Mr. Foster's Classroom

Keynote Country Quizzes

funkymonkeys — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 15:24:05 +0000

Our students have been working very hard on a difficult technology project in Social Studies. For the past few weeks, all students have been creating Country Quizzes using the Mac program Keynote. For those not familiar, Keynote is very similar to Microsoft’s PowerPoint.

About two months ago, every student was assigned one country to study in-depth. These Country Quizzes were just one of many mini-projects that the students completed. Overall, I have been very impressed with how hard the students have worked on these Keynote projects. Not only did they have to create the Keynote presentation, but they also added their own sound recordings to it. These are very much like a podcast with full narration. All students had a lot of fun creating these projects.

Below is a link to Emma R.’s Belize Quiz:

-Mr. Foster

Using iPod Touches

funkymonkeys — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:44:49 +0000

Using technology in the classroom is something that I’m very passionate about. Sure, there are kinks that always need to be worked out, but exposing students to different kinds of technology within learning can be very rewarding.

We have been given a great opportunity by the technology department. They have purchased ten iPod Touches for classroom usage, and we are the lucky ones that get to try them out first!

During the past few weeks, my Math class has been using them to practice their math facts. We have always had a school improvement goal of implementing a math facts program into the classroom, and who knew that an iPod Touch can be used to meet that goal?

We have also been using them to practice our spelling. There are many cool spelling apps that allow the user to actually put in their own spelling words. You can also play spelling games, etc.

All in all, as you might expect, the students are thrilled to be using them. It has been a positive and worthwhile experience. We now know that there are educational apps out there that are fun. Several students are rushing home each night to download our educational apps on their own iPod Touches or their parents’ iPhones.

Below are a few photos of us using them.

-Mr. Foster

Ski trip

funkymonkeys — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:38:04 +0000

Last weekend I went skiing at Shanty Creek. It was a blast, we were there for three days but we only skiied for two days. Me and my sister both invited a friend so we had to take two cars. The first day we went on the easy hills but the second day we went on the bigger ones. My sister didn’t like the big hills even though shes 15 but I think they were fun.

Adam N.

College basketball

funkymonkeys — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 00:11:31 +0000

As the final four is right around the corner its been a great year for college basketball. The standings have been tight and there has been a lot of upsets. Even the big ten has a team in the the top 5 which is not MSU, it’s Prude. Prude has been a very quite team this year but really snuck up in the standings. In the big ten this year there have been a lot of twist and turns. MSU in 1st , Prude in 2nd and Ohio Stae in 3rd, its been a year. As I said final four is right around the cornor I think its going to be tight, espicially with #1Kansas and #2 Kentucky its should be a great battle to watch. My picks for the final is #1 Kansas and #4 Prude because Prude is a great team and hard to beat and Kansas has a great bench as well. We all will be watching the big games in Indianapolias as march is just about to start. Thanks for reading my blog.

-Matt L.

Parade of Latin American Countries

funkymonkeys — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 04:00:43 +0000

In Mr. Foster and Mrs. Stevenson’s class we have been doing a very interesting social studies unit. We are studying Latin America but we each were assigned our own country. We have been studying our countries for awhile now and have made a hand-drawn map, an outline of research, a research paper, and a few others. Right now we are working on a keynote quiz for after our oral presentation, a travel brochure, and a persuasive letter. We are stretching the parade of countries all the way up until the end of March, where we will give a speech dressed as a person from our country. We are enjoying our studies and having fun with the project!

Jordan G.

Boyne mountain

funkymonkeys — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:52:38 +0000

When go up north we aways go to Boyne mountain. We have a cabin up there. Most of the time go in the summer but, so times we go in the winter. We aways have a ton of fun when we go to Boyne mountain and we spend alot of time up there.

~ Noah K.

Super Bowl 44

funkymonkeys — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:10:24 +0000

On February 7th, the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts took charge for the Lombardi Trophy. For the first half the teams pretty much has had back to back touchdowns. Then, when the second half came along Peyton Manning threw an interception. This was what ruined the game for the Colts. When the Colts got the ball again they tried to drive down the field, but that ended in an epic fail. So with about 30 seconds left to go the Saints started to celebrate and the Clots go home crying.

Jay G.

The Mi Zarape Trip

funkymonkeys — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:11:54 +0000

There are so many ways that I could say this! Mi Zarape was the best restaurant I’ve had ever been to. My class was in Social Studies (S.S) when Mr. Foster announced that soon our whole entire class would be going on a trip. All of us were RED in the face once we heard about this news. So lets cut to the chase.

Okay so we’re here! HIP HIP HOORAY! we all walk in with surprise choosing our tables. A minute later we all start chowing down on some delicious, warm mexican chips and dipping them in the dipping sauce. The staff that work at Mi Zarape’ bring out the “HUGE” treys of food. Everybody starts clapping and Mr. Foster calls on different tables one by one and everybody gets their choise of foods. So many yums! and mmms! I couldn’t believe the taste of those cheese enchiladas. I also liked the rice. A while later everybody’s stomachs are full and I move to Matthew P.’s table just to get some laughter out of me. We had a great time. Thank you for reading this. I really wish we could go back.

Rachel M.

Popular Author Gary Paulsen Coming to Ann Arbor!

funkymonkeys — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:06:12 +0000

Award-winning young adult author Gary Paulsen is coming to Nicola’s Books in Ann Arbor! Paulson, the author of such books as Hatchet and Woodsong, will be visiting with customers and signing books on April 12th at 7:00pm.

Visit the Nicola’s Books website for more information:

Nicola’s Books

-Mr. Foster

Dream Big Dreams!

funkymonkeys — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 11:53:32 +0000

Friday, February 5th was a magical day in our classroom. As you may have already heard, one of my students, Matthew P., is running for President. It’s a huge dream, but Matthew is receiving much press for his efforts.

Mr. Kerr made an appearance in our classroom on this day to tell us a story:

While down in Florida, retired Heritage School teacher Hal Morningstar had an opportunity to catch a Barack Obama speech in Tampa, Florida. He happened to have a copy of Matthew’s article from annarbor.com and gave it to a represenative to potentially have signed. Well, not only did the President sign it, he also read it! Then, he scribed “Dream big dreams, Matthew!” and signed his name.

Heritage School principal Mrs. Rosen-Leacher and Matthew’s mother all stood in our classroom as Mr. Kerr told this story and presented Matthew with the signed article.

We all then had some powerful discussions about how children should not be afraid to dream big and the power of a hand-written note or letter. As you can see, it was a magical day in our classroom!

Below is a photo of (left to right) Mr. Kerr, Matthew’s mother, Mrs. Rosen-Leacher, and Matthew P.

Lindsay’s Favorite Subject

funkymonkeys — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:23:37 +0000

My favorite subject is science because, all of the students and I get to create activities and have fun doing them. Science is when we learn about our envirement and the specific things that occur in our lives that we need to know about. I appreciate the events that we do so I can understand it better. Recieveing and looking at the little things is my absolute favorite part of Science!

Lindsay U.

Matthew on Ann Arbor.com

funkymonkeys — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:13:53 +0000

Check it out!

http://www.annarbor.com/news/saline-sixth-grader-matthew-palmerton-eyes-white-house/

My Favorite Book

funkymonkeys — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 03:10:23 +0000

My favorite subject this year is spelling. Spelling is my favorite subject because it’s pretty easy. The homework is pretty easy once you learn how to do the skill. The hardest part is the test which isn’t hard at all.
-Mike M.

My favorite subject

funkymonkeys — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 01:45:00 +0000

My favorite subject in school is math. It is my favorite subject because I’m really good at math and fractions. Our latest math subject is on fractions which I am a master at. That is is why math is my favorite subject.

Ross D.

Jacobs Favorite subject

funkymonkeys — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:58:17 +0000

My favorite subject is math i like it because its challenging and fun. I especialy like it because i like to work with numbers. I also like Mrs. dandrea because she is a good teacher. This is why i like math so much.
Jacob N.