T-1 News February 14-18, 2011

We had an awesome week! The weather was beautiful and we FINALLY got to resume outside recess. We even had a few days when we stayed out a little longer than usual to get our extra energy out. Here is other stuff we have doing:

A PEEK AT THIS WEEK
This week we talked about describing words in sentences, specifically words that describe feelings. We also discussed the long i sound as we see it in the -i-consonant-sneaky e spelling patterns (ex.-lake, like) and reviewed the digraph (H brother) wh. We took our spelling test AND, I am proud to announce, WE ALL MADE 100's!!!! Our theme for this week was the art as it is found in nature. We are discussing different kinds of art and how it is not always something to hang on the wall. We also continued talking about our Character Trait, Confidence. We learned that being confident means believing in yourself and your abilities, no matter how hard the task might be. In Math we finished Unit 1 in the next level of our math book. Our skills were visualizing numbers as 5-groups & ones; exploring doubles (ex.-4+4); even & odd numbers; consolidating numbers 1-10; and using mathematical processes (higher level thinking skills). I also encourage you to keep practicing time and counting money at home, as these will be skills tested on our standardized test in the spring.

LOOKING AHEAD
Next week, we will talk about the topic of Simple Machines. We will attempt to build our own robot models and a Family Home Project will be sent home. We will also spend a good amount of time continuing to work on our writing skills. I am striving for the boys to be able to correctly write a six sentence paragraph by the spring, as well as make their fictional stories more exciting by adding multiple sentences full of detail. So far, the boys are doing a great job with this, but we are still working on this becoming more of an independent skill. Also, if your child has anything he would like to share that goes a long with our weekly theme, then I encourage him to bring it in. In Language Arts, our weekly skills will be the soft consonant c /s/ as it is seen in nice and describing words:color, shape, and size. Our spelling test will be on words that have the soft c spelling pattern. Our Word Wall words for the week are pretty, favorite, children, almost, new. We will continue talking about our character trait, Respect. In Math we will begin Chapter 2 in the next level of the Math series. Our skill for the week will be addition.

OUS AUCTION
The Oxford University School annual auction is slowly sneaking up on us. In the past, each class has been asked to come up with a class auction item for guests to bid on during the silent auction part of the evening. After speaking with one of our T-1 room moms, V Chapman, our class has decided to do a "Date Night" themed basket. Please be on the look-out for more information from V in the next couple of weeks! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

UPCOMING DATES TO REMEMBER
Friday, February 25: Last Friday of the month SPIRIT DAY
Monday, February 28: Ms. Sarah's maternity leave begins/ Ms. Carolyn Davis will begin subbing
Friday, March 11- Friday, March 18: Spring Break!!!!! NO SCHOOL
Wednesday, March 23: Report Cards go home
Thursday, March 24-Wednesday, March 30: T-1 Stanford Achievement Testing (PLEASE make sure your child is here on time AND well rested!)
Friday, March 25: OUS Annual Golf Tournament
Saturday, March 26: OUS Annual Auction (6:00pm-10:00pm) See you there!!!!

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me or send me a note at any time. I will continue to check my email during my maternity leave, so please feel free to continue emailing me. If there is an immediate concern, emergency, or transportation change please call Stephanie at the front office, 234-2200. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!