Mrs. Ward’s Class

Parents,

I am so grateful for this year and all that you have done. I am going to miss seeing everyone every single day. It was such a great year.

I am looking forward to next year and I hope you are too. American Leadership Academy follows my philosophy perfectly. We are doing Covey Leadership training next week and I am very excited. I am looking forward to teaching my students these habits next year. I want you to know that these programs have been tested and proven to be effective. Please read The Leader in Me so you can see how it will help your children. We will have awesome facilities here that will help your child be well rounded. The school will be beautiful and the staff will be amazing.

I wanted to let you know that not everyone is on the enrollment list for next year. We are almost at our max for enrollment. I would make a phone call and make sure your students are enrolled for next year. The news about this new school is traveling fast, make sure you secure your spot.

Next year will be a little bit different for all of us but I know it will be a wonderful experience. In fact, next year I will be one of the second grade teachers. I am hoping that some of my sixth graders next year will help out in my classroom every once in a while.

I hope you all have a great summer,

Mrs.Ward

May 20, 2009

We had a great field trip last week. Thanks for coming and helping out. I wanted to make you aware of some changes for the rest of the year. The book reports were due today; I hope everyone was able to turn it in on time. It is important to make sure that everyone completes this project.  Today we had the Geography Bee and several of our students participated. Rose, in our class got 3^rd place. We are so proud of everyone that tried and persevered.

We are going to be trying to finish up all of our work this week. I am planning on giving the homework folders back on Friday. There is no school on Monday because of Memorial Day. Next Tuesday we will be having the Final States and Capitals Test. It is important that the students know where all of the states are located and they need to know all of the capitals. This state test will help determine their final geography grade.

Parents, I would like to put a page together of some of the activities our class has done. If you have taken pictures I would greatly appreciate it if you could email me some of the pictures. I know that not everyone was able to get a yearbook so I want to put a little page together of our fun memories this year. I would love your help. If you love to do a collage of our class I would appreciate that as well. I would like the pictures by Tuesday of next week.

Wednesday, May 27^th we will be having the Talent Show. Parents are welcome to come and watch. We will have the talent show at 12:30. It might be fun to bring some popcorn, soda pop (only in cans) and more snacks for watching a show.

Thursday, May 28^th is Independence Day celebration. We will be having a softball game and signing yearbooks. If you have a glove, bats or balls you are encouraged to bring them on Thursday. Make sure that you have your name written on your bats, balls or gloves. We will be having lunch provided for so you don’t need to bring a lunch to school that day.  Parents the school is looking for desserts donated, such as apple pies. If you can bring it please bring it with your child next Thursday.

Friday, May 29^th will be the last day of school and it is a half day. Please make sure your student brings their backpacks so they can empty their desks out.

It has been a great year. Thanks for all that you have done. Parents thanks for all of your input. I appreciated all of your responses to my question regarding homework this week. I was wondering if we could have one more forum. I was wondering what your input is on the homework so I can make some decisions for next year. Could you tell me what you thought on the math logs, reading logs, reading summaries, and math? Was it helpful getting the work back each week in the folders? If you could email me your thoughts I would appreciate it. Please understand that I am looking for inputs from you so don’t feel like you are hurting my feelings if you didn’t think something was useful.

May 11, 2009

Animal Kingdom Times

The end of the year may be approaching but we have a lot of things that need to get done between now and then. We are almost to the top of the hill. I wanted to share a neat experience we had last week on determination. We were talking about the end of the year and how it is hard to stay focused at times. One of our students had a bright idea. She said, “Why don’t we put up signs around our room that inspires us to keep going?” We put up all of these signs and all of the students signed a poster indicating that they were going to keep going up the hill and try their best.

Monday, May 11th- Midwest states test

Thursday, May 14th- Business Day if students behave appropriately. Homework is due. Field Trip money and form is due by this date, you may not turn it in on Friday. Measurement math test.

Friday, May 15th- Field Trip to the Mesa Museum, don’t forget it costs $7.

Wednesday, May 20th- Book reports are due. Geography Bee. Don’t forget that you will be presenting your information in front of the class. Be prepared to do an oral presentation.

May 22nd- Final States Test. You must know where all fifty states are located and you must know all of the capitals.

Monday, May 25th- Memorial Day

Wednesday, May 27th- Animal Kingdom’s Talent Show. Bring some popcorn

Thursday, May 28th- Independence Day

Friday, May 29th- It is the last day of school, 12:00 Release. Be sure you have all assignments turned in.

June 1st-2nd- If you have not finished your work you will need to have a make up day to complete your assignments.

* Please make sure to check the homework folders. Remember to do spelling, reading summaries, reading logs, math logs, and math homework.

April 27, 2009

Parents, I wanted you to know that some deadlines have changed and you can check it out on the fourth quarter link. If you have a hard time opening it please let me know. I also have the rest of the spelling words on the top links for you to look at and review. Make sure you get going on those science experiments.

I appreciate all of the help you parents have done. Thank You! I appreciate all of your donations and help. We are now in need of tissues, if you have any extra I would love the help.

Any other questions or concerns please contact me.

Mrs.Ward

Here’s your spelling words for the week. I hope everyone has a great day. Don’t forget to do your spelling homework. The words are getting a lot harder so it is crucial that the students study each week. It will only get harder but if you study you will do just great.

White Tiger
Week 31
April 20th

1. certainly
2. certain
3. investigate
4. before
5. pleasant
6. ability
7. atmosphere
8. canvas
9. ceiling
10. celery
11. salary
12. college
13. communities
14. community
15. creation
16. creative
17. created
18. create
19. appearance
20. autumn

Gorilla Spelling
Week 31
April 20th

1. equipment
2. equipped
3. equip
4. fearful
5. fate
6. functional
7. function
8. furniture
9. future
10. gathering
11. heavily
12. heavier
13. heavy
14. hundred
15. imagine
16. image
17. inches
18. influence
19. independent
20. individual

Shark Spelling
Week 31
April 20th

1. frontier
2. guarantee
3. guitar
4. humorous
5. humor
6. impressive
7. impression
8. impress
9. Israel
10. league
11. mathematical
12. mathematics
13. military
14. militia
15. mischief
16. mortgage
17. municipal
18. neutral
19. miscellaneous
20. mischievous

I forgot to explain to you that the students get to pick if they want to do a share what you know project, biography report, or a chapter book report. They don’t need to do all three. I didn’t download the bibliography sheet but the students will be getting those tomorrow. If your student looses that sheet just let me know and I will have extras.

I had a problem with my computer and the spelling words. I will give you the spelling words for this week added to the bottom. I will try to download the spelling words on this website before Friday. Thanks for your patience.

Week 30
April 15th
White Tiger

1. carriage
2. carry
3. further
4. serious
5. condition
6. govern
7. opinion
8. onion
9. companion
10. million
11. behavior
12. believe
13. system
14. possibly
15. possible
16. piece
17. peace
18. witness
19. doubt
20. government

Week 30
April 15th
Gorilla Group

1. capital
2. capitol
3. cereal
4. choice
5. chose
6. chosen
7. choose
8. columns
9. correct
10. current
11. desirable
12. desire
13. division
14. divide
15. drawn
16. drew
17. draw
18. extremely
19. campaign
20. coarse

Week 30
April 15th
Shark Group
1. dramatically
2. dramatic
3. drama
4. economically
5. economic
6. economy
7. eliminate
8. efficiency
9. efficient
10. embarrassment
11. embarrass
12. endeavor
13. enthusiasm
14. extraordinary
15. fatiguing
16. fatigue
17. formally
18. formal
19. dissension
20. dissent

April 14, 2009

I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter. It is always nice to be with family. Today everyone should have received their homework packets back. We are taking the spelling pre test 30 tomorrow. I just gave everyone the new spelling words today. I wanted to give them reasonable time to look over the words and prepare for the exam. The spelling sheet has the next 6 weeks listed. It is important to note how important it is for students to study for the spelling tests. The spelling is going to get harder and harder these next few weeks. I know the students will do just fine if they practice each night. It is important to remind everyone that you need to do spelling each night unless you get a 100% or better on Monday’s.

I know that we have missed some weeks of homework because of AIMS and other short weeks. The rest of the year should be a typical homework week. Please remember to get logs signed, reading summaries (summaries on what you have read), and math homework. I will be keeping record of who does their homework for the next few weeks. The students that do their homework faithfully will be able to participate in Business Day. Business Day is where the students can buy and sell items with their fake Animal Kingdom money. They can bring food, crafts, and more. The possibilities are endless. We also have done auctions and raffles. We are planning on having our celebration on May 5th. We will also learn about Cinco de Mayo that day. It would be great if anyone can bring chips, salsa, beverages, or anything else from the Latin culture that you want to contribute. Please let me know if you will be bringing anything.

We are planning on going to the Arizona Museum of Natural History in Mesa on Friday, May 15th. I will give you more details, but I wanted to give you advance notice in case you can come. At the museum we will learn about dinosaurs, caves, rocks, Hohokam Village, 5 C’s of Arizona, territorial jails, mines, and more. It is going to be a lot of fun at the museum.

Please remember the Science Fair is April 30th. It is important to look at the Science Fair due dates and start working on those projects if you haven’t already done so. The school is still looking for any donations for the science fair prizes. If you would like to donate any money or coupons it would be greatly appreciated. If there are any parents that have a science background and would like to help judge the science fair projects, please let me know.

Book Reports are due May 20th. Students should know by Friday what type of project they will be doing. Students have the hard copy and I have the reports downloaded at the top of this page.

We have run out of cleaning supplies such as cleaning wipes for our desks, tissues (this is very much needed. We are completely out of tissues), hand sanitizer, and lined paper. I appreciate everything you all have done to help keep our classroom well stocked. Please also be sure that your student has the required supplies, some students are down to only one pencil.

I hope everyone is enjoying their day. I want to start off and say how grateful I am for all that you do. This week has been great with giving the children treats for AIMS. I know they really love it. Thank you parents for your support and care! I have really enjoyed meeting with you for Parent Teacher Conferences. If you still would like to meet with me let me know. The students enjoyed showing their parents what we are up to and sharing all of their accomplishments.

Please check the link for important dates for the fourth quarter. I will be working on giving you some more specifics very soon.

I also want you to know that I have some scholastic catalogs available online. The due date for Arrrow and Humor and Poetry is April 25th. My class user name is mrsward5 and my password is animalkingdom

Next week the students will have spelling and homework. We will have a normal school week next week. The students are doing great on the AIMS and they are having a fantastic attitude.

Please don’t forget that there will be a parent information meeting on Thursday, April 2nd at 7 p.m. Due to expected crowd,we suggest that only parents/guardians attend this meeting. There will be more meetings in the future in which students may attend. I look forward to the new buildings and facilities. It will be exciting to find out more about the school.

Have a good rest of the way. Don’t hesitate to contact me.

Mrs.Ward
wardteach@gmail.com

I hope everyone enjoyed their Spring Break. It is always great spending time with family. Wednesday and Thursday will be half days and we will be let out of school at 12 p.m. Please make sure to schedule an appointment for the Parent Teacher Conference with the office. I look forward to meeting with everyone for Parent Teacher Conferences.

Next week is AIMS testing. Please make sure to eat a good breakfast each morning. If anyone is interested in bringing a healthy snack such as orange juice, pretzels, mints, bagels, or fruit please let me know which day you would be interested in bringing the healthy snack. It is important that you don’t miss any days next week.

The Science Fair is April 30th. Please start thinking about what you will be doing. I will give you more information at the Parent Teacher Conferences.

Spelling is on the spelling link but I am putting it up on here also. Students will get their spelling scores back tomorrow. We will be having the typical homework, spelling, reading summaries, reading logs, math logs, and math homework.

Please contact me via email or phone if you have any questions. My email is wardteach@gmail.com

Spelling
White Tiger
Week 28
March 23rd
patient
patience
pianist
pianos
piano
pickles
pickle
prisoner
release
resign
reveal
sleeve
soldier
summary
sum
sword
motion
often
tomatoes
paragraph

Spelling Gorilla
Week 28
March 23rd
leadership
leader
messenger
message
musician
music
pigeon
plane
plain
problems
rehearsal
rehearse
removal
removed
remove
principle
valley
vegetable
principal
siege

Spelling shark
March 23rd
relation
relate
restaurant
scarce
scarcely
scheme
seized
seize
selection
simplicity
simplified
simple
submarine
marine
territory
surgeon
telescope
territorial
superintendent
thoroughly

March 10, 2009

Important Updates

Today we learned about different animals. I know that I learned some neat things and I saw some chickens that I had I never seen before. It was very informative. Yesterday the students worked very hard and they deserved a day to relax and see some animal life. I am also happy to say that we have been learning a lot about positive attitudes and the power of visualizing. It has been working in our class! Many of the students are using these practices and I know that with their positive attitude they are improving in their academics and behavior.

I have some important reminders. This week the students do not need to do reading summaries, reading logs, or math logs. However they do need to do the math review, and at least two spelling assignments. If the students are behind in their homework they can try to make it up to get a better grade.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, the students need to turn in their Biography Reports. Please follow all of the directions. This is a very important report. Thursday, March 12th the students will be having a math test. Please look over the review carefully because those concepts will be on the test. The deadline to turn in all work for the quarter is Friday, March 13th; this includes DA’s, and any other projects that are not completed yet.

Spring Break is March 16th to March 20th. Students will return to school on March 23rd and Parent Teacher Conferences will be on Wednesday, March 25th and Thursday, March 26th. Please schedule with the office a time to meet with me for Parent Teacher Conferences. We have some neat portfolios the students will want to share with you. I want everyone to come. 

AIMS testing is coming up! AIMS testing is on March 30 to April 3rd. It is important to get good rest and we will continue to prepare for AIMS testing.
Have a good day!
Mrs. Ward