Hello Parents,
I am so grateful to teach this wonderful group of children every day. Your kids have been focused, diligent workers. That is not easy as springtime begins and the end of the year approaches. We have been learning so much in our class this week. We have learned about the 13 colonies and their dissatisfaction with England’s taxation without representation. We learned about the "Boston Tea Party" that the Sons of Liberty had as they threw the English crates of tea into the Boston harbor in protest. As the trouble grew between the colonists and King George, the English “Redcoat’ soldiers were sent to watch over the colonists. Their plan was to confiscate any weapons that they colonists were hiding. Paul Revere rode to warn the colonists about this plan, and the Battle at Lexington ensued; this was known as “the shot heard ‘round the world.” The colonists gathered together in the Second Continental Congress to discuss their independence from England’s rule, and Thomas Jefferson was chosen to write the Declaration of Independence. These are the sight words that we learned this week: two, they, would, could. We have been writing great sentences and practicing our reading. The DIBELS reading test has begun this week, and will conclude next week. TEACHER SURVEY - You have received an email from the school regarding teacher surveys. I would love to hear your feedback! I want to know what you have liked this year, and in what ways I can improve for next year. If you would take a few minutes to complete the survey, I would be grateful. Here is a copy of the link: End of Year Teacher Survey BOOK REPORTS & READING CALENDARS - Book reports are DUE ON MONDAY, April 30th. Your child has had plenty of opportunity to check out a book from the library, but if they have not completed this month’s book report, PLEASE HELP HIM/HER TO FINISH THE REPORT THIS WEEKEND. The genre is science fiction or fantasy. (This may be futuristic, space, or time-travel related, or deal with scientific or technological possibilities. Fantasy may deal with magic and monsters or mythical creatures.) Please also record and turn in the reading minutes on Monday as well. Here is a link for the forms: book reports and reading calendars NOTEWORTHY: Congratulations to Colin, who has been our Ambassador of Dignity this month. Colin treats his classmates and teachers with respect and honor, while at the same time, he exhibits self-respect and an understanding of his own value. Thank you to Kathleen Huntsman, our room parent, for the beautiful spring decorations on our classroom door. The kids have loved it. Have a wonderful weekend!
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Hello Parents,
I can't believe how quickly time is flying away. Our first graders have grown so much! They are learning to press in and work hard, and they are behaving so responsibly! I am so happy and proud to be working with such a great group of kids! This week we finished our unit on the early American colonists, and we will continue the next few weeks learning about the beginning of our great nation. The sight words we have worked on this week are: more, from, with, when (these words seem simple, but they can be a bit tricky). We wrote about our favorite memories so far in first grade, and we wrote notes to Ms. Hathaway's 4th grade class. FUN RUN - The kids did a fantastic job on the Fun Run. Thank you so much to all of our parents who came out to volunteer. Everything went very smoothly (we even had amazing weather!). If your child collected pledge money from their sponsors, the front office has extended the turn-in deadline to Monday. Please be sure that the money is turned in by Monday! SAGE CHEERS - The 3-6 grade classes have begun their SAGE testing this week, and will continue testing throughout this month. Our class has "adopted" Ms. Hathaway's 4th grade class to cheer along as they tackle their test. Our kids have written the sweetest notes of encouragement to send their way in the coming weeks. I am very proud of their kind and gracious sentiments. DANCE FESTIVAL PRACTICE - We have begun practicing our dance routine for the OCS dance festival coming in May. Our dance is choreographed to the song "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid. You may want to play the song for them at home so they can practice what they learn each week. McKay Gasser is doing such a fantastic job working with the kids! i am very grateful for her help. BOOK REPORTS - Our genre for April book reports is science fiction / fantasy. If your child has not yet selected a book to read, please help them to get started right away. Book reports and reading calendars will be due on Monday, April 30th. I hope you all have a great weekend, and enjoy the nice / maybe not-so-nice weather. Hello Parents,
What a great week in our classroom! We finished our unit on Animal Habitats, and had a great time exploring the marine habitats at the aquarium. A great big thank you to our field trip chaperones: Sheilan Garcia, Joey Romero, Amanda Ross, Zac Wadsworth, and Heather Wood. You all were fantastic, and we could not have done this without you! We also began a mini unit on plants this week, and next week we will begin our Fairy Tales unit. We learned the sight words: each, new, find, give, and we did some writing about our field trip and about the things that make us feel lucky. We learned about Rachel Carson, an environmental hero, and we learned the song “There’s a hole in the bucket”. Here is a video of the song that the class enjoyed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYY6Q4nRTS4 VOTING / OCS BEST IN STATE - For the past four years, Odyssey has been voted Best Charter School in the Daily Herald’s “Best of Utah Valley” program. It is again time to show your school spirit and vote Odyssey the BEST for the 5th year in a row. Please go to http://www.heraldextra.com/app/bestof and jump to the community page (page 13). Once there type “ODYSSEY” in the space for Charter School. Press the next button and you will add your name and email address before hitting submit. Take this opportunity to spread the word and show everyone what a great school Odyssey is. We have a great staff, wonderful parents and committed students. Let’s tell the world! Pass the link on to family, friends, and everyone you know and ask for their support. Voting ends on Monday, March 19th. END OF TERM: Today was the final day of the third term, and grades will be locked in at the beginning of next week. If your child has any book reports, reading minutes, or missing assignments, the final opportunity to turn them in is MONDAY. GOOD BYE: We were sad to say goodbye to Alex this week. He is moving to Bountiful, and we are so sad to see him go. We wish him the best in his new home and new school. THANK YOU: I want to send a belated thanks to all of you who made me feel so loved and appreciated during teacher appreciation week. I loved all of the gifts, and am grateful for the extra classroom supplies. Alysa Davis and Kathleen Huntsman, our room parents, were so kind to organize this event. Thank you for the amazing door decoration and the wonderful notes from our students! Have a fantastic weekend! Hello Parents, It was so nice to see so many of you this morning at our Dr. Seuss “Parents and Pastries” reading celebration. We have had a lot of fun this week reading about Dr. Seuss and enjoying some of his fantastic books. WHAT WE ARE LEARNING: These past two weeks we have been learning about animal habitats. We have learned about animals who live in the Arctic Tundra and the Arctic Ocean, the Desert (the Sonoran Desert), the African savanna, the Temperate deciduous forests (particularly the Great Smoky Mountains), and the Tropical rainforests (particularly the Amazon Rainforest). The sight words that we have learned this week are: for, about, other, was. During our Writer’s Workshop, we wrote opinions about the Cat in the Hat, and we made food rhymes, imitating the style of Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham story. We also had a school assembly this week with JessiKate Riley, the reigning Miss Utah 2017. She reminded the students how unique and how special they are, and she shared her special violin talent with us. BOOK REPORTS: If your child did not complete the February BIOGRAPHY book report, please have him/her get it done over this weekend. (Please also be sure that February reading minutes are sent.) I did not send the March book report forms out yet, but the genre for March is REALISTIC FICTION. This would be a story that COULD have happened; The story may be set in a real place or time period. NO SCHOOL MONDAY: There will be no school on Monday - this will be a Professional Development Day, or as I tell our class - a day when I get to be the student, and they get to have the day off. Have a great weekend! I will see you all again on Tuesday. Hello Parents,
It was great to see you at parent-teacher conferences this week! I am so happy to be working with such a dedicated, supportive group of parents. I am so grateful to be working with your children every day. BOOK REPORTS: Biography/Autobiography book reports are due on WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28. (Reading Calendars will be due that day as well.) Please don't wait to begin these reports. The students will need time to type up their summary, find a photo, and print everything out. FREE BOOKS: Thank you to all who participated in the Reach for the Stars Reading Challenge. Our class raised enough money to earn several very nice new books for our classroom. HOORAY! PARENTS & PASTRIES Please join us next Friday, March 2nd at 7:45 AM for our Read Across America celebration, in honor of the great author Theodor Geisel (AKA Dr. Seuss). Bring some books and bring your kids and have a great time as we all gather in the gym to enjoy some reading time together. I hope you can make it. BOOK WISH LIST: And speaking of Dr. Seuss... Walmart has the Seuss books on sale right now for $6 each. If you would like to buy any for our classroom, I would love to have them. I would love to have multiple copies (for reading groups) of these: Ten Apples Up On Top (Theo LeSieg), Go, Dog, Go! (Seuss) Hop on Pop (Seuss) Are You My Mother? (PD Eastman) Some of my other favorites for first graders are: Great Day for Up, Green Eggs & Ham, the Foot Book, the Tooth Book, and I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today! Have a wonderful weekend. Enjoy the snow - we have been waiting quite awhile for it to show up! IN CLASS THIS WEEK - It has been such a busy, exciting week. We have been learning about geology and a variety of rocks. We have also learned about fossils and the work of paleontologists. I sent home a dinosaur packet that your child can work on at home. You can connect the dinosaur bones with brads (for moveable dinosaurs) or with glue (for stationary dinosaurs).
In honor of Valentine’s Day, we wrote friendship letters to our classmates during our Writer’s Workshop, and we had a nice time together on Valentine’s Day. The sight words that we learned this week are: as, some, has, them. NO SCHOOL MONDAY - There will be no school on Monday, February 19th, in honor of President’s Day. Enjoy your long weekend. DIGITAL BOOK REPORTS - Parents, please be sure that your child has begun reading a book for the February book report. Students need to choose a biography or autobiography about a real person. Book reports are due on WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28TH. This month’s book reports must be typed on the computer and printed out, so please help your child to give plenty of time to this project. The book report details are included in the PDF with this email. february_book_report__1_.pdf REACH FOR THE STARS AWARDS - I have received the book vouchers for students who participated in the Reach for the Stars Reading Challenge. I will pass the vouchers out to students on Tuesday next week. Please be sure that the vouchers do not get lost - they are like cash that can be used to purchase books at the book fair next week. PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES & EARLY OUT - I look forward to meeting with you for parent-teacher conferences next week. You can sign up through the link on the school email that you received, or you can schedule through the front office. Please remember that both Wednesday AND Thursday will be early out days next week. The book fair will be going on all week. Feel free to stop by and check out the great books that are available for your kids. VALENTINE THANKS - Thank you to all of you for the lovely Valentine notes and gifts that were given to me and Ms. Dastrup. We felt very loved and pampered, and are grateful to be working with a group of such kind families. VOLUNTEER THANKS - Thanks to Margie Brummett for coming to help with our Valentine’s Day activities. It was so nice to have you in our class. Thanks also to Lars and Rochelle Lambertsen for making and baking salt dough “fossils” for the class. The students enjoyed creating their own dinosaur fossils. This week we also had the treat of seeing a lunar model, and seeing some close up geographical images of the moon, as well as some lunar landing videos, presented by Chuck Wood. Thank you so much, Mr. Wood, for taking the time to be with us. Thanks also to all who volunteered for the Dance Festival and for our aquarium field trip. I am so amazed by your generosity. I have sent emails out to those volunteers who will be joining us for the field trip. Hello Parents,
We have had a very busy week in our 1st grade classroom. I am so grateful to be teaching such a great group of children. We have been learning all about the world around us: from the planets far out in our solar system to the layers deep within our earth. We have finished our astronomy unit, and have begun learning about geology and the history of the earth. In our writer’s workshop, we have been using the sight words: get, long, then, to in our reading and writing. We have also been learning the parts of a friendly letter, and have written letters to Farmer Brown (from the cows in Doreen Cronin’s book Click, Clack, Moo - Cows That Type). VALENTINE’S DAY: Next Wednesday is Valentine’s Day, and though we are not going to have an official “party,” we will be having some fun in our classroom celebrating friendship. Your child is welcome to bring valentine cards for his/her classmates. We will decorate paper bags in class, so you do NOT need to decorate a box to hold your child’s valentines. We have 23 students in our class, plus myself (Ms. Novotne) and our instructor, Ms. Dastrup. PLEASE HAVE YOUR CHILD SIGN HIS/HER NAME ON THE VALENTINE CARDS, BUT PLEASE DO NOT WRITE THE NAMES OF CLASSMATES ON THE “to” SECTION. This will save much time and confusion as we pass out valentines. (If you want to fill in the “to” section, you can write “to: My friend.”) We do our best to honor the OCS wellness policy in our classroom, and so I ask that any valentine card “gifts” be either healthy or non-food treats. However, I will not disallow students to give out sweet (store-bought/packaged) gifts. We will be sending the valentine cards/gifts home, so I trust you to manage what you would like your own child to eat. We will play a game with candy conversation hearts in class; if this is a problem for your child, please let me know. There are some ideas on my website for alternatives to sugary treats: https://novotnenews.weebly.com/birthdays--parties.html As always, you are welcome to come and take part in our fun. If you would like to join our Valentine’s Day activities, please let me know, and I will plan for your help. FEBRUARY BOOK REPORTS: The genre for our February book report is biography/autobiography. Please choose a book that is written about (or by) a real person. This book report is different than previous reports, in that we are asking your child to TYPE AND PRINT the report using a computer. Please begin planning early for this report, as it may take a little extra time. If you do not have access to a printer, please let me know. FIRST GRADE FIELD TRIP: The first grade field trip to the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium is scheduled for March 14th. I will send an email out early next week asking for volunteers. Have a wonderful weekend. Enjoy this spring-like winter weather. Hello Parents,
This week we finished a Mexican art project and began our study on the life and music of Wolfgang Mozart. During our writer’s workshop we learned the words: have, had, by, & are. We also talked and wrote notes about the influence that Martin Luther King, Jr. had in our nation. PRACTICING KINDNESS - We have had some issues this week with kids not acting as kindly to one another as they should. If you would take some time to discuss with your child ways that he/she can show value and honor to his/her classmates, it might be a great help. I know that these kids have it in them to work well together and support one another. ********************************************* MOVIE NIGHT - We have a special evening planned for your family tonight. I hope that you will be able to come and enjoy our movie presentation: “The Secret Life of Pets.” The movie begins at 7:00, and popcorn will be served. Bring a comfy blanket to sit on, and bring some friends. The more, the merrier! (You can tell your child that I said that. :) ) OPEN HOUSE - Invite your friends and neighbors to come and see what makes learning so great here at Odyssey. Our open house is THURSDAY, JANUARY 25th, from 6pm-7pm. There will be tours of the school, and opportunities to ask questions, and talk to teachers from all grade levels. BOOK REPORTS - January mystery book reports are due in a couple weeks. Please help your child to find a good book and begin reading. Feel free to send me an email if you have any questions. THANK YOU - Thanks to Kathleen Huntsman for decorating our door with the coolest snowman ever. We appreciate you. Thank you, parents, for all of the investment that you make in helping your children to learn and succeed. I am so grateful to be working with you all. Have a wonderful weekend. Hello Parents,
This has been such an exciting week, learning about Mexico and its history, geography, holidays, and culture. The first graders had such a good time at the C.E.T. today. THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of the donations and to each of you who came to lead student groups or activities! You make our school so special! The kids enjoyed our school Talent Show as well, and we were especially proud of Anamaya, who gave a beautiful piano performance. END OF TERM - TODAY marks the end of the 2nd term of school. Thank you for all of your great work! If there are any final assignments that your child would like to turn in, Tuesday, (Jan. 16) is the last day that I will receive them. (Please check ASPIRE to see that book reports and reading calendars have been turned in. You may send reading minutes to me in an email.) NO SCHOOL MONDAY - School will be closed on Monday, January 15, in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. I will look forward to seeing you again on Tuesday. MOVIE NIGHT AT ODYSSEY - Please plan to join our movie night next Friday, January 19th at 7:00. Bring your blankets and pillows and join us in the MPR (gym) for a special showing of ”The Secret Life of Pets.” Bring some friends as well, and let them share in the fun. Complimentary popcorn will be served. Enjoy your long weekend. I would love for all of our kids to return next week feeling healthy and refreshed. Hello Parents,
Happy New Year to you all. We have had a great first week back to school. Our class has been so focused and eager to learn. I am glad to see everyone again. We have been learning about the voyages of Christopher Columbus, and reading stories from A.A. Milne's Winnie The Pooh books. The sight words that we have learned this week are: your, in, out, and may. MEXICO CET: Next Friday, January 12, is our final CET for this year. We will be learning about Mexico, and all of the first graders will be coming together for a lot of fun activities. You won't want to miss out! If you are able to come and help, we are in need of more volunteers. Please contact our CET coordinator, Lindsey Meyer: [email protected] JANUARY BOOK REPORTS / READING CALENDARS: Our genre for this month is MYSTERY books. Book reports will be due January 31st, along with reading calendars. I will send forms home on Monday. If your child has not yet turned in December book reports or reading calendar, please have them get that in this next week! Thank you. Have a great weekend! I am so grateful to be working with such a wonderful group of kids! |
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