Happy Friday! It is hard to believe that it is December! ⛄ I love this month with the kids because of all of the holiday excitement and fun. You can find a review of our week below.
December 19th: Pajama Day
December 20th - January 2nd: No school...Winter Break
January 17th 10:00 AM: American Heroes Play
Math:
As we finish our third week of learning about place value, the students are really beginning to have an understanding of this concept. It can be a challenging one because it is such an abstract concept. The students learned a new place value game this week that they played with a partner. Each student had a bag of tens (on ten frames) and a bag of ones (on ten frames). One student would choose a number between 1-109 and would write it down on a whiteboard. The other student had to build the number using their bag of tens and ones. This required them to break down the number in their mind into tens and ones and then create it. They loved this game and played for 45 minutes straight one day! This game will go into our math workshop tubs next week where they can go and play with a partner.
Literacy:
During our reader's workshop this week, we learned that good readers "try, try, try again" when reading. We learned that when you get to a tricky word, don't just try one thing! Sometimes one strategy will work on one word but not another. Below are the six strategies we learned. These strategies work for all students no matter their reading level.
1. Read the word left to right
2. Can the pictures help me?
3. Does it make sense?
4. Does it look right?
5. Does it sound right?
6. Do I know any parts of the word?
We also continued our writer's workshop time learning about "how-to" books and the students blew me away with their writing! I challenged them to take their book home and read it to their parents so maybe some of you have seen these. :) It has been fun seeing what they want to teach others how to do in their writing books.
Thematic:
The American heroes that we studied this week were Neil Armstrong and Mae Jemison. We learned about outer space, the moon, the phases of the moon, astronauts, and space shuttles. We practiced our song about Neil Armstrong and they are doing great! Students learned about the phases of the moon by using Oreos and toothpicks (for carving), they created their own astronaut helmets they will wear in the play, they wrote an application to be an astronaut, and they solved math problems that had to do with outer space. Next week we move onto Helen Keller.
Sci-Fri:
HUGE shoutout to Sue Sink for our amazing Sci-Fri today! The students learned about how animals prepare for winter and they each got to make a birdfeeder using cones, sunbutter, birdseed, and yarn. They loved this activity and learning about animal habitats and preparations as we move into the winter months. We need more parents to volunteer for Sci-Fri on Friday afternoons! This is a great way to get involved in our classroom and the kids love it. The science experiment does not have to be anything crazy and I am always happy to send you ideas.
Have a great weekend! I guess we will see what winter weather comes our way. 😁⛄
Love,
Mrs. James
Friday, December 7, 2018
Monday, December 3, 2018
November 26th-30th
Happy Monday! I hope you all had an awesome weekend! Below is a review of our last week in the classroom ands some important upcoming dates and events.
December 19th: Pajama Day
December 20th - January 2nd: No school...Winter Break
January 17th 10:00 AM: American Heroes Play
Play Lines: Thank you for practicing your child's play lines with them! :) If you have not printed them off yet, please do so and highlight your child's lines for them. Our play will be here before we know it and the lines are more difficult than any of the past plays. They are already doing great on their songs in the classroom and we are also beginning to practice their lines.
Guided reading books, blue folders, snacks/lunch, water bottles: We could really use your help with making sure your child is prepared for each school day. We still have students coming to school without the supplies needed for a successful day. Although they love to blame their parents 😉, we would love for them to start taking on the responsibility of checking their bag before school in the morning or the night before. A checklist with pictures might be helpful and taking on this responsibility is a great life skill, especially as we move towards 2nd grade.
Afternoon dismissal: Dismissal begins at 2:45. We know that there will be times when you need to pick up your child early, and we completely understand and respect this. However, we are asking that if you need to pick up before the 2:45 dismissal time, you make arrangements to do so prior to 2:15 as our front desk area is very busy tending to last minute details at that time of the day. Also it is very disruptive to instruction for the phone to ring repeatedly for multiple children to pack updating the last half hour of the day. Once again, we know that emergencies and special circumstances will arise, but we kindly ask that if you need to pick up your child early from school that you do so prior to 2:15 as not to disrupt end-of-day routines and instruction.
Math:
Literacy:
This week during Daily 5, we learned about how reading is similar to juggling. Readers have to juggle or think about three things while reading:
1. Does this sound right?
2. Does this look right?
3. Does this make sense?
Students practiced this strategy while in their guided reading groups with me and while in Daily 5 (read to self and read to someone). We also began a new unit in Writer's Workshop. This month we will be working on "how-to" books and also realistic fiction. Last week we started with "how-to" books and the students loved it! They got to teach others how to do something whether it was how to make cookies, how to ride a bike, how to do a cartwheel, or how to build a lego tower.
Thematic:
December 19th: Pajama Day
December 20th - January 2nd: No school...Winter Break
January 17th 10:00 AM: American Heroes Play
Play Lines: Thank you for practicing your child's play lines with them! :) If you have not printed them off yet, please do so and highlight your child's lines for them. Our play will be here before we know it and the lines are more difficult than any of the past plays. They are already doing great on their songs in the classroom and we are also beginning to practice their lines.
Guided reading books, blue folders, snacks/lunch, water bottles: We could really use your help with making sure your child is prepared for each school day. We still have students coming to school without the supplies needed for a successful day. Although they love to blame their parents 😉, we would love for them to start taking on the responsibility of checking their bag before school in the morning or the night before. A checklist with pictures might be helpful and taking on this responsibility is a great life skill, especially as we move towards 2nd grade.
Afternoon dismissal: Dismissal begins at 2:45. We know that there will be times when you need to pick up your child early, and we completely understand and respect this. However, we are asking that if you need to pick up before the 2:45 dismissal time, you make arrangements to do so prior to 2:15 as our front desk area is very busy tending to last minute details at that time of the day. Also it is very disruptive to instruction for the phone to ring repeatedly for multiple children to pack updating the last half hour of the day. Once again, we know that emergencies and special circumstances will arise, but we kindly ask that if you need to pick up your child early from school that you do so prior to 2:15 as not to disrupt end-of-day routines and instruction.
Math:
We are focusing heavily on place value right now. We learned two new games last week called "Roll the Snowball" and "Place Value: Dice Game." Both of these games focus on identifying ones and tens, comparing numbers, and more than/less than. I am also pulling students one-on-one to conduct the North Carolina Mid-Year Formative Assessment. This assessment assesses the students on what we have learned so far this year. We are also continuing to work on addition, subtraction, and fact families.
Literacy:
This week during Daily 5, we learned about how reading is similar to juggling. Readers have to juggle or think about three things while reading:
1. Does this sound right?
2. Does this look right?
3. Does this make sense?
Students practiced this strategy while in their guided reading groups with me and while in Daily 5 (read to self and read to someone). We also began a new unit in Writer's Workshop. This month we will be working on "how-to" books and also realistic fiction. Last week we started with "how-to" books and the students loved it! They got to teach others how to do something whether it was how to make cookies, how to ride a bike, how to do a cartwheel, or how to build a lego tower.
Thematic:
During our thematic center time, we studied airplanes and flight and specifically studied Orville and Wilbur Wright, Amelia Earhart, and Bessie Coleman and all of their accomplishments. The students loved rotating through the centers while learning about how planes are designed and work, the story of the first flight, and how to make different styles of paper airplanes. This week we are studying Neil Armstrong and Mae Jemison.
Have a great Monday!
Love,
Mrs. James
Friday, November 16, 2018
November 12th-16th
Happy Friday! We had an awesome week with having two field trips! The kids always love getting to ride the school bus. 😊 Thanks to our parent chaperones for coming with us. We will have two more field trips this year...Discovery Place and Gem Mining! We are excited to celebrate Thanksgiving next week and talk about all of the things we are thankful for.
We are planning on having a Thanksgiving Feast for the kids on Tuesday so no need to send in lunch on that day. The menu will consist of mac and cheese, green beans, corn, cornbread, and homemade butter (that we are going to make from heavy whipping cream in class)!
November 21st - 23rd: No school...Happy Thanksgiving!
December 20th - January 2nd: No school...Winter Break
January 17th 10:00 AM: American Heroes Play
Math:
Our math time was shortened this week due to our two field trips but we still got some place value practice in! Students are improving in their ability to express numbers as tens and ones. We are playing many place value games to practice this skill.
Literacy:
Students are doing great with our word study program! They are learning new rules each week so they can apply them when writing during Daily 5. After winter break, we will increase to 10 words each week instead of 5. It will be even more important then to have your child write their words in the "best" column and practice the words doing fun activities.
Thematic:
We studied Mia Hamm and soccer this week during thematic centers. We learned about the rules of soccer, who Mia Hamm is, and got to hear from the FSU girl's soccer team captain! The students loved hearing her talk about her experience playing for Florida State and also professionally for a year. Thank you Melissa Rieser for coordinating this! We learned that soccer balls have both hexagons and pentagons and students created their own paper plate soccer ball by tracing and cutting out these shapes. We also made our own life-size soccer players! Students got to create a team name and logo/mascot. They turned out really well!
Have a great weekend!
Love,
Mrs. James
We are planning on having a Thanksgiving Feast for the kids on Tuesday so no need to send in lunch on that day. The menu will consist of mac and cheese, green beans, corn, cornbread, and homemade butter (that we are going to make from heavy whipping cream in class)!
November 21st - 23rd: No school...Happy Thanksgiving!
December 20th - January 2nd: No school...Winter Break
January 17th 10:00 AM: American Heroes Play
Math:
Our math time was shortened this week due to our two field trips but we still got some place value practice in! Students are improving in their ability to express numbers as tens and ones. We are playing many place value games to practice this skill.
Literacy:
Students are doing great with our word study program! They are learning new rules each week so they can apply them when writing during Daily 5. After winter break, we will increase to 10 words each week instead of 5. It will be even more important then to have your child write their words in the "best" column and practice the words doing fun activities.
Thematic:
We studied Mia Hamm and soccer this week during thematic centers. We learned about the rules of soccer, who Mia Hamm is, and got to hear from the FSU girl's soccer team captain! The students loved hearing her talk about her experience playing for Florida State and also professionally for a year. Thank you Melissa Rieser for coordinating this! We learned that soccer balls have both hexagons and pentagons and students created their own paper plate soccer ball by tracing and cutting out these shapes. We also made our own life-size soccer players! Students got to create a team name and logo/mascot. They turned out really well!
Have a great weekend!
Love,
Mrs. James
Sunday, November 11, 2018
November 5th-9th
Good afternoon! I hope everyone is staying warm and dry today! We are currently having indoor recess and the kids are playing "Four Corners" which they LOVE! 😆 We had a great week and as I make my lesson plans for next week, I realize we are going to have a very busy week!
November 12th Hurricane Make Up Day and Veteran's Day Celebration
November 13th Laurel's Nursing Home 10:30-11:30 AM: Parents are welcome to join us! You may ride the bus or meet us there. I will add this on our Sign Up Genius for the week. We load the bus at CSD at 10:00 AM and the program is from 10:30-11:30 AM and we return to CSD by 12:00 PM.
November 14th Charlotte Children's Theater Field Trip: Please have your child to school by 8:00 am on this day. The bus will leaving CSD at 8:30 am sharp. We will eat lunch when we return to school so send a normal lunch. Please feed your child a big, protein-rich breakfast that will keep them full until lunch.
***I will be sending play lines home for the American Heroes play within the next two weeks. Just an FYI.
Math:
As we dive into our cluster 3 in math, students are learning how to apply their learning of place value in many different ways. They learned two math games this week to practice this skill and demonstrate their knowledge. The first one is called Ten Frames (11-19) and work on the student picking a number (11-19), building it on two tens frames using cubes, and then writing how many tens/ones they have and the corresponding equation. We want them transitioning to seeing numbers as tens and ones. We will continue to build on this knowledge and soon move into 20+ numbers where the students will have to work with more than one "ten."
Literacy:
Students continue to work hard during Daily 5 rotations and have the freedom to move from station to station within our one hour literacy block. We have different "word work" activities for them to do to practice their word study words. This past week we had whiteboards, rainbow word writing, word searches, and stamping. Students are making great progress with their guided reading books and that makes me so happy! Keep having your child read those to you Tuesday-Friday. Repetition with them is key in developing many crucial skills.
Thematic:
We studied Jackie Robinson and baseball this week during our thematic unit time. BIG thank you to Andy Cook (Laine's dad) for coming in to talk to us about baseball and his time playing baseball professionally. The kids loved having him here and were so excited that they each got one of his baseball cards. We started learning our "Break the Barrier" song that we will perform at our American Heroes play in January. We spent time reading and learning about Jackie Robinson and all of the things he had to overcome in his baseball career. The kids favorite center was making a baseball necklace out of a washer! They had to also write three facts they learned about baseball. I am turning it into a book that will travel home with different students each night. Next week we are studying soccer and Mia Hamm and will have another guest speaker from FSU's girl soccer team (thank you Melissa Rieser for the connection)!
Love,
Mrs. James
Friday, November 2, 2018
October 29th - November 2nd
Happy Friday! We all survived the two days after Halloween. 😜 Surprisingly, yesterday and today have been great in our classroom which I did not expect to happen. We had a busy but fun week with celebrating Halloween, beginning a new math cluster, learning about Wilma Rudolph, and completing week two of word sorts!
Laurel Nursing Home Dates 10:30-11:30 AM: Below are the four dates that we will go to the Laurel's Nursing Home if you want to put them on your calendar. Parents are welcome to join us! You may ride the bus or meet us there. We load the bus at CSD at 10:00 AM and the program is from 10:30-11:30 AM and we return to CSD by 12:00 PM.
- Tuesday, November 13th
- Tuesday, January 8th
- Tuesday, March 12th
- Tuesday, May 7th
November 12th Hurricane Make Up Day and Veteran's Day Celebration
November 14th Charlotte Children's Theater Field Trip: Please have your child to school by 8:00 am on this day. The bus will leaving CSD at 8:30 am sharp. We will eat lunch when we return to school so send a normal lunch. We will not have time for a morning snack so please feed your child a big breakfast to keep them full until lunch.
Math:
We officially began Cluster 3 this week which is all about "place value." As students work with two-digit numbers, they learn that the digits represent amounts of tens and ones. Then they use that knowledge to compare numbers to see which are less than, equal to, or greater than other numbers. In this cluster, students will learn to count up from any given start number within 150. Students will learn to group objects by tens and left-overs as an efficient way to count larger groups of objects. They will write down the number of groups of tens and ones as well as the total number of objects. A variety of objects will be used for counting but we will mainly use unifix cubes. Students will also learn to count items in a picture by circling groups of tens to help find the total. This understanding of place value is foundational as students build fluency with addition and subtraction.
Literacy:
Students did awesome on our second week of word sorts! They have actually learned to love them and find them fun and challenging. 😊 Before the students are sent to Daily 5, I teach a mini-lesson that involves a reading strategy. This week we focused on the idea of "Juggling All Three Balls." Reader's don't only do one thing when we get to a word. We need to do at least three: (1) think about what makes sense; (2) think about how a book sounds; and (3) think about what looks right. This is a great thing to encourage your child to do while reading at home!
Thematic:
We continued learning about Wilma Rudolph this week as we begin our American Heroes and Famous Athletes unit. Next week, we will move onto Jackie Robinson. The other athletes we will learn about are Mia Hamm, Michael Jordan, and Michelle Kwan. We learned about Venn diagrams and how to use them to compare and contrast things or people. Students created a Venn diagram comparing themselves to Wilma Rudolph. Students thought about ways they are different than Wilma and the same as Wilma. Students also got to complete an obstacle course that I created that involved sprinting, jumping sides, and side shuffling. They got to run the course three times to see if they could improve their time. They loved this activity!
Have a great weekend!
Love,
Mrs. James
Saturday, October 27, 2018
October 22nd-26th
Happy Friday! We were happy to have a normal week in our classroom. 😁 Students were excited to begin word sorts again and did great on their first week! We also began our American Heroes unit and talked about what is a hero and what characteristics a hero has. We will study many different athletes and heroes such as Wilma Rudolph, Jackie Robinson, The Wright Brothers, Neil Armstrong, Rosa Parks and MLK Jr, Helen Keller, and Eleanor Roosevelt. Our American Heroes play will be on Thursday, January 17th at 10:00 AM. Be sure to mark your calendars! This is my favorite play that we do.
October 31st Parade of Fiction 8:45 AM: Parents are invited to come watch their child walk in the parade. Your child needs to dress up as their favorite book character and will carry the corresponding book with them in the parade. No weapons or scary masks. Please have them come to school already dressed in their costume. They may bring a change of clothes for after if wanted. Parents of students in 1st grade are asked to stand in the Middle School Gym to watch the parade.
Laurel Nursing Home Dates 10:30-11:30 AM: Below are the four dates that we will go to the Laurel's Nursing Home if you want to put them on your calendar. Parents are welcome to join us! You may ride the bus or meet us there. We load the bus at CSD at 10:00 AM and the program is from 10:30-11:30 AM and we return to CSD by 12:00 PM.
- Tuesday, November 13th
- Tuesday, January 8th
- Tuesday, March 12th
- Tuesday, May 7th
November 12th Hurricane Make Up Day and Veteran's Day Celebration
November 14th Charlotte Children's Theater Field Trip: Please have your child to school by 8:00 am on this day. The bus will leaving CSD at 8:30 am sharp.
Math:
As we finish up Cluster 2 in math, we are working heavily on addition and subtraction. Cluster 3 will be learning about place value. I taught the students about number bonds this week and we practiced solving different equations where the addend was missing or the sum was missing. Below is an example. These are GREAT to practice at home! We differentiate by choosing different numbers to meet the needs of all students.
Literacy:
Students did a great job as I introduced word sorts back into their normal routine. Below is our weekly literacy schedule. While I am pulling small groups for guided reading and word sorts, Mrs. Rumburg is pulling small groups for Handwriting Without Tears. During our writer's workshop time this week, we worked on the skill of "writing for our readers" and made very detailed and interesting books.
Monday: Daily 5 and Word Study
Tuesday: Daily 5 and Guided Reading Groups
Wednesday: Daily 5 and Word Sorts
Thursday: Writer's Workshop
Friday: Daily 5 and Spell Check
Thematic:
As mentioned above, we began our American Heroes unit this week! We have already started practicing the songs for the play. We will study all of the famous athletes first and then move into the heroes. Wilma Rudolph was our first athlete that we studied and we had many conversations about hard work, dedication, and not giving up even when things are hard. We read the book Wilma Unlimited which told us the story of Wilma and how she persevered and became the fastest woman in the world. We also set and wrote three personal goals for the school year and these can be found out in the hallway.
Have a great weekend!
Love, Mrs. James
Have a great weekend!
Love, Mrs. James
Monday, October 15, 2018
October 8th-12th
Happy Monday! It seems that a "normal" week of school is hard to come by these days. 😊 Thank you all for coming to pickup your child promptly when we lost power last week. I know it can be tricky to have to leave work early so we appreciate it. We are excited to see all of you this Thursday and Friday at the CSD Kickball Festival and the Fairy Tale Ball! Your child brought home an invitation today for the ball that had all of the details on it and they are also listed below.
October 18th CSD Kickball Festival 4:00-8:00 PM: This event is for the whole family. See you there!
October 19th Fairy Tale Ball 8:30-10:30 AM: Please have your child come in their fairy tale costume to school. They can bring a change of clothes for after the ball if they would like. Please arrive to the elementary gym at 8:15 AM to get a spot around the perimeter of the gym to watch the student's dance. The two dances they learned in music and Spanish class will begin at 8:30 AM.
October 31st Parade of Fiction 8:30 AM: Parents are invited to come watch their child walk in the Parade of Fiction! Your child needs to dress up as their favorite book character. They will carry the corresponding book with them in the parade. No weapons of any kind and no scary masks.
Have a great week!
Love,
Mrs. James
October 18th CSD Kickball Festival 4:00-8:00 PM: This event is for the whole family. See you there!
October 19th Fairy Tale Ball 8:30-10:30 AM: Please have your child come in their fairy tale costume to school. They can bring a change of clothes for after the ball if they would like. Please arrive to the elementary gym at 8:15 AM to get a spot around the perimeter of the gym to watch the student's dance. The two dances they learned in music and Spanish class will begin at 8:30 AM.
October 31st Parade of Fiction 8:30 AM: Parents are invited to come watch their child walk in the Parade of Fiction! Your child needs to dress up as their favorite book character. They will carry the corresponding book with them in the parade. No weapons of any kind and no scary masks.
Math:
Cluster 2 of our math curriculum has mainly focused on addition and subtraction within 20. We have practiced through story problems, roll and record, and many other games. Students have recorded their equations on paper as they play the games so they practice number writing and equation writing. Tomorrow we are learning how to play roll and record subtraction (instead of the normal addition). It is important for students to learn addition and subtraction at the same time so they understand how they are related. Our next cluster that we will move into is all about place value and how it relates to addition and subtraction.
Literacy:
Last week we moved onto another unit during our Writer's Workshop time. We finished up our small moment stories and learned about "writing for your readers." We talked about all of the qualities and characteristics that make up a good book and what we should include in our own books so that others want to read it. We talked about including lots of details in our pictures, multiple sentences, an interesting storyline, many different characters, and an attention-grabbing picture on the front cover. The students did great with their first week on these books! We continued with our Daily 5 and guided reading groups.
Thematic:
Last week we studied Rapunzel and talked about the storyline in this fairy tale. Students got to make popsicle stick puppets so that they can reenact the story for friends. They practiced reenacting it with a friend after creating the puppets. Students also learned how to braid yellow yarn and created Rapunzel's tower using different art mediums. Students also did a sequencing activity where they had to put pictures from the story in order. We will wrap up our fairy tales unit this Friday!Have a great week!
Love,
Mrs. James
Sunday, September 30, 2018
September 24th-28th
Happy Sunday! I apologize that I have not been getting my blog out on Friday like I usually do. I normally type my blog and do the Sign Up Genius during my morning planning time, but our team has missed 4 planning periods recently due to holidays and the hurricane. We have been meeting on Friday mornings so I have not had the time to type this. Hopefully we will all be back on track soon!
As parent conferences and report cards are quickly approaching, I am using a large chunk of the day to assess students. Last week I was busy with running records and sight words and this week I am planning on assessing math, spelling, and writing. All of this will be ready to share with you at parent conferences in two weeks. The Sign Up Genius was just sent out for conferences. Because we lost the teacher workday that consisted of parent conferences, I have generously been given a half-day sub for Tuesday morning (Oct. 16th) so that I can finish up conferences.
October 11th Make-up School Day (from the hurricane)
October 12th Teacher Workday: Parent Conferences
October 16th AM Conferences available
October 18th CSD Kickball Festival 4:00-8:00 PM: This event is for the whole family! Be sure to mark your calendars. 😁
October 19th Fairy Tale Ball 8:30-10:30 AM: You can now start thinking about your child's costume for the ball! They can dress up as any fairy tale character. Please no weapons of any kind (guns, swords, knives, etc.) We will send out a Sign Up Genius as we get closer for parent volunteers. The students have started learning their salsa dance in Spanish class that they will perform at 8:30 AM for us all.
October 31st Parade of Fiction (time TBD usually 8:30AM): Parents are invited to come watch their child walk in the Parade of Fiction! Your child needs to dress up as their favorite book character. They will carry the corresponding book with them in the parade. No weapons of any kind and no scary masks.
Have an awesome week!
Love,
Mrs. James
As parent conferences and report cards are quickly approaching, I am using a large chunk of the day to assess students. Last week I was busy with running records and sight words and this week I am planning on assessing math, spelling, and writing. All of this will be ready to share with you at parent conferences in two weeks. The Sign Up Genius was just sent out for conferences. Because we lost the teacher workday that consisted of parent conferences, I have generously been given a half-day sub for Tuesday morning (Oct. 16th) so that I can finish up conferences.
October 11th Make-up School Day (from the hurricane)
October 12th Teacher Workday: Parent Conferences
October 16th AM Conferences available
October 18th CSD Kickball Festival 4:00-8:00 PM: This event is for the whole family! Be sure to mark your calendars. 😁
October 19th Fairy Tale Ball 8:30-10:30 AM: You can now start thinking about your child's costume for the ball! They can dress up as any fairy tale character. Please no weapons of any kind (guns, swords, knives, etc.) We will send out a Sign Up Genius as we get closer for parent volunteers. The students have started learning their salsa dance in Spanish class that they will perform at 8:30 AM for us all.
October 31st Parade of Fiction (time TBD usually 8:30AM): Parents are invited to come watch their child walk in the Parade of Fiction! Your child needs to dress up as their favorite book character. They will carry the corresponding book with them in the parade. No weapons of any kind and no scary masks.
Math:
Last week we moved onto Cluster 2 of our math curriculum which is "building a conceptual understanding of addition and subtraction within 20 and developing fact fluency within 10." We want students to become familiar and confident when solving addition problems when finding the sum or a missing addend. Students learned two new games last week to practice these skills. Roll and Record Addition and Seashell Addition. In Roll and Record Addition, the student would roll two dice, add them together, and color in the corresponding box for the sum they found. They would then write the equation for the combination they rolled. In Seashell addition, students were working on combinations of 12. They had a ziplock bag full of *paper* seashells...some were clam shells and some were spiral shells. They pulled 12 out of the bag and made two groups. They counted to see how many of each shell they had and then recorded the addition equation.
Literacy:
We launched our last part of Daily 5 this week which is "Work Work." Students can come to this station to practice their word study words. The fun activities we have rotate each week and may consist of wiki sticks, shaving cream, word searches, rainbow words, play dough words, secret code spelling etc. This past week, students practice their words by using play dough and doing rainbow words. Now that our Daily 5 is fully launched, students have the freedom to rotate through all 5 stations. Some students may only do 2 stations in a day while another student may do 4. They have the freedom to clean up and move as wanted. This allows me time to pull for guided reading groups, handwriting practice, word sorts, etc.
Thematic:
We started learning about the fairy tale "Rumpelstiltskin" this past week and will continue studying it this week. We have read many different versions and we are also focusing on practicing spelling classmates names, as that ties into the story. On Friday, students wrote all of their classmates names on a chart and could compare how many letters it had versus Rumpelstiltskin's name. Students also wrote a writing piece about how they would trick Rumpelstiltskin if given the opportunity. They were so creative! Their favorite activity that we did was making Rumpelstiltskin's gold coins and they got to eat them when done. They had to follow step-by-step instructions and used vanilla wafers, icing, bananas, and gold sprinkles to create the gold coins. It was definitely a hit!
Science:
Thank you Mrs. Sue Sink for being our first parent volunteer for Sci-Fri! We LOVE having parents come in and this is a great way to get involved in our classroom and get to know the students! You can teach any science experiment that you would like. If you need help with ideas, I am happy to send some ideas your way that correspond with our curriculum! Mrs. Sue did an amazing experiment that directly aligned with our curriculum about force and motion. Students all got to participate in a pendulum painting. We had a great class conversation about force, motion, and gravity in our everyday life.Have an awesome week!
Love,
Mrs. James
Friday, September 21, 2018
September 17th-21st
Good evening parents! What a crazy two weeks we have had! It was nice to have some extra days off school, but it will be nice to get back to our normal schedule next week. 😊 We squeezed in as much as we could in three days of school this week and the students did great with their second week of word study! Just a reminder that they will bring home their binder on Monday with their new words (and you can see their spell check from the previous week then). Next week will begin our third week of word study and each week will bring new markings for the students to learn.
October 11th Make-up School Day (from the hurricane)
October 12th Teacher Workday- Parent Conferences: Please reserve this day for conferences. Admin has kindly offered to get us a sub on another day so that I can have two full days of parent conferences to fit everyone in. I will let you know the date of this as soon as I find out.
October 18th CSD Kickball Festival 4:00-8:00 PM: This event is for the whole family! Be sure to mark your calendars. 😁
October 19th Fairy Tale Ball 8:30-10:30 AM: You can now start thinking about your child's costume for the ball! They can dress up as any fairy tale character. Please no weapons of any kind (guns, swords, knives, etc.) We will send out a Sign Up Genius as we get closer for parent volunteers. The students have started learning their salsa dance in Spanish class that they will perform at 8:30 AM for us all.
- Have your child point to each word as they read. This is so beneficial because we are able to see if they are tracking, skipping words, or understanding the concept of saying one word and pointing to one word.
- If your child misses specific sight words in the book repeatedly, write them down and practice them later on when you practice word study. Sight words are essential for them to learn and memorize in this phase of learning to read. You may notice that I write down sight words on a sticky note that I have noticed them struggling with. You can find a fun way to practice these!
- Ask comprehension questions all throughout the book to make sure they are understanding the story.
- Have them retell the story to you once the book is over to see how much they remember.
- Encourage them to read with expression once they have read the book two or three times. This is one of the reasons we have them read the same book for three nights.
- Encourage them to use our Beanie Baby Strategies we learned last night when they come to a word they struggled to decode. If you want a copy of these to print out for home, I will be happy to email them to you!
October 11th Make-up School Day (from the hurricane)
October 12th Teacher Workday- Parent Conferences: Please reserve this day for conferences. Admin has kindly offered to get us a sub on another day so that I can have two full days of parent conferences to fit everyone in. I will let you know the date of this as soon as I find out.
October 18th CSD Kickball Festival 4:00-8:00 PM: This event is for the whole family! Be sure to mark your calendars. 😁
October 19th Fairy Tale Ball 8:30-10:30 AM: You can now start thinking about your child's costume for the ball! They can dress up as any fairy tale character. Please no weapons of any kind (guns, swords, knives, etc.) We will send out a Sign Up Genius as we get closer for parent volunteers. The students have started learning their salsa dance in Spanish class that they will perform at 8:30 AM for us all.
Guided Reading Books:
Thank you for taking such good care of our guided reading books and remembering to send them back on Friday's! I highly suggest that whenever your child reads the book to you, they put it right back in their reading bag when they are done so it doesn't get lost. That way they know exactly where it is when Friday arrives. Below are some tips for guided reading and things that we do during our guided reading group that may help you at home.- Have your child point to each word as they read. This is so beneficial because we are able to see if they are tracking, skipping words, or understanding the concept of saying one word and pointing to one word.
- If your child misses specific sight words in the book repeatedly, write them down and practice them later on when you practice word study. Sight words are essential for them to learn and memorize in this phase of learning to read. You may notice that I write down sight words on a sticky note that I have noticed them struggling with. You can find a fun way to practice these!
- Ask comprehension questions all throughout the book to make sure they are understanding the story.
- Have them retell the story to you once the book is over to see how much they remember.
- Encourage them to read with expression once they have read the book two or three times. This is one of the reasons we have them read the same book for three nights.
- Encourage them to use our Beanie Baby Strategies we learned last night when they come to a word they struggled to decode. If you want a copy of these to print out for home, I will be happy to email them to you!
Word Study:
Please have your child write their spelling words in their "best" handwriting column as some point during the week. I highly encourage your child to practice the words during the week if they do not know them already. Make it fun! There is a list of activities in the "handouts" section of their binder. We notice a strong correlation with the students who know their words when the spell check comes on Friday. They are the students who do their "best" handwriting section and practice the words during the week. They also practice explaining the markings to their parents so they understand the "why" behind the spelling rules. Thanks for helping your child in this way!
Math:
Students were able to rotate through 8 different tubs during our math workshop time. These tubs included games such as Grab Bags, Start With Get To, Get the Goof, and Red Bird Yellow Bird. Get the Goof is one of our newer games where students have to investigate a series of numbers to figure out what is missing. They then rewrite the number series in the correct way. Red Bird Yellow Bird is our newest game where students are working on combinations of 10. They use a ten frame to organize and show their thinking and record their findings on a chart. We are finished with "Cluster 1" of math now and are moving on to "Cluster 2" which is addition and subtraction.
Literacy:
Students did very well with their second week of word study! We also had guided reading groups on Tuesday which is always my favorite. I love reading with the students in small groups and getting to work on their individual needs. We will soon begin doing word sorts on Wednesdays during our Daily 5 time. I introduced our fourth element of Daily 5 this week which is "Work on Writing." The students were thrilled! They are able to go to our writing table or can write at any of the normal tables. They are able to work on our monthly writing topic or any other free choice topic. I will soon introduce the last element of Daily 5 which is "Word Work" and this is where they practice their spelling words in fun ways!
Thematic:
We wrapped up learning about Jack and the Beanstalk this week and are moving onto Rumpelstiltskin next week. Students got to make their own beanstalk by using paper and linking it together. They had to keep linking the paper until the beanstalk was as tall as them. They then counted how many links there were and recorded it on one of the leaves. We also did another measuring activity where they used non-standard measurement tools (unifix cubes, paper clips, pennies, etc) to measure a beanstalk.
Have an awesome weekend!
Love,
Mrs. James
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
September 3rd-7th
Happy Tuesday! I hope you all are enjoying the four-day weekend as a family...I know the kids are. 😉 We had a great week last week! Celebrating my birthday on Friday with our sweet students was the cherry on top.
September 10th, 11th, 19th: No school
September 18th 8:30 AM-1:00 PM Walking Tour of Davidson: I just sent out the Sign Up Genius for parents chaperones. We would love to have as many parent walkers as possible to make this a fun and safe field trip. We will leave CSD at 8:30 AM to walk to Davidson and will return around 12:30-1:00. Please make sure your child wears comfortable clothes on this day.
October 18th CSD Kickball Festival: This event is for the whole family! Be sure to mark your calendars. We still need a parent volunteer from our classroom to help plan the first grade booth. 😁
October 19th Fairy Tale Ball 8:30-10:30 AM: You can now start thinking about your child's costume for the ball! They can dress up as any fairy tale character. Please no weapons of any kind (guns, swords, knives, etc.) We will send out a Sign Up Genius as we get closer for parent volunteers. The students have started learning their salsa dance in Spanish class that they will perform at 8:30 AM for us all.
Love and Logic Parent Classes with Marianne:
https://www.signupgenius.com/
https://www.signupgenius.com/
Have a wonderful day!
Love,
Mrs. James
September 10th, 11th, 19th: No school
September 18th 8:30 AM-1:00 PM Walking Tour of Davidson: I just sent out the Sign Up Genius for parents chaperones. We would love to have as many parent walkers as possible to make this a fun and safe field trip. We will leave CSD at 8:30 AM to walk to Davidson and will return around 12:30-1:00. Please make sure your child wears comfortable clothes on this day.
October 18th CSD Kickball Festival: This event is for the whole family! Be sure to mark your calendars. We still need a parent volunteer from our classroom to help plan the first grade booth. 😁
October 19th Fairy Tale Ball 8:30-10:30 AM: You can now start thinking about your child's costume for the ball! They can dress up as any fairy tale character. Please no weapons of any kind (guns, swords, knives, etc.) We will send out a Sign Up Genius as we get closer for parent volunteers. The students have started learning their salsa dance in Spanish class that they will perform at 8:30 AM for us all.
Love and Logic Parent Classes with Marianne:
https://www.signupgenius.com/
https://www.signupgenius.com/
Math:
Our math lessons last week revolved around the activity "Start With, Get To" and the skills that were required to complete this game. I am sure you saw this sheet come home in your child's folder and maybe they explained to you how to play. This game works on many different math skills and was challenging for all students. Student played the game with one partner and it started out by one student picking a number of out a bag. They worked as a team to create a tower with that many cubes. Then the second student picked another number out of the bag and they had to change their tower to now represent the new number. This required them to add or subtract to reach the new number. The last step was them recording whether they added, subtracted, or there was no change. We will continue to play this game this week and will add it to our math tubs!
Literacy:
All of the students did GREAT on our first week of word study! They were very excited to get started and to get their spelling words. 😊 Thank you for having them do their "best" handwriting column at home and for encouraging them to practice their words. There is always a strong, positive correlation when students practice their words doing the week and take their spell check on Friday. Always make it fun for them! Refer to the "handouts" section in your child's binder for ideas. No word study this week since it's a short week. The students also did great on their third week of guided reading groups and were excited to bring home their books to read to you. We also introduced our third portion of Daily 5 which is "Listen to Reading." I taught the students how to use the CD player and I called over pairs of students to pick out and listen to a story together. We haven't gotten through all partner groups yet but we will the rest of this week.
Thematic:
Last week we finished up Little Red Riding Hood during our thematic study time. The basket weaving was definitely a hit! Students learned how to use construction paper strips to weave a basket like Little Red's that she carried. These are hanging in the classroom and you can come see them on the day of the Fairy Tale Ball. Students also got an opportunity to work on the cardinal directions by creating a map of the setting in Little Red Riding Hood. This week we will begin studying Jack and the Beanstalk and will read different versions and begin new centers!Have a wonderful day!
Love,
Mrs. James
Monday, September 3, 2018
August 27th-31st
Happy Labor Day! I hope you all had a wonderful and restful weekend! Thank you to everyone who came to curriculum night last week. It was great to see all of you and I really appreciate you taking the time to invest in your child's school year. We are off to a great start in first grade and it's only going to get better with time! 😁
***This week we begin our word study program and our guided reading groups.
Word Study: Word Study binders will come home tomorrow and need to be brought back on Friday. Please have your child write their words in the third column ("best column") in their best handwriting. I highly encourage your child to practice their words in fun ways at home! A list of suggestions can be found in the "handouts" section in their binder.
Guided Reading Groups: Your child's book will be sent home tomorrow and need to be brought back on Friday also. Please have your child read this book to you every night that it is home.
September 10th, 11th, 19th: No school
September 18th 8:30 AM-1:00 PM Walking Tour of Davidson: We are so excited to still get to go on this field trip! Because it was rained out last spring, we decided the kids should still have this amazing opportunity to go explore Davidson and meet our community helpers. Community helpers, cardinal directions, and maps are all a big part of our social studies curriculum. We will need parent chaperones to walk with us so put this date on your calendar if you are interested. More details to come!
October 18th CSD Kickball Festival: This event is for the whole family! Be sure to mark your calendars. We still need a parent volunteer from our classroom to help plan the first grade booth. 😁
October 19th Fairy Tale Ball 8:30-10:30 AM: The kids are all SO excited for this event! We plan and throw a Fairy Tale Ball for all first graders to attend. Students dress up as their favorite fairy tale character and they rotate through different stations/activities over the course of two hours. Parents are welcome to come and watch the very beginning of the ball when the students will do a group dance. This portion will last about 10 minutes. We will also need parent volunteers to help run the stations. More details to come but mark this date on your calendar. You won't want to miss it!
Have a great week!
Love,
Mrs. James
***This week we begin our word study program and our guided reading groups.
Word Study: Word Study binders will come home tomorrow and need to be brought back on Friday. Please have your child write their words in the third column ("best column") in their best handwriting. I highly encourage your child to practice their words in fun ways at home! A list of suggestions can be found in the "handouts" section in their binder.
Guided Reading Groups: Your child's book will be sent home tomorrow and need to be brought back on Friday also. Please have your child read this book to you every night that it is home.
September 10th, 11th, 19th: No school
September 18th 8:30 AM-1:00 PM Walking Tour of Davidson: We are so excited to still get to go on this field trip! Because it was rained out last spring, we decided the kids should still have this amazing opportunity to go explore Davidson and meet our community helpers. Community helpers, cardinal directions, and maps are all a big part of our social studies curriculum. We will need parent chaperones to walk with us so put this date on your calendar if you are interested. More details to come!
October 18th CSD Kickball Festival: This event is for the whole family! Be sure to mark your calendars. We still need a parent volunteer from our classroom to help plan the first grade booth. 😁
October 19th Fairy Tale Ball 8:30-10:30 AM: The kids are all SO excited for this event! We plan and throw a Fairy Tale Ball for all first graders to attend. Students dress up as their favorite fairy tale character and they rotate through different stations/activities over the course of two hours. Parents are welcome to come and watch the very beginning of the ball when the students will do a group dance. This portion will last about 10 minutes. We will also need parent volunteers to help run the stations. More details to come but mark this date on your calendar. You won't want to miss it!
Math
Students continued to practice our "grab bag" game that works on counting, one-to-one correspondence, estimating, using 10 frames to organize and count cubes, figuring out how many more to make 20, and recording their findings on a chart. They have mastered this activity so it will now go into one of our eight tubs. This week I will introduce a new game called "Start With. Get To." Students will pull a card with a number on it and they will make a tower with that many cubes. They will pull another card and they have to change the tower to match the new number (adding or subtracting cubes). They will have to record both of these numbers on a chart and then write what change they had to make (ex. add 4, subtract 6, etc.). Addition and subtraction should always be taught simultaneously and this activity is perfect for that!
Literacy:
We continued to build our stamina with "read to self" and "read to someone" doing our Daily 5 time. The students are doing well with this and especially love the "read to someone" portion. I will introduce "listen to reading" this week at our listening station. We have around 60 books on CD that the students can go listen to and follow along in the book. We have already done guided reading groups for two weeks but this week will be the first week that the books come home. We will also begin our word study program this week and some of this will happen during our literacy time.
Thematic:
We finished studying Cinderella and began our next fairy tale which is Little Red Riding Hood. We love to find all of the different versions to read of each story. We have continued to talk about the "elements of a fairy tale" and which ones exist in is each story. We are also intertwining learning about map and the cardinal directions into this curriculum. It is easy to do when we are learning about the different fairy tale kingdoms or settings in the storiesHave a great week!
Love,
Mrs. James
Friday, August 24, 2018
August 20th - 24th
Happy, happy Friday! We had a wonderful second week of school in our classroom. We began many new things that the students were very excited about. This week was full of book buddies, learning to write on our green line paper, beginning our fairy tales unit, and much more!
August 27th Class Pictures: St. John Photography will be taking our class and individual student pictures on the 27th. Make sure to dress your child in what you want them to be wearing in their pictures.
August 29th 6:00-7:30 PM Curriculum Night: Note the time change! Due to parent and staff feedback over the years, they have reduced curriculum night to two sessions.
August 30th 9:00 AM Parent Volunteer Training: This will be held in the elementary music room.
September 3rd, 10th, 11th, 19th: No school
September 18th 8:30 AM-1:00 PM Walking Tour of Davidson: We are so excited to still get to go on this field trip! Because it was rained out last spring, we decided the kids should still have this amazing opportunity to go explore Davidson and meet our community helpers. Community helpers, cardinal directions, and maps are all a big part of our social studies curriculum. We will need parent chaperones to walk with us so put this date on your calendar if you are interested. More details to come!
October 18th CSD Kickball Festival: This event is for the whole family! Be sure to mark your calendars.
October 19th Fairy Tale Ball 8:30-10:30 AM: The kids are all SO excited for this event! We plan and throw a Fairy Tale Ball for all first graders to attend. Students dress up as their favorite fairy tale character and they rotate through different stations/activities over the course of two hours. Parents are welcome to come and watch the very beginning of the ball when the students will do a group dance. This portion will last about 10 minutes. We will also need parent volunteers to help run the stations. More details to come but mark this date on your calendar. You won't want to miss it!
***Parent volunteers will start the week of Labor Day. We have changed our park time this year to Thursdays from 1:00-2:00 PM.
1. Read to Self
2. Read to Someone
3. Listen to Reading
4. Work on Writing
5. Work Work
While students independently work at these stations, I am able to call them over to work in small groups on handwriting, word sorts, and guided reading. We also learned how to write on our green line paper this week and the students were VERY excited. You should have seen this work come home in your child's folder. I will explain all of this to you at curriculum night because this will lead into our word study program.
1. Students created an art project and wrote what they would wish for if they had a fairy godmother.
2. Students used pattern blocks to build their own castle and then stencils to recreate the castle on paper. They had to record how many of each shape.
3. Students learned about the cardinal directions (north, south, east, west) and had to draw different parts of the fairy kingdom using the compass.
4. Students colored and created their own props, characters, and scenery in order to retell the story of Cinderella. I encouraged them all to come home and act out the story for you with their items.
Have a great weekend!
Love,
Mrs. James
August 27th Class Pictures: St. John Photography will be taking our class and individual student pictures on the 27th. Make sure to dress your child in what you want them to be wearing in their pictures.
August 29th 6:00-7:30 PM Curriculum Night: Note the time change! Due to parent and staff feedback over the years, they have reduced curriculum night to two sessions.
6:00-6:40 PM
6:50-7:30 PM
Please, please make every effort to attend one of these two sessions. I will discuss the first grade curriculum, expectations of students in the classroom, our field trips and performances, our first grade word study program, student/parent/teacher communication, and much more! If you cannot attend, please let me know and I will send home the information packet from the event.August 30th 9:00 AM Parent Volunteer Training: This will be held in the elementary music room.
September 3rd, 10th, 11th, 19th: No school
September 18th 8:30 AM-1:00 PM Walking Tour of Davidson: We are so excited to still get to go on this field trip! Because it was rained out last spring, we decided the kids should still have this amazing opportunity to go explore Davidson and meet our community helpers. Community helpers, cardinal directions, and maps are all a big part of our social studies curriculum. We will need parent chaperones to walk with us so put this date on your calendar if you are interested. More details to come!
October 18th CSD Kickball Festival: This event is for the whole family! Be sure to mark your calendars.
October 19th Fairy Tale Ball 8:30-10:30 AM: The kids are all SO excited for this event! We plan and throw a Fairy Tale Ball for all first graders to attend. Students dress up as their favorite fairy tale character and they rotate through different stations/activities over the course of two hours. Parents are welcome to come and watch the very beginning of the ball when the students will do a group dance. This portion will last about 10 minutes. We will also need parent volunteers to help run the stations. More details to come but mark this date on your calendar. You won't want to miss it!
***Parent volunteers will start the week of Labor Day. We have changed our park time this year to Thursdays from 1:00-2:00 PM.
Math:
We began our new first grade math curriculum this week that was constructed by the NC Department of Education. I am very impressed so far with it! The activity that the students completed this week required them to work in pairs and it worked on the skills of one-to-one correspondence, estimating, using 10 frames to organize and count cubes, figuring out how many more to make 20, and recording their findings on a chart. The students began by choosing a brown paper bag with a letter written on it. They had to estimate how many cubes they thought were in the bag and then take the cubes out and actually count them. They placed them on the ten frames as they counted to work on their visualization and counting on. Lastly, they had to figure out how many more cubes they would need to make 20. This was a challenging task because there were 4 steps they had to complete for each bag and they also had to record all of it on their chart. They were doing very well by the fourth day of working on it!
Literacy:
We continued to set up our Daily 5 time this week by practicing our "Read to Self" time. We began last week with only 3 minutes of "Read to Self" and we have worked up to 12 minutes! This is great because in order to add time, all students have to be focused with their reading and without distraction. Next week I will introduce the second portion of the Daily 5 which is "Read to Someone." We will build each week until I have introduced all 5 of the elements which include:1. Read to Self
2. Read to Someone
3. Listen to Reading
4. Work on Writing
5. Work Work
While students independently work at these stations, I am able to call them over to work in small groups on handwriting, word sorts, and guided reading. We also learned how to write on our green line paper this week and the students were VERY excited. You should have seen this work come home in your child's folder. I will explain all of this to you at curriculum night because this will lead into our word study program.
Thematic:
This week we kicked off our fairy tale unit by studying the elements of a fairy tale such as magic, good vs. evil, castles, and forests, happy endings, and "Once upon a time." We began with the story of Cinderella. We read many different versions of the story and compared and contrasted them. Students rotated through four centers this week that worked on different skills in each.1. Students created an art project and wrote what they would wish for if they had a fairy godmother.
2. Students used pattern blocks to build their own castle and then stencils to recreate the castle on paper. They had to record how many of each shape.
3. Students learned about the cardinal directions (north, south, east, west) and had to draw different parts of the fairy kingdom using the compass.
4. Students colored and created their own props, characters, and scenery in order to retell the story of Cinderella. I encouraged them all to come home and act out the story for you with their items.
Have a great weekend!
Love,
Mrs. James
Friday, August 17, 2018
Our First Week of First Grade
HAPPY FRIDAY! 🎉
We had an amazing first week in our classroom and we are so excited for the rest of this school year. It is so fun having all of our sweet students again and seeing the growth they made over the summer in different areas. Please read below about our important upcoming dates and announcements for first grade.
August 27th Class Pictures: St. John Photography will be taking our class and individual student pictures on the 27th. The pictures usually turn out very well because they are candid shots taken outside. Make sure to dress your child in what you want them to be wearing in their pictures. :)
August 29th 6:00-7:30 PM Curriculum Night: Note the time change! Due to parent and staff feedback over the years, they have reduced curriculum night to two sessions.
6:00-6:40 PM
6:50-7:30 PM
Please, please make every effort to attend one of these two sessions. I will discuss the first grade curriculum, expectations of students in the classroom, our field trips and performances, our first grade word study program, student/parent/teacher communication, and much more! If you cannot attend, please let me know and I will send home the information packet from the event.September 18th 8:30 AM-1:00 PM Walking Tour of Davidson: We are so excited to still get to go on this field trip! Because it was rained out last spring, we decided the kids should still have this amazing opportunity to go explore Davidson and meet our community helpers. Community helpers, cardinal directions, and maps are all a big part of our social studies curriculum. We will need parent chaperones to walk with us so put this date on your calendar if you are interested. More details to come!
October 19th Fairy Tale Ball 8:30-10:30 AM: The kids are all SO excited for this event! We plan and throw a Fairy Tale Ball for all first graders to attend. Students dress up as their favorite fairy tale character and they rotate through different stations/activities over the course of two hours. Parents are welcome to come and watch the very beginning of the ball when the students will do a group dance. This portion will last about 10 minutes. We will also need parent volunteers to help run the stations. More details to come but mark this date on your calendar. You won't want to miss it!
PhotoCircle: The PhotoCircle app is how I share pictures from our classroom. It is much easier than uploading them onto the blog and then you can save them directly from the app. It also allows you to upload pictures from our classroom events that you take. Please only upload pictures in our class group that are from school events (no birthday parties or outside events). Below is the link for parents to join. https://join.photocircleapp.com/rsIAdl
Blue Communication Folders: Please empty these every night. It is usually a combination of your child's work and papers from us. If you need to send us or notify us of anything, you can send a note in this folder. Mrs. Rumburg checks and empties these every morning.
Have a great weekend!
Love,
Mrs. James 💜
Sunday, May 6, 2018
April 30th - May 4th
Good evening parents! It was so good to see all of you at the Commotion in the Ocean play last Thursday! Thank you all for taking the time out of your day to come to our play. Your kiddos were all amazing! They make me proud every single day. I cannot believe we only have 15 days of school left. Where has this year gone?! I am sure some of you have heard about our "10 day countdown" we do every year in my classroom to celebrate the last days of school. I fill up 10 balloons and inside is a small piece of paper that has a fun activity written on it. We pop a balloon at the end of each day and we will do that activity the next day. I will send home an email if it requires the kids to bring in or wear something (PJ day or bring your stuffed animal to school day). 😊
Below are important dates and reminders as we near the end of the school year.
Below are important dates and reminders as we near the end of the school year.
May 15th: QU Wedding (students only) Have your child wear "dressier" clothes to school for our wedding celebration of these two letters! *more info below
May 18th: No school (CSD Staff Retreat)
May 18th: No school (CSD Staff Retreat)
May 23rd: Bare Book Sharing 1:00 PM (parent event)
Come celebrate your child and their hard work on their bare book!
Come celebrate your child and their hard work on their bare book!
May 25th: No school (Kindergarten Screening)
May 28th: No school (Memorial Day)
May 29th: Water Day! 8:30 AM-12:00 PM (we will need lots of volunteers! sign up coming soon)
May 30th: Final Day of School!
Throughout the school year, we have learned lots of letter sounds, blends, and digraphs that exist in our names and words. Some of these include -sh, -ch, -th, -ow, and -ou. Next year in first grade we will learn all of the phonograms during our word study program! On May 15th, we are going to celebrate the letters Q and U to celebrate the sound /qu/. Usually in our language, the letter Q is always followed by the letter U so we "marry them" so the kids remember this rule. We will have a fun ceremony led by Michael Colvard (Joshua's dad) and will have wedding cake afterwards! It will be a fun day for the students. Please have them wear dressier clothes for the celebration. They can bring a change of clothes for afterwards if they would like.
Mrs. Rumburg and I began our end-of-year assessments on your child last week. Many of these assessments are done one on one, and take a great deal of time. I will not be sending home guided reading books over the next few weeks due to this. Please keep reading with your child at home every night. A great idea it to visit your local library and allow your child to get their own library card. The library summer reading program will start soon, and it is an excellent program and a great way to keep your child reading this summer. I will also be sending out some ideas of things to do with your child over the summer later in May, so be on the look out!
Due to our upcoming Kindergarten Screening (screening of new incoming kindergarten students) there are not specific dates for us to conference on the calendar. However, I am more than happy to conference with you if you would like. We just need to know how many of you would like a conference so that we can request a sub and set up a conference day if needed. End of year conferences are optional, but if you would like one we are happy to meet with you. Please email me and let me know so that we can set up a day for this later in May.
Have a great week!
Love,
Mrs. James
Friday, April 27, 2018
April 23rd-37th
Happy Friday! Can you believe we only have 20 days of school left?! This year has flown by! I am so thankful I get another year with your sweet kiddos. 😊
Although our field trip got rained out and we had to alter our Earth Day celebration plans, we had a great week in kindergarten! We practiced our play, learned more about the ocean and ocean animals, learned all about Earth Day and what we can do to help protect nature, celebrated Poem in Your Pocket Day, completed more range cards, did "in-class" book buddies, and much more! We are excited to see you all next Thursday for our Commotion in the Ocean play!
***Please send in your child's costume this Monday (April 30th) so that we can have it ready for our dress rehearsal on Tuesday. Thank you!!!
***If you would still like to contribute $5 to Mrs. Rumburg's birthday gift, Monday will be the last day. We are going to celebrate her birthday on Friday in our classroom with the kiddos. 😊
***Here is the link to the Poem in Your Pocket song by Emily Arrow that we listened to and learned the motions to. Emily Arrow makes kids music and we love to listen to it in our classroom! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxF0nB8ZzXQ
Although our field trip got rained out and we had to alter our Earth Day celebration plans, we had a great week in kindergarten! We practiced our play, learned more about the ocean and ocean animals, learned all about Earth Day and what we can do to help protect nature, celebrated Poem in Your Pocket Day, completed more range cards, did "in-class" book buddies, and much more! We are excited to see you all next Thursday for our Commotion in the Ocean play!
***Please send in your child's costume this Monday (April 30th) so that we can have it ready for our dress rehearsal on Tuesday. Thank you!!!
***If you would still like to contribute $5 to Mrs. Rumburg's birthday gift, Monday will be the last day. We are going to celebrate her birthday on Friday in our classroom with the kiddos. 😊
***Here is the link to the Poem in Your Pocket song by Emily Arrow that we listened to and learned the motions to. Emily Arrow makes kids music and we love to listen to it in our classroom! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxF0nB8ZzXQ
Upcoming Dates:
May 3rd: Ocean Commotion Play 10:00 in MS Black Box (parent event)
May 6th: Mrs. Rumburg's Birthday
May 18th: No school (CSD Staff Retreat)
May 23rd: Bare Book Sharing 1:00 PM (parent event) *note date change
Come celebrate your child and their hard work on their bare book!
Come celebrate your child and their hard work on their bare book!
May 25th: No school (Kindergarten Screening)
May 28th: No school (Memorial Day)
May 29th: Water Day! 8:30 AM-12:00 PM (volunteers needed...sign up coming soon)
May 30th: Final Day of School!
Have a great weekend!
Love,
Mrs. James
Have a great weekend!
Love,
Mrs. James
Saturday, April 14, 2018
April 9th - 13th
Happy Saturday! I hope you are all enjoying the beautiful weather today. It is hard to believe that we are quickly approaching the end of the school year. We had a wonderful week back in the classroom after spring break. 😊 The next few weeks will be full of many fun activities in the classroom and at school. Be sure to mark your calendars for all of the dates below.
1. We studied sea turtles through a fun activity and learned how we can help more sea turtles survive. We learned about natural causes vs. man-made causes of sea turtles death and our role in helping them.
2. Students learned how to do "sand art" using glue and colored sand. They got to make their own designs!
3. Students created their own sand paint using sand, shaving cream, and glue and got to draw and paint their own sand castle.
4. Students illustrated a mini-book called "Sand, Sand, Sand!"
Science
We did our science experiment as a whole group on Monday so that we could observe it as the week went on. We put four different kinds and sizes of sea shells in a cup of vinegar to see if they would dissolve. The craziest thing happened and two of the sea shells dissolved! We learned that shells are made up of calcium carbonate which is a base and when added to an acid like vinegar, they disintegrate.
Have a great weekend!
Love,
Mrs. James
April 24th: Earth Day Celebration 9-11 AM (parent volunteer sign up sent out)
***you may want to put some sunscreen on your child that morning if it's going to be sunny
April 25th: Walking Tour of Davidson (chaperones needed...sign up coming soon)
April 26th: Poem in Your Pocket Day (more info to come)
May 3rd: Ocean Commotion Play 10:00 in MS Black Box (parent event)
May 6th: Mrs. Rumburg's Birthday
May 18th: No school (CSD Staff Retreat)
May 23rd: Bare Book Sharing 1:00 PM (parent event) *note date change
May 25th: No school (Kindergarten Screening)
May 28th: No school (Memorial Day)
May 29th: Water Day! 8:30 AM-12:00 PM (volunteers needed...sign up coming soon)
May 30th: Final Day of School!
Thank you for practicing your child's play lines with them every night! They play will be here before we know it. Make sure to also start brainstorming about your child's costume. This does not have to be complicated at all! Simple is always best. 😉 If you need ideas, feel free to reach out to me!
Math
This week in math we completed our April calendar which students always love. This is great number writing practice. We also continued with our math workshop centers with a heavy focus on range cards. The students can choose to use beans, jewels, or cubes to complete their range cards. Some students are writing the equations and I am having other students verbalize the equation to me. This is great practice for addition as we move more into that for first grade prep.
Literacy
Our literacy time each week has been consistent for the past few months. Tuesday is guided reading groups and sight word books, Wednesday is word sorts, and Thursday is writer's workshop with a different topic each month. This is a perfect transition as we move toward first grade. In first grade, we do "Daily 5" during our reader's workshop time. The 5 things that the children get to rotate through are:
1. Read to self
2. Read to a partner
3. Work on writing
4. Word work
5. Listen to reading
Thematic
We had so much fun starting our ocean unit this week! This is one of my favorite units. We started off by studying sand and animals that live or start their life in the sand (crabs and sea turtles). Next week we will begin to move into the water and go deeper each week. We mainly study all of the different ocean animals but we explore many other important topics and questions. Some of these include layers of the ocean, the density of the ocean, how fish breathe, etc. Students rotated through four stations this week.1. We studied sea turtles through a fun activity and learned how we can help more sea turtles survive. We learned about natural causes vs. man-made causes of sea turtles death and our role in helping them.
2. Students learned how to do "sand art" using glue and colored sand. They got to make their own designs!
3. Students created their own sand paint using sand, shaving cream, and glue and got to draw and paint their own sand castle.
4. Students illustrated a mini-book called "Sand, Sand, Sand!"
Science
We did our science experiment as a whole group on Monday so that we could observe it as the week went on. We put four different kinds and sizes of sea shells in a cup of vinegar to see if they would dissolve. The craziest thing happened and two of the sea shells dissolved! We learned that shells are made up of calcium carbonate which is a base and when added to an acid like vinegar, they disintegrate.
Have a great weekend!
Love,
Mrs. James
Friday, March 16, 2018
March 12th-16th
Happy Friday! We had another great week in kindergarten. 😊 The kids had so much fun today setting up their traps to try and catch the leprechaun! We will see if he decides to stop by the room this weekend. 😉 🍀 Read below for some announcements and a review of our week! We have had fun studying Dr. Seuss and Mem Fox the past two weeks in our author study.
March 30th-April 8th: SPRING BREAK!
April 10th: Field trip to the Laurel's Nursing Home. Ride the bus with us or meet us there. We load the bus at 10:00 AM and the program starts at the nursing home at 10:30 AM and lasts till 11:30 AM.
April 25th: Walking tour of Davidson. We will need lots of chaperones for this field trip. We walk from CSD to downtown Davidson and go on a tour of the police department, fire department, post office, and possible the library. This is a really fun field trip to come on with your child! We will leave in the morning around 8:30-8:45ish and it will last most of the day. More details to come!
Math:
Over the course of last week and this week, students have learned two new ways to do range cards! I introduced how to use unifix cubes and jewels for range cards. The kids of course LOVED the jewels because they are pretty and fun. 😊 You can find your child's range card sheets in their blue communication folder and you can have them explain to you what they do. We do our normal eight station math workshop and the range cards are in 2-3 of the bins for them to choose to go to. These tables are always full because they love them! As mentioned a few weeks ago, range cards work on many different foundational math skills such as number sense, addition, subtraction, equation writing, and math facts.
Literacy:
In literacy the past two weeks, we have continued our sight word books, guided reading books, word sorts, and writer's workshop! Thank you for reading your child's guided reading book with them at home every night and helping them remember to bring it back on Friday. This is so important in their journey of becoming a better reader! Remind your child to use Eagle Eye, Stretchy Snake, Chunky Monkey, and Lips the Fish as they read. 👍
Thematic:
This week we studied the author "Mem Fox" who wrote many great children's books! Our student's favorite books of hers were Koala Lou, Possum Magic, Tough Boris, and Whoever You Are. We did an activity for each of these books throughout the week.
Koala Lou: Students illustrated a non-fiction book about koalas.
Possum Magic: Students watercolor painted on a white sheet of card stock that had someone's name written on it in white crayon. It was "magic" when the name appeared. They had to write that person's name, draw a picture of them, and write a sentence about that person telling them what they love about them.
Tough Boris: Students created a parrot that can sit on their wrist! We always love to incorporate art into our thematic centers.
Whoever You Are: Students got to use tissue paper to tear and decoupage the "world" and then glued a peace sign on top. This was a great fine motor skill activity!
Have a great weekend!
Love,
Mrs. James
March 30th-April 8th: SPRING BREAK!
April 10th: Field trip to the Laurel's Nursing Home. Ride the bus with us or meet us there. We load the bus at 10:00 AM and the program starts at the nursing home at 10:30 AM and lasts till 11:30 AM.
April 25th: Walking tour of Davidson. We will need lots of chaperones for this field trip. We walk from CSD to downtown Davidson and go on a tour of the police department, fire department, post office, and possible the library. This is a really fun field trip to come on with your child! We will leave in the morning around 8:30-8:45ish and it will last most of the day. More details to come!
Math:
Over the course of last week and this week, students have learned two new ways to do range cards! I introduced how to use unifix cubes and jewels for range cards. The kids of course LOVED the jewels because they are pretty and fun. 😊 You can find your child's range card sheets in their blue communication folder and you can have them explain to you what they do. We do our normal eight station math workshop and the range cards are in 2-3 of the bins for them to choose to go to. These tables are always full because they love them! As mentioned a few weeks ago, range cards work on many different foundational math skills such as number sense, addition, subtraction, equation writing, and math facts.
Literacy:
In literacy the past two weeks, we have continued our sight word books, guided reading books, word sorts, and writer's workshop! Thank you for reading your child's guided reading book with them at home every night and helping them remember to bring it back on Friday. This is so important in their journey of becoming a better reader! Remind your child to use Eagle Eye, Stretchy Snake, Chunky Monkey, and Lips the Fish as they read. 👍
Thematic:
This week we studied the author "Mem Fox" who wrote many great children's books! Our student's favorite books of hers were Koala Lou, Possum Magic, Tough Boris, and Whoever You Are. We did an activity for each of these books throughout the week.
Koala Lou: Students illustrated a non-fiction book about koalas.
Possum Magic: Students watercolor painted on a white sheet of card stock that had someone's name written on it in white crayon. It was "magic" when the name appeared. They had to write that person's name, draw a picture of them, and write a sentence about that person telling them what they love about them.
Tough Boris: Students created a parrot that can sit on their wrist! We always love to incorporate art into our thematic centers.
Whoever You Are: Students got to use tissue paper to tear and decoupage the "world" and then glued a peace sign on top. This was a great fine motor skill activity!
Have a great weekend!
Love,
Mrs. James
Friday, March 2, 2018
February 26th - March 2nd
Happy Friday! It was so good to see a lot of you at math night on Wednesday! Thank you to everyone who came out to learn more about how we run math workshop in our classroom. It was fun watching the students teach all of you how to play the games. Below are some announcements for the weeks ahead and then a review of our week!
March 5th-9th Dr. Seuss Spirit Week! Today is Dr. Seuss' birthday and we are studying him next week during our "Author in Me" unit. We will celebrate a different Dr. Seuss book each day and will dress accordingly to make it fun! Below is the schedule:
Monday: Fox in Socks Day...wear silly or mismatched socks
Tuesday: Green Eggs and ham Day...wear the color green
Wednesday: Wacky Wednesday...wear your wackiest hairdo and/or outfit to school
Thursday: The Cat in the Hat Day...wear your favorite hat to school
Friday: Read My Shirt Day...wear a shirt that others can read
March 16th: We will celebrate St. Patrick's Day on the 16th in class (since we will not be at school on the 17th) and we are going to try and catch the leprechaun! The kids are already SO excited to make their leprechaun traps! They can use any box (cereal, shoe, amazon, etc.) to use as the base for their trap and they can decorate it however they want! Anything green, gold, and rainbow would be awesome! Please have your child bring this is on Friday, March 16th. 😉
March 30th-April 8th: Spring break!
***Please write your child's name in their jackets that come to school. It will help us with keeping them all straight and in the event they lost it or leave it on the playground. Thank you!
1. matching pictures to words for the -at word family
2. sorting based on short e, i, o, u
3. sorting wh vs. th
4. short o vs. long o
1. Mister Seahorse: shaving cream seahorses
2. The Tiny Seed: fruit and veggie seed investigations
3. Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me: learning about the phases of the moon and art craft
4. A House for Hermit Crab: sand art activity
Have a great weekend!
Love,
Mrs. James
March 5th-9th Dr. Seuss Spirit Week! Today is Dr. Seuss' birthday and we are studying him next week during our "Author in Me" unit. We will celebrate a different Dr. Seuss book each day and will dress accordingly to make it fun! Below is the schedule:
Monday: Fox in Socks Day...wear silly or mismatched socks
Tuesday: Green Eggs and ham Day...wear the color green
Wednesday: Wacky Wednesday...wear your wackiest hairdo and/or outfit to school
Thursday: The Cat in the Hat Day...wear your favorite hat to school
Friday: Read My Shirt Day...wear a shirt that others can read
March 16th: We will celebrate St. Patrick's Day on the 16th in class (since we will not be at school on the 17th) and we are going to try and catch the leprechaun! The kids are already SO excited to make their leprechaun traps! They can use any box (cereal, shoe, amazon, etc.) to use as the base for their trap and they can decorate it however they want! Anything green, gold, and rainbow would be awesome! Please have your child bring this is on Friday, March 16th. 😉
March 30th-April 8th: Spring break!
***Please write your child's name in their jackets that come to school. It will help us with keeping them all straight and in the event they lost it or leave it on the playground. Thank you!
Math
As most of you saw at math night, the main concepts that we are focusing on now are counting on, one more vs one less, addition, number writing, and equation writing. We are doing a mixture of math tubs some days and other days doing range cards.
Literacy
During reader's workshop this week, we learned two new Beanie Baby Strategies! The first one is "Stretchy Snake" and he tells us to "s-t-r-e-t-c-h" out the word slowly and say each little sound that we hear. Once you stretch it out, you put the sounds back together and say it fast to see if you can figure out the word. We also learned about "Chunky Monkey"who tells us to "chunk the word." Look for a chunk that you already know such as -ing, -and, -an, -old, etc. You also look for a word part that you may know such as -an, -at, -ed, -be-, -er, etc. The students did wonderful using these strategies during our guided reading groups! We also did another week of word sorts. Your child is in one of four groups and they did one of the following word sorts:1. matching pictures to words for the -at word family
2. sorting based on short e, i, o, u
3. sorting wh vs. th
4. short o vs. long o
Thematic
We began our Author in Me thematic unit this week and started with Eric Carle! We read many different Eric Carle books and discussed what makes his books special and the common themes that they have. The students rotated through four centers:1. Mister Seahorse: shaving cream seahorses
2. The Tiny Seed: fruit and veggie seed investigations
3. Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me: learning about the phases of the moon and art craft
4. A House for Hermit Crab: sand art activity
Science
Because we are studying Eric Carle currently, we read the book The Tiny Seed and did a seed investigation! We cut open apples, oranges, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, and cucumbers and studied the different sizes and amounts of seeds. We used a recording sheet and practiced spelling the names phonetically.Have a great weekend!
Love,
Mrs. James
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