Headphone/Earbuds

Starting tomorrow we are going to start to use computers in our classroom.  We will be using Raz kids during DAILY 5 center time and Xtramath.org once a week to help with our addition fluency.

I am very excited to students to use technology in the classroom to enhance their learning opportunity. Many of the sites we use have sounds, and it can get a bit confusing for students to have all of the computers going off at the same time.  So, in order to help with this, please have your child bring in a set of headphones or earbuds to stay in their cubbies at school.  Thank you so much for helping me with this

Also, thank you to all for being so supportive as the school year has started.  I am overwhelmed by your generosity to help in the classroom and support your child in their learning!

Happy Birthday Johnny Appleseed!

Yesterday we read a book about Johnny Appleseed, and as we did we discovered that the next day was his birthday!  Well, I had been planning to have us make applesauce at some point, but now that I knew with this exciting news I had to push it up to today!  This morning we talked about information writing, and how some stories and writing teach us things.  One type of writing that does that are 'how to' stories.  So, today we worked on a how to make apple sauce piece.  Of course it isn't much fun if you actually don't get to try it out.  So, here are some pictures of us learning about recipes, measurement, and crockpots.  :)  At the end of the day we finally got to enjoy our homemade applesauce, and boy did it smell yummy all day!

Our ingredients

Putting our applesauce together

Hmm, is it time yet? (question of the day)

Butterfly Excitement!!!

In second grade the classes study butterflies.  Ms. Johnson was kind enough to let us in on the excitement.  We were able to watch a caterpillar form its chrysalis!  It was super exciting to watch, now we are looking forward to seeing them emerge from them as a beautiful butterfly!  Thank you Ms. Johnson for letting us in on this exciting learning.

Caterpillar to Chrysalis Metamorphosis Timelapse

We're on the Move!!!

As you may have read in a flyer I sent home this week, the learning lane community is starting to move students to better help your child in their reading learning!  After meeting as a team, we have placed students in reading groups that best suits their reading abilities and needs.  If you have any questions about how we placed your child, or what teacher they are meeting with during guided reading please do not hesitate to call or e-mail.

Here are the teachers of Learning Lane!

Mrs. Saunders - 1st grade teacher

Mrs. Shea - Kindergarten

Mrs. Shanks -Kindergarten

Mrs. Scorza - 1st grade

Mrs. Roy - Special Ed.

Ms. Johnson - 2nd grade

Mrs. Flanagin - 2nd grade

Studying Plants

This trimester we will be studying plants during science.  We have been learning about the parts of a plant, what plants need to grow, and soon we will be talking about the life cycle of a plant.  During this study we will do some experiments, examine seeds, hopefully grow something ;), and do different activities around plants.  Here is one of our first experiments around plants.  We have 3 potatoes. Two of the potatoes are older and already have eyes growing, and the other potato is newer.  We put each potato in a different solution.  Container A has water and food coloring, Container B has bubble solution and water, and Container C has just water.  We have made a couple predictions about what may happen to each potato, and now we are just anxiously waiting for some results!!

Constitution Day

Constitution day is on September 17th!  In honor of this day we will be wearing red, white, and blue as a school.  It is important that our students know what our country is all about.  In our class we will be talking about the importance of our flag and pledge of allegiance.  Also, Mrs. Perry the librarian has some different things planned to help teach about the constitution.  Here is a great link and video to tell you more about this day.

http://constitutioncenter.org/constitution-day/

What is a Scientist?

This week we opened our science unit with asking ourselves, what is a scientist?  Everyone had some great ideas to add to our anchor chart.  One major thing we talked about is that scientists make predictions!  This worked perfectly with our reading this week because, we were working on making predictions about the stories we read and listen to.

I took out our 'science' supplies, and we began to make predictions about what me happen.  Our supplies consisted of baking soda, vinegar, food coloring, a tray, and droppers.  The question I asked was; what will happen if I sprinkle baking soda onto this tray and, then we drop colored vinegar onto the powder?

Our next job was to record our predictions onto our recording sheet.  We had talked about how scientists write down everything so that they do not forget what they have tried or predicted.

Scientist hard at work!

What might happen?

Then the fun part came, we did our experiment!! Some were surprised by what happened and others were excited that their predictions were correct!

Wow!!

Tiny explosions

Science Rocks!

Newsletter 9/6

September 6, 2013

Saunders’ Newsletter

Dear Families,

I hope that you have found your child having a great first four day week!  I know that they are very tired, and that it will take some time for them to adjust to the long learning days.  Please do not be surprised if your child is falling asleep earlier than normal or, too tired to practice spelling or read at night.  

Because we are all adjusting to a new school year, we will not have have our first spelling test until next Friday, September 13th.  I hope you have had a chance to check out the Spell City account at http://www.spellingcity.com/krissaunders1/.  This is a fun way to have your child study their words during the week.  

This week we have been extremely busy!  We have been learning the routines for not only our classroom but, also for the common areas in our building.  I am very proud of everyone for how well they have been doing on our routine of Daily 5.  This is what we will be doing during our reading group time.  Daily 5 is a way for students to practice different literacy skills independently.  To read more about what Daily 5 is you can go to http://www.thedailycafe.com/ and click on Daily 5.

Also, we started science this week.  We talked about what a scientist does, made predictions on an experiment, and performed our very first experiment!  Please ask your child about this exciting experience.  I will be posting pictures and explanations on our experiment on our blog at http://mrssaundersclassroom.blogspot.com/.  From now on I will be posting most of my newsletters on my blog.  If you would like a paper copy please e-mail or send me a note to let me know.

Finally, next Thursday, September 12th will be open house!! This is always a special night for students to show off their work and classrooms to their families.  Open house will be from 6-7:30.  Because of the size of our school we are encouraging families with children in k-2 to come towards the beginning of open house if they are able to.  I look forward to meeting you that night!

Sincerely,

 Mrs. Saunders

Spelling!!

Dear Families,

Because this week was only a 4 day week, we will be having our 1st spelling test next Friday, September 4th.  This will help you have an extra week to establish study habits. Also, it will give you child a  chance to continue to adjust to being back to school.  

Here is the information again on spell city.  

Spelling City

Dear Parents,

This year, we will be using VocabularySpellingCity.com in our classroom.
VocabularySpellingCity is a website that helps students learn their weekly spelling and vocabulary words while having fun at the same time.

As a teacher, I will put up my weekly spelling lists on VocabularySpellingCity and your children
can review the words, and play spelling and vocabulary games with their words to reinforce the
learning process.

Here’s how to help your child master his or her spelling and vocabulary words:  Simply go to www.spellingcity.com to see how the site works.  To get started, click on “Sample Lists” and choose any list you like.  Then try the Teach Me, Test Me, or Play A Game link.  You can find our class’ spelling lists by using the Find A List feature and searching for my name, Kristen Saunders, or you can go directly to my VocabularySpellingCity homepage at http://www.spellingcity.com/krissaunders1/.  You can bookmark this URL on your computer to make it easy for your child to access the class’ word lists!

Many kids enjoy building their spelling skills with Spelling City. Please encourage your children to spend about twenty minutes, two nights in a row before their weekly test. Let’s work together as a team to ensure that your child becomes an independent, lifelong learner.

Yours truly,
Mrs. Saunders