Happy 2017

I wish you all a Happy New Year.  Welcome 2017.  I can't wait to hear what you did on your Winter Break vacation on Tuesday.  

Don't forget to get together your collections to bring to school next week.  We will be beginning a new writing unit on opinion writing and those collections will be used.

Don't forget to keep reading and practice your addition and subtraction facts.  Here is a table of the facts your child should know fluently by the end of first grade.

Here are the subtraction facts. 

Grinch Day

We rotated through 5 different classrooms to enjoy a special Grinch themed day.  

We unscrambled sentences about the Grinch.

We made Grinch faces.

We learned how to make Grinch's heart grow and filled his bucket.

We made a Grinch snack.

Working in groups does not make us "Grinchy" at all.

In between all this green Grinch fun we also got a very special visit from LMS string orchestra. They were fabulous.  They played some holidays tunes for us to sing and also some showstopper songs.  We have one word to say to them ......BRAVO!!!!

Aerodynamics Lesson

We had a visit from Mr. Bud Starr this week.  He is the husband to our very own, Mrs. Starr, BSIP aide in the classroom. He came in to talk to the class about his job as a pilot.  He taught us about lift, force, and the military planes he has flown.

Mr. Starr is teaching about how to get an airplane to fly.

We use a paper and wind (our breath) to get lift.  This shows how the wind moves over a wing of an airplane to create force to lift the plane into the air.

Mr. Starr shows his pilot helmet especially designed for him.

We have also started our last section of our Science Unit.  We explored reflection with mirrors.

We are trying to identify what our partner is showing us without turning around.

This week coming up we will travel around the world and learn about how different countries celebrate the holiday season and on Friday..... GRINCH DAY.

Thanksgiving Break

As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday we take the time to count our blessing, things that make us happy and be thankful for our family and friends and support that help us get through life.

I count all of you and your children as a blessing in my life.  I am thankful that I can be in each of your child's life.  They are special people.

Since your child will be with you for the 4 day break here are some things that you can do together with them:

Record your child reading one of their just right books to you on your phone or I pad, tablet, etc. and then let them look and listen to themselves read the story back.  Pay special attention to their fluency of them reading.  Are they stopping at the punctuation marks? Are they reading smoothly and with expression? When they came to a tricky word how did they problem solving trying to figure out the word?  Did they look at the pictures, did they break apart the word, how did they do it? It will be a very telling experience, trust me.

Download some educational apps for your child to work with.  Many of you during our conferences asked for more ideas at home to work with your child.  Here are a few suggestions:

Math Apps:

Math Tappers
Math Slide 100
Kid Patterns
Sorting Machine
Make 10+
Number Rack
Number Bond Blaster

or go to Zearn.org and log in for extra practice aligned with our math program

Reading Apps:

Epic- Unlimited Books for kids
Letter muncher
Reading A to Z books
Chicktionary


Have a great and restful Thanksgiving break.

Veterans Day Celebration

Our Veterans Day celebration.

Medford Post 7677

Awaiting to march into our assembly with our flag parade

Air Force Honor Guard came to the assembly too

During the ceremony our honored guests stood during their armed services song so they could be recognized by the children.

 The entire school watches as the Air Force Honor guard folds the American Flag. It was awesome.

After the ceremony our honored guests came back to the classroom for a Q&A session with the kids.

Thank you for your service, thank you for your time, and thank you for sharing your experience with our class.

Congrats to all!!!

This month is ending super special in room 10.  I have so much to share.

First, on Monday 2 students from Dr. Mueller's class were pulled out of the crowd at the Harlem Wizard vs. Lumberton Teachers Basketball Game. It was so excited and proud to see them shine on the court.  It was so much fun.  Here are a few pictures of the night.

Mrs. Williams and myself represented the FLW teachers.

Next, I received news of my own.  I have successfully renewed my National Board Certification for Professional Teaching Standards.  I am the only teacher in Lumberton with this distinction and one of 267 in the state.  Since my certification was about to expire last year, I decided to renew it.  The process takes 1 school calendar year to complete.  I am now one of 10 teachers that have been re-certified (renewed) in the state, In other words, I have had National Board Certification for 20 of my 22 years teaching.

Here is a little bit of information about the National Boards.  

Recognized as the gold standard in teacher certification, the National Board believes higher standards for teachers means better learning for students.

The founding mission of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is to advance the quality of teaching and learning by: 

• Maintaining high and rigorous standards for what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do;
   
• Providing a national voluntary system certifying teachers who meet these standards;
   
• Advocating related education reforms to integrate National Board Certification in American education and to capitalize on the expertise of National Board Certified Teachers.  

Last, I just received news that our class won the Box Top Blitz Contest sponsored by the Lumberton PTA for Walther School.  Each child's prize..... A FREE snack at lunchtime.  I will pass out the coupons next week.

Just a FYI...... I will not be in school on Nov.1 and Nov. 2.  I will be presenting and attending the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Regional Conference in Philadelphia.  I will try to check email as much as possible but any correspondence for those 2 days should be in writing not email.

math help

Today I sent home instructions for a math website that is directly aligned with the math program we are using in school.  Your child has been on this site 2 times thus far this week.  It is my hopes that my math instruction becomes more individualized in the coming month.

 Here is what I plan.

 Half of the class will receive math instruction directly from me for half of the math time slot while the other half are practicing their skills on the computer. Then we will switch spots.  Each student will still receive the same amount of math time per day but it can be customized to their skill level.

if you would like to check it out I have sent home your child's username and password.  You can practice at home if you wish.



Here are some fun math apps to for your devices at home:

Number flash

other great ones:

Math Duel
Math with balloons
Math Slide 100


Check out these apps and let me know what you think.  The more your child practices the more fluent their math facts become.

See what is happening in our class

In our STEM lab we are exploring pitch and sound.

We celebrated our narrative/small moments writing with a visit to Ms. Gizelbach's Kindergarten class.  

Today the Harlem Wizards came to school to talk up their upcoming games vs. the teachers.  Come out and have some fun.  Dr. Mueller and Mrs. Williams will be playing in the game. Come and see what kind of moves we have out on the court. 

 Jaylen was picked out of the crowd to show his basketball moves. The game is Monday, October 24th at 7 pm at RV.