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! 

Where did the week go?

I'm still working on a slide show of pictures from Safety Town...
We continue to be busy learning about the moon, showing not telling in our writing, 3 dimensional shapes and problem solving in math, and of course enjoying new reading books.

IMPORTANT:
KEEP WORKING ON THOSE BOOSTERTHON PLEDGES!
LIBRARY BOOKS TOMORROW!
PARTY MONEY DUE TOMORROW: Thanks to those of you that have sent yours in!

 FUN STUFF FROM HOME:

Owen lost his FIRST tooth on Wednesday....he worked on it ALL day at school and it finally came out at home.  Looks like the Tooth Fairy thought is was a GOOD one!

Micah is quite the blogger!  She is blogging about her guided reading book...WAY TO GO!


MATH

This week we have focused on the attributes of each 3 dimensional shape.  We looked a the geometric shapes and listed what we saw and knew about each on our tree map.  I will recopy with all of our shapes for future reference.
                                     

The geometric shapes that we are responsible for are:

Vocabulary:

edges: where two faces meet

verticies: where two or more edges meet

faces: a flat surface on the 3 dimensional shape

apex: a point or a tip where no edges meet

What two shapes are MOST similiar?  What is the difference between the two? How can you sort all of these 3d shapes using attributes? Which shape is MOST different from all the rest? Good questions to talk with your pup about!

I love when I don't have to do all the teaching! ;) Claire did a great job connecting three dimensional shapes to real world objects! Tomorrow we will go on a 3d shape hunt around the school!

We started to notice that there are some objects that are made up of more than one shape.  Student 1: "A pencil is a cylinder."  Student 2: "Until it is sharpened!" So then I had to stop and talk about this WONDERFUL realization..."So what two shapes do you think make up a sharpened pencil?" There were some puzzled looks...it was kind of hard to understand that we had to imagine that FLAT surface between the cylinder and the cone.  But once I told them that if I cut the sharpened part off we would have two flat surfaces shaped like a circle... CONE quickly came to mind!  So SMART!  Well that started a whole lot of that kind of thinking! I am continually amazed by their thinking!

SCIENCE:

I sent the pups home with some MOON homework.  The directions say to go to the following website...
click here
After you pick some important dates you "should" find what phase the moon was in on that date.  Then the pup should color it in on thier recording sheet with a white crayon! I say should because I've been trying to get there today and it says the server is not loading...SO...these are not DUE until Dec. 3, 2012.

We made this map a couple of days ago.  We put everything we thought we knew about the moon. We may still have some questions...Today we watched Papa Get the Moon For Me (watch the book here)

and then we added some NEW things (in black).  It is so much fun to listen to the pups talk things out as we do different activities.  "NOWWWW I know what phases are!", "HEY, that's a cresent!", "A full moon is really only 1/2 of the moon."  "I think it orbits around the sun!" "No the sun orbits around the moon." "No the sun does not move ever!" Again...I love the thinking process and I can honestly say I don't remember thinking like this when I was SIX!

SHOW DON'T TELL

It looks as if I cut off the top of our chart...I starting "kindergarten sentence (as we like to call them)" is The boy went up the stairs.
We are having a lot of fun creating our "SPARKLE" "mood" sentences.  I can't wait until they begin to show up in our writing!  Some little pups are giving it a try but we still need some practice before we share with the world!

Well, it's hard to believe that a week of the 4 we had until Holiday Break is almost over! It is crazy how fast things seem to be going this year! I know this is an exciting time of the year but...we have lots to do and hopefully will be able to do some "fun" stuff.  However, the talking is getting a bit out of hand and I am having to change colors more than usual! Please remind your pup that best behavior is needed in order to learn and have fun at school!

Have a wonderful evening and thanks for all that you do!  I am ever so thankful each morning that I get to walk into this room with this bunch of PUPS!

Manic Monday!

WOW! What a crazy way to come back from a break! The day was soooo short...I feel like I didn't even get a chance to be with my pups! But I think overall we had an awesome day!

A NOTE from the PTA:

We're using VolunteerSpot (the leading online signup and reminder tool) to organize our upcoming activity.
Please sign up for Staff Appreciation Luncheon - here's how it works in 3 easy steps:
1. Click this link to go to our invitation page on VolunteerSpot: http://vols.pt/5dwAmj
2. Enter your email address: (You will NOT need to register an account on VolunteerSpot)
3. Sign up! Choose your spots - VolunteerSpot will send you an automated confirmation and reminders. Easy! Note: VolunteerSpot does not share your email address with anyone. If you prefer not to use your email address, please contact me and I can sign you up manually.


Over the break some fun things happened...
Darrin's football team WON THE SUPERBOWL...

LOOK at those purple mohawks...Mom, where's yours?  Congratulation Darrin on your WIN, hard work and dedication!

Arabella and Jack played together at the park!

I had to stand on my head to make sure that was Jack! YEP, sure enough it is!!!

Isabella helped get the Thanksgiving Feast prepared!

Or did she EAT it all?

This morning I did let everyone tell me their favorite "small moment" of the break...and my sweet Owen said,
"I got to see Miss Guy at Hobby Lobby!"  Oh how I wish I had taken a picture to share as that was such a wonderful small moment for me as well! I missed my pups terribly!

I did travel (by car) with my mom and bubby (Hank) to North Dakota! We had a wonderful trip...

He's a silly boy who LOVES president facts and reading!  He kept us entertained to say the least!

Frisco Fire Safety Town

FUN!

 Miss Leslie was showing us how important it is for BOOSTERS! Yes, in Texas, kids under the age of 9 or under 4' 9" MUST be in a booster!

 This slide shows us how the seatbelt should fit! And then the FUN began... We got the chance to be pedestrians as well as drivers today in Safety Town!



TOP DOG

Justin told us all about himself!  He likes dinos, superheros and ice cream! 

Whew!

SLIME U

Was a HUGE success! Hopefully, Ms. Ruth from the office will send pictures!  We all had so much fun!  So much fun that I had to run home at recess time to shower and "DE slime" before my trip to North Dakota!

Turkey Greetings

See you all in a WEEK!

Thursday and Friday

It's going to be a crazy busy next couple of days leading up to Fall Break!

As we close out our Marc Brown author study we would like to celebrate with a "sick day"!  We all know when we are sick it's best to stay in our jammies, cuddle with our blankets and stuffed friends.  Since we cannot stay home we will all come down with a case of the "chicken pox" here at school! (our chicken pox will be washable crayola markers)



Not many little ones even know what chicken pox are ANYMORE! crazy...I had 3 little ole ones when I was little...My babysitter had 7 children and guess what? They all came down with HORRIBLE cases. OOOOPSIE.

Friday...your child will be attending SLIME U!  Please send them dressed in crazy NEON colors! Celebration of Learning should be FUN. Feel free to join us at 8:30!

!SLIME U!

Happy Holidays

To All My SUPER PUPS

           

Geometric 2d Shapes

Look what we know!

Homework...

New format...Homework will be coming out monthly for all of first grade.  This is suggested practice and I don't have to see it...OTHER than the connections on the puppy blog on Tuesdays.  If we have any special projects I will post those with a DUE DATE! As always, thank you so much for all that you do to support your SUPER PUP!

BOOSTERTHON:

I'm not sure I let everyone know our final pledge total!  2559.00 WOW!  We are doing great at getting those pledge dollars in...AND I have had a few extra pledges come in. You all and my SUPER PUPS are OUTSTANDING. As soon as collections have been made we will start having incentive parties! WOO HOO.

CURRICULUM:

We are finishing up our books and starting "manuals" (I love it, thanks Jack) for Ms. Moore's birthday! 

We read D.W.'s Lost Blankie and after we summarized it! Tomorrow we will make a game to help us sequence the story!

We started talking about 2D or (plane) shapes today! I love that my pups are able to use attributes to sort their shapes.  What smart cookies!

Seasons in the SUN here we come!  We will be describing what a tree looks like throughout the seasons.

Happy Holidays:

This week is going to fly by and we have so much to do! I do not anticipate blogging much. As soon as I leave here I need to start preparing for the 24 hour trip to ND.  I'm just a "little" bit excited to get there. Leaving as soon as all the pups are gone on Friday! I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday. I will miss all my pups!

Don't forget...Field Trip on Monday when we return! 9:00.  If you want to come please join us!  We need helpers on the "jeep" course.  If you want to come you may come to school and follow the bus or you can just meet us there about 9:30. Please remember that we would prefer no siblings on field trips!

STARRING the SUPER PUPS

This digital slideshow created with Smilebox

Too many pictures to load...Enjoy the show!

WHEW! Wednesday...

BOOSTERTHON tomorrow...PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't forget to put your SUPER pup in his/her Fun Run t-shirt. They were sent home last week! The number of laps are recorded on the back as they run! So...if it is chilly then a long sleeved shirt will be needed UNDER the t-shirt!
Feel free to come out and support your pup and all the SUPER pups from 8:30-9:30 tomorrow morning.

Andre the Giant came in today
I CHOOSE a GOOD ATTITUDE! (hopefully the video will upload)
We are at 67.00/lap! WOW

WRITING:
I am one tired teacher. BUT a happy one!  These pups CONTINUE to UH-maze me!!! We started our morning adding details to my writing.  Then I sent them off...now all of them are in different stages of this process but I just love watching them write! Today we had several in the conferencing stages...there was a bit of editing for some but everyone worked for the 20+ minutes so hard.  I EVEN had two of my girls finish.  I just finished typing up their books.  They will get to choose covers and illustrate tomorrow and we will have our first set of published books!  I am so excited I can hardly stand it!
I am going to wait until we have finished projects before I post pictures!


READING:
We reviewed Arthur's Computer Disaster and then retold it from our flow map.  (I do have video...but You Tube is not cooperating right now.)
Then everyone sequenced their own story and color coded it beginning, middle and end style!

TOP DOG:
Our top dog wasn't here today!

MATH:
And problem solving...they blew me away!
The problem was...
There were 3 girls with their feet in the pool. There were also 2 boys with their feet in the pool. How many toes were in the pool!  (CRAZY multi-step...but nothing is too much for my SUPER PUPS) I told them there were different ways to solve this. (thinking in my head 2 ways...adding 5s or adding 10s) And sure enough they found other ways! I LOVE the 30+20=50...I told them I like being wrong when it means THEY are UH-mazing!

Well...videos are still uploading to You Tube and I've been up since about 3:00am...I need to go home! I will add them at another time!  Hope to see you all tomorrow!

The Holiday Season

I cannot believe it is here already...well maybe I can!

It is the time of year when the spirit of the holidays fills us with joy!  We want to spread that feeling to families in Frisco who need help insuring the holidays are memorable and filled with wonder for their children. 

Your child's class is participating in a service project to sponsor and "Angel" during this holiday season.  "Angels" are less fortunate children in this community.  These families and children will have a joyful and memorable holiday season with your help and generosity. 

Please send your donationsto school with your child:

1. Un-wrapped
2. In a bag labeled with the angel number
3. If you are buying for more than one angel, please send in separate bags, with angel number on each bag/gift
4. If you would like to donate wrapping paper, please send a roll with your gifts. 
5. Make sure gifts are in the classroom by :

     Nov. 26th!
Our Angels are:

 4 year old Female
Pants: Toddler 5T
Shirt: Toddler 5T
Shoe: Kids 12
Coat: Toddler M
Underwear: Girls 6
NEED: shoes, coat, sweaters, socks, clothes
WISH: Disney Princess Doll, Princess Dress w/heels, barbies

11 year old Male
Pants: Boys 12
Shirt: Boys 10/12
Shoe: Men 5.5
Coat: 12
Underwear: Boys S
NEED: shirts, pants, shoes, socks, jacket
WISH: Bike (20 in), bow&arrow, super mario bros for the wii

Terrific Tuesday!

Today we HIT the polls! Yep, it was voting day at Robertson.  9:00 and we opened them up! We don't know the results but as soon as we hear I will let you know! (Unfortunately...the lines were long and I forgot my camera)

WRITING:
We are using a "Flee Map" (a tree + a flow) to organize our writing and to make sure we have our transition words! We will add the tree part tomorrow. We will add at least one detail to every event.

I modeled:
Opening:  Last year over Thanksging break Bubba (aka Jack) and I went to North Dakota.  We were visiting my sister and nephew. This answers our questions of Who, What, Where and When and gives the reader a clear idea of what I will be writing about. Notice it is in green...we are just getting going!

First we drove 24 hours to get there.  Once we got there I was sick and it started to snow.  After 3 short days we had to leave. That is the "meat" of my paper. (ssssh don't tell...but tomorrow we are going to add some details to each event) Yellow to indicate slow down and get the facts.

Ending: Guess what? Hank (Bubby) and I are driving there this Thanksgiving.  And that's my ending! Red becuase I'm done!

This is a picture of our map...feel free to help your SUPER pup organize his/her ideas in this way in order to stretch their story over several "pages".  I am so excited about the writing that goes on in our classroom! As we finish these pieces and get them "published" I will SHARE!

READING:
Today as a part of our author study we listened to Arthur's Computer Disaster by Marc Brown.  After listening to the story...I pulled out the "flow map" cards again!  We had eight story cards we needed to sequence. You will notice that they are much like the writing map we used earlier in the day.  We are making the connection that when we write we are AUTHORS!
If we look closesly we can see that there are 2 parts we considered the beginning, 5 in the middle and 3 at the end!  Much like our own writing.  Once we start to make this connection our stories are going to ROCK OUT!
TOP DOG TUESDAY:

Gotta LOVE The Wacky Substitute... And then can I just say how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE my SUPER pups!  Mr. I was in the classroom this afternoon and my Top Dog is just reading away UH mazingly and the pups start to count the characters on the page and notice that most pages have an odd number of things or characters...someone says, "well...wacky means odd"! What a great connection AND led us right into...

MATH:
I don't have any pictures of what was going on because...you guessed it ...it was kind of hard to stop and take photos while being observed!   I love having Mr. I in our classroom though. He always laughs at us! 
With that being said...we had some great thinking going on today! I need to just tape a whole day! You all would be astounded by how first graders are able to verbalize what they are thinking!  It just warms my heart. I couldn't ask for a BETTER class of pups!
Mr. I was shocked at our problem solving today...Eric had 2 money jars and 8 dimes. If he put equal amounts of dimes in each jar how much money was in each jar!  NOT only are we dividing BUT it's another multi step problem.  One of my SUPER pups even said we could use our DOUBLES strategy to help us...And then once we got them divided equally  we had to know how much a dime was worth and then skip count it up!  We noticed that 4+4=8 AND 40+40=80! BLOW ME AWAY...I love those connections and observations!

LIVE on 313:

BOOSTERTHON:
Jammin' Aaron just keeps on giving out rewards...AND teaching us fun stuff! 

We LOVE Jammin' Aaron!

Notice that sticker in his hand...LAST "official" day to get pledges!

I CHOOSE fitness!

Have a wonderful evening!  I'm the luckiest first grade teacher...thank you all so much for supporting, Robertson, the SUPER pups and ME!

Nov. 5, 2011

You all are doing amazing and I thank you for supporting Robertson, your child and our classroom! Keep the pledges coming! I believe we have reached our 40.00 class incentive…Movie Day and have decided that we will do all of the incentives up to 40.00 on the SAME day (movie, popcorn, P.J.s and stuffed friends) even though we are not sure on the day yet!


CAN we get to 50.00 a lap??? What should the incentive be?? Any suggestions?

Hey Robertson Parents,
We hope you had a great weekend! Today has been another great day of visiting classrooms! Today’s Choice Challenge was to CHOOSE LEARNING. Our Highway Hero was Thomas Edison, and students learned about how he changed the world through inventions. All of his success began with a desire to read and learn how the world works. The students seemed to really soak it up, and we expect the traffic to pick up a bit in your library! Leaders are readers, and it is our hope that Robertson students would be the leaders of their generation.
First off, we would like to congratulate the Kindergarten as they won the recess challenge! Way to go Kindergarten students, parents, and teachers for helping your school!
As of today, we as a school are at 50% of our overall goal. We need your help to continue making this a huge success! Can you help us by connecting your students to sponsors? Also don't forget to log on to www.funrun.com tonight to see the newest music video that goes along with I CHOOSE LEARNING.
Thank you again for your support, and we look forward to seeing you on Thursday at the Fun Run!

Robertson Elementary and the Boosterthon Team
Serving Schools,

Aaron Harding
Experience Leader
808.298.7633
AaronH@boosterthon.com
Boosterthon.com
Facebook
Blog

TOP DOG MONDAY

Let's Get Excited...

If anyone has the following books/dvds that we can borrow for a couple of weeks...please send them in!

Arthur's Teacher Trouble
D.W.'s Lost Blankie
Arthur's Computer Disaster
Arthur's Eyes
Arthur and the True Francine
Arthur's Tooth
Arthur's Pet Business
Arthur's Underware

Math homework...and classroom needs

this week!
Week of November 5, 2012

Homework
Number Sense:
Secret Picture: Use the 100's chart to create a simple picture. Then write the clues (see example). Bring them in and maybe yours will show up in a tub!

Problem Solving:
Darrin won four balls at the carnival. His friend, Miles, won six more balls than he did. How many balls did Darrin win?

Samantha ate seven pieces of candy after school. She ate 3 more pieces after dinner. How many pieces of candy did she eat in all?

Jack had eleven turkeys for sale. His friend, Arabella, bought one turkey. Ms. Guy bought 7 turkeys. How many turkeys did Jack have left?

Patterns:
Watch the Doubles Song...Make a chart of Doubles to 50 and Doubles +1 side by side. Look for the patterns.

Example:  Doubles           Doubles +1
                1+1=2             1+2=3
All homework is on the Homework Page (tab at the top) as well...so as this post "goes away" it's easy to find!
Classroom needs will be dated from now on so that you will know if it is a CURRENT need.

Busy Busy

HIPPEST IN THE HOUSE:
These two were recognized for being respectful!  Thank you Jack and Claire!

SQUARE ONE ART:

Today your child's artwork and specially made sticker is being sent home.  You can order online and pay by credit card using the code assigned to your child or you can order by check (made out to Square One Art) or cash and return to Robertson.  DEADLINE is Nov. 9th.

SOUNDS like a great holiday gift for someone...If you have questions please contact Shanda Clay

sclay_csr@yahoo.com

FUN RUN:
My SUPER pups have been getting pledges...we are up to almost 30.00/lap!  WOWzers!!!
We have pledges from 7 states (that's 3rd in the school!) Last night we added CA, KS, AR, LA and FL.
BREAKING NEWS:
Anyone that gets 2.00/laps pledged this weekend will get a Boosterthon AQUA bottle in addition to any other prizes earned! WOO HOO that would be nice to have on Thursday as we run!! Good LUCK!  AND...My Kissi Bug...just made a pledge from North Dakota! 
So...I see 10 SUPER pups have logged in...that's wonderful let's see if everyone can get logged in this weekend!
STATS:
SUPER pups: Pledges:  FIRST (yes you read that right) in the grade level! THIRD in the school!
SUPER pups: States: FIRST in the grade level! Third in the school.

We have 19 pledges at 28.00/lap (well...I just went ahead and rounded that up to 30!)
Today we talked about being HONEST! and then...
Just look at all the PRIZES being given OUT!

 

Today is a busy day:

This morning we will go to the library.

We will take our spelling test and catch up on some readers and writers workshop time!

This afternoon...HOLD ON TO YOUR HATS...

Specials right after lunch
Computer
Bookbuddies
Round Up!

TOP DOG:

You MUST listen to the video!!! Austin (my little teacher)!

CLASS NEED:

A rubber door stop

WEEKEND:

I hope everyone is able to get logged into Fun Run make some calls and gets some pledges!  We are all looking forward to next Thursday and the acutal RUN DAY!  We are scheduled from 8:30-9:30 with Kinder (in our NEW PARK)!  Everyone is welcome to join us and cheer on the SUPER pups!

Have a wonderful weekend!

COMING UP:

11/6 Election Day
11/6 Picture Retakes
11/6 MooYAH Night

11/7 KIWI CLASS SHIRTS

11/8 FUN RUN 8:30
11/12 Room Parent Meeting 6:30

11/13 Mismatch dress day

11/15 Kinder PTA program

11/16 Boosterthon Collection Day

11/16 Celebration of Learning

11/19-23 No School