Newsletter February 26 - March 2

Last week we had a new addition to our class.  Miss Bagley is our student teacher.  She is very capable and I am happy to have her in my class to learn and to teach.  She will be here until mid-April. 

Here are this week's happenings:

• Friday is now our Sight Word Soldiers day.  Please help your child with their lists and send those back by Friday.
• The spelling test is on Thursday (a list was sent home last Friday).  The list is also on the sidebar of this blog.  As you are studying if you talk about the different ways the sounds are spelled that might help for example;  trucker (/t/ is spelled 't'), kitten (/t/ is spelled 'tt') and parked (/t/ is spelled 'ed'). 
• February Reading Calendars are due this Thursday, March 1.  I will send home new March calendars that day. I will accept those calendars for a little treat and certificate by Tuesday, March 6.  After that, I will still give credit for the work completed but a treat and certificate will not be attached to it.
• On Friday it's "Dr Seuss'" birthday.  Our wonderful PTA is coming to our classrooms to share Dr. Seuss stories and a cupcake.  
• Next week is our final week of quarter three.  Remember that we have a couple of days off before we start back up into our fourth quarter.  We do not have school on Thursday and Friday, March 8 and 9.  
• On Wednesday, March 21 we will be going on a walking field to SUU to watch Tom Sawyer put on by the Playmakers.  It is a production full of children and is usually a great time and something that maybe many first graders haven't attended before (an actual stage play). We will leave the school at approximately 9:15 for the play at 10:00 and return by lunch.  I would love to have, actually I should say I need a parent volunteer come with us and walk to SUU. If you could spend the morning with our class please let me know. The cost for this field trip is $1.00.  Please send that with your child by Tuesday, March 20.  
• We are having issues with toys being brought to school.  I talked to my students today about bringing toys or anything that can get broken, stolen, lost or are a distraction to class.  I asked them to please clean out their backpacks of these toys and to not bring them to school unless it's a special toy day in PE.  I also told them that I would like to see "Show and Teach" items instead of toys being brought to school for Show and Tell (shells, family pictures, book, a rock found on a hike etc.) instead of bringing toys.  Could you please help your child with this and not have them bring toys to school?  I know some kids leave them in their backpacks and I never see them and they aren't a problem, but I would appreciate the help.  If you have any concerns about this please let me know. 
• In our learning we have moved to our unit on the History of the Earth.  We will learn about the different layers of the earth, different types of rocks and how they are formed and learn about geology and what geologists do.  In math we have moved to our unit on adding and subtracting two-digit numbers.  Miss Bagley our student teacher is presenting these lessons.  Tomorrow the students will learn about adding tens (example 30 + 50 = 8 tens = 80. ).  In reading and writing we are starting opinion paragraphs.  We just wrote a class opinion paragraph about our favorite class activity so far (we chose Valentine's day).  Students will then take a stand or choose their favorite animal and write an opinion paragraph about that animal. 
• Our 100-book challenge is well under way.  I am excited as more lists are returning.  I am going to change that due date just slightly because we have two field trips the last week of school (I'll inform you of those when it gets closer to the time) and because of those field trips and field day I wanted to make the due date for the 100 books on Wednesday, May 16.  We will have our reading picnic (pizza, breadsticks etc. in my room) on Thursday May 17. 

I will print off third quarter power school grades next week and send them home with your child the following week after we return from the two day break.  If you child needs to return any missing assignments due to absences please return those by next Wednesday, March 7. 

Don't stop reading with your child!  Try to make it an enjoyable activity with your child. 

Happy Reading!

Newsletter February 12 - February 16

Thanks for those that took some time to come and visit with me during our SEP week.  If you ever have any more questions or concerns please feel free to contact me (e-mail is the best way).

Here is what's happening in our class this week:

• Our spelling test will actually be tomorrow, Tuesday instead of Monday.  I think that I had my students write Monday on their spelling lists.  We will take that test in the morning. The list is words can always be found on this blog (right sidebar) if you've lost your list. A new list will come home tomorrow and that test will be next Wednesday, February 21.
• Today I sent home a Scholastic book order.  It will be due this Friday, February 16.  I also sent home notes if your child will be receiving a PTA reading award on Thursday, February 15 at 3:00 in our classroom.  You are welcome to attend. Check for the note about the PTA Talent Show in March too!
• Wednesday is Valentine's Day.  We will be having our little party (delivering Valentine's and cookie making) right after lunch at 12:35.  Students can bring Valentine cards and/or treats that day to deliver during our party.  Please make sure that everyone in our class receives a Valentine.  I sent home a note a couple of weeks ago with details and a list of our class.  Thanks to the couple of you that have sent in $1.00 for the Valentine's day bags.  If you could help with that I would appreciate it.  We will decorate those bags tomorrow afternoon.  Thank you to those that have sent supplies to help us decorate with.  I hope that makes it easier for you at home as now you don't have to figure out a Valentine's day box on your own :)  I COULD USE A VOLUNTEER OR TWO TO HELP THAT DAY (Valentine's day at 12:35)--if you can help I would have you help the kids frost and decorate their cookies.  Let me know if you can help please.
• Don't forget Sight Word Soldiers is this Wednesday.  After this week, instead of Wednesday our pass-off day will be on Friday.  Thanks so much to Reese's mom, Kim, for helping with that all year and good luck with your new baby!  Thanks to Phoenix's mom for volunteering to help it continue.
• I have had several students that are making progress for the 100-book challenge. Don't leave it until the end or it will be frustrating for all involved.  If your child reads the take-home book every night it's cinch! 
• In reading and writing this week we will work on "tricky spellings".  Today we talked about the letter 'g' and that it's a spelling for two different sounds (/g/ and /j/).  Students learned which sound to try first if the encounter an unknown word with the letter 'g'.  Students will write about their "Love Monsters" that we created today and start the process of writing a descriptive paragraph about "What Fills My Heart". 
• In math we are learning about greater than, less than, and equal to.  We have learned to use the tens place first to determine which number is greater or less than.  We have also learned about the >,< and = signs.  
• In our Astronomy unit we have learned about the sun, stars, and the moon.  Tomorrow we will learn about astronauts and space exploration and then move onto the planets in our solar system. 

Don't forget it's a three-day weekend.  It's President's Day on Monday, February 19.  

Happy Reading!