MAPS Testing

Last week, the kids did the reading and math portions of MAPS testing.  They will do language and science after Christmas break.  Everyone who improves their score will get to go on a hike with Mrs. Maynard, so the stakes are high to do well.

Here is what Braedon had to say about the tests:

MAPS testing has been very good this year. This time we were suppose to improve our score which we all did improve our score like some people had like 194 and their score moved to 206 so we did well with moving our score up in the math portion of the test!!!!!!!

           The reading portion of the test was pretty good also some people had a score of 192 and moved they’re score to 203 so MAPS Testing was good this year and everyone was happy that they improved their scores. 

How to Grow Up and Rule the World

I was looking for some super interesting books for my class of boys, and I stumbled on this blog.  It has great recommendations for middle school age readers.  This is where I discovered Vordak the Incomprehensible.  He is the world's greatest supervillain and he has written two books.  I read his book How to Grow Up and Rule the World to my class last month.  It was hilarious and full of great ideas for anyone who really does want to become a supervillain.  We even found out how to make our own super evil genius names.

Vic Kolzar wrote a little about the book:

Vordak was one of the funniest books I have ever heard. It is about a supervillain that is the evil ruler of the world and tries to teach us how to be one of the evil rulers of the world. This is Kolzar signing off; keep on writing Vordak.

Thanksgiving Feast

Each year, even when we were at the old school, we have had a school-wide Thanksgiving Feast the day before Thanksgiving Vacation.  When we moved up here, we began including the high school and junior high in our feast.  I make the list of who brings what, and the Student Council cooks turkeys and serves the food.  After the feast, each elementary teacher shows a movie in her room and the kids get to pick which movie they see.  This is as close as Lund will get to a cineplex.  

After clean up, the Student Council takes plates of leftovers to some of the older people in town, which really is a great service, since many of them don't want to bother cooking a big dinner for just themselves.  It's also a good chance to visit.

Here is what Vic had to say about our Thanksgiving Feast:

Thanksgiving Feast

The Thanksgiving feast was so good. I loved it. We all had to bring food for the feast I brought stuffing. The pecan pie was really delicious. I also thank everybody for bringing food. I can’t wait for next year. 

Larenzo

I am really grateful for Larenzo.  He is a junior in high school and has chosen to spend his second period in our room each day.  He is a huge help and works very well with all the kids.

Jace wrote about what Larenzo does for our class:

Larenzo   Lacovara is Mrs. Christensen‘s teacher aide. He is in our class while the 5^th and 6^th graders are in typing, and all he does is grade papers, go copy papers, and whatever she wants done.

I guess that helps a lot because Mrs. Christensen probably   doesn’t have time so teacher’s aides are important.

Oktoberfest

The second week of October was a spirit week for the whole school.  We were really excited to be able to participate in the dress up days with the high schoolers.

Jace has written about that week:

At Lund we  had Oktoberfest it was really fun.  lf you read the other  blogs you will get a little information on what we did. We had neon day, NFL Day, Breast Cancer Awareness Day, and Blue and  Gold Day. The High School did what we did except they had Macho Man volleyball and Powder Puff football.  It wasn’t tackle it was flag football.

That’s what we did for Oktoberfest.

Halloween

Rachael has written a post about Halloween:

My  favorite thing about Halloween was going trick or treating. I went  trick or treating with Charlotte, Paige, and Allyse . It would  get pretty  wild because we would take turns being in the front, and the three who were in the back would play slap each other. Whenever I would  be in the middle Charlotte would sit on my dress.  The good thing is that I had a good time.

Island of the Blue Dolphins

I read Island of the Blue Dolphins when I was in fifth or sixth grade, so I thought I would read it to my class.  I was a little worried because the main character is a girl, and most of my class is boys, but everyone seemed to really enjoy the book.  The whole class participated in our daily discussions about the book.  

Here is what Braedon had to say about Island of the Blue Dolphins:

Island of the Blue Dolphins is about a girl that was left behind on an island. It is called the island of the blue dolphins. She was about 18 when she was left behind. The way that she was left behind was her brother went back to the village to get his fishing pole so he did not starve to death on the ocean. So his sister was on the boat and they were a half a mile out and she found out her brother was not on the ship so she jumped off the ship and swam back to the Island. By the time she was there her brother was on the shore thinking he was going to be the only one on the Island then his sister showed up out of the water.

     That same day they built a house and stayed in it thinking how they were going to leave the Island of the blue dolphins. That night while the sister was sleeping the brother snuck out to go get a canoe but, the he did not make it very far he was killed by the wild dogs. That next morning the sister woke up and found out that the brother was not there so she went to look for him and found out that he was dead. So she carried him back to her home. She made a promise to her self that she would kill all the wild dogs. She was rescued.

The Teacher's Funeral

I just finished reading The Teacher's Funeral to the class.  It is one of my favorite read-alouds.  The kids loved it too.  Nearly every student in the class passed the Accelerated Reader test on it.  If you get a chance to read any of Richard Peck's books, try them.

Here is Garett's take on the book:

Mrs. Christensen read it to us and it was so funny. That book was so funny everyone liked it so much.

It was back in the 1900’s it had a funny sister in it she beat her little brother.

It had the funniest ending. It took us about five weeks to read, but no one cared.

Oh and Glen Tarbox puts gun powder in their stove and boom!

PE

Here is what Sage had to say about the changes in our schedule:

Last year we had Mrs. Maynard as a PE teacher now we have Jeanne.  With Mrs. Maynard we had like wall ball, basketball, and kickball.   With Jeanne we learn dances and after we learn the dance we play soccer. James and Ciera help Jeanne teach us dances. Jeanne is a good dancer, James and Ciera yell at us and tell us what to do. On some dances we have to hold hands; that is what they yell at us for if we don’t hold hands. I hate it.

I like dance but not as much as I liked PE with Mrs. Maynard. We just had more athletic stuff with Mrs. Maynard not that much with Jeanne. I’m glad we have dance, and Jeanne. Those are the changes in PE. 

         

Singapore Math

We are using a new math program this year, Singapore Math.  It has been a challenge for both students and teachers because a lot more thinking and problem solving is involved.  The district's math team spent a lot of time deciding whether or not this was the way to go.

Keaton has this to say about Singapore Math:

In math this year we are doing Singapore Math. In Singapore Math it is new because the sixth graders are doing algebra. The fourth graders are doing long division and long multiplying. The fifth graders are doing prime numbers and comparison. That is all we are doing for math so far in the year.

It has been fun watching the kids learn the new concepts and really understand them.  The sixth graders, especially, are feeling pretty smart.

Soccer Mania

Most of the kids are playing soccer this fall.  They practice on Thursdays and have games in Ely on Saturdays.  The kids are really enjoying the sport.  Here is an update on soccer season by Vic:

It's lots of fun for people who play soccer. It is just riveting to watch us play soccer. It has been going well for all of the teams. You should come and watch us. We have won 2 and lost 1. Krystee and Darrin  are our coaches for the U14. The U11 coaches are Krystee and Cody. They have won 2 and tied 2. So both of the teams are doing good.

District Writing Test

Last week there was a district-wide writing test.  All of the students in the district had the same writing prompt and directions.  All of the teachers at Lund School got together and scored the tests with a rubric.  The writing pieces from our school will be compared with those from other schools.  

The kids in our class really enjoyed the topic, which was about their favorite place to play.  Papers were written about everything from the beach to the mountains and Disneyland to Circus Circus.  The papers should be sent home soon.

Garett wrote about the writing test:

Last week we had the district writing test.  It wasn’t fun.  I hope the class got a good score on it.

They were graded yesterday by the teachers   I bet the class got a awesome score on it.

The class write about places we like to play.

Nevada History

Our class is studying Nevada history this semester.  We have learned all of the state symbols.  The kids did really well on the state symbol test; the lowest grade was a B.  Keaton, Garett, Colten, Sage and Paige all earned 100% scores on the test.

Here is what Garett had to say about Nevada history:

 We are learning about Nevada history yesterday we had a test about the basics.

The basics are the state flag, seal, reptile, animal, and tree.

9 11 Remembrance

On Thursday, September 8, the Student Council asked all of the staff and students to dress in red, white, and blue to honor those who died on September 11, 2001.  Most of the kids in our class were babies when the attacks happened, and some weren't even born yet.  We talked about the attacks in class and did some writing on what the day  meant to each of us.

Here is Jace's take on the day:

On Sep. 8 2011 Lund School had a red, white, and blue day. To represent   9/11

when  two  planes had crashed  in to the World Trade Center.  The planes  were

highjacked  to  crash into  the  Twin Towers.  Over  2,749 people  died ,and about

5 just  wounded.  And  that  is why  we had red, white, and  blue day.