Rocking Mock Rocks

We are wrapping up our Mock Rocks unit. We became geologists and investigated what made a rock. We used picks (nails) to take apart our rocks, sort our materials and then we put the leftovers in a vile with water. We learned that we can breakdown the parts of a rock into minerals. So after giving our viles a good shake, we let them sit over night. After they settled we carefully poured ONLY the water into a circle tray. Some of us learned a really big lesson in following directions and how important it was to only pour the water. We allowed the water to evaporate and then were able to investigate what was left using a magnifying glass. Awesome learning!


Hopefully you can view the video. If not, I think I need to create a youtube channel. And of course, what is a movie without a little theme music courtesy of Queen, We Will Rock You.

Money, Money, Money.... MONEY

Today we discussed the difference between estimating and exact amounts. We talked about what it meant for an item to be on sale and why stores would put things on sale. (This was definitely a day I could share personal shopping experiences.) The students were asked to buy certain items and then determine if they had enough money or what their change would be.

Here we are practicing counting coins and using a calculator to add up the total amount.

 If you haven't been getting my emails yet, hopefully you will be soon. There are certain accounts such as Hotmail that have blocked our school accounts because they think it is spam. Our district has fixed the problem so hopefully everyone will be getting my emails.


Thanks for stopping by. Have an awesome night.

First Video... Hooray!

I am finally trying to be brave enough to send out video messages. Sometimes it might be easier for me to record myself or the students versus typing everything up. So... please enjoy.

Getting Caught Up

Wow! We have had such an awesome start to the school year. I have enjoyed getting to know your children and am so glad to finally break through their quiet, shy selves and see their true passionate selves appear. We have had so many amazing experiences together this year already, I can't wait to share them all with you (or at least some).

PTA FUNDRAISER:
We have been selling coupon books for almost 2 weeks now. Our class has sold over 70! Yes! We are almost to our goal of at least 100 to earn our pizza party. All books and money are due on September 23rd. So keep on selling.

SPEAKING OF PTA:

Please consider joining PTA. They are such an amazing organization that does SO much for our school, students and staff. It is only $7 to join. If you don't think you are able to make it to any meetings, no problem. There are ways you can help and participate without ever attending a meeting. Need more information, just let me know. I attended the last meeting and was so amazed at all the ideas and thoughts that were shared. I felt that no only as a teacher, but as a parent, I had a voice and it was heard.


*** And, my name was drawn for one of the door prizes and I won a Target gift card. Can't wait to use it! Thanks PTA!.


IT'S GETTING COLD OUT THERE:

PLEASE make sure you are sending warm enough clothes with your child. It is very cool in our room during the day, so a sweatshirt that they can keep in their backpack/locker would be great. Plus with the weather cooling down, students will need to start bringing a jacket and hat.

READING CHALLENGE:

Our yearly Book-it challenge has begun. We are striving to read 400 minutes each month. If a student reaches their goal each month, they will get a certificate for a pizza. Plus we will have a monthly drawing for prizes in our classroom for those that meet their goal. Record student minutes at the top of their agendas (on the Thursday/Friday side). They do not have to fill out the pages they have read, just the minutes.


TYPING:

We have started our keyboarding instruction. As soon as our kiddos finish up learning all our keys, their log in information will be sent home so they can practice there as well (if they have access to a computer).

HOME LINKS:
Home links will start to come home on Monday. Remember, it is a way for you to stay informed and a way for the students to practice what we learned in class. NO STRESS! :-)


UFF! I think that is enough information for today. Tomorrow is our first Westside Spirit Day, so wear your Wildcat t-shirt. Or GO BISON!

Book Shopping

We have had lots of fun learning all our new routines and procedures this week. I will post more information soon, but wanted to get a few photos up from our book shopping day.

Every now and then, I will pull books from my library and allow the kids to switch out their browsing box books. Today was our first day and we had a lot of fun reading to find "Good fit" books.

(don't mind the quality, I only had my phone this time. Next time I will break out the camera.)

Back to School Night

Thank you so much to everyone that was able to make it to Back to School Night. It was so great to see everyone and start to put some names with faces. Here are a few quick updates/reminders from the night.


*  First day back is Monday, August 25th. First bell rings at 8:00 and second/tardy bell rings at 8:10 (5 minutes before it did last year).

*  Follow my blog. You can enter your email address on the side where it says "follow by email". This way as soon as I post, you will get an email.

*  Sign up for the Remind App. You can do it online or on your phone. This is a free service that will let me text you. From your phone the number is 701-214-4697 and our class code is @farkas305.

*  Remember to bring all your school supplies and any forms with you on Monday.

*  We will have gym almost every day so either wear tennis shoes or bring them with. You can even leave them in your locker if you wish.

*  EAT A BIG BREAKFAST! After looking at our schedule and what time will work best, we are going to test having snack at 11:20. It is super late, but so is our lunch. So ALWAYS eat a big breakfast.



Get a good night's rest on Sunday. I will see you bright and early with a big smile on. I can't wait for the year to begin.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns feel free to email me or call. Everyone that attended back to school night went home with a magnet containing my contact information.

Jenna

Another year!

Oh my gosh!

I can't wait to begin a new year. It is amazing how many hours go into a classroom before it is ready for kids. I have been in my classroom a ton! I have brought out my sewing machine as well and will (finally) be making some really cute curtains for my room. I am also working on t-shirt reading buddy pillows. So fun and the kids are going to love them.

For those of you that might be curious, I stepped out of the classroom last year and worked in our district as a Student Performance Coach. I loved my job as a coach but realized I love kids more. So... that is what is brining me back to the classroom. I am so excited I can't even contain myself.

Hopefully I can get some pictures up and going soon. In the mean time, if you are a parent from my classroom and wish to stop receiving notifications of my posts, there is a link on the bottom of the email. Just click that and you should stop getting my updates.

Enjoy the rest of the summer.

Mrs. Farkas