Browsing Archive: May, 2011
Posted by Jamie Kovacs on Tuesday, May 31, 2011,
How was your track and field day? Did you set any world records? Jake did GREAT in the high school conference golf match today. He got a 79 which was awesome. He was a little bummed because everyone who got a 78 or better got to go to the state golf match. Missed it by 1 stroke. Kind of sad but still I want to celebrate because he really golfed great!
So I sent a lot of you comments on your glog page. Go to glogster, check under your glog page for comments. Did I comment to you? Comme...
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Posted by Jamie Kovacs on Friday, May 27, 2011,
You all did such a great job of doing Yobster math problems that Maddie decided she wants us to do them about her next. This weekend's chocolate challenge is to blog a math problem with fractions or decimals that has at least 3 different questions in it. Here's mine: Maddie and her mom and dad and sister went camping. Each kid got to bring along a 3 friends. What fraction of the number of people camping were in Maddie's family? Are Maddie's mom and dad nuts? That's a lot of kids to cam...
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Posted by Jamie Kovacs on Thursday, May 26, 2011,
I can do that. Today's chocolate challenge is for you to make up a math word problem that has Yobbie in it. It should require the reader to add or subtract or simplify or in some way use fractions. You can do it. Yobbie, this should be easy for you.
We rocked out the reading MAP test with a whopping 78% of us reaching our goal. What is 78% of 27 kids? I will tell you. That is 21 kids!! Of the other 6, 4 went up and got close to their goal and 2 actually went down. Hmmm...how can tha...
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Posted by Jamie Kovacs on Thursday, May 26, 2011,
So here is the new chocolate challenge. In order to get chocolate tomorrow, you need to write a story problem that has a fraction question or a decimal question or a percent question. You need to blog it. Good luck.
I have to go to the club now and jog my 2 miles. I went last night too. I actually am on trip #15 for the month. Not bad.
Remember to come to school ready to read and comprehend! You can do it. It is our last round of testing and I just know we will rock it out! We need to ...
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Posted by Jamie Kovacs on Tuesday, May 24, 2011,
We sure came up with some awesome paintings today. We ran out of time to share our comparing and contrasting of the art teachers but we will get to that tomorrow. I actually love that they have such different styles because that way we get a variety of looks into the art world. They are both great at what they do, but they do have different approaches.
There is a chocolate challenge on the website somewhere.
Make sure you check yourself for wood ticks every day. There sure are a ton of wood...
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Posted by Jamie Kovacs on Monday, May 23, 2011,
I gotta run to a meeting at the District Center but I just wanted to tell you all how proud I am of you. We had 22 out of 23 kids who have taken the MAP math test improve. We also had 19 out of 23 actually reach or exceed their goal. I'm not going to lie, most of you HUGELY EXCEEDED your goal. Wow. Way to think mathematically. I love you guys.
The chocolate challenge is somewhere else on the web site. Who can find it? Mrs. Kovacs...
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Posted by Jamie Kovacs on Friday, May 20, 2011,
Jake and a bunch of other high school kids are sleeping outside to draw attention to homelessness in Minnesota. If you see a bunch of goofy kids sleeping outside in down town White Bear, look for Jake. They are supposed to sleep in a big box. Sounds kinda fun, huh? Fun for one night when you know you can go home to a house and a shower and a warm, soft bed and lots of food the next day, right?
So today's chocolate challenge question has to do with thinking mathematically all weekend long. ...
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Posted by Jamie Kovacs on Thursday, May 19, 2011,
Today's question for the chocolate challenge has to do with Nate. Just how much chocolate has Nate had. He did the chocolate challenge question 2 times. How much do you get each time? Then, he got 1/12 for blogging a comment about the question "would you rather have 1/2 or 5/12?" [Well, since 1/2 is equivalent to 6/12, any normal chocolate loving kid would rather have 6/12 since that is 1/12 bigger than 5/12.] Blog a comment about how much chocolate Nate has consumed and explain why you...
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Posted by Jamie Kovacs on Wednesday, May 18, 2011,
The end of the year is fast approaching and the school is heating up—literally. Dress appropriately (shorts to your fingertips and no spaghetti straps) but for the heat. Keep a sweatshirt handy in case you are too cool but layer it so it can come off in case it gets hot. Shower more often to clear your skin of sweat. Make sure to use deodorant so you don’t stink it up in the classroom. Drink plenty of water and try to mellow out in school. I know it’s exciting to be here but rea...
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Posted by Jamie Kovacs on Wednesday, May 18, 2011,
I really meant to go to the club to work out tonight but I didn't quite get there. What is going on? Maybe we can take a power walk as a class tomorrow. We could walk and spell. Do you remember that from the fall? Remember when we took our first grade buddies on a walk? Maybe they would want to take a little walk with us again tomorrow. Hmmm...I need to do something.
Should there be a chocolate candy question tonight? I guess there could be. What could it be? Something with decimals ...
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Posted by Jamie Kovacs on Monday, May 16, 2011,
We didn't get enough done today. Where does the time go? We will have a Great Body Shop for morning work tomorrow as we need to start getting those things done. Also, we didn't go back and finish our grid pictures. Preston has a great one and I'm sure the rest of you can come up with great ones. We will start with that in math tomorrow after we hear the now completed fraction books. Where could Mikayla's book be. I do remember it now...but why isn't it with all the others? Any ideas?
T...
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Posted by Jamie Kovacs on Friday, May 13, 2011,
So much to do, so little time! How will we get it all in?
We have yet to get in the fraction chocolate thing but no worries, we will. Monday we will finish reading the fraction books you wrote and right after that we will share the chocolate bars. Right now I have only 4 kids to eat the chocolate. Hmmm...what's up with that? I have 6 bars and 4 kids. How much could they each have? TOO MUCH! I will only use 2 bars with four kids so how much will each one get? Each bar is divided into...
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Posted by Jamie Kovacs on Thursday, May 12, 2011,
I am at a technology integration meeting all day today. I will miss you guys and I trust that you will behave for your sub. It's a guy. Maybe he will use his scary "man" voice on you. Hope that works!
On your morning work I asked you to talk about technology in our classroom. What do we use it for, how often, how does it compare to other classrooms and things like that. If you blog a comment that tells your perspective on technology in OUR classroom I will give you the chance to get in o...
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Posted by Jamie Kovacs on Tuesday, May 10, 2011,
The Bakke Museum was so much fun! Blog a comment that explains what a layden jar does and you can go to the prize bucket.
Today's BHTQ is: Were you surprised by how "shocking" it was to hold hands and have just one person get shocked? I was. Answer this question in a blog and you will get a couple tickets.
What was the name of the monster that the "mad scientist" created? [note: kind of a trick question] What was the mad scientists name? Also, who was the bad guy in that story? 2 tick...
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Posted by Jamie Kovacs on Friday, May 6, 2011,
Everyone who lets me know how the Mother's Day luncheon went via a blog comment will get to meet with me about the Hershey fraction book and therefore get to break apart some real Hershey bars and eat some fraction or portion of it in class on Monday. Ummm!!
The fraction books we have heard so far have been amazing. This class rocks at fractions. Have a great weekend. Treat your mom with extra love all day Sunday. See you Monday. Mrs. Kovacs
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Posted by Jamie Kovacs on Friday, May 6, 2011,
I am so sad I won't be there tomorrow to see your show and watch you impress your moms with your **spoiler warning--if you are a mom, stop reading this right now** power points, table manners, songs, flowers, and books. I just know they will be thrilled with all you've made for them. I am also excited about how easily we got table partners figured out and I just know you will have a magical time with your moms tomorrow.
But I am also very proud of Jim and know that tomorrow is his day to imp...
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Posted by Jamie Kovacs on Wednesday, May 4, 2011,
Do you know what R and R are? Hmm...rest and relaxation. Rest up for tomorrow!!
Today's BHTQ has to do with the math centers we did this afternoon: Were the math centers we did this afternoon helpful to you? Why or why not? Did you like or not like that you could choose which ones you wanted to go to?
Get out and soak up some sun. I will see your bright, smiling fact tomorrow morning. Mrs. Kovacs
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Posted by Jamie Kovacs on Monday, May 2, 2011,
We are so busy with math that I forgot to remind everyone to bring a jar or bottle tomorrow. Bring one!! Maybe we will have to postpone that project until Wednesday. Yikes!
We need a party planning committee. If you would like to serve on the party planning committee please blog a comment that says so. I will be taking the first few bloggers and they will get to work up some plans for Friday's party with the moms.
Tomorrow we will work on the lap tops and the other things. Shhh...it's all...
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I am married to John Kovacs and have 5 sons, John age 33, Jim age 31, Joe age 26, Jake age 24, Vlad age 22. I also have 3 grandchildren, Jack and Lydia, who are the kids of my oldest son and his wife, and Baby Kennedy who is the newborn of my second son and his wife. The older kids are 5 and 2. My family lives in White Bear Lake.
____________My son John is married and lives in Turkey with his wife Pamela and son Jack and daughter Lydia. Hey, that makes me a grandmother--yikes! John is a teacher too. A couple years ago he taught at White Bear Lake but for the last couple years he's been teaching social studies to middle school kids at Hope Academy in Minneapolis. He also has taken classes at a seminary. He wrote a book called "The Historia" which you can buy on Amazon.com. He was a hockey player and played college hockey at Bethel. His wife is a lawyer worked at a big law firm in Minneapolis. Cool! Hey, guess what. I am a lawyer too!! This will be my 13th year teaching as I practiced law for over 15 years. Teaching is way more fun!! Now they are living in Turkey and simply trying to learn the language and make connections. This year my son will be teaching high school world history at an international school.
__________My son Jim lives in Blaine with his wife Courtney. They both graduated from Winona State where they were star pitchers on their baseball and softball teams. Jim graduated from St. Thomas School of Law. He clerked for a judge and now he works for a law firm in Golden Valley. His wife graduated from Des Moines University Medical School where she studied to be a physical therapist. She works for Twin Cities Orthopedics. You can check out pictures of their wedding on the summer vacation tab.
__________My son Joe graduated from Moorhead State. He, like his brothers was a good athlete and loved sports. He also is a great singer and performer and was Danny Zuko in Grease, Gaston in Beauty and the Beast, and Curly in Oklahoma--all in WBL high school. He has a teaching license and did some long term subbing in WBL most recently at Hugo Elementary School. Next he worked at Infinite Campus training teachers on software that his employer makes. He got to travel all over the United States. He is married to Emily, and there are pictures of them you can check out on the vacation tab as well. Emily is a pharmacist for CVS in Targets. They just moved to Washington DC so he could attend George Washington University and get an MBA.
__________My son Jake graduated from University of Minnesota with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science. He is a superstar in math. He was a TA for a professor in the computer science department. He really likes to golf and was on the White Bear Lake golf team. He worked at Gem Lake so if you ever golf there, you may have seen Jake. Do you like golf? As soon as he graduated he started working full time at a company that writes online computer games. He spends his day writing code to create games. He loves that kind of writing, do you? He taught many of my students to write code in Scratch.
_________Vlad officially became our son in June of 2010 although we have loved him since we met him a couple years before that. We traveled to his homeland, Latvia, 3 times to make him ours. He has been living with us since March of 2010. He graduated from WBL High School too. He traveled to China with the high school a couple years ago and wants to go back. Can you believe that you can travel with your classmates and friends when you are in high school? He is currently a senior at the University of Wisconsin, River Falls. He spent a semester in Seoul, S. Korea in a study abroad program through River Falls. We will officially be empty nesters.
_________My husband John works for Collins Electrical Company as a project manager but he is amazing with computers. He set up this web site for me!! Thanks John. He is the IT guy for my mom, his parents, and our whole family!!
My husband and I have a cute teddy bear puppy who is 1 and a half years old. He is very spoiled.
