Newsletter
March 10, 2010 We have our date! On April 13, our class will be going to City Hall. We will leave school about 10:30 a.m. and get a tour of the building, then eat lunch in the bamboo garden. We will present Councilwoman Rose Hererra with our book and talk to her a bit, then the city council meeting starts at 1:30. Our commendation is near the beginning of the meeting, so we anticipate arriving back at school about 2:45. Parents are welcome to attend the city council meeting, and there will be lots of room for parents to ride with us on the bus. Watch for permission slips to come home next week!
March 1, 2010 I am very excited to announce that the San Jose City Council will be presenting our class with a commendation for their efforts on NaNoWriMo last November. In return, our class will present Councilwoman Rose Hererra with an autographed copy of our novel. As soon as it is put on the city’s calendar, I will give you a date so you can all attend.
February 8, 2010 Science Camp refund letters went home today. In order to receive your refund, it MUST be completed and returned by Friday, February 12.
February 1, 2010 Science Camp was a good time. The students all had a great time and learned a lot! I’m sure you have been treated to a detailed account of your student’s experience! If any student has digital pictures, please bring them to school to share.
January 20, 2010 BIG NEWS! Our class book, Novel Central, is now available for online orders!! Go to Createspace now and order copies for your friends and family. Profits go to our classroom.
January 19, 2010 One week from today we will be leaving for Science Camp! A letter with answers to all your last minute questions went home today.
January 11, 2010 All Science Camp money and permission slips are due this Friday. Remember to write your $267 check out to JFS, and sign both sides of the health form. Sweatshirt orders should have separate checks, made out to Santa Cruz County Outdoor School. Two more weeks....we’re getting excited!
January 4, 2010 Happy New Year and welcome back to school! For the next three weeks it will be all about Science Camp! Students should have their buddies determined by this Friday. They can choose a buddy from any fifth grade class. Paperwork and money is due by next Friday, January 15. We go to camp January 26-29.
December 14, 2009 Congratulations to my entire class! Everyone finished NaNoWriMo novels! Directions are coming home today for ordering your free copy of the class anthology. I am very proud of how hard they have all worked!
Grab a copy of the December 12-25 Evergreen Times--there’s nice article about our NaNoWriMo experience,and a picture of the class!
November 28, 2009 I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving like I did! I am busily finishing my own novel and very proud of my class. Only three students are still working on their novels according to the NaNoWriMo site. I am so proud of them! Students who have already reached 100%, just log in to NaNoWriMo to update your status to WINNER!!
November 16, 2009 We are halfway through NaNoWriMo, and every one of my students is at least 40% done with their novel. Isn’t that exciting? Some are 80% done! I am very proud of their efforts on this project.
This week is Parent Conference Week. Please remember to bring your student with you to conference. Reminders were sent home, but if you’re not sure when your conference is, please call the office to find out. See you at conference!
November 9, 2009 At the end of our first week of novel writing, every student in the class (and their teacher) had achieved a minimum of 10% completion of their novel. Last Thursday, 17 students stayed after school to write for three hours--together they wrote a whopping 10,000 words! I am very proud of their effort so far and look forward to keeping them motivated to finish.
October 27, 2009 Next Sunday, November 1, kicks off NaNoWriMo. What better way to get started then to visit a real author? On Sunday, from 1:00 to 2:30 in the afternoon, Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, authors of Peter and the Starcatchers and the new book, Peter and the Word of Mercy, will be at Hicklebee’s Children’s Bookstore in Willow Glen. Go talk to them, author to author!
October 22, 2009 I am very excited to announce that my class will be participating in NaNoWriMo this year. What is NaNoWriMo? You will be hearing a LOT about it from your students over the next few weeks! NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. Held in November every year, it challenges people of all ages to write a novel in one month. I have registered myself, with a goal of 50,000 words, and have challenged the class as a whole to match my word count. They are excited about it. Recommendation for fifth grade word goal is 5,000 -10,000 words, but I am letting them set their own goals. Goals can be changed throughout the month, too. Log onto the website (linked to my Curriculum page) to check it out, and encourage your students to write, write, write during November!
October 2, 2009 Today the packets for Science Camp were sent home. The pink health form and gold photo form are due by January 15. Cost for Science Camp this year is $267 per student. If this is hard for you, please contact me about a payment plan or scholarship. I want all of my students to come with me to camp!
September 21, 2009 Our Parent Information Night for Science Camp is coming up on October 1 at 7 p.m. Come meet the Science Camp Director and have all your questions answered. Also, we will be going on a field trip to NASA Ames Aerospace Encounter on October 7. Watch for permission slips coming home this week.
September 10, 2009 It was wonderful to meet such a large percentage of the parents last night. I hope you had all your questions answered. If not, please send me an email. I have already had a good response on parent volunteers, but I still need someone to volunteer to teach the Arts Attack lessons. If I do not get a volunteer, our class will not be able to participate this year. Please give it some thought! Thank you.
September 2, 2009 Next week, on Wednesday, September 9, is Back to School Night. Primary teachers will have their rooms open from 6:00-6:45 p.m. Mr. Hodgin will introduce the staff and kick off the school year in the cafeteria at 6:45 p.m. and upper grade classrooms will be open from 7:15-8:00 p.m. We will discuss how to ensure your child’s success this year in fifth grade, and I will distribute passwords so you can access online grade reports. See you all then!
August 28, 2009 The first week of school is over, and I am very proud of my class. Everyone is trying very hard to be organized, to complete their work, and to participate in class. I think this will be a good year! Remember Back to School Night is September 9. Please come!
August 2009 Welcome back to school! I am looking forward to meeting all of you on the 24th, and I’m busy getting the classroom ready for you. Here are some things you can do to get ready for school:
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1. Supply lists have been mailed, so to prepare for school, please purchase all your supplies and UNWRAP everything before coming to school. That will save us a ton of time on the first day.
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2.Get lots of rest. Start going to bed a little earlier and getting up a little earlier.
--Mrs. Ulleseit
