T-Shirts for Onnah

If you are interested in ordering a t-shirt for our fundraiser for Onnah Dvorak and her family, please send the form and payment no later than TOMORROW.  If you need a copy of the form, please email me.  

Post Prom Can Drive

It's hard to think our first graders will be old enough to go to Prom someday...!  

2014 POST PROM CAN DRIVE! Donate your cans and bottles to raise money for the 2014 Benton Jr./Sr. Post Prom Party! You can drop off your cans and bottles donation at any of the following person's home during the week of Feb. 2nd - Feb. 7th. Thank you for your donations! We appreciate it! 

ATKINS - Tobi Peterman/Christy Damon/Carolyn Spading

BLAIRSTOWN - Opie Kimm

ELBERON - Laurie Parizek 

KEYSTONE - Val Hermsen/ Byran & Tracie Kimm 

NEWHALL - Jane Hagen 

NORWAY - Vance Schulte/Cherie & Bruce Volz 

VAN HORNE - Kellee Jurgens /Cheree’ Wheeler 

WATKINS - John & Julie Kuester.

Your Children Made Their Teacher Cry...

I showed the latest Kid President video to my class today.  At the end of the video, Kid President asks students to respond to #thekidsneedtoknow, so that is exactly what we did.  

Be nice #thekidsneedtoknow
If you want to be treated nice, treat people the way you want to be treated #thekidsneedtoknow
Be nice #thekidsneedtoknow
Be nice #thekidsneedtoknow
Kids need to be nice #thekidsneedtoknow
Live good #thekidsneedtoknow
The ABCs, math and science #thekidsneedtoknow
Math #thekidsneedtoknow
Be nice and do math #thekidsneedtoknow
Kids need to know to be nice #thekidsneedtoknow
Math, numbers #thekidsneedtoknow
Kids need to know how to be nice #thekidsneedtoknow
How to ride a bike, listen, remember #thekidsneedtoknow
They need to know see and writing and math and read #thekidsneedtoknow
Be nice to the books #thekidsneedtoknow
Spell name, math, write #thekidsneedtoknow

These responses tell me a few things:

1.)  We've been doing a lot of writing and math facts (AND they know it's important)!
2.)  We've been stuck inside for too long and have had to have a few friendship chats. (Looking forward to tomorrow's "heat wave"...)
3.)  Amazing things happen every day.  

Sometimes I wonder if I'm showing these videos for the students or myself.  When the students' conversations turned to how everyone is entitled to a mistake or bad day, but we all need to forgive and treat others like it's their birthday, I teared up... and I think they noticed.  

Thanks for sharing your children with me.  They are creatures made from love, to be love, to spread love.  

I'm really glad they're here.  

100th Day MOVED to FRIDAY

The 100th Day of School may be the BIGGEST (and BEST) "holiday" celebration in first grade.  I have a day full of fun-filled activities planned around the theme of 100.  Yesterday's school cancellation has moved our 100th day to Friday, January 31st.  If you received a note about bringing treats for this celebration, please do so on or before Friday. 

Check by on Friday for pictures of our special day!  

Helen Keller

One of the Bobcat Time (RtI) groups has been doing a LOT of reading and researching on Helen Keller.  Today, they shared their new knowledge with the rest of us.  Here are a few pictures of them showing off their great work.

Goal Setting Meetings

It has been a FABULOUS FRIDAY!  1U had a day of goal setting discussions.  There was sub in the classroom (and it's been going great, I hear) and I am at the other end of the building meeting with students one-on-one.  In our meeting, you student and I are discussing the progress they've made throughout first grade and graphing it.  They've done a fabulous job describing how hard they've been working at school and at home to come so far already in first grade.  We're also creating goals based on where we need to be by the end of first grade and where we are now.  Then, the first graders described what they need to do in order to reach their end of the year goal.  Want to know what most of them said?  READ!  And they were all EXACTLY right!  

We also discussed what they are "rocking" in first grade and what they could do better.  We talked about how there is always room for improvement. (Even for their teacher!)  The students were excited to tell me what they love about first grade and now one had any ideas of what they'd like to see be changed in first grade.  They didn't share their changes with me at least.  ;) 

Once again, thank you for sharing your wonderful, bright, loving children with me every day.  I can't tell you how blessed they make me feel.  I am so grateful the school district has prioritized days like today for students and teachers to really discuss all of the great things your children are doing.  This is just another example of how Benton Community puts our children first.  

Please ask your child how his or her goal setting meeting went today.  Let me know if you have any questions.  We will review all of the information from these meetings at spring conferences.  

SCHOOL DISMISSING EARLY TODAY

There will be a 1:30 dismissal today for all of Benton Community Schools due to winter weather.  Your child will follow his or her NORMAL Wednesday routine unless you call and let us know a different plan.  

Benefit for Onnah Dvorak

As you know, there is going to be a benefit for our second grade friend, Onnah Dvorak, in a few weeks.  I wanted to give you update information about the approaching benefit and an opportunity to help Onnah and enjoy a cold treat!  

See the link below for benefit details, contacts, and a partial auction item list.  

Benefit/Auction Info

Students at VHE have all participated in making a t-shirt for Onnah as well.  T-shirt ordering info will be sent home soon.  All of the proceeds from the t-shirts will be contributed to Onnah's benefit.  

On Wednesday, January 29th, Orange Leaf in Cedar Rapids will be donating 20% of their profits to Onnah's family.  The customer MUST mention the Onnah Dvorak family in order for them to receive the 20%.  This offer is good during business hours on the 29th only.  

Please let me know if you have any questions.  

NO SCHOOL MONDAY

Reminder:

There is NO SCHOOL on Monday, January 20th.  All elementary staff will be working with a representative from Benchmark Literacy, our new curriculum.  See posts from December of 2013 if you'd like to read more about this opportunity for students K-6.  

I hope all of my students get a chance to enjoy some time outside over the three-day weekend.  40 degrees is going to feel like a heat-wave!  :)

Penguin and Polar Bear Presentation Day

You’re INVITED!

Penguin & Polar Bear Presentation Day

WHAT:   A presentation day for students to share their projects and knowledge.  We will also be having a VIRTUAL FIELD TRIP with the Omaha Zoo that you’re welcome to attend.

WHO:     Anyone who’d like to see what first graders have been working so hard on.

WHEN:    The morning of Monday, February 10^th.

WHERE:  First grade classrooms at VHE

Please contact your child’s teacher with questions.  An RSVP

will be coming home as the date approaches.  

As you can see, students have been working hard gathering

information about polar bears and penguins!

First Grade Writing

Recently, we discussed what narrative writing is and how we can produce narrative writing pieces.  So far, students have been writing about real life situations they’ve had.  Our focus with this practice is to help students consistently use capital letters and ending punctuation and add detail to their pieces.  Four signal words we’ve been using to help sequence narratives are as follows: first, then, next, and finally.  Answering questions based on the five senses has also helped students add detail or “spice” to their piece.  I have attached a copy of the quarterly writing rubric that describes the specifics of what we’re looking for.  Please discuss these components with your child. 

On your child’s daily writing pieces, they will receive one of the four types of smiley faces below.  The purpose of the smiley face is to be an indicator of overall writing quality for you and your first grader based on the expectations listed above.  Know that a level three is what is expected and a four is above and beyond.  Levels one and two are indicators that improvements need to be made on future work.   

Please let me know if you have any questions about this writing rubric.  You are welcome to check out pictures posted on our classroom blog of our classroom example. 

http://teachinginthe21st-anna.blogspot.com/

This is the example that is left up for students to reference.  They can read the example and then compare their work to the example to see how their piece would score. 

These are the writing examples that are on the purple poster for students to reference:

4.0 Smiley face with hat:

On Saturday, my family and I went to the Omaha Zoo.  First, we had to pay at the gate.  Then, we went to see the elephants.  Elephants are my favorite animal because they have big ears and can walk quietly.  The biggest elephant sprayed water. Then, we went to the gift shop and I got a toy. We went home. That was a fun day.  

3.0 Smiley face:

On Saturday, my family and I went to the zoo.  First, we had to pay.  Then, we went to see the elephants.  Elephants are my favorite animal.  Then, I got a toy at the gift shop. We went home. It was fun.

2.0 Two eyes:

We went to the zoo.  First, I saw the elephants.  Then, I got a toy.  We went home.  It was fun.

1.0  One eye:

We went to the zoo.  I saw the elephants.  I got a toy.  We went home.

EARLY DISMISSAL TOMORROW

Reminder:  Tomorrow, Wednesday, January 15th, is an early dismissal.  Students will leave school at 1:00pm due to the end of the second quarter.  Report cards will come home next week.  

Narrative Writing

The first grade team across the Benton Community School District came up with a goal early in the year.  Our is centered around the idea of having students include more detail in their narrative writing pieces.  Soon, I will be attaching a small piece of paper to your child's narrative writing pieces to give you and your first grader an idea of where they stand as far as reaching the goal.  The most complete smiley face being writing of the highest quality and the face with only one eye being a piece that needs to add more detail.  We have made an example to show students what the different levels of writing quality look and sound like.  It also gives them key words like FIRST, NEXT, THEN, and FINALLY to use in their writing pieces.  

I will discuss this more at conference time, but I wanted to give you a heads up before then.  

Keep having your student write in their take-home journal.  I love looking back to the beginning of the journal and see how much each of them has transformed as a writer already this year.  I will be sending out info about a writing incentive to motivate your first grader.  

PTO Meeting

The PTO meeting has been rescheduled for Monday, January 13th, at Keystone Elementary.  Please make an effort to attend as we will be starting to plan Carnival 2014!  There will also be a couple requests made on behalf of first grade.  The support this organization provides is invaluable.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  

Double, Double, Double

Recently, we started working on doubles addition facts in math, but practicing these addition facts are embedded in other content areas.  Randomly throughout the day, I'll say, "Double 6."  The students get excited for their turn at answering a doubles fact.  We have talked at length about how important it is to have our doubles facts as automatic knowledge.  When asked a double, we need students to be able to say the answer within a few seconds. We've also started discussing near doubles (ex. 2+3).  Finding the sums to near doubles is much easier when students have the double memorized.  To find the sum to a near double, first double the smaller number and then add one more.  Below are some links to "games" that help students practice doubles and near doubles facts.  

http://www.ictgames.com/doubles.htm

http://www.maths-games.org/ladybird-doubles.html

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/monkeydrive/addition/MDAddDoubles.htm

http://www.primarygames.com/puzzles/memory/doublebubble/

FULL DAY FRIDAY/EARLY DISMISSAL WEDNESDAY

Due to recent school closings:

Friday, January 10th is a FULL DAY of school. 

Wednesday, January 15th is still a 1:00pm dismiss. 

If you every have any questions about the schedule or dismiss times, please check one of the following resources:

Check the Benton Community website @ http://www.benton.k12.ia.us/
Sign up for Iowa School Alerts
Check these radio or television stations. 
Call VHE Secretary, Lynne Peeler
Email me. :)

Heavy Backpacks

In a post over break, I mentioned your students would slowly be coming home with pieces of the old reading series that the district used.  We're FINALLY back in school and I'm able to do so.  :)  They had a lot of fun browsing through the books.  They all had faces full of pride as they thought many of the materials were too easy.  I was excited to hear their conversations as they went through the books.  Many of them were discussing plans of playing school. (This made my heart SING!)

There is more to come in the next couple of days.  If you know someone who'd like more, please email me.  What doesn't get taken will get recycled.  

No Spelling This Week

We will not begin a new spelling lesson this week because of the shortened schedule.  We will start week 15 on Monday.  You can find the list on Spelling City.  It deals with words with a long I and magic e.  

Kid President

Last week, we made cards for our friend, Kid President (aka Robby).  He had a surgical procedure dealing with his condition, Osteogeneis Imperfecta (OI), a brittle bone disease which has resulted in him having over 70 breaks since birth.  Robby has been a great companion for our first grade friends (and their teacher), reminding us of all of the good in our lives and that we need to share it.  Below is a link to his website that contains more info about Robby and all of his videos.   I was so proud of how hard the students worked on these cards.  I'm sure Robby will enjoy them even more than I did.  

Kid President

Polar Bears and Penguins

As much as I hate to admit it, these freezing temperatures have been great for one thing... Our intro to polar bears and penguins!  Students split off into two class teams today, Polar Bears and Penguins.  The STUDENTS created team norms, received their research journals and started KWL charts.  Please encourage your child to research as much as he or she would like at home.  We do as much research as we can at school, but from what I've seen, students are more engrossed in the topic if it is brought into their lives at home.  If your student has any books or other resources related to this topic at home and would like to bring them in, that would be great!   We will have a presentation day at the beginning of February that you'll be welcome to attend.  I'll send more info about that day home as it gets closer.  Here are a few pictures of what we worked on in regards to polar bears and penguins this morning.  Both teams are equipped with a "base camp," research notebook, folder, white boards, easel paper and a team library!  

PBIS Reward

Everyone had a ton of fun celebrating SAFE, RESPECTFUL, RESPONSIBLE, and CARING behaviors that have been made by our young Bobcats!  Below are a couple pictures from our PBIS celebration.

Holiday Party Info/Polar Express

I have yet to see any of the predicted seven inches of snow that we were supposed to get today and couldn't be more thrilled!  We will get back to our normal routines tomorrow!  I can't wait to hear all of the holiday excitement when we return.  

Tomorrow, Thursday, I plan on having our book exchange and a short "Holiday Party" for students to share what they did over break.  

On Friday, we will be having the PBIS celebration and watching The Polar Express.  Remember, students are going to be allowed to bring a small pillow for the movie and wear their pajamas.  If you have any questions about this, please let me know.