Weekly Preview December 12-16

It's almost here! We can't wait for Christmas! I understand that the children did a fantastic job singing at Jackson Hospital. Thank you so much for arranging your schedule to let your child share with others. We also enjoyed seeing the Kindergarten Christmas program and remembering what we did when we were young and in kindergarten.

We have been using the iPads and iPods in the classroom this week. I understand that some of the "giants" in the upper school would like to be back in first grade.

Please continue to count coins at home. We will add quarters to the mix next week.

The Christmas party is Thursday from 2:00-3:00. Carpool is at 11:30 Friday. Our first day back in 2012 is January 4.

Here is what we'll be learning next week:
Reading -- long u (ue, ui, ou, oo), details
Language -- nouns and verbs
Spelling -- Spelling City list 6-2
Math -- counting pennies, dimes, nickels, quarters
Science -- heat, light, and sound
Bible -- The Shepherds and the Wise Men (no memory verse--review the Christmas verses)

I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas. I am thankful for each of you and your children are treasures!
Merry Christmas!
Mrs. Morrison

Weekly Preview December 5-9

Wow! December is here and the air is filled with excitement! It seemed to happen overnight.

Thursday, December 8, is when Ahna's Angels sing at Jackson Hospital. I am conducting a vocal ensemble at my church for our Christmas drama on December 9. 10, and 11 and our dress rehearsal is that night. Christy Hale is going to line my class up and Mrs. Etheredge and Mrs. McNelley will also be there to help. I'm so sorry to miss hearing them sing. Thanks, Christy, for your help!

Grades for this nine weeks are due December 14. We are going to count the grades for that week on the next nine weeks. So next week's grades will be the last ones that will count on this report card.

Our Christmas party will be on Thursday, December 15, from 2:00-3:00. We will have early dismissal at 11:30 on Friday, December 16. Students will come back on Wednesday, January 4, 2012.

We will be counting money next week. We will count pennies, nickels, and dimes with amounts up to $1.00. If your child is having some trouble with this, you can break it down by counting nickels and pennies, then move to dimes and pennies, then mix dimes, nickels, and pennies. We will add the quarters when we come back from Christmas. This is a hard skill and practice at home every night with real coins will be very helpful!

Here is our work for next week:
Reading -- long o (oa, oe, o, ow), ABC order
Spelling -- list 6-1 on Spelling City
Language --verbs
Math -- counting money
Science -- heat, light, and sound
Bible -- Jesus is Born (memory verse Luke 2:11)

Have a wonderful weekend!
Mrs. Morrison

Weekly Preview November 28-December 2

Our Thanksgiving Feast was a huge success! The costumes were precious and the weather was great! Thank you to all of you who helped set up and clean up. I think the children really enjoyed it. I am thankful for each child in my class and for a wonderful group of parents!

I hope you are having a wonderful week off for Thanksgiving. I'm enjoying spending time with my family. My daughter has been accepted to a graduate program with Iowa State. She will be moving home after Christmas and she'll be doing her clinical rotations for her dietetic internship here and in Auburn from January to June. It's very exciting and we have lots to do!

I asked the children to take all jackets and sweaters home over the holiday to be washed. Please double check the names and make sure your child has his or her own jacket. Since they all look alike, some may have accidentally gone home with the wrong owners!

Here is what we'll be working on when we get back:
Reading -- long i (ie, ign, ild, igh), cause/effect, contractions
Spelling -- list 5-3 on Spelling City
Math -- mixed practice (addition/subtraction facts to 12)
Language -- verbs
Social Studies --maps and globes
Bible -- An Angel Visits Mary, Zacharias, and Joseph (memory verse Luke 2:7)

Happy Thanksgiving!
Mrs. Morrison

Weekly Preview November 14-18

Thanksgiving is here! We will have our feast at 10:30 Friday. We are planning to have it outside near the concession stands. If the weather does not cooperate, we will move inside to the New Gym lobby. We need to be dressed in our Pilgrim or Indian costumes. We will be learning Psalm 100 this week to say before our feast. Parents are welcome to attend and take pictures. (I hear that a special feathered friend may even make an appearance!)

I hope you have had a nice long weekend. Remember that we will be out of school the whole week of Thanksgiving. Please go ahead and mark December 8 on your calendar. Ahna's Angels will be singing at Jackson Hospital after school. Mrs. Ahna will be sending home details soon.

Here is what we'll be working on next week:
Reading -- long e (ee, ea), generalizations
Language -- Thanksgiving activities
Math -- subtraction from 12
Social Studies -- maps, Thanksgiving
Spelling -- list 5-2 on Spelling City (long e)
Bible -- Psalm 100

I am thankful for you!
Mrs. Morrison

Weekly Preview November 7-11

It's already mid-term! Please look for the mid-term progress reports in the red folder Monday.

I sent the spelling words home Friday since we will not be in school next Friday, November 11. We will have the practice test Wednesday and the test Thursday. The spelling words are on Spelling City as list 5-1.

I have added IXL Math to the links on my blog, next to Spelling City and Starfall. I will send home a letter in the red folder Monday that has your child's username and password. We went to this site in computer this week so the children are familiar with it. You can use this at home as excellent math practice.

Thanksgiving is approaching! We will dress as Pilgrims or Indians on November 18 for our feast. We will be out of school the entire week of Thanksgiving.

Here is what we'll be working on next week:
Reading -- long a (ai, ay, a_e), compare/contrast
Spelling -- long a (list 5-1)
Language -- pronouns
Math -- addition practice to 12, 3 addends
Social Studies -- maps, Thanksgiving
Bible -- obeying God (memory verse Proverbs 3:5-6)

Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Morrison

Weekly Preview October 31-November 4

Thank you so much for a great conference day. I really appreciate everyone coming. I hope it was helpful to you.

I told several parents that we will begin IXL soon. This is a math program that your child can do on the computer at home to practice math facts. I will be sending you a letter with your child's name and password and you can get started. I also had a suggestion today about putting spelling words on SpellingCity.com. I put next week's words on there today and your child can play several different games and even take a test on the computer. You can put in my name and find them under lesson 4-3.

I saw a big improvement in the real Daily Edit grades this week compared to the practice last week! I will not be sending home a math grade Monday because we did lots of hands-on place value practice this week and we won't get to the graded work until next week. They had a blast doing the math rotations!

Here is what we'll be working on next week:
Reading -- e on the end (silent e makes the vowel say its name), more shortcuts (ing, ang, ong, ung, ink, ank, onk, unk), sequencing
Language -- special nouns
Math -- place value, greater than, less than
Science -- finish liquids
Social Studies -- communities
Bible -- Josiah reads God's Word (memory verse Proverbs 3:6)

Stay warm this weekend!
Mrs. Morrison

Weekly Preview October 24-28

What a great Homecoming Week! Thanks for all of your help getting us dressed up for each day! It was so much fun, and the weather for the parade and picnic was perfect!

Since next week is a four day week for the students, I sent the spelling words home Thursday. We will take the practice test Wednesday and the test Thursday.

This week we did our first week of Daily Edit in language. Each day, I give them one sentence and read it to them. I tell them how many mistake are in the sentence, but not the type of mistake. There may be mistakes in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, or spacing. They write the sentence correctly and I take the papers up. Then we go over the sentence together and correct it on the SmartBoard. They know immediately if they got it correct. I go through the sentences before the next day and correct the mistakes in red ink. If they wrote the sentence correctly I put a little smile face at the end. When they get the papers back the next day, they see where I marked their answers, but they can't change anything on the previous day's sentence. The five sentences for the week will count as one daily grade in language and will come home in the signed papers. This week was a practice and did not count as a grade, but I will send it home Monday so you can see what I'm talking about. I marked it as though it counted so you can see what the grade would have been, but I wrote PRACTICE in big letters so you'll know it didn't count as a grade this week.

I look forward to seeing you on conference day. I have several things to give you as we look at your child's progress. I'm booked close together during the day. If my door is closed, just wait out in the hall and I'll get to you as soon as my other conference is over. I'll be very sensitive to the 15 minutes so you won't have to wait very long. Thank you in advance for your help in all that you do to help your child learn at school.

Here is our work for next week:
Reading -- "bossy" r (ar, or, er, ir ur), evaluate, compare/contrast
Math --place value
Language -- nouns
Science -- liquids
Bible -- Josiah the Boy King (memory verse Proverbs 3:5)

Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Morrison