Saddle up for Success

The school year has really gotten off to a great start! We are learning so much through the arts that our brains are on FIRE!!!! We had a djembe drum purchased for our class through my donors choose project! The students will be becoming the BLOGGER of the day in the next couple weeks documenting all the really cool things our class is doing. We are excited about this year! We are working hard and will be ready for middle school come May 2014! STAY TUNED!!

RCA 2/16/2013

With Calhoun taking the RCA methods and putting them in to play at our school, Mrs. Self is sending every teacher at Calhoun to visit the Ron Clark Academy for a professional development opportunity. Here are the latest SLIDE CERTIFIED Calhoun teachers. We all walked away energized to make a difference in the lives of our students. We have new ideas to incorporate in to our lessons, how to get students engaged and excited about learning, and how to have manners and respect with teachers, students and parents.

Barrier Island

We had a blast on our trip to Barrier Island February 11-13th. The kids were wonderful and learned a lot. Check back soon for comments from the kids with their favorite memories!

Shiloh- by Lawson

In reading, we are reading a novel by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, SHILOH. This novel is very entertaining and has many lessons!  It all starts when a young boy named Marty Preston finds a dog that belongs to Judd Travers and names it Shiloh! Marty has to  lie to his parents and even close friends to keep the young beagle safe. Marty has to hid shiloh in a fence he built himself. He also has to tell his parents things  like, "I've been getting this odd feeling at night like I'm really hungry." So his Ma lets him save some of his food but instead of eating it at night, Marty gives it to Shiloh! Marty has a strong heart for Shiloh and will do anything thing to keep him safe! Also in reading we have been disgusting problems and questions from the story. One activitiy we have done was a lie blob. It's where you put all the lies you can think of that Marty has said.We also disgust cause and effect with our groups! We disgust if the chapter is internal or external! We do many fun things with this novel those were just some of the few exciting  things we do! The book is a Newberry arward winner! You will have to read and see what happens!

Fractions- by Issy and Abby

In math we are learning about fractions. The fractions we are learning are how to  reduce fractions, equivalent fractions, adding and subtracting fractions. If we acomplish these fractions we get QT donuts!!! We spend our math time with Mrs.Bracken learning about these easy fractions to know when we get older for cooking or teaching and measuring! Some people in our pod have trouble with it so their classmates help them learn fractions. Sometimes Mr.Cole and Mrs.Bracken write songs to help us learn them easily like the song we did for algebra.We practice fractions everyday for the past week.Our teachers push us  to know these really well.They help us if we are struggling and are by our sides the whole time that we learn about fractions. Our teachers teach us step by step how to do fractions. WE enjoy fractions like we enjoy our teachers like Mrs.Bracken!!!!!

Fifth Grade is Awesome-Lilli

     In reading we just finished our first novel Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule.  It was a wonderful story about three slaves escaping to freedom.  It was happy and sad at the same time. I can't wait to start our new novel Wayside School! In writing we have wrapped up our survivor writing where we had to write about a time that made us a "survivor". This week Mrs. Bracken's class will do some research about the candidates Mitt Romney and Barak Obama. Do Mammals Spoil Bugs? We are learning division and the steps are divide, multiply, subtract, bring down so, do mammals spoil bugs is one way that you can remember the steps because d in do represents divide, m for mammals is multiply and so on. I can't wait to do double digit divisors!


           -Lilli

It's TRIBE time!

This year we have divided up the entire school in to 6 different tribes. These tribes will earn points for positive behaviors, good grades, going over and beyond expectations, etc. Tribes will be competing on every grade level and will compete in different challenges through out the year. Once a month, the tribes will all come together for a monthly tribal "pep rally". Each tribe is also expected to cheer for one another and show good sportsmanship. Even though each tribe wants to WIN, they will learn the power of healthy/fun competition!

Yesterday the fifth graders led our first tribal pep rally. The teachers got to choose their tribes and the students went wild. Here is the link to my tribe- UPENDO (love) and our first tribal cheer.