October 28th, 2010

October 27^th, 2010         Theodore Roosevelt’s Birthday          152 years ago

 Chemistry Magic Show

You are invited to a chemistry magic show at the RMC on Friday October 29th, partly to christen the new demonstration lab in the Fortin auditorium (Fortin 102). Since Halloween is on the following weekend, we have themed it as Halloween spooky chemistry. Demonstrations will include the Halloween reaction, elephant's toothpaste, fire from water, the screaming gummy bear, and the enchanted wine jug. We'll also have firework colors and self-carving pumpkins outside.

The first show is at 8:45 am (for about an hour) for the general chemistry class, and the second show is at 3:30 pm as part of the Open day (to 4 pm). The first show will have some explanations of the "secrets" behind the demos.

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Presented by the chem club and the chemistry department @ RMC.

Family Fun Night!

Saturday, October 30^th @ Poly Drive

5:00-8:00

Wear your costumes!

Chair Backpacks

A GIGANTIC thank you to Kathy Bick for organizing, purchasing material, and sewing canvas backpacks for 28 students in our class. These help the students have their binders within an arms reach instead of having to walk across the room to get them. Many of the students took them home to decorate.

Reading

New novels were handed out to students this week. We have 6 novels that the students are reading. Most likely, I will meet with 3 reading groups per day. Meeting with 6 groups every day is very challenging.

Science

The students are very excited about atoms and the Periodic Table of Elements. They have a LOT of general background knowledge. We are beginning with atomic structure, the structure of the Periodic Table, and general science history as it relates to atoms and the Periodic Table.

Social Studies

We are still continuing with the following:

 Fifth graders are working on their tag board animal continents independently while I work with fourth graders. Fifth graders have a list of criteria for their continents. This is a performance outcome for the first chapter (on maps).

Field trips

Fourth graders have a trip to Alberta Bair scheduled November 3^rd @ 9:30. Field trip permission forms have been sent home. There are only a few left to come back. THANK YOU Linden Haunt for volunteering to be a chaperone!

4^th grade spelling words Unit 8  October 25^th-29^th Vowel Sounds oo

BASIC: bloom, tool, shampoo, stool, proof, prove, group, foolish, booth, raccoon, groom, roof, soup, cookbook, put, wool, brook, bush, crooked, hook

CHALLENGE: bulletin, cocoon, cushion, proofread, marooned

REAL-WORLD VOCABULARY: Cooking

 ingredients, vinegar, recipe, healthful, colander, grater, shred, appetizer

4^th grade spelling words Unit 9  November 2^nd – 5^th   Vowel sounds /ou/, /o/

BASIC: aloud, south, proud, tower, howl, allow, drown, amount, cloudier, bald, hawk, faucet, claw, stalk, false, dawn, pause, fault, cause, couple

CHALLENGE: applaud, foul, browse, gnaw, doubt

REAL-WORLD VOCABULARY: Reciting a Poem

Poetry, oral, mood, pronounce, emphasis, rhythm, monotone, expressive

5^th grade spelling words Unit 8  October 25^th-29^th More vowel + “r”

BASIC: earth, twirl, burnt, further, worthwhile, nerve, squirm, alert, murmur, sturdy, reverse, worship, research, peer, smear, appear, pier, weary, career, volunteer

CHALLENGE: yearn, engineer, interpret, dreary, external

REAL-WORLD VOCABULARY: The Human Body

esophagus, muscle, abdomen, intestines, skeleton, organs, cartilage, ligaments

5^th grade spelling words Unit 9             November 2^nd – 5^th   Homophones

BASIC: steel, steal, pore, pour, who’s, whose, aloud, allowed, lesson, lessen, manor, manner, pedal, peddle, berry, bury, hanger, hangar, overdo, overdue

CHALLENGE: canvass, canvas, sight, site, cite

REAL-WORLD VOCABULARY: The Law

Courtroom, ordinance, attorney, innocent, citation, illegal, jury, guilty

October 20, 2010

AR TESTS

Students are excited about taking AR tests. Some are not sure if there is a test for the book they want. They can check it out at home by keying in the name of the book at this web site: http://www.arbookfind.com/default.aspx. They will have to take the test at school. The AR information that was sent in your child’s Wednesday Watch folder was printed about 2 weeks ago. Many of the students now have taken more tests than indicated on the paper.

 Parent-Teacher Conferences

 Please look for your orange slip in the Wednesday Watch folder. If your time does not work, please call me so we can reschedule. I have no times available on Thursday. However, another day (Monday or Tuesday) can be arranged before or after school. I am usually at school until close to 6 PM.

Reading

 We will be staring book clubs/literature circles again this week. That means your child will most likely have a “job” to do for the reading each day. Please watch for this in their assignment notebooks.

Science

We are beginning a unit on atoms and elements.

Social Studies

Students will be pretesting Chapter Two this week. Fifth graders are working on their tag board animal continents independently while I work with fourth graders. Fifth graders have a list of criteria for their continents. This is a performance outcome for the first chapter (on maps).

Field trips

Fourth graders have a trip to Alberta Bair scheduled November 3^rd @ 9:30. Field trip permission forms will be coming home soon. Please call, email, or blog if you can help with this field trip.

Spelling lists  Fourth graders REALLY did well on last week’s pretest! The challenge is out to the 5^th graders!!

4^th grade spelling words Unit 8  October 25^th-29^th Vowel Sounds oo

BASIC: bloom, tool, shampoo, stool, proof, prove, group, foolish, booth, raccoon, groom, roof, soup, cookbook, put, wool, brook, bush, crooked, hook

CHALLENGE: bulletin, cocoon, cushion, proofread, marooned

REAL-WORLD VOCABULARY: Cooking

 ingredients, vinegar, recipe, healthful, colander, grater, shred, appetizer

4^th grade spelling words Unit 9  November 2^nd – 5^th   Vowel sounds /ou/, /o/

BASIC: aloud, south, proud, tower, howl, allow, drown, amount, cloudier, bald, hawk, faucet, claw, stalk, false, dawn, pause, fault, cause, couple

CHALLENGE: applaud, foul, browse, gnaw, doubt

REAL-WORLD VOCABULARY: Reciting a Poem

Poetry, oral, mood, pronounce, emphasis, rhythm, monotone, expressive

5^th grade spelling words Unit 8  October 25^th-29^th More vowel + “r”

BASIC: earth, twirl, burnt, further, worthwhile, nerve, squirm, alert, murmur, sturdy, reverse, worship, research, peer, smear, appear, pier, weary, career, volunteer

CHALLENGE: yearn, engineer, interpret, dreary, external

REAL-WORLD VOCABULARY: The Human Body

esophagus, muscle, abdomen, intestines, skeleton, organs, cartilage, ligaments

5^th grade spelling words Unit 9             November 2^nd – 5^th   Homophones

BASIC: steel, steal, pore, pour, who’s, whose, aloud, allowed, lesson, lessen, manor, manner, pedal, peddle, berry, bury, hanger, hangar, overdo, overdue

CHALLENGE: canvass, canvas, sight, site, cite

REAL-WORLD VOCABULARY: The Law

Courtroom, ordinance, attorney, innocent, citation, illegal, jury, guilty

October 13th, 2010

Book Orders


I will send in book orders on Wednesday, October 20th. Online orders will be submitted on the same day

Congratulations, Hannah B!


Hannah was the intermediate winner for the Walk-Bike to School Week at Poly Drive. Our class had 23% participation for a total of 50.22 miles. Of that total, Hannah biked 25.2 miles! Thank you for your dedication, Hannah!


 Parent-Teacher Conferences

In the Wednesday Watch folders is an orange notice about Parent-Teacher Conferences. We know that many of you have children in other schools, so we are getting our notices out earlier than usual. If you would choose a day & time that you think will work best for you and return them, we will have the confirmations back to you next week. If you need a different day before or after school, that can be arranged as well.

Reading

 All literature circles have finished their books. We are taking a break this week and diving in to reading more expository information in our Social Studies books and Time For Kids news magazine.

Science

Students began writing scripts for short video clips about dry ice. Script writing is another format of writing that, while not a tested item, is unique in form and style. All students will get a copy of their video when they are finished.

Computer update

All of the desktop PCs have their new hard drives. We hope to get more memory installed soon as well. LOTS of cords will be the biggest challenge right now. We are drilling holes in the tables to run them through. Hopefully,  we'll be using them soon.  :-) 

Social Studies

Thank you for the wonderful artifacts! The students really enjoyed sharing them, the stories that went along with them, and wearing their social scientist hat. One 5th grader commented to me as she was leaving, "I wish we could have done that activity, too."

Fifth graders are creating their own animal continents on large tag board and demonstrating understanding of geographical terms, features, and location (longitude and latitude).  Fourth graders are beginning a short unit on map skills before our study of US state regions.

Field trips

A huge THANK YOU to Linden Haunt for going to the NILE with the 4th graders this week. The students shared several things they learned with the 5th graders when they came back ("Did you know there is more than one kind of corn?")

The 4th graders will have another trip to Alberta Bair in November. I will post more about that next week. A parent volunteer to accompany them would be appreciated. They will go with the other two fourth grade classes.

Quotes from my substitute

Please read what my substitute said about spending a day in my class on Thursday. These were her opening words on her note to me:

“This class is by far the most polite, thoughtful, and respectful class I’ve taught! However, as you said, they are the chattiest group of students I’ve seen in a long time, too. ….They truly are a great group of students.”

And at the end of her note (at the end of the day!):

“These are the greatest students! They really like to talk! If I called them on it they readily stopped visiting and did pay attention. As to the marbles in the jar, they definitely deserve some (many) for their work, kindness, and helpfulness. As to their chattiness~~they could do better. However, it was a joy to be with them. They are awesome students!”

This is a tribute to you as parents. You do have wonderful children, with kind hearts and compassion for their peers, as well as adults.

I love my job!

Terri

Spelling lists—Test will be on Wednesday, October 20th

4^th grade spelling words Unit 7 Oct 18-20^th  Short u sound, yoo, oo sounds

BASIC: bunch, crumb, trunk, trust, stuck, brush, young, fruit, argue, crew, tune, juice, refuse, truth, clue, amuse, suit, rude, dew, rescue

CHALLENGE: computer, mustard, tissue, customer, attitude

REAL-WORLD VOCABULARY:  Computers

desktop, icons, scroll, select, keyboard, delete, software, highlighted  

5^th grade spelling words Unit 7  Oct 18-20^th Vowel + “r” sound

BASIC:  glory, adore, aboard, bore, warn, torch, soar, absorb, perform, former, aware, dairy, vary, barely, beware, stairway, carton, pardon, barge, armor

CHALLENGE: discard, forfeit, orchestra, gracious, hoard

REAL-WORLD VOCABULARY: A play performance

tragedy, costumes, rehearsal, dialogue, director, climax, ovation, intermission 

October 6th, 2010

Happy Mad Hatter Day! Did You Know that in the 8th Century, mercury was used in hat making in a process called "carroting"? Mercury poisoning drove some hatters crazy (mad).

NILE for 4^th graders

On Monday, October 11^th from 8:30-1:00 all Poly Drive 4^th graders will be traveling to the county fair grounds to learn more about agriculture and agricultural products in Montana. In the last Wednesday Watch folders, a green permission slip was sent home. I have not had the following returned to me as of this posting (initials only): LC, DH, JR. If you need a new one, please let me know ASAP.

Mr. Bokum and Mrs. Bryce have volunteered to take my 4^th graders. I will be staying with the 5^th graders at Poly Drive.  A parent volunteer is needed to assist with managing 2 ½  classes. Please send a note with your child, respond on the blog, email me, or call if this would fit in to your schedule, and you could help these teachers. J porischt@billingsschools.org

4^th grade artifacts from home

Fourth graders are studying social scientists: economists, geographers, political scientists, and historians. I have brought several items (artifacts) from my house, and the students are analyzing and categorizing the artifacts. By Friday, the 4^th graders will be assigned a social science category and asked to bring an artifact from home that represents that category. Examples I brought in are: Geographer—a map and the weather report from the newspaper; Political Scientist—a flyer about voting, money (coins), anything govt issued; Historian—old things, diaries, letters written by grandparents, old newspaper articles; Economist—newspaper ads, sales slips, tags from items purchased at the store w/ prices on them. The artifacts do not have to be complex or “spendy”. Just things that you have around your home that you would be comfortable having the kids bring to school.

Please send them by Wednesday, October 13 (or sooner). Putting it in a baggie would ensure the students could see them without having to take them out of the bag. If it is not something that you are concerned about (an ad from the newspaper), then you do not have to put it in the baggie.

Picture Day

Reminder: Friday, October 8^th is picture day. More forms can be picked up at the office if you have misplaced yours.

Spelling Words

I do not run spelling lists to send home with students. They do have access to the spelling books and can take them home at any time. The spelling words I require for the spelling test are the Basic, Challenge, and Real-World Vocabulary words. Pretests are given every Monday and recorded in the grade book. Typically I correct the pretests between 2:00 & 2:45 on Mondays, so most Mondays your child should have the test with them in their backpack Monday evening.

If the child gets an A, they do not have to take it again on Friday (only their personal spelling words, if any). I change the pretest grade after the final test on Friday.

A parent requested that I put the spelling words on the blog each week.  I have keyed in this week and next week’s  list. Those will appear at the end of the blog.

No Name Box

With approximately 60-90 papers turned in daily, it is very helpful to have names on papers.  J  There is a consequence for no-name papers. I drop the effort score by one. The no-name papers go into a box. Students may look through the box at any time to see if a missing paper is in there.

Missing Work

With so many papers being handed in each day, I am trying to make it more visual and physical for students to keep track of whether they have turned in their paper or not. In red on the white board, I state when the assignment is due.

This week I have also placed a list of the students’ names by the bins where they turn their papers in. If the assignment is a Latin Word Root ws, then at the top of the list of names, I write LWR ws and the date. As students turn in work, they are to cross off their names. At the end of the class period, with a simple glance, either the student or I can see if the work has been turned in.

The most common phrase I hear when asking students about missing work is, “I know I turned that in.” I think with so many trips to the baskets to turn work in, they do recall going over and turning something in. Hopefully, this will assist in a higher percentage of work completion.

Mid-term reports

Please return these as soon as possible. I will be calling to make sure you have seen them this weekend if I have not received them.

More Social Studies grades are on the way!

“Sponge” grade

Each day when the students come into class, I have a Sponge activity on the overhead. If you ever heard your students talk about the Warm Ups in Extended Studies, this is very much like those. It serves to focus the students and get them thinking for the day.

Through September I did not collect or grade these. Some students did not participate fully, however. So I am now collecting them daily. At the end of the week, I will look through each student’s week of Sponge responses and assign an effort grade.

Last week we did Sponges in the areas of math, language, and science. If your child did the best on the science Sponge, then a 5 was recorded for them in science. That meant that I did not record their language or math sponge activity. So in that space, there is an “ex” meaning excused. If you are looking at your child’s grades online, then you might see an “ex” in one of the subject areas each week. It simply means that their sponge score is recorded in a different subject. The “ex” does not add or take away from their total average.

Make up work

A general rule of thumb is that the number of days the student was absent (ex: 3) times 2 equals the number of days to hand in make up work (6 days to get work in). Of course, I am flexible. If the child is getting make up work turned in each day, we go with the flow until it is all turned in.

Gifted Education Press Quarterly

If you would like to receive a free copy of Gifted Education Press Quarterly, go to this address and follow the instructions. http://www.giftededpress.com/

FYI: At Poly Drive, students and staff do not dress up on Halloween or the Friday before Halloween. 

Call or email with questions or concerns!

Terri

4^th grade spelling words October 4^th -8^th  Unit 4            Short & long o words

BASIC:

block odd shock solve stock shown oatmeal wrote fellow scold coast locate slope throat host enclose known remote boast globe

CHALLENGE:

bonus approach motion continent accomplish

REAL-WORLD VOCABULARY: Math: Adding up a bill

allowance purchase reduced calculate addition sum tax subtract

5^th grade spelling words October 4^th – 8^th Unit 4  Vowel sounds: oo & yoo

BASIC:

glue flute youth bruise stew choose loose lose cruise jewel dilute route cartoon avenue include assume souvenir conclude pursuit intrude subdue presume

CHALLENGE: conclude, pursuit, intrude, subdue, presume

REAL-WORLD VOCABULARY: Math: Probability

impossible probable outcomes ratio percentage option likelihood algebra

4^th grade spelling words October 11^th-15^th   Unit 5            Homophones

BASIC: wait weight vain vane vein sent cent scent creek creak heel heal peak peek ring wring miner minor heard herd

CHALLENGE: raise raze rays principal principle

REAL-WORLD VOCABULARY: Science: Minerals

 ore crystal geologists classify properties hardness gems diamond

5^th grade spelling words  October 11^th  – 15^th  Unit 5  Vowel sounds: ou/o/oi

BASIC: ounce scowl pounce coward announce sprawl launch falter haunt naughty saucer August auction awkward loyal avoid moist destroy poison royal

CHALLENGE: poise loiter exhaust assault alternate

REAL-WORLD VOCABULARY: Voyage of Discovery

Sailor expedition navigation rigging mast exploration harbor destination

Mad Hatter Day information from http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/October/madhatterday.htm