February... You mean as in the 2nd Month?

Wow! Has it been a busy and exciting week! There is so much going on in Room 138 it is hard to determine where to start. It has been great having some BLOG editors, in fact, I think they are going to get really good at this before it is over! They always have the camera out to catch great learning shots!
It is hard to believe that February is already here this weekend! I mean really, weren't we just decorating for the holidays.. The time is flying by! Before you know it, you will all have middle school students! SCARY!
We have learned a lot about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Actually the students have participated in a few activities where they have learned just how important these documents are.
If you get a chance- check out our AWESOME new bulletin board in the hallway - "Where in the world is Room 138 from". It is actually quite interesting and shows how diverse we are even in our own little classroom.
Don't worry about the seeds in the bag, they were planted in our terrarium. And they are growing and looking really green now! Soil is a wonderful thing!

Stewie and Jordan play Guess My Rule with Quadrilaterals.-

Lauren, Angel. Alexandria, and Brittney work really hard to decide what they think is important. How important is it to have a right to a trial by jury, or the right to speak to a lawyer? Hey, and what about the freedom to choose a religion?

Cinnamon, Diaje' and Misty try to work out what they think will be important to them. The task really made them think about all the rights they have now, and the ones they were willing to give up. Crystal, Emily, Tyree, and Zelma have a little discussion about what is more important - freedom of speech or freedom of the press!

Klaudia, Lakia, Maddie, and Jordan also try to decide what they can and can't live with. They too found it very difficult to narrow down!

Mario, Dante, Stewie, and Nahjani work to discuss what they can live without! It was tough... free speech, freedom to assemble, freedom from cruel and unusual punishment? They had to decide on five.... not as easy as they thought!

A sweet treat from our friend Mrs. Tami! It was great to have real "sweet" tea at lunch!

The cookie dough sale begins Monday. We want Room 138 to sell the most so we can get another FREE pizza party!!! These cookies are awesome- just look at the brochure and your mouth will water!

Friday we will make some more I-movies for our noble following! The kids are having a blast with it, and we are actually attending some workshops to become proficient! Who knows what the rest of the year will look like!

Stay tuned for more exciting news.....

Whole Day Celebration!

Monday is the 100th day of school, and in Calendar Math it will be our first whole day! We will celebrate this big day with our WHOLE day Celebration!

Students brought home a list of items they were to bring in. You may send them in Friday (if they are not fresh). If not, make sure you remember to bring them on MONDAY!

This will be a great Math day for us, because there are many things you can do with 100!

Report cards will be sent home next Tuesday!

A Few Here and There Shots!

Zelma, will update comments in the morning for this post! It was good to see you tonight at CiCi's ! I am not a fan of pizza, but those little cinnamon buns.... they were AWESOME, as was the BBQ pizza.

Hi this is Zelma. Our project is becoming glorious. Our beans look like there growing into a plant. in our 2nd picture down Lauren, Klaudia, and me are working hard on our reading group. in the next picture down (3) Calvin and Dante are reading hard. next picture down (4) Maddie is smelling away some smencils. yum, yum. next picture down (5) Turinya and her family are in line waiting to eat some yummy yum pizza. look at all their smiles! :)

Suppertime as only Snoopy understands!

As Snoopy would say... It's supper time, It's supper time, It's sup, supper time the very best time of the day. Bring on the soup dish, bring out the cup. Bring on the bacon and fill me up! Cause its supper time, It's supper supper S-U-P-P-E-R Time!

So join us tonight as we meet and eat at CiCi's Pizza on Baymeadows Road as a fundraiser for our school.

Looking forward to seeing you at 6:30!

The New Hit Maker!

We remember when we were in school and it sure looked nothing like this! I don't even think at Wesconnett we had computers for our administration! I remember when they upgraded to fancy typewriters (thanks to the PTA!). Well, we have come a long way from that!

Zelma and Brittney's First Post !!!!

Meet our new bloggers.

Our new Classroom Constitution rocks!

We love working on polygons. How many sides does a dodecagon have?

We're sure everyone at this table will get an A ; )

A Busy Monday at Home!

Hey Guys! I missed you today, but I did talk to Mrs. Yadon several times. Both Briley and Macey were really sick! (Remind me to tell you about that tomorrow!)
Tuesday is our school support night at Cici's pizza down on Baymeadows- we hope that you will come out and eat some pizza with us! I think they have salad too.
I hope all of you are bringing in your permission slips so we can all go to UNF- I have heard from my friends at other schools that these field trips are a blast!
I must tell you that I just love the MAC's and all the fun things we are going to learn how to do! If you want to make a short movie tomorrow just kind of have an idea of what you would like to talk about. I think book talks, study strategies, science experiment updates, our new classroom Constitution are just a few things you could talk about!

Introducing Our New Webmasters

Hey this is Zelma and Brittney.We are the new webmasters.This is the best job coming from our point of view. We won't ever want to trade this job...... that is if the teachers don't fire us.Check the blog often for our updates about what is going on in Room 138.

Not another video....But still way cool stuff!

Friday was a very QUIET day in Room 138.... Students had to construct straw towers in 15 minutes (WITHOUT TALKING). They were in their unity groups and they were attempting to build the tallest tower. The hard part was they were not allowed to talk. If they talked we took one straw from them. And you will NOT believe that we only took TWO, yes TWO straws during the entire time (even with the additional 10 minutes they were given!)



The computers are still a big hit with students, and I am sure on Monday they will become experts at making MOVIES! I think you should all make book commercials so we know what to read next!

Calvin and Jason discuss the rules with Mrs. Yadon! We changed the classroom economy system completely! Students created the new constitution for our room, and we as the executive office completely AGREED!
A Harris visitor, and actually a brother to Boris!
Seven is just hanging out in Mrs. Rowan's chair..... where was Mrs. Rowan????
The next few pictures demonstrate that we are always active during our 30 minutes of DAILY recess! We always play some type of game!
That is Seven in action... see he did get out of my chair!
Maddie was successful at staying on the court!


Looking forward to another great week in Room 138.... Don't forget your field trip money ($9.00) and your NEW classroom supplies.

Oh yeah... Daniel gets extra credit for coming to the potluck and watching the Boys of Sudan. They were great Friday night!

Just another Saturday

Have we ever had fun this morning, and before 10:00 at that! We met a great guy named John at the Schultz Center this morning while we were trying to log-in to the wireless network here and we actually ended up getting a really great mini-mac lesson!

We can't wait to try it out on you Monday! Wear something bright!

UNF Wildlife Sanctuary - Feb 13h

Woo-hoo! We are going to UNF on Friday, February 13th from 9:00 - 1:30. (Don't worry, we will exchange Valentines when we get back!)

This will be an exciting day for our students. The cost of the trip is $9.00 and students will need to bring a drink and a bag lunch. Chaperones are welcome to come, and your cost will be $4.00 if you ride the bus.

We will also be going to the Marine Science Center on Friday, March 6th. Parents are also welcome to chaperone that trip as well. There is no cost for the Marine Science Center Trip!

The class that eats together....

grows together!

Next Tuesday, the 27th we will be eating dinner at CiCi's pizza located on Baymeadows Road between the Winn Dixie and the Publix. This is another fundraiser for our school. We will plan to meet about 6:30 so it will not be so crowded! We hope to see you there.

All in a Days Work!

Tyree had a very busy and productive morning yesterday thanks to the help of his table mates!

This is his first organizational project! This looks so great Tyree!And, this was his second task..... needless to say it looked 100% better when we could actually see inside the BLACK HOLE..............

Yesterday our class worked to develop the Constitution of Room 138. Working in groups on Wednesday they were able to collectively put together the pieces of the new Constitution yesterday. They came up with some really good rules, rewards, and consequences.

Center time anybody? We just love the new reading series because the kids just absolutely LOVE all the centers we have. From their perspective, there is no bad centers! And we love to see them working on reading through different modalities.

Brittney and Klaudia working on sequencing of the weekly story. - Then they had to draw it out in the sequence they had written.

Calvin, Dante, Morgan, Tony, and Dalton reading "Going West". Who knew trail life could be so difficult!

Tyree and Seven working on their second book together for literature circles.

Lauren, Cinnamon, Alexandria, and Jasmine working on story vocabulary!

Mario, Stewie, Eduardo, Boris, Emily and Crystal working on Going West. The beauty of the centers is that students can choose the activities that they want to complete!

The Leap Frog Center gets just as much attention as the others! Thanks Mrs. Plish for letting us borrow some of your games.

We are back into the swing of things! Remember to really ramp up your at-home reading to help increase your reading stamina for the FCAT! This year it looks like we will only test for five days instead of seven because we will no longer take the NRT. That is good news, and bad news because that means the FCAT is the only way you will be able to SHOW what YOU know!

New Procedure for when students Miss School!

If your student misses school, please send in a note on a separate sheet of paper. We will no longer be able to accept notes in the planner (for auditing purposes).

For students to receive an excused absence the note must be sent within three days and the absence must fall under the list of excused absences.

A letter for supplies came home as well as our 100th days Celebration today~

Test Corrections and the 100th Day of School

Students have been assigned test corrections on their math and science tests. This is an opportunity for them to demonstrate that they have analyzed their mistakes and are able to find the correct answer. All students receive half credit for correct answers. They know that corrections must be made on a separate sheet of paper (NEVER change an answer on the original test) and they must explain how they found the correct answer. They will NOT receive credit if they just write a letter like B and write "I knew that this was the answer".

Please encourage your student to take this task seriously and to do their very best.


****** The 100th Day of School is Monday, February 2nd. Stay tuned for a paper newsletter about our festivities for that day.

Look at our Sprouts!

A four day weekend in the dark lonely hallway of Beauclerc Elementary did not keep our beans sprouts from growing. We are also geting pink and gray fungi. We will wrap up our pill bug inquiry on Wednesday. Only 2 of our 7 guppies have survived. Could it be the cold temperatures? Most aquariums have heaters. Are they cannibals? We will continue to observe them.

More Info on The Lost Boys of Sudan

Here is the URL for the Alliance for The Lost Boys of Sudan. There plight was very well documented and is amazing to read about. Most of the boys were our 5th graders age and younger. Even with all they have been through, they are an extremely joyful and happy group of young men.
http://www.allianceforthelostboys.com/index.html

In other news it was a great first day back for us! We had a great time discussing and watching the inauguration. We also completed and presented our symbols posters. If you have not returned your permission slip from Mrs. Yadon you will not be able to tape with us when we establish the new Constitution for our classroom.

If you haven't been in for a spell, make sure you pop in the main hallway across from our room and look at our beans. They have all sprouted and now have leaves! We will be completing this unit tomorrow and then moving into our next unit - Those spindles will finally be used!

Classroom Supplies Needed!

It is that time of year to RESTOCK!

Loose leaf notebook paper

Pencils

Colored Pencils

Puffs

Bounty Napkins / Paper Towels

Ziploc Sandwich Bags

Anything you are able to contribute is greatly appreciated!

Multicultural Opportunity

Friday night at 6:00 Lakewood United Methodist Church is hosting a potluck dinner (you will need to bring an ethnic dish if you come, Mrs. Rowan is bringing lo mein [not homemade!]) The best part of this is at 7:00 there will be a presentation by The Lost Boys of Sudan. This is an amazing group of young men, and the stories of their life are awesome. They will be playing the drums for us, and it will really be a great way to expose yourself to something new!

It will be a great night of food and fun! Hope to see you there!

You will hardly recognize the PLACE!

This is our new view...isn't it clean!! Notice the white board, instead of the blackboard! A big improvement here in two areas. First we moved the round table as you will see in the other picture, and the microwave was cleaned today! It was NASTY horribly dirty!!! And, being the science detectives we are we determined that the major culprit was butter from popcorn. Now, being the advanced science detectives we are, we also know that we, the Executive Branch, do NOT eat popcorn with all that butter because (1) it will clog your arteries, and (2) everyone knows that you can't have that much butter and not get it on your papers!

We are still going to keep this a Science / Social Studies investigation area, along with a Reading Center.

Yeah... more room back here! All the Leap Frogs are up! Your supply boxes have been cleaned out to... they all have equal supplies now. We must have found about 50 pairs of scissors between them! We have no more colored pencils, so you may want to pick-up a few packs!

The biggest change... you mean there was actually a table up there? We finished the book shelf project today, and who would have guessed another IMMEDIATE center area! If you look on the two tall shelves you will see that we also now have all the reading and science leveled readers out by chapter, so no more digging for us!

You get the point, there is also one row on to the right as well! We will see how this works!

It is clean, it is clean!

Oh yeah... and about the game cart. The game cart fairy, (aka Mrs. Yadon) spent about 45 minutes putting back together all the games. Not saying you guys have been naughty at returning the games to the game cart, but Mrs. Yadon did put all the right pieces with the right games, and I believe she found some of the Mancala pieces... go figure that!

And while she was at the game cart, I decided to see if there really were shelves in the big closet! While I was at it, I also found FOUR brand new packs of markers!!!!! I know, that right there made the day worth it! And look closely... you will even see on the shelf by the yellow basket a tub of SHARPIE markers that I found in the disaster area! I am telling you, it was like we struck gold today in that closet!

Now, on to our class activities from Thursday ....

Allison, Eduardo, and Seven work on gathering information about their assigned symbol for the United States.

Klaudia, Lakia, and Maddie were also working hard to finish their poster with their symbol.

Emily is working on her groups poster, while they are working to find some more information on the computer.

Stewie the artist free handed this eagle for their symbol! (Apply to LaVilla School of the Arts Stewie!!!!!!) You can draw all the time there!

Crystal, Mario, and Stewie on the way to the Big Dance!

Lauren, Lakia, Maddie, and Morgan head to the dance floor!

Hey Now.... that is Mr. Brody, the Man of early morning radio in Jacksonville in the 80's! He certainly rocked the house Thursday!

Yes, Mrs. Yadon was trying to look like that! Mrs. Kornblum was wowed to see all those 4th and 5th graders on the dance floor! No wall flowers today!

Alexandria on the dance floor!

Jason leaving the dance floor!

Cinnamon on the dance floor!

Emily is having a great time minus those braces!
Jasmine and Emily ... are they patrols working or patrols dancing?

Macey even came to the dance as a 4th grader this year!

Stewie was all over the dance floor! Who knew he could dance! Your secrets out now!

Brittany makes a rare BLOG appearance- She represents Harris / Hayden well!

Lakia was Blinded by the Music!

Misty was all smiles at the dance! And she showed us her dance skills as well!

Yes, that is your principal Mrs. Kornblum and Ms. Bronfman.. they were cutting up the rug! I think I even saw them bump a few kids OFF the dance floor! Just wait until the 5th Grade Dance at the end of the year!

See, now this is just wrong.... that is Crystal literally running away from the teacher! She did now want her picture taken! Hey, and that is Mrs. Underkofler and Mrs. Fleming in the background there! They sure did a great job keeping up with all the snacks!

Jason and Daniel about 1 hour into the dance and still going strong!

We had a great week in Room 138! It helped it was only 4 days!

I meant to take a picture of the seeds today, I tell you those things are going WILD! Your observations on Tuesday should be quite interesting.

We, the Executive Branch, were talking today about your attempts to establish a new set of rules for our classroom since we made an Executive decision to abolish the Classroom Economy- Remember as the Executive Branch we retain the right to veto!

Just a reminder that we will have our end-of-unit Math and Science test on Tuesday- You are all pros so we are not worried. (Test Hints: - Use the likelihood line on the board, and the word "all" is very SUSPECT on any multiple choice question!)

We did find out today that we could go on a few field trips, so we will plan on attending the nature trails out at UNF, the Marine Science Center on March 6th, a play sometime in April (I think) and our end of the year trip on June 4th! We will need parents for all trips, so let us know if your parents want to attend one or all of the trips!

Mrs. Rowan is heading to the downtown library tomorrow- and then I think we will be at the Parade on Monday with Mr. Rowan's basketball team! If we see you out .. don't forget to wave!

Enjoy your four day break!