WoMo Upper Montessori

Vocabulary

2012-02-15T17:46:00.000-05:00

Today students were asked to study or work with their vocabulary words as homework. I think many didn't realize the words were not posted on the blog! Here they are:

potassium
induce
prosper
inconceivable
musing
capillary
hypothetical
extraordinary
compendia
sufficient

***These are words chosen by the kids. We've been talking about them in class and working with them, too.

REMINDER: We have a field trip on Friday to the Ford Museum!

--Mrs. Perrien

Poets

2012-02-14T21:45:00.000-05:00

Today each student read his or her favorite poem from the recently published anthologies. These will come home to parents at conferences.

(A few kiddos are missing from the pictures. They were gym leading.)

Poetry Readings

Valentine's Day Photos

2012-02-14T21:35:00.002-05:00

Enjoy! Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day

Reader's Workshop

2012-02-11T22:14:00.000-05:00

Reading & Writing
Students continue to read nonfiction in class and learn about its features and structures. They will learn a few strategies to add to their "strategy file" to make reading nonfiction an easier and more manageable task. However, as this unit winds down they will begin working in small groups to read and discuss a novel of their choosing. This is a perennial favorite!

Students will make their final book selections next week.

Missing Books

2012-02-11T22:12:00.002-05:00

Our classroom library is missing many, many books. I have always used the honor system for book checkouts. Students may take a book home and return it when finished. However, sometimes students forget to return what has been checked out.

Please ask your son or daughter if he or she has any books from Mrs. Perrien's classroom that should be returned. My books usually have a genre sticker on the outside and my name or initials on the inside front cover. If you find them on your shelves, under someone's bed, or in a backpack please return the books to school!

Thank you!

Pink Out 2012

2012-02-11T22:09:00.000-05:00

Here we are...in pink, beads and hats! Thanks for all your support.

Pink Out 2012

2012-02-09T21:25:00.000-05:00

I'll admit it, I cried a little when I watched this video. I didn't show this in class, but its message is profound for many.

What a moving tribute to the many cancer survivors and their families, as well as to the many family members of people who lost their lives to this disease. My thoughts and prayers are always with those who lost their lives to cancer. Cancer affects many. Both of my maternal grandparents lost their lives to cancer and it has affected others close to me.

Tomorrow is game night! I hope to see many of you there...put on your pink!

5th Grade Transition Meetings

2012-02-07T17:39:00.001-05:00

Today the 5th graders met with Ms. Owens, an assistant principal at Harbor Lights Middle School. She showed a video about 6th grade at Harbor Lights and gave the kids the opportunity to ask questions about middle school!

Waukazoo families are encouraged to attend a parent meeting on Thursday, February 9, to learn about Harbor Lights. The time is 6:30-8:00 p.m. The meeting will include a presentation for parents, an activity for 5th graders, and a tour of Harbor Lights Middle School. Highlighted are the following topics: school within a school environment, opportunities to earn high school credit, and numerous extra-curricular activities. If you're unable to attend the meeting this Thursday, feel free to attend on Saturday, February 11 at 10:00 a.m.

If you have questions about Harbor Lights you are encouraged to call Dennis White, the principal. He's also encouraging parents to schedule an individual appointment if they'd like. Mr. White can be contacted at 616-786-1001.

Cool Teacher is Online

2012-02-06T23:09:00.002-05:00

Check out our class photos. The "Cool Teacher" segment will begin airing in two weeks, how cool is that!? Thank you, Raveena!

http://www.wgvu.org/coolteacher/

--Mrs. Perrien

Valentines Party Information

2012-02-05T14:30:00.000-05:00

Party Date and Time: February 14 at 3 p.m.

If students bring a valentine for one, they need to bring a valentine for all! We have 25 students.

***For our Valentine Boxes project this year we will need students to bring in an empty cereal box by Friday!

Thank you!!

Classroom Updates

2012-02-05T14:19:00.000-05:00

Read on for two important classroom updates...

Field Trip: The Gerald R. Ford Museum

When: Friday, February 17, 2012, 9:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Where: Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum (Grand Rapids)

Why: To accompany our study of the three branches of government.

**The permission slip will come home on Monday for a signature.

Lansing

This year our students are scheduled to visit Lansing as our culminating social studies BIG FUN field trip; it’s also the final field trip we will be taking this school year (other than the 5^th grade annual trip to see the Grand Rapids Symphony and their May visit to tour Harbor Lights.)

We are scheduled to go to Lansing on April 12, 2012. Our current plan is to visit the state Capitol and the Michigan Historical Museum, plus the Hall of Justice. All of the places we visit are free; the only expense we incur is the cost of the charter bus to take us to Lansing. In past years we have taken a Cardinal Charter Bus to create a sense of “cool” for this trip, but more importantly we need a charter bus because we depart early (8 a.m.) and arrive late (6 p.m.). In past years we have raised funds for the bus by collecting and returning pop cans. In 2010 this netted us approximately $150 toward the cost of the $900 (estimated) charter bus. If someone would like to take over for me and run this fund raiser I welcome your help, but I will not be running this fundraiser on my own this year. It took a lot of my instructional planning time two years ago to sort and return $150 worth of pop cans and I didn’t have a lot of parent help or support.

One possible option would be for families to collect and return pop can slips from Meijer or Family Fare between now and the date of the field trip. I would need the help of a parent to organize and return these slips for cash that would then be turned over to Waukazoo. We would use these to offset the INDIVIDUAL cost of the charter bus expense. We would then have a final total for you the week of April 12. Families that want to reduce their expense would collect pop can slips, families that don’t want to collect and submit pop can slips would be charged the divided cost of the charter bus. (At this time, that estimated expense would be $36 per student.**)

Finally, I will be submitting a reimbursement form to the Waukazoo PTA for a portion of the field trip. In past years, this has been $5 per student. At this time, I cannot guarantee this as a reimbursement amount.

Thank you for your time! Please let me know if you have any concerns or questions.

Mrs. Perrien

**We don’t want any student to miss this field trip due to the cost of the charter bus. If your family is experiencing circumstances that would make this payment difficult, , please contact Mrs. Perrien. No one will have to miss out!

A parent volunteer form will come home on Monday night.

Reading Groups Sign-Up--

2012-02-04T00:05:00.000-05:00

Sarah...here are the charts! --Mrs. Perrien

Students will pick at least two groups on Monday or Tuesday!

Market Days are Coming!

2012-02-03T19:50:00.002-05:00

Once again, the Waukazoo third grade classes will be having their annual Market Day as a culminating activity to their study of economics. Terrific items will be on sale during the lunch hour on Friday, February 10^th. Prices will range from 25 cents to $1.00. All money raised will be donated to

charity!

A Student's Perspective on the Reading Workshop

2012-01-31T22:27:00.000-05:00

What I like about Mrs.Perrien’s readers workshop structure and lessons…

I like the strategies we use to respond to our reading. Some are hard, but some are easy. You can choose to be challenged, or choose to just take a break. Something else that helps my class understand the strategies is how Mrs. Perrien presents them to us. She gives us a whole example about what the new strategy is. She makes it easy for all of us to learn, and trust me, my class needs to learn in so many different ways.

I also like the non-fiction lessons we have. We do a hands-on activity with magazines. Mrs. Perrien gives us a list of questions that we need to find in the magazine. We have so many different questions we can ask which gives us a little freedom to do what we want to in our “non-fiction coding.” We then read our question out loud to our class and hopefully they may have an answer. If not, the question remains to be found…

A third thing I like about our reading workshop structure is how we compare our writing to our reading. That helps us improve on our writing and our responses. It helps our responses because we can respond with a comparison, our book, to our writing, which we call “text-to-self.” It helps our writing because we know what, and what not, to do when we write our stories.

Lastly, the fourth thing I like about Mrs. Perrien’s readers workshop is our genre focuses. We choose a genre from a hat and that’s the genre we will either study or do a huge project on. I like how we have to study each genre so we can learn more about it. I also like this idea because it forces us to vary what we are reading. I like it when I don’t read the same genre books all the time. I like my books to be different.

So although I like so many different things in our reading workshop I have to stop at these 4. I really enjoy reading in Mrs. Perrien’s classroom!

-Natalie

Pink Out Orders

2012-01-30T15:26:00.001-05:00

Attention all those interested in ordering for Pink Out 2012 the link below will complete your order. Pink Out is a cancer charity event put on by the students in the sports & entertainment marketing class at the high school. All proceeds of the event will be donated to Van Andel Research Institute to help fund the research needed to find a cure for this disease. With the help of all West Ottawa families we can make a difference. So whether it is buying a t-shirt or even permission for your student to wear their hat to school, every dollar counts!

Deadline for orders is February 1st; will be delivered to the building chosen on the order forms. All payments may be turned into the classroom, but with checks made out to Van Andel Institute. Attached is information about the night as well as a coupon for our Buffalo Wild Wings fundraiser night. If you have any questions please email ja@westottawa.net. Thanks for your support!

Pink Out order form link: https://docs.google.com/a/westottawa.net/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFRXZmtCdU5pOWdTMnVTRzMwcnBVZGc6MQ

Presidential Projects: Assessment

2012-01-27T18:12:00.000-05:00

Presidential Projects

Rubric/Reflection

Students will be writing a narrative reflection on their presidential project. In the narrative students will reflect on the following:

Was the research completed on time? Why? Did you begin the project at home right away or did you wait until the last minute to get started
Were you able to complete the project by yourself or did you receive help from a family member? If you received help, how much work did you do yourself?
Does your project contain all the information found on the research form?
What was most difficult for you about this project? What was the easiest?
What are you most proud of about your research project?

Students will be asked to grade themselves after they have completed the narrative reflection. Grades will be based on the following:

A = My project exceeds my expectations

B= My project met my expectations

C= My project didn’t turn out as I’d planned

Reading Non-Fiction

2012-01-26T17:53:00.000-05:00

Parents and Guests,

Please check out my latest post about our Reader's Workshop activities!

Pictures from Physical Wellness!

2012-01-25T20:35:00.000-05:00

Last Friday, guest photographer Evelyn Perrien visited the Upper Montessori during their physical wellness class and took over 50 pictures of the kids during tumbling and "sumo" wrestling! These photos are great!

Gym Class 2012

Next, students should be working on their president projects over the weekend. These are due next Tuesday. Today we watched a few minutes of the president's state of the union. We used this to teach not about partisan politics, but about the ceremony behind the state of the union and the office of the president, who some of the people were in the chamber during the speech, why a few folks were NOT present, why some did not stand or clap why others did, and about the House chamber itself. It was an interesting conversation and hopefully will spark more conversation at home!

Finally, remember that tomorrow is a half-day of school and there is no school on Friday! Teachers will be working on report cards. First semester report cards will be coming home next week.

New Voki Message and Christmas Party Photos

2012-01-18T19:47:00.003-05:00

The class Voki (The beautiful lady off to the right!) has a new message for visitors. Make sure to see what she has to say!

I just found these Christmas party photos on the school camera, enjoy!

New Montessori Classroom at Waukazoo!

2012-01-15T19:43:00.000-05:00

I am excited to share the news that West Ottawa Montessori is expanding to include a Montessori section of all-day-every-day kindergarten! This will allow us to offer the West Ottawa community, and surrounding neighborhood school districts a complete Montessori elementary experience from grades kindergarten-fifth.

To enroll your kindergartener in the Montessori kindergarten option please contact Suzanne at 616-786-1800. Share the news with your friends, neighbors, and others that might be interested!

Some of the current Montessori staff will be available to answer questions at Kindergarten Round-Up. This takes place this Thursday, January 19, at Waukazoo!

Classroom Updates

2012-01-15T19:25:00.001-05:00

We have a lot going on and a lot to share. First, students are completing their first semester benchmark assessments this coming week. We are looking at fluency, reading comprehension, and writing. The purpose behind these assessments is for the student to demonstrate growth in these areas. I am confident our class will do well on their ELA assessments.

We are also looking at growth in math. Students recently completed a piloted assessment in the delta math program, a computerized assessment in math. Most did well, although many of the 4th graders struggled to adapt to the timed nature of the assessment. However, it was good practice for them as timed assessments (in all areas) are a part of their educational future! 4th graders struggled a little bit with their math facts; please continue to monitor a few minutes each day of math fact practice in multiplication and (especially) division. 5th graders could stand to spend a few minutes each day practicing the kill of reducing fractions. Students can make their own flash cards or a Google search of "reducing fractions worksheets" will provide valuable practice.

BUTTONS

I have recently discovered how to add "blog buttons." I can't believe it took me so long to figure this out! These will appear to the right on the blog and will probably fluctuate as some will be moved to my reading workshop blog. I have found a few parenting blogs and organizational blogs for parents that I'll be adding to this site.

TECHNOLOGY MEETING

I am planning to add a technology night for parents, some time in February. I had a few parents express interest, enough that I think it would be fun and helpful to meet. I have to check dates with my accountant husband before getting it on the books.

PRESIDENTS

Students have completed the in-class research of their president. (Most students..) If not at home already, they will be bringing these forms home to begin their project. Prezi's, PowerPoints, and poster presentations were the definite winners when it came to picking projects. If anyone would like to use the tri-fold boards to display their poster work, please send me an email. I would prefer these to stay at school, but will have one available for assembly when the time is right! Projects are due on January 31st!

BRACES

I will be out of the classroom on Wednesday this week. Evelyn is getting her braces! (Yikes!) Mr. Edwards will once again be filling in for me, so I don't expect the kids to miss a step of their work plan time!

Have a wonderful week, let's enjoy the beautiful snow! (Yes, I am a winter girl!)

Mrs. Perrien

Pink Out and Hat Day

2012-01-04T21:04:00.001-05:00

West Ottawa's third annual Pink Out is planned for Friday, February 10. This is a wonderful fundraising opportunity that also brings our district together in a special way as we are raising funds for cancer research! This year many of the Waukazoo teachers got together and decided to sponsor a player's jersey in memory of Mrs. Art (Claudia Hayes-Hager).

Students have the opportunity to pay $1 to wear a hat to school on February 10. I will be collecting money that morning but also ahead of time. If your student would like to wear a hat to school on February 10 please send in at least $1 by the Pink Out date. Watch for more Pink Out news in the next few weeks! The classroom store will have a few LIMITED EDITION Pink Out items for sale very soon!

Vocabulary and Other Updates

2012-01-04T20:50:00.000-05:00

New vocabulary is ready! We tested today. The word list can be accessed here. Students took their pretest today, which is really just a test to help them determine what words they already know and understand. Our final vocabulary test will be taken on Friday the 13th!

HELP--we are in need of spiral bound notebooks for writing workshop. I am asking that each family consider donating two of these notebooks to the classroom for writer's workshop. Students are flying through these books this year! Most everyone is on their second notebook and a few have already started on their third; the 48 notebooks I bought over the summer are already gone! If you are able to help, please donate a couple. (The following link will show you what we need, although they are usually cheaper than the price quoted on the Internet. See here: http://www.officemax.com/office-supplies/notebooks-pads/spiral-notebooks/product-ARS21790.

Finally, if you are an eater of any large glass-jarred food, we need the jars! Meaning, if you eat jarred spaghetti sauce or applesauce (or something in a similar container) please save your jars and bring them to school. We need the jars for a class project that we'll be doing at the very end of May or the beginning of June.

The President projects will be due on January 30.

Reading is Thinking

2012-01-03T21:59:00.000-05:00

I've updated my Reader's Workshop blog with a discussion covering Schema. Have a great night!

--Mrs. Perrien

January Project: President Research

2012-01-03T09:00:00.001-05:00

Back-to-School! During the month of January students will be researching a president of their choice (already assigned) and preparing a presentation for the classroom.

Students have a research form already started. We will be in the computer lab this week to begin our investigations as well as next Monday or Tuesday afternoon. The research form will be due at the end of next week. Below I have listed a couple of websites recommended by students. Your son or daughter may also ask you to take them to the library; however, our school library has many presidential biographies. Students have been encouraged to go to the library for books about their president.

For the presentation part of the project students are asked to create a presentation about their president. This could be a poster presentation, Power Point or Prezi presentation, a skit or short play (with a written script), or a video creation. The presentation part of the project will be a homework project, although students may work on their project in class when other work is completed. Students may ask you for poster board, etc., to help prepare their presentation. (If you need materials, please let me know.) They will bring home their research form on or before January 13.
President Research Sites:

• www.whitehouse.gov

• http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident
***Websites courtesy of former students. I have not verified their usefulness.
Please let me know if you have any questions!
Mrs. Perrien

New Volunteer Schedules

2011-12-29T17:37:00.000-05:00

See the following to sign up to help:

Classroom Store Volunteer

Classroom Math Test Help

These are Google Docs so you should be able to sign up right on the document. Remember on the math volunteer sheet to only sign up for two for now.

If you are available to help in the classroom, morning times are most helpful as we are always in need to people to help during workplan. Please email me (croelperriena@westottawa.net) if you want to set up a morning volunteer time.

Thanks so much and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Mrs. Perrien

Merry Christmas

2011-12-21T20:38:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

In our house, cooking yummy Christmas treats is a yearly ritual. This year our new cat, Ebony, decided to supervise!

Holly wearing her "Thing 1" scarf!

All the "Things" I am thankful for this year!

Have a wonderful holiday!

--Mrs. Perrien and the Perrien family

Classroom Pictures

2011-12-21T20:30:00.001-05:00

A few from our daily classroom work...

Michigan Project Photos

2011-12-21T20:22:00.001-05:00

Technology Meeting

2011-12-08T16:42:00.000-05:00

Parents-

In no way am I an expert in technology! However, I am exposed to a lot of programs and work to integrate common sense ideas into the classroom curriculum. Therefore, I'm interested in finding out whether or not the Montessori parents would be interested in a technology night where we, as parents, discuss technology--what's available out there and what students are using in school, what choices we make as parents regarding our kids and technology, and answer questions about technology in school.

If you are interested in attending an evening meeting, please email me at croelperrien@westottawa.net or simply comment on this blog posting. The meeting would not take place until after the holiday break. I am willing to open this up to parents in other classrooms as well!

--Mrs. Perrien

Holiday Vocabulary

2011-12-08T16:37:00.000-05:00

Today, students took a cold test on 10 holiday words. These words are a representative sample of words from three December holidays.

The word list/assignment sheet is here. Students will take a final quiz on these words next Friday!

-Mrs. Perrien

Vacation "home" for the holiday

2011-12-08T16:09:00.000-05:00

Parents-

Three of our classroom pets need a holiday vacation "home away from home." We have a tank a hermit crabs, Spotz-the Leopard Gecko, and one hissing cockroach that all need a home for our vacation. They are very easy to take care of from day-to-day.

If you are not traveling during the holidays (for more than a day) and would like to babysit a pet please email me at croelperriena@westottawa.net.

Thanks!

--Mrs. Perrien

Resthaven Pictures

2011-12-07T15:18:00.002-05:00

Soldier's Care Package

2011-12-06T09:56:00.000-05:00

This is our classroom's holiday project! Rather than doing a classroom gift exchange, the Upper Montessori students adopt a charity or organization to help over the holiday season. In the past we've collected food and toys for the Humane Society and collected children's books for DeVos Children's Hospital. This year we are collecting care package items to send to a soldier in the Middle East.

Since we are sending items through the mail overseas there are item restrictions. See the following website for care package ideas: http://adoptaplatoon.org/site/. Once you get to this page click on the words, "Care Package Ideas," under Helpful Info. This open up a pdf document with lots of shopping ideas. If you're able to help, please consider sending in an item or two for the care package.

Friday is our deadline! We want to get the package in the mail in time for Christmas. Let's show our soldiers thanks and support and help brighten their Christmas!

-Mrs. Perrien

Tall Tales Homework

2011-12-05T21:16:00.000-05:00

This assignment will be due next Wednesday, December 14. I think the kids will have fun researching tall tales! There are some great stories out on the web.

Tall Tales Homework Assignment

Reader's Workshop Update

2011-12-04T21:12:00.000-05:00

Visit my reader's workshop blog to check out my comments about genre studies. I will be sending home the ThinkQuest assignment by Wednesday this week.

-Mrs. Perrien

Greek Tortoise Assignment

2011-12-02T11:55:00.000-05:00

We were thinking of getting a tortoise for our new class pet. To do so, all students will have to research over the weekend and find a fact about the Greek tortoise and how to take care of it.

This will help our class zoologists realize and learn how to take care of our special new pet.

After the student finds their fact, they must post the fact on the blog. It must be posted by Tuesday December 6^th by morning.

You only need one fact on how to keep or take care of our pet.

It will be a special opportunity to watch this pet grow and live!

But to earn this pet we must all participate in our fact finding project!

By; Erin and Natalie

Welcome to dads and donuts!

2011-11-30T10:39:00.002-05:00

Hi this is Mrs. Perrien’s class,

We were wondering if you,

The Dads.

Would like to come to our class for a visit to see how our classroom works.

You will be able to see our Michigan projects which we are sure you will enjoy.

We will have varied topics about our state’s past.

We hope you can come!

(There’s more information below on the time and place)

Time= 8:50- 10:00

Day= Friday December the 9th

Place= Mrs. Perrien’s class #132

(P.S NO moms allowed) By; Natalie

Classroom Updates

2011-11-29T20:08:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow is the last day we will write for our thankful project, it's been a lot of fun working on these each day.
Happy Birthday, Mrs. Flynn!
Shoeboxes are needed for the students to work on their dioramas next week.
It's likely that this week's work plan will extend into next week as we are also managing our project work. Don't be surprised if work plans don't come home for a signature on Monday night!
This Thursday night is the classroom art fair at Waukazoo. Enjoy your child's beautiful work!
We've had several new hermit crabs added to our classroom environment.
We will be discussing our holiday project this week. Each year our classroom chooses a service project/organization as our holiday "gift." Last year we collected over $300 in children's books for the DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids. I would appreciate that this project be in place of any gifts to Mrs. Perrien (Thank you, though!) or the class. My gift is to work with some truly amazing children each day! :)

IMPORTANT! It's official. Mrs. Perrien is losing her memory. This week I have managed to mess up three different schedule changes that were emailed or delivered by note. What to do...If you are changing a normal daily schedule and your child doesn't know, please call the office and tell Mrs. Coney or Mrs. Zeinstra. Not only are you lessening the risk of Mrs. Perrien forgetting, but at least once the problem occurred because Mrs. Perrien didn't get a chance to access her email until it was too late! If your child already knows about the scheduling change it's less of a problem if you don't call the office.

To put it into perspective Mrs. Perrien receives between 3 and 5 emails or voice mails per day changing a child's end-of-day routine. This can be a challenge if the children don't know about the change. If you call or email before lunchtime (12:15 p.m.), Mrs. Perrien is usually able to get the message to the children since she is able to read her emails during lunch. Mrs. Perrien is sorry that her memory is going but hopes you'll understand.

**Thanks for your help with this!

Project Work

2011-11-29T19:51:00.000-05:00

What is the biggest challenge when handling project work? Teaching kids to pay attention to a deadline when the project is spread over several weeks!

When we started our study of the mystery genre it was November 2 and November 30 seemed like a long time away. "Sure......Mrs. Perrien is telling us to read the book by the 18th and begin our mobile as soon as we're finished....but we have so much time."

Not any more.

This project has been a challenge for some who aren't experienced managing a longer-paced assignment, but everyone is doing okay. We took the whole day today to do project work, first the mobile and second our Michigan History project! As mobiles are being completed they are going on display in the classroom. Please feel free to stop by any time to see everyone's hard work. It's pretty neat to see 25 mobiles hanging in the classroom!

When this work is completed we will reflect on what was challenging about the assignment and what Mrs. Perrien and students can change to improve the assignment.

Why I'm Thankful for My Dad

2011-11-21T22:45:00.000-05:00

Dads-

Today we spent a bit of time talking about why we are thankful for our dads! We are 21 days into our thankful project and this was a wonderful day of sharing and talking...about our dads.

Here are just a few. I'm thankful for my dad because...

He prays with me
He lets me do my homework whenever I want
He cleans the house
That he has a family that loves him
He buys me clothes so I'm not naked
I have someone to jam with!
He makes lasagna for my family sometimes (the best in the world, mine you)
He makes me clean my room
He helped give birth to me
He loves me unconditionally
He loves me and takes care of me
He loves me and would risk anything for me
He protects me
He cooks for me = no starvation
He take me on some of his field trips
He spoils me and without that NO ONE (kinda) would be able to.
He likes to trick me
If he didn't have me he wouldn't have much fun
He always loves me and will never give me away
He is funny
He mows the lawn so the grass is short!
He will let me drive the golf cart
He tells me right from wrong
He wrestles with me and has nerf wars with me
He does things that "I" want to do

**Thank Goodness for our dads!

Report Card Rubric

2011-11-17T16:21:00.000-05:00

As you read your child's report card the following rubric is likely to be helpful:

Report Card Rubric

A: Masters/Exceeds Standards
B: Meets Standards
C: Working Toward Standards
D: Below Standards

Science and History

2011-11-16T22:19:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited that we are starting a new unit in SOCIAL STUDIES--we are studying Michigan history! Students are getting the chance to explore a topic of interest as it relates to the history of our state. Only a few students have had to change their topic due to its applicability, and even then it was more like a shift in focus versus a complete topic change.

Students will be asked to reply to this blog posting and share their new research topic! That will give us a bird's eye view of everyone's work, enjoy!

This week in class we've been discussed how to find information that is valid and research-based, as well as learning the different between primary sources and secondary sources. We've also been learning how to keep track of our sources, we practiced with a CIA-for-kids web site.

Next week we will be digging into our research and planning our projects. Finally, we'll be sharing our finished projects at Dads and Doughnuts on December 9. I'm already looking forward to our presentations!

In SCIENCE, students brought home their Energy Transfer tests for a parent signature. They are a little messy on the front, sorry! After looking over all the tests I decided to do an item analysis and I discovered two questions that were missed by almost everyone. I decided to eliminate these from the test and needed to adjust scores as a result. We reviewed the test, item by item, and discussed the types of test questions and how this test can teach us to be better test takers in the future.

Remember...moms and Muffins is Friday morning!

Reading Workshop--what's been going on in class

2011-11-15T23:29:00.001-05:00

Finally! I've updated my reader's workshop blog!

http://perriensworkshop.blogspot.com/2011/11/visualizing.html

Thankful Homework

2011-11-14T15:47:00.001-05:00

Students-

Please respond with at least five reasons why you are thankful for your parents. Yes, your PARENTS!

In addition, tell why you are thankful for EACH reason...and remember to sign with your first name.

Remember, this is due by Wednesday. Have fun!

--Mrs Perrien

What are you thankful for this month?

2011-11-07T21:27:00.000-05:00

We have been writing "thankful lists" this month. Enjoy these reasons (just a sampling) for being thankful at home, created today as our morning message!

Family to help me and take care of me.
Heater and air conditioner
Television for staring and amusement
Shoes for not getting splinters
Bagels
Shelter, so I can be protected from dangerous storms
Legos, to be creative
Moms
Fish-fun to watch
Family-because without a family I wouldn't be born
Heating-because we'd freeze to death
Football for fun
I am thankful for school because if we didn't have school today we wouldn't be doing this
Family-so I'll have someone to fight with and annoy
Shelter-so I won't die from living on the side of the read in a cardboard box
Family-somebody to annoy
iPod-it gives me music when I am down
Mom's cooking because it tastes so good

New Vocabulary--Math Terms

2011-11-06T18:20:00.000-05:00

You will find the new vocabulary lists Here:

4th Grade

5th Grade

Students will take a quiz on their vocabulary terms on November 18.

Field Trip Pictures

2011-11-06T10:30:00.003-05:00

Enjoy these photos from our Power Plant Field Trip!

November Genre Study

2011-11-04T11:08:00.000-04:00

Parents-

During the month of November we will be reading mystery and creating a mystery mobile! All students must have a mystery in their hands (or already in the classroom) when they walk in the door on Monday morning. I do believe many already have their books in their school cubbies or lockers.

I have already completed my lesson with the 5th graders about their mystery responsibilities and given them their assignment. I will be meeting with 4th graders next week. I am attaching the mystery mobile rubric for both grade levels (they are on the same document) because the 5th graders were anxious for their assignment! (I love this!) Please note that both grade level rubrics are on the same page. This project will be a part of the school workplan time and should not be completed at home, although they may complete their reading at home.

In order for students to complete their assignment on time I recommend the following timeline:

Read your book and take notes--complete this by November 18
Begin working on the rubric! --Begin November 21
Rubric is due November 30

Let's get reading!

Mrs. Perrien

Managing School and Home--Tips for Parents

2011-10-31T22:31:00.000-04:00

*These ideas are courtesy of the Grand Rapids Press (They should have been shared a long time ago, but this post was misplaced! They are excellent, do-able ideas!)

Set up a comfortable, well-lit homework area.
Have a designated spot to stow backpacks.
Use a month-by-month calendar with spaces big enough for all family activities.
Color-code: Assign each family member a color for any calendar items (let kids pick their own color).
Dry erase boards are great for daily or weekly family activities
Have a "school papers in" basket located in your family center. Children should be responsible for placing all paperwork in this basket immediately after getting home from school.
Keep a seperate school art basket/box/folder for each child.
Put the date and grade on all art/paperwork that goes into the folder. At the end of the year you can sort for the items that are super-special and saved for the long term. (Everyone asks me this...my children each have one inch of storage space per grade, per school year).
Have kids fill out and keep their own planner or calendar. This will establish routines for middle school and later, life.
Establish routines that are easier on children. For example: each night before school, have kids pick out their clothes, pack their lunches, and pack their backpacks. It makes the morning easier!
Establish a bedtime procedure that includes downtime and an early bedtime. Children in the 4th and 5th grades still require 10-11 hours of sleep per night.

Conferences

2011-10-31T22:27:00.000-04:00

Conference week is a busy week for everyone! You, parents, have a lot of places to be and you have to get there in a short amount of time! Thank you for taking the time to come into school to talk with me about your child's academic gains and strengths.

For the that reason, please make every effort to be on time for your scheduled conference. Late conferences create a domino effect of many other late conferences. For that reason, I will start and end all conferences on time.

As you can see from the attached document, I am booked solid during the week's conferences. If for some reason you can't make your scheduled conference please contact me via email and we will set up a new time for you. I don't want to miss any conferences!

Thank you again! I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Amy Perrien

**Remember...field trip on Thursday! :)

Field Trip and Other News...

2011-10-28T15:30:00.001-04:00

Parents-

I am excited to let you know that we are heading to the James De Young power plant next Thursday for an energy-related field trip. The permission slip is attached here for you to print and return, or you may sign and return the note your kids are bringing home today. One important item about this trip is that the children must wear heelless, closed-toed shoes. This is a request of the power plant staff.

TEST

The children do have a science test on Monday that covers our energy transfer unit. They will be bringing home their science journals as well as a study guide we worked on in class. We will take the test first-thing Monday morning.

MONDAY

Monday is a 1/2 day of school, due to parent-teacher conferences.

CANDY

Although fine in lunches, please don't send Halloween candy as a classroom snack for the next few weeks. It provides a sugar-rush that doesn't do much for classroom focus and effort during our morning workplan time. Thank you!

Upper Montessori Vocabulary

2011-10-23T20:36:00.000-04:00

Our first vocabulary quiz will be tomorrow. The quiz will be testing the students on the vocabulary terms we have been studying while learning about energy transfer.

The next vocabulary unit is on collective nouns. It will be a two week unit. In fact, all vocabulary units will now be two weeks in length. The attached worksheet is the collective nouns vocabulary word list. Students will have the collective nouns work on their workplan but are able to do the word study work at home. The collective nouns quiz is on November 3. In the meantime, have fun with the words!

Important Dates for 5th Graders

2011-10-17T18:22:00.000-04:00

5th grade Parents-

Please make note of the following orchestra dates:

This Thursday, all 5th graders will get a visit from the middle school orchestra teacher and a few orchestra students.

We will visit the middle school next week to see and hear the middle school orchestra in action. (This is my favorite trip!)

Finally, a parent meeting is scheduled for Thursday, October 27 at 7 p.m. in the Harbor Lights cafeteria. (A note should have gone home last week explaining the parent meeting.)

**I strongly encourage you to consider orchestra for your 5th grader. It was a wonderful experience for Evelyn. I "forced" her to play, and she now loves the violin! (Score one for Mom!) I also found her teacher, Mr. Rizner, to be the absolute best at introducing her to this new medium, and inspiring her to want to learn and grow as a violinist!

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Mrs. Perrien

One down, one to go! (CORRECTED, with photos this time!)

2011-10-17T18:15:00.003-04:00

Parents-

One week of the MEAP is finished, the second week is upon us! This coming week we will be testing in math and science (5th) or writing (4th). Please continue to get your kids into bed EARLY. It's hard to take a test when you're tired, so remember those early bedtimes!

Workplans--What you'll see on Monday night is the workplan from the first week of October. This is the workplan you'll be asked to sign and review with your child. We did not have a workplan last week--it was too hard with three days of testing. We will have a small workplan this coming week.

We continue to work on classroom routines and behaviors, and we continue to need practice. Please encourage your child to work hard at school and socialize at lunch and recess! Thank you for your help!

Please enjoy these pictures from our guest speaker on Friday: Abby's father. Abby's father works at a solar power facility near Grand Rapids. He shared neat devices with the kids, demonstrated solar panels, and helped us better understand solar energy. THANK YOU!

It's going to be a busy week. Thanks again for your help!

Mrs. Perrien

Pet Research!

2011-10-16T12:06:00.001-04:00

We spent time in September learning about our classroom pets. In small groups, students researched one of the classroom pets as well as a "wish pet." Just as soon as we all have a better handle on classroom behavior and routines we will hopefully be adding a turtle to our classroom menagerie.

Parent Homework

2011-10-14T10:00:00.000-04:00

Believe it or not...I am once again giving our classroom parents a homework assignment! :)

Please complete the attached questionnaire by clicking on the following link: Parent Questionnaire.
This is very helpful to me as we (finally) settle into the school year and our normal workplan routine. If you would like to email it back to me, please feel free to do so. Otherwise, you may print off the document, fill it in, and return the document on Monday.

Thanks for your help!

Mrs. Perrien

Educational Apps

2011-10-05T10:33:00.000-04:00

I read the following article this morning, How Do You Find Good Educational Apps? and found it to be interesting and informative! Parents often ask me about apps; what have I used, what do I recommend...and since I consider myself to be at the level of a 1st grader in terms of app knowledge I found this article to be incredibly informative.

Mrs. Perrien

Classroom Updates: October 4

2011-10-04T22:10:00.001-04:00

Wow!! Where has the time gone? This phrase, which is so often "overdone" applies to our classroom this year.

I have many classroom updates to share with you:

Vocabulary--Today, students brought home their vocabulary list from our science unit on Energy Transfer. We've already been working with the words in the classroom, with activities including reading and writing the words, illustrating the words, and studying them in our science journal. We will continue to work with the words until we take our quiz next Friday (That's October 14). I have not assigned any homework with the words, I simply wanted to let our parents see the words we are working with in school.

Science--We are beginning a unit on Energy--and will be discussing electricity and magnetism over the next few weeks. In addition to learning about transfers of energy, we will be learning about energy conservation! This unit is fun and fascinating! To learn more at home, try going to the site, www.learningscience.org. Several interactive lessons are available for the students to try!

Student Council--We elected representatives this week that will represent our class on student council. Congratulations to 5th grader, Wilson, and 4th grader, Laine K, who will be our class reps.

Writer's Workshop--We are working on writing quality Personal Narratives! A personal narrative is a story told from or about the writer's life. These are a wonderful opportunity for us to showcase our writing skills and put to use new writing strategies--including adding exciting leads, learning to add details such as dialogue, bringing forth the internal story, and so much more. Feel free to look through your son or daughter's writing notebook. They should be writing more and more, plus trying out strategies learned in class. Remember this is a notebook, and not a place where corrections are made. This is the place where we try something new, or work to get down an idea. Very shortly, we will learn how to take a story or idea out of the notebook, develop and nurture it, write it as a draft, revise, edit, and finally "publish" a finished piece. Here's just an example of one of our writing lessons:

A special "Thanks!" goes out to Natalie for leading a lesson last week on "Jail Words." These are words that are terribly overused in writing. Here's the chart Natalie started and we added to in class:

I have updated my weekly Reader's Workshop blog, be sure to check in every once in a while to check out what we're doing in reading!

Finally...math! Math is going really well this year. Students are working on on assignments and lessons that are based on their September placement tests. At the end of this week all 5th graders will take a quiz on divisibility rules. 4th graders will either be taking a quiz on divisibility rules or place value. We are also learning about symmetry (4th) and reviewing measuring angles (5th).

MEAP--The MEAP tests will be administered over the next two weeks. PLEASE MAKE EVERY EFFORT not to remove your child from school during the tests. The MEAP will be given on the following dates:

5th Grade:

Reading--October 11 and 12
Math--October 18
Science--October 19

4th Grade

Reading--October 11 and 12
Math--October 18
Writing--October 13 and 19

Please note that I have added an upcoming events tab to the classroom blog. I am also building a classroom calendar on Google. It's just not yet finished! (Too many calendars to keep straight, I think!)

I also have pictures to upload from Spirit Week, but since most were taken with my iPhone, they're not yet uploaded to the blog. Please be patient, I only have so many hours in the day! :)

Have a wonderful rest of the week.

Mrs. Perrien

Words for the character study

2011-10-02T09:31:00.000-04:00

My apologies to Erin; I downloaded the pictures, was distracted by my dog who wanted to play "keep away," and forgot to complete the upload! Here you go, Erin!

Store Volunteers

2011-09-25T16:54:00.000-04:00

Please consider working in the classroom store! Attached here is the volunteer sign-up sheet. Please sign your name on the document and save! The commitment is relatively small in terms of time, but it's incredibly important to the kids. Thanks for your help!

2011-09-25T16:38:00.001-04:00

Parents-

I'm attaching the Spirit Week activity sign up for each day. The document includes what the day's dress-up theme is as well as what students are participating in what activities.

If a student's name is not listed it is because he or she chose not to participate in a lunchtime activity.

I will do my best to keep up with photos during the week!

Mrs. Perrien

Reading Workshop--Week Two

2011-09-18T19:23:00.003-04:00

See my reading workshop blog, for updates about week two of our reader's workshop!

Words to Live By!

2011-09-18T19:19:00.001-04:00

My cousin, Valentina, is an amazing artist. I am in awe of her talent. She posted a free poster two days ago on her web site. I hope every one of my students prints this poster and displays it prominately in their room!

In Dreams and In Life, Nothing is Impossible!

***I find this saying very inspiring. Sometimes I look around my office and feel overwhelmed by my responsibilities as a mom, a wife, a teacher, a professor, a friend... reminders such as this help keep me grounded! I hope my students feel as inspired as I did reading the poster.

(As I type this I am getting ready to clean said office. It's a scary thought...)

Volunteer Documents

2011-09-15T20:50:00.000-04:00

Parents-

Thanks for coming to parent night, 2011! :) Please let me know if you have other questions, or if you weren't able to make it, let me know if you would like to talk about your student.

I'm attaching the five-minute test checker volunteer sheet. There are two dates open in December, if you would like them, you have access to update the document and then resave within Google Docs. (I think...if I did it correctly!)

I'm also looking for volunteers for the following activities:

Helping lead a "making words" lesson in the classroom
Helping during workplan--either with research or helping students who are working on their math, language, or geometry work.
Taking a turn running the classroom store

Please email me if you are interested in helping in any of these ways and I'll add you with dates and times once volunteering begins. Thank you!

Powerpoint for Parent Night

2011-09-14T22:11:00.000-04:00

Parent Night Powerpoint--We will begin at 6:30 p.m. Plan to finish before 7:30 p.m.

The Five Great Lessons

2011-09-14T22:02:00.000-04:00

The work we've been doing in our afternoon science and cultural has involved hearing and discussing the Montessori great lessons. Last week we heard the first great lesson and this week we are doing a short reader's theater, The Drama of the Archeozoic Ocean, as we discuss the evolution of our planet.

Please read the following article, The Five Great Lessons of the Elementary Curriculum. I believe there is some variation in what we Montessorians do as our second great lesson. In my opinion this has a lot to do with our training center's instruction. I usually move from the second great lesson to discussing Earth's early history and from there move to the story of man, of writing, and of math.

When we complete the Great Lessons students will begin our physical science unit, the Properties of Matter. At the same time they will have the opportunity to dig deeper into the Earth's history and research a topic of their choice.

Reading Workshop

2011-09-11T23:14:00.000-04:00

Parents-

Would you like to know what's going on in our reading workshop this year? I'll be updating the following blog all year about our class' reading workshop lessons: http://perriensworkshop.blogspot.com/.

I've committed to writing at least one a week on the reading workshop blog. Check in weekly and you'll see what we're doing!

Mrs. Perrien

Math Assessments

2011-09-08T21:07:00.000-04:00

This weekend, students are bringing home their first "speedway" assessment pages. They will also bring home their first five minute timed test--either addition or subtraction. How do we do these assessments in our classroom?

The upper Montessori students do a daily, quick math fact assessment. We do a one minute "speedway" assessment and a weekly five-minute timed test. This plan was developed based on a plea from middle and high school math teachers to make sure that students knew their facts! Our math speedway is a three or four day per week one-minute test with 10 problems. It covers basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. This year I'm adding in fraction reducing as a 5th section of the speedway. Ideally, students move forward each time they take their speedway test.

The five minute timed test requires students to move through 100 basic math facts with 100% accuracy. Students do addition and subtraction in the beginning of the year each year as a baseline assessment but the main focus is multiplication and division. For those students that pass out of division we have other five-minute challenges! Students compete against their own score each week. The goal is steady progress in memorizing the facts. These assessments can be fun and the students look forward to them (That is also why everyone starts at zero for the addition speedway.) Most importantly, they take very little time each week out of the school day but the results are seen in our daily math lessons as well as simple fact recall.

What do these assessments tell you at home? What math facts students have mastered and where they struggle. If your son or daughter did well on this week's addition five-minute test, that is great! Next week we'll be doing a subtraction or multiplication five-minute assessment. Watch for these to come home to see how students are doing on their facts. Look for speedways that are 100% correct. When a speedway test comes home with errors, this is a fact family to study and practice at home.

The First Week

2011-09-08T20:50:00.000-04:00

Parents,

I had a wonderful first week with the children! They were fun, engaging and eager to do their best. However, they are probably very tired!

Our class also spent a great deal of time discussing classroom procedures. In fact, the first week of school is full of procedures--learning and practice. For this reason it can seem like a very long week. But the more we work on procedures now, the smoother our year goes!

During these first weeks we are primarily working in small groups or whole class. We won't be starting workplan for a few weeks. These first weeks are a time of team building; by putting in the time now we find the students handling the rest of the school year much better. I will be testing many of them to determine where to best begin them in the Upper Montessori math curriculum. Other tests (reading, writing) take place these first few weeks. We also began our reading and our writing workshop schedules this week.

Thank you again for making the choice to place your child in the Upper Montessori classroom. I consider it a privilege to be working with your son or daughter this year.

--Mrs. Perrien

Getting Ready!

2011-09-03T09:42:00.000-04:00

Parents,

As we prepare to head back to school I'd like to point out a few important bits of information. Please read through this entire post!

Our special on Tuesday is music. On Tuesday I will also be sending home a document (actually, I'll be linking it here) detailing the student's daily schedule. They have physical wellness on Thursday so gym shoes need to be school and in lockers by then! (Please see me if you need assistance purchasing gym shoes or other back-to-school items.)

The student's back-to-school packets from the office contain several important documents. Please remember that many of these are required by state law so do Mrs. Coney a favor and return them as soon as possible. It's something you can take off YOUR checklist and she won't be calling you over the next few months! :)

The Waukazoo PTA schedule was in your child's back-to-school packet. We need Montessori parents to add their voices to PTA! Please consider being part of the PTA. The Waukazoo PTA is a vibrant organization that works hard to support Waukazoo and its students.

The PTA is once again sponsoring a Fun Run/Walk Event. This will kick-off almost immediately this fall. The date of the Fun Run is September 30. This is the only PTA fundraiser in the school and the funds raised cover many Waukazoo opportunities, including but not limited to: Brainstormers, the Publishing Center, Discovery Days, Patriot's Day, the Tulip Time parade, playground equipment, field trips, teacher's supply budgets, and the Montessori 5th grade year-end dinner.

Waukazoo's morning and afternoon procedures have not changed since last year. But I am once again appealing to parents to take advantage of the school bus system if possible. The parking lots at school are small and easily overwhelmed at the end of the day. If your child lives along a bus route please have him or her ride the bus if at all possible. Thanks!

Parent Night: The Upper Montessori parent night is scheduled for Thursday, September 15 at 6:30 p.m. Parent night is an opportunity for new parents to get to know our classroom and our curriculum. (Returning parents are encouraged to attend our new parent session.) Please make every effort to attend this classroom and curriculum informational meeting; if you find that this night does not work with your schedule please let me know and we will attempt to schedule an alternate before or after-school meeting.

Finally, yes I have redesigned the blog. During a movie on Friday night I sat down and changed a few things. I have also added a Voki. This was fun! Students are able to make their own by visiting the site, www.voki.com. For some reason she pronounces my name correctly on the Voki site but when linked to the blog she gets it wrong! Please be sure to sign up for email updates, this is the easiest way for you to get classroom news and updates.

I'm looking forward to Tuesday, I will be meeting our class at the playground door at the end of the 4th and 5th grade hallway!

Enjoy the rest of your Labor Day weekend.

Mrs. Perrien

Back to School Letter

2011-08-27T00:30:00.000-04:00

I'm posting the back-to-school letter and the information about snacks. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone next week! Don't forget..our open house is Wednesday from 6-8 p.m.

Mrs Perrien

DeVos Children's Hospital "Learn"

2011-08-23T09:38:00.000-04:00

I visit the DeVos Children's Hospital site every few days because I enjoy their quick articles and parenting tips. Today's post is about a successful beginning to the school year, I recommend reading this article:

Going back to school 2011

Photos from the end of the school year

2011-08-18T22:53:00.001-04:00

I just discovered these on my computer! Enjoy!!

Year End

Photos from the 5th Grade graduation dinner:

5th Grade Dinner

2011-08-14T16:37:00.000-04:00

Parents-

Enjoy my all-time favorite back-to-school commercial! :)

Back to School shopping

2011-08-11T11:17:00.000-04:00

Good morning families! I decided this post could wait no longer. Target, Meijer, Staples, Office Max...their adds fill the newspaper, reminding us that back-to-school is really NOT that far away.

Ouch! Wasn't it just yesterday we were putting away winter jackets, buying sunscreen, and planning our summer trips?

It is what it is! Enjoy these wonderful August days; if you do so happen to feel the NEED to do some back-to-school shopping you'll need the following:

Shoes (white-soled) that stay at school for gym class.
One to 1.5 inch binder with inside pockets. PLEASE do not buy trapper keepers--they are simply too big!
One box of Kleenex. These are donated to the classroom and pulled out as needed throughout the year. We pulled the last box out in May last school year, so they really are needed.
Index cards: One set of lined and one set of unlined. These will stay in cubbies and are pulled out for projects throughout the year.
One set of thin-tipped markers. (Not required, but nice to have.)
One set of snacks for the "forgotten snack" cupboard. Please avoid snacks with peanut products.

Most other items are provided at school. However, we would also appreciate donations of Orange Cube Cricket Diet (orange cricket cubes found at VI Pets), Clorox wipes, and a "green" all-purpose cleaner. We would also appreciate a donation of a ream of wide-ruled lined notebook paper.

That's it! If your family is unable to afford any of the items above, please contact me and I will make sure they are equipped for the start of the school year. Otherwise, please check in at this blog every few days to see if anything new has been added.

-Mrs. Perrien

Mrs. Art

2011-08-07T21:35:00.002-04:00

“Every day is a gift.” What is often an overdone phrase takes on new meaning when it is uttered by someone fighting for her life. Two weeks ago I ran into Mrs. Art (Claudia Hayes-Hagar) while having breakfast at deBoer with friends, namely Mrs. Coney and Mrs. Sale. We were three friends enjoying our time together, catching up on summer activities and events. We were delighted to run into Claudia. All three of us knew that Claudia had received the news that her cancer had returned. Furthermore, we were aware that she faced a difficult road. However, standing there that day with Claudia it was evident that she was in excellent spirits. She shared with us the latest news on her cancer treatments. While she stood there talking I couldn’t get over how wonderful she looked. She was dressed in loose, yet stylish capri’s with a peasant top. She had on the cutest shoes! (Claudia always wore the neatest shoes!). Her hair was a little longest that I was used to on her, but I loved how it softened her face and if I dare say, made her look younger and more carefree.

As Claudia turned to say goodbye, she commented to us, “You know, every day is a gift.” When I heard the news today of her passing I thought back to her words. Every day IS a gift! In the seven years that I taught with Claudia at Waukazoo she often shared the gift of her friendship. She taught me to adore French press coffee! Whenever I walked into her classroom she pulled out a coffee mug and prepared a fresh cup. She never asked, she just gave me a smile with the coffee mug. I also remember a staff meeting where Claudia shared a few yoga stretches to get us into the right mind for the meeting (I’m not really sure that is possible, though!)

Claudia was the type of teacher who spoke her mind. She was fearless, opinionated, and passionate. Her gift was that you always knew where she stood with you. If she didn’t like something you’d said or done, you knew it. But you also knew when she agreed with you, was happy with you, or proud of your work! I appreciated this as a colleague, and as a parent of two of Claudia’s students.

My girls loved art class! They loved the art projects, the creativity that took place in the classroom, and the faith that Claudia had in their efforts. Claudia’s gift to her students was her belief that each and every one of them was an artist. She saw the uniqueness in each of her students and worked hard to pull that out during her classes. I believe she was successful!

Every day is a gift! Claudia embodied this spirit when she battled cancer in 2008, when she walked the Waukazoo halls and made students smile, when she stood up in meetings and spoke up for kids. Claudia reminded three friends of this when she saw them just two weeks ago. I will miss Claudia. I will miss being called, “Dude!” I will miss seeing her at the Holland Area Arts Council, where she taught my girls once again in after school art classes. Most of all, I will just miss Claudia.

***********************************************

Waukazoo Boys and Girls: Feel free to add your favorite memory of Mrs. Art in the comments section. Make sure to sign only your first name!

The clock is ticking...

2011-07-14T21:36:00.000-04:00

Parents--

I hope you and your children are enjoying all that summer has to offer. It has been busy in the Perrien household! We've traveled to Florida (Yay, Harry Potter!) and Traverse City. I've also taken on some summer projects. One of those projects is to get my girls' school photo albums up-to-date. That leads me to my reminder...

All photos taken during the 2010-2011 school year will be deleted from my Picasa account shortly before school starts. If you have been planning to print or save photos but haven't actually done it yet, do it now!!

All the best!

Mrs. Perrien

Beating Summer Boredom

2011-06-05T10:58:00.000-04:00

Activities to beat summer boredom:

Take a walk.
Teach your child a new sport: golf, tennis, basketball, volleyball, etc.
Play with your pets!
Research something new and different--visit the library or go online!
Learn to play a new board game or card game.
Teach your son or daughter how to cook a few easy dishes.
Limit television viewing (!)
Sign up for a summer library program (or the Barnes and Noble summer program).
Ride your bicycle (Wear a helmet!)
Play family games--Sorry, Monopoly, Memory, card games...these are all great fun!
Go to a movie!
Spend a day at the beach
Pick strawberries, blueberries, whatever is ready this summer and U-pick
Visit the Farmer's Market
Plant a summer vegetable or herb garden
Go to the Ionia Free Fair (July 21-30, 2011)
Great day trips: Frederik Meijer Gardens, Grand Rapids Children's Museum, John Ball Zoo, Binder Park Zoo, Detroit Zoo
Visit the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo
The Grand Rapids Picnic Pops are well worth the 40 minute drive! It's a great family evening.

Summer at the Perrien House

2011-06-05T10:55:00.000-04:00

People often ask me what we do over the summer at our house. Well, I actually begin thinking about summer in May. I invest a couple evenings of my time considering what camps and activities would best fit the girl's needs and interests over the summer. Dance is a fact of life--my girls both spend time at the dance studio to avoid getting rusty. I'm also concerned about getting rusty academically. to avoid this we do the following:

We have set up an "At Home" schedule that includes 30 minutes of daily reading, plus math fact practice, and chores. Next week we will begin doing "A Page a Day" from a grade level math workbook--something that will keep the girls sharp and prevent the summer knowledge slide.

Limited TV viewing is just a fact of life at our house. When the TV is off I do not entertain my daughters. Instead I have provided for my girls colored pencils, paper, clay, Legos, toy cars, dolls, and much, much more. Telling my girls to learn to use their OWN imagination is the best gift I can give my children. Of course, we play outside everyday! And yes, I do play with my children, too!

The website, Kids Reads, is a great reading website full of book recommendations, kid's activities, and book trivia. It's a great place to visit to find new reading ideas!

Both Evelyn and Abby go to camps. Evelyn spends a week up north at horsemanship camp. Abby does day camps close to home. If cost is a factor there are many great free or low cost options including summer reading clubs at the library and Barnes and Noble. Herrick District Library offers many guest speakers and activities designed to engage kids.

Whatever you do with your kids throughout the summer please make sure they are doing more than just watching TV and playing video games! One final thought, go to the beach! We are lucky in Holland to have great entertainment just a couple miles down the road. Building sand castles is so fun! If you go to the beach, please be sure to discuss water safety with your children.

Schedule for the Final Week

2011-06-05T10:41:00.000-04:00

Our final week of school is full of activity! Here's a breakdown of the upcoming week:

Monday--Waukazoo Talent Show
Tuesday--Classroom cleaning (Please send empty backpacks or extra bags)

***Please remind your child that ALL school and classroom books should be returned to Waukazoo. Students may not keep books belonging to Mrs. Perrien at home over the summer.

Wednesday--Discovery Days (Students should dress in clothes that can get dirty!)
Thursday--5th grade pizza luncheon with Mrs. Perrien
Friday--1/2 day. We will hiking in the woods behind the school. Students should wear clothes shoes suitable for hiking. Bug protection is also a good idea!

Grandma Croel

2011-05-28T14:00:00.000-04:00

Marian Maxine Miles Croel died on May 27, 2011. How fitting that on the last day of her life we in class were dancing and celebrating life. My grandma wouln't have had it any other way.

My cousin, Annette, wrote this amazing tribute to my Grandmother. I hope you don't mind me sharing it here. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to let others know about my amazing Grandma!

Amy Perrien

Washed by the Water: Marian Croel

Book Prezis

2011-05-26T22:50:00.000-04:00

I have enjoyed exploring new technologies with the students this spring. One new type for us is Prezi, Prezi is fun and easy to use!

The following Prezis have been shared in class:

Holes by Louise Sachar

Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing by Judy Blume

Old Yeller by Fred Gipson

More Prezi's will be linked in the next few days. Enjoy!

Grand Rapids Lip Dub

2011-05-26T22:45:00.000-04:00

I am a proud Michigan girl! I wanted to share the lip dub recently filmed in Grand Rapids. My husband and I were there last weekend celebrating our anniversary and watched some of the filming as it was taking place.

Enjoy!

Grand Rapids Lip Dub

(You have to scroll down a little bit.)

Scholastic Ordering

2011-05-24T14:26:00.000-04:00

Parents-

I sent home the recent Scholastic catalogs with incorrect ordering information. Scholastic now has activation codes that go along with each teacher's ordering information. See the following: (Sorry for the incorrect information.) If you are planning to order, please send in your orders by May 31.

Online Ordering Information
Web address: scholastic.com/bookclubs
Class Activation Code: H3P6Y

Dear Parent,

Now it's easier than ever to find the perfect books for your child -- shop our NEW online Book Clubs Web site. Choose from a much-wider selection of books than in the printed flyer. Plus, you can send your orders directly to me online and use your credit card to pay.

Best of all, we earn a FREE book for the classroom library every time a parent places an order online.

It's so simple! Here's how it works:

SIGN UP at www.scholastic.com/bookclubs. On the parent page, click the "Register" button in the "First Time Here?" section. Register for your own user name and password. When prompted, enter the one-time Class Activation Code shown above. This unique code ensures that your order is sent to me.
SELECT the books you'd like to order -- choose from thousands of titles -- many more than in our monthly flyers.
SEND your order to me online by the due date and your child's books will be delivered directly to my classroom.

Ordering online is fast, easy, and secure.

Of course, you can still order using the form from the printed flyer. But why not see for yourself how convenient it is to order online?

Thank you,

Amy Perrien

Informational Text in the Real World

2011-05-10T13:24:00.002-04:00

Parents-

After reading our TFK magazine and learning more about the wild United States weather Mr. Edwards showed us the following site: Earth Observatory. This site is fascinating!

Enjoy!

Windmill Island Field Trip

2011-05-08T20:18:00.000-04:00

A special thanks to Connor's dad, Marty, and Olivia's dad, Doug for going with us on Friday.

Field Trip Reminder

2011-05-05T15:25:00.002-04:00

Dear Parents and Students,

This is a reminder of our field trip tomorrow to Windmill Island. Children will need to dress appropriately for the weather. Students must bring a disposable lunch bag unless they’ve ordered a sack lunch. Thank you!

Written by Tyler

Prezi and our Fiction Project

2011-05-04T22:43:00.000-04:00

Parents-

I am excited to give the children a chance to explore a type of online technology called "Prezi."

Prezi is called an online zooming presentation. I have started using Prezi in place of Powerpoint. The children will be creating a Prezi for their fiction book project. They will still need to work face-to-face with their group members to sketch out the presentation but when ready, will have the chance to sit down and create their Prezi. All Prezi's will be created under my account and I will oversee/preview all material as it is being created and completed.

What's the best part for you? We will link all book Prezi's to the classroom blog!

In the meantime, explore Prezi!

5th Grade Orchestra Concert from March

2011-05-04T22:36:00.000-04:00

Flat Stanley visits the zoo!

2011-05-02T22:05:00.000-04:00

Flat Stanley arrived in the mail last week for a visit to Waukazoo! He hung out in our classroom, getting to know everyone. Flat Stanley also participated in expert day and had his picture taken with everyone outside. (He says, "Hello, Carter!")

This particular Flat Stanley is visiting from a second grade classroom at Rodgers Forge Elementary in Maryland! Today he left on the next leg of his journey...only Mrs. Perrien knows where he is heading next!

Pictures--Expert Projects

2011-05-02T21:41:00.001-04:00

Latest and Greatest...

2011-04-26T18:24:00.000-04:00

Moms and Muffins is Thursday this week. We are excited to share our expert research with you. Moms, please note that we have moved back the start time to 9:30 a.m. This is to accommodate all the late buses (including the orchestra bus) that our students ride. Our event should last about one hour.

Harbor Lights

Today we toured Harbor Light Middle School. We met many of the 6th grade teachers and other building staff, saw classes in action, and learned more about a typical day at Harbor Lights. The tour was informative and answered many of the "what if..." questions. What if I'm late for class? What if I can't get into my locker? What if I get lost?

Many of us were surprised to find out that the 6th grade hallway is actually smaller than the main hallway at Waukazoo!

Upcoming Events

Field trip--next week we are heading to Windmill Island for the Dutch Trade Fair. Connor B.'s and Olivia R.'s dads both had their names drawn from a pool of 8 interested parents. Students will need to dress for the weather that day--rain, sun, warm, or cold. I recommend that students layer their clothing! More information will be sent home on Monday regarding our field trip.

Talent Show

5th graders interested in trying out for the 5th grade show will have auditions on May 16th or May 17th. An application form and explanation of talent show policies and procedures will be sent home next Monday. In the meantime if students are considering an act that uses music (other than classical music for an instrument) they will need to print a copy of the song lyrics and bring these to school for approval. Songs MAY NOT have suggestive lyrics or inappropriate words of any kind. Songlyrics.com is a free site of downloadable song lyrics. Without song lyrics in the teacher's hand a song WILL NOT be approved for the talent show. Songs are first come, first served. Once is a song is taken by an act it is not available for another group or individual.

Watch for more talent show information next Monday!

5th Grade Trip

2011-04-25T14:33:00.000-04:00

Parents,

Tomorrow the 5th graders will spend part of their morning on a tour of Harbor Lights. We will leave as soon as everyone has arrived and checked in tomorrow morning.

Students will return to the zoo before lunch.

Thanks!

Mrs. Perrien

Student's Work--Interactive

2011-04-20T09:03:00.001-04:00

Students will need to answer in the comments section of this post..

What is story grammar?

The Montessori Mafia!

2011-04-18T19:07:00.001-04:00

An excellent article about the Montessori method. No longer will anyone ask me why I spent a year driving 25 miles out of my way to send my daughter to a Montessori preschool!

Johnny Tremain

2011-04-18T17:08:00.001-04:00

Today students experienced a little of what it felt like to have an injured hand such as Johnny Tremain's. Their writing hand was made largely unusable and students experienced working in the same way that Johnny had to work and get through his day. Seemingly simple tasks, such as carrying a binder, book, and a pencil were made much more difficult without the use of their dominant hand. Students also had to complete at least one writing activity without the use of their dominant hand. What an eye-opening experience!

Report Cards

2011-04-17T20:41:00.001-04:00

Report cards are coming home this week. Please note that the layout of the card is different. In fact, you'll probably remember the "new" layout as one we used a few years ago.

The Montessori teachers are now printing their own report cards. As a result, we are going back to the original elementary report card layout. The cards themselves are not different, just the way they look.

Classroom Updates

2011-04-17T20:36:00.000-04:00

Our first week back from Spring Break was incredibly busy! Students are preparing their "expert" topics and will be sharing their research at moms and muffins. Each student has chosen a topic to research and become an expert in by the end of April. Hearing them share ideas on a day-to-day basis has been fun!

In science students have been studying force and motion. They are currently exploring what motion is and isn't, and also how we can prove that objects are in motion. Ask you son or daughter to define for you, "point of reference."

I'm sure you've seen many students bringing home their bound fiction book. I was thrilled to see how many of our class chose to bind and print their book. A big thank you to Mrs. Kibler in the publishing center for her many hours of typing and binding books! :) Our current unit in writer's workshop is essay. I've been challenging students to write essays about topics they don't agree with, in order to get them to think like an essay writer. Your son or daughter has prepared an excellent argument on why students in America need year round schools!

When spelling lists come home, please take time each week to review not only the spelling of the weekly word list with your child, but also the meaning of the individual words. Students may know how to spell a word, but not have a clue as to it's meaning, part of speech, or etymology. (5th graders are, of course, doing their weekly word origins as a way to get to know words better.) If the spelling of the word is going well, focus study time on these other areas!

Please note that Moms and Muffins is scheduled for April 28 at 9:30 a.m. We are going to move back our start time by 1/2 hour because of the 5th graders coming in on the orchestra bus.

Have a wonderful week!
*********************
Please read through the following garage sale wish list:

Garage Sale Wish List

This is my favorite time of year to go check out Garage Sales! People are always getting rid of great "stuff!" If you go garage sale-ing please be on the lookout for items that would be of help in the classroom. Please be on the lookout for the following:

Young adult novels and other books--multiple copes of novels (in good condition) are welcome.
Storage containers
Baskets--any size, really
Other organizers

5th Grade: Mark the date!

2011-03-26T16:10:00.000-04:00

5^th grade parents:

Our Montessori 5th graders will soon be leaving us and moving on to new challenges and new adventures! A few years ago, the building principal and I started a tradition of taking the graduating 5th graders out for a special dinner with the Montessori teachers.

We would like to continue the tradition! Please allow your 5^th grader the opportunity to have dinner with us on Thursday, May 26 at 6 p.m. We will be taking them to the Curragh Irish Pub.

We will send more information when the date is closer. In the meantime, please mark this date on your calendar. Thanks!