Sandra Tarantino

Awesome April Updates

With CRCT testing over, we are beginning our final four week countdown in our Fabulous First Grade Classroom!

During the next few weeks we will be working on our basic addition and subtraction math facts through 18.  We will practice each day so that we can become much quicker with our computation.  We will also continue to review everything we have learned in math.

We will be working on our class book for this year which we will share with you at our Author's Tea.

In social studies we will be learning about folk heros beginning with Johnny Appleseed and Paul Bunyon.

Please mark your calendars now for:

April 28: Miss Phillip's last day as our student teacher

May 13: Kdg and First Grade Field Day

May 14: Mrs. Tarantino's Author's Tea

May 22: Our last day of school

And a special thank you and a fond farewell to our student teacher, Miss Jamie Lou Phillips!  We have all enjoyed having her in our classroom and wish her the very best as she prepares for her graduation from KSU.

Tarantino's Tidbits...

Our first graders did a fantastic job at the PTA meeting last Thursday evening.  A special thank you to all of you who were able to join us!

Congratulations to Carnes Mathis!  Carnes is the Still Elementary second place winner for the first grade in our writting fair.  Carnes wrote a wonderful story about what she would do if she was elected president. 

In phonics: We are continuing to practice blending.

In math:  We are learning to tell time by the hour and half hour.  Miss Phillips and I are enjoying trying tiered math groups in our classroom. Today,  we had a great time when Miss Phillips took us to the computer to practice our time telling skills using different games.

In science:  We are learning all about the parts of a plant and what plants need to live. 

Our shared reading story this week is called Wonderful Worms.  We are making a K-W-L chart and practicing finding the main idea and details.

Thank you!  We really appreciate Mrs. Tickner's help with AR reading last week!  The children love to read to an adult!

Looking Ahead:

March 19:  Report Cards come home.

April 6 - 10:  Spring Break

Needed:  We need some sandwich size ziplock bags.

February 26,2009

We've had another fantastic week in our first grade classroom!

In phonics, Miss Phillips has been reviewing blending. We've learned about the oi and oy phonics sounds as well as the silent k at the beginning of kn words such as know.

We've begun guided math groups this week.  We are learning about fractions as equal parts of a whole, halves, and fourths.  When you are at Still, please be sure to stop by to see our Fraction Quilt posted to our classroom door.  Later next week we will work on interpreting information from graphs.

George Washington Carver has been our focus in Social Studies.  We have learned about his contributions to science and farming.  Perseverance has been one of our new character words.  We've compared how both Carver and Tubman showed perseverance!  In our writing center we wrote about a time when we or someone we knew showed perseverance and many of our students are learning how to spell perseverance as one of our bonus words.

Next week Miss Phillips will begin teaching our science unit on plants.

Looking Ahead:

Tuesday, March 3: Our last Early Release Day.

Thursday, March 5:  PTSA, please attend as our first graders will be singing!

Needed:

Our treasure chest needs some treasure.  Any small items and old toy donations will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for all you do, as we all work together our children are making great progress!

February 11, 2009

Parenting Seminar:

February 28th from 9-12 pm.  John Rosemond, psychologist and down to earth leading speaker and author will hold a parenting seminar.  The seminar will be held at North Cobb Christian School in Acworth/Kennesaw.  Cost = $5.00.  You must preregister.  For more information please go to www.nchristian.org.

In Phonics we are learning about the au and aw sounds in words and are practicing blending all previously learned sounds.

In Math we are learning different ways of making $1.00.  We have learned two new math games to practice making change and addition facts.

In Social Studies we are finishing up our study of Teddy Roosevelt.  We had a great time sharing our teddy bears last week.  We tallied and graphed data about our bears.  This week we are continuing to practice our graphic skills with yummy gummi bears.

In Health we have learned about proper dental care.  We wrote stories today describing a trip to the dentist.

Congratulations to Makayla Langford who is this month's Terrifc Kid!

Please remember to send in valentines for our class exchange on Friday.

Six Flags Reading Logs are due on Tuesday, February 17.  This is a great opportunity for your child to practice reading while earning a free ticket to Six Flags!

It was so nice to see all of our special friends and family at lunch today!  Thank you for joining us!

Best wishes to all for a fabulous Valentine's weekend!  Thank you for all you do to support our fabulous first grade class!

This week in phonics we are continuing to practice making the long i sound when a word ends in a "bossy e". 

In Math we are learning about solid figures, faces, and corners.  We are studying cones, spheres, cylinders, cubes, and rectangular prisms.  We are continuing practing making fair trades with money up to 75 cents.  Please check out our holiday tree ornament display outside of our room with different combinations of coins valuing 75 cents.

November was a busy month with our "History Channel" presentation at Barnes and Noble being a great success!  We are continuing to learn more about Lewis and Clark's expeditions.  Two important character traits we are discussing are tolerance and courage.  We participated in B98.5's HO HO HOPE project by making cards and writing messages of hope to our servicemen and woman.  Ours were some of 508 cards mailed from Still Elementary.

We will be making holiday decorations with the help of our room moms this week.  Our Snowman Soup is ready to be delivered to local hospitals by Mrs. Tarantino before Christmas. 

Looking ahead....practice CRCT information was sent home in a letter today.  Please continue to check your child's folder daily for other important information and announcements.

Cold wintery weather is here!  We go outside for recess each day.  Please be sure your child is dressed accordingly.

December 18 at 10:00 is our class Holiday Party.

WOW!  Our class's "History Channel" presentation was videotaped this morning by JoAnn Wood, Elementary School Social Studies Supervisor.  The kids did an awesome job presenting the six historians we have been studying.  I will be sharing our video at the Georgia Conference of Social Studies in Athens later next week.  We will also present our reports at Barnes and Noble in the Avenue in November.  As soon as I have that information available I will share it with you.

Today your children brought home their first report card.  Please return the signature card in the unsealed envelope on Monday.

Next week our phonics spelling words will be a review of all short vowel sounds.  In math we will learn more about fact families and related facts.  In social studies we will learn more about Thomas Jefferson. 

On Wednesday we will have a special in house science High-Touch High-Tech field trip about sound.

A special thank you for all of your support! 

This Week:  We will be assessing sightwords and trading money.  By this time your child should know a minimum of 50 sightwords.  Please check your child's homework folder to see if if sightword practice is needed at this time.  In math we are making fair trades with pennies, nickels, and dimes.  Please practice at home. We wil be learning about fact families and practicing our addition and subtraction stratagies. Our phonics spelling focus will be reviewing short o and short u words.

History Presentation:  Last week your child brought home their historic figure presentation to practice.  Please continue practicing with your child nightly.

Accelerated Reading:  Our AR program is off and running!  The children can take tests daily in our classroom.

Fall Festival Basket: Thank you to all of you who have sent in items for our Lego basket!  It's not too late if you would like to contribute.  We can use a few more items.

Upcoming Events:

October 15: Early Release

October 17: Report cards are sent home

What a wonderful class!!!!   Thank you for sharing these fantastic first grade students with me, we are having a great year toegether!

TARANTINO'S TIDBITS

This week our phonics focus will be the short u sound.  In math we will continue practicing addition and subtraction strategies, place value, and learning how to make fair trades with money.  We had a great time in science last week when we made our own windvanes to measure wind.  We will continue learning more about different kinds of weather this week.  In social studies we will begin practicing for our Historical Figure "History Channel" presentation.  I will be reading a special book this week called the Waltz of the Scarecrows by Constance W. McGeorge and Mary Whyte.  Later we will make scarcrows setting them on different landforms and describing the landform features in our own stories.

Looking Ahead:

October 14: Picture retakes

October 15: Early Release

A Special Thank You"

Thank you for sending in so many nice contributions for our Fall Festival Lego basket.  There's still time if you have not made a contribution and you wish to do so.

Testing is over and the class did a great job!  This week we will blend words with the short o sound.

In math we will continue practicing addition and subtraction strategies.  Last week we practiced using the number line, counting on, and using doubles to help us add.  We will soon be working on making "fair trades" using money.  Please practice identifying pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters with your child as well as the coin's value.  In social studies we are continuing to learn about Benjamin Franklin, and idelntifying specific land forms.  Our science class was most exciting last Thursday when we made a "tornado" and "snow" with Miss McSwain!  We are continuing to learn about different kinds of weather.  In writing this week we will be describing our favorite things to do in autumn.  AR has begun!  Please be sure your child is reading for a miniumun of 15 minutes each day.

Looking Ahead: 

October 14: Picture Retakes

Fall Festival Basket:  Please send in Lego items for our class basket that will be raffled off at the Fall

Festival.

Scholastic Book Orders for October are due on Thursday if you wish to order this month.

Please Remember:

Please send in a healthy snack for your child each day, our lunch isn't until 12:22.

TARANTINO'S TIDBITS

Another Great Week:  Congratulations to Alyssa who was selected as our first Terrific Kid of the school year!  We were busy last week finishing our Spider Stories which are posted in the hall. We hope you'll stop by to read them. We also took a math test on subtraction and began learning about Historical figures.

This week we will continue blending words with the short a and short i sound.  In math we will be learning addition strategies using a number line to count on and adding using doubles.  In social studies we are learning about landforms: mountains, plateaus, plains, valleys, coast, and the desert.  We are also learning about Benjamin Franklin; the inventor, statesman, and author while we continue to work on our History Channel presentation.  In science we will begin learning about weather.

Looking Ahead:

Septenber 16: Early Release

September 17-19: CogAT Testing

Please Remember:

Please continue to check your child's red folder and agenda each evening.

AR reading has begun!  Pleases be sure your child is reading daily at home.

Also, please remember to send a healthy snack with your child each day.

Thank You:

A special thank you to Molly's mother for her AR leadership, to Carnes' mother for assisting with centers and getting our Fall Basket organized, to Alison's mother for sending in extra treasures, to Morgan's mother for sharpening pencils for us, and to all of you for all of the wonderful things you do to help us have a fantastic first grade year.  We also had a special helper last week from Croatia.   Ivanna is here as an au pair with APIA taking a year off from her teaching position in her home country. She will continue to assist us on Tuesday mornings until she returns home in November.