January 13, 2013

Welcome back to school!  With conferences happening last week, I did not get a chance to update the blog. We told everyone at conferences that I (Mrs. Pratt) will be taking over teaching for Mrs. Figueroa when she goes on maternity leave.  She is due on January 27 and is planning on working up until then.  We will be sure to let you know when the baby is born.  The other changes that we have in the classroom are that Ms. Noori was asked to move into Mrs. Mott's classroom and we have a new assistant teacher that started today.  Her name is Mrs. Hill.  She will be here full-time with me while Mrs. Figueroa is gone.  She is excited to get to know the kids and start working with them.

Please feel free to contact Mrs. Hill (chill@archwaychandler.org) or me (cpratt@archwaychandler.org) with anything that you need.

Here is what we started last week in our curriculum and will continue this week.

Literature: Last week we started fables.  We discussed what fables are and read "The Country Boy who Cried Wolf."  We also made masks and had the students put on a play with this fable.  This week, we will be reading "Dog in the Manger" and "Maid and the Milk Pail."

History: Last week we started our unit on Early Explorers and Settlers.  All of last week we talked about Christopher Columbus, where he came from, what he was trying to find, and where he did find.  This week we will talk about the first settlers along with some of the hardships they faced as well as their successes.

Science: We have started our unit on Oceans.  This is always a favorite unit for the students.  We started by talking about where the oceans are as well as their names and also the continents and their names.  This week we will also talk about the five different layers of the oceans.

We also started reading groups up again today.  Mrs. Schubring created a new sign-up genius for you to sign up for reading groups.  Please remember to sign-up and come help us with reading groups. Here is the link for the sign-up genius: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F044CABA92F4-classroom1.

Please remember that next Monday is a Martin Luther King Day.  There will be no school that day.  Also, mark your calendars for January 31 which will be a half day.

We hope you all have a wonderful week!

December 13, 2013

Wow!  This semester went by so quickly.  We are already to the last week.  Not only is it the last week but it is only a three day week.  The students are very excited for Winter Break.  We have a fun week ahead of us.

Literature/Reading: Since it is a short week next week, we will not be doing reading groups.  We will also not be sending the reading bags home at all (unless your child has a chapter book they would like to finish before Wednesday).  We will keep reading bags here during the break but we encourage you to please still read with your child.  You can use the link on the side of the blog that links you to book level lists of trade books at their level.  In literature we will be learning two poems and discussing them.

History: We will be wrapping up our World Religions unit by talking about Islam.  We will discuss the three pillars of the Islam religion and talk about the major symbols and holidays that they have.

Science: Next week we will review the body systems that we talked about in class.

If you have not signed up for conferences, please do so.  They will be the first week after we are back from Winter Break.  You can sign up here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4EAAAC22A57-parent2.

Also, please remember that Wednesday is a 12:15/12:30 release with no extracurricular clubs.  After break, students will return on January 7.  Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday that week will be half days and Friday will be a full day.

We hope that you have a wonderful and safe Winter Break.

   

December 6, 2013

Hello Families!  I missed updating the blog at the beginning of the week, so I decided to do two weeks in one.

History: We started a new unit in History this week.  We are studying the major world religions.  This week we introduced that religion is a shaping force in teh history of civilization.  We focus on the major symbols, figures, and stories.  Our goal is to be descriptive, not prescriptive and to maintain a sense of respect and balance. We also studied about Judaism.  Some of the things we talked about with Judaism were the story of Moses being found in the rushes and saved by Pharaoh's daughter as well as the crossing of the Red Sea.

Next week we will wrap up our studies of the Jewish religion and then begin Christianity.  We will focus on The First Christmas and who Jesus was.

Literature: The saying we learned about this week was "An apple a day keeps the doctor away."  In addition, we read The Princess and the Pea.  We practiced sequencing events; brainstorming parts from the beginning, middle, and end; a then writing summaries of the story.

Next week we will be reading a story called Snowflake Bentley.  The children will learn a little more about snowflakes and the importance of perseverance.  We will also talk about the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

Science: This week in science we focused on two different systems.  The first system that we talked about was the circulatory system. The students learned about the heart and how it works with veins and arteries to move blood to different parts of the body.  We also learned about the nervous system and the three main parts of this system: the brain, the spinal cord, and the nerves. Of course, we also attached hearts, veins, arteries, and brains to our bodies in the hallway.

Coming up next week,  we will be learning about being healthy and how we can take care of our bodies through our healthy habits.  Additionally, we will review all the parts of the human body.  We will end the week talking about Louis Pasteur and Edward Jenner and the contributions they made to science and medicine.


Reminders and Notes: 

• The link for Parent-teacher conferences has been sent out.  Parent-teacher conferences are mandatory this semester.  Please sign up for one soon.  
• Please remember to send a snack with your child.  It helps them to focus if they have that snack part way through the morning.  We do not have very much extra snacks in our classroom so please help them to remember their snacks.  
• Also, we are trying to promote independence in eating lunch.  Please help your child out by sending containers they can open or helping them learn how to open them. 

November 25, 2013

All the kids were excited today to only have 2 1/2 days of school this week.  This weekend is an R&R weekend so you can also expect to have no homework on Wednesday.

Despite it being a short week, we still have lots to learn.

Literature: Today we will read the poem Over the River and Through the Woods.  Tuesday and Wednesday, the students will have a chance to write about what they are thankful for as well as read a poem about table manners and talk about table manners.

History: We will continue to talk about the Aztecs this week including learning about the Aztec calendar and some of their mythology.  We will end the week talking about the Incas and who they were and where they lived.

Science: This week we will be learning about the respiratory system.  We will talk about the different parts of the system and how it works.  We will also be adding lungs to our bodies in the hallway.

Remember that Wednesday is a 12:15/12:30 release time with no clubs after school.  We hope that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend and enjoy spending time with your children!

November 18, 2013

We hope you all had a wonderful time at the Medieval Faire this weekend.  We had a lot of fun and hope you did too.  Our apothecary booth was a wonderful success.  We even won first prize for the best booth.  Thank you to Mrs. Mercer for helping coordinate the booth.  We also were so excited to get $400 from our basket!  Thank you so much for all things you donated to the basket and especially to Mrs. Schubring for putting the basket together.  Finally, thank you to each of you who volunteered their time at the Faire.

Here is the run-down of what we will be doing this week.

Literature/Reading: In reading groups we will continue to read our Frog and Toad books.  In Literature we will be studying a few different Brer Rabbit stories.  We will also practice our summarizing skills and being able to retell the story in writing.

History: We will continue our learning of Early American Civilizations this week.  Specifically, we will talk about the Mayan Civilization and the Aztec Civilization.  We will learn where the Mayans lived and about many of their accomplishments.  Additionally, we will find out where the Aztec nation lived and their everyday life.

Science: The digestive system will be our system of study this week.  We will start with learning about the stomach, progress on to the small intestine and then to the large intestine.  We will also talk about healthy eating and the nutrients are bodies get from food.

Reminders: 

• The day before Thanksgiving (Nov. 27) is a 12:15/12:30 release time with no clubs after school. 
• Hope to see you at Family Dinner Night this Wednesday at Native New Yorker on Gilbert & Germann.  Eat here anytime from 11am to Midnight to earn money for Archway-Chandler!

• Also, we have a food drive going on all week to support benefit Matthew's Crossing Food Bank  in Chandler.

Most needed items:

Peanut  Butter Canned meat/ tuna Canned Vegetables Tomato Sauce Tomato Produce Macaroni and Cheese Dry Packaged Beans Oatmeal

Soup Canned Juice Canned Beans Canned Tuna Canned Meat Canned Fruit Canned Soup

Boxed Cereal Rice, White or Brown Macaroni Bread Cake, Muffin & Quick      Bread Mixes Toilet Paper

Baby Food Formula Diapers size 4,5 or 6 Toothbrush/Toothpaste Shampoo/Conditioner Lotion/Hand Soap Detergent/Hygiene       Products

Week of November 13, 2013

I hope you all had a wonderful three-day weekend.  I had a great weekend but, as a result, missed writing our blog post for the week.  So, now that we are half-way through this week, I will get it to you.  :)

Literature/Reading: Puss in Boots is our story of the week.  After reading the story, we will learn some vocabulary terms from the story as well as talk about personification.  We will end the week with one of our first grade sayings, "Let the cat out of the bag."  Friday after school, ask your student what this saying means.  But, remember to not "let the cat out of the bag" for the meaning of the saying before then.

History: We started a new unit this week.  It is a unit on Early American civilizations.  We started the unit with talking about the Bering Strait and the land bridge that was used to cross to the Americas.  On Thursday, they will all get to go on the trail from Asia to North America and talk about the lives of nomadic hunters.  All of this will lead into our discussions of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca Civilizations.

Science: The "doctors" in our class are having a lot of fun learning about the human body.  This week's focus is the muscular system and what muscles are used for in our body.  Stop by the hallways to see the progression of our human bodies on the wall.  Be sure to also ask your student if it takes more muscles to smile or frown.

Reminders: 

• The Medieval Faire is this Saturday from 1-4 pm on the CPA/Archway field.  We hope to see all of you there!
•  Mark your calendars that November 27th is a half-day schedule.  It will be a 12:15/12:30 release and there will be no clubs that day.  

November 4, 2013

Welcome to a new week!  We had a fun week last week and look forward to this coming week.  It will be an exciting week as we wrap up our Egypt unit.

Literature/Riggs/Reading: This week we get to study the Fairy Tale of Pinocchio.  As we read and learn this story, we will have some new vocabulary words that we will be learning.  Additionally, the students will work on organizing the beginning, middle, and end of stories and then write a summary about the story. We will also talk about our Core Virtue of honesty and how it relates to the story.

History: We have had a fun time as we studied Egypt.  This week will be the end of the unit.  We will talk about the different gods that the Egyptians worshiped.  We will also have a fun activity about an Egyptian animal, our Egyptian party, and we will assemble our Egypt books.

Science: We are starting a new unit this week on the Human Body.  The Human Body unit is always a fun one as the students get to build some life-size models of the human body.  You will start seeing these models hanging in the walls sometime this week.  We will be focusing on the Skeletal system this week and adding that to our bodies.

Reminders: 

• The deadline to submit items to the auction basket has been extended.  Don't forget to send in some items this week to make our basket awesome!   http://www2.signupgenius.com/go/20F044CABA92F4-medieval
• The Medieval Faire will be here in less than two weeks.  We need lots of help at our booth.  Please sign up for a time slot to help out.  http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D4DADA62DAB9-medieval1
• Thank you for all the people who have signed up for the Egypt party.  Please remember to send in any supplies.  Also, there is one more slot for a volunteer.  www.SignUpGenius.com/go/20F044CABA92F4-egypt