Oh My! Did we have a blast on Friday or what? Rusty was AWESOME! I would post the footage on the assembly but it was not just our class. If you would like to see it I could email it to you for your eyes only. Just let me know. Below you will find the footage of when Rusty came to Room 7. It was so cool to see him up close and personal with your kids. Below I have made a couple of slide shows of all the events from the assembly to the posters we made to the poems we wrote and displayed to the classroom visit. If you have a chance you should stop into the gym and check it out in person. I would imagine it will be up for display for awhile. A special thank you to Connor and Phoebe's moms for making the fancy welcome signs. LOVED them both! Thanks! 

Friday was also the day for Human Growth and Development training for all fifth graders that had permission. The boys and girls both learned about how their bodies are changing or will be changing in the near future. If you have questions on these discussions please direct them to Mr. Ness, the health teacher. I was not in either presentation. I did hear that both groups had some very good questions and took the discussion seriously. Nice Job! Please follow up at home to see if all is understood. Again, if you want to see the material discussed or watch the video that they watched just ask Mr. Ness. 

Starting next week I am going to be teaching in a little bit different way. Spring fever has hit hard and your kids are just not able to focus as long as they used to. So, I am going to try to approach it a little differently. There will be a lot more hands on and moving around going on. With this type of learning comes chatter, and you know me and chatter. We just don't get along. So if all you parents could just send me an email about every hour for the rest of the year telling me to breathe that would be great! :0) I am talking with Mr. Ness and he has agreed to help me make things more in favor of your child's new learning styles. I want to make sure we end the fifth grade with the understanding of true character, citizenship, and fun academics that apply to the real world. This also means there will probably be less homework. Wow, I can hear you applauding all the way over in the West end!! REading for 20 minutes will still be a must however. I need you to understand that I will not be lowering my expectations in any area, especially in academics and behavior...I am just going to teach in a different way. So where did all this come from you might ask...well I was sitting in church and my pastor said the phrase, "You have to play the WHOLE game." My head shot up and my wheels started turning. Fifth grade is not finished. We still have one quarter to go. I need my kids to play the ENTIRE game. So, I am going to coach them. I am very excited about this. Please feel free to come in and see what is happening anytime you feel like it. 

I hope that you have a great weekend! See ya tomorrow.