Science Summer Camp

Dates for Science Summer Camp are June 11- June 21, Monday through Thursday only from 8:00- 1:30. Students may be dropped off at Glen Oaks directly and picked up, or they can be dropped off at OHT and be bussed to Glen Oaks and back. If your child receives bus services during the year, they would get picked up at your neighborhood stop and dropped off there after school. All of the science is going to be hands-on and will cover material from both 3rd and 4th grade, in new ways to help make a solid connection and prepare them for the 5th grade STAAR Science Test. I will be teaching our OHT students, and working with the other campuses in our cluster. It should be fun.

Thanks for a great Year!

I just wanted to do a quick final post to say thank you to the parents and students that made this year a success. I appreciate your flexibility and willingness to try new things and your trust with your children. They truly grew this year and made a lasting impression on me. I am thankful that I was able to work with  you and your children, and I pray that the feeling is mutual. Have a great Summer.

ECON FAIR May 25, 2012

Here at Oak Hills Terrace, we do an Economics Fair, where students will be able to sell things that they have created for a profit. It is a business and economics lesson- part of our Social Studies Curriculum- that will teach them to balance a budget, keep track of expenditures, time, set a pricing point that allows them to gain a profit, and advertising- in short they will become Junior Entrepreneurs. Our Economics Fair is scheduled for May 25, 2012 from 9:00-2:00. They will sell all-day, or until they run out of product- whatever profit they make (if they make one) is theirs to keep. As this is a lesson in business, there is no guarantee that they will make a profit, or even sell at all. There is learning- even in failing.

Whatever they decide to sell needs to be handmade by them and new- no food items or services and this is not a garage sale- they are not selling old toys, baseball cards, etc.

Over the course of the next couple of weeks you will be getting reminders of due dates, and deadlines that are coming up. Please assist your child- but don't do everything for them- this is an amazing lesson for them- especially if they are involved in every aspect of the activity. Who knows- we may have the next Steve Jobs or Richard Branson in our midst.

STAAR is Over the MOON!

We are happy to announce that after today, STAAR is over for the year. We will then begin focusing on promotion standards and wrapping up the year. We are slow getting in some of the images that your students requested of the moon using the GRAIL MoonKAM. We have three so far and they are awesome... check 'em out!

82.09° S, 87.27° E

82.05° S, 87.22° E

1.41° N, 23.80° E

26.15° N, 47.32° W

Your students used the latitude and longitude coordinates to determine what pictures they wanted to attempt. I am thrilled with their ability to follow directions and their attempts- all through Edmodo.

Pretty awesome stuff.

Early Release and Beyond- STAAR Part Deux

Friday is early release and we are hoping that students will wear college t-shirts as part of the mayor's College Awareness plan. It is a spirit day and those shirts will count towards our spirit count.

Additionally we will be taking our last round of STAAR Testing on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week; with make-ups on Thursday. I cannot stress the importance of being on time and prepared on those days. Please make sure your child gets a good night sleep, eats a good breakfast and is ON TIME to school. We have a very tight schedule on those days and every minute counts, so I really appreciate your help on this.

Our STAAR Rally is scheduled for tomorrow- @ 2:15 in the gym.

The Math STAAR Test is scheduled first on Tuesday, April 24. The Reading STAAR is scheduled for Wednesday, April 25.

Popcorn is being sold by Mrs. A in the music room, please help her out.

Is anyone able to donate anything for our class basket for the Silent Auction? Our theme is Sports- Professional Teams- so anything relating to the Spurs, Rangers, Astros, Yankees or any other professional team will be greatly appreciated...does anyone have connections for Astros, Rangers or Spurs Tickets? Or any autographed items- or access to get things autographed? Please Let me know ASAP as these baskets are due by April 23 for the Silent Auction and Dance on May 4, 2012.

As always, thanks!

Speaking of STAAR...

Funny that I posted that last post about what we are doing to prep for STAAR and the district is doing the same thing...Here is a link to what the district is doing to prep for STAAR...should answer most questions that you may have...

http://www.nisd.net/staar/

Math, Reading and Writing...

Hey Gang,

We are coming up on the STAAR tests pretty soon and I would like to reitterate how important practice is to student success- and not just in MATH! Some of the best practice students can get is just by talking to them about what they are studying and getting them to explain to you what they are doing. This should give you a clear picture if they are understanding what they are doing and if they need more help or practice.

For reading we are really concerned about FLUENCY- or how well your child reads with relation to speed, accuracy, and intonation. The rule of thumb is their age times 10- so if your child is 10 then 10 x 10 is 100, so they should be reading about 100 words per minute.

In writing we are continuing to work on both expository and narrative writing prompts. Students are getting comfortable editing and revising passages, but now we need to get them focused on editing and revising their own writing- which is our current focus.

Math has moved into geometry and will soon venture into measurement. Give your students a ruler and have them measure everything in the house and chart it on a table from smallest to greatest items...any practice with real life is a great tool for testing...

Edmodo- The BLOG

I started a new blog today for the students. I am helping them set up their accounts today and they will hopefully have access to the site before they leave school today. This is designed for students to be able to collaborate and share ideas (not answers) and hopefully develop a network of students helping students...I will try to give them chances to get on the blog here at school, and they may definitely get on it at home. Please ensure that they are using it for school appropriate conversation- or problems...I will answer questions that are posted to me if I am able as early as I can, but I may not get to them...I will try.

The web address is
http://www.edmodo.com/

It is a secure and verified safe website designed for teachers and students...

I will also send out a Parent Code if you request one, so that we can communicate through this site if it is something that will make it easier.

thanks

Gollihizzy

Welcome Back

To quote Aerosmith, we are "back in the saddle again..." We have a lot of review to do and prep for the upcoming STAAR tests in March and April. Our focus for the first portion of the NEW YEAR (2012) in Math will be decimals and fractions and how they represent the same thing; Writing will bounce between editing, revising, and writing both narratives and expository prompts; Science and SS will be focusing on the Great Plains region of Texas; and as always Reading will encompass understanding of Main Idea, Summary, Comparing and Contrasting, Author's Purpose, as well as fluency and developing good problem solving skills in any piece that they read.

Tutoring forms will be sent out in the near future, so that we may begin to address the needs of our kids in the new year. the areas we will be focusing on are writing, reading and math- specifically test-taking strategies and review of materials taught in class. Please consider sending your child if they get a form... students needs of tutoring will be based on our last Math CDB, and grades in class; writing-on their performance thus far, and reading- on their reading-level and performance thus far.

Finally, we are in need of pencils for the class. If you are able please consider sending some pencils...thanks and keep an eye out for the next update...hopefully next week... I will try to stay on this as a simple means of communication...


Important Dates: