Week 3 Begins!

Did you ever just have a week get away from you? You look back and have no idea that the time went by so fast. That was last week for me. I am not sure I could tell you one thing I did last week, but I looked up this morning and we are ready for Week 3 to begin!

Ok, first things first. Week 3 is up and ready to go.

I did promise some stats.

1) Here are some books we are reading:

I’m Talder Loewen, German Version of Magic Tree House: Lions at Lunchtime, Sideways Stories from Wayside School, Penny the Pony Fairy, A Long Walk To Water,The Graveyard Book, World Cup, My Life is a Book, The Doll in the Garden, Mr. Burke is Berserk, Where The Mountain Meets the Moon, Our Universe, Faith, Hope, and Ivy June, Baseball Greats, Ghosts of Gribblesea Pier,  Potato Chip Puzzles, The Fire Within,  Sisters Grimm: Once upon a crime, Captain Underpants, Powerless, and Trouble According to Humphrey 

2) We got quiz results from Alex, Kishan, Madison, Anthony, Ryan, jannik, Deniel, Allison, Vernon, Cayden, Ruby, Zara, Zach, Emily, Sofiaand probably a couple more I missed or just came in.

3) In Study Island, as a group the Going Into Grade 4 class is averaging 84% correct in Math and 81% correct in English Language Arts. The Going Into Grade 5 class is averaging 78% correct in Math and 81% correct in English language Arts.

Good work everybody!

Ending Week 1 and Start of Week 2

Good Evening!

The assignments for Week 2 have been posted and are ready to go. I will have bit more to say about the how we did as a group as well as some special "hoorays" for folks who did some great things during Week 1. There are still some folks finishing up assignments for the week and I want to give them until tomorrow before I dig in to all of the work.

I decided put the answers to the puzzle type questions on a special page on the web site. That way if you are a little behind because you were away you can still read the blog but have to make a choice to see the answers for the week. Look for the tab on the top of the page called "Quiz Answers".

Mr. Sokoloski

Week 1 - Coming To a Close!

 Good Morning!

I just wanted to let everyone know that Week 2 Assignments will be posted on Sunday, but probably Sunday evening. I have a family picnic to go to early in the day and I will post after I get home.

Mr. Sokoloski

Great Start!

Wow! Two people have posted answers to the Week 1 quiz already! And I got one email confirming a Discovery Education assignment. And I got an email from a student who was working on Summer Skills from California!

I took a quick look at the Study Island activity and we had a lot of people logged in doing Study Island work. I counted about 40 Blue Ribbons earned yesterday.

Now remember, don't get caught in the Study Island Blue Ribbon loop, where if you take the test and don't get a Blue Ribbon, it can actually get harder and harder to earn the Blue Ribbon. Make sure you are doing OK in the games section before you try the test. If the program offers some help, read it over, and maybe even ask a family member to help you if you are not answering the game questions well. Then, when you are ready to take the test, work carefully and make it your best effort. If you don't get a Blue Ribbon after a second or third try, move on to the next skill, but let Mrs. Hovorka and I know that the topic was difficult for you.

Great job by everybody who worked yesterday! The rest of you guys, hope to see your quiz by the end of the week!

Mr. Sokoloski

What School Am I In?

We had a comment from Annie from Southeast who wondered why she was showing up in a Study Island class from Vinton. it was such a good question that I wanted to share my answer to her with everyone. Thanks Annie!

Annie:

Thank you for the comment on the blog. I am going to answer your question here but also make it a blog post so others can understand. You indeed have been moved to a class Vinton for the summer. Don’t worry you are going back to Southeast in late August – not that Vinton wouldn't be pretty lucky to have you!

Study Island organizes itself around a particular teacher and classes. To make a class for the Summer Skills  for students from all the schools, Vinton, Goodwin and Southeast, I had to move everybody into one school to make classes with me as the teacher. I just happen to have a teacher account at Vinton so that is where everybody went. At the end of the summer I will transfer everybody back to their proper school and actually back to their proper teacher for next year.

Mr. Sokoloski

Study Island Login Reminders Have Been Emailed

Good Morning!

Early this morning we emailed everyone with a reminder of their Study Island passwords. They are the same ones you used during the school year.  Please check your email to see that it arrived. You will login with this information to complete Assignments 2 & 3 each week. You should also try out the login as everyone has been moved into a special summer class. When you login, you will be taken to a class page with assignments for Sample Week.  We still have a few folks that have not confirmed their contact email so, a gentle reminder to check your junk email folders and spam filters to make sure our emails are getting through.

Only a few more days until we officially launch on July 1!


Mr. Sokoloski

Setting Up Students Entering Grade 4 This Morning

Good morning!

There are several steps in getting things ready for Summer Skills. This morning I moved all students entering Grade 4 into the Summer Skills class in Study Island. Couple of more moves will take place today with our students entering Grade 5 (with the weather so nice, it may be until this evening!).

When the classes are all set up will will be sending emails out to the parent contact address that include your Study Island username and passwords.

So, this is just a heads up that if you are an entering Grade 4 and you remembered your Study Island username and password, if you login you now get the class page with the sample assignments.

Enjoy this beautiful day!

Mr. Sokoloski

Its Soooooo Hot!

I wanted to let you know that while you lucky dogs get to spend your day finding cool thins to do, Mrs. Hovorka and I are still in school. When you folks leave we have a few days to really clean the computers labs and storage areas. We are very lucky to have a little bit of air conditioning to help us out. However, we are coming in very early in the morning and working to a little past noon to beat the heat. Did you do today at 6:30 AM? I'll bet you were still sleeping. We were cleaning the Goodwin Computer Lab. Stay cool!

Mr Sokoloski

Happy Last Day of School?

Happy Last Day

What a great but hot start to summer! Hope everybody finds something cool to do through the end of the week. Thanks to everybody who confirmed their registration. If you have not confirmed your registration please check your email. That is all for now!

Mr. Sokoloski

Breakin' 40!

Today we went over 40 students registered for Summer Skills Online! Keep those registrations coming! We have been pretty good at getting a confirmation email out as soon as we get a paper registration or an email that someone has signed up online. If you have not gotten an email from us check your junk email or spam folder to be sure our email is getting through. After tomorrow there we will not be getting paper registrations so the online form is the best way. There is a link in the right menu bar.

Mr. Sokoloski

Friday Reminders

Good Morning! What a busy time we have going in our schools! Field Days, Moving On Ceremonies, Field Trips! And what great weather!

In the middle of all this excitement the news from Summer Skills Online is that we have sent out registration confirmations to our second batch of recipients today. If you registered this week your parents should be getting an email. We need parents to reply to this email to confirm we have a working contact email for the summer.

If you have replied, thank you! If you have not yet please do as soon as you can. If you did not get an email, please check your junk email folders and spam filters to be sure Summer Skills emails are not being blocked. If you still did not receive an email please contact the coordinator's.

Thanks,

Mr. Sokoloski

Questions from the classes...

I wanted to post a couple of answers to questions asked by students hearing about Summer Skills Online in their classes.

First - remember that you can register online from the menu choices if you want, or if you need an extra paper form you can print one out.

Second - even if you will be away you can do the program because all of the material is online. Or if you will be away from the Internet you can skip a week or two and catch up.

Third - We think that all the activities will work on smaller devices like tablets. You may have to make a choice in the Discovery Science activity about how the video is displayed. Check the video tutorial for some tips.

Mr. Sokoloski

Registration Confirmation Email Going Out!

Today at about 3:30 PM we sent out our first batch of 27 emails to the families of students who registered for the program. The purpose of the email is to say hi, but also to make sure we have a working email for the family of every child registered. If you have registered, please check your email (including any junk email folder or spam filtering software) to be sure you got our message.

Thanks,

Mr. Sokoloski

Thursday News

We are now up to 18 participants! We have 6 from Southeast. We have 6 from Vinton and 6 from Goodwin!

The last Open House is tonight at Vinton School from 6-7PM and registrations will close June 20 (the last day of school for students).

Mr. Sokoloski

Welcome New Participants!

Summer Skills Online is starting to see some students registering by returning the paper registration forms and some folks using the online registration system. Welcome - Ryan, Cayden, Joeseph, Emerson, Deniel and Cathy.

We will be sending emails home to check out our email contacts the end of next week to formally welcome parents and students. Also remember that we can't set you up for Study Island until your regular year teachers are done with you, so if you want to try out the Sample Week Activities of Study Island, use the generic users we have put on the assignment page.

Our Open House Sessions for parents start tonight. You do not have to come to session to join, but if you are a parent and have questions, feel free. There is a session at the Southeast Computer lab tonight from 6PM-7PM, at Goodwin Computer Lab on Wednesday from 6-7PM and at Vinton Computer lab from 6-7PM on Thursday. You also do not have to go to the session at the school your child attends. Whatever is easiest for your family, is fine with us.

The Southeast Experience

Yea!!! We have our first registration! thank you Noah! We finished last week by talking to Ms. Williams and Mrs. Sroka's class. This week it is on to the students at Southeast School. Mrs. Sangres's class is next!

Mr . Sokoloski

Good Times at Goodwin

Mrs. Ruiz's Grade 4 class and Mrs. Hodge's grade 3 class were introduced to Summer Skills Online this week in their computer lab time at Goodwin School. I hope that many of them sign up!

Mr. Sokoloski

The Journey Begins...

Summer Skills Online is a 6 week summer program for Mansfield students who are leaving Grade 3 and entering Grade 4 and students who are leaving Grade 4 and entering Grade 5. It is a place for students and their families to have fun while keeping their academic skills fresh over the summer vacation. The program is free of charge. It is an online program and you will need a computer connected to the Internet to participate. The program begins Sunday July 1 and runs through Sunday, August 12,  2012. 


Right now this site is "under construction"  and the coordinators are working hard to get all of the programming and administrative details in place as we rush toward the end of the regular school year.  Starting on Tuesday May 29 we will be meeting with all Grade 3 and Grade 4 classes to explain the program (It will take a couple of weeks to get through all of them in every school!). Also during the week of May 29-June 1 flyers and announcements will be going home and registration will officially begin. 


Steve Sokoloksi
summerskills@mansfieldct.org