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What a memorable week we had together! I hope you all enjoyed the 2014 EXTRAVAGANZA! I thought everyone did a terrific job! Our play was amazing and I was so proud of the Mustangs! This week we went on a great adventure in the woods. We hiked, journal, played games and reflected on our year! It was wonderful to be in the wild together! The 3rd and 4th graders came to visit us and we buzzed about books together. We topped off our week with a visit to the library where the Tiger-Wolves revealed a book recommendation to us and we signed up for the summer reading program. We continued our day with a fun bike trip to Pioneer Park. We had a picnic and also went to the bike park! We ended our day with milkshakes from the Emporium!
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This week we have been busy preparing for our project presentation! The Mustangs have worked very hard on their presentation skills. We hope you will enjoy hearing about our learning at our presentation on Friday. For families and friends who cannot make Friday we will have a second presentation on Monday, June 2nd at 9:00am.
We have officially wrapped up our research project of the states. We achieved our goal of finding our more about our country by studying different states and their landforms, landmarks, animals and people/history. During this project students learned and used: research skills, collaboration, somerizing skills, mapping skills, different math concepts, note taking, presentation skills along with reading, writing for a purpose. All that plus so much more in just one project. When students choose more of a research type project instead of a hands on project they learn important life skills such as grit and perseverance to complete what they have started. I am very proud of this group and their eagerness to learn.
Here are the upcoming events for next week:
Monday: Pajama Day and 9:00am Make up Project Presentation
Tuesday: Hat Day and Field Trip to the Woods: We will be leaving at 9:00 Sharp and return before lunchtime.
Please make sure your child is:
Wednesday: Dress Crazy Day and Dress Rehearsal for Extravaganza
Thursday: Dress Fancy Day and TVCS Extravaganza 4:00 at the high school
Friday: Dress as a Super Hero Day and Bike field trip with the 3rd and 4th graders
Students need:
What a wonderful week we had together! Thank you all for coming to our Student Led Conferences! We loved looking through our portfolios and showing off our learning. It is really exciting to hear students reflect about their experiences.
We were incredibly busy this week finishing our great project, working on our Extravaganza play, and putting final touches on writing pieces. We were also so lucky to get to work with Beth McIntosh this week. Beth comes to TVCS every year to do a wonderful song writing workshop with the students. The 3rd and 4th graders are creating the song with Beth this year and will teach it to us next week. The Tiger-Wolves project is music and they are collaborating with Beth on a song for the school to sing at the Extravaganza! We are so excited to hear it! The Mustangs got to do a sing-a-long with Beth and sing some of the songs created by TVCS students in the previous years as well as some student favorites.
Mustang Happenings.
Presentation
What: The Mustang Project Presentation and Authors Tea
When: Friday, May 30th
Time: 1:45pm
Where: Our Classroom
Why: To celebrate the end of our project
Field Trip
What: The Mustang Field Trip to the Woods
When: Tuesday, June 3rd
Time: 9:00am-12:00pm
Where: To be announced
Why: To celebrate our year together with a fun trip into the woods
Extravaganza
What: TVCS Extravaganza and Graduation
When: Thursday, June 5th
Time: 4:00pm-6:00pm
Where: Teton High School
Why: To celebrate our learning
Field Trip
What: The Mustang Bike Field Trip with the Tiger Wolves (3rd/4th grade)
When: Friday, June 6th
Time: 10:00am -1:30pm
Where: To be announced
Why: For Fun!
Field Day
What: TVCS Field Day
When: Tuesday, June 10th
Time: 9:00am-12:00pm
Where: TVCS Field
Why: A fun day of games!
Spirit Week
Monday, June 2rd Friday, June 6th Spirit Week!
Monday: Pajama Day
Tuesday: Hat Day
Wednesday: Dress Crazy Day
Thursday: Dress Fancy Day
Friday: Super Hero Day
***Let me know if you have any questions! All happenings are subject to change due to weather or events out of my control. Thank you, Amber
We have a had a great week reflecting on our year. We have been creating our portfolios for Student Led Conferences next week. It is fun to look back and to think ahead. If you haven't signed up please do so on the clipboard in our classroom.
We had a fun rainy week together! It is hard to believe it is our last month of school! We have been busy finishing our project, reflecting on our learning, talking about being good friends and having fun. Thank you all so much for the Teacher Appreciation basket filled with goodies. I appreciate it very much.
Student Led Conferences
Monday, May 19th – Thursday, May 22nd
Parents,
You are invited to take a highly active role in your child’s education by participating in Student-Led Conferences. During Student-Led Conferences, students reflect upon their learning and share what they have accomplished and their plans for improvement. It is another opportunity for students to take ownership of their work and consider their goals for the future.
We are scheduling 20-minute blocks for each family. Each student will lead their family through their portfolio showcasing different aspects of their school experience. As students are leading I will be there to facilitate and to answer questions.
Conferences will be held on Monday, May 19th –Thursday, May 22nd
A sign-up sheet is posted in our classroom.
Student-Led Conferences are a great way for students to practice the art of sharing and reflecting on themselves as learners.
I look forward to sharing this time and celebrating the incredible work your child has done this year!
Thank you, Amber
We had a happy week filled with some sunshiny days! We were so excited for Farm and Garden this week because we got to plant the starts we have been nurturing. We also created Mr. T (our turtle) a swimming habitat so that he can spend some time swimming each day. He really seems to love it!
Happy Earth Day! The entire school went on a neighborhood and campus clean up! We collected so much trash! We love our planet!
We had a fantastic week together! We loved walking to the library to find resources for our project!
I hope everyone had a relaxing Spring Break! The Mustangs were rested and ready to get back to work! We have jumped right back into our great project and we are eager to write and read each day!
The Power of Poke'mon:
A majority of Mustangs continue to be excited about Poke'mon and have asked if they can play with their Poke'mon cards at recess. So I wanted to find out more about this game so many are fascinated with...
We made an agreement that if Poke'mon cards are not a distraction during class time then they could play with them during recess. I needed to know more about Poke'mon so I went to the source (my class) and they gave me a brief lesson on what it is they do...
For those of you who haven't yet been introduced, Poke'mon is a card game that is built around collecting a multitude of species of "pocket monster" and training them to battle other monsters. Players collect and trade monster cards as well as entering into battles which allow them to gain special skills and moves as well as level up and evolve into a more advanced monster form. There are over 700 different species of Poke'mon monster with some being harder to collect than others. What I believe, as I watch them at recess, is this game allows them to share their love and interests in fun, spirited play. In these " tournaments "an emphasis is placed on fun, fairness, honesty, respect, sportsmanship and learning. In addition to promoting logical and strategic thing, good sportsmanship, and core math and reading skills. On any given day of the week at recess you will see groups of students comparing cards, sharing with other and working together to arrange and organize the little monsters by attributes. They have friendly debates and discussions about the pros and cons of different skills and characteristics. Students that participate in Poke'mon are also learning social skills, problem solving and the ability to compromise as the kids slowly create a micro community of experts and learners. Meanwhile the kids just see it as "really having fun."
Remember to use capitals, punctuation, finger spaces and detail, detail, detail! We will share journals in class after spring break.
Use your wonderful imagination to write about anything you want!
Add, subtract, multiply and divide, count money, graph…See what kind of math problems you can solve while on vacation.
How can we as Americans learn more about the country where we live?
If you travel somewhere over spring break bring back a postcard or a brochure to share with the class! Use a map to keep track of your journey. You can draw the route or make notations of airplane terminals, landforms, landmarks etc. to show where you go on your spring break adventure.
If you stay here and someone comes to visit you over break interview them about where they live. Track their travels on a map.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Spring Break!
Dear Mustang Family and Friends,
What a fantastic week we had together! It is great to be back with the Mustangs! Thank you for your support while I was away taking my Literacy Intervention class. I learned so much that has changed my philosophy and perspective on teaching reading. I am now a Literacy Intervention Specialist working my way to becoming a Certified Academic Language Therapist. You may or may not notice slight changes in what and how we are learning. If you have questions about anything please let me know. I am very excited to incorporate my new learning into the classroom! I want to thank Jess Barksdale for subbing for me while I was gone! The Mustangs loved her and she kept things going smoothly!
Photo above: Outside this week students created an Olympic event track and held various races! They are certainly creative!
Mustang Families,
We had a great week together! We had a very special guest come to TVCS for some amazing storytelling! Ken Thomasma author of many wonderful books came to talk about Naya Nuki! We are reading Naya Nuki during Read Aloud and loved hearing it straight from the author. He was wonderful!
Just a reminder that I will be gone from Monday, February 24th-March 7th attending a reading class. Jessica Barksdale will be my substitute and the kids are thrilled! She is really fantastic and energetic! We have some exciting things planned for the students during my absence. Thank you all for your words of encouragement and support! I am really excited to be working towards my Language Therapy Certification. I will be hopefully taking the advanced part of this course in July.
Happy Valentines Day! I hope everyone has a wonderful four day weekend! We had a fantastic week together. TSS Graduate students spent a week in our class working with us on our project! We had such fun learning all about Alaska and of course the highlight was the dog sledding!
Important...
I will not be at school Monday, February 24th - Friday March 7th. I am taking a two week class to work towards getting a Literacy Intervention Specialist Certification. I am taking the class in Kansas at a learning center that is a leading source of literacy instruction.
What is a Literacy Intervention Specialist?
The program I am taking intensively educates classroom teachers, and reading specialists with an educational, structured, comprehensive, phonetic, multisensory approach for the remediation of dyslexia and/or written-language disorders. These methods not only help children with learning differences but also help 95% of students to learn to read.
The multisensory curriculum that I will be working with is the core approach for teaching children who struggle significantly to learn to read. These methods incorporating Orton-Gillingham theories of reading instruction and practice, using multisensory activities to link the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic senses.
This teacher development program incorporates the five components of reading instruction identified in NIH (National Institute of Health) research as well as the Department of Education’s federal policy on literacy: phonological awareness, systematic and structured phonics, comprehension, fluency and vocabulary development. These components are essential to meet criteria requirements for the instruction reading. This will greatly benefit our school as well of every student in my class.
The substitute will follow our daily schedule and the learning will be the same as when I am here. There will not be a Newsletter for my class Friday, February 28th and March 7th. Also,we will not calculate all the Idtarod reading minutes both from home and from school until I return. Students are to keep track of their reading on their Iditarod Reading Sheets during the two weeks. Parents, please help to remind them to log their time. Let me know if you have any questions, comments and/or concerns. Thank you, Amber
Next Week Reminders
Valentines Letter Writing (bring addresses) and Party Thursday, February 13th
No school Friday, February 14th and Monday, February 17th
Just a few pages from your newspaper can be turned into lots of early learning activities. Here you'll find "letters and words" activities for the youngest, plus fun writing prompts and tips on how to read and analyze the news for older kids.
Most families have access to a newspaper. Either one arrives on your doorstep or a local community paper is available for free at the coffee shop or grocery store. Even just a few pages from the newspaper can be turned into lots of early learning activities. Grab your young child and a pair of scissors, and let's get learning with a newspaper!
Have your child cut out the letters needed to spell his first and last name. Have him glue these onto a piece of paper.
Ask your child to find capital and lower case pairs of letters. Glue the pairs onto a piece of paper.
Ask your child to find and cut out all the words in headlines that she can read. Paste them on a piece of paper and practice reading them together.
Cut out a few pictures from the paper. Ask your child to write a caption for each one. Compare their caption with the paper's caption. Talk about ways captions help readers understand one small piece of the story.
Turn a recent family event into a newspaper story. Try to write a headline, the story, include a picture or drawing, and add a caption.
Ask your child to circle all the ads they can find in the paper. Discuss what makes a good advertisement and what does not. Discover what types of words and punctuation are often used in ads, and how those are tools writers use to capture a reader's attention. See if your child can create an ad for their favorite game or TV show.
Help your child understand the structure of the newspaper. Browse through the different sections of the newspaper. Sort news stories into international, national, and local. Point out other sections such as sports, food and entertainment.
Talk about the difference between fact and opinion. Then, read one of the articles from the newspaper. Are there facts in the story? Are there any opinions? How can we tell the difference? What sorts of words are used for each? Within which section are opinion stories usually found?
Choose an interesting and age-appropriate story from the newspaper. Read the story with your child. After reading, ask your child if she can answer the "who, what, where, when, and why" questions about the story.
We had a fantastic week together! We have been busy exploring Alaska, reading like crazy, germinating seeds and writing stories...Students have also created a creative sled hill outside. They have built three different difficulty levels and have built some impressive features. The 5th and 6th graders created guidelines for everyone to follow when using the sled hill so we can have the most fun possible!
Meet our newest member of our class. This is Mr. T a Malaysian Box Turtle! We adopted him from Owen and Taylor Smith and we are so excited to have him in our class. We will be researching, planning and building a new aquatic habitat for him. We are so excited!
We had a fantastic week together! We had guest speakers come in to talk to us about our project which was so exciting! This week was ice skating together and created dog sled games.
Happy New Year! We had a wonderful start to 2014! We had a fantastic time getting back into the swing of things. As we grow and develop you will see changes in what we are doing in 1st and 2nd grade.
Please make sure your child is reading every night 20-30 minutes. This is important that they get a chance to practice what they are learning in school!
We will start 4 weeks of ice skating next Friday in Outdoor Education. Students need skates and helmet every Friday. If your child does not have skates we have already found a pair for them to use and they will be kept at school.
Please make sure your child has a pair of indoor shoes to wear everyday! I remind them each morning to put on their inside shoes. If we have a fire drill they will go outside in whatever they have on their feet. They got a chance to experience this last week when we had an all school fire drill. Some students had to go outside in the snow in their socks. The upside to that is everyone had their inside shoes on the next day. :)
Let me know if you have any questions, comments and/or concerns! Thank you, Amber
We will be ice skating for Outdoor Education in January. If your child does not have skates they will be able to borrow some from TVCS.
December 23rd-January 3rd Winter Break ~ School will resume on January 6th
Please let me know if you have any comments, questions and/or concerns. I hope you all have a happy and safe winter break! Wishing you all a wonderful New Year!
Thank you, Amber
Dear Mustang Families,
We had a fantastic week together! We survived the freezing temperatures and ended the week with beautiful weather! This week we took a trip to Pierre's Playhouse to see a snipit of the play A Christmas Carol. The actors showed us how they put on their stage make up and how they get into character. They demonstrated different sound effects that they use. They also preformed a scene for us. It was so much fun to watch. They will be performing the play over the weekend at Pierre's.
Please make sure your child is reading every night! That is our homework policy! We are working on remembering to bring home our book in a bag each day.
Indoor Shoes: Please help your child remember to have indoor shoes at school everyday! We will be having fire drills in the near future and students will not be putting shoes or boots to go outside...they will go outside in whatever they have on their feet at the moment of the fire drill. They are to put on their inside shoes when the arrive each day.
Next week we will have a winter celebration on Thursday, December 19th at 1:00.
Please let me know if you have any questions, comments and/or concerns! Thank you, Amber
Dear Mustang Families, We had a wonderful week together! This week we spent time focusing on all that we are grateful for. We enjoyed the snow and our time outside this week! We built forts, went sledding and built snowmen! We had a blast. Please don't forget snow clothes when you return after Thanksgiving break. Let me know if you have any questions, comments and/or concerns.
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday! Amber
Dear Mustang Families, We had a fantastic week together! We started our week by celebrating Veterans Day. We talked about what it means to be a Veteran and the importance of celebrating the great people that serve our country. We read one of my favorite non-fiction books, Nubs: The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine and a Miracle by Major Brian Dennis. We also read the book H is for Honor: a Military Family Alphabet by Devin Scillian to help us understand a little better what it means to be in the Military.
I enjoyed listening to all of the great Current Events this week. Such great discussions happen during this time! Please don't forget that Current Events are every Friday!
Hi Mustang families! I am so happy to be back in the classroom! We have had a great week together. Nancy was with us throughout the week helping make the transition smooth. I cannot thank Nancy enough for all of the amazing work she did with the 1st and 2nd graders! If anyone would like to write Nancy a note of appreciation I am sure she would greatly appreciate it. I am so excited for our year together! We are off to a terrific start! Thank you for all for your support during my maternity leave. I loved being able to have that time with my sweet baby boy. I am energized and ready for a wonderful year with the Mustangs!
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