IT"S A BOY!

Our very own Jordan Flores is going to be a big brother in a few months. Jordan shared his wonderful news with the class today, that he and his family will be having a boy! Congratulations to the entire Flores family, we are so happy for you. We know that Jordan is going to be a great big brother. We are pretty sure that Mom, Dad and sister will be pretty good too!

Non-Fiction Reading and Writing

Mrs. Brown's class has begun some exciting new things in Readers' and Writers' Workshops. We are beginning a study of Non-fiction. In Reader's Workshop we are studying a wide variety of Non-fiction texts and learning about the various Non-fiction conventions and how to read non-fiction. Some of the conventions that we will be working on include, The Table of Contents, Appendix, Glossary, Maps, Variations in Texts, Photographs, labels, close ups and cutaways. Look for these when you and your child are reading non-fiction at home.

In Writers' Workshop we are studying and writing question and answer books. These are a continuation on our study of Pattern Books. The books being written by the children will include the pattern of asking a question about a topic that the child knows a great deal about and then answering their own question with facts. This is a terrific way for young writers to begin report writing. Ask your child what topic they are working on now.

Open House

Thursday night was great, thank you to all of our families that were able to spend the evening in our classroom. The children were so excited to show you their classroom and the wonderful things that go on in these walls. We had a very full evening. The parents went through Volunteer Training with our very own Principal Phillips. We discussed the inner workings of Reader's, Writer's and Math Workshops. We discussed the Science expectations and Homework expectations. The parents were forced to listen to me rave (one of our vocabulary words) about how fortunate we at Chets Creek are to have so many resources available to us and even more fortunate to have the ridiculously talented resource team that we have. A great night was had by all, it is always so fun for me to see the children in the evenings as they proudly show their parents around the room. Thanks again to our wonderful families, it will certainly be a great year.

Field Trips!!!!! FUN FUN FUN

Today our students received permission slips for the first Field trip of the year. We will be going to Regal Cinemas to see the movie adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are based on the Award wining children's book by Maurice Sendak, which as some of you know is my all time favorite book, and the first Read Aloud we had in this school year. The students will have the thrilling adventure of seeing the movie on the opening day! This is a book that most of our students know very well. It will be exciting to get their reactions to the movie and have the students compare and contrast the movie and the book.

I am very excited about this upcoming field trip. We have some Field Trip Guidelines for all of Mrs. Brown's students and the family members that join them on our trip. Please see the Field Trip Guidelines below so that we can all be prepared for a great first trip!

1. Each class will need a few parent chaperones to accompany us on field trips. If you would like to go please let your child’s teacher know. You must have completed the volunteer training and have received your Chets Creek Volunteer Badge. Since you will be supervising a small group of children, no siblings may accompany you on the trip. Parents are not able to ride the bus, so you will need to provide your own transportation.
2. All field trip money must be turned in promptly. This is to ensure that there is enough money to cover the cost of the trip. On each field trip permission slip there is a date given when the money is due. Late money may result in your child missing the trip.
3. Lunches for the trips must be brought in paper bags. (No lunch boxes or thermos containers) Please do not end drinks in glass containers or other food items in sealable containers that must be returned. If your child brings a food item that requires a spoon or fork please provide a disposable one. No food containers will be brought back to school.
4. If your child goes to Extended Day, please supply a snack for him or her in a separate container to avoid confusion.
5. Please dress your child appropriately for the activity and the weather.

What is a Scientist?

In Mrs. Brown's class today. We have been talking about what we believe Scientists are. The First Graders at Chets Creek were invited to share their ideas about what Scientists are on a Google Doc. A google doc is a document that is online and shared by a group of people and all of the people that are sharing the document are able to add on to the document.

This is what Mrs. Brown's class added to the First Grade Google Doc

Mrs. Brown's Class

We think scientists are ...

* A scientist is a guy that learns stuff about like volcanoes and
tornadoes, and see what the tornado can do, and they take the
pictures and stuff.
* A scientist is somone who mixes up chemicals
* Scientists do experiments
* Scientists do projects, like they can do plastic volcanoes
* They do the things that they are supposed to and there has to
be tons of scientists all over the world.
* A Scientist is someone who looks at the earth, like astronauts
* Scientists like to dig for dinosaur bones


We can't wait to be scientists ourselves this school year! It will be great.

The Fourth Day of School.

The class is looking at our class blog. We just read the first two posts, and decided to write a post together. We are working on completing our Math Diagnostics. Some of us think they are easy, some of us think they are hard a few of us think they are fun. We are having a great time in First Grade. Today is our first day of resource. We will be having Art 2 in the classroom. We can't wait. This post was created by the students in Mrs. Brown's class. Have a great fourth day of school!

The First Day of First Grade

Wow, what a great day! I had the privilege of welcoming 24 smiling faces this morning. We read my Favorite book from my childhood, Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak. The children then wrote about their impressions of the book. The children were able to go to a concert, great music and little bit of dancing ensued. Thanks Mrs. Phillips for the awesome concert. After lunch we went out to the playground, always fun. We took a tour of the school, so that everyone knows their way around and knew where to go for dismissal. The children also received a gift from the PTA. Each child received a new T-shirt, designed by our very own Mrs. Willet. What a terrific first day. I look forward to really diving into Readers' and Writer's Workshops, as well as Math Investigations and Science experiments. It is sure to be a year filled with learning and fun. Here's to great beginnings.

School Starts!

Friday was an exciting day. We had orientation and had the opportunity to meet our classmates. I was thrilled to see so many happy and excited faces. The children were well behaved for their short visit to their new classroom, and enjoyed exploring their new surroundings. The parents were able to see the inside of the classroom where the children will be spending so much of there time, and were able to get a preview as to what to expect in First Grade. I am thrilled to have such a great new class. Tomorrow is the first day. I can't wait. It will be a year filled with a great deal of learning and fun. It's only beginning!