The nurse's office will communicate any concerns with parents when all the testing is complete.
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Vision Screenings
In fourth grade, the nurses' office provides vision screenings for ALL fourth grade students. They rely on volunteers to provide this service. This year, Ms. Leom's own mom, a retired Level 3 NICU nurse at the St. Cloud Hospital, was one of the volunteers! Other grades also have hearing screenings.
The nurse's office will communicate any concerns with parents when all the testing is complete.
The nurse's office will communicate any concerns with parents when all the testing is complete.
Emotion Words
One of the BEST parts of a job in education is the details that can not be measured in a test. It is the emotions, the connections to others, and the journey of each day.
Last Friday, we had Pioneer Day. One of our activities was to collect "emotion words". We had a quick lesson, definition, example, and students were sent off to read, identify emotion words, and define them.
Often, education is an on-going learning opportunity that never ends. What you think will be difficult, what you have planned a detailed lesson with practice, may not be necessary for the current group of students you are teaching. As a teacher, you constantly monitor, adjust, and move the lesson as needed to meet the needs of the current students. Other times, you believe it will be a basic review, a quick reminder, and practice to "make sure they got it", only to observe and realize you need to back up, and really develop the idea and practice opportunities.
Our "emotion words" lesson on Pioneer Day was a "retreat", plan and prepare for more learning! This is one of the benefits of a flex reading experience. You can pull aside the students who are struggling, reteach, and develop the information in the detail those students need. The students who were successful the first time, may work on skills they need to develop. You can provide examples, non-examples, and discussion opportunities that help students clarify the learning and be successful.
We wrote some notes in our notebooks. We are reading Judy Blume's Superfudge. We were able to find examples of emotion words and slight variations that do not fit.
We also had to have a mini-lesson about writing definitions. You need to use synonyms (words that mean the same) and other words when you are writing the definitions. Writing, "happy - means happy", does not show you KNOW the word meaning; nor does it help someone else who is reading your definition learn the word!
Together, we created a class poster to help us.
Emotion words are words of strong feeling, mood, or a state of mind. They are words of your heart, and unable to be felt physically
Examples include:
* happy - means feeling job, glad, pleased
* sad - means unhappy, sorrowful
* angry - means mad, frustrated, a strong negative feeling
* surprise - unplanned, to amaze or astonish, unexpected
* excited - means eager, interested
NOT emotion words:
Physical Actions - things you do
- laugh - cry - yell - hug
They can be used to help you make an inference about emotion words, but in themselves, they are NOT emotion words.
Physical Feelings - describe your body and what it needs
- hungry or thirsty - hot or cold - good or sick
These are often something you can fix or change with action
ANOTHER highlight in education, when you are teaching something and your students are excited, engaged, and WANT to learn. After we finished our second day of reteaching and developing emotional words, students were rushing and asking for time to READ and continue their quest for emotion words. There are these fabulous discussions happening in the room about individual words ... for example, "uncomfortable" could be a physical feeling; as in, I was sitting on a cactus, and it felt uncomfortable poking into my backside or "uncomfortable" as in an emotion word, I was in the middle of a conflict between my friends, and I didn't know what to do. We have talked about multiple meanings of words. It is exciting when students make connections and apply previous learning!
Emotion Words. Just another day on the job!
(If your student struggled on the "emotion word" assignment and has a "lower grade" on School-View, please be patient. REAL learning takes time to develop. Those scores will be improved before the end of First Quarter as students finish up their emotion word learning).
Last Friday, we had Pioneer Day. One of our activities was to collect "emotion words". We had a quick lesson, definition, example, and students were sent off to read, identify emotion words, and define them.
Often, education is an on-going learning opportunity that never ends. What you think will be difficult, what you have planned a detailed lesson with practice, may not be necessary for the current group of students you are teaching. As a teacher, you constantly monitor, adjust, and move the lesson as needed to meet the needs of the current students. Other times, you believe it will be a basic review, a quick reminder, and practice to "make sure they got it", only to observe and realize you need to back up, and really develop the idea and practice opportunities.
Our "emotion words" lesson on Pioneer Day was a "retreat", plan and prepare for more learning! This is one of the benefits of a flex reading experience. You can pull aside the students who are struggling, reteach, and develop the information in the detail those students need. The students who were successful the first time, may work on skills they need to develop. You can provide examples, non-examples, and discussion opportunities that help students clarify the learning and be successful.
We wrote some notes in our notebooks. We are reading Judy Blume's Superfudge. We were able to find examples of emotion words and slight variations that do not fit.
We also had to have a mini-lesson about writing definitions. You need to use synonyms (words that mean the same) and other words when you are writing the definitions. Writing, "happy - means happy", does not show you KNOW the word meaning; nor does it help someone else who is reading your definition learn the word!
Together, we created a class poster to help us.
Examples include:
* happy - means feeling job, glad, pleased
* sad - means unhappy, sorrowful
* angry - means mad, frustrated, a strong negative feeling
* surprise - unplanned, to amaze or astonish, unexpected
* excited - means eager, interested
NOT emotion words:
Physical Actions - things you do
- laugh - cry - yell - hug
They can be used to help you make an inference about emotion words, but in themselves, they are NOT emotion words.
Physical Feelings - describe your body and what it needs
- hungry or thirsty - hot or cold - good or sick
These are often something you can fix or change with action
ANOTHER highlight in education, when you are teaching something and your students are excited, engaged, and WANT to learn. After we finished our second day of reteaching and developing emotional words, students were rushing and asking for time to READ and continue their quest for emotion words. There are these fabulous discussions happening in the room about individual words ... for example, "uncomfortable" could be a physical feeling; as in, I was sitting on a cactus, and it felt uncomfortable poking into my backside or "uncomfortable" as in an emotion word, I was in the middle of a conflict between my friends, and I didn't know what to do. We have talked about multiple meanings of words. It is exciting when students make connections and apply previous learning!
Emotion Words. Just another day on the job!
(If your student struggled on the "emotion word" assignment and has a "lower grade" on School-View, please be patient. REAL learning takes time to develop. Those scores will be improved before the end of First Quarter as students finish up their emotion word learning).
Monday, October 27, 2014
New States
 |
| Mr. Greninger's latest postcards! |
Alabama
Colorado
Florida
Iowa
Virginia
 |
| Ms. Leom's latest postcards |
California
Colorado
Maine
Minnesota
North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania8
Texas
Wyoming
 |
| Mr. Greninger's Map (as of the morning of Monday October 27, 2014) |
Mr. Greninger had 10:
Arizona
Idaho
Illinois
Kentucky
Maine
Montana
Pennsylvania
South Dakota
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Ms. Leom had 24:
Alaska
Arizona
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Illinois
Iowa
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Massachusetts
Michigan
Mississippi
Missouri
New Mexico
New York
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vermont
Washington
Washington DC
Wisconsin
Odyssey
Last year, Mrs. Juntunen in second grade, and Ms. Leom in fourth grade had the opportunity to pilot the Odyssey on-line computer program with our students. We were so pleased with the opportunity it offered, we advocated for our school to invest and adopt the Compass Odyssey learning program for all elementary students.
This week, Ms. Leom's class started their Compass-Odyssey learning odyssey. Mr. Greninger's class will be starting soon (we are working out the bugs in our system).
To start, we took our student MAP test data for Reading and Math. The Reading is broke into three areas: Literature, Nonfiction Text, and Vocabulary. The Math is divided into four areas: Operations, Algebra, Data and Measurement, and Geometry. We looked at students' scores, areas of strengths, and areas to improve. We are in the process of conferencing with each student to make individual goals for each student. For example, a student who had lower scores in Literature and Vocabulary, were able to choose the area they wanted to focus on for his/her individual goal. Even students who scored "high" or "high average" are working on individual goals to improve.
Students received a label, to be placed on the inside of his/her planner with their log in code, their Fall Map Reading and Math Test Scores, their goal scores, and we will be writing in the subject area as we conference with students.
Today, Ms. Leom's class were able to use the "purple laptops" (the color was a topic of excitement) to practice logging on and try out an area.
Now that students have their log-on stickers, they are able to log-on and access at home. To access:
* Visit Milaca Schools Website
* Choose "Resources" on the top, right menu
* Select "Kurth Media Center" on the left-side menu
* Click on "Odyssey" (toward the bottom of the left-side menu)
To Log-in:
User Name: first name last name (no spaces and all lower case letters)
Password: four digit number on label inside your student planner
School: milaca es (a space between the "milaca" and "es" - for "elementary school")
This is an AMAZING learning opportunity for ALL of our students!! We know EVERY student is unique and smart in a variety of ways. The Compass-Odyssey program allows us to target individual needs for each student.
Although there are Social Studies, Science, and other learning areas, Mr. Greninger and Ms. Leom would like students to focus on the Reading and Math goals printed on their individual label. This program will be one of the tools used in After-School Tutoring and Summer School. We hope to use it at least once a week IN school during the year (exceptions are January and the end of the year when the computers need to be used for testing). Please consider this opportunity for your student at home! Ms. Leom hopes to share more of the Odyssey features in a future post.
This week, Ms. Leom's class started their Compass-Odyssey learning odyssey. Mr. Greninger's class will be starting soon (we are working out the bugs in our system).
To start, we took our student MAP test data for Reading and Math. The Reading is broke into three areas: Literature, Nonfiction Text, and Vocabulary. The Math is divided into four areas: Operations, Algebra, Data and Measurement, and Geometry. We looked at students' scores, areas of strengths, and areas to improve. We are in the process of conferencing with each student to make individual goals for each student. For example, a student who had lower scores in Literature and Vocabulary, were able to choose the area they wanted to focus on for his/her individual goal. Even students who scored "high" or "high average" are working on individual goals to improve.
Students received a label, to be placed on the inside of his/her planner with their log in code, their Fall Map Reading and Math Test Scores, their goal scores, and we will be writing in the subject area as we conference with students.
Today, Ms. Leom's class were able to use the "purple laptops" (the color was a topic of excitement) to practice logging on and try out an area.
Now that students have their log-on stickers, they are able to log-on and access at home. To access:
* Visit Milaca Schools Website
* Choose "Resources" on the top, right menu
* Select "Kurth Media Center" on the left-side menu
* Click on "Odyssey" (toward the bottom of the left-side menu)
To Log-in:
User Name: first name last name (no spaces and all lower case letters)
Password: four digit number on label inside your student planner
School: milaca es (a space between the "milaca" and "es" - for "elementary school")
This is an AMAZING learning opportunity for ALL of our students!! We know EVERY student is unique and smart in a variety of ways. The Compass-Odyssey program allows us to target individual needs for each student.
Although there are Social Studies, Science, and other learning areas, Mr. Greninger and Ms. Leom would like students to focus on the Reading and Math goals printed on their individual label. This program will be one of the tools used in After-School Tutoring and Summer School. We hope to use it at least once a week IN school during the year (exceptions are January and the end of the year when the computers need to be used for testing). Please consider this opportunity for your student at home! Ms. Leom hopes to share more of the Odyssey features in a future post.
Friday, October 24, 2014
Postcards Update
The Great Postcard Race is happening!! Our students are SO excited about the daily delivery of mail. It is fun to see the spark in their eyes and listen to their comments and sharing about the postcards they have coming! Thank you for being involved and sharing in this learning experience!!
Ms. Leom's class just received 17 more postcards (included in the list below, not added to student maps yet) in the mail at the end of the day! Mr. Greninger will check his mailbox sometime before the end of the school day. Some are repeats, so they may not all count toward our tally, but they are equally valued and share more important information about the different states!
Mr. Greninger has 4 (and he hasn't been able to check his mailbox yet this afternoon):
Maine
Pennsylvania
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Ms. Leom has 24:
Alaska
Arizona
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Illinois
Iowa
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Massachusetts
Michigan
Mississippi
Missouri
New Mexico
New York
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vermont
Washington
Washington DC
Wisconsin
Frequently asked Questions:
* When does the Postcard Race end?
Answer: When one of the six Milaca fourth grade classes receives postcards from all fifty states mailed to the school and postmarked from the state.
* What will happen if you receive a duplicate state?
Answer: We LOVE them!! They often have more interesting facts and details, and we love the opportunity to learn something new!
* Will the student who receives the postcard be able to keep it?
Answer: Absolutely!! We will keep the postcards until the Spring (who doesn't like to daydream about warm, tropical locations during the blahs of winter?!), then send them home with the students who are named.
* How will we know what states you need?
Answer: EACH student is keeping a map and filling it in a couple times of week of the states as we collect them. We need the states that are blank on their map.
* Do you need a postcard from Minnesota?
Answer: YES! Please!!
* What happens if my family or friend lives in a state and can't find a postcard?
Answer: Have them mail an index card with information on one side, a note on half of the backside and addressed to their favorite fourth grader on the other half of the backside.
* What happens if my well-meaning family or friend mails a handful of postcards in an envelope?
Answer: We welcome the postcards and the pictures, but they don't count toward our race. We have to have the postmark on the back.
Ms. Leom's class just received 17 more postcards (included in the list below, not added to student maps yet) in the mail at the end of the day! Mr. Greninger will check his mailbox sometime before the end of the school day. Some are repeats, so they may not all count toward our tally, but they are equally valued and share more important information about the different states!
Maine
Pennsylvania
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Ms. Leom has 24:
Alaska
Arizona
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Illinois
Iowa
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Massachusetts
Michigan
Mississippi
Missouri
New Mexico
New York
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vermont
Washington
Washington DC
Wisconsin
Frequently asked Questions:
* When does the Postcard Race end?
Answer: When one of the six Milaca fourth grade classes receives postcards from all fifty states mailed to the school and postmarked from the state.
* What will happen if you receive a duplicate state?
Answer: We LOVE them!! They often have more interesting facts and details, and we love the opportunity to learn something new!
* Will the student who receives the postcard be able to keep it?
Answer: Absolutely!! We will keep the postcards until the Spring (who doesn't like to daydream about warm, tropical locations during the blahs of winter?!), then send them home with the students who are named.
* How will we know what states you need?
Answer: EACH student is keeping a map and filling it in a couple times of week of the states as we collect them. We need the states that are blank on their map.
* Do you need a postcard from Minnesota?
Answer: YES! Please!!
* What happens if my family or friend lives in a state and can't find a postcard?
Answer: Have them mail an index card with information on one side, a note on half of the backside and addressed to their favorite fourth grader on the other half of the backside.
* What happens if my well-meaning family or friend mails a handful of postcards in an envelope?
Answer: We welcome the postcards and the pictures, but they don't count toward our race. We have to have the postmark on the back.
Reading Buddies
Ms. Leom's class met their Reading Buddies class today. We will be spending time with Mrs. Stuckmayer and her students in Kindergarten. There were some absences today, so our buddies may change.
Due to various scheduling needs and absences, restroom visits ... not all of our students are pictured. We have 27 students in our classroom. The kindergarteners have 17 students. We have several fourth graders who will buddy up to make this teaming successful.
We are excited for this opportunity to meet school community members and help welcome them into our school!!
We are excited for this opportunity to meet school community members and help welcome them into our school!!
Pioneer Day
Pioneer Day is a "learning extravaganza". It started with our previous StoryTown curriculum and reading a story from one of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. It actually fits easily into our Benchmark Literacy learning, because we are studying the genre historical fiction.
For Ms. Leom's students, we are reading Little House on the Prairie picture books. Students are working on several activities using these books:
* reading these books to learn more about the historical fiction genre
* reading these books to develop our oral reading fluency
* practicing our using evidence from the book and writing inferences
* developing our vocabulary identifying emotion words
* developing our vocabulary using context clues to define a word
Other learning activities related to Pioneer Day include:
* writing on "slates" (black construction paper with white colored pencils or crayons) our spelling assignment
* making butter from cream and eating it on fresh baked buns
After we made the butter, it only made sense that we should EAT our butter. The kitchen baked fresh buns for us, and we enjoyed our hard work!
And Ms. Leom's class will be meeting and reading their Little House books to their Kindergarten Reading Buddies after lunch today!
(We did ALL the lessons that were planned for the day. We just added some flavor and called it an extravaganza, and we enjoyed our magical day of learning!)
* reading these books to learn more about the historical fiction genre
* reading these books to develop our oral reading fluency
* practicing our using evidence from the book and writing inferences
* developing our vocabulary identifying emotion words
* developing our vocabulary using context clues to define a word
Other learning activities related to Pioneer Day include:
* writing on "slates" (black construction paper with white colored pencils or crayons) our spelling assignment
* making butter from cream and eating it on fresh baked buns
After we made the butter, it only made sense that we should EAT our butter. The kitchen baked fresh buns for us, and we enjoyed our hard work!
(We did ALL the lessons that were planned for the day. We just added some flavor and called it an extravaganza, and we enjoyed our magical day of learning!)
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