Dear Parents:

This is going to be a busy and exciting week in our class! We will be celebrating both Charlie and Benjamin's birthdays. We will be learning about the legend of the Groundhog, Chinese New Year, celebrating the 100th day of school, and ending the week with our grandparents and special friends on Friday. That is on top of our regular curriculum! Whew! Oh, and we will be having a visiting student in our class on Tuesday and Wednesday! I know the children will welcome her and make her feel right at home.

Speaking of our "regular" curriculum, here is a little of what we will be doing:

Reading/Language Arts: The genre focus this week is a "play". The children will enjoy reading and acting the parts of a play called "Flake, the Missing Hamster". Our phonics focus is on long vowel /a/ with a silent e, spelled a-e as in Flake. Our wall words this week are found, near, hears, might, open, gone, around, and tired. The comprehension focus has us discussing the problem/solution in texts we are reading. We are also concentrating on reading with more expression in our voice. The phonograms this week are -ake, -ame, and -ate. The grammar focus is on describing words for "how many". Each Monday night's homework now requires your child to write sentences using their new word cards for the week. Please encourage your child to begin each sentence with a capital letter and end it with the correct punctuation mark. Please challenge your child to write "strong" sentences using describing words. Please check out the new links that I have posted on the right side of this blog page - Starfall, Make a Word, Spin and Spell. These are more great sites to give your child spelling and reading practice!

Thursday is Chinese New Year! Benjamin's mom will be coming in to share with the children about this special day in their culture.

Math: We will begin Unit 6 this week. In this unit your child will be working on fact families, measuring using centimeters, adding money using quarters, and telling time on digital clocks. This is a BIG unit and will last several weeks. Please take the time to work with your child while they are completing their homework. I also posted a couple of new links - Math Fact Practice and Bite Size Math - for your child to have fun practicing math facts and skills when at home. Check them out! Thursday's math will be dedicated to the 100th day of school. The students will be involved in several activities that revolve around the #100. On today's homework calendar, your child is asked to bring in 100 pieces of something for our 100th Day snack mix. If you need to, you may substitute something else in place of your assigned ingredient. Please be sure to have these in by Wednesday as we will be making the mix on Thursday morning. We will also be celebrating Benjamin's birthday that morning so you do not need to send in an additional snack for your child on Thursday!

Writer's Workshop: We are working on stories about our grandparents and special friends.

Reminders and Upcoming Events:

Grandparent's Day: this Friday, February 4. Below is the approximate schedule for that morning:
8:30-9:00 A.M. -Continental Breakfast - Student Center
9:00-9:45 A.M. -Program in the Janet Root Theater (Grandparents and Special Friends only. Ending time is approximate.)
10:00 -11:00A.M. - Grandparents visit classrooms and tour campus.
12:00 -Dismissal

Spring Conference Day: Spring Conference Day is on Thursday, February 10. There is no school for students. Report cards will be given out at conferences. Here is the conference schedule:

Wednesday, February 9^th

2:00 Lankford

Thursday, February 10^th

8:00 Walsh

8:30 Bernstein

9:00 Golden

9:30 Camp

10:00 Danielson

10:30 Harting

11:00

12:30

1:00 Artze

1:30

2:00 Jack/Anderson

2:30 Pillot

3:00 Peckler

3:30 Schneider

Friday, February 11

7:30 Eckert

12:30 Biondi

Monday, February 14

7:30 Jones

2:45 Chris Chen

Tuesday, February 15

2:45 Hudson

Wednesday, February 16

7:30 Piper

10:00 Lewis

2:45 Perfetto

Science Teach-In: The Science Teach-In will take place on Wednesday, February 16 from 1 -2:30.

Professional Development Day: There will be a Professional Development Day on Friday, February 18. No school for students!

Spirit Day: Spirit Day is on Friday, February 25. Students may wear green and gold colored clothing.

Reading Week: Reading Week will take place February 28 – March 4. Details to come later.

Oldie Goldie Book Fair: The Lower Division Oldie Goldie Book Fair will take place on Friday, March 4.

Field Day: Field Day will take place on Friday, March 11.

Volunteers this week:

• Tuesday - Art - Cynthia Biondi (12:00)
  
• Thursday - Library Check-out - Ailsa Hudson and Cynthia Biondi (2:05)
  

Following is a letter from a Shorecrest parent regarding a fundraiser for the fallen St. Petersburg Police officers' families.

Support for Officer's Family

Dear Dr. Bianco,

As of right now we are set for our event at our car wash at 2300 MLK (9th Street) Street North across the street from Anderson-McQueen Funeral Home this Saturday and Sunday from 8am to 5pm. Our car wash is an automatic one and all you have to do is drive thru , no work involved. But ALL proceeds will go to the Suncoast Law Enforcement Memorial Fund for our fallen Heroes.

My husband is still working out the details but that is what I know as of yet. We are working closely of course with the PBA as well, so we hope to have a great turn out. I would love a "traffic jam" of people to turn out for this event. When I hear more details I will be sure to let you know.

Thanks again for all of your love and support.
Joy Culberson,
Shorecrest Parent

Until next time,
Susan and Beth

Reading/Language Arts: This week the genre focus is on nonfiction. Our comprehension focus will be on using graphic organizers to record information when reading nonfiction. We will also be reviewing "cause and effect" and using describing words for taste, smell, sound,and feel.
This week's wall words are cool, dry, four, holes, move place, and warm. The phonics focus is on words with long vowel /a/ spelled ai and ay. Our robust vocabulary words are grumbling, chided, realized, bitterly, dwelling, and amusement.

Writing Workshop: We will finish working with our partners as editors and "fancying up" our pieces for publishing!

Math: We will be completing unit 5 this week. The children will be introduced to the "What's My Rule?" routine - finding and applying rules, finding the output for given rules and input numbers, and using the function machine.

Science/SS: Our Solar System unit continues as we learn specifics about some of the many planets.

Important Reminders:

Several of the children are still forgetting to return their Word Cards and Reading Folders on time. Word cards are to be returned each THURSDAY! Reading Folders are due each Monday. These are part of their "homework" and will be included in their homework grade on their upcoming report cards. Please help them learn this responsibility!

*After school programs start this week.
*Ident-a-kid will be here tomorrow, Tuesday, January 25th, in the Student Center.
*SPIRIT DAY will be this Friday, January 28th.
*Grandparent's Day is on Friday, February 4th-Please send in a picture of your child's grandparents or special friends as soon as possible! We will be doing a writing activity with them.
*Conference Day is on Thursday, February 10. There is no school for students that day. Report cards will be given out at this time.
*Science Teach-In will take place on Wednesday, February 16 from 1-2:30.
*There is no school for the students on Friday, February 18th as it is a Professional Development Day for teachers.
*The Oldie Goldie Book Fair will take place on Friday, March 4. Start getting your books ready now.

Volunteers this week:

• Tuesday - Art - Mai Nguyen (12:00)
  
• Thursday - Library Check-out - Valerie Pillot and Kristen Danielson(2:05)
  
• Friday - Math Game - Sarah Bernstein (9:00)
  
• Friday - Parent Reader -Mai Nguyen (2:15)

See you soon!
Susan

Dear Parents:

First, thank you so much for your very kind words in the many e-mails I received. While it has been an incredibly sad time, it has also been good to be with friends and family. While I am away, be assured that your children are in excellent hands with Beth Rauman and Charlie Chiappone. Here is a look at what they are doing this week.

Reading/Language Arts: The genre focus this week is on folktales. The phonics focus is on words with long vowel /e/ spelled e, ee, and ea. The comprehension focus is on cause and effect. The children will also be working on contractions 've and 're and describing words for color, size and shape.

Math: This week brings more math fact practice including dice sums, turn around facts (3+4=7 and 4+3=7) and easy facts (+1 and +0).

Ethan, Matthieu, and Hayden work at a recent math exploration comparing weights.

Science/SS: Our Solar System unit continues.

Other Reminders:

Word Cards are due each THURSDAY!
Reading Folders are due in on Monday!

*Math Night is this Thursday, January 20, at 7:00 pm
*After school programs start the week of January 24th
*Ident-a-kid will be here on Tuesday, January 25th in the Student Center. Information will be coming home in your child's homework folder on Tuesday, January 18th.
*SPIRIT DAY will be on Friday, January 28th
*Grandparent's Day is on Friday, February 4th-Please send in a picture of your child's grandparents or special friends as soon as possible! We will be doing a writing activity with them.
*Conference Day is on Thursday, February 10. There is no school for students that day. Report cards will be given out at this time.
*Science Teach-In will take place on Wednesday, February 16 from 1-2:30.
*No school for the students on Friday, February 18th-Professional Development Day for teachers
*Oldie Goldie Book Fair will take place on Friday, March 4 (Start getting your books ready now)

Volunteers this week:

• Tuesday - Art - Kristen Danielson (12:00)
  
• Thursday - Library Check-out - Julie Piper and Molly Camp (2:05)
  
• Friday - Math Game - Leigh Harting (after Livvi's birthday celebration!)
• Friday - Parent Reader - Dean Walsh (or substitute parent??) (2:15)

Thank you again for being such wonderful parents. See you soon!
Susan

Dear Parents:

Don't forget that school begins at 8:05 now. This time change took effect last week. We have had a few stragglers and we begin our day when the bell rings at 8:05.

Last Friday, our math explorations were a lot of fun! I wanted to share a couple of pictures with you to show our class in action! In this picture, Ethan, Matthieu, and Hayden work on weighing sets of objects to make them balance.

In the next picture, Livvi, Ellie, Charlie, and Anna work on estimating and finding the area of a surface.

Here is a look at what is going on in our class this week.

Reading/Language Arts: We are working on words with the long o sound spelled oa as in "boat" and ow as in "snow". Our comprehension focus when reading will be on the author's purpose for the story and point of view - the viewpoint from which a story is told to the reader. We will also practice making inferences by using clues from what we are reading and what we already know to help us understand the story. We will be reading stories in the genres of realistic fiction and folktales. We will be working more on those sometimes troublesome words - homophones. The word wall words this week are mouse, our, over, pretty, surprise, and three. The robust vocabulary words this week are bulged, jostled, argue, command, labored, and wary.

Writer's Workshop: Ask your children about the "hamburger" we think about when writing! The top bun is the topic sentence - telling the reader what the story is about. The lettuce, ketchup, pickles, etc. are the juicy details about the topic. The bottom bun (looking similar to the top bun) finishes the story with a "close-in" closing. When your child is writing at home, remind him/her to reread the beginning of the story to help write a "close-in" closing.

Math: We will be working on addition of 2-digit numbers. We will also be introducing, making up, and solving number stories involving relations, addition, and subtraction.

Science/SS: This week our focus will be the phases of the moon, and the stars and constellations in our solar system.

Volunteers this week:

• Tuesday - Art - Chris Chen (12:00)
• Thursday - Library Check-out - Ailsa Hudson and Liz Jack (2:05)
• Friday - Math Game - Michelle Clopet (9:00)
  
• Friday - Parent Reader - Meghan Schneider (2:15)

Other Reminders:

Please be sure to practice reading, spelling, and writing the vocabulary words on the word rings every day. Return the word card rings EVERY Thursday.

Please be sure to have your child work on the reading folder assignment each day and return it completed on Mondays. Some children are forgetting to return the folder on time. Don't forget that rereading helps to build fluency! Your child should reread the book each night to increase their fluency and to help work on voice inflection.

Math Night will be January 20 at 7:00 p.m. This will be a great opportunity to get some hands-on experience with our Everyday Math program. Please let the office know if you plan to attend.

There will be no school on Martin Luther King Day - January 17th.

Our next Spirit Day will be Friday, January 28th.

That's all for now!
Have a great week!
Susan

Happy New Year!

Dear Parents:

I can hardly believe that it is already 2011! I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday with your loved ones and enjoyed the break with your children. I definitely enjoyed the time with my family and was so blessed to have all three of my children home with us for both Christmas and New Years. Some exciting news in my family is that my son became engaged on Christmas Eve. My future daughter-in-law, Erica, and I began wedding planning immediately!

There is also some exciting news for our class! Please join me in welcoming Mrs. Beth Rauman to our class! As you read in December's letter from Dr. Bianco, Mrs. Rauman is the instructional assistant for our class. She comes with many years of experience in working with children at two local day schools. She graduated from Florida State University with a degree in Economics. I know you are wondering how a Seminole and Gator will handle working together so closely. With absolute joy! We became friends a number of years ago when I had the pleasure of having her daughter in my class and I have the utmost respect for her. We are very lucky to have her join us!

Now, what's up this week in 1-4?

Reading/Language Arts: We are working on words with the syllable -le, the inflections -er and -est, and the inflections -ed and -ing (doubling the final consonant). The comprehension focus is on determining the main idea (what the text is mostly about) and finding details in the text for that big idea. We will also review possessives. The word wall words this week are buy, carry, money, other, paint, paper, and would. The robust vocabulary words this week are agreement, rejoice, predicament, extraordinary, and unnoticed.

Writer's Workshop: We will continue to write personal narratives and will soon be choosing our next piece to "fancy up" for publication.

Math: This week we will focus on place value concepts for tens and ones, investigate place value digit patterns with calculators, and introduce the relation symbols <, >, and =.

Science/SS: Our Solar System study continues.The moon and the planets will be our focus this week. Did any of you get up in the wee hours of the morning of December 21st to observe the lunar eclipse? I caught the end of it. It was so cool! Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera to take pictures so if any of you happened to take pictures, please share them with us!

Volunteers this week:

• Tuesday - Art - Ailsa Hudson (12:00)
• Thursday - Library Check-out - Kristen Danielson and Valerie Pillot (2:05)
• Friday - Math Game - Cynthia Biondi (9:00)
  
• Friday - Parent Reader - Ailsa Hudson (2:15)

Other Reminders:

Please be sure to practice reading, spelling, and writing the vocabulary words on the word rings every day. Return the word card rings EVERY Thursday.

Please be sure to have your child work on the reading folder assignment each day and return it completed on Mondays. Rereading helps to build fluency!

Math Night will be January 20 at 7:00 p.m. This will be a great opportunity to get some hands-on experience with our Everyday Math program. Please let the office know if you plan to attend.

There will be no school on Martin Luther King Day - January 17th.

Our next Spirit Day will be Friday, January 28th.

That's all for now!
Have a great week!
Susan