Open House

Thank you to everyone who came out to Open House on Wednesday night! It was so nice to meet and talk with everyone.  It was a very busy night and I apologize to anyone that I ddin't get a chance to speak with.

I hope you enjoyed seeing all of your student's work. They worked hard to do their best to show off a bit.

I am working on a schedule for volunteers.  I will just have a calendar for anyone to sign up  to come in to grade, file, xerox, or work on projects.

  I am in need of a few people who would be willing to come in on Wednesday or Thursday mornings from 10-10:30 to help type out student stories for them to publish during Writer's Workshop time.  Students would come to you and read their stories while you type them out.  We will print and then the students can illustrate their creations.

Please stop by in the morning or afternoon to sign up for any of these activities.

Here are a few pictures of some Friday Fun we had. I brought in some licorice for everyone to celebrate my birthday:)) They got very creative with it and some even created their own air conditioning.

 

 

Timelines, Surfer of The Week, and Open House

Aloha Families! I hope everyone had a nice three day weekend.  Last week we started learning about history through timelines.  Today I sent home a timeline with each student to complete at home.

I know that some of you may not have pictures for certain years, so please just improvise or have your child draw a picture of themselves at that age.  Remember this is a family project so please help your child to choose some pictures that are appropriate and let them do the writing and decorating.
Here is a sample timeline that my daughter completed last year.

This project is not due until September 7th so you can work on it a little at a time.

Don't worry I will return all timelines by the end of the year.

This week we also started our Surfer of The Week.

This week it is me:)

I brought in lots of items to share to teach the students all about myself.  I brought pictures, awards, toys, and drawings.   This gives the students lots of information so that they can write me a nice letter about all the things they like about me.

I also shared my timeline.

Each Friday I will pick a new Surfer of The Week.  This is a random drawing, so we never know who will be next.  If you child is chosen then they will receive a note to take home to tell families.  They will also get to bring home a special friend!

Skippy Jon will come home with your child for the weekend.  Your child will take good care of Skippy Jon and have lots of adventures.  In his weekend bag he will have his book and his journal.  Your child will write about the adventures and share with the class on Monday.  I will send home permission slips on Wednesday that explain it in more detail.

Don't forget that Open House in on Wednesday.  I will open the classroom at 6:15.  You are welcome to come in and see all the fu things we have been up to.  I look forward to meeting and talking with everyone on Wednesday.

Birthdays

We are finally getting into a nice routine and everyone is working hard at learning the rules and being a good surfer (citizen).  Our class has a Tropical Surf theme this year and it has been fun making our classroom bright and cheery.  We have a set of class rules that we follow, but we also talked about what it would mean to be a good citizen.  I made this poster for our class and we refer back to it quite a bit.

 

I saw a Surf  Etiquette poster like this once when I was on the big island and I loved reading it then.  A colleague of mine sent me these rules and told me she had used them in her Surf Themed class as well.  It is a fun way to review how we need to all work together and be repectful of each other.

This week we celebrated our first class birthday!! It was perfect timing with the Birthday timeline that we created in class.

Everyone worked together to figure out where their cupcake went and who's would be placed on the timeline first.  I will have the timeline up for you to see during Open House.

Our children's birthdays are always a special time to celebrate. I know many parents want to bring in goodies to celebrate, but I ask that you keep it healthy and simple.  Please do not send goody bags, candy, cake, ice cream, noise makers, pinatas, etc...  A simple treat such as a small cupcake, or cookie is fine.  Our district has implemented a strict healthy food policy which discourages sugary foods at school.  We also have a student in our class this year with a nut allergy, so please be aware of the ingredients.  If in doubt please just ask me.

Don't forget Tuesday and Thursday are PE days so please have your child wear tennis shoes, and bring a water bottle.

The First Week

Aloha everyone!! We made it through the first week of school and I hope your child had lots of fun.  We are taking things very slow as we learn the procedure and routines of our classroom.

I have had a few technical difficulties this week and was not able to send home our permission slip for class photos and volunteer forms.  I will send them home with Monday's homework.

This week we will begin our regular homework, Spelling and Math.  They will bring home their homework journal for Spelling and their Homework folder with their Math in it.  Please make sure you are checking their folder and initialing their Behavior Chart as well.

Let me explain our chart:)

Each day we come into class and everyone is on Green-Surf's Up Ready To Learn

When students complete work in a timely manner, show good behavior and a positive attitude they get to "Surf Up".  Each day they will color in their Behavior Chart so you will know what color they ended up on.  If they are on Yellow, Orange or Red please discuss with them what happened.  If a student end up on Red, most likely you will receive a call from me explaining why.

If a student ends up on purple-"Cowabunga" they had a fantastic day!  After earning 5 purples students will get their choice of a special prize such as lunch in the class, or sitting at the teacher's desk one afternoon;)

Thank you so much for all of the fruit donations on Friday.  The kids had a great time making Fruit Salad!

Most everyone had seconds and it was a nice healthy treat!  We talked about keeping our hands clean, not licking any fingers or knives, no sneezing on the food and good manners while eating.  We will have a class cookbook that will come home at the end of the year with all of the items we make this year.

I plan to post our classroom fun as much as possible, so don't forget to fill out the Photo permission form so I can include your child's picture. If not I will still post pictures, but your student will be in disguise:)