Monday, March 27, 2017

March 27-31, 2017

Wow! I can hardly believe that this is the last week of March.  Just a reminder, our campus is closed to all vistors on Tuesday and Wednesday.  The 4th and 5th grade students will be taking the STAAR test. This week also begins our last nine weeks of school together.  Report cards will come home next Tuesday, April 4th.

Our Field Trip last week was excellent! The Zach Scott Theatre puts on amazing plays.  The students really enjoyed figuring out which books were part of the play, Elephant and Piggie Are in a Play!

Family Dinner Night (Caraway City Limits)
This is a really fun event every year! Our family enjoys going and visiting with everyone! Please plan to attend and volunteer if you can! The PTA loves all of the help they can get with this giant event!

Event Details:
Caraway City Limits (Family Dinner Night) 
Date: Saturday, April 1
Time: 5:30-8:30 pm (Dinner Seating: 5:30 -6:30 pm)
Location: Caraway Elementary Campus (Oak View side)
Volunteer Times: 9am-9pm (Volunteer times vary based on job. See Sign Up Genius for more details)

Activity Times:
Food: 5:30-8:00 pm
Raffle: 5:30-7:30 pm
Auction: 5:30-7:15 pm
Teacher wish List Tree: 5:30-8:30 pm
Links:
Online Food Pre-Order (prices increase $2 day of event)
Event Details: Sharon Waits 
Donations: Erin Harry
Volunteers: Supriya Kini and Shelby Soleimani

Reminders:
Monday (3/27):  15 min. self-selected reading from home
Tuesday (3/28): STAAR - No vistors
                        Reading Homework will come home.
                         
                          Tuesday folders will come home. Please unload and return them on Wednesday.
Wednesday (3/29): STAAR - No visitors
                             No Library
Thursday (3/30):
Friday (3/31): Parent Community Coffee @ 7:45am
Saturday (4/1): Caraway City Limits- I can't wait to see everyone there!

This week in Reading and Writing Workshop...
We are continuing our work as researchers.  We will read and learn about chickens.  We will use our research notebooks to organize our learning and the facts we write as we read.  This week we will begin synthesizing our information and create a chicken habitat during our science time.  We will have to think about the needs of a chicken and how to protect them from predators and weather.  We will present our projects when we finish.

This week in Math...
We are relating addition to subtraction.  We will think about two parts making a whole and how a whole can be broken down into two parts.  We will solve problems where we have to decide if we should use addition or subtraction.  We will also participate in a fun activity called a 3 Act Task that involves a situation with Humpty Dumpty.

This week in Science...
We will work on our chicken habitat projects.  Our list of "need to knows" will help drive our work.  We will design a habitat based on what we have learned about chicken's needs in their environment, food needs and how to protect chickens.   We will think about what a chicken's primary need for a safe habitat would be (hint: to lay eggs).

Have a great week!

DATES TO REMEMBER:
March 28-29:  STAAR Testing- No Visitors on Campus
April 1:  Family Dinner Night
April 5:  Early Release Day @ 12:00 pm
April 7:  Family Fun & Fit Night @ 6:30 pm
April 12:  Hatch Day!
April 14:  Spring Holiday- No School
April 22:  Earth Day Clean up
April 26:  Playland Skate Center @ 5:30 pm
May 1-5:  Teacher Appreciation Week
May 8-10: STAAR Testing- No Visitors on Campus
May 15-19:  Book Fair
May 18:  KnOWLedge Night @ 5:30
May 19:   Field Day
May 26:  Career Fair
May 29:  Memorial Day- No School

June 1:  Last Day of School- End of the Year party

Monday, March 20, 2017

March 20-24, 2017

I hope everyone had a restful and fun Spring Break! This week will be very exciting in First grade! Our eggs will arrive on Wednesday and our incubators will be hard at work for 21 days! This is such a wonderful experience for our students...and Ms. Smith LOVES it too!  I will send pictures when the babies finally begin to hatch!

Reminders:
Monday (3/20):  Self Selected reading @ home
Tuesday (3/21): Reading Homework will come home.  It is due on Friday.
                        Library Check-out.                          
      Tuesday folders will come home. 
Wednesday (3/22): Skate Night 6-8pm
Thursday (3/23): Field Trip to the Zach Scott Theatre. Please send a lunch from home.
Friday (3/24): Parent Community Coffee 7:45am

Looking Ahead...
Next week our campus will be closed on Tuesday, March 28th and Wednesday, March 29th.  We will not have volunteers or lunch guests on these days. 
April 1st - Family Dinner Night

This week in Reading and Writing Workshop...
We will be starting our learning about chickens.  We will be using our workshop time to research and investigate chickens and their habitats.   As part of a Project Based Learning Unit we will design chicken houses. We will need to know a lot about chickens so we know how to design the best house for them.  We will be reading, writing and recording our thoughts as we work through this project.

This week in Math...
We will be learning about the relationship between addition and subtraction.  We will learn that fact families can help us learn our math facts and make solving problems easier.  We will practice solving problems using objects and pictorial models to make our learning more concrete.  

This week in Science...
We will continue our study of animals as we move on to Birds.  We will learn about how different types of birds depend on their environment.  We will learn about how bird's bodies adapt their needs. We will study their habitat and life cycle.  

Have a great week!

DATES TO REMEMBER:
March 22:  Eggs Arrive!
                Skate night- Playland Skate Center @ 6:00 pm
March 23:  Field Trip to ZACH Scott Theater
March 28-29:  STAAR Testing- No Visitors on Campus
April 1:  Family Dinner Night
April 5:  Early Release Day @ 12:00 pm
April 7:  Family Fun & Fit Night @ 6:30 pm
April 12:  Hatch Day!
April 14:  Spring Holiday- No School
April 22:  Earth Day Clean up
April 26:  Playland Skate Center @ 5:30 pm
May 1-5:  Teacher Appreciation Week
May 8-10: STAAR Testing- No Visitors on Campus
May 15-19:  Book Fair
May 18:  KnOWLedge Night @ 5:30
May 19:   Field Day
May 26:  Career Fair
May 29:  Memorial Day- No School

June 1:  Last Day of School- End of the Year party

Monday, March 6, 2017

March 6-10, 2017

I can't believe that it is almost Spring Break!  Wow, this year is flying by!  We have so much coming up this Spring semester. 

Field Trip permission slips will go home in the Tuesday folder this week.  There will be a fee of $4/student to help pay for the transportation to the theater.  I am sending an envelope with the permission slip.  If you could send the permission slip and the $4 back in the envelope by March 20, I would greatly appreciate it!

Reminders: This week is Education Go Get It Week (EGGI)
Monday (3/6):  Self-selected Reading for 15 minutes
Tuesday (3/7):   Reading Homework will come home.  It will be due on Friday.  I will email the TIC TAC TOE menu for optional Homework.
                   Tuesday folders will come home.                          
              Spirit Night from 5:00pm-8:00pm
Wednesday (3/8): Kinder Round Up in the Library- No library for us!
Thursday (3/9):

Friday (3/10): Shamrock 'N Roll 10:30am-11:20am.

                     Spring Break is
 March 13-17.  Enjoy your week!

In Reading Workshop...
We will be finishing up our study of Poetry.  Our objective is to read a wide variety of poetry and be able to think about the purpose of a poem. 


In Writer's Workshop...
We will be finishing up our study of Poetry as we write poems with a purpose.  We will write a poem with sensory language such as "A Rose smells as sweet as a chocolate."  We will study forms of poems like shape poems and color poems.  We will also create a book with our poetry so we can treasure it forever.

In Math...
We will be studying 3 dimensional shapes.  We will look for 2D shapes that make up 3D shapes.  We will discuss how many faces and vertices shapes with 3 dimensions have.  We will manipulate shapes and record things we learn about them.


In Science...
We will begin our study of Animals.  We will study fish first.  We will examine their body parts and discuss the functions.  We will learn about the fish life cycle.  We will also learn about the habitats that fish live in.  Can you keep a secret?? When we return from Spring Break we will begin studying birds and our eggs will arrive.  In First grade we hatch chicks.  Our eggs go in the incubators on the 22nd.  Our babies are due to arrive 21 days later! This is a very exciting time in First grade!


Have a great week!

DATES TO REMEMBER:
March 10:  ShamRock ‘n Roll
March 13-17:  Spring Break
March 22:  Eggs Arrive!
                Skate night- Playland Skate Center @ 6:00 pm
March 23:  Field Trip to ZACH Scott Theater
March 28-29:  STAAR Testing- No Visitors on Campus
April 1:  Family Dinner Night
April 5:  Early Release Day @ 12:00 pm
April 7:  Family Fun & Fit Night @ 6:30 pm
April 12:  Hatch Day!
April 14:  Spring Holiday- No School
April 22:  Earth Day Clean up
April 26:  Playland Skate Center @ 5:30 pm
May 1-5:  Teacher Appreciation Week
May 8-10: STAAR Testing- No Visitors on Campus
May 15-19:  Book Fair
May 18:  KnOWLedge Night @ 5:30
May 19:   Field Day
May 26:  Career Fair
May 29:  Memorial Day- No School
June 1:  Last Day of School- End of the Year party