Good Morning,
I really enjoyed meeting with everyone during our conferences. As always, if you have any other questions please don't hesitate to contact me. Today the kids had music and french. After that we had stations. During stations, the kids worked with their sight words, met with me for reading, worked with Brandy on a writing project, and worked in their reading fluency or Time For Kids. This afternoon we will have math and science.
I hope you have a great day!
Peace,
Tom
November 30, 2011
November 28, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Hello,
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. I am happy everyone who traveled made it back home safely.
The week is off to a great start. This morning we began a new book project. We read the book Born Yesterday: The Diary of a Young Journalist by James Solheim. The book is written in the form a journal. During the rest of the week students will be writing a journal entry of what happened over Thanksgiving weekend. Today, we began a pre-writing exercise to brainstorm ideas. The goal of this project is to use detail to elaborate their writings.
Reminders:
As the weather gets colder please pack appropriate clothing for recess. We do go outside in the cold weather and snow. The only time we stay inside is during rain. Everyone needs to bring a coat for recess. Please bring hats, mittens and boots when necessary.
Have a wonderful afternoon! See you tomorrow,
Best,
Brandy (Ms. Hines)
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. I am happy everyone who traveled made it back home safely.
The week is off to a great start. This morning we began a new book project. We read the book Born Yesterday: The Diary of a Young Journalist by James Solheim. The book is written in the form a journal. During the rest of the week students will be writing a journal entry of what happened over Thanksgiving weekend. Today, we began a pre-writing exercise to brainstorm ideas. The goal of this project is to use detail to elaborate their writings.
Reminders:
As the weather gets colder please pack appropriate clothing for recess. We do go outside in the cold weather and snow. The only time we stay inside is during rain. Everyone needs to bring a coat for recess. Please bring hats, mittens and boots when necessary.
Have a wonderful afternoon! See you tomorrow,
Best,
Brandy (Ms. Hines)
November 21, 2011
November 21, 2011
Good Afternoon,
I look forward to seeing everyone at their conferences over the next two days. Please make sure to bring your child's report card. Remember to fill out the math survey tonight. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Peace,
Tom
I look forward to seeing everyone at their conferences over the next two days. Please make sure to bring your child's report card. Remember to fill out the math survey tonight. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Peace,
Tom
November 18, 2011
November 11, 2011
Good Afternoon,
We had an absolutely amazing day. The kids were fantastic and the work was impressive. We started the morning with a puppet show put on by Ms. Belknap's and Ms. Hale's classes. After the assembly, the kids worked on their Weekly News. I am very impressed with the amount that each child is writing independently. During science, I asked the kids to look at their moon observations and to answer the question; Why does the moon seem to change? The answers varied but most thought the moon either got bigger or that it got closer to the Earth. After reading a book about this, I asked them the same question again. Find out from your what he/she believes the answer is. This afternoon the kids had math and art. During first grade math, we continued our "break" from the Investigations program and continued our work with double decker busses. No, we have not been in England, but rather working on compliments of 20. Ask your child about the double decker bus experience.
NOTES:
*Report Cards: Your child has his/her report card in his/her backpack. Please bring this to your parent conference.
*Weekend Reading: Many of the kids are begging for weekend reading. I am allowing kids to bring home books over the weekend (if they choose). They will be in their homework bags. Please make sure to send them back in on Monday.
*Book Orders: If you have ordered books as a holiday gift and don't want me to give them to your children when they arrive, please let me know. I will be sending the orders out to Scholastic over the weekend.
*Weekly News: Your child has his/her Weekly News folder in his/her backpack.
I hope you have a great weekend.
Peace,
Tom
We had an absolutely amazing day. The kids were fantastic and the work was impressive. We started the morning with a puppet show put on by Ms. Belknap's and Ms. Hale's classes. After the assembly, the kids worked on their Weekly News. I am very impressed with the amount that each child is writing independently. During science, I asked the kids to look at their moon observations and to answer the question; Why does the moon seem to change? The answers varied but most thought the moon either got bigger or that it got closer to the Earth. After reading a book about this, I asked them the same question again. Find out from your what he/she believes the answer is. This afternoon the kids had math and art. During first grade math, we continued our "break" from the Investigations program and continued our work with double decker busses. No, we have not been in England, but rather working on compliments of 20. Ask your child about the double decker bus experience.
NOTES:
*Report Cards: Your child has his/her report card in his/her backpack. Please bring this to your parent conference.
*Weekend Reading: Many of the kids are begging for weekend reading. I am allowing kids to bring home books over the weekend (if they choose). They will be in their homework bags. Please make sure to send them back in on Monday.
*Book Orders: If you have ordered books as a holiday gift and don't want me to give them to your children when they arrive, please let me know. I will be sending the orders out to Scholastic over the weekend.
*Weekly News: Your child has his/her Weekly News folder in his/her backpack.
I hope you have a great weekend.
Peace,
Tom
November 16, 2011
November 16, 2011
Good Afternoon,
I am sorry I was out of the building yesterday morning. I had an unscheduled doctor's appointment come up. I will have to be out next Monday morning for a follow up test. On Tuesday, I will be at a meeting with Kaiya. We are working with the state to implement the new math Common Core Standards. This is an important piece of work and our students will benefit from our work. Mrs. Hines will be the sub for one of the absences and Sara Hughes for the other. I will be back in time for Parent Conferences on both evenings.
There are many kids with colds, coughs, and runny noses. If you send your child to school with cough drops, please let me know. I will hold on to them and give them out when needed. I like to make sure kids aren't putting these in their mouth during times like PE and recess. It is truly for safety purposes.
Today the kids had French and Music. After that we had stations. The students worked in reading groups with me, on another Red Clover Book Project with Ms. Hines, and on their sight words with Hillary D. This afternoon we had math. Ms. Hines went home early (she is also not feeling well) today. Therefore, her science lesson was put on hold.
Notes:
*Thanksgiving meal is tomorrow. Our class will be eating at 10:50. Please feel free to arrive early and walk with us to lunch. It makes it easier for families to sit together.
*Book orders are due on Friday.
*Reading Logs are due on Friday.
*Math Surveys are due next Tuesday. I will send them home on Monday of next week.
*Report Cards go home on Friday. Please bring the report card to your child's conference. If you have not signed up for a date and time, please due so tonight.
Have a great day.
Tom
I am sorry I was out of the building yesterday morning. I had an unscheduled doctor's appointment come up. I will have to be out next Monday morning for a follow up test. On Tuesday, I will be at a meeting with Kaiya. We are working with the state to implement the new math Common Core Standards. This is an important piece of work and our students will benefit from our work. Mrs. Hines will be the sub for one of the absences and Sara Hughes for the other. I will be back in time for Parent Conferences on both evenings.
There are many kids with colds, coughs, and runny noses. If you send your child to school with cough drops, please let me know. I will hold on to them and give them out when needed. I like to make sure kids aren't putting these in their mouth during times like PE and recess. It is truly for safety purposes.
Today the kids had French and Music. After that we had stations. The students worked in reading groups with me, on another Red Clover Book Project with Ms. Hines, and on their sight words with Hillary D. This afternoon we had math. Ms. Hines went home early (she is also not feeling well) today. Therefore, her science lesson was put on hold.
Notes:
*Thanksgiving meal is tomorrow. Our class will be eating at 10:50. Please feel free to arrive early and walk with us to lunch. It makes it easier for families to sit together.
*Book orders are due on Friday.
*Reading Logs are due on Friday.
*Math Surveys are due next Tuesday. I will send them home on Monday of next week.
*Report Cards go home on Friday. Please bring the report card to your child's conference. If you have not signed up for a date and time, please due so tonight.
Have a great day.
Tom
November 14, 2011
November 14, 2011
Good Morning,
I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I want to thank everyone who was able to contribute to the Ski and Skate sale. It was one of, if not the most, successful years ever. It takes a community to make an event like this successful and our community certainly did shine for this.
I am officially back in the room. I spent all weekend scraping the rust of my teaching skills and hope to be in top form as the week starts. Several of you have asked about Ms. Hines and what will she do now. She will be with us through the end of December. She will still be in charge of her science unit, parts of Fundations, and guiding the stations each day. This will allow her to work on specific teaching skills and still have an active part of the classroom. I want to congratulate her on a successful solo week and thank her for the time that she put into getting ready for it.
NOTES:
*Math and Reading Homework: There will be reading homework all week. Please make sure to fill out your reading log each day (Parent's can write for the kids). There will also be a new math game for each kid this week. The surveys will be due on Tuesday of next week (start of vacation is Wednesday).
*If you have not signed up for a parent conference slot, please do so today. Let Kathi know if you have any problems.
*TRAVELERS NOTE: Please remember the class requirements if you are missing school for anything other than a sick day. Your child should read each day and fill out their reading log and write in a journal daily. The focus of the journal should be about their travel(s) and about interesting things that are happening. Once your child returns to school, he/she will be asked to present about his/her trip. I also ask that a parent set up a meeting (upon return) to go over any work that needs to be made up. I appreciate you support with this.
*I am sending home book orders today. I ask that they are returned by Friday, so that I can have them ordered and returned before the December break. This will be the last order before the December break.
That is all for now. I hope you have a wonderful week.
Peace,
Tom
I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I want to thank everyone who was able to contribute to the Ski and Skate sale. It was one of, if not the most, successful years ever. It takes a community to make an event like this successful and our community certainly did shine for this.
I am officially back in the room. I spent all weekend scraping the rust of my teaching skills and hope to be in top form as the week starts. Several of you have asked about Ms. Hines and what will she do now. She will be with us through the end of December. She will still be in charge of her science unit, parts of Fundations, and guiding the stations each day. This will allow her to work on specific teaching skills and still have an active part of the classroom. I want to congratulate her on a successful solo week and thank her for the time that she put into getting ready for it.
NOTES:
*Math and Reading Homework: There will be reading homework all week. Please make sure to fill out your reading log each day (Parent's can write for the kids). There will also be a new math game for each kid this week. The surveys will be due on Tuesday of next week (start of vacation is Wednesday).
*If you have not signed up for a parent conference slot, please do so today. Let Kathi know if you have any problems.
*TRAVELERS NOTE: Please remember the class requirements if you are missing school for anything other than a sick day. Your child should read each day and fill out their reading log and write in a journal daily. The focus of the journal should be about their travel(s) and about interesting things that are happening. Once your child returns to school, he/she will be asked to present about his/her trip. I also ask that a parent set up a meeting (upon return) to go over any work that needs to be made up. I appreciate you support with this.
*I am sending home book orders today. I ask that they are returned by Friday, so that I can have them ordered and returned before the December break. This will be the last order before the December break.
That is all for now. I hope you have a wonderful week.
Peace,
Tom
November 11, 2011
November 11, 2011
Good Afternoon,
SKI AND SKATE SALE THIS WEEKEND! Please come out and support through volunteering or purchasing. This event is a key funding source for many of the programs that we are able to offer the students of our school.
*If you didn't send in your math survey, please send it in by Monday.
Have a great weekend.
Peace,
Tom
SKI AND SKATE SALE THIS WEEKEND! Please come out and support through volunteering or purchasing. This event is a key funding source for many of the programs that we are able to offer the students of our school.
*If you didn't send in your math survey, please send it in by Monday.
Have a great weekend.
Peace,
Tom
November 9, 2011
Wednesday, November 9th
Happy Wednesday!
We had an excellent day to day. We spent the morning doing our language arts stations. Students participated in reading groups, practiced site words, read Time For Kids magazine and wrote in their journals.
We also continued our science unit on the Earth, Moon and Sky. Today we talked about day and night. Students went outside to make observations about the sky. We then compared our observations of the day sky and night sky. Friday, we will begin to talk about why day and night happen. Please remember to observe the moon this week and bring the moon observations back to school on Friday.
Also, W.E.S. is looking for more Ski and Skate Sale volunteers for this weekend! You can sign up at the front office. We would greatly appreciate the help.
Have a wonderful evening,
Brandy (Ms. Hines)
We had an excellent day to day. We spent the morning doing our language arts stations. Students participated in reading groups, practiced site words, read Time For Kids magazine and wrote in their journals.
We also continued our science unit on the Earth, Moon and Sky. Today we talked about day and night. Students went outside to make observations about the sky. We then compared our observations of the day sky and night sky. Friday, we will begin to talk about why day and night happen. Please remember to observe the moon this week and bring the moon observations back to school on Friday.
Also, W.E.S. is looking for more Ski and Skate Sale volunteers for this weekend! You can sign up at the front office. We would greatly appreciate the help.
Have a wonderful evening,
Brandy (Ms. Hines)
November 7, 2011
November 7, 2011
Hello,
I am happy to report that the week has started off great. We spent the morning doing stations, focusing on reading groups, spelling,
and handwriting. All students had the chance to read Time For Kids magazine. It is a great magazine focusing on current events written for a 1st and 2nd grade audience.
We finished the afternoon with Math and Library.
Please check your students homework bag this afternoon. There are a couple other notices along with reading homework inside the bags today. They are:
- A letter about the Thanksgiving Community Dinner
- A moon observation journal: Please observe the moon this week. Have your student record what the moon looks like. I am asking for only two moon observations, as I know everyones week is really busy! If you would like to do more than two feel free. Please bring the moon observation journal back to school on Friday.
- Some students still have the notice about the W.E.S Winter Sports Program in their bags. The paperwork needs to be returned to school by Friday, November 11th!
Mr. Young will be back in class tomorrow as the lead teacher. My last solo teaching day will be this Wednesday. Thank you parents for being so flexible and allowing me to be a part of your students classroom. I greatly appreciate it. It's been a wonderful experience!
Have a wonderful afternoon,
Brandy (Ms. Hines)
November 4, 2011
November 4, 2011
Greetings!
Today was a great day! We started off the day watching the kindergarten class sing at our morning assembly. Students then continued the day writing entries in their Weekly News Journals. They will share them with you this weekend. Please write a quick note back, as I will share your notes Monday during morning meeting
We began our new science unit on the Earth, Moon and Sky. Students are beginning to understand why day and night happens. Today we talked about how the Earth circles around the sun and the moon circles around the Earth. We demonstrated this on the smartboard and through an interactive acting activity. Students were very excited to begin the "space unit."
The first grade math class ended the Investigations geometry unit and will be moving on to Story Problems next week. During the next unit students will learn strategies for solving a word problem. We will also focus on writing math equations.
It's been wonderful having the time to teach; thank you for sharing the classroom with me. Have a great weekend!
Best,
Brandy (Ms. Hines)
November 2, 2011
An Early Release Day
Greetings!
This morning went by very quickly. We had two specials this morning, Music and French. We then continued writing pen-pal letters, reading groups and spelling. We also read and did activities from the "Time Life For Kids" magazine.
On Friday, we will begin our new science unit on the Earth, Moon and Sun. I am very excited to begin this unit. We will be working on the unit during both November and December. On Monday, I will be sending home a worksheet to record the moon's shape at night. I would like each student to observe the night sky. I know things get busy, so I wanted to give you a heads up in case over the weekend your family finds itself out at night.
I have one quick housekeeping question: Does anyone have the books Lost at the Fun Park or Rain is Water at home? If so, can you please bring them back to the classroom.
Also, on a personal note, I want to let everyone know that I am expecting. A few students asked me today if I was having a baby, so I think it is appropriate to let everyone know that yes, I am! I am due April 3rd. I am very excited; If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask me.
Have a great long afternoon!
Best,
Brandy (Ms. Hines)
This morning went by very quickly. We had two specials this morning, Music and French. We then continued writing pen-pal letters, reading groups and spelling. We also read and did activities from the "Time Life For Kids" magazine.
On Friday, we will begin our new science unit on the Earth, Moon and Sun. I am very excited to begin this unit. We will be working on the unit during both November and December. On Monday, I will be sending home a worksheet to record the moon's shape at night. I would like each student to observe the night sky. I know things get busy, so I wanted to give you a heads up in case over the weekend your family finds itself out at night.
I have one quick housekeeping question: Does anyone have the books Lost at the Fun Park or Rain is Water at home? If so, can you please bring them back to the classroom.
Also, on a personal note, I want to let everyone know that I am expecting. A few students asked me today if I was having a baby, so I think it is appropriate to let everyone know that yes, I am! I am due April 3rd. I am very excited; If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask me.
Have a great long afternoon!
Best,
Brandy (Ms. Hines)
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