February 16-19, 2016

Thank you all so much for coming to our Valentine's Party and thank you for organizing the event, sending the supplies, helping us to run the party and cleaning up the classroom after the party.  You all are the best of the best families at Caraway and I am fortunate to have you on my side.

READING and WRITING
This week we will be using our research skills and learn about two important presidents, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  We will ask open-ended questions and develop a plan for answering these questions.  Our plan includes exploring a variety of sources such as books, digital books, Pebble Go, and Brain pop Jr, recording the information we gather, and organizing our ideas and information in our writings.   

MATH 

This week in math we will continue working on solving word problems with objects and pictorial models that involve joining, separating, and comparing sets within 20 and represent those problems with number sentences. Think addition” is a powerful way to think of subtraction facts. But we also want students to think of subtraction when they are to find a missing part or unknown addend.  We will also review patterns and determine a number that is 10 more or 10 less than a number through 99.

SOCIAL STUDIES
This week in social studies we will learn about physical characteristics of places and different landforms such as plains, valleys, mountains and hills.  We will also learn about different bodies of water and the characteristics of each such as river, lake and ocean.

THANK YOU!
Thank you to Mandy Hubbard for coming in to read with the kiddos!

Thank you for supporting your child's learning at home.  Your child's success and education is a result of, us working together! So thank you for being a partner in your child's learning!

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
*Tuesday folders come home.  Please sign and return the folders the next day.

*Agendas:  Please initial the behavior calendar and send it back every day.

*Snack:  Please send a healthy snack with your child every day.

*PE:  Group A will have PE on Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

       Group B will have PE on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.

          *Please make sure your child wears Tennis shoes on those days*

        *You can see what group your child is in on the right side of this blog*

*Next library day is Tuesday, January 26.

*Homework bags come back to school every day.  Please leave the books and response notebook in the bag.  We will use them during the day at school!

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Feb 25:  Talent Show

Mar 2:  Early Release @ 12:45, Skate Night @ Playland Skate Center

Mar 5:  Family Dinner Night

Mar 11:  Family Fun & Fitness Night

Mar 12:  Field Trip to ZACH Theater

Mar 14-18:  Spring Break!

Week of Mar 20-24:  We are getting our eggs! 

Mar 24:  Individual & Class Pictures

Mar 29-30:  STAAR Testing

Mar 31:  Science Night

Apr 1:  Family Fun Night

Apr 7:  Science Night

Apr 8:  ShamRock ‘n Roll

Week of Apr 11-15:  Chicks will hatch!

Apr 23:  Earth Day Clean Up

May 2-6:  Teacher Appreciation Week

May 4:  Early Release @ 12:45

May 6:  Field Day

May 19:  Spring Open House

May 27:  Career Fair

May 30:  No School- Memorial Day

June 2:  End of the Year Party, Last day of School

February 1-5, 2016

FIRST GRADE P.E. PROGRAM

First Grade P.E. Program start time has been changed.  Please join us Tuesday February 2^nd at 6:20 pm in the cafeteria.  This is a chance for our first graders to shine and show some of the skills that they have been practicing this year. Please meet in the cafeteria.

                          

VALENTINE’S PARTY
The Valentines party will be on Friday, February 12th (1:30-2:30).  Please check your child's Tuesday Folder for a list of their classmates' names and have your child make a small valentine for each classmate.  You may choose to buy these from stores or have your child make their own valentines. We have almost two weeks, so there should be plenty of time for the kiddos to write their classmates' names on their valentines. The kiddos can bring their Valentines to school on Thursday, Feb. 11 to begin passing them out.

READING and WRITING
We will continue our guided research unit.  This week we will review the research process, pick a topic that we are interested in, think about what we want to know about our topics, look at different resources, and non-fiction texts to find new information, take notes in our own words, and then present our findings in an organized form so others can use our information and learn from our research too.

MATH 
This week we will connect addition and subtraction by introducing the fact families, part-part- whole, and missing addend.  The parts join together to make a whole (addition).  If we know the whole and a part, we can find out the missing part using both addition and subtraction.  We will use our knowledge of part-part-whole to solve a variety of math problems.

SCIENCE
We will continue learning about our natural resources such as water, rocks, soil, trees, sun, air and more.  We will brainstorm and discuss why it is important to conserve these natural resources, keep them clean and to pollute them.  We will start the week by exploring water, its properties, its movement, and uses.  Why is it important to conserve fresh water? Why is it important not to pollute water? What are the different natural sources of water.

THANK YOU!
Thank you to Mandy Hubbard for coming in to read with the kiddos!

Thank you for supporting your child's learning at home.  Your child's success and education is a result of, us working together! So thank you for being a partner in your child's learning!

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
*Tuesday folders come home.  Please sign and return the folders the next day.

*Agendas:  Please initial the behavior calendar and send it back every day.

*Snack:  Please send a healthy snack with your child every day.

*PE:  Group A will have PE on Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

       Group B will have PE on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.

          *Please make sure your child wears Tennis shoes on those days*

        *You can see what group your child is in on the right side of this blog*

*Next library day is Tuesday, January 26.

*Homework bags come back to school every day.  Please leave the books and response notebook in the bag.  We will use them during the day at school!

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Feb 2:  PE Program @ 6:30 pm

Feb 3:  Early Release @ 12:45, Spirit Night @ Catfish Parlour

Feb 9:  101^st Day of School, Ms. Smith out

Feb 12:  Valentine’s Day Parties <3

Feb 25:  Talent Show

Mar 2:  Early Release @ 12:45, Skate Night @ Playland Skate Center

Mar 5:  Family Dinner Night

Mar 11:  Family Fun & Fitness Night

Mar 12:  Field Trip to ZACH Theater

Mar 14-18:  Spring Break!

Week of Mar 20-24:  We are getting our eggs! 

Mar 24:  Individual & Class Pictures

Mar 29-30:  STAAR Testing

Mar 31:  Science Night

Apr 1:  Family Fun Night

Apr 7:  Science Night

Apr 8:  ShamRock ‘n Roll

Week of Apr 11-15:  Chicks will hatch!

Apr 23:  Earth Day Clean Up

May 2-6:  Teacher Appreciation Week

May 4:  Early Release @ 12:45

May 6:  Field Day

May 19:  Spring Open House

May 27:  Career Fair

May 30:  No School- Memorial Day

June 2:  End of the Year Party, Last day of School

January 25-29, 2016

Congratulations to all of our super scientists in alphabetical order: Aanya, Aaryan, Ansh, Chase, Eva and Lizzie!  I am so very proud of their hard work and their participation in Science Fair.  Way to Go!

READING and WRITING
We will continue on our guided research.  This week, we will learn how to pick a topic that we are interested in, think about what we want to know about our topics, look at different resources such as books, pebble go, and on-line encyclopedia to find the information.  We will also learn how to jot important information in an organized way so we can use the information to answer our questions.

MATH 
This week, we will use a variety of strategies to solve real world math problems involving addition and subtraction or finding differences.  We will use, make 10 strategy or bridge to ten, number line, and counting up.  We will draw a picture to represent the important information in a problem with pictures, or tens and ones. Using addition or subtraction number sentences, we will find the answer to our problem using numbers and words.

SCIENCE
In science, we will learn that our natural world is made up of rocks, soil, and water. We will learn that we can observe these resources in cycles and systems. We will learn that there are many uses for natural resources and therefore it is important to reuse and conserve them. This week we will focus on earth materials and products, rocks and soil. We will observe different kinds of soil and describe the properties of rocks and soil.  We will explore and see what useful products we can make with rocks, soil and water.

THANK YOU!
Thank you for supporting your child's learning at home.  Your child's success and education is a result of, us working together! So thank you for being a partner in your child's learning!

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
*Tuesday folders come home.  Please sign and return the folders the next day.

*Agendas:  Please initial the behavior calendar and send it back every day.

*Snack:  Please send a healthy snack with your child every day.

*PE:  Group A will have PE on Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

       Group B will have PE on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.

          *Please make sure your child wears Tennis shoes on those days*

        *You can see what group your child is in on the right side of this blog*

*Next library day is Tuesday, January 26.

*Homework bags come back to school every day.  Please leave the books and response notebook in the bag.  We will use them during the day at school!

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Feb 2:  PE Program @ 6:30 pm

Feb 3:  Early Release @ 12:45, Spirit Night @ Catfish Parlour

Feb 9:  101^st Day of School, Ms. Smith out

Feb 12:  Valentine’s Day Parties <3

Feb 25:  Talent Show

Mar 2:  Early Release @ 12:45, Skate Night @ Playland Skate Center

Mar 5:  Family Dinner Night

Mar 11:  Family Fun & Fitness Night

Mar 12:  Field Trip to ZACH Theater

Mar 14-18:  Spring Break!

Week of Mar 20-24:  We are getting our eggs! 

Mar 24:  Individual & Class Pictures

Mar 29-30:  STAAR Testing

Mar 31:  Science Night

Apr 1:  Family Fun Night

Apr 7:  Science Night

Apr 8:  ShamRock ‘n Roll

Week of Apr 11-15:  Chicks will hatch!

Apr 23:  Earth Day Clean Up

May 2-6:  Teacher Appreciation Week

May 4:  Early Release @ 12:45

May 6:  Field Day

May 19:  Spring Open House

May 27:  Career Fair

May 30:  No School- Memorial Day

June 2:  End of the Year Party, Last day of School

Thank you all for coming to our Fairy Tale Parade and cheering for us and thank you for helping the children to dress up as their favorite fairy tale or fable character.  I was especially amazed at the creativity that you put in dressing up or making the children look like the characters.  Way to Go! The kids had so much fun!

READING and WRITING
This week we will begin our guided research unit.  We will learn how to do research to find about information that we are interested in.  Researches choose a topic they are interested in and they think about what specific information they want to know about their topic.  Researches look at different books or resources to find information and they record important information in an organized way. We will record things that we have learned and things that we still wonder about.  We will also notice the important and main ideas vs. interesting details. 

MATH 
This week we will work with addition that involves single-digit addends that are beyond ten (eg: 9+4).  We will learn a different strategy called Make-ten addition Strategy or Bridge to 10 Addition Strategy to solve these problems.  We will work on different number combinations that total 10.  We will learn that in addition, 3 numbers can be added in any order.  Students will use their idea of the make-ten addition strategy which involves an addend that is close to ten (7, 8, or 9).  For example when adding 9 and 4, some students may count up from 9 to get to 13. Other strategy would be to say 9+1 is ten and 10+3 is 13.

SCIENCE

We will continue learning about force and movement and move on to Magnets.  Magnets can pull or push certain objects.  The push and pull caused by magnets is also a force. We will do different experiments to observe what happens when a magnet is placed near another object or predict weather a magnet will push or pull an object.

THANK YOU!
Thank you for supporting your child's learning at home.  Your child's success and education is a result of, us working together! So thank you for being a partner in your child's learning!

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
*Tuesday folders come home.  Please sign and return the folders the next day.

*Agendas:  Please initial the behavior calendar and send it back every day.

*Snack:  Please send a healthy snack with your child every day.

*PE:  Group A will have PE on Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

       Group B will have PE on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.

          *Please make sure your child wears Tennis shoes on those days*

        *You can see what group your child is in on the right side of this blog*

*Next library day is Tuesday, December 15.

*Homework bags come back to school every day.  Please leave the books and response notebook in the bag.  We will use them during the day at school!

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Feb 2:  PE Program

Feb 3:  Early Release @ 12:45, Spirit Night @ Catfish Parlour

Feb 12:  Valentine’s Day Parties <3

Feb 25:  Talent Show

Mar 2:  Early Release @ 12:45, Skate Night @ Playland Skate Center

Mar 5:  Family Dinner Night

Mar 11:  Family Fun & Fitness Night

Mar 12:  Field Trip to ZACH Theater

Mar 14-18:  Spring Break!

Week of Mar 20-24:  We are getting our eggs! 

Mar 24:  Individual & Class Pictures

Mar 29-30:  STAAR Testing

Mar 31:  Science Night

Apr 1:  Family Fun Night

Apr 7:  Science Night

Apr 8:  ShamRock ‘n Roll

Week of Apr 11-15:  Chicks will hatch!

Apr 23:  Earth Day Clean Up

May 2-6:  Teacher Appreciation Week

May 4:  Early Release @ 12:45

May 6:  Field Day

May 19:  Spring Open House

May 27:  Career Fair

May 30:  No School- Memorial Day

June 2:  End of the Year Party, Last day of School

Don’t forget about the Fairy Tale parade this Friday, January 15, 2016 @ 9:00 am!  Remember that your child is welcome to dress up as any Fairy Tale or Folktale character (no superhero costumes please).  Parents are welcome to come stand along the hallway to cheer us on.  Please send a change of clothes or have your child wear regular clothes under their costume. 

READING
This week we will learn about fables. A fable is another type of story passed down from generation to generation and told to teach a lesson about something.  Fables are about animals, plants, or forces of nature like sun or wind that can talk and act like people or cause things to happen in the story because of their strength.  The most famous fables were written by a man called Aesop and this week we will read a variety of Aesop's stories.

WRITING
In writing, we will continue writing expository texts.  The children have made a list of things that they are expert at and can teach others.  This week, they will write about their subject with details.  Their goal is to teach others about something they are expert at and know so well.  

MATH
We will review place value in 2-digit numbers.  We will work with tens and ones and compare 2-digit numbers.  When comparing the two digit numbers, we will look at the digits in tens place first.  If those are the same, then we will move to the digits in ones place.  We will also examine the numbers in hundred chart and notice the patterns in numbers.  For example, all numbers in one row have the same number of tens and all numbers in one column has the same number of ones.  We will order the 2-digit numbers from least to greatest or greatest to least.

SCIENCE

This week in science we will learn about force and movement.  Energy causes force and force causes motion/movement.  Force can be defined as a "push" or a "pull" which causes objects to move in different ways such as straight line, zigzag, up and down, side to side, round and round, fast and slow.

THANK YOU!

Thank you for all of the wonderful holiday and birthday gifts!  They were all so wonderful!  I feel so loved!

More than anything, thank you for supporting your child's learning at home.  Your child's success and education is a result of, us working together! So thank you for being a partner in your child's learning!

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
*Tuesday folders come home.  Please sign and return the folders the next day.

*Agendas:  Please initial the behavior calendar and send it back every day.

*Snack:  Please send a healthy snack with your child every day.

*PE:  Group A will have PE on Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

       Group B will have PE on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.

          *Please make sure your child wears Tennis shoes on those days*

        *You can see what group your child is in on the right side of this blog*

*Next library day is Tuesday, December 15.

*Homework bags come back to school every day.  Please leave the books and response notebook in the bag.  We will use them during the day at school!

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Jan. 5:  Welcome back!

Jan. 15:  Fairy Tale Parade

Jan. 18:  No School- MLK Day

Jan. 20:  Science Fair

Feb 2:  PE Program

Feb 3:  Early Release @ 12:45, Spirit Night @ Catfish Parlour

Feb 12:  Valentine’s Day Parties <3

Feb 25:  Talent Show

Mar 2:  Early Release @ 12:45, Skate Night @ Playland Skate Center

Mar 5:  Family Dinner Night

Mar 11:  Family Fun & Fitness Night

Mar 12:  Field Trip to ZACH Theater

Mar 14-18:  Spring Break!

Week of Mar 20-24:  We are getting our eggs! 

Mar 24:  Individual & Class Pictures

Mar 29-30:  STAAR Testing

Mar 31:  Science Night

Apr 1:  Family Fun Night

Apr 7:  Science Night

Apr 8:  ShamRock ‘n Roll

Week of Apr 11-15:  Chicks will hatch!

Apr 23:  Earth Day Clean Up

May 2-6:  Teacher Appreciation Week

May 4:  Early Release @ 12:45

May 6:  Field Day

May 19:  Spring Open House

May 27:  Career Fair

May 30:  No School- Memorial Day

June 2:  End of the Year Party, Last day of School

December 7-11, 2015

The Field Trip to the Austin Nature Center was awesome!  Everyone had a great time, learned a lot, and represented Caraway amazingly!  Success!

FIRST GRADE PBL (Project Based learning) PROJECT:
We are so excited to start our first PBL project this year.  Project-based learning is an active and engaged learning in which our students explore real-life problems and challenges.  In doing so, they will obtain a deeper knowledge of the subjects they are studying. 

In the spirit of Holiday, giving to the community, and helping our community, we will focus on the flood that happened on Oct 30th this year in South Austin. Twenty-two classrooms at palm Elementary school were damaged.  Many teachers lost classroom books and many other supplies.  What can we do to help? How can we help? What is flood and what is the effect of flood on people and their properties? 

Our students will get inspired to think deeply about these questions, brainstorm, discuss, and come up with different ways, and ideas. One idea, is to hold a book drive donation.  Our first graders will inform the public (caraway community) through media (school broadcast, fliers and posters) and ask for gently used books to be donated.  They will set up empty boxes around the school and each day, collect and count the donated books. We have set up a big graph in the first grade hall and our students will mark the graph to show the progress.  They will work cooperatively and collaboratively towards a common goal and a good cause.  In the process, they will practice writing letters, and making fliers, learning about graphs, different types of weather including flood, good citizenship and helping community, and much more. 


SPREAD THE WORD AROUND AND HELP OUR FIRST GRADERS TO HELP THE COMMUNITY
If you have any gently used books at home for elementary ages especially kindergarten, or first grade, please consider donating it to our book drive.  Our first graders will be collecting the books and send them to Palm Elementary school.

SCIENCE:

We will be discussing the weather this week.  We will keep a log of the weather outside.  We will also be talking about different types of weather, such as rain, wind, snow and temperature.  We will also talk about different tools to measure weather

THANK YOU!

Thank you for stuffing the folders, and being willing to help in the classroom or outside the classroom. Your helping hands and hearts are greatly appreciated!

More than anything, thank you for supporting your child's learning at home.  Your child's success and education is a result of, us working together! So thank you for being a partner in your child's learning!

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
*Tuesday folders come home.  Please sign and return the folders the next day.

*Agendas:  Please initial the behavior calendar and send it back every day.

*Snack:  Please send a healthy snack with your child every day.

*PE:  Group A will have PE on Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

       Group B will have PE on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.

          *Please make sure your child wears Tennis shoes on those days*

        *You can see what group your child is in on the right side of this blog*

*Next library day is Tuesday, December 15.

*Homework bags come back to school every day.  Please leave the books and response notebook in the bag.  We will use them during the day at school!

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Dec. 7-11:  Book Fair

Dec 10:  International Festival

Dec. 17:  Class Holiday Party

Dec 18-Jan 5:  Winter Break/No School

Dec. 31:  Ms. Smith’s Birthday