Tuesday, April 2, 2013

April 2, 2013

Dear Parents,

I hope you enjoyed your little break! The kids seemed very relaxed and calm today--which made learning excellent! We have a lot of fun things happening in our classroom right now, so read on to know more about it!

Homework
Just a reminder that homework folders came home last week. They are due on Friday (as normal) but the spelling test will be on Thursday from now on (we'll try it and see if it works.). We will send the homework folder home on Fridays as well to help accommodate that change in the schedule with spelling. I appreciate your support in this--our Friday's have been so hard and we have not been able to learn the things we've needed to in my class. This will help us a lot!

Life Cycles and some Donations
We have started learning about life cycles in our class. We will be experimenting and observing several forms of life cycles over the next couple months. Today we had a tadpole show up in our classroom that we will be watching for the next 12ish or so weeks. You will probably hear about it slowly because it takes a while to change.

We will also start talking about plants and growing our own plants during the next several weeks. For this though, I need some donations of dirt/potting soil (for 50 little cups) and some packages of sunflower planting seeds. I'm not sure how many seeds I will need for 50 kids, (if anyone is an expert gardener that would like to help me, let me know!). Thanks!


Here's a picture of our little tadpole. He is unnamed right now--but I think we will take care of that later this week.


Writing Prompt
Just a reminder about our writing prompt. I will be adding a section below this for that. It is not mandatory, but just for fun. I told the kids about it today. Please feel free to write and model with them at home too. I think the more people they see writing and having fun with writing, the better off they will be. Thanks for helping me develop this love in your children!

Miss Chang
Miss Chang has had a bad run with some car problems this weekend and is currently looking for a car. She is looking for a Honda or Toyota with good gas milage, preferably an automatic, and in the range of no more than $6,000. She will be needing a car for the next year as she stays to teach Chinese one more year! If you know of anything that can help her out, let us know. I don't know if she knows I'm posting this--but I think the more help we can give her in finding one, the easier it will be. Thanks so much for looking out for your teachers!

Database help
I still haven't heard from any parents who are interested in collecting sights and aps for a collection to share. If this isn't an important thing to everyone, then I won't worry about it. But--if you are interested in it--let me know and I'll see what we can do.

Thanks again for all you do for our classroom. I love working with you!

Miss Merritt


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Writing Prompt

This weekly writing prompt is to give you some ideas of things you can write about at home. To make this time more meaningful, maybe have a writing night once a week and have a writing journal that your child can use at home. Have them answer the prompt (it doesn't have to be polished and perfect--our goal is to just write). Modeling along with your child can motivate them to write more! I find that it usually works best with the kids to give them a time limit (like 10-15 minutes). That way they are writing for a duration and if they go longer, that is fine. But--usually when we have to stop at a time limit--there are a few of them that really want to keep going. Share the writing after as you have your child read it to you. It is not a required assignment, but if you'd like to turn it in you may send in the writing with the homework and I'd love to read it. Maybe I can put up a few selections on the blog each week as we see some excellent pieces! Thanks for helping make your children better writers!

Prompt #2
Opinion Writing
Tell about your favorite treat. It needs an introduction sentence (ie There are many different kinds of treats.), an opinion (ie My favorite treat is a chocolate chip cookie.), at least 3 reasons supporting why (ie Chocolate chip cookies are nice and sweet. When they come out of the oven, they warm my stomach up. Chocolate chip cookies go good with a glass of milk.), then they need a closing sentence (ie Chocolate chip cookies are my favorite treat.)


Prompt Week #1
Narrative Story (needs a beginning, middle, and an end)
Write a story about the wind. It can be a real life story that happened to you or a story that you make up. Make sure to include a beginning, middle, and an end.


May Poems

Seed, Sprout, Flower

A seed is planted:
First a sprout,
then stem,
and leaves,
and buds
come out.
Buds grow bigger,
smelling sweet,
bees and birds come
'round to eat.
Bees and birds
help flowers spread
their new seeds on
the garden bed...
A seed is planted.
~Helen H. Moore

Friends
Tall friends, short friends,
Skinny and wide;
Red haired, black haired,
Side by side.

Old friends, young friends,
And in-betweens;
Moms and Grandpas,
Tots and teens.

From Washington
To Delaware
Friends are found
Most anywhere.
~Janet C. Miller

About Miss Merritt

I am originally from Blackfoot, Idaho. I love small towns! I attended BYU-Idaho for my undergraduate studies and received my Masters degree through Southern Utah University. I recently passed my National Boards and am glad to say I am a National Board Certified Teacher. I love learning and enjoy helping others love it too! This will be my 8th year teaching 1st grade.

I love reading! When I was younger, I used to work in libraries and I have developed a great love of childrens books. I love books by Barbara Park, Eric Carle, and Audrey Wood. I have currently been reading classics like Charles Dickens' Great Expectations.

I love the outdoors as well. I love camping and hiking, but I also love traveling and seeing new places. I am a big fan of the beach and I love swimming! I have been to Thailand a few times (my mom is from there!) and I love to see the world. Every year I have a goal to go on a vacation somewhere new.