Lovin' the Easy Breezy Weather...

 It is finally Autumn! One of my favorite seasons because that’s when Starbucks bring back the Pumpkin Spice Latte. The weather was absolutely perfect this week especially during recess time. We didn’t have 19 sweaty little kids like we usually do! I changed the “summer” classroom tree this week and surprisingly, no one in class even noticed it until I mentioned it! Last year when I changed it, the following day almost all my students noticed it right away. I like to change the tree every season so it helps the students see how trees change with every season.

We received our new class pet this past Wednesday. He is a little Fire Bellied Toad that likes to eat crickets. We have not yet given him a name yet but we will have him for 2 weeks.

In class this week, we started our unit on matter. We learned the 3 states of matter and categorized them. As a class, we agreed that a solid has a definite shape and size. If we touch it, we cannot put our hands through it. A liquid is something that we can pour and will fill the shape of its container. Lastly, a gas is something that does not have a definite shape or size. We even have our own hand motions to help us remember each state of matter.

Solid=Chấ́t đặc

Liquid=Chất lỏng

Gas=Chất Khí

 We started a new fashion statement with butcher paper and did a lesson with our “3 states of matter outfits.” I showed the kids pictures and they had to go type that picture on the outfits of the appropriate matter it belonged to.

In Vietnamese Language Arts, we have been working on our 6 sight words.

Thây- See

Thích- Like

Thương- Love

Có- Have

Ăn- Eat

Uống- Drink

We practiced writing sentences with our sight words for the first time this week. I gave the kids the options to copy the sentences the class came up with or come up with their own this week. Surprisingly, a lot of them decided to come up with their own which made me really happy to see. The sticker means that they read to me their sentences.

In math this week, we worked on subtraction word problems. We discussed about specific keywords that will help us know if we are adding or subtraction. When we add, our number gets bigger and our picture will build on. When we subtract, our number gets smaller and we cross out. We also circle the numbers we will need to solve the problem.

(Samuel has 17 shirts. Samuel gave Duong 7 shirts. How many shirts does Samuel have left?

(John has 20 oranges. He ate 6 oranges. How many oranges does John have left?)

Silly Quote of the Week:

Me: “What’s something that’s a solid?”

J: (Flexes his biceps and points to his muscles) This is solid. 

I noticed that sometimes some of my Vietnamese accents don't show up so it looks like the word is misspelled or the word looks funky :-/ It might be doing this depending on the internet browser being used. I will try to fix this but bare with me for now please! 

 Lots of new announcements for this month under the "Announcments" page!

Mid-Autumn Festival Week

 Meet our new class pet! His name is Nibbles and he is an outgoing little guinea pig. Nibbles looooves to eat and always comes out to play. He will be going back this upcoming Wednesday and we will be getting a frog next!

In science, we worked on using our 5 senses and science tools. We did a little nature walk and recorded our observations into our science journals. We also worked on a booklet about what we use our 5 senses on.

This week in math, we have been working on representing our word problems with pictures up to 20. This upcoming week, we will continue to work on word problems but with subtraction instead.

We also learned that when we add, the number gets bigger. When we subtract, the number gets smaller.

In my class, you will see a lot of art work. We do a lot of drawing and coloring throughout the year. I think it is so therapeutic. Last year, my class loved all the coloring and drawing we did. This also works on fine motor skills! 

This week was a special week because we celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival! This event is one of the big 2 events the Vietnamese Dual Language Program hosts during the school year. In class, we learned about the celebration of this holiday and created lanterns to hang around the school.

I hope everyone had fun and enjoyed the show!

Click here to hear a traditional Mid-Autumn Festival Song!

I apologize…on the monthly calendar in their folders, I messed up their specials schedule. Labor Day threw me off and so the rest of the month got throw off too! Oopsies!!!

Please make sure the kids are bringing a water bottle to school with them that they can take out to recess! Even though we have a morning recess time, it still gets pretty hot and humid out there. We have very little transitioning time between recess to specials that leaves us NO TIME to stop by the water fountain L Also, please make sure the water bottle is labeled so it does not get mixed up with another student by accident.

Silly Quote of the Week:

J: “So...do you want to be the B and I’ll be the F?”

(Bf= best friends)

2nd Week of School

 We made it through the second week of school. The students are slowly getting adjusted to daily school routines. Even though it was only a 4 day week, it was busy, busy, busy! In my class we worked on a tear art project creating their names. This activity really worked on their fine motor skills. These beautiful art works can be seen above our classroom door.

 We received our first classroom pet on Wednesday. It is an albino hedgehog named….drumroll please….SPIKE! Spike is a little shy nocturnal little critter that the students don’t get to see much. Although the kids don’t see him much, they are very fascinated by him. Can you spot him in the above picture? Our next pet will be a gerbil. Mrs. Skalaban has a gerbil right now and it is very active. Can’t wait for it to arrive.

Every morning the kids come in and do their morning routine.

-Unpack backpacks and place them neatly in their cubbies

-Take our their daily folders and place it into the green basket

-Unstack their chair and place it at their tables

-Find their name magnets and do the check-in question

-Sit on their carpet spots and wait for “# of the day”

In science this week, we talked about who is a scientist and what exactly is science? We brainstormed what science is and here are some answers.

-study of volcanoes

- plants and animals

- weather

- storms

-nature
-rocks

After we brainstormed, we recorded this information into our green science journals. I was very impressed with some of their drawings. In class we have been practicing on completing neat and quality work. 

Please make sure you are reading with your child at least 15 minutes each night and completing homework! I will begin the TPRI and DRA testing this upcoming Monday which will determine their beginning of the year reading level.

Silly Quote of the Week:

G: “Cô Tracy, do you have a husband or a son?”

Me: “No I do not…”

G: “Well then, why don’t you just find one?”

Woo-hoo! Welcome back!

Welcome to first grade!

First grade is such a fun grade. We are fortunate enough to go on many field trips, have many specials events, and learn SO much academically! On this blog, you will see me update things almost weekly about what we are learning inside the classroom. (Or at least I try… J) It’s like a window into the classroom. Parents and students, feel free to check out the website! Yay to this being the first post for the 2014-2015 school year!

The first week of school, we learned and practiced basic procedures such as:

- how to unpack when we get to class

-how to walk in line quietly

-how to stand in line quietly

-raising our hands when we have something to share

-rules to the math centers

-rules to the class library

And the list goes on, and on, and on, and on, and on!

So it took me about 2 weeks to set up the classroom. I basically kept the same layout as last year just because it worked with traffic flow and everything else. Here is what we started the classroom off with. By the end of the school year, this classroom will be filled.

Our Vietnamese word wall!

Math Corner where all the fun manipulatives are located.

We read "Lacey Walker, Nonstop Talker." They really enjoyed this book. It was about an owl named Lacey that talked so much, she lost her voice! We talked about what it looks like to be a good listener after reading the book.

I felt like they were ready for math centers so I have slowly been introducing activities/games one by one. Even though the math center is fun, there are certain rules they must follow. Ask your child to share with you what these rules are!

We did a fun science experiment with gummy bears during the week. We placed gummy bears in a cup of water, observed what we saw, and recorded our observations. We then also predicted what we thought the gummy bear was going to look like the next day.

Most of the students predicted the gummy bear would get bigger and they were right! There is something about an oversized gummy bear that makes everyone so excited. The kids were so excited that it got pretty loud in our “science lab.”

This is the before and after of the gummy bears. I know, it looks like a blob but in person, you could see the definition of the bear more. 

Silly Quote of the Week:

T: “Cô Tracy, are you a kid?”

Happy First Day of August and my Summer Vacation!

The summer is coming to an end! I am ready to start setting up my classroom again. You know school is right around the corner when you start seeing Target put out all the school supplies. Just in case you don’t have access to the new supply list and want to get a head start, click on the link below.

School Supply List 2014-2015

Meet the Teacher: August 21st @ 4-6pm (Don't forget to bring school supplies!)

First Day of School: August 25th @ 7:30am (there will be no morning assembly this day!)

I just go back from a relaxing fun-filled 3 week vacation from California and Oregon. I sure will miss summer and all the free time I had just because the school year gets so busy and crazy. I will also miss that west coast summer breeze! J

I decided to share some pictures of my trip below. If you haven’t been to Portland, Oregon…I recommend it. My mom’s side of the family is from Portland and so as a child, I have always visited every couple years or so. Love, love, love the city and all the outdoor adventures it has to offer. It’s very similar to Austin minus the hot and humid heat we have here.

My bright and colorful shoes! On this 2 hour hike, we stumbled upon three beautiful waterfalls.

Multnomah Falls! A favorite childhood memory with the family.

I’m typically not an ice cream person but this place was sooo good, I had it twice within one week. Yum! 

Never ending trees, trees, trees!

It was nice being in Portland again to see relatives but also because my best friend got married! I was honored to be the maid of honor for her. She was such a beautiful bride!

Me with my cousin, Julie, who was a bridesmaid.

My 2 cousins and our fabulous 88 year old grandma in our traditional Vietnamese dresses.

Hydrangeas from my grandma’s garden. So beautiful! 

I had to get my froyo fix!

I hope the kiddos enjoy the rest of their summer. Even though I will miss my class I had so much, I'm ready to adopt 40 new children for this upcoming school year. Can't wait to bump into them as big second graders in the hallway. They are welcome to come visit me anytime! I couldn't have asked for a better group of kids as my first class!

My Capstone Library

I am in the process of giving the class blog a makeover and have decided to already officially transfer the blog to www.cotracy.blogspot.com.  I came back from Vegas about 2 weeks ago and am already looking forward to my next vacations to the west coast. I know it’s summer and I shouldn’t be thinking about work but I have already started translating classroom curriculum for next year and planning for this upcoming school year. I know, I know. I am a workaholic. Since the school year gets SOOOO busy, I am slowly preparing things so then during the school year, I can focus more on prepping materials rather than planning and prepping.

I hope my little friends have been getting a lot of sun rays and have been enjoying their first month of summer off. Before departing off from each other for the summer, Mrs. Richey introduced an interactive website for the kids to go to online to enjoy books from the library. I really like the website for the kids. It’s easy to use and they have books on there that we personally have in our very own Summitt library. I cannot stress how important it is for them to still continue reading…even though it’s summer. Just 20 minutes a day or even every other day.

My Capstone Library

Username: summitt

Password: school

 

HAPPY SUMMER Y'ALL!

HELLO! HAPPY SUMMER TO EVERYONE!

I am so sorry it’s taken me awhile to post an end-of-the-year posting. Ever since we ended school, I have been so busy with graduations, birthdays, and planning a bachelorette for my best friend.

Now that it’s summer, it’s been bittersweet. I am lovin’ this relaxation but I really do miss the little ones. I had such a great first year of teaching. I even won the “Teacher of Promise” award on campus! It was totally unexpected. For those wondering what the “Teacher of Promise” is, it’s an award for new teachers on campus. I hope your child had a great and fun year in first grade! I also want to say thank you to the parents for your continuous support this year whether it be for volunteering in the classroom or even supplying our class with school supplies or anything needed. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

Teachers were told we had to clean our room by June 6^th, the day after school was let out for the summer so I spent about a total of TEN hours cleaning, organizing, and storing classroom materials away. I’m going to admit. This was not fun. Who knew so much dust could appear in 9 months!

I put together a recap slideshow of the school year for the kiddos on a CD so they could remember all the fun times we had learning this year. Just in case they have lost it already, I will post it below.

I will be changing the website name to www.cotracy.blogspot.com for next year probably after summer time.  I will still be posting here and there in the summer JEveryone is still welcomed to check out the blog even though the children will be in 2^nd grade.