News From My Homeroom

Well, it's been a while since I've had the time to check this blog and add news. We finished the 1st Nine Weeks and I had six students who made the Honor Roll and quite a few more that made Good Citizenship and Perfect Attendance!!!! Way to go! Our SGA representatives from our class are Marvin and Savion with the SGA President, Chloe, also being in our room. For Halloween, we are putting together Halloween Goody Bags so don't forget to bring in your goodies on Monday! Wednesday will be WACKY WEDNESDAY at Taylor.....you can pay $1 and wear your Wacky clothes, hair, hats, etc. (no costumes or masks). This is a SGA fundraiser. We will soon be into the month of November and the time will FLY by! Please keep reading 20 minutes or more every night and remember to turn in your Reading Calendar each week. This counts as a Reading grade. Keep studying every night and remember to ask questions if you need help or don't understand something......that's how we all learn!

SGA Elections

Today we had an assembly to explain the elections for SGA (Student Government Association). Students who are interested in running for an office got a petition form and must collect 30 signatures and an endorsing signature from a teacher. These forms are due Friday before noon. 5th-graders may run for President, Secretary, or Treasurer. They have to maintain good behavior (no U's on the report cards) and good grades (may not make 2 F's on report cards). Candidates for officers will have to give a speech and be willing to attend PTA meetings! Each classroom will also elect 2 representatives to attend the meetings. The whole purpose of SGA is to give students a chance to share their ideas on improving their school and to develop leadership skills. Good luck to all of those who are running for election!

First Day Of School Is Tomorrow!!!!!!

Well here it is and time to start a new school year! I met some of my students at Open House and I'm looking forward to meeting all of the others tomorrow. School starts EARLIER this year so make sure you're there on time! Car riders can unload at 7:30 and bus riders unload at 7:35. You will be sent to the classroom at 7:50! Be ready to come in and get busy on the very first day! We have a LOT to learn this year!

Open House/Meet Your Teacher Day!!!!! (THIS WEEK!)

Well, the teachers officially have started organizing the classrooms and preparing for the start of a new school year! This year in 5th grade we are going back to changing classes and we have a new teacher in 5th-Grade. We will all teach Reading in our homeroom classes and then I will teach Math to all three classes. Miss Dudley will teach the English/Language Arts and Mrs. Brown will teach Science/Social Studies. That's right, Mrs. Brown was moved to the annex building to be part of our great 5th-Grade Team!!!! YAY! Open House will be on Thursday from 3pm-6pm so plan to come out and meet with your teachers and see which homeroom you will be in! We'll be waiting to meet you and your parents!!!

A New School Year Is Approaching QUICKLY!!!!

It seems like I just said goodbye to my homeroom class, packed up my classroom, and have had a few days off to sleep late, play with my three-year-old, and watch some tv.......now here I am looking at going back to work next WEEK! That's right.....it's almost time to meet a new group of 5th-graders and start a new year! July 20th is the first day for teachers to return and start setting up their classroom, unpacking boxes, and planning for the year! I am a little excited and also a little sad that the summer has flown by so quickly! I know this year will be hectic and busy and we're going back to changing classes so I'm a little stressed at being the Math teacher for all three Math classes! This year our SOL scores were NOT what we thought they would be.....the students were so excited to take that test and then we got our scores back and everyone's morale just dropped! It was so sad to see how hard the kids and teachers had worked and we felt so prepared and pumped and then had the wind knocked out of us!!!! And the new Guided REading groups were pretty stressful too....trying to do reading groups and whole group instruction and Word Study.....WOW we were flat packing in the instruction and again our REading scores were a bit disappointing although NOT as low as Math! I felt like ALL of the students worked so very very hard and learned so much.........ALL of my homeroom students went up at least one grade level in Reading and some even higher! Our SuccessMaker scores and levels looked impressive and showed GREAT strides and growth, but those darn SOL Tests just didn't show it! I've spent some time over the summer thinking about how I can improve and how I can get the students where they need to be........sure hoping we can do better this year on those tests! I was VERY VERY VERY proud of my homeroom last year for all their work and achievements and improvements in their academics AND behaviors! They were a wonderful group and we were like one big happy family all year! If any of them are still reading this blog, I sure hope they know how much Mrs. Appleton loves them and wishes them the best as they go on to Middle School! Work hard and make me proud!!!!!

Well today is the first official day of summer break! I'm sure it will fly by!!!!! The Promotion Ceremony was wonderful yesterday and the kids all did a great job with the songs! I couldn't look at them as they sang, "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" because I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes! I am so proud of them and loved having my own little self-contained classroom! The kids were AMAZING!!!!!! Next year I think we are going back to being departmentalized so I will have my homeroom for Reading and then be the Math Teacher for ALL of the 5th-graders again. I like that too because I get to know them all, but there's nothing like having one class all day and teaching EVERYTHING to them......we were like one happy little family! Anyhow, the students asked me to post some pictures from the last day so here goes....along with some others from the past week or so. ENJOY! Have a great summer!!!!!!!!!!!

This week has been such a blur of activities that have been PURE FUN!!!!! Yesterday we took a trip to the Bowling Alley for the students who had passed all of their SOL Tests (or the alternative tests) and we had a ball! We bowled until we couldn't hold the balls any longer! We laughed and cheered each other on and just had a great time hanging out as friends and being together! A great time was had by all! Then today we had our annual 5th-Grade Kickball Tournament! I made shirts for every one of my students and our team name was Appleton's Awesome Alligators! They were so surprised when the walked in the room and saw the shirts laid out on the desks with their names and numbers on the back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had a LOT of fun playing and everyone did their very best. I was so proud of my students who had GREAT sportsmanship even though we lost! LOL! It's ok though because we played very well and also were good cheerleaders for the other two teams who played the championship game. Miss Dudley's class won first place and Mrs. Collins class won second place! Congratulations to all who had fun!!!!! Next week will be even busier! Monday: AR Pizza Reward Party and End of the Year Party Tuesday: Field Day Wednesday: Final Rehearsal For Promotion Ceremony Thursday: Last Day At Taylor/PROMOTION CEREMONY at 9:00! (Lots of tears and hugs to follow!)

SOL TEST DATES!!!!!!!

SOL Tests begin in TWO WEEKS!!!!!!!! Here's the dates for the tests (all tests are on Thursdays).

*May 3: Reading
*May 10: Science
*May 17: Math

Time to SHOW WHAT YOU KNOW!!!!!!!! Prove to everyone how smart you are and how much knowledge you have gained this year in 5th-grade. Make us proud!!!!! I know you can do it!

Intersession Started Today: THE LAST ONE THIS YEAR!

Today was the first day of our last Intersession. This is your last chance to ask questions, practice skills, and get ready for those SOL Tests that start in TWO WEEKS! Please make sure you come EVERY day and that you really come prepared to practice and ask questions about ANYTHING you still don't know how to do!!!!!! Come on 5th-graders.....GET BUSY!!!!! It's almost time to SHOW WHAT YOU KNOW!!!!!!!

FUN FUN FUN At Jamestown!!!!!!

What a WONDERFUL fieldtrip we had yesterday to Jamestown, VA! Students enjoyed riding the ferry over the James River and then an awesome tour around Jamestown! Our guide was very good and we loved all of the interesting facts we learned! We also got to visit Williamsburg and walk around the historic part. Students enjoyed being with friends all day. After stopping for dinner, we were happy to be back home too! It was DEFINITELY a fun day with BEAUTIFUL weather!!!!!!!

Jamestown Fieldtrip March 30, 2012

Remember that next Friday: March 30, is our 4th/5th grade fieldtrip to Jamestown. I will post more details soon. If a student is not going on the fieldtrip than they are EXPECTED to be at school that day. Work will be given!

Family Focus Night

Friday, March 23rd will be our Family Focus Night at Taylor Elementary. The event is FREE for Taylor students and their parents. It is from 5-7pm and will include lots of games and even ZUMBA! You can purchase dinner at school which should be YUMMY!!!! We all hope you come out and have fun with us!

3rd Nine Weeks Benchmark Testing PLUS SOL Online English Tests!!!!!

This week is full of end-of-nine weeks benchmark tests since the 9 weeks ends on Friday!!!!!! Can you BELIEVE that we will be starting the 4th nine weeks ALREADY???? WOW, where has the time gone????? So, here are the dates for the benchmark tests:
Monday March 19: Reading
Thursday March 22: Science
Friday March 23: Math

We also have to take the online version of the SOL English/Writing Tests. This is the first time that 5th grade has had to do this. On Wednesday, March 21 we will take the Multiple Choice part of the test. STudents will be using the laptops to choose their answers. Then next week on Wednesday, March 28, we will take the SOL Online Writing Prompt where students will be given a topic to type a paper. They will be given paper to write their paper first and then they will use the laptops to write the paper. Please encourage your child to study for these tests and to really take them seriously.

This is the time for them to "SHOW WHAT YOU KNOW!" They can do it!

Intersession Is Over.......Moving On.......

We certainly enjoyed our week of Intersession and we had the opportunity to review and practice a lot of skills! Now, it is time to get back to our regular schedule and move on through more new skills. PLEASE make sure you are studying EVERY night and asking questions if there's something you need some help with! Our Writing SOL Test is coming up in March so we are really practicing our Writing and English skills more and more! Let's all buckle down and have EVERYONE pass the Writing Test! You ALL can do it!!!!!!!!!

Making 2-D Plane Figures

Today in Math class, we used pretzel sticks and mini-marshmallows to make 2-D plane figures(polygons) such as triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, and octagons. We talked about the properties of each of the figures. After we made the models, we had a tasty snack! Who knew that polygons could be so yummy?????

Report Cards: January 23, 2012

Just a reminder to students and parents that report cards WILL be sent home on Monday, January 23, 2012. All of the grades that students are getting now will be for the third nine weeks. Weekly behavior grades are also recorded to get a cumulative conduct grade for the nine weeks!

JAMESTOWN

4th and 5th grade students will be able to attend a fieldtrip on March 30, 2012 to Jamestown BUT they are reminded about what Mrs. Tucker announced: you have to have GOOD behavior to qualify! Teachers have been keeping a list of inappropriate behaviors that would disqualify you to attend! Don't let bad behavior take away this great opportunity!!!!

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day On Monday!

No school on Monday, January 16, 2012.

Team Day Was Today!!!!!!!

Well, we had our very first Team Day of the year and those that got to participate had an AWESOME time! We had a LOT of students who worked hard this past nine weeks and had 110 points or more......some had over 400!!!!! They were able to watch a movie, play games, talk, get on the computers, play Wii, eat snacks, and spend the day having fun with their friends and teachers. We had 16 people in Detention who did not have the points and we certainly hope they learned their lesson and will behave properly this nine weeks! We'd LOVE to have the entire 5th grade attend the next Team Day! WORK HARD and BEHAVE!!!!! We start collecting points for the next Team Day on Tuesday (January 17th!)

Happy New Year! Set Your Goals HIGH!!!!!

In just a couple of days, it will be the beginning of a New Year: 2012!!!!!! I just wanted to post Happy New Year greetings to my students (and some former students who still check in on the blog)! I hope the new year will be full of excitement, fun, lots of learning, and lots of you achieving your goals that you set for yourselves! Make it a GREAT year and one to remember!!!
Also please remember that January 2nd is still part of the break and teachers have a teacher workday on Tuesday, January 3rd so students are NOT to come back until Thursday January 4th! Be ready to start your Benchmark Testing! I hope you have studied a little bit over the break! Don't forget everything that you have learned! AND READ!!!!!!! Love you all!