cookielicious

Homemade cookies will make any lesson fun! We concluded our week of using descriptive words to express what we see, feel, hear, taste and smell with a tasty snack.

library

We finally made it to library...I forgot last week! The children are allowed to check out 1 book and I give them the option of taking home their chosen book or keeping it in their desk. Either way, books need to be back to school on Friday for return before a new selection can be checked out.

pennies update

Apparently, the children found time to devote to our Pennies for Peace project overnight! They came to school with big hearts and their backpacks heavy with pennies! FYI...we will be collecting until Thanksgiving.

inspiration

Last summer (the only time I can actually find time to read!) a friend suggested I read 3 Cups of Tea. What a wonderfully inspirational book! I knew immediately that Pennies for Peace would be a great program to implement in my classroom and a nice addition to our current PYP planner. After meeting with my team, it was decided that all 1st grade classrooms would participate also! It was a wonderfully successful addition to our program and many of the children wanted to share the idea with their older siblings and their classes, with grandparents, neighbors, etc...1st grade raised a little over $600!!! We've been talking about how kindness can be contagious...it was apparent they really wanted to spread their hope to everyone they knew! The kids today loved hearing the story and learning all about Greg Mortenson's mission to promote peace one school at a time...one penny at a time. I think they could see how it could be possible for children working together to make a difference for children halfway around the world! Last year one of my students impulsively yelled out, "I'm SO doing this!" The others unanimously agreed. This year's class is no different...

Pennies for Peace

To go along with our current planner, 1st graders will be raising money to help build schools and provide community-based education for children in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We will be collecting pennies using a non-profit program called Pennies for Peace through the Central Asia Institute (CAI). Our hope is that this will be a memorable “feel good” experience and will broaden our cultural awareness by making a positive impact on a global scale…one penny at a time! Today we read a new book that was recently published, Listen to the Wind (ask your child about the significance of this title) that beautifully explained what the program is all about. We also watched a wonderful video ( I encourage you to watch this with your child) that gave the children a glimpse into another culture very different from their own. The kids are VERY excited and seemed to have grasped the idea that even 6 year-olds CAN make a difference! Spread the word, be creative and start collecting…make it a family project!

Roll, Write & Add

Today we played a game called Roll, Write & Add which involved adding 3 numbers together to equal a sum. At this point in the year, it is still OK to use manipulatives to count to help with this task.

name-collectin boxes

Today I introduced name-collection boxes. Basically, they are used to collect equivalent names for numbers. It offers a simple way for children to experience the powerful notion that numbers can be expressed in many different ways. A name-collection box is an open-top box with a label attached to it. The name on the label identifies the number whose names are collected in the box. The box shown above was a 10-box, a name collection box for the number 10. Names can introduce sums, differences, words in English or another language, tally marks, Roman numerals, money and so on. We had a lot of fun with this...and even learned a few numbers in Chinese!

PTO meeting/Open House

Our "Manner Gardens" have been planted...now watch them grow!

Please plan to attend the All Parents' Meeting to show your support of Mark Twain and the PTO. Your children will receive a free dress pass if you attend. Please encourage others to attend! Also, just a friendly reminder...please plan for a babysitter and attend Open House next Tuesday, September 15th 7-8 PM so that I may explain how my classroom works in more detail and give you the opportunity to ask questions. Mrs. Norris (GT) will meet in her room half an hour before at 6:30pm.

The Kindness Quilt

As we begin our new planner, “What the World Needs Now” we are learning how to problem solve conflicts that come up over the course of our day and why good attitudes are essential to getting along with others. Check out our “Kindness Quilt” displayed on the gigantic bulletin board between the 1st grade and kindergarten hallways. As each class adds their piece, it keeps growing and growing...just like the quilt in the book, The Kindness Quilt!

3rd week update

As we continue our 1st planner, “What the World Needs Now” we are learning how to problem solve conflicts that come up over the course of our day and why good attitudes are essential to getting along with others and being a good friend. We are especially enjoying a series of books called “Help Me Be Good.” For whatever reason our class is obsessed with them…luckily there are at least a couple of dozen in the series!

We have a great class…unusually even in the girl/boy ratio! We are focusing on LISTENING to each other and responding to directions the first time they are given. I’ve seen a huge improvement in this area for many of our kiddo’s.

I am proud to say we started our Guided Reading/job rotations the first week of school so our daily routine is very established as we plow through our 3rd week! I have 6 reading groups and I seem to be changing them a little bit each day according to each child’s needs! Our first grade reading goal is that each child leave in May at a level 16-18 or higher. I feel that this is private information and I will not tell the children what level they are on (although some children may know to look, and figure it out by my private records, book labels, etc.) I will let you know from time to time what level your child is on. My goal is individual progression, no matter where they are on the spectrum. Learning to read is a developmental process and differs from child to child.

Next week we will start going to LDC (Literacy Development Center) daily for the next 2 weeks. I will also start administering the TPRI (Texas Primary Reading Inventory) which is required by the State of Texas. After all this, we can hopefully slide right back into our routine reading groups. During this time there will be plenty of opportunities to practice reading in our large group format. We will also focus on our writing.

I subscribed to a weekly Scholastic News magazine for each child. They do a great job supplementing to our social studies, science and current events currently in our world. They are a lot of fun and the kids really enjoy reading them. It would be hugely helpful and appreciated by me if you could contribute $5.00 to help me cover the cost.

It’s that time again! Keep a look out for and start saving General Mills Box Tops. At the end of the year we collect them and our school gets money for equipment and supplies! Our collection jar is in our reading corner in the classroom. We are about halfway through our chapter book, Trumpet of the Swan. I want to show the movie after we finish the book! The kids are really enjoying the story and really do want me to read more than a chapter each day…unfortunately, we just don’t have that kind of time!

Thank you for your continued support!

THANK YOU !!!

Thank you for the speedy turn in of the $5 for Scholastic News subscription, signed science lab contract and completed class directory forms. All of this makes my life go a little bit easier. Hint, hint...

Scholastic News

I subscribed to a publication called Scholastic News. We will be getting 4 issues each month. Each one comes with an additional activity to do. They are great at incorporating social studies, science and current events into our busy day. It would help me tremendously if you would please consider contributing $5 to this cause.

reminders

Tonight is Mark Twain Fiesta Night at Los Tios from 4-6pm. Everyone is invited to join the fun and Mark Twain will receive 20% of the proceeds from the night (excluding adult beverages). Be sure to let them know you are a Twain family when paying your bill in order for our school to benefit! I hope to see everyone there!

We had a visitor from Boy Scout Pack 34 today to tell the boys a bit about scouts. He extended an invitation to meet more in depth tomorrow at St. Mark's School at 6:00pm. The boys seemed like they wanted to learn more...check it out!

What Animals Do

The children proudly finished their "What Animals Do" books and were excited to bring them home today. Be sure to ask your child to read their noun/verb books aloud to you tonight!

collect 20 together

We had fun practicing our addition skills...it's always fun when teddy bear counters are involved!

using our 5 senses

Today we had a small apple snack and at the same time talked about what we could see, smell, hear, taste and feel as we bit into the apple. Tomorrow we will do this again with something salty and crunchy. I challenge you to have this type of conversation at dinner this week. After a few practice runs, I know this will be easy for your child to do all on their own!

first time

Ok, parents. This picture is for you. Y'all seemed OVERLY anxious about a few spelling words...I didn't even tell you I was giving them a small math assessment today. Today was like any other day...full and fun!

Math is Everywhere

Great job! The kids reported having a great time with this family project!

quiet, please!

No reason to post this...other than it just being so darn cute! I was doing reading groups when I happened to look up and see this. I guess they wanted an audience!

writing

I know it's only been 2 weeks...but I have already seen growth in their writing! We have been working so hard on learning about what makes a sentence. We've learned that sentences start with a capital letter and end with a period (we'll learn about other options soon!). We've learned how to space and have even touched upon what makes a noun and what makes a verb using my favorite program, Multi-Sensory Grammar. It is a fun way to teach students the nine parts of speech (of course, we won't be learning all 9 in 1st grade!) involving more than the pencil, paper, and textbook method. It involves using colors to help the students understand the various parts of speech. Play with nouns and verbs at home with your 1st grader...they can do it!

The children chose 6 animals to write simple yellow (noun), orange (verb) sentences to describe each picture. All spelling, spacing, punctuation, capitalization and sentence ideas was done independently. They showed they learned a lot!

today's math games

During reading groups, the children took turns building different number collections.

We played "Rock, Paper, Scissors" 20 times with a partner and tallied who won...and then did it again! We also played "Dice, Roll and Tally." Both gave us more exposure to the tally system and had fun, too!

busy books

We have black/white composition books that we lovingly call "busy books." When the children have finished all assigned work and has a few free moments, they can get their busy books out and do WHATEVER they want with them...as long as they keep busy! Many draw, scribble, doodle, etc. but I am pleased to see that a lot of them like to write!

The Golden Rule

We read a book that the kids LOVED...Kindness is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler! A quote from the book that we really enjoyed was "a slice of nice makes a mile of smile."

Prince tales

Just a heads up...apparently this class LOVES to visit with our good friend, Prince. I've seen a fair amount of tattles, a few stories, a secret or two and even a confession!

patterns

The children will often have "jobs" to complete during our reading group rotation. Many of these follow objectives covered recently in class and are used to reinforce the given concept.

reading groups

I've finished testing the students for their current reading levels. I use these as a baseline to better help me form my weekly reading groups. Be forewarned...they change OFTEN!!!

number line

We made our own numberlines to 55 and told "one more and one less" stories to better understand which way to go on the number line when we add or subtract.

Schoolhouse Partners

We appear to have a new fundraiser this year. Schoolhouse Partners is a locally owned and operated business that has merged its commitment to education with an innovative way of connecting quality-conscious consumers to dependable, pre-screened service providers. This service connects you to pre-screened, dependable service providers, receive exclusive discounts and most important, designate Mark Twain as your choice to receive contributions from SchoolHouse Partners when you use one of their services! An information sheet and handy magnet were sent home in the Tuesday folders. Check out their website...I am eager to try this out!

fundraisers

Sally Foster and Entertainment book fundraisers went home today. Please consider supporting one or both of these opportunities. No sale is too small...ALL help our children and school! More information to come as I find out when everything is due back to school!

Tuesday Folders

Our Tuesday folders have a new look this year...they are brown in an effort to become more environmentally friendly. To lessen the amount of paperwork many of you have signed up to receive most PTO/school information via email (note the green dot on front of the folders). If you somehow you missed the paperwork involved, a green paper was in this week's folder giving you another opportunity to make the switch! I love the change but am finding all our week's work does not fit in the new slim folders. I will bring back the red folders on Tuesday but they will only contain work from my class...everything else will be in the brown folders. Here are a few helpful tidbits about the red Tuesday folders:

• sent home every Tuesday with the brown folders
• contains only work from previous week except assignments that go in their portfolios or on bulletin boards for display
• PLEASE, PLEASE go over all work with your child as part of their homework assignment...great way for you to informed on what is going on in class as well as a sense of accomplishment for your child
• bring both empty folders back on Wednesday...

I hope this is clear. Confused yet?

Bunny Hop

Today we played a fun game called "Bunny Hop" to reinforce counting on a number line.

Trumpet of the Swan

Every day after recess we cool down on the carpet while listening to my read-aloud chapter book I share with the class. Our first novel is a timeless classic, Trumpet of the Swan. It's about a trumpeter swan that lacks a voice in the traditional "Ko-hoh!" sense, and learns to speak to the world with a trumpet stolen from a music store by his father. With the support of a sweet boy named Sam, who helps Louis learn how to read and write, the swan has some rather unswanlike adventures and ultimately wins the love--and the freedom--of a beautiful swan. The kids love the book and I've been able to even sneak in a bit of Geography and new vocabulary...undetected! I plan on showing the movie when we are done...shhh, don't tell!

science lab

Our class started Science Lab this week. We go two days in a row every 12 days. Mrs. Daniel's first lesson was an important one...lab safety! The children signed safety contracts and they are eager to share them with you. Be sure to check their Tuesday folders next week...they didn't quite make it in their folder this week!

spelling/handwriting

Everything can't be fun and games...we officially started spelling and handwriting this week. We took our first spelling pretest...be sure to note that the circled list on your homework packet is the one to use/study for this week's homework and test! Regardless of the resulting list, we are all studying words spelled with the short /a/ sound....daily we have a simple lesson to support our new rule. We also started the 1st of 2 handwriting programs.

This week we mainly focused on the different kinds of strokes to prepare us for learning the actual letters. Some of the strokes were forward and backward slants, side too side lines and forward and backward circles. In math, numeral writing was introduced. Ask your children about "sky writing." We do try to have some fun...

The kids come to first grade exhibiting all kinds of writing, many still using all capital letters. I am seeing all kinds of creations! Hopefully, you will start to see a change for the better. Be sure to give lots of praise when improved handwriting is observed at home!

homework tips

Here are a few helpful tidbits about the yellow homework folders:

• handed out every Monday (or Tuesday if there was no school on Monday)
• the entire assignment for the week is in the folder...including spelling, reading log and/or project
• to differentiate spelling levels, the circled list was decided after a pretest
• use the spelling list to complete spelling portion of homework
• everything due on Friday
• I check for completion and neatness

FYI...concerning "math is everywhere" assignment...picture below shows a sample of what I am looking for. Look for at least 5 examples (don't let me stop you if you want to do more!) of math in your life. Be sure to check junk mail, grocery ads, catalogs, magazines, neighborhood newspaper on the lawn, etc. Have fun!

PTO invitation

I would like to personally encourage all of you to attend our first PTO meeting of the year on this Tuesday, September 1, 2009 at 6:30PM in the school library. The PTO provides free babysitting for ages 2 and up.

The 2009-2010 PTO budget will be voted on so this is an excellent opportunity to learn how the PTO allocates the funds donated by the parents of the school. In addition, Christine Cowan our art teacher and Jill Herrera our PTO president will present more information about the highly anticipated Outdoor Classroom project.

Our students have long reaped the benefits of a strong, active PTO and we want you to be a part of it. Hope to see you there! Don't forget to sign up for membership...no cost to you...free student directory!!!

1st week update

Welcome to Mark Twain!

We had a wonderful 1st week of school. It was nice to see familiar faces as well as our 2 new friends to Mark Twain! We spent last week adjusting to new routines/rules/schedules while getting to know each other. The kids have done well while settling in and learning new procedures/expectations. After much discussion we wrote and signed our “Essential Agreements.” We will keep these displayed throughout the year. We expect to have a fantastic year!

Or 1st PYP planner begins next week. It’s called “What the World Needs Now.” The central idea is…positive attitudes make the world a better place to live in. We will focus on manners and our PYP attitudes/profiles. More to come later. We will also start going to library with our librarian, Mr. Deering next week. We will keep school library books in the classroom to read during class. Gifted and Talented will also start next week. We are scheduled to go every Monday 12:20-2:15. Mrs. Norris is very excited and eagerly waiting to meet her new GT kids!

Our homework routine will also start next week. I will send home a homework packet at the start of each week in their yellow homework folders. Homework is due Friday and will be checked for completion and neatness. Red information folders with work from the previous week and papers from the office. PTO is working hard to send much of their information electronically...expect less paperwork. All my updates, daily photos and newsletters will be online on the classroom blog.

Spelling starts next week. A pretest will be given every Monday so I can see what spelling list to assign each child. Both list follow the same basic spelling rule that is focused on for the week. The list goes home stapled onto the homework packet…with the list circled indicating which one is assigned to your child. Regardless of what list your child is given, bonus words are the same and will be optional. The choice is yours. We will have daily spelling lessons as well as daily homework (in the packet). Keep the spelling homework (and all homework) at home until Friday as I know they will be needed to study for Friday’s spelling test.

Reading logs will also go out next week...stapled to the homework packet. I will explain in great detail to the children…they are the ones reading…not parents. All I ask is that they read aloud to you for a minimum of 15 minutes M-Th. You may use books from home or public library books. They have an excellent selection of beginning readers and chapter books. Parents may also come by my class before or after class to borrow some of mine…I have a bunch! Please fill out the reading log with completed book titles and your signature acknowledging the reading has been done. These will also be checked for completion each Friday.

Thank you for quickly returning all the paperwork from the office. I still need a few more to complete our class. FYI…the “code of conduct” sheet is found in the middle of the Code of Student Conduct book handed out on the first day of school. I'm missing many of these! In addition to the papers, there are 2 things that need to be filled out online on the Mark Twain PTO website: http://www.marktwainpto.org/ 1. PTO membership form – this is free AND you get a student directory…VERY handy to have! 2. directory form – update all information you want available for the directory…also VERY handy for everyone else! There is a sign-up sheet outside my door for volunteer opportunities...there’s still some openings! If your child read at least 5 books this summer, please fill out the “Millionaire” form in your Tuesday folder next week. Last year the kids were awarded t-shirts for those that turn their completed form! http://www.parentonline.net/ to activate/purchase lunches for your child's lunch card!

Concerning the blog…I update it almost daily. I’m crazy that way! Most importantly, I post necessary information, dates, what’s coming up, etc. but also enjoy posting fun moments from our day. If you are not an “every day checker” then I suggest checking it once a week. I will not send home a hard copy (only this time) unless you do not have online access. If this is the case, PLEASE let me know!

Sometimes I have questions for parents and will post surveys on the left side bar of the blog. Please consider participating. Your vote is anonymous to myself and others and will help me better serve the needs of our class!

Thanks again for a great 1st week. Your kids are GREAT!

pattern block exploration

Along with exploring the pattern blocks with our hands and imaginations, we recorded some of our ideas down on paper!

HISD Millionaire Reading Program

The Millionaire Reading Club was a coordinated effort by the Department of Library Services, the Literacy Leads the Way initiative and the Reading Department to keep HISD students reading over the summer months. If your child read at least five books over the summer…please let me know! I will be sending home an empty reading log (one was sent home last May) on Tuesday if you need another one. All forms need to be returned no later than September 11 to be included in the official count. *** If every HISD student reads at least 5 books, HISD kids will have read 1 million books!!

math templates

Much of our math this week has been introducing and exploring the math manipulatives we will be using this year...one of which is the pattern block template! You wouldn't believe what we can do with one of these...

Penny Dice game

Today we played our first Everyday Math Game, Penny Dice. The main objective of the game was to introduce game playing essential agreements, counting pennies and comparing quantities. This will be the 1st of MANY math games played this year!

free dress day

It is Free Dress Day tomorrow. It was inadvertently left off the school calendar, but Free Dress Day is alive and well at Mark Twain Elementary! I did not mention this to the children...I know they will be thrilled to hear the good news!!

Tell it to the Prince!

I told the kids about Prince this week. Kids have a lot of tattles/stories to tell...and I am not always available to hear them! I told them to consider writing down the facts and zipping them into Prince's mouth or just whisper them in his ear. They agreed that it helps to just say what you need to say, get it off your chest and move on! I caught a few doing just that!

I Like Me !

Today we put the finishing touches on our self-portraits we created on the 1st day of school after reading a wonderful story, I Like Me! Come check out our "I'm Happy to Be Me" poems that accompany them...we are proudly displaying them outside our hallway!

reading groups/jobs

Today I felt brave enough to start our reading groups and job routine! I have not tested all the new kids yet (I have most of the ending year scores from kindergarten). I told the kids the groups change ALL the time...they really do. Levels are constantly changing. I have one group of 3 or 4 kids work with me at the reading table while 5 other groups are working at their assigned jobs in various areas of the room. Jobs are basically centers. I call them jobs or else they will go hog wild! I see every reading group 3-4 times a week and each group rotates through all 5 jobs. At Open House I will explain this routine further if you have any questions. It takes awhile for the kids to internalize how this routine works...they did a great job! I think we are ready to do it again tomorrow!