Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend. Here are the photos of the sheep brain dissection, with Mrs. Peck. Ask your child about how an animal's brain stem is different from theirs.
The Lower Division Brownie troop is collecting used and new eyeglasses as a service project.
The First Grade service project is benefiting the SPCA. Donations will be collected in our hall. Please check out their website for their wish list items. This service project will continue throughout October.
Robust Vocabulary: muffle, symbol, commotion, overflowing, locate, search
I will be passing out the Launching Unit in Writer's workshop as well as the unit 2 Math Checking Progress at our conferences.
Have a good week. We will!

Happy Monday! The class picture is displaying the children celebrating the end of unit 1 in Reading Workshop. They recorded themselves reading aloud on our new i pod.
The next pictures show, our Tasty Bug, we made this afternoon. Be sure to ask your child about this nutritious snack. They will be able to teach you how to make one. Today was Johnny Appleseed's birthday, and we discussed his travels, and planting many apple seeds along the way. We also completed a computer project that covered the seasons of an apple tree.

Please continue practicing nickel and penny coin combinations. We are also counting many pennies, and substituting as many nickels for the groups of five pennies, as we can.
We will be spending time with Mrs. Peck on Wednesday, while she dissects the sheep brain.
On Thursday Dr. Burke will be teaching us about the skeleton, while on Friday, Dr. Carmack will discuss the eye with us.
Robust Vocabulary: aid, sweltering, persistent, invigorated, horrible, presented
The students will be checked on all of their word cards this week. I will clear the words they know, and send them home. Please keep them in a place where the students can refer to them for spelling.
We will begin our service project on Monday October 3rd. Our service project will be with the SPCA. We have lots of fun activities planned, as well as an item drive and field trip. Our character education focus is kindness. More information will follow. Have a great week. We will!

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend. We already had a very busy morning with Mrs. Peck. Mrs. Peck is an upper division science teacher. She has ordered many extra animal parts, to dissect and teach to our first graders. Today she dissected cow eyes. We will get the materials in our room for us to take a closer look. Really...get a closer look! We learned all about the parts of our eyes. We learned about eyebrows, eyelashes, the cornea, iris, lens, and how our eye muscles help our eyes move all around. We will be finishing up our five senses study this week. Mrs. Peck will return two more times, to dissect a heart and brain.
We will be celebrating the International Day of Peace on Wed. 9/21. Your child may wear a peace t shirt with their uniform shorts, if they have one. If you have not seen what we wrote about what peace means to us, check out our hallway windows.
In Math, I would like for everyone to review counting by 2's, 10's and 5's. I have students struggling, when I begin with 30, 50 or 75. I also would like for them to review counting by 1's up and back above the number 50.
Robust Vocab: unexpected, considerate, routine, ambled, pouted, politely
Have a great week. We will!

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. In these photos, we are working on our listening skills. I am trying to get the students aware of their listening skills to everyone, not just when I am talking. The three skills I am stressing, are looking at the person in the eyes, keeping quiet while others are speaking, and keeping their bodies still. The students will become more comfortable with these expectations at school, if they practice them at home as well.
School pictures will be taken on Tuesday. Please turn in your envelope if you have not done so.
I sent home the Unit 2 Family letter in Math. Please pay close attention to the Do Anytime Activities, to help build their number sense. I am still looking for Parent Volunteers for Thursday afternoons from 1:30-2:30. If you are able to help out, please return the pink sheet and specify if you need to, what dates you can or can not help. Thank-you I will put together a schedule as soon as I can. The robust vocabulary words are: memorize, sensed, especially, capacity, proud, haul.
Our new science study we are beginning this week, is the human body. We will carry this study through the beginning of November. Our focus this week is how our body works and why. I want the children to pay attention to all of the things their bodies can do. Talk about what sense they are using, for different activities they are doing. Have a great week. We will!

Happy Tuesday this week! I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. I did. My husband and I went to LaGrange Georgia to watch my son's football game. They won! It was so much fun watching him play.
We are learning how to work in small groups. We are practicing using quiet voices, sharing materials, taking turns, and being polite to one another.
The students are familiar with all of these manipulatives, from kindergarten last year. It is fun to explore and share ideas with some new classmates. I will be sending home the Unit 1 Checking Progress this week. Please check it over and work on reviewing these skills with your child.
I am also sending home the list of Kindergarten sight words. It would be very beneficial if your child could read, and if appropriate, spell them quickly. This whole year is building upon previous taught skills. I am adding new words weekly, and continuing with spelling rules as well.
I am also sending home a copy of the letter formation handwriting chart. Please make sure your child is forming the letters neatly, and correctly when completing their homework.
I have a link to Spelling City, and Spin and Spell directly on my blog page. I have introduced the students to robust vocabulary words. These words are for them to understand the meaning only, and recognize them if they appear in their reading. There will be six new words each week. The robust vocabulary words to revisit and discuss from last week are attentive, cram, strategy, nearby, fright and escape. The Homework Calendar will go home today. Have a great week. We will!

I hope everyone had a nice weekend. Back to business today. Please return any volunteer sheets to school asap , so I can assemble schedules. In these pictures, the students are engaged in Readers Workshop. I have created an environment in the classroom, in which reading is soooooo special. The students know how to choose a book quickly and to sit in a comfy manner to read. The main idea is that everyone reads! Please help your child to choose books quickly at home, as well as choosing a special spot in which to do their reading. They will be expected to read at home daily and record what they are reading on their reading log. This will continue to be part of their homework calendar throughout the year.
Reminder: If you have not sent in a single subject spiral notebook for Spanish please do so.
I am also collecting an old sock from everyone to use as an eraser, along with our handwriting program.
Debbie Allen is still collecting $25 dues, from each family, to cover the cost of the first grade activities.
Have a great week! We will!

Happy First week of school. We are off to a great start. The students are really enjoying their own desks, and using their own supplies.
Do not forget Back To School Night is this Thursday August 25th at 7:00p.m. in the Janet Root Theatre. I hope to see you all then.
I will be sending home one more parent volunteer pink sheet. It will be an opportunity to play games with the entire class. We will be doing our centers on Thursdays from 1:30-2:30. Please return all paperwork by this Friday, so I can make a schedule.
Just a reminder; if your child is purchasing Sage school lunch, they still need to bring in a snack...I do not allow the students to share nor do I keep snack food at school. If your child would like to keep a water bottle on their desk that is fine with me. It has to be water only. Tervis Tumblers with lids work great because they don't sweat all over their desks, and work.
I look forward to a great year.