Happy Hmong New Year!

On December 16th, Community School of Excellence hosted a Hmong New Year Celebration.  Each class and enrichment group shared a song, story, poem, or dance.  Each one celebrated Hmong culture and traditions.  The Sixth Graders sang two songs: Kwv Tij Hmoob and Nkauj Kawm Ntawv, and then they performed a short play version of about a tiger who tried to eat a whole village.  Many of the students students dressed up in Hmong traditional clothing.  All the parents and the whole community were invited, and the celebration was a huge success. 

Here is a picture of my Sixth Grade Advisory class as they sat waiting for the first performers to begin.

Get Ready!

Last week we began a new curriculum in Advisory.  Get Ready! is a program designed by the Minnesota Department of Education to help students and families prepare for college: financially and academically. 

As part of the program we will be visiting a couple of colleges, and we want your input!  Which college should we visit?  Use the list of colleges below to explore the different colleges in the area. 

Augsburg College: Minneapolis

Bethel University: St. Paul

Brown College: Mendota Heights

Globe University: Woodbury

Hennepin Technical College: Eden Prairie

Macalester College: St. Paul

McNally Smith College of Music: St. Paul

Metropolitan State University: St. Paul

Rasmussen College: Eagan

St. Thomas University: St. Paul

University of Minnesota

Ask yourself, what could I learn here?  Does this look like a college I might be interested in?  What is it like to be a student here?  I will give you a graphic organizer to help you take notes on the different schools.  At the end of the week, you will have a chance to vote on the colleges you think we should visit.

Word Study

In the past couple of weeks, the sixth graders have begun Word Study during their skills time.  During Word Study, I take a handful of students at a time to the Middle School resource room where we study the sound, spelling, and meaning of words.  We begin with a study of the 70 phonograms of English.  These are the ways that certain sounds are spelled in the English language, for instance "b as in boy" or "ew as in few".  The students will eventually memorize all the 70 phonograms and be able to write, read, and say them. 

The next portion of Word Study is a program called "Words Their Way".  Words Their Way helps students find patterns in spelling and associate the way words sound with the way they are spelled.  Both Words They Way and 70 Phonograms are particularly helpful for ELL students because it helps them focus on particular sounds and improve their spelling and reading.   

Farmers Market!

Last week the fourth, fifth, and sixth graders visited the Minneapolis Farmers Market.  We were learning about how to incorporate fruits and vegetables in your diet.  The students imagined that they had $10 to spend on a meal and had to choose which items they would purchase.  Then we had a scavenger hunt!  It was a beautiful day at the market and a good time was had by all.

Developing Vocabulary

This week we are getting started with vocabulary development.  In small, leveled groups, we are practicing vocabulary using a flash card game.  Today, I would like to enhance my Group 1 students' understanding of some water-related vocabulary words by using a power point presentation.  Here is an example of one of the slides from my presentation:

With this presentation I hope to give students a visual understanding for different types of bodies of water: river, lake, sea, and ocean.

A New Standard for ELL

During the next several weeks, the ELL teachers at CSE will be testing our new students in order to place them in ELL services.  The State of Minnesota has adopted a new set of ELL standards developed by an organization called WIDA.  The WIDA standards will be a good change for teaching ELL in Minnesota because they will help us better identify areas for growth in speaking, reading, writing, and listening in both social and academic English.  The test that the students will be taking is called the W-APT.  It is just a placement test for new students.  It can take up to 90 minutes, and is administered individually.  There are many new students at CSE who may qualify for ELL services, so testing could take us several weeks. 

In the Spring, all the ELL students will take the ACCESS for ELLs test, developed by WIDA.  This test will replace the TEAE and IPT tests that we have used at CSE in the past.  Learn more about WIDA, the W-APT test or the ACCESS test by clicking this link.  If you have any questions, please feel free to call or e-mail me.

Welcome!

This is the door sign I created for Ms. Johnson's sixth grade Language Arts Class.  I will be working closely with Ms. Johnson and the sixth grade ELL students this year.  I tried to model my sign from the Hmong paj ntaub, or story cloths.  If you would like to learn more about paj ntaub, click this link: Hmog Story Cloths.

Come to the CSE Open House!

Welcome to Community School of Excellence!  We would like to invite all families to come to our Open House on Thursday, August 25, 2011, from 5:30 to 7:00.  Come meet your teachers and learn more about new opportunites at CSE this year.  We look forward to seeing you then!