September 26th-30th

Have you seen the books above??? They are now both missing! Please check at home. As we were switching over to our new check in system, they were lost in the mix (we think).

Boys in action during free choice centers. Always building!

Gunnar's grandmother came to volunteer and it was so special. 

Lauren and Sully working away in art. 

Lily and William working hard. 

Allison and Sophie are too sweet!

Katherine and Tripp following all of Ms. Tasia's art directions. 

Hello families!

Can you believe September is almost over? Time is flying.

This week we visited our book buddies and read with them, had writer's workshop, a park walk, started word problems in math, learned a new reading strategy and studied Rumpelstiltskin. Can you believe we are able to fit all of that into a 5 day week?

Reader's Workshop:

This week we worked on reading guided reading books, sight words, handwriting, pencil grip and word study words. We also learned a new reading strategy. Each week we will learn (and practice) a new reading strategy. This week we learned "Eagle Eye." Look at the pictures to help you solve tricky words. We have cute Beanie Babies to go along with each strategy to help us remember the strategies! There are many things you can do when you come across a tricky word.

Writer's Workshop:

This week we learned the difference between using an author's ideas and copying an author. Everyone is in LOVE with all the books that Mo Williams writes. But we discovered there is a big difference between using his ideas and copying his ideas.

Math Workshop:

This week we focused on word problems. We started practicing subtraction and addition problems. We do these with "story boards" and we call groups of between 1 and 5 kiddos so that we can differentiate and meet the needs of all students. We are sure to use a variety of language so that kids get used to hearing the equations different ways for the future.

Thematic Centers;

This week we studied Rumpelstiltskin and the different lessons that particular fairy tale can teach us. We also noticed that this story had a human as a villain instead of an animal like in past fairy tales we've studied. We rotated through 4 main centers:

1. With your table, make the castle that the king and queen lived in from Rumpelstiltskin. Present it to the class. There was a variety of materials to choose from when castle building.
2. Sequencing hat: put the pictures in order according to the story. Glue them on your hat and retell the story to a teacher.
3. Make your own puppet from the story Rumpelstiltskin and create a puppet show with your table. Preform the story to the class.
4. Graph your name next to Rumpelstiltskin's and compare how many letters your name has compared to his and other classmates names. Then try to come up with as many words as you can out of the name Rumpelstiltskin.

Science:

Ms. Morgan (our intern) did an amazing science experiment last week. Ask your child about it. It involved Coke and Mentos. It was so neat. You may have seen the science recording sheets come home. Tomorrow we will have another experiment.

**No school on Monday.
**Do not forget to work on your fairy tale ball costumes and parade of fiction costumes. If you need any help at all, please send me an email and I am happy to help out.
**New sight word rings will come home next week so be on the lookout for those. More details to come.

Have a wonderful long weekend!
Mrs. Schultz

September 19th-23

Fall is here and we are so excited! We look forward to watching the leaves change and temperatures drop.

Thematic Centers:

This week we studied a new fairy tale. We started reading Jack and the Beanstalk and reading all the different versions of that story. We noticed similarities and differences between the stories. We also compared it to Little Red Riding Hood. We rotated through 4 main centers.

1, Grow your very own beanstalk and discuss the stages of seed development. Label your coordinating science sheet.
2. Place the Jack and the Beanstalk words in ABC order.
3. Measure Jack's beanstalk using non-standard measurement tools (unifix cubes, paper clips etc,).
4. Glue the Jack and the Beanstalk poem into your day book and look for sight words!

Reader's Workshop:

Everyone read with an adult one on one and reviewed sight words with an adult in small groups! Sight words are based on need. Some students are working with two lettered sight words and others are working with 7 lettered sight words.Sight words are still being misspelled in writing. So, even if your child is reading them correctly, they still need to be reviewed until they are writing them correctly. Once your child masters the basic sight words, we are able to move on to more difficult words like: through, could, their vs there etc. We also got through two letters in our handwriting without tears books. We are still reminding students to use the correct pencil grip. Please  remind them at home too. Tell them to make their "A-OK grip" and they will fix it. Our word work table was so fun this week. Spin the paper clip spinner. Whatever word it lands on, you must trace that word using a highlighter. That yellow color really helps our brain remember the words! Return the word study binders to school tomorrow!

Writer's Workshop:

This week we reviewed correcting sight words that are misspelled in our books. We discussed the importance of using the word wall and our mini dictionaries to spell commonly misspelled sight words while writing, especially the ones we have been over numerous times.

Math Workshop:

We learned two new math games. Both of these games you can play at home.

1. Start With, Get To:

-Draw 2 number cards (you can use regular playing cards at home and remove the joker, king and queen). Place the lower number along the number line first and then place the higher number down on the number line second. Start counting from the lower number and stop counting when you get to your higher number. As a challenge, draw 4 cards. Add the first 2 together and add the second 2 together and play the same way. You can make your own number line at home by using sticky notes on the kitchen table and writing out the numbers or trying it with chalk on the driveway. Start with a 1-20 number at first and increase as needed.

2. Subtraction Smash (two ways to play):

-Roll a dot cube. Make that many mini play dough balls (only using 3 fingers to make the balls for extra fine motor skill practice).Smash one ball and state how many are left. State your subtraction sentence that you just made.
-Spin the spinner and roll that many playdough balls. Spin the spinner again and smash that many playdough balls. State how many are left. State your subtraction sentence.

Book Buddies:
We met with our book buddies this week to read and make a fall craft. What fun!

Announcements:

1. Names are coming off red folders, so we are going to fix that by adding a label instead!
2. Please return the fundraising packets and turn in your activity expenses! They are past due!
3. We are missing the leveled reader called "Dinosaur Day at School." Please return this if you have it! We were keeping track of who had what book but somehow got mixed up with that book. We are missing 1 copy!
4, Please sign up for the kickball tournament if you can. Our grade level is short parents!
5. Do not forget to work on those parade of fiction and fairytale ball costumes!

Have a great weekend!

September 12-16

Another great week down!

Thematic Centers:

This week we started transitioning to our new unit: fairy tales. How fun! We are also finishing up our sports unit. This week we read Little Red Riding Hood (and a few different versions) and rotated through 4 main centers:

1. Count and graph the characters from Little Red

2. Torn paper wolf (this really works fine motor skills and we kept these at school)

3. Wolf fact book (wolves can and cannot, wolves do and do not)*Fill in the blanks and illustrate

4. Think about the setting of Little Red Riding Hood and plug in the furniture in the correct rooms.

Reader's Workshop:

We rotated through another round of handwriting and guided reading groups. Everyone received one on one time with an adult for handwriting and reading this week. Yay! We also introduced our last Daily 5 option which is word work. Each week there will be something different but this week we had a word search with our new word study words. Everyone also got a chance to work on sight words with a teacher this week too! We are still working on sight words each week. Please continue to work on these at home when you can as well! We had out first word study lesson and it went great. Don't forget to keep the binder at home until Friday and then send it back Friday for a spell check. 

Math Workshop:

This week we kept the same math tubs but started pulling math groups to work on individual needs. We also learned about a new game that we will practice next week called Make 10. This is an easy one you can play at home! Draw four cards (we use number cards at school, but you could easily use playing cards and remove the king and queen). Pick two cards whose sum reaches 10. Example: I turn over 4 cards and get a 2, 1, 1 and 8. I could say my combo was 8 and 2 or 8, 1 and 1. The player with the most combos to 10 wins!

Please do not forget to return your discount cards! They were due today and we did not receive very many.

Please also remind your child to do their correct pencil grip when writing at home. They all know how to do it, they just need to be reminded. Remind them to make their "A-OK" grip.

If you went to the handwriting without tears workshop this week please let me know and we will have you in class to volunteer!

Important Dates:

No School: October 3rd, 12th 31st and November 1st.
Optional Conferences: October 31st and November 1st (I will send a sign up genius a little later for these.)
Kickball Tournament/School Festival Event: October 11th
Fairy Tale Ball: October 21st 9-11 (Your child will need a costume for this.)
Parade of Fiction at 8:45 (Your child will need a costume for this.) We will also need lots of volunteer help with this event too. More details to come.

Have a wonderful weekend and check out the pictures below!
Hugs,
Emily Schultz

Gunnar and Landon built a cool creation.

Science fun!

Learning how to work as a team in free choice centers.

Sweet Sarah was being brave sharing her new book!

Watching the cement truck work hard near the playground.

Fun in music class.

Michael and Augie are giving Luke lots of love. ;) We adore moments like these!

Hello!

What an exciting week we have had! Two friends lost a tooth, we had our first fire drill of the school year and we had curriculum night.

We are having some WiFi troubles today so there will not be any pictures posted. They are not loading. Sorry about that! I will add this week's pictures to next week's blog.

Thank you all for coming to curriculum night. The support our class has is outstanding! If you missed it, please check your child's red folder. You have homework! ;) We placed the directions for your parent homework in the folder along with a packet we gave out last night. We need every parent to write a message on white paper with a white crayon. The kids will water color over it and reveal the secret message! We want every child to have a special note. Please see the important dates I announced as well.

Handwriting Without Tears Workshop: This is for parents only! September 14th 9:30 am-10:30 am and 7:00 pm- 8:00 pm.  This is a great workshop so please attend if you can!

October 11th- 4:00-8:00 School Festival and Kickball Tournament

October 21st- Fairy tale Ball

October 28th- Parade of Fiction

Scholastic: Orders will be due soon so get them in this weekend! This is a great way to get your child excited about reading while also earning points for our class to purchase more books for our class library. The kids were so excited to go "shopping" in the flyer that was passed out this week.

Math Workshop:

We played two new games.

1. Rollin, Rollin, Rollin: Roll two dice and add them together. Cross off the sum. The last person to cross off a number wins! It gets tricky at the end with one number left.

2 Connect Four: Roll two dice and all the numbers. Place your color marker on the sum. The first player to get 4 in a row wins!

Reader's Workshop:

This week we introduced partner reading and the listening center. We should finally be ready to introduce guided reading groups after Labor Day. My reading assessments are officially finished and all my groups are made. :)

Thematic Unit:

This week we rotated through 4 centers revolving around soccer! We studied Mia Hamm and learned she was the youngest player to help win a World Cup! We noticed that all the famous athletes we have studied have overcome obstacles.

1. Learn and practice how to do a header, score a goal, dribble and pass the soccer ball. Illustrate the new vocabulary terms.
2. Make a page for our class Soccer Rules book.
3. Illustrate the Mia Hamm fact book.
4. Create a soccer ball using hexagons and a round circle plate. Math is everywhere!

Have a great long weekend!

Emily Schultz

This Week!

Hello!

What an exciting week we have had! Two friends lost a tooth, we had our first fire drill of the school year and we had curriculum night.

We are having some WiFi troubles today so there will not be any pictures posted. They are not loading. Sorry about that! I will add this week's pictures to next week's blog.

Thank you all for coming to curriculum night. The support our class has is outstanding! If you missed it, please check your child's red folder. You have homework! ;) We placed the directions for your parent homework in the folder along with a packet we gave out last night. We need every parent to write a message on white paper with a white crayon. The kids will water color over it and reveal the secret message! We want every child to have a special note.

Scholastic: Orders will be due soon so get them in this weekend! This is a great way to get your child excited about reading while also earning points for our class to purchase more books for our class library. The kids were so excited to go "shopping" in the flyer that was passed out this week.

Math Workshop:

We played two new games.

1. Rollin, Rollin, Rollin: Roll two dice and add them together. Cross off the sum. The last person to cross of a number wins! It gets tricky at the end with one number left.

2 Connect Four: Roll two dice and all the numbers. Place your color marker on the sum. The first placer to get 4 in a row wins!

Reader's Workshop:

This week we introduced partner reading and the listening center. We should finally be ready to introduce guided reading groups after Labor Day. My reading assessments are officially finished and all my groups are made. :)

Thematic Unit:

This week we rotated through 4 centers revolving around soccer! We studied Mia Hamm and learned she was the youngest player to help win a world cup! We noticed that all the famous athletes we have studied have overcome obstacles.

1. Learn and practice how to do a header, score a goal, dribble and pass the soccer ball. Illustrate the new vocabulary terms.
2. Make a page for our class Soccer Rules book.
3. Illustrate the Mia Hamm fact book.
4. Create a soccer ball using hexagons and a round circle plate. Math is everywhere!

Have a great long weekend!

Emily Schultz