Monday, October 29, 2007

We have a neat Halloween packet here. :) This is for teachers seeking out activities for their classes and also for families of those in my class to see what we are doing this week.

Also, do you want to see photos of our first field trip? Click here!

Last... here is the first quarter honors list!

Principal's List: Sammie B. and Sabrina B.

Honor Roll: Ryan K., Jonathan L., Veronica M., Warren O., Katie P., and Allie Z.

Perfect Attendance: Sabrina B., Gina G., Ryan L., Samantha M., Sierra M., Veronica M., Shant'erica O., Warren O., and Katie P.

* Highest Grade in Reading- Sammie B., Allie Z., Sabrina B., Jonathan L. (Top 4 of 27! Wonderful job.)
* Above a 100 in Spelling- Sammie B., Sabrina B., Ryan K., Jonathan L., Veronica M., and Allie Z.
* Highest Grade in Social Studies- Allie Z., Ryan L., Sabrina B., Jonathan L., Sydni T.
* Highest Grade in Science- Jonathan L., Sabrina B., Sammie B., Warren O., Ryan L.
* Highest Grade in Math- Sammie B., Sabrina B., Ryan K. (These were the three A's)
* Highest Grade in Writing- Sammie B., Jonathan L., Sabrina B., Allie Z., Veronica M.

Also, in fifth grade... Jesse C., Jeremiah D., Giannette L., and Matthew P. have continued to be Principal's List scholars! Keep up the amazing work!

Friday, October 5, 2007

Something new for the residents of Jasztalville... a choice activity assignment for when we read Science and Social Studies sections. Students will use this sheet to create well-rounded lessons for when they teach the class in small groups: Click here!

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Many of us are getting into Reading Counts. Also, Mrs. Deen (our librarian) announced today there would be a club for those willing to read the Sunshine State Reader books. At this time, I know that Samantha B. is interested in participating in Battle of the Books.

Since this was on my mind, I found a great weblog about the books that I'd like to share with you. It's from the St. Petersburg Times Newspapers in Education (NIE).

In our latest news of recognition... Sabrina is our Student of the Month! I do not have a photograph of her as of yet. Last month's Student of the Month, pictured in the last journal entry, did a tremendous job and consistently showed initiative, responsibility, and care.

Last, our newspaper staff is having a great guest speaker tomorrow- Gretchen Letterman! I honestly couldn't be more elated because we've been in correspondence for two years, yet have never met. I hope the kids really enjoy her visit.

Thank you for reading our class updates. Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Saturday, September 8, 2007

We have pen pals in St. Augustine! Click on the link!

Also, check out this website, since we are studying about plants and animals!

Sunday, September 2, 2007

We have been doing very well, and two days ago, we announced our first Student of the Month for the 2007-2008 school year.

Our Student of the Month has been at our school since second grade, and he is one of the students in our classroom who best demonstrated initiative. Initiative is when you put your mind to something and reach a goal. He is putting forth outstanding effort academically and is willing to help anyone who needs it. He listens to what others have to say and treats people with consideration. Below, he is holding our "Wise Owl" (idea from Mrs. Renz in Oregon) not long after being announced as our first Student of the Month.

As for other news, our 4th and 5th grade newspaper staff has a mandatory parents meeting on September 6th, which is Thursday evening. Also, our Open House is the evening of September 13th! Your child should have written the date in his or her agenda the first week of school. More updates will come soon!

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Yesterday was incredible. We had 16 out of 20 families arrive! You have already broken a class record in Jasztalville. I believe this will be an extremely good year and that we will work together really well. Thank you for your support already.

Also, ten former Jasztalville students came to visit! Thank you for remembering me, and I hope to see the other 8 who are still at MES next week!

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Tomorrow, I meet you! Welcome J'Quan B., Samantha B., Sabrina B., Erik F., Gina G., Darrel H., Ryan K., Jonathan L., Ryan L., Gabriella M., Samantha M., Veronica M., Warren O., Shant'erica O., Katie P., John P., Tyler R., Sydni T., and Allie Z.!

Monday, August 6, 2007

We have a new fourth grade website here.

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Teachers, please visit the newly REMODELED (as of today) and extensive resource page! We also now have a guestbook!! Enjoy!

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Our class has acquired two female gerbils! They will be named the first week of school. Stay tuned!

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Today was the day to start with a small remodeling project at teachingvision.org for the 2007-2008 school year!

Monday, February 26, 2007

The FCAT has arrived... and we WILL conquer! Besides that, remember our class car wash on March 11th and everything we are soon to do to prepare for our annual St. Augustine field trip on April 27th.

Monday, January 29, 2007

Florida Writes is fast approaching (next Tuesday)! The class has been doing a tremendous job, and I hope this week's third annual Jasztalville Young Author's Conference will be full of fun. This year's theme is "You Shoot, You Score!" and revolves around basketball. Magnificent Monthly Writer's Journals are due Friday, and Mrs. Judy Cyg (our attendance lady) will be coming in to present the journal she worked on last year.

Also, thank you so much for the money for St. Augustine. Our trip is April 27, 2007 from 9:15 a.m.-9:30 p.m. There are many chaperones coming along, and it will be an enriching experience. We will meet our pen pals, which we hope to hear from REALLY soon!

Our Student of the Month report is also behind... November's was Keith, December's was Juliett, and this month's has been Jesse. Our NEW S.O.T.M. will be announced Friday.

Monday, October 30, 2006

Continuing forward, we have almost completed every lesson on plants and animals, which means we are almost to studying the human body. This month has been interesting, as we have been on a field trip to the Springs Coast Environmental Center and also tried out "Spooky Science" for the one and only Halloween.

Jeremiah has been our Student of the Month, and he has done an incredible job. Our next S.O.T.M. will be announced tomorrow afternoon. Who will it be?

Saturday, September 16, 2006

We are really getting off to an excellent start. Now I can say it is not officially the "beginning" of the school year.

We started NCS Lab (Successmaker Computer Lab) a few weeks ago, and many of us are doing very well, though I can admit that some students are receiving lower scores because the challenges are more trying than before. I am advising students to tackle any challenges they face with the reading or math strategies they have already developed from previous years. Questions asked in the reading program can be "Right There" or "Think and Search" since they are multiple choice. "Right There" questions have answers that can be located instantly by reading text. Answers are even embedded in sentences. "Think and Search" questions takes more reading of a paragraph, and multiple clues from a paragraph may lead you to an answer.

We are also starting Book Buddies really soon, and we will be working with Mrs. Kelley's kindergarten class once a month. This is the second year Mrs. Kelley and I are commencing the program. The program is beneficial for both my fourth graders and her kindergarteners in many ways- my fourth graders gain confidence, realize they have respect for the younger students, learn how to better teach and communicate with others, and become stronger role models. The kindergarten students, on the other hand, are able to look up to students and receive instruction from peers only a few years older than they are. The most important thing enforced is that my fourth graders are always setting the superior example.

Besides that, Reading and Math classes are doing REALLY well! We are doing the rotation well between the five classes, and I am realizing that both classes I instruct are benefitting in so many ways. It is really exciting to work with the students from the other classes.

The pen pal program with Mrs. Boggess' fourth grade class in St. Augustine is also starting. Letters will be written this week at home, and they will be sent out next Monday (9/27/06).

Also, congratulations to Giannette, our Student of the Month!

Friday, August 18, 2006
Wonderful experiences await! This year, I am very pleased with our class- there are 20 students who reside in the city of Jasztalville! We are continually working together to make our classroom a conducive, enriching learning environment and most importantly, the most welcoming place we possibly can.

There have been many visitors to our classroom from last year's class! Not only did Brian and Ben stop by our room during Open House, other students such as Abby and Jonique have come to visit in the morning.

Soon, we will be launching Moton's new and improved (smaller) newspaper staff. At the most, there will be 20-22 students, yet they will not all be meeting at once. Mrs. Vermette and Ms. Maxwell are very excited! This year, the application process and basically everything will be very different. We will be publishing a newspaper four times a year while the front office will be distributing newsletters with more important information for families. The newspaper will be student-friendly and modeled after a magazine in a way with many different types of information- becoming involved in sports, demonstrating school spirit, doing the best possible on tests, and always being aware of new books, movies, and websites. The staff will also be interviewing different teachers, students, and community members to make our publication a complete success this year!

Again, thank you for turning in your paperwork promptly and showing so much care. I hope this will be the most exciting year you have had yet. Thank you, and have an excellent weekend!

Monday, July 31, 2006
There are not many days until our new class comes together! I am very excited to get started... next week!

There are two things I would like to share with you:

In addition, remember to check out our new calendar!

Monday, July 3, 2006
I forgot to mention... congratulations to Moton for earning an "A" for the 2005-2006 school year through Florida's Department of Education!

Also, our reading site is getting better and better! It'll definitely be ready in the next month.

Thursday, June 8, 2006
I am currently remodeling the Reading website, for starters, to accomodate the learning centers I plan on implementing during the 2006-2007 school year.

Also, I plan on publishing the three stories that won the Newbery award for our class last month. I'll include the link as soon as it will be made available for the public to read.

Monday, May 1, 2006
It is May, and we have returned from our trip to St. Augustine. It was quite the incredible experience. While surfing the Internet this weekend, I found a website that you may enjoy quite a bit- it offers a variety of science experiments and other activities (very fun for summer break, too, which is a plus)-

ZOOM
http://pbskids.org/zoom/

Also, congratulations to Jonique, our Student of the Month!

Saturday, April 22, 2006
I am finally getting around to updating more! Yesterday, I wrote about our incredible news in fourth grade. Today, I'll provide the statistics on how Moton's fourth graders scored on Florida Writes.

Combined Average- 4.0 (class average- 4.2)
Expository Average- 4.2 (class average- 4.7 technically)
Narrative Average- 3.9 (class average- 3.7)

Percentages for the entire fourth grade (with approximate # of students scoring at that level)-
Scoring a 0- 0%
Scoring a 1- 0%
Scoring a 1.5- 1% (1 student)
Scoring a 2- 3% (2 students)
Scoring a 2.5- 4% (3 students)
Scoring a 3- 9% (6 students)
Scoring a 3.5- 14% (11 students)
Scoring a 4- 31% (24 students)
Scoring a 4.5- 16% (12 students)
Scoring a 5- 16% (12 students)
Scoring a 5.5- 6% (5 students)
Scoring a 6- 0%

Friday, April 21, 2006
Good day to Jasztal's Magnificent Brainiacs! We got our Florida Writes scores back yesterday, and Moton was the 2nd highest school in Hernando County. Our class average was a 4.2 while our expository average was a 4.6 (narrative was a 3.7). I commend every single one of you for the EFFORT and heart you put into your writing. I cannot even begin to explain how honored I am to be YOUR teacher this year.

The students to get a 5.0 or above were: Harley, Monica, Mercedes, Ben, and Tyler.

There is only one week until our St. Augustine field trip! We are hoping for an unforgettable, incredible experience. Pen pals, we cannot wait to meet you!

I also thank Brian's mom, Ben's mom, and Abby's mom for being willing to volunteer. Besides that, Mrs. Purdy (clinic) is being extremely kind to accompany us as well as Mrs. Jasztal and Ms. Mooney.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006
I hosted my very first workshop today. Want to pick up the handout? The workshop was called 1, 2, 3... Unbelievable!, and I featured many different websites for grades K-5. Hosting my first workshop got me really excited about hosting even more. The handout is in .doc format, which means it needs Microsoft Word.

This is not common knowledge yet, but Abby is the Student of the Month for April 2006! Congratulations, Abby!

Friday, March 24, 2006
I just came back from a conference called the Florida Educational Technology Conference (FETC), which was held in Orlando. All in all, the experience was incredible, and I can admit that I have a revitalized passion for educational research. I plan to update you in our weekly newsletter about the experience.

In history, I am reviewing some important concepts of Florida history. Our field trip to "America's Oldest City", St. Augustine, is coming up in a month (Friday, April 28th), and I can admit we are on our way to meeting our goals. However, I still need a few chaperones and particularly a male chaperone to accompany the class (complying with the Jessica Lunsford Act).

Science fair projects are due Monday (Friday if your child is not interested in participating in the fair... yet wants a grade).

Last, Tori has been our Student of the Month for March while Quantill was our Student of the Month for February. I commend both students.

Saturday, January 21, 2006
Thank you for your cooperation with yesterday's field trip to the Sand Hill Boy Scout Reservation to see the Civil War Re-Enactment. As you know, we have a field trip coming up in April, and I have already thought of some things we definitely need to ensure the greatest trip possible (that really could have helped out with yesterday's trip): water bottles so everyone remains hydrated, small snacks, and moist towelettes.

The next letter will be sent home in the next month about the exact price of the trip. Last year, it cost $30.00 for students, and I will most likely charge $15.00 per chaperone this year. In addition to the few chaperones I know are coming, we will probably need three others, so if you are interested in attending, hopefully knowing now will give you the opportunity to be a part of our trip. If any parent owns a video camera, it would be extremely nice to have a video of the presentation we are putting on for the fourth-grade students at Hartley Elementary School.

While I am on the subject of pen pals, I hope to bring all letters to pen pals this Saturday because I will be going up to St. Augustine for the weekend.

Besides that, Florida Writes is coming up soon on Tuesday, February 7, 2006. Your child will receive either a narrative or expository prompt to write to. I plan to have a writing workshop on the evening of Thursday, January 26, 2006 at 5:30 p.m. The workshop will be exciting and will last exactly one hour. It will be held in our classroom, 304. I hope to have at least five students in attendance this year.

Keep encouraging and working with your son or daughter. Thank you.

Monday, January 2, 2006
I cannot believe it is already 2006! I wanted to inform you that I made some updates to our class page. On Wednesday, the Student of the Month for January will also be announced.

December 2005 Update
The first half of the school year went quite well. Now we are heading on to our second half, which is always filled with interesting and exciting adventures.

In January, students will be completing assignments in two Magnificent Monthly Writing Journals. One will be completed during Morning Work in class. The other will solely be completed at home and for ten percent of your child's Language Arts grade. The journal and its entries will be due at the end of January right before FCAT Writes (which will be on February 7, 2006).

Have an outstanding holiday. Congratulations to our Student of the Month, Brittany, as well as Moton's Teacher of the Year, Miss Diana Lichtenwalter.

Saturday, November 5, 2005
Our pen pal letters have arrived! Our pen pal letters have arrived!! Yes, you read it right- OUR PEN PAL LETTERS HAVE ARRIVED from St. Augustine!!

We are currently working on our science fair project, which is due next Monday. It looks outstanding for the most part, and we are in the process of researching. So far, we have looked through a few books as well as a handful of websites. The only concern is that we have a week to get done. However, we have some staying after school during the week to finish things out.

The Thanksgiving harvest is right after Thanksgiving on November 28, 2005, so be on the lookout for a form asking what you can bring in for the harvest!

Tuesday, November 1, 2005
I apologize for the month's delay! Soon, probably next month during holiday break, I will really apply myself and make some updates to this site so I can get it to what I really want it to be.

This week, I am sending a packet about expository writing home for you to look at, though it is definitely not long. I just want to inform you about what it is so you can provide the best assistance possible for your son or daughter.

The Student of the Month for November is Ben. Congratulations!

Saturday, October 1, 2005
It is finally October! Read an overview of what happened in September in our class journal.

Two big changes have occurred! Realistic fiction is not our genre focus any longer (it is now fantasy), and Elisha is our second Student of the Month!

Sunday, September 25, 2005
I am very excited to announce that we are on our Geography unit. For the most part, we have learned about Florida's government, which was our last unit. We are also going to study about Florida's explorers and "America's Oldest City", St. Augustine, soon.

I commend Monica for being such an outstanding Student of the Month for September, yet her month is nearly up. Who will be Ms. Jasztal's second Student of the Month for the 2005-2006 school year?

Moton's newspaper staff is also working very hard on the first edition of the newspaper for October. Hopefully our first edition will be out in the next 1 1/2 weeks. Work time has been delayed slightly due to a canceled meeting, yet I know we are doing the best we can. Thank you for all you have done, staff!

Monday, September 12, 2005
We now have a page saying who is a Brain Busters Super Solver from Mrs. Renz's fourth grade Brain Busters site!

Friday, September 9, 2005
Here are some updates:

Sunday, August 21, 2005
This has been an incredible year so far, and I hope that everything is going well for your son/daughter! This week is the first week of switching for math. Make sure you ask your son or daughter about who his or her math teacher is and what the teacher's expectations are. For those students in my math class, I have sent out a welcome letter. Thank you for your cooperation!

Saturday, August 6, 2005
It was excellent meeting you at open house this year. I really appreciated and enjoyed meeting 9 out of 12 families! Thank you Shelsea, Avery, Willow, Ellisa, and Casey for visiting as well!

Thursday, July 28, 2005
The site is about ready except for the parent information and some photos of the classroom I have yet to take. For the most part, our room is set up, and it looks outstanding! There are lots of small center areas to work in. The centers are for Math, Science, Reading and Writing, the journalism staff, Florida Studies, and Technology. I am also setting up pen pals (hopefully two classes this year and perhaps a small project (that only a few interested students would take part in) for the year. Of course, one of the pen pal classes is in "America's Oldest City", St. Augustine! The other is in a place I cannot tell you about until it is final... yet you'll really enjoy this pen-pal class, too!

Sunday, July 24, 2005
There isn't much time until the new school year begins. I hope you are excited about your fourth grade year approaching. To get you even more excited, read about our Cranium Commanders club or maybe work on your poetry skills by visiting our Magnetic Poetry site.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005
-Teaching Resource Page
-Classroom Journey Journal
-Ms. Jasztal's Magnetic Poetry Page

Tuesday, July 19, 2005
-Cranium Commanders Club

Monday, July 18, 2005
-We Joined The Classroom Connection!
-Ms. Jasztal created the second featured webquest, Visiting Florida- A Math Webquest!