Friday
Today we went out to our nature spots for the first time! It took us a while to get our bags ready to go out, so our time outside was shorter than I would have liked. But it was a good introduction to the routine! I’m hoping that the weather will cooperate and we can get out two times next week to explore our area near Prairie Smoke Pond.
The students began working on a flip book about themselves and how they follow our PCCS rules. We also had Ms. Meyer in to talk to us about our school rules of “Be safe, be respectful, be responsible.”
Some of our students finished up the spelling assessment from yesterday. We still have about half the class that will finish it next week.
Class Dojo forms were sent home if you would like to sign up to be able to view your child’s behavior tracking.
Have a beautiful weekend!
Thursday
Today we got to harvest in our gardens! The students learned about harvesting tomatillos and peppers. We also talked about the herbs that we are growing in the garden.
Today was our first day using our color chart! In the classroom we use a colored chart system to help each other remember the rules. Each child starts the day on green and can move up or down depending on their behavior. The colors in order from highest to lowest are:
Purple
Blue
Pink
Green
Yellow
Orange
Red
Our printer was not working today, but tomorrow (hopefully) in your child’s take home folder will be a log-in for classdojo.com. The students track the reasons that they move up and down in the classroom on this program and you will be able to check it from home! This will help your child communicate with you if they have forgotten why they moved up or down during the day.
We started working in our writing notebook today by writing down jots. Ask your child if they can remember one of the jots they wrote!
We also did a handwriting assessment and started a spelling assessment, too.
Oh, and we had PE and art. Don’t be surprised if your child is a bit tired tonight!
Picture forms should have come home today. If your child’s didn’t make it home, please let me know. 🙂
Wednesday
We had our first fire drill today. The students did a fabulous job!! The entire school was evacuated and all students and staff accounted for in 3 minutes.
I passed out handwriting books today but we did not write in them. We worked on pencil grip. For more information please feel free to visit http://www.hwtears.com/getagrip which will give some tips about pencil grip. We use the Handwriting Without Tears program here at PCCS and they have some great information for parents on their website.
http://www.hwtears.com/hwt/parents
We read the book Have You Filled a Bucket Today? and will do more work with talking positively to our classmates during the next days and weeks of school.
We had 3 specials this afternoon: PE, Spanish, and music.
Each morning we have a snack time for the students. We ask them to choose from their lunch one serving of fruits or vegetables or cheese or yogurt. In essence, we require that the morning snack be healthy and also nut-free. We also do not use the microwaves to heat up food during snack time. Please keep this in mind while packing or helping your child pack their lunches.
Tuesday
Happy Tuesday!
Today we did some more work on organization of materials. The students also finished up their self portraits.
The students worked together to create classroom rules. They did some brainstorming, writing, and drawing about rules. Then we came to a consensus on our rules for this year.
Our final rules are:
1)Be respectful
2)Be responsible
3)Be safe
4)Be green
5)Be kind and a good friend.
The students traced their hands and we framed our rules for the classroom!
Today was our first day to go to PE and also our first day of music! The students enjoyed meeting Ms. Stanbury, our new music teacher. On Tuesdays we have PE with Mrs. Jeffery’s class which always makes that time more lively.
In assignment notebooks today should be written “Read 20+ minutes.” Please write, or have your child write, the title of the book or books that the read tonight. Also, please initial the area to the right that says PI____. Your child is supposed to get their assignment notebook checked before they pack up. Either Miss Mui or I will put our initials under the date to show that we checked the assignment notebook before leaving
Monday
Hello Families! Welcome back!!
We had a wonderful first day together! We attended our annual bell ringing to start off the school year and then returned to the classroom to unpack our materials. The students practiced their listening and following directions skills.
The students did an introduction activity where we shared our names and some information about ourselves.
We practiced handwashing and had a snunch, which is when we have snack and lunch smooshed together because we only have time to eat once. This always happens during an early release.
The students had some recess time- it was hot!!
We also did our first self portrait of the year. The students will make a self portrait every month and bring them all home together at the end of the year.
We completed assignment notebooks. They should say “Did you get Mrs. K’s email?” for today. I try to send at least 3 email updateseach week. If you would like an email added to or removed from this list please let me know.
Please include our instructional assistant, Katherine Mui, on emails so that both of us are informed about what is happening with your child. Her email address is
kmui@pccharterschool.org.
Tomorrow is a full school day! The 1st grade students will do some benchmark testing. No preparation needed except some sleep and breakfast!
