Update 2/24/14

We're heading into our last week of February! Can you believe it?! The spelling list is updated, and I added a spelling pattern section for all of you to know how we learn some of our spelling words. Some of them seem silly, but they truly work!

Important happenings this week:
1. Regular spelling week, finally ; )
2. Week 3 of Unit 4 in reading. We are starting to talk about using and keeping Earth's natural treasures. Mrs. Strecker borrowed us her rock collection, so be sure to ask your kiddo about their favorite rocks!
3. We are still working on tens and ones in math. We are starting to touch on greater than and less than, working with the hundreds chart.
4. Keep reading for the Read-a-Thon! We are almost to 1,500 minutes in just a few short days. We are trying to be the top class for the prize! We received one clue; a pencil and a sheet of paper. We'll get more as we read.

Behavior:
I would love to hear some positive behavior stories. The kiddos seem to be slowly "getting" the idea of being a boss vs. being a leader, but I never really know how it affects home life. Let me know :D

Professional Happenings

During my free time, I have tried brainstorming ways to bring new materials into our classroom. I've set up several different venues for class income. Here are several links to various projects I've started. Share with your friends and colleagues in support of our class! Thanks for all that you do!

My Donors Choose Profile               

My Teachers Pay Teachers Shop 

        

Update 2/18/2014

Happy Tuesday!

I hope your long break was as restful as mine! Can you believe that it is almost midterms for Quarter 3? where has the time gone?!

This week, we have/had the Spelling Bee, our Bitterroot Mini Math Olympics, and unfortunately, we had to squeeze a spelling test into a short week. We've been taking our reading series a little slower than other schools, but we still need to stay on track so we can reach our "ending" spot on time. As always, the list is to the right of this post and a few scrolls down.

Our behavior has improved! Maybe it took a little threat of "regular" school versus "fun" school. Remember, I am only disciplining when it is a skill/action that is first grade developmentally appropriate. All kiddos are different, but certain milestones happen during this year for all students. That being said, thanks for all that you do at home to support positive at school interactions (i.e. consistent bedtimes, healthy diets, lots of love, and homework help!)

Math this week is still ten more, ten less, one more, one less. We are learning the math language, two tens, one ones to represent 21. It gives them a sense of what 21 looks like visually to help with harder problems we're getting into.

Reading this week is Unit 4 week 2. Spelling Test on Friday. Our vocabulary for the unit is natural resource, harm, space, cherish and conserve. Our thematic question is, "How do we use and keep Earth's treasures?"

Update 2/11/14

Just a little clarification on the behavior text. We are all trying our best to deal with the crazy amount of snowy days this winter, and yesterday must have been the culmination of that and some lingering behaviors over the school year. I found some resources for those that requested or who are interested.
http://www.pbs.org/parents/raisingboys/

http://www.pbs.org/parents/raisinggirls/

We've really been talking about being leaders vs. being bossy. "Educators sometimes refer to a child's "moral compass"--that personality trait that guides the child's actions. A bossy child usually insists that things be done his or her way, sometimes to the point of intimidating others. Even though a child may appear to have a strong personality, he or she may not be a natural leader. People will usually tire of being forced to comply with a bossy child's wishes." (http://www.papta.org/Page/353)

This will be an important skill later in life. Spending quality time to talk about all of this might make the transition a little easier ; )

Important information for this week:

We will take our spelling test this week on Thursday. Sorry for the confusion! We thought some extra practice for the ir/er/ur would be helpful, and starting a new list on a short week is harder than it's worth two weeks in a row!

No school Friday or Monday. Half-Day Thursday. 

Party on Thursday! It sounds like we've got a lot of food for snacks. Thanks for all of your help. I'll try and keep them low on the sugar levels!

100th Day!

Happy 100th Day of School! That is Old Timer Dimock ; )

All of us "old" folk. So morose!

Just kidding!

If only you could really see the detail in some of these outfits! Great work, parents.

Happy February!

Unfortunately, Mr. Groundhog saw his shadow so it looks like we have another 6 weeks of snow pants, snowboots, mittens and hats.  Remember that children are not allowed off the blacktop unless they have all their snow items.  It looks like we will have a few days of below 0 weather.  Please make sure you child still wears their snow clothes.  It gets cold at pick up time and if the weather gets above 0 degrees, we will go outside.

The 100th day of school is on Tuesday.  Students are encouraged to dress like a 100 year old.  It seems that some of the boys are a little nervous about this event.  I told them that they might just want to pack some items in their backpacks that they could put on if they wanted to.  Or if they wanted to wear something that they could easily take off and put in their backpack. 

Remember that students need to bring 100 edible items for our 100 day stew.  Items should fit into a quart or gallon ziploc bag.  It can be candy, cereal, pretzels, crackers, gummies etc. 

With the 100th day of school and Valentines Day all coming in the next two weeks, we will take two weeks for the next spelling test.  This test is really hard since there is no way to know the words except to memorize them or I say "take a picture with your brain".  A big congratulations on last weeks spelling test!  We had a lot of scores above 80%!  Keep up the great work.

VALENTINES DAY- Because we have a half day and I don't want to send home kids with an upset stomach from eating too much candy, I would like to have a healthy snack party on the morning of February 13th.  It can even be lunch type food since we get out of school at 12:00.  The kids are starving by 11:00.  Let me know if you would like to bring something.  Valentine cards can start coming to school on February 7th.  Below is a list of classmates:

Dezmariah
Tayvin
Anastacia
Mattea
Adrian
Hayden
Tucker
Christian
Ryder
Lily
Sophia
Taylee
Carson
Elora
Jaxon
Anthony
Dallas
Sammy 
Elijah

Congratulations, Dez, on the Bobcat Award! You are a star student!

Have a great week!