Help Support Our Classroom!

DonorsChoose.org is an amazing website dedicated to getting teachers the materials they need to help students learn.  Our classroom currently has a project posted on this website (you can access our page if you click HERE).  Our classroom needs nonfiction books and materials to help make social studies more engaging.  By supporting our classroom with these books, you're helping students get a better and much more fun social studies education that will stick with them for years to come.

The project is currently eligible for a special dollar matching event from the National Education Association (NEA) which means our project is half funded through them!  Right now we would get a HUGE set of books for only $152 more dollars.  If you're able to help our classroom at all with a monetary donation, this is a PERFECT way to support us!

Thank you in advance for your generous support!

DonorsChoose.org: Bringing Social Studies Alive!

Help our class bring literacy and social studies together in an exciting form!  Our class uses an AMAZING site called DonorsChoose.org to submit projects for supplies that our classroom needs to help all students become successful readers and help bring social studies alive in an engaging format.  Visit the link HERE to see our current project and help support our class.  AND, since our project JUST posted, the DonorsChoose.org Board of Directors will match any donations made by using the promo code INSPIRE.  Enter that in at check out and double your donation!  Thanks so much for supporting this wonderful group of students!

THANK YOU and Enjoy Spring Break

I cannot express my excitement and thanks for your generous support of our class's DonorsChoose project.  You came in during that last second and funded all 13 nonfiction book sets - the kids are going to be THRILLED!

I'm off for a week of rest and relaxation and I hope that you all have a great week off and we will see you the 22nd!

Our Project Expires May 13th - We Need Your Help!!

Our DonorsChoose project is about to expire - only 34 days left.  We are SO close to getting our books funded.  We are talking 13 sets of 5 books that are amazing nonfiction.  Every little bit helps so PLEASE think about donating or share with friends and family to encourage their donations to help North Beach!  Thank you in advance for your help and support of this amazing project!!

DOUBLE Your Donation on DonorsChoose!

 

Now, through March 19th, you can enter the match code INSPIRE and have your donation DOUBLED!  Click on the picture above to get taken directly to our NEWEST project for class where we are trying to get an iPad to help add more technology for our classroom.  We also have our other book project open right now for donations as well!

 

Thanks for your donations!

 

Valentine's Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day!  As a reminder, we will NOT be having a class party and I will be providing a small treat for all of the students.  However, if you'd like to bring in Valentine's Day cards for the whole class, your student is welcome!  We will pass out cards after lunch time and have our small celebration together before break. 

In the Valentine's Day spirit, if you're interested in donating to our DonorsChoose class project, click HERE and enter the donation match code HEART in the checkout box to double your contribution!  We are trying to fund an amazing set of nonfiction books for future book clubs and to keep nonfiction reading exciting in our classroom.  Any donation helps us get toward our goal - we still have $469 to go so tell friends and family who are interested in donating! 

In writing we are starting our revision process on our informational article tomorrow, so students should have their second draft completely written out by tomorrow.  We have been working on each step in class this week and students were given plenty of time in class to get most, if not all, of this done.  Revising and editing is a huge part of the writing process, and honestly the hardest part for most students so we will be spending a big part of next week working on that process. 

Students are also encouraged to wear pink/purple/red for Valentine's Day spirit tomorrow.  If they do, they will get bonus points for their group and start off their new group points strong! 

New Spelling and DonorsChoose

We FINALLY got to take our reading MAP test (thank goodness there were no more rescheduling or I think the class would have lost it).  Scores should be online soon on The Source so keep an eye out for those.

A big thank you to one of our fabulous room parents, Angie, who found out another DonorsChoose matching code for our class if you're interested in donating to our Nonfiction Book Club project that is currently open and ready for funding!  If you would like to donate to our classroom, this is a great way!  Enter the match code HORACEMANN12 and Horace Mann Companies will match your donation of up to $100 - can't beat that!  We still have a long way to go on our project (it's expensive but worth every penny) so please donate anything you can!  :)

New spelling words are here for the week of 1/28 and I thought I would post them online just in case they suddenly go missing, which I know happens to several students!  :)  This week's words:

1. worry
2. dizzy
3. drowsy
4. stingy
5. beauty
6. beautiful
7. prairie
8. gallery
9. bury
10. jockey
11. forty
12. movie
13. journey
14. volley
15. zombie
16. goalie
17. cookie
18. chimney
19. very
20. turkey 

Spelling will take place on Thursday (as per usual) and just a reminder there is no school February 1st (next Friday).  Have a wonderful weekend!  :)

Nonfiction DonorsChoose Project!

The holidays are here and with the spirit of holiday giving, there are very few things that I need.  Several families have asked what I "want" for a holiday gift and while that is terribly generous, there really isn't anything I can think of!  So I wanted to let  you know that we have a brand new DonorsChoose project that just got posted that is SO important for our classroom.  If you are interested in getting a holiday gift, I would direct you to our project to give in lieu of a present.  This project is for several sets of nonfiction books that would bring nonfiction reading alive for our classroom.  There are so many fascinating things to read and learn about but with the limited number of books that our classroom and school library have available, the resources are severely limited.  This project provides sets of 5 books (so students aren't all clamoring for one book, like I am experiencing now since I have 2 new books in such high demand!) and will allow students to also read in small book groups to discuss their learning with other students. 

To make it better, right now DonorsChoose has a matching event going on now where if you enter the match code INSPIRE, the people at DonorsChoose will double your contribution!  This is a BIG project, which means it will take a while for us to raise the money.  However, with match codes like these, every little bit counts for so much more!

Thanks in advance for your donations and continued support of our classroom.  I really appreciate it!

If you're interested in making a smaller donation to our classroom, any nonfiction books, specifically about animals, space, or weather, would be greatly appreciated!  You can donate some nonfiction books in your child's name and I will put a sticker in the book that will show their donation for many years to come!

Welcome Back! :)

Welcome back from break!  I enjoyed getting to meet with you all this past week and I hope that you all had lovely Thanksgivings!  I enjoyed some relaxing time at home with my puppy and tried to stay healthy!  There are a lot of germs going around so make sure you emphasize to your students about hand washing, especially after using the restroom and before eating, that would be great so we all stay healthy!  :)

Book orders will be coming home tomorrow with students.  If you're interested in buying books for your student for holiday gifts, please email me and let me know that they are surprises so that we can arrange pick ups in more discrete ways.  :)  I am happy to arrange those pick ups after school or can leave them in the office for you to pick up after school.  Books make great holiday gifts!  :)

Speaking of books, this week we are starting our focus on nonfiction reading in class.  Some students cheered in delight while others groaned at the sound of nonfiction.  While it may not be the favorite of the class it is very important that students are reading more nonfiction as they mature to make sure that they are able to learn from texts but also to gain valuable nonfiction reading skills.  Middle school teachers consistently complain of a lack of competency in nonfiction reading so we want to bump up that reading both at school and at home.  A great strategy is to encourage students to read more nonfiction based on their interests and also buying (or checking out books from the library) that are nonfiction.  Often nonfiction has more academic language and is therefore at a much higher reading level than fiction books.  This generally means that students are going to need more help reading those challenging books.  Offer to read the books with your student or ask them what they are reading to make sure that they are understanding what is read!  You may learn something new as well!

Lastly, I just created a request for my classroom: Help Us Get Moving!  If you chip in to help my students, you'll get awesome photos and our heartfelt thanks. Give to my project by November 28 and your donation will be doubled thanks to the DonorsChoose.org Board of Directors! Just enter the code INSPIRE on the payment page and you'll be matched dollar for dollar. Your support would mean so much to us!  As many families have already asked what I am interested in getting for the holidays (you guys spoil me!) this is a great way to support our classroom in a meaningful way that will help our students a lot! 

Thanks for your support for our classroom in advance!

We Need Your Help!

Our class needs your help with an amazing donation incentive brought to us by Donorschoose.org.  For those of you unfamiliar with the site (please visit it, it's AMAZING) it is a non-profit website geared toward people donating money to classroom projects submitted by the teacher for things that the classroom needs or wants.

Donors Choose is starting an AMAZING incentive program where people (like you generous folks!) may go online and purchase a gift card for a future project for our classroom (and I have about 2 in the works).  Here is where it gets even better - now through October 15th, DonorsChoose will DOUBLE your contribution if you enter the code word PUMPKIN in at check out!  That can make a HUGE impact on our class and provide a huge benefit throughout our school.

If you are interested in supporting our class, please visit this link: http://www.donorschoose.org/we-teach/381550 and don't forget to enter the word PUMPKIN in at check out.

Thanks in advance for your continued support of our classroom!

Dollar Matching with DonorsChoose!!

It's back again! The excitement is building this spring over at DonorsChoose.org!! This week only DonorsChoose.org has a FANTASTIC dollar matching offer this week. For every dollar you donate, DonorsChoose.org will match that dollar amount.

If you're interested in donating to our classroom project, click here. We are getting so close to help our classroom AND school library by getting a lot of new books. Anything that you can give is so helpful. When you are checking out, enter the match code BLOOM and your money will be matched dollar for dollar!

Thank you in advance for supporting our classroom and school!