Laying the Foundation

Our first group photo!  Are we not a fantastic group of learners?  This is going to be a wonderful school year.

We have now completed ten days of school. Our days are spent learning about procedures, understanding expectations, and becoming a community of learners that work together as a team.  Whew!  That is a lot of work for young people.  If your child is coming home tired, cranky, a little dramatic and needing time to unwind, just know that is all normal.

I'm looking forward to Thursday's Room 115 cluster meeting. On Tuesday, I will send home a reminder for the time you selected.  Let me know if you  need to change to an earlier or later time.  The cluster meeting is for adults.  I know you  will  find the meeting very beneficial.

This is a short week due to no school on Monday, September 3.  If you are purchasing snack/juice from school this week, please send $2.00 per item (instead of the $2.50 per item for a regular five day week).  I am unable to keep extra snacks on hand, so if you do not purchase or send a snack, your child will not have anything to eat.

You may join us for lunch beginning next week.  You do not need to make reservations.  Just sign in at the office and wait for us outside the lunchroom.  Our lunch time is 10:40-11:05.  The children love visitors for lunch but sometimes it is hard for your child to watch his/her visitor leave without him/her.  If you join us and tears begin to flow as you depart, just give a quick  kiss,  a reassuring word and leave quickly. I promise I will take very good care of your child. Heads up: It is a policy that fast food cannot be brought into the lunchroom.  The front office will stop you if you bring outside food into the lunchroom.  So save your money for an after school treat as opposed to a confrontation about policies. 

In reading we will investigate the letter Ee as in "eel on wheels."  Note:  this is the long e vowel sound.  Word wall words are:  orange, two, purple, green.  Sight words need to be recognized upon sight without hesitation or sounding out.  

We worked extremely hard on learning the letter Aa.   We combined scissors skills, our knowledge of the letter Aa and a counting activity to celebrate the  book Ten Apples Up on Top.


In math, we are digging deep into the numbers 0-5.  We have introduced graphing the weather, recording the date, counting the spots on a die, counting the letters in our names and singing a September song into our calendar time.  I'm excited for you to see how math works in our classroom. 

I love children's literature.  I've been immersing the students with books as we learn how to act and work in Room 115.  Check out this slide show that shows some of our favorite books from the first ten days of school.


Every month I will send home a book order.  Book orders are optional.  September book orders will be in  Tuesday's binder.  You may send a check with your order or order on line.  Click on Scholastic book order under the links to the right.  The class code is GL88R.  Book orders are due September 7.  The books purchased will be delivered to the school in 7-10 days.  Book orders are an inexpensive way to build your child's home library.

Our specialist schedule will be different on certain days during the next two weeks.  We are flexible as the entire school takes a computerized baseline assessment.

The children loved visiting the library on Monday.  Everyone has a library book.  Even though you have probably read it and reread it several times, keep it at home until next Monday.  At the moment we visit the library on Mondays only.

Last week's poem was fun to recite/act out. Several times I heard a child in our restroom saying "Hi, good-looking kid!"  Need a few minutes of peace and quiet, give your child a mirror.  Be on the lookout for poetry journals every Friday and return on Mondays (or Tuesday as would be the case for this week.)



9.3:  No school in observance of Labor Day
9.6  Cluster Meeting for Room 115:  choose either 5:30 pm or 7:00 pm to attend. No children please.
9.11  PTA General Membership Meeting at 6:00. 
9.28  Box Top collection day
10.11 Fall Picture Day
10.18  Blount Fall Festival

Not only are we a smart, well behaved group, we are also very fun.  I am a very lucky teacher that my name is associated with these children!  Contact me with any questions or concerns you may have!  See you Thursday night!

We're Off to a Fantastic Start

Twenty precious children make up the wonderful world of Room 115.  I'm the luckiest teacher that I get to spend the next 180 days with this group!  Check us out!


Starting Monday, August 27 you will need to provide a snack for your child.  You may send a drink (juice box or water bottle - no soft drinks) and a snack.  Make sure that that the snack is in a different container than the lunch.  Remind your child the difference between the two.  The school does sell juice/snack items.  You can purchase a drink (orange juice) for $2.50 for the week. The snack items are:  pretzels, peanut butter crackers, Doritoes and Cheetos.  Snack is $2.50 for the entire week.  To protect instructional time, you  can only purchase juice/snack on Mondays for the entire week.  Money cannot be collected if you are tardy.  I do not keep extra snacks in the classroom, so if you choose not to send/purchase a snack your child will not have anything to eat.

Starting on Monday (and every Monday for the rest of the school year), Nancy's Italian Ice will be offering Italian Ice for $1.00.  This is a special treat and the children last year enjoyed it tremendously.  If you would like to pay for several weeks at a time, I will allow that or you can pay by the week.  If you choose to write a check for multiple weeks, I will let you know when you are on your last Italian Ice.  Please note that not all teachers like to keep track of Italian Ice so other siblings in the building may have teachers that do not allow multiple week purchases of Italian Ice.  For me, the less money  I'm collecting means more time I have for instruction.  If you choose not to purchase Italian Ice please discuss this choice with your child so they are prepared when the Italian Ice is delivered to the classroom.  The Italian Ice will be delivered during our snack time so you may not want to send a snack on Mondays if you are purchasing Italian Ice.  A note went home on Friday detailing information about  Italian Ice.

Thank you so much for labeling all money so that I may efficiently get the money to the correct accounts. 

Last Wednesday I placed a reading log in the white notebooks. MPS requires that a child read/be read to for 20 minutes five days a week (at my house it is seven days a week!).  Initial the reading log every night that you read out loud to your child.  The data shows that the more you read to your child, the better the reader he/she will be so go ahead and make the 20 minutes of reading seven days a week like my family.

This week we begin our whole group  reading instruction.  This week we will investigate the letter Aa.  We will have a little rhyme for every letter.  The rhyme this week is "ant on an apple."  Our sight words for the week are:  red, yellow, blue, one.  Sight words are words that your child needs to be able to recognize immediately upon sight (no hesitation or sounding out).  Refer to the reading handout that was in your child's binder on Thursday evening as a reference for the first nine weeks' reading instruction.

In Math we are working with the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 this week. I will be giving you ideas on how to help your child with math at our cluster meeting on Thursday, September 6.

Did you find our poetry journal in Friday's book bag?  We are excited that we were able to open school last week.  Our poetry journal will come home every Friday.  Refer to the letter that I wrote on the  inside cover for the reason I use poems in the classroom.  Make sure the poetry journal is returned on Monday.

We rotate every three weeks to a specialist (pe, music/art, and computers).  On the weeks we visit music/art and computers I will be taking the children outside on the playground for thirty minutes.  On the weeks we go to Coach Grant, we will not be visiting the playground.  We start off with Coach Grant so we will not be visiting the playground until we rotate.  (I did take the children out to the playground last week just to help ease the transition of attending full day Kindergarten.)

Our day to visit the library is every Monday.  Your child will be bringing home a book from the library.  Enjoy it all week.  Read it and reread it and reread it again.  Please return it every Monday so that a new book can be checked out.

The children are doing an excellent job of learning the rules and expectations of the classroom and the school.  Please give us one more week of learning the lunchroom rules before joining us for lunch. 

If your child wants a sweater to wear in the classroom due to the temperature, please make sure the clothing is a solid navy, white or red.  This is written in the Blount handbook.  You may purchase a Blount sweatshirt or fleece from the PTA that may be worn in the classroom.

I sent out a test email to all parents last Wednesday.  I asked for a quick reply to make sure I had the correct email address.  Please check your spam folder and respond accordingly.  I try to be prompt about returning emails. If you have not heard a response from me within twelve hours, please resend the email.

Thank you so much for the quick return on the required paperwork. Your quick response allows me to focus on instruction. A few things to remember:

• An excuse for any absence must be sent in within two days of returning back to school.

• Any change in mode of afternoon transportation must be in writing.  I will not take the word of your child.  (Transportation hats no longer need to be returned.  The children did a fabulous job of learning the ropes of afternoon dismissal.) 

Check out the learning that took place last week in our classroom.  This is just the beginning of something great.


Upcoming events:
8.31:  Box Top collection day:  send in any box tops/soup labels.
9.3:  No school in observance of Labor Day
9.6  Cluster Meeting for Room 115:  choose either 5:30 pm or 7:00 pm to attend. No children please.
9.11  PTA General Membership Meeting at 6:00. 
9.28  Box Top collection day
10.11 Fall Picture Day
10.18  Blount Fall Festival

 Please contact me with any questions or concerns.   Have a great week and don't forget the upcoming three day weekend!

Open School!!!!

Monday begins the wonderful world of Room 115.  It is one of my favorite places in the world.  We are going to have a fantastic time working and playing together. Did you notice on Wednesday night how the walls of the classroom were mostly bare?  I've been waiting for the children to come so that Room 115 will become their classroom.  Just wait and watch as the magic of learning turns our classroom walls into a very happy, safe and hard working space.

This is going to be a long post so get comfortable.  I promise that the posts will become shorter as the year progresses.

School begins on Monday, August 20.  The school day is from 8:10-3:10.  Children can begin entering the  classroom starting at 7:50.  

Monday morning you are invited to  walk your child down to our classroom.  Take the pictures you need for your scrapbook/facebook/grandma.  Give a happy kiss goodbye and then quickly/quietly leave.  I can promise you that I will take very good care of your child.  Visit the library for Boo Hoo/Woo Hoo.  Meet the parents of the PTA and enjoy some coffee (and tissues if needed).  They are a wonderful group of parents that support our school tremendously.  They always need help:  whether you have a lot or a little time to spare!  After Monday, you will drop your child off at the front door of the school.  Don't worry, we have teachers on duty to help anyone who needs assistance finding their classroom.

After the first day of school,children can be dropped off  beginning at 7:30.  They will stay in the lunchroom (sitting quietly) until 7:50 when they can enter the classrooms.  If you  need childcare before 7:30, please contact the YMCA Goodtimes.  They begin services at Blount at 6:45 am.

Do not send a snack for this first week.  Volunteers are providing a drink/snack for this week. Start sending a snack for your child on Monday, August 27.

You will receive a large packet of information on Monday.  These are important papers that need to be filled out. Please return the required information as soon as possible so that I can focus on instruction instead of paperwork.

On Tuesday, I will be sending home an information sheet about your child.  Since you  are your child's first (and most important) teacher, I take the information you give me very seriously.  Please use this opportunity to let me know all about your child so that I can meet his/her needs. 

Your child has been assigned a lunch number.  I will send it home on a slip of paper located in the money pouch inside the white binder on Monday.  Don't stress about learning the number by Tuesday.  Just practice it.  Even if your child will be bringing a lunch from home, still learn the number because it will be used for computer purposes.

Our lunch time is 10:40-11:05.  Please wait until after Labor Day to join us for lunch.  It takes us about two weeks to learn the routines.  Hot lunches can be purchased for $1.75.  Milk is included in that price. Your child can purchase a milk for $.35 to accompany a lunch from home.  Remember to label all containers and lunch boxes.  Breakfast is served starting at 7:30 for $1.00. You will be notified in writing when your child's lunch account is getting low on money.

Please label ALL money in separate envelopes. 

Remember to have PATIENCE for carpool for the first couple of weeks.  It does take a while at the beginning but I can promise you that it gets better. To make things go a little bit quicker, make a sign with your child's first and last name and my name.  Place the sign in the driver's side window.   Just remember PATIENCE!  Please return your child's transportation hat each day. 

In Friday's book bag, you will find the black composition notebook that is labeled Poetry Journal.  This will come home every Friday.  On the inside cover, I have written a note as to how to use the Poetry Journal with your child.  Please return the Poetry Journal every Monday.  Poems are a fun, quick way to improve our reading skills.

On Thursday, I am going to send home a letter with reading information for the first nine weeks of school.  You will want to put this in a safe place and reference it all quarter.  Get into the habit of checking that binder every night and returning it every morning.

On Fridays only, the children may wear jeans and their Blount spirit wear.  The only day you can wear the Blount t-shirt is on Fridays.  Blount spirit wear can be purchased through the PTA.  If you  do not have a Blount t-shirt, then you can still wear jeans and a regular uniform top.

I do NOT send home a daily conduct sheet.  I will explain my philosophy of classroom discipline at our cluster meeting on September 6.  If there is ever a problem I will contact you immediately.

Kindergarten is a LONG day.  Do not become anxious if your child does not immediately talk about his/her school day.  Be patient and let your child unwind.  Dinner time or bed time is common for conversations to begin to emerge. Just be encouraging, loving and patient.

Thank you so much for sharing your greatest treasure with me.  I know it is difficult to turn your child over to another person for seven hours a day.  My youngest is going to Kindergarten this year so I'm feeling the same emotions as you.  But I know that Kindergarten is a very joyous place and your child is going to love learning and love school.  Thank you for supporting Room 115 and Blount Elementary.  Contact me with any questions or concerns you may have. I'm so excited to be your child's teacher!

Upcoming events:
8.20:  First Day of School and Boo Hoo/Woo Hoo in the library at 8:10
8.31:  Box Top collection day:  send in any box tops/soup labels.
9.3:  No school in observance of Labor Day
9.6  Cluster Meeting for Room 115:  choose either 5:30 pm or 7:00 pm to attend. No children please.
9.11  PTA General Membership Meeting at 6:00. 
9.28  Box Top collection day
10.11 Fall Picture Day
10.18  Blount Fall Festival

Kindergarten Meet and Greet

Welcome to Kindergarten!  It is a very fun place to work and play.  Come out on Wednesday, August 15 at 6:00 pm to meet the kindergarten teachers.  You can bring supplies and drop them off in the classroom.  After visiting the classroom, we will have a short meeting in the lunchroom to go over information to get you through the first week of school.  It is going to be a great year.  If you are new to Blount this year, there will be a new family orientation on August 13 at 6:00.  Blount Spirit Wear will be available to purchase on both evenings.  Looking forward to meeting the children that will make up Room 115!