Friday, September 30, 2011

This week, 4th and 5th grade student council representatives campaigned for Executive Board positions. The halls were lined with posters. Today, those students running for office gave their speeches.  I was truly amazed by the confidence of these young students.  The pressure to be in front of peers and speak is something I still get nervous about doing.  Yet, one would never know these students were even nervous.  They did great.  Below are the students who ran for office.  After their speeches, the student voted in their classrooms.  The following students were elected:

President = Calvin
Vice President = Daniela
Secretary = Claire
Treasurer = Kael

I also wanted to recognize another one of our 5th graders.  Recently during lunch, a student was choking on a piece of broccoli.  A friend sitting next to him, Phillip, noticed and asked if he needed help.  The student shook his head yes.  Phillip immediately conducted the Heimlich on the boy and the piece of broccoli flew out!  I am so impressed with Phillip's fast thinking and ability to perform in an emergency situation.  That is even difficult for some adults.  Thank you Phillip and the other student was is doing fine. 

As you can see, we have amazing students here at OHE!  Plus, they are successful in intense situations.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

I just had to share our "Bring Your Dad to School Day" photos.  We had about 350ish Dads, Moms, and family come and visit classes today.  After the classroom visits, visitors met with me in the cafeteria and shared observations about the morning.  Comments such as, "Do you really have this many students in the cafeteria each morning without mayhem?";  "The teacher just followed the daily schedule and I had to write a story!"; "I never really likes music class before but that was fun." 

Thank you all for coming and enjoy the pictures. 






Friday, September 23, 2011

As I walked into class throughout the week, I continually saw students learning at rigorous levels. 

In Mrs. Robert's kindergarten class, students were writing names and determining which names had more letters.  The information was recorded on individual student charts.  What a great way to combine math and writing skills as well as letter recognition for some students.
 Mrs. May's second grade students were practicing creating 3 digit numbers, identifying the place value, and saying them in both English and Spanish.  (I had some difficulty with the last part of the tasks.  My Spanish wasn't so good past 50)!
 As I walked through 5th grade social studies, I was intrigued by the laptops on the students' desk.  Students explained to me that they were about to begin a research project on states and they were using the computers to find information. 
Also this week, student council elections began for 3rd - 5th grade.  This week individual classes elected representatives.  From the group of representatives, 4th & 5th grade students can run for office.  These positions are President, Vice-President, Treasurer, and Secretary.  Representatives must let their teacher know Monday which position, if any, they are running for this year.  Then starting Tuesday, students can begin campaigning.  Speeches will be delivered Friday morning at 8:00.  Good luck!

Friday, September 16, 2011

There has been lots of learning here at OHE. 
 In Mrs. Mendrek's kindergarten class, they share their learning from "Kitten's First Full Moon" by recording their discussion on stickie notes.
 Mrs. Faulkner allows her students to become the teacher and edit the daily message.
 During a Friday assembly, Mrs. Keller-Bergh had all of us 'dancing to the beat'.  What a workout even if we were sitting on the ground.
 Winners of OHE's summer reading challenge.  Although we didn't quite reach our goal of 5000 books, we were close.  One of our kindergartners read over 200 books and Mrs. Calabrese read 22!  I thought I was doing good with my 5. 
 In Mrs. Conaway's class, students used their senses to determine if the food items were sweet, sour, salty, or bitter.
We ended the week with our annual Ice Cream Social.  The weather was wonderful and we a great turn out.  Thanks PTA!

Friday, September 2, 2011

I hope that you are settling into the routines of another school  year.  Although there haven't been too many changes for OHE, we are adjusting as well.  There has been a strong emphasis on procedures and expectations. Students have spent lots of time practicing these things so that they become the norm.  That way later in the year, we can just move through the day seamlessly. 

Everyone has been supportive with the creation of a new class and the over/under crowding of other classrooms. We have already begun to level classes at the campus level.  This is where one class at a grade level was over but another class was under the 22 student ratio. Hopefully by Tuesday, I will learn the district's plan regarding the classrooms that can't be resolved in a similar way.

Don't forget that Back-to-School Nights are next week.  The teachers are excited about the opportunity to share with you their plans for the year. 

Have a great and relaxing holiday weekend.