Lunch at the Beach

Today, was the perfect Minnesota Spring Day, and we enjoyed lunch in the Milaca Elementary Courtyard.

Beach Leom

Today, there were 44 beach goers who came to read at Beach Leom. We had to take a panoramic photo to get everyone in the picture.

Students are participating in a Reading Marathon. They read for ten minutes then work on their reading map for ten minutes. The Reading Marathon directions are available on Edmodo and paper form for students. They can work in any order. Beach-like music plays quietly as they work.

What a GREAT day to spend at Beach Leom! Our twentieth anniversary of the tradition.

Packing

This year, the Milaca Schools are undergoing a MAJOR construction project over the summer. Teachers and staff are busy cleaning and packing up their classrooms and work spaces. The grade levels are all shifting hallways over the summer, so the second grade hallway will now be "fourth grade". Whereas Mr. Greninger has been slowly working on his room for the last several months, Ms. Leom started packing this week.

She is confident that she can survive the last few weeks of school without glitter, paint, feathers, tissue paper, yarn, her character costumes, and a few other odds and ends.

On the Wall

The Writing is on the Wall. Fourth grade students this week were given the tools and the time to finish up their Poetry Notebooks. The writing has been on the wall throughout the entire process, so the expectations were clearly visible.

Students were given two days to have two adults read and sign their poetry notebooks. Students who needed extra time, could even have the weekend. This was our last class work day to finish up the details. The Poetry Notebook is worth 90 points for our Writing grade.

The BEST

This week, in a small ceremony, the Milaca Co-Teachers of the Year (one elementary teacher and one high school teacher) were announced.

High School Math Teacher, Mr. Fish and Elementary Third Grade Teacher, Mrs. Lepper

Congratulations to all of the teachers who were nominated, including our very own Mr. Grenigner!

So PROUD to be working with the BEST of the BEST!

Ms. Math

A  unknown fact, Ms. Leom CAN teach Math! (It helps that Mr. Greninger prepared the materials).

Both classes settled into Mr. Greninger's classroom for a lesson on Celsius measurement in temperatures. It was Beach Day, so our usual sit-at-a-desk-and-use-a-chair expectation needed a little flexibility. Luckily these students know the routine and could help Ms. Leom keep up!

Just call her "Ms. Math".

Benchmarking Spring

On Monday afternoon, we had Spring Benchmarking. In student terms this is "that test where you read to an adult three times".

Every class in the elementary school has benchmarking. We sit in the hallway outside of Kurth Media Center. Mr. Greninger's class was with Ms. Leom during the time, so we were working on writing our "five w poems" as we waited our turns. The Title One staff pull students into their rooms one at a time. Students read a passage three times. They receive a score for "words per minute" (wpm) and the number of errors. In the primary grades (K-2), the "ORF" (Oral Reading Fluency) is a data point that can help determine student reading progress and point a student toward more support. It makes sense. A student who has to spend more time sounding out each and every word, isn't able to let the words flow, and their brain focus on the literary elements and plot. In the middle school grades, this is an additional data point that gives us a more complete picture of how a student is progressing. It also helps us track individual students who are in school and how their brain manages the summer break. We benchmark three times a year (September, Winter, Spring). It often takes less than twenty minutes for an entire classroom, and for us, our students are able to continue their regular scheduled learning while our class benchmarks.

Just another moment in our school day.