The Stockings Were Hung…….

First Grade Photos!

Wow! November was FULL………lots of reading, learning, counting, cutting, coloring, gluing, laughing, working…well you get the picture! We had a fabulous month in Room 123.  I am so thankful for all of your precious children and the joy they bring me each and every day! Thank you for sharing them with me! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and didn’t eat too much! My family certainly enjoyed our time together! I have been working on some fun Christmas activities that I know the children will enjoy! Can’t wait to see all my sweet friends in the morning!

Oh…..how about that game?……..War Eagle!:)

Take a look at some of our November events!

           Turkeys In Disguise!

 

              Career Day!

 

             Guest Readers! 

Auburn Raptors & November Happenings

Gobble, Gobble………

I heard there may be some turkeys looking for a place to hide…….come to Room 123 on Monday! I can’t wait to see everyone’s disguise!

I hope everyone has enjoyed their long weekend.  I FINALLY remembered with the help of some of my first grade friends to send home Poetry Notebooks on Friday.  I hope you  have had a chance to look through these together.  We certainly do enjoy reading, singing, and talking about them in Room 123.  Please return Poetry Notebooks to school Monday.

We have been talking about the First Thanksgiving this whole month, this week we will make a flow chart with illustrations of the First Thanksgiving.  We will also be discussing the differences in Thanksgiving today and the First Thanksgiving.  At the end of the week we will wrap up our Thanksgiving unit by making a Blessings Mix.  I will send the recipe home along with what each item in the mix represents, be sure and ask your first grader about it.  You will be surprised at what all they have learned.

Our focus sound in reading this week is /k/ as in kangaroo, word wall words this week are:  couldn’t, wouldn’t, shouldn’t & think.

In Language we will begin Rule 11 of our DOL rules, learning about VERBS.  We will continue to practice all other rules we have learned so far this year in correcting our DOL sentences.

Math……I don’t know if you have heard but each first grader in Room 123 has their very own  Daily Calendar notebook!  These have very quickly become a favorite in our class and I am so glad! The children use their notebooks and as a class we do our Calendar Math together every day.  It is a wonderful tool that covers a number of critical math skills, and the best part is we do all of the skills EVERY day.  Each month I will add an additional skill or two to our calendar.  Some of the skills we are currently working on are skip counting, writing number sentences, even and odd numbers, graphing, patterning, place value, using a hundreds chart, reading a tally chart, comparing and ordering numbers, and the list could go on.  At the end of every month I will send the calendar math papers home for that month.  It is my hope that you will use these papers to reinforce math skills at home.  We are continuing to work on memorizing addition and subtraction facts and creating a solid foundation of number concepts.

In other news…..

American Education Week spotlights the importance of providing every child in America with a quality public education, and the need for everyone to do their part in making public schools great. We have different activities taking place throughout this week ~ Monday – Each class will spotlight a different author, we will take a tour of the school to learn about many different authors.  Tuesday – Come dressed in a career that you may want to do one day.  Wednesday – Friday, I would like for the children to bring in a “favorite” picture book, we are going to share these and I am going to read each child’s favorite book to the class.  Also, if anyone would like to come and be a guest reader this week, we would love to have you.  Just pick YOUR favorite book and let me know a time that would work for you!  This is a GREAT group to read to, they love listening to books! YEA!!

Yearbook Pre-Sale is going on now.  From now until November 30th the yearbook is available for a discounted price of $20.00 per yearbook.  Make your checks payable to Blount PTA.

Monday, November 15th is Spirit Night at the Mellow Mushroom……yum! yum!

Tuesday, November 16th is the Blount PTA Holiday Market from 5:30 – 9:00 in the school cafeteria.  There will be more than 25 vendors selling holiday gifts for the whole family.  PLUS more than 25 raffle drawings to be given away.  Rumor has it there may be a first grade teacher selling some items……(wink)!

Friday, November 19th will be the last collection day for Adopt A Troop.  You may drop off your items in the AM carpool or place them in the yellow box in front of the office. Also be sure and turn in your PALA (President’s Active Lifestyle Award) sheets today!

Friday, November 19th we will collect BOX TOPS.  I hope everyone has been saving! I think I have quite a few at my house.  You may send them in anytime this week and I will turn them in on Friday.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Teach me to count…..and I will number my blessings!

Hugs!

Happy, Happy Halloween!

Sound the sirens…..this class is HOT!

Happy November!

Wow! I can’t believe that it is already November! What a fabulous October our class had! Last week the Montgomery Fire Department brought out the “Smokehouse” and talked to us about Fire Safety.  Thank you to Jacob’s mom, Heather Jones for providing our class with a pumpkin! We had a wonderful time investigating, measuring, weighing and carving the pumpkin.  We named him “Smiley” and if you look at the pictures above you will know why.  :)

This week we are as busy as little turkeys!!

Reading – This week our focus sound is /r/ as in rabbit, and our word wall words  are:  want, wants, eat, three, ran. Be sure you are taking the time to practice the word wall words with your child.  I took a grade last week and as the words are beginning to get a little more difficult the children need to practice reading them more.

Math – We started Chapter 10 on tens and ones….however I have decided to back up some.  We are going to continue to focus on concepts of 10.  I want to make sure that the children understand the whole-part-part relationship of numbers.  We will also continue to practice our addition and subtraction facts.

Our Poetry Journal is gobbling good this week! We have been having a great time singing some new Thanksgiving songs and learning our new poem.  I have posted a large note to myself to remind the children to bring home their poetry journals this Friday.  Please take the time and let your child share their poetry journal with you.  I know you will enjoy it!!

Language – We are still working on capitalization, periods at the end of a sentence and nouns.

Our character education word for this week is ~ Patriotism.

Scholastic Book Order Forms went home on Monday.  If you would like to order from this month’s forms you may go online and enter the code: GQY4J or you may fill out the order form and send it in to me along with a check made payable to Scholastic by this Friday, November 5th. 

Make Up Pictures will be Tuesday, November 9th.

I hope you take the time to read the Aviator News that the PTA sends home.  The menu is located on the back, but it is FULL of all kinds of information about things going on at Blount!

ADOPT-A-TROOP ~The 2nd Graders will be collecting items to send to the strong men and women who serve our country and will be spending the holidays away from their loved ones.  You can help by sending in any of the items listed below:

canned meat          candy/gum      wet wipes      nuts     peanut butter crackers crystal light drink packs      toothbrushes    playing cards     magazines    lip balm

For a detailed list of other items you may donate look in your Aviator News!  There will be two drop off days:  November 5th in the morning and afternoon carpool and November 19 in the morning carpool only.  There will also be collection boxes in front of the office for collections.  Thank you for your donations!

The PTA is sponsoring a Holiday Market in the school cafeteria on Tuesday, November 16 from 5:30 – 9:00.  Come shop from over 25 home based businesses where there will be gifts for everyone that can’t be purchased in stores! There will also be more than 25 raffle drawings!!

Thank you so much for supporting Blount! Last month our Spirit Night at Chick Fil A ($135) and Jason’s Deli ($138) were both successful!

There will be two Spirit Night fund raisers in November! Mark your calendar for November 15th Mellow Mushroom and November 30th Baumhower Wings.  Yum!!

I hope you are having a wonderful week! 

No one can do everything, but everyone can do something!

Hugs!!

It’s Pumpkin Time!

Wow! I can’t believe it is already the last week in October.  This week we will be investigating PUMPKINS! We are going to cook and taste pumpkin seeds, carve our classroom pumpkin, graph pumpkins, estimate the weight of our pumpkin and even measure our pumpkin! Speaking of pumpkins I must say the pumpkins you all decorated as a family were just too cute! The children had the best time describing and sharing them with the class on Friday! We still could use a medium size pumpkin if anyone would like to donate one.  We will need it on Tuesday. Please let me know in advance if you would like to donate one.

This week in reading we will focus on the letter /c/ as in cat.  Our word wall words for this week are: a, hasn’t, isn’t, wasn’t, and can.

We will continue learning about nouns.  This week on our DOL we will underline the nouns along with making capitalization and punctuation corrections.

We will finish Chapter 8 in math (subtraction) this week.  Look for the review sheet to come home the night before our test.  Our next chapter will be on Tens and Ones.

The library will not be open this week due to the book fair.  If your child would like to purchase any books you can send in any money in an envelope marked book fair.  In the past I have had parents who enjoyed shopping with their child at the book fair and they would come have lunch with us then go shop together.

RED RIBBON WEEK

This week we will emphasize the importance of making the right choices in our lives and JUST SAYING NO TO DRUGS!  We will have special “theme days” this week to help make this a fun learning experience.

MONDAY - “We Are Proud To Be Drug Free” Our classes will make red paper chains to hang outside our classrooms.  Each student will sign his or her link in the chain.

TUESDAY - “Sock It To Drugs and Slip Into Good Character” students wear crazy socks and slippers.

WEDNESDAY - “Hats Off To Not Using Drugs” students wear their favorite hat to show they are drug free!

THURSDAY - “We Are Too Cool To Do Drugs” students will wear their sunglasses to shade out drugs.

FRIDAY - “Team Up Against Drugs” students wear their favorite team’s jersey.

Each week we have a character education word that we will discuss.  This week’s word is COURAGE.

I hope you were able to look at your child’s Poetry Journal this weekend.  We have really had a fun time with our Halloween poems the past few weeks.

FAMILY PROMISE COLLECTION TOMORROW!!!

The third graders are collecting gently used items for families in need.  These families come to Family Promise for different reasons; an eviction, loss of a job, a family break up, or a home fire – but one thing is constant – they are going through very difficult times.  If you would like to contribute you may drop off items tomorrow morning during carpool or place them in the box located in front of the office.  Thank you for helping Blount help others!

RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE POP TOP CAMPAIGN

Did you know Blount is proud to be a POP TOP School Partner with the Birmingham-based Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) by collecting pop tabs? Collect your pop tabs and send them in to me.  I will show the children the specific RMHC collection boxes and allow them to put the pop tabs they bring in into the boxes.  What a wonderful way to teach our kids about the importance of recycling  and helping to raise funds to help children and their families at the same time!

JASON’S DELI SPIRIT NIGHT

When making your menu for dinner this week I have good news!! You can skip Tuesday! It’s Spirit Night at Jason’s Deli! Please come and enjoy the food, fellowship and fun while at the same time supporting our school! Last Spirit Night at Jason’s Deli we raised $150.00. Hope to see you there!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week.  Please email or call me with any questions you may have!  Can’t wait to see all my little “punkins” in the morning!

Hugs!

A Tiggerific Time!

Today we saw The House at Pooh Corner at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.  We had a delightful time!  The actors, atmosphere, props, costumes……..everything was just amazing! (including the audience!) I was so proud of our boys and girls for their outstanding behavior.  We couldn’t take any pictures inside the theatre, oh bother!:) I did manage to get a few in other spots! Happy Wednesday!

                              

             Alabama Shakespeare Festival ~ October 20. 2010

 

We are “moo-ving” right along in First Grade!

We had a wonderful learning experience last week, the Mobile Dairy Farm came to our school and talked to us about the importance of milk, all the nutrients that come from milk, and actually showed us how to milk a cow!  They showed us the old fashioned way when farmer used to milk cows by hand, then she showed us the machines they use to milk cows.  We learned many amazing facts and even wrote a class book.  Be on the look out for it to come home, I must say it is absolutely precious!

 

Language

We are moving right along with our Language rules.  We will continue reviewing rules 1-9.  I'll introduce rule 10 tomorrow-nouns. However, nouns will not be part of the Daily Oral Language morning work this week. We will simply be reviewing rules 1-9 on our DOL.  We will be doing many activities with nouns and I want the children to have a solid foundation of what a noun is before I incorporate it in their DOL.

Whole Group Reading Sound

This week our sound is /h/ as in hippo.  One of our read alouds for this week is a favorite of mine, Owen and Mzee.  I hope you will hear lots about this amazing story from your child!

Don't forget to read word wall words every night until mastered upon site.  Mastered means they read them as soon as they see them.  Word Wall words are not meant to be decoded, they are to be memorized! Words for this week are: had, him, he. Please make sure to have your child read Read Well homework stories each night to increase fluency and accuracy.  I describe fluency as the ease of the reading rate, as if in conversation, not robotic.  Repetitive reading of familiar text will help build fluency.  Accuracy is the reading without mispronouncing words in the passage.

Math

We are continuing to work on subtraction. We will begin on Chapter 8 Monday as well as various activities to help with this skill. Please remember to watch for the Review page to come home the night before our test.

PUMPKIN TIME

We are going to be investigating, carving, cooking, and having lots of fun with pumpkins the next two weeks.  If you would like to donate a pumpkin for us to carve please let me know!

Alabama Shakespeare Festival

Our Field Trip to the ASF will be Wednesday, October 20th.  We are looking forward to seeing The House at Pooh Corner. If you are attending this field trip with us, please meet us at ASF at 10:50.  We will be eating lunch a little early before we leave.  Please pack an extra yummy and satisfying snack for when we return because I know we will have some “rumbly tumbly’s”.  I will give them extra time since our schedule will be off.  Please let your child wear their blue first grade friends shirt with khaki bottoms.  (They may also wear their blue shirts on Tuesday with blue jeans, I think we all wash every night anyway! :))

PTA Happenings

THANK YOU to the PTA who provided us with a wonderful surprise popsicle party on Friday afternoon.  Each class who reached 100% PTA membership go a popsicle party.  What a fun way to end a wonderful week!

Please turn in all order forms for the Chicken Fundraiser by this Tuesday, October 19th.  I hope you all are stocking up your freezers! I sure am!

Spirit Night at Chick Fil A is this Wednesday, October 20th.  Please support our school and have dinner at Chick Fil A, what a wonderful reason not to cook! Be sure and tell the cashier you are from Blount!

UNITED WAY

Tomorrow is the last day to collect for United Way.  I am sorry I haven’t posted about this earlier.  If you would like to send in money I will get it to the office.  Every little bit helps! Thanks!!

STI HOME

If you are not aware, you can access your child’s grades daily by getting a password from the office and going to our STI at home website.  This is a great way to stay up to date on your child’s grades without having to wait until signed papers come home.  When you stop by the office to get your password be sure to have a picture ID.  I hope you will take advantage of this fabulous program!

REN PLACE

About a week ago I sent home an orange paper that contained information that would allow you to set up an account to access your child’s AR progress.  It will notify you by email each time your child takes a test and tell you their score.  You can also log in to see their yearly progress.  This too, is an excellent tool I hope you all are using.  If you need me to send you another information sheet on this at home program with your user name and password please let me know.

Thank You!

A big thank you to Amanda Smith for putting together our class directory.  I have talked to the children about telephone etiquette, and that the directory is mainly for parents to use to communicate with one another. I also emphasized that they should never make a telephone call to another friend without asking mom or dad.  Please make sure your sweet first grader doesn’t have access to use the directory in an annoying way.  Thank you for your help with this.

Looking forward to another “BOO-tiful” week!

Hugs!

A Fresh Start!

Tomorrow begins the first day of our second nine weeks of school.  I can’t believe that we have already finished our first nine weeks.  WOW! The children have learned so much and really adapted well to the routine and structure that comes with first grade.  Oh, but we have so much left to learn!! I have so many new things to teach these precious little ones, tons of books that I haven’t read to them yet, many, many games and crafts, the list goes on and on.  The first nine weeks we get the rules, routines, and procedures in place, the rest of the time, we fly!  So get ready, you are going to be even more amazed at what your little one is going to learn!

Tomorrow is Tuesday…..that means three things.    1.  Our class will visit the library.  So if your child is ready for a new book, return your old one.  If not, no big deal, when they finish they can return it and check out a new one.  2.  Children my wear their blue first grade t-shirts and jeans! 3.  It is the first day of the second nine week grading period.

I am sure most of you heard that I was out Friday and our class did not have a substitute.  I try my best not to be out often, and when I know in advance I can get a good reliable substitute.  However, sometimes children get sick, and you think they are getting better, then in the middle of the  night they wake up with a really high fever.  Which is what happened to me! Mary Hunter had a fever virus that we kept for a good 5 days.  She is doing much better, but was a sick little girl!  I am sorry that the children were divided up among the other first grade classes on Friday, but I know they were well cared for!

I totally missed signed papers last week, I think I had too much on my mind. (brain overload) I will send signed papers home tomorrow.  Papers that come home tomorrow will be the last of any papers that go into the first nine week grades. Report Cards will come home Thursday, October 14th. 

Many thanks to everyone who attended PTA last week!  It was a great meeting, and the chicken fingers were DELISH! I hope you are planning on stocking your freezer full! I sure am! Please tell your friends and neighbors about them! The last day to sell Chicken Fingers is October 19th.

I hope you and your family are moving together! Make sure you are participating in “PLAY 60” and taking the challenge to participate in the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award (PALA) Challenge. Make this a time for your whole family! Let your children set their own goals with your guidance.  They are more likely to reach their goals if they have a part in setting them!  

Don’t forget to mark your calendar for out field trip to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival is Wednesday, October 20th.  That same day is Spirit Night at Chik Fil A.  Don’t worry about cooking, come visit with friends and support our school at the same time.  Be sure and tell them you are from Blount!!

I didn’t order Scholastic Books this weekend because I was afraid some children would turn in money on Friday when I was out.  I will place the Scholastic order tomorrow night.  I have added extra days to the online ordering in case anyone wants to order.  The books will be here the beginning of next week!

Language

We are moving right along with our Language rules.  We will continue reviewing rules 1-8.  I'll introduce rule 9 tomorrow-names of holidays begin with a capital letter. Students will make corrections to sentences Monday and a grade taken on Friday.  It would be helpful to save the papers that come home Monday-Thursday and review them for the grade on Friday. Some Thursday's I may take a grade on a worksheet that is specifically related to the rule introduced for the week.

Whole Group Reading Sound

Every week a new unit is introduced in our Whole Group Reading routine. This new unit introduces one new letter sound which serves as the stimulus for all activities that follow. The new letter sound is related to a word, which is related to the theme we will be reading and learning about during the week and writing about in the writing center.

This week our sound is /i/ as in insect.

Don't forget to read word wall words every night until mastered upon site.  Mastered means they read them as soon as they see them.  Word Wall words are not meant to be decoded, they are to be memorized! Words for this week are:  did, sit, in, it, this.

Please make sure to have your child read Read Well homework stories each night to increase fluency and accuracy.  I describe fluency as the ease of the reading rate, as if in conversation, not robotic.  Repetitive reading of familiar text will help build fluency.  Accuracy is the reading without mispronouncing words in the passage.

ACCELERATED READER (AR)

Now that AR testing is up and running, your child will have opportunities throughout the day to take a test, after unpacking in the mornings, during reading centers and anytime after that as long as we not involved in math instruction.  Until I can release full responsibility to your child for reading independently in class and test on the book, be sure to let me know with a sticky note that your child is ready to test. Eventually your child should take a test on their library book before returning it to the library.  We have been talking about how to pick out a "just right book"-one that's not too hard or too easy.  However, I'm going to make the children a library card with a suggested range that your child can choose from.  These levels may need to be adjusted up or down if necessary. Testing is still optional at this point.

Math

We are continuing to work on subtraction. We will begin on Chapter 8 Monday as well as various activities to help with this skill. Please remember to watch for the Review page to come home the night before our test.

You’re a star……..so keep shining!

Thank you for sharing your sweet stars with me!

Hugs!

 

Fall Fun in First Grade!

    

Take a look at all that has been going on in First Grade!

*  We look forward to our weekly Library Time with Mrs. Griffin every Tuesday!

*  Mrs. Mary Hughes visited  us from The Montgomery Humane Shelter and talked about Bite Prevention.  She brought along her precious partner Harvey, who had been bitten by a yellow jacket on his nose! Poor Harvey!

*  Ms. Ashley McDonald a meteorologist from WAKA Channel 8 came and did part of her noon broadcast with us.  She also talked about different types of weather, read her favorite weather book and answered lots of questions.

*  Smile! Picture Day was perfect in first grade.  Everyone looked so nice and acted nice too!

Isn’t the weather outside delightful?!

I hope everyone was able to get outside some and enjoy the wonderful weather this weekend! We have a busy week ahead, take a look!

Reading ~ Our sound for the week is /w/ as in wind and weather. We will have a weather meteorologist from Channel 8 WAKA come and talk to us about the weather on Wednesday.  They will be doing part of their Noon News broadcast live from Blount! You may want to set your DVR.

Word Wall Words – we, was, don’t, off, right  We will have a word wall grade this week.  Please go over all the word wall words we have learned this year with your child.

Language – Continue DOL Rules 1-8, add rule 9 ~ The names of holidays begin with capital letters. Language Test this Thursday.

Math – We will continue to work on Subtraction. (Chapter 3)  We are also still working on addition facts, so please continue to practice addition at home.

Oops! I forgot to send Poetry Notebooks home on Friday, please look for them to come home tomorrow.

Fall Picture Day is Thursday.  The children do not have to wear their uniforms, however please do adhere to the MPS dress code. 

PTA is Tuesday at 6:00.  Please try to attend.  Our PTA does so many things for our school and our children.  I sure hope to see you there!

Don’t forget we have a field trip planned for Wednesday, October 20th.  We will be going to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival to see “Winnie the Pooh.”  Please return money and permission slips by this Friday.  Our Kindergarten classes went to see it and came back to school with wonderful reviews! We are looking forward to a wonderful show!

Don’t forget we visit the library every Tuesday.  However if your child finishes their book and wants to get a new book before Tuesday they are welcome to. Also, if your child wants to take an AR test please send in a note telling me when they are ready.  Taking AR tests right now is optional.

I will be sending home Scholastic book orders tomorrow.  If you would like to order from this month’s flyers please either order online or send in your money to me by this Friday, October 8th. Book orders are completely voluntary!

Next Monday, October 11th is a holiday for students.  Enjoy!

I can’t believe this is the last week of the first nine weeks of school! Next Tuesday we will start over with our conduct grades, everyone will begin with 100 for the second nine weeks of school. 

Thank you for sharing your precious children with me! They are just delightful and I look forward to seeing their sweet faces each day! Have a wonderful week and please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

Thought for the week ~

          What’s the most powerful nation in the world?   Imagi-nation

Hugs!

We’ve got Spirit, yes we do!!

We’ve got spirit, yes we do! We’ve got spirit how about you?

The children in Room 123 were full of all kind of team spirit on Friday! Take a look…                  

            

Hope your team won this weekend! (Even if it was close!);)

Friday Fun Centers!

What a fabulous way to end a week FULL of learning! We worked so hard every day this week.  The children are really doing their best during our reading rotations and it is showing in their work and in their reading! Have you listened to your child read lately? Oh I sure hope so!! Take a look in our room on Friday……….

Blocks….Gears… Linking Links…Paint….Stamps…..Grocery Store……Beads….Farm Animals…..and the list goes on! What wonderful ways to learn with each other!

                                                                                                

                   

                                                         

                                                       

 

I hope your weekend was as fun as our Friday!

Happy First Day of First Grade!

What an amazing first day of school.  We had a terrific day, learned so many new things and met new friends.  I hope you had a chance to hear all about your child’s first day of school.  Be sure and ask them about their “Marshmallow Toes”. Looking forward to another great day tomorrow!

Marshmallow Toes

Walking in the hallways,

Everyone quietly goes…….

Being respectful all the way

Walking on our Marshmallow Toes!

Check out our Marshmallow Toes!

                          

                                          

A New Beginning!

I love new beginnings!

It was a joy to meet all the new children that will be coming to Room 123 this year! As everyone brought in supplies I couldn’t help but feel so excited to have the opportunity to teach another class of 1st Graders! The sound of their sweet voices, the wonderful stories and the questions about what is to come just filled the room and I must say it just made my heart smile.  I am looking forward to a new group of children and can’t wait for Monday to get here!  

Thank you so much to everyone who brought in supplies!  Looks like we are covered for a while!  I will have everyone’s new crayons, binders, pencils and all the fun stuff in their desks on Monday morning!

Don’t you just love the smell of new crayons?? It just seems to say, begin now and do your best! It is time to begin a new school year!

                 

Thanks again for all the supplies and your support tonight! I appreciate it more than you know! Have a great weekend!

 

                     

    Once again…."Welgum" to first grade!! And please brush your teeth extra good tonight just for Mrs. Wright!  Hugs!!

 

Meet Mrs. Wright

                                    

I am married to Ken Wright and we have two daughters.  Anne Auston is nine years old and will be in the fourth grade and Mary Hunter is seven years old and will be in the second grade.  Both of my girls attend Blount Elementary.  My husband is an Energy Education Specialist with the Montgomery Board of Education.  We have one dog, a twelve year old (wow!) yorkie named Jack.  Our family attends Frazer United Methodist Church.  We enjoy vacationing at the beach, reading lots of books, eating at Chappy’s and just being together!

I have been teaching fifteen years and feel very blessed to be able to do something that I love every day.  I am looking forward to a wonderful year filled with LOTS of learning, love, fun and happiness! I can’t wait  to meet all of my new students!

These are a few of my favorite things……..

~ My Family! ~ Reading  ~Chappy’s  ~Pedicures  ~Singing   ~My Church

~Teaching Children  ~Birthdays   ~Ribbons & Bows  ~Good Music

~Monograms  ~Auburn Football  ~Taking Pictures ~Books A Million

~Diet Coke  ~Surprises  ~A Clean Car  ~ The Beach   ~Sweet Friends

       My Sweet Family!

       

I am looking forward to learning all about you and your favorite things!!

Hugs! Hugs! 

Room 123 Blount Elementary

It’s that time of year!! Horray for a new school year!

Welcome Back! We are busy getting ready for school! As new information comes available I will post it here on our class blog.

I wanted to let you know that Open House will be held on August 5th from 5:45 - 6:45. Feel free to come and go as needed. You will be able to meet your teacher and bring your supplies. We recommend that you bring your supplies at Open House. Thanks!
                                       

                                  Some meal prices have changed!
                      Breakfast- Adult Visitor- 2.00; Student Visitor-1.25

                      Lunch- Adult Visitor- 3.50; Student Visitor- 2.50
                                      
    

     MPS Transportation Hotline Is Now Open!
Parents may call (334) 223-6900 to be connected to transportation staff members on July 21-30, Monday-Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and August 2-20, Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Though the hotline has five lines, there may be times when the phone lines are busy. Callers who don’t immediately get through may leave a message, which will be returned by Transportation Department staff or they may send an email to transportationinfo@mps.k12.al.us. Callers may also leave questions for transportation staff on voice mail after hours. They should leave their name and daytime phone number so someone can get in touch with them. To answer those questions effectively, they need to know the parent’s name, home address, phone number and zoned school. Parents who do not know their child’s zoned school may call the Parent Advocate and Liaison for Student’s Office at 223-6850, or they may use the school zone feature on the MPS website under the parents section at www.mps.k12.al.us.

Happy Birthday America!

                              Hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday!

Class photobook

Click here to view this photo book larger

Only 3 days left, but LOTS of wonderful memories!

I can't believe that we only have 3 days left of school this year! It has been a wonderful year! As we wrap things up this week, my new technology teacher :) (Michele Brantley) otherwise know in our room as Joshua's mom has been a busy bee! She graciously created a precious DVD of our class this year! The pictures and music are great! The children and I watched it and I am working on making a copy for every student to have as a keepsake! So be watching for that to come home this week. Not only did she create the DVD she also made a class photobook that contains tons of pictures of our class only. It is adorable and if your children are like mine, they LOVE to look at previous class photobooks, yearbooks, etc. Michele said I could share it with you all in case you wanted to order one for your child. If you do want to order one there are two PROMO codes that you will want to use. sweet40 - is 40% off on photobooks until 5/26, and ship30 - is free shipping on >$30 orders. I placed my order tonight and the total was $30.35. I can't wait to get it!! Thank you Michele for creating such special keepsakes for our children to enjoy for years to come!

Michele also taught me how to download all my class photos to shutterfly so if there was a specific picture of your child that you wanted to order or if you just wanted to see all the pictures again from this year you can access them here:

http://mrswrightsfirstgrade.shutterfly.com/pictures

(You will have to cut & paste the above link into your browser, I can't get it to go straight to the website when you click on it on the page. Sorry.)Also it will take you to the photobook then after you view it you can click on the pictures tab at the top of the page and it will show you all the albums I have created this year. It's really neat!


This is also the site you go to if you want to order a photobook. Let me know what you think! I think I am going to use Shutterfly next year on my blog so parents can see it on the blog but can also go to Shutterfly and view order if they want. If anyone else has any blogging tips or photo editing, storing, etc. Let me know. I am always interested in changing things that would make it easier for myself and the parents!

By the way, I finally got a new camera! The one I have been talking about for the most part of this school year! It was a fun surprise!!

We are going to have a great time this week! As a child I always loved the last days of school, and as a teacher I still do. I am looking forward to spending these last three days with the children, we will have a great time and create more first grade memories!

The Countdown Begins!

May 17-21

I want to begin by saying THANK YOU! Thank you so much for all the wonderful ways you showed appreciation to me. All of the notes, hearts, candy,flowers and other gifts really made me feel special.The beautiful silver bookmark will always remind me of this preicous class and all the many wonderful memories we made this year! Your children are so very special to me, I have truly enjoyed each of them.

Blood Drive Monday, May 17th from 12:30 to 5:30 across the street at Grace Pointe Church. Walk-ins are welcome but appointments will be given priority. To make an appointment email pittmanil@usa.redcross.org or call 202-8783. All presenting donors will receive a Robert Trent Jones Free Round of Golf OR an American Red Cross T-shirt. Get entered to win a Cruise for 2 also! Just for Blount if you donate in honor of a student, the student will receive an American Red Cross Yo-Yo!

It is still hard to believe there are only 8 days left in first grade. I come to this time of year with mixed emotions. I, like the children, are ready for a break. On the other hand, I will miss the routine of our school day (sorta of-ha!) and I will miss seeing all the little faces of those I've come to love. It's always amazing to think about how far we've come since the beginning of the year. They have worked so hard and I feel confident that they are ready for new challenges in second grade. I'm so proud of them. And to you parents, without the support you show at home they wouldn't be where they are now! Thank you so very much!!


Reading ~ We will focus on the sound /igh/ as in flight.

Spelling-May 17-21 This week's focus is words the following sounds: ge (j sound), ir, igh, ai, ou

change, charge, stage, bird, third, flight,

high, brighten, train, pain, cloud, shout

Language ~ This week we will be putting all skills learned this year in correcting short stories.

MATH ~ We will not test on Chapter 24. We will touch on weight, measurement and two digit addition the remainder of the year.Homework can be completing the rest of the activities in the Practice Math Workbook. Also, continue to practice addition and subtraction each night.

A Few important dates and reminders:

I ordered Scholastic Books last weekend. I expect them to be delivered tomorrow!

Supply lists and dress code information (no change with dress code) can be accessed on the Blount website.

May 17th - First Grade SLUSHY DAY! Flavor for tomorrow will be Strawberry. Please send in $1 if your child would like a slushy.

May 17th-The library is closed for book check outs. All library books need to be returned to the library Monday May 17th. AR tests will have to be on books in the class, books from home or the public library.

The deadline for pre-ordering school supplies for the next school year is May 17. Pricing and order details were sent home May 3. Call Charlotte Lane (546-1767) with questions.

May 21 - Yearbooks delivered

May 21 - 1st Grade Honors Program - 1:00 - 1:30

May 21 - 2nd Grade Honor Program - 1:45-2:15

May 24 - 3rd Grade Honor Program - 1:00-1:30

May 24 - 4th Grade Honor Program - 1:45-2:15

May 25 - 5th Grade Honor Program - 8:30-9:30

May 26 - 6th Grade Program - 9am

May 26 - Last Day of School for Students

Let me know if you have any questions as we are right upon the very end! Have a great week!

Hard to believe .......almost 2nd Graders!

Wow, hard to believe there are only 13 days left. Oh how I am going to miss all these precious children. I think the end of school years are just a little bittersweet. Looking back as to how much progress all of the children have made is just amazing! Sending them to second grade with a solid foundation knowing they are ready for whatever will come their way makes me so proud of them. And of you parents, without the support you show at home they wouldn't be where they are now! Thank you! Thank you!
Thank you!

I am so proud of how well our class did on DIBELS test!!! I will be sending the DIBELS report along with the STAR reading report home with Report Cards on the last day of school.


Reading ~ We will focus on the sound /ou and ow/.

Spelling ~ words with /oo/ as in hook and words with and rhyming pattern.

book good look wood took stood hood shook nook stand hand land

Language ~ This week we will be putting all skills learned this year in correcting short stories.

MATH ~ We will not test on Chapter 23. We will begin Chapter 24 on Tuesday. Homework this week will be the pages in the practice workbook from Chapter 24. Also, continue to practice addition and subtraction each night.
Mark your calendar!
May 10th - First Grade SLUSHY DAY! Flavor for tomorrow will be Watermelon. Please send in $1 if your child would like a slushy.

Classroom Needs at this time:

CLOROX WIPES

A Few important dates and reminders:

May 10-14 Teacher Appreciation Week

May 13 - Signed Papers

May 14 - Teacher Appreciation Luncheon

May 21 - Yearbooks delivered

May 21 - 1st Grade Honors Program - 1:00 - 1:30

May 21 - 2nd Grade Honor Program - 1:45-2:15

May 24 - 3rd Grade Honor Program - 1:00-1:30

May 24 - 4th Grade Honor Program - 1:45-2:15

May 25 - 5th Grade Honor Program - 8:30-9:30

May 26 - 6th Grade Program - 9am

May 26 - Last Day of School for Students

Let me know if you have any questions as we are right upon the very end! Have a great week!

What a wonderful week!!

Last week was just perfect! I think everything was wonderful, including the weather. Check out the precious pictures I took at our fun events!

ZOO FIELD TRIP
The children were absolutely precious at the zoo and seemed to enjoy themselves! There were quite a many children there, but I think everyone had a really good time! A huge thank you to all of the moms and dads who came to help! BIG THANK YOUS go to the following: Chris & Jenky Fields, Dax Bise, Kelly Norton, Dawn Owens, Kristine Smith, Yahnira Backus, Barb Garrison, Leslie York, and Camie Bruhn. The Zoo was definitely a fun experience, no matter how many times you go, there is always something new to see.

FIELD DAY
I think Field Day couldn't have been any better!! The games and activities were so well planned and so appropriate for our sweet little first graders. As I looked around at one point during the morning the entire class was smiling and laughing! Isn't that what Field Day is supposed to be......just plain old FUN! We did have lots of favorite games, however a personal favorite of mine was the parachute! Gotta love it! And the weather couldn't have been any better, at least during our time slot 8:15-10:00:)!KUDOS to Coach Rader for all her hard work and planning. Of all my field day experiences, this one was tops!! Not to mention I haven't ever been to a school field day where they serve you popsicles and cotton candy?! Yum! Yum! Once again BIG THANK YOUS to our parents who volunteered and helped during field day! Carey Owens, Camie Bruhn, Kristi Bise, Yahnira Backus, Barb Garrison, and Nancy Hester.

Now..........LEARNING in Room 123 this week!

Reading ~ We will focus on the sound /z/ as in zebra.

Spelling ~ words with a double consonant pattern.(Test on Friday)
funny bunny puppy penny happy kitten mitten little ripple cuddle sitting juggle

Language ~ This week we will be learning about HOMONYMS. We will have a graded activity on this skill Friday.

MATH ~ We will begin Chapter 22 on Monday. Homework this week will be the pages in the practice workbook from Chapter 22. Also, continue to practice addition and subtraction each night.
Mark your calendar!

April 26 - First Grade SLUSHY DAY! Please send in $1 if your child would like a slushy.

Enjoy the rest of your week! Let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks for all you help this past week!!!

Field Trip to the Montgomery Zoo

Field Day FUN!!

April 19 - 23, 2010

I hope you are ready.......we are in for a VERY fun and busy week! Monday our class will visit the book fair and it is also first grade slushy day! Yum! Wednesday is our long awaited field trip to the Montgomery Zoo. In celebration of Earth Day on Thursday the "Talking Tree" will come and speak to our first graders about the importance of helping recycle and other things we can do to help save our planet! FIELD DAY is Friday. I can't think of a better way to end such an eventful week. I will send home more information about our field trip and field day later on this week. As always, we will still be learning many new things in first grade, we want to be READY for second grade!

Spelling ~ We will have our Spelling Test this THURSDAY due to Field Day on Friday.
Focusing on words with the ar.
car far jar stat start farm harm are garden large smart chart

Language ~ This week we will be learning about ANTONYMS. We will not have DOL sentences this week. We will be doing various activities to help us become familiar with antonyms. We will have a graded activity on ANTONYMS & SYNONYMS on Thursday.

MATH ~ We will begin Chapter 22 on Monday. Homework this week will be the pages in the practice workbook from Chapter 22. Also, continue to practice addition and subtraction each night.

Mark your calendar!
April 19 - First Grade SLUSHY DAY! Please send in $1 if your child would like a slushy.
April 19-22 Book Fair - First Grade will visit on Monday, but your child can visit another day if they bring money. Monday is just the only day we go as a "CLASS".
April 19-25 Food Drive (drop off during morning carpool)
April 21 - Zoo Field Trip.......finally!!
April 22 - Earth Day ~ Speaker - The Talking Tree will visit 1st grade classrooms!
April 22 - Spirit Night @ Cucos (send receipt to school)
April 23 - FIELD DAY!! 1st Grade Time is 8:15-9:55

Wow! This is a lot of information! Let me know if you have any questions! Thanks and I hope to see many of you this week!!

Fun Centers & Slushy Day!!

April 12-16, 2010

Happy Spring! I hope everyone enjoyed another wonderful weekend! Take a look at what we are doing this week!

SPELLING
The spelling words are listed below. Don’t forget to study spelling words on Thursday night for the test on Friday.

April 12 ~ Focusing on words with the vowel digraph ow
cow now down town brown show row low flower tower grow know

April 19 Focusing on words with the ar
car far jar stat start farm harm are garden large smart chart

April 26 ~ Focusing on words with double consonants.
funny bunny puppy penny happy kitten mitten little ripple cuddle sitting juggle

May 3 ~ Focusing on words with vowel digraph aw and the initial consonants digraph th.
saw paw law lawn fawn then this crawl these their think drawn

May 10 ~ Focusing on words in the -ook, -ood and -and word families.
book good look wood took stood stand hand land hood shook nook


READING
Our whole group sound for this week is /j/ as in jaguar. Our writing job will be various topics related to this sound.

Please take advantage of using the Renaissance at home program. If you are having problems please let me know.

MATH
We will begin Chapter 21 on Monday. Homework this week will be the pages in the practice workbook from Chapter 21. Also, continue to practice addition and subtraction each night.

LANGUAGE - (DOL)
We have covered rules 1-24 and continuing to practice these rules in sentences each week. We will continue to discuss commas in a series and commas are used in dates and addresses (city, state). Next week we will discuss synomyms We will take our Friday's DOL for a daily grade.

Have a wonderful week!!

April 5-9, 2010

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend! I was excited to hear all the stories today, we even had a few spring critters brought in to share:)! Spring is definitely in the air, it almost feels like summer already. Although the days are beautiful and the sun is calling us, we still have a lot to do to get ready for second grade. I will continue to expect full cooperation from each child in our classroom. That includes classroom behavior, completing work, hallway & lunchroom behavior as well as respect for ourselves AND each other. If your child receives a conduct ticket in class, it is for an offense that was given several warnings and needs attention. Thank you in advance for assisting me in immediately taking care of any conduct problems that arise. If you ever have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me. Let's make these last weeks of school the very best!!

SPELLING
The spelling words are listed below. Don’t forget to study spelling words on Thursday night for the test on Friday.

all, wall, call, will, tell, well, small, smell, stall, chill, drill, shell

READING
Our whole group sound for this week is /qu/ as in queen. Our writing job will be various topics related to this sound.

Please take advantage of using the Renaissance at home program. If you are having problems please let me know.

MATH
We will continue Chapter 20. Homework for math will be lessons 20 in the Practice Math Workbook.The addition and subtraction facts are getting a little more difficult, I would encourage you to spend a few minutes each night going over the basic facts as well as strategies to help with the more difficult facts. If you need any assistance with this please let me know. Look for the review sheet to come home the night before we test. (Probably mid to end of this week.)

LANGUAGE - (DOL)
We have covered rules 1-24 and continuing to practice these rules in sentences each week. We will continue to discuss commas in a series, a rule that is not listed on the Grammar Rules sheet. In addition we will be learning that commas are used in dates and addresses (city, state). We will take our Friday's DOL for a daily grade.

Future Dates to Remember

April 8 - Spirit Night @ Cucos (send receipt to school)

April 12 - Papers sent home about Raffle-style fundraiser

April 15 - Progress Reports

April 15 - Signed Papers

April 15 - Teacher Treat Day

April 15 - Spirit Night @ Cucos (send receipt to school)

April 19-22 Book Fair

April 19-25 Food Drive (drop off during morning carpool)

April 21 - Zoo Field Trip.......finally!!

April 22 - Earth Day ~ Speaker - The Talking Tree will visit 1st grade classrooms!

April 22 - Spirit Night @ Cucos (send receipt to school)

April 23 - FIELD DAY!! 1st Grade Time is 8:15-9:55

April 26 - Spirit Night @ Five Guys (give them your Blount Flyer)

April 29 - Signed Papers

April 29 - Gold Fundraiser (Blount Library)

April 29 - Spirit Night @ Cucos (send receipt to school)

April 30 - Blount Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast

May 3-7 - DIBELS Testing

May 4 - PTA Meeting

May 6 - Kindergarten Round Up (for upcoming Kindergartners)

May 14 - Teacher Appreciation Luncheon

May 21 - First Grade Honor's Day (1:00-1:30)

May 26 - Last Day of School

Wow! Hope you marked your calendar with all these events coming up. I am sure if you are like me, this doesn't even include church, dance or ballgames.......spring is here!! Enjoy your time and don't forget to read with your precious little one! Have a wonderful week!

Easter Egg Hunt!

Book Character Parade!