Monthly Archives: March 2009

Not much space…

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Apparently, I am too wordy for the free edublogs version. Until I can get home tonight and “up my space” with the credit card…..here’s the news to know.

Picture $$ due April 10.  Egg Hunt: April 10. Send 12 TOY filled eggs (NOT CANDY) sealed shut with tape by Wed. April 8th. Each bear needs a basket or something to use for hunting eggs. Parent help needed at 1:00. Egg hunt @ 1:30.

Big Kids (3rd-8th) still testing with the SAT 10. Our schedule is wonky.

More (including pictures) after I pay up……..possibly later today. Be prepared for long posts full of lots of words…..Alicia

Big Week O’Stuff…..

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Here’s a shot of the Bears and the “wearin’ o’the-green” for St. Patrick’s Day! We had some yummy math today!  Ask your Bear to tell you all about it!

This week we are playing a bit of “catch-up”. For your studying enjoyment….NO SPELLING this week! We are going to wait until next week to begin our last anthology in the Reading Street Series. I cannot believe how quickly time has flown by!  On August 18th we began with this new series and now we only have 5 or 6 stories left! Amazing!

We have been quite busy this week giving the Bear Class library a good overhaul. We have resorted baskets, made new categories, found books belonging to the school library, students who are now in 2nd grade, half of Ford/Powell’s chapter book collection, stuff we thought was long gone, wrappers from old snacks, a ton of post-it notes and other various and sundry things! It feels good to sort and clean!

The clover came home today! We love the new grow lights from our AMSTI kit and were amazed at how fast the stuff grew! We’ll be planting more stuff in the coming weeks. We also covered ol’ Pumpkin Jack today with a generous helping of rich dirt. He has been peacefully rotting outside the window, chock full o’seeds since October. We did not see any vines, but it’s early yet! We are going to make a sign so he lawnmower people won’t chop up our flatso-guy and maybe when the Bears are in 2nd grade, we’ll have some pumpkins! Won’t that be fun!?

The new book order is ready online. You know the drill. Order by check or online. Due date is Friday, March 27th.

Our CHOM trip is Thursday. We will leave school around 8:30ish. Our class begins at 9:00. Meet us there if you’d like. Remember that there is NO SCHOOL on Friday! Enjoy the long weekend with your family.

This week is also our time to go to the Launch Pad with Mr. Maxey! Some friends and their good behavior have tons of points to spend…..others, not so many. Remember you earn a point for your rocket each day you are on green!

Report cards come home this week. I will send 2 copies. Keep the blue one for yourself and sign the copied one and send it AND THE REPORT CARD JACKET back to me the very next day! The STAR reports are always yours to keep!

Alicia

The Day I Saw a Dragonfly

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Lindsay Stephenson’s aunt Heather Fitzpatrick wrote this awesome book called, The Day I Saw a Dragonfly. Lindsay’s mom gave us an advanced copy and it is wonderful!  You can go to www.amazon.comand order one or two or three for yourself. It is a beautiful story about remembering loved ones after they have passed away. It is especially meaningful to me right now because I “see” my brother Brandon in many little everyday things. Doing so used to make me cry…..now 6 months later…..I am still sad, and I still cry sometimes, but more often than not now, I smile when I remember. Since we have a koi pond right off of our deck and I often watch dragonflies in the spring, I am especially thrilled to do so after reading “our”  Aunt Heather’s book. (You know we are so enamored with rock-star book authors that we all claim them as ours. This includes really being related to them, “knowing” them, having once seen them, knowing someone who once saw them, etc…..) Authors! They are our Rock Stars!

🙂

Go ahead, check it out at www.amazon.com (Heather Fitzpatrick) You’ll be glad you did!

Alicia (who is thinking that all of these Bear Class relations who are published authors [remember Jennifer’s people??] need to be hooking me up with someone in the literary world……..  🙂

Growing, growing….almost gone……

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A few Bears have asked for more information about Lester Laminack, especially after we read his awesome book Jake’s 100th Day of School yesterday. His website is here http://www.lesterlaminack.com/  Enjoy!

We are SPRINGING forward with plants!  We opened our new “Grow Lights” yesterday and planted tiny pots of clover. (Thanks Donovan family for the clover!) It was so much fun!  We wrote about the activity in our science journals and we will let you know as soon as we see some growth! The Bears swear they can see stuff happening already……maybe they can! 🙂 I can see the Bears growing in so many ways! Losing teeth, getting taller, reading stuff that 4th graders read, knowing how to do so many new things that are not hard for them now at all. Pretty soon, in 49 school days in fact……they will grow up and be gone from #221. Even though I have spring fever right now, the thought of them going away from me makes me a little sick…..

In Math we are working on time and money. We added a new morning job this week. Time and Money Helpers! They are really enjoying working on this new aspect of our Calendar time. Help us by noticing clocks when you are out and about! Have your child practice reading the time to you! Use trips to the grocery store (and pay for something with cash) so they can count coins. Ms. Stamps is doing a fun activity with clocks today! Ask your child all about it when he/she gets home!

The week finds us in our last story of book 4 in our Reading Street series. We are reading Henry and Mudge! One of the neat things about this series is that you can find the real stories in the library! Often, the story is one of a series about the same character. The Bears have made huge jumps in reading progress!  You’ll be proud when you get the latest STAR report next week.

See the following that I shamelessly stole from Ford/Powell’s 3rd grade blog. (Is it stealing if you thank the person and give them credit??? Hummmmm…..) Anyway, Check out these wonderful opportunities for more author-interaction! (Thanks Ford/Powell)

“You won’t believe it!  Mary Pope Osborne, the author of the Magic Tree House series, will be appearing at this year’s Alabama Book Festival on April 18 in Montgomery!  AND, her sister will be with her (she writes several of the nonfiction guides that go along with the series.)  Check out the following website for information:

www.alabamabookcenter.org

Mikki Powell said, “I’ve never been to this particular book festival, but I’ve heard Mrs. Osborne speak at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. and she was FABULOUS!  The Alabama Book Festival is held at Old Alabama Town in Montgomery, and this year, it’s the end of Spring Break….a perfect time to meet some authors!  I hope you consider making it a family day and give your child this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet a famous author!  We’ll see you there!

By the way, there’s also a Magic  Tree House Musical that’s making the rounds in the US…..and it will be in Meridian, MS on Friday night, March 13.  Just Google “Magic Tree House Musical” for details!  Another fun activity that encourages a love of books and reading!  Happy reading!”

Friday, Mr. Brad and I go to the “final intake” meeting with our adoption agency. We will turn in our album and then we will be officially….WAITING….for someone to pick us! I am pretty excited about that!

Happy Tuesday! Alicia

 

Teacher Date Night

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So, on Friday night, I went to The UofA campus and met these Bears (Sloane and Max and their mommies) to hear a lecture by this funny Alabama native author, Lester Laminack. If you don’t know him, you really should. He is too funny and writes great stuff. If you went to the Young Author’s Conference on Saturday, you got to hear him read his stuff aloud. If you missed it (like we did) you can check him out online. Get ready for next year’s conference (probably the 1st weekend in March)……I’ve heard rumors……that the author MIGHT be…….another Alabama native……….Barbara Park!  🙂 (If you don’t know who she is then you have NOT been listening to most of the chapter books read a loud in my class this year…….still confused?  Find out speedy quick! Hey! and even if you move on up to second grade, we will make a date of it for next year. I’ll save your spot in line…….

Children’s book authors…….better than Rock Stars! Don’t ‘cha think?

Lots of Stuff…..

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To order online, go to the Web address below and enter our class’s personalized user name and password.
 
http://pcool.scholastic.com/parentordering/login.jsp

Book orders are online for your shopping pleasure!  You may also send a check and completed forms to school. either option is fine with me!  Orders are due, Monday, March 9th. Happy Shopping!

 

Class User Name: bearclass

Password: room221


Remember, placing your online credit card order is completely safe and secure.

We had a blast on Friday with our Dr. Seuss stuff! Our mystery reader was the Cat in the Hat!  We did an interactive read aloud of Green Eggs and Ham and then we got to have a class picture made with the cat. Each child will get a class picture to keep later on this week. RQES sent a new book home for your child’s library and so did I! Each Bear got a hardback copy of And To Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street! This was the first book published by Dr. Seuss.

 

Today, out last fieldtrip form came home. You may wonder why the cost is so much higher than our last CHOM trip. The Dental Health fieldtrip to CHOM was partially  funded by the 6th District Dental Association. We just had to pay the remainder of the cost. The Wild Wetlands trip is not funded by anyone, so all expenses are out of pocket.  Let me know if you have questions.

 

Rock Quarry is working on our safety plans. Your child may come home talking about the “quiet drill” which is what I will be calling it when we practice for an intruder. We will also practice for bomb threats, tornado, fire, and a myriad of other scenarios. None of which I pray ever happen, but we do need to be prepared.

 

This weekend is the young writer’s conference at The UofA!  The speaker will be Alabama’s own Lester Laminack!  More information will be coming home this week! It is a fun experience! I hope to see many of you there! Check out the website!

 

www.lesterlaminack.com/

 

In math we are working on time and money. This always kicks us in the hiney a little because both are somewhat abstract to children. I am sending the packet home today for extra practice. Disregard the tab that says we have already worked on these skills. We are just beginning this week. I wanted you to have some extra stuff at home to work on. Please review this with your child!

 

There will probably be another post or two this week. I have more to tell you but cannot think of all of it right now!