Safety Talk

This afternoon, Officer Boser visited our classroom (Officer Shaw visited Mr. Greninger's classroom) to share the annual safety talk.

Officer Boser

He reminded us that if we are out at night, we need to:
- wear reflective clothing or light colored clothing
- use a flashlight
- stay in the light
- go with an adult



If we are going Trick-or-Treating, we need to:
- go with an adult or other kids
- only visit home that have their lights on
- visit homes of people we know
- avoid entering homes of strangers
- check our candy

If there is an emergency, we need to:
- call 9-1-1
- share our names
- share our parents' names ("mom" & "dad" isn't helpful)
- share our phone numbers
- tell our location, or give details

Officer Boser also mentioned that he likes Snickers ... and Police Chief Quaintance and him would welcome a five gallon bucket of candy donations ... We enjoyed his visit ... he knew just what to say, and how to say it ... to take our enthusiastic energy and engage us ...

We appreciate our local law enforcement and their support to the safety of our students and commitment to our community!

Book Projects

This week, we started sharing our Book Projects. Book Projects are due on the first day of the new month. For the first time, we started presenting early. The due date came the day after Halloween ... the last day of the First Quarter ... amid vision screening ... and the day before a workshop day ...

It is SO exciting! The students are prepared! Their creativity is oozing! So proud ...

a scrapbook

a book jacket

a game board

an ABC book

a game board

postcards

t-shirt

life-size characters

word find & sales

message board

game

game board

game boa

scrapbook

game board

message board

game board

wanted poster & mobile

board game

board game

a game board

a cartoon

What we LOVE about book projects ...
 * students will speak clearly for the audience (our learning goal)
 * students will listen respectfully to the speaker (our learning goal)
 * students can read the same book and present it in different ways
 * students can complete the same project and set it up many different ways
 * students develop pride and a sense of accomplishment

SO PROUD!!!

On the Prairie

Last week, we read "On the Banks of Plum Creek" in our Story Town text book. We learned it isn't a biography, but the series by Laura Ingalls Wilder is an example of historical fiction. After reading the story this week, we watched the first episode of the television series ...

We have big plans of more activities to expand our pioneer learning, including an "Pioneer Day Extravaganza" ... it had to be "reworked into our schedule" to accommodate OPLA (MCA Math Practice Test), vision screening, the end of the quarter, a workshop day, the election ... it is a busy time of year!

Stay tuned ...

Announcing ... Mrs. Vickers!

Last Thursday October 25th, Mrs. Vickers came to Ms. Leom's room to videotape our version of The Pledge.

The process ...

Mrs. Vickers

The result ...

this week, we are featured on the announcements

(Notice, we are wearing our purple and gold Vikings Pride!)

Mrs. Vickers is our Media Specialist. We are so thankful for the talents she shares in our school! She personally sees to the daily episode of announcements ... she worked closely with fifth grade teacher Mrs. Willman and third grade teacher Mrs. Arens to develop "the Math Wolf" ... she runs the Elementary Kurth Media Center ... oversees the library, both computer labs, much of the technology equipment ... she is the first "go-to" person for the "smart boards" in the classrooms ... she is a go-to person for many of our technology initiatives in the Elementary ... she is a leader for our "I Love to Read" activities including the pepfest and arranging for authors to visit our school ... she maintains our vast library materials ... AND she TEACHES ... keyboarding, media, technology, researching ... and with these many talents, she wears a smile and knows most of 1000-plus staff, students, and many families. Mrs. Vickers is a wonder woman, often behind the scenes, and we are thankful she is ours!!!

Thank you, Mrs. Vickers! You are appreciate you!

W.O.W.

Last week, on Wednesday October 24th, we at White-Out-Wednesday. Milaca staff and students joined together and wore white to show our commitment to end bullying. We know it will take more than wearing white. To end bullying, it will take EVERY person in our school. It will take communicating. It takes serious commitment and follow through. You can see, we are serious in this journey. W.O.W. is one reminder of our on-going commitment ...

Book Project Changes

Book Projects are trickling into school as student enthusiasm and excitement builds to share creative masterpieces!

The last day to make changes to the book or book  project is on Thursday October 25th. This is a purposeful deadline. It is unrealistic to expect a fourth grade student to READ and complete a PROJECT successfully in less than a week. It also strongly encourages students to be making progress on their projects prior to the "night before" (also known as "Halloween" this month or the often busy Wednesday night). We want Book Projects to be FUN - the stress of waiting until the last minute can jeopardize the fun.

If you have questions, PLEASE encourage your fourth grader to talk to Ms. Leom! (Parents can also contact her at 982-7113 or by email at michele.leom@milaca.k12.mn.us)

OLPA's

This week, fourth grade students are participating in the OLPAs.

OLPA's stand for "Optional Location Purpose Assessment" (not "Oompa Loompa" as Ms. Leom's imaginative brain tries to interpret when she reads the acronym). To Ms. Leom, this means the "MCA Math Practice Test".

 Minnesota has made some recent changes to the yearly testing of students. Some of examples of the changes, students will be taking the MCAs on the computer. In the past, the tests were fill-in-the-bubble on an answer sheet with a number two pencil tests. For the Math portion, students will have opportunities to take a practice test (OLPA) in the Fall and Winter to determine if students are on track for the Spring test.

We welcome the opportunity to gather data on individual students, so we can plan specifically for the learning needs of each student. 

You can learn more about Minnesota's MCA Testing, OLPAs, and more by visiting the Minnesota Department of Education webpage.

Intentions

This week for 2nd Step, we met in our classroom community to talk about "intentions".

We talked about the difference between accidents (not done on purpose) and intentional acts (done with a purpose).

We had our characters, Steven (seated) and Gary (standing).

Our scenario ... After Recess, Gary found funny stickers all over his desk. He thinks someone is trying to make fun of him.

We talked about how Gary might be feeling (mad, confused, embarrassed) and how we could tell (His lips make a line, hand on his hip, stiff body).

We also talked about if Gary had enough information to know what another person intended. There may be many reasons for a person's actions. This leads to a long discussion ...

- What are some reasons why the stickers might be on his desk (They stuck to someone's sleeve, someone thought it was their desk, they though Gary would sincerely enjoy them) ...

- What does Gary need to know (Who and why) ...

- What might happen if Gary doesn't find out (He might stay upset) ...

Then we met Steven. Steven didn't intend to hurt Gary's feelings. Steven is Gary's best friend. He put the stickers on Gary's desk. His goal was to make Gary laugh, not make fun of him. Now he sees that Gary is upset.

- What should Steven do now? (Be honest and talk to Gary).

- How might he explain his intention? (He could apologize and offer to clean the stickers off.)

What should Gary do? (Accept Steven's apology. Tell Steven how he feels).

Next, we shared our own experiences when we unintentionally caused a problem for someone else and how we handled it.

Finally, we summarized our learning ... We don't always know what a person's intentions are unless we ask questions and talk about it. Our plan:
1.) Calm ourselves
2.) Gather more information by asking questions: Who did it? Why?

Sometimes we hurt or cause problems that we don't intend for other people. when this happens, we should explain our intention and apologize.

Our intention is to help students learn about social situations and help them develop strategies to successfully navigate their world. The BEST part about our community lessons, when you see students applying what they learned!

Swimming Fun!

Today, fourth grade went to the Milaca High School Swimming Pool. We are thankful to have our certified lifeguard, Mrs. Printy watching over us!

To participate, students needed to have their Responsibility Card. All homework needed to be completed and turned into the respected teacher. Students needed to make smart choices and follow the school character traits (a.k.a. no "discipline referrals" since our last reward on October 5), and remember your permission slip, swim suit, towel, and a bag.

We LOVE this reward! It is one of our most successful rewards, and many students' memories (homework, permission slips, and swim gear) are working at their highest success rate.

Here are some pictures of some of our participants ...

Learning the rules

Let the fun begin!

Every year, Ms. Leom likes to take a picture of everyone jumping in at the same time ...

Mrs. Arens and Mr. Greninger watching the swimmers

Our lifeguard at work

lining up after swimming to return to our classrooms

It is high school girls swim season. The pool is cooler than what fourth graders prefer ... Usually, we can only swim in the pool for an hour. This year, when we had the opportunity to swim longer, we were thrilled! We are very thankful for the opportunity to use the high school pool. It is a reward that many elementary schools are unable to provide to their students.

Congratulations to this round of responsible students!