Fundraiser

As a parent, with three children in our elementary school, the word, "fundraiser" causes my eyebrows to quirk, my mouth to twist, and my attitude to grow just a shade cynical ... I work to keep an open mind, and it does take some effort ...

The PTO (Parent Teacher Organization) was asked for support in a number of ways this year ... there were requests about replacing playground equipment ... more technology in classrooms ... replacing worn out rugs ... author's visits ... funding rewards (Roller Skating for our Reading Rodeo) ... and so much more.

They need funds to be able to meet these many needs. They will be hosting the annual carnival ... a 5K run on May 17 ... and doing a formal fundraiser through the Chippe Shoppe.

Today, the Chippe Shoppe visited Milaca Schools to introduce the event. Grades 4, 5, and 6 met in the small gym (lunchroom) to hear more.

we arrive

Grades 4 through 6

our speaker

 How many of you want to add to the playground? (I snapped the picture at the end of the question).

Walk up the playground ramp on a rainy day, and hold on to the sides carefully. It is a slippery ramp! We have over 600 students on our playground every day. It is used by the community throughout the year.

Even if this isn't the fundraiser doesn't fit your family, please consider joining in and supporting with your time and talents one of the other opportunities! Our kids are a GREAT reason to be involved!

Following Directions

One of the standards our students need to practice and demonstrate success, is their ability to read and follow directions. Last week, we read about making paper dolls (and other shapes). After three days of time to try ... it wasn't our best learning activity.

So Ms. Leom tried again (Mr. Greninger's students will participate when they return to Social Studies). Ms. Leom's class is learning about the Midwest. She found a Minnesota map. Students had to follow the directions to identify and label different points in Minnesota.

It was fun to watch students show what they already knew about the state. It was also interesting to watch them work together. Their excitement at finding different locations in the state was contagious.

I enjoy when skills in two different subjects can be combined to develop and support learning. Following directions in Reading, map skills, and the Midwest in Social Studies makes for interesting and active learning!

Encourage your student to develop their following directions skills at home ... following recipes, reading the directions to play a game are just two ideas!

Music in Our Schools

On Thursday March 20th, fourth grade students had the privilege of being invited to perform the Milaca Schools Music in Our Schools Concert! This yearly Spring tradition showcases the musical talents of the students in our school. It is an honor to perform for students, families, and our community! Take a peek at this amazing evening!

High School Band Director, (MN Teacher of the Year candidate), Mr. Nelson welcomes us

a select group of second graders perform

Mrs. Lawson leads her select group of second graders

 Then comes the AMAZING FOURTH GRADE PERFORMANCE!!!

 Fourth graders also were asked to play their recorders and several students were part of additional groups to showcase their many talents.

note, the fourth grade dancers

 After the fourth grade performance, the junior high school and high school students performed.

Ms. Odden, choir director, leads her junior high choir students

band director, Mr. Garber introduces his band

the junior high band performs

Ms. Odden introduces her choir

Mr. Nelson leads his high school band in their warm up

My terms "junior high" and "high school" are not accurate. It does give you the general age groups of the talents. Even if you have specific music tastes, a genre or style that isn't traditionally represented in a school music program, as an audience member, you find yourself admiring the harmony, talents, and skill it takes to perform.

Fourth grade is a SpEcIaL year in music for many reasons. Students are instructed in playing the recorder and have an opportunity to learn the fun of learning how to play an instrument, how to read music, and how to be a part of a group. In the Spring, students learn more about band and the different instruments. EACH fourth grader will able to try out the instruments. Experienced band instructors will visit our school and sit with EVERY student, giving him and her a chance to try out instruments, with some feedback and instruction when necessary. Students will be able to select an instrument to play. Parents will be invited to a meeting to learn more about the Milaca Band program and opportunities.

We know each of our students have individual interests, talents, and gifts. For many of our students, music and band is an opportunity to find their fit and their place to shine. Please consider and encourage your fourth grader to give band a try! Some life long skills, friendships, and memories are waiting to be discovered!

I know. I sat in the audience on Thursday, watching MY current and former fourth graders shine, the real music in our schools! SO PROUD!!!!

Roller Skating

In Phy-Ed, we have enjoyed our roller skating unit. On Thursday, Ms. Leom came down to skate with us! Mr. Narveson set up some obstacles for students to try-out.

Our Phy-Ed teacher, Mr. Narveson giving directions

selecting our skates

putting on our skates

more ties on skates

Ms. Leom in her skates :)

It was a fun afternoon spending time together as a class!

Punished

Ms. Leom's Flex group just finished the book, Punished. Our book is about a boy, Logan Quester, who gets into some trouble at the library one afternoon with his friend, Benedict. He speaks in puns as his punishment, and must go on a quest to find different types of figurative language to break the punishment. Logan and Benedict explore puns, oxymorons, anagrams, palindromes, and redundancies. These examples of figurative language are enrichment learning opportunities to our basic learning of similes, metaphors, idioms, synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and more being studies in our core reading.

Learning the Languag

Much of our figurative language learning can not be replicated outside of the classroom. We are accessing different media ...

Do you know these idioms? (It is part of an on-line contest of literal images that Ms. Leom carefully selected the fourth grade friendly images):

soft light

whatever floats your boat

quitting cold turkey

all ears

catching a cab

in the lime light

We are reading different books, creating class posters,

using index cards, videos, and more. Ask your fourth graders to share what we are learning (idioms, similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia, personification, and more). We are introducing each skill, adding a definition together in class, doing many examples over several days, and summarizing our learning in a Figurative Language Packet.

Figurative Language matters. Fourth graders are reading more complex texts, that often include many examples of figurative language. If you are reading a book about a subject, and the author uses idioms to tell the story, you may lose fluency, trying to figure out how the idiom "under the weather" fits into your story. As we are expanding our learning, it is a thrill as fourth graders come into class each day, sharing their many connections and real-world figurative language experiences. It is amazing how we are surrounded by figurative language, and didn't know what we were missing until we learned the "language".