Happy Friday!

Whew! This week just flew by! I can't even express how much we just love this group of children. We are having so much fun with them and love how eager these children are to learn! We are so blessed to be with them this year!
Today was our first horseshoe catching day. Thank you to DM16's Mom and BM3's mom for helping out with that today! The children got to trade horseshoes for treats today and celebrate how hard they worked to earn the horseshoes.
Just a few reminders coming up that I want to share with you. The book fair will be here next week during conferences. Both classes will have a chance to shop for books on Monday. If you would like to send money so your child can shop during the school day, please send the money with them on Monday. Otherwise, they will have to go with their families outside of school time.  Please put it in a baggie or an envelope clearly marked with your child's name and class code. They shopped this week and made wish lists so they have a lot to wish for!
There will not be a spelling or vocabulary list next week with the short week. We will dismiss at 11:10 on Wednesday. We will not send home a family journal or poetry binder next week either. On Tuesday we will have our test on the life cycle of a frog. A study guide will come home on Monday to show what they have to create for the test. Family journals are coming home tonight for this weekend.
Reading Logs for September are due Monday. We will start Book-It on Monday. Remember, the required reading each night is 20 minutes. To earn the Pizza Hut Book It certificate, the children must read the required reading each month (or more). These will be turned in monthly. I am looking for a parent who would like a "homework project" each month to fill out the certificates for the children who have earned them. Please let me know if you are interested. Thank you!
Have a wonderful weekend. Enjoy the time with your family and friends.
Mrs. Montes

Happy Wednesday!

We are having so much fun learning about frogs and toads and how they are alike and different through Venn Diagrams. Today the classes got to show us what they know! Now we are learning about diagrams through a life cycle of a frog. This test will be next Tuesday. The children will need to know the name of the stage, create an illustration, and write a caption below. The children did a marvelous job sending in a photograph with a caption to earn 5 horseshoes! Way to go!
We will not be sending home the family journal tomorrow. Ms. Salas and I will not be here tomorrow. We will be at a training. We will do the family journals on Friday and send them home for the weekend. We will not be sending home a poetry journal for this week.
I am looking forward to seeing you all at conferences. I have heard back from most of you that our scheduled time works. Thank you for being so prompt in returning the forms.
In math we continue to work on fact families, function tables, and partner houses.
Have a wonderful Wednesday!
Mrs. Montes

FROGtastic Friday!

This week we spent some time learning about Frog and Toad and their friendship. We compared several different stories. The children spent some time learning about Frog and Toad in Spanish with Ms. Salas a couple of weeks ago. We will continue to learn more about how frogs and toads are alike and different (compare and contrast) through Venn Diagrams and writing. We are learning about friendship and what it means to really be a friend to someone.
Our non fiction study is under way. This week we learned about two features: photograph and caption and their purpose. Hopefully your child can tell you these two features and their purpose. Please ask your child to show you one photograph and caption in a piece of non fiction this weekend. It can be in any non fiction piece through a magazine, newspaper, Internet, book, etc. Please cut it out, print it, or highlight it in some way to show it to me. I will give 5 horseshoes to those who bring this in on/show it to me on Monday. Over the next two weeks we will learn about the life cycle of a frog through a diagram. In addition, we will learn labels and illustrations. We will have a test on the life cycle of the frog then next Tuesday, October 2.
In Character Ed we learned about cooperation this week. What does cooperation really look like in the classroom? We are learning a lot about showing good character by cooperating with our table mates and classmates.
Our first Horseshoe Catching day will be next Friday. The children are so excited to keep earning and counting them. We are always accepting treasure box toys and candy to be given on these days.
If anyone would like to make generous donations to our classroom we are in need of clipboards and comfy cozy pillows for our rug. I appreciate it!
Conferences are Wednesday, October 3 and Thursday, October 4. I am grateful that most of you signed up at Open House! Thank you! That made it so much easier. I sent home some of the confirmation times today. Please let me know if something has changed from the time you initially signed up for, and we will do our best to accommodate that need. Wednesday and Thursday night is full from 5-9 pm. I look forward to meeting with you to celebrate the great accomplishments of these delightful children.
Have a fantastic weekend!
Mrs. Montes

Happy Friday!

We had a wonderful week! We learned about base words/root words and how they change when we add an ending (s, ing, ed). We learned how some -ed endings make a "t" sound or an "ed" sound in the past tense. This is especially difficult for our second language learners in pronouncing the words correctly. Continue to correct the pronunciation at home if you hear the words mispronounced. (jumpded, lookded, thankded, etc)
We learned about Venn Diagrams and comparing and contrasting two things. Next week we will continue to compare and contrast stories and other things!
Please remember to make 3 comments and have 3 signatures on the poetry binder for Mondays. The family journal comes home on Thursdays and you can keep them until Monday if necessary. Please return them with your comments by Monday. Thank you so much. I hope you are enjoying the family journals. The childrens' faces light up when they read your love letters back. Thank you for taking the time to show your child that you love them and make them feel special in your letters.
If you haven't already sent in a photograph of your child please do that Monday. We started our nonfiction text feature books today and some children did not have a photograph.
Late Start September 19.
Picture Day is September 25. Mark your calendars to get all beautified!
Next week's story will be for two weeks. These spelling words are tricky next week. We are changing a y-i and adding ed in the past tense. (Hurry-hurried). I updated the blog and Spelling City if you want to get a good jump on these words. The spelling test will not be until the NEXT Friday, September 28. We will spend two weeks on this story and words.
Thank you for the wonderful volunteers this week who volunteered their time in the classroom. I always appreciate your help. Remember, we switch each week in the morning so if you prefer to come in when I have your child you can come in every other week. Thanks again for your commitment to our class. I appreciate it!
I am enjoying our time together this year. I am truly blessed with a wonderful group of children this year.
Have a fantastic weekend.
Mrs. Montes

What a Wednesday!

Reminder: Please send in a photo of your child by Friday for a non fiction study we are doing.

Xtra Math went home with codes and passwords today. Have fun! Hope it is a success to log in and get started today. Xtra Math will be homework every Wednesday.

Vocabulary and spelling test will be Friday.

I sent home the volunteer sheet and email directory for our classes today. Please respond to the volunteer sheet if this will work for you or not. Thank you!

Mrs. Montes

Happy Friday! Happy Weekend!

We worked very hard this week! Thank you so much for doing a fantastic job on the first week with the Family Journals. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. I know Thursdays became my favorite day of the week when my son brought his home. Remember that your child may choose to share their journal when they bring it back. We had a lot of fun sharing them today. The children were so proud and excited to share their love notes from you. Thank you for your time and kind words that poured over their journals. No wonder these children are so amazing, they have amazing parents! Remember the journals are always due on the day we return from a weekend so you have the whole weekend to respond.
Next week we will begin a non-fiction study on Friday. Please have your child bring in a picture of themselves doing something.... anything! Eating, sleeping, playing a sport, posing.....etc. We are making a non-fiction journal and will start with a photograph of ourselves as we write captions and explore the wonderful world of non fiction. You will get the photograph back, but it will be glued to the journal. So don't make it a very special picture because it will get sticky!
We read a lot of stories this week and made connections to our schema. Hopefully they can tell you something about Ruby, a crafty chameleon, or even Oscar! Our lesson this week was "Being Me" first and no one else because me is who I am made to be! I hope that our good character will shine in each of us as we make good decisions about who we are and encourage others around us also. We are learning to be children of good character and show integrity.
Parent Volunteers-thank you those of you who already started coming in. I really appreciate it. I do not have the "schedule" ready yet because of MAP testing these next two weeks. We can always use helpers 8:00-11:20. Thank you!
Have a great 3-day weekend! Enjoy the time with family and friends. Hoping for some good weather this weekend, as my family and I are going camping.
:) Mrs. Montes

Xtra Math

It looks like everything will be changed when we send home the parent flyers. Tonight's homework is just an addition/subtraction math practice. Starting next Wednesday we will have Xtra Math for homework every Wednesday. Feel free to do the program as many times as you want to practice, but it must be done at home on Wednesdays. Your child's login/username may change here at school but everything should transfer when you get your login sheet. I will send these home tomorrow so you can try it out. Hopefully, we will have all the glitches out by next Wednesday. Thank you again for your patience and for your help!
If you haven't sent in a composition journal please do that tomorrow!
Book orders are due tomorrow also. Thank you to the few of you who already placed an order. I will send it out tomorrow.
Mrs. Montes