Happy Monday! Well, here we are at almost the end of February. We are concentrating on the United states of America, presidents and symbols. We have discussed George washington and Abraham Lincoln along with the White House so far. We are wrapping up our Solar System unit of study with presentations. Enjoy the pictures of the students presenting.
In Reading Workshop our focus work is on Characters. Please complete the reading journal work each week and return it to school on Monday since we use it in class as well. Which character is important to you and how do you think they are feeling are the questions asked in the Character Frame.
Now, I am encouraging the students to make book to book connections about which characters are similar. This week we are focusing on describing the character chosen.
We have begun the Craft of Revision unit in Writing Workshop. We have learned how to insert carrots as they did last year and add to the middle of our stories, with purple strips of paper. We use all purple pens to change spelling as well. We use Try Cards for them to practice how they think words are spelled and what is the actual standardized spelling. I just simply say those are the sounds you hear but when you see it in a book it looks like this. They are more conscientious about following the spelling patterns we have learned and copying words correctly from the Word Wall. I pulled out old stories they wrote in August and September to revise. They were shocked by their own work and how much they have improved with their writing skills since the beginning of the year.
In Math, we are working on computation and solving math facts. The quarter was also introduced and counting coins using quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies. Please continue working on counting all coins at home. Please pay close attention to the Home Links to know which skills are practiced each day.
The Relay for Life hot dog luncheon is Thursday at 11:30 . Please come and support this event. Please turn in your reservation forms by Tuesday and WEAR PURPLE OR RELAY FOR LIFE T-SHIRTS.
Oldie Goldie book sale will be after Spring Break. We are collecting books now. Please send them in.
Have a great week. We will!

Have a great week. We will!

Happy Monday! What a crazy week. We had our Science Center Field Trip, Conference Day and the 100th Day of School. My post this week is mostly pictures since I spoke with all of you about our academic challenges and what we have been working on in class on Conference Day.
The man on my blog is Dave and he works at NASA in Ohio and we got to skype with him until all of   our questions were answered. We now know why Mercury is not the hottest planet even though it is closest to the sun. Ask your child, they know. We did an experiment outside to see how far the Earth is away from the sun.
The 100th Day was great. Thanks for all of the goodies that we made into trail mix. We wrote about what we have learned in 100 days and made 100 number collection boxes outside with chalk.
Please send your Valentines to school and we will be celebrating Valentines Day on Thursday at 12:00. Your child may wear Valentine colors to school on Thursday.
My next posting will be Feb. 25th.

Happy Monday! I sent home the Conference Day schedule and assume, all is well, since I did not hear that anyone could not make their time. I look forward to talking with everyone on Thursday.
It is Time to Re-enroll. Please do so immediately! You can do it on-line.
Our Love Jar has come to an end. I will be moving their seats into islands of three students each. Their rewards will now be pennies. They are learning on how to work together, compromise, share as a team, rather than only worrying about themselves. This will be our focus throughout the remainder of First Grade. The 100th day of school is Friday. Thank-you to all of you who have sent their 100 items to school.
Our Science Center field trip is Tuesday. Please join us at 12:00 at the Science Center if you can. The address is 7701 22nd Ave. N St. Petersburg. Please return your order forms with the money by Tuesday, so we can pick up the items when we are there.
The 7th graders came down on Friday and shared their fables they wrote with us. It was so fun for us to hear the stories that the older students wrote. Thank-you Mr. Collins.
Our main focus this week has been our projects. We are working with partners, designed a presentation board to display facts about our planets, compromised about what each of us could do and enjoyed the process immensely. We will finish them this week for you to see and enjoy on Conference Day.

I have been crazy assessing, and will share the information with you on Thursday. Have a great week. We will!