Hi folks! Hope you were able to enjoy the great weekend! I just wanted to let you know that I sent home the Username and Password information for Spelling City today. It went home on an index-card-sized piece of paper - Username at the top, Password at the bottom. It should be in your child's folder, if not, please let me know and I can email it to you!
Additionally, there is a new link in our "Helpful Links" section - the link to the PDF for the Spelling Practice Activities. Just in case!
Beginning this week, the pages of the homework packet are labeled by day at the upper right hand corner. These are to be used as a reference, as many times certain material won't be discussed until later in the week. Clearly, if your child feels confident (and you feel confident in helping them) in completing the homework beforehand, by all means go for it. The purpose of this was to let you know when the material was being taught. :)
Finally, it is highly probable that no book baggie/RRJ homework will be assigned this week. I am assessing students using the DIBELS program. This program needs to be done individually, child by child. This is being done during the students' Literacy Centers and Guided Group times. I will do my best to meet with each group at least once this week - but the primary goal is to get the assessments out of the way. The results of this assessment will be available to you at conferences.
Thank you so much for your continued support! Have a great week!
:)
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Have a Wonderful Weekend!
Hello all! I have to say, I am VERY impressed with the scores on the math quizzes - they did AWESOME!
Just wanted to put up a Super Speed Math reference so that it is available:
1. Please follow the schedule :)
2. 90 seconds, reading the entire number sentence aloud.
3. To record progress, you can either write the date on the last number sentence read correctly, OR write the coordinates of the last problem read correctly on a star on the back of the Weekly Schedule.
4. As your son/daughter passes his/her previous scores, have him/her begin one line below from where they began last week. So for instance, if a student started at row 4, and beat the score, the student would start at row 5 next time.
Thank you for your patience and perserverence with this! I greatly appreciate your willingness to help me work out the kinks :)
Finally, I hope you and your families are able to take some time to enjoy this long weekend!
Take care!
:)
Just wanted to put up a Super Speed Math reference so that it is available:
1. Please follow the schedule :)
2. 90 seconds, reading the entire number sentence aloud.
3. To record progress, you can either write the date on the last number sentence read correctly, OR write the coordinates of the last problem read correctly on a star on the back of the Weekly Schedule.
4. As your son/daughter passes his/her previous scores, have him/her begin one line below from where they began last week. So for instance, if a student started at row 4, and beat the score, the student would start at row 5 next time.
Thank you for your patience and perserverence with this! I greatly appreciate your willingness to help me work out the kinks :)
Finally, I hope you and your families are able to take some time to enjoy this long weekend!
Take care!
:)
Sunday, September 20, 2009
No really, LOVELY weather we're having!! :)
Happy Sunday! Just a friendly reminder to please sign and send in the photography/Spelling City permission forms as soon as possible. This will enable our students to have easier access to Spelling City, thus making it easier to practice!
This coming week we will be studying the short a and r-controlled a spelling patterns. Your child will be coming home with a new list of ten words - 5 short a, and 5 r-contolled a. I am also going to be adding a new component of our spelling quiz for the next go round. In addition to spelling the words correctly. I am also going to have the students select five words to use appropriately in sentences. This will make the breakdown of spelling quizzes like this:
1 point for each word spelled correctly on spelling portion x 10 = 10 points
2 points for each sentence with correct, original meaning and spelling x 5 = 10 points
1 point for each organizational component (name, date, quiz title, and
numbered lists for both spelling and sentence portion of the quiz) = + 5 points
25 total points
This week's spelling quiz did not contain the sentence portion, so the total points will be 14. Be on the lookout for their quizzes - they did a fantastic job!!
Attached in the email with this blog link are the notes from this week's class meeting. I really make an effort to have a class meeting at the end of every week to have the students discuss what went well, and what they need to improve on. I think it's a great self-reflection opportunity - and I think it's pretty neat to see what they come up with! Everything that is on the list are suggestions and comments that they came up with - I just type what they say! Please take a moment to discuss these notes with your son/daughter.
Finally, as I'm sure you can imagine, we've been going through disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizer like it's going out of style. If you could please send in one or the other (or both!) that would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much for your continued support! Have a great week!
:)
Oh! Almost forgot - I'm looking at the weekend of October 10th to go see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. I've sent in a request for a group, and should hopefully have a quote within the next few days. Please let me know if Saturday or Sunday would work best for you - I'll do my best to accomodate everyone! Thank you!
This coming week we will be studying the short a and r-controlled a spelling patterns. Your child will be coming home with a new list of ten words - 5 short a, and 5 r-contolled a. I am also going to be adding a new component of our spelling quiz for the next go round. In addition to spelling the words correctly. I am also going to have the students select five words to use appropriately in sentences. This will make the breakdown of spelling quizzes like this:
1 point for each word spelled correctly on spelling portion x 10 = 10 points
2 points for each sentence with correct, original meaning and spelling x 5 = 10 points
1 point for each organizational component (name, date, quiz title, and
numbered lists for both spelling and sentence portion of the quiz) = + 5 points
25 total points
This week's spelling quiz did not contain the sentence portion, so the total points will be 14. Be on the lookout for their quizzes - they did a fantastic job!!
Attached in the email with this blog link are the notes from this week's class meeting. I really make an effort to have a class meeting at the end of every week to have the students discuss what went well, and what they need to improve on. I think it's a great self-reflection opportunity - and I think it's pretty neat to see what they come up with! Everything that is on the list are suggestions and comments that they came up with - I just type what they say! Please take a moment to discuss these notes with your son/daughter.
Finally, as I'm sure you can imagine, we've been going through disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizer like it's going out of style. If you could please send in one or the other (or both!) that would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much for your continued support! Have a great week!
:)
Oh! Almost forgot - I'm looking at the weekend of October 10th to go see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. I've sent in a request for a group, and should hopefully have a quote within the next few days. Please let me know if Saturday or Sunday would work best for you - I'll do my best to accomodate everyone! Thank you!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Lovely Weather We're Having...
Well, well, well - it's been QUITE a week! Thank you so much for viewing the daily blog this week! I hope everyone is either feeling better and/or staying healthy - whichever may apply to you!
I ask that you remain on the lookout for a double-permission slip to come home tomorrow. This sheet will require TWO signatures - one for the permission to put pictures of your son/daughter on the blog (names, of course, will not be included), and the other for permission to create personal accounts for your son/daughter on SpellingCity.com. Without an account, the students have to type in their words every single time they enter the site. Good for practice, bad for time management. The site is free and doesn't share any information. I've been on it for a year now and absolutely love it. I will give the username and password information to you once the account is created. Please feel free to look into the various policies on the Spelling City website. Thank you!
I have also included another poll in our phabulous blog! One of my most favorite books is Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - and now it's going to be a movie!!! IN 3D!!!! I would love to do a compare and contrast of the book and the movie with the students. Perhaps we could all go to a Saturday/Sunday Matinee, depending on schedules? I'll look into group rates as well. Let me know!
Today is Constitution Day!! We had much fun reading We The Kids ( a more kid-friendly version of the Preamble to the Constitution) and watching the School House Rock song of the Preamble. Students are still working hard in groups on their own interpretations of the components of the Preamble. And I still have that song stuck in my head!!
"We the people, in order to form a more perfect union..."
Anywho - have a fabulous evening folks! Talk to you soon!
I ask that you remain on the lookout for a double-permission slip to come home tomorrow. This sheet will require TWO signatures - one for the permission to put pictures of your son/daughter on the blog (names, of course, will not be included), and the other for permission to create personal accounts for your son/daughter on SpellingCity.com. Without an account, the students have to type in their words every single time they enter the site. Good for practice, bad for time management. The site is free and doesn't share any information. I've been on it for a year now and absolutely love it. I will give the username and password information to you once the account is created. Please feel free to look into the various policies on the Spelling City website. Thank you!
I have also included another poll in our phabulous blog! One of my most favorite books is Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - and now it's going to be a movie!!! IN 3D!!!! I would love to do a compare and contrast of the book and the movie with the students. Perhaps we could all go to a Saturday/Sunday Matinee, depending on schedules? I'll look into group rates as well. Let me know!
Today is Constitution Day!! We had much fun reading We The Kids ( a more kid-friendly version of the Preamble to the Constitution) and watching the School House Rock song of the Preamble. Students are still working hard in groups on their own interpretations of the components of the Preamble. And I still have that song stuck in my head!!
"We the people, in order to form a more perfect union..."
Anywho - have a fabulous evening folks! Talk to you soon!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
And another thing! :)
WoW what a busy week! Ok, so here are some updates on conferences, homework, etc.
~ The conference schedules are still in the main office and will be there until September 18th (this Friday). If you need to sign up for a conference, or change the time that you've signed up for, please call the office to do so - (240) 236 - 2200. Additionally, if you do not sign up for a conference by 9/18, one will be assigned to you - and you will be notified of this time via a letter home. If this time does not work for you, then you will need to contact me via email to let me know. Thank you!
~ The Labor Day math page - the answers do not need to be converted to letters if you don't want to - I'm more concerned about the sums/differences than the letters.
~ Happy Birthday Constitution page - I'm going to be going over the different types of sentences tomorrow, but just FYI -
A Declarative sentence tells a fact : "I am typing on the blog right now."
An Imperative sentence gives a command: "Please read the messages I am sending."
An Interrogative sentence asks a question: "Did you know that tomorrow is Constitution Day?"
An Exclamatory sentence uses and exclamation point: "HOOOOORAY for Constitution Day!!"
Thank you very much! Stay healthy!
~ The conference schedules are still in the main office and will be there until September 18th (this Friday). If you need to sign up for a conference, or change the time that you've signed up for, please call the office to do so - (240) 236 - 2200. Additionally, if you do not sign up for a conference by 9/18, one will be assigned to you - and you will be notified of this time via a letter home. If this time does not work for you, then you will need to contact me via email to let me know. Thank you!
~ The Labor Day math page - the answers do not need to be converted to letters if you don't want to - I'm more concerned about the sums/differences than the letters.
~ Happy Birthday Constitution page - I'm going to be going over the different types of sentences tomorrow, but just FYI -
A Declarative sentence tells a fact : "I am typing on the blog right now."
An Imperative sentence gives a command: "Please read the messages I am sending."
An Interrogative sentence asks a question: "Did you know that tomorrow is Constitution Day?"
An Exclamatory sentence uses and exclamation point: "HOOOOORAY for Constitution Day!!"
Thank you very much! Stay healthy!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
One More Thing...
Almost forgot!
Everyday I put together a Power Point Presentation for the students. In addition to directions for the morning, I also include "Today in History" facts, as well as famous birthdays. On the day your child has a birthday, I would like to have a slide wishing him/her "Happy Birthday!". If it's ok with you, could you please email me three or four pictures of your son/daughter to include in their birthday slides? This could be done now, or closer to their birthdays.
For the students with summer time birthdays, I will include special birthday slides for them towards the end of the year.
Thank you very much! :)
Everyday I put together a Power Point Presentation for the students. In addition to directions for the morning, I also include "Today in History" facts, as well as famous birthdays. On the day your child has a birthday, I would like to have a slide wishing him/her "Happy Birthday!". If it's ok with you, could you please email me three or four pictures of your son/daughter to include in their birthday slides? This could be done now, or closer to their birthdays.
For the students with summer time birthdays, I will include special birthday slides for them towards the end of the year.
Thank you very much! :)
Super Speed Math
Hi again! Just wanted to review the appropriate rules for Super Speed Math:
1. 90 seconds per turn.
2. Write the coordinates of each record breaking score as you go.
3. Every time a personal record is broken, start one line below where you started the last time. This will have the students move down through the more challenging facts as their scores improve!
Thank you very much! Have a great afternoon! :)
1. 90 seconds per turn.
2. Write the coordinates of each record breaking score as you go.
3. Every time a personal record is broken, start one line below where you started the last time. This will have the students move down through the more challenging facts as their scores improve!
Thank you very much! Have a great afternoon! :)
Monday, September 14, 2009
Book Baggies
Hello all! Happy Monday! Coming home today will be the Book Baggie - complete with book and Reading Response Journal. This, as well as the Home/School Folder and agenda book, is to come back and forth between home and school everyday. The assignment for tonight is just to read the book. This reading may be applied towards the daily 20 minutes of reading. Sometimes there will be assignments in the journal, these are expected to be done that night, unless otherwise directed. Thank you for your support!
Friday, September 11, 2009
Patriot Day
I can't hardly believe that we've come to the end of three weeks already! We've been busy establishing routines, assessing prior knowledge, and getting to know each other.
Thank you so much to the parents who were able to attend Back To School Night yesterday evening! I felt that it was a HUGE success - thank you also for your positive, helpful feedback. Please remember that if you should ever have any questions to just send me an email, and I will answer as best I can! To those of you who were unable to attend, a packet of information should have come home today with your child. It will include various items including, but not limited to: daily schedule, UES Behavior Matrix, Spelling Activity Cards, Super Speed Math Schedule, and a Classroom Directory.
Thank you to those of you who were able to contribute to the poll this week! Majority votes for a packet sent home at the beginning of the week. I'll start sending that out next week! Please be advised that there may be some assignments that will need to come back to school before the end of the week - I will be sure to either write these dates on the specific pages, or have the students write the date in their agenda books.
Speaking of agenda books...thank you very much for be sure to sign the pages! Some students were still missing a few components of their assignments. I highlighted what was missing in the agenda book to bring it to their attention so it may be corrected. My goal with this is to establish organizational skills as early as possible. Thank you for your support!
As you are aware, today, September 11, is Patriot Day. A book I love to share with the students is The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein. It's a Caldecott Award-Winning book showing an illustrated version of the story of Philippe Petit - a French street performer who walked a tightrope across the gap of the Twin Towers in August of 1974. True story! This, naturally, served as quite the spring board for discussion about Mr. Petit, as well as about the September 11th attacks. There were many "why..." questions - as I'm sure you can imagine.
I did my best to keep the explanations as honest, yet generic as possible. We discussed how planes crashed the towers in New York City, The Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania. We discussed how the people who did this were not mentally well. We discussed how maybe the reasons why the attackers did this was because they were jealous of the tall buildings, or they just wanted more space.
Addtionally, on a more positive side, we discussed how airport security has changed drastically since the attacks (which led to many stories of sunblock, medicine, bugspray, etc. getting thrown out at the airport). Also, how even though it was sad that the the Towers and Pentagon were destroyed, at least they left other places alone.
There was also an interest in wanting to see pictures of what happened. I DID NOT share any, as I think that something this graphic should be left up to your decision as a parent.
There was an additional interest to see photographs/videos of Philippe Petit as well. I'm almost positive that something could be found on YouTube - the site is blocked by FCPS, and I couldn't really find anything anywhere else but a few photos. I have attached links of photos of Philippe Petit, and some pictures of tall buildings from around the world.
Also, we earned our first 25 Soaring With Pride stickers! We will be having a popsicle party on Monday :) Yippee!
Thank you so much for your continued support - have a wonderful weekend!
Petit Petit1Petit 2
World's Tallest Buildings
CN Tower
Please see our Classroom Meeting Notes for this week attached in the email with the link for the blog :)
Great job Kiddos!
Thank you so much to the parents who were able to attend Back To School Night yesterday evening! I felt that it was a HUGE success - thank you also for your positive, helpful feedback. Please remember that if you should ever have any questions to just send me an email, and I will answer as best I can! To those of you who were unable to attend, a packet of information should have come home today with your child. It will include various items including, but not limited to: daily schedule, UES Behavior Matrix, Spelling Activity Cards, Super Speed Math Schedule, and a Classroom Directory.
Thank you to those of you who were able to contribute to the poll this week! Majority votes for a packet sent home at the beginning of the week. I'll start sending that out next week! Please be advised that there may be some assignments that will need to come back to school before the end of the week - I will be sure to either write these dates on the specific pages, or have the students write the date in their agenda books.
Speaking of agenda books...thank you very much for be sure to sign the pages! Some students were still missing a few components of their assignments. I highlighted what was missing in the agenda book to bring it to their attention so it may be corrected. My goal with this is to establish organizational skills as early as possible. Thank you for your support!
As you are aware, today, September 11, is Patriot Day. A book I love to share with the students is The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein. It's a Caldecott Award-Winning book showing an illustrated version of the story of Philippe Petit - a French street performer who walked a tightrope across the gap of the Twin Towers in August of 1974. True story! This, naturally, served as quite the spring board for discussion about Mr. Petit, as well as about the September 11th attacks. There were many "why..." questions - as I'm sure you can imagine.
I did my best to keep the explanations as honest, yet generic as possible. We discussed how planes crashed the towers in New York City, The Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania. We discussed how the people who did this were not mentally well. We discussed how maybe the reasons why the attackers did this was because they were jealous of the tall buildings, or they just wanted more space.
Addtionally, on a more positive side, we discussed how airport security has changed drastically since the attacks (which led to many stories of sunblock, medicine, bugspray, etc. getting thrown out at the airport). Also, how even though it was sad that the the Towers and Pentagon were destroyed, at least they left other places alone.
There was also an interest in wanting to see pictures of what happened. I DID NOT share any, as I think that something this graphic should be left up to your decision as a parent.
There was an additional interest to see photographs/videos of Philippe Petit as well. I'm almost positive that something could be found on YouTube - the site is blocked by FCPS, and I couldn't really find anything anywhere else but a few photos. I have attached links of photos of Philippe Petit, and some pictures of tall buildings from around the world.
Also, we earned our first 25 Soaring With Pride stickers! We will be having a popsicle party on Monday :) Yippee!
Thank you so much for your continued support - have a wonderful weekend!
Petit Petit1Petit 2
World's Tallest Buildings
CN Tower
Please see our Classroom Meeting Notes for this week attached in the email with the link for the blog :)
Great job Kiddos!
Monday, September 7, 2009
Happy Labor Day!
Hello all! I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend! I just wanted to let everyone know that I plan to show President Barack Obama's address to the students tomorrow. I will be incorporating discussion and reflection around the address. I have also been informed that there is a video contest being held by the Department of Education for students to reflect upon the President's speech. I plan to look further into this contest - and hopefully we can work on some together!
If you do not wish to have your child watch the broadcast, please let me know and he/she can have a silent reading period in the Media Center.
Please take a moment to read the blog entry below, as it as additional information about the beginning of the year.
Hope to see all of you at Back to School Night on Thursday at 7:00! :)
If you do not wish to have your child watch the broadcast, please let me know and he/she can have a silent reading period in the Media Center.
Please take a moment to read the blog entry below, as it as additional information about the beginning of the year.
Hope to see all of you at Back to School Night on Thursday at 7:00! :)
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Welcome to the 2009-2010 School Year!
Happy September!
Welcome back! We have had such a fantastic seven days! Thank you so much for all your warm welcomes and support!
This is the BLOG! This will be sent to you weekly with various information on what's going on in class, school, and in the community.
Please take a few moments to explore the BLOG with your child. You'll notice weekly homework assignments, helpful weblinks, links to other Magnet classes, and the option to "follow" are on the left - hand side.
Positive Behavior Support
We now have a new positive behavior program we've designed to meet the needs of Urbana Elementary School. The system includes specific ways students show respect to themselves, others, and to their surroundings. This behavior system is used in conjunction with Character Counts!
Students have the opportunity to earn pride stickers and rewards for their class. When students choose not to follow school rules, they will complete a "Think Sheet". The Think Sheet provides the student the opportunity to reflect on the actions he/she chose, and decide what they will choose to do next time.
First offense: sheet is reviewed with Miss Phelps and kept in a file in class. Second offense: sheet is reviewed with Miss Phelps and sent home to be reviewed with parents, and returned with a signature. Third offense: Student and Think Sheets are sent to the office.
Welcome back! We have had such a fantastic seven days! Thank you so much for all your warm welcomes and support!
This is the BLOG! This will be sent to you weekly with various information on what's going on in class, school, and in the community.
Please take a few moments to explore the BLOG with your child. You'll notice weekly homework assignments, helpful weblinks, links to other Magnet classes, and the option to "follow" are on the left - hand side.
Positive Behavior Support
We now have a new positive behavior program we've designed to meet the needs of Urbana Elementary School. The system includes specific ways students show respect to themselves, others, and to their surroundings. This behavior system is used in conjunction with Character Counts!
Students have the opportunity to earn pride stickers and rewards for their class. When students choose not to follow school rules, they will complete a "Think Sheet". The Think Sheet provides the student the opportunity to reflect on the actions he/she chose, and decide what they will choose to do next time.
First offense: sheet is reviewed with Miss Phelps and kept in a file in class. Second offense: sheet is reviewed with Miss Phelps and sent home to be reviewed with parents, and returned with a signature. Third offense: Student and Think Sheets are sent to the office.
Upcoming Events
September 7 ... No School/Labor Day
September 8...PTA Meeting @ 6:30 P.M.
September 9...Parent Volunteer Training @ 9:00 A.M.
September 10 ... Back to School Night @ 7:00 P.M. Parents only please.
September 16...Parent Volunteer Training @ 6:00 P.M.
September 24...Two-Hour Early Dismissal
September 25...No School for Students - Fair Day
September 28...No School for Students - Yom Kippur
October 13-15 ... Parent-Teacher Conferences
October 16... No School For Students
Thank you again for all your help and support! Have a wonderful week!
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