March News

Hi, Everyone - I hope your vacation was fantastic.  OK, the weather could have been better, but there was/is plenty of snow for outside fun.  Did your first grader practice tying his/her shoes?  Beginning this week we will be posting names of expert shoe tie - ers  (sp?) to a class honor roll.  If you can, it would be great if you can help your first graders master this tricky but important skill.  The boys and girls will be surprised on Monday when they see their new seats!   Last time we changed seats the kids got to pick who they thought they would work well with.  This time I decided to shake things up and give everyone a new perspective.  Nothing is set in stone, and everyone will be moving a couple of more times before the end of the year.  Speaking of set in stone - I am hoping to replace this blog soon with one done on i-web.  One advantage of the new blog is:  The snowman movie plays on it!  So watch for it this week. 
Reminder - PTA Book Fair this week.  Watch for more info in the homework folders.
Have a great March week!

Sunday Update

Hi, Everyone!  Last week before vacation - and it will be busy as usual.  We are resuming our Reading Street lessons, so watch for new spelling words coming home on Monday.  Monday is also 100 day - so if your child has made a project, he/she should bring it in to share.  We will have Show and Tell on Friday this week - I'm sure your child will remind you.  You may have noticed that the snowman video was on this blog - it did not work, so I took it down.  We did get to watch the video Friday at school, and I am still working on getting it up and running correctly on the blog.  The animal reports did get finished - hopefully you saw your child's - they are now in our class room library for everyone to enjoy and learn from.  We also finished up our first math journal last week.  ( I do not correct every item in the math journal, but do check to be sure the children are grasping the concepts, and have them fix major or frequent errors.)The children took the Unit 5 test, and did very well.  So on Friday we began the second half of the math program.  On Tuesday, the PTA approved the first grade request for funds to visit Charmingfare Farm in June.  We asked for $300.00, and they gave us $400.00!  Thank you PTA!  Still, the admission fee and bus cost is substantial - and we will be sending home information this week so you can plan ahead for this fun and educational trip.
Have a great week!

Sunday update

Quite a snowstorm!  I hope every one got outside to enjoy all that snow!  Please send in boots, mittens, ski pants etc. so the kids can enjoy the snow at school as well.  Due to the snow day, our spelling test will be Monday.  Also, we have gotten ahead of ourselves in Reading Streets, so this week will be a review week.  There will be no new spelling words.  We will be spending time improving our writing - reading like a writer to figure out how to write really well-crafted stories.  As I told the kids, now that they can write sentences with pretty good (or better) handwriting and spelling, it is time to move on to writing stories that include dialogue, "spicy" words, and details that will paint a picture in their reader's mind.  Don't forget:  Valentines due on Thursday, and 100 day is now Monday February 18th

Student Council Collections

I forgot to mention in my newsletter that the student council is collecting donations of people and/or pet food to help out those in need. If you can, please send in an item for this worthy cause. Happy Groundhog Day!

February Newsletter

End of January

As the picture below shows, the kids have really had a lot of fun during indoor recess this week. The lack of fresh air and running around time is tough, so I am hoping we can get out this week. Animal reports are nearly finished - the children worked very hard on them. I am going to type them, and on Thursday we will visit the computer lab to make covers for the reports on Print Shop. Speaking of computers, our technology integrator Haley Loiseau will be helping the students prepare a snowman video using KidPix. The completed video will be posted on the blog. Now that February is almost here, watch for information on Valentine's Day and Hundreds day - which are coming up fast.

indoor recess