Wednesday, September 29, 2010


1. Design a lunch to bring to school and eat in the classroom.

2. Your lunch must have the following characteristics:

· Girls: Total calories less than 660

· Girls: Total calories from fat less than 198

· Boys: Total calories less than 780

· Boys: Total calories from fat less than 234

· It should be a “healthy” lunch and include at least one fruit or vegetable and some kind of protein in addition to carbohydrates.

3. You must show your calculations on the Lunch Work Sheet.

4. Get your data for the Lunch Work Sheet from the Nutritional Facts Label on the back of food packages.

5. If you want to eat something that doesn’t have a label, you can probably find the nutritional information on http://www.thecaloriecounter.com/Foods/900/Food.aspx or www.nutritiondata.com

6. So, you must:

· Bring in the lunch that you planned.

· Show your calculations on the Lunch Work Sheet.

· Turn in the Nutrition Facts label for each food.

If you want to go the extra mile for a 4, you may calculate the percentage of vitamins and minerals that are in your lunch, for example: 54% of Vitamin A, 62% of Vitamin C, etc.

To get a 3: Do all that is highlighted in yellow.

To get a 3+ do all that is highlighted in yellow and what is highlighted in blue.

To get a 4 do all highlighted in yellow, blue, and pink.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

No Hats; No Play

Students will be required to wear their school hats for recess and PE starting on Thursday. The school is concerned about sun damage. Thanks for your cooperation.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Pictures Tuesday

Tuesday is picture day for 5th grade. Even though we have PE that day, please make sure that your child brings his/her white shirt with the new logo for the photo.

Thanks.

Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Varni

I'm pleased to announce that Mr. and Mrs. Varni are our room parents for this school year.

I understand that an e-mail went out with the mistaken news that I had lost a grandchild. (Believe me, if THAT had happened I would not be in the classroom. As it is, my almost 15-year-old nephew was hit by a car crossing the street against the signal.

Here is one of several news stories that ran on ABC news in Baltimore about his death. The man in the light blue t-shirt is my brother-in-law speaking about our nephew.


Thank you for your concern.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Social Studies Test Tomorrow Chapter 2


To go online and practice for your test:
Click on "Social Studies Alive Enrichment" in the sidebar of this blog (under social studies)
Click on "Social Studies America's Past"
Sign in as new user (write down your password so you don't forget it)
Select Chapter 2
Select Internet Tutorial
Select Internet Tutorial again
Select Chapter 2
Do "New Words", "Just the Facts,", and "Using Your Multiple Intelligence" to prepare for test.

If you don't have Internet, reread the chapter and study the vocabulary.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Math Test Monday (Unit 2)


To help your child study:

Go over pages in Math Journal where they didn't do well and help them understand.
Help them learn the needed vocabulary (marked in bold letters).

They will need to be able to:
  1. Add and subtract whole numbers and decimals.
  2. Use map scale.
  3. Convert inches, feet, and miles.
  4. Identify place value.
  5. Find multiplication errors.
  6. Multiply (using method of choice).
  7. Make a magnitude estimate.
  8. Explain why making an estimate is useful.
  9. Describe probabilities in words and numbers. (Likely, unlikely, etc.)
  10. Write numbers in expanded notation.
  11. Find landmarks for a data set. (mean, median, mode, maximum, minimum, range)

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Picture Days September 27th and 28th


This is a very important announcement...
Monday, September 27th and Tuesday, September 28th
The photographer is coming to take the pictures of all the grades. Individual pictures and class photos.
Please in those two days make sure that yourchildren come properly dressed with THE NEW IAA polo shirt and with a proper hair style for the pic.

Academic Support


The NJHS/NHS has an in-service responsibility to the school. I am very happy to announce that this in-service will be completed in the form of an after school “Academics’ Lab” on Wednesdays and Thursdays in the Library. There will be two different Honor Society groups, one group of tutors on Wed. and another on Thurs. They will be available from 2:30 to 3:15 to help ANY students who are behind in homework or need specific help in a particular subject.

This needs to be coordinated with Mrs. Evans, the NHS sponsor. Please e-mail me if you would like your child to take advantage of this extra help.

Friday, September 10, 2010

A letter forwarded to you from the 7th grade


Dear Elementary teachers,

My name is Carlos Javier Perez seventh grader; I am sending this e-mail to inform that we the seven graders are planning to visit a poor school at Puerto Hondo. We are trying to get as much supplies as possible anything that you think will be useful for the kids (journals, pencils, card games, board games etc.) I´ll be going around your rooms to tell you and the kids more information. Encourage the student to help the one who needs help.

Thanks for your time, Carlos Perez

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Guided Reading Calendar

Scroll to find homework assignment for tonight. A yellow band means I'm meeting with that group that day.

Teachers Teaching Teachers


We had a productive curriculum day yesterday:
  • Ms. Marcela Doylet ran two workshops about how to best use the results from the MAP testing. They were informative and will help us better educate your child.
  • Ms. Jody Zambrano ran a wonderful workshop about how to build background knowledge for our students which was helpful for all of our students, not just the ELL students. (Background knowledge is those things a student needs to know before they can complete the task at hand.)
  • Dr. O'Hara and Mr. Nonnenkamp explained the procedure for working on the SACs accreditation visit this year and we began working in our groups.
  • Ms. Daniela Silva taught a technology workshop about working with the Grade Quick program.
  • I taught about using reading workshop to differentiate your teaching.
  • (There was much more going on yesterday, but those are the workshops that I was involved in.)

Check out the P.E. site


Mr. Brown, our new P.E. teacher is doing a great job with essential questions, tests, and rubrics for P.E. Please click on his site to see the rubric for getting a 1,2,3, or 4 in P.E. as well as the questions that need to be answered on the test.

“Who gossips with you will gossip of you”


Today in guidance we discussed gossip: how to identify it, how to deal with it, and how destructive it is to both the gossiper and others.
Vocabulary for the day:
Gossip: rumors, unflattering talk done behind someone's back (can be true or untrue).
Condone: means to overlook or accept without protest. By remaining silent, we condone gossip.
Integrity: having beliefs about fairness and honesty and sticking to them.

Please discuss gossip at your dinner table tonight and help your child learn to identify gossip and deal with it kindly but firmly.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Private Piano lessons for IAA students




Ms. Valerie is offering private piano lessons for students in grades Kindergarten through high school. There is a fee of $15 for each 1/2 hour lesson, payable by the month. Please email her or talk to her in the music room if you are interested.
vterman@interamerican.edu.ec

Friday, September 3, 2010

Guided Reading


Don't forget to use sticky notes to mark words you didn't understand, other clunks, connections, etc.