Here is our 2010 calendar cover – a tremendous thank you to Sarah Ferrency for designing this for us!
December 7, 2009
Mystery Bag this week: Tues.-Tava, Wed.-Esther, Thurs.-Jesse, Fri.-Rebekah
Don’t Miss This!
On Saturday December 12th, beginning at 10:30 a.m., Kettleson Memorial Library will be hosting a book wrapping and sharing event. Parents can come and choose a free "like new" book for their child for Christmas and have it wrapped by students from the SHS honor society. There is no charge for this event. Feel free to call the library at (907) 747- 8708 with any questions.
Publishing Party Set
This week our books are getting bound and we have finished our About the Author writing. The last touch will be to add an author photo and a dedication. Our party is set for Monday, Dec. 14 at 11:25. We will meet with Mrs. Williams’ class in the gym to pair-share our books, then back to the classroom for warm cider and cookies. Would you be interested in donating some cider or cookies for this occasion? (Any leftover cookies will be frozen and served during our gift wrapping session on Friday, 12/18.) Please let me know via a note, if you are able to send something in…Thank you in advance! – Mrs. C.
Word Studies
This week we will be working with changing the last letter of a word to make a new word, like in the words can—cap or big—bit. Our spelling words are: after, over, her, sister, brother, mother, with, you.
Gingerbread House Project
Thank you to the many families who contributed ‘building materials’ for this project!
We did the basic construction on Friday, and began to add the decorations this morning. By midweek we should have a nice little village in our classroom window.
Concert Rehearsals
We will have three concert rehearsals this week. Tuesday and Wednesday at 12:50 at Baranof, then on Thursday at 8:30 at the auditorium. Please be sure that you have returned the field trip permission slip!
Santa’s Workshop
During the next two weeks we will be working on gifts for holiday giving. Huge thank yous to Sandra Fontaine, Lee and Linda Schmidt for their generous and elf-ish assistance with these projects.
November 30, 2009
Mystery Bag this week: Tues.-Joe, Wed.-Allie, Thurs.-Grace, Fri.-Keaton
Math/Science Notes
We are revisiting money this week with a game that involves finding coins using the coordinates on a grid. We will continue to collect weather data and record it in our weather journals.
Gingerbread House Project
On Friday a sign up sheet went home asking for donations for our gingerbread houses. We will actually start building these on Thursday, rather than on Friday as the letter stated. I emphasize to the children that these houses are NOT edible, because we are not washing our hands or keeping our work areas clean. When the houses are completed, we will make a village in our window. Stop by and check it out towards the middle of next week!
The Weather
Whether the weather will be snowy or rainy…that is the question! As we read and discuss about the weather, we are learning about weather vocabulary, including “temperature” and “moisture”.
Word Study
This week’s word study is thinking about and working with the “short” vowel sounds, like in the words: crab, six, bed, fox, cub.
We will also be making analogies between words we know and new words in reading and writing. For example, if I know “come”, then I know how to write “some”.
Our spelling words this week are: want, wanted, was, some, said, do, doing.
Thanksgiving Thanks
Thank you to Grace’s, Levi’s, and Mrs. Campbell’s mothers for helping us with the Cranberry Bread baking.
Before the Thanksgiving holiday, we all had some good discussions about everything for which we are grateful in our lives.
Holiday Concert Practice
We are looking forward to a wonderful concert with our music teacher, Mrs. Willistein, on Thursday, December 10th in the auditorium. We will be rehearsing for the concert on the 8th and 9th. Please help your child practice his/her lines! J
November 23, 2009
Mystery Bag this week: Tues.-Jake, Wed.-Marianna,
Math/Science Notes
We will continue modeling, writing and reading double-digit numbers, and will revisit telling time to the hour and half hour. Also this week the children will begin planning a calendar for 2010-this project will continue through to Winter Break. If any parent is comfortable manipulating pictures on the computer, I would love to have some help with this! Please get in touch if you would like more information (Mrs. Pike).
Book Orders
I have changed the due date for the December book orders – please have orders either turned in or submitted online by this Wednesday, the 25th. If you would like to submit orders online, you can access Scholastic via our blog, or use the information on back. Thank you!
November 16, 2009
By learning you will teach; by teaching you will learn. Latin proverb
Mystery Bag this week: Tues.-Gabriel, Wed.-Reyana, Thurs.-Makayla, Fri.-Levi
Parent/Teacher Conferences
What a treat it was to have a chance to visit with you about your children. It is so helpful to have these conversations! Please continue to let us know if you have something to discuss, a question, or a concern. We appreciate this on-going communication!
Word Studies
It is our intent with word studies to help the children learn the power of words, so they are able to use what they know about words in new situations and with new words. The principles we are learning should be “generative” – not specific to the words with which we are working, but to be applied in new contexts… in reading and writing!
This week’s word study is starting with a known word, like: ‘and’, ‘in’, ‘out’, then adding a letter or letters to the front of the word to make a new word (and—grand, out—shout, in—chin).
Friendship in Room 11
From the beginning of the year, we have been talking about friendship and what being a good friend means. We will continue with a more “official” focus to further develop the concepts of friendship. Following are some ideas which will help us begin to discuss some of these more abstract ideas…
*Friends help each other.
*Friends respect each other.
*Friends listen carefully.
*Friends are dependable.
*Friends take turns.
*Friends can disagree without hurting each other’s feelings.
Math/Science Notes
This week we will be looking at 2-digit numbers with place value, number writing, and counting by 10’s and 1’s. In science your young meteorologists will begin using instruments to measure the weather (thermometers and a rain gauge) and then record their data in a weather journal. We are also classifying clouds as belonging to one of three types: stratus, cumulus, and cirrus.
Menu Changes
The kitchen has made the following changes to the Baranof lunch menu:
Nov 19- turkey, mashed potatoes, turkey gravy, cranberry sauce, low fat chocolate Milk
Nov 20- chicken nugget, baked French fries, orange sections, 1% low fat white milk
Nov 25- cheese pizza, peaches, green peas, 1% low fat white milk
Snicker
We had some sad news today. Our guinea pig, Snicker, died last night. She lived a long and happy life, and was very old for a guinea pig (7 ½). The class talked about how much we enjoyed having her with us, and how much we will miss her. We also talked about the fact that animals’ lives are typically much shorter than ours, and that part of having pets is learning to say goodbye. I am sorry to give you this news just before a long weekend; although the children had the opportunity to share their feelings and concerns with each other today at school, they will likely need to talk it out with you at home. Please do not hesitate to call if you have any questions or concerns.
Pumpkin Jack – our amazing decomposing pumpkin!
November 5, 2009
- November 3, 2009
Follow the progress of our decomposing friend – ‘Pumpkin Jack’
Joe and his mom brought in two pumpkins; Jack was carved on October 27th, and the other pumpkin was left whole. We will be watching to see if they decompose at different rates.
- October 29, 2009
Fire Hall Trip – October 23, 2009
Getting ready to stop, drop and roll
- In the classroom at the fire hall
Stop! Drop! Roll! (Don't forget to cover your face!)
Firefighter Russ gave us a tour of the fire engine "Big Blue"
Touring the fire hall
- Crawling under the “smoke”
Firefighter Jana and Firefighter Amanda in their gear
Firefighters in their gear can look scary - but they really aren't!
Firefighter Amanda shows us tools from the back of the truck.
October 26, 2009
Mystery Bag this week: Tues.-Marianna, Wed.-Joe, Thurs.-Allie, Fri.-Grace
Cycles in our World
This week we will be wrapping up fire safety and using pumpkins to continue our study of cycles in nature. So far we have looked at the life cycles of ladybugs, butterflies, ants and salmon; and cycles in math with the calendar and the clock. Soon we will be looking at the water cycle as we move into studying weather next month.
Math Assessments
We are doing math assessments over the next two weeks as we get ready for conferences and report cards. Thank you for making sure your children are well rested and at school on time!
Whale Study Continues…
We have been doing whale research and taking notes…Just a reminder that our whale artwork will be displayed at the Centennial Hall during the Whale Fest (Nov. 5 – 7).
Talent Show Set
The Room 11 “Talent Show” will be on Friday, October 30, along with our Harvest Party – see related article). Parents are invited to come watch the Talent Show. We’ll begin about 10:30 a.m.
Harvest Party
If you are able to/would like to contribute a food to our Harvest Party, please indicate so on the slip and return it to school by Wednesday, 10/28. (If your child is an especially picky eater and you wish to be sure they eat something, feel free to send in a lunch.)
Just Checking
Just checking to see if families are finding this blog helpful…in the next few weeks I will be putting together an electronic survey asking your opinion – please feel comfortable at any time letting Mrs. Pike know if you would like her to continue the blog, add something to it…
October 19, 2009
Mystery Bag this week: Tues.-Reyana, Wed.-Makayla, Thurs.-Levi, Fri.-Jake
Fire Safety Month
October is Fire Safety Month! This week we will be learning how firefighters keep us safe and discussing guidelines for fire safety at home. In addition, we will be taking a walking field trip to the fire hall on Friday – leaving Baranof at 8:15 and returning by 9:30. On Thursday the National Fire Protection Association guidelines will be coming home, along with homework! Due by October 31st, the homework will be to make a map showing your family’s escape plan in case of a home fire.
Marble Jar Celebration
The children filled the Marble Jar again! On Thursday we went out for an early recess and took the bottles of bubbles for a new kind of bubble celebration (you may remember, last time we had a bubble blowing contest in the classroom). It was lots of fun, and the wind added a bit of excitement!
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Whale Study
As we think about what is happening during this time of the year, we will be talking about and studying humpback whales and the journey they will be taking to the warm waters of Hawaii. We will be doing some whale research and art over the next couple of weeks. The art work will be displayed at the Centennial Hall during the Whale Fest (Nov. 5 – 7).
Talent Show
We are organizing our first “Talent Show” of the year. The first graders in Room 11 are invited to think about something that they are good at doing and would like to share with the rest of the class. The talent can be anything from a shoe-tying demonstration, showing us how to draw a cat, showing some karate moves, to playing a violin piece or two. First grade talent shows are very simple and straight forward. Please take a bit of time to ask your child about what s/he may want to do. If, at this time, they are not comfortable with the idea, it is fine to be simply part of the audience. We will be having at least one more this year! (We are planning to have it on Friday, October 30, along with our Harvest Party – see related article below).
Harvest Party
On Friday, October 30 we will be celebrating the fall season with a Harvest Party luncheon. (We will not be wearing costumes to school.) You are invited to join us for our “Talent Show” (10:45-11:15) and Harvest Party luncheon (11:45-12:15). More about the luncheon later!
Word Study
Our word studies this week will include adding an ‘s’ onto the endings of words to make plurals and hearing the ending sounds of words. Both of these word studies are helpful in writing.
October 12, 2009
Mystery Bag this week: Tues.-Jesse, Wed.-Rebekah, Thurs.-Ethan, Fri.-Gabe
Books Coming Home!
Thank you to everyone who signed the “Little Book Agreement” at Open House. For those of you who were unable to attend, please look for it in your child’s blue folder. Thank you!
Math Notes
In math we will be looking at the addition combinations that we call ‘doubles” (1+1, 2+2, 3+3 and so on), and “neighbors”, which are the doubles plus or minus one (1+2, 2+3, 3+4 and so on). Eventually “doubles and neighbors” will be another strategy that the children can use to solve addition and subtraction problems.
Also in math, you may have been wondering about the Mad Minutes that come home every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On Monday and Wednesday this is a self-paced program in which the children move through a series of timed math problems, with the math problems increasing in number and/or difficulty based on each student’s achievement. By the end of the year a first grader should be able to complete 30 addition problems with sums less than 10 in three minutes, and 30 subtraction problems with the first number, the minuend, less than 10 in five minutes. On Friday all of the students complete the same Mad Minute, and the focus is on practicing a variety of strategies to solve the problems. Currently we are working on ‘counting on’ with addition sentences –that is, saying the larger number and then counting on by ones to find the answer.
Social Studies
For the rest of the month we will be looking at symbols in connection with Alaska Day, specifically learning about the Alaska flag, and how a flag can be a symbol representing a place or person. In addition, look for information to come home as we learn about fire safety. October is Fire Safety Month.
Conferences
The schedule for conferences is on the back the newsletter that came home on Monday. Please check to confirm the time you signed up for at Open House. If your child’s name is not on the schedule, check the times that are available and then send in a note or give a call to reserve your time. Letters will be sent home closer to the conferences as reminders.
Mystery Bag
Coming home today is the newest Mystery Bag schedule. The children are becoming quite good at asking questions to determine the attributes of the mystery item, listening carefully to the questions and responses, and using deductive reasoning to determine what it could possibly be!
