Virtual Learning

With schools being closed for the next two weeks, I am still keeping up with my blog.  I will be posting information that will be helpful to students and parents. 
Communication is key and I plan on keeping everyone updated.

This past week, your child's teachers have been busy prepping and setting up Google Classroom and Class DoJo.
I have even set up a place in my house where I will be working. 

I am ready to go come Monday morning. 

The children should all have their passwords and logging information to begin on Monday, March 23rd.

I have posted a basic schedule to follow throughout the day.  You can find that on Class DoJo. 
Daily, I will also be posting what the children need to work on for ELA.  Each teacher will also post the work for their subject area, as well.

These will be our main sources of communicating, as well as, Skyward messages and Hangouts.

Hangouts is a way to communicate with the students, very similar to video conferencing.  I will send invites throughout the week so that we can "chat" about things they want to let me know.
The students in my homeroom have already been sent the invite. 
To know when your "hangout" is taking place, they will have to check their calendar and click accept.


I will also have a Padlet available on Google Classroom so that once they finish their assignments for the day, they can choose some great resources from their.  The Padlet contains games, virtual field trips and so much more.

Although this is uncharted territory for all of us, I know that together we will get through this with patience and perseverance. (Trait of the  month) 

Even though social distancing is a big part of our society now, we can do whatever we set our minds to.  We will conquer whatever comes our way.

Stay safe and be well.

The Year is Flying By

It was a much calmer week compared to last week's Reading Week.  We got back to our routine.  The fourth graders presented their book projects and our new trait for the month is Perseverance which was was introduced by the third graders.  They did a fantastic job.

 



4Z is reading Hatchet and 4D finished up The Family Under the Bridge. 

 
The children did a fantastic job in creating and presenting their new cereal based on the book they read.

In Writing we will begin Opinion Writing.  They did a nice job with informational writing and should be continuing with this for their Wax Museum research and report writing. 

Our fifth graders are continuing with Summit.  The project is titled Playing with Poetry.  They are looking at poem, analyzing poems and coming up with their own poem for their final product.

 

They help each other out, work productively and show great effort in their work.  Once they come in there is a schedule up and they know exactly where they need to be and what they need to be doing.

Each day I display what the period looks like and once they check in, they should be ready to begin.  They are becoming self directed learners and Summit is getting them there. 

 

There is always learning and exploring taking place.  I take small groups, as needed, to help them along with their project or review a piece of the platform that they may not understand.

As we are off this week, we hope that all of you stay safe and take precautions.  My heart goes out to the elderly and those with underlying health conditions.  I hope that they are safe and well taken care of.  Wouldn't it be great if they could have a little sunshine sent their way?   I have seen this posted on social media, and thought what a great idea to brighten someone's day.

We will keep families posted with any new updates as they are revealed to us.  Be Well!!!

Oh The Places We've Gone During Reading Week 2020

This past week, we celebrated Reading Week!  It was a blast.  There were many fun filled events throughout the week.  Monday began with Dr. Seuss' birthday and our theme for the day was Oh, The Places You'll Go.  The children came in dressed up as what they want to be when they grow up.

 

Our Reading Specialists did a fantastic job planning and organizing all of our guest readers and activities.

 
The children created hot air balloons and wrote about what they wanted to be when they grew up.  It was a day filled with excitement, especially when our guest reader, Bekah Berger came in to read to us.

Tuesday was dress as your favorite animal or animal print day.  The children listened to If I Ran The Zoo.  

Our faculty and staff got right into it.  We are quite the team at SOS.  The students were seen all in the hall with their favorite print on, some were even dressed in full costumes to represent their favorite animal,  there were giraffes, lions, and even a sloth. 

Our school was decorated with a photo booth, and so much more.

 

 
There were truffla trees set up both on the first floor and the second floor.  The place was screaming Dr. Seuss. 

Wednesday was Wacky Wednesday and boy did the students come in wacky, including some of the wackiest teachers. 

 

 
Even our classroom was a bit wacky on that day.  Books were facing the board, our clock was upside down, there was a shoe hanging on the door and the stools wore socks.
We also had a special reader come in to read.  She was a former student of mine and is now a reality show star, along with her boyfriend, Matt Fraser. 

 

We were excited to have her and Matt join us.  The students were also thrilled to take pictures with Alexa. 

We would also like to thank Mrs. LaMountain, our PTO president, who came in and read to us.  She followed the reality show stars but was also a big hit with the students. 

On Thursday we read Fox in Sox and the students wore their craziest socks.  There was a contest held for the wackiest, craziest socks and the prize went to one of our 5th graders, Ella. 

 
 

Thursday night we help our annual Scholastic Book Fair and International Night.  The 4th graders researched all about Italy.  Many beautiful mosaics were created, travel brochures were put together, postcards were written, posters were displayed and passports were filled in with many writing prompts about traveling.  It was a phenomenal turnout. 

 

The children did a wonderful job and worked hard to put everything together.

Now onto Friday, which was another fun filled day.  

The children, as well as, the faculty and staff came in dressed as a word.  There were many creative ways of representing the word the students had chosen. 

 

Our faculty didn't do too bad of a job either.  We here at SOS have lots of school spirit and enjoy doing these many wonderful activities along with the students.

 

 
The week culminated in the gym with an assembly from Crazy Tracy of Fab-You- Us.  She had the children dancing to the music.  It was a great end to a fantastic week.  Children danced and sang and had an overall great time.  It was quite the week, lots of guest readers, many fun assemblies and activities and yes, even lots of learning happening. 

Here are more pictures taken throughout the week.

 

 

On a last note, the 4th graders brought in their book projects.  They did a fantastic job creating new cereal based on the novel they read.  Some have already begun presenting their commercials for their product.

We have some very creative and inventive students here at SOS.