West Cookbook

Christmas Bureau

The Christmas Bureau folks have asked us to only collect paper products this year! The suggested items include toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, paper plates, paper cups, paper bowls, and baby wipes. We will not be doing a food drive, as Central will cover that area and WMS will be collecting personal toiletry items.

Holiday Workshop at the Tech Center

Unit 4 Math Letter

https://www.box.com/embed/tz2dnguk0yea61k.swf

Cup Stacking Letter

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Tech Thursday

Red Ribbon Week

This week will kick off Red Ribbon Week. Monday-- “I’m Too Bright for Drugs” Day—Wear your neon! Tuesday-- I'm Jean-ius. I’m Drug Free!” Day—Wear your jeans! Wednesday-- “Black Out Drugs” Day—Wear your black! Say "Boo" To Drugs will be downtown Wamego Wednesday night.

HAT'S OFF FOR CANCER

Math Trailblazer's Multiplication Unit

New Units

We have finished up our Life Cycles Unit and are moving on to the study of weather. Students will be learning about what causes weather, what causes wind, reviewing the water cycle and learning about weather instrument and what they measure. Look for a pamphlet to come home about your child creating a weather project. In social studies we are moving on to our government unit. This is very timely with the elections coming up. Students will become aware that our Constitution is the plan for our government. The first 10 Amendments to the Constitution will be covered. Students will learn about the 3 branches of government, who heads each branch, and the role of each branch. Our local, state, and national governments and the roles of each will be explored. We will also study our rights and responsibilities as Americans. In math we have started our multiplication unit. Students are looking at multiplication arrays and the properties of numbers. We have talked about square and prime numbers, odd and even numbers, fact families, and divisibility rules. I will be having all students orally say their math facts to me through the 12's. Hopefully this will be completed by Thanksgiving.

Social Studies Trails Test - Sept. 28th

Living Things Review Sheet for test on Monday, Oct. 1st

Our test over living things will be Oct. 1st. I will also be sending home a paper copy of the study guide.

I-Pad Raffle at Carnival

West Elementary is raffling off a free IPad and $50.00 worth of I-Tunes. Chances for the iPad will be sold at $5 a chance or $20 for 5 chances! This will be for the iPad and $50 iTunes gift card combined! Please spread the word! Hope to see you at the carnival Friday, Sept. 21st at the Carnival here at West. The time is 5:00-7:30.

AIMS Testing

Your student is bringing home information from the AIMS testing they did at school this year. Their Lexile Level is listed. You can find resources and more information at these links below. Lexile Levels Made Easy article by Scholastic Find A Book State of KS Lexile Framework for Reading

Carnival Basket

Thank you for all the wonderful carnival items so far. This is what has been sent so far: Candy Land game, a bag of dry-erase games, Snakes and Ladders game, Art Memo game, Jumbling Tower game and a YoYo Ball.

Grandparent's Lunch- Sept. 7th

I apologize because our Grandparent's Day lunch is this Friday, Sept. the 7th not the 13th. Please send a note to let me know if your student's grandparent would like to be included in the lunch count for this Friday, Sept. 7th. We go to lunch at 12:05. We would like the note back tomorrow so we can inform the kitchen how many extra lunches we will need on Friday. Thanks to all of you who already sent your forms and money.

August/September Subjects

In math we are starting with graphing. Students are collecting numerical and categorical data from classmates to graph and get to know our classroom better. We are also finding the mean of a set of data. Students also read and adventure story from China about a giant. In the story the height of the giant was found by collecting data from others and finding the connection between hand length and height. This leads into our math lab which asks the question, "If you know a fourth grader's height can you predict their arm span." Data will be collected and graphed and our lab question will be answered. In writing class we have been turning themselves into super heros and writing about it. They shared their super powers, a description of themselves, and also how they would use their powers in the world. In language arts we will continue our weekly vocabulary quiz and daily DLR assignment. Our spelling tests take place on Friday where both the Posttest for the current week and the Pretest for the next week are given. Students will be given their weekly spelling list on Friday and we will also write the words in our agenda on Friday. In shared reading we are reading stories and doing language activities on stories of immigrants. Guided reading groups have been made and will start next week. Our study of the Santa Fe Trail continues and in science we have planted our pea seeds and will be reviewing life cycles of both plants and animals. Our weekly bullying meeting this week was a getting to know each other exercise.

Grandparent's Day

Tech Days

Cowan's Carnival Basket

Review, review, review.

Any work at home on addition and subtraction math facts is greatly appreciated. Please have your student read for at least 20 minutes each night.

Beginning of Year Subject

Math- We will start our year by studying graphing in our Trailblazers series. Look for graphs at home in newspapers or magazines you subscribe to. Science- In science we will be studying life cycles and characteristics of animals. Social Studies- Our year begins with life along the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails. We will learn about the reasons for these trails starting and why people chose to travel this treacherous trails. Writing- Our first trait of the year is ideas. Students have generated some writing ideas from their summer adventures. Language took their first spelling pretest today. Ask them how they did. Friday will be the Posttest for those who did not ace it today. Shared reading includes stories of immigrants. Guided reading has not started yet but will soon.

Parent Night

Tuesday, August 21st at 6:30 we will be having Parent Night. I look forward to seeing all of you then.

Science Assessment Reward

We celebrated our hard work on the Kansas Science Assessments April 20th. Students created, tested, and then had a fly off with paper airplanes. Here is the process and results!

Fourth Grade Play Day

I will need at least 3 parents to help with groups for play day.  Please fill out and return the form.  Thank you!

Starbase

K-State Campus Kids Day

K-State to Host USTA/ITA Campus Kids Day

                          

MANHATTAN, Kan. – As part of its regular season finale on Saturday, Kansas State women’s tennis will host a USTA/ITA Campus Kids Day at the Wamego Recreation Complex at 1 p.m., in Wamego, Kan. Saturday’s match is free and open to the public, as the Wildcats host Sunflower State rival Kansas.

The USTA/ITA Campus Kids Day is designed to expose junior players, their parents and coaches to college tennis matches. Any child in the age range of kindergarten to 8th grade is allowed to participate in the USTA/ITA Campus Kids Day activities.

Each participant in Saturday’s Campus Kids Day will receive a free t-shirt, a K-State tennis poster and will be able to enjoy an ice cream social. The kids will also participate in serve contests, tennis trivia and have an opportunity to take a picture with K-State mascot, Willie the Wildcat. On court activities will begin immediately following the doubles matches.

Parents may register their children by e-mailing wildcatfans@ksu.edu.

Saturday’s match will also be Senior Day for the Wildcats, as K-State honors the career of senior Petra Chuda prior to the start of the match.

K-State Gameday will tape a 30-minute show from Saturday’s match at the Wamego Recreation Complex, hosted by Cameron Banning and Craig Holman. Fans can see the show at 6 p.m., on K-StateHD.TV as an on-demand feature. The show will include profiles and analysis on this year’s K-State women’s tennis team.

– k-statesports.com –

------------

RANDY PETERSON

Assistant Director | Athletic Communications

T 785-532-7975 | C 785-587-7769

rpeterson@kstatesports.com

k-statesports.com

K-State Athletics

Bramlage Coliseum, Suite 37

1800 College Ave, Manhattan, KS 66502-3355

Game Day Letter - Friday, April 13th.

For your blog.

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Vocabulary Parade

We will be reading <i>Miss Alaineus </i>in class at the end of the month. In May, we will celebrate vocabulary with a fun activity based on the book. For ideas click on the <a href="http://www.debrafrasier.com/pages/gallery.html">author's link</a>.

<embed src="http://embedit.in/MbJYcuQjnJ.swf" height="400" width="466" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true">

Test-Taking Incentive Video

As an incentive the students were told they could help create a video project if they worked hard on the Kansas reading assessment.  We have spent the last few weeks taking video and pictures in classrooms as well as working on the lyrics.  Many students participated taking video clips and photographs and we recorded 5 different groups singing.  All of these items were then edited and the songs we spliced together.  The final version is posted on youtube but it is not public.  You have to have this link to view it.  http://youtu.be/gtkWHqePvKI  We will watch this before taking our final state assessments this week (April 10 and April 12) for science.  Thank you for the work you have done at home to help students prepare for these assessments as well.

Starbase T-Shirts

Parents,
Unfortunately STARBASE has undergone some budget cuts this year.  We found out last week that the STARBASE t-shirts will not be free this year -- the instructors are asking for $5 per student to cover the cost of their t-shirt.  Of course, purchasing a t-shirt is optional.  If you would like your student to have a t-shirt, and the cost is a problem, please let your child's homeroom teacher know.  Also, we are still looking for parent volunteers to accompany us on any of the STARBASE days.  If you would like to come with us, please let your child's homeroom teacher know so that we can get you a volunteer form.  Thanks so much!
~ the Fourth Grade Teachers

Newspaper Drive

April 2, 2012

Dear Parent(s),

For the past several years, West Elementary has shown support of our county recycling program by participating in various county-wide newspaper drives. The profits from the drives help fund the recycling trailers in Pottawatomie County.

In conjunction with “Earth Day,” which is April 22, another newspaper drive is scheduled for this month. West students are encouraged to start collecting newspapers now and take them to the marked recycling trailer, located across from the Dutch Mill.

It is important that absolutely no other paper items be included with your newspapers.  Paper items such as magazines, telephone books, junk mail, and children's school papers can be recycled in the other recycling trailers. Also, please remember to remove all paper and plastic sacks and strings.

Students at West will be competing to see which class can collect the most newspapers by April 20, our contest deadline. The winning class will earn a popcorn

Camp Invention

Camp Invention is coming to Wamego June 18-22.  March 30^th is the last day for  the Early Registration Savings Discount. It is also the last day for using a payment play through Camp Invention.  Spring into Summer discount begins April 1^st.  You will receive $15 off the base price of camp.  Starting on April 1^st, the sibling discount will go into effect as well.  Two siblings receive $25 off each registration, and 3 or more siblings receive $50 off each registration.  If you are registering online, that discount will be taken off automatically as long as you register siblings at the same time.  Check us out! www.campinvention.org

<embed src="http://embedit.in/YFUH26FrP4.swf" height="400" width="466" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true">

Starbase

West Elementary 4th Grade Students will go to Starbase on Forbes Field May 7, 9, 14, 16, and 21.  This programs offers students experiences in science, engineering, and math.  The students will work in groups to complete tasks, do science experiments, and learn about concepts of flight and Newton's Laws.  Students will build and launch a rocket and get to tour an airplane.  We will need 4 parent helpers each day.  If you can volunteer for 1 (or all) of the weeks please let me know.  You do have to sign a release form for Forbes.  <a href="http://www.starbasedod.com/photos-and-newsletters-mainmenu-68/140-kansas/223-topeka">See this link </a>for more information about this fabulous program. 

School Bus Poster Contest

<a href="http://www.ksde.org/Default.aspx?tabid=275 ">SCHOOL BUS POSTER CONTEST

</a>The state poster contest is sponsored by the Kansas State Board of Education in cooperation with the Kansas State Pupil Transportation Association.  Please read the rules CAREFULLY from the  National School Bus Safety Poster  Committee. (Click on heading above.) The Kansas entries MUST meet these guidelines to be eligible for the National contest.

The Kansas winners will be announced at the KSPTA 2012 Summer Symposium, in Salina, KS. All entries <b>must be received no later than May 18, 2012 </b>to be considered for this year's competition.  

PLEASE MAIL YOUR POSTERS TO:

Kansas State Dept. of Education

Attn:  School Bus Safety

120 SE 10th St.

Topeka, KS  66612

Shapes and Movement

Fourth grade students need to be able to identify figures including a circle, square, rectangle, triangle, ellipse, rhombus, octagon, hexagon, pentagon, and trapezoid.  They also need to understand what happens when shapes are moved on a plane (coordinate grid).  They should be able to use and describe reflections/flips, rotations/turns, and translations/slides for shapes and objects.  Here is a prezi to review these terms.
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Read to Dogs

<embed allowfullscreen="true" height="400" src="http://embedit.in/oZ6k8KlEjG.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="466">

Tech Tuesdays

Students at West Elementary have the opportunity to sign up to have some fun with technology on Tuesdays thanks in part to the new Wamego iTech Center located in the library at Wamego High School.  Explore, Create, and Play, is the theme of Tech Tuesdays with students getting the opportunity to use a variety of technology tools including laptops, iPads and digital cameras.  Approximately 30 students will rotate through three stations, allowing time to explore, create and play with technology.   Some projects include taking pictures and using websites to manipulate the photographs, exploring Google Earth through scavenger hunts and activities and playing with awesome apps using iPads.  WHS students are an important part of Tech Tuesdays, providing extra assistance to the students from West, which is a component of the Wamego iTech Center. 

Sessions will be held on Tuesdays beginning April 3^rd and continuing through May 8.  The sessions are from 3:30 to 4:30 and students will ride a shuttle bus from West to Wamego High School.  No transportation will be available after the sessions, so plan on picking up your child from the Wamego High School at 4:30.  The cost is $45 for six sessions and space is limited to 30 students.  Please fill out the permission form complete with payment to your classroom teacher.  Please make checks payable to Wamego Technology Center, Inc.  The deadline to sign up is March 15, and it’s on a first come first serve basis, so sign up quickly!   If you have any questions, please contact Sherry Helus at heluss@usd320.com, Barbie Norton at nortonb@usd320.com or Mary Lonker at lonkerm@usd320.com.

We look forward to seeing you at Tech Tuesdays!

Unit 6 Trailblazer's Letter

<a title="View Unit 6 Letter Home on Scribd" href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/84327945/Unit-6-Letter-Home" style="margin: 12px auto 6px auto; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -x-system-font: none; display: block; text-decoration: underline;">Unit 6 Letter Home</a><iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" src="http://www.scribd.com/embeds/84327945/content?start_page=1&view_mode=list&access_key=key-2c66rdbj5wa598opoog8" data-auto-height="true" data-aspect-ratio="0.772727272727273" scrolling="no" id="doc_5670" width="100%" height="600" frameborder="0"></iframe>

Math Function Machines

This week we have been exploring function machines.&nbsp; Here are some online games students can play to practice figuring out the rules used.&nbsp; Again, I encourage them to continue practicing their math facts.&nbsp; Fourth graders need to be proficient on addition, subtraction, and multiplication facts at this point in the year.&nbsp; They should be able to complete 15-20 problems in 1 minute.&nbsp; Thank you for your help on this at home.

<a href="http://teams.lacoe.edu/documentation/classrooms/amy/algebra/3-4/activities/functionmachine/functionmachine3_4.html">Function Machine Online</a>

<a href="http://www.mathplayground.com/functionmachine.html">Math Playground Function Machine</a>

<a href="http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/functionmachines.html">Function Machines </a>

<a href="http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/math-games/stop-creature/">Cyber Chase Stop That Creature</a>

<a href="http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/videos/#!/seasons-1-8/2">Cyber Chase Episode 214 "Trick or Treat" Season 2</a>

Camp Invention this Summer

Camp Invention

Coming to local schools this summer, the Camp Invention program is a weeklong adventure in creativity that immerses children entering grades one through six (during the 2012 school year) in exciting, hands-on learning disguised as fun activities. Led by local educators, boys and girls are challenged to explore connections between science, technology, engineering, and innovation. Participants spend their time navigating an island via upcycled ships, learning the power of combining magnetism and electricity, while designing, improving, and analyzing their own inventions in a team setting. Early and alumni registration discounts are available! Spaces are limited – register today! For more information contact Lori Rice ricel@usd320.com or visit www.campinvention.org or  check out this short video clip! http://prezi.com/-xgvbqpt2qkj/camp-invention/

Kansas Assessments

We will take the Kansas Reading Assessment starting next week, February 28th, March 1st and March 2nd. Students will be able to show the skills they have mastered throughout the year. Please be sure to help your student at home in the following ways:

• Get a good night sleep all week.
• Eat a healthy breakfast each morning.
• Reinforce taking their time and reading everything during the test.
• See our earlier blog post to practice and reinforce reading skills.
• Celebrate all they have learned and the hard work they have done this year in reading!

Crunch Candy Bar—“Crunch the test!”

Tootsie Rolls—“You’re on a roll!  Keep doing great on the test!”

Airheads—“You will rock this test because you are no airhead!”

Blow Pops—“Try your best and you will blow this test away!”

Now and Laters—“Do your best work now and you will be proud later!”

Smarties—“You are such a smartie you will rock this test!”

Sprees—“With the learning spree you have been on this year you will do great!”

We have 18 students in the class.  Thank you so much for your support!

If you would like to send hard candy for students to have during testing this is often helpful.  They are also encouraged to bring healthy snacks for after the test.  If you would like to send a class snack that would be great as well.

This is a booklet published by Kansas State Education Dept. in 2008 to help parents understand state testing.

<embed src="http://embedit.in/9R5SC9988v.swf" height="400" width="466" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true">

Kansas Assessments

We will take the Kansas Reading Assessment starting next week, February 28th, March 1st and March 2nd. Students will be able to show the skills they have mastered throughout the year. Please be sure to help your student at home in the following ways:

• Get a good night sleep all week.
• Eat a healthy breakfast each morning.
• Reinforce taking their time and reading everything during the test.
• See our earlier blog post to practice and reinforce reading skills.
• Celebrate all they have learned and the hard work they have done this year in reading!

If you would like to send hard candy for students to have during testing this is often helpful.  They are also encouraged to bring healthy snacks for after the test.  If you would like to send a class snack that would be great as well.

This is a booklet published by Kansas State Education Dept. in 2008 to help parents understand state testing.

<embed src="http://embedit.in/9R5SC9988v.swf" height="400" width="466" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true">

Cans for Conservation

Congratulations! Your child’s school is one of only a handful of schools participating in Cans for Conservation, an activity sponsored by Sunset Zoo in Manhattan.  From now through Monday, April 9^th, your child will be asked to bring to school clean, crushed aluminum drink cans. In return for collecting aluminum, your child will have the opportunity to explore tigers and the problems they face.

           

The objectives of this program are to turn recycling into a habit, allow students to become community contributors, and give students the opportunity to learn more about animals.  Together, West Elementary School and Sunset Zoo can make a difference in the lives of tigers in 2012.

Sunset Zoo selected tiger conservation as this year’s focus because of the new effort established by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to double the wild population of three subspecies of tigers by 2022, the next Year of the Tiger. Currently, the three subspecies identified only have approximately 200 individuals in the wild and are listed as critically endangered. These magnificent animals need the help of people from around the globe.

We have set a goal for each student to collect at least two pounds of aluminum (approximately 64 cans) from now until Monday, April 9^th.  Your child can bring the clean, crushed aluminum cans to your school throughout the week.  Please bag your cans and place

them next to the brown shed on the side of the building. Do not place them near the trash receptacles as they will be mistaken for garbage. Sunset Zoo will pick up the aluminum on Mondays at the school until the end of the program.   If more convenient, you may drop your cans off at Howie's Recycling in Manhattan anytime.   Please specify that they are to go to the Sunset Zoo/West account.

           

If your family does not have aluminum drink cans in the household, we do not encourage students to buy aluminum simply to recycle (that would defeat the purpose of the program).  Instead, we ask parents to collect cans at work, ask other family members to assist in the collection, or plan a street cleanup with your family or club to collect aluminum.  You will be surprised to see how much is thrown away each day!

           

All schools that meet their goal of two pounds of aluminum per student will receive free entry into Sunset Zoo for each student and teacher on Sunday, April 22 from 12:00 P.M.-5:00 P.M.  The ultimate recycling school with the highest number of pounds collected will receive a free Zoo Ambassador Program for their school in May as an end-of-the-year celebration! West Elementary received this honor two years ago!

If you have any questions about Cans for Conservation, or would like to know more about Earth Day at Sunset Zoo, please call Sunset Zoo at 785-587-2737.

Magnet Review Sheet

Magnet Review Sheet

A.       Magnets can occur in nature in rocks such as magnetite.

B.      The Earth is like a big magnet because it has a magnetic field at its North and South geographic poles.

C.      That is why a compass works on the Earth.  A compass tells us direction because it is attracted to Earth’s geographic poles.

D.     Earth’s magnetic force is at its strongest at these magnetic poles.

E.      All magnets have an invisible magnetic field where the magnet can act on objects around it.

F.       Objects that are attracted to the magnetic field of a magnet are called magnetic.

1.       These are objects that contain iron, nickel, or cobalt.

2.      The word ferrous means containing iron.

G.     Objects that do not react to the magnetic field of a magnet are called nonmagnetic.

1.       These are objects made of plastic, wood, or paper.

H.     The magnetic law of attraction states that on a magnet…

1.      Like poles will repel. Repel means to push away.

2.      Unlike poles will attract. Attract means to pull together.

I.        Temporary magnets are magnets that lose their magnetic pole after a short time.

J.        Magnetite is one type of a temporary magnet.

K.      You can make a nail or other metal objects into a temporary magnet by rubbing them with a magnet going in one direction.

L.       This rubbing aligns all the positive and negative charges in one direction.

M.    An electromagnet is made when wire is wrapped around an iron rod and electricity is added.

N.     A generator uses magnets and loops of wire to turn mechanical energy into electrical energy.

 

Magnets

Today we continued our learning about magnets.  Earlier this week we did two experiments to observe how magnets attract and what can block a magnetic force.  Today we talked about the invisible magnetic field.

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The students watched clips from Bill Nye to further understand these concepts while small groups did a short experiment.  They used iron filings to observe a magnetic field.  Here is the entire video (in 3 segments) from Bill Nye if they would like to watch it at home.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mzqoxfkCozk?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RdROOcnr1q4?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qZGBUDIsceI?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Beauty and the Beast Production

West Elementary students have been invited to view a shortened performance of the musical, “Beauty and the Beast”, by the WHS theater department.  The performance will be Friday, February 17 at 9:45am.  Students will be bused to the event.  We appreciate the invitation from WHS and the opportunity to share the arts with our students!

Science Fair Deadline

If you are entering the science fair entry forms are due on Friday, Feb. 10th.

Beauty and the Beast Permission Slip

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Learning Quest Savings Plan

q  Learning Quest Savings Plan

      The Learning Quest® 529 Education Savings Program is Kansas’ state-sponsored 529 plan.  529 plans provide a tax-advantaged way to invest for college (conditioned on meeting certain requirements).  You can open a Learning Quest account with an initial investment of $250 or an automatic monthly investment of $25.  Students may use the money to pay for qualified education expenses at any accredited university, college, or approved technical or vocational program.  Kansas taxpayers can deduct contributions up to $3,000 ($6,000 if married filing jointly) from their Kansas adjusted gross income each year.  Withdrawals used for qualified education expenses are free from federal and Kansas state income tax!  Learning Quest’s high contribution limit allows you to accumulate enough to pay for a five-year college education at a public institution based on today’s estimates.  To learn more about Learning Quest, or to get started, simply do one of the following: 

·         Call 1-877-345-8837

·         Visit www.learningquest.com

Hoop it Up for Hope

q  Hoop it Up for Hope on February 24

WMS is hosting a staff basketball game on Friday, February 24 at 6:30pm to raise money for Children’s Mercy Cancer Center.  Admission is $2.  Several of our staff will be playing!  I hope you will consider participating in this worthy cause!  They will have chili dogs and nachos, as well as raffles for special prize drawings.

2012 Books for Kids

q  2012 Books for Kids Collection Begins February 1! (Post on Blogs)

Central and West Elementary Schools and Wamego Public Library Children's Program announce the 2012 kick-off of Books for Kids, a literacy program for USD 320 community children ages 0-12.  Books for Kids will begin with a drive to collect gently used or new children's books that will run from February 1 until February 29, 2012.  These may include board books, picture books, chapter books and other books for those 0-12 years old. 

Last year we collected over 4,000 books that were distributed in the schools and community!  We also received a generous donation of $1,000 from Best Buy, which will help us purchase two ipad2 tablets for use in our Title I and Special Education Classrooms.

This program will help to increase reading skills such as word recognition, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. This will be done by putting extra books and more opportunities to read in the hands of our local children and students.  Drop-off sites for the book collection are Central Elementary, West Elementary, and Wamego Public Library. 

Be sure to go through your books and find some for our kids--everyone needs some good books to read! We will be collecting until February 29 (which is the Leap Year day) so we can help our kids "Leap Into Being Great Readers!"  The Books for Kids USD320 Literacy Project is sponsored by Central and West Elementary Site Councils.

Science Fair II

<strong>***Science Project Information & Resources:</strong>
<strong>--Science Project Packet/Recording Log:</strong>
<embed src="http://www.embedit.in/ZTT6dm7rDc.swf" height="400" width="466" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true">
<strong>--Science Project Resource:</strong>
<embed src="http://www.embedit.in/JcU6ubJG3F.swf" height="400" width="466" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true">
<strong>--List of Helpful Science Project Websites (Information AND Ideas):</strong>
<a href="http://www.all-science-fair-projects.com/%22%3ehttp:/www.all-science-fair-projects.com/%3c/a> Science Fair Ideas
<a href="http://pbskids.org/dragonflytv/scifair/index.html ">http://pbskids.org/dragonflytv/scifair/index.html </a>PBS Science Ideas
<a href="http://www.sciencefair-projects.org/%22%3ehttp:/www.sciencefair-projects.org/%3c/a> Science Fair Projects
<a href="http://www.sciencebob.com/experiments/index.php ">http://www.sciencebob.com/experiments/index.php </a> Science Demonstrations (& How to Make Them Into Science Projects!)
<a href="http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_display_board.shtml ">http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_display_board.shtml </a>Display Boards

States of Matter Review

Practice for Matter Test

Time for Kids

We will participate again this year in Great American’s Time for Kids promotion. This project provides FREE Time for Kids subscriptions for our students! We have been using these FREE subscriptions during out language arts time on Wednesday to learn and practice many skills including reading for meaning, fact vs. opinion, word parts, and comprehension.  Booklets are being sent home with students on January 20.

• Students that return a completed booklet (with at least 7 names and valid addresses) by Monday, January 23 will receive a frog key chain. Please make sure they understand they must have 7 names and complete addresses in order to get a frog! They are to turn these in by the atrium area in the morning.

• Booklets can be returned any day up until January 26. The sooner they turn them in, the more prizes they get.

• For every 30 students that return a completed booklet, we receive 50 free subscriptions for Time for Kids for next year! Our goal is to have 210 booklets returned!  Thank you for your support in getting FREE resources for our school.

Science Fair

You are invited to attend the 45th Annual Wamego Regional Science and Engineering Fair.  At the fair you will have the opportunity to show your science abilities and to see hundreds of other science fair projects.  There are a variety of awards for projects in each category, age group, subject area, as well as some general special awards. 

Further, the top 20 places in each of the 4-8 and 9-12 grade divisions will earn an invitation to the Kansas State Science and Engineering Fair in Wichita, Kansas held on March 30th – 31st.  The state fair is in its fifth year of existence and offers a variety of new prizes and scholarships.  There is also an opportunity to be advanced to the International Science and Engineering Fair, held this year in Pittsburg, PA on May 13th-18th.

You can access the fair entry form and other general fair information at the science fair website link listed below.  Please note there are requirements for accompanying forms with each project depending upon the nature of the project itself.  Please fill out the necessary forms, found on the website and include them with the entry form. 

     

If you have any further questions feel free to contact either: Shane Neel (neelsha@usd320.com) or                        Allen Sylvester (sylvestera@usd320.com).   

Rounding Practice

Today we talked about estimating and rounding.  Students were to think of the numbers in a number line.  We then placed a given number on that number line to find benchmark numbers (numbers close to the number by 10's, 100's, or 1,000's) and then we rounded the number.  <a href="http://www.free-training-tutorial.com/rounding/sharks.html">Here is a game online to practice rounding to 100.</a>  <a href="http://www.mrnussbaum.com/rounding.htm#drills">Here is a link to some online rounding drills.</a>  <a href="http://www.mrnussbaum.com/rounding.htm#games">Here is a link to more online games.</a>  <a href="http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/rounding.html">Here are printable worksheets</a>. Your student should be able to round to the nearest hundred or thousand.  The next step would be to practice rounding decimals.

Subtraction practice:

We are working on subtracting larger numbers.&nbsp; I will add some helpful resources to this post for your student to practice at home.&nbsp; Here is an <a href="http://www.glencoe.com/sites/common_assets/mathematics/ebook_assets/vmf/VMF-Interface.html">online tool so they can use the base 10 pieces to practice</a>.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.webmath.com/k8ipsub.html">This site allows you to put any number in and then shows you how it is solved using the compact method</a> (old school).&nbsp; <a href="http://www.coolmath4kids.com/subtraction/index.html">Cool math for kids</a> will help you review many areas of subtraction.&nbsp; Here is a <a href="http://www.mrnussbaum.com/subtraction.htm">workmat</a> for solving your own subtraction problems online. <a href="http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/subtraction.html">Printable worksheets</a> to use at home.

Spelling Practice

West Elementary will hold their annual spelling bee on January 20th at 1:00 p.m. 

Here are some sites to check out:

www.myspellit.com

www.spellingbee.com

www.spellingbeethegame.com

http://www.learner.org/interactives/spelling/spelling.html

Prefix and Suffix Practice

Today we worked on prefixes and suffixes.&nbsp; Here are some online games to play at home.

<a href="http://www.studyzone.org/testprep/ela4/b/suffix3p.cfm">Suffix Games</a>

<a href="http://www.studyzone.org/testprep/ela4/b/prefix3p.cfm">Prefix Games</a>

<a href="http://www.funbrain.com/roots/index.html">Funbrain Root Words</a>

Comprehension and Longer Text

Fourth graders should be able to read longer text and comprehend what they are reading. There are many strategies they can use to remember, predict, and comprehend stories. Today we reviewed making connections. <a href="http://reading.ecb.org/index.html">Into the Book</a> is an excellent resource for learning about, reinforcing, and practicing reading comprehension. Encourage your student to go <a href="http://reading.ecb.org/index.html">Into the Book</a> at home. I will even count it as home reading minutes! Enjoy!

Comprehension and Longer Text

Fourth graders should be able to read longer text and comprehend what they are reading. There are many strategies they can use to remember, predict, and comprehend stories. Today we reviewed making connections. <a href="http://reading.ecb.org/index.html">Into the Book</a> is an excellent resource for learning about, reinforcing, and practicing reading comprehension. Encourage your student to go <a href="http://reading.ecb.org/index.html">Into the Book</a> at home. I will even count it as home reading minutes! Enjoy!

Technology Project with Mrs. Norton

Technology Class Request:

Please bring up to 5 family photos for your project in technology.  You may bring hard copies of your photos to school and Mrs. Norton will scan them.  Just make sure your photos are in an envelope labeled with your first and last name in addition to your class code so they can easily be returned to you.  You may also email the photos to Mrs. Norton at nortonb@usd320.com. 

All photos must be either emailed or brought to school by January 20.

Back to School for a New Nine Weeks

   There was no spelling list this week.   We will begin with a new spelling list next week.  In math we are continuing addition and subtraction with regrouping.   Our new science unit it matter.  January is the birthday of the state of Kansas so we will be studying Kansas history and the Midwest states.

Math

Over the next couple of weeks we will be discussing measurement and doing many measuring activities. Please encourage your student to practice measuring at home with rulers, yard sticks, tape measures, scales, measuring cups and measuring spoons. They should be able to decide which unit of measure is best for an item, estimate the weight, and take the weight. Remember telling time is a unit of measurement too.&nbsp; Here are a few fun online games as well.

<a href="http://www.funbrain.com/cgi-bin/meas.cgi?A1=s&amp;A2=0&amp;A3=1&amp;INSTRUCTS=1">Funbrain Measurement</a>

<a href="http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/measure-in-ft-yd.html">SuperTeacher Printable Worksheets</a>

<a href="http://www.ixl.com/math/grade-4/compare-and-convert-customary-units">Compare Measurements</a>

<a href="http://gamequarium.com/measurement.html">Measurement Games</a>

<a href="http://themathworksheetsite.com/read_tape.html">Reading a Tape Measure Make Your Own Worksheets</a>

<a href="http://themathworksheetsite.com/telling_time.html">Telling Time Make Your O