I hope everyone had a great winter break.  Thank you so much for the marvelous classroom gift.  The wireless keyboard and mouse allow me to move around.  No more running around the desk to use the mouse and then running back to the podium!  I also want to thank you for the generous gift certificate to Coldwater Creek!  I haven’t been shopping yet, but it is my favorite place.  Thank you so much for your kindness and your support at home.

Thank you also to our room mothers and to everyone who sent in food and goodies for the December party.  The students really enjoyed everything.  The Sumner County Humane Society was also very appreciative of the items our class donated.  They always run low on supplies during the winter months, and they were very thankful when we arrived with our donations.

The recent change to the school’s server and upgraded software has made a big difference with our smart board.  I am so excited to use more interactive games now that the issues have been resolved.  Everyone has been working hard to resolve our classroom issues since the first of school!  Thank you to Mr. Sean Lance!

Our class started work on Study Island. A link to the website is on our classroom blog. The students have one week to complete one assigned objective in Social Studies and one assigned objective in Science.  If the students earn a blue ribbon for their objectives for that week, they will earn a 100 assignment score for each subject.  These assignments are required. Our first deadline is Friday 13^th.  Students should begin to work on the objective early in the week.  If your home computer is not working, please let me know a few days ahead, and your student can stay after school to work on the weekly objectives on our classroom computers.   I will also open some objectives early if we have a few snow days.  Check out my webpage on those days.

The 4-H Speeches will be one week from Monday.  The students brought a paper and information
about the speech on October 31.

Our schedule for the events leading up to the 21^st
is:

Tuesday 15 th:  a written copy of the speech due for
checking.

Thursday 17 and Friday 18:  Students will practice their speech in
front of their classmates.

Monday 21^st: 4-H Meeting

For my grades, students will get an 85 if they read their speech to the class and it
is organized correctly. They will get a 90 if they have most of the speech memorized and 100 if it is all memorized.  Looking down at their note cards a few times is fine.  I will still count that as 100.  I will hand out index cards and discuss with the students how to make note cards for their speeches on Tuesday.  An outline for the speeches went home when it was assigned.  The speech should have 5 parts:

1.  Introduction (paragraph)
2.  1^st  point about subject (paragraph)
3.   2^nd  point about subject (paragraph)
4.    3^rd  point about subject (paragraph)
5.    Closing (paragraph)

Thanks for all your support!
I hope to see you at our Thanksgiving Luncheon.

This is Red Ribbon Week.  Our Fifth Grade Just Say No Club has done a marvelous job in planning our decorations and activities for this week.  I want to say a special thanks to our room mothers for the marvelous door decorations.  Be sure and take a look when you come for the Halloween Party. 

        Our Annual Halloween Parade and Party will be this Friday.  This fun event is always an opportunity for a big celebration.  Remember that students cannot wear their costumes to school, or bring fake weapons as a part of their costumes.  We will begin to change into costumes very slowly after a short recess.  Students will continue to work until we line up for the parade at 2:00.  If you are bringing your child’s costume, please plan to be in the pod by 1:45. 

        Our class has several projects underway.  Students are writing a first personal narrative in class. The rough draft is due on Friday.  Most students completed their rough draft last Friday, and unfinished rough drafts were taken home to be completed.  Our next 4-H Meeting is Monday, and students should bring their posters to school on that day.  I have enclosed another copy of the requirements for the poster in the Weekly Folder.  At this meeting, the students will find out about the next project due for 4-H at the end of November.  In addition, we will assign our Explorer Project on Thursday.  Students have until the first week in December to complete this project.   Look for a letter of explanation on Thursday. 

        Several students have asked about our plans for a field trip.  Sumner County stated that we can only have one field trip this year.  We have decided to take our trip in the spring. 

        Thank you for your continued support.  Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Be sure to check the link to Spelling City.  I have linked to Mrs. Robertson’s site, and it has great activities focused on our spelling lists.  You can even print out cursive practice pages on each week’s spelling lists.  The science link is not a link to our textbook, but to enrichment activities for the students that coordinates with the textbook.  An online copy of the Social Studies textbook link is on this page.  The user name for the link is “cearley4ile”, and the password is “tennessee.”

Some classroom needs:  Hooray!  Recess equipment has arrived.  The students are so thankful!  I was able to use our PTO yearly start money to purchase some equipment.  Thank you to the PTO.   

Year long needs:  Items for the prize box:  squeeze balls, fancy folders, fancy memo or note pads,  small packs of highlighters, colored pencils, mechanical pencils, small joke books, clip-ons for backpacks, and fancy book marks.

 Schedule:

8:15 Students arrive in classroom

8:30 Starting Bell

8:45 – 9:45 Specials

12 – 12:30: Lunch

Monday: Art

Tuesday: Library

Wednesday: Music

Thursday: Computer

Friday: PE