Spring, and it's conferences, are in the air!

Our little lions continue to grow and thrive in first grade. Beginning Thursday, March 13 and running through the March 21, we will be having our Spring parent/teacher conferences. On all of those day, school will be dismissed at 1:15 pm. Please mark this down on your calendar, so you can pick up your child on time. Our signupgenius.com list will be active during the entire conference period should you need to make any last minute changes to your conference time.

We had a wonderful Art Vistas lesson last week. I hope you all took a minute to view the slide show I sent to you. Our Room 3 artists were very focused on creating some lovely texture collages. Thanks to all the parent volunteers who made this possible.

The Pennies for the Patients drive is still going on. Please include a a slip of paper with the amount being donated in the collection box.
Lastly, check our class web page for the latest newsletter and don't forget to turn your clocks ahead at 2:00 am on Sunday, March 9th.

If the Weather Outside is Frightful...

We finally seem to be hitting our rainy season. This week's forecast calls for more rain as well. On rainy days students have recess inside the classroom. They eat their snack and have a short period of time to play with indooor activities or read. At lunch time, all students eat inside the cafeteria. Because not all grades can fit into the cafeteria at once, there is a staggered schedule. Once students are done eating, they return to designated classrooms and are supervised by the yard duty aides until their teachers return. Although this is not perfect, in that students can't run around as they can during an outdoor recess, we make the best of the situation. Here's to some more rain (but perhaps in the evening).
Our filed trip to see The Frog Prince, was wonderful. I am very proud of the what great passengers Room 3 students were on the bus and what a great audience they were in the theater. The bus driver even commented on how well behaved they were. Kudos to the Room 3 students and I'm glad we all enjoyed the show.
Alta Vista will be participating in Read Across America on Monday, March 3rd. Each grade will have a guest reader who will visit us and read a preselected book. Our guest reader will meet us in the library and substitute for our usual parent volunteer. This past Friday, February 28th, the first grade teachers rotated through each classroom and read different Dr. Seuss books. My sub, Mrs. Carfano, read And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street, which was the first Dr. Seuss book published (1937). I picked the book, as it is a personal favorite, but I know she did an excellent job reading it.
This week, we will have our 2nd trimester writing assessment. I had the students do a practice assessment last week and they did quite well. It's amazing to see how their writing skills have grown!
Be sure to check out our class web page on the AV website, altavista.unionsd.org, for all the latest news and weekly happening in Room 3.

Welcome Back!

I hope you all had a restful week off. Here's what we are looking forward to as we return to school this week:
Tuesday, February, 25th, 6:30pm in the cafeteria. Please join the entire first grade as we sing and play percussion instruments for you, under the direction of Mrs. Abele, our fabulous music teacher. I hope you can all attend.
Wednesday, February 26th. Field Trip to see  "The a Frog Prince", in Sunnyvale.  Transportation will be by bus. We will eat snack before we leave and return shortly before dismissal (1:15 pm). Please have your child wear their class T-shirt.

Check out our weekly newsletter and web page for all the news from Lawson's Lions!

Lawson's Lions; Moving into the second half of the year!

The second half of the year is an exciting time in Room 3. We are becoming independent in our work habits and proud of the progress we've made.  Here's some of what we've been up to:

- We're on the cutting edge of Common Core math as we learn to use Rekenreks. A rekenrek (arithmetic rack) is similar to an abacus. Through a generous grant from the Home&School Club, I was able to purchase a class set, including a teacher model. All of us, myself included, are having fun and learning more about addition and subtraction with this great new math tool. There is a free iPad app, Math Rack, which is a virtual rekenrek (minus the clicking of the beads!).

- Science rotations started last week. Our class is working with Miss Holbrook on learning about matter and it's various states.

- All first graders will be participating in a music performance on February 26th at 6:30 pm in the cafeteria. They have been working hard, with Mrs. Abele, and will be proud to show off their musical skills for you. Hope to see you all there!