First Couple Weeks of School

The first few weeks of school have been very busy, I am sure your child has come home extremely exhausted!  We are still learning the expectation for our classroom and the school.  We have also started the routines of math, daily 5, and writing.  Here are a few highlights of what we have been doing these last few days, remember to ask you child all about it.

One our first activity was a name game.  Students had a pipe cleaner with the same color beads on it.  There goal was to go around and meet each person in the classroom.  They had to politely introduce themselves and share about their favorite school special.  Once they had done this they were to exchange beads.  By the end of the activity they had a variety of colors, and they had met each student in the room.  This was a great opportunity to learn each others names and get to know a little about one another.

Time to meet and greet everyone

Exchanging and collecting beads

 A routine we have been starting to learn is our daily 5 routine.  These are our centers for guided reading time.  It is an important time for students to practice reading, spelling words, writing, and it is  also the time they will meet in small group with me to learn reading skills.  Daily 5's website goes into great details about the purpose of each centers.  Please check out https://www.thedailycafe.com/daily-5.

Practicing Read to Self

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Building Stamina

This week we also started our math program, enVisions.  In this first topic we will be focusing on the concept of addition.  Our goal in first grade is to be able to add numbers to 20, and also to be able to fluently add to 10.   There will be a number of strategies that we will learn to be able to help us add quickly, and also to be able to solve addition word problems.  I will be sending home the fliers so that you can see what your child is working on.  Once we are in the routine of math I will start to put their homework within these fliers.  

Buddied up to play our addition math game

Learning to work together and play math games

In writing we have just been working on writing 1-2 sentences.  Our goal is to build stamina in writing and to remember that every sentence needs an end mark, right now we are working on periods.  

Painting our hippos to go with our summer stories

Everyone had a blast with the water color paints!

Classroom Management

Over the next few weeks teachers will be taking time to teach the children what is expected of them in the various settings of the school.  I will also be doing this for our classroom setting.  For example, during our morning meeting I ask children to sit on their pockets, voices off, ears turned on, eyes on the speaker, and to raise their hand to contribute to the conversation.  I start by teaching children what I expect from them, and then we practice.  Children are recognized for demonstrating the appropriate behavior.  Here is how I intent to encourage your child to demonstrate the expected behavior in our classroom.

1.  Student may be verbally praised, given a high five or perhaps a sparkle,  sparkle is a pom pom that has glitter on it.  Children will be able to collect sparkles and turn them in for a reward.

2.  When a student has 5 sparkles, s/he can turn them in to get a pony bead on a ring.  These rings are kept to collect their beads.

3.  After earning 5 beads, children may trade them in for a reward ticket.  These tickets include things such as; pick your own seat, a no homework pass, bring a stuffy to school. or use a pen in class.

While we want to work to positively praise children, there does come a time when children may need to be redirected or corrected.  As the teacher, I will always give children a warning to correct their behavior.  This may be a verbal redirection or a look.  In the event that a child may need a moment to collect themselves, they may be asked to take a break at their table space or with Ms. Johnson next door.  

Please never hesitate to call me if you have any concerns about your child’s day, or if you have any questions.  

Newsletter 9/5

Saunders’ Newsletter

Dear Families,

I hope that you have found your child having a great 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.  

Monday I will be sending home our first spelling list.  We will have have our first spelling test next Friday, September 12th.  One resource that can be used to help your child study is Spell City, the Spell City account is 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 routines.  One routine we have started is 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.

In order to better communicate with you and what your child is doing in the classroom I will be I writing a blog.  The blog is 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 11th 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

End of the year

                          

Experiments with ms. Johnson

End of the year Learning Lane rotation - little camping in my class

                                         

As the first week of vacation is under way, my husband and I have decided to take a trek out to my 97 year old grandma's house in Ohio. On the 14 hr. Drive I was able to take a few minutes to reflect over this past school year.  The first thing I want to say is thank you to the parents of my students.  I feel honored to be able invest 175 days into your child's life.  Next, I want to thank my students; they have blessed my life this year, taught me lessons, and been willing to learn, and have fun.  I also want to thank my Learning Lane team, they have stretched me as a teacher and helped me to work smarter and not harder.  By teaming it has rejuvenated my love for teaching, and it is also providing a greater opportunity for deeper relationships with our students. I am excited for my new 1st graders, and for the chance to continue to work with the continuing students of leaning Lane.

May you all have a very happy and safe summer!! Remember to enjoy each day and count your blessings! 

Creasant Beach

On Friday we had our field trip! We have been waiting all year for this day.  Although it was delayed a day, and my nerves were a bit shaking watching the weather as the end of the week got closer, it ended up being the most perfect day for the beach.  

We started our trip off with a quick snack, and then we were off on our adventure to the tide pools.  There were definitely some very exciting finds in our searches.  Some of the highlights were; crabs, periwinkles, a hermit crab, and a urchin.  After our trip to the tide pools, we headed back for a picnic lunch and some play time on the beach. 

It was a wonderful trip to the ocean!  I would like to thank all the parent chaperoins that were able to come and help out and make our trip so very special.  It is always a highlight to see the excitement in students as they see first hand what they are learning in the classroom.

This has been a very special year of leaning and growing, and it is hard to believe that in 2 weeks I will entrust this wonderful students on to a new teacher.  It has been an honor to work with you children, and I am truly sad or see them move on, but so very proud to say they are no longer 1st graders, but young 2nd graders!

                                                Our walk towards the tide pools!

                                 Adventures looking and hoping to find treasures.

                                  Curiosity is a young leaders best attribute

                                    Attempts to hum our periwinkle friend out

                            What's a trip to the beach without a little fun, love this class!

Concert

Today was an exciting day, from the get go we were looking forward to our afternoon concert. It was also exciting to get to wave good bye to the busses, as we got 'extra' recess on the lower playground, after school.  It was fun to see the student excitement and hear comments like, "it feels like we are going to sleep over here at school."  There were jitters as we anticipated the concert, but everyone was a pro once the got the show going.

I am so very glad everyone was able to join us for the concert this evening.  Everyone has been looking forward to this event and working so hard to prepare for it. It was very special to each student to have friends and family there to support and cheer them on in celebrating all their hard work this year. I am so proud of the 1st grade students for putting their all into the performance.  I know that I enjoyed every minute of the show!

Just another reminder about the field trip, it has been postponed to Friday due to poor weather.  Please jot me a quick note if you are still able to make it as a chaperone.  It is looking like it may be cool Friday so, students may want extra warm clothes and a extra pair of dry clothes, just in case.

Animal Reports

Last week we started our final science unit, animals and their habitats.  We introduced the unit by studying the pond.  Each student picked an animal from the pond to research.  They were to look through books and discover answers to such questions as; what does your animal eat, how does it protect itself, and what are some of its special features?  This week we are moving onto animals in the forest.  Students have been placed in teams of 3-4 to study a forest animal.  This has allowed students to not only work on research skills but also to work on collaboration and social skills.  Students will then create a large poster of their animal to put within our hallway habitat.  Next week we will start in on our ocean animal reports.  This will help us to get ready for our field trip!

Tracing their animal

Researching our animals

Painting your animal

Almost done our animal

Thank you!

I just want to send a very heart felt thank you out to the wonderful parents of my class!! I am overwhelmed by the gifts of supplies, goodies, and notes that have been sent to me this teacher appreciation week.  This gestures of gratitude have lifted my spirit! Thank you so very much for letting me work with your child this year, and thank you for all the kind and thoughful things that you and the Parent Connect Team has done this week!

Pride in our school day

Monday, May 19th will be pride in our school day. You are invited to join your child for lunch at 12:00. The theme this year is the Wizard of Oz. The cafeteria ladies have a special lunch planned. If you are interested in purchasing school lunch please make sure you send in the form that went home a few weeks ago. We are hoping for some wonderful weather so that it can be held outside! We hope to see you there.

Upcoming Events

Here are a couple important dates as we head into the last couple months of school!  Please check with our June calendar for some of the fun events to come!

Mon-Fri, April 28-May 2 - SLS Library book swap, bring in a book and swap for another book

May 7 - Mid trimester closes, reports to follow

Wednesday, June 4th - 4:00, 1st grade spring concert

Thursday, June 5th - Field trip to Crescent beach (rain date June 6th)

Friday, June 13th - Field Day

Friday, June 20th - Last day of school

Egg-celelent!!

I'm sure a number of you heard of how we closed out our week before vacation, but just in case you didn't, I thought I would give you the info on our egg drop experience.   This activity started in the beginning of the week with a Learning Lane assembly.  During this assembly Mrs. Scorza talked about what a problem and solution are, and then proceeded with the problem being about creating a container to hold an egg so it wouldn't break.  We then worked as a whole group to brain storm what materials we may need to create this container.  Mrs. Scorza then revealed the things that her and Ms. Johnson had picked up at Ruths, http://www.ruths.org/. 

Students were then teamed up in multi-aged groups and sent off to the different classrooms on Learning Lane.  It was a furry of excitement as students were transformed into creative engineers!  One of the important lessons we were trying to teach students was to work cooperatively with their teammates.  They were not allowed to create their own thing, but they were to collaborate with others to come up with the best way to make their egg holder.  Unfortunately, we ran out of time that day so, we gave students 20 minutes before the egg drop to rework their creation.  They were then given a piece of chalk to try out their holder, this was to see if the chalk would fly out or break, therefore showing them the need to revamp their engineering and work on problem solving skills.

Finally, before recess time, it was time to put our work to the real test!! We all walked out to the lower playground, where on the foot bridge we would drop our egg.   Everyone cheered and counted down the teams on as they dropped their eggs and anxiously awaited the results of SPLAT or a whole egg raised to show everyone their success!! 

This was a very exciting and fun activity for everyone involved, including us teachers.  I was so excited through the whole process to hear the creative and higher level thinking conversations of students, to see them really grow as collaborators, and to once again bond students as a community of learners.  Below are a few pictures of our egg-celent experience.

Hoping and waiting to see the results

Everyone cheering on the other teams

Here we go!

A creation up close

Did it break?

YAY, it worked!

Ready or not!

Maps

Over the last couple weeks we have been learning about maps.  We have learned some of the different parts of a map such as; the compass, the map key, symbols, and title.  After we studied these different parts of a map, it was our turn to create our own maps.  The requirement of the map was that it have a title, compass rose, and a map key.  The students were allowed to create their own make believe town, and then they planned the town map out.  Finally, they took their plan and created a bigger map by using scraps of construction paper.  It has been a lot of fun going through this process!  Here are a few examples of our created towns.

Our map plans, and on the table our finished product

Recreating our maps

Adding details

Report Cards

Dear Families,
I would just like to remind you that report cards came home Friday, April 4th.  If you no longer have a paper form, please do not forget to log into infinite campus for you child's 2nd trimester scores. I am looking forward to meeting with each of you at parent-teacher conferences to discuss any questions you may have concerning your child's report cards.  Parent-teacher conferences will be the week of April 14th.  If you have not sign up yet please make sure and send in the conference form with you 3 best times for conferences.  I will try my best to accommodate these times.  I will be sending home your confirmation time for conferences this week in your child's folder.  Thank you again for all your support this year, I look forward to meeting!

Mrs. Saunders

Collection Writing

Dear families,

In writing we have been working on narrative pieces and also on opinion pieces.  Over the next few weeks we will be working in more depth on opinion pieces.  In order to help with this, I am asking the students to bring in a favorite collection from home.  The collection should have 5-6 items.  Also, if it is small enough to fit in a shoe box that would be ideal.  Some examples of a collection they may want to bring in are rocks, shells,  or small toy cars.  Please help your child organize and bring in this collection for Monday, March 31st.  I will have them keep it here at school until we finish our writing around this collection.  Thank you for your help with this project!

Sincerely,

  Mrs. Saunders

Report Cards

Due to the snow days report cards have been pushed back.  Look for them to be open on Infinite Campus or in your child's folder Friday, April 4th.  Also, in a few weeks I will be sending home parent-teacher conference sign up sheets.  Conferences will be held April 17th in the afternoon/evening and April 18th in the morning.  I am looking forward to meeting and talking about all the growth and progress your child has make this trimester!

Our Favorite Mo Willems Book?

Over the past few weeks we have been doing an author's study about Mo Willems.  First, we started out by reading through a number of his books.   As we read through them I told them that they were to be on the look out for their favorite Mo Willems book.  During this time in writing we started to talk about a different type of writing, opinion writing.  Students learned about what an opinion is, how to state it in their writing, and then how they need to come up with good reasons to back their opinions.

Once we had finished reading through a number of Mo Willems books, it was time to pick which one they thought to be his best book!  We then started the writing process by planning out our opinion pieces, then we took our planning and created what we call our slopping copy.  After this students met with me to revise and edit their piece so that they could finally publish it for the hallway.

This was a very long process, but students really learned to love a new found author, state their opinion, and write good reasons to back their opinion.  I am very proud of all of their work, and I'm even more excited to see how much fun they had reading and rereading Mo Willems books.  There is nothing more enjoyable then seeing a student love reading and enjoy a good book!

Mo Willems is great for teaching students how to read with expression, ask your kids about one of their favorite characters, Pigeon!

Buddy reading one of the 3 Knuffle Bunny books.

"Banana!" - This one got a laugh every time, read We are in a Book to find out what that is all about.

The Duckling Get's a Cookie, a new, cute character is introduced into Pigeons life.

Our published opinion pieces, we can't wait to share them with you at Parent-Teacher Conferences, April 17th and 18th

Rocking Reading Challenge

Rocking Reader's Board

     The teachers of Learning Lane are very excited to announce that the students of Learning Lane read over 500 hours during our Olympic Challenge.  We know that reading outside of school improves learning.

     So, we are excited to announce our new Rocking Reading Challenge.  Students will bring home a reading log every Friday.  Please help your child fill these out and sign them.  Return the logs to school each Friday morning for the teachers to tally our class reading time.  Students will earn beads for each 100 minutes of reading and the class will receive a Ribbon on the bulletin board in the hall for 1,000 minutes.  We are challenging the students to read 4 days a week; kindergarten 10 minutes, first graders 15 minutes, and second graders 20 minutes.  If we can read 50,000 minutes (833 hours) in Learning Lane, we will have a large celebration.  The final tally will be taken on Friday, May 23.  

   Read to self, read together, or have someone read to you: it all counts!  Reading Ferret in the Bedroom, Lizard in the Fridge as a family; it counts!  Lets READ, READ, READ!

Thank you for your support with our reading challenge.

Kim Flanagin

Danielle Johnson

Kristen Saunders

Akaila Scorza

Janice Shanks

Sue Shea

PJ DAY!!

Dear families,

We have just finished filling our marble jar!  The students decided that as their reward they would like to have a pajama day.  Along with this they asked if they could bring in a small blanket and stuffy for our special movie time.  Please remember that we will still be going outside for recess so, they may want to bring a change of clothes in their bag.  We have worked very hard towards this goal, and we are very excited!  PJ day will be on Friday, March 21st.

Kristen Saunders

Making olympic medals

As one of our last Olympic activities, Ms. Johnson and I got our classes together to make their very own Olympic medal. We buddied a 1st grader with a 2nd grader, gave them some directions,  gave them some clay, and let them go to work creating and painting.  The teachers of Learning Lane are all so very proud of everyone's work at being Olympic readers and their participation during our activities. They have definitely earned a medal!! Below are a few pictures of us working on our medals.

Painting our medals

Working together!

One Book Schedule

Songo Locks School

One Book,

One Community

2014 Study Plan

Monday, March 10^th Chapter 1 10 pages Boys Are Yucky

Tuesday, March 11^th Chapter 2 9 pages “Liz-ard”

Wednesday, March 12^th Chapter 3 10 pages “Stinking Little Varmint”

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Monday, March 17^th Chapter 4 10 pages “Do They Eat Dead Stuff?”

Tuesday, March 18^th Chapter 5 12 pages “Get Rid of Them”

Wednesday, March 19^th Chapter 6 5 pages Daddy

Chapter 7 7 pages The Big Black Oldsmobile

Thursday, March 20^th Chapter 8 8 pages The Town Freaks

Chapter 9 5 pages “It’s Not My Fault”

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Monday, March 24^th Chapter 10 8 pages Vote for Robbins

Tuesday, March 25^th Chapter 11 10 pages Lizard-Busters

Wednesday, March 26^th Chapter 12 10 pages A Total Disaster

Thursday, March 27^th Chapter 13 7 pages A Rotten Day at School

Chapter 14 7 pages Just Like Fred

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Monday, March 31^st Chapter 15 5 pages The Speech

     Chapter 16 7 pages Shane the Snake

One book, one community

On Friday we had the privilege of having a guest speaker come to visit Songo Locks, Sparks Ark! Mr. Spark is a gentlemen that goes around the area helping animals that have been hurt or they are stuck in people's homes. He cares for these animals until they are well enough to be released into the wild. He also goes around to different schools teaching students about the local wildlife, how they adapt, their special features, and how to be safe if one comes across the path of such an animal.  Because of the number of animals he encounters in his profession, he has come to acquire quite a few animals that he brings into schools to teach with. On Friday, he brought an owl, a snake, a opossum, a chinchilla, and a ferret (just to name a few). 

At the end of the exciting presentation, Mrs. Conley mentioned that their was clue in that presentation for our new one book, one community book! Of course today the book was revealed!  We will be reading Ferret in the Bedroom, Lizard in the Fridge by Bill Wallace.  This is a wonderful opportunity to sit down as a family at night and enjoy this book together.  Everyone in the school, including all of the staff will be enjoying the book together over the next few weeks.  Each morning Mr. Dickerson will be asking a question about the previous nights chapter.  So, grab a cocoa and a blanket, and cozy up with the book we will all be reading and taking about, Ferret in the Bedroom, Lizard in the Fridge!

                        

Water Bottles

Dear Families, 

We are now back to having students using the water bubblers in the hall.  In order to help with transitions, please have your child bring in a water bottle to fill in the morning and have in the classroom to use throughout the day.  Thank you for you help with this!

Mrs. Saunders

Winter in Maine

This has been quite the winter here in Maine this year.  If anyone has been here long enough, they know that this can be a pretty typical winter.  I think we have been pretty spoiled the last few winders with mild temperatures, little snow, and a quick spring.  This year we have been having to pull out our hardy Maine selves and face old man winter!  Although I have not enjoyed the many indoor recess days, I have enjoyed the outdoor ones.  I have loved watching students create their own winter worlds and games.  Also, it has been refreshing to see the excitement in their faces when the snow is sticky enough to build huge snowballs, or their has been enough snow to sled down hills on their bottoms, or just having them dig mega holes into the walls of snow.  Although I would be more then happy to see those 50+ degree days arrive, while they are not here I am trying to enjoy the winter activities that I can do now.  So, I encourage you to try to make the most out of the last weeks (I hope) of winter.  There are great things to see and enjoy out their with your kids, who may I say have a joy for the outdoors and winter fun!  Here are some pictures of our playground winter fun!!

Here is a great site for kids and winter activity ideashttp://www.mainethingstodo.com/maine/30-be-a-winterkid/

Climbing the banks is a new found love for everyone

Some soccer and in the background climbing!

Woods in Winter

By: Longfellow

Woods in Winter

When winter winds are piercing chill,
  And through the hawthorn blows the gale,
With solemn feet I tread the hill,
  That overbrows the lonely vale.

O'er the bare upland, and away
  Through the long reach of desert woods,
The embracing sunbeams chastely play,
  And gladden these deep solitudes.

Where, twisted round the barren oak,
  The summer vine in beauty clung,
And summer winds the stillness broke,
  The crystal icicle is hung.

Where, from their frozen urns, mute springs
  Pour out the river's gradual tide,
Shrilly the skater's iron rings,
  And voices fill the woodland side.

Alas! how changed from the fair scene,
  When birds sang out their mellow lay,
And winds were soft, and woods were green,
  And the song ceased not with the day!

But still wild music is abroad,
  Pale, desert woods! within your crowd;
And gathering winds, in hoarse accord,
  Amid the vocal reeds pipe loud.

Chill airs and wintry winds! my ear
  Has grown familiar with your song;
I hear it in the opening year,
  I listen, and it cheers me long.