Box Tops/Labels for Education/ Spartan/ Tyson

The labels for education program is a great way for the school to make money from our trash.  In a way if you throw these labels away, it's like throwing a pop can away.  The school can earn 10 cents from each label you send in.  At McBain your child has two opportunities to win some prizes: before Christmas and before the end of the school year.  Last year it was gift certificates to Meijer.  The top class gets a pizza party and 10,000 points to spend to get cool things for the classroom.  My class has come in second place so many times.  It is almost frustrating.  Last year we were 300 labels short.  The next day a student brought in a bunch of labels.  I don't think it was enough but who knows.  This year I'm campaigning... Meijer has a deal were you buy 5 box top items and they give you a coupon worth 200 labels.  What a deal!!!  So if you shop at Meijer buy a couple of extra items and you could earn 200 extra labels.

Second Week

Important Dates:

Picture day K-2nd Grades, Tuesday, Sept, 11th
                   3rd-5th Grades, Wednesday, Sept 12th
                   6th-8th Grades, Thursday, Sept 13
                   9th-12th Grades, Friday, Sept 14th
You can turn in your picture money anytime before Wednesday.

Important Papers to turn in:
Field Trip Permission Slip (purple half-sheet)
Power Announcement (white paper)
Acceptable Use of Technology Resources

Look for an assignment sheet folder to come home every night.  It has a "to-do" side and a "done" side.  The assignment sheet is in the middle and the students fill it out each day.  They will earn a "Class Dojo" point if a parent signs it nightly. 

Class DoJo:
This is a website set up to help teachers monitor student behavior.  I'm using it as an incentive program to reward possitive behavior.  Things that I'm looking for are homework done, assignment sheet signed, good hall walking, quiet silent reading, good behavior, etc.  Behaviors that can lose points are disruptive, out of seat, chair tipping, owing time at recess, etc.  There is a way I can email your child's results.  I'm working on collecting parent e-mail addresses.  If you were at the open house and didn't receive a test email from me, please email me at lfredin@mcbain.org  I must have typed your address in wrong.

Spelling:
Each week for spelling
Monday:Abc order 5 x's each due Tuesday
Tuesday: Unit wkst (3 pages) due Friday
Wednesday: Word Search or Writing due Friday
Thursday:Pre-test if passed with a 94% or higher they pass out of Friday's
test
Friday:Final test and correct wkst 
If your child can score 100% on their test 5 weeks in a row they will move up to a 5th grade list.  If they struggle on that list they will move down to the grade level list.

MEAP Prep:
We are using are grammar time to prepare for the MEAP test.  You will see MEAP prep packets, one is called Short Task the other is called Multiple Choice packet.  These are overviews of all the GLCE's the students learned last year.  Then we will dive into individual GLCE's and try to get the students to understand these standards.  We will get to the grammar after the MEAP test.  (About 6 weeks into the new school year.)
Late Start:
Late Start has change this year.  It is the third Monday of the month.  School starts at 10:00 a.m. on those days.

Ways to reach me:

Class Blog- go to mcbain.org.  McBain Public School's homepage.  click:
Elementary Teacher's Pages
Lars Fredin

From the class blog I have links to my website.  My homepage, assignments, spelling lists.

Email me at lfredin@mcbain.org

Call 825-8330 ext 1518 to leave a message

Call the Elementary office 825-2021

Thanks,
Mr.Fredin

Welcome to 4th grade.  We don't have gym the first day so you don't need to bring your gym shoes until Friday the first week only.  Our normal gym time is Wednesday and Thursday and that starts the second week.  See you Tuesday at 8:00 a.m. and bring your me bag.

Funny thing that happened during the Valentine's Party

     A chance to eat during the teaching day has always been a highlight, and something I look forward to with great anticipation; it is extremely important to me that the food be distributed smoothly, and my room avoid becoming a hazardous zone.
   Therefore, I like to have the students seated while I pass out the food and drinks during a classroom holiday party.  This year during the Valentine's party, I decided I would be the responsible recipient to pass out the hot, BBQ sausages brought in by a student excited to share his mother's outstanding recipe. My serving platter was merely a paper plate, but I figured with my ingenuity, I could manage the task without flaw. Paper plate in hand, I meandered around the room, sharing the hot sausages with each student.
   Simultaneously, Mr. Culp (a parent volunteer) was passing out the pop. Being a multitasker, I asked the students to raise their hands if they wanted Sierra Mist to drink. As I made the announcement, I was preparing to deliver sausages to a student extremely excited about receiving pop, for the student's enthusiasm led him to raise his hand quickly and violently upward in my direction, unaware of my proximity, hitting the  precious BBQ sausage plate out of my hands.  Ten sausages and a rich, thick sausage sauce went flying straight up in the air. I closed my eyes, hoping this was only a dream and hoping for the best, for I knew that once something goes up, it must come down. And that's exactly what the sausages did, hitting me in the face, shoulders, and chest, while sauce splattered on me like rain.
     And yes, I was wearing my favorite red Valentine shirt and tie; these pieces of clothing suffered the brunt of the sausage attack, and still have the stains to prove the seriousness of the matter. The student that bumped me was very apologetic and repeated over and over, "I'm sorry, Mr. Fredin. I'm so sorry." For repentance, this student quickly rescued eight sausages from the floor, and loaded them back on the plate. Stunned, and bit annoyed that food was being wasted, I said, " I don't want them; throw them away!"
     The student who brought in the sausages, chimed in quickly, not wanting to see his Mom's prized sausages go uneaten said, " I'll eat them." 
     And he did.
    
   

Labels for PTO

Keep sending in those labels.  Our class took third place in the 1st semester competition.  We had close to 2000 labels.  Wow!  But that still only took third place.  The winning class had over 3000 labels.  I was at Meijer last week and if you bought 5 box top for education items they would print a receipt for a 100 bonus labels.  I did it and I got an extra 100.  I don't know how long the promtion last.  So check it out.  And thank you for collecting and sending  them into the school.  The PTO just received a check for $2850.00.  Pretty amazing! 

Spelling

Each week for spelling
Monday:Abc 5 x's each due Tuesday
Tuesday: Unit wkst (3 pages) due Friday
Wednesday: Word Search or Writing due Friday
Thursday:Pre-test if passed with a 96% or higher they pass out of Friday's
test
Friday:Final test and correct wkst

Second Day

We are switching for Science (Mrs. Mosher), Social Studies (Mrs. O'keefe), and English (Mr. Fredin)
We are doing our own Math (60 minute block of Everyday Math), Reading (90 minute block of Daily 5 and Reading C.A.F.E.)  and Spelling.  Please check your child's assignment sheet everynight and sign and return it.  They'll get a prize if all their homework is done and the parents have signed it.