Wednesday, August 31st!

     Yeah!  We made it through the first math test!  I'll be putting the grade on SIS in the next couple of days.  Grades come in slowly at the beginning of the year.  Most of our work is practice for the tests, therefore studying for tests is very important.  Students must know the skills, so thank you for working so hard with your child!

     Library is every Wednesday, so look for those books in the bookbags tonight.  Listen to your child read a little from the books.  Discuss whether or not you both feel they are on the "just right" level.  The books should feel comfortable enough for independent reading.

     Science books went home tonight.  I just think it is nice for parents to see from where the science information is coming.  The science book chapter 1 may even be nice nonfiction reading for the next two evenings.  Books need to come back by Friday.

    I hope everyone notices the Respect/Responsibility checklist.  Please initial and return by Friday! 

Music Classroom Video

Enjoy the video!

Happy Friday!

I enjoyed seeing those of you who were able to attend Curiculum Night last night.  If you were unable to be present, please look through the home folder for some important handout information about how my classroom is run.

We have had a very good week!  The class is very excited about their perfect attendance for two weeks in a row.  Way to go!
    
Next week's special schedule is as follows:  M-PE, T-Art, W-PE and Library, TH-Music, F-PE.

What we learned this week: 
     Math- Reviewed 2 digit addition and subtraction;  Vocabulary- addends, sum, difference, inverse operations, fact family;   .
     Reading- Learned how to make connections and how to write them in a clear way.
     Spelling- Practiced sorting words in different ways;  We used our classmates' names throughout the week.  We will not take an actual test over them, but may take a practice test just to see how much was learned through the in-class practice.
     Science- Learned about living things;  Vocabulary- organism, cell, nucleus, reproduce, react, grow, life cycle;
     Social Studies- Learned about what makes a community;  Vocabulary - community, law, citizen, map key, compass rose;
     Writing- Learned routines for personal journal and writing journal;

Upcoming Tests:  Math Chapter 1 / Wednesday

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  (I plan to post my video that was taken in music class sometime over the weekend!)

Fun in the Classroom!

     We've had a great first week!  On Friday, we began the morning with math.  After reviewing the concept of fact families, we made a fact family tree.  The video shows the kids cutting and pasting on their fact family apples.  The trees are a work of art! 
     In reading, we have been trying to make sure that the books we read are just right - not too easy, not to hard.  I am impressed that the children are so aware of what is right for them.  
     In spelling, we took a beginning of the year assessment.  From this assessment I will determine the spelling groups for the Words Their Way spelling program.
     By afternoon, we were reading in our social studies book about communities and discussing and coloring our vocabulary flashcards.  We stored them in our binders behind the social studies tab.  If you have not managed to get the dividers, please try to do so before long.  It is important for the children to be organized. 
     We ended the day by writing a birthday letter to one of our classmates.  Yes, you can expect to get a folder of birthday letters on your child's birthday!  Believe me, they are a lot of fun to read.
     I hope you are enjoying the blog.  If so, please shoot me an email or make a post comment so that I know you are trying to follow.  I would appreciate knowing that you are reading it!               

Class Picture

     We had another really great day today!  We are starting to get very involved with our subjects.  Students received a note today about how to label the dividers for the binder.  I'm hoping they will have the binder complete by tomorrow!
     I hope you enjoy the attached class pictures.  The kids asked to include a silly pose, so I did.  Be sure to let them view the pics!

First Day of School!

     Well, we did it!  Our first day was a success.  Everyone got to school and home again safely on the right bus.  We organized our binders, but are still waiting for many to get the divider pages for them.  I will be sending home a note telling you how to label the dividers so that they are all in the right order.  We played a couple of games to get to know new friends and to help us renew the old.  And of course we read a couple of great picture books for the start of school.  Tomorrow we will work on further organizing supplies such as notebooks and folders.  I will also try to get a handle on where students are academically.  Have a great evening, and don't forget to have your child read 20 minutes tonight!

Ready for First Day!

     I'm really getting excited about tomorrow!  I have so many wonderful things planned for the children.  Besides getting to know each other through games, we will have a class meeting and will begin our job of organizing the desks and binders.  Please look for a note from me that will help you understand what we are doing with our binders.  They are a very important tool and are something you'll be looking in every single day.  So get ready - the fun is about to begin!

Meet the Teacher Night

     Thanks to everyone who came to the Open House tonight!  I enjoyed meeting my new students and parents.  Thank you also for filling out all those forms and for volunteering for parties.  I'm excited about Tuesday, but know we will be spending a fair amount of time just organizing our desks and binders.  I realize that many have already purchased the 1 inch binder.  If they are not working out, I will inform you on curriculum night that the 1 1/2 inch binder will be needed.  Children get frustrated when the binder is either too small or too big.
     I'm hoping to put videos from my new flip camera on this blog once every week.  Therefore, I hope you check in often!