Weird Science

Science was fun this past week. We conducted an experiment on our own that dealt with polymers and elasticity. Our main purpose for conducting the experiment was so that we good practice using the steps of the Scientific Method. Our task was to see which was more elastic a Ziploc baggie or a plactic Dixie Cup. After creating our hypothesis about what would happen, we made some startling discoveries. Some students decided to take it a step further and ask themselves, "What would happen if..." Our imaginations went wild. We were again amazed at some of our discoveries. And we learned that some times in Science, things don't always happen like we think they should.

Family Math Night

Last night was Heusner Elementary's Family Math Night. Students and their parents went from classroom to classroom playing math games together. Each grade level had two games to play. The 5th graders played Factor Bowling and Frog Games. When students had been to three rooms and played three different games, they were eligible to participate in the Math Carnival located in the gym. A good time was all as almost 200 students from grades K-5 participated with their families.

Turtle Drill

Today our class had what our school calls a "Turtle Drill". This is a drill that helps us practice what to do when something unexpected happens at our school or an unwelcome visitor is in the building. We did a wonderful job of following directions so that everyone would be kept safe. You may want to talk to your child about steps we took to stay safe.

Boyer's Going Green

This week at Heusner students and staff participated in activities that practiced good energy saving and environmentally friendly habits. the idea came from some 4th grade students who are studying about the environment in Science. We made sure our lights were turned out when we were not in the room, started a classroom recycling box (how many times do we say, "Do we need this paper anymore, can I throw it away?") Friday, classes were asked to wear green clothes to finish off the week. The class with the most green clothing wins an extra recess. Our class wore a total of 52 green items.

4th Grade Program

It's program time again. This time the program was with the 4th grade classes. It was a program that we were quite familiar with, as we had done the same thing last year. This year's 4th graders changed it just enough to make it interesting. Their theme was the Amazing Race. The program and it's songs brought back many memories of our program with the aliens, hula dancers, cowboys, and the brightly colored spaceship that was built. The 4th graders did a great job and we wish them luck on their evening performance.
FIFTY NIFTY UNITED STATES!

Bully Prevention

Today we had a guest in our class, Mrs. Price, from Child Abuse Prevention Services. She taught us about bullying and the effects that bullying has on others. We did some role playing in which some of us had to portray the bully and others got to practice strategies to stop bullying. We then finished up our session by thanking our classmates for doing things for us when they didn't really have to. It was great to hear all the thank yous being given by our classmates to one another. Thank you Mrs. Price for coming to our classroom today.

3rd Grade Program

Today our class was treated to a special dress rehearsal performance of the 3rd grade program. Having been 3rd graders ourselves at one point, we were very familiar with the songs. We showed a great deal of respect to the 3rd graders by listening carefully to their speaking parts, modeling good assembly behavior for the younger students, and even though we knew most of the songs, refrained from singing along with them.
We also know that before the year is over, we will have our chance to put on a performance for the whole school and we hope that everyone is as respectful for us as we were today.

Red Ribbon Week

This week our school is doing things to celebrate Red Ribbon Week. Red Ribbon Week is a week that everyone focuses on Drug Awareness and shows their pride for being Drug Free. To celebrate each day, our StuCo has voted on some special way to show your pride with a different theme each day.


Monday - Crazy Hair Day - “Being Drug Free is Hair-Raising!”
Tuesday - Team Logo Day - “Winners are Drug Free and Proud!”
Wednesday - Twin Day - “Let’s support each other being drug free and proud!”
Thursday - Pajama Day - “Drugs are Tired!”
Friday - Heusner Spirit Day - “Heusner School is Drug Free!”

We are proud of our Heusner students and their dedication to Be Drug Free!

O.R.E.O Project

Today our class participated in a worldwide internet project. It's called the O.R.E.O Project. The task is to see how many Oreo cookies each student can stack one on top of the other.

The rules were simple:
1. Each student will have 2 attempts to create a cookie stack.
2. Students will place one cookie on the paper plate/table cloth and then add one
cookie at a time to the stack. Their partner will tally cookies as they are stacked.
3. Students may NOT adjust the cookie after they have placed the cookie on the
stack and moved their hand away. Cookies need to be freestanding and NOT
leaning against any kind of support.
4. A tumble has occurred once 3 or more cookies have tumbled on the stack. The
complete stack DOES not need to completely tumble for it to be called a tumble.

Once everyone has completed two attempts, our goal was to find the mean (average), median, mode, and range for our class. Our results were submitted online and added to the results of every other participating classroom throughout the world. We will be able to see how we stack up (pardon the pun) with other classrooms, when final results are tallied and released on October 17.
To see our results and pictures, you can visit our O.R.E.O. Project site at: http://www.usd305.com/heusner/teacher/Boyer/oreo%202007.htm

or see the final results from all participants at the official site: http://www.technospudprojects.com/Projects/OREO2007/oreo2007instructions.htm

ITBS Testing

It's mid-October and that means it's time for ITBS (Iowa Test of Basic Skills) testing. Students will participate in three days of testing in the areas of reading comprehension, math, language, grammar, science, and social studies. We will be taking these tests on Tuesday, October 16-Thursday October 18. Look for a note in Friday's homework folder that gives a little more detail about what to expect from the upcoming week.

Oh and by the way, Halloween is almost here.

3 Days of School this Week!

Just a reminder that students will only have three days of school this week. They are out on Thursday and Friday due to Teacher Inservice and workday. Wednesday is the end of the first nine weeks.
We will be starting ITBS Testing next week. Look for notes that will be coming home this week.

Football Showdown - Cats vs Hawks

K-State! KU! K-State! KU! Wildcats! Jayhawks! Purple! Blue!
We heard it all week and today we showed our team spirit with our Kansas State or Kansas gear. This was all a little fun in support of the big inner state rivalry this weekend. The kids and staff all got involved and needless to say, there were a lot of fans for both teams. Although everyone knows where Mr. Boyer's allegiance lies (Go Cats!) there was a lot of good natured fun and teasing about who's team is going to win the game on Saturday. Good luck to both teams! Go State!

Wear Black on Monday!

On Monday, October 8, Heusner Elementary will be taking it's annual whole school picture. All students are asked to wear black and all staff are needing to wear red. All the students at Heusner will create the form of the letter H with the staff outlining it in red.
Remember to wear your black on Monday!

Book Orders Due!

Our October book orders have been sent home and will need to be returned to school on Monday, October 8 so that we can get them sent off and returned in a timely manner. For the first time, parents can place their orders online by typing in the login and password sent home with your student along with the book order. Or, you can continue to send the orders to school and I will make sure they get put on our classroom order.

Books that might be of some interest:

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark - Arrow ($.95)
The Dark Pond - Arrow ($2.95)
Igraine the Brave - Arrow ($14.95)
Heroes Don't Run - Tab - ($.95)
Shadow Children Pack - Tab - ($16.95)
*A Living Nightmare - Tab - ($4.95)

*Mr. Boyer's Personal pick

New Year, New Ideas

Welcome to the 5th grade. This is our classroom blog for the new school year. I am very happy to be moving to the 5th grade this year. Keep checking this blog to keep up with the latest happenings and events that happen throughout the year.

Online novel you might enjoy.

Hey guys, look what I've found. I think you all will like this. It's an online story that updates daily. It's called Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It's about young boy and his adventures with his brother and in school and the funny things that he encounters. This novel is a journal that the boy writes in. He made a deal with his mother that if he writes in his JOURNAL, which he hates when people call it a diary, that he can skip one chore on Saturdays. I think 4th graders can relate to some of the things this kid goes through. Check it out, I think you'll like it.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Heusner Hot Dancers and Goal Setting

This week has been quite an entertaining one, we started off in Integrated learning ballroom dancers. We each had a partner to dance with and had a special guest come in and teach us. In a couple of weeks we are going to have a dance off with everyone in the 4th grade. Should be interesting. I like watching that. Last year, Mrs. Hendrix and myself showed the class some of our moves and danced through the gym.
Also, our state tests are coming up just around the corner and we decided to set some goals for ourselves for this year. Having met the Standard of Excellence last year in Math, we have a pretty lofty goal of 89% in Meets Standards and above on the tests this year. Our reading goal is 83%. If we work hard, both goals should be pretty easy to achieve. We can do it, but it will take a whole 4th grade team effort.

Happy Holidays

It's here! It's here! Christmas break! Half of our 4th grade year is over. We had a very busy day today during our last day before break. We started off our day with a morning sing along in the gym. When we got into the gym, we saw that it was decorated with lights strung across the ceiling and the stage was decorated and lit up. I was invited up to the stage to participate and lead the school along with Mrs. Ogborn, Mr. Michel, and Mrs. Grabner in a schoolwide Christmas macarena. I've got some great moves. I'm not very good at stage diving as we would all find out.
We then went to Mrs. Robben's room and read some Christmas stories with a first grade classroom. During that time, we practiced our technical reading and writing by creating a life saver train because they had just read The Polar Express. After we were finished with that, we read Christmas stories to each other and made hot chocolate. It was fun to share the spirit of the holidays with a younger group.
For lunch, we all (yes, even me) ate in the gym. I sat with all the girls for a little while, and can those girls talk. Whoa! I then moved over to sit with the boys.
In the afternoon, we were treated to a puppet show put on by our specials teachers from the building. I then participated in the Heusner staff adaption of the Twelve Days of Christmas. I had the honor of being the partridge in the pear tree. It was fun. But the narrator read so fast it was hard to keep up. I think she did that on purpose. I worked up a sweat.
Finally, came our Christmas party. Now, our parties aren't anything special. They are actually quite relaxing and enjoyable. I made a classroom CD for each student which included their favorite songs and some music we listen to often in class. We played the class CD, unwrapped gifts and goodie bags and talked with our friends. Now that the day is over, we are all ready for our long awaited winter break. I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and hope you are refreshed when we return after the break!

Happy Holidays!

Substitutes and Incredible Reindeer

This week was very busy. Our classroom had a substitute two days this week. On Wednesday, I was fortunate enough to go to a workshop on using blogs in the classroom, which I think we do rather well. I got a lot of great ideas and helpful hints to make blogging more effective in class. It was equally enjoyable knowing that our class was being respectful and working hard for the sub. I just love getting rave reviews from substitutes, it makes me so proud. *Tear* The next day, we had Miss Donahey, a student teacher in our building, as a "sub". I say "sub" because although I was still in and out of class, Miss Donahey wanted to see what it would be like to sub in a classroom, since she will have to start doing it in January.

Last month we performed our Integrated program in front of the whole school, this month it was the second graders turn to perform. Their program had a Christmas theme in which a special group of reindeer superheroes save the day. It was quite comical and it always amazes me how some of those younger kids get in to it. I enjoy watching them perform. My favorite part was the scientist and the newscaster with him. "

"I think that the deadly meteor is going to fall to Earth...TONIGHT!"

Good job second grade, we enjoyed the program.

BRRRRRRRRR!!

Man, was this week of school a weird one as far as our weather was concerned. At the first of the week, it was nice and warm with temperatures around 70 degress. We enjoyed those beautiful days outside at recess. Thank goodness we did though because two days later, the temperature dropped to about 30 degrees. Cold, cold, cold. So cold in fact, that we decided to stay inside for recess. It was alright though, staying inside is fun, at least for a slight change. We got to get out some of the games in the cabinet and play. I, Mr. Boyer, cleaned house in a nice game of WAR with Pedro and Chase. I think they let me win. They didn't want to hurt my feelings. How nice of them. There was a competitive and VERY LOUD game of Twister, which I eventually had to put a stop to because of the noisiness. Harry Potter UNO was also a hot game to play. Our classroom LEGO set also got a lot of use during our recesses. I think I could possibly play with LEGOs all day long. They are so much fun.
Well, I have a feeling our nice days are gone for a while. We'll just have to get ready to bundle ourselves up in coats and deal with the chill, while out at recess. I don't think we could take having a recess indoors every day. We'd all go crazy.