Miss Zelinger's Blog

Zelinger's Week in Preview and Review 05/05-05/09

Tue, 13 May 2008 18:56:37 GMT

Happy Mother's Day to all our mothers and grandmothers!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our 3/4 State Fair will be on Wednesday, May 28th and Thursday, May 29th. Requirements for the project went home four weeks ago. Students filled out another reflection sheet for me on Wednesday telling me what they have done and what they are planning on doing. If your kiddoe hasn't started yet, please take a look at it because it is a very involved project. This project cannot be turned in late.

You will see a decrease in homework as we get closer to the due date of the state fair project.

We will be traveling downtown on Thursday, May 15th to go to the Denver Art Museum, the Denver Mint and Civic Center Park. Please send your kiddoe with a completely disposable lunch. We will not have access to a microwave or a refrigerator so please plan accordingly.

Field day will be Wednesday, June 4th from 8:30 until the end of the day. Lunch will be picnic style.

If your kiddoe has a summer birthday and you would like to send treats in before the end of the year, please let me know

Our music concert will be Tuesday, May 27th!

You can come listen to me play with my symphony on Sunday, May 18th at 7:00 pm. We will be performing with at the Highlands Ranch Music Festival. Please ask me for details if you want to come.

Thank you for all the wonderful gifts and treats this past week! I felt very appreciated!

Coming this week:

Begin learning signs of the planets
Continue learning about the ancient astronomers/philosophers
Experiment: rotation
Field trip: Denver Art Museum/Denver Mint/ Civic Center Park: Please bring sack lunch!

Highlights from last week:

Speaker: Jim Paradise from Lockheed Martin
Began studying about ancient astronomers/philosophers: Pythagoras and Aristotle
Played sparkle and paper plate game to study for state test
final state test Thursday 5/08
Project: Shrinking the solar system
Ryland was Head of School for the day on Friday and did a wonderful job!!! We all really LOVED the extra recess he gave his class!!!!!

THANK YOU to the Halls and the Mayers for bringing in copy paper!!!! I now have enough to last us until the end of the year. I greatly appreciate your generosity!

Zelinger's Week in Preview and Review 04/28-05/02

Mon, 05 May 2008 15:43:24 GMT

Our 3/4 State Fair will be on Wednesday, May 28th and Thursday, May 29th. Requirements for the project went home three weeks ago. Students filled out a reflection sheet for me on Wednesday telling me what they have done and what they are planning on doing. If your kiddoe hasn't started yet, please take a look at it because it is a very involved project.

You will start to see a decrease in homework as we get closer to the due date of the state fair project.

Our Southeastern state test will be on Thursday, May 8th. Students should know the location and the spelling of each of the 10 states.

We are going to see Slim Goodbody on May 8th and to the Denver Art Museum/Denver Mint on May 15th. Our overnight at the Denver Zoo will be on Friday, May 23rd and Saturday, May 24th. Our activities will focus on Earth Day and our planet.

If your kiddoe has a summer birthday and you would like to bring in treats before the end of the year, please let me know.

We are running low on copy paper. If anybody can donate a ream or two for the end of the year we would GREATLY appreciate it!

Our music concert is on Tuesday, May 27th.

You can come and hear me play with her orchestra on Friday, May 9th in Lone Tree. Please let me know if you would like further details.

Coming this Week:

Speaker Monday 5/5: Jim Paradise, solar system ambassador from Lockheed Martin
Continue talk about the solar system
Begin to learn planet symbols
Shrink the solar system (if time allows)
Field trip to see Slim Goodbody
Study for Southeastern state test
Southeastern state test on May 8th
Reflection on State Fair project

Highlights from last week:

Watched Bill Nye the Science Guy video on the Solar System
Experiment: Pacing the Solar System: We went outside and paced how far about the planets were. Ask your kiddoe what we did.
Southeastern states Around the World
Running of the Kentucky Derby
Andrew did a wonderful job presenting his Student of the Week poster
Sophie did a wonderful job presenting her Student of the Week poster

Zelinger's Week in Preview and Review 04/21-04/25

Mon, 05 May 2008 15:43:03 GMT

Permission slips for Slim Goodbody and The Denver Art Museum/Denver Mint will be sent home in the Monday folders on 4/28 and will be due 5/2

We are going to see a presentation of Slim Goodbody on May 8th and we are going to the Denver Art Museum/Denver Mint on May 15th

Bunk with the Beasts, our 3/4 overnight is coming up on Friday and Saturday, May 23rd and 24th. Our activities will focus on Earth Day and our study of the solar system

Our music concert will be in the evening on Tuesday, May 27th. More details to follow

I am running a little low on copier paper. If anyone is able to donate one or two reams for the end of the year, I would greatly appreciate it!!!!!!

We have no birthdays left before the end of the year. If your kiddoe has a summer birthday (6/6 - 8/19) and you want to bring in treats sometime before June 5th, please contact me so we can set up a day. I'm creating a schedule so that each kiddoe can have his/her own day. As of right now, the only unavailable day is May 16th.

Requirements for the State Fair project went home last week. The project is due on Wednesday, May 28th.

***SCHEDULE CHANGE!!!!! The final Southeastern states test for my class has been moved to Thursday 5/8!***

Coming this week:

Continue study of the Solar System
Distance experiment
Running of Kentucky Derby
Activities related to Southeastern States

Highlights from last week:

Began talking about Solar System: What do we know?
Read and answered questions about astronomy/astronomers
Video: Magic Schoolbus Gets Lost in Space
Earth Day Activities: watched The Lorax with Mr. Burns; created Earth Day posters
Sequencing activity: How Big is the Universe?
Googled pictures of comets and galaxies
Began pacing experiment by drawing, coloring and cutting out planets Mercury-Uranus
Continued working on travel brochures for Southeastern states and reviewed states and capitals

Zelinger's Week in Preview and Review 04/14-04/18

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:22:23 GMT

Thank you to everyone for getting in their overnight permission slips and payments in by April 18th!

Permission slips for Slim Goodbody and the Denver Art Museum/Denver Mint will be in the Monday folders on April 28th. They are due back to school by Friday, May 2nd

Earth Day is Tuesday, April 22nd. We will be doing some activities during theme to help celebrate the day

Requirements for the State Fair went home on Tuesday. Your kiddoe was assigned a state for their project. Due to the nature of this project, I will not be having the kiddoes complete the final project for my state class. We will still run the Kentucky Derby and take the final test. Kentucky Derby is a date TBD. The final test will be on Thursday, 5/1

Field Day will be on Wednesday, June 4th!!

School gets out on June 5th this year, if your kiddoe has a birthday during the summer please let me know if you would like to bring in treats. I would like to arrange a schedule so that each kiddoe with a summer birthday has a day of their own to celebrate if they choose!! :)

Coming this week:

Begin study of Solar System
Earth Day activities on April 22nd
Continue study of southeastern states: final test on Thursday, 5/1

Highlights from last week:

Students did a wonderful job creating and presenting their final digestion projects
Assigned states for "State Fair" project
Handed out and discussed requirements for "State Fair" project: due 5/28
Created a map showing the major industries and attractions throughout the Southeast
Began creating a travel poster for one of the southeast states based on attractions and industry
Josie did a wonderful job presenting her Student of the Week poster

Zelinger's Week in Preview and Review 04/07-04/10

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 04:19:40 GMT

Our Read to Feed project was a huge success. We will be meeting as a team to calculate our final total and then coming up with package choices that the kiddoes will get to vote on.

I want to give a very special THANK YOU and WOW to Kathryn Wright. She raised over $500!!!!! This helped bring our class total to over $700!!!!!!

Final digestive system projects are due Monday, April 14th.

During our study of the skeletal and muscular system we did a number of experiments and had many discussions of the bones and muscles. I was able to assess the kiddoes in many different situations that showed me whether they had a good handle on the concepts. I decided not to give a final test because of the information I already had and because CSAP fell right in the middle of our unit.

We will be having a "state fair" as a culminating activity for our year-long state unit. State Fair requirement packets will go home on Tuesday, April 15th. The state fair will be held May 28th and May 29th.

Permission slips and $35 payments for our overnight at the Denver Zoo are due Friday, April 18th. Permissions slips for Slim Goodbody and the Denver Mint will go home in Monday folders on April 28th.

We have no birthdays in our classroom for the rest of April and all of May. If your kiddoe has a birthday between June 6th and August 19th, we would be happy to celebrate it before the end of the year. Please let me know!

Coming up this week:

Final Digestion projects due Monday, April 14th
Presentations of final digestion projects
Continue study of the Southeastern states
State fair project requirements handed out
Begin study of Solar system (dependent on digestive system presentations)

Highlights from last week:

Experiment: Bile: What is it and how does it work?
Final state class with Mrs. B on 4/8
Began study of Southeastern states

Zelinger's Week in Preview/Review 03/31-04/04

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 03:57:20 GMT

I hope everyone had a wonderful and restful Spring Break!!

Permission slips for the overnight at the Denver Zoo are due by Friday, April 18th. Please send in the $35 payment along with the permission slip.

Does your kiddoe have a summer birthday??? We do not have any birthdays to celebrate in our class between April 12th and June 6th this year. Please let me know if you would like to bring in treats sometime from mid April to early June for any birthdays in June, July or early August.

Final projects for the digestive system went home on Monday, March 31st. These projects are due to me by Monday, April 14th!

We took a class picture on Friday. Money can be turned in until Tuesday morning. The cost of the picture is $9. We are also taking Read to Feed Money until Monday, 4/7.

Item coming soon: field trip permission slip forms for Slim Goodbody and the Denver Art Museum/Denver Mint

Item coming soon: project guidelines for "State Fair" project...stay tuned for further details

Field day has been scheduled for Wednesday, June 4th. It will be a day-long event!!!!!

There is no school this Friday, 04/11 due to a Teacher Inservice Day. Enjoy the three-day weekend!!!

Coming this week: 04/07-04/10

Wrap up digestive system
Last day of states with Mrs. B 04/08
Begin study of Southeastern states with me for the last rotation of state studies

Highlights from last week:

Discussed parts of digestive system and their function
Handed out requirements for final digestive system project
Learned about the teeth
Experiment: Starch and fat test
Switched to Mrs. B's for states on 04/01 and 04/03: Mrs. B said that they did a GREAT job on their timeline project. She was EXTREMELY impressed!
Ryland did a great job presenting his Student of the Week poster

Zelinger's Week in Preview and Review 03/17 - 03/21

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:01:33 GMT

We had an AWESOME read-a-thon today. Thank you to Mrs. Tagestad for coming in to read to us this afternoon. Read to Feed pledge money is due the first week back from Spring Break, 03/31-04/04. All pledge envelopes must be turned in by Friday April 4th. Please try to collect checks made out to Heifer International. Thank you all for a wonderful fundraiser!!!!

Field trip permission slips will go out in the 3/31 Monday folders. Our overnight will be at the Denver Zoo on May 23rd. Our activities will tie in with Earth Day and our study of the planet.

We have three field trips planned for May. On 5/8 we will be going to Loretta Heights to watch a performance of Slim Goodbody. On 5/15 we will be heading downtown to visit the Denver Art Museum and the Denver Mint and our overnight is on 5/23.

I hope you all have a fun and safe Spring Break!!!!!

Thank you to Mrs. Fay and Mrs. Hankins for joining us on our field trip to the Fiske Planetarium in Boulder. We had a great time up there.

THANK YOU to everyone who purchased books for me at the book fair this past week!!!! I received everything I wanted and then some!

Coming this week: 03/31 - 04/04

Continue our study of the digestive system
Switch to Mrs. B.'s for state studies on 4/1 and 4/3

Highlights from last week:

Experiment: Monstrous Digestive System: students rotated stations and, using yarn, made a model of their digestive system including their small intestine, which is four times their height
Field trip: Fiske Planetarium: We had a good introduction to the solar system
Project: Digestive diagram: Students put together a poster diagram of the human digestive system
Switched to Mrs. B's for states on 3/20
Alexandra did a wonderful job presenting her Student of the Week poster!

Zelinger's Week in Preview/Review 03/10-03/14

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:22:46 GMT

We will be having a read-a-thon on Friday, March 21st to culminate our Read to Feed community service project. Students may bring in pillows and stuffed animals. They may also wear their pjs. Please let me know if you would like to come in a read a story to our class on Friday afternoon between 12:45 and 1:30.

We will be going to the Fiske Planetarium on Tuesday, March 18th. Please remember to pack a sack lunch for your kiddoe on that day

CSAP testing continues this week with fourth grade testing Monday-Thursday. Everyone is doing a wonderful job and we are so proud of all of our kiddoes

Our overnight will be May 23rd at the Denver Zoo. We will be tying our activities into Earth Day and the study of our planet

We have two other field trips planned in May: Slim Goodbody on 5/8 and the Denver Art Museum and the Denver Mint on 5/15

Spring "Road Trip" Scholastic book fair is March 17th-21st!!!!!

Coming this week: 03/17-03/21

Continue our look at the digestive system
Read to Feed read-a-thon on Friday, March21st. Please let me know if you would like to come in and read a short story to the kiddoes between 12:45 and 1:30. We will be going down to visit the Scholastic book fair at 1:30
Switch Mrs. B for state studies on Thursday, 3/20

Highlights from last week:

Switched to Mrs. B for state studies on Monday, 3/10 and Tuesday, 3/11
Introduced the digestive system with a model and a video: The Magic Schoolbus: For Lunch
Discussed how the digestive system uses certain types of food and what that means for your body
Experiment: What Does Saliva Do Starches?
Video: Bill Nye the Science Guy: Digestive System
Rohit did a wonderful job presenting his Student of the Week poster

Zelinger Week in Preview and Review 03/03 - 03/07

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 20:42:03 GMT

REMEMBER---Daylight Savings time begins this weekend. Please set your clocks forward one hour before going to bed Saturday night!

Permission slips for the Fiske Planetarium field trip went home in the Monday folders on March 3rd. Please return the signed form ASAP if you haven't already done so. The field trip is on Tuesday, March 18th.

Our overnight will be on May 23rd at the Denver Zoo. Our activities will be tied in with Earth Day.

We have two other field trips in May!! We will be going to Loretta Heights to watch Slim Goodbody on May 8th and on May 15th, we will be going downtown to visit the Denver Art Museum and the Denver Mint.

We are in the midst of our Read to Feed community service project. Literature came home about this last week and the kiddoes are very excited to be reading to support children in underpriviledged countries. Our culminating activity will be a read-a-thon on Friday, March 21st.

Original work orders were sent home on Friday. Please let us know if you didn't receive what you ordered. The pieces looked great!!!

This was the first full week of the 3rd trimester (I can hardly believe it)!!!!! We switched specials and are now in Computers and Spanish for the first 6 weeks.

March and April weather is unpredictable. They are the first and third snowiest months, respectively. Please continue to make sure you kiddoe is coming to school dressed appropriately for the conditions and for outdoor recess.

CSAP testing begins this week. 3rd and 4th graders will test Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (March 11-13th) this week. 4th graders will test Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (March 17-20) next week. We are testing on Monday the 17th due to our field trip the morning of 3/18.

Coming this week: 03/10-03/14: Theme classes will not meet regularly due to CSAP

Finish presenting our muscle posters
Review bones, muscles and joints
State classes with Mrs. B

Highlights from last week:

Talked about types of muscles in the body
Became teachers about muscles: each group was assigned an article out of our Muscles Magazine. They had to create a fact poster to assist them in teaching the class about their individual part. Half the groups shared Friday, the other half will share this week
Greg Richards spoke to us about bullying and feeling safe in school
Switched to Mrs. B for state studies on the Northern Middle states
Kathryn did a wonderful job presenting her Student of the Week poster

Zelinger's Week in Preview and Review 02/19-02/22

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 05:16:55 GMT

Thank you to the kiddoes who have brought in Kleenex!! Our noses are all very appreciative!

Our next field trip is scheduled for Tuesday, March 18th. We will be going to the Fiske Planetarium in Boulder. Look for field trip permission slips in the March 3rd Monday folders.

The 3/4 overnight will be on May 23rd at the Denver Zoo. Our activities will focus on Earth Day and our planet.

The kiddoes will be taking CSAP the weeks of March 10th-14th and March 17th-March 21st. Please make sure you child is in attendance and well rested/fed.

Thank you to everyone who sent in boxtops! We will now the results of the contest at the beginning of March

Coming this week: 02/25-02/29

Continue work on muscular system
Experiment on muscle strength
Talk about tendons and ligaments
Switch to Mr. Burns for last two state classes with him: Tues. 2/26 and Thurs. 2/28: Final state test for his class this week. Next state rotation: Mrs. B.'s

Highlights from last week:

Switched to Mr. Burns for state studies on Tues. 2/19 and Thurs. 2/21
Began studying the muscular system: what is it and how does it work; what are the three types of muscles in the body
Reviewed joints
Learned the common and scientific names of the muscles
Experiment: A Different Kind of Strong--modeling the cardiac muscles
Elysse did a wonderful job presenting her Student of the Week poster!