In our haste to let you know of the Central Office’s plans to delay the issue date for report cards by one week, the incorrect date was accidentally listed on the memo that came home from the RQES office. Please note that the correct date is NEXT Thursday, March 31, 2011. Sorry for any confusion!
We try to limit Grayson’s computer/TV/electronic gadget time, especially during the school year. Are you tired of toys that seem to “dumb down your child”?
Ever on the lookout for things that help make us smart, I must pass this website on to you! I got the catalog today in the mail and since I was in dire need of a coke while the kiddos were at PE, I had a little time to investigate….and I am impressed!
Go to www.mindware.com “Brainy toys for kids of all ages”
One of my former students, Sloane, gave me the game Bananagrams (in the catalog it is on page 63) for Christmas a few years ago and I am addicted. It can also be purchased at Barnes and Noble, Target, etc….I can’t wait to purchase “imaginets” for our class!
Anyway, check it out! Build their brains this summer! Most of the toys use good old imagination!
Happy Shopping….Alicia (who does not get any financial compensation from Mindware) Just sharing a good thing……..’cause it’s my job to help you help your children
Having all my little peeps right back in room 221! Whew! We’ve had some tales to tell about Spring Break. We wrote all about it too. With real sentences….complete with capital letters and periods at the end of the sentences. We posted our writing in the hallway, so sneak a peek when you are down the first grade hall.
And then……know what we did next? We got rid of our little first semester journals with the place for the picture and we got REAL journals. With all lined paper. In folders. Like BIG kids use…..’cause you know why? We ARE big kids! In a mere 48 more school days we will be in 2nd grade! Know what we did with our new big kid journals? We wrote at least 4 sentences and practiced sticking to the same topic. Today, I gave them a topic….”I don’t like….” and they wrote, and wrote and wrote all about something that they did not like……and the stories were FABULOUS! Everyone stuck to the point. Everyone read out loud. Everyone practiced respectful audience behavior. They asked great questions that helped the reader know where they should add more detail to their stories. I am a happy teacher……
Homework for you, Bear Class Parents: Get a notebook or a folder full of paper and have your child practice writing something each day. Put the date at the top and practice sticking to the point. Write at least 4-5 sentences on whatever is the topic of the day. Write more if needed. I always tell them to “write until they tell the whole story”. It may be 4 sentences. It may be 10. I do not want them to get stuck on the number of sentences. That just teaches them to stifle their creativity. This is fantastic practice for the writing portion of the SAT that these little people will be taking before you know it!
And! This just in….! Ms. Pilsch literally just brought our new Promethean Wand! Whoo hoo! No more standing in chairs! No more jump-and-touch! We will finally be able to reach the top of the board every time! I am a happy teacher……
This week is testing for grades 3-5. Our schedule will be wonky. I’ll let you know what is going on and when it will be happening. Best advice…..not a good week to come eat lunch with your Bear. No telling when we will eat or when we will be in PE. Same goes for next week. Our only job is to work quietly and walk softly in the hallways. No problem for us.
Some stuff we need to finish out the year (if you are so inclined….)
Kleenex tissues. We are out.
Treasure box items. We are low. Clean out your car, spring clean the playroom, etc…
Clorox wipes, lysol wipes, generic wipes of any kind. We have 1 box of 72 left and we will need at least 10 more BIG tubs to get us through the end of the year. We clean our spot at our table everyday, so we use at least 20 wipes per day. 20 people x 48 school days = lots of wipes! 🙂 Thank you so much!
Alicia (who was happy to return to school……for the most part……)
I cannot wait to see you on Monday and hear about all of your exciting escapedes during Spring Break! We will all get new journals on Monday, and since we are sooooo close to being 2nd graders, we are all going to begin writing like 2nd graders! It will be fantastic! I’ll show you how!
I know you all love tumblebooks, but it is a paid subscription only site (Rock Quarry will soon have the subscription and I will give you a password then!) 🙂 For now, have your parents go to
and set up an account. It says it costs $99……….however – do not fear! I have a FREE one year code for you to enjoy. After entering your email address, choosing a password, etc…. enter this code learntoread
That should work for you! Happy reading! See you in 48 hours or so……..Mrs. Jenne’
In Math we are working on telling time to the hour, the half hour, and in 5 minute increments. We have been doing this during calendar time for the past 128 days, however, when faced with doing it on paper…..the little people freak out. Please go to the dollar store and get a clock with hands (we call this an analog clock, cause we are all precise like that) and help your Bear tell time with it. Learning to telltime is much like learning a foregin language to little people. Think about it….we just last year taught them what the number names are and how much they are worth. Now, we are asking them to look at the #3 and call it 15…….makes no sense to them at all. Just work on it…..It will come. While you are at it, grab yourself a ziplock bag of coins and work on learning the names of the coins and how much they are worth. If you are going to count coins in mixed groups, I ask that you count the biggest value coins first. For example, for a quarter, a dime and a penny – we would say, 25, 35, 36 cents. We’ve been doing this for 128 days each morning too, but guess what comes next in the math book after telling time…..you guessed it! Money!
It is 4 days til Spring Break. Whoo hoo! I will be leaving for the beach at 2:49 on Friday. I may see some of you there! 🙂 I may also hide from your little people if I see them first…… ha! Just kidding….sort of….. 🙂
Please remember that we are singing at PTA on Tuesday. I have NO idea what time we will sing. We are singing “Down by the Bay” and they have been practicing in music class so they are good.to.go. Just show up if you can and we will do the rest. Ms. Nevin and I will have to scoot out of PTA to run to the UofA to give our “big girls” their midterm exam. We already delayed their class for an hour so we can be at PTA. Please don’t think us rude for not hanging out….as soon as first grade sings, we have to go to our other job. If you need me, just send a note in the Bear Binder and I’ll get right to you.
Grades 3-4 will take the SAT and ARMT tests on March 24, 25, 29-31. Our job is to work quietly and walk quietly in the hallways. We will also have a wonky short PE time on those days and our lunch will be different. Music will be different. The whole thing will be one long wacky wednesday…more on that when I know, but basically, it will be a bad time to join your kiddo for lunch during testing….because we may not eat on the same time each day. Thanks for your understanding. I will let you know as soon as things are back to normal.
We really had a blast last week Seussing it up! I hope you are enjoying the pictures. I am going to try to get back into Wordless Wednesday so you can see how cute your Bears are ….”all important in their work” each week.
Happy Monday! Alicia
Happy seeing our Seussical Celebration!
Watching your sweet children read tons of books, snuggled on their autographed Seuss pillowcases. Tummies full of green eggs and ham (pink ham, cause I just can’t serve green meat…..shudder….even if it is only food coloring……)
Pictures to follow tonight!
These little people are sweet, and delightful and on-task and sharing books, and reading to one another. You’d think that I’d taken them all to Disney….and all it took was a pj day and the promise to be able to read, read, read all day long……
Alicia (who gets paid to do this and who is going to go read a bit herself!)