The end

Yesterday was "the end" of another year of school. It was a packed day of activities!

First, Mr. Garber's band students played some songs for us! I was SO PROUD ... three of the performers are former Ms. Leom alums -

It was also pajama day (or comfy clothes) day. These two students had matching jammies and robes -

Ms. Leom, an avid reader, invited all of her students to pick out a new book for their own libraries -

We also had a sing along with the Grinch. Then we HAD TO sing it again, because it is an excellent opportunity to develop reading fluency - and it is so FUN to sing with your class and emphasize your favorite lines!

We wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! Students are invited to email Ms. Leom and share the highlights of their Winter Break (writing and keyboarding practice and she really is thinking about her kids and their adventures!)

See you in 2013!

Grinch Folders

On Monday, we made Grinch Folders. This learning tool is an opportunity to develop our organizational skills. All of our Grinch learning should be placed in these folders. The folders are not to go home until the end of the week.

What I LOVE about these folders ... each student started out with the same materials and directions, and yet all the folders are so unique! It was fun to see what expression could be created by adding the eyebrows and other details. Each folder turned out perfectly!

Guest Readers

On Wednesday morning, we welcomed guest readers into class. Mr. Meyer read, How the Grinch Stole Christmas to Ms. Prose and Ms. Leom's students.

 Then Mr. Voshell read the story to Mr. Lundeen and Mr. Greninger's students.

 After appreciating our guest readers and their skills, we started our learning skills for today. First, we talked about Author's Purpose and Perspective.

Next, we worked on Cause and Effect. Ms. Prose reread parts of the book for us to help with our skills. She shared her best tool for determining Cause and Effect. She finds the effect first, then she explains why the event happened (the cause). Ms. Leom shared her best tools, she uses clue words: "because", "as a result of", "so", and many more. Ms. Leom also writes the word, "Because" at the start of the cause section of the graphic organizer. It helps her brain sort the information. (These tips may not work or make sense to read about, but we hope for some students in the class, one of the tips might make some sense in his/her brain to be helpful).

It was another fun, Grinchy day in fourth grade! Special appreciation for our administrative staff! We only need to watch and listen to them read to realize they are TEACHERS first, and their "principal" titles are additional skills they use in our building.

Funny how "Grinchy" means crabby, selfish, mean, and other negative traits, yet during this week, our "Grinchy" learning is bringing out all the antonyms of the Grinch himself ... !

My Kids

This is a picture of my students and families. Every year, I take pictures of my students and their families at Open House and throughout the year, it is a constant reminder of my responsibilities to their parents and families to keep them safe, to help them learn, and to appreciate and develop the many gifts they bring to my class - especially the ones that are not measured on tests or on a report card.

I didn't have any words to share with you this weekend, or even yesterday. I am not sure I have any words today. So I send a picture, of words that can not be spoken, I care. These are the first images I see when I arrive every morning, and one of the last images I see when I leave. We are reminded every time we walk through the door. The students I work with are special. They are my kids.

Sincerely,
Michele

Grinch Week

It is Grinch Week in fourth grade. When one typically thinks about the Grinch, they are reminded of the mean, cuddly as a cactus ... bad banana with a greasy, black peel ... green guy ... (for the musical version, Grinch).

In fourth grade, it is an opportunity to harness all that energy our students don't know what to do with during this time of the year ... an opportunity to review the many focus skills and learning from the first part of the year: character traits, compare and contrast, subjects and predicates, cause and effect, author's purpose ... and an opportunity to enjoy our students and have some fun ... who knew kids and fun better than Dr. Seuss himself?!

Stay tuned to more pictures and updates of all things "Grinch-related" later this week!

(Note: Special thanks and appreciation to our own personal shopper, Mrs. Arens, who outfitted our teaching team. As green in the color assigned to fourth grade in the elementary school, we are thrilled with another addition to our green collection!)

Memory Alert

In November, Ms. Leom started reading a message alerting her to limitation in blog memory. Apparently, when you load pictures, it takes up a lot of memory... Ms. Leom takes a LOT of pictures and limitations in memory isn't a new idea to her ... she even learned how to shrink the picture file size, but apparently that wasn't enough ... How do you pick the "most important" pictures?! EVERY student is important! So Ms. Leom "took a break" to determine the best solution ... then she deleted all the posts from last year ... then she thought some more about it ...

Stay tuned. The blog is still alive ... it just needed some "problem solving think time" ...

White Out Wednesday

Since it was White Out Wednesday (also known as "W.O.W.", where students wear white to stand up against bullying), Ms. Leom thought it was the PERFECT day to write our spelling words in shaving cream ...

Just a word to the wise ... it is NOT whipped ... tasting is not advised ... (only one student missed the "it is a type of soap" message this year ... )

W.O.W.

It was W.O.W. at Milaca Elementary. Students dressed in white to show their awareness to the need to stand up against bullying.

Ms. Leom's Fourth Grade Class

 Even our administration got in on the action ...

Mr. Meyer, Mr. Voshell, Mr. Hanson, Mr. Patnode, Mr. Foss

The last weekend in November is nationally known as "Bully Awareness Week". It is a BIG deal in Milaca! On Monday, we invited "Omega Man" to talk to us (see past post) ... on Tuesday, we brainstormed ways to prevent bullying and wrote our goal on a hand we posted on our lockers ...

On Wednesday, the school wore white for White Out Wednesday (W.O.W.), and Mr. Meyer invited us into Dahlager Theater to talk about school expectations ...

Mr. Greninger's class

Ms. Leom's class

Mr. Meyer, our assistant principal

volunteers to demonstrate, "Take 3 Before 4"

one of our own helps Mr. Meyer model being assertive

Tomorrow, on Thursday, students who say, "Thank you" will be recognized.

Milaca Elementary is a safe place to learn. We work at it EACH and EVERY DAY, ALL DAY LONG at being a safe school to learn. We are part of a 1000 + community, and it takes EVERYONE to be involved, to stand up, to speak up, and to do what is right. We are human, we make mistakes, and we are THANKFUL to be part of a learning community that helps us strive to be better each day.

W.O.W.!

Thank You!

"Thank you!" These two little words can not be used enough! Thank you to our FABULOUS parents and all the work they do to prepare their students for life! Thank you to our community that works together and supports our school! Thank you to our extended families of siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins who help out in hundreds of ways, often not ever recognized!

In fourth grade, we have a learning goal to write friendly letters, a learning goal to write addresses, and a sincere effort to our students to make their learning purposeful and meaningful. When we looked at our goals, writing thank you notes was a fantastic activity!

In September, we started by having students learn and practice their addresses. In October, we gave them their own address books and encouraged them to fill the books and use them. In November, we asked students to record the host's name and address for their Thanksgiving meal, in their planner for the days we didn't have school. This week, we used our letter writing skills to craft a thank you note. We applied our address writing practice to learn how to properly address an envelope. Finally, we mailed our thank yous!

on our way to the mailbox

mailing our cards

on our way to the mailbox

mailing our cards

mailing our cards

THANK YOU!!

Omega Man

Today, "Omega Man" came to our school. This national speaker visited our school to share his message about bullying. Omega man believes you can be a "dream maker" or a "dream breaker".

These two volunteers demonstrated the bar of steel was real.

Using a phone book, as "The Book of Bad Choices", Omega man illustrates how we can't change the past, but we can rip up our book of bad choices and start making healthier choices today.

the bad choices pages cascade around him

Omega man also told us to have goals and dreams. You need to hold onto your dreams with two hands, even when "dream breakers" come with their lies, their distractions, their stealing, and their bad choices that try to take your dreams away from you.

 Omega man should us how we are all on the path to reach our dreams, "If you believe it, you can achieve it!" He used the iron bar he bent to show us how sometimes, we may find ourselves in a "new direction", and by changing our choices, we can be back on our path.

 Omega man had a volunteer empty a tube of toothpaste. The tube of toothpaste represented ourselves. The toothpaste was our words, choices, and actions. Once we share our words, choices, and actions, there is no way to get them back. Like toothpaste, they get on your hands and get smeared around. He encouraged us to be dream makers and make respectful choices with our words.

Omega man also explained how we can be on the path following our dreams, when a "deceptor" comes along. A deceptor is "one little lie" or one poor choice. It itself, it isn't very heavy, and we can still be working and moving toward our dreams. A deceptor, can start to lead us off track. Soon, we find ourselves with a "distractor". We have made Many poor choices. It is hard to move toward our goal with all of our bad choices weighing on us and slowing us down.

still able to move forward, our progress is difficult

 Fifth grade teacher, Mr. Wedin modeled a "desctructor". These are the significant bad choices that more or less stall us from reaching our dreams. In the end, deceptor; although the smallest of bad choices, is the biggest problem of all. Many deceptors can grow into distractors. Ultimately, YOU are responsible for the choices you make.

Mr. Wedin climbed on Omega Man's back for a ride.

You are the one responsible.

 Omega man had another illustration for us. He held up a dollar and asked who in the audience wanted it. Nearly everyone raised their hand. Then he "spit on it" ... rubbed it under his arm ... and stomped on it. Still there were people who wanted this dollar. Omega man asked, "Why?" Many members of the audience told him, because "it has value". Omega Man told us, that EACH OF US has value. We are important. We need to find the value in everyone.

"Find the value in everyone"

Omega Man wants us to be "HEROS" - "Help Everyone Respect Others".

Finally, Omega Man broke a baseball bat. Some of our students took a moment to compare their muscles.

Defending our school against bullying