Sanders

4th and 5th Grades:              

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoyed the week off with family. I wanted to highlight a few upcoming events and let all parents know that Target will not meet the first two weeks we are back in school in January. I will be testing first, third, and fifth grades. This is the yearly Target Testing done to qualify new students.I will notify you when classes are to resume.

Our Medieval Feast is next week. It is December 6 for fourth grade and December 8 for fifth grade. It will begin at 9 a.m. Presentations will begin as soon as possible for those of you who will need to go on to work. Please let me know if you need your child to go first so I can schedule them in.

We will be finalizing our unit the week of Dec. 12. We will reflect on all we learned and review our unit essential questions and what we wanted to learn about the unit to see if we conquered it all. The last week of classes before our break will be a "Break Away Day". Students will plan this day soon and bring in an extra large snack and drink for themselves that day.

 

2nd and 3rd Grades:      

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoyed the week off with family. I wanted to highlight a few upcoming events and let all parents know that Target will not meet the first two weeks we are back in school in January. I will be testing first, third, and fifth grades. This is the yearly Target Testing done to qualify new students.I will notify you when classes are to resume.

Our Mystery Festival is schedule for Dec. 5. That is a change from the original date. We will begin promptly at 8:30 a.m. Remember 2nd and 3rd grades both attend Target that day. Students have been encouraged to bring in detective gear as to dress up before the Festival begins.

Please recall the following schedule changes for the remainder of the year:

2nd grade Target class dates: December 5 (Mon.) December 12 (Mon.) December 21 (Wed.)

3rd grade Target class dates: December 5 (Mon.) December 14 (Wed.) December 19 (Mon.)

We will be finalizing our unit the week of Dec. 12. We will take a post test and review our unit essential questions and what we wanted to learn about the unit to see if we conquered it all. The last week of classes before our break will be a "Break Away Day". Students will plan this day soon but will be asked to bring in a mystery food item to share with the class. This is open to interpretation. Have fun with it and don't stress. :0)

News You Can Use

4^th and 5^th grades:                  

Students should have all of their character research done by next class. We will use this information to begin our monologues.

We are still “On Target” for our Medieval Feast on December 6 for 4^th grade and December 8 for 5^th grade. The feast will begin at 9:00am in the Target room and may last until lunch at 11:46. Remember parents are welcome to attend!!

There won’t be a Target class the week of November 7-11. That Tuesday is a Teacher workday so there isn’t school for students, and that Thursday I have Advanced Learning Program training. We will meet the next week as usual and plan our Feast!

2^nd and 3^rd grades:

Students should have all of their mystery topic research done by next class. We will use this information to begin writing presentations. If the research isn't done they may work on that in class and then work on writing their presentation at home. The following week we will turn our writing into notecards.

Parents, you are welcome to attend these presentations. We will start at 9:00am in the Target room on November 14 for 3^rd grade and on November 16 for 2^nd grade.

Due to upcoming field trips and other needs several of our Target days have been rescheduled. Please note the changes below for your child’s class.

2nd grade Target class dates: November 2 (Wed.) November 7 (Mon.) November 16 (Wed.) November 30 (Wed.) December 7 (Wed.) December 12 (Mon.) December 21 (Wed.)

3rd grade Target class dates: October 31 (Mon.) November 9 (Wed.) November 14 (Mon.) November 28 (Mon.) December 7 (Wed.) December 14 (Wed.) December 19 (Mon.)

 Our Mystery Festival is still on for December 7 for grades 2^nd and 3^rd. Parents are welcome to attend. You may just find yourself helping out where needed in a center or ??????  Thanks so much to all  parents who have attended meetings to plan this event. Our next meeting is on November 4 at 11:00 am. If you are able to attend please do.

 

 

Class Updates

 

Hello. Here are a few updates and comments about recent classes and future ones:

4^th and 5^th graders:

Parents, please pay close attention to your child’s tally.  I am evaluating them each week with a check minus, check, or check plus. It is proving difficult for some to earn a check plus in the area of quote interpretation and/or their explanation on how they met their aim. Expectation is the following: appropriate punctuation and capitalization as well as complete sentences. Above that they should really try to give enough detail in their explanations as to prove their evaluative thinking.

Also on the tally you will be informed of assignments and reminders required for the upcoming week.  Right now your child has a large number of vocabulary words to study for a test next week.

You may want to look behind each tab of your child’s notebook each time they have been to Target. Each week there is a different assessment or lesson. You can hopefully see unit progress as you visit tab 5.

As you know by now our Medieval Feast will be either December 6 or 8 depending on what day your child  attends Target. Please feel free to participate that day. You could show up in period clothing or just come for the adventure. The feast will begin at 9:00am in the Target room and may last until lunch at 11:46.

 

2^nd and 3^rd graders:

You may want to look behind each tab of your child’s notebook each day they have been to Target. Each week there is a different assessment and/ or lesson. You can hopefully see unit progress as you visit tab 5, as well as problem solving progress as you visit other tabs. If you ever have any questions please feel free to contact me.

I know the vocabulary words are challenging. It will be important for students to study several words each day. This will continue until we are done with the chapter book we are reading. Our first test is this week. (I will give a quick review of each term right before the test.)

We will be having a big Mystery Festival on December 7. Second and third graders will participate in this festival together. All parents are welcome to attend. The festival will begin at 8:30 am in our Target classroom. Students will be told specific information about a crime that has been committed. They will need to view the crime scene and work experiments in order to solve the crime. We will have another meeting concerning volunteering for this event on Friday, October 14, in room 272 at 11:00 am.

Thank you to all of you for your continued support, supplies, kind words, involvement, and communication!!!!!!

Unit Information and Target Standards

Unit information can be found on pages to the left of this blog post. I have also added the New Target Standards. Enjoy!

                                                    

Welcome Back to Target!!!

                                          

We are now into our second week of classes. It has been great to catch up on all the exciting things everyone did during the summer and to get organized for a new year together. I appreciate all of you who were able to attend our Target Open House. It was a quick date to meet so I appreciate you coming in so soon. It was very good to see all of you! Those of you who weren't able to attend should have received a copy of the brochure I passed out that night. There has been one change so far. Second graders have lunch now from 12:26-12:56.

I would like to ask that you pay close attention to your child’s tally each week. This is an instrument I would like to utilize for communication. You can see the level of effort your child put into his or her day by reading over it. You can also see whether or not they were prepared and what type of behavior they had. If you have any concerns or have feedback please feel free to share it on the tally or in an email to me. My email is Kimberly.Sanders@cobbk12.org.

Our standards have changed this year. We have been exploring them together, and I am impressed with everyone’s level of understanding. We have discussed how important it is for everyone to share their thinking with me. I hope you will see improvement in the level of quote interpretations and reflections made on the tally each week as well in all your child does. It is obvious we are headed for another amazing year in Target!!!

Thanks so much for all the supplies that were sent in. It truly helps sooooo much. I forgot to ask for hand sanitizer so would appreciate some if you think of it. Thanks again for all you do.

 

 

Have a wonderful summer. See you in the fall for more FUN LEARNING!!!!!

**I have attached the new supply list for next year. Please look at side of blog to find it.

Class Updates!

 

Hello. 2011 is going at a fast pace!

• We have been enthusiastically involved in our units and are now entering the unit project stage.
• We will still have classes the week of CRCT. We will just meet after testing. Students should come prepared with their regular supplies.
• By now you should have seen your child’s Target Progress Report. They were given out last week.
•  Please read the following that pertains to your child.

 

2^nd and 3^rd grade News:

“I would rather have eyes that cannot see; ears that cannot hear; lips that cannot speak, than a heart that cannot love.” Robert Tizon  

These cardiologists in training have impressed us all! They have shown they understand not only the parts of the heart and how the blood flows throughout the body but also problems associated with the heart and what can be done to help those problems. We will be having a unit test on all that incorporates all we have learned in this unit on May 2^nd/May 6. We will be studying together for this test. After the test is over we will celebrate our success! These students have learned so much and have shown that through various activities. Look forward to coming in to visit as your child present’s his/her chosen person who has shown heart to the world. This will be a project we will be working on in class. Presentation day will be May 2^nd for third grade and May 6^th for second grade. Parents are welcome to attend these presentations. They will begin at 9:00 am in the Target classroom.

 

4^th and 5^th grade News:

“Frogs do for the night what birds do for the day: they give it voice.” Archie Carr

 

Herpetologists are what we are! I hope you have had interesting conversations with your very knowledgeable anuran expert. We have not only studied the anatomy of the frog and why it is able to survive in its environment  but have been trying to uncover what is happening to them and what this could mean to our own environment. We are now entering our project stage of the unit. We will be doing partner research projects on the disappearance of the anuran. Students will use what they have learned about the Scientific Method to share their findings. You are invited to attend our presentations. Presentations will be done on May 3^rd, 4^th, or 5th (depending on what day your child attends class) at 9:00 am in the Target classroom. There will be a unit post test on all we have learned. Study guides will be given out soon. Post test day will be the same as the presentation day.

 

First Grade NEWS!

First grade is fabulous!!   Welcome to all my wonderful first grade friends!  We have literally hit the floor running with our Dr. Seuss unit.  The children are working on organizational skills with their binders and research skills with the internet and other available media.  Our research has involved collecting information regarding Dr. Seuss and comparing the information with our own life.  Who is Ted Geisel, why was he famous and who helped motivate him?  These are all questions we have answered in our research.  I cannot wait until next month to discover how many “hats” we all wear in our daily lives!

        Keep smiling!                  

                                                     Donna Peppers

Happy New Year!

Hope your new year is off to a great start!! I have updated the new unit information pages attached to my blog as well as new unit websites.

Thanks to those of you who could make the new parent meeting. It was nice to meet you. Those of you who didn't get to attend should have received the notes from the meeting. I distributed them this week.

Attached to my recent email you found a GAGC flyer that was sent to me. If you haven't joined GAGC this would be a great meeting for you to attend and get to know what all the committee is about.

As always, please get in touch if you have any questions or concerns. We have had a great couple of weeks learning about our new units. More information to come at a later date.

                 
      

 

  

Welcome New Target Students!

There will be a new parent meeting on

January 7th at 8:00 am in room 269.

Look forward to meeting you!