Character Counts

Oops! I forgot to add the awards for Character Counts!

Congratulations to Nikolas and Tianna for being responsible and respectful students!

Awards Assembly

Just wanted to send a quick reminder about the Honors Assembly tomorrow. Several students in our class will be receiving awards!

Congratulations to the award winners!
For Perfect attendance: Jade, Veraun, and Ava
For Academic achievement: Tianna, Austin E., Nikolas, Delanie, Alex R., Janaela, Ceanna, Brandon L., Izik, and Regan.

Don't forget to turn in your reading log this week and have a fun winter break!

No Homework or Spelling

There will be no homework or spelling this week due to the Thanksgiving holiday. We have school only on Monday and Tuesday this week! So enjoy your holiday and time off!

Also, don't forget the Thanksgiving feast which will be free to all students on Tuesday, November 23rd. So don't send money or a lunch that day, we'll all eat turkey instead!

Thanksgiving Feast

The Thanksgiving Feast is next Tuesday, November 23rd. Lunch is free for all students that day, so don't bother sending lunch money or packing a lunch! Our grade level has been asked to bring canned corn. So please send in 2-4 cans of corn before or on November 23rd! Be sure to ask questions if you have them!

This Week...

Spelling words: up, but, set, man, them, need, block, stomp, going, upset, come*, there*
*these words are sight words and need to be memorized
Sentences: His friend can go with us. We need to get that rock.

Activities: November 16th- Skate Country Night
November 17th- Candle sale ends
November 19th- Breakfast with the principal
-Mexican Fiesta 6-8:00pm $5 a ticket at the front office

Homework Help

Just a few instructions about homework this week in case it didn't make it home with the kids... Each child received a paper with sentence strips stapled to a lined piece of paper. Please have your child cut out these words, put them in order to make a sentence, and glue them on the lined paper. In case a word gets misplaced, there are numbers on the back. All of the 1s are in the same sentence, all of the 2s in the next sentence, and so on.

Each other piece of homework that comes home whether math or phonics will have instructions on it. The front side (or A) is what we will do at school. The back side (or B) is homework, and even on the phonics pages there are instructions about what to do with the B side of the paper.

Also, please be reading at home and keep track of the time you are reading on your child's weekly log! We have started a new program called "Book It" where the kids get prizes from Pizza Hut for tracking their monthly reading. (More on this program will be coming home shortly).

As always if there are any questions please feel free to contact me either at the school or via my email address: b_thies@hotmail.com.

This Week's Activities

Spelling list 8: sat, dog, glad, cost, milk, sock, street, thank, needed, resting, color, friend

Sentences: The green frog jumped. Are you going to the meeting?

Activities to look forward to: Tuesday, Nov. 9th school fundraiser at the new Peter Piper Pizza (5925 E. Broadway Blvd.)

What's new this week...

Spelling words: go, hi, am, get, him, ten, best, help, pick, black, you, what

Spelling sentences: Get a can of clams. What can you print?

Spirit Week/Drug Awareness Week: Monday- Jersey Day- "winners don't do drugs"
Tuesday- Silly bands/crazy hair/crazy hat day- "silly/crazy to do drugs"
Wednesday- girls wear red ribbons, boys wear ties- "stay healthy, don't do drugs"
Thursday- Nerd day- "stay in school, don't do drugs"
Friday- Sock day- "sock it to drugs"

Spelling Sentences

Oops! I forgot to add the spelling sentences last time...

Sentence 1: Ask Dan to clap.
Sentence 2: The pan is in the sink.

Also, a quick reminder that through the month of October, to show our support for breast cancer awareness, Fridays are also being called "pink Fridays", where students may wear whatever dress down clothes they wish as long as they are wearing something pink. We will discuss this more in class and as well as the importance of showing our support for such causes.

Spelling, Report Cards, etc.

Spelling List 5: ask, big, can, cat, drop, lost, ants, snip, flag, stand, of, to

Report Cards: There may be some concern about some 0's received on report cards. The main reason this occurred is because there was not enough information to give a more complete grade. If a student had several unexcused absences and missed some of the assignments, or was under-performing on the assignments they did complete, a zero was given. In the writing portion of the grades, only one formal test was given that counted towards this section. If a student achieved two out of four goals for this assignment (which is completely normal at this stage in their writing), they received a score of 2 out of 4. Since this is still only 50%, the child was given a grade of 0 on their report card. Do not worry, again, this is normal at this stage, especially since we have only done one formal writing test! As always if there are questions or concerns, please contact me and we'll set up a conference.

Activities this Week: Friday, October 22 is Breakfast with the Principal!
Friday October 22 is also Senior Reading Buddies!

Spelling List 4

Spelling words this week are: he, be, if, got, his, has, hot, ran, hand, fast, said, the

Sentences: It ran so fast. Dan sat in sand.

Practice makes perfect!

La Paloma Movie Night

Movie night is this Friday, October 1st from 6-8pm in the auditorium. The movie is "The Secret of Moonacre", rated PG. Food will be available for sale (nachos, hot dogs, personal size pizzas, etc). Enjoy an evening of fun with your family! (Who knows, you may even see me and my kids there...)

Spelling List 3

Spelling words for this week are: as, is, so, its, sit, and, did, last, stop, land.

There are two sentences again this week: I stop a lot. I did it last.

Please remind your child that they should be writing spelling words in lower case letters and sentences begin with an upper case letter and end with a period. I will be taking points off if these are not correct this week! (We have been talking about it a lot as well as practicing in class...)

Senior Reading Buddies

This past Friday our senior reading buddies from Fellowship Square retirement community came to our classroom! This was our first meeting with them so we first interviewed them to find out a little bit about them, then we practiced reading our "book boxes" or 1st grade readers. The kids and seniors really enjoyed it, and we're all looking forward to next month's visit!

Great American Fundraiser

The Great American Fundraiser is here! Packets went home this week with details, order forms, and catalogs. This is a great fundraiser that does well for the school. There is cookie dough, jewelry, wrapping paper, holiday gifts, magazine subscriptions, and much more! There are prizes for students that sell certain levels. (Ask your child about the "toilet". This was probably the most talked about prize...) The class who sells the most also gets a prize as well! The sale ends October 13th so be sure to get out there and sell, sell, sell!

Our First Field Trip

This week we sent home information about our first field trip! On Wednesday, October 6 we (along with Mrs. Felix's class) will be getting a behind the scenes tour of our local Miller Golf Links public library. In addition to the tour and some other activities, students will be able to sign up for a library card, if they do not already have one! Students are asked to wear a red LPA shirt, jeans or shorts, and comfortable walking shoes. We will leave around 9:00am and return at approximately 11:00am. Parent/grandparent volunteers are needed, just be sure to let me know if you plan on attending. We will be taking either the vans or the bus that day (not sure which yet). In either case, there is very little room for parents to ride with us, so please plan on driving your own vehicles or carpooling with other parents. (And please no siblings!) If you have any questions be sure to let me know and get those permission slips in!

Pennies for Math

We have some upcoming math lessons that have us counting out pennies and talking about money over the next few weeks. Please send 20-100 pennies in a plastic container (baggie also works fine) with your child's name on it. We will use these for several different activities!

Conferences and spelling

Hello, just a few reminders about this week...

First its parent teacher conferences. Sign ups are outside of the classroom. Feel free to fill in a spot or let me know if you need something else. Other days could possibly open up (such as Wednesday after my meeting...) I would love to talk to all of you, if you can make it!

SPELLING LIST 2:
a, an, at, tap, lot, nap, tan, zip, lap, pit

Sentences- Nap on it. Zip a top.

Have some fun this Friday!

This Friday September 17, two special events are happening at our school!

Bike/Walk to School Day: Everyone is being asked to help our planet out by riding a bike, walking, or carpooling to school. There will be individual prizes for participants drawn from a raffle and class prizes for the class with the most participants. Be sure to check in with the teachers and student members of the Green Team to make sure you are counted for these prizes. Please be sure to practice bike safety and always wear a helmet!

Back to School Dance: This Friday after school there will be an all school dance! From 6:00-7:00pm K-5th grades will party and 6th - 8th from 7:30-9:00pm. Tickets are $3 a person and may be purchased prior to the dance in the front office. Snacks will also be available for purchase that night.

**Also parent teacher conferences will be next week, look for a sign up sheet outside the classroom door!

Spelling List 1

This week will be the first week of spelling tests from our Saxon phonics curriculum. The words this week are: on, no, not, top, pop, I, in, it, pin, tip. There are two sentences this week: Pin it on. Tip it in. Spelling tests are Friday. Happy studying!

Student Picture Day

Student Picture Day is here! Tuesday, September 14th students will have their photographs taken at the school. For those of you who are new to the school, there are two student photo days during the school year. This first day the students are to wear their school uniforms for their pictures. The second picture day (in Spring) the students will be allowed to wear their "dress down" clothes or whatever you would like them to wear. Order packets were sent home earlier this week for this first picture day. If you have any questions let me know! Otherwise be sure to send your child looking nice and wearing their best smile on the 14th!

Entertainment Books Due

The Entertainment book fundraiser is at an end. Please turn in either your books or the money for them as soon as possible. (Technically the sale ends today). If you have any questions either let me know or ask in the front office! Thanks for your support of this fundraiser!

Spelling Words- List C

Spelling words this week are: bog, dog, fog, hog, jog, log, frog, clog, said, but, what, of
Spelling sentence is: The frog sat on the log.

Have a great Labor Day!

Spelling Words- List B

Spelling words this week are from the "ap" family:
cap
lap
map
nap
tap
rap
sap
zap
flap
clap
it
is

Scholastic Book Fair

The Scholastic Book Fair is at our campus this week! Our class will be previewing the fair this afternoon. The theme is: "Here's to our heroes! Reading saves the day!" There will be contests and activities all week long!

Monday- Students guess who 10 masked superhero teachers are. The two winning students who come the closest will receive a $10 voucher for the book fair!
Tuesday- Donuts with the Principal from 8:00-8:30am. Also, students guess how many pages are in a stack. Closest two winners receive a prize!
Wednesday- Open House 6:00-8:00pm. The book fair will be open during this time as well!
Thursday- Pie Throwing at Mr. L, Mr. Dye, Mr. Ray, and others during lunch recess. $1.00 a shot. Also, there will be a door decorating contest for the classrooms. The winning class also receives a prize!
Friday- Superhero day! Students may dress as their favorite Superhero!

As you check out the book fair, be sure to check out our class' wish list!

Blog Update

Just wanted to point out a few new features I added to our blog! I added some links to a few educational yet fun websites. You can go there for ideas and activities for your kids, or your child can even head there for some fun online games that help reinforce the things we are learning in class.

I also added some community links that are important to our classroom. At the public library link you can check out how to get a library card, homework help, and much more at the library closest to you. It is a good place to get books to read with your child for our book logs! The World Care link is a good place to go if you or your family is wondering how you can help out with some of the emergency relief efforts going on throughout the world. Last year our school had a drive to help with the disaster relief in Haiti. The Fellowship Square link will give you more information about the residents that come to our school for our senior reading buddy program. Last year several classes from our school had these "grandmas and grandpas" (as my class liked to call them) read books and do different activities with them every month. Our class also delivered handmade Valentines to the residents during their lunch hour. We plan to do these and other actvities with Fellowship Square this year as well!

So, have fun exploring and if you have any other ideas for links, activities, etc. please let me know!

First Day Picture

A couple of parents took some group shots of our class the first day of school. Here's one of those photos! Aren't they darling? This year will be a great one!

Important Papers...

Hello, just a friendly reminder to continue to check your child's folder daily! There are many important papers that I need you to read and discuss with your child. Some should also be signed and sent back to school. Remember, I will send corrected work, newsletters, and other important information home in your child's folder on the "home" side, and you can send notes and information to me on the "school" side. Important papers sent home this week include:

The behavior plan, safe snack information, the emergency information card (for classroom use), the classroom procedures newsletter, and the Saxon reading and math program information sheets.

Please review all information and be sure to ask if you have any questions. And please, get those papers signed and handed back! Thank you for all of your time and assistance with the education of your children!

Welcome to First Grade!

Welcome new students (and those of you I had last year too!) I hope you all had a wonderful summer vacation! I am excited about teaching first grade this year! We have lots of fun and interesting activities to look forward to. The first few days of school we will spend time getting to know each other and learning the classroom rules and procedures. We will also be taking a tour of the school for the students in our class who are new to the school. On Friday we will even start our "special" classes by having PE!

Be sure to look in your child's folder every day. This next week and a half we will be sending home very important papers! If you have any questions please feel free to call me at the school or email me at b_thies@hotmail.com. I am looking forward to a good year!

Graduation Pictures

Here are some photos of the graduation. I just wanted to say thank you again for the privilege of teaching your children this past year. I know it was a labor of love for us all and we all learned and grew through the process. Your children truly are wonderful and I have loved being their teacher!

More Water Party Photos

Here are some more shots... It really was tons of fun!

Water Party

Our water party on Tuesday was a BLAST! Here are some pix of the kids looking wet but happy!

Senior Reading Buddies and 6th Grade Buddies

Our senior reading buddies came for the last time this year last Friday. Here are a few of those pictures! We really enjoyed our senior buddies and even made them a present to say thanks for visiting our classroom! We also had 6th grade buddies that came every Friday from Mr. Lewis' class to help us out with our activities. They were also there last Friday. We really enjoyed all of our buddies this year!

Some photos from our zoo field trip... My camera died halfway through the trip so if you have any good shots you'd like to share, please email them to me!


We had a great time! Everyone's favorite thing was the train ride! Thanks again to all the parents who helped out!

Senior Reading Buddies

Our senior reading buddies from Fellowship Square (the same place we delivered Valentine's a while back) came to school last month and I finally have pictures! Both the seniors and students loved reading together. We're doing it again this month so look for more pictures then too!

Graduation Update...

Just a quick update about our promotion ceremonies! They will be Thursday, May 27th at 10:00am. Students should wear "Sunday best" (meaning nice dresses, shirts, pants, etc.). They will borrow a gown for the ceremony and should have already purchased by now a cap and tassel ($6 for both). The cap and tassel are yours to keep, but the gown should be returned that day.

If you haven't already paid for your cap and tassel, please do so! If you are concerned about your child graduating please talk to me. It's better to have something (and return it, or save it for next time), then to not have anything at all.

April 22 we will offer professional photos in a cap and gown for your kindergartner, if you are interested. Please see the packet we sent home last week for specifics!

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns! We look forward to sharing this happy time with your children!

Dance Pictures

Here are some pictures from the dance, finally! It was great because everyone wanted their pictures taken, but they would inevitably end up "break dancing" which always made for funny pictures! Enjoy!

Kindergarten Graduation

Just a reminder that $6 for a graduation cap and tassel is due this Friday. I know it has been a little short notice so if it is a hardship, please let me know. We need to allow 4-6 weeks to make sure we receive the caps in enough time for our promotion ceremonies. Thank you!

One more thing

(I always forget something!) If I did not mention your name, please forgive me! I still thank you for your help too!!!!!

A Big Thank You!

I've been really slow this time getting my thank yous out to all the parents who helped out at our last field trip... So I thought I'd just do one great big thank you here!

Thanks to: Christine Tagalog, Elsa Hidalgo, Jolene and Taylor Berry, Jamila Grigsby, Ronda Nelson, Nancy Rodriguez, Michael Shecton, Lisa Abalos, Patricia Valdez, Roger Jacques, Ana Patrica Rivera, and Diana Lane for all of your help corralling children at the rodeo! We couldn't do these fun activities without all of your help!

A Special thanks to Roger Jacques for driving the other van for us! (It didn't even cross my mind to ask Ms. Maria if she was driving the van, I just assumed she could...) Thanks for jumping in and taking care of that so we could all go, Roger!

I think that concludes this round of thank yous! I'll do better next time with your individual notes... The sentiment is still the same, however! We are so very thankful for all of the help you give to us and for your wonderful children!

Rodeo Pictures

Hey there, I finally have the rodeo field trip pictures for you all! I had camera troubles again on my end. (All of my technology woes this year have really given my husband cause to try to talk me into updating all of our gadgets...) We had a great time even though we got rained out near the end. The kids loved seeing the roping and going to cowboy school the best! If you have any pictures feel free to share too!

Still more pix...

Then with the valentines that were left we decorated the walls of the dinning hall for the big party they were having that weekend! It was tons of fun!

Valentine pix again...

Okay, so let's try that again... First we handed out valentines to the residents while they were eating lunch. These are a few of those shots.

Valentine Delivery Pics!

Finally! Pictures from our trip to Fellowship Square where we handed out valentines! It was a blast! I had so many residents thanking us, and the kids were just as excited! Every time a new person would walk in the dining room there were six kindergartners on them ready to hand out a valentine! Several kids thought it was funny that the "grandmas and grandpas" kept telling them they were cute, and one girl started making plans about what she wanted to make next to deliver to the residents! I think this trip made an impression on everyone involved! Enjoy the pictures and look forward to more events involving this retirement community. Thanks again to all of the parents who helped out with the trip on such short notice!

An Improptu Field Trip...

This Friday, Feb. 12, we have the opportunity to deliver the Valentines all of the kinder and 1st grade classes have been making to the residents of Fellowship Square. Fellowship Square is a retirement community located near Broadway and Sarnoff. I have been trying to help the school form a community partnership with this senior living facility, and our class gets to be involved in some of the early steps of this program! So this Friday we get to hand out Valentines to the residents during their lunch hour! We need parent volunteers to help out, if you can! We also will need everyone to turn in their permission slips ASAP! (They went home today...) Thanks for all of your help and support, and we'll be sure to bring the camera!

Upcoming Field Trip

Info is going home in the next week about our upcoming field trip to the Tucson Rodeo! We get to watch all of the rodeo participants practice for the rodeo on Monday, February 22 (note the date change from the info I posted in the newsletter this week...). The cost of the trip is free, but we are asking for $2 per child to purchase cowboy duds for each student! We found a smokin' deal online and can get a hat and bandanna for each child for only $2. If this is a hardship please speak with me. We can work something out... The $2 is due this Friday (Feb. 5) so we can have enough time to order the items and have them back to us for the field trip!

YEE HAW!!

4 Weeks 4 Haiti

This week in our school's effort to send relief aid to Haiti, we are collecting personal hygiene items. Some of the items are: toothpaste, toothbrushes, nail clippers, face/wash cloths, non-alcohol or baby shampoos, and bar soaps such as Ivory. There are large yellow donations boxes throughout the school to make drop off easier. (One even right by our classroom door at the principal's office!) For each item you/your child donates your child will receive a coupon for $0.25 to the snack shack as a little extra incentive. If you would like to donate money instead, please do so at the front office. You could also send it in an envelope in your child's folder to school and I'll make sure it gets to the office. Please make sure to label the envelope clearly or I might mistake it for lunch money... If you have any questions please feel free to ask me or at the front office. For more on the relief effort for Haiti check out www.worldcare.org (the organization where all of your donations will go). Be sure to get your child involved in this giving process! It can be a real growing experience for the whole family! Thanks for your support!

Just a reminder...

Just a quick reminder about a few important things going on in our classroom!

Be sure to record all books you read at home for our Bookman's reading challenge. This month the Kindergarten or 1st grade with the most books read will get a special prize from Bookman's. Our class is doing quite well! Every time I take our record sheets to the office they are always impressed with how many books we've read. Next week is our last week that recorded books count towards a prize for our class, so keep reading!!

Also, if you have any pictures from field trips or other class activities feel free to email them to me. I have started collecting pictures for both the yearbook and a special presentation we'll be giving at the end of the year, so any extra photos would be greatly appreciated! (email: b_thies@hotmail.com) Thanks!