Ms. Nix's Blog

Nix's Notes

April 28th – May 2nd

Language Arts: Happy Earth Day! This week we learned about Earth’s land and water and ways that we can help the earth. We read books about our planet and learned about recycling and reusing our trash. We worked with Mrs. Mathis class to clean up our school grounds and found some interesting trash and treasures. Also, we completed our plant unit and look forward to planting in the children’s garden next week.

Phonics: Lessons this week reviewed short and long vowels and worked with
l blends.

Math: Subtraction continued to be our focus in math.  We used partner games, math manipulatives and skill sheets for practice. Please continue to practice subtraction and addition at home. Our last unit in math is measurement!

Important Dates and information:
May 6th    Volunteer Tea in the Media Center
May 7th    Evening In the Garden
May 8th    Mother’s Day Tea at 8:30 am
May 15th     Field Day for Kindergarten and 1st grade 

~ Please remember to send in the $3.00 donation for a special Mother’s Day surprise. Thank You!
~ Thank you for the Ziploc bags and Treasure Box Toys!

~ HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Nix's Notes

WE’RE BACK…only 5 weeks to go! Please be sure to fill in the April Reading Log and work on the kindergarten sight words. I will be completing the end of the year student evaluations over the next few weeks and many students weren’t 100% on recognizing sight words. These words should be known by sight and not sounded out. Any help at home with this skill would be appreciated. THANK YOU!!

Language Arts: This week we began learning about plants. We found out what plants need to grow and planted seeds. We decided our seeds would grow better by the windows in the lunchroom. Also, we learned about the parts of plants. See if your child can teach you our plant song.

Phonics: S blends were our primary focus this week in Phonics.  Also, we worked on long and short vowels and we did a great job with phonetic spelling! Way to go!

Math: This week we started our subtraction unit. We worked with our unifix cubes to practice subtracting. We have also added Incredible Equations to our calendar math. We sure do come up with some challenging number sentences!

Important Dates and Information:

• April 19^th Spring Fling
• April 23^rd - 29th CRCT Testing for 1^st – 5^th grades

WELCOME to our new classmate, Parker Adamovich. He joined our class right before Spring Break. We are so glad to have Parker in our class!

FYI - You may have noticed that your child is now packing their own Take Home Folder as they prepare for First Grade. Please look in your child’s folder AND book bag each night since some papers may fall out of their folder.

SHHHHH! We are working on a special Mother’s Day project and will need a $3.00 donation. Please send this in next week if possible. Thanks!

Thank you…

• To Mrs. Glass for a terrific Earth      Lesson. We especially enjoyed the hamster visit.
• To Mrs. Glass for putting together our      class basket/planter and all those that donated items for our basket. It      looks great!
• To all of you for sending in glue      sticks and new crayons.

~ Classroom needs are gallon size Ziploc Bags and Treasure Box Toys.

Have A Great Week!

 

Nix's Notes

March 31^st – April 4^th

Language Arts: This week was all about the farm as we prepared for our field trip to Cagle’s Dairy Farm! We learned about farm animals and their babies, products that we get from our farm friends and types of farms. Next week we will continue to learn about different groups of animals and their characteristics. 

Phonics: Through our phonics lessons we reviewed ch, sh, th and wh and worked on rhyming words. Next week we will be working with r blends.

Math: We continued to work on writing addition sentences and finding different ways to show numbers. We will continue practicing addition next week and then work with subtraction after spring break.

 

Important Dates and Information:

• April 2^nd Kindergarten Registration in the Media Center
• April 4^th Media Center
• April 5^th – 13^th Spring Break
• April 18^th Media  Center
• April 19^th Spring Fling

~ Please send in your donations for our Spring Fling Gardening Basket! Contact Janet Glass if you have questions. Thanks!

~ Thank you to Mrs. Glass and Ms. Worman for their help on the field trip. Also, thanks to the parents that met our class at Cagle’s Dairy Farm. It was great weather and a lot of FUN!

~ As we return from Spring Break on April 14^th, our end of the year kindergarten assessments will begin. Please find a few minutes to review the kindergarten sight words and do some reading with your child over the holidays. Travel time is a great time to review! Thanks for your help!

~There will not be a newsletter sent next Friday. Have a WONDERFUL Spring Break filled with family FUN!

 
HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

 

 

 

Nix's Notes March 24th – 28th, 2008

Happy Easter!   &   Happy Spring!

Language Arts: This week we observed signs of spring and enjoyed working on spring activities. What a crazy week of spring weather to help celebrate the season! Also, we worked on several egg activities and learned about oviparous animals. Another focus has been showing First Grade work habits at all times. We are working on remembering proper capitalization, punctuation, finger spaces, lowercase letters in our words and neat writing. Please reinforce these skills at home.

Phonics: Our phonics lessons reviewed digraphs sh and ch and introduced th. We decorated th words with thumbprints and had fun learning a new verse using the words in our digraph song.

Math: We began our addition chapter this week by building number combinations for various given numbers. This will serve as an important step in learning how to add numbers and to read and write number sentences.

Important Dates and Information:

March 28^th Field Trip to Cagle’s Dairy Farm ~ Wear your yellow shirt!

April 2^nd  Kindergarten Registration

April 5^th – 13^th SPRING BREAK!

Please try to fill out the survey about Ford’s Curriculum Night last month. You can find the short survey on Ford’s website. We would appreciate your feedback.

THANK YOU…

A special thank you to Mrs. Glass and Mrs. McCullough for being our secret Leprechauns and bringing in our St. Patrick’s craft and treats.

Thank You to Mrs. Bayzid, Mrs.  Glass and Ms. Worman for a TERRIFIC Spanish lesson and Easter craft today. Also, thanks to Mrs. Hall for the delicious bunny cupcakes. YUM!

Thank you for all the donations for our activities this week and sending in the eggs for our egg hunt. We had a fun filled week! Thank you!

 

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Nix's Notes March 10th – 14th

Thanks for all of your help over the last couple of weeks with the book projects and Storybook Parade. The projects turned out great! Thank you!

 
Language Arts: We enjoyed a fun week learning about Dr. Seuss and reading MANY of his books. We worked on story retelling, story order, rhyming words, sentence patterns and story elements.

Phonics: This week our focus was on rhyming words and word families taken from our Dr. Seuss readings.

Math: During math this week we continued our money unit. Please continue to practice coin recognition, coin value, making fair trades and counting coins at home. The extra practice with money would be very helpful for your child in preparation for first grade. Also, in math we worked on graphing and measuring activities with our Dr. Seuss books.

Important Dates and Information:

• March 14^th SHHH! Mystery Readers begin again on Fridays  AND   Media Center
• March 17^th Happy St. Patrick’s Day ~ Remember to wear green!
• March 19^th One dozen filled eggs are due.
• March 21^st Egg Hunt with Book Buddies
• March 28^th Field Trip to Cagle’s Dairy Farm

 

~ Thank You to Mrs. McCullough for a TERRIFIC Art Awareness Lesson!

~ HELP! EGGS ARE NEEDED FOR OUR EGG HUNT – Please send in one dozen filled eggs with your child by Wed., March 19th. The eggs can be filled with small toy treats (stickers, erasers etc.) or candy. Please remember no peanuts.  Thank You!

Have A Great Week!

Nix's Notes

March 3^rd – 7^th
We have had a great week. I am so proud of the awesome reading and writing that is showing every day! Keep up the extra practice at home.

Language Arts: This week we began our Community Helpers Unit. We brainstormed a list of helpers and sorted them on our graphic organizer into helpers that keep us safe, healthy and provide us with goods and services. Next week we will continue learning about community helpers and celebrate reading with Dr. Seuss.

Phonics: In phonics we worked on the long and short sounds of vowels i and u. Also, we worked on blending, letter order, word families and rhyming words.

Math: Money! Money! Money! We began our money unit in math this week. We will be identifying pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. Also, we will move into counting various coin combinations. Any extra help at home with money would be great!

Important Dates and Information:

Remember to visit the Book Fair in the Media Center this week!

• March 3^rd Green Eggs and Ham Breakfast for last names A – L
• March 4^th Green Eggs and Ham Breakfast for last names M – Z
• March 6^th Cobb County Firefighter Visits
• March 7^th Book Projects are due Storybook Parade in character costume with book

The Storybook Parade will go through the school building and out to the bus lanes for parents to watch. It will begin at 8:15. Remember to bring your cameras!

~~ WELCOME BACK MRS. FOSTER! WE MISSED YOU!

~~ Thank you to Mrs. Glass for making our banner for Publix and for another great Earth Lesson! The birds enjoyed our bird feeders today. Thank You!

Have A Great Week!

Nix's Notes

Language Arts: This week we learned about Presidents and continued our Patriotic Unit with Symbols of America. We learned about President’s Day, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and President George W. Bush. We even got to write about what we would do if we were the President. We came up with some great ideas!

 

Phonics: Our phonics focus was on rhyming words and short vowels a, o and e. We did a great job on our spelling activities with our phonics cards this week and especially enjoyed our partner work.

 

Math: We continued to work on two digit numbers using tens grids this week. We are looking forward to our money unit that we will begin on Wednesday. Your child should already be able to tell you the names and value of a penny, nickel, dime and quarter. We work with money each day during Calendar Math so hopefully this prior knowledge will help with a challenging math unit.

Important Dates and Information:

Feb. 29^th Media Center

March 7^th Book Report Projects due and Storybook Parade 

 

CONGRATULATIONS to our Star Student, Nya Echols!

 

THANK YOU…

~Thank you so much to Mrs. Glass, Mrs.

Maryland

and the many volunteers that helped with the “Q and U Wedding”. It was quite nice!

~Many thanks to PTSA and all the parents that sent in goodies and helped during Teacher Appreciation Week. It was a wonderful week! Thank You!

~Thanks to Mrs. Wadsworth and Mrs. Glass for taking care of the class money and notes for Mrs. Foster’s Family. I know that they will appreciate this special gift. Please continue to keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

 

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

 

Q and U are Married!

Nix's Notes

Nix’s Notes
Feb. 11th – 15th and Feb. 18th – 22nd
Happy Valentine’s Day!

~ I am combining two newsletters due to the holiday weekend and I will be out a couple of days next week with my son’s knee surgery.

Language Arts: We continued learning about Healthy Habits this week. We culminated our unit with cooperative group work on our Healthy Habit posters and a visit from a Dental Hygienist. Next week we will start our Patriotic Unit as we learn about famous presidents and symbols of the United Sates of America.

Phonics: Our focus this week was on vowel e. We had some great spelling as we sounded out short vowel e words in our phonics lessons and writing assignments. Next week, we will focus on letters Q and U.

Math: This week we began Chapter 6 learning about numbers to 30. We will continue with counting, recognizing and writing our numbers. Please practice this skill at home or during car trips.

Important Dates and Information

• Feb. 13th Valentine Day cards and containers are due
  Wrapped Wedding Shower Gifts that begin with Q or U are due   

• Feb. 14th Q and U Wedding at 9:30 in our classroom
  Valentine Card Exchange

• Feb. 15th Media Center
• Feb. 18th and 19th Student Holidays
• Feb. 22nd Six Flags 600 Minute Reading Sheets are due
  Media Center
  Ford’s High School Musical Dance at Durham Middle School

CONGRATULATIONS to our Star Student, Cristian Bayzid!
~~ Many, many thanks in advance for all those involved in the planning and preparation for the Q and U Wedding. It will be a FUN event for all!
~~ HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Nix's Notes Feb. 4-8, 2008

 Language Arts: This week we learned about healthy habits to keep our body germ free. We did an experiment with glitter and learned how important that it is to wash our hands with soap and water. We will continue learning about healthy habits next week. Also, we learned about Groundhog Day and can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow morning. We are predicting an early spring!

Phonics: This week our focus was on short and long vowels o and a. It would be helpful at home to practice sounding out and spelling words with these vowels.

Math: Telling Time continues to be our math focus. This week our lessons were practicing time to the hour and the half hour. Your child should be able to identify an analog clock, a digital clock, know the names of the clock hands, know how many seconds are in a minute, how many minutes are in an hour and a half hour and be able to tell time to the hour and half hour. Your children have done a great job with a difficult kindergarten math skill.

 

Important Dates and Information

• Feb. 6^th Early Release Day ~ Dismissal      begins at 12:10
• Feb. 7^th  PTSA Curriculum Night
• Feb. 8^th  Dental Hygienist to visit

  Media

  Center

• Feb. 14^th  Valentine’s Day and Q&U Wedding      at 9:30am in our classroom
• (Parents are invited to the Q&U      wedding! A note will be sent home soon.)

 

CONGRATULATIONS to our Star Student, Alyssa Hill!

 
Thank you to Mrs. Glass for another great Earth Lesson! We loved the shadow activities. We hope that Mr. Groundhog doesn’t see his shadow tomorrow!

 

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!