Vicenza Elementary School Improvement Goals:

Goal 1: All students will improve written communication across the curriculum.

Goal 2: All students students will improve mathematical reasoning.

Mrs. Petty-1st Grade-Room 13

Week of 25 February - 2 March 2008
Monday: Host Nation: Signore Faccio - Computer Lab p.m..
Tuesday: Art: Ms. Borgman -Info Center-Computer Lab a.m.
Wednesday: -Music: Ms. Hartwig - Info Center-Book Check-Out
Thursday: P.E. - Coach T. Please wear appropriate shoes!

Friday: Host Nation: Signore Salviati-Spelling Test

Homework links are ready to go!

Dates to remember:

1. CLASS Picture Day: Friday, February 29th, early morning

2. Animal Habitat Diorama Home Project Due:

Wednesday, March 5th - Information to be sent on Tuesday

3. Where Is Home? 21st Century Learning/Media Fair:

Friday, March 7th, 1:45-2:30 p.m. in the Baby Gym

Welcome to a new week. We've begun our electronic animal habitat projects using one of the new creative software tools at school called Web Blender 2. It's amazing, and as usual, the students are excited and motivated about this. Many of the specialists throughout the schoool are assisting us in this endeavor and the artifacts created will be on display a week from Friday on March 7, 1:45 p.m-2:30 in the baby gym at VES. They will also display their Animal Diorama projects at the same Media Fair and it will be a 'don't miss' affair.

Continue working on the homework links. These provide activities to strengthen the work and progress we make in the classroom. These links/activities, added to the home reading program, will help strengthen skills and prepare to meet the goals and objectives for first grade. Follow this link to check on all curricular standards in all first grade: http://www.dodea.edu/curriculum/docs/standardsCombined/GR01.pdf

Everything we do in school is connected to these standards. They guide the use of the many 'tools' in our classroom from books, texts, project-based learning goals and throughout all the curriculuar areas included.

Well, it's Leap Day and on Friday and we'll be photographed as a class early in the morning. Please return your envelopes w/payment enclosed in order to get this keepsake.

Have a wonderful week and keep up the good work from home.

Mrs. Petty

Vicenza Elementary School Improvement Goals:
Goal 1: All students will improve written communication across the curriculum.
Goal 2: All students students will improve mathematical reasoning.

Mrs. Petty-1st Grade-Room 13

Week of 19-24 February 2008

Tuesday: Art-Ms. Borgman-Computer Lab a.m.

Wednesday: Music-Ms. Hartwig-Info Center-Book Check-Out

Thursday: P.E.-Coach T.

Friday: Host Nation-Signora Salviati-Spelling Test

Homework links are ready to go!

First of all, let me thank you for your participation to the Canned Soup Drive for the Italian Red Cross this past 2 weeks. Our class alone, donated 34 cans of Chicken Noodle and Minestrone soup to the cause. The soup will be delivered this week and will help the less fortunate with their soup kitchen some day in the very near future. OUR SOUP DISPLAY IS NEAR THE LIBRARY FOR ALL TO SEE. THE GRAND TOTAL: 139 CANS!!! THANK YOU 1ST GRADE FAMILIES!

We also had an amazing learning experience with the 100th Day Bottle Project. The clues for your child's contents in the bottles were wonderful and their were so few that were guessed on the 1st opportunity. We really had to think and figure out what was inside each bottle that would 'match' the 3 clues given. We also guessed the level/volume of the collections as being low, medium or high. They are very proud of these bottles and they'll remain on display in our classroom for the remainder of the week.

We will begin another project in our classroom, that will include a home/family project. Next week, you will receive the directions for the Animal Habitat Home Project. This will include a written report on an animal that your child will select at school and a diorama to show it's habitat/environment/adaptations. All students will present their report to the class. Many actitivities will also be completed in class using the many technology tools available to them in the computer lab, our classroom, and with the help of new tech gadgets including recording on an I-pod. Ms. Martin, Ms. Gafford, Ms. Morgan, and Ms. Hartwig will be assisting us in this endeavor. You're officially invited to an exposition on the completed projects from our class and other classrooms at VES who are also involved in other projects based on the theme: Where is Home? Thank you for your support on the home assignment.

Your interest and volunteerism to help out on the Study Trip the end of May was also commendable. We've got a long list of those of you who would like to help out. Thank you so much for sending the information along, so we can complete the paperwork on this effort. I'll keep you informed about the 'rest' of the information, as the time gets closer for us to go to the Zoo and Safari Land. We will have a study of animal habitats to enhance their learning experience and knowledge for the experience.

Mrs. Petty

11-15 February Weekly Schedule:

Please remember to send a daily snack for a.m. recess/snack time. Your child can benefit at school from a nutritious snack during that time.

Our Canned Soup Drive has garnished 24 cans of soup thus far, just from our class! We look forward to helping our other 1st grade friends reach our goal of 100 cans of chicken noodle/minestrone soup by Thursday, our 100th day of school. All donations will benefit the Italian Red Cross at their weekly soup kitchen!

Monday: Art/Computer Lab p.m.

Tuesday: Music/Computer Lab a.m.-Return Library books NLT tomorrow!

Wednesday: P.E. Please wear tennis shoes/light jacket/Library Book Check-Out/
Bring your valentines to school in a large ziploc bag-we'll pass them out tomorrow!!!

Thursday: Host Nation /We will also celebrate Valentines' Day & our 100th Day of School

Friday: Host Nation

Monday, February 18th: NO SCHOOL-President's Day observed

We'll have a week of hard work and fun learning activities. We'll do lots of counting to 100 in different ways, especially skip-counting by 2s,5s, & 10s. Thursday should be busy with center rotation taking place for us by travelling to other teacher's room to enjoy the activities for the day. Please remember to send in your valentines, ready to go, by Wednesday, 13 February.

Please visit the homework links and send in those 100th Day Bottle projects in the bag. Attach the written work to the outside of the bag. If you like, decorate the outside of the bag before sending it in.

We enjoyed STARLAB last week and many thanks to Mr. Tramm for his wonderful presentation about our universe and the constellations. The Solar System 'came to life' for us last week. How many of you enjoyed the almost total eclipse of the moon on Saturday night? Absolutely beautiful and a miraculous sight!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Petty

4-8 February 2008 Weekly Schedule

Please remember to bring a snack for daily a.m. recess

& don't forget your canned soup donation for the Italian Red Cross Soup Kitchen

Chicken Noodle or Minestrone, please.

Thanks so much--can the 1st grade classes collect 100 cans by 14 February?

Count at the end of the day on 6 February, Our class alone has 16 cans, so let's see how many we can add before Friday afternoon!

Monday: Art/Computer Lab p.m.

Tuesday: Music/Computer Lab a.m.

Wednesday: P.E.(please wear tennis shoes!)/Library Book Check-out

Thursday: Host Nation/STARLAB!!! alias, the night sky----wear pants and comfortable shoes (we're getting inside a dome-like structure)

Friday: Host Nation

Happy February!! How'd that Groundhog do? Will we have 6 weeks more of winter, or an early spring? Ask your child about their prediction they made last week at school. It's been fun to explore this legend of American Culture in our classroom.

You received your first project-based assignment for homework last Friday. If you need any ideas, or clarification, check out this web-site: http://www.teacherweb.com/FL/Riverdale/MrsPontonsFirstGrade/AP25.stm .

Scroll down to see the many different kinds of bottles, and especially the Mrs. Ponton's students' bottle clues in the chart, if you need any guidance. There are pictures, examples, clues and other information to clarify this project. After completing the project, place your collection bottle in the white paper bag, and staple the clue worksheet to the outside. Please be creative in the packaging of your bottle and the bag you put it in. You can decorate the outside of the bag with the words: _______________'s 100th Day Bottle. Don't tell what's inside, but simply attach the clue sheet and bring to school on or before Wednesday, 13 February. You can also bring your Valentines by that day, if you plan on sharing any with the other 14 friends in our class. Place them in a zip-loc bag with your child's name on the outside. Make certain they write on the back of each valentine, "From __________".

The other part of the project is completing the other attached sheets. These are writing exercises about filling in the blanks, answering questions with complete sentences, and putting those sentences into paragraph form. FYI: All students 'typed' their first research project on penguins in Microsoft Word! If you prefer, you could also use this as a way to have them respond in paragraph form. They are still needing some support, but they did an excellent job and just love using the font/color, font/template changes. They are also welcome to just write it on the attached forms in the 100 Day Bottle Project forms sent home on Friday. Have fun and I'm excited to see the projects come in over the next ten days.

Next month's project will be about consonant blends and it's also very fun. Thank you for all the support.

Please continue working on the homework links. Spelling tests are looking very good right now and they have learned so much about legible handwriting, recording sounds they hear in unknown words, writing the 'chunks' of the words they hear, using the word wall for help when spelling, and taking dictation sentences. For those who made Home Offices for the homework center at home, they are really working well.

One of the most important homework activities is that of reading to and reading with your child. Interacting with the text and making personal connections to stories helps with comprehension. Stopping and reflecting (sharing your reactions by 'thinking outloud' shows your child that thinking about the story makes it more fun to learn to read. Don't forget about those 'think alongs' as you work toward the end of the year.

Have a wonderful week-

Mrs. Petty