Freaky Friday

HAPPY FREAKY FRIDAY, ALL!!!

This is Carrie, a 5th grader (Mrs. Thomas had her last year in 4th grade).  TWINS!

We have had a GREAT start to our day!!!  It is so refreshing see the excitement on the faces of all of our students.  I love how happy they are...this is the BEST time of the year!  The kids also look AWESOME in their hats!

We started off the morning with a craft.  We made skeletons out of Q-tips...but don't worry, we tied it into MATH too!



Cayden was the first to win a prize for good behavior and follow instructions!



Here are some pictures from our morning: 

 

Tabi-Cat with "Bobzilla"

 

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Little LoLo with "Bobby"

   

Skyla with her skeleton and her crazy eyes!



 

What a crowd!



In Reading, we took our Spelling test and the students did MUCH better than last week!  I can really tell that everyone worked hard on studying their words and the definitions...way to go guys!!!  We really had fun during the Spelling test.  To celebrate the completion of our chapter books, and all our efforts for the week, we watched, "Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin". 



In Math, we worked on a fall themed estimation and measurement activity.  Three pumpkins were displayed in the front of the room and numbered 1, 2, or 3.  Each student made predictions of each pumpkin's height, stem height, diameter, circumference, and weight.  Each pumpkin was one round of the activity.  The student with the most times of having the closest estimates won a prize...so three prizes were given out.  Then, we played our "what's the difference?" card game and Whitney was our first to win 3 games so she won a prize as well.  Way to go all on your participation in our fun math activities!

FINALLY, it was time for Lunch and then our PARTY!!!  We had an absolute BLAST bobbing for apples, playing Halloween Bingo, eating delicious snacks (cupcakes, cookies, popcorn, chips, veggies and dip, pretzels, candy, and drinks) and decorating our caramel apples with every scrumptious goodie under the sun (chocolate chips, marshmallows, marshmallow drizzle, chocolate drizzle, caramel, rainbow sprinkles, chocolate sprinkles, nuts, and M&Ms)!!!  Thank you Mrs. Weiler, Mrs. Lyons, Mrs. Lewis, and Mrs. Green for helping with everything and making our party so very wonderful!  Mrs. Weiler, you did an absolutely OUTSTANDING job getting everything together, planning all of our events, and making sure we had an all around amazing time...you are so much fun and well, YOU ROCK!!!
Here are a couple of pictures from our party (more will come later):

Mrs. Thomas's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Banker, sent in Ale-8s (from their hometown of Winchester) for the party!  They were SOOOOO good and we LOVED them!

The apple decorating station

The BINGO station

LoLo and her gargantuous apple...MMMMM...looks DELICIOUS!!!

I hope you ALL have an AMAZING Halloween and have so much fun Trick-or-Treating!  Be safe, gets LOTS of candy, and have a blast!  I can't wait to hear ALL about it.  Send me pictures of you in your costume so I can post them here on our blog!!!

You are all BOO-tiful!

I love you!

xoxo,

Mrs. Thomas

10.28.10

Happy Thursday Friends!

Today was another BEAUTIFUL fall day!!! 

REMINDERS: Tomorrow is our FALL PARTY at 1:30, (depending on our behavior!) If you have items for the party, please send them in in the morning. 

Tomorrow is also the last day for BOO-grams and for the "Hunger Heroes Food Drive".  We haven't gotten many canned good this week so send them in if you have them!  Also, send a BOO-gram to a friend who sent one to you, or to someone you're just thinking about!

-->Also, we DO NOT have school NEXT Tuesday (November 2) because of Election Day.  Go out and VOTE! -->

In writing, we continued working on our 6-Room poems and our Biography poems.  Both turned out GREAT!

In Reading, we continued studying Author's Purposes for writing and looking at the characteristics of biographies and autobiographies.  In our groups, we worked on our Webquests pertaining to our chapter books..and had some other projects to complete as well.  Remember that your Spelling packets are due tomorrow before your test.  Work extra hard tonight with someone at home on the definitions of the words because that's how the test is given!

For math, we again got to work in our Math groups reviewing estimation, rounding, and mental math.  We began our chapter review and our test will now be Monday.

We earned a GREEN paw in lunch today!

Finally, today is Thursday so we had Junior Achievement with Mr. Barnes!  We have so much fun when we comes because we learn about communities and how cities are laid out through zones.  We actually got to see our 3-dimensional city, "Thomastown" set up today!  It was AWESOME!

Tomorrow is Friday!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas

Wednesday 10.27.10

Hello all,

I hate to start off with bad news, but I am concerned about our Fall Party!  We have pretzels, drinks, Skittles, Fruit Roll-ups, and a bag of apples...but sadly, that's about it!  We do have some money that was donated by parents, but we are still in need of sweet treats like cookies or cupcakes...and most importantly, the focus of our party: APPLES, CARAMEL, and the TOPPINGS (such as chocolate chips, M&Ms, sprinkles, etc.)!!!  If you are willing and able to send any of these items in, please let me know by tomorrow and send them in Friday with your student.  We are excited about our party and hope we can make it a blast and the best yet!  Thank you for all you do; I know there is A LOT going on right now!

Other REMINDERS: tomorrow and Friday are the last days for BOO-grams.  "Hunger Heroes Food Drive" continues until Friday, and our Fall Party is Friday at 1:30PM.  If you celebrate Halloween and go trick or treating in a costume, we would absolutely LOVE to see pictures...so send them to me (email: abby.thomas@fayette.kyschools.us) and I will post it on our blog!!!  I cannot wait to see ya!

Wednesday folders were sent home today as were our very first REPORT CARDS!!!  Almost every single student received All As (Principal's List) or all As and Bs (Honor Roll)...WAY TO GO GUYS!!!  I'm so PROUD of YOU!!! These need to be signed and returned as soon as possible!

Today, we continued working on our 6-Room Poems.  We also started working on biography poems and learned that a biography is a story about someone else. 

In reading, we learned that an autobiography is a story about ourselves.  We are reading an autobiography called, "Author, a True Story" and are studying Author's Purposes for writing.  Remember to have you P.I.E. (Persuade, Inform, or Entertain)!  We also got to work in our reading groups on the mini laptops completing a WedQuest over our chapter books!  It is so much fun!  Tomorrow, we will begin writing our autobiographies.  Homework is reading for 15-20 minutes (PLEASE write it in your planner with the page number and have your parents initial next to it!), and practicing your 'Wordly Wise' spelling words from the packet.  As you learned last week, you MUST know their definitions and how they are used in sentences. 

In math, we again got to work in our math groups.  We are reviewing rounding, estimation, and Mental Math.  Our test over this chapter will be Friday.  Homework tonight is pages 31-36 in our WORKBOOKS.

We earned a GREEN PAW in lunch!

Finally, our last subject of the day was switching to Social Studies.  We have 2 worksheets from Mrs. Ingold to complete for Homework.  My Science class watched a video about plants and took notes and drew pictures about new information about plant's reproduction on white boards while watching.  We learned that bees play a very important part in the reproduction of plants because they carry pollen and seeds from one plant to another.  There is NO HOMEWORK for SCIENCE.

Remember to send back your AMAZING report cards (signed by your guardians) as soon as possible!  And get those Wednesday folders back by tomorrow!

I'm so proud of you!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas



Thundering Tuesday!!

Whoa...was it a CRAZY weather day or what?!?  It certainly made for an interesting Tuesday!  I was so proud of the students...they kept their composure and never acted wild or got off track.  They were willing to go with the flow and do what was asked of them; so while the weather might have been crazy, they were not!
Around lunchtime, our power went completely out!!!  It really was a unique experience adapting to being at school in darkness, but the students handled it well and we continued learning and maintaining our focus on the tasks at hand, even though we had to change our direction and do something different than planned. 

At the beginning of the day, we started on our second day of a focus on poetry.  We talked about 3 different figurative languages that are used in poetry to evoke feelings and images in our readers' minds: similes and metaphors (which were a review), and then onomatopoeia.  Ask your student about our activities with that...we had a blast!
After writing, we transitioned to reading.  We began our study upon Author's Purposes for writing.  There are 3 purposes in which an author will write; to entertain, to inform, and to persuade.  We will be looking at biographies and autobiographies and will be writing a short autobiography of our own.  There is no homework, except working on your Spelling packet and the definitions of the words.  Remember, your spelling tests will be me giving the definition and you must identify and correctly spell the word that accompanies that definition.
In math, we got to do our groups and rotations today!  Students did great working with their groups.  For independent practice, we continued working on our ORQs and bringing up to a score of '4'.  We also worked on Workbook pages 31-36.  We will take our assessment over Mental Math and Estimation this Friday.  Tomorrow, we will complete reviewing worksheet pages and our chapter review to prepare for the assessment.  NO HOMEWORK THIS EVENING!

We earned a GREEN paw in lunch again!

Finally, after lunch we had class out in the hallway.  We worked on a "6-Room Poem" lesson and will complete it tomorrow.  Talk to your student about this activity!


I am so proud of you!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas

PS, DO NOT forget BOO-grams are still on sale for $1 until Friday.  We still need almost everything for our Fall Party on Friday at 1:30.  "Hunger Heroes" Food Drive continues until Friday AND so does Box Tops! We also still need candy for our classroom candy jar! Thank you for everything you do!

CANDY is DANDY!

We are in desperate need of some candy for our class candy jar.  We use it daily as rewards and to reinforce good behavior.  It is probably a good sign we go through it so quickly, BUT we are running out much sooner than we should!  I just bought several bags a couple of weeks ago and we've already gone through them all!  If there is candy around your house after the holidays around the corner that you do not care for, send it in...we'll be very appreciative!  Thanks!

Manic Monday...

Happy last week of October, folks!  Can you believe November starts one week from today?!?  WOW...Where has the time gone?!?  DO NOT FORGET that our "Hunger Heroes" food drive is still going on until THIS FRIDAY!  Also, BOO-grams are still being sold by the 5th graders every morning this week for $1.  Finally, our FALL PARTY is this FRIDAY at 1:30PM.  Please check out our last post to see the things we still need to make our party happen!

We began my favorite concept today...POETRY!!!  To introduce our concept, we discussed how poetry is very different from other styles of writing.  Poetry emphasizes your imagination...and there are NO boundaries!  I had the students close their eyes and gave them a scenario about being on a train with an open seat next to them.  Suddenly, someone sits down and he/she is very upset.  They then opened their eyes and finished the scenario in their Writer's Notebooks by deciding where they were going, who the person was that sat next to them, what he/she was upset about, and described what he/she looked like.  It was really great to hear where all the students' imaginations took them today!  I can't wait to see all the poems we will publish by the end of this unit...they're going to be G-R-E-A-T!!!

In reading, we completed our 'main idea' assessment with ORQ from last week.  Students also completed their solar system mobiles and comprehension (WOW word!) check questions from the end of "The Planets of our Solar System" text.  Tomorrow, we will begin our study of biographies and autobiographies.  I passed back our spelling tests from last week...Congrats to Lisa for getting our only 110%!!!  Also, congratulations to Ahmad, Peanut (Zach), Micah, Alyssa, and Hannah S. for also getting over 100%  WAY TO GO GUYS...YOU R-O-C-K!!! --->

Homework is working on your "Wordly Wise" spelling packet which is due Friday.  Study not only the words but the definitions of them and how to use each word in a sentence (context clues).  Have someone at home give you the definition and you spell the word and then switch by having him/ her give you the word and you recite the definition and a sentence using the word.  As I've told you, we've stepped up our spelling test game and as you may have realized last week, it is MUCH more difficult!  Our WOW Words this week are:

acceptance

excitement

autobiography

illustrator

comprehension

In math, we also had to complete an assessment from last Friday...it was a quiz with an ORQ over subtraction. A couple of students even earned a '4': Ahmad, Kristin, and Sophia R.!  The students who did not get finished will be doing it as independent practice in rotations tomorrow.  There is NO HOMEWORK in either math class (well, according to the students in Mrs. Ingold's class who I asked).

We earned a GREEN PAW in lunch today!!!  Woooo Hooo!!!

Again...

Our class switched to Mrs. Ingold for Social Studies and my Science class (Mrs. Ingold's homeroom) worked on Structures of organisms and their functions..specifically, plants.  We compared structures on our bodies to structures on the anatomy of plant to see similarities and differences.  The four main parts of a plant are the roots, stem, leaves, and flower as shown in the diagram below.  No homework in Science or Social Studies so enjoy your Monday evening...the LAST of OCTOBER!!! AHHHH!!!

I can't wait to see you tomorrow!

xoxo,

Mrs. Thomas

FALL PARTY!!!

Do NOT forget that our Fall Party is THIS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29th at 1:30PM!!!  The theme is a celebration of FALL and we will be decorating apples with caramel and lots of other goodies and toppings.  However, this may not be possible since we are still in need of several items... most importantly: APPLES!!! 

You can purchase them in the bags at any local grocery store and we will accept green, red, yellow, or any other flavor!  We also need sweet treats such as cookies, brownies, cupcakes, fruit, or candy and savory treats such as chips, pretzels, veggies and dip. 

Napkins, plates, and wax paper are also needed as well!  If you are unable to get to the store this week, and you are willing to help out, you can send monetary donations and Mrs. Weiler or I will get them for the party.  At least 26 servings are needed of any item sent in.  We would love to see you here on Friday if you are available to help out!

Mrs. Thomas in 4th grade!

What's Happening This Week:

This Week at Garden Springs

Oct.25—Day 1

1st MAP Testing Window Continues (8/30-11/12)

5th graders will be selling Boo Grams before school everyday this week

2:45-3:45p: Performing Arts Club Rehearsal

God’s Pantry Food Drive (10/11-10/29)


Oct. 26—Day 2


Oct. 27—Day 3

 Individual Picture Retake Day

Spirit Day (wear your GSE t-shirt or sweat- shirt)

2:45-4:00p: Comic Creators

2:45-4:00p: Governor’s Cup Academic Team Practice

2:45-4:00p: Girls on the Run

Principal’s Newsletter Distribution

Report Cards go home

Veteran’s Luncheon Invitations go home

Oct. 28—Day 4

2:45-3:30p: Ecology Club

2:45-4:00p: Girls on the Run

5:30-6:45p: FRC Fall Festival


Oct. 29—Day 5

2:35-3:45p: 4th & 5th Grade Spanish Club

Fall Classroom Parties. Stay tuned for more information.

Terrific Thursday

Howdy all!

WOWee...are we ever loving some BOO-grams?!?  We are having so much fun sending them to friends and receiving them!!!  Remember, 5th graders will be selling them tomorrow and throughout next week for $1.
Also...
Here I am AGAIN to nag, nag, nag about bringing in cans for our "Hunger Heroes Food Drive"...BUT we had at least 40 cans come in today!!!  If we do that tomorrow, there's NO doubt that we will be nipping at the heels of our competition!

In reading, the students decided they would like the time to work on Independent Practice instead of switching with groups so they could complete their Main Idea mobiles for our story, "Planets in our Solar System".  The mobiles REALLY turned out GREAT and the students did a wonderful job identifying the main idea and finding details from the text that supported it...I'm IMPRESSED!  Tonight, STUDY, STUDY, STUDY those Spelling words from the "Wordly Wise" packet AND their definitions.  Tomorrow, I will give the test by stating the definition and you will have to identify and correctly spell the word!  Also, your packets will be due to turn in.

In math, we continued our practice with rounding and then played our card game.  We had 3 different winners today...way to go, guys!!!  Homework is completing Workbook pages 28-30 if you did not complete them in class.  Mrs. Ingold's math class needs to complete Textbook page 63. 

We earned a GREEN paw in the cafeteria today...WOOOO HOOOO!!!

Finally, we did not switch to Mrs. Ingold for Social Studies today because we had Junior Achievement with Mr. Barnes.  We again learned about how cities are laid out through zones and even got to design our own three-dimensional building and put it into a city.  Our assignment for next week is to come up with a name for our city.  Check back then for pictures :)

Tomorrow, we have LUNCH BUNCH, Guidance, AND Book Buddies with Mrs. Hubers' Kindergarten!

xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas

Happy Hump Day 10-20-10!

Hello all!

What another BEAUTIFUL Fall day!!!  Hope everyone is out enjoying the sunshine!  A couple of announcements...
READING LOGS-
Due to several Reading logs getting misplaced in transition from home to school, our class will be getting rid of the paper form of Reading logs.  From now on, PLEASE write the book in which your student read from, and the pages that were read in his/her planner. This MUST be written by the parent and then initialed by that record.  This will not only eliminate missing logs, but will cut down on things to locate to sign at home and save paper!  I will be checking planners daily to see that reading time was recorded and signed by a parent.  Please also continue to sign by behavior if not on green and at the bottom by my signature to note you acknowledged homework assignments. 
PICTURE RETAKES-
Picture Retakes are scheduled for Wednesday, October 27th. 
HUNGER HEROES FOOD DRIVE-
DO NOT forget to bring in cans if you are able to do so!  We are getting very competitive and would LOVE to be the Heroes of Hunger!
BOO-Grams-
5th graders are still selling BOO-Grams and will continue to do so through the 29th.  Bring in your $1 to send some special greetings to your friends!

In reading today, we began reading our story, "The Planets in our Solar System".  It is a great nonfiction passage that we are learning a lot from...our planets really are soooooo COOL!  With this passage, we are working on the concept of Main Idea and supporting details.  To practice this concept, we are creating a mobile.  Ask your student about our project we worked on!  Continue working on "Wordly Wise" spelling packet and studying for our test on Friday.  Don't forget to read your 15-20 minutes and also remember that your group's chapter books need to be finished by this week or Monday of next week!

In Math, we learned how to round and what gives us the most reasonable estimate.  We discussed which gives us the most reasonable answer when choosing to round to the nearest hundreds or tens.  We always have to remember to first locate the number in which we are rounding and then look at the number in the place value digit directly to the right of it.  We also then must remember the rhyme, "4 or below, let it go...5 or above, give it a shove!"  This was a challenging concept so we are moving slow.  I did not feel comfortable giving homework since practicing it independently still pretty tough.  Please model practicing some estimating in everyday life like at the gas station, grocery store, Wal-Mart, etc.  We use it everywhere without hardly noticing so let's point it out when we do so our students can see that this is a real-life skill!  :)

In Science, we began studying Structure and Function.  A structure is a part of something and the function is what it does.  To emphasize this concept, we got in groups and traced the outline of one group member onto bulletin board paper.  We then labeled as many structures on their bodies as we could (legs, hands, eyes, ears, feet, etc.) and explained the function of each (to walk or hold us up, grabbing things, seeing, hearing, walking, etc.).  Tomorrow, we will compare our structures to the structures of plants and see the similarities and differences.  No homework.

You are all extraordinary!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas

10-19-10

Good afternoon friends!  Today was yet another BEAUTIFUL fall day!!! 

I will not name names, but another class has 190 cans for the Hunger Heroes Food Drive THIS WEEK!!!  That means, they brought them all in yesterday and today!!!  AHHHHHHH!!!!  We HAVE to destroy the competition by beating their total!!!  Think of all the smiles we will put on people's faces this holiday season...doesn't that alone make it worth it?!?

Also, don't forget about BOO-Grams from the 5th graders for $1!!  It is so cool to receive one from a friend AND to send one to a friend because it puts a smile on his/her face!  Thank you for mine today, Lauren...you made my day!!!

In reading, we began reading about planets in our solar system and previewing our passage for the week.  Our concept to focus upon is main idea and supporting details so even though it is a higher level skill and something a bit challenging, it is one in which we are really doing well and progressing nicely with!  We had this concept several weeks ago and I was BLOWN AWAY by how engaged we were with it and how quickly we caught on.  We really do have AMAZING and excited readers in our class!!!  For homework, please work on your new 'Wordly Wise' spelling packet and review your words and their definitions for your test on Friday.  PS, Did I tell you that EVERY SINGLE PERSON got above a 97% on our previous test?!?  Isn't that INCREDIBLE?!?

In math, we reviewed mental math and played a game from our "All Hands on Deck" series to reinforce adding and subtracting mentally.  Please review your basic addition facts at home with your parents.  It is a GREAT thing to do on your way to and from somewhere in the car!  Also, teach someone at home our card games we've been working on (Draw a card and either make the largest sum in addition, or the smallest difference in subtraction).   No homework otherwise!

Ms. Sharp sat in on all lunches today to observe how our new "paws in the cafeteria" system is working.  Unfortunately, we STILL got a yellow paw (even with her in there!). 

Mrs. Ingold had an emergency today so both classes came to our room and we watched Schoolhouse Rock: Government series (a blast from your past, parents!).  It truly was a blessing and a sweet sound to hear their laughter during all the songs.

You are all special to me!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas
PS, there's a new survey...go on and vote!

WEEKLY EVENTS

This Week at Garden Springs

Oct. 18—Day 2

5th grade will be selling Boo grams on Monday morning for the next two weeks.

God’s Pantry Food Drive (10/11-10/29)

1st MAP Testing Window Continues (8/30-11/12)
 
No Lego Club-Initial paperwork sent out for Lego Club incorrectly states that the club will meet on October 18 - it should be October 25.

2:45-3:45p: Performing Arts Club Rehearsal

Oct. 19- Day 3

6:00p: Science Fair Parent Information Night (RESCHEDULED TO A NEW DATE)

Oct. 20—Day 4

9:15a: Earthquake Drill

7:30-8:00a: K-Kids 

2:45-4:00p: Governor’s Cup Academic Team Practice 

2:45-4:00p: Girls on the Run 

Oct. 21—Day 5
 
Deadline for Reflections Entries to be submitted to District

2:35-3:45p: 2nd & 3rd Grade Spanish Club

2:45-4:00p: STLP

2:45-4:00p: Girls on the Run

Oct. 22—Day 6

Red Ribbon Week is Oct. 25 - 29th.  The main purpose of this event is to educate our kids on being DRUG FREE.  We have a lot of fun things planned each day.  Watch your Wednesday folder for a flyer with details for each day.  Contact Becky Wheatly if you have any questions bwheatley4@insightbb.com.

 

 

VOLUNTEERS:  We are in need of someone to help with the monthly PTA newsletter.  If you are interested, please contact Andrea Wiley at andreawiley@gmail.com