Yikes...bad spelling!

Thank you so much to my student editor, who brought to my attention all my spelling errors on the last post. I am always open to help with spelling and apologize to you for my mistakes! Thanks again student editor!

Welcome Mrs. Jordan

I'd like to officially welcome Mrs. Denice Jordan to our class! Many of you may already know Mrs. Jordan, she is a mother to one of our students, and has been a substitute for our Whitehead SWAS classes for awhile now.

When we received the unfortunate news about not getting a second teacher for our 3/4 class, I asked Ms. Riggs if it would be possible to get a half time aid and she graciously agreed. Yay! Mrs. Jordan will be with us several days a week. With her experience as a former teacher, she will be a tremendous asset to our class. She will assist in working with individual students, small groups and even whole class activities at times. She also brings a wealth of first hand knowledge of the types of needs our precious students have. She is patient, understanding and kind. I am so thrilled to have her with us! I am very excited to see how much quicker and deeper we will be able to go with new content, I know that our students are doing to benefit greatly with her presence in our class.

Classroom help

There are a few things I would love some help with and I have had several parents offer to help out in anyway they can, so I'm going to throw out my "wish list". Please do not feel obligated to help, but if you have the time and interest feel free to send me an email. Some of these things you can do from home at your leaser. No pressure... I just appreciate you offering!
1. Math games- We do Math groups and one rotation does games. Everyday Math (a curriculum that general ed. classes do) has lots of fun games that reinforce math concepts. I'll show you the games I'd like and you can have at it, making copies, game boards, gathering and assembling pieces.
2. Prize Box items- we have a positive reward system in class and one reward student groups can choose is prize box. I would love for someone to go online to Oriental Trading Co. (or another similar site with cheep but fun prizes) and put together an order. If you do this in our classroom I can then pay for it online.
3. Handwriting Packets- I am going to do some handwriting packets for the kids to work on at home, that includes both manuscript as well as cursive. I'd love help making these copies and assembling the packets.
4. Student support for presentations- During the week of December 9-13 the students will be practicing for their presentations. I'd love for parents to come in to watch the students practice and give constructive feedback. They get so nervous and practice make perfect!
5. Popsicle sticks- I'd so appreciate it if anyone had time to get the oversized Popsicle sticks (the big thick ones) and write each student's name on one. I will use these sticks for many different activities in class. I will reimburse you for the cost of the sticks.

Thanks in advance for all your help!

Guest Speaker

The students are working very hard on learning content they will include in their presentation on December 17th. We have been learning about Motion, Weathering & Erosion, and Force from Earthquakes creating land forms. Today we had a quest speaker from UNR's seismology lab. Mrs. Koon taught the students about force and earthquakes, how it effects land forms as well as how people can prevent hazards from these natural disasters.

                                            

I want to review the purpose and method of doing Problem of the Week. First of all let me say this process will be changing.  Doing Problems of the Week is a SWAS expectation, and all of us are expected to be doing this with our classes. (however the process in which we do this is varied). My initial method and purpose was for it to be an independent challenge...something the students would be able to work through at home throughout the week- with help at school when needed- but that is changing. I'm going to change the process so I will introduce the POW's whole class and walk them through the problems with a few hints on Monday. Then the kids can go home and try to finish them on their own at home.

I know these have been really hard for some of the kiddos! In fact I didn't even grade the first two weeks worth and I'll just give participation points this week for kids if they attempted the problems.

I'm sorry for the frustration this has caused. I want these real life, complex problems to be something fun and challenging for the kids to do. It will help them apply the variety of math concepts they learn into real world situations...but my process does need to be tweaked. Thanks so much for your support and patience! We will get it worked out soon. 

Field Trip to Carson

Field Trip to Carson City

  

Dear Parents,

This year in fourth grade your child has been on a great adventure learning about their home state. They have learned much about Nevada’s history, including Historic Native Tribes, Early Explorers, Native American Indians, and Symbols representing Nevada.

          In celebration of our studies, we will be taking a field trip Tuesday, November 19, 2013 to Carson City to tour the Nevada State Museum and Governor’s Mansion.  We will leave school at 9:15a.m and arrive back to school at 1:45p.m. Lunch will be at the Governor’s Mansion.  A  mid- morning snack will be provided to the students while in Carson City.

          If you would like to help chaperone on this field trip, and have completed the parent volunteer paper work required by the district, please contact your child’s teacher.

Thank you for all your support this year!

Mrs. Moore                      Mrs. Ramos              Mrs. Hoffman

GT Events for Parents

GT Parent Connection invites you to a

Brown Bag Lunch with Lisa Riggs!

Bring your lunch and meet with your GATE Director/Principal Lisa Riggs at one of the local schools.

Mrs. Riggs will be preparing a short topic to cover at the beginning of the hour; reading material for parents, and resources for families. During the second half of the lunch, she will be available for some open discussion and questions about the GATE program provided for grades 2-12.

DATE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TIME

Thursday, Oct 10, 2013

Jessie Beck ES (Rm B-10) 1900 Sharon Way, Reno

Noon – 1:00pm

Thursday, Jan 17, 2014

Dilworth MS 255 Prater Way, Sparks

Noon – 1:00pm

For more information about our GT Parent Connection event, please visit www.gtparentconnection.org.

Click here to see the Official Flyer for Brown Bag Lunch Invite. 

_________________________________________________________________

GT 101

All You Want to Know About WCSD GATE

Thursday, October 10, 2013

6:30pm

SPANISH SPRINGS HIGH SCHOOL Theater

1065 Eagle Canyon Dr, Sparks

Whether you're a new family to WCSD's services for gifted learners, or a returning one, GT Parent Connection would like to invite you to our welcoming All You Want to Know About GATE event.

GATE Director/Principal, Lisa Riggs, will then be offering an overview of all GATE programming in WCSD and answering all your questions. GT Parent Connection explains the GT Community available to all Washoe County GT families.

For more information about our GT Parent Connection event, please visit www.gtparentconnection.org.

Click here to view the official GT Information Night Invite.