4th Grade Fossil Rim Video

http://s149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/roberthyer/?action=view&current=4thgradetriptoFossilRim.flv

4th Grade Program Information

Dear Parents,

Our fourth grade students are performing Music Through the Decades on the evening of Thursday, May 10^th. Friends and family of students in Alexander, Funderburk, and Miller’s classes are invited to the 6:15pm performance. Friends and family of students in Pino, Rohde/Payne, and Tilger’s classes are invited to attend the second performance at 7:30pm. We will also be performing for the school the morning of Wednesday, May 9^th.

Every class is assigned a decade and will wear a costume that is characteristic of that decade. E-mails have been sent out from parent volunteers giving costume suggestions for your child’s decade. If your child has been assigned a speaking part, he/she will dress in the decade that has been assigned to the class. If your child is a member of one of the small ensembles, please consult the list below for his/her appropriate decade dress. The decade assignments are as follows:

ALEXANDER/ROHDE/PAYNE: 50’s (Contact: Sandra Lewandowski)

FUNDERBURK/ROHDE/PAYNE: 60’s (Contact: Jennifer Shelmire and Alicia Fanning)

MILLER/ROHDE/PAYNE: 70’s (Contact: Margaret Watson)

PINO/ROHDE/PAYNE: 80’s (Contact: Suzanne Chaltas and Kim Meaders)

TILGER/ROHDE/PAYNE: 50’s (Contact: Martha Stedman)

Small Ensembles:

LOLLIPOP GIRLS: 50’s (Contact: Jill Crow and Katherine Westbrook)

I WILL SURVIVE GIRLS: 70’s (Contact: Sandra Lewandowski and Margaret Watson)

STAYIN’ ALIVE GUYS: 70’s (Contact: Sandra Lewandowski and Margaret Watson)

Please have your child bring his/her costume to school on Monday, May 7^th, in a bag with his/her name-decade-class written on it. Their bag will stay at school in the music room.

Our students have been working extremely hard on this production, and we are all very excited. If you would like to volunteer to help with costumes or the set, please let me know as soon as possible. Thank you for your support. If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail or call me at school.

Sincerely,

Adrienne Dieterich

Music Teacher

Hyer Elementary School

(214) 780-3300

dietera@hpisd.org

Okay....we are back in business

I have had trouble logging in the last few days, but we seem to be back up now. Look for some pictures and videos from the 4th grade field trip to Fossil Rim today.

Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants

Below is a link to an interesting article from Mark Prensky, author of "Don't Bother Me Mom - I'm Learning." If you have not yet heard the phrase "digital native" or "digital immigrant" you may start to hear it soon and Mark explains both in the article. Hint - my two boys are definitely digital natives and I am definitely a digital immigrant.


http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf

Doing my part for the U.P. School Carnival........

U.P. Elementary School Carnival

Saturday, May 5^th

11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Come Live It Up in Panther Paradise!

3505 Amherst

All ages invited.

Confetti eggs, cake walk, M*A*S*H* tent, face painting, inflatables, five & dime, dunk tank, photo buttons, sweet shop, raffle baskets, and games galore!

LIVIN’ IT UP AT U.P. CARNIVAL

Ms. Killpack's Class Podcast

Ms. Killpack's class has created a podcast that has news and events for their classroom during the month of April. It is available by clicking on the "Links" section on the left-hand side of the blog.

Future Podcasts

Send me an email or leave a comment on future podcasts that you would like for us to produce. Topics? Interviews? Let me know........

TAKS Assessment for 3rd and 4th Grade

Third and Fourth grade students will take the Math portion of the Texas Assessment for Knowledge and Skills tomorrow. On Wednesday, our fourth grade students will take the Reading the portion of the TAKS test.

Responses

Well, we found out today what topic generates the most interest......that would be class lists. Thanks to so many of you that sent an email, made a call, left a comment on the blog or said something in person to a staff member regarding the information you received from listening to the podcast. Glad to hear from so many of you and I hope our future podcasts are as well received as this one was today. Now that we know that we actually have some listeners, we will continue to "cast" on........

Podcast #003 - Class Lists

A discussion with Nancy Theirot regarding class lists is now available on Podcast #003 - Class Lists. Nancy Theriot discusses how class lists are created at Hyer. A few of the topics that Nancy discusses are:

How are class lists made at Hyer each year?

Can parents request a specific teacher? Why or why not?

Can a parent request that their child not be in a specific teacher's classroom?

Can a request be made for a child to have specific friends in their classroom? What are some problems that can arise from these requests?

How much time does it take to create a balanced classroom?

When do students and parents find out who their teacher will be for next year?

http://hyerprincipal.mypodcast.com/

Hyer Podcasts and iTunes

For those of you that use iTunes to download your podcasts, you can now find the Hyer Elementary podcasts at http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=251181208

Brought my spotlight with me today.........

I dug through my garage last night until I finally found my spotlight underneath the 10 person tent that we had planned on using every weekend for years.........I think we used it once and when we realized air conditioning wasnt included and the temperature at night in July was 102.......well, the tent has been gathering dust since. But I birdwalk......I found my spotlight and thought I might use it today to spotlight a couple of our fabulous teachers at Hyer.

The first teacher I would like to spotlight is Mary Kate McIntosh, a second grade teacher at Hyer. Ms. McIntosh has been teaching for 20+ years and does a wonderful job of designing work with the rigor and substance that students find engaging. Entering the classroom on any given day is akin to walking into a science lab.......watch out for the wide assortment of insects, spiders and various other biological life forms. Never a dull moment in this classroom......wonderful learning abounds!

I would also like to take this spotlight and shine it on one of our newest staff members, Adrienne Dieterich. Ms. Dieterich teaches music and is in her first year at Hyer. We managed to "recruit" Ms. Dieterich away from her former district and she has done a fabulous job in her first year at HPISD. From the wonderful student programs to the work the students are doing each day, Ms. Dieterich has a classroom where her students are not just "hands on" but "minds on." Maybe if I had Ms. Dieterich when I was in elementary school, I would be one of the final 9 in American Idol.......except I am sure that Sanjaya would leave me in his dust as well.

Such is life.........

Hyer Art Show

http://s164.photobucket.com/albums/u2/robertshyer/Hyer%20Art%20Walk/?action=view&current=.my_first_widget.pbw

Below is a link to a short video clip that the faculty viewed and discussed last Monday. We were discussing the meaning and development of intelligence, creativity, lesson design and student engagement. I think you will enjoy the clip if you have the time to view it. Please feel free to leave me a comment regarding the video or any of the blog posts.

http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=ken_robinson

Podcasts

All future podcasts can be accessed on the left sidebar of this blog. Simply click on the # of the podcast you wish to listen to and click on the play button or download the podcast to your computer. Enjoy!

Upcoming Podcasts

This week, Podcast #002, will contain a discussion with Mrs. Pino and Mrs. Zmigrosky regarding the use of Promethean Boards in their classroom. A link will be posted on this blog when the podcast has been uploaded.

Our next podcast, #003 is one that will probably bring the server down.......this will be an interview with Nancy Theriot and she will be discussing class lists. How do we make the class lists? What goes into placing your child in a particular classroom? What type of requests can be made regarding student placement? Why can't parents just choose their child's teacher? This and so much more will be answered in this podcast. Subscribe now to this blog or just come back daily to check for updates and you will be the first to have all of the "class lists" answers. Stay tuned........

Annual Easter Egg Hunt

Spring is here! Let’s Celebrate!



Let’s Celebrate Spring at

Hyer Preschool Association’s Annual Spring Party.

Everyone is welcome to attend on Tuesday, April 3rd

from 4:00 - 5:30 p.m. on the

front lawn at Hyer. Enjoy David Chicken in

concert, photo opportunities with the Easter Bunny

and the Annual Easter Egg Hunt. Admission is $5 and a

dozen treat filled eggs per child.

School Security Upgrades

The installment of our new security system will begin in the next few weeks. Details regarding what will be installed and the changes that will occur can be found at http://www.hpisd.org/contents.asp?s1=1&s2=2&s3=3&id1=15&id2=125&id3=402

As we move closer to the completion of the project, additional information will be communicated to all of our Hyer families. Please send me an email if you have any questions or concerns.