I hope you are all enjoying the sunshine on this beautiful day.  To coordinate with our Famous Americans unit in social studies, we used a poem for shared reading last week that focused on two very important presidents.  The students were having fun choosing actions to go with the poem, so we thought we would share it with you.

In case the above doesn't work, here is the link to the video:  http://youtu.be/jyFjR_fBwm4.  By the way, I always mark our videos as "unlisted" so they do not show up in public searches.

Congratulations to DB, the recipient of the January Citizenship award.  Mrs. Fulkerson took a moment to recognize him during a recent Guidance lesson.  If your child hasn't shared Kelso's Choices with you, please ask him or her to tell you all about them.  We refer to them frequently at school.

Speaking of good citizenship, the students have earned a special treat due to continued good behavior in the cafeteria.  We considered many possible options and then voted.  The winner was...  Stuffed Animal Day!  The children will be allowed to bring one small stuffed animal to school on Thursday, February 21.  We will use the animals for writing and other activities in the classroom, but the children will need to put the animals away in backpacks for "animal naptime" when we go to lunch or other specials.  For this reason, please help your child choose a stuffed animal that will fit comfortably inside his/her backpack.  Also, if your child doesn't have a stuffed animal to bring, please just let me know.  

In other classroom news, I have to send a HUGE thank you to all the parents who helped make our valentines party so fun!  Sadly, I was having so much fun that I forgot to take pictures!  One parent sent these in, so I hope you enjoy them.  If you have a photo on your phone or camera that you could email to me, I will add it here as well.  

In academic news, we will be starting a new piece in writers' workshop.  We will continue to work on revising our work by adding descriptive words as well as spelling unknown words by relating them to other words we do know.

In reading, we will work on nonfiction comprehension strategies:  identifying the main idea, supporting details, and useful text features.

In math, we are working on telling time to the hour and half-hour.  Students should be able to draw hands on an analog clock and fill in numbers on a digital clock to show the same time.  Students should also develop their awareness of time during the day.  What takes one minute?  What takes an hour?  

We are also working on building our fact fluency using the reflexmath.com program.  We will phase out Math Masters and use Reflex to track each student's progress.  Children will have dedicated time to use Reflex during school, but any time spent at home is very helpful, too.

In content, we are learning about important U.S. symbols:  the American flag, the bald eagle, the Statue of Liberty, and the Washington Monument.

Finally, I hope to see everyone at Tales by Twilight this Thursday evening at 6:20 pm.  Did you hear Mr. Vickers announce that every child will go home with a new book?  I can't wait to see what the children choose!  See you then!

On Friday, February 8, we celebrated the 101st day of school.  The children seemed to enjoy the idea of adding 'one' to their fond memories of the 100th day of school celebration in kindergarten.  We made Dalmatian hats, we watched 101 Dalmatians during lunch, and we even did a math project with a dalmatian theme!

In case you were wondering about the big dalmatian your child brought home, the assignment was to give the dalmatian puppy 101 spots - ten groups of ten plus one more.  This aligns with our math standard 1.1b:  "The student will group a collection of up to 100 objects into tens and ones..."  We are developing our understanding of place value by working with groups of tens, adding ten to a given number, and sorting numbers from least to greatest.  

In preparation for Valentine's Day, I have selected some of my favorite books about friendship and caring to read this week.  Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch, oh, and Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink are both personal favorites!  As a reminder, we will have a Valentine's Day party on Thursday, February 14 from 1:00 - 2:00 pm.  Please see last week's post Many thanks to our room parents for organizing the party!   

What is your favorite childhood Valentine's tradition?

This Friday, February 8, we will celebrate the 101st Day of School.  We will include some fun activities with a 101 Dalmatians theme to make this day extra special.  This coincides with the Childhood Cancer Awareness event, so please help your child remember to wear PJs and/or a yellow shirt on Friday to show support for this cause.   

Next Thursday we will celebrate Valentine's Day.  The children will make a special bag as part of our party activities, so you do not need to prepare a valentine "mailbox" or other such project at home.  But please do remember to have your child bring a valentine for each member of the class.  Valentine messages should be positive and friendly.  Thank you for refraining from attaching candy to valentines.  That is LCPS policy.  

Please mark your calendars for Tales by Twilight, Thursday, February 21 at 6:30 pm.  I will be reading my all-time favorite picture book right here in room 4.  Are you curious to find out what it is?  I can't wait to share this wonderful story with our Mill Run family!

What is your all-time favorite picture book?