Merry Christmas!

Well, it's been ONE. FULL. WEEK. since I've seen you and I miss you like crazy!!  I cannot believe how fast this week has gone!  Only 10 more days until we kick off our learning in 2012!  I hope you are having a fabulous break and have a wonderful Christmas!

See you soon!
Love always,
Mrs. Thomas

12.15.11

Happy second to last day of school for 2011, friends!!  Tomorrow is our LAST day!!!  Ahhhh!!! We are dopping like flies around here...sicky Vicky and Rickies!! 

As this flu season is upon us, other communicable diseases spread their ickiness too...so we we need to be sure we are taking the appropriate precautions to ensure our health:

-frequent handwashing

-adequate rest and nutrition

-coughing and sneezing into the crook of our arms

-staying home if we are vomitting or have even a low-grade fever

-using hand sanitizer frequently, tissues to blow our nose, and being conscious about keeping our hands out of our mouths, eyes, and noses.

I sure hate to have my "lovebugs" be "sickbugs" :(  We miss you when you're not here!!!  Feel better fast, friends!!

WRITING/ READING:
Our class went to Ms. Frederick today to learn about Christmas and Winter Holiday traditions in Mexico.  I had Ms. Schrader's class in here with me to learn about holiday traditions in Israel.  I finally get to have my homeroom babies in HERE with ME tomorrow!  YAAAAAY!!!
HOMEWORK: none!

MATH:
We completed our midterms and worked on our Math Curse problems.
HOMEWORK: none.

PM activities:
students worked on their math curses while I helped small groups mold their snowman ornaments that we will paint and complete tomorrow.  They are already sooooo cute!  Imagine them with paint!!!
HOMEWORK: none.

Have a tremendous night and I can't wait to see you for our final school day of 2011!!
I love you!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas

12.14.11

Hello all and Happy Wednesday!  We got the opportunity to meet Mrs. Butler's replacement, Mr. Harman today...he is super nice!  Thank you to everyone who sent in supplies for our Winter Party this Friday! 

We are still in need of the following items:

sugar cookies

icing

savory treats  (pizza rolls, fruit, veggies and dip, etc.)

Plaster-of-Paris

WRITING/ READING:
Today, I had Mrs. Butler's class in here in Israel with me while our students went to her room to learn about Holiday/ Christmas traditions in Ireland.  They made an AWESOME red candle to bring home and put in their windows as well as Shamrock cookies to bring luck for the New Year!
HOMEWORK: none, but have you returned your group's chapter books to me?

SCIENCE:
Ms. Frederick came and worked on Jeopardy for review with the students.
HOMEWORK: none, BUT test is TOMORROW!

MATH:
Most of finished our midterm assessment and...WOW!!!  Every. single. student. has gotten a PROFICIENT or DISTINGUISHED!!!!  I am so. so. sooooooo proud of you all!
HOMEWORK: none

REMINDERS:

no vocabulary words this week

Winter Break starts after this Friday.  Classes resume January 2nd, 2012!

Winter parties are at 1:05PM Friday, December 16, 2011

Have a wonderful Wednesday night!
I love you!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas

12.13.11

Hi friends!  Happy Tuesday! 

WRITING/ READING:
Today, we began our "Countries Around the World Holiday Study".  Our class was off to Germany with Ms. Schrader while I had Ms. Frederick's class in Israel in here with me.  It sure is fun being able to travel to a different country during the school day!  Tomorrow, our class will be heading to Ireland with Mrs. Butler while I have Mrs. Butler's class traveling with me. 
HOMEWORK: none.  BUT, have you turned in your group's chapter book to me yet?!?

SCIENCE:
We did not have Ms. Frederick today because of our winter Math MAP assessments this morning during our regularly scheduled Science time.

MATH:
This morning, we took our math MAP test and then this afternoon, we worked on completing our midterm assessment.  WARREN WAS OUR BIG WINNER ON GAIN AND SCORE!!!  Way to Go, Warren on your 224!!!  You are UNTOUCHABLE and we are so, so, sooooooo proud of you!
HOMEWORK: think of a math problem you might solve in your daily life.  We'll be doing projects for the remainder of this week with that idea in mind.

REMINDERS/ ANNOUNCEMENTS:

NO vocabulary words this week

all reading chapter books MUST BE TURNED BACK INTO ME BEFORE YOU LEAVE FOR WINTER BREAK!

we NEED supplies for our WINTER PARTY this Friday at 1:05.

**I sent a letter home on Friday, but please let me know if you would like another or have questions about what to send in. We will be decorating cookies (with icing, sprinkles, M&Ms, chocolate chips, candy, etc.) AND making a snowman ornament that I made when I was in 5th grade and my mother STILL hangs on her tree.

**The supplies we need for this snowman ornament ^ are: "Plaster-of-Paris"; white 'GESSO' paint; white, black, and orange acrylic paint, toothpicks; bobby-pins; fabric 1" thick (length does not matter); and ornament hooks.

Our last day of School before Winter Break is THIS Friday. School resumes Monday, January 2nd, 2012.

12.12.11

Hello my "Nutty Buddies"!  And Happy LAST MONDAY OF SCHOOL IN 2011 to YOU!!!  Can you believe we only have FOUR days left until this school year is halfway complete?!?  Yikes!  I feel like there is so much we still need to cover...yet, I know that there's so much we already have as well!

WRITING/ READING:
We began/ finished our Midterm assessment and I am happy to report that we did A.W.E.S.O.M.E!  We had 7 Distinguished, 12 Proficient, and 2 Apprentice Highs!  This was a waaaaay difficult test over every. single. concept. we've covered so far this school year.  I am so proud of everyone...especially my reading kiddos who were using every tool in our test taking box as many hit a HOMERUN on this test!  Woooo hooooo...GOOOOO "Nutty Buddies"!  (Nutty Buddies is the nickname Jeremiah assigned to us for me to call our class since I'm always asking them if they're nutty, or telling them through giggles that they are nutty...which I LOVE so much about these tremendous friends up in room 105!)

Guess what?!?  We start our "Countries Around the World" project tomorrow and our class will be boarding a flight to Mexico to learn about Winter holiday traditions there!  Sadly, I will not have my homeroom friends back here in "Israel" with me until Friday!  Ahhhh!!!  Have fun in other countries for Reading friends!  Send me a postcard?!? 
HOMEWORK: none!  We have NO Vocabulary words this week due to our ehhh hemmm...worldly travels, so enjoy a week of less work to do at home!

MATH:
We had a special guest come work with us on multiplication and using pictures to solve multiplication equations.  We sure loved having Ms. Gordon here with us and we hope she had a great time too!

ALSO, we began our mathematics Midterm assessment.  This is even harder than the Reading test and the students are going well! 

Tomorrow, we take the MATH MAP assessment and then Wednesday, we will begin our math projects over, The Math Curse.

HOMEWORK: none

SCIENCE:
Ms. Frederick worked with us on natural disasters that can change the surface of our earth.
HOMEWORK: none.

REMINDERS/ ANNOUNCEMENTS:

NO vocabulary words this week

Math MAP test is tomorrow at 10:00a.m. in the computer lab.

Orchestra Concert is TONIGHT at 6PM

all reading chapter books MUST BE TURNED BACK INTO ME BEFORE YOU LEAVE FOR WINTER BREAK!

we NEED supplies for our WINTER PARTY this Friday at 1:05. 

 **I sent a letter home on Friday, but please let me know if you would like another or have questions about what to send in.  We will be decorating cookies (with icing, sprinkles, M&Ms, chocolate chips, candy, etc.) AND making a snowman ornament that I made when I was in 5th grade and my mother STILL hangs on her tree.

Here was MY finished product!  Super cute, huh?!?  He's lost his arms over the years :(

**The supplies we need for this are: "Plaster-of-Paris"; white 'GESSO' paint; white, black, and orange acrylic paint, toothpicks; bobby-pins; fabric 1" thick (length does not matter); and ornament hooks. 

Our last day of School before Winter Break is THIS Friday.  School resumes Monday, January 2nd, 2012.

See?  That's ther beginning of the ornament...and that's me as a 5th grader...don't you dare laugh at my HUGE glasses, closed eyes, and neato turtleneck...bahahahahaha!  Okay, you can :)

PROOF that it is older than the kids!  17 years old this year!

12.9.11

WOWZA!!!!  I could NOT be more excited about most of our MAP results in reading today!  The students absolutely rocked. it. OUT.  Our big winner today was John, moving up 24 POINTS...yes, you heard me correctly, 24 POINTS!!!  We expect most students to move about 3-4 points between testing sessions, but 24?!?  Holy Toledo!  Crazy!  His Momma came in to surprise him with Balloons, a candy gram, and a card!  She is the sweetest ever and it was awesome seeing the thrills of a proud momma and a talented son...they gave me chills!!!

Here are our other BIG gainers on MAP Reading today!!!



WRITING and READING:
We took our summative assessment over Main Idea and supporting details found in the text.  Our ORQs were EXPONENTIALLY better than last time and I am so pumped!

SCIENCE & MATH
We did NOT have Science or Math today due to MAP testing during Science time and STOMP BASH during Math Time.  I had such A BLAST dancing with you all in the gym!  YAAAAY!!  Congratulations to everyone who had enough Proficient and Distinguished scores to get to go!  This teacher's heart is filled with overwhelming happiness and pride for all her students!

I love, love, looooooove you!  Thank you for being so awesome to Baby Jack and his momma! 
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas

12.8.11

I am a lousy teacher...I completely neglected my blogger duties yesterday and thus, I am incredibly sorry!  It is never best practice to not keep you updated or informed and therefore I promise to continue my daily communication through this outlet and tool.

With that said, I must let you know out of excitement that Jackbaby got a gift from a sweet friend today for Christmas!  Emilee brought Jack a Cubs bear and me an owl that was super sweet and super crafty!  Jack's Daddy (Mr. Thomas) is quite possibly, the BIGGEST Cubs fan EVER and so is Jack's Mamaw (Mr. Thomas's mother - my mother-in-law) so it was the absolute perfect gift!  I sent him a text picture of it this morning after Emilee gave it to me and he was so. so. sooooo excited!  Thank you so much, Emilee, for your kind thoughtfulness!!  You are such a sweet friend to my son!

WRITING:
Since it was orchestra day, we had no direct Writing instruction, but it was incorporated into our reading rotations.  We are still focusing upon multiple meaning words.
HOMEWORK: none - except study words for quiz!

READING:
We are still studying main idea and finding details to support it.  We got in groups and were able to review all concepts from the week.
HOMEWORK: complete the "CHARACTER COMPARISON" Venn Diagram, AND the "STORY MAP" for your group's chapter book.  ALSO, please work on the "Unscramble my Word" activity for your vocabulary words this week.  Vocabulary test is TOMORROW!

SCIENCE:
Students worked with Ms. Frederick on a cool activity!  They got to see how volcanoes erupt and witness that rapid earth process that can cause significant change to our surface and those around it.
HOMEWORK: none.

MATH:
We finished our skill yesterday of looking at ways to divide numbers into equal groups and seeing the relationship between multiplication and division.  Students were asked to find ways to arrange tables for an upcoming family reunion with 36 relatives present.  They had 5 different shapes of tables that could only sit a certain number of people per table and there could be no remainders or parts of tables used.  It was great fun!  We also started on LONG DIVISION! 
Visit these sites tonight to help you with this awesome skill:
HOMEWORK: students need to practice multiplication facts.  We began long division today and it was incredibly difficult for many students who do not have mastery of this basic skill.

Have a terrific night and rest up...we have MAP testing TOMORROW!!!  I KNOW you are going to ROCK it!

xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas

12.6.11

Hello everyone and Happy Terrific Tuesday to you!  It may be another dreary day, but I am pumped about the start of winter weather rolling in...I sure hope it sticks!

WRITING:
Writing was in Reading Rotations today since the majority of the students had orchestra.
HOMEWORK: complete "Multiple Meanings" worksheet

READING:
To practice our skill of focus, students met with me in a small group to read articles from Scholastic magazines for Kids and we used the Hand Organizer to identify the main idea (goes in the palm of the hand), and details we read in the text that supports the main idea (listed on the fingers).  Students also got to work on some new (and oh so very fun) Word Work activities...ask your student to share one with you tonight...one is wearing a headband while you clue the person into the word you are describing for them to guess without seeing the headbands on his/her head!  They looked so cute!  Students also worked independently to identify the main idea from our reading text for the week (Wildfires) AND met with groups to discuss favorite parts of chapter books in preparation for our projects coming up!
HOMEWORK: complete Exercises 2 and 3 for our Vocabulary (and the "Multiple Meanings" worksheet listed above under Writing Homework).

MATH:
We practiced extra hard on some DIVISION and well, the students are "knocking it out of the park!"  They really are doing a sensational job and I could not be more proud of their progress!
HOMEWORK: TEXTBOOK page 100, problems 1 through 6, using the H-T-O method we've been practicing in class.
ALSO, complete ANY of the multiplication problems from the worksheets we worked on in class.

SCIENCE:
No Science today due to Ms. Frederick's class having MAP testing!
HOMEWORK: none.

Have a wonderful evening and I cannot wait to see you tomorrow!!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas

Christmas is 19 days away!
and Winter Break begins after 8 school days from today!

12.5.11

Hello Gents and Judies!  I hope I find you dry on this dreary Monday afternoon!  We've had a busy day of winding down our classes for 2011!  I came in to a very special surprise today...

meet, Mortimer - he now greets us at our classroom door!

Hayden brought me an oh-so very cool new owl!!!  I have named him, "Mortimer" and he now hangs outside our classroom door!  What a sensationally, AMAZING gift that I am so touched to have!  Hayden, you reeeeeaaaaally made my day and I am so grateful for your thoughtfulness!

WRITING:
This week, we are studying words that have multiple meanings (homonyms) like: fall, land, fan, check, change, raise, roll, beat, etc.  Shellby pointed out that we have some multiple meaning words on our vocabulary (Arctic - a noun of a place, and arctic - an adjective)...good i-Spy eyes, Shellby Sue! I also read them a story entitled The King who Rained so we could look at words that are not only spelled the same, but have different meanings, compared to words that sound the same yet have different meanings (homophones). 
HOMEWORK: none tonight!

READING:
We are continuing our focus of identifying the Main Idea of a nonfiction text and finding details within the text to support our thinking and prove our reasoning.  Today, we read a story entitled, WildFires, about how wildfires are not always detrimental to an environment and can actually be beneficial which is quite interesting compared to the picture of how these are typically painted. 
HOMEWORK: Complete Exercise 1 for our vocabulary this week which is Lesson 5.  Also, complete ONE "Tic-Tac-Toe" activity of your choice. 

our WOW! Words this week are:

accommodations

Hanukkah

enthusiastic

kaleidoscope

onomatopoeia

SCIENCE:
Ms. Frederick worked with students on consequences of earth processes (rapid or slow - meaning earthquakes, hurricanes, erosion, etc.)
HOMEWORK: none.

In division, the DIVISOR is the worker bee, separating the dividend into equal groups!

MATH:
I worked with students on DIVIDING!  Currently, we are using place value charts and chips to draw out our division and working on making groups of each place-value.  We have learned that the number you start with is the DIVIDEND; the number that divides is the DIVISOR (the "worker bee"!); and the answer in these equations is called the QUOTIENT.  For example, in 565 divided by 5 (which equals 113), the dividend is 565, the divisor is 5, and the quotient is 113.  Students have been doing 3-digit by 1-digit division!  Tough stuff, but they are catching on and L.O.V.I.N.G. it!
HOMEWORK: none tonight, but PLEASE work on multiplication facts!

Have a terrific night and stay dry!  I'll see you in the morning!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas

Christmas is only 20 days from TODAY!
and Winter Break is only 9 school days away!

12.2.11

Hello all and HAPPY DECEMBER!!!  I hope I find you well and wonderful on this fantastic, fabulous Friday!!  Yesterday, we 4th grade teachers had a Professional Development (a meeting) to attend so there were subs here for all 4 of us.  While I was disappointed in the actions of some, I am proud of most!  To my knowledge, you all were well-behaved for the most part with our sub!  yay!

READING & WRITING:
We took our vocabulary test and then had an assessment over our concept of focus this week: Identifying the Main Idea and finding and using Details to SUPPORT it.
HOMEWORK: i gave the assignment that ALL chapter books needed to be finished BY TODAY and I saw that SEVERAL friends had simply ignored that request.  Thus, they MUST be finished BY MONDAY or there will be consequences!

SCIENCE:
Students again got to work on studying the properties of different types of soils with Ms. Frederick.  They have such a GREAT time! 
HOMEWORK: none.

MATH:
Because of our GREAT behavior in Science yesterday (Ms. Frderick's sub said they were beyond phenomenal!), and our adaptability due to some unexpected incidents, I gave the students extra, EXTRA recess for the first half of math!
When we came in, we worked on reviewing and practicing some 3-digit multiplication and the students worked hard and did an excellent job!
HOMEWORK: none.

I hope you have a tremendous weekend!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas