New Year 2012-2013

I was happy to meet my new students for this 2012-2013 school year.  I have high hopes for learning this year.  My top priority is sharing a love for books and reading.

This year I am trying to improve upon communicating with parents.  The homework folder is designed to come back every day.  I check it during my lunch hour and try to put something new in it by third recess.  On Fridays, I will keep the folder to check after school and put a packet in it for homework.  My colleagues and I will be sending home the first set of phonics readers and high frequency word lists to review and practice at home.  They are placed in a plastic bag for you to keep at home.  The books and lists will come home each week, and you can add them to your bag.

Thanks to you, parents, for returning so many forms.  I am keeping track of what has been turned in.  If you haven't sent in your forms yet, please do so as soon as possible.  I find the most important form to be the pink emergency card.  That card needs to be returned promptly.  During parent conferences, I will have any other forms that were missed ready for you to sign.  

Yesterday, the homework folders did not come home, because it was Friday.  However, I did send home a booklet the students created.  We reviewed colors, using a capital and a period, and using a basic sentence frame.  Next week, the students will work toward using the sentence frame more independently by completing it with a color word and a noun.  Here are some samples of the booklet that went home:

When the kids took the booklets, they were excited about sharing and reading them with you, the parents.  It is good practice for them as they are still learning their color words and the basic high frequency words used in the sentence.  

During the year, more writing will be coming home.  The following is a list of editing symbols I will use:

In first grade, it is important to use a capital at the beginning of a sentence, for the first letter in a name, and for the letter "I" when it appears all by itself.  All other letters should be lowercase.  Students must be able to distinguish uppercase from lowercase letters and use them properly.  We will continue to work on this throughout the year.  

Below is the rubric used for independent writing samples.  From the rubric you can see what is expected from your child's writing.  

I took the first sample on Friday and will add it to their portfolio I keep in the classroom.  It is always astonishing to look at this first sample in comparison to what students create by the end of the year.  I am looking forward to it.

Looking Back 2011-2012

Today was the last day of the year for this class.  I received a small plaque that reads "Life is not a matter of counting years, it's a matter of making the years count."  I do want these last-third-of-my-life years to count.  In whatever I may find myself doing, working on or going through, I want these years to matter.  I am going to try even harder next school year to get my students to the levels at which they deserve to be.

Things are going to get harder as class sizes remain large, testing becomes more standardized, and budgets are cut even further.   There had been a possibility that field trips were going to be cut.  Several years ago, when my district was considering cutting funding for field trips, I wrote an email to the administration expressing the importance of this type of experience.  Our students have very little experiences, and field trips provide those learning moments that are not possible through any other medium.  For whatever reason, the district maintained funding for field trips back then.  Now, as of the most recent update, field trips are still possible.  We will simply need to hold fundraisers to help make them possible.  I have faith that we will provide this valuable learning tool for our students.

The last field trip of the year was to the Lori Brock Museum.  Students were able to tour through a town of preserved buildings from the early 1900's and an old one-room schoolhouse from the 1880's:

This one building alone provided a irreplaceable view and understanding of the California Social Studies Content Standard 1.4.1:   

Students compare and contrast everyday life in different times and places 

around the world and recognize that some aspects of people, places, and things 

change over time while others stay the same. Examine the structure of schools and communities in the past.

http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/histsocscistnd.pdf

We had read some Little House books and our social studies curriculum covering this standard in class.  The kids were familiar with what a one-room school house was like through pictures, words, and illustrations.  Seeing this historic building brought those words and pictures to life.  Once we were back at our own school we reviewed and discussed this building to compare and contrast it to ours.  The students met this task with a new enthusiasm gained from their field trip experience.  You can see a map of the other buildings they were able to visit here:

http://www.kcmuseum.org/ourCollection

The other part of our visit to this location was to Kid City:

"Kid City is a self-guided tour that features the basics of any town - a library, a bank, a veterinarian's office, a restaurant, a park, a theater, an ambulance and fire department among others. Kid City offers children the ability, through role-playing, to learn about different careers in the community in which they live."

http://www.kcmuseum.org/stories/storyReader$184

The pure ecstatic joy that came out of that room filled with children exploring their mini city and how each business contributes to the community was enough to power smiles for a lifetime.  For a short while, they became actors and actresses, bankers, grocers, shoppers, veterinarians, cooks, servers, policemen, firemen, ambulance drivers, teachers, librarians, puppeteers, and newsmen.  They acted out scenarios and withdrew money from the bank to patronize the establishments.  I do not remember how many times I was thanked by happy little faces or heard the exclamation, "This is the best day!"  I could not take the credit, though.  This particular field trip was completely arranged by my colleague.  I could never thank Mrs. M. enough for the incredible happiness that our students gained from an educational activity.  It is education at its best.  Everything they engaged in has been favorably embedded into their hearts and minds.  So, as I look back on this past school year, I look forward to next year, more learning, and more field trips.

Art Show

A simple display of art from grade levels K-5 was put up in the cafeteria.  There were over 100 entries, and it was not easy choosing the winners.  Yet, the principal of our school was able to make some good decisions based upon composition, color, shape, and detail.

Kindergarten Winners:


 

 

First Grade Winners:

Second Grade Winners:

Third Grade Winners:

Fourth Grade Winners:

Fifth Grade Winners:

Congratulations to everyone who entered.  All students will receive a certificate of participation.  All of the art is very beautiful.  Thank-you to all who helped to make this showing possible--students, teachers, custodial staff, and administration.  .  

I would like to thank everyone for coming to Open House night.  Twenty-eight families out of thirty-two were represented on our guest list.  I hope you all enjoyed it.

After taking some pictures that night, I realized I had left the camera's memory card in my computer.  I wanted to show how the room looked in preparation for parents, but that, regretfully, did not happen.  Here are some pictures I took prior to or after the event:

Open House

Tonight is open house.  I hope all parents will be able to attend.  There is a good deal of artwork displayed in the cafeteria.  The winners for each grade level will be announced this morning.  If you would like to listen to the fourth grade chorus, they will be performing at 5:00 PM in the cafeteria.  At 5:30 PM, you may view the art in the cafeteria and visit classrooms.  Several students from our room have work on display in the cafeteria.  We took first and third place for our grade level.  I'll post some pictures soon.

When you come to class, ask your child to tell you what they learned about the plant life cycle, butterfly life cycle, and birds of prey.  They can show you their work in the classroom.  Anything on the top of their desks may be taken home (plant, plant observation writing, birds of prey folder).

There is one writing that tells about the adult butterflies we observed.  Each student was able to have a butterfly sit on their fingers.  They all agreed that it tickled.  When we released the butterflies, the first one was immediately snatched up by a bird.  Most did not want to write about that.  So, I told them they could add it if they wanted to.  While it was sad, it was a good example of the food chain as one of our students pointed out  (we have a food chain project hanging in our room). You can also view a slideshow I put together of the field trip to F.A.C.T. and the kids at work in class.

On the eastern wall is a writing that tells what each child wants to be when they grow up and how they will help our community.  This is done in preparation for our next field trip to the Lori Brock Museum.  There we will discover our community as it was in the past.  We will be able to compare the past to the present.

Hope to see you at school tonight!

F.A.C.T Field Trip

Our field trip to the Facility for Animal Care and Treatment ( F.A.C.T.)  was a success!  The students loved seeing the birds of prey that we had read, talked, and written about.  Before seeing the raptors, students gathered around a pond to view the life there at the facility.  We had reviewed facts about frogs and ponds beforehand, and the kids were able to connect what they had learned with what they observed.

After experiencing the pond habitat, the students were treated to an up close view of a baby great horned owl.  You can describe and look at pictures of down feathers, but it is not the same as seeing the fluffy stuff right in front of you.  This part of the tour was many of the students' favorite.

During open house you will be able to see the writing we made to tell about our trip.  I was very happy with how much the children remembered and wanted to share.  One interesting fact they recalled was that the baby owl fell from its nest, so the staff at F.A.C.T. will take care of it for the next four months until it is ready to be on its own.  Our guide told us that its squeaking was its "happy" sound.  Apparently, it was a hungry little owlet.

This is the owl pellet that was passed around:

Too cool.  The kids had mixed reactions.  I liked it, because it contained a gorgeous specimen of a rodent's skull.  You can see it towards the bottom of the picture.

The kestrels moved around too much for this inexperienced photographer to snap a decent photo of, but below you will find pictures of female and male barn owls, red-tailed hawks, great horned owls, and a golden eagle.  The golden eagle was the top favorite of the class.  When it flew across its cage and back to its perch, our guide told the students that it was the eagle's way of saying hello.  That was their favorite fact of the day.

As we were leaving, we visited the cacti garden:

It was a great day, and you will be able to read about it in your child's booklet when you come to open house.  Perhaps you would like to take your child to visit this wonderful facility again.  Here is a link to the website:   http://www.csub.edu/fact/ 


Also on display for open house will be the butterfly life cycle.  We have some special visitors in our classroom that came straight from http://www.insectlore.com/ to help us understand the life cycle in a more meaningful way.  We have been watching caterpillars grow and grow.  They are now chrysalids.  They must have been eating miracle grow butterfly food, because they changed into pupae within a week of receiving them.  It should take another seven to ten days for them to make the complete change into the adult painted lady butterflies.  So, they will probably be set free prior to open house, but here are some pictures:

Monday, April 30, 2012

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Friday, May 4, 2012

Art will be on display in the cafeteria on the evening of open house.  I will be submitting some of our class artwork and will post some pictures once they are up, but I hope you will be able to attend and see it in person. I will leave you now with links to some of the books that we have shared in class to help us study bugs, plants, and birds of prey:



From Seed to Plant

Planting a Rainbow

Soaring with the WInd: The Bald Eagle

California Condors (True Books: Animals)

Owls (Animal Predators)


Painted Lady Butterflies (Life Cycles)

The Ladybug and Other Insects