Tuesday, Feb. 16

Happy President's Day!

Thank you for sending 50 pennies with your child. We were told today by the 4th graders (the British) that King George was going to tax us 1 cent on these 4 things:

1. entering the room

2. leaving for the restroom

3. getting a drink

4. use of Germ-X

We weren't happy about our taxes and will plan our retaliation to the British on Tuesday!

Be sure to ask your child about:

     Eric Carle's style of art

     making eric carle style paper with watercolors

     playing tens and ones game in math

     13 Colonies

     King George III

     Taxes on tea and Boston Tea Party

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Friday, Feb. 12

Thank you for attending our field trip yesterday to the science museum! We had a great time!

The Valentine's party was great fun for the kids. Thank you to those who helped put it all together.

Just a reminder NO SCHOOL on Monday! Enjoy!

Snack Schedule for the remainder of the year is now on our class website: www.mrsthornton.org

With the excitement and joy of the field trip and Valentine's Day parties this week the noise level in the classroom was pretty high.  We were quite talkative and it was difficult for me to teach my lessons or get through reading a story or giving directions due to the excessive talking and lack of respect.

At this point in the year, your child should be gaining more self-discipline in this area. If you can help at home with some reminders each morning, I would appreciate it! I will be sending notes home next week for those who continue to talk or interupt our learning time together. If needed, students may possibly be asked to complete their work in the office in a quiet work area so that the other students are not disrupted.

thanks!

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Phonics: Don't forget to practice the dictation sentence using correct upper/lowercase, spacing and spelling.

Blessings, Julie  

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Monday, Sept. 21

Spelling tests will come home today.  I want to be consistent in grading these each week so here is how I plan on grading them. My belief and experience in giving weekly spelling tests is that most children can spell the words correctly on Friday, but then never apply those spelling rules and patterns the day after the test, which isn't that the goal of learning spelling patterns and rules anyway? So although I value spelling tests each week, I value equally the application of those spelling rules in their journal writing and other writing assignments. I tell the students "once you learn to spell the word, it's for forever, not just for Friday." 

Front side of test:

10 correct spelling words with percentages. 

Each bonus word correct is another point added to their percentage.  

So, 1 missed spellng word is 90% but 2 bonus words correct would be a 92%. 

Back side of test 

2 dictation sentences (the same ones that come home on Monday spelling list)

It is graded 3 ways: 

1. (H) is for Handwriting: all upper/lowercase letters formed correctly using handwriting lines with appropriate spacing between words. THIS IS SOMETHING YOU CAN PRACTICE AT HOME EACH NIGHT TO PREPARE FOR FRIDAY"S TEST. 

2. (L) is for Language: Each sentence begins with a capital  letter and ends with a period. 

3. (S) is for Spelling: each word spelled correctly

For each H, L, and S grade, the grades are:

E for Excellent

VG for Very Good

S- for Unsatisfactory

WEBSITE: Did you know I have a class website? Log on to www.mrsthornton.org and take a look around. There is a special link for websites I've previewed that are just for kids.

Thank you for the opportunity to teach your child! What a great school and extended family we have at Crossings!

Julie

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Tuesday, August 25

HOMEWORK:thanks for helping your child learn responsibility in returning their homework and folder each day. I realize sometimes after school or family activities cause homework to not be completed. For this reason, please make sure your child hands in all homework by the end of the week.

WATER BOTTLES: some of the students have water bottles and are used to having water accessible to them throughout the day. I am happy to allow this, but would you mind making sure your child's water bottle has a straw of some sort, so that a lid is not just twisted off where water could spill out and damage papers and books.  So, no water bottles with only twist off caps.

MICROWAVE: I do have a microwave in the room however, due to our tight lunch schedule which backs up to specials, the kids are needing every minute of lunch to finish their eating and if they need a microwave they are having to wait for me to get all the students who ordered school lunches served. I know this is stated in the handbook about microwave use is for teachers only, so just a freindly reminder. Thanks for helping make our lunch run effectively!

SNACK SCHEDULE: Please bring pre-wrapped snacks for 16 students for the entire week.

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Thursday, August 20

Good evening! Welcome to Schoolnotes! This is a communication tool I find helpful to quickly disseminate info about events happening at school and in our classroom. I hope you find it easy to use. I have already added your email from Parent Night so you will automatically receive an email each time I update the page. However, if you would like to add another email, check the top or bottom of this page for a link. Otherwise, you don't need to do a thing!

We had a wonderful day today. I enjoyed getting to spend the day with your precious child!

They may not say (or remember!) what all we did so I'll give you the highlights!

Books we Read:

Wild About Books

No, David!

Have You Filled a Bucket Today? (they should come home with a bucket to explain the story)

Junie B. Jones, First Grader at Last

DEAR time and taking a picture walk and a word walk

Songs we Sang:

The Hello Song

Jesus B-I-N-G-O

(There was a baby boy we know and Jesus was his name-o, J-E-S-U-S, J-E-S-U-S, J-E-S-U-S, and Jesus was his name-0.

Activities & Projects:

Roll Call, Check the Beat

Starfall Calendar

Self-Portraits

Classroom Goals (Rules)

Math Tubs (Pattern blocks, Calculators, Pattern Block Templates, Snap Cubes)

Today's Special: MUSIC THEORY

WHEW!! No wonder, we're tired!

Thank you to Anna Evans for our snacks this week! I will get a calendar out soon so you'll know which week to bring them.

Have a wonderful evening! It's Friday!

Julie