Mrs. Cummings' Classroom Blog

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!   From my heart to yours, I wish to you and your families a fabulous holiday season. Please take time to cherish the moments you have with your loved ones and enjoy the spirit and joy the Christmas season has to offer.   

Reminder: There will be NO SCHOOL due to the Christmas Break December 23rd-January 1st. See you all back in the hallways January 2nd, 2014.

Please get any changes in your student's after school plans to Mrs. Gay ASAP.  Reminder: Today is an Early Release Day! Student will be dismissed at 12:40pm to go home. 

Check, Check...1, 2, 3?!?! Tomorrow will be our 2nd sound check of the semester for our Read Like a Rock Star Campaign! I will be checking to see where my students are at with their AR points. Those who have reached 75% or 100% of their goal for the 2nd Quarter will receive a record to decorate and post up on the bulletin board by the front office along with a few other celebrity treats! Please encourage your student to read, read, read and read some more to reach their AR goals. :)

DECEMBER 11TH, 2013: EARLY RELEASE  STUDENTS WILL BE DISMISSED FROM SCHOOL AT 12:40PM.  PLEASE BE SURE YOU HAVE PRIOR ARRANGEMENTS FOR YOUR STUDENTS.   IF SOMETHING COMES UP AND THERE IS A CHANGE IN YOUR STUDENTS' PLANS...PLEASE BE SURE TO LET MRS. GAY IN THE FRONT OFFICE KNOW AS SOON AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN.  THANK YOU!  :)  

Christmas Concert Tonight   The Intermediate School is putting on their annual Christmas Winter Sing tonight at 6:00pm in the HIS Gymnasium. This year's theme is "An All American Christmas." Please take a look at all of the wonderful decorations that have been made by the students and put up  by the PAC. The members of the Parent Advisory Committee did a fabulous job, so if you see one of them please be sure to thank them for all of their hard work and dedication to the HIS. REMINDER: Please be sure to have your student in their classroom by no later than 5:40pm! We have to start lining up and be in the gym by 5:45-5:50 at the very latest. Thank you for your help with this. 

We have been working very hard here in the 4th grade mixing, rolling, baking and packaging these yummy looking dog biscuits! Mrs. Baier has done a great job coordinating and working with all of the students for this great cause. We will be selling these biscuits in the morning of 12/16-12/20 from 7:45-8:15am. Please stop by or have your child pick up a bag if you are interested. All proceeds go to the local Humane Society located out on Highway 77. Thank you for your help and support!

WEEK IN REVIEW Wow! What a snowstorm we have had! I am loving the snow, but not loving the cold, bitter weather that comes along with it.  This week has kind of been a cluster, but we chugged through it. These next few weeks are going to go so fast! This week has already flew by. I seriously do not know where the time goes. Do you?! We are going to try our hardest to finish up Unit #3 in math as well as our Unit #2 in ELA. I really would like to just start with a new slate and new material after the holiday break. That being said, we will be working very hard here in room 406.  Please look for some newer videos of math being posted sometime this weekend. These will hopefully help you as parents help your student with the math we are learning. The new division methods we are using are very abstract thinking, but not above a 4th grade level. I believe all of my students are highly capable of understanding the material. The method we just learned is one that you ...

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Break. I know I sure did. It was a much needed break. Now we are on a fast paced roll to Christmas Break. These next three weeks are going to be jammed packed full of fun! Keep checking the blog for updates and reminders!! I will also  be posting a few other videos for math dealing with division from Unit #3 in math. :) Keep smiling and enjoy this fluffy white stuff that has fallen (maybe?)!

APPLE CORE DOLLS  What a success! We had such a great time with our pioneer days exploration activity today. Each class in the fourth grade made a specific item from the pioneer days. It was very fun to see all of the creativity! Thank  you for all of your help making this possible. :) Here is a picture of the dolls our class made: 

APPLE CORE DOLLS Dear Parents/Guardians; As many of you know we have started reading The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder. This story is a part of a series called The Little House on the Prairie. To add a little excitement to the book we have decided to include in our unit a study of pioneer life. The students have been working on a Pioneer Life WebQuest and within this assignment there is an at-home activity. We would like all students to participate in this at-home activity. Each of the classrooms have been given a project to complete over Thanksgiving Break. This gives your student a week to get all the necessary materials and complete the project. Please ask your student for the packet that as sent home earlier this week. It has the directions attached . This project is due: Tuesday, December 3rd, 2013.    Thank you for your help in your child's learning! They are really excited about this!  Below you will find the directions as well:  Mate...

NO SCHOOL There will be no school the week of November 25-December 1st as we are on Thanksgiving Break. School will resume on Monday, December 2nd, 2013. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I hope you all get time to spend with family and friends. Enjoy this break, I know I will! :)  P.S. Also, good luck hunting to all of those who do! Be safe and have fun!   

I have updated the Math Videos link with some videos of the different ways the students have learned how to do multiplication. Please take a look. I will be doing this for our Unit #3 Division as well. :)

READ LIKE A ROCK STAR  Reading Incentive-2nd Quarter November 5th-January 23rd  As a parent you are aware of our Accelerated Reader Program here at the Hayward Intermediate School. Mrs. Laird, our reading specialist, has taken the time to make AR even better! We are going to be "getting the band back together!" Here is what this reading incentive entails: 1. Students will read AR books, take tests and earn points. They must average (at least) an 85% on all tests to meet their goal. 2. Teachers have sent up goals for their students  and will check progress four times this quarter. This progress monitoring will be called "sound checks."  3. There is a school-wide goal of reading.. . 60 million words by January 23rd! As of 10-23-13 the students had read a total of 23, 450, 831 words)  4. Here is the INCENTIVE: If we are at 25% or our school-wide goal, then 25% of the staff will get chosen to be Rock Stars at the lyceum on January 23rd. The teac...

WEEK IN REVIEW  Veterans Day  On Monday we started out the week with a Veteran's Day Ceremony. It was beautifully done by members of the armed forces and Mrs. Lee.The students sang patriotic songs led by Mrs. Wood, two 4th grade students read their Veteran's Day Essays, Taps was played by a member of the High School band which was followed by a moment of silence for those who have served and are currently serving our great nation.  When we got back to the classroom, I had the students write "Thank You" notes to  the National Guard Armory here in Hayward. The students really did a great job with his. They were very respectful and understanding. I sent the "Thank Yous" to the Armory this week.  Math In Math we have finished out Unit #2--Multiplication. The  students had a review they completed today. They are to take this home and study the material for the test tomorrow (FRIDAY). We will start fresh with Unit #3 on Monday--Division.  ...

TODAY IS AN EARLY RELEASE DAY! Students will be released from school at 12:40pm . Please make sure your student knows what their plans are. If there is a change in plans please call Mrs. Gay in the front office ASAP.   Thank you! Happy Wednesday. :)

SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS AT HOME  During our WKCE testing week we were not on a regular academic schedule meaning that the students did not have math, reading, etc. throughout the day. But, due to the fact that we had the afternoons off of testing it gave us time to do a little experimenting with some science that the students have yet to be exposed to. Since out Unit #2 in ELA is all about weather we had a discussion about different types of weather predicting instruments including weather/wind vanes, anemometers, barometers and a rain gages. I have included below some directions on how to make these fun instruments at home. We did not have time to make each out ourselves in school, but we did have time to use instruments that were already made. I thought it would be fun to give you and your students the directions to maybe keep for a rainy or snowy day activity. ENJOY! :)  WEATHER/WIND VANE  1. Draw a large cross through a hole in the center of a wooden board. M...

Please be sure that your child is dressed properly for the cold winter months. We have recess everyday.  Please call with after school plans BEFORE 2:00pm!  Thank you!!!

November 4th-November 8th:  WKCE Testing    It is TESTING week! The 4th Grade will be taking their WKCE State Tests Tuesday-Friday either in the morning or afternoon. This is a very important week. Please remind your students of this. Also, take some time to PEP your student up and get them excited for this week. For so many years it has been a "dreaded" week! This is the week that our students get a chance to show us and the rest of the world how smart they are. How cool is that? Give your students well wishes a they leave the house in the morning, wish them good luck and get them ready to SUCCEED LIKE A CANE!!!  Here are some testing tips:  1. Get a good night's sleep 2. Eat a healthy breakfast 3. Listen and read the directions carefully 4. Go back and check your work when you are finished 5. Stay relaxed and DO YOUR BEST LIKE A CANE!! Thank you in advance for helping your students succeed. :)   

This Week We... It was another amazing week here in fourth grade. Despite all of the excitement with Red Ribbon Week, Dress Up Days, and Halloween we did manage to get some work done! Phew!  In ELA we are continuing to work on our DOL. This packet is sent home every Thursday for your students to study! Don't forget to remind them of their test on Friday!! We are finally getting to the end of our REWARDS program. We have hit lesson 14. I send these lessons home with the students when we finish them in hopes that they will practice what we have learned so far. We have wrapped up some of our science unit where we learned about weather, seasons, clouds and the like. We will continue to have projects and mini-lessons about these subjects as Unit 2 progresses. We have started reading The Long Winter written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. She is an author of a series of books called The Little House Series. If you student is enjoying this book I would recommend them reading the rest of ...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM ROOM 406!! :)

Hello Parents!   I have started this blog because I would like to give it a try and see how I like it and how you all like it as opposed to the weekly newsletter. Here you will find the same information I include on the newsletter (i.e. star student, weekly progress, extra information, lunch menu, etc.).  I will also be uploading some of the math lessons we have done as videos. This is to give the students and the parents a chance to see how we are teaching our new "innovative" math curriculum. I am also hoping that if the students get stuck on how to do a problem they can refer back to the videos posted. This will be a helpful tool to use when a student is absent or missed the work for some reason or another or just needs a little refresher. :)