Junior Achievement

It's week 3 of Junior Achievement and we are learning all about a city.  This week we are talking about what it takes to start up and run a restaurant.  Last week we learned about the layout of a city and where to put houses, town homes, a library, city hall, an airport, etc.  Here are the pictures of our city in progress and after it was completed!

Our city in progress!

 Our finished city!

Grandparent Tea 9/9/11

Weeks 5 & 6

Important!
Fundraisers are due tomorrow along with homework and library books!  Grandparent's Tea is Friday from 9:05 - 10:00.


We will finish CogAT testing tomorrow. It has been getting more difficult, but it's fun!  It is harder than MAP testing.

We went outside to observe nature with our five senses and saw a hairy wolf spider!  EEK!  When we came back inside, we had to write about our observations.  Then we wrote about what we would do if we were invisible and could fly!  Now we are working on writing a story with a partner.  Our stories are from our imagination.  Some of us have a king, a horse, a pegasus, a dragon frog, friends, and an evil wizard as our characters.  Our stories take place in a forest, angel world, a misty castle, a race track, and a desert.  The evil characters are trying to take over, some characters are getting stuck in mazes, and evil characters destroy villages in our stories.  Writing with a partner is fun!

In reading some groups started reading new books.  We are writing about what we read and making connections.  In Daybook we finished connections and now we are starting the new comprehension strategy - asking questions.  We are also continuing our work in Seeing R.E.D and working on our cursive handwriting.

For math we are doing number bonds to solve addition and subtraction problems.  They help us do mental math.  Number bonds are just another strategy for adding and subtracting which eliminate any regrouping.  Yesterday we started rounding numbers to the nearest 10 and 100.  Practice rounding at home!

Next week is spirit week which we are beyond excited for!
Spirit Week September 12th - 16th
Monday - pajama day
Tuesday - twin day (dress alike)
Wednesday - hat day
Thursday - inside out / backward day (wear your clothes just wrong)
Friday - spirit wear day


    

Weeks 3 & 4

IMPORTANT!!!  The shuttle bus for parent pick-up and drop-off students ONLY starts Monday.  If you are going to participate in the FREE shuttle bus, please let me know either through an email or a note to me on Monday.  Remember the drop-off time is 8:45 and the pick-up time is 4:10 at Sierra Middle School.  

Weeks 3 and 4 were fun and we learned a lot.  In cursive handwriting, we learned how to form the letters t, p, l, e, and f.  We wrote about how we could make the world a more beautiful place, our hopes/dreams, a memory with our sister/brother, our likes/dislikes/passions, and our connections.  Each student wrote a letter to a grandparent(s) because we want to get to know our grandparents better.  We invited them to "Grandparent Tea" on Friday, September 9th from 9:05 - 10:00.  Hope to see you there!  This week we started Seeing R.E.D (Revising and Editing Daily).  Our goal is to capitalize the beginning of sentences and make sure every sentence has ending punctuation. 

 

We read Grandfather's Journey which is about Allen Say's grandfather's journey to the United States.  Our class is in guided reading groups and we are practicing making connections.  We have Mrs. Zamora in our room to help us read too.  From Daybook, we have been making connections with people, hopes/dreams, and images.  Our parent volunteers are reading with us and helping us make connections too. 

We have been continuing our place value work in math.  Number patterns in math have been a bit tricky for us especially if we are counting by 10's or 100's and we make a new 100 or 1000 (i.e. 5, 892 and the pattern is to add 10, the next number in the pattern would be 5.902).  On Monday, we took a test on Chapter 1.  Mrs. Deba will correct the test over the weekend.  Now we are learning number bonds and how to make a 10 to help us add/subtract 2-digit numbers mentally.

We did reading and language MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) testing on the computer.  Math MAP testing will take place next week.  We began Fast ForWord last week.  It is a reading program on the computer that has reading games at a variety of levels.  We practice every day and have fun doing it! 

We started our ABC Catalog fundraiser yesterday.  Fundraiser order forms are due by September 8th.  Sell, sell, sell!!!  :)  BYE
 

Week 2

We had a fun second week of school!  Our class is learning to count money and make specific amounts in a variety of ways.  For example if the amount was $0.40, one student may put up 4 dimes and another student may use a quarter, dime, and nickel. 

 We have been learning how to write in cursive.  Last week we learned how to write the cursive c, a, d, g, and h. 

 

Daybook is teaching us reading comprehension strategies such as:  making connections, asking questions, determining importance, visualizing, making inferences, and synthesizing.  We are focusing on making connections while we read. 

 

In writing, we drew self-portraits and we wrote about ourselves.  This form of writing is called descriptive writing.

We have been learning place value.  We have gone into the thousands place.  On Friday, we learned the difference between a number and a digit.  For example a number is 2,548 and 2 is a digit within that number.  With base-ten blocks we can represent a number and we can find the value of each digit.  Like the value of the digit 2 in 2,548 is worth 2,000.  We can write numbers in standard form, word form, and expanded form.  

 

You are able to buy books from Scholastic online at www.scholastic.com/bookclubs.  If you are not already registered, please do so and use our class code GQQWY.  I have the Lucky and Arrow catalogs open until August 28th.  If you need more time, just let me know and I'll open them for a longer period of time.  Every time a parent places an order, I get a $3 coupon to buy more books for the classroom! 

First Week of School

On Monday we came to school for Open House.  We met Mrs. Deba, walked around our classroom, put away our school supplies, got our pictures taken, and got registered for school.  Tuesday was the first day of school!  We walked around the classroom so we know where everything is and we wrote about our summer break.  We even brought in an item from our summer break to help with our writing.  We learned the classroom expectations and went to art.  On Wednesday we started having quiet reading time (D.E.A.R time) after lunch.  We began reviewing place value.  Thursday we spent time learning about each other.  We also got our hard cover math books.  Today we learned how to blog! 

Summer Vacation Weeks 7 & 8

I'm not so sure weeks 7 and 8 can qualify for summer vacation when a vast majority of the time was spent at school getting my new classroom cleaned out and set up for students as well as at Lakeshore Learning and U.S. Toy and Constructive Playthings.  First and foremost I have to thank my amazing husband for all of his time and talents spent with me at school!!  He took vacation and helped me in my classroom!  We spent Monday, Tuesday, and Friday at school getting things cleaned, organized, and set up for the kiddos (I was at school Wednesday for a class).  He was such a help and it would have never all gotten done without him!  That meant during the first half of week 8 I had minor details in my classroom to finish up.  I spent a few hours at school on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of week 8 to get as many of the fine details taken care of as possible.  There's always more to buy and to do in the life of a teacher, but I am quite pleased with how the new classroom turned out!  The latter half of week 8 was spent back at school getting to know our new leadership, new staff, district initiatives, catching up with friends, laughing, stressing, trying to plan, updating class lists...  I was exhausted last night!  However, I am VERY excited to see everyone on Monday, August 1st at our open house.  Tuesday, August 2nd is the first day of school for students.  School starts at 9:05 and ends at 3:58.  I look forward to working with all of you and all of your children this year!

During the time that wasn't spent at school, I did all my normal things - laundry, mowing the lawn, watering flowers, tending the garden, etc.  I even managed to squeeze in my yearly visit to my doctor who confirmed I'm healthy!  Speaking of our garden, it is doing amazing considering this is our first time gardening!  We've harvested peas, beans, carrots, lettuce, spinach, and cucmbers so far.  Everything has been absolutely delicious.  We have so many beans and cucumbers that my colleagues at school were able to enjoy some on Thursday and Friday.  Today we discovered our first two ears of sweet corn.  We are really excited about that!  The pictures below show the garden and some of the beans, cucumbers, and carrots.  Just a few nights ago, we had the deer visiting our neighborhood.  The were nibbling on the bushes and hanging out so we snapped a picture of them as well.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend and see you Monday!

 

Summer Vacation Weeks 5 & 6

Oh my goodness!  Where does time go?!  I know I keep saying it, but this summer has been crazy busy and FUN!  After my parents and niece left (almost two weeks ago now), I cleaned the house again so it was ready for the pet/house sitter and our trip to Vail.  On July 10th, we headed up to Vail for my husband Joe's annual summer work conference.  Sunday night was the pot luck and it was so nice to catch up with the people and clients that my husband works with.  While my husband was working during the day, I strolled through the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens (they are absolutely beautiful), walked along Gore Creek, napped, shopped, and even found time to order nametags for the desks at school.  Monday and Tuesday evenings brought great dinners with my husband, his colleagues, and their clients.  Wednesday morning we got up and had a wonderful breakfast at the Westside Cafe in Vail, did some shopping at the Silverthorn outlet mall, stopped at Beau Jo's for pizza, and headed home.  It was absolutely gorgeous in Vail.  The ski run outside our room at the Manor Vail Lodge even had spots of snow still on it and Gore Creek was running high and fast!  I enjoy the mountains and seeing the ski runs always makes me excited for ski season! 

 The view from our room!

Gore Creek running high and fast!

After we got home from Vail it was finally time to take a deep breath and relax - our summer whirlwind was finally coming to an end.  It's been nice to have a few mornings to sleep in too!  Our garden is flourishing as well and it's been so exciting to harvest peas and carrots.  For being complete city slickers our garden is doing quite well.  The picture below is of our garde on July 13th.  It has changed dramatically in the last week!

 

Now I've been focusing on school.  Thanks to my husband's help, my new classroom is finally starting to look like a classroom and feel like home.  Can you believe school starts in a week and a half?!  Enjoy the rest of your summer and stay cool!

Summer Vacation Week 4 Pictures

My nieces and nephew hamming it up during fireworks at our house.

Me near the summit of Rocky Mountain National Park.  It was gorgeous up there!

 The peacock at the picnic bench we decided to take a rest at.  Check out those tail feathers!

My niece and I during dinner at Hacienda.

My niece with her extra plate of marshmallows at The Melting Pot.  The server was awesome!



Summer Vacation Week 4

Well, my summer vacation has been crazy!  After getting home from Wisconsin last week Tuesday, it was time to do loads of laundry, get the house cleaned up, and run all sorts of errands before my parents arrival.  On Saturday, my parents arrived along with my 6 year old niece and their yellow lab, Marley.  Our house was full and our poor cat did not move from under our bed until all doors where closed and the guests were all tucked away in bed for the night!  When they arrived Saturday, we invited my sister-in-law, niece, and nephew over for a BBQ.  My husband made applewood smoked chicken on the Weber charcoal grill.  It was delicious!  After dinner, we began with some pre-fireworks - poppers, smoke bombs, and sparklers.  When it was finally dark, we did the rest of the fireworks.  My nieces and nephew loved them!  Sunday brought another great day with church, pool time, and another BBQ.  On Monday, the 4th, we decided to head up to Rocky Mountain National Park.  We stopped at the McDonald's in Estes Park for lunch and chocolate from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for dessert!  We stopped many times on our way to the summit of RMNP to check out elk and all the snow.  That certainly was the most snow I've ever seen at this point in the summer in the mountains.  The run-off in places was a sight to behold - all sorts of mini waterfalls.  My niece and I threw snowballs at my husband and my niece wrote her name in the snow.  At the summit, we looked around and did some shopping.  On our way home, we saw a mama moose and we got stuck in traffic on I-70 due to a fruit truck that had rolled earlier in the day.  Thank goodness for my friend Cindy.  We realized just how long our dogs where home alone and she was able to let all 3 dogs out for us!  When we got home, we quickly fed our dogs, played with them and took off again for 4th of July fireworks.  Flat Acres Farm (where we have our garden) was providing public parking on their property to watch the Parker fireworks and since we have a garden plot with them, we got to park free!  We met my sister-in-law, niece, and nephew there to watch the fireworks.  Talk about an amazing unobstructed view.  Parker's fireworks were fantastic!  The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo was on the schedule for Tuesday.  My parents, niece, and I went and had a blast feeding the giraffes!  They sure are cute!  However, my niece had more fun on the sky ride.  Tuesday night, we went out for Mexican at Hacienda.  On Wednesday, I took my mom and niece to school to see where my new classroom is and to show them around school.  My niece played on the playground and then we went back to the pool for a bit.  My husband and I also celebrated our 10 year anniversary!!  We all went to The Melting Pot to celebrate Wednesday night.  For my niece the chocolate fondue at the end of our meal was the highlight.  We even had to ask for more marshmallows and our server brought a whole big plate of them!  It was such a great time.  Thursday morning, we went out for breakfast and my parents began their 2-day drive back to Wisconsin.  After I got home from breakfast, I got the house all cleaned back up.

During my parent's visit, there were many trips to water our garden.  My parents were impressed!  We even have vegetables growing - peas and chilis!  On Sunday, we head up to Vail for a few days.  My husband has his summer work conference there.  Our pet sitter is all ready to hang out with the critters.  Thunder absolutely loves her!  Again, I hope all of you are enjoying your summer!  I am looking forward to finally getting some extra sleep after getting back from Vail next week.  

Summer Vacation Week 3 Pictures

The mud at Country USA and this was one of the better spots.  This also used to be grass at one time!

 My up close and personal view of Rascal Flatts!

 My 9 year old nephew swimming at the Badger State Games.

 My nephew with his medal from the race that qualified him for Nationals.

My 6 year old niece all ready for soccer.  She'll be coming with my parents to visit Colorado this weekend.



My 9 year old nephew (the swimmer) pitching.  Quite the pitcher too!

 My 10 year old nephew up to bat.

 My 13 year old nephew up to bat.  This was the night he hit the in the park homerun.

 Our garden!  It really took off while I was gone.  Things are even beginning to flower!

Summer Vacation Week 3

Week 3 of summer vacation was the busiest one yet.  I spent the first half of the week cleaning the house, cleaning the carpets, doing laundry, watering flowers/garden, and going to the gym.  On Thursday of last week, I headed to Wisconsin for 5 days to see my family and friends.  Talk about busy!!  I got home yesterday and need a vacation from my vacation, but don't have time.  I need to get the house cleaned back up again because my parents will be here on Saturday! 

My time spent in Wisconsin was certainly memorable.  Last Friday night, I went with a friend of mine to Country USA - it is a HUGE music festival that goes for 5 days.  My godfather is a DJ on the country radio station that sponsors Country USA and was able to set aside two reserve seat tickets for me.  I wanted to go on Friday because my favorite group, Rascal Flatts, was headlining that night!  One thing you should know - it rained everyday in Wisconsin last week.  The rain finally stopped late Thursday night so the Country USA grounds were nothing but mud and standing water (I don't believe I've ever see so much mud and so much mud on everyone)!  I wore my dad's knee high mud/rain boots and they were mud about 3/4 of the way up!  The grounds were so wet and muddy that we had to park off site and get shuttled in.  The campers got pulled out by a local farmer with his tractor when the festival was done.  Luckily the reserved area where we sat was gravel.  Anyway...once my friend and I got there, we met up with my godfather in the Y100 Country Club tent to chat and see if he was able to get meet & greet passes for Rascal Flatts.  He was unable to do that.  However, when Rascal Flatts came into the Country Club tent around 10:30 that night to do their quick interview, my godfather let me inside the gated area to take pictures.  I was about 5 feet away from them!  When the interview was done and since my godfather and I were pretty much the only 2 in this area, I was able to high five them and shake their hands!  It was FUN!  Then my godfather took me behind the scenes where all the artists that were at Country USA that day autographed various items (t-shirts, guitars, album covers, etc.) and gave me an autographed Rascal Flatts t-shirt!  Talk about an experience! 

The next day, Saturday, I was off to the Badger State Games to watch my 9 year old nephew swim.  He was hoping to place in the top 3 of his swims that day, but since he is one of the younger and smaller 9 year old's in the 9-10 year old division, he kept taking 4th or 5th.  If he placed in the top 3 that would qualify him for Nationals out in San Diego in August.  He left the Games that day disappointed, but happy knowing that all of his times qualified him for state at the end of July.  Saturday night my parents and I went to a local place for yummy calzones and then to my sister's place.  Sunday morning we were back up bright and early to go back to the Badger State Games to watch my nephew swim again.  In his first two races he came in 4th and 5th again.  His final race was the 100 meter butterfly which he'd never swam before.  With a time of 1:37:24 he came in 3rd place qualifying him for Nationals!!  Everyone was shouting and jumping for joy!  He will get to swim at Nationals in San Diego in August!  I was so proud of him and so excited that I was home to see it.  After swimming, I met up with a great friend of mine for lunch outside along the Fox River.  It was wonderful!  I did a little shopping afterward and headed back to my parents house.  When I got home, the plan was to go boating (me, my parents, brother's family, and sister's family) on Lake Winnebago and then eat dinner together at a place on the lake.  However, my sister's boat decided not to work when they got to the loading dock!  So, we turned around and went back to my parents for dinner instead.  It was so nice to spend time with my brother, sister, their spouses, nieces, nephews, and parents!  Monday morning I finally got to sleep in a bit and then went to the mall for a little shopping.  When I got home, it was time for a quick dinner and then off to see my nephews play baseball.  I got to see my 9 year old nephew (the one that I watched swim all weekend) pitch a half an inning and then it was off to another venue to watch my other nephews.  My 10 year old nephew had some great hits and great stops as a catcher.  My 13 year old nephew hit an in the park home run!!!  His first ever and I was home to see it!  We celebrated with ice cream afterwards!  Tuesday morning, my parents made a nice breakfast, I said good-bye to everyone and then it was off to the airport to come back to Colorado.  I'm home now doing lots of laundry and getting the house back in order for my parents to come on Saturday.  More than likely my 6 year old niece will be coming along with them!  FUN!  Pictures of my adventures will come soon!  Hope all of you are enjoying your summer break as much as I am.  I really need to get on top of ordering a few things for school this week too!!   

Summer Vacation Week 2

Week 2 of summer vacation I was able to slow down a bit and even got a nap in one day!  I did spend some more time planting and weeding at our garden.  On Monday, I planted the marigolds around the perimeter of the garden.  Our garden really took off this week as well.  My husband and I notice a change every day when we go and water.  We are complete rookies when it comes to gardening so it has been so exciting to watch all of our vegetables grow!  In the pictures you will notice all the standing water at our garden - it's called flood irrigation.  We were told we cannot over water our garden and so far so good!  Now it's keeping those pesky weeds away, fertilizing (all organic), and making sure it gets plenty of water.

I also did some work on our yard at home.  I planted a few shasta daisy seeds so hopefully they will grow in our perennial garden area, the annuals I planted last week are looking great, and the lawn got mowed/trimmed - I love mowing the lawn!  However, with all this rain I'll be needing to mow it again tomorrow!  The dogs have enjoyed all their time outside with me as well.

I spent some more time at school this week as well.  There really is a lot to do to get a new classroom ready for kids.  I did a few things at home to get ready for the start of a new school year as well.  The book boxes that the kiddos and I use for guided reading groups all needed a good wash so, 5 dishwasher loads later they were all washed and ready to go back to school.  The curtains got washed as well.  One day this week, I will take all the book boxes and curtains back to school and water my plants again.  I'll probably need to order a few things for the new school year this week or next as well.  There's always something to do!   

Week 2 was capped off with a trip to Casa Bonita.  Not my favorite place, but our niece turned 8 and loves it there.  She had her party in the theater and she was able to go on stage with the magician.  That was a lot of fun for her and she was grinning from ear to ear!

Week 3 I'll be busy too.  Time to clean up the house a bit, wash the dogs, mow/trim the lawn, and head to Wisconsin to spend time with my family and go to Country USA to see Rascal Flatts.  I'm sure I'll have some fun pics from my adventures in Wisconsin.  I hope all of you are having a wonderful summer too!      

Summer Vacation Week 1

Hello!  I hope everyone is enjoying their summer vaction.  Week 1 of summer vacation was packed with fun!  The Sunday after school was out, my husband and I took off for Scottsdale, AZ.  My husband had a business conference at the Hyatt Regancy Resort and Spa.  What a place!  While my husband was busy with his conference, I was able to work-out, soak up some sun, shop, and get a pedicure.  In the evenings, it was nice to spend time listening to music at the outdoor restaurant.  Feeding the wildlife was not recommended - even though the mama duck tried to eat my husband!  It was so relaxing and nice to get away for a few days.  The scenery was breath-taking as well. 

Once we got back home, we hit the ground running!  In May, my husband and I decided to plant a vegetable garden at a local Parker community garden.  However, for the past month our garden was watered, but not weeded.  On Saturday we had a project - a lot of weeding needed to be done!  Many hours later, the garden was weeded and many more vegetables where finally planted.  Cross your fingers and hope our sweet corn, beans, peas, lettuce, spinach, romaine, carrots, potatoes, peppers, jalapenos, mini-pumpkins, and cucumbers all make it.  This is our first attempt at gardening!  I just need to finish planting some marigolds around the garden.  On Sunday, we bought all the soil and flowers needed to beautify the outside of our home.  So many hours of planting, but so worth it!

Besides some gym time, watering the garden, and watering the flowers I wonder what else week 2 of summer vacation will bring?!  I hope you are all enjoying your summer vacation!

P.S.  I even managed to spend a few minutes at school this week watering my plants and looking at all the work ahead of me to get the new classroom ready for kids!