Update March 31st

*Students can bring in their Famous Person Projects any day this week.  We will present to the class throughout this week and next, if needed.  This is always my favorite presentation of the year.  I love to learn about people the students love, respect and think so highly of.

*This Wednesday, April 3rd is a 12:20pm Early Release.  We will not have lunch at school, but we will have snack in the morning.

*On Thursday morning, we will welcome a special guest speaker to our Community Meeting. Becca Pizzi will be speaking to our school community, and will share her message of believing in yourself, hard work, determination, perseverance, and excellence. During her presentation, Becca shares a simple question that has helped her to create a life she loves and to break two world records- WHY NOT ME? Below is a link to Becca's Ted Talk from last July.

About Becca:

She was the first American female to run the World Marathon Challenge in 2016 - 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days, and then went back to do it all again in world record time in 2018. Her current goal is to complete a marathon in all 50 states and to run the Kona Ironman. She lives in Belmont, MA with her husband Joe and ​daughter Taylor. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Becca is the first American female to run the World Marathon Challenge in 2016- 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days, and this year, she made history by running it again and breaking the World Record; 6 Days, 7 Hours and 58 minutes. Her current goal is to complete a marathon in all 50 states and someday take on Kona Ironman. She is also a business owner and has a job managing Moozy’s Ice Cream shop. Becca is 38 years old and lives in Belmont MA with her husband Joe and 10-year-old daughter Taylor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbry1Bmyl48

*Next Monday, April 8th we will travel to the Living Lab at the Day School for our final trip.  We will leave Robinson around 9:25 and return at 11:00.  I am looking for a parent volunteer to join us.   You can either ride the bus with us or meet us at the Day School.  Please let me know if you are available.

*In Math, we will begin Unit 8. Our focus this week will be on constructing polygons and making equal shares (half and fourth.)

*In Writing, we will continue to work on editing our weekend news.  This week, our focus will be on adding transition words and finding the first word of every sentence.

*In Social Studies, our focus will be on finding the similarities and differences of compasses and compass roses.

Looking Ahead:

April 8th-Living Lab at the Day School

April Vacation- No School April 15-19

April 23rd- School Store

April 26th- Book Buddies

April 30th- 1st Grade Performance (I will send out the exact time when I know. Performance is near the end of the school day.)

Update March 22nd

Reminder:

Monday, March 25th- No School Parent/Teacher Conferences starting at 2:00pm.

Tuesday, March 26th- 2 Hour Delay. Parent/Teacher Conferences starting at 8:45am.  We will have lunch and snack on Tuesday.

*There will be no spelling list this week since it is a short week.  The students have been working so hard learning and retaining each week's spelling words.  I'm really pleased with their progress.

*We did not get to see our Book Buddies last week due to the weather.  The fourth graders wrote us letters last week.  This week we will write a friendly letter back to our Book Buddies.

*Mr. Middlemiss will come to our classroom this week to read the next Care To Read book titled, One Day House by Julia Durango.  This book will focus on the word "Responsibility."

*In Social Studies we will finish learning about famous Americans.  The final famous American is Ruby Bridges.  On Tuesday, I will be sending home a Famous Person project for students to complete at home.  Students will think about someone they know (a person from their own life) that they think possess the same character traits as the famous Americans we have learned about.  Projects will be due back any day the following week (April 1-5.)

*We will also begin our Social Studies unit about Maps & Globes this week.

*In Math, we will finish up Unit 7 of Everyday Math.  We only have two more units to teach before the end of the year.

Donations: Any donations would be so appreciated!

*Dry Erase Markers (black, thin is best!)

*Stickers

*Fun Colored Markers

Update March 17th

*We will attend the Book Fair this Wednesday, March 20th at 10:30.  Students can purchase books during this time or create a wishlist.  The book fair will be open during parent/teacher conferences next week.

*On Friday, we will see the 2nd graders perform their Spring play.  It's always fun to see other students perform.

*Last week, the class filled their pom pom jar again.  They voted on having a Game Day in our classroom.  On Friday we will have a game day during our Math block. Students are welcome to bring in board games/card games from home to play with other classmates.  Please do not bring in games that are electronic.  Also, please put names on games.  

*Last week, we began editing our weekend news.  This week, we will edit and re-write our weekend news.  I'll share this week's edition of weekend news with parents next week at conferences.

*In reading groups, we will focus on making connections with the text we read.  We will make connections to our lives, other books or movies we've experienced.

*In Social Studies we will learn about Martin Luther King Jr and Neil Armstrong.

*In Math, our focus will be on addition and shape attributes.  We will also learn about function machines to find rules and patterns in addition and subtraction.

*In Writing, we will finish up our unit on Opinion Writing.  I look forward to sharing opinion letters with you at conferences.

Looking Ahead:

Monday, March 25th- No School 2-8pm Parent/Teacher Conferences

Tuesday, March 26th- 2 Hour Delay 8:15-10:30 Parent/Teacher Conferences

Wednesday, April 3rd- 12:20pm Early Release

Update March 6th

We have been having fun with our Read Across America spirit days! On Thursday, we will combine crazy sock and hat day. On Friday, students can dress as their favorite book character.

*Family Literacy Night is this Thursday, March 7th at Crisafulli.  If you're attending with your family, I hope you have fun!

*The Online Sign-Up for parent teacher conferences will go live at 3:30PM this Friday. Conferences will take place from 2-8pm on Monday, March 25th and 8:15-10:30am on Tuesday, March 26th. The link will go live for sign up on Friday, at 3:30pm. http://signup.com/go/vEveSOG

*Tuesday, March 12th is School Store for 1st Grade.

Thursday, March 15th- 12:20pm Early Release

There will be no lunch served.  We will have snack in the morning.

*On Friday, March 15th, we will walk to Crisafulli to visit our 4th Grade Book Buddies.  Please dress for the weather, snow boots are a great idea for the trail.

*In Writing, we will begin using an editing checklist to edit our Weekend News.  Students will focus on adding punctuation to the end of sentences.

*In Math, our focus is on fact families.  We will use dominoes and fact triangles to find the two addition facts and two subtraction facts that are in the family.  For example:

5, 3, 8

5+3=8

3+5=8

8-3=5

8-5=3

*We will continue learning about famous Americans.  Our focus will be on Martin Luther King Jr.

Looking Ahead:

Friday, March 8th and Monday, March 11th- I will be taking personal time these two days.  My family, along with my in-laws, are taking a quick weekend trip to Disney.  Mrs. Carvalho, a substitute the students know well, will be filling in during my absence.  Please remind students to show expected behavior.  Thanks!

Monday, March 25th- No School 2-8pm Parent/Teacher Conferences

Tuesday, March 26th- 2 Hour Delay 8:15-10:30 Parent/Teacher Conferences

Update February 27th

*This update is for the remainder of this week and next.  I apologize for the late update.

*In Math, we are finishing up Unit 6.  We will start the Unit 6 Assessment this Friday and finish next week.  We are continuing to focus on place value, combinations of 10 and finding equivalent names for numbers.  Next week, we will begin Unit 7 of Everyday Math 2. Our focus for this week is finding totals of two numbers quickly.

*In Social Studies, we continue to learn about famous Americans.  Over the next two weeks, students will learn about the Wright Brothers, Amelia Earhart, Jackie Robinson and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

*In Writing, we continue to write friendly and persuasive letters.  Students are doing a great job of following the rules and structure of writing a letter.

Also, every Monday we write Weekend News in the morning.  Students were beginning to write about their whole weekend or one whole day.  I have begun to encourage students to pick one event (one small moment) and writing details only about that event.  I was very happy that students listened to this advice this week when writing about the vacation.

*Next week we are celebrating Read Across America Week.  Here are the spirit days for the week:

Monday March 4th	“Hats Off to Dr. Seuss!” Wear a “Cat in the Hat” hat, a crazy hat, or your favorite hat.
Tuesday March 5th	“Green Eggs and Ham” Wear green and pink colored clothes
Wednesday March 6th	“Wacky Wednesday” Lets get silly! Wear your clothes backwards, inside out, or mismatched
Thursday March 7th	“Crazy Fox in Socks!” Show off your crazy or mismatched socks
Friday March 8th	“Dress as a Favorite Book Character” Please join us in wrapping up our “Read Across America” week by dressing up as your favorite book character. (Note: It does not need to be a Dr. Seuss book!) The character a child chooses to dress as should be appropriate for his/her grade level. Costumes shouldn’t be scary or ghoulish. Masks are not allowed for school. Accessories may be part of a costume (i.e. a honey pot for Winnie the Pooh), but toy weapons or other items that may be considered threatening are not allowed

Looking Ahead:

Friday, March 8th and Monday, March 11th- I will be taking personal time these two days.  My family, along with my in-laws, are taking a quick weekend trip to Disney.  Mrs. Carvalho, a substitute the students know well, will be filling in during my absence.  Please remind students to show expected behavior.  Thanks!

Tuesday, March 12th- School Store for 1st Grade

Thursday, March 15th- 12:20pm Early Release

Monday, March 25th- No School 2-8pm Parent/Teacher Conferences

Tuesday, March 26th- 2 Hour Delay 8:15-10:30 Parent/Teacher Conferences

Update February 11th

*On Thursday, we'll celebrate Valentine's Day with a party in the afternoon. Thank you to everyone for donating or volunteering for the party! Please remember to send Valentine's into school by Thursday (no candy included.)

*On Friday, we will walk the Robifulli Trail to visit our 4th grade Book Buddies at Crisafulli.  Please dress for the weather, winter boots are a good footwear choice.

*We had a great time celebrating our 100th day of School on Wednesday.  My favorite part was the hearts that the class brought into school to share their favorite parts of our school and classroom.  We all sat together and shared our most favorite things about Robinson.

*As we are expecting some snow this week, we will likely have a chance for students to get out and play in the snow during recess.  In order to play in the snow, students need to have snow gear including: boots, coat, snow pants and gloves.  I recommend that they bring all snow gear in a reusable shopping bag that stands up on its on.  The coatroom gets very full in the winter months.  The reusable bags work well if they can be placed under the student's coat hook.

*In Math, our focus will be on near doubles facts (5+6, 5+7.)  We will also focus on making 10 to solve harder number sentences.

*In Social Studies, our focus is on Abraham Lincoln and Clara Barton. Last week, the class came up with following character traits to describe Washington: brave, leader, kind, smart.

*In Writing, we will learn how to write a letter.  Students will use a graphic organizer to write a persuasive letter.

Looking Ahead:

*No School, February 18-22

Update February 1st

We had a great week of Kindness with the Great Kindness Challenge at school this week!  Students showed the cared about other classmates, family, friends and teachers.  I hope these kind acts can continue throughout the school year.  We've been repeating this quote all week long:

Be Kind.

Kindness Matters.

*On Tuesday, first grade will have School Store.  There are still a few friends who have not cashed into their 50 cent coupon I gave out at the holidays.  They can bring their coupon back to school on Tuesday or let me know they want to cash in and I'll give them 50 cents to spend.

*Wednesday is our 100th day of School!  In my 12 years teaching, this is the earliest we've ever had the 100th day.  Thank you Mother Nature!  On Thursday, I sent home 4 hearts from students to write 4 things they love about our classroom or school.  Please send those back to school by Wednesday.  We will also do fun 100th day activities during the morning.

*Wednesday is also a 12:20pm Early Release day.  We will not have lunch at school, but please send students with a snack!

*We will finish up our Science unit on Light and Sound this week.

*We'll begin our study of Famous Americans this week.  Students will learn about many famous Americans and will begin by learning about our oldest famous American, George Washington.  Throughout the unit, we will discuss the character traits that are similar amongst the people we learn about.

*In Writing, we will begin writing about something the students want to change.  They will also think about who the audience will be for their change.  For example.  I will ask my parents to change my bedtime. 

Looking Ahead:

February 6th- Early Release

February 14th 1:30pm- Valentine's Party- I will send out an email shortly with information

February 15th-Book Buddies at Crisafulli (weather dependent)

February 18-22 No School, Winter Break