October Pictures

Crazy Hair Day The boys
The girls

Fun picture

Stuffed Animal/PJ Day

A special lunch

These two boys lost their first tooth at the same time and they have the same name!

Fall Party

What a great time! Thank you parents for EVERYTHING!

A special thanks to M.N. for organizing it all!

October 29 Newsletter

Thank you for all of your participation with red ribbon week! What a fun, energizing week! I will post picture this weekend!

Thank you for all of the goals, they were due today :) If you did not turn in a goal, maybe a sight word goal would be good for your child. E-mail me and I will make your child's goal to pass sight word lists 5-10. Thanks!

On Fridays the students have been using lap tops to log on to raz-kids and read books. If you would like to do that at home, go to raz-kids.com and my password is esimmons1mde. Happy Reading!

Ask Your Child About:
Reading: long a, long i, and long o sounds
Guided Reading: working on asking the students how the book they read relates to them
Math: Subtraction to 10
Science: solids, liquids, and gases
Writing: writing with quotations (talking marks)
Counselor time: During what you are suppose to do even when you don't want to

Next Week's Specials:
Monday: C day Computer

Tuesday: D day P.E. and Music

Wednesday: A day Library
Thursday: B day P.E. and Music

Friday: C day Computer

Mark Your Calendar:
Nov. 17, Wednesday, Picture Re-Takes

Nov. 18, Thursday, 2nd grade musical 2 and 7 p.m.

Nov. 23, Tuesday, 1st grade snack feast at 2:00

Nov. 24-26, Wed.-Fri., No school

Nov. 29, Monday, Choir Sings in Christmas in The Park at 7 p.m.

Appreciation Station:
Thank you to the following families for donated items for the chocolate basket:

***K.M.
***G.S.
***K.L.
***J.K.
***K.G.
***R.L.
***A. P.
***K.K.

A special thank you to E.K. for the class donation!

October 22 Go Blazers!

We turned a liquid into a solid...Butter!

The kids enjoyed eating it afterward on crackers.

October 22 Newsletter

Hi Everyone!
Thank you so much for coming to parent/teacher conferences! It was truly nice chatting with you!!!

Parent Information:
Goals due Friday, October 29th (as of today, Friday, I received 7 goals)

Book in a week is now in a folder. If you turned in your book in a week, it came back to you in a folder with a game and reading strategies. Return on Fridays please.

Don't forget sight word testing every Friday. If your child can read all of the words, try some of the enrichment activities located on the back of the book.

We will begin to study coins in a couple of weeks. The students will need to identify a penny, nickel, dime, and quarter. They will also need to count like groups of coins (penny, nickel, and dime). This weekend, get out their piggy banks and do some coin exploration. I have found students have such a hard time distinguishing between the nickel and the quarter! Happy coin hunting :)

If you think of it, could you please send in some yummy chocolate for our chocolate basket. Here are some ideas: chocolate teddy grahams, coco puffs, chocolate pop tarts, candy, chocolate animal crackers, hot chocolate mix...so many choices :)

The Library Media Specialist at the high school (also a Mom of one of our students in our class) has started wonderful program with her sister called Lobes of Love. Lobes of Love is an organization to encourage breast cancer awareness, raise the spirits of breast cancer patients and to give them a symbol to represent a hope for a cure during pink awareness month. They will be collecting nice, fun earrings. They do not have to be expensive just something to make women feel beautiful and confident. We will be collecting earrings through the month of October. All earrings will be taken to an oncologist and breast cancer surgeon to distribute to their patients. Please feel free to have your child bring in some cute earrings and I will make sure they get to the Library Media Specialist. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

Red Ribbon Week Next Week: (Say No to Drugs)

Monday: Wear Red

Tuesday: Lead by example, everyone gets a glow in the dark bracelet

Wednesday: Us your head and make good choices- Crazy Hair Day

Thursday: Help a friend day- bring a stuffed animal

Friday: Be a team leader- wear your favorite sports jersey

Ask Your Child About:

Reading: Introducing/reinforcing letter sounds: ch/tch, th, wh, sh, er/ir/ur, ar, ng, y, qu,

• We also learned the long a sound spelled a or a_e

Guided Reading: strategies and comprehension

• Does this make sense


• Finding chunks in words

Math: subtracting

• number line


• touch points
  

Science: Solids, liquids, and gases

• Going on a solid scavenger hunt


• Filling out a solid, liquid, and gas flip book


• Playing a game the students made called Guess My Matter


• Oil/Water bottles


• Making butter: turning a liquid into a solid

Next Week's Specials:
Monday: B Music and P.E.
Tuesday: C Computer
Wednesday: D Music and P.E.
Thursday: A Library
Friday: B Music and P.E.


What's Coming Up:
October 22 Friday GEHS Football game (ESPN)
October 25-29 Red Ribbon Week
October 28 In honor of Down Syndrome day, students may dress "down" in their PJ's
October 28 Thursday Chili/Bingo Night from 5:30-7:30
October 29 Friday Fall Party at 2:30

Appreciation Station:
Thank you the following students for bringing in chocolate treats for our basket :)

***Thank you to C.S.
***Thank you to C.W.
***Thank you to L.C.
***Thank you to E.K.
***Thank you to H.N.
***Thank you to C.P.
***Thank you to G.S.
***Thank you to J.S.

October 8 Newsletter

Parent Information:
Can you believe first quarter is over? What a great quarter!! Thank you for all of your support...goals, reading calendars, book in a week, homework, reading the blog...everything!!

Next week is Mrs. Howell's last week with us. We are sad and will miss her!

Ask Your Child About:
Reading: chunks-ir,er,ur/ar/k
Math: Post testing and addition games
Science: Getting Ready for the science fair
3rd Grade Musical

Next, Next Week's Specials:
Monday: A-Library
Tuesday: B-Music and P.E.
Wednesday: C- Computer
Thursday: D- Music and P.E.
Friday: A- Library

Mark Your Calendar:
Oct. 8 Early Dismissal 1 p.m.
Oct. 11-12 Teacher In-service, no school for students
Oct. 13-14 Parent Teacher Conferences
Oct. 15 No School
Oct. 18 First Quarter Recognition Assembly

***Thank you to C.W. for shaving cream!!

Coming Up: Chili/Bingo Night-On this family fun night, they will be auctioning themed baskets. Our theme basket is CHOCOLATE LOVERS!! If you see anything chocolate while your out and about, send it to school to help make our basket chocolate, delicious! ;)

October 5 Pizza

The students earn pennies everyday and get to shop at my school store. The store items are so tempting it is hard to save for more expensive things. The most expensive thing is to eat a pizza lunch with me. It cost 100 pennies...that's a lot! Today I had a student save up enough to eat with me and a friend. We ate yummy pizza while watching a movie!

October 2 5K/1 mile run

Saturday I was lucky enough to join one of my students for the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Race and Roll. What a beautiful morning! I also saw a lot of students and staff from our school! How FUN!!

September 30 Gum Party

The students enjoyed 2 pieces of gum and a blow pop!

Way to go!!

October 1 Team Simmons News

Parent Information:

• Next week is the last week of the first quarter...can you believe it? Keep working on those goals :)


• Thank you for all of the October reading calendars!! Almost everyone turned one in, WOW! The total class minutes read for the month of September were 5,025!! GO TEAM SIMMONS!


• For book in a week this week I am going to put in 2 books to read. One book will be on your child's instructional level (harder) and one book will be on your child's independent level (easier). Happy Reading :)


• I can't wait to meet with you for conferences!! I will be sending home one more reminder on when your conference time is with me :)

Ask Your Child About:
Reading: Learning chunks: ar, th, ch, and tch. I have noticed the students need a lot of repetition of these new sounds. When reading outside of school, please promote these sounds :)

Math: Adding with touch points. Using the strategy, circle the bigger number in the problem and add on the smaller number using touch points.

Science:Experiments and going through the scientific process. Here are some of how questions we tested: how heavy is a big marble? Which chocolate chip brand of cookies has the most chocolate chips? Can I place this cup in a bowl of water upside down with a tissue in it without it getting wet?

Counselor Time: Confidence and believing in yourself.

Next Week's Specials:
Monday: D day- P.E. and music
Tuesday: A day- Library
Wednesday: B day- P.E. and music
Thursday: C day- Computer
Friday: D day- P.E. and music

Mark Your Calendar:
Oct. 6 Fall Pictures
Oct. 7 3rd Grade Musical 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Oct. 8 Early Dismissal 1 p.m.
Oct. 11-12 Teacher In-service
Oct. 13-14 Parent Teacher Conferences
Oct. 15 No School
Oct. 18 First Grade Recognition Assembly

Wish List:
Clorox Wipes
Shaving Cream

*Thank you to J.S. for bringing in small toys for our class store!