Monday, February 27, 2012

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.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

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.)

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

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.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

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!

Monday, February 13, 2012

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.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

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.

Monday, February 6, 2012

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.