Announcements

Normally Christmas is an extremely happy and exciting time of the year.  This year, however, Mrs. Waters had to spend most of her holidays at UC San Francisco.  She found out on December 23 that one of her sons has leukemia.  He will be undergoing intensive chemotherapy in the months to come.  As a result, updates to our class web page were delayed until now. 

In January our class welcomed a Phase II Student Teacher from California State University Chico.  Morgan Iverson is doing a great job in our classroom.  She is definitely a welcome addition as another teacher in our room.  Welcome, Miss Iverson! 

We had our Reading RESULTS testing during the week of February 11.  This helps our teacher determine where interventions are needed.  We have begun some RtI (Response to Intervention) groups, and Mrs. Waters will be teaching the Novel Group, concentrating on Stone Fox and Little Wolf’s Book of Badness.  She will be showing the students how to do lapbooks. 

Our February break during the week of February 18 was definitely needed! 

February 29 marked the end of second trimester.  Report cards will go out on March 7. 

Easter Break for us was April 7-April 11 even though Easter fell in March. 

STAR Testing will be here before we know it.  We all want to do our best, so we will be reviewing, getting a good night’s sleep, and eating a healthy breakfast.  Good luck to all students. 

Mrs. Waters will celebrate her birthday this month.  We wonder if she will be truthful in revealing her real age!  For sure, she will be eating at her favorite Mexican restaurant, La Cascada, in Willows. 

May 5-9 will be Teacher Appreciation Week here at Murdock.  Our Parent League has some special plans for all the teachers and staff. 

May 17 is the date for the Relay for Life with the Red Bluff Elks.  Mrs. Waters is anxious to help sponsor this event because of the recent diagnosis of her son.  She is doing this in his honor.  Go, Joshua!!! 

Reading RESULTS testing will be held during the week of May 19-23.  This will be used to determine students who need to go to summer school this year. 

We will celebrate Memorial Day with a holiday on Monday, May 26.  We will also begin third trimester assessments this week. 

The third trimester will end on Friday, May 30, and report cards will ready for students to take home on Friday, June 6.   

The last day of school, June 6, will be a minimum day.  Summer school will start on Monday, June 16 and ending on Friday, July 11.  Students will be able to celebrate the Fourth of July with NO SCHOOL on that day! 

Students, have a safe and restful summer vacation and be ready for school to start on August 12!!

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Christmas has always been a favorite of students at Murdock Elementary, and this year will prove no different.  December will find us enjoying several activities.  We will finish three selections from Theme 3 in our reading series and will practice the skills that go with each story.  Our upcoming spelling words will center on the Christmas season and will challenge us while being fun.  We will complete several packets of Christmas-related skills sheets that will help us prepare for our January tests. 

We have already made our monthly star cards and our 3-D Christmas trees in holiday colors.  In addition, we will be making multiplication lapbooks as a gift to ourselves so we can practice our math facts during Christmas vacation.  Our lapbooks will include mini-books on the multiplication facts through the twelves.  These manipulatives will help us study our facts in a hands-on, multiple-intelligence way that is definitely NOT BORING!! 

As a reward, our class will be attending “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium” at AMH Theater.  Andy Hutson has done a wonderful job of making his establishment available to classes at a reduced cost.  Andy is a wonderful community asset, beginning his business about 30 years ago, working from his home as a very young man!!  Thank you, Andy, for all you do for our students.  Get that popcorn buttered and the Diet Pepsi ready for our teacher.  Those are her favorite snacks!   

The Awards Assembly revealed several exceptional students from Room 401.  Angela, Chelsea, Miguel H., Miguel M. were honored, along with Daniel, the winner of the Citizenship Award.  Congratulations to you all!

Our Christmas party will be held on Wednesday, December 19th, after lunch.  Due to our busy holiday schedule, we will have a small celebration just prior to the end of the school day. 

Friday, December 21, will be a minimum day in anticipation of our being “Home for the Holidays.”

 Merry Christmas, one and all!

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The first full week of November will mark the end of our first trimester.  Conferences will be held on November 14-15.  Those two days will be minimum days for Murdock students.  Report cards will be ready for distribution during conferences. 

We will honor our veterans by observing Veteran’s Day on Monday, November 12.  Please be mindful of the freedoms we have because of those who have served and continue to serve our country. 

Thanksgiving Holidays will begin November 19 through November 23, 2007.  Most of us should be able to digest a wonderful meal during that time and come back to school refreshed!! 

Our class will be attending the Great Water Mystery Assembly on Thursday, November 29.  I don’t think we’ll be all wet on this one!

Students in our class will be cafeteria helpers the week of November 26.  Most of us like this duty to learn how to be good citizens by helping others.

It's a good thing we didn't count our chickens before they hatched!  Mrs. Twede dressed in a chicken costume and did the Chicken Dance on the roof of one of the school corridors since our Math-a-Thon was such a success.  The third and fourth graders raised over $2000 from this event.  Thanks to all who helped in this endeavor.
 
Right after Halloween classes began collecting candy in an effort to tame the Candy Monster.  All the candy will be weighed and the class that has the most pounds of candy per child will receive a party.  The candy will then be sent to our troops around the world.  Thank you for helping us make this event a success.

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Since we are on a 6-1 calendar, we have a much-needed break coming up on October 8 through October 12.  Progress reports went out on September 28, so we can breathe a little easier until report cards need to be completed and conferences held in November.   

Most of us are well into Theme 2 of our Houghton-Mifflin reading series, and students are now well-acquainted with the theme tests.  We are now using a computer grading program which makes it easier on our teacher!  Of course, having a cup of coffee handy helps her too!  And maybe a diet Pepsi.  And maybe a Moon Pie.  And maybe…. 

Back to School Night was a huge success.  Parents and other visitors made the rounds of open classrooms and learned what their children will be learning this school year. 

Special thanks are in order to our PTO and Kiwanis Club for their generous donation of our new picnic tables.  Several parents gave up time recently to put together the brightly-colored replacements of our old wooden tables.  Now we have a cheery place to enjoy our lunches when weather permits. 

The Math-a-Thon was a success, and one class still has to finish the math testing.  We are gearing up with cameras to “catch sight” of our principal doing a crazy dance!  

 We will soon be finishing our first lapbook on the moon from Hands of a Child.  Our cutting and folding skills are improving, and we will polish our speaking skills as we present the mini-books to our parents and anyone else who will listen.  We have several more lapbooks in the works, including one on English grammar.  Parents and others may want to visit www.handsofachild.com for more information.  This is a hands-on, fun, exciting, and educational way for students to learn.  If our teacher can do it, anybody can!! 

Miss McDermott, our student teacher, will be doing her solo week toward the end of October.  She is excited and has several surprises planned for us.  Maybe we can bribe her with chocolate to “spill the beans.” 

The Murdock Halloween Parade will be held shortly after the start of school on Halloween, October 31st.  Every year, Mrs. Waters is totally unrecognizable.  We wonder what she will do this year to top the old man, old woman, and young girl costumes!

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Our class is very privileged to have a Phase I Student Teacher from California State University Chico.  Shauna McDermott is an added blessing to our classroom.  She has already proven herself a person worthy to be called teacher.  Welcome, Miss McDermott! 

We will soon be having a Math-a-Thon to earn money for our classrooms.  In addition, we will be able to see our principal, Mrs. Twede, do a crazy dance on top of the picnic tables.  Last year, she did a smashing rendition of the “Tootie-Ta”!  We wonder what it will be this year!

We are looking forward to Back-to-School Night on September 11.  This will be a great time for parents to see our curriculum and see where their children spend a good deal of time. 

Students need to remember to slick down their hair and wear their neatest clothes on September 11 for Picture Day.  We definitely want to smile prettily for the birdie!

We are beginning cursive using Handwriting Without Tears.  Our families will be so impressed as we improve on our handwriting.  You won’t see tears in our eyes this year!