Pumpkin Day!

Today we celebrated Pumpkin Day!  We had a lot of fun learning about pumpkins.  We completed several activities that related to pumpkins.  Your child is bringing home a "Pumpkins" book.  They were encouraged to read this to you!  We also did a pumpkin sink or float activity.  The students LOVED this!  Do you know if pumpkins sink or float?  If not, ask your child to share!  Thank you to all of the parents who stopped by to celebrate with us!  Have a GREAT weekend!
Ms. Ray
 **I've uploaded next weeks spelling words, high frequency words, "WOW" words, and science theme!  Just in case any of you wanted to get a jump start! **

• Don't forget to check your child's fluency folders each night.  Encourage your child to read to you!  They love to share what they are learning!
• Slushy Day is Wednesday, October 19th!  If you want your child to have a slushy please send $1 dollar with them to school!
• PTA is sponsoring an "It's a Spooky Special Day!"  This will take place on Wednesday, October 19th!  The cost is $2 and will include a snack, drink, and a special surprise! 
• Spelling test is this FRIDAY!  I am amazed at how well the students were able to spell these words today!  Keep up the GREAT work!
• I am happy to report that as of Friday, Mrs. Miller's class has read a total of 878 books!  Our classroom goal is 1,500 books!  We are over half way there!  Way to go Mrs. Miller's class! :-) I am so proud of each and every student in this classroom.  They have all accepted the challenge and are doing an outstanding job! (Encourage your child to keep reading!  I am working on a classroom pajama/pizza party day for meeting our goal!)

Take time to enjoy this beautiful weather! 

Happy Monday!

Ms. Ray

My Favorite Food Is...

Today we were talking about our favorite food.  I was impressed by some of the students answers! 

-My favorite food is grapes. Amarii
-My favorite food is icecream. Cebrina
-My favorite food is hot wings. Joanna
-My favorite food is Pizza Street from St. Charles. Jacob
-My favorite food is cheese.  Elizabeth
-My favorite food is catfish.  Michael
-My favorite food is spaghetti.  Myakka
-My favorite food is pizza. Kaden
-My favorite food is hot wings and hamburgers.  Abbey
-My favorite food is bologna and hotdogs.  TJ
-My favorite food is pizza and spaghetti.  Lyndon
-My favorite food is hot wings.  Mackenzey
-My favorite food is Walton's hot wings. Aniya
-My favorite food is candied yams.  Dahn-Kamryn
-My favorite food is candied yams.  DeQualin
-My favorite food is chicken. Ms. Lee
-My favorite food is steak. Ben
-My favorite food is bread. Ms. Ray
-My favorite food is hotdogs. Alyssa

I hope that everyone has a GREAT weekend!  I have updated our spelling words, high frequency words, and our "WOW" words.  These will be our words next week! 
Ms. Ray :-)

Fall Break!!!

Happy Fall Break!

Hey Everybody!  

I just wanted to post a quick reminder about Fall Break!  Students will not attend school from Friday, October 7th-Tuesday October 11th!  They will return on Wednesday, October, 12th!  This week we have been learning about Fall.  The students have done several activities that relate to the fall season!  We are also working on a surprise for Mrs. Miller!  (Ask them about the poem they have learned!)  Continue to review addition and subtraction!  I hope everyone has a GREAT Fall Break! 

-Ms. Ray

Hey From Mrs. Miller!

Hello everybody! I just wanted to give you an update on my recovery...it is going slower than I expected. Honestly, I thought I had prepared myself for the physical therapy, but it is harder than I thought. But, I am as determined as ever and I am making progress every day! My doctor and physical therapist are very pleased and encouraged that I will make a full recovery. It just takes time and hard work!

I have texted and talked with Ms. Ray, and the kids are doing great! She is really enjoying the class and thinks they are settling down and getting used to her! I am so glad that the kids are doing well--that helps me concentrate on physical therapy and not worry about them. I hope I will be up to a visit sometime soon!

Anyway...just wanted to say "HI" and let you know how things are going. Please email me if you have any questions or concerns at my yahoo account because I do check it more often. llizmiller@yahoo.com

Thanks, and I hope to see the kids soon!

Mrs. Miller

Brag Report

Hey Everybody!
My name is Nora Ray. I will be filling in for Mrs. Miller, while she is out! I would like to take this opportunity to "brag" on your student's behavior! We have had a GREAT first few days! We have several important dates to remember:
Monday, September 26th--Field Trip Forms and $$ due! $12 for students and $10 for parents! We hope to see you there!
Friday, September 30th--First Field Trip--Around the Town!
As you can see we have a lot of things happening in first grade! Remember to study your spelling words, high frequency words, and to ask your child about their vocabulary words. They love to share!
Happy Monday!
Ms. Ray

Congratulations, Dahn-Kamryn!

Congratulations, Dahn-Kamryn! She was the school's TOP INNISBROOK SELLER! I have never had a "top-seller" in my class before! WAY TO GO!!!!

What a FUN group of first graders!!

I am just now getting around to posting some pictures because I now have everyone's Blog permission forms! Look for more pictures to come!!

Reminders for next week...

• Scholastic Book orders are going home today. They will be due Wednesday, September 14. There are some GREAT books at very reasonable prices...I hope you will purchase some for your child. All checks need to be made out to SCHOLASTIC BOOK CLUBS!


• Students need to be at school between 7:40 and 8:00. Some are coming in late and having a hard time completing morning work. We have so much to do and our day starts early! Please have your child here on time!


• Send a snack EVERY DAY! Our extra snack bucket is already running low. If you want to send extra snack, it is always appreciated!

School is...

Each student was allowed to finish the sentence, and here are their responses.

School is fun! -Mackenzey
School is where you learn stuff and have fun. -Myakka
School is fun and you make new friends. -Amarri
School is somewhere to learn. -Michael
School is where you have fun and do work. -DeQualin
School is where you get very smart! -Benjamin
School is a place to learn. -Kaden
School is very nice. -Elizabeth
School is where we meet new friends. -Cebrina
School is a place where you learn. -Dahn-Kamryn
School is fun. -Alyssa
School is where you make new friends. -Lyndon
School is a place you can make new friends and have fun. -Abbey
School is a place where lots and lots of children come. -Aniya
School is where I see my teacher! -Joanna

School is a place I get to enjoy all of these precious children! -MM

We are Setting Sail for Adventure!!

Summer is almost over, and I hope you are getting ready to begin a fabulous year of first grade!! It will be an adventure...

Dress the Teacher!!

Joshua T., Jaelyn, Alyssa, Sarah, and Caleb remembered to bring funny items to Dress MM today as one of our Boosterthon Class Incentives. (I told the others to bring something tomorrow since many forgot over the weekend!) Joshua brought the Optimus Prime mask and Jaelyn brought HANDCUFFS!!!

Sarah decked me out with a crown, fairy wings, a scarf, and big Mardi Gras beads! Caleb brought a Mardi Gras beaded necklace too.

Yes...Alyssa brought her dad's underwear!!!! She promised they were new and he had not worn them yet...this was a huge hit with the class!

Sweet Friends!!

Remember, those who forgot to bring items to Dress MM and their Show and Tell today...Bring it tomorrow!!! Get those pledges!!

Boosterthon News!

Hey Parents!!

I am sure you have heard about the Boosterthon Pep Rally and the Booster-team, super cool guys who are visiting our classrooms handing out prizes!! But, the Boosterthon is a fundraiser for our school. It has raised a lot of money in the past, and we desperately need funds now! Basically, your child will get pledges for the number of laps they run. Most children run 30-35 laps, so a pledge of $1 will end up being approximately $35. (It is not our normal track, but a smaller one set up on the baseball fields.) Or, you may collect flat donations instead of pledges.

In addition to the individual prizes your child receives from the Booster-team, we have class goals. The kids helped me come up with these so they are super excited! If the class has the amounts below pledged, they get these prizes…

· $10—Show and Tell

· $20—Dress the Teacher…they get to bring silly items (hats, scarves, sunglasses, etc.) for me to put on to take a picture. J

· $30—Movie Day!

· $40—Game Day… afternoon only J

· $50—Picnic Lunch outside

· $70—Extra Free Play Time

· $90—Make a silly class DVD to travel like a take-home book

· $110—Ice Cream Party

· $130—Mr. Kelley will bring Mickey Mouse (Neal Thomas’ miniature horse) for pony rides!!!! JJJJ

As you can imagine, the kids are super excited about this fundraiser. Please help them call family and friends in order to get pledges. All money will be collected the week after spring break…that should give your family and friends plenty of time to send in their commitments.

Let me know if you have any questions! Thanks for your support!

J Captain Miller J

Quick Update for this week!

Hey Parents!

Last week was a fun, wild week filled with extra activities as we celebrated Dr. Seuss and Read Across America Week! Because of these extra activities, I do not feel I taught our Storytown lesson very well. Plus, I introduced a lot of new centers—which the kids caught on to very well—but center time required a lot of my attention and support so I was not able to pull reading groups as often as I normally do. So, I decided to give the kids (and you) a break on our Storytown Lesson and Spelling Words. I will be re-teaching the spelling rules and vocabulary words from last week. I am also excited to use this week to teach some fun comprehension lessons that we rarely have time for!! We will have our spelling test THURSDAY because the Fun Run will be Friday morning.

This week will be full of fun activities as well! The kids are pumped about the Boosterthon and Boosterteam coming to see us each day. We will also do some experiments as we complete our unit on rocks and the Earth’s surface. PLEASE look for notes as the class reaches our Class Incentive Goals…very few remembered to bring items for “Dress the Teacher” and “Show and Tell” today. They will get a chance to do it tomorrow, but please help them remember. They are doing a great job getting pledges…don’t stop! J

As always, thanks for all you do! Let me know if you have any questions! JMM

HOP ON POP Day!!

Don't we look great dressed like our "Pop's!!"

What a fun week...We really should celebrate Read Across America Week every week!

I love these kids!!

Thanks to those who sent extra ties! We had a great day!

Making Models of Sedimentary Rocks...

We used different materials to create models of sedimentary rock. We have learned that the layers of rock, soil, and sand that create sedimentary rock are called strata. We made layers with dry beans, rice, brown sugar, and sand to illustrate the layers in the Earth's crust. This was a great project for OUTSIDE!!


The layers ended up more mixed up than I had hoped, but we learned something and had fun, too!
Most of the boys could not wait to add a layer of sand to the top of their bottle...some girls got pretty dirty too!

Here are my girls who chose not to go to the sand pile...

It looks like Charnayvia got serious in the sandpile, but she is really covered in brown sugar!! Sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy!!

3-D Shapes all around us!

We went on a three dimensional shape hunt (and sort) in class today. Amazingly, all of these items found their place when math was over!

Welcome, Cortez!!

We are so glad to welcome Cortez to our class! He is a wonderful addition to our room!

Reading for an Audience

We have been working so hard on our literacy skills--especially FLUENCY. To read fluently is to read like you talk, which takes practice and rereading the same book, poem, or passage several times. A great way to encourage your child to reread something is to ask them to PERFORM it for you, your family, neighbors...pretty much whoever you can get to listen!

We have been partner reading little plays in a literacy center and then reading them for the class. We have also started having a "Guest Reader" each day! Children who want to read have signed up and we take turns each day. All of these are huge motivators for your child! See if you can do some of these simple activities at home!

Reminders for this week...

Hello All! Sorry I have not been posting like I normally do. I have had two sick children and have been swamped at work...I hope to do better! Here are a few reminders.

1. PLEASE review, sign, and return Center Work Folders (or SHINY folders as the kids say!) Very few of you followed these directions this week. Several sent the shiny folder back to school without looking at the work or signing off. These folders are to help you hold your child accountable for their classwork as well as see improvement or areas that need extra effort. Your children are crushed when they don't have their folder signed, and it is not their fault. I am not resending folders home on Mondays anymore because some don't make it back to school. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE help your child by reviewing their work!

2. Does anyone have a volcano model we can borrow? We need one to demonstrate how a volcano errupts. Several boys "thought" they had one...just checking!!!

3. Are you listening to your child read in their fluency folder every night?!?!?

4. All other information is on the bright orange paper in your child's folder. PLEASE empty folder every night and review work.

Reminders for the week of Feb. 7-11

PTO Performance is tonight! Your child needs to be at the Bobby Miller Center by 6:10. They need to wear any combination of black and white. See you there!

Valentine's Day Box Take Home Projects are due this FRIDAY!!! Your child needs to decorate a shoebox sized box for their Valentine's Day cards. Remember to cut a hole in the top for friends to drop cards in as well as a way to open the box to get the cards. I need them here by Friday to make sure everyone has a box before our party Monday!

Slushy Day is Wednesday...Send your $1 if your child wants a slushy!!

Field Trip Update...

We will be riding the bus Wednesday...not walking! It is predicted to be too cold!

Reading with Foo Foo...pretend all the pictures loaded correctly! Ha!

Foo Foo knows who is reading like they are supposed to...the kids are going to work hard so they can get a visit from Foo Foo!!!

Meet Bunny Foo Foo!!

Bunny Foo Foo is our new class pet. She is a precious rabbit that fell into my hands! She has been living outside at our barn for a few weeks, so she is shedding her winter coat...that is why we are all wearing Mr. Kelley's old shirts that I usually use for painting projects! The kids LOVED meeting Foo Foo...I think she will be great for our classroom!