End of the Year Party

New Orleans Trip

We had a blast on the trip. I was so proud of the kids' behavior. Our parent chaperones were so helpful and organized so everything went off without a hitch. I had been so worried that we would get rained on at the zoo and our prayers were answered because we didn't get wet at all! In fact, due to the weather reports- the zoo wasn't nearly as crowded as usual so that was even better! I will post more pictures and stories from this great trip throughout the week. I can't wait to see you all tomorrow so we can discuss our favorite parts!

Meet Some New Friends

We have some new members of our class! Meet "Big Poppy" and "Rocky"- the pictures really don't do them justice. Does anyone have any tips on turtle care?

Also- check out the "New Orleans Houses" we made today with watercolors, oil pastels and crayons. I think they might be my favorite art project of the year. They look awesome!
Don't forget to meet at the OLD Madison Station at 5:30 Friday morning for the trip to see houses like these up close! We have such a fun day in store for us!

Just Another Manic Monday

Today it was back to the grind! The kids seemed sleepy and not quite ready to be back. We talked about New Orleans architecture and made some beautiful oil pastel drawings of some famous sights around the city. We are not going to have a spelling or vocabulary test this week due to the field trip. Our class has had flag duty this month and they seem to really enjoy being part of that process. I think the highlight of everyone's day was taking pictures of our groups. The countdown to Friday has begun....

Slugs in Love

Okay gang- some of you are going to be so excited that I can't post these pictures. My card reader isn't working right. Remember when we read Slugs in Love? Well- I didn't realize until recently that we have some REAL slugs in love in our class!!! Ha! Ha! Mrs. Volk took pictures of some of these couples and I am trying to figure out how to post these incriminating documents. Beware- when my card reader works- a few of you might be embarrassed!

New Orleans Trip

Can you believe the best field trip of the year is only a few days away? Here are some important reminders: Transportation- We will depart from the OLD Madison Station at 5:45 a.m. We will begin boarding at 5:30. If you are late, you will be left! Remember to wear your New Orleans T-shirt. I will pass those out this week at school. You will need snacks and a sack lunch for the zoo. You will also need some spending money. It is going to be so much fun! I can't wait.

I hope you all had a wonderful spring break. Did you tell your parents how we are learning about propaganda in class? It was hilarious that everyone knew the free creditreport.com commercial. We decided that company did a great job with marketing!

We have also been studying New Orleans' artists and created some really cool "Blue Dog" paintings after reading Why is Blue Dog Blue? We are going to watercolor New Orleans architecture this week as well. We are going to read and study the rhyme scheme of some New Orleans poets in language. Remember that you need an ultra-fine point sharpie and a new pack of markers for our book writing project. We will be filling out job applications to be editors and art directors. I have missed you all and I can't wait to see you tomorrow!

January News

We have been very busy at school lately! We had a parade to celebrate the USA and our new President. Everyone dressed in red, white and blue and made signs, banners and shakers. I think the kids had a blast during the parade but it was really cold! It took us the rest of the morning to thaw out! Everyone did a fantastic job on their reading fair projects. Congratulations to the winners in each homeroom: North- Payton, Haleigh and Anders; Dimon- Mimi, Arvin and Cameron; Harris- Nikki, Chance and Kasey. I bet the judges had a tough time making their decisions because all the projects went over and beyond! We have been reading Because of Winn-Dixie. We made watercolor pictures this week depicting the setting of the story. The students wrote singular and plural possessive nouns about their pictures. We also have been learning about predicate nominatives. The students decided that this skill sounds harder than it really is. Ask your child about our current read aloud The Kid in the Red Jacket. This has been one of the most popular books we have read this year. Ask your child how he or she did on the drawing conclusions activity we did today to prepare for the MCT II in May. Don't forget to send those New Orleans deposits in! Have a great week!

The Class Christmas Party

We had a blast at our class Christmas party. Kathy Molpus and Dixie Clay thought it would be fun to let the kids plan the entire thing. I divided the class up into the commitee they were most interested in and they began to plan. It was a huge success! We had pizza, chicken nuggets, brownies and every other goodie imaginable. Next, we played a version of the holiday game "Dirty Santa". The students had worked hard during the month of December writing books about their parents. I hope you loved getting that special surprise under the tree Christmas morning! Thank you for all the thoughtful gifts and happies you blessed me with! I also want
to thank all our guest readers that visited the week before Christmas. What a wonderful treat that was! We will begin reading Because of Winn-Dixie when we return from the holidays and report cards will be going home Weds., Jan 7. Don't forget that Reading Fair projects are due Fri., Jan. 9. We are going to be learning about some New Orleans artists and the style that is common in their works this week. We will be creating some oil pastel masterpieces of New Orleans architecture. Clear a spot in your house because these are always "frame worthy". Check out my other website at Teacherweb.com if you want to start studying your new spelling and vocabulary words early. A great New Year's Resolution might be to make all A's this semester! Happy 2009!

A Holly Jolly Holiday

This is the funnest week of the year for a fifth grader! It's a great day to be a Jag! We have the Honor Choir concert tomorrow. We have guest readers each day this week. Starnes Dees invited his grandparents to read today. His grandmother, a former schoolteacher, read Patricia Polacco's Welcome Comfort. It is a story that certainly puts you in the holiday spirit. If you are looking for a chapter book to read aloud to kids, try Kate DiCamillo's The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. It would be a great stocking stuffer. We have the Christmas party this Thursday at 12:30. All parents are invited to attend! I hope to see you there!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

What a fun time of year to be a fifth grade teacher! We have been reading holiday stories and really getting in the Christmas spirit. Ask your child about How Murray Saved Christmas. It was a funny read aloud we enjoyed today. We made the cutest alliteration elves with the students' pictures and oil pastel ornaments which we wrote similes describing. We have guest readers scheduled for every single morning next week and we are going to see A Christmas Carol at New Stage Friday. If you are in my homeroom, don't forget to send a $5.00 gift next Friday for our gift exchange at the Christmas party. Today was the last day to purchase our class Christmas DVD. It was a tearjerker, wasn't it? I think those videos will make a priceless Christmas gift! I hope your days are "merry and bright"!

Will They "Sink the Sub"?

This year I have been lucky and haven't really had to be absent from school. So I wonder how the kids are doing since I am out for three days. My two year is old is getting his tonsils or as he would say, "tonkles" out. We are having quite an adventure at our house. I have a feeling they are probably having an adventure at school as well. Miss Highlander is the substitute and not only is she 22 years old, precious and sweet. She is also gorgeous. When I told our classes that I was going to be absent and that she was the sub, they burst into applause. I said, "Let's try that again. I am going to be absent." Then they all went "Awwww"....and acted sad. It was pretty funny. Anyway, I posted some pictures from our week. Shan Hawkins came and read a Thanksgiving story and made these cute pilgrim's hat cookies. They were a big hit. I also put a picture of the abstract cactus prints we made while discussing story elements and the book Holes. I love the fact that MSE integrates the arts into everything we teach. For instance, our artist study is Henri Matisse and you can see Matisse's style represented everywhere on the fifth grade hall. They made some really cool function machines in math this week with Mrs. Harris. I put a couple of pictures of our alliteration alphabet as well. The students chose a letter to watercolor and write a silly, creative alliterative piece with that letter. We have been focusing on plural nouns in language. Reading Fair books must be finished by December 1. Ask your child about the field trip to Madison Central. I hate I am going to miss that. We also had visiting author, Jenny Cole, as a guest at MSE this week. I will be grading papers over the holiday so check your active parent accounts for updates. Have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving! I am thankful that you share your children with me each day. I feel very blessed!

Thanksgiving Lunch

McRae brought two big chocolate chip cookies today to celebrate my birthday. What a thoughtful treat! I can't believe how sweet everyone is being! Laura even made a sign that I would see as soon as I pulled up at school. This is such a precious class. We had Thanksgiving lunch today and it was huge success. We had a really big crowd and I think it was very meaningful for the kids. We worked on a graphic organizer called "SPACES" in reading class as we learned about story elements. The kids are really enjoying the book Holes. We read chapters 13-15 today. Ask your child to explain onomatopoeia to you and you can see if he or she has been listening in class! I think our biggest newsflash this week is Matthew's broken ankle. Matthew fell at recess and didn't mention it to a soul. He came inside, sat through an extra long read aloud (by me) and then walked through the dismissal line before mentioning to his mom that his ankle "kind of hurt". It was broken in two places!!!! Are fifth graders tough or what?

Science Day

We had a blast this past Friday at Science Day. Dr. Hunt from Mississippi College came and set up around 60 science experiments. He trained the parents and the kids rotated through each center. What an awesome day of learning and discovery! There were rockets and races...every type of science gadget imaginable! I cannot believe how blessed I am to teach at a school like this where the kids have experiences that they will always remember like this one. I also feel blessed to have such great classes and such supportive parents. I had a wonderful birthday and I cannot express how appreciative I am for all the wonderful cards and gifts. You all made me feel so loved! We have been reading Holes by Louis Sachar this week, learning about predicate adjectives and making an "Alliteration Alphabet". Whew! That makes me tired just thinking about it! We also created abstract cactus masterpieces and continued to work on our reading fair projects. We have started planning the New Orleans field trip and everyone needs to send a $30.00 deposit before December 4th if you are planning on riding the bus. We will be visiting the zoo, IMAX theater and the aquarium. The students are bringing home their home journals this week and this time the prompt asks you to write about what you are most thankful for. I am thankful for my wonderful students and their parents. I am also thankful for my fun co-workers who make coming to work fun each day! Happy Thanksgiving!

A Fun Week

This week we are going to have guest readers each morning. We are finishing reading The Sign of the Beaver so we get to watch the movie! We have been working on our reading fair projects in class and creating some Native American masterpieces. Ask your child about the fun symbolism project we made out of model magic! Check out our class webpage at Teacherweb.com to find out vocabulary words and homework assignments! Weasel will be back from Disneyworld Tuesday so maybe Laura will bring us some pictures of his trip to post on our blog!

I can no longer access our blog from school! They periodically block sites that aren't educational. So I will try to load the recent slideshows that I have e-mailed this weekend and post them on our page. We had such a fun week. We created Native American molas, learned about irregular and regular verbs and played "Who Wants to Sit in the Teacher's Chair?". We have famous author, Bobby Norfolk, visiting MSE this Monday. He is always entertaining and the kids will love hearing his stories. Have a great weekend and check out my other webpage at Teacherweb.com to see next week's spelling and vocabulary words.

School Picture Day

Today the kids have been so excited about picture day! We read a silly story called School Picture Day and also visited the library. Being a fifth grade teacher allows you to hear some great lines "out of the mouths of babes". Here are a few:
Student: Mrs. North- you are so pretty.
Mrs. North: Why, thank you!
Student: You look just like the dog on the Taco Bell commercial because he has orange hair and eyes that bug out too.

Student: I am turning into a new leaf.
Mrs. North: That's over. You are turning over a new leaf.
Student: Where is it?

Student: Is that an ice cream cone that the Statue of Liberty is holding?
Student: Does Bill Cosby sing "White Christmas"?

Modern Comforts

Today the big topic in class was modern comforts. In our new book, The Sign of the Beaver, the main character is twelve years old but able to take care of himself for seven weeks in the wilderness alone. After much discussion about how I rely on air conditioning, TV, my cell phone and my car, the kids came to the same general consensus- Mrs. North is a wimp. You know what? They are exactly right. I am signing off to go sit on the couch and watch some TV.

The Reading Fair

Today is the first day we talked about the Reading Fair. Everyone has to choose a book title for the project before Friday. Weasel is torn between Click, Clack Moo- Cows That Type and Dooby, Dooby Moo. We also started reading The Sign of the Beaver today and took a spelling pretest. It was a pretty routine day at "the Station".

Diary of a Jag

As many of you know, "blogging" is the latest craze. I have a blog for my family where I am documenting every little thing that my two year old, John Riley does. It made me start thinking that maybe we should document our school year as well. After all, this is the last year of elementary school and I know, if you are like me, while you are at work or running your errands each day, you are wondering what is going on in your child's life. This informal journal will give you some glimpses of our everyday life in the classroom. I think there is an option of actually buying an inexpensive book of our blog. That might be something I can check into at the end of the year for those of you interested in a special keepsake. I am new at this so if any of you are pros or have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them! Bookmark this site as a favorite and visit it often if you want to hear about our day!