Mrs. Nathan's 1st Grade Class

Week of November 14th

2011-11-13T22:33:00.001-06:00

Math: we will work on ten frames, doubles, and near doubles

Language Arts: this week we will work on long a (a_e), s with a c, and j with a g. We will continue sequencing events and using time order words (first, next, then, last/finally).

Science: we will finish working on rocks, soil, and water and begin studying weather and patterns

PYP: We will prepare for the Student Led Conferences scheduled for Wednesday, November 16th and work on Where We Are in Place and Time

Week of Nov. 7th

2011-11-06T15:10:00.001-06:00

Math: we continue working on numbers using ten frames

Language Arts: this week we will work on digraphs sh, th and vowel sound in ball. We will work on sequencing events and using the proper language (first, next, then, last/finally).

Science: we continue working on rocks, soil, and water and how they help to make useful products

PYP: We will begin our new planner Where We Are in Place and Time and prepare for the Student Led Conferences scheduled for Wednesday, November 16th.

This week we reviewed Emphasis and also learned about masks from various parts of the world. The kids then created their own versions, integrating pattern into their designs.

The sculpture museum!

Presenting the sculptures and listening as classmates determine the materials used by the artist

Week of Oct. 31st

2011-10-30T22:48:00.005-05:00

No Homework on Monday! The packet will be sent home as usual but we scaled down the amount so that you can enjoy Trick or Treating!!!

Math: we will work on numbers using ten frames

Language Arts: this week we will work on short u and final consonant blends. We will identify cause and effect; the genre this week is literary nonfiction (tells about real-life people, animals, or events & the setting is real). All the material is available online through Pearson, accessible with your child's username & password.

Science: we will work on rocks, soil, and water and how they help to make useful products

PYP: We are wrapping up How We Express Ourselves, we identified warm & cool colors and the feelings they evoke, landscapes, emphasis, & patterns in art.

Creating art using only warm colors, then only cool colors

The kids learned about landscapes then painted their own versions.

Week of Oct. 24th

2011-10-24T15:21:00.001-05:00

We had an election this past week and came up with our class name .... NATHAN'S NINJAS!!!! Ask your child about the election steps they learned about. See pictures below too.

Math: we continue working on subtraction, subtraction number sentences, comparing, and problem solving
Language Arts: this week we will work on short e and initial consonant blends. We continue to work on identifying the main idea and details; the genre this week is realistic fiction. All the material is available online through Pearson, accessible with your child's username & password.

Social Studies: we will work on identifying characteristics of a good citizen

PYP: We continue working on How We Express Ourselves, we studied a piece of art and discussed the colors and shapes that the artist painted, the feelings evoked by the painting, questions about the piece, and the materials used by the artist. Next, we will ask an expert to help us derive answers to the questions.

Creating art inspired by Matthew's Dream by Leo Lionni

Working on the "part I know" and determining the "missing part"

Early in the week we held a 'primary' to come up with a class name. On Friday, we held an election. Here, the voters are waiting to cast their vote.

The kids marked their choice on a ballot.

Then they placed the ballot in the "ballot basket."

Hmm, I can't decide which one to vote for.

The kids were treated to a special Art a la Carte lesson by some parents. They learned about Matisse and his use of positive and negative to create his later works.

The children created their own pieces of art!

Week of October 17th

2011-10-16T19:26:00.003-05:00

Individual pictures are scheduled for Tuesday, October 18th.

Math: subtraction, finding missing parts of 6-9, and subtraction number sentences

Language Arts: this week we will work on inflected endings -s and -ing. We will also be working on identifying the main idea and details; the genre this week is literary nonfiction. All the material is available online through Pearson, accessible with your child's username & password, which was sent home last Tuesday.

Science/Social Studies: we will be learning about light, sound, and heat energy

PYP: We continue working on How We Express Ourselves, this past week we discussed how colors can express our feelings and wrote a poem

Enjoy the slideshow below, it includes pictures from the class party, the field trip and classwork.

Week of October 3rd

2011-10-02T14:22:00.000-05:00

Class Party: our class party is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 7th, from 5:30-7:00. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone there. Thanks Ms. Brown for coordinating it!

LDC: this will be the second week of our rotation to LDC (Literary Development Center). Our time with Ms. Diaz is from 1:05-1:50. The kids are working on Peace poems.

Language Arts: we will work on the short o sound, plural -s, and high frequency words. The Spelling list consists of 10 words: 8 words that follow the rule(s) for the week and 2 HFWs. Spelling tests are given each Friday morning.

Math: we will work on making numbers this week, along with number sentences.

Social Studies: our focus will be state and national symbols.

PYP: We began the How we Express Ourselves planner this past week. We looked at a piece of art and talked about the things we saw such as shapes, colors, objects, etc. We continue reviewing the PYP profile and attitudes and the Choose-Act-Reflect cycle.

Ms. Patin announced Ellie as the winner of the yearbook cover contest.

Angel presenting her timeline.

Writing farewell cards to a classmate moving out of state.

Cleve treated everyone to cupcakes and drinks.

Josh loving that frosting!

Oops! Ellie got it all over her.

Oh no! Zariyah's mouth is bleeding...red frosting :0

Goodbye Cleve!

First grade photographers in the making.

Working on an observation, the kids chose to observe a Ritz cracker, Wheat Thins, or graham crackers. After they finished their work, they got to eat it and use another one of their senses!

Week of September 26th

2011-09-25T10:53:00.001-05:00

I would like to congratulate Ellie Marosis on her commitment by submitting drawings for the the Spooky Spaghetti T-shirt contest and the yearbook cover. They announced the winners of the T-shirt contest on Friday morning and sadly she was not one of them. However ... she is the winner of the yearbook cover contest! How awesome!!! Please take the time to congratulate her when you see her.

Thank you to all who have signed up to volunteer in the classroom or spearhead a school project/task! The kids really like to see your involvement in the classroom/school. We still need more volunteers to help during Journal in the morning. Please look for an email with more details.

LDC: this week we begin our first rotation to LDC (Literary Development Center), our magnet program. We will be with Ms. Diaz from 1:05-1:50 for the next two weeks. Our mornings remain unchanged, but the afternoon will be compressed.

Language Arts: we will work on the short i sound, final -x, and high frequency words. The Spelling list consists of 10 words: 8 words that follow the rule(s) for the week and 2 HFWs. There will also be 2 optional Bonus Words (no points are deducted if mis-spelled, +1 per word). Spelling tests will be given each Friday morning.

Math: we will work on numbers to 20 and on the hundreds chart

Science: this week we will focus on sorting objects by their attributes. For example, sorting by color, size, shape, topic, texture, etc.

PYP: We will begin the How we Express Ourselves planner this week. We continue reviewing the PYP profile and attitudes and the Choose-Act-Reflect cycle.

We worked as a class to create a timeline of our day together. It started with the Journal activity and ended with Dismissal; some kids added Extended Day to personalize the timeline.

Two completed versions of a timeline of our class' day!

Week of September 19th

2011-09-18T20:47:00.001-05:00

Language Arts: we will work on the short a sound, final -ck, and high frequency words. The Spelling list from now on will consist of 1o words: 8 words that follow the rule(s) for the week and 2 HFWs. There will also be 2 optional Bonus Words. Spelling tests will be given each Friday morning.

Math: we will work on numbers to 20 and on the hundreds chart

Social Studies: this week we will focus on sequencing and on past/present/future; look for a fun homework assignment on Monday.

PYP: We are wrapping up the Who We Are planner. We will continue reviewing the PYP profile and attitudes and the Choose-Act-Reflect cycle.

Da-In and Jeffrey working on patterns.

Angel is completing the pattern that Ethan created.

Practicing Word Work: making short e words on the SmartBoard.

We started workstations this week; here the kids are at Computer, working on the online components of the reading program.

Our buckets are getting 'full!'

Toby and Zariyah using their senses to learn by observing a rock.

Ellie really liked the rock she observed!

Kayla and Nathaniel work on recording their observations.

Week of Sep. 12th

2011-09-13T16:05:00.001-05:00

Language Arts: we will work on the short u sound and high frequency words. The Spelling list this week will consist of 15 words: 10 words that follow the rule for the week and 5 HFWs. We will have the Spelling test on Friday morning.

Math: we will work on patterns

Science: we will work on recording and observing traits of different objects

PYP: We are wrapping up the Who We Are planner. We will continue reviewing the PYP profile and attitudes and the Choose-Act-Reflect cycle.

Working on Kindness Quilt squares

Week of September 5th

2011-09-05T19:21:00.000-05:00

Wow, we made it through the first week with homework and capped it off with a Spelling Test!

Please make sure your child returns the homework on Fridays, most everyone did this first week = Great Job!

Language Arts: we will work on short e sound and high frequency words. The Spelling list, from now on, will consist of 15 words: 10 words that follow the rule for the week and 5 HFWs. We will have regular Spelling tests on Friday mornings.

Math: we will work on comparing and ordering numbers

Social Studies: we will focus on leaders and rules.

PYP: We will continue working on Who We Are and reviewing the PYP profile and attitudes.

Jeffrey and Toby model to the class how to work at the Library Workstation.

The kids FINALLY got to go on the Spider!!!! For safety reasons, first grade gets to go on the Spider on days that the class' ancillary is Spanish.

We went on a Listening Walk and tracked the different sounds we heard, many which we don't notice when we walk down the hallways making noises ourselves!

"I heard Ms. Fromen's flip-flops making noise!"

Sharing Journal! It's amazing how much more the kids are writing in just one week :)

Welcome to our first week in First Grade!

2011-08-26T20:11:00.072-05:00

We had a great first week! The activities were planned so that we can get to know each other and become a class community. The children shared their summer activities, made a 'house,' drew a portrait of their family, and drew self-portraits. Below are some pictures of the children at work :)

This week: Homework will be sent home on Monday, in the yellow folder, and is due back on Friday. It will include Spelling and Math practice, along with a reading component. This week the Spelling homework will consist of high frequency words review and numbers to 12 will be the focus of Math. There will be a spelling test on Friday morning.

We continue working on the Who We Are planner and reviewing the PYP profile and attitudes. In Science we will focus on the senses.

The children worked on making patterns.

My house: the children made rooms for their houses in which they included things about themselves.

We had Recess indoors on Thursday due to rain. Some of the activities were puzzles, free drawing, and PBS kids

Our Calendar Leader and Calendar Helper leading the class in the daily routine

Working on Self-portraits, follow-up to "Happy to be Me!"

Week of May 9th

2011-05-08T23:10:00.001-05:00

NO HOMEWORK THIS WEEK DUE TO STANFORD TESTING!!!!

Make sure your child gets plenty of sleep, a good breakfast (at home or at school), and gets to school timely :)

Since the testing will take up the majority of the morning we will rotate through workstations in the afternoon and also work on the planner. The kids brought in great projects from empty water bottles. Please make sure your child submits one, if they didn't bring one on Friday.

Thank you for attending the Student Led Conferences!

Week of April 25th

2011-04-24T17:33:00.004-05:00

Our daily schedule this week will be a little off due to the different testing taking place, mainly TAKS. As a result, our ancillary time will be in the morning on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Math: we will work on making equal parts, equal parts of a whole and parts of sets (fractions); we will continue to work on Fact Families

Language Arts: this week we will work on Long i sound made with -ie and -igh, as in pie and high. The genre for this week is Expository Text which tells about real people, places, and events.

In both Math and Language Arts we will continue to practice test-taking strategies.

Planner: we continue learning about natural resources, the environment, our responsibilitiy as inhabitants of the Earth, and how our actions today impact the environment

After reading The Lorax, the children drafted a letter to the Once-ler to express their thoughts about his actions (Sloppy Copy) ...beginning the Writing Cycle ...

After completing their draft, they exchanged letters and had a partner edit ...completed Final Copies have been posted outside our classroom, take a look!

How much more money do you need to be able to purchase the eraser?

Making Words: we have been busy making words from the letters in one word. In the example below, thunder is the word that a student wrote in his journal and then found two other words, then the class helped out with the others ...

Week of April 18th

2011-04-17T23:34:00.001-05:00

Reminders: All-Parent Meeting on Monday, April 18th at 6:30 p.m.; Picture money is due Thursday April 21st; NO SCHOOL on Friday, April 22nd: Spring Holiday

Homework looks a little different this week because we will not be starting anything new in math or language arts as we will be practicing test-taking strategies

Planner: we continue learning about natural resources, the environment, our responsibilitiy as inhabitants of the Earth, and how our actions today impact the environment in the future

Equal: Ms. Musters' third grade class visited our class to discuss their planner and teach our class about everyone being equal through the Butterfly Project (they also learned more about symmetry)

Look, this is the shape of a cylinder!

Week of April 4th in Pictures

2011-04-17T23:22:00.010-05:00

When I Grow Up ...

Working at the Big Book station

Making words at Word Work 2 on the SmartBoard

Listening to a story on the computer

Word Work: practicing the spelling words of the week

Illustrating a poem at the Poetry station

Wasteless Picnic: we all enjoyed a beautiful day, had lunch outside, and examined our lunch containers and trays to see what items could be reused, recycled, or trashed

I can 'recycle' this becuase I can plant the seeds AND put it in a compost bin!!!!

I can reuse the water bottle!

Hmmm!

Field Trip to the Houston Arboretum

2011-04-05T21:31:00.000-05:00

Week of April 4th

2011-04-03T21:47:00.002-05:00

DON'T FORGET: FIELD TRIP TO THE HOUSTON ARBORETUM ON TUESDAY, APRIL 5TH, please send a sack lunch, no lunch kits

LDC: we begin our final 2-week rotation this week

Math: we will work on plane shapes and solid figures

Language Arts: this week we will work on Vowel digraph ea and adding endings. The genre for this week is Fairy Tales

Social Studies: We continue learning about leaders, their roles, and responsibilities.

Planner: we are starting our new planner this week. It is entitled How We Share the Planet. The central idea is that we are connected to the natural world and our actions affect it. An inquiry into the natural resources (and their by-products) of our planet and sharing and using them.

What happens when you add vinegar to sugar, salt, flour, or baking soda?
What happened to yours?

Week of March 28th

2011-03-27T22:28:00.002-05:00

Math: we will continue working on Fact Families to 18, focusing on subtraction

Language Arts: this week we will work on Long a with ai and ay and introduce single and plural possessives. We continue working on drawing conclusions in Reading

Social Studies: We will identify leaders, describe the roles, and identify the responsibilities of authority figures in the home, school, and community including parents/guardians, teachers, principals, and police officers

Planner: we are nearing the end of our inquiry into Matter, we will be wrapping it up this week.

Is it a solid or a gas?

2011-03-27T21:38:00.001-05:00

Young chemists at work!

2011-03-24T15:36:00.000-05:00

The kids selected members from their tables to take different roles in the experiment. They also decided the order in which they would work. They began by feeling the solids and liquids then mixing the 'unlabeled' ingredients and observed as changes began to occur...

The matter started changing as they took turns mixing the ingredients, they counted the number of stirs :)

They waited their turn as they counted and observed, trying to predict what and why they were doing this!

Patiently waiting for something to happen to the matter and discussing ...

A couple of teams encountered problems and we brainstormed what could have gone wrong and tried to fix the 'matter' based on the hypothesis

After mixing with a spoon for a while, it was time to get dirty!

Is this what is supposed to happen?

Hooray!!! We did it! We made playdo!!!!

Week of March 21st

2011-03-20T22:07:00.004-05:00

12:30 DISMISSAL ON FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 2011: I will be available for conferences upon request

Math: we will be working on Fact Families and Doubles to 18

Language Arts: this week we will work on comparative endings -er and -est and -dge pattern as in pledge. We will focus on drawing conclusions in Reading
Social Studies: We will discuss "voting as an important method of showing the will of the people in a democratic society" and how we have voted in class to make decisions like our Field Name and our class vote for the Car Pool lane naming. We will also be reviewing maps and landforms in stations

Planner: we are getting close to the end of our inquiry into Matter. I have heard from many of you about the kids wanting to duplicate and/or expand on the classroom experiments, they loved the butter! We have a couple more fun ones to go

Field Day: thank you to all who came and helped, cheered, and brought/coordinated/donated snacks, drinks, and lunch!!!

Field Day 2011

2011-03-19T12:46:00.005-05:00

Obi helping out going over the rules with the kids

Week of March 7th

2011-03-06T23:14:00.000-06:00

THE WEEK AHEAD

FIELD DAY: FRIDAY, MARCH 11TH from 8:30-11:00!

Math: we will be working on Place Value, focusing on tens and ones

Language Arts: this week we will review inflected -ed and continue discussing verbs (am, is, are, was, and were). The spelling test will be on Thursday due to Field Day.

Social Studies: important people in history like Lincoln, Bell, and Edison

Planner: we have been working on building a foundation on Matter and will now begin some fun experiments like observing a solid change into a liquid and making a liquid turn into a solid as well as a chemical change

LAST WEEK

The kids worked on addition facts

Station work: Vocabulary

More addition facts

Matter Scavenger Hunt: the kids had to find matter with specific properties

The kids drafted a letter by using an organizer

Then they edited each other's work

Week of February 28th

2011-02-27T18:38:00.000-06:00

THE WEEK AHEAD

Math: we are done with Measurement, for now, and will begin working on Facts: Fact Power, Easy Facts, and Turn-around Facts

Language Arts: this week we will work on more contractions and r-controlled -er, -ir, and -ur; we will continue working on distinguishing between fact and opinion and verbs am, is, are, was, and were

Social Studies: important people in history like Lincoln, Washington, Edison, Eleanor Roosevelt

Planner: we have been working on building a foundation on Matter and will now begin some fun experiments like observing a solid change into a liquid and making a liquid turn into a solid!

LAST WEEK

The kids measured each other's handspan using a measuring tape. The previous week they measured objects with their handspan.

No, it's not a choke hold :) Halfdan is using a measuring tape to measure Lily's head!

Sidharth and Andy discussing place value, how many flats, longs, and ones to use

The Big Book station: buddy reading and searching for the Sight Words of the Week

Welcome to the PET RODEO!

Thank You!

2011-02-25T18:13:00.000-06:00

Thank you all so much for the birthday goodies! A birthday gram was delivered, first thing in the morning, shortly after I was surprised by some of the students hiding about in a darkened room. Plus, my 5th grade son was one of the Gram Singers :) We all enjoyed cupcakes during recess.

Week of Feb. 21st

2011-02-20T20:54:00.002-06:00

Boy did we have a busy week! Thank you to all who volunteered and/or donated for our Valentine's Day exchange. It was short and fun!

Ms. Debbie Diller, author/consultant, was here to work with a group of teachers on Thursday. She came to our classroom and modeled a small-group lesson. We learned so much from her!

And, on Friday after the Spelling Test, we had a visit from a dental hygienist. Then, in the afternoon, a Black History program.

THE WEEK AHEAD
LDC: we will be at LDC for one more week, from 1:05-1:50 p.m.

Math: we continue working on Measurement using the inch, 6-inch ruler, and measuring tapes
Language Arts: this week we will work on adding endings -ing and -ed as well as r-controlled -ar; we will continue working on distinguishing between fact and opinion and begin working on research skills such as using a dictionary; verbs for past and for future

Science: the kids are really enjoying animal parts and their functions

Planner: we continue learning all about Matter

Week of Feb. 14th

2011-02-13T23:21:00.002-06:00

We have had several students, and the teacher :(, out due to illness over the last couple of weeks. Please remember that your child should be fever free for 24 hours, without medication, before returning to school. We have been using the sanitizer regularly and trying to keep our hands to ourselves so as to not spread more germs. Feel free to email me a note when your child is absent.

THE WEEK AHEAD
Valentine's Day: we will have our valentines exchange Monday afternoon then heading to LDC; thank you to all the parents that signed up to bring something and to those that are staying to help :)

Dental Health: we will have a presentation by a dental group on Friday morning

LDC: we will be at LDC for the next two weeks from 1:05-1:50 pm

Math: we continue working on Measurement using the thermometer, non-standard measures, and the inch

Language Arts: this week we will work on plural endings using -es and r-controlled -or & -ore; we will work on distinguishing between fact and opinion and continue comparing and contrasting

Science: the kids are really enjoying animal parts and their functions

Planner: we will wrap up the Community planner and begin working on Matter

Art a la Carte: Once again we need to thank Ms. Nell Gottleib, Julia's grandmother, for her work in our class. She led this month's Art a la Carte lesson; the pieces of art went home on Friday, unless they still needed to dry

Week of Feb. 7th

2011-02-06T18:23:00.000-06:00

Due to the abrupt end to our week last week we did not have the Spelling Test usually given on Fridays so we will take it on Monday, Feb. 7th, and the regularly scheduled one on Friday, Feb. 11th as well.

Math: we will continue working on Measurement: comparing and ordering by area, capacity, weight and temperature

Language Arts: this week we will work on the -ng and -nk consonant patterns

Science: we had a great time working on the Seed Logs, hopefully some of them will actually grow into plants at home, although some were getting stinky :) The kids took the seeds home on Thursday and many were anxious to plant them! We will begin learning about animals and their parts

Planner: Community: we will conclude our focus on the different types of communities of which we are members, how they are interconnected, the roles we play and the need satisfied by each

Bash Creation: The final product is on display in the Library's case. A huge "Thank You!" to Julia's grandmother for all her time and creativity.

Week of Jan. 31st

2011-01-30T13:46:00.001-06:00

100th Day of School is Feb. 1st! Wow, it's hard to believe that we will reach the 100th day of school this week! Our station work will center around 100th day activities.

Math: we will work on Measurement: comparing lengths, estimating and measuring lengths, and unit size

Language Arts: this week we will work on the vowel sounds of y, its long i and long e sounds, and consonant/vowel words like me, no, so, be, go, etc.

Science: we will finish plants and our Seed Log then begin working on animal parts

Planner: Communities: we continue learning about the different types of communities of which we are members, how they are interconnected, and what needs are satisfied by each of them

Bash Creation: The final product! Take a closer look in the Library's display case.

Art a la Carte: Thank you to Ms. McGouldrick and Ms. Hsu for leading this month's lesson!

Week of Jan. 24th

2011-01-23T15:12:00.000-06:00

Hooray, both my laptop and desktop are now up and running! We were finally able to work on the SmartBoard again, boy did we miss that! Here Andy is labeling a part of a flower!

Math: we will continue working with data and graphs

Language Arts: this week we will work on Long e with e_e, e, ee, and -y (as is happy)

Science: we will continue to work on plants and the functions of plant parts

Planner: Communities; we are discussing the different types of communities of which we are members, how they are interconnected, and what needs are satisfied by each of them

Working on Phase I of the Classroom Creation for the Bash. Thank you to all the parents who helped!

Work from the previous week

Week of January 10th

2011-01-07T18:25:00.001-06:00

A belated Welcome Back and Happy New Year!

As I informed you vial email, my two computers in the classroom are sick. Thank you for your patience, and hopefully, they will get fixed this coming week, keep your fingers crossed. The kids really miss not being able to do Daily Fix-it on the SmartBoard and also reading and singing along the weekly stories from our reading program.

Math: counting forward and back using frames and arrows; we will work with calculators and more money: the dime!

Language Arts: this week we will work on Long with o_e, and we will introduce contractions. We will continue using prompts to write a complete paragraph.

Planner: We are starting a new planner entitled How We Organize Ourselves: the interconnectedness of human made systems and communities; the structure and function of organizations. We will be discussing the different types of communities of which we are members and how they are interconnected.

Math: Rolling a Snowman

Working on maps

Math station: Math Magician

Math station: estimating

Writing station: sequencing events

Collaborating on Word Work

The students worked in groups to create a map of a character's travels

Pajama Day and Holiday Party Slide show

2011-01-06T15:31:00.001-06:00

Week of Dec. 13th

2010-12-12T22:11:00.004-06:00

Many thanks to Ms. Hesselbeak for decorating our bulletin board with traditional, handmade ornaments in the Danish tradition!

Review Week: we will review previously introduced concepts and continue our PYP planner.

Math: counting forward and back on both the hundred chart and the number line, patterns, skip counting, and odd/even.

Language Arts: review of Long a with a_e, /s/ with c, and /j/ with g along with -alk, and -all. We will use prompts to get started writing a story.

Planner: central idea is how pictures and symbols help us determine where we are in place and time.

Don't forget: Pajama Day and Class Holiday Party on Dec. 16th. The children can bring a lovey (stuffed animal), pajamas, and slippers. You can send a change of clothes and regular shoes if your child does not want to wear pjs all day :). Our Holiday Party is scheduled from 12:45-1:45, I'm looking forward to seeing you all there!

Math: Ellie and Nina ordering numbers using a number line

Planner: working on Me on the Map

Dress Rehearsal: we had the opportunity to watch the rehearsal of the 4th grade performance

Workstations: playing One More

Planner: working on the Compass Rose and writing about it

Week of Dec. 6th

2010-12-05T23:53:00.000-06:00

Math: last week we used the hundred chart to count forward and back; this week we will use the number line. The children will also be playing games at workstations to reinforce addition facts and odd/even.
Language Arts: sounds of the week are Long a with a_e, /s/ with c, and /j/ with g. We will continue working on sequencing activities and writing a story using a graphic organizer.

Science: weather symbols and maps will be the focus

Planner: central idea is how pictures and symbols help us determine where we are in place and time.

Pajama Day: we will have PJ day on Dec. 16th, details to follow :)

Workstations
Read to Self

Word Work: sorting words by beginning sound

Computer: Reading Street online activities

Week of November 15th

2010-11-21T17:17:00.002-06:00

We had a very busy week! The students were extremely excited about their rocks. After observing them they got to write their rock's story. It was great to see the kids get so excited about writing, and then sharing, their stories!

Progress reports went home on Tuesday in the Brown folders. Please sign and return and I will return a copy for your records.

On Wednesday, the kids led conferences with their parents. If you did not get a chance to meet with your child it is not too late, just drop by a little early one morning or after dismissal.

Ms. Papp came in on Thursday and taught an Art a la carte lesson on patterns, which fit in perfectly with our patterns study in Math.

And, on Friday, our class was the audience for a rehearsal. Ms. Morrison's second grade class invited us to watch the performance they would present to their parents later in the day. Our class had a blast and they look forward to doing that next year when they are in second grade.

Due to the short week ahead, 2 days only, there will be no homework :) Enjoy the holidays!

Week of Nov. 8th

2010-11-09T22:35:00.001-06:00

Math: we will work on subtraction facts to 12, including a review of doubles.

Language Arts: sounds of the week are initial blends and short e. We will continue working on sequencing activities and writing. The children can access our reading program online; login ids and passwords were sent home in the Tuesday folders. The children have been using a class id during stations and should be able to to login in with little to no help!

Science: we will be discussing rocks, observing them, and sorting them by different attributes.

Planner: we will study masks from different parts of the world and continue "Looking at Art."

Student Led Conferences are scheduled for Wednesday, November 17th from 3:00-4:30 in 30 minute slots. If you have not already signed up please do so. This is a great opportunity for your child to demonstrate the learning...

Late October, early November in review:

Week of Nov. 1

2010-11-03T04:59:00.001-05:00

Math: we will continue working on number stories this week.

Language Arts: sounds of the week are inflected -s and -ing. We have also been working on sequencing activities, first, next, then, finally...

Science: we are recording the temperature twice daily while reinforcing symbols, a.m./p.m., and accuracy of data

Planner: we will discuss Pop Art this week and work on "Looking at Art."

Hallow's Eve

2010-10-24T22:07:00.012-05:00

Week full of Thank Yous!
Thank you to all who helped at our class booth, or in any other capacity, with Spooky Spaghetti. Our booth was definitely a popular one, there was always a line and it was definitely hard work! A special, great big THANK YOU to Sidharth's mom Tina Hsu, her sister, and Ms. Mandel for the great job decorating the booth, it looked awesome!

Thank you to Ms. McGouldrick for the witch pumpkin decoration and Mrs. Jammar for decorating the bulletin board.

Thank you to Ms. Zweidler-McKay and Ms. Salma Farag , in advance, for co-leading this month's Art a la Carte lesson.

Math: We will work on number stories and subtraction this week.

Language Arts: sounds of the week are short o and plural -s.

Planner: we will complete our research this week and will continue looking at different styles of art.

Math Explorations: Top-It, Counting by 2s, Geometrical shapes, and estimating size

Seeing the cool animations available online through the reading program!

Playing Penny-Dice game

Social Studies: after learning about national symbols, the kids put together Old Glory and wrote three facts that they learned.

Upcoming Week and views from last week

2010-10-17T11:46:00.000-05:00

Friday, Oct. 22nd, is Early Dismissal (12:30) for Parent Conferences. If you want to meet please let me know via email or sign up on the sheet posted outside on the bulletin board.

LDC: this will be our second week in the rotation. The kids are working on a Yes Day! class book. Ask your child about Yes Day!

Math: Money, money, money! Money! We will work on pennies and nickels this week.

Language Arts: sounds of the week are short i and final x.

Planner: last week we examined a piece of art, discussed things we saw, and listed "I wonder" questions. This week, we will consolidate some of the questions and work on finding the answers to those. (This is part of IIM: Independent Investigation Method, 7 Easy Steps to Successful RESEARCH.)
The class finished working on their 'dreams' based on Leo Leoni's Matthew's Dream

Station Work: Word Work, Computer, and Writing

Week of Oct. 11

2010-10-10T21:46:00.001-05:00

LDC: we are scheduled for our two week rotation at LDC so the afternoon schedule will be slightly different.

Math: we will work on telling time to the hour and non-standard units of measurement (station)

Language Arts: short a and 'ck' words (Spelling test on Friday)

Planner, Stations, and Huckleberry Park

2010-10-10T21:00:00.003-05:00

We learned about primary colors and how to make secondary colors by mixing two primary colors!

Station work during Reading with small groups. First, the children learned how to play the Number Grid game on the Smartboard.

Then, they played it on their own!

Writing at table and Read to Self on the carpet.

Word Work: working together on a Word Search with the Words of the Week

Ribbon cutting ceremony for Hucklerry Park grand opening on Friday morning.

Art a la Carte

2010-10-03T18:35:00.003-05:00

Art a la Carte
Thank you to Ms. Zweidler-McKay for coming in and teaching the class an Art a la Carte lesson on Henri Matisse. What a great way to start our new planner: How we express ourselves. The kids really enjoyed it!

Math
This week we worked on doubles, near-doubles, and ten-frames.

Class Party
What a great day for a party! The weather was beautiful, the food was good, and the company was great! Thank you to all who attended, it was difficult to close down the party since everyone was having such a good time! Press the Play button to view a slide show.

Class Party and Math work

2010-09-26T22:32:00.001-05:00

Reminders:

1. Class party is on Tuesday, September 28, 2010 from 5:30-6:30. Thank you Ms. Papp for coordinating and all the families that have signed up to bring goodies!

2. Homework (yellow folders) is due back on Fridays, we only had 71% of the class turn in HW on Friday, let's aim for 100% next week! :)

Math

We have been working on addition number stories and sentences in class.

Happenings this week

2010-09-20T15:59:00.000-05:00

Oops! There was a mistake in the Open House packet: Spelling HW starts this week, not January.

The lists for the next few weeks will be comprised of High Frequency (Sight) Words.

Please remind your child that the Yellow Folder must be returned on Fridays and the Tuesday(Brown) folder should be returned on Wednesdays.

All Parent Meeting on Thursday, September 23, 2010 at 6:30 p.m.

Early Dismissal (12:30) on Friday, September 24, 2010

Renzulli Learning and Explorations

2010-09-19T18:06:00.000-05:00

Our class has now been registered to use Renzulli. Renzulli is a system that has selected hundreds of enrichment activities and other resources specifically geared to your child's interests. In order to find activities that meet your child's interests, you will need to update your child's profile by logging in through the student tab at: http://www.renzullilearning.com/ . After you sign in, click on "Profile" and help your child answer a series of questions. Once all the questions have been answered your child will be able to access activities geared to his/her interests! Check your email for your child's username and password.

Inside, outside, and how many in all ...

Explorations: the children explored different mathematics materials in rotations.

Making geometric figures on Geoboards

Comparing numbers while playing Top-It

This week's happenings

2010-09-09T16:56:00.000-05:00

Happy Eid al Fitr! Thank you to Lulu, Yusuf, Taha, and Rodayna's families for sharing their celebration with the class and bringing goodies for everyone. In the haste of dismissal I forgot to thank all the families that collaborated in the effort, my apologies.
Practicing capitalization, punctuation, and spelling with Daily Fix-It

How many times did you roll a 6, a 5,...? Learning about Outcomes by rolling a die

The Spider and the Bunny!

2010-09-01T21:31:00.002-05:00

It was finally our class' turn to go on The Spider! The kids have been anxiously waiting for Spanish ancillary and we got rained in yesterday :( They definitely made the most of it today and spent as much time as possible on it.

Let's play Top-It!

Playing Bunny Hop!

Dismissal procedure

2010-08-28T13:20:00.000-05:00

Dear Parents:
In order to ensure a safe and orderly dismissal and so that we can account for every child, we respectfully ask all children in grades 1 through 5 be picked up from the cafeteria only. Kindergarten parents may pick up at the classroom at 2:45. If you arrive at school before 2:45, you must get a visitors’ badge from the front office and wait for your children in the cafeteria, front rotunda, or outside unless you are going to Kindergarten at 2:45.
This will ensure that teachers know the whereabouts of all children at all times. Thank you for helping us keep your children safe.

John Baker
Principal
Mark Twain Elementary

Welcome!

2010-08-28T12:58:00.001-05:00

Welcome to first grade!!! We have one week of first grade under our belts, it's gone by so fast. We have been extremely busy learning about each other, learning new rules and procedures, learning about numbers and graphs, writing in journals, etc. It has been quite exciting!

Please feel free to email me at dnathan1@houstonisd.org with any questions.

Below is a small sample of a few things we did this past week.

Field trip to Recyclery and Landfill

2010-05-24T22:53:00.000-05:00

Group project

2010-05-19T21:55:00.000-05:00

The kids have begun working on a project for the planner. As a group, they will be putting together a poster with illustrations/pictures of facts they have learned during the course of the final planner for the school year. They selected a planner book from our classroom library and a classmate, or two, from their table with whom to work.

Field Day with Nathan's Nature Explorers

2010-05-18T21:30:00.000-05:00

I want to thank Mr. Setiabudi (Peter's dad) for sharing all the great photos he took during our Field Day events! He took tons of great pictures.

What are the effects of oil on our feathered friends?

2010-05-09T21:34:00.000-05:00

Trying to clean up the feather with water to see if it works.

It's nice and clean and now, after we used the dishwashing soap.

It's smooth now, the soap worked!

Working on our measuring skills. Let's figure out the best way to get an accurate measurement.

Student Led Conferences and Math Work

2010-04-28T21:38:00.000-05:00

We have been working on Dictionary skills for the past few weeks. Below is a link to Scholastic's online dictionary. It has a speaker so that you can hear the pronunciation of the word and the definitions are kid friendly. http://wordwizard.scholastic.com/dictionary/

This week

2010-04-20T21:43:00.000-05:00

Student Led Conferences are tomorrow from 3:00-4:30, it is not too late to sign up for a time slot!

The 7-day page in the homework packet is due on Monday. Sorry for the lack of instructions! You may have noticed that there are changes to the Spelling homework. We have worked through the entire Spelling workbook and now everyone will be working on the same list.

The field trip to the Houston Arboretum was a blast! Thank you Ms. Choi, Mrs. Silva, and Mrs. Romero for joining us! Here are just some of the things we did and saw:

Week of April 19th

2010-04-12T14:14:00.000-05:00

Next week will be very busy for us:

First, we have a field trip planned for Tuesday, April 20th to the Arboretum. We will have lunch there so please send a sack lunch on that day. Permission slips are in your child's yellow homework folder. Return these as soon as possible. Let me know if you would like to chaperone, we have room for two parents per class.

Next, Student Led Conferences are scheduled for Wednesday, April 21st, from 3:00-4:30, in 30 minute slots. If you have not already done so, send in the blue sheet with your preferred time slot. This is an important event for your child; if you cannot make it during those times just let me know and we can schedule a one-on-one at another time.

Last, by next week we will be well into our new planner: How we share the planet - We are connected to the natural world and our actions affect it. We will be learning about natural resources, conservation, and recycling.

Space and the Solar System

2010-04-07T20:00:00.001-05:00

Our current planner "Community" has been really fun. The children have been very excited about learning about space, our class' designated community. Several have brought in books from the library and home. And, timed just right, Space Shuttle Discovery docked at the International Space Station (ISS) early this morning (Houston time). The children have been eagerly learning about the solar system, the individual planets, and life in space aboard the ISS.

Ask your child about the following phrase: My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nachos!

The class made presentations about their planet to the class.

Report cards!!!

2010-03-31T20:00:00.000-05:00

Report cards were sent home today. Please sign and return. I will send back a copy home with your child upon receipt of the signed copy.

Space Experts visit our class

2010-03-31T19:50:00.000-05:00

Third grade recently finished a planner on space. Since our class is studying the space community it was a great opportunity for our class to collaborate with another grade level. A group of students from Ms. Musters' 3rd grade class made a presentation about the solar system. It was a great learning experience and lots of fun!

Picture & Math Activities

2010-03-25T08:29:00.000-05:00

Picture day is scheduled for Monday, March 29th! You can send a change of clothes for your child if you want their picture taken in clothes other than a uniform.

The children have been getting a lot of math practice measuring, talking about attributes, measuring, clocks, and two and three dimensional shapes.

Our week to lead the school's announcements!

2010-03-04T15:46:00.000-06:00

It was our class' turn! The kids did a great job! Everyone had a chance to be a part of the activities, all the jobs were important and crucial to the smooth (mostly) flow of the routine. Please congratulate your child on a job well done!

Go Texan Day!

2010-02-28T17:50:00.001-06:00

What a treat to see some Trail Riders make their way into town!

The Great Melting Race

2010-02-16T22:44:00.000-06:00

What can we do to get the ice, a solid, to turn into a liquid ( melt) first? Let's talk about our stategy! Let's work together! What if we...?

Ok, what if we hold it?

The kids worked in 4 teams and raced against the other teams to see which one would get the ice to melt the fastest! Two groups finished neck in neck, just 30 seconds separated them. They took turns rubbing the bags of ice, holding them up to the sunshine ("so the heat would melt it"), and even put the bags under their shirts since their "bodies are hot." It was a lot of fun as they realized that rubbing the bags between their hands worked pretty well.

Huffs and Puffs

2010-02-12T22:34:00.000-06:00

How many puffs does it take to blow the paperback book across the table?
It won't move!

How many puffs does it take to blow a pencil across the table? or a clothespin? or a small yarn ball? The children first predicted how many puffs it would take to blow the items off the tables then they huffed and puffed and recorded the actual number of puffs on their observation sheets.

Dice sums & Base-10 Exchange

2010-02-10T10:50:00.000-06:00

Lots of playing and learning! We've been playing lots ... lots of math games that is! The kids sharpened their addition skills by rolling a pair of dice and adding the numbers. They then recorded the data and created a bar graph of the sums they rolled. A second game they played is Base-10 Exchange. The first team to get to 100, based on the roll of a die and exchanging ones for 10s, is the winning team!

Automatic Balloon Blower

2010-02-10T10:42:00.000-06:00

We came up with a new way of blowing up balloons, presenting the Automatic Balloon Blower! Everyone had a blast as they mixed a solid (baking powder) with a liquid (vinegar) and created gas to blow up the balloon. It's all about MATTER in this planner and it has been a blast so far.

News and updates

2010-01-29T23:55:00.000-06:00

Stanford testing is over and homework is back in full force!
We have added a new element, two reading passages for the week, to have the children work on their comprehension. The reading log is in addition to the reading passages since they are pretty short. Let the children read the passage and then try to answer the questions on their own, sometimes it might take several re-readings before they get it and that is perfectly o.k!

We started our new planner this week, Ch-ch-changes: When matter changes, it affects the world around us. We have been discussing solids, gases, & liquids! Our activity today entailed observing and recording as a solid turned into liquid over the course of the morning.

Journal Helpers Needed! The February calendar has been posted on the bulletin board. Please consider helping out for 30 minutes (VIPS approved please).

Feb. 3rd: Progress reports
Feb. 4th: 12:30 dismissal, no Extended Day
Feb. 15th: Holiday, Presidents' Day

At work and at fun!

2010-01-29T21:14:00.000-06:00

Writer's Workshop

2010-01-14T18:09:00.001-06:00

We started something new this week: Writer's Workshop. This activity consists of a specific writing prompt for all the children, so it's not free writing like during morning Journal. Today's prompt was received by many giggles, and I heard a lot of giggling during the actual writing. The kids have a list of required items on a checklist that they must have, for example, proper punctuation, correct spelling of words that have been on a Spelling List, etc.

Stanford: it is extremely important that your child be here every day and on time! Because the test materials are confidential, only school/district personnel will be allowed in the classrooms after 8:00 am(= No Journal). The test will be administered over 5 days for about an hour to an hour and a half each day, followed by a small snack :). We have been practicing our test taking skills this week: listening, following instructions, building up their reading stamina, getting used to the format, seating arrangements... I have told the kids that there will be some questions on the test that they will not know...and that it is okay!

Math Practice web site

2009-12-30T19:46:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone is having an enjoyable winter break. I found the following website with loads of math activities. If your child is inclined to practice click on the following:
http://www.ixl.com/math/grade/first/
Please be aware that we have not yet covered all of the areas that are included in the site.

Pajama Day & Class Party!

2009-12-17T16:46:00.000-06:00

What a great party! Man, this class really knows how to put together an awesome festivity!!! The food was great and the company even more so. Thank you all for taking the time from your busy schedules to join us, I know the kids really appreciate your having taken the time. Happy Holidays everyone!!!

Pajama Day! We started the day off with a parade around the first floor, we tried the second floor but they were busy working away so we 'quietly' made our way down :) We watched The Polar Express, drank hot chocolate, and decorated a 'Gingerbread' house.

Art portfolios

2009-12-15T15:35:00.000-06:00

Art portfolios went home today. All of the great art that the kids created is in the portfolio. I want to extend a HUGE 'Thank you!' to Eunjoo Choi (and Haejun, who helped her mom) for creating the portfolios. She added the names and the ribbon as well, she really went all out! Please thank her when you see her next time.

The kids sorted nouns and adjectives into The Vortex; some even used 'the magic finger!'

News for the Week

2009-12-13T16:49:00.000-06:00

NO HOMEWORK will be assigned for this week. Please do look for a special Holiday assignment that will be due upon return from the Winter Break!

We will have a shortened LDC schedule, only 1 week instead of the customary 2 weeks. Please meet us in the cafeteria if you usually meet us in the rotunda.

Thursday, December 17th: Pajama Day and Holiday Party. The children should wear their PJs to school and bring slippers in a bag. They can bring a "special friend" to share at Show and Tell. Our Pajama Day activities will take place in the morning and in the afternoon we will have our class Holiday Party! Several people have already signed up to bring some yummy food, I can't wait!! Ms. Gaston and Ms. Kearns are working out the details for the afternoon. If there is a special tradition that you have and would like to share with the class please let them know and we can include it. This is a great opportunity for the children to learn about many different traditions and have fun at the same time.

Friday, December 18th: Free Dress Day and the last day of school in 2009. Dismissal time is 3:00 p.m., no Extended Day.

Tuesday, Jan. 5th, 2010: classes resume

Main Street Theater's Presentation of Stuart Little

2009-12-04T19:51:00.000-06:00

The kids got a chance to join the cast for a photo op. What a treat!

How does a turkey represent a family? Press play to find out!

2009-12-04T19:40:00.000-06:00

Family Turkey project on PhotoPeach

Inspired by Georgia O'Keefe

2009-11-29T14:01:00.000-06:00

Georgia O'Keefe inspired art on PhotoPeach

Museum of Fine Arts Field Trip

2009-11-22T13:22:00.000-06:00

Making our way to the Beck Building!

Taking notes in the Art Logs while the docent discusses Georgia O'Keefe's artistic style.

Silliness at the conclusion of the trip!

The silliness continued through lunch! We made the best of the day since our plans were literally 'rained' on!

The kids enjoyed creating structures with the base-10 blocks during Indoor Recess.

Opera to Go: Hansel and Gretel

2009-11-19T18:05:00.000-06:00

On Wednesday morning, we were all treated to a wonderful production of Opera To Go's "Hansel and Gretel." The children were mesmerized by the performance!

Measurements

2009-11-19T17:59:00.000-06:00

The children have been learning about measuring over the last two weeks. This week, they used tape measures to estimate each others' heights and measured around different parts of their bodies: wrist, elbow, head, ankle, etc. Of course, their observations were recorded in their workbooks.

Student Led Conferences

2009-11-13T11:26:00.001-06:00

The children rehearsed for the Student Led Conferences with a couple of their classmates. Thank you to all that were able to make it. The children were really proud to show you their work! If you were unable to come on Wednesday, please feel free to schedule another time, you can even do it first thing in the morning. It should take only about 15 minutes.

Pop Art

2009-11-13T11:22:00.001-06:00

The class working on Pop Art inspired by Andy Warhol. Check out the finished pieces in the "Gallery" outside our classroom. I've heard many spectators complement the works of art!

This week

2009-11-08T22:34:00.000-06:00

100% PTO Membership!!!!
What a great accomplishment for our class! Thank you ALL for becoming members of the PTO. As a small reward, our class will be treated to pizza on Tuesday afternoon. Please let me know of any food allergies, ASAP.

LDC: we have LDC for the next two weeks. We will go straight from Ms. Diaz' room to the cafeteria at dismissal so please meet us there, except for Tuesday, 11/10 (PIZZA!)

Student-Led Conferences: these will be held on Wednesday, 11/11, from 3:00-4:30. If you haven't signed up for a time yet please check the schedule posted on the class bulletin board for available times.

Upcoming: Barnes & Noble Book Fair 11/16 & 11/17; Juvenile Diabetes Walk 11/20

Handwriting, Domino Top-It, and Calendar

2009-11-04T14:47:00.000-06:00

Even though we had early dismissal today we managed to pack in lots of learning. The kids played Domino Top-It, which helps reinforce their addition skills; practiced their handwriting, went through the daily calendar routine, and more math... Ask your child how many days they have been in school, or what the weather was yesterday, today, and what it might be tomorrow. All the children will have an opportunity to be the Calendar Helper and lead the class in this activity for an entire week.

Jackson Pollock Inspired Art

2009-11-02T17:17:00.000-06:00

The children learned about American artist Jackson Pollock today. Afterwards, they all created their Pollock-style art. It is amazing how different they all turned out and they all had the same colors on the palettes. As you can probably tell, some will take a few days for the paint to dry!

Important Dates

2009-10-27T15:45:00.000-05:00

Friday, October 30th: Free Dress Day; Reading Champions forms due to Mr. Deering

Wednesday, Nov. 4th: 12:30 Dismissal, No Extended Day; Report cards go home

Wednesday, Nov. 11th: Student Led Conferences, 3:00 - 4:30, 30 minute sessions; Forms went out in the Tuesday folders, please return with your preferred time

Impressionism Continued

2009-10-26T15:56:00.000-05:00

We continue this week learning about Impressionism. Today we learned about Pierre Renoir and imitated his Girl with a Watering Can.

Impressionism: Monet's Japanese Garden

2009-10-22T17:58:00.000-05:00

We started a new artist today: Claude Monet. The children worked on their interpretations of The Japanese Bridge, they are looking great!

Matisse Jack-o-Lanterns

2009-10-15T16:41:00.000-05:00

The children created Jack-o-Lanterns inspired by Henri Matisse's style. They used one black sheet and a half-sheet of orange paper. Nothing was wasted, every cut piece was used, thereby creating a positive and negative image.

2009-10-15T16:39:00.000-05:00

This is our work based on Pablo Picasso's "Le Petite Fleurs." We definitely have some budding artists!

Responsible 1st graders

2009-10-15T16:28:00.000-05:00

Parents, on a beautiful day like today the children stayed in from recess to write a reflection about how they can be responsible members of our classroom community :(
There have been too many incidents over the last few weeks of pencils being broken, glue bottles being left open and consequently spilling onto other bottles, etc. Please talk to your child, in general, about taking care of the classroom materials. Thank you!

Announcements/Reminders

2009-10-13T21:55:00.001-05:00

Oct. 14th -- 12:30 dismissal for all, no extended day

THANK YOU!...
...to those of you that have sent in donations for the class subscription to Scholastic News. A back issue (September 2009) was sent home on Friday. We will be working on this month's issue in class.
...to all that donated art supplies. Your donations of wipes, towels, and paint, should get us through the end of the planner.

Students who earned a Millionaire Club Tee Shirt by participating in HISD's Summer Reading Program should wear their tee shirts on Thursday, October 15 as recognition of their achievement. These were distributed about 2 weeks ago.

Congratulations to Haejun Lee: 1st grade winner for the Spooky Spaghetti T-shirt contest!!!! Wow, her achievement fits in perfectly with our current planner!

Self Portraits Inspired by Picasso

2009-10-08T16:25:00.000-05:00

Busy at work on self portraits inspired by Pablo Picasso.

Class Social

2009-10-07T19:34:00.001-05:00

What great fun we had tonight! Thank you all for coming to our class social. The food was terrific and the company was even better!!!! I dare say ours has been the best class social so far, we had the best foods .... Thanks again to the lead room parents for organizing a great affair! I think I overheard some people wanting to do this again!

Classroom Social & Spooky Spaghetti

2009-09-30T16:42:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone,
Our Classroom Social is scheduled for Wednesday, October 7th from 5:30-7:00 pm. The entire family is welcome. It is a potluck dinner, everyone brings something to eat, and a great opportunity to get to know the other families. I hope you will join us!

If you have any questions please contact Colleen Kearns or Ginger Gaston, the lead class parents. They have done a great job putting this together for us. Thank you ladies!

We need volunteers for our class's Spooky Spaghetti booth on October 24th. Thank you Ms. Choi for signing up! Two volunteers are needed for every shift, 1 hr. Please look at your schedules and consider helping out! The sign-up sheet is posted on the bulletin board.

Classroom Materials - Rest in Peace

2009-09-30T16:37:00.000-05:00

Our class sharpener suffered an untimely demise late last month, it was only 1 1/2 months old! We were very sad because the manual sharpeners just do not do as good of a job. A big THANK YOU! to Peter's family for providing the class a replacement.

2009-09-30T16:34:00.000-05:00

Wow, look at the expansion to our classroom library! This was made possible with the orders that you placed. Filled book orders went home today.

Upcoming Week & Math Homework Change

2009-09-25T19:45:00.000-05:00

This week will be very busy:
1) We are scheduled for LDC from 2:00-2:45 for the next 2 weeks. If you usually pick up your child in the atrium please wait for us in the cafeteria.
2) We start a new planner this week: How We Express Ourselves. This is an extremely fun and creative planner (aka the Art Planner). I will be posting a needs list of specific art supplies that we will need for the duration of the planner. We will be learning about Picasso, Monet, Matisse, and Van Gogh, to name just a few.
3) Book orders arrived late last week and will be distributed on Tuesday.
4) Homework and Tuesday folders will go home tomorrow.
5) School pictures on Thursday, Oct. 1

6) Math Homework Change: beginning this week, Math homework will go home on Mondays. It will be included with the Spelling homework and Reading Log in the Yellow Folder. This change is necessary because Math homework was not making its way back to the classroom the next day. The entire homework package will be due back on Fridays. Hopefully, this will make it easier for everyone to remember to turn it in. Please remember that the homework (Home-Links) goes along with specific lessons and should not be completed in one evening.

Progress Reports, Homework, & Tuesday folders

2009-09-23T16:45:00.000-05:00

Progress Reports went out today. Please sign and return no later than Wednesday, September 30th, the earlier the better! When I receive the signed report I will provide you a copy for your records.

There were two Math Home-Links for homework today, please return these tomorrow.

Tuesday Folders need to be returned on Wednesday, we only have 13 that were returned today and 2 that were not returned last week. This is a very important way for the school to communicate with you and it makes it more difficult to get the information out to everyone when these are not returned. Please make it a point to return them on Wednesdays.

Time and Timelines

2009-09-23T16:38:00.000-05:00

We've been talking about time. Why is it important to know the time? ... the date? etc.

Pennies for Peace

2009-09-18T18:42:00.000-05:00

First grade is collecting ... Pennies for Peace ... Last year 1st grade decided to participate in the Pennies for Peace program and raised a little over $600!!! We are doing it again this year!

We read Listen to Wind and the kids today loved hearing the story and learning all about Greg Mortenson's mission to promote peace one school at a time...one penny at a time.

One boy very proudly opened his backpack and pulled out a penny that he had found! The children have been bringing sandwich bags with pennies and proudly dumping them into our class collection (it is HUGE so I think I will get another one so that we can see more progress, it is not our goal to fill this one but the size is just so daunting!).