Update

Thank you to those who donated food and drinks for our Valentine's party.  We had tons of fun passing out Valentine's, playing Minute to Win It games, and eating!

Class pictures and spring pictures will be taken on Thursday, February 23.  The order form went home in backpacks on Friday.

Members from the Lion's Club will be visiting first grade on Thursday to teach us about the American Flag.

We will start buddies this week with Mrs. O'Donnell's fifth graders.  Our focus this week will be to learn about personal space.  Our class has difficulties with boundaries and staying out of each other's personal space.  Hopefully, with fifth grade role models we will learn what is appropriate!

In reading, we will be reading about how animals survive in nature.

February is Dental Health Month.  In writing, we will be writing informational pieces about dental health.

In math, we are continuing to work on adding within 100.  Last week, we became experts at adding and subtracting multiples of 10.  This week, we are making it a bit tougher.  Students will be adding 2-digit numbers to single digit numbers.

Another quick behavior update:
We had a lot of unsafe behaviors last week. It is my number 1 job to keep kiddos safe, and if they are not listening and following directions I cannot do my job. Recess restriction, bathroom buddies, and different seating placements have been the usual consequences for not being safe. If it does not improve, we'll need to brainstorm together to help keep your child and other children safe. Thanks for all that you do at home to support their schooling!

Wishing you well,
Mrs. Dimock

Valentine's Day

We have our Valentine's Party tomorrow. We won't celebrate until after lunch, as to keep the day as "normal" as possible. Although it's a short week, we have a lot of discovering left to do!

In reading, we are entering Unit 4 Week 2. Our Essential Question is: "How do animals help each other?" Our high frequency words are because, blue, into, or, other, small. Our spelling pattern is ee, ea, and long e. 

In writing, we will be doing some writing projects centered around Presidents Day and Valentine's Day. We are taking a step back and focusing on capitals, periods, spacing, and does it make sense?

In math, we continue to work with adding numbers within 100. Students are expected to use patterns and strategies to help them solve the equations quickly, but not just memorizing answers. This is where fact fluency 1-20 is serving them well!

Adding a behavior update: We are still working on doing as we are told the first time, having learning stamina to be able to sit for no more than 10 minutes for a lesson, and also our new phrase, "I cannot do whatever I want whenever I want. I am part of a school family." Any support at home is greatly appreciated!

Have a great week and another shout out to the volunteers helping provide snacks for our party!!

-Mrs. Dimock

Sunday Update

The week is starting out cold.  Please make sure your kiddo has appropriate snow clothes for recess.  We have had very cold kiddos at recess and lots of tears.  

Thursday, February 9 is a noon dismissal day.  Please make sure you have arranged a ride for your kiddo.  There is no school Friday, February 10 and Monday, February 13.  School resumes Tuesday, February 14.

Our Valentine's Day party will take place on February 14th in the afternoon.  So far I have not heard from anyone of what they will be bringing.

I know it is early, but it is time to start thinking about all of our end of the year activities.  If you are planning on helping our with field day, our field trip, or any other activity please make sure you have completed the background check process.  Please contact Mrs. Z to start the background check process.

We will be starting Unit 4 in Wonders this week.  This unit is titled, "Animals Everywhere."  This looks likes a very interesting and fun unit.  This week, we will be learning about how animal bodies help them.  In reading groups, we will be reading folktales about animals.

I am so excited for writing this week!  It's all about Valentine's Day.  We will be brainstorming and writing about what fills our hearts.

In math, we are continuing to work on 10+, 10-, 1+, 1-.  We will continue to work on adding within 100.

Have a great week,
Mrs. Dimock

Here We Go!

Hello, parents! We had such a blast at Fun Friday last week. The kiddos loved frosting cookies and playing with centers. The Bootcamp kids did great at practicing their first grade behavior expectations. If you have any questions about report cards, give me a call or send an email.

Just as an F.Y.I., I will not be at school Wednesday through Friday. My husband's company has the opportunity to present a project a conference in New Orleans, which means us wives get to go have some fun!! I can't wait to get back and tell the kiddos how much fun we had. I will sure miss them, but they will be in good hands and I know they'll do great.

This week will be answering the question, "How is life different that long ago?" We will read texts, stories, and learn some new vocabulary to build ourselves up to answer the question. Some spelling words to practice are o__e and u__e words and some high frequency words to know by heart are "ago, boy, girl, how, old, people."

In math, we will continue working with 10 more 10 less, 1 more 1 less. Are you sick of our 100's chart shuffle song yet?!? 

In writing, we are still working on Personal Narratives. The students did a great job last week of taking what they brainstormed on a graphic organizer and transferring the story onto lined paper. Huge step for our little writers!!

As always, thank you for allowing me to work with your children. They are such blessings and I am honored to be their teacher.

Wishing you well,

Mrs. Dimock

Busy, Busy, Busy!!

Hello, families!

I'm a doing a blog post early because I will be moving into my new house tomorrow. I will be gone tomorrow afternoon and our guest teacher will take over after lunch. 

Next week we do not have school on Monday, January 16th. Teachers are going to a presentation about Generational Poverty at West High in the morning and then working in our buildings in the afternoon.

We will be starting Unit 3 Week 3 in our reading curriculum. Here are the skills we will be working on: 

Weekly Concept: Tales Over Time

Essential Question: What is a folktale?
Oral Vocab: tale, hero, eventually, foolish, timid
Phonics/Spelling: -ed, -ing/ soft c, g, dge
HFW: any, from, happy, once, so, upon

In writing, we will continue to work on Personal Narratives. The kiddos are getting better each day! Practice makes progress.

In math, we will begin 10 more, 10 less and 1 more, 1 less. We've spent weeks working on writing our numbers 1-120, addition strategies, recognizing patterns on a hundreds chart, and great than/less than. They are well prepared for the task at hand, and I have no doubts they will take this new challenge head on!

Just a few reminders:
Snow clothes are getting pretty smelly. Please think about washing. The kiddos eat before they play at lunch, so they wear most of their gear to the lunch room.
Also, our attendance has been very poor since coming back from Christmas break. Please remember to call the office if your child will not be attending school.

I can't wait to get unpacked and back into a routine! I hope you all have a great weekend.

Wishing you well,
Mrs. Dimock

FastBridge Week

Hello, Families!

I spent the weekend working on report cards. It is so rewarding to go back and review the growth that each of my students has made! We are becoming better readers, writers, and mathematicians every single day and the assessments prove it!

In reading this week, we will be covering long i. The weekly concept is--Watch It Grow!

Our weekly question is "How do plants change as they grow?" We won't have reading groups this week due to FastBridge testing. We will still have Daily 5 rotations and mini-lessons covering the phonics, phonemic awareness, and concepts for the week. Our sight words this week are green, grow, pretty, should, together, and water. The spelling words are: like, spike, ride, hide, bike, mine, make, came, water, should

In writing this week, we are beginning winter poetry in a "diamond" format. The kids should have a blast creating their poems on Monday and Tuesday! Pictures to follow! We will also work on adding details to our writing by completing a snowman activity. Hopefully, they'll be able to tell you all about how important it is to be descriptive in their writing.

In math, we are beginning to compare numbers using the <, >, and = symbols and using the vocabulary greater than, less than, and equal to. I have no doubts that this class will work their hardest to master this standard! We have some fun activities to really "cement" these concepts into their long term memories!

I suppose we'll have to wait and see what the weather does this week. As always, send the winter gear. Any chance we have to go outside, I'm taking it!! Indoor recess is not as fun after a 2+ weeks of being inside.  Wishing you well! Mrs. Dimock

Happy 2017!

Happy 2017!  I hope you had an enjoyable holiday break.  I certainly did!  It was full of family, friends, sleeping in, and relaxing!  It is going to be tough waking up early tomorrow!

We are welcomed back to school with some COLD weather.  Be sure to dress your kiddo for the weather.  If it is below zero we will stay inside for morning walk and recess.

We will be easing back into school mode by reviewing behavior expectations.  It always seems like this is necessary after the long holiday break and a good way to start out the last half of the year.  Second quarter is quickly coming to an end.  This year is flying by.

In reading, we are stating Unit 3. Our essential questions is, How do we measure time?" We will start back up with reading groups and hopefully not have fallen too far behind over break. Did your kiddo do Mrs. Anderson's reading challenge? I can't wait to see!

In writing we will be working on Personal Narratives. I'm sure the kiddos will have some great stories to share after break.

In math, we will focus on counting and writing numbers 100-120.  We will also be playing some review games to help us review 10s and 1s.

I sure do miss the kiddos and can't wait to see everyone tomorrow.
Wishing you well, Mrs. Dimock