We do an OPR (oral phonogram review) everyday at the beginning of the Spalding lesson. The phonograms reviewed during the OPR are then practiced again during the WPR (written phonogram review). As a class, students check their WPR after all 15 for the day have been written. Not only do students get almost immediate feedback of how they did, it is yet another opportunity to practice the phonograms. Practicing the phonograms and Spalding in school (and again at home) is what assists students in reading the word "punctual" and "cellar" (both words are in My Father's Dragon) as opposed to still being stuck at "See Spot run. Run Spot! Run!"
As a teacher, I get to have a different type of daily experience. Especially during the 4th quarter. After we have completed and checked the WPR I get to hear excited whispers... "I got all of my phonograms right. This is the first time I have gotten them on right!" "My handwriting looks like Mrs. Spencer's!" "I got that phonogram right. I usually miss it but I got it right!" GENERAL ACADEMICS: Spalding - Students will learn 10 new words on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The 30-word review is on Thursday. The spelling test is on Friday. Math - This whole week is will be continued practice of the the addition and subtraction methods taught during this unit. Science - Geology Literature/Writing/Grammar - My Father's Dragon UPCOMING DATES: Thursday, April 29- Friday, April 30 - PSO May Day Flowers Service Project - Flower Drop-off Before School Thursday, April 29 - Great Gatsby Parent Seminar, 5:30-7:00 PM Friday, April 30- Half Day Dismissal at 12:00 PM / ATE In-service / R&R Weekend *Trivium Spirit Day* Monday, May 3 - No School Wednesday, May 5 - PSO Night at Papa Murphy's Please see the Athenian Echo that goes out each Friday for more information about upcoming events. ON A PERSONAL NOTE: Students at the Beginning of 4th Quarter: "I love school! I love to learn! I love to read! I love math! I love Spalding!" Teachers at the Beginning of 4th Quarter: "I have so much planned! The scholars are growing so much! I have so much energy! Wow! 4th quarter already!" Students in the Middle of 4th Quarter: "You want us to sit for how long? You want us to learn what?" Teachers in the Middle of 4th Quarter: "Oh my! There is only a few weeks left! Can I get everything fit in? I know I can get them up one more reading level?" Students During the Last Two Weeks of 4th Quarter: "Whoo hoo! It's summer vacation! Time to talk. Time to play. Time to... wait! We don't get to have recess all day?" Teacher During the Last Week of 4th Quarter: How many days of school left? 347. Students Two Weeks into Summer Vacation: "I miss my teacher!" Teachers Two Weeks into Summer Vacation: "I miss my students!" Have a joyous week!
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Mr. Cavaletto has been teaching the first grade about complimentary colors - colors that look good together. After teaching the lesson he asked, "Who can tell tell me what complimentary colors are?" One of my boys raised his hand. When called on he answered, "When one color says something nice to another color." ;-)
MY FATHER'S DRAGON: As mentioned in previous blog posts, We went from studying George the Drummer straight into My Father's Dragon. If your child does not have My Father's Dragon at school yet, please send it to school by tomorrow (Tuesday) as we will be reading chapter three. MID-QUARTER REPORT: As stated in the e-mail that contains this blog link, we are sending home mid-quarter reports in the red homework folders today. They do need to be signed and returned by this Friday, April 23rd. Please e-mail me if you have questions or would like to schedule a meeting. GENERAL ACADEMICS: Spalding - Students will learn 10 news words each day Monday - Wednesday, review the 30 words on Thursday and the spelling test is on Friday. Math - This week's focus is on methods of subtraction. "Friendly Notes" have been placed in the red homework folders. History - First grade is finishing the history unit this week. A study guide will be sent in the red homework folders on Tuesday the 24th. We will be reviewing in class on Thursday and the test is on Friday. Literature/Writing/Grammar - My Father's Dragon UPCOMING DATES: Tuesday, April 20 - Archway Roosevelt Virtual Town Hall for ATE Families, 6pm via Zoom Wednesday, April 21 - PSO School Admin Appreciation Day Thursday, April 29 - Great Gatsby Parent Seminar, 5:30-7:00 PM Friday, April 30 - Half Day Dismissal at 12:00 PM / ATE In-service *Trivium Spirit Day* Please see the weekly Athenian Echo for more information about upcoming school events. Have a lovely week! There are some people who are unfortunate enough to work at a job where they may choose to take off work for the day of their birthday. I am fortunate to work at job where I have no wish to do that whatsoever! We had a grand time on Friday afternoon. Thank you to all of you who sent the treats. I also wanted to tell everyone thank you for the very special gifts. Friday was a busy day so I didn't have a chance to open the gifts until after school. Hand-written thank you notes will be coming soon. Students love getting "mail" from their teachers in their red homework folders!
PAYING TAXES WITH STICKERS: We had a rather interesting history lesson at the beginning of the week last week. Students were learning about how the American colonists were getting angry about taxes. On the day we focused on the Boston Tea party I gave all of the students 5 small stickers. I told them they could put them in their stickers books after the lesson. As I spoke about the colonists getting mad, I started taxing the students on everyday things they have to use in the classroom. They paid the pencil tax, the desk task, and the classroom tax with their stickers so that by the end of the lesson they did not have any stickers left. I asked them how they felt about having to pay the stickers. The Socratic discussion that followed the question was quite interesting as they, on their own, recognized and understood the frustration that the colonists felt. Note - Before transitioning to the next activity, every student received some specials stickers. ;-) GENERAL ACADEMICS: Spalding - Students will learn 10 new words on Monday - Wednesday. The review is on Thursday. the 30-word spelling test is on Friday. Math - Numbers to 120 - This week's focus is on methods of adding 2-digit numbers within 120. History - The American Revolution, famous Americans Grammar/Writing/Literature - George the Drummer Boy Note - George the Drummer Boy is an interesting book as it focuses on a boy in the British Army during the American Revolution. Students will be using both books (Sam the Minuteman and George the Drummer Boy) to compare and look at multiple perspectives of a period in history. UPCOMING DATES: Tuesday, April 13 - PSO Restaurant Night at Cafe Zupas Tuesday, April 20 - Archway Roosevelt Virtual Town Hall for ATE Families, 6pm via Zoom Thursday, April 29 - Great Gatsby Parent Seminar, 5:30-7:00 PM Friday, April 30 - Half Day Dismissal at 12:00 PM / ATE In-service *Trivium Spirit Day* Please see the Athenian Echo for more information about the upcoming events. ON A PERSONAL NOTE: When you are in the pick-up line for dismissal do you every wonder why the line isn't moving? I am sure I would wonder. Well, wonder no more! If the pick-up line isn't moving (or isn't moving very fast) it is because: 1. Technology goes on a short vacation and names won't scan. While at least one person is working quickly to get the technology glitch to work, names have to be typed in one at a time. 2. A driver (or two or four) makes a mistake and goes to the wrong place or someone who is parked gets stuck in a parking place. We can fix it (Mr. Smith, Mr. Cavaletto, and Coach Conklin are brilliant at the fixing part!) but sometimes it take a bit a maneuvering. Coach Conklin once likened it to playing Tetris. 3. Semi trucks from the Utilities building have to maneuver through turns to get out. 4. All of the above happen on the same day. (My favorite was a few weeks ago when a HUGE utility truck with the bucket ladder had to take the exact same route that all of the cars take and said utility truck was traveling at mind-blowing speed of 1-mile per hour!!! That was fun... NAME THE GOOD: Oreo Cookies Off-key birthday song sung by dozens of 6 and 7 year-olds Excited chocolaty smiles (Enough said.) :-) Have a good week! Field day was fun! I always enjoy field day because I get to relax my teacher mode a bit and just enjoy being with my students. I love racing on the scooters, jump roping, sliding down the inflatable slide, and running like a bear or chicken in a relay. I got to race one of my students on the inflatable. Mr. Philabaum was visiting that station when our class was there. Much to the excitement of my class, Mr. Philabaum and I raced. (It was a tie.) The kids were so excited about the day. More than one kept telling me over and over, "Mrs. Spencer! This is the best day of my life!" and "This is the best field day ever!" and "This is field day! I love field day!" The parent volunteers were absolutely glowing too! This is the first day all year that parents have been able to volunteer in a way that allowed them to interact with the scholars. Fun! Fun! Fun! Wonderful day!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GENERAL ACADEMICS: Spalding - Students will learn 11 new words on Monday, 10 new words on Tuesday, and 9 new words on Wednesday. The 30-word review is on Thursday and the spelling test is on Friday. Math - Numbers to 120 with a focus on counting on/back by ones/tens, comparing numbers, number order, adding without renaming History - The Revolutionary War-Becoming a country (Ohhhhh! This is my favorite history unit to teach!) Literature/Writing/Grammar - Sam the Minuteman A "friendly notes" study guide will be sent home this week. The literature test is on Friday. *Note - We are reading George the Drummer Boy right after Sam the Minuteman the moving right into My Father's Dragon. Please make sure your scholar has both of those books at school! Poetry - Last week was very busy and very short so our class did not have a lot of time to do many poetry recitations of "There Once Was a Puffin." We are going to complete those poetry recitations this week. UPCOMING DATES: Wednesday, April 7 - PSO Restaurant Night at Papa Murphy's Friday, April 9 - Day Porter Appreciation Day Tuesday, April 13 - PSO Restaurant Night at Cafe Zupas Thursday, April 29 - Great Gatsby Parent Seminar, 5:30-7:00 PM Friday, April 30 - Half Day Dismissal at 12:00 PM / ATE In-service *Trivium Spirit Day* On A PERSONAL NOTE / NAMING THE GOOD! There is so much I have to be thankful for! I am thankful that we have been in-person since August. I am thankful that we get to have an in-person 4th quarter. I am thankful we got to have a field day. I am thankful we got to use our student clocks. I am thankful we get to study our math units in person. I am thankful I get to celebrate my birthday with my students at the end of the week. I am am thankful that all those students who have birthdays during the 4th quarter and summer get to have their special day in the spotlight this year since, like me, they missed the chance last year. I am so thankful that there is so much to be thankful for! Have a fabulous week!!!! |
AuthorMs. Spencer Archives
May 2022
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