Kollath's Korner

Ag Visit

2011-04-01T14:29:00.001-05:00

Ag Visit

Click on the link above to view our visit to the Madison County Ag Day.

New First Grade Reader's Theater

2011-03-11T11:08:00.000-06:00

Those busy first graders are at it again! They have been working on a new reader's theater about TEETH! Here they are giving their performance.

Blogger seems to be experiencing some problems with videos. It seems that they don't appear during the daytime, but in the evening or at night, there they are! Haven't heard anything from Blogger concerning this problem, but I hope they will get it figured out soon.

Video Project

2011-03-04T16:14:00.001-06:00

The first graders learned about Martin Luther King, Jr.

Reading Conference

2011-02-26T09:31:00.000-06:00

Today is the second day of the Nebraska State Reading Conference in Kearney, Nebraska. Six teachers from Winside Elementary are attending this conference. We have been conferring between sessions and at the banquet last night as to which sessions each of us attended and what we learned. There have been many very interesting ideas presented and we all agreed that we have many new ideas to bring back to our school.

Last night the speaker at the banquet was Jon Scieszka, a nationally known author of many, many books for young people. His topic was "Guys Read - Getting Boys Into Reading." He was an extremely funny presenter and had us all in stitches! He has a web site called "Guys Read" which encourages boys to read with lists of books that boys of all ages will love. If you have a chance, why not check out this web site.

Today we are attending more sessions in the morning and will get together at an author's luncheon before heading home. The weather has been kind so far allowing us to arrive safely Thursday evening and we are hoping that we do not run into any bad roads on the way home.

We have already been talking about ways to implement some of the things we have learned. We are always very grateful to the school district and administrators for allowing us to attend these conferences. Not only do they fire up our enthusiasm, but in the long run they benefit our students.

Back to Work

2011-01-06T14:45:00.000-06:00

    Well, we are all back to work after a wonderful break. Thankfully the weather cooperated so that most people could get together with their families. Now we are all trying to get back into our school routine.
     One of the reasons why it has been so long since my last post is that I have been learning about the new web site for the school. Yes, we are looking at changing the format of the Winside Wildcat web site. I am not sure just when the change will take place. Meanwhile I have been learning how to manage the new format. I think that I am finally getting the hang of things! Soon Mr. Messersmith, Mr, Kravig and I will train the rest of the staff on how to use the new site. I really think that once we get going with it you will like the new look.
     If there are some things that you would like to see added to our web site please let me know so we can try to include them.

Winside Wildcats Now on Facebook

2010-11-09T09:23:00.001-06:00

For all of you Facebook fans, Winside Schools now has its own Facebook page. In an effort to make contact with former and current students the page was created and will contain announcements as well as surveys for students to give their feedback. As a part of school improvement that feedback is very important for us to know what we are doing well and where we can improve. Be sure to check out the new page.
Just a reminder for parents - Facebook has an minimum age requirement of 13. There are several of our students who have Facebook pages who are under that minimum age. This is in violation of the agreement policy with Facebook. Please make sure that your children abide by the rules as set forth by Facebook and that you are aware of web sites that they are signing up for.
Winside Schools

Create Your Badge

Timez Attack!

2010-10-29T16:06:00.000-05:00

I know - I already had a post about Timez Attack, but I thought you might like to see what it looks like. This video clip is of some of the 6th graders as they were using the program. (They actually asked to practice their multiplication facts!) Note: on the day we filmed this the students were allowed to wear their hats as part of Red Ribbon Week activities.
The 3rd graders started today with Timez Attack. They haven't actually started doing multiplication in their classroom, but we are interested to see if this program helps teach the facts without formal instruction. Everyone was very excited and couldn't believe the 20 minutes had gone by so quickly. Next time will be even better since they now have an idea of what to do. They can't wait for next Friday!

Timez Attack!

2010-09-23T17:26:00.001-05:00

For those of your wondering about the title of this page, Timez Attack is a very cool program that helps students learn the multiplication facts. The sixth graders came into the lab today and I began giving them instructions on getting started in the program. You should have heard the groans when I told them that they would be practicing multiplication facts! However, at the end of their computer time no one wanted to leave! They were asking if they would get to play it again during their next time in the computer lab.

Timez Attack can be downloaded for use at home also and the best part is it's FREE! There is a more extensive edition for a cost, but the basic program is free. Here is the address for that web site:

Timez Attack Multiplication game

Don't forget that parent/teacher conferences will be next Tuesday 3:00 - 9:00 pm and Wednesday 8:30 - 11:30.

Busy Day in the Computer Lab

2010-09-23T17:11:00.001-05:00

Am finally getting this posted. Started writing on Wednesday, but too many interruptions.
The First Graders came in to work on a reading program on the computers. It is fun to watch them singing along with the program! Sometimes they forget how loud they are getting because they have headphones on.
The Fifth Graders started a math facts review program today. This is something we do off and on throughout the year. They can always use the practice!

Keyboarding Has Begun

2010-09-15T20:51:00.003-05:00

     As you can see I haven't been very good at keeping this current, but since the computer lab has finally gotten online and the three computers that crashed have been repaired, things have been pretty hectic. All three classes (4th, 5th & 6th) have started their keyboarding lessons. The 5th & 6th graders were able to start without too much help since they have some experience. However, the 4th graders are real newbies so they needed more explanation on how the program works. We use the software Type to Learn (4th grade) and Type to Learn 3 (5th & 6th grades). It is always fun to watch the 4th grade students as they begin learning the keyboard. You can usually hear a pin drop in our room because they are so intent! Now by the time they become 6th graders it is not nearly so quiet - they are a chatty bunch.
   There have also been other classes coming in to take some assessments. The first graders came in this week to take both the Early Literacy and Star Reading tests. As soon as I am able to get students names on the computers the 5th grade will be coming in to practice their math facts on the computers two or three times a week. The second and third grade teachers have also talked about coming in to practice their math facts at least once a week. Today the 5th grade class came in the take the Star Math test.
      So you can see the computer lab is a very busy place. Don't forget to check out my web site at http://pawpowerweb.pbworks.com I have several web sites listed for both students and parents.

We're Back!

2010-09-07T08:22:00.000-05:00

Hooray, hooray! The computer lab is up and running again. Mr. Messersmith worked on them over the weekend since the wireless cards came in Friday. Everyone is excited to get to work. The keyboarding classes will all begin today and hopefully we won't have any more roadblocks this year.

We Have Power!

2010-08-30T14:35:00.001-05:00

The electrician was here today and we now have enough outlets for all the computers! We had to do some rearranging first and actually ended up with the same configuration that we had last year. Now we are just waiting for the wireless cards to arrive and then Mr. Messersmith will get those installed. After that we will be back in business. Yippee!!
The students started the MAP tests today. The test will be administered 3 times during the school year to chart the students' progress. They will be taking tests in Reading, Language Arts, and Math. The students are not timed on these tests so they can take their time and do a good job. The testing will last through the end of next week in order to get all the classes 3-9 and 11 scheduled in. Since the elementary computer lab is not quite ready to go yet, the elementary students are going over to the high school to take their tests.

WELCOME

2010-08-25T14:23:00.000-05:00

How about that - it's a new school year already! Here at Winside Public School we are all trying to integrate more technology into our teaching. With that in mind I am starting a blog. Several other teachers are also planning on having class blogs to keep parents informed about what is happening in their child's school day. I don't really know quite yet just how this blog will develop, but hopefully I will be posting some news about what is happening in the elementary computer lab this year. Let me know if there is something in particular that you would like to see here.
So far things are kind of slow getting started in the lab. During the summer we got new computer desks which really look great. However, that created a problem with the way electricity is routed to the computers. So now we are waiting for the electrician to do some rewiring. Until then the lab will be unavailable to the students. Hopefully this will not take too long. I have had many students asking about when they would be able to have computers!