Blogging Break

Where did May go?  It seems like May lasted forever and yet was over in the blink of an eye!

Testing, testing, and more testing really took over for the month of May and I completely hopped off the blogging bus lately.  I apologize for those of you who have been checking in - things have just been bonkers around here.

And to top things off, as many of you have heard, I have recently accepted a new position for next year.  While I have had an amazing three years at North Beach, I am so excited for my new challenge as a math intervention specialist at Broadview-Thomson K-8 and share my passion for math with some 7th and 8th graders!  Making this transition is so exciting and I appreciate all of the support that the teachers and families at North Beach have given me over the years and through this time of transition - I will miss you all!

Camp Write Along Thursday!

Make sure you are ready for our writing camp on Thursday by bringing in supplies for the camp tomorrow!  Students are welcome to bring any or all of the following:

• A flashlight
• A sleeping bag or blanket
• A pillow

We have PLENTY of tents, so no more of those are needed.  The supplies can be kept at school over night so they are ready to go for our full day camp on Thursday.  I can't wait to greet you all for camp!  Write CAMP on your planner for Wednesday for bonus table points!

WOW!

What an AMAZING performance by the Soweto Gospel Choir today!  It was so amazing to see such enthusiasm and such a colorful performance!  I loved seeing the kids get up and dance and really enjoying the performance!

Students are coming home with a writing packet that is homework for over break.  There is a writing prompt in preparation for the MSP that talks about what they did over spring break so I am hoping to see some great writing!  The MSP is only 2 weeks away and we can use all the practice we can get - please keep an eye out for it and make sure that your student is budgeting time for it!

Enjoy spring break and I will see you all April 21st!

The Final 8 Are In!

The votes have been tallied and our "sweet 16" books have been whittled down to a top 8 choices for the year!

Holes, Frindle, The Junkyard Wonders, and Sarah, Plain and Tall are in the top 8....

And rounding out the top 8 are Alvin Ho, Clementine, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, and Stone Fox.  The class is SO into voting so I can't wait to see how the voting breaks down now that the competition in getting tougher!  

Our first "Final 8" vote is between Alvin Ho and Clementine - I really don't know how the votes are going to break down!  They are both GREAT read alouds from this year and I can't even choose a favorite - stay tuned to find out how the voting comes together later this week!  Write VOTE on your planner for Wednesday to get bonus table points (we are so close to our rewards!).

Just a quick reminder that tomorrow we have our field trip to Carkeek Park to release our salmon - dress for the weather.  If you're able to go on the trip, PLEASE email me ASAP as we still need more chaperones.  There is no cost for chaperones so I hope you can make it!  Friday we also have another field trip to Meany Hall on UW campus to see the Soweto Gospel Choir which is sure to be an AMAZING performance!  

Donations Needed in P4

Spring is officially here (and talk about GORGEOUS weather we are having today!) and so our classroom wishlist has a few items on it I wanted to bring to your attention.

P4 would greatly love some new whiteboard markers - we use the markers daily and we are running really low.  They are a great way to conserve paper and get multiple practices done in a small space - they are life savers in math!  Costco has great deals on the dry erase markers in bulk if you're a member - we would love any and all donations of white board markers.

We also are gearing up for a couple of spring projects and need some empty egg cartons.  If you have extras lying around, we would love to take them off of your hands.

Thank you in advance for your support of our classroom.  Any materials brought in are worth bonus table points, so let's see what we can do together!

Paragraph Revisions

Writing is a HUGE focus for us now as we are gearing up for the MSP (which is only 4 short weeks away!) so today we revisited the process of revising!  Students have really been slacking on their writing and really creating no revisions of any meaning in their writing - what a shame!  So today I took an actual paragraph that was submitted in our last final draft and we are completely remodeling it!

We started with the paragraph a the top of the page - BORING!  Together we came up with a real character description of the looks AND actions this character could have.  Tomorrow students will turn in their revised paragraphs and I can't wait to see what they came up with!

March Reading Madness

March Madness has entered the classroom and we are voting our hearts out for our favorite books of the year!  The idea was inspired by this wonderful classroom post and I just HAD to get things started in our classroom!  The rules are simple, I created and laminated (for future use!) a bracket system like we see in the NCAA tournament.  Then, I assigned books to each of the bracket positions - a mixture of books we have read together this year and some of my favorites that are quick reads.  Then, we let the voting begin!  As you can see below, I have each child's picture laminated and that is their voting ticket - I give students a few days to vote for their favorites by placing their picture in the coordinating pockets and we see where the voting falls at the end of the voting period (I usually give students two days, but depending on the excitement for a particular book, we don't need that long!)

 Here are our "Sweet 16" books - Holes, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Frindle, Knuffle Bunny, The Junkyard Wonders, Strega Nona, Sarah, Plain and Tall, A Light in the Attic, Alvin Ho, Paul Bunyan, Clementine, Treasure Island (Graphic Novel), Owl Moon, If You Give a Moose a Muffin, Stone Fox, and The Talking Eggs.

Students are given two choices to vote between and we see where the voting falls!

Below, in baskets, are set of books that we haven't already read together - it gets kids reading and sometimes even reading books they normally wouldn't have chosen on their own which makes any teacher very happy!  

Write MM on your planner for MONDAY for bonus points!  I will be out tomorrow so show the sub what great students P4 has!  :)