 2 cats, Ish and Gossamer.

Ms. Wood's Class - mswoodsclass

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