Week 37 (MAY 19-23, 2008)

Here’s the last 2007-08 issue of my classroom newsletter, Mr. T’s Tattler.

Thanks to everyone who “fed the troops” on Fun Friday throughout the year.

There will be no new homework assignments this week in any subject. Any missing work and makeup testing must be completed by Wednesday morning. Up-to-the-moment progress reports were printed last Friday and will be sent home Monday. As work is turned in and graded, progress reports will once again be issued on Wednesday.

Science. Please click here for the latest field trip information.

Class potluck brunch this Wednesday, mid-morning through lunch. Similar setup as our December holiday party. Room Mom information to follow.

Field Day and early dismissal this Thursday at Casey Jones Park.

What to do this summer. If young minds do indeed soak up information like sponges, then it is reasonable to suppose that their little brains, like sponges, will dry out and shrink if not put to use. In that spirit, Instructor magazine from Scholastic offers:

• activities to help students maintain their reading and math skills over the summer, and
• a list of the best new summer books for every reader

Paint Mines field trip update

Click here for the basic lowdown on the field trip paying particular attention to the equipment list.

The Tuesday, May 20th weather forecast for beautiful Calhan calls for a high temperature of 83 degrees, a 10% chance for afternoon showers, and wind out of the south. The UV index will be very high (bring your sunscreen). It looks to be a hot day for hiking. That said:

• slather on sunscreen (about a shot glass full should do it),
• dress appropriately (i.e., in layers),
• bring enough water (about 64 ounces, i.e., 8 ounces per half hour) and
• trail food in addition to your disposable lunch and drink (examples: granola bars, toaster pastries, cookies, trail mix, dried fruit, Fig Newtons, M&M’s, sunflower seeds, hard candy, crackers, candy bars, or cheese, but absolutely NO PEANUTS or PEANUT BUTTER

Week 36 (MAY 12 - 16, 2008)

Science field trip permission slips and $7 are due this Friday, May 16.  Please read about this challenging field trip here.

Progress reports will be sent home this week. Students will spend the remainder of the week completing missing assignments in class.

Each week, parents should look for these two things:

• *This Week’s Assignments (in the sidebar on the right), and
• the current issue of my classroom newsletter, Mr. T’s Tattler

Absolutely no nuts, raspberries, pineapple, or baked goods containing milk in the classroom at anytime. This includes products your kids bring in daily for their snack. Airborne particles and residue on hands, clothing, desks, and in waste containers are of dire concern. Thanks for your help.

Fun Friday Snack Helpers are Dalton (snacks) and Matt (drinks). We start at 2:30 p.m., have 24 students, and there can be no nuts, raspberries, pineapple, or baked goods containing milk.

Math 54. Problem sets 121 - 125 will be due as homework this week. They will test this Friday.

Shurley Grammar. There will be no quiz this week.

All testing in my classes will occur this Friday as follows:

• Daily Oral Language (DOL). They will not test on the sentences edited each morning in class. They will, however, have a DOL quiz this Friday.
• Spelling. Students will test only upon the words they misspelled on Friday’s pretest. They will be exempted if their pretest score is at least 95%.
• –Spelling list (available Monday night)
• Vocabulary. I am no longer pretesting so there are no exemptions from the Friday test.
• –Vocabulary words (available Monday night)
• Open Court. The reading comprehension exam will be comprised of short answer and multiple choice questions. It will be an “open book” test.
• –Martha Helps the Rebel (is available online)

Science field trip permission slips are due Friday, May 16

Our science field trip to the Paint Mines Interpretive Park in El Paso County is scheduled for Tuesday, May 20. It’s my favorite activity of the year and is both challenging and unusual.

Permission slips (download one here) and $7 are due this Friday, May 16. Your student will need a disposable sack lunch and drink and lots of other stuff–-more on that later.

I need one more parent volunteer to ride on the school bus and act as field guides (Mrs. Waide needs two more). Contact either of us if you’re a glutton for punishment.  Any parent can participate, however, they must arrange their own transportation.

Super important information. I’ve warned the kiddos that this “ain’t no hippie field trip.” Have your student eat a good breakfast and take in lots of fluids. There is no shelter on this trip other than the outhouses at the beginning and end of the hike. Also, there is no potable water available. Students will be outdoors the entire time (about 4 hours) on high, wind swept plains and will hike a minimum of 4.3 miles on designated trails. There are no outhouses along the trail. Students must bring a backpack large enough to carry their own discarded layers of clothing, field guide and pencil, trail snacks and two containers of water. Other suggested gear: sunscreen, handkerchief, hat, sunglasses, windbreaker, hand sanitizer or wipes, binoculars, gloves and camera. It’s important to dress your student in layers in anticipation of temperature fluctuations (i.e., don’t put them in a t-shirt and ski jacket).

Week 35 (May 5 - 9, 2008)

Progress reports will not be sent home this week.

Each week, parents should look for these two things:

• *This Week’s Assignments (in the sidebar on the right), and
• the current issue of my classroom newsletter, Mr. T’s Tattler

Absolutely no nuts, raspberries, pineapple, or baked goods containing milk in the classroom at anytime. This includes products your kids bring in daily for their snack. Airborne particles and residue on hands, clothing, desks, and in waste containers are of dire concern. Thanks for your help.

Fun Friday Snack Helpers are Abigail (snacks) and Kameron (drinks). We start at 2:30 p.m., have 24 students, and there can be no nuts, raspberries, pineapple, or baked goods containing milk.

Math 54. Problem sets 113 - 116 will be due as homework this week. They will test this Friday.

Shurley Grammar. There will be no quiz this week.

All testing in my classes will occur this Friday as follows:

• Daily Oral Language (DOL). They will not test on the sentences edited each morning in class. They will, however, have a DOL quiz this Friday.
• Spelling. Students will test only upon the words they misspelled on Friday’s pretest. They will be exempted if their pretest score is at least 95%.
• –Spelling list (available Monday night)
• Vocabulary. I am no longer pretesting so there are no exemptions from the Friday test.
• –Vocabulary words (available Monday night)
• Open Court. The reading comprehension exam will be comprised of short answer and multiple choice questions. It will be an “open book” test.
• –The California Gold Rush: West with the Forty Niners (is available online).

Week 34 (April 29 - May 2, 2008)

Progress reports went home on Tuesday.

MAP testing will take place this week. This will provide valuable information regarding your child’s academic growth this year.

Mr. Tallent will be gone this week.

Each week, parents should look for these two things:

• *This Week’s Assignments (in the sidebar on the right), and
• the current issue of my classroom newsletter, Mr. T’s Tattler

Absolutely no nuts, raspberries, pineapple, or baked goods containing milk in the classroom at anytime. This includes products your kids bring in daily for their snack. Airborne particles and residue on hands, clothing, desks, and in waste containers are of dire concern. Thanks for your help.

Fun Friday Snack Helpers are Linn (snacks) and Elijah (drinks). We start at 2:30 p.m., have 24 students, and there can be no nuts, raspberries, pineapple, or baked goods containing milk.

Math 54. Problem sets 110 - 112 will be due as homework this week. They will test this Friday.

Shurley Grammar. There will be no quiz this week.

All testing in my classes will occur this Friday as follows:

• Daily Oral Language (DOL). They’ll test on the sentences edited each morning in class. Click on the links for:
• –Practice sentences
• –Answer key (available now)
  
• Spelling. Students will test only upon the words they misspelled on Friday’s pretest. They will be exempted if their pretest score is at least 95%.
• –Spelling list (available Monday night)
• Vocabulary. I am no longer pretesting so there are no exemptions from the Friday test.
• –Vocabulary words (available Monday night)
• Open Court. The reading comprehension exam will be comprised of short answer and multiple choice questions. It will be an “open book” test.
• –Going West (is available online).

Missing math assignment

I returned Problem Set 103 in yesterday’s Monday folders without recording the results in the gradebook.  A “zero” grade was entered instead.  If you discover this problem set in your student’s Monday Folder, please have your student return it so their grade can be entered.  Mea culpa.  

Week 33 (APR 21 - 25, 2008)

Progress reports. Please check reports for missing assignments.

MAP testing will take place over the next two weeks. This will provide valuable information regarding your child’s academic growth this year.

No school for students next Monday, April 28.

Mr. Tallent will be gone next week spending time with this family fueling the economy in Nevada.

Each week, parents should look for these two things:

• *This Week’s Assignments (in the sidebar on the right), and
• the current issue of my classroom newsletter, Mr. T’s Tattler

Absolutely no nuts, raspberries, pineapple, or baked goods containing milk in the classroom at anytime. This includes products your kids bring in daily for their snack. Airborne particles and residue on hands, clothing, desks, and in waste containers are of dire concern. Thanks for your help.

Fun Friday Snack Helpers are Logan (snacks) and Mark (drinks). We start at 2:30 p.m., have 24 students, and there can be no nuts, raspberries, pineapple, or baked goods containing milk.

Math 54. Problem sets 107 - 110 will be due as homework this week. They will test this Friday.

Shurley Grammar. Students will continue classifying pattern 3 sentences. There will be no quiz this week.

All testing in my classes will occur this Friday as follows:

• Daily Oral Language (DOL). They’ll test on the sentences edited each morning in class. Click on the links for:
• –Practice sentences
• –Answer key (available now)
  
• Spelling. Students will test only upon the words they misspelled on Friday’s pretest. They will be exempted if their pretest score is at least 95%.
• –Spelling list (available Monday night)
• Vocabulary. I am no longer pretesting so there are no exemptions from the Friday test.
• –Vocabulary words (available Monday night)
• Open Court. The reading comprehension exam will be comprised of short answer and multiple choice questions. It will be an “open book” test.
• –Louis Braille: The Boy Who Invented Books for the Blind (is available online).

Week 32 (APR 14 -18, 2008)

Progress reports. Please check reports for missing assignments.

Open Court. Last week, due largely to the snow day, we were not able to spend sufficient time reading and reviewing the story. As a result, I took no grade for their Friday Open Court exam.

Each week, parents should look for these two things:

• *This Week’s Assignments (in the sidebar on the right), and
• the current issue of my classroom newsletter, Mr. T’s Tattler

Absolutely no nuts, raspberries, pineapple, or baked goods containing milk in the classroom at anytime. This includes products your kids bring in daily for their snack. Airborne particles and residue on hands, clothing, desks, and in waste containers are of dire concern. Thanks for your help.

Fun Friday Snack Helpers are Alyssa (snacks) and Dan (drinks). We start at 2:30 p.m., have 24 students, and there can be no nuts, raspberries, pineapple, or baked goods containing milk.

Math 54. Problem sets 103 - 106 will be due as homework this week. They will test this Friday.

Shurley Grammar. Students will continue classifying pattern 3 sentences. There will be no quiz this week.

All testing in my classes will occur this Friday as follows:

• Daily Oral Language (DOL). They’ll test on the sentences edited each morning in class. Click on the links for:
• –Practice sentences
• –Answer key (available now)
  
• Spelling. Students will test only upon the words they misspelled on Friday’s pretest. They will be exempted if their pretest score is at least 95%.
• –Spelling list (available Monday night)
• Vocabulary. I am no longer pretesting so there are no exemptions from the Friday test.
• –Vocabulary words (available Monday night)
• Open Court. The reading comprehension exam will be comprised of short answer and multiple choice questions. It will be an “open book” test.
• –Koko’s Kitten (is available online).

Week 31 (APR 7 - 11, 2008)

Evacuation. Here’s what little I could find about last Friday’s evacuation (7 News, 9 News, Fox News: 4-4-2008 newscast); Rocky Mountain News). A few tears were shed by some fourth graders worried about their siblings or personal items they’d left behind in the classroom. By in large, they responded admirably given the unusual, sudden change in circumstances.

Progress reports. The evacuation required that I leave my car at Legacy Academy. Once home I discovered I’d left my classroom keys inside the school. As a result, I could do no grading this weekend so my progress reports will be sparse this week.

Support Your School! Week: details about elementary activities are available here.

Each week, parents should look for these two things:

• *This Week’s Assignments (in the sidebar on the right), and
• the current issue of my classroom newsletter, Mr. T’s Tattler

Absolutely no nuts, raspberries, pineapple, or baked goods containing milk in the classroom at anytime. This includes products your kids bring in daily for their snack. Airborne particles and residue on hands, clothing, desks, and in waste containers are of dire concern. Thanks for your help.

Fun Friday Snack Helpers are Christian (drinks) and John (snacks). We start at 2:30 p.m., have 24 students, and there can be no nuts, raspberries, pineapple, or baked goods containing milk.

Math 54. Problem sets 99 - 102 will be due as homework this week. They will test this Friday.

Shurley Grammar. Students will continue classifying pattern 3 sentences. There will be no quiz this week.

All testing in my classes will occur this Friday as follows:

• Daily Oral Language (DOL). They’ll test on the sentences edited each morning in class. Click on the links for:
• –Practice sentences
• –Answer key (available now)
  
• Spelling. Students will test only upon the words they misspelled on Monday’s pretest. They will be exempted if their pretest score is at least 95%.
• –Spelling list (available Monday night)
• Vocabulary. A pretest will be given Monday. Students will be exempted if their pretest score is perfect.
• –Vocabulary words (available Monday night)
• Open Court. The reading comprehension exam will be comprised of short answer and multiple choice questions. It will be an “open book” test.
• –Breaking Into Print (is not available online).