Ms. Taylor

Singing......Lalalalalala....Spring is Here!!!

Spring is in the air and we can all feel the pollen and the agility of spring fever.  Spring Break will begin on Monday, April 8 until Friday, April 12.  The students will return on Monday, April 15.  On Tuesday, April 16 we are going on an exciting field trip to the Georgia Aquarium.  It is an all day field trip.  We are excited about the wonderful sea creatures are going to see. 

This year, the CRCT will begin on Monday, April 22 until Friday April 26.  Make up days will be the following Monday and Tuesday for students who are absent or late during the first 5 days.   

Also, as you may already know, we have begun using Class Dojo.  It is a wonderful classroom behavior tool that was shared by one of our lovely 4th grade teachers here at Nickajack.  Practically all of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade teachers are using Class Dojo.  It reinforces positive behavior instantly and turns the negative into positive by using the visual tool to remind students to make good choices.  It has been our saving grace.  And the best thing about it is you, the parents can access your child's information instantly through your smartphone. :-) 

In addition, we are a blessed community and we have the opportunity to help others who are less fortunate than us.  The Kindness and Compassion Club of Nickajack has embarked on an initiative called The Water Project.  This project raises funds to build a water well for poor children and families in impoverished countries in Africa.   We are asking that for 2 weeks, instead of buying soda, juice, chips, or any wants; just put the money in a water bottle and collect money for the children of Africa.  Please help us and support this worthy cause. Please go to www.thewaterproject.org for more information.

Now for the fun part, during Spring Break, students can practice for the CRCT online at www.georgiaoas.org using the login ID which is the 10-digit GTID number that was sent home on the pink form.  The password is--education (all lower case).  You will also receive a parent letter and login information for SCOOT PAD:  PRACTICE LEARN SUCCEED AN EDMODO PROGRAM which is also for COMMON CORE and CRCT Practice. 

Furthermore, as the students begin to prepare for the CRCT, I am asking that you send in a plain white t-shirt.  When the students return from Spring Break they will be allowed to decorate this shirt and wear it each day during the test.  This will be their “lucky CRCT shirt”.  We will be "TEAM ROCK-IT"

My sincere gratitute to you all and thank you for being the most supportive and grandiose parents a teacher can ask for.  I could not have done my job without your support. :-)

Dionne Taylor

Information

Hello Parents,

Thank you for everything!  Just wanted to let everytone know that Progress Reports will come home today.  Sorry for the delay, but I wanted to give the students a chance to turn in some missing assignments. :-) 

If you have a talent that you would like to share with our class, please come in and do so.  We are always glad to have special guests. 

February Holidays!

Hello to the BEST Parents,

There is no school on Friday, February 15 and Monday, February 18.  School will resume on Tuesday, February 19.  Friday is a fulough day and Monday is President's Day. 

Thank you to the parents who sent in donations of copier paper, pencils and facial tissues.  We really appreciate it.  Also, thank you for the donations for our prize box.  

Spellings tests have been moved to Tuesdays because of Guidance and Target now on Mondays.

Vocabulary tests are now on Thursdays.  

Our class will participate in the Mileage Clup Physical Fitness Program.  We want to get physically fit, exercise, (and I want to lose weight). :-)  We will walk the grounds on the black top or the top field-weather permitting-and earn mileage points.  Feeling good, having fun and movitation is what we need to energize brain power. 

I would like to thank Sam Spaulding, Kim Stanek, Rakele Quarells, Lynne Scott, and KiKi Hudson for all you do for our class. You are the branch for our leaves! <3   And....I would be remissed if I didn't thank our classroom grandma "Miss Grandma" Barbara Collins.  We are forever grateful for your kindness, generosity, and most of all, your presence. You are truly indeed, "OUR GRANDMA" !

Happy Valentine's Day!

Peace & Love

I'ts 2013 and the 2nd Semester

Hola and Bon Jour,

I would like to start off by thanking all of you for a wonderful holiday party, the gift cards, the perfume and the bag!!!  It was fabulous! 

This 2nd semester we will embark on new learning.  We have our new class pets...Little Froggie and Lebron James.  They are miniature water frogs.  They are low maintainance pets that only feeds twice a week.  They students are learning community cultivation by taking care of these little creatures.  The students will sign up, with your permission, to take them home on the weekends. 

We've also started the 2nd semester with the following subjects...

Soc.Studies.:  Colonialization-The 13 Colonies-the students will work on an in class project during computer lap with Mrs. Lyons about the Colonies.             Reading:  We are reviewing the take home CRCT prep packet daily,  reading and responding to the book of the month, I Have A Dream-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and fictional reading to science (solar system), comprehension, and elements of literary text.  They will continue to receive vocabulary lessons weekly and have vocabulary tests for each lesson.   Words Thier Way Spelling is also continuing.  I did not give spelling words this week.  We will continue next week.        Writing:  We are writing a new writing prompt-Big Money, and will be working on other writing prompts every two weeks.                 Math:  Fractions and Decimal/Coverting Fractions to Decimals. then, comparing decimals   Next, we will learn about measurements, graphs and data.          Science:  We've just finished light and sound and will now move on to The solar system, planets, and constellations.  The students will be receiving a solar system-planets project on Monday, Jan. 28.  It is a take home project.The project will consist of a powerpoint presentation and a model, mobile or a project board,  The project will be due on Friday, February 8.   

In February we will have a field trip to the Cobb Fire Safety Village which will be on Tuesday, Feb. 5.  Please let your child know if they are bringing a lunch or if they will purchase school lunch. 

Also in February we will be celebrating Black History Month.  The students will conduct a biography research report on a historical African American or a living legend. 

One last thing....I have enclosed some websites for you to use with your students for practice at home.

www.adaptedmind.com   www.khanacademy.org     www.brainpopjr.com         www.brainpop.com            

 http://nlvm.usu.edu           www.enchantedlearning.com          www.nasa.gov              www.ixl.com 

          http://www.revolutionary-war.net/13-colonies.html    

Oh yea!  Here's an updated teacherlist.com for some really need WISH LIST SUPPLIES!  THANK YOU!

http://www.teacherlists.com/lists/view/nickajack-elementary/4/ms.-taylors-4th-grade-class/dionne-taylor/ms.-taylors-wish-list

Thank you very much!!!

Ms. Taylor,

"Action is the foundational key to all success."

               ~ Pablo Picasso

 

Multicultural Night Extravaganza!!!

"HELP!! I need somebody!" The Beatles Classic hit of the late 60's.  I need my parents to "represent" and show why we are the number one class at Nickajack!  Please put on your chef hats and cook up a delicious dish from China or the U.S. Virgin Islands-the two countries we are featuring!  Or, you can make a dish that your parents or grandparents taught you!  I'm making Jerk Pasta!! Yum! Yum! 

Also, come dressed in traditional clothing!  This will make it much more fun!!! 

This Friday, progress reports will be coming home.

Please, please, please, send in donations of pencils.  We are completely out of pencils and are in desparate need! 

Lastly, we will be attending the Youth Museum this Friday-A.M.  We will be back to eat lunch.  If you want to send a sack lunch, we will eat lunch when we get back to school. 

Kaneechawa!

Ms. T.

 

Update about the 2nd Quarter!

Time is flying!  It's already fall.  The time has turned back and we can feel the change in the air with the high air mass and the cold fronts in our atmosphere.  :-)

This quarter, we have started our A.R. challenge.  The students have been reading leveled books according to their reading level.  The goal is to accumulate at least 20 points at the end of each month.  Since we started at the end of October we will continue through the end of November.  Students who reach the goal will have a pizza party luncheon with Ms. Taylor. (yum yum).  

FIELD TRIP FORMS ARE DUE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!!  Please send in the field trip permission forms and the payments as soon as possibe.  We are going to the Youth Museum in Marietta on Friday, November 30.  The students will be actively participate in reinactment skits of the Revolutionary War Period.

The vocabulary tests have been moved to Thursdays due to changes in past weeks and adjustments.  Therefore, we had to be flexible as well. :-) 

We have been focusing on informational texts and non-fiction reading texts; especially using context clues in sentences, paragraphs and passages to decipher the meaning of unknown words.  Finding  implicit information and answering "put it together questions" are sometimes a little more challenging for students.  For example; what is inferred, drawing conclusion, compare and contrast, and cause and effect. 

We are also learning about different styles of POETRY.  The students will create a poetry book.  We will have a POETRY CAFE at the end of November where will have poetry reading by featured poets, smooth soft jazz, hot coco, and desserts. :-)  Volunteers will be needed for this event.

Summary writing is a great way to give a detailed synopsis of the story after your read it.  After reading for 30 minutes, the students should write a well developed summary which should strengthen their writing skills.  Developing a well thought out summary with a title, author, characters, setting,  main idea, details, supporting details, conclusion, and a recommendation if desired.  One of the main reasons for using the vocabulary lessons in class is to build vocabulary content and language.  Many students have begun to use their new schema of words in their writing and in their oral language to one another.  They sould like scholars! :-)

As you have seen in their home work assignments, they have been learning common core conceptual mathematics....a different approach to multiplication and division using area models.  Conceptually, learning different strategies is the learning standard of the common core.  We do check the answers as we go along.   It's another way of showing the same answer. 

The students received their Native American research report assignments.  They have until next Friday, November 16 to complete it.  That is the due date.  The requirenents are outlined on the assignment sheet and they are encouraged to be creative!   :-)  I know I will see some fantastic reports!

We will continue learning about Simple Machines and Force and Motion thereafter.  It's interesting when the students are able to see the connection of simple machines to everday objects around them.  

Thank you all for the wonderful job that you do!!!  Thanks for volunteering in class and helping out when you can.  If you haven't done so as yet, please come in and see me or send an email.  We need A.R. help on Fridays from 12:30 - 1:30. 

Thanks a Million!

Dionne Taylor

Happy New School Year!

Students and Parents-

     Bienvenidos!  It's a brand new school year and it's my pleasure to serve as your fourth grade teacher.  I have met most of you so far and it has been a delight.  We will have the opportunity again next Wednesday, September 5th at PTA PARENT ORIENTATION NIGHT.  The times are 6-8 p.m. 

    Thank you for supplying your child with the necessary school supplies.  Many thanks for the abundance of copy paper, tissues paper, hand sanitizer, notebook paper, paper towel, etc....  There are a few students with missing items such as the composition journals. 

    Some of you may know and some may not, but the Cobb County School District has adopted the new Georgia Common Core Standards.  We have begun implementation in Reading, Writing, and Math.  I will share more information with you on September 5th. 

     Home Work is normally assigned daily except Friday, unless otherwise noted.  However, the students must read everyday for 30 minutes and record it on their reading log. 

     At this stage, fourth grade is called-intermediate grade level.  Students are at the beginning stages of independence where they will take on more responsibilities, learn study skills and organizational habits.  They are expected to write down their own home work daily.  On the white board, I have a REMINDER section where I have important information written for the week such as quizzes, due dates, appointments, changes in schedules, etc...  The students are responsible for writing down the important information in their agendas. 

     For this first nine weeks, in reading, we are focusing on becoming familiar with variety of book genres; reading and responding to the stories by writing a story summary which includes all of the story elements.  We are including spelling and vocabulary into our reading time.   Students are also learning how to respond to Writing Prompts.  They will be utilizing the steps of the writing process.  In math we are learning place value up to millions using expanded form, word form, and base ten models.  We will move on to rounding up to to ten-thousands and comparing numbers.  Social Studies began with geography and the regions of the U.S.  We also learned the various landforms of the U.S. including rivers, oceans, and lakes.  The first Landform Mini-Project is due on Sept. 4th.  In science, we have been learning about the Water Cycle.  We even made up a song to help us remember the process.  We will do experiments every 2 weeks in class on Thursdays.  I will let you know in advance when this will occur.  As far as health goes, we will have to squeeze it in when we can, but health is a part of Guidance with Ms. Mackey and the food choices at lunch.  :-))) 

     We have had a fantastic start so far and I know that the rest of the school year will be just as wonderful.  It will take all of us to have a positive impact in the lives of all of the children in Ms. Taylor's class.  Thank you and I look forward to seeing you all again soon.  :-)

Dionne Taylor

Happy New Year 2012!!!

Hello and Happy New Year!

I hope you have had a gracious holiday season with your family and loved ones.  I enjoyed my time off and used it to rest, relax, and rejuvenate. 

This is the second semester-3rd quarter of the school year.  We will be starting off with our A R Challenge.  The first 10 students with the highest A.R. points each month will have a pizza lunch with me at the end of the month.  The books the students select should be on grade level or above and they must receive a score of 80% and above to receive points.  We will continue with our novel book study. We will also develop and enhance comprehension skills through reading, analyzing and writing about current events in our state, our country and our world. These comprehension skills include cause and effect, compare and contrast, fact and opinion and common organizational structures. 

In math, we are moving on to basic fractions, comparing fractions, improper fractions, mixed numbers, adding fractions, and subtracting fractions.  After that, we will be converting fractions to decimals and vice versa. We will also be reviewing the math packet on a daily basis leading up to the CRCT!

In science, we will be learning about Sound and Light.  I will like for the students to do an at home project where they develop a sound system to demonstrate pitch and vibration OR they can do a shadow/relection box to show reflection.  PLEASE....don't fret....more information will be given to the students before this assignment is given.  I will give the assignment and a due date after the concept have been introduced in class. :-)

We will be going on our field trip to the FIRE SAFETY VILLAGE ON FRIDAY FEBRUARY 10TH.  More information to come about the trip at a later date. 

Encourage your children to always read every day.  The A. R. books are for the A. R. Challenge, but they can read novels for leisure reading! :-)

As always, I am so blessed to have such wonderful parents as you!  It shows in the beautiful faces of your children and the warmth that I feel from them each and every day.  Thank you very much!!!

Dionne Taylor

Fall Updates for the 2nd Quarter!

Hello Parents,

It was a pleasure meeting, chatting and getting to know you more during conference week.  It was an extremely brisk week and we got through it!   It was so brisk that I neglected to inform you of our Math Night on yesterday.  My apologies to you and I take full responsibility!  I'm glad that I was able to demonstrates math strategies your child have learned in class one-on-one with several of you which you can share with your child at home.

I hope you have been able to go the book fair this week.  It ends on Friday.  One of our parents, Mrs. Gretchen Fuller, who is also Co-Vice President of the P.T.A., is the Coordinator of the Scholastic Book Fair.  Please take advantage of the book fair to purchase new books for your child.

We have Accelerated Reader up and running. AR will be on Thursdays and Fridays during Reading from 10:00-11:00 AM.  I would like to give a HUGE Big-ups and thanks to Mrs. Aldama and Mrs. Callender for organizing the parent volunteers.  I couldn't have done it without them! :-)  Thank you for your patience with me and your continued support. 

                                                              WISH LIST

****** We are asking for donations of pencils, prizes for the treasure chest, and more pencils. ******

We have moved on to our new standards for the 2nd quarter.  We have started Poetry in Reading.  The students have written Haiku, Acrostic, Cinquain, and Limerick poems.  On Friday, Nov. 4, we will have our Poetry Cafe Reading to soft jazz, hot coco, crossaints, brownies, and other pastries, to celebrate "Le' Poets at the Jack".  Students volunteered to bring in goodies for the class.  You should receive the notice today.  Thank you in advance for the donations. 

Congratulations to our 4 finalists for student council vice president and our student council class representative. The VP finalists will give their speeches on Friday, Nov. 4.

Other news.....November is Multicultural Month.  Our class is studying Ghana.  We will present a 2 minute report on Monday, Nov. 7 on WKOC. 

UPCOMING......

Math- continuation of division with 3 digit dividends by 2 digit divisors; multiplication area models, division area models, geometry-lines, line segment-angles, triangles, geometric 2-D figures, measurement, algebraic equations. 

Science- Simple Machines-different kinds and how they work, force and motion, speed and acceleration.

The students have concluded their Weather and Climate Science group projects.  They've done a remarkable job!  The exemplied team work and responsibility! Raising the bar to independent learning!

See you soon!

Ms. Taylor

Your best friend calls you and tells you he/she's really sick? How do you show you care?

Happy 2nd Week of School :-)

We have been off to a GREAT start for the school year! My students are becoming comfortable with the rituals and routines of the school day and we will continue to review the classroom and school expectations on a daily basis. We have also started our classroom helpers responsibility chart. Several students will be selected randomly for positions each week, but the teacher's helper will be the student who exemplify excellent behavior throughout the week.

For the first quarter in reading, in this nine weeks, your child will apply skills learned from experiences of great readers. They will practice; 1. seeing themselves as readers and 2. making sense of texts. They will also write summaries, responses, and apply reading comprehension skills. They will have a reading log starting 8/22 that must be filled out each day after reading at home for at least 30 minutes.

In math, for the first nine weeks, we will continue with numbers and operations building on place value numbers from hundredths to one million, multiplication and multiplication properties, algebra-order of operations, and data analysis-tables, graphs, venn diagrams. The first nine weeks are the most crucial and challenging for most students in the 4th grade. It is important that your child practice these skills everyday at home as reinforcement.

In science we are learning about water and the water cycle-(water vapor, evaporation, condensation, precipitation)for the first nine weeks. We will also study the types of clouds, We will also learn about the weather and temperatures and weather instruments. You can help at home by having your child watch the weather channel, seeing the water cycle and the vocabulary terms used by meteorologists.

This weeks spelling words are the Sort 2 words from the Words Their Way Spelling Book. Please look in your child's agenda for the spelling list.

Language Arts and Social Studies are being taught by Ms. Mcpherson. Each week, your child will get vocabulary homework from Ms. Mcpherson in the form of a packet that is due on Friday. Each day she assigns an exercise/lesson for homework. That homework assignment is due on the next day. The total packet is due on Friday.

Homework will be given Monday-Thursday and must be turned in the next day.

If there is a quiz or test coming up, it will be written in the students agenda, and I'll try my best to have it posted on the blog.

Thank you all and I am looking forward to seeing you soon.

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~WELCOME BACK!~

Welcome Back to School! It's time to kick off the 2011-2012 school year! I hope you've been having a fun summer in the sun!  There sure have been plenty of sunshine and I don't think it's over just yet!:-)  Hope you've been keeping save in the sun and enjoying the pool and/or beach!  I've had a restful, relaxing and fun summer! I look forward to seeing you all soon.  Stay positive and keep smiling. :-)

Ms. Taylor