2nd grade has a SURPRISE in the works

Lest you think that 2nd graders aren't doing anything in Mrs. Shrader's class...  We are working on a SURPRISE project.  Parents will be invited to class for the presentation of these projects in May.  (Date TBD - I still need to iron the plan out with Mrs. Davis.)

A part of this project has been a short autobiography.  Students will need a photo - wallet sized or smaller - to go with it.  Please send that in as you think about it.

3rd - 8th grade Autobiographies

Our next writing project for 3rd-8th grades is an AUTOBIOGRAPHY!  The kids are very excited to write about themselves.

We discussed timelines in great detail, and all students went home with a timeline to work on with their families.  They may use either the "line" format (birth on the far left...and future goals, dreams, ambitions on the far right) or "positive / negative" column format (left column = positive, right column = negative, birth listed at top...working down to future goals, dreams, ambitions at the bottom of the page.

Kids should include events that impacted their lives in some way.

Some examples:
moving
meeting their best friend
school
church
participating in a sport that they really love
activities - Awana, scouts, small group
significant illness/injury
loss of loved one
pets
siblings
marriage/divorce (including extended family - many kids "got another Grandma" when Grandpa remarried)
adoption
travel
community service
instrument they play

Timelines will help students to brainstorm and organize their thoughts chronologically.

Students should also look around their house and bedroom.  What photos hang on the walls?  What souvenirs, keepsakes and trophies are lying around?  What is important to your family?  To the student?

Students grades 3rd-6th may incorporate a few photos into their project.  These photos will be pasted onto a sheet of paper, so don't send anything you want back in its original condition.

Students grades 7th-8th are required to include photos and other illustrations, as it will be a more in-depth book project spanning the next several weeks.

The kids are excited...and I'm excited!  These should be FUN projects and will certainly be something worth looking back at in the years to come.

Tonight's Wax Museum

I am so sad to miss tonight's Christmas Open House.  It is such a wonderful time for the kids to shine - with their music program, Wax Museum, and all of their class projects and artwork on display.  I also love getting to meet the kids' parents, siblings and any other special family members they bring with them.

The 3rd - 6th graders have put a tremendous amount of effort into their Wax Museum presentations, and I have no doubt that they are going to be awesome tonight.  I have to miss all the fun - my kids' schedules present a few conflicts for tonight - so I will be looking forward to getting on Facebook later and checking out all of their adorable pictures (and any video clips you'd like to share).

To alleviate the pressure of performing in front of 100+ people, the kids will be divided into small groups and placed throughout the building.  The kids have been grouped so that all family members are together; this way, parents are sure to see each of their kids at the Wax Museum.  Please feel free to circulate among the groups at your leisure.

Sanctuary                            Front Lobby                        Fellowship Hall

Micah                                  Ben B.                                   Josh M.

Riley                                    Luke B.                                 Jackson S.           

Brooke                                 Jack W.                                 Jaxen D.

Evan                                    Selah                                     Ben E.

Levi

Eli

Noah

Moses Room                     Back Lobby                         Music Room

Carson                               Connor B.                            Abby

Lilly                                  Connor L                              Joey

Isaac                                  Brady R.                               Chelsie

Austin M.                          Lance                                    Morgan

In the interest of time, we are keeping the Wax Museum to about 40 minutes.  Students in the Sanctuary will go through their Wax Museum presentations twice, while all other groups will go through theirs three times. 

Break a leg, kids!!  I am so proud of each and every one of you.

Parents and friends, enjoy the show! 

PS:  Don't forget to pick up your Writing Portfolio before you go home.   

Reminder - WAX MUSEUM

Considering that I was out sick all last week ... and MOEC is out next week for Thanksgiving ... the Wax Museum suddenly seems to be approaching very quickly.

Students in grades 3-6 need to bring their research materials to school every Monday and Wednesday.  If accessing information electronically, please make sure that it does not require internet access, as the internet was unavailable on Monday.

Several students in the 3rd/4th grade class did not have materials yesterday and/or were undecided as to who they wanted to be at the Wax Museum.  Please check with your student to make sure they have a solid plan, so that we can use every minute of remaining classtime to prepare.  If students come unprepared tomorrow, they will have to select a new person from the limited materials I have in the classroom.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for helping your students in selecting their Wax Museum person.  We are going to have a blast!

Wax Museum, grades 3-6

3rd - 5th grades will be hosting the Wax Museum at the Mighty Oaks Family Night on December 13.

As time permits this week and next, we will be brainstorming/researching/writing our presentations.  Students will need to bring research materials to school in order to work on this.  To make the research part of this project a huge success - and more enjoyable - please help your student to pick reading material that is at their reading level.  If you think watching a movie would also help, I strongly encourage it.  Every speaker is more successful when they have thorough knowledge of their topic!

Who will we meet at the Wax Museum?

3rd/4th grades:

Lillian - Sacagawea
Austin - Squanto
Josh - Teddy Roosevelt
Eli - Noah
Luke - Sargeant York, WWI
Morgan - Beverly Cleary
Jackson - George Lucas
 **Remaining students still need to settle on a person.

5th/6th grades:

Selah - Esther
Ben B. - Thomas Edison
Chelsie - Elizabeth
Ben E. - Gene Krantz
Carson - Mary Slessor
Levi - Wilbur Wright
Evan - Orville Wright
Jaxen - Moses
Micah - Meriwether Lewis
Riley - William Clark
Brooke - Sacagawea
Abby - still deciding

**As students are settling on the person they want to represent, please keep in mind that all Wax Museum people are real historical figures who have contributed something worthwhile to the world.

Writing / Public Speaking update

Power of the Pen is back tomorrow!  With the World Series just around the corner, we've decided to write to Angels first baseman, Albert Pujols.  Take a few minutes to read through his Family Foundation website and you'll see why we've chosen him.

At 1:40pm Monday, the 7th and 8th grade class will be performing a skit for the entire school.  Parents are invited to come on in to watch.  **Class, don't forget to bring the props you will need for the skit.

On Wednesday, grades 2-6 will begin preparing demonstration speeches.  I expect that we will be preparing speeches in class on Wednesday and the following Monday, and hope to begin giving these speeches the following Wednesday (October 17).  We have discussed topics students are interested in, but students are to make the final decision with their parents.  Students can have access to the kitchen should they need the stove or microwave...  Parents should help students determine what topic best fits their ability, comfort level, etc.  You know your student best, so I defer entirely to your discretion.

Demonstration speech ideas -

2nd grade:
Austyn - Chili dogs, break dancing, karate moves, karate board breaking.
Allie - Drawing a rose, home made granola, clapping game
Tori - Drawing an elephant, mending holes in clothing/stuffed animals
Jacob - Lemonade from scratch, paper ninja star, making a pillow
Brady - Pudding, ice cream sandwich
Bayleigh - Taco salad
Colter - Pinewood derby car, dancing
Sophie - Sew with needle and thread, tie-dye shirt, cookies, tumbling
Elizabeth - Draw a lady bug
Garrett - Fundamentals of t-ball (how to throw/catch), karate
Lucy - How to make s'mores in the kitchen

3rd / 4th grades:

Luke - Meatball sandwich, how to ride a motorcycle
Jack - How to make a pillow
Brady & Noah - Lego creations
Lance - Fishing
Connor B. - How to make pizza
Morgan & Lilly - How to embellish headbands
Connor L - Golf
Isaac - Flag football
Eli & Joey - Playdough
Austin - Basketball
Jackson - Creations with electric tape

5th / 6th grades:

Evan & Jaxen - Egg-free cookie dough
Brook & Carson - Homemade oreo cookies
Ben, Ben & Selah - Magic tricks
Abby & Chelsie - Fruit smoothies
Levi, Micah & Riley - Mentos experiments

Our target length for demonstration speeches is 3-5 minutes, but they often run as long as 10 minutes.  Students may work with a partner, so long as the demonstrating and speaking is divided evenly and so long as students are able to meet outside of class if they are unable to get everything prepared during our two 50 minute class periods.  These speeches are intended to be FUN and not terribly difficult.  If your student is overwhelmed, please let me know so I can help simplify things.

Grades 3-6 are also discussing the Wax Museum.  For the Wax Museum, students will study a historical figure of their choosing - someone who has made a positive contribution to the world - and piece together a 2-3 minute presentation about them.  This will be delivered from the first person perspective, as if they ARE the person they have chosen.  Students will create a costume, poster board, and whatever props they feel they need to adequately present their historical figure at the Wax Museum at the MOEC Christmas Open House.  We will begin working on this in the coming weeks, so I urge students to think through historical figures that they are interested in or admire, and begin learning about them.  We don't want any duplicates, so as soon as your student decides who he/she wants to be at the Wax Museum, they need to let me know so I can get them on the list.  This is a very fun project that we are all looking forward to!

Hope your students are having as much fun as I am!

Power of the Pen begins

Power of the Pen is off to a great start!  We had a really fun day learning about Toby Mac, making connections to our own lives, considering what we'd like to say to him, and writing letters!  Most of us still have a lot to say, so we'll finish writing on Wednesday.  THANK YOU to Morgan and Austin (and families) for the stationery.  We had a BLAST picking out the perfect paper to use today - the balloon paper and puppy cards were the favorites.  I posted one picture to Facebook but will post more to the blog after Wednesday.  Can you imagine receiving FIFTY fan letters in one envelope?  Toby's going to love it!  So proud of our kids for using their POWERFUL words to bless, edify and encourage.

Writing / Public Speaking updates

About this week:

The middle school girls put on a great debate today!!  We learned a lot as we went through the debate the first time, and realized right away that we'd forgotten about half of our material.  Eager as they were to learn and do better, they all opted to run through their debate a second time.  They were awesome!!  The boys said they learned a lot by watching the girls...  And the girls look forward to kicking back and watching the boys next Wednesday at 10:10am.  Parents are welcome to come watch.

Grades 1-5 wrote thank you notes to their Kindest Kansas Citian nominees today.  All of their thank you notes came home with strict instructions for students to share with their parents, and then decide with their parents how to get their notes delivered.  Please help your student follow-through on this, as these adults will surely be richly blessed by the students' thoughtful appreciation and encouragement.

Coming up next week:

Grades 1-2.  I completely forgot to tell the students that we will have Show and Tell on Monday.  Please have your student pick TWO items to bring to class that will help us get to know their dad.  As always, no weapons or extremely fragile items.

Grades 3-8:  Many students are preparing for a day at Exchange City, and Exchange City requires a resume and application for each participant.  Participants will also go through an interview process at Exchange City.  To help prepare those students, ALL 3rd-8th graders will go through these exercises in my class.  For some, this will merely be a mock exercise in class ... but I believe that it will prove to be a fun learning experience for all.  We will tackle some of this on Monday.

Grades 3-5 have moved on to their next fun project.  We are making a class poster book on zoo animals.  Each student selected one animal to research.  I have library books that I will bring every week (students will not be permitted to bring them home; however, they can bring additional resources if they'd like), and there will be plenty of class time to read, note, write, and create our posters.  Should students wish to type their written pieces, that will need to be done at home.  Additionally, students will want imagines of their animals to include in their posters - these images will need to be copied/printed outside of school.

As always, thanks so much to the parents for their assistance and encouragement.  We couldn't do all that we do without your involvement.

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum tour

So sorry this is last minute (we had unexpected company as our break started, and then I was unexpectedly out of town last week) ...  We are headed to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum on WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4, planning to arrive at 10am.  Let me know if you are able to join us - we'll meet you at the entrance.  Admission fees & address can be found on their website.

tonyashrader@everestkc.net

Ice cream, anyone?

I wanted to give a little extra credit as an incentive for students to read and write over Christmas break but, since I don't give "grades", this extra credit is coming in the form of ice cream.

I know...  Total bummer.

If your student would like to win an invitation to an ice cream party, here's what they need to do.

Read We Are The Ship and write a report sharing something they learned (at least 50 words - 35 words for 2nd grade and under).  Any student who turns their report in to me during the first week back after break will get to participate in the ice cream party.

As an added bonus...  My family will be visiting the Negro League Baseball Museum over the break.  Your family is invited to join us!  Location and ticket information can be found on their website.  Stay tuned for more information.

Today in Writing

1st and 2nd graders learned about nouns and verbs today, as we played a bit of a reverse-MadLibs game.  Each student was given three verb cards and three noun cards, and they made up silly stories using the words on their cards.  Most of the students got through this activity twice - and a few of the kids even had fun making up stories to go with their friends' cards.  It was a blast to see their creativity come to life!  In addition to just putting pen to paper, penmanship, word spacing, and over-all confidence is a big focus for 1st and 2nd grade writers.

I often enjoy politically charged discussions with the middle schoolers, and Monday was no exception.  We discussed the Shawnee Mission East senior who tweeted her disapproval of Gov. Brownback and the rumor that President Obama had changed the name of the tree currently decorated in the White House from Christmas tree to "holiday tree".  I researched the latter issue, and found it to be incorrect; however, Rhode Island Governor Chaffee has, indeed, done this in his state.  Like the Shawnee Mission East student who made headlines last week, our Mighty Oaks middle schoolers have opinions on many political issues.  In an effort to make our voices heard in a constructive way, our middle schoolers are writing letters to Governor Chaffee.  While we are not constituents of Governor Chaffee's, I applaud the students' efforts, intentions and maturity as they stand up for what they feel is right and question what they do not understand.  As future voters, the ability to discern fact from fiction and string together a few meaningful thoughts in a respectful way is invaluable.  I will mail the letters next week (with the return address being Mighty Oaks).

Additionally, through the letter writing exercise, I found that many of the students had never written a letter before, did not know their address, and did not know how to address a letter or envelope.  As email, blogs, Facebook, and online shopping and banking streamline just about every part of life, I can see that old fashioned letter writing has lost its appeal and young people are losing valuable life skills.  We will do these exercises again in the future, so please feel free to let me know if you hear of anyone who might like to receive letters from our Mighty Oaks students.  (Anyone have a loved one deployed?)

Wax Museum

In the month of December, Writing and Public Speaking classes for 3rd - 5th grades will focus on preparing for the Wax Museum.  Students need to come to class with their research materials, written story, and art supplies every day.  They also need a sheet of poster board (any color they choose) and a printed picture of their person - preferably for Monday's class.  (Once they bring their poster board to class once, I will be responsible for transporting it to and from school on subsequent days.)

Many of the students have shared their rough draft speeches with the class.  They are so good!  I am really excited and so very proud of them.  As we continue to utilize class time to refine and memorize our stories, time spent working on this at home should be minimal.

Don't forget to help your student find a costume.  I can hardly believe how quickly time is ticking away.  Only fifteen days left before the program!

Group writing

As a fun break between writing our essays and tackling poetry, we spent a day writing group stories.  I gave students the main topic, and each writer was assigned a specific question to address.  No one knew what was written before them - think Mad Libs - so they often make little sense...but generally caused riotous laughter.  Here is a sampling of their stories.  I will put every other writer in italics so it's clear when one writer stops and the next starts.

3rd - 5th grade stories:

The Famous Person

I met Michael Jackson.  I met him in my bathroom, and I was with my dad.  He looked like he was a rapper and his pants were backwards.  He had headphones and was very naughty.  His face was green and he was choking.  I peed my pants!  I got so excited when I saw him that I ran screaming and jumped off a cliff and died.

The Alien

I saw a alien in a jail cell.  He was the one and only one in the jail.  It was 4:00 in the morning.  I was with my teddy bear named Sugar Bear.  I was playing football.  He was big.  He was green.  He was an alien zombie with blue blood shooting at me!  I saw the alien and I ran and said, "MOOOOOOOOMMY!  MMMOOOOOMMMMMY!"  And then the alien took a knife.  The end.

The Alien 

I was sleeping in a living room and suddenly a ghost popped out.  Then a mummy popped out.  I was scared.  When I was there, I was with Micah, Evan, Levi and Hudson.  And I was playing cards and all the sudden, a alien thing came out of under my bed.  An NFL football.  I freaked out.  The alien went away and everyone was playing.

The Alien

Once there was a alien that landed in front of our house and I found a big light.  I was in my bedroom.  I was with Micah and Salah.  I was playing Roblox when a UFO came.  The alien was blue with a triangle head.  He had a swirly body with long, long legs.  And his arms were so small they looked like gumballs.  I went to hide under my bed and I was calling my mommy.  I fell dead and dreamed that this never happened!

6th - 8th grade stories:

Vacation

For vacation I went to see the ugly person, AKA Justin Bieber, on the #19 in 2011.  I was with Elmo, and they both sang their theme songs.  We went to a night club.  It had 1,000,000 lights!  We shot guns at moving targets.  I saw the Great Wall of China.  It was awesome, especially since I saw Justin Bieber smacked across the face.  It was raining boys!  I had a good time.

Vacation

We went to Florida on the beach, in July.  I went with my bestie, Pedro Man.  We went to a beautiful place with candy trees, cotton candy clouds, chocolate milk rain and soap roads.  We partied, partied, partied!!!  Then we got so tired that we started going crazy, so we decided to dig a hole in the ground.  We got to magma and now we're deformed.  We saw the beach and at the beach, there was a lot of drama that we saw also.  The weather was amazing, Dude.  It was very unusual.

We Met a Famous Person

I just saw Wesley!  I was with my friend, Bob.  We met them in my car.  He was wearing his famous purple shoes and white jacket.  He looked ugly, as usual.  He is awesome!  Awesomer than me!  I punched him in the eye and yelled.  After I punched him in the face, I ran so security did not grab me.

We Met a Famous Person

We met JUSTIN BIEBER!!  I met them at the VIP section of the rodeo.  I was with Jaden, Maggie and Kailee.  He was wearing a long, sparkly, flowing white dress.  He looked like an angel!  He was so generous and breathtaking.  He was kind and nice.  So wonderful.  We all ran up to him and then he was "HEY!" and then he asked us if we wanted to walk around with him and take a million pictures.  And then he asked us if we wanted to sing on stage with him.  He sang a song for me.

The Alien

Last night I was outside by a lake, and all of a sudden an alien rose out of the lake!  I was next to my pet dragon.  I was in the shower singing my new favorite song by Justin Bieber when I saw the alien.  It was purple with dark green spots, and glowing orange eyes.  We started screaming and running around in circles.  Me and the dragon looked at each other and then back at the alien and she was gone.

Essay

Third through eighth grades have completed their in-class work on their essays.  Since the contest entry deadline is November 1, I have asked all students to hand a printed copy of their essay in to me on Monday, October 31.

In compliance with the contest regulations, all essays should be no more than 700 words (the minimum of 100 words is my requirement), typed, double-spaced, on white paper, in 12 point Times New Roman font.  If competing in the HSLDA contest, it must be post-marked no later than November 1 (if participating, families are responsible for submitting their essays to the contest).  An entry form and fee are required.  Details can be found on their website.

Essays must be entirely the student's work, so I have given them very little direction in class.  My one word of advice - students should read their essays OUT LOUD before submitting them.  This actually applies to every written assignment, as it helps us to hear the pieces that do not make sense, are incomplete or are redundant.  I've re-read this paragraph about five times already.

I'm so proud of the kids for putting thought and effort into such a deep project.  Scripture is often difficult for adults to understand and apply to their lives, so I really commend the kids on this accomplishment.

As a little reward...and short break from all the seriousness...we will write some fun stories in a collaborative effort next week before moving on to poetry.

Writing update

Last week all students 1st - 8th grades participated in an affirmation project based on Psalm 139:13-14.

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."

We discussed the scripture and talked about how sometimes everyone feels like they don't measure up.  Perhaps feeling like the slowest kid in gym class, or the kid who's just not quite smart enough or funny enough.  When these thoughts and feelings come, it is so important to know how God sees us.  That He made us with great care, in His image, and He calls us His children and His friend.  That each of us is made with tremendous gifts and for a purpose.

After discussion, each student took the time to write something complimentary and encouraging to each of his/her classmates.  I compiled each student's compliments into a little booklet, and will have those for students tomorrow.  It is my hope and prayer that students will feel encouraged and lifted up by their classmates, and that students will always remember just how far words of affirmation go.  Every day, but especially on a bad day, a kind word can breathe hope into our lives.

With the 1st and 2nd grade class, we also read Jamie Lee Curtis' I'm Gonna Like Me.

In addition to sharing words of affirmation with classmates, students also submitted prayers for Joplin, to be permanently displayed as part of the Hope Memorial.  Please take a few minutes to read about this amazing work of art, and share this album with your children.  I didn't have access to the internet in class the other day, and many of the students were very interested in see just what the Hope Memorial is.

There are still a few students in 3rd-8th grades who are not yet finished with their silly story, so they will use their journaling time to work on them as we move on to our next project - an essay.  Students will be writing essays, based on the following scripture:

Ages 7-10:  “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”—Romans 12:15
Ages 11-14:   “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”—Romans 12:12

This assignment in based on this essay contest; however, it will be up to each family to submit the essay, should you choose to do so.  I'm excited about this writing project!

Writing in Progress

I had the privilege of sitting in on a few classes last week and took some pictures.  This is a sampling of what the kids are working on in Writing!  They were proud of their work!

Writing, 9/14

We are having a great time writing on Wednesdays.

Today the first and second graders finished their books that they've been working on for weeks! Look for them in their backpacks. You will also find each of their weekly reports in their binders, as well as any other unfinished projects we are working on. As time passes by, you will enjoy watching their progress in sentence structure, penmanship, detail, and illustrations. You will notice that we do not focus so much on spelling perfectly, as our intention is to first get the sounds down on paper and then refine for correct spelling as we advance. We do not have time to do weekly spelling practices and tests, but I can provide spelling lists for you to use at home if you'd like. Just let me know.

Third through fifth graders are finishing up their first creative stories! We chose a writing prompt as a class, so all of our stories are about a dinosaur fossil that is shy. It has been fun to watch each student come up with his/her own story, some featuring the shy fossil as a main character, while others have chosen to use him/her as a supporting character. This class is the largest one - and it is often noisy as excited kids share with their friends about what's going on in their story - so it can be hard to hear one's own thoughts sometimes. If your student is having a difficult time getting started in class, please encourage them to find a quiet place at home to begin writing so that they might feel more comfortable next week. I expect that we will wrap up our stories next Wednesday.

Sixth through eight grades are also finishing up their first creative stories. Just like grades 3-5, we selected a starter as a class. We are writing about a rotten sandwich that wants to be human. The kids are all making good progress and it's been a blast to watch them create! I expect they will finish next Wednesday also. I can't wait to read what they've written!

In all classes, we are focusing on punctuation, capitalization and spacing.  In grades 3-8, we are working to improve our spelling on basic words and using the dictionary (and occasionally our friends) to spell harder words.

I returned papers in grades 3-8 today. I will always strive to provide feedback - noting things they have done very well and areas where there is room for improvement. This feedback is intended purely for encouragement and constructive direction. Please feel free to contact me at any time with any suggestions or questions you might have, as it is my desire to partner with you in meeting your child(ren) where they are at and progressing forward.

I love my job and look forward to seeing your kids again on Monday!  Thank you for sharing them with me.

Tonya
tonyashrader@everestkc.net