Mr. Vowel

We played a fun game today to help us learn our vowels. 

Look at these pictures of us AT our chairs, on the EDGE of our chairs, IN our chairs, ON our chairs, and UNDER our chairs. 

FIrst Day Hooray!

We had a great first day of school.  It was a very full day.  We learned some new names and got settled in our new classroom.  It's going to be a great year!

Welcome!

The first day of school is Monday, August 25...can't wait to meet my new class!

New Sign

I hung up my new classroom sign. It looks great!  Thank you! 

Last Day

Peek at the Week of June 16-18

This is my last "Peek at the Week" of the 2013-14 school year. 

A few quick things for this week:
-Monday is 'Moving up Day'.  This is the day when the first graders will meet the second grade teachers.  They will spend about 10-15 minutes in each classroom.
-Wednesday is an early dismissal day.
-Report cards will be sent home with your child on Wednesday.  There are a few VIP (Very Important Papers) in this envelope...supply list for 2nd grade, summer reading calendar, etc.


I think that's it!

Have a happy and healthy summer break!

Peek at the Week of June 16-18

This is the last 'Peek' of the school year.

Monday and Tuesday are full days.
Wednesday will be an early dismissal day.

Report cards will be sent home with your child on Wednesday.  There are some extra things in the envelopes...some memories from the year and a summer reading and writing journal.

I hope you all have a happy and healthy summer!

Peek at the Week of June 9-13

It's our last full week of school!

This week in Reading Workshop is renamed "Sunsational Reading".  A yellow letter was sent home last Tuesday explaining it.  Your child should bring in some favorite books from home to read at school.  We hope to spend some time reading outside if the weather cooperates.

You may have noticed your child has started bringing home some of his/her school supplies and books.  Some of the books may have unfinished pages.  I have told your child that these pages are great summer work!

Library books need to be returned to Mrs. Blake in the library.

This Friday, June 13 we will have our Year End/Summer Birthday celebration.  It will be an ice cream sundae party. Thank you to the Cope, Gately, and Faherty families for hosting this event!

Field Day Fun

Peek at the Week of June 2-6

Field Day is Monday, June 2nd from 1:00-2:30.  Parents are invited to come and cheer on the kids.  Meet us on the front playground.  Mr. Barthold has assigned a color to each child.  Your child should try to wear a shirt of that color if you have it.  You may want to put sunscreen on your child in the morning before school. The room moms are coordinating popsicles and water for the class (thank you Barb and Julie!).  

(The rain date is the following Monday, June 9th.  I will send out an all-class email in the event that the June 2nd date is changed.)

Please remind your child to bring back any library books they still have checked out.  

No more written homework! 
So I will be listing the specials for the week.
*Monday 6/2
F Day:  Music

*Tuesday 6/3
A Day:  Gym

*Wednesday 6/4
B Day:  Art and Music

*Thursday 6/5
C Day:  Gym

*Friday 6/6
D Day: Library 

Have a great week!

May Pep Rally

Congratulations to ER and BS!  Only one more Pep Rally left in the year. Wow!

Peek at the Week of May 26-30

It's the last week of May...so hard to believe.

We have been enjoying GREAT weather.  Our butterflies emerged from their chrysalis and we set them free last week.  

There is no school on Monday in honor of Memorial Day.

This is our last week of written homework of the year! Your child should continue to read daily.  

This Friday will also be the last spelling test of the year.  

We will have a Pep Rally this week for the month of May.

The Student Council is making this Friday, May 30th "Stuffed Animal Day".  Your child can bring his/her favorite stuffed animal to school for the day.

Homework and Specials
Monday 3/26:  Memorial Day

Tuesday 3/27
B Day:  Art and Music
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Monthly Minutes
3.  Spring Word Work (last one of the year!)

Wednesday 3/28
C Day:  Gym
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Monthly Minutes
3.  Math

Thursday 3/29
D Day:  Library
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Monthly Minutes
3.  Study for the LAST spelling test of the year!

Friday 3/30
E Day:  Spanish

Have a great weekend!

Bye Bye Butterfly

It was the perfect day to release our butterflies back to nature!

Peek at the Week of May 19-23

It was so much fun to perform our Three Piggie Opera last week!  The thrill of performing for a live audience was great.  

We are excitedly waiting for our butterflies to hatch.  It's been very cool to see the transformation of caterpillar to butterfly.

We will begin to write our series in writing workshop this week.  Each person has created a character and has brainstormed some possible story ideas.  

This Thursday at 2:30 is our last Game Day of the year.  The volunteers  are Adrienne Kelly, Elsa Sykes, and Cara Gately.  

There is no school next Monday in honor of Memorial Day.

Homework and Specials
Monday 5/19
C Day:  gym
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Monthly Minutes
3.  Spring Word Work


Tuesday 5/20
D Day:  library
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Monthly Minutes
3.  Math


Wednesday 5/21
E Day:  Spanish
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Monthly Minutes
3.  Blue Journals


Thursday 5/22
F Day:  Music
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Monthly Minutes
3.  Study for tomorrow's spelling test

Have a great long weekend!

Peek at the Week of May 12-16

It's going to be a very busy week!

On Monday we will attend a 'STEM' (Science Technology Engineering Math) program.  Science teacher and students from Darien High School will be running this program.

Some librarians from the Darien Library will be visiting our class this Wednesday afternoon to tell us about their Summer Reading Program.  

The Three Piggie Opera is this Friday at 9:30. We hope to see you in the Common Room.  Thank you for sending in the $1 for Mr. Allen's gift.  We will present the gift at the end of the show.

During Earth Week the first graders won a pizza party prize! We will have this pizza party on Friday during lunch.  Your child does not need to bring lunch (unless they do not want pizza). Please send in a drink to have with lunch.


Homework and Specials
Monday 5/12
D Day:  Library
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Monthly Minutes
3.  Spring Word Work


Tuesday 5/13
E Day:  Music
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Monthly Minutes
3.  Math


Wednesday 5/14
F Day:  Music
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Monthly Minutes
3.  Blue Journals


Thursday 5/15
A Day:  Gym
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Monthly Minutes
3.  Study for tomorrow's test


Friday 5/16
B Day:  Art and Music

Have a great weekend!

Bruce Museum

Mr. Max works at the Bruce Museum. He came today to teach us all about butterflies. It was a great program. This program was funded by the enrichment fund. 

Appreciation Day

Thank you for all the flowers. Our class moms made two beautiful arrangements. I am a lucky teacher!

Peek at the Week of May 5-9

Happy May!

We had a great time seeing Peter Pan last week!  Thank you to Mrs. Bell and Mrs. Mansourian for coming with us.

Our class will attend the Book Fair on Monday at 2:00 in the library. Parents are invited to come and shop!

The Bruce Museum will be doing a program in our classroom Wednesday morning.  It will be about butterflies.  We are eager for our caterpillars to arrive soon!

Thank you to the families who have sent in the $1 for Mr. Allen's gift.  We will be collecting until this Thursday, May 8th.


Homework
Monday 5/5
E Day- Spanish
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Monthly minutes
3.  Spring Word Work


Tuesday 5/6
F Day-Music
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Monthly minutes
3.  Math


Wednesday 5/7
A Day- Gym
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Monthly minutes
3.  Blue writing journals

Thursday 5/8
B Day- Art and Music
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Monthly minutes
3.  Study for tomorrow's spelling test


Friday 5/9
C Day- Gym

Have a great week!

Shiny Pennies

We experimented to find out how to make old brown pennies bright and shiny new again. Can you guess what the "secret" formula is?

Science Mystery Cups

We used 4 of our 5 senses to figure out what was in the cups. Mrs. O. Even got a turn when she came in for SO's bday. 

Mystery Reader

SD was so happy to have her mom come in on this sunny day!

Mystery Reader

Santa got his months mixed up!

Vroom Vroom

Our science exploration was "Do cars travel further on a tile floor or on a rug?" We built ramps out of books. Then we sent cars down the ramps and measured how far the cars went. 

Peek at the Week of April 28-May 2

We will be writing like scientists this week.  Last week we learned some new science terms like data, hypothesis, conclusion, and experiment.  The class is excited to run some experiments and write up our "lab reports".


Our class will be getting some caterpillars in the next few weeks.  We will be observing them as they transform into butterflies.


This last part of the school year tends to get VERY busy here at school and at home!  I am listing below important dates for the rest of the year.
     Monday 4/28:  Peter Pan Field Trip
     Monday 5/5:  Book Fair at 2:00 in the Library; parents welcome!
     Thursday 5/8: $1 for Mr. Allen's gift due
     Friday 5/16:  Three Piggie Opera @ 9:30 in the common room; parents welcome!
     Monday 5/26: Memorial Day No School
     Friday 5/30: Last Spelling Test
     Monday 6/2:  Field Day @ 1:00 front playground; parents welcome!
     Monday 6/9:  Field Day Rain Date @ 1:00 All are invited
     Wednesday 6/18:  Last Day of School!


Homework
Monday 4/28
F Day:  Music
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Monthly Minutes
3.  Spring Word Work

Tuesday 4/29
A Day: Gym
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Monthly Minutes
3.  Math

Wednesday 4/30
B Day: Art and Music
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Monthly Minutes
3.  Blue Journals

Thursday 5/1
C Day: Gym
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Monthly Minutes
3.  Study for tomorrow's spelling test

Friday 5/2
D Day: Library

Have a great week!

Earth Day Projects

The bags we created for Earth Day were used at Palmer's Market this past week.  Some great customers sent pictures of the bags!

 

Make every day earth day!

 

Peek at the Week of April 21-25

I hope everyone had a great Spring Break!  There is no school on Monday, April 21st for students.  I'll see the kids on Tuesday, April 22nd!

We will be starting a new unit in Writing Workshop called "Writing Like a Scientist".  This will involve researching and doing some experiments and writing up our new learning as a 'Lab Report'.



Homework and Specials
Tuesday 4/22
B Day:  Art and Music
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Monthly Minutes
3.  Spring Word Work

Wednesday 4/23
C Day:  Gym
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Monthly Minutes
3.  Math

Thursday 4/24
D Day:  Library
1.  Read for at least 15 mintues
2.  Monthly Minutes
3.  Study for tomorrow's spelling test

Friday 4/25
E Day:  Spanish

 

Have a great weekend!

Earth Day

Mrs. Bock came and did a lesson about Pre-cycling. We learned about making "earth friendly" shopping choices. 

Class Visitors

We were lucky to have some third graders come to our classroom to teach us about life in other countries. 

Mystery Reader

AB was so happy to have her mom as a recent Mystery Reader!

Earth Day Sample

Tomorrow the first graders will be designing earth day "advertisements" on Palmer's Grocery bags. 

Each child will need to bring in any special materials they would like to incorporate in their design. 

Here's a bag made by Miss Dineen. You can see that I used aluminum foil to make the shower head and a bit of cotton for shampoo. 

This is just to give you an idea of what a completed project looks like. 

So gather up your materials tonight!  Grocery bags, crayons, markers, glue, and scissors will be provided. 

Peek at the Week of April 7-11

Thank you for coming to our poetry reading last week.  It was a great show!


Parents are invited to come to work on our Earth Day grocery bag projects this Tuesday, April 8th at 2:30 in the cafeteria  (please note the change of time...the K classes are having their concert at 9:30 so we switched times to make parking easier).  If you have any spare arts and crafts materials, I'm sure we can put it to good use. 


This is the last week before Spring Break.  We will be wrapping up some units of study so that we can have a fresh start after break.


Homework and Specials
Monday 4/7
C Day:  Gym
1.  Read for at least 15 mintues
2.  Monthly Minutes
3.  Spring Word Work


Tuesday 4/8
D Day:  Library
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Monthly Minutes
3.  Math

Wednesday 4/9
E Day:  Spanish
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Monthly Minutes
3.  Blue Journals

Thursday 4/10
F Day:  Music
1. Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Monthly Minutes
3.  Study for tomorrow's spelling test

Friday 4/11
A Day:  Gym

Have a great vacation!