OPEN HOUSE 2013-2014

Tomorrow is Open House! It's hard to believe that on Monday the new school year begins, but I always find this time of year so exciting! I am looking forward to meeting everyone between 4:30 and 6:00 PM tomorrow, August 15th.  My classroom continues to be in room 112 of the 4/5th grade wing.  If you are coming from the office follow the directions below:

Head past the office on your right (remember to sign up for parent/teacher conferences sometime this evening)
Take a left at the hallway
Take a right at the next hallway
At the end of the hallway turn right into the first door on the right
Take another right and head into Mrs. Cole's 4th grade!

If you cannot make it tomorrow for some reason feel free to give me a call (457-5732) or send an e-mail (colem@urbandale.k12.ia.us) and we can try and squeeze in a time between now and Monday.  Also, know that we are in meetings all day at another building tomorrow so if you come early I will not be there. 

Looking forward to meeting you all!

Balloons Day 1

As a fun, team building wrap up to the year I blew up 10 balloons with surprise activities inside, with the help of students, and taped them to the blue cabinets.

Then, after class meeting I drew a stick to have a student pop the balloon and find the activity inside.   Alexia, was our lucky first!

She popped the balloon and then found the activity the Human Pretzel.  Students had a great time!

New Baby

Many, many thanks to Kevin Burke, Jordan Sousa's grandpa for donating a guinea pig to our classroom.  Our new, 7 week old, Teddy Guinea Pig has been named Luna.  We look forward to watching her grow and enjoy holding her throughout the rest of the year.  I will be looking for volunteers to take care of her over the weekends, and the summer.  If your family would be interested, let me know.

We Give Books

Subject: Read, Give, and Share with We Give Books!

I just found an amazing free resource and I wanted to pass it on to all of you. We Give Books is a free online library of children’s books that enables your kids to help other children around the world while they’re reading. The best part is, your reading will directly impact the great work of non-profit organizations around the world! Their tagline says it all, “combining the joy of reading with the power of giving.” It’s the perfect tool for parents, teachers, caregivers, and anyone who loves children’s books!

When you go to www.wegivebooks.org, you’ll be able to access my account and you’ll have access to over 150 quality children’s books! There are a lot of familiar classic titles, and even more new ones for us to discover. You can sort the books by age level, genre, author, and seasonal selections in the “Featured” section, so everyone can find something they like.

On the Causes page you can learn more about where your donated books are going. This fall, We Give Books is focusing on early childhood literacy across the United States and supporting great causes like Jumpstart for young children. In the winter, you’ll be able to read to support global literacy and give books to non-profits like Room to Read. They also give you the option to donate to help your book donations reach even more children.

We Give Books is a program of the Pearson Foundation and Penguin Group. Penguin works with its authors to provide an outstanding selection of online books while the Pearson Foundation donates print books to charity partners. We Give Books is a great way to get your children excited about reading and to teach them about the importance of helping others.

My login is: MColeKA

Password: ucsd4

Enjoy!

Magazines are coming in!

Students are thoroughly enjoying the new magazines that were ordered for each of our classrooms.  During their read to self and read with someone time the students are choosing to read the different magazines.

Cougar Dens today

Today in Cougar Dens we were studying the pillar of trustworthiness.  As part of this study, we discussed a lot of things about trust.  The discussion led us to lying, secret keeping, following through on things you say you're going to do.  As part of our time together, I had students place a rolled up t-shirt over their eyes, and hold it behind their heads (a make shift blind fold, if you will).  Then, they chose a partner to guide them from one side of the classroom to the other, with only their words.  I even let a student lead me across the classroom.  He did a fantastic job and I made my way safely, twice.  I learned so much by letting him guide me.  I know I thoroughly enjoyed the activity and students seemed to enjoy it just as much.

COLOR DAY!

FOURTH GRADE TEAM SPIRIT was displayed when students came to school wearing our "given" color of black.  Here is the class picture from fourth grade.