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.

Happy Monday! This is it until 2013. I wish everyone a wonderful and restful vacation. What a huge success the gift drive was this year. I would like to thank Patty Ann for all her hard work handling our classroom donations. Please check out ebytes to see all of the photos taken at the gift drive. We had a wonderful discussion in our class meeting about it, Why Give? It was important for the students to talk about why we do this.
We will be publishing this week in Writers Workshop. I thought it would be best to have their stories available for others to read on Thursday morning. I am hoping many of you can come to our pajama breakfast and Writer's Workshop Celebration. I sent home the letter today.

In Readers Workshop, we are finishing up our Spotlight author study with Amelia Bedelia. The students have enjoyed all of the different adventures she has taken. The students enjoyed working on the IPads this week for our word work. The app we used was Vocabulary Spelling City. We have now covered a, i, o as longvowels with a silent e. Please continue helping your child with the spelling rules. Come is not a long o word even though it ends with an e. I have shown them the exceptions to the silent e long vowel rule. This is the word and how it is pronounced, even though it follows a different spelling rule (one). There are so many exceptions, it is hard to keep all of the spelling rules straight. There are no new Word Families this week just review the a, i, o long vowel silent e rule. There are no new word card words either.Your child is responsible for reading and spelling all of the words on their ring.
I have some Homework Calendar issues. The students are returning their homework with sloppy or incorrect letter strokes. Please check their neatness and if need be, have them redo their work. I am sending home their Handwriting Without Tears workbook. Please refer to that for correct formation.
In science we worked on the stars and constellations this week. I am collecting paper towel or toilet paper tubes to make night sky and constellation view finders. We looked at the meteor shower on the computer because I doubt anyone including me would be watching it from midnight until 3a.m.

Have a great rest of 2012. See you in 2013! Look even Slim is in the Santa Spirit!

Happy Tuesday, now! Sorry, I forgot to post yesterday.Boy, how time is flying by. I can't believe it is almost winter break.

There are a few things I want you to review and work on at home. I also want to introduce you to our new pet hedgehog, Slim. Slim is a whole lot of fun for the students to look at and hold. I have them wearing garden gloves, because his spikes are a little startling.
We are focusing on Realistic Fiction in reading and writing workshop until winter break. We are reading stories that have a made up character in a real setting with real problems and solutions. This genre is tricky because based on anyone's interpretation, most stories could fit into this category. In writing, we are isolating one aspect of the story as fiction. For example this week we only wrote with fictitious characters in our stories but with real problems and solutions.

I am sending home the Unit 4 Checking Progress in Math. I am also sending home the unit 5 Family Letter. The students had a hard time completing the Frames and Arrows portion. Please practice counting backwards by 2's, 5's and 10's. Please also continue working on learning their math facts quickly, so they are not having to count on their fingers. They practiced making number combinations with double dice. Dice are great tools to get numbers from, for basic facts. Then they can always count the dots if they need to. As you can see, this skill is used when completing various activities. The Pringles cans are working beautifully in making a place for our Math Scrolls. The students are busy adding to their scrolls and making them as long as they can. They will not get to bring their scrolls home until the end of the school year. This week we will be studying the sun and stars. Our pajama party will be on Thursday December 20th at 8:15 a.m.. Please plan on joining us only if you wear your pajamas as well.

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend. I hope you had time to preview Trimester One Report Cards. I will see everyone in February for our second trimester conferences. I am available to answer any questions you may have.
In Reading and Writing Workshop we have begun a Realistic Fiction Unit. This week we have identified which books constitute being realistic fiction or not.  Realistic has been identified as what could really happen. We then extended our conversations into identifying the problems and solutions for our character. We used a chart to help us sort out the components of the books, which we will then use as a structure to help us with writing. The areas talked about were title, setting, characters, problem and solution. Please try to incorporate the same conversations at home with your child when they are reading.
In Math, we have begun learning the quarter hour. Remember telling time by the five minute increment is exactly the same as counting nickels. I try to incorporate as much repetitive experiences to such difficult  concepts. We have been counting by fives for a while. I just put the same skill onto the clock. We are presently learning how to tell time to the quarter hour. Please help your child recognize quarter hour on an analog clock only. They can also review half hour as well. Enjoy the pictures of the students sharing their SPCA information at Town Meeting.

In our Solar System study we learned all about the moon. Ask your child about the moon. The full moon was this past week. It was the beaver moon. It was named after the beavers actively preparing for winter. Please watch our Human Body voice thread project we completed.

We had a great time at the SPCA. They were so appreciative of all of the donations they received. All of things were in giant tubs, behind where the kids were sitting.
My students will be leading the town meeting on MONDAY, NOV. 26TH AT 8:00 A.M. Please join us if you can. Come and hear all that they learned about the animals at the SPCA. This is the only time all year, that they will be doing this.
I sent home a copy of the Gulf Coast newspaper that has the article in it, from when ChikFilA came to our class. Enjoy!
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Monday! We again will have a busy week before our Thanksgiving break next week.
We will be going to the SPCA on Wednesday. If you would like to meet us, we will be there at 11:00. We will be eating lunch there. I sent home lunch forms. If you want Sage to pack your child a lunch you needed to indicate so on the lunch form, otherwise you need to send a packed lunch to school.
Our Thanksgiving party will be on Thursday, November 15th at 2:00. Please come if you can.
I think Poetry in the Park was a big hit. I received so many compliments regarding their costumes and their ability to speak loudly and clearly. Thank-you parents, you outdid yourselves!

We will be spending this week working on our human body projects and some pilgrim, native american, and Thanksgiving things. I began a realistic fiction unit in Writers Workshop. Taking information that is true and blending it with a made up story, is how we began. In Readers Workshop our focus is all comprehension.I will be sending home the Math Unit 3 Checking Progress. Please review the necessary skills with your child.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. Help your child remember things they did for our Writing ideas.

Happy Monday! I will see the students on Tuesday. I am at my daughters college doing the Mommy thing and taking her to her pre-op Dr.'s appt. for her tonsils being taken out on the 21st. I'd rather be at school. We have a busy week of assessments. I am retesting quite a few skills, to get updated information before I begin working on Trimester One  report cards. You will be able to preview them by the end of the month.
Book Fair is this week up in the Student Activity Center. Our time to buy is at 1:00 each day. You may come and shop with your child or Mrs. Rauman will be with them to help.
I am assessing the students this week so we will not be beginning any new skills except for spelling. They all received a new November/December note that shows you what skills we are working on in reading.
I can't wait for Poetry in the Park to see which Dr. Seuss character they are dressed up like. They have been writing Poetry. Come and see their scarecrows and poems, acrostic name poems, and shape poems in their journals. We have been busy.
Don't forget about our service project with the SPCA. Please send your donations to school. We will be bringing what we collected to the SPCA within the next couple of weeks.

Halloween was a blast! Enjoy the pictures.