The Learning Has Started

I'm sure the most important thing for you right now is to see the members who make up Room 114.  Click on this link to see your child's classmates. Our enrollment went up and down during the week and ended Friday afternoon with a fabulous number of 19.   I'm a very lucky teacher that I get to spend my days with these smart, funny, curious and kind children.

Monday will begin the selling of Nancy's Italian Ice for $1.00.  You may also purchase juice/snack from school.  Last Thursday I sent home a letter detailing more information about these optional purchases. Snack/juice/Italian Ice money is only collected on Mondays.  I do allow paying in advance.  If you are tardy, you cannot purchase snack/juice/Italian Ice.
 Please remember to label all money in envelopes.

Thank you for being so quick about turning in paperwork last week.  Your promptness allows me to  focus on instruction.

We are doing a great job with our lunchroom procedures.  Give us two more weeks of learning before joining us for lunch.  You are invited to join Room 114 for lunch starting Tuesday, September 2.  Thank you for packing snack in a different bag than lunch. I know that a couple of snacks were eaten as lunch last week but I think by the end of the week we were all eating lunch and snack at the right times. 

Did you find your child's poetry journal in his backpack on Friday?  The poetry journal comes home every Friday and needs to be returned every Monday.  Our poem last week was celebrating the opening of school! Look on the inside cover of the book for a letter from me on how to use the journal each weekend. The poetry journal is a fun, quick way to work on beginning reading skills and oral language development.

A big part of this week will be focusing on my behavior management system. I do not send home a daily conduct sheet.  If there is a problem, I will contact you.  I will go into further detail on Room 114's  behavior management system at the cluster meeting on Thursday, September 4.  Here is a quick snapshot to tie you over until then.  Room 114 has been  practicing the life skills of being  helpful, careful, respectful, responsible and patient.  These skills tie into my behavior plan.   To make all this life skill information "special" to the children, there is a kangaroo involved and a pocket.  Last Friday, each child got a Kangaroo and had the chance to make a habitat  "pocket" for it.  If a student is observed not being helpful, careful, respectful, responsible or patient, his/her Kangaroo leaves his habitat and comes to the safe pocket.  The safe pocket is mine.  And just like a mother kangaroo shows her joey how to act like a kangaroo, I will help that child correct his behavior and practice the appropriate life skill.  Life skills and kangaroos will make sense at the cluster meeting.

If you are looking for age appropriate chores to help your child become more responsible at home, check out this link:  chores for kids

Each day I draw a name from a jar for the class to learn more about.  We count the letters and syllables (the beats) in the chosen name.  We find out the age and favorite color of the person.  We also write down the person's name on a sentence strip and cut it apart.  Volunteers have to rebuild the name with the correct spelling.  Then we do "Happy Talk" for that person.  Happy Talk is where we write down three things about the chosen person that makes us happy.  Then everyone in the class has a chance to write his/her name on the chart.  This writing lesson is teaching us left to right directionality, concepts of print, the beginning use of pronouns, finger spacing, punctuation and many more concepts to help us become beginning writers.   But more importantly we are learning information about our new friends.  Room 114 is a busy, busy place.  




Our classroom can tend to be on the cooler side. The controls for our classroom's temperature is handled off site.  You may want to send a sweater or a sweatshirt for your child to keep in the classroom.  As stated in the Blount Handbook, any sweaters/sweatshirts worn inside the classroom must be a solid red, navy or white.   I do not allow team sweatshirts or other colored sweaters.  Your child can wear those kind of clothes to school and on the playground but not in the classroom.  It is a good idea to label all clothing/lunch boxes/water bottles sent to school so that the correct owner can be located if anything comes up missing.  

We began to classify books by nonfiction (true story) and fiction (make believe.)  We also learned about characters and the setting of stories.  We also know that picture books have authors and illustrators.  We can identify the title, the front cover and the back cover of a book.  Include some of our new knowledge/vocabulary into your family's daily reading time.  This is a link for more literature learning photos.   

I encourage you to join the Blount PTA for $10.00 per membership.  The Blount PTA does an excellent job of supporting the needs of the school.  I also encourage you to volunteer with them.  They can use as many hours (a few or a lot) that you have available.  A major reason our school is so successful is the parental support that is given to it.  Thank you for your support.

The PTA is having a spirit night at Mugshots restaurant starting at 5:00 on Monday.  Eating out for dinner sounds like a wonderful way to  end a Monday.  My family will be there around 5:30 pm.  The PTA schedules a spirit night usually once a month.  Don't forget to turn in your receipt in the Blount box so that our school can get a percentage of your total.

In Thursday's binder, you will find Scholastic book orders.  Book orders are sent home once a month.   The link to ordering on-line is found on the right sidebar.  Our class code is GL88R.  If you are returning the forms and paying by check (made payable to Scholastic) please return by Wednesday, August 27.  Book orders are optional. 

Contact me with any questions or concerns you may have.  Hope to see you at Mugshots for Blount Spirit Night.

Upcoming Events:
8.18  Spirit Night at Mugshots Restaurant beginning at 5:00
8.27  Book orders due (optional)
9.1:  No school in observance of Labor Day
9.4:  Cluster Meeting for Room 114:  choose either 5:30 pm or 7:00 pm to attend. No children please.
9.9  PTA General Membership meeting at 6:00
9.12:  Box Top collection day
9.15:  No school for students.  It is a teacher in-service day.
9.25:  Teacher Treat Day (K and 5th grades - host)
10.13:  No school for students.  It is a teacher in-service day.
10.16:  Blount Fall Festival