Winter Break

The last week was so much fun! We had a wonderful time playing secret elves, singing Christmas carols and counting down to break. I didn't send home Bonanza Gold Mine books during the break, but still continue to read and work on math box homework. When we come back we will start the year with a bang! Tuesday, January 4th is Utah Day. We will celebrate Utah's birthday and talk a little about our Great State's History. Friday is Toy Day. We will get to bring a toy from home that we received for Christmas to play and share with everyone.

Thank you for all the wonderful gifts and presents. We were already spoiled to have such great students and families, but all your presents were such great surprises. We will miss you and see you in January!

Rosetta Stone

"As the United States increasingly becomes part of a global community and mulinational economy, The Canyons School District recognizes the importance of providing world language education and enrichment opportunities to our students, faculty and community members." Membership Fee is $75.00 per individual account. Membership includes access to a personal Rosetta Stone Online account with a language of choice from January 1- December 31, 2011. Payment is Due December 15.

Yellow notes have come home the last few weeks about this program. This is just a reminder because the deadline is tomorrow. Another note came home today. Here is the link to register.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dGV0U01hR3JhbE1iQk9NWTFGZVJKY1E6MQ

Nutcracker Day

This Wednesday is going to be Nutcracker Day at school. We will be having a special show and tell where students can bring any nutcrackers from home to share with the class. We will be learning about the Nutcracker play and discussing different holiday traditions.

Secret Elves

Little secret elves have been running around doing nice things for our classmates! We have seen notes in mailboxes, kind deeds in class and extra fun out on the playground. It is so much fun to do nice things for others.

Matemáticas

We have learned so much in Math! I'm very impressed with how well students are doing!

After going over Addition and Subtraction, we have moved on to groups of 10's and place value! Place value is not an easy thing to understand, but during calendar time we are working on it--so its a daily basis of practice.

Skip-counting (contar-salteado)

This is something students need to continue practicing at home. Majority of our students have mastered skip-counting by 5's and 10's, but there are many that struggle to skip-count by 2's. It would be a fun activity to do as they drive up to school, or whenever we have those 10-15 minutes on the road! Remember, you can count these times for your Math Box Activity.

Ordinal Numbers (números ordinales)

This is a challenge! It makes more than just knowing your numbers, but memorizing the place of the number (first, second, third, etc.) So I have added the ordinal numbers for students to practice at home! I told them that I would do this, so I am sure some students will be looking forward to this. At school we only practiced from 1st to 10th, but I've included all the way to 20! I'll be asking students on Monday to see who went home to practice.

1-Primero 11-Undécimo
2-Segundo 12-Duodécimo
3-Tercero 13-Decimotercero
4-Cuarto 14-Decimocuarto
5-Quinto 15-Decimoquinto
6-Sexto 16-Decimosexto
7-Séptimo 17-Decimoséptimo
8-Octavo 18-Decimoctavo
9-Noveno 19-Decimonoveno
10-Décimo 20-Vigésimo

December Math Box Homework

You may have heard your child say, “Five and five are ten,” and assume that your child knows how to add. The process of Addition and Subtraction entails much more than memorizing the facts. Hands-on experiences help your child understand the why and how of addition and subtraction. It’s important to have your child explain to you what is happening in a problem and use various math terms (add, plus, makes, equals, subtract, minus, take away, leaves, etc.) so it will connect math to real-life problems The shift is away from endless “drill & kill” worksheets. Experts say that children learn better by working with objects and discovering various ways to find answers. Last month we worked on facts to 7, so these problems will reflect what we learned. (You may work on higher numbers if your child is ready to go on).


1. Make a list of all the people who you want to Christmas presents (in two columns—family and friends) Count the names in each column and write the numbers on a paper. How many in all?

2. Estimate how much you spend for each person and write the number by the name. Use a CALCULATOR (don’t use decimals—just the nearest dollar amount) to find out how much you need to save for Christmas.

3. Count how many days until Christmas. Count how many days until the New Year. Can you count by twos? (Count the two’s song to the tune of Yankee Doodle.)

4. Use a wire hanger and 5 (or more) clip type clothespins. Cut apart the ADDITION FACT CARDS and choose on from the pile. If it said 1+3, you would clip 1 clothespin to the bottom left side of the hanger. Then, clip 3 more to the bottom right side of the hanger. Say 1+3=, and then slide the clothespins together into the center. Count the combined total to get the answer. Do this with all the addition facts.

5. Use the same idea, but use the SUBTRACTION FACT CARDS. If a card says 5-2, put 5 clothespins to the bottom left of the hanger and then slide 2 over to see how many are left. Say the equation and then the answer.

6. Use the GAMEBOARD & ADDITION FACT CARDS and find a partner. Use a button as a marker. Draw a card and move your button 3+2 or whatever the card says. Say the whole equation (3+2=5) and move that number of spaces. The winner is the one who gets to the end first.

7. Use the GAMEBOAD & SUBTRACTION FACT CARDS and find a partner. Choose a fact card and if it says 5-1, then move you button 5 spaces and back one. Say the equation and answer.

8. Using the TANGRAM, try making a triangle with just 2 pieces. See if you can make a triangle with 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 pieces. Is the more than one way to solve it? Draw a picture if you favorite.

9. PENTOMINOES are made from 5 squares attached together by a full side. Check this by getting 5 orange squares from the PATTERN BLOCKS bag. Spread out each pentomino shape and try to make it on the table with the 5 orange squares.
10. Practice number 5 Fax=ct Families: (1,4,5) (2,3,5) (0,5,5) Using 2 blobs of CLAY and 5 TOOTHPICKS, stick 1 toothpick straight up in one blob and 4 in the other blob. As you say 1+4=5, 4+1=5, 5-1=4, 5-4=1…manipulate the blobs together or apart to show the equation. Write them on a PAPER as you do each one.

11. Graph the presents opened for Christmas in you family: Clothes, toys, sports, books, food, misc.

12. Cut out magazine pictures that show 2 to 7 objects. On each picture, draw one ring around some of the objects, leaving either 1 or 2 objects outside the ring. If a picture shows a5 ducks, you might want to draw a ring around 3 of them. Make up an addition story about the ducks. (2 ducks came to visit their 3 friends. How many are there in all?) Write it on a piece of PAPER.

13. Have you child practice addition facts as you ride in a car, take a walk or do chores. Say a number from 1 through 5. Have you child mentally add 2 to your number and say the answer.

14. Write the equation at the bottom of a PAPER. Above each addition fact, draw two groups of objects to show the numbers that are being added. The child should fill in the answers to the problems using the pictures to help. (Do several equations)

15. Separate seven BEANS into a group of 3 and a group of 4. Write an addition fact using the number of beans in each group: 3+4=7. Now switch the positions of the bean groups and write the related addition fact: 4+3=7. Repeat the activity by using different numbers of beans.

16. Help mom and put away groceries. Have 7 items on the counter and put away 1. Say the subtraction fact that relates to what you did. Now put 2 more away. Say the fact…and so on.

17. Help mom and dad put away laundry. Stack up 7 towels. Put away 3. Say the subtraction fact that relates to what you did. Now put away 2, now 1… Put away other things in the same way.

18. It’ important to understand what it means to subtract zero. Collect groups of 3 to 7 items such as books, spoons, or stuff animals. Count the objects and take a zero. Talk about it.

19. FACT FAMILIES are facts that have three numbers in common. Usually we have 2 addition and 2 subtraction facts in a fact family. An example is 2+4=6, 4+2=6, 6-4=1, 6-2=4. Choose several and write them on a piece of PAPER. For a challenge, throw in a fact that has different numbers (1+5=6) and see if you child can tell you why it doesn’t belong.

20. Time yourself doing your math facts. Each time, try to beat your first time! Continue improving your score!

*If you have a COMPUTER GAME or a BOARD GAME that practices math facts, that can certainly be counted as a math activity. Remember to adapt it to the level of your child’s needs.

Book Orders

Book Orders are due tonight, remember if you want an email when they arrive, instead of sending them home contact me. Thanks!

Thanksgiving Feast

This Thursday we are going to have our thanksgiving feast during lunchtime. The lunch ladies in the cafeteria prepare the most delicious thanksgiving feast! We will bring our lunches back to our classrooms and feast together. We will discuss manner, being polite and trying new things. Please try and have your student get lunch from school this Thursday if possible.

Food Drive

Next week we are doing our annual rivalry week at Silver Mesa! We are going to be having a food drive all next week and the class that brings in the most food will have a pizza party provided by the University of Utah Alumni Association. Students will also get to choose if they want to donate their food to the U of U or BYU. We will finish the week by having our spirit day on Friday which is BYU v. Utah. So wear your favorite blue or red!

Reading and Mathematics Reports for Canyons School District

Here are some tips on how to read the graph that came home in your students' folder:

AIMSweb TEL are tests of critical early literacy skills given in kindergarten and first grade. They assess literacy skills that indicate a student's progress toward learning how to read. These tests include:
Letter Names (LNF)
Letter Sounds (LSF)
Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (PSF)
Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF)

EARLY NUM (numeracy) are test of early math skills that demonstrate a student's ability to orally count, identify number, identify the bigger number from a pair, and identify the missing number from a number line. These test for kindergarten and first grade students include:
Oral Counting (OCM)
Number Identification (NIM)
Quantity Discrimination (QDM)
Missing Number (MNM)

The blue dot represents your student's score compared with the scores of other students in Canyons School District at his/her grade level.
The green box represents the range of average scores of students in our district.
The orange ling extending below the green box indicates below average scores while the blue line extending above indicates above average scores.

The target for the testing period is the heavy black horizontal line. This indicates the minimum score we would like each student to achieve for that testing period. A score at this level gives a 90% chance of achieving a proficient or passing score on the CRT reading test given each spring to all student in Utah (grade 3+).

The table at the bottom of the report indicates your student's actual scores for each measure at the time period they were given. It also indicates a general skill level. Established means your student has met the minimum score we would like to see each student achieve. Emerging means your child is making progress but has not yet reached the established goal for that time period. Deficient means your child is in need of immediate interventions to help him/her move toward the established goal.

**If you ever have any questions about any of the charts/data given feel free to contact us.

Parent Teacher Conferences

We had such a great turn out for the parent meeting and PT Conferences. It was so much fun for us to celebrate your child's accomplishments. It was also great to listen to all of the Spanish that your child can already speak! Remember if you have any questions about the report card, AIMS graph or anything else in your packet please contact us.

November Math Box Homework

Mathematics is based on patterns. A good understanding of patterns will help your child with logic and problem solving activities. It is necessary to allow children the opportunity to recognize, copy, extend, and create patterns at an early age to get a good foundation for math and other subjects.

1. Mom (or partner) will make a two color BEAN pattern like: white, red, white, red… and the child will copy the pattern using the same color of beans. Make another 2 color pattern using the same color beans. (i.e W, R, R W, R, R W, R, R…)

2. Mom will start a 3 BEAN pattern (W, R, B, …) and you will extend it out to 20 beans. Start a few other patterns to extend. See if you can say what the “core” of the pattern is. (core-the first part).

3. Take a pattern walk around your house with a paper and pencil. Notice floor designs, clothes, wallpaper, etc. Draw a picture of all the patterns in or around your house in 15 min. Share with your family or bring to show and tell.

4. Find something around the house that you could bring to show and tell that has an ABC pattern on it.

5. How high can you count now? Count to someone in your family. Can you count by 10’s to 100? Can you count by 5’s? Write it down and talk about the pattern you see. See how far you can count in Spanish! Even by 10’s (diez, veinte, treinta, cuarenta, cincuenta, sesenta, setenta, ochenta, noventa, cien)

6. Borrow a CALCULATOR. Choose two numbers. Press them back and forth to show an AB pattern on the display. Make an ABB pattern, by pressing the first number once and the second number twice until the display is filled. Discover some other number patterns on it.

7. Roll out the CLAY on the table with a rolling pin or the side of a plastic glass. With 1 TOOTHPICK, draw some patterns in the clay (The pattern needs to repeat). Roll it out again and make another design.

8. Play Concentration with the NUMBER CARDS 1-10, and the NUMBER WORDS-zero to ten. Spread them out upside down and make matches. Practice reading the number words when you’re finished. Play it with the DOT CARDS and the NUMBER WORDS another time.

9. Using the TANGRAM puzzle, see if you can use all the pieces to make a square. Mess it up. Can you make it again?

10. Make a BUTTON pattern on the table (4 holes, 2 holes, 4, 2,…). This of some other ways to make button patterns. Draw your favorite

11. Estimate how many inches you are. Measure and keep track through the year. Compare each month.

12. Using butter knifes (A), forks (B), and spoons (C), create the following patterns: AB (extend each pattern), ABB, ABC, AABBCC, ABCB, AACC.

13. Look in your closets for 3 pieces of clothing that have a pattern. Tell your mom or dad about the pattern. Record each of the patterns on a piece of paper with crayons. (Try to find clothes with obvious stripes or simpler patterns).

14. Using a sheet of GRAPH PAPER and BEANS, count to ten and place a bean on every 10th space. See if you can see a pattern. Use a different color of BEAN and place it on every 5th space. Can you see a pattern?

15. Make a paper chain. Use different colors in a pattern. For example: 1 red, 2 yellow, …repeat.

16. Collect one pair of shoes from each family member. How many shoes are there? How many pairs? Sort shoes by color, kind, size, etc. Arrange shoes in an AB pattern. Be sure to put them all back where you got them.

17. Get the TANGRAM puzzle and see if you can make a large rectangle using all the pieces. Now see if you can make a large triangle using all 7 pieces.

18. Using your BEANS, determine what the core of your pattern will be. Once you have made the core, place a paper plate over it so it can’t be seen. Now make your core again and repeat it several times to form a long pattern. When you have finished your pattern, call your mom or dad over and ask them to try to figure out what your “pattern core” is. After they guess, lift the paper plate off your core and let them see if they got the right answer. (Core is 1st part before you repeat again).

19. Make one pile of WHITE BEANS (A) and another pile of RED BEANS (B). Make an AB pattern using at least 30 beans. Now you are ready to count them. You may only count out loud on the red beans. When you come to a white bean, then you must count silently in your head. You will find yourself counting by 2’s. Now make and AAAAB pattern using at least 50 beans. You will speak the number only on the B (red bean). You will find yourself counting by 5’s. Try other patterns to help you count by 3’s or 4’s.

20. Use an O-shaped breakfast cereal like Fruit Loops and make a pattern necklace on a string. Have mom or dad check the pattern, and then eat your necklace.

The following pages I send home with your 5 activity record sheet are also activities: For activity number, just write the title of the activity. Remember that your child gets credit for 20 activities each month. You don’t have to do any activity on the weekends. You may choose the ones that interest you the most or even make up your own activity. As soon as your child does 5 days of activities, send a slip to school. After 25 activities, or 5 slips, the students get certificate to take home and show that they are advancing on the Math Olympics Chart.

Halloween Parade

We are going to have our Halloween parade at 8:45 on Thursday October 28. Students can wear their costumes all day if they choose, but no masks or weapons. We are also having our Halloween Party after the parade. Thanks to all the donations for the parties/field trips. A very special thanks to all the room reps who are putting the fun party together.

Fall Walk

Our fall walk will be on Tuesday October 26. It is probably going to be a bit chilly, so dress really warm and wear good shoes. We will cancel the fall walk if it is raining and do a different activity instead.

Spelling

Friday I sent home our 1st weeks spelling words. I will usually send home the list on Monday and have the spelling test on Friday, but because of Halloween and our short week coming up I had to change it. We will practice these words throughout the week and do activities each day with them. We will also work on a few word chunks (-in, fin, chin, pin, etc) to help build our spelling skills. Practice these words at home, but remember that spelling practice can be included in the 20 mins of required reading, not in addition too. Our spelling program is set up to help students become good spellers by recognizing patterns and editing their work. It isn't just to get a 100% on a spelling test. The words that are on our spelling list will then be placed on our word wall. After a word is placed on the word wall the students are responsible to correctly spell that word in all their writing.

PT Conferences

Please go to the Silver Mesa Website and sign up for a PT Conference time. Because of the number of the students/conferences, we have a limited number of conferences available at night, but we have set all day Wednesday aside for conferences. We will also be having a mandatory meeting next Wednesday, Oct 27 for parents only where we will address some of the questions that come up during conferences.

October Math Box Activities

Sorting or Classifying is a very basic math skill. Any collection of objects around the house can these attributes and write down of possible findings.

Remember that you don’t have to do the activities in order. You can make them harder or easier to fit your child’s needs. You can even make up your own or do computer math games. There are more than 20 to choose from each month, but you only get credit for 20/month. Try to do 5 a week and send in the slip. (The Math Box supplies a re in the bold print.) Have fun!!


1. Pick out one BUTTON from the bag. Tell about the button size, color, number of holes, etc.) Find all the buttons that are like that button in one way. For example; find all the buttons with two holes, all the white buttons, all the large buttons. (If you have other buttons, add them to the bag for more fun.)

2. Look at the bag of BEANS and try to decide which kind has the most. Estimate how many of each kind and write your estimations on the chalkboard. (Mom or Dad can help) Sort the beans onto paper plates. Count each kind. Which had the most? Compare the Estimates with the actual counts.

3. Play Concentration with the NUMBER CARDS. (Carefully cut out the numerals, dots, and number word cards and pull out just the double sets of numbers 0-10.) Mix them up and place them face down on the table. Pick up two cards to see if they match. If they do, you keep those two cards and play again. If they don’t, it’s your partner’s turn. The one with the most matches wins. How many of your numbers have only straight lines? How many have only curved lines? How many have both straight and curved lines together? Can you sort them a different way? When you’re finished, put an elastic around them or put the in a bag. We’ll use them other months.

4. Use the CLAY to roll into snake numbers…0-9. Be sure to close the bag tightly when you put the clay away. (If homemade clay is used, it will last longer in an airtight container in the fridge.)

5. Gather a collection of toys. Sort them in as many ways as you can.

6. Look through a magazine or a picture book to find pictures that show 1, 2, 3, or 4 objects such as 1 truck, 2 cars, 3 dogs, and 4 trees. (any amount) Count the number of objects in each picture and write the number on a sheet of paper. Next to the number, you can draw a picture of those objects. You could bring these pictures to show and tell.
7. Give your child practice with the numbers 5 & 6 (or any number) by having the child draw pictures to correspond to the numbers. (i.e. favorite foods, 6 favorite animals) Write the number.

8. Have your child collect groups of objects around your house to show groups of 0 through 8. For example, you might collect 0 elephants, 1 cup, 2 apples, etc. Use number cards to label groups.

9. Using the NUMBER CARDS and pennies, hold up one card at a time in mixed up order. Have your child count out that many pennies.

10. Using the NUMBER CARDS or sheets of paper with numbers in them, place them out of order around the room. Your child needs to find the numbers in order saying them out aloud.

11. Go on a fall walk. Collect leaves from different trees. Count the leaves. Sort by size, shape, and color. Can you think of a different way to sort your leaves?

12. Make some leaf rubbings. (Put a leaf under paper and color over it with the side of a crayon stub.) Put them in groups of 1, 2, 3, 4 ,5.

13. Use the NUMBER CARDS and DOT CARDS and say all the numbers in Spanish! This will help you develop fluency in saying then number in Spanish by just looking at it.

14. Use the NUMBER CARDS. Pick two cards and add them! Tell me what your total is. Do this about 6 times correctly and you've completed another Math Activity!

15. Practice and write the numbers in Spanish!

Book Orders

The October Book Order came home today. Scholastic didn't send me enough of the Spanish LEO order, but I did make it available online. The directions for online ordering are on the right side of the blog.

Volunteers

We are going to send home our volunteer calendar next week. I filled out the calendar according to the availability that was written on the Green Getting Acquainted Sheet on the first day of school. Before any volunteers can come you need to fill out the background check application on the Canyons District Website. Thanks to all of our awesome volunteers!

Mostrar y Contar

I hope all of you received the pink flyer about "MOSTRAR Y CONTAR" Today will be the first day of show and tell. I have scheduled 2 students from red class and blue class to bring something. From now until February I have scheduled each student to participate two time, but they will be doing it about 3-4 times in total.

I will send them home with a reminder the day before they have show and tell. It will be either blue or red and it is laminated. I will need these back to remind the other students for the following week.

If you would like to know in advance when your student has show and tell, please email me at estephanie.maiava@canyonsdistrict.org (it has been changed to my new last name).

Apple Day

Tomorrow (Wednesday) is Apple Day. Please send one uncut apple to school, any color is fine. We will be graphing, measuring and of course eating our apples. We are also celebrating Johnny Appleseed's birthday!

Bonanza Gold Mine

Hooray for all the miners that made it to Miners Shack! Remember to read 20 mins each night (this includes homework half sheets also). After you read 20 mins record it on the white slips and put a check mark on the green slip and send everything back to school in the plastic bag.

The Immersion Experience!

¡Estoy muy feliz que sus hijos/as estan trabajando muy bien en mi clase!

I enjoy seeing their smiles and laugh on a daily basis! This makes me feel really good and it makes them feel really good. These past two weeks we have continued working on numbers, colors, minúscula, mayúscula, and some songs.

I have displayed their class work and answer to "¿Que hay en mi casa?" on my board. We are still working on it. They were able to sort pictures of house furniture, people, pets, and toys into the following sorts: MUEBLES, FAMILIA, JUGETES, Y LIBROS.

¿Cuál es tu número de teléfono? (What is your telephone number)

Not all students knew their phone number, so I gave them a fake one to practice saying it in Spanish. We were not able to fully practice because we have been practicing how to sit and work with our partner on the rug. We will continue to work with this as well!

Colores! They are doing great with colors. This is our color song:

De colores, de colores se visten los campos en la primavera.
De colores, de colores son los pajaritos que vienen de fuera.

There are two verses left we have to work on!

Today we started learning body parts:

ojos (eyes)
cabeza (head)
boca (mouth)
nariz (nose)
oídos (ears)
manos (hands)
pies (feet)
dedos (fingers)
pelo (hair)
dientes (teeth)

Matemáticas

We have reviewed making two parts of the numbers 6, 7, 8, and 9. For example 3 & 3, 4&2, 1&5, etc. We will continue reviewing this, because this is the prep for addition. Today we reviewed how to write our numbers correctly! It was great to see them working hard and doing quality work!

Book Club

The directions are on the right side column for ordering book orders online. Feel free to still send in check/cash to school and I can order them the other way too. There are some great Spanish resources also!

Back to School Night

We had such a great turn out for back to school night! We really appreciate all those that came to support their students. We feel so bad that we had such a short amount of time to go over so much information. If you have any questions at all email.

Color Raps

P-U-R---P-L-E Purple's pretty as can be!
P-I-N-K Spell Pink this way!
BROWN! B-R-O-W-N --- Spell it again!
W---H---I-T---E White is bright as it can be!
B--L--A-C-K Black black any day!

We have been doing such a good job learning to spell all of our colors and say them in Spanish. We only have one more left on Tuesday... gray!

Spanish Immersion

!Dos Semanas!

Two weeks of Spanish Immersion in Maestra Maiava's Classroom! What can I say? WOW!!! It has been a great experience reviewing with RED CLASS and BLUE CLASS numbers and procedures in the Spanish language. The first week was tough. Its very challenging to teach in a language that not all students know. That is where frustration comes, but over that they have come to be great troopers. They are doing great and I know that this will continue getting better! Through these two weeks I have seen a great increase of participation during Calendar, Math, and Spanish literature. Students raise their hands and ask to get a drink or use the restroom in Spanish! As small as that may seem, to me it's GREAT because they were not able to do that before.

Math

We have been reviewing all numbers. This past week we counted up to 50. After Calendar we sit in a circle (which they understand when I ask them to) and we count, count, COUNT! It is not taught that "cincuenta" is "50" or "cuarenta y nueve" is "49" but we just say they numbers in order and as we do this daily they will get it.

We reviewed Spatial patterns for numbers up to 12. We have counted a group of five and counted up from five (ex. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9... instead of 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9...). Along with the Math Envisions programs, for each lesson it has a small interactive video where it quickly goes through what they will do.

Spanish

I have tried to make spanish fun by teaching using beats and songs where they can remember it and they have done very well!

Los dias de la semana

!lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes, sabado domingo!

Numbers up to 23 have the tune to twinkle twinkle little star.

Colores

rojo, azúl, amarillo, verde, anaranjado, morado

los vocales

a,e,i,o,u

aaaaARAÑa (spider)

eeeeELEFANTE (elephant)

iiiiiiIGUANA (iguana)

oooOFICINA (office)

uuuUNIFORME (uniform)

Introduction

"Hola"

"Buenos Dias"

Buenas Tardes"

"¿Como te llamas?"

Me llamo ________.

¿Cuantos años tienes?

Tengo ___ años.

I'm looking forward for each week! Enjoy the long weekend and see you again on Tuesday!

Color Days

"B-L-U-E Blue is the color for me!"
"Green Men, Green Men, G--R--E-E--N"
"O-R-A---N-G-E Orange ran away from me!"

We are having lots of fun with our color songs. We are learning to read the color words and also spelling them correctly!

Silver Mesa School Carnival

The Silver Mesa School Carnival is tonight from 5-8. It is the carnival that got canceled last spring due to weather. Thanks PTA for putting the carnival on.

Yellow Day

Y-E-L---L-O-W Yellow's light, bright, and shiny new! Yellow was such a happy fun day! Don't forget to read your yellow page at home with your student.

Red Day

"R-E-D spells red, red, red, RED! It was so much fun to see everyone wearing red. We practiced spelling red, made a red chart, and a red story. Don't forget to wear yellow on Monday.

Hats for Kids

Silver Mesa Elementary has a very special tradition. Every short day through out the whole year students can wear a hat to school if they bring at least $.50 with them. We collect the money all year long and donate it to Primary Children's Hospital. The last few years we have raised around $5000 each year. Our school has so much fun doing this and the money goes to a great cause.

Lunch

We did it!! Today we went to lunch on our own without our buddies and we did great. Keep practicing your lunch numbers at home so you can have them memorized.

Fruit Salad Day

Today was such a great day! We learned to write our numbers in Spanish. We played a fruit salad game in Spanish. In our English class we graphed the fruit that we brought from home, then we graphed our favorite fruits. We interpreted the graph and used the words, most, least, zero, etc. Then we cut up our fruit and made a giant fruit salad. Thank you to Mr. Maiava and Mrs. Osborn for helping prepare our yummy fruit salad!

Popcorn Day

The first day was a huge success!! The students got to pop popcorn, play games, make a book, learn to introduce themselves in Spanish and even started counting in Spanish. It was a long, fun-filled day. We learned how to get our own lunches in the lunch room with the help of our 5th grade buddies. Remember to bring back your green folders each day. Tomorrow will be fruit salad day. Please send a piece of fruit in a bag with your name on the baggie.

Red Class-Blue Class

There have been many questions about the Red/Blue Classes. We gave the classes a color because it would help keep everything better organized. The Blue Class will be with Mrs. Maiava in the morning, the Red Class with Mrs. Day, then after lunch the classes will switch, Blue with Mrs. Day and Red with Mrs. Maiava.
Half way through the year we will switch the schedule. The Blue Class will start with Mrs. Day and the Red with Mrs. Maiava, this allows both classes to have equal time spent in Spanish and English.

Welcome to First Grade!

We are so excited to start a brand new school year. We will begin the year with Popcorn Day, Fruit Salad Day and many other fun things. We will see everyone at your special appointment to get acquainted!