Well, as the school year draws to a close, I am sad to say that I really let the blog fall by the wayside and I am so disappointed in myself about that!  BUT, I know from much experience that when you fail at something, you must try, try again!  So, with that said, my goal is to re-start this blog next over the summer and keep it going throughout next school year.  I hope to consistently update every week and really use it as a communication tool with not only parents, but also with students and other teachers!  I am going to have my students this year create a blog about our class as a cumulative project and hope that it inspires me to really stick with the blogging for next school year!! 

Sadly, I still have no followers so who knows if anyone is even reading this!!  But if anyone is, please do not give up on me yet!!  I will get this blog going, I know it!!

For any parents who are indeed getting notifications and reading this, thank you for being patient with me!  Just to update you on our current school comings and goings—CRCT is almost over!!  Two more days and I am so proud of the kiddos for the work they have done thus far!!  I am really looking forward to the last few weeks of school!  Last week, I polled the kids asking them what did they learn about that they would like to know more about and what other things in the world do they want to learn about, maybe things that we wouldn't usually study in school!  They took it pretty seriously and got really excited about potential project ideas.  I have hammered out a math project where they will act as architects and design their “Dream Something”, meaning dream house, dream school, dream town, etc.  For science/social studies, it is a work in progress as of yet. 

Anyways, thanks again for sticking with me through this first year of teaching – we are going to make these last few weeks great!!!

Happy Winter Break!!!  

Well, our Social Studies unit on Colonial America has come and gone and I am just getting around to filling all of you blog-readers (if there are any of you :) in on how the last few weeks of school went.  As always, the days just race by and I seem to be constantly catching up with the blogging!

First of all, thank you to every single family and parent who contributed to our party on Friday.  The kids had a super fun day filled with way too much sugar and lots of good winter fun!!  We started the day with hot chocolate, decorating sugar cookies, and watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  The kids did well for awhile but inevitably the sugar took control and soon the class was just bouncing off the walls!  So, we went outside to have a good run around on the playground and then lunch.  After lunch we did a little relaxation and meditation in class....I put on some peaceful music and displayed a tranquil waterfall on the front board....most of the kids thought this attempt at relaxation was quite humorous and snickered relentlessly....but who could really blame them? How silly of me to try and do relaxation activities with sugared up nine year olds hours before winter break :)

ANYWAYS, it was a fun but exhausting day and I was grateful when that final bell rang at days end.  However, two days into the break I am realizing how much I miss my students when I do not see them!!  I am currently on the plane on my way to see my family in Tucson, Arizona.  If you ask your kids about Arizona, I hope they will be able to tell you about what the climate and humidity is like there....it was a month or two ago but we spent a lot of time talking about how Arizona was dry and Georgia was humid!  Talk to them and see if they remember!!!  I would be so proud if they do!

I have some great pictures that I want to share with everyone and I will get on top of that as soon as I have a moment over break.  I have some great pictures from all of the excitement in the past few weeks including some great classroom activities as well as our very successful trip to the HIGH Museum.  I can't wait to share with y'all, but or the meantime I just wanted to say that I hope you are enjoying your Winter Break and getting to spend time with your kids!!

 

 

 

Tomorrow we begin our Social Studies Unit on Colonial America....here is an intro newsletter from the book that I thought might be helpful for parents!!

 

Happy Thanksgiving Break!

Happy Thanksgiving Break to everyone!!  Lots to catch up on and I hope to do lots of catching up both on classroom things and blog things this week!

This past two weeks before Thanksgiving Break were busy at Mimosa!!  We had our much anticipated International Night and it was a huge success!!  Our class had Greece for a country and I was very excited about this!!  I lived in Greece for about a year back in 2007 and I was so thrilled to share some experiences and knowledge about one of my favorite countries and cultures.  The kids worked so hard on all things related to Greece including writing their names in Greek, making olive branch wreaths to wear on their heads, Greek Flags, and making Greek pottery to sale at the International Bazaar!  I wish I had gotten pictures of everything and I am so disappointed that I didn't!  I do have a few pictures of our hallway display that I will post!

We also finished up our Solar System Unit and took the test, which I am pleased to say almost everyone passed!  Nothing makes me happier than knowing that the kids had fun AND learned something during this unit!  We worked on a really cool LapBook over the entire unit and they turned out really awesome!  We also finished up the unit with a fun Oreo Cookie moon phases activity, it was a huge success!!  (and delicious!)  Coming up next is our unit on Colonial Times which we will finish right before Winter Break!

We had a guest teacher some in, Ms. Lico, who is the math specialist at our school and an AMAZING math teacher.  She has a real way with the kids and is a pro at getting them really engaged and involved.  She came in and helped to introduce fractions which is our next math unit!

I also started a new Homework Policy that I want to make parents aware of.  I have hung over sized checklists up where I check off whether people have completed their homework everyday or not.  If someone has more than three incomplete homework assignments, I will send a little notice home for parents to sign.  I am still trying to figure out the perfect balance of homework because I certainly do not want to overload the kids with too much work.  I want them to have enough work that it helps to reinforce and practice what we are learning in class, but still have time to relax, unwind, and come to class the next day refreshed!  I have told students that if they are unable to complete their homework due to something family related, to please have parents write a note!  I appreciate all the parents help with this!

For now, I will leave you with a few pictures from the past few weeks!

 

Our International Night hallway display!

 

The kids having fun in the hallway before the International Book Parade!

 

Our Solar System bulletin board--we used this as an interactive board to post facts about planets as we discovered them!

 

 

Here is an example of our Solar System LapBook and the Oreo Cookie Project!

 

 

 

And here are a few of the kiddos having fun with the Oreo Project!  Please notice their Science Book open--they are so resourceful!!

 

And finally, the homework checklists...not the most exciting, but can at least give parents an idea of how we are tracking homework!!

 

Oh my goodness, I cannot believe it has been OVER a month since I last checked in!!  I am so sorry!!  Needless to say, things have been BUUUUSY!!  Looks like the last time that I checked in we were covering Native Americans....I think that report card grades were due soon after that and I got a bit overwhelmed sometime right around there, hence my lack of 'blog communication'.  I do apologize and it is my sincere goal to be more consistent!

ANYWAYS, on to the good stuff :)  We have been having such a great time in class and I have so much to share!  We finished up our Native American Unit with a bang by doing "Candy Maps" and the kids just loved it!  Basically, they were each given a printed map of the United States and using different candies and frosting they had to follow a set of instructions as to how to locate and mark various landforms and areas that we learned about.  They did such a phenomenal job!  Check out some of there beautiful (and delicious) maps!

 

 

Native American Habitats

As you may know, we are coming to the end of our unit on Native Americans this Friday.  The past two days we have been working on a group project that I think the kids have really enjoyed!!  As I mentioned before, I have been trying something new with this unit in that I have been assigning homework that offers an introduction to what we will be learning the following day.  The idea is to get the kids introduced to the material and learning some basic information through readings and questions that are completed on their own time so that in class we can focus on hands-on, creative, mind-expanding projects!  I am realizing that to a 10 year old, sitting in class reading passages out of the book or filling out graphic organizers do not really help to get them excited about the topics we are learning-nor do these types of lessons help them to retain information. (Of course, basic notetaking skills and reading-to-self study skills are important to practice and we do work on these tasks regularly.) 

In fact, there have been many studies that show that kids retain more information when they are engaged and using different skills and intelligences.  Actually DOING something rather than simply listening to something or taking notes helps the kids really become involved in our topics of study.  My goal is to get the kids to be in charge of their learning and really have some self-direction when it comes to their education!!  And although the goal is OF COURSE for them to be learning the Core Curriculum, I also really want them to have FUN and gain important social skills that will take them way beyond the classroom!!!!

SO...that was a very long introduction to the part that I know everyone likes best....the pictures!!  For this project, each group was assigned a tribe that we had learned about...the Kwakiutl, the Hopi, the Seminole, the Pawnee, and the Inuit.  I brought in lots of different materials and supplies for them and the only instructions I gave them was that they had to represent the correct hobitat of the tribe they were assigned.  beyond that, I wanted them to work together and be CREATIVE!!!  Here is what they came up with.....

The Inuit Home

The Pawnee Home

The Kwakiutl

The Pawnee

The Seminole



The Hopi

 

 

I am so proud of all of the kids for their hard work!!  I won't lie, the room was a DISASTER afterwards, I just spend this afternoon vacuuming and Swiffering :)  But to watch them enjoying themselves, being creative, and using what they have learned--it was all worth it!!

 



Love,

Ms. Carmichael

 

 

 

 

Parent Teacher Conferences are coming up on October 15!!  Today, I sent home a confirmation form with your specific conference time.  Please make sure to sign off on that time and send the form back with your student ASAP.  If you are not able to make the time given, we will find another time before or after school to meet and as a last resort, we can do a phone conference.  I realize you are all very busy and I appreciate you taking the time to come in and talk a bit about your student!!  Please do not hesitate to email me if you have any questions prior to our conference.  I look forward to seeing you at Mimosa!!

 

 

Also, we have a Unit Test on Native American studies this Friday.  I will be sending home a study guide on Thursday and it would be VERY helpful if you could check in with your student and make sure that they have completed the study guide.  We have had a lot of fun with this unit and I very much want to end the unit on a good note with A's for everyone!!  Any help that you can offer with studying with your child is greatly appreciated!!

 

 

Another bit of fun news, our class is in charge of the morning announcements this week!!  We did a lottery and chose 2 students to read the announcements everyday this week!  It makes me so proud to see the kids up there on the T.V.  Although I cannot list the names of the students who are participating, ask your student to tell you about it in case they are one of the announcers!

 

 

Thanks for reading and I hope everyone had a wonderful Monday!!

Love,

Ms. Carmichael