We are off to a great start this school year. The third and fourth graders being in a classroom together has worked out beautifully. For those of you who did not have a chance to visit during back to school night, our schedule goes something like this:
9 AM - third grade math (independent math work/practice. from 10:15-10-40)
1/2 of the fourth graders to Miss Grover for math, the other 1/2 do small literacy groups including a rotation with Mrs. Vala.
10:40-10:50 - recess
10:50-12:20 Whole group, but differentiated spelling, vocabulary, and reading.
lunch
12:50-2:30 - 3rd grade and half of fourth grade in small literacy groups, while the other half of fourth grade go to Miss Grover for math.
2:30-2:45 -recess
2:45-3:45 - science, art, social studies, leader in me (not all in the same day, just depends on what we are learning that week/day!)
We have computers, library, PE, assemblies and our fine arts specialist mixed in among that schedule, but that is the main idea.
We have been learning so much about being leaders in our classroom. Each student has a leadership role in the classroom or school and they are doing a great job so far. We have learned to be proactive, which means we make our own choices, choose our own attitudes and "carry our own weather." We decide to be proactive or reactive in every situation. Students are getting really good at self identifying when they have made reactive or proactive choices. Part of being proactive is doing the right thing, even when nobody is watching.
We also learned about our circle of control and our circle of no control. We want to focus on the things in our lives that we can control (our mood, how we react to others' choices, and the choices we make ourselves.) Our circle of no control include other peoples' choices, the weather, etc. We will be moving onto the next habit next week.
Items coming up:
Reflections Contest: this year's theme is "The World Would Be A Better Place If..." You can get entry forms, or find more information online at http://www.utahpta.org/reflections . Our wonderful Newsletter leader, Dylan, will also include more information in an upcoming newsletter he is creating for our classroom's students. Watch for it!
SEP conferences: These will be held on September 23 and 24. Please sign up online at SEP ONLINE SCHEDULER A green flier with directions for signing in was sent home today, Sep. 11th. If you do not have the flier, follow the link, and enter the password Phoenix368 . If you do not know your student's ID, there is an option to look it up on this site. I look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible.
Help your child with spelling and math online! In addition to the links I have here on this page, I have added a couple new things that will hopefully be helpful if you are searching for another way to help your child grasp a concept, or their spelling or vocab. You can visit Spelling and Vocab City by following that link or copying and pasting www.spellingcity.com/rvala Choose the spelling and vocab list that is the same number as that week's homework packet (if the packet says 3 at the top, choose the grade level, and list 3) There are practice spelling tests and games that students can use to help them. Every student also has a Go Math! student login that they can use from home. The student can use their student number for both their name and password. If you need the student number I can give it to you at SEP conferences, or you can email me at [email protected] The website is www-k6.thinkcentral.com .
Some of you signed up to volunteer, and some of you may still be interested. I can use volunteers throughout the year for parties and field trips. If you would like to come on a more regular basis, I would love to have help when we do our small group rotations from about 1 PM until 2:30 PM as well. Help is always warmly appreciated when we do science experiments, too! 30 eager students creates a fun atmosphere, but we can have even more fun with more help :-) Please email me if you want to come regularly, or just want to help out once in a while. If you have already expressed interest, I will be contacting you soon.
Thank you so much to those of you who were able to donate classroom supplies and items to our classroom leadership store these past few weeks. The students are so excited to spend their leadership points at the end of each month. If you are still looking for something to donate - we could still use the following items:
- healthy snacks
-hand soap (there is plenty of hand sanitizer!)
- Leadership store items (pre-Halloween is a great time to find stuff and party and craft stores in bulk.)
Finally, please visit gradebook if you would like to know how your student is doing. I try to add at least one assignment per subject per week. I enter monthly scores for things we do on a daily basis to make it more manageable, so at the end of each month look for homework scores, workshop (small group rotation) scores, self start scores, vocab scores, etc. Thanks for being patient. You can always email me if you want to know of a score sooner.
As always, please contact me if you have questions or need any information.
- Mrs. Vala
9 AM - third grade math (independent math work/practice. from 10:15-10-40)
1/2 of the fourth graders to Miss Grover for math, the other 1/2 do small literacy groups including a rotation with Mrs. Vala.
10:40-10:50 - recess
10:50-12:20 Whole group, but differentiated spelling, vocabulary, and reading.
lunch
12:50-2:30 - 3rd grade and half of fourth grade in small literacy groups, while the other half of fourth grade go to Miss Grover for math.
2:30-2:45 -recess
2:45-3:45 - science, art, social studies, leader in me (not all in the same day, just depends on what we are learning that week/day!)
We have computers, library, PE, assemblies and our fine arts specialist mixed in among that schedule, but that is the main idea.
We have been learning so much about being leaders in our classroom. Each student has a leadership role in the classroom or school and they are doing a great job so far. We have learned to be proactive, which means we make our own choices, choose our own attitudes and "carry our own weather." We decide to be proactive or reactive in every situation. Students are getting really good at self identifying when they have made reactive or proactive choices. Part of being proactive is doing the right thing, even when nobody is watching.
We also learned about our circle of control and our circle of no control. We want to focus on the things in our lives that we can control (our mood, how we react to others' choices, and the choices we make ourselves.) Our circle of no control include other peoples' choices, the weather, etc. We will be moving onto the next habit next week.
Items coming up:
Reflections Contest: this year's theme is "The World Would Be A Better Place If..." You can get entry forms, or find more information online at http://www.utahpta.org/reflections . Our wonderful Newsletter leader, Dylan, will also include more information in an upcoming newsletter he is creating for our classroom's students. Watch for it!
SEP conferences: These will be held on September 23 and 24. Please sign up online at SEP ONLINE SCHEDULER A green flier with directions for signing in was sent home today, Sep. 11th. If you do not have the flier, follow the link, and enter the password Phoenix368 . If you do not know your student's ID, there is an option to look it up on this site. I look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible.
Help your child with spelling and math online! In addition to the links I have here on this page, I have added a couple new things that will hopefully be helpful if you are searching for another way to help your child grasp a concept, or their spelling or vocab. You can visit Spelling and Vocab City by following that link or copying and pasting www.spellingcity.com/rvala Choose the spelling and vocab list that is the same number as that week's homework packet (if the packet says 3 at the top, choose the grade level, and list 3) There are practice spelling tests and games that students can use to help them. Every student also has a Go Math! student login that they can use from home. The student can use their student number for both their name and password. If you need the student number I can give it to you at SEP conferences, or you can email me at [email protected] The website is www-k6.thinkcentral.com .
Some of you signed up to volunteer, and some of you may still be interested. I can use volunteers throughout the year for parties and field trips. If you would like to come on a more regular basis, I would love to have help when we do our small group rotations from about 1 PM until 2:30 PM as well. Help is always warmly appreciated when we do science experiments, too! 30 eager students creates a fun atmosphere, but we can have even more fun with more help :-) Please email me if you want to come regularly, or just want to help out once in a while. If you have already expressed interest, I will be contacting you soon.
Thank you so much to those of you who were able to donate classroom supplies and items to our classroom leadership store these past few weeks. The students are so excited to spend their leadership points at the end of each month. If you are still looking for something to donate - we could still use the following items:
- healthy snacks
-hand soap (there is plenty of hand sanitizer!)
- Leadership store items (pre-Halloween is a great time to find stuff and party and craft stores in bulk.)
Finally, please visit gradebook if you would like to know how your student is doing. I try to add at least one assignment per subject per week. I enter monthly scores for things we do on a daily basis to make it more manageable, so at the end of each month look for homework scores, workshop (small group rotation) scores, self start scores, vocab scores, etc. Thanks for being patient. You can always email me if you want to know of a score sooner.
As always, please contact me if you have questions or need any information.
- Mrs. Vala