Week of January 9, 2012

Dear Parents:

Don't forget that we are presenting our riddles at Town Meeting tomorrow (Tuesday)! Please practice with your child tonight on telling their riddle(s) with a BIG, clear, and EXPRESSIVE voice! Remind your child to pause after the riddle so we can give someone a chance to try to solve it. If they know the riddle by memory, great! They will have a copy with them at town meeting, just in case.

This week in 1-4:

Language Arts: We are working on words with the long o sound spelled oa as in "boat" and ow as in "snow". We will also be working more on those sometimes troublesome words - homophones.

Reading Workshop: This week we are reestablishing our routines of reading workshop and, over the next few weeks, I will begin assessing the students to find their new level of just right books. We are beginning a new unit in reading workshop that focuses on bringing word power to our reading. We'll learn that smart readers... use a variety of print strategies flexibly to decode; make sure they understand what they read by monitoring for meaning, questioning, visualizing, inferring, and self-correcting; and read with fluency by inferring, determining importance, and rereading their books. This week we will focus on flexibly using print strategies for decoding. This means that we will be able to use many strategies, moving from one to another with ease to find the perfect strategy for decoding a particular word. Often children tend to rely on one or two strategies they've learned and sometimes those strategies don't help decode the tricky word they are stuck on. We'll learn that readers figure out tricky words by paying attention to the endings of words and by thinking about what makes sense. When reading with your child at home, please remind them to use all the strategies from their "toolbox" that they have learned through phonics, word study, and reading workshop to help them become more accurate, fluent, and expressive readers.

Writer's Workshop: We'll continue working with our peer editors and become "word wall detectives" in making sure that we are spelling our word wall words correctly. We will soon be choosing another piece for publishing!

Math: Today we were introduced to the relation symbols <, >, and =. This week, the children will also be making up and solving number stories involving relations, addition, and subtraction. We'll also be working on addition of 2-digit numbers. Please continue to practice the basic addition and subtraction facts with your child for automaticity.

Science/SS: We continue our study of the solar system. Last week, Mrs. Schiaparelli, a Shorecrest parent and substitute, brought in his high-powered telescope to allow the children to actually look at the sun and see the sunspots! Did you know that one single sunspot is as big or bigger than our planet Earth? Click on the link for our class shutterfly site to see pictures!

http://mrsowensclass20112012.shutterfly.com/

Volunteers this week:

• Tuesday - Art - Kimberly Burke (12:00)
• Wednesday - Math Game - Mai Nguyen (1:15) Note time change!
  
• Thursday - Library Check-out - Kimberly Burke (12:00)
• Friday - Parent Reader - Susannah Malison (2:15)

Other Reminders:

Please send in a photograph of your child's grandparents or special friend by Friday! I have only received a couple so far! Please send it in whether or not they will be here on that special day. Grandparents/Special Friends Day is Friday, January 27th. Dismissal will be at noon!

Please send in the Conference Day form no later than Thursday! If you need a different time than is offered, please note that on the form. Conference Day is Thursday, February 9th. There will be no school for students!

There will also be no school on Martin Luther King Day, January 16th.

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 label all sweaters, sweatshirts, and jackets with your child's name and check that the ones you have belong to your child. They can easily get mixed up at school!

Thank you and have a great week!
Susan

Week of January 3, 2012

Dear Parents:

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with your loved ones and enjoyed some special family time with your children. I definitely enjoyed time with my family as all of my children were home for Christmas! Unfortunately, I began the break with the flu. Luckily, I was able to get over it by the time my sweet little Owen and his parents arrived on Christmas day.

We have some exciting news for our class! I would like to introduce you to our wonderful new student, Sam Adebonojo. You may have heard about him as he visited our class in December. He and his family have moved here from New Jersey and we are so excited to have him join our class! Welcome Sam!

More exciting news! Susannah Malison has created a share site on Shutterfly for our class. You will be able to access pictures as well as add pictures and videos to it! It is a work-in-progress and we hope to have it completely up to date very soon! Here is the link:
http://mrsowensclass20112012.shutterfly.com/

Our class will be presenting at Town Meeting next Tuesday morning. This is a day change from the normal Monday due to the author visit on Monday morning. The children and I have decided to have a little fun with our solar system study and our love of riddles (since we are working on -le words this week)! We are working on some in class, but please feel free to send in any riddles that you and your child can come up with! We will need them no later than Thursday! Thanks for your help! Please join us next Tuesday morning if you can.

We are getting back into the swing of things at school! Here is a look at some of the things we will be doing this week in our classroom:

Reading Workshop/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). We are talking about the main idea (what the text is mostly about) and working to fin 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.

Writing Workshop: This week we continue in our Writing for Readers unit of study. We will become word wall detectives to help make sure we are spelling our word wall words correctly in our writing and work with our partners to practice peer editing.

Math: We are beginning unit 5 this week. During this unit we will work on place value concepts for tens and ones, investigate place value digit patterns, and introduce the relation symbols < and >.

Science/SS: Our Solar System study continues. We will be learning about the moon, astronauts, and then move on to the planets. We will also continue to work on map skills in Social Studies.

Volunteers this week:

• Tuesday, Art - Eva D'Agostino - (12:00)
• Wednesday, Math Game - Kelli Cross (1:15) Note time change!
• Thursday, Library Check-out - Kimberly Burke (12:00)
  
• Friday, Parent Reader - Susannah Malison (2:15)

Other News and Reminders:

Please don't forget to label jackets and sweaters with your child's name on the tag. Many were bought at the uniform exchange therefore the wrong child's name may be on the item.

Just because it's winter now, the Florida sun can still be damaging. Hats and sunscreen are still important.

No school on Monday, January 16 - MLK Day

Grandparents/Special Friends Day - Friday, January 27 - Noon dismissal

February 29 - Field Trip to the Science Center for the NASA Experience and Planetarium
More information will come later.

Here's to a great new year!
Susan

Week of December 12, 2011

Dear Parents:

First, I want to say thank you for your participation in the gift drive. You were all so very generous! You helped your child to see and "feel" the true meaning of giving. What an awesome sight in the new gym to see all the wonderful gifts for all of the families! Thank you for making our adoptive family's holiday a brighter one!

In case you haven't heard about our class elf, BillyBobJoe, I've included a picture of him! He is quite the character as you can see!

Reminders!

Our holiday party is this Friday! Remember that your child should come to school in jammies ready for our Pajama Breakfast Party! You can come in your jammies, too! All parents are welcome! Remember that the children will be having PE that morning, so please make sure they have on or bring tennis shoes. It is also Spirit Day so if your child would like to change into spirit clothes after the party, please be sure to send them in. We also have our lower school holiday sing-along in the theater at 11:00. Again, you are welcome to join us if you like! Dismissal is at noon on Friday.

Please be sure to return the word ring on Thursday. We MUST have the rings returned to school before the holiday break.

Volunteers this week:

• Tuesday - Art - 12:00 - Mai Nguyen
• Wednesday - Math Game - 1:15 - Natalie Ames * Note time change!
  
• Thursday - Library Check-out - 12:00 - Kimberly Burke and Ana Brinkley
• Friday - Parent Reader - We will do this at the party in our jammies and with our pillows!
  

What's up this week in 1-4?

Reading/Language Arts: We are working on words with the r-controlled vowel sound /ur/ spelled er, ir, and ur. This is tricky and we will not take a formal spelling test this week, but rather practice the words together all week. When reading with your child, see if they can recognize words with the /ur/ sound and notice the different spellings. The grammar focus this week is on using he, she, it, and they correctly in sentences. As readers we continue to think and talk about what we read with our partners as well as with ourselves. When your child reads with you at home, please take the time to let them talk about what they have read. This helps us to understand what we read.

Math: We are working on building good fact habits. Ask your child about "fact power" (instant recall of the sums of 1 digit numbers without having to stop to figure them out). We will finish Unit 4 this week. Please look for your child's Unit 4 Checking Progress to come home in the next few days and please continue to review the skills at home. We will begin Unit 5 in January. During the month of January, we will focus on Place Value: Tens and Ones; Greater than, Less than; More than, Less than number stories, Dice Sums; Turn-Around Facts (3+2=5 and 2+3=5); and What's My Rule? It will be a BIG and important unit!

Writer's Workshop: We continue to write personal narratives, working with our partners as coaches, just like in reading workshop. We work together to help plan our stories, add more detail, and make our writing easier to read. Our partners are helping us to not only write more, but write more clearly. A good writing partner is also someone who takes care of our feelings. It is an important job!

Science: As our solar system unit continues, this week we will be focusing on the constellations.

Can you believe this is our last week together in the 2011 school year? The time is flying by! I wish you all a wonderful Christmas or Hanukkah with your family! It is a great time to read, play games, and just enjoy your time together!

I hope to see you on Friday at our Pajama Breakfast Party!
Susan

Dear Parents,

"Never settle for less than your best! You are responsible for you!" This is our class motto that we recite each morning and talk about frequently. The children and I have agreed that these aren't just words to recite but words that we live by in our class. Therefore, the children and I have agreed that sloppy work will no longer be acceptable, whether done in the classroom or on homework. If the child and I agree that they did less than their best in terms of neatness, the assignment will need to be redone. I anticipate that the "neat writer of the day" award will become very competitive and that is a good thing!

The children are getting so excited to see how our gift drive bins are filling up! What a great way to make the holidays brighter for a family in need and, at the same time, reinforce the life skill of generosity with our children. Don't forget the gift drive ends this Friday and the children will be carrying the gifts to the new athletic center that morning. The joy of giving will never be so evident!

The children are also getting excited about our upcoming pajama party! It will be on Friday, December 16th beginning at 8:30 a.m. Your child may wear his/her pajamas to school that morning. It is also spirit day, so they may change into spirit clothes before PE. Please be sure to send in sneakers and socks to change into as well! We will be going to the Lower School Holiday Sing in the theater at 11:00. All parents are welcome to join us for the pajama party - (come in your PJ's too!) - as well as the holiday sing.

Even with all of the excitement of the season, we are still working hard in our classroom. Here is a glimpse of what is going on this week:

Reading/Language Arts: The phonics focus is on the digraphs /kw/qu and /hw/ wh. We will also be practicing more with the inflections -ed, and -ing. Our high frequency words (word card words) are about, books, family, name, people, read, work, and writing. Last week we looked at the genre of realistic fiction (made-up stories that could happen in real life). This week we are talking about biographies (stories about the events in the life of a real person) and will compare the two genres. Our comprehension focus will be on sequencing the events in the stories we read. Knowing the order of events can help us to better understand the information. In grammar, we will be learning when to use the words I and me. In Reader's Workshop, we will work on "retelling" to help build our reading muscles and understand what we read. Readers retell by using character names and details so that retelling makes sense. Please practice retelling with your child when reading at home.

Writer's Workshop: We will continue to work on personal narratives and making our writing easier to read.

Math: We will talk about timelines and developing fact power by working on strategies for addition and subtraction. We will also continue working on telling time to the quarter hour. Telling time is a skill that requires lots of practice. The children brought a laminated analog clock home today to use when practicing at home. Please do this often with your child throughout the year!

Science: We are into our unit on the solar system. If you have not brought the 4 inch styrofoam ball and empty toilet paper tube, please do so as soon as possible. Thank you to those of you that have sent in extras! If anyone has anything that you would like to share with us about this unit, please let me know!

We will also be attending two special productions in the theater this week. On Tuesday at 1:00 we will see "Hans Brinker" and at 1:00 on Wednesday we will be attending the Lower Division Chorus production called "Welcome to the Jungle". We are so lucky to have these experiences at Shorecrest!

Volunteers this week:

• Tuesday - Art - Natalie Ames - 12:00
• Wednesday - No math games due to the chorus show
• Thursday - Library checkout - Kimberly Burke and Ana Brinkley - 12:00
• Friday - Parent Reader - Kevin Williams/Marion O'Mullane - 2:15

Have a terrific week!
Susan

Week of November 28, 2011

Dear Parents,

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoyed the week together with your loved ones. I had a wonderful long weekend with my children and grandson but was so sad when they left Sunday. I miss them so much! The house is too quiet now. My words of advice to you... enjoy these days while your children are young and living with you. Treasure every moment!





















We finished reading our class novel, Charlotte's Web, the week before Thanksgiving break. That Thursday, we got together with our third grade buddies in Mrs. Hensler's class for another activity. This time the partnerships each chose a setting from the story and completed a diarama to show that setting complete with characters and scenery. They worked so well together in their cooperative partnerships! Their diaramas are amazing and will come home before the winter break.

In language arts, our spelling focus this week is on the r-controlled vowel /ar/ as in "farm". We are also practicing adding the inflections -s, -ed, and -ing to words. We will also practice writing the names of holidays and remembering that they begin with capital letters. Our wall words this week are again, feel, house, know, loud, Mrs., put, and say.

During Reading Workshop, we will talk about ways that smart readers help themselves understand what they read... such as stopping and rereading slowly, studying the pictures, and asking themselves "What's going on in the story? and What is the author's purpose?" We will also use sticky notes to mark places that make us "think" in our books.

Last week we had our second writing celebration in which the children shared their stories. They gave each other such wonderful compliments as writers! In our new and third unit of Writing Workshop, we are talking about the importance of conventions to make our writing more readable. Today we made a list of what makes writing "easy to read" and we reread all of the stories we have in our notebooks and sorted them into "easy to read writing" and "not so easy to read writing". During this unit we will put a spotlight on things such as the proper case of letters, using correct spacing, appropriate punctuation, neatness, and spelling both high frequency and unknown words. We continue to write about the "small moments" in our lives. Encourage your child to tell you the stories of his or her day no matter where those moments occur... at home, at school, at soccer. Tell him or her, "You should write about that!"

In math, we will work more with measurement, including the ruler, tape measure, and measuring temperature. We will also begin practicing telling time to the quarter hour. We will begin making our number scrolls, so please send in the empty and CLEAN Pringles can this week if you have not done so.

In science, we began our new unit on the Solar System today! This week we will be talking about what makes day and night, why we have seasons, and learning about largest star in our solar system, the sun. We will need a few items for special projects during this unit. Please send in a 4 inch styrofoam ball, an empty toilet tissue tube, and any scraps of sandpaper that you may have. We don't need much sandpaper so please don't worry about buying any. We need to have these in by next Monday. Thank you! I am sure that this will prove to be another exciting unit for the children!

Other Important Events:

The gift drive began this week and ends December 9. You should have received information regarding details of the family our class is helping. There are two bins in our hallway to collect the gifts. What a great way to help our children learn the "gift of giving"!

The first grade Pajama Party will take place on Friday, December 16th. We will begin with a breakfast buffet! All parents are welcome to join us - in your jammies, too! This will no doubt be a favorite day of the year!

The Lower Division Holiday Sing Along will also take place that day at 11:00. Dismissal will be at noon.

Volunteers This Week:

• Tuesday - Art - 12:00 - Debbie Boensch
• Wednesday - Math Game - 1:00 - Susannah Malison
• Thursday - Library Checkout - 12:00 - Kimberly Burke and Ana Brinkley
• Friday - Parent Reader - 2:15 - Jill Emerson

I will not be at school on Thursday as I will be at a workshop in Tampa with Dr. Bianco and Joyce Graham. However, I have a full day planned for the children!

Enjoy the cool weather this week!
Susan

It is Spirit Day along with Poetry in the Park tomorrow! Your child may wear spirit clothes along with their live "sick" illustration! It will be cold sitting outside in the morning, so please dress appropriately! See you in the morning!

Week of November 7, 2011

Dear Parents:

Poetry in the Park is this Friday! If your child wakes up saying "I cannot go to school today"... PERFECT! Please keep practicing! Bring your chairs or blankets and get ready for a wonderful morning of both funny and lyrical poetry! It is truly one of the best days of the year at Shorecrest!

We also have the Book Fair this week in the Student Activity Center. This is the only fundraiser for the library. We will be browsing as a class at 8:45 on Tuesday morning. You are welcome to join us if you would like. Other hours for shopping (with or without your child) are from 8:00 - 4:00 Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday or from 8:00 - 5:30 on Wednesday.

Our service learning project and field trip to the SPCA was a huge success! Thank you so much to all of you who donated so many needed items for the animals at the SPCA. They were so appreciated! It was a wonderful experience for your child in "giving". Thank you also for the many carrots and apples brought on the field trip. The animals LOVED having so many treats and used good animal manners in taking them! :)

Although we have another shortened week due to the Professional Development Day Monday and Poetry in the Park on Friday morning, we are jam-packed with learning! This week our spelling and word work will focus on words that begin and end with the digraph /sh/ and words with initial blends of l, s, and r.In Spelling City, look for Week 12 for this week's spelling list. Our grammar focus will be on capitalizing the names of special people and places. During reading workshop, we have spent much time over the last month learning and practicing strategies for figuring out tricky words, noticing patterns in books, thinking about whether the words we are reading make sense, reading with a storyteller voice, and echo reading with our partners to help us read more fluently. This week we will spend time thinking about the meaning of the books we are reading and talking with our partners about the meaning. The goal is to remind the children that careful reading is not only about figuring out the words, but more about making sure we understand the story. If you are able to, please come to our classroom after Poetry in the Park ends on Friday and enjoy a few private moments with your child reading a book or two to you! Celebrate all that your child has accomplished in reading! This week we will also be talking more about the "setting" of stories - when and where the story takes place - and we will begin including the characters and setting in our story mapping. This week's wall words are could, happy, cold, night, saw, came, made, and were. The robust vocabulary introduced through literature will be reward, handsomely, cruel, greedy, consequences, and regret.

During writing workshop, the children have been working with their editing partners and this week will be working on fixing up their chosen pieces for publishing!

In math, we will take our unit 3 assessment, work on addition facts through domino addition, introduce the math message routine, and review thermometers and reading temperatures to the nearest two degrees.

I have posted some pictures from the Homecoming Pep Rally last Friday, a few from the SPCA field trip, and some from working in the classroom last week. I am creating a Flickr account and hope to have that up on my blog next week so that you will be able to see and access lots of pictures as I have too many to post here. Thank you to Susannah Malison, Kimberly Burke, and Jill Lemon for taking and sending me pictures!

Other Things to Remember:

• PLEASE help your child practice the words on the ring that comes home each Monday. Please practice READING and SPELLING the words EVERY day! Then please help your child remember to return the ring every THURSDAY. Last week only half the class remembered to return the word ring on time. This is part of the weekly homework responsibility. THANK YOU for your help!
  
• Holiday Gift Drive takes place November 28 - December 9. More information will be coming soon!
  

Volunteers this week:

• Tuesday - Art - 12:05 - Mary Harris
  
• Wednesday - Math game - 1:00 - Kelli Cross
  
• Thursday - Library Check-out - 12:00 - Kimberly Burke
  
• Friday - Parent Reader - 2:15 - Eva D'Agostino
  

See you Friday if not before...
Susan