Friday Fun

On Friday afternoons, Mr. Hardy and I take turns having all the kids.  Sometimes we play games, do art projects, or do curriculum related videos.  It gives one of us time to plan for the next week and the kids learn to work together.  Here are some pictures of them working together.

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Week 17

We are enjoying a week off from the reading series.  We are using this time to reread, review vocabulary, and practice sight words.  I am doing some last minute screening since report cards will come out January 7.

We will finish Book 1 in our math series this week.  That makes us on schedule.  We will start Book 2 when we return from vacation.

Spelling is still going fairly slowly.  I think the homework pattern may change when we return from vacation.  They just don't take practice at school very seriously.  Maybe if you oversee more of it at home in a one-on-one situation it will improve.  

Thanks for you help and support.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Week 16

I guess I'm getting like the kids. . .I started vacation. . .or at least forgot to update for this week.  We are reading a fantasy story called "On the Way to the Pond"  The sound we are working on is the /er/ sound made by er, ir, and ur.   The new vocabulary is:

find

follow

found

four

full

these

way

were

I'm a little bothered that there are 5 new words that start with the letter 'f'.  It sure doesn't help the kids discriminate.

In math we are closing out our book for the first semester.  We will finish mid next week.  Most of this week is working on math facts.  The kids continue to take a math facts tests on the computer every day.  Some are progressing quite well.  Some are having social time at the computer.

I forgot to send a note, but TOMORROW IS MONSTER SANDWICH DAY!  Your child will not need a lunch.

We will be taking next week off from the reading series.  We will spend some time enjoying  good Christmas literature and doing fun projects that go with the season.

We will have our Christmas Party on Friday, Dec. 19, starting at about 12:10.  This gives us time after the last recess to get cleaned up and ready to start the new year in great shape.  I am planning a game and am making Christmas tree shaped cupcakes for the kids to decorate.  I need other food items. . . candy, cookies, carrots, celery, ranch, etc.  Any ideas???  Also something to drink.  I also need paper goods, preferably seasonal.  If you are willing to send any of this please call me.  

I hope you all have a great holiday! Be safe, if you are traveling. You are carrying some great cargo!  I am looking forward to staying home this year, even though it means that Rick and I will be alone.  The kids are too far away and job constraints (which we are eternally grateful for) will not allow us to be together.  At least I get a Christmas tree!!!

Week 15

Thanks much to all of you for sending the items we needed for the Feast.  It was a huge success.  I intended to put this in the section with the Feast but I did something wrong and it doesn't want to let me do that.  Sometimes this technology stuff is just too much!!!  Especially when it doesn't cooperate.  The kids had a great time and looked darling.  They enjoyed cooking, especially shaking butter.  To see pictures check out the blog.  A special thanks to the moms and dads that came to help.

This week we are reading a biography called "Tomas Rivera".  Once again there are quite a few vocabulary words.  They are:

about

books

by

family

grew

read

work

writing

In math we are working on place value and greater than, less than, and equal to.  Math fact are always being practiced.  

This is week 7 of spelling so your child should be ready to pass list 7 this week.  If your child is not on List 7, he/she will be spending some recess time practicing the list they are on.  We try to give tests 3-4 times per week.

On Thursday we will be watching the practice of the second grade music program.  That should get us in the Christmas spirit.

As you probably know, we lost one of our school mates this week.  Some of the children know more about it than others.  I have chosen to leave this information to you to disseminate.  I will answer direct questions if asked but I feel it is your right to handle this in the manner you choose.  From what we have observed, most of the children really do not understand the finality of death.  Maybe it is one of the blessings of a child's mind.

Thanks for your continued support.

Tharon Sass

The Feast

OOPS

It seems I let the Education City games expire.  I am so sorry.  I reset everything this morning and added new games.  I set it to expire on July 31 this time.  That way you will never be locked out.  I will keep changing the games.  I thought I had reset them.  I think I changed games but didn't reset the expiration date.  Hopefully I have corrected that.  

I still have city passes if any of you wish to purchase one.  They are $4 and will be good until next August.

Week 14

This will be a really busy week.  We will be having our feast on Thursday.  Please send your items by Tuesday.  I will then be able to shop for what I need.  We will be eating in the cafeteria at about 11:00.  

This week's story is a play called "Did You See Chip?".  The new vocabulary words are:

city

house

sometimes

take

there

Most of our math work will be concentrating on addition facts.  We will also do an assessment on Unit 4.  Time and money remain the hardest thing for us to do.

I am starting to push AR.  Most of the stories in our book now are AR tests.  I would like for the students to begin being more independent in what they do in class.  I want them to do an AR test, a math test, and spelling practice each day.  If those things take place then we will have time to use Education City later in the day.  

We will not be doing a story next week since it is such a short week. 

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving holiday.  

Week 13

This week we have another non-fiction story called "I Am a Butterfly".  This is a strange time of year to be doing butterflies.  We will read about them now but do a better study in the spring when we can hatch butterfly larvae in the room.  The vocabulary words are:

air

animals

around

fly

live

soon

turns

Math this week focuses on time.  We will be doing yearly timelines and time to the quarter hour.  Any help with the clock reading to the quarter hour would be great.  In the book they are calling it quarter-past and quarter-to.  I will also include the fifteen after and fifteen to.

Spelling seems to be going OK.  Your child should be on at least list 4 this week.  We have practice time at school but they don't seem to take it very seriously.  You might want to do a home check on spelling words. 

Notes about the Thanksgiving feast will be coming soon.  It is a great learning experience for the kids.

Week 12

This week we are reading another non fiction story called "Fun with Fish".  This week we also have a lot of new vocabulary words.  They are:

away

food

funny

hide

how

many

some

their

Most of our time in math will be spent on measurement this week.  We will be measuring in feet and inches.  

We will be preparing a Thanksgiving Feast on November 20.  Please be on the watch for notes about this.  I will either be asking for a monetary contribution toward the food or asking you to send specific ingredients to prepare this feast.  We will do the food prep in the room and then the classes that participate will share food and eat together in the cafeteria at lunch time.  The menu will be  posse stew, bread, homemade butter, and fruit salad.  Later we will have a pumpkin dessert in the room. I will need some cooking help, so if you can give us some time either on Wednesday or Thursday, please let me know.

Thanks again.

Halloween Party

We had a great time on Friday morning at the party.  Thanks to everyone who sent treats to share.  The kids decorated cookies, had carrots with ranch, and apples and carmel to eat and Harry Potter punch to drink.  

The hit was turning each other into mummies.  24 rolls of toilet paper went really fast. The room looked like a bomb had hit but it cleaned up really quickly.  The kids worked in pairs but I had an odd number, so Merrilea McBride from the district office came in and was a guinea pig.  The kids loved having an adult to decorate.

I hope you all had a great holiday weekend and the kids got lots of goodies trick or treating.

Week 11

Our Halloween Party will be Friday morning from 9:00-10:00.  If you would like to send a treat for your child to share, feel free to do so.  The children may wear costumes but no masks.  Please try to keep them from being too scary.  

Our story this week is called "Try Your Best".  The genre is realistic fiction.  There are lots of new vocabulary words.  They are:

be

good

Mr.

need

our

right

saw

time

try

Since spelling is individualized, use your book or the link on the blog to find the list your child is on.  

Math is getting pretty difficult.  We are going to take a break this week and do lots of work in small groups on money, time, frames-and-arrows, combinations of 10, and skip counting.  Any time you can spend on these things at home will be a real benefit to your child.  Money is really a difficult thing to teach.  If your child can use money at home it would be great.  So far we have used pennies, nickels, and dimes.  

Thank you so much for coming to conferences.  It was good to meet with each of you to discuss the progress of your child.  

We are off to Spook Alley this morning.  I hope it is a good day for our trip.  Have a great week.

Week 10

Last Friday was Pizza Day in Room 136.  We read pizza stories, our favorite being "The Royal Dinner".   I bought pizzas from the cafeteria that we had for an afternoon snack.  It made for a fun day for everyone.

This week's story is called "Where Do Frogs Come From?"  It is a non fiction story about the life cycle of frogs.  The kids really seem to like non fiction stories.  The new vocabulary words are:

eat

from

gone

grows

or

two

Spelling will change this week.  We will start individual spelling.  I expect each child to pass at least one test per week.  Everyone will take Test 1 today.  If they miss only 1 they can move on to the next list.  Each child has a book of lists in their desks to practice from.  Each parent will receive a book of spelling and vocabulary words when he/she comes for conference.  Please keep this book for your reference.  

We got a bit behind in math last week so we will be doing domino math and assessment this week.  It works well since we are having two early release days this week.  We will start a new unit next week.

We also have a new offer for you.  If you have a computer at home, you can subscribe to Education City, a site we use at school, for $4.  This subscription will last until next August.  The regular parent subscription is $75.  I will put games in the homework folder that your child can do at home.  There is more information about this on the attached letter.  We will visit more about this at conferences.

I am also forming a computer club.  This will allow me to make better use of the tax credit money I collect.  Your child can join for $1.00.  You do not need to have a home computer to do this.

I have scheduled a conference time for each of you.  Please call if you have forgotten.

Friday Fun

On Friday we read the book, "Rosie's Walk".  The kids worked on a listening project on the floor.  It was fun to scoot the desks back and have room to spread out.  We made "Chicken Feed" for an afternoon snack.  The recipe is:

2 cups cheerios

1 cup peanuts

1/2 cup craisins

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup M&M's

Week 9

Our story this week is "Space Pup".  He is a super hero type guy.  The sound we will be working on is short u, as in pup.  There are several vocabulary words this week.  They are:

gives

he

night

out

people

says

when

your

Spelling words are:

us

bus

bug

rug

mug

must

with

then

she

use

said

was

In math we will continue working with coins.  We will be counting a combination of dimes, nickels, and pennies.  We will do line plots and domino addition.  We will test the concepts we have covered in this unit.  

Checking In

Be sure to scroll down a bit after Week 8 to see the field trip and the pictures.  It took my daughter a bit to get them all in.  I hope to learn how to do this soon so she doesn't have to do it from Ohio.  I'm not too cute but the kids are darling.  

Week 8

This week our story is "Boots for Beth".  It is about a little pig who outgrows her boots and how her friends try to help her solve her problem.  The sound this week is the voiced and unvoiced /th/.  Vocabulary words are:

could

friends

new

put

she

use

Spelling words are:

then

them

this

that

path

with

men

set

was

said

very

of

In math we will be doing time to the half hour, counting up and back in the frames and arrows format, and trading pennies and nickels for dimes.  

Your child should be able to count by 5's and 10's to 100 and by 2's to at least 20. You might want to do a little check at home. We will be doing vocabulary checks on the words from the book "Guess Who."  I will be sending home a list marked with the words your child does not know.

I will be scheduling conferences for the week of Oct. 20.  Please keep an eye out for that note.  If the time doesn't work for you, please call and we can reschedule. 

Have a great week!

Field Trip

Last Wednesday we headed to Greer to the Butler Canyon Nature Trail.  It is about a mile loop through the forest.  The trail has numbered markers with a pamphlet that discusses each stop.  We saw squirrel middens (squirrel grocery stores), cat faces, witches brooms, and and mistletoe.  The children had a list of things to look for such as:

a needle

a cone

signs that humans had been there

signs that animals had been there

signs that the seasons are changing

a seed

an insect

About half way through the walk we stopped for a snack and some exploration time. After we finished the walk we went to Squirrel Springs for a picnic lunch.  We had a beautiful fall day. . .much better than last spring when we did the walk in the snow. We were so lucky. 

As you look at the pictures you might have your child tell you about the things they are seeing, i.e. witches brooms, mistletoe, etc.  I think they did learn a lot and we had a great day in the outdoors.

Thanks to the parents who went to chaperone!!!  We always need volunteers. You are such a great help.

Week 7

This week we are reading "Dan's Pet".  It is about a little boy who gets a pet chick.  The sound this week is short e.  

Remember that tomorrow is the field trip.  We need good walking shoes and maybe a light jacket.  Join us at Squirrel Springs for a picnic if you can.

The vocabulary words this week are:

day

every

her

said

was

with

Spelling this week is:

hen

pen

men

end

send

set

all

call

very

that

of

want

walk

In math we will be working on patterns and time to the half hour.

Week 6

This week's story is "All That Corn".  We will be learning the short o sound of the letter a as in ball.  This story traces corn from the farm field to your home.

Vocabulary words are:

buy

that

very

where

Spelling words are:

all

call

fall

wall

ball

tall

on

not

so

of

In math we will be exploring patterns, odd and even numbers, and skip counting by 2's and by 5's.

Friday Fun

Friday was Monster Sandwich Day. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and ate lots. We just had sandwiches made to order, chips, and milk. After the last recess we had ice cream cups for dessert. This was the introduction of Monster Sandwich Day. We will do it again as they earn it by saving pennies. When they have earned 25 pennies, we will do Monster Sandwiches again. They earn pennies by having good classroom manners.

Week 5

The story this week is called "Todd's Box".  The new sound is short o.  We will be reviewing short a and i also.  We will continue to blend new words that are easily decodable.  The new vocabulary words are:

don't 

of

so

Spelling for this week is:

hot

hop

pop

pot

dot

not

back

pick

now

want

 walk

 they

I just graded spelling tests.  Almost everyone missed walk and they.  I am adding them to the list for next week.  These are words that are used a lot so we need to be able to spell them.

In math, we will be trading pennies for nickels.  Money is tricky.  This might be something you could do at home for extra practice.

Friday will be "Monster Sandwich Day".  I will bring sandwich stuff and we will eat in the room.  This is usually a fun time for all of us.  Your child will not need a lunch on Friday.

Friday Fun

On Friday we worked with colors and color words.  We mixed colors using corn syrup and food coloring.  It was pretty sticky but the colors are so clear and pretty when mixed.  

Week 4

This week's story is a fantasy story called "Jack and Rick". It is about a bear and a rabbit who want to play together but are on opposite sides of the stream. By working together they solve their problem. We will be working on the digraph ck. The vocabulary for this week is:
help
now
play
too
want

Spelling words are:
pick
pack
tack
back
sack
sick
big
is
they
walk

In math we will be learning time to the hour and counting pennies. Time and money are two difficult concepts. Arizona State Standards say that a first grader should be able to count coins up to $.99.

Friday Fun

Last week we studied ants. Our ants didn't come for the ant farm. That was disappointing but maybe they will arrive this week. On Friday we did an art project about the inside of an anthill. We also made ants on a log for an afternoon snack.

Week 3

This week we are reading a non-fiction story called "Ants".  We are reviewing the short i sound. The new vocabulary words are:

make

they

walk

Spelling words are:

in

pin

pig

wig

win

fin

am

pan

yes

and

In math we are still practicing tally marks.  We also have been working on writing numbers.  Many are still struggling to write to 50.  We are also writing by 5's to 50 and 2's to 10.  We will go farther as we can handle these benchmarks.  We will also start working with complements of 10.  These are the two numbers when added together make the sum of 10.

Hopefully the ants for the ant farm will arrive soon.  They were ordered before school ever started.  It should be a great addition to our story for the week. 

Friday Fun

Last Friday we did the book, "The Birthday Cake". It is a simple book that reviews color words. The children each made a copy of the book. Using colored frosting and vanilla wafers, we built birthday cakes following the pattern used in the book. After the last recess we ate birthday cakes and drank juice.

Just Curious

Since I am receiving no comments, I am wondering if anyone is checking out the blog. Please let me know if this is fun, useful, etc. either by commenting or sending a comment in the agenda.

Week 2

We are into our second full week of school.  All seems to be going well.  I am still trying to assess all the children and get them into reading material at their level.  At this point I know that "Sam and the Bag" is not challenging for some children.  The first two books of this series are pretty phonetic, therefore not too challenging for some.  I will try to supplement the reading material for those who need it.  When we get to book three the intensity of each story increases substantially.

This week our vocabulary words are:

and

in

oh

yes

Spelling this week is:

am

ham

had

bad

bad

rag

cap

mad

up

go

We take a spelling test every Friday.

In math, we are doing tally marks.  These are very easy for some and totally puzzling for others.  Sometimes the saying "four standing tall; ones takes a fall"  will help them understand the concept.  You might want to have your child do a few numbers in tallies to make sure they are understanding the concept.

Have a great week!!

Hats

Since we were reading about hats, we made hats on Thursday. We wore them all day on Friday. It was a fun project and the children looked so cute.