Christmas Concert Photos!

I took more action photos from the concert, but several of them were blurry. I took any ones that were not too blurry and posted them here. If you click on them they will enlarge.

Christmas Note

A note to send on:

Need a little extra under the tree this year? Through the generosity of our 

community we had a successful toy drive! If you need a little help making your 

Christmas merry this year and would like to come “shop” through the toy drive 

please call Angela Belken at 943-6313 ext 1015. We will have the toys available to 

go through on Monday December 21st from 4-6. If you are unable to come during 

those hours please contact Angela to see about an alternative time to come in. 

Please call so we know you are coming and can distribute the toys appropriately. 

The majority of the toys are for children between the ages of newborn and 8 

years old.

Christmas Concert

This is just a set of updates and reminders for the Christmas Concert tomorrow. We will see you there!

K-2 Concert

I think I have in most of the permission slips for students who have siblings in kindergarten through second grade program.

• Please pick up your child in the room starting at 2:15.
• The side doors next to the gym will be unlocked around 1:30 so you will be able to park near the gym and cafeteria.
• If you are taking your child home after the conference there will be a sign-up sheet in my room. That way you won't have to go to the office to sign them out.
• If plans change please try to let the school know in the morning. It is a CRAZY day for the office staff trying to keep track of everyone.

Our Concert

• Fourth grade are in the risers to the north side of the gym. That is the side nearest the windmills if you were outside.
• My family and I will be in the room by 6:30 for sure. I always try to get here earlier, but I'm bringing my children as well, and we don't always get ready very quickly.
• Of course, the show begins at 7:00 p.m.
• After the concert please pick up your child at the room.
• See you on Thursday!

Christmas Break at the Cobb Library

MOVIE MATINEE

When: Wednesday, December 23 @ 1:30 - 3:15

Where: Cobb Public Library

Showing: Fly Away Home

Rated: PG 

* Children 6 and under must be 

accompanied by an adult.

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

LEGO Morning

When:Tuesday, December 29 @ 10:00am - 11:00am

Where: Cobb Public Library

Who: All ages

~LEGOs provided

~FREE

* Children 6 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

Dress Up Day

Festive Clothes

On Monday, December 21 we will be having a Christmas dress up day. Students can wear their  Christmas apparel (including santa hats and reindeer antlers). They can also just dress up in red and green for the day. This is an all school activity.

PJ Day

Also, for our class we have our pajama day on Friday, December 18. They can wear slippers on that day, but no blankets or stuffed animals. This lands the day after our Christmas Concert, which they'll dress up for too!

Class and Reminders

We have a bunch of stuff going on this time of year, so I'm going to send out a post that has lots of short updates.

Curriculum

Reading - We started reading Sarah, Plain and Tall yesterday in class. We will read the first chapter together and spend quite a bit of time discussing the characters. After that the students will read most of the book independently and fill in the study guide that goes with it. Since it is a chapter book, we will be working on it up until Christmas Break

Spelling - Since we won't be working out of our usual textbooks, the students will have a different set of spelling words the next two weeks. These are from a spelling series called Words Their Way, most of the kids have had this type of spelling word in second or third grade.

Math - We will have our Unit 3 test for math on Thursday, December 10. This is the long division unit, which the kids seem to have the hang of now.

Holiday

Book Exchange - We are doing a classroom book exchange instead of a gift exchange at our Christmas party. Kids can bring those in at any time. Some kids have also asked if they could do board games or a kickball for recess. Those would be fine too.

K-2 Christmas Concert - A have a several forms in for fourth graders who are going to watch a sibling in the K-2 Christmas Concert. The form said to please return it by Dec. 10 to let us know who will go watch the concert and if they are going home with their parents.

Miscellaneous

PJ Day - On Friday, December 18 we will be having our Pajama Day! The students have earned a Paws activity for the paws they collected and chose a PJ day. I chose Dec. 18 because it is an art day and students won't have to worry about gym shoes. Students may wear slippers, but need to have regular shoes too for recess and the bus. They cannot bring in stuffed toys or blankets with this activity.

Toy Drive

Unwanted dolls, trains and cars your child no longer plays with? Still holding onto those baby toys waiting to find them a new home? Looking to get rid of toys your child no longer plays with before Christmas? We would love to take those gently used toys off your hands! This year we will be launching a toy drive to collect new or gently used toys which will then be used to help those in our community who may need a little boost this holiday season! Toys will be collected from now until December 14th and can be dropped off in the Iowa Grant Elementary office. If you have any questions please contact Angela Belken at 943-6313 ext. 1015.

Reading Calendar

Congratulations to the following students for turning in their November Reading Calendar: Jayden, Jayden, George, Meagan, Bentley, Brady, Sawyer, Elyse, Makaya, Gavin, Alaina, Rylee, Cyle, Lilli, and Sophie.

They should have their Pizza Hut Book-It coupon already in their folders!

The December Reading Calendars have also been sent home. They won't be due until January 4, 2016.

Christmas Programs

This letter will also be coming home. It is from Mrs. Bast and for the K-2 Christmas Program and our Christmas Program. There will also be a section that can be returned.

Dear IGEMS Family,

The IGEMS Holiday Music Program, “Let it Snow!” will be held on Thursday, December 17th in the IGEMS gymnasium. Grades Kindergarten-2nd will perform at 2:30 in the afternoon. Grades 3rd-6th will perform at 7:00 in the evening. Both performances will be recorded and linked to our school district’s website for those who are unable to attend the live performance. I know our teachers and students have been working very hard in preparation for the program and are looking forward to performing for friends and relatives.

In an attempt to run things as smoothly as possible, I am asking for your cooperation with the following:

• If you would like to have an older sibling view the daytime performance (Grades K-2) with you, please fill out the form below and return it to the child’s homeroom teacher by Dec. 11th. You will need to pick up your child from his/her classroom no earlier than 2:15.
• If you are planning to have your child(ren) leave with you following the daytime performance, please fill out the form below and return it to your child’s homeroom teacher by Dec. 11th.
• For the evening performance (Grades 3-6), 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students should report to their homeroom classroom. 6th grade students will report to the band room. Teachers will be in their rooms at 6:30 p.m. to supervise students prior to the performance. Students should not arrive before then.
• All students will need to be picked up in their classroom following the performance. They should not leave directly from the gymnasium with a parent.

Thank you for your cooperation and best wishes to you for the happiest of holidays!

Jodi Bast

Elementary/Middle School Principal  

Christmas Notes

Before I start my long Christmas notes post, let me say HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I hate to overshadow Turkey Day, but want to get the information out before people go shopping.

This post is also being sent home in paper form too.

Christmas Store

When:  December 8th at 10:00
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 or Classroom Donation

When:  December 22nd
How Much:  $5 (at most)
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 2015 as a way to remember who donated the book. The book can certainly be from their library or Goodwill as long as it is in good condition.

Some students asked if they could donate other things for the whole class to use, and I thought that’d be fine too. Some wanted to have an extra kickball, a basketball, or board games for indoor recess. I think all these would be great ways to entertain our class. Again, feel free to use slightly used items.

The idea of any of the gift exchange it to trade things we can enjoy and use yet we don’t need to spend a lot of money on.

Party Committee

When:  December 22nd
Who:  Kaelyn, Bentley, Elyse, Alaina, and Lilliana
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 17 at 7:00 (make-up day would be Dec. 22)

Who: Grades 3-6

What: This is just a reminder that the annual Christmas Concert is on Dec. 17 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.

Movie Matinee

Another note from the Cobb Library.

Where: Cobb Public Library

When: Wednesday, November 25 @ 1:30 - 3:00

Showing: OLD YELLER

Rated: G

* Children 6 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

Books

Iowa-Grant will have another RIF book distribution. Our class will be going on Monday afternoon. This is always an exciting time for students to be able to get free books!

Along with the free books theme, the fifth graders are doing a book collection for children's hospitals. There will be a letter coming home too. If you have any old picture books that you'd like to clean out this would be a worthy cause. Thanks.

Book Talk

This is from the Cobb Library:

With Author Kathy J. Jacobson

When: Thursday, December 3 @ 7:00pm

Where: Cobb Public Library

                                               

Kathy J. Jacobson, who serves as pastor at Peace-Bethlehem Lutheran Parish of Cobb and Edmund and Castle Rock Lutheran Church, rural Fennimore, recently published her inspirational fiction novel,  NOTED!

            NOTED! is the story of Jillian Johnson, a nurse in Wisconsin, who seeks to make a new start in a new place at the beginning of a new year. She takes a “day job” that will help her “save her brain” for her true passion of writing. On her first day on the job, she finds herself unexpectedly confronted with a piece of her past. It will take every ounce of patience, and faith, for Jillian to get through the coming year.

Kathy is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque. She has worked counseling troubled youth, has been an at-home Mom, a church youth worker and Christian education coordinator, worked in campus ministry, and for the last twelve years, has served in rural parish ministry. In addition to her work in the church, she volunteers as a hospice chaplain for Upland Hills Hospice.  She and her husband, Jeff, lived in Platteville for sixteen years before recently moving to Dodgeville. They are parents of three children, all “twenty-something.” Kathy is an avid traveler, having visited forty-nine states and five continents, with most memorable trips to Papua New Guinea, the Holy Land, and Tanzania, East Africa. She enjoys music, theater, reading, biking, walking and hiking, but writing is her passion.

MAP Testing Next Week

The fourth grade will be doing the MAP test next week. This test consists of two portions, language arts and math. Each tests takes around 45-60 minutes and we will be doing one on Monday, Nov. 23 and the other on Tuesday, Nov. 24.

On Monday we will be taking the language arts section in the morning during our language arts time. The test on Tuesday is the math section which we will take during our math time.

Both tests are taken electronically in the computer lab.

Division and Extra Math

Long Division

I am sending home our first homework assignment with long division. We have been working hard on this for a few days, but it's still a difficult for several of them. I only sent home nine questions and gave them about 10 minutes to get started in class. A few got done, but for most of them it was just a head start.

Xtra Math

Congratulations to Jayden B. and Brady for passing the math portion of Xtra Math. This is an online program kids can use to practice their math facts.

Students can also use the website at home (http://www.xtramath.org). The teacher e-mail is mine (avanovermeer@igs.k12.wi.us), their username is their first name and last initial with a space (example: John D.), and they have a four digit number for the password.

Turkey Disguise

Students were sent home with a turkey and note yesterday. They have been asked to disguise the turkey into something else, so it won't get eaten for Thanksgiving. Please use items you have around the house to disguise the turkey. 
Be creative! Have fun! 
Turkeys are due on Tuesday, November 17th as we will begin a writing project with them.

Thank you!

Family Night Out

Thursday, December 3rd

5-7 P.M.

IGEMS Cafetorium

All family members of students from Kindergarten through 4th grade are invited.

A free 5:00 o'clock taco supper, activities, and a play.

A form was sent home about this yesterday. There is a form that needs to be turned in by Nov. 17. If you need another form let me know.

Food Drive

Two 5th grade students are trying to make the world a better place! They are having a mini-food drive and are asking for students to bring in any canned or boxed goods by Friday, November 13th. If you have anything to spare, they will collect on Friday! Thank you! Tis' the season for being thankful and giving. Thank you!

Student Council Notes

If you are coming to conferences on Tuesday here are a few notes from student council. If you already came to conferences, thanks, I enjoyed talking with you. Have a great weekend!

- Babysitting - 

Is in the gym (4PM-7:30PM) for Conferences. Adults should bring their children to the gym & sign them in/out. (we had a lot of students either migrating toward the gym by themselves last night &/or simply wandering the building... some said their parents didn't know where we were...)

- Basket Fundraiser -

We have these as our fundraiser again this year... as always, the proceeds go directly back to IGEMS... & the Student Council Members have a VERY lofty goal for this year!... we are  hoping to raise money to purchase a bottle filling station drinking fountain for IGEMS!

This Week

We have a few things coming up for the remainder of this week and next week. Here they are:

Thursday, Nov. 5

• Parent/Teacher Conferences are from 4:00-7:30.
• The book fair will also be open during Parent/Teacher Conferences.
• The students will have their math test on multiplication too.

Friday, Nov. 6

• We have our second PAWs activity. Students can bring in a stuffed animal for the day. Of course, they had tons of questions about how big it can be. I told them, that they can only bring in one stuffed animal and it needs to fit in their bookbag.

Tuesday, Nov. 10

• Parent/Teacher Conferences are from 4:00-7:30.

Wednesday, Nov. 11

• Veteran's Day Program at 10:15

Report Cards

Student report cards are coming home tonight. You may get yours via e-mail or paper copy. There will be a few other things in the report card or in your students folder if you get an electronic copy.

Here is what should be coming home tonight:

1. The Report Card
2. Explanation of the new report card (It is a 1-4 grading system in the elementary)
3. Parent/Teacher Conference Schedule
4. Book It Coupon (for students who turned in their October Reading Calendar)

Reading Calendars

A reminder that the October Reading Calendars will be do when we get back on Tuesday, November 3. Students who turn in a reading calendar will get their Pizza Hut personal pan pizza.

I will also hand out the November Reading Calendar tomorrow (Friday). That way the students can get a start on it over the weekend.

Have a Happy Halloween!

Updates and Reminders

Parent/Teacher Conference Sign Up

If you have not signed up for parent/teacher conferences yet there is still time! Go to this link to sign-up: https://ptcfast.com/schools/Iowa_Grant_Elementary_Middle_School or you can contact me to set a time. 

Conference Times

Thursday, November 5 and Tuesday, November 10

Halloween Party

We will have our Halloween Party on Friday morning from about 8:15 to 8:45. We'll have a morning snack to go with it. There are also games planned for the event.

Students may dress up for Halloween but must not cover their face with a mask or face paint. They also must come to school with their costume on and wear it throughout the day.

Half Day Friday and End of the Quarter

The end of the first quarter is this week! Amazing that we are already 1/4 of the way through the year. The students will have an early release on Friday. 

No School Monday!

Also, there is no school on Monday, November 2. Hopefully the kids have a relaxing fall break!

Report Cards

Report cards will be sent home or e-mailed on Wednesday, November 5.

Montfort Halloween Party
Montfort Halloween Party

Where: Montfort Community Building
When: Saturday Oct 31st 6:30pm-8pm

Costume judging at 7:30pmGames and Candy 

FREE for everyone

Common and Proper Nouns

Today we spent some time discussing common and proper nouns in language arts. The students knew what a noun was without much difficulty, but were a little more rusty on what a common and proper noun were.

Here is the Schoolhouse Rock video for nouns that we started with:

Science Test

Ms. Hrubes will have a test for science this week. Our class will have their science test on Wednesday, October 21.

Good Luck!

Parent/Teacher Conference

There is a sheet going home tonight for parent/teacher conferences. There is an online sign-up. You can also write in or call to put your time in place.

Here is the link:
https://ptcfast.com/schools/Iowa_Grant_Elementary_Middle_School

You can also go to the districts website and find the link. The school website is http://www.igs.k12.wi.us


Have a great weekend!

Halloween 2015

Halloween lands on a Saturday this year, and Friday is a half day as it is the end of the quarter. We will have a Halloween party in the morning of October 30 though. Students will be able to dress up in their Halloween costumes on that Friday, but there are a few rules.

Student costumes need to be school appropriate with no blood or fake weapons. Students cannot cover their faces with masks or face paint either. Any costume that kid’s wear they need to wear to school and home again. They should not need to change in the bathrooms. Overall, the costumes need to be rated G or PG and we need to see their faces while they are in the classroom and going through the halls. Several students have talked about wearing something different to school than they wear trick-or-treating, which would work great. If you have any questions about the costumes feel free to e-mail me at avanovermeer@igs.k12.wi.us or send a note before the party.

Party Committees

Here are our party committees for this school year. The halloween committee will be meeting this week to come up with ideas. When we have parties some students will bring in snacks and others will organize games. Your child will be able to pick which they are doing.

Snacks - When we do the parties I try to focus on more healthy snacks. The kids will get plenty of sugar treats on the three holiday parties anyway. I try to reinforce to the students that because they are healthier snacks it doesn't mean that they have to be boring. Some ideas are yogurt and granola, cheese, sausage, and cracker; fruit kabobs; or simply fruits.

Games - The games can be simply or more complex, but they need to include all twenty students. Students will often come up with games like checkers, but unless we have 10 boards that leaves a lot of students out of the fun. We can do things like relay races; quiz type games with two teams; small arts and craft projects; pin the tail on the donkey; and more!

Language Arts Test

We have our Unit 1 Language Arts test this week. We'll spend today (Monday) reviewing then break the test up into three smaller pieces on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. We'll still do a little bit of writing and language arts around the test, but a large portion of our language arts time will be working on the test.

Because of the language arts test we will NOT have spelling words this week. There just isn't time to do both on weeks like these.

There isn't anything for the students to study for the language arts test. It is to measure their comprehension on writing skills.

Badger Banner Ceremony

The UW Badgers Athletic Department is having a cool contest for students must be in 4th, 5th, or 6th grade. I'm sure there will be lots of kids around Wisconsin signing up, but it's probably still worth a shot.

Badger Banner Ceremony



I hope you had a great day off!

Basketball Forms

Basketball forms for girls were sent home last week on purple paper. Boys' basketball forms were sent home yesterday. Mrs. Hill will collect the boys' forms in the office; Mrs. Barr will collect the girls' forms in the office as well. If your child is interested, please send back the filled out forms at your earliest convenience. Thanks!

Xtra Math

If you are looking for a place for your child to get some extra math practice at home you can do Xtra Math. We do this on the iPads about once a week, but the students can definitely spend more time working on it at home. It goes through the four functions of math beginning with addition, then subtraction, multiplication and division.

Here is the link to the login page: XtraMath Login

From there you need three pieces of information:
My e-mail address: avanovermeer@igs.k12.wi.us
Student Name (first name and last initial): Jane D for Jane Doe
Four digit number for their password: Students have this at school and can write it down on their take home folder.

Upcoming Events

There are a couple of things coming up this week that I wanted to remind students and parents of.

Tuesday, October 6 - Picture Retakes - This is only for students who didn't get pictures or returned the pictures that they had originally taken. Many students got their pictures taken care of during open house.

Wednesday, October 7 - PBIS Assembly - The students meet in Room 100 to have a brief presentation about one of the Six Pillars of Behavior.

Thursday, October 8 - Golden Ticket Luncheon - I believe we have three students from our homeroom who got a Golden Ticket and will join the luncheon on Thursday. Students are recognized for the Golden Ticket when they have behavior that is above and beyond what is expected.

Friday, October 9 - NO SCHOOL!!! - We have a teacher work day on Friday.

Math Test

We had our first math test on Thursday, October 1st. The students did very well and they should be coming home with their test tonight.

The next unit will focus on longer multiplication problems. We will be working on two digit times two digit numbers, which can be confusing at first.

No Talking

We are currently reading No Talking by Andrew Clements for our read aloud. In the story the boys take on the girls to see who can talk less over 48 hours. Of course, the students in the room want to try it as well.

On Wednesday, Sept. 30 our class is going to have the same no talking rules in the afternoon. In the book they can say three words to adults, but no words to other students. We are going to do this for the last hour of the day and the only teacher they will be working with is me.

This is just something we are trying for fun to see how difficult it is for students to not talk for an hour. There won't be a reward or punishment and we aren't doing boys against the girls like the book.

I have never tried this before, so I am interested to see if it works!

Lego Club

Where: Cobb Public Library

When: Saturday, October 3

             1:00pm - 2:00pm

Who: LEGO builders of all ages

~ LEGOs provided

~ FREE

~ Children 6 and under must be  accompanied by an adult.

Science Project

Here are some pictures of the science project that the class was working on with Miss Hrubes. They will be back in science on Wednesday to turn in their group work.

Kindergarten Buddies!

The fourth graders are always excited for their first day of kindergarten buddies. Here are a few pictures from our afternoon.

Every Kid In A Park

The Every Kid in a Park program is brand new and is GREAT timing for your fourth graders. The program allows fourth grade students to get a pass for them and their family to get in free.  It includes all children under 16 and up to 3 adults! Many parks throughout the U.S. Many very famous parks are free such as: Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, and the Grand Canyons. There are not as many local destinations, but Effigy Mounds is another free Park. If you spend some time looking, there are some really cool places besides national parks too. The Henry Ford-Greenfield Village near Detroit is awesome, but I wouldn't consider it a National Park.

To see a map of the parks that offer free admission to fourth graders go HERE!

I have printed a pass for every student that I'll send home. The park pass is valid until August 31, 2016, which may also make for great summer vacation plans. If you lose the ticket you can print another at the webpage below.

Here is the homepage if you want more information: Every Kid in a Park

I am super excited for the year that my own kids are 4th graders!