Our Classroom

As a working mom with two kids both in school this year I know how some of you must feel. I wonder, "What does the room they spend their entire day in actually look like?" So I thought I'd post some pictures for you so you'd have an idea in case you haven't been in yet. 

You are always welcome to come by!!

Don't forget to mark your calendars: 

Back to School Night

Tuesday, August 25th 

6:00-8:00

Bucket Filling Board: a place for them to leave positive comments for each other. 

Our SWASome classroom! 

Meet Norm: The boy who is helping us to learn and remember how to think and act...

in class and beyond! 

Classroom Behavior Chart: Everyone has a clothespin they are able to move throughout

 the day as they make decisions. They will record the color they ended the day on. 

Edmodo

Edmodo is an amazing educational tool students. We will use Edmodo in class at home several times a month. The format is much like Facebook, but ONLY for educational purposes. Only students in our class who have the group code can access our account. They will use this site for posting answers to questions, accessing links to websites and videos I post, and asking each other questions about content from class they may need help on. 

Steps on setting the students up on Edmodo 

1. Go to  www.edmodo.com

2. On the right hand side choose "Students"

3. Enter this group code: ky6rg9

4. Write in their First and Last Name

5. Create a User Name **Please make sure their first name is somehow in there so we'll know who it is**

6. Type in either their email address or yours (optional)

7. Create a password **I HIGHLY suggest using a password they already know, or use: whitehead**   Students will need to remember their username and  password every time they log in- so something easy and memorable is best, have them write their username and password down as soon as they create their account somewhere they will be able to access it again.

Once the student is logged in, in the top right corner click the "Me" Account drop down button

1. On the left hand side go to "Email & Text Updates"

2. I suggest only checking the "Alerts" Notes" and "Direct Messages" options and leaving the rest blank. A student/parent does not need to see the other options unless you'd like to. If you don't click just these it may result in you getting MANY emails as students reply during an activity. 

3. Click "Save Updates" at the bottom 

If you'd like to be able to have your own log in to see what your child's activity is, here are the directions for using the Parent Code. I will send these home the first week of school

1. Visit www.edmodo.com and select  "Parents” 
2. Fill out the registration form with the unique parent code, the relationship with the child and a valid email address.
3. Select the “Sign Up” button to complete the sign up process

Note: Once the parent has created the Parent Account, the parent is automatically observing any Group that the child is part of in his/her Account. A Parent Account allows you to see a limited view of your child's activity. Any Group the child adds in the future will be added to the Parent Account as well.

Welcome SWAS 3/4 Students and Families

Welcome to Whitehead SWAS 3/4!!

Dear SWAS Students,
  I hope you are having a fun summer!  I am having a great time hanging out with my husband and two kids, JR-7 and Emily- 5. We are going on trips, swimming, and playing a lot… and sleeping in too J

   I am so excited about this school year! I am already planning many fun lessons and activities and can’t wait to get started. If you are excited about getting started the first thing you can do is look around on this website. I will post all kinds of things on there like information for parents, pictures from class activities, and have links to helpful resources. 

  The second thing you can do is get logged into Edmodo. Edmodo is an educational networking site, just for education purposes and only for our class. We will use Edmodo often and I’ll even post a fun summer activity for those of you who are interested. To get started in this year's group you'll need this Group Code: ky6rg9 

I've created a post with directions for getting started on Edmodo. Check it out!      

   

Some important dates for you to remember are:

Thursday,  July 30th  5:30-7:00-  SWAS Meet and Greet Pah Rah Park (by tennis courts)

Wednesday August 5th 5:00-7:00- Whitehead Back to School BBQ 5:00-7:00

Monday, August 10th: First Day of School  *You will come into the school at 8:55am everyday *

 
  This is going to be an awesome year!! It’s okay and totally normal for you to be nervous and excited.  We will have about 26 students in our class. Of that 26, 15 are new to SWAS, 10 are boys, 16 are girls, 9   3rd graders and 17   4th graders!  You are going to make many new friends, get to learn new cool information and have a lot of fun!

                Enjoy the rest of your summer. Go run around, make great memories with your family and sleep in! School will be here before we know it. I look forward to seeing you all soon!!!

               

Sincerely,

                Mrs. Carrie Hoffman

                choffman@washoeschools.net

Survivor Project

Create a presentation for the producers of Survivor convincing them 

your biome is the best for the next season of Survivor. 

Student groups of 3-4 students

Assigned to one of the following, based on their person interest:

-Arctic

-Taiga/Tundra

-Temperate Forest

-Desert

-Rain Forest

-Grassland

-Ocean

Researching:

-Habitat

-Weather

-Flora

-Fauna

-Food Chains

Presentation Night:

June 4th

6:00-7:30

Oxbo Park Field Trip

Valentine's Day 2015

 

 

It has become a 3/4 SWAS tradition that students make lunch for another student in the class for Valentine's Day. A form will be completed by each student as to what they like, don't care for and can not have. Students will bring home a form completed by another student this Friday. Please help and encourage your child create a thoughtful lunch for someone. Next Friday, the 13th, students will give the lunch they made to their person. The 3/4 SWAS kids have been doing this for the past few years and really loved it!

 

There will also be a valentine exchange in the afternoon. This is optional, but if your child decides to do valenines please make sure they do one for every child in the class.

 

Click HERE  for a list of student names for valentines!

 

This year we are also having an ice cream social and candy bar to celebrate Valentine ’s Day.

 The party will be from 1-3 pm on Friday, February 13, 2015.

Since we are doing a fun lunch “swap” we decided to have a dessert party instead of a full luncheon. The kids will be making ice cream sundaes and will be allowed to fill a cellophane baggie at the candy bar. As always, any contributes and help would be greatly appreciated. Below are some requests for candy & ice cream sundae supplies; however, if you would prefer to donate money instead, our party-planning moms will be able to purchase any needed items.

 

Please e-mail Jonelle Leigh and let her know what you'd like to send in. This is going to be a real "treat"...pun intended!

jonelle@quickwills4u.com

 

CANDY BAR (suggestions, feel free to send any other fun candy):

3 bags Skittles

3 bags plain M&Ms (no nuts)

Tub of red vines

5 bags of assorted bite-sized candy bars

2 bags of Dum Dum lollipops

2 bags Gummy Bears or other Valentine’s gummies

2 bags sour gummy candies (worms, etc.) or Valentine’s themed

 

ICE CREAM SOCIAL:

1 squeeze bottleof chocolate syrup

1 squeeze bottle of caramel syrup

Jar of cherries

2 cans whipped cream

2 jars of sprinkles

2 large tubs (2-3 gallons each) of ice cream or 4-5 gallons of various flavors of ice cream (no nuts)

 

Napkins, plastic spoons & plastic plates for 30

Small bottled waters for 30

 

--or please donate $5 if you would prefer

 

February Newsletter

Can you believe it's already February?!? We are digging in deep into our curriculum. We are neck deep in fractions. They have already completed the 3rd grade standards for fractions and we are now working on 4th and 5th grade standards. This week they have a fun homework assignment to make a fraction recipe. This will help them think deeply about a specific part of fractions like; adding and subtracting, reducing fractions and even multiplying and dividing fractions. There are many examples they are bringing home including one we did today in class.



In reading we just completed the novel First Test by Tamora Pierce. It was a great book that had them thinking about several ethical issues around bullying and gender roles. Ask them about the book; what they liked, didn't like and why. We are about to start a unit called Literary Reflections. In this unit they will all be reading The Secret Garden. Then they will have the option to choose another novel. The options for literature groups are: Year of Impossible Goodbyes, Words by Heart, Taking Sides, Call it Courage, Crispi: The Cross of Lead and Elijah of Buxton. This unit they will be expanding their vocabularies and deepening their knowledge of literary terms.



In Social Studies we have started Biz World!! This is a well known project that is done world wide by students. I have never done this before, so we are taking it slow making sure to get things right. We will start by creating a classroom friendship bracelet business. This week they are going to be applying for positions within our company! You get to be a part of the homework by talking to them about which position(s) you think they are best suited for. I am so excited to see their applications!! After we complete our class business, they will be working as small groups creating business that they actually get to create, market, sell their products for Biz Bucks. This is all super fun and exciting!!



Please be checking Infinite Campus regularly: https://campus.washoeschools.net/campus/portal/washoe.jsp

You can also download the app to your phone, tablet or iPAd. It's call Campus Portal- this makes checking grades VERY easy!



If you have any questions about anything we are doing please don't hesitate to email! I love to hear from you!

You can also check the class blog for any of this imformation! www.whiteheadswas34.blogspot.com



Important Upcoming dates:

February 13th: Valentine's Day Lunch and Ice-Cream party 1:00-3:00

February 16th: President's Day- no school

February 27th: February Birthday Party 2:15-3:00

March 20th: End of 2nd Quarter- all make up work due!!

March 27th: March Birthday Party 2:15-3:00

March 30th - April 10th: Spring Break