This may very well be the last post of this blog....who knows. Maybe it'll get a sappy end later this week. You never can tell.
Here's a brief overview of the VERY busy last week.
Monday (known as TODAY!): 12ish-3ish Field Day
The beginning of the day is normal like every other non-silly day.
There will be popiscles and ice cream. Good luck having the sugar rush gone!
Tuesday: 2pm 1-2 Red Carpet Awards Ceremony. Yes, come on and watch your child walk the Weems Red Carpet.
Wednesday: Try not to be sad, but there is nothing going on. I do believe however that there will be pizza for winning the boxtops competition for the school. That's right, five boys and two teachers beat everyone else! TAKE THAT probability!
Thursday: Our Dessert Soiree. I have an IEP for a student that is being identified at 1:15. So, I'm going to say, our festivities will be scheduled for....2:15ish. Everyone is invited to bring something. I'll apologize now for some of the pickiest eaters you will find in that classroom!
Friday: Half day of school. I will try not to cry AND to return your children. This will be tricky.
All week, please make sure to constantly check your child's bookbags and clean them out. As we clean the classroom, we'll be sending things home. Since I'm not (as of right now) teaching lower grades again for the foreseeable future, fun things and random odds and ends will be coming home with the boys as they love taking them home instead of throwing them out! Go figure.
Alright, hope everyone else enjoyed the great weather this weekend!
:-)
Monday, June 15, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
The 200th post
I apologize again for the huge gap in posting.
Swimming was a hoot of a great time. The boys (for the most part) were all fishes. They loved that their peer mentors came along. Everyone went under the water, blew bubbles with just their faces and tried floating for 30 seconds on their backs.
Things in the classroom have been chugging along. The end of the school year testing has been almost completed for our boys. I believe that everyone just has one more math benchmark to get through. Nothing terrible. Everyone made great progress on their DRA scores, PALS scores and the like. It was great to see their accomplishments!
The first two weeks of June, I'm going to be used for SOL testing so the boys will have a substitute teacher on and off as to not disrupt their schedules.
Hope everyone enjoys their Memorial Day weekend...and don't forget that our bring your parent to lunch day is today at 12:15!
Swimming was a hoot of a great time. The boys (for the most part) were all fishes. They loved that their peer mentors came along. Everyone went under the water, blew bubbles with just their faces and tried floating for 30 seconds on their backs.
Things in the classroom have been chugging along. The end of the school year testing has been almost completed for our boys. I believe that everyone just has one more math benchmark to get through. Nothing terrible. Everyone made great progress on their DRA scores, PALS scores and the like. It was great to see their accomplishments!
The first two weeks of June, I'm going to be used for SOL testing so the boys will have a substitute teacher on and off as to not disrupt their schedules.
Hope everyone enjoys their Memorial Day weekend...and don't forget that our bring your parent to lunch day is today at 12:15!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Hi again
We're working on telling time in math. All first graders are responsible for being able to tell time to the hour and 1/2 hour on both digital and analog clocks. Second graders are responsible for telling time to the 1/4 hour. Please work on this skill at home.
With the beautiful spring weather of course comes allergies. If you are going to give your child an allergy medication of any kind, please make sure it doesn't make them drowsy. I have some friends who are falling asleep in class!
We are going to have our last field trip of the year in May. We'll be heading once again to the Freedom Center Swimming pool. Make sure those swim shorts are ready!
This week starts our spring testing season. I can't stress enough how important it is to have your child in bed early and eating a great breakfast. These scores follow them and are used to show their growth over the year.
We have been given a little patch of earth to work in for the spring and so the boys, Mrs. Rice, Mrs. Robertson, and I have been busy weeding at school once a week for a little while and planting a variety of seeds. We're excited to see what might start happening. In addition, we are getting ready to see our caterpillars turn into butterflies in our own butterfly garden in the classroom once again. Each boy has their own and have named them: Sunny, Carey, Gary, Blake, and George. Can you guess the name that your child came up with?
Remember, no school for students May 4th for it's a teacher work day :-)
Enjoy your week! And for those that need it, my home phone is back to being functional....for today at least.
With the beautiful spring weather of course comes allergies. If you are going to give your child an allergy medication of any kind, please make sure it doesn't make them drowsy. I have some friends who are falling asleep in class!
We are going to have our last field trip of the year in May. We'll be heading once again to the Freedom Center Swimming pool. Make sure those swim shorts are ready!
This week starts our spring testing season. I can't stress enough how important it is to have your child in bed early and eating a great breakfast. These scores follow them and are used to show their growth over the year.
We have been given a little patch of earth to work in for the spring and so the boys, Mrs. Rice, Mrs. Robertson, and I have been busy weeding at school once a week for a little while and planting a variety of seeds. We're excited to see what might start happening. In addition, we are getting ready to see our caterpillars turn into butterflies in our own butterfly garden in the classroom once again. Each boy has their own and have named them: Sunny, Carey, Gary, Blake, and George. Can you guess the name that your child came up with?
Remember, no school for students May 4th for it's a teacher work day :-)
Enjoy your week! And for those that need it, my home phone is back to being functional....for today at least.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
I am not ignoring you....
however, I won't be available for calling between Friday and sometime late next week probably. If you do need me, please email me and I can call you back.
We have a field trip on our first Thursday back from break. We're heading bowling and to Tony's again. It's going to be $8 per student. That will cover everything that they need.
Also, starting the Friday back from break, we will be missing Mrs. Robertson for three weeks. She is studying to become an ESOL teacher and is going to be helping our staff with their testing of our ESOL students. As a result, Mrs. Rice will be joining us. We are sad that Mrs. Robertson will be out but excited to welcome Mrs. Rice.
Hope everything is going well with break! We'll finally be moving into our house on Friday/Saturday/Sunday and couldn't be more excited!
We have a field trip on our first Thursday back from break. We're heading bowling and to Tony's again. It's going to be $8 per student. That will cover everything that they need.
Also, starting the Friday back from break, we will be missing Mrs. Robertson for three weeks. She is studying to become an ESOL teacher and is going to be helping our staff with their testing of our ESOL students. As a result, Mrs. Rice will be joining us. We are sad that Mrs. Robertson will be out but excited to welcome Mrs. Rice.
Hope everything is going well with break! We'll finally be moving into our house on Friday/Saturday/Sunday and couldn't be more excited!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
My class of SUPER HERO BOYS <3
Today is World Autism Day. This morning, before the boys got here, I went around and put labels on the faculty and staff. They have the ribbon on them and say Autism Awareness. The point was is for a day, instead of labeling our children, we should label ourselves in honor of them. We can often overlook what happens beyond "a label" no matter what it is.
In the belief that it is never too early to become a self-advocate, we talked about Autism as a class. I told the boys that Autism gives those special friends SUPER HERO abilities. Some of us have super sensitive hearing and can hear anything from far away as if it is through a mega-phone. That's an ability that not many others have.
Other friends have the SUPER HERO abilities to put things together and take them apart. They can figure things out and how to make things fit together perfectly and swiftly. That's an ability that not many others have.
Other friends have the SUPER HERO abilities to read, work with letters, sound things out and read well beyond their years and peers. They can find the beauty in the written language and devour books at a time and over and over again. That's an ability that not many others have.
I've watched these Super Hero boys grow exponentially over the past almost two years. They are more social, engage others more often, have become more tolerant of changes, more adventurous, and each day, can push anyone to their limits.
Sure, it's not all rainbows and miracles, but they are SUPER HERO boys. They can make anything better with a smile and some popcorn. They can make anything out of putty and blocks. Books can take on lives on their own and we can all be characters. Each one of them makes everyday full of endless possibilities and I thank you for sharing them with me, everyday.
In the belief that it is never too early to become a self-advocate, we talked about Autism as a class. I told the boys that Autism gives those special friends SUPER HERO abilities. Some of us have super sensitive hearing and can hear anything from far away as if it is through a mega-phone. That's an ability that not many others have.
Other friends have the SUPER HERO abilities to put things together and take them apart. They can figure things out and how to make things fit together perfectly and swiftly. That's an ability that not many others have.
Other friends have the SUPER HERO abilities to read, work with letters, sound things out and read well beyond their years and peers. They can find the beauty in the written language and devour books at a time and over and over again. That's an ability that not many others have.
I've watched these Super Hero boys grow exponentially over the past almost two years. They are more social, engage others more often, have become more tolerant of changes, more adventurous, and each day, can push anyone to their limits.
Sure, it's not all rainbows and miracles, but they are SUPER HERO boys. They can make anything better with a smile and some popcorn. They can make anything out of putty and blocks. Books can take on lives on their own and we can all be characters. Each one of them makes everyday full of endless possibilities and I thank you for sharing them with me, everyday.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
I've become awful at updating
Things are going well in our classroom.
We really enjoyed Mrs. Robertson's birthday this past week along with our field trip to House of Bounce. 1.5 hours of bouncing on inflatables was enjoyed by everyone!
We've been working hard on learning about measuring, using scales and balancing. We're next going into capacity so it should be interesting. In addition, we're going to start working on the addition of doubles, then the addition of doubles plus 1, plus 2, etc.
March 30th is McDonalds Night for the school if you're interested in planning for dinner on Monday. More info will go home on Monday about the location of the McDonalds and such.
I just wanted to give you a quick heads up that if you need to reach me over the next couple of weeks outside of school, email is best. We're in the process of moving (we should be closing toward the end of Spring Break) and so phone calls will be harder to answer as there are too many boxes to trip over to find a phone!
Our next field trip is the week we come back from spring break on Thursday. Bowling and Pizza. :-)
We really enjoyed Mrs. Robertson's birthday this past week along with our field trip to House of Bounce. 1.5 hours of bouncing on inflatables was enjoyed by everyone!
We've been working hard on learning about measuring, using scales and balancing. We're next going into capacity so it should be interesting. In addition, we're going to start working on the addition of doubles, then the addition of doubles plus 1, plus 2, etc.
March 30th is McDonalds Night for the school if you're interested in planning for dinner on Monday. More info will go home on Monday about the location of the McDonalds and such.
I just wanted to give you a quick heads up that if you need to reach me over the next couple of weeks outside of school, email is best. We're in the process of moving (we should be closing toward the end of Spring Break) and so phone calls will be harder to answer as there are too many boxes to trip over to find a phone!
Our next field trip is the week we come back from spring break on Thursday. Bowling and Pizza. :-)
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Two in one day, alert the media!
Well, huge news from our classroom!!!
Curious George wrote us a letter.
Some back story. We (as a class) have been a bit obsessed with Curious George since the book fair when the big guy himself (a teacher dressed as him) came to visit us. He gave Sunny a high-five and a hug (along with everyone else). Well, Sunny still talks about it to this day. We have a stuffed George doll from Kohls that is probably the most loved thing in our room. I finally decided that we needed to do something productive. During our writing time, we wrote to George. We asked him where he was, what he is doing, if he remembered giving us the high fives and hugs, etc. Well, he wrote back. It was HUGE news for our room.
Next up, we're writing to the Cat in the Hat.
If you are up and watching, tomorrow (2/25) on Good Morning America is talking about Adults with Autism. I just saw it on the commercial and have it set to DVR.
Sorry that you didn't come to reading night. Parents and kids alike LOVED it. Hope you will come next time.
Curious George wrote us a letter.
Some back story. We (as a class) have been a bit obsessed with Curious George since the book fair when the big guy himself (a teacher dressed as him) came to visit us. He gave Sunny a high-five and a hug (along with everyone else). Well, Sunny still talks about it to this day. We have a stuffed George doll from Kohls that is probably the most loved thing in our room. I finally decided that we needed to do something productive. During our writing time, we wrote to George. We asked him where he was, what he is doing, if he remembered giving us the high fives and hugs, etc. Well, he wrote back. It was HUGE news for our room.
Next up, we're writing to the Cat in the Hat.
If you are up and watching, tomorrow (2/25) on Good Morning America is talking about Adults with Autism. I just saw it on the commercial and have it set to DVR.
Sorry that you didn't come to reading night. Parents and kids alike LOVED it. Hope you will come next time.
Some things....
Hi Friends,
Real quick. Tonight is reading night at the school. Feel free to bring your family in their pjs to have milk and cookies, do some crafts, hear some stories, and read some stories together. In addition, there are parent stations to learn about some strategies to help your child. It'll be a grand ol' time!
As I emailed yesterday, March 9th is class picture day. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE have your child to school on time. We are scheduled for 9am. There will also be individual pictures again in case you would like to order any. (Not that I'm whispering any great ideas, but if you wanted to take your own class photo, this would be the day since we'll probably all look our best! I might even shock everyone and wear a skirt....but probably not. ;-) )
PLEASE send in your box tops by Friday (the earlier the better). We have raised over 1500 dollars for the school year. Yes, Ms. Stern seriously stares people down to get them since she's in charge.
We are working on geometric shapes and finishing up on fractions in math. So, instead of saying that they want some soup, your child might start talking about that cylinder. Okay, maybe not, but that's what we are talking about in school.
Interims are supposed to come home on Friday. Teachers have yet to receive them to get them out, so I'll let you know when I do.
Come to reading night tonight!!! :-) (best part, IT'S FREE!!!!!)
Real quick. Tonight is reading night at the school. Feel free to bring your family in their pjs to have milk and cookies, do some crafts, hear some stories, and read some stories together. In addition, there are parent stations to learn about some strategies to help your child. It'll be a grand ol' time!
As I emailed yesterday, March 9th is class picture day. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE have your child to school on time. We are scheduled for 9am. There will also be individual pictures again in case you would like to order any. (Not that I'm whispering any great ideas, but if you wanted to take your own class photo, this would be the day since we'll probably all look our best! I might even shock everyone and wear a skirt....but probably not. ;-) )
PLEASE send in your box tops by Friday (the earlier the better). We have raised over 1500 dollars for the school year. Yes, Ms. Stern seriously stares people down to get them since she's in charge.
We are working on geometric shapes and finishing up on fractions in math. So, instead of saying that they want some soup, your child might start talking about that cylinder. Okay, maybe not, but that's what we are talking about in school.
Interims are supposed to come home on Friday. Teachers have yet to receive them to get them out, so I'll let you know when I do.
Come to reading night tonight!!! :-) (best part, IT'S FREE!!!!!)
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Compliments
We keep winning the compliment parties for first grade for our great behavior. This would be great if our students knew what it meant to be given a compliment.
As a result of this knowledge that they don't understand what they are, we had a lesson in complimenting today. We had to tell our friends what we like about them. We FINALLY got the hang of it and told people that we like their shirts, black shoes, hair, eyes, and ears. Yes, that's right, if you are having a bad ear day, just talk to Patrick and he'll tell you that they are great!
To continue on with our learning, we took it to the "streets" aka hallway. We sat in the hallway and watched as people walked and handed out compliments. "Nice walking", "Great Jacket", "Nice hairstyle", etc. It's great.
After we did all of this, we had our compliment party. Hot cocoa and marshmallows. So, if your child suffered from a sudden loss of energy, they were crashing from the entire bag of mini marshmallows that they devoured!
Tomorrow continues our Valentine's studying. Don't forget to find those 100 day of school shirts for next week!!!
:-)
As a result of this knowledge that they don't understand what they are, we had a lesson in complimenting today. We had to tell our friends what we like about them. We FINALLY got the hang of it and told people that we like their shirts, black shoes, hair, eyes, and ears. Yes, that's right, if you are having a bad ear day, just talk to Patrick and he'll tell you that they are great!
To continue on with our learning, we took it to the "streets" aka hallway. We sat in the hallway and watched as people walked and handed out compliments. "Nice walking", "Great Jacket", "Nice hairstyle", etc. It's great.
After we did all of this, we had our compliment party. Hot cocoa and marshmallows. So, if your child suffered from a sudden loss of energy, they were crashing from the entire bag of mini marshmallows that they devoured!
Tomorrow continues our Valentine's studying. Don't forget to find those 100 day of school shirts for next week!!!
:-)
WE NEED YOUR BOX TOPS!!!!!!
Hi Friends and Family,
You know that you have them and now you know that we want them!
Box Tops are found on products all over, Kleenex, Cheerios, Kotex, Huggies, Fruit snacks, etc. For a full list, go to www.boxtops4education.com and look at the participating products list.
We need those little pink coupons that come on these products. We have to send them in for the credit (they are worth 10 cents a piece) by February 28th and so we need to receive them beforehand. I know you might not think that you have a lot, but I've heard it all year and so far, we've raised over 1200 dollars, TEN CENTS AT A TIME!
Please, send them in. You have them, we can use them, and in the end, it's free money for our students.
If you need the school's mailing address, just let me know. You can send them to my attention.
THANKS!!!!!!!
You know that you have them and now you know that we want them!
Box Tops are found on products all over, Kleenex, Cheerios, Kotex, Huggies, Fruit snacks, etc. For a full list, go to www.boxtops4education.com and look at the participating products list.
We need those little pink coupons that come on these products. We have to send them in for the credit (they are worth 10 cents a piece) by February 28th and so we need to receive them beforehand. I know you might not think that you have a lot, but I've heard it all year and so far, we've raised over 1200 dollars, TEN CENTS AT A TIME!
Please, send them in. You have them, we can use them, and in the end, it's free money for our students.
If you need the school's mailing address, just let me know. You can send them to my attention.
THANKS!!!!!!!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
A little bit of this, a little bit of that
Update from last post: I have obtained outside funds for our book program which means, that means that there will be paper books once again! Yes!
Homework: I've opted to stop doing homework calendars. Not everyone has been participating in them and most of those that were are also receiving homework from other teachers and I don't want anyone to be overwhelmed. There still will be projects, but we'll probably do most of them at school.
Valentine's/100th day: We would like to have celebrations. They have to be tied to the curriculum which I can handle. However, I could use some donations. Specifically needed: Fruit Loops (we need 600 total...I don't know how many "come in a box", M&Ms (we need 600 total), marshmallows (we need 60...they can be mini), and big bag of pretzels. This would all be for the 100th day celebration (tentatively set on February 18th....provided no more snow days).
For Valentine's Day, I can't say that we were planning an all out party as most of the boys don't appear to overly enjoy tons of treats. I have fruit snacks, pretzels, popcorn and the like which they would probably thoroughly enjoy for treats for the day. What I really need for most of our activities are those candy conversation hearts and lots of them. Ideally, I'd need these by Monday so that we can really get into the activities and not just have them jammed packed into the Friday before. If you do want to send something in, there are six boys, no allergies. To save yourself, they are currently in love with stickers, letter chunks, fun pencils, things that move (all transportation is okay by then), and Canada. I'm unsure where the last one came from, but it's all I hear about during recess as they set up the trains to go there.
Other than that, if you would like a conference on February 16th, please let me know. I'm going to try to call everyone that I haven't touched base with yet to see if you would like one. Also know, even after conference day, you are more than welcome to request one.
Hope everyone is staying warm. I was happy that Sunny informed me today that "Ms. Stern, your snow's back!" I love it! :-)
Homework: I've opted to stop doing homework calendars. Not everyone has been participating in them and most of those that were are also receiving homework from other teachers and I don't want anyone to be overwhelmed. There still will be projects, but we'll probably do most of them at school.
Valentine's/100th day: We would like to have celebrations. They have to be tied to the curriculum which I can handle. However, I could use some donations. Specifically needed: Fruit Loops (we need 600 total...I don't know how many "come in a box", M&Ms (we need 600 total), marshmallows (we need 60...they can be mini), and big bag of pretzels. This would all be for the 100th day celebration (tentatively set on February 18th....provided no more snow days).
For Valentine's Day, I can't say that we were planning an all out party as most of the boys don't appear to overly enjoy tons of treats. I have fruit snacks, pretzels, popcorn and the like which they would probably thoroughly enjoy for treats for the day. What I really need for most of our activities are those candy conversation hearts and lots of them. Ideally, I'd need these by Monday so that we can really get into the activities and not just have them jammed packed into the Friday before. If you do want to send something in, there are six boys, no allergies. To save yourself, they are currently in love with stickers, letter chunks, fun pencils, things that move (all transportation is okay by then), and Canada. I'm unsure where the last one came from, but it's all I hear about during recess as they set up the trains to go there.
Other than that, if you would like a conference on February 16th, please let me know. I'm going to try to call everyone that I haven't touched base with yet to see if you would like one. Also know, even after conference day, you are more than welcome to request one.
Hope everyone is staying warm. I was happy that Sunny informed me today that "Ms. Stern, your snow's back!" I love it! :-)
Monday, January 26, 2009
A long interesting day (and a much needed update)
Today was utilized for filling in the beloved report cards and IEP updates. That was interesting to say the least as I had some interesting conversations regarding the boys and some of the teachers who have them outside of my class. Essentially, everyone has different expectations of them and therefore, different grades resulted. I'd like to think that I'm now on the same page with everyone and that no longer will I get grades from them that I don't know already are coming. Basically, if I'm not expecting something other than an "S" or "S+", we should have already had a conversation, at least once, and I explained that they would be responsible for also informing the parents of this. Gone are the days of the homeroom teacher having to field all the questions, especially for classes that I don't attend!
On a sadder note, they stopped funding the book program that we've been utilizing at Weems. All those fun paper books that come home will most likely stop since there's no more funding of it. I'm still trying to find someone who has a working login or otherwise, I've been contemplating just paying the 85 dollar subscription fee. We'll see what happens.
We are tentatively all set up for our field trips. March, April and May. The pool, house of bounce and bowling (those are out of order). More information will come home as soon as I know that they are all sorts of approved.
We've finished our mid-year testing of PALs/DRA and I am happy to announce that ALL of our boys improved!!! I was really excited with their progress and know that we'll see even more come spring.
Other than that, nothing new and exciting has been happening.
Don't forget to wear your pjs inside out for some S-N-O-W!!! :-)
On a sadder note, they stopped funding the book program that we've been utilizing at Weems. All those fun paper books that come home will most likely stop since there's no more funding of it. I'm still trying to find someone who has a working login or otherwise, I've been contemplating just paying the 85 dollar subscription fee. We'll see what happens.
We are tentatively all set up for our field trips. March, April and May. The pool, house of bounce and bowling (those are out of order). More information will come home as soon as I know that they are all sorts of approved.
We've finished our mid-year testing of PALs/DRA and I am happy to announce that ALL of our boys improved!!! I was really excited with their progress and know that we'll see even more come spring.
Other than that, nothing new and exciting has been happening.
Don't forget to wear your pjs inside out for some S-N-O-W!!! :-)
Friday, January 9, 2009
Spring Field Trips
I'm in the process of setting up our Spring Field Trips.
So far, I've set up House of Bounce.
Other places that are in consideration:
Freedom Center for the pool again
Skate N Fun Zone
Bowling
Movies (although, I think there is nothing appropriate playing so this is most likely out)
Police Station (we went to the fire station last year and it was awesome!)
Do YOU have any other suggestions?!?! (Requirements: Relatively inexpensive and within Manassas or five miles surrounding)
So far, I've set up House of Bounce.
Other places that are in consideration:
Freedom Center for the pool again
Skate N Fun Zone
Bowling
Movies (although, I think there is nothing appropriate playing so this is most likely out)
Police Station (we went to the fire station last year and it was awesome!)
Do YOU have any other suggestions?!?! (Requirements: Relatively inexpensive and within Manassas or five miles surrounding)
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Happy New Year!
Welcome back from what sounds to be a great break (at least according to the boys!)
Things are going well. Everyone for the most part is back into the swing of things and we are off and running to a great start!
We are currently going into PALs testing for mid-year. So far, these new scores are looking great!
In terms of curriculum, we are currently learning about ordinal numbers in math. We are also practicing touch math to help make addition and subtraction easier. I will send home a sheet soon so that you can see what touch math looks like.
We are chugging away at reading. Some of our friends are working on the "silent e" in their writing while others are obsessing over reading chunks and blends.
Today, we are celebrating having the most compliments for first grade with a cookie party thrown by Mrs. Cassarino in addition to having the best behavior at lunch with a fine dining experience! It's going to be a great day!
Things are going well. Everyone for the most part is back into the swing of things and we are off and running to a great start!
We are currently going into PALs testing for mid-year. So far, these new scores are looking great!
In terms of curriculum, we are currently learning about ordinal numbers in math. We are also practicing touch math to help make addition and subtraction easier. I will send home a sheet soon so that you can see what touch math looks like.
We are chugging away at reading. Some of our friends are working on the "silent e" in their writing while others are obsessing over reading chunks and blends.
Today, we are celebrating having the most compliments for first grade with a cookie party thrown by Mrs. Cassarino in addition to having the best behavior at lunch with a fine dining experience! It's going to be a great day!
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