It was great to see you! 🦁

Ask Your Child About...

1. The four seasons and what it may look like on a tree.

2. What they learned about caring for pets: responsibility and extra love.

3. How writing is like a rubber band and the Little Engine That Could.

4. To identify the word 'the' in various writings (this was our focus word this week)!
5. Their adopted tree!

A huge thank you for making it out for Back to School Night last night! The kids were all excited to show you around the room and the school! This is always a great opportunity for the kids to take ownership in their environment and be proud of what they do each day. Thank you again! 😊

This week we also celebrated Constitution Day with a read aloud titled We the Kids by David Catrow. This book highlights the preamble to the constitution in a more friendly manner with wonderful illustrations to match! After the read aloud we all signed a Classroom Constitution which now proudly hangs in our room. 🗽

You may have also been told of a special guest in our room this Tuesday as well as last Tuesday. A University of Iowa student, Mr. Farino, is currently studying Engineering but is considering changing majors to Education. He has been visiting various classrooms to get a feel for what teaching is all about and what different grade levels have to offer. Mr. Farino spent one full day with us and one half day. During this time he mostly observed, helped redirect students, and had small conversational interactions with the students. Mr. Farino said he enjoyed being in our classroom and is excited to see more! 🍎

Mr. Farino reading a story before school begins.

Friday marked the end of our first math topic of counting from 0-5 in written, verbal, and visual formats. We also went over some vocabulary words to help explain what we are talking about while discussing math: number, none, count, part, whole, and order. These are words that will continue to show up throughout their time in and out of school. A great time to ask your child about their math understanding is while cooking/baking or at the grocery store! Please keep working with your child to help them recognize these numbers in the world around them and write them with confidence. 🙂

I apologize if your child came home at any point during the week asking for a new pet! 😅 Our reading study this week focused on pets. We read lots of stories about different animals and all of the work that goes into caring for them. We talked about how we can show care and respect for not only our family and friends, but animals as well! These stories also worked hand-in-hand with our focus word: the. We discussed how the sound to make 'the' comes from our tongue pushing between the front of our teeth. We practiced different words that also make the 'th' sound. Feel free to ask your child what words make these sounds and to identify the word 'the' in text for you! 📖

Scholastic Books have been ordered and they will arrive within a week! I will send out the next order forms after that. There is an order form for each month and each time it will be due on the second to last Friday so that the books will arrive on the last Friday of the month. Each of your orders also allow for our class to earn points which allows me to pick out books for our classroom library free of charge! Thank you for helping our library grow! 🤗

Some of our friends creating their Seasons Book

This week in science we learned about the four seasons and what a tree might experience during these changing times. You should see a seasons book coming home with your child that shows how a tree changes for each one! We also went on an adventure to adopt our very own tree! The students drew our tree as scientifically accurate as they could in their journals and wrote 'summer' next to it. We will draw our tree during each of the four seasons so that we can see how it changes over time! We also collected some items from around our tree to help us study it. I encourage you to adopt a tree with your family at a local park or in your neighborhood. Let your child pick the tree and come back to it frequently to see what you can see! Are there things living in or around it? Is it young or old? How many people does it take to wrap around it? What shape is the tree and it's leaves? What does it smell like? Do some sketches and even etchings of the bark and leaves. Enjoy this simple activity outside with your family all year long! 🌳

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend and are able to get out and enjoy this changing whether! It was great to see you all last night and the kid's absolutely loved being your teacher! Be sure to get plenty of rest - for the little ones and yourselves - you've earned it! 😊

We like to... 🙂

Ask Your Child About...

1. The different shapes of trees.

2. What they learned about friendship this week.

3. The steps to writing a word.

4. To identify the words 'we', 'like', and 'to' in various writings (they were our focus words this week)!

We had a strong full week of school! The kiddos are a bit tired, so be sure to get some extra sleep in this weekend in preparation for Monday. 😴😊 You will see Friday folders coming home today with school pictures and some information regarding coming to school sick. Please remember to send these folders back to school on Monday! We will have library check out on Tuesday again, so feel free to send those books back so your child may pick out new ones to bring home. Next Friday will be the last day to submit an online order or send an flyer order form with your preferred form of payment to school for this month's Scholastic. 📚

In math this week we focused on grouping 4 and 5 objects, as well as being able to identify 0. Everyone has been doing very well with these activities! Feel free to practice writing the numbers 0-5 at home and making sure we are starting from the top and not going backwards. 😊 Make it interactive by using sand, paint in a zip-lock baggy or shaving cream! 🎨 A helpful song is "I Can Write My Numbers" by Harry Kindergarten! 🎶

This week in reading we focused on the words 'we', 'like', and 'to'. You may be seeing a piece of paper with a sentence strip with these words on it and/or a book with these words in it coming home! If your student doesn't have these with them, don't worry! Some of our friends did not finish and wanted to keep them at school until they were done. Keep this book as an example of their AWESOME writing skills and to proudly show that you have an AUTHOR in your house! Yes, a real author! 😎

This leads us into writing. We have been working on how to stretch words to get them down on paper. We have three steps for getting words onto paper: 1. Say the word 2. Make the first sound. 3. Write down the letter of the sound. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you have made it through the entire word. *Remember: at this point it is not about having our kids spell everything exactly right, but simply getting them to try.* We want happy, confident, willing to try learners! 😊

One friendly reminder that if after school transportation plans change please send me an email and/or call the office as we can better ensure I will know where to send the students at the end of the day! Often the kids know, but sometimes they forget, so it helps if I am able to keep a record of it as stated from a guardian as well. 🚗🚌 Thank you!

Enjoy this beautiful weather and have a wonderful weekend! 🔆

Second Week Down

Ask Your Child About...

1. The different parts of trees (roots, trunk, branches, leaves).

2. What observe means: we are observing trees in science, but we are learning that there are many things are person may observe!

3. What writer's say when they think they are done. 

4. What they learned about families this week.

5. To identify to word 'I' in various writings (it was our focus word this week)!

This week went quick! We are starting to get use to our daily routines and will only become stronger in them with time. Thank you for your helpful reminders to your children about lunches, Lincoln Lion folders, and transportation each day; it truly helps! Thank you for helping with our All About Me posters! Your pictures from home are sure to make the classroom more homey and comforting to the children. 😊

Friday Folders only have a few items in them this week. The CDs are yours to keep, so please use them as you see fit! The tree book is an activity we completed during science to help us learn the parts of trees. Due to the rain this week we were unable to get out and complete one of my favorite activities: leaf gazing! If you have time, I encourage you and your family to find a lovely large tree to lay under and look up into. We talk about how the leaves blow in the wind and look like they are dancing. 🍃The children always seem to enjoy this visual especially if you are able to do so under different trees and light. We also discussed how as scientists we can use our senses (touch, smell, sight, and hearing in this case) to observe the trees. Get out and enjoy a tree walk on this hopefully good weather weekend! 🌳🔆

In math we focused on identifying, grouping, and writing the numbers 1-4. You should have seen a math sheet come home each day as we complete a lesson. We do a whole group lesson at the rug with examples and practice, then we split to our tables to complete the sheet that you see from your student each day. Some days we also pair up for math games that relate to the topic of the day. 🔢

This week in reading we focused on the word 'I'. We practiced writing and identifying it. I chose various read aloud books that repeated the word multiple times so the students could be exposed to the word more frequently, and encouraged them to use it in their writing. Our topic for the week was family with the strategy of retelling. We discussed how all families are similar and different and did our best to retell each story after we had read them. I encourage your family to read stories about family this week and have some discussions about what it means to be a family (what it looks like, sounds like and feels like). 📗

We have begun our writing curriculum and are off to a great start! The students have decided to call themselves the Lion Factory Writers! 🦁 Writing is always a new experience for students no matter the age. Many have misconceptions on what is considered writing and what is not. Right now we want to encourage our learners to try, try, try! I keep telling the kiddos it does not matter if it is exactly right or not, what matters is if we try. We aren't looking for perfect drawing or spelling, we are simply looking for details and effort. Help encourage your student to try their best and help boost their confidence! We are all writers! 📝

For those of you that are interested, Scholastic Book orders will be due the 21st. They typically take a week to arrive, so that allows for them to arrive before the next month's flyer comes in. If you are interested in ordering, you can do this by filling out the flyer and attaching a check payable to Scholastic Book Club, filling out the flyer and sending cash, or going online to pay (you can search for our class by my name or our class code: RCYJT).  I have already received some orders, so thank you and please be patient as I wait for any others that may decide before the 21st!

Again, if you ever have questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to contact me by phone through the school anytime during the week or through email at grady.allison@iowacityschools.org

Thank you and I hope you all have a fantastic weekend! 😊🔆

First Week ✅

Ask Your Child About...

1) Their "All About Me" poster. The directions are clipped to the poster in their Friday folder. Please return this to me by the end of the next week. We will be sharing them and hanging them in our classroom for Back to School Night. Thank you for helping us with this- it will be so wonderful to see your photographs!

2) Working with a partner during math time to play "Collect 10"/"Racing Bears"/"Number Line Frogger" game. They did very well! These math activities reinforced counting, adding, and one-to-one correspondence. It also required cooperation! 🙂

3) Writing numbers at various number stations set up around the room (numbers cards and white boards, number templates, and so on). You should have seen some number writing sheets coming home throughout the week.

4) The number rhymes we are learning to help with number writing! We are practicing good habits such as starting numbers and letters from the top, and using curves and sticks to form our numbers and letters.

5) Our expectations and how they connect to honesty, caring, respect, and responsibility - Lincoln Lions ROAR! 🦁

6) The fire and tornado drills today! The children were EXCELLENT! 👌

7) Playing the game "Fill the Hexagons" during math time. The children used a tub of pattern blocks and a dice with various shapes on it (trapezoid, rhombus, triangle, and hexagon). The children rolled the dice, took the appropriate shape from the tub, and figured out how the shapes could fit together to create hexagons. The goal was to fill all six hexagons. They loved the game and are getting really good at the shape terminology!

Wow!

It has been a wonderful week at school! We continue to talk about what different times of the day (i.e. group time, work time, clean up time, lining up, etc.) should look like, feel like, and sound like.  The children are getting more and more accustomed to the many new routines and are developing the sense of community that is so important to having a happy school and classroom. 💕

Ask your child about GoNoodle!

As I read big books and other stories with the children, I am continuing to introduce/ demonstrate strategies good readers use naturally as they read every day. These are great strategies for you to try at home as well! Some of these strategies include: 1) Previewing a book and doing a "picture walk" prior to reading a story. This allows the reader to get a feel for the story, make predictions, and anticipate some of the vocabulary within the story. 2) Reading fluently, so our reading sounds like "talking". 3) Thinking as we read. This involves stopping to ask questions, clarify, make predictions, and connect to other books or our lives. Good readers see reading as an interactive experience and I will be continually reinforcing this! 4) Retelling and summarizing what we have read. There are many ways to do this, and I will be sharing different ways throughout the year (flannel pieces for retelling, dramatizing a story, filling out a story map, answering questions about plot relationships, characters, events, and so on).

This week was the start of our library visits. Your child should have shared two books with you and will continue to bring two books home each week as long as they bring the old ones back! 📚 We will have book check-out on TUESDAYS.  Thank you for helping your child return their library books each and every week before or on Tuesday. Mrs. Locher will help your child choose a book based on interest, which would be great for a read aloud or shared reading time at home.

Each week we have a special time with Mrs. Johnson's 4th grade class. This time is called Buddies. 🤝During this time our older friends will help us read books and help with various activities. Here is a picture from our time with them today!

Thank you for returning your Friday Folders! 🦁 Continue to check each Friday for important information and send back any requests on Monday. I collect these folders every Monday from your child and fill them through the week as I get information, then place them in their back pack to be sent home on Fridays. Please do your best to help your child remember to check for their Friday folder and keep it in good shape all year long!

I am so enjoying getting to know your children. 😊 What a WONDERFUL group of learners!  Thanks so much for all you are doing to help get your child off to a great start! Stay cool and enjoy your weekend!  By the way, your children are EXHAUSTED!  😴 You may find the need to move bedtime to an earlier time while the children are getting accustomed to the new routine and schedule.  We are very busy at school! Thank you for your help with this! 🙂

*I will post to this blog each week on Friday afternoons to let you know what we have been up to throughout the week. I will also try to include a couple of picture from the week just for fun! If you prefer a paper newsletter to be sent home each week please let me know and I will be sure to get that sent home in your child's Friday folder.

Please let me know if you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns! You can always contact me through the school phone or my email! grady.allison@iowacityschools.org 🦁

Thank You 🍎

Wow! The year is over and I have not quite registered it yet. Thank you all for a fantastic first year of teaching! I will remember it always! Below is a painting of a tree I created that will slowly gain the fingerprints of all of the students I teach. I have loved my first class of 18 and look forward to all of those to follow!

Yesterday I finished packing up our classroom and separating out what can be used again for Kindergarten or what will be stored for now. I have loved teaching 6th grade and am excited for yet another challenge next year as I switch to Kindergarten. We will be at the New Hoover, so if you wish to stop by we will be a bit further away, but would love to see you all! 🙂

Our final day went great and I couldn't be more proud of these kiddos! I hope you all have a fantastic summer filled with lots of family and friends. Don't forget to challenge your brains over the summer to avoid any regression! I wish you all the best of luck in 7th grade!

Last Full Week!

Man time has flown by! I cannot believe Monday is our last Monday and full week of school! I apologize for not posting any updates in a while; it has been a crazy month as we are finishing up all curriculum, district testing, professional meetings, and packing up the school to get ready for the move to New Hoover for the year. I also want to thank everyone for the kind gestures of appreciation throughout the week; this year has been wonderful! 💙

In the past week we have had our final junior high visits, the Bike Rodeo, Track and Field Day, and the Herbert Hoover Museum. We have wrapped up our final science kit as well as our last math topic. We have one last chapter in social studies: Being a Good Citizen, health: puberty, and writing: literary essay. Each of these topics will be wrapped up within the next week! The remainder of our time will be filled with some outside of the curriculum learning, such as writing and understanding proverbs, stepping up to seventh grade math, and some meditation practices to help us keep calm, focused, and anxiety free as we work through these last few days. 🌺

Wednesday the 23rd is the Orchestra tour day, with their performance at Lincoln at 1:00. 🎶 That day will also be a PBIS celebration day for filling the paw ticket tank once again! For this celebration, the students are encouraged to wear a super hero shirt of their choice (please no capes or masks!). Thursday the 24th we will have an assembly at 8:30 for summer reading, and Friday the 25th will be change your name day with a donation of $1 for our final Haiti fundraising effort. 🌍

The next week consists of no school on Monday for Memorial Day, followed by two last days of school. Tuesday the 29th starts off with the Talent Show at 8:00 and Outdoor Day after lunch at 12:15. 🌳 The final day of school is an hour early out and consists of lots of fun 6th grade things! We start our celebration in the gym at 9:00 for awards, followed by the ceremony and reception at about 10:00, after which we will head to City Park for some good food and fun games. There is a permission slip coming home today for City Park, which is due back no later than the 25th. Family is more than welcome to join during this last day of school! Several of the kids have been asking about clothing, so I would like to address that as well: if you would like your child to dress up a bit for the ceremony they will have time to change before heading to the park. 🎓

Lastly, I would like to share a few over the summer learning opportunities that have popped up. The first being a district suggested math workbook that can be ordered through places such as Amazon. There is a workbook for each grade level which you can find by searching Common Core Standards Practice Workbook Grade __. The ISBN for grade 6 is: 9780329756896. There is also a summer reading program offered through the public library. Here is the link where you can read more about this program: https://www.smore.com/hx57z-summer-reading-2018. Lastly, NCJH has sent a flyer inviting students to visit the library June 21st and July 19th from 1-3 for book checkout, makerspace (hands on engineering, robotics, electronics, critical thinking, problem solving activities), and goodies. I'm sure the other junior high schools have something similar offered, but I have not been made aware of them at this point in time. 🔆📚

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns during this final full week of school!

Early Update

😊 Hello and happy Monday!

I thought I would send out a message today rather than Friday as we have some important things coming home today and to remember for this week.

First, you will see a purple sheet with a blue half-sheet attached. This is the Herbert Hoover Museum permission slip for our field trip on May 18th from 9:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. The signed purple form and the checked blue form are due THIS Friday (May 4th!). Please leave the two forms attached and be sure to make a lunch choice as this is an all day event and no choice or late slips will be marked as home lunch - no exceptions. ✅

You may also see some Scholastic book orders coming home. This is the last order of the year and they will be due Monday the 14th as to allow enough time for the order to arrive before the last day of school. 📘

Lastly, there are a couple of things that are not coming home with students but are good to be thinking about.
     1. We have a math test coming up this Friday for topic 15. Be sure to check with your student as to whether they feel confident and prepared. We want these last test scores to be some of our best! 💯
     2. Thursday will be the last day to submit a yearbook cover idea. Lincoln always has a great turn-out of ideas and I am hoping the same will be said for this year! Remember: you do not have to color the cover idea. The image chosen will be photocopied and colored digitally. Do your best and feel free to team up with a friend if you'd like! 🎨
     3. I had previously said there will be current events due this Friday, but I had forgotten about TFK. 📰 As this week is the first of the month, we receive Time For Kids magazine and read through and discuss it as a class the first Friday of each month instead of current events. I apologize for forgetting!
     4. Weekly math will still be due Friday! Please remind your student to come prepared to share out answers and follow along as we check. ✔

🦁 Thank you and I hope you all enjoy the week! 🦁

Fun Night 🦁

This week has been wonderful out at Lake McBride and now Fun Night is tomorrow from 4pm-7pm! I hope to see you all there! There will be fun things to do in every classroom, and 6th grade has a pretty awesome surprise game located in the art room. I can't wait to see all the families having fun!

Next week we will start to make our way back to a normal schedule, although we still have two field trips: North Central on Tuesday and South East on Friday. 🚌 We will have the day arranged around these two trips so that the students will not miss anything or have any make-up work.

Please keep in mind that weekly math will be coming home that is due Friday and a current event will also be expected. Some students forgot their current events for today, so I will expect those to come to school completed on Monday morning. ✅

In writing we will be continuing our work with character development and figuring out what a character really wants. This will help gain a deeper understanding of characters and an overall purpose to a story. 📚 We are also continuing our work with Esperanza Rising in reading. The students have been doing a great job of responding to the text, so I hope to see that same level of effort next week! Social studies is wrapping up with our Westward Expansion projects, which I am hoping to present toward the end of the week.

Math will bring a new topic: measures of center and variability. This consists of statistical questions, finding the mean, median, mode, and range, as well as making sense of a problem. The students will find this topic to be simple in math skills but possibly difficult in math explanation. We want to push the kids to understand why they are doing the particular steps and what it all means. Science will be moving forward with our understanding of living and nonliving with various explorations. We will start with looking at elodea under the microscope, followed by paramecium, and lastly our cheek cells! It should be a fun and interesting time! 🔬

Lastly, we will have our aReading test first thing on Monday morning so please be sure to get a good nights' sleep and a healthy breakfast! 🤓

Enjoy the lovely SPRING weather and I hope to see you all tomorrow evening! 🌷

School of the Wild: Day 3 🌞

Today marks the third wonderful day out at Lake McBride for School of the Wild! Everyone is doing a wonderful job of exploring and learning in this new setting. I (along with several other adults!) have been extremely impressed with the Lincoln students' behavior and ability to stay focused while enjoying themselves! Thank you all for ensuring a fantastic time is had by all! 😊

Tomorrow I will be staying back at Lincoln to sub for Mr. Criswell's class so that he may go out and enjoy the weather as well. He will be working with group 3 at the archaeological sites while Mr. Ritter will be floating. I will join back in on Thursday for the last day.

Many of us are starting to get tired due to all of the sun exposure and physical activity. Be sure to get plenty of rest and healthy food tonight and in the morning so you are ready for another day out. Again, I recommend bringing sunscreen, plenty of water, and a hat to cover your face and eyes from the sun. 😎

Tomorrow Lincoln group 2 will be in the Wetlands, which I got the privileged to join today. If you are in group 2, I would highly recommend bringing an extra pair of clothes in case you get wet! Although getting wet is not likely beyond your feet, a couple students found out today that it can happen! 🛶

Here are a couple pictures of group 3 enjoying their time in the wetlands today!

Two canoes looking for creatures

The few that capsized 

On the Boat!

School of the Wild: Day 2 😊

   We had yet another fantastic day out at Lake McBride for school of the wild! The weather was perfect and everyone was in high spirits. Be sure to get plenty of rest tonight and a good breakfast in the morning so you are all ready for another outdoors filled day!

   Lincoln did not have a group at the archaeology sites today so I got to join two different groups. The first group I tagged along with was group 2, who had the woodlands.🌱 We walked the trails, listening to nature and learning about the plants and animals we could see and hear. At lunch time we were able to stop at the spill way and enjoy the view. 🌅This was a great area for the kids to climb around, cool off, and just relax. I have posted a few pictures from my time with this group below.

Woodlands Group 2

Checking out the Waterfall

  

The second group I was able to join in with was group 3, who were exploring the ornithology areas. This group was able to learn about various raptors, what makes flight possible, and several other fun and helpful facts about birds. 🦉🦅🐦We hiked around a bit, as well as taking a few rests at bird blinds. I have posted a couple pictures of my time with this group below.

Bird Watching in the Blind

Ornithology Group 3

     Remember to pack filling snacks and plenty of water! You will want a sweatshirt for in the morning and possibly some sunscreen in the afternoon. I hope you are ready for day 3! See you tomorrow! 🌳

Long Weekend 🔅🌎

Hello on this bright and lovely Friday off! I hope you all enjoy the long weekend and are able to spend plenty of time out in this wonderful weather.

We had our first day out at Lake McBride for School of the Wild yesterday and it was wonderful! I'm proud of all of our 6th grades for how well they behaved, participated, and encouraged each other. I am excited to go back out on Monday! The weather is looking even better for next week, so be sure to consider that when choosing clothes and items in your backpack. I would encourage a hat to keep the sun out of your eyes, layers as the morning will still be chilly (such as a light jacket, sweatshirt, t-shirt), some sunscreen, plenty of water, and a couple healthy snacks for if you get hungry before/after lunch.

Weekly math will not be coming home on Monday as we have our last math FAST testing on Friday. Be sure to get plenty of sleep and a good breakfast! We will, however, expect current events to be due and shared Friday.

I will do my best to upload pictures from each day out at School of the Wild. Don't worry if you don't see your child right away, I am only with one group each day, so the students in the pictures will change as we move through the week.

School of the Wild Day 1:

Day 1 Archaeology Group!

                                         

                                                      Building the Wickiup

Exploring the Beach

                                            

                                                   A-Frame Fort

        

     Lean-to Fort

 

Log Cabin Fort