The Fastest Week Ever! (How did that happen?)

   I just want you all to know that I LOVE YOUR CHILDREN!! I tell them everyday that they are the best class in the whole school! It really is true...no joke! They make me laugh so much! This week we heard a story about a booger (super funny and gross), we fell off the monkey bars (yikes), we had 2 kids with the stomach bug, and 2 birthdays!

Updates:

FRENCH
  This week we started our French Immersion model! Madame Buntin's schedule is now M-W-F from 8:30-10 and later she will come during SS and Science as well. I stayed in the classroom both days so far to be supportive and provide supplies if needed. I learned so much myself. My 4 years of HS French came back to me almost immediately!  The whole class did a great job picking up on Madame Buntin's cues. It only took her 3-4 times repeating a phrase before someone would figure out the meaning! Right now they are working on numbers, conversational phrases & basic needs. (bathroom, water, etc..) I will take some audio and photos next week and post them for you.

CURRICULUM NIGHT & EARLY RELEASE
   We have an early release day coming up on September 19th. Students will be released at 12:00. We will be having Curriculum Night that night from 6:30-7:30 for 2nd & 3rd grades.  Look for the information in the GLOBE Newsletter that will be sent home soon. I know that you have lots of questions about our model, the curriculum, and assessments. All of this will be addressed and I will have some examples of the types assessments & anecdotal notes & observations I am making.

WISH LIST ITEMS
   We have received quite a few things from our classroom wish list so far! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!    HERE is the link if you haven't seen it yet. 

TEACHER PARTNER
  Our 2nd Teacher is finally here! She will begin work on September 3rd! We are going to make a welcome sign and card for her tomorrow so she feels welcome in her new job!

SS PROJECT
   Thanks for sending in photos and research with your child on the historical figure. Students started planning their layout for their posters & sharing information. * Note, there is no "due date" since we will be working on the projects in class. I will also photo document the process here so you can see what is happening. Please do have discussions with your child about their historical person's significance in our rights and freedoms.

BIRTHDAYS
  We had our first birthday celebration in the classroom today. We sang Happy Birthday (in 3 languages), played a trivia game about our birthday boy (his mom created it and it was really cute) , and we complimented him in a circle. We ended with croissants for a French snack! Thank you to J's Mom for making it so special for him and the whole class! Let me know if you'd like to do something similar for your child's birthday so we can schedule a time. I'll need 2-3 days lead time to plan time in our schedule. :)

HELPING YOUR CHILD IN MATH

 We will start skip counting for multiplication in the next few weeks. Please buy a set of X flash cards and practice them with your child at home. This is an old school method of learning that works! Memorization is needed at first, we will work on the concept and reasoning behind it.
  You can also practice the art of explanation with your child. Math is not just about calculating a correct answer. There is a major focus on the process. The students will be required to explain their thinking both in oral & written format.

For example ask your child to answer the following question:

Round 1,246 to the nearest 100 and explain the process of rounding this number to the nearest 100.
* Think in step by step order and include the reasons WHY you chose to solve it this way. *

Sample Answer: First I looked at the 2 because it is in the 100's place and the directions are to round to the 100's place. Then I looked next door in the 10's column at the 4 to decide what to do. I know that my answer will be 1, 200 or 1,300. I also know that the number 4 is called a weak number so the 2 in the 100's place stays the same and all the other numbers to the right turn into zero. This means that 1,246 is closer to 1,200 on a number line than it is to 1,300.

Hope this provides you with some insight on the requirements for math:)

Have a great and safe LONG Weekend!

   

Hello Everyone!

   Today we had a successful fire drill! I must say that our class is the BEST CLASS in the school....but tell anyone..we don't like to brag! Please practice your phone number(s), parent names, and address(es) with your child. It is always good for them to know this information.

  There have been some requests for Curriculum Maps so I am working on completing one for the year! In the meantime, here are the units we are working on in September:

ELA: Reviewing nouns (regular and irregular, abstract, singular, plural)
          verbs (regular, irregular, subject-verb agreement, pronoun antecedent)
We will begin weekly spelling work each morning with Friday Spelling Bees and I hope to incorporate cursive practice as well!

MATH: Review Place Value, Rounding to the nearest 10's and 100's, multi-digit addition and subtraction with re-grouping up to 1,000, and multiplying one-digit whole numbers by multiples of 10.

WRITING: Narrative stories and friendly letters

SS: Important Historical Figures (see below)
Science: Habitats and Landforms of Georgia as well as map skills!


SPEAKING OF MAPS.... If anyone is interested in helping to hang our pull down map, please let me know! :)

Social Studies Home & School Project

You (students) will be teaching the class!

Instructions

At home: Conduct research on your historical figure using your local library, bookstore, or the Internet (see recommended sites below) Bring in notes, books, articles, and photos of your historical figure. (your child knows their person)

At school: Work with your partner(s) to create a poster about your historical figure. Your poster must include (but is not limited to) the following.

1. Title
2. Date
3. Author’s Names (you!)
4. A timeline of your historical figure’s life
5. Photos or drawings
6. 10 facts (list of accomplishments or important contributions to history)
7. A map of the location of the figure’s most significant work
8. Use creativity, write neatly, spell correctly
9. Be prepared to present to your classmates

CCGPS: SS3H2 The student will discuss the lives of Americans who expanded people’s rights and freedoms in a democracy.
a. Paul Revere (independence), Frederick Douglass (civil rights), Susan B. Anthony (women’s rights), Mary McLeod Bethune (education), Franklin D. Roosevelt (New Deal and World War II), Eleanor Roosevelt (United Nations and human rights), Thurgood Marshall (civil rights), Lyndon B. Johnson (Great Society and voting rights), and César Chávez (workers’ rights).

b. Explain social barriers, restrictions, and obstacles that these historical figures had to overcome and describe how they overcame them.

Resources:

Paul Revere http://www.kidsandhistory.net/paulvm/h2_hist.html

Thurgood Marshall http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/thurgoodmarshall1.htm

MaryMcLeod Bethune http://www.marybethuneacademy.org/MaryBethune.htm

Susan B. Anthony http://www.biography.com/assets/pdf/study_guides/bio4kids/Bio4KidsSusanBAnthony.pdf

Cesar Chavez http://www.ducksters.com/biography/cesar_chavez.php

FDR http://www.ducksters.com/biography/uspresidents/franklindroosevelt.php

Eleanor Roosevelt http://www.ducksters.com/biography/women_leaders/eleanor_roosevelt.php

Lyndon B. Johnson http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/lbjforkids/main.htm

Thanks So Much!

Happy Weekend Everyone! It's FUN Friday!

Happy Weekend Everyone! It's FUN Friday!

Here is the very first official staff photo GO GLOBE Talent!! :) 

A PEEK AT OUR DAY:
The students and I practiced our Emergency Fire Drill Procedure and we completed our emergency folder. We learned all about the different school code words for emergency situations.

White Owl: Stop, get quiet, and be aware of your surroundings

Black Cat: Crouch down and cover your head

Little Ducks: Follow behind your teacher in a quiet line

Penguins: Huddle together with your teacher and classmates

Our Emergency Plan! 

During our literacy block we,  'Put SAID to Bed' when we worked on writing sentences using dialogue. Some students acted out the dialogue based on the action word....chanted, whispered, chortled, groaned.  We will work on this next week as a literacy center!

GRATITUDE:

During Morning Meeting today we learned about practicing gratitude. At first many students stated they were grateful for things like ipads and DS systems..but we discussed that gratitude can also be about recognizing the ordinary things our lives. 

Here is what they came up with: See if you can recognize what your child wrote. (You will notice a trend....we will work on not being afraid to express your ideas even if they are different from others)

1. I am grateful for my mom calling me stinky muffin and I am grateful for a roof over my head. 

2. I am grateful for my cat Speck because she reminds me of our other cat Harley who ran away.

3. I am grateful for my cat Simon because he is so sweet when he licks me.

4. I am grateful for my dog Bella, she loves me and I am thankful for my cat because she sniffs me and I am grateful for the roof of my house because I am not cold at night. 

5. I am grateful for my cat Jessie because she snuggles me.

6. I am grateful for my fish Addie because she is fun to feed and watch eat and swim. 

7. I am grateful for the roof on my new house. 

8. I am grateful for my dog Levi because he like to play with me. 

9. I am grateful for my baby brother Sayer. 

10. I am grateful for my hair, I get it from my mother.

11. I am grateful for my dog Pinky because she is crazy like me. 

12. I am grateful for my dog Kenny because he jumps on me when I get home. 

13. I am grateful for my home country Zimbabwe and my relatives there. 

It was an extremely busy and productive week! I still made time to go to yoga and I held a pose I had been working on for quite some time so I'm feeling super proud!

Have a great weekend!

What A Week! :)

     We are almost officially finished with our first full week! The Blue Moon and rain have proved to be challenging for the children..and for me! We have been pretty antsy this week. We jogged around the flagpole on Tuesday and danced and learned capoeira in the Village Plaza (cafeteria) today to help get the wiggles out!

Thanks to all of you for your support and patience as we build our learning community. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you. :)

VOLUNTEER POSITIONS AND SIGN-UPS

The room parents have sent out two volunteer signup genius emails.  If you didn't receive them, check your junk folder.  If you still don't have it, contact Michel Hudson at michelhudson@hotmail.com so that she can send you an invitation.  Jennifer and Michel thank you in advance for your time and talents!

WISH LIST:  
     Some of you expressed an interest in seeing my class wish list and it was suggested that I create one on Amazon. If you click this link or look up my name on Amazon , will find my DREAM list! :) Please feel free to use this as a guide and bring in other items you may have that will fulfill our classroom needs. Thanks so much for the lamp, books, pillows, and bean bags that were already donated!

RAINY DAYS:
     I asked the students to bring in board games or card games for rainy day recess activities. They can bring them in as needed or leave them in the classroom for a few weeks and bring them home when they like.

VISITING THE BUILDING:
  As a safety measure, ALL parents must enter the building in the front/morning drop-off entrance and sign-in to receive a name tag before walking the halls.

WELCOME TO GLOBE EVENT:
     On Saturday September 28th, there will be an event at our school from 10a.m.-4 p.m. It will include a basketball tournament as well as garden project. It might be fun for our class to create something for the gardens??? Any suggestions are welcome! More info coming soon!

SOCIAL STUDIES PROJECT:
    Your child has been paired up with another student for our upcoming SS project on Significant Historical Figures. They will bring home the assignment outline next week. I will also post it here!

New Developments!

Schedule:
     In order to allow for specials rotations, our 3rd grade schedule has shifted a bit. Our literacy block is first thing in the morning from 8:30-10 and specials will follow that from 10-11:30.
French/Francais:
     Monsieur Moon will be teaching French during the literacy block every other day as soon as we can finalize his schedule with all of 1st and 3rd grade.
Specials:
     Our specials will soon include music, art, PE, and service learning through cultural enrichment (This will be taught by our new Confucius Institute teachers and will include cultural activities & instruction on Chinese traditions and teachings)
Partner Teachers:
     Our partner teachers are en route from China, and will be here in the next week or so! Exciting! I can't wait to hear all of the questions that your children will be asking!
Lunch:
   Parents are invited to come and eat lunch with your children if you are in the neighborhood. Our lunchtime is at 12:05 followed by recess. You are also welcome to volunteer as a lunch or recess helper. Our wonderful room parents will be in touch with you soon to organize this!
Student Data Notebooks:
   Please send a 1.5 inch 3 ring binder to school with your child asap. Preferably one that has a clear sleeve in front for the cover page.

                       This will be used by your child to track his/her own progress in MATH.

Homework:
     I sent home a math homework page today. It is due on Friday. This will be the format for math homework each week unless there is a need for something different. This is a spiral practice that addresses all of the standards will be working on in the first unit.
   Reading Calendars and Reading Response Journals are also part of our weekly homework. Your child must record reading at least 4x each week by writing the TITLE of the book and/or the chapters read (if it is a chapter book). I will staple a list of appropriate responses depending upon the genre as soon as I can copy them. In the meantime see the example below: (I will also post this in the HW tab above)

    Reader’s Response Journal Starters:

http://www.kinderkorner.com/back.html

*I began to think _______.

*I love the way ________. 

*I can't believe ________. 

*I wonder why _______ ? 

*I noticed _______.

*I think _______. 

*I observed _______. 

*I wonder ________. 

*If I were __________. 

*I'm not sure _______. 

*I felt sad when _______. 

* I like the way the author _______. 

*I wish that _______. 

*This made me think of ______. 

*I was surprised ________. 

*It seems like _________. 

*I'm not sure ________. 

*This story teaches _______. 

*I began to think of _________. 

*I wonder what this means? 

*I really don't understand this part --- 

*I really like/dislike this idea because ________.

*This character reminds me of somebody I know because ________. 

*This character reminds me of me because ________.

*This character is like (name of the character) in (title of book) because ________. 

* I think this setting is important because ________.

*This scene reminds me of a similar scene in (title of book) because ________. 

*I like/dislike this writing because ________. 

*This part is very realistic/unrealistic because _________.

*I like/dislike (name of character) because _______. 

*This situation reminds me of a similar situation in my own life. It happened when _________.

*The character I most admire is ______ because _________. 

*If I were (name of character) at this point, I would _________.

               Literature Response Activities:

• Compare and contrast characters, two books or texts, etc.
• Create an alternate ending.
• Create a book jacket.
• Retell a story.
• Summarize a book
• Write a letter to a character.
• Make a puzzle depicting a scene or a character.
• Create a poem about the text.
• Create a crossword puzzle based on the story.
• Make a cartoon of your favorite scene or an entire story.
• Write a review.
• Create a scrapbook.

3 Days Down !

Happy Weekend Friends!

      We had a great first 'week'! The children are all getting to know each other and make new friends. My quietest student shared during morning circle yesterday (already! amazing!)  and I was able to sit and work on writing with another student for over 30 minutes! What a dream class! :)

    As I stated in the last email, I will be corresponding with you through the blog so you won't be getting emails unless there is something extremely urgent or specific to you and/or your child. So check in daily to see if there are any updates!

UPDATES:

* Our classroom was freezing on Friday. I finally decided to move the table so I could reach the AC unit and I turned it off completely for the day. It was very comfortable after that.  Just remind your children to bring a sweater just in case!
One of our chivalrous kids loaned me his extra jacket.......I wore it all day!

* Catered Lunch starts Monday. I ordered 2 lunches for myself next week to give a test run and try the food. It was very easy to do.

www.wholesometummies.com

Set up a debit account, choose your food, and click order! 

* Snack: The kids and I discussed snack time. We all agreed that we prefer to bring our own healthy snack. We also talked about being responsible for packing our own snacks each day. We will work on packing our own lunches too! :) 

* Our room parents will be in touch soon to schedule readers etc...and to discuss what we'd like to do for Birthday Celebrations. 

Thank You for everything! Your kids are awesome! :)

 REMINDERS: Send an old t-shirt to school for art! Also, please pack a healthy snack for your kids each day...they all had growling tummies at 10am! :) 

We had a wonderful first day at THE GLOBE! The carpool lane went fairly smoothly for drop-off, faster than I anticipated. It will get faster once parents and students get acclimated to the routine, and once there are no more tears at the door! :)

Pick-up will be re-vamped, probably several times until we can find the best possible solution. I brought up the pick-up for siblings on different grade levels as a concern (so did many other teachers) and we are working on a solution for that as well. Soon we will try and get all of your children to you in one pick-up lane!

I will be contacting our two room parent volunteers next week, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! and they will be in touch with you after that.

I already love our class! What a great bunch of kids. We made a group artwork for our classroom community today....looking forward to tomorrow!

Here are the classroom supply list and wish list! I finally got to move into our new room and my son and I worked all afternoon to start making it cozy for us! I can't wait to meet you all tomorrow.

2nd & 3rd Grade Supply List

        For your child:

4 Spiral Notebooks (Wide-Ruled)

2 Composition Notebooks (Wide-Ruled)

1 Small Plastic School Box

1 Package Crayons 24-count

1 Package Colored Pencils or Markers

1 Package #2 Pencils

1 Pair Safety Scissors

1 Large Pink Eraser or 1 Package of Pencil Top Erasers

1 Bottle Elmers Glue or 1 Package of Glue Sticks

1 Box of Ziploc Bags (Girls- Sandwich Size, Boys- Gallon Size)

1 Box of Tissue ( Feel free to donate more! We will need them!)

1 Bottle of Hand Sanitizer

1 Ruler

2 Packs of Post-it notes (small or medium sized squares)

2 Pocket Folders

1 Package Wide-Ruled Notebook Paper

1 Package Dry Erase Markers (skinny)

             For the Class: (Optional but appreciated!)

* Copy Paper     * Multi-Color Construction Paper    *Hand Soap   * Paper Towels

*Index Cards    * Multi-Color Printer Paper   * Dry Erase Markers (fat)

Wish List Items:  If you have any of these items at home that you no longer want or use, we’d be happy to give them a home! :)

* Bean Bag Chairs

* Small Area Rugs

* Floor Lamp

* Small Lamp

* Alarm Clock or Wall Clock

* Markers for Glass

* Paint that can be used to cover metal (we have a large AC unit on the ceiling that needs some TLC)

Lesson planning has begun! Get ready to tap into your creativity ladies and gents! :) I have loads of fun things for us to do next week!