Last Day of Swimming

Swimming instruction came to a close today.  The students finished up their patch testing and had a ton of free-time!  I'm so impressed on their improvement in the water!!!  Here are a couple of videos curtesy of the iPhone 5s.

First PBiS Assembly

PBiS (positive behavior interventions and support) is a behavior system we use at Gilbert Park that focuses on acknowledging positive behavior and less on negative behavior.  Whenever students go above and beyond to display our school rules, be safe, be respectful, and be responsible, they receive a "Patriot Award."  They then save Patriot Awards up to redeem prizes.  They also get a 5 Nguyenning bonus for receiving a Patriot Award in our class.  Gilbert Park has used this system for about 6 years and it's produced great results.  Both attendance AND disciplines referrals have improved over this time!

PBiS assemblies are held in the cafeteria every other month.  The assemblies highlight PE and Music awards, attendance awards, and character trait awards.  Our class received the Attendance All-Star award this month for having the best attendance in the WHOLE SCHOOL!!  I'm so grateful for this group of students and their willingness to be at school.  And HUGE kudos to the parents for supporting them!

                                                 

Free Access to Online Books!

The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) is pleased to announce that free access to myON Books (a business unit of Capstone) will be extended through December 20th, 2013. This online library of over 4,000 enhanced digital books for all students and families was first introduced as a free resource to the state in early summer, 2013.

Follow the following steps to login:

1) Go to www.myon.com and click on the “Login Now” button

 

2) On the login screen, enter the following information into the appropriate fields: 

 

• School Name:  Oregon Readers (begin typing Oregon Readers and select “Oregon Readers, Oregon Department of Education” from the dropdown box.

 

• Username: read (all lower case)

 

• Password: read (all lower case)

 

        3) Click the “sign in” button and enjoy!

All About Me Posters

Check out these ALL ABOUT ME POSTERS!

Class Collaboration

One of the focuses in our new curriculum, FORWARD, are ACADEMIC SUCCESS skills.  The skill we are learning about and practicing is COLLABORATION.  Here is a poster I put up in class:

These skills are important not only at school, but at home and in all the students' future endeavors.  Below are some videos that shows great collaboration between the students during a group math practice sheet assignment in class today.  Can you spot the examples of good collaboration in these videos?

Band and Orchestra Field Trip

The start of Band and Orchestra is right around the corner!  We went on a field trip to the David Douglas Performing Arts Center and listened to a performance by some talented high school students.  They played tunes from Star Wars, Aladdin, Pirates of the Caribbean, and other classical tunes.  It was an unreal experience for me to see SEVERAL of my former students (who are seniors now) perform!  The students of Room 24 did a phenomenal job displaying respectful and responsible behavior during the performance.  I'm SO impressed!!!

I sent a letter home today detailing the musical instrument meeting required for ALL students that have an interest in joining Band or Orchestra this school year.

First Day of Swimming

We had a fun AND eventful first day of swimming!  The students started out by testing their swimming ability.  Half were placed into the shallow end and half in the deep end.  The students in the shallow end focus on basic swimming skills like kicking their feet, bobbing up and down, and increasing their comfort in the water.  The students in the deep end focus on learning new swimming strokes and other advanced swimming techniques.  The students also get FREE time if they follow directions and have a great day.  Some of the students used the free time to jump off the diving board!

The eventful situation came at the end of swimming when we were ready to leave the pool on the bus.  We were all ready to go when the bus would not start.  We waited a short fifteen minutes for another bus to arrive.  I appreciate the students' flexibility!  Below is a link to the letter that the swimming teacher would like all parents to read.

Swimming Letter to Parents

 

Thank you Sasha for the fabulous PHOTO-BOMB!

Full of Expectations

The students and I continued to work on class and school expectations today.  They participated in the Fall Gilbert Park Expectations Parade.  The Parade had five stations that the students rotated every twelve minutes.  They included assembly expectations, a bully prevention lesson, Expectations Jeopardy, Arrival/Dismissal expectations, and finally, Cafeteria expect ions.  These parades are very important to our school, because the students are taught the same exceptions from the same staff, so there is consistency.

We also produced a classroom expectations matrix today.  It covers expectations for collaboration, asking for help, walking in line, and many others.  Below is a link to it.  If there is any confusion about an expectation, I usually have the student refer to this document.

Finally, the students created classroom expectations posters and produced a skit to model the wrong way and the right way to display the expectation.  I'll post some pictures and videos of the skits and the students working in tomorrow's post.

The students are working very hard so far and they have done a wonderful job following expectations.  I've been extra impressed on how well they have been giving me their attention when I ask for it.  I'm SO proud to be their teacher!

Room 24 Class Expectations Matrix

Check out this VIDEO of a group presentation!

           

         

First Day of School

It was such a pleasure meeting all 31 students today!  We learned a little about each other and learned the expectations of the classroom.  We went over expectations for listening, walking in line, had a tour of the classroom and school, and many other things!  I sent home Wednesday folders today with some things to look at and keep and some things to fill out and bring back to school.  The papers with a star on them are the ones the students need to bring back signed or completed.  We started planners today.  The students are expected to share with parents what the school day was like and have them sign it.  Planners need to be brought home and back to school everyday.  I would like to thank all the students for a terrific day!  They did a fabulous job being good listeners!

     

PE/Music/Library/Computer Lab Calendar

We are on a rotating specials calendar this year to avoid classes consistently missing specials on no-school days.  Specials are given a letter (A,B,C,D,X,Y).  A,B,C,D days are rotated every Monday thru Wednesday and X, Y days are rotated every Thursday and Friday.  You might have to zoom in a little to see better.

Room 24 Specials Calendar

Beginning of the Year Parent Letter

Attached is the parent letter that will be given on the first day of school.  It briefly goes over some expectations like homework, attendance, and other miscellaneous items.

Mr. Nguyen's Parent Letter

Back to School Night

Back to School Night at Gilbert Park was a success!  Parents and students made their way through the torrential downpour to meet their new teachers.  The night started with a talk with our principal, Ms. Moncrief in the cafeteria and ended with a visit to the students new classrooms.  About fifteen out of thirty families showed up to our classroom last night.  It was an incredible honor meeting my new students and their families.  If you weren't able to come, here are a couple details that I shared last night: 1.  The new schedule system for music, PE, and Library/computer lab.  2.  The media release form for the classroom blog site was passed out.  3.  Passed out instructions to receive reminder texts from me through Remind101.  4.  Showed our class blog site.  I look forward to meeting the rest of you and can't wait for the first day of school!  See you Monday!

Mr. Nguyen