tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9428388585503491382024-03-05T02:17:30.264-05:00When we learn we GROW!Miss Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227530304871365658noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942838858550349138.post-79268058068831563842011-11-20T14:04:00.001-05:002011-11-20T15:11:08.535-05:00A lot to be THANKFUL forComing close to the holiday season this year I can truly say I have a lot to be thankful for. One of the things I am most thankful for is such a rewarding job with such great students!<br />
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Over the past few weeks we have learned about North Americas first inhabitants the Native American Indians as well as European explorers, European Settlers and the Pilgrams, too. We have learned how Native Americans lived and some traditions and activities they still take part in today like making pottery and weaving. As a class we even wove our own Thanksgiving placemats. We also learned about how European Settlers traveled and how they lived once they reached this New World. Next week we will study the first Thanksgiving in depth and the reasons why we still celebrate today.<br />
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In reading we had our 2nd review week, and that means book reports! Our class' creativity really shined through as they created and presented their book reports to their classmates. Take a look at what a wonderful job they did. <br />
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After the Thanksgiving Holiday we will start our 3rd of 6 reading Units. In this next Unit students will focus their reading skills on making predictions as well as comparing and contrasting characters and settings in first grade while second grade focuses on cause and effect as well as identifying main idea and supporting details. <br />
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In math we continue to practice and learn about addition and subtraction strategies. Currently 1st graders are working on basic problem solving skills using addition and subtraction number sentences. Second graders are working on adding and subtracting 2-digit b=numbers with and without regrouping. 1st graders are gaining exposure to this 2nd grade skill which they will learn and practice at the end of the year. I ask that both 1st and 2nd graders practice their math addition and subtraction facts at home daily so that multi-step problems like 2-digit addition can be completed with ease. After the Thanksgiving Holiday we will start mad minute, a one minute timed addition and subtraction skills test. This will test students ability to complete addition and subtraction problems automatically, while committing them to memory. Students will move through mad minute at their own pace and practice skills to help them better memorize their math facts.<br />
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In Science we have studied all about how items sink and float in water and the day and night time sky. Students collected some common classroom items and some extra seasonal items to experiment on their ability to float or sink. We have also been able to explore and observe the day time sky during the school day and watch movies and look at images to explore the night time sky, too! After this exploration and the discussions that followed we created 3-D models of the day and night time sky with commonly found household and craft items. <br />
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I continue to look forward to learning and growing here in the Primary Enrichment class and Samsula and know the kids do too! Keep coming back to see more of what we learn and how we grow!<br />Miss Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227530304871365658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942838858550349138.post-85761476754602548222011-11-06T18:33:00.000-05:002011-11-06T18:38:15.315-05:00Fire safety, one big school bus, and a trip to see Junie B.What a jam-packed two weeks we have had since our last post. We have had a guest speaker, a story book parade and a field trip! Not to mention all of our regular curriculum study.<br />
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Last Thursday we had a special guest speaker come into our classroom and teach us about fire safety. Lt. Luedeke, taught us about properly using the 911 emergency system, what to do if we ever catch on fire, and how to properly get out of a structure that might be on fire. If you haven't already practiced using the 911 number for emergencies you can unplug your phones from the wall (if you still have land lines) and let your children practice just in case an emergency ever comes along. Lt. Luedeke also informed us of the proper way to stop, drop and roll making sure we stop immediately, drop down to the grounds and roll, covering our faces. It is also important to remember that as a family it is vital to have an emergency preparedness plan and a safe meeting location, out side of the house, where everyone can meet at in the event of a real emergency. I would like to take this time to again thank Lt. Luedeke for stopping by to teach us about these necessary safety skills.<br />
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Last Friday was our Annual Story Book Parade. Although the weather was not on our side our Junie B. Jones school bus proved to be more maneuverable than we had originally thought and it made its way around the cafeteria and the school just fine with a little man-power provided by the whole class. The bus and the students looked great out of their every day uniforms. If you were not able to make it check out some picture bellow. I would like to thank all of the moms who helped make this day possible through all of the hard work and preparation to create such a Simply Spectacular (S.S.) School Bus!<br />
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The Story Book Parade and our reading of "Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly School Bus" and "Junie B. Jones First Grader (at last!)" really prepared us for our first field trip of the year. The musical performance was up-beat and very entertaining! Amidst 1,000 other audience members our 1-2 enrichment class shined, showing wonderful behavior at a live show and this was not only recognized by myself and other schools but it was even recognized the next day on morning announcement by Mrs. Conrad. Way to go class!<br />
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<br />Miss Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227530304871365658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942838858550349138.post-42885171254138949342011-10-23T17:23:00.000-04:002011-10-23T17:23:13.913-04:00Story Book ParadeOur biggest news item is Samsula's Story Book Parade, that will take place this upcoming Friday the 28th. Our classroom's school bus is almost complete and we are gearing up and getting ready to represent our Junie B. Jones book. Students will be allowed to wear regular street clothing to school on Friday for our parade costumes and do not need to bring their school uniform to change into. Please make sure that student's "regular" clothing is modest in length and appropriate for the days weather. All students must wear tennis or athletic style shoes on Friday. <br />
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I would like to give a big Thank You! to the families who have participated and donated in our creation of our School Bus for the Parade. Take a glimpse at the hard work and effort paying off to make our Story Book Parade awesome!<br />
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Families and friends are welcome to come and view the Parade out back by the PE Pavillion. Festivities begin at 9:40am and then you are invited to stay and have lunch with the class. Don't forget to bring a chair or blanket to sit on! Parents are permitted to check children out for the remainder of the day after lunch.<br />
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On our regular classroom front there are many things to update you on. As a teacher I have been studying Thinking Maps for my own professional development. There are 8 Thinking Maps that correlate to the 8 different ways our brains think about and process information. As a class we have been learning and using these maps in all subject areas. I am excited to start using these maps to show what the students know and help them think critically about what they are learning. Below are some examples of thinking maps in use.<br />
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In Reading we have focused our skills on identifying the main idea of a selection and then providing the supporting details given in the text. Once the main idea is identified this allows students to better summarize what they have read and gain a deeper understanding. We also continue to retell what we have read paying particular attention to retelling the events in the correct order. We are practicing these reading skills through literary works, Thinking Maps and leveled practice cards. We continue to practice our reading in multiple ways, to self and others as well as working on phonics skills to support reading and spelling ability. In writing we are focusing on creating "how to" pieces where we identify and then describe the procedures or steps necessary to do, make or complete a task. <br />
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In math class we have spent some time learning about and reviewing our number sense and have moved into the concept of addition and have begun to practice our addition facts. I ask that each child in the class review addition flash cards for at least 5 minutes a day. This will allow for quicker recall of facts and make multi-step, and algebraic problems easier in the future. This upcoming week we will start to study subtraction and its relationship to addition and different ways we can find the answer or difference in a subtraction problem. Along with this study we are learning the touch math process for solving addition and subtraction. The touch math curriculum gives each number a pencil touch that will relate to the numerical value. This will allow students to add and subtract with a simple tap of their pencil. This same skill can be later applied to multiplication and division. There are multiple ways to solve a problem and I would like students to know a variety of ways and then choose the one that makes most sense and is easiest for them to use.<br />
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We continue to explore the World around us in Science. Recently we studied water and one way it changes its state of matter- evaporation. We conducted experiments in and outside of the classroom to see where and how evaporation happens. We also took a look at weather conditions and patterns as well as larger patterns such as seasons. Most recently we experimented and explored the force of gravity and magnets. This next week we are going to change gears and explore and study the relationships items have to water and how some items sink and other float. We will do many hands on experiments and draw conclusions from our predictions and observations to determine how this phenomena occurs. <br />
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Trick or Treating is right around the corner and in Social Studies we have been learning about needs and wants and how those needs and wants are met. As a school we are asking for our students to help kids in developing nations meet their needs by participating in Trick or Treat for Unicef. Student are provided with a donation box to carry while they are doing their regular Trick or Treating. The money they raise will go towards helping provide for the needs of other through food and clean drinking water. This is a great way to teach about the concept and get kids involved in helping others who struggle to have their needs met. We are also leaning about goods and services and where and how goods and services can be made, used or purchased. <br />
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As always I am enjoying every minute exploring, learning and growing with the students in the multi-ages enrichment class at Samsula Academy and hope you have enjoyed this little peek into our classroom. Check back again for more updates!<br />
~Miss EllisMiss Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227530304871365658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942838858550349138.post-35809687429258833152011-10-09T15:19:00.000-04:002011-10-09T15:19:12.268-04:00Week 7 was all about reviewOur 7th week of school was a big review week for our reading class. We reviewed all of our reading skills and vocabulary covered perviously in Unit 1 of our reading series. With this review week we also presented our 1st of 6 Book Reports that student will complete over the school year. We also took our 1st Unit test in 2 parts on Thursday and Friday assessing all of the skills practiced. We then learned and practiced another part of our Daily 5 skills: Read to Someone. This skill allows students to become better readers and practice their fluency and prosody (or oral reading voices) while enjoying a book with their friends. Below are images of students practicing this new skill as well as a slideshow of students sharing their book reports. <br />
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<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" bgcolor="#ffffff"><tr><td><a href="http://smilebox.com/play/4d6a63774f5467344f44593d0d0a&blogview=true&campaign=blog_playback_link" target="_blank"><img width="386" height="303" alt="Click to play this Smilebox slideshow" src="http://smilebox.com/snap/4d6a63774f5467344f44593d0d0a.jpg" style="border: medium none ;"/></a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="http://www.smilebox.com/?partner=smilebox&campaign=blog_snapshot" target="_blank"><img width="386" height="46" alt="Create your own slideshow - Powered by Smilebox" src="http://www.smilebox.com/globalImages/blogInstructions/blogLogoSmileboxSmall.gif" style="border: medium none ;"/></a></td></tr><tr><td align="center">Customize your own picture slideshow</td></tr></table><br />
Math was all about comparing numbers this past week. We used our previous chapters skill of identifying place value to help compare numbers. Students traced and cut out their own greater than and less than symbols (> and <) to help them compare and they remembered that the "aligator mouth always faces the bigger number so he will get more to eat." Along with comparing numbers we learned our first of many dice games to build and compare numbers.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDv8cHc6MRvnc8N0aL9RydeQXR_wipTHghOxLm-jvkVBBAZ4XW4AmyKHTgjXCHbX5X-9fM3InKsyDyzQst1Y6H2rfaKop3xijxEg0MimpX0T8MTKU3RIsh_9waFSeV3_OGwz-a_ON2FMkU/s1600/IMG_1317.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="240" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDv8cHc6MRvnc8N0aL9RydeQXR_wipTHghOxLm-jvkVBBAZ4XW4AmyKHTgjXCHbX5X-9fM3InKsyDyzQst1Y6H2rfaKop3xijxEg0MimpX0T8MTKU3RIsh_9waFSeV3_OGwz-a_ON2FMkU/s320/IMG_1317.JPG" /></a></div><br />
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Next week we will review comparing numbers and move into basic addition and subtraction skills.<br />
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In Social Studies we finished up our map skills and started to discuss early explorers like Marco Polo and his important exploration. This next week we will continue to learn about and study explorers such as Christopher Columbus and the early settlers of the United States of America.<br />
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I would like to give 3 cheers to all those who have helped and participated in sending soil to our classroom for our soil map. We continue to put soil up and explore the different properties of soils from all around the United States. <br />
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Our soil map will stay on display in our classroom through the end of October and then it will be transfered outside of the main office to showcase it to the entire school. In science we have also studied evaporation, weather and seasons.Miss Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227530304871365658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942838858550349138.post-82147327092938918722011-09-25T18:00:00.000-04:002011-09-25T18:00:12.927-04:00Maps, Maps and More MapsIn Social Studies this past week we started to learn about the Earth's surface and hope you have found someone who is willing to share some of their Earth with us here in Samsula. We will put up our map at the end of this week to showcase the soil from around our country. Along with the Earth's surface we will begin our study of continents, oceans, our country: its states and neighbors. We look forward to the hands on activities using our map and globe skills to explore these regions.<br />
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In science we move our focus of the Earth's surface from rocks and soils to how it changes over time. Some changes take place over long periods of time like in weathering and others happen very quickly as a result of extreme weather or natural events like Earthquakes. Below you can see some of our hands on rock experiences as we sorted and classified rocks from our area.<br />
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Students will continue their study of place value in math class from last week through this new week. We will continue to practice with manipulatives to represent numbers through the 100s and maybe even 1,000s place value. It is important to remember that when we say a number our loud it may help us to know how many ones, tens and hundreds it has. <br />
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This week we will be practicing a new and very important writing skill associated with friendly letters. We will be learning how to write and address an envelope. In your child's homework this week I ask that you practice writing your home address with the students so that as we write some letters they can be addressed and mailed home.<br />
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As always I look forward to a new week of learning and growing and hope you do, too!Miss Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227530304871365658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942838858550349138.post-40287120861648543362011-09-18T16:00:00.000-04:002011-09-18T16:00:44.521-04:00Patterns all around!Our 4th week of school was a very successful one! We learned and practiced may skills.<br />
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In math class we practiced identifying pattern units and even made some patterns of our own. We also found mistakes in patterns and corrected them and extended them. Here are some examples of patterns made by students in our class this year.<br />
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Over the next two weeks we will explore numerals, place values, and different ways we can represet numbers. We will use base ten block and unifix cubes to practice these concepts.<br />
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In social studies we have finished up our unit on communities and different areas such as urban, rural and suburban. We explored common features of these types of communities and used our imaginations to pretend what it would be like to live in the communities we do not currently live in. <br />
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Science class brought us a lot of inquiry. We focused this week on the most important science question: "How do you know?" We created a list of questions about the items we could observe in our classroom and then narrowed those down to a list of 3 that we explored. We hypothesized, observed and drew conclusions to these questions through measurement and recording of data in our science journal.<br />
Take a look at some of our inquiries below:<br />
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Next week we will start our combined study of the Earth's surface in both Science and Social Studies. As a fun and very scientific way to study the Earth's surface I ask that each family send a zip top bag to a friend or family member that does not live in the Volusia County area and have them mail the bag with a few scoops of the soil they have in their yard. We will use these samples to explore texture and content. <br />
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Comprehension is key in reading class and we continue to practice our reading daily. This next week we will practice our reading skills of plot development, characters and setting, as well as summarizing and identifying main ideas and details. These skills help students better understand what they are reading and allow for greater comprehension. We will also practice phonics skills centered around words with short /o/ and long /o/ following the o-e pattern found in words like mop and mope respectively in 2nd grade while 1st graders will focus on short /a/ and /i/ words such as cat and hit respectively.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1W3YAa-sZCVFfzqCSC0EZhymCuCxveGc4J6G1ZCIrMHJRfnf9aR9PaPtdD6No9HAZJF0bhPGpPZ4g-xAazjT-9UoHePbYLwU1A4dG97RezLWaQ4hhwTCUy6dOJ0R-t23s3K_058tuAp1F/s1600/IMG_1235.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="240" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1W3YAa-sZCVFfzqCSC0EZhymCuCxveGc4J6G1ZCIrMHJRfnf9aR9PaPtdD6No9HAZJF0bhPGpPZ4g-xAazjT-9UoHePbYLwU1A4dG97RezLWaQ4hhwTCUy6dOJ0R-t23s3K_058tuAp1F/s320/IMG_1235.JPG" /></a></div>Miss Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227530304871365658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942838858550349138.post-51807828569622349162011-09-11T12:08:00.001-04:002011-09-18T16:06:53.007-04:00Special, Special, Special!Our community, school and classroom are full of special people and I am so pleased with the turn out we had this past Friday to celebrate all the special people in our lives.<br />
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This past week we finished our second week of reading skill study and move to our 3rd week. First graders will continue to practice their reading skill of retelling events in the right order. Their phonics practice will center around words with the short /i/ sound heard in the word "kid." Second graders will learn and practice the reading skill of summarizing what they have read and identifying main ideas and details. Second grade phonics practice will center on words with the long /a`/ sound and a_e spelling patterns found in words like "made." <br />
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In math class we will assess our knowledge of spatial sense and begin our study of patterns. We will look at the basic structures of patterns, and how to extend a pattern.<br />
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This past week in science we had the opportunity to use our process skills to investigate the world around us. We took time to go on a nature walk and practice our observation skills. This upcoming week we will continue to practice our scientific skills and begin to use inquiry skills. We will come up with our own questions about the world around us and create experiments to find out more about the world around us and possible answers to our questions.<br />
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In social studies we started our unit on the USA, its common symbols and recognizable monuments. This week we will continue to review these symbols and move into the study of of communities such as cities, rural areas and larger communities such as states and countries.<br />
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Below are some images from our Special Persona Day. Enjoy!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCUObNv9oV4yOPUAo1pNSiC7MBHD3f9HrBJLV3q0r5l8B9ub-XVJDC1MjN1yAfqYD0NUTm7ymkGSf_eb0IQKzShbnznoPTbCHIqnjGQRQWQJGTy3xk-Tbir0cXB_33KSFMCwwnKu5E7U1T/s1600/IMG_1207.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="240" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCUObNv9oV4yOPUAo1pNSiC7MBHD3f9HrBJLV3q0r5l8B9ub-XVJDC1MjN1yAfqYD0NUTm7ymkGSf_eb0IQKzShbnznoPTbCHIqnjGQRQWQJGTy3xk-Tbir0cXB_33KSFMCwwnKu5E7U1T/s320/IMG_1207.JPG" /></a></div>Miss Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227530304871365658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942838858550349138.post-25320145569582749952011-09-11T09:39:00.000-04:002011-09-11T09:39:40.934-04:00I remember...Dear Families,<br />
If you are like me, you can probably remember exactly where you were and what you were doing ten years ago when you heard the disturbing news of what happened on 9/11. Despite the tragedy that day was for our country, in tribute this year on the 10th anniversary I would like our class to participate in the 9/11 Day of Service.<br />
This September 11th, please join millions of others who are taking the time to adopt a charity, volunteer, donate, or engage in other charitable service work to help those most in need. It’s completely up to you to decide whom you’ll support and what you’ll do. This can be a great way to help your child learn at a young age that serving others is much more important that only serving ourselves.<br />
Here are three simple ways to get involved:<br />
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1. Visit 911day.org and adopt a cause or charity for the day, or post a good deed that your family or child plans to perform in observance of 9/11.<br />
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2. Create a volunteer or charity service project with your family. There are literally thousands of things you can all do together, and a service project is a great way to teach your children about the importance of setting aside time to help others in your community. You can:<br />
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✩ Clean up a neighborhood playground, beach, or park<br />
✩ Volunteer at an animal shelter<br />
✩ Donate books and toys to a shelter<br />
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✩ Create homemade gifts for the residents at a retirement home<br />
✩ Collect sports equipment donations for a youth group<br />
✩ Volunteer at a food pantry <br />
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3. Contact local community organizations, schools, and faith-based groups to see if they have any service plans for 9/11. Then you and your family can volunteer to help.<br />
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On Monday, I would love for the students to share what type of service they did with the class. You may even want to make a poster or take pictures that your child can show the other students. I can’t wait to hear the creative ideas your families come up with. We would also like for all the students to show their patriotism on Monday by wearing red, white, and blue shirts to school.<br />
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If you are unsure how to talk to your child about the events of September 11th there is a wonderful video available at http://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/ushistory/september11th/ that talks about the events of that day in a way that is appropriate for children. Many of the children know that this day is important in our history but don’t understand why, and this video is a great way to teach them about the events of 9/11 nonthreatening way. I hope we can come together as a class to help rekindle the spirit of service and unity shared by so many of us immediately following 9/11.<br />
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Sincerely,<br />
Miss EllisMiss Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227530304871365658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942838858550349138.post-7870766580559891942011-09-03T12:41:00.000-04:002011-09-03T12:41:07.274-04:00Special Persons DayNext Friday the 9th of September we will have our anual Special Persons Day. Each child is aloud to invite a special person or two into the classroom to take part in some small activities and book reading. This will take place close to our classroom lunch time and our guests are invited to stay for lunch as well. With all of the extra people staying for lunch our lunch times will be extended so that everyone can get through the line and have time to eat. Due to the changes in lunch times for the school I anticipate that I will have an exact time that the festivities will start in the classroom on Tuesday. I will post that time here on the blog as well as send it home in your child's yellow School-Home Folders. We look forward to having all our the special people in our lives share this time with us at school. Miss Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227530304871365658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942838858550349138.post-22206931606577694412011-09-03T12:34:00.001-04:002011-09-03T13:03:36.794-04:00Common SenseI am very pleased with how well week 2 went! <br />
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We finished our first reading unit where we studied plot structure: beginning, middle, and end, as well as characters and settings within the stories we read. First graders practiced their phonics skills with words that all had the short /a/ sound that you hear in the word man. Second graders practiced short /a/ and /i/ found in words like hit and bat. We also focused on becoming better readers by reading to ourselves and listening to books on CD every day. Next week we will continue our reading study, practicing the skill of retelling events in order.<br />
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In math we used hands on manipulatives to deepen our understanding of plane shapes and 3-D solid figures. Students also practiced paper pencil skills to show knowledge of shape names, vertices (points), angles, faces and edges. Next week we will review shapes and move into a study of spatial sense.<br />
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We all use our 5 senses every single day to observe the world around us. In science class we spent time exploring our sense of sight using scientific tools like hand-lenses and microscopes to increase our ability to see. We used cup-telephones, whisper-phones and head-phones to explore our sense of hearing. At the end of the week we all took part in a smell experiment to see which liquid we might prefer to drink. All the while we used our Science Journal to record what we learned in class. Next week we will finish up our study of the 5 senses with a look into our sense of touch and tase. <br />
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In social studies we learned about communities, cultures, families and traditions. We discussed the thing we do in our families and communities over and over again as well as some other cultural aspects like food and holidays we celebrate due to the vast varieties of cultures we have in the United States. Next week we will look more carefully at our Nation and some of the Symbols that represent our country.<br />
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As a final note I would like to share that at our Health Screening on Tuesday our 1-2 Enrichment class was told we were the most well behaved class that participated. Due to this achievement Mrs. Conrad gave each student and myself a Panther Paw. With this and other times we were caught doing what was right by other staff members we earned 22 Panther Paws total in the first two week. I am so proud of the good behavior demonstrated thus far! <br />
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Miss Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227530304871365658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942838858550349138.post-76783805442561387242011-08-30T12:07:00.002-04:002011-08-30T12:12:33.845-04:00A New Year and A New Class!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI5GCkGyvst9-UsYED6lGwxHWQUFXo6BWa9peI0vWhZz7mhC3A6sFYHFRKtcE7-FYE_4u9dAHIDfpleaYDMJuqjFGd9jHczBJofZIysaGpYlEIAQ-qC0Kv0f6zpMzKA35huzcXWh94AheD/s1600/2011-12+photo.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI5GCkGyvst9-UsYED6lGwxHWQUFXo6BWa9peI0vWhZz7mhC3A6sFYHFRKtcE7-FYE_4u9dAHIDfpleaYDMJuqjFGd9jHczBJofZIysaGpYlEIAQ-qC0Kv0f6zpMzKA35huzcXWh94AheD/s320/2011-12+photo.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5646682467540692722" /></a>
<br />Welcome to the 2011-2012 school year!
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<br />We are excited for a new year of learning and growing in our brand-new 1-2 Enrichment class. The first week of school we focused on learning the rules and procedures of the classroom as well as some review of last years curriculum. This week we are gearing up and starting our in-depth curriculum studies for the year.
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<br />Come back often to see more of what we are doing in our class!
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<br /> Miss Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227530304871365658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942838858550349138.post-23632500649102765552011-04-27T17:51:00.003-04:002011-04-27T18:04:48.875-04:00Earth Day UpdateWhat a fun few weeks! In science and social studies we have learned about our Earth's surface, how it changes and then moved into what natural resources Mother Earth provides for us. We learned about renewable and non-renewable resources, fossile fules and about the 3 R's: reduce, reuse and recycle. In class student's collaborated together in small groups to come up with ideas and ways to conserve resources and energy both at home and at school and then presented their ideas to their classmates. To culminate this unit students and their families worked together to create their own recycling project. They were aloud to use any thing that they would regularly throw away and create something brand new. Creativity and imaginations ran wild with projects that ranged from collage art to musical instruments, clothing and accessories to bird feeders and robots. <br /><br /><div><embed src="http://www.imageloop.com/swf/looopSlider2.swf" flashvars="id=48007378-89ad-1b16-98b5-12313b0301a1&c=01,01,02,01" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" scale="noscale" salign="l" wmode="transparent" allowScriptAccess="always" width="400" height="325" style="width:400px;height:325px;"/><div lang="en" xml:lang="en" style="width:400px;padding-top:3px;"><a href="http://www.imageloop.com/setuplooop.htm" target="_blank"><img alt="Your pictures and fotos in a slideshow on MySpace, eBay, Facebook or your website!" src="http://st.imageloop.com/_img/bt_myo_new.gif" style="border:none;display:inline"/></a><a href="http://slideshow-14.chrisanne.imageloop.com" target="_blank"><img alt="view all pictures of this slideshow" src="http://st.imageloop.com/_img/bt_vap_new.gif" style="border:none;display:inline;vertical-align:top;"/></a></div></div>Miss Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227530304871365658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942838858550349138.post-77496521097213177312011-04-06T18:07:00.002-04:002011-04-06T18:20:20.305-04:00This is how we communicate!Over the past few weeks we have done many things.<br />
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In Social Studies this past week we learned all about how we can communicate. "Lots of years ago people couldn't have telephones so they could write a letter." said CL. "A long time ago people used smoke signals." said SZ. "A long time ago when people didn't know how to talk they used sign language." said MS. People who are unable to use their voices and talk now a days still use sign language. KJS reminded all of us that people who do not have enough time to write and send a letter can type an email. Our class even learned about how to communicate with a blog and as you can see, they helped to write this blog post.<br />
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In math class both Kindergarten and 1st grade finished learning about probability. MH said, "In math class we put X's next to things that were certain or impossible." "We spun the spinner." said CL. We also found out when events were more likely or less likely to happen. After we finished our probability chapter our 1st grade students started their very last 1st grade chapter on adding and subtracting using 2-digit numbers. Kindergarten started their in-depth unit on adding and subtracting 1-digit numbers.<br />
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This past week in Reading we focused our study around inventions. Our reading skills were questioning and identifying cause and effect. We continue to use questioning strategies as we read and are practicing how we can take what the author tells us and what we already know to make an inference. <br />
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</div><div>In science we finished a plant unit where we explored plant life around our school and cultivated it in our classroom. We took a school yard plant walk where we collected different leafs and then made leaf rubbings and compared the shape, size and texture of leafs. We also took a non-living scoring pad added some grass seed on top and watered to create our own four-leaf-clover patched size of grass. Our plant study ended by learning all about the different parts of the plant and their function. Currently in science we are studying our Earth's surface and the changes that take place on the surface. Here is a free <a href="http://www.brainpopjr.com/science/land/fastlandchanges/">brainpopjr</a> that tells about quick changes that you may want to check out. <br />
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</div>Miss Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227530304871365658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942838858550349138.post-69368635226786045482011-03-06T12:51:00.003-05:002011-03-07T19:15:57.039-05:00Getting Ready to TravelI would like to start out with a reminder that Samsula's Spring Break will begin for Students at the end of the school day Thursday. Friday is a Teacher Work Day. I hope everyone will enjoy their breaks and return rested and ready to learn!<div><br /></div><div>In Social Studies we are going to learn about all of the different means of travel we have today. As well as the evolution travel has made over time. Today is a fast paced world and we travel quickly, too. This week students will compare and contrast early travel to the travel of today.</div><div><br /></div><div>In Mathematics on Friday we began to look at the concepts of factions -- breaking a whole into equal parts. Over this next week we will spend time with both Kindergarten and 1st grade learning about halves (1/2 one out of 2), quarters (1/4 one out of four) and thirds (1/3 one out of three). This is going to be a fun concept with a lot of hands-on activities as well as paper and pencil to reinforce.</div><div><br /></div><div>The time has arrived! Next week our Kindergarten students will begin studying the 1st grade unit 1 reading curriculum. Kindergarten will be reading <i>Pam and Sam</i> in class and will use this story to build upon their knowledge of characters and setting. We will still continue our short /i/ word family study. First grade is moving on up through the curriculum as well and has received their last reading anthology book that will take us through the last two units. This next week 1st graders will be reading <i>Olivia</i> in class. As we read this story and others we will learn about fantasy and reality. 1st grade's phonics and spelling is based on the long /o/ sound spelled o, oa, ow. Spelling words related to phonics are: boat, coat, go, low, now and row. High frequency words to know are: mother, father, try, always, love, firm and supposed.</div><div><br /></div><div>In Language Arts we will continue our Writer's Workshop and have more mini-lessons on this month's writing theme -- poetry. Last week we were introduced to the idea of writing poetry and learned about many types of poems. We practiced writing acrostic poems. This week we will take a better look at "shape" or concrete poems. Below is a Kindergarten example of presenting writing during our bi-monthly Author's Day. <br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyIMaSRJbhl5lEq5nR70PcyIbNMvjnN-hg3Eeyz_QhgBmy_yGFXhIRIByWwS0_C7IRxfBgAqW5AwA9myjFagg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Miss Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227530304871365658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942838858550349138.post-811388515373536562011-02-28T19:49:00.002-05:002011-02-28T20:25:44.300-05:00Awesome Achievers!I am so proud of our awesome achievers in the classroom!<div><br /></div><div>Over the past few weeks Kindergarten has been making the transition into First Grade curriculum and assessments. Currently Kindergarten is completing math work on the first grade level as well as completing the accompanying assessments. Next week our 6 Kindergarten students will start the first grade reading curriculum as well as continuing their work with weekly word families and sight words. </div><div><br /></div><div>Our First graders are also achieving above and beyond. Over the month of March 1st grade will finish their math curriculum and then move into the second grade curriculum focusing on an in-depth study of addition and subtraction with regrouping.</div><div><br /></div><div>Currently in math both grade levels are studying time. We just finished our clock reading unit and will move into calendar time and elapsed time this week. Students will learn that the calendar reminds us of specific dates while is also keeps track of much larger units of time like a week, month and year.</div><div><br /></div><div>Science is extra exciting with a hands-on experiment planned for this Wednesday. We are studying living and non-living objects and their characteristics. We have made lists of objects predicting if they are living or non living. We will discuss the most common characteristics of living things and their non-living counterparts. In our upcoming experiment we will look at the relationship between some living and nonliving items and conclude this unit on Friday.</div><div><br /></div><div>Our new and improved literacy program is having more success than I could have ever thought possible. Recently I had a student who, at the beginning of the year, did not seem to find joy in writing ask me, "Can we have writing again this afternoon?" He went on to confess that writing was now his favorite subject. Below is a slide show of what our Writer's Workshop looks like. </div><div><br /></div><div><div><embed src="http://www.imageloop.com/swf/looopSlider2.swf" flashvars="id=8c06ad43-e160-19e2-a242-12313b0301a1&c=01,01,02,01" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" scale="noscale" salign="l" wmode="transparent" allowscriptaccess="always" width="600" height="485" style="width:600px;height:485px;"></embed><div lang="en" lang="en" style="width:600px;padding-top:3px;"><a href="http://www.imageloop.com/setuplooop.htm" target="_blank"><img alt="Your pictures and fotos in a slideshow on MySpace, eBay, Facebook or your website!" src="http://st.imageloop.com/_img/bt_myo_new.gif" style="border:none;display:inline" /></a><a href="http://slideshow-12.chrisanne.imageloop.com" target="_blank"><img alt="view all pictures of this slideshow" src="http://st.imageloop.com/_img/bt_vap_new.gif" style="border:none;display:inline;vertical-align:top;" /></a></div></div> </div><div><br /></div><div>Students are using their own creativity and personal experiences to express themselves and what they know through writing. The children choose their own topics to write about as well as their genre. I suport this process through mini-lessons and teacher conferences with students daily. After they publish their works they have the opportunity, twice each month, to present their works and share them with a real audience, our class, just like any other published author would do.</div><div><br /></div><div>In reading our modified Daily 5 is really increasing student choice and some fun hands on activities. Just this week we are adding a new word work into the mix where students practice their spelling words and typing skills on the computer. First graders are using Microsoft Word to type their spelling words as well as using magnetic letters, pipe cleaners, and molding dough to build and practice phonics. I have also seen an increase in independent reading stamina, the length and focus given to reading a particular book. Comprehension has increased through this personalized reading and skills lessons taught weekly. </div><div><br /></div><div>I am so incredibly proud of all of the students in the classroom and the achievements they are making daily. I am excited to see them continue to grow and learn through the last 12 weeks of school and prepare them with the solid foundation necessary for their next grade level.</div><div><br /></div><div>Miss Ellis</div><div>K-1</div><div><br /></div><div>P.S.</div><div>Here is a look into some of the fun 100th day counting activities that took place during my Odyssey Hiatus.</div><div><br /></div><div><div><embed src="http://www.imageloop.com/swf/looopSlider2.swf" flashvars="id=7add4602-660c-1a56-a094-12313b0301a1&c=01,01,02,01" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" scale="noscale" salign="l" wmode="transparent" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="325" style="width:400px;height:325px;"></embed><div lang="en" lang="en" style="width:400px;padding-top:3px;"><a href="http://www.imageloop.com/setuplooop.htm" target="_blank"><img alt="Your pictures and fotos in a slideshow on MySpace, eBay, Facebook or your website!" src="http://st.imageloop.com/_img/bt_myo_new.gif" style="border:none;display:inline" /></a><a href="http://slideshow-11.chrisanne.imageloop.com" target="_blank"><img alt="view all pictures of this slideshow" src="http://st.imageloop.com/_img/bt_vap_new.gif" style="border:none;display:inline;vertical-align:top;" /></a></div></div></div>Miss Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227530304871365658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942838858550349138.post-55091471890599271142011-02-26T13:06:00.003-05:002011-02-26T13:35:30.236-05:00The Odyssey Hiatus is Complete<div>My blog updating hiatus is over! This past month I finished up my after school Odyssey of the Mind club when we took part in the Magic Center Regional Competition. Odyssey of the Mind is a wonderful hands-on program that is gauged to increase problem solving and creative, critical thinking. Students participate in solving longterm and spontaneous problems. This program allows participants the opportunity to think outside of the box and use personal expertise and expression while learning life long problem solving skills. </div><div><br /></div><div>Currently Samsula does not have a team for students grades K-2 and we would like to make this happen in the future. Anyone can coach, even parents! If you want to know more or are interested in Odyssey, check out their <a href="http://www.odysseyofthemind.com/">website</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>I would like to take this time to congratulate my team on their 3rd place achievement at the Regional Magic Center Competition held in Orlando, Fl. Way to go team!</div><div><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9mGq9qWKx4PdXjn0amGlsbeYvsp4-u1mbOjcFpvMn1SNNO9oZ36q-9e6-O9U6nAxaHGtOSDhR7lFf8XIHdsU0YuhiG6tGL9EIT9okjvh-VCJM1i3D8cVg8_JodkflMJzPn2WkPQJbwFSk/s1600/IMG_5447.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9mGq9qWKx4PdXjn0amGlsbeYvsp4-u1mbOjcFpvMn1SNNO9oZ36q-9e6-O9U6nAxaHGtOSDhR7lFf8XIHdsU0YuhiG6tGL9EIT9okjvh-VCJM1i3D8cVg8_JodkflMJzPn2WkPQJbwFSk/s320/IMG_5447.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578064513474893074" /></a><div><br /></div><div> </div>Miss Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227530304871365658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942838858550349138.post-56425605260651743552011-01-18T17:50:00.005-05:002011-01-18T19:34:19.846-05:00Field Study and Exploring Personal ChoicesWhat a great week we had! We prepared for our field trip to the Barberville Pioneer Art Settlement, spending some time learning about the early American and Pioneer life style only to get to experience it first hand. It was a fun learning day where the students participated in hands on activities such as candle making, butter making, spinning, weaving, farming and word working. Below is a look into the past where our class participated in all of these things on our wonderful field study!<div><br /></div><div><div><embed src="http://www.imageloop.com/swf/looopSlider2.swf" flashvars="id=8fc5575a-af3e-1b88-86e4-12313b0301a1&c=01,01,02,01" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" scale="noscale" salign="l" wmode="transparent" allowscriptaccess="always" width="600" height="485" style="width:600px;height:485px;"></embed><div lang="en" style="width:600px;padding-top:3px;"><a href="http://www.imageloop.com/setuplooop.htm" target="_blank"><img alt="Your pictures and fotos in a slideshow on MySpace, eBay, Facebook or your website!" src="http://st.imageloop.com/_img/bt_myo_new.gif" style="border:none;display:inline" /></a><a href="http://slideshow-10.chrisanne.imageloop.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="view all pictures of this slideshow" src="http://st.imageloop.com/_img/bt_vap_new.gif" style="border:none;display:inline;vertical-align:top;" /></a></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div> I would like to take this time to thank all of the wonderful parents who participated in this field trip and made it possible.</div><div><br /></div><div>In other news a congratulations are in order for our Kindergarten students. This past week we studied our very first word family, the -an family, and took our very first spelling test. None of the words were sent home to study, but were covered in class and every single one of the students showed mastery of reading, writing and spelling the words chosen from that word family. This week we will be working with the -ap family found in words such as map and tap. </div><div><br /></div><div>Since this is a week 6 review week in our reading curriculum I have decided to use this week to implement some new teaching practices that allow for more creativity and enhanced meaningful and personal student achievement in literacy. Today was our first day starting a Writer's Workshop. Within the Writer's Workshop you can expect your child to think of and write about their own ideas and in the formats that they prefer. The students will learn about the full writing process from brainstorming through drafting, peer conferencing, teacher conferencing and creating a final writing piece. All of this writing will be supported by mini-lessons on different genre writing and an emphasis on grammar and techniques. </div><div><br /></div><div>As a counterpart to writing I will also be implementing some of the techniques of the Daily 5 in our reading class. The daily 5 focuses literacy instruction through 5 components in the classroom. Those components are 1. reading to self, 2. reading to someone, 3. listening to reading, 4. working on writing (writers workshop), and 5. spelling/word work. All of these essential literacy components will be worked on each day along with specific skill instruction from myself. As the students and myself become more comfortable with the new approach to teaching and learning literacy the students will be able to explore self directed learning by choosing reading books and reading "best-fit" books and also creating and working towards meeting their own reading goals. </div><div><br /></div><div>In mathematics Kindergarten has finished their number study, reading, writing and counting orally to 100. This week we begin our unit on measurement which will be followed by time and money. This week we will focus on specific concepts such as length, weight and capacity. In first grade we continue to practice our addition and subtraction facts daily and are now working with larger numbers and therefore larger sums and differences. </div><div><br /></div><div>In science we will be reviewing movement and studying more in-depth how movement can be affected, increased, changed and stopped.</div><div><br /></div><div>As always I am looking forward to another great week here at Samsula Academy!</div><div>Miss Ellis </div>Miss Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227530304871365658noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942838858550349138.post-68612266956554505652011-01-04T06:47:00.003-05:002011-01-04T07:35:47.197-05:00A New Year and a New WeekHappy New Years to all and welcome back!<div><br /></div><div>Now that we are all back from our winter vacations we are jumping right back into the thick of it and are hitting the ground full seed. In first grade math this week we are furthering our understanding of addition and subtraction. We are adding more than 2 numbers and using multiple methods to solve mathematical problems. In Kindergarten we are reviewing number 0-90 and will be working our way up to 100 by the end of the week.</div><div><br /></div><div>This week our reading unit focuses on families and we are reading a play called <i>Smile, Mike!</i> in reading class. We are focusing on generating questions to ensure understanding while reading. Our comprehension skill for the week is making predictions and confirming them. First grade spelling is on long /i/ words spelled i-e. Spelling words for the week are: <b>bike, hide, like, mine, ride, </b>and <b>spike.</b> Spelling words can also include previously learned spelling words and high frequency words. First grade high frequency words to know are: <b>how, there, so, more, funny, </b>and <b>call. </b>Kindergarten is currently reviewing short vowel sounds this week in reading. Kindergarten sight words for the week are: <b>ride, saw, say, she, </b>and <b>so.</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>In social studies we are preparing for our first field trip to the <a href="http://www.pioneersettlement.org/">Barberville Pioneer Arts Settlement</a> on Thursday January the 13th, 2011. We are learning about the life style of Pioneers and how that life style is similar and different to our own today. We are very excited for this trip and I remind you that field trip permission forms and money are due the beginning of next week.</div><div><br /></div><div>As always I am looking forward to another fun week of learning with your children!</div><div>Miss Ellis </div>Miss Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227530304871365658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942838858550349138.post-11282615809081019842010-12-31T11:20:00.002-05:002011-01-02T15:36:03.164-05:00Happy HolidaysAs the Holiday Season is coming to a close I have compiled a few pictures to show some of the fun Holiday activities our class took part in during December. Just to mention a few we weaved Kwanzaa placemats, made our own Christmas wreaths and had fun opening up our Holiday gifts at our party. <div><br /></div><div><div><embed src="http://www.imageloop.com/swf/looopSlider2.swf" flashvars="id=dea25694-a262-1ebc-945b-12313b030221&c=01,01,02,01" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" scale="noscale" salign="l" wmode="transparent" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="325" style="width:400px;height:325px;"></embed><div lang="en" style="width:400px;padding-top:3px;"><a href="http://www.imageloop.com/setuplooop.htm" target="_blank"><img alt="Your pictures and fotos in a slideshow on MySpace, eBay, Facebook or your website!" src="http://st.imageloop.com/_img/bt_myo_new.gif" style="border:none;display:inline" /></a><a href="http://slideshow-8.chrisanne.imageloop.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="view all pictures of this slideshow" src="http://st.imageloop.com/_img/bt_vap_new.gif" style="border:none;display:inline;vertical-align:top;" /></a></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div>I have also included some span shots from my own winter vacation. Enjoy!</div><div><br /></div><div><div><embed src="http://www.imageloop.com/swf/looopSlider2.swf" flashvars="id=77298f90-a651-1cf6-87e5-12313b030221&c=01,01,02,01" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" scale="noscale" salign="l" wmode="transparent" allowscriptaccess="always" width="425" height="300" style="width:425px;height:300px;"></embed><div lang="en" lang="en" style="width:425px;padding-top:3px;"><a href="http://www.imageloop.com/setuplooop.htm" target="_blank"><img alt="Your pictures and fotos in a slideshow on MySpace, eBay, Facebook or your website!" src="http://st.imageloop.com/_img/bt_myo_new.gif" style="border:none;display:inline" /></a><a href="http://slideshow-9.chrisanne.imageloop.com" target="_blank"><img alt="view all pictures of this slideshow" src="http://st.imageloop.com/_img/bt_vap_new.gif" style="border:none;display:inline;vertical-align:top;" /></a></div></div></div>Miss Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227530304871365658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942838858550349138.post-76707919951398882992010-11-30T06:49:00.003-05:002010-12-05T19:00:10.628-05:00Here Comes December!Another holiday down and a new month just around the corner. There are only 3 weeks of school left before our winter break and we have a whole lot of fun things to get done.<div><br /></div><div>In Math first graders are now starting their unit on measuring. This week we will be focusing on length. We will measure with nonstandard units such as paper clips and blocks as well as standard inches and centimeters. We will uses these measurements to compare lengths identifying which objects are longest and shortest. In Kindergarten we are continuing to progress through our number identification and writing and hope to reach 100 before the winter break. We will also be measuring some objects with nonstandard units.</div><div><br /></div><div>This weeks science concept is: Change in Matter. This concept lends itself to a lot of fun activities such as paper folding and clay modeling. We will learn how you can start with one thing (or medium) and manipulate it to create something brand new. We will compare and contrast what we started with and what we were able to create.</div><div><br /></div><div>In Reading we will continue our compare contrast theme with that being our main focus skill for the week while we continue to practice retelling. Students will be reading <i>Kids Can Help</i>. In this book a boy and a girl each help their parents cook. We will compare and contrast the two characters to see how they are alike and different. First graders will focus their phonics and spelling on words with s-blends. The spelling words for the week are: <b>sled, slip, snap, spill, spin, make, game, people, </b>and <b>water.</b> High frequency words are: <b>girl, boy, together, when, people, care, </b>and <b>water.</b> Kindergarten is still reviewing all of the letters, their names and sounds and we are adding to our sight word reading. This week Kindergarten sight words are: <b>must, new, no, now,</b> and <b>on.</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><br /></div>Miss Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227530304871365658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942838858550349138.post-76873615577341312612010-11-29T08:57:00.004-05:002010-11-29T09:15:43.046-05:00There is a lot to be thankful for...I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving holiday and had time to spend with family and friends. Here is a look at some of the fun Thanksgiving related things we did over our 2 days last week.<div><br /></div><div><div><embed src="http://www.imageloop.com/swf/looopSlider2.swf" flashvars="id=361dde98-ed25-15e5-89bf-12313b030221&c=01,01,02,01" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" scale="noscale" salign="l" wmode="transparent" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="325" style="width:400px;height:325px;"></embed><div lang="en" style="width:400px;padding-top:3px;"><a href="http://www.imageloop.com/setuplooop.htm" target="_blank"><img alt="Your pictures and fotos in a slideshow on MySpace, eBay, Facebook or your website!" src="http://st.imageloop.com/_img/bt_myo_new.gif" style="border:none;display:inline" /></a><a href="http://slideshow-7.chrisanne.imageloop.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="view all pictures of this slideshow" src="http://st.imageloop.com/_img/bt_vap_new.gif" style="border:none;display:inline;vertical-align:top;" /></a></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div>A thank you is given to Hailey's Grandmother for making our class some Thanksgiving treats. We took that idea and made it our own taking some fun snacks and turning them into turkeys. We also used some pinecones to make our own thankful turkeys.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwJCfDe4RLHSzJPmc0yhOtJcawloOV3-pv2WXdGgNqIa-_wC4y50ERpiOoPMBR8mFCRbjyC6BWr8nJ_km-2FA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><div><br /></div><div>We learned a Thanksgiving song, "Tommy Turkey" and loved to turkey around when we got the chance!</div>Miss Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227530304871365658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942838858550349138.post-81341139033335387162010-11-16T16:41:00.003-05:002010-12-01T16:43:30.813-05:00Friends are Great!Friends are great, and in our classroom we have lots of friends!<div><br /></div><div>This past week was a review week in reading. We review the past 5 weeks of learning and had a spelling bee where not a single student misspelled a word! This week our reading theme is on friends and friendship. Our reading skill for the week will be making predictions where we make a good guess about what will happen next in a story. At the end of the story we always check to see if our prediction was right or wrong. Phonics for the week is based on words with a-e. Spelling words for first grade are: take, make, came, game, and gate. High frequency words are: hello, could, walk, pull, all and oh. </div><div><br /></div><div>CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Kindergarten has been introduced to all letter names and sounds at this point and we are starting our in-depth letter/sound review which will take us all the way to the winter holiday. When we return from break we will start working on word families. For most of our kindergarten students we are on our second book in a bag, working on sight words: good, have, he, into, and like this week.</div><div><br /></div><div>Writing and Grammar: In Kindergarten we continue to work or producing written words and sentences. We are trying our best to use finger spaces and make sure to have capital letters at the beginning and punctuations at the end. In first grade we are writing, making sure to include a beginning, middle and end. In grammar we are learning about verbs which are the words that show action or what is being done. </div><div><br /></div><div>In first grade we have started our "Mad Minute Math" where we only have 1 minute to find the sums to 15 addition problems. We are working through our addition facts starting at +1 and moving up. Our regular math class has us working on subtraction skills and the relationship between addition and subtraction. It is important that 1st graders are working and practicing their addition facts and committing them to memory. In kindergarten we are identifying and writing number 1-60 this week. As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches we are also doing holiday math which incorporates a review of many of the math concepts previously covered.</div><div><br /></div><div>Talking about the holiday Samsula will have their Thanksgiving lunch this Thursday. If you would like to join us you are more than welcome! Please send in your RSVP ASAP so we have enough food for everyone!</div><div><br /></div><div><div><embed src="http://www.imageloop.com/swf/looopSlider2.swf" flashvars="id=b339f7dc-fdc6-130c-8307-12313b0301a1&c=01,01,02,01" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" scale="noscale" salign="l" wmode="transparent" allowscriptaccess="always" width="425" height="300" style="width:425px;height:300px;"></embed><div lang="en" style="width:425px;padding-top:3px;"><a href="http://www.imageloop.com/setuplooop.htm" target="_blank"><img alt="Your pictures and fotos in a slideshow on MySpace, eBay, Facebook or your website!" src="http://st.imageloop.com/_img/bt_myo_new.gif" style="border:none;display:inline" /></a><a href="http://slideshow-6.chrisanne.imageloop.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="view all pictures of this slideshow" src="http://st.imageloop.com/_img/bt_vap_new.gif" style="border:none;display:inline;vertical-align:top;" /></a></div></div></div><div>Kindergarten's Family Project: Turkeys in disguise :) </div>Miss Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227530304871365658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942838858550349138.post-65000753672934700052010-10-31T17:46:00.002-04:002010-10-31T17:47:25.262-04:00H-A-double L-O-W-double E-N spells Halloween!Happy Halloween to all! <br />
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What a fun Halloween centered week we had this past week. Our K-1 class did a cross-curricular study using our 9 classroom pumpkins. Our literature piece was "Pumpkin, Pumpkin" which describes the life cycle of pumpkins. In reading class we used this life cycle to sequence the life cycle and created our very own books. In math we had fun counting the pumpkin seeds that came out of our classroom pumpkins. Our 3 large pumpkins had 419, 508 and 516 pumpkin seeds in them. In science we used our pumpkins to explore hypothesis and predictions. We predicted whether or not pumpkins would float in water. It is a whole lot of fun studying many different subjects all centered around one common theme.<br />
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Along with pumpkin/Halloween math we finished up our 2nd chapter on subtraction concepts in 1st grade. Over the next few weeks we will be practicing our addition and subtraction facts making sure we have these committed to memory and know them to mastery. In K we continue to add numbers to our number sense and count in groups of 2's, 5's and 10's. <br />
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In reading we finished our 4th week in our second unit on singing and dancing. Along with the curricular materials we supplement singing and dancing to some our of favorite Halloween songs. This upcoming week our theme is all about school, something we are very used to at this point. Our reading skills we will continue to practice are visualizing and sequencing. Sequencing is telling things in the order that they happen. 1st grade spelling and phonics will center around words with /l/ blends. Spelling words for the week are: black, block, clock, flag, clip and flip. High frequency words to know are: today, way, school, late, away, and why. Kindergarten sight words for the week are: did, do, eat, get, and for. <br />
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Over the next few weeks in Social Studies we will be studying jobs, working, money, needs and wants. To be followed by thematic units on the upcoming holidays celebrated here in America and other places around the world. <br />
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Story Book Parade Update!<br />
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Friday was such a fun day! If you were able to make it out to school you saw how wonderful everyone look dressed up for the parade. Our classroom presented Eric Carle's, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." We practiced and had a blast. I would like to continue to thank all of the parents, family members, and friends who made this day possible. Below are some photographs of our practice. More photographs from the actual parade to come soon!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivY3u3McSOmFTZeje7YBUj_J258E1TppfQuAQACx2yfAKMw_C718c6Gk-pw6MugTdHm4DTst_DcbVobgfkMBsKgQ0j3ZJEzPBMiBhKZg2mi7h_dKCTAsVwPqbabL2TiQk_pGblQaG3Xuxx/s1600/IMG_0446.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivY3u3McSOmFTZeje7YBUj_J258E1TppfQuAQACx2yfAKMw_C718c6Gk-pw6MugTdHm4DTst_DcbVobgfkMBsKgQ0j3ZJEzPBMiBhKZg2mi7h_dKCTAsVwPqbabL2TiQk_pGblQaG3Xuxx/s320/IMG_0446.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA7BF1KZ6HR9k772O-TPSp36QJjGb4peqmrndfpdgtR1oYY_flMABj-_QkuxlGRBKlZt_gdDUScBmW_7ObpwpH5Ii-U5A6ixQOdoBZB7P2XagHMK_CmAZM77CzGIy_c5apzpCOiznlGMG4/s1600/IMG_0451.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA7BF1KZ6HR9k772O-TPSp36QJjGb4peqmrndfpdgtR1oYY_flMABj-_QkuxlGRBKlZt_gdDUScBmW_7ObpwpH5Ii-U5A6ixQOdoBZB7P2XagHMK_CmAZM77CzGIy_c5apzpCOiznlGMG4/s320/IMG_0451.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>Miss Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227530304871365658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942838858550349138.post-6081477507689389322010-10-26T09:00:00.000-04:002010-10-26T09:00:55.143-04:00Animal HomesWe have started another week and today is our 50th day of school! It really goes by quickly when everyone in learning and having fun.<br />
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This past week we finished up our reading unit on animal homes. We brought many books in from the media center that told all about different animal homes. We read both fiction and nonfiction texts about animals homes. We really liked reading Stellaluna and discussed what happened when an animal lived in the wrong home with the wrong mom looking after it. We took this a step further researching and watching videos of real live animals who are being cared for and raised not in their typical homes. Check out this link to see just one example: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBb7gdF2Gf4">animal video</a><br />
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This week our reading theme revolves around making music and dancing. Our reading skill to study will be retelling what happened in order in our own words as well as sequencing event. The first grade words to know are: want, put, show, under, three and make. Spelling for 1st grade will focus on the phonics concept of short /u/. Spelling words are: bug, rug, cut, run, nut, and fun. Kindergarten is working its way through the alphabet and is currently studying letter name, sound and manuscript for Xx and Vv this next week. Our high frequency sight words to know are: be, black, but, brown, and came.<br />
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Last week in Science we explored the physical properties of objects around us using thermometers to measure temperature and balances to measure and compare weight. We experiment with our thermometers placing them around the school to see where we could fin our warmest and coldest locations on campus. Our prediction for hot places were on a light in the classroom and out in the sun by our sunflower. Our cold place predictions were in a glass of water and in Mr. Tom's ice cream freezer in the cafeteria. Our sunflower thermometer reached the highest temperature measuring 99'F and our coldest temperature was Mr. Tom's freezer at -8'F.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNdtrznaYGHi0h2c3RPq2VHynIlEhyfqbiG9n-mUJ-zsEC7IpHEM2xsH3KVM67AcRXRmlDsVBvBq3D-rrNioKLMuHilJ1a81GBfIsVKdbIL8kkFwb12H-bECggZxuEHxwPOvBySz_9gJBA/s1600/IMG_0414.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNdtrznaYGHi0h2c3RPq2VHynIlEhyfqbiG9n-mUJ-zsEC7IpHEM2xsH3KVM67AcRXRmlDsVBvBq3D-rrNioKLMuHilJ1a81GBfIsVKdbIL8kkFwb12H-bECggZxuEHxwPOvBySz_9gJBA/s320/IMG_0414.jpg" width="240" /></a></div> <br />
Last Wednesday we had a very successful paint party after school. Our costumes for the storybook parade this upcoming Friday look great! I would like to thank the Slucher and Wood family for heading up the costume team and all of the families that donated time and money to make this years costumes great! I would like to invite all families and friends to join us at our story book parade Friday the 29th of October at 9:30am. Please bring your own chairs and blankets to watch at the pavilion. Afterwards you are invited to come back to the classroom for Halloween crafts and pizza lunch. Children may be checked out in the classroom after lunch.<br />
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I am looking forward to another great week and hope you are too!<br />
Miss Ellis<br />
K-1 Miss Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227530304871365658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942838858550349138.post-40095966492941503042010-10-20T07:29:00.000-04:002010-10-20T07:29:14.419-04:00Community Helpers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVWosamybOtCneYvQ92Fb9yDK1VwIBlqA-NHJnjIQcFtJdms4hK0JAltnBWISewAdQhxHYM2jiSAN6VFOXLlknFBOxZB4J27lNL2E9cPq5-kpxFo1dSSXRZUlXPRZIn1jWzrgFZdyDB2b-/s1600/IMG_0405.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVWosamybOtCneYvQ92Fb9yDK1VwIBlqA-NHJnjIQcFtJdms4hK0JAltnBWISewAdQhxHYM2jiSAN6VFOXLlknFBOxZB4J27lNL2E9cPq5-kpxFo1dSSXRZUlXPRZIn1jWzrgFZdyDB2b-/s320/IMG_0405.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">This past Thursday our classroom was visited by the community helpers we see above. Amongst the students for the day we had a florist, a police officer, two veterinarians, a postal worker, and a fire fighter! After learning about the different people who help out in our community this was a fun way to share what we learned. The students each talked about the good things their community helper does during our morning meeting.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">In reading we finished week 2 which themed on helping out. This week our theme is on animal homes. We have checked out many books from the library and are learning about the different places animals lives and some very different animals that share home. We continue to study the summarizing skill (where we decided the most important part of the book and retell it in our own words) and main idea details (main idea- what the book is mostly about/ details- tell more about the main idea). In phonics and spelling we are practicing identifying words with the /th/ /sh/ digraph and spelling words with those digraphs. First grade words to know are: into, many, live, and out. First grade spelling words for the week are: fish, ship, shop, thank, thin, and with. Kindergarten words to know this week are: all, am, are, at, and ate. Kindergarten is currently practicing letters g and w. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">In science we are exploring the physical properties of the non-living things in our environment. We are classifying things by size, shape, color, texture, weight and length. W are using nonstandard units of measure, like paper chips and yarn to measure length. We also got two brand new bucket balances to mesure the weight of items and then compare to different item's weights. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">In writing we continue to move forward and are working on incorporating a beginning, middle and end into each of our writings. We are using similar sentences for the beginning and end to represents the main idea of our writing, what is is going to be about and then what we wrote about. This will help keep of focused on the topic and let the reader see exactly what we wanted to share.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Looking forward to an other great week,</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Miss Ellis' K-1 class </div>Miss Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08227530304871365658noreply@blogger.com0