I was back at school today but am still very hoarse. Students read their mini books to three others and then colored them. In science, students measured the height of their sunflower plants. We learned the importance of bees to plants and flowers. We would not have apples, almonds, or pumpkins without bees. Students made bees out of toilet paper tubes and "flew" them at the end of the day.

There was an assembly this morning about "morning walk," which will begin on Monday. Students who arrive before 8:05 (before any staff members are on duty) are to line up as usual. When a staff member arrives, students will begin walking in the same direction around the edges of the blacktop part of the playground. When the bell rings at 8:15, they are to finish their last lap, and then go to their line. I'm sure it will only take a few days to get the hang of it.

You will get a May lunch menu in your Monday envelope, but I thought I could at least let you know what's for lunch on Monday. It will be Cheesy Nachos, Corn Dog, or Beef Ravioli. Heads up: no school next Friday, May 7th. Have a great weekend.

Since I haven't been in class for a couple of days, I haven't tuned in to Rusty's social skills videos. A teacher friend, who also shows Rusty's videos to her class, let me know that Rusty did a "shout out" to our class on Tuesday's message. I have attached a link to the right so you can hear it.

We had a surprise visit from Mrs. Swan today. After doing her Junior Field experience in our room, Mrs. Swan student taught in a first grade classroom at Newman Elementary. She is almost finished and ready to graduate. Congratulations!! Students were each given a picture this morning and had to find a partner with a matching picture of a home and something that might live in that home. For example, one student had a picture of a foot and one had a picture of a shoe. At journal time, both partners wrote a sentence about their matched pair. Ex: "A shoe is a house for a foot."

By the end of the day, I had almost completely lost my voice. I have a headache from straining so hard to get any sound out, so just in case I'm not better by tomorrow, I left notes for a substitute. If your child is in sign club, it will still take place in my room, business as usual.

This week's newsletter has been posted to the class web site. I'm napping, drinking tea with honey, and taking vitamin C, hoping that I can kill this icky feeling in my throat. We mowed the lawn yesterday, so I'm thinking it stirred up all kinds of allergens.

Due to the wet weather. the student council's tree planting ceremony was moved to Monday. Our class toy exchange was a huge hit! Thanks to everyone who sent toys and books to school and a huge thanks to our organizers/helpers Elizabeth R., Diane M-H, Kim D., and Jennifer E.!!! Each student went home today with one new toy and one new book. The helpers stayed to make sure each child had their new book read to them. At journal time, students wrote about what they got. It seemed like all the students were happy with their choices. Have a great weekend, everyone!

What a busy day! We had our class picture taken in the morning, along with individual pictures. I thought they would individually photograph only the students who purchased packets, but they photographed everyone! The students were very well behaved while waiting in line. Mrs. Hanson took my class in the afternoon so I could help get things set up for our Earth Day assembly. The two kindergarten classes performed an Earth Day ABC poem in sign language, the second graders rapped a poem while playing instruments made of recycled materials, the sign club performed several songs, and fourth grade put on a play. It was all very good, but the kids got tired of sitting--it lasted an hour!

Dont' forget that tomorrow is the toy and book exchange. Please bring 2 books and 2 toys. The exchange will take place right after lunch.

Check out the Voice Thread again. It's no longer just Courtney's poem. I will be adding more poems. Ian is reading his Haiku about sharks.

One of our vocabulary words this week "communicate." We have been talking about different ways to communicate such as sign language, Braille, even the fire drill alarm communicated to us the need to leave the building. I mentioned Skype to them, and they didn't know what it was, so we called (Skyped) my dad in Texas. If you aren't familiar with Skype, it is a way to see and hear a person over the internet, using a web cam, for free! It's awesome. Students learned past tense today, by adding _ed to the end of an action verb. We started addition in math today. We learned multiple ways to make 10.

Picture day tomorrow!!

Courtney's Poem

Check out this voice thread of Courtney's poem. Click the Voice Thread link to the right. You can create a Voice Thread account (free) to make a comment to Courtney.

The highlight of the day was writing time. Not only did Courtney write a mind-blowingly great poem, but I found what excites your kids--music! I was playing classical music as they wrote and after the last classical song in my iTunes playlist, it switched to a song my daughter had downloaded (Tic Tock). Suddenly, they were all out of their seats, dancing, break-dancing, and cutting loose. I can see that I need to incorporate popular music into our day. Fun, fun, fun!

group visit letter

 

Dear Jane Dews,

Thank you for scheduling your field trip to ZooMontana!  We currently have you scheduled to bring 31 students and 7 chaperones at 10:35 A.M. for a visit on Friday, May 28^th, 2010.  Our group rate is $3.25/person for groups of 12 or more; please pay this fee all at once at the admission desk when you arrive.  To ensure you have the best possible visit to the zoo we have a short list of rules to follow to better assist you, your chaperones and your class.  Please pass on these regulations to your chaperones.

 

·       You are required one adult for every 8 children.  Chaperones MUST attend their group at all times. Our policy for groups is, no matter the age of the students, they must be with an adult chaperone assigned to that group.

·       Patrons must stay on designated trails while touring the Zoo.

·       Do not throw items into the exhibits.

·       Do not lean in or over the safety fences.

·       Do not tease or taunt the animals.

·       Do not feed the animals unless there is a designated feeding station. 

·       No bikes, skateboards or skate shoes allowed.

·       Please inform the Education Department if your students will be making purchases in the Nature Store so that we may provide additional staffing.  One group of 8 students every 15 minutes is the best way to allow your students to shop.

 

These guidelines are for your safety and the safety of our animals.  Failure to follow these rules could result in being to ask to immediately leave the zoo grounds.  Thanks again for scheduling your field to ZooMontana!  You may visit our website at www.zoomontana.org for more information on our education programs and events.  We look forward to your visit and hope you have a wild time!

 

Thank you,

 

ZooMontana’s Education Department

(406) 652-8100 ext. 6

education@zoomontana.org

 

 

Phone (406)652-81002100 South Shiloh Rd.

  www.zoomontana.org               Billings, Montana  59106

I don't know if your child told you, but as of last Friday the class had earned enough compliments on their behavior that they won a popcorn party. Since it happened so late in the day, we celebrated today. Our letter of the week is Qq and our spelling words are what and where. We will be talking about things that hatch from eggs all week. A group of students, including Christian, Izaak, and Ian formed a trash patrol and picked up garbage during recess. Thanks, guys!! In math, we talked about fractions and equal parts.

I forgot to put in my newsletter that book orders are due this Friday and that we have our class picture on Thursday.

Greetings! This week's newsletter has been posted to the class web page.

This morning we played a different version of BANG! in which students collected words they could read. When we ran out of word sticks in the can, we put all the word sticks in the middle and each student had a turn to put some words together to make a sentence. In science, students cut apart and assembled the parts of a plant and labeled them. We learned the words perhaps, certainly, and resourceful. In math, students painted their butterflies so that the patterns on their wings were symmetrical. We added sticks to turn the butterflies into puppets and reviewed lines of symmetry. Reef provided some yummy birthday treats at the end of the day. Thanks to Mrs. Eliason for helping students check out books this afternoon. Have a great weekend and enjoy the warm weather!

Today was Mrs. Webber's last day with us. We wish her well with the rest of her training. She will make an awesome teacher! Ms. McSweyn, one of our counselors, taught a lesson on using "I messages." An example she gave was that if someone cuts in front of you in line, rather than hitting the person or yelling at them, you should say, "I feel angry when you cut in line. I want you to go to the back of the line." Everyone had the opportunity to practice the new language. Using I messages is a great way to diffuse a tense situation. In their journals, students wrote I statements, such as, "I feel sad when I don't get a latte in the morning." (oops, that was fron MY journal) In math, we talked about symmetry. Students traced a butterfly, cut it out, folded it in half, and drew a design on one half. Next, they repeated the same design on the other side. Tomorrow, we will paint the butterflies.

Sound muncher (the trash can that we feed word cards to) lost a tooth today so we sang him a lullaby at the end of the day, put his tooth under his pillow, and now we're hoping like crazy that tooth fairies come to schools! I taught a lesson about fairness today. I had a bag of 14 cookies and offered the entire bag to one student and asked the rest of the class how they felt. It was interesting, and impressive, that the student with the bag of cookies said she wasn't happy about having all of the cookies because it made everyone else so unhappy. Good answer! I shared them fairly--one for each student. We talked about if those cookies had been in someone's lunch box. Would they have to share? No--your lunch is yours and you don't HAVE to share them, but you could if you wanted to.

A couple of plants have sprouted!! You can imagine the excitement! We hope that some more have sprouted by morning. Your brilliant children wrote haikus today! Cool, huh? We collaborated on one and then students were given the option of simply copying the one we wrote together, changing only bits and pieces, or starting from scratch. We had a little of each. I will hang them in the hallway. The bake sale is still going on tomorrow and Friday, with baked goods selling from 25 cents to $1 for larger items.

We were lucky enough to go out for each recess today without being rained on. Mrs. Webber taught a great lesson about recycling and we were impressed with how much students already knew about reducing waste, reusing items and recycling. Students wrote a list poem about a sport that they enjoy. We reviewed shapes, specifically the rectangle and the square. We were fortunate enough to get a used rice table from the pre-school teacher, adding a learning new center to the rotation. After school, I called the zoo to set up a date for our class field trip. It will be on Friday, May 28, from 10:30am to 1pm. The cost will be $3.25 per person. More information will come.

This week's newsletter has been posted to the class web page. Hope you had a great day and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

The whole school was surprised with a pizza party today. The reason for the party was because we were the school to have the highest percentage of participation in the food drive several months ago. Way to go! Your little botanists planted lima bean and sunflower seeds today. They thought they saw sprouts 15 minutes after planting them. I tried to convince (convince is one of our vocabulary words) them it would take a week or so before they would see any changes. We learned a song to remember what plants need to grow, to the tune of Head Shoulders Knees and Toes:

We know what plants need to grow. We know what plants need to grow. Air and soil and light and water. We know what plants need to grow, need to grow. These are the plant parts we know. These are the plant parts we know. Roots and stem and leaves and flower. These are the plant parts we know, that we know.

Tomorrow the Ident-a-Kid people will be at school to photograph students who have signed up and paid for this service. Details about this program were sent home on Monday. The class has a new favorite read-aloud: Bark, George! It's a story about a dog who meows, moos, or quacks each time his mother tells him to bark. His mother takes him to the vet who removes each of the animals from George's stomach. Finally. George is able to bark. His mother is so proud and wants to show off her son's wonderful bark so she takes him into a crowd of people. When she tells him to bark, he says, "hello." It's really cute!

We played a game today in which students looked at a huge selection of picture cards, and then took turns making groups with them as the rest of us tried to guess why those things formed a group. For example, Hunter stumped us by putting together a boy, girl, car, cow, pig, etc. He finally had to tell us that they were all things that move. We had a social studies lesson about friends enjoying different games. If a friend is playing something different, it's not because they don't like you, it might simply be that they want to play a different game. We learned that it's okay to keep playing the game you like best, but tell your friend you'll play with them later (not now; maybe later). Students traced the wooden, 3-dimensional geometric shapes and labeled them. Next, they matched the print to the shape that could have left the print. In writing, students created an acrostic poem with their name.

Book order purchases were sent home today, so check your child's backpack. In sign language, students learned an Earth Day poem that we might get to perform at a whole-school assembly. Students learned the vocabulary words fearless, convince, and daring. We worked together to generate ideas for an acrostic poem about Spring, and then students wrote their own poem. I found a fun acrostic poem generator that your child might enjoy using.

*I don't see the link here, but I hope that it will magically appear later...
In math, students used wooden models of the cube, cone, cylinder, and sphere to test the ways these shapes move (slide, stack, roll).

It's good to be back at school. It sounded like everyone had fun over the break. I changed a couple of learning centers and the response was very positive. My husband repaired the manual typewriter, so we have that center back, so we're using it in combination with sign language. Students work in pairs with one student fingerspelling a word and the other typing it. Students learned to identify cones, spheres, cubes, and cylinders and found objects in the room that were those shapes. Ask you child to find these shapes in objects at home.

Hello! Back to school we go! I've posted this week's newsletter to the class web page. See you tomorrow.