This week instead of focusing on a new letter, the students will be learning phonograms: -at, an, and -am. They will use what they have learned about rhyming and letter sounds to help them blend sounds together to create words.

Our sight word for the week is to.

Vocabulary words are: sly, proceed, apparel, announced, imaginary and precisely.

In math we will be finishing up our chapter with numbers 0-10. The students are learning how to write their numbers (and letters!) correctly. In class we've been practicing starting at the "sky", going through the "fence", and ending at the "ground". When you practice writing at home, please reinforce this skill!

The book fair is going on in the Media center. Stop in and check out all the new books! The class will have the chance to fill out a wish list.

Friday is Grandfriend's Day at Shirley Hills. If your child is going home with their Grandfriend on Friday, please make sure that you have filled out the form and have sent it back on Monday, November 1^st.

The students are having so much fun roller skating with Mr. Halvarson!

Thank you to all of the parents who helped with the class Halloween Party! The students had so much fun! There was "Put the nose on the Pumpkin", a great guessing game, the students made popcorn hands, made decorative pumpkins and bats and played Bingo! Then they split up into three teams and made one of their classmates a mummy! Take a look at all the pictures. Just click on a picture under the title "Picasa Photostream".

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

We have been working on writing numbers 0 - 5. Tomorrow we will
practice on numbers 6 - 9. All the students are great at memorizing
the rhymes that help us write the numbers. They start at the sky, past
the fence and go down to the ground.
0 - Round and round just like an "O", now you've made the number zero.
1 - Start at the top and down you run, that's the way you make a one.
2 - Make a candy cane and give it a shoe, that's the way you make a two.
3 - Around and around just like a "B", that's how you make the number three.
4 - Down and over and down some more, that's how you make a four.
5 - Short neck, belly fat, Mr. Five wears a hat.
6 - Make a "C" then in you go, now you've made a six you know.
7 - Across the sky and down from heaven, that's the way you make a seven.
8 - Make an "S" and then don't wait, go back up and make an eight.
9 - Make a circle then a line, that's the way you make a nine.

Week of 10/25 - 10/29:
This week we will be rereading stories from the theme "Families". Rereadings enable a child to discuss a story's big ideas on deeper levels.

This weeks letter: "Aa"

We will be reviewing the sight words: I, a, my, the and go

We will be reviewing all our vocabulary words: feast, gusto, prepare, lonely, remind, preoccupied, appetite, savor, urgency, aroma, surround, tradition

In Math we will be using benchmarks to make estimations. We will be talking about the words estimate, more and fewer.

In Science we will be observing what is happening to our class tree.

In Social Studies we will be talking about the "gifts" a family gives each other. We will be making a Family Book.

I will be sending home conference slip reminders this week. All conferences will be Monday, November 8th. If you have any questions regarding your conference time, please feel free to contact me. I'm looking forward to meeting with all of you.

This week the students will be getting very excited for our Halloween celebration. There are some parents planning our class party which I know will be a great success. On Friday, October 29th, please have you child wear his/her costume to school. It will be a very fun day! The MWHS band will be performing their annual Halloween concert for the whole school at 9:00 am. Mrs. Swanson will follow with Halloween safety tips. Our class and Mrs. Schmitz class will parade around the 1st floor classrooms after the assembly is over. (Costumes may not be scary, bloody, or include weapons.)

This week we will be reviewing our sight words, going over our vocabulary words, working on graphing in math and practicing writing our numbers. We will be checking on our class tree. We will be making observations and seeing how it has changed.

We will be working on a Reader's Theater play this week too. The students loved the book Laura's parents read to the class last week. I found a script that goes along with the book, "The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid Of Anything". There will be a lot of CLOMPING, WIGGLING, SHAKING, CLAPPING, and NODDING going on in the classroom!

Laura's Mom and Dad came in to share some traditions they do as a family to celebrate the Star of the Week. They also read the book, "The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid Of Anything".

Today was our first time going to the Computer Lab. Mrs. Couser does a great job explaining how to use the computers. She has a wonderful way showing the students where and what to do. Thank you Mrs. Couser!

Today we practice writing the letter "Cc".

Laura shared her "All About Me Tee" Poster with the class.

October 11 - 15
This week we will continue talking about what families do together and the class will be reading the stories "Bee-bim Bop" and Up, Up, Up! It's Apple Picking Time".

Our sight word is "go"
We will learn about the letter "Cc"
We will be talking about words that rhyme.
We will be focusing on the characters in the stories we read this week.
Our vocabulary words are: appetite, savor, urgency, aroma, surround, tradition
When the students write in their October journal this week, we will be working on sentences. How do we start a sentence and what are the different kinds of punctuation marks we can use.

We will be starting our Social Studies Unit: What is a family?
We will explore what makes families special and make our collage. We will talk about "gifts" family members give and do for each other.

Five Little Pumpkins Sitting On The Fence!

Rose's Mom came in to celebrate Rose's birthday and Rose being Star of the Week. Rose unwrapped birthday books her family donated to our classroom library! Thank you Mrs. Gonzalez for reading the books and teaching the class some Spanish words! You did a great job!

Please have your child bring in a picture of an activity you do as a family by Friday, Oct. 8th. They can draw it or it can be a photo. We will be making a classroom collage.

It was a beautiful day for a Field Trip to the Apple Orchard! The students learned how the apples are washed, they learned how to pick apples off the trees, we went on a hayride, picked apples, and had some apple cider! We had a great day!

Congratulations to Malia's Dad for running in the Twin City Marathon! Malia brought in her father's medal!

Happy Birthday Rose!

This week we are starting a new theme: Families
Your child will be reading "Bear's Busy Family" and "What Will Mommy Do When I'm at School?" We will be talking about the characters in each of the stories and making predictions. The children will brainstorm and chart different activities families like to do together.

Please have your child bring in a picture of an activity you do as a family by Friday, Oct. 8th. They can draw it or it can be a photo. We will be making a classroom collage.

Our sight word is " the".
Letters of the week or "Nn" and "Pp".
We will be learning about and writing captions.
Our vocabulary words are: feast, gusto, prepare, lonely, remind, preoccupied

We will be finishing up our Chapter in Math about Patterns and moving on to numbers 0-5. We will be discussing the vocabulary words: same as, equal, more, more than, fewer. We will also be making graphs.