October 14, 2012

Last week flew by, with lots of different activities aligned to Science, Language Arts, and Social Studies concepts. On Monday, the students were introduced to Christopher Columbus in Social Studies due to the public holiday. Other concepts that have been being covered in Social Studies from the start of the year are the pledge of allegiance, our countries flag, the national anthem, in addition to the folk song "This Land is Your Land" using a map of the United States. In Science, our butterflies reached the length of their life cycle just  as we moved deeper into learning about seasonal changes and different types of weather. The stories that were used during reading time were aligned to the Science  and Social Studies material being covered. I am hoping that all the student hands on projects are making it home after school in addition to their weekly work on Friday. Please ask your child each about their day, and if they have anything to show you. Also, everyone in the class is getting much better at doing and returning homework. Thank you for your support in this area.

Letter recognition and sounds have constantly been address from the start of the quarter.The following photo is of the "Zoo Phonics" animal hunt and letter match activity from last Monday.

The next photo is of the pretzel letters made with a bread dough on Friday. The students filled two pans of  letters, or their name made with the dough, that were baked and shared at lunch.

This week in Science we will be moving into comparing spiders with insects. There will also be no nightly gym on Tuesday due to the Tribal meeting on health and Wellness. All the teachers and staff from school will all be attending. We cover the gym on a voluntarily, but feel the meeting is important and the older students will be encouraged to attend. Additionally, a special event is scheduled this week with a Native American rapper promoting a healthy life style. The D.A.R.E program is also planned to begin in all classes this Friday.

Have a great week and always feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

October 7, 2012

The weeks are passing quickly and the end of our first quarter is rapidly coming to an end. The students continue to work on cooperative learning and listening skills. Ask your child if they got a blue "Kid's Love Note" each day, as that states that they followed all the school rules and states: "Please give me a BIG hug and two kisses. Then tell me how proud you are of me." 

In addition to the regular district math and language arts curriculum we are covering, the students are doing social studies and science activities. The butterfly unit is completed and we will focus more closely on types of weather and how that ties into the seasons. As we move closer to the end of the month, we will study spiders and bats to tie into Halloween activities.

I hope you have a wonderful week.

September 30, 2012

 

 On Friday last week, the students went on a fall outing to observe the seasonal changes we have been experiencing. Each of the children was able to explore in a small area and gather a variety of leaves to put in a bag for a couple of art projects that were planned in our return t school. The weather was cool, but dry. As you can see by the picture of the September weather graph in our class, there has been very little rain this past month.  

 The afternoon students have been using the Smart board to practice patterns and number recognition using downloaded manipulative games. In addition, they have enjoyed drawing different  animals using shapes to create their creatures.

 Others have just enjoyed seeing what designs look like on the big board or writing their name.

Among many other things this week, we will wrap up our butterfly unit and compare the changes our frog and caterpillars went through these last 6 weeks. Enjoy your week...I know we will enjoy our time in class!

September 24, 2012

I hope this finds you healthy and well. Last week we had a few students out with illness, so let's hope the worst has passed. Despite a few stuffed up noses, the students had a productive week and have enjoyed learning more about our soon to be class butterflies. On Thursday, the students created and painted their own caterpillar after comparing and contrasting two different fictional stories about caterpillars. See the picture below.

This up coming Friday, we will go on a fall walk to observe the seasonal changes. Please make sure your child has a warm jacket and hat on that day.

Have a great week.

September 17, 2012

Greetings once again!

The in-service in Tok on Monday was extremely informative and a productive time to collaborate with other teachers in the district. I hope the students enjoyed a little extra time to enjoy all the beauty of our current fall weather.

Though our week will be short, we will continue to work on a caring classroom environment so that each student can  best learn and strengthen necessary math and language concepts. In addition, in Science we will learn more about our butterflies that are now in chrysalis stage. Also, our class tadpole has grown both sets of legs and we should soon see the tail begin to shorten.

This week the district councilor will be visiting on Thursday with the music teacher that comes weekly on that day. At the end of the week, I will be going to Fairbanks on Friday for a doctor appointment and Natalie will be covering the class.

September 10, 2012

Well, I hope you are all successfully harvesting your winter meat and berry supply. Last week flew by with only four days of school. We will have a full five days this week, but on Monday September 17 there will a teacher in-service day.  So next week there will be another short week of school.

Most of the students did really well with their "Home fun" folders and got stickers daily for returning their books and assignments. If they got three stickers by Friday, they picked out of our treasure box full of prizes. Please help your child in this area and read to them nightly. It will make a huge difference in their school achievement. 

We continue to get to know each other and positive classroom procedures in our class. Through our “All About Us” theme we have focused on things we like to do, feelings, and our five senses.   This has been tied into our language activities and Science blocks. Also, our class pet "Friend" the tadpole is changing and now has back legs. In addition, there are caterpillars preparing to make cocoons soon. Ask your child about what they are learning and observing as these creatures change.

If you want to order any books for your child from the Scholastic book order, please return the form with the payment amount by this Friday. Have a great week! 

Mrs. Brown

 

September 3, 2012

I trust you have all had a pleasant three day week end! It was lovely to meet so many people last Thursday at the open house dinner at the school. Even with hunting season, there seemed to be a good turn out and of course lots of good food. I have added a couple of pictures from the event for you to see.

The students are settling in nicely to the new school year. We have been working on literature and language skills, and practicing following one step directions. In math we have be working with math manipulatives, numbers, and graphs. The students are pictured here, making a real graph of boys and girls in our class. A few days later they made a little paper person to represent themselves in a picture graph.

Please note that I will be sending home a folder nightly with a simple assignment for each student to do at home as additional practice to their daily lessons. In addition, I will be sending home a reading book nightly for each student to have read to them. If you have other books at home to read to your child and prefer to read those, please just write those down on the log sheet and send the other book back to class. For doing their home fun assignment nightly, the students will get a sticker and at the end of the month they can pick from our treasure chest as a reward. Reading to young children is the number one factor for student achievement. Please make the time to read a short book nightly to your child. As time progresses, I will be sending home simple books that your child can read to you. For now though, just let your child learn to love books by being read to.

Also, at the end of each week, I will be sending home each child’s class work to share with their family. Please ask your child about what they have learned.If you have any questions, please stop by the school or call.