White

May 5, 2008

Can you believe the year is almost over? Only 15 more days until Summer vacation.The remainder of the year is packed full! Get your calendar out to write all the dates down. I will list the dates you need to know about for the rest of the year!

Hats off to all the first graders!!! What a GREAT job they did last week at their PTA performance! I am so proud of each and everyone of them!!!

Last Week for homework!!!! Homework will be due on Thursday instead of Friday too! The only homework this week will be their book report. Please practice with your child for their oral presentation on Thursday. They are to also draw their favorite scene in their book to share during their presentation. Do your BEST!!!

IMPORTANT DATES:

May 5th... 6:00 Reading Night

May 8th... 5:00 to 6:00 Retirement Open House for all families to come and say Good-Bye to Mrs. Wilson.

May 9th... Volunteer Brunch from 8:30 to 11:00

May 9th... Career Day

May 9th...All library Books are Due! Please look at home too for Monkey's Trick is Missing because it is missing... This is an AR book that I had checked out and allowed the children to take home to enjoy. It may still show up in the room but it hasn't so far!

May 12th... Author's Tea... 8:05 to 8:40.

May 14th... Field Day

May 19th-23rd Last Week of School!

May 23rd Last Day of School! Summer Vacation!

Report cards will come home the following week.

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK!

Mrs. White

April 27,2008

         

              Where has the month gone? Our year is quickly coming to an end! Four more weeks, and they will be busy for all of us. Get your calendar out and get ready to put some important dates down for May.

Time to celebrate!!! The CRCT is over for 1st grade. Your little ones did GREAT! It was so hard to watch them sit there for 2 and 1/2 hours all 3 days with only a 10 minute break. They worked hard but it was very tiring. The children lit up everyday too when the "Test Fairy" came to visit! I had to keep them from racing down the hall after lunch on Thursday and Friday. They were so excited to see if the "Test Fairy" came again.

This week will be very busy!

Monday and Tuesday we will be rehearsing for our PTA performance on Thursday. Then on Wednesday will be having our dress rehersals for the school at 8:30 and 9:30. Thursday night is the performance. Be sure to have your child in my classroom by 6:15 P.M. dressed in the requested outfit and ready to go.

Social Studies Standards: We will be continuing our unit on Mexico. The children will finish up a flip book Monday to bring home as a study guide.  All test questions are covered in the flip book. Review nightly with your child for the TEST ON THURSDAY.

Writing Standards: The children will be writing an informational paper on Mexico. We have already webbed the details and organized our thoughts. This week we will write our rough draft, edit with a peer and the teacher, then publish our final copy. They will be displayed on the wall outside of our classroom. Come by and see them.

Science Standards: We are learning about animals. How are they similar, what do they all need, how are they different, etc. To make it a little exciting we have our in school field trip this week. Thursday the Zoo To You comes to Garrison Mill. Be sure to ask the children about the different animals they saw, touched and learned about.

Math Standards:

We will continue working with double digit subtraction and addition. Just a reminder we do not regroup in first grade.

Reading... I will be testing the children individually during the next two weeks. This DRA test gives me an idea of their reading level and the progress they have made this year. These DRA scores go in their portfolios for their next years teachers. Before I even start testing, I can say to each of you, that I am very proud of the hard work and progress each of your children have made.  It has been a GREAT year!!!!!!!!

Character Word: Patience and Moderation

Patience can be very hard but is a wonderful trait to develop. I think it is something we can start working on when we are little and keep developing it through life. When we are little we have little challenges that need our patience. As we grow older and wiser we have bigger challenges that need our patience. Let's help our children to learn to have patience.

Moderation can be hard to explain to little ones. Teaching our children that going to the extreme is not always the best. Not enough isn't good either. We have to help them understand doing certain things in moderation is the best.

Have a GREAT week!

Mrs. White

Aoril 28,2008

It is here...our last month of school! It is so hard for me to believe it. Here are some important dates you may want to put on your calendar.

• May 1st, Thursday, in school field trip. (Zoo To You)
• May 1st, Thursday, PTA and First Grade Performance ( have the children at school in my room by 6:15.
• May 2nd, Friday, Computer Lab, Buddy Class, and Media Center, school Spirit Day: wear your GM t-shirt or "red" class t-shirt.
• May 9th, Friday, Career Day, Mexican Centers, Volunteer Brunch at 8:30
• May 12th, Monday, Author's Tea, look for invitations to come. It will be first thing in the morning probably 8:05 to 8:45.
• May 14th, Wednesday, Field Day
• May 23rd, Friday, Last Day of School!

Garage Sale

If you need to schedule a large item pick-up to be donated to the Foundation Garage Sale,

Please call Patti Lavender:  770-552-1162

We are planning to schedule pick-ups for Sunday afternoon, April 27^th, but we may be able to make other arrangements.

April 20, 2008

• ... Yeah, Spring is in the air and the weather is turning beautiful! The days are getting warm so I wanted to refresh everyone about the school dress code.
• No tank top shirts or thin strapped shirts
• No filp flops
• Girls shorts and skirts should be long enough that the child's fingertips touch the hem when standing up straight

Remember the mornings can be cool and the children have walk fit on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. They will be walking outside on the track in the morning and may need a sweater or jacket.

Homework... there will not be any homework this week. The CRCT is this week ( Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday) and that's enough for the children. Laura Miller, the first grade councelor, made up a little song with the children. This is what they need to do for homework. Have them sing you the song... if they forgot the words here they are...

Eat a good breakfast,

Get lots of rest,

Don't be tardy ,

and Do your best!

Mexico... In social studies we are studing about Mexico. The children will be putting on a short readers theator play. The play goes with the story The Three Little Javelinos . We will practicing the next two weeks. The children are very excited and will bring the script home to practice. Please  be sure they return it daily in their take home folder. They are also excited about bringing in different props or costume items from home. We welcome the items and will return them as soon as the play is over. The play will be performed the day of our Mexico Centers, May 2nd.

Character word for the week...

Courage... the ability to conquer fear.

April 20, 2008

April...

Lots is going on between now and the end of the year! Please put these dates on your calendar.

• CRCT... April 23-25 (Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday). Testing will begin at 8:05. Please be on time for school!
• May 1st, Thursday, In school field trip, Zoo To You
• May 1st, Thursday, PTA and first grade Music Program
• May 2nd, Friday, Mexico Centers at 12:20
• May 2nd, Friday, Mrs. Anderson's Last Day. We sure will miss her!!!
• May 2nd, Friday, Spirit Day, wear your GM T-shirt
• May 3rd, Saturday, School wide Gorage Sale

Have a wonderful Week!!!!!

GME Foundation

Garrison Mill has recently established a Foundation whose purpose is to provide resources above and beyond what the County and the Garrison Mill PTA is able to provide.  Please visit their web page to find out more about who they are, what they do, and help support their first fundraising event.  You can visit them at:  GME Foundation.

March 30th- April 14th, 2008

March is almost over and April is here! The children are working very hard and I am very proud of them all!

I want to thank everyone for a wonderful birthday celebration! The children's cards were the best! I will always treasure them. I didn't realize how many little artists I had!

Curriculum News:

CRCT... We are reviewing almost daily. Don't forget that you all can review on the Internet too.

Math... Everyone did FABULOUS on their fraction test!!! We will be working on measuring this week. Georgia's Standards are to learn to estimate and measure using a non-standard unit that is smaller than the object to be measured. It is a fun unit the children love to do. I will also introduce in the next two weeks adding and subtracting 2-digit numbers without regrouping. They will see this on the CRCT so I like to introduce it.

Language Arts... We continue to write. This past week we wrote riddles! The children picked the animal they wanted to write about. Did some research and created their riddles. They turned out really cute! This week we will review pronouns, commas in a series, punctuation, and sequencing sentences.

Social Studies...  Canada... The children have been working hard again to learn all about Canada. The book and folder will come home Monday and the test will be on Thursday! It will be very similar to the USA test. Study hard this week!!

Wow, you all are doing a fabulous job reading!!! My AR chart is getting very full!!! Keep up the good job!

READ! READ! READ!

Mrs. Blumentrill, Mrs. Lawson, and Mrs. Robinson...

Thank you so much for coming in on Friday to stay with the class while we had our teacher appreciation lunch! The lunch was wonderful and it was great not having to rush eating to go pick up the children!

Character Word... This weeks word is "Leadership". We can all be a leader!

Have a wonderful week and a GREAT and RELAXING Spring Break!!!

March 30, 2008

March 30th - April 14th

• April 2nd, Kindergarten Registration
• April 3rd, 6:30 PTA and Art Show and Invention Convention
• April 3rd, Guidance
• April 4th, Spirit Day: wear your GM t-shirt or your red class t-shirt
• April 5th- April 13th, Spring Break
• April 18th, Buddy Class
• April 23rd- April 25th CRCT for 1st grade

March 22, 2008

March is almost over and so is the school year! Two more weeks until Spring Break, three and a half weeks until we take the CRCT and only 8 more weeks of school and then we are out for the summer. With nice weather and spring sports, this time of the year gets very hard to keep children focused, please try to keep them focused with their homework, reading log and to bed on time as much as  possible. Thanks!

A BIG welcome to Stacey Anderson!!!                                                               She is our TOSS student from Kennesaw University! The children have already fallen in love with her. Monday she will be with us full time until May 2nd. Yeah!!!

We started our Unit in Social Studies on Canada last week. We will finish it up mid week and send another folder home on facts about Canada. The children did a FABULOUS job on their United States Test. The class average was 95%!!!! The Canada test will be next week before we leave for Spring Break!

Math... The children are really mastering their addition math facts to 20! A few are stilling counting on their fingers and using the number line so keep practicing every night! We will continuing to review all concepts and skills from this year. This week we will also work on sums and differences to 20.

Just a reminder... The student council is having a Can-a-Thon. They are collecting canned and dried foods for Must Ministries. Just think if everybody brought in just 1 can they would collect over 600 cans to help feed those in need. I am heading to the pantry to find some things I can bring tomorrow.

The children have earned a SPECIAL TREAT once again!!! I told them this time I would bring in the Treat! I plan to bring something in this Wednesday! They have already earned two letters toward the next special treat!!!

Character Word for the week... MOTIVATION......Motivation can be the key to our success. So we need to help our children understand and know what motivates them. What is it that gives them purpose and direction to their behavior?

I hope that everyone that celebrates Easter, had a wonderful fun filled Easter!

Have a wonderful week!

Mrs. White