Brown's Business

APRIL DATES

IMPORTANT DATES TO KNOW:

April 7-11  Spring Break, No School

April 16 Lovinggood Orientation (for rising 6th graders) 6:30pm

April 19 Yard Sale at Dowell 9-12:00

April 23-30 CRCT, all grades

May 2  PTA Family Luau

May 2 Last Day to check out Library Books

May 6-8 First Grade to Mexican Restaurant

May 9 Last day for AR tests

May 9 All library books due to library

May 12 AR Ice Cream Party

May 15 First grade Field Day

May 19-23 Last Week of School fun days

CLASSROOM NEWS:

1. AR:  We only had 3 students not make the AR goal last nine weeks.  For the final weeks their goal again is to pass 20 books by May 9.  It would be awesome to have all 19 students at our Ice Cream Party!  We had several students over 30 and 50.  We had one student over 80 books passed!  Way to go Victor!!

2.  CRCT TEST:  It is only a couple weeks until the CRCT.  All grades 1-5 will take the test.  We will only take the Math and Reading section.  Students will be read most questions twice.  They will be bubbling in on their test booklet, not an answer sheet.  The test CAN be very stressful for the students.  Try to be very encouraging that they have been taught everything they need to know and they are ready for it!    A good breakfast each morning and lots of sleep will be helpful also.  CRCT HW is good practice for them to be ready.  Feel free to do the questions with your child and discuss how to find the answer.  We go over the questions together in class to learn test taking skills. 

CURRICULUM NEWS:

MATH: We are exploring the hundreds chart some more, identifying numbers that are "ten more, or ten less, or one more or one less".  We will be working on breaking numbers apart.  47= 40+ 7  OR  10 + 10 + 10 + 10+ 7 = 47.  CRCT HW will be review.

PHONICS/ENGLISH:  We are working with basewords and adding suffixes (endings) and prefixes (before the word) and understanding how the word changes meaning.  We have been doing suffixes: -ed, -ing, -s, -es, -ly, ful.  Prefixes: re-, un-, pre-.  Students also will identify the baseword.

READING: We are reviewing all of the reading strategies we've learned this year.  We are enriching our reading in various ways depending on your child's level.

WRITING:  This nine weeks we are writing a response to literature.  First we read a book. Then we write either: 1) how we feel about the book 2) how the book relates to us 3) how the book relates to other books  4) how the book relates to events in the world OR 5) write a different ending to the story.

SCIENCE:  We have been learning about Living and Non-living things.  We've studied plants ; what they need to live,  parts of a plant, functions of each part, parts of a seed.  Now we are moving on to  animals.  We will be looking at the characteristics of animals, what they need to live, comparing & contrasting them, grouping them, etc.  We are not focusing on the classification like "mammals".

SPELLING:  Believe it or not, the Spelling Curriculum required has already been taught.  From now on I will be reviewing the Core Spelling Words and creating lists of words.

MARCH DATES

IMPORTANT DATES:

March 4 Early  Release at 12:30

March 5  Music Man in-house fieldtrip

March 6 PTA - CRCT information

March 7 Spring Pictures, individual and class

March 8 Change your clocks!!

March 11  Stevie B's Night

March 14 Last Day to pass AR Tests

March 17 AR Party during lunch for those students passing 20 books

March 20 National "Incredible Kids Day"

March 20 Report cards go home

CLASSROOM NEWS:

1)  So far we have 10 students that have 20 or more AR tests passed!! WOW!!  They have passed over 500 tests this nine weeks so far.

2)  Our class will be saying the pledge on the morning announcements the week of March 10-14.

3)  Did you know you can send your child letters using the Dolphin Express?  The address for our classroom is 309 Lobster Lane, Dowell, GA 30003.  Letters should be addressed just like the real US mail.  The mail drop box is in the Dowell Lobby and it is gold.  Mail will be picked up every Monday and Wednesday afternoons.

4)  MATH:  We are beginning a unit on measurement.  This includes standand and non-standard units of measure ( paperclips).  We will learn about measuring with inches and feet, measure liquids with cups, pints, quarts, gallons, measure temperature with a thermometer, measure weight with ounces and pounds.

5)HEALTH:  We are discussing Dental Health care.  Encourage brushing teeth twice a day and flossing once a day.

6) SCIENCE:  We will learn about living and non-living things, including plants and animals.  We will learn what all living things need to live.  We will learn the basic parts of plants.  We will learn to classify animals according to their characteristics.

7) WRITING:  We continue to write non-fiction stories.  Students are doing the work independently (most of the time).

8)  READING:  We are working with Alphabetical order.  We are using a dictionary to locate words.  We discuss "entrywords,  guidewords, definition, and pronunciation."  We will begin contractions, like doesn't= does not. 

9)  TECHNOLOGY:  In the computer lab we have been working on several things.  We have been learning to type,  and we have a new Math game that works on all of our skills.

10) PHONICS:  We have been through most long vowel sounds.  We have long e, with ee and ea left to do.  Then we move into words with oo, ou, ow.

11) SPELLING:  The class is doing really well on the spelling tests!!  Some students mention to me that they are practicing at home.  Great job, parents!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

April 7-11 Spring Break

April 23-29 CRCT testing

May 23  Last day of school

FEBRUARY HIGHLIGHTS

DATES: 

Feb. 6  Early Release at 12:30

Feb. 7 PTA COSMIC BOWLING/ Relay for Life Fundraiser

Feb. 14 Valentine Exchange (see details below)

Feb. 15  Six Flags Reading Forms are due!

Feb. 18 & 19 No School

CLASSROOM INFO:

1)  My daughter Julie has been sick this week, so there's been a sub in our room.  If you find any incomplete work in the Buddy Folder, please have your child do it and return it tomorrow!  I apologize that the sub did not have the children write down their homework assignments in the folder.    Your child will not be counted off for any mix up for these days.

2)  Next Thursday we will have a VALENTINE EXCHANGE. Each child needs to bring in valentines for each child in the.  These can be either homemade or store bought.  You are invited to send in treats to pass out with the valentines.  On the back of the February calendar in the buddy folder is the list of names of students in our class. Please have the valentines completed BEFORE sending them.

3)  COSMIC BOWLING is an annual event at Dowell.  There will be food, drinks and glow in the dark items available for purchase.  Wear white clothes so you will glow in the dark!  All proceeds benefit our Relay for Life Team, for the American Cancer Society.

4) We are in need of sanitizing wipes for the classroom.  Tis the season for coughing and germs!  We like to clean our desktops to help prevent sickness.  If you could send in some,  I'd appreciate any donations!!

CURRICULUM:

Math:  We are working on counting money.  Students need to be able to count coins to $1.00.  They also need to count bills; ones, fives, tens, twenties.  Please work with your child to count money.  This takes one-on-one practice.

SS:  We have been learning about landforms and bodies of water: mountains, hills, plains, valley, canyon, ocean, river, lake.  We are locating these items on maps of North America also.

PHONICS:  We are continuing long vowel o.  The different patterns are: o, v-c-e, oe, oa, ow.  Have your child point out these patterns when you read together.

WRITING:  As we discussed at conferences, our factual writing is doing great!  Students will be working on completing the graphic organizer and doing the story on their own next week.

READING: Do I need to mention AR??  It's all the buzz in our room!!   We are working on Cause/effect relations in stories.

SPELLING:  The class is doing great adjusting to the spelling tests.  Those students with the challenge words are definitely getting tough words.  Keep practicing those words!

JANUARY AND FEBRUARY DATES

/Jan. 21 NO SCHOOL- MLK DAY

Jan. 22  EARLY RELEASE- 12:30 Conferences 

Jan. 23  EARLY RELEASE

                  100th Day of School

Jan. 24  EARLY RELEASE

Jan. 25  EARLY RELEASE

Jan. 28 EARLY RELEASE

Feb. 6 EARLY RELEASE DAY 12:30 (TEACHER INSERVICES)

Feb. 14 Valentine Exchange

Feb. 18 PRESIDENT'S DAY- NO SCHOOL

Feb. 19 Teacher Work Day

CLASSROOM NEWS:

1. Happy New Year!  As the new year begins we review the months of the year and discuss the differences between the calendar year and the school year.

2.  Conference forms have gone home.  Please indicate if you can/cannot attend at that time.  If you know ahead of time that you can't come, please let me know so we can either reschedule or do a phone conference.  If you did not get a conference form let me know!

3.  Spelling starts this nine weeks.  Look for directions on an orange paper packet.  The tests on Fridays will be a list of words as well as words in context of a story.  Each Monday a HW packet will come home.  Students may do one page a night, or all pages at once.  Check your evening activities schedule to help you plan.

4.  Report cards will be distributed at conferences.

5.  As we enter the second half of the year more homework will be assigned.  Students are becoming more responsible and are deep in learning.  Please verbally check with your child each day about their HW.  Remember to sign for Reading assignments!

6.  In Math we are studying fractions 1/4, 1/3, 1/2.  Fractions must be equal parts.  We will then move into counting money.  Students must be able to count using pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and bills of $1, $5, $10, and $20.

7.  In LA we are learning about using a comma in a series, cause and effect relations, and long a.  Long a patterns include: v-c-e, ai, ay.

8.  In writing we are working on writing factual information into text.  We will collect facts onto a graphic organizer then turn it into paragraphs.

9. In SS we are studying and comparing Canada to the USA.

December Calendar

DATES:

Dec. 8 Breakfast with Santa,  9am-noon

Dec. 11 Stevie B's Night, 4-8pm

Dec. 14  Last Day for AR tests this nine weeks

Dec. 18  Pizza Party for students passing 20 books

Dec. 20  Class Holiday Party

Dec. 21 Sing-a-Long, Polar Express Movie, Pajama Day

NO SCHOOL  DECEMBER 22- JANUARY 7 .  Return Tuesday, Jan. 8.

HOLIDAYS AROUND THE WORLD:  The first graders at Dowell will be taking a trip around the world for two weeks learning about various holidays. The teachers will each be teaching about a different country's traditions.  Many of these traditions are  used in the United States.   The students will move from classroom to classroom. The following is our itinerary for the trip:

Dec. 3- Christmas in Mexico, Mrs. Brake's room

Dec. 4- Christmas in England, Ms Malone's room

Dec. 5- Christmas in Canada, Mrs. John's/Lankford's room

Dec. 6- Christmas in Germany, Mrs. Beasley's/Pszczola's room

Dec. 7- Hanukkah in Israel, Mrs. Brown's room (ours)

Dec. 10- Christmas in Sweden, Mrs. Kirkus's room

Dec. 11- Kwanza in Africa, Mrs. Jefferson's room

Dec. 12- Christmas in China, Mrs. Discepola's/Reece's room

Dec. 13- Christmas in USA, Mrs. Allen's room

I'd like to welcome to our class Jazmine.  She comes from Austell.  We must say goodbye to Audrie.  She moved to Dallas, GA.

CURRICULUM:

MATH- We will continue reviewing addition and subtraction facts.  For December we will concentrate on Geometry.  We will study 3-D shapes.  We will learn how we use shapes in our everyday world.

SCIENCE- We will be studying Magnets, magnetism, force, the North and South poles, attracts, repels.  There will be a couple assignments at home.

SS- Holidays around the World

READING- Not only are we learning meanings of words when we read, but we are discussing the location of words on pages, location of pictures, correlation of words and pictures.  We are looking at how commas separate lists of things.

PHONICS- We will be working with the bossy r words including the letters -ir, -er, -ur.  We will also work with the blends: ch, sh, th, wh.

November Info.

PTA PRIMARY SCIENCE NIGHT is this Thursday, Nov.8, from 6:30-7:30.  (PTA will have refreshments available for sale.)  Students will receive a passport to travel from station to station as they perform various science experiments.

TYE DYE pillowcases will be done Thursday morning @ 8:30.  Parent volunteers are needed  around 8am to prepare the buckets of dye and to assist students.  It goes rather quickly for each class and is NOT messy.  It is a very organized procedure.  EACH STUDENT NEEDS TO SEND IN A WHITE OR PASTEL PILLOWCASE BY THURSDAY.  We want to have these done to wear for the VIP lunch on Thursday, Nov. 15.

ETOWAH  INDIAN MOUNDS fieldtrip will be an outdoor event.  Please dress your child warmly, as it is cold and windy on top of the mounds.  If you are interested in volunteering for this trip let me know.

VIP LUNCHES for Thanksgiving will be  Nov. 14 & 15.  First grade VIPs are to come on Thursday.  Grandparents are  usually the relatives to come, but if they are not available others are welcome!  The lunch times will be changed, so be on the look out for that schedule.

ARTS NIGHT is November 27 at 6pm.  Each student will have a piece of artwork framed and on display for purchase.  The chorus will also be performing in the cafeteria.

I would like our class to support OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD this year by filling two shoeboxes for needy children.  It is a program by Samaritin's Purse.  The shoeboxes are filled with small items like school supplies, little toys, books, toothpaste, soap, etc.  They are distributed across the world for underpriviledged children.  See info coming home.  If you are interested in doing a complete shoebox for your child/family, I have extra brochures I can send you with the specific instructions.

November Dates

NOVEMBER DATES:

Nov. 5 & 6 Teacher Inservice Day

Nov. 8 PTA Science Night Grades K-2

Nov. 8 Tye Dye pillowcases 8am

Nov. 9 Veteran's Breakfasst

Nov. 13 Stevie B's Night

Nov. 14 Field Trip to Etowah

Nov. 15 VIP Thanksgiving Lunch for 1st.

Nov 21-23 No School, Thanksgiving Holiday

Nov. 27  Arts Night

Nov. 30  Spirit Day

News and notes

CLASSROOM NEWS:

1.  AR has begun!  The children are really excited about taking the quizes on the computer!  Our goal is to pass 20 books by Dec. 14.  The pizza party will be on Dec. 18th.  Here are some guidelines:  students should read the book TWICE, the scores DO NOT count towards their grades, you can only take one test on a book (no second tries), a print out comes home when they take a test.  DO NOT SIGN AND RETURN IT!

2.  Addition timed tests are happening!  Students are really  motivated to memorize their addition facts.  I am currently giving them 2 minutes to answer 30 facts.  A third of the class is completing all 30!!!  Next week I will lessen the time to a minute and a half for 30 facts.  We are also playing a flashcard game called "Around the World".  The children compete against each other on an addition fact.  The quickest player moves around the room to compete until someone is quicker.  When they return to the place they started, they have made it "around the world."

3.  Art work is being displayed at the Chick-fil-A on Powder Springs Rd and Publix on Dallas Hwy.  Look for our autumn trees.

CURRICULUM:

Math-  We will continue our addition timed tests as we learn the values of numbers 20-100.  We will be using base-ten blocks (tens and ones) as well as the hundreds chart.  We will be comparing the numbers in each digit, which is greater or less, which is 10 greater or 10 less, which is 5 greater or 5 less.  We will be counting to 100 by 2, 5, and 10.  We will also be counting backwards.

Phonics- We have begun the short o sound.  We practice reading and writing with short o word families.  We also add a few other letter sounds to blend words.

Writing- We are developing our complete sentences from sentences with sequence words to stories using sequence words.  The main focus on the writing is: 1. correct letter formation 2.capitals at the beginning 3. punctuation at the end 4. complete thought 5. correct order (sequence of events).  Writing is NOT focus on correct spelling YET.  That happens later in the year.  We're building confidence to write.

Reading-  Besides AR we will be working with Main Idea and details of a story.

Social Studies- We are continuing maps from our neighborhood into our country and continents and  oceans.  DID YOU KNOW THERE IS A NEW OCEAN??  The most current world maps have labeled the ocean around Antarctica as "The Southern Ocean."  Vocab:  Map Key,  Map Symbols, Cardinal directions, NSWE,  and later landforms.

OCTOBER DATES

IMPORTANT DATES FOR OCTOBER:

Oct. 5  PTA / Publix Math Night, at Dallas Hwy Publix. 6-8 pm

Oct. 6  Picture retakes, lollipops for sale

Oct. 9  Stevie B's Night

Oct. 17  Early Release 12:30

Oct. 19  Fall Festival 5-8pm and lollipops for sale

Oct. 22-26 RED RIBBON WEEK and library BOOK FAIR

Oct. 22 Report cards home

Oct. 24 Boxtop competition ends

Oct. 26 fieldtrip

Oct. 26 Spirit Day

CHICK-FIL-A biscuits are sold every Thursday morning for $2.50.

Email Notification Service

Parents
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We are exploring other means of providing this service to you at this time. For now, we ask your patience as we work through the concern. In the meantime, if you receive an ad that is objectionable to you, we would appreciate your notifying the school, and holding onto it so that it may be forwarded to proper personnel.

Thank you for your patience!