The Collins Communicator - thecollinscommunicator

This is my 26th year in education. In some capacity I have always been involved in Gifted Education. Going to SUNY College at Fredonia and earning a BS and MS in Elementary Education prepared me to start teaching. During that time, I also taught in Bristol, England for 6 months. My certification areas are Pre-Kindergarten through 8th grade, with a concentration in Social Sciences and gifted education. In December of 2009, I earned an Educational Specialist degree from Nova Southeastern University in the areas of Teacher Leadership and the Neurology of Learning.

I am so excited to be working for Gwinnett County Public Schools! In 2008, I was honored by being selected as Gwinnett County Teacher of the Year and the Gwinnett County Elementary Teacher of the Year. In 2006, I was also selected as Gifted Teacher of the Year for GCPS.

Although I am a daughter of a UGA alumni, my husband and I are transplants from upstate New York (Canandaigua). Suwanee, GA has been our home for 13 years. In my spare time, when I’m not being “mom” to my two children, I love to read, travel, and play all types of board games.

Class Updates and Newsletters

FOCUS update January 27th

Happy Day! It was so nice to leave my umbrella at home today and hear the beautiful weekend weather report! To keep you abreast of what is happening here is a brief update:

FOCUS: We kicked off our bridge unit today by looking at the subject metamorphically and then gathered a few impressive facts about the history and construction of bridges. We will be studying this unit for the next 10 weeks. Attached to this email are the AKS we will be mastering as we dig deep into this engineering and economy focused unit.

AC Math: Fraction FUN all week long! Expect nightly homework. To work ahead, I have attached the weekly practice page to my website. I have encouraged students to use calculators to CHECK their homework.

AC Reading: Thank you for signing and helping your child keep up with their READING LOGS. Next week, we will be reading short stories from the Junior Great Books foundation. You can learn more about this foundation and how they have invested in the minds of gifted learners at the following website: http://www.greatbooks.org/programs-for-all-ages/junior.html

On a side note, I will be at Georgia Tech all day tomorrow as our Pucketts Mill's Sparrow-bots compete for a state title in the ROBOTICS. Our impressive team has made it to the top 40 teams of 600 in the state! Also, next week on Thursday the Science committee and many other school volunteers will be hosting our school's third annual SCI/TECH night on Thursday Feb 2nd (6-8pm). It is wise to arrive early for the this event-doors open at 5:30. Homework passes will be issued to all participants even if you stay for a portion of the night. Additionally, many of my students signed up for the Robotics Club! This club starts Feb 9th after school until 4:15. Pick up for this club is a little different; Parents are asked to park and come in to get their child or if you are carpooling-children.

Here is some other news you can use:

　

Skate Night - Tuesday, February 7th - 6:30 - 8:30

Where: Skate Country in Buford. Price: $4.00 (includes skate rental)

All money raised will be given to our PMES Care Team.

PMES Parent Workshop

Our school counselors will be sharing information about 1-2-3 Magic, an easy-to-use technique for managing difficult behavior in children. Parents will have an opportunity to view Dr. Thomas W. Phelan’s video and learn effective strategies for providing consistent discipline at home.

Date: Wednesday, February 8 Time: 10:00 – 11:00

Enjoy your sunny weekend!

Mrs. Collins

FOCUS update Jan 20th

Happy Friday! We have had a busy and productive week, especially for a four-day week!

FOCUS Update: We will begin our Bridge unit next week. This unit incorporates business knowledge with engineering. The students in teams will actually erect their bridges and then compete against each other to determine what team's bridge holds the most weight. All bridge resources from home are welcome!

AC Reading Unit: We will be summing up our poetry unit this week. Check out your child's poetry movie at animoto.com (email: mrscollinsmath@yahoo.com password: teach1) Remember to sign your child's reading log-thank you. Figurative Language book due on Monday.

AC Math: Decimals, percentages, problem solving and more! Daily homework sheet practice is attached to the webpage if you want to work ahead.

Have a great weekend,

Mandy Collins

FOCUS Update 1/6/12

Happy New Year!

Here is a very short and sweet update and newsletter!

In Reading:

Students are learning about Poetry. We are analyzing and critiquing the work Frost, Dickinson, Shakespeare and more. Reading Logs are due daily (please sign the at home reading portions). Students are expected to read 20 pages daily or more.

In Math:

We are studying Fractions and Decimals. The "Weekly" Math homework is due daily. An electronic copy is attached to our webpage.

In FOCUS:

We will conclude our Simple Machine unit next week and share our 258 projects on Friday, January 13th. Project directions and scoring rubrics can be found at www. renzulli.com

Have a Great Weekend,

Mandy

FOCUS Family News:

Congrats Ananya on your new BABY SISTER!!!

Farewell Jackie-we will all miss you very much!!!

FOCUS update 12 11 2012

Dear Parents,

It seems that the Lego WeDo robotics is the favorite activity of the week! Which pleases this gifted teacher tremendously because under all that fun I know that they are utilizing visual and logical thinking skills that could only come from such an amazing resource. This week in math we tackled long division (traditional style) and in reading we kicked off a historical fiction unit utilizing some of my favorite novels. The kids formed book clubs like old pros and have already dived into their action packed novels.

Next Thursday, our class is having a very informal success celebration during lunch. Many thanks to Tonya Woods and Misti Bonduris for organizing this. The kids will get their lunch from the cafe and then join their FOCUS friends in our classroom. Please do not break from your busy schedule to join us (kindly, this is for kids only as we will have all 37 children dining together in our FOCUS room). I will be however popping by the homeroom holiday parties to say hello and catch up:)

Next week important dates:

Tuesday: Division Unit Test

Thursday: Success Celebration

Friday: Our goal to finish our novels

Stay warm and toasty!

Mandy

FOCUS update 12/2

Dear Parents,

Two words: AMAZING PROJECTS That basically describes the Inquiry Based Research Projects that came in this week from my AC Reading students. If you are in the building please stop by our Hall of Knowledge to learn all you can about hypnotism, espionage, soccer, mummies, Egyptian Gods, Sneezing, Madagascar and the Great Barrier Reef. I love when you ask kids what they are curious about-surprising every time!

In your child’s FOCUS folder is some information about the Duke University’s TIP program. Our School ID # is 263902 GE and you will need your child’s most recent test data to register your child. Please let me know if I can help in anyway. I loved this program for my son Andrew and the benefits are good for two years.

We kicked off our next mini unit today on Simple Machines. There are two homework assignments associated with this unit. Your child has the assignments in their FOCUS folder. The due date for these projects is January 5^th.

This week the Robotics Competition team is competing at North Gwinnett Middle School from 10-3. Please stop by if you are interested in seeing what solutions 20 area teams came up with for solving problems associated with food contamination.

Homework for next week:

Please expect a formal reading log to come home on Monday for the month of December. The expectation is 20 pages a night of reading.

There will be various wkbk pages assigned next week on long division. Pages TBD based on student progress.

FOCUS: Start on the 2*5*8 Simple Machine project due Jan 5th.

Take Care,

Mandy

FOCUS update 11/19

Dear FOCUS Families,

I hope that you have a lovely Thanksgiving filled with blessings overflowing. This time of the year makes me reflect on how blessed I am to work with these amazing FOCUS students. They truly know the meaning of kindness and generosity.

Some dates to keep in mind:

AC Reading Students: You have an Inquiry Project due on November 29th as you are all most aware of. There will also be a Colonies unit test on Weds, November 30th. Please use your study guides to prepare for this test or the online SS book. (http://www.eharcourtschool.com/

User Name: PMES4E Password: Student). ALL STUDY GUIDES must be returned to school on Monday so we can use them in class.

AC Math Students: Gear up for a unit on long division. If you want visit Education City or our online text book to look ahead. (http://www.eharcourtschool.com/

User Name: PMES4E Password: Student)

FOCUS students: Our Discovery Unit has officially come to an end. The Killer Mustache colony was the winning colony and all the colonies had great fortune and survived their first winters and many hardships. The journals and letters from the past will come home after we display them for a short period of time in the hall way. Our next unit is a robotics unit on Simple Machines.

FOCUS update 10-28

FOCUS Update

This is short and sweet!

Homework Next Week:

AC Reading: Work on Inquiry Research Project (Due 11/29), Bring flash drive or disk on Tuesday (if you have one), Read 100 pages this week of any reading material.

AC Math: Visit Education City for 60 minutes over the course of one week. Please ask your child to log this time in his/her agenda book. Each student knows what games to use (matched to individual learning needs-this list is in their Mathology Book).

What we have been learning and where we are headed:

AC Reading: We are continuing our unit on Research Skills. On Friday, we will sum this unit up and prepare for a two week non-fiction unit on Colonial America.

AC Math: We are going to spend a week studying commutative, associative, distributive and identity properties of multiplication as well as fine tuning our problem solving strategies.

FOCUS: Our colonies are expanding in the New World with a little help of the Native people who desire to trade and barter. Fate is dictating our survival as well as strange weather occurrences. As colonists, we are writing detailed journals of our lives and the “well being” of our newly established communities. Next week, we will try our hand a penning letters to our families utilizing quills. In thinking skills, we continue our work on logical thinking with a tool called Venn Perplexors. It is mind-blowing hard work, but so much fun!

Thank you to the families that responded to the need for pumpkins. All of the kids in fourth grade will be participating in Pumpkin Centers on Monday to learn more about measurement and the Scientific Method.

FOCUS Update 10/21

Good "Frosty" Morning,

Cool air from the South is so unusual, but perhaps that will blow our team's football through the goal posts this weekend. Here is some FOCUS news...

AC Math:

All week we focused on multiplication and problem solving.

For the fun of it, we touched on Egyptian Multiplication. (http://www.mathatube.com/e-egyption-method.html).

The Multiplication Unit Test is on Tuesday, October 25th. We will continue with fast facts for the next 2 weeks. Please remind your child to practice his/her multiplication facts.

Homework next week is in their hard cover math books (which can also be accessed on- line) . The assignment is H6-H-9. There are a few stumper questions that will require your child to utilize other chapter pages to locate the information.

You can access our on line text book (http://www.eharcourtschool.com/) by using the following passwords:

User Name: PMES4E

Password: Student

Everything is case sensitive!

AC Reading:

We started creating our outlines this week based on our Inquiry Research Topics. We will continue to research for the next 2 weeks. By Monday, each child will pick their project idea (many already have something in mind). What I have found out, in the past, is that once the project starts the children discover they need more information, thus the research process continues...

Wednesday (10/26) is our mini deadline to start our projects. Project Ideas are found in your child's research folder. Thank you to all my family's for supporting this type of learning.

FYI: All projects are due on 11/30/11.

FOCUS:

We are learning about Jamestown and the needs of the colonists. In thinking skills, we are focusing on logical deduction. Fridays, by far, are my favorite days to teach. I am spurred on by your child's enthusiasm and eagerness to learn new material.

Enjoy your crispy weekend!

Mandy

FOCUS update 10/17/11

Dear FOCUS Moms and Dads,

Please expect a FOCUS report card in addition to your child’s regular report card this afternoon. It was a sincere pleasure to reflect on the outstanding work habits and enthusiasm each child has displayed over this past nine weeks.

This week in a nutshell…

In AC Math
we learned:

how to estimate while multiplying 2-3 digit numbers

how to use rectangular multiplication to identify the partial products (rest assured we will learn the traditional method next week).
AC Math homework next week in another set of word problems that utilize multiplication and a variety of problem solving strategies.

In AC Reading
our focus was research. We learned the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing. We also learned how to cite our sources while note-taking. The children also learned the definition of plagiarism. Next week, we will head to the wireless lab to learn about outlining using a great software tool called "Inspiration".

Homework next week is to continue to read and take notes on the topic your child selected. We will also be officially choosing our projects. You will be asked to sign off and approve of your child’s choice.

In FOCUS we landed in the New World and learned more about early colonialism. A great lesson on decimals and percentages allowed us to feel “first hand” the close quarters of the Mayflower! In Thinking Skills, we learned about logical matrixes and how to use logical thinking strategies.

Enjoy this Sunny and Dry Weekend! Even though we have had a lot of rain, Gwinnett County has reinstated drought watering procedures because those drops hardly put a dent in our water county’s water supply.

Mandy

P.S. More News You Can Use:

The Publix at Mulberry Village is hosting a Halloween Celebration on Saturday, October 29th from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Dress up your kids and join them for an evening of fun including chili tasting, music with a D.J., games, face painting, balloon art, trick or treating and more.

Please add the canned food drive to your calendar. Our school is collecting canned goods for a week for the Hamilton Mill Coop.

FOCUS update 10-7-11

Dear Parents,

I enjoyed meeting with most of you this week at our parent conferences. If I missed you or if you have lingering questions please remember I am only a phone call or email away.

Although our time was short in the classroom this week due to conferences and field day this is what we accomplished:

In AC Reading we:

choose our Inquiry Based Research Project topics.

task analyzed and created mini deadlines and wrote them in our agenda books and research folders (see attached)

listed what we know about our topics, questions we have and some ideas about great reference tools.

started learning about almanacs.

read our "just right" chapter books

Attached is the letter that accompanies this month's book order as well. No pressure to purchase, but as a mom I feel scholastic has some amazing prices on books. I can keep things hidden if you would like to start purchasing for the holidays. Also, please note that during our Inquiry Based Research Project there will be no reading responses due, but my expectation/goal for each child to read 20 pages of any material a night is still in place. All of the Inquiry Based Research due dates are also attached. Highlighted areas require parent involvement. Your child has a research folder that explains the tasks in detail.

In AC Math we:

started our unit on Multiplication

learned about factorials

worked on problem solving

For the next 9 weeks, we will not have a weekly homework sheet (we will come back to that routine after Winter Break). Please note that there will still be nightly math homework (Mon-Weds). See your child's agenda book for assignments.

No FOCUS this week due to Field Day. Please do NOT expect your child's blue FOCUS folder. The book order is in their classroom Friday folder.

Enjoy your long weekend! Although I love the day off with my family, it makes me crazy that kids think Columbus discovered America. Go Leif Ericson Day (Oct 9)!

Attachments:

scholastic news.rtf

Research Steps and Dates for 2011.doc

FOCUS Update 9/23

Happy First Day of Fall!

This is what we accomplished this week:

AC Math:

· We collected data on evaporation rates

· We created graphs on various survey questions including, “Are you tired in the morning?” 73% of the class responded yes! We were also shocked at the number of kids who also report that they don’t wear their helmets while riding bikes or scooters.

· We learned about intervals, scales, median, mode and range.

· We utilized the wireless lab to create graphs electronically based on personal sleep information

Next Week: We are going to examine data from the Mayflower and simulate what life on the ship would feel like; analyze our sleep data and compare our data to the American Pediatrics Association recommendations; Study data from the Cholera outbreak from the 1800s is England.

AC Reading:

· We worked on our book projects most of the week and learned about summarizing.

· Using our Scholastic News magazines we learned how to “steal” information from a nonfiction text utilizing an acronym THIEVES.

· Every child has chosen a book to read for pleasure and they plan to read approximately 125 pages a week.

Next Week: We will be kicking off our Independent Study Projects. Our first tasks will be to select a great topic, fine tune our nonfiction reading strategies as well as learn what the best resources to use while researching are. Of course, the follow up to all of that will be learning about note taking and citing sources.

FOCUS: Thanks to the “Very Important People” volunteers at our school, the children started their 1^st person historical fiction journals to document their journey across the ocean. Hopefully, we will see land soon. So far we have only lost one ship at sea, but you all know how treacherous the journey to the New World can be.

On Friday, Sept 30 is Great Days of Service. Thank you to all the people who have already volunteered to donate flowers, soil and/or time. If your child attends FOCUS in the morning (Burkingstock and Westog) and you are volunteering-please meet us in the lobby at 10:00am. If your child attends FOCUS in the afternoon, please meet us in the lobby at 1:00pm. Each class will be serving our community for one hour and making a HUGE difference! A list of volunteers and supplies will be coming to you under separate cover on Monday.

Conference Note: If your child is in Mrs. Burkingstock’s class or Mrs. Rikers’ homeroom class, your parent conference will be with me this year. Please expect a conference confirmation form in your child’s blue FOCUS folder. If your child has Southard, Anderson or Westog, your parent conference information and meeting will be with your child’s homeroom teacher. You are welcome to pop by and speak to me personally, but I will be providing written notes to your child’s homeroom teacher to share your child’s progress.

FOCUS Update 9/15

Happy Friday everyone! If your weekends are like mine, today marks the beginning of the busiest part of your family’s week, so in a nutshell this is what we accomplished this week in our 4^th grade gifted class:

In AC Math we :

· Analyzed and created a variety of graphs

· Studied business graphs from a real ice cream company in North Carolina

· Wrote inferences from a variety of graphs

· Investigated a new application of coordinates while improving our chess game

· Kicked off a Sleep Study (Data due on Thurs, Sept 22)

In AC Reading we:

· Compared the antagonist and protagonists of The Mysterious Benedict Society (TMBS)

· 99% of the class completed TMBS

· Celebrated the solution of TMBS and compared it to our original predictions

· Acting out one of our favorite scenes from TMBS

· Critiqued TMBS utilizing a Likert Scale

· Took an open book quiz on TMBS

· Kicked off a Book Report Project on TMBS (Due on Wed, Sept 21-We will work on this in class on Monday and Tuesday too).

In FOCUS we:

· Improved our logical thinking skills using a Perplexor (by Mindware)

· Toured our school campus and assessed the work that needs to be done for Great Days of Service (Sept 29)

· Created our colony’s flag and investigated the different types of cargo real ships going to the New World might contain

· Put the final touches on our cargo lists

· Took a map quiz

Next week, we will continue studying graphing in math, working on our book projects in reading and sailing to the New World in FOCUS. Again, thank you for the privilege of teaching such an amazing group of students! Mrs. C.

FOCUS update 9/9

FOCUS Update 9/9/11

It was great to feel the crisp air of fall approaching this week. Speaking of “crispy", the children and I had an exciting time creating geographic sculptures using Rice Krispy treats today. They tell me they will forever remember warming the treats in their armpits and more importantly what an isthmus and other geographic terms are. We are studying geography to determine the best places for our explorers to colonize in the New World in our unit called “Discovery”. Along the way we are also mastering Social Studies AKS 1-10 and 32-35. A butte, a poop deck and arm pits were all part of our lesson today: Pretty scary!

Some due dates and topics to keep in mind this week include:

FOCUS (Our topic next week continues to be Early Exploration and Map Skills):

Map Packets Due on Thursday 9/15

Map quiz on Friday 9/16 (study guide in blue FOCUS folder)

Math (Our topic next week continues to be on graphing):

Problem Solving packets are due on Monday 9/12; most of which should already be done. We will return to our Weekly Homework assignment on Monday (it has been uploaded to the website for your reference) as well as beginning a sleep study that will require children to collect data starting on Thursday 9/15 of how many hours they are sleeping each night.

Reading (Character Analysis, Plot, and Inferring will continue to be our topics):

Do you best to get as close as possible to page 465 in The Mysterious Benedict Society by next Tuesday. We will be discussing the text up to that point and reading the last 2 chapters together on Wednesday and Thursday.

AC Reading note:

As most of you know, we are reading like a runner in training this week. As my runners know, it is important to train by sprinting, jogging and rest. Right now, we are sprinting with weights on to build endurance and strength. Please do not feel stressed over this huge goal; it is simply something we are striving for in order to finish the book by next Friday. To put my parents’ minds at rest, please read the question and answer below:

"Going forward this year, will it be the norm to read an average of 45 pages per night as it pertains to the FOCUS assigned novel?" The answer is no. In fact, assigning a novel will only occur twice this school year.

A hot tip for success is to download this book from the public library or Amazon to listen to the story. For those of you who are wondering, our next reading unit is going to be focused on nonfiction and research; now, deep breath…and jog.

Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter,

Mandy

P.S. S’MORE NEWS YOU CAN USE:

You can find information and forms on the school's homepage for ordering yearbooks, Sparky's Trot, and FAQ about contributions. Please check there if you have any questions.

BOXTOPS: Please send in any boxtops that you may have in your pantries! Each Boxtop coupon is worth .10 cents and will be used to purchase PE equipment for our school. Classes will be competing with all of the other classes on the grade level to win an ice cream party at the end of the nine weeks. The class with the most boxtops turned in each nine weeks wins! Just place the boxtops in a ziplock bag and write the teacher name on the outside!

Thanks to Ava Petersen & family for donating new toothbrushes & toothpaste for a school-wide Great Days of Service project!

Puckett‟s Mill wins award from Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful! (Don’t forget our Beautification Extravaganza for Great Days of Service on September 30th – donations of plants and/or soil are appreciated)

Time is running out to sign-up for this year‟s Youth Architecture Fair presented at the High Museum of Art on Saturday, September 24th. Registration is required, so please follow this link if you are interested. Fun & learning are guaranteed!

http://www.aiaatlanta.org/cde.cfm?event=359146

FOCUS update 9/2

Dear FOCUS Families,

I am absolutely LOVING the minutes I get to teach your children. They are a true delight. I hope that you all enjoy your long weekend! There isn’t any homework or tests to study for.

Here are some of the highlights of our week and where we are going…

Math: We summed up our knowledge of place value and problem solving by taking our first unit 1 test. Thank you for your support at home by studying together. Next week, we will begin a graphing unit that will incorporate a sleep study. Homework this week will be a packet of 15 word problems. Your child will bring them home on Tuesday and they are due on the following Monday (9/12).

Reading: We are reading at the light of speed the first book of the Mysterious Benedict Society and will utilize our common knowledge of this book to create story maps and character analyses next week. Our goal is to be at page 206 by Weds (9/7). Please sign the agenda book each night to indicate that your child is reading each night.

FOCUS: We are working towards our Thinking Skill goals and carefully creating maps for our journey to the New World. Along the way we are learning a lot about early explorers and geography. Next week will begin packing the cargo on our ships...too much fun!

Enjoy your families,

Mandy

FOCUS Update 8.29.11

August 29, 2011

Dear Parents,

We had a productive week in FOCUS and in our AC classes. In math, our topics included round-ing and estimation. Next week, we will study coordinates and orders of operation as we gear up for our first unit test on place value. This unit test is on Thursday, Sept 1st. Your child will bring home a study guide and their math notebook to prepare for this test. In addition to those review tools, you can access the online text book at my website and use the review test/practice pages.

In AC Reading, we studied the work of Langston Hughes. More specifically, we examined how an author makes his/her writing realistic. We examined unknown words in this story as well in our research sites on Renzulli. We discussed how good readers take time to infer and figure out unknown words in order to improve their vocabulary. The class decided to make Wednes-days the due date for their Reading Responses. In other words, each Tuesday the students will take home their Wordology books and write a response of their choice about what they are reading. There is a list of prompts pasted in the back of their Wordology journal. Creativity counts in this activity.

Today in FOCUS we continued our quest in helping an American button company develop a new product. We utilized our creative thinking as well as our logical thinking to deduct the best products to send to them. Next week, we will officially start our quest to the New World as we learn more about cartography and geography. During Thinking Skills, the children will learn about what evaluation matrix grid is to rank the best button ideas. We will also be setting our Thinking Skill goals for this term.

Dates to remember:

Math: Weekly Homework Sheet (due daily)

Homework Quiz Friday

Unit Test on Place Value Thursday

Reading: Read Daily (20 pages)

Reading Response due on Weds

FOCUS: Some students brought home a packet of logical thinking exercises to get a jump start on earning thinking skill points. If that was their choice, they must return that packet on Friday for recognition.

Can all of this work get knocked off over the weekend? Oh Yeah!!! I call that time manage-ment.

TTFN,

Mrs. Collins

FOCUS Update 8/19

Dear Parents,

Again thank you for coming to curriculum night! Here are some questions that came up last night that I thought the answers would benefit all of my families:

How much homework can I expect?

Typically, we have a 20 minute daily math assignment (which is attached to my website the Friday prior) . I also expect each of my students to read 20 pages of fiction or nonfiction text daily at home. Please sign your child's agenda book (next to the reading guy head) to confirm he/she is meeting that expecatation.

Are there any BIG projects this year?

In fact, there is! Each year the children choose any topic of interest and I walk them through an Independent Research Project or ISP. You will get detailed information about this in hard copy and electronically. Part of this project is having the children task analyze the steps involved and create a calendar mini deadlines. Your part is the creative project that relates to your child's research. In the past we have had tanks, May poles:), and viking ships role through the door. This is a family project and it takes about 6 weeks. We will begin this work in late September. Rest assured, I WILL NOT have my students or families working on this project during VACATIONS or have due dates right after a long weekend. That is precious family time for me and for my kids.

What Math Curriculum materials do I use?

We use the Harcourt Math textbook as a reference tool only. The glossary and CRCT practice materials is really good in this textbook. The majority of our time we utilize GCPS gifted math materials such as: Figure It Out, Einstein Math, Exemplars for gifted learners, Techniques of Problem Solving, Challenge Math, Marcy Cook Math and I totally LOVE this website for project work http://www.figurethis.org/index.html.

Grading?

Please check the parent portal for grades next week. FOCUS grades/report cards are given each nine weeks. You can monitor FOCUS work by viewing your child's BLUE Friday folder. Remember that work is ALWAYS returned to class. I need to do a better job having students write FOCUS on top of work that is done on FOCUS fridays.

http://thecollinscommunicator.shutterfly.com/

FOCUS Update August 12th

Greetings from Fourth Grade FOCUS!

What an amazing first week of school! It was hard to believe Mrs. Hitt when she would brag on and on about her favorite class of all time, but now that I have had the pleasure of spending time with them-it is TRUE! Thank you for raising such respectful, intelligent and kind children!

As you are probably most aware, we were on a mission to find the undiscovered river of Puckett’s Mill Elementary this week. Today, we believe we made that discovery as well as witnessing a family of deer, coal from a tree struck by lightning and much more…This outing was the perfect spring board into our first FOCUS unit called “Discovery” which is basically a simulation of the lives of early colonists and explorers.

Speaking of missions, the students wrote their own class mission statement this week.

Our Mission: We will use our knowledge, imagination, curiosity and ingenuity to positively change the world one step at a time.

To accomplish this mission we will:

· Strive for excellence in all we do

· Stay true to our dreams and our mission

· Make good decisions and become better problem solvers

· Fine tune our academic skills

· Work together and be open to new ideas

· Read, research and become experts

· Communicate our expertise, new ideas and inventions

Have a positive attitude and lift up others to SOAR!

We borrowed the verbiage: imagination, curiosity and ingenuity from the Puckett’s Mill Mission statement. If case you are ever wondering why your child is doing such crazy things at school those words and the AKS drive what goes on in our FOCUS classroom.

Here is other news in a nutshell:

If your child has reading with me, I will be bringing them to the book fair on August 17^th during our class time.

Please look through your child’s blue FOCUS folder this weekend and RETURN all work. Sign your child’s agenda book nightly to confirm he/she is reading 20 minutes each night and that you are getting daily messages and assignments

Curriculum Night is on Thursday, August 18th. Please join me early at 5:30 in my FOCUS classroom for detailed information about your child’s FOCUS year.

See You Soon,

Mrs. Mandy Collins

Welcome Back Letter

Dear 4th grade FOCUS student,

My name is Mrs. Collins and I have been getting ready for “the first day of school” for 42 years! Although we don’t know each other very well yet, I should warn you that I LOVE SCHOOL and LEARNING!! As your FOCUS teacher, I can’t wait to hear about your summer adventures and the books you have read.

Your Back to School project is to visit Renzulli Learning ( http://www.renzullilearning.com/default.aspx ) for one hour. I have already read your Renzulli profile and I have discovered that almost all of my students love to work on the computer. Remember your login is your first name last name PMES and then pmes as your password (for example login: elvispresleypmes password: pmes)

Please visit our class website before you come back too! You can find us on the web at: http://thecollinscommunicator.shutterfly.com/ You will seemany links that will help you preview units we will study this year and you will be able to see your FOCUS schedule there.

Supply Information:. As a FOCUS team, we are requesting you pay a supply fee of $20.00 in lieu of waiting in long lines at the market. The nature of FOCUS classes often requires unusual supplies not found in regular school supply stores (ex. Sheep brains!) You don’t need to pay now; I will send more specific information about how to do this when it’s time. It is our hope we will be able to use the Mealpay Plus system for this.

Please feel welcome to email me or call if you have any questions Mandy_collins@gwinnett.k12.ga.us
(678) 442-9047 (Home Number)
(678) 765-5110 ( School Number)
I look forward to seeing you on the second day of school and meeting your parents at our FOCUS Open House on August 18th at 5:30 pm.
TTFN
Mrs. Mandy Collins
2008 GCPS Teacher of the Year

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Favorite Sports Team: Collins Hill Screaming Eagles Band (marching band is a sport-right?)

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Fourth Grade FOCUS Websites

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2011-08-18

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FOCUS update January 27th

FOCUS update Jan 20th

FOCUS Update 1/6/12

FOCUS update 12 11 2012

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FOCUS update 10-28

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FOCUS Update 9/23

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FOCUS Update 8.29.11

FOCUS Update 8/19

FOCUS Update August 12th

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4th Grade FOCUS Schedule

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