WE WON!!

We won the food drive sponsored by the high school student council. Our class brought in 220 food items. Thank you so much for your participation. We will have our party on January 7th. I will get the details to you when we all get them worked out.

The First AR Shirt

Congratulations to Addie for earning the first AR shirt of this school year. She passed 50 AR tests to earn this. I hope this is just the first of many. Last year 20/22 earned them and I gave away 17 watches. It is GREAT reading practice.

Week 17

We are taking a week off from the reading series. We will still be reading but using other materials this week. I love this time of year so we will be doing activities that go along with the season.

Our party will be Friday morning at 9:00. Since it is an early release day we will need to do it early. Hopefully this will allow some clean up time so the room will be ready to back to in the new year.

Questions of the Week

Monday - What do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas?

Tuesday - If you could only have one gift, what would it be?

Wednesday - What should Santa bring me for Christmas?

Thursday - What would you like to get your family for Christmas?

Friday - MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

We seem to be getting the hang of spelling on the computer. It is different than having someone give you the test orally. The hardest part is getting some of the kids to go to the computer to take a test. They are getting better at that also.

Reading Fluency seemed to be the hardest part for us on the DIBELS test. This will be the emphasis for the next semester. It is going to take lots of practice to bring those score up. The benchmark for December was 20 words per minute on unseen text. In May the benchmark is 40 words per minute. This is going to require some hard work on all of our parts.

Please have Santa bring new glue sticks. They are wonderful but they sure don't last very long. I bought 100 before school started and we only have a few left. Guess next year I'd better buy at least 200.

I am making a classroom wish list: Glue sticks, dry erase markers, cheap paper plates both large and small, paper cups, another Candy Land game, and anything else you think might be useful.

I will not be sending homework over the holiday. It would really be helpful if you child read some over the vacation. I am not sending reading books because sometimes they get left at grandma's, etc. Just use any books you have at home.

Have a happy and safe holiday season. See you in the new year.

Week 16

This week's story is a biography called "Tomas Rivera." Tomas was a young boy who picked crops with his family. He developed a love for reading and writing. He grew up to be an author and a teacher. The phonics sounds we will be working with this week are qu and wh. The wh sound is particularly hard because the kids don't really say wh anymore. They replace it with the sound of just w. This story also seems to be the story that takes us into a whole new reading level. It will get way more difficult from here on out. The new vocabulary words are:

about

books

by

family

grew

read

work

writing

In math we will continue working with the facts of 10 and learning them to automaticity. We will also be learning about place value. We will be doing ones and tens.

Questions of the Week

Monday - Tell me 5 things you see that let you know that Christmas is coming.

Tuesday - Tell me 5 things you hear that let you know that Christmas is coming.

Wednesday - Tell me 5 things you taste that let you know that Christmas is coming.

Thursday - Tell me 5 things you smell that let you know that Christmas is coming.

Friday - Tell me 5 things you touch that let you know that Christmas is coming.

Is anyone willing to contact parents to organize the Christmas party. I have a craft and a game. I will need paper goods and food. It will be in the morning on the 17th. Seems like donuts and hot chocolate might be a good thing. Also can someone do tree shaped sugar cookies that the kids can decorate??? I even have a cutter if someone will do them. We would need green frosting also. I have all kinds of sprinkles, etc. to decorate them.

Have a great week.

PSA

It is pretty cool in some of the rooms at school. If your child has an old sweatshirt or sweater that he/she can leave in the cubby it might be a good idea. That way he/she will always have something available if the temperature is not comfortable.

The kids will go outside when it is cold. Please make sure your child has a warm coat, gloves, and a hat that covers the ears. If this is a problem for you please let me know. We can find some clothing to keep your child warm.

Week 15

Thanks so much to all of you who helped with the feast preparations. It seemed to be a great success!!! I am so glad that so many of you were able to come. Your children love it when you are at school. I love to see the excitement on their faces.

This week our story is a play called "Did You See Chip?". This is the first time we have hit the play genre. It will be an interesting read. The phonics sound is /ar/ as in the word bark. The new vocabulary words are:

city

house

sometimes

take

there

Questions of the Week:

Monday - Use last week's lined pages to tell me about your vacation.

Tuesday - Tomorrow starts a new month. What month is it? How many days in it? Anything special about this month?

Wednesday - What did we use to make butter last week?

Thursday - Happy Birthday Bingo, 1929. What is your favorite game?

Friday - Tell me 5 things you can do with a toy animal.

In math we are working on math facts. Memorizing the facts through 10 is really important. We will be taking timed tests daily to work on this.

Spelling is progressing. The kids are learning to use the program so that is making things much better. This is another learning curve added to the academics. I like the fact that I am not using volunteer time or aide time to give spelling tests.

We are working hard on building reading reading fluency. You can help by reading and rereading stories at home. Also checking to see if your child is learning the vocabulary words will help. We are doing lots of games and computer work to accomplish mastery. The important part of this is that the state has passed a law that says that if your child is not reading on grade level by third grade, they will be retained. The crunch is on!!!

Have a great week.

The Feast

Making Butter

Veteran's Day

We had a great discussion about soldiers. I love the things the kids wrote about them.

More Thanksgiving Activities

We read the book "If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620". The kids learned lots about the Mayflower and the people who sailed on it. I have taken pictures of the books we made after reading the story. I took pictures of the insides of several of the books. The kids were totally taken with the fact that even the children had to drink beer because the water turned sour. They were also pretty undone by the fact that the Pilgrim children didn't get to take toys and had to wear the same thing day after day and didn't put on jammies to sleep.

Cereal Boxes

I don't eat much cereal at my house so could you save me the fronts of your boxes? I have some activities I would like to do with them.

Thanks!

Thanksgiving week

This week we will take a week off from the reading series. We will do some review and vocabulary work. There will also be no question to answer for homework. There will be a reading assignment on Monday night.

Tuesday will be the feast. If you haven't sent your $3/person for those attending, please do so. We will have posse stew, fruit salad, bread, butter, and milk. In the afternoon, we will have pumpkin pudding in the room. You child will be involved in preparing most of the things we are serving. They love this project.

You are welcome to come but please let us know so we can have enough food.

I only have 2 parents who have signed up to help. If you could give us some time with preparation, serving, or clean up on Tuesday, please contact me.

This feast has nothing to do with the school cafeteria. Your lunch account will not be charged for this meal, only for the carton of milk they drink. I think that many of you are confusing it with the meal that the cafeteria served on Wednesday of last week.

Have a great and safe Thanksgiving holiday.

Week 14

We are starting a new reading book this week. It is called "Here and There." The difficulty of the reading level will increase in this book. The stories will become much longer and the vocabulary more difficult.

The first story is "I Am a Butterfly." This isn't a great time to study butterflies. We will do some activities now but will save most of them until Spring when I order butterfly larvae to watch grow and hatch.

The sound the week is /ch/ made by the letters ch and tch. The new vocabulary is:

air

animals

around

fly

live

soon

turns

Questions of the Week

Monday - It is Children's Book Week. What are two of your favorite books?

Tuesday - List 5 words with the ch sound.

Wednesday - List 5 words that rhyme with hatch.

Thursday - It is Child Safety Month. What can you do to stay safe?

Friday - It is Homemade Bread Day. What is your favorite kind of bread?

We are starting Rocket Math this week. We will be taking timed tests on math facts each day. We will also be finishing up the unit on measurement.

Remember the Thanksgiving Feast on Nov. 23. So far I have received very few notes and no money. I will need to shop next weekend so please take care of this. It is $3 per person attending. We will be making our costumes for the feast this week.

Remember that Friday is an Early Release Day for the kids. We will be doing professional development that afternoon. I know that some of you don't send your kids on ER days because it is so short. We do go on with the curriculum so your child is missing valuable instruction on those days.

Have a great week!!!

Week 13

The story this week is a non fiction story called "Fun with Fish." The phonics sound is the digraph /sh/. The kids really enjoy this story. They like the different kinds of fish the story talks about. The vocabulary words are"

away

food

funny

hide

how

many

some

their

Questions of the Week

Monday - Where is your house? (Physical address)

Tuesday - How many door knobs are in your house?

Wednesday - How many windows are in your house?

Thursday - Holiday

Friday - What color is your house?

In math this week we will continue measurement. We are doing the foot, the inch and using the 6-inch ruler. We will continue to work on memorizing math facts. That is ongoing for the whole year.

Spelling has taken on a new dimension. The kids are having to learn to navigate the program and to type carefully. I think this may make them better at keyboarding and maybe spelling also. We are slow starting but speed will pick up with familiarity of the program.

Remember that Thursday there will be no school in observance of Veteran's Day. We will be back on Friday.

Have a great week!

Monster Sandwich Day

Below are the veggie tray and eyeball brownies we had at Monster Sandwich Day. I got so busy making sandwiches that I didn't get any pictures this time. The kids really seemed to enjoy it. They can earn it again by having good classroom behavior. Hope we get to do it again soon.

Halloween Party 2

Halloween Party 1

Week 12

Finally!!! A normal week of school. It seems like forever since we have had one.

This week's story is a realistic fiction piece called "Try Your Best." The phonics sound is /or/ made by the letters or and ore. The vocabulary words are:

be

good

Mr.

need

our

right

saw

time

try

Questions of the Week:

Monday - Tell me 5 things to do with your pumpkin.

Tuesday - List 5 things that make noise.

Wednesday - List 5 things that are quiet.

Thursday - List 5 words that rhyme with more.

Friday - Use the work right in a sentence.

The new material in math will deal with measurement. We will be measuring using nonstandard units, feet, and inches. Please continue to work with money at home.

I have purchased a spelling program that will allow the students to take their spelling tests on the computer. This program tracks their scores and lets me see what words they have missed. You child will be allowed to take one test per day. I will be checking to see if they are using their words correctly when they write. If they consistently misspell a word from their spelling list, I will send them back to that list to start over. The purpose of spelling is to learn words to use correctly, not to have taken the most spelling tests.

I am very concerned about vocabulary and fluency. Many are having trouble learning the words. I have set up lists on the computer that they will be practicing daily. Any extra time you could give to this at home would be helpful.

We will be studying changes over time. I have a bag that has a few things in it to study changes. We will be looking at the moon. I did the first page so you can see what to do. Each night a different child will be allowed to take the bag home to do the recording. Please read the first page which explains the assignment, then record, and then return the bag to school the next day so another child can have a turn.

Friday will be Monster Sandwich Day. I will provide lunch that day. Your child does not need to bring anything. We will have sandwiches, veggies, chips, milk, and a dessert. We eat in the room. It is an activity that my students have enjoyed for years. This will become a behavior reward that can be repeated throughout the year.

The Halloween Party was a huge success. We still have lots of candy. I decided to use some of it as a treat now and then. We had sooooo much. I figure a little treat will taste better every once in a while than having so much on Friday. Thanks to all of you who helped with the party fun.

Early Release and Halloween Party

The kids get out early tomorrow for us to finish up conferences. WE ARE THE ONLY SCHOOL HAVING EARLY RELEASE!!! Your older kids will have to go to school all day.

The kids are allowed to wear costumes on Friday. No masks or accessories. . .like swords, etc. Please try to keep them not to scary or gory!

Field Trip Part 2

Field Trip

Week 11

This will be another busy week. I am looking forward to having a normal one. Guess that will happen next week.

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 enjoy non fictions stories. The new vocabulary words are:

eat

from

gone

grows

or

two

Spelling will change this week. We will start individualized spelling. I expect each child to pass at least one test per week. Everyone will start on List 1. If the miss only 1 they can move on to the next list. Each child has a book of spelling lists in their desks to use for practice. Each parent who does not have internet access will receive a book of spelling words at conferences. Those who have internet access, the words are available on the blog. The link is on the side under spelling. Remember we are now linked on the elks.net website.

Questions of the Week

Monday - It is Canning Day. List some foods that come in cans.

Tuesday - List 5 words that rhyme with sing.

Wednesday - The first movie with sound was shown in 1927. What is your favorite movie?

Thursday - Teddy Roosevelt was a popular president. What toy was named after him?

Friday - Tell me the 3 stages in the life cycle of a frog.

Sight words and vocabulary words are a problem for some of the kids. Please try to review these at home. They are also available on the blog.

We are also spending time rereading for fluency. In December your child will take a DIBELS test. He/she will need to read 20 words per minute to make benchmark. This will not be an easy task for some. The test is all words, there are no pictures to give them visual clues.

In math this week we will be doing domino addition and thermometers. Domino addition is simply looking at the parts on each end of the domino and then adding to get the whole. Reading the temperature on the thermometer will require the use of our skill in counting by two's.

Thanks to those of you who came to conferences. I will be making up the ones that have had to reschedule on Tuesday afternoon. It is an early release day. Please remember that your child will leave school at 11:30.

Friday will be our Halloween Party. It will be from 12:10-1:00. We will use the rest of the afternoon to undecorate and clean desks, etc. Thanks to all the parents who are helping with this.

Have a great week!!

Week 10

I hope everyone enjoyed the Fall Break. It was a great chance to relax a little bit.

Our story this week is "Space Pup". He is a super hero type guy. The sound we will be working on this week 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

Questions of the Week:

Monday - no school

Tuesday - It is National Pizza Month. What do you like on your pizza?

Wednesday - It is National Pasta Month. What is your favorite pasta?

Thursday - It is Grouch Day. Tell me three things that make you grouchy.

Friday - It is School Lunch Week. What is your favorite school lunch.

In math we will be learning about dimes and counting combinations of coins that include pennies, nickels, and dimes. If you can help at home, that would be great. Money is a difficult concept.

I have done some conferences, and will be continuing to do them for the next 2 weeks. We have very little time allotted for them so we will be doing most of them after school. Thank you for taking the time to come in to discuss your child's progress.

I am asking one more time for a parent to coordinate the Halloween Party. I have most of the items. I just need someone to arrange for the treats. Please contact me, if you can do this.

Week 9

This is going to be an unusual week. Since last week and this week have become 3 1/2 day weeks, I am making some changes. We will be finishing last weeks story "Boots for Beth, and reviewing the vocabulary and phonics sound /th/. We will also start our new story "Space Pup". The phonics sound is short u. We will also finish this story next week. There will be no spelling list this week. The vocabulary list is long:

gives

he

night

out

people

says

when

your

Questions of the Week:

Monday - Ready, Set, Relax Day. . .no homework

Tuesday - Tell me 5 words that rhyme with pup.

Wednesday - Tell me 5 words that have the short u sound.

Thursday - Fall Break. . .no homework.

In math, we will be doing two very difficult concepts: time to the half hour, and frames and arrows. Frames and arrows is a concept of skip counting and figuring out the rule being counted by.

Please remember your conference time. If you have forgotten please call me. I will be contacting those of you who missed your appointments. We really do need to visit at this time of year.

Thanks for all of your help on the field trip. It would have been much better if the wind had not come with us!!!

Does anyone want to be the room mom? I have the plates, cups, etc. but would love it if someone would plan the party. Give me a call if you would like to do that.

Have a great week and fall break!!!

Week 8

Once again this post will have lots of information. Be sure to read all the way through.

The story for this week is "Boots for Beth." It is about a little pig who outgrows her boots. 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

Questions of the week:

Monday - How is the weather changing?

Tuesday - It is Alaska Day. What might you see if you went there?

Wednesday - Tell me some things you saw on the field trip.

Thursday - It is Circus Day. Have you ever been to a circus?

Friday - It is Make a Difference Day. What can you do to make a difference?

In math we will continue counting pennies and nickels. The new concept this week will be time to the half hour. Any help you can give at home will be greatly appreciated. Your child should be able to count to 100 by 5's and 10's and to at least 20 by 2's. You might want to check this out at home.

Conferences are starting this week. I have received confirmations from most of you. If your time doesn't work, be sure to call me so we can reschedule. It is very important that we sit down for a visit at the end of this grading period.

The Fitness Coalition has provided exercise logs for your child. One child from our school will win the North Pole Experience that takes place in Greer. There will be tickets for 4. This is about a $300 prize. Be sure your child is logging their exercise time. There are also prizes for families, teams, etc.

Remember our field trip on Wednesday. Your child will need a lunch and good walking shoes. A jacket may also be necessary. I think the weather is supposed to cool off. If it is raining on Wednesday, we will reschedule for another time.

Friday is an early release for homecoming. We will release at 11:30. It is also black & gold day. Thursday is pajama day.

Most kids are doing better about getting homework done. Please initial in the yellow box when your child reads to you. If homework isn't done at home, we do it during afternoon recess.

Thanks for all you do. Have a great week.

OOOOOPS!!!

We did a group Field Trip note. I changed the date but didn't change the day of the week. The trip is next WEDNESDAY, Oct. 6. Sorry.

Also if you are having trouble getting on the blog, there is now a link for it on the district website. You can go to www.elks.net, go to schools at the top of the page, select the primary school, then scroll to the bottom of the page and you will see it. Hope this helps those of you having trouble.

Week 7

There is lots of news in this post. Please read it carefully.

We have finished our first reading book. The new book is called "Catch a Dream." This week we are reading "Dan's Pet." It is a story about a little boy who gets a pet chick. the phonics focus this week is short e as in hen. The vocabulary words are:

day

every

her

said

was

with

Spelling words are:

hen

pen

men

end

send

set

all

call

very

that

of

want

walk

Questions of the week?

Monday - It is the birthday of the White House. Who lives there? Where is it?

Tuesday - It is Family History Month. Tell me something you like to do with your family.

Wednesday - List as many vegetables as you can. How many did you think of?

Thursday - List as many fruits as you can. Which one is your favorite?

Friday - It is Elbows Off the Table Day. Tell me two more things that show good table manners.

The new concepts in math will be odd and even numbers and adding and subtracting on the number line. Counting combinations of coins using nickels and pennies was covered while I was gone. Many children are struggling with this. Please take a few minutes each night to put out a nickel and a few pennies to see if your child can count this money correctly. I will work on this at school also but the only time I have is during recess. That does not make many children happy!!!

We will be going on a field trip to Greer on October 6. Please watch for a permission slip. It will explain everything. Please read it carefully.

Wednesday night is "Reading Under the Stars." Please join us here from 6:00-7:00. You may want to bring a flashlight and a blanket to sit on.

Copy paper is a giant problem in this budget crunch. We are using lots of Composition books for activities which saves some but we are going to try to save more. Please have your child bring a composition book for spelling and word work. I asked for them at the beginning an then, I bought them, so many of you should have one still at home. Please have one at school by Friday. That is spelling test day.

Thank you for being patient with me during my absence. The wedding was beautiful!! It was so nice to be with family and friends.

The class has gotten very talkative. I am really cracking down on the noise. We have been moving names lots. Don't be totally surprised if your child has to call home or comes home to tell you they have spent time in 'time out'. In order to function productively we must learn to work quietly.

We will be starting the computer this week. We will be using the Math Facts in a Flash program, which is just taking timed test on math problems. We also have read the first story that has an AR test with it. Everyone will be taking that this week also. A few students are ready to start on AR independently. They will begin that this week also.

Week 6 Sept 20-24

Be sure you are on the right week's blog. I am having to post 3 blogs so that I can leave the printed page for the substitute. Just look at the date after the week. Sorry about that. Click on Older Post at the bottom to keep going back.

This week's story is "All That Corn". We will be learning the short o sound of the letter a as in ball. It is a non fiction story that 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

Questions of the week: Answer these on the lines for that day in the agenda.

*Monday - Tell me 5 words that rhyme with ball.

*Tuesday - It is the first day of fall. List 5 words that describe fall.

*Wednesday - Use the word where in a sentence.

*Thursday - What color is your house? Does is have an upstairs?

*Friday - What did you do on your afternoon off?

Please answer in complete sentences. Remember to use capitals and periods.

In math we will be doing patterns, odd & even, and skip counting. We should have counting by two’s mastered by now.

Have a great week.

Week 5 Sept 13-17

Be sure you are on the right week. I am having to do 3 blog posts before I leave so I can leave the printed copy with the substitute. I have put dates by the weekly header to help. Click on Older Post at the bottom to take you back to the one you need.

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

Questions of the week:

Monday - It is Hot Air Balloon Day. Would you like to ride in a hot air balloon. What color would you like it to be.

Tuesday - It is National Breakfast Month. What do you like best for breakfast?

Wednesday - It is the birthday of the U.S. Post Office. What do they do for us?

Thursday - Who is your favorite Muppet?

Friday - List 5 words that rhyme with dot.

Please have your child answer the questions. You may help with spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. If your child doesn't know an answer, then help your child with the answer. This is especially true of the rhyming questions. Rhyming is one of the most basic of Phonemic Awareness skills. You might watch these questions to see if your child understands rhyming.

In math, we will be starting money. We will be getting both pennies and nickels and counting combinations of those coins. Money and time are the two hardest concepts we get. Please help at home. Please help your child understand that a nickel and a penny don’t have the same value.

If your child has shoes that tie, please practice at home. I can't keep up with all the untied laces. They are too dangerous when not tied.

Have a great week. I will be back on Sept. 21.