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We made skeleton faces out of marshmallows for Writing 
and we wrote the steps.  :)

(Picture of our writing will be inserted here. :( I forgot to download the picture.)

The class did an amazing job helping me write one step every day and then complete the step. When they worked on the gluing, EVERYONE was on a Voice Level 0. haha (Also, everyone is doing great at chopping up/ stretching words for sounds. I can tell you have been practicing!!)  The glue did not completely dry... but because of the ants crawling around the room, I had to send the papers home today. The class would have been devastated if ants attacked their skeletons!! And I probably would have cried... that would not have been a good way to start Halloween.

Enjoy the cute kids with their cute skeletons! :)
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Here are the events from the book Skeleton Hiccups. Watch the slideshow with your child and then ask them to retell the story.

Enjoy!

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I need to begin by telling all of you that you have the SWEETEST children ever. :) The kids did great during the lessons and the carving of our pumpkin!! No one screamed out during the pulling of the "guts", only made yucky faces. haha  I also need to mention that we had 2 fire drills today and they were terrific both times. (Another teacher even commented that our class was amazing and I had to respond with an, "I know! They are an amazing bunch.":) Made me so proud!!!) Plus we had a parent Volunteer in the classroom today and she was able to paint picture frames with the whole class... It was a VERY busy day!

Anyway, let me get back on track... :) We began our Pumpkin lesson describing the outside of the pumpkin. Then when everyone was away at their Reading Stations, I brought out the knife and cut the pumpkin open on the bottom. I KNOW, I KNOW... a handful of the kids told me I was wrong and that I needed to do it on the top because that's how their Daddies do it. My reply, "I'm an expert guys. I've got this." Needless to say, but EVERYONE laughed at me. haha Seems no one in the class thinks I'm an expert.  After that we gathered around the table and the class got a chance to observe the inside of the pumpkin. (Wait till you see the pictures of their faces... PRICELESS! haha) Every student participated in cleaning out the inside of the pumpkin, it was a 18 person job!! Then we went back to the carpet wrote more on our observation paper and voted on the pumpkin face. I carved the face while the class was at Art. Finally we ended with Functional writing and of course... PICTURES! :)




Enjoy the slide show!!
   
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What will the class decide on for the Pumpkin Face?... Check back to see how it looks!!

Here is our pumpkin and the chart we will be using to help us decide on the face. (I found the chart idea on another blog: The First Grade Parade! She has some amazing ideas!)





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**Personal Photo**
 I told you on the last post how I love Halloween so much... 
I wanted to show a picture of the pumpkins I helped carve with my friends kids. :)
Shaine wanted the Grim Reaper (thank goodness for stencils!!) and Reagan drew an original 
Jack o'Lantern face with a slight twist. I love the eyebrows she added!
Hmmm... we may have to add them to our class pumpkin.



It's very hard for me to focus on school work with the excitement of Halloween right around the corner! (This is my favorite holiday!!) I should have been typing up lesson plans, but instead I made another cute slideshow and then I found myself browsing through Pinterest. That whole site is very ADDICTING!! Check out the slideshow and then below you will find the schedule for this week. :)

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Resources for this week are: Art (Mon), Media (Tues), and P.E. (Thurs). Thursday is the Annual Chimney Lakes Vocabulary Parade and our Halloween Activity Day!! A few students have turned in their paper explaining to me what word they will be dressed up for. If you have any questions please write me a note or send me an email. :) Plan on seeing lots of pictures!! (The parade pictures will showcase other students in the school. I do not know if they have Media Releases or not... so I will need to blur out their faces. The slideshow may take a day or two for me to complete.) Also, you may come and watch/ take picture during the Vocabulary Parade, just make sure to sign in the Office as a Visitor. Then walk down to our room and secure a spot in the Hallway. :)
                           
Below is what we will be focusing on in class:
Reading: We will continue to sequence the events in stories and work on our retelling. We will use the books Skeleton Hiccups and Today is Halloween.
The Sight Words for this week are: day, get, on, said. We will continue practicing rhyming, blending, segmenting, phoneme deletion and beginning sounds of words. (Each of these items is done for about two minutes. Practice beginning sounds. Tell your child a word or point at a picture of an object. Then ask, " What is the beginning sound?" **The class wants to tell me a letter and I need them to produce the sound! The words we use are clear cut sounds. Examples: pig, baby, zebra, etc.)
When choosing books to read with your child this week, pick books that you have read before and when you are finished reading ask your child to tell you the events in the order that they happened.
Here is a video for the book The Night Before Halloween and a video for the song Five Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Gate (your child will be bringing home the Five Little Pumpkins book to read with you. :) They sang the song in Music and it has become a class favorite!)

                                      
                         >

Writing: We will begin Informational/ Procedural. We will be discussing topics we are an expert on: going on a slide, getting dressed, drawing a picture, etc. We will be sharing the steps by using the transition words: First, Next, Then, Last and Finally. I will not be stressing the writing for steps this week, as much as I will be stressing the process for ordering the steps correctly. *We will write the steps for creating a Jack o'Lantern as a class. I will put a picture of the steps on the blog for you to see.
At home you may want to focus on the steps as well. Make sure your child says the steps in order and get them incorporate the transition words. If they quickly pick up the steps, then begin writing the steps with the them about a topic of their choice.
Here is a video I will be showing in class to help tell the steps for going on a slide. (No volume is needed. We will be watching this without sound.)
          

Science/Social Studies: We will begin by week with Fun and Excitement!! We will be using our five senses to describe the outside and inside of a pumpkin. We will then transform the pumpkin into a Jack o"Lantern. EVERYONE will get a chance to scoop out the "guts."  then Ms. Godbold and I will carve out the face in the shapes the class agrees on. :)  The rest of the week we will continue discussing Matter and sorting items by their properties. We will be using different texture, weight, color and size words.We will also discuss how there is no Right or Wrong answer when we sort items, they just need to be able to explain!
At home, present your child with different items and ask them to sort the items by weight (light or heavy) On a different occasion present your child with items that are furry, smooth, rough etc. and ask them to separate them by texture.
Here is a fun little video to get them excited about sorting. Notice in the video they sort the apples one time, but after the News character eats one... they realize they need to sort them again. :)

                              

Math: We will begin working with the vocabulary equal and more this week.  I feel the students will have no trouble at all matching/ drawing groups to equal the group shown to them. But the 'One More' concept will be a little trickier. We will practice the concept two different ways: by the class looking at a number and telling a number that is one more. We will also practice with the class seeing a group and drawing a group that has one more object in it.
At home, work with your child on the 'One More' concept. If they do a great job figuring out the amount in the new group. Make it a little more challenging by asking them for 'Two More.'
**This type of question is on the CGA Test. Students only receive a point for getting the answer correct if they figure out the answer without recounting the objects.**

Today we made a Class Banner to show that we will be drug free. :)

Don't MONKEY Around with Drugs!



We had to show a thumbs down to Drugs!

Here are a few pieces to show the opinions the students had when we were visited by the Fire Department and by the Jacksonville Sheriffs Officer, Mr. Tokarek. You'll notice that the students may have written the same reason for liking the visits. But they wrote the sounds they heard when stretching the words, so sounds/ spelling will differ between papers.

Enjoy!





           
I just finished inputting all of the grades in my Grade Books and highlighting the data sheets.   The kids did amazing!! There was a ton of improvement from Progress Report time.       Recognizing letters of the alphabet and producing sounds the class did great! Reading sight words... WOW!!   I can tell you have all been practicing with the Sight Word Money. :) Math grades are phenomenal! In fact, as I look at the data sheet papers... I don't see a lot of yellow marks.  My highlighter was not used that much this time...  Instead I was busy writing stars all over the place!

I will be sending the Data Sheets home tomorrow. If anyone would like to schedule a Conference, please write me a note or send an email. 
Report Cards should be going home on Monday November 4.

Resources for this week are: Art (Mon), P.E. (Tues), and Music  (Wed).  Wednesday is an Early Release Day and Thursday School Picture Day. (These are the pictures that will be put in the yearbook.) Also, all week long is Red Ribbon Week! :)
                           
Below is what we will be focusing on in class:
Reading: We will continue to sequence the events in stories and work on our retelling. We will use the book Pete the Cat- Rocking in My School Shoes.  We will continue practicing rhyming, blending, segmenting, phoneme deletion and language awareness. (Each of these items is done for about two minutes. Practice rhyming words!! Say three words to your child and have them tell you the two that rhyme. Also tell them a "Dr.Seuss" word and have them tell you a real word that rhymes with yours.)
When choosing books to read with your child this week, pick books that you have read before and when you are finished reading ask your child to tell you the events in the order that they happened.
Here is a video for Pete the Cat. :)
                           
            
                                    
Writing: We will continue to discuss our Opinions. We will be working on a piece about Halloween. I will be stressing stretching words and spaces in between words. When students finish their piece, we will discuss editing and rewriting our piece with out any mistakes/ erase marks. (due to Resources and Picture Day... I'm thinking it's going to take all week to complete.)
When writing with your child at home, continue to leave them alone to write for 3-4 minutes. Remind them how many sight words they know and how great they are at stretching words!! After that time frame, work with them and then leave them alone again. (I am continuing to stress independence when writing. I want to see what the students are able to do vs. what I am doing for them when I stretch the words.)

Science/Social Studies: We will begin discussing Matter and sorting items by their properties. We will be using different feeling, weight, color and size words.We will also discuss how there is no Right or Wrong answer when we sort items, they just need to be able to explain!
At home you'll want to present your child with different items and ask how they can be sorted into  groups. After they sort the items and explain it to you, ask if there is a different way to sort the items.


Math: We will continue to focus on Linus the Minus and his taking away. (Last week some of the students tried to add, others weren't able to do the computation and would stop after they had drawn their group. I noticed some students made mistakes drawing the beginning group and X'd out their mistakes. Because of this we will NOT be X'ing what gets taken away. We will instead be drawing a ZIGZAG line threw the picture.  ) 
At home, continue to ask your child what words represent Linus is going to be in the story problem. Practice telling your child a story problem and then asking them how many are in the beginning group and how many get taken away. Finally ask them what the difference is that you are left with. If this process is easy for your child, have them illustrate the story problems and write the equations. :)

Yesterday's visit was great! Officer Tokarek came to our class and spoke to the students about safety.  He also read the students the book, Officer Buckle and Gloria. (one of my favorites!!) The class did a great job listening and asking him real questions!  A couple of students slipped in a few police stories. :) The class got to see the inside of his police car... and sit in it too. Listening to the siren and watching the lights was a big highlight for our group!! At the end, all the students were sworn in and received their own police badges. :)

Enjoy all the pictures and the video of the book.

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Resources for this week are: P.E. (Mon), Music (Tues), and Music again (Fri). Friday we are having School Color Day and we will have a visit from a Jacksonville Police Officer!
                           
           We are doing assessments this week. Make sure to practice all the items that
           were listed on your child's Progress Report Paper.  I can't wait to see how
            much everyone has learned! Especially with sounds and sight words!!  :)
                           
Below is what we will be focusing on in class:
Reading: We will review all of the story elements we have learned this quarter: characters, setting, sequencing events, problem and solution. We will be using the books Napping House and The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything. We will continue practicing rhyming, blending, segmenting, phoneme deletion and language awareness. (Each of these items is done for about two minutes. Practice segmenting words at home. Use vegetable words, fruit words, color words etc. )
When choosing books to read with your child this week, pick books that you have read before and when you are finished reading ask your child to tell you the events in the order that they happened.
Here is a video for the Little Old Lady. :)
            
                                    
Writing: We will continue to discuss our Opinions. We will work on our pieces from last week (best lunch food and best resource). We will also write our opinions on why we liked the visits from the Firefighters and the Police Officer. 
When writing with your child at home, begin leaving them along to write for 3-4 minutes. Remind them how many sight words they know and how great they are at stretching words!! After that time frame, work with them and then leave them alone again. (I am really stressing independence this week when I'm visiting tables. I want to see what the students are able to do vs. what I am doing for them when I stretch the words.)

Science/Social Studies: We will be using our Science Workbooks this week. We are working on questioning, listening and reacting like a Scientist. Some of the worksheets they complete will be sent home for you to review with your child.  We will also spend a day discussing Police Officers and how they protect us.
After discussing the worksheet with your child, try the Home Activity listed on the bottom right hand corner.  On Friday, ask your child what they learned from the Police Officer.  :)


Math: We will spend one more day with Gus the Plus and then we are going to have a two question quiz. The students will be expected to listen to a story problem and draw the groups from the problem, plus combine them to tell the sum. (An equation does not need to be written!) After that we will focus on Linus the Minus and his taking away. (Students have a difficult time drawing the groups for subtraction and taking away only a certain amount. We will be eating a lot of mini m&m's and mini chocolate morsels to stress this concept. :) Feel free to send in an extra bag of either one. I'm sure it will come in handy!)
At home, begin to focus on all of the bolded words that are listed for Linus. Practice telling your child a story problem and then asking them how many are in the beginning group  and how many get taken away. Finally ask them what the difference is that you are left with. If this process is easy for your child, have them illustrate the story problems and write the equations. :) **You may want to make this a fun process by having your child wear the same scowl as Linus does on the poster. For extra flair, tie a ribbon/belt of a robe around their head. :)

It was a great In-House Field Trip!!

The Officers from Station 52 did a great job presenting Fire Safety to the students! They show cased all their equipment on the truck, put on their full uniforms and answered all the questions the classes had. Our class did amazing asking questions!! We were very proud of them! Not a single student told a story about a cooking fire from home or an animal in a tree. :)

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The students loved showing off their backwards shirts. Some even showed off their backpacks, they were wearing them on their chests! :) (We did receive a few stares from students... haha But we told everyone it was Backwards Day and then they all understood.)

Enjoy the pictures!


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Here are the students with their fire helmets from Fire House Subs. :) 
Check back later for more pictures of the real firefighters!

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On the picture below you will see our opinions about Pets and the one we each thought was the BEST. We did not have time to do Independent Writing today... but hopefully tomorrow we will have time and I'll take pictures of the students opinions about the topic.

At home ask your child their opinions about the animal they chose.


Today the students each chose two objects to compare on the Bucket Balance Scale and of course I had Ms.Godbold take their pictures. (Our class is way too cute to miss out on a photo opportunity!) I had the pictures printed out and we will be putting them into our Interactive Journals tomorrow. :)

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Also, our copies were made for the ABC Books. I finished them today and they look GREAT! Make sure to ask your child for their book tomorrow. Have them read the pages we worked on in class and help them work on the pages that we didn't get to. :) When the book is completed: 3 pictures on each page (although some letters may only have two), writing and color details... send it back to earn a treasure box toy! Plus the students will add it to their collection of books in their book baggie. 
 
An ABC Book  Doesn't it look great? :)

Resources for this week are: Music (Mon), Art (Tues), Media (Wed) and Media again (Fri). Wednesday is an Early Release Day. Friday we are having Backwards Day and we will have a visit from the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department! It's sure to be another great week in Room 41!! :)

Here is a video we will be watching in class about STOP, DROP and ROLL.
                             
                           
Below is what we will be focusing on in class:
Reading: We will be listening to books about characters that have problems. We will discuss how we would feel if we were the people having the problems and how we would deal with them. The books I have chosen are: Pinkalicious, Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day, A Bad Case of Stripes, Lily's Purple Plastic Purse and The Carrot Seed. :) We will continue to practice all the sight words (I have introduced all of the 1st quarter words). We will also be practicing rhyming, blending, segmenting, phoneme deletion and language awareness. (Each of these items is done for about two minutes. We started last week and the class is doing great!)
When choosing books to read with your child this week, continue to choose books where the characters have a problem and by the end of the story there is a solution. After reading the book, ask your child how they would have handled the problem. :)Also, practice rhyming with child~ tell them three words and have them pick out the two that rhyme. If they need some reminding of what rhyming is, share the reading of the book I Ain't Gonna Paint No More. We read it in class and everyone loved it! They class did great at picking the body part the child was going to paint. :)
                                    
Writing: We will work one more day on our Alphabet Book and then it will be sent home on Tuesday. Unfortunately, do to the District's Curriculum Pacing Guides, we are not able to finish the book at school. Please complete it with your child at home and then send it back to class. A completed Alphabet Book (three pictures drawn for each letter with details and color ~ some letters you may only be able to think of two pictures... I understand.  :) will earn your child a Treasure Box toy!
On Tuesday we will begin Opinion Writing. We will discuss the difference between facts and opinions. Then we will discuss our opinions for the following topics: What pet is the best? What lunch food is the best? What Resource is the best? (I can't wait to hear all the wonderful opinions!!)
When drawing pictures with your child at home give them a topic/ question. An example would be~ What is your favorite toy to play with? Have your child draw a picture of them self playing with the toy in a setting of their choice. They ask them why that toy is their favorite. Help them write the reason/ sentence why.

Here is the writing example I gave in last week's overview:
             Parent: " Beautiful picture!! Tell me a sentence that will match your picture."
             Student: "My family walks to the Circus."
             P: "Great sentence. Let's stretch the words and write them down."
             *Some students will stretch the words with me, other are in the listening stage and wait for
             me to make the sound. At this time both are okay. :)
             P: "/m/
             S: "m."
             P: "That's it! Write letter m. (Pause for your child to write the letter.) I need to start stretching
             at the beginning of the word. /m/ / i/."
             S: "i."
             P: "That's right! The letter said it's name. Write letter i."
             ** Until we learn the word as a Sight Word, I do not expect students to write the word the
             adult way. Mi is acceptable right now for my.

Science: We will continue to discuss Scientist Tools~ balance scale and thermometers. Students will each get a chance to compare the mass of two items of their choice on the balance. They will practice drawing their scale and telling me which item is heavier (has more mass), which item is lighter (has less mass) or possibly have the chance to tell me their objects are equal in weight (the same amount of mass). We will use thermometers to check the temperature outside of the classroom, inside of the classroom and inside cups of hot and cold water. We will illustrate each temperature in our Interactive Science Journals.
Ask your child what Scientist tools we are discussing in class and if possible get your hand on one to use with your child. Discuss the benefits the tools give to the Scientist. Here is a Powerpoint Slideshow I found on the web that we have been looking at. Use it to discuss the different tools with your child. :)    Science Tools

Math: The class did a great job listening to the poems about Gus and Linus last week. :) (I think they liked Linus more than Gus. They thought he was silly with his angry face. haha) This week we will focus on Gus the Plus. We will review the bolded words from the poems. We will listen to story problems and discuss how many are in each group and how many are in the sum. We will illustrate them by drawing the groups in Gus's hands, I will write the mathematical signs (+ and =) and then call on students to come up and write the numbers in the equation.
At home, continue to review all of the bolded words that are listed for Gus.Practice telling your child a story problem and then asking them how many are in each of the groups and how many are in the sum. If this process is easy for your child, have them illustrate the story problems and write the equations. :)

Watching the kids talk about their gloves was adorable... They would look at them and smile. :) They would take them off and let friends try them on.  They were great! We took the pictures of the kids wearing their gloves in the morning. Unfortunately a few kids remembered right at Dismissal time that they had gloves in their backpacks and their pictures did not get taken. :( 

Enjoy figuring out who the gloves in the slideshow belong to... :)

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**Next week, Friday. is Backwards Day!! Most students told me they plan on wearing their shirts backwards and some event said their shorts/ pants will be backwards. I can't wait to see all the silliness! Be out for next Fridays slideshow.  :) **

The students enjoyed the book chosen for this year's Read for the Record. They thought Otis was a hero because he saved the day!! :)

We made hero hats for Otis and we added the book to Treasure Box.

Enjoy!

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Also, I showed a new sound video to the class and they asked me to add it to the blog. Enjoy watching the video and listening to your child clap to the beat. :)
                                   

The class did an amazing job using the hand lenses!! Our Principal, Ms. Knott, stopped by our room yesterday and she was extremely impressed with them. :) She loved how they spoke to each other and walked around the room only holding the handles of the hand lenses.  They would yell out to their friends, "Come observe this with me!""Look at the texture on this."  (I was so proud of them! :) My smart little ladybugs!! )

The pictures showcase the students observing their skin and sneakers while sitting at the carpet. Along with pictures of them observing out on the playground. :)

Enjoy!

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