It is sad to think that summer is half way over! I am glad for its break, but I am also glad for my catch-up time! I have finally uploaded the last half of the year's photos I took of the kids. (It's embarrassing how many I hadn't shared with you!) You can see them all on our PHOTOS page for 2013-2014. I hope you enjoy looking through the past year and seeing how much your little one has grown! I am sad to see them go, but I am excited to see where they will go! They are amazing little beings and I have you to thank for sharing them with me! I am better for knowing them.
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This week's agenda and brain boost is a short one because of it only being a 4 day week! We have lots of things planned and are getting into the swing of the routine! Check out all the information below to keep you updated on things you need to know! Please be sure your child has headphones. Important Dates:
Things to know This website has been getting an overhaul with all the updated information for the new year. Be sure to explore and see the changes in policies and programs. The "Word Work" page will still have some things added, but for the most part, we are set for the year! As updates happen, I will notify you as to which pages to look at. I sent an email this weekend about the "Homework" page found here on the blog. It is password protected, but I sent that information in the email. I will be telling you the homework assignments through the agenda and sending home important papers. If you need fresh copies, please go to the homework page and you can read the directions (do the work on notebook paper if needed) or print a new one. Send me a message or note if you need a new one sent from school. Don't forget that we are now linked to Facebook and Twitter. Twitter will notify you of blog posts here, but Facebook will notify you and allow you to see photos we have taken. Click on "Like" to get notifications about our class. Things to be returned Highlights Yes/No slip: Even if you do not wish to order, please sign and return the slip to school with your child so that I know you have been given the opportunity to order if you wish. Field Trip Permission Slip: Please send in the permission slip for the SWACO field trip by this Friday. We will not need any chaperones for this trip. We do not have the space on the bus for extra passengers and the trip is only in a classroom, then driving over the landfill in the bus. Do make sure your child has a packed lunch in the case we miss our lunch time and need to eat in the classroom. ClassDojo.com slip: Personalized slips were sent home with information on connecting to our Class Dojo with Parent Codes. A few parents have not yet connected. If you need a new code, please contact me and I will send you a new slip. Scholastic Book Order Letter: We have a wonderful chance to get free items for our classroom when you place an order this month. See the letter sent home and go online to see the book orders. Our class activation code was changed to MC42X. I have been working like crazy to update our page. I didn't realize how much of our policies, procedures, programs, etc. that have been tweaked or changed for this year. There are still things I am working on, but I think the main things (most important) are all updated. If you have already been looking through the parent information pages, please do so again. I went through them all tonight and made the changes. Thank you for keeping up to date and for all the positive notes I have been getting from you about the time I spend on the site. I really appreciate it and it keeps me motivated to continue the postings and updates! I will post here when more updates are made and look for the "draft" brain boost and agenda page posted here at the beginning of the week!
Ok... So I am also connecting this account to twitter in order to make more ways for you to follow us and get updates! I hope that this also makes things easier and not more difficult :)
It's almost Monday! We have a short week with Wednesday off for the kids. The teacher's will be working at an all day in-service at Summit Road Elementary.
We have been having some major difficulties with our Video Newsletters. YouTube is no longer accessible for us from school, and last week, the video took 86 minutes to upload from a home computer, then the link did not work! Again, it was lost in cyberspace! This week, we will be filming again, and trying a new site to host the video. If you have any suggestions for us, please let me know. Please look for another blog post with that video! Cross your fingers for us! For our sound study this week, we are still working on reviewing short vowel sounds. We will have a focus this week on the short e sound (/e/). The sound pictures include e, ea, ie, and ai. Please check out our Sound Focus page because I have added a ton more activity ideas for you to try out with your child. If you go down to the example word lists, there is a brainstorm sheet that we compiled and link for an online list with games. Remember to practice at least 10 minutes a day with your child. You can always practice by going on a sound hunt at home. Have your child look at a book and find all the words with this week's sound or, you can take a walk and find objects or words with the sound. Have your child practice reading, saying, and spelling them. You can also combine the sound focus practice with some math practice by using this worksheet I created. This week, our learning links schedule is changing slightly. We will now only have Dramatic Inquiry every other week, so this week we will not have it. Originally we were combined with Mrs. Zwick's class and 50 kids was too many to be able to do the outstanding activities that Mrs. Gaughenbaugh has to offer. So now we are alternating weeks. Math this week will focus on comparing numbers. We still will be working with place value, including the placement of digits, word form (number names), the value of digits, expanded form, and base-10 blocks. Please also continue to practice identifying and counting coins up to $1.00 (if your child understands this, continue increasing the amount to $10.00), telling time, and practicing the appropriate set of the Mastering Math Facts program. Remember that the hardbound Math Investigations book at home is for reference purposes only. You can look up strategies for solving problems, find tools for solving problems, and learn to play games. It is not sequential with what we are learning at school. The best way to help your child with reading right now is to read at night with them. Ask questions about the book (Who are the main characters? What is the setting? Why did the character respond the way s/he did?) and make your child answer in complete sentences. Once a week, you could even have your child write the answers to the questions. Read for at least 20 minutes a night. Studies have shown that simply instilling a love for reading, can create better readers. They need to see words, read words, hear words, and understand words. Find out what your child likes to read, and find books that relate to that. You can go to your child's Accelerated Reader site and log-in to see scores and the level your child should be reading. Your child cannot test from home. If you would like to find books at your child's reading level, go to AR Book Finder and do a search. Then you will be able to find titles to borrow from the library or to purchase for your child. Don't forget that Scholastic Book Clubs have books listed by AR level as well. I am continually updating our website and putting fabulous resources at your fingertips. Please take advantage of all the pages and links available to you and your child here. If you know of anything helpful that I can add (resources for parents, links, games, etc.) please let me know. I will try very soon to add photos we have taken so far this school year as well. Look for the interim reports to come home this week. This is the mid-quarter report, which will have the topics/standards being taught this quarter, and a narrative about your child's strengths and struggles. There will also be a blue letter coming home about your child's projected reading levels. Please read it carefully and contact Mrs. Martindale I spent some quality time this weekend updating our webpage. I hope that I have made it more user friendly for everyone. Please send me some feedback if you think it works or if you think there are some more changes that would help make it better. The biggest change was turning different pages into link buttons that look like this. Just click on the link button and it will take you to the page. There are no more drop down boxes that are fussy! Please enjoy the new format and the new links in Kids Corner and
I have just updated the Parent Information page with an explanation of our agenda log. I use it as an important communication tool, but also as a learning tool for the children. Please check out the addition of the "Parent Explanation Sheet"!
I also had a parent say that the documents would not download for her because it was requesting a log in to Facebook. I was unaware that it would do this, so if you are experiencing the same problem, have no fear! I have added the documents directly to our webpage (under the viewable version) and you can download it very easily! I hope this is helpful! Welcome back to a wonderful and stemtastic year of school! I am very excited to meet everyone. There are changes happening in our building as you probably noticed and their are changes to my classroom and website! I will be updating and reorganizing this site to reflect what we will be doing this year at Summit. So, stay tuned!
Please be sure to join me at an informal "Meet the Teacher" Open House Friday, August 24 from 6-7 pm. I will have handouts and you will be able to explore the building as well as our classroom. Please feel free to come and go as you please, for I know some of you have other classrooms to visit! I can't wait to meet you! I have been working hard on updating the Word Work page on our site. I have also been updating our links on the Kids Corner. Practice hard and ENJOY!
I just spent all day updating most of the pages. Take a stroll through the entire webpage for new information, photos, and websites to visit. I hope you are enjoying our class webpage!
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The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives. Me, Me, MeI enjoy problem solving, designing, creating, communicating, collaborating, etc.... all of which I expect my students to do. I hope that we have an enjoyable and successful year! Grab my button!Check out the rest of our teaching team!Past Messages
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