Week of March 19, 2012

I hope everyone enjoyed Spring Break. I had a great time with my daughter and little Owen in Texas. I flew to Dallas on Saturday and we celebrated his second birthday on Monday. He was such a love and he quickly “re-bonded” with his “Mimi”. I would tell him to say “I love you, Mimi” and he would! Of course, I would say back to him, “I love you, Owen” and he would say that right back to me, too! But, we know that we LOVE each other! He would not let me out of his sight! We wrestled, played, danced, sang, went to the park, went to the Dallas Aquarium, and to a place called Let’s Jump. He was right in there climbing and bouncing with all the kids!

I know that many of you have heard about my sweet little dog, Cody, from the children this year. I’ve written about him many times during Writing Workshop and he has visited the class a couple of times this year. The children knew that Cody was sick. He had congestive heart failure. Unfortunately, he passed away while I was in Texas and my husband was home with him. I have not told the children, but I know that at some point they will ask about him. I believe in honesty and will tell them gently when the time comes. Some of you have already heard about Cody’s passing and I thank you for your kind thoughts and prayers.

So, it was good to get back to a “normal” and a happy distraction… your children! We have another busy week planned as usual! What's going on, you ask? Well, here goes!

Spelling/Language Arts: Our phonics/spelling focus is on the vowel dipthong /ou/, spelled ow or ou as in down or ground. We’ll be learning when it is appropriate to use the words am, is, and are.

Reading Workshop: When we think back about the beloved books we read as children, it’s often the characters in stories that come to mind. The way we think about or react to a character, the ways we connect with them all make those characters stay with us even after we finish a book. During the next few weeks, we’ll learn ways to think about characters, not only their external characteristics, but the feelings and motivations of characters. We’ll infer information about characters by noticing what they do, say, feel, and think. Does the character change across the plot line of the book? How do secondary characters affect the main character?

Writing Workshop: During our Craft of Revision unit this week, we will continue to work on revising leads while revisiting some texts that we have read before to help us focus on the leads the authors used, showing not telling, and working with our partners for revision. We hope to complete this unit by the end of March.

Math: The math family letter detailing Unit 7 came home just before Spring Break. This unit has a large focus on geometry! We will talk about attributes of shapes, and familiarize ourselves with polygons - shapes that have all straight sides that touch only at their endpoints.

Science: We had a great time with our spotlight on science week (actually more like 9 days). We made paper from recycling, joined in lessons/activities with upper school students and the Red Cross, and of course went to the Planetarium. We also finished up our study of the solar system and had a blast teaching the fourth graders in Ms. Lemon’s class about the planets! I will be posting pictures on the Shutterfly site and I hope you saw the video clips on E-bytes.

Social Studies: In our study of America, we have been learning about some of the important people in the history of our country as well as our current president. The children have also been working in partnerships to research important landmarks and symbols such as Mount Rushmore, the Statue of Liberty, the American flag, the Liberty Bell, the White House, and the Bald Eagle. They are again the teachers and are teaching us all that they have learned about these important symbols of America. At the end of the unit, each child will have made a book about all they have learned.

Volunteers this week:

* Tuesday - Art – Jill Emerson (12:05)
* Wednesday - Math Game – Natalie Ames (1:15)

* Thursday - Library Check-out – Kimberly Burke - 12:05
* Friday - Parent Reader – Eva D’Agostino (2:15)

Other Important Reminders/Dates/Information:

Ident-a-Kid is this Wednesday, March 21. I accidently put the reminder stickers on the kids today! Oops!

Field Trip to All Children's Hospital will be this Thursday, March 22. We'll enjoy their musical production called "What's So Good About Feeling Bad?" We will eat not be eating lunch until about 12:30 after we return, so PLEASE make sure that your child eats a good breakfast that morning!

Relay for Life is Friday, March 30 at Shorecrest! The children may wear purple all week NEXT week!

Field Trip to the Dali Museum will also be Friday, March 30. Parents are welcome to meet us there, but there will be a charge of $18.75 for admission at the door.

Celebrate the Arts week will be April 16 - 20. The Arts Teach-In will be on Friday, April 20 from 8:10 - 11:00. If you or someone you know would like to be a visiting artist that day, please contact the office.

As always, if you have any questions, please email me.
Susan

Week of March 5, 2012

Dear Parents:

There is a very special day at the end of this month! Relay for Life, a fund raising event to benefit the American Cancer Society, will take place at Shorecrest on Friday, March 30. We hope you will all join us! One of the ongoing fundraising activities this month is the 2nd Annual Paper Links. Each time that a student brings in a donation - no matter the amount - he/she will be given a purple paper strip to decorate. The strip will then be added as a link to a paper chain in our classroom. Then all of the paper chains from each classroom will be linked together and placed around the track on the day of Relay. It will be a visual reminder that we are all working together to find a cure for the terrible disease of cancer. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Shari Fuss at sjcba@tampabay.rr.com.

Field Day is coming up March 9th.

This is going to be cRaZy, fun week! So many special activities are planned!

Science: We have several activities as part of our "Spotlight on Science". Today we will be making recycled paper! On Wednesday, there will be a presentation on bike safety... a very important subject for all children. The day we have been waiting for takes place this week! The children will be we sharing their planet projects with the fourth graders as they teach them about the planets! They have worked so hard! Upper school students have partnered with the American Red Cross to develop lessons on disease prevention, basic first aid, and water safety. They will be coming to our classroom to share these with us on Thursday afternoon.

Social Studies: Our America unit continues as the children begin their research on the symbols of America. They have each chosen a symbol to research and will be working with partners.

Math: We will work more on measuring with centimeters and take our Unit 6 assessment. Look for the assessment to come home later this week. Then as we begin Unit 7, we'll reinforce sorting attribute blocks according to attribute rules. We'll also work more with pattern-block and template shapes to guide the identification of plane shapes and investigate their characteristics.

Reading/Language Arts: Our spelling focus is on the long i sound spelled with y or ie. In phonics, we are learning to change the y to ie before we can add the inflections -ed, -er, -est, or -es to root words ending in y. We'll also work with contractions ('d) and verbs that tell about the past. We are continuing a focus on nonfiction as we work with our partners to read about and research the American symbols. The yellow reading response journals will not be coming home this week.

Writing Workshop: During our Craft of Revision unit this week, the children will continue to work on revising their leads, learn about their roles in a writing conference with their partners, and work on "showing, not telling" as they write. Remember, if an author says, "I was happy," that is telling. If an author writes, "I skipped all the way home, humming happy songs as if my heart would burst," that's showing.

Volunteers this week:

* Tuesday - Art - Mary Harris (12:05)
* Wednesday - Math Game - cancelled due to the bike safety presentation!
* Thursday - Library Check-out - Kimberly Burke - (8:05) - time change for this week!
* Friday - Parent Reader - Debbie Boensch (2:15)

Other Important Reminders/Dates/Information:

In addition to the special events already mentioned, we will enjoy some special drama performances on Thursday in the Black Box Theater by a group of upper school students.

Field Day will be this Friday, March 9 and will involve grades K-4. Information came home last week regarding the color of the team your child is on. That is the color shirt they should wear on Friday.

Next week is Spring Break!

Ident-a-Kid is coming Wednesday, March 21.

Field Trip to All Children's Hospital will be Thursday, March 22. We'll enjoy their musical production called "What's So Good About Feeling Bad?" We will eat lunch late, after we return, so SAGE needs a count so they can be sure to have enough lunches for us. A form is coming home today that needs to be completed and returned this week.

Relay for Life is Friday, March 30 at Shorecrest! The children may wear purple all week!

Field Trip to the Dali Museum will also be Friday, March 30. Parents are welcome to meet us there, but there will be a charge of $18.75 for admission at the door.

Celebrate the Arts week will be April 16 - 20. More information will come later.

Don't forget to check out our class Shutterfly site! More pictures have been posted!

If I don't get a chance to say it in person this week, have a wonderful spring break! I will be flying out Saturday morning to spend the week with my daughter and Owen. We will be celebrating his second birthday next Monday! I can't believe how time has flown!

Until next time!
Susan

Week of February 27, 2012

Dear Parents:

Reading Week was a huge success! After meeting so many wonderful characters from our favorite books on Tuesday, the entire lower school dropped everything to spend time reading in the courtyard on Wednesday morning. The children were so engrossed in their books. It was so peaceful and relaxing… a wonderful way to start the day! Then on Thursday, we joined Ms. O’Mullane’s second graders for some buddy reading. The children enjoyed showing off their reading skills and seeing a second grade classroom. On Friday, we shopped at the Oldie Goldie Book Sale and found lots of books to read and treasure! Thank you for supporting the book sale both with your donations of books and purchases of gently used books! I have posted pictures from the week on our class shutterfly site. I have also begun posting more albums from the first few months of the school year. Just click the shutterfly site on the right side of this blog. PARENTS MAY POST PICTURES AS WELL!

Have you been reading E-bytes, our school on-line newsletter? It’s a great way to see what is going on in all the divisions of Shorecrest. New this year is a link where parents may send in pictures, etc. to E-bytes! I know several of you take pictures at school, so if you have pictures or information to share, please do! You don’t have to go through me!

Don’t forget! Class Pictures will be made this Wednesday! If you have not turned in your order and would like to order a class picture, please do so now!

Our field trip to the Science Center Planetarium is also this Wednesday. We will be eating lunch at the Science Center. If you did not turn in a sack lunch order from for SAGE, you will need to provide a sack lunch for your child on Wednesday. Everything must be disposable, no lunchboxes please. Parents are welcome to join us. The Pinellas County Science Center is located at 7701 22nd Avenue North. There will be a $4.00 charge for parent chaperones.

This week in class:

Reading/Language Arts: Our phonics focus is on long vowel u. The letter u followed by a consonant and the letter e can stand for the /yoo/ sound, the sound at the beginning of use. It can also stand for the /oo/ sound in the middle of words such as tune. We'll also learn about verbs, action words that show what a person, thing, or animal does. We will continue to read nonfiction and use graphic organizers to help us keep track of what we read. As we continue to research both on-line and in books, we will be learning that information is often arranged in alphabetical order on websites and in nonfiction books. Alphabetizing can help us find information. Therefore, we will also be practicing our alphabetizing skills. If you haven't already, take the opportunity to have your child alphabetize the word cards he/she is bringing home in the rubber band this week!

Writing Workshop: During our Craft of Revision unit this week, the children are rereading stories they have previously written and choosing more that deserve to be revised. As they reread , they’ll begin to plan the revision those pieces could use. We’ll also focus on writing more effective leads or openings to our stories. We’ll look at the leads that some of our favorite authors use to help inspire us to revisit and revise the leads or openings to our own stories.

Math: We will work on extensions for the "What's My Rule?" routine which include finding missing input numbers, work on digital time, and be introduced to a new book, “My Reference Book”. We’ll learn about the book by taking a scavenger hunt in it! The children will be using this reference book in both first and second grades during math time.

Science: The children are putting the finishing touches on their planet projects and planning how they will present their projects to their classmates and to the fourth graders. They have worked so hard and I am so proud of them!

Social Studies: The children began researching presidents in the computer lab and will finish this week in the classroom. We’ll learn what it is like to be president, take a virtual tour of the White House, and spend some time thinking about what it would be like to be president. The children will also be choosing other symbols of America to research and learn more about. They will then prepare teaching posters to help them teach their classmates about these symbols of our great country.

Volunteers this week:

• Tuesday - Art – Kimberly Burke (12:05)
• Tuesday – Special Parent Reader – Julia Wenniger (2:15)
• Thursday - Library Check-out – Kimberly Burke 12:00
• Friday - Parent Reader – Mary/Charley Harris (2:15)

Other Important Reminders/Dates/Information:

• Class Pictures this Wednesday!
• Field Trip to the Science Center Planetarium – this Wednesday! Parents are welcome to meet us there or follow the bus.
• Field Day -Friday, March 9. More information will be coming soon!
• Spring Break will be March 12 - 16.
• Field Trip to All Children’s Hospital for the musical “What’s So Good About Feeling Bad?” - March 22
• Field Trip to Dali Museum - March 30
• Relay for Life - March 30

That’s all for now! Have a great week!

Susan

Week of February 20, 2012

Dear Parents:

What a wonderful bunch of "characters" we had at Town Meeting this morning! It was such fun to see and try to guess the characters from many of our favorite books and to meet new ones that we now want to read about! The children then did a great job introducing their characters in our classroom, telling us about them, and enticing us to want to read the book that their character is from. They also read their favorite parts to us! I wish you all could have been here! Pictures will soon be posted to our class Shutterfly site!

Tomorrow is Drop Everything And Read day. Please send in a towel for your child to sit or lay upon outside while we read!

On Thursday, we will pair up with Ms. O'Mullane's second grade class for buddy reading!

Reading Week ends with the Oldie Goldie Book Sale on Friday. Please continue to send in book donations until Thursday! Don’t forget to send in a dollar or two for your child to go shopping with! If you have books to donate, please do so by Thursday.

Now, a look at what else will be happening in our class this week.

Reading/Language Arts: Our phonics focus is on the soft sounds of consonants c and g. We'll also work on contractions 's, n't, and 'll and work on those troublesome words with multiple meanings.

Writing Workshop: During our Craft of Revision unit last week, we learned another strategy writers use to make their stories better. Writers reread their stories and “take away" things that don’t help their stories. Ask your child about the revision strategies we are practicing for making our stories better.

Math: This week we will introduce the centimeter in metric measure, practice measuring lines and objects to the nearest centimeter, count coins including quarters, and review "What's My Rule?" routines.

Social Studies: This week begins our study of America! In this unit, we will be learning about important people in the history of our country, our current president, historic landmarks, and symbols of America. We'll also take some time to think about what we would do if we were president!

Science: The children will be working hard all week on their planet projects!

Volunteers this week:

• Tuesday - Art – Eva D’Agostino (12:05)
• Wednesday - Math Game – Mai Nguyen (1:15)
• Thursday - Library Check-out – Kimberly Burke - 12:00
• Friday - Parent Reader – Beth Lastinger (2:15)

Other Important Reminders/Dates/Information:

Class Picture Day - February 29

Field Trip to the Science Center Planetarium - February 29

Field Day -Friday, March 9. More information will be coming soon!

Spring Break will be March 12 - 16.

Field Trip to All Children’s Hospital for the musical “What’s So Good About Feeling Bad?” - March 22

Field Trip to Dali Museum - March 30

Relay for Life - March 30

That’s all for now! Have a great week!

Susan

Character Day Tuesday!

Don't forget! Reading Week begins Tuesday with Character Day! Your child should choose a character from a favorite book he/she has read and come to school Tuesday dressed as that character. They also need to bring the book with them to school! It will be fun to see so many favorite characters from favorite books at our Town Meeting that morning. After Town Meeting, we will meet in our classroom and the children will each tell us why we might want to read their book so we can get to know their character. Then each child will read a favorite part of their book to the class. A character map was sent home today and should be completed and returned on Tuesday. Directions were attached as well as explained and modeled with the children. The children were reminded that this is not Halloween! Parents are invited to join us in the classroom after Town Meeting for the presentations.

Have a great weekend!
Susan

Week of February 13, 2012

Dear Parents:

CALLING ALL BOOKS! We need books for the Oldie Goldie Book Sale which will take place next Friday! Please go through your bookshelves and kindly donate any that you are ready to let go of! We are in desperate need of books to make our sale a success! Oldie Goldie provides a wonderful opportunity for the children to get lots of new books to read! Boxes to collect your donated books are outside our classroom door! Thank you!

It's going to be an exciting week for us! Tomorrow we will celebrate Valentine's Day. The children are allowed to wear "valentine" attire - red, pink, ... They do not have to wear uniform bottoms. They have been chomping at the bit to open their valentines so that will definitely be the highlight of the party! As always, all parents are welcome to join us! Then Wednesday, is Purple day! The children are allowed to wear purple shirts (with uniform bottoms) in honor of Relay for Life. We will have the Relay for Life hot dog lunch so remember that there is no SAGE lunch available.

Next week is Reading Week. We kick it off on Tuesday with Character Day. The children should come to school dressed as a character from their favorite book and bring the book to school as well. We will have a special town meeting that morning with all of the characters! Then we'll read a favorite part of our books in class. Please look in your child's folder for a special note regarding Character Day.

Don't forget that at the end of this blog, there are always important reminders of special dates and events coming up!

With all of the excitement of this week, we will still be focused on learning! Here is a look at what else we are doing this week:

Reading/Language Arts: Our spelling strategy is again on the long vowel/silent e. This week's words will focus on the long /o/ sound with the silent e as in "rose". Our phonograms are -ose, -oke, -one, and -ole . Our grammar focus will be on using describing words that end with -er to compare two things and -est to compare three or more things. In reading, we will practice the comprehension strategy of drawing conclusions. Authors do not always tell readers every small detail about a story. Sometimes readers must use clues to figure things out. We will be reminding ourselves that good readers ask themselves questions as they read to help understand the story better. We'll also continue to use our post-it notes to jot down information that we learn from nonfiction texts.

Math: We will be introducing fact triangles which help children see the relationship between addition and subtraction. Fact triangles are a great tool for practicing math facts within the fact families. We will also be using the Facts Table for subtraction and practicing more with name collection boxes.

Writing Workshop: In our new unit, The Craft of Revision, we are learning strategies for making our stories better. Last week, we introduced tools a writer can use to insert new text into the midst of a draft. We will practice using these tools as the study continues. We also talked about other reasons that writers revise, such as to show characters talking by adding dialogue.

Science: This week we will be working hard on our planet projects! Last week they worked with their partner to plan the visual presentation of their projects. It was so fun to listen in as they planned, sketched, and decided who would do what. Such great collaboration! The children are really into it! Thank you for helping to fuel their excitement at home.

Volunteers this week:

• Tuesday - Art - 12:05 - Mai Nguyen
  
• Wednesday - Math Game - 1:15 - Kimberly Burke
  
• Thursday - Library Check-out - 12:00 - Kimberly Burke

Other Important Reminders/Dates/Information:

Valentine's Day Tuesday - Students may wear valentine colors! They do NOT need to wear their uniform bottoms.

Purple Day/Relay for Life Cook-out: We will be having a hot dog lunch on Wednesday as a fundraiser for Relay for Life. Students may purchase a hot dog lunch or bring a bag lunch from home. Parents are welcome to come and have lunch with your child to support this worthy cause! Suggested donation is $5.00 per person. Sage Dining will not be available that day. Wednesday is also Wear Purple Day. Students may wear purple shirts with uniform bottoms. If they choose not to wear purple, they may wear their regular uniforms. Parents are welcome to come and have lunch with your child to support this worthy cause! Suggested donation is $5.00 per person. Sage Dining will not be available so your child may bring a sack lunch from home in the alternative.

Professional Development Day is this Friday 2/17. There is no school for students!

President's Day is next Monday, 2/20. There is no school for students or faculty!

Reading Week - February 21 - 24:
Tuesday - Dress up as a character from your favorite book! Bring the book ready to read and share your favorite part.
Wednesday - "Drop Everything and Read" time outside from 8:15 - 8:50.
Thursday - Buddy Reading
Friday - Oldie Goldie Book Fair -Great opportunity to buy VERY inexpensive great books! Please bring in books to donate NOW! Boxes are in the hallway to collect your donations. Thank you!

Science Week - February 27 - March 8:
We will be teaching Jill Lemon's fourth graders about the planets!

Class Picture Day - Wednesday, February 29

Field Trip to the Science Center Planetarium - Wednesday, February 29

Report Cards will be online for parents to access.

Field Day - Friday, March 9

Ident-a-Kid will take place on Wednesday, March 21

I hope you all enjoy time with your special valentines this week!
Susan

Week of February 6, 2012

Dear Parents:

Can you believe we have been in school for 100 days? The days are flying by! On Friday, we celebrated the 100th day of school. After reading the books, The 100th Day of School and What is a Hundred?, the children participated in various activities, much like the children in one of the books. We counted up to 100 and back, made an inch cube snake 100 inches long, solved math facts for 100 seconds to see how many we could do, worked at finding 100 words we could read and write, hopped 100 times without holding on to anything, flipped a coin 100 times to see if it would land on heads or tails more often, keeping track with tallies, and ate our 100th day snack mix. Mmmmm! We also read 100 books as a class and kept track with tallies on the board. I've posted pictures on our shutterfly site so click the link and enjoy the great day we had!

Since Thursday was Groundhog Day, we had fun learning all about the groundhog. We then completed a web together of all that we had learned about them and the children used the information from that graphic organizer to write their own nonfiction books about the groundhog. They did a fantastic job! I hope you read the book your child wrote and celebrated his/her great writing! Miss Hawley brought in her guinea pig to visit - a cousin of the groundhog!

Reading Week will be the week of February 21 - 24. Monday, the 20th, is a school holiday for President's Day. We begin the week on Tuesday with Character Day! The children are to choose a character from a favorite book to come to school dressed as that day. They need to bring the book with them and be prepared to present orally to our class about the book and character. We will parade in costume with our books at Town Meeting that morning. We will be having an all lower school read in the courtyard that week as well. Friday of that week is the Oldie Goldie Book Sale. You may begin bringing in your donations of books this week! Boxes will be in the hallway.

With conference day on Thursday this week, our school week is shortened, but still packed full of learning. A look at what is happening in 1-4 this week:

The children have earned another compliment party! A big thank you to Jill Emerson for hosting it! We will celebrate Tuesday afternoon.

Language Arts: Our spelling strategy is again on the long vowel/silent e. This week's words will focus on the long /i/ sound with the silent e as in "line". We will be reviewing the digraphs qu /kw/ and wh /hw/. We'll talk more about the comprehension strategy of figuring out the problem/solution in a story. In grammar, we'll work on dropping the e at the end of words before adding the inflections -ed and -ing. We'll also work on using describing words to tell about "feelings".

Reading Workshop: We have begun using our Reading Response notebooks (the yellow spiral that came home last week). We will talk more about this at our conference. We are doing a mini unit on nonfiction reading strategies to help us with our research projects in science. We're noticing the features in nonfiction texts and how they help us find and learn information about a topic. We're also learning that as readers we... warm up our minds before reading by thinking "what do I already know about this topic" and "what do I want to learn"; accumulate information by reading different books on a topic; and keep track of new information by jotting what we learn on sticky notes.

Writing Workshop: Our writing celebration last Monday was a HUGE success! Thank you for coming to celebrate with our writers and for the wonderful compliments you wrote to them. They were on cloud 9! We have begun our new unit on revision and they are now revising those same stories! That's what writers do - they work to improve and make their writing even better! I am introducing tools a writer can use to insert new text into the midst of a draft and we will practice using these tools as the study continues.

Math: We will be exploring patterns in sums of two dice, introducing the Addition/Subtraction Facts Table, and using name-collection boxes to help us come up with equivalent names for numbers.

Science: The children are having a blast working on their planet projects! We talked about and brainstormed the project requirements together. They are working with their partners to complete their research, decide the points they want to teach about their planet, how they want to present their project, what materials they need to complete it, and will have time to work on the visual presentation in class. Some have already brought in materials and begun to work on it! The excitement is contagious! They will continue this work for the next few weeks and will practice their oral presentation together. They will be presenting their projects and teaching fourth graders during our science week the end of this month.

Volunteers this week:

• Tuesday - Art - Natalie Ames - 12:05
• Wednesday - Math Game - Kelli Cross - 1:15
  
• Friday - Parent Reader - Susannah Malison - 2:15

Other Important Reminders/Dates/Information:

Conference Day is Thursday! No school for students!
Valentine's Party is Tuesday, 2/14, at 1:45 p.m. - All parents are welcome to join us!
Relay for Life Hot Dog Lunch - Wednesday 2/15
Professional Development Day, Friday 2/17 - No school for students!
President's Day - Monday, 2/20 - No school for students or faculty!
Reading Week - Tuesday, 2/21 - Friday, 2/24
Oldie Goldie Book Sale - Friday, 2/24 - Start collecting your books now to donate! The boxes will be in our hallway this week!
Field Trip to Science Center Planetarium - Wednesday, 2/29

Until next time!
Susan