This Week's Top 5 A.R. Point Earners
1.  Katie  58.4                4.  Dylan 18.7

2.  Kate  20.1                 5.  Marc  18.5

3.  Audrey  19.7

Congratulations to our top readers.  Numbers 6-10 are close on your heels.  Who will be in the top 5 next week?  Who will be in the top 5 on March 14th?  I cannot wait to see!

In honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday and Read Across America Week, we will have a day of reading activities on Monday.  We will have several guest readers that I know our class will enjoy as well as book buddies.  We will also "camp out" and read individually and with classroom buddies.  Please allow your child to wear his/her pajamas as well as bring a flashlight and a blanket or sleeping bag.  I would also like for everyone to bring several of their favorite books or a current chapter book being read.  Accelerated Reader tests can be taken throughout the day.  If your child doesn't have the required seven new points for this grading period, please encourage A.R. reading.

I am very pleased to announce that everyone has mastered the technology requirement, creating graphs for this grading period.  Next week we will use the program Wordle to tell what we know about a self-selected topic from science or social studies.  Look for them in the hallway shortly after.

The class will begin a unit in social studies on Jackie Robinson next Tuesday with Mrs. Sanders.

Kudos to everyone on a job well done on the hero essays.  I really enjoyed hearing everyone's story during author's chair on Thursday.  They were well written, and I can easily see why the choices were made. 

Top 5:

1.  Katie 47.2

2.  Kate  19.6

3.  Dylan  17.7

4.  Marc  16.6

5.  Audrey  14.7

These are incredible numbers!  Way to go.  I can't wait to see who is in the top 5 next week.

A great big thank you to everyone for helping with our centers on Tuesday afternoon.  We appreciate your help.

Health: This week we are learning about dental health.Today we did a reader's theater that taught us about the different parts of a tooth, the different kinds of teeth and their jobs, as well as how to take care of our teeth.  Ask your child what he/she learned.

Math:  Our next unit is on making change to $5.  We will be using manipulatives to help us reach mastery of this skill.  Any opportunity you have to practice this skill with your child would be helpful.  I taught the class new place value games today that will be played while I work with each math group.  Continue to practice those math facts.  Both addition and subtraction need to be mastered by May. 

Wow, impressive 3D models!  We really learned a ton about arctic animals from listening to everyone's research as well as seeing the projects.  The next project is the hero essay due February 23rd.  There will not be any homework except this writing assignment this week.  Good luck and have fun!

Top 5 Point Earners for A.R.

1.  Katie  37.1

2.  Kate  16.2

3.  Marc  13.8

4.  Dylan  13.1

5.  Wesley 8

This is impressive!  Don't stop reading, I can't wait to see who is top 5 next time.  Don't forget that reading night is next Monday in the media center from 6-8.  See you there!

A letter from Mr. Gielser was sent home Monday afternoon.

 Homework:  There will be spelling homework on Monday and Thursday nights this week.  The only other homework will be to complete the 3D arctic animal model due on Friday.  I cannot wait to see these.  The animated faces and explanations have me so excited.  Next week there will not be any spelling homework.  The only homework given next week will be the heroe's writing contest.  The contest information was sent home a few weeks ago.

A letter explaining valentines will go home on Tuesday.  If you have any questions please let me know.

Next Monday night, Feb. 13th is Accelerated Reader night in the media center from 6-8.  I hope to see you all there reading and taking tests.  This is a great time to work on those seven points due at the end of this grading period.

We have really enjoyed learning about the many constellations researched and shared the last two weeks.  Everyone did an amazing job!!  This week our discussions, models, and reading will "revolve" around the sun (Are you groaning at my play on words?). 

Today the students chose their animals to research.  We also set up our research folders so we would be ready to take notes in the media center on Monday morning.  We will have two days of fact gathering before we begin writing our papers.  All of the research and writing will be conducted in school.  I explained the 3D animal model to the class today.  There are no directions other than have fun, it should be mostly completed by the child, and it must be easily transported.  If it won't fit in the car and you have to rent a U-Haul, it's too big! :)  I gave suggestions I have seen in previous years like: legos, clay, playdo, styrofoam balls, stuffed animal(made by the student, not purchased), diorama and pottery.  I also said that the sky was the limit, to be creative, and have fun.  The project is due on February 10th.  Everyone will share their project and papers with the class.  There will not be any spelling homework or tests the next two weeks.   Encourage your child to tell you about the animal as you work on the project together.  The projects will be displayed in the media center for a few weeks.  I'll let you know when they'll be heading home again.  I hope you enjoy doing this with your child as much as we enjoy seeing them at school.

Dear Parents,

I just wanted to let you know that, as a gala auction item, I am offering a "Flick with a Friend."

This will be for the auction winner plus 1 guest. Friday, March 2nd.  We will attend a movie at a local theater.  Time and movie to be worked out between teacher and parents.

The Gala Auction will be held February 4, 2012 at Olde Towne Athletic Club from 7 to 11 PM. Tickets are on sale at http://gmefoundation.org - $35 and $45 at the door or you can Download 2012GALATicketformto purchase tickets in advance. Visit the website for a sample of items to bid on. All proceeds go back to GMEF.

The proceeds will be used to improve our school by providing funding for programs such as technology, educational curriculum and facility improvements. The GMEF will accumulate and distribute resources beyond those provided by Cobb County or the PTA, in order to further enhance, foster and enrich the educational experiences of all students at Garrison Mill.

Thank you for your support!

Wow what a day of technology ups and downs we had on Friday.  We attempted to meet our pen pals in Virginia Friday afternoon.  We had a great visual but the sound came and went.  Unfortunately we couldn't quite have the discussion we wanted to.  However, on the upside each child did get to meet his/her pen pal as well as see Mrs. Huffman.  I wish you could have heard the oxygen leave the room when she walked into our pen pals' classroom.  I felt like the class just ran into Justin Bieber based on the oohs, aahhs, and hyper activity.  She sent me an e-mail stating how great it was to see everyone and how grown up they looked as well as how much she appreciated the very enthusiastic greeting.  It is definitely obvious to our pen pals how much she is still loved in Georgia!  Hopefully we'll get the kinks worked out and try again soon.

We have been working on how to revise writing with Mrs. Kantor for the past few weeks.  I was so impressed with the class today.  Everyone did their own revisions on a boring story about going to the dentist.  The changes made were very clever, and filled with great word choice.  Our main focus has been to "spice up" the writing by adding vivid verbs and amazing adjectives, as well as at least one simile.  We also want the students to take generic writing and make it more specific.  Please encourage these skills at home as well.

Wow!  I am impressed with how many constellation projects came in this morning.  What busy little bees we had this weekend!  Please hold on to the projects at home until the due date of January 30th.  Please turn in the rubric along with the project as this will help save a few trees and the copy parent's time.  :)

Just a reminder that diamond poems are due tomorrow (1/24).  We will use the author's chair to share our winter themed poetry this week.  I truly cannot wait to hear and see everyone's poems.  Please have your child practice reading the poem out loud before sharing it with the class.  This will help with the presentation. 

We have High Touch High Tech on Tuesday morning this week.  Our time falls during specials, so we will not be going this day.  Please have your child wear his/her green class t-shirt.

This nine weeks we are learning how to graph in the computer lab.  The past two weeks we have used the program, Graph Club.  After mastering this program each child will learn to graph with the program, Excel.  Hopefully we will all master Excel, as well.

I am sad to report that we lost our trophy for First In Math to Mrs. Schmitter's class.  Let's work extra hard to earn it  back.  Please continue to play a few nights a week.