Week of September 22

Events:

-September 30 Picture Day

-October 1 Dismiss at 2:15

-October 3 Dismiss at 2:15 for Parade

-October 8 Dismiss at 2:15

Notes:

-Reminder to start sending in paper towel tubes for us to use during math.

-This week Mrs. B. started teaching every subject.  She will be teaching every subject all next week as well.  I am in the room assisting other students around the room.

-I have started adding minutes for our reading incentives.  Some of us have already read for 10 hours!!!

-Mr. Embrock, the new high school principal, shared a list of useful educational websites.  I am sharing a few of them on the backside.

Homecoming Days

Monday-Mismatch Day

Tuesday- Dress up for School Photos

Wednesday- Class Color Day (First Grade wear red)

Thursday-Pajama Day (no slippers)

Friday- E’Hawk Day (black and gold day)

Experts Requested

-In October we will be starting a unit with the book Stellaluna.  This book is about a bat and birds.  I am looking for any experts on bats.  Please write me a note if you know someone who is an area expert.

-We will also start a unit about all the animal classification in late October.  We will learn about birds, fish, mammals, reptiles, insects, and amphibians.  I am looking for experts in any of these classification areas.

Week in Review:

- This week we started a new unit of study on the author Kevin Henkes.  We read the book Sheila Rae the Brave and discussed what made Sheila brave.  We learned about the vocabulary: convince, daring, frightening, occurred, switch, and fearless.

-We started a new math unit that focuses on adding by drawing circles.   

-We finished our maps and globes unit on Monday by learning about the cardinal directions.  We also finished writing our letters to our penpals in Storm Lake.

-We started our first science unit that focuses on matter.  We have begun learning what about solids, liquids, and gases.

Summer's over, and school's back in session. Time to pull the plug on your kids' video games, right? Not so fast, Mom and Dad. To the great relief of kids everywhere, it turns out video games and school are not incompatible. New studies on the effects that playing games has on kids indicate positive benefits for learning, thinking, social-emotional skills building, and, yes, even school performance.

Games provide new ways to engage with various subjects, whether it's learning about math through an air-traffic-control simulator or practicing musical timing with a dance app. So the next time you see your kid playing a strategy or music game, know that he or she may actually be learning history or working on physical fitness. Below, we have recommendations of apps and games to support every subject on your elementary, junior high, or high school student's schedule. By Jeff Haynes

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/24-video-games-you-can-say-yes-to-after-school

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Elementary School: Math Blaster Online, 7+
Do your little ones need help with equations? Math Blaster Online gives them plenty of practice as they join the Blaster Academy to save the universe using their math skills. It also lets your kids team up with other players to solve problems together in a safe, socially positive online environment.

Elementary School: My Reading Tutor, 5+
My Reading Tutor builds on the basics of early reading skills to help strengthen kids' literacy. Phonics, letter sounds, and more are presented in a fun, engaging manner, and kids can even record their voices as they read stories. Parents can track their children's progress in the reading tasks to see how well they're doing and what they need help on.

Elementary School: Just Dance: Disney Party, 5+
You don't have to be a fan of Disney classics such as "It's a Small World" to love Just Dance: Disney Party. Players imitate characters on-screen that are dancing to hit songs from Disney movies and TV shows. The completely contagious game teaches how movement and music work together in a fun, social environment.

Elementary School: Zumba Kids, 6+
Want to get your little ones' blood flowing? Zumba Kids takes kid-friendly songs from pop artists and lets them perform 30 routines in a wide variety of dance genres. Plus, they get to imitate the kids dancing on-screen, who provide lots of positive reinforcement through each song.

Elementary School: Sesame Street: Once Upon A Monster, 6+
Parents who want to make sure their kids learn about friendship, generosity, and other positive life skills should look no further than Sesame Street: Once Upon A Monster. An interactive experience wherein players engage with characters from the show, the game teaches as it lets kids play active roles in stories and participate in entertaining games.

Week of Sept. 15

Events:

-September 24 Dismiss at 2:15

-October 1 Dismiss at 2:15

-October 3 Dismiss at 2:15

Homecoming Parade

Notes:

-Please start collecting and sending in paper towel rolls.  We will soon be using these for an activity in math.

-This Friday we started Super Achiever.  Each week I will pick a student who I have noticed worked hard at showing the E’Hawk boundaries.  Super Achievers will receive a subway certificate.  On the last Friday of the month all the super achievers for that month will eat a lunch with me in the room and receive a special treat.

Week in Review:

- This week we started a new unit of study with the book Dear Juno.  With this book we learned about story elements (characters, setting, problem, and solution).

-We finished our first unit in math that focused on number review and patterns. 

-We have continued our study on maps and globes by learning about landforms (mountain, plain, hill, valley, ocean, river, and lake.)

What’s Happening in Daily 5:

*We have continued our Daily 5 rotations.  Students have been doing an excellent job at logging into the computers to get on Bookflix or Tumblebooks to listen to books.

*During read to self or read to someone students have been reading books from their good fit boxes, practicing their sight words, and rereading their fluency poems.

BUILD

***We continued the same groups from last week.*****

B(Buddy Games)- Domino Top-It

U (Using Manipulatives)- Geoboards (make shapes on peg boards with rubber bands)

I (Independent Practice)- Students practice making teen numbers with tens frames.

L (Learning About Numbers)-Students worked in a small group with story problems.

D (Doing Math)- Students worked on computers with the website scootpad.

Farm Safety Day

We learned about tractor safety and how to never play hide and seek around a tractor.  A student in our class was able to hide and another student was in the cab of the tractor and was not able to see him anywhere ,

We learned about PTO safety and how quickly it turns and how our reflexes are not able to react in time before danger would strike.  A student in our class was given a chance to test her reflexes and see if she could grab the pencil and the instructor dropped the pencil.

Learning about good handwashing

Lunch time 

Health and fitness safety.  A few students in our class were able to be volunteers and practice some exercises.  

Students pulled a rope to see how hard they could pull and if it would be enough to pull a person out of a grain bin.

Week of Sept. 8

Events:

-September 16 Farm Safety Day

          -Dress in layers

          -Wear tennis shoes

-September 17 dismiss at 2:15

Notes:

-Mrs. B, our student teacher, has started to teach a few more of the content areas.  She is now teaching math and social studies.

-This week we started a math warm up with questions similar to Iowa Assessments.  This packet will help us learn some test taking strategies for Iowa Assessments in the spring.

Week in Review:

- We have started our second week of word journey words.  We will be working with these words for two weeks.  A test will be given on these words next Friday.

-In math we have learned about flipping an addition number sentence.  Example: 1+6=7 flipped 6+1=7.

-This week we finished our review of letters and sounds.  We also practiced retelling a story about Alexander Graham Bell. 

 What’s Happening in Daily 5:

*This week we started our Daily 5 rotation with strategy groups. 

*Each day students rotated around the room to listen to reading, read to self, read to someone, and a strategy group with a teacher.

*During our strategy group time we have been working on our first grade sight words, nonsense words, and reading books.

BUILD

-We have started BUILD groups during our math time. 

B(Buddy Games)- Domino Top-It

U (Using Manipulatives)- Geoboards (make shapes on peg boards with rubber bands)

I (Independent Practice)- Students practice making teen numbers with tens frames.

L (Learning About Numbers)-Students worked in a small group with story problems.

D (Doing Math)- Students worked on computers with the website scootpad.

Week of Sept. 2

Events:

-September 10 dismiss at 2:15

-September 16 Farm Safety Day

-September 17 dismiss at 2:15

Notes:

-Thank you to the students who brought in money to donate to ALS.  We had a fun time with the ice bucket challenge.

 BUILD

-We have started BUILD groups during our math time. 

B(Buddy Games)- Played top-it (Students have a stack of cards upside down.  One student draws a card.  The other partner draws a card.  The partner with the highest number wins)

U (Using Manipulatives)- Students worked to make various shapes with pattern blocks.

I (Independent Practice)- Students practiced basic addition problems through games.

L (Learning About Numbers)-Students worked in a small group with story problems.

D (Doing Math)- Students worked on computers with the website scootpad.

What’s Happening in Daily 5:

*This week we started our Daily 5 rotation with strategy groups. 

*Each day students rotated around the room to listen to reading, read to self, read to someone, and a strategy group with a teacher.

*During our strategy group time we have been working on our first grade sight words, nonsense words, and reading books.

Week in Review:

- This week we started word journeys.  A list of words was sent home on Monday.  We worked with these words throughout the week in class and tested on them on Friday. 

-In math we started learning basic addition problems by using counters from our math box of manipulatives.

-We have continued our review of letters and sounds as well as writing the letters.