I am truly amazed at how quickly the time goes. Here we are at the end of 2013!
We will have regular hard-working days Mon-Thu this week! Please work with your child to keep up on penmanship, math, and daily reading. There is no spelling center this week, so please be sure to do spelling practice at home as well - the test will be on Friday!
Please remember to dress your child warmly - it is VERY COLD outside! They MUST wear coats, gloves, socks (take note girls), and hats. Let's stay warm and safe!
Watch for a special reading contest form to be sent home on Friday. This will be done over the break, and classes reaching their goal will get a special party in January!
Happy Holidays! More to come...
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Yes! Thanks to Bobby in our technical department, I finally now have complete and total control of our class website! Well, there is really a lot going on, as always. I often catch myself talking about how "this time of year" is so busy, but when I think about it, there really aren't any times of year that are not super busy!
We are into chapter four of our math book, which is working with composing and decomposing numbers up to 10. As always, we would love to have more parents in during math stations (Mon-Thu the last 1/2 hour of the day) to work with us! We are also working on our counting, both forward and backwards. Forward from 0-50, backward from 20-0.
As you can see from the section about letter names and sounds, we are well into our word families. We practice those several times a week. We are also working on understanding and hearing syllables in our phonemic awareness work. Spelling is going full steam, with new lists on Mondays and quizzes on Fridays. Feel free to come in and assist with our literacy centers (Mon Tues Thurs Fri the first hour), the more help we have, the better!
We are working during writing time on actually writing down our stories now. We are working on making full sentences and writing the same way we talk. Penmanship is going strong as well, and I have noticed an improvement lately (Gg, Jj, Pp, Qq) over penmanship quality of the past. Great job!
We are as always really focusing on reading. This is an essential life skill. We read together during the week, sometimes as a practice, sometimes as an assessment, and the kids are improving steadily. Please keep up on reading daily with your child - this is truly vital. At least 20 minutes a day reading!
We have expanded our song repertoire now to include several holiday/winter songs. Sometimes we break out the egg shakers, and really get down!
Our current IB unit focuses on families. How families, work, what roles we have in our families, and how those roles differ from family to family. It's always interesting an fun to learn about the families of the students!
Thank you for letting your children come to our class. It is truly a joy to see them and listen to them and share time with them every day. Each one of them is amazing and precious and truly loved.
Mr. Matt
We are into chapter four of our math book, which is working with composing and decomposing numbers up to 10. As always, we would love to have more parents in during math stations (Mon-Thu the last 1/2 hour of the day) to work with us! We are also working on our counting, both forward and backwards. Forward from 0-50, backward from 20-0.
As you can see from the section about letter names and sounds, we are well into our word families. We practice those several times a week. We are also working on understanding and hearing syllables in our phonemic awareness work. Spelling is going full steam, with new lists on Mondays and quizzes on Fridays. Feel free to come in and assist with our literacy centers (Mon Tues Thurs Fri the first hour), the more help we have, the better!
We are working during writing time on actually writing down our stories now. We are working on making full sentences and writing the same way we talk. Penmanship is going strong as well, and I have noticed an improvement lately (Gg, Jj, Pp, Qq) over penmanship quality of the past. Great job!
We are as always really focusing on reading. This is an essential life skill. We read together during the week, sometimes as a practice, sometimes as an assessment, and the kids are improving steadily. Please keep up on reading daily with your child - this is truly vital. At least 20 minutes a day reading!
We have expanded our song repertoire now to include several holiday/winter songs. Sometimes we break out the egg shakers, and really get down!
Our current IB unit focuses on families. How families, work, what roles we have in our families, and how those roles differ from family to family. It's always interesting an fun to learn about the families of the students!
Thank you for letting your children come to our class. It is truly a joy to see them and listen to them and share time with them every day. Each one of them is amazing and precious and truly loved.
Mr. Matt
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Monday, November 18, 2013
It's time for farm reports!!! Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday we have the pleasure of hearing your children's farm presentations. Look for them on display out in the hall for the next couple of weeks as we wrap up our farm unit.
Thursday is also put Thanksgiving feast, AM at 1030 and PM at 1230. Time to start really thinking about what we are thankful for!
I'm thankful for our parent volunteers. The more you are here during centers/math stations time, the more I get top work 1-on-1 and in small groups with your children. If you have not yet done it, or if you need to start over fresh, please come in and assist! You will love it!
REMEMBER...at least 20 minutes reading a day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thursday is also put Thanksgiving feast, AM at 1030 and PM at 1230. Time to start really thinking about what we are thankful for!
I'm thankful for our parent volunteers. The more you are here during centers/math stations time, the more I get top work 1-on-1 and in small groups with your children. If you have not yet done it, or if you need to start over fresh, please come in and assist! You will love it!
REMEMBER...at least 20 minutes reading a day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monday, November 4, 2013
November is here! Time truly flies!
Your child has chosen a farm to do an oral report on in front of the class. These will be presented the week of November 18th. Information will go home tomorrow with instructions and a grading rubric as well as your child's day and time of presentation.
Next Monday is Veteran's Day and we will have a special guest come and talk about his service to our country.
Report cards will be sent home through email this week. Watch for them on Friday!
Picture retakes are this Thursday!
PLEASE read at least 20 minutes a day with your child!!!
The more volunteers we have in class, the more we can specialize the instruction that your child receives. Please donate your time to our class, especially during math stations and centers time.
Thanks for all of yoru assistnace on our Halloween party, the kids had a great time! Special thanks to our room mom bosses, Amy and Lisa!!!
Thank you!!!
Your child has chosen a farm to do an oral report on in front of the class. These will be presented the week of November 18th. Information will go home tomorrow with instructions and a grading rubric as well as your child's day and time of presentation.
Next Monday is Veteran's Day and we will have a special guest come and talk about his service to our country.
Report cards will be sent home through email this week. Watch for them on Friday!
Picture retakes are this Thursday!
PLEASE read at least 20 minutes a day with your child!!!
The more volunteers we have in class, the more we can specialize the instruction that your child receives. Please donate your time to our class, especially during math stations and centers time.
Thanks for all of yoru assistnace on our Halloween party, the kids had a great time! Special thanks to our room mom bosses, Amy and Lisa!!!
Thank you!!!
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Welcome back! I hope you all had a great fall break! Now...back to the awesome learning!
This week is Red Ribbon Week. This is an anti-drug program spearheaded by our PE specialist Miss Vanessa. Each day students have the opportunity to do something out of the ordinary to remind us about the dangers of drugs. Please see the dates list to the right of this post for specifics.
This week and next week we will be doing end-of-term assessments (yes, we are at the end of the first term already). please feel free to come in and assist even if you are not scheduled. The more helpers we have, the smoother we can get all of the 1-on-1 assessments done. Thank you!
I hope your children were all able to get shoe-tying and coat zipping down this weekend! These are two of the things we will be assessing - they are essential skills that are needed daily as our kids go in and out of recess and prepare to go home each day.
PLEASE remember that it is cold outside, and it is RARE that we stay in for recess. Your children need coats, gloves, hats, and SOCKS! Please also remember to write your child's name on every piece of clothing that might be removed at school. Thank you!
Last week, your child took home a paper for the Golden Rule project. This is a service project to be discussed, planned, and executed with your child, who will then fill out the reflection form and share the results of the project with the class. This is done in the spirit of our IB principles, which stress community service. Please let me know if you have any questions.
As always, thank you for your support!
Mr. Matt
This week is Red Ribbon Week. This is an anti-drug program spearheaded by our PE specialist Miss Vanessa. Each day students have the opportunity to do something out of the ordinary to remind us about the dangers of drugs. Please see the dates list to the right of this post for specifics.
This week and next week we will be doing end-of-term assessments (yes, we are at the end of the first term already). please feel free to come in and assist even if you are not scheduled. The more helpers we have, the smoother we can get all of the 1-on-1 assessments done. Thank you!
I hope your children were all able to get shoe-tying and coat zipping down this weekend! These are two of the things we will be assessing - they are essential skills that are needed daily as our kids go in and out of recess and prepare to go home each day.
PLEASE remember that it is cold outside, and it is RARE that we stay in for recess. Your children need coats, gloves, hats, and SOCKS! Please also remember to write your child's name on every piece of clothing that might be removed at school. Thank you!
Last week, your child took home a paper for the Golden Rule project. This is a service project to be discussed, planned, and executed with your child, who will then fill out the reflection form and share the results of the project with the class. This is done in the spirit of our IB principles, which stress community service. Please let me know if you have any questions.
As always, thank you for your support!
Mr. Matt
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Thanks for your support on an awesome turnout at the Harvest Festival! Thank you also for your support on our Annual Giving drive, both of our classes had 100% participation!
Our field trip on Monday was fantastic! We had a great time at the farm. We saw pigs and piglets and goats and sheep and chickens and cows. We played in a huge pit of corn and slid on a massive slide. We walked through a corn maze and chose pumpkins from a pumpkin patch. Some of us took a hayride, pulled by a tractor. We ate lunch together and even the bus was fun! Special thanks to the chaperones, you made it a great and safe field trip.
The reason for our field trip is to introduce our new IB unit, which is about farms. It falls under the transdisciplinary theme of "how we share the planet". Our lines of inquiry are:
What comes from farms?
How farms work.
How do products go from farm to home?
Please take some time in the next few weeks to discuss this with your child, we'd love to hear some "home" perspectives!
The Learner Profile attributes that we will focus on this time are:
Inquirer
Knowledgeable
Thanks also for your support on picture day. I know it's tough. especially for the PM class, to adjust your schedule so that we can have all the kids here in the morning. You are true Channing Hall Champions to do it two days in a row!
Our field trip on Monday was fantastic! We had a great time at the farm. We saw pigs and piglets and goats and sheep and chickens and cows. We played in a huge pit of corn and slid on a massive slide. We walked through a corn maze and chose pumpkins from a pumpkin patch. Some of us took a hayride, pulled by a tractor. We ate lunch together and even the bus was fun! Special thanks to the chaperones, you made it a great and safe field trip.
The reason for our field trip is to introduce our new IB unit, which is about farms. It falls under the transdisciplinary theme of "how we share the planet". Our lines of inquiry are:
What comes from farms?
How farms work.
How do products go from farm to home?
Please take some time in the next few weeks to discuss this with your child, we'd love to hear some "home" perspectives!
The Learner Profile attributes that we will focus on this time are:
Inquirer
Knowledgeable
Thanks also for your support on picture day. I know it's tough. especially for the PM class, to adjust your schedule so that we can have all the kids here in the morning. You are true Channing Hall Champions to do it two days in a row!
Monday, September 16, 2013
First, I would like to thank all of you who have been coming in to volunteer, especially during centers and math stations time. You really make a difference!
Our current IB unit is called Me-ology, and it is under the transdisciplinary theme of Who We Are. The aspects of the Learner Profile that we are focusing on are Caring, Reflective, and Balanced. We are studying about how we are same and how we are different, both physically and emotionally. We have a web out in the hall that show our physical similarities and differences. We also have our baby pictures on display, showing how we have changed and grown over the years.
We have now introduced all of the "tall letters" - Bb, Dd, Ff, Hh, Kk, Ll, Tt. This weeks finishes up the "tail letters" - Gg, Jj, Pp, Qq, Yy. Next week we will be introducing out first vowel, and we will be in full swing for reading words as a class!
Our phonemic awareness focus is still rhyming, and will be until the end of the first term. Please practice rhyme at home with your child so that we can get this basic necessity of phonemic awareness mastered!
Please keep working on sight words DAILY. Those should be niticed and pointed out during daily reading time, and assignments turned in on Fridays.
In writer's workshop we are working on coming up with ideas to write about and structuring our writing with a beginning, a middle, and an end. The students are progressing well and learning to structure writing. Awesome!
Lots coming up! Remember our field trip to the Pumpkin Farm on Monday, October 7th. AM and PM will both come to school at 8:15 that day. Also, picture day will be on October 8th. More information coming later!
Keep up the DAILY reading - at least 20 minutes a day with your child! Thanks for your support!
Our current IB unit is called Me-ology, and it is under the transdisciplinary theme of Who We Are. The aspects of the Learner Profile that we are focusing on are Caring, Reflective, and Balanced. We are studying about how we are same and how we are different, both physically and emotionally. We have a web out in the hall that show our physical similarities and differences. We also have our baby pictures on display, showing how we have changed and grown over the years.
We have now introduced all of the "tall letters" - Bb, Dd, Ff, Hh, Kk, Ll, Tt. This weeks finishes up the "tail letters" - Gg, Jj, Pp, Qq, Yy. Next week we will be introducing out first vowel, and we will be in full swing for reading words as a class!
Our phonemic awareness focus is still rhyming, and will be until the end of the first term. Please practice rhyme at home with your child so that we can get this basic necessity of phonemic awareness mastered!
Please keep working on sight words DAILY. Those should be niticed and pointed out during daily reading time, and assignments turned in on Fridays.
In writer's workshop we are working on coming up with ideas to write about and structuring our writing with a beginning, a middle, and an end. The students are progressing well and learning to structure writing. Awesome!
Lots coming up! Remember our field trip to the Pumpkin Farm on Monday, October 7th. AM and PM will both come to school at 8:15 that day. Also, picture day will be on October 8th. More information coming later!
Keep up the DAILY reading - at least 20 minutes a day with your child! Thanks for your support!
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Things are now in full swing! Thanks to those of you who came in to assist in class last week. We are all set to run full schedule from here on out. Here is the volunteer schedule that I have. Please let me know if I need to make any changes:
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MONDAY
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||
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Darcy Briggs
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845-930
|
|
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Daralee Stewart
|
845-930
|
|
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Amy Woodbury
|
1045-1115
|
|
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Natalie Harmon
|
1045-1115
|
|
|
Angie Garff
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1245-130
|
|
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Lindsey Moffat
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1245-130
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1&3
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Lynnie Johnson
|
245-320
|
|
TUESDAY
|
|
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Jenn Pester
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845-1115
|
|
Ashley Nuttall
|
1000-1015
|
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Liz Nelson
|
1000-1115
|
|
|
|
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Stephanie Frohman
|
1245-140
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Heather Fehrenbach
|
1245-140
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Jeannette Hammell
|
245-320
|
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WEDNESDAY
|
|
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Annette Astin
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945-1015
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Marcy Shern
|
1015-1030
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Natalie Harmon
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1045-1115
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Kim Miller
|
1220-130
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Lisa Kener
|
120-155
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THURSDAY
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|
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Cherie Gee
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1000-1115
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Jessi Runia
|
1000-1115
|
|
Carrie Losada
|
1045-1115
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Lisa Kener
|
1245-140
|
|
Angie Garff
|
245-315
|
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FRIDAY
|
|
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Britt Simons
|
830-900
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Amy Woodbury
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830-1000
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Kim Blackham
|
930-1000
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Jessica Edmunds
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1st of month
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Lindsey Johnson
|
1110-1140
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Kristin Swensen
|
1210-120
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Friday, September 6, 2013
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
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