Hello sixth graders! We are one school day away from the end of our first week! You have already shown yourselves to be great student leaders and I know Mrs. Lukomski and I have been very proud of you many times this week. The whole rest of the school is very jealous of how well behaved you are in just five days! I knew you would be a great group.

Friday is the grand opening of our school! It's also our first spirit day, so wear your spirit shirts if you want, or a school polo or regular polo. It's your decision. The grand opening ceremony will begin around 2:00 and there will be an official ribbon cutting at 3. All of your parents, grand parents, and guardians are invited! 

I am so thankful that you are all in my classes and I know we will learn much this year. 

For your adults: Congratulations on having great students. You must all be so proud of the responsible, respectful young men and women that you have. You are my heroes! 


See you Friday! 

(PS- We could still use some AAA batteries for our student clickers, if anyone has some that can be donated. Thank you in advance!)

 
   What a great first day! I had a wonderful day meeting all of you and seeing how well you worked together. I think we had a great time learning classroom procedures. Who would have ever thought that, huh? And the days will continue to get better as we move toward content and books.
   Please remember a few important things: first, we need five binders with paper in them by Friday. Three for my class and two for Mrs. Lukomski's class. You will also need to have PE clothes with you (or on order) by Friday as well.
  I want to say thank you so much for all of the generous donations made to the classroom! I may never need to buy hand sanitizer again! LOL! You are all so very kind. I have lots of great things planned for the construction paper and the other items you donated. Thank you again.
  I think one fun activity that we did today was the Marshmallow Challenge. It was so very interesting to see how students decided as groups to build a structure out of just 20 pieces of spaghetti, 1 yard of string, 1 yard of masking tape in only 18 minutes that could support the weight of a regular marshmallow. Everyone worked together, exchanging ideas, and testing their prototypes. It's interesting to note that those who perform best on this challenge are kindergarteners, while the worst performers are college graduates of business school. I have some pictures below of student creations.
   Lastly, I would like to apologize for the parent pick up mishaps today. We had a meeting after all parents were through and believe that we have come up with a better solution. You should have received an email at the email address you have on file with the school. Please check that and let me know if I can answer any questions for you. Thank you for your continued patience and I'll see you tomorrow!
 
   It's time! Monday starts the 2013-14 school year! It was so great to meet all of you last night, as well as your adults! I can tell already that this is going to be a spectacular year! 
   I hope you enjoyed writing on your "tag wall." I loved seeing all of your names and pictures. I think I will leave that board up for a long while.
   How many of you are nervous? (Can you see my hand way up in the air?) This is going to be a great new adventure for all of us, and our nerves will calm down. We will enjoy seeing and working with one another every day, and I will do everything I can to keep things fun and interesting. 
   I have had a lot o questions about PE. It's ok to be a bit shy about that as well. If you feel a bit of butterflies about changing in the restroom, you can always wear your PE shirt under your polo. As long as you still meet dress code, no one will say anything to you. 
   I want to take a second to say Thank You very much to all the great parents and guardians that took time to come and have cookies with me last night. I hope I was able to answer all of your questions, but I am here if you have more. And sorry for any problems that my school supply list caused. Students should come to class (By Friday at least) with:
  • 5- 1" Binders. Any color, it doesn't matter. 2 will go to Mrs. Lukomski's room, 3 will stay in mine.
  • Wide ruled paper for each binder. 
  • A backpack loaded with a few pencils, pens, some colored pencils, a ruler, a small 4-function calculator, some ear buds (or other headphone), scissors, index cards, highlighter(s), and a USB flash drive. These things will be just for your student and not for class consumption. 

Also:
  • If you are donating any items, such as a pack of copy paper, tissues, construction paper, AAA batteries, hand sanitizer, or disinfecting wipes, those can be brought and left at your convenience. 


   This first week will be here and gone before we even know what hit us! We will have had such a good time learning the rules that you might not even know you were in school. 
   Don't forget to visit the school's webpage and look around on ours! See you Monday morning bright and early! 
 
   How many times do you order the same meal at the same restaurant? Play the same games the same way? We all do it; as humans we like the consistency and scheduled things in our lives. However, life does not always like for us to become so used to things.
   As you (and your parents) transition from fifth grade to sixth grade you will feel nervous and uncomfortable on occasion. That's okay.  These feelings are part of our lives and are to be expected. Part of building character is stepping outside of our comfort zones and be risk takers. Many higher level curriculums, such as International Baccalaureate, emphasis being a risk taker; doing what scares us. If you are nervous about starting, I am too. 
   But, we aren't just talking about changes in you guys. Sadly, last week Mr. Bradfield, the second sixth grade teacher, had to resign his position. he had a family emergency back home in Missouri and we will keep him in our thoughts while we wish him well. Now the administration is reviewing many of the applications that they received looking for another qualified candidate. Because of that, some of the subjects that I am teaching (mainly math) may also change. Boy are my nerves fried! However, I am still moving forward and my enthusiasm is undaunted. I still know that this will be a great year. We will get past all of our butterflies together, make great learning gains, and have a stellar year. 
   Are you coming to Meet the Teacher night? I hope that you come. I really am looking forward to seeing you Friday night at 6!  
 
I am so exhausted! On July 18th we started moving furniture and desks into the school! It's so exciting to see the old office building that Forza leased for us take shape as a school. The cafeteria has all new flooring, as does much of the school. The classrooms have carpet. The walls are all new, and freshly painted and we are almost ready to set up our classrooms. 
Sixth graders have two of the largest classrooms in the school! Our second sixth grade teacher, Mr. Bradfield, arrived just in time to help and we toured the new sixth grade space. We were both pretty pleased at how large the rooms are, but look forward to adding furniture and you, the students! My room number is 12, and Mr. Bradfield's room number is 1, but they are right next to one another. 
We still have lots to do, however. There are shipment of furniture, technology, textbooks, and more yet to arrive. Hopefully we will get the same level of volunteerism as we did on the first moving day. We had lots of parents, a whole football team, and many of the teachers and staff on hand to help. Some of the other shipments could require assembly, so I guess I'd better get my cordless screwdrivers charged. Check out the school website or the GCCAS Facebook page for pictures! Also, follow the PTO's Facebook page for other events coming up.

See you soon! 
 
As sixth graders we will be involved in the Accelerated Reader, or AR, program. If you have never been introduced to the AR program, allow me to explain a bit about how it works.


First, at the beginning of the year we will take a quick reading assessment  called the STAR test. It will help to determine what AR level students should read on. This test has a proven algorithm for determining fluency level, vocabulary level, and text complexity to help students further develop their reading skills. Like many people, if left alone, students will stick to a level of text that they find comfortable. AR challenges that comfort level by awarding points for books read and tested on.


Next, after the STAR test has been administered, students will be assigned a reading range. Books have been assessed by the developers of the AR program and placed within the ranges based on the same things students were tested on. As the ranges increase in value, so does the difficulty and complexity of the text. 


Once assigned a reading level, together with the students we will establish a point goal for the grading period. The students will then read AR books within their range, test on the book after completion, and gain points toward their goals. 


At the end of each quarter we will look at how well the student did, in both gaining points and achieving goals, and then decide how much we can raise the goal for the next quarter. Students may also gain extra recognition or small rewards for making gains. 


That's not too bad, right? It's not, and students love to read the wide range of books available to test on as well as compete against each other.  The hurdle we have at the moment is the lack of books for sixth graders to read and test on.


I have taken the time to create a wish list through Classrooms by Walmart of the top books for sixth grade readers over the past few years. If you can donate any of these books to our classroom library, it would be very appreciated. The books will be available for all students to check out, read, and test on. And the books don't need to be bought from Walmart, they can be donated to the classroom from any source you have. If you decide to give a book, just click the Pledge button under the title and that lets me know you will bring it in.


In the meantime, you can use this list to help direct your students summer reading! See you soon!!!!
 
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What do you like to do when it's either too hot or won't stop raining during these Florida summers? 
I like to explore the online universe! One of my favorite hobbies is technology. I am always looking for great new ways to make learning fun and exciting. 
When the school year starts we will talk about a few ways to utilize technology in our classroom, and out of it, that will help us communicate for success. I am spending my days researching more ways and  look forward to sharing all that I have found during our first few meetings. 
In the meantime, why not use the internet to play some games? If you look around on our website you will see that I have added some game sites that many teachers are recommending because their students loved them so much. 
However, you should always follow a few rules when going online.
  1. Always ask your parent's permission. You should let them know what you are wanting to view.
  2. Never click on any ads or commercials. Be cautious as you navigate the web. When in doubt, log out!
  3. Never give any private information about yourself to anyone. If you want to use a site that asks you to create an account, ask your parent's to help you out. Don't chat with people you don't know.
As thoroughly as I evaluate websites, I have no control over the ones that display advertisements. If it were up to me, there would be no ads at all! 
And why can playing games help you over he summer? Well, most of them require you to read, which is always a good thing. Many of them make you think critically about what you need to do next. And some of them can help keep your other skills sharp as well, like your math skills and science vocabulary skills. 
Have fun playing games and keep cool!  

 

   You know they say it's always calmest before the storm? The summer may be calm, but I'm not! I am so excited to be a part of this brand new charter school. To be proactive I decided to get this class website up and running, even if I may be the only one looking at it. :^) 
   Gulf Coast Charter Academy South is a STEM focused charter school opening brand new this upcoming school year. There's so much to getting a new school started, I had no idea! There are accounts to get set up so that teachers can get great deals on classroom supplies. There is furniture to get, technology to purchase, and... there was something else... oh yeah, books to buy! 
   Luckily we have a great group of professional educators, administration, and management company all pitching in together to get things done. I'm sure we will discover things that are missing as we move forward, but I'm sure we will get those things as well. 
   We are all busy little bees. Many of the teachers, myself included, are attending workshops to keep familiar skills sharp and discover new ones, especially the focus on STEM.
   Do you know what STEM is? That's Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Many people think that those subjects are exclusive or aren't part of other subjects, but that's not right. As part of these workshops, we will discover how all of the areas of STEM work into the subjects of art, social studies, and even music! 
   Well, as things keep moving and shaking around here during the warmest part of the summer, I hope you are keeping cool and keeping your skills sharp by reading! Wonder why reading is important, even when school is out? Check out this page on our website.    
   That's about it for now. Check back throughout the summer and I'll post more about the going-ons as the school takes shape. I look forward to seeing you all in August!