Responsibility!

Responsibility is our Character Trait for the month of November. Here are a few examples of topics to discuss at home.

Accountability: Do accept the responsibility of the consequences of your choices, not only for what you do, but what you don't do. Think about the consequences on yourself and others before you act. Think long term. Do what you can to make things better. Set a good example. Don't look the other way when you can make a difference. Don't make excuses of blame others.

Pursue Excellence: Do your best. Persevere. Don't quit. Be prepared. Work hard and take pride in what you do.

Self-Control: Take charge of your own life. Keep a positive outlook. Know the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do.

THINK PINK!

Please remember that tomorrow is our friendly competition with Lakeside to see who can raise the most money for the Susan B. Komen foundation. It is a special Dress Down day, where everyone has to wear Pink! Pin a ribbon on your shirt, head band, whatever it takes to win! Oh right, friendly competition.
Students can bring in $1, $2, or even $3 for this special event. Go Patriots!

No act of kindess, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

One of our recent writing assignments was formating a friendly letter. The class wrote "thanks for all you do" letters to Mrs. Stewart and she loved them so much she rewarded everyone (even me!) with a twenty-five cent coupon to the Snack Shack. The students were excited to get the treat and also that they had made her so happy!
Mrs. Stewart said she hopes their letters come true, as some children said she deserved a long, paid vacation on a beautiful island!
You should be extremely proud of the animal projects your child turned in for their reports on the habitats of Arizona critters. A number of them did dioramas and poster boards. Very impressive!
Only two families have not returned the Entertainment Book. Please get those in as soon as possible since I have already sent home three notices. Thanks to everyone who sold them to raise money for La Paloma!

Intelligence without ambition is like a bird without wings.

Quick reminder that Animal Projects are due next Monday, September 17th. Six students have already turned in their work and they are fantastic! I love it when kids are so creative!
I will be posting a list of available conference times, and sending it home in the homework packet. Please give me your top four choices so that we can work something out that fits your schedule. Times will be granted on a first come, first serve basis. If you have more than one child that you are scheduling times for, please let the teachers know, so we can try to get them set up around the same time for you.
Next week is the last week students can make up work. I will get with individuals who have missed assignments so that they are caught up. We take most of our tests on Fridays, so that is an important day to be in class every week.
Next weeks spelling words are "short i words":
quick
deliver
gym
different
picture
middle
interesting
village
written
bridge
guitar
thick
picnic
inch
begin
pitch
itch
chicken
building
package

You can't climb the ladder to success with your hands in your pockets!

Work has begun on individual animal projects regarding "Critters" in Arizona. Students earned the opportunity to choose their animal according to how often they have turned in homework and finished class work. Projects are to be finished by Monday, September 24th. We are using the book, "Critters" in class and they are using their computer time to work on their paper here at school. Unfortunately, one of the books I checked out from the Wilmot Library for the group projects was lost, so I will not be getting books for this project.
Each student is responsible for describing the habitat where their animal lives. We are looking for interesting facts, not things everyone already knows about the animal. A one page written report is required, along with notes for an oral presetation. Each report must come with a poster, diorama, clay/playdough model, or puppet. This gives students an opportunity to look at the same project from a variety of learning styles.
I have told them that the written portion must be in their own words, not just a downloaded version from their computer.
Everyone did such a fantastic job on the group animal classification projects, that I am looking forward to seeing their creativity shine. The group project showed them what is expected and that they need to use their time wisely in order to finish on time. Please contact me with any questions you might have on the project.

Hard work and perseverance bring reward!

I like to include "Homework Helpers" in student's folders every once in a while. This week they have a "Grammar and Usage Guide", with many helpful tips on capitalization and punctuation. It covers important information to help them with their reading and writing. They will also get one to keep in their Very Important Papers folder here at school.
This week's spelling words:
beach
between
freeze
knee
leaf
means
peace
please
queen
reason
scream
season
seem
speak
speech
squeeze
sweep
sweet
teach
treat

Congrats to Alyssa and Kamron who got them in alphabetical order the fastest this morning and earned a trip to the Treasure Chest!
I'm not saying the students are messy, but we can always use paper towels in The Big Dog Room!
Thanks

Welcome to The Big Dog Room Blog August 2012

To my six followers, Welcome Back! These first seven days of school have focused on rules, rules, rules, consequences for continuing to break those rules, six pillars of character, math, science, reading, social studies and writing.We have a new music teacher, who the children seem to enjoy, but they are not one bit happy about losing art. There are plans to have an after school art club up and running soon. I love that they are getting music, b/c students who play musical instruments become more disciplined students in general, and it's something you can do for the rest of your life. PE is scheduled for 45 minutes this year. I hope every student brings a water bottle, b/c whenever they do get the full time, they are going to need to stay hydrated. Everyone is excited about the upcoming tackle football season! Volleyball tryouts start this week, and 4th graders are being included this time around.
Future Blogs will include Homework info, things you might have missed in the weekly Link, and recaps of my weekly letter home.
I have a wonderful class this year, and I'm looking forward to meeting the challenges of a new school year  with them!

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruits are sweet!

We are offering summer school here at our campus starting on June 4th. The Achieve Academy will have three sessions, Mon-Fri from 8 am until noon. The sessions are: June 4-June 15
June 18-June 29
July 2- July 20
The cost is only $5 per day!
I will be sending home sign up sheets in next weeks homework packet, or you can pick one up at the front desk. This is fantastic opportunity to get a jump on 5th Grade and continue working on all the skills you learned this year, so that students don't forget anything over the summer break.
There is limited space available, so if your child was struggling, please sign up.

Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one!

First day of AIMS testing went well. Everyone was on time, well rested and confident! Our spelling words have remained the same and I wrote them on the board for everyone to read together this morning before we started testing.
I AM: Creative, Outstanding, Spectacular, Brilliant, Fantastic, Remarkable, Awesome, Persistant, Delightful, Phenomenal, Terrific, Sensational, Unique, Extraordinary, Marvelous, Magnificent, Excellent, Stupendous, Fabulous, and Successful!
As we read them, we pointed to each other to boost everyone's spirits. I wanted them all to feel good, and think positve about themselves during what can be a stress filled time for students.
This afternoon we read over the key points that are listed at the end of each chapter in our Buckle Down Reading books. We discussed everything from main ideas, to synoyms and similies.
McDonalds is offering Free Breakfast tomorrow for all students taking the test!

The mind is not a vase to be filled, but a fire to be ignited.

There is no school on Friday, April 6th, or Monday, April 9th. I hope you have a safe and happy Easter vacation. Even though it is a short week, the students do have homework. We will not be having a spelling test. Everyone will have plenty to do over the break with their Reading Log, Moon Chart, and reviewing the Buckle Down practice AIMS tests that are coming home.
An exciting website for children to visit is called kidsastronomy.com. There are many interesting activities and some valuable information available. If they don't have use of a computer at home, they will be able to check it out during our Wedensday computer time.
Math homework this week is a fun activity that deals with estimation, and multiplication. After they cross out all the correct answers on the grid, the leftover letters will spell out the answer to the riddle at the bottom of the page. The other page is a crossword puzzle with some tricky addition and subtraction problems.
They will also have to read a story, "The Treasure Hunt", and answer the questions that go along with it. This will be good practice for highlighting a text to help prepare for the AIMS testing.
AIMS testing is the week of April 16th! We will be singing "TEST Busters" to the tune of "Ghost Busters" a thousand times or more between now and then.
"We ain't afriad of no test!"*
*I am aware that is not grammatically correct, but tough to mess with lyrics to such a classic tune!
T ests don't scare me!
E asy as pie!
S tay focused!
T ry your best!
S mile!

Every Moment, You Make A Difference!

Next week is Love of Reading Week! Please contact me if you would like to read to our class. Monday we will have guest readers. Tuesday will be a Read In, with the students wearing their pj's, and bringing in pillows and blankets to make themselves comforatable for a day of enjoying good books. On Wednesday we will be making book marks. Thursday is Poem In a Pocket Day, and everyone will get a chance to win prizes just by reading their poetry. Friday they can dress like their favorite character from any book. What a great week!

All things are possible, always believe that!

Our first week back has been outstanding! We have been reading about "A World In Motion" in Science, and will be doing a fun experiment with balloon rockets. Our Social Studies newspaper is all about "Early Arizona Mining". Everyone has done a good job working with each other on their classroom assignments.
We have been focusing on solving word problems and division during our Math lessons. They are beginnning to understand how important it was to learn their multiplication table, as they see how much easier it makes learning to divide.
Just like the early rule we learned, "Use your addition to check your subtraction." It is equally important now that they always, "Use your multiplication to check your division."
Our Character Lesson for January is Fairness. They are all making an effort to play by the rules, take turns and share, be open-minded and listen to others, not to take advantage of others, and not to blame others carelessly. I was very impressed with the Fairness posters they drew for our Big Dog Art Gallery.