Report cards go home on Monday, March 17th. The school district’s computerized grade book system calculates report card grades based on the amalgamation of scores from all the individual assignments I’ve entered this trimester. However, the system still has a variety of glitches, so before you get too upset at your kiddo for getting a “1” (that’s bad) in comprehending information text, take a deep breath and consult the “Detailed Progress Report.” It accompanies the report card itself and it may be a better source of information, as it shows how your child did on specific assignments. Still not convinced, come down to the school between 8 and 2 on Friday (March 21st) for a drop-in conference, or shoot me an e-mail. Thank you for your patience as we develop this new reporting system. While it may be awhile before we have it mastered, rest assured that your child is being well-instructed and is growing at a normal rate.

In class this week we’ll be concluding our book clubs, taking our vocabulary test (probably on Thursday), starting our DARE essays, and taking our Geometry chapter exam (on Tuesday). We’re also still working on our Classroom Constitution as part of our history studies. Here’s the math homework for this week: Monday, March 17th; Tuesday, March 18th; Wednesday, March 19th. Note that there is no school on Friday, March 21st through Sunday March 30th.

Finally, congrats to our floor hockey team, #BeastMode for making it to the finals of CPE’s 1st Annual Sportsmanship Floor Hockey Championship. They’ll be playing Torrey’s Team Nike on Thursday at 12:45. Family members are welcome to attend. The student vs. Staff hockey game will follow immediately afterward.

Congratulations to Kalli, Kyrah, Ryan, Tyler, Olivia, and Elizabeth L. for being nominated for the Rotary Student-of-the-Year Award. Elizabeth was the runner-up to Jaidyn Campbell from Mrs. Torrey’s class. The Rotary Award is CPE’s most prestigious award. Congrats also to the “Scoring Puckers,” the winners of our classroom floor hockey tourney. The team was comprised of Hunter, Elijah, Edwin, Samantha, Christina, and Zack. Floor hockey is all the rage at CPE right now. Our 3rd-4th-5th school hockey tourney is at the midway point, and Rom 15’s two teams, #BeastMode and Nerd Style, are doing well.

Report cards are coming soon.There’s no school on Monday, March 10th, so that teachers can get them prepared. They’ll be sent home on Monday, March 17th. After looking them over, if you’d like to have a parent-teacher conference, time is available on Friday, March 21st. Click on the Conferences tab for more information.

In class, students are midway through their current book clubs. They have nightly reading and writing assignments associated with these books. They also have a new bank of vocabulary words to study, and in math they’re focusing on volume. Here’s the homework for this week: Tuesday, March 11th; Wednesday, March 12th; Thursday, March 13th.

Be sure to check out the kids’ Humane Society essays in the Student Portfolios. All of the students wrote about why their pet is a good friend, and several went ahead and officially submitted them for the Humane Society’s state-wide contest. The dog at left is Jordan’s dog, Shelby.

Our Checkbook Project is well underway. Students completed their first Tax Report. Next week they’ll be required to begin renting their desks. We’ve also started writing our Class Constitution, and this Friday we’ll be performing our American Revolution plays. We’ll present A Bell for the Statehouse at 1:20, The Secret Soldier at 1:40; and Eagles Over the Battlefield at 2:00. Finally, in math, we’re continuing our geometry work by learning how to calculate the area of a variety of polygons. Here’s the math homework for this week Monday, Feb. 24th; Tuesday, Feb. 25th; Wednesday, Feb. 26th, Thursday, Feb. 27th. Don’t forget to let me know your preferences for Parent-Teacher Conferences, and please consider joining us on an upcoming field trip (Crater Lake snowshoeing on April 7th, Table Rock on May 16, the Coast Trip on May 29-30).

Congrats to Rooom 15 Students of the Month: Kyrah C. and Tyler B. (November); Hunter C. and Kaitlyn H. (December) and Ryan D. and Olivia K. (January). These students were honored at last Friday’s assembly for consistently demonstrating great behavior and academic excellence!

How do you tell the difference between Pinus jeffreyi and Pinus ponderosa? How long does it take for a Douglas Fir to grow to the height of 300 feet? Why is it important we plant tree seedlings in scrub forests? Room 15 kids will be answering these questions and more as they spend the week focusing on trees. The week includes a visit from the Tree Lady on Tuesday, and concludes with our annual trip to the Josephine County Tree Plant on Friday. Rain or shine, it’s always a fantastic outing! To find out more, click on the Tree Plant link at right, and if you can join us as a chaperone, please do! We’d love to have you along!

Another big event this week is the annual Teacher vs 5th Grade basketball game. Come watch the little rotters navigate through a bunch of uncoordinated “tall trees” in the CPE gym, Thurdsay at 6 pm.

Also this week, students are wrapping up their humane society essays, getting started on their new plays (all centered around the American Revolution), taking their final Book Club test (on Tuesday), studying polygons, and much more. Here’s the math homework for this week: Monday, Feb. 3; Tuesday, Feb. 4; Wednesday, Feb. 5; Thursday, Feb. 6.

This week in Room 15, students will be starting DARE, the drug awareness and resistance program. It’s our understanding that CPE, MRE, and Jewett are the only schools in Jackson County who receive this training. We are thankful the Central Point Police Department continues to see the value of this ten-week program. It’s a community service outreach for them, and valuable training for our students. Speaking of community service, our kids will be doing their second Adopt-a-Street clean-up of Hopkins Street on Friday. We need a couple adult volunteers to serve as chaperones for this trip, so please consider it. Despite what it sounds like, it’s really a fun outing, not to mention a worthwhile cause. For the student permission slip, please click here.

On Tuesday, students will be joining new book clubs, and in history we’re on to the American Revolution. The kids did a great job on History Jeopardy. The competition was won by the table group consisting of Kaitlyn H., Elizabeth L., Trevor N., Elijah I., Kylie W., and Drew S. In math we’ll be studying lines, segments, polygons, and angles. Here’s the homework for this week: Tuesday, Jan. 21; Wednesday, Jan. 22; Thursday, Jan. 23. Finally, in honor of MLK Day, here’s the final minute or two of Dr. King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. The kids watched it in class on Friday after reading a play about King’s childhood.

For most kids, Christmas is the highlight of the entire year. During my childhood, I remember feeling gloomy come January 1st knowing it would be another eleven months before the holiday season would return anew. No doubt many of our Room 15 kids will be feeling that way when they return sleepily to school on January 6th. I suspect it’ll be tough to win back their attention, but at least we’ve scheduled the week with some better-than-average lessons. We’ll start new Book Clubs on Monday: classic Roald Dahl books including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, and Matilda. Students will be expected to read about a tenth of their given book as homework reading each evening. We’re also introducing a new bank of vocab words, these around Shawn White’s snowboarding. We’re starting our Measurement and Geometry unit, which is more active and hands-on than most math activities. We’ll finally be preparing for our first trimester history exam with a big History Jeopardy competition. And we’ll be starting floor hockey in PE. Finally, kids will be receiving their Gold Cards. Gold Card holders receive special privileges (n that they’ve demonstrated the maturity to handle them). Students retain their Gold Cards by demonstrating excellent behavior, by being good citizens, and by completing their homework and assignments. Here’s the math homework for this week: Monday, Jan. 6th; Tuesday, Jan. 7th; Wednesday, Jan, 8th; Thursday, Jan. 9th; Friday, Jan. 10th.

While icy weather has kept us out of the classroom, it hasn’t diminished all that we need to accomplish this month. Our vocabulary test will now be on Friday. Students should be studying from their vocab journal each night. We’ll also be conquering more long division, this time involving multi-digit divisors and decimals. We have our Nutcracker walking field trip on the 17th, and our ScienceWorks trip on the 20th. We’re still hoping to present our Gabriel Grub play on the 19th at 1:15. (while The Blacking House will record theirs as a podcast/radio drama). Class party on the 19th? We’ll have to wait and see. We’ll likely have to push our trimester history exam and History Jeopardy into January, but we’ll still have a long division quiz on the 18th. Here’s the math homework for these next two weeks: Thursday, Dec. 12th; Friday, Dec. 13th; Monday, Dec. 16th; Tuesday, Dec. 17th; Wednesday, Dec. 18th; Thursday, Dec. 19th. Finally, to celebrate the holidays, please enjoy our Christmas Carol movie from last year. Incidentally, it’s airing this month on RVTV Ch. 15, our local Public Access channel.

A special thanks to everyone for attending parent-teacher conferences. I especially appreciate your patience when the schedule got a little backed-up. This is a great class of kids. I hope that came through during our conversations. One additional note–after completing about half the conferences, I discovered that the District had altered the report card template to allow for “E” (Exceeds) on the behavioral section. Unfortunately, this adjustment was made after I had printed report cards and conferenced with many deserving students. My apologies. Second trimester cards will better reflect the performance of these kids.

Upon returning to class, students will hit the ground running with a variety of important tasks crammed into our three weeks leading up to Christmas vacation. First, there’ll be a new set of vocabulary words introduced on Monday. Next, students will begin preparing their presentations and speeches for the independent novel they read over Thanksgiving. Thirdly, they’ll craft “Elf Stories” to accompany pictures of their cafeteria elves on their webpages. On top of all that, they’ll be getting ready for History Jeopardy and their first big history exam of the year. And then there’s math. Yup, more long division–including an exam on Wednesday! Here’s the math homework for this week: Monday, Dec. 2nd; Tuesday, Dec. 3rd; Wednesday, Dec. 4th; Thursday, Dec. 5th.

Also, with Christmas just around the corner, it seems appropriate to replay A Christmas Carol, last year’s fantastic 16 minute film made by Room 15 kids.  Click on the link to view it.

As I frantically prepare report cards for parent-teacher conferences next week, I’m reminded how significant conferences are this year. The new, State-mandated report card is complex and daunting. Know going in that a  “3” means the student is meeting expectations at grade level. The majority of marks for most students will likely be threes. A “4” means the student has exceeded expectations, that he or she is performing above grade level and has accomplished something over-and-above the norm (such as extra-credit). A “4” does not equate an “A.”  Few, if any, students will receive fours. Be proud of your child if he or she is getting all threes. Be supportive where you see twos. Be concerned where you see ones.

Students took home new play scripts on Friday, both based on the work of Charles Dickens. The plan for Gabriel Grub and Escape from the Blacking House is to record them as podcasts or radio plays. Click on the “Student Performances” tab to hear examples of such podcasts. Gabriel Grub is similar to A Christmas Carol in that it focuses on someone being haunted for not having the Christmas spirit–and it’s a bit scary. If your child starts having nightmares about goblins, let me know and we’ll figure something out.

This week we also have a vocabulary test on Tuesday, and in math we’re working on long division. One non-traditional method of figuring long division comes from teaching-guru Marilyn Burns. It’s especially effective for kids who don’t have a firm grasp on their multiplication facts. Click here to see how it’s done. Here’s our math homework for the week: Monday, Nov. 18th; Tuesday, November 19th; Wednesday, November 20th; Thursday, Nov. 21st. Students should be showing their work on a separate sheet of notebook paper.

During Thanksgiving break (kids, here’s that red pickled eggs recipe), students are expected to complete an independent novel. Upon return to school on December 2nd, I’ll be requiring them to develop a project and presentation about the novel. Finally, there is no school on Friday, Nov. 22nd. It’s the last chance for us teachers to get these doggone report cards finished!