Week of 10/2 to 10/16

"Get Set" Story: Quit it, Bug!

Main Selection: A Surprise for Zig Bug

Phonics: Review q, j, z and short /u/

Comprehension Skill: Story Structure

Words to Know: are, away, does, he, live, pull, they, where, bug, jug, quit, up, zig, zag

Ask Me About...

Ask Me About:

• How we play "Ten Turns" and use counting on strategies
• How we can group our counters into 10's, so that they are easier to count
• How we can tell a story's structure by looking at the characters, the setting, the problem and the solution
• About our Reading Centers
• About Nobu, the sound chopping ninja
• How we can observe objects that are motion and describe the way that they are moving
• Our Mystery Reader, Ms. Alston, who shared the "Unscary Scarecrow"
• Our Great Kapok trees that we made with Ms. Kitchens
• Our AAAB pattern we found in Calendar Math for this month

Ask Me About...

In Reading, ask me about how to note details in the stories we read and about the centers we have started including phonics, listening, vocabulary, and buddy reading centers.

In Writing, ask me about my narrative piece that focuses on something that I lost and how to start a story by jumping right into the action or with the problem.

In Math, ask me about how to play "Counters in a Cup", "On and Off", and "Towers of 10". Also, we talked about what an equal sign really means. For example, we talked why 3 + 7 = 7 + 3 was true.

In Science, ask me about force and motion. We have discussed what is a push and what is a pull and where we can find these in our classroom and on the playground.

In Social Studies, ask me about community helpers, including when we acted out different roles people play in our community.

Week of 10-5 to 10-9

Main Story: The Bunnies and the Fox

Phonics: Letters k,v,y and short "e" words
Comprehension Skill: Fantasy and Realism
Words to know: do, for, I, is, me, my, said, you, get, help, kids, next, yes, yet

Our First Mystery Reader!

Today, we had our first Mystery Reader - Mrs. Leynes!! The children were so excited to see her and her furry friends that she brought with her. She brought in a butterfly carrier that had two caterpillars and chrysalises. The students could hardly wait to see inside the carrier and there were many "Ooooh's" and "Ahhh's"! Mrs. Leynes then read a wonderful non-fiction text about the life cycle of the butterfly. After she read, we made adorable butterflies with construction paper and pipe cleaners. The children could hardly hold in their excitement as Mrs. Leynes brought around the carrier and showed them the chrysalises and caterpillars with a flashlight. She is bringing them in next week once they have transformed into butterflies - we can't wait! We had a great kick-off to Mystery Reader, and I hope that you can come in, as well, and be a part of the fun! Have a wonderful weekend!

Reading Focus for the Week of September 8th

Every week, I will post the skills we will be working on Reading. We begin our first Theme next week, and these are the areas in which we will be focusing.

Phonics: Letters m, s, c, t and short "a" words
Comprehension Skill: Sequence
Words to know: go, on, the, cat, sat

Zooming into a Great School Year!

What a great first two weeks! I have truly enjoying getting to know your children, and we are already on the "racetrack" to learning.

Last Friday, we had our first science experiment. We added 7 Mentos to a 2-liter of Diet Coke, and if you don't know what happens, I highly recommend this experiment for you and your family!! The Diet Coke sprayed about 15 feet in the air - the kids LOVED it! We practiced observing by writing down the things that we heard and saw. We definitely have a group of excited scientists on our hands who love to preform experiments!

In class, we have been setting up our classroom's rituals and routines. These are things that we do every day, and they include everything from our writer's workshop songs to moving our attendance clips in the morning. We are practicing these routines daily, and they are doing a great job.

To continue to enforce these rituals and routines, we need our help, as well. Please remember to sign your child's planner daily and return your child's planner and Home-to-School folder daily. As stated in the newsletter sent home on Friday, I will be recording your child's behavior using colored smiley, squiggly, or sad faces. The colors are based off of the color of the cards that we use school-wide. Here is a guide to help you with our school's card colors.

Green Smiley Face: Great day!
White Squiggly Face: One Card Flip
Red Sad Face: Two Card Flips
Yellow Sad Face: Three Card Flips
Blue Sad Face: Four Card Flips

Your child's card will start on green everyday, so every day is a new chance to be successful and have a great day at school.

I hope each of you are having a great three-day weekend, and I will see you all on Tuesday!

Welcome!

On Monday, the teachers headed back to school for pre-planning, and we are all so excited to have our students starting on Monday, August 24th! We also sent out post cards to let you know who your child's teacher is. If you receive a post card card from me, welcome to our class and I can't wait to meet your child on the first day of school!

A few reminders...

• Please remember to either send me an email at brownj10@duvalschools.org or label your child with how they will get home on the first day of school.
• Please send your child's supplies in a bag marked with their name, and remember not to put their name on the supplies. We will label them here at school. :)
• There will only be orientation for those students who are new to Mandarin Oaks this year, but don't worry! I look forward to meeting each and every one of you at our Open House on August 27th at 6:30.

I hope you and your child enjoy the last few days of summer and are ready to start a fun year of learning and growing in first grade! Welcome to the class!

Our Supply List

As you may have seen on the school website, there is a supply list for all of first grade. Individual teachers add supplies that will be needed specifically for their rooms. I have combined my list and the school list to make back-to-school supplies shopping just a little bit easier.

2009 - 2010 Supply List for Mrs. Shafer's Class

• 2 bottles of liquid hand soap
• 2 bottles of hand sanitizer
• 1 box of tissues
• 2 glue sticks
• pencils (# 2 solid yellow only)
• 5 plastic duotang folders with pockets: 1 red, 1 orange, 1 yellow, 1 green, 1 blue
• 1 black Oxford Viewfolio pocket portfolio (found at Office Depot or Staples)
• 1 small plastic pencil box
• 1 box of crayons (24 Count)
• 3 composition books
• 1 pair of Fiskar scissors
• 1 container of Lysol wipes
• Ziploc bags (Girls bring sandwich bags; Boys bring freezer bags)

Mrs. Shafer’s Wish List

• Avery mailing labels
• Avery shipping labels
• white computer paper
• treats for treasure box (candy, trinkets, pencils, etc.)
• EXPO whiteboard markers

This supply list will also be sent home with your child on the first day of school. See you then!

Welcome to First Grade!

Hi everyone! This is your child's teacher, Mrs. Shafer. I am so eager to meet each and every one of you! This blog will be used throughout the year so that you can get a glimpse into our classroom. I will keep you up-to-date on school happenings, as well as important information in room #40.

This year, our school celebrates its 20th anniversary! I was a student at this school when it first opened, and I love being a part of this school's bright past and future. I have so many memories of this wonderful place, and I continue to make new ones as a part of this great faculty. Appropriately, our school theme this year is "Spotlighting the Past as We Set the Stage to Showcase the Future!" We are so glad you can help to make this an "Oscar-Worthy" year at MOE Studios!

Our first day of school is August 24th, and I look forward to starting a fun and exciting year with your child!