Safety

Officer Shaw, our Police Liaison Officer visited our classroom on Wednesday morning. This is an annual event, and we are thankful for the time he shares to connect with our K-4 students.

He talked to our students about safety. First, students helped him review safe costumes. Costumes should be bright, reflective is smart, and if you wear a mask, the eye holes should be larger. When visiting houses, you should only visit the homes of people your adults know. There should also be a light on, welcoming you. He reviewed crossing the street. Look left, right, and left again. When walking, be aware of bicycles, cars, motorcycles, and other vehicles. They may not see you. When collecting candy, please have your adult check it. Make sure the candy is wrapped, it is safe, and your are conscious of any allergies. He also talked about stranger danger. Ask your student to tell you about they "heard" from the discussion. Officer Shaw left silver bags, an "Official Safety Manual", and mini book about dealing with bullying.

We are SO THANKFUL to our local law enforcement and their efforts to connect with our students in proactive, positive ways! It is another example of how our community matters and supports our learning!!

M&Ms

Ms. Leom looks for ways to focus on the positive as much as she can. She offers clear ways students can earn initials
* weekly planner checks for her class where both Ms. Leom and an adult from home sign the planner daily
* "stars" for students in both classes, every day you have all your work turned in (5 stars can buy initials)

She also has a "chatty" class ... who struggle with line basics in the hallways. So she has students earning prizes. Everyday they walk to and from Specials quietly, with their hands to themselves, they can earn a prize in our line basics bucket. When there is one prize for each student, the class wins the prize. Some days, with Reading Buddies, Split Specials, and special events (vision checks, benchmark testing, etc.), students can earn two or three in a day. In this strategy, students can meet their goal within ten to twelve school days.

On Tuesday, we finally accomplished our goal!

Students earned their M&Ms and ate them at the end of the day as they were working.

A funny story related to our earning our M&Ms ... there were days Ms. Leom "needed a little bit of chocolate" during the day, so she would open a small bag. She threw the garbage away when she finished. Soon students were patrolling the garbage and would "mention" when they saw a bag in the garbage. They were worried she was eating all of their prizes! No worries! Since she provided the treats, she just went to the store and purchased another big bag for the reward.

We are starting a new reward. Please ask your child what we are collecting this time - they have to earn the first item to know the goal.

Book Buddies

Ms. Leom's class met with our Book Buddies in Mrs. Stuckmeyer's Kindergarten room on Friday. We checked out Jan Brett books from the library. We practiced our reading before we visited. Ms. Leom found herself teary-eyed with pride (she truly has the BEST job ever!) repeatedly throughout this visit. There were fourth graders whose faces lit up when they said hello to their kindergartener, and their buddy beamed back. The expression and fluency that was modeled, was inspiring. Fourth graders asked questions as they read, and kindergartners made connections. It was a magical twenty minutes of our week!

Afterwards, we took some time to share and reflect about our experience. What about the "pumpkin" who thought he could build with blocks while his buddy read the book? Then there was the kindergarten buddy who didn't appear to look at any of the pictures, but afterwards, could go through the book and find all the parts he liked. There was the girl who had a text to self connection for every illustration, and then there was all the words of appreciation from our buddies at the end that made us feel like super stars (that we are). So many special stories to share! Building our school community, over books, one new friend at a time! Just another magical moment at Milaca Elementary School!

Pioneer Day

This week, we were ready a story, "On the Banks of Plum Creek" by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It is the perfect time to make some extensions to our learning. In fourth grade, we call these days, "EXTRAVAGANZAS" or learning parties.

We started on Thursday by watching a television episode of Little House on the Prairie. We met in Ms. Prose's room. We made some comparisons and contrasts between what we read in our text book and the video.

On Friday, we started by making butter. Each student took a turn. While we were working on our butter, students were creating a wagon train of Vocabulary lesson 6 words and reading a biography about Laura Ingalls Wilder. We learned that her series of books are considered historical fiction, not biographies.

Many students worked one-on-one with Ms. Leom to "polish" their comprehension questions. We worked on adding words from the question in our answers. We worked on rereading, USING the article to answer the questions, and writing specific questions. It was a lot of work, and some students spent significantly more time on their learning that they imagined. We've been talking a lot in class about our classroom community being a "safe place to learn" and a "safe place to make mistakes". When it is ok to make mistakes, we open ourselves to the opportunity to learn from our mistakes and make improvements. Successful students are students who keep trying. I was SO PROUD of the students who kept trying! I enjoyed the individual time with them!

The BEST part of our extravaganza ... eating our butter on freshly baked breads from the kitchen!

the Hats we wear

Some of the "ladies" came to visit today.

In Social Studies, Ms. Leom's class is starting our unit on the Northeast Region (Mr. Greninger's class will return in about three weeks for their turn). We are using this opportunity to learn how to predict, read, question, clarify, and summarize informational text.

To illustrate this model, Ms. Leom "texts" her "bffs" ("best friends forever" as the several friend-saavy students are quick to supply), to explain, model, and support our learning.

First, we took a peek at our materials. We laid them out side-by-side, so we can be successful. We took a "pretest", predicting answers. Then we labeled a map of the Northeastern Region.

 We highlighted the key words in the questions for the first section. Then we started reading. As we read, we frequently stopped to check our understanding. We were asking questions, when Ms. Leom interrupted us to ask us if our "imaginations were turned on" ... before we knew it, Ms. Leom had disappeared and in her place was ...

Queenie, the Queen of Questions

 Queenie asks herself questions as she reads. Sometimes it is what does a word mean. Sometimes it is to something she doesn't understand, or doesn't sound right as she reads. She has a magic wand for pointing and a microphone to magnify her questions.

Queenie no sooner asked a question, and Clara arrived.

Clara Clarifier

Clara is all about making ideas clear. She speaks in a Southern Accent. Her favorite saying is, "Reread! Reread! Reread!" She uses a highlighter to highlight important ideas. She uses the dictionary to understand words.

We were having a lot of fun and making significant progress in our Social Studies learning, when we had to stop for Specials. We'll return to our learning tomorrow.

Some other "ladies" that will be visiting our classroom this year are ...

Madame Prediction

Madame Predictions speaks with a (horrible) French-Italian-dramatic flair and likes when students predict what is going to happen next. Our pretest today would be an example of Madame Prediction's work; although, she did not appear.

Students will also be meeting,

Sunny Summarizer

Sunny is a reporter, looking for the big story. She likes to retell what she reads succinctly (expressed in few words). We'll be learning the term soon.

These four ladies work together in various orders using their skills to read and comprehend. The "professional strategy" is called "Reciprocal Teaching". It is a researched-based strategy that we have used in Milaca for over 15 years. You may notice that each of these ladies wears a different "hat". We talk about how successful readers continually "wear different hats" to understand. Successful readers are constantly predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing, to be successful when they read.

 Learning is an adventure, and with these "tour guides" available, our learning develops a life of it's own. Welcome to the learning adventure!!

Note, another friend who might find her way to class ...

Captain No Name

Captain No Name collects treasure, and one important treasure that each student has is his/her name. For many, names were specially selected at birth. The intention is a humorous reminder to write a name on a paper (rather than "take a punch" on the Responsibility Card). Captain No Name is loud, brash, and rarely signals out any individual student, rather strolls the aisles muttering about "walking the plank", "searching for tre-shure", and has yet to successfully find a "no name" paper. 

"Beware of strangers wearing hats!" You never know what meaningful learning adventure will be arriving in the classroom!

MEA

Minnesota Education Association sets aside two days every October for educators to gather, learn, and share. Today, I am thrilled to attend!!

Mr. Leom and I are thankful for grandparents who are willing to meet at 6:00 am to spend the day with our children for our early trek to the Cities to participate in this professional development opportunity!

We checked out the venders, because they offer lots of free stuff and new ideas. 

Some of the venders

There is an entire row of schools that additional educational licenses, masters degrees, administrative degrees, and more. Another set of venders are places available for field trip learning opportunities.  One year, I was selected for 25 free passes to Valley Fair for my class!! This year, I scored a free pencil for every student in room E113!

We loved the McDonald's Ice Cream Cone!

Then, we attended sessions. Mr. Leom attended a class on Math Accommodations. I learned about assessments using iPads.

the new Bloom's Taxonomy

Next, we headed for the keynote speaker in Roy Wilkins Auditorium. We got seats in the fourth row, front and center. We heard the president of MEA, Denise Specht, speak. She introduced the Minnesota Teacher of the Year, followed by the keynote speaker, Paul Tough, speak. 

He is a best selling author and journalist. We met him, shook his hand, and had our copy of one of his books, "How Children Suceed" signed.

At past conventions, we shook hands with Henry Winkler ("the Fonz"), and also heard James Earl Jones speak, Watergate reporter Bob Woodward,  politicians, and now we met Paul Tough.

Today, we are appreciating the opportunity for necessary professional development! Feeling inspired ...