August 25, 2010

The 2010-11 school year started for me on Auguat 18 with several work days every one of which I used along with numerous days before then! Our rooms had been totally vacated at the end of last year so that the old, old carpet could be removed and replaced with new floor tiles. You'll see the new tile in some of the pictures, and as you can see, it sure does brighten up the room. It's noisier in here but not as bad as I thought it might could be with pads on the legs of our NEW desks and chairs!

This year's group holds the promise of being exceptional students both academically and behaviorally! Very few of them had to re-take any of the 4th grade EOG's so Uncle York and I are anticipating a wonderful year with them!
After much internet research over the summer, Uncle York and I have decided to follow the lead of numerous other public school systems across the nation and have opted for single-gender classes aimed primarily at math and science in our attempt to raise scores in those areas. We're hoping for scores in other subjects to improve significantly as well as a result of this re-grouping. Our new principal, the county superintendent, Dr. Hobbs, along with other supervisory personnel have wholeheartedly endorsed this project of ours, and, as a matter of fact, the main speaker at the opening convocation this year was Dr. Bill McBride from California who happened to be a proponent of single-gender classrooms!!!

We're setting up the 55 gallon aquarium again this year and will be raising trout from the egg stage to fingerling size to be released into a stream some time in May. This project is sponsored by and funded for us by TIC (Trout in Classrooms) of North Carolina. They are a "catch and release" group of men and women who foster the replenishment of trout into the wild.


We've been enjoying our recesses in spite of the high 90's! Uncle York and I have them playing touch football, or they can practice kickball in anticipation of the annual 4th/5th grade challenge and grudge game at the end of the year with the entire school enjoying watching the game.