Next Week...

I can't believe there is only one  more week before our holiday break.  This semester has gone by very quickly.

Here are some reminders for next week...

Thursday is our holiday party.  The party will be from 1:45 to 2:45.

Friday is a half day of school.  Students will be dismissed around 11:40.  This will also be Polar Express Day.  We have some fun activities planned and students are invited to wear their pajamas to school.

Have a wonderful Holiday!

This week's star!

Star of the Week

MACK threw a pie in Dr. Hamby's face!

What a busy day!

Star of the Week

Pilgrims and Native Americans!

Buddies!

Today we met with our third grade buddies to talk about goal-setting. We talked about realistic and non realistic goals.

Thank you to our Veterans!

Our first Star of the Week!

Happy Halloween!

Weekly Update

Lots of info to pass on this week....

This week we will have P.E. on Monday and Wednesday.  Library is on Thursday.

Tuesday we will have a special Veteran's Day assembly.  Students are encouraged to wear their red, white, and blue.

Wednesday is an Early Release Day.  Students will be dismissed around 1:40.  If your child's transportation will be different please let me know as soon as possible.

This week is the Sappington food drive.  All collections will help Sappington families have a nice Thanksgiving.  Collections days are as follows...

Monday: canned veggie
Tuesday: canned fruit
Wednesday: noodles, pasta
Thursday: boxed cake mix, muffin mix etc.
Friday: grocery store gift cards

If you make any donation your child is invited to wear their PJ's to school on Friday.

This week in Math we will finish up ways to make 10.  Next we will begin working on larger numbers and two-dimensional shapes.

This is our last week for the first round of sight words.  Later this week you will receive a letter explaining sight words for round 2.  Some students will be moving on to a new list of words.  Some students will continue their work on list 1 words but will now be expected to write the words for the test.  Please watch for this note to come home soon.

This week we will begin Star of the Week.  Your child will receive a packet explaining Star of the Week when it is closer to their turn.  We are going in alphabetical order starting at the end of the alphabet.  This will give you a general idea of your child's turn.  I will give you a couple weeks notice of your turn.  You will need to make a poster containing pictures that help us get to know your child better.

Tuesday, November 25, will be our Thanksgiving Feast.  We will be looking for donations to make our feast possible.  Please watch for a link to sign-up genius to sign up to send in food or paper products.  Your help is greatly appreciated.  Also, we ask that each child bring in a plain white t-shirt.  This shirt will be used for a Native American costume for our feast.  If you purchase a pack of t-shirts and would like to donate an extra for a child in need please attach a note to the extra shirt that says "donation".

Thank you so much for all of your support at home!  Have a great week!

Monday Message

Good Morning!
  Don't forget about our pumpkin patch field trip tomorrow.  If you are planning to attend please arrive at school by 8:45.  Depending on bus size you may have to drive separately.  Please make sure students are dressed appropriately.  It looks like it may be a little chilly.
   Our BoxTops for education contest ends this Thursday.  Please send any BoxTops you have before then.
   Report cards will be emailed out tomorrow.  Today there will be a paper in your child's folder explaining which report card items were assessed for the first quarter.  Some report card items are not assessed until later in the year.
   We have P.E. on Tuesday and Friday this week and library is on Wednesday.

Have a great week!

Good Morning!

I can't believe this week marks the end of the first quarter!  The time has gone by very quickly.

This week we will have P.E. on Tuesday and Friday and library on Wednesday.

Don't forget that Friday is a half day of school.  Students will be dismissed around 11:40.  If you child's transportation will be different on that day please let me know ASAP.

Next week, on the 21st we will head to Stuckmeyer's Pumpkin Patch.  I am still looking for a couple more parents to join us.  If you have not returned the permission slip and money please do so as soon as possible.

Tonight there will be a conference note in your child's home folder.  Please verify your scheduled time and return the note in the folder tomorrow.

We have now completed Unit 1 of our Writer's Workshop program.  Students enjoyed writing true stories about their lives.  In Unit 2 we will continue to tell narrative stories.  We are working on thinking about the story, telling it out loud, and finally getting it on paper.  We use pictures and words to get our story on paper.  At this time students should be labeling parts of their picture with words by stretching them and writing down the sounds they hear.  Please encourage your child to stretch words when completing homework.  Please do not help your child write words correctly.  Encourage them to say the word very slowly and write down each sound that they hear.

Guided reading groups are going well.  We are working on using our "Eagle Eye" to help us decipher unknown words.  Please try using this strategy when reading with your child at home.  Our shared reading lesson this week was on the Meanies, by Joy Cowley.  Ask your student what they remember from this book.  They loved it!!

Have a great week!

Monday Message

I hope everyone enjoyed the extended weekend.  It was fun to see so many friends at Grant's Farm night. What a fun event!

Updates for the week.....

This week we have P.E. on Tuesday and Friday and library on Wednesday.

The new homework and sight word packets will come home today.  Please practice all previous sight words briefly each night.

This week we officially begin guided reading groups.  Most students are ready to begin at a letter A.  Students are working with either myself or Mrs. Burke.  We will learn many reading strategies and we will also working on sight words and some writing skills.  Please watch for reading strategy cards to start coming home soon.  I am giving you a link to some youtube videos that will briefly explain each strategy.  It will take a while for us to get through all the strategies but it would be AMAZING if you also talked about these strategies while reading with your child at home.  They are simple, fun ways to help your child succeed as a reader.
Here is the link...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LWDdOa3ie0&list=PLJMTTt91xmBvHv6YKWotJheYMP1i8DUTv&index=2

In math we will begin Chapter 1 which will teach us about numbers 0-5.  We will review number recognition and practice writing the number and counting items to the number.  This will be a quick easy chapter for most students.

Today we will visit our third grade buddies to show off our first completed writing piece.  Students worked very hard to complete this first piece and they are now ready to celebrated.  Our next bend of writing will help learn to be great story tellers in our writing.

Today you  will also receive a note about our next field trip.  We will visit Stuckmeyer's Farm on Tuesday, October 21 from around 8:45 until 11:30.  If you are able to attend with us please indicate so on the form.  Any help is greatly appreciated.  Please return the form with $10 as soon as possible.

Have a great week!!

We are excited.......

The students have worked really hard as bucket fillers in our classroom.  We have earned our first reward as a class.  The students have chosen PAJAMA DAY!  This Thursday students are invited to wear their pajamas to school.  Slippers are fine but please send tennis shoes for P.E. and recess.  What a great class!!

Monday Message

Thanks to all the parents, grandparents, and friends that joined us at Eckert's on Friday.  The weather was beautiful and we had a great day.

This week we have P.E. on Monday and Thursday.  Also, library will be on Tuesday.

This week's sight words are "in, am, to".  Be sure to practice these words for a brief time each night.  Mastering these words is critical to your child's writing and reading success.  This week's test will be on Thursday due to NO SCHOOL ON FRIDAY.

In math we are wrapping up our chapter on classifying objects.  We have practiced sorting by size, shape, and color.  Students have done very well with this chapter.

In writing we continue to work on sound spelling and using our pictures to tell our story as well.  We will celebrate all we have learned in Writer's Workshop very soon.  This seems to be a favorite time of the day.

Homework will also be due on Thursday this week.

This Thursday evening is Sappington Night at Grant's Farm.  This is one of my favorite nights of the year.  The farm is only open to the Sappington Family.  There is music, face painting, balloon animals.  The weather looks great and it should be a blast!  I hope to see you there.

Reminders for the Week

Good Morning!  A few reminders....

P.E. is Monday and Thursday this week.  It is the same next week also.

Library is Tuesday this week and next.  Please keep your child's book in their backpack so that they always have it on library day.

Don't forget that tomorrow is our first early release day.  Students will be dismissed around 1:40.  If your child is to do anything different at the end of the day please write a note and put it in their Sappington folder tomorrow.  

This week's sight words are "we", "is", and "my".  Please be sure to practice these words each night.  Our test will be on THURSDAY this week due to Friday's field trip.

If you have not returned your child's field trip note and money please do so tomorrow.  Also, please be sure to send a lunch with and EXTRA drink for Friday's trip.  Please watch the weather and make sure your child is dressed appropriately.  We will be at the farm all day.  If you are planning to attend the trip with your child please note that you will most likely have to drive there.  There is usually not enough space on the bus for parents.  This is the only field trip that you can take your child home from.  They do not have to ride the bus back to school at the end of the day.  If you plan to do this you will need to sign them out from me at the bus at the end of our day.  

Some websites that we have been using that the kids really enjoy are below.  These are free sites and great ways to practice at home.

www.starfall.com

www.abcya.com

www.gonoodle.com

Thanks to the many families that offered to help with at home projects last week.  I have a list and may send you a project here and there.  If I send it at at time that does not work for you please don't stress about it.  Just send it back and I will send it with someone else.  THANKS!

Monday Message

I hope everyone enjoyed the beautiful weekend.
  This week we have P.E. on Monday and Thursday.

The first week of sight words went well. You should have received your child's test Friday afternoon.  Please keep in mind that we will test over all words each week.  This means that while practicing this week's words you will also want to review last week's words.

   This week we will start math centers as well as our chapter on sorting and classifying objects.

Writers Workshop continues to go well. We have begun adding pages to our writing piece to create books.  The students are really excited about this!

Please remember when working on homework to let your child "stretch" the words that they are writing. The need to say the word very slowly and write only the sounds they hear.  Homework is due Friday.

Have a great week!

Back to Football Friday!

Weekly Update

I hope everyone enjoyed the extended weekend.  Here are some reminders for the week!

Library will be on Tuesday.
P.E. will be on Thursday this week.

Homework will come home today.  Remember to complete an activity in the packet as well as read for 15 minutes each night.  There are five activities per week and homework will be collected on Friday.  This means that one night a week you will need to complete two activities.  Please make sure your child is stretching words and writing down the sounds that he/she hears.

Sight words also begin today.  Our words this week are "I", "like" and "see".  Please help your child practice these words any way you choose.  On Friday your child will need to be able to read the word to me when shown a flashcard.

SpellingCity.com is a great website to practice words on.  You can look up our words by using my name and school.

Back to Football Friday- The BACK TO FOOTBALL FRIDAY assembly is Friday, Sept 5th at 9am. Students are encouraged to wear blue, gold, yellow, or Rams attire.  They can be creative and wear wigs, hats, helmets etc. There will be two contests:

• First, a class spirit photo contest.  The classroom teachers will take a Rams spirit picture of their class.  Friday afternoon we will post it on the Sappington PE facebook page.  The class with the most "LIKES" by Wednesday, 8am will be the winner.  Their picture will be displayed and the class will win 30 extra minutes on the inflatables in November.
• Contest number 2 is an optional contest from home.  Students can take a picture or be in a picture showing their Rams spirit.  This will be put in a separate album on the Sappington PE facebook page.  The picture with the most "likes" wins.  The winner will receive a Play 60 package donated by the Rams organization (not sure what is in it yet). Please email/ submit all of these photos to me with the student's name by 8am Sept. 5th. One photo per student.
• The Rams support many programs here at Sappington and encourage students to stay active for at least 60 minutes per day. Let's say thanks by showing off some Rams spirit!

Writer's Workshop Begins

Monday Message

Well, we have one full week under our belts.  We had fun getting to know each other last week and learning how things work in our classroom.
   We have centers up and running.  Students are working quietly with a partner in their center while I work with individuals.  I am beginning to assess students for some baseline information.
   We have also begun letter of the day activities.  We focus on letter identification and handwriting.  Please look through your child's folder after school.  Ask them to tell you what letter is on their paper. If your child cannot identify the letter please help them review and practice it.
   We are also practicing writing our names.  Your child should be writing their first name with only 1 capital letter.  Many preschools teach students to write their name in all capitals.  We switch to one capital right away.
   Also, today was a library day.  Library, music, art, and P.E. are on a five day rotation.  I know this can be confusing.  The best thing to do is leave the library book in your child's backpack after readng it.  This way it will always be at school when we need it.  We will go to library again next Tuesday since Monday is the holiday.  This week we have P.E. on Wednesday and Friday.  Please make sure your child has tennis shoes on these days.  If your child likes to wear other shoes to school you can send and old pair of tennis shoes to keep here.  This way they can always participate in P.E.
   This Thursday is Curriculum Night from 6:30-7:30pm.  I will be sharing a lot of important information about kindergarten.  Please plan to have at least one parent attend.

Kindergarten Party!

We had a great first week! Thanks for all the donations today. We will put them to good use!

Starting Centers!

Have you filled a bucket today?

To start kindergarten on the right foot we learned what it means to be a bucket-filler.  Please ask your child what it means to be a bucket-filler and how they filled a bucket today!

1st Grade Parents!

I hope everyone had a good start to the first grade year.  I am going to begin posting things for my new kindergartners and just wanted to remind you that you may want to "unsubscribe" to my blog now.  Thanks!

Dates to remember for these last couple weeks....

Just some important dates.  I believe I may have caused some confusion on the Suson Park field trip.  Sorry!

Tomorrow (Tuesday, May 13) is our Teddy Bear Picnic.  Your child is invited to bring a teddy bear, beach towel, snack and drink.  We will be picnicking on the playground.

This Friday, May 16th, NO SCHOOL

May 22nd is our Suson Park field trip.  We will leave here just before 9:00 and return around 11:30.  Students should bring a snack and drink.  Please make sure everything is disposable.  You may want to apply sunscreen before school.

Friday, May 30th is the last day of school.  It is also a half day.  Students will be dismissed at 11:30.

Thanks!

Butterfly Release!

Our Week

Dear Parents,

 

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I really enjoyed watching the program yesterday. The kids did a great job!

 

We are finished with our sight words. However, we are going to spend the last 4 weeks reviewing the sight words that were more of a challenge for the class. We will do this by writing them in shaving cream, building them with letter crackers, etc..

 

Word family this week: "ug" words

 

Science: We started a new chapter called, Earth and Sky. We will talk about the similarities in the day and night sky and the differences. We will also continue to record our observations with our caterpillars and flowers we planted.

 

Math: We started our Animal Math Subtraction Book. We will be discussing different math terms like, take away, difference and we will also continue to underline the question, plan, solve and look back.

 

Other:

 

Our markers are getting older and not working well anymore. Please consider sending a new pack in with your child.

 

Also, we are in need of cheap shaving cream and letter cheese Its. If you would like to send those in we would be very appreciative!

 

Important Dates:

 

Tomorrow: 5-6 Wear Blue Ribbon Shirts in support of teacher appreciation week

5-9  Writer’s Day

5-13 Teddy Bear Picnic with 3rd grade buddies (bring a snack, bear and a small blanket or towel).

5-17  Spirit Festival

5-22- Suson Park Field Trip at 12:45 until 3

5-23  Read-a-thon

5-26 No School

5-27  Cultural Da

Our final Star!

Reading with our buddies!