March Citizens of the Month

Congratulations to JMN and KG, our March Citizens of the Month.  We had a great Pep Rally today with a special treat of watching some fellow first graders doing some Irish dancing!

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

During snack time the class listens to Miss Dineen read aloud from chapter books.  We have been enjoying and laughing and loving Judy Blume's Fudge books.  The first book of this 4 book series is called 'Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing'.  There will be a performance of this book at the Quick Center for the Arts at Fairfield University on Sunday, April 11th.  


Here is the link for more information:
Quick Center

Good News & Bad News

The Good News is that our class had the BEST student-teacher ever!  
The Bad News is that we have to share Miss M. with the rest of the school.


Today we celebrated Miss M.'s last day of Student-Teaching with a popcorn party and serenade of "For She's a Jolly Good Fellow".  Miss M. loved her gift of a bag full of new books!

Peek at the Week of March 29-April 2

Calendar Reminders:
There WILL be school this Thursday, April 1st for students. (This is a storm 'make up' day.)
There will NOT be school this Thursday, April 2nd in honor of Good Friday. 

March is coming to an end and April Break is right around the corner.  The year is flying by! 

This week we will attend an all-school assembly about the solar system. 

Reading Workshop: We will be starting a new group project this week called "Character Club".  This is a 2-week project in which your child will be working with a small group focused on a popular series character such as Clifford, Arthur, Amelia Bedilia, etc. 

Writing Workshop: Our non-fiction unit is finished.  We worked on two non-fiction books this past winter-- How To and All About.  This week we will start a unit on Realistic Fiction which is basic story writing. The goal is to write a story with a main character who goes on an adventure or has a problem to solve.  This is usually an enjoyable unit for the class.  This year we will be publishing our final stories as hardcover books.  Please email me if you are interested in typing up a few stories.  The typing won't be until after April vacation.

Spelling:  The 'ouch brothers':  outside, house, flower, shower, howHomework
Monday 3/29
1.  Read for at least 20 minutes
2.  Purple spelling sheet

Tuesday 3/30
1.  Read for at least 20 minutes
2.  Subtraction Facts

Wednesday 3/31
1.  Read for at least 20 minutes
2.  Study for spelling test

Have a wonderful Easter Weekend!

Animals in Motion

Ioa from the Darien Nature Center brought lots of animals to our school.  We were able to see how animals move.  Some of the animals had 2 legs, 4 legs, 8 legs and even an animal with 0 legs.  Can you guess what animal has 0 legs?  It's a snake!  This program was sponsored by the Enrichment Fund.  We learned a lot and had fun!

Salute to Seuss

We celebrated the books of Dr. Seuss on his birthday earlier this month. 

We had a green eggs and ham breakfast with some delicious Seuss Juice.  It was a lot of fun having moms cooking the green eggs right in our classroom.

Then we had a Dr. Seuss Read-a-Thon with all the books we brought in to share from our homes. 

Mystery Reader #18

CM was a lucky duck.  Her mom, brother and sister disguised themselves with hats and costumes when they came in to celebrate her birthday and be Mystery Readers.

Mystery Reader #17

RP's mom came in to read to our class.

February Citizens of the Month

Congratulations to CVI and CD for being selected as our February Citizens of the Month.

Hoot Hoot Hootie

TG sent Hootie to spend some time with CM's family!

Mystery Reader #16

TM's dad came in and read a non-fiction book about Ted Williams, a very famous baseball player.

Mystery Reader #15

JMN loved having his mom come in to be the Mystery Reader.

Hootie's Adventures Continue

KG selected TG to host Hootie for his next visit.

Mystery Reader #14

JMN was super surprised when his grandmother came in to be our Mystery Reader.  What fun!

Peek at the Week of March 22-26

Welcome Spring and welcome to a somewhat normal week!

It will be good to have 5 days in a row of school!  This Wednesday, Thursday and Friday will be Early Dismissal days with a 1:25 dismissal.

Progress reports will be sent home on Monday, March 22.  You may keep the inside report.  Please sign and return the white envelope.
Reading Workshop: We will continue our character study this week.  We will be focusing on having 'book talks' about characters from our reading.

Writing Workshop: Our All About books should finally be finished this week.  We will also (hopefully) have some free days to work on 'free choice' writing pieces before beginning our next unit.

Phonics/Spelling:  oo words:  look, book, tooth, school, foot

Homework
Monday 3/22
1.  Read for at least 20 minutes
2.  Purple spelling sheet

Tuesday 3/23
1.  Read for at least 20 minutes
2.  Book Award 'Report'

Wednesday 3/24
1.  Read for at least 20 minutes
2.  Math:  Scrambled Questions

Thursday 3/25
1. Read for at least 20 minutes
2. Study for tomorrow's spelling test

Have a great week!

Highlights of the Week #21

We had no school because of the storm.  We only went to school for 2 days. (KG)

We made cards for CM's birthday.  (PR)

We had a surprise fire drill.  (CD)

FH was a really good captain.  (OS)

We finished Superfudge. We will start Fudgeamania on Monday.  (CVI)

The power went out all over town because of the HUGE storm.  (CP)

This week we read 2 Jamie O'Rourke books. (DS)

We are celebrating the beginning of spring with an extra bonus recess right after we write our Highlights letters and pack up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  (Miss D)

Peek at the Week of March 15-19

WOW...WOW!  What a crazy week.  I hope everyone's power is up and running.  This is ended up being a very short week.

Mrs. Trifiatis is still collecting the book gift for Miss M.  Please send in one book with your child.

Reading Workshop:  We are continuing to learn about the story element of characters.  We will read some St. Patrick's Day books this week.  These books are full of tricky leprechauns and some silly characters. 

Writing Workshop:  We will be finishing up our "All About" chapter books.  Last week everyone selected their best/favorite story and this week we will be revising and editing them. 

Math: Last week we were so excited to start our second math book!  This means that we are on Unit 7!

Homework


Thursday 3/18
1.  Read for at least 20 minutes
2.  Writing:  Green Riddles

Have a great week!

Highlights of the Week #20

• We had game day this week. (MA)
• JMN's grandmother was the Mystery Reader.  (TB)
• TG and FH were very good captains.  (CVI)
• We had a spelling test on bossy r words. (CP)
• We had gym outside this week...spring is coming! (KR)
• We studied Characters in Reading Workshop.  (MA)
• In Writing Workshop we picked our best All About report to edit.  (OS)
• In Library we picked out new books.  (TM)
• We had indoor recess today and started a new movie called "Flipper".  (KG)
• Next week we are all going to wear green for St. Patrick's Day!  (Miss D.)
• In Art we started a new project.  We are going to paint like Vincent Van Gogh. (CM)

Summer Session

Darien Public Schools runs a summer session.  It is a 5-week program with 2 class periods each day (8:30-10:30 and 10:30-12:30). 

There are many class offerings from reading and writing to science and art classes.  I am teaching a class called "Write On! Primary Writing Workshop". 

If you are interested in learning more, please visit:  www.dariensummerschool.com

March Math Madness

Karen Naughton, the District Math Specialist, has put together some online math games for the March Math Madness program.  An explanation letter will be sent home this Friday. 

There is also a link:
http://dpsk-5parents.wikispaces.com/March+Math+Madness

A Peek at the Week of March 8-14

We will have a Board Game Day this Thursday afternoon. 

Miss Montesarchio will be with our class for a couple more weeks.  Please send in her gift book if you haven't already done so.  Mrs. Trifiatis is collecting the books for us.

Reading Workshop:  Last week we studied the works of Dr. Seuss.  This week we will start a new unit of study on characters.  This week we will learn the difference between main and supporting characters and we will also use special words called traits to describe characters.

Writing Workshop:  Our How To books are hanging on the hallway bulletin board.  Stop and take a look next time you are at school.  This week we are continuing to write All About chapter books.

Math: Information about the District-wide "March Math Madness" will be coming home with your child this week.  This is an enrichment opportunity andparticipation is voluntary. 

Spelling/Phonics: This week we will focus on Bossy R words.  We are using the term 'bossy' because sometimes when r gets together with a vowel, all you hear is the r.  Bossy R combinations:  after, start, bird, were, church

Homework
Monday 3/8
1.  Read for at least 20 minutes
2.  Purple Spelling Sheet

Tuesday 3/9
1.  Read for at least 20 minutes
2.  Pizza Party Mystery

Wednesday 3/10
1.  Read for at least 20 minutes
2.  Math:  Counting Money (nickels and pennies

Thursday 3/11
1.  Read for at least 20 minutes
2.  Study for tomorrow's spelling test

Have a great week!

Highlights of the Week #19

• We have not done Highlights in a very, very long time because of snowdays and vacations!  Now we will go back to normal.
• KG was a good captain.  (PR)
• We had our February Pep Rally.  CD and CVI got certificates for being our Citizens of the Month.  (CD)
• We celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday and had green eggs and ham.  Some people liked the green eggs and some people didn't. (JMN)
• RP's mom came in to be Mystery Reader.  (CVI)
• CD got injured at home this week because his finger got stuck in a door.  We are glad he is back at school.  OUCH! (EB)
• We learned more about animal movements when Ioa from the Darien Nature Center came to our school.  She brought a rabbit, a dove, a tortoise, a sssssnake and a tarantula.  (TB & class)
• We wrote tongue twisters after reading ABC by Dr. Seuss.  (KG)
• We had a spelling test on H-brother words.  (TM)
• My mom came in to be Mystery Reader.  I was surprised by my mom and my brother.  (RP)
• Today we celebrated MA's birthday.  (FH)
• In Writing Workshop we started our All About books. (CP)
• We moved seats for March.  (CM)
• We started a new read aloud book called "Superfudge".   It is very funny.  (TG)

Green Eggs and Ham

We had a great time celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday at our breakfast party.  Thank you to the moms who donated the food and drinks for the party.  A few daring students even had seconds on the green eggs.  The Dr. Seuss books will be sent home this Friday.  Thank you for loaning them to our class this week as we 'Salute Seuss'.