T-1 News February 7-11, 2011

Caiden, Jacob, and Davis hard at work on their Valentine toads

Clarence and Will working on their "Toad"ally Perfect Valentine toads

We had a fantastic week! We had an unexpected snow day on Thursday followed by our class Valentine party on Friday afternoon. Here is other stuff we have doing:

A PEEK AT THIS WEEK
This week we talked about how to trade regular nouns out for pronouns (he, she, it, they) in sentences. We also discussed the long e sound as we see it in the -y & -ie spelling patterns (ex.-pie, happy); the contractions 'll, 's, & 'n't; noting details (small things that help explain what a story is mainly about); and the Study Skill of alphabetical order. We also took our spelling test. Our theme for this week was the art of painting, sculpture, and drawing. 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 began Unit 1 in the next level of our math book. Our skills were break-aparts of 7, 8, 9, & 10 and adding in any order. I also encourage you to keep practicing time and money at home, as these will be skills tested on our standardized test in the spring.

LOOKING AHEAD
Next week, we will continue our 5-week unit on the different kinds of Art. In particular, we will talk about art in nature. 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. 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 long vowel i as it is seen in words with the i-consonant-e spelling pattern, describing words:feelings, and reviewing digraphs (the "H" brothers). Our spelling test will be on words that have the long i (-i-consonant-e) spelling pattern. Our Word Wall words for the week are together, once, while, sorry, because. We will begin talking about our character trait, respect. In Math we will finish Chapter 1 in the next level of the Math series. Our skills for the week will be 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).

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. Since I am going on maternity leave in two weeks, I would really like to get this out of the way and know that there is a plan in place so my substitute does not have to worry about this. In years past, some classes would have the kids make something (ex.--an art piece, a pottery plate with handprints). These were all very cute, BUT the bidding pool for items of that nature is VERY small. Last year, each class came up with a theme basket. This was far more successful! Some examples of baskets that were done last year are : "Family Game Night Basket," "Family Movie Night Basket," "Coffee Basket," "Small Wine Fridge/Wine Basket" (this one was done by both 1st grade classes last year). I have lots of other great ideas for other baskets if we do not have an idea picked out. I would also be willing to talk with Sandy Brown to see if 1st grade would like to combine with us as well. Please let me know if any of you have any ideas, or have heard any additional information about this. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

UPCOMING DATES TO REMEMBER
Monday, February 21: President's Day NO SCHOOL!!!!!

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

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!