Mrs. Boersma's Blog » News from Mrs. Boersma

Blog Scavenger Hunt and other Activities

cboersma — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:36:21 +0000

To really spice up the family gathering, take your family on the BLOG SCAVENGER HUNT. This month we are sharing silly stories about silly things we have done in our lives. Everyone is a winner in this contest. Students will be entered in the Reading Counts drawing just for participating. Other prizes will be offered too. Parents, please encourage your child to take part in this hunt.

If you find your family members are bored and in need of something to do, show them our blogs. I added a new feature (the revolving globe to the right) that shows your location on the map as well as visitors from around the world.

For those who follow our blog outside the United States, or for all of you who would like a refresher course, visit this excellent History.com post about the history of Thanksgiving. You might find yourself learning some new facts to share around the Thanksgiving table later this week. For those who think they know everything, test your turkey knowledge with this quiz.

Halloween Hoopla

cboersma — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:45:59 +0000

Watch this video to see all the fun we had at our Halloween party. Thank you so much to Rebecca Hamby for organizing the party. Thank you to all the parents who brought food and goodies for the party and for all those who attended and helped. The students had a fabulous time!
Click here to view the Halloween Hoopla Video

We Are Champions!

cboersma — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:06:13 +0000

On Thursday of this week, we hosted the very talented Crevier Family from South Dakota. Bruce, Diane and their nine children spun basketballs on their fingers, road unicycles, trained our staff to do ball catching tricks, and fed applesauce to four very brave student! They entertained us for over an hour (two presentations back to back) and we were in awe of their skills. If you watch this slide show with your children, I am sure that they will be able to share more than these photos portray!

Many thanks to our PTC for funding this assembly. We appreciate ALL that you do for us.

Report Card Technical Difficulties

cboersma — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:19:51 +0000

We were just informed by our Technology Department that the software responsible for our report card data base has crashed. The system will be down this weekend and likely into next week.

As teachers, we want the most up to date marks on the report cards, and therefore, we planned use this weekend to finalize scores and add comments for each student. Saturday morning I found out that I cannot access report cards—and will not be able to share the report card with you during conferences this coming week. As you can imagine, this has been a very stressful Saturday morning.

Once the Powerschool software is repaired, report cards will be completed and sent home. During conferences, teachers will be highlighting strengths and areas for growth and sharing work samples.

Thank you for understanding this technical difficult at a most unfortunate crunch time!

Awesome website to practice state locations!

cboersma — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:45:43 +0000

Thanks to Jared York and his mom for finding an awesome website. You can practice locating and naming the 50 states, capitals, and even physical features of the United States. I will add this link to the weblinks on the right side of this blog-Or click on this link right here. Map Puzzle

US Map Making

cboersma — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 19:07:40 +0000

Do you have a mental image of the topography of our country? Where are the mountains? Where is it flat? Our class developed this image by studying US geography this past two weeks. The students demonstrated their understanding by using dough to create their own physical map of the United States. Next week we will paint the maps and then label some of the features. Thank you to Rich Verburg (Carissa’s dad) and Donna Call (Zach’s grandma) for helping us. Some really dove into the dough with great pleasure. Others wanted to wash their hands right away, not thinking how they would just get messy again as they made their map. As one boy got on the bus, he turned to me and said, “Wow! That was fun!” Look at the pictures to see how well they did.

Meap Test

cboersma — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:39:13 +0000

These students have been working so hard and are doing such a great job. Last week we completed the reading portion of the test. Tuesday, October 20, we are taking the math test. Then on Thursday, we will finish up with the writing portion. We get started right away at 9:00 a.m. and are usually finished by about 10:30 a.m.

Word Study Assignment

cboersma — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:20:57 +0000

On Monday your child wrote ten spelling words in their agenda. The students were given a pretest last week. Each word not spelled correctly on the pretest (cloze test on the back page of the Word Study packet) is put on this list. If your child missed less than ten, then words from subject areas like social studies and math were given as spelling words so that each child ha ten words. These words are to be used in a homework assignment that is due on Thursday. There will not be a traditional spelling test.

United States Geography

cboersma — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:11:40 +0000

On Thursday, October 22, we will be making a relief map of the United States. I would appreciate it if some parents would send in a five pound bag of flour. Even two to three cups of flour would be very helpful. Students will need to bring a medium size mixing bowl and a spoon. We will be doing this from 1:20 p.m. until 2:20 p.m if you would like to come and help. I do have one dad coming already, but another one or two parents would be wonderful!

Parent Teacher Conference Survey

cboersma — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:25:10 +0000

Please click on the link and fill out the survey. This will help us in conference scheduling.

Thank you!