Updates, SBA Schedule and Yearbook Info!

Dear Parents,

Let me start out with a big thank you to all of you for your patience as these blog posts are so few and far between.

I also want to thank so many of the 5th grade parents who volunteered to come to BizTown with us last week. The students had such a good time, and learned so much thanks to your participation. With only ten 5th grade students, having 5 parent volunteers is pretty huge! I am so grateful for all of you. Should any of you also be interested, (or anyone else who is sad they missed out on our fun at BizTown!) we are also very short on volunteers for camp! Please email me if you are interested!

Important: As you may have seen in your child's Friday folder, yearbook order forms have gone out! A correction needs to be made, however: Checks should be made payable to Bear Creek Elementary, and not O'Connor Photography. 

We had some other fun events happening at Bear Creek these last few weeks!

1) Author Patrick Carmen came to speak to our 3rd - 5th graders! He talked to them all about writing stories and about his new book called "Towervale." This book combines reading with a free online arcade-style game, that kids have to complete a level before they know what page to go to in order to continue reading in the story. Fun!

He had some copies for sale after his visit, but there were so many students interested in ordering a book, he has to come back to deliver more copies of it!

He will be in on Tuesday, so if anyone is interested in getting a copy, they need to bring in a check made out to PC Studio Inc. by Tuesday morning for $15.00.

2) We had a small lesson last week, where students taught us about the Hindu holiday of Holi. We celebrated the "Festival of Colors" by doing some beautiful rangoli-inspired sidewalk chalk art on the playground. Students also practiced and showed off their writing in multiple different languages! Here are some images of our beautiful work!

3) In Language Arts, we started our Non-Fiction/Informative Reading and Writing unit with biographies of young activists around the world. Students picked issues and topics they were curious about and practiced researching and taking notes on the information they found. It is amazing to me the variety of topics that students chose, we have topics like poverty and homelessness, global warming, plastic pollution, racism, police brutality, homeless pets, gun violence, children's rights,  child trafficking, ivory poaching, and transgender rights. As you can tell from our list (which was 100% student created,) some of these topics can be sensitive and may require some additional support in finding sources that are appropriate for younger students. I have worked with several students to find some sources of information, however, checking in with your child about the topic that they have chosen is definitely recommended! 

4) I want to congratulate our Math Olympiad participants on their hard work last weekend! While we are all especially proud of our team that is bringing a trophy to Bear Creek for the first time (!), I want to also say how proud I am of everyone's hard work. The fact that so many teams could do so well, (with many who didn't even use a calculator!!) just shows how strong of a work ethic and how much dedication they have to a subject that they enjoy. Bravo!

5) Our 5th graders have wrapped up their social studies and science units! They are working on a science assessment this weekend and the beginning of next week. Their next unit in Social Studies will start next week as well focusing on colonialism leading up to the Revolutionary War. 

6) While our 5th graders were at BizTown, our 4th graders started a health unit that helped them start to think about the food they eat. While our nutrition curriculum has not changed as much as nutrition science has over the last few years, the core principle is still relevant: limiting sugars and heavily processed carbohydrates, and instead choosing less processed foods like meats and vegetables. 

7) Finally, we have a finalized SBA testing schedule! For our SBA tests, both 4th and 5th graders will be taking tests together in my classroom. The only exception to this is the 5th grade Washington Comprehensive Assessment in Science (WCAS), which will have the 4th graders stay in their math rotations until the test is completed.  

As a reminder, "CAT" stands for "Computer Adaptive Test" which must be taken before they can do the Performance Task, or "PT," in a subject. Because of the long writing component, ELA Performance Tasks tend to take 2+ days, while Math Performance Tasks usually don't take even an entire day. 

Days indicated as "4th grade EAP testing" are for the other 4th grade EAP classes, not for our class. I am only adding this to indicate that there won't be any math rotations during those days. 

Specialist, Lunch, and Recess will stay as scheduled, but please see the other notes for each testing day.

Please update your calendars with the dates and information below:

Monday, 4/22 - ELA CAT - No 4th Grade Math Rotations.

Tuesday, 4/30 - 4th Grade EAP testing, extension math for whole class. 

Wednesday, 5/1 - ELA PT1 - Day 1 of Performance task will be conducted around math rotations. 

Thursday, 5/2 - ELA PT2 - Day 2 of Performance task, no math rotations.

Tuesday, 5/7 - 4th Grade EAP testing, extension math for whole class.

May 8-10 - 5th Grade - Camp Cedar Springs

Monday, 5/13 - 4th Grade EAP testing, extension math for whole class.

Friday, 5/17 - 4th Grade EAP testing, extension math for whole class.

Tuesday, 5/21 - Math CAT - No 4th Grade Math Rotations

Wednesday, 5/22 - Math PT - No 4th Grade Math Rotations

Thursday, 5/30 - 5th Grade WCAS - 4th Graders will spend this time in math classrooms.

As always, I am here if you have any questions! 

Warmest Regards,

Mrs. Hart

Snowpocalypse 2019 HOMEWORK?!? Mrs. Hart's Snow Day Blog Post

Dear Parents,

Thank you for your patience, as the time between blog posts seems to grow exponentially as the year progresses.

Some announcements and 'fun' things for your children to do on this cold snowy day: 

A Valentine's Day party is planned for Thursday afternoon, if we have school. In the email I am going to send out to all of you to announce this blog post, I will attach a list of names for all of the students in class, so that if your child chooses to participate in giving valentines, they may give them to the whole class. Please limit the sweets in the valentines. We have allergies, and dietary restrictions in the classroom that might limit the enjoyment of some of those sugary candies that always seem to be stuck to valentines.

This fall I had 2 wonderful former students volunteering in my classroom. I gave them a task to think of some of their favorite educational resources to add to my webpage. They did a great job of finding a lot of information, though I haven't had a chance to navigate through every piece of these websites. If you are interested, you and your child can access them here: Click Here to Go To Mrs. Hart's Resources Page!

We have started our second assessment pilot called "iReady" this month. Your child has already taken assessments on it in reading and math. I stressed to them, and now to you, that the iReady assessment is a little different, in that it is looking for possible gaps in understanding, and creating lessons based on those gaps. This means that during the assessment, if the program was not confident in your child's answers to a certain skill, it will most likely have them work on lessons in those skills for practice. This doesn't mean that they aren't capable of doing higher level math problems, it only means that the algorithm has decided that a certain skill is a good starting point. This was a little distressing for some of the students when they went online to try out some of the lessons. Also take note, that the iReady lessons will not progress into more difficult skills unless the student shows master in the skill it decides to start with. This means, that if your child isn't showing proficiency in the skill they are working on, they don't keep going. 

All of that said, they are welcome to work on those skills here:
login.i-ready.com 
Their username: Student ID Number
Their password: Birthdate in this order: (year)(month)(day)
** the month and day both have to contain 2 digits, and the year is 4 digits.**

For other math and grammar practice, I have made several assignments on Khan Academy These assignments include a lot of math concepts, as well as a "Mastery Challenge" in Grammar! 

I will be creating an assignment in Google Classroom where students can respond to the assignment with what they worked on, learned, for how long. Students do NOT have to work on iReady or Khan Academy only, they can learn something new, do some research on a topic they are interested in, do an experiment or project offline and tell me about what they did/learned as well.

Students who complete this assignment will receive between 1 and 5 PAWS slip(s) depending on the amount of work that they completed! 

PAWS slips are a new "currency" at Bear Creek. Students get PAWS slips for: "Practicing Safety, Acting Responsibly, Working towards their very best, and Showing Respect." Every Friday, Mrs. Penrod comes around with a "menu" for students to spend their PAWS slips on. In addition, I give my own classroom "raffle" tickets for every PAWS slip earned, and students who are chosen in the raffle get to choose a toy from my "prize box."

Finally, Parent Conferences and Report Cards. I appreciate the emails with questions regarding some of the "missing assignments" listed on your child's report card. While I accept late work, I will not print out another copy of the second step worksheets for them to complete. They will just start fresh this semester, and can turn in the worksheets from our new lessons. (We did Lesson 15 last week! They can do that one!)

As for the language arts choice boards, these can be completed and turned in any time. If your child has completed 1 of the 2, I will advise them to work on our current board: Setting, or they will be spending the rest of the year on only those choices.

If you would like to schedule a parent conference to discuss your child's report card, and/or their performance in school, please email me so we can arrange a day and time (weather depending, of course.) 

That was a lot of information for you, so please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Stay warm!

Mrs. Hart

Dear Parents,

I hope you are as excited for a 3 day weekend as we all are! I think I might need an extra day of rest to recover from the excitement from this week!

On Tuesday, we were lucky enough to have 2 guests, Sangeetha and Sowmya, parents of Saswathy and Shyam visit our classroom. They taught us about the Hindu harvest holiday of Pongal, brought homemade food and made paper kites! While many of the students in our classroom know of this holiday, it was brand new to a lot of students in the class. What an exciting (and tasty!) way to learn about a different holiday! Thank you both so much for sharing part of your lives with us!

Today, we had children's author Trudy Ludwig come and present to our classes K-5 about bullying and important tools to use if we are ever faced with a bullying situation. Trudy Ludwig writes some great books about a lot of different social emotional issues, and was very engaging. Kudos for our class who was quiet and respectful for the entire assembly!

A few things that went home this week and last week: A science fair form, 5th graders are required to complete a science fair project, however, they don't have to present it in the evening at the PTA science fair, they can present it in class as well/instead. 4th graders are required to do the project too, but are allowed to work with a partner. If you haven't seen the flier that went home, please let me know and I will get you another copy.

5th graders have 2 math tests that went home, the first was the Unit 2 Block 1 test, and the 2nd was the Unit 1 Block 4 retake. Students could choose 3 options for improving their grades:

Option 1) Retake using a different test, the higher score will go in the grade book.

Option 2) Complete a Math Tic-Tac-Toe board of algebra related activities to show understanding of concepts.

Option 3) Come in during some short recesses for individualized/ customized instruction with Mrs. Hart on the concepts that they struggled with on the test.

All students chose Option 1. For some it was clear that they just needed to take their time on their test to score better, for others, they might have benefitted from Option 3. This will not occur every test, but I will always provide opportunities to get some extra help if a student requests some.

Taste of Bear Creek is coming next Friday January 25th from 6:30-8:30, and I heard that they are still looking for some people to host tables! I have offered some extra social studies credit to any families who decide to host a table!

We created and signed computer usage contracts this week as well, you can see a copy in your child's binder!

I know I have more to mention, but it has slipped my mind. Please look at your child's planner for more details on what we have been doing in all of their subjects! Enjoy your 3 day weekend, and if you have any questions, please don'e hesitate to send me an email!

Regards,

Mrs. Hart

New Year, New Routines!

Dear Parents,

Thank you all for your continued patience as I am very slow with my updates! I hope everyone enjoyed their break! Your children have been fantastic after break, and have received glowing reviews from the half day sub I had on Monday!

I have a few important changes that I want to make known to you:

1) The most important one is that your child is now purposefully using their agenda to write down everything that we are doing in class, not just homework. We have been spending about 10 minutes every day to organize our binder and write down in our planner. Students should be bringing their planner and binder home every day. 

2) We have redesigned our PAWS slips to reward good behavior, and the students are really enjoying it! They will be able to "spend" their PAWS slips for rewards from Mrs. Penrod on Fridays, and are entered into a raffle in my classroom for some fun things too.

3) Next week there will be a parent night with Author Trudy Ludwig at Woodinville High School, I HIGHLY encourage you to attend. She will be talking about how to help your child safely navigate things like cyberbullying, internet safety and security etc. Please check the Bear Tracks or school calendar for more information. You may think your child is too young to worry about their safety online, but you aren't! I have had Instagram follow requests from 3rd graders, so the more you know, the more prepared you are!

4) Next Tuesday, January 15th, we will have some wonderful parents coming in to teach us about a harvest festival that starts on that day in India. I am so grateful that you will share something so special with our class. Thank you!  I would LOVE to have more lessons involving the culture and traditions of your family or ancestors, and am happy to work with any schedule. Please let me know if you have something in mind!

Grad School classes start up again this week, thank you again for making my first quarter so much more manageable with your participation! As always, don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions!

All the best,

Mrs. Hart

Mrs. Hart is Thankful For...

1) Your generous children! 

Last week, a group of your children pooled their book fair money together and purchased the entire Harry Potter Series! I have always mixed and matched my book series together in my library, Harry Potter included. Now, however, I have a beautiful set of all 7 books for my students to enjoy. I am so proud of their teamwork, but also their big hearts. Thank you!

2) Opportunities to discuss your wonderful children with you. 

I am so thankful to have a chance to sit down with all of you and talk about how amazing your children are. Everyone has areas of growth, and I love the time to talk though any questions or concerns that you might have, but also, getting to know you all better helps me get to know all of my students better as well. Thank you all for your flexibility and your punctuality!

3) Your generosity with your time.

Thank you to all of the parents who have filled out my survey during conferences last week! If your conference is this week, I would encourage you to come a couple minutes early to take a quick mindset survey for my grad school project. If you forget, CLICK HERE TO TAKE IT ONLINE.

Your children took this survey at the beginning of the year as a quick pretest of their mindset. My project is to compare the mindset of your children with you, so if both parents can take the survey, that would be ideal!

A note on this as well: Please do answer the questions for yourself, not your child! 😊

4) Mrs. Hoffman's hard work. 

Many 5th grade families in particular were asking about music curriculum this year, and if students will be learning all of the 5th grade skills, even if they are in a 4/5. I sent an email to Mrs. Hoffman and she was kind enough to put a little summary together for my newsletter! Here is what she says:

"We have been doing 5th grade curriculum since September.  I have blended the 5th grade and 4th grade curriculum somewhat.  At present, we are doing a 5th grade drum unit, which covers complex rhythmic patterns. We are also doing alto recorders, and higher/lower register of the soprano recorder (both 4th and 5th grade skills).  The students are studying multicultural dances and songs, of which will be performed at our winter multicultural concert in December.  As I have explained to the students, the guitar/ukulele unit will begin in February."

A big thank you to Mrs. Hoffman for providing the summary for us!

I hope you all have a wonderful short break, and find space to spend some quality time with loved ones!

As always, I am here if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!

Thankfully,

Mrs. Hart

Conference Week Schedule!

As I had emailed you just minutes ago, here is a copy of our half-day conference schedule.

Things to note:

• Students only get recess when there is no specialist time is scheduled. 
• Lunch will be in the classroom, the designated times are for students who buy their lunch to go to the cafeteria to do so.
• There will be 3 formal Math days where 4th graders will be going to their math rooms, the other days will have some math, but as a whole class. 
• There will be no science or social studies rotations until after Thanksgiving Break.

	Th 11/15	Fri 11/16	Mon 11/19	Tue 11/20	Wed 11/21
9:10-9:50			P.E.
9:55-10:30	Math			Math	Math
10:30-10:45	Recess			Recess
Lunch Times	Lunch 11:10	Lunch 10:45	Lunch 11:00	Lunch 11:10	Lunch 10:45
11:20-12:00		Music			Library
12:20	Dismissal	Dismissal	Dismissal	Dismissal	Dismissal

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions! 

We Survived Halloween on a Wednesday! :)

Dear Parents,

Congratulations to us all for surviving a mid-week Halloween! It was touch-and-go for a little while, but as a whole the class was very well behaved yesterday and today.

A big THANK YOU to all of our parent volunteers, especially Mrs. Balsiger who planned it all! My students had several compliments for all of our volunteers at the compliment circle during our classroom meeting on Thursday. The kids had such an amazing time, and are so grateful for all of the time and effort you put into our party!

Another THANK YOU goes to our Watch DOG Mr. Hill, who was also mentioned during this compliment circle for helping several groups figure out how to make their STEM challenge projects work.

A final THANK YOU goes to Mary Wilber, and her husband, for visiting us to talk about local tribes' "First Salmon" ceremonies. Mary is a part of the Northshore Native American Education Program, and really wow-ed the kids with all of the interesting information about our local tribes!

Some other quick announcements:

Picture RETAKES are happening on MONDAY starting at 9:30. If you want your child to get retakes done, please let me know!

After much deliberation, we have finally figured out how to do Science and Social Studies rotations!
- Your child was given their "schedule" and they put it inside their planners near the front cover.
- With this rotation schedule there will be 2 days of Science and 2 days of Social Studies for ALL of our students, at their grade level.
- 4th graders will be going to Mr. Bennett for Science, and Mrs. Ratliff for Social Studies.
- 5th graders will be going to Mrs. Lambard for Science, Mrs. Singh for Science OR Social Studies,  and/or myself for Social Studies.
- All classes will be intermixed with the General Education 4th and 5th graders. 5th grade will intermix with 5th EAP as well. Unfortunately, because of schedule limitations, 4th graders will not be having Science and Social Studies with any other 4th grade EAP classes.

In Math, 5th graders have completed our 2nd block on Integers, and are now starting Block 3 on Rational Numbers. I was proud of how well they did on their Block 2 test. It is going home tonight and should be brought back on Monday!

In Social Studies, we are working on a Mock Election, due on Tuesday! Students are learning about the ballot measures and our candidates for US Sentate, and writing about how they are going to vote, and why. Once students have finished a position statement of a few sentences, they get to fill out a ballot and turn it into my mailbox! The reward for informed voting is an official "I Voted" sticker sent from Olympia! I am so proud of how engaged they are with this task. They definitely have a new appreciation for how difficult and confusing some of these measures are!

In Science, we finished our STEM challenge with some excellent demonstrations and presentations. The point of doing these challenges is to give children the opportunity to be creative, but also to evaluate their knowledge and what they need to learn more about. Many of my students decided some lessons on Simple Machines like "Wheels and Axles" would be good!

In Language Arts, we have started our first "Choice Time" Tic-Tac-Toe board. Students have 9 choices, and have to work on one of those choices for the entire time. Options include, fall poems, independent reading, creating a card game or board game with directions, and more! I can't wait to see what they come up with.

On a sad note, we had to say goodbye to 2 of our students, Sara and Maryam, today. They will be moving to sunny California to be closer to family. We will miss them dearly in our classroom this year.

As always, please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

All the Best,

Mrs. Hart