Happy Monday! We had a great Special Friends and Grandparents Day! Enjoy all of the pictures from our class.
We learned all about Saturn and Mars this week. We also began our All About stories and used hedgehogs as our topic. We really know a lot about them.
We are also learning about equivalent numbers in Math. What other names can you make for the number collection box. We will be celebrating the 100th Day of school on Friday, Feb. 2nd. Please look at your form to see what item you need to bring to school.
We are continuing our work reading nonfiction books. We learned about what is a glossary and index.
Spirit Day is also Tuesday this week. We are going to the Upper Division for a pep rally on Tues. to celebrate the girls and boys soccer teams. Please wear a spirit shirt to school tomorrow.
Have a great week. We will!

Happy Friday. I hope everyone has a great long weekend and finds time to reflect about all of the great things Dr. King accomplished. We will talk more about him on Tuesday. Grandparents/Special Friends Day is Friday. If you have not sent in a photo yet, please do so asap. We are trying to make something special to give out on Friday. Any child who does not have anyone coming, will be paired up  with someone who does, and their Grandparent project will be sent home to be mailed. Don't forget it is a noon dismissal on Friday.
A great big Thank-you to Mrs. Ewert for coming to teach us about hedgehogs, read stories with hedgehogs in them and make a great corn muffin hedgehog snacks. What a great compliment party we had.

February 5th is our Field Trip to the Planetarium/Science Center in Saint Petersburg on 22nd Ave N. Please join us if you can. Due to limited space on the schoolbus, you will have to meet us there. Check your child's Homework Calendar for a reminder. We will be eating lunch at school that day before we go. Our tour at the Science Center is from 11:30-2:00p.m.
Our focus planet this week was Jupiter. Please ask me facts. We blended colors with cray-pas to make the gas giant. We used red glitter to make the great red spot. They are hung in the hall for preview. We also used our fingers to blend the colors. The books were confusing, because they all made Jupiter look red, orange, yellowish but it is a very cold planet. So we made the bands of Jupiter the colors we thought were appropriate. Each one of our Jupiter's is different.
Our How To books are published and in the hall. That is the first part of our non-fiction writing unit.
The Checking Progress for Unit 5 in Math was sent home today. The parent letter for Unit 6 will be sent home with the Homework Calendar on Tuesday. There will be 5 new word card words next week but no new word family phonics sounds. It is a review week of the long vowel sounds previously covered. Mainly all of the silent e rules except e, ee, and ea.
Please check the Conference Day schedule for Feb. 7th. Have a great weekend. We will!

Conference Day February 7th   Sign-up

 7:30a.m.   Beasley

 8:00a.m.   Rutledge

 8:30a.m.   Torres-Monclava

 9:00a.m.  Martin

 9:30a.m.   Hamblen

 10:00a.m.   Davis

 10:30a.m.   Evans

 11:00a.m.   Hasbun

 LUNCH

 1:00p.m.   Welborne

 1:30p.m.    Palmer

 2:30p.m.  Levitz

 3:00p.m.  Kennedy

 Other Days:

Tues. 1/21 7:15 a.m. Healey

Tues. 2/12 1:30 p.m. Imensek

Thanks

Gaye Whitecage

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend.
 We are counting each day until we reach 100. We have 17 days left. I sent home their animal cards. Please refer to the note to review the skills, especially more than and less than. Please pay close attention to the Function Machine homework this week. If the out number is larger, the rule has to be addition.
We are working on non fiction in reading and writing. We are writing How To stories and teaching others about, what we or they can learn.

We worked on projects this week, with our planet Earth study. I first asked the students what they already knew about Earth. I was surprised at how little they knew. We worked on the computer, wrote on a graphic organizer, colored and created information that was important to us. Each child's work is different. We will be doing another project shortly, and they will be choosing the planet or topic. They will be working with partners. They will begin their research with Mrs. Baralt in the computer lab on Tuesday. The tricky part, is that they are not always able to read the information independently. The pictures on the web sites help greatly. They will be creating this project in school. After learning how to put a project together they will have the opportunity to work on a project at home in May.
I am in the process of assessing their reading levels over the next couple of weeks. I will be sharing this information with you, in our February conference. Thank-you for sending non-fiction books to school. It is fun to talk about the variety of interests. Have a great week. We will!

Happy First School Day Monday of 2013. We are off to a great start in 2013. My message to the students on Thursday and Friday was that we are no longer learning about what first graders do, rather we are preparing for second grade, the remainder of the year. There eyes grew wide, and they are now anticipating the 100th day of school. We have 23 more school days until the 100th. They are somewhat changing their priorities and have more accountability over what they are helping themselves learn. We wrote New Year's Resolutions! Goals for home and school. Help your child to be accountable for what they are helping with at home. I've got the school goals handled.
Book orders went home and are due back to school by Fri. January 11th. Reminders.... please send a jacket or sweatshirt to school each day. This weather is tricky and it is sometimes a lot cooler than predicted. We eat lunch outside and the students get cold sitting still for that time. A snack needs to be sent each day, even if they are buying school lunch. A reminder of new supplies needed is on their Homework Calendar. Please replenish the supplies needed.
I will be sending home their Just Right Book, in their Wednesday Baggie. Everything is due back on Mondays. Please do not forget, because I use the books in class on Mondays and Tuesdays before another goes home on Wednesdays.
Please keep the Handwriting Without Tears workbook close by, when your child is completing their homework. Neatness and proper letter strokes are closely reviewed and monitored.
In Math we are working on writing number stories and practicing number facts. At this point the students are using their number grids to find the difference between two numbers.
Thank-you for all my tubes. Now, we will make our Night Sky Viewers.......please use them at home to preview what your child sees in the night sky.