Thank you so much for such a wonderful birthday, and Teacher Appreciation Day! I was touched and honored by what you did for me - I get teary-eyed just thinking about it!
You have been a great joy to work with this year. The support, love, encouragement, and care that you give to your children is amazing. The students have worked so hard, I am so proud of what they have accomplished!
The Strawberry Festival is this Friday from 3:30-6:30. Thank you to all the parents who were able to donate some time to work at our "Sensational Strawberry Sun visors" stand :) In case your child hasn't informed you yet, I'll be in the Dunk Tank, towards the end of the festival - come on by and try to knock me in! Some dismissal forms were sent home today, if you're planning on coming to the festival right at 3:30, this will allow your child to stay at school until you get there. I look forward to seeing you there!
In addition to the Strawberry Festival Dismissal form, a School Tube permission slip also went home yesterday. This will allow me to post your child's PhotoStory work online so that you can view it, and send it to family and friends! UES has a specific channel on School Tube, and your child's last name is NOT on the video. School Tube is very similar to You Tube, only appropriate for more elementary school-aged students. Here is the link for our UES channel if you'd like to check it out:
http://www.schooltube.com/user/ues
FYI... for upcoming events...
Our end of the year celebration will be Friday, June 10th at 10:00 AM...details to follow soon :)
LAST spelling quiz is TOMORROW, May 29th
Field Day is June 3rd
Finally, Mrs. Pangborn and I will be putting together a summer activities packet for the students. It includes math activities, FCPS recommended book list, and a calendar of possible activities to do over the summer. In an effort to avoid wasting paper, we ask that you email us to let us know if you are interested in having this for you child. Please let us know by Friday, June 5th if you are interested, thank you!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
Happy Mothers' Day!
Hello! I hope all you mothers out there had a WONDERFUL Mothers' Day! What great weather we had too!
Last week was so fantastic, on so many levels! Thank you all so much for the lovely gifts and cards, it brought tears to my eyes! Thank you very much :)
We're on our way to completing the Photo Stories! The students put in extraordinary efforts last week and they look SO impressive. I hope, with the help of our technology resource teacher, that I will be able to either put these up on the BLOG or to send them to you so you can see their masterpieces!
Last Wednesday morning we went to Mr. Esko's (fifth grade Magnet instructor) to learn about compound microscopes! We learned the different parts of the microscope, and were able to view some samples of algae and water from the Wetlands! Thank you Mr. Esko for donating your time to us!
Friday we were fortunate to experience a Percussion Assembly!! Almost everybody - teachers included - had a chance to participate! They had drums and other percussion instruments from all over the world, including Africa, China, Japan, the Caribbean, Cuba, Brazil, Switzerland, The United States and Mexico! Thank you to the PTA for organizing this for us :)
Finally, we are starting to wrap up the end of the year! I am going to stop sending homework packets home for the remainder of the year. There will still be an occasional Reading Response question, or math practice page sent home - but no more packets!
I am going to skip a spelling list this week as Friday is both a two hour delayed start, and the Teddy Bear Picnic. Informational sheets will be going home today about the Teddy Bear Picnic - I hope you can make it!
The last spelling list will be created by the students, made of words that they want to learn before the school year is out. We will create these lists next week, and have our last spelling quiz on Friday, May 29th.
Thank you so much for your continued support! Have a great day!
Last week was so fantastic, on so many levels! Thank you all so much for the lovely gifts and cards, it brought tears to my eyes! Thank you very much :)
We're on our way to completing the Photo Stories! The students put in extraordinary efforts last week and they look SO impressive. I hope, with the help of our technology resource teacher, that I will be able to either put these up on the BLOG or to send them to you so you can see their masterpieces!
Last Wednesday morning we went to Mr. Esko's (fifth grade Magnet instructor) to learn about compound microscopes! We learned the different parts of the microscope, and were able to view some samples of algae and water from the Wetlands! Thank you Mr. Esko for donating your time to us!
Friday we were fortunate to experience a Percussion Assembly!! Almost everybody - teachers included - had a chance to participate! They had drums and other percussion instruments from all over the world, including Africa, China, Japan, the Caribbean, Cuba, Brazil, Switzerland, The United States and Mexico! Thank you to the PTA for organizing this for us :)
Finally, we are starting to wrap up the end of the year! I am going to stop sending homework packets home for the remainder of the year. There will still be an occasional Reading Response question, or math practice page sent home - but no more packets!
I am going to skip a spelling list this week as Friday is both a two hour delayed start, and the Teddy Bear Picnic. Informational sheets will be going home today about the Teddy Bear Picnic - I hope you can make it!
The last spelling list will be created by the students, made of words that they want to learn before the school year is out. We will create these lists next week, and have our last spelling quiz on Friday, May 29th.
Thank you so much for your continued support! Have a great day!
Friday, May 1, 2009
One more thing...
The "wh" list on spelling city did not let me add these three words to the list: whippoorwill, whelk, and whooping crane. These will be on the list that is sent home in the homework packet!
Thank you! Have a great weekend!
Thank you! Have a great weekend!
MAY DAY! MAY DAY!
Hello and Happy Friday, May Day, and Mother Goose Day! We've had another busy week in first grade. Today we released our guppies and snails into the Great Heron Wetlands. This turned out to be quite the event as a mini-down pour started just as we got there!
We are going to be switching to Social Studies content now, which is focusing on "Peoples of the Nations and World" - comparing and contrasting our own cultures to those of others around the world. I'm very excited about this unit! Should be lots of fun!
The students did a GREAT job with their spelling lists this week! Very impressive! The next list, "wh", will be available soon on Spelling City.
This coming week in math we are going to be reviewing and extending some of the skills we've focused on in Geometry. We'll be working more on some writing activities that require the students to use math vocabulary to describe how they solved certain math problems. The students should do very well - these are GREAT brain-stretching activities :)
The students have finished typing their "How To..." paragraphs this week. Next week, we'll be moving on to taking pictures of each step, and putting them together in PhotoStory! Some of the students have chosen to do their "How to" paragraphs on something that requires some materials from home. If this is the case for your child, please send in these materials with your child so he/she may use them in his/her presentation. Thank you so much!
Have a great weekend!
We are going to be switching to Social Studies content now, which is focusing on "Peoples of the Nations and World" - comparing and contrasting our own cultures to those of others around the world. I'm very excited about this unit! Should be lots of fun!
The students did a GREAT job with their spelling lists this week! Very impressive! The next list, "wh", will be available soon on Spelling City.
This coming week in math we are going to be reviewing and extending some of the skills we've focused on in Geometry. We'll be working more on some writing activities that require the students to use math vocabulary to describe how they solved certain math problems. The students should do very well - these are GREAT brain-stretching activities :)
The students have finished typing their "How To..." paragraphs this week. Next week, we'll be moving on to taking pictures of each step, and putting them together in PhotoStory! Some of the students have chosen to do their "How to" paragraphs on something that requires some materials from home. If this is the case for your child, please send in these materials with your child so he/she may use them in his/her presentation. Thank you so much!
Have a great weekend!
Friday, April 24, 2009
Happy Friday!
Hello! We had quite the interesting week! We had a little unexpected lesson in how it's important to be flexible...after taking our recently planted seedlings outside for some natural sunlight, we returned later that afternoon to find them blown all over the Wet Lands :( The students handled it all very well, and we hope to try planting again sometime soon in the upcoming weeks. Our science time will now be occupied with our recently arrived "organisms," including guppies, snails, and various marsh plants. Hopefully these won't blow away!! :)
The girls and boys have been doing a GREAT job with the more challenging spelling lists! Thank you for all your help at home! Our next list, digraph "th", is now available on http://www.spellingcity.com/ if you wish to start practicing over the weekend.
The students have begun their rough drafts of their "How to" projects. I'm really excited to see the final projects - we have everything from "How To Draw a Cube" to "How to Make Oobleck" - it's going to be great! This coming week we should be able to finish the writing portion of the assignment and hopefully start learning how to use the PhotoStory Program with Mrs. Cicerone.
To coordinate with the "how to" writing assignment, I am going to be putting various "how to" craft and drawing books in the art center for the students to use. If you have any craft books that you would like to share, or any old craft supplies that you would like to donate that would be most greatly appreciated! The craft supplies could be anything like scraps of tissue paper or wrapping paper, fabric scraps, water color paints, wall paper scraps, old crayons, paint brushes, sponges, etc. Thank you!!
We are finishing up division this coming week, and will be focusing more on some problem solving strategies. Thank you for your support at home with subject - I know it can be challenging! We've done a lot with using manipulatives (cubes are what we use in class, Cheerios, Legos, paper clips, anything along these lines works just as well at home!), drawing pictures, and using fact families. The students have really embraced the challenge of this - WAY TO GO KIDDOS!!
Finally, I think we have all been going through a bit of Spring Fever lately! We are all very excited about Spring - warm weather, spring sports, school being over soon, etc. Our behavior has been a little off because of it. I've been trying to be consistent with the language of "You know the good choices you need make, you need to choose to do them." We've also been reveiwing the good choices we need to make in the cafeteria, in the hallway, in specials, at recess, etc. If you could please continue conversations like these at home, I would really appreciate it. Thank you very much!
I hope everyone has a great weekend - enjoy the WONDERFUL weather!!
The girls and boys have been doing a GREAT job with the more challenging spelling lists! Thank you for all your help at home! Our next list, digraph "th", is now available on http://www.spellingcity.com/ if you wish to start practicing over the weekend.
The students have begun their rough drafts of their "How to" projects. I'm really excited to see the final projects - we have everything from "How To Draw a Cube" to "How to Make Oobleck" - it's going to be great! This coming week we should be able to finish the writing portion of the assignment and hopefully start learning how to use the PhotoStory Program with Mrs. Cicerone.
To coordinate with the "how to" writing assignment, I am going to be putting various "how to" craft and drawing books in the art center for the students to use. If you have any craft books that you would like to share, or any old craft supplies that you would like to donate that would be most greatly appreciated! The craft supplies could be anything like scraps of tissue paper or wrapping paper, fabric scraps, water color paints, wall paper scraps, old crayons, paint brushes, sponges, etc. Thank you!!
We are finishing up division this coming week, and will be focusing more on some problem solving strategies. Thank you for your support at home with subject - I know it can be challenging! We've done a lot with using manipulatives (cubes are what we use in class, Cheerios, Legos, paper clips, anything along these lines works just as well at home!), drawing pictures, and using fact families. The students have really embraced the challenge of this - WAY TO GO KIDDOS!!
Finally, I think we have all been going through a bit of Spring Fever lately! We are all very excited about Spring - warm weather, spring sports, school being over soon, etc. Our behavior has been a little off because of it. I've been trying to be consistent with the language of "You know the good choices you need make, you need to choose to do them." We've also been reveiwing the good choices we need to make in the cafeteria, in the hallway, in specials, at recess, etc. If you could please continue conversations like these at home, I would really appreciate it. Thank you very much!
I hope everyone has a great weekend - enjoy the WONDERFUL weather!!
Friday, April 17, 2009
Welcome Back!
Welcome back! We've had another eventful week in first grade!
We planted our seeds! Thank you very much for the generous seed donations! Each student was able to plant 11 plants - pumpkin, squash, peas, mustard, grass, blankets of snow, royal blankets, columbines, daisies, tomatoes, and carrots. We took the plants outside today to expose them to some natural sunlight and water them. We were also able to spend some time in the Great Heron Wetlands - which look FABULOUS in full bloom! Some of the students observed frogs, toads - even a snake in the water! We also saw daffodils, forsythia, and hyacinth.
Division has been great! The students have been using manipulatives to help solve problems they were given in class. We discussed about what items could be used at home, and we came up with: paper clips, Cheerios, pennies, pieces of paper (cut into small pieces), Legos, toothpicks, straws and dried pasta. Another strategy the students have used to solve division is "inverse operations" which in this case, is multiplication! The students used what they knew about fact families from addition and subtraction and applied it to fact families with multiplication and division. Great job kiddos!
This week in writing we have been practicing writing ordered steps. Students were assigned index cards with simple tasks written on them. For example, brushing your teeth, making a PBJ, braiding hair, eating a banana, and so on. The students were able to use what they knew about the writing process to create a rough draft of the steps, and then transfer their draft onto sentence strips for their final copies. They're almost finished - looking good!!!
I've been hearing great feedback from the students about Frindle! I thought it was a great book, and the plot of the story coincides VERY well with our Language Arts curriculum! I hope you have been able to enjoy the book along with your child - it's a great story!
The "ch" word list was challenging, but a lot of fun! The students did really well with the various sounds of "ch" as well as with the spelling of some pretty complicated words. We have another batch of 30 for next week as well! The "SSSSHHH!!!" list is now available on SpellingCity.com - enjoy!
I hope everyone has a great weekend! Enjoy the WONDERFUL weather!
We planted our seeds! Thank you very much for the generous seed donations! Each student was able to plant 11 plants - pumpkin, squash, peas, mustard, grass, blankets of snow, royal blankets, columbines, daisies, tomatoes, and carrots. We took the plants outside today to expose them to some natural sunlight and water them. We were also able to spend some time in the Great Heron Wetlands - which look FABULOUS in full bloom! Some of the students observed frogs, toads - even a snake in the water! We also saw daffodils, forsythia, and hyacinth.
Division has been great! The students have been using manipulatives to help solve problems they were given in class. We discussed about what items could be used at home, and we came up with: paper clips, Cheerios, pennies, pieces of paper (cut into small pieces), Legos, toothpicks, straws and dried pasta. Another strategy the students have used to solve division is "inverse operations" which in this case, is multiplication! The students used what they knew about fact families from addition and subtraction and applied it to fact families with multiplication and division. Great job kiddos!
This week in writing we have been practicing writing ordered steps. Students were assigned index cards with simple tasks written on them. For example, brushing your teeth, making a PBJ, braiding hair, eating a banana, and so on. The students were able to use what they knew about the writing process to create a rough draft of the steps, and then transfer their draft onto sentence strips for their final copies. They're almost finished - looking good!!!
I've been hearing great feedback from the students about Frindle! I thought it was a great book, and the plot of the story coincides VERY well with our Language Arts curriculum! I hope you have been able to enjoy the book along with your child - it's a great story!
The "ch" word list was challenging, but a lot of fun! The students did really well with the various sounds of "ch" as well as with the spelling of some pretty complicated words. We have another batch of 30 for next week as well! The "SSSSHHH!!!" list is now available on SpellingCity.com - enjoy!
I hope everyone has a great weekend! Enjoy the WONDERFUL weather!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Spring has SPRUNG!!
Well, we made it! I hope everyone has a great spring break!
When we return on Tuesday, April 14th we will be bridging from multiplication strategies to division strategies. The students have been doing a FANTASTIC job with multiplication, so I'm really excited to see what they can accomplish with division.
We are going to be starting our Organisms unit in science when we return as well! This is when those egg cartons you saved for us will come in handy! Also, if anyone has any flower/herb/vegetable seeds that they don't plan on using this year, we'd really appreciate it if you could send them in! Thank you! We will be starting with the life cycle of plants, and then moving on to the life cycle guppies!
Our next spelling pattern will be the "ch" consonant digraph. Digraphs are a combination of multiple letters that result in one sound, such as "ch" "ph" "wh" "th". The word list is available on Spelling City - there are 30 WORDS on this list. The purpose of this is to provide examples of the three primary sounds of "ch" - as we've learned - the English language is FULL of crazy exceptions!! For example, there's "ch" as in "chair," "ch" (sounding like "k") as in "chorus," and "ch" (sounding like "sh") as in "chic". We also have some more advanced words which we will be exploring more for vocabulary development purposes.
We are also going to be starting our "how to" writing. We will be taking a look at different examples of this type of writing next week, as well as taking a look at the different steps of this specific writing process. We will be beginning our individual "how to" projects the following week. I look forward to having Mrs. Cicerone (UES's technology specialist) show us how to use the PhotoStory program - it should be lots of fun!
Additionally, we will be starting to read the short novel, Frindle, by Andrew Clements. This will be an excellent story to follow along with our growing focus on vocabulary! Be on the lookout for questions in your child's Reading Response Journal.
With our constant efforts to try and keep the germs away, we have run out of cleaning wipes. I plan to go to Costco over break to pick up some to add to the supply, but if you could send a container in as well that would be most helpful!
Also, with our spring weather being so wacky, and our indoor climate being equally as wacky, please send in a light jacket, sweater, or sweatshirt for your child to keep here. Please have your child's name in the garment somewhere in case it should wander off. Thank you!
Finally, thank you all so very much for your help, support and communication! I hope you and your families have a wonderful spring break! Enjoy!
:) KP
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