SUPPLY LIST FOR 2012-2103 SCHOOL YEAR

2 Composition notebooks  wide ruled

Sharpened pencils

Crayons

Colored pencils

Pencil pouch with a good/sturdy zipper that will last

Markers

Dry erase markers

Glue sticks

Scissors

Reusable grocery bag – small size to hold 3 books

Folders:  Two pocket with prongs.  One of each color:

Blue

Green

Yellow

Red

Orange

Each quarter we will be asking different families to donate specific supplies to be used throughout the cluster.  For this quarter, we would appreciate it if all families with last names beginning with the letters A-F could donate the following:

ziploc bags – any size

kleenex

wipes

Production in Project Group

We are collecting empty soup sized cans for project group.  We need them as soon as possible, so please start sending them in if you have them.

We are looking for poetry books to have the kids read in class.  If you have any, please send them in with your child's name on them so we can return them to you at the end of the month.

We need volunteers during project group to help with our production for the summative.  Volunteers can come in at 2:15 on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday of next week. 

Thanks so much for your help! 

Spirit Week

This week is Spirit Week!
Monday: Career Day
Tuesday: Tacky Day
Wednesday: Fancy Day
Thursday: Nerd Day
Friday: M & M Day (1st graders wear green, 2nd graders wear blue)

Pizza Luncheon

Our pizza luncheon to celebrate our student teachers' hard work will be on Wednesday, May 2nd. The $2 for your child's pizza was due on Friday, April 20th. However, we only had about half of our cluster turn in their money. We want to make sure we don't have upset kids on the day of the pizza party, so we are extending the deadline to this Thursday, April 26th. If the kids haven't sent in their money by then, there will not be pizza for them on May 2nd. Thank you!

Week of April 23rd

Due to standardized testing, the only homework this week is the math fact practice.

Each Friday we will be testing the students in math on our fact set of the week. It will be a timed test. Each week if the students master the skill for the week, they will earn a topping for our ice cream party at the end of the year. Please see the homework for the skills of the week for each class. Since this was the homework for the students all year, we will be putting their knowledge to the test now that the year is coming to a close. Please continue to review these at home.

Writer's Workshop:We are continuing on our creative narrative unit and are focusing on including good details and describing words. The kids will go through the writing process to write a creative story this week.
Monday: Create a tree map with all of our story elements parts
Tuesday: Use our tree map to make a flow map. Add an opening and closing sentence.
Wednesday: Finish adding details to our flow map and begin our rough drafts.
Thursday: Finish our rough drafts then edit and revise them.
Friday: Write our final drafts and share in a small group.

Project Group:
We are continuing with our Economics unit. This week the kids are going to be making hamburgers. We will work in teams to create an assembly line.

Reading:

Mrs. Johns' Reading:

Story of the week: Rumplestiltskin
Words of the week: no words this week!

We will be doing a lot of comprehension work with the Rumplestiltskin story this week, including sequencing, character maps, and exploring the setting.

Ms. Aguilar's Reading

Story of the Week: The Lizard and the Sun by Alma Flor Ada
Genre: folktale
Comprehension Skill: identifying the main events of a story and sequencing them
Word Wall Words: review of all words

Mrs. Sullivan's Reading:
Word family - irregular plurals
dictation words:
man, men, woman, women, child, children, foot, feet, mouse, mice, tooth,
teeth, goose, geese
High frequency words: favorite, friendly, your, you're, know

Dictation sentences:
For dictation sentences this week I would like for each student to write a one paragraph paper about what they have learned during our economics unit. The paragraph should contain at least 5 sentences. Use good vocabulary words such as services, capital resources, trade, scarcity, and opportunity cost. Students should use cups to edit the paragraph. Turn in the final edited paper by Friday.

We are practicing comprehension skills this week, including predicting, sequencing, and finding details for the beginning, middle, end of a story.

Math:
Mrs. Johns' Math: This week in math we will be reviewing concepts from the year.

Monday: Tile Math
Tuesday: no Math due to Stanford 10 Testing
Wednesday: no Math due to Stanford 10 Testing
Thursday/Friday: Centers

Ms. Aguilar's Math:

In math this week we have moved on to money. We introduced pennies and nickels last week. We will work in identifying dimes on Friday. We will be practicing counting up the value of various coins.
Monday: Nickel practice
Tuesday: Math centers with all 1st graders
Wednesday: Math centers with all 1st graders
Thursday: May Calendar
Friday: Dime practice

Mrs. Sullivan's Math: This week in math, we will start spending a few minutes each day on test taking strategies in preparation for the Stanford 10 test. We are also learning place value, double digit addition, and subtraction. The fact test on Friday will be (+4).

Week of April 16th

Due to standardized testing, the only homework this week is the math fact practice and dictation for Mrs. Johns & Mrs. Sullivan's classes.

Each Friday we will be testing the students in math on our fact set of the week. It will be a timed test. Each week if the students master the skill for the week, they will earn a topping for our ice cream party at the end of the year. Please see the homework for the skills of the week for each class. Since this was the homework for the students all year, we will be putting their knowledge to the test now that the year is coming to a close. Please continue to review these at home.

Writer's Workshop:
We are continuing on our creative narrative unit and are focusing on including good details and describing words. The kids will go through the writing process to write a creative story this week.
Monday: Create a tree map with all of our story elements parts
Tuesday: Use our tree map to make a flow map. Add an opening and closing sentence.
Wednesday: Finish adding details to our flow map and begin our rough drafts.
Thursday: Finish our rough drafts then edit and revise them.
Friday: Write our final drafts and share in a small group.

Project Group:
We are continuing with our Economics unit. This week the kids are we are reviewing the concepts of scarcity and natural resources by doing several activities with The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. We will also tie this in to Earth Day to help the kids be mindful of not making our natural resources even more scarce.

Reading:

Mrs. Johns' Reading:

Story of the week: The Mouse & the Wizard (Junior Great Books Series)
Words of the week: who, will, tell, why, them

We will be doing a lot of comprehension work with the The Mouse & the Wizard story this week, including sequencing, character maps, and exploring the setting.

Ms. Aguilar's Reading:
Miss Abeyta will be teaching our reading unit this week.


Story of the Week: A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams
Genre: realistic fiction
Comprehension Skill: identifying the plot of the story
Word Wall Words: green, gym, jump, junk, girl, it's

Mrs. Sullivan's Reading:
Word family - irregular plurals
dictation words:
man, men, woman, women, child, children, foot, feet, mouse, mice, tooth,
teeth, goose, geese
High frequency words: favorite, friendly, your, you're, know

Dictation sentences:
For dictation sentences this week I would like for each student to write a one paragraph paper about what they have learned during our economics unit. The paragraph should contain at least 5 sentences. Use good vocabulary words such as services, capital resources, trade, scarcity, and opportunity cost. Students should use cups to edit the paragraph. Turn in the final edited paper by Friday.

We are practicing comprehension skills this week, including predicting, sequencing, and finding details for the beginning, middle, end of a story.

Math:
Mrs. Johns' Math: This week in math, we will continue a few minutes each day on test taking strategies in preparation for the Stanford 10 test. In centers we will be reviewing and extending concepts from the year.

Monday: Introduction to a new Test Taking Strategy & Tile Math
Tuesday: Pigs Will Be Pigs - Math in Literacy Problem Solving
Wednesday: no Math due to Stanford 10 Testing
Thursday/Friday: Centers

Ms. Aguilar's Math: In math this week we will continue to add double digit numbers without regrouping and also do subrtaction. We will continue to review place value.
Monday: Double digit math centers
Tuesday: Double digit math centers
Wednesday: Double digit math centers
Thursday: Double digit math centers
Friday: Double digit math centers

Mrs. Sullivan's Math: This week in math, we will start spending a few minutes each day on test taking strategies in preparation for the Stanford 10 test. We are also learning place value, double digit addition, and subtraction. The fact test on Friday will be (+4).

Stanford 10 Testing Dates

The 2nd graders will have Stanford 10 testing on April 18th, 24th, and 25th. Each day we will begin with breakfast and then begin testing at 8:45. Please make sure your child is well rested and here on time. Each morning our whole cluster will have breakfast, then we will have the 1st graders work on other assessments as the 2nd graders take the Stanford 10.

Below is the link to sign up to send in breakfast items for the testing days. The sign-up below is for the 1/2 and 3/4 cluster. Please sign up to send something in and send it in on the date it is needed for.

April 18th: Granola Bars & Go-gurt
April24th: Bagels & Cream Cheese
April 25th: Muffins & Cheese Sticks

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F054DAEAE2FA13-aimsstandford

Week of April 9th

Each Friday we will be testing the students in math on our fact set of the week. It will be a timed test. Each week if the students master the skill for the week, they will earn a topping for our ice cream party at the end of the year. Please see the homework for the skills of the week for each class. Since this was the homework for the students all year, we will be putting their knowledge to the test now that the year is coming to a close. Please continue to review these at home.

Writer's Workshop:
We are working on our creative narrative unit and are focusing on including good details and describing words. The kids will go through the writing process to write a creative story this week.
Monday: Create a tree map with all of our story elements parts
Tuesday: Use our tree map to make a flow map. Add an opening and closing sentence.
Wednesday: Finish adding details to our flow map and begin our rough drafts.
Thursday: Finish our rough drafts then edit and revise them.
Friday: Write our final drafts and share in a small group.

Project Group:
We are continuing with our Economics unit. This week the kids are we are reviewing the concepts of goods and services, and types of resources through literature and art. The kids are doing well with picking up the new vocabulary through our play-dough economics lessons.

Reading:

Mrs. Johns' Reading:

Story of the week: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Junior Great Books Series)
Words of the week: who, will, tell, why, them

We will be doing a lot of comprehension work with the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs story this week, including sequencing, character maps, and exploring the setting.

Ms. Aguilar's Reading:
Miss Abeyta will be teaching our reading unit this week.


Story of the Week: A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams
Genre: realistic fiction
Comprehension Skill: identifying the plot of the story
Word Wall Words: green, gym, jump, junk, girl, it's

Mrs. Sullivan's Reading:
Word family - suffixes ly and ment
dictation words:
(ly) quickly, softly, quietly, loudly
(ment) treatment, excitement, enjoyment, advertisement
High frequency words: said, teacher, almost, about, could

Dictation sentences:
For dictation sentences this week I would like for each student to write one paragraph about
what they like about reading class. The paragraph should contain at least 5 sentences.
Students should use cups to edit the paragraph. Turn in the final edited paper by Friday.

We are practicing comprehension skills this week, including predicting, sequencing, and finding details for the beginning, middle, end of a story.

Math:
Mrs. Johns' Math: This week in math, we will start spending a few minutes each day on test taking strategies in preparation for the Stanford 10 test. We will continue working to organize and analyze data as well as reviewing needed skills during centers.

Monday: Introduction to a new Test Taking Strategy & Tile Math
Tuesday: Data
Wednesday: Data
Thursday/Friday: Centers

Ms. Aguilar's Math: In math this week we will continue to add double digit numbers without regrouping and also do subrtaction. We will continue to review place value.
Monday: Double digit math centers
Tuesday: Double digit math centers
Wednesday: Double digit math centers
Thursday: Double digit math centers
Friday: Double digit math centers

Mrs. Sullivan's Math: This week in math, we will start spending a few minutes each day on test taking strategies in preparation for the Stanford 10 test. We are also learning place value and double digit addition.

Week of April 2nd

Writer's Workshop:
We are working on our creative narrative unit and are focusing on including good details and describing words. The kids will go through the writing process to write a creative story this week.

Project Group:
We are continuing with our Economics unit. This week the kids are learning about Opportunity cost, producers, consumers, and trade. The kids are doing well with picking up the new vocabulary through our play-dough economics lessons.

Reading:

Mrs. Johns' Reading:

Story of the week: Mother of the Waters (Junior Great Books Series)
Words of the week: get, pretty, come, old, said

We will be doing a lot of comprehension work with the Mother of the Waters story this week, including sequencing, character maps, and exploring the setting.

Ms. Aguilar's Reading:
Miss Abeyta will be teaching our reading unit this week.


Story of the Week: A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams
Genre: realistic fiction
Comprehension Skill: identifying the plot of the story
Word Wall Words: won't, were, where, when, why, was

Mrs. Sullivan's Reading:
Word family - suffixes tion, sion
dictation words:
(tion) fraction, question, vacation, dictation
(sion) discussion, explosion, confusion, decision
High frequency words: everything, anyone, something, everybody

Dictation sentences:
1. Does anyone know where I left my pencil pouch?
2. I already asked everybody if they found my pencil pouch.
3. You lost something every day this week.

We are practicing comprehension skills this week, including predicting, sequencing, and finding details for the beginning, middle, end of a story.

Math:
Mrs. Johns' Math: This week in math, we will start spending a few minutes each day on test taking strategies in preparation for the Stanford 10 test. We will also be doing a Data Project, where the kids will have to apply data collection, analysis, and organization to solve a real-life problem.

Monday: Introduction to a new Test Taking Strategy & Tile Math
Tuesday: Begin Data Project
Wednesday: Continue Data Project
Thursday/Friday: Centers

Ms. Aguilar's Math: In math this week we will add double digit numbers without regrouping. We will continue to review place value.
Monday: Place value test
Tuesday: Double digit addition
Wednesday: Double digit addition
Thursday: double digit math centers
Friday: Double digit math centers

Mrs. Sullivan's Math: This week in math, we will start spending a few minutes each day on test taking strategies in preparation for the Stanford 10 test. We are also learning place value and double digit addition.

Week of March 26th

Week of March, 26th 2012

Writer's Workshop:
We are working on our creative narrative unit and are focusing on including good details and describing words. This week we will have several mini-lessons to practice adding details and describing words. Thank you for sending in magazines to help us with this!

Project Group:
We are working on our Economics unit this week and will be learning about goods and services, scarcity, and opportunity cost. Thank you for sending in play dough to help with this unit.

Reading:

Mrs. Johns' Reading:
Ms. Boswell is teaching reading for the next two weeks. This week we are focusing on suffixes and base words

Book of the week: The Napping House
Words of the week: give, good, jump, nice, why

Ms. Aguilar's Reading:


Story of the Week: Mr. Putter and Tabby Write a Book by Cynthia Rylant
Genre: realistic fiction
Comprehension Skill: reading ahead
Word Wall Words: trip, right, thing, many, write, or

Mrs. Sullivan's Reading:
Word family - suffixes ing and ed
dictation words:
(ing) swimming, stopping, asking, exciting, giving
(ed) waved, laughed, tripped, married, cried

High frequency words: after, beautiful, enough

Dictation sentences:
1. I laughed when my brother tripped over the stick.
2. My brother cried because he skinned his knee.
3. My sister kept asking him if he wanted some candy.
4. It was exciting when he finally felt better and we could finish hiking.

We are practicing comprehension skills this week, including predicting, making connections, and visualizing a story and beginning, middle, end of a story.

Math:
Mrs. Johns' Math: Miss Miller is continuing the time unit this week. Today the kids took the pre-assessment to see what they already know about time. For the rest of the week the kids will be working in small groups in centers and with Miss Miller to practice working on time related skills.

Ms. Aguilar's Math: In math this week we will continue place value. We are working on ones and tens.
Monday: Place value centers
Tuesday: Place value centers
Wednesday: Place value centers
Thursday: April calendar
Friday: More practice with place value and quiz.

Mrs. Sullivan's Math: In math this week Miss Zucarro is teaching measurement. In centers students will practice estimation, measurement and graphing.

Week of March 19

This week we will take our 4th quarter Galileo Benchmark tests. Our cluster will test on Thursday and Friday. We will not need our usual volunteers for reading or math on Thursday morning. Thank you!


Writer's Workshop:
We are starting a creative narrative unit and are focusing on including good details and describing words. This week we will have several mini-lessons to practice adding details and describing words. Thank you for sending in magazines to help us with this!

Project Group:
We are beginning our Economics unit this week and will be learning about goods and services as well as producers and consumers. Thank you for sending in play dough to help with this unit.

Reading:

Mrs. Johns' Reading:
Ms. Boswell is teaching reading for the next two weeks. This week we are focusing on compound words. Please practice reading and identifying compound words at home this week!

Book of the week: Once There Was a Bullfrog
Words of the week: into, one, thing, some, then

Ms. Aguilar's Reading:


Story of the Week: Mr. Putter and Tabby Write a Book by Cynthia Rylant
Genre: realistic fiction
Comprehension Skill: reading ahead
Word Wall Words: who, can't, joke, float, they're, quit

Mrs. Sullivan's Reading:
Word family - plurals s, es, ies
dictation words:
(s) friends, pencils, chapters, pages
(es) lunches, bushes, wishes, inches
(ies) countries, bunnies, babies, cities

Dictation sentences:
1. Most of the pencils were more than eight inches long. 2. We saw five snakes and six bunnies at the pet store. 3. My mom makes seven lunches in the morning. 4. Everything he touches turns to gold.

We are practicing comprehension skills this week, including predicting, making connections, and visualizing a story.

Math:
Mrs. Johns' Math: Miss Miller will be starting a unit on time this week. Today the kids took the pre-assessment to see what they already know about time. For the rest of the week the kids will be working in small groups in centers and with Miss Miller to practice working on time related skills.

Ms. Aguilar's Math: In math this week I will introduce place value. We are working on ones and tens.
Monday: Introduction to place value using the place value mats.
Tuesday: Place value addition
Wednesday: Place value centers
Thursday: Place value centers continued
Friday: More practice with place value.

Mrs. Sullivan's Math: In math this week Miss Zucarro is teaching measurement. We are learning about feet, inches, centimeters, yards, and nonstandard measurement. We are also learning about tools that we use for measurement. We will have fun practicing measuring this week with a variety of tools.

Magazines Needed

Please send in kid-friendly magazines that we can use to cut out pictures for some upcoming projects. You can start sending them in as soon as you can. Thanks so much!

Week of February 27th

We still need lots more parents for the Zoo field trip on the 5th. Please email your child's homeroom teacher if you want to join us, and send in your $5 ASAP! Thank you!

It is that time of year when lice seems to visit our cluster. Please remind your children about preventative measures. No hugging, no stuffed animals at school, no sharing personal items.
It is our recommendation that girls wear their hair up. Thank you!

Our student teachers are taking over this week as we wrap up things for the quarter and prepare for the summative. Miss Aguilar, Mrs. Sullivan, and Mrs. Johns will be in and out of the classroom this week, and when we are not in the room, we will be working together to complete some projects and plan together for the next quarter.

Writer's Workshop:
The kids will be doing some creative writing this week about animals. They will work to have a clear beginning, middle, and end to their stories.

Project Group:
The kids will be wrapping up their summative projects, completing their animal non-fiction books, and writing and rehearsing their speeches to give at the ASU Prep Zoo on Thursday.

Reading:

Mrs. Johns' Reading:
This week the kids will be doing some wrap up and review of their non-fiction unit with Miss Miller.

Book of the week:
Words of the week: children, brother, house, sister, teacher

Ms. Aguilar's Reading:
*Ms. Abeyta will be taking over reading this week.

Story of the Week: George Washington Carver by Sabrina Crew
Genre: Biography
Comprehension Skill: rereading to find evidence

Word Wall Words: phone, pretty, boy, drink, crash, sale

Mrs. Sullivan's Reading:
Word family - oil, oal, oat, oy
High frequency words: favorite, first, thank, sports, slow
Dictation sentences: What is your favorite sport? Thank you for the birthday present.
I enjoy floating down the river.

We are practicing comprehension skills this week, including predicting, making connections, and thinking about another person's perspective. We are also practicing our readers theaters for the summative!

Math:
Mrs. Johns' Math: Ms. Boswell will be doing some wrap up and review of her measurement and fraction units. The kids will do some fun projects to apply their new knowledge!

Ms. Aguilar's Math: In math this week Ms. Abeyta will be taking over. She will introduce and teach about graphing and analyzing data from graphs.
Monday: Super hero graph
Tuesday: Data analysis game
Wednesday: Graph centers
Thursday: Graph centers continued
Friday: More practice with graphs and a quiz.
Mrs. Sullivan's Math: In math this week Miss Zucarro is teaching measurement. We are learning about feet, inches, and nonstandard measurement.

Class Baskets

We are currently collecting items for the Silent Auction Baskets at the ASU Spring Picnic, our big fundraiser for the school! Each class is collecting different types of items to go into a class basket that will be auctioned off. We are hoping to have our items collected before we leave for spring break, so you can start sending things in anytime. Thank you for your help with this important fundraiser!

Mrs. Johns' Class- ASU Basket (We need anything ASU!)

Mrs. Sullivan's Class- Outdoor Fun Basket (We need games, lawn chairs, kites, bubbles, chalk, swimming gear, beach towels, etc.)

Miss Aguilar's Class- Gourmet Baking Basket (We need cookie sheets, cake pans, recipe books, utensils, etc.)

Important Dates

March 1- Summative 5:30 ASU Prep Zoo
The kids will be let into the building at 5:25 to take their places. Parents can come in at 5:30 to start viewing our ASU Prep Zoo where the kids will present their animal reports and projects to people that stop to visit them. The kids will need to be in front of their zoo exhibit from 5:30-6:00. After 6:00, the kids will be able to leave their spots and take you to show their KidPix movies and other work. Mrs. Sullivan's reading class will be presenting Reader's Theaters at 6:00. Everything will be closed at 6:30.

March 2- Building Bridges Field Trip
Live performance with Grammy Award Winner Tom Chapin at Higley Center for the Arts as a culminating activity for our Character Counts program.
This is another field trip where there were only 10 chaperone slots available, which will be filled by our 1/2 teachers and TC's.

March 5- Phoenix Zoo Field Trip
We will be headed to the Phoenix Zoo for the day. We will need lots of parents volunteers, so please email your homeroom teacher if you are available to join us. We will load the buses at 8:30 and return to the school at 2:30. The kids will need to wear their maroon shirts and bring a sack lunch. The cost for parent volunteers is $5. Please let your child's homeroom teacher know as soon as possible if you will be joining us and turn in your $5 as soon as possible. There should be plenty of room for parents on the bus, or you are able to drive yourself if you prefer to.

Week of February 21

Writer's Workshop:
The kids will complete Chapter 3 and begin Chapter 4 - Interesting Facts
Tuesday- Final drafts of Chapter 3
Wednesday- The students will go through their research and write down interesting facts about their animal on a circle map.
Thursday- The students will add details and start rough drafts.
Friday- The students will edit and do their final drafts

Project Group:
The kids will begin their projects, working in small groups to design and create backdrops for our ASU Prep. Zoo habitats.

Reading:

Mrs. Johns' Reading:
Miss Miller will be teaching reading for the next four weeks. This week the kids will be investigating the difference between fiction and non-fiction texts.

There is no dictation test this week because of the short week.

Book of the week:
Words of the week:


Ms. Aguilar's Reading:
*Ms. Kelly will be taking over reading these next two weeks.

Story of the Week: The Bee by Sabrina Crew
Genre: Non-fiction
Comprehension Skill: main idea and details

Word Wall Words: off, clock, shook, it's, will, rain

Reading Learning Stations (Students have a literacy menu they will need to complete by the end of the two week cycle. The will do two stations on Tues/Thurs.):

1. Buddy Reading: Students will read a book with a buddy in their group. Then they will make a flip book.
2. Research Station: Students will read an insect book and will write a book report on the book they read.
3.Computer Station: Students will read a book on tumblebooks.com. Then they will take a short quiz online to check their comprehension.
4. Word Work: On the smartboard students will practice writing their word wall words.
5. Writing: Students will write a creative story from their Squiggle book.
6. Reader's Theater: Students will read a Little Bear story to practice fluency and retell the story by acting it out

Mrs. Sullivan's Reading:
Word family - NO DICTATION THIS WEEK
High frequency words:
Dictation sentences:

We are reading a Jr. Great Book story Eeyore Has A Birthday And Gets Two Presents. We are also practicing our readers theaters for the summative!

Math:
Mrs. Johns' Math: Ms. Boswell will be teaching Math. This week the kids will continue exploring fractions. The kids will look at fractions that are more than one part of the whole (ie: 2/3, 3/4)

Ms. Aguilar's Math: In math this week Ms. Kelly will be taking over. She will introduce and teach about shapes and their attributes.
Monday: No School
Tuesday: Shapes- students will practice sorting shapes.
Wednesday: Studente will begin to discover 3-D shapes by exploring with geo-blocks.
Thursday: Students will use 2-D shapes to create a polygon picture.
Friday: Students will use 3-D shapes to create a building.

Mrs. Sullivan's Math: In math this week Miss Zucarro is teaching fractions. We are learning about halves,thirds, and fourths. We will also talk about equal parts, parts and whole. We will take a short assessment on Wednesday and start measurement on Friday.

Field Trip to Desert Botanical Gardens

Tomorrow morning is our field trip to the Desert Botanical Gardens. We will leave at school at 9:00 am, eat sack lunches at Freestone Park, then return to school. Please send your child with a sack lunch and in a maroon shirt for the day. We will be outside for the whole field trip, so feel free to send your child in a hat and with sunscreen on. Also, it will be cold tomorrow so please make sure the kids bring a warm jacket to wear. They may bring gloves if they'd like. We will be outside for 2 hours plus our lunch at the park.
Thank you!

Week of Feb. 13th

This Week...

VOLUNTEERS ARE WELCOME!! Please come to our Academic Olympics on Thursday, February 16, 2012. Email your child's homeroom teacher if you are interested in being a volunteer. See you there!

Writer's Workshop:
The kids will continue researching their animals this week and we will write Chapter 3 of our animal report. Chapter 3 will be about the life cycle of their animal.
Monday- The students will go through their research and write down the steps in the life cycle on a flow map.
Tuesday- The students will add details and start rough drafts.
Wednesday- The kids will finish their rough drafts and edit.
Thursday/Friday- The students will complete their final drafts

Project Group:
The kids will begin their projects, working in small groups to design and create backdrops for our ASU Prep. Zoo habitats.

Reading:

Mrs. Johns' Reading:
Miss Miller will be teaching reading for the next four weeks. This week the kids will be investigating the difference between fiction and non-fiction texts.

Book of the week: The Ants Go Marching One by One
Words of the week: boy, girl, nice, friend, favorite

Ms. Aguilar's Reading:
*Ms. Kelly will be taking over reading these next two weeks.

Story of the Week: The Bee by Sabrina Crew
Genre: Non-fiction
Comprehension Skill: main idea and details

Word Wall Words: off, clock, shook, it's, will, rain

Reading Learning Stations (Students have a literacy menu they will need to complete by the end of the two week cycle. The will do two stations on Tues/Thurs.):

1. Buddy Reading: Students will read a book with a buddy in their group. Then they will make a flip book.
2. Research Station: Students will read an insect book and will write a book report on the book they read.
3.Computer Station: Students will read a book on tumblebooks.com. Then they will take a short quiz online to check their comprehension.
4. Word Work: On the smartboard students will practice writing their word wall words.
5. Writing: Students will write a creative story from their Squiggle book.
6. Reader's Theater: Students will read a Little Bear story to practice fluency and retell the story by acting it out

Mrs. Sullivan's Reading:
Word family - oa words: coats,coast,oats,roast
High frequency words: float, before, black, one, won, little, always, could
Dictation sentences:I like to float in the pool. The black boot is too little for my foot. They always cook two pizzas on the weekend.

We are in week three of our unit on reading nonfiction books. We have centers that work on reading fluency, nonfiction vocabulary, using a website to find research and information, filling out a fact sheet on an animal, recording the main idea and supporting details of a nonfiction book. We are also making a construction paper display board on one animal to share with you at the summative.

Math:
Mrs. Johns' Math: Ms. Boswell will be teaching Math for the next four weeks. This week the kids will be exploring fractions. The kids will look at dividing shapes into equal parts and how to name them with fractions (1/2, 1/4, etc.)

Ms. Aguilar's Math: In math this week Ms. Kelly will be taking over. She will introduce and teach about shapes and their attributes.
Monday: Students will build and describe shapes.
Tuesday: Shapes
Wednesday: Field Trip
Thursday: Continue building and describing shapes
Friday: Geometry centers

Mrs. Sullivan's Math: In math this week Miss Zuccaro is teaching fractions. We are learning about halves,thirds, and fourths. We will also talk about equal parts, parts and whole. We will take a short assessment on Friday.

Academic Olympic

Our Academic Olympic is next Thursday, February 16 from 3:15-4:30. We will have different activities for the kids to enjoy, but we will need parent volunteers to help us at the stations. Please email your child's homeroom teacher to let us know if you can help that day. Thank you!

Important Dates

February 14th- Healthy Heart Party 2:20
Bring a store bought, healthy snack to share (ie: cheese & crackers, fruit, veggies, pretzels, animal crackers, goldfish, etc. No candy please.)
The kids can bring Valentines to pass out if they would like, but they have to have enough for everyone in their homeroom class. There are 30 students in Mrs. Johns class, 30 in Miss Aguilar's, and 28 in Mrs. Sullivan's class.

February 15th- Field Trip to Desert Botanical Gardens
We will leave at school at 9:00 am, eat sack lunches at Freestone Park, then return to school.
Please send your child with a sack lunch and in a maroon shirt for the day.
Due to the policies of the Botanical Gardens, we can only take 1 chaperone per 10 students, which is already covered by the 1/2 teachers and TC's. Unfortunately, we will not be able to take parents with us on this field trip. We will, however, need lots for the Zoo Field trip though, so mark your calendars for that!

February 17th- $1 Jean Day
Bring $1 for a free dress shirt and $1 for jeans to raise money for our playground.

March 1- Summative 5:30 ASU Prep Zoo
The kids will be let into the building at 5:25 to take their places. Parents can come in at 5:30 to start viewing our ASU Prep Zoo where the kids will present their animal reports and projects to people that stop to visit them.

March 2- Building Bridges Field Trip
Live performance with Grammy Award Winner Tom Chapin at Higley Center for the Arts as a culminating activity for our Character Counts program.
This is another field trip where there were only 10 chaperone slots available, which will be filled by our 1/2 teachers and TC's.

March 5- Phoenix Zoo Field Trip
We will be headed to the Phoenix Zoo for the day. We will need lots of parents volunteers, so please email your homeroom teacher if you are available to join us. More details will follow as far as departure times, but plan to be with us for the whole day. The cost for parent volunteers is $5. Please let your child's homeroom teacher know as soon as possible if you will be joining us.

Week of Feb. 6th

This Week...

Writer's Workshop:
The kids will begin researching their animals this week and we will write Chapter 2 of our animal report. Chapter 2 will be about Prey and Predators, including who are my predators? Who are my prey? What adaptations help me get my food? How do I protect myself?
Monday- The students will go through their research and write down facts on a circle map (answering the questions above).
Tuesday- The students will organize their information on a tree map.
Wednesday- The students will write their rough draft by using their tree map.
Thursday/Friday- The students will edit and begin their final drafts of Chapter 2.

Project Group:
Each class is learning about a different habitat this week, taught by one of our teacher candidates.

Reading:

Mrs. Johns' Reading:
Miss Miller will be teaching reading for the next four weeks. This week the kids will be investigating the difference between fiction and non-fiction texts.

Book of the week: The Ants Go Marching One by One
Words of the week: zoo, thing, from, they, fun

Ms. Aguilar's Reading:
*Ms. Abeyta will be taking over reading these next two weeks.

Story of the Week: Rainforest Babies by
Genre: Non-fiction
Comprehension Skill: reread and retell

Word Wall Words: to, those, more, kicked, bug, sport

Reading Learning Stations (Students have a literacy menu they will need to complete by the end of the two week cycle. The will do two stations on Tues/Thurs.):

1. Buddy Reading: Students will read a book with a buddy in their group. Then they will make a flip book.
2. Research Station: Students will read an animal book and tell about the beginning, middle, and end of the story.
3.Computer Station: Students will read a book at their level on raz-kids.com. Then they will take a short quiz online to check their comprehension.
4. Word Work: On the smartboard students will practice writing their word wall words.
5. Writing: Students will write a creative story from their Squiggle book.
6. Reader's Theater: Students will read a Little Bear story to practice fluency and retell the story by acting it out

Mrs. Sullivan's Reading:
Word family - ee words: see, seed, seen, seep, deep, speed
ea words: eat, tea, sea, seat, neat, peas
High frequency words: green, didn't, don't, it's can't
Dictation sentences: I can't find my mean, green, clean machine. Have you seen the jelly beans? I don't know where I put anything!

We are in week two of our unit on reading nonfiction books. We have centers that work on reading fluency, nonfiction vocabulary, using a website to find research and information, filling out a fact sheet on an animal, recording the main idea and supporting details of a nonfiction book. We are also making a construction paper display board on one animal to share with you at the summative.

Math:
Mrs. Johns' Math: Ms. Boswell will be teaching Math for the next four weeks. This week the kids will be exploring measurement tools, as well as how and when to use them. They will use inches, centimeters, feet, and meters.

Ms. Aguilar's Math: In math this week Ms. Abeyta will be taking over. She will introduce and teach about standard units.
Monday: Students will compare inches and centimeters.
Tuesday: Measurement centers
Wednesday: Measurement centers
Thursday: Different tools of measurement
Friday: Measuring how tall I am

Mrs. Sullivan's Math: In math this week Miss Zuccaro is teaching symmetry. We will also take an assessment to make sure students have learned the skills we taught so far this quarter. On Thursday we will practice math facts so that they are more automatic. Friday we will begin a unit on fractions.

Week of January 30th

This Week...

Writer's Workshop:
The kids will begin researching their animals this week and we will write Chapter 1 of our animal report. Chapter 1 will be an introduction to the animal, including where it lives and what it looks like.
Monday- The students will go through their research and write down facts on a circle map.
Tuesday- The students will organize their information on a tree map.
Wednesday- The students will write their rough draft by using their tree map.
Thursday/Friday- The students will edit and begin their final drafts of Chapter 1.

Project Group:
Each class is learning about a different habitat this week, taught by one of our teacher candidates.

Reading:

Mrs. Johns' Reading:
Miss Miller will be teaching reading for the next four weeks. This week the kids will be investigating the difference between fiction and non-fiction texts.

Book of the week: A Place for Butterflies
Words of the week: rain, big, people, because, night

Ms. Aguilar's Reading:
*Ms. Abeyta will be taking over reading these next two weeks.

Story of the Week: Rainforest Babies by
Genre: Non-fiction
Comprehension Skill: reread and retell

Word Wall Words: bird, third, burn, turn, herd, learn

Reading Learning Stations (Students have a literacy menu they will need to complete by the end of the two week cycle. The will do two stations on Tues/Thurs.):

1. Buddy Reading: Students will read a book with a buddy in their group. Then they will make a flip book.
2. Research Station: Students will read an animal book and tell about the beginning, middle, and end of the story.
3.Computer Station: Students will read a book at their level on raz-kids.com. Then they will take a short quiz online to check their comprehension.
4. Word Work: On the smartboard students will practice writing their word wall words.
5. Writing: Students will write a creative story from their Squiggle book.
6. Reader's Theater: Students will read a Little Bear story to practice fluency and retell the story by acting it out

Mrs. Sullivan's Reading:
Word family - long u words: use, due, Sue, dude, rude, under, hundred
High frequency words: our (which students often confuse with are), use, off, and the compound words playground, outside, sometimes.
Dictation sentences: Our class can go outside to the playground. Sometimes we use our banana bucks to buy __________. (students fill in the blank) Where did I put the baseball?

We are starting a new two week unit on reading nonfiction books. We have centers that work on reading fluency, nonfiction vocabulary, using a website to find research and information, filling out a fact sheet on an animal, recording the main idea and supporting details of a nonfiction book. We are also making a construction paper display board on one animal to share with you at the summative.

Math:
Mrs. Johns' Math: Ms. Boswell will be teaching Math for the next four weeks. This week the kids will be exploring measurement tools, as well as how and when to use them. They will use inches, centimeters, feet, and meters.

Ms. Aguilar's Math: In math this week Ms. Abeyta will be taking over. She will introduce and teach about non standard units.
Monday: The King and his Apprentice-students will use starbursts to measure the Kings foot.
Tuesday: My Feet- students will measure their feet using nonstandard tools like tiles.
Wednesday: Measurement centers
Thursday: measurement centers continued
Friday: My Body- students will measure the King's body with tiles.

Mrs. Sullivan's Math: In math this week Miss Zuccaro is teaching a geometry unit. Students will learn the names of shapes and how to sort them according to their attributes. They will use pattern blocks to explore and make their own creations. We will also continue to work on addition and subtraction. Last week the class did a great job creating their own "reasonable" word problems. Ask your child to create a word problem for you to solve.

Items Needed

We are out of a few things if you are at the store and willing to donate:

Tissues
Quart Size Ziplocs
Dry Erase Markers
Glue Sticks

Thank you!

Upcoming Dates

February 14th- Healthy Heart Party 2:20
Bring a store bought, healthy snack to share (ie: cheese & crackers, fruit, veggies, pretzels, animal crackers, goldfish, etc. No candy please.)
The kids can bring Valentines to pass out if they would like, but they have to have enough for everyone in their homeroom class. There are 30 students in Mrs. Johns class, 30 in Miss Aguilar's, and 28 in Mrs. Sullivan's class.

February 15th- Field Trip to Desert Botanical Gardens
We will leave at school at 9:00 am, eat sack lunches at Freestone Park, then return to school.
Please send your child with a sack lunch and in a maroon shirt for the day.
Due to the policies of the Botanical Gardens, we can only take 1 chaperone per 10 students, which is already covered by the 1/2 teachers and TC's. Unfortunately, we will not be able to take parents with us on this field trip. We will, however, need lots for the Zoo Field trip though, so mark your calendars for that!

February 17th- $1 Jean Day
Bring $1 for a free dress shirt and $1 for jeans to raise money for our playground.

March 1- Summative 5:30 ASU Prep Zoo
The kids will be let into the building at 5:25 to take their places. Parents can come in at 5:30 to start viewing our ASU Prep Zoo where the kids will present their animal reports and projects to people that stop to visit them.

March 2- Building Bridges Field Trip
Live performance with Grammy Award Winner Tom Chapin at Higley Center for the Arts as a culminating activity for our Character Counts program.
This is another field trip where there were only 10 chaperone slots available, which will be filled by our 1/2 teachers and TC's.

March 5- Phoenix Zoo Field Trip
We will be headed to the Phoenix Zoo for the day. We will need lots of parents volunteers, so please email your homeroom teacher if you are available to join us. More details will follow as far as departure times, but plan to be with us for the whole day. The cost for parent volunteers is $5. Please let your child's homeroom teacher know as soon as possible if you will be joining us.

Plus/Delta Responses

We had our Plus/Delta Forum on January 9th, which was a school wide forum and opportunity for parents to express the things that are going well in our cluster and the things that they would like to see changed. Thank you to the parents that attended and shared their thoughts with us. This helps us know what is on your minds and how we can better meet the needs in our cluster. The list of Pluses and our responses to the Deltas are below:

Pluses:

*just reading as homework

*ixl access and books

(worth $ invested)

*happy with student progress and learning

*individualizing for student needs

*banana bucks

*excited about Project Group

*Project Group is good for hands-on learners

*actual groups in project group helps them learn to listen to others’ ideas

*exposure to word problems in math

*all teachers know the kids

Delta: communication of what kids are learning in school

This information was available on our blog, however, we have moved it to the main page of the blog now so that it is easier for everyone to locate. If you have specific questions at any time about what we are doing, please feel free to email your child’s teacher.

Delta: switching to blog was not helpful (too many places to check)

We originally switched to the blog in an effort to organize all the information we were putting online. We have had some positive feedback about the ability to subscribe to a blog. Some parents mentioned that it is difficult to remember which teachers your children have for which subject. Unfortunately there is not much we can do to change the way it is organized by teacher because of the amount of differentiation done in our school. However, your children are good at keeping track of which teachers they have, so they should be able to remind you.

Delta: ILP meeting with only homeroom teacher (can we meet with other teachers?)

We understand why this is a concern and we are brainstorming about how to address this next school year. We have discussed it with Mrs. Bullock and we have a few ideas we will be exploring as a staff. We do understand that you want to be able to meet and get information from your child’s other teachers. We hope you understand why this is not possible when we see 70-90 different students each day. Please remember that if at any time you have concerns or questions you would like to discuss with any of us, we are happy to set up an appointment. Next quarter prior to ILP’s we will send home a form you can return with any questions you may have for your child’s teachers. The homeroom teacher will then secure the information needed to address these questions at the ILP conference. If you don’t let us know your questions in advance, we may be unable to answer your questions at the conference.

Delta: explanation for parents about differences between kinder and ½ policies and new expectations for kids (ie: homework turn-in)

We appreciate this suggestion and have been trying to find ways to ease the transition from kindergarten to 1^st grade for students and parents. We know that our expectations are much different. If you have any specific ideas about how to ease the transition let us know. We are thinking about having a comparison chart to give families at the beginning of the year to help with this process.

Delta: Project Group supplies- more notice before shopping

Some parents expressed that the kids often bring home lists of what they need for projects and that they have to run to the store to get what they need for the next day. We never intended for you to have to buy anything, but we know sometimes the kids have a vision and really want certain supplies. From now on, we will make sure there are a few days between when the lists go home and when the supplies are needed to allow you time to get things if you want to. Please know that you are in no way expected to go buy things for project group.

Week of January 23rd

This Week...

We are taking the Galileo test on Monday and Tuesday this week. We will not need our usual volunteers on Tuesday for Reading or Math. There will also be no homework this week because of the Galileo testing.

Writer's Workshop:
This week we will be learning how to do research. We will take an animal from the habitat the kids learned about last week and will do some whole group research, organization of ideas, and then each student will write a non-fiction piece about the animal.

Project Group:
Each class is learning about a different habitat this week, taught by one of our teacher candidates.

Reading:
No dictation this week due to Galileo testing.

Mrs. Johns' Reading: There is no reading Monday and Tuesday due to Galileo testing. Wednesday we will have a whole group read aloud and learn a new comprehension strategy together that involves sequencing, exploring plot, and describing characters and setting. Thursday and Friday we will have centers to practice word wall words, contractions, and reading skills.

Mrs. Aguilar's Reading:
Monday and Tuesday- Galileo testing (No volunteers)
Story of the Week: Click Clack Moo by Doreen Cronin
Comprehension Skill: Story elements (beginning, middle, end, characters, setting, problem solution)
Word Wall Words: use, tell, mail, thank, caught, little (same words as last week)
Reading Learning Stations (Students have a literacy menu they will need to complete by the end of the two week cycle. The will do two stations on Tues/Thurs.):
1. Buddy Reading: Students will read a book with a buddy in their group. Then they will tell about it using a comprehension wheel.
2. Research Station: Students will read an animal book and tell about the beginning, middle, and end of the story.
3.Computer Station: Students will read a book at their level on raz-kids.com. Then they will take a short quiz online to check their comprehension.
4. Word Work: On the smartboard students will practice writing their word wall words.
5. Writing: Students will write a winter story.
6. Reader's Theater: Students will read Click Clack Moo to practice fluency and retell the story by acting it out

Mrs. Sullivan's Reading:
Word family - long u words: use, due, Sue, dude, rude, under, hundred
High frequency words: our (which students often confuse with are), use, off, and the compound words playground, outside, sometimes.
Dictation sentences: Our class can go outside to the playground. Sometimes we use our banana bucks to buy __________. (students fill in the blank) Where did I put the baseball?

We are starting a new two week unit on reading nonfiction books. We have centers that work on reading fluency, nonfiction vocabulary, using a website to find research and information, filling out a fact sheet on an animal, recording the main idea and supporting details of a nonfiction book. We are also making a construction paper display board on one animal to share with you at the summative.

Math:
Mrs. Johns' Math: There will be no math Monday and Tuesday due to Galileo testing. On Wednesday and Thursday we will be having Fast Fact Centers so the kids can practice the facts they need to become more fluent in, based on their fact pretest. Friday, Miss Miller will be teaching a problem solving lesson.

Mrs. Aguilar's Math: In math this week we are reviewing the strategy of counting on and counting back. We will continue to practice telling time.
Monday: Galileo
Tuesday: Galileo
Wednesday: Addition, Subtraction, and Story problem Centers
Thursday: Centers continued
Friday: Centers continued

Mrs. Sullivan's Math: In math this week Miss Zuccaro is teaching a geometry unit. Students will learn the names of shapes and how to sort them according to their attributes. They will use pattern blocks to explore and make their own creations. We will also continue to work on addition and subtraction. Last week the class did a great job creating their own "reasonable" word problems. Ask your child to create a word problem for you to solve.

Coming Up This Week....

We are updating the format of our blog based on parent feedback at our Plus/Delta last week. We are continuing with the blog format because of the amount of people that have subscribed to it and have expressed in the past that they like being able to subscribe. In an effort to streamline our blog, we have put all of the homework assignments from all three teachers on one homework section. You still do need to know which teacher your child has for reading and math. We understand that it can be difficult to remember and to find the right homework. However, because of the amount of differentiation we do for your students, they will have more than one teacher and there is really no way around this in a school with a philosophy like ours.

We will be putting all updates of what we are doing during the week on the main, home section. Hopefully this helps you all out!


This Week...

Writer's Workshop:
This week we will be learning how to do research. We will take the habitat the kids learned about last week and will do some whole group research, organization of ideas, and then each student will write a non-fiction piece about the habitat.

Project Group:
Each class is learning about a different habitat this week, taught by one of our teacher candidates.

Reading:
Mrs. Johns' Reading: We are reviewing all word wall words and working in small reading groups.

Mrs. Aguilar's Reading:
Story of the Week: Click Clack Moo by Doreen Cronin
Comprehension Skill: Story elements (beginning, middle, end, characters, setting, problem solution)
Word Wall Words: use, tell, mail, thank, caught, little
Reading Learning Stations (Students have a literacy menu they will need to complete by the end of the two week cycle. The will do two stations on Tues/Thurs.):
1. Buddy Reading: Students will read a book with a buddy in their group. Then they will tell about it using a comprehension wheel.
2. Research Station: Students will read an animal book and tell about the beginning, middle, and end of the story.
3.Computer Station: Students will read a book at their level on raz-kids.com. Then they will take a short quiz online to check their comprehension.
4. Word Work: On the smartboard students will practice writing their word wall words.
5. Writing: Students will write a winter story.
6. Reader's Theater: Students will read Click Clack Moo to practice fluency and retell the story by acting it out

Mrs. Sullivan's Reading:
We are starting a two week unit on reading nonfiction books. We have centers that work on reading fluency, nonfiction vocabulary, using a website to find research and information, filling out a fact sheet on an animal, recording the main idea and supporting details of a nonfiction book.

Math:
Mrs. Johns' Math: Today we worked on Tile Math at students individual levels. We also did a fast fact pre-assessment to see what facts each student still needs to work on. On Tuesday, we will be working on building different shaped arrays to show different ways to make a number by multiplying. We will be working in small groups in centers on Thursday and Friday to meet individual needs of students.

Mrs. Aguilar's Math: In math this week we are reviewing the strategy of counting on and counting back. We will continue to practice telling time.
Monday: No school
Tuesday: Math stations
Wednesday: Time lesson with Ms. Kelly
Thursday: Continue math stations. Or Galileo
Friday: Math stations continued or Galileo

Mrs. Sullivan's Math: In math this week our 3 focus skills are adding double digit numbers, subtracting double digit numbers with and without regrouping using manipulatives, and using different ways to represent a number with place value (342 means 300 + 40 + 2 or 3 hundreds, 4 tens and 2 ones or students will draw the number using flats, skinnies and bits).

Coming Up...

Writing:
This week in Writer's Workshop, the kids are finishing their writing about their Winter Breaks. When they have completed the writing process (prewriting, drafting, editing, and final drafts) on their Winter Break piece, they will dialogue journal with a classmate.

Project Group:
We have begun our study of Habitats and Animals. This week, Ms. Aguilar's class will learn about the Arctic. Mrs. Johns' class will learn about the desert and Mrs. Sullivan's class will learn about underwater. Last week, we opened up the unit by sharing about our own habitats, learning about adapting to changes, exploring how animals are dependent on their habitats, and learning vocabulary like predator and prey.
Our teacher candidates will each be teaching the students about a habitat and the life cycle of an animal within that habitat. During this unit we are planning two field trips. Our first field trip we are planning to go to the zoo the week of February 20th. Towards the end of the quarter we would like to go to the Desert Botanical Gardens. When the dates have been confirmed we will let you know. We will close off our unit by creating habitat backdrops and animal reports.

Thank You!

Our cluster wants to say a big thank you to the families that gave donations to the Snowflake Drive, as well as to the Parent Organization for putting on the drive for our staff. We truly appreciate your generosity!