News from D107

December News

2011-12-06T18:39:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,
As the snow begins to fall, we are in the busy time of the year. The students are practicing for the music program. The music program will be on Thursday, December 15th at the high school auditorium. You could also see the dress rehearsal in the morning at 10:00 am. We hope to see everyone and enjoy a wonderful hour of music.

We have completed the WKCE tests and will wait for the Winter MAPS assessment in January and February.

In science, we are working with microscopes and space projects. The students are very excited for both activities.

Math class has us beginning a unit on fractions. Let us know if you see the students struggling with the concept.

During reading class, we are using the Lead 21 series. If you are able, have your students show you the lead 21 website with the various activities and books to use. The students have a password to use the program. The website is www.lead21.com

The students are starting to learn about the Revolutionary War in Social Studies. Ask them about the story of Johnny Tremain.

As a reminder, we have phy ed on Days 2, 4, and 5. It helps to have gym shoes at school on the day of phy ed.

Upcoming dates:
December 14th is an early dismissal day
December 15th is the holiday music concert

Happy Holidays to All!
Ms. Hagen

Safety Patrol News

2011-09-10T12:38:00.000-07:00

Hello All,

We are getting Safety Patrol off and running. I will be meeting with the classes in the next couple of weeks. Some classes have their belts and schedule. Classes will be scheduled about once a month.
Important Dates:
Washington DC trip is April 19-23
Wisconsin Dells is May 18th
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me by email at jhagen@spartan.org or phone 269-2187.

Ms. Hagen

New School Year

2011-09-10T12:10:00.000-07:00

Greetings Everyone,
Happy 2011-2012 school year! It is a new school year with a great deal of excitement. We are off to a super start. We welcome Mr. Mike Roddick as our new principal at MVI. This week we had our PBIS boot camp to learn all the common rules of the school. We are also getting used to a six-day rotation schedule. We have Phy. Ed. on days 2, 4, and 5. Music will be on days 4 and 5. Art will be on Day 6. I have scheduled LMC on days 1 and 3. We will be the first class to have keyboarding during our afternoon beginning the week of September 12th. We have had our pictures taken and will let you know when retakes will happen.
We are beginning a new reading series called Lead 21. I look forward to teaching the class. Students will be divided into groups and be taught by several teachers in small group reading sections after having a large group reading. This program will allow for more integration of reading skills.
This year the class will be switching classes by having Mr. Atteln for Social Studies and I will teach the Science. I will teach the math using the Math Expressions book.
Our class will also have a reading goal every month. We will have two genres to choose from and have the students meet the goal of reading 300 minutes.
The school year is off to a wonderful start.

Upcoming Important Dates:
Fundraiser Kick off on September 12th
PTG Meeting on September 19th at 6:30 pm in the school cafeteria
Early Dismissal on September 21st
Fundraiser Ends on September 26th
Parent Teacher Conferences will be held October 4th, 6th and the morning of October 7th
No School on October 7th

Have a great day!
Ms. Hagen

May News

2011-05-10T20:18:00.000-07:00

Greetings All,
May is going by quickly. It is hard to believe that we are at this time of the month. We hope the days continue to get warm and sunny.
We welcome Mr. Glen Moseley to our classroom as a student teacher from Cardinal Stritch University in Madison. He will be with us through the end of the year. We are excited to have him part of our classroom community.
In the classroom, we are currently working on division and processes of numbers in math. The students are also learning about exponential numbers, squares, and square roots. During reading, we are learning about adverbs, adjectives and making our sentences more vibrant. We will be taking the spring writing assessment soon along with our spelling assessment. Word lists will be coming home soon. In science we are studying ecosystems and animals.

Middle school forms need to be filled out and turned back in. The students visited the Middle school on May 10th. If you have questions or concerns about middle school, please let us know.
Upcoming Important Dates:
May 10th: Middle School tour
May 13th: Get "R" Done Fun Run at 2:15
May 17th: Trempealeau Trip
May 20th: Wisconsin Dells Safety Patrol Trip
May 26th: Safety Patrol Awards (More information to come)
June 2nd: School Awards (More information to come)
June 3rd: Last Day of School Activities

We are currently working with Ms. Koll, our librarian, on a 30/30 challenge for reading. We are having all students try to read 30 minutes a day or more in the challenge.

Have a great month!
Ms. Hagen and Mr. Moseley, student teacher

March News

2011-03-23T12:22:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,
Happy Spring! Does it really look like spring outside? We are continuing to be busy in the classroom. Our class has been working on poetry podcasts during our reading time in the LMC.
We have been studying food and the food pyramid in science. In Math, we have been studying fractions.
Parent -Teacher Conferences are March 22 and March 24.
Book Fair is also available during this time. You can also buy tickets for the different baskets that classrooms put together for the PTG group.
Have a great day!
Ms. Hagen

January News

2011-01-19T07:00:00.000-08:00

Hello All,

Happy New Year! I hope that everyone had a good holiday season and break. We have been busy in the classroom with several activities.

Science: We are learning about the eight planets plus Pluto. We are also researching a space topic that they will present to the class.

Social Studies: The students are studying the states and putting together a power point about a state.

Reading: We are reading the book Rascal and discussing features of the book and writing tools that the author uses. The descriptions in the book are very vibrant so we are talking about adjectives and adverbs.

Math: We are just finishing decimals and problem solving and will be going into lessons about geometry.

Writing: We are writing our own fictional stories. The students are also working on their winter writing prompts and have done winter poems for the display case.

We are continuing to learn things on the computer and work on the smart board. We are using the smart response systems or clickers for quick quizzes.

Congratulations to Holden, Kari, and (alternate) Faith for representing us for the spelling bee. At the end of December, we were able to attend the toy show put on by the 6th graders. The students enjoyed seeing the creations and playing the games.

Reminders:

Music: Recorders are currently needed for class.

Phy.Ed.: Remember to have the students fill in the Movin and Munchin calendar and turn it in.

Congratulations to Brianne for participating in the Math Knowledge Competition and the Lego Activity.

Congratulations to the class for the wonderful job at the Holiday Program. We were very impressed with all the hard work.

Congratulations to the students for reaching their 1st PBIS goal and now half way through to the 2nd goal. Let's keep up the good work.

Have a great week!

Ms. Hagen

December News

2010-12-02T07:12:00.000-08:00

Greetings to one and all,
Happy December! I am sure that everyone is realizing that this month came quickly. We have had a busy November schedule that included the WKCE state testing and watching a performance at the high school of the musical “The Wiz”.

This month leads off with practices for the music concert. We will have our concert on Thursday, December 16, 2010 at 7 pm. Students should sit with the parents until they are called to go line up. You will be able to enjoy a wonderful concert. They are doing well in their practices. Each student does need to bring a flashlight to use during the performance.

Congratulations to Emma for being the winner for the Hometown Hero Essay contest. Good work to the whole class on their essays.
Congratulations to the class on being the MAPE winner for the 1st quarter. The students have been earning scores of 4 or 5 in music, art and phy. ed. Keep up the good work. They will be having a treat for their work.

We will be MAP testing the week of December 6th for Math and Reading. They will have two days.

Thank you to those who sent a treat for the class to share. If you have an opportunity to send in a treat for the students, please do so. Some choices are crackers, pretzels, animal cookies, or other snacks.

We as a class have been talking about giving and have decided to sponsor a child who is 8 years old for the holiday. What that means is that we will provide gifts for the boy. His list includes Pants or jeans, size 10 (adjustable strap in the waist. Mom says they have them at Wal-Mart), shirts and sweat shirts, size 10, matchbox cars and trucks, waterproof mittens and a stocking cap and boy's underwear. Please don’t be afraid to look through things you have at home. Gently used or new items are great. We will wrap the gifts here at school and get them to him for the holiday. If you have any wrapping paper you would like to donate, that would be nice. If you would like to provide a cash donation, I would be willing to go get the items for this project. We need to have the items here at school by the 13th of December so they can be delivered to the group on the 15th. Thank you for your support in this project in showing how to give to another person in this season of sharing.

Our class will be having a class party on Tuesday, December 21st. I will be letting parents know who signed up for providing a treat. More information will follow.

In reading, we are reading the book Rascal by Wisconsin author Sterling North who was from Edgerton, WI. It is a true story about his time with a pet raccoon in the time period of 1918. You may hear the students come with questions about the time period. In Math, we are working on problem solving with larger numbers. Please continue to practice the math facts. This really is helpful. A website that we are currently using for review is www.mathisfun.com. In science, we have been learning about our vision and using microscopes. The Revolutionary war is being studied in Social Studies.

Please keep checking the assignment notebooks. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at jhagen@spartan.org, by a note, or call 269-2187.

Have a delightful December!
Happy Holidays to all!

Ms. Joanne Hagen
Grade 5 Teacher

November News

2010-11-15T07:40:00.000-08:00

Greetings:
Congratulations to the class for winning the MAPE award for the first quarter. They have been doing a terrific job.
Congratulations to the class for participating in the Hometown Hero Essay Contest and to Emma for being the representative from our class to present her essay. She has a nice trophy to show for it.
We are in the midst of WKCE state testing. We have completed the reading section and this week with take the math sections.
We will have early release on November 17th. We will be off on November 25 and 26th.

Our class is going to start reading a book called RASCAL by Sterling North. He is a Wisconsin author from Edgerton.

We will have safety patrol the week of November 29-December 3rd.

Have a great week!
Ms. Hagen

Early September News

2010-09-08T18:01:00.000-07:00

Greetings,

The school year has started off very well. The students are getting into the routine of school. I see that they are excited to learn and want to do their best. Students are enjoying the opportunity to switch classes for Social Studies. The transition has been going very well. Our study hall time has been decreased at this point since we have started our keyboarding class.

We have some important upcoming events:
Picture Day is Friday, September 10th
Early Release Day, Wednesday, September 15th
Book Orders are due Monday, September 13th

Our class has been busy with doing some assessments for the beginning of the year. We have now completed the Spelling pretest. We will be working on their writing prompt in the next couple of weeks.

As a reminder, please have your child continue to work on their math facts.

Students will be reciting the pledge on Tuesdays for the 1st semester. They sign up for their opportunity.

Many students are enjoying sharing snacks at milk break time. If you would like to send in a box of crackers, bag of pretzels, or other snack for the class to share, please feel free to send one in for the class.

We will be discussing more about safety patrol on Friday, September 10th. If you have questions, please let me know.

Have a great week!
Ms. Hagen

August News

2010-08-24T15:17:00.000-07:00

Hello All,
Welcome to a new school year!

I hope you all had a terrific summer. It seemed to go very fast. I was busy taking two classes this summer. One was called the "Supervision of Student Teachers" and the other was "Teaching Students with Autism". Both gave me a great deal of information to use in my teaching.

During this summer, I took trips up north to see some friends and family. I also attended several weddings and reunions. I will be interested to hear what the students did this summer.

Open House is on Thursday evening August 26th. I hope to see a lot of students and parents in attendance. The first day of school is on September 1st.

I am looking forward to another great school year at Meadowview Intermediate.
Watch for another posting in the near future.

Have a great school year!

Ms. Hagen

April News

2010-04-30T17:54:00.000-07:00

Hello All,
It is hard to believe that it is the end of April. We have been very busy in the last month with many activities.
In reading, we are reading about the history of Wisconsin Disasters. You can ask the students about the following disasters: Tornado at New Richmond, Wisconsin Railroad Disasters, Fire at Peshtigo, Fire at the Newhall House in Milwaukee and the Edmund Fitzgerald disaster to name a few. They had many questions and surprises while they were reading. We also were working on the book called Head for the Hills, The Johnstown Flood.

In Math, we are working on long division. This is a reminder to keep practicing their multiplication and division facts to help with the process.

Science has been focused on legal and illegal drugs and how they affect the body. Students have also been practicing how to say no to some pressures that may sometime come their way. We will begin a unit on animals and biomes.

World War II has been the topic in Social Studies.

We were lucky to have a clinical student from UW-La Crosse. His name was Mr. Schellenger otherwise called Mr. S. The students and I really enjoyed having him join our class for 3 weeks. He learned a great deal about the students and the curriculum that they are learning.

Guest speakers have been appearing at school. We have had a visit from Miss Wisconsin. A Y0-Yo Specialist also came and spent two days teaching the students the techniques of the Yo-Yo and the principles of motion.

We have had a visit from the Middle School Counselor to talk about 6th grade. Watch for forms to come home about picking classes for your child next year.

Some of the students went to Washington D.C. trip for safety patrol. They seemed very tired on their return but they thought it was a good trip. The students who stayed back at school worked hard but also went to a movie "How to Train your Dragon"

We look forward to a busy month of May!

Have a great week!
Ms. Hagen

Spring News

2010-03-16T06:22:00.000-07:00

Hello All,
Bring on the nice spring weather! This week is celebrating going into spring and give winter the boot! Tuesday is Caribbean day with flip flops and spring colors. Wednesday will be Wacky Wednesday on March 17th. We celebrate school spirit day on Friday with red and gold colors.

We are busy working in the classroom on space projects for Reading. The students are enjoying working on the computers for their project. They are very imaginative in their projects. In Math, students are working on multiplication 3-digit by 2-digit and 3-digit by 3-digit numbers. Please have your child practice their multiplication facts.
During Science, we are doing experiments with Food Chemistry. They are trying to see which liquids and foods are considered to have starch, glucose, and protein. We are also being the unit on animals. For Social Studies, we are now working on the time past the Civil War. The students were studying the Civil War.

We have finished the MAPs testing for this winter and have written our Winter writing prompts.

Thank you to all who attended parent-teacher conferences. It is always interesting to see how much the students have grown by this time of year.

An assembly will be held on Wednesday, March 17th with the Climb Theater.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Have a great week!
Ms. Hagen

Greetings

2010-02-05T12:16:00.001-08:00

Hello All,
We are in the midst of MAPS testing for Reading and Math. The students are doing well and trying to do their best. We are reading books for lit circles such as "Tale of Despeareax", "No Talking", "Loser", "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane" and "Crispin". In Science we are studying Foods and Nutrition. We will be studying some on the Winter Olympics in February.
We will be having the Reading Olympics starting February 12th.
Our next Safety Patrol will be the week of February 22nd.
Our Friendship Party will be on Friday, February 12th.
As a reminder, there will be no school on Friday, February 19th.

Have a great week!
Ms. Hagen

HOLIDAY GREETINGS

2009-12-21T12:09:00.000-08:00

Hello All

We have been very busy in the month of December. We have been working away on the music program which turned out to be very successful. They did a wonderful job. I know that it was a lot of work and practice.

During reading class, we are finishing our literature circles. Ask your child about the book that they are reading and finishing. I have seen a good deal of learning and discussing about the books that we are reading. I see that the students want to find out what happens in their books.

Microworlds and microscopes are being studied in the science class. We have looked at non-living items and living items including volvox, blepharisma, and vinegar eels. They have all enjoyed using the microscopes to see small items. We will continue with some use of the microscopes after the holiday break.

During Social Studies, we are studying about the American Revolution. We will continue to study the U.S. History.

In Math, we are continuing to work on place values of numbers. They are testing Unit 3.

The holiday party is on Tuesday, December 22nd.

NO SCHOOL FROM WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23RD TO JANUARY 3RD. WE BEGIN SCHOOL ON MONDAY, JANUARY 4TH.

HAVE A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY BREAK!

MS. HAGEN

Email from Carol Gorman, author of Chelsey and the Green Haired Kid

2009-10-26T10:08:00.000-07:00

Hello, Ms. Hagen and students!What a great email from you! I loved reading your comments about CHELSEY,and I'm so happy you liked the book!I'll answer your questions below:
Derek:how long did it take to publish Chelsey and the green haired kid?
Derek, the book was published a year and a half after I sold it toHoughton Mifflin.
Chloey:why is Jack so mysterious?
Chloey, Jack is mysterious because the book is a suspense novel, and mysterious people are interesting. :)
Harry:where did you come up with taco pizza?
Harry, when I wrote the book, taco pizza was my favorite!
Lauren:do you have other books related to Chelsey?
No, Lauren, CHELSEY AND THE GREEN-HAIRED KID is the only one of my booksin which Chelsey appears. Sorry! I enjoyed spending time with her, too!
Genessa:why did you name the wheelchair the Blue Streak?
Genessa, I thought Chelsey was the type of girl who might name her wheelchair, the way some people name their cars.
Emerson:what inspired you to write the book? Emerson, I wanted to write a suspense novel in which a murder wascommitted in a room full of people, but only one person witnessed it. Chloey:what would be your advice to someone who wants to get started writing?
Chloey, read as much and as widely as possible. And start writing storiesof your own. But don't fall in love with your words because writers alwayshave to revise and change and improve their writing!
Olivia:Why did you put a river at the end of suicide hill?
Olivia, Suicide Hill is a real place (but it's isn't called that!) in IowaCity. If you're ever in Iowa City, it's the Market Street hill that slopesdown toward a silver building. When I was young, there was no building atthe bottom, just a parking lot and the river beyond. So in my mind, Imoved the parking lot and river closer, so Chelsey and Jack could zoomdown the hill and coast until they were at the river's edge.
What is our favorite book you ever read?I have a lot of favorite books! I can't pin it down to just one.
Kailee:Have you thought about continuing the story of Chelsey and the green haired kid?
Kailee, I submitted a proposal for another book to Pocket Books. They published the paperback, and the editor liked it. But the publisher said,"Oh, we don't need any more mystery novels." So they didn't buy it.
Lauren:why did you make Jack smith's hair green?
Hi, Lauren. I grew up in Iowa City where I saw lots of interesting people.Jack's hair is his way of telling people, "I'm me, and I don't care what you think." I saw students on campus when I was growing up with purplehair or words shaved into their cut. I also saw a girl wearing a long gownand combat boots.
Emerson: how did you come up with the characters?
Emerson, Chelsey is a braver version of myself. Jack was a young versionof my husband Ed! Trystan:how did you come up with the book idea?
Trystan, I just used my imagination.
Liam:why did you have a character in a wheelchair?
Liam, it's scary to be a target, but even scarier if you can't run away fast!
Harry:why is Jack so bad?
Harry, he isn't bad. He's a normal kid who has had a tough life and madesome poor choices. Brianna:why are there no chapter names?
Brianna, I've never written chapter titles. For some reason, I don't likethem!
Whitney:how did you think of Suicide Hill? Whitney, see above.
Emma:why did Jerry Fields die in this book?
Emma, if Jerry Fields is killed, the bad guys seem more dangerous.
Lauren:why are Mac and Ron so mean?
Lauren, because this is a suspense novel, and they're the bad guys! :)
Liam: why did you make the book?Liam, I'm a writer, and a writer writes! :)
Omar: which book did you write first?
Omar, CHELSEY AND THE GREEN-HAIRED KID was the third novel that I wrote(after a book that didn't sell and T.J. AND THE PIRATE THAT WOULDN'T GOHOME), but the first novel that I ever sold.
this note is from Kailee>> I was wondering if you could make another Chelsey and the green haired> kid,because at the end of the book Jack said "This is the beginning of a> beautiful friendship".We were wondering since he did say that, you might> make another Chelsey and the green haired kid book. When our teacher> said to stop reading, we didn't want to stop.Kailee, that's exactly why I wrote that ending, so I could continue Chelsey's and Jack's story. I was hoping I could write more adventures for them.

I'm so glad that you all liked the book and wrote me! I'm sorry that my answers were so short, but I was in CT last weekend to speak at a library,I teach part-time at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, and this is mid-term,and I'm scrambling to keep up!
Thanks again for writing!
My best to you all,Carol Gorman

Safety Patrol

2009-10-25T12:12:00.000-07:00

Hello All,
We have safety patrol the week of October 26th.
Have a great week!
Ms. Hagen

October News

2009-10-25T11:49:00.001-07:00

Greetings Everyone,
Thank you everyone who attended parent teacher conferences. We have been continuing with a pretty regular routine lately. We are in the midst of the state testing and have completed the Reading sections this past week. We will continue testing the Math sessions on November 3rd and 4th.
For reading class, we did finish the book Chelsey and the Green Haired Kid. We e-mailed the author who responded to all the student questions and comments. It was exciting to see the response of the students. Carol Gorman has a website www.carolgorman.com which the students found interesting. Mrs. Gorman is from Iowa so we talked about her being a Midwest author.
I will post some of the questions and comments at a different time.

This week we celebrated Red Ribbon Week. Thank you to all the students who participated. The culminating event was a student versus staff basketball game.
Just as a reminder, we will be off of school on October 29-30. I hope you all have a safe and Happy Halloween.
Ms. Hagen

SAFETY PATROL

2009-09-28T13:26:00.000-07:00

OUR CLASS WILL HAVE SAFETY PATROL THE WEEK OF OCTOBER 5TH-OCTOBER 9TH. HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

2009-09-28T12:52:00.001-07:00

SEPTEMBER NEWS
MS. HAGEN’S CLASS

Greetings to All,
It is hard to believe that it is the end of September already. We are in the midst of a busy time at school. We have finished some of the assessments including the spelling pretest, writing assessment and reading inventory. In the next two weeks, we will be having MAPS assessment in the areas of reading, language, and math. I hope to have the results to share with you at conference time. We will be scheduling conferences this week.
***************************************
Late Start on Wednesday, September 30th. Classes will begin at 9:55. No breakfast will be served at school for this day.
***************************************
Conferences will be held on Friday, October 9th, Tuesday, October 13 and Thursday, October 15th. There is no school on Friday, October 9th due to conferences. The book fair will be here at school during conferences.
*************************************************************
Snacks for Milk Break:
Some students bring an individual snack but others are sharing a snack class. Would you be willing to send in a box of crackers, pretzels, or other item to have the class share during milk break? If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know or talk about it at conferences.

Students are enjoying the opportunity to switch classes. They are also enjoying using magnets for science class. In math, they are continuing to work on multiplication math facts. To keep up with the class, you can also keep track of our blog at
http://mshagens5thgradeblog.blogspot.com/

Have a great week! I look forward to seeing everyone at conferences.
Ms. Hagen

First weeks of school

2009-09-11T12:04:00.000-07:00

Hello All,
We have had a terrific first two weeks of school even with the summer weather coming now.

We have been busy working on making classroom rules and routines. We have also been taking a pretest of spelling words for the year.

In reading, we are reading a class book called Chelsey and the Green Haired Kid. We are learning how to use the smart board and have done some basic activities on the smart board. We will continue with our learning and exploring.
In Science, we are working on our Friendship and Feelings unit in health. Math is working on a review of math and working on arrays, area, equal groups, and combinations.

Some reminders are:

Please keep money in your child's lunch account
If you are dropping off or picking up your child, please park in the parking lot and let them walk into school using the crosswalk.
Your child may bring a water bottle to have in class. If it becomes a distraction, I may take it away.
Please check to see if the assignments are being completed.

Ours class starts on safety patrol the week of September 14th. The students will know if they have duty during the week. They should all have their belts at school in case they need to fill in for another patrol. We will have patrol every 3 weeks from next week. Everyone will not be on the schedule every duty week as we need to rotate duties.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Have a great weekend!

Ms. Hagen

Welcome to the 2009-2010 school year

2009-08-18T21:15:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the 2009-2010 school year! Where did the summer time go? I am sure that we all have more that we thought that we would get done or some other place we wanted to go. The summer went by quickly. I am looking forward to another school year. We will be using our smart board on a regular basis. This year our class will be switching classes for math and social studies. It will be an exciting year with many things to learn. Open House is on Thursday, August 20th from 5-7 pm. I hope to meet some of you at the open house.
Have a great rest of the summer! I will see the students on September 1st.
Ms. Hagen

April News

2009-04-23T12:40:00.000-07:00

Hello One and All,
Some of the class are off on the Safety Patrol trip to Washington DC. We hope that all have a safe and fun trip. The students who are staying back on working on individual projects. We will be taking a field trip to the Movie Theater on Friday.
The students are enjoying learning more on the smart board. They are becoming great users of the equipment. I see that they are all trying to do their best to learn.
We recently had a visit from Mrs. Frost, the Middle School Counselor, about signing up for classes for next year. Please check with your child to make sure you received the information. Forms need to be turned back in by May 1st.
In health, we are working on learning about diseases and we will be making a brochure about a disease or health condition.
We will be attending the 6th grade health fair on May 5th. This will also be the day of the Fun Run. The Wisconsin Dells trip will be on May 15th for Safety Patrol.
Mr. Chuck Amundsen has started as our Junior Achievement volunteer. We look forward to having him come.
Have a great day and hopefully spring will stay in the air!
Ms. Hagen

March News

2009-03-27T10:55:00.001-07:00

Hello Everyone,
Our classroom door has been decorated by the students with a Spring Break Theme. We have received the best beach theme. The students enjoyed celebrating the week with dress up days and a game of volleyball between the teachers and student teachers. They also enjoyed having a juice bar treat on Thursday.

WOW! We are all excited about our new technology in the classroom. We now have a smart board in our classroom. We have been using it on a daily basis to teach many skills and enjoy adding to our learning. The students will be using it more as the year continues on. Thank you to Mr. Fischer for letting us get this technology in the room.

In reading, we are working in our lit circle groups and also learning about natural disasters. Science is all about types of animals. In Social Studies, we are learning about the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. We are also working on our state books. We are studying fractions in Math. See if your child can tell what fraction of something they are getting like pizza or pie.

Math Groups are now part of our end of the day on two days per week. The students go to other classrooms for intervention/enrichment activities on the subject of geometry. We will then be switching to another topic soon and they will be going to a different teacher.

Happy Spring:)
Ms. Hagen

Last Week of February

2009-02-24T06:24:00.000-08:00

Greetings Everyone,

READ ACROSS AMERICA DAY ---------MONDAY, MARCH 2, 2009

PLEASE COME AND JOIN OUR CLASS FOR A READ-IN FOR (2009 seconds) or 34 MINUTES IN HONOR OF DR. SEUSS’S BIRTHDAY in D107.

Come and enjoy reading along with the students. Bring a favorite Dr. Seuss book or children’s book to share or we will have some available to read. Please join us for morning meeting at 8:00 am and then we will have 34 minutes of read time starting at 8:20 or so.

Parents and special loved ones are the best reading role models!

Reading is something that can be celebrated on any day and at any time! After we are done, we will have a treat with the class during milk break.

Take time together every day to read together for 20 minutes.

Please fill out the form below by Wednesday, February 25, 2009 so that we can plan ahead with milk break.

Any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Ms. Hagen.

We are busy starting our state books. We are researching a state. It will be fun to discover many states. We are beginning our study on catastrophes. In math, we are working with fractions. In health, we are working with the food section. We will have a guest speaker on Wednesday, our food service director, Mrs. Thesing. We will be discussing how she develops a menu and what we need in the food groups for a balanced diet.

Conferences are coming home so that we can start scheduling.

Sundae Sale on Friday, February 27th. Cost is $1.00

Have a great week!

February News

2009-02-12T07:05:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,
We can tell that the weather has changed and some are wishing for an early spring. Our class has been busy with holding spelling bees and getting our representatives chosen for the spelling bee. Our representatives were Trygve, Kiana, Amanda J., Jacob V., and Sugey. Congratulations to the five for going on to the school bee. Congratulations to Trygve and Jacob for continuing to the next level.
We have now finished our session for MAPs assessment for winter and the writing prompt. I am proud of how the students all worked and put their best effort into their work.
In Reading, we have just finished reading the Rosa Parks story and were able to see a video about Rosa Parks' life. The students were very touched by the story and realized how far we have come in treating everyone with respect. We are now beginning to work in literature circles in reading. Please ask the students about the book they are reading.
We have been very lucky to be reading the newspaper on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 5 weeks. Our focus has been on the Abraham Lincoln story but of course we take time to read the comics and other articles. We would like to thank Viterbo University and Western TC for sponsoring our paper on February 12th in honor of Lincoln's birthday. It is a nice way to teach reading skills.
Our class will have a friendship party on Friday, February 13th in the afternoon.
There is no school on Friday, February 20th.

Have a great day!
Ms. Hagen

January News

2009-01-16T14:54:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone, Happy 2009!
We had our holiday party the first day we were back from the holiday break. It went very well. The students enjoyed the time together. We have been working on many things since we have returned from the break. We are working on learning how to make a power point presentation and learning how to add information from the research that we are doing about the presidents. They will be sharing these in the classroom as soon as we are finished. They are enjoying how to use the program and tools that are available. They are even teaching me some new skills on the program.
We are beginning a story about Rosa Parks. I want them to learn about the history and begin to understand some of the challenges that others have faced. We are watching the video called Our Friend Martin about Martin Luther King, Jr.
We will starting the tryouts for the spelling bee. We also had some students test for the Math Knowledge competition.
Thank you to all who attended the winter concert. The students did a terrific job!
Have a great day!
Ms. Hagen

Holidays Approaching

2008-12-08T07:27:00.000-08:00

Good Morning All,
As the Holiday Season continues to speed up our lives, we are busy practicing for the holiday concert. The holiday concert is on Dec. 16th at 7 pm. at the Sparta Senior High School Auditorium. Students should be at the high school at 6:45 pm and stay with the parents until they are called to go up to the stage. There will also be a dress rehearsal in the afternoon at 1:30pm. Remember that nice school clothes are appropriate for the concert. There will be a bake sale that night to proceeds going toward the negative balances in school lunch accounts. Students will be starting recorders after the holiday in January.

In the classroom, we are learning about different cultures and how children have shaped history. Please ask your child about Shirley Temple and Jackie Robinson. We are also learning about possessive nouns and sentence details. We are writing to our penpals in Minnesota. The letters will be sent out shortly.

Here is a copy of the letter going home regarding the party and gift exchange.
December 8, 2008
To: Parents and Students
From: Ms. Hagen
Re: Holiday Party and Gift exchange

We will be having a small holiday party on Friday, December 19, 2008. We will have a regular gift exchange. Your child may participate in a gift exchange. If you choose to have your child bring a gift, boys bring a gift for a boy and girls bring a gift for a girl. The suggested price is between $3.00 and $5.00. They may bring their gifts at anytime.

In addition, the students have agreed to another idea for a gift exchange. They will each pick another student’s name. They will make a bookmark for this other child. I will have supplies available for them to make the bookmark. On the back, your child will write 5 nice, positive, and thoughtful things about the other student. We have discussed appropriate things to include. I am sure that the students can find 5 positive things about the other student. They will keep their pick a secret until after we exchange gifts. We will wrap these gifts and exchange them on Friday. These will be written in sentence form. (An example is: I like the way you help others and are generous.) Please reinforce this idea with your child.
If your child needs any help, they may ask me for help. Any questions, please feel free to call me. I wish you all Happy Holidays!

P.S. If you would like to come in and assist with the making or wrapping of the bookmarks, please contact me.

I hope you all have a wonderful week.
Ms. Hagen

Thanksgiving Week

2008-11-26T08:43:00.000-08:00

Hello All,
Our class sends greetings for a very Happy Thanksgiving! Please remember that we are off of school for Thursday and Friday Nov. 27 and Nov. 28. Please have a safe and healthy holiday.
Just as a reminder, our holiday concert is on December 16th. Please join us for the concert and see and hear the hard work that the students have been putting in.

We have been continuing to read the story called "Fighting Ground" in reading. We are busy working on how to make words possessive. The class is continuing to research their president for the President's Project. We will be continuing this into Dec. and Jan.

The students have been reading space books and learning to use the computer program called "Inspiration". They are really working hard to put their notes into a inspiration design.

Have a great week and break!
Ms. Hagen

November 10-14

2008-11-14T07:41:00.001-08:00

Good Morning!
Students were able to see the musical Music Man at the high school this week. If you get a chance, take time to go and see it. We also were able to make a comparison between the movie and the live performance. They had many good insights.

We also had a wonderful Veteran's Day program. Thank you to all who have served us in the military.

This week we also had Mr. Liska come to speak about the partnership with Pasua. We appreciate the time he takes with the students to help them learn about the cultural differences and how to accept others for who they are.
Next week we will have a food drive to go along with American Education Week. Please send in the nonperishables during this week.
Students are starting to practice for the holiday concert which is on December 16th. Mrs. Bright has also given them a writing assignment. Here is a copy of the assignment:

Holiday Traditions Writing Assignment

Most families have their own special traditions during the holidays. Some of you may go visit grandma or other relatives. You may serve certain foods during the holidays or bake special cookies. Some of you may go to church or travel on a vacation to someplace warm. Maybe you take special shopping trips, play out in the snow, go hunting or just spend time together with your family.
Because our program this year is titled, "Pictures of December", your assignment is to draw a picture of your family traditions during the holidays, any time from Thanksgiving to New Years and then write about your traditions in the drawing. You will be able to go into more details if you choose one event such as putting up or decorating the tree, baking, Christmas Eve or Christmas Day rather than giving an overview of the whole holiday season.
You need to have a drawing on one paper which I will provide, and then two paragraphs describing your drawing. Your drawing may be pen, pencil, colors, or markers. No computer-generated drawings accepted. Each paragraph needs at least 5 sentences. Of course, feel free to do more! You may type it if you like. The final draft is due Dec. 4th. Rough drafts are due November 18. I will be grading on your ideas (details), word choice (descriptive adjectives), conventions (spelling, punctuation), and presentation.

Have a great weekend!
Ms. Hagen

2008-11-04T07:06:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,
Can you believe the weather? It is a great beginning to November. We are beginning state testing on Tuesday, November 4th. We will be testing in the mornings. Please make sure that your child gets plenty of rest and eats a good breakfast. We will have snacks and breaks for them.

Picture Retake Day is on Wednesday, November 5th.

We are continuing to study about the presidents and working on research skills. We are reading the Fighting Ground in Reading class.

Students are also having keyboarding class during our regular study hall time.

Have a great week!
Ms. Hagen

2008-10-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

Happy End of October!!
WKCE State testing:
We are busy taking practice tests for the WKCE tests. We will be testing in the mornings of November 4,5,6, and 7. We are testing the subjects of Math and Reading. The students should get plenty of rest and be ready to do their best.

Fall Party is on Wednesday, October 29th.

NO SCHOOL ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30 TH AND FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31ST. HAVE A SAFE HALLOWEEN! ENJOY THE LONG WEEKEND!

MS. HAGEN

2008-10-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

Greetings Everyone,

We are having a great and busy week. This week's excitement is about a trade book called Fighting Ground by Avi. We will be reading this as a whole class and doing many discussions about the book. We are working on a class project with Ms. Koll, the LMC director about former presidents. Each student will research a president using the Big 6 research method which will allow us We have been following the Presidents in the LaCrosse Tribune. We are having fun learning about the presidents. We are also working on essays for Hometown Heroes.
Thank you to all parents who came to conferences. I appreciate you taking the time to support your child's education and working with you to accomplish great things.
We are in the midst of Red Ribbon Week. Wednesday is Wear Red Day on October 22, Thursday is wear sweats day, and Friday is wear Team clothing. We will have a speaker on Wednesday and an activity on Friday.
Thank you to Mrs. Thomas for coming in and cooking with the students. They made pigs in a blanket.
Have a great day!
Ms. Hagen

2008-10-06T06:47:00.001-07:00

September/October News
Ms. Hagen’s Class

Our school year is off to a quick and terrific start. I am looking forward to a great year. This year will hold the promise of new discovery and learning, as well as the prospect of personal growth in all areas.

My goal is that we can all work cooperatively together to help your child attain their goals of learning. Communication is a big component of our partnership for your child. Please feel free to contact me by note, email, or phone. You can see contact information below. Your child is important to me and our classroom. You can also check out my blog under the Meadowview Intermediate Website at www.spartan.org. Select Meadowview from the drop down and go to 5th grade teachers and find my link to the blog. The address of the blog is http://mshagens5thgradeblog.blogspot.com/ if you want a direct link.

My philosophy is that all students can learn at their level and I am here to help them learn the best way possible. I also believe that students can learn from each other through cooperative learning. I will be having them work with other students on various projects.

HOMEWORK:
I believe that homework is necessary for practicing skills that have been learned or for enriching the classroom experience. Most of the time, homework is simply homework that was not finished in class. I try to give ample time in class, but sometimes it is not possible or some students may work more slowly than others and must finish later. We have an assignment notebook for the students to keep track of assignments. I will be checking to make sure all students are marking in assignments. Please check your child’s assignment notebook to make sure that assignments are getting completed and sign it so that I know that you checked it. You can write messages to me on the assignment notebook. The students can show me the note in the morning.

FAMILY ACCESS
The district has a computer program that allows parents to keep track of your child’s grades. The program also includes an area where you can check your child’s lunch account. To get to the family access, you should go to school website at www.spartan.org . Click on the Family Access link and login. If you do not have the login information, please inform me or the office and we will work with you to get the information. While visiting the website, you can click on the school link for important school information.

SNACK REMINDER
As a reminder, students are offered a chance to have a milk break in the morning. You may provide a healthy snack for your child. Many students are hungry by the time we get to the snack time of the morning.

SAFETY PATROL
Just as a reminder, students will need winter attire when the weather starts changing.
I look forward to working will all of you throughout the year.

CONFERENCES
CONFERENCES DATES ARE SET FOR THE EVENINGS OF FROM 3:30 -6:30 ON OCTOBER 14 AND 16, AND THE MORNING OF OCTOBER 17 FROM 7:30-10:30. IF THESE TIMES DO NOT WORK, PLEASE LET ME KNOW AND WE CAN TRY TO WORK SOMETHING OUT. I LOOK FORWARD TO MEETING WITH PARENTS AND STUDENTS.

The Great Everlasting Genre Safari
This year our fifth grade students will participate in a reading program that will involve the exploration of different ‘genres’ (or types of literature).
The program will have two components, or parts, and upon completion of either part, a student will receive a certificate from Pizza Hut.
Each month the student will be requested to venture into two genres and record their time spent reading these genres at home. Upon completion of the following requirement, she or he will receive a certificate for a personal pan sized pizza from Pizza Hut.
· Recording 300 minutes of the genre exploration, (reading)
· Reading 1 or 2 of the genre types for the month
A list of the required types of genre to be read
each month will accompany the reading record sent home each month. This reading program begins in the month of October and will be completed by the end of May. Those students who successfully complete the monthly components will be eligible to attend a Successful Safari Film Festival at the end of each month!

Sincerely,
Ms. Joanne Hagen
jhagen@spartan.org or 269-2187

2008-10-06T06:29:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,
I have added the Scholastic News Website to my blog. Please take a look at the information that they offer for explaining the election to students. The website is http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/election2008.htm

Have a great day!
Ms. Hagen

2008-10-06T06:21:00.000-07:00

Good Morning Everyone,
Today is the beginning of another busy week. We will be taking the Reading portion of the MAPS Assessment. We have already taken the Math section. This week we will have the CLIMB Theater at school on Friday. Next week we will have conferences scheduled on the 14th and 16th in the evening and on Friday morning the 17th. There is no school on Friday the 17th due to conferences. Report cards will be coming out in November.
Have a great day!
Ms. Hagen

Digital Photography

2008-09-16T09:51:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone
We are busy writing poems about ourselves. With these poems, we are working with our digital photos to put them into autoshapes and formatting the autoshape. The students are learning how to access their photo and adjust their size. The students are also learning how to save their work into their own folders and using the parts of Microsoft Word.
Have a great day!
Ms. Hagen

Busy Second Week

2008-09-11T11:24:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,
We are busy with many beginning of the year assessments. The students have finished their word wall assessment and have been busy with taking the reading inventory assessment.

Students have been getting to know one another and learn all of the names. During morning meeting, we have been greeting our friends and learning more about each other. Some of the games we have played are "Who's Missing?", "Who's the Leader?", "Frogger" and "Muck". Ask your child what their favorite game to play is and why?

What are we learning at this time.
We have started reading the book called Chelsey and the Green Haired Kid. We are doing activities with guide words in the dictionary and how to look items up in the dictionary. In Math, we are doing the review of activities about multiplication and division. In Science, we are learning about Friendship and Feelings. We are starting to learn about the globe and maps.

Have a great day!
Ms. Hagen

Welcome Back to a new School Year

2008-09-03T14:19:00.001-07:00

Welcome to 5th grade! I am excited for the new school year. The first two days have gone very well.