Sunday, March 20, 2016

Thursday dismissal 12:00

School gets out at noon on Thursday, March 24.  There is no school on Friday, March 25 or Monday, March 28.  School resumes Tuesday, March 29.

We had a great St. Patricks Day.  The kids were searching for leprechauns all day.  They were convinced the leprechauns left garbage on the playground so they cleaned it all up.  Those naughty leprechauns.  We finished off the day with a St. Patricks Day float, seven up and lime sherbet.  It was delicious.

Since last week was full of assessments we are taking it a little easy this week and have lots of fun Easter centers and activities planned.  Most kids are completely done with assessments and I have a few to retest from last quarter.

There will be no spelling this week.  We will continue to work on more high-frequency words in class.

In writing, we have one more writing assessment to finish. The kids have been working so hard on writing that some kids are taking several days to finish one assessment.

This week we will start working with nonstandard measurement.  We will be using bunny feet to measure items around the classroom.  We will be using bunny sling shots to launch marshmallows and will measure the distance.  We will be working on graphing jelly beans.  This will be such a fun math week!

Happy Easter!  Enjoy your extra family time and safe travels to those who are traveling.


Sunday, March 13, 2016

Picture Day!

Picture day is Wednesday, March 16.  Every student will have an individual photo taken.  You can select the pose and background you would prefer on the order form that went home Friday. We will also be taking a class photo.

Yearbook order forms are due March 21.

As always the Read-a-Thon was a lot of fun and a huge success.  Congratulations to Lolo!  She read the most in our class with 647 minutes.  Riley was our top boy reader with 600 minutes.  Riley and Lolo won a large pack of crayons and $10 to spend in the book order.   WAY TO GO!  Overall, our class read for 5,282 minutes.

Last week a conference or comment paper went home in your child's green folder.  Please fill those out and let me know if you would prefer a conference or a comment.  If they are not back by March 15 your child will automatically receive a comment.

We are running low on snack.  If you can help us out by providing a box or two of snack the kids would really appreciate it.

This week in first grade is assessment week. Make sure you child is getting plenty of sleep.  I know it is really hard with the time change.

We will not be having reading groups this week.  I will be pulling students to assess their reading level.  I can't wait to see their progress.  The kid's worked hard this quarter and are really taking off as readers!

This week our spelling test will be high frequency words.  On Friday, the students will be assessed on 25 of the high frequency words.

In writing, we will be reviewing the three types of writing and doing a few writing assessments.

In math, we will be continuing to review and will take our third quarter assessments.

Don't forget to wear green on Thursday!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

A note from Student Council...

Beginning March 14th, the student council will facilitate a school-wide
“Ultimate Penny War.” For this fundraiser, each classroom will place a
large empty container at the office (we will provide the containers). The
students will compete against other classes in the school to raise the most
money for the Braveheart Program, which provides resources for children
struggling with personal loss in their lives. All spare change and paper
money counts.

However, there is a catch. Classes should put pennies in their own
classroom jugs to count as a positive (+) gain in the war. Other change and
bills count against your classroom (-). Put those bills/coins in other
classroom jugs. For example, if a class has 120 pennies in their own jug,
another class can put a dollar bill and 2 dimes into that jug to cancel out the
pennies. This places the class back at zero in the war. It is possible for your
class to be in a negative balance as well, if more silver change and bills are
in your jug than pennies. No money amounts will be posted during the four
weeks of this event. Students must rely on looking at the jugs to determine
where to put their own change during the war. Don’t let a class get too many
pennies, without throwing some other change in to cancel it out.

On April 8th, at the end of the event, the money will be taken to the bank,
counted, and donated to the Braveheart program. A very small award may be
presented to the classroom that wins the Penny War and to the classroom
who has the most money in their jug overall. However, it is important to
realize that this event is for a positive cause of community service and not
simply a means to have a classroom celebration. This fundraiser has proven
to be very effective when I have organized it in the past, and I can only
imagine what kind of results we could have at Bitterroot.

If you have any questions about the organization please speak with Mr.
White. If you have any questions about the fundraising war, please ask Mrs.
Neese, Mrs. Anderson, or Mr. Crofutt.


Sunday, March 6, 2016

Read-a-Thon is Over!

The kids and I are loving this weather.  Try to make sure they still bring a jacket.  It is a bit chilly out in the mornings.

The road construction on Bench is in full swing.  Check the PTA page to stay current on all of the construction updates.

I have noticed that many Wednesday folders are coming in late or not at all.  Folders and homework need to be turned in no later than Tuesday.  I stuff folders Tuesday after school and mark off who has turned in their folders and homework.  "Returns items to school" is graded on the report card!

Please be sure to send your childs read-a-thon envelope back one more time on Monday.

This week we are moving on to a new reading comprehension unit.  We will now be learning how to create mental images.  We will be applying our knowledge to many poems throughout the week.

We are STILL writing book reviews!  Hopefully, this week we will be able to finish those up.

In math, we will continue using models to subtract multiples of 10.  We will also be doing lots of review to get ready for our third quarter assessments.  Can you believe in a few weeks third quarter will be over?!?  I know I say it all the time, but this year is going so fast!

Drop everything and Read!