Hi. Yeah. I know. It is a Sunday afternoon and your getting the blog update already. I don't usually send out e-mails on Sundays as Sunday is a day where I try hard to stay off of my e-mail but today I wanted to make an exception because there was something important I wanted to tell you...
A SPECIAL GIFT FOR MY KIDS: Yes. I said, "My kids." That is because they are my students, my kids. I love them. Anyway, as I have mentioned a few times in my "On a Personal Note" section of my blog, I like to do crafts. Well, for the past few weeks I have been making journals for each one of my students. Whether the design is simple or complicated each one was specifically made for each individual child. They are wrapped and ready to be sent home. I decided to give them the journals tomorrow (Monday) because I feel like Monday will be the most normal school day of the three. Each journal is going to be firmly taped to the insides of the red homework folders. This group of kids is so caring and appreciative of life that I know they will truly appreciate the journals. That being said, they are only seven, and with everything going on in the next three days it would be really easy to open, appreciate, and stick the journal in their desk (which, despite my best efforts, by the end of the year, are not always the cleanest spaces in the classroom.) :-P Therefore, my students will get specific instructions that they absolutely are not allowed to take the gift out of their red folders and open them until they are home with you. Anyway, I wanted to get this blog updated and out to you so you knew to be on the lookout for the gifts that will be taped into the red folders tomorrow. GENERAL ACADEMICS: Spalding - Phonogram and spelling review activities Math - Year in review Science - Astronomy Literature / Grammar - My Father's Dragon UPCOMING DATES: May 23-May 25 - Half Day Dismissal, 12:00 PM No lunch served on half days. Monday, May 23 - PSO Peter Piper Pizza Night, 12-8 PM Tuesday, May 24 - 5th Grade Promotion, 6 PM Wednesday, May 25 - Half Day Dismissal, 12:00 PM Last Day of School Archway Trivium East Closing Ceremony, 6 PM *Please see the Athenian Echo for more information about upcoming dates and the closing ceremonies that are taking place Wednesday evening. ON A PERSONAL NOTE: Well, here we are. I have gotten so attached to my kids and I love them so much! I know many of them are heading to Trivium next year. That makes me sad because I won't be able to watch them grow up. That goes the same for past students who are in the higher grades. I don't get to watch them grow up and move into Prep. On a positive note, many of my students will be going to Roosevelt and I am excited to watch them grow. The cool thing is, Roosevelt Prep will be in the same building so I will get to watch my kids grow, not just through the 5th grade, but also through middle school and high school. When I move to Roosevelt I will also be making a grade level change. Next year I will be teaching Kindergarten! I am ready for the change and very excited!!! This summer I am not taking any trips. I decided that, instead of spending $5+ / gallon on gas and going somewhere for a week and half, I wanted to invest in more dance lessons/week during the summer. This will also include participating in a small in-studio showcase for Arthur Murry and dancing in front of a live audience for the AM Goodyear Awards show. Outside of Arthur Murry, I also signed up for a full-day country dance camp, and weekly belly dance group lessons. I am hoping to have an opportunity for David and I to spend a weekend or two up north. Thanks to Groupon and Culture Passes I plan to take David to museums and other specials places around Phoenix once a week. I want to dance, craft, continue learning to sew and crochet, write a lot, read a lot and learn to draw. (I checked out a bunch of learning-to-draw books from the library.) I am also going to spend one day thinking really hard about cleaning my house. (I will think about it so hard that I will have to go take a nap...) I would love to hear about your summer plans. Feel free to e-mail me and tell me about the numerous adventures you plan to have with your kiddos! NAME THE GOOD: This has been a wonderful school year! Have a great summer! Okay. No more time spent on work e-mails today. I promise!!
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The 1st grade concert was already a full week ago. The first graders all looked so cute in their concert dress clothes and they sang so well!!!! Oh! They were cute!!! ATHENIAN ECHO / ROOSEVELT REVIEW: I have had a couple of parents ask me for information about Roosevelt. Each Friday the Athenian Echo is e-mailed to all families. There is a section on the Athenian Echo that focuses on Roosevelt. Please see the Athenian Echo for general school information about Roosevelt. GENERAL ACADEMICS: Spalding - Student will learn 7 words on Monday, 8 words on Tuesday, and 8 words on Wednesday. The 23-word review is on Thursday and the test is on Friday. Math - Review of the concepts taught during the year Science - Astronomy *Note - A unit study guide is going home in the red folders tomorrow (Tuesday). The test will be on Friday. Grammar - Focus on nouns and verbs Literature - My Father's Dragon Poetry - "The Village Blacksmith" stanza 8 UPCOMING DATES: May 23-May 25 - Half Day Dismissal, 12:00 PM No lunch served on half days. Monday, May 23 - PSO Peter Piper Pizza Night, 12-8 PM Wednesday, May 25 - Half Day Dismissal, 12:00 PM Last Day of School Archway Trivium East Closing Ceremony, 6 PM Please see the Athenian Echo for more information about upcoming events, dates, and school information. ON A PERSONAL NOTE: Uh-oh! I was just thinking about the concert again and just remembered... my son's 7th grade recorder concert is this Wednesday. I am thinking he probably outgrew all of this concert clothing. Hmm... guess I will be going shopping tonight. Have a nice week! Sometimes I have so many thoughts in my head and there is so many things I want to write about and tell you. Things like how amazing your children are (They can get up in front of the class and recite hard poems!) and how kind they are and how you are all great parents and how much they are learning. Things like the experiences we have in the classroom with counting money. Things like how beautiful it sounds when they sing their favorite poem in the morning. Things like how the entire class can read books for 36 minutes straight during Daily 3 reading time. I can't though. I can't tell you everything because the thoughts and the events and the happenings swirl around in my head but they sometimes they just can't make it into concrete printed words. Just know this. Your children are learning. They have grown so much this year. They are amazing!
1ST GRADE CONCERT IS TONIGHT! The first grade concert starts at 6:00 tonight. Students need to arrive at King of Kings church at 5:30. Parking is not easy so please keep that in mind when planning for your arrival time. Be sure to see the Athenian Echo for more details about tonight concert. *Note - I mentioned this last week and I am mentioning it again... based on past experiences, please make sure your scholar uses the bathroom before coming to the concert!!! ;-) OKAY. FINE! I ADMIT IT! SOMETIMES I AM A MOTHER HEN!: It has been awhile since we have had concerts and King of Kings. (Not since December 2019 to be exact.) When there are a large number of students and a large number of parents picking up their students all at the same time I do tend to go into "Mother Hen" mode. When picking up your scholars after the concert please make sure that I know you have got them. Either a verbal, "Mrs. Spencer, I have my son/daughter," or a visual where I can see them with you is works fine. Thank you!!!!!!!! HOMEWORK THIS WEEK: No homework has been assigned for tonight. We also recognize that many of our scholars have older siblings so they will be attending the 3-5 concerts on Thursday as well. The only homework assigned for Thursday night is spelling words. No phonograms, math (including Xtramath), or reading has been assigned for that night tonight or Thursday night. MARBLE JAR PARTY: They did it again! The class filled up the marble jar! This time we are not going to have an actual party, but we get to do something special. This Friday (May 13th), the class may bring ONE stuffed toy. This stuffed today can stay with them at their seats for the day! (I got this idea from something Mrs. Garza said during our last Marble jar party.) *Note - Students will be responsible for keeping track of their toy. Please make sure your child's name is on the toy. - We kindly ask that it be reasonable size. Something that can easily sit on their laps would be a perfect size and preferably an animal. GENERAL ACADEMICS: Spalding - Students will learn 10 new words on Tuesday, 10 words on Wednesday, and review on Thursday. The 20-word test will be on Friday. Math - Counting money (bills and coins), story problems involving money Science - Astronomy Grammar / Literature - "My Father's Dragon" Poetry - "The Village Blacksmith" stanza 7 *Note - Stanza 8 will be assigned next week. Students are no longer responsible for stanzas 1-6. They do not need to keep practicing those stanzas! UPCOMING DATES: Monday, May 9 - K-2nd Grade Spring Concerts at King of Kings Church
Thursday, May 12 - 3rd-5th Grade Spring Concerts May 23-May 25 -Half Day Dismissal, 12:00 PM No lunch served on half days. Wednesday, May 25 - Half Day Dismissal, 12:00 PM - Last Day of School - Archway Trivium East Closing Ceremony, 6 PM ON A PERSONAL NOTE: This period of time in the school year is often one of very high emotions for students and teachers a like. There are all kinds of events going on. Scholars are looking forward to the end of the school year yet not looking forward to saying good-bye to teachers and friends. This year is especially different since each class will be split in two - some going to Trivium and some going to Roosevelt. I feel it too. Once I have a scholar in my class he/she is my student. Once students are my students they are always my students. I love watching my students grow up as they move from grade level to grade level. I won't be able to do that with everyone now. I have grown to love my class so so so much. Yes, I am looking forward to the summer break but I really want these next 13 days to go slow. I want spend and enjoy every moment I can with my kids. Have a beautiful week! Oh my goodness! I have re-written the first sentences of this blog at least five times. There is a lot going on over the next three and half weeks. (Three and a half weeks! Is that all?!?!?!?) Be sure to read the Athenian Echo that came out on Friday. It is full of information!!
ART WALK: The K-5 Art Walk is this Wednesday from 4:30 - 7:00. The last Art Walk we had was in 2019 so I am very excited. Be sure to see the Athenian Echo for more information about the Art Walk. *Note - There is no math, Xtramath, phonogram practice, or reading homework assigned for Wednesday night. CONCERTS: The K-2 concerts are next Monday the 9th. The 1st grade concert is scheduled for 6:00 at the Kind of Kings church with scholars required to be there at 5:30 for rehearsal. Parking is limited so please take that into consideration. Be sure to see the Athenian Echo for more information about the concerts next week. *BASED ON PAST EXPERIENCE - MAKE SURE YOU SCHOLAR USES THE RESTROOM BEFORE ARRIVING FOR REHEARSAL!!! :-) TUTORING: Fyi- I am planning on tutoring in the afternoons during the summer. MONEY: We are starting our money unit this week. Now is the time to get out your piles of change and play! Practice Ideas- Sort money into pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. Take the time to really look at the coins, their size, the pictures that are on the coins. Practice counting just pennies (counting by ones), just nickels (counting by fives), just dimes (counting by 10s), just quarters (counting by 25s) GENERAL ACADEMICS: Spalding - Students learned 10 words today. They will learn 10 words tomorrow. The spelling review is Thursday and the spelling test is on Friday. *No phonogram practice as been assigned for Wednesday. Only spelling word practice. Math - Money *Note - A "Friendly Notes" pages will be sent home today (Tuesday). *Note #2* - No math homework, including Xtramath, has been assigned for Wednesday. History - Westward Expansion review today (Tuesday) then a review and unit test on Thursday. The study guide is in today's red homework folders. Science - Astronomy Literature - My Father's Dragon Grammar - Continued review of nouns, pronouns, verbs, subject, and predicate Poetry - Poetry recitations of stanzas 4-6 of "The Village Blacksmith" UPCOMING DATES: Wednesday, May 4 - K-5 Art Walk, 4:30-7:00 PM Monday, May 9 - K-2nd Grade Spring Concerts at King of Kings Church
ON A PERSONAL NOTE: Does anyone else have trouble spelling the word "nickels?" When I learned how to teach Spalding I finally learned how to spell puzzle (thanks to rule 29 and job 4) but I often catch myself spelling "nickels" as n-i-c-k-l-e-s. Have a fun week!!!!! |
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May 2022
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