Lewis and Clark Field Trip Pictures

I know, this is far overdue, but here are some wonderful pictures of our field trip in December. We had the opportunity to see a real Lewis and Clark gun fired, a clyster, and sit in a canoe! It was a great trip.

Great Things

I love this time of year. This is the time of year when things really start clicking for our class as a whole and for kids as individual learners. This energy fills our room and, I hope, your minivan on the way home.

Here are a few examples:
1) Kids hate recess this time of year. I have 20 hall passes, and usually have to dig for more, because kids never want to go outside in Corbett weather. If the weather is too bad, they can go into the gym, but they hate that too. So, I usually have most of my class in at recess. The deal is this: if I can still get some work done during lunch, meaning there is no screaming, coming in for recess is fine.

Recess in our classroom is an amazing sight. I am not directing the class in any way, but each student is engaged in something productive. Kids are playing games (a favorite is Apples to Apples), showing each other card tricks, drawing, making paper airplanes, and reading. What a wonderful skill, to be able to be in a room with no direction, and spend your time doing something enjoyable and productive.

2) This morning, Dustin came in and his first words were, “Mrs. Sims, do we get to learn about how Lewis and Clark got past the French today?” Music to my ears. Yes, Dustin, we do. As we move to the other side of the country, balancing the picture of North America after our study of local Native Americans in 1800 or so, we learn about Napoleon Bonaparte and Thomas Jefferson: two men of great strength with great vision. The kids are loving this story and groan every day when I say that time is up. Today, we will answer Dustin’s question with the Louisiana Purchase.

3) As you know, I have been working to send home math updates every couple of weeks. I sent out an update two weeks ago, and will send one again tomorrow. The last update was tough – many kids were behind. Today, I reminded the kids that another update would be coming out, so if they wanted to check their progress, I could tell them where they should be by tomorrow. Almost everyone had made up lessons over Thanksgiving break, and almost everyone was closer to their goals.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I am thankful for you. I know how many hours you put in at home. I know that math homework isn’t easy. I watched my sister (who has passed Calculus now and is onto Statistics) groan, grumble, and fight Saxon at home, as she went through grade school in Corbett. I see the smiling faces, the kids who proudly proclaim, “I did three lessons this weekend!” When I see that, I know it wasn’t all smiles at home, but I sure appreciate them at school. I love my job; I have fun here. Thanks for that.

Book Fair

Hi Parents!

Our wonderful PTA is holding a book fair from December 5th through December 8th! We really need volunteers to help make this book fair a success and also to get more books into our classrooms and students homes. There is a volunteer sign up sheet located the GS PTA board (across from the office). This is a link to our book fair “homepage” it has information for families and friends of students that attend Corbett Schools. This year a very unique feature is friends and families can access this as a on line shopping experience as well.

http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/corbettschool

You can contact me or Nancy Gyerko (gyerko@frontier.com) if you have any questions.
Thank you so much for supporting this event!

Halloween Costumes

Hey Guys!

Just in case … no Halloween costumes at school!

Lindy

Ridgefield Trip

WHAT A FIELD TRIP! We had an absolutely wonderful time, and I hope you have already heard all about it!

Here are one million pictures.

Outdoor School

We are so excited about Outdoor School this year! I don’t have a lot of details, but I do know that we will be going for 4 days, 3 nights, between Spring Break and Memorial Day. This is great, because the schedule will align with our regular schedule.

Thanks!

Great Events Opportunities!

Free Day for Oregon Day of Culture

Saturday, October 8, 2011

To celebrate the 2011 Day of Culture, the Oregon Historical Society is opening its doors for free all day on October 8! At 12:30, take a guided behind the scenes tour of the research library, where many of the Society’s photographs, maps, and records are housed. At 2 PM, enjoy a historic improv performance by the popular comedy group Sideburns in the OHS Pavilion. Learn about the history of rock and roll in the Oregon History Museum’s original exhibit “Oregon Rocks,” and take a tour of the exhibit with the curator at 3 PM.

Also, author Patrick Carman will be at the Cedar Hills Powell’s on October 7th. I have his Land of Elyon series in my library and he is coming out with a new book!

This Week and the ECO Project

Hello All!

This week flew by! We have moved from our larger (geographically) unit of North American Settlement to a unit focused on our own region. We live in the middle of three regions: the Northwest Coast, the Plateau, and the Oregon Seaboard. Today, our class became a clan, as each student drew and became a role. These roles (chief, warrior, gatherer …) will shape their understanding of our region as we work together to navigate and survive the challenges of nature.

We also wrapped up neuroscience. We are sad to see it go, but will use the time for writing lessons, literature study, science news, and projects until our next science unit.

FYI: This week, a picture packet went home. Picture day is October 11th; dig the packet out of your child’s backpack! Second, I am sending home a math update today. If you don’t get one, it’s because I don’t have your correct email address!

Today, we went outside to begin the second year of our ECO project. Last year, we planted native plants and worked on an outdoor classroom. Today, we measured the area and perimeter of our trail, then inventoried the plants planted last spring. Here are some pictures! You will see some silly ones at the end – the kids got cold and started doing jumping jacks

Thanks, and have a wonderful weekend!
Mrs. Sims

Three Weeks

Three weeks in, and the work is well under way! Our class is strong and studious, the 4th graders are beginning to acclimate and show their skills, and our community is growing in respect and care for one another.

Math is just starting to pick up. It takes a few weeks to really get in the swing of things and figure out where everyone is and what they have learned or forgotten over the summer. I will have updates at the end of next week. The students reported lessons that were begun today, and will again each Thursday. By next week, that number should go up by four or five.

I expected neuroscience to be enjoyable, because I was incredibly interested in it, but the study has exceeded my expectations. We have learned about brain structure, the lobes of the brain, neurons and neural pathways, and the nervous system as a whole. Today, we had a great discussion today about what it means to be human. The kids are coming home prepared to ask you that question. Get ready!

Our study of the gorge has been wonderful as well. All students have their own regions of North America, and are becoming absolute experts in their fields. The field trip was perfect and the kids loved seeing actual artifacts from their regions. Next week, we will be working on narrative survival guides. Come by and see them after next Thursday! They will be in the hall.

LiD/POTS, as always, is one of my favorite times of the day. We are journaling this year, which has helped to focus our studies. A trip to the library would help a lot! Kids are already thinking toward our LiD fair, so we may have to have two this year.

In writing, we are deep into a short story unit. We have learned the five elements of short stories: characters that pop, desire and consequence, conflict, change/epiphany, and language that is precise, shows – doesn’t tell, and plays to the emotions of readers. We will practice for another two weeks, then start a whole-class project that will hopefully be ready by conferences!

In art, our drawing has started off well. There were a few kids who were still stressed and negative about their abilities, but I think everyone is starting to come around. We will draw our first picture next week.

The kids are really getting into our read aloud. It is a tough book, full of characters with difficult names, and it is easy to get lost. A character named Gurgi, however, never fails to get a laugh.

This week, kids are turning in their first reading letters. Each student has a day, so that I get 7 letters per school day. I wrote them example letters the first week, had them practice writing one paragraph in groups, and this week, they strike out on their own! Journals stay at school and letters are written during reading time.

Okay! There is the update! We will start philosophy next week, and a new gorge unit on the 26th.

Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the pictures of your kids at a beautiful lunch at Columbia Hills State Park.

Welcome Back!

I hope your summer was both restful and enjoyable. Mine was both of those, but I am ready to get back to school!

If you look too closely, you will see that my last post was February. I do my best to take pictures and get them up on the blog, but I am not always the best. I really don’t put anything urgent on here, as most people do not check it regularly. This is the place for cute pictures of your kids!

I hope to see you on Thursday, when you can get some parent information, fill out a form if you have time to volunteer, and fill out your media release form, so that I can put photos of your child on this blog and up in the classroom. If you can’t make it, your child will come home with these things on Monday.

Parent Info 2011