Reading Calendars

Just a reminder that the December reading calendars will be due when we return on Monday, January 5. I know it's hard to remember those after break.

I did not send home the January calendars. They get a New Year's present too! We will start the January calendar on the fifth when we return to school.

In case you are wondering, I am not actually writing this while on vacation. I scheduled it to send during break. Hopefully I am on the beach right now! :)

Merry Christmas

Our Christmas party went excellent yesterday, and the party committee was very prepared. It always gets a little hectic and I forgot to take pictures though!

We had delicious and healthy fruit kabobs (thanks to Gary, Braiden, and Richie) and popcorn (thanks Maddie). We had plenty of snacks and treats for everyone!

Also, thanks to all the students who brought in books for the book exchange. Here is a the pile of new books in our library. The kids are excited to start checking them out, and may be bringing one home to read over break!

Finally, have a very merry and safe Christmas. The picture above is my Merry Christmas wish from South Padre Island, Texas. My family will be going down to visit my parents on the beach over Christmas break!

Christmas Break at the Cobb Library

MOVIE MATINEE

When:  Tuesday, December 23

1:15pm – 3:15pm

Showing:  DOLPHIN TALE

Rated: PG

Running Time: 113 minutes

Who:  All ages - Children 6 and younger must be accompanied by an adult.

*****************************************************************

MOVIE MATINEE

When:  Tuesday, December 30

1:15pm – 3:00pm

Showing: MALEFICENT

Rated: PG

Running Time: 97 minutes

Who: 5^th Grade and older

FREE Pizza Included

****************************************************************

“LEGO Club”

When: Saturday, January 3

            1:00pm – 2:00pm

All ages are welcome.

Children 6 and younger must be accompanied by an adult

4k Screening and Registration

A Note from the 4K Teachers:

Any child who will turn 4 years old on or before September 1, 2015 should come to our 4K screening and registration on February 9th  or 10th  from 9-5. 

Parents should call the IGEMS School Office:  943-6313 Ext. 0 and make an appointment.

Xtra Math

Congratulations to Ashley and Jeran for completing the math portion of Xtra Math. Jeran has also completed the subtraction part too!

Students can go to xtramath.org or straight to the Student Sign-In to practice at home or on an iPad. It only takes the students 5-10 minutes to finish a session. We do get some practice time during the school day, but it can vary. The math classes get into the lab sometimes, some of the RtI groups work on them, and we have done it during computers too.

The students need three pieces of information at sign-in.
My e-mail: avanovermeer@igs.k12.wi.us
Username: First Name Only
Password: Random Four Digit Number (most of the students know this by now)

If your child forgot their password you can just e-mail me and I'll send it your way.

PAWS Activity

The class earned their third PAWs activity of the year! This time they chose a reading day, which we will have on Friday, December 19.

For the reading day they can wear comfy clothes and bring a blanket and pillow to snuggle up into. I told them that rule of thumb for size was that they should be able to stuff their pillow and blanket in their backpack. Hopefully that will keep anyone from bringing their entire bed set!

They voted on their next PAWs activity today as well. We will start collecting PAWs that will let the students bring in their electronics for their next activity.

Test, Test, Test

I think there is a saying, all good things come in threes! Or is it bad things come in threes?

Tomorrow the fourth graders have three different tests, but they should be prepared for all of them.

• We have our usual Words Their Way spelling test, which only takes about 10 minutes.

• Then we will take our test on the story we just finished; Sarah, Plain and Tall. We have spent the last two weeks reading and discussing this book as well. I think the students will be very well versed in this book.

• Finally, in social studies with Mrs. Bast they will have a test. Mrs. Bast has told me that the kids should know this pretty well and they are doing a study review today.

Hopefully it sounds worse than it really is!

Holiday Reminders

Christmas Concert

The third through sixth grade Christmas Concert is on Thursday, December 11 at 7:00. We will begin lining up at 6:50 and I will be here to unlock the classroom door by 6:30. As with other years, please pick up your child at the classroom after the show.

Christmas Party

Our Christmas Party will be on Monday, December 22 at the end of the school day. We will do our snacks, games, and gift opening at that time. Our party committee members are Braiden, Gary, Julia, Maddie, Richie, and Teejay. We met today to plan our individual jobs.

Book Donations

Just a reminder that we are going to exchange books to donate to the classroom library. Have your child put their name and the year on the inside of the book. Please wrap them too, as we will still open them up at our party.

Lower Elementary Christmas Concert

If you have a child in kindergarten through second in the afternoon concert your fourth grade child can come too if you pick them up. They don't want chaos in the hallways by just sending anyone with a younger sibling down. 

Early Release

Finally, Just a reminder that we have an early release on Tuesday, December 23 to begin Christmas break. We won't return until Monday, January 5!

Lunch With Santa

Just passing this along a couple of activities if you are interested.

Lunch With Santa

When: Saturday, December 13 from 11-1

Where: Montfort Community building

Come meet and talk with Santa and the Grinch, free lunch (donations are accepted), buy gifts for family, make and take crafts, and purchase baked goods to support the Montfort Library.

Lego Club

Where: Cobb Public Library

When: Saturday, December 6

          @ 1:00pm - 2:00pm

Who: All ages

~ LEGOs provided

~ FREE

Children 6 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

Long Division

All the fourth grade math classes are beginning or will soon be beginning long division. Here is a funny little video to help with the steps of long division.

I also put the reminders below:
Daddy - Divide
Mommy - Multiply
Sister - Subtract
Brother - Bring Down
Rover - Repeat or Remainder

Rover is not in the video, but we added it in. That is the dog's name in the family!

Reading Calendars

Congratulations to all the students who turned in their November Reading Calendars! It was tough to remember to get those turned in after the break. The Pizza Hut coupons have been sent home. Here are the students who turned in their calendars: Jalyssa, Braiden, Teejay, Mackenzie, Madalyn, Kennedy, Indigo, Sarah, McKenna, Raymond, Ty, Ashley, Jeran, Alexiyia, Richard, and Evie.  Awesome Job!

The December calendars were sent out yesterday as well. Those won't be due back until next year on January 5!

Christmas Concert Changes

This Note was already sent home. I just wanted to include a reminder. Fourth grade will still have their concert at 7:00 p.m.

Due to the increased number of students at our elementary level as well as the increase in the number of audience members at our Holiday performances we have a facility capacity and viewing concern. To accommodate all of our students and guests we will be hosting two different elementary performances of our Holiday program.

K-2^nd grade students will be performing at 2:30 p.m. on December 11 in the IGEMS gymnasium. If you would prefer to take your student(s) home with you following this performance, please send a note to their classroom teacher in advance to avoid lines when signing students out post-performance. Please limit parking for this performance to the back gym entrance to avoid buses loading in the front of school. All entry will take place through the gym entrance.

3^rd- 6^th grade students will be performing at 7:00 p.m. on December 11 in the IGEMS gymnasium. Please have your student to their homeroom between 6:30-6:45.

December Reminders

The following are just a few reminders for parents and students for after break. We have a few things due in early December. I'll leave this post up as a reminder.

November Reading Calendars

The students December Reading Calendars will be due on Monday, December 1. The day after Thanksgiving Break.

Christmas Store

We will go to the Christmas Store on Tuesday, December 2. It costs $0.50 for two gifts.

Food Drive

The food drive runs until Monday, December 8 if you have nonperishable foods you'd like to donate.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Food Drive

Early Release Reminder

Just a reminder that we have an early release tomorrow (Wednesday, Thursday 26). Have a Happy Thanksgiving and Go Lions!

Food Drive

The annual IGEMS food drive will begin on Monday, November 24th and will run through December 8th.  The collection includes any nonperishable canned or boxed items you may wish to donate.  All food donated stays in the Iowa-Grant school district.  As always, thank you for your generosity!

Mrs. Belken and the Above the Influence Students

Updates

Calendar

There is certainly more to come in December, but here are some highlights for next couple of months:

• Nov. 25 - RIF Books - 1:00 p.m.
• Nov. 26 - Early Release - 12:30 p.m.
• Nov. 27 - Thanksgiving
• Dec. 2 - Christmas Store - 1 p.m.
• Dec. 11 - Christmas Concert - 7 p.m.
• Dec. 16 - Concert Make-Up
• Dec. 23 -Early Release 12:30 p.m.
• Dec. 24-Jan. 4 - Break!
• Jan. 1 - New Years
• Jan. 5 - Return to School
• Jan. 16 - End 2nd Quarter

RIF (Reading is Fun)

We will be having a RIF distribution next week. This is when the students go with the reading specialists and are able to pick out a FREE book! They usually have little reading activities as well. Many local businesses are very generous and donate money to the RIF program.

Amazon Shopper?

If you use Amazon during Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or any other time of the year you can help Iowa-Grant. When you use the link below, a portion of the purchase will go toward Iowa-Grant. Just an FYI.

Amazon Smile

Have a Great Weekend!

Christmas Notes

It usually seems so early to send out the holiday letters, but with the weather we have been having lately it feels like January already. I will be sending the information below and a few more details home on Friday too.  

Christmas Store

When:  December 2nd at 1:00
How Much:  $0.25 or $0.50
What:  Students are able to buy up to two gifts at the store for $0.25 each.  It gives students the opportunity to buy gifts for their parents or guardians on their own.  Volunteers wrap the gifts and prepare them to take home. 

Book Donation

When:  December 22nd or 23rd
How Much:  $5
What:  We have decided for our gift exchange this year to donate a book to the library for everyone to read. Inside the book have the students put their name and 2014 a way to remember who donated the book. We discussed whether they could give a used book from their personal library or goodwill, and as long as the book is still in good shape the kids decided that it would not matter whether the book was new or used. We did discuss that if they buy a new book to look for paper back and not getting a hard cover to keep the price down. Please wrap the books up and we'll go around the room taking turns opening the books that go in the room. I will also find a new and exciting book to donate.

Party Committee

When:  December 22nd or 23rd
Who:  Gary, Braiden, Teejay, Madalyn, Julia, and Richard
What:  These committee members will bring drinks and treats or plan games and activities for our Christmas party.  We won't start planning until December though.

Christmas Concert

When: December 11 at 7:00 (make-up day would be Dec. 16)

Who: The whole elementary

What: This is just a reminder that the annual Christmas Concert is on Dec. 11 at 7:00. It's always great to see all the kids dressed up. It is also a chance for my students to meet my wife and kids, which they are always excited about.

Language Arts

We are finishing up our second unit in Language Arts this week. We will begin testing over the next few days. I try to split the test up into small, manageable pieces. We will start this Thursday and finish the test on Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving Break.

Because of the short week and taking the unit test, we will not have spelling next week, November 24-26.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Ashley!

She earned the award for October's Responsible Student at our P.B.I.S.  Character Education Assembly today.

Next month's award will be given to someone who demonstrates caring and kindness.

First Grade Christmas Store

The following is a note from our first grade team:

Dear Families,                                                                                              

Each year the 1^st Grade Christmas Store gives children of IGEMS the opportunity to purchase a small gift for parents or caregivers.  This wonderful tradition is made possible when families send us their gently used items to be possible gifts.  We are asking that if you ever have items at home that you would like to part with, please bring your items to the IGEMS office marked “Christmas Store”.  We would gladly receive what you no longer need:  candles, small trinkets, books, caps for Dads, jewelry, Christmas decorations,  decks of cards, potholders, kitchen knick knacks, small towels, pocket tools…whatever you think might delight a little shopper!

Thank you for your generosity.  When cleaning out a cupboard, closet, or box please keep our IGEMS Christmas Store as a grateful resource to receive your “treasures”.  If you want to pass on this information to the other relatives in your child’s life we would appreciate it.

Thank you,

IGEMS 1^st Grade Teachers

Mrs. Wasley    Mrs. Pierick    Mrs. Zajicek    Mrs. Herges

Busy Week

We have a busy week this week with several different activities going on outside of our normal routine.

Tuesday - We will take our DRC Test, which is a practice test to the new Smarter Balanced test in late winter. They will take the reading portion of the DRC Testing on Tuesday morning and it is supposed to take them about an hour (although it is not timed).
 - We also have the Veteran's Day program on Tuesday at 10:15.

Wednesday - We have the math portion of the DRC Test. It will begin at 10:30 and is also supposed to take about an hour.

Thursday - The High School will be doing their practice performance of Beauty and the Beach. We will go over to the newly renovated High School to see the play at 9:00 a.m.

Enter the Kingdom of Books!

The Scholastic Book Fair will be at IGEMS next week. Your family is encouraged to visit the fair during Parent Teacher Conferences on Thursday, November 6^th or Tuesday, November 11^th to purchase books for your home library. The fair will be open from 4:00-8:00 p.m. both evenings.

 (Doors will be closing at 7:45 p.m. to ensure all shoppers are served in a timely manner)

The Fair will also be open Friday, Nov. 7^th and Monday Nov 10^th from 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

If you are unable to visit the fair, and still wish to purchase books, you may also visit the bookfair online. The online fair is open for ordering from Oct. 31-Nov.19^th.  The orders will be shipped November 20^th and be delivered directly to your child at school.

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

There is NO tax or shipping charge when ordering online!

******Reminder: This is a full-price bookfair****

The Buy One Get One Free bookfair will be back in the spring.

Updates

Dress Up Day

On Wednesday, November 5 we will be having dress up day for our next Paws activity. We picked a day that we didn't have gym again. That way students don't have to worry about playing in dress clothes or bringing an extra set of shoes in.

Reading Calendars

Congratulations to the students who turned in their reading calendars for October. They will be bringing home their Pizza Hut Book-It coupons tonight.

I sent out the November calendars last Friday.

Parent/Teacher Conferences

I will send home an updated schedule for Parent/Teacher Conferences tonight. Thursday, November 6 is very crowded, and I will work hard to keep on time and task throughout the night. If you haven't turned in your time please do that soon.

Report Cards

Report cards will be sent home on Wednesday, November 5. Some parents chose to have their child's report card sent home via e-mail this year. If your child does not bring home a paper copy this is probably why. If you are missing the report card please let me know.

Halloween Reminders

• Halloween is a half day this year and the end of the first quarter. Students will be released at 12:30 on Friday.
• Students can wear their Halloween costumes to school. They should not cover their face, paint themselves up, or bring weapons. They can wear their costumes straight to school, and don't need to change once they get here.
• Our Halloween party is after lunch and before early dismissal. That will give us about 45 minutes of fun!

LEGO Club

Where: Cobb Public Library

When: Saturday, November 1

          @ 1:00pm - 2:00pm

Who: All ages

~LEGOs provided

~FREE

Children 6 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Parent/Teacher Conferences are coming up soon! Conferences are scheduled for Thursday, November 6 and Tuesday, November 11 from 4-8 p.m. each night. I will be sending home a schedule tonight for parents to fill in the time slot that works best for them. If neither of those time slots work let me know and we can make other arrangements too. Please put a 1, 2, and 3 in the boxes that work best.

Conferences will be in the classroom this year. Your child can with, or you can have them stay home. Hopefully, the things I tell you is not new information to them.

If you need to rearrange times later for whatever reason, just send me an e-mail or send a note with your child.

Challenge Words

For the last week of the quarter I gave the kids the choice to move to a harder spelling list if they have been successful with their current list of spelling words. Some kids decided to stay where they were, but many wanted a more difficult set of words. We will go back to our normal set of words next week, so if your child is really struggling this week with words don't panic.

We will take the test first thing Friday morning (yes, Halloween morning!) I am hoping we can focus for 15 minutes right away even if we are dressed in our costumes.

WCKE Testing Monday and Wednesday

Just a reminder that students will be taking the science and social studies portion of the WKCE this week. On Monday they will take the science test at 10:30 a.m. and Wednesday will be the social studies test at the same time.

We will no longer be using the WKCE testing for reading and math. The testing for those will now be done with a program called the Smarter Balanced Assessment, which is computer based. Those tests will be done either in late winter or spring.

WKCE Test (Science and Social Studies Only)

This letter is being sent home tonight too. We are only doing the science and social studies at this time. The reading and language arts portions will now be done in the spring with a new testing system called the Smarter Balanced test.

October 23, 2014

Dear Family,

            This letter is to inform you of the dates on which W.K.C.E. testing will take place for children in fourth grade at Iowa-Grant.   Please look over the testing schedule on the back of this letter carefully.   It is appreciated if medical or other appointments are avoided on these dates.  The best preparation you can give your son or daughter for testing day is a good night’s rest!  Also, children tend to concentrate better when they have eaten breakfast.   We encourage your child to participate in our school breakfast program, if he or she does not eat breakfast at home.  Children may bring a healthy snack to school for milk break, if they wish, as well.  All students will need to have at least two # 2 pencils and a good eraser to use during the tests.  Thank you for your support and cooperation.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher.

Sincerely,

The Fourth Grade Team

Adam VanOvermeer

Jodi Bast                   

Brandee Hrubes

 Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exam

4^th Grade Testing Schedule

October 27^th-31^st, 2014

Date	Test	Start Time	Length (min.)
MON 10/27	Science	Math Class 10:30-11:15	40 minutes
WED 10/29	Social Studies	Math Class 10:30-11:15	40 minutes

Students who miss a testing session, will make it up during the following week.

Halloween

Costumes

Students will be able to dress up this year for Halloween on Friday, October 31. There are a few rules to keep for them though. The costumes are optional.

• No masks or face coverings
• No face painting
• No blood or extremely scary costumes (that would scare our kindergartners)
• No weapons (real or fake)

Our party will be on October 31, even though it is a half day. On half days we have about 45 minutes after lunch when we are in the room. The plan is to have the party at that time. The Halloween committee is meeting today to make plans. Other students do not need to bring anything.

Halloween Parties

There is information about two parties below. One at the Livingston Fire House and the other at the Montfort Library.

Montfort Halloween Party

Sponsored by Montfort Library

Where: Montfort Community Building

When: Friday, October 31 from 6-7

Following Montfort trick or treating 4-6pm

There will be games and treats for the children.

Also a costume contest at 6:30.

Livingston Halloween Party

Where: Livingston Fire House at 230 N. Grand St.

When: Sunday, October 23 from 1-3 p.m.

             

Admission: $5.00 - Kids 13 and under

Games, Truck n' Treats, and a Spook Room...to name a few.

...and a Costume Contest too.

Proceeds go towards Park Preservation Project

Weekend Game!

We are working on multiplication in our second unit of math. The following game will fit in well with multiplication practice and the upcoming World Series!

Batter's Up Baseball Math Game

Party Committee

Click to Enlarge

Attached is the party committees for this year. If you are getting this via e-mail, you may not see the list above. If not, click on the link or go to vanclanblog.blogspot.com. It will be there. Each committee will be split up into two groups: A snack group and activity group.

The Halloween committee will be meeting this week to establish who is bringing in treats and who is planning the activities. We will work together to create healthy snacks.  A group may pick cheese and crackers and each bring in one piece. Previous years have also done fruit kabobs and each snack person brought in a different fruit.

The activity committee will come up with something that involves all the students. In the past we have done relay races, crafts, scavenger hunts, and bingo for games.

I work with the kids at the beginning to help them establish groups and come up with ideas. I like them to be in charge as much as they can though. I try to have them lead the party as much as possible.

Tech Savvy Parenting

Strategies and Resources for IGEMS Parents

 It is with great excitement to announce the first Tech Savvy Parenting night which is a new “Digital Bootcamp Series” designed to educate and connect parents and community members of Iowa-Grant Schools. The first event is being held on Monday, October 20, from 5:30-6:30 pm at Iowa-Grant Elementary Middle School. The focus of the first event will be on Technology in the classroom and is geared towards parents of students in grades K-8.

The evening will be hands on with parents learning about the tools their children are using everyday at IGEMS.

Our Digital World—Information, Strategies and Resources for parents of 4K-4^th grade students

I-pad  Bootcamp for parents of 5^th-8^th grade students

**Student Council Members will have activities planned  for all students in Grades K-4 during the presentations**

Spelling and Pumpkins

No Spelling

We won't have a set of spelling words this week (Oct. 13-17) in language arts. We are doing our unit test, which is going to split up into three small sections. We will spend our spelling time taking the test this week and resume spelling next week.

This is an note from the Cobb Library!

Family Pumpkin Fun

Where: Cobb Public Library

When: Saturday, October 18

                1:00pm - 2:00pm

Who: All ages are welcome.

     (Children 13 and younger must be accompanied by an adult.)

What: Storytime and pumpkin carving

~ Pumpkins will be provided~

~ Please bring your favorite pumpkin carving tool~

Pajama Day

On Friday, Oct. 10, we will have our first Paws Reward. The class or students can earn paws for good behavior. Our class picks their reward, which was pajama day this time. I picked a day when we don't have P.E. class, so the students can wear slippers if they'd like. Please have the students bring a regular pair of shoes to get to and from school and to go out for recess. We will just be wearing our pajamas for the day, no blankets or stuffed animals please.

A Couple of Notes

Cobb Library Movie

The movie tomorrow has changed times. It will start at 1:30 instead of two

Cobb Public Library

MOVIE MATINEE - TIME CHANGE

START TIME - 1:30pm (not 2:00pm)

Showing; Muppets Most Wanted

Rated: PG

Running Time: 112 minutes

FREE

Children 6 and younger must be accompanied by an adult

Two Congratulations!

I have two sets of congratulations to give out this post. The first is for turning in the September Reading Calendars. The following students turned in their first calendar of the year: Jalyssa, Braiden, Teejay, Mackenzie, Madalyn, Kennedy, Indigo, Samuel, Sarah, MecKenna, Raymond, Alex P., Ty, Ashley, Jeran, Julia, Alex S., Alexiyia, Richard, and Evie.  Great Work!

Also, IGEMS is doing Character Education in the whole school. The theme for September was Respect and the person in our class who was recognized was Jalyssa. Great Job! I have a great group of kids this year who are very responsible so it makes it a very difficult choice.  The theme for October is Responsibility!

Early Release Tomorrow!

One more reminder that we have an early release tomorrow, Wednesday, October 8. It sounds like there will be some beautiful fall weather. Hopefully the kids will get a chance to get outside and enjoy it.

Spelling Words

I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but time got away from us and we missed the spelling test this morning during language arts. We will take the spelling test on Monday, October 6. I will still hand out the new words on Monday too. We'll have our normal spelling words next week though.

Have a Great Homecoming Weekend! Go Panthers!

Lou Gehrig

This week we are reading about Lou Gehrig during language arts. It has led us to many interesting conversations, especially with the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge occurring this summer.

One of the questions the students had was whether Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth played together. As you can see in the picture, they were teammates. They actually played together for nine years until Babe Ruth retired.

Below is the video of Lou Gehrig giving his farewell speech.

We also discussed the Ice Bucket Challenge. Lou Gehrig's Disease is ALS. I looked online to find how much money the Ice Bucket Challenge had raised. At the end of summer they had collected over $100 million!

$100 Million and Counting

Finally, we watched the Ice Bucket Challenge of Stephen Hawking, who also suffers from ALS. We discussed some of his accomplishments even after being stricken with the disease.

Calendar

Upcoming Events

• October 2 - UW-P Basketball
• October 3 - Homecoming Parade - 2:30
• October 7 - Picture Retakes
• October 8 - Early Release
• October 31 - End 1st Quarter - Early Release
• November 6 - P/T Conferences
• November 11 - P/T Conferences

October 2 - UW-Platteville Basketball

• On Thursday we will have a group of UW-Platteville Basketball Players come to our classroom encourage reading and hard work. They will read a story to the class and join them for the afternoon recess. It should be a lot of fun!

October 3 - Homecoming Parade at 2:30

• The Homecoming Parade will start at 2:30 on Friday. The fourth grade students will sit with their kindergarten buddies for the parade. If a fourth grader is in the parade, they will just go to the parade and other students or teachers will stay with their buddy. The weather is supposed to be in the low 50s with strong winds so make sure they have a couple of layers. If you are taking your child after the parade please send a note in the morning. Thanks

October 7 - Picture Retakes

• This is the last set of picture retakes. If you need retakes please send in the original uncut pictures.

September Reading Calendars

Don't forget that tomorrow is the first day of October already! Don't forget to turn in your September reading calendars. The new calendars will be out tomorrow.

Students do not get a Pizza Hut pizza for the month of September, but will starting in October.

Great and Great

Sub Wednesday

On Wednesday we had a sub while I tested the kids on benchmark assessments. I have been teaching few a long time now, and I'm not sure I have ever had such a good report. Mrs. Langfoss had nothing but nice things to say about the students' behavior and work ethic. I am extremely proud of them and feel very fortunate to have such a nice class this year. It makes for a great place to come to work and hopefully a great place to students to come to learn.

New Student

On Monday we will welcome a new student to our room. This is always exciting for the kids, and I know they will be very welcoming. She is leaving Mineral Point and will probably be a little sad to leave that school and their pretty art teacher. The class will do it's best to cheer her up though!

p.s. My wife is the elementary art teacher at Mineral Point, if you didn't know.

Upcoming Local Events

Handouts for these have also come home or will be coming home tonight.

Cobb Library

“LEGO Club”

Where: Cobb Public Library

When: Saturday, October 4 @ 1:00pm - 2:00pm

Who: All ages

LEGOs provided

FREE

Children 6 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

****************************************************************

MOVIE MATINEE

Where: Cobb Public Library

When: Wednesday, October 8 @ 2:00pm

(This is an Early Release day for Iowa-Grant Schools)

Showing: MUPPETS MOST WANTED

Rated: PG                  Running Time: 112 minutes

Children 6 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

Lands' End

Free Punt Pass and Kick

Where: Lands' End

When: Saturday, September 27th at 9:00

Preregister by calling Derek Hubbard at 608-935-6814

News and Notes

Homecoming Shirt Order

There is an order form that is coming home tonight for Homecoming t-shirts. If you are interested please return the order form and money by this Friday, Sept. 26. T-shirts are $15 each. The homecoming parade is the next Friday, Oct. 3. The theme this year is A Night Under the Harvest Moon.

Spelling City

This is just a reminder that students can study their spelling words at spellingcity.com. I will update their words each week. The login name is their first and last name with no space.

Schoolhouse Rock

Today we watched our first Schoolhouse Rock video. We were reviewing a sentences and the parts of a sentence. At the end of language arts we watched Mr. Morton, which talks about subject and predicate.

Here is the video if you want to go back in time a little:

Benchmark Assessment On Wednesday

On Wednesday the students will take the Benchmark Assessment test at some point during the school day. We will have a sub in the classroom and I will administer the test to each student individually. This has been a test that the students enjoy taking, as they get to read one-on-one with me. Each child reads a short book and then I ask them questions about what they read. This is also my favorite test of the year as it gives me great insight as to how each student is reading, where they struggle, and how we can improve.

Kindergarten Buddies!

The fourth graders have been super excited about doing kindergarten buddies and finding out who their buddies are. Today was finally the big day, and we got to spend a little bit of time with our new buddies. The kids in my class were very kind and appropriate as some of the kindergartners were a little shy still.

Today they did a little ice breaker activity to let each other know some of their favorite things. Many times we will spend time reading to our new buddy. The buddies activity will be each Friday during the year.

Here are a few pictures. You can click them to enlarge.