Close Room 115's Door...Open Summer!

The children were so proud of their family portraits.  They talked about you as they painted.  They carefully selected paint for all family members.  They were so proud!  I knew you would be curious as to how we made them for you.  It all started with a blank canvas, some shapes and some very happy and deeply loved hearts!


They were also proud of the puppets they made that resembled themselves.  Puppets are excellent ways to encourage story telling.  Story telling leads to writing.  Writing leads to better readers.  Learning can be such a fun, fun cycle. Find time this summer to have puppet shows.


Our poetry journals are finished for the year.  We will not be using them this week.  Keep them at home and enjoy reading them this summer.

I will send home all supplies on Wednesday.  No need for back packs on Thursday.  I will provide all supplies for Thursday.  Look for the report card on Thursday at 3:10.

Nancy's Italian Ice will be on Monday for $1.00.

Please return library books as soon as possible. 

Thank you for your attendance last Thursday.  It was such a special day!  What a great future for our country when you look at the character of Room 115!  I didn't take many pictures from last Thursday but mental pictures and memories are always better.

Thank you for the many, many teacher appreciation surprises.  You are very kind and generous. I'm trying to write thank you notes so look for them in the mail in the next week.  The scrapbook is a treasured book.  Thank you so much for spending time out of your busy day to help your child complete a page for me.  The children have enjoyed looking at the book that has been nicknamed "The Book of the Year!"

Now comes the hardest part to write.  Thank you so much for trusting me with your child. Your child makes up a piece of my heart.  Thursday afternoon will be very difficult as I watch pieces of my heart walk out the door.  180 days goes by quickly.  I appreciate your support and sharing your greatest treasure with me.  First grade looks like  lots of fun so keep in touch.  I will be more than happy to answer any educational questions you may have in the future.  I will even be happy to help you look for your lost dog in the middle of the night. My greatest advice is to read every day with your child. Fancy toys, electronics, new clothes and big vacations are nice.  But the most important thing to your child is just spending time with him/her.  Have a wonderful summer and thank you for helping to make Room 115 "the happiest place on earth!" 

To quote Room 115's poem from last week (in the style of Prince Redcloud"

Close Room 115's door.
Open Summer!

A Big Week

As May 23 nears, it gets more difficult to update the blog. The next nine days are so hard for me.  I wish time could roll back and we begin again. Kindergarten is such a special year. Big changes come academically, socially and physically.  I've watched this slide show several times and stand amazed at the changes in physical features from the first week of school  until now.  Thank you so much for sharing your child with me and trusting me with this very special year. 

This is a very big week.  Maybe one full of cheers and a few tears for moms and dads (and teacher too.) The Kindergarten End of the Year Program is Thursday at 9 AM.  All of the Kindergarten classes will be performing on the stage in the lunchroom.  Immediately following the "Big Show", we will return to Room 115 for a small celebration of our classroom.  The children have a very treasured secret for you and a special presentation.  There will be some food too.  At the moment, we are planning on having 46 people in our classroom on Thursday morning (23 of those people are always in Room 115.)  If you have not sent a note/email to us letting know the number of people celebrating Room 115, please do so as soon as possible. 

Thursday's dress code is yellow field trip t-shirt and khaki bottoms.  Please NO jeans. 

If you are looking for the best place to sit in the lunchroom for viewing/photo purposes, our class will be standing in the middle of the stage so pick your seat with that knowledge in mind.  Get there early because it is a crowded event.

The Big Show and the celebration of Room 115 will end by 10:45.  Please let me know if you need to leave before then and I can arrange it for your child to present first.  At the moment I have had two families tell me they need to leave early. Please let me know before the day of the show.

The cubbies will be blocked on Thursday to make room for all of our visitors.  Please do not send backpacks on Thursday.




Did you find two Mother's Day gifts in back packs on Friday?  The children were so excited to present them to their mothers.  If you ever need a few minutes of peace and quiet, hand your child some empty boxes, a roll of wrapping paper and some tape.  Peace and quiet for you and excellent problem solving skills for your child.

You might can smell summer coming but Room 115 is still working hard. I love these photos I snapped the other day of partner reading.  Our class is such a wonderful place to work and play.


Monday is Nancy's Italian Ice for $1.00.

Return poetry journals for our very last poem.

Library books need to be returned to the library for end of year inventory.

Monday night is Spirit Night at Mugshots!  Please be sure to tell your waiter you are with Blount.  Thanks for supporting our school.

Thank you for the lovely birthday surprises.  It is fun to celebrate your birthday at an elementary school. I wish everyone could have been in the classroom when each child presented me with a yellow rose. My heart was full  of joy. Thank you, thank you for making my day extra special. 

Upcoming events:
Monday, May13: Spirit night at Mug Shots
Thursday, May 16: Kindergarten End of the Year Program at 9:00 AM
Thursday, May 23:  Last day of school

Contact me with any questions or concerns. See you Thursday! Don't forget yellow field trip t-shirts and khaki bottoms. 

We've Got A Secret

See this smile.  Behind this smile is a secret we have for our families.  We will give you this secret on Thursday, May 16 at our Room 115 Celebration.  The Room 115 Celebration will take place immediately after the Kindergarten Celebration.  Please write a short note to Room 115 letting us know how many people will be staying for the Room 115 Celebration by Friday, May 10.  We are going to have refreshments and we certainly want to have enough. Remember to dress your child in the yellow field trip t-shirt and khaki bottoms for the Big Show on Thursday, May 16.

This week is an important week for the school as Blount administers standardized tests in grades 3-5.  We will not be testing but we will be supporting the older grades.  Our job is to be very quiet in the school.  Our schedule will be frozen, which means we cannot leave our classroom and things will happen at different times during the day.  Please DO NOT join us for lunch on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday of this week.    There will be no parent volunteers in Room 115 this week.  Please try your best for on time arrivals on those days so that the office staff can tend to other items.  Thank you for supporting our school in having a smooth testing week.

Due to several projects going on in our classroom for the next week and a half, enter our classroom cautiously so as not to ruin any surprises we have for you.

We will celebrate May birthdays this month and the summer birthdays too.  We have some very important people to celebrate.

Our final Crafternoon  last Thursday was busy and festive!  Thank you to the families that sent in supplies/food and the moms that came to the classroom to assist.  We had so much to celebrate that we finished with our fiesta on Friday!  Room 115 is very much loved and it is appreciated!  This slideshow will make you smile and want to say Ole`.


Look for two very special surprises in Friday's back pack that celebrate Mother's Day!

In reading,we are finishing up the letter Xx and reviewing the consonants and vowels of the alphabet.  I will begin Word Wall Word testing on Friday, May 10.  I will try to get to every student on Friday but don't be frustrated if your child is not tested on the first day.  Reading groups will be held all the way up  to the last day of school.  We are going to squeeze every moment out of Room 115 until that bell rings at 3:10 on May 24.

In math, we are working on positional words (on, below, next to...)  and measurement.  

We have two more poems to add to our poetry notebook before the end of the year.  Please return the poetry notebook on Monday and look for it on Friday.

Monday is Nancy's Italian Ice for $1.00.

Friday is the last day the library will be open.  I have books in the classroom for AR testing so the children may continue to take tests until the very end.

I forgot my camera on the zoo field trip. But I'm collecting photos from the parents that did attend.  Look for the zoo field trip slide show in next week's blog entry.

Upcoming events:
 Wednesday, May 8-Friday, May 10:  Standardized Testing for grades 3-5.  Schedules are frozen schoolwide.  Please no visitors during testing hours, including lunch.
Friday, May 10:  Please write a short note to Room 115 letting the students know the number of people in your family that will attend the Room 115 Celebration on Thursday, May 16.  
Thursday, May 16:  Kindergarten End of the Year Program at 9:00.  Dress in yellow field trip t-shirt and khaki bottoms.
Thursday, May 16:  Room 115 Celebration immediately following the End of the Year Program
Thursday, May 23:  Last day of school. Report cards will be issued at 3:10. 

 Contact me with any questions or concerns. 

Goodbye April

We started last week off wearing purple to honor the families of our military!  A big THANK YOU to these special children and their parents who sacrifice family time for our nation's freedom. 

Another special event from last week was Field Day.  Coach Grant did a fabulous job making sure the morning went smoothly and full of fun!  Thanks to our great cheering section and the parents that volunteered at the different stations. 


We will be needing those yellow t-shirts again on Wednesday of this week as we go to the zoo.  Your price for this field trip included lunch so no need for backpacks or lunchboxes on Wednesday.  I will send out a letter on Monday to the chaperones about procedures for this field trip.  Let me know if you plan to attend as soon as possible.

 In reading this week we continue to investigate "Xx" as in x on the x-ray    Word wall words are: say, came, up.  This is the final week for alphabet sounds and word wall words.  I will have the final test for word wall words on Friday, May 10.

Our final Crafternoon is this Thursday!  We will have a fiesta theme to celebrate Cinqo de Mayo.  Contact the room parents to see how you can help.  Feel free to come celebrate at 1:45 (1:10 if you want to help decorate.)

The book fair continues until Thursday of this week.  Make sure book fair money is in an envelope and labeled.

Nancy's Italian Ice is Monday for $1.00.  Please return poetry journals.  Look for April calendar pages to come home on Tuesday. 

Authors are busy at work in our classroom on a daily basis.  I know you have set up a writing area at home because I see samples of the work being done at home. Good job!  Remember that reading and writing go hand-in-hand;  the better the reader you  are the better the writer you will be.


I will be out of the classroom on Monday.  I'm chaperoning for a third grade field trip but I secured an excellent substitute so the learning will continue in Room 115. 

Even though we say goodbye to April this week and summer may be in the air, Room 115 is in full gear with the learning.  The learning does not stop until 3:10 on May 23. We are NOT counting down the days in Room 115.  I'm one of those people that do not care for change and would be  perfectly content for Room 115 to stay together forever.  Please remind your child about choices and appropriate behavior.  Thank you for making the month of May seem like any other month!

Contact me with any concerns or questions you may have.  

Upcoming dates:
Wednesday, May 1:  Kindergarten field trip to the zoo: wear yellow field trip t-shirt
Thursday, May 2:  Room 115's final Crafternoon celebrating Cinco de Mayo at 1:45
Thursday, May 16:  Kindergarten End of Year Program @ 9:00 am

A Very Busy Upcoming Week

My favorite part of last week was when I borrowed a manual typewriter to set the background knowledge for our trip to the theater for "Click Clack Moo:  Cows That Type."  The children were fascinated by it.  In fact it became a management problem to keep students away so that individual students could have a turn without their friends interrupting and taking over.  (I was very disappointed that the theatrical production used a computer in the storyline instead of a typewriter.)  I love the expressions in this slideshow.  You can tell the students with mechanical brains were trying to figure out how the typewriter actually worked.  If you come across a manual typewriter at a yard sale or in an attic, Room 115 would love it as a donation.


What fun our field trip to the theater was.   It is always interesting to see how a book is adapted. The set decorations were bright and colorful, the actors were talented, the music was toe tapping and the dancing was funny.  Thanks to the family members who assisted at the theater.  I encourage you to make "the arts" a part of your child's life on a regular basis.


Information about our final field trip went home on Friday.  If you have a zoo membership:  You may send a copy of your zoo membership card and  a payment of  $8.00 to cover lunch and the bus ride.  Parents may attend.  You will pay at the gate.  Please email me by this Thursday if you are attending the  zoo field trip so that I  can make sure to have all background checks in place.  This is our last field trip of the year.  It is also  the final time the Kindergarten teachers will ask for money.

This week is so busy in Room 115 with DIBELS testing, field day and making something special for our mothers that I am going to spend two weeks on the letter Xx.  Our new reading schedule for Room 115 will look like this:
April 22 and 29:  "Xx" as in x on the x-ray     word wall words:  say, came, up
May 6:  review of all learned sounds
May 13: review of vowels
May 20: review

In math, we are working on knowing the differences between 3D and 2D shapes.   We are also making sure our numerals are formed correctly.  Knowing how to identify to add or subtract is the other skill for the week.

There will be no scheduled library time this week but books will be available for checkout.  The book fair starts later this week.

Last week's poem was fun to discuss because everyone in Room 115 seems to look like somebody in their family.   Send poetry journals to school on Monday for a new poem.  Look for poetry journals every Friday.

Nancy's Italian Ice is every Monday for $1.00.

Field Day is this Thursday.  It looks like perfect weather.  Please put on sunblock before your child leaves home.  Please dress your child in the yellow field trip t-shirt.  That bright yellow t-shirts allows me to keep track of the children quickly.  Do I have a volunteer to send a cooler on wheels with bottled water for Room 115 to stay hydrated during field day?

This week is a little different for uniforms.  Here is a quick guide for reference:
Monday:  purple t-shirt and jeans (for Military child day) or regular uniform  (this Monday only)
Tuesday:  green class t-shirt and jeans  or regular uniform (every Tuesday)
Wednesday:  regular uniforms (regularly Monday, Wednesday, Thursday)
Thursday:  yellow field trip t-shirt  and shorts for FIELD DAY ( yellow t-shirts are special just for Field Day, field trips and the end of the year program on May 16)
Friday:  Blount spirit wear and jeans  (every Friday)

The invitation for the End of the Year Celebration on May 16 went home on Friday.  Please note to dress your child in the yellow field trip t-shirt.  Any kind of khaki bottoms (pants, shorts or skorts) can be worn on that day.  Please no jeans on May 16.

Dads look great at school!   I apologize if I missed any of the special visitors who came to spend the start of a school day with a member of Room 115.


Upcoming Events:
Monday, April 22:  Wear a purple shirt in honor of Military Child Day
Thursday, April 25:  field day:  wear yellow field trip t-shirt
Wednesday, May 1:  Kindergarten field trip to the zoo: wear yellow field trip t-shirt
Thursday, May 2 (change of date):  Room 115's final Crafternoon celebrating Cinco de Mayo at 1:45
Thursday, May 16:  Kindergarten End of Year Program @ 9:00 am

Contact me with any questions or concerns you may have!   

Dads, Fieldtrip and Learning.

We started practicing for the big show.  I will send home the official invitation later this week.  The Kindergarten End of Year Celebration will be Thursday, May 16 at 9:00.  After the program, we will return to Room 115 and have time to celebrate our class.  The picture to the left was taken  on our first "on the stage"  practice day.  This picture makes me smile because we will not be looking like this on May 16.  You will be amazed at how much we progress between now and then.  I hope you can schedule your day to join on us on May 16.

Doughnuts for Dads (or substitute dads) is Tuesday for last names A-L. Dads with the last name M-Z can join us for doughnuts on Wednesday, April 17.  It will begin at 7:30 each morning in the lunchroom.  Your child will appreciate the time you sacrifice to join us for a special way to start a morning.  The doughnuts are free compliments of the Blount PTA.

Our field trip to the Davis Theater to see Click Clack Moo is Wednesday.  Please dress your child in the yellow field trip t-shirt on Wednesday.  We will depart the school at 9:00 and return approximately at 11:45.  We will eat lunch upon our return to the school.  I will send an email to the chaperones detailing the procedures for our field trip.

We had fun acting out the song Five Green, Speckled Song.  Singing songs is an excellent way to help your beginning reader.  Rhythm, manipulating sounds, and vocabulary are some of the benefits of singing songs.  I encourage you to put on children's music at home and in the car and sing out loud!  One of the greatest things about children is they never think anyone has a poor singing voice.  So sing along and sing strong!



We will be studying the letter "Uu" as in "upside-down" this week.  The word wall words are:  under, please, big, eat.  

In math, we continue to study 3D shapes.  We are working hard at making sure our numbers are written and formed correctly.

Please send in $1.00 for Nancy's Italian Ice on Monday.  Monday is also our library day and the return of our poetry journal.

To celebrate the letter Q, we painted with Q-tips.  The fun we had goes to show that you don't need expensive art supplies to paint.  Q-tips work just fine.


Upcoming Events:
Tuesday, April16:  Doughnuts for Dads @ 7:30 am
Wednesday; April 17:  Doughnuts for Dads @ 7:30 am
Wednesday, April 17 :  Fieldtrip to Davis Theater - wear yellow field trip t-shirt and jeans
Monday, April 22:  Wear a purple shirt in honor of Military Child Day
Wednesday, May 1:  Kindergarten field trip to the zoo
Friday, May 3:  Room 115's final Crafternoon celebrating Cinco de Mayo at 1:45
Thursday, May 16:  Kindergarten End of Year Program @ 9:00 am

Contact me with any questions or concerns you may have!  

Mom Turned Upside Down Is Wow!

We had fun last week playing with words and realizing MOM turned upside down is WOW (quite appropriate!).  We have a Mother's Day Secret planned for our moms. Please send $8.00 to cover the cost of this secret.  Pay by check or cash by this Friday.  NOTE: This secret is different than the $5.00 secret we have for that will be unveiled on May 16 at the Room 115 Celebration.  Sorry for any confusion.


Two reading groups had homework this weekend.  Please check binders.
In reading this week, we will be discussing the letter "Qq" as in quail on a quilt.  Word wall words will be:  good, pretty, who, ride.  

Math involves 3D shapes.  We continue to work on adding and subtracting.  In our calendar notebooks, we are graphing each day the daily precipitation status to see if it is true that "April Showers Bring May Flowers." 


We are working hard at being writers.  I tell the children that writing proves you are a thinker because  writing is thoughts put down on paper.  I love the concentration on the thinkers in the above slideshow.  I encourage you to have a personal writing area for your child at home.

There is PTA meeting on Monday at 6:00.  Please plan to attend.  Word is out what great volunteers Room 115 has so please invest in our school.  You can volunteer as  little or as much time as your schedule allows with this great organization that focuses on the needs of the students .

Monday is Italian Ice for $1.00. Please send poetry journals back on Monday and library books.

I will be out of the classroom on Wednesday afternoon, beginning at 11:30.  An excellent sub has been secured for my absence. 

Classroom needs:  Paper towels and wet wipes.  Thanks for supporting our classroom.

Contact me with any questions or concerns you may have.

Upcoming Events:
Monday, April 8:  PTA meeting @ 6:00
Tuesday, April16:  Doughnuts for Dads @ 7:30 am
Wednesday; April 17:  Doughnuts for Dads @ 7:30 am
Wednesday, April 17 :  Fieldtrip to Davis Theater
Monday, April 22:  Wear a purple shirt in honor of Military Child Day
Thursday, May 16:  Kindergarten End of Year Program @ 9:00 am