Pictures from the Pajama Drive for Sulzbacher Center

Updates December 13-17

Good afternoon!

We have a very exciting week planned! Tomorrow (Tuesday) we have a holiday sing a-long in music with other first grade classes. Then, on Wednesday, we celebrate the Polar Express! All students are invited to come to school in his/her pajamas (but wear appropriate shoes for P.E.)! They are also welcome to bring a pillow and/or small blanket to enjoy the movie. We will be having hot chocolate and cookies just like in the movie. On Thursday is our holiday craft day and our holiday party. We would love to have some extra hands on Thursday if you are able to help out! There is no need to send lunch for your child on Thursday as we will be ordering pizza for lunch. If your child does not like pizza, you can send him/her a bag lunch. Thursday night is the Bartram Springs Holiday Story night. Come join in the fun as it will be a fabulous time!

Friday we will be having our spelling test, so please be sure to help your child study his/her spelling words this week!

Our secret word for the week is vacation! I hope all of you have a blessed and safe holiday season and we will blog again in January 2011!!

What a wild ride!

Hi everyone!

I just returned from Disney's Wide World of Sports where my daughter's cheerleading squad placed 6th in the nation. It was an exhausting, but very exciting, weekend. I hope the kids did well today when I was out, but they are such a great group that I'm sure they were fantastic!
Please remember to sign and return the progress reports you received on Friday (if you haven't already). I am starting to see a downturn in the number of homework packets that are being returned on Fridays. Please make sure that your child is doing his/her homework nightly. It is a reinforcement of the skills that we are covering in class. It is especially important that your child is reading on a nightly basis and that you are asking him/her questions about the reading. Also, please remember to help your child study for the spelling tests on Friday. We practice these words in class, but it is also important for them to practice them at home.
Have a wonderful week! Our secret word is a word that we learned about on Friday: poinsettia.

Updates 11/29

Hello parents! I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday! Mine was very busy as we were in Orlando for my daughter's cheerleading squad to compete in the Regional Pop Warner cheer championships. They won first place! This means that they will be moving on to the National Championship which will take place next week. I will be out of school next Monday so that I can attend.

Progress reports will be coming home by the end of this week. Our skills and strategies are getting more difficult as the year goes on, so please look over the tests and classwork your child brings home so that you can be aware if your child is struggling in any area. I am always available for conferences if you feel that there is a need.

Our secret words for the week are candy cane! I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Updates: Week of November 22nd

Good afternoon! I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend! This is going to be a very short week at school, so there will be no homework this week. Please continue to read to your children daily and also have them read to you. The reading strategy we were working on last week was summarizing. Ask your child what they need to remember when giving a good summary and then have them summarize the book you are reading together.

Our resource schedule for this week is a bit different. We have no resources on Monday, and we will have art on Tuesday of this week. This is a make-up day from when we were out of school last Friday. Please remember that we are out of school on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week. You will be receiving email updates from myself and our room mom, Ms. Santos, about all of our upcoming holiday activities. We hope to give you plenty of notice so that if you would like to come in and help in the classroom, you will have adequate time to make arrangements.



Our secret word for this week is Thanksgiving! I hope each and every one of you have a wonderful holiday and a very happy Thanksgiving, for we all have MUCH to be thankful for! I am especially thankful that you allow me to share this time with your precious children. They are truly a gift!

Until next time!

Information for the week - 11/15-11/19

Good afternoon! I hope all of you enjoyed your long weekend! I know that I did. Homework went home today and it is due back on Friday. Next week is a short week, so there will be no homework. Please continue to work with your child on his/her spelling words and also the high frequency words that are on the homework every week. When I administered the High Frequency Word test for Theme 3, I noticed that there were many more students who struggled with reading the words than in the last theme. The word list that your child was tested on went home today with the words circled that he/she did not know. Please continue to work with your child on those words as they will continue to come up in our future stories.

Next Tuesday is the last day to turn in orders for Scholastic Books for this order. These books are below what the price is in the book stores and they make great gifts! Also, when you place an order, we get free books for our classroom. Remember, the books have to be ordered online at www.scholastic.com and if it is your first time ordering this year, you have to put in our class activation code which is H6M7M.

Please remember to sign or initial your child's planner every night. This is a way for me to ensure that you are looking at both your child's behavior for the day as well as any notes I may need to write to you individually.

Have a great evening and an excellent week! Oh yeah! The Secret Word for this week is Pilgrim!!

Until next time....

Short week!

Good morning parents!

Please remember that we don't have school on Thursday (Veterans' Day) or Friday (Weather Day) this week. Since that is the case, we have no homework this week. Please continue to read to your child and have him/her read to you. Also, have them retell the story to you making sure to include details from the beginning, middle, and end of the story. This will ensure that he/she is not just word-calling, but is understanding the story.

We had a GREAT time at the zoo! The kids were so well behaved and the weather was fabulous! I hope that if you haven't had the opportunity to join us yet on a field trip, you will try to come with us on one of the three remaining field trips. I am so blessed with a fantastic class this year. You are all doing a great job raising your children!

The secret word for this week is contractions which is what we are working on in skills block. Have your child tell you what a contraction is and how it is used.

Have a wonderful week and a great long weekend!

ZOO TOMORROW!

Good afternoon, parents!

Just a quick reminder that we are going to the zoo tomorrow on our field trip. It looks like it might be kind of chilly, so I'm going to tell the children to bring a sweatshirt or a jacket. If it is warmer than expected, they can tie it around their waists. The children do NOT need spending money as we will not be going into the gift shop or riding the train. We have some wonderful volunteers going with us so it should be an excellent field trip!

November is Here!

Can you believe it? The year is moving so quickly! Last week was a CrAzY week! We had activities scheduled every day for Reading Celebration Week. Thank you so much for sending in the ingredients that we needed to make our Fall Centers a success! All of the children were very well behaved last week, even during all of the extra activities. It made for a very fun week. This week should be a little more on the normal side. We will have music on Monday, P.E. on Wednesday, and we will go to the Media Center on Thursday this week. This is a schedule change because we are normally scheduled to go on Friday, but we will be on our Zoo field trip on Friday. Make sure to return your child's library book on Thursday so he/she can check out another one. Report cards will go home on Tuesday this week. Please remember to return the yellow envelope!
Please don't forget to dress your child in his/her Bartram Springs Elementary t-shirt on Friday if you have one, otherwise, please dress him/her in a green shirt. This will help us to identify all of our little bugs as belonging to our group. Remember that a bag lunch is NOT needed for this field trip as lunch was included in the price of the field trip. We have four chaperones going on this field trip besides myself, so the groups will be absolutely manageable. This is my favorite field trip, and the weather should be fabulous! Please make sure that your child is at school on time on Friday because we need to be prepared to board the bus and leave by 9:00 a.m.
The secret word for this week is ZOO! Also, please remember that the secret word is only accepted for the extra sticker on Tuesday mornings. I remind them on Monday afternoon to remind you that night ;-)
Until next time, stay buggy!!

Exciting week!

Good evening! I hope you have had a fabulous weekend! Remember, Monday is a Teacher Planning Day, so your little angels will be at home with you! This week is our Bartram Springs Reading Celebration Week. You should have gotten a flyer home on Friday to tell you all of the activities we will be involved in this week. We have PE on Wednesday, so make sure to wear appropriate shoes. Also, we have Art on Friday, and that is always a fun resource that the kids look forward to. Don't forget that the Fall Festival is on Friday evening. You should have received home an order form to pre-order your tickets. That will save you time standing in line on Friday night. It will be a very enjoyable and family-friendly evening, so I hope to see you all there! This will be a very exciting week, but please remind your child that we are still having our regular lessons and he/she is still expected to follow school and classroom rules. Our secret word for the week is HALLOWEEN! I spent all day today at a cheer competition with my daughter. I also saw Sydney C. perform and she did an AWESOME job! Congratulations, Sydney C!
Until next time, stay buggy!!

News for the week!

Good afternoon! What wonderful weather we are having! The children are enjoying being outside now more than ever. It is so nice to go to the playground without the soaring temperatures. I wanted to catch you up with some information. Please remember that this Wednesday, October 20th is Early Dismissal. We will begin dismissing at 1:30. Also, Monday, October 25th, is a Teacher Planning Day so there is no school for the students.

Permission slips and money are due for our Zoo field trip on Wednesday, October 27th. Many of you have already sent that in, so thank you! There are still plenty of spaces for chaperones if you are interested!

There are still many planners that are coming in unsigned. Please make sure you are signing, or at least initialing, your child's planner nightly. This is where you will find his/her behavior for the day as well as any notes I need to write to you. The best way to monitor your child's daily activities is with an open line of communication.

Finally, please remember that your child will only get credit for the secret word in his/her planner if it is in there, in your handwriting, on Tuesday morning. Every week, I have a heartbroken child who brings the secret word in on Wednesday or Thursday. The secret word for this week is WHERE

Until next time, stay BuGgY!!

Happy Weekend!

Good evening! I hope all of you are having a restful weekend! Hopefully your child brought home his/her Jacksonville Zoo field trip form yesterday. Please notice on the back page that you need to make a meal choice for your child. The meal is included in the price of the field trip. Please make sure to have those signed and returned no later than October 27th.

There are quite a few students who are coming in without having their planners signed or initialed by parents. Please make sure to sign your child's planner every day. This lets me know that you are aware of their behavior for the day and that is the main path of communication between school and home.

We are ready to begin having parent helpers in the classroom, so if you would like to come in during the day to help, please let me know what days/times work best for you. Also, thank you so much to those of you who have already scheduled conferences with me. If you haven't, please let me know a day/time that works best for you.

Our secret word for the week is a skill we have been working on in math: Patterns!

Have a great rest of your weekend!

Reminders

Good evening!

I just wanted to remind you that the last day to send in money for the Book Fair is Friday. The Book Fair will be open late on Thursday evening so that you can come by after work if you choose. The children visited the Book Fair today and were able to do some "window shopping". They brought home a sheet listing some books that they were interested in purchasing. When you are figuring the total, don't forget to add tax!

Please look for a permission slip for our field trip to the zoo to come home on Friday. We will need the permission slip and the money returned no later than October 27th so that we can get our count and our meal choices to the field trip coordinator. We are in need of plenty of chaperones for this particular field trip, so if you are interested in coming along on a field trip, this is a fun one! The trip will be on November 5th.

We started our Guided Reading groups this week. They are going well and we are also slowly introducing more centers. Right now we have independent reading and/or partner reading, word work, listening center, and Guided Reading. The children are doing very well moving cooperatively among the centers and staying on task.

Until next time, stay buggy!!

It's FALL!!

Good evening! We are so enjoying this fall weather! We have talked about the things we see around us during the season of fall. As a matter of fact, that is our secret word this week: FALL! Don't forget that we visit the book fair during school on Wednesday. If you would like to send in money for your child to purchase books, please make sure it is in an envelope clearly marked for the book fair. On Thursday night, the PTA will keep the book fair open during the evening for those of you who would like to visit the book fair with your children. If you would like to purchase a book for our classroom, the PTA had each teacher fill out a wish list that will be posted at the book fair.

Our resource schedule has been adjusted a bit with the addition of four new teachers to our school. We will have music on Mondays, PE on Wednesdays, and media and art on alternating Fridays. We certainly have a full schedule!

Have a fabulously buggy week!

Happy Friday!

We have had a very busy week this week! Our first field trip went very well and we enjoyed our time at the library. On Friday we have our reading Selection Test on A Party for Bob as well as our Weekly Skills Test. I was not at school on Thursday, but the students were in very good hands with our guest teacher, Mrs. Flores. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and enjoy this taste of cooler weather. It is difficult to teach about Fall when the temperatures are still close to 90 degrees! Enjoy and don't forget to check back Monday night for the Secret Word!!

Hey you bugs!

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend! Don't forget that we are going on our very first field trip on Tuesday of this week! We are going to the Main Library downtown. It is going to be a great time! Please make sure you bring a bag lunch and a drink. Also, wear either your Bartram Springs t-shirt or a green shirt if you have one. We will miss PE this week, which is sad :-( but we will get to have art on Thursday!! Our secret word for the week is LIBRARY! Remind your parents to write it on your calendar page for Tuesday morning! It will get you an extra sticker! I can't wait to see you bright and early Monday morning so we can begin our week! Parents, progress reports will go home on Monday. Please sign your child's progress report and return it. I will then make a copy of it and send it back to you. Thank you and have a buggy weekend!

Moving right along!

Good afternoon!
Believe it or not, we are in our fourth week of first grade! Time is just flying by! We have finished all of our rituals and routines lessons and I have started introducing literacy centers during Reader's Workshop. I am continuing to do diagnostic testing individually on the children to guide my instruction. It is very important to me to make sure that I differentiate my instruction so that each student is receiving the instruction that he/she needs. We are working on writing stories from our experiences in Writer's Workshop and learning ways to make 6, 7, and 8 in Math. Please don't forget that our Open House is on Thursday evening September 23rd at 6:30 p.m.! I hope that you can all attend!

Until next time, stay BUGGY for learning!

Great first week!

We have had a wonderful first week in the first grade! We have had an opportunity to get to know one another and to make new friends. Our all important learning is moving ahead full force and we are following the first grade Sunshine State Standards. This week we have learned rituals and routines for Reader's Workshop, Writer's Workshop, and Math Workshop. We have talked about classroom rules and procedures that will help all of us learn and help keep our classroom running smoothly. Let me tell you, this is a smart group of students! I tell them many times a day that I am the luckiest teacher at Bartram Springs Elementary! We had an opportunity this week to meet all of our resource teachers and get a preview of coming attractions in PE, Art, and Music. We also visited the Media Center, met our Media Specialist, Mrs. Elledge, and picked up our textbooks. Next week we will begin FAIR testing which is a state-wide assessment to guide our instruction. If your child was a student in a Florida school last year, he/she will be familiar with the assessment. Finally, our second week of homework will be coming home tomorrow (Friday) please make sure that your child completes the assignment every night and the homework should come back to school in the red folder next Friday. Have a very wonderful weekend!

Orientation

It was fabulous to meet all of you this morning at our orientation! I think our class is going to be outstanding this year. Students, don't forget to do your homework over the weekend by filling your paper bag with three of your favorite things. Also, parents, don't forget to do your homework as well! You have to fill out all of that pesky paperwork that has to be returned. I will see all of you bright and early Monday morning! Remember to bring your smile and your great attitude!

First grade orientation

I hope everyone is having a fabulous summer! First grade's orientation will be on Thursday, August 19th at 9:00 a.m. We will meet in the cafeteria before visiting the classrooms. This will be a really good time for you and your child to familiarize yourselves with our classroom location and layout. We are in the green hallway, room 125. If you would like to bring in your child's school supplies on orientation day, that would be fantastic! Please do not label your child's supplies with his/her name. I look forward to seeing you then!