Mrs. Williams' Blog

2012 Books For Kids – Collection Starts February 1st

williams3rd — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:52:24 +0000

Central and West Elementary Schools and Wamego Public Library Children’s Program announce the 2012 kick-off of Books for Kids! This is our new 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 1st until February 29th, 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 with 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. So go through your books and find some for our kids–everyone needs some good books to read! We will be collecting until February 29th (which is the Leap Year day) so we can help our kids “Leap Into Being Great Readers!” This Books for Kids! USD320 Literacy Project is supported by Central and West Elementary Site Councils.

Kansas Day Celebrated

williams3rd — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:35:00 +0000

On Friday, Jan. 27th, we celebrated Kansas’s 151st birthday in class. Students learned that “Ad Astra Per Aspera”means “to the stars through difficulties”. We also talked about the significance of the steamboat (representing commerce), the farmer with the plow (agriculture), the covered wagons and log cabin (early settlers), the Native Americans hunting bison (early inhabitants of our state), the 34 stars (illustrating that Kansas is the 34th state), the blue and gold striped bar (Louisiansa Purchase), and the open-faced sunflower (symbolizing how Kansans face their fears). I also read the book, S is for Sunflower, to the students. Students then colored and created their very own Kansas flag.

Stencilrama Lab

williams3rd — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:23:22 +0000

Today students completed their Stencilrama Lab they began earlier this week. In this lab students cut a stencil into an index card and made a pattern by repeatedly using the stencil on a long sheet of paper to create a border. This lab helped students investigate the relationship between the number of times the students used the stencil and the length of the resulting border. Students collected, organized, and graphed their data on the length of the borders using the stencil a small number of times. Using their data, students were able to make predictions and solve problems about longer borders that required multiplication.

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Chinese New Year Rotations

williams3rd — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:58:54 +0000

On Tuesday, January 24th students learned about the customs, traditions, and history of the Chinese New Year. Students made and learned about the Chinese Lantern Festival, the Dragon Dance, the purpose of red envelopes in the Chinese New Year, and the Chinese Calendar. The Chinese New Year began on Monday, January 23rd and will last for fifteen days.

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Time For Kids Promotion

williams3rd — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:40:05 +0000

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 social studies and language arts time in class. Booklets were 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.

***We have only had 130 booklets returned so far! We are way short of our goal!

Becoming a Love and Logic Parent Course Offered

williams3rd — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:38:18 +0000

Would you like to have more fun parenting? Would you like to feel relaxed at the end of the day? Would you like to feel more confident as a parent? Join Robin Butler for a practical and entertaining six-week Becoming a Love and Logic® Parent course. The classes begin January 30, 2012 and will meet Mondays from 6:30-7:30 p.m. at West Elementary School. FREE CHILDCARE WILL BE PROVIDED. The course fee is $10.00, which covers the cost of your parent handbook. If you have any questions or would like to register, please call 456-7271 or email butlerr@usd320.com. You may also register by visiting http://wamegok5guidance.wordpress.com and clicking on the Love and Logic page, then the registration link.

Investigating Mass

williams3rd — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:48:44 +0000

This week in math students continued their investigation of mass in a new lab experiment. Students investigated how the mass of nearly identical objects was related to the number of objects. They explored why measurements are not exact, and they used patterns in their data to make predictions and solve problems. Skills students used during this lab were: measuring in mass in grams; using patterns in tables and graphs to make predictions and solve problems; collecting, organizing, graphing and analyzing data; drawing a best fit-line; solving problems using multiplication and division; dealing with precision and accuracy.

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Spelling Bee

williams3rd — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:37:43 +0000

We are so proud of Alexis and Tegan for representing our class in the school-wide spelling bee today! They both did a great job!

Government Test, Thurs., January 26

williams3rd — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:37:46 +0000

Students brought home their study guides for their government test yesterday. Our test will be next Thursday, January 26th. This tends to be a difficult test for students, so diligent studying each night is recommended. Students are allowed to take their book home to study as well. I just ask that if they take their book home, they bring it back the following day so we can use it in class. I am attaching the study guide as well as a review game that student can use.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – Government

Study Guide for Government Test

Measuring Mass

williams3rd — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:09:09 +0000

On Monday in math students began a new unit on mass. Students have been using the basic metric unit of grams to find the mass of a variety of small objects using a two-pan balance and standard masses. Different groups compared the results of the mass of common objects. Students discussed why they may have gotten different answers for the mass of the same objects and whether these differences were reasonable. We will continue investigating mass this week and next week in math class.

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