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I can't believe I am saying goodbye to the 2014/2015 school year. I want to thank you for trusting me with your amazing children. As we shared compliments at our last class meeting this morning (through lots of tears), I was struck by how grown up they all seemed. Their genuine concern for the feelings of others was very apparent in all they said. I'm so proud of them! Room 106 was a special place this year.
I want to extend a special thank you to Christa for putting on another amazing party Monday! The video she created brings tears to my eyes, every single time!! She really captured how special this year has been for all of us. Thank you to Lea for taking on the task of Room Mom this year. You were super helpful!! Thank you to Ankur for uploading photos to our blog weekly. I know many family members (near and far) looked forward to seeing new pictures each week, and I couldn't have managed it without your help. Thank you to my weekly volunteers. I was able to differentiate instruction because of your amazing support. You made an incredible difference in the lives of children. Lastly, I want to say thank you to Anna and Lauren. I learned so much from both of you this year. You brought so much love and joy into room 106. We made an awesome team!!! Luca, Katya, Sam and Sandra, Thank you for sharing your beautiful family with us. We wish you the best of luck on your new adventure to Vermont. Please keep in touch. You will be missed. Thank you all for the emails, cards, amazing gifts and words of support and love you've showered upon the teachers of room 106 over the last several weeks. We are the luckiest teachers in the world!!! Ms. Lauren wanted me to send out one more huge thank you for your very generous gift certificate to Really Good Stuff (the best teacher supply store). You've all been so kind and supportive. She will thrive in her new job. Have a wonderful summer everybody! I will see you in Sept (or hopefully sooner on the hill). With much love, Shauna
We are busy in room 106!!!
This Thursday night the 1st Graders will be sharing some of their expert knowledge at the QAE Bird Symposium. They have researched and prepared a presentation about their bird, and will also be performing a song. It begins at 6:30. On Tuesday, we’ll be heading to Juanita Bay Park in Kirkland for the day. We will be eating lunch at the park so please remember to pack a sack lunch (disposable). I have 3 chaperones and we have room for 2 more if anybody is interested. Unfortunately, younger siblings are not permitted. On Thursday, June 4th from 6-7:30, QAE is having a Project Based Learning Showcase. It is an open house style event where parents, students and staff are able to stroll through the school and look at all of the various projects kiddos have been working on. Thank you to Amanda Webber and daughter Catherine, for holding a sock/diaper drive to benefit Childhaven this week. The boxes for collecting items are on top of our classroom cubbies. For more information about Childhaven, see here. http://childhaven.org/ Our days are getting sunnier and warmer and I am noticing some pink cheeks and necks. Please apply sunscreen on your child in the morning, as we are outside for almost an hour each day. Lastly, all library books (both QAE and classroom library books) need to be returned June 1. Have a great week!! Enjoy a video we really enjoyed last week below. ;) Shauna
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Thank you so much for all of the amazing treats, coffee and gifts we received for teacher appreciation week. We all felt VERY appreciated and fortunate to be working in such an amazing community.
Math: Ks finished up their subtraction unit and began a unit on measurement this week. 1s are finishing up addition with regrouping and will begin subtraction with regrouping later this week. Reading: We’ve been working on paraphrasing facts found in non-fiction literature and print. Writing: We are still working on our realistic fiction unit, and just finished a unit on grammar/editing. We still need 13 cereal boxes for a project later in the unit. Art: The kids really enjoyed making animals/birds out of clay in art. They invented a creature and completed a scientific drawing of it and they needed to use it as a guide to build a three dimensional model. Ms. Amsel brought them to the kiln to be fired yesterday afternoon. PBL: Both Ks and 1s are beginning research on their animal/bird of choice. They are practicing taking notes and documenting new learning. 1st Graders are looking forward to sharing all of their expert knowledge at the Bird Symposium on Thursday, May 28th at 6:30, and Kindergarteners will show off their learning at the PBL showcase on Thursday, June 4th. Art: We planted a variety of plants/shrubs in the QAE garden last week, in an effort to make the garden more bird friendly. Next up: painting our bird boxes, which we've discovered should be painted to blend in with the garden. Nests: We will be building nests in class. Your child is welcome to bring items they find outside that a bird may find useful to build a nest: sticks, grass, soil, dog/cat hair, strings…etc. If they bring something, please enclose it in a closed Ziploc bag. Sounders Game: If you’d like to order Sounders tickets for June 13th, please send in the order form by this Friday. If you need another, please let me know. Thanks! Ms. Diller and Ms. Anna and Ms. Lauren Important Dates:
It’s been a great week in room 106. There are only 31 school days left until we are 1st and 2nd graders!!
Math Kinders- Learned how to solve addition problems with missing addends. 2 + ? = 7 They learned that to solve these problems they could put the smaller number in their head and count up. They have just begun subtraction problems and will begin using subtraction to solve problems that ask “How many more?” First Graders- Began working on double digit addition/subtraction. We practiced stacking the numbers (with alignment) and adding the ones column before the tens. We will begin addition with regrouping (what we used to call carrying the one) next week. Writing- This week we spent the week developing our first fictional character. We talked a lot about the difference between “Realistic Fiction” and “Fantasy Fiction.” Students learned that fiction stories always have a Problem/Solution. PBL- Kindergarteners created 3 African Habitats (hanging in the hallway at school). Each student created an animal that was adapted to a specific habitat. We will begin our work to become savanna animal experts and continue our collaborative work next week. First Graders- Enjoyed their field trip to Magnuson Park. Thank you so much to our volunteers. They learned how to “grocery shop” in a forest habitat. They also dissected owl pellets and investigated different nests. 1st graders are bringing home their bird journals for the weekend. They are excited to share some of what they are learning with you. Students know that these sketchbooks should come back to school on Monday. Technology- Mr. Jeffrey added the Epic app to each child’s iPad this week. https://www.getepic.com/ Epic is a collection of unlimited children’s books (many with a read aloud feature). We are looking forward to using it in the classroom. Art- Ms. Amsel is sending your child’s art portfolio home on Monday. Please empty it and return the portfolio to school on Tuesday. Thank you! Also, she is doing a clay/ceramic project with the class on Monday, May 11th from 1:40-2:40. She would love some parent help. Please email me if you can come. [email protected] Garden- Our class has been involved in making the QAE garden more bird friendly. We researched which plants/shrubs and flowers would provide the best shelter for NW birds. We will be planting bird friendly plants/shrubs in the garden this coming Monday. Thank you to Nicolas’ mom for procuring all of the plants/bird houses for the garden. Next week we will be researching how to make our bird houses attractive/healthy for birds. Please send in large cereal boxes! Thank you! Shauna Upcoming Dates
Dear Families,
I hope everybody had a relaxing break. It didn’t take us anytime at all to get back into the swing of things at school. There are only 34 days left of the school year, I can't believe it!! In writing we just finished up opinion writing. Be sure to check out published pieces of writing in the hallway at school. Our next unit of study is fiction writing, which is always a kid favorite. I can’t wait to see what this creative group of kids comes up with. In math, kinders are continuing to work on addition/subtraction. 1st graders will begin double digit addition/subtraction next week. Our science focus this past week was on adaptation. We thought about animals/birds and how their body shape and size help them find/eat food. We began inventing an animal/bird that is suited to a certain habitat. We need cereal boxes (large ones), and small Dixie cups. The book, “A Kids Guide to Birding” arrived on Friday. There were 3 order-forms without names listed and the checks were sent before we realized it. If your child ordered a book and did not bring one home on Friday, please let me know. Best. Shauna Upcoming Dates:
We’ve been very busy in room 106. First graders officially kicked off their bird unit on Tuesday with a field trip to Discovery Park. We visited several different habitats and saw quite a few different species of birds: Northern Flicker, American Robin, Chickadee, Crow, House Sparrow, Rufous Hummingbird, Anna’s Hummingbird, and the Brown Creeper. Thanks to our chaperones, Jeff, Thea, Genny and Maria. Kindergarteners have been making scientific observations this week by watching goldfish and platy fish, and noticing their similarities and differences. On Thursday, both groups of kids put their scientific observations to use by analyzing/investigating bird skins. We talked about how the body parts of animals are often designed to suit them best. Kids were encouraged to make observations about the size/shape of each bird skin. They also had to measure the length and width of each bird. In math, kinders finished their unit on counting on and counting back, and will begin their next unit “Composing and Decomposing Numbers” next week. That is a fancy way of saying they will be focusing on building/breaking numbers apart using tens/ones. First graders will be finishing their measurement unit on Monday, and will do a very quick unit on Weight next week. We will continue to practice with addition/subtraction fluency and word problems alongside each math unit throughout the end of the year. 1st graders have their second Bird Field Trip planned for Tuesday, April 28th to Magnuson Park. We will be leaving QAE at 11:30 and return around 2:30. Please let me know if you can chaperone/drive for this trip (also how many children you can transport and how many booster seats you already have). If your family celebrates Easter, please enjoy the holiday this weekend. Best, Shauna Upcoming Dates:
HI All,
It was so wonderful to see and talk with so many of you at the auction. I loved seeing everybody all dressed up and enjoying themselves while supporting our awesome school! Congrats to Rachel (Stew’s mom) on winning the live-auction raffle and to Christa (Sienna’s mom) for winning heads or tails. I want to extend a special thanks to James and Amanda for the best class art project, by far!! We got so many compliments on it!! Math- Kinders finished a comparing numbers unit last week, and will be moving on to ordinal numbers and calendar work. This should be a fast unit as we’ve been working on those skills all year. Our next chapter will be on “Counting On.” For example, I have 18 cookies and give you 5 more. Your child will need to figure out how many altogether by starting the count at 18, not recounting the whole set. First- 1st graders will be taking their addition/subtraction (1-20) assessment early this week. We spent a lot of time discovering the fastest approach to solving math facts this week. Many first graders began the unit using the “Counting Backward” strategy for subtraction. We have decided memorizing the facts is the fastest strategy, and second-best is “Counting up.” Our next unit of study will be measurement. Reading- We practiced more with character traits this week through more Mo Willem’s books. We also finished reading our first mystery chapter book, “The Fenway Foul-up.” It was a big hit!! Claire donated a copy of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” to the class last month and the kids are eager to begin it this week. There was a communication mix-up in regard to the 1st grade field trip to Discovery Park. We will be going on Tues, March 31st, and not this week. I am so sorry for the confusion. Luckily most of our chaperones/drivers were able to swap the dates so we are covered, however, if Tuesday is a day you are available and you’d like to come along, we’d love to have you. Our bird feeder was installed last Wednesday. Hopefully some birds discovered it over the weekend. Thanks to Rachel Moskal for purchasing a huge bag of bird seed for us. Have a great week everybody! Shauna Upcoming Dates:
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Mrs. Diller
K/1 Teacher at QAE. Archives
June 2015
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