Merry Christmas

My family traditions!

Wowzers...Can I say TWO...

YES...TWO more days!  Not that I'm excited or anything...(well, I guess I'm getting a BIT excited I think the puppy energy rubs off!)

Whew...busy, busy, busy...I can't even remember what we did this morning! This week seems to be a whirlwind of activity!
We started writing about our OWN HOLIDAY traditions and making connections to some of the other places we've talked about!  We discovered that one tradition of almost ALL of the holidays is spending time with family and friends.  What a wonderful tradition!
We also made a bracelet that represents the Kinara candles of Kwanza...the 7 principles being...
Umoja- Unity, Kujichagulia-Self-Determination, Ujima- Working Together, Ujamaa- Helping our neighborhood grow, Nia-Purpose, Kuumba-Creativity, Imani-Faith.

This afternoon, we talked about Christmas and Santa being a tradition here in the United States.  We talked about him only coming to those who believe in the "magic" tradition and just because we are from the United States does not mean we have this tradition!
We read Hurry, Santa!  And did some responding in our journal.  We had to guess what the animals gave Santa as a gift.  The only clue we had to go on was the title and the problem in the story.  No matter what we predicted we had to be able to connect it to the problem...I had some VERY good answers and most were able to even guess it was an ALARM CLOCK so he wouldn't be late this year!
We wrapped some special gifts...that are being brought home today!

Top Dog!
Double Whammy Today!
We celebrated how special Darrin is with a poem from mom AND birthday treats!  Darrin will turn 7 after Christmas!

Happy Happy Birthday!

Thanks FAMILY for coming in and sharing this special day with us!

Top Dog Tuesday!

Darrin shared a fun book with us! For some reason Youtube does not want to publish this video!!! I will leave this space blank in hopes of filling it!

Holidays and Traditions!  

This is the kind of writing I'm TALKING ABOUT!  

ANNNNNDDDD....
Sure enough...the ELF has made it's presence known!  Pencils were delivered earlier this week...but no one knew where they came from...no clues...BUT this morning...hiding in a bag was our ELF!  He spent the morning watching over us.

Teachers had a DUTY free lunch/recess today and when we returned this is what we FOUND!

Come to find out...Elvis is Arabella's elf and he put a bug in Santa's ear!
We named him CUTIE!!!
Some wrote letters...this is my favorite!
Dear Cutie,
We saw your message. It is hard to listen but we try our best.  I hope that Santa will be happy if everyone listen's to miss guy.  We see you hanging on the bord.  P.S. we named you Cutie!  Love Catherine!

All I can say...is...I hope since Cutie is as old as the TEACHER...he doesn't get into ANY trouble in our classroom!

Have a wonderful evening! I LOVE LOVE LOVE my pups!

Oh my...3 and...

still counting! HOHOHO

CONGRATULATIONS...

PTA REFLECTIONS winner...
"Shadow Fun"
My photo relates to the theme because I was making magical moments at the park!
Claire we are all so proud of you! Not only did she wind the Award of Excellence at the school level BUT she also won Honorable Mention at the Frisco PTA level!

Well...Today pretty much FLEW by...I read with some pups (got some assessments done) and am being reaffirmed...They are UH MAZ ING!

We wrote about the Chinese New Year! Did you know...that getting ready for the New Year Celebration requires cleaning...the dust represents bad luck...so everyone cleans to get ready for good luck...I'm afraid to see how much "bad luck" has accumulated in my house!

We talked about  many of our holiday traditions coming  from other continents...The pilgrims packed them up and brought them over on the Mayflower! ;)

We then completed a Gingerbread Glyph. A symbol that conveys information non-verbally. Your pup should be bringing home their glyph paper...Gingerbread will come home this week...YES, covered with the DREADED glitter...sorry but this first grade teacher LOVES the stuff!

And that was pretty much our day! As I continue to countdown the days...it saddens me that I will be away from my pups for 2 weeks!  I guess I can be pretty sure that those two weeks will FLY by! Looking forward to time with family and friends and our holiday traditions...

4 days...and...

yes, I guess I am counting!  I am getting excited to spend a couple of weeks just hanging out with my Bubbas!  We are planning to go to Six Flags for Festival in the Park!  If anyone else is going...I'd love to meet up!  I think we have movies, sleeping in late, staying up late, sleep overs and just playing with all our "new stuff"!

TOP DOG Monday!

Darrin is our Top Dog AND he is a day after Christmas Baby...so we will celebrate his birthday this week as well!

Just let me apologize...we had a skype speaker this morning...which threw me out of routine and I FORGOT the spelling pretest AGAIN.  I did send it home...Please study we will have the test on Thursday this week...because I just know what Friday will be like! (SO exciting!)

I am trying to read with everyone individually this week so that I can make sure they are all reading just right books!  With that being said...I will not be sending home a lot of new books this week! We will jump right back in after the holidays! 

Today we figured out we only have 29 more days until the 100th day of school! CRAZY...I am already dreading that last day of school!  I love these pups so much...I'm gonna cry...pretty sure! These first 71 days have been amazing! The growth I've seen continues to amaze me!  Let's keep it going!

As we continue to talk about customs and traditions...please send pictures of your family traditions so that we can use them for our writing and our conversations!  Tree decorating, cookie baking, story time, naughty little elves...

Have a wonderful night!

Well...I missed blogging yesterday...

But I think the countdown is 6 school days left...

Top Dog Wednesday

Thank you to Mrs. Dollgener for coming in and telling us all about the SWEET SWEET things Arabella does for others! We are lucky to get to see that in her here at school!

Top Dog Thursday
And treats for Ms. Guy...A much needed soda and some chocolate...Oh how well you all know me!

Beautiful smiles all around!

This week we are busy, busy learning and writing about winter holiday traditions from around the world...so next week we can make connections between them and ours!  Today, we used our flee map to organize our writing for Hanukkah!  We wrote several of the sentences together and then the pups had to include details on their own.  So, even though each sound similar no TWO are exactly alike!

Well...I know this is an exciting time of the year...but we still have a lot of things to get done. Please remind your pup that it is important to be on task and respectful all year long! Thanks for your help in everything that you do!

Thank yous...
My sweet sweet Savannah came in with a BIG bag of goodies today!  And can I just say... CRAFTY!  I love it all!  I feel very special!
I can't imagine what June is going to be like...I don't even want to THINK about saying good bye to these special pups! (and their parents) You all are amazing!

This is my baby Nora Christine (or Kissi Bug as I like to call her)...I can't STAND how adorable she is! She has just started smiling and...OH MY GOODNESS that smile is melting my heart!

and...8

But I promise I'm not counting down...

Today we had a lovely family come in and talk to us about customs and traditions celebrated in India! They told us lots of interesting facts about India...but the focus for us was the Celebration of Lights known as Diwali!  It celebrates victory (lights) over evil (darkness). Women are up early stringing lotus flower garland, laying colored sand in the shape of a lotus flower to welcome all the visitors that share yummy treats on this special day!  Families go to temples, buy new outfits to wear and enjoy the good things in life!  The night skies are filled with beautiful lights and fireworks.

Top Dog Tuesday:

We listened to Arabella read Little Miss Stubborn...I think we had lots of connections today!

Today for the weather we had a lot of meteorologist!  We all got excited about the cold weather!  I'm sorry I missed yesterday when there was snow! I will try to get some uploaded....You tube is not being my friend right now! Next "year" we will start writing a "script" to help us remember the information we would like everyone to know

Have a wonderful evening!

9 days...

BUT who's counting right?

Wow! There were some weather changes last night! It was still only 30 at recess today so we stayed inside...but remember if the temperature reaches 32 degrees by 10:20 we will venture outside...Please make sure your pup has appropriate clothing!

Tomorrow is the last collection for Boosterthon money! Please make sure your pup has all of his/her pledged money entered online or sent in tomorrow!

Customs and Traditions from around the world and our community! Today we talked about what a custom or tradition is.

One pup said it just right..."Families have special things they do each year or on special days or holidays!" We decided it did NOT have to be a holiday for traditions to happen!

I shared a tradition we have in our family:
The night before the first day of school backpacks are put out and the backpack fairy comes and fills them with all sorts of "school" related things...before, during and after school activities! The boys look forward to looking through it...kind of takes the first day jitters out of the equation!

We decided that the tooth fairy, special birthday dinners, shopping for school clothing...are all traditions... according to Webster's: the handing down of information, beliefs and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction.

If you have a special tradition you have at your house and would like to share...please email me!

We also had Ms. Wendy from the front office come in and talk to us about Hanukkah!  She showed us several menorahs and dreidels that her family use!

We will talk more about the traditions during the Hanukkah season tomorrow and do some writing!

We will also, have a guest speaker tomorrow that will talk about the traditions of Diwali. We are so lucky to have all of this wonderful diversity in our community!

We will talk about the traditions we have during the holiday season and where they have come from. It is an exciting time of they year and understanding traditions make it all the more special!

 Top Dog...

This is Friday's Show and Tell!

This week...

Hippest in the House for December...Caring and Thoughtful (a hard choice this month...so many to choose from!)

To go along with this LOOK at our Grinch's heart...it's not looking so small anymore!

WEEKEND UPDATE...

Maybe an new holiday tradition in the neighborhood!  I love these girls!

Some of my "traditions"!

Getting a pedicure/manicure with Ms. Weinke!!!

Holiday traditions from my family...

Decorating the tree with Gramma...

mmmm....having Hankers help with the baking!

wrapping gifts...packing them up and getting them shipped up north!

Waiting in line at Willow Bend to see Santa (not the "real" one of course!).

We are getting closer...Hank needs to get that letter finished (with NO HELP KISSI)!

Almost in the snow globe! Of course Jack is too "cool" at 9 to have his picture take much! 

I love family/holiday traditions!  I hope you will share some of your pictures with us!

Have a wonderful evening! 

Science Night

It was fun to see my pups last night exploring Science with their families!  Thanks for coming out...

I don't think these girls had seen each other in oh...say about 3 hours?! haha! It's always great to spend time with our good friends! AND fit in some exploring!

As you can see...I didn't venture too far from the magnet table...

However, I did manage to catch these three "blowing" their horns!  

Thanks again to everyone who came out!  

Thursday

Science Night!  Tonight Robertson Cafeteria 6-7:00pm!  Looking forward to seeing lots and lots of PUPS!

Today we went outside to observe the sun at 8:30...Well...

Look at my little scientist...

And...look at the sky! UGH no sun this morning!

This was yesterday at 12:30. 
We will give it another try tomorrow morning and afternoon!

WRITING
The scientist worked in his room. Good sentence but not form my PUPS!  We brainstormed some "moods" scientists get into...curious, excited, confused, and frustrated.  Then we bubble mapped scientist (adjectives) unusual, mad, weird, creepy, funny, focused, careful, and nice!  I just love thier vocabulary!  Tomorrow we will think about some places that we might typically find scientist working and then put them together to create our SHOW don't Tell sentences.  I can't wait!  Feel free to give your pup a simple sentence without a lot of sparkle and let them BLING it out!

SPEAKING OF BLING...

Look at this!!! Thank you to my SWEET Isabella! Had I know I would be getting such a beautiful piece of jewelry...I would have gotten my nails done!  I love it! Thank you, Thank you!
READING:
Both in read alouds and guided reading we are working on our inferencing strategy.  Schema+text=inference. We are finding that authors often show not tell and that is when we inference how the characters are feeling!

MATH:
Continuing to look at addition and subtraction patterns.  Today we worked on how many ways we could make the sum of 10.  This is something that you can do with your pup at home. Pick a sum and let them create as many number sentences has they can.  Or you can get them started and see if they can continue the pattern.  12+0=12, 11+1=12...

Hope to see everyone at Science Night. Ms. Weinke and I will be a 'Can Do Magnets'! 

Whew it's Wednesday!

Well...again, there is lots going on and there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to do everything we want to do!

Today for writing, Show don't Tell...we connected to The Grinch.  The pups were given one of the following sentences:
The angry Grinch went down the hill.
The excited Grinch went down the hill.
The happy Grinch went up the hill.
The embarrassed Grinch went down the hill.

Now, see if you can create a mental image of  what emotion these students are showing in their writing!

'The Grinch went down the big, long, snowy, hill to go steal the kids Christmas presents and he yelled, "go faster" to his dog UUUUUUUUUUU.'

"The Grinch skipped up the snowy hill weth their Christmas stuf and a smile!"

"The Grinch dragged his feet down the the hill with the prasins to give them back."

"The Grinch ran, sang and whistled wile he gos down the hill!"

"The Grinch went down the big hill stomping his feet and throwing his hands in the air screaming ahhh and grrrr!"

"The mumbling red faced Grinch went down the hill to give the presis back to the cinldrin."

"The Grinch went down the snoe hill draging his feet and saing "ommmmnoo," Quitle."

I think they are doing a fabulous job and enjoying their writing!

When we read our books I often hear, "show don't tell" "sparkle sentence"! So the kids are really connecting their reading and writing! Once again...SUPER PUPS!

TOP DOG
You all have set a precident of being present to read our Wednesday poems...(which I absolutely LOVE), however, this week's Top Dog has both parents working in the district which makes it difficult for them to get away  from their own schools!!! SO WE HAD A TECHNOLOGY TREAT today!  Mr. Gonzales face timed us and read Claire's poem! Please excuse my videoing skills...I was trying to video and take pictures at the same time!

We all enjoyed it...but I think this picture says it all!

Thank you, Mr. Gonzales for "BEING" here! That is one happy little girl!

MATH
We continue to talk about attributes of 2d and 3d shapes.  Some are still struggling with sorting them and explaining their rule of sorting!

SCIENCE
The sun is a fun topic.  The pups were the EARTH today and I the SUN.  I got to stand up on the table with my flashlight (that "must have had a short in the circut" thank you miss pup)! The girls...all standing together were  the U.S. and the boys were China...as they rotated around they noticed when the girls were near to the sun it was bright so it must be DAY but the boys had their back to the sun so it must be NIGHT in China! "OH...not everyone has day at the same time?" Great question.  "And guess what else Ms. Guy...the sun didn't move! Is that how it really is?" I love enquiring MINDS!
We then took our journals outside and made a diagram of ourselves in relation to the sun at 12:30pm.  Tomorrow we will switch things up and go out in the morning (to the exact same spot) and observe where the sun is.  And just for kicks...we will go out on Friday later in the afternoon!  I can't wait to see what they discover and how they connect today's inside lesson to what we find outside!

Reminders:
Party money is due Friday! 4.00 cash please!
Positive Proof ID being made tomorrow.  Must have the envelope here in the morning!
SCIENCE NIGHT: tomorrow night 6:00-7:00

Have a wonderful evening

OH NO...BREAKING NEWS...

This just in from the North Pole...Rudolph has decided to retire this year! THANKFULLY, I had a classroom full of little ones just waiting to fill in! We all came up with our Reindeer names and quickly filled out an application!  There isn't much time for Santa to make his decision and teach us to FLY! Everyone had something unique to add to his herd.

I must say...I think we make mighty fine looking deer!  I will post some up close and personal pictures once we get our application looking just right!

MAKE CONNECTIONS:
"Miss Guy, do I need to double the n if I want to write running?"  Wow, once again I'm blown away with my little pups and their abilities!  It just makes me feel so, so happy to come in this room and hang out with your children on a daily basis!

Mr. Grinch showed up in our room!  But he isn't going to be the mean ole' Mr. Grinch for very long!  Every time someone completes a random act of kindness we are going to add to his ever so small heart. Hopefully, it will have grown at LEAST three sizes by Winter Party time...All hearts will be added to a random drawing for some "amazing" prizes on Dec. 21st (must be present to win)!  As you can see we already have some pups helping that Grinch!

MATH:
Our calendar changed today!  And what do you know...our pattern has to do with 3 dimensional shapes!  I was naming attributes for our shapes and having the pups guess! Everyone, was on the right track!  A game to play at home. Guess what I am "I have no vertices, no edges, but SOME faces. Two Faces! What am I?"  "I have 4 corners, 2 long sides and 2 short sides, no edges, faces or vertices. What am I?"

As I told the pups today we are always looking for patterns.  Not just color patterns but patterns in numbers as well.   Can you see the pattern? What will tomorrow's number sentence be?

SCIENCE:
What a treat. Eliette brought in a booklet from the kids meal at Chick-Fil-A and it was all about the moon and it's phases...She notices a word "gibbous" as the moon started to grow.  We talked about it and guess what...that is a term they will learn in an Upper Elementary Grade (4th I think). We are just getting started here in 313!

Then we watched a power point...to introduce our next study! Guess what we are going to learn about the SUN! We already knew quite a bit...we brainstormed some and we will revisit this map as we learn more or find out that something we thought was true maybe isn't!

TOP DOG:
We have a new top dog here in 313!  I just love that she came in and was over the MOON excited! And all day she thanked me for picking her and told me how much she LOVED being the top dog! To be 6 and excited about the little things! Line leader, paper passer outer...

THANK YOU:
My sweet Owen, you make my heart smile with all your sweet little gifts! I LOVE that you MAKE them as well! Grover (well...it's been awhile since I watch Sesame Street. OBVIOUSLY this is NOT GROVER but ELMO!) is going to be a PERFECT addition to my tree (when I get one!)

We had another pup COMPLETE his Boosterthon pledge collection today! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! The collection day is  DECEMBER 5, 2012  Let's get to 100% by then!

MOST everyone has brought in party money!  I think we need 3 more!  THANK YOU all for being so on top of things and supportive of Robertson and your special little pup!

Enjoy your evening and this CRAZY WARM weather...Really 80 and December...I'm not sure I'm liking it!

Lunar Fun

Today we had some fun with the Lunar Phases!

We sure were missing some of our friends...I don't like sick pups!

Don't Forget: 4.00 Party Money!  Thanks to those that have sent it in! Boosterthon Collection 12/5 Please try to have it all in by then!