Room 117 has runny noses!

We have finished 65 days of school and have 115 days more to go.That's 36% of the school year. Only 64% of the school year left!

It's official! Room 117 is out of Kleenex! I have had one student bring in an extra box of Kleenex since my earlier post about our low inventory. I will be sending home a letter encouraging you to stop and pick up a box or two for our classroom. I've seen some 99 cents sales at Walgreens and Walmart lately. Please consider donating to the Room 117 Runny Nose Foundation.

Recently we lost a very important member of our classroom: our pencil sharpener! In September, I put down a pretty penny on a heavy duty sharpener for our classroom. The students were using it on a daily basis with no problems. On Tuesday, December 1st, a student from our class accidentally dropped it on the ground, which resulted in its demise. I cannot afford a brand new sharpener at this time. If you could possibly provide your student with a small personal sharpener, they can usually be picked up for $1 at most.

Upcoming classroom topics:

Math: Fractions Greater than One
Health: Human Development (You will be receiving a letter outlining this unit!)
Writing: "Creating a New Candy Bar" paper via MyAccess.com
Science: Body Systems
Social Studies: TBD

As always, feel free to contact me for any reason. I'd love to discuss your student's performance and how we can work together to further their learning experience!

Remember: Winter Break starts on Wednesday, December 23rd!

New happenings in Room 117!

We have finished 55 days of school and have 125 days more to go.That's 30% of the school year. Only 70% of the school year left!

It's been a while since my last post, but we have been doing a lot in Room 117! We are continuing to work on our writing skills using MyAccess.com. I encourage you to work with your student on their writing at home. They can access this website on any computer. They are given multiple writing prompts to work on. In math, the students have been working on a multitude of ideas. We just started a unit on geometry. The ideas we have been focusing on range from polygons to angles to symmetry. The lessons have been very hands on!

On a daily basis, we continue to work on our classroom procedures. This includes lining up quietly, appropriately walking through the hallway, raising a hand to participate, and being respectful to your classmates and other adults. We are making significant progress! Hopefully by Christmas break we will be mastering all these simple procedures! Please feel free to speak with your student about the importance of these procedures, since without them we tend to waste a lot of classtime!

I posted this in an earlier post, but Room 117's supply of Kleenex is getting dangerously low!
Winter is around the corner and drippy noses are sure to follow. Please send your student with a box of Kleenex to school sometime before our Christmas break!

As always feel free to contact me about your student and their performance. The classroom door is always open(figuratively), so come on in and observe your student some time!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Remember: No school on Thursday/Friday, November 26/27.

Planners and Tissue Paper!

We have finished 36 days of school and have 144 days more to go.
That's 20% of the school year. Only 80% of the school year left!

Just a quick update for all the parents. Please be on the lookout for your student's planner!
He/she will be bringing it home every day after school to show you their homework for the day. I will be signing at the bottom of each day to make sure they wrote down their assignments. Please make sure you also sign their planners each day so I know they are making it home.
This will be a great tool for you to see what we are doing in class on a daily basis, as well as a communication tool for us as there is an area to write any notes. Please feel free to ask any questions about your student in that area. Our goal is to have a 100% planner usage rate by November 6th.

As the weather gets more dreary each day, many of our students have been coming down with colds. This has meant an increase in tissue usage to almost a box every two days! I asked everyone to bring in two boxes at the start of the school year. Unfortunately not everyone was able to do this. Our supply is down to about only 5 more boxes! I will not be able to front the cost for new tissue boxes throughout the winter season. If you are willing to help out, please feel free to send your student to school with another box or two of tissue paper whenever you can. Otherwise, providing your student with a small bag of tissues for their own personal use would not be a bad idea!

Remember: No school on Thursday and Friday next week! October 29th and 30th!

Fields Trips, Students are Super, and more

We have finished 33 days of school and have 147 days more to go.

That's 18% of the school year. Only 82% of the school year left!

Last week Thurston Woods Campus and Room 117 opened its doors for Parent-Teacher Conferences. There was quite a turnout with over 60% of Room 117's parents showing up. I am always open to updating parents on their students performance, so please feel free to contact me at your convenience. If I did not get to meet with you last week, I will do my best to contact you by the end of the month!

Our class went on two field trips since my last update. On October 8th, Ms. Dimick's 5th grade class and Room 117's 4th/5th graders went to the Survive Alive House. It was located at 2059 South 20th Street. More information about the Survive Alive House can be found out here: http://www.ci.mil.wi.us/router.asp?docid=2901. The students met with real firefighters from the Milwaukee Fire Department. They were given an opportunity to watch videos, ask questions, and reenact an actual house fire. The students learned a lot about fire safety and hopefully will be taking their fire safety tips home to their families. Also on October 15th, Ms. Dimick's class, Mr. Napoli's 4th grade class, and Room 117 went on a fun field trip to Niemen's Market in Cedarburg. The weather did not exactly cooperate, but it made for a unique experience for everyone! It was raining throughout the day with temperatures in the low 40's. Everyone got a little bit muddy, but that's why washing machines were invented. The students were given a chance to pick a bag full of apples, pick a small pumpkin, watch a play on Johnny Appleseed, go through a corn maze, and meet a few animals. The ride back was quite wet for all of us, but I think we all enjoyed the experience at Niemen's Market. Pictures were posted above. More information on the orchard can be found at : http://www.savorwisconsin.com/alllistings/detail.asp?recordid=1219&table=producer.

I would also like to congratulate Vershawn and Lamont for being nominated for the Students are Super program last month! They received t-shirts and recognition over the PA system by Miss Kalagian, our building principal. These students were chosen because they showed outstanding achievement in the classroom, as well as their ability to show respect to their peers and adults within Thurston Woods Campus. Congratulations Vershawn and Lamont!

Math Olympics, Pizza, and more

We have finished 18 days of school and have 162 days more to go.

That's 10% of the school year. Only 90% of the school year left!

The Math Olympics took place this morning from 9 - 11 am in the cafeteria and art room. I believe Room 117 had the best turnout in the school! It was great to see many familiar faces enjoying all the math games and activities being offered. We will all be thanking Semetria this week, since her name was picked from the Pizza Combination game. This means Room 117 will be getting a pizza party in the near future! Thanks Semetria and everyone else for participating in that game!

A quick reminder that Thurston Woods is having an Open House from 6 - 8 pm on Thursday, October 1st. It would be great to see a large turnout for our classroom. This will be a good chance to see where your student is learning on a daily basis. I will also be more than willing to answer any questions about the curriculum and/or your student's performance.

Finally, I am going to attach the most recent Parent Letter and as always please feel free to call/email me with any questions or concerns!

Thurston Woods Campus

Room 117 – Grade 4/5

Mr. Pipkorn

Email: pipkordj@milwaukee.k12.wi.us

Phone: 414-430-1937

Dear Parents and/or Guardians of Room 117 Students,

I’d like to update you on our classroom’s rules and consequences in this letter. We have been doing a lot of great learning, but often rules can be broken during instruction and the consequences need to be enforced. I’d just like to make sure you understand how our classroom works, so there is no confusion if I contact you in the future about your student’s performance.

We have six rules in our classroom: 1) Talk at appropriate times using appropriate language, 2) Keep hands, feet, and objects to yourself, 3) Stay in your seat, 4) Be respectful to your neighbors, your teacher, and yourself, 5) Stay on task and be ready to transition quickly and quietly, and (6) Be a team player!

We have four consequences in our classroom: 1) 2-3 Verbal Warnings, (2) 5 minutes of recess time with me, (3) entire recess with me (4) phone call home/referral.

Please talk with your student about the classroom rules. They should almost know them by heart, but unfortunately they can sometimes be forgotten.

Also, remember there is a classroom blog: www.mrpipkorn117.blogspot.com

Thanks,

Mr. Pipkorn

Room 117 Update

We have finished 13 days of school and have 167 days more to go.

That's roughly 7% of the school year. Only 93% of the school year left!

An update on what we're working on:

Math - Multiplication Strategies using hands-on activities

Health - Feelings and Needs

Reading - Finishing Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing novel

Science - The Scientific Method

Writing - The Writing Process, currently on Prewriting

Last week, our class completed the first set of Benchmark testing in Reading and Math. We are all looking forward to seeing how well we've done.

This week's Parent Letter will include our list of Rules, Procedures, and Consequences that will have to be signed and sent back to school. Please make sure that goes back to school with your student. If you have any questions about it, please feel free to call me.

Upcoming events:

Parent Dinner - Wednesday, September 23rd 5:00 - 7:00 pm

Math Olympics - Saturday, September 26th 9:00 - 11:00 am

Open House - Thursday, October 1st 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Welcome to Room 117!

This will be the official blog of Mr. Pipkorn's Room 117 for the 2009/2010 school year!

I will be updating this blog on a weekly basis to keep everyone posted on the activities going on in Room 117. I hope to have some pictures up of the students and the classroom very soon!
I will also post the parent letters that have been going home in the Wednesday folders.

Tomorrow the students will be watching the President Obama Education speech in the computer lab. We are all excited to hear what he had to say, since we missed it on Tuesday :(