October 15-19 in Kindergarten...

Hello Families,

I hope you have had the opportunity to talk to your child about their experience with Caraway Academy.  It's such a neat concept and the boys and girls love it! I'm currently teaching a Musical Theater Academy.  It' so much fun! 

Tomorrow the temperature is going to drop! It will be cold the rest of the week.  Please make sure your child is dressed appropriatly.  I'm not sure how our classroom will feel because this is my first year in room 323.  It tends to run warm so dressing your child in layers may be the best option.  Please make sure you label coats, hats and gloves with your child's name. 

Just a reminder...

We are honoring students in our class as our Star Student of the Week each week.  Please see the schedule here! This week (October 15th) we are honoring Bay!

Reminders:

Monday (10/15): Math Information Night at CVMS for Elementary Parents 6pm.

Tuesday (10/16): Library Check out.  Please help your child remember to return their book.

                           Tuesday folders will come home.  Please sign and return Wednesday.

Wednesday (10/17):   

Thursday (10/18): Riata RoundUp (rescheduled) 6:30pm-7:30pm

Friday (10/19): Caraway Academy 7:45am-8:45am

                       Have a great weekend!  

Saturday (10/20): Sock Hop, 4pm-6pm

                          This is a really fun event put on by our PTA. Come support our school and have fun too!

This week in Kindergarten...

Last week we borrowed the iPads from the Innovation Lab to use for a reading comprehension lessons.  We've been learning about Characters and how they help make a story.  We read the book Skeleton Hiccups then we used the app ChatterKids to pretend we were the Skeleton.  We retold the story from the Skeleton's point of view.  This was so much fun! We went a step further, whoa!, and uploaded our videos to Seesaw, a digital portfolio.  If you want to follow our work on our digital portfolios see the instruction below!

This year we are using Seesaw to share our work with families! Your child will post to Seesaw to share their learning. Seesaw is private; you'll only see posts created by your child.

Please Sign Up Now

1. Click on this link: https://app.seesaw.me/s/882-425-263
2. Choose your child from the list
3. Create your account
4. Once I approve you, you can see content from your child

After you sign up, download the free Seesaw Family app and sign in. You can also access Seesaw from a computer at https://app.seesaw.me.

In Writing Workshop...

We will wrap up our unit on What makes a Story.  We've been thinking about how stories have parts.  We add words with labels and a sentence. We made an Interactive Chart last week to help us remember the steps of storytelling.  This week we will focus on sharing our stories as we learn how to organize ourselves!

In Reading Workshop...

We will begin looking at the differences between Information texts and Fiction texts.  We will read all about Owls this week.  We will read stories that tell us facts about Owls and stories that have Owls as characters and are just pretend. 

In Phonics...

We are exploring how words rhyme! We will play rhyming games and sing songs that have rhyming words this week.  We are taking a week off of word wall words.  We will add more next week!

In Math...

This week we will continue Math Workshop rotations each day.   At the teacher table we will be working with 2D and 3D shapes! We will thinking about what 2D shapes make up 3D shapes.  For example, a cone has a circle for a base.  We will say "I see a circle is on the bottom of a cone." We will begin to use sentence stems to justify our thoughts and ideas as mathematicians.

In Science...

This week we will continue our unit on Forms of Energy.  This week we will explore Thermal Energy! We will engage our senses with a video clip that shows us examples of thermal energy.  We will observe different types of thermal energy.  On Thursday, we will do a special experiment with thermal energy that we can eat! (Shhh...we are going to make pancakes!)

Lastly, your child will need their own set of headphones this year.  I will label them and keep them in a safe place for your child to use.  We will not share headphones.  You can find headphones at Big Lots and Target for $5 each! Please send them in as soon as you can!

This week's Life Skill is Responsibility! We will focus on being accountable for our actions!

Have a great week!

October 1-5 in Kindergarten...

Hello Families!

Math Rotations are going so well! We have focused on how important it is to be independent during rotations.  We go through each part of the stations before we start. On Friday we focused on being independent.  The boys and girls did so well! I was so proud of them! Here is a snap shot of what our rotation board looks like! 

Just a reminder...

 

We are honoring students in our class as our Star Student of the Week each week.  Please see the schedule here! This week we are honoring Ruhi!

Reminders:

Monday (10/1): Life Skill: Perseverance Ceremony @ 7:35am

Tuesday (10/2): Library Check out.  Please help your child remember to return their                                                                                                                          library book.

                         Tuesday folders will come home.  Please sign and return Wednesday.

Wednesday (10/3): 

Thursday (10/4):

Friday (10/5): Caraway Academy 7:45am-8:45am

                       Have a great weekend!  

Saturday (10/6):  Bike Rodeo- Carlwood Parking Lot

No School for Students October 8th and 9th.

Please remember to sign up for a conference.  This is a 20 minute time slot devoted to a discussion about your child and his/her goals for this school year.  If you need to schedule a phone conference please indicate that in the notes of the sign up. I will send paper reminders!  I would love to have conferences wrapped up by October 9th! 

This week in Kindergarten...

Did you know that we use GoNoodle each day to get our wiggles out and give our brains a little break! GoNoodle is an amazing resource provided by Dell Children's Hospital to local Elementary schools.  You can get a free account to use at home as well.  Just visit the website to get started! 

In Writing Workshop...

We will continue working on telling our stories through our illustrations and begin to add words to our stories.  This week we will focus on making a picture in our minds then drawing it on paper, making our ideas clearer and using finger (or popsicle stick) spaces between our words.  We are writing and sharing amazing stories!

In Reading Workshop...

We will continue to talk about things that Strong Readers do! We will learn that stories have parts such as characters, setting and plot. Strong readers can retell a story using characters names, talk about where the story takes place and details about the plot.  For example, Goldilocks and the Three Bears has Goldilocks, Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear as characters.  The setting for the story is at the Bear's House in the Forest.  The plot of the story is Goldilocks goes into the bears house and uses their things, the bears come home and find her then Goldilocks runs away!

In Phonics...

We are exploring how sentences are formed with words.  We notice that sentences start with a capital letter and end with a period.  We will continue to look for the words we use frequently!  When we discover these words will will put them on our word wall.  This weeks Word Wall focus words are "am" and "like"!

In Math...

This week we will continue Math Workshop rotations each day.   At the teacher table we will be working with 2 dimensional shapes! We will be sorting and discovering what makes the shapes different and the same.  This will begin our unit on Geometry and Data Collecting.

In Science...

This week we will being our unit on Forms of Energy.  This week we will explore Sound! We will take a discovery walk as we listen for sound energy around our school.  We will take notes in our Science Notebook like real scientists! 

This week's Life Skill is Perseverance! Keep trying and don't give up!

Have a great week!

A Big Bad Musical

A Big Bad Musical

This week in First grade...

May 21-25

This is our last full week of First grade.  I can hardly believe this year is almost over.  We've worked so hard and grown so much this year.  We are hard at work on our Memory Books.  It has been fun for us to think about the memories we've made together. We can't wait to share these books with our families.

Reminders:
Monday (5/21):
Tuesday (5/22): Last Tuesday folder.  Please keep it at home
Wednesday (5/23):
Thursday (5/24): 5th grade graduation
Friday (5/25): End of Year awards and Party 8:00am-9:30am

**Bad Weather Make up Day is Tuesday, May 29th- We will have school!**

This week in Reading Workshop...
We will be reading fun stories about Summer and using our amazing comprehension strategies to discuss the story.

This week in Writing Workshop...
We will finish our work on our Memory Books!

This week in Math...
We will review the skills we've learned this year!

This week in Science...
We will wrap up our learning about plant parts and their life cycle.

We look forward to seeing everyone on Friday, May 25th.  The whole family is welcome to come and enjoy our Talent Show production as well as our Awards Ceremony. We will broadcast our event on Periscope as well.

We will also celebrate our friends with summer Birthdays this week!

Have a great week!

This week in First grade...

May 14- 18

This week the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders will be taking the STAAR test on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  Our campus will be closed to visitors during these days.  If you have a delivery please take it to the Safe and Secure office.

Reminders:
Monday (5/14): 3rd and 4th STAAR
Tuesday (5/15): 3rd and 4th STAAR
                          Tuesday folders will come home. Please unload and return the next day.
Wednesday (5/16): 5th grade STAAR
Thursday (5/17):
Friday (5/18):

This week in Writer's Workshop...
We will be writing stories and creating books as we use the writing process.  We've been focusing on revising (making our writing fancy) and editing (making our writing right).  We will begin work on our First grade Memory Books this week.

This week in Reading Workshop...
We will be enjoying fiction stories and using the comprehension skills we've practiced all year!

This week in Math...
We will be focusing on numbers to 120.  We will build numbers with three digits and discuss the place value of the numbers.  We will also order three digit numbers from greatest to least and least to greatest.  This will be our last unit in math.  We will review the skills we've learned during our last days together.

This week in Science...
We will continue our learning on Plants.  We will examine the parts of a plant and write about their functions.

End of the Year Party
This week I will ask the students to choose their "act" for our Talent Show.  We will practice at school beginning next week (May 21).  Please have your child begin practicing at home!

Have a great week!

This week in First Grade...

May 7-11

This week marks three full weeks left in First grade. We don't talk about it much at school but I know everyone is talking about it at home!  Thanks for keeping up the good routines for a little bit longer!


Reminders...
Monday :
Tuesday : All library books are due. Tuesday folders come home.
Wednesday:
Thursday: No more library checkout
Friday:  

Next week our campus will be closed to visitors on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  The 3rd, 4th and 5th graders will be taking the STAAR test on these days. If you need to bring something to your child you will need to drop it off in the Safe and Secure office.

End of Year Awards and Class Party...
We will have our Class Award Ceremony, Class Party and Class Talent Show on Friday, May 25th (time to be announced).  This is a great time to recognize everyone's abilities and enjoy their talents!  Please start thinking of a talent for your child to perform on this day.  A song, magic trick, joke, dance or more!  Students can perform individually or in groups.  I will also be leading a reader's theater group, if your child would like to join this as their talent.  We will also perform a class dance! If you can't think of a talent let me know....

Homework...
Keep reading RAZkids and practicing IXL!

This week in Reading Workshop...
We will continue to review the strategies that Strong Readers use to help them understand what they read.  We use our "strategy tool kit" as a reminder of what we have learned this year.  At the end of First grade readers naturally use their comprehension strategies! It's fun when we can name what we do as readers.



This week in Writing Workshop...We will reviewing types of writing and reviewing the writing process.  We are working to revise and edit independently!

This week in Math...We will be working on Inequality and Comparison Subtraction.  Students will be thinking about the equal sign and what is on either side of it.  Comparison subtraction deals with quanties that are compared with each other.  An example would be, Mrs. Caballero baked 12 cupcakes.  Lyla baked 15.  How many more cupcakes did Lyla bake that Mrs. Caballero?

This week in Science...We will begin our unit on plants.  We will study seeds this week.  I would love for the students to bring a seed in any time this week to share with our class.  This can be a seed from a fruit or veggie that you eat at home.  We will observe these and discuss the plants they will grow into.


 May 8: Spirit Night @ Phil’s Icehouse & Amy’s Ice CreamMay 14:  3rd & 4th STAAR- No visitors on campusMay 15:  3rd & 4th STAAR- No visitors on campusMay 16:  5th STAAR- No visitors on campusMay 25:  End of the Year Party (time to be announced)               End of the Year Awards (during End of the Year Party)May 28: Memorial Day HolidayMay 29: Last Day of School (Bad Weather Make-up Day)

This week in First grade...

April 30- May 4

Wow! Field Day was so fun!  We loved having the opportunity to travel with our small teams to stations of our choice. It's great to build independence and be responsible for cooperating with our team mates! Thanks to all of the parents that volunteered to run a station and walk around with kids! They loved seeing you there.

Reminders...
Monday (4/30): Book Fair Preview
Tuesday (5/1): Tuesday folders come home. Please return them Wednesday.
Wednesday (5/2): Library- We will be going to the Book Fair.  Your child can bring money during this time or wait for you to join them after school or at KnOWLedge Night.
Thursday (5/3): KnOWLedge Night 5:30pm-7:00pm  Come to our Reading Restaurant!
Friday (5/4):

KnOWLedge Night is this Thursday, May 3.  Our Reading Restaurant will be open for business! Please come to Caballero's Cantina to enjoy a lovely selection of writing and reading that will be shared with you by your favorite server! The selections will be delectable! This event will be a come and go from 5:30pm-7:00pm.  When you arrive please wait to be seated.  Your hostess will be glad to show you to your table.

This week in Reading Workshop...
We will be focusing on reading comprehension skills to help us become stronger readers.  This week we will have read aloud experiences and lessons that review the skills we've learned this year.

This week in Writing Workshop...
We will finish our Family Writing.  This writing sample will be on the menu for Thursday night! We will share our beginning of the year family writing and compare it to the end of the year. We have grown so much as writers this year.

This week in Math...
We will work on comparison subtraction in problem solving situations.  We will explore problems such as, "Molly has 12 lollipops, Kennedy has 10 lollipops. How many more lollipops does Molly have than Kennedy?"  We will work on comparing data and measurement as well during this unit.

This week in Science...
We will learn about Habitats such as the Rainforest, Savannah, Desert, Ocean, Forest and Wetlands.  We will discuss how the plants and animals work together in these habitats.  We will also think about how the food chain works in these habitats.

This week in Spelling...
We will continue to work on the skill of compound words.  The words will be the same as last week.

Our words will be...

clownfish, backdoor, teacup, into, whatever, into, today

Have a great week! We hope to see you on Thursday!

Seesaw

 app.seesaw.me

This week in First grade...

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend.  It's starting to feel more like Summer these days! I hope everyone was able to enjoy some outdoor time. 

A message from the Cub Scouts:

Hello parents!

Does your family like being outdoors? Are you looking for an affordable way to spend time with your family that focuses on character development? Is your son or daughter entering first through fifth grade in the fall? If so, come to our information session on Cub Scouting, coming up on Thursday, April 26, at 6:30PM in the Caraway cafeteria. We will be talking about summer programming and info for joining Cub Scouts now and in the fall. If you’re completely new to the Scouting program, please see the attached letter and feel free to email me at committeepack162@gmail.com with any questions. Thanks and we are looking forward to seeing you on April 26 and in Scouting next year!

Yours In Scouting,
Evan Cone (dad of Mitch, Hazel, and Turner)

Field Day Information:

Field Day–Friday, April 27th    K, 1st, 2nd Grade- 8:30-10:30 am

This year promises to be another fun and exciting Field Day with some new games, a fun inflatable, and a new format.  This 2018 Field Day has 36 stations!!! Your child’s homeroom teacher will place their students into small “Buddy Teams”.  Buddy teams will go to each station together. Team members travel together with a card that lists all 36 stations. Upon completion of a station, the parent volunteer will highlight the station on the team card.  Students will decide as a team which station to go to next.

What will your child need/wear to field day?  Clothing-SHORTS and t-shirt!!!  Also, children need to wear sunscreen and tennis shoes (please no sandals, flip-flops or Crocs)!!!! Children may also wear a hat.  Sunglasses are discouraged.

Volunteers: If you are a parent volunteer that will be helping at one of the field daystations, on Field Day please  stop at the Safe and Secure entrance (Oak View side of the school) to pick up your RAPTOR (school volunteer) sticker.  All volunteers should arrive at least 20 minutes before the start of their Field Day session.  Please be on time so you can sign in, obtain your assignment and read instructions/rules related to your Field Daystation.   Also, realize that Safe and Secure will be very busy and parking may be tough. Also, if you are a volunteer we ask that younger siblings not attend field day. Thanks for your time, help and cooperation.

Early Dismissal Policies on Field Day:  Leaving school early on Field Day is discouraged.  However, if your student must leave early on Field Day, please follow the below guidelines:

Student leaving DURING Field Day Session:

Parent/Guardian MUST sign student out from Cheryl Borden in the Safe and Secure Office.

• Parent/Guardian will receive a pink Student Pass.
• The Parent/Guardian will need to locate their student on field and bring their student AND the pink Student Pass to their teacher.
• Parent/Guardian will need to keep pink Student Pass when they walk their student through the teacher monitoring zones to exit school property.

Students leaving AFTER their Field Day ends

• All students MUST go to their Grade Level Meeting Place at the end of their FieldDay session to be accounted for by the classroom teacher.
• Please inform the classroom teacher your student will be leaving early.
• Near each Grade Level Meeting Place, staff members will have sign-out sheets for you to sign out your student.
• Students should enter the school with their class to retrieve their belongings and then meet their parents/guardians by the picnic tables.

Thanks for your help to make field day a fun and enjoyable event!

Weekly Information:

Monday 4/23- 

Tuesday 4/24- Tuesday folders come home//Empty and Return on Wednesday

Wednesday 4/25- Library Checkout (last one!)

Thursday 4/26-

Friday 4/27- Field Day! 

This Week in Writing….

We will be working our way through the writing process one last time through a family writing story! You will be able to enjoy reading these at our Knowledge Night on May 3rd! The students are taking ownership of their writing and working on revising, editing, adding details and publishing their lovely stories!

This Week in Reading…

We will be reading cultural folktales and fairy tales. The students already have a foundation of the elements of folktales/fairytales so it will be fun to add a cultural twist to these stories! We will be digging deeper into the text and using our reading strategies to truly understand these stories.

This Week in Science…

We will be reviewing habitats! Our class will be studying the rainforest habitat. We will learn why animals need the plants, why the plants need the sun, and more about interdependency. We will eventually make a class mural to hang in the hallway featuring all the layers and characteristics of the rainforest habitat!

This Week in Math…

We will be wrapping up working with the hundreds chart and moving in to 2 digit place value, money and expanded form. We have learned most of these concepts before, and now its time to tie them altogether! Students will display mastery of these skills through problem solving and hands on activities. IXL has great practice on money and expanded form. (M.3, Q.1-10)

This week in Spelling...

We will be working on compound words this week. Our words will be...

clownfish, backdoor, teacup, into, whatever, into, today

Our life skill of the week is… Initiative.

This week in First grade...

April 16-20

We had the BEST time designing and building our Chicken Coops this week! We watched video tutorials by Becky's Homestead (youtube) to teach us more about chickens and coops.  She helped us think about what we needed to have in our chicken spaces.  Thank you for sending in materials for the boys and girls to use.  They had an hour to create and build their chicken coops then we did a Coop Parade around the room to look at everyone's creations.

Party for Celebrating Mrs. Sanders:

On April 17th we will celebrate Mrs. Nelda Sanders and her 50 years of dedication to education. We will honor her with a come and go reception in the library beginning at 3:30 p.m. We are collecting memories, stories, and photos of Nelda from over the past 50 years. You can either share in the linked form or write a memory on any kind of stationary. You can deliver to Caraway Elementary or bring with you the day of the celebration. We look forward to hearing from you! If you have any questions, please email lisa_costello@roundrockisd.org.

If you would like to participate, our celebration is a "Groovy 60's" theme (students may dress in 60s attire at school on April 17th). ​​No gift needed, your presence is gift enough

Reminders:
Monday (4/16):
Tuesday (4/17): Celebration for Mrs. Sanders at 3:30pm
                          Tuesday folders will come home. Please return Wednesday.
Wednesday (4/18): Chick Fest (see email)
                                No Library this week
Thursday (4/19): Mrs. Caballero gone (half day PM) Mrs. Jackson here
Friday (4/20): Mrs. Jackson here all day

This week in Reading Workshop...
We will feature a Read Aloud this week all about diverse cultures.  We will discuss comprehension strategies such as making connections, inferring and retelling the story.  We will discuss how celebrations can be the same or different for different cultures.

This week in Writing Workshop...
We will complete our Chick Research Project.  We've collected our facts by reading from different sources of information such as books, websites and watching short videos.  Now we are ready to teach others about what we learned.

This week in Science...
We will relate our study of chicken coops to different animals and examine their habitats.  We will think about how the animals depend on plants and other animals to live and get shelter.  We will study habitats from all over the world.

This week in Spelling...
We will not have spelling this week! Enjoy extra reading time or iXL at home!

This week in Math...
We will focus on counting collections of coins.  A collection of pennies is counted by 1's.  A collection of nickels is counted by 5's and a collection of dimes is counted by 10's.  We will also begin thinking about numbers up to 120 and find patterns on the hundreds chart.  We will learn about place value by using concrete objects to represent numbers with three digits.

Have a great week!

Chicken Resources

Links for more Learning about Chickens

http://www.kiddyhouse.com/Farm/Chicken/

http://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-chickens/

https://www.tillysnest.com/2016/04/kids-and-chickens/

Facts about Chickens (from Tractor Supply Company)

There are more than 25 billion chickens in the world, and dozens of breeds. With so many of them, it seems only natural to want to know more about this peculiar bird. Here are some scientific facts mixed in with some purely fun facts, so enjoy the read!

• The chicken, Gallus gallus domesticus, is a domestic subspecies of the red junglefowl, a member of the pheasant family that is native to Asia. Genetic studies have found that the grey junglefowl also contributed to the chicken's evolution.
• According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, "Humans first domesticated chickens of Indian origin for the purpose of cockfighting in Asia, Africa, and Europe. Very little formal attention was given to egg or meat production..."
• We've already said there are more than 25 billion chickens in the world. This makes the chicken more numerous than any other bird on the planet.
• There are approximately 280 million laying hens producing 50 billion eggs in the U.S. each year.
• Adult male chickens over a year old are called roosters in Australia, Canada, and the U.S.. Males less than a year old are called cockerels. Adult females are hens, and young females less than a year old are called pullets, although in the egg-laying industry, a pullet becomes a hen when she begins to lay eggs. Young chickens are called chicks.
• Chickens begin communicating before they are hatched, when the mother hen makes a purring noise towards her eggs and the chicks peep back at her from inside the unhatched eggs.
• There are approximately 30 distinct vocalizations that chickens use to communicate with each other.
• Chickens are omnivores, meaning they eat seeds and insects, but also have been known to eat mice and lizards.
• Chickens can recognize around 100 different faces.
• Chickens can't fly very far, but they can get airborne enough to make it over a fence.
• The rooster's wattle — the dangly bit beneath his beak — helps him to gain a hen's attention.
• Chickens live in flocks and establish a "pecking order" — an order of dominance/importance. Birds that are higher in the pecking order get priority food access and nesting locations.
• Removing birds from a flock will disturb the pecking order temporarily. Adding to the flock, especially younger birds, will also disturb the pecking order and can lead to fighting and injury (or on rare occasions death), if not done properly.
• Chickens lay eggs of different colors. The colors do not affect the nutritional value of the eggs, but the chickens' diet does affect it.
• Most hens prefer to lay eggs in nests that already have eggs in them. Occasionally, this results in hens trying to lay on top of each other if the nest is small.
• Chickens lay eggs only after receiving a light cue, either from natural sunlight entering a coop or artificial light illuminating a commercial egg hatchery. The light stimulates a photo-receptive gland near the chicken's eye, which in turn triggers the release of an egg cell from the chicken's ovary.
• A chicken will lay bigger and stronger eggs if you change the lighting in a way that makes her think a day is 28 hours long.
• A single hen can produce between 250 and 300 eggs per year.
• A hen turns her eggs about 50 times a day to keep it from sticking to the side of the shell.
• Fertilized eggs take about 21 days to incubate and hatch.
• You can tell whether an egg is fresh or stale by dropping it in water. A fresh egg will sink, but a stale one will float.
• Eggs are a good source of lutein, which promotes eye health. The yolk and white is made of 74% water, 11% fat, and 12% protein. Egg yolks are one of the few foods that naturally contain Vitamin D.
• Chickens have full-color vision.
• Scientists think chickens are the closest living relative of the Tyrannosaurus rex.
• The waste produced by one chicken in its lifetime can supply enough electricity to run a 100-watt bulb for five hours.
• Agricultural researchers have found a carbonization process that converts ordinary poultry manure into granules and powders that can mop up pollutants in water.
• Researchers at NASA are testing a new jet fuel made from chicken fat.

This week in First grade...

April 9-13

Family Fit and Fun Night was a great success! It was so fun to see so many faces and families enjoying their time together! There are a few more events to take part in this year!

We need your help! We have a couple toilet paper rolls and a couple paper towel rolls.  Please send in empty cereal boxes! We can also use other recycled items such as paper towel rolls, toilet paper rolls and card board.  We will need these items by Wednesday, April 11th. 

Reminders...
Monday (4/9):
Tuesday (4/10): CLOSED CAMPUS due to STAAR Testing- deliveries only to the office
                          Tuesday folders will come home.  Please unload and return Wednesday.
Wednesday (4/11): CLOSED CAMPUS due to STAAR Testing- deliveries only to the office
                                Library Check out.  Please remind your child to bring their books
                               Supplies needed for Project (see note above)
Thursday (4/12):
Friday (4/13):

This week in Reading and Writing Workshop...
We are continuing our hard work on Chicken Research.  We will continue to learn about what Chickens need to live and begin to create presentations for the facts that we've gathered. 

This week in Science...
We will focus in on our Project Based Learning Goals for this Project.  We will design and create a habitat for chickens to live. First we will plan our habitats by drawing then we will take our ideas and make a model using the recycled materials we can gather from home! Send it everything you have!

This week in Math...
We are working with numbers and place value.  We will practice composing and decomposing numbers up to 120! We will examine patterns and build numbers with concrete tools as we shape our understanding!

This week in Spelling...
We will focus on words that have beginning blends.  The blends we will focus on are dr-, bl-, st- and sl-.

drive, star, stick, slip, stud, blue, drum, blank, drink, slide

This week in Social Studies...
We will read A Chair for My Mother.  Using this piece of literature we will discuss how families in our community have to make decision about how to spend, save and donate their money.  We will talk about the needs of families and the community.

Have a good week!

This week in First grade...

April 2-6

I hope everyone enjoyed their three day weekend! We spent time with family, in and out of town.  It was great to have an extra day to enjoy!  Last week we set up our incubators and received our chicken eggs.  It's official! We will have baby chicks around April 18th! Our chickie eggs will take 21 days to develop into chicks! Hopefully we can live stream a chick hatching so everyone can experience it! Such an exciting time in first grade!

Reminders:
Monday (4/2): Reading Calendars are due!
Tuesday (4/3): Tuesday folders will come home.  Please return them the next day.
Wednesday (4/4): Library Lesson this week.  Keep books at home!
Thursday (4/5):
Friday (4/6): Family Fit and Fun night 6:30pm-7:30pm Come see me and Lucy! We will be at the i9 Sports table!

Next Tuesday (4/10) and Wednesday (4/11) the 4th and 5th graders will be taking STAAR tests.  Our campus will be closed to all visitors these two days.  Please plan lunch dates accordingly!

This week in Reading and Writing Workshop...
We will be researching all we need to know about Chickens! First we will learn all about the development of a chick in the egg by reading books and sources on the internet.  Then we will shift our focus and learn all about chickens.  As readers we will gather information from various sources and as writers we will begin to plan a way to present our information!


This week in Science...
We will begin to discuss our Project Based Learning activity.  We will pose the problem, "Where will our baby chicks live once they have hatched?"  We will move through the steps of this project by learning all about what chickens need in a habitat.  We will spend two weeks on this project.

We need your help! Please send in empty cereal boxes! We can also use other recycled items such as paper towel rolls, toilet paper rolls and card board.  We will need these items by Monday, April 9th.

This week in Math...
We will begin a new unit on deepening our understanding of two digit place value. We will ask ourselves some questions including: How do I use place value to read and write numbers? In what different ways can we show a number? How can I use patterns to help me count? We will use as many hands on manipulatives and tools to make these concepts make sense to us!


This week in Spelling...
We will have our first spelling test.  We've been review things we know about spelling patterns.  This week we will focus on long versus short vowel sounds.  Our words will be...

owl, cat, take, map, mate, space, step, pop, cake, hike

We will practice our words at school then have an assessment on Friday.

Have a great week!

This week in First grade...

March 26-29

Last week we had a fantastic week back together after Spring Break! The highlight of the week was sharing our poetry! These boys and girls have some powerful thoughts! 

This Thursday we are going to do a Poetry Reading! I would like for this to be a surprise to the kids! Please join us at 12:00pm for our poetry reading via Periscope.  Just download the app to your phone or tablet.  You can use your Twitter account to sign in! Find me @mrscaballero.  I will send a reminder on Bloomz! 

Reminders...

Monday 3/26- 

Tuesday 3/27- Tuesday folders go home. Please empty and return the next day!

Wednesday 3/28- Library checkout! Please remind your child to bring his/her books.

Thursday 3/29- Periscope Poetry Reading at 12:00pm (noon)

The reading calendar is due on April 2! Please keep it at home and track reading minutes until then!

This week in Writing Workshop...

We are wrapping up our poetry unit! This is one of my favorite units to teach because I love reading the students' unique feelings and thoughts written into a poem format. We have been working on writing a variety of poems!  We can't wait to read our favorite on Thursday!

This week in Reading Workshop...

We will continue to read poems written by a variety of authors. We will learn that readers think about the poems they read, have opinions about the poems they read and how to justify opinions. We will also talk about visualizing books or poems we are reading!

This week in Social Studies...

We will talk about culture! I love working at Caraway because of the diversity of our school. We will discuss and answer questions such as, why family and community beliefs, customs, languages and traditions are so important to our community. We will also talk about understanding and respecting different cultures.

This week in Math....

We will wrap up our relating addition and subtraction unit. IXL has great practice on these concepts. We will use problem solving to show our addition and subtraction skills, and how we can relate one another to solve a problem and still get the same correct answer. We will ask ourselves these questions while problem solving this week: 

How do I decide which strategy to use when adding or subtracting numbers?

How can I use numbers and symbols to represent real-life situations?

How can I use number sentences to solve problems?

This week in Science...

We will get our chick eggs on Wednesday!!! We will review what we learned about birds last week and talk more about what our classroom chick project will look like. We will start our Project Based Learning unit on Chickens when we come back from our three day weekend! The chicks take 21 days to hatch! This is one of my favorite times in first grade!

Have a great week! :)

March 2018

March 26 - Screenagers Viewing, 7:00-8:30 @ LME

March 28 - BOW WOW, Last Day!

March 28 - Spirit Night at Newks, 4-9pm

March 29 - Box Tops Due!

March 30th - No School/Spring Holiday