Things are in full swing now!

AM Class

Each week your child is bringing home a sheet with two or three weekly sight words.  Please be sure to do the sight words homework DAILY as you are doing your child's (at least) 20-minutes-a-day reading.  Please remember that at least five minutes of this reading should be done by your child!  The rest can be done by you.

Each week we are doing 10 centers including literacy (phonics, phonemic awareness), social studies, science, art, and play.  Here is the schedule for those, followed by the awesome volunteers who are coming in:
Monday:  850-930 - Charity Cobb
Tuesday:  850-935 -
Thursday:  850-935 - Paige Farnsworth, Sam Anhorn
Friday:  930-1000 - Brenda Gourley, The Parks

As you can see, we have some great volunteers for centers time.  We could still use some assistance on Monday (one helper) and Tuesday (two helpers).  Check your schedule and see if you can help us out!  Soon we will be starting spelling, and we will need one parent daily to be our Spelling King or Spelling Queen, and run the spelling center with the kids.  It takes a little training, please let me know if this job is calling out to you!

We are also doing 8 math stations per week.  These are the same thing as centers, except that they are all math-based.  Here is the schedule for those, followed by the awesome volunteers who are coming in:
Monday:  1040-1115 -
Tuesday:  1040-1115 - Tasha Lowery, Misty Lewis, Alecia Murphy
Wednesday:  1040-1115 - Rori Hendrix
Thursday:  1040-1115 -Paige Farnsworth, Melissa Burridge

As you can see, we also have some great volunteers for math stations time.  We could still use some assistance on Monday (two helpers) and Wednesday (one helper).  Check your schedule and see if you can help us out!

The more assistants we have at centers and stations time, the more I can focus on reading/math work with small groups or one-on-one.  This is where your stuggling kids get extra attention.  This is where your advanced kids also get extra attention.  This is also where the kids who are performing on grade level get extra attention as well!

Leveled Libray books have started going home.  The level that your child brings home is his or he MASTERED LEVEL, in class I am working with your child one level higher, on his or her INSTRUCTIONAL LEVEL.  Please send those back signed by you whenever your child would like a new book!

Our first show and tell is this Friday!  The following students can bring a show and tell if they so choose:  Ashton, Braelyn, Caden, Colton, Easton, Elias, Elliot, Grey.  One item only please!

We have started our Spanish practice, and are working this term on  counting from 1-20.  Please support your kids in practicing.  We will get up to ten this week!

The Golden Rule project is a service-based activity that is done at home with your child.  Carefully discuss and choose a service with your child, and after accomplishing the project, please assist your child to fill out the reflection form that was included in your red information folder at the first of the year.  This is a school-wide required project.

Our Annual Giving fund drive is fast approaching!  The drive culminates in our annual Harvest Festival, this year held on October 10th.  Please watch for more information on this year's activities!

Our Me-Ology IB unit is in full swing as well.  Our Transdisciplinary Theme for this unit is Who We Are.  As a class we are looking at physical and emotional similarities and differences between ourselves and others.  We have compared ourselves to each other and also compared ourselves to our own baby pictures to note differences   We are talking and leaning about being CARING, BALANCED, and REFLECTIVE, all of which are aspects of our IB Leaner Profile.

We are currently working on our RED song, our ANT ZIPPER song, our 1,2,3 song, and The Star Spangled Banner!

More to come!

Enrichment Class

Starting this Friday, you child is bringing home a folder with the work for the week inside.  We rarely if ever have any homework from enrichment, but we do a LOT of work here!  Each folder has four pockets, one for Social Studies, one for Math, one for Science, and one for Fine Arts.  Whenever we do an activity or project that has paperwork of some sort, your child will bring it home at the end of the week.  Please be sure to send those back every Monday morning!

Here are the volunteers that we have coming in regularly so far:
Monday:  Amy Woodbury
Tuesday:  Amy Reading, Rosanne
Wednesday:  Leslee Gray
Thursday:  Jenn Wall

We still need someone on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday!  The more (consistent) help we have, the more GREAT stuff we can do here!

For our first six weeks of class, our focus is on our Me-ology IB unit, and all of the activities, projects, and centers that we do will be connected to that unit in some way.  

On Mondays we do Social Studies.  Our centers throughout the term will include several information gathering activities on physical similarities and differences between members of the class.  This information will be used on Tuesdays (math day) to make graphs about our class.  We also will have a center each week about things that make us feel happy, scared, angry, etc., and the results of our questioning center will be the topic for a discussion about how we feel the same or differently about things, and why.  We will also have a 15-minutes center each week that will be a discussion on various topics.

Tuesdays are Math days.  We will be taking the results of our Social Studies work and graphing the results, sometimes working on estimating the results before we graph them out.  We are also playing various games designed to give us practice on matching numbers to objects, number recognition, and number comparing.  This gives us an opportunity to solidify things learned in the morning class, taking time to assist those who need review, practice those who are learning on schedule, and add a bit to those who are already solid on the concept.

Wednesday is Fine Arts day.  We do five fine arts centers each Wednesday.  Some will be based on the physical aspect of our unit (bones, heart, body, etc.), and some on the emotional side (feelings, ideas, etc.)  Occasionally we have a guest (actor, artist, dancer, etc.)

Thursday is Science day.  Our centers include anatomy, microscope study, x-ray study, etc.  We have a scientist, Ms, Suzy, who comes every Thursday to do a class project!

Friday is Health and Fitness day, and is also used to do any make-up things that may have been unfinished during the week.  We have a health specialist, Ms. Rosanne, who comes and helps us to learn about being healthy in our bodies and our minds.

We are working on a few songs:  The Skeleton Inside, It Starts With the Heart, Balanced, and Reflective!

We have three more week of our Me-Ology unit, then we move on!  Please check this website weekly for updates and information!  Keep those volunteers coming!!!!!