Are you getting your costumes?

• Monday, October 31st is the Rio del Mar costume parade.  The event usually begins around 8:30.  Please send your child to school dressed in his/her costume.  Costumes are encouraged but not required.  If your child does not want to spend the day in costume, please have him/her bring an extra set of clothes and a bag to keep his/her costume in.
• Mrs. Fort and Mrs. Southall have been busy planning the Halloween party.  Please contact them if you are planning to donate food, decorations, or money to buy food. 
• I thoroughly enjoyed meeting all of the parents and discussing your delightful children.  I love conferences.  My only wish is that they were longer.  If you felt that all of your questions were not addressed, please feel free to send me a note and we can set up a time to meet after school.  There is a lot to discuss in 20 short minutes.
• The children are busy writing Halloween stories. The focus of the assignment is setting, details, and adjectives.  We have creative stories with  a grotesque ghouls, goblins, ghosts, gargoyles, and unoccupied graves.  Ask your child what the setting is in his/her story.
• Monday, October 24th is our field trip to the Aptos Museum.  We have 10 extra spaces in cars.  We welcome all of the parent volunteers but should you choose to take this field trip off, please let me know asap.  Otherwise, we welcome all of our drivers and we will double up to save on gas.
• Finally, thank you for the prize box donations.  The children were thrilled to cash in ten red tickets and pick a prize.  We will always need prizes so feel free to keep them coming.
• Thank you and have a happy Halloween.  Boo

Hello Again

• The fossil field trip was a huge success!  The weather cooperated and the children learned a lot.  Be sure to ask your mini Paleontologist about his/her experience.  Thank you to all of the parents who volunteered to drive and chaperone.
• Our next field trip is to the AJHS play on October 12th from 8:15-10:15.  We will need all of the drivers that signed up to drive.  Thank you for volunteering.
• We have received  many dollar bills without names.  Please attach a name to your child's dollar bill as the children are instructed to place all field trip information in the homework box.  Many families graciously donated one dollar for the play and one dollar for the Aptos Museum field trip that is scheduled on October 24th.  However, in many cases, only one dollar was sent to school.  Your child will bring home a note on Monday if there are one or maybe two dollars outstanding.  Thank you for being patient with three field trips in one month.  
• We have had many prize box donations and we are so, so grateful!!! This is a lovely class and they earn many prizes.  
• Next week, October 10-14th, is Conference Week.  A note went home Thursday confirming your time and date.  If your time needs to be changed, please email me and we can work something out.
• We will begin Literature Circle book talks on Wednesday, October 26th from 10:30-11:05.  Kathy Hannigan, Kelly Foos, and Shannon Spencer/Christina Gustafson (alternating weeks) have volunteered to assist.  Thank you!
• Thank you also to all of the weekly volunteers.  We are so lucky to have such terrific volunteers!
• We will have our Halloween parade and party on Monday, October 31st.  Children are not required but encouraged to dress up.  Kristin Southhall and Heidi Fort are busy planning a lovely party and the children are buzzing about their costumes.
• We have been blessed to have Barbara Welty as an aid in our classroom this year.  Please ask your child about Mrs. Welty.  If I could guess, I would say that your child thinks that she is REALLY nice.  Mrs. Welty brings sunshine to Room 1 daily.  Feel free to drop her a note or a little token any time.  She is a behind-the-scenes secret gift and we are all so lucky to have her.
• Finally, thank you for your delightful children.  I love to come to work.  Your children are bright, caring, hard working citizens.  I pinch myself daily!
• I look forward to chatting about your child next week.  See you then.

We Have a Wonderful Class!

• As many of you are aware, I spent last Thursday and Friday taking my daughter to UCSB for her first year of college.  The trip was bittersweet.   She was very excited to begin her next chapter and I was trying very hard to hold back a flood of tears!  Hug your 6, 7, and 8 year olds a little tighter as they grow up in a blink!  I am now the only girl in a house of boys...even our pets are boys!
• I heard that the County Fair was a huge success!  Thank you to all of the parent drivers.
• Please disregard the AR Log that came home last week.  
• Class photos are next Thursday, 9/22.
• I enjoyed meeting many of you at Back to School Night.  Thank you to all of the parents who volunteered to work in the classroom, help with a class party, and/or volunteered to prep at home.  We are so lucky to have so many volunteers.  For those of you who were unable to sign up for a conference, a form will be coming home Monday with a scheduled date and time.  
• Thank you to the second grade parents for the Literature Circle feedback.  Since Literature Circles are a third grade required homework assignment, I have decided to assign the second graders the reading but the written assignments are optional.  I am hoping to have an informal Book Club where the third graders will share their assignments and the second graders will participate in the discussions.  The goal of Literature Circles is to enjoy reading and discussing literature.  The Literature Circle books and assignments will not be coming home until after conferences.  I will send a cover letter explaining what is expected and when it is due.  For now, we will be doing Literature Circles in class only.
• Next Friday, September 23rd, is the Harvest Festival.  
• Finally, we are still asking for prize box items.  The children are anxious to turn in their red tickets for a prize and our box is a bit weak.  Small Dollar Store items and/or Oriental Trading Company prizes are always a big hit.
• I am also hoping to get large bags of gummi bears.  
• Thank you for your delightful children.  We have a room of bright, respectful learners.  Room 1 is a great place to spend the day.  Stop by anytime.

Things are off to a great start in Room 1!

• We have a delightful group of respectful, hard working students.  I feel so blessed to have your children this year.  The children are quickly learning the classroom routines and how a combination class functions.  

• The first week we spent doing getting to know you activities.  This week we have started the literature arts and math series.  I hope that both grade levels noticed the spelling list that came home on Monday.  The spelling tests will be given on Fridays.

• I have assessed the children on their math facts and time tests will be given on Wednesdays and periodic Fridays.  Your child will bring home his/her time test next week and you will get an idea of where he/she is going to start.  The tests are individualized so your child can move at his/her pace.  I do encourage both grades to practice the facts nightly.  At this point, minus one student, all of the third graders need a little more practice on  subtraction facts before moving into multiplication.  All of the third grade classes are starting with subtraction.

• We are currently reading the book, Charlotte's Web by E.B. White as a group and as we read, we are completing samples of the Literature Circle activities.   I do not plan to conduct Literature Circles for awhile.  We may start with Literature Circles in-class for a semester and then send them home as homework.  Last year my second grade combination students were the only second graders to have Literature Circles added to the traditional second grade homework load.  I am open to comments regarding the extra work.  Feel free to email me your thoughts.  Third graders do not get a choice as it is a third grade homework expectation.

• We are looking forward to the field trip to the County Fair.  Please send in your child's forms if you have not already, and if you plan to drive, please, please complete the driver forms asap.  Thank you to all of the volunteers.  I will notify the first 6 "free" entrance fee recipients soon.  All parents are welcome but unfortunately only 6 get in free.

• Finally, if you have not done so already, please sign and turn in the computer agreement.  Your child cannot get on the computers until that form has been signed.

• Thank you to all of the parents who have emailed me to offer to help in the classroom.  I plan to have a sign up list at Back to School Night.  

• Again thank you for your lovely children.  It is going to be a great year in Room 1!

Welcome Back!

What a lovely group of children!  I can see that we are going to have a great year of learning in Room 1.  This is my second year of having a blog and my goal is to try to update it every other week.  If all goes well, the new post will be on the first and third weeks of the month.  Here are some reminders for the next two weeks:
-Next Wednesday is not a restructured day.
-After School Club begins Monday, August 22.
- Back to School Night is Thursday, September 8.

Update for the week of March 28- April 1

Hello.
-The students are actively working on their animal reports.  I will be asking parents to volunteer to type their child's report.  I have found that the value of the report is researching, note taking, and  learning how to transfer their notes into sentences.  The energy and time spent re-writing the report does not seem like a valuable use of class time.  If you are unable to type your child's report, or if you are willing to type an additional report, please let me know and I will work something out.  Thank you.
-This Sunday, Posey and Mento (our class ducks), will be heading off to life on the farm.  They are huge and ready to be in open space with other ducks.  We will miss them but I think they are ready to go.  Thank you for making the effort to have your child have the ducks for an evening.  It has been a great experience for the children and I know that they will be sad to see them go.
-Our next field trip is scheduled for May 26th.  We will be going to the Agricultural History Project.  Field trip forms will be sent home as it gets closer to the date.
That's all for now!

This Week

-Today we had our green and yellow chili pepper party and it was a huge success!  There was a perfect combination of healthy and sweet and there was drink for all.   Thank you very much for contributing.
-On that note, I do not think that I have ever had so many parent volunteers!  I have weekly volunteers, a personal shopper, a terrific room parent, a volunteer for yearbook, the auction, and so much more!!  I have parents randomly asking if I need anything and parents staying far, far beyond their scheduled times.  I am so lucky!!! Thank you all very much.
-Another statement of my terrific parents this year is homework.  This is the first time that I have ever had 100% of the homework returned.  Minus a few stray assignments here and there, we have a very responsible class.  As strange as it may sound to all of you, many years I can have up to 8-10 students who do not consistently turn in their assignments.  Thank you for your support at home.
-Thursday, tomorrow, is the 2nd grade spelling test and Friday is the second grade field trip to the San Jose Discovery Museum.  We have a 1:3 parent-student ratio so the trip should be a great experience.  I will be at Rio with the third graders and Mrs. Cooper is going to be the acting teacher.
-The children will be very tired next week due to the time change.  Please try to get them in bed early (even if the sun is shining) as their bodies have a hard time adjusting and they work very hard in Room 1.
-Both grades will be starting animal reports next week.  The reports will be done in-class.  If your child has a specific animal, please help him/her print out information off of the internet about the animal.  Please, please make sure that there is enough information on the animal to write a report and that your child can read the information independently.
-That is all that I can think of right now.  Thank you again for your support and your delightful children.