Thirteenth Day of School

Beginning of the year Reading Battery has been completed and grades have been posted to Schoology.

We will take our initial Math assessment next week.

Math homework was sent today.

We in our 2nd day of the immersion process for narrative writing. During this stage we look at anchor texts (examples) of expert writers. Thank you to those parents who have already submitted lists of their child's memorable moments. We should begin using those during brainstorming on Tuesday.

In Social Studies, we learned about some rights and responsibilities of citizens.

Question for discussion: What stories can you think of which use personification (as a literary device)?

Twelfth Day of School

Math homework went home today.

Thank you to all of the parents who worked to make their child's Writing folder important and useful.

Books will be going home with some students targeting certain skills to help bring them closer to standard in reading foundations. Please read nightly.

We are just about completed with our entire beginning of the year reading battery including comprehension. Progress will be posted soon to Schoology.

Eleventh Day of School

 We listened to the fable A wolf in Sheeps Clothing. Moral: Things aren't always as they appear. Don't pretend to be something you're not; you may end up losing in the end.

In Science, we discussed the difference between human and animal survival needs.

There is Math homework tonight.

Don't forget, when homework is light, have your child retell one of the stories from their Memorable Moments list.

Ninth Day of School

 We got a lot done today.

Please find flyer for LAUSD interent and devices available. Pre-register at device.lausd.net.

A parent asked about qr codes. Those will soon be made and distributed.

We have been taking our reading foundations battery of tests and are almost completed. Your child's progress will be reported as a rubric score on several measures to Schoology.

We listened to the story the Dog in the Manger, from which we learned about personification as a literary device.

We began our Life Science unit. We will be studying plant and animal defenses and learning how to generate questions as scientists. Our unit focus question: How do plants and animals survive?

We worked independently on a Math report. A rubric score is posted to Schoology to show our independent work progress. The two most common errors were not providing an answer to the question and/or showing math work unrelated to the question.

Math Workshop question:

    There were 7 horses on a carousel. Five of the horses had a child riding on it. How many     horses did not have a child riding it?

There is Math homework for tonight.

Parent Assignment #2

 The Memorable Moment

Over the course of the next few weeks, we will be working on the genre of personal narratives.

Your Task:

With input from your child, over the course of the next few days, construct a list of memorable events. These individual events should be about moments which occurred across a time span of approximately 20 minutes maximum in length. Each event should have an identifiable emotion (or two) attached to it (fear, happiness, surprise).


Examples of events which will not work:
My Day at Disneyland
Christmas Morning
My Birthday Party
The Winning Game

Examples of events which will work:
Meeting Cinderella
Opening My Favorite Gift
Breaking the Pinata at My Party
Scoring the Winning Goal

Try to make a list of at least 10 memorable moments. Make a copy of the list for you to keep at home. Send one copy of the list to school with your child by Tuesday, August 30th  (sooner than that is fine if not better). We will refer to this list as our list of Memorable Moments. Hopefully your child will be able to construct at least 3 narratives from events in the list. They will eventually be choosing from among those narratives one or two which they focus on for elaboration, revising, and editing for publication.

For your child's homework over the next few weeks, choose one event from the list each day and have your child tell the story to you orally. Listen for the following characteristics/items in their speech:

Complete sentences (not run-on sentences or phrases)
A beginning, middle, and closure to the story
Details or examples of dialogue


 Again, if you have any questions regarding this important assignment feel free to post in the comment section. If you would like to post an example for comment I will be glad to review with my thoughts.

Seventh Day of School

Special 'thank you' to the parents who took time out of their day to come to our Back-to-School Night. I'm hoping this is the start of a great year. I aim to make it as stress free and as fun as possible.

One thing I forgot to talk about in Unsatisfactory Notices. What I mention to parents' about these is that they are required communications by the district to inform parents that there may be a chance your child could be getting a 1 or 2 on their next progress report in the subject indicated on the communication and there is still time to focus on that area before final grades for the period are posted, albeit not a great amount of time. It is not necessary to communicate the contents of the 'Unsat. Notices' with a 1st grade child. The information is primarily for the parent.

Today we listened to the story, The Goose that Layed the Golden Egg. Moral: People who are greedy risk losing everything.

Sixth Day of School

Today we completed our first Math report and grades have been posted to Schoology. Quite a different distribution compared to years past. Out of 19 students present, nine students achieved a score of 4, two students a 3, six students a 2, and one a 1.

Math homework went home today.

Please remember Back-to-School Night is tomorrow. Information will be given tomorrow that is not given at any other time of the year. Not receiving some of the information could impede your child's progress in 1st grade.

For safety, shoes should have a closing feature (ties, Velcro strap). Boots are not really safe and appropriate footwear. We go to P.E. every day; footwear needs to be secure.

Fourth Day of School

We had our first math homework assignment today.

Questions for discussion:

    What are the 3 main elements of a narrative? (The 3 main elements of a narrative are character, setting and plot.)

    What does the beginning of a narrative establish? (The beginning of a narrative introduces the main character(s) and establishes the setting.)

In Social Science we discussed rules and citizenship. Questions for discussion:

    What is a citizen? (A citizen is a member of a community).

    Why are rules important? (Rules help us to respect others, learn, and be safe.)

Parent Assignment #1

  Please find the yellow folder sent home with your child today. Your task:

With your child's input, decorate all surfaces of your child's folder (inside and out) with some or all of the following items:

• Pictures of memorable events from your child's life
• Pictures or advertisements of your child's interests

Pictures of topics which particularly interest your child (your child may have an interest in machines, space, dinosaurs, soccer, etc.)

Before placing something on the folder consider: how will this lend itself to a dicussion between your child and their teacher, or how will this help your child to brainstorm topics for writing?

 Return the completed folder to school with your child by Tuesday, August 30th.

You might notice that the folders are not very substantial in quality. After the folder is decorated you may want to consider adding a bit of clear packing tape over the items which you have attached. We will be using these folder the entire year.

Please post any questions you may have in the comment section below.

Second Day of School

 We are easing into each of our content areas. There is no academic homework yet. 

Thank you to those parents who have returned their packet of forms already.

Announcement:

Back-to-School has been re-rescheduled back to August 23rd at 5:00-6:30 p.m. Hoping this won't be terribly inconvenient for families.

Tomorrow you will be receiving a yellow folder for your first "Parent's Homework Assignment." Instructions to complete the homework will be posted here in the class notes.

Today we reviewed that (western) narratives have 3 main elements, character setting and a plot. A (western) plot has 3 parts, a beginning (establishes character and setting), middle, and end.

Welcome to Room 11

This blog has been created to keep parents and guardians of the students in Room 11 at Caroldale Learning Community STEAM Academy informed about daily activities in our classroom and school. Please discuss what you read here with your children when appropriate. Ask them clarifying questions. They don't necessarily need to know how you know what happened during their day, they should simply know that you are informed.

Feel free to  respond to what you read by posting a comment or question. Avoid including students' names when responding to posts. General comments and questions are best in this arena.

To contact your child's teacher with a specific inquiry, message through Schoology.

Alternatively, another way to communicate concerning timely issues is to write a note on or attached to your child's homework. 

It is okay to drop by without an appointment with questions and concerns after school any day except Tuesdays.

Important Note: Back-to-School has been scheduled for elementary classes on August 23rd 5:00-6:30 p.m.

It is important that I have a parent representative from each family present as close to 5:00 p.m. on this evening to discuss curricular matters and how parents can best support their children for academic success. This is a night for parents. If at all possible, it is best that children remain at home for this meeting.