MR. KAISER’S NEWS

The students of Mr. Kaiser’s Fourth and Fifth Grade Classroom have been very busy over the first six weeks of school.  We have been studying lots of material and gelling together as a super team of learners.  All of the students have classroom duties to keep us operating at a high level of productivity.  We are extremely grateful to have Mrs. Amy Bonomolo assisting us.  She is the best teacher’s aide at Fountain Hills Charter School!  Her positive, loving spirit, diligence, enthusiasm, and energy are a model for all of us.

Within the first two weeks of school we focused on the 2008 Summer Olympics from Beijing, China.  In Math there was the tracking of medals won and putting them in bar graph form.  There were lots of classroom discussions of success stories of the many athletes from around the globe as well as the beautiful pageantry of the closing ceremonies.  After the events were completed the students prepared extensive reports on a specific country involved in the Games.  They were very well done and presented in the front of the entire class while spectators completed KWL charts depicting information they learned from the presentations.

Everyday we begin by joining the rest of the student body at our school’s flagpole to sing The United States of America’s National Anthem followed by The Pledge of Allegiance.  Our class then comes inside and we conduct a Moment of Silence for anything that the children want to reflect on.  Afterwards they write a Daily Quote in their journals that Mr. Kaiser prepares from people in history.  The quotes are positive and motivational in nature and come from people from the business world, former US Presidents, sports legends, inventors, writers, and unknown authors.  This has become a favorite activity for everyone in class.  We discuss the quotes, reflect on their meanings, and learn new vocabulary.  Topics range from positive thinking, self-confidence, hard work, integrity, truthfulness, doing your best, The Golden Rule, and success.

In Social Studies we have been studying The Founding Fathers of our great country.  For example, people such as George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock, Patrick Henry, Paul Revere, and Benjamin Franklin among many others.  We started with the Pilgrims arrival in the New World and continued with events leading up to the Revolutionary War such as The Stamp Act and Boston Tea Party.  The students are learning how resilient our Founding Fathers were in separating from control by King George and the British monarchy.  They have learned famous quotes such as “If This Be Treason,” “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death,” “The Shot Heard ‘Round The World,” “One If By Land, Two If By Sea,” and “The British Are Coming!” The students even wrote their own Class Constitution that is posted prominently at the entrance to the classroom.

In Math we have explored many subjects revolving around the subject of whole number operations.  They include Fourth Grade subjects in Modeling Addition and Subtraction Situations, Mental Math, Adding Three or More Addends, Estimating Sums and Differences, Adding and Subtracting with Money, Adding and Subtracting Larger Numbers, Subtracting Across Zeros, Choosing the Operation, and Multiplication Facts.  In Fifth Grade, the topic has been Whole Numbers and Decimals.  There has been work with place value to Hundred Thousandths, benchmark numbers, Place Value of Larger Numbers, Comparing and Ordering, Adding and Subtracting with Data, Subtracting Across Zeros, Choosing Addition or Subtraction, Estimation and Column Addition, Place Value of Decimals, Using Tenths and Hundredths, Equivalent Decimals, and Comparing and Ordering.

Language Arts study has brought attention to The Five Paragraph Essay Format, Six Traits of Writing, Cursive Writing, regular Vocabulary exercises, and a weekly spelling test.  Also, we have concentrated on various writing models such as descriptive paragraphs, descriptive essays, and how-to’s in those areas, expository and narrative writings, friendly letters, thank you letters, as well as grammar, usage, and mechanics.

At the time of this writing we were preparing for our first field trip!  The excursion will take us to the famous and very popular Halle Heart Center and Museum in Tempe, AZ.  The children are very excited.  We have a very nutritionally knowledgeable class.  Therefore, this event will be extremely meaningful.  There will be lots to report in our next website publication.  We are very grateful for the several parent drivers that will take us there.

Additionally, the children of Mr. Kaiser’s class have been focusing on Reading, Organizational Strategies, and their special programs of Music, Technology, Art, Spanish, Physical Education, and Science.  There are also three other programs.  They are the daily reading of the “Positive Pocket.”  The “Positive Pocket” is where any class member can write something good that they saw being exhibited by another classmate or Mr. Kaiser.  All the day’s notes are read at the end of class to give a positive send-off home for the children.  On Fridays we have the awarding of The Kiwanis Terrific Kid Award.  This award goes to the class member who displays the best positive attitude and citizenship in class throughout the week.  So far the honorees have been Connor Price, Haylee Klein, and Skye Brewster!

Finally, for the Fifth Graders, we have had a weekly workshop presented by the Maricopa County Sheriff Office called S.T.A.R.S.  This is an acronym for Sheriff’s Teaching Abuse Resistance to Students. The Sheriff's Office came up with this new program that is school-based; deputy instructed which includes classroom instruction, as well as various interactive activities that enhance learning. The use of deputies affords several advantages. Deputies have a diverse range of experiences in criminal behavior. With their experience and training, they are able to recognize the signs and symptoms of drug use, violent behavior, the ability to recognize gang members, have knowledge of helpful resources, and most importantly, they can be positive role models for students.  The basis of this program is the teaching of life skills. Due to the fact that juvenile delinquency serves as a gateway to criminal behavior, our instruction is directed towards providing life skills to students to help them refrain from delinquent behavior. It is vital that we influence the perception of the students about how society views alcohol, drugs, gangs, and violence. The principal objective is prevention.