Dec. 17

The day before our Christmas party, sorry I have not posted.  I have just returned from being ill.  I run out of school to go to bed.  I thought I would update about our party tomorrow.  We made reindeer and elf ornaments for your trees, at home.  Then we traveled around the world to China.  Ask them what they have been learning about?

The students in second grade will have their party at 12 and we will wrap up by about 1:15-1:20.  I will read a story at the end before specials at 1:45.  The upper grades and younger usually have their parties at the end of the day.

Science Night

Dec. 2 Hope to see you all at Science Night!

Today was a fantastic day of learning we managed to get through all activities.  We discussed main idea and finding the supporting details in our reading.  We practiced locating them in our article about red ants today.  Ask your child what they discovered and learned.  Then we wrote procedural texts in writing; we learned how to plan out our text by drawing the steps. Then writing out the specific details to teach someone how to do something.  Please ask them what they feel they're an expert at.  We also measured in non-standard units of measure today and discussing how to use a paper clip.  We also received our goal sticks from the forms which we returned.


Top Banana Ragan
We learned she traveled to Hershey Peninsula to the candy factor, and was one lucky girl.  She made and got to eat a candy bar.  She showed us a family picture and she was not clear was her dad was, maybe getting ready for a conference?  We learned she has a sister in fifth grade Grace and another sister too.  she attended the color run and the Army was there handing out water bottles.  She also has been to Washington DC. and her picture looks like she is holding the Washington Monument.

First day back, from Thanksgiving

Today was a fantastic day we learned a lot.  We made it through our first day back.  I hope all of you had a fabulous Thanksgiving and enjoyed your time off.  I had a blast seeing family and cooking my meal with my best friend, Mrs. Schoss. We are learning about main idea and supporting details, in reading.  We are discussing and writing procedural texts these next few weeks, so please ask them what they are writing about.  Make sure they can explain to you the difference between a narrative and procedural text?  During math we are learning about measurement and today we measured using a non-standard unit of measure inch worm ruler. Please ask them about what they did and how they measured using their inch worm.  Last, we worked on Geography in Social Studies and we discussed how this is the study of places and regions in our community, state, nation, and world.


Top Banana this week is Ragan and we did not have time to share her poster.  Stay tuned for tomorrow's update.

Veterans Day

We had a lovely time singing in the assembly, it was emotional for me.  I love this day and who it Honors. I met my husband while he was in Iraq and having him be deployed, stirs up a lot of old feelings.  His best friend has been away, and it was a special treat to have my students write and create letters for soldiers.  We, well I will make sure all their cards and letters get mailed to soldiers, and I hope some will write back. My students asked and I told them this is how Mike and I found each other.  My class six years ago wrote to soldiers and he was one of many who wrote back.  We also read procedural texts and began discussing notes to write about, in Reading.  Then in Math we began our unit on Subtracting two and three digit numbers.  We are reviewing addition with two and three digit numbers in stations. During Science we discussed how sound and light can change matter and we had a blast in the Science lab.  Please ask them to explain?

Top Banana:

We had such a busy day I forgot to ask her to share please stay tuned for tomorrow's update.

Wacky Weather Wednesday

Parents - We need donations of McDonalds Happy Meal toys or any other small trinkets for an upcoming Family Night on November 18.

If you have any you're willing to spare, please send the items to your child's teacher no later than Monday, Nov. 17th.  It would be helpful if the bag was labeled "Family Math Night."

Thanks so much!

  

Kristal Shanahan

Counselor

Gattis Elementary

I am sorry I have not posted, I have been busy in personal life and here on campus.  Today I had to post because it was one of those days where the kids were different do to weather.  We had a social meeting group today about being polite. We discussed text features in class and had a scavenger hunt with text features. During writing we continued writing small moments in our life and had a blast with our quick write.  Math was interesting because we were adding to the tens place, by 10 more or ten less.  However, they were using 3 digit numbers.  Please review with them, some had trouble.  The bonus problems were four digit and still adding or subtracting ten or twenty.  We did have indoor recess and the kids were able to jog around my room to let off energy.  We then headed to the library where we listen to a book about energy from the sun.  Please ask them about their day and I hope all is well?

WOW, I posted!!

Tomorrow PJ's, Slippers Too!! Early Release

TOP BANANA is Ms. Wolfean forgot!!
Also no spelling this week, Happy Halloween

Please have them bring a change of shoes for playground, and PE.  Life around the school has been tough, we have had a lot to do.  We are having a great time with reading, learning about fiction and non-fiction texts.  We are discussing the difference between both types of texts, and we will be learning about text features. During writing we are focusing on small moments and how to describe our stories not tell them to the reader.  This is called show not tell, we want to make the reader get a visual in their head, make a movie. During math we are moving towards numbers to the 999, number sense and remembering still about our two digit numbers.  We are also discussing how objects are made and why they need to use the material to build that object.  They are seeing how the properties of matter help change an object.  

Wacky Wednesday

Today we had a fantastic time getting all work done.  We discussed how to be respectful to others and Ms. Wolfean.  We talked about how I am just like one of them and they should respect me as well.  They should remember that teachers have feelings too.  During reading we have been looking at four different genres folktale, fables, fairy tale, and legends. We are discussing the difference between the lesson of the story and the most important part the story has.  You could be reading these styles and reinforcing this skill at home.During writing we are working on small moments and leads to our story.  We are trying to make sure we show our story not tell.  We moved head in math to telling time to the minute and began discussing shapes.  We will be taking our math assessment this week.

Top Banana highlight Daniel

Daniel finally shared his poster and we were excited to learn, he not only has a brother here at Gattis, named Lucas.  He also has a sister who we learned after him calling her sister, that she does have a name, Megan.  She was dressed up for a princess one Halloween and we learned he loves to trick or treat.  However, he not only loves that he enjoys going to monster races.  He had a dog or goat not sure which named Tricky, and his sister had one named S'mores.  Daniel was allowed to get goats and we thought it was funny and laughed he wanted them for a pet.  We were told it was only because he lost two dogs and his mother said he could, "I was just lucky I guess."  I giggled hearing his first report can't wait till tomorrow.

Events this week:

Tomorrow McNight out teachers will be at McDonalds from 4-9, I will be there from 6-7.

We are excited to have you come to our Trunk or Treat event this Friday! We will get started at 6:00 pm. 

Please bring:

• Costumes!
• Trick-or-treat bags for your own children
• Enough candy or treats for approx. 60 kids
• Decorated car (optional)

Here is a schedule of events:

6:00 - 6:45 - Sign-in, Dinner, hotdogs, snacks, craft table, Zumba 

(DO NOT pass out candy at this time)

6:45 - 7:00 - Campfire songs

(Snacks and Hotdogs between 6pm and 7pm)

7:00 - 7:20 - Trunk or Treat!

7:20 - 7:40 - Costume contest

7:40 - 8:00 - Campfire songs & S'mores

Volunteers - many of you indicated that you may be able to help before, during, or after the event. Here is the link for helping with our event, we appreciate all your help! 

CLICK HERE - http://goo.gl/YIeJE9 

Thanks!

Events for next week:

Tuesday is Kona Ice for parents and students after school.

Wednesday   early dismissal

Literacy Night Tomorrow

Literacy Night Tomorrow, 6:30!!

We had a nice day making it through all our subjects.  We are working on making inferences and using our reading tool kit.  Please ask them to explain their tool kit in reading.  Then in writing we went to the library to preview books for the book fair.  We will be going to the library to buy books on Wednesday.  After that we came back an d wrote you a letter about Literacy night tomorrow and you could start purchasing books then.  If we can not make it to the Literacy night, they will be able to buy books at 9:45 Wednesday.  We were introduced to a new spelling skill adding a /s/ to most words and adding /es/ to words ending in a /ch/, /sh/, /s/ , /x/, or /ss/.  They are learning to read a clock using the hour and minute hand, please practice with your child at home.  We are telling time to the minute, and writing the time correctly.  In science we are finishing up properties of matter.  We learned that matter is something which takes up space and three types of matter are liquids, gas, and solids.  We can change the shape of matter when we add heat.  Also that liquids do not have a shape.  They take the shape of the container. Hope you are having a great evening?

Our New Top Banana is Daniel, I look forward to seeing and him sharing his poster.

Thank you, FRIDAY

We had a busy week and this week will be busy as well.

Family Literacy Night & Book Fair- Tuesday, October 21st @ 6:30.

Students can come in their PJ’s or dress as their favorite book character. Please join us for a fun night of learning. Parents will have the opportunity to learn how to support their children in reading and writing at home. Students will have fun in the cafeteria listening to stories, interacting with teachers, playing reading games, and posing for funny pictures.

McTeacher Night - Come see the Gattis Elementary teachers at work at McDonald’s

(I-35 & 45 - by WalMart), October 23rd, from 5pm-8pm. McDonald’s will donating a portion of the sales back to Gattis.

SchoolStore.Com - Thank you for participating in this opportunity. Please continue to utilize schoolstore.com for your on-line shopping.  Our school ID is #274063.  

Gattis Trunk or Treat!

6:00 pm, Friday, October 24th

*Costume Contest *Campfire songs *S'mores *Trunk or Treat with Gattis Families in the front parking lot

FREE for PTA members, $8.00 fee per family otherwise.

Each person receives 1 hot dog and 1 S'more.

Sign up: http://goo.gl/bdXJLb

Friday

         
Please check times on Saturday, I will be attending the very first movie.  I can not wait to see how  similar or how different it is? 

Ms. Wolfean has read aloud Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible,No Good Very Bad Day by,Judith Viorst; I have informed the students I would like to attend the movie with them.  However, this is not school sponsored and I will need you in attendance, with your child.  I will arrive before the show starts and leave after all have left the building.  I would love for any and all who would like to join us and have an excellent time seeing the movie. I will be at the Round Rock Cinemark 14 Theater at 11:30 AM on Saturday October 11, 2014.

Mummy kind of day, And Thursday was a birthday kind of day.  Ms. Wolfean celebrated her birthday and we had a blast this week.  We have been asking questions in reading and have a ball wrapped up in writing.  We wrote about a "Mummy" story, this was a time we got scared and needed our "Mummy."  Then we made Mummies today.  Yesterday we saw a video about a Mummy.  Please ask them?  We had a blast in Science discussing properties of matter, and we will finish our mystery bag game on Tuesday.  Have a fantastic weekend and maybe I will see you tomorrow, if not see you Tuesday?

Tuesday

Parents first please except my deepest apology for the sign up genius for conferences. Also thank you for those who check their email and signed up.

Today in class we are learning about how to slow down and ask questions in our head in reading.  Please have them show you how we do this in class, while they read to you.  We have begun our first small moment story in class.  We are writing about our memories from our childhood.  Tomorrow we will begin to write a lot more and get a lot more stories going.  We have been working in math on two digit addition, and continuing to keep number sense going during our math group time.  In Science we have been working on properties of matter and how to classify and categorize items in to groups.

We heard from our last weeks Top Banana Bre yesterday with her show-n-tell.  She brought in her favorite photo album which her mom made for her. She showed a picture of her swimming because she loves to play in the water.She loves ballet dancing and she looked adorable in the picture.  Her dog Diesel also was in this book, "OH boy, he is crazy," Bre reported. We of course all giggled at the photo and had a fun time laughing.  Her last item she brought in were shells she got from South Carolina and they were very interesting because they were in a bottle.  I am still amazed about how they got them in the bottle?

Finally we heard from our new Top Banana Kate and she made us laugh out loud even harder. She had a picture of herself as a new born with her brother and we thought that was too cute.  We all said, "AWWW!"  Then she reported about her family at Christmas when they took a picture together.  This is where we all giggled till we could not stop.  Kate told us, "My Mom taped our mouths shut because she thought it would be a funny picture."  Well she was right we all thought it was an interesting picture and we could not believe it was done on purpose.  She had a picture of herself dancing and she loved it.  Then finally the last picture was Girl Scouts and she was excited to report Julie was in it too.   The question was asked, why do you like Girl Scouts? Kate replied, "It is nice to have friends in my class in there with me."

Friday

Bre, I am sorry I have not updated like I should I have been busy and that is not fair.  I am sorry too we ran out of time and we must share on Monday.  Please know time ran out because we had a blast in Science.  I promise to write about you and let you share.

Bre did share her poster and I want to take the time to write all what was reported.  Bre reported she loves to spend time with all her family and really loved the blue icing on her birthday.  She can not remember how old she was.  She loves to dance, because it makes her happy.  She wants to swim with dolphins one day because she thinks it would be really cool.  Dolphins are her favorite water animal because she told us that camels, horses, and elephants were her favorite land ones because she got to ride them.  She loves to bake, she even helped her Mom bake a four layer one.  She said, "I am lucky because my Step Dad flies all over the world just to go to work it is crazy."  Her favorite place she has been to was Washington D.C. or Boston, "I just can't decide."  I love hearing from them and I am sad to say Good-bye to Bre.

Today we finished our week getting through almost all lessons.  We had a lot of visitors today Daniel's, Bre's, and Kate's Mom came in and boy we loved them.  Also Sara our High School teacher buddy came in to help guide us in reading and writing.  We spent time getting to our reading lesson sequencing and we reviewed how to place book titles in ABC order.  During writing we practiced planning a story from our past.  Then we tried to complete our math test.  Last but not least we had a BLAST doing our Science experiment.  We observed a capsule turn into a sponge.  Please ask them about this activity?  They should explain that the capsule dissolved, but it was hard in the beginning and turned into a liquid state. We will be discussing this more with our up coming states of matter unit.  Have a fantastic weekend.

Wednesday

We had a district test, which could not be studied for.  The students had fun with it because they were like brain teasers.  They at first were a little stressed and I reassured them all would be great.  Please make sure they have a good night sleep tonight for the second part.  We then had reading groups and writing. They finally finished their published books, we are now moving on towards writing small moments and stretching our story over time and adding details. During math we had groups and then we headed to the library to get our new books and hear a lesson on characters in our book.  Please review the lesson on character and have them explain what they are doing during their workstations?

Bre is being an excellent Top Banana.  She takes attendance and also does a fantastic job of getting the class to follow her directions.  Please stay tuned for mor eto come on Bre?

Monday

We have been focusing on connections last week and finished that up but will visit it again.  Now we are moving to sequencing of events.  I have taught them a strategy to read a little think what happened first and next.  They start reading more and they think what happen after that and finally what happened.  Please have them stop and think about the order of events in their reading.  We are learning about weather and trying to catch up in science we will begin are first unit in Science properties of matter.  CGI is still new and yes it is a struggle in class, for some.  They should be coming home able to explain and do it on their own.  If they are having trouble and you too.  Please tell them to bring their blue class one home.  I give them the same problems, but with different numbers.


Top Banana

From Friday=We had a great time hearing from our Top Banana last week, Haven.  We also heard about her show-n-tell.  She brought a bracelet and a heart.  Her bracelet was from her first grade teacher and the heart she got at the aquarium.  Her favorite book is Tales of Peter Rabbit.  She loves reading over and over again.

Monday=We passed over the Top Banana to Bre and yesterday we heard about her Mother.  She loves to play and do fun things with her.  when asked what you like to do with your Mom she reported, "I love to go on vacations and get our nails done.  She loved the fact her Mom took her to Toys R Us to spend her birthday money.  She did let us know that Brom her brother went too.  Bre got a doll that you get to dress up with make up and change her hair color.  However and I quote, "It was a rip off because it didn't work, the hair never changed colors!"  I can not wait to hear more.  Ms. Wolfean is sorry today time slipped away from me.

Thursday

Half day yesterday  I wish we could do this at least once every week.  It went by quick and they had little time to get stressed.  We got through all activities and even had time for fun outside.  I forgot to hit the publish button yesterday and so I added a little from our day to here.

This week we have been reviewing connections and moving into making inferences while we read.  During writing we are finishing up our published books.  We will start small moments next week and continue to explore what is a sentence.  Today we discussed complete and incomplete sentences.  Math we have been adding and subtracting numbers and using a hundreds board to add and subtract with.  We have been counting from other numbers by ten, what I mean by this is we start at 6 and add 10.  I hope you all our enjoying reading about our day.

We heard from our Top Banana Haven

Haven explained she loved finding a tiny frog in her shoe.  She also reported she taught herself to skate and loves it.  She plays the piano, and when asked why, she stated, "My Mom made me start because when I get older I might have wished I had done it."  She loved going to her Daddy Daughter dance because she had time to be with her father.  She believes it was when she was 6 or 7.  She visited a light house on a family trip, we all thought that was cool.  She explained when she reached the top you could see all around and we even got a sticker.  She giggled when telling us about Benjamin her pet snake and him shedding his skin.  She loved telling us that they had to tickle Ky, to make him smile in one picture we all laughed too.  She loved going to the children's Museum here in Austin and her family even has a card so they do not have to pay.  "I love it because it is like a field trip,"  those were her words when asked why you like it? I do love to add what they share it is interesting to hear from them.

Watch dog Night

You heard correctly it is Watch Dog tonight.  I can not wait to see some of our Dad's in the building.

We had a fabulous day of learning, and there were some tears. Writing is difficult to master and will take time.  Yes, I did say that it is hard. I know with practice it will get better.  We are working on revising for periods and capital letters.  Some think that because they are leaving them out that I am upset.  I am just trying to model how to end our sentences correctly.  Please speak to your child about when we leave things out it is not wrong or a mistake.  These are items we need to master and be taught.  This is all of my students goals this year and a tough one for Second Grade.  Ms. Wolfean when conferencing with you about your writing is just improving your work to be successful later in life.  During math we are having some still frustrated on math adding and subtracting, all I really want them to do is count up or back, look for a way to draw the picture to solve.  I hope they are less stressed at home?  

We, well I should say me, forgot to let Haven highlight her poster.  We did hear from her yesterday and learned she loves books and coloring.  She shared she used to live in South Carolina and we were all shocked and surprised by this.  I loved when one asked is that place in our world.  Students are too funny.  She has a friend Lilly and Koan who she enjoys playing with.  We also heard about her extend family Grandpa her Dad's Dad and her Grandma Lynn.  She described her boxer and that dog was adorable.  His name is Apollo and loves to bite and chew on things. When asked about coloring she reported I just like to draw and make up things.  My favorite is when she was asked about why she loves books.  She told us It is not a problem for me and I always find good books that take me places.

Monday the 22

We are beginning our Spelling the students all have different words.  They need to bring them back tomorrow, for me to work on them in class too.  They need to study every night and bring their words back for test on Friday.  We are working on looking at the end of the word to help with the middle letters.  When we see an /E/ at the end of the word it will usually be silent and make the vowel say its name.  There are some who think only in short vowels and say the vowel incorrectly. They had fun with our poem about Aliens please ask them?  Then we read and wrote on stories we love.  They are revising their writing and are going to begin publishing them tomorrow.  We then had math and worked on our CGI to help us be successful for you tomorrow night.  They will be bringing it again this week on Tuesday and Thursday.  We had spelling and the went to specials.

From the WatchDOGS team:

Dads, are you looking for an easy, gratifying way to get involved and make difference? The Gattis Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) program is ramping up for this year, and will host a kick-off pizza party on Tuesday, September 23, at 6:30 PM in the cafeteria. Background, how the program works, volunteer opportunities, and more will be covered. Bring your kids, your ideas, and your questions and help make our program a success! To RSVP for this event, contact Sarah and Michael at: gattis.watchdogs@gmail.com.

Talk like a Pirate Day

"Ahoy me Matey", I am using me pirate voice to type to you.  Please take time to read me note, "ARRRGH!"  We be talking like this all day, during our studies.  We all made new pirate names and had a blast talking to one another.  During reading we heard a pirate story and then wrote a letter to the pirates.  We also got to make our own pirate hats to wear during class.  Then we met a new high school student Sara Williamson who will be like a teacher assistant who will be helping me Gattis "Scalleywags".    I hope she will be able to help give them more support in their reading and math.  Today during math we did number line math problem with missing numbers and had to find the rule to fill in the number line.  Please give them some number line problems at home for extra support.

I am proud to announce Heaven will be our Top Banana this week.  The children do not know what this is all about they will learn on Monday.

                                                                                                                                           

Thursday

We had a great day trying to get all activities completed.  We discussed in Reading our connections to Arthur Meets the President.  There are four different types of connections we can make, please ask them what they are?  We then began to revise and edit our writing and I modeled the strategies.  We had lunch and indoor recess, the students enjoyed dancing to the videos. Ms. Wolfean read the chapter book The Year of Billy Miller to us and we giggled.  Then during math Ms. Wolfean tricked us with a chart to fill in the number, word form, standard form, and picture for a number given.  I just realized my directions should be better. I will be doing it again withe them on another day for those who had a tough time.  We had a fantastic day and the children are learning to understand to think for themselves.

Wednesday

We had a wonderful day today, we managed to get to all subjects we needed to.  However, we are a little behind on our lessons.  This is not a problem we just need to maintain our working and remember to talk less.  They are getting better and I am delighted to report they earned another letter towards their party.  They do not know this, so I will be able to see which children read the blog.  I hope in the morning they will greet me and let me know.  We had a great reading activity we did a character sketch and reported about the character we read during DEAR time.  Please ask them to describe their character?  Then we continued to write our stories during writing workshop.  Soon after we played a math game, have them discuss the game with you?  You might even have them explain directions and how it helps us count faster.  We were excited because today was library day, please make sure they have a just fit book?

Heading to my meeting, have a fantastic evening.

Parent night😳

We had a great turn out for parent night, it is always great to have about half. Thank you to those who came and for those that could not make it just know all paperwork will go home tomorrow. 

Today was excellent it was the best Monday I think they will be amazed to see something change in the room. I loved getting to all subjects and practice stations today. The children are excited and eager to get these started, I am too. Today's math lesson standard, expanded form, and word form, for a number was difficult for some. Please review these with your child, if they have trouble them you know they did in class. Have a fantastic night and know we are only as good as we can be.  

PTA reminders

watchdog program is kicking off September 23 at 6:30 

Read-a-thin FUNDRAISER IF EVERY KID GIVEA 10 dollars that will give us 8,000 dollars this would really give all grades the ability to have some amazing programs!!

Fast Friday

READ-A-THON has started it is our fund raiser. 

Please let 

me know if you do not have a packet.

Oh boy, finally Ms. Wolfean allowed us to share our show-n-tell.  "I can't believe there was not another lesson", one student reported.  They stood in the class, gave a speech, and shared.  We did dance to Kash's rabbit, and had our brain break.  We wrote invitations to Parent Night.  Monday, September 15, at 6:15, in the cafeteria.  I am excited to see all parents and yes no children.  This is a night for you and I, ha-ha you have home work parents.  The students are happy to let you in on the secret that Monday's night homework is you come to my class. We had a awesome time in reading discuss how to look up information in books we clearly do not understand.  We traveled through Google Earth to locate Mount Rushmore because our read aloud The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes mentioned this place.  Then we continued our day with writing about our small moments and began to try to complete the stories we have in our writing workshop folder.  During math we completed our snack graphing activity and wrapped up discussing number sense.  Have a fabulous weekend students and see you on Monday.

From the WatchDOGS team:

Dads, are you looking for an easy, gratifying way to get involved and make difference? The Gattis Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) program is ramping up for this year, and will host a kick-off pizza party on Tuesday, September 23, at 6:30 PM in the cafeteria. Background, how the program works, volunteer opportunities, and more will be covered. Bring your kids, your ideas, and your questions and help make our program a success! To RSVP for this event, contact Sarah and Michael at: gattis.watchdogs@gmail.com.

Thursday

From the WatchDOGS team:

Dads, are you looking for an easy, gratifying way to get involved and make difference? The Gattis Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) program is ramping up for this year, and will host a kick-off pizza party on Tuesday, September 23, at 6:30 PM in the cafeteria. Background, how the program works, volunteer opportunities, and more will be covered. Bring your kids, your ideas, and your questions and help make our program a success! To RSVP for this event, contact Sarah and Michael at: gattis.watchdogs@gmail.com.

Today we had a great day and we had a lot of fun learning.  We got to share our show-n-tell, but not really because Ms. Wolfean taught us an important lesson.  She taught us what it is like to be the teacher and Kimberly(me) the student be them.  We discussed being a good listener and what it means to actively listen.  Ms. Wolfean did get wild and boy can she act.  I love how child can describe in exact words what they think.  I loved hearing one in the hall also discussing with a friend, in another class, you should have seen what she did today.  She turned into a hilarious crazy student.  She was very naughty while we tried to talk in her hot seat.  She let us be her, can you believe it we were Ms. Wolfean.  The other student, I wish my teacher did that.  The hot seat is my teacher comfy chair, that's for you the parent.  I hope they are coming home explaining the lessons they are doing with their show-n-tell.  Yes, they may bring them again.  We did get to reading which we discussed sequence of events and a just fit book.  We then wrote and had a snack bag graphing activity.  I hope each of you students and teachers have a terrific Thursday night, please read with your child or have them read silently too.

Wonderful Wednesday

Oh boy, today was a fantastic wonderful day.  Today was our library day and if they did not bring their books I will send them tomorrow for check out.  We managed to make it through all subjects, but they didn't really think Math was all that great.  We had a pretest, I just wanted to see what your children remembered about numbers form last year.  This was stressful, I even took them to their happy place and spoke to them.  It still caused some to really think they were not successful.  I ask you to please take sometime to discuss with them, that sometimes we will know things and sometimes we need to learn them.  However, reading and writing went smoother.  They are getting the routines and I think their independent skills are finally kicking in. We had a visitor today Mr. Thompson and boy he really got to see what my job is like.  We loved having him here and look forward to more dads.   I had a parent ask for me to place my email on my ABOUT THE TEACHER page, I did.

From the WatchDOGS team:

Dads, are you looking for an easy, gratifying way to get involved and make difference? The Gattis Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) program is ramping up for this year, and will host a kick-off pizza party on Tuesday, September 23, at 6:30 PM in the cafeteria. Background, how the program works, volunteer opportunities, and more will be covered. Bring your kids, your ideas, and your questions and help make our program a success! To RSVP for this event, contact Sarah and Michael at: gattis.watchdogs@gmail.com.

We have not shared our show-n-tell yet, due to the fact I am teaching lesson along with them everyday.  With that being said, YES they bring them again.  We read a story about Lilly on Monday and about her brother on Tuesday the show-n-tell goes with our stories.  Please have them share the lessons we did for Tuesday and Wednesday.  They are waiting for the lesson on show-n-tell.  I am teaching them that sometimes we have to wait for the best gift of all.

Marvelous Monday

Today was a great day we held our class meeting about reporting behaviors and tattling behaviors.  We discussed the importance about communicating with the person you have a problem with before letting the teacher know.  We want to try to work it out with words, before reporting.  If problem continues you must report the behavior right away.  Please discuss with them the difference?

We begin our day with reading and we read Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, they are to bring their favorite item to school to share with the class.  We are doing a show-n-tell.  Then we recorded our thoughts on our story elements chart.  We wrote in writer's workshop on developing stories of our on to be published and shared with the class.  Then we moved around outside for some exercise.  After returning to class we continued with our graph lesson and discussed the importance of lining up the objects and numbers so readers can read our graphs.  Finally our day closed with celebrations we have as citizens and tomorrow we will discuss world symbols and celebrations.

READ-A-THON has started it is our fund raiser, please let me know if you do not have a packet.

TOMORROW:  You don't want to cook, then go to CHILI'S  we get 15% back to school!! You must print this flyer!You can find it on the Gattis home page

I ran out of school

Yes I ran out of school, but not before I got locked out of the room. To all my parents and students I know this is even later, however, I did do my homework. Might be at 10 pm in my comfy bed but it is done. 

We had a fantastic day, watched a video on Kevin Henkes the author we are studying. The students seem to enjoy his books. We have read three so far. We are mapping them discussing character, problem, solution, and lesson the story is telling us. We read his book Wimberly Worried. We also wrote about meeting new friend and was amazed to learn Ms. Wolfean had a friend who was a rabbit. I surprised the class with my writing that an animal could be my friend. I think I shocked your child. We then continued graphing and Ms. Wolfean shocked us by having us take our shoes off and we sorted them. We discussed how to graph them. Math ran late we will be doubling up on Social Studies tomorrow. I am sorry for any typos I am posting this from my cell phone. Thanks for understanding about my late post. A teachers life is never done, just like yours parents. 

I had a lot to do!!

I want to let you know I did not forget I just had a lot to do tonight.  I changed our room a little added some things, and I cleaned.  YES I did!!

We had a great day today we got through all subjects. I just need more time in our day to complete our Social Studies lesson, we will tomorrow.  Oh boy did the class do a fabulous job getting started on their day.  We received our shopping bags, which we house our books in we read in class.  We also had time to finally get to a reading response.  They loved using their reading notebooks, we made a connection to the story we heard on a video.  Please ask them about this. Then we moved to Writing and wrote about a day we did not have to come to school.  Make sure you have them share about their story they started.  We then finished up our graphing lesson on sorting and collecting data using hats.  They had some trouble with how to come up with a variety of ways to graph them objects.  However, we will be doing this again in class using other items and I think it will be clearer. After a long day we finally got to wrap up our day with Social Studies, but ran out of time to complete the lesson.
 
Some parents asked for the concepts I teach for my class this week:
After today this can be found on the Homework section 
Key points to my teaching Character traits, Story Elements, Graphing, and How a Community works, plays, and grows together.

Social Skill last week and this week:  Getting the teachers attention.
Next week:  Making a request.

First week has come and gone!

Sad to see the first week is over, but excited for the rest of the year to slow down.  I feel it is already flying by and want to be able to keep them with me as long as possible.  We had a fantastic day Ms. Wolfean did her read aloud to us today.  The students giggled out loud during our story time, the book is Hank Zipper A Tale of Two Tails  by Henry Winkler.  I love this author and I hope they came home discussing it.  I am proud of my class because we are the best class when walking down the hall.  Several teacher stopped us in the hall to say how fantastic they thought we were, and amazed it was only day four.  We then moved into writing and Ms. Wolfean let us play a game using balls.  She made sure the game was an educational one.  I wanted them to experience a game using words and when they were told no more words and had two balls the game got harder.  My point is writing is going to be hard and easy, but no one gave up on the game.  This is why we can't give up on writing.  We also talked about how when we practice a sport we get better and better, so we need to do the same here at school.  We continued with math and began to discuss graphs and how when we sort in math we need a way to gather information.  Then we turn our data into a graph to be able to make some observations from the data and graphs.  After this we finally we able to exit to head home for our long weekend.  I will miss you all on Monday. Oh yes, PLEASE READ!!

OOPS, a little late posting!

Our third day was a bit on the wild side, not due to issues in class.  We had a fire drill in the middle of our morning and it caused us to get a little off our schedule.  We pulled through it and I reassured them that I am here to keep them safe.  I have lived a long life, even though I am young, I would be the last one out if a real fire.  They will be the first I save because they are my first priority.  Please know they were all excellent and they understood.  I enjoy all your children and they were fantastic during the drill I was impressed.

We returned to class where we were greeted by a visitor.  Ms. Marek came to give us some math quizzes and they are those tests to see what they know.  Parent no worries these are the types of tests where they can not study for.  They were OK, but a little worried.  We reassured again these were just to see what they know and for me to use as a teaching tool.  After this we were back on normal mode for a bit, however, it through us off.  We will catch up in all subjects soon.  We wrote in our journals about our first day, made a heart full of ideas to write about, and discussed when we are done we have just begun.  Please ask them to explain all these interesting activities we did.  In Social Studies and reading we discussed citizenship and character traits.  We were to have a special visitor, but I found out was busy.  They will be coming tomorrow to visit the class, so we can ask our questions.  I can not wait to report to you all about who we will meet. We also began our new Math, which I am learning too.  We started our lesson on how to sort items.  Please have a discussion with your child, how they could sort items in their home and how would they chart it?  Parents, one last thing Grandparents lunch is a cookout, can't wait to see you there.

Success on Day 2

I already had a comment posted to the first day blog, I believe it was Kate?  I did comment back, lets see if we can get more from others?  I love to hear what you have to say too.

Today was another day filled with adventure and excitement. We began our day again with Rebecca giving us play money for completing tasks at home and having the parents sign our reading log.  Many of you signed the behavior log as well.  Thank you for going the extra mile, this way I know you saw their behavior.  It has been fun having some find all the little bits and pieces on the floor.  I even love hearing their stories from last year.  Also reporting to me their other teacher looks just like me and I am lucky because she is just as nice.  I am feeling loved and appreciated because they are also comfortable with sharing their fears.  We wrote about our fears in writing and threw them in the trash can.  They should let you know why we threw them away.  Make sure you have them share about the book Miss Nelson is Missing.  We made special name tags and designed them in a creative way.  I hope they explain how we introduced ourselves to each other.  have a fantastic evening and remember to READ.

You might want to ask them these questions:
What were your fears and the point to the lesson?
What did you discuss with the class after you read the book Miss Nelson is Missing?

First day

I can't believe I have such a fantastic group of students.  Each one of them made me feel welcomed, and I am excited to get to know them better.  We did a tour of the school and  discussed with each other our likes and dislikes.  We also met Rebecca Norman a Senior at Cedar Ridge High, who works with my students every morning.  She was my ex-student and in my very first class here at Gattis.  I can not believe she is graduating and it has been nine years.  Time does fly when you are having fun.  We went outside to discuss lunch and recess time with Mrs. Carley.  We did not go back outside since we had first lunch.  I will give them extra tomorrow.  They had a blast and I will update this blog everyday.  Please parents do not forget your homework, paper work.

YES, I gave homework to read!!!!

New Year 2014-2015

The new year for my 2014-2015 Gattis student's is almost here, but the year has already begun. Today the teachers had a pep rally at Dell Diamond. Jennifer Lucas our principal competed in a tricycle race. This was amazing to watch. Get ready for the ride of your life, and an adventure I hope you never forget. I can't say it will all be great because we will have those hard days. However, through it all I know together we will make it a great year and have some fun along the way. See you tomorrow for supply drop off and bright early on Tuesday, August 26th.

Summer Fun

I miss my students and I am loving my summer. I hope everyone is safe and sound and are enjoying there time. I pray each one of you have been reading and using the the reading website, www.myon.com. I am reading a series myself in the mountains of Montana. I just really started my summer fun, because all I did till now was lay by the pool. Hope each and everyone is enjoying family and are taking time to be a kid. I know I am acting like a kid when I splash my stepsons with water and push them in the pool.

I want to say thank you to all of you for making another great year for me. It blows me away to look back and reflect on all your learning you accomplished this year with myself. We had some amazing memories that I hope will last a lifetime with each of you. Thanks agin for blessing me with fantastic memories for myself. Here is my view while reading and posting, send me your pics reading.

Economics Fair

Economics Fair was a success and boy my nails look gorgeous.  The students loved the Wolfean Mall we created today, and I was horrible because I forgot to take pictures.  The cookies and lemonade were yummy and settled my thirst. We did start and try to complete our memory MiPads, which Ms. Wolfean made for us.  Please make sure to sign up for end of year party.

       

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0948ADA928A5FE3-endofyear

Wacky Wednesday

I say wacky because of our schedule, we had a blast watching fourth grade talent show.   Also we did have learning going on in the morning.  We wrote letters to next years second graders and decorated our summer journals.

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0948ADA928A5FE3-endofyear

Tremendous Tuesday

Here is our sign up for the PARTY!!

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0948ADA928A5FE3-endofyear

They may bring their electronics, for my on reading.

I am looking forward to a terrific ending to the year.  I think they are ready to be on summer break.  We did have some learning today, we wrote in our nonfiction books to share with Mrs.  Duckworth's class for tomorrow.  Today we went to visit her class to see their all about books.  We then created a cover to our summer reading journals.  Then it was time for lunch and we filled our tummy's.  After eating lunch we played in math with pattern blocks and Ms. Wolfean tried to trick us.  We closed our day with stations and had a blast playing and learning at school.

Terrific Thursday

Thank you Tsa'na for your comment on the blog.  I wrote back, hope you saw the message.

Today was another day filled with loads of getting books returned to the book room and library.  The students had a blast helping me and we giggled many times.  I wish parents you could have seen  their faces when they entered the book room.  They thought it was the coolest thing, since slice bread.  We did get learning in and they did do writing.  We reviewed time and tomorrow we will review it some more.  They had a hard time adding time.  Some want to add it like an addition problem and we discussed how this could become a problem if they forget to convert the hours and minutes.  They giggled when I said what happens when you add to twelve, the best reply was you get thirteen. I was like,"Hmm, thirteen o'clock? I am not sure I have heard this hour before?"  They laughed and were like that's funny Ms. Wolfean.  Have a blessed night with CGI.

Wonderful Wednesday May 21, 2014

The End is near, but learning is still going on.  Please make sure to let children know that just because our days might seem different we will be learning.  Today we started off with writing about changes we could make to our self, and completing our non-fiction all about books.  We then had Mrs. Doyle come visit our class for a read aloud.  After that it was time to devour our lunches.  We returned to our class to locate missing books for the classroom and clean out our desk drawers.  Our class was lucky to be able to attend a fifth grade play about fractured fairy tales. They sure did make us laugh, and boy some of those fifth graders might turn into actors.  We discussed animals and their adaptations, this would be a great discussion to have with your child.  Recess was finally here, but not before I did my own read aloud with them. We even had visitors for lunch, wow, what a wonderful day filled with people.  The class even earned three letters for the end of the year party.

Terrific Tuesday

Today was a productive day they spent the morning in small groups and completing their IRead laptops.  Ask them what they did their laptop on and what they did?  They also did their How-To-Writing papers are beginning to add text to their research.  We went to the library where we learned Mrs. Wallingford will sadly be leaving us at the closing of our year.  We wished her well and she will be missed.  We then returned to class and did our CGI math and had a blast dividing objects in groups.  Then we we completed our story problem.  They should be very successful.  Then we closed our day with our small group math.

Free Book

You can get a free book for your child!!

The BOOK FAIR has begun!  There's still time to volunteer, though.  

Sign-up online and receive a FREE BOOK at the end of your shift.

Use the following link to find out what times are available during & after the school day.

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D4EA4AC29A13-gattis1

We wouldn't be able to do book fairs without you!  Thanks!

April 30

Field Day May 2 8:30- 10:30

Lunch is at 10:50 in the room

Please make sure the children are dressed for the weather and have a change of clothes.

Today was filled with fantastic learning and we are loving our Fairy tale unit ion reading.  We will begin to create a laptop with APPs for the story elements of our favorite fairy tale.  We are starting our how-to writing and will begin next week gathering data on our research topic to explore and create our all about books.  In math we have been investigating multiplication and they are excited to be heading in this direction.  In science we are discussing plants and how they are effected by the weather and how they grow when certain things have been taken form them.

Long time-Field Trip

I am sorry it has been a while just wanted to say "i love that almost all have returned their permission slips for field day and field trip."  Please know their is a fee for our field trip to Gatti-Land.  The fee is three dollars and they are not to bring other game cards that day.  There will not be time for this.  also please leave younger children at home, they can cause distractions and children tend to watch them not what is going on.  Thank you for your support.

April 11 Spring Fling and PJ jam

As many of you may know the spring fling is Friday. The PTA still needs some help with games and clean up. If you or one of your old children can spare 30 minutes or an hour to help that would be wonderful. If you or your child helps for an hour you will get a $5 punch card or $5 off the cost of one wristband.

Here is the link:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090B4FAEA72FAB9-spring.

Spring Fling tickets are on sale now. We have added an option of buying a $5 or $12 punch card. You can purchase your tickets here: Spring Fling Tickets Online .

DEADLINE FOR ONLINE ORDERS IS
THURSDAY AT 10 PM.
Save time and buy your tickets now. We will have a separate line for those who already paid.

We will have vendors from Origami Owl, Scentsy, and more.
Food vendors include CraigO's, Kona Ice, and Hands Off my Funnel Cake.

Below you will find a list of our raffle items.
Tickets are $1 each or 12 for $12.

ITEM 1. ONE WEEK OF CAMP AT CAMP DOUBLE CREEK

ITEM 2. FOUR TICKETS TO THE ROUND ROCK EXPRESS

ITEM 3. LADIES ART NIGHT OUT AT CORDOVAN FOR YOU AND A FRIEND

ITEM 4. DINNER FOR TWO AT CHUYS WITH DRINKS INCLUDED

ITEM 5. DINNER FOR TWO AT JACK ALLENS

ITEM 5. TILE PARTY FROM THE CERAMIC LODGE

ITEM 6. PASSES TO VOLENTE BEACH

ITEM 7. AVON GIFT BASKET

ITEM 8. ESSENTIAL OILS GIFT SET

ITEM 9. GIFT CARD TO GREEN HOUSE CAFE

ITEM 10. STAR BUCKS GIFT SET

ITEM 11. SCENTSY BUDDY $25 VALUE
ITEM 12. HAWAIIAN FALLS – FAMIILY 4 PACK!

We have a famous person in our class.

Alexis went on trip with her family and met a famous person.  Her mom sent me a picture and I have added it on my blog.  Please scroll down and you will see, our famous person.  Alexis, I can not wait to hear about this exciting event that took place in your life.

Top Banana this week is Jayden and I know we have had so much going on, I can not wait to hear all about you.  He has been a great help lining us up and taking attendance.  The students are loving our weather unit and are enjoying learning about clouds.  We are starting our geometry unit in math and boy are they learning a lot.  Please ask them to share.  We are focusing on facts and opinions in fiction and non-fiction texts to build comprehension.  Please help them by asking them to model this strategy.

No Math Homework

They are telling the truth no math!!!!!!!!!

Information

Parents please make sure to check the announcement page of upcoming events.

Also check out the Calendar Page I just fixed it.

Kona Ice Tomorrow

International Fest is March 28 from 6:30 to 8:00pm. We still looking for some help. Please take the time to share information about your heritage with the school. You can sign up here. It will one take up a couple hours of your time.

Gattis Elementary Fund Raising Art Night Out! is March 18 from 6 to 8 pm. You can sign up online or email Janine at gattisgatorspta@gmail.com for more information.

Spirit Night with the Round Rock Express will be May 8. The game starts at 7:05 pm. For every discounted ticket purchased a percent will go back to the school. The classroom with the highest attendance will get a special prize. You can find more information on the flyer attached to this email or on the PTA Website. 

Here is the link to buy your tickets online. Gattis Day at Round Rock Express (May 8)

Make sure to enter the Special Offer Code: gators. 

If we sell 150 tickets the Gattis Choir will get to sing the National Anthem.

If we sell 500 tickets Mrs.Lucas will get to through out the first pitch.

Please order your tickets early. 

We had a great day today and we made it through all activities I had planned.  We did have some extremely tired students.  they really seemed to love coming back to school and other times wishing they were home.  We are working on reading comprehension with non-fiction texts.  They will be coming home with some texts to practice at home and questions to answer.  We will be working on Geometry in math and we are working on review skills which they still need practice with.  The areas giving my class trouble is time to the minute and fractions of equal parts.  We will begin our lesson in science for Earth and Space.  I am sad to report that Jailen did not get the chance to discuss his poster we just seemed to not be able to get me on time keeper track.