Happy Monday! Today I met with every student individually, to conference regarding their Math goals. I was appreciative of their enthusiasm, and willingness to put thought into their goals. Some of the re-occurring goals shared, had to do with telling time by the quarter hour, counting various coin combinations, and counting on their Math Scrolls to higher numbers. The students were very realistic in setting goals that they could achieve.
Our robust vocabulary words for this week are: interrupted, admire, ambition, triumphantly, cozily, accomplishment.
Just a reminder that our library books are due every Monday. That is the only weekday that the students may check out new stories during class time. The library is open before and after school everyday for checkout, if you would like to take them. Word Card rings are due back to school every Thursday. I wish everyone a wonderful vacation and a Happy New Year!

A reminder that an updated student information form needs to be submitted for every Shorecrest student. Forms can be downloaded from the Parents Info page from the Community Link on the Shorecrest website (http://www.shorecrest.org/?page=ParentsPage). Remember to fill out the form electronically, save the file using your child's first and last name, and send it via email to forms@shorecrest.org. A separate form needs to be completed for each child. If you are having trouble with the form, or would prefer to complete a hard copy, please contact Judy Roberge at jroberge@shorecrest.org or (727) 456-7513.

Additional Photo Links

Poetry in the Park
Thanksgiving Party

Welcome Mr. Thompson to our class full time! It is great to have another teacher and the students love having him.
We need to work on sending in our gifts for the gift drive. The family information was posted on last week's blog. Thank-you to those who have already sent the gifts to school. The gift drive ends this Friday.
We have now discussed our reading goals for second trimester, and the students shared their thoughts. They all want to read harder, longer books. They want to be able to read words in print without having to decode. I assured them they will get their. Their effort is tremendous, and they are all working toward this goal. However, I cautioned them that they also need to comprehend and understand the material they read. Of course, they do! We will be discussing Math goals next.
We are getting ready to publish and send home their recent pieces of writing. Please empty out the brown envelope and return it to school for next time. The goal for publishing is to Fancy It Up. We have just begun revising and editing with a partner. I am keeping their published pieces in their collections. I will be sharing their collections at our February conferences. I will be publishing a few more links from our Photographer! Look for them this week. We are continuing our Solar System unit in science, as we are going to begin learning about the sun.
Our new robust vocabulary words for this week: excel, pace, blunder, reassure, energetic, approached.

A quick correction: The report cards do not need to be returned or signed since there is no where to sign them. See you can teach an old dog new tricks....it just takes longer! Have a great day.

Week of Nov. 29th

Welcome back to school. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and a great vacation!
Well, we are busy and motivated already. I encouraged the students to set goals for the second trimester in Writing. Some of the re-occurring themes discussed were standardized spelling, neatness, longer stories, more details and staying focused during our writing time. We will also be setting reading goals and goals for Math this week. Try to figure out a goal that they can achieve at home to work towards. Set up a plan on steps for them to reach their goal. I recommend working on one goal at a time.





The Gift Drive began today. Please refer to the red family letter sent home last week.



I have a very ambitious parent who set up a portrait gallery of all the class pictures taken thus far. Please look at it and see the fine job our resident photographer has done. Thank-you Scott!
All of the first trimester report cards must be signed and returned to school. Our next report cards, for second trimester will be distributed in February following our conference day.

We have begun studying the solar system, and did a really fun project in the computer lab today with Mrs. Baralt. It was a great introduction to our unit.

Our new robust vocabulary words are: continue, doubt, devour, examine, transform, astonishing.

Happy Monday! Before I get started, I would like to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Enjoy your week off.
I hope you enjoyed our Poetry in the Park performance.
Our new Robust vocabulary words are: consequences, greedy, cruel, handsomely, regret, reward.
There will be a Math Workshop for first grade parents on Wed. Nov. 17th at 8:20 a.m. in the Student Activity Center. The presentation will be made by Gaye Whitecage. Please, bring your questions with you.
My goals for second trimester will include quite a bit of differentiating instruction.
In writing, the students will want to be conscientious spellers, neat and legible writers, while conveying their stories and messages clearly.
In reading, we are putting our emphasis in reading to learn, while utilizing various types of graphic organizers. The students are eager to increase their reading levels while comprehension remains the focus skill.
In Math, we are measuring with standard and non-standard units of measure. They are surprised to see the difference, and variations of measurement depending on the unit of measure. On Tuesday, I will be introducing the inch. The challenge is getting the students to begin measuring at the end of the ruler, rather than in the middle.
After Thanksgiving, we will begin our Solar System study. The students will be bringing home their Human Body folders this week.

Happy Monday! I can't believe it is already November. Thank-you for my wonderful birthday celebration on Friday. I was so surprised and happy to see the students so excited. I am glad someone was, since I am not that thrilled to be another year older. Coach Every will be the students P.E. coach for 2nd trimester. Here is the link to his blog http://shorecrestldpeevery.blogspot.com/
The robust vocabulary words are: raging, intriguing, inhabit, nuzzled, pranced, adapt
I am in the process of assessing the students for our first trimester report cards. They will be sent to you shortly.
I will have a goal meeting with each of your children, at the beginning of the second trimester. See if you can think of a goal that they can work on at home as well.

We had such fun at the Fall Festival, thank-you for attending, enjoy the pictures. We are having our school wide book fair next week. The students are looking forward to finding just the right book. The robust vocabulary words are: athletic, superb, awkward, ashamed, mused, soared.

We had a blast at the Homecoming assembly on Friday. We are getting ready for our Fall Festival on Friday. A quick reminder to have your child wear their costume, and bring a change of comfy clothes to change into, after the parade. I will not be sending home reading folders this week. Happy Halloween! The robust vocabulary words for this week are: claimed, function, nutritious, classify, dine, groaned. I hope to see everyone on Friday...don't forget to look at our spooky hall.

Mrs. Peck came and taught us about our eyes. She brought these really cool cow eyes to dissect and leave in our classroom. Our focus in science this week will be our five senses with an emphasis on sight. Our human body unit will finish up in November. A few reminders this week: book orders are due by Friday Oct. 22nd, robust vocabulary words: envy, resent, applauded, chatty, gather and duty. There will be no book orders sent in Nov. or Dec. due to the school's annual book fair. I would also like to welcome a new student to our class beginning in November. Her name is Lucille Breton, and she will be coming to the United States from France. The children are very excited to welcome her. Please enjoy her picture at the top.

Happy Monday and here we are dissecting the heart. Please ask your child why their blood is red. Go Rays! They can wear Rays shirts to school on Tuesday. Here are the robust vocabulary words for this week: chorus, odor, enthusiastic, consume, shoved, assemble. If you have not completed the survey yet, please do so. I sent home new book orders today, and they are due by October 22nd. The spelling test this week will be on Thursday. Have a great week!

What a great start to our week! Mrs. Peck from the upper division came down to dissect sheep brains with the first graders. She is the anatomy teacher for the seniors. We have the sheep brain in our class, so the students will be able to do more investigating. The robust vocabulary words for Spelling City are: commotion, muffle, overflowing, locate, search, symbol.
I would like the students to practice recognizing odd/even numbers. They should be able to recognize whether the number is odd or even, with any two or even three digit number. Please have them isolate the ones number first then decide whether the number is odd or even. They can even determine coin values as odd or even. Thank-you for your support!

Please complete the parent survey.
here is the link to the [ http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZBYF22R ]parent survey.
thank-you

I am so sorry! I forgot to give you the robust vocabulary words for this week to use with Spelling City. They are: presented, horrible, invigorated, sweltering, aid, persistent.......Have a great week!

Happy Monday! I have a few reminders today! I look forward to meeting with all of you this week to go over individual students progress and goals for this year. I encourage you to attend the conference Oct. 7th from 8:20-9:00a.m. in the student activity center. Mrs. McKenzie and Mrs. Cameron will be discussing the topic Just Right Books for your young readers. Also there is a parent survey that will be on line beginning Oct. 1st. Please complete it. Have a great week.

Welcome to our week of peace. We will be celebrating and reflecting peaceful ideas all week. We will have a special gathering tomorrow morning, to honor the International Day of Peace.
A few reminders: Please remember to pack a daily snack for your child. I have numerous children that do not bring snack on the days they are buying lunch.
Our robust vocabulary words to use with the Spelling City link are: politely, considerate, routine, ambled, unexpected, pouted. Our weekly homework calendar is also posted on the left side of the blog. Have a great week and check the schedule for your confirmed conference time. Let me know if you have any conflict.



Conferences Sept. 30th

9:00a.m. Elwyn
9:30a.m. Healy
10:00a.m. Dolan
10:30a.m. Waldmann
11:00 Hardgrove
11:30 LUNCH
12:00 Leary
12:30 Dolson
1:00 Canizares
1:30 Forney
2:00 Palmer
2:30 Peters


Sept. 28th

10:45 McElroy
2:45 Densa

Oct. 1st

7:20 Palcan
8:30 Kropf
10:00 Spencer
2:45 McCarthy

Welcome back to school today! I hope you had a great weekend. I did! How great was football Sunday with a Buccaneer win? I would like to inform you that a very special Zoologist is visiting first grade tomorrow, from Miami. We are very lucky, to have her. She fit us into her busy schedule. She will be bringing animals to share with the children. I do not know if they will be able to touch them. No worries, they will hand sanitize, if they do touch them, and I will keep all children with me who would rather not be near them. Please check ebytes for photos of our experience. A special thank-you to Michelle Clopet (Lauren Lawson's mom) for arranging this privilege for first grade. Picture Day this week is on Tuesday. If you have not sent in your picture order please do so tomorrow. I will be sending in our first book order this weekend. Friday will be the last day to order. I only need one check for the total amount. They have changed their policy and all of the different clubs are now owned by one company. He are last week's robust vocabulary words: especially,memorize, sensed, capacity, haul, proud. These robust vocabulary words are introduced and discussed with the students each week. They are not expected to spell them, but knowing what they mean and even being able to read them would be enriching. I have linked to the site, to further enhance their knowledge of these words. I will be posting new words each week. We have begun our human body unit and will be studying about skeletons this week.

Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day weekend!
I went to New York and had a great time with my daughter!
I sent home the Checking Progress Math Assessment last Thursday. In math, they are working on counting and making Tally Marks over 20, beginning with two digit numbers and counting by 2's and learning how to play the Everyday Math computer games. We will be using the computer math games on Fridays.
The Handwriting Without Tears program has been really smooth. We are, as a class setting goals. We want our handwriting legible, spaced evenly with capitalization, and punctuation used correctly. We have also discussed the importance of word order in our writing, (exp: the cat fast ran).
Their papers are being completed with a regular pencil, however, you will see colored pencil marks.
What they do independently is completed with a regular pencil. What they change, or correct is done with a colored pencil. Look for their Math Journals sent home this week to be used with Thursday nights homework. Have a great week......we will!

Hi everyone,
Well, we had a great first full week of school. The students are working hard and getting used to the routines, and structure of first grade. I would like to remind everyone to please sign and return to me the handbook front cover page, regarding student awareness of responsibilities and behavior. Also, please note on the word card rings, they need to be returned on Thursdays.
The Homework Calendar homework is due each day this week.....sorry for the confusion last week.
I will need every child to bring in an old sock to use as an eraser for our chalkboards. They will add a piece of chalk inside of them and use them as an eraser. Enjoy a few pictures from our first week!

O.K. Here we go! Please hold the calendar until next Monday...please look over the format and complete the activities with the words in a baggie and word rings...So sorry, I got way ahead of myself!!!!

Welcome to First Grade!
Everyone is wonderful in 1-3. I look forward to talking to the parents on Back to School Night, Tues. Aug.24th. We will all meet in the Janet Root Theatre at 7:00p.m.
I have spent the first few days getting to know the children, and making them feel comfortable in their new learning environment. We began our weekly homework calendar today. I will answer any questions you may have Tuesday Night. I am working on organizational skills with the students. They need to know where their things are kept, and try not let them get lost or broken.
I encouraged them to practice in their own bedrooms. They smiled at me!
I hope everyone has signed up, to get my blog weekly, or even more frequent than that.

Welcome to First Grade!
Everyone is wonderful in 1-3. I look forward to talking to the parents on Back to School Night, Tues. Aug.24th. We will all meet in the Janet Root Theatre at 7:00p.m.
I have spent the first few days getting to know the children, and making them feel comfortable in their new learning environment. We began our weekly homework calendar today. I will answer any questions you may have Tuesday Night. I am working on organizational skills with the students. They need to know where their things are kept, and try not let them get lost or broken.
I encouraged them to practice in their own bedrooms. They smiled at me!
I hope everyone has signed up, to get my blog weekly, or even more frequent than that.

Welcome to First Grade!
Everyone is wonderful in 1-3. I look forward to talking to the parents on Back to School Night, Tues. Aug.24th. We will all meet in the Janet Root Theatre at 7:00p.m.
I have spent the first few days getting to know the children, and making them feel comfortable in their new learning environment. We began our weekly homework calendar today. I will answer any questions you may have Tuesday Night. I am working on organizational skills with the students. They need to know where their things are kept, and try not let them get lost or broken.
I encouraged them to practice in their own bedrooms. They smiled at me!
I hope everyone has signed up, to get my blog weekly, or even more frequent than that.

Welcome to First Grade!
Everyone is wonderful in 1-3. I look forward to talking to the parents on Back to School Night, Tues. Aug.24th. We will all meet in the Janet Root Theatre at 7:00p.m.
I have spent the first few days getting to know the children, and making them feel comfortable in their new learning environment. We began our weekly homework calendar today. I will answer any questions you may have Tuesday Night. I am working on organizational skills with the students. They need to know where their things are kept, and try not let them get lost or broken.
I encouraged them to practice in their own bedrooms. They smiled at me!
I hope everyone has signed up, to get my blog weekly, or even more frequent than that.

Welcome to First Grade!
Everyone is wonderful in 1-3. I look forward to talking to the parents on Back to School Night, Tues. Aug.24th. We will all meet in the Janet Root Theatre at 7:00p.m.
I have spent the first few days getting to know the children, and making them feel comfortable in their new learning environment. We began our weekly homework calendar today. I will answer any questions you may have Tuesday Night. I am working on organizational skills with the students. They need to know where their things are kept, and try not let them get lost or broken.
I encouraged them to practice in their own bedrooms. They smiled at me!
I hope everyone has signed up, to get my blog weekly, or even more frequent than that.

Welcome to First Grade!
Everyone is wonderful in 1-3. I look forward to talking to the parents on Back to School Night, Tues. Aug.24th. We will all meet in the Janet Root Theatre at 7:00p.m.
I have spent the first few days getting to know the children, and making them feel comfortable in their new learning environment. We began our weekly homework calendar today. I will answer any questions you may have Tuesday Night. I am working on organizational skills with the students. They need to know where their things are kept, and try not let them get lost or broken.
I encouraged them to practice in their own bedrooms. They smiled at me!
I hope everyone has signed up, to get my blog weekly, or even more frequent than that.

Here is our voice thread slide show. Enjoy!

Here are pictures that can be downloaded from Celebrate the Arts

www.EliseSchreiner.SmugMug.com
gallery: ShorecrestCelebrateTheArts
password: chargers

We had a blast today. Daniel and Robby came to school to help us dissect a dogfish shark, ourselves! They are both Shorecrest grads, and they were in high school when they did this! They did the cutting, and we were able to do everything else. Enjoy the pictures and a special thank-you to Dr. Carina Rodriguez for donating our surgical gowns and gloves.

Dr. Luján donated his time this morning, to assist Mrs. Whitecage in a very delicate shark dissection. This was clearly beyond my expertise. The children will be able to poke, and investigate the dogfish shark on their own as well. What a treat Mrs. Peck has once again provided for us. The children will be invited to do this again in smaller groups on Monday. Ask them about it!

Here is the splash day information from P.E.


We will be hosting the Lower Division Splash Day on Friday May 14th, 2010. The event will take place during each grade’s normal PE period and will last approximately 30 min. Splash Day consists of a variety of safe and fun water games and toys. Activities are designed to soak, spray, and splash. Students will not be swimming or submerging themselves in water in any capacity. Participants will enjoy a new addition to Splash Day, the large inflatable water slide. We are asking that all parents sign the liability waiver prior to Friday, should they wish for their child to ride on the slide. A dry area, “The Beach,” will be available to any students not wishing to get wet or participate in Splash Day. Equipment, games, activities and supervision will be present for those students playing on the Beach.

What to bring/wear:

• Bring appropriate swimwear to school to change into or wear swimwear to school under their school uniform. Please keep in mind each child must wear their regular school uniform at all times except during their PE period.
• Sunscreen and or Hat
• Towel

We had another wonderful experience today with Mrs. Peck, visiting us from the upper division. Today she brought squids with her. We learned many things, watched her dissect them, and then we held them! We saw the many different body parts and learned what each function did. Real, life, human scientists study nature and wild life to learn how things work. A jet propelled engine was designed after the squid. Imagine that connection!

I hope all of you are as excited about the commotion going on in first grade, as I am. We are learning so many things about sharks and sea turtles, and look forward to the next two weeks learning about whales and dolphins. We had a special visitor today from the Upper Division. Mrs Peck came down and taught us all about sea stars and sea urchins. Did you know you could eat the uni meat from a sea urchin?????? We are painting our shirts and singing our songs. A special thank-you to Stephanie Counsman, and the rest of the moms who helped with decorate our hall. Do not forget to block off the morning of May 14th for the Greatest Show on Earth!!!!!!!