Holiday Party

Holiday Party

Just another busy day in Room F.

We had a super fun and busy day today in Room F!

First we went to the computer lab and finished our fall leaf artwork. 

Then we had our spelling test. 

Before recess we were working on our reading stamina, we are up to 15+ minutes of quietly reading a "good fit book" from our book boxes.  

After recess we played a math game, where we had to find our related fact friend.  

We practiced our poem of the week "The Dreidel Song."

After lunch we worked on our Daily 5, reading groups, had fun Friday free time, and a quick fire drill before going home.

Just another busy day in Room F.  What was your favorite activity today?

Thanksgiving Traditions

At this time of year, people look forward to certain family traditions. A tradition is “the process of handing down a belief or custom from one generation to the next.” 

Today in class we were talking about our Thanksgiving Traditions.  Some people go to their grandma's house and eat turkey dinner with their family.  Some friends in class eat special food from the countries their family came from.  In my family, my husband and sister-in-law cook the turkey together and then we all sit down at the table together to eat turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and salad.  

What is your Thanksgiving tradition?   

What is your favorite Thanksgiving food?

Happy Halloween!

A Spooktacular Halloween Day in Room F

Our Daily News

"I liked playing with Abby at lunch time," exclaimed Audrey.

"I liked playing with Santiago at recess," added Kate.

"Making pumpkins was awesome," stated Michael.

"Reading Dr. Seuss from my book box was fun," added Abby.

"I liked doing our adding math," expressed Will.

"I learned how to skip a bar on the monkey bars," babbled Ben.

"I liked playing with Julia and Olivia," recalled Sarah.

"Writing in my journal was fun," added Angelisse.

Jack-O-Lantern Big and Scary

Spooky stuff!

Halloween is coming up next week.  It is a spooky time of year!

Are you scared of spiders?

Are you scared of snakes?

Are you scared of thunder and lightning?

Are you scared of ghosts?

What scares you?

Short i poem

Our Fieldtrip to City Hall and the Library

Jumping into the new year!

On the weekend,  I swim in the ocean.  I love the swelly, blue-green salt water and the chill in the misty morning air.  It is an amazing way to start the day.  As much as I love it, I am always a little bit nervous right before I jump in. I stand at the waters edge with butterflies in my stomach.  Will the water be really cold?  Will I see any dolphin or seals?  What direction is the current traveling?   Slowly I get my toes wet, then I go in up to my knees and before I know it I am swimming through the first wave, then down the coast.

As I was swimming today I was thinking about how starting the school year is a lot like going out into the ocean.  Most of us, on the first day of school are a little nervous because we don't know what to expect.  But as the first few days pass, we meet our teacher and make new friends, we learn rules and routines and begin to work together as a class. Yesterday was our 15th day of school.  In class we talked about what we can do better today compared to the first day of school.  We have memorized poems, played math games, we are working on our reading stamina, we started working in our math books and writing in our journals.   Next week we will start reading in our literature books, map our community and get our first homework packet. 

Our class has jumped in and we are diving through the surf :-)

September- Our Poem of the Week

Today's Daily News

"Today I liked playing with Santiago on the playground," babbled Ben.

"The fire drill was very surprising," added Sophia.

"It was fun doing the math work," exclaimed Audrey!

"I liked reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear," added Angelisse.

"I liked recess," expressed Stella.

"I liked when me and Andrew were sitting in the library becoming school buddies," rejoiced Julian..

"The cookies for our snack were good," roared Hyunsuh.

"I liked playing with my friends at lunch and snack," added Abby.

"I liked playing with Julian," rejoiced Mikey.

"Reading the book about the rainbow kid was fun," added Kate.

"I liked meeting Mrs. McEvoy," thought Julia.

Daily News Room F

"We had an amazing blue day in Room F," grinned Mrs. Levy.

"I liked doing the Blue Dog art," exclaimed Riya!

"We had indoor lunch today," added Michael.

"I enjoyed reading "Blueberries for Sal," added Sophia.

"I liked playing handball at recess with Julian," expressed Will.

"I liked playing heads-up 7up at lunch," thought Olivia.

"Doing the blueberry math was great," expressed Angelisse.

"Being the busy bee was great," babbled Joia.

"I like playing with my friends," added Abby.

"Playing handball with William was fun," dictated Julian.

Daily News

"I liked playing with Santiago at lunch,"  added Ben.

"I liked watching the slide show," exclaimed Michael.

"Recess was fun," said Riya.

"I liked picking the busy bee," expressed Angelisse.

"Lunch was great,"  added Stella.

Our first week...

Our first week... on PhotoPeach

First Day of School

Wow we had a great first day of school in Room F today! First we lined up on the upper yard.  We saw old friends and met some new ones too. 

We met our new principal, Mrs. Brazell.

Then it was off to our new class. We lined up by our new classroom.

 We learned a little about Mrs. Levy, took a tour of the school,  and talked about class rules.  

 We read some new books and graphed the number of letters in our names. 

We also played with magic playdough.  If the white playdough turned colors we knew it was going to be a wonderful year.

We are off to  an amazing start .  What was your favorite thing that we did today?

All About Mrs. Levy

All About Me

In the first few days of school, we will learn so much about everyone in class.  Here are a few facts about Mrs. Levy.

1. I have a son named Max.

2. I love the ocean and love open water swimming.

3. Before I was a teacher, I worked as a librarian.

4. I have blue eyes.

5. I have four older brothers.

6. I love Chaparral Elementary.

7. One of my favorite books is Where the Wild Things Are

8. This is my 5th year at Chaparral Elementary.

9. My favorite color is blue.

10. I love chocolate.

11. I love coffee.

12. My car license plate says, SWMnOCN

13. My husband is a teacher.

14. When I'm not at school, I am at  home or swimming.

15. I make mistakes.

16. Blueberry pancakes are one of my favorite breakfast.  I love them!

17. I listen to all music.

18. Butterflies don't scare me.

19. I love veggies.

20. I love bulldogs.

21. Sunny days are my favorite.

22. I think macaroni and cheese is the best meal ever.

23. Sharks are amazing.

24. Max (my son) will graduate from high school this year.  Wow!!

25. First grade is the BEST.

Reflections and Take Aways on the Model Schools Conference

This past week over 100 people from LVUSD went to the Model Schools Conference in Washington D.C.  Here are some of my highlights, reflections and brief notes from the conference.

Far and away one of the highlights of the conference for me was the opening night key note speaker- Dr. Sue Szachowitz.  With her real world personality and no nonsense attitude, Dr. Sue explained how her high school Brockton High went from one of the lowest performing schools in the state to one of the highest in the Massachusetts. 
My take away quote, "It's about the adult's not the kids."

Morning keynote address Bill Daggett:  "Begin with the end in mind."  In his morning keynote address Daggett layed out the current course of education- to prepare students for college.  With statistical support, Daggett posited that we need to actually be preparing students to be College AND Career Ready, focusing on the "and career ready."
My take away quote, "Your major matters."

Deb Delisle:  "Commitment to kids"
In this session, the Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education encouraged teachers and administrators to renew their commitment to kids.  One idea I loved was to create an "I Quit" file of all of the wonderful notes from students and parents to look at on days when you want to throw in the towel.
My take away quote,"The primary aim of education is not to enable students to do well in school but to the lives they lead outside of school."

Bill Daggett:  "Culture Trumps Strategy"
Ah-hah moment:  the concept of "learning together."  Mrs. McEvoy and I will be brainstorming a "learning together" project next year for our penpals. 
My take away quote, "Want to change school culture, change the test.  Don't test anything you can google."

Sharon Wolder from Brockton High School
The Associate Principal explained how they transformed from a culture of low expectations and poor test scores to a high school recognized for their academic excellence.
My take away quote, :"Put all of the negative folks together in the same group to marginalized their voices."

Next Generation Assessment:  Sue Gendron
Wow, a big change is coming soon with the new Common Core assessments.  In this session we analyzed the new assessments and the implications for the for what we will need to see in the classroom instruction and in terms of the technological shifts that will need to occur to be successful with these tests.
My take away website:  http://www.smarterbalanced.org/pilot-test/

Quad D Classroom:  Alisa Braddy
This was one of my favorite sessions because I got to spend time with my wonderful Chaparral team.  

Learning through example, Alisa took us through a 4th grade quad D experience, using the Rigor/ Relevance Framework.   I walked away from this session with a real world understanding of what a Quad D classroom experience would look like. 
Take away idea:  "Stand Up, Hand Up, Pair Up"

"Effective Ways to Open and Close Lessons to Increase Rigor and Relevance:"  Denise White
This session provided instructional strategies to motivate students and insure student retention of information learned. 
Take away closure ideas: exit tickets and
3:2:1
3 things you learned
2 questions you have
1 thing my teacher should know
Take away quote:  "Consistent use of closure leads to significant increases in retention of information."

Other amazing highlights:

• Networking with colleagues from my school district and other schools in the nation about best practices in education today.

• Dinner in Georgetown  

• Meeting one of Mrs. McEvoy's favorite students Dylan Loewe, speech writer to the Vice President Joe Biden.

• Lastly, fireflies!!!! Spending the last few days in rural Virginia I had the magical experience of seeing fireflies the first time.  What a treat.

I am thrilled that I was able to spend an intensive 3 days in Washington D.C. learning about critical issues in education.

What were your take aways, "ah-ha" or favorite moments at the model schools conference?

Model Schools Conference

Today Mrs. Levy and Mrs. McEvoy are flying to Washington D.C. to attend the 21st Model Schools Conference.   LVUSD is bringing 100 teachers, administrators and students to the conference.  The goal of the conference is  "to inform and inspire teachers to take action to meet the challenges and opportunities we confront today as K-12 educators."

 This year’s program includes the following highlights:
• Effective and efficient approaches to meeting increased expectations in times of declining resources
• Explicit modeling of instructional practices for increasing student achievement
• Deep dive discussions on leadership issues related to teacher support, selection, and evaluation
• Systemwide strategies for preparing students to be college and career ready.  

Let the learning begin!

Thank You!

Thank you students and parents of room F.  It was an amazing year!

Our Pen Pals Come for a Visit

Pen Pal Visit

Celebrations!

What a wonderful Open House!  The kids were very excited and proud to share their hard work with you.  Thank you also for all of the special birthday attention and treats.  Attached is a video of a birthday dance we did yesterday.  First grade is so much fun! 

Open House Tonight!

Please come and see all of our hard work at Open House tonight!  

Room F:   6:30-7:30

Europe Poem

Flight of the bumblebee- From Mr. Dabach

Our past pen pals ..

For the past four years Mrs. Levy's first grade classes have been writing their high school pen pals in Mrs. McEvoy's Freshman class.  

It doesn't seem possible, but this year the first group of Freshmen pen pals will be graduating from high school.  

June 2010

Good Luck Graduating Class of 2013

Our first pen pals

What do you remember from your pen pals?  

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Our fieldtrip!

First Grade Goes To The Science Center

Go for it!

This past weekend my son competed in a music solo and ensemble festival.  For months he has been practicing  Weber's Concerto op 26 clarinet, a piece of music that was extremely challenging for him.  Some nights I would be awakened at midnight to the sound of him practicing.  Happily, his hard hours of work payed off and he will go to the regional festival next month.

For myself, Spring means that it is time for me to start thinking of swimming challenges.  I have my sights set on a few open water swimming events this summer, so it's important for me to start now in preparation.  Setting a goal motivates me to "just keep swimming." 

At school I see boys and girls challenge themselves all the time.  In Room F subtracting numbers is a big challenge for some people and for others it's "easy peasy lemon squeezy."  For some, writing one sentence in our journal is a challenge. But each week I see more and more students write longer and longer journal entries.


It's fun and exciting to see what you can do, when you challenge yourself.  

As Dr. Seuss wrote, "You're off the Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!"

Have you ever challenged yourself?  
What is your biggest challenge?

Our Open Air Market

Our Open Air Market

March

March

In March the wind blows down the door

and spills my soup upon the floor

It laps it up and roars for more!

Blowing once, blowing twice

blowing chicken soup with rice.

                     written by Maurice Sendak

South America and Rainforest Facts

Pen pals in the news

The latest edition of California Educator has a great article on pen pals and guess what... we are in it !

Here are some more pictures from the day when the article writer and photographer came to our classroom to visit.

What do you like about writing to your pen pal?  What have you learned about them?