Ms. Kaley's Classroom Room 24

Hello Everyone!

I’m going to start with the Upcoming Week because there are a lot of things to bring up!

Spelling Bee!  This past week I tested the students who wanted to participate.  Our annual Spelling Bee is Tuesday February 27th at 9am for the Lower Elementary Bee.  It lasts about an hour, so on Tuesday we will go to the Bee and then head to PE which will be outside.  PLEASE make sure your child has outside attire for PE and also for recess this coming week!

Our Spelling Bee’ers will be:

Ella 

Makiah

Jax

*If any of our 3 Bee’ers are absent, Joseph is our alternate

Congrats to our students!  Parents of these students are especially welcome to come see the Bee!

Upcoming Week:

This week is going to be Literacy Week!  It is a busy week filled with activities!  The theme this year is “Reading gives us some place to go when we have to stay where we are.”

Book Swap: If you have any kid books you no longer want or your child(ren) are growing out of bring them in to donate for our book swap!  In each kiva there will be a table where students who bring in books to donate get to leave them to other children to take.  Your child can pick out a new book or two too while at the book swap!

Writing Contest:  Does your child enjoy writing songs, comics, short story, memoir, or book review?  If so, they may submit one of these genres for a writing contest!  Writing pieces must be submitted to the office by Thursday at noon!

Monday: This year’s school wide read and activity is the book Ishi by Akiko Yabuki.  Each student in the whole school will get to an activity based on the book and make their own classroom Ishi book.  We will also begin our door decorating for a contest.

Tuesday: Recess in the morning, Spelling Bee at 9am, specials, work cycle in the afternoon

Wednesday: We have the COW back in the afternoon.  Reading volunteers will be in this day to read with classes.

Thursday: Literacy Night!  Join us from 6-8 and dress up as your favorite book character!  I will be with Ms. Kirsten running Harry Potter Trivia!  I hope to see all young wizards and witches attend! Lots of games and activities will be at Literacy Night.  This is a great event and one of our most attended after school events.  Join in on the fun!

Friday: Your child may bring some of their favorite books to read for our afternoon read-a-thon! I told the kids they may bring 1 pillow (no blankets or stuffed animals).  Bring a few good books and they will be reading from 2:15- until around 3:00 dismissal.  It is also Dr. Seuss’ birthday!  Wear your Dr. Seuss hats if you have them!  Dress in red, white, black, and blue (school clothes)!  I would love a great class pic of those who do! We will be doing a few Dr. Seuss reads and activities too!

Projects are DUE by the end of the week at the very latest for full credit!

Past Week:

This past week we focused on beginning our February writing prompt and also worked on The Problem of the Month in the language and math groups.  In cultural we had Geography this week and in leveled math groups we worked on fractions and measurement

In math:

Level 1s: writing the fraction represented

Level 2s: measuring rectangles at different points on a ruler

Level 3s: fractions on a number line and finding equivalent fractions between the two number lines

In cultural: Geography

Level 1s: Landform unit has begun! Island/Lake and Bay/Cape

Level 2s: What is a geyser and how it works. The Rock Cycle unit has begun!  Igneous rocks and types of igneous rocks

Level 3s: Water cycle review and funny Readers Theater, how to read and tell the temperature on a thermometer

I think that is everything for now!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend and hope to see you Thursday night!

Ms. Kaley

Hello Everyone!

Past Week:

This past week we began Geometry with Level 2s and 3s and introduced the penny and nickel to Level 1s.  All Level 1s are working on our penny box 1.  Working with pennies and skip counting by 5s with nickels would be great home activity to do with your child.  Almost all first graders also began learning preprimary sight words.  Some of our Level 1s are working on knowing 3 at a time and some are working on all of set 1.  Sight words are words you can’t necessarily sound out and are the most often words seen in text.  A few of you have asked, “How can I help my child at home?”  Going over sight words (for any level) and reading 20 minutes a day are the most beneficial home activities you can do with your child.  Please visit the site below to work on sight words at home with your child:

Sight Words List.  Click me!  This site also has game suggestions, flash cards etc.

3rd grade Multiplication Goal: This year, the Lower Elementary team made a team wide goal to help support our school goal of improving our student’s math skills.  70% of all 3rd graders (in all of MMA) will know their multiplication times tables up to 12s by the end of May 2018.  My student goal for our classroom is to help support this team goal by having 70% of Ms. Kaley’s/Ms. Misha’s 3rd graders know their multiplication times tables up to 12s by the end of May 2018.  This will be measured in our classroom through the use of Montessori materials, flash cards, game extensions, and through our math facts and monthly multiplication assessments.  3rd grade parents, please begin helping support our school and classroom goal by working on multiplication tables at home.  Start with 0s and then progress up to 12s.  Students are considered mastered in a times table when they can pass off on flash cards on that table in under a minute and can do a times table math facts timed test in under 5 minutes.  I will give each 3rd grade family a copy of the math facts times tables to take home to work on at  Fall conferences.

Fall Conferences are approaching:  I have the Fall Conference schedule ready to go.  Ms. Misha and I have children that attend MMA and we will need to go to our child’s conference too.  I am going to check with Ms. Jen’s schedule and then once I know my time slot I will put up our classroom’s schedule so nobody is double booked.  I should have  the schedule posted by our next post (if not before).

More help/strategies for beginning readers: I attended an all day DIBLES progress monitoring Professional Development this past Tuesday.  It allowed me to look at data and learn to make goals.  My plan is to progress monitor those students who are “red” most often.  If your child is yellow, they will get progressed monitored every other week and those who are green or blue will get progressed monitored once a month.  I am hoping this schedule will help improve reading skills.  For first graders, knowing letter names and sounds were assessed for this Fall DIBELS assessment, but by the middle of the year (January), they are required to start reading a 1st grade leveled passage.  Students who are working on beginning to read really benefit from knowing nonsense words.  Another great resource to have at home to practice with your beginning reader are those nonsense words and to review the letter name fluency.  I will try to make copies for those students to have at home during conferences, but here are my two favorites to use at home

LetterNamingFluency  See how far your child can get in 1 minute.  You can do letter name and/or sounds.  Great tool to use at home for letter practice!

NSFPracticePages  These are nonsense words.  Every month it changes.  We want to see how far a child can get in 1 minute.  Students who start are working on sounding out each sound.  The goal of a nonsense word is to read the whole word.  Very useful to use at home to help beginning readers!

Permission slip: On Friday, I distributed a permission slip.  The white paper has all of our currently scheduled field trips for the year.  If you initial on all those field trips then that one paper takes care of all the field trips for the year!  The pink paper is yours to keep!  This paper is the detail for our upcoming service project with Ms. Steph’s class. Please email our room mom, Katie James, if you would like to help chaperone.  We are only going within a mile radius around MMA, so no transportation will be needed for this field trip.  Please begin thinking about our trip to Black Island Farms at the end of the month.  Carpools, drop offs, and chaperones will be needed for that trip.  Arrival at the farm is at 9:30am.  Please let Katie know if you can drop off your own child, will be a chaperone, and/or will need a ride for your child.  Katie will receive our classroom roster that has ever family’s email.  If you need a ride for your child, she will email everyone who might have an empty seat in their car.  Those who need a ride to Black Island Farms usually meet their carpool at North Shore in the parking lot.  Some families choose to do carpools on their own because they know other families in our class and they go and pick up that student.  If you don’t know any families and need a ride for your child, North Shore is the place for pick up/drop off.  Katie, I would like to know who would like to be a chaperone for our trash pick up by Oct. 9th.  For Black Island Farms, I would like to know the chaperone list and carpool, drop off list by Oct. 23rd.

In cultural this past week: History

Level 1s: October calendar, days of the week, months by season

Level 2s: Kinds of galaxies and a star’s lifecycle

Level 3s: Overview of the timeline of life and began making a timeline of life flip book to use when we begin studying each Era and Period

Friday- Knowing that some of our common foods come from the rainforest.  Some students took home a list to play a grocery store scavenger hunt.  We also had a grace and courtesy lesson on please, thank you, and socially acceptable manners such as holding a door for someone and for gentlemen to open and hold a door for a lady.  Students also began studio this past Friday.  They all said they had a great time.  I also believe this was the smoothest running 1st studio we had!

Upcoming Week:

This coming week we have:

Monday– Monthly Botany lesson with Ms. Rachel Bush right after lunch for 1 hour.  Cultural lessons will be afterwards

Tuesday– Author Gary Hogge will be visiting again!  He will be doing an assembly at 9am.  Our students will still have recess first thing in the morning and then they will go to the assembly.  At 1pm, 3rd graders will go to a writing lesson and receive the lesson from Gary.  He focuses on using details to support your story and make it more interesting to read.  He teaches students how to substitute boring words for more details that can hook your reader.  I will most likely be attending this assembly with the 3rd graders.

Phew! That was a lot of information.  Thank you for reading and have a great rest of your weekend and upcoming week!

Ms. Kaley

Hello Parents,

Past Week:

We had a busy week filled with activities that related to the Great Lessons!  We finished up the Great Lessons of the History of Writing and Math and extended the learning for the lessons on The Coming of the Universe, Coming of Life, and Coming of Man.

Our students also go to meet our Upper Elementary partner class (a mentorship), Ms. Stephaney’s and Ms. Ali’s class.  We spent an afternoon doing a partner group game called Saving Fred.  Students had to work together to save a gummy worm who capsized his “boat” (a turned over plastic cup) and put on his “life vest” (a gummy saver).  The kids loved it!  As our classroom and Ms. Stef’s classrooms normalize we will have the ability to send our kids to work with their mentor and also have some lessons in her room (if needed).  The same is with her students.

Cultural lessons began slowly this week. This week we began with History:

Level 1s: Months of the year and days of the week, made a calendar for September

Level 2s: What are the 3 States of Matter

Level 3s: Timeline of life overview and the Clock of Eras

Friday: South America and What is Matter?

Upcoming Week:

This coming week will be very busy!  I am excited to start giving lessons and begin the kids on their independent journey.

Monday- No School- Labor Day

Tuesday- The Loveland Aquarium is coming for just the 2nd graders at MMA.  All 2nd graders will attend a 55 minute class about the animals of the rainforest and the rainforest itself.

PE and Music begin on Tuesday!  Please make sure to have your child wear or bring sneakers to run around in!  This year, each special is an hour long.  Our time is at 9:50 and goes until lunch time.  To make the schedule work, students will be going straight outside for recess until 8:50am.  Once we come in then I will cultural lessons until it is their time to go to PE and Music.  After lunch, the students will do their math and language works as they usually do in the mornings of Mondays, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Wednesday- Hour long monthly Botany lesson with Ms. Rachel Bush in the afternoon 1:50-2:50.

Thursday- Computer class begins for 3rd graders only in the morning.  9:50-10:15

I will be doing the new students who are in 2nd and 3rd grade reading assessments first thing in the morning.  It has scheduled out to be 2 a day.  Next week, I will begin doing 1st graders.  The reading team will also begin their state DIBELS reading assessments too this week and into the next.

Reminders:

I will be sending home a bright orange form for the MMA 5K and Pancake Breakfast that will take place on September 23rd.  If you would like to be in the race, please fill out the form out and have your you or your student turn it into the office

Pizza Fridays will be starting!  You can find the pizza forms on our social media and I believe through the website.  Please have the forms filled out by Wednesdays in a sealed envelope with your student’s form inside and their name and teacher on the front of the envelope.  MAPA comes by our rooms and picks up the envelopes early Wednesday mornings.

Reading Volunteers- I am ready for you!  I have Wednesday scheduled for you all.  If you can’t do Wednesday, please let me know and I can make that work.  Please come at 9am.  We will be finishing up circle at that time.  Since I have more volunteers this year, some of you will see the first graders to check letter and sounds and begin nonsense words (ref, mak, tep etc.).  Some other students will need that kind of practice and some will be working on fluency to work towards grade level.  I should have a sheet for you all by Wednesday.

Consequence Program- My team and I are putting together a consequence program that helps students be accountable for their actions.  We wanted to design something that wasn’t a punishment program, but would allow them to see what goal they aren’t following in our classroom and levels that they can follow to help them work towards following all classroom and school rules/goals.  We will send out a parent letter soon with more information about it

The students are working on showing their circle rules when present during circle time.  There are 5 and the students know them pretty well.  It is getting everyone to follow them that is important.  Sitting next to a friend is a privilege.  Some of our students are consistently talking out of turn and will have to have an assigned circle space until they can follow that goal.  This is part of normalizing our class and laying a consistent foundation for our year that all students are held to the same standards.  On Friday, our class voted on their top 5 classroom community rules.  We have been talking about community within the school and within the world and how to be a good community member.  The goals that they made will be apart of our consequence program.

Yarn- Most students in our community are learning to finger knit.  They are getting faster and pretty good!  Some are ready for more weaving works and want to learn the beginnings of crocheting and/or knitting.  Ask your child if they are interested and if so, have them provide their own yarn.  Again, I have some, but to make your child’s project more efficient and organized, having their own would be ideal.

Have a great Labor Day and rest of your Sunday!

Ms. Kaley

Hello Parents!

We had a wonderful and very busy first week of school!  Monday we spent the day learning about the classroom and then learning about the eclipse!  It was such a wonderful moment to experience that with them.  I too hope you enjoyed seeing the eclipse, if you got to see it!  The rest of the week was filled with Great Lessons, getting to know our classroom and each other, and group games/learning.

What is a Great Lesson?– At the beginning of the year, each year, in a Montessori school, we as the teachers teach 5 Great Lesson stories: The Birth of the Universe, The Coming of Life, The Coming of Humans, History of Writing, and History of Mathematics.  We were able to achieve learning about the first three lessons this past week.  This coming week we will review these lessons and get into the History of Writing and Math.  These lessons are the big pictures to the lessons they will receive and expand upon throughout their educational experience.

Snack-  For those who are new to providing snack, please sign up to the right of the blog in the green area.  There is a link to follow.  Please sign your name up to two times to provide snack.  Some parents like to provide snack for the whole week and some bring in the snack allotment for each day.  Whatever works for you is fine by us.  We have a fridge where we can keep things cool and fresh and we have a snack cabinet to store dry goods.  Any left over snack is helpful for those who might not have a lunch or if one week we find ourselves without snack.

Healthy snacks are the only options our school’s snack policy asks for.  Our class doesn’t have any food allergies, but within MMA there are students who are severely allergic to peanut butter.  It would be advised that no peanut butter be brought for snack.

Please remember that beginning tomorrow dismissal is at 3pm.  Early Childhood students also begin.

Zippered Pencil Cases- If your student doesn’t have a zippered pencil case, please try to provide your child with one.  Something must have happened on my school supply list, but I have quite a few students who need one.  It really is the only supply I don’t have extra of to provide students who don’t have one.  I was able to take care of everyone’s organization and writing supplies.  We are ready to rock and roll!

Reading Volunteers- I am going to begin reading volunteers next week!  I have 3 moms: Lori, Jessica, and Heather, who would love to come in and run reading groups and individual reading help.  Please let me know if you would like to help out too.  Ladies, if coming in on Wednesdays can’t work for you, please let me know which day of the week would be best for you.  Thanks!

If any other reminders pop up, I’ll let you all know!  Thanks for a great first week and enjoy the rest of your weekend and upcoming week!

-Ms. Kaley

Hello Everyone!

Past Week:

Thank you to all that came and helped on the field trip this past week.  The kids had a blast!  We learned about where the cocoa bean came from that morning before we left and the kids got a flow chart and we cut out the steps and put them in order.  When we were at the factory the flow chart we did was identical to the chocolate movie they showed.  I thought that was pretty cool!

We also had an “in school field trip” this past week as well!  Scale and Tails came this past Wednesday to present on reptiles.  They will be coming back in March to present on birds!

Spelling Bee winners!  This past week I asked who was interested in participating in this year’s Spelling Bee and we found our top 2 spellers: Calvin and Lydia.  Congrats!  Our Spelling Bee contest for Lower El will be this coming Tuesday February 28th at 9am.  Parents are welcome to come and watch.  Lower El classes will also be there to support our 2 contestants.

This week in group lessons:

Level 1s: Types of lines in Geometry- horizontal, vertical, parallel, perpendicular

Level 2s: Types of angles and missing angles in them- Complementary and Supplementary angles

In cultural this week: Zoology/Physiology

Level 1s: About birds and different kinds of birds

Level 2s: The Circulatory System

Level 3s: Echinoderms- starfish and sea urchins

Upcoming Week:

This coming week is Literacy Week!  We will be doing literacy activities everyday in class as part of their work cycle.  We also have Ms. Rachel coming in for Botany on Wednesday.  Here is a rundown at our busy week:

Monday– Read: You’re Here for a Reason and art project.  The whole school will be reading this same book and will do the same project to combine everyones.  PE and Music will still continue in the afternoon.

Tuesday– Spelling Bee 9am.  Fairytale day: Hansel and Gretel read and then do STEM project based on the story

Wednesday– Poetry day: Shel Silverstein funny poems and read The Giving Tree.  Students will do a few activities based on the book.  Ms. Rachel will be in for Botany from 12:45-1:45.

Thursday– Dr. Seuss Day!  We will read Oh! The Places You’ll Go and will do 2 activities based on the book.  We will also read The Foot Book and have our students trace both their feet to measure and then combine with the rest of the class.  We are hoping to join up with Ms. Steph’s Upper El class as well on this.  Thursday night is Literacy Night!  From 6-8 please come to MMA to do fun activities around the school!  This was our most successful and most participated after school offering last year and we hope to out do it this year!  I will be running MyOn with Ms. Elise in the computer lab as a choice to do.

Friday– Studio in the morning and then class personality tests in the afternoon.  At 2pm, the Lower Elementary will then do a Read-A-Thon!  Please allow your child to bring a pillow and a few books to read until 2:40ish.  Students may pick anywhere in the school to quietly read.

Ms. Kaley out of town- On March 9th Ms. Marleen and I will be traveling together to San Diego, CA to the AMS annual Montessori Conference.  I will be leaving early on March 9th around recess time.  Ms. Anna will be covering my studio for Friday as well as the afternoon.  Ms. Dixie will be subbing that Friday and following Monday, however, she is soon to cover for Ms. Jill’s assistant, Ms. Trish for the beginning of her maternity leave.  As of now, Dixie plans to help Ms. Anna Friday March 10th and Monday March 13th.  I will return Tuesday March 14th.

Snack- nobody is signed up for snack for this coming week. If you would like to cover snack this week please let me know 🙂

Have a great rest of your weekend and upcoming week!

Cheers!

Ms. K

Hello Everyone!

Updates & Reminders:

READING KITS!  If your 1st or 2nd grader brought home a plastic bag reading kit, they are DUE MONDAY!  I have only received a few.  I have the next books and materials ready to go.  I have now added materials for ALL 1st graders (adding Ella and Ethan).  Please sign the check off list and send the kit back.

Conferences start Monday!  Please sign up, if you haven’t.  I will be taking the link down at 7pm.  If you haven’t signed up and need to and I have taken the link down, or you need to change your time, please email me.  I disable the link so I have everything organized in order of those who signed up.

The book fair opens during conference days!

Our field trip is on Oct. 21st.  Remember to let me know who is driving your child.  Most of you will meet us there at the farm.  Those who arrange someone to take their child at North Shore will be picked up there.  Please see my post below on Black Island Farm info and times for drop off and pick up.  I will be reminding at conferences too 🙂

Fall Festival is Oct. 23rd.  Time is from 4-7.  You can buy wrist bands for $8.00 or separate tickets, 4 for a $1.00.  Tickets and wristbands will be on sale during conferences.

Past Week:

In group lessons:

Level 1s: 4 square writing, alphabetizing, 1 more/1 less/10 more/10 less, triangle review

Level 2s: 4 square writing, 4 kinds of angles review, Common nouns vs Proper nouns

Level 3s: 4 square writing, classifying triangles

In cultural: Geography

Level 1s: Review of continents, Globes vs. maps, Types of maps

Level 2s: Tectonic plates

Level 3s: The Earth’s atmosphere 

Upcoming Week:

With the 3 half days this coming week, I will be focusing on mini projects with the students.  No spelling this week.

Remember Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are 1pm dismissals.  Conferences start at 1:30.  I do my best to keep conferences on time, so please remember your sign up time.

Monday

1:30- Dustie

1:50- Alden

2:10- Kennedy

2:30- Tae’Lynn

3:10- Anna

3:30- Cael

5:30- Karsten

6:10- Jayce

Tuesday

1:30- Ella

1:50- Ethan

2:10- Sophia

3:10- Aiden B.

3:30- Arianna

4:30- Peyton?

5:30- Kailyn

5:50- Lydia

6:10- Romeo

Wednesday:

1:30- Kylie

1:50- JayCee

2:10- Naomi

2:30- Aidan L.

3:10- Nicholas

3:50- Ashley

4:10- Daxton

4:30- William

5:30- Tae’Lynn

6:10- Stevie

Hello!

Please remember that September’s home project is DUE MONDAY! 9/30

I will give the details for October’s book report this coming week, so look under the “Home Project” tab at the top of our blog soon!

Thank you Level 1 parents for returning your child’s reading!  I call them book baggies…but overall, I am receiving 7/9th of them.  Please make sure you send them back EVERYDAY.  I check the box to make sure you signed off their nightly reading.  Before they went home this weekend I gave them a new book for the week.  Please make sure they are reading it 4 nights out of the week.  I saw some lovely flash cards in some of the baggies, so thank you for helping out your child!  I spoke with Nancy and even if your child finds the book very easy it is very important they still do the reading!  Nancy’s program will get harder, but the goal is to build fluency and speed!

I have been doing reading groups everyday with Level 1s and some other levels.  I call them my pink reading group.  We read in the morning right after Morning Meeting and before time test.

I read with those who are on a Pre-Primer and Primer level 2x’s a week.  Those on a 1st grade level read with me also 2x’s a week. 2nd grade level reads on Tuesdays with Ms. Jill, 3rd grade level on Wednesdays with Ms. Holly, and 4th grade level on Thursdays with Ms. Krista.  Those who are 5th and higher, which is 2 students in our class, will have their own group.  There might be a group later on for those who read at this level, but for now, I will have them read on Thursdays in our class.

We had our 1st Spelling test this week! Spelling tests are every Thursday.

Start thinking about if you would like to come to Black Island Farms on October 24th.  I’d like to know who my certified drivers are, so if you did the background check program since being at MMA, please let me know so I can start working on that.

After lunch on Mondays and Tuesdays is our Writer’s Workshop time.  We have been learning about different methods of story telling for the past couple of weeks.  This coming week we will take a break to make time for all the home projects.

This week in groups lessons:

Level 1s: Polygon drawer

Level 2s: Reflex/Convex angles

Level 3s: Classification of Triangles

In cultural:

History: No History

Zoology:

Level 1s: My vertebrate book

Level 2s: Whales

Level 3s: Jellyfish

Geography:

Level 1s: Hemispheres N & S

Level 2s: Tectonic plates map

Level 3s: Atmospheric layers

Botany:

Level 1s: Food from plants

Level 2s: Blade: Simple/compound

Level 3s: Kinds of flowers overview

Hope you all had a lovely weekend.  Enjoy your Sunday!

Cheers!

Ms. K

Hello!

This week we got a new class pet, a spotted gecko named, Mango.  This kids LOVE her and take great pride in caring and observing her.  She eats crickets and small grasshoppers.  If you have any of these wonderful critters hopping around your property, please give your child the task of collecting some and bringing them in to feed our lovely new addition 🙂

The Upper Elementary elected the new student council for the new school year!  Their first task is to involve the Lower Elementary!

Ms. Anna and I have been assessing how to manage checkoff for the morning while keeping students accountable.  We have decided to try a class checkoff board that will allow students to visually see how many works they have gotten checked off and what is left.  This board will NOT replace work charts, it is a visual tool to help students.  At the end of work cycle, Ms. Anna and I can then divide and conquer with our iPads and input who did what into Montessori Manager.  Doing this will allow Ms. Anna more time to roam and help more students.  Right now, we are consistently using Montessori Manager as we do work cycle.  If a student achieves 4 or more works, they can go outside to recess.  If not, they stay in until they can complete their work.

Starting this coming week: MOST level 1 students will start a take home reading program!  Starting Monday, most level 1’s will get a plastic baggie with a book in it and a list of sight words to work on.  This is kind of like their “special homework.”  We at MMA are asking that the books are to be read MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, and THURSDAY.  The packet MUST BE RETURNED EVERYDAY TO SCHOOL because I will be checking to see if you as the parents/guardian are signing off on their reading.  Every Monday your child will receive a new book!  The list of sight words has a lot on there.  We are asking that you ONLY work on FIVE AT A TIME.  Our lovely and wonderful, Ms. Nancy, who put these packets together for your child, explains things you can do with your child on the letter that is STAPLED to the OUTSIDE of the packet.  PLEASE KEEP AND DO NO LOSE THAT LETTER.  It has helpful information.  

There is scientific evidence that if ALL children read for 20 minutes EACH DAY, that there their reading skills, comprehension, vocabulary, and spelling improve.  No matter what level your child is on, please help us by having your child practice reading at home 🙂

This week in group lessons:

Level 1s: Circle drawer, Numerator and denominator of fractions

Level 2s: Angle introduction and obtuse, straight, acute, right angles

Level 3s: Small math shelves tour, Regular and Irregular Polygons

In cultural this week:

History:

Level 1s: Daily timeline

Level 2s: Colder than cold experiment

Level 3s: Rope timeline

Zoology/Physiology:

Level 1s: Characteristics of vertebrates

Level 2s: Nutrition

Level 3s: Introduction to Cnidaria

Geography:

Level 1s: Longitude

Level 2s: Earth’s crust- creative drawing

Level 3s: Seasons and sundials

Botany:

Level 1s: Importance of plants C- Things made from plants

Level 2s: Veintation of a leaf

Level 3s: Flip up parts of a flower

Friday: Studio, Simple Machines

Home projects due by September 30th! You have one more weekend!

Academica West is coming on the 25th to do background checks for field trip certified driver’s.  What was failed to be mentioned is that there was a We Join In sign up and they are only taking 9 people that night.  If you have already done the background check it is good for like 5-8 years.  If you are new and want to get it done, Academica West is located in Kaysville, just right off the exit.  They mentioned to the teachers over the summer that you are welcome to go to their office to get it done.  I would call first to double check.

352 N Flint St  Kaysville, UT 84037
(801) 444-9378

This Friday there is NO SCHOOL.  It is Professional Development Day for the teachers.

Take care & Cheers!

Ms. K

Hello Hello!

Sorry for the late post, I got home late last night and haven’t had a chance to update!  The wedding was fabulous and it was nice to get a crab cake…

I want to thank Ms. Anna and Ms. Kim Patterson, our wonderful room mother who took over for me Friday afternoon.  Anna said amongst the excitement of it being Friday, they were very good and enjoyed doing the science experiment.

Also, a thank you to Dixie Brenchley and Kim Winward for coming in Thursday to help put together math binders!  Thank you ladies!

The kiddos are getting better at work cycle and those who are first graders and who are new are getting into the routine.  Veteran students are quickly getting back into their lessons.  Normalization ends October 1st and I am happy that I am observing great progress.

Since I am posting this Monday, the start of a brand new week I will let you know that reading groups have started this week.  Some students will read with my every day, some every other, some twice a week, and some students will see other teachers based on where they are at.  If you are interested in helping with reading, please email me!  I will asking you start after normalization.  If you want to help with reading groups please make sure to commit since reading is super important and it a goal for our school to better our student’s reading levels.

In week 4 I focused on individual lessons.  Level 1s met with me for Geometry on learning about rectangles and review on triangles.  They and some other students also got a lesson on a reading work.  I spent the focus of week 4 getting everyone  caught up in their math and where they should be.

For cultural this week:

History:

Level 1s: Keeping a journal for a week

Level 2s: 3 forms of Matter

Level 3s: Clock of Eras

Zoology:

Level 1s: Story cards of vertebrates and invertebrates

Level 2s: Bats (mammal study)

Level 3s: Sea sponges (Porifera)

Geography:

Level 1s: Latitude lines

Level 2s: Earth’s crust and review of parts of the Earth

Level 3s: Day and night

Botany:

Level 1s:

Level 2s:

Level 3s:

Friday: We started STUDIO!!  It went very smoothly and our class said they loved it!  For science they did a gobstopper experiment to learn about observations and the experiment process of the scientific method.

Reminders:

Please pack your child cutlery!  We don’t have anymore extra forks and knives.  We do have some butter knives, but students are still without cutlery.

On Fridays, for free dress, please no characters on their clothing i.e., no: superheroes, sports teams (bummer, i know…), logos, and cartoons.

Please make sure your child has PE shoes for Wednesdays!

Home Projects are DUE September 30th! Please see the Home Project tab at the top of our blog for details.  I told them NO research on video games and game characters.

Here’s to another great week!

Cheers!

Ms. K

Hello everyone!  Hope you are having a good weekend.  Ms. Anna and I are both under the weather with the infamous “back to school cold.”  Something is going around our school, so please help us by reminding your child to wash their hands often and use tissues.

Before I dive into our week I need some volunteers to come into school.  I have been staying at school to build language binders, but some sections need lined paper put in them, however, I need some extra hands to finish the language binders. The student’s math binders need to be built as well.  Their math binder needs binder dividers and lined paper.  If anyone can help out I would greatly appreciate it.  I will have to check with the office to see if they will let parents in their workroom to make copies for the language binder.  Let me know what time and day you would like to help.

Believe it or not we NEED more binder dividers.  If anyone would like to help me out in this area I have pegged it to be about 2 more packs PER student.  This will cover everyone.

I am leaving for a weekend trip back to Maryland on Friday the 13th.  I will be there in the morning to teach the first week of Lower Elementary Studio, but will need to leave at noon.  Ms. Anna will take over the afternoon.

This week we started work cycle!  All new students are placed and are learning new lessons.  First graders have gotten a new lesson every day this past week.  They will see new lessons in small math, reading (rainbow reading), and spelling this week.

For all students I want to stress the importance of reading.  Every student in our class should be reading 20 minutes every night.  

For those students who are new or need more practice in reading, our wonderful curriculum specialist met with us this week and will be giving each of those students a baggie with a book in it.  This book is to be read EVERY night and it will be changed out every week.  To also help with reading, we will be doing reading groups. Some students will be grouped with other students in other Lower Elementary classes.  Their group may also be overseen by another teacher, so it will give your child an opportunity to meet other children and get to know other teachers.

This week in group lessons (leveled lessons):

Level 1s: sight words, big book reading, geometric solids and the triangle drawer (Geometry), Fraction family labeling (Fraction insets A i.e.: “This is the whole family, “This is the halves family…”), golden beads addition (large math)

Level 2s: Intersecting and perpendicular line review (Geometry), introduction to addition fraction cards (Fractions)

Level 3s: Formation of plane figures and two-dimensional shapes (Geometry), introduction to fraction addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division cards (Fractions)

We started Spanish this week!

In Cultural this week:

History- No School Labor Day

Zoology/Physiology:

Level 1s: Vertebrates and invertebrates

Level 2s: Male and female (Physiology)

Level 3s: Introduction to Poriferan (sponges)

Geography:

Level 1s: Introduction to the globe

Level 2s: Parts of the Earth with clay

Level 3s: The Sun: its features and energy

Botany:

Level 1s: Lifecycle of plants sequencing

Level 2s: Parts of a leaf overview

Level 3s: Parts of a flower overview

Friday: Acrostic name poems, Introduction to Oceania, What is a hypothesis? with magnetism experiments

Have a good rest of our weekend

Cheers!

Ms. K