Sunday, February 28, 2010

Mrs. M's Favorite Sites for Kids!!!

I put a link on the side of this page to my delicious web site. At this site you can access several great learning sites for kids that review topics we have covered in class. They are arranged by topic and there are tabs that can guide you to sites in each subject area.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Memorial Benches for Mrs. Peltier and the Boy Scouts



The IMA students and other Chapman classes are assisting Dr. Languis with the construction of 2 unique benches to be placed in The Habitat this spring.  The benches are in honor of our secretary, Mrs. Robyn Peltier and the local Boy Scout Troop that assisted with the construction of the Habitat.  A special ceremony will take place in the spring when we install the benches. 

The benches are unique because the back rests flip, turning two benches into a picnic table.  Recycled plastic timbers were used to create the table top.  Please contact Dr. Languis if you would like to see the plans for this useful creation. 

Our Latest Novel


We just finished sharing, The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary and hated to see such a fun story end.  Each chapter focused on daily life in a classroom with an unusual teacher and unique kids....HMMMMM.....sounds like IMA!!!  This would be a fun book to reread as a family.  Children connect to the stories, the word play is clever and the kids love talking about the moral of each chapter.  Enjoy other books by Candace Fleming-she has her own style and wit most evident in her books for children. 

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Recycling Friendship

Hi IMA Families!

We are writing to say thank you to the Zupnick Family for donating their shredded paper to Mrs. S. and the IMA pets.  We really appreciate the 2 HUGE bags of shredded paper-it saves Mrs. S. lots of money and it is a great way to reuse paper from your home shredder.  (Plus it is lots of fun for us-we love tunneling and making nests with the shredded paper!  It is better than the ball pit at the FUN ZONE!!!!)

If any other families want to share their shredded paper, we would love it!

Love,
Scooby, Shaggy, Smokey, Shadow, Cookie and Angel

Writing Project Update

Project One Completed:
The IMA students finished their first guided literary nonfiction projects and you can see their stories on our class wiki (http://imaexplorers.wikispaces.com) Our literary nonfiction book study and first supported writing projects (the cottontail or coyote story) now lead into independent literary nonfiction projects based on the standards for our grade levels.  For their second project, each student selected a topic of interest, planned a story, and are currently conducting research to support the story.  In our first project, students focused on learning how to organize and set a purpose for their story.  During the second project, IMA writers will focus on the craft of writing and will learn to create interesting leads and use active words and descriptive language to bring life and details to their writing. 


This is such an exciting time for the IMA writers!  Their extended reading and writing projects have made such a difference in their literacy development.  The careful selection of vivid words and scientific vocabulary, writing stories with a structure and purpose, while becoming digital writers are just a few of the positive benefits of this unit so far.  We will share our second writing projects with you as they develop, so keep checking our wiki.

Looking Ahead:  Our next unit will combine the power of biographies with narrative writing as students learn to create stories about their own lives.  Memoirs, personal narratives, and creative narratives are a challenge, but the children are ready to try new forms of writing.  Our continuing poetry studies will focus on narrative poems that reflect personal aspects of readers and writers' lives.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Thank You For Attending Conferences



We enjoyed visiting with many of our IMA families during our recent conference nights (2/11 and 2/17.)  If you missed your conference time or wish to schedule a time with us in the future, please contact us and we will be happy to meet with you.  Thank you for your continued enthusiasm.  Your commitment makes such a difference in your child's education and our classes benefit from your support.  We are so lucky to be a part of such a vibrant learning community.

Testing Update



The IMA 4th Graders will begin testing on Thursday with Mrs. S.  The students will test in the morning and complete the OLSAT and the Stanford Achievement Test.  While the 4th graders test, the 3rd graders will work with Mrs. M. while preparing for the Ohio Achievement Test.  We will keep you updated on the testing days and let you know when to expect the results.  We know that the 4th graders will do an outstanding job.  Celebrate your skills, strategies, and creativity!  Shine On!

News-A Good-bye and a Hello

Today we discovered that our adventurous hamster, Teddy, had passed away. We will miss our little buddy.  He made us laugh and he kept us busy as he rolled around the room in his exercise wheel.  As a rescue hamster who lived more than 3 years, Teddy was the ambassador of friendship and you could not help but giggle when you met him.  He lived a full life with many trips to places unknown, as he frequently released himself from his cage. We always found him a day or two later, waiting to return to his home and waiting to see us after his short voyages.  We found him in the flower vase a few times too....waiting for us.

The good news is that after conferences this evening, a new hamster was adopted and now we have a new girl to brighten our days!  Teddy would approve of her;  she is sweet and peppy, spending a great deal of time running on her exercise wheel.  She looks like this:

We will keep you posted on her name!