Our "Final" Forecast ~ MAY 28, 2021
A special hug and thanks to our Foster volunteers, Mrs. Zerinskas, Mrs. Omiecinski, Mrs. Jones, Mr. Wimunc, Ms. Tarchala, and Grandma Phyllis! We hope you enjoyed our special messages and surprises this week! Foster staff and families and Forest Ridge PTA, thanks so much for making this last week of my teaching career one I’ll never forget! Here’s a peek at what kept us busy this last week of 1st grade . . .
FIRST GRADE CELEBRATION/FIELD DAY:
This past Monday was a hot one, but I know everyone loved seeing each other “in person!” Thanks Ms. Capouch and team for putting together such a fun morning of activities! Chalk, bubbles, tattoos, tag games, obstacle course, SPUD, and hula hoops were so fun! Eating lunch outside in my backyard was a great ending to the morning!
FIRST GRADE FUN DAY:
On Wednesday, we enjoyed some fun activities with all of the other 1st grade teachers . . . Go Noodle with Ms. D’Ambrosio, drawing with Ms. Katz, and coding with Mrs. Shepard. We also played Summer Jingo!
LANGUAGE ARTS:
“Pedal Pedal Pedal” was our last comprehension passage of the year. Earning mastery on our Cycle 24 Spelling Test last Friday were Emily, Xavier, Brandon, Octavius, Lailah, Nathan, Manny, Saja, Liliana, and Joey . . . wonderful! We worked with our Cycle 25 words this week. We wrote our Weekend News, May News, and Last Day News.
MATH:
Kudos to Liliana, Manny, Ben, Samantha, Abigail, Nathan, Lailah, Xavier, and Emily; they earned mastery on all 3 sections of our Chapter 12 Test last Friday. Achieving mastery on 2 sections were Saja, Gabe, Aubrey, Holden, Octavius, Brandon, Jamilah, Julia, and Billy; Joey, Lily, Adela, and Sofi mastered 1 section . . . fantastic! We completed Math 4 Today Week 35 and some “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal this week. We also got our bodies moving by counting down by 1’s to 0 with our Fluency Exercise Leaders! Working through Chapter 11 kept us busy this week too!
SCIENCE:
We compared plants, learned more about plant biomimicry, and finished up our Mystery Science, “Plant and Animal Super Powers” unit this week.
SEESAW WORK:
We had our last Seesaw drawing, and everyone was able to pick up their prizes at my house on Monday. Thanks parents for helping keep your students “on track!”
HELPING HANDS:
Hugs and thanks to this week’s “helping hands”: Pledge Leader ~ Billy, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Adela, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Samantha, Thought/Quote of the Day Helper ~ Sofi, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Jamilah and Ocatavius Math 4 Today Helper ~ Lily, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Manny, Doubles Song Leaders ~ Joey and Lailah, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Emily, Brandon, Lily, and Nathan.
This has been a whirlwind week for me! Thanks so much for all of your kind words, notes, and gifts; I have truly been blessed to have Foster as part of my life for the past 29 years, when my daughter Ashleigh started Kindergarten here, and over the course of my 22-year teaching career, I have worked with the best colleagues I could’ve asked for! As you move on to second grade, I’ll be moving on to retirement, looking forward to spending more time with Mr. Baytala, Ashleigh, Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn! "0" wake-ups til Summer "Vakay!" Have a “sun”sational summer!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
ROOM 122’S END OF THE YEAR POEM
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
August 24th, our first day of school, seems just a mere blink away. . .
Yet, here I sit, reminiscing, on our very last day!
I got to meet many of you and your families on Zoom before that first day of school began.
Getting to meet your new teacher and learn about our routine was the plan.
September brought MAP Testing, meeting our 5th grade buddies, and enjoying Friday Fun too!
Tasting and graphing our favorite apples for our “Apple Fest” was just one of the fun things we got to do!
October introduced Study Buddies and the fun of “Pumpkin Day” soon was here!
Making pumpkin lanterns was great and soon Halloween drew near!
Our Zoom parade had us enjoying each other’s costumes and it was so hard to believe . . .
That November was already here, and our second quarter materials we did already receive!
Parent Teacher Conferences and our Virtual Family Reading Night happened in November
We learned more about Thanksgiving and had our Thanksgiving “Feast,” remember?
With December came our month-long Holiday Unit to explore and enjoy.
Learning about St. Nicholas Day, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, St. Lucia Day, and Christmas were wonderful for each girl and boy!
Making frames and reindeer food with our buddies sure was lots of fun.
Before we knew it, our Santa countdown was complete, and 2020 was almost done!
January brought lots of snow, and we were sad Ms. Mueller and Art did depart.
We were happy to see Mrs. Latka and were ready for Music to start
With February came our 100th day of school! The neat activities really were the best.
Making 100 “gumballs,” reading 100 books, and rolling to 100, just to name a few, really put us to the test!
Rolling our Valentine dice and graphing with our buddies really was great!
Do you remember our Valentine activities? The 14th was the date!
Reading with our 5th grade buddies on “Read Across America” day made us all want to jump for joy!
We also had so many neat cross-curricular activities during that special day, to enjoy!
March brought a “wearin’ of the green” and lots of St. Patrick’s Day fun!
We also enjoyed reading and voting on all of the “March Madness” books til our month was done!
We bade a sad farewell to Brooklynn, Emma, and Santi, as they headed to “in-person” learning for Quarter 4
But were happy to welcome a new student, Manny, as part of our remote learning family core
We loved receiving our Bunny Baskets and “Spring Fling” had us enjoying so many fun activities too . . .
Like counting and graphing our jelly beans, making new words, and playing Spring Jingo, just to name a few!
Spring break was then upon us, a whole week to refresh, relax, and play
As vaccines became available, some of us traveled out of state; others enjoyed a “staykay!”
With the last six weeks of school approaching, extracurricular activities did start
We got to choose Coding Club, Student Council and/or Intramurals of which to be a part
Before we knew it, our last 26 days were here, and ABC Countdown’s Day 1.
We knew the end of April and all of May would certainly bring us lots of fun!
Staff Appreciation Week gave us a chance to tell our teachers and staff, “Hey, we think you’re great!”
Daily surprises made all of us staff really feel first rate!
Our “Morning with Mommy” on May 7th was a special start to our day!
We made a frame, painted her nails, and sang special songs too . . . hooray!
The following Friday we enjoyed our morning “Date with Dad!”
Making a frame, seeing how many drops of water fit on a penny, and singing special songs made him glad!
During Volunteer Appreciation Week, special thoughts on each day’s announcements told them they’re great!
Yes, our window message, outside posters and cup sign, showed we think they’re all first rate!
We were SO very excited for our First Grade Celebration Field Day
Seeing and enjoying time with our classmates “in person” really topped off our May!
During our First Grade Fun Day, we had many fun activities to explore
Summer Jingo, drawing, coding, and Go Noodle with all of the 1st grade teachers, made our spirits soar!
So, again on this last day I still can reminisce
About all those first grade things that perhaps you’ll also miss. . .
Weekend/Monthly News, Student of the Week, Seesaw, IXL, and Epic, just to name a few
Problem of the day, weekly jobs, monthly drawings, birthday celebrations, and Math 4 Today too!
Yes, through this pandemic, we’ve done lots of work, and learned so much from each other each and every day
And so on this last day, as your first grade teacher, one final thing I’d like to say . . .
On to 2nd grade, soon all of you will pass . . .
But not before I’ve told you Joey, Liliana, Saja, Manny, Gabe, Brooklyn, Aubrey, Ben, Samantha, Holden, Zack, Abigail, Nathan, Lily, Lailah, Octavius, Brandon, Jamilah, Santi, Julia, Xavier, Billy, Adela, Sofi, Emma, Raiden, Emily, and Josias “You’ve been an awesome class!”
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
May 21, 2021:
Happy Friday! We enjoyed celebrating Aubrey’s birthday this past Tuesday; thanks Ms. Kobiec for coming in to read one of her favorite stories, Little Acorn. We look forward to seeing her birthday activity and show & tell on Monday! BIG hugs and thanks to all of my “family” here at Foster; they surprised me yesterday with an outdoor Retirement Party :)! Mrs. Henson, thanks for hosting all of us! We’re sending more hugs and thanks to our amazing volunteers ~ Grandma Phyllis, Mrs. Zerinskas, Mrs. Omiecinski, Mrs. Jones, Ms. Tarchala, and Mr. Wimunc! Thanks for planning all of the special events for us during this crazy year! Here’s a glance at what’s kept us busy this week, as well as what we’ll be up to this last week of 1st grade . . .
Monday:
Happy “V”enture Outside Day! (We’ll enjoy our 1st Grade Celebration Field Day here at school or enjoy the “virtual” Field Day activities on Seesaw!) Student Council’s “Kindness Week” kicks off today too; you’ll get your Kindness Bingo Board at our pick-up; I’m counting on all of you to fill it up; you’ll be getting your “prize” early (today :)!) Volunteer Appreciation Week also begins today! PTA volunteers and Grandma Phyllis, you’ve been amazing this year! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. I’ll take attendance, and we’ll write our Weekend News, and then pop off about 9:00, so you have time to get to Foster. Remember to certify this morning before coming to school (The link was right on the Celebration information letter.) Wear gym shoes, your mask, and sunscreen. I’ll greet you at 9:15, and we’ll enjoy our fun activities together from 9:30-11:30. If you’re joining us for lunch, we’ll be meeting/eating outside at my house (11:30-12:30); bring your lunch and lawn chair (or blanket/beach towel). LEVELED READER AND WHITE BOARD DROP-OFF IS TODAY 12:30-6:00 IN MY DRIVEWAY. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. We’ll be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up! For those who signed up, Coding Club with Ms. Leng is today on Zoom (3:25-4:10); you must use your district-provided iPad to access this meeting; if you don’t, you will not be allowed into the Zoom meeting! (Use the link provided in your Seesaw from Ms. Leng.)
Tuesday:
Today is “W”acky Day! (Put your “w”ackiest outfit together, and model it on Zoom today!) Intramurals with Mrs. Henson is this morning for those who signed up (7:40-8:25). Please be sure to dress weather appropriate and wear your mask! Today we’ll be writing a “kind” note on our class Jamboard :) as Kindness Week continues! Volunteers, we hope you’re enjoying the special quotes on daily announcements; be sure to drive past Foster to see some special messages too! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. Be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up!
Wednesday:
It’s “X”tra Fun Day! (We’ll enjoy fun activities with all of the 1st grade teachers!) Kindness Week continues with a “kind” note to our 5th Grade Buddies! Volunteers, enjoy the special quote on daily announcements; if you haven’t yet, be sure to drive past Foster to see some special messages too! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. I hope everyone will join us and eat lunch with a new friend for the last time on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up! Student Council with Ms. D’Ambrosio and Ms. Babincsak is today on Zoom (3:25-4:10); you must use your district-provided iPad to access this meeting; if you do not, you will not be allowed into the Zoom meeting! (Use the link that was sent to your school email.)
Thursday:
“Y”ellow Day is today! (Brighten up your day by wearing some yellow today!) We’ll be making cards for St. Jude patients today as Kindness Week continues! Volunteers, enjoy the special quote on daily announcements; if you haven’t yet, be sure to drive past Foster to see some special messages too! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Friday:
Happy “Z”ippiddeedoodah Day! (Good-bye “Z”oom! Hello Summer Vakay!) Kindness is the Foster Way! We’ll wrap up Kindness Week by wearing our Foster spirit wear or red and black! Volunteers, enjoy one more special quote on daily announcements; if you haven’t yet, be sure to drive past Foster to see some special messages too! Some “thankful” video messages also await you! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Summer Vakay begins at 12:30!
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*SUMMER LEARNING PROGRAM: This year, our summer learning program is available to all current students. The program will last four weeks, from June 21 to July 15 and will be provided at no cost to district families. Staff will provide virtual content in the format of a weekly grade level appropriate choice board. This will allow families flexibility in completing lessons and activities. Students will be assigned a summer learning teacher who will be available for contact Monday thru Thursday of each week, with the exception of Monday, July 5. Additionally, the teacher will hold daily Zoom meetings Monday thru Thursday, with the exception of Monday, July 5, for direct student contact. Students should plan to attend two Zoom meetings a week. Fill out a participation form for each student that you would like to have participate in summer learning by Friday, May 28, 2021. Those students will be placed into grade level rosters and you will receive updates regarding summer learning information. To sign up for the Summer Learning Program, visit: https://forms.gle/1i26WzxswahE8e17A*OUR KIDS READ 2021: We will also hold our annual “Our Kids Read” challenge. Through grade level reading goals, students have the opportunity to prevent summer slide and increase their reading capacity. We encourage all students, whether participating in our summer learning program or not, to join the summer reading challenge. If you have any questions about the “Our Kids Read” challenge, please reach out to Mr. Ryan Nagle, Assistant Principal of Hille Middle School. To sign up for the Our Kids Read challenge, visit: https://forms.gle/WVvzc4WfLyquZC5b6
*STUDENT iPADS: The district WILL NOT be collecting student iPads at the end of the school year, with the exception of graduating 8th graders. More detailed information will be sent to 8th grade students and parents on Monday, May 17. Current Kindergarten thru 7th Grade students will have their district assigned iPad for summer use. Students will continue to have access to our subscription platforms like iXL, Seesaw and Wixie. Please be sure that your child adheres to the District 142 Acceptable Use Policy and the Guidelines 1-to-1 Technology at all times. Students will be required to bring their district assigned iPad when they return to school in the Fall.
*2021-2022 SCHOOL CALENDAR: The district has finalized our 2021-2021 School Calendar. The first day of school will be Wednesday, August 18 and our final day of school, if we do not use any snow/cold weather days, will be Tuesday, June 1, 2022.
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials for this last week, the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.), except for Friday (12:30 p.m.) (Having all needed materials ready to start the day and staying in camera is critical!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*Just a reminder, to receive credit, all Seesaw activities must be posted by tomorrow (3:00 p.m.)
UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES:
*Monday, May 24th ~ FINAL DROP-OFF/PICK-UP OF THE YEAR (12:30-6:00 p.m.) (You will be dropping off all leveled books (not decodable readers or gift books) in your vinyl book bag and white dry erase boards. You’ll be picking up a little birthday “treat” bag and end-of-the-year surprise from me!)
*Monday, May 24th ~ Foster’s 1st Grade Celebration Field Day (9:30-11:30 a.m.) (Drop-off by the blacktop 9:15-9:25/Pick-up at 11:30)
* Monday, May 24th ~ Lunch with Mrs. Baytala (Weather permitting, we’ll be meeting for lunch right after Field Day, and we’ll social distance in my driveway/on my front lawn or backyard, enjoying lunch together :)!)
*Wednesday, May 26th ~ First Grade Fun Day (We’ll be enjoying some “X”tra fun today with all of the first grade teachers and our buddies!)\
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we read “Gentle Giants.” Please remember to post both sides of your sheet to the last slide of the “Language Arts” activity assigned on Monday, May 17th. Next week will be reading our last passage “Pedal Pedal.” Please remember to include 15-20 minutes of IXL Diagnostics (Tuesday) and Recommendations (Wednesday-Thursday). Our Cycle 23 Spelling Test masters last Friday were Liliana, Manny, Gabe, Samantha, Abigail, Nathan, Lailah, Octavius, Raiden, and Emily . . . sensational! We took our Cycle 24 Test today; students reaching mastery will be announced in next week’s forecast. On Tuesday we’ll work on Cycle 25 (words with 2-syllable words): beanbag, carpet, explain, invite, mistake, nighttime, paper, finish, and shadows. Our high frequency review words are through and around. We wrote our Weekend News, continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal, and reviewed and took our adjectives with “more strength” and “strong” verb quizzes. Next week we’ll be writing our final Weekend News, May News, and Last Day News.
MAY READING LOG:
This past Tuesday was our last “free” book drawing of the year! Nathan and Liliana were our book winners; they’ll be receiving their books at Monday’s pick-up :)!
MATH:
We completed Math 4 Today Week 34 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal this week. We also got some exercise by counting up by 1’s to 120 with our Fluency Exercise Leaders! We took our Chapter 12 Test today; those earning mastery will be in next week’s forecast! We’ll work on Chapter 11, Three-Dimensional Geometry next week. Just a reminder to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math Diagnostics (Tuesday) and Recommendations (Wednesday-Thursday) and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE:
We’ll continue to review Second Step until the end of the year! We worked on animal biomimicry and made our “umbrella” this week in Science. Our class lettuce plant also grew taller!
SEESAW WORK:
Just a reminder, you earn one drawing ticket for each completed activity each month. Please do take a moment tonight and tomorrow to be sure all Seeesaw activities from this week are completed, corrected, and posted! Again, please ask Mom and/or Dad with help reading any notes and/or suggestions I have put on your activity(ies). We’ll have our last drawing on Monday, May 24th before Field Day :)!
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks a bunch to this week’s “helping hands”: Pledge Leader ~ Gabe, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Octavius, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Raiden, Thought/Quote of the Day Helper ~ Liliana, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Aubrey and Manny, Cycle 21 Cheerleaders ~ Abigail and Ben, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Xavier Problem of the Day Helper ~ Nathan, Doubles Song Leaders ~ Brandon and Emily, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Joey, Jamilah, Holden, and Julia.
I’ll be working on grades this weekend, and am looking forward to seeing/spending time with Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn tomorrow afternoon and Sunday! Can you believe we’re down to single digits? Yes, just 5 more school wake-ups til summer vakay/my retirement!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
May 14, 2021:
Daddies, it was wonderful to see you this morning at our “Date with Daddy” celebration :)! I hope you enjoyed the special events planned just for special YOU! Happy Eid wishes go out to all of our Arabic families! Here’s a peek at what we’ve been up to this week, as well as what we’ll be spending time on next week . . .
Monday:
It’s “Q”uiet Day! (We’ll be spending some time quietly reading today!) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Due to lots of absences last week and other testing, we’ll be taking our Adjectives with More Strength quiz today. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to come back to Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up! For those who signed up, Coding Club with Ms. Leng is today on Zoom (3:25-4:10); you must use your district-provided iPad to access this meeting; if you don’t, you will not be allowed into the Zoom meeting! (Use the link provided in your Seesaw from Ms. Leng.)
Tuesday:
Happy Birthday Aubrey! It’s “R”ainbow Day! (Turn yourself into a rainbow; wear as many colors as you can!) Intramurals with Mrs. Henson is this morning for those who signed up (7:40-8:25). Please be sure to dress weather-appropriate and wear your mask! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll be taking our Text Features Quiz and Fluency Assessment today. Today is also “Eat Lunch with the Teacher!” Anyone who’d like to be a part of our “lunch bunch,” may stay on Zoom and eat lunch with me (12:30-12:50)! You’ll be posting a picture of your May Reading Log (May 9th – May 15th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to come back to Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day birthday celebration for Aubrey!
Wednesday:
Today is “S”unglasses Day! (You may wear your sunglasses all day or put on a sunglass emoji!) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll be taking our “Verbs with More Strength” Quiz. I hope you’ll join us and eat lunch with a new friend on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to come back to Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day “S”unshine fun! (Be sure all of your work, up to, and including yesterday’s, is completed and posted so you won’t miss out on all the fun!) Student Council with Ms. D’Ambrosio and Ms. Babincsak is today on Zoom (3:25-4:10); you must use your district-provided iPad to access this meeting; if you do not, you will not be allowed into the Zoom meeting! (Use the link that was sent to your school email.)
Thursday:
It’s “T”oy Day! (Bring a small toy to keep at your work space today!) Study Buddies will meet this morning (8:15-8:45) to review for our Chapter 12 Math Test. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. I’ll be back on Zoom at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to come back to Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day “toy” show & tell. (Remember, all work, up to, and including yesterday’s, must be completed and posted to participate!)
Friday:
Happy “U”nique Day! (In your journal, share why you’re unique! Share it with the class at our end-of-the-day Zoom!) Study Buddies will meet at 8:15. (We’ll review our Spelling/Phonics Skills for today’s test.) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll be taking our Cycle 24 Spelling Test and “Compare/Contrast” Quiz this morning. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to stay on Zoom at this time!) If not, be back on Zoom at 2:30 for Friday Fun! (You need to have all of your work, up to, and including yesterday, completed and posted to participate!)
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). As our year winds down, please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having all needed materials ready to start the day and staying in camera is essential!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*Any students with outstanding work (Seesaw work not approved or completed) should be attending the 1:40 Zoom. Please remind your child to post their work every day! (Students with work not posted, up to, and including the previous day, will not be participating in our fun end-of-the-day ABC Countdown activities or Friday Fun!)
*Just a reminder, all Seesaw activities will continue to be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book. (I will be archiving all activities from April 26th – 30th tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.)
*A friendly reminder ~ Be sure to complete the "Workout Wednesday" Seesaw activities assigned by Ms. Capouch :)!
UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES:
*Friday, May 21st ~ Student Council Art Contest submissions are due. (An informational flyer was sent with announcements. I’ve attached it to today’s Friday Forecast email too.)
*Monday, May 24th ~ Foster’s 1st Grade Field Day (9:30-11:30 a.m.) (A letter will be coming home on Monday with all the information for this fun event!)
*Monday, May 24th ~ FINAL DROP-OFF/PICK-UP OF THE YEAR (You will be dropping off all leveled books (not decodable readers or gift books) in your vinyl book bag and dry erase boards. You’ll be picking up a little birthday “treat” bag and end-of-the-year surprise from me!)
*Monday, May 24th ~ Lunch with Mrs. Baytala (Weather permitting, we’ll be meeting for lunch right after Field Day, and we’ll social distance in my driveway/on my front lawn, enjoying lunch together :)!)
*Wednesday, May 26th ~ First Grade Fun Day (We’ll be enjoying some “X”tra fun today with all of the first grade teachers and our buddies!)
LANGUAGE ARTS:
Our comprehension passage this week was “Airplane Ride.” Please remember to post both sides of your sheet to the last slide of the “Language Arts” activity assigned on Monday, May 10th. Next week’s passage will be “Gentle Giants.” Due to all of our testing and absences, we’ll review and take our text features assessment next week. We’ll also be working on our RI.1.9 standard (Identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic.) (Practice passages and graphic organizers were sent home with last week’s pick-up.) Please remember to include 15-20 minutes of IXL Diagnostics (Monday) and Recommendations (Tuesday-Friday). Last Friday’s Spelling “masters” on our Cycle 22 Test were Emily, Xavier, Julia, Brandon, Octavius, Lailah, Samantha, Ben, Gabe, Manny, Liliana, and Joey . . . fabulous! We took our Cycle 23 Test today; students reaching mastery will be announced in next week’s forecast. On Monday we’ll begin Cycle 24 (words with ie, igh, and ight*): pie, lie, untie, high, sigh, nigh, bright, flight, and nightlight. Our high frequency review words are great and where. We wrote our Weekend News and continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal. We also wrote our final opinion piece. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News and reviewing adjectives and verbs “with more strength.”
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) Practicing rhyming words is a great idea! (Your child will need to know how to spell the given high frequency words too. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
MAY READING LOG:
Our May goal is 16 days! Remember to read at least 4 days each week, and post your entire calendar each Tuesday morning to be a part of our book drawing. Our winners this week were Emily and Joey.
MATH:
We completed Math 4 Today Week 33 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal this week. We also got our bodies moving by counting by ones down to 0 and counting up by 10’s to 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders! We continued work in Chapter 12 this week too, concentrating on describing, combining, and making two-dimensional shapes, finding shapes in shapes, and exploring equal or unequal parts. Next week we’ll focus on halves and fourths. We’ll then review for, and take, our Chapter 12 Test on Thursday. Just a reminder to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math Diagnostics (Monday) and Recommendations (Tuesday-Friday) and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
We’ll continue to review Second Step until the end of the year! “How are magnets made?” was the question we explored with Mystery Doug this week; I hope you enjoyed the magnet activity! Due to testing, we didn’t cover very much in our Science Units, but I was very excited to see some “sprouts” growing in our class lettuce plant! (We talked and drew about it today in our plant journals.)
SEESAW WORK:
Just a reminder, you earn one drawing ticket for each completed activity each month. Please do take a moment this weekend to be sure all Seeesaw activities from this week are completed, corrected, and posted! Again, please ask Mom and/or Dad with help reading any notes and/or suggestions I have put on your activity(ies). We’ll have our last drawing on Monday, May 24th before Field Day :)!
HELPING HANDS:
Hugs and thanks to this week’s “helping hands”: Pledge Leader ~ Octavius, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Julia, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Brandon, Thought/Quote of the Day Helper ~ Jamilah, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Lily and Joey, Cycle 23 Cheerleaders ~ Adela and Raiden, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Abigail, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Liliana, Doubles Song Leaders ~ Saja and Nathan, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Aubrey, Manny, Lailah, and Billy.
Lots of Seesaw to go through this weekend! Hoping to get a couple of walks in, and catch up on some of my shows too! Again, Daddies, I hope you enjoyed the extra one-on-one time with your darlings this morning! I hope you all have a safe and wonderful weekend! Just 10 more school wake-ups til summer vakay/my retirement!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
May 7, 2021:
Happy “almost” (tomorrow) birthday Holden! Thanks Ms. Malone, for popping in to read his favorite story, No Fuzzball! We’re looking forward to hearing about his birthday and seeing his birthday show & tell on Monday! Mommies, it was wonderful to see so many of you this morning at our “Morning with Mommy” celebration :)! I hope you enjoyed the special events planned just for special YOU! Big hugs and thanks go out to our fabulous PTA for the amazing week of appreciation events! (I loved the Rock Star Video messages too!) Families, your wonderful messages and tokens of appreciation during this week truly touched my heart! Grandma Phyllis, Ms. Tarchala, and Cody, thanks so much for your assistance with getting things ready for our pick-up this week! Thanks too families for bringing food for Student Council’s Food Drive to Wednesday’s pick-up; I brought all of it in to school on Thursday, and we got to hear Mr. Beringer announce us as the “daily winners” today :)! Here’s a look at what we’ve been working on this week, as well as what will be keeping us busy this upcoming week . . .
Monday:
Today is “L”etter Day! (We’ll be writing a letter to someone special today!) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll be taking our Adjectives with More Strength quiz today. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. Please be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to practice our “Date with Daddy” songs; I’ll then be available to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to stay on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up! For those who signed up, Coding Club with Ms. Leng is today on Zoom (3:25-4:10); you must use your district-provided iPad to access this meeting; if you don’t, you will not be allowed into the Zoom meeting! (Use the link provided in your Seesaw from Ms. Leng.)
Tuesday:
Happy “M”ovie Day! (We’ll be watching a video at our end-of the day Zoom!) Intramurals with Mrs. Henson is this morning for those who signed up (7:40-8:25). Please be sure to dress weather appropriate and wear your mask! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Our Reading MAP Test is today; parent(s)/helper(s), if you’re able, I’d appreciate if you could help your student log on to the test. (If you have a second device, have your child stay on Zoom with me on your other device, and log on to the test on their district iPad.) Today is “Eat Lunch with the Teacher!” Anyone who’d like to be a part of our “lunch bunch,” may stay on Zoom and eat lunch with me (12:30-12:50)! You’ll be posting a picture of your May Reading Log (May 2nd – May 8th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. Please be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to practice our “Date with Daddy” songs; I’ll then be available to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to stay on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day “M”ovie Day!” (Just a reminder, your work up to, and including yesterday must be completed and posted to participate!)
Wednesday:
It’s “N”o Homework Day! (Take a break from reading, practicing your words, and math facts tonight! Instead, take a walk or bike ride with your family and/or play a game together!) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Our Math MAP Test is today; parent(s)/helper(s), if you’re able, I’d appreciate if you could help your student log on to the test. (If you have a second device, have your child stay on Zoom with me on your other device, and log on to the test on their district iPad.) I hope you’ll join us and eat lunch with a new friend on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to practice our “Date with Daddy” songs; I’ll then be available to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to stay on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap up! Student Council with Ms. D’Ambrosio and Ms. Babincsak is today on Zoom (3:25-4:10); you must use your district-provided iPad to access this meeting; if you do not, you will not be allowed into the Zoom meeting! (Use the link that was sent to your school email.)
Thursday:
Today is “O”utside Day! (Weather permitting we’ll be doing some activities outside today!) Study Buddies will meet this morning (8:15-8:45) to review Phonics/Spelling and Math skills we’ve been learning about this week. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to practice our “Date with Daddy” songs; I’ll then be available to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to stay on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Friday:
Happy “P”ut a Smile on Day! (Put a smile on your face as you share a “Date with Daddy” on Zoom this morning (8:15)! If Daddy isn’t able to make it, please be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll be taking our Cycle 23 Spelling Test this morning. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to stay on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for Friday Fun! (You need to have all of your work, up to, and including yesterday, completed and posted to participate!)
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having all needed materials ready to start the day is crucial!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As noted above, any students with outstanding work (Seesaw work not approved or completed) should be atttending the 1:40 Zoom. Please remind your child to post their work every day! (Students with work not posted up to and including the previous day will not be participating in our fun end-of-the-day ABC Countdown activities or Friday Fun!)
*Just a reminder, all Seesaw activities will continue to be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book. (I will be archiving all activities from April 19th – 23rd tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.)
UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES:
*MAP Testing ~ Reading (Tuesday, May 11th) and Math (Wednesday, May 12th). As noted above, we’ll be testing first thing in the morning; if you have two devices, please come on Zoom with your home device, and take the test on your school iPad. Parent(s)/helper(s), I would greatly appreciate if you could help your student log on to the test; if they have one device, they’ll be kicked out of Zoom as soon as they log on to the test. Boys and girls, it is critical that you complete both of these tests with NO assistance from home. Parents, data from these tests helps us to help your child, so PLEASE log them on, and then step away!
*Monday, May 10th – Friday, May 14th ~ The Food Drive continues. (Student Council is sponsoring and partnering with Redeemer’s Little Pantry to extend a helping hand to those in need. I attached a copy of the flyer to last week’s Friday Forecast.) Thanks families for your generous donations; if you’d still like to donate, you may drop items off at school in the entry way!
*Friday, May 14th (8:15-8:45) ~ “Date with Daddy” (Items for this special event came home at this week’s leveled reader pick-up on Wednesday.) (Ask Mommy/Grandma/Grandpa/Older Sibling to help you complete any items paper clipped to the “No Peeking Daddy” blue note.)
LANGUAGE ARTS:
We enjoyed learning more about “Clothes of the Past,” with this week’s comprehension passage. Please be sure to post both sides of your sheet to the last slide of the “Language Arts” activity assigned on Monday, May 3rd. Our passage next week will be “Airplane Ride.” In Module this week, we finished Module 3, Unit 2 drawing a heron beak, and explaining how it is used. We also reviewed text features (RI.1.5). Next week we’ll be taking our text features assessment and working on our RI.1.6 standard (Distinguish between information provided by pictures/illustrations and information provided by text.) (Practice passages and graphic organizers were sent home with this week’s pick-up.) Just a reminder to include 15-20 minutes of IXL Diagnostics (Monday) and Recommendations (Tuesday-Friday). Mastering our Cycle 21 Spelling Test last Friday were Nathan, Octavius, Brandon, Jamilah, Julia, Emily, Joey, Liliana, Manny, Gabe, and Samantha . . . sensational! We took our Cycle 22 Test today; students reaching mastery will be announced in next week’s forecast. On Monday we’ll begin Cycle 23 (words with ee, oo, and y that says long e*): bee, street, seed, cool, food, noon, party, puppy, and candy. Our high frequency review words are been and very. We wrote our Weekend News, continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal, and finished up our Numbers (6-10) in our Handwriting Without Tears book in Language this week. We also reviewed adjectives “with more strength” and wrote our “My Favorite Outdoor Activity” opinion piece. If you haven’t already, please be sure to post and read it on our Seesaw Language Arts activity (assigned this past Monday, May 3rd). Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News, April News, completing our assessment opinion piece, and reviewing verbs “with more strength.”
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) Practicing rhyming words is a great idea! (Your child will need to know how to spell the given high frequency words too. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
APRIL/MAY READING LOG:
Our April reading goal was 17 days. Kudos to the following students who read at least 4 days each week and posted their Reading Log every Tuesday morning ~ Ben, Brandon, Liliana, and Nathan; they’ll be choosing a free book from me that will be in our next pick-up! Also reaching goal for April were Adela, Gabe, Holden, Joey, Ocatavius, and Raiden . . .fantastic! Remember to read at least 4 days each week, and post your entire calendar each Tuesday morning to be a part of our book drawing. This week’s winners were Adela and Brandon; they received their free book choice at this week’s pick-up! Our May goal is 16 days; remember to post this past week’s reading (May 4th-8th) on Tuesday morning to be part of our free book drawing!
MATH:
WOW, Samantha and Liliana achieved a perfect score on our Chapter 10 Math Test yesterday! Way to go girls!! Math 4 Today Week 32 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal were also completed this week. Counting by ones to and from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders got our hearts pumping too! We finished up work in Chapter 10, “Represent Data,” and took our test yesterday. Also earning mastery were Manny, Ben, Brandon, and Emily . . . terrific! Today we began Chapter 12, “Two Dimensional Geometry,” completing the introductory pages and also sorting two-dimensional shapes. Next week we’ll be working on describing, combining, and making two-dimensional shapes, combining more shapes, and finding shapes in shapes. (A “shape” sheet was sent with this week’s pick-up; parents/helpers, please help cut these out and put them in a baggie.) Please continue to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math Diagnostics (Monday) and Recommendations (Tuesday-Friday) and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This upcoming week we’ll be reviewing what we’ve learned in Second Step this year! Please do share this with your families! This week Mystery Doug had us curious about the question, “Are butterflies the only animals that start as caterpillars?” (I loved seeing your "grow" cards!) We also continued work in our Mystery Science “Plant and Animal Superpowers” Unit, with “Inheritance and Variation of Traits” ~ “Why do family members look like each other?” and our TBAISD “Structures and Functions of Organisms” Unit ~ “Animals and Offspring” and “Animal Inheritance.” I hope you enjoyed matching your baby animals to the adult ones! Please remember to post all of your completed Science Units activities in the "Animal" activities I created for you (Tuesday, April 13th).
SEESAW WORK:
Just a reminder, you earn one drawing ticket for each completed activity each month. Thanks Mr. Beringer for picking our April winners; they will be announced in next week’s forecast. Please do take a moment this weekend to be sure all Seeesaw activities from this week are completed, corrected, and posted! Again, please ask Mom and/or Dad with help reading any notes and/or suggestions I have put on your activity(ies).
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks a bunch to this week’s “helping hands”: Pledge Leader ~ Emily, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Billy, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Josias, Thought/Quote of the Day Helper ~ Holden, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Liliana and Ben, Cycle 21 Cheerleaders ~ Sofi and Manny, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Joey, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Lily, Doubles Song Leaders ~ Aubrey and Raiden, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Adela, Gabe, Abigail, and Xavier.
I’ll be catching up on Seesaw tomorrow and enjoying a bedtime story Zoom with Grayson and Quinn. Sunday I’ll be spending the day with Mr. Baytala, Kyle, and Brooke, and hopefully “seeing” Ashleigh, Henry, and Pierre via FaceTime for Mother's Day :)! Again Mommies, I hope you enjoyed our time together this morning, and even though the weather’s looking a little rainy for Sunday, I hope you have an awesome Mother’s Day with your “angels!” Only 15 more school wake-ups til summer vakay/my retirement!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
April 30 2021:
Happy “Principal Appreciation Day,” Mr. Beringer! Thanks for popping into our Zoom today; we hope you enjoyed all of our special messages and pictures! Here’s a peek at this past week, as well as what will be keeping us busy the first week of May . . .
Monday:
It’s “G”ame Day! (We’ll be playing a game at our end-of-the-day Zoom!) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. PTA’s Staff Appreciation Week also kicks off today with “You’re the Paparazzi.” (Draw a picture of your teacher(s) and/or favorite staff member(s) dressed as a rock star!) (Please post these to the Staff Appreciation Week activity I’ll be assigning Sunday.) We’ll be taking our Adjectives with More Strength quiz and our Fastbridge Math probes today. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. Please be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to practice our “Morning with Mommy” songs; I’ll then be available to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to stay on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day “Game Day” fun! (Just a reminder, your work up to, and including yesterday must be completed and posted to participate!) For those who signed up, Coding Club with Ms. Leng is today on Zoom (3:25-4:10); you must use your district-provided iPad to access this meeting; if you don’t, you will not be allowed into the Zoom meeting! (Use the link provided in your Seesaw from Ms. Leng.)
Tuesday:
Today is “H”appiness Day! (Bring something to Zoom that makes you happy today; you can share it at our end-of-the-day wrap-up!) PTA’s Staff Appreciation continues today with “Dress Like a Rock Star!” (Please post a picture of your "rock star" self to the Staff Appreciation Week activity I posted on Sunday.) Intramurals with Mrs. Henson is this morning for those who signed up (7:40-8:25). Please be sure to dress weather appropriate and wear your mask! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Today is “Eat Lunch with the Teacher!” As promised, today, and the rest of the Tuesdays in May, anyone who’d like to be a part of our “lunch bunch,” may stay on Zoom and eat lunch with me (12:30-12:50)! You’ll be posting a picture of your April Reading Log (April 25th–May 1st) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. Please be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to practice our “Morning with Mommy” songs; I’ll then be available to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to stay on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day “Happiness Day” show & tell! (Just a reminder, your work up to, and including yesterday must be completed and posted to participate!) PTA’s Chipotle “Dine-Out” is today (4:00-8:00 p.m.) Just show the flyer (I’ll resend a copy Monday evening with Tuesday’s Schedule/Materials.) or mention you’re with the Forest Ridge PTA. Mr. Baytala and I will be there about 4:00 p.m. I hope to see some of you and your families :)!
Wednesday:
Happy “I”nside Out Day! (Wear your clothes inside out today!) LEVLED READER PICK-UP WILL BE AT MY DRIVEWAY (15215 Las Flores Lane) TODAY (8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. I hope you’ll join us and eat lunch with a new friend on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to practice our “Morning with Mommy” songs; I’ll then be available to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to stay on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap up! Student Council with Ms. D’Ambrosio and Ms. Babincsak is today on Zoom (3:25-4:10); you must use your district-provided iPad to access this meeting; if you do not, you will not be allowed into the Zoom meeting! (Use the link that was sent to your school email.)
Thursday:
It’s “J”oke Day! (Share your favorite joke today at our end-of-the-day wrap-up!) Study Buddies will meet this morning (8:15) to review for today’s Chapter 10 Math Test, as well as our weekly Phonics/Spelling skills. Hugs and "Happy Nurse's Day" wishes go out to our wonderful school nurse, Mrs. Hanrahan! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Our Chapter 10 Math Test will be this morning. Thanks so much PTA, District Office, and Families for providing a catered lunch and special dessert today for all of our teachers and staff! Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to practice our “Morning with Mommy” songs; I’ll then be available to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to stay on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day “Joke” sharing. (Just a reminder, your work up to, and including yesterday must be completed and posted to participate!)
Friday:
Happy “K”ind Day! (Show your Mom she’s one of a kind this morning (8:15) at our “Morning with Mommy!” If Mommy isn’t able to make it, please be on Zoom at 8:45. Happy "early" Birthday wishes go out to Holden! (His real birthday is tomorrow.) “Staff Appreciation Week” wraps up today with a “Fan Letter!” (You may create a sign or video for your teacher(s) and staff members. It can be the same one you used for the PTA video!) (Please post these to the Staff Appreciation Week activity I posted on Sunday.) We’ll be taking our Cycle 22 Spelling Test this morning. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. Please be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to practice our “Date with Daddy” songs; I’ll then be available to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to stay on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for Holden's Birthday Celebration!
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is so important!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As noted above, any students with outstanding work (Seesaw work not approved or completed) will be required to attend the 1:40 Zoom. Please remind your child to post their work every day! (Students with work not posted up to and including the previous day will not be participating in our fun end-of-the-day ABC Countdown activities or Friday Fun!)
*Just a reminder, all Seesaw activities will continue to be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book. (I will be archiving all activities from April 12th – 16th tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.)
*As you saw above, we'll be taking the FastBridge Math probes this week. It is crucial that your child takes these by her/himself so we know their current levels!
UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES:
*Friday, April 30th ~ deadline for submitting messages for “Staff Appreciation Week” (“Hold Up Your Signs”) For more information go to ~ https://www.frpta142.com
*Monday, May 3rd – Friday, May 7th ~ “Staff Appreciation Week” (I hope you’ll participate in some of the activities sponsored by our wonderful PTA!) (I’ll be creating an activity on Sunday so you can post your special pictures!)
*Monday, May 3rd – Friday, May 14th ~ Food Drive (Student Council is sponsoring and partnering with Redeemer’s Little Pantry to extend a helping hand to those in need. I attached a copy of the flyer to our Friday Forecast.) Please feel free to bring items to our pick-up this week; I’ll have a box available!
*Friday, May 7th (8:15-8:45) ~ “Morning with Mommy” Boys and Girls, if you haven’t already, please remember to give your invitation to Mommy! (Ask Daddy/Grandma/Grandpa/Older Sibling to help you complete any items paper clipped to the “No Peeking Mommy” green note.)
*Friday, May 14th (8:15-8:45) ~ “Date with Daddy” (Items for this special event will be coming home at this week’s leveled reader pick-up, Wednesday, May 5th.) (Ask Mommy/Grandma/Grandpa/Older Sibling to help you complete any items paper clipped to the “No Peeking Daddy” blue note.)
*Friday, May 14th ~ Last day to order a signed copy of the book Included by local author Megan Prendergast. (We all enjoyed her read this special book on April 23rd.)
LANGUAGE ARTS:
Hooray . . . Manny reached the “hive” with his 10th mastery on last Friday’s Cycle 20 Spelling Test! He’ll be receiving his special surprise at this week’s leveled reader pick-up! We “closely read” our new passage, “Loose Tooth,” and worked on daily questions and activities with it. Please be sure to post both sides of your sheet to the last slide of the “Language Arts” activity assigned on Monday, April 26th. Our passage next week will be “Clothes of the Past.” In Module this week, we finished our “flight” feather, and have been enjoying the book Beaks, learning lots of neat things about different beaks. We drew a hummingbird and spoonbill one , and explained what their “jobs” were. Please remember to include 15-20 minutes of IXL Diagnostics (Monday) and Recommendations (Tuesday-Friday). Emily, Octavius, Lailah, Samantha, Liliana, and Joey also “buzzed” to the next bee after mastering our Cycle 20 Spelling Test last Friday . . . awesome! We took our Cycle 21 test today; students reaching mastery will be announced in next week’s forecast! On Monday we’ll begin Cycle 22 (words with the ay and ow that says long o): stay, day, play, birthday, blow, grow, show, window, and snowball. Our high frequency review words are some and would. We wrote our Weekend News, continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal, and worked on Sentences and Numbers (1-4) in our Handwriting Without Tears book in Language this week. We also reviewed adjectives “with more strength,” finished our first opinion piece, “My Favorite Food,” and wrote our next one, “My Favorite Holiday. I’ve really enjoyed hearing you share them! Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News, writing a new opinion piece, reviewing verbs “with more strength,” and completing pages in our Handwriting Without Tears book.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) Practicing rhyming words is a great idea! (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
APRIL READING LOG:
Our April reading goal is 17 days. Remember to read at least 4 days each week, and post your entire calendar each Tuesday morning to be a part of our book drawing. Our winners from last week were Sofi and Nathan; this week’s were Emily and Octavius; they’ll receive their free books at this week’s pick-up!
MATH:
Math 4 Today Week 31 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal were completed this week. Counting by tens to and from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders got us up and moving too! We continued work in Chapter 10, “Represent Data,” focusing on reading and making picture and bar graphs and reading tally charts. We’ll be finishing up this chapter this week, concentrating on making tally charts, representing data, and then reviewing for, and taking our test on Thursday. Next Friday we’ll begin exploring Chapter 12, “Two-Dimensional Geometry,” sorting two-dimensional shapes. Please continue to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math Diagnostics (Monday) and Recommendations (Tuesday-Friday) and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we completed Lesson 21 in “Second Step,” “Handling Name Calling.” Mystery Doug had us curious about the question, “What’s the best place to look for dinosaur fossils?” We continued work in our Mystery Science “Plant and Animal Superpowers” Unit this week too, with “Animal Behavior and Offspring Survival” ~ “Why do baby ducks follow their mothers?” and “Camouflage & Animal Survival” ~ “Why are polar bears white?” I hope you enjoyed making and camouflaging your “moth” for your break out room friends! Please remember to post all of your completed Science Units activities in the "Plant" or "Animal" activities I created for you (Tuesday, April 13th).
SEESAW WORK:
Just a reminder, you earn one drawing ticket for each completed activity each month. Mr. Beringer will be “coming in” this week to pick our April winners! Please do take a moment this weekend to be sure all Seesaw activities from this week are completed, corrected, and posted! Again, please ask Mom and/or Dad with help reading any notes and/or suggestions I have put on your activity(ies).
HELPING HANDS:
Hugs and thanks to this week’s “helping hands”: Pledge Leader ~ Brandon, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Lailah, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Jamilah, Thought/Quote of the Day Helper ~ Julia, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Sofi and Josias, Cycle 21 Cheerleaders ~ Saja and Xavier, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Raiden, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Manny, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Liliana, Nathan, Samantha, and Octavius.
Hard to believe May is upon us! Today after school I’ll be helping celebrate Ms. Leng’s upcoming wedding in June with a staff get-together at an outside café in Tinley. The rest of the weekend I’m hoping to get out in the sunshine for a walk each day, catching up on Seesaw posts, lesson planning, and having dinner on Sunday with Mr. Baytala, Kyle, and his girlfriend Brooke. However you’re spending yours, I hope it’s also “sun”sational! Only 20 more school wake-ups til summer vakay/my retirement!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
April 23, 2021:
Happy first day of our ABC Countdown ~ “A”ll About Comfy! I hope you enjoyed wearing your pjs all day today on Zoom :)! This morning we enjoyed a school-wide read aloud of the heartwarming story, Included, from local author Megan Prendergast! Should you wish to order a copy, I’ll be emailing you an order form. Here’s a look at what we’ve been up to this week, as well as what will be keeping us busy this last week of April . . .
Monday:
Happy “B”each Day! (You may throw on your sunglasses and flip flops! We’ll be reading a book with our leveled reader partner/group, so if you’d like to sit on your beach towel, that’s ok too :)!) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to come back on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up. For those who signed up, Coding Club with Ms. Leng is today on Zoom (3:25-4:10); you must use your district-provided iPad to access this meeting; if you do not, you will not be allowed into the Zoom meeting! (Use the link provided in your Seesaw from Ms. Leng.)
Tuesday:
Today is “C”oloring Day! (Today we’ll be drawing and coloring a picture with friends at our end of the day Zoom!) Intramurals with Mrs. Henson is this morning for those who signed up (7:40-8:25). Please be sure to dress weather-appropriate and wear your mask! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Today is “Eat Lunch with the Teacher;” I’ll be picking 2 girl and 2 boy sticks this morning; lunch with me is optional! You’ll be posting a picture of your April Reading Log (April 18th–24th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to come back on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Wednesday:
Happy “D”isney Day! (Wear any Disney gear you may have today!) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. I hope you’ll join us and eat lunch with a new friend on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to come back on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up. Student Council with Ms. D’Ambrosio and Ms. Babincsak is today on Zoom (3:25-4:10); you must use your district-provided iPad to access this meeting; if you do not, you will not be allowed into the Zoom meeting! (Use the link that was sent to your school email.)
Thursday:
Today is “E”xercise Day! (We’ll enjoy some extra exercise today with Go Noodle!) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to come back on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Friday:
Happy “F”un Gum Day! (You may chew gum on Zoom today; save a piece for Friday Fun, so we can see who can blow the biggest bubble :)!) Study Buddies will meet this morning at 8:15 to review this week’s Spelling and Math skills. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll be taking our Cycle 21 Spelling Test this morning. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to come back on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, be back on Zoom at 2:30 for Friday Fun! (Just a reminder, you need to have all of your work (up to and including activities assigned yesterday) completed and posted to participate.)
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is crucial!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As noted above, any students with outstanding work (Seesaw work not approved or completed) will be required to attend the 1:40 Zoom. Please remind your child to post their work every day! (Students with work not posted by Friday will be working on this during our Friday Fun time too!)
*Just a reminder, all Seesaw activities will be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book. (I will be archiving all activities from April 7th – 9th tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.)
UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES:
*Friday, April 30th ~ deadline for submitting messages for “Staff Appreciation Week” (“Hold Up Your Signs”) For more information go to ~ https://www.frpta142.com
*Friday, May 7th (8:15-8:45) ~ “Morning with Mommy” Boys and Girls, if you haven’t already, please remember to give your invitation to Mommy! (Ask Daddy/Grandma/Grandpa/Older Sibling to help you complete any items paper clipped to the “No Peeking Mommy” green note.)
*Friday, May 14th (8:15-8:45) ~ “Date with Daddy” (Items for this special event will be coming home at our next leveled reader pick-up, Wednesday, May 5th.)
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
Manny was our final “Student of the Week!” We enjoyed seeing/hearing his poster presentation and his Star Wars disk shooter!
LANGUAGE ARTS:
YESSSS . . . Joey and Samantha reached the “hive” for the second time with 20 masteries on their Spelling Tests, with last week’s Cycle 19 Test! Lailah also reached it with her 10th mastery . . . way to go! They’ll all be receiving their special surprise at our next leveled reader pick-up! This week we “closely read” our new passage, “Bake a Cake,” and worked on daily questions and activities with it. Please be sure to post both sides of your sheet to the last slide of the “Weekend News/Module Lessons/Journal Entries” activity assigned on Monday, April 19th. “Loose Tooth” will be the passage we’re working on next week! In Module this week, we’ve been enjoying the book Feathers, Not Just for Flying, and have been learning lots of cool things about different feathers. We drew semi-plume and contour ones, and explained what their “jobs” were. We also did a class “write aloud,” choosing some other neat feather features to write about. Continuing to talk about and find different text features was also on our agenda. Just a reminder to include 15-20 minutes of IXL Diagnostics (Monday) and Recommendations (Tuesday-Friday). Besides our “hive” reachers mentioned above, “buzzing” to the next bee after mastering our Cycle 19 Spelling Test last Tuesday (April 13th) were Liliana, Manny, Gabe, Abigail, Lily, Octavius, Adela, Sofi, Raiden, and Emily . . . terrific! We took our Cycle 20 test today; students reaching mastery will be announced in next week’s forecast! On Monday we’ll begin Cycle 21 (words with the ai, ea, and oa vowel teams): pain, mail, claim, clean, beach, eat, boat, goal, and toast. Our high frequency review words are were and about. In Language, we wrote our Weekend News, continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal, and worked on Words, Writing, Syllables, and Paragraph in our Handwriting Without Tears book. We also continued our first opinion piece on our favorite food. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News, finishing our food piece, working on our favorite holiday piece, and completing pages in our Handwriting Without Tears book.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) Practicing rhyming words is a great idea! (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
APRIL READING LOG:
Our April reading goal is 17 days; reaching goal. Remember to read at least 4 days each week, and post your entire calendar each Tuesday morning to be a part of our book drawing. Dopey me forgot to pick winners, so we’ll be doing that on Monday! They will be announced in next week’s forecast.
MATH:
We completed our Math 4 Today Week 30 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal. Counting by tens and 1’s from and to 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders got our hearts pumping this week! We completed our Chapter 9, “Measurement,” and took our test on Thursday. Earning a "perfect" score on all 3 standards (1.MD.A.1 ~ Order three objects by length; compare the length of two objects indirectly by using a third object, 1.MD.A.2 ~ Express the length of an object as a whole number of length units, by laying multiple copies of a shorter object (the length unit) end to end, and 1.MD.B.3 ~ Tell and write time to the hour and half hour using analog and digital clocks.) were Joey, Liliana, Manny, Gabe, Samantha, Lily, Lailah, Brandon, and Emily . . . sensational! Also achieving mastery on all 3 standards were Holden and Nathan . . . marvelous! Kudos also go out to Saja, Abigail, Octavius, Billy, and Adela, with mastery on 2 standards and Ben, Julia, and Sofi on 1 :)! Today we began Chapter 10, “Represent Data.” Next week we’ll delve into this new chapter, focusing on reading and making picture and bar graphs, our mid-chapter checkpoint, and reading tally charts. Please be sure to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math Diagnostics (Monday) and Recommendations (Tuesday-Friday) and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we’ve worked on Lesson 21 in “Second Step,” “Handling Name Calling,” which we’ll be finishing up next week. Mystery Doug had us curious about the question, “Has a shooting star ever landed on someone?” this week. We also began our Mystery Science “Plant and Animal Superpowers” Unit this week, with “Animal Structures and Survival” ~ “Why do birds have beaks?” I enjoyed watching your videos of you using your two “bird beaks” to pick up “food.” Please remember to post all of your completed Science Units activities in the "Plant" or "Animal" activities I created for you (Tuesday, April 13th).
SEESAW WORK:
Remember, you earn one drawing ticket for each completed activity each month. Please do take a moment this weekend to be sure all Seeesaw activities from this week are completed, corrected, and posted! Again, please ask Mom and/or Dad with help reading any notes and/or suggestions I have put on your activity(ies).
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks bunches to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week: Manny, Pledge Leader ~ Ben, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Liliana, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Nathan, Thought/Quote of the Day Helper ~ Abigail, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Emily and Billy, Cycle 20 Cheerleaders ~ Saja and Xavier, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Samantha, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Holden, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Sofi, Josias, Lily, and Joey.
Can you believe we’re heading into our last week of April? Mr. Baytala and I will be enjoying date night with dinner tonight, trying to get Sox tickets for tomorrow (if the rain holds off or is gone by the evening), and visiting Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn on Sunday! Whatever your plans for the weekend, I hope it’s wonderful too! Only 25 more school wake-ups til summer vakay/my retirement!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
April 16, 2021:
Happy Friday! Way to go Billy; he was announced today as one of Foster's April Lion Leaders! Hugs and thanks to Grandma Phyllis for sorting and counting our tickets for our March Seesaw drawing. We’d also like to send early birthday wishes; her birthday is Sunday! Here’s a peek at what’s kept us busy this week, as well as what we’ll be working on next week . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up. For those who signed up, Coding Club with Ms. Leng begins today on Zoom (3:25-4:10); you must use your district-provided iPad to access this meeting; if you do not, you will not be allowed into the Zoom meeting! (You should have received/will be receiving the Zoom link to your district email.)
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! For those who signed up, Intramurals with Mrs. Henson begins this morning 7:40-8:25; please be mindful that the day/time may change depending on weather conditions since this is an outside activity! Please be sure to dress weather appropriate and wear your mask! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Today is “Eat Lunch with the Teacher;” I’ll be picking 2 girl and 2 boy sticks this morning; lunch with me is optional! You’ll be posting a picture of your April Reading Log (April 11th–1th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 20 Spelling Test is this morning. Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! New Leveled Reader pick-up will be today in my driveway (15215 Las Flores Lane) (8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. I hope you’ll join us and eat lunch with a new friend on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up. For those who signed up, Student Council with Ms. D’Ambrosio and Ms. Babincsak begins today on Zoom (3:25-4:10); you must use your district-provided iPad to access this meeting; if you do not, you will not be allowed into the Zoom meeting! (You should have received/will be receiving the Zoom link to your district email.)
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Study Buddies will meet this morning at 8:15 to review for our Spelling and Math tests today. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll be taking our Cycle 20 Spelling Test and our Chapter 9 Math Test this morning. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Be back on Zoom at 2:30 for Friday Fun! (You need to have all of your work (up to and including activities assigned yesterday) completed and posted to participate.)
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW/UPCOMING DATES:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is SO important!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As noted above, any students with outstanding work (Seesaw work not approved or completed) will be required to attend the 1:40 Zoom. Please remind your child to post their work every day! (Students with work not posted by Friday will be working on this during our Friday Fun time too!)
*All extra-curricular activities begin this week. (Coding Club ~ Monday (3:25-4:10 p.m.)/Intramurals+ ~ Tuesday (7:40-8:25 a.m.)/Student Council ~ Wednesday (3:25-4:10 p.m.)
*As you’ll notice above, our Study Buddies has now moved to Fridays at 8:15 a.m. For this last 6 weeks of school, our Spelling Tests will now be on Fridays too.
*"Morning with Mommy" ~ Friday, May 7th (8:15-8:45 a.m.)
*"Date with Daddy" ~ Friday, May 14th (8:15-8:45 a.m.)
+Depending on weather conditions each week, please be sure to check your email as the day/time may change.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed getting to know more about Saja this week! We liked seeing her Kaylin doll show & tell too! Manny will be our last Student of the Week next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we “closely read” a new passage, “Pets,” and worked on daily questions and activities with it. Please be sure to post both sides of your sheet to the last slide of the “Weekend News/Module Lessons/Journal Entries” activity assigned on Monday, April 12th. Next week we’ll be reading a new one, “Bake a Cake.” We completed Module 3/Unit 1 this week and began Unit 2: Building Research Skills: Birds’ Bodies. We enjoyed reading and discussing Flight School. Just a reminder to include 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics (Monday) and recommendations (Tuesday-Friday). We took our Cycle 19 Test on Tuesday; students earning mastery will be announced in next week’s forecast. Earning mastery on our Cycle 18 Test last Wednesday (April 7th) and “buzzing” to the next bee were Joey, Liliana, Saja, Manny, Abigail, Octavius, Julia, and Emily . . . sensational! On Wednesday, we began work on Cycle 20* (words with er, ir, and ur): stern, perk, herd, bird, dirt, girl, turn, curb, and fur. Our High Frequency Review Words are: thing and because. (Please do ask your child to sing our “Because” song for you :)!) In Language, we wrote our Weekend News, continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal, and worked on Question and Answer, Paragraph, Abbreviations, and Capitals in our Handwriting Without Tears book. We also began learning about/writing our first opinion piece on our favorite food. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News, continuing our food piece, and completing pages in our Handwriting Without Tears book.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) Practicing rhyming words is a great idea! (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
APRIL READING LOG:
Our April reading goal is 17 days. Remember to read at least 4 days each week, and post your entire calendar each Tuesday morning to be a part of our book drawing. This week’s winners were Raiden and Lailah. They'll receive their books at this week's pick-up.
MATH:
This week we completed our Math 4 Today Week 29 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal. Counting by tens and 1’s from and to 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders got us up and moving! We continued Chapter 9, “Measurement,” this week, working on using nonstandard units to measure length, making a nonstandard measuring tool, measuring and comparing, the mid-chapter checkpoint, time to the hour, and half hour. (Please be sure to save the cut out tiles, paper clips, paper clip measuring tool, and clock that we’ve been using this week, as we’ll be using them throughout the rest of the year.) This upcoming week will have us focusing on telling/practicing time to the hour and half hour, and then reviewing and taking our Chapter 9 Test on Friday. Please be sure to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we completed work on Lesson 20 in “Second Step,” “Inviting to Join In.” Thanks Ms. Scolaro for also coming in to share the important Erin’s Law lesson with us. We continued our Science Inquiry, “Structures and Functions of Organisms,” with “Plant Parts” and “Comparing Animals.” We also enjoyed exploring Mystery Doug’s question, “What’s the fastest baseball ever thrown?” Thursday found us reading and discussing “Time” in our Studies Weekly.
SEESAW WORK:
Thanks Mr. Beringer for picking our March winners yesterday ~ Abigail, Saja, Julia, and Gabe ~ water bottles, Lily ~ Despicable Me Journal, Samantha ~ Frozen Color and Play Book, Billy ~ Maze Book, Ben ~ Zombies Coloring Alive, Sofi ~ Shimmer and Shine Colorups, and Emily ~ Disney Princess Coloring and Activity Book. (Holden and Brooklynn were also winners and will pick their prizes on Monday.) Everyone will receive their prizes at our pick-up on Wednesday. Remember, you earn one drawing ticket for each completed activity each month. Please do take a moment this weekend to be sure all Seeesaw activities from this week are completed, corrected, and posted! Parent(s), please help your child read any notes I may have sent. (Again, on our Math lessons, pictures of any pages with 2 or less problems incorrect need not be reposted. Please do have your child correct all problems in their book, and then repost pictures of those pages with 3 or more incorrect).
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks so much to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week: Saja, Pledge Leader ~ Joey, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Xavier, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Liliana, Thought/Quote of the Day Helper ~ Lily, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Lailah and Nathan, Cycle 19 Cheerleaders ~ Jamilah and Octavius, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Aubrey, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Gabe, Doubles Song Leaders ~ Sofi and Billy, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Brandon, Emily, Raiden, and Julia.
Hard to believe my grandson Grayson turned 6 this week (Thursday)! Mr. Baytala and I enjoyed spending the evening celebrating with him, Kyle, and Quinn! Seesaw has been very temperamental this week, so I am hoping to get through the rest of our posts this weekend, lesson plan for next week, and catch up on some tv shows. I hope you have a safe and relaxing one too! Only 30 more school wake-ups til summer vakay/my retirement!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
April 9, 2021:
Happy Birthday Manny! Thanks Mrs. Barajas, for coming in to read one of his favorite stories, The Pigeon Needs a Bath. We also enjoyed seeing your show & tell stuffed Roblox animals too! Here’s a glance at what we worked on during this short week, as well as what will be keeping us busy next week . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! “Study Buddies” will meet this morning (8:15 a.m.) to go over this week’s Phonics skills to prepare for today’s Spelling test. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your April Reading Log (April 1st–10th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 19 Spelling Test is this morning. Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. I hope you’ll join us and eat lunch with a new friend on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Eat lunch with the teacher will be today; I’ll be picking 2 girl and 2 boy sticks; lunch with me is totally optional! Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Be back on Zoom at 2:30 for Friday Fun! (You need to have all of your work completed to participate.)
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is crucial!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As emailed to parents previously, all Seesaw activities will be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book. (I will be archiving all activities assigned March 22nd – 26th this weekend.)
*As noted above, any students with outstanding work (Seesaw work not approved or completed) will be required to attend the 1:40 Zoom. Please remind your child to post their work every day! (Students with work not posted by Friday will be working on this during our Friday Fun time too!)
*Just a reminder, if you’d like your child to participate in any of the extra-curricular activities (Intramurals, Student Council, and/or Coding Club) that begin the week of April 19th, you need to fill out the permission slip(s) sent to you on Swift Reach by this Wednesday, April 14th. (I will also be sending you an email with them. Student Council and Coding Club will be offered remotely. Intramurals will be in-person outside, but you would need to drop off and pick up your child.)
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
Saja will be our Student of the Week next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we “closely read” a new passage, “Hats,” and worked on daily questions and activities with it. Next week we’ll be reading a new one, “Pets.” We worked on our Module 3/Unit 1 Assessment this week. We’ll be finishing up Unit 1 next week and beginning Unit 2. We learned the “champion” of the “March Madness Books Always Win” global event was one of our favorites, Pacho Nacho! Just a reminder to include 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics (Monday) and recommendations (Tuesday-Friday). We took our Cycle 18 Test on Wednesday; students earning mastery will be announced in next week’s forecast. On Thursday, we began work on Cycle 19* (words with ar and or): dark, yard, stars, corn, fork, and short. Our High Frequency Words are: also, around, more, write, and after. Our “Spring Fling” word maker winners were ; Liliana (59), Samantha (56), and Gabe (42); they received their prize with this week’s pick-up. In Language, we wrote our Weekend News, March News, and continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News, using adjectives with “more strength,” and begin learning about opinion writing.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) Practicing rhyming words is a great idea! (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
MARCH/APRIL READING LOGS:
Our March reading goal was 18 days; reaching goal, reading at least 4 days each week and posting every Tuesday, even over break, were Liliana and Nathan . . . super! They both got to pick a book that they received at this week’s pick-up. Also reaching goal were Ben and Holden . . . great! Our April goal is 17 days; be sure to have an adult initial your calendar each day you read/are read to for at least 20 minutes, and then post your calendar each Tuesday morning to be eligible for our free book drawing! Our March 30th winners were Liliana and Nathan; we only had one person, Ben, who read 4 days (and had not previously won in March) for our April 6th drawing; he also picked a book he received at our pick-up.
MATH:
High fives to Joey, Saja, Samantha, and Abigail; they earned mastery on all three standards (OA.C.6: Add and subtract within 20, NBT.C.4: Add within 100, and NBT.C.6: Subtract multiples of 10.) Achieving mastery on 2 standards were Lily, Manny, Gabe, Holden, Nathan, Brandon, Billy, and Emily, and Aubrey, Lily, Lailah, Octavius, Jamilah, Julia, and Raiden earned mastery on 1 standard . . . terrific! This week we completed our Math 4 Today Week 28 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal. Counting by tens from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders gave us some great practice! We also began Chapter 9, “Measurement,” working on the introductory pages, ordering length, and indirect measurement. Next week we’ll be focusing on using nonstandard units to measure length, making a nonstandard measuring tool, measuring and comparing, the mid-chapter checkpoint, time to the hour, and half hour. (Please be sure to cut out the tiles that were sent with this week’s materials; you’ll need them for Monday’s Math lesson.) Please remember to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE:
This week we began work on Lesson 20 in “Second Step,” “Inviting to Join In.” Mystery Doug had us curious about the question, “Why do we celebrate April Fool’s Day?” I enjoyed seeing some of your pictures and hearing about some pranks! We began our Science Inquiry, “Structures and Functions of Organisms,” this week with Lesson 1, “Animal Parts.” We began our KWL chart, completed different animal diagrams, and picked and wrote about an animal and what helps it keep safe.
SEESAW WORK:
Please do take a moment this weekend to be sure all Seeesaw activities from this week are completed, corrected, and posted! Parent(s), please help your child read any notes I may have sent. (Again, on our Math lessons, pictures of any pages with 2 or less problems incorrect need not be reposted. Please do have your child correct all problems in their book, and then repost pictures of those pages with 3 or more incorrect).
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks a bunch to this week’s “helping hands”: Pledge Leader ~ Manny, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Saja, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Sofi, Thought/Quote of the Day Helper ~ Raiden, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Adela and Brandon, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Billy, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Emily, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Aubrey, Gabe, Abigail, and Holden.
I hope everyone had a wonderful, relaxing Spring Break! Hard to believe we only have 35 more wake-ups til Summer Vakay! Enjoy your weekend!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
March 26, 2021:
Happy first Friday of the 4th Quarter! We enjoyed listening again to the “March Madness” “Final Four” stories . . . All The Way To The Top, The Oldest Student, Pacho Nacho and Soaked; our votes are in, and I’ll be sending you the two stories that will be in the championship as soon as I get them from Mrs. H. next week. You can listen to them at home and vote on your favorite! Here’s a look at what we were working on this week, as well as what will be happening the week after break . . .
Monday, March 29th – Tuesday, April 6th:
SPRING BREAK ~ NO SCHOOL for students or staff.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll be taking our Cycle 18 Spelling Test today. Eat lunch with a new friend is today; I hope you’ll join us and eat lunch on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to be on Zoom with me!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! LEVLED READER PICK-UP WILL BE AT MY DRIVEWAY (15215 Las Flores Lane) TODAY (8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Eat lunch with the teacher will be today; I’ll be picking 2 girl and 2 boy sticks; lunch with me is totally optional! Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to be on Zoom with me!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Friday:
Happy Birthday Manny! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to be on Zoom with me!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for Manny's birthday celebration!
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is very important!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As emailed to parents previously, all Seesaw activities will be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book. (All 3rd Quarter activities, except for Chapter 8 Math lessons were archived last Saturday.) (I will be archiving Math lessons assigned March 2nd – 5th on Friday, April 2nd.)
*As noted above, any students with outstanding work (Seesaw work not approved or completed) will be required to attend the 1:40 Zoom. Please remind your child to post their work every day! (Students with work not posted by Friday will be working on this during our Friday Fun time too!)
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed getting to know more about Josias this week! We thought his Spiderman show & tell was cool too! Due to our short week when we return from break, we won’t have a new Student of the Week until April 12th.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we “closely read” a new passage, “Rainy Day,” and worked on daily questions and activities with it. After break we’ll be reading/working on “Hats.” We also continued our Module 3, “Bird’s Amazing Bodies” Unit 1this week, reading different part of Just Ducks and Birds. We sketched, labeled, and wrote a caption about the peacock’s feathers and the bald eagle’s feet in our Module Book, and used adjectives with “more strength.” As mentioned above the “March Madness Books Always Win” global event continues, and we listened and voted on the “Final Four!” Just a reminder to include 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics (Monday) and recommendations (Tuesday-Friday). Kudos to this week’s “masters” on Tuesday’s Cycle 17B Spelling words ~ Emily, Raiden, Adela, Billy, Octavius, Lailah, Samantha, Ben, Gabe, Saja, Liliana, and Joey! On Wednesday, we then began work on Cycle 18* (long vowel with ed/ing suffix words): baked, joked, ruled, gliding, skating, and dozing. Our high frequency words are: thing, the, was, they, and have. This week’s high frequency words are also, around, more, write, and after. Our Cycle 18 Test will be on Wednesday when we return. We made as many words as we could with the letters from “Spring Fling” today with a partner; I’ll be announcing winners in our next forecast! We also worked on our “bunny” sheet today, writing this week’s words and some rhyming words; we then worked with partners in breakout rooms, creating sentences with our high frequency words for our “bunny holder” sheets. In Language, we wrote our Weekend News, continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal, and worked on our “Spring” activity. After break we’ll be writing our Spring Break and March News (both with at least 6 sentences), continue using adjectives with more strength and begin learning about opinion writing.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) Practicing rhyming words is a great idea! (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
MARCH READING LOGS:
Remember, our March reading goal is 18 days; be sure to have an adult initial your calendar each day you read/are read to for at least 20 minutes, and then post your calendar each Tuesday morning to be eligible for our free book drawing! We’ll pick this week’s, as well as winners for March 30th and April 6th when we return from break, so be sure to post both Tuesdays we’re on break, to be eligible!
MATH:
High Fives to Raiden; he earned his Beginning Addition certificate in XtraMath, and got to hear his name on announcements! This week we completed our Math 4 Today Week 27 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal also. Counting by tens toward and from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders gave us some daily exercise! We took our Chapter 8 Math Test today and will begin Chapter 9, “Measurement,” when we return; we’ll be focusing on ordering length, indirect measurement, and using nonstandard units to measure length. Please remember to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE:
This week we finished work on Lesson 19 in “Second Step,” “Fair Ways to Play.” When we return, we’ll begin Lesson 20, “Inviting to Join In.” Mystery Doug had us curious about the question, “How are books made?” this week; I enjoyed hearing some of your stories! We will begin our Science Inquiry, “Structures and Functions of Organisms,” when we return.
SEESAW WORK:
Please do take a moment over break to be sure all Seesaw activities are completed, corrected, and posted! Parent(s), please help your child read any notes I may have sent. (Again, on our Math lessons, pictures of any pages with 2 or less problems incorrect need not be reposted. Please do have your child correct all problems in their book, and then repost pictures of those pages with 3 or more incorrect). My Seesaw has been very temperamental the last week, so I’ll be doing a lot of catching up on posts over break!
HELPING HANDS:
Merci to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Josias, Pledge Leader ~ Manny, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Saja, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Sofi, Thought/Quote of the Day Helper ~ Raiden, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Adela and Brandon, Cycle 17B “Cheer” Leaders ~ Liliana and Nathan, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Billy, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Emily, Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Aubrey, Gabe, Abigail, and Holden, and Doubles Song Leaders ~ Samantha and Ben.
Hard to believe Spring Break is upon us! I’m looking forward to a relaxing week of sleeping in a bit, walking, spending time with my best friend Dawn and her husband Rodger, and reading a couple of “noneducational” books :)! I hope you and yours have a wonderful, relaxing, and safe break too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
March 19, 2021:
Happy last Friday of the 3rd Quarter! We bid a sad farewell to Brooklynn, Santi, and Emma, who will be going back to school “in person” for the 4th Quarter! (I will be checking in on all of you, and feel free to pop in on Wednesday’s when we “Eat Lunch with a New Friend!”) if you’re home! We’d also like to send a “Welcome” shout out to Manny, who will be joining our Remote Family on Monday! Votes were tabulated for the “Sweet Sixteen” “March Madness” books. (Thanks Mrs. “H.”!), so we’ve begun listening and voting on the “Elite Eight” choices! (More information is below.) Following is a glance at what we’ve been up to this week, as well as a peek at our first week of the 4th Quarter . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. Be sure to post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! “Study Buddies” will not meet this morning; we’ll be meeting on Friday instead for a little extra practice before our test. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your March Reading Log (March 21st-27th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 17B Spelling Test is this morning. Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll eat lunch with a new friend; I hope you’ll join us and eat lunch on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Friday:
Happy “Spring Fling” Friday! Study Buddies will be this morning at 8:15. We’ll be reviewing for our Chapter 8 Math Test. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll be doing lots of fun, engaging “Spring” cross-curricular activities today! Our Chapter 8 Math Test is this morning. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. We’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to work on more “Spring Fling” activities! Friday Fun time will be spent playing “Spring Jingo” with our 5th Grade Buddies :)! Report Cards will be emailed today.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is critical!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As emailed to parents previously, all Seesaw activities will be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book. (I will be archiving all activties from the 3rd Quarter tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.)
*As noted above, any students with outstanding work (Seesaw work not approved or completed) will be required to attend the 1:40 Zoom. Please remind your child to post their work every day! (Students with work not posted by Friday will be working on this during our Friday Fun time too!)
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We liked getting to know more about Emily this week and enjoyed seeing her travel brush and mirror show & tell too! Josias will be highlighted next week!
LANGUAGE ARTS:
YESS Liliana and Emily reached the hive for the second time with their twentieth mastery on this week’s 17A Spelling Test J! High fives also go out to Octavius, who also reached the hive with his tenth mastery! We continued work in our Module 3, “Bird’s Amazing Bodies” Unit 1this week, reading Just Ducks and Birds. We sketched and labeled birds in our Module Book, and learned more about adjectives with “more strength.” We continued to be a part of the “March Madness Books Always Win” global event, listening to and voting on the first six stories of the “Elite Eight” this week. Just a reminder to include 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics (Monday) and recommendations (Tuesday-Friday). Also earning mastery on this week’s 17A Spelling Test, and “buzzing” to the next bee were Joey, Saja, Lailah, Julia, Billy, and Raiden . . . super! On Wednesday, we then began work on Cycle 17B* (long u (that says u) and long e with magic e words): cube, huge, use, eve, Pete, Our high frequency words are: tell, boy, following, came, and show. This week’s high frequency words are also, around, more, write, and after. We worked with partners in breakout rooms today creating sentences with our high frequency words. In Language, we wrote our Weekend News, our final draft of our Personal Narrative, and continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News (now with at least 6 sentences), and working with better adjectives.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) Practicing rhyming words is a great idea! (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
MARCH READING LOGS:
Our March reading goal is 18 days; remember to have an adult initial your calendar each day you read/are read to for at least 20 minutes, and then post your calendar each Tuesday morning to be eligible for our free book drawing! Octavius and Sofi were are book winners this week; they chose their books and received them at the quarterly pick-up.
MATH:
Kudos to Emily and Liliana who completed Subtraction, and Julia, who completed Beginning Addition on XtraMath this week. (They’ll get to hear their names on announcements on Monday!) This week we completed our Math 4 Today Week 26 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal too. Counting by ones toward and from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders also got us moving! Next week we’ll be finishing up Chapter 8, concentrating on problem solving addition word problems, related addition and subtraction, practicing addition and subtraction, and working on our chapter review and study guide. Our test will be on Friday. Please remember to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we continued work on Lesson 19 in “Second Step,” “Fair Ways to Play.” We’ll be finishing it up next week. “Could people ever walk on walls?” was the question Mystery Doug had us curious about this week. I enjoyed seeing and hearing about all the things you would do if you could walk on walls. We finished up work on our “Economic Choices” Inquiry this week too with the supporting question, “Why do families choose to save money?” We also read and discussed our corresponding Studies Weekly magazine, “Spending and Saving.”
SEESAW WORK:
Please do take a moment tonight and tomorrow to be sure all of this week’s activities are completed, corrected, and posted! Parent(s), please help your child read any notes I may have sent. (Again, on our Math lessons, pictures of any pages with 2 or less problems incorrect need not be reposted. Please do have your child correct all problems in their book, and then repost pictures of those pages with 3 or more incorrect.) All activities from the 3rd Quarter will be archived tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.
HELPING HANDS:
Hugs and thanks to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Emily, Pledge Leader ~ Adela, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Aubrey, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Emma, Thought/Quote of the Day Helper ~ Lailah, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Abigail and Holden, Cycle 17A “Cheer” Leaders ~ Brandon and Lily, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Gabe, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Brooklynn, Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Saja, Joey, Jamilah, and Xavier, and Doubles Song Leaders ~ Julia and Josias.
As we head into our last school week of March and our first week of the 4th Quarter, I wanted to take a moment to thank you, parents, for all of your wonderful assistance and support throughout the first 3 quarters of this 1st grade year! I’m looking forward to one more quarter together with your children, learning and growing together each day! I’ll be working on grades this weekend and on Sunday, Mr. Baytala and I will enjoy dinner with Kyle and his girlfriend Brooke. I’ll also be going through Seesaw posts and lesson planning. However you’re spending yours, I hope it’s safe and happy too! Only 5 more school wake-ups til Spring Break :)!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
March 12, 2021:
Happy Friday! Thanks Ms. Jurasik for coming in to read Cats Cats for Liliana’s birthday yesterday! We loved seeing her LOL Glamper too :)! Hugs and thanks go out to Mrs. Horbaczewski for setting up our “March Madness” activity! We’ve been enjoying the “Sweet Sixteen” stories this week! (More information is below.) Here’s a peek at what we’ve been up to this week, as well as a look at our upcoming week . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. We’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to listen to the next two “Sweet Sixteen” “March Madness” books. I’ll then be happy to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! “Study Buddies” will meet this morning at 8:15 to review for today’s Cycle 17A Spelling Test and review Chapter 8 skills. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your March Reading Log (March 7th-13th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 17A Spelling Test is this morning. I’ll be eating lunch with another small group of students today! (I’ll be picking sticks in the morning; lunch with me is totally optional!) Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. We’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to listen to the next two “Sweet Sixteen” “March Madness” books. I’ll then be happy to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Wednesday:
Happy St. Patrick's Day! Join me in wearing a wee bit (or a lot :)) of green today! Today is the 4th Quarter Pick-Up at Foster (1:30-3:15). I will also have a few things at my driveway for you to grab. (1:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) We'll be doing lots of fun, engaging cross-curricular activities today! We’ll eat lunch with a new friend; I hope you’ll join us and eat lunch on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. We’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to listen to the next two “Sweet Sixteen” “March Madness” books. I’ll then be happy to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:20 for our end-of-the-day "reading" wrap-up with our 5th Grade Buddies!
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Today is the 4th Quarter Pick-Up at Foster (1:30-3:15). I will also have a few things at my driveway for you to grab. (1:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. We’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to listen to the next two “Elite Eight” “March Madness” books. I’ll then be happy to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Our PBIS 3rd Quarter “Color Wars” celebration is today! Foster’s entire 1st Grade is wearing red today! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. We’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to listen to the next two “Elite Eight” “March Madness” books. I’ll then be happy to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our Friday Fun wrap-up! (Those students who still have not posted their work will be working on it during Friday Fun time!)
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*If you haven’t yet, please be sure to fill out the Reconfiguration Parent Survey sent last Friday and resent today. This will close tomorrow, Saturday, March 13th at noon.
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is so important!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As noted above, 4th Quarter Pick-Up of Materials will be Wednesday or Thursday at Foster (1:30 -3:15 p.m.) Please be sure to drive around the block to my driveway (15215 Las Flores Lane) to pick up a few things too! (Those students who are going back "in" to school for the 4th Quarter, need not pick up anything at Foster. They'll get their 4th Quarter supplies from their new teacher. Please do still stop by my driveway; I have a little Easter surprise for the kids.)
*As emailed to parents previously, all Seesaw activities will be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book. (I will be archiving all February 22nd – 26th activities Sunday evening.)
*As noted above, any students with outstanding work (Seesaw work not approved or completed) will be required to attend the 1:40 Zoom. Please remind your child to post their work every day! (Students with work not posted by Friday will be working on this during our Friday Fun time too!)
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed getting to know more about Raiden this week and liked seeing his gold Power Ranger show & tell too! Emily will be in the spotlight next week!
LANGUAGE ARTS:
High fives to Liliana, Holden, Abigail, and Emily, who earned mastery on both of our RL1.5 (Explain differences between stories and informational text) and RI 1.2 (Identify the main topic and retell key details.) standards! Joey, Gabe, Nathan, and Octavius also achieved mastery on the RL1.5 standard, and Saja, Samantha, Lailah, Santi, Julia, Billy, Sofi, and Emma reached mastery on the RI 1.2 one . . . terrific! We began our Module 3, “Bird’s Amazing Bodies” Unit 1this week, listening and talking about Kevin Henkes cool book, Birds! Many of you and your families have been watching “March Madness” basketball, and here at school we’ve been a part of the “Sweet Sixteen” “March Madness Books Always Win” global event! We have been enjoying 2 read alouds in the morning, and two more in the afternoon, and have then taken a class vote on which books we liked more! I think we’ve all been enjoying hearing and talking about some neat stories! Just a reminder to include 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics (Monday) and recommendations (Tuesday-Friday). Way to go Emily, Raiden, Emma, Billy, Julia, Jamilah, Octavius, Lailah, Nathan, Samantha, Brooklynn, Gabe, Saja, Liliana, and Joey; they all achieved mastery on our Cycle 16B Spelling Test! On Wednesday, we then began work on Cycle 17A* (long u (that says oo) with magic e words): rule, dude, June, plume, tube, and flute. Our high frequency words are: tell, boy, following, came, and show. Today we worked in breakout rooms creating sentences with our high frequency words. In Language, we wrote our Weekend News, our final draft of our “What the Sun Sees,” poem, and continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News (again with at least 5 sentences), writing our final draft of our personal narrative, and finishing up prepositions.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) Practicing rhyming words is a great idea! (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
MARCH READING LOGS:
Our March reading goal is 18 days; remember to have an adult initial your calendar each day you read/are read to for at least 20 minutes, and then post your calendar each Tuesday morning to be eligible for our free book drawing! This week’s free book winners Gabe and Samantha; they chose their books received them at our Wednesday pick-up!
MATH:
WOW Gabe and Emily achieved a perfect score on our Chapter 8 Math Test . . . sensational! Also earning mastery on both the 1.NBT.B.3 (Compare two digits based on the meanings of the tens and ones digits and using the >,<, and = symbols) and 1.NBT.C5 (Mentally find 10 more or 10 less than the number) standards were Joey, Liliana, Samantha, Holden, Abigail, Nathan, Octavius, Brandon, and Emma . . . super! Julia and Billy also reached mastery on the B.3 standard, and Saja, Lailah, Adela, and Sofi on the C5 one . . . terrific! We completed our Math 4 Today Week 25 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal too. Counting by tens toward and from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders also gave us some daily exercise! Next week we’ll continue work in Chapter 8, focusing on using a hundred chart, modeling, making ten, and place value to add. We’ll also be doing some engaging “St. Patrick’s Day” activities on Wednesday! Please remember to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we began working on Lesson 19 in “Second Step,” “Fair Ways to Play.” We’ll be finishing it up next week. This week, Mystery Doug had us curious about the question, “How is a rainbow made?” I enjoyed seeing and hearing about the “rainbow” activities that you did! We continued work on our “Economic Choices” Inquiry this week too with the supporting question, “What choices do we make with our money?” We also read and discussed our corresponding Studies Weekly magazine, “Economic Choices ~ Economic Activities.”
SEESAW WORK
Thanks Mr. Beringer for coming in this week to pick out our February Seesaw drawing winners ~ Emma ~ Chick Paddle Ball, Liliana ~ Beads Hair Clip Set, Ben ~ Pop Catch Game, Saja ~ Bunny Frisbee, Sofi ~ Coloring/Activity Book with Stencils, Samantha ~ Basketball Game, Adela ~ Bunny Yoyo, Emily ~ Butterfly Frisbee, Josias ~ Raccoon Paddle Ball, Abigail ~ Chick Paddle Ball, Jamilah ~ Egg Decorating Kit, and Octavius ~ Leprechaun Headband. (Those will be given with next week's pick-up!) Remember, you receive one drawing ticket for every Seesaw activity completed and approved! Please do take a moment over this weekend to be sure all of this week’s activities are completed, corrected, and posted! Parent(s), please help your child read any notes I may have sent. (Again, on our Math lessons, pictures of any pages with 2 or less problems incorrect need not be reposted. Please do have your child correct all problems in their book, and then repost pictures of those pages with 3 or more incorrect.)
HELPING HANDS:
Big thanks and kudos to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Raiden, Pledge Leader ~ Sofi, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Ben, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Octavius, Thought/Quote of the Day Helper ~ Samantha, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Jamilah and Xavier, Cycle 16B “Cheer” Leaders ~ Julia and Gabe, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Emily, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Abigail, Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Nathan, Billy, Lailah, and Brooklynn, and Doubles Song Leaders ~ Liliana and Joey.
Hard to believe that we’re heading into our last week of the 3rd Quarter! Mr. Baytala and I will be visiting Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn this weekend, as well as seeing family friends Kim, Tommy, and baby Payton! I’ll also be going through Seesaw posts and lesson planning. Whatever you’re up, I hope you have a safe and relaxing weekend too! Only 10 more school wake-ups til Spring Break :)!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
March 5, 2021:
Happy first Friday of March! We’ve had a short but busy week! Here’s a glance at what we’ve been working on, as well as what will be happening this upcoming week . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to be back on at 1:40.) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! “Study Buddies” will meet this morning at 8:15 to review for today’s Cycle 16B Spelling Test and review Chapter 7 skills. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your March Reading Log (March 1st-6th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 16B Spelling Test and Chapter 7 Math Test are this morning. I’ll be eating lunch with another small group of students today! (I’ll be picking sticks in the morning; lunch with me is totally optional!) Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to be back on at 1:40.) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Today is Leveled Book pick-up/drop-off in my driveway. (8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.) We’ll eat lunch with a new friend; I hope you’ll join us and eat lunch on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to be back on at 1:40.) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:20 for our end-of-the-day "reading" wrap-up with our 5th Grade Buddies!
Thursday:
Happy Birthday Liliana! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. If you haven’t yet, be sure to do a birthday message for Liliana! Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to be back on at 1:40.) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for Liliana’s end-of-the-day birthday celebration!
Friday:
Happy Friday! Wear your Foster spirit wear or red and white today! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to be back on at 1:40.) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day Friday Fun wrap-up!
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is crucial!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As emailed to parents previously, all Seesaw activities will be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book. (I will be archiving all February 15th – 19th activities Sunday evening.)
*As of last week, any students with outstanding work (Seesaw work not approved or completed) will be required to attend the 1:40 Zoom. Please remind your child to post their work every day!
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We liked getting to know more about Emma this week and enjoyed seeing her Pooh Bear show & tell! Raiden will be highlighted next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
YIPPEE Julia reached the hive this past Tuesday with her 10th Spelling Test mastery! (She’ll receive a special surprise at this Wednesday’s pick-up!) This week, using the “Gradual Release” Model (“I Do”/“We Do”/“You Do With a Partner”), we closely read “Lucy and Flutter”/“Do You Want a Dog?”, “Pizza Night”/“Pizza Recipe”, and “Sunflowers”/“Tom and Joe the Sunflower Brothers” to continue practicing our RL1.5 (Explain differences between stories and informational text) standard. We also enjoyed learning more about “Bears,” “Snowflakes,” and “Trees,” as we reviewed the RI 1.2 (Identify the main topic and retell key details.) standard. You’ll be taking an assessment on both standards this upcoming week. Please remember to include 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics (Monday) and recommendations (Tuesday-Friday). Sensational job Joey, Liliana, Gabe, Brooklynn, Samantha, Abigail, Nathan, Octavius, Xavier, Billy, Adela, Sofi, Emma, and Emily; they all earned mastery on our Cycle 16A Spelling Test! On Wednesday, we began work on Cycle 16B* (long o with magic e words): bones, hole, nose, slope, probe, and broke. Our high frequency words are: too, means, old, any, and same. Today we worked in breakout rooms creating sentences with our high frequency words. In Language, we wrote our Weekend News, February News, and continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News (again with at least 5 sentences), writing our final draft of “What the Sun Sees,” “tweaking” our personal narrative, and continue reviewing prepositions.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) Practicing rhyming words is a great idea! (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
FEBRUARY/MARCH READING LOGS:
Reaching our February reading goal (16 days), reading at least 4 days each week, and posting every Tuesday were Adela, Ben, Emily, Emma, Holden, Julia, Liliana, Nathan, and Octavius; they’ll each get to choose a new book on Monday, which they’ll receive in Wednesday’s pick-up! Also reaching our March goal were Abigail, Aubrey, Billy, Brandon, Brooklynn, Jamilah, Joey, Lailah, Samantha, and Sofi . . . terrific! Our March reading goal is 18 days; remember to have an adult initial your calendar each day you read/are read to for at least 20 minutes, and then post your calendar each Tuesday morning to be eligible for our free book drawing! This week’s free book winners Aubrey and Joey; they chose their books and will receive them at our Wednesday pick-up!
MATH:
We continued work in Chapter 7, “Compare Numbers,” this past week. We also completed our Math 4 Today Week 24 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal. Counting by tens and ones toward and from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders kept our hearts pumping too! I think everyone enjoyed guessing each other’s “mystery numbers” at our end-of-the-day Zoom yesterday! We’ll be reviewing for our Chapter 7 Test on Monday and taking it on Tuesday! We’ll then begin Chapter 8, “Two Digit Addition and Subtraction” focusing on adding and subtracting within 20 and adding and subtracting tens. Please remember to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we reviewed/talked about what we’ve learned in “Second Step” so far this year. Next week we’ll begin our “Fair Ways to Play” lesson. Mystery Doug had us curious this week about the question “Why do beavers build dams?” I’m enjoying seeing all of the houses you’ve designed! We also continued work on our “Economic Choices” Inquiry this week with the supporting question, “How do families gain money?” We read and discussed our corresponding Studies Weekly magazine, “Economic Choices ~ Supply and Demand.”
SEESAW WORK:
Please do take a moment over this weekend to be sure all of this week’s activities are completed, corrected, and posted! Parent(s), please help your child read any notes I may have sent. (Again, on our Math lessons, pictures of any pages with 2 or less problems incorrect need not be reposted. Please do have your child correct all problems in their book, and then repost pictures of those pages with 3 or more incorrect.)
HELPING HANDS:
Hugs and thanks to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Emma, Pledge Leader ~ Santi, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Josias, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Lailah, Thought/Quote of the Day Helper ~ Saja, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Lily and Octavius, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Brandon, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Billy, Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Ben, Sofi, Raiden, and Aubrey, and Doubles Song Leaders ~ Abigail and Holden.
I think we’re all enjoying these little “glimpses” of spring weather! I’m looking forward to taking a few walks with Mr. Baytala this weekend! Don't forget to set your clocks ahead 1 hour on Saturday night! I hope you and yours have a great one too! Only 15 more school wake-ups til Spring Break!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
February 26, 2021:
Happy last Friday of Black History Month! Early birthday hugs and wishes go out to my daughter Ashleigh! Her “real” birthday is tomorrow. She loved our birthday song today! Thanks Mrs. Chacon for coming in to read one of Ben’s favorite books, The Escape of Marvin the Ape, this past Monday for his birthday celebration! We really enjoyed your Pizza Making Set show & tell too Ben! Thanks too Ms. Baez for sharing Xavier’s favorite book, Put Me in the Zoo, this past Wednesday for his birthday; we also liked seeing your talking Pikachu show & tell Xavier! Grandma Phyllis, Ms. Tarchala, and Cody, thanks for your help getting our "Read Across America" files and other needed materials together for this past Wednesday's pick-up! Here’s a look at what’s been keeping us busy this week, as well as what we’ll be working on during our next abbreviated week . .
Monday:
Casmir Pulaski Day ~ No School for Students or Staff
Tuesday:
Happy Read Across America Day! We’ll be enjoying many cross-curricular activities today! “Study Buddies” will meet this morning at 8:15 to review for today’s Cycle 16A Spelling Test and review Chapter 7 skills. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your February Reading Log (February 21st-28th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 16A Spelling Test is this morning. I’ll be eating lunch with another small group of students today! (I’ll be picking sticks in the morning; lunch with me is totally optional!) Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Remember to complete and post all of today’s work, and be back to read a Dr. Seuss book and do some special activities with your 5th grade buddy(ies) for our early end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up at 2:20.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! We’ll eat lunch with a new friend; I hope you’ll join us and eat lunch on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Be sure to complete and post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Remember to complete and post all of today’s work, and be back for our end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up at 2:30.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Wear your Foster spirit wear or red and white today! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Be sure to complete and post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom for our Friday Fun end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is critical!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As emailed to parents previously, all Seesaw activities will be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book. (I will be archiving all February 8th – 12th activities on Monday.)
*Just a reminder, if you haven’t completed the Google 4th Quarter Learning Survey; it’s due today by 4:00 p.m.
*PTA’s Art Contest, “I Matter Because. . .” continues through today. For more information, following is a quick link: PTA Art Expo
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed getting to know more about Sofi this week and liked seeing her Unicorn Llama ~ Sparkles show & tell! Emma will be in the spotlight next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we finished up Module 2, Unit 3, revising our verses for our “What the Sun Sees” poem. We’ll be writing our final copy this Wednesday. We also completed our “On a Sandy Shore” comprehension passage. Next week, we’ll be working on some engaging activities for "Read Across America Day" on Tuesday and closely reading new passages and books to continue practicing our RL1.5 (Explain differences between stories and informational text.) and RI 1.2 (Identify the main topic and retell key details.) standards the rest of the week. Please continue to include 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics (Tuesday)/recommendations (Wednesday-Friday). Way to go Emily, Raiden, Emma, Adela, Billy, Xavier, Octavius, Holden, Samantha, Brooklynn, Gabe, Saja, Liliana, and Joey; they all achieved mastery on our Cycle 15B Spelling Test! On Wednesday, we began work on Cycle 16A (long i with magic e words): bike, hide, shine, miles, time, and nice; this week’s high frequency words are: through, much, before, line, and right. Today we worked in breakout rooms creating sentences with our high frequency words. In Language, we wrote our Weekend News and continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News (again with at least 5 sentences), February News (with at least 5 sentences), “tweaking” our personal narrative, and continue reviewing prepositions.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) Practicing rhyming words is a great idea! (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
FEBRUARY/MARCH READING LOGS:
Our February reading goal is 16 days; remember to have an adult initial your calendar each day you read/are read to for at least 20 minutes, and then post your calendar each Tuesday morning to be eligible for our free book drawing! Our winners this week were Sofi and Gabe; they chose their books and received them at our Wednesday pick-up! Our March reading goal will be 16 days too!
MATH:
High fives to Raiden, Emma, Abigail, Samantha, and Liliana; they all achieved mastery on all three of our Chapter 6 Test standards (NBT.A.1 ~ Count to 120, starting at any number less than 120. In this range, read and write numerals and represent a number of objects with a written numeral, NBT.B.2 ~ Understand that the two digits of a two-digit number represent amounts of tens and ones, and 1.NBT.3 ~ Compare two-digit numbers based on meanings of the tens and ones digits, recording the results of comparisons with >, =, and <.) Earning mastery on two standards were Emily, Adela, Billy, Julia, Octavius, Lailah, Nathan, Holden, Saja, and Joey . . . super! Gabe, Brooklynn, and Brandon achieved mastery on one standard . . . great! We then began work in Chapter 7, “Compare Numbers,” focusing on greater and less than. We also completed our Math 4 Today Week 23 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal. Counting by tens and ones toward and from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders kept us active too! On Tuesday we’ll be doing some Dr. Seuss math, and the rest of the week we’ll be learning about using symbols to compare, completing our mid-chapter checkpoint, comparing numbers, and working on 10 less and 10 more. Just a reminder to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we completed “Problem Solving, Part 2.” I’m enjoyed seeing your drawings of a problem you’ve had and hearing about possible solutions. As I mentioned above, my daughter Ashleigh loved our phone call to her today to sing an early “Happy Birthday!” and I hope everyone then enjoyed playing Birthday Jingo! (Our winners were Holden, Sofi, Josias, Xavier, and Samantha; you’ll receive your prizes at our next pick-up!) As we closed out Black History Month, we continued our “Thought of the Day” each day from famous African Americans (Nelson Mandela, Maya Angelou, Jackie Robinson, Mae Jemison, and George Washington Carver). We got a peek into their lives and accomplishments too! We finished work on our “Maps and Geography” Inquiry with our last supporting question, “How can I make a map of a real life place?” I enjoyed seeing more of the maps you created of a favorite room in your home and reading and discussing the “Culture” Studies Weekly. We began work on our “Economic Choices” Inquiry mid-week with the compelling question, “What choices do we make with our money?” and the supporting question, “How do families gain money?” We also read and discussed our corresponding Studies Weekly magazines, “Needs and Wants” and “Goods and Services.” (I think it was interesting for all of us to hear all of our personal different needs and wants.)
SEESAW WORK:
Please do take a moment over this long weekend to be sure all of this week’s activities are completed, corrected, and posted! Parent(s), please help your child read any notes I may have sent. (Just a reminder, on our Math lessons, pictures of any pages with 2 or less problems incorrect need not be reposted. Please do have your child correct all problems in their book, and then repost pictures of those pages with 3 or more incorrect.)
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks much to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Sofi, Pledge Leader ~ Brooklynn, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Nathan, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Emily, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Joey, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Aubrey and Raiden, Cycle Word “Cheer” Leaders ~ Samantha and Ben, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Lailah, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Jamilah, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Julia, Adela, Josias, and Samantha.
Sad I can’t see and hug her in person yet, but looking forward to FaceTiming with Ashleigh tomorrow on her “real” birthday! Unfortunately, I did have some side effects from my second Covid Vaccine, so I’m also looking forward to the long weekend, relaxing and spending time with Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn! I hope you and yours have a wonderful, healthy, and safe one too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
February 19, 2021:
Happy “½” Birthday Brooklynn! Thanks Ms. Giroux for reading one of her favorite stories, The Wonkey Donkey at our end-of-the-day celebration today! We enjoyed seeing your wardrobe and make-up case show & tell too Brooklynn! Happy “almost” birthday wishes also go out Ben; his birthday is Sunday! Here’s a peek at what we’ve been doing this week, as well as what we’ll be up to next week . . .
Monday:
Happy Birthday Celebration Day Ben! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. If you haven’t yet, be sure to do a birthday message for Ben! Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Remember to post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day birthday celebration wrap-up for Ben. PTA’s “Dine-Out” is at Portillo’s today (5:00-8:00 p.m.) Mr. Baytala & I will be going through the drive-thru for our favorite beef sandwiches. If you go, be sure to show the PTA flyer. (I’ll be emailing you a copy!)
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! “Study Buddies” will meet this morning at 8:15 to review for today’s Cycle 15B Spelling Test and review Chapter 6 skills. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your February Reading Log (February 14th-20th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 15B Spelling Test is this morning. I’ll be eating lunch with another small group of students today! (I’ll pick sticks in the morning; lunch with me is totally optional!) Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Remember to complete and post all of today’s work, and be back for our end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up at 2:30.
Wednesday:
Happy Birthday Xavier! Today is Leveled Book Pick-Up at my driveway (8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. If you haven’t yet, be sure to do a birthday message for Xavier! Our Chapter 6 Math Test is today. We’ll eat lunch with a new friend; I hope you’ll join us and eat lunch on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Be sure to complete and post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day birthday celebration wrap-up for Xavier.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Remember to complete and post all of today’s work, and be back for our end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up at 2:30.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Wear your Foster spirit wear or red and white today! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Be sure to complete and post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom for our Friday Fun end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is crucial!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As emailed to parents previously, all Seesaw activities will be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book. (I will be archiving all February 1st – 5th activities this weekend.)
*Just a reminder, if you signed up for school pictures, February 23rd or 26th, you were contacted with a time to come for your picture.
*PTA’s Art Contest, “I Matter Because. . .” continues through Friday, February 26th. For more information, following is a quick link: PTA Art Expo
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We liked getting to know more about Adela this week and enjoyed seeing her stuffed Pikachu show & tell! Sofi will be highlighted next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
Yippee, Billy and Adela reached the hive with their 10th mastery on our Cycle 15A Spelling Test this past Tuesday; they’ll be receiving their reward at our next pick-up :)! Joey, Liliana, Gabe, Samantha, Holden, Nathan, Lailah, Jamilah, Julia, Emily, and Josias also achieved mastery . . . super job! On Wednesday, we began work on Cycle 15B (long a with magic e and the inflectional s ending words): flames, skates, braves, shades, chases, and planes; this week’s high frequency words are: say, great, think, where, and help. Today we worked in breakout rooms creating sentences with our high frequency words. This week in Module 2, Unit 3, we wrote our verses for our “What the Sun Sees” poem. We also completed our “Frog or Toad?” comprehension passage. Next week, we’ll be closely reading a new one, “On a Sandy Shore.” Please continue to include 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics (Monday)/recommendations (Tuesday-Friday). Earning mastery on the RF.2 standard (demonstrate understanding of spoken syllables) portion of our test were Emily, Emma, Sofi, Adela, Xavier, Julia, Octavius, Lailah, Lily, Nathan, Abigail, Holden, Samantha, Aubrey, Brooklynn, Gabe, Saja, Liliana, and Joey . . . terrific! In Language, we wrote our Weekend News and continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News (again with 5 sentences), begin learning about narrative writing, and reviewing prepositions.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) Practicing rhyming words is a great idea! (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
JANUARY/FEBRUARY READING LOGS:
Our February reading goal is 16 days; remember to have an adult initial your calendar each day you read/are read to for at least 20 minutes, and then post your calendar each Tuesday morning to be eligible for our free book drawing! Octavius and Emily were our winners this week; they chose their books and will receive them at this week’s pick-up!
MATH:
We finished up Chapter 6 this week; we also completed our Math 4 Today Week 22 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal. Counting by tens and ones toward and from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders got us up and moving too! Next week we’ll be reviewing for, and taking our Chapter 6 Test (Wednesday). We’ll then work on our introductory pages for Chapter 7, “Compare Numbers” and learn about greater than. Remember to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we completed “Problem Solving, Part 1.” I enjoyed seeing your drawings of a problem and the solutions you came up with. In celebration of Black History Month, we continued our “Thought of the Day” each day from famous African Americans (Muhammed Ali, Alice Walker, Malcolm X, and Harriet Tubman). In Social Studies, we continued our “Maps and Geography” inquiry with the supporting question, “What are the other tools on a map and how do they work?” In conjunction with our inquiry we read and discussed the Studies Weekly issues “Place: Human Characteristics,” “Human and Environmental Interaction,” “Movement,” and “Regions of the United States.”
SEESAW WORK:
Please do take a moment over this weekend to be sure all of this week’s activities are completed, corrected, and posted! Parent(s), please help your child read any notes I may have sent. (Just a reminder, on our Math lessons, pictures of any pages with 2 or less problems incorrect need not be reposted. Please do have your child correct all problems in their book, and then repost pictures of those pages with 3 or more incorrect.)
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks much to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Adela, Pledge Leader ~ Brandon, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Emma, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Saja, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Billy, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Julia and Josias, Cycle 15 A "Cheer Leaders" ~ Joey and Abigail, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Octavius, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Sofi, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Gabe, Liliana, Santi, and Emily.
This weekend will find me relaxing, catching up on some of my weekly shows, lesson planning, and checking Seesaw posts. Hope you have a great and safe one too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
February 12, 2021:
Happy “½” Birthday Jamilah! We enjoyed celebrating with you today and hearing Bonjour Butterfly! We look forward to seeing your show & tell on Tuesday! I hope you all enjoyed our 100th Day (Tuesday) and Valentine’s Day (today) celebrations and activities this week! We loved meeting with our 5th Grade Buddies yesterday to make our Valentine’s frame and read together, and I know everyone enjoyed seeing each other’s Valentine “cards” today! “Get Well” wishes go out to Mrs. Latka; we hope you’re feeling a bit better each day, and that we’ll see your smiling face soon! Here’s a look at what we’ve been doing this week, as well as what will be keeping us busy during our abbreviated week next week . . .
Monday:
Happy President’s Day! Sleep in, relax, and enjoy your extra day off!
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! “Study Buddies” will meet this morning at 8:15 to review for today’s Cycle 15A Spelling Test and go over Chapter 6 skills. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your February Reading Log (February 8th-13th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 15A Spelling Test is this morning. I’ll be eating lunch with another small group of students today! (I’ll be picking sticks in the morning; lunch with me is totally optional!) Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Remember to complete and post all of today’s work, and be back for our end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up at 2:30.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll eat lunch with a new friend today; I hope you will join us, and eat lunch on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Be sure to complete and post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Remember to complete and post all of today’s work, and be back for our end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up at 2:30.
Friday:
Happy “½” Birthday Brooklynn! (Her “real” birthday is August 20th.) Wear your Foster spirit wear or red and white today! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Be sure to complete and post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom for our Friday Fun end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is crucial!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As emailed to parents previously, all Seesaw activities will continue to be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed getting to know more about Billy this week and liked meeting his sister Chloe, his show & tell! Adela will be in the spotlight next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
Hooray, Emma reached the hive with her 10th mastery on our Cycle 14 Spelling Test this past Tuesday; she’ll be receiving her reward at our next pick-up :)! We continued work in Module 2, Unit 3, writing verses for our “What the Moon Sees” poem. We also completed our “Barnyard Riddle” comprehension piece, and enjoyed writing a riddle about our own favorite animal and guessing our classmates’. Next week, we’ll be closely reading a new passage, “Frog or Toad.” Please continue to include 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics (Tuesday)/recommendations (Wednesday-Friday)! Also earning mastery on this week’s Cycle 14 Spelling Test were Emily, Adela, Abigail, Samantha, Aubrey, and Liliana . . . fabulous! High fives also go out to Liliana, Samantha, Nathan, Xavier, Emily, and Josias; they all achieved mastery on the RF.2 standard (demonstrate understanding of spoken syllables) on our test! On our 100th Day we worked in break-out rooms, creating as many words as we could with the letters from One Hundred; each real word earned points by the number of letters in it. Kudos to our top “word makers,” Emma (47), Nathan (39), Liliana (38), and Samantha (37); they all received prizes in this week’s pick-up; anyone with 15 or more points also earned a prize! On Wednesday, we began work on Cycle 15A (long a with magic e words): make, safe, tape, cage, bale, and date; this week’s high frequency words are: just, name, good, sentence, and man. Yesterday we worked in breakout rooms creating sentences with our high frequency words. In Language, we wrote our Weekend News and continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News (again with 5 sentences), begin learning about narrative writing, and reviewing prepositions. One of our Valentine’s Day activities today was to make words from the letters of the word Valentine. Earning the most points were Nathan (49), Liliana (32), Saja (28), and Adela (27). They’ll receive their prizes at our next pick-up. Anyone who already posted words worth at least 15 points will also receive a reward!
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) Practicing rhyming words is a great idea! (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
JANUARY/FEBRUARY READING LOGS:
Our February reading goal is 16 days; remember to have an adult initial your calendar each day you read/are read to for at least 20 minutes, and then post your calendar each Tuesday morning to be eligible for our free book drawing! This week’s winners were Adela and Holden; they chose their books and will receive them at our next pick-up!
MATH:
This week found us delving deeper into Chapter 6; we also completed our Math 4 Today Week 21 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal. Counting by tens toward and from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders also challenged us! Next week we’ll be concentrating on tens and ones to 100, showing numbers in different ways, modeling, reading and writing numbers from 100 to 110 and 120. Be sure to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we began our new unit, “Problem Solving,” talking about naming our problem, and thinking of different solutions. In celebration of Black History Month, our “Thought of the Day” each day was from a famous African American (Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Cicely Tyson, Will Smith, and Michelle Obama). Mystery Doug had us curious about the question, “What animal has the biggest heart?” I think we all enjoyed the “safari” and I liked seeing your Scavenger Hunt items that were about the same size as an elephant shrew’s, hyena’s, and elephant’s hearts! Your valentines were really neat too! We continued our “Maps and Geography” inquiry with the supporting question, “What are cardinal directions and how do I use them?” In conjunction with our inquiry we enjoyed the “Location” and “Place, Physical Characteristics” Studies Weekly also.
SEESAW WORK:
Please take a moment over this long weekend to be sure all of this week’s activities are completed, corrected, and posted! Parent(s), please help your child read any notes I may have sent. (Just a reminder, on our Math lessons, pictures of any pages with 2 or less problems incorrect need not be reposted. Please do have your child correct all problems in their book, and then repost pictures of those pages with 3 or more incorrect.)
HELPING HANDS:
Hugs and thanks to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Billy, Pledge Leader ~ Nathan, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Jamilah, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Julia, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Brooklynn, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Gabe and Samantha, Cycle Word “Cheer” Leaders ~ Lailah and Raiden, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Ben, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Aubrey, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Xavier, Saja, Holden, and Lily.
Hard to believe 100 days of first grade have come and gone; I’m so happy to have shared them with all of you! I’m looking forward to seeing Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn “in person” this weekend :)! I hope you have a wonderful extended one too! See you on Tuesday!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
February 5, 2021:
Happy first Friday of February! Thanks Emma for sharing your birthday show & tell, a Lip Balm Lab; her birthday was last Saturday! We enjoyed celebrating Saja’s birthday (and first day with us) this past Monday; thanks to her sister Fatima, for reading one of her favorite stories, I Love You Beary Much. We liked seeing Saja’s show & tell, her bunny Lisa, too. Tuesday found us celebrating Julia’s “ ½” birthday; her “real” birthday is August 2nd. Thanks to her Mommy for coming in to read If You Give A Cat A Cupcake, and to her sister Tessa, who was her “show & tell.” Kudos to Emily who achieved all M’s for the 2nd Quarter! Also to be congratulated are Joey, Liliana, Samantha, Holden, Abigail, Nathan, Brandon, and Billy, who earned all M’s and D’s! We’re also proud of Liliana; she was chosen as one of February’s “Lion Leaders” :)! Hugs and well wishes go out Mrs. Latka; we hope to see her smiling face back with us soon! Here’s a glance at what we’ve been working on this week, as well as what we’ll be up to next week . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Remember to post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Tuesday:
Happy 100th Day of 1st Grade! You may dress like you’re 100 years old and present your 100 “collection.” You may also make a 100th Day Snack to munch on throughout the day from little edibles at home (raisins, popcorn, pretzels, goldfish, crackers, etc. . .) You have a "100th Day Snack Mix" sheet in your 100th Day File ;)! We’ll be reading 100 books with all of our 1st Grade friends today too! “Study Buddies” will meet this morning at 8:15 to review for today’s Cycle 14 Spelling Test and go over Chapter 6 skills. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your February Reading Log (February 1st-6th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 14 Spelling Test is this morning. I’ll be eating lunch with another small group of students today! (I’ll be picking sticks in the morning; lunch with me is totally optional!) Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you come back at 1:40; we’ll be working on lots of fun 100th Day activities this afternoon!
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll eat lunch with a new friend today; boys and girls, you may join us, and eat lunch on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Remember to post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Remember to post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Friday:
Happy "1/2" Birthday Day Jamilah! (Her real birthday is August 13th.) Wear your Foster spirit wear or red and white today! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll be enjoying some Valentine activities and celebrating Jamilah's birthday. Dismissal for the day is at 12:30. Enjoy your afternoon!
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*As noted above, you may dress like you’re 100 years old on Tuesday, our 100th day of 1st grade! You may also present a collection of 100 things!
*As our 3rd Quarter begins, just a couple of changes: Number reversals will now be marked wrong on Go Math book pages. (Points will never be deducted on a Quick Check, Mid-Chapter Checkpoint or Test.)
: You will now be writing at least 3 details each Monday for your Weekend News, so you’ll now have an opening sentence, at least 3 detail sentences, and a closing sentence, for a total of 5 sentences. I sent a new helper sheet via email and will include a “hard” copy with Wednesday’s leveled book pick-up.
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is essential!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As emailed to parents previously, all Seesaw activities will continue to be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book.
*Hopefully all of our testing will be done early in the week, and we will then be starting Raz Kids.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We liked learning more about Xavier this week and enjoyed seeing his Electrical Freddie show & tell. Billy will be highlighted next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we began Module 2, Unit 3, reading and talking about What the Sun Sees and What the Moon Sees. “All About Birds” was our comprehension passage this week, and we also learned about labels and captions as text features. Next week, we’ll closely read a new passage, “Barnyard Riddle.” Please remember to include 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics/recommendations each day! Earning mastery on this week’s Cycle 13 Spelling Test were Joey, Liliana, Samantha, Lailah, Billy, Raiden, and Emily. On Wednesday, we began work on Cycle 14 (1 and 2 open and closed syllable words): she, be/gin, do/nut, he/ro, mo/ment, and ro/bot; this week’s high frequency words are: back, give, most, very, and ours. (You'll need to syllabicate these words; for your reference, I put / between the 2 syllables listed above.) Today we worked in breakout rooms creating sentences with our high frequency words. In Language, we wrote our Weekend News and continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News (now with 5 sentences), begin learning about narrative writing, and reviewing prepositions. WOW, we had some great word builders on Tuesday's Word Work activity . . . make as many words as you can with the letters from Ground Hog's Day . . . Emma (71), Liliana (64), Samantha (59), and Billy (31)! They'll each be receiving a reward :)!
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
JANUARY/FEBRUARY READING LOGS:
Our January reading goal was 18 days; reaching goal, reading at least 4 days each week, and posting every Tuesday, even over break were Liliana and Ben; they’ll get a free book choice on Monday! Also reaching goal were Joey, Saja, Holden, Nathan, Octavius, Jamilah, Julia and Billy! Please have your calendar initialed by an adult each day after you’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Again, be sure to have your calendars handy to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (February 1st – 6th ) on Tuesday to be part of our weekly free book drawing! (Remember, you can win once a month!) This week’s winners were Billy and Adela! Our reading goal for February is 16 days! Keep on reading!
MATH:
WOW Samantha earned a perfect score on our Chapter 5 Test! Liliana, Saja, Abigail, Nathan, and Emily also achieved mastery on all four standards . . . super! Earning mastery on three standards were Gabe, Holden, Lily, Lailah, Octavius, and Brandon, on two were Julia, Adela, Sofi, Emma, and Raiden, and on one were Joey, Brooklynn, Ben, Santi, Billy, and Josias . . . grrreat! We completed our Math 4 Today Week 20 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal this week. We also counted toward and from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders. Next week we’ll be focusing on making tens and ones, tens, tens and ones to 50 and 100. Remember to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we talked about “Managing Worry;” today we drew a picture of a time we were worried, and then decided what strategy (naming our feeling, belly breathing, and or self-talk) we might use to help. We’ve also continued to talk about our “Thought of the Day” and daily “gratitude!” Mystery Doug had us curious about the question, “What’s the tallest skyscraper anyone can build?” I enjoyed seeing the skyscrapers you created! We began our “Maps and Geography” inquiry this week too with the compelling question “Can My Life Fit on a Map?” and the supporting question, “What are map symbols and how do I use them?” In conjunction with our inquiry we enjoyed the “Map Skills” and “Five Themes of Geography” Studies Weekly too.
SEESAW WORK:
Please take a moment this weekend to be sure all of this week’s activities are completed, corrected, and posted! Parent(s), please help your child read any notes I may have sent.
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks a bunch to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Xavier, Pledge Leader ~ Saja, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Adela, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Santi, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Liliana and Joey, Cycle Word “Cheer” Leaders ~ Billy and Emily, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Sofi, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Josias, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Emma, Abigail, Octavius, and Brandon.
Well, the first week of our 3rd Quarter has “wrapped!” Lesson planning, Seesaw checking, and watching the Super Bowl are on my agenda this weekend. Whatever your plans, stay safe and warm too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
January 29, 2021:
Happy “almost” birthday Emma! (Her “real” birthday is tomorrow.) Thanks Mrs. Slad for coming in this morning to read Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast, Short & Sweet! We’ll look forward to seeing her show & tell on Monday! Belated birthday wishes go out to Ms. O'Neill (January 17th), our wonderful Title I Reading Teacher here at Foster and to Ms. Mueller (January 27th), our super Art Teacher; we hope they both had terrific birthdays! I hope you all enjoyed this afternoon’s “All School Bingo” 2nd Quarter PBIS Celebration! (I heard some of your names being announced as winners :)!) We’re so happy to be welcoming a new student, Saja, and her family to our “Remote” Family this Monday as we begin the 3rd Quarter! We bid a sad farewell to Ms. Mueller, our awesome Art Teacher, who will now be moving to Kerkstra til the end of the year. And we look forward to welcoming Mrs. Latka, our marvelous Music Teacher, who will now be with us this second semester! Here’s a peek at what we’ve been working on this week, as well as what will be keeping us busy next week . . .
Monday:
Happy Birthday and Welcome to our “remote” family Saja! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be finishing up benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off and work on independent activities until our end-of-the-day birthday celebration for Saja at 2:30.
Tuesday:
Happy Birthday wishes go out to Mrs. Shepard, one of our wonderful 1st Grade Teachers and Happy “½” Birthday wishes to Julia! (Her “real” birthday is August 2nd.) “Study Buddies” will meet this morning at 8:15 to review for today’s Cycle 13 Spelling Test and Chapter 5 Math Test. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your January Reading Log (January 24th – 31st) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 13 Spelling Test and Chapter 5 Math Test are this morning. Beginning today, I’ll be eating lunch with a small group of students each Tuesday! (I’ll be picking sticks in the morning; lunch with me is totally optional!) Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you come back at 1:40; we’ll be working on many fun, engaging “Ground Hog Day” activities this afternoon and enjoy Julia’s “½” birthday celebration!
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll eat lunch with a new friend today; boys and girls, you may join us, and eat lunch on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. We’ll be returning to Guided Math today; we’ll set alarms in the morning. When not at Guided Math, you should be working on independent activities until our end-of-the-day Zoom at 2:30.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Guided Math groups will begin at 1:40; we’ll set an alarm in the morning. When not at Guided Math, you should be working on independent activities until our end-of-the-day Zoom at 2:30.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Super Bowl Weekend has arrived; to kick it off, wear your favorite team’s sportswear and/or colors! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom at 1:40 and will be happy to give assistance to anyone who needs it! Everyone should be working on independent activities until our end-of-the-day Friday Fun Zoom at 2:30.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I will be accepting work for the 2nd Quarter until 6:00 p.m. on Sunday; I’ll then be archiving all of Quarter 2’s activities, and any not turned in will receive 0 points in my grade book.
*As our 3rd Quarter begins, just a couple of changes: Number reversals will now be marked wrong on Go Math book pages. (Points will never be deducted on a Quick Check, Mid-Chapter Checkpoint or Test.)
: You will now be writing at least 3 details each Monday for your Weekend News, so you’ll now have an opening sentence, at least 3 detail sentences, and a closing sentence, for a total of 5 sentences. I’ll be sending a new helper sheet via email and will include a “hard” copy with our next pick-up.
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is crucial!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As emailed to parents previously, all Seesaw activities will continue to be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book.
*We will be starting Raz Kids this upcoming week :)!
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed learning more about Julia this week and liked seeing the “jewel ring” she made! Xavier will be in the spotlight next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we wrapped up Module 2/Unit 2 doing more sun and moon observations, rereading What Makes Day and Night? and Does the Sun Sleep? and talking about the stars. We also completed our “Baby Sister” comprehension passage. Next week, we’ll begin work in Unit 3 and closely read a new passage, “All About Birds.” Please remember to include 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics/recommendations each day! Due to MAP and FastBridge testing, we’ve spent an extra week working on Cycle 13 (2 syllable and compound) words: back/pack, dish/rag, kit/ten, rib/bon, muf/fin, and un/less; the high frequency words were: work, know, place, years, and live. (Your child will need to syllabicate these words; for your reference, I put / between the 2 syllables/words listed above.) Today we worked in breakout rooms using our sign language charts to practice spelling our words with partners. In Language, we wrote our Weekend News and completed our “How To” writing assessment piece. I really liked hearing you read them to me on Seesaw. We also took our Adjective Quiz . . . kudos to Joey, Liliana, Gabe, Brooklynn, Ben, Samantha, Holden, Abigail, Nathan, Octavius, Brandon, Billy, Adela, Emma, Raiden, and Emily; they all achieved Mastery! Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News (now with 5 sentences), begin learning about narrative writing, and reviewing prepositions.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
JANUARY/FEBRUARY READING LOGS:
Our January reading goal is 18 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Again, be sure to have your calendars handy to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (January 24th – 31st ) on Tuesday to be part of our weekly free book drawing! (Remember, you can win once a month!) Ben and Julia were this week’s winners! Our reading goal for February is 16 days! Keep on reading!
MATH:
We completed our Math 4 Today Week 19 and several “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal this week. Counting toward and from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders began our math lessons too. We finished up Chapter 5, “Addition and Subtraction Relationships” this week, and began reviewing today. We’ll be completing our Study Guide on Monday and then taking our test on Tuesday. We’ll then begin Chapter 6, “Count and Model Numbers,” focusing on counting by ones and tens to 120 and understanding tens and ones. Remember to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
In SEL this week, we talked about “Self -Talk for Calming Down,” drawing a picture today of a time we had a strong feeling, and some self-talk we could use. Also part of our daily routine were talking about our “Thought of the Day” and daily “gratitude!” “What were the first computers like?” was our Mystery Doug question/
activity this week, and I really liked seeing your “bed creations.” We finished up our “Space System: Patterns and Cycles” Unit this week, and Mystery Science’s “Spinning Sky” too. (I was so happy to hear Emily and then other students commenting on the beautiful full moon they’d seen last night!) We enjoyed making our “Star Projectors” today; remember to post a picture of yours on the corresponding Seesaw activity. Studies Weekly found us reading and discussing “Primary Sources” this week. For the 3rd Quarter, we’ll be concentrating on Social Studies; the first unit we’ll be focusing on is “Maps and Geography.”
SEESAW WORK:
Parents, just a reminder, all 2nd Quarter Seesaw activities must be posted by 6:00 p.m. Sunday to receive credit for the 2nd Quarter.
HELPING HANDS:
Hugs and thanks to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Julia, Pledge Leader ~ Holden, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Raiden, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Sammie, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Gabe, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Ben and Emily, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Nathan, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Samantha, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Brooklynn, Lailah, Jamilah, and Billy.
Hard to believe, that as of today, half of our school year is over! Parents, I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for all of the time and effort I know you have put into your child’s education; I couldn’t continue doing what I do without your wonderful assistance :)! I feel so lucky to have gotten to know your children (and you) and look forward to the second half of our school year, learning and growing together!
Looks like lots of snow is on the way again, so unfortunately I may not get to see Kyle and my two “angels” Grayson and Quinn this weekend :(! I guess a bedtime story Zoom and FaceTiming will just have to tide me over for a couple of weeks! However you’re spending it, I hope your weekend is safe and relaxing too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
January 22, 2021:
Happy Friday! Thanks Brookie for coming in yesterday to read Ghost for Sammie’s birthday! We liked her show & tell too, her dog Tommy. Here’s a glance at what we’ve been working on currently, as well as what will be keeping us busy next week . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We will be taking our MAP Reading Test this morning, so please be on time! Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off and work on independent activities until our end-of-the-day Zoom at 2:30.
Tuesday:
“Study Buddies” will meet this morning at 8:15 to review for today’s Cycle 13 Spelling Test and this week’s math concepts. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll be taking our MAP Math Test this morning. You’ll be posting a picture of your January Reading Log (January 17th – 23rd) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 13 Spelling Test will also be this morning. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off and work on independent activities until our end-of-the-day Zoom at 2:30.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Packet Pick-Up for the 3rd Quarter is at Foster today (1:30-3:15 p.m.) Please be sure to stop by my driveway right after to get your students new leveled books. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll eat lunch with a new friend today; boys and girls, you may join us, and eat lunch on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off and work on independent activities until our end-of-the-day Zoom at 2:30.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Packet Pick-Up for the 3rd Quarter is also at Foster today (1:30-3:15 p.m.) Please be sure to stop by my driveway right after to get your students new leveled books. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on an Art, Gym, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off and work on independent activities until our end-of-the-day birthday celebration at 2:30.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Packet Pick-Up for the 3rd Quarter is also at Foster today (1:30-3:15 p.m.) Please be sure to stop by my driveway right after to get your students new leveled books. Wear your Foster Spirit Wear (or red and white) today! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off and work on independent activities until our end-of-the-day Friday Fun Zoom at 2:30.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*As noted above, we'll be taking our MAP Reading Test on Monday and Math Test on Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. Parents, if two devices are available to your child, please have them stay on Zoom with their "other" device, and complete their MAP Test on the their iPad. Thanks for assisting them in signing on, but it is then critical that you step away and let them take their test with no assistance from you or anyone at home. I need to get a true measure of where they are at this point in the year!
*As I’m sure you also noticed above, the 3rd Quarter Packet Pick-Up will be here at Foster Wednesday, January 27th, Thursday, January 28th, and Friday, January 29th from 1:30-3:15 p.m. Please be sure to stop by my driveway right after to pick up your child’s new leveled books. (I’ll have a box for their old ones.)
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom at 2:30 p.m. (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is crucial!) We set alarms for small group and whole group lessons.
*As emailed to parents previously, all Seesaw activities will now be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book.
*After some thought, I decided to get everyone benchmarked, and then we can all start working on our current levels on Raz Kids, so we’ll hopefully be starting a week from Monday, when we begin our new quarter. I know some of you worked on it in Kindergarten, and have gone on and started at your level . . .great!
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We liked learning more about Santi this week; since he was absent today, we’re looking forward to seeing his show & tell on Monday! Julia will be highlighted next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
YESSS . . . Joey reached “the hive,” earning his 10th mastery on our Cycle 12 Spelling Test this week; he’ll receive a special “surprise” from me at this week’s pick-up! Liliana, Samantha, Abigail, Emma, and Emily “buzzed” on to the next flower too, with another mastery! This week we again read and talked about What Makes Day and Night? as we continued work in Module 2/Unit 2; we observed, drew, and wrote about different pictures of the sun and moon. We also finished up our “Helping Our Earth” comprehension passage. Next week, we’ll continue work in Unit 2 and closely read a new passage, “Baby Sister.” Please remember to include 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics/
recommendations each day! We also began work on Cycle 13 (2 syllable and compound words) on Wednesday: backpack, dishrag, kitten, ribbon, muffin, and unless; this week’s high frequency words are: work, know, place, years, and live. We wrote our Weekend News and continued learning about “How To” writing with our “How to Brush Your Teeth” piece. I really liked hearing you read them to me on Seesaw. Today, we worked in small groups and began writing our “How To Make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich” piece. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News, finish our PBJ piece, and then complete a “How To” assessment piece. We also learned more about adjectives with our “4 square” drawing/writing activity and Noun/Adjective Game . . . boys were the winners today by 1 point! We’ll be taking our Adjective Quiz next week and learn more about prepositions.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
DECEMBER/JANUARY READING LOGS:
Our January reading goal is 18 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Again, be sure to have your calendars handy to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (January 17th – 23rd ) on Tuesday to be part of our weekly free book drawing! (Remember, you can win once a month!) This week’s winners were Abigail and Holden.
MATH:
We completed our Math 4 Today Week 18 and daily “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal this week. “Math Flash” and counting toward and from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders began our math lessons too. We also enjoyed learning about unknown numbers, using related facts, and choosing an operation in Chapter 5, “Addition and Subtraction Relationships.” Next week we’ll be finishing up the chapter with ways to make 20, equal and not equal, and facts practice to 20; we’ll then review for our test. Remember to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
In SEL this week, we talked about “Calming Down Anger,” and shared a time we were angry and could use a belly breathe to calm us down. Talking about our “Thought of the Day” and daily “gratitude” were also on our daily agenda! Mystery Doug had us thinking and talking about the question “Are Mermaids Real?” I enjoyed hearing your thoughts about where a mermaid might live and what she might eat! Working on our “Space System: Patterns and Cycles” Unit also kept us busy; we enjoyed hearing and talking about Sunshine Makes the Seasons, and drawing pictures to go with each season. We’ll finish up this unit next week, as well as Mystery Science’s “Spinning Sky” one too. In Studies Weekly this week, we read and discussed “Founding Fathers.”
SEESAW WORK:
Parents, please take a few minutes this weekend to go through your child’s Seesaw activity and journal entries from this past week. Remind them to complete or fix any posts that are still listed in their activities. (They may need your help in reading notes I’ve put on different activities I have sent back to them.)
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks a bunch to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Santi, Pledge Leader ~ Xavier, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Brandon, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Abigail, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Emma, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Adela and Sofi, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Lily, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Octavius, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Aubrey, Josias, Joey, and Liliana.
This short week zipped by! I Facetimed with Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn earlier tonight and am looking forward to having lunch with Kyle and Brooke tomorrow. Going through Seesaw posts, planning, relaxing, and watching football play-offs are on my agenda for the rest of the weekend. I hope you have a wonderful one too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
January 15, 2021:
Happy Friday! Lots of birthday celebrations this week . . . thanks Mama for coming in Monday to read one of Joey’s favorite stories, First Grade Here I Come for his “½” birthday (July 8th); we enjoyed his guitar show & tell too, and look forward to hearing him play for us in the future! Tuesday brought us Lailah’s birthday celebration; hers was over break (January 2nd). We enjoyed hearing Fancy Nancy and the Mermaid Ballet and seeing here Baby Alive doll, Lisa. Adela’s “½” birthday (July 10th) was on Wednesday; thanks Mom for reading Charlie the Ranch Dog, Where’s the Bacon? Her Rainbocorn show & tell was really cool too! Here’s a look at what we’ve been working on this week, as well as what we’ll be doing during next week’s abbreviated one . . .
Monday:
Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday ~ No school for students or staff!
Tuesday:
“Study Buddies” will meet this morning at 8:00 to review for today’s Cycle 12 Spelling Test and this week’s math concepts. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your January Reading Log (January 10th – 16th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 12 Spelling Test will also be this morning. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off and work on independent activities until our end-of-the-day Zoom at 2:30.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll eat lunch with a new friend today; boys and girls, you may join us, and eat lunch on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off and work on independent activities until our end-of-the-day Zoom at 2:30.
Thursday:
Happy Birthday Sammie! Please be sure to put a birthday message for her on our Seesaw activity. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on an Art, Gym, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off and work on independent activities until our end-of-the-day birthday celebration at 2:30.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Wear your Foster Spirit Wear (or red and white) today! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off and work on independent activities until our end-of-the-day Zoom at 2:30.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom at 2:30 p.m. (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is crucial!) We set alarms for small group and whole group lessons.
*As emailed to parents previously, all Seesaw activities will now be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book.
*I was excited to learn more about Raz Kids at our teacher workshop this afternoon, so we will begin using it this upcoming week.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed learning more about Jamilah this week; we loved seeing her neat aquarium too! Santi will be in the spotlight next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
YIPPEE! Abigail reached “the hive,” earning her 10th mastery on our Cycle 11B Spelling Test this week; she’ll receive a special “surprise” from me at our next pick-up! Also “buzzing” on to the next flower with another mastery were Joey, Liliana, Samantha, Julia, Billy, Adela, Sofi, Emma, and Emily! This week we enjoyed reading and talking about What Makes Day and Night? as we delved into Module 2/Unit 2; we also observed, drew, and wrote about different pictures of the sun and moon. We finished up our “Ben the Bug” comprehension passage too. During this upcoming week, we’ll continue work in Unit 2 and closely read a new passage, “Helping Our Earth.” Please remember to include 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics/recommenda-tions each day! We also began work on Cycle 12 (2 syllable) words on Wednesday: basket, contest, dentist, sunset, until, and insect and this week’s high frequency words: over, new, sound, take, and only. We wrote our Weekend News and began learning about “How To” writing with our “How to Build a Snowman” piece too. I’ve really enjoyed hearing you read them to me on Seesaw. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News, a new “How To” piece, and learning more about adjectives. Sentence, paragraph, chant, and poem writing will also be keeping us busy in our Handwriting Without Tears book.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.
DECEMBER/JANUARY READING LOGS:
Our January reading goal is 18 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Again, be sure to have your calendars handy to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (January 10th – 16th ) on Tuesday to be part of our weekly free book drawing! (Remember, you can win once a month!) Our winners this week were Nathan and Sofi.
MATH:
Our Math 4 Today Week 17 and daily “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal were completed this week. We counted toward and then from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders and did our “Math Flash” with our number cards too! We continued work in Chapter 5, “Addition and Subtraction Relationships,” this week, concentrating on recording and identifying related facts and using addition to check subtraction. Next week will find us working on unknown numbers, using related facts, choosing an operation, and ways to make 20. Remember to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
In SEL this week, we talked about “Strong Feelings.” We enjoyed singing the “Calming” song too! We’ve continued hearing and responding to our “Thought of the Day,” each morning, and started our “Gratitude Journal” too. I’ve really liked hearing about all the things you are thankful/grateful for! Mystery Doug had us thinking and talking about the question “How are video games made?” I think some of you have a real future in creating new ones! We also continued work on our “Space System: Patterns and Cycles” Unit, “making” the phases of the moon with our sandwich cookies, and then creating our “Phases of the Moon” poster. We then talked about the sun and stars, enjoying the Stars Song by StoryBots! In Studies Weekly this week, we read and discussed “National Symbols.” We finished up our week reading, talking about, and completing a fun Seesaw activity about the wonderful civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
SEESAW WORK:
Parents, please take a few minutes over this long weekend to go through your child’s Seesaw activity and journal entries from this past week. Remind them to complete or fix any posts that are still listed in their activities. (They may need your help in reading notes I’ve put on different activities I have sent back to them.)
HELPING HANDS:
Hugs and thanks to our “helping hands” this week: Student of the Week ~ Jamilah, Pledge Leader ~ Samantha, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Gabe, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Holden, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Emily, Wilson Chart Helpers ~ Billy and Brooklynn, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Julia, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Nathan, Raiden, Sammie, and Ben.
Hard to believe mid-January is already here! FaceTiming with Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn, putting the rest of our Christmas decorations away, catching up on Seeesaw posts, and planning for next week will be keeping me busy this weekend. Whatever your plans, I hope you enjoy the long weekend too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
January 8, 2021:
Belated “Happy Birthday” hugs go out to Lailah! Her birthday was January 2nd, and we’ll be having her celebration day this coming Tuesday! Early Happy Birthday wishes went out today to Samantha and Lily! (Their “real” birthdays are Sunday!) Thanks Mrs. Diaz for coming in to read one of Samantha’s favorite stories, One Magical Morning this morning. We look forward to seeing her show & tell on Monday. Thanks too Mimi (Lily’s sister) for reading The Gingerbread Man, one of her favorite stories this afternoon. We’ll also look forward to seeing her show & tell Monday. We hope to see Santi and Sammie’s smiling face back with us on Monday! Here’s a peek at what we’ve been working on this shortened week, as well as what we’ll be doing next week . . .
Monday:
Happy “½” Birthday Joey! (His “real” birthday is July 2nd.) If you haven’t yet, please be sure to put a birthday message for Joey on our Seesaw activity. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off until our end-of-the-day birthday celebration at 2:30.
Tuesday:
Happy Birthday Celebration Day Lailah! Please be sure to put a birthday message for her on our Seesaw activity. “Study Buddies” will meet this morning at 8:00 to review for today’s 11B Spelling Test and this week’s math concepts. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your January Reading Log (January 3rd – 9th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 11B Spelling Test will also be this morning. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off until our end-of-the-day birthday celebration at 2:30.
Wednesday:
Happy “½” Birthday Adela! (Her “real” birthday is July 10th.) Please be sure to put a birthday message for her on our Seesaw activity. Our first pick-up of the 2021 year will be today in my driveway (8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll eat lunch with a new friend today; boys and girls, you may join us, and eat lunch on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off until our end-of-the-day birthday celebration at 2:30.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on an Art, Gym, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off until our end-of-the-day Zoom at 2:30.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Wear your Foster Spirit Wear (or red and white) today! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Your day ends at 12:30. Teachers and staff will have meetings this afternoon.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom at 2:30 p.m. (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is critical!) We set alarms for small group and whole group lessons.
*As emailed to parents previously, all Seesaw activities will now be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
Jamilah will be highlighted next week; we look forward to learning more about her!
LANGUAGE ARTS:
YEAH! Samantha reached “the hive,” earning her 10th mastery on our Cycle 11A Spelling Test before break; she received a special “surprise” from me! Joey, Liliana, Abigail, Julia, Adela, and Emily earned mastery too and “buzzed” on to their next flower! During our very short week we enjoyed reading and talking about Does the Sun Sleep? as we began Module 2/Unit 2! We’ll continue with our weekly short passages next week with a new passage, “Ben the Bug.” 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics was also planned this week. We continued work on final blends and began work on the ed inflected ending yesterday with a “Snow People” activity and our Cycle 11B words: melted, lifted, dusted, hunted, sank, and thing, and this week’s high frequency words are: day, get, made, many, and part. We worked on our Break News yesterday and our December News today. I’ve really enjoyed reading (and listening) to both on your Language Arts Seesaw activity. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News, completing our Informational Writing Assessment, and writing a “How To” piece. We’ll also be working in our Handwriting book, practicing the letters X,x, Z,z, T,t, and Sentences in our Handwriting Without Tears book.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Practicing rhyming words would be a great idea!) Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.
DECEMBER/JANUARY READING LOGS:
Our December reading goal was 16 days; reaching goal, posting their reading each Tuesday (even during break), and earning a free book were Liliana and Ben . . . “tree”mendous :)! Also reaching goal were Holden, Brandon, Jamilah, and Julia . . . “tree”riffic! Our January reading goal is 18 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Again, be sure to have your calendars handy to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (January 3rd – 9th ) on Tuesday to be part of our weekly free book drawing! (Remember, you can win once a month!)
MATH:
We finished our Math 4 Today Week 16 and solved a “Problem of the Day” in our Math Journal yesterday and today. We also counted forward towards 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders and did our “Math Flash” with our number cards today! We began work on Chapter 5, “Addition and Subtraction Relationships,” focusing on the introductory pages and problem solving with addition and subtraction too. Next week we’ll be concentrating on related facts and using addition to check subtraction. Again, parents, please remind your student they should be completing 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week in SEL, we completed the first lesson in Unit 3, “Emotion Management,” “Identifying our Own Feelings.” I liked hearing about a day you felt a certain way and why. We had our first few “Thoughts of the Day,” for the new year too, and we’ll be starting our “Gratitude Journal” next week. Mystery Doug had us thinking and talking about the question “Do masks really stop the coronavirus?” I loved seeing and/or hearing about more comfortable/better masks that you might make! We also worked in our “Space System: Patterns and Cycles” Journal today, talking about what you think the moon is, an observation you made after listening to the book Phases of the Moon, and worked on a Phases of the Moon activity. In Studies Weekly yesterday, we read and discussed “Patriotism.”
SEESAW WORK:
Parents, please take a few minutes this weekend to go through your child’s Seesaw activity and journal entries from our very short week. Remind them to complete or fix any posts that are still listed in their activities. (They may need your help in reading notes I’ve put on different activities I have sent back to them.) Thanks Mr. Beringer for picking our December winners today. (Students received one drawing ticket for each activity fully completed in December.) Our winners were Raiden (Patriotic Paddleball), Xavier (Knights Tattoos), Joey (Dinosaur Tattoos), Billy (Splat Ball), Abigail (Avengers Notebook), Brooklynn (Dory Friendship Necklaces and Bracelets), Lailah (Princess Necklace), Holden (Brave Tattoos), Adela (Princess Necklace), Octavius (Star Wars Color and Craft), Gabe (Jurassic World Coloring/Activity Book), and Emma (Giant Tangled Pen). These will be in with your new leveled books at Wednesday’s pick-up.
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks a bunch to this week’s “helping hands:” Pledge Leader ~ Samantha, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Gabe, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Holden, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Emily, Wilson Phonics Chart Helper ~ Billy, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Julia, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Nathan, Raiden, and Ben. Due to our short week, you’ll have the same jobs next week!
I would like to take a moment to thank you, wonderful families, for your many emails, prayers, and beautiful flowers since the passing of my brother Rick. It’s been a difficult time, but your thoughtfulness has touched my heart! I hope you have a safe and wonderful weekend!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
December 18, 2020:
Happy last Friday of school for 2020! Mr. Hall and 5th Grade Buddies, we loved reading and spending time with you this past Wednesday. Here’s a glance at what we’ve been working on this week, as well as what we’ll be up to during next week’s abbreviated week . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll be making our “reindeer” today, so please be sure your hanger is “covered” and ready to build. (I’ll send pictures on Sunday to help you Mommies and Daddies J!) Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off until our end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your December Reading Log (December 13th-19th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 11A Spelling Test will also be this morning. Dismissal is at 12:30 today. Christmas Vakay/Winter Break begins!
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I compiled a list of emails for possible “playdates;” if you forgot, and would like to be a part of this, please email me at your earliest convenience to let me know. I can add your child to the list.
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom at 2:30 p.m. (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is critical!) We set alarms for small group and whole group lessons.
*I’ll be posting a “Back to School 2021” Forecast the week of January 3rd. We return to school Thursday, January 7th.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed learning more about Brandon this week; we liked his Toad show & tell too. Due to our abbreviated weeks, Jamilah will be highlighted next, the week of January 11th.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
HOORAY! Emily and Liliana both reached “the hive,” earning their 10th mastery on this past Tuesday’s Cycle 10 Spelling Test; they’ll both receive a “surprise” from me! Also earning mastery and “buzzing” on to their next flower were Joey, Samantha, Abigail, Adela, and Sofi . . . “tree”riffic! This week’s short passage, “Jan’s Morning Walk,” had us answering different comprehension questions each day; we also finished reading the “Magic Treehouse” chapter book, A Ghost Tale for Christmas Time, discussing and working on story elements. As a culminating activity, our Friday Fun activity today was watching Mickey’s Christmas Carol. We enjoyed partner reading “I Look Out” in our break-out rooms, talking about the story and asking questions. We’ll finish our Kitten’s First Full Moon assessment on Monday. 15-20 minutes of IXL recommendations were also planned each day. We were final “blend” and “ou” detectives today . . .searching, finding, and highlighting all ending blends and ou words in the story. We began working on both of these Wednesday when we began Skills Block Cycle 11A; new lists, as well as 3xs each and sentence sheets came home this past Wednesday with this week’s words*: chest, strong, drink, bring, found, and cloud. Our high frequency words are: who, its now, find, and long. During Language this week, we worked on our Weekend News, December Holidays informational writing, and reviewing past, present, and future verbs with “Verb Charades.” We took our test today. Next week will find us reading various holiday stories, as we continue work on story elements, main idea, and details. We’ll also be writing holiday sentences in our break out rooms.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Practicing rhyming words would be a great idea!) Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.
DECEMBER READING LOG:
Our December reading goal is 16 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Again, be sure to have your calendars handy to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (December 13th – 19th ) on Tuesday to be part of our weekly free book drawing! Billy and Emma were this week’s book winners; they each chose a book which they received at this week’s pick-up. (Remember, you can win once a month!)
MATH:
Kudos to Emily, Liliana, and Samantha, who completed all addition facts on XtraMath in under 6 seconds and Octavius who completed Beginning Subtraction; they all received their certificate and got to hear their name on morning announcements. We worked on Math 4 Today Week 15 and solved a “Problem of the Day” in our Math Journal throughout the week; during Guided Math time, students showed these to me. We also counted forward and backward to 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders! We completed work in Chapter 4, “Subtraction Strategies,” took our test yesterday, and did corrections together today. YESSS . . . Liliana and Emily achieved a perfect score! Also earning mastery on all 4 sections were Liliana and Samantha; Gabe, Brooklyn, Holden, Octavius, Brandon, and Billy mastered 3 sections, Ben, Abigail, Nathan, Julia, Adela, Sofi, Emma, and Raiden 2 sections, and Joey and Jamilah 1 section! Next week we’ll be working on some “holiday” math. Again, parents, please remind your student they should be completing 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week in SEL, we continued work in Unit 2, Empathy, talking about “Showing Care and Concern.” We talked about our daily “Thought of the Day,” and hopefully accepted challenges given too! “How do polar animals survive the cold?” and “Why does it get cold in the winter?” were the questions we explored with Mystery Doug this week. I hope you enjoyed the corresponding activities! In Studies Weekly, we read and discussed “Citizens.” We learned about and did some engaging Kwanzaa (December 26th-January 1st) activities during our "Holiday Unit" time this week; we also talked about Boxing Day (December 26th).
SEESAW WORK:
Parents, please take a few minutes this weekend to go through your child’s Seesaw activity and journal entries. Remind them to complete or fix any posts that are still listed in their activities. (They may need your help in reading notes I’ve put on different activities I have sent back to them.) Thanks Mr. Beringer for picking our November winners yesterday. (Students received one drawing ticket for each activity completed in November.) In honor of The Twelve Days of Christmas, we had 12 winners ~ Brooklyn (Santa Sticky Darts Set), Emma (Holiday Coloring Activity Book), Gabe (Happy Holiday Word Search Book and Giant Holiday Pen), Holden (Holiday Cheer Set), Joey (Snowman Water Game), Julia (Polar Bear and Penguin Basketball Game), Liliana (Santa Stocking with “Let It Snow” Pack), Lily (Reindeer Sipper), Octavius (Tear Off Activity Calendar and Coloring Roll), Samantha (Holiday Paddle Ball), Sofi (Santa Chalkboard), and Xavier (Snowman Countdown to Christmas Set).
HELPING HANDS:
High fives to this week’s “helping hands:” Student of the Week ~ Brandon, Pledge Leader ~ Aubrey, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Lailah, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Joey, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Liliana, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Jamilah, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Xavier, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Octavius, Adela, Emma, and Lily.
Tomorrow will find me enjoying time with Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn! Hopefully the Bears will bring us another win on Sunday! Hard to believe we’re heading into our last days of school for 2020 (only 2 more wake-ups til Christmas Vakay!) I think all of us are hoping for a happier, healthier, pandemic-free 2021! As the hustle and bustle of the season continues, do take a moment to relax, enjoy it, and truly appreciate the time spent together with your family! Parents, I’d also like to thank YOU for sharing your most precious “gift” with me each weekday, your child! Merry Christmas!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
December 11, 2020:
Happy Friday! Happy Friday! Get well wishes go out to Jamilah; we hope to see her smiling face back with us on Monday! Mr. Hall and 5th Grade Buddies, we loved spending time reading with, and getting to know you a bit better today! Here’s a peek at what's kept us busy this week, and a look at next week . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! Study Buddies will meet today at 8:15. All other students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your December Reading Log (December 6th-12th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 10 Spelling Test will also be this morning. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time and our end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Our final pick-up of the 2020 year will be today in my driveway (8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll eat lunch with a new friend today; your student may join us, and eat lunch on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Our Past, Present, and Future Verb Quiz is today. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time. We’ll be reading with our 5th Grade Buddies at 2:15 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up!
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Our Chapter 4 Math Test is today. Remember, you should be working on an Art, Gym, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:30.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Wear your holiday pjs or outfits today! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. The afternoon will be spent finishing up any of today’s work, as well as any from the week. I’ll be on the rest of the afternoon to give assistance, if needed. Be back on Zoom at 2:30 for Friday Fun!
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll be compiling a list of emails for possible “playdates;” if you would like to be a part of this, please email me at your earliest convenience to let me know. I will be sending this out on Sunday.
*Our weekly Study Buddies is on Tuesday mornings (8:15-8:45 a.m.) We’ll be going over this week’s Phonics/Spelling skills, as well as reviewing for our upcoming Chapter 4 Math test!
*As noted above, we’ll be having our last pick-up of 2020 on Wednesday (8:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.) in my driveway. Please bring your child’s previous leveled books (in their bag), and drop them off in the box/crate provided. New books will be in with their Christmas present from me. If you still need a hanger for our reindeer activity (December 22nd); a box with extras will be under the table.
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom at 2:30 p.m. (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is critical!) We set alarms for small group and whole group lessons.
*Sadly parents, I need to remind you again to please continue to be cognizant that background conversations are heard when your child is unmuted, so be sure these are respectful and appropriate for our children’s ears!
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We liked getting to know more about Octavius this week; his light-up, talking Batman show & tell was really cool too! Brandon will be in the spotlight next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
In EL this week we worked on the short passage, “How to Grow a Plant,” and answered different comprehension questions each day; we also read and discussed Kitten’s First Full Moon. We talked about the characters and setting, retold the story, and discussed the lesson learned. (We’ll be taking an assessment on these standards next week.) We enjoyed partner reading “On the Pond” in our break-out rooms, talking about the story and asking questions. We were also “blend” detectives today . . .searching, finding, and highlighting all beginning blends in the story. 15-20 minutes of IXL recommendations was also planned each day. Buzzing to the next “flower” after earning mastery on Tuesday’s Cycle 9 Spelling Test, were Joey, Liliana, Brooklyn, Samantha, Santi, Billy, Adela, and Emily . . . “tree”mendous! We then began working on Skills Block Cycle 10 with the following words with “l” and “r” beginning blends* this past Wednesday: blast, flop, splash, brick, drum, and trip. Our high frequency words are: than, first, water, been, and called. In Language, our Weekend News, Holiday Traditions informational writing, and reviewing past, present, and future verbs, kept us busy this week. Due to absences, we’ll continue reviewing past, present, and future verbs a few more days, and take a quiz on them next Wednesday.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Practicing rhyming words would be a great idea!) Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.
DECEMBER READING LOG:
Our December reading goal is 16 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Again, be sure to have your calendars handy to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (December 6th – 12th ) on Tuesday to be part of our weekly free book drawing! This week’s book winners were Samantha and Holden; they each chose a book which they’ll receive at this week’s pick-up. (Remember, you can win once a month!)
PTA SPONSORED “SANTA’S SECRET SHOP:
Just a reminder, PTA’s “Santa’s Workshop” will also be virtual this year. “Shopping” started on November 6th and has been extended through December 15th. A Swift Reach with more information from PTA went out last week.
MATH:
We completed Math 4 Today Week 14 and solved a “Problem of the Day” in our Math Journal throughout the week; during Guided Math time, students showed these to me. We also counted forward and backward to 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders! We continued work in Chapter 4, “Subtraction Strategies,” this week. We’ll be finishing up the chapter next week, concentrating on using subtraction strategies while problem solving, the chapter review, and study guide. We’ll be taking our test on Thursday. We’ll correct this together on Friday, and preview Chapter 5, “Addition and Subtraction Relationships.” Parents, please remind your student they should be completing 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week in SEL, we continued work in Unit 2, Empathy, talking about “Accidents,” and the importance of giving a sincere apology, and accepting one too! We also talked about our daily “Thought of the Day,” and hopefully accepted challenges given too! “What was the first cartoon?” was the question we explored with Mystery Doug this week. I really liked seeing your cartoons and comic strips! In Studies Weekly, we read and discussed “The Declaration of Independence.” We also continued work in our Mystery Science “Spinning Sky” Unit, delving into the question “How can the sun help if you’re lost?” I enjoyed seeing your “Sun Finder” and liked hearing you tell me about how it helped you learn about where the sun rises and sets! We also continued our "Holiday Unit" this week, learning about Hanukkah (Jewish holiday ~ December 10th-18th), Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexico ~ December 12th), and St. Lucia Day (Sweden ~ December 13th). Thanks Sofi and Ben for sharing what your families do to celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe Day! As a culminating activity today, we made and played dreidel in our break-out rooms during our “Friday Fun” time; parent(s)/
helper(s), thanks for your help in making these; Josias, Brooklyn, Julia, Adela, Octavius, Abigail, Aubrey, Ben, Emma, Nathan, and Liliana were our lucky winners; they’ll receive a little prize at Wednesday’s pick-up!
SEESAW WORK:
Parents, please take a few minutes this weekend to go through your child’s Seesaw activity and journal entries. Remind them to complete or fix any posts that are still listed in their activities. (They may need your help in reading notes I’ve put on different activities I have sent back to them.)
HELPING HANDS:
Hugs and thanks to this week’s “helping hands:” Student of the Week ~ Octavius, Pledge Leader ~ Ben, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Holden, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Lily, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Nathan, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Josias, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Emily, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Santi, Sofi, Gabe, and Samantha.
I’m looking forward to seeing Kyle and his girlfriend Brooke tomorrow. Doing more Christmas decorating, watching the Hawkeyes and going through Seesaw posts will be on my agenda tomorrow. Sunday will find me and Mr. Baytala hopefully cheering the Bears on to an overdue victory! However you spend yours, I hope your weekend is safe and wonderful too! Only 7 more wake-ups til Christmas vakay!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
December 4, 2020:
Happy first Friday of December! Grandma Phyllis and Ms. Tarchala, thanks for helping put our December pick-up items together, and thanks family members for picking those up this past Wednesday! (Chacon family, thanks for supplying extra hangers for our upcoming reindeer project!) I’m glad you’ve been enjoying the leveled books I put together, along with your “Snowman Soup” and stocking for St. Nicholas Day! Here’s a glance at what's been keeping us busy this week, and a preview of next week . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your December Reading Log this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 10 Spelling Test will also be this morning. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time and our end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Our Past, Present, and Future Verb Quiz is today. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time and our end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on an Art, Gym, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:30.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. The afternoon will be spent finishing up any of today’s work, as well as any from the week. I’ll be on the rest of the afternoon to give assistance, if needed. Be back on Zoom at 2:30 for Friday Fun.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*As noted above, I included a bag of leveled books at Wednesday’s pick-up. Until I can level everyone, please do let me know if the books I sent are too easy/difficult. We’ll be trading our books out every other week.
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom at 2:30 p.m. We set alarms for small group and whole group lessons.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed getting to know more about Lailah this week and seeing her cute baby doll Lily “show & tell” on Wednesday! Octavius will be highlighted next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
In EL this week we worked on the short passage, “Max the Cat,” and answered different comprehension questions each day; we also read and discussed Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky. We wrote about the characters and setting, retold the story, and talked about the lesson learned. We enjoyed partner reading “Sam and Nell Have a Ball” in our break-out rooms, talking about the story and asking questions. 15-20 minutes of IXL recommendations was also planned each day. Kudos to Joey, Liliana, Samantha, Abigail, Octavius, Xavier, Billy, Adela, Emma, and Emily; they earned mastery on Tuesday’s Cycle 9 Spelling Test! We then began working on Skills Block Cycle 10 with the following words with beginning blends and double consonant endings* this past Wednesday: sniff, stuff, small, yelled, passed, and buzzed. Our high frequency words are: number, no, way, could, and people. We worked on our Weekend News, November News, and Santa’s Jobs informational writing this week; we also responded to Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky in our module book. Reviewing and taking our Verb Quiz was also on the agenda this week. We’ll continue reviewing past, present, and future verbs, taking a quiz on them next Wednesday.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Practicing rhyming words would be a great idea!) Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.
NOVEMBER READING LOG:
Our November reading goal was 16 days; reaching goal were Joey, Liliana, Gabe, Ben, Samantha, Holden, Abigail, Nathan, Octavius, Brandon, Julia, Emma, and Emily . . . “turkey”riffic! Our December goal is also 16 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Be sure to have your calendars handy to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (December 1st – 5th ) on Tuesday to be part of our weekly free book drawing! Our book winner, and the only one to post over Thanksgiving break, was Holden. This week’s book winners were Octavius and Abigail; they each chose a book which they received/will receive at our pick-up/next pick-up.
PTA SPONSORED “SANTA’S SECRET SHOP:
Remember, PTA’s “Santa’s Workshop” will also be virtual this year. “Shopping” started on November 6th and has been extended through December 15th. A Swift Reach with more information from PTA went out earlier this week.
MATH:
We completed Math 4 Today Week 13 and solved a “Problem of the Day” in our Math Journal throughout the week; during Guided Math time, students showed these to me. We also counted forward and backward to 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders! We began work in Chapter 4, “Subtraction Strategies,” this week. We’ll continue next week, focusing on using 10 to subtract, breaking apart to subtract, and problem solving using subtraction strategies.
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week in SEL, we continued work in Unit 2, Empathy, talking about how “Feelings Change.” “How do we know the earth is round?” was the question we explored with Mystery Doug this week. I enjoyed seeing your shape pictures.” In Studies Weekly, we read and discussed “Taxes.” We also began our Mystery Science “Spinning Sky” Unit, exploring the questions “Could a statue’s shadow move?” and “What does your shadow do when you’re not looking?” I think all of us enjoyed the gnome shadow activity too! In conjunction with our Family Diversity Inquiry, we began our "Holiday Unit" this week too, talking about our holiday traditions, and learning about St. Nicholas Day. I hope you enjoyed playing Christmas Jingo today with our 5th Grade Buddies. Brooklynn, Octavius, Aubrey, Sofi, Xavier, and Julia were our winners. (They'll receive a special surprise with our next pick-up!)
SEESAW WORK:
Parents, please take a moment this weekend to go through your child’s Seesaw activity and journal entries. Remind them to complete or fix any posts that are still listed in their activities. (They may need your help in reading notes I’ve put on different activities I have sent back to them.)
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks a bunch to this week’s “helping hands:” Student of the Week ~ Lailah, Pledge Leader ~ Joey, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Xavier, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Brandon, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Aubrey, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Adela, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Jamilah, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Liliana, Brooklynn, Julia, and Raiden.
I’m looking forward to seeing Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn this weekend and celebrating St. Nicholas Day with them. Mr. Baytala and I got our Christmas tree this evening and know the boys will help us decorate tomorrow too :)! Cheering the Hawkeyes and Bears hopefully on to victory, checking Seesaw posts, and lesson planning are also on the docket for me this weekend. Whatever your plans, I hope you have a great one too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
November 20, 2020:
Happy Friday! I hope you enjoyed all of our cross-curricular activities yesterday during our Thanksgiving Feast Day! Thanks Grandma Phyllis and Ms. Tarchala for helping put our Thanksgiving Feast packets together, and thanks family members for picking those up this past Wednesday! Mabe, Adams, and Chacon families, thanks for dropping off gallon bags for our pick-ups! Thanks too families for your kind emails about my brother; I was finally able to talk to him for a few minutes yesterday and hope he will soon be able to get out of the hospital! Here’s a peek at this past week and when we return . . .
Monday-Friday:
November 23-27:
No School for Students (Remember to post a picture of your Reading Log (showing November 15th-21st) on Tuesday, November 24th. (We’ll pick book winners when we return.)
November 30th:
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember to post a picture of your entire November Reading Log today by 1:00 to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 8 Spelling Test will be this morning. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time and our end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Our December/Holiday Unit Pick-up is today (8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.) in my driveway (15215 Las Flores Lane ~ 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time and our end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30. If you ordered ornaments for PTA's "Ornament Making Night," you'll pick up the "fixings" at Hille (5:00-7:00 p.m.)
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on an Art, Gym, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:30.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. The afternoon will be spent finishing up any of today’s work, as well as any from the week. I’ll be on the rest of the afternoon to give assistance, if needed. Be back on Zoom at 2:30 for Friday Fun.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*Just a reminder, the Parent-Teacher Conference window will close tomorrow, Saturday, November 21 at 5:00pm. (See last week's forecast below for more information.) Parent-Teacher conferences will be on Zoom using our normal classroom link: Mrs. Baytala's Class Conferences are on Monday, November 23rd from 1:00 pm-8:00 pm and on Tuesday, November 24th from 8:00 am-3:00 pm. There is no school for students on these days. Conferences will last 20 minutes.
*A SwiftReach went out about this past Thursday’s “Family Reading Night.” The kids also have a Seesaw activity that has all the book links, so If you didn’t get a chance to watch any of the videos yesterday, please do enjoy them throughout the week!
*After break, I'll be benchmarking the kids to get their current Guided Reading Level. (At our Wednesday pick-up (see below), I'll be sending a "book bag" with leveled books; those children that attended Ridge and turned their book bag back in at the end of last year, will get theirs back with books a level ahead of where they were when tested last year; I'll give more information about this at Parent-Teacher conferences.)
*On Wednesday, December 2nd, I'll be having another pick-up at my home's driveway (15215 Las Flores Lane ~ 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.) (I'll be sending home some leveled books for your child, a few more Science materials, and "Holiday Unit" items.)
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom at 2:30 p.m. We set alarms for small group and whole group lessons. Again, our end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up is at 2:30.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We liked getting to know more about Lily this week and seeing her cool Montana Snow Globe “show & tell” yesterday! Lailah will be in the spotlight after break.
PTA’S VIRTUAL BOOK FAIR:
Again, our PTA Book Fair will be virtual this year from Nov. 12th-Nov. 25th. Foster’s link is:
https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/bookfairs/cptoolkit/homepage.do?method=homepage&url=leerfoster142
There are several ways you can access Foster’s shopping link. Everyone can:
1.) Visit PTA’s website frpta142.com. The links are posted on several of our pages there along with being in their virtual classroom.
2.) Visit PTA’s social media (Facebook-Forest Ridge PTA & Twitter-@d142PTA)
3.) Their monthly newsletter will be emailed out to all families by Monday.
You are able to do a virtual browse (& purchase) of the book fair with the 360 view in our school's shop link. Click on the middle of the book case & it will bring up a picture of the book case as if you were standing in front of it!
PTA SPONSORED “SANTA’S SECRET SHOP:
Remember, PTA’s “Santa’s Workshop” will also be virtual this year. “Shopping” started on November 6th and will run through the 30th. I sent a picture of the flier via email last week; it's also on all of the PTA sites and social media.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
In EL this week we read and discussed Sun and Moon. We wrote about the characters and setting, retold the story, and talked about the lesson learned. We were also able to choose some fictional and nonfictional stories on Epic, continuing our work on story elements, questioning, main idea and details. We enjoyed partner reading “Sam’s Rock” in our break-out rooms, talking about the story and asking questions. 15-20 minutes of IXL recommendations was also planned each day. Earning mastery on our Cycle 7 Spelling Test and moving to the next “flower” were Liliana, Brooklynn, Samantha, Abigail, Octavius, Brandon, Julia, Adela, Sofi, Emma, and Emily ~ fantastic! We then began working on Skills Block Cycle 8 with the following ck and wh words with short vowels* on Wednesday: truck, back, stuck, rocks, kicked, and whip, Our high frequency words are: him, into, time, has, and two. We worked on our Weekend News, journaling, and responded to Sun and Moon in our module book.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Practicing rhyming words would be a great idea!) Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.
NOVEMBER READING LOG:
Our November reading goal is 16 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Be sure to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (November 15th-21st) on Tuesday to be part of our weekly free book drawing when we return from break! This week’s book winners were Brandon and Emma; they each chose a book which they’ll receive at our pick-up.
MATH:
We completed Math 4 Today Week 12 and solved a “Problem of the Day” in our Math Journal throughout the week; during Guided Math time, students again showed these to me. We also counted forward and backward to 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders! We took our Chapter 3 Test today and will begin Chapter 4, “Subtraction Strategies” when we return, focusing on the introduction, counting back, thinking and using addition to subtract, and our mid-chapter checkpoint.
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week in SEL, we continued work in Unit 2, Empathy, talking about “Similarities and Differences” of our feelings in different situations. “Do other countries celebrate Thanksgiving?” was the question we explored with Mystery Doug this week. I enjoyed reading/hearing about the different holidays you would create around your favorite food. In Studies Weekly, we read and discussed “Rules and Laws” and “Principles of Democracy.” We also began our Space System: Patterns and Cycles, listening to and discussing Faces of the Moon.
SEESAW WORK:
Thanks for your patience this week as I continue to go through Seesaw posts. Please do take some time next week to help your child go through and complete any drafts they may still have. Remind them to complete and post any that are still listed in their activities too.
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks to this week’s “helping hands:” Student of the Week ~ Lily, Pledge Leader ~ Gabe, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Octavius Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Samantha, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Julia, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Santi, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Lailah, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Holden, Abigail, Nathan, and Emily.
I’m looking forward to seeing Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn this weekend and spending time with you, parents, during our upcoming Parent-Teacher conference on Monday or Tuesday. All this month, our “thought of the day” has had us thinking/talking about the many things for which we can be grateful! I wanted to tell you again how thankful I am to have each of you as a part of our class this year! I hope you all have a wonderful and safe week off with your families and a very happy “Turkey Day!”
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
November 13, 2020:
Happy Friday! Thanks Mr. French for coming to our end-of-the day Zoom to read one of Abigail’s favorite stories, A Little Bear’s Football Story for her birthday this past Tuesday; we enjoyed seeing her Pikachu and Smolex show & tells too. Mrs. Smith, thank you too for coming on Zoom to read one of Raiden’s favorite stories, Pedro the Ninja, for his birthday; we also liked seeing his Coco Alien! Here’s a look at our week ahead . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember to post a picture of your reading (November 7th -14th ) on your November Reading Log Seesaw activity by 1:00 to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 7 Spelling Test and Noun Quiz will be this morning. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30. Please stop by my home (15215 Las Flores Lane) anytime today to pick up “Thanksgiving Feast” and a few other items. (Like our last pick-up, I’ll have a table in front of my garage door with crates containing bags for your kids in alphabetical (first name) order.)
Thursday:
Happy Thanksgiving Feast Day! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. We’ll be enjoying many cross-curricular activities throughout the day! Be sure to pull out your Ziploc baggie with all of your Thanksgiving activities. We’ll be on Zoom throughout the day! Enjoy “Family Reading Night” tonight; look for a special link to come out with Mr. Beringer and many of our teachers and staff reading some of their favorite stories! PTA’s Kenootz Dine-Out is also this evening from 4:00-9:00 p.m.; why not pick up a pizza to share while enjoying Family Reading Night :)! (Be sure when you go that you mention you’re with the Forest Ridge PTA!)
Friday:
Happy Friday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. We’ll be taking our Chapter 3 Math Test today. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. Please be sure to check in at 1:35. The afternoon will be spent finishing up any of today’s work, as well as any from the week. I’ll be on the entire afternoon to give assistance, if needed. For “Friday Fun” today, we’ll be playing Thanksgiving Jingo with our 5th grade buddies at our end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*Our Parent-Teacher Conference signup is through PowerSchool. This system integrates with PowerSchool Parent Portal. There will be no separate username and password for parents to login for each student. Please contact Foster's secretary, Mrs. Leon, if you are unable to access your Parent
Portal. [email protected] An email with information and instructions will be sent this Saturday, November 14 in the morning. The scheduling window will be open on Saturday, November 14 at 10:00am and will close Saturday, November 21 at 5:00pm. Parent-Teacher conferences will be on Zoom using our normal classroom link: Mrs. Baytala's Class Conferences are on Monday, November 23rd from 1:00 pm-8:00 pm and on Tuesday, November 24th from 8:00 am-3:00 pm. There is no school for students on these days. Conferences will last 20 minutes. Please sign up as soon as possible when it opens this Saturday to get your preferred time slot.
*As you saw above “Family Reading Night” will be happening “virtually” on Thursday, November November 19th. You’ll be receiving a special link to enjoy stories being read by Mr. Beringer and many of our teachers and staff here at Foster!
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends at 3:00 p.m. We set alarms each morning for small group and whole group lessons. Again, our end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up is now 2:30-3:00.
*Remember you’ll need your toilet paper rolls for the turkey cracker activity we’ll be doing on our “Thanksgiving Feast” day on Thursday.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed getting to know more about Nathan this week and seeing his Sniffy the Dinosaur “show & tell!” (Thanks Mrs. Harkenrider for emailing us a picture of his completed poster to share on Zoom!) Lily will be highlighted next week!
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we enjoyed reading and discussing Summer Sun Risin’. We wrote about the characters and setting, and then retold the story. Yesterday we read Papa Please Get the Moon for Me, again talking about characters and setting. We’ll be doing more “close reading” of it next week. We also chose some wonderful books to read from our November collection on Epic, continuing our work on story elements, questioning, main idea and details. We again used our break-out rooms this week to write sentences using our high frequency words and partner read “Dad Has a Plan.” Please remember to complete 15-20 minutes of your IXL recommendations each day during center time. Joey. Liliana, Brooklynn, Samantha, Abigail, Lily, Lailah, Octavius, Brandon, Julia, Billy, Adela, Emma, and Emily are to be congratulated this week; they all earned mastery on our Cycle 6 Spelling Test! We then began working on Skills Block Cycle 7 with the following short e, y that says long i, and ing words* on Thursday: stem, bench, chest, spend, cry, and flying. This week’s high frequency words are: these, so, some, her, and would. Weekend News, journaling, and writing in our module book kept us busy, as well as learning more about nouns. We’ll have our Noun Quiz on Tuesday. We also began learning about present and past tense verbs. Please continue to use your best handwriting, not only in our Handwriting Without Tears book, but in your daily work too!
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Practicing rhyming words would be a great idea!) Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.
NOVEMBER READING LOG:
Our November reading goal is 16 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Be sure to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (November 8th-14th) on Tuesday by 1:00 p.m to be part of our weekly free book drawing! Our winners this week were Ben and Adela; they each chose a book which they’ll receive at our next pick-up.
PTA’S VIRTUAL BOOK FAIR:
Yes, our PTA Book Fair will also be virtual this year from Nov. 12th-Nov. 25th. Foster’s link is:
https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/bookfairs/cptoolkit/homepage.do?method=homepage&url=leerfoster142
There are several ways you can access Foster’s shopping link. Everyone can:
1.) Visit PTA’s website frpta142.com. The links are posted on several of our pages there along with being in their virtual classroom.
2.) Visit PTA’s social media (Facebook-Forest Ridge PTA & Twitter-@d142PTA)
3.) Their monthly newsletter will be emailed out to all families by Monday.
You are able to do a virtual browse (& purchase) of the book fair with the 360 view in our school's shop link. Click on the middle of the book case & it will bring up a picture of the book case as if you were standing in front of it!
MATH:
YESS, more students to celebrate this week . . . Lailah, Gabe, and Emma all earned their beginning addition XtraMath certificate and got to hear/will get to hear their name on morning announcements! We completed Math 4 Today Week 11 and solved a “Problem of the Day” each day in our Math Journal; during Guided Math time, we show these to Mrs. Baytala! We also counted forward and backward to 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders! We continued work in Chapter 3, “Addition Strategies,” this week; you may have noticed we skipped some lessons focusing on doubles plus/minus one; these skills are not part of our 1st grade standards; while we talked about them, your child will not be responsible for these on our upcoming test. This week we’ll be finishing up the chapter, focusing on using making a 10 to add, adding 3 numbers, problem solving using addition strategies, and then reviewing for our test which we’ll take on Friday. During Guided Math time this week, we enjoyed playing “Around the World Addition and Subtraction;” I hope you shared this with your families! Our “Addition” champs were Lailah and Samantha; our “Subtraction” champs were Holden (twice) and Billy! All will be receiving a little surprise from me with their next pick-up!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we continued work in Unit 2, Empathy, talking about “Looking for More Clues” to tune into others’ feelings. I enjoyed seeing your “happy, sad, mad, surprised, and scared” faces as we played “Simon Says!” Mystery Doug had us curious about “What’s at the bottom of the ocean?” this week. I loved reading about different places you’d like to visit, and what special equipment you’d need to keep you safe! We also liked reading and discussing “National Holidays” with our Studies Weekly. In conjunction with our EL Module, we’ll be starting our “Spinning Sky” ~ Sun, Moon, and Stars Unit, as well as finishing up our “President” Inquiry next week.
SEESAW WORK:
Again, please be sure you’re posting your work to Seesaw each day. Thanks Mr. Beringer for picking our 1st quarter winners: Brandon ~ Turkey Painting Activity, Holden ~ Cornucopia Activity, Julia ~ Green Eggs and Ham Mini Notebook, Adela ~ Thanksgiving Placemats, Brooklynn ~ Turkey Pencil & Sticker Set, Ben ~ Ninja Turtle Dry Erase Board , Samantha ~ Turkey Pencil & Sticker Set, Octavius ~ Turkey Pencil & Sticker Set, Xavier ~ Number Practice Fun, Joey ~ Turkey Pencil & Sticker Set, Liliana ~ Turkey Pencil & Sticker Set, and Sofi ~ Horton Hears a Who! Mini Notebook.
PTA SPONSORED “SANTA’S SECRET SHOP:
As you’ve heard on announcements, PTA’s “Santa’s Workshop” will also be virtual this year. “Shopping” started on November 6th and will run through the 30th. I’ll be sending you a picture of the flier via email.
HELPING HANDS:
Hugs and thanks to this week’s “helping hands:” Student of the Week ~ Nathan, Pledge Leader ~ Emma, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Sofi, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Raiden, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Abigail, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Liliana, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Lily, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Joey, Aubrey, Ben, and Jamilah.
Hard to believe this is our last week of school before Thanksgiving Break. I’m hoping to catch up on all of our Seesaw posts this weekend, relax, and do some lesson planning for the upcoming week! I hope you have a safe and terrific one as well! Go Hawkeyes and Bears!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
November 6, 2020:
Happy first Friday of the second quarter! A belated hug and thanks to “Grandma” Phyllis, who helped me with putting together all of our packets for our materials pick-up las week! Report cards were sent via email after school today. Congratulations to the following students who earned all M’s and D’s for the 1st Quarter ~ Liliana, Samantha, Holden, Octavius, Billy, and Emily :)! High fives also go out to Joey, Liliana, Brooklyn, Aubrey, Ben, Samantha, Nathan, Lailah, Brandon, Julia, Adela, Sofi, Emma, Raiden, and Emily who had perfect attendance! Here’s a look at our week ahead . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:30.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember to post a picture of your reading (November 1st -7th ) on your November Reading Log Seesaw activity by 1:00 to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 6 Spelling Test will be this morning. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:30.
Wednesday:
Happy Birthday Abigail and Happy Veteran’s Day to all of the wonderful men and women who have helped keep us safe; thanks for your service! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end-of-the day birthday celebration wrap-up at 2:30.
Thursday:
Happy Birthday Raiden! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Remember, you should be working on an Art, Gym, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end-of-the-day birthday celebration wrap-up at 2:30.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. Please be sure to check in at 1:35. The afternoon will be spent finishing up any of today’s work, as well as any from the week. I’ll be on the entire afternoon to give assistance, if needed. We’ll be enjoying “Friday Fun” during our end of the day wrap-up at 2:30.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*We’re once again using the Standards Based Report Card this year in 1st Grade. The following is being used to assess your student’s work this year:
Mastery/M ~ Consistently understands and applies the standard
Developing/D ~ Making progress toward understanding and applying the standard
Concern/C ~ Minimal to no progress toward understanding and applying the standard
*Regarding the Math Fluency grade (Demonstrate fluency for addition and subtraction within 10) on the report card, students have been working extremely hard on their basic math facts to 10 through XtraMath and flashcard practice at school and at home every day. They took a timed test called Addition and Subtraction Fluency to 10 Assessment for this standard. The goal is to answer each problem within 3 seconds. They may count on, using fingers, to answer the problems. Ex. Have them put the larger number in their brain and count on the other number using fingers. (So 4+3=______ I put 4 in my brain and count on 3 fingers: 4...5, 6, 7.) They have 4 minutes for the addition page (both sides) and 4 minutes for the subtraction page (both sides) so a total of 8 minutes. (I also gave an extra minute for both the addition and subtraction portions, since the kids were taking it on Seesaw.) They will continue to have the Addition and Subtraction Fluency to 10 assessment each quarter. The goal is to have Mastery by the end of the year; however, the sooner the students are able to show Mastery the easier math will be for them. Please continue practicing on XtraMath and +/- flashcards on a daily basis.
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email and the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures) too. Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends at 3:15 p.m. We set alarms each morning for small group and whole group lessons. Again, our end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up will now be 2:30-3:00.
*As stated in last week’s forecast, another change for the 2nd Quarter ~ we’ll no longer be posting our Math4Today and Problem of the Day each day; instead, those will be shown to me on Zoom after we finish them each day.
*Ms. O’Neill, our Title 1 Teacher and Mrs. VanBoldrik, our Math Interventionist, will begin working with students this upcoming week; if your child has been selected for either of these, I’ll let you know via email of the day(s) and time(s).
*Remember to be saving toilet paper rolls; you’ll need one for each person in your family for the turkey cracker activity we’ll be doing on our “Thanksgiving Feast” day (Thursday, November 19th).
*As we continue to take assessments, it’s crucial that students take these on their own with no assistance from home. Again, I know it’s sometimes difficult to see your child struggle, but I need an accurate measure of where they are at this point in time! I repeat directions multiple times and am happy to assist your child with the process!
*Parents/Helpers, again, please continue to be cognizant that background conversations are heard when your child is unmuted, so be sure these are respectful and appropriate for our children’s ears!
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We liked getting to know more about Brooklyn this week and seeing her “show & tell,” her little sister Iris! Nathan will be in the spotlight next week!
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we began Module 2, “The Sun, Moon, and Stars,” Unit 1 and enjoyed talking about what we notice and wonder about them. Today we read and discussed Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky. We’ve also enjoyed reading stories on Epic, from our new November collection, and talked about story elements, questioning, main idea and details. We used our break-out rooms this week to write sentences using our high frequency words, partner read “Sam Wants a Pet,” and worked on our short e pumpkins. Continue to complete 15-20 minutes of your IXL recommendations each day during center time. Kudos to Joey. Liliana, Nathan, Lailah, Octavius, Julia, Emma, and Emily; they all earned mastery on our Cycle 5 Spelling Test! We then began working on Skills Block Cycle 6 with the following short e words* on Thursday: shed, yet, pen, send, test, and best. The high frequency words are: about, out, many, then, and them. Weekend and October News, journaling, and writing in our module book kept us busy, as well as learning about Imperative Sentences. We’ll begin working with nouns next week. We’ll also continue work in our Handwriting Without Tears Printing Book, focusing on P/p, R/r, N/n, and M/m.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Practicing rhyming words would be a great idea!) Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.
NOVEMBER READING LOG:
Way to go Liliana, Ben, and Holden; they reached our October reading goal of 17, read at least 4 days each week, and posted their reading every Tuesday! (They’ll get to choose a free book from me.) Also reaching goal last month were Samantha, Abigail, Nathan, Lily, Octavius, Julia, Adela, and Raiden . . . super! Our November goal is 16 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Be sure to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (November 1st-7th) on Tuesday by 1:30 p.m to be part of our weekly free book drawing! This week’s book winners were Holden and Julia.
MATH:
So happy to announce that Lily earned her beginning subtraction XtraMath subtraction certificate and got to hear her name on morning announcements! We completed Math 4 Today Week 10 and solved a “Problem of the Day” each day in our Math Journal. We also counted forward and backward to 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders! WOW, Liliana and Octavius earned a perfect score on all three sections of our Chapter 2 Test yesterday! Also earning mastery on all three sections were Joey, Samantha, Holden, Lily, and Adela; Nathan, Lailah, Brandon, Julia, Billy, Emma, and Emily achieved mastery on two sections, and Aubrey, Ben, Abigail, Jamilah, Sofi, and Josias on one . . . great work! We worked on our intro pages for Chapter 3, “Addition Strategies,” yesterday, and worked on “turn around” facts today. Next week we’ll be focusing on counting on, adding doubles, practicing strategies, our mid-chapter checkpoint, adding 10 and more, and making a 10 to add.
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we began work in Unit 2, Empathy, focusing on identifying feelings. Our Friday Fun video today, The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings was a great way to wrap up our discussions this week! “How were emojis created?” stirred our curiosity with Mystery Doug on Monday. We also began our first Social Studies Inquiry, “The President;” we read and discussed our Studies Weekly, “Purpose and Structure of Government.” Today, we created a special “Veteran’s Day” card on Seesaw, which will be compiled with all of our other first grade friend’s!
SEESAW WORK:
Please be sure you’re posting your work to Seesaw each day. I’ve been archiving all of our first quarter activities, so now be sure you complete and post all of this week’s work! As promised, we’ll be doing our 1st Quarter drawing early next week; Mr. Beringer will be picking our winners! Thanks Grandma Phyllis for writing names on all of our drawing tickets! (Example: If you completed and posted 190 activities the first quarter, you’ll have 19 tickets in our drawing.)
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks a bunch to this week’s “helping hands:” Student of the Week ~ Brooklynn, Pledge Leader ~ Lily, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Emily, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Nathan, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Octavius, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Samantha, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Brandon , and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Billy, Sofi, Sammie, and Josias.
Parent(s)/helper(s), as we end this first week of the second quarter, I wanted to take a moment to again thank you for all of your help and patience as we navigate through this very different learning environment! I’ve loved getting to know your students these past couple of months and pray that 2021 will bring us back to “in-person” learning again at some point! Until then, we’ll continue to work together to help your child achieve their full potential J! Mr. Baytala and I are looking forward to spending the weekend with Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn, and hoping our Hawkeyes and Bears have better results! It looks like the weather’s going to be beautiful too, so whatever your plans, I hope yours is safe and wonderful too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
October 30, 2020:
Happy birthday Santi! We enjoyed sharing your day with you! We hope you liked all of our messages and pictures! We look forward to seeing your show & tell on Monday! We also loved all of our “Pumpkin Day” activities today! (Your Pumpkin Lanterns turned out great!! Please do post a picture on our Friday Seesaw activity, as well as a picture of you in your Halloween costume!) Here’s a peek at our abbreviated week ahead . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:30.
Tuesday:
Election Day ~ No School for Students or Staff; parents, be sure to vote!
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Our Cycle 5 Spelling Test will be this morning. STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:30.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Our Chapter 2 Math Test will be today. Remember, you should be working on an Art, Gym, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:30.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. Please be sure to check in at 1:35. The afternoon will be spent finishing up any of today’s work, as well as any from the week. I’ll be on the entire afternoon to give assistance, if needed. We’ll be enjoying “Friday Fun” during our end of the day wrap-up at 2:30.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*Be sure to turn your clocks back one hour Saturday night as we move to Standard Time. It’s also a great idea to change the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors!
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email and post a Seesaw activity each morning with this same information. This now contains pictures too. Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends at 3:15 p.m. We set alarms each morning for small group and whole group lessons. Again, our end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up will now be 2:30-3:00.
*Another change for the 2nd Quarter ~ we’ll no longer be posting our Math4Today and Problem of the Day each day; instead, those will be shown to me on Zoom after we finish them each day.
*Ms. O’Neill, our Title 1 Teacher and Mrs. VanBoldrik, our Math Interventionist, will no longer be working with us on Wednesdays. Instead, based on MAP and FastBridge scores, they will be working with a 1st grade group. I will be contacting you if your child has been selected for this group.
*Remember to start saving toilet paper rolls; you’ll need one for each person in your family for the turkey cracker activity we’ll be doing on our “Thanksgiving Feast” day (Thursday, November 19th).
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed getting to know more about Abigail this week and seeing her “show & tell,” her room! Brooklyn will be our first Student of the Week for the 2nd Quarter. (I’ll be emailing you and posting a copy of our Student of the Week and Birthday Celebration list for the 2nd Quarter on our Weebly page.)
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we finished up Module 1, Unit 2, taking an assessment using The Little Red Pen. We’ve also enjoyed reading stories on Epic, talking about story elements, questioning, main idea and details. I used our break-out rooms this week to assess asking and answering questions about fictional and nonfictional text; we also enjoyed some partner reading and word work in them today! We’ll begin Module 2, “Sun, Moon, and Stars” next week. Remember to complete 15-20 minutes of your IXL recommendations each day during center time. High fives to Liliana, Samantha, Abigail, Nathan, Billy, and Emily; they all earned mastery on our Cycle 4 Spelling Test! We then began working on Skills Block Cycle 5 with the following short o words* on Wednesday: job, box, shop, got, and wow. The high frequency words are: which, how, their will, and other. Weekend News and journaling kept us busy, as well as learning about Exclamatory Sentences. We’ll begin working with nouns next week. We practiced upper and lowercase Y,y and J,j and did some line practice in our Handwriting Without Tears Printing Book. Thanks for your assistance on Wednesday Ms. O’Neill.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Practicing rhyming words would be a great idea!) Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER READING LOG:
Our October goal is 17 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Be sure to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (October 25th – 31st ) on Tuesday by 2:30 p.m to be part of our weekly free book drawing! Liliana and Ben were this week’s winners! (Since Octavius had already won earlier in October, we picked another winner for last week . . . Billy.) Those students who read at least 4 days each week, posted every Tuesday, and reached our October goal will be choosing a free book from me next week. Your November Reading Log was in with your materials that you picked up. Our goal for November will be 16 days; please start using your November calendar this Sunday, November 1st.
MATH:
Kudos to Holden and Emily; they earned their beginning subtraction XtraMath subtraction certificate and got to hear their names on morning announcements! Adela is also to be congratulated; she earned her beginning addition XtraMath addition certificate and will hear her name on announcements on Monday! We completed Math 4 Today Week 9 and solved a “Problem of the Day” each day in our Math Journal. We also counted forward and backward to 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders! We finished up work in Chapter 2, “Subtraction Concept;” we’ll be reviewing for our test on Monday and Wednesday, and then taking it on Thursday. We’ll then begin Chapter 3, “Addition Strategies.” We’ll also continue our small Guided Math Group; please complete 15-20 minutes of your IXL recommendations each day, as well as XtraMath during center time. Thanks for your help this past Wednesday Mrs. VanBoldrik.
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
We went through our Second Step “Bystander” Poster strategies this week, and wrapped up our week with the read aloud, Wanda Witch and the Bullies. We started our week discovering “Who invented candy?” with Mystery Doug. I’ve really enjoyed seeing/hearing about your new candy ideas too! We finished up our “Sounds and Lights” Unit talking about shadows and will do our Seesaw activity when we hopefully have sun next week. We’ll also begin our Social Studies Unit on Government, just in time for our presidential election.
SEESAW WORK:
Please be sure your student is posting their work to Seesaw each day. If your child still hasn’t posted all of their work, please have them do it tomorrow as I will be working on grades this weekend!
HELPING HANDS:
Hugs and thanks to this week’s “helping hands:” Student of the Week ~ Abigail, Pledge Leader ~ Raiden, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Joey, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Liliana, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Jamilah, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Aubrey, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Julia , and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Emma, Gabe, Lailah, and Santi.
Hard to believe the first quarter is over! If you’re trick-or-treating, be sure to stop by my home tomorrow. Mr. Baytala and I will hopefully be watching the Hawkeyes and Bears win this weekend! Whatever you’re up to, I hope your weekend is safe and wonderful too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
October 23, 2020:
Happy Friday! Thanks Mrs. Vrtis for coming in this past Monday to read one of Emily’s favorite stories, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus on her birthday! We liked seeing her neat Unicorn show & tell too! Hopefully some of you got to see Mr. Beringer’s wonderful presentation about Foster at Tuesday evening’s school board meeting! He loved all of the posters, signs, and well wishes he got today at the conclusion of National Principal’s Week! I attached a picture of our message to the Friday Forecast email. Here’s a look at what’s been keeping us busy this past week, and what’s coming next week . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:45.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember to post a picture of your reading (October 18-24th ) on your October Reading Log Seesaw activity by 2:30 to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:45.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Wear your orange today to support Anti-Bullying Awareness Month! The 2nd Quarter material pick-up is today (8:45-11:45 a.m. and 12:30-3:00 p.m.) at Foster. If you’re unable to make these, let me know, and we could set a time to possibly pick up at my home. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Our Cycle 4 Spelling Test will be this morning. STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:45.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on an Art, Gym, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:45.
Friday:
Happy Birthday Santi, and Happy Pumpkin Day! I’m looking forward to seeing all of your Halloween costumes today on Zoom! We’ll enjoy lots of fun, engaging cross-curricular activities today. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child checks in at 1:35. The afternoon will be spent working on more of our “Pumpkin Day” activities. We’ll be meeting with our buddies from Mr. Hall’s class too. Santi’s birthday celebration will be at 2:45.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email. I began doing an audio version this week; thanks parents for your supportive emails about this; it will continue to be provided as a daily Seesaw “activity” :)! Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends at 3:15 p.m. We set alarms each morning for small group and whole group lessons. Again, our end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up is at 2:45.
*Just a reminder, your student will need a clean, label-free glass jar, liquid glue, and a paintbrush for the pumpkin lanterns we’ll be making on Friday. (All other materials you’ll need will be in with your packet pick-up materials on Wednesday.)
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed seeing Zack’s show & tell today! Nathan will be in the spotlight next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we began reading The Little Red Pen and have talked about how the main character (Highlighter) used initiative, collaboration, and perseverance. We’ve continued talking about story elements, questioning, main idea and details. We also started using our break-out rooms, working on Interrogative sentences and questioning. Remember to complete 15-20 minutes of your IXL recommendations each day during center time. Way to go Joey, Liliana, Brooklynn, Samantha, Abigail, Julia, Billy, Adela, Emma, and Emily; they all earned mastery on our Cycle 3 Spelling Test! We then began working on Skills Block Cycle 4 with the following short u words on Wednesday: rug, fun, up, hush, slush, and quick. The high frequency words are: when, your, there, use, and each. Weekend News and journaling were also on our agenda. In handwriting this week, we worked on upper and lowercase L,l and K,k in our Handwriting Without Tears Printing Book. Ms. O’Neill, thanks for your assistance on Wednesday!
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Practicing rhyming words would be a great idea!) Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.
OCTOBER READING LOG:
Our October goal is 17 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Be sure to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (October 18th - 24th) on Tuesday by 2:30 p.m to be part of our weekly free book drawing! This week’s winners were Samantha and Octavius!
MATH:
High fives to Liliana; she earned her beginning subtraction XtraMath subtraction certificate they got/will get to hear their names on morning announcements! We completed Math 4 Today Week 8 and solved a “Problem of the Day” each day in our Math Journal. We also counted forward and backward to 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders! We’ll be finishing work in Chapter 2, “Subtraction Concepts” next week; we’ll be concentrating on subtracting all or zero, taking apart numbers, and subtracting from 10 or less. We’ll then begin reviewing for the test. We’ll also continue our small Guided Math Group; continue to complete 15-20 minutes of your IXL recommendations each day, as well as XtraMath during center time. Mrs. VanBoldrik, thanks for your help this past Wednesday finishing up our FastBridge testing!
SEL/SCIENCE:
We continued learning more anti-bullying strategies as we completed our “Bullying is NOT Cool” booklet this week. Mystery Doug’s lesson had us curious about “Why are so many people scared of bugs?” I loved seeing all of the colorful centipedes you made! We also continued work in our “Sounds and Lights” Unit, discovering “How boats find their way in the fog.” (I liked hearing your thoughts about ways to communicate with sound.)
SEESAW WORK:
Please be sure your student is posting their work to Seesaw each day. We post their Language Arts Journal, Math 4 Today, Math Journal and any GO Math pages together. I will send back any activities that need to be checked and corrected; please help your child with notes or suggestions I may give them, and when they’ve completed their correction(s), remind them to post a new picture on the activity. Again, please remind your child to tap on edit not copy and edit when correcting/revising their work. (We went over this together again this past week.) Other cross-curricular activities across the different subject areas may also be assigned throughout the week. Time is given in class each day to complete these. After our Guided Math time each afternoon I’m happy to give assistance during our independent work time, so please encourage your student to take advantage of this. Weekly activities will generally be archived Sunday evening, so please let me know via email should your child need extra time to work on any of these activities.
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks so much to this week’s “helping hands:” Student of the Week ~ Zack, Pledge Leader ~ Abigail, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Brooklyn, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Billy, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Josias, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Nathan, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Sofi , and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Samantha, Lily, Xavier, and Adela.
Relaxing, cheering on the Iowa Hawkeyes, and lesson planning are on my agenda for tomorrow. Sunday, Mr. Baytala and I are heading up north to spend the day with Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn! Whatever you’re up to this weekend, I hope it’s safe and wonderful too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
October 16, 2020:
Happy Friday! Hard to believe October is half over already! High fives go out to Emily, who was chosen as one of October's Lion Leaders! Here’s a glance at what’s been happening and our week ahead . . .
Monday:
Happy Birthday Emily! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day birthday wrap-up at 2:45.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! PTA’s Pumpkins & Pizza Prepaid Order Form is due today. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember to post a picture of your reading (October 11-17th ) on your October Reading Log Seesaw activity by 2:30 to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:45.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Wear your pink today to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Our Cycle 3 Spelling Test will be this morning. STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:45.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on an Art, Gym, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:45.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child checks in at 1:35. The afternoon will be spent working independently on completing any of this week’s activities. I will be on the entire afternoon should you need any assistance. Please be on for our end-of-the-day Friday Fun activity at 2:45.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*The Foster Lion Leaders of the month are chosen based on qualities such as character, leadership, and citizenship, not necessarily academics. Lion Leaders demonstrate excellent behavior inside and outside the classroom, are well mannered, and respectful to both peers and teachers. Lion Leaders display excellent citizenship by aligning themselves with the Foster Pride Pledge. Lastly, Lion Leaders show exemplar character through their compassion, honesty, trustworthiness, responsibility, optimism, and loyalty in creating a positive school environment.
*PTA’s “Pumpkins & Pizza” Event ~ Thursday, October 29th (Pick-up will be in front of Hille School ~ 5:00-7:00 p.m.) I have emailed the pre-paid order form to you; this is due this Tuesday, October 20th.
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email. Centers and activities will also be on our Seesaw Announcement page.
* Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends at 3:15 p.m. We set alarms each morning for small group and whole group lessons. Again, our end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up is at 2:45.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed seeing Samantha’s pompom craft show & tell on Tuesday! We liked getting to know more about Holden this week, and thought his Mickey Mouse Club Racetrack was really cool too! Zack will be highlighted next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
We took our Unit 1 Reading Test at the beginning of the week, and then began Unit 2, reading and discussing The Most Magnificent Thing. I really enjoyed seeing your thoughts and pictures of what you considered a magnificent thing! We’ve talked about story elements, questioning, main idea and details. Taking the jump rope and name game challenge were also fun! During small group time I started our “Concepts of Print” assessment. Again, please be sure you’re completing 15-20 minutes of your IXL recommendations each day during center time. Due to our days off, we’ll be taking our Skills Block Cycle 2, test on the following words on Wednesday: it, in, dig, lip, kid, and mat*; high frequency words are: words, but, what, and were. Weekend News, September News, and journaling also kept us busy. In handwriting this week, we worked on upper and lowercase E,e, rhymes and punctuation in our Handwriting Without Tears Printing Book. Ms. O’Neill and Ms. Scolaro, thanks for finishing up our FastBridge assessment this past Wednesday.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Practicing rhyming words would be a great idea!) Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.
OCTOBER READING LOG:
Our October goal is 17 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Be sure to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (October 11th - 17th) on Tuesday by 2:30 p.m to be part of our weekly free book drawing! Our winners this week were Lailah and Nathan!
MATH:
Kudos to Samantha and Joey; they earned their first XtraMath certificate for successfully completing the beginning addition section, and got/will get to hear their name on morning announcements! We completed Math 4 Today Week 7 and solved a “Problem of the Day” each day in our Math Journal. We also counted forward and backward to 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders! Continuing work in Chapter 2, “Subtraction Concepts” will keep us busy next week; we’ll be focusing on modeling taking apart, using pictures and subtraction, and subtracting to compare. We’ll continue our small Guided Math Groups next week; please be sure you’re completing 15-20 minutes of your IXL recommendations each day, as well as XtraMath during center time. Thanks Mrs. VanBoldrik for your help this past Wednesday!
SEL/SCIENCE:
This week’s Second Step lessons were about anti-bullying. We enjoyed reading and discussing Resisting Bullying, Kids Speak Out Against Bullying, and How to Deal with Bullies Superhero Style this week, as well as beginning our “Bullying is NOT Cool” booklet. This week’s Mystery Doug lesson had us curious about “Why do owls say hoo?” We also continued work in our “Sounds and Lights” Unit, discovering “How we could send a secret message to someone far away.” (I think we all enjoyed playing each other’s Coding Activity Game!)
SEESAW WORK:
Please be sure your student is posting their work to Seesaw each day. We post their Language Arts Journal, Math 4 Today, Math Journal and any GO Math pages together. I will send back any activities that need to be checked and corrected; please help your child with notes or suggestions I may give them, and when they’ve completed their correction(s), remind them to post a new picture on the activity. Please remind your child to tap on edit not copy and edit when correcting/revising their work. (We went over this together again this past week.) Other cross-curricular activities across the different subject areas may also be assigned throughout the week. Time is given in class each day to complete these. After our Guided Math time each afternoon I’m happy to give assistance during our independent work time, so please encourage your student to take advantage of this. Weekly activities will generally be archived Sunday evening, so please let me know via email should your child need extra time to work on any of these activities.
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks a bunch to this week’s “helping hands:” Student of the Week ~ Holden, Pledge Leader ~ Lailah, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Santi, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Jamilah, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Raiden, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Emma, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Ben , and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Brandon, Octavius, Sammie, and Emily.
Parents/helpers thanks for all of your assistance this week! I’m planning on sleeping in tomorrow; relaxing, planning, and Seesaw post checking, as well as cheering on the Bears will also be on my agenda this weekend! I hope you have a great one too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
October 9, 2020:
Happy Friday! I hope you’re enjoying the beautiful weather on your day off today! Thanks families for picking up your October packets at my home last Sunday or at school this week; hugs and thanks to Grandma Phyllis for helping put those together for us! We were so happy to help Sofi celebrate her birthday this past Monday! Thanks Ms. Villalobos for reading one of her favorite stories, Little Fairy’s Magic Garden; we liked seeing her birthday show & tell too . . . her new Nintendo Switch. Thanks too to Mia, Zack’s sister, for reading Charlie the Ranch Dog, when we celebrated his birthday yesterday. He’s going to share his birthday show & tell on Tuesday! Here’s a peek at our abbreviated week ahead . . .
Monday:
Columbus Day ~ no school for students or staff
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember to post a picture of your reading (October 4-10th ) on your October Reading Log Seesaw activity by 2:30 to be a part of today’s free book drawing. We’ll be taking our Unit 1 Reading Assessment today. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:45.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Our Cycle 3 Spelling Test will be this morning. STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:45.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on an Art, Gym, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:45.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day Friday Fun activity at 2:45.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*If you haven’t yet, please do remember to sign up for PTA; your membership will support all the wonderful programs the PTA provides for our children/families, and you’ll get a really neat calendar! I emailed you the membership form and information telling you why sponsoring PTA is so important. You can also follow PTA on Facebook and Twitter; their webpage is frpta142.com (I just got my cool calendar!)
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email.
* Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends at 3:15 p.m. We set alarms each morning for small group and whole group lessons. You’ll notice, I’ve moved our end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up to 2:45. (With so many of us sharing our daily journal entries, I’m happy to push the time so everyone can share, and we can be done by 3:15.)
*We’re once again using the Standards Based Report Card this year in 1st Grade. The following is being used to assess your student’s work this year:
Mastery/M ~ Consistently understands and applies the standard
Developing/D ~ Making progress toward understanding and applying the standard
Concern/C ~ Minimal to no progress toward understanding and applying the standard
*As we continue to take assessments, it’s crucial that students take these on their own with no assistance from home. I know it’s sometimes difficult to see your child struggle, but I need an accurate measure of where they are at this point in time! I repeat directions multiple times and am happy to assist your child with the process!
*Parents/Helpers, again, please continue to be cognizant that background conversations are heard when your child is unmuted, so be sure these are respectful and appropriate for our children’s ears!
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed getting to know more about Samantha this week; she’ll be doing her show & tell on Tuesday! Holden will be in the spotlight next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we continued reading/talking about different tools and how they help us. Story elements, questioning, main idea and details have also been on our docket. During small group time we continued to do Heggerty Phonemic Awareness together. Please be sure you’re completing 15-20 minutes of your IXL recommendations each day during center time. We’ll be taking our Unit 1 assessment on Tuesday, and then beginning work in Unit 2. Due to our days off, we’ll be taking our Skills Block Cycle 2, test on the following words on Wednesday: it, in, dig, lip, kid, and mat*; high frequency words are: words, but, what, and were. We worked on our Weekend News, and journaled about different story elements, responding to fiction books we chose from Epic; we also wrote and answered some questions about our stories, as well as shared the main idea and details for some nonfiction stories. In handwriting this week, we worked on upper and lowercase G,g, magic c letters (a,d,g, and o), U,u, and I,i in our Handwriting Without Tears Printing Book. Ms. O’Neill, Ms. Scolaro, and Mrs. Martens, thanks for assisting with our FastBridge assessment this past Wednesday.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Practicing rhyming words would be a great idea!) Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.
OCTOBER READING LOG:
Our October goal is 17 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Be sure to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (October 4th -10th) on Tuesday by 2:30 p.m to be part of our weekly free book drawing! This week’s winners were Octavius and Jamilah!
MATH:
High fives to Abigail; she earned her first XtraMath certificate for successfully completing the beginning addition section. We took our Chapter 1 “Addition Concepts” this week. Way to go Liliana, Gabe, Brooklynn, Samantha, Octavius, Billy, and Emily; they achieved Mastery on all 3 sections. Earning Mastery on 2 sections were Joey, Holden, Abigail, Nathan, Lily, Lailah, Brandon, Julia, Emma, Raiden, and Josias, and on 1 section ~ Santi, Xavier, Adela, Sofi, and Sammie . . . wonderful! We also completed Math 4 Today Week 6 and solved a “Problem of the Day” each day in our Math Journal. Counting forward and backward to 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders was also fun! We’ll continue work in Chapter 2, “Subtraction Concepts” next week, focusing on modeling taking from and taking apart. We’ll continue our small Guided Math Groups next week; please be sure you’re completing 15-20 minutes of your IXL recommendations each day, as well as XtraMath during center time. Thanks Mrs. VanBoldrik for your help this past Wednesday with our FastBridge probes.
SEL/SCIENCE:
This week’s Second Step lessons were about being assertive. We played “My Turn, Your Turn,” sang our learning song, role played different situations where we could be assertive, and named our snail puppet . . . Snaily. We enjoyed watching the video and talking about this week’s Mystery Doug question, “How can you tell if a plant is poisonous?” We also continued work in our Sounds and Lights Unit, thinking about the questions, “What if there were no windows?” and “Can you see in the dark?” I enjoyed seeing all the different things you were able to find in your homes that were transparent (see through), translucent (kind of see through), and opaque (can’t see through).
SEESAW WORK:
Please be sure your student is posting their work to Seesaw each day. We post their Language Arts Journal, Math 4 Today, Math Journal and any GO Math pages together. I will send back any activities that need to be checked and corrected; please help your child with notes or suggestions I may give them, and when they’ve completed their correction(s), remind them to post a new picture on the activity. Please remind your child to tap on edit not copy and edit when correcting/revising their work. (We went over this together this past week.) Other cross-curricular activities across the different subject areas may also be assigned throughout the week. Time is given in class each day to complete these. After our Guided Math time each afternoon I’m happy to give assistance during our independent work time, so please encourage your student to take advantage of this. Weekly activities will generally be archived Sunday evening, so please let me know via email should your child need extra time to work on any of these activities.
HELPING HANDS:
Hugs and thanks to our “helping hands” this week: Student of the Week ~ Samantha, Pledge Leader ~ Octavius, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Lily, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Brooklynn, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Brandon, Math 4 Today Helpers ~ Gabe, Holden, Xavier, and Billy, Problem of the Day Helpers ~ Aubrey, Brooklynn, Nathan, and Adela , and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Liliana, Julia, Sofi, and Raiden.
Thanks once again parents/helpers for all of your assistance this week! I’m looking forward to spending the long weekend with Mr. Baytala, Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn and FaceTiming with Ashleigh, Henry, and Pierre! I hope your extended weekend is wonderful too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
October 2, 2020:
Happy Friday! Thanks Mrs. Harkenrider, for coming on our Zoom yesterday to read one of Nathan’s favorite stories, The Good Egg, for his birthday. We also enjoyed seeing his Squirtle show & tell. Octavius, it was great to see you and your family at the PTA Dine -Out on Our October Packet Pick-Up will be at my home's driveway Sunday (9:30-11:30 a.m. and 4:00-6:00 p.m.) Please check your email for more information. Here’s a glance at our week ahead . . .
Monday:
Happy Birthday Sofi! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day birthday wrap-up at 2:50.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember to post a picture of your reading (October 1-3) on your October Reading Log Seesaw activity by 2:30 to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 2/List 2 Spelling Test will be this morning. Our FastBridge Math Probes will also be today. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at 1:35 today; we will be taking our Chapter 1 Math Test (I will help with alarms in the morning.) Our end of the day wrap-up is at 2:50.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:50.
Thursday:
Happy Birthday Zack! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on an Art, Gym, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day birthday wrap-up at 2:50.
Friday:
Teacher Institute Day – No School for Students. PTA Dine-Out at Blaze Pizza (159th and Harlem) 1:00-8:00 p.m. (I’ll be emailing the flyer to you.)
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*If you haven’t yet, please do remember to sign up for PTA; your membership will support all the wonderful programs the PTA provides for our children/families, and you’ll get a really neat calendar! I emailed you the membership form and information telling you why sponsoring PTA is so important. You can also follow PTA on Facebook and Twitter; their webpage is frpta142.com
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email.
* Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends at 3:15 p.m. We set alarms each morning for small group and whole group lessons.
**We’re once again using the Standards Based Report Card this year in 1st Grade. The following is being used to assess your student’s work this year:
Mastery/M ~ Consistently understands and applies the standard
Developing/D ~ Making progress toward understanding and applying the standard
Concern/C ~ Minimal to no progress toward understanding and applying the standard
*Thanks again parents/helpers for beginning to pull back a bit. Once your child is on and I’m teaching a whole class or small group lesson, please do go and do other things that you need to get done. I am on all morning and afternoon to assist your child; remind them that they can request assistance from me if they need it.
*Parents/Helpers, again, please continue to be cognizant that background conversations are heard when your child is unmuted, so be sure these are respectful and appropriate for our children’s ears!
*As you see above, students will be off Friday, October 9th (Teacher Institute Day); everyone will be off on Monday, October 12th (Columbus Day).
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed seeing Aubrey’s tooth show & tell. We also liked getting to know more about Ben this week and seeing his Barry the Teddy Bear show & tell. Samantha will be highlighted next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we enjoyed learning about many different kinds of tools. We’ve talked about good questions, and answering those. We’ve also continued to talk about characters, setting, plot, problem, and solution. During small group time we continued to do Heggerty Phonemic Awareness together. We’ll be finishing up our first unit in EL next week, and starting Unit 2. We’ll complete Skills Block Cycle 2, with our test on the following words on Tuesday: rag, sad, am, tan, cap, and wax*; high frequency words are ~ this, from, or, and one. I loved hearing your Weekend News and seeing your pictures. The rest of the week we journaled about a math tool and how it helped us, story elements from a fictional book on Epic, main idea and details from a nonfiction book on Epic or Tumble, and some good questions. For handwriting this week, we worked on lowercase v and w, and upper and lowercase T,t, A,a and D,d in our Handwriting Without Tears Printing Book! Ms. O’Neill. thanks for your help this past Wednesday too.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Practicing rhyming words would be a great idea!) Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER READING LOG/SCHOLASTIC BOOK ORDERS:
Our reading goal for August/September was 24 days! Those students who read at least 4 days each week and posted each Tuesday by 2:30 p.m. earned a free book from me; way to go Liliana, Ben, Nathan, Julia, Adela, and Sofi! Also reaching goal were Samantha, Holden, Abigail, Octavius, Brandon, Jamilah, and Xavier . . . super! Our October goal is 17 days. Please be sure to initial your child’s October Reading Log each night they read/are read to for 20 minutes; you need not write the titles of the books read. On Tuesday by 2:30 p.m., please take a picture of their log (October 1st – 3rd ), and upload it to the Reading Log Seesaw Activity on the October 6th slide. Students who read at least 2 days last week will be in our book drawing. Reading at least 4 days the last full week of September and our book winners this week were Ben and Sofi. If you still want to order from Scholastic, go to www.Scholastic.com Next, you’ll click on the top tab ~ Book Clubs, then Connect to Your Teacher; put in our class code: LD9Y9, and then create an account (if you haven’t already when your child was in Kindergarten.) You can then shop by grade, collection, flyer (always has some specials) or book finder. (If you need further assistance with this, please let me know, I’d be happy to walk you through the process.) This month’s book orders will be due by tomorrow at noon. (We will set up a pick-up time at school or my home once books are delivered; you can also choose to have your books delivered to your home.) The advantage of ordering online is there is a 50 cent discount per book, and if you order $25 or more, your child gets a free $5 book pick.
MATH:
Kudos to Brandon, Lily, and Billy; they earned ther first XtraMath certificate for successfully completing the beginning addition section. This week we completed Math 4 Today Week 5 and a “Problem of the Day” each day in our Math Journal. We also practiced counting forward and backward to 120 each day, while doing our Fluency Exercises. Next week we’ll be reviewing for, and taking our Chapter 1, “Addition Concepts,” Test. We’ll then begin Chapter 2, “Subtraction Concepts.” We’ll continue our small Guided Math Groups next week; addition activities on Seesaw, IXL, dice work, and XtraMath have been part of our center activities. Thanks Mrs. VanBoldrik for your help this past Wednesday.
SEL/SCIENCE:
We spent this week talking about “self-talk” in Second Step. We played “My Turn, Your Turn” and named our puppy puppet . . . Chocolate. Mystery Doug had us curious about the question, “How do phones work?” We also continued our Sound and Light Unit, making a cup-a-phone and guitar.
SEESAW WORK:
Please be sure your student is posting their work to Seesaw each day. We post their Language Arts Journal, Math 4 Today, Math Journal and any GO Math pages together. I will send back any activities that need to be checked and corrected; please help your child with notes or suggestions I may give them, and when they’ve completed their correction(s), remind them to post a new picture on the activity. Other cross-curricular activities across the different subject areas may also be assigned throughout the week. Time is given in class each day to complete these. After our Guided Math time each afternoon I’m happy to give assistance during our independent work time, so please encourage your student to take advantage of this. Weekly activities will generally be archived Sunday evening, so please let me know via email should your child need extra time to work on any of these activities.
FRIDAY FUN:
For Friday Fun today, we played “Halloween Jingo.” We had lots of winners ~ Xavier, Lily, Octavius, Liliana, Sofi, Joey, Ben, Nathan, Adela, Samantha, and Brooklynnn. They’ll receive a special surprise in our October pick-up bag. Our August "Back to School" Jingo winners (Lily, Sofi, Ben, and Samantha) will also be receiving their special surprise.
HELPING HANDS:
High fives and thanks to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Ben, Pledge Leader ~ Jamilah, Good Morning Song Helper ~ Julia, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Santi, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Sofi, Math 4 Today Helpers ~ Emily, Josias, Abigail, Sammie, and Joey, Problem of the Day Helpers ~ Josias, Abigail, Sammie, Samantha, and Holden, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Aubrey, Brooklynn, Adela, and Emma.
Thanks again parents/helpers for all of your assistance this week! Relaxing, going through Seesaw posts, and lesson planning are on my agenda this weekend. Mr. Baytala and I look forward to cheering the Bears on to another victory Sunday, and I hope to see many of you here before or after, for our October packet pick-up! (If neither of the above times work, please do let me know, so we can schedule an alternate time.)
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
September 25, 2020:
Happy Birthday wishes go out to Mr. Baytala, my wonderful hubby, and Mrs. Huber, one of our super instructional assistants! We enjoyed celebrating Brandon’s birthday on Zoom this past Monday; thanks Mommy for reading one of his favorite stories, Pig the Pug. We liked seeing his BOT BOTS show & tell too! Thanks Mr. Beringer for coming in today to read a Johnny Appleseed story to us! Here’s a look at our upcoming week . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is at our 1:35 check-in and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:50.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember to post a picture of last week’s reading (September 20th~26th) on your August/September Reading Log Seesaw activity by 2:30 to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 2 Spelling Test will be this morning. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is at our 1:35 check-in and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:50. Tonight is PTA's "Dine Out" at Freddie's (159th right past Harlem) from 5:00 - 9:00 p.m. Be sure to mention that you're with the Forest Ridge PTA. (Our PTA then earns 20% that helps support all their wonderful programs for us!)
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is at our 1:35 check-in and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:50.
Thursday:
Happy Birthday Nathan! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Please be sure to post a picture of this week’s reading (September 27th-30th) on the August/September Reading Log Seesaw activity. Remember, you should be working on an Art, Gym, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be sure your child is at our 1:35 check-in and our end of the day birthday wrap-up at 2:50.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon and 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is at our 1:35 check-in and our end of the day Friday Fun at 2:50. Scholastic online Book Orders are due today.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*Our Foster Spirit Wear sale ends today; you may order online at https://foster2020.itemorder.com, and your order will be delivered directly to your home!
*If you haven’t yet, please do remember to sign up for PTA; your membership will support all the wonderful programs the PTA provides for our children/families, and you’ll get a really neat calendar! I emailed you the membership form and information telling you why sponsoring PTA is so important. You can also follow PTA on Facebook and Twitter; their webpage is frpta142.com
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email.
* Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends at 3:15 p.m. We set alarms each morning for small group and whole group lessons.
**We’re once again using the Standards Based Report Card this year in 1st Grade. The following is being used to assess your student’s work this year:
Mastery/M ~ Consistently understands and applies the standard
Developing/D ~ Making progress toward understanding and applying the standard
Concern/C ~ Minimal to no progress toward understanding and applying the standard
*Thanks again parents/helpers for beginning to pull back a bit. Once your child is on and I’m teaching a whole class or small group lesson, please do go and do other things that you need to get done. I am on all morning and afternoon to assist your child; remind them that they can request assistance from me if they need it.
*Parents/Helpers, again, please continue to be cognizant that background conversations are heard when your child is unmuted, so be sure these are respectful and appropriate for our children’s ears!
*There will be no school on Friday, October 9th and Monday, October 12th (Columbus Day Weekend)
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We liked getting to know more about Aubrey this week. Ben will be in the spotlight next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we enjoyed many books about autumn, apples, and Johnny Appleseed. Mr. Beringer was our “mystery” reader today. We’ve continued to talk about characters, setting, plot, problem, and solution. We’ve also been sharing some questions. During small group time we continued to do Heggerty Phonemic Awareness together. We began our first EL Module, Tools and Work, exploring what we know about tools and how they help us; we also learned more about chef tools. We began work on our EL Skills Block Cycle 2, focusing on short a. Following are the words that will be on our test Tuesday: rag, sad, am, tan, cap, and wax*; high frequency words are ~ this, from, or, and one. Monday found us writing our “Weekend News,” and the rest of the week fall, Johnny Appleseed, and apples have been part of our journal entries. We also practiced writing our capital letters, magic c, and plurals in our Handwriting Without Tears Printing Book! Thanks Ms. O'Neill for your assistance this past Wednesday!
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Practicing rhyming words would be a great idea!) Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words.
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER READING LOG/SCHOLASTIC BOOK ORDERS:
Please remember, our reading goal for August/September is 24 days! Please be sure to initial this each night your child reads/is read to for 20 minutes; you need not write the titles of the books read. On Tuesday by 2:30 p.m., please take a picture of their log (September 13th-19th), and upload it to the Reading Log Seesaw Activity on the September 29th slide. Students who have read at least 4 days each week will be in our weekly book drawing; Emma and Billy were this week’s book winners! On Thursday, October 1st, please do take one last picture of your log showing this week’s reading (September 26th – 30th) on the October 1st slide. Students reading at least 4 days each week and posting their work each Tuesday will get a free book from me. Several parents have asked about ordering books from Scholastic; we’ll be doing a class order this week: go to www.Scholastic.com Next, you’ll click on the top tab ~ Book Clubs, then Connect to Your Teacher; put in our class code: LD9Y9, and then create an account (if you haven’t already when your child was in Kindergarten.) You can then shop by grade, collection, flyer (always has some specials) or book finder. (If you need further assistance with this, please let me know, I’d be happy to walk you through the process.) This month’s book orders will be due by Saturday at noon. (We will set up a pick-up time at school or my home once books are delivered; you can also choose to have your books delivered to your home.) The advantage of ordering online is there is a 50 cent discount per book, and if you order $25 or more, your child gets a free $5 book pick.
MATH:
Kudos to Emily; she earned her first XtraMath certificate for successfully completing the beginning addition section. Working on Math 4 Today Week 4 and “Problem of the Day” in our Math Journal, started our Math lessons each day, as well as doing our Fluency Exercises while we counted forward to and backward from 120. Next week we’ll continue work in Chapter 1, “Addition Concepts, focusing on adding in any order, putting together numbers to 10, and addition to 10; we’ll then begin reviewing for our Chapter 1 test. We also started our small Guided Math Groups this week; addition activities on Seesaw, IXL, dice work, and XtraMath have been part of our center activities. Mrs. VanBoldrik, thanks for your assistance this past Wednesday!
SOCIAL STUDIES/SEL/SCIENCE:
We were introduced to Studies Weekly this week. We read and discussed the first issue which highlighted being a mem bber of the community . Second Step lessons this week focused on following directions. We were introduced to the “Learning Song,” and played a harder version of “My Turn, Your Turn.” We journaled about our favorite listening skills too. Mystery Doug had us wondering about the question, “Why is it so hard for firefighters to put out wildfires?” We also made and experimented with a kazoo and a music ruler.
SEESAW WORK:
Please be sure your student is posting their work to Seesaw each day. We post their Language Arts Journal, Math 4 Today, Math Journal and any GO Math pages together. Other cross-curricular activities across the different subject areas will be assigned each day. Time is given in class each day to complete these. After our Guided Math time each afternoon I’m happy to give assistance during our independent work time, so please encourage your student to take advantage of this. Weekly activities will generally be archived Sunday evening, so please let me know via email should your child need extra time to work on any of these activities.
FRIDAY FUN:
For Friday Fun today, we enjoyed seeing our 5th grade buddies and doing an apple graphing activity together!
HELPING HANDS:
Hugs and thanks to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Aubrey, Pledge Leader ~ Emily, Good Morning Song Helper ~ Abigail, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Josias, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Sammie, Math 4 Today Helpers ~ Brooklynn, Lily, Lailah, Octavius, and Brandon, Problem of the Day Helpers ~ Billy, Joey, Liliana, Gabe, and Xavier, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Ben, Samantha, Holden, and Nathan.
I’m heading up to Michigan this weekend to celebrate Mr. Baytala’s 65th with dinner near the St. Joe river tonight! The weather looks like it’s going to be beautiful, so we’re hoping for some beach time tomorrow. Lesson planning and watching the Bears game are on the agenda for Sunday. Hope you have a wonderful and safe weekend too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
September 18, 2020:
Birthday Octavius! Thanks Daddy for starting our morning with Octavius’s favorite story, Little Dino’s Big Roar. We also enjoyed seeing Sam, his teddy bear. We hope you enjoyed seeing/hearing all of our special birthday messages! Gabe, we enjoyed hearing Mommy read your favorite story, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, this past Monday on your birthday; we liked seeing your cool Fortnite nightlight too! We hope you also enjoyed seeing/hearing all of our special birthday messages! Parents/Caregivers, a big hug and thanks for ALL of your help and patience with our MAP testing the past few days. I couldn’t have gotten through it without you and Mrs. H.! Last week we welcomed Sammie to our Room 122 Remote Family, and today we had another new addition . . . Brooklynn . . . welcome! Early birthday wishes go out to Brandon; his birthday is tomorrow and we’ll be celebrating on Zoom with him on Monday and to Ms Katz, one of our fantastic 1st Grade Teachers; her birthday is on Sunday! Here’s a look at our upcoming week . . .
Monday:
Happy Birthday celebration day Brandon! (Please be sure to send a special birthday message to Brandon via our Seesaw activity.) Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is at our 1:35 check-in and our end of the day birthday celebration wrap-up at 2:50.
Tuesday:
Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is at our 1:35 check-in and our end of the day wrap-up at 3:00.
Wednesday:
Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is at our 1:35 check-in and our end of the day wrap-up at 3:00.
Thursday:
Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Please be sure your child is at our 1:35 check-in and our end of the day wrap-up at 3:00.
Friday:
Happy Birthday wishes go out to my wonderful hubby Mr. Baytala and Mrs. Huber, one of our super Instructional Assistants! We'll also be celebrating Johnny Appleseed's birthday early (September 26th) today with many fun cross-curricular "Apple Fest" activities. Today is the last day to order Foster Spirit Wear; see below. Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. Please be sure your child is at our 1:35 check-in. We'll be meeting with our 5th Grade Buddies from Mr. Hall's class this afternoon for some apple tasting fun; look for more information to come home via email early next week; this will go right into our end of the day wrap-up!
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*Our Foster’s Spirit Wear sale kicked off last Friday and will continue through next Friday, September 25th; you may order online at https://foster2020.itemorder.com, and your order will be delivered directly to your home!
*If you haven’t yet, please do remember to sign up for PTA; your membership will support all the wonderful programs the PTA provides for our children/families, and you’ll get a really neat calendar! I will be emailing you the membership form and information telling you why sponsoring PTA is so important. You can also follow PTA on Facebook, Twitter, their webpage frpta142.com
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email.
* Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends at 3:15 p.m. We set alarms each morning for small group and whole group lessons.
*Thanks again parents/helpers for beginning to pull back a bit. Once your child is on and I’m teaching a whole class or small group lesson, please do go and do other things that you need to get done. I am on all morning and afternoon to assist your child; remind them that they can request assistance from me if they need it.
*We'll be celebrating Johnny Appleseed's birthday next Friday with many fun "Apple Fest" activities. Your child will need their favorite apple for an afternoon activity with our 5th Grade Buddies.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We liked getting to know more about Gabe this week; his poster was at his Grandma’s so he’ll be presenting it on Monday. Aubrey will be highlighted next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
As I advised you via email, we got the wonderful news from Mrs. Ehrhart that our kids now also have access to Tumble Books (www.TumbleBookLibrary.com) The username is d142 and the password is reads. We’ve also continued enjoying books on Epic this week. Characters, setting, plot, problem, and solution have all been part of our daily discussions. Next week we’ll begin our first EL Module, Tools and Work. We continued work on our EL Skills Block Cycle 1, working with rhyming words and talking about how books open doors. Midweek next week, we’ll begin Cycle 2; our first Spelling List will be coming home via email then. Writing our “Weekend News” and journal entries with our neatest handwriting has also kept us busy. (If you haven’t already, be sure to post these to Seesaw.)
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER READING LOG:
Remember, our reading goal for August/September is 24 days! Please be sure to initial this each night your child reads/is read to for 20 minutes; you need not write the titles of the books read. On Tuesday, please take a picture of their log (September 13th-19th), and upload it to the Reading Log Seesaw Activity on the September 22nd slide. Students who have read at least 4 days each week will be in our weekly book drawing, and those students reading each week and reaching goal for the month will receive a free book from me. This week’s book winners were Samantha and Holden.
MATH:
High fives to Samantha and Octavius who earned their first XtraMath certificate this week for successfully completing the beginning addition section. We worked on Math 4 Today Week 3 and “Problem of the Day” in our Math Journal; we then uploaded them each day! We’ve continued doing daily fluency exercises (counting forward to and backward from 120.) Next week we’ll be taking our first Quick Checks; parent(s)/helpers, please do not assist your child with these; I need to know what concepts they are grasping and those they may need extra work on. We’ll be working on putting together, problem solving, our mid-chapter checkpoint, and adding zero. Center time will be spent on IXL, XtraMath, and Seesaw activities.
SOCIAL STUDIES/SEL:
We’ve been working on Second Step lessons on whole body listening and enjoyed playing the game My Turn, Your Turn. We journaled about our favorite listening skills too. We also celebrated Constitution Day yesterday; we liked learning about the Constitution and were able to create our very own law on an engaging Seesaw activity.
SCIENCE:
We started our week with Mystery Doug and the question, “Has anything like the coronavirus ever happened before?” We’ve continued talking about sound and wrapped up our week with our “Listening Walk.”
SEESAW WORK:
Please be sure your student is posting their work to Seesaw each day. We post their Language Arts Journal, Math 4 Today, Math Journal and any GO Math pages together. Other cross-curricular activities across the different subject areas will be assigned each day. Time is given in class each day to complete these. After our Special each afternoon I’m happy to give assistance during our independent work time, so please encourage your student to take advantage of this. Weekly activities will generally be archived Sunday evening, so please let me know via email should your child need extra time to work on any of these activities.
FRIDAY FUN:
For Friday Fun today, we enjoyed seeing all of postings for Gabe’s and Octavius’s birthdays. We also continued our “Color” Scavenger Hunt finding and sharing our “pink” items!
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks a bunch to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Gabe, Pledge Leader ~ Sammie, Good Morning Song Helper ~ Samantha, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Ben, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Holden, Math 4 Today Helpers Nathan, Adela, Sofi, Emma, and Raiden, Problem of the Day Helpers ~ Octavius, Brandon, Jamilah, Santi, and Julia, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Lily, Lailah, Xavier, and Billy.
Again, THANK YOU for all of your assistance this week parents/grandparents/helpers; I truly appreciate it! I went on a beautiful walk around the golf course after school today with my sister-in-law Lisa. Relaxing, going through Seesaw posts, lesson planning, and hopefully seeing the Sox win are on the agenda for tomorrow! Mr. Baytala and I look forward to going to dinner with Kyle and Brooke after the Bears game on Sunday too. I hope you also have a great weekend! C u on Monday!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
September 11, 2020:
Happy Friday! We were proud to wear our red, white, and blue today as we celebrated “Patriot Day,” remembering those who perished September 11, 2001, and honoring all of the heroic first responders! We were happy to meet and do our Scavenger Hunt this afternoon with Mr. Hall and our 5th Grade Buddies. Here’s a peek at our week ahead . . .
Monday:
Happy Birthday Gabe! (Please be sure to send a special birthday message to Gabe via our Seesaw activity.) Foster’s Spirit Wear sale kicks off today; you may order online at https://foster2020.itemorder.com, and your order will be delivered directly to your home! Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon and 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page.
Tuesday:
Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page.
Wednesday:
Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be onZoom at 8:45. We’ll be taking our Reading MAP Test today.* STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use ourquick link on our Seesaw Announcements page.
Thursday:
Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll be taking our Math MAP Test today.* Students may work on their STEAM or another Art activity this afternoon. Please note, I have a meeting I must attend this afternoon at 2:30, so we’ll be having our end-of-the-day Zoom at 2:00 today!
Friday:
Happy Birthday Octavius! (Please be sure to send a special birthday message to Octavius via our Seesaw activity.) Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*An email came home from Mrs. Ehrhart on Tuesday about our upcoming MAP Testing (Wednesday and Thursday); here are some
important reminders and instructions that were given:
1. Check to see if your child has the NWEA application on their District iPad. Open the application and ensure it takes you to the
log-in screen.
2. This assessment will help the district determine your child’s knowledge and how we can support their learning. As much as you
want to help, we need the students to complete the test on their own. We ask that you act as a proctor would at school and
monitor them completing the assessment.
3. The First Grade test has audio that will read to the students. Remind these young learners to click the speaker for each question.
4. I’ll be available to help with any technical issues, however, the Zoom and NWEA MAP applications cannot be opened
simultaneously on the student iPad. We suggest Zooming on an alternate device to get the teacher’s attention if support is needed.
Otherwise, you can message through email.
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule the evening before via email.
*Parents, the class will continue to be muted on Zoom; students will unmute themselves when called upon. Please continue to be cognizant that background conversations are heard when your child is unmuted, so be sure these are respectful and appropriate for our children’s ears!
*Thanks parents/helpers for beginning to pull back a bit. Once your child is on and I’m teaching a whole class or small group lesson with your child, please do go and do other things that you need to get done. I am on all morning and afternoon to assist your child; remind them that they can request assistance from me if they need it.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed getting to know Liliana this week through her poster presentation. We liked seeing her Graduation Bear show & tell today! Next week Gabe will be in the spotlight!
LANGUAGE ARTS:
We’ve continued enjoying books on Epic this week. Talking about characters, setting, and plot, as well as asking and answering questions has kept us busy. We also wrote our “Weekend News” and daily journal entries. (If you haven’t already, be sure to post these to Seesaw.) We’ve been saying sounding, and spelling short vowel words this week using our Elkonin sheet and practicing our neatest handwriting. I worked with our small teams each morning on our letter sounds and Heggerty Phonemic Awareness. Thanks Ms. O’Neill for helping with our Spelling Inventory on Wednesday! We also began our first Phonics Skills Block cycle today.
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER READING LOG:
Remember, our reading goal for August/September is 24 days! Please be sure to initial this each night your child reads/is read to for 20 minutes; you need not write the titles of the books read. On Tuesday, please take a picture of their log (September 6-12th), and upload it to the Reading Log Seesaw Activity on the September 15th slide. Students who have read at least 4 days each week will be in our weekly book drawing, and those students reading each week and reaching goal for the month will receive a free book from me. This week’s book winners were Joey and Emily.
MATH:
Kudos to Nathan, Holden and Liliana who earned their first XtraMath certificate for successfully completing the beginning addition section. We’ve continued working on our daily Math 4 Today and “Problem of the Day” in our Math Journal and uploaded them each day! We’ve also been doing daily fluency exercises (counting forward to and backward from 120.) On Wednesday we started Chapter 1 “Addition Concepts” in our Go Math! book. Mrs. VanBoldrik and I focused on our introductory pages. We worked on using pictures to add to the rest of the week. Center time has been spent on XtraMath, IXL and Seesaw activities. Next week we’ll be working on modeling adding to and putting together.
SOCIAL STUDIES/SEL:
This week we’ve continued learning more about each other through our journal entries and the name game. Today we talked about Patriot Day, the heroes that helped on 9/11, and the heroes that continue to make a difference in our lives. We wrote a special message to a hero on our Seesaw activity and shared a picture of our “patriotic” selves too!
SCIENCE:
In Science we watched and learned more about how our hair grows with Mystery Doug. We also began our Light and Sound Unit, learning about vibrations through the neat “How do they make silly sounds in cartoons?” Mystery Science lesson. I think we all enjoyed “making” a rainstorm! Today we shared what we know about sound (what sound does where it comes from, and how it helps us), as well as what we’d like to know about sound. (Do you want to know how it is used? Where it comes from?)
SEESAW WORK:
I’ve continued to post different activities across the different subject areas. Time has been given in class each day to complete these. After our Special each afternoon I’m happy to offer assistance during our independent work time, so please encourage your student to take advantage of this. Weekly activities will generally be archived Sunday evening, so please let me know via email should your child need extra time to work on any of these activities.
FRIDAY FUN:
For Friday Fun today, we continued our “Color” Scavenger Hunt with our 5th Grade Buddies, finding things that were red, white, and blue.
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks to all of this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Liliana, Pledge Leader ~ Julia, Good Morning Song Helper: Billy, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Aubrey, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Adela, Problem of the Day Helpers ~ Sofia, Emma, Raiden, and Emily, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Josias, Abigail, Joey, and Gabe,
Again, parents/grandparents/helpers, thanks for all you continue to do to assist with your student’s learning; I truly appreciate it! Please do remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends at 3:15 p.m.! Mr. Baytala and I look forward to spending the weekend with Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn, I hope you have a wonderful one too! Go Bears!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
September 4, 2020:
Happy first Friday of September! I was happy to see Emily and her family at PTA’s Oberweis event this past Monday! Our class was so glad to help Billy celebrate his birthday yesterday :)! Mrs. Petraitis, thanks so much for sharing one of his favorite books, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss. Happy early Birthday wishes (tomorrow, September 5th) go out to Mrs. Hanrahan, our wonderful school nurse; she had a special surprise awaiting her today, and we sang “Happy Birthday” to her on Zoom! Here’s a peek at our abbreviated week ahead . . .
Monday:
Happy Birthday to our super secretary, Mrs. Leon! (We’ll sing “Happy Birthday” to her on Tuesday!) It’s Labor Day . . . no school for students or staff!
Tuesday:
Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be onZoom at 8:45. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page.
Wednesday:
Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be onZoom at 8:45. STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page.
Thursday:
Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Students may work on their STEAM or another Art activity this afternoon. Please note, I have a meeting I must attend this afternoon at 2:30, so we’ll be having our end-of-the-day Zoom at 2:00 today!
Friday:
Today is “Patriot Day;” we remember those who perished September 11, 2001, and honor all of the heroic first responders! Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. (This is a change; please use Ms. Capouch’s link today. . . not Mr. Fawkes’.)
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*Epic is free to our kids 6:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. I sent all of you a flyer with information about your child enjoying it after school hours, up to 2 hours per week.
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule the evening before via email.
*This week I began taking small groups in the afternoon to get to know your child and their needs a bit better. (I will be pushing these groups to the morning next week; please see below for your child’s team’s time.)
*Due to the holiday weekend, we’ll be meeting with our 5th Grade Buddies from Mr. Hall’s Remote Class for the first time next week.
*Parents, the class will continue to be muted on Zoom; students will unmute themselves when called upon. Please continue to be cognizant that background conversations are heard when your child is unmuted, so be sure these are respectful and appropriate for our children’s ears!
*I so appreciate all of your assistance, but please do start pulling back a bit and letting your student take charge of their own learning. I am on throughout the morning and afternoon, so even when your child is working on independent activities, I’m available to help when needed.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed getting to know more about Joey this week; we liked his Monster Truck show & tell too. Liliana will be highlighted next week; she’ll present her poster on Monday and may also bring a show& tell one day.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
Enjoying books from our September collection, as well as others in Epic has been on our agenda each day this week. We’ve talked about characters, setting, and plot, as well as asking and answering questions. I also enjoyed hearing your “Weekend” and “August News” and your daily journal entries. (If you haven’t already, be sure to post these to Seesaw.) We’ve been saying sounding, and spelling some short e, i, and o words this week. We’ll begin our first Phonics Skills Block cycle next Wednesday. Ms. O’Neill and I will be giving a Spelling Preassessment. Parents/Helpers, it is vital that we get accurate information, so please do not assist your child during this test! We started our Handwriting Without Tears book this week and have been working on our neatest handwriting on our laminated Elkonin sheet too! I worked with our small teams each afternoon on our letter sounds and Heggerty Phonemic Awareness. These small team meetings will be moving to the morning next week: Red Team (9:15-9:25)/Blue Team (9:25-9:35)/Green Team (9:35-9:45)/Orange Team (9:45-9:55/Purple Team (9:55-10:05) (If your child forgot what team they’re a part of, I’ll list them on our Monday evening email.)
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER READING LOG:
Remember, our reading goal for August/September is 24 days! Please be sure to initial this each night your child reads/is read to for 20 minutes; you need not write the titles of the books read. On Tuesday, please take a picture of their log, and upload it to the Reading Log Seesaw Activity on the September 8th slide. Students who have read at least 4 days each week will be in our weekly book drawing, and those students reaching goal for the month will receive a free book from me. Our first book winners this week were Brandon and
MATH:
We’ve been doing a “Problem of the Day” each day in our Math Journal and uploaded them each day! We’ve also been doing daily fluency exercises (counting forward to and backward from 120); using our laminated sheets and our red/yellow chips has also been fun. Next Wednesday we’ll be starting Chapter 1 “Addition Concepts” in our Go Math! book. We’ll be focusing on our introduction pages as well as learning about using pictures to add to and modeling adding to.
SOCIAL STUDIES/SEL:
This week we’ve continued learning more about each other with our “Rainbow of Me” project, our different journal entries and drawings. Today we learned more about “whole body listening” with the engaging video, Cookie Son Learns to Listen with His Whole Body; we learned how to play “My Turn, Your Turn” too, and then got a chance to share our ideas on our Seesaw activity. We also learned more about Labor Day today with a read aloud from Epic, and followed up with a journal writing activity, “What does your family do on Labor Day?”
SCIENCE:
In Science we watched and learned more about hiccups with Mystery Doug. We also talked about our 5 senses, completed a cool Seesaw activity, and realized we use them in lots of ways.
SEESAW WORK:
I’ve been posting different activities across the different subject areas. Time has been given in class each day to complete these. I’m happy to offer assistance each afternoon during our independent work time, so please encourage your student to take advantage of this. Weekly activities will generally be archived Sunday evening, so please let me know via email should your child need extra time to work on any of these activities.
FRIDAY FUN:
For Friday Fun today, we started our “Color” Scavenger Hunt. I enjoyed it, and I hope you did too J!
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks to all of this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Joey, Pledge Leader ~ Liliana, Good Morning Song Helper: Aubrey, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Gabe, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Ben, Problem of the Day Helpers ~ Samantha, Holden, Nathan, and Lily, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Octavius, Brandon, Jamilah, and Santi.
I was so happy to see all of your smiling faces on Zoom each day! Parents/Grandparents/Adult Helpers, again, thanks for all of your assistance this week! Mr. Baytala and I will be spending the long Labor Day weekend in Michigan! I hope you have a safe and relaxing one too! C u on Tuesday!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
August 28, 2020:
Happy first Friday of 1st Grade! Yes, we’ve made it through our first week of remote learning :)! I’ve enjoyed getting to know more about you and have loved seeing your smiling faces each day! Here’s a glance at our week ahead. . .
Monday:
Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon and 1:05.
Look for her quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page.
Tuesday:
Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. Look for her quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page.
Wednesday:
Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. Look for her quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page.
Thursday:
Happy Birthday Billy! Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. An art activity is yours to enjoy this afternoon from Ms. Mueller.
Friday:
Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Mr. Fawkes is this afternoon at 1:35. Look for his quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*Epic is free to our kids 6:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. If you would like your child to enjoy it after school hours, there is a free 30-day membership now being offered. Go to www.getepic.com for more information.
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule the evening before via email and will also be posting it via Seesaw Announcements.
*Next week I’ll begin taking small groups to get to know your child and their needs a bit better. (I will let you know your child’s exact time(s).)
*I’m also going to be putting the class into “teams” next week to promote our class community!
*We’ll be meeting with our 5th Grade Buddies from Mr. Hall’s Remote Class for the first time next week.
*Parents, the class will continue to be muted on Zoom; students will unmute themselves when called upon. Please continue to be cognizant that background conversations are heard when your child is unmuted, so be sure these are respectful and appropriate for our children’s ears!
*I so appreciate all of your assistance, but would like you to start pulling back a bit and letting your student begin to take charge of their own learning. (Whispering or giving answers to them all the time will hinder their ability to become independent thinkers/learners.) Letting them help get their supplies ready for the upcoming day is also a wonderful idea!
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
I hope you enjoyed getting to know more about me this week. Joey will be in the spotlight next week. He’ll present his poster on Monday.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
We’ve been enjoying reading and discussing many “first grade” books this week. I’ve also enjoyed hearing your “First Day News” and your daily journal entries. (We posted these to Seesaw today.) We’ve been saying, sounding, and spelling some short a words this week with our letter tiles. Exploring Epic has also been fun! We’ll continue reviewing skills next week. I hope to see your best handwriting every day! We got to meet our terrific Title I Reading Teacher, Ms. O’Neill, this week. She’ll be working with our class each Wednesday during our Language Arts block.
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER READING LOG:
Our reading goal for August/September is 24 days! A calendar was in the packet you picked up from my driveway. Please be sure to initial this each night your child reads/is read to for 20 minutes. Each Tuesday you’ll be taking a picture of their log, and uploading it to the Reading Log Seesaw Activity. Students who have read at least 4 days each week will be in our weekly book drawing, and those students reaching goal for the month will receive a free book from me. I'll be sending an email about ordering Scholastic Books early next week.
MATH:
We’ve been doing a “Problem of the Day” each day in our Math Journal and will upload a picture of our entries for the week today! We’ve also been doing daily fluency exercises and “getting acquainted” with our different math materials (Laminated 10 frames, number lines, number bonds, and part/part/whole sheets, as well as our red/yellow “chips.”) We’ve been reviewing/writing our numbers and number words too. On Wednesday, we got to meet our wonderful Math Interventionist, Mrs. VanBoldrik; she’ll be working with us each Wednesday during our Math block.
SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we’ve been talking about ways we can be respectful, responsible, and safe, in conjunction with our PBIS program. We’ve also been talking about Zoom Rules and proper use/care of our iPads. Getting to know each other has been paramount this week too, and I think we’ve been enjoying learning about each other’s favorite colors, animals, foods, and desserts. I hope everyone enjoyed our “Name Game” today too! Next week we’ll continue learning more about each other through more fun, engaging activities and also begin our Second Step program.
SCIENCE:
We’ve watched several neat “Mystery Science/Mystery Doug” videos this week and shared what we’ve learned from them. I’ve really liked seeing your drawings too! Today we enjoyed a “Science Scavenger Hunt!”
SEESAW WORK:
I’ve been posting different activities across the different subject areas. Time has been given in class each day to complete these. I’m happy to offer assistance each afternoon during our independent work time, so please encourage your student to take advantage of this. Weekly activities will generally be archived Sunday evening, so please let me know via email should your child need extra time to work on any of these activities.
FRIDAY FUN:
Each Friday, during our end-of-the-day check in, we’ll be enjoying a special activity together. Today we played “Back to School Jingo.” Your child received their “board” in the materials given by me, and used their Math chips as markers.
HELPING HANDS:
Next week, we’ll begin our “virtual” class jobs. Jobs such as Pledge Leader, Calendar/Weather Helper, Morning Song Leader, Thought of the Day Helper, Student of the Week, Problem of the Day Helper, Fluency Leader, and Calendar Helper will be given on a weekly rotating basis so that each student has a chance to participate in all jobs! These jobs will teach your child responsibility as well as help him/her contribute to our remote classroom community!
It’s been wonderful getting to know all of you this week! Parents/Grandparents/Adult Helpers, thanks for all of your assistance this week! Mr. Baytala and I will be heading to Michigan for the weekend! I hope you have a relaxing and wonderful one too! C u on Monday!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
The ABC's of First Grade ~ August 24, 2020:
Welcome to Mrs. Baytala’s Remote Classroom! I hope you all had a wonderful summer! First days always make us a little nervous, but I am looking forward to working with, and getting to know, each of you this year! Following are our “ABC’s of First Grade; please be sure to look them over with your parent(s)!
About Me ~ I earned my Masters Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Olivet Nazarene University. I completed my undergrad from Northern Illinois University with my Bachelor's Degree in Elementary and Special Education; I’ve also completed my Gifted Verification and Google I Certification. I was honored in 2016 to be a nominee for the Golden Apple Award! This is my 22nd and final year at Foster; I’ve taught Kindergarten, 3rd Grade, 4th and 5th Grade Reading, Class Reduction, and I’m excited to be back in 1st Grade for my eighteenth year! I am married to my wonderful husband Glenn and have two children who were also educated in District 142. My daughter Ashleigh graduated from Eastern Illinois University and relocated to New York City with her boyfriend Henry and their cat Pierre; she is a Customer Success Consultant with Zendesk; my son Kyle graduated from the University of Iowa and is a Sales Rep for Zingit Solutions; he’s blessed us with two precious grandsons, Grayson (5) and Quinn (3)! My husband Glenn retired from the “craziness” of the Options Exchange and enjoys extra time in Michigan relaxing and beach glassing! In my free time, I enjoy watching my grandsons, spending time with my family in Michigan, reading, walking, and searching for beach glass!
Attendance ~ Our school day will begin each day at 8:45 a.m. It is very important that your child is logged in on time every day! Attendance will be taken each morning. Please let the office know if your child will be absent.
Birthdays ~ Birthdays will be celebrated on the student’s actual birthday or as close to their half-birthday as possible. Birthday students will receive special surprises/birthday song from their classmates and me on Seesaw and Zoom. Parent(s), let me know if you would like to read one of your child’s favorite stories on Zoom, we will set up a convenient time for you!
Class Materials ~ The class supply list can be found on the home page of the District website. On our virtual Open House video, you’ll find a slide with “Supplies” that your student will need. Please be sure to have these near where your child will be working each day.
Curriculum ~ We’ll be delving into the common core standards in all subject areas. We will be using EL Education for Reading, Phonics, Spelling, Language, and Writing. We will also be working with Michael Heggerty’s Phonemic Awareness. We will be reviewing/learning the traditional manuscript printing for handwriting too using Handwriting Without Tears. We’ll be utilizing Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's Go Math for Math; this also has corresponding practice/homework pages, which will generally be given for homework. For Social Studies, we will be implementing the Social Science Learning Standards through the Illinois Board of Education and using Studies Weekly. Exploring the NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) in Science will also be on our agenda this year, and we’ll utilize Mystery Science/Mystery Doug and Traverse Bay Modules through NGSS.
Discipline/PBIS ~ This year, our entire district is again utilizing the wonderful PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention and Support); we’ll also be using the SEL Second Step program.
Email ~ My email is [email protected] . Please feel free to contact me at any time. I will do my best to get back to you within 24 hours.
Fifth Grade Buddies ~ About once a week/every other week, we will be reading with our buddies from Mr. Hall’s remote fifth grade class! This is a great opportunity for our students to bond/work with older peers!
Grades ~ First grade will once again be utilizing a quarterly Standards Based Report Card with the following grading scale: M ~ Mastery/D ~ Developing/C ~ Concerned. Report cards will list standards for each subject area covered in first grade. Parent-Teacher conferences will take place twice during the year. Feel free, however, to schedule a Zoom conference at any time to discuss your student’s progress, achievement, behavior, or any other issues/concerns you may have. Please encourage your child to do his/her best every day!
Homework ~ Much of our work will be done during our remote learning time, but some may need to be finished afterwards. Reinforcement pages and writing may also be assigned.
Honor System ~ During our remote learning time, quizzes and tests will be given. I am happy to go over directions as needed, but these quizzes/tests must be completed by you, without help from home.
Illnesses/Absences ~ Please dial Foster’s number, dedicated just for absences (708) 803-8213, as soon as possible if your child will be absent. If you know in advance, please email me the days he or she will miss. There is a district vacation form parents will need to fill out from the parent handbook if he or she will be absent due to a vacation.
Jobs ~ Each week, remote jobs will be assigned. Jobs such as: Student of the Week, Pledge Leader, Morning Song Leader, Thought of the Day Leader, Problem of the Day Helper, Fluency Exercise Leader, Calendar Helper and Weather Helper will be given on a weekly rotating basis so that each student has a chance to participate in all jobs! These jobs will teach your child responsibility as well as help him/her contribute to our classroom.
Kindness ~ It is important that we create a learning environment where each student feels valued and appreciated. I expect students to be kind to one another and to use their words when describing their feelings. We will work towards “filling our buckets” each day!
Learning Goals ~ Students learning will be aligned with the common core standards. Mastering concepts covered by the standards is an important goal. We’ll also be working on social and emotional skill development. Applying concepts to real life and being a critical thinker/problem solver is another key goal.
Many Changes ~ We all know that there will continue to be changes throughout the year, and we’ll need to smile and be flexible!
Newsletter ~ Our newsletter, the Friday Forecast, will be published on our class Weebly page each Friday. The quick link is http://d14-sbaytala.weebly.com It is important to review the weekly newsletter for upcoming events and important information. Our weekly Friday Forecast, as well as other important information throughout the year will be published on our Weebly page.
Office ~ Check in with the office should you need to visit our school.
Phone ~ Foster’s telephone number is (708) 687-4763. If you wish to speak to me directly, you may dial my extension (5322).
Questions ~ Feel free to contact me if you have any questions throughout the school year. The best ways to contact me are through e-mail and phone.
Reading/Scholastic Book Orders ~ In your “Welcome Supplies” from me, I sent August, September & October Reading Logs. Please keep your logs in whichever folder you would like to use for Reading/Language Arts. I would like your child to read/be read to 20 minutes 4xs per week. I will be making a Seesaw activity for each calendar, where your child may take a picture of their calendar each Tuesday, beginning . You may also order Scholastic books online. Our class code is LD9Y9. These will be delivered to my home or school, and we can then schedule a pick-up day/time.
Schedule/Specials ~ We will have Gym twice a week (Mondays at 1:05 and Fridays at 1:35) and Art (Tuesdays at 1:05) and STEAM (Wednesdays at 1:05) once a week (this quarter) via Zoom.
Student of the Week ~ We will have a new student in the spotlight each week. Those students who will be Student of the Week during the first quarter will receive their poster with their welcome materials. When it is your week, you will present your poster to the class and may also bring a special show & tell to Zoom.
Study Buddies ~ One morning a week (to be determined once other scheduling has been completed), I will offer “Study Buddies.” We will meet from 8:15 - 8:45, and students may come on a "need" basis. I will offer extra assistance and classwork help.
Toys ~ Please do not allow your child to have toys near their “work” area.
Up-to-date ~ Please keep me up-to-date on any important changes in your child’s life.
Virtual Behavior ~ I expect your very best behavior every day during our Zoom sessions; we will be going over Zoom expectations on Monday and reviewing them throughout the next few weeks.
Water bottles ~ Please be sure your child keeps their water bottle and/or any food or drinks away from their iPad.
X-tra practice ~ If you are looking for extra resources to help your child at home, site URL’s will be emailed soon and also published on our Weebly.
You’ve Got a Friend in Me ~ Every Friday, students will have the opportunity to learn new things about their classmates. Different questions will be posed, and your student will be able to share their answers with me and their classmates.
Zzzz ~ Make sure your child gets plenty of sleep so that he/she is prepared to do his/her best during our remote learning!
Zoom ~ Remind your child to be on time and do their best each day during our Zoom sessions!
Again, I know these are unusual circumstances, but I am so happy to be your teacher, and I’m looking forward to a “mouse”velous year, learning and growing together!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
FIRST GRADE CELEBRATION/FIELD DAY:
This past Monday was a hot one, but I know everyone loved seeing each other “in person!” Thanks Ms. Capouch and team for putting together such a fun morning of activities! Chalk, bubbles, tattoos, tag games, obstacle course, SPUD, and hula hoops were so fun! Eating lunch outside in my backyard was a great ending to the morning!
FIRST GRADE FUN DAY:
On Wednesday, we enjoyed some fun activities with all of the other 1st grade teachers . . . Go Noodle with Ms. D’Ambrosio, drawing with Ms. Katz, and coding with Mrs. Shepard. We also played Summer Jingo!
LANGUAGE ARTS:
“Pedal Pedal Pedal” was our last comprehension passage of the year. Earning mastery on our Cycle 24 Spelling Test last Friday were Emily, Xavier, Brandon, Octavius, Lailah, Nathan, Manny, Saja, Liliana, and Joey . . . wonderful! We worked with our Cycle 25 words this week. We wrote our Weekend News, May News, and Last Day News.
MATH:
Kudos to Liliana, Manny, Ben, Samantha, Abigail, Nathan, Lailah, Xavier, and Emily; they earned mastery on all 3 sections of our Chapter 12 Test last Friday. Achieving mastery on 2 sections were Saja, Gabe, Aubrey, Holden, Octavius, Brandon, Jamilah, Julia, and Billy; Joey, Lily, Adela, and Sofi mastered 1 section . . . fantastic! We completed Math 4 Today Week 35 and some “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal this week. We also got our bodies moving by counting down by 1’s to 0 with our Fluency Exercise Leaders! Working through Chapter 11 kept us busy this week too!
SCIENCE:
We compared plants, learned more about plant biomimicry, and finished up our Mystery Science, “Plant and Animal Super Powers” unit this week.
SEESAW WORK:
We had our last Seesaw drawing, and everyone was able to pick up their prizes at my house on Monday. Thanks parents for helping keep your students “on track!”
HELPING HANDS:
Hugs and thanks to this week’s “helping hands”: Pledge Leader ~ Billy, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Adela, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Samantha, Thought/Quote of the Day Helper ~ Sofi, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Jamilah and Ocatavius Math 4 Today Helper ~ Lily, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Manny, Doubles Song Leaders ~ Joey and Lailah, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Emily, Brandon, Lily, and Nathan.
This has been a whirlwind week for me! Thanks so much for all of your kind words, notes, and gifts; I have truly been blessed to have Foster as part of my life for the past 29 years, when my daughter Ashleigh started Kindergarten here, and over the course of my 22-year teaching career, I have worked with the best colleagues I could’ve asked for! As you move on to second grade, I’ll be moving on to retirement, looking forward to spending more time with Mr. Baytala, Ashleigh, Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn! "0" wake-ups til Summer "Vakay!" Have a “sun”sational summer!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
ROOM 122’S END OF THE YEAR POEM
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
August 24th, our first day of school, seems just a mere blink away. . .
Yet, here I sit, reminiscing, on our very last day!
I got to meet many of you and your families on Zoom before that first day of school began.
Getting to meet your new teacher and learn about our routine was the plan.
September brought MAP Testing, meeting our 5th grade buddies, and enjoying Friday Fun too!
Tasting and graphing our favorite apples for our “Apple Fest” was just one of the fun things we got to do!
October introduced Study Buddies and the fun of “Pumpkin Day” soon was here!
Making pumpkin lanterns was great and soon Halloween drew near!
Our Zoom parade had us enjoying each other’s costumes and it was so hard to believe . . .
That November was already here, and our second quarter materials we did already receive!
Parent Teacher Conferences and our Virtual Family Reading Night happened in November
We learned more about Thanksgiving and had our Thanksgiving “Feast,” remember?
With December came our month-long Holiday Unit to explore and enjoy.
Learning about St. Nicholas Day, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, St. Lucia Day, and Christmas were wonderful for each girl and boy!
Making frames and reindeer food with our buddies sure was lots of fun.
Before we knew it, our Santa countdown was complete, and 2020 was almost done!
January brought lots of snow, and we were sad Ms. Mueller and Art did depart.
We were happy to see Mrs. Latka and were ready for Music to start
With February came our 100th day of school! The neat activities really were the best.
Making 100 “gumballs,” reading 100 books, and rolling to 100, just to name a few, really put us to the test!
Rolling our Valentine dice and graphing with our buddies really was great!
Do you remember our Valentine activities? The 14th was the date!
Reading with our 5th grade buddies on “Read Across America” day made us all want to jump for joy!
We also had so many neat cross-curricular activities during that special day, to enjoy!
March brought a “wearin’ of the green” and lots of St. Patrick’s Day fun!
We also enjoyed reading and voting on all of the “March Madness” books til our month was done!
We bade a sad farewell to Brooklynn, Emma, and Santi, as they headed to “in-person” learning for Quarter 4
But were happy to welcome a new student, Manny, as part of our remote learning family core
We loved receiving our Bunny Baskets and “Spring Fling” had us enjoying so many fun activities too . . .
Like counting and graphing our jelly beans, making new words, and playing Spring Jingo, just to name a few!
Spring break was then upon us, a whole week to refresh, relax, and play
As vaccines became available, some of us traveled out of state; others enjoyed a “staykay!”
With the last six weeks of school approaching, extracurricular activities did start
We got to choose Coding Club, Student Council and/or Intramurals of which to be a part
Before we knew it, our last 26 days were here, and ABC Countdown’s Day 1.
We knew the end of April and all of May would certainly bring us lots of fun!
Staff Appreciation Week gave us a chance to tell our teachers and staff, “Hey, we think you’re great!”
Daily surprises made all of us staff really feel first rate!
Our “Morning with Mommy” on May 7th was a special start to our day!
We made a frame, painted her nails, and sang special songs too . . . hooray!
The following Friday we enjoyed our morning “Date with Dad!”
Making a frame, seeing how many drops of water fit on a penny, and singing special songs made him glad!
During Volunteer Appreciation Week, special thoughts on each day’s announcements told them they’re great!
Yes, our window message, outside posters and cup sign, showed we think they’re all first rate!
We were SO very excited for our First Grade Celebration Field Day
Seeing and enjoying time with our classmates “in person” really topped off our May!
During our First Grade Fun Day, we had many fun activities to explore
Summer Jingo, drawing, coding, and Go Noodle with all of the 1st grade teachers, made our spirits soar!
So, again on this last day I still can reminisce
About all those first grade things that perhaps you’ll also miss. . .
Weekend/Monthly News, Student of the Week, Seesaw, IXL, and Epic, just to name a few
Problem of the day, weekly jobs, monthly drawings, birthday celebrations, and Math 4 Today too!
Yes, through this pandemic, we’ve done lots of work, and learned so much from each other each and every day
And so on this last day, as your first grade teacher, one final thing I’d like to say . . .
On to 2nd grade, soon all of you will pass . . .
But not before I’ve told you Joey, Liliana, Saja, Manny, Gabe, Brooklyn, Aubrey, Ben, Samantha, Holden, Zack, Abigail, Nathan, Lily, Lailah, Octavius, Brandon, Jamilah, Santi, Julia, Xavier, Billy, Adela, Sofi, Emma, Raiden, Emily, and Josias “You’ve been an awesome class!”
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
May 21, 2021:
Happy Friday! We enjoyed celebrating Aubrey’s birthday this past Tuesday; thanks Ms. Kobiec for coming in to read one of her favorite stories, Little Acorn. We look forward to seeing her birthday activity and show & tell on Monday! BIG hugs and thanks to all of my “family” here at Foster; they surprised me yesterday with an outdoor Retirement Party :)! Mrs. Henson, thanks for hosting all of us! We’re sending more hugs and thanks to our amazing volunteers ~ Grandma Phyllis, Mrs. Zerinskas, Mrs. Omiecinski, Mrs. Jones, Ms. Tarchala, and Mr. Wimunc! Thanks for planning all of the special events for us during this crazy year! Here’s a glance at what’s kept us busy this week, as well as what we’ll be up to this last week of 1st grade . . .
Monday:
Happy “V”enture Outside Day! (We’ll enjoy our 1st Grade Celebration Field Day here at school or enjoy the “virtual” Field Day activities on Seesaw!) Student Council’s “Kindness Week” kicks off today too; you’ll get your Kindness Bingo Board at our pick-up; I’m counting on all of you to fill it up; you’ll be getting your “prize” early (today :)!) Volunteer Appreciation Week also begins today! PTA volunteers and Grandma Phyllis, you’ve been amazing this year! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. I’ll take attendance, and we’ll write our Weekend News, and then pop off about 9:00, so you have time to get to Foster. Remember to certify this morning before coming to school (The link was right on the Celebration information letter.) Wear gym shoes, your mask, and sunscreen. I’ll greet you at 9:15, and we’ll enjoy our fun activities together from 9:30-11:30. If you’re joining us for lunch, we’ll be meeting/eating outside at my house (11:30-12:30); bring your lunch and lawn chair (or blanket/beach towel). LEVELED READER AND WHITE BOARD DROP-OFF IS TODAY 12:30-6:00 IN MY DRIVEWAY. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. We’ll be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up! For those who signed up, Coding Club with Ms. Leng is today on Zoom (3:25-4:10); you must use your district-provided iPad to access this meeting; if you don’t, you will not be allowed into the Zoom meeting! (Use the link provided in your Seesaw from Ms. Leng.)
Tuesday:
Today is “W”acky Day! (Put your “w”ackiest outfit together, and model it on Zoom today!) Intramurals with Mrs. Henson is this morning for those who signed up (7:40-8:25). Please be sure to dress weather appropriate and wear your mask! Today we’ll be writing a “kind” note on our class Jamboard :) as Kindness Week continues! Volunteers, we hope you’re enjoying the special quotes on daily announcements; be sure to drive past Foster to see some special messages too! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. Be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up!
Wednesday:
It’s “X”tra Fun Day! (We’ll enjoy fun activities with all of the 1st grade teachers!) Kindness Week continues with a “kind” note to our 5th Grade Buddies! Volunteers, enjoy the special quote on daily announcements; if you haven’t yet, be sure to drive past Foster to see some special messages too! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. I hope everyone will join us and eat lunch with a new friend for the last time on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up! Student Council with Ms. D’Ambrosio and Ms. Babincsak is today on Zoom (3:25-4:10); you must use your district-provided iPad to access this meeting; if you do not, you will not be allowed into the Zoom meeting! (Use the link that was sent to your school email.)
Thursday:
“Y”ellow Day is today! (Brighten up your day by wearing some yellow today!) We’ll be making cards for St. Jude patients today as Kindness Week continues! Volunteers, enjoy the special quote on daily announcements; if you haven’t yet, be sure to drive past Foster to see some special messages too! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Friday:
Happy “Z”ippiddeedoodah Day! (Good-bye “Z”oom! Hello Summer Vakay!) Kindness is the Foster Way! We’ll wrap up Kindness Week by wearing our Foster spirit wear or red and black! Volunteers, enjoy one more special quote on daily announcements; if you haven’t yet, be sure to drive past Foster to see some special messages too! Some “thankful” video messages also await you! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Summer Vakay begins at 12:30!
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*SUMMER LEARNING PROGRAM: This year, our summer learning program is available to all current students. The program will last four weeks, from June 21 to July 15 and will be provided at no cost to district families. Staff will provide virtual content in the format of a weekly grade level appropriate choice board. This will allow families flexibility in completing lessons and activities. Students will be assigned a summer learning teacher who will be available for contact Monday thru Thursday of each week, with the exception of Monday, July 5. Additionally, the teacher will hold daily Zoom meetings Monday thru Thursday, with the exception of Monday, July 5, for direct student contact. Students should plan to attend two Zoom meetings a week. Fill out a participation form for each student that you would like to have participate in summer learning by Friday, May 28, 2021. Those students will be placed into grade level rosters and you will receive updates regarding summer learning information. To sign up for the Summer Learning Program, visit: https://forms.gle/1i26WzxswahE8e17A*OUR KIDS READ 2021: We will also hold our annual “Our Kids Read” challenge. Through grade level reading goals, students have the opportunity to prevent summer slide and increase their reading capacity. We encourage all students, whether participating in our summer learning program or not, to join the summer reading challenge. If you have any questions about the “Our Kids Read” challenge, please reach out to Mr. Ryan Nagle, Assistant Principal of Hille Middle School. To sign up for the Our Kids Read challenge, visit: https://forms.gle/WVvzc4WfLyquZC5b6
*STUDENT iPADS: The district WILL NOT be collecting student iPads at the end of the school year, with the exception of graduating 8th graders. More detailed information will be sent to 8th grade students and parents on Monday, May 17. Current Kindergarten thru 7th Grade students will have their district assigned iPad for summer use. Students will continue to have access to our subscription platforms like iXL, Seesaw and Wixie. Please be sure that your child adheres to the District 142 Acceptable Use Policy and the Guidelines 1-to-1 Technology at all times. Students will be required to bring their district assigned iPad when they return to school in the Fall.
*2021-2022 SCHOOL CALENDAR: The district has finalized our 2021-2021 School Calendar. The first day of school will be Wednesday, August 18 and our final day of school, if we do not use any snow/cold weather days, will be Tuesday, June 1, 2022.
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials for this last week, the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.), except for Friday (12:30 p.m.) (Having all needed materials ready to start the day and staying in camera is critical!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*Just a reminder, to receive credit, all Seesaw activities must be posted by tomorrow (3:00 p.m.)
UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES:
*Monday, May 24th ~ FINAL DROP-OFF/PICK-UP OF THE YEAR (12:30-6:00 p.m.) (You will be dropping off all leveled books (not decodable readers or gift books) in your vinyl book bag and white dry erase boards. You’ll be picking up a little birthday “treat” bag and end-of-the-year surprise from me!)
*Monday, May 24th ~ Foster’s 1st Grade Celebration Field Day (9:30-11:30 a.m.) (Drop-off by the blacktop 9:15-9:25/Pick-up at 11:30)
* Monday, May 24th ~ Lunch with Mrs. Baytala (Weather permitting, we’ll be meeting for lunch right after Field Day, and we’ll social distance in my driveway/on my front lawn or backyard, enjoying lunch together :)!)
*Wednesday, May 26th ~ First Grade Fun Day (We’ll be enjoying some “X”tra fun today with all of the first grade teachers and our buddies!)\
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we read “Gentle Giants.” Please remember to post both sides of your sheet to the last slide of the “Language Arts” activity assigned on Monday, May 17th. Next week will be reading our last passage “Pedal Pedal.” Please remember to include 15-20 minutes of IXL Diagnostics (Tuesday) and Recommendations (Wednesday-Thursday). Our Cycle 23 Spelling Test masters last Friday were Liliana, Manny, Gabe, Samantha, Abigail, Nathan, Lailah, Octavius, Raiden, and Emily . . . sensational! We took our Cycle 24 Test today; students reaching mastery will be announced in next week’s forecast. On Tuesday we’ll work on Cycle 25 (words with 2-syllable words): beanbag, carpet, explain, invite, mistake, nighttime, paper, finish, and shadows. Our high frequency review words are through and around. We wrote our Weekend News, continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal, and reviewed and took our adjectives with “more strength” and “strong” verb quizzes. Next week we’ll be writing our final Weekend News, May News, and Last Day News.
MAY READING LOG:
This past Tuesday was our last “free” book drawing of the year! Nathan and Liliana were our book winners; they’ll be receiving their books at Monday’s pick-up :)!
MATH:
We completed Math 4 Today Week 34 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal this week. We also got some exercise by counting up by 1’s to 120 with our Fluency Exercise Leaders! We took our Chapter 12 Test today; those earning mastery will be in next week’s forecast! We’ll work on Chapter 11, Three-Dimensional Geometry next week. Just a reminder to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math Diagnostics (Tuesday) and Recommendations (Wednesday-Thursday) and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE:
We’ll continue to review Second Step until the end of the year! We worked on animal biomimicry and made our “umbrella” this week in Science. Our class lettuce plant also grew taller!
SEESAW WORK:
Just a reminder, you earn one drawing ticket for each completed activity each month. Please do take a moment tonight and tomorrow to be sure all Seeesaw activities from this week are completed, corrected, and posted! Again, please ask Mom and/or Dad with help reading any notes and/or suggestions I have put on your activity(ies). We’ll have our last drawing on Monday, May 24th before Field Day :)!
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks a bunch to this week’s “helping hands”: Pledge Leader ~ Gabe, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Octavius, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Raiden, Thought/Quote of the Day Helper ~ Liliana, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Aubrey and Manny, Cycle 21 Cheerleaders ~ Abigail and Ben, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Xavier Problem of the Day Helper ~ Nathan, Doubles Song Leaders ~ Brandon and Emily, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Joey, Jamilah, Holden, and Julia.
I’ll be working on grades this weekend, and am looking forward to seeing/spending time with Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn tomorrow afternoon and Sunday! Can you believe we’re down to single digits? Yes, just 5 more school wake-ups til summer vakay/my retirement!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
May 14, 2021:
Daddies, it was wonderful to see you this morning at our “Date with Daddy” celebration :)! I hope you enjoyed the special events planned just for special YOU! Happy Eid wishes go out to all of our Arabic families! Here’s a peek at what we’ve been up to this week, as well as what we’ll be spending time on next week . . .
Monday:
It’s “Q”uiet Day! (We’ll be spending some time quietly reading today!) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Due to lots of absences last week and other testing, we’ll be taking our Adjectives with More Strength quiz today. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to come back to Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up! For those who signed up, Coding Club with Ms. Leng is today on Zoom (3:25-4:10); you must use your district-provided iPad to access this meeting; if you don’t, you will not be allowed into the Zoom meeting! (Use the link provided in your Seesaw from Ms. Leng.)
Tuesday:
Happy Birthday Aubrey! It’s “R”ainbow Day! (Turn yourself into a rainbow; wear as many colors as you can!) Intramurals with Mrs. Henson is this morning for those who signed up (7:40-8:25). Please be sure to dress weather-appropriate and wear your mask! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll be taking our Text Features Quiz and Fluency Assessment today. Today is also “Eat Lunch with the Teacher!” Anyone who’d like to be a part of our “lunch bunch,” may stay on Zoom and eat lunch with me (12:30-12:50)! You’ll be posting a picture of your May Reading Log (May 9th – May 15th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to come back to Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day birthday celebration for Aubrey!
Wednesday:
Today is “S”unglasses Day! (You may wear your sunglasses all day or put on a sunglass emoji!) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll be taking our “Verbs with More Strength” Quiz. I hope you’ll join us and eat lunch with a new friend on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to come back to Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day “S”unshine fun! (Be sure all of your work, up to, and including yesterday’s, is completed and posted so you won’t miss out on all the fun!) Student Council with Ms. D’Ambrosio and Ms. Babincsak is today on Zoom (3:25-4:10); you must use your district-provided iPad to access this meeting; if you do not, you will not be allowed into the Zoom meeting! (Use the link that was sent to your school email.)
Thursday:
It’s “T”oy Day! (Bring a small toy to keep at your work space today!) Study Buddies will meet this morning (8:15-8:45) to review for our Chapter 12 Math Test. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. I’ll be back on Zoom at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to come back to Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day “toy” show & tell. (Remember, all work, up to, and including yesterday’s, must be completed and posted to participate!)
Friday:
Happy “U”nique Day! (In your journal, share why you’re unique! Share it with the class at our end-of-the-day Zoom!) Study Buddies will meet at 8:15. (We’ll review our Spelling/Phonics Skills for today’s test.) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll be taking our Cycle 24 Spelling Test and “Compare/Contrast” Quiz this morning. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to stay on Zoom at this time!) If not, be back on Zoom at 2:30 for Friday Fun! (You need to have all of your work, up to, and including yesterday, completed and posted to participate!)
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). As our year winds down, please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having all needed materials ready to start the day and staying in camera is essential!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*Any students with outstanding work (Seesaw work not approved or completed) should be attending the 1:40 Zoom. Please remind your child to post their work every day! (Students with work not posted, up to, and including the previous day, will not be participating in our fun end-of-the-day ABC Countdown activities or Friday Fun!)
*Just a reminder, all Seesaw activities will continue to be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book. (I will be archiving all activities from April 26th – 30th tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.)
*A friendly reminder ~ Be sure to complete the "Workout Wednesday" Seesaw activities assigned by Ms. Capouch :)!
UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES:
*Friday, May 21st ~ Student Council Art Contest submissions are due. (An informational flyer was sent with announcements. I’ve attached it to today’s Friday Forecast email too.)
*Monday, May 24th ~ Foster’s 1st Grade Field Day (9:30-11:30 a.m.) (A letter will be coming home on Monday with all the information for this fun event!)
*Monday, May 24th ~ FINAL DROP-OFF/PICK-UP OF THE YEAR (You will be dropping off all leveled books (not decodable readers or gift books) in your vinyl book bag and dry erase boards. You’ll be picking up a little birthday “treat” bag and end-of-the-year surprise from me!)
*Monday, May 24th ~ Lunch with Mrs. Baytala (Weather permitting, we’ll be meeting for lunch right after Field Day, and we’ll social distance in my driveway/on my front lawn, enjoying lunch together :)!)
*Wednesday, May 26th ~ First Grade Fun Day (We’ll be enjoying some “X”tra fun today with all of the first grade teachers and our buddies!)
LANGUAGE ARTS:
Our comprehension passage this week was “Airplane Ride.” Please remember to post both sides of your sheet to the last slide of the “Language Arts” activity assigned on Monday, May 10th. Next week’s passage will be “Gentle Giants.” Due to all of our testing and absences, we’ll review and take our text features assessment next week. We’ll also be working on our RI.1.9 standard (Identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic.) (Practice passages and graphic organizers were sent home with last week’s pick-up.) Please remember to include 15-20 minutes of IXL Diagnostics (Monday) and Recommendations (Tuesday-Friday). Last Friday’s Spelling “masters” on our Cycle 22 Test were Emily, Xavier, Julia, Brandon, Octavius, Lailah, Samantha, Ben, Gabe, Manny, Liliana, and Joey . . . fabulous! We took our Cycle 23 Test today; students reaching mastery will be announced in next week’s forecast. On Monday we’ll begin Cycle 24 (words with ie, igh, and ight*): pie, lie, untie, high, sigh, nigh, bright, flight, and nightlight. Our high frequency review words are great and where. We wrote our Weekend News and continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal. We also wrote our final opinion piece. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News and reviewing adjectives and verbs “with more strength.”
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) Practicing rhyming words is a great idea! (Your child will need to know how to spell the given high frequency words too. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
MAY READING LOG:
Our May goal is 16 days! Remember to read at least 4 days each week, and post your entire calendar each Tuesday morning to be a part of our book drawing. Our winners this week were Emily and Joey.
MATH:
We completed Math 4 Today Week 33 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal this week. We also got our bodies moving by counting by ones down to 0 and counting up by 10’s to 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders! We continued work in Chapter 12 this week too, concentrating on describing, combining, and making two-dimensional shapes, finding shapes in shapes, and exploring equal or unequal parts. Next week we’ll focus on halves and fourths. We’ll then review for, and take, our Chapter 12 Test on Thursday. Just a reminder to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math Diagnostics (Monday) and Recommendations (Tuesday-Friday) and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
We’ll continue to review Second Step until the end of the year! “How are magnets made?” was the question we explored with Mystery Doug this week; I hope you enjoyed the magnet activity! Due to testing, we didn’t cover very much in our Science Units, but I was very excited to see some “sprouts” growing in our class lettuce plant! (We talked and drew about it today in our plant journals.)
SEESAW WORK:
Just a reminder, you earn one drawing ticket for each completed activity each month. Please do take a moment this weekend to be sure all Seeesaw activities from this week are completed, corrected, and posted! Again, please ask Mom and/or Dad with help reading any notes and/or suggestions I have put on your activity(ies). We’ll have our last drawing on Monday, May 24th before Field Day :)!
HELPING HANDS:
Hugs and thanks to this week’s “helping hands”: Pledge Leader ~ Octavius, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Julia, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Brandon, Thought/Quote of the Day Helper ~ Jamilah, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Lily and Joey, Cycle 23 Cheerleaders ~ Adela and Raiden, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Abigail, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Liliana, Doubles Song Leaders ~ Saja and Nathan, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Aubrey, Manny, Lailah, and Billy.
Lots of Seesaw to go through this weekend! Hoping to get a couple of walks in, and catch up on some of my shows too! Again, Daddies, I hope you enjoyed the extra one-on-one time with your darlings this morning! I hope you all have a safe and wonderful weekend! Just 10 more school wake-ups til summer vakay/my retirement!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
May 7, 2021:
Happy “almost” (tomorrow) birthday Holden! Thanks Ms. Malone, for popping in to read his favorite story, No Fuzzball! We’re looking forward to hearing about his birthday and seeing his birthday show & tell on Monday! Mommies, it was wonderful to see so many of you this morning at our “Morning with Mommy” celebration :)! I hope you enjoyed the special events planned just for special YOU! Big hugs and thanks go out to our fabulous PTA for the amazing week of appreciation events! (I loved the Rock Star Video messages too!) Families, your wonderful messages and tokens of appreciation during this week truly touched my heart! Grandma Phyllis, Ms. Tarchala, and Cody, thanks so much for your assistance with getting things ready for our pick-up this week! Thanks too families for bringing food for Student Council’s Food Drive to Wednesday’s pick-up; I brought all of it in to school on Thursday, and we got to hear Mr. Beringer announce us as the “daily winners” today :)! Here’s a look at what we’ve been working on this week, as well as what will be keeping us busy this upcoming week . . .
Monday:
Today is “L”etter Day! (We’ll be writing a letter to someone special today!) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll be taking our Adjectives with More Strength quiz today. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. Please be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to practice our “Date with Daddy” songs; I’ll then be available to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to stay on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up! For those who signed up, Coding Club with Ms. Leng is today on Zoom (3:25-4:10); you must use your district-provided iPad to access this meeting; if you don’t, you will not be allowed into the Zoom meeting! (Use the link provided in your Seesaw from Ms. Leng.)
Tuesday:
Happy “M”ovie Day! (We’ll be watching a video at our end-of the day Zoom!) Intramurals with Mrs. Henson is this morning for those who signed up (7:40-8:25). Please be sure to dress weather appropriate and wear your mask! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Our Reading MAP Test is today; parent(s)/helper(s), if you’re able, I’d appreciate if you could help your student log on to the test. (If you have a second device, have your child stay on Zoom with me on your other device, and log on to the test on their district iPad.) Today is “Eat Lunch with the Teacher!” Anyone who’d like to be a part of our “lunch bunch,” may stay on Zoom and eat lunch with me (12:30-12:50)! You’ll be posting a picture of your May Reading Log (May 2nd – May 8th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. Please be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to practice our “Date with Daddy” songs; I’ll then be available to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to stay on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day “M”ovie Day!” (Just a reminder, your work up to, and including yesterday must be completed and posted to participate!)
Wednesday:
It’s “N”o Homework Day! (Take a break from reading, practicing your words, and math facts tonight! Instead, take a walk or bike ride with your family and/or play a game together!) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Our Math MAP Test is today; parent(s)/helper(s), if you’re able, I’d appreciate if you could help your student log on to the test. (If you have a second device, have your child stay on Zoom with me on your other device, and log on to the test on their district iPad.) I hope you’ll join us and eat lunch with a new friend on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to practice our “Date with Daddy” songs; I’ll then be available to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to stay on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap up! Student Council with Ms. D’Ambrosio and Ms. Babincsak is today on Zoom (3:25-4:10); you must use your district-provided iPad to access this meeting; if you do not, you will not be allowed into the Zoom meeting! (Use the link that was sent to your school email.)
Thursday:
Today is “O”utside Day! (Weather permitting we’ll be doing some activities outside today!) Study Buddies will meet this morning (8:15-8:45) to review Phonics/Spelling and Math skills we’ve been learning about this week. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to practice our “Date with Daddy” songs; I’ll then be available to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to stay on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Friday:
Happy “P”ut a Smile on Day! (Put a smile on your face as you share a “Date with Daddy” on Zoom this morning (8:15)! If Daddy isn’t able to make it, please be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll be taking our Cycle 23 Spelling Test this morning. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to stay on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for Friday Fun! (You need to have all of your work, up to, and including yesterday, completed and posted to participate!)
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having all needed materials ready to start the day is crucial!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As noted above, any students with outstanding work (Seesaw work not approved or completed) should be atttending the 1:40 Zoom. Please remind your child to post their work every day! (Students with work not posted up to and including the previous day will not be participating in our fun end-of-the-day ABC Countdown activities or Friday Fun!)
*Just a reminder, all Seesaw activities will continue to be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book. (I will be archiving all activities from April 19th – 23rd tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.)
UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES:
*MAP Testing ~ Reading (Tuesday, May 11th) and Math (Wednesday, May 12th). As noted above, we’ll be testing first thing in the morning; if you have two devices, please come on Zoom with your home device, and take the test on your school iPad. Parent(s)/helper(s), I would greatly appreciate if you could help your student log on to the test; if they have one device, they’ll be kicked out of Zoom as soon as they log on to the test. Boys and girls, it is critical that you complete both of these tests with NO assistance from home. Parents, data from these tests helps us to help your child, so PLEASE log them on, and then step away!
*Monday, May 10th – Friday, May 14th ~ The Food Drive continues. (Student Council is sponsoring and partnering with Redeemer’s Little Pantry to extend a helping hand to those in need. I attached a copy of the flyer to last week’s Friday Forecast.) Thanks families for your generous donations; if you’d still like to donate, you may drop items off at school in the entry way!
*Friday, May 14th (8:15-8:45) ~ “Date with Daddy” (Items for this special event came home at this week’s leveled reader pick-up on Wednesday.) (Ask Mommy/Grandma/Grandpa/Older Sibling to help you complete any items paper clipped to the “No Peeking Daddy” blue note.)
LANGUAGE ARTS:
We enjoyed learning more about “Clothes of the Past,” with this week’s comprehension passage. Please be sure to post both sides of your sheet to the last slide of the “Language Arts” activity assigned on Monday, May 3rd. Our passage next week will be “Airplane Ride.” In Module this week, we finished Module 3, Unit 2 drawing a heron beak, and explaining how it is used. We also reviewed text features (RI.1.5). Next week we’ll be taking our text features assessment and working on our RI.1.6 standard (Distinguish between information provided by pictures/illustrations and information provided by text.) (Practice passages and graphic organizers were sent home with this week’s pick-up.) Just a reminder to include 15-20 minutes of IXL Diagnostics (Monday) and Recommendations (Tuesday-Friday). Mastering our Cycle 21 Spelling Test last Friday were Nathan, Octavius, Brandon, Jamilah, Julia, Emily, Joey, Liliana, Manny, Gabe, and Samantha . . . sensational! We took our Cycle 22 Test today; students reaching mastery will be announced in next week’s forecast. On Monday we’ll begin Cycle 23 (words with ee, oo, and y that says long e*): bee, street, seed, cool, food, noon, party, puppy, and candy. Our high frequency review words are been and very. We wrote our Weekend News, continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal, and finished up our Numbers (6-10) in our Handwriting Without Tears book in Language this week. We also reviewed adjectives “with more strength” and wrote our “My Favorite Outdoor Activity” opinion piece. If you haven’t already, please be sure to post and read it on our Seesaw Language Arts activity (assigned this past Monday, May 3rd). Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News, April News, completing our assessment opinion piece, and reviewing verbs “with more strength.”
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) Practicing rhyming words is a great idea! (Your child will need to know how to spell the given high frequency words too. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
APRIL/MAY READING LOG:
Our April reading goal was 17 days. Kudos to the following students who read at least 4 days each week and posted their Reading Log every Tuesday morning ~ Ben, Brandon, Liliana, and Nathan; they’ll be choosing a free book from me that will be in our next pick-up! Also reaching goal for April were Adela, Gabe, Holden, Joey, Ocatavius, and Raiden . . .fantastic! Remember to read at least 4 days each week, and post your entire calendar each Tuesday morning to be a part of our book drawing. This week’s winners were Adela and Brandon; they received their free book choice at this week’s pick-up! Our May goal is 16 days; remember to post this past week’s reading (May 4th-8th) on Tuesday morning to be part of our free book drawing!
MATH:
WOW, Samantha and Liliana achieved a perfect score on our Chapter 10 Math Test yesterday! Way to go girls!! Math 4 Today Week 32 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal were also completed this week. Counting by ones to and from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders got our hearts pumping too! We finished up work in Chapter 10, “Represent Data,” and took our test yesterday. Also earning mastery were Manny, Ben, Brandon, and Emily . . . terrific! Today we began Chapter 12, “Two Dimensional Geometry,” completing the introductory pages and also sorting two-dimensional shapes. Next week we’ll be working on describing, combining, and making two-dimensional shapes, combining more shapes, and finding shapes in shapes. (A “shape” sheet was sent with this week’s pick-up; parents/helpers, please help cut these out and put them in a baggie.) Please continue to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math Diagnostics (Monday) and Recommendations (Tuesday-Friday) and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This upcoming week we’ll be reviewing what we’ve learned in Second Step this year! Please do share this with your families! This week Mystery Doug had us curious about the question, “Are butterflies the only animals that start as caterpillars?” (I loved seeing your "grow" cards!) We also continued work in our Mystery Science “Plant and Animal Superpowers” Unit, with “Inheritance and Variation of Traits” ~ “Why do family members look like each other?” and our TBAISD “Structures and Functions of Organisms” Unit ~ “Animals and Offspring” and “Animal Inheritance.” I hope you enjoyed matching your baby animals to the adult ones! Please remember to post all of your completed Science Units activities in the "Animal" activities I created for you (Tuesday, April 13th).
SEESAW WORK:
Just a reminder, you earn one drawing ticket for each completed activity each month. Thanks Mr. Beringer for picking our April winners; they will be announced in next week’s forecast. Please do take a moment this weekend to be sure all Seeesaw activities from this week are completed, corrected, and posted! Again, please ask Mom and/or Dad with help reading any notes and/or suggestions I have put on your activity(ies).
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks a bunch to this week’s “helping hands”: Pledge Leader ~ Emily, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Billy, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Josias, Thought/Quote of the Day Helper ~ Holden, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Liliana and Ben, Cycle 21 Cheerleaders ~ Sofi and Manny, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Joey, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Lily, Doubles Song Leaders ~ Aubrey and Raiden, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Adela, Gabe, Abigail, and Xavier.
I’ll be catching up on Seesaw tomorrow and enjoying a bedtime story Zoom with Grayson and Quinn. Sunday I’ll be spending the day with Mr. Baytala, Kyle, and Brooke, and hopefully “seeing” Ashleigh, Henry, and Pierre via FaceTime for Mother's Day :)! Again Mommies, I hope you enjoyed our time together this morning, and even though the weather’s looking a little rainy for Sunday, I hope you have an awesome Mother’s Day with your “angels!” Only 15 more school wake-ups til summer vakay/my retirement!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
April 30 2021:
Happy “Principal Appreciation Day,” Mr. Beringer! Thanks for popping into our Zoom today; we hope you enjoyed all of our special messages and pictures! Here’s a peek at this past week, as well as what will be keeping us busy the first week of May . . .
Monday:
It’s “G”ame Day! (We’ll be playing a game at our end-of-the-day Zoom!) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. PTA’s Staff Appreciation Week also kicks off today with “You’re the Paparazzi.” (Draw a picture of your teacher(s) and/or favorite staff member(s) dressed as a rock star!) (Please post these to the Staff Appreciation Week activity I’ll be assigning Sunday.) We’ll be taking our Adjectives with More Strength quiz and our Fastbridge Math probes today. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. Please be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to practice our “Morning with Mommy” songs; I’ll then be available to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to stay on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day “Game Day” fun! (Just a reminder, your work up to, and including yesterday must be completed and posted to participate!) For those who signed up, Coding Club with Ms. Leng is today on Zoom (3:25-4:10); you must use your district-provided iPad to access this meeting; if you don’t, you will not be allowed into the Zoom meeting! (Use the link provided in your Seesaw from Ms. Leng.)
Tuesday:
Today is “H”appiness Day! (Bring something to Zoom that makes you happy today; you can share it at our end-of-the-day wrap-up!) PTA’s Staff Appreciation continues today with “Dress Like a Rock Star!” (Please post a picture of your "rock star" self to the Staff Appreciation Week activity I posted on Sunday.) Intramurals with Mrs. Henson is this morning for those who signed up (7:40-8:25). Please be sure to dress weather appropriate and wear your mask! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Today is “Eat Lunch with the Teacher!” As promised, today, and the rest of the Tuesdays in May, anyone who’d like to be a part of our “lunch bunch,” may stay on Zoom and eat lunch with me (12:30-12:50)! You’ll be posting a picture of your April Reading Log (April 25th–May 1st) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. Please be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to practice our “Morning with Mommy” songs; I’ll then be available to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to stay on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day “Happiness Day” show & tell! (Just a reminder, your work up to, and including yesterday must be completed and posted to participate!) PTA’s Chipotle “Dine-Out” is today (4:00-8:00 p.m.) Just show the flyer (I’ll resend a copy Monday evening with Tuesday’s Schedule/Materials.) or mention you’re with the Forest Ridge PTA. Mr. Baytala and I will be there about 4:00 p.m. I hope to see some of you and your families :)!
Wednesday:
Happy “I”nside Out Day! (Wear your clothes inside out today!) LEVLED READER PICK-UP WILL BE AT MY DRIVEWAY (15215 Las Flores Lane) TODAY (8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. I hope you’ll join us and eat lunch with a new friend on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to practice our “Morning with Mommy” songs; I’ll then be available to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to stay on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap up! Student Council with Ms. D’Ambrosio and Ms. Babincsak is today on Zoom (3:25-4:10); you must use your district-provided iPad to access this meeting; if you do not, you will not be allowed into the Zoom meeting! (Use the link that was sent to your school email.)
Thursday:
It’s “J”oke Day! (Share your favorite joke today at our end-of-the-day wrap-up!) Study Buddies will meet this morning (8:15) to review for today’s Chapter 10 Math Test, as well as our weekly Phonics/Spelling skills. Hugs and "Happy Nurse's Day" wishes go out to our wonderful school nurse, Mrs. Hanrahan! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Our Chapter 10 Math Test will be this morning. Thanks so much PTA, District Office, and Families for providing a catered lunch and special dessert today for all of our teachers and staff! Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to practice our “Morning with Mommy” songs; I’ll then be available to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to stay on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day “Joke” sharing. (Just a reminder, your work up to, and including yesterday must be completed and posted to participate!)
Friday:
Happy “K”ind Day! (Show your Mom she’s one of a kind this morning (8:15) at our “Morning with Mommy!” If Mommy isn’t able to make it, please be on Zoom at 8:45. Happy "early" Birthday wishes go out to Holden! (His real birthday is tomorrow.) “Staff Appreciation Week” wraps up today with a “Fan Letter!” (You may create a sign or video for your teacher(s) and staff members. It can be the same one you used for the PTA video!) (Please post these to the Staff Appreciation Week activity I posted on Sunday.) We’ll be taking our Cycle 22 Spelling Test this morning. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. Please be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to practice our “Date with Daddy” songs; I’ll then be available to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to stay on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for Holden's Birthday Celebration!
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is so important!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As noted above, any students with outstanding work (Seesaw work not approved or completed) will be required to attend the 1:40 Zoom. Please remind your child to post their work every day! (Students with work not posted up to and including the previous day will not be participating in our fun end-of-the-day ABC Countdown activities or Friday Fun!)
*Just a reminder, all Seesaw activities will continue to be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book. (I will be archiving all activities from April 12th – 16th tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.)
*As you saw above, we'll be taking the FastBridge Math probes this week. It is crucial that your child takes these by her/himself so we know their current levels!
UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES:
*Friday, April 30th ~ deadline for submitting messages for “Staff Appreciation Week” (“Hold Up Your Signs”) For more information go to ~ https://www.frpta142.com
*Monday, May 3rd – Friday, May 7th ~ “Staff Appreciation Week” (I hope you’ll participate in some of the activities sponsored by our wonderful PTA!) (I’ll be creating an activity on Sunday so you can post your special pictures!)
*Monday, May 3rd – Friday, May 14th ~ Food Drive (Student Council is sponsoring and partnering with Redeemer’s Little Pantry to extend a helping hand to those in need. I attached a copy of the flyer to our Friday Forecast.) Please feel free to bring items to our pick-up this week; I’ll have a box available!
*Friday, May 7th (8:15-8:45) ~ “Morning with Mommy” Boys and Girls, if you haven’t already, please remember to give your invitation to Mommy! (Ask Daddy/Grandma/Grandpa/Older Sibling to help you complete any items paper clipped to the “No Peeking Mommy” green note.)
*Friday, May 14th (8:15-8:45) ~ “Date with Daddy” (Items for this special event will be coming home at this week’s leveled reader pick-up, Wednesday, May 5th.) (Ask Mommy/Grandma/Grandpa/Older Sibling to help you complete any items paper clipped to the “No Peeking Daddy” blue note.)
*Friday, May 14th ~ Last day to order a signed copy of the book Included by local author Megan Prendergast. (We all enjoyed her read this special book on April 23rd.)
LANGUAGE ARTS:
Hooray . . . Manny reached the “hive” with his 10th mastery on last Friday’s Cycle 20 Spelling Test! He’ll be receiving his special surprise at this week’s leveled reader pick-up! We “closely read” our new passage, “Loose Tooth,” and worked on daily questions and activities with it. Please be sure to post both sides of your sheet to the last slide of the “Language Arts” activity assigned on Monday, April 26th. Our passage next week will be “Clothes of the Past.” In Module this week, we finished our “flight” feather, and have been enjoying the book Beaks, learning lots of neat things about different beaks. We drew a hummingbird and spoonbill one , and explained what their “jobs” were. Please remember to include 15-20 minutes of IXL Diagnostics (Monday) and Recommendations (Tuesday-Friday). Emily, Octavius, Lailah, Samantha, Liliana, and Joey also “buzzed” to the next bee after mastering our Cycle 20 Spelling Test last Friday . . . awesome! We took our Cycle 21 test today; students reaching mastery will be announced in next week’s forecast! On Monday we’ll begin Cycle 22 (words with the ay and ow that says long o): stay, day, play, birthday, blow, grow, show, window, and snowball. Our high frequency review words are some and would. We wrote our Weekend News, continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal, and worked on Sentences and Numbers (1-4) in our Handwriting Without Tears book in Language this week. We also reviewed adjectives “with more strength,” finished our first opinion piece, “My Favorite Food,” and wrote our next one, “My Favorite Holiday. I’ve really enjoyed hearing you share them! Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News, writing a new opinion piece, reviewing verbs “with more strength,” and completing pages in our Handwriting Without Tears book.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) Practicing rhyming words is a great idea! (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
APRIL READING LOG:
Our April reading goal is 17 days. Remember to read at least 4 days each week, and post your entire calendar each Tuesday morning to be a part of our book drawing. Our winners from last week were Sofi and Nathan; this week’s were Emily and Octavius; they’ll receive their free books at this week’s pick-up!
MATH:
Math 4 Today Week 31 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal were completed this week. Counting by tens to and from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders got us up and moving too! We continued work in Chapter 10, “Represent Data,” focusing on reading and making picture and bar graphs and reading tally charts. We’ll be finishing up this chapter this week, concentrating on making tally charts, representing data, and then reviewing for, and taking our test on Thursday. Next Friday we’ll begin exploring Chapter 12, “Two-Dimensional Geometry,” sorting two-dimensional shapes. Please continue to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math Diagnostics (Monday) and Recommendations (Tuesday-Friday) and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we completed Lesson 21 in “Second Step,” “Handling Name Calling.” Mystery Doug had us curious about the question, “What’s the best place to look for dinosaur fossils?” We continued work in our Mystery Science “Plant and Animal Superpowers” Unit this week too, with “Animal Behavior and Offspring Survival” ~ “Why do baby ducks follow their mothers?” and “Camouflage & Animal Survival” ~ “Why are polar bears white?” I hope you enjoyed making and camouflaging your “moth” for your break out room friends! Please remember to post all of your completed Science Units activities in the "Plant" or "Animal" activities I created for you (Tuesday, April 13th).
SEESAW WORK:
Just a reminder, you earn one drawing ticket for each completed activity each month. Mr. Beringer will be “coming in” this week to pick our April winners! Please do take a moment this weekend to be sure all Seesaw activities from this week are completed, corrected, and posted! Again, please ask Mom and/or Dad with help reading any notes and/or suggestions I have put on your activity(ies).
HELPING HANDS:
Hugs and thanks to this week’s “helping hands”: Pledge Leader ~ Brandon, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Lailah, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Jamilah, Thought/Quote of the Day Helper ~ Julia, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Sofi and Josias, Cycle 21 Cheerleaders ~ Saja and Xavier, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Raiden, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Manny, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Liliana, Nathan, Samantha, and Octavius.
Hard to believe May is upon us! Today after school I’ll be helping celebrate Ms. Leng’s upcoming wedding in June with a staff get-together at an outside café in Tinley. The rest of the weekend I’m hoping to get out in the sunshine for a walk each day, catching up on Seesaw posts, lesson planning, and having dinner on Sunday with Mr. Baytala, Kyle, and his girlfriend Brooke. However you’re spending yours, I hope it’s also “sun”sational! Only 20 more school wake-ups til summer vakay/my retirement!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
April 23, 2021:
Happy first day of our ABC Countdown ~ “A”ll About Comfy! I hope you enjoyed wearing your pjs all day today on Zoom :)! This morning we enjoyed a school-wide read aloud of the heartwarming story, Included, from local author Megan Prendergast! Should you wish to order a copy, I’ll be emailing you an order form. Here’s a look at what we’ve been up to this week, as well as what will be keeping us busy this last week of April . . .
Monday:
Happy “B”each Day! (You may throw on your sunglasses and flip flops! We’ll be reading a book with our leveled reader partner/group, so if you’d like to sit on your beach towel, that’s ok too :)!) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to come back on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up. For those who signed up, Coding Club with Ms. Leng is today on Zoom (3:25-4:10); you must use your district-provided iPad to access this meeting; if you do not, you will not be allowed into the Zoom meeting! (Use the link provided in your Seesaw from Ms. Leng.)
Tuesday:
Today is “C”oloring Day! (Today we’ll be drawing and coloring a picture with friends at our end of the day Zoom!) Intramurals with Mrs. Henson is this morning for those who signed up (7:40-8:25). Please be sure to dress weather-appropriate and wear your mask! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Today is “Eat Lunch with the Teacher;” I’ll be picking 2 girl and 2 boy sticks this morning; lunch with me is optional! You’ll be posting a picture of your April Reading Log (April 18th–24th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to come back on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Wednesday:
Happy “D”isney Day! (Wear any Disney gear you may have today!) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. I hope you’ll join us and eat lunch with a new friend on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to come back on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up. Student Council with Ms. D’Ambrosio and Ms. Babincsak is today on Zoom (3:25-4:10); you must use your district-provided iPad to access this meeting; if you do not, you will not be allowed into the Zoom meeting! (Use the link that was sent to your school email.)
Thursday:
Today is “E”xercise Day! (We’ll enjoy some extra exercise today with Go Noodle!) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to come back on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Friday:
Happy “F”un Gum Day! (You may chew gum on Zoom today; save a piece for Friday Fun, so we can see who can blow the biggest bubble :)!) Study Buddies will meet this morning at 8:15 to review this week’s Spelling and Math skills. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll be taking our Cycle 21 Spelling Test this morning. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (I’ll let you know if you need to come back on Zoom at this time!) If you don’t, be back on Zoom at 2:30 for Friday Fun! (Just a reminder, you need to have all of your work (up to and including activities assigned yesterday) completed and posted to participate.)
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is crucial!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As noted above, any students with outstanding work (Seesaw work not approved or completed) will be required to attend the 1:40 Zoom. Please remind your child to post their work every day! (Students with work not posted by Friday will be working on this during our Friday Fun time too!)
*Just a reminder, all Seesaw activities will be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book. (I will be archiving all activities from April 7th – 9th tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.)
UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES:
*Friday, April 30th ~ deadline for submitting messages for “Staff Appreciation Week” (“Hold Up Your Signs”) For more information go to ~ https://www.frpta142.com
*Friday, May 7th (8:15-8:45) ~ “Morning with Mommy” Boys and Girls, if you haven’t already, please remember to give your invitation to Mommy! (Ask Daddy/Grandma/Grandpa/Older Sibling to help you complete any items paper clipped to the “No Peeking Mommy” green note.)
*Friday, May 14th (8:15-8:45) ~ “Date with Daddy” (Items for this special event will be coming home at our next leveled reader pick-up, Wednesday, May 5th.)
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
Manny was our final “Student of the Week!” We enjoyed seeing/hearing his poster presentation and his Star Wars disk shooter!
LANGUAGE ARTS:
YESSSS . . . Joey and Samantha reached the “hive” for the second time with 20 masteries on their Spelling Tests, with last week’s Cycle 19 Test! Lailah also reached it with her 10th mastery . . . way to go! They’ll all be receiving their special surprise at our next leveled reader pick-up! This week we “closely read” our new passage, “Bake a Cake,” and worked on daily questions and activities with it. Please be sure to post both sides of your sheet to the last slide of the “Weekend News/Module Lessons/Journal Entries” activity assigned on Monday, April 19th. “Loose Tooth” will be the passage we’re working on next week! In Module this week, we’ve been enjoying the book Feathers, Not Just for Flying, and have been learning lots of cool things about different feathers. We drew semi-plume and contour ones, and explained what their “jobs” were. We also did a class “write aloud,” choosing some other neat feather features to write about. Continuing to talk about and find different text features was also on our agenda. Just a reminder to include 15-20 minutes of IXL Diagnostics (Monday) and Recommendations (Tuesday-Friday). Besides our “hive” reachers mentioned above, “buzzing” to the next bee after mastering our Cycle 19 Spelling Test last Tuesday (April 13th) were Liliana, Manny, Gabe, Abigail, Lily, Octavius, Adela, Sofi, Raiden, and Emily . . . terrific! We took our Cycle 20 test today; students reaching mastery will be announced in next week’s forecast! On Monday we’ll begin Cycle 21 (words with the ai, ea, and oa vowel teams): pain, mail, claim, clean, beach, eat, boat, goal, and toast. Our high frequency review words are were and about. In Language, we wrote our Weekend News, continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal, and worked on Words, Writing, Syllables, and Paragraph in our Handwriting Without Tears book. We also continued our first opinion piece on our favorite food. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News, finishing our food piece, working on our favorite holiday piece, and completing pages in our Handwriting Without Tears book.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) Practicing rhyming words is a great idea! (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
APRIL READING LOG:
Our April reading goal is 17 days; reaching goal. Remember to read at least 4 days each week, and post your entire calendar each Tuesday morning to be a part of our book drawing. Dopey me forgot to pick winners, so we’ll be doing that on Monday! They will be announced in next week’s forecast.
MATH:
We completed our Math 4 Today Week 30 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal. Counting by tens and 1’s from and to 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders got our hearts pumping this week! We completed our Chapter 9, “Measurement,” and took our test on Thursday. Earning a "perfect" score on all 3 standards (1.MD.A.1 ~ Order three objects by length; compare the length of two objects indirectly by using a third object, 1.MD.A.2 ~ Express the length of an object as a whole number of length units, by laying multiple copies of a shorter object (the length unit) end to end, and 1.MD.B.3 ~ Tell and write time to the hour and half hour using analog and digital clocks.) were Joey, Liliana, Manny, Gabe, Samantha, Lily, Lailah, Brandon, and Emily . . . sensational! Also achieving mastery on all 3 standards were Holden and Nathan . . . marvelous! Kudos also go out to Saja, Abigail, Octavius, Billy, and Adela, with mastery on 2 standards and Ben, Julia, and Sofi on 1 :)! Today we began Chapter 10, “Represent Data.” Next week we’ll delve into this new chapter, focusing on reading and making picture and bar graphs, our mid-chapter checkpoint, and reading tally charts. Please be sure to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math Diagnostics (Monday) and Recommendations (Tuesday-Friday) and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we’ve worked on Lesson 21 in “Second Step,” “Handling Name Calling,” which we’ll be finishing up next week. Mystery Doug had us curious about the question, “Has a shooting star ever landed on someone?” this week. We also began our Mystery Science “Plant and Animal Superpowers” Unit this week, with “Animal Structures and Survival” ~ “Why do birds have beaks?” I enjoyed watching your videos of you using your two “bird beaks” to pick up “food.” Please remember to post all of your completed Science Units activities in the "Plant" or "Animal" activities I created for you (Tuesday, April 13th).
SEESAW WORK:
Remember, you earn one drawing ticket for each completed activity each month. Please do take a moment this weekend to be sure all Seeesaw activities from this week are completed, corrected, and posted! Again, please ask Mom and/or Dad with help reading any notes and/or suggestions I have put on your activity(ies).
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks bunches to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week: Manny, Pledge Leader ~ Ben, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Liliana, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Nathan, Thought/Quote of the Day Helper ~ Abigail, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Emily and Billy, Cycle 20 Cheerleaders ~ Saja and Xavier, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Samantha, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Holden, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Sofi, Josias, Lily, and Joey.
Can you believe we’re heading into our last week of April? Mr. Baytala and I will be enjoying date night with dinner tonight, trying to get Sox tickets for tomorrow (if the rain holds off or is gone by the evening), and visiting Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn on Sunday! Whatever your plans for the weekend, I hope it’s wonderful too! Only 25 more school wake-ups til summer vakay/my retirement!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
April 16, 2021:
Happy Friday! Way to go Billy; he was announced today as one of Foster's April Lion Leaders! Hugs and thanks to Grandma Phyllis for sorting and counting our tickets for our March Seesaw drawing. We’d also like to send early birthday wishes; her birthday is Sunday! Here’s a peek at what’s kept us busy this week, as well as what we’ll be working on next week . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up. For those who signed up, Coding Club with Ms. Leng begins today on Zoom (3:25-4:10); you must use your district-provided iPad to access this meeting; if you do not, you will not be allowed into the Zoom meeting! (You should have received/will be receiving the Zoom link to your district email.)
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! For those who signed up, Intramurals with Mrs. Henson begins this morning 7:40-8:25; please be mindful that the day/time may change depending on weather conditions since this is an outside activity! Please be sure to dress weather appropriate and wear your mask! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Today is “Eat Lunch with the Teacher;” I’ll be picking 2 girl and 2 boy sticks this morning; lunch with me is optional! You’ll be posting a picture of your April Reading Log (April 11th–1th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 20 Spelling Test is this morning. Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! New Leveled Reader pick-up will be today in my driveway (15215 Las Flores Lane) (8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. I hope you’ll join us and eat lunch with a new friend on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up. For those who signed up, Student Council with Ms. D’Ambrosio and Ms. Babincsak begins today on Zoom (3:25-4:10); you must use your district-provided iPad to access this meeting; if you do not, you will not be allowed into the Zoom meeting! (You should have received/will be receiving the Zoom link to your district email.)
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Study Buddies will meet this morning at 8:15 to review for our Spelling and Math tests today. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll be taking our Cycle 20 Spelling Test and our Chapter 9 Math Test this morning. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Be back on Zoom at 2:30 for Friday Fun! (You need to have all of your work (up to and including activities assigned yesterday) completed and posted to participate.)
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW/UPCOMING DATES:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is SO important!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As noted above, any students with outstanding work (Seesaw work not approved or completed) will be required to attend the 1:40 Zoom. Please remind your child to post their work every day! (Students with work not posted by Friday will be working on this during our Friday Fun time too!)
*All extra-curricular activities begin this week. (Coding Club ~ Monday (3:25-4:10 p.m.)/Intramurals+ ~ Tuesday (7:40-8:25 a.m.)/Student Council ~ Wednesday (3:25-4:10 p.m.)
*As you’ll notice above, our Study Buddies has now moved to Fridays at 8:15 a.m. For this last 6 weeks of school, our Spelling Tests will now be on Fridays too.
*"Morning with Mommy" ~ Friday, May 7th (8:15-8:45 a.m.)
*"Date with Daddy" ~ Friday, May 14th (8:15-8:45 a.m.)
+Depending on weather conditions each week, please be sure to check your email as the day/time may change.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed getting to know more about Saja this week! We liked seeing her Kaylin doll show & tell too! Manny will be our last Student of the Week next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we “closely read” a new passage, “Pets,” and worked on daily questions and activities with it. Please be sure to post both sides of your sheet to the last slide of the “Weekend News/Module Lessons/Journal Entries” activity assigned on Monday, April 12th. Next week we’ll be reading a new one, “Bake a Cake.” We completed Module 3/Unit 1 this week and began Unit 2: Building Research Skills: Birds’ Bodies. We enjoyed reading and discussing Flight School. Just a reminder to include 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics (Monday) and recommendations (Tuesday-Friday). We took our Cycle 19 Test on Tuesday; students earning mastery will be announced in next week’s forecast. Earning mastery on our Cycle 18 Test last Wednesday (April 7th) and “buzzing” to the next bee were Joey, Liliana, Saja, Manny, Abigail, Octavius, Julia, and Emily . . . sensational! On Wednesday, we began work on Cycle 20* (words with er, ir, and ur): stern, perk, herd, bird, dirt, girl, turn, curb, and fur. Our High Frequency Review Words are: thing and because. (Please do ask your child to sing our “Because” song for you :)!) In Language, we wrote our Weekend News, continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal, and worked on Question and Answer, Paragraph, Abbreviations, and Capitals in our Handwriting Without Tears book. We also began learning about/writing our first opinion piece on our favorite food. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News, continuing our food piece, and completing pages in our Handwriting Without Tears book.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) Practicing rhyming words is a great idea! (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
APRIL READING LOG:
Our April reading goal is 17 days. Remember to read at least 4 days each week, and post your entire calendar each Tuesday morning to be a part of our book drawing. This week’s winners were Raiden and Lailah. They'll receive their books at this week's pick-up.
MATH:
This week we completed our Math 4 Today Week 29 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal. Counting by tens and 1’s from and to 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders got us up and moving! We continued Chapter 9, “Measurement,” this week, working on using nonstandard units to measure length, making a nonstandard measuring tool, measuring and comparing, the mid-chapter checkpoint, time to the hour, and half hour. (Please be sure to save the cut out tiles, paper clips, paper clip measuring tool, and clock that we’ve been using this week, as we’ll be using them throughout the rest of the year.) This upcoming week will have us focusing on telling/practicing time to the hour and half hour, and then reviewing and taking our Chapter 9 Test on Friday. Please be sure to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we completed work on Lesson 20 in “Second Step,” “Inviting to Join In.” Thanks Ms. Scolaro for also coming in to share the important Erin’s Law lesson with us. We continued our Science Inquiry, “Structures and Functions of Organisms,” with “Plant Parts” and “Comparing Animals.” We also enjoyed exploring Mystery Doug’s question, “What’s the fastest baseball ever thrown?” Thursday found us reading and discussing “Time” in our Studies Weekly.
SEESAW WORK:
Thanks Mr. Beringer for picking our March winners yesterday ~ Abigail, Saja, Julia, and Gabe ~ water bottles, Lily ~ Despicable Me Journal, Samantha ~ Frozen Color and Play Book, Billy ~ Maze Book, Ben ~ Zombies Coloring Alive, Sofi ~ Shimmer and Shine Colorups, and Emily ~ Disney Princess Coloring and Activity Book. (Holden and Brooklynn were also winners and will pick their prizes on Monday.) Everyone will receive their prizes at our pick-up on Wednesday. Remember, you earn one drawing ticket for each completed activity each month. Please do take a moment this weekend to be sure all Seeesaw activities from this week are completed, corrected, and posted! Parent(s), please help your child read any notes I may have sent. (Again, on our Math lessons, pictures of any pages with 2 or less problems incorrect need not be reposted. Please do have your child correct all problems in their book, and then repost pictures of those pages with 3 or more incorrect).
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks so much to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week: Saja, Pledge Leader ~ Joey, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Xavier, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Liliana, Thought/Quote of the Day Helper ~ Lily, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Lailah and Nathan, Cycle 19 Cheerleaders ~ Jamilah and Octavius, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Aubrey, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Gabe, Doubles Song Leaders ~ Sofi and Billy, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Brandon, Emily, Raiden, and Julia.
Hard to believe my grandson Grayson turned 6 this week (Thursday)! Mr. Baytala and I enjoyed spending the evening celebrating with him, Kyle, and Quinn! Seesaw has been very temperamental this week, so I am hoping to get through the rest of our posts this weekend, lesson plan for next week, and catch up on some tv shows. I hope you have a safe and relaxing one too! Only 30 more school wake-ups til summer vakay/my retirement!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
April 9, 2021:
Happy Birthday Manny! Thanks Mrs. Barajas, for coming in to read one of his favorite stories, The Pigeon Needs a Bath. We also enjoyed seeing your show & tell stuffed Roblox animals too! Here’s a glance at what we worked on during this short week, as well as what will be keeping us busy next week . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! “Study Buddies” will meet this morning (8:15 a.m.) to go over this week’s Phonics skills to prepare for today’s Spelling test. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your April Reading Log (April 1st–10th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 19 Spelling Test is this morning. Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. I hope you’ll join us and eat lunch with a new friend on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Eat lunch with the teacher will be today; I’ll be picking 2 girl and 2 boy sticks; lunch with me is totally optional! Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Be back on Zoom at 2:30 for Friday Fun! (You need to have all of your work completed to participate.)
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is crucial!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As emailed to parents previously, all Seesaw activities will be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book. (I will be archiving all activities assigned March 22nd – 26th this weekend.)
*As noted above, any students with outstanding work (Seesaw work not approved or completed) will be required to attend the 1:40 Zoom. Please remind your child to post their work every day! (Students with work not posted by Friday will be working on this during our Friday Fun time too!)
*Just a reminder, if you’d like your child to participate in any of the extra-curricular activities (Intramurals, Student Council, and/or Coding Club) that begin the week of April 19th, you need to fill out the permission slip(s) sent to you on Swift Reach by this Wednesday, April 14th. (I will also be sending you an email with them. Student Council and Coding Club will be offered remotely. Intramurals will be in-person outside, but you would need to drop off and pick up your child.)
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
Saja will be our Student of the Week next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we “closely read” a new passage, “Hats,” and worked on daily questions and activities with it. Next week we’ll be reading a new one, “Pets.” We worked on our Module 3/Unit 1 Assessment this week. We’ll be finishing up Unit 1 next week and beginning Unit 2. We learned the “champion” of the “March Madness Books Always Win” global event was one of our favorites, Pacho Nacho! Just a reminder to include 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics (Monday) and recommendations (Tuesday-Friday). We took our Cycle 18 Test on Wednesday; students earning mastery will be announced in next week’s forecast. On Thursday, we began work on Cycle 19* (words with ar and or): dark, yard, stars, corn, fork, and short. Our High Frequency Words are: also, around, more, write, and after. Our “Spring Fling” word maker winners were ; Liliana (59), Samantha (56), and Gabe (42); they received their prize with this week’s pick-up. In Language, we wrote our Weekend News, March News, and continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News, using adjectives with “more strength,” and begin learning about opinion writing.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) Practicing rhyming words is a great idea! (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
MARCH/APRIL READING LOGS:
Our March reading goal was 18 days; reaching goal, reading at least 4 days each week and posting every Tuesday, even over break, were Liliana and Nathan . . . super! They both got to pick a book that they received at this week’s pick-up. Also reaching goal were Ben and Holden . . . great! Our April goal is 17 days; be sure to have an adult initial your calendar each day you read/are read to for at least 20 minutes, and then post your calendar each Tuesday morning to be eligible for our free book drawing! Our March 30th winners were Liliana and Nathan; we only had one person, Ben, who read 4 days (and had not previously won in March) for our April 6th drawing; he also picked a book he received at our pick-up.
MATH:
High fives to Joey, Saja, Samantha, and Abigail; they earned mastery on all three standards (OA.C.6: Add and subtract within 20, NBT.C.4: Add within 100, and NBT.C.6: Subtract multiples of 10.) Achieving mastery on 2 standards were Lily, Manny, Gabe, Holden, Nathan, Brandon, Billy, and Emily, and Aubrey, Lily, Lailah, Octavius, Jamilah, Julia, and Raiden earned mastery on 1 standard . . . terrific! This week we completed our Math 4 Today Week 28 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal. Counting by tens from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders gave us some great practice! We also began Chapter 9, “Measurement,” working on the introductory pages, ordering length, and indirect measurement. Next week we’ll be focusing on using nonstandard units to measure length, making a nonstandard measuring tool, measuring and comparing, the mid-chapter checkpoint, time to the hour, and half hour. (Please be sure to cut out the tiles that were sent with this week’s materials; you’ll need them for Monday’s Math lesson.) Please remember to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE:
This week we began work on Lesson 20 in “Second Step,” “Inviting to Join In.” Mystery Doug had us curious about the question, “Why do we celebrate April Fool’s Day?” I enjoyed seeing some of your pictures and hearing about some pranks! We began our Science Inquiry, “Structures and Functions of Organisms,” this week with Lesson 1, “Animal Parts.” We began our KWL chart, completed different animal diagrams, and picked and wrote about an animal and what helps it keep safe.
SEESAW WORK:
Please do take a moment this weekend to be sure all Seeesaw activities from this week are completed, corrected, and posted! Parent(s), please help your child read any notes I may have sent. (Again, on our Math lessons, pictures of any pages with 2 or less problems incorrect need not be reposted. Please do have your child correct all problems in their book, and then repost pictures of those pages with 3 or more incorrect).
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks a bunch to this week’s “helping hands”: Pledge Leader ~ Manny, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Saja, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Sofi, Thought/Quote of the Day Helper ~ Raiden, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Adela and Brandon, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Billy, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Emily, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Aubrey, Gabe, Abigail, and Holden.
I hope everyone had a wonderful, relaxing Spring Break! Hard to believe we only have 35 more wake-ups til Summer Vakay! Enjoy your weekend!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
March 26, 2021:
Happy first Friday of the 4th Quarter! We enjoyed listening again to the “March Madness” “Final Four” stories . . . All The Way To The Top, The Oldest Student, Pacho Nacho and Soaked; our votes are in, and I’ll be sending you the two stories that will be in the championship as soon as I get them from Mrs. H. next week. You can listen to them at home and vote on your favorite! Here’s a look at what we were working on this week, as well as what will be happening the week after break . . .
Monday, March 29th – Tuesday, April 6th:
SPRING BREAK ~ NO SCHOOL for students or staff.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll be taking our Cycle 18 Spelling Test today. Eat lunch with a new friend is today; I hope you’ll join us and eat lunch on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to be on Zoom with me!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! LEVLED READER PICK-UP WILL BE AT MY DRIVEWAY (15215 Las Flores Lane) TODAY (8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Eat lunch with the teacher will be today; I’ll be picking 2 girl and 2 boy sticks; lunch with me is totally optional! Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to be on Zoom with me!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Friday:
Happy Birthday Manny! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to be on Zoom with me!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for Manny's birthday celebration!
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is very important!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As emailed to parents previously, all Seesaw activities will be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book. (All 3rd Quarter activities, except for Chapter 8 Math lessons were archived last Saturday.) (I will be archiving Math lessons assigned March 2nd – 5th on Friday, April 2nd.)
*As noted above, any students with outstanding work (Seesaw work not approved or completed) will be required to attend the 1:40 Zoom. Please remind your child to post their work every day! (Students with work not posted by Friday will be working on this during our Friday Fun time too!)
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed getting to know more about Josias this week! We thought his Spiderman show & tell was cool too! Due to our short week when we return from break, we won’t have a new Student of the Week until April 12th.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we “closely read” a new passage, “Rainy Day,” and worked on daily questions and activities with it. After break we’ll be reading/working on “Hats.” We also continued our Module 3, “Bird’s Amazing Bodies” Unit 1this week, reading different part of Just Ducks and Birds. We sketched, labeled, and wrote a caption about the peacock’s feathers and the bald eagle’s feet in our Module Book, and used adjectives with “more strength.” As mentioned above the “March Madness Books Always Win” global event continues, and we listened and voted on the “Final Four!” Just a reminder to include 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics (Monday) and recommendations (Tuesday-Friday). Kudos to this week’s “masters” on Tuesday’s Cycle 17B Spelling words ~ Emily, Raiden, Adela, Billy, Octavius, Lailah, Samantha, Ben, Gabe, Saja, Liliana, and Joey! On Wednesday, we then began work on Cycle 18* (long vowel with ed/ing suffix words): baked, joked, ruled, gliding, skating, and dozing. Our high frequency words are: thing, the, was, they, and have. This week’s high frequency words are also, around, more, write, and after. Our Cycle 18 Test will be on Wednesday when we return. We made as many words as we could with the letters from “Spring Fling” today with a partner; I’ll be announcing winners in our next forecast! We also worked on our “bunny” sheet today, writing this week’s words and some rhyming words; we then worked with partners in breakout rooms, creating sentences with our high frequency words for our “bunny holder” sheets. In Language, we wrote our Weekend News, continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal, and worked on our “Spring” activity. After break we’ll be writing our Spring Break and March News (both with at least 6 sentences), continue using adjectives with more strength and begin learning about opinion writing.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) Practicing rhyming words is a great idea! (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
MARCH READING LOGS:
Remember, our March reading goal is 18 days; be sure to have an adult initial your calendar each day you read/are read to for at least 20 minutes, and then post your calendar each Tuesday morning to be eligible for our free book drawing! We’ll pick this week’s, as well as winners for March 30th and April 6th when we return from break, so be sure to post both Tuesdays we’re on break, to be eligible!
MATH:
High Fives to Raiden; he earned his Beginning Addition certificate in XtraMath, and got to hear his name on announcements! This week we completed our Math 4 Today Week 27 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal also. Counting by tens toward and from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders gave us some daily exercise! We took our Chapter 8 Math Test today and will begin Chapter 9, “Measurement,” when we return; we’ll be focusing on ordering length, indirect measurement, and using nonstandard units to measure length. Please remember to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE:
This week we finished work on Lesson 19 in “Second Step,” “Fair Ways to Play.” When we return, we’ll begin Lesson 20, “Inviting to Join In.” Mystery Doug had us curious about the question, “How are books made?” this week; I enjoyed hearing some of your stories! We will begin our Science Inquiry, “Structures and Functions of Organisms,” when we return.
SEESAW WORK:
Please do take a moment over break to be sure all Seesaw activities are completed, corrected, and posted! Parent(s), please help your child read any notes I may have sent. (Again, on our Math lessons, pictures of any pages with 2 or less problems incorrect need not be reposted. Please do have your child correct all problems in their book, and then repost pictures of those pages with 3 or more incorrect). My Seesaw has been very temperamental the last week, so I’ll be doing a lot of catching up on posts over break!
HELPING HANDS:
Merci to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Josias, Pledge Leader ~ Manny, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Saja, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Sofi, Thought/Quote of the Day Helper ~ Raiden, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Adela and Brandon, Cycle 17B “Cheer” Leaders ~ Liliana and Nathan, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Billy, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Emily, Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Aubrey, Gabe, Abigail, and Holden, and Doubles Song Leaders ~ Samantha and Ben.
Hard to believe Spring Break is upon us! I’m looking forward to a relaxing week of sleeping in a bit, walking, spending time with my best friend Dawn and her husband Rodger, and reading a couple of “noneducational” books :)! I hope you and yours have a wonderful, relaxing, and safe break too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
March 19, 2021:
Happy last Friday of the 3rd Quarter! We bid a sad farewell to Brooklynn, Santi, and Emma, who will be going back to school “in person” for the 4th Quarter! (I will be checking in on all of you, and feel free to pop in on Wednesday’s when we “Eat Lunch with a New Friend!”) if you’re home! We’d also like to send a “Welcome” shout out to Manny, who will be joining our Remote Family on Monday! Votes were tabulated for the “Sweet Sixteen” “March Madness” books. (Thanks Mrs. “H.”!), so we’ve begun listening and voting on the “Elite Eight” choices! (More information is below.) Following is a glance at what we’ve been up to this week, as well as a peek at our first week of the 4th Quarter . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. Be sure to post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! “Study Buddies” will not meet this morning; we’ll be meeting on Friday instead for a little extra practice before our test. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your March Reading Log (March 21st-27th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 17B Spelling Test is this morning. Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll eat lunch with a new friend; I hope you’ll join us and eat lunch on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Friday:
Happy “Spring Fling” Friday! Study Buddies will be this morning at 8:15. We’ll be reviewing for our Chapter 8 Math Test. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll be doing lots of fun, engaging “Spring” cross-curricular activities today! Our Chapter 8 Math Test is this morning. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. We’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to work on more “Spring Fling” activities! Friday Fun time will be spent playing “Spring Jingo” with our 5th Grade Buddies :)! Report Cards will be emailed today.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is critical!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As emailed to parents previously, all Seesaw activities will be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book. (I will be archiving all activties from the 3rd Quarter tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.)
*As noted above, any students with outstanding work (Seesaw work not approved or completed) will be required to attend the 1:40 Zoom. Please remind your child to post their work every day! (Students with work not posted by Friday will be working on this during our Friday Fun time too!)
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We liked getting to know more about Emily this week and enjoyed seeing her travel brush and mirror show & tell too! Josias will be highlighted next week!
LANGUAGE ARTS:
YESS Liliana and Emily reached the hive for the second time with their twentieth mastery on this week’s 17A Spelling Test J! High fives also go out to Octavius, who also reached the hive with his tenth mastery! We continued work in our Module 3, “Bird’s Amazing Bodies” Unit 1this week, reading Just Ducks and Birds. We sketched and labeled birds in our Module Book, and learned more about adjectives with “more strength.” We continued to be a part of the “March Madness Books Always Win” global event, listening to and voting on the first six stories of the “Elite Eight” this week. Just a reminder to include 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics (Monday) and recommendations (Tuesday-Friday). Also earning mastery on this week’s 17A Spelling Test, and “buzzing” to the next bee were Joey, Saja, Lailah, Julia, Billy, and Raiden . . . super! On Wednesday, we then began work on Cycle 17B* (long u (that says u) and long e with magic e words): cube, huge, use, eve, Pete, Our high frequency words are: tell, boy, following, came, and show. This week’s high frequency words are also, around, more, write, and after. We worked with partners in breakout rooms today creating sentences with our high frequency words. In Language, we wrote our Weekend News, our final draft of our Personal Narrative, and continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News (now with at least 6 sentences), and working with better adjectives.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) Practicing rhyming words is a great idea! (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
MARCH READING LOGS:
Our March reading goal is 18 days; remember to have an adult initial your calendar each day you read/are read to for at least 20 minutes, and then post your calendar each Tuesday morning to be eligible for our free book drawing! Octavius and Sofi were are book winners this week; they chose their books and received them at the quarterly pick-up.
MATH:
Kudos to Emily and Liliana who completed Subtraction, and Julia, who completed Beginning Addition on XtraMath this week. (They’ll get to hear their names on announcements on Monday!) This week we completed our Math 4 Today Week 26 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal too. Counting by ones toward and from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders also got us moving! Next week we’ll be finishing up Chapter 8, concentrating on problem solving addition word problems, related addition and subtraction, practicing addition and subtraction, and working on our chapter review and study guide. Our test will be on Friday. Please remember to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we continued work on Lesson 19 in “Second Step,” “Fair Ways to Play.” We’ll be finishing it up next week. “Could people ever walk on walls?” was the question Mystery Doug had us curious about this week. I enjoyed seeing and hearing about all the things you would do if you could walk on walls. We finished up work on our “Economic Choices” Inquiry this week too with the supporting question, “Why do families choose to save money?” We also read and discussed our corresponding Studies Weekly magazine, “Spending and Saving.”
SEESAW WORK:
Please do take a moment tonight and tomorrow to be sure all of this week’s activities are completed, corrected, and posted! Parent(s), please help your child read any notes I may have sent. (Again, on our Math lessons, pictures of any pages with 2 or less problems incorrect need not be reposted. Please do have your child correct all problems in their book, and then repost pictures of those pages with 3 or more incorrect.) All activities from the 3rd Quarter will be archived tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.
HELPING HANDS:
Hugs and thanks to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Emily, Pledge Leader ~ Adela, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Aubrey, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Emma, Thought/Quote of the Day Helper ~ Lailah, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Abigail and Holden, Cycle 17A “Cheer” Leaders ~ Brandon and Lily, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Gabe, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Brooklynn, Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Saja, Joey, Jamilah, and Xavier, and Doubles Song Leaders ~ Julia and Josias.
As we head into our last school week of March and our first week of the 4th Quarter, I wanted to take a moment to thank you, parents, for all of your wonderful assistance and support throughout the first 3 quarters of this 1st grade year! I’m looking forward to one more quarter together with your children, learning and growing together each day! I’ll be working on grades this weekend and on Sunday, Mr. Baytala and I will enjoy dinner with Kyle and his girlfriend Brooke. I’ll also be going through Seesaw posts and lesson planning. However you’re spending yours, I hope it’s safe and happy too! Only 5 more school wake-ups til Spring Break :)!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
March 12, 2021:
Happy Friday! Thanks Ms. Jurasik for coming in to read Cats Cats for Liliana’s birthday yesterday! We loved seeing her LOL Glamper too :)! Hugs and thanks go out to Mrs. Horbaczewski for setting up our “March Madness” activity! We’ve been enjoying the “Sweet Sixteen” stories this week! (More information is below.) Here’s a peek at what we’ve been up to this week, as well as a look at our upcoming week . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. We’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to listen to the next two “Sweet Sixteen” “March Madness” books. I’ll then be happy to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! “Study Buddies” will meet this morning at 8:15 to review for today’s Cycle 17A Spelling Test and review Chapter 8 skills. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your March Reading Log (March 7th-13th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 17A Spelling Test is this morning. I’ll be eating lunch with another small group of students today! (I’ll be picking sticks in the morning; lunch with me is totally optional!) Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. We’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to listen to the next two “Sweet Sixteen” “March Madness” books. I’ll then be happy to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Wednesday:
Happy St. Patrick's Day! Join me in wearing a wee bit (or a lot :)) of green today! Today is the 4th Quarter Pick-Up at Foster (1:30-3:15). I will also have a few things at my driveway for you to grab. (1:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) We'll be doing lots of fun, engaging cross-curricular activities today! We’ll eat lunch with a new friend; I hope you’ll join us and eat lunch on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. We’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to listen to the next two “Sweet Sixteen” “March Madness” books. I’ll then be happy to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:20 for our end-of-the-day "reading" wrap-up with our 5th Grade Buddies!
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Today is the 4th Quarter Pick-Up at Foster (1:30-3:15). I will also have a few things at my driveway for you to grab. (1:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. We’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to listen to the next two “Elite Eight” “March Madness” books. I’ll then be happy to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Our PBIS 3rd Quarter “Color Wars” celebration is today! Foster’s entire 1st Grade is wearing red today! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. We’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 to listen to the next two “Elite Eight” “March Madness” books. I’ll then be happy to give assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to stay on Zoom!) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our Friday Fun wrap-up! (Those students who still have not posted their work will be working on it during Friday Fun time!)
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*If you haven’t yet, please be sure to fill out the Reconfiguration Parent Survey sent last Friday and resent today. This will close tomorrow, Saturday, March 13th at noon.
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is so important!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As noted above, 4th Quarter Pick-Up of Materials will be Wednesday or Thursday at Foster (1:30 -3:15 p.m.) Please be sure to drive around the block to my driveway (15215 Las Flores Lane) to pick up a few things too! (Those students who are going back "in" to school for the 4th Quarter, need not pick up anything at Foster. They'll get their 4th Quarter supplies from their new teacher. Please do still stop by my driveway; I have a little Easter surprise for the kids.)
*As emailed to parents previously, all Seesaw activities will be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book. (I will be archiving all February 22nd – 26th activities Sunday evening.)
*As noted above, any students with outstanding work (Seesaw work not approved or completed) will be required to attend the 1:40 Zoom. Please remind your child to post their work every day! (Students with work not posted by Friday will be working on this during our Friday Fun time too!)
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed getting to know more about Raiden this week and liked seeing his gold Power Ranger show & tell too! Emily will be in the spotlight next week!
LANGUAGE ARTS:
High fives to Liliana, Holden, Abigail, and Emily, who earned mastery on both of our RL1.5 (Explain differences between stories and informational text) and RI 1.2 (Identify the main topic and retell key details.) standards! Joey, Gabe, Nathan, and Octavius also achieved mastery on the RL1.5 standard, and Saja, Samantha, Lailah, Santi, Julia, Billy, Sofi, and Emma reached mastery on the RI 1.2 one . . . terrific! We began our Module 3, “Bird’s Amazing Bodies” Unit 1this week, listening and talking about Kevin Henkes cool book, Birds! Many of you and your families have been watching “March Madness” basketball, and here at school we’ve been a part of the “Sweet Sixteen” “March Madness Books Always Win” global event! We have been enjoying 2 read alouds in the morning, and two more in the afternoon, and have then taken a class vote on which books we liked more! I think we’ve all been enjoying hearing and talking about some neat stories! Just a reminder to include 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics (Monday) and recommendations (Tuesday-Friday). Way to go Emily, Raiden, Emma, Billy, Julia, Jamilah, Octavius, Lailah, Nathan, Samantha, Brooklynn, Gabe, Saja, Liliana, and Joey; they all achieved mastery on our Cycle 16B Spelling Test! On Wednesday, we then began work on Cycle 17A* (long u (that says oo) with magic e words): rule, dude, June, plume, tube, and flute. Our high frequency words are: tell, boy, following, came, and show. Today we worked in breakout rooms creating sentences with our high frequency words. In Language, we wrote our Weekend News, our final draft of our “What the Sun Sees,” poem, and continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News (again with at least 5 sentences), writing our final draft of our personal narrative, and finishing up prepositions.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) Practicing rhyming words is a great idea! (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
MARCH READING LOGS:
Our March reading goal is 18 days; remember to have an adult initial your calendar each day you read/are read to for at least 20 minutes, and then post your calendar each Tuesday morning to be eligible for our free book drawing! This week’s free book winners Gabe and Samantha; they chose their books received them at our Wednesday pick-up!
MATH:
WOW Gabe and Emily achieved a perfect score on our Chapter 8 Math Test . . . sensational! Also earning mastery on both the 1.NBT.B.3 (Compare two digits based on the meanings of the tens and ones digits and using the >,<, and = symbols) and 1.NBT.C5 (Mentally find 10 more or 10 less than the number) standards were Joey, Liliana, Samantha, Holden, Abigail, Nathan, Octavius, Brandon, and Emma . . . super! Julia and Billy also reached mastery on the B.3 standard, and Saja, Lailah, Adela, and Sofi on the C5 one . . . terrific! We completed our Math 4 Today Week 25 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal too. Counting by tens toward and from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders also gave us some daily exercise! Next week we’ll continue work in Chapter 8, focusing on using a hundred chart, modeling, making ten, and place value to add. We’ll also be doing some engaging “St. Patrick’s Day” activities on Wednesday! Please remember to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we began working on Lesson 19 in “Second Step,” “Fair Ways to Play.” We’ll be finishing it up next week. This week, Mystery Doug had us curious about the question, “How is a rainbow made?” I enjoyed seeing and hearing about the “rainbow” activities that you did! We continued work on our “Economic Choices” Inquiry this week too with the supporting question, “What choices do we make with our money?” We also read and discussed our corresponding Studies Weekly magazine, “Economic Choices ~ Economic Activities.”
SEESAW WORK
Thanks Mr. Beringer for coming in this week to pick out our February Seesaw drawing winners ~ Emma ~ Chick Paddle Ball, Liliana ~ Beads Hair Clip Set, Ben ~ Pop Catch Game, Saja ~ Bunny Frisbee, Sofi ~ Coloring/Activity Book with Stencils, Samantha ~ Basketball Game, Adela ~ Bunny Yoyo, Emily ~ Butterfly Frisbee, Josias ~ Raccoon Paddle Ball, Abigail ~ Chick Paddle Ball, Jamilah ~ Egg Decorating Kit, and Octavius ~ Leprechaun Headband. (Those will be given with next week's pick-up!) Remember, you receive one drawing ticket for every Seesaw activity completed and approved! Please do take a moment over this weekend to be sure all of this week’s activities are completed, corrected, and posted! Parent(s), please help your child read any notes I may have sent. (Again, on our Math lessons, pictures of any pages with 2 or less problems incorrect need not be reposted. Please do have your child correct all problems in their book, and then repost pictures of those pages with 3 or more incorrect.)
HELPING HANDS:
Big thanks and kudos to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Raiden, Pledge Leader ~ Sofi, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Ben, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Octavius, Thought/Quote of the Day Helper ~ Samantha, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Jamilah and Xavier, Cycle 16B “Cheer” Leaders ~ Julia and Gabe, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Emily, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Abigail, Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Nathan, Billy, Lailah, and Brooklynn, and Doubles Song Leaders ~ Liliana and Joey.
Hard to believe that we’re heading into our last week of the 3rd Quarter! Mr. Baytala and I will be visiting Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn this weekend, as well as seeing family friends Kim, Tommy, and baby Payton! I’ll also be going through Seesaw posts and lesson planning. Whatever you’re up, I hope you have a safe and relaxing weekend too! Only 10 more school wake-ups til Spring Break :)!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
March 5, 2021:
Happy first Friday of March! We’ve had a short but busy week! Here’s a glance at what we’ve been working on, as well as what will be happening this upcoming week . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to be back on at 1:40.) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! “Study Buddies” will meet this morning at 8:15 to review for today’s Cycle 16B Spelling Test and review Chapter 7 skills. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your March Reading Log (March 1st-6th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 16B Spelling Test and Chapter 7 Math Test are this morning. I’ll be eating lunch with another small group of students today! (I’ll be picking sticks in the morning; lunch with me is totally optional!) Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to be back on at 1:40.) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Today is Leveled Book pick-up/drop-off in my driveway. (8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.) We’ll eat lunch with a new friend; I hope you’ll join us and eat lunch on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to be back on at 1:40.) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:20 for our end-of-the-day "reading" wrap-up with our 5th Grade Buddies!
Thursday:
Happy Birthday Liliana! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. If you haven’t yet, be sure to do a birthday message for Liliana! Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to be back on at 1:40.) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for Liliana’s end-of-the-day birthday celebration!
Friday:
Happy Friday! Wear your Foster spirit wear or red and white today! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. (Just a reminder, if you have any work that has not been approved and/or completed you are required to be back on at 1:40.) Everyone else, post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day Friday Fun wrap-up!
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is crucial!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As emailed to parents previously, all Seesaw activities will be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book. (I will be archiving all February 15th – 19th activities Sunday evening.)
*As of last week, any students with outstanding work (Seesaw work not approved or completed) will be required to attend the 1:40 Zoom. Please remind your child to post their work every day!
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We liked getting to know more about Emma this week and enjoyed seeing her Pooh Bear show & tell! Raiden will be highlighted next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
YIPPEE Julia reached the hive this past Tuesday with her 10th Spelling Test mastery! (She’ll receive a special surprise at this Wednesday’s pick-up!) This week, using the “Gradual Release” Model (“I Do”/“We Do”/“You Do With a Partner”), we closely read “Lucy and Flutter”/“Do You Want a Dog?”, “Pizza Night”/“Pizza Recipe”, and “Sunflowers”/“Tom and Joe the Sunflower Brothers” to continue practicing our RL1.5 (Explain differences between stories and informational text) standard. We also enjoyed learning more about “Bears,” “Snowflakes,” and “Trees,” as we reviewed the RI 1.2 (Identify the main topic and retell key details.) standard. You’ll be taking an assessment on both standards this upcoming week. Please remember to include 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics (Monday) and recommendations (Tuesday-Friday). Sensational job Joey, Liliana, Gabe, Brooklynn, Samantha, Abigail, Nathan, Octavius, Xavier, Billy, Adela, Sofi, Emma, and Emily; they all earned mastery on our Cycle 16A Spelling Test! On Wednesday, we began work on Cycle 16B* (long o with magic e words): bones, hole, nose, slope, probe, and broke. Our high frequency words are: too, means, old, any, and same. Today we worked in breakout rooms creating sentences with our high frequency words. In Language, we wrote our Weekend News, February News, and continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News (again with at least 5 sentences), writing our final draft of “What the Sun Sees,” “tweaking” our personal narrative, and continue reviewing prepositions.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) Practicing rhyming words is a great idea! (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
FEBRUARY/MARCH READING LOGS:
Reaching our February reading goal (16 days), reading at least 4 days each week, and posting every Tuesday were Adela, Ben, Emily, Emma, Holden, Julia, Liliana, Nathan, and Octavius; they’ll each get to choose a new book on Monday, which they’ll receive in Wednesday’s pick-up! Also reaching our March goal were Abigail, Aubrey, Billy, Brandon, Brooklynn, Jamilah, Joey, Lailah, Samantha, and Sofi . . . terrific! Our March reading goal is 18 days; remember to have an adult initial your calendar each day you read/are read to for at least 20 minutes, and then post your calendar each Tuesday morning to be eligible for our free book drawing! This week’s free book winners Aubrey and Joey; they chose their books and will receive them at our Wednesday pick-up!
MATH:
We continued work in Chapter 7, “Compare Numbers,” this past week. We also completed our Math 4 Today Week 24 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal. Counting by tens and ones toward and from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders kept our hearts pumping too! I think everyone enjoyed guessing each other’s “mystery numbers” at our end-of-the-day Zoom yesterday! We’ll be reviewing for our Chapter 7 Test on Monday and taking it on Tuesday! We’ll then begin Chapter 8, “Two Digit Addition and Subtraction” focusing on adding and subtracting within 20 and adding and subtracting tens. Please remember to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we reviewed/talked about what we’ve learned in “Second Step” so far this year. Next week we’ll begin our “Fair Ways to Play” lesson. Mystery Doug had us curious this week about the question “Why do beavers build dams?” I’m enjoying seeing all of the houses you’ve designed! We also continued work on our “Economic Choices” Inquiry this week with the supporting question, “How do families gain money?” We read and discussed our corresponding Studies Weekly magazine, “Economic Choices ~ Supply and Demand.”
SEESAW WORK:
Please do take a moment over this weekend to be sure all of this week’s activities are completed, corrected, and posted! Parent(s), please help your child read any notes I may have sent. (Again, on our Math lessons, pictures of any pages with 2 or less problems incorrect need not be reposted. Please do have your child correct all problems in their book, and then repost pictures of those pages with 3 or more incorrect.)
HELPING HANDS:
Hugs and thanks to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Emma, Pledge Leader ~ Santi, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Josias, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Lailah, Thought/Quote of the Day Helper ~ Saja, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Lily and Octavius, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Brandon, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Billy, Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Ben, Sofi, Raiden, and Aubrey, and Doubles Song Leaders ~ Abigail and Holden.
I think we’re all enjoying these little “glimpses” of spring weather! I’m looking forward to taking a few walks with Mr. Baytala this weekend! Don't forget to set your clocks ahead 1 hour on Saturday night! I hope you and yours have a great one too! Only 15 more school wake-ups til Spring Break!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
February 26, 2021:
Happy last Friday of Black History Month! Early birthday hugs and wishes go out to my daughter Ashleigh! Her “real” birthday is tomorrow. She loved our birthday song today! Thanks Mrs. Chacon for coming in to read one of Ben’s favorite books, The Escape of Marvin the Ape, this past Monday for his birthday celebration! We really enjoyed your Pizza Making Set show & tell too Ben! Thanks too Ms. Baez for sharing Xavier’s favorite book, Put Me in the Zoo, this past Wednesday for his birthday; we also liked seeing your talking Pikachu show & tell Xavier! Grandma Phyllis, Ms. Tarchala, and Cody, thanks for your help getting our "Read Across America" files and other needed materials together for this past Wednesday's pick-up! Here’s a look at what’s been keeping us busy this week, as well as what we’ll be working on during our next abbreviated week . .
Monday:
Casmir Pulaski Day ~ No School for Students or Staff
Tuesday:
Happy Read Across America Day! We’ll be enjoying many cross-curricular activities today! “Study Buddies” will meet this morning at 8:15 to review for today’s Cycle 16A Spelling Test and review Chapter 7 skills. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your February Reading Log (February 21st-28th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 16A Spelling Test is this morning. I’ll be eating lunch with another small group of students today! (I’ll be picking sticks in the morning; lunch with me is totally optional!) Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Remember to complete and post all of today’s work, and be back to read a Dr. Seuss book and do some special activities with your 5th grade buddy(ies) for our early end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up at 2:20.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! We’ll eat lunch with a new friend; I hope you’ll join us and eat lunch on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Be sure to complete and post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Remember to complete and post all of today’s work, and be back for our end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up at 2:30.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Wear your Foster spirit wear or red and white today! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Be sure to complete and post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom for our Friday Fun end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is critical!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As emailed to parents previously, all Seesaw activities will be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book. (I will be archiving all February 8th – 12th activities on Monday.)
*Just a reminder, if you haven’t completed the Google 4th Quarter Learning Survey; it’s due today by 4:00 p.m.
*PTA’s Art Contest, “I Matter Because. . .” continues through today. For more information, following is a quick link: PTA Art Expo
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed getting to know more about Sofi this week and liked seeing her Unicorn Llama ~ Sparkles show & tell! Emma will be in the spotlight next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we finished up Module 2, Unit 3, revising our verses for our “What the Sun Sees” poem. We’ll be writing our final copy this Wednesday. We also completed our “On a Sandy Shore” comprehension passage. Next week, we’ll be working on some engaging activities for "Read Across America Day" on Tuesday and closely reading new passages and books to continue practicing our RL1.5 (Explain differences between stories and informational text.) and RI 1.2 (Identify the main topic and retell key details.) standards the rest of the week. Please continue to include 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics (Tuesday)/recommendations (Wednesday-Friday). Way to go Emily, Raiden, Emma, Adela, Billy, Xavier, Octavius, Holden, Samantha, Brooklynn, Gabe, Saja, Liliana, and Joey; they all achieved mastery on our Cycle 15B Spelling Test! On Wednesday, we began work on Cycle 16A (long i with magic e words): bike, hide, shine, miles, time, and nice; this week’s high frequency words are: through, much, before, line, and right. Today we worked in breakout rooms creating sentences with our high frequency words. In Language, we wrote our Weekend News and continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News (again with at least 5 sentences), February News (with at least 5 sentences), “tweaking” our personal narrative, and continue reviewing prepositions.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) Practicing rhyming words is a great idea! (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
FEBRUARY/MARCH READING LOGS:
Our February reading goal is 16 days; remember to have an adult initial your calendar each day you read/are read to for at least 20 minutes, and then post your calendar each Tuesday morning to be eligible for our free book drawing! Our winners this week were Sofi and Gabe; they chose their books and received them at our Wednesday pick-up! Our March reading goal will be 16 days too!
MATH:
High fives to Raiden, Emma, Abigail, Samantha, and Liliana; they all achieved mastery on all three of our Chapter 6 Test standards (NBT.A.1 ~ Count to 120, starting at any number less than 120. In this range, read and write numerals and represent a number of objects with a written numeral, NBT.B.2 ~ Understand that the two digits of a two-digit number represent amounts of tens and ones, and 1.NBT.3 ~ Compare two-digit numbers based on meanings of the tens and ones digits, recording the results of comparisons with >, =, and <.) Earning mastery on two standards were Emily, Adela, Billy, Julia, Octavius, Lailah, Nathan, Holden, Saja, and Joey . . . super! Gabe, Brooklynn, and Brandon achieved mastery on one standard . . . great! We then began work in Chapter 7, “Compare Numbers,” focusing on greater and less than. We also completed our Math 4 Today Week 23 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal. Counting by tens and ones toward and from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders kept us active too! On Tuesday we’ll be doing some Dr. Seuss math, and the rest of the week we’ll be learning about using symbols to compare, completing our mid-chapter checkpoint, comparing numbers, and working on 10 less and 10 more. Just a reminder to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we completed “Problem Solving, Part 2.” I’m enjoyed seeing your drawings of a problem you’ve had and hearing about possible solutions. As I mentioned above, my daughter Ashleigh loved our phone call to her today to sing an early “Happy Birthday!” and I hope everyone then enjoyed playing Birthday Jingo! (Our winners were Holden, Sofi, Josias, Xavier, and Samantha; you’ll receive your prizes at our next pick-up!) As we closed out Black History Month, we continued our “Thought of the Day” each day from famous African Americans (Nelson Mandela, Maya Angelou, Jackie Robinson, Mae Jemison, and George Washington Carver). We got a peek into their lives and accomplishments too! We finished work on our “Maps and Geography” Inquiry with our last supporting question, “How can I make a map of a real life place?” I enjoyed seeing more of the maps you created of a favorite room in your home and reading and discussing the “Culture” Studies Weekly. We began work on our “Economic Choices” Inquiry mid-week with the compelling question, “What choices do we make with our money?” and the supporting question, “How do families gain money?” We also read and discussed our corresponding Studies Weekly magazines, “Needs and Wants” and “Goods and Services.” (I think it was interesting for all of us to hear all of our personal different needs and wants.)
SEESAW WORK:
Please do take a moment over this long weekend to be sure all of this week’s activities are completed, corrected, and posted! Parent(s), please help your child read any notes I may have sent. (Just a reminder, on our Math lessons, pictures of any pages with 2 or less problems incorrect need not be reposted. Please do have your child correct all problems in their book, and then repost pictures of those pages with 3 or more incorrect.)
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks much to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Sofi, Pledge Leader ~ Brooklynn, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Nathan, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Emily, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Joey, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Aubrey and Raiden, Cycle Word “Cheer” Leaders ~ Samantha and Ben, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Lailah, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Jamilah, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Julia, Adela, Josias, and Samantha.
Sad I can’t see and hug her in person yet, but looking forward to FaceTiming with Ashleigh tomorrow on her “real” birthday! Unfortunately, I did have some side effects from my second Covid Vaccine, so I’m also looking forward to the long weekend, relaxing and spending time with Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn! I hope you and yours have a wonderful, healthy, and safe one too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
February 19, 2021:
Happy “½” Birthday Brooklynn! Thanks Ms. Giroux for reading one of her favorite stories, The Wonkey Donkey at our end-of-the-day celebration today! We enjoyed seeing your wardrobe and make-up case show & tell too Brooklynn! Happy “almost” birthday wishes also go out Ben; his birthday is Sunday! Here’s a peek at what we’ve been doing this week, as well as what we’ll be up to next week . . .
Monday:
Happy Birthday Celebration Day Ben! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. If you haven’t yet, be sure to do a birthday message for Ben! Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Remember to post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day birthday celebration wrap-up for Ben. PTA’s “Dine-Out” is at Portillo’s today (5:00-8:00 p.m.) Mr. Baytala & I will be going through the drive-thru for our favorite beef sandwiches. If you go, be sure to show the PTA flyer. (I’ll be emailing you a copy!)
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! “Study Buddies” will meet this morning at 8:15 to review for today’s Cycle 15B Spelling Test and review Chapter 6 skills. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your February Reading Log (February 14th-20th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 15B Spelling Test is this morning. I’ll be eating lunch with another small group of students today! (I’ll pick sticks in the morning; lunch with me is totally optional!) Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Remember to complete and post all of today’s work, and be back for our end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up at 2:30.
Wednesday:
Happy Birthday Xavier! Today is Leveled Book Pick-Up at my driveway (8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. If you haven’t yet, be sure to do a birthday message for Xavier! Our Chapter 6 Math Test is today. We’ll eat lunch with a new friend; I hope you’ll join us and eat lunch on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Be sure to complete and post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day birthday celebration wrap-up for Xavier.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Remember to complete and post all of today’s work, and be back for our end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up at 2:30.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Wear your Foster spirit wear or red and white today! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Be sure to complete and post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom for our Friday Fun end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is crucial!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As emailed to parents previously, all Seesaw activities will be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book. (I will be archiving all February 1st – 5th activities this weekend.)
*Just a reminder, if you signed up for school pictures, February 23rd or 26th, you were contacted with a time to come for your picture.
*PTA’s Art Contest, “I Matter Because. . .” continues through Friday, February 26th. For more information, following is a quick link: PTA Art Expo
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We liked getting to know more about Adela this week and enjoyed seeing her stuffed Pikachu show & tell! Sofi will be highlighted next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
Yippee, Billy and Adela reached the hive with their 10th mastery on our Cycle 15A Spelling Test this past Tuesday; they’ll be receiving their reward at our next pick-up :)! Joey, Liliana, Gabe, Samantha, Holden, Nathan, Lailah, Jamilah, Julia, Emily, and Josias also achieved mastery . . . super job! On Wednesday, we began work on Cycle 15B (long a with magic e and the inflectional s ending words): flames, skates, braves, shades, chases, and planes; this week’s high frequency words are: say, great, think, where, and help. Today we worked in breakout rooms creating sentences with our high frequency words. This week in Module 2, Unit 3, we wrote our verses for our “What the Sun Sees” poem. We also completed our “Frog or Toad?” comprehension passage. Next week, we’ll be closely reading a new one, “On a Sandy Shore.” Please continue to include 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics (Monday)/recommendations (Tuesday-Friday). Earning mastery on the RF.2 standard (demonstrate understanding of spoken syllables) portion of our test were Emily, Emma, Sofi, Adela, Xavier, Julia, Octavius, Lailah, Lily, Nathan, Abigail, Holden, Samantha, Aubrey, Brooklynn, Gabe, Saja, Liliana, and Joey . . . terrific! In Language, we wrote our Weekend News and continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News (again with 5 sentences), begin learning about narrative writing, and reviewing prepositions.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) Practicing rhyming words is a great idea! (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
JANUARY/FEBRUARY READING LOGS:
Our February reading goal is 16 days; remember to have an adult initial your calendar each day you read/are read to for at least 20 minutes, and then post your calendar each Tuesday morning to be eligible for our free book drawing! Octavius and Emily were our winners this week; they chose their books and will receive them at this week’s pick-up!
MATH:
We finished up Chapter 6 this week; we also completed our Math 4 Today Week 22 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal. Counting by tens and ones toward and from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders got us up and moving too! Next week we’ll be reviewing for, and taking our Chapter 6 Test (Wednesday). We’ll then work on our introductory pages for Chapter 7, “Compare Numbers” and learn about greater than. Remember to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we completed “Problem Solving, Part 1.” I enjoyed seeing your drawings of a problem and the solutions you came up with. In celebration of Black History Month, we continued our “Thought of the Day” each day from famous African Americans (Muhammed Ali, Alice Walker, Malcolm X, and Harriet Tubman). In Social Studies, we continued our “Maps and Geography” inquiry with the supporting question, “What are the other tools on a map and how do they work?” In conjunction with our inquiry we read and discussed the Studies Weekly issues “Place: Human Characteristics,” “Human and Environmental Interaction,” “Movement,” and “Regions of the United States.”
SEESAW WORK:
Please do take a moment over this weekend to be sure all of this week’s activities are completed, corrected, and posted! Parent(s), please help your child read any notes I may have sent. (Just a reminder, on our Math lessons, pictures of any pages with 2 or less problems incorrect need not be reposted. Please do have your child correct all problems in their book, and then repost pictures of those pages with 3 or more incorrect.)
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks much to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Adela, Pledge Leader ~ Brandon, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Emma, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Saja, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Billy, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Julia and Josias, Cycle 15 A "Cheer Leaders" ~ Joey and Abigail, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Octavius, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Sofi, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Gabe, Liliana, Santi, and Emily.
This weekend will find me relaxing, catching up on some of my weekly shows, lesson planning, and checking Seesaw posts. Hope you have a great and safe one too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
February 12, 2021:
Happy “½” Birthday Jamilah! We enjoyed celebrating with you today and hearing Bonjour Butterfly! We look forward to seeing your show & tell on Tuesday! I hope you all enjoyed our 100th Day (Tuesday) and Valentine’s Day (today) celebrations and activities this week! We loved meeting with our 5th Grade Buddies yesterday to make our Valentine’s frame and read together, and I know everyone enjoyed seeing each other’s Valentine “cards” today! “Get Well” wishes go out to Mrs. Latka; we hope you’re feeling a bit better each day, and that we’ll see your smiling face soon! Here’s a look at what we’ve been doing this week, as well as what will be keeping us busy during our abbreviated week next week . . .
Monday:
Happy President’s Day! Sleep in, relax, and enjoy your extra day off!
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! “Study Buddies” will meet this morning at 8:15 to review for today’s Cycle 15A Spelling Test and go over Chapter 6 skills. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your February Reading Log (February 8th-13th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 15A Spelling Test is this morning. I’ll be eating lunch with another small group of students today! (I’ll be picking sticks in the morning; lunch with me is totally optional!) Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Remember to complete and post all of today’s work, and be back for our end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up at 2:30.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll eat lunch with a new friend today; I hope you will join us, and eat lunch on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Be sure to complete and post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Remember to complete and post all of today’s work, and be back for our end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up at 2:30.
Friday:
Happy “½” Birthday Brooklynn! (Her “real” birthday is August 20th.) Wear your Foster spirit wear or red and white today! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Be sure to complete and post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom for our Friday Fun end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is crucial!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As emailed to parents previously, all Seesaw activities will continue to be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed getting to know more about Billy this week and liked meeting his sister Chloe, his show & tell! Adela will be in the spotlight next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
Hooray, Emma reached the hive with her 10th mastery on our Cycle 14 Spelling Test this past Tuesday; she’ll be receiving her reward at our next pick-up :)! We continued work in Module 2, Unit 3, writing verses for our “What the Moon Sees” poem. We also completed our “Barnyard Riddle” comprehension piece, and enjoyed writing a riddle about our own favorite animal and guessing our classmates’. Next week, we’ll be closely reading a new passage, “Frog or Toad.” Please continue to include 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics (Tuesday)/recommendations (Wednesday-Friday)! Also earning mastery on this week’s Cycle 14 Spelling Test were Emily, Adela, Abigail, Samantha, Aubrey, and Liliana . . . fabulous! High fives also go out to Liliana, Samantha, Nathan, Xavier, Emily, and Josias; they all achieved mastery on the RF.2 standard (demonstrate understanding of spoken syllables) on our test! On our 100th Day we worked in break-out rooms, creating as many words as we could with the letters from One Hundred; each real word earned points by the number of letters in it. Kudos to our top “word makers,” Emma (47), Nathan (39), Liliana (38), and Samantha (37); they all received prizes in this week’s pick-up; anyone with 15 or more points also earned a prize! On Wednesday, we began work on Cycle 15A (long a with magic e words): make, safe, tape, cage, bale, and date; this week’s high frequency words are: just, name, good, sentence, and man. Yesterday we worked in breakout rooms creating sentences with our high frequency words. In Language, we wrote our Weekend News and continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News (again with 5 sentences), begin learning about narrative writing, and reviewing prepositions. One of our Valentine’s Day activities today was to make words from the letters of the word Valentine. Earning the most points were Nathan (49), Liliana (32), Saja (28), and Adela (27). They’ll receive their prizes at our next pick-up. Anyone who already posted words worth at least 15 points will also receive a reward!
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) Practicing rhyming words is a great idea! (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
JANUARY/FEBRUARY READING LOGS:
Our February reading goal is 16 days; remember to have an adult initial your calendar each day you read/are read to for at least 20 minutes, and then post your calendar each Tuesday morning to be eligible for our free book drawing! This week’s winners were Adela and Holden; they chose their books and will receive them at our next pick-up!
MATH:
This week found us delving deeper into Chapter 6; we also completed our Math 4 Today Week 21 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal. Counting by tens toward and from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders also challenged us! Next week we’ll be concentrating on tens and ones to 100, showing numbers in different ways, modeling, reading and writing numbers from 100 to 110 and 120. Be sure to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we began our new unit, “Problem Solving,” talking about naming our problem, and thinking of different solutions. In celebration of Black History Month, our “Thought of the Day” each day was from a famous African American (Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Cicely Tyson, Will Smith, and Michelle Obama). Mystery Doug had us curious about the question, “What animal has the biggest heart?” I think we all enjoyed the “safari” and I liked seeing your Scavenger Hunt items that were about the same size as an elephant shrew’s, hyena’s, and elephant’s hearts! Your valentines were really neat too! We continued our “Maps and Geography” inquiry with the supporting question, “What are cardinal directions and how do I use them?” In conjunction with our inquiry we enjoyed the “Location” and “Place, Physical Characteristics” Studies Weekly also.
SEESAW WORK:
Please take a moment over this long weekend to be sure all of this week’s activities are completed, corrected, and posted! Parent(s), please help your child read any notes I may have sent. (Just a reminder, on our Math lessons, pictures of any pages with 2 or less problems incorrect need not be reposted. Please do have your child correct all problems in their book, and then repost pictures of those pages with 3 or more incorrect.)
HELPING HANDS:
Hugs and thanks to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Billy, Pledge Leader ~ Nathan, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Jamilah, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Julia, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Brooklynn, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Gabe and Samantha, Cycle Word “Cheer” Leaders ~ Lailah and Raiden, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Ben, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Aubrey, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Xavier, Saja, Holden, and Lily.
Hard to believe 100 days of first grade have come and gone; I’m so happy to have shared them with all of you! I’m looking forward to seeing Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn “in person” this weekend :)! I hope you have a wonderful extended one too! See you on Tuesday!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
February 5, 2021:
Happy first Friday of February! Thanks Emma for sharing your birthday show & tell, a Lip Balm Lab; her birthday was last Saturday! We enjoyed celebrating Saja’s birthday (and first day with us) this past Monday; thanks to her sister Fatima, for reading one of her favorite stories, I Love You Beary Much. We liked seeing Saja’s show & tell, her bunny Lisa, too. Tuesday found us celebrating Julia’s “ ½” birthday; her “real” birthday is August 2nd. Thanks to her Mommy for coming in to read If You Give A Cat A Cupcake, and to her sister Tessa, who was her “show & tell.” Kudos to Emily who achieved all M’s for the 2nd Quarter! Also to be congratulated are Joey, Liliana, Samantha, Holden, Abigail, Nathan, Brandon, and Billy, who earned all M’s and D’s! We’re also proud of Liliana; she was chosen as one of February’s “Lion Leaders” :)! Hugs and well wishes go out Mrs. Latka; we hope to see her smiling face back with us soon! Here’s a glance at what we’ve been working on this week, as well as what we’ll be up to next week . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Remember to post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Tuesday:
Happy 100th Day of 1st Grade! You may dress like you’re 100 years old and present your 100 “collection.” You may also make a 100th Day Snack to munch on throughout the day from little edibles at home (raisins, popcorn, pretzels, goldfish, crackers, etc. . .) You have a "100th Day Snack Mix" sheet in your 100th Day File ;)! We’ll be reading 100 books with all of our 1st Grade friends today too! “Study Buddies” will meet this morning at 8:15 to review for today’s Cycle 14 Spelling Test and go over Chapter 6 skills. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your February Reading Log (February 1st-6th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 14 Spelling Test is this morning. I’ll be eating lunch with another small group of students today! (I’ll be picking sticks in the morning; lunch with me is totally optional!) Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you come back at 1:40; we’ll be working on lots of fun 100th Day activities this afternoon!
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll eat lunch with a new friend today; boys and girls, you may join us, and eat lunch on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Remember to post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. I’ll be back on Zoom again at 1:40 should you need any assistance with independent work. Remember to post all of today’s work, and be back on Zoom at 2:30 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up.
Friday:
Happy "1/2" Birthday Day Jamilah! (Her real birthday is August 13th.) Wear your Foster spirit wear or red and white today! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll be enjoying some Valentine activities and celebrating Jamilah's birthday. Dismissal for the day is at 12:30. Enjoy your afternoon!
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*As noted above, you may dress like you’re 100 years old on Tuesday, our 100th day of 1st grade! You may also present a collection of 100 things!
*As our 3rd Quarter begins, just a couple of changes: Number reversals will now be marked wrong on Go Math book pages. (Points will never be deducted on a Quick Check, Mid-Chapter Checkpoint or Test.)
: You will now be writing at least 3 details each Monday for your Weekend News, so you’ll now have an opening sentence, at least 3 detail sentences, and a closing sentence, for a total of 5 sentences. I sent a new helper sheet via email and will include a “hard” copy with Wednesday’s leveled book pick-up.
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is essential!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As emailed to parents previously, all Seesaw activities will continue to be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book.
*Hopefully all of our testing will be done early in the week, and we will then be starting Raz Kids.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We liked learning more about Xavier this week and enjoyed seeing his Electrical Freddie show & tell. Billy will be highlighted next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we began Module 2, Unit 3, reading and talking about What the Sun Sees and What the Moon Sees. “All About Birds” was our comprehension passage this week, and we also learned about labels and captions as text features. Next week, we’ll closely read a new passage, “Barnyard Riddle.” Please remember to include 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics/recommendations each day! Earning mastery on this week’s Cycle 13 Spelling Test were Joey, Liliana, Samantha, Lailah, Billy, Raiden, and Emily. On Wednesday, we began work on Cycle 14 (1 and 2 open and closed syllable words): she, be/gin, do/nut, he/ro, mo/ment, and ro/bot; this week’s high frequency words are: back, give, most, very, and ours. (You'll need to syllabicate these words; for your reference, I put / between the 2 syllables listed above.) Today we worked in breakout rooms creating sentences with our high frequency words. In Language, we wrote our Weekend News and continued writing a “gratitude” each day in our Gratitude Journal. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News (now with 5 sentences), begin learning about narrative writing, and reviewing prepositions. WOW, we had some great word builders on Tuesday's Word Work activity . . . make as many words as you can with the letters from Ground Hog's Day . . . Emma (71), Liliana (64), Samantha (59), and Billy (31)! They'll each be receiving a reward :)!
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
JANUARY/FEBRUARY READING LOGS:
Our January reading goal was 18 days; reaching goal, reading at least 4 days each week, and posting every Tuesday, even over break were Liliana and Ben; they’ll get a free book choice on Monday! Also reaching goal were Joey, Saja, Holden, Nathan, Octavius, Jamilah, Julia and Billy! Please have your calendar initialed by an adult each day after you’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Again, be sure to have your calendars handy to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (February 1st – 6th ) on Tuesday to be part of our weekly free book drawing! (Remember, you can win once a month!) This week’s winners were Billy and Adela! Our reading goal for February is 16 days! Keep on reading!
MATH:
WOW Samantha earned a perfect score on our Chapter 5 Test! Liliana, Saja, Abigail, Nathan, and Emily also achieved mastery on all four standards . . . super! Earning mastery on three standards were Gabe, Holden, Lily, Lailah, Octavius, and Brandon, on two were Julia, Adela, Sofi, Emma, and Raiden, and on one were Joey, Brooklynn, Ben, Santi, Billy, and Josias . . . grrreat! We completed our Math 4 Today Week 20 and “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal this week. We also counted toward and from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise Leaders. Next week we’ll be focusing on making tens and ones, tens, tens and ones to 50 and 100. Remember to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we talked about “Managing Worry;” today we drew a picture of a time we were worried, and then decided what strategy (naming our feeling, belly breathing, and or self-talk) we might use to help. We’ve also continued to talk about our “Thought of the Day” and daily “gratitude!” Mystery Doug had us curious about the question, “What’s the tallest skyscraper anyone can build?” I enjoyed seeing the skyscrapers you created! We began our “Maps and Geography” inquiry this week too with the compelling question “Can My Life Fit on a Map?” and the supporting question, “What are map symbols and how do I use them?” In conjunction with our inquiry we enjoyed the “Map Skills” and “Five Themes of Geography” Studies Weekly too.
SEESAW WORK:
Please take a moment this weekend to be sure all of this week’s activities are completed, corrected, and posted! Parent(s), please help your child read any notes I may have sent.
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks a bunch to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Xavier, Pledge Leader ~ Saja, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Adela, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Santi, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Liliana and Joey, Cycle Word “Cheer” Leaders ~ Billy and Emily, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Sofi, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Josias, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Emma, Abigail, Octavius, and Brandon.
Well, the first week of our 3rd Quarter has “wrapped!” Lesson planning, Seesaw checking, and watching the Super Bowl are on my agenda this weekend. Whatever your plans, stay safe and warm too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
January 29, 2021:
Happy “almost” birthday Emma! (Her “real” birthday is tomorrow.) Thanks Mrs. Slad for coming in this morning to read Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast, Short & Sweet! We’ll look forward to seeing her show & tell on Monday! Belated birthday wishes go out to Ms. O'Neill (January 17th), our wonderful Title I Reading Teacher here at Foster and to Ms. Mueller (January 27th), our super Art Teacher; we hope they both had terrific birthdays! I hope you all enjoyed this afternoon’s “All School Bingo” 2nd Quarter PBIS Celebration! (I heard some of your names being announced as winners :)!) We’re so happy to be welcoming a new student, Saja, and her family to our “Remote” Family this Monday as we begin the 3rd Quarter! We bid a sad farewell to Ms. Mueller, our awesome Art Teacher, who will now be moving to Kerkstra til the end of the year. And we look forward to welcoming Mrs. Latka, our marvelous Music Teacher, who will now be with us this second semester! Here’s a peek at what we’ve been working on this week, as well as what will be keeping us busy next week . . .
Monday:
Happy Birthday and Welcome to our “remote” family Saja! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be finishing up benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off and work on independent activities until our end-of-the-day birthday celebration for Saja at 2:30.
Tuesday:
Happy Birthday wishes go out to Mrs. Shepard, one of our wonderful 1st Grade Teachers and Happy “½” Birthday wishes to Julia! (Her “real” birthday is August 2nd.) “Study Buddies” will meet this morning at 8:15 to review for today’s Cycle 13 Spelling Test and Chapter 5 Math Test. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your January Reading Log (January 24th – 31st) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 13 Spelling Test and Chapter 5 Math Test are this morning. Beginning today, I’ll be eating lunch with a small group of students each Tuesday! (I’ll be picking sticks in the morning; lunch with me is totally optional!) Music with Mrs. Latka is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you come back at 1:40; we’ll be working on many fun, engaging “Ground Hog Day” activities this afternoon and enjoy Julia’s “½” birthday celebration!
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll eat lunch with a new friend today; boys and girls, you may join us, and eat lunch on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. We’ll be returning to Guided Math today; we’ll set alarms in the morning. When not at Guided Math, you should be working on independent activities until our end-of-the-day Zoom at 2:30.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on a Gym, Music, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Guided Math groups will begin at 1:40; we’ll set an alarm in the morning. When not at Guided Math, you should be working on independent activities until our end-of-the-day Zoom at 2:30.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Super Bowl Weekend has arrived; to kick it off, wear your favorite team’s sportswear and/or colors! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. I’ll be back on Zoom at 1:40 and will be happy to give assistance to anyone who needs it! Everyone should be working on independent activities until our end-of-the-day Friday Fun Zoom at 2:30.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I will be accepting work for the 2nd Quarter until 6:00 p.m. on Sunday; I’ll then be archiving all of Quarter 2’s activities, and any not turned in will receive 0 points in my grade book.
*As our 3rd Quarter begins, just a couple of changes: Number reversals will now be marked wrong on Go Math book pages. (Points will never be deducted on a Quick Check, Mid-Chapter Checkpoint or Test.)
: You will now be writing at least 3 details each Monday for your Weekend News, so you’ll now have an opening sentence, at least 3 detail sentences, and a closing sentence, for a total of 5 sentences. I’ll be sending a new helper sheet via email and will include a “hard” copy with our next pick-up.
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom (about 2:50 p.m.) (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is crucial!) We’ll also continue to set alarms for small group and whole group lessons, as needed.
*As emailed to parents previously, all Seesaw activities will continue to be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book.
*We will be starting Raz Kids this upcoming week :)!
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed learning more about Julia this week and liked seeing the “jewel ring” she made! Xavier will be in the spotlight next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we wrapped up Module 2/Unit 2 doing more sun and moon observations, rereading What Makes Day and Night? and Does the Sun Sleep? and talking about the stars. We also completed our “Baby Sister” comprehension passage. Next week, we’ll begin work in Unit 3 and closely read a new passage, “All About Birds.” Please remember to include 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics/recommendations each day! Due to MAP and FastBridge testing, we’ve spent an extra week working on Cycle 13 (2 syllable and compound) words: back/pack, dish/rag, kit/ten, rib/bon, muf/fin, and un/less; the high frequency words were: work, know, place, years, and live. (Your child will need to syllabicate these words; for your reference, I put / between the 2 syllables/words listed above.) Today we worked in breakout rooms using our sign language charts to practice spelling our words with partners. In Language, we wrote our Weekend News and completed our “How To” writing assessment piece. I really liked hearing you read them to me on Seesaw. We also took our Adjective Quiz . . . kudos to Joey, Liliana, Gabe, Brooklynn, Ben, Samantha, Holden, Abigail, Nathan, Octavius, Brandon, Billy, Adela, Emma, Raiden, and Emily; they all achieved Mastery! Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News (now with 5 sentences), begin learning about narrative writing, and reviewing prepositions.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
JANUARY/FEBRUARY READING LOGS:
Our January reading goal is 18 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Again, be sure to have your calendars handy to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (January 24th – 31st ) on Tuesday to be part of our weekly free book drawing! (Remember, you can win once a month!) Ben and Julia were this week’s winners! Our reading goal for February is 16 days! Keep on reading!
MATH:
We completed our Math 4 Today Week 19 and several “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal this week. Counting toward and from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders began our math lessons too. We finished up Chapter 5, “Addition and Subtraction Relationships” this week, and began reviewing today. We’ll be completing our Study Guide on Monday and then taking our test on Tuesday. We’ll then begin Chapter 6, “Count and Model Numbers,” focusing on counting by ones and tens to 120 and understanding tens and ones. Remember to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
In SEL this week, we talked about “Self -Talk for Calming Down,” drawing a picture today of a time we had a strong feeling, and some self-talk we could use. Also part of our daily routine were talking about our “Thought of the Day” and daily “gratitude!” “What were the first computers like?” was our Mystery Doug question/
activity this week, and I really liked seeing your “bed creations.” We finished up our “Space System: Patterns and Cycles” Unit this week, and Mystery Science’s “Spinning Sky” too. (I was so happy to hear Emily and then other students commenting on the beautiful full moon they’d seen last night!) We enjoyed making our “Star Projectors” today; remember to post a picture of yours on the corresponding Seesaw activity. Studies Weekly found us reading and discussing “Primary Sources” this week. For the 3rd Quarter, we’ll be concentrating on Social Studies; the first unit we’ll be focusing on is “Maps and Geography.”
SEESAW WORK:
Parents, just a reminder, all 2nd Quarter Seesaw activities must be posted by 6:00 p.m. Sunday to receive credit for the 2nd Quarter.
HELPING HANDS:
Hugs and thanks to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Julia, Pledge Leader ~ Holden, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Raiden, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Sammie, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Gabe, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Ben and Emily, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Nathan, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Samantha, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Brooklynn, Lailah, Jamilah, and Billy.
Hard to believe, that as of today, half of our school year is over! Parents, I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for all of the time and effort I know you have put into your child’s education; I couldn’t continue doing what I do without your wonderful assistance :)! I feel so lucky to have gotten to know your children (and you) and look forward to the second half of our school year, learning and growing together!
Looks like lots of snow is on the way again, so unfortunately I may not get to see Kyle and my two “angels” Grayson and Quinn this weekend :(! I guess a bedtime story Zoom and FaceTiming will just have to tide me over for a couple of weeks! However you’re spending it, I hope your weekend is safe and relaxing too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
January 22, 2021:
Happy Friday! Thanks Brookie for coming in yesterday to read Ghost for Sammie’s birthday! We liked her show & tell too, her dog Tommy. Here’s a glance at what we’ve been working on currently, as well as what will be keeping us busy next week . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We will be taking our MAP Reading Test this morning, so please be on time! Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off and work on independent activities until our end-of-the-day Zoom at 2:30.
Tuesday:
“Study Buddies” will meet this morning at 8:15 to review for today’s Cycle 13 Spelling Test and this week’s math concepts. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll be taking our MAP Math Test this morning. You’ll be posting a picture of your January Reading Log (January 17th – 23rd) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 13 Spelling Test will also be this morning. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off and work on independent activities until our end-of-the-day Zoom at 2:30.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Packet Pick-Up for the 3rd Quarter is at Foster today (1:30-3:15 p.m.) Please be sure to stop by my driveway right after to get your students new leveled books. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll eat lunch with a new friend today; boys and girls, you may join us, and eat lunch on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off and work on independent activities until our end-of-the-day Zoom at 2:30.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Packet Pick-Up for the 3rd Quarter is also at Foster today (1:30-3:15 p.m.) Please be sure to stop by my driveway right after to get your students new leveled books. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on an Art, Gym, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off and work on independent activities until our end-of-the-day birthday celebration at 2:30.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Packet Pick-Up for the 3rd Quarter is also at Foster today (1:30-3:15 p.m.) Please be sure to stop by my driveway right after to get your students new leveled books. Wear your Foster Spirit Wear (or red and white) today! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off and work on independent activities until our end-of-the-day Friday Fun Zoom at 2:30.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*As noted above, we'll be taking our MAP Reading Test on Monday and Math Test on Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. Parents, if two devices are available to your child, please have them stay on Zoom with their "other" device, and complete their MAP Test on the their iPad. Thanks for assisting them in signing on, but it is then critical that you step away and let them take their test with no assistance from you or anyone at home. I need to get a true measure of where they are at this point in the year!
*As I’m sure you also noticed above, the 3rd Quarter Packet Pick-Up will be here at Foster Wednesday, January 27th, Thursday, January 28th, and Friday, January 29th from 1:30-3:15 p.m. Please be sure to stop by my driveway right after to pick up your child’s new leveled books. (I’ll have a box for their old ones.)
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom at 2:30 p.m. (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is crucial!) We set alarms for small group and whole group lessons.
*As emailed to parents previously, all Seesaw activities will now be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book.
*After some thought, I decided to get everyone benchmarked, and then we can all start working on our current levels on Raz Kids, so we’ll hopefully be starting a week from Monday, when we begin our new quarter. I know some of you worked on it in Kindergarten, and have gone on and started at your level . . .great!
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We liked learning more about Santi this week; since he was absent today, we’re looking forward to seeing his show & tell on Monday! Julia will be highlighted next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
YESSS . . . Joey reached “the hive,” earning his 10th mastery on our Cycle 12 Spelling Test this week; he’ll receive a special “surprise” from me at this week’s pick-up! Liliana, Samantha, Abigail, Emma, and Emily “buzzed” on to the next flower too, with another mastery! This week we again read and talked about What Makes Day and Night? as we continued work in Module 2/Unit 2; we observed, drew, and wrote about different pictures of the sun and moon. We also finished up our “Helping Our Earth” comprehension passage. Next week, we’ll continue work in Unit 2 and closely read a new passage, “Baby Sister.” Please remember to include 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics/
recommendations each day! We also began work on Cycle 13 (2 syllable and compound words) on Wednesday: backpack, dishrag, kitten, ribbon, muffin, and unless; this week’s high frequency words are: work, know, place, years, and live. We wrote our Weekend News and continued learning about “How To” writing with our “How to Brush Your Teeth” piece. I really liked hearing you read them to me on Seesaw. Today, we worked in small groups and began writing our “How To Make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich” piece. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News, finish our PBJ piece, and then complete a “How To” assessment piece. We also learned more about adjectives with our “4 square” drawing/writing activity and Noun/Adjective Game . . . boys were the winners today by 1 point! We’ll be taking our Adjective Quiz next week and learn more about prepositions.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.)
DECEMBER/JANUARY READING LOGS:
Our January reading goal is 18 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Again, be sure to have your calendars handy to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (January 17th – 23rd ) on Tuesday to be part of our weekly free book drawing! (Remember, you can win once a month!) This week’s winners were Abigail and Holden.
MATH:
We completed our Math 4 Today Week 18 and daily “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal this week. “Math Flash” and counting toward and from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders began our math lessons too. We also enjoyed learning about unknown numbers, using related facts, and choosing an operation in Chapter 5, “Addition and Subtraction Relationships.” Next week we’ll be finishing up the chapter with ways to make 20, equal and not equal, and facts practice to 20; we’ll then review for our test. Remember to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
In SEL this week, we talked about “Calming Down Anger,” and shared a time we were angry and could use a belly breathe to calm us down. Talking about our “Thought of the Day” and daily “gratitude” were also on our daily agenda! Mystery Doug had us thinking and talking about the question “Are Mermaids Real?” I enjoyed hearing your thoughts about where a mermaid might live and what she might eat! Working on our “Space System: Patterns and Cycles” Unit also kept us busy; we enjoyed hearing and talking about Sunshine Makes the Seasons, and drawing pictures to go with each season. We’ll finish up this unit next week, as well as Mystery Science’s “Spinning Sky” one too. In Studies Weekly this week, we read and discussed “Founding Fathers.”
SEESAW WORK:
Parents, please take a few minutes this weekend to go through your child’s Seesaw activity and journal entries from this past week. Remind them to complete or fix any posts that are still listed in their activities. (They may need your help in reading notes I’ve put on different activities I have sent back to them.)
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks a bunch to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Santi, Pledge Leader ~ Xavier, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Brandon, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Abigail, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Emma, Wilson Chart Leaders ~ Adela and Sofi, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Lily, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Octavius, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Aubrey, Josias, Joey, and Liliana.
This short week zipped by! I Facetimed with Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn earlier tonight and am looking forward to having lunch with Kyle and Brooke tomorrow. Going through Seesaw posts, planning, relaxing, and watching football play-offs are on my agenda for the rest of the weekend. I hope you have a wonderful one too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
January 15, 2021:
Happy Friday! Lots of birthday celebrations this week . . . thanks Mama for coming in Monday to read one of Joey’s favorite stories, First Grade Here I Come for his “½” birthday (July 8th); we enjoyed his guitar show & tell too, and look forward to hearing him play for us in the future! Tuesday brought us Lailah’s birthday celebration; hers was over break (January 2nd). We enjoyed hearing Fancy Nancy and the Mermaid Ballet and seeing here Baby Alive doll, Lisa. Adela’s “½” birthday (July 10th) was on Wednesday; thanks Mom for reading Charlie the Ranch Dog, Where’s the Bacon? Her Rainbocorn show & tell was really cool too! Here’s a look at what we’ve been working on this week, as well as what we’ll be doing during next week’s abbreviated one . . .
Monday:
Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday ~ No school for students or staff!
Tuesday:
“Study Buddies” will meet this morning at 8:00 to review for today’s Cycle 12 Spelling Test and this week’s math concepts. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your January Reading Log (January 10th – 16th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 12 Spelling Test will also be this morning. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off and work on independent activities until our end-of-the-day Zoom at 2:30.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll eat lunch with a new friend today; boys and girls, you may join us, and eat lunch on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m.)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off and work on independent activities until our end-of-the-day Zoom at 2:30.
Thursday:
Happy Birthday Sammie! Please be sure to put a birthday message for her on our Seesaw activity. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on an Art, Gym, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off and work on independent activities until our end-of-the-day birthday celebration at 2:30.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Wear your Foster Spirit Wear (or red and white) today! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off and work on independent activities until our end-of-the-day Zoom at 2:30.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom at 2:30 p.m. (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is crucial!) We set alarms for small group and whole group lessons.
*As emailed to parents previously, all Seesaw activities will now be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book.
*I was excited to learn more about Raz Kids at our teacher workshop this afternoon, so we will begin using it this upcoming week.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed learning more about Jamilah this week; we loved seeing her neat aquarium too! Santi will be in the spotlight next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
YIPPEE! Abigail reached “the hive,” earning her 10th mastery on our Cycle 11B Spelling Test this week; she’ll receive a special “surprise” from me at our next pick-up! Also “buzzing” on to the next flower with another mastery were Joey, Liliana, Samantha, Julia, Billy, Adela, Sofi, Emma, and Emily! This week we enjoyed reading and talking about What Makes Day and Night? as we delved into Module 2/Unit 2; we also observed, drew, and wrote about different pictures of the sun and moon. We finished up our “Ben the Bug” comprehension passage too. During this upcoming week, we’ll continue work in Unit 2 and closely read a new passage, “Helping Our Earth.” Please remember to include 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics/recommenda-tions each day! We also began work on Cycle 12 (2 syllable) words on Wednesday: basket, contest, dentist, sunset, until, and insect and this week’s high frequency words: over, new, sound, take, and only. We wrote our Weekend News and began learning about “How To” writing with our “How to Build a Snowman” piece too. I’ve really enjoyed hearing you read them to me on Seesaw. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News, a new “How To” piece, and learning more about adjectives. Sentence, paragraph, chant, and poem writing will also be keeping us busy in our Handwriting Without Tears book.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.
DECEMBER/JANUARY READING LOGS:
Our January reading goal is 18 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Again, be sure to have your calendars handy to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (January 10th – 16th ) on Tuesday to be part of our weekly free book drawing! (Remember, you can win once a month!) Our winners this week were Nathan and Sofi.
MATH:
Our Math 4 Today Week 17 and daily “Problems of the Day” in our Math Journal were completed this week. We counted toward and then from 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders and did our “Math Flash” with our number cards too! We continued work in Chapter 5, “Addition and Subtraction Relationships,” this week, concentrating on recording and identifying related facts and using addition to check subtraction. Next week will find us working on unknown numbers, using related facts, choosing an operation, and ways to make 20. Remember to complete 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
In SEL this week, we talked about “Strong Feelings.” We enjoyed singing the “Calming” song too! We’ve continued hearing and responding to our “Thought of the Day,” each morning, and started our “Gratitude Journal” too. I’ve really liked hearing about all the things you are thankful/grateful for! Mystery Doug had us thinking and talking about the question “How are video games made?” I think some of you have a real future in creating new ones! We also continued work on our “Space System: Patterns and Cycles” Unit, “making” the phases of the moon with our sandwich cookies, and then creating our “Phases of the Moon” poster. We then talked about the sun and stars, enjoying the Stars Song by StoryBots! In Studies Weekly this week, we read and discussed “National Symbols.” We finished up our week reading, talking about, and completing a fun Seesaw activity about the wonderful civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
SEESAW WORK:
Parents, please take a few minutes over this long weekend to go through your child’s Seesaw activity and journal entries from this past week. Remind them to complete or fix any posts that are still listed in their activities. (They may need your help in reading notes I’ve put on different activities I have sent back to them.)
HELPING HANDS:
Hugs and thanks to our “helping hands” this week: Student of the Week ~ Jamilah, Pledge Leader ~ Samantha, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Gabe, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Holden, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Emily, Wilson Chart Helpers ~ Billy and Brooklynn, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Julia, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Nathan, Raiden, Sammie, and Ben.
Hard to believe mid-January is already here! FaceTiming with Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn, putting the rest of our Christmas decorations away, catching up on Seeesaw posts, and planning for next week will be keeping me busy this weekend. Whatever your plans, I hope you enjoy the long weekend too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
January 8, 2021:
Belated “Happy Birthday” hugs go out to Lailah! Her birthday was January 2nd, and we’ll be having her celebration day this coming Tuesday! Early Happy Birthday wishes went out today to Samantha and Lily! (Their “real” birthdays are Sunday!) Thanks Mrs. Diaz for coming in to read one of Samantha’s favorite stories, One Magical Morning this morning. We look forward to seeing her show & tell on Monday. Thanks too Mimi (Lily’s sister) for reading The Gingerbread Man, one of her favorite stories this afternoon. We’ll also look forward to seeing her show & tell Monday. We hope to see Santi and Sammie’s smiling face back with us on Monday! Here’s a peek at what we’ve been working on this shortened week, as well as what we’ll be doing next week . . .
Monday:
Happy “½” Birthday Joey! (His “real” birthday is July 2nd.) If you haven’t yet, please be sure to put a birthday message for Joey on our Seesaw activity. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off until our end-of-the-day birthday celebration at 2:30.
Tuesday:
Happy Birthday Celebration Day Lailah! Please be sure to put a birthday message for her on our Seesaw activity. “Study Buddies” will meet this morning at 8:00 to review for today’s 11B Spelling Test and this week’s math concepts. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your January Reading Log (January 3rd – 9th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 11B Spelling Test will also be this morning. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off until our end-of-the-day birthday celebration at 2:30.
Wednesday:
Happy “½” Birthday Adela! (Her “real” birthday is July 10th.) Please be sure to put a birthday message for her on our Seesaw activity. Our first pick-up of the 2021 year will be today in my driveway (8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll eat lunch with a new friend today; boys and girls, you may join us, and eat lunch on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off until our end-of-the-day birthday celebration at 2:30.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on an Art, Gym, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off until our end-of-the-day Zoom at 2:30.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Wear your Foster Spirit Wear (or red and white) today! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Your day ends at 12:30. Teachers and staff will have meetings this afternoon.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom at 2:30 p.m. (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is critical!) We set alarms for small group and whole group lessons.
*As emailed to parents previously, all Seesaw activities will now be archived after 2 weeks. Any work not completed will receive 0 points in my grade book.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
Jamilah will be highlighted next week; we look forward to learning more about her!
LANGUAGE ARTS:
YEAH! Samantha reached “the hive,” earning her 10th mastery on our Cycle 11A Spelling Test before break; she received a special “surprise” from me! Joey, Liliana, Abigail, Julia, Adela, and Emily earned mastery too and “buzzed” on to their next flower! During our very short week we enjoyed reading and talking about Does the Sun Sleep? as we began Module 2/Unit 2! We’ll continue with our weekly short passages next week with a new passage, “Ben the Bug.” 15-20 minutes of IXL diagnostics was also planned this week. We continued work on final blends and began work on the ed inflected ending yesterday with a “Snow People” activity and our Cycle 11B words: melted, lifted, dusted, hunted, sank, and thing, and this week’s high frequency words are: day, get, made, many, and part. We worked on our Break News yesterday and our December News today. I’ve really enjoyed reading (and listening) to both on your Language Arts Seesaw activity. Next week we’ll be writing our Weekend News, completing our Informational Writing Assessment, and writing a “How To” piece. We’ll also be working in our Handwriting book, practicing the letters X,x, Z,z, T,t, and Sentences in our Handwriting Without Tears book.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Practicing rhyming words would be a great idea!) Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.
DECEMBER/JANUARY READING LOGS:
Our December reading goal was 16 days; reaching goal, posting their reading each Tuesday (even during break), and earning a free book were Liliana and Ben . . . “tree”mendous :)! Also reaching goal were Holden, Brandon, Jamilah, and Julia . . . “tree”riffic! Our January reading goal is 18 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Again, be sure to have your calendars handy to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (January 3rd – 9th ) on Tuesday to be part of our weekly free book drawing! (Remember, you can win once a month!)
MATH:
We finished our Math 4 Today Week 16 and solved a “Problem of the Day” in our Math Journal yesterday and today. We also counted forward towards 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders and did our “Math Flash” with our number cards today! We began work on Chapter 5, “Addition and Subtraction Relationships,” focusing on the introductory pages and problem solving with addition and subtraction too. Next week we’ll be concentrating on related facts and using addition to check subtraction. Again, parents, please remind your student they should be completing 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week in SEL, we completed the first lesson in Unit 3, “Emotion Management,” “Identifying our Own Feelings.” I liked hearing about a day you felt a certain way and why. We had our first few “Thoughts of the Day,” for the new year too, and we’ll be starting our “Gratitude Journal” next week. Mystery Doug had us thinking and talking about the question “Do masks really stop the coronavirus?” I loved seeing and/or hearing about more comfortable/better masks that you might make! We also worked in our “Space System: Patterns and Cycles” Journal today, talking about what you think the moon is, an observation you made after listening to the book Phases of the Moon, and worked on a Phases of the Moon activity. In Studies Weekly yesterday, we read and discussed “Patriotism.”
SEESAW WORK:
Parents, please take a few minutes this weekend to go through your child’s Seesaw activity and journal entries from our very short week. Remind them to complete or fix any posts that are still listed in their activities. (They may need your help in reading notes I’ve put on different activities I have sent back to them.) Thanks Mr. Beringer for picking our December winners today. (Students received one drawing ticket for each activity fully completed in December.) Our winners were Raiden (Patriotic Paddleball), Xavier (Knights Tattoos), Joey (Dinosaur Tattoos), Billy (Splat Ball), Abigail (Avengers Notebook), Brooklynn (Dory Friendship Necklaces and Bracelets), Lailah (Princess Necklace), Holden (Brave Tattoos), Adela (Princess Necklace), Octavius (Star Wars Color and Craft), Gabe (Jurassic World Coloring/Activity Book), and Emma (Giant Tangled Pen). These will be in with your new leveled books at Wednesday’s pick-up.
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks a bunch to this week’s “helping hands:” Pledge Leader ~ Samantha, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Gabe, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Holden, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Emily, Wilson Phonics Chart Helper ~ Billy, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Julia, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Nathan, Raiden, and Ben. Due to our short week, you’ll have the same jobs next week!
I would like to take a moment to thank you, wonderful families, for your many emails, prayers, and beautiful flowers since the passing of my brother Rick. It’s been a difficult time, but your thoughtfulness has touched my heart! I hope you have a safe and wonderful weekend!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
December 18, 2020:
Happy last Friday of school for 2020! Mr. Hall and 5th Grade Buddies, we loved reading and spending time with you this past Wednesday. Here’s a glance at what we’ve been working on this week, as well as what we’ll be up to during next week’s abbreviated week . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll be making our “reindeer” today, so please be sure your hanger is “covered” and ready to build. (I’ll send pictures on Sunday to help you Mommies and Daddies J!) Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you check in at 1:40; I’ll be benchmarking students for their GRL; you are welcome to stay on or pop off until our end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your December Reading Log (December 13th-19th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 11A Spelling Test will also be this morning. Dismissal is at 12:30 today. Christmas Vakay/Winter Break begins!
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I compiled a list of emails for possible “playdates;” if you forgot, and would like to be a part of this, please email me at your earliest convenience to let me know. I can add your child to the list.
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom at 2:30 p.m. (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is critical!) We set alarms for small group and whole group lessons.
*I’ll be posting a “Back to School 2021” Forecast the week of January 3rd. We return to school Thursday, January 7th.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed learning more about Brandon this week; we liked his Toad show & tell too. Due to our abbreviated weeks, Jamilah will be highlighted next, the week of January 11th.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
HOORAY! Emily and Liliana both reached “the hive,” earning their 10th mastery on this past Tuesday’s Cycle 10 Spelling Test; they’ll both receive a “surprise” from me! Also earning mastery and “buzzing” on to their next flower were Joey, Samantha, Abigail, Adela, and Sofi . . . “tree”riffic! This week’s short passage, “Jan’s Morning Walk,” had us answering different comprehension questions each day; we also finished reading the “Magic Treehouse” chapter book, A Ghost Tale for Christmas Time, discussing and working on story elements. As a culminating activity, our Friday Fun activity today was watching Mickey’s Christmas Carol. We enjoyed partner reading “I Look Out” in our break-out rooms, talking about the story and asking questions. We’ll finish our Kitten’s First Full Moon assessment on Monday. 15-20 minutes of IXL recommendations were also planned each day. We were final “blend” and “ou” detectives today . . .searching, finding, and highlighting all ending blends and ou words in the story. We began working on both of these Wednesday when we began Skills Block Cycle 11A; new lists, as well as 3xs each and sentence sheets came home this past Wednesday with this week’s words*: chest, strong, drink, bring, found, and cloud. Our high frequency words are: who, its now, find, and long. During Language this week, we worked on our Weekend News, December Holidays informational writing, and reviewing past, present, and future verbs with “Verb Charades.” We took our test today. Next week will find us reading various holiday stories, as we continue work on story elements, main idea, and details. We’ll also be writing holiday sentences in our break out rooms.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Practicing rhyming words would be a great idea!) Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.
DECEMBER READING LOG:
Our December reading goal is 16 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Again, be sure to have your calendars handy to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (December 13th – 19th ) on Tuesday to be part of our weekly free book drawing! Billy and Emma were this week’s book winners; they each chose a book which they received at this week’s pick-up. (Remember, you can win once a month!)
MATH:
Kudos to Emily, Liliana, and Samantha, who completed all addition facts on XtraMath in under 6 seconds and Octavius who completed Beginning Subtraction; they all received their certificate and got to hear their name on morning announcements. We worked on Math 4 Today Week 15 and solved a “Problem of the Day” in our Math Journal throughout the week; during Guided Math time, students showed these to me. We also counted forward and backward to 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders! We completed work in Chapter 4, “Subtraction Strategies,” took our test yesterday, and did corrections together today. YESSS . . . Liliana and Emily achieved a perfect score! Also earning mastery on all 4 sections were Liliana and Samantha; Gabe, Brooklyn, Holden, Octavius, Brandon, and Billy mastered 3 sections, Ben, Abigail, Nathan, Julia, Adela, Sofi, Emma, and Raiden 2 sections, and Joey and Jamilah 1 section! Next week we’ll be working on some “holiday” math. Again, parents, please remind your student they should be completing 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week in SEL, we continued work in Unit 2, Empathy, talking about “Showing Care and Concern.” We talked about our daily “Thought of the Day,” and hopefully accepted challenges given too! “How do polar animals survive the cold?” and “Why does it get cold in the winter?” were the questions we explored with Mystery Doug this week. I hope you enjoyed the corresponding activities! In Studies Weekly, we read and discussed “Citizens.” We learned about and did some engaging Kwanzaa (December 26th-January 1st) activities during our "Holiday Unit" time this week; we also talked about Boxing Day (December 26th).
SEESAW WORK:
Parents, please take a few minutes this weekend to go through your child’s Seesaw activity and journal entries. Remind them to complete or fix any posts that are still listed in their activities. (They may need your help in reading notes I’ve put on different activities I have sent back to them.) Thanks Mr. Beringer for picking our November winners yesterday. (Students received one drawing ticket for each activity completed in November.) In honor of The Twelve Days of Christmas, we had 12 winners ~ Brooklyn (Santa Sticky Darts Set), Emma (Holiday Coloring Activity Book), Gabe (Happy Holiday Word Search Book and Giant Holiday Pen), Holden (Holiday Cheer Set), Joey (Snowman Water Game), Julia (Polar Bear and Penguin Basketball Game), Liliana (Santa Stocking with “Let It Snow” Pack), Lily (Reindeer Sipper), Octavius (Tear Off Activity Calendar and Coloring Roll), Samantha (Holiday Paddle Ball), Sofi (Santa Chalkboard), and Xavier (Snowman Countdown to Christmas Set).
HELPING HANDS:
High fives to this week’s “helping hands:” Student of the Week ~ Brandon, Pledge Leader ~ Aubrey, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Lailah, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Joey, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Liliana, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Jamilah, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Xavier, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Octavius, Adela, Emma, and Lily.
Tomorrow will find me enjoying time with Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn! Hopefully the Bears will bring us another win on Sunday! Hard to believe we’re heading into our last days of school for 2020 (only 2 more wake-ups til Christmas Vakay!) I think all of us are hoping for a happier, healthier, pandemic-free 2021! As the hustle and bustle of the season continues, do take a moment to relax, enjoy it, and truly appreciate the time spent together with your family! Parents, I’d also like to thank YOU for sharing your most precious “gift” with me each weekday, your child! Merry Christmas!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
December 11, 2020:
Happy Friday! Happy Friday! Get well wishes go out to Jamilah; we hope to see her smiling face back with us on Monday! Mr. Hall and 5th Grade Buddies, we loved spending time reading with, and getting to know you a bit better today! Here’s a peek at what's kept us busy this week, and a look at next week . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! Study Buddies will meet today at 8:15. All other students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your December Reading Log (December 6th-12th) this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 10 Spelling Test will also be this morning. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time and our end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Our final pick-up of the 2020 year will be today in my driveway (8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll eat lunch with a new friend today; your student may join us, and eat lunch on Zoom (12:30 – 12:50 p.m)! STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Our Past, Present, and Future Verb Quiz is today. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time. We’ll be reading with our 5th Grade Buddies at 2:15 for our end-of-the-day wrap-up!
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Our Chapter 4 Math Test is today. Remember, you should be working on an Art, Gym, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:30.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Wear your holiday pjs or outfits today! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. The afternoon will be spent finishing up any of today’s work, as well as any from the week. I’ll be on the rest of the afternoon to give assistance, if needed. Be back on Zoom at 2:30 for Friday Fun!
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll be compiling a list of emails for possible “playdates;” if you would like to be a part of this, please email me at your earliest convenience to let me know. I will be sending this out on Sunday.
*Our weekly Study Buddies is on Tuesday mornings (8:15-8:45 a.m.) We’ll be going over this week’s Phonics/Spelling skills, as well as reviewing for our upcoming Chapter 4 Math test!
*As noted above, we’ll be having our last pick-up of 2020 on Wednesday (8:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.) in my driveway. Please bring your child’s previous leveled books (in their bag), and drop them off in the box/crate provided. New books will be in with their Christmas present from me. If you still need a hanger for our reindeer activity (December 22nd); a box with extras will be under the table.
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom at 2:30 p.m. (Having ALL needed materials ready to start the day is critical!) We set alarms for small group and whole group lessons.
*Sadly parents, I need to remind you again to please continue to be cognizant that background conversations are heard when your child is unmuted, so be sure these are respectful and appropriate for our children’s ears!
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We liked getting to know more about Octavius this week; his light-up, talking Batman show & tell was really cool too! Brandon will be in the spotlight next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
In EL this week we worked on the short passage, “How to Grow a Plant,” and answered different comprehension questions each day; we also read and discussed Kitten’s First Full Moon. We talked about the characters and setting, retold the story, and discussed the lesson learned. (We’ll be taking an assessment on these standards next week.) We enjoyed partner reading “On the Pond” in our break-out rooms, talking about the story and asking questions. We were also “blend” detectives today . . .searching, finding, and highlighting all beginning blends in the story. 15-20 minutes of IXL recommendations was also planned each day. Buzzing to the next “flower” after earning mastery on Tuesday’s Cycle 9 Spelling Test, were Joey, Liliana, Brooklyn, Samantha, Santi, Billy, Adela, and Emily . . . “tree”mendous! We then began working on Skills Block Cycle 10 with the following words with “l” and “r” beginning blends* this past Wednesday: blast, flop, splash, brick, drum, and trip. Our high frequency words are: than, first, water, been, and called. In Language, our Weekend News, Holiday Traditions informational writing, and reviewing past, present, and future verbs, kept us busy this week. Due to absences, we’ll continue reviewing past, present, and future verbs a few more days, and take a quiz on them next Wednesday.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Practicing rhyming words would be a great idea!) Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.
DECEMBER READING LOG:
Our December reading goal is 16 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Again, be sure to have your calendars handy to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (December 6th – 12th ) on Tuesday to be part of our weekly free book drawing! This week’s book winners were Samantha and Holden; they each chose a book which they’ll receive at this week’s pick-up. (Remember, you can win once a month!)
PTA SPONSORED “SANTA’S SECRET SHOP:
Just a reminder, PTA’s “Santa’s Workshop” will also be virtual this year. “Shopping” started on November 6th and has been extended through December 15th. A Swift Reach with more information from PTA went out last week.
MATH:
We completed Math 4 Today Week 14 and solved a “Problem of the Day” in our Math Journal throughout the week; during Guided Math time, students showed these to me. We also counted forward and backward to 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders! We continued work in Chapter 4, “Subtraction Strategies,” this week. We’ll be finishing up the chapter next week, concentrating on using subtraction strategies while problem solving, the chapter review, and study guide. We’ll be taking our test on Thursday. We’ll correct this together on Friday, and preview Chapter 5, “Addition and Subtraction Relationships.” Parents, please remind your student they should be completing 15-20 minutes of IXL Math and XtraMath every day!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week in SEL, we continued work in Unit 2, Empathy, talking about “Accidents,” and the importance of giving a sincere apology, and accepting one too! We also talked about our daily “Thought of the Day,” and hopefully accepted challenges given too! “What was the first cartoon?” was the question we explored with Mystery Doug this week. I really liked seeing your cartoons and comic strips! In Studies Weekly, we read and discussed “The Declaration of Independence.” We also continued work in our Mystery Science “Spinning Sky” Unit, delving into the question “How can the sun help if you’re lost?” I enjoyed seeing your “Sun Finder” and liked hearing you tell me about how it helped you learn about where the sun rises and sets! We also continued our "Holiday Unit" this week, learning about Hanukkah (Jewish holiday ~ December 10th-18th), Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexico ~ December 12th), and St. Lucia Day (Sweden ~ December 13th). Thanks Sofi and Ben for sharing what your families do to celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe Day! As a culminating activity today, we made and played dreidel in our break-out rooms during our “Friday Fun” time; parent(s)/
helper(s), thanks for your help in making these; Josias, Brooklyn, Julia, Adela, Octavius, Abigail, Aubrey, Ben, Emma, Nathan, and Liliana were our lucky winners; they’ll receive a little prize at Wednesday’s pick-up!
SEESAW WORK:
Parents, please take a few minutes this weekend to go through your child’s Seesaw activity and journal entries. Remind them to complete or fix any posts that are still listed in their activities. (They may need your help in reading notes I’ve put on different activities I have sent back to them.)
HELPING HANDS:
Hugs and thanks to this week’s “helping hands:” Student of the Week ~ Octavius, Pledge Leader ~ Ben, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Holden, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Lily, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Nathan, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Josias, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Emily, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Santi, Sofi, Gabe, and Samantha.
I’m looking forward to seeing Kyle and his girlfriend Brooke tomorrow. Doing more Christmas decorating, watching the Hawkeyes and going through Seesaw posts will be on my agenda tomorrow. Sunday will find me and Mr. Baytala hopefully cheering the Bears on to an overdue victory! However you spend yours, I hope your weekend is safe and wonderful too! Only 7 more wake-ups til Christmas vakay!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
December 4, 2020:
Happy first Friday of December! Grandma Phyllis and Ms. Tarchala, thanks for helping put our December pick-up items together, and thanks family members for picking those up this past Wednesday! (Chacon family, thanks for supplying extra hangers for our upcoming reindeer project!) I’m glad you’ve been enjoying the leveled books I put together, along with your “Snowman Soup” and stocking for St. Nicholas Day! Here’s a glance at what's been keeping us busy this week, and a preview of next week . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You’ll be posting a picture of your December Reading Log this morning to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 10 Spelling Test will also be this morning. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time and our end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Our Past, Present, and Future Verb Quiz is today. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time and our end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on an Art, Gym, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:30.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. The afternoon will be spent finishing up any of today’s work, as well as any from the week. I’ll be on the rest of the afternoon to give assistance, if needed. Be back on Zoom at 2:30 for Friday Fun.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*As noted above, I included a bag of leveled books at Wednesday’s pick-up. Until I can level everyone, please do let me know if the books I sent are too easy/difficult. We’ll be trading our books out every other week.
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom at 2:30 p.m. We set alarms for small group and whole group lessons.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed getting to know more about Lailah this week and seeing her cute baby doll Lily “show & tell” on Wednesday! Octavius will be highlighted next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
In EL this week we worked on the short passage, “Max the Cat,” and answered different comprehension questions each day; we also read and discussed Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky. We wrote about the characters and setting, retold the story, and talked about the lesson learned. We enjoyed partner reading “Sam and Nell Have a Ball” in our break-out rooms, talking about the story and asking questions. 15-20 minutes of IXL recommendations was also planned each day. Kudos to Joey, Liliana, Samantha, Abigail, Octavius, Xavier, Billy, Adela, Emma, and Emily; they earned mastery on Tuesday’s Cycle 9 Spelling Test! We then began working on Skills Block Cycle 10 with the following words with beginning blends and double consonant endings* this past Wednesday: sniff, stuff, small, yelled, passed, and buzzed. Our high frequency words are: number, no, way, could, and people. We worked on our Weekend News, November News, and Santa’s Jobs informational writing this week; we also responded to Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky in our module book. Reviewing and taking our Verb Quiz was also on the agenda this week. We’ll continue reviewing past, present, and future verbs, taking a quiz on them next Wednesday.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Practicing rhyming words would be a great idea!) Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.
NOVEMBER READING LOG:
Our November reading goal was 16 days; reaching goal were Joey, Liliana, Gabe, Ben, Samantha, Holden, Abigail, Nathan, Octavius, Brandon, Julia, Emma, and Emily . . . “turkey”riffic! Our December goal is also 16 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Be sure to have your calendars handy to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (December 1st – 5th ) on Tuesday to be part of our weekly free book drawing! Our book winner, and the only one to post over Thanksgiving break, was Holden. This week’s book winners were Octavius and Abigail; they each chose a book which they received/will receive at our pick-up/next pick-up.
PTA SPONSORED “SANTA’S SECRET SHOP:
Remember, PTA’s “Santa’s Workshop” will also be virtual this year. “Shopping” started on November 6th and has been extended through December 15th. A Swift Reach with more information from PTA went out earlier this week.
MATH:
We completed Math 4 Today Week 13 and solved a “Problem of the Day” in our Math Journal throughout the week; during Guided Math time, students showed these to me. We also counted forward and backward to 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders! We began work in Chapter 4, “Subtraction Strategies,” this week. We’ll continue next week, focusing on using 10 to subtract, breaking apart to subtract, and problem solving using subtraction strategies.
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week in SEL, we continued work in Unit 2, Empathy, talking about how “Feelings Change.” “How do we know the earth is round?” was the question we explored with Mystery Doug this week. I enjoyed seeing your shape pictures.” In Studies Weekly, we read and discussed “Taxes.” We also began our Mystery Science “Spinning Sky” Unit, exploring the questions “Could a statue’s shadow move?” and “What does your shadow do when you’re not looking?” I think all of us enjoyed the gnome shadow activity too! In conjunction with our Family Diversity Inquiry, we began our "Holiday Unit" this week too, talking about our holiday traditions, and learning about St. Nicholas Day. I hope you enjoyed playing Christmas Jingo today with our 5th Grade Buddies. Brooklynn, Octavius, Aubrey, Sofi, Xavier, and Julia were our winners. (They'll receive a special surprise with our next pick-up!)
SEESAW WORK:
Parents, please take a moment this weekend to go through your child’s Seesaw activity and journal entries. Remind them to complete or fix any posts that are still listed in their activities. (They may need your help in reading notes I’ve put on different activities I have sent back to them.)
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks a bunch to this week’s “helping hands:” Student of the Week ~ Lailah, Pledge Leader ~ Joey, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Xavier, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Brandon, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Aubrey, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Adela, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Jamilah, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Liliana, Brooklynn, Julia, and Raiden.
I’m looking forward to seeing Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn this weekend and celebrating St. Nicholas Day with them. Mr. Baytala and I got our Christmas tree this evening and know the boys will help us decorate tomorrow too :)! Cheering the Hawkeyes and Bears hopefully on to victory, checking Seesaw posts, and lesson planning are also on the docket for me this weekend. Whatever your plans, I hope you have a great one too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
November 20, 2020:
Happy Friday! I hope you enjoyed all of our cross-curricular activities yesterday during our Thanksgiving Feast Day! Thanks Grandma Phyllis and Ms. Tarchala for helping put our Thanksgiving Feast packets together, and thanks family members for picking those up this past Wednesday! Mabe, Adams, and Chacon families, thanks for dropping off gallon bags for our pick-ups! Thanks too families for your kind emails about my brother; I was finally able to talk to him for a few minutes yesterday and hope he will soon be able to get out of the hospital! Here’s a peek at this past week and when we return . . .
Monday-Friday:
November 23-27:
No School for Students (Remember to post a picture of your Reading Log (showing November 15th-21st) on Tuesday, November 24th. (We’ll pick book winners when we return.)
November 30th:
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember to post a picture of your entire November Reading Log today by 1:00 to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 8 Spelling Test will be this morning. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time and our end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Our December/Holiday Unit Pick-up is today (8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.) in my driveway (15215 Las Flores Lane ~ 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.) Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time and our end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30. If you ordered ornaments for PTA's "Ornament Making Night," you'll pick up the "fixings" at Hille (5:00-7:00 p.m.)
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on an Art, Gym, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:30.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. The afternoon will be spent finishing up any of today’s work, as well as any from the week. I’ll be on the rest of the afternoon to give assistance, if needed. Be back on Zoom at 2:30 for Friday Fun.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*Just a reminder, the Parent-Teacher Conference window will close tomorrow, Saturday, November 21 at 5:00pm. (See last week's forecast below for more information.) Parent-Teacher conferences will be on Zoom using our normal classroom link: Mrs. Baytala's Class Conferences are on Monday, November 23rd from 1:00 pm-8:00 pm and on Tuesday, November 24th from 8:00 am-3:00 pm. There is no school for students on these days. Conferences will last 20 minutes.
*A SwiftReach went out about this past Thursday’s “Family Reading Night.” The kids also have a Seesaw activity that has all the book links, so If you didn’t get a chance to watch any of the videos yesterday, please do enjoy them throughout the week!
*After break, I'll be benchmarking the kids to get their current Guided Reading Level. (At our Wednesday pick-up (see below), I'll be sending a "book bag" with leveled books; those children that attended Ridge and turned their book bag back in at the end of last year, will get theirs back with books a level ahead of where they were when tested last year; I'll give more information about this at Parent-Teacher conferences.)
*On Wednesday, December 2nd, I'll be having another pick-up at my home's driveway (15215 Las Flores Lane ~ 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.) (I'll be sending home some leveled books for your child, a few more Science materials, and "Holiday Unit" items.)
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends after our end-of the day Zoom at 2:30 p.m. We set alarms for small group and whole group lessons. Again, our end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up is at 2:30.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We liked getting to know more about Lily this week and seeing her cool Montana Snow Globe “show & tell” yesterday! Lailah will be in the spotlight after break.
PTA’S VIRTUAL BOOK FAIR:
Again, our PTA Book Fair will be virtual this year from Nov. 12th-Nov. 25th. Foster’s link is:
https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/bookfairs/cptoolkit/homepage.do?method=homepage&url=leerfoster142
There are several ways you can access Foster’s shopping link. Everyone can:
1.) Visit PTA’s website frpta142.com. The links are posted on several of our pages there along with being in their virtual classroom.
2.) Visit PTA’s social media (Facebook-Forest Ridge PTA & Twitter-@d142PTA)
3.) Their monthly newsletter will be emailed out to all families by Monday.
You are able to do a virtual browse (& purchase) of the book fair with the 360 view in our school's shop link. Click on the middle of the book case & it will bring up a picture of the book case as if you were standing in front of it!
PTA SPONSORED “SANTA’S SECRET SHOP:
Remember, PTA’s “Santa’s Workshop” will also be virtual this year. “Shopping” started on November 6th and will run through the 30th. I sent a picture of the flier via email last week; it's also on all of the PTA sites and social media.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
In EL this week we read and discussed Sun and Moon. We wrote about the characters and setting, retold the story, and talked about the lesson learned. We were also able to choose some fictional and nonfictional stories on Epic, continuing our work on story elements, questioning, main idea and details. We enjoyed partner reading “Sam’s Rock” in our break-out rooms, talking about the story and asking questions. 15-20 minutes of IXL recommendations was also planned each day. Earning mastery on our Cycle 7 Spelling Test and moving to the next “flower” were Liliana, Brooklynn, Samantha, Abigail, Octavius, Brandon, Julia, Adela, Sofi, Emma, and Emily ~ fantastic! We then began working on Skills Block Cycle 8 with the following ck and wh words with short vowels* on Wednesday: truck, back, stuck, rocks, kicked, and whip, Our high frequency words are: him, into, time, has, and two. We worked on our Weekend News, journaling, and responded to Sun and Moon in our module book.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Practicing rhyming words would be a great idea!) Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.
NOVEMBER READING LOG:
Our November reading goal is 16 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Be sure to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (November 15th-21st) on Tuesday to be part of our weekly free book drawing when we return from break! This week’s book winners were Brandon and Emma; they each chose a book which they’ll receive at our pick-up.
MATH:
We completed Math 4 Today Week 12 and solved a “Problem of the Day” in our Math Journal throughout the week; during Guided Math time, students again showed these to me. We also counted forward and backward to 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders! We took our Chapter 3 Test today and will begin Chapter 4, “Subtraction Strategies” when we return, focusing on the introduction, counting back, thinking and using addition to subtract, and our mid-chapter checkpoint.
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week in SEL, we continued work in Unit 2, Empathy, talking about “Similarities and Differences” of our feelings in different situations. “Do other countries celebrate Thanksgiving?” was the question we explored with Mystery Doug this week. I enjoyed reading/hearing about the different holidays you would create around your favorite food. In Studies Weekly, we read and discussed “Rules and Laws” and “Principles of Democracy.” We also began our Space System: Patterns and Cycles, listening to and discussing Faces of the Moon.
SEESAW WORK:
Thanks for your patience this week as I continue to go through Seesaw posts. Please do take some time next week to help your child go through and complete any drafts they may still have. Remind them to complete and post any that are still listed in their activities too.
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks to this week’s “helping hands:” Student of the Week ~ Lily, Pledge Leader ~ Gabe, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Octavius Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Samantha, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Julia, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Santi, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Lailah, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Holden, Abigail, Nathan, and Emily.
I’m looking forward to seeing Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn this weekend and spending time with you, parents, during our upcoming Parent-Teacher conference on Monday or Tuesday. All this month, our “thought of the day” has had us thinking/talking about the many things for which we can be grateful! I wanted to tell you again how thankful I am to have each of you as a part of our class this year! I hope you all have a wonderful and safe week off with your families and a very happy “Turkey Day!”
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
November 13, 2020:
Happy Friday! Thanks Mr. French for coming to our end-of-the day Zoom to read one of Abigail’s favorite stories, A Little Bear’s Football Story for her birthday this past Tuesday; we enjoyed seeing her Pikachu and Smolex show & tells too. Mrs. Smith, thank you too for coming on Zoom to read one of Raiden’s favorite stories, Pedro the Ninja, for his birthday; we also liked seeing his Coco Alien! Here’s a look at our week ahead . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember to post a picture of your reading (November 7th -14th ) on your November Reading Log Seesaw activity by 1:00 to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 7 Spelling Test and Noun Quiz will be this morning. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30. Please stop by my home (15215 Las Flores Lane) anytime today to pick up “Thanksgiving Feast” and a few other items. (Like our last pick-up, I’ll have a table in front of my garage door with crates containing bags for your kids in alphabetical (first name) order.)
Thursday:
Happy Thanksgiving Feast Day! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. We’ll be enjoying many cross-curricular activities throughout the day! Be sure to pull out your Ziploc baggie with all of your Thanksgiving activities. We’ll be on Zoom throughout the day! Enjoy “Family Reading Night” tonight; look for a special link to come out with Mr. Beringer and many of our teachers and staff reading some of their favorite stories! PTA’s Kenootz Dine-Out is also this evening from 4:00-9:00 p.m.; why not pick up a pizza to share while enjoying Family Reading Night :)! (Be sure when you go that you mention you’re with the Forest Ridge PTA!)
Friday:
Happy Friday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. We’ll be taking our Chapter 3 Math Test today. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. Please be sure to check in at 1:35. The afternoon will be spent finishing up any of today’s work, as well as any from the week. I’ll be on the entire afternoon to give assistance, if needed. For “Friday Fun” today, we’ll be playing Thanksgiving Jingo with our 5th grade buddies at our end-of-the-day wrap-up at 2:30.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*Our Parent-Teacher Conference signup is through PowerSchool. This system integrates with PowerSchool Parent Portal. There will be no separate username and password for parents to login for each student. Please contact Foster's secretary, Mrs. Leon, if you are unable to access your Parent
Portal. [email protected] An email with information and instructions will be sent this Saturday, November 14 in the morning. The scheduling window will be open on Saturday, November 14 at 10:00am and will close Saturday, November 21 at 5:00pm. Parent-Teacher conferences will be on Zoom using our normal classroom link: Mrs. Baytala's Class Conferences are on Monday, November 23rd from 1:00 pm-8:00 pm and on Tuesday, November 24th from 8:00 am-3:00 pm. There is no school for students on these days. Conferences will last 20 minutes. Please sign up as soon as possible when it opens this Saturday to get your preferred time slot.
*As you saw above “Family Reading Night” will be happening “virtually” on Thursday, November November 19th. You’ll be receiving a special link to enjoy stories being read by Mr. Beringer and many of our teachers and staff here at Foster!
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email, as well as the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures). Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends at 3:00 p.m. We set alarms each morning for small group and whole group lessons. Again, our end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up is now 2:30-3:00.
*Remember you’ll need your toilet paper rolls for the turkey cracker activity we’ll be doing on our “Thanksgiving Feast” day on Thursday.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed getting to know more about Nathan this week and seeing his Sniffy the Dinosaur “show & tell!” (Thanks Mrs. Harkenrider for emailing us a picture of his completed poster to share on Zoom!) Lily will be highlighted next week!
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we enjoyed reading and discussing Summer Sun Risin’. We wrote about the characters and setting, and then retold the story. Yesterday we read Papa Please Get the Moon for Me, again talking about characters and setting. We’ll be doing more “close reading” of it next week. We also chose some wonderful books to read from our November collection on Epic, continuing our work on story elements, questioning, main idea and details. We again used our break-out rooms this week to write sentences using our high frequency words and partner read “Dad Has a Plan.” Please remember to complete 15-20 minutes of your IXL recommendations each day during center time. Joey. Liliana, Brooklynn, Samantha, Abigail, Lily, Lailah, Octavius, Brandon, Julia, Billy, Adela, Emma, and Emily are to be congratulated this week; they all earned mastery on our Cycle 6 Spelling Test! We then began working on Skills Block Cycle 7 with the following short e, y that says long i, and ing words* on Thursday: stem, bench, chest, spend, cry, and flying. This week’s high frequency words are: these, so, some, her, and would. Weekend News, journaling, and writing in our module book kept us busy, as well as learning more about nouns. We’ll have our Noun Quiz on Tuesday. We also began learning about present and past tense verbs. Please continue to use your best handwriting, not only in our Handwriting Without Tears book, but in your daily work too!
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Practicing rhyming words would be a great idea!) Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.
NOVEMBER READING LOG:
Our November reading goal is 16 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Be sure to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (November 8th-14th) on Tuesday by 1:00 p.m to be part of our weekly free book drawing! Our winners this week were Ben and Adela; they each chose a book which they’ll receive at our next pick-up.
PTA’S VIRTUAL BOOK FAIR:
Yes, our PTA Book Fair will also be virtual this year from Nov. 12th-Nov. 25th. Foster’s link is:
https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/bookfairs/cptoolkit/homepage.do?method=homepage&url=leerfoster142
There are several ways you can access Foster’s shopping link. Everyone can:
1.) Visit PTA’s website frpta142.com. The links are posted on several of our pages there along with being in their virtual classroom.
2.) Visit PTA’s social media (Facebook-Forest Ridge PTA & Twitter-@d142PTA)
3.) Their monthly newsletter will be emailed out to all families by Monday.
You are able to do a virtual browse (& purchase) of the book fair with the 360 view in our school's shop link. Click on the middle of the book case & it will bring up a picture of the book case as if you were standing in front of it!
MATH:
YESS, more students to celebrate this week . . . Lailah, Gabe, and Emma all earned their beginning addition XtraMath certificate and got to hear/will get to hear their name on morning announcements! We completed Math 4 Today Week 11 and solved a “Problem of the Day” each day in our Math Journal; during Guided Math time, we show these to Mrs. Baytala! We also counted forward and backward to 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders! We continued work in Chapter 3, “Addition Strategies,” this week; you may have noticed we skipped some lessons focusing on doubles plus/minus one; these skills are not part of our 1st grade standards; while we talked about them, your child will not be responsible for these on our upcoming test. This week we’ll be finishing up the chapter, focusing on using making a 10 to add, adding 3 numbers, problem solving using addition strategies, and then reviewing for our test which we’ll take on Friday. During Guided Math time this week, we enjoyed playing “Around the World Addition and Subtraction;” I hope you shared this with your families! Our “Addition” champs were Lailah and Samantha; our “Subtraction” champs were Holden (twice) and Billy! All will be receiving a little surprise from me with their next pick-up!
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we continued work in Unit 2, Empathy, talking about “Looking for More Clues” to tune into others’ feelings. I enjoyed seeing your “happy, sad, mad, surprised, and scared” faces as we played “Simon Says!” Mystery Doug had us curious about “What’s at the bottom of the ocean?” this week. I loved reading about different places you’d like to visit, and what special equipment you’d need to keep you safe! We also liked reading and discussing “National Holidays” with our Studies Weekly. In conjunction with our EL Module, we’ll be starting our “Spinning Sky” ~ Sun, Moon, and Stars Unit, as well as finishing up our “President” Inquiry next week.
SEESAW WORK:
Again, please be sure you’re posting your work to Seesaw each day. Thanks Mr. Beringer for picking our 1st quarter winners: Brandon ~ Turkey Painting Activity, Holden ~ Cornucopia Activity, Julia ~ Green Eggs and Ham Mini Notebook, Adela ~ Thanksgiving Placemats, Brooklynn ~ Turkey Pencil & Sticker Set, Ben ~ Ninja Turtle Dry Erase Board , Samantha ~ Turkey Pencil & Sticker Set, Octavius ~ Turkey Pencil & Sticker Set, Xavier ~ Number Practice Fun, Joey ~ Turkey Pencil & Sticker Set, Liliana ~ Turkey Pencil & Sticker Set, and Sofi ~ Horton Hears a Who! Mini Notebook.
PTA SPONSORED “SANTA’S SECRET SHOP:
As you’ve heard on announcements, PTA’s “Santa’s Workshop” will also be virtual this year. “Shopping” started on November 6th and will run through the 30th. I’ll be sending you a picture of the flier via email.
HELPING HANDS:
Hugs and thanks to this week’s “helping hands:” Student of the Week ~ Nathan, Pledge Leader ~ Emma, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Sofi, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Raiden, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Abigail, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Liliana, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Lily, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Joey, Aubrey, Ben, and Jamilah.
Hard to believe this is our last week of school before Thanksgiving Break. I’m hoping to catch up on all of our Seesaw posts this weekend, relax, and do some lesson planning for the upcoming week! I hope you have a safe and terrific one as well! Go Hawkeyes and Bears!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
November 6, 2020:
Happy first Friday of the second quarter! A belated hug and thanks to “Grandma” Phyllis, who helped me with putting together all of our packets for our materials pick-up las week! Report cards were sent via email after school today. Congratulations to the following students who earned all M’s and D’s for the 1st Quarter ~ Liliana, Samantha, Holden, Octavius, Billy, and Emily :)! High fives also go out to Joey, Liliana, Brooklyn, Aubrey, Ben, Samantha, Nathan, Lailah, Brandon, Julia, Adela, Sofi, Emma, Raiden, and Emily who had perfect attendance! Here’s a look at our week ahead . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:30.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember to post a picture of your reading (November 1st -7th ) on your November Reading Log Seesaw activity by 1:00 to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 6 Spelling Test will be this morning. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:30.
Wednesday:
Happy Birthday Abigail and Happy Veteran’s Day to all of the wonderful men and women who have helped keep us safe; thanks for your service! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end-of-the day birthday celebration wrap-up at 2:30.
Thursday:
Happy Birthday Raiden! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Remember, you should be working on an Art, Gym, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end-of-the-day birthday celebration wrap-up at 2:30.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. Please be sure to check in at 1:35. The afternoon will be spent finishing up any of today’s work, as well as any from the week. I’ll be on the entire afternoon to give assistance, if needed. We’ll be enjoying “Friday Fun” during our end of the day wrap-up at 2:30.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*We’re once again using the Standards Based Report Card this year in 1st Grade. The following is being used to assess your student’s work this year:
Mastery/M ~ Consistently understands and applies the standard
Developing/D ~ Making progress toward understanding and applying the standard
Concern/C ~ Minimal to no progress toward understanding and applying the standard
*Regarding the Math Fluency grade (Demonstrate fluency for addition and subtraction within 10) on the report card, students have been working extremely hard on their basic math facts to 10 through XtraMath and flashcard practice at school and at home every day. They took a timed test called Addition and Subtraction Fluency to 10 Assessment for this standard. The goal is to answer each problem within 3 seconds. They may count on, using fingers, to answer the problems. Ex. Have them put the larger number in their brain and count on the other number using fingers. (So 4+3=______ I put 4 in my brain and count on 3 fingers: 4...5, 6, 7.) They have 4 minutes for the addition page (both sides) and 4 minutes for the subtraction page (both sides) so a total of 8 minutes. (I also gave an extra minute for both the addition and subtraction portions, since the kids were taking it on Seesaw.) They will continue to have the Addition and Subtraction Fluency to 10 assessment each quarter. The goal is to have Mastery by the end of the year; however, the sooner the students are able to show Mastery the easier math will be for them. Please continue practicing on XtraMath and +/- flashcards on a daily basis.
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email and the kid’s Seesaw activity with the same information (and pictures) too. Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends at 3:15 p.m. We set alarms each morning for small group and whole group lessons. Again, our end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up will now be 2:30-3:00.
*As stated in last week’s forecast, another change for the 2nd Quarter ~ we’ll no longer be posting our Math4Today and Problem of the Day each day; instead, those will be shown to me on Zoom after we finish them each day.
*Ms. O’Neill, our Title 1 Teacher and Mrs. VanBoldrik, our Math Interventionist, will begin working with students this upcoming week; if your child has been selected for either of these, I’ll let you know via email of the day(s) and time(s).
*Remember to be saving toilet paper rolls; you’ll need one for each person in your family for the turkey cracker activity we’ll be doing on our “Thanksgiving Feast” day (Thursday, November 19th).
*As we continue to take assessments, it’s crucial that students take these on their own with no assistance from home. Again, I know it’s sometimes difficult to see your child struggle, but I need an accurate measure of where they are at this point in time! I repeat directions multiple times and am happy to assist your child with the process!
*Parents/Helpers, again, please continue to be cognizant that background conversations are heard when your child is unmuted, so be sure these are respectful and appropriate for our children’s ears!
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We liked getting to know more about Brooklyn this week and seeing her “show & tell,” her little sister Iris! Nathan will be in the spotlight next week!
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we began Module 2, “The Sun, Moon, and Stars,” Unit 1 and enjoyed talking about what we notice and wonder about them. Today we read and discussed Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky. We’ve also enjoyed reading stories on Epic, from our new November collection, and talked about story elements, questioning, main idea and details. We used our break-out rooms this week to write sentences using our high frequency words, partner read “Sam Wants a Pet,” and worked on our short e pumpkins. Continue to complete 15-20 minutes of your IXL recommendations each day during center time. Kudos to Joey. Liliana, Nathan, Lailah, Octavius, Julia, Emma, and Emily; they all earned mastery on our Cycle 5 Spelling Test! We then began working on Skills Block Cycle 6 with the following short e words* on Thursday: shed, yet, pen, send, test, and best. The high frequency words are: about, out, many, then, and them. Weekend and October News, journaling, and writing in our module book kept us busy, as well as learning about Imperative Sentences. We’ll begin working with nouns next week. We’ll also continue work in our Handwriting Without Tears Printing Book, focusing on P/p, R/r, N/n, and M/m.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Practicing rhyming words would be a great idea!) Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.
NOVEMBER READING LOG:
Way to go Liliana, Ben, and Holden; they reached our October reading goal of 17, read at least 4 days each week, and posted their reading every Tuesday! (They’ll get to choose a free book from me.) Also reaching goal last month were Samantha, Abigail, Nathan, Lily, Octavius, Julia, Adela, and Raiden . . . super! Our November goal is 16 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Be sure to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (November 1st-7th) on Tuesday by 1:30 p.m to be part of our weekly free book drawing! This week’s book winners were Holden and Julia.
MATH:
So happy to announce that Lily earned her beginning subtraction XtraMath subtraction certificate and got to hear her name on morning announcements! We completed Math 4 Today Week 10 and solved a “Problem of the Day” each day in our Math Journal. We also counted forward and backward to 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders! WOW, Liliana and Octavius earned a perfect score on all three sections of our Chapter 2 Test yesterday! Also earning mastery on all three sections were Joey, Samantha, Holden, Lily, and Adela; Nathan, Lailah, Brandon, Julia, Billy, Emma, and Emily achieved mastery on two sections, and Aubrey, Ben, Abigail, Jamilah, Sofi, and Josias on one . . . great work! We worked on our intro pages for Chapter 3, “Addition Strategies,” yesterday, and worked on “turn around” facts today. Next week we’ll be focusing on counting on, adding doubles, practicing strategies, our mid-chapter checkpoint, adding 10 and more, and making a 10 to add.
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we began work in Unit 2, Empathy, focusing on identifying feelings. Our Friday Fun video today, The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings was a great way to wrap up our discussions this week! “How were emojis created?” stirred our curiosity with Mystery Doug on Monday. We also began our first Social Studies Inquiry, “The President;” we read and discussed our Studies Weekly, “Purpose and Structure of Government.” Today, we created a special “Veteran’s Day” card on Seesaw, which will be compiled with all of our other first grade friend’s!
SEESAW WORK:
Please be sure you’re posting your work to Seesaw each day. I’ve been archiving all of our first quarter activities, so now be sure you complete and post all of this week’s work! As promised, we’ll be doing our 1st Quarter drawing early next week; Mr. Beringer will be picking our winners! Thanks Grandma Phyllis for writing names on all of our drawing tickets! (Example: If you completed and posted 190 activities the first quarter, you’ll have 19 tickets in our drawing.)
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks a bunch to this week’s “helping hands:” Student of the Week ~ Brooklynn, Pledge Leader ~ Lily, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Emily, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Nathan, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Octavius, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Samantha, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Brandon , and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Billy, Sofi, Sammie, and Josias.
Parent(s)/helper(s), as we end this first week of the second quarter, I wanted to take a moment to again thank you for all of your help and patience as we navigate through this very different learning environment! I’ve loved getting to know your students these past couple of months and pray that 2021 will bring us back to “in-person” learning again at some point! Until then, we’ll continue to work together to help your child achieve their full potential J! Mr. Baytala and I are looking forward to spending the weekend with Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn, and hoping our Hawkeyes and Bears have better results! It looks like the weather’s going to be beautiful too, so whatever your plans, I hope yours is safe and wonderful too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
October 30, 2020:
Happy birthday Santi! We enjoyed sharing your day with you! We hope you liked all of our messages and pictures! We look forward to seeing your show & tell on Monday! We also loved all of our “Pumpkin Day” activities today! (Your Pumpkin Lanterns turned out great!! Please do post a picture on our Friday Seesaw activity, as well as a picture of you in your Halloween costume!) Here’s a peek at our abbreviated week ahead . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:30.
Tuesday:
Election Day ~ No School for Students or Staff; parents, be sure to vote!
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Our Cycle 5 Spelling Test will be this morning. STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:30.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Our Chapter 2 Math Test will be today. Remember, you should be working on an Art, Gym, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be sure you’re on at your Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:30.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. You can use the quick link on our daily Seesaw activity, as well as the Announcement page. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. Please be sure to check in at 1:35. The afternoon will be spent finishing up any of today’s work, as well as any from the week. I’ll be on the entire afternoon to give assistance, if needed. We’ll be enjoying “Friday Fun” during our end of the day wrap-up at 2:30.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*Be sure to turn your clocks back one hour Saturday night as we move to Standard Time. It’s also a great idea to change the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors!
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email and post a Seesaw activity each morning with this same information. This now contains pictures too. Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends at 3:15 p.m. We set alarms each morning for small group and whole group lessons. Again, our end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up will now be 2:30-3:00.
*Another change for the 2nd Quarter ~ we’ll no longer be posting our Math4Today and Problem of the Day each day; instead, those will be shown to me on Zoom after we finish them each day.
*Ms. O’Neill, our Title 1 Teacher and Mrs. VanBoldrik, our Math Interventionist, will no longer be working with us on Wednesdays. Instead, based on MAP and FastBridge scores, they will be working with a 1st grade group. I will be contacting you if your child has been selected for this group.
*Remember to start saving toilet paper rolls; you’ll need one for each person in your family for the turkey cracker activity we’ll be doing on our “Thanksgiving Feast” day (Thursday, November 19th).
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed getting to know more about Abigail this week and seeing her “show & tell,” her room! Brooklyn will be our first Student of the Week for the 2nd Quarter. (I’ll be emailing you and posting a copy of our Student of the Week and Birthday Celebration list for the 2nd Quarter on our Weebly page.)
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we finished up Module 1, Unit 2, taking an assessment using The Little Red Pen. We’ve also enjoyed reading stories on Epic, talking about story elements, questioning, main idea and details. I used our break-out rooms this week to assess asking and answering questions about fictional and nonfictional text; we also enjoyed some partner reading and word work in them today! We’ll begin Module 2, “Sun, Moon, and Stars” next week. Remember to complete 15-20 minutes of your IXL recommendations each day during center time. High fives to Liliana, Samantha, Abigail, Nathan, Billy, and Emily; they all earned mastery on our Cycle 4 Spelling Test! We then began working on Skills Block Cycle 5 with the following short o words* on Wednesday: job, box, shop, got, and wow. The high frequency words are: which, how, their will, and other. Weekend News and journaling kept us busy, as well as learning about Exclamatory Sentences. We’ll begin working with nouns next week. We practiced upper and lowercase Y,y and J,j and did some line practice in our Handwriting Without Tears Printing Book. Thanks for your assistance on Wednesday Ms. O’Neill.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Practicing rhyming words would be a great idea!) Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER READING LOG:
Our October goal is 17 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Be sure to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (October 25th – 31st ) on Tuesday by 2:30 p.m to be part of our weekly free book drawing! Liliana and Ben were this week’s winners! (Since Octavius had already won earlier in October, we picked another winner for last week . . . Billy.) Those students who read at least 4 days each week, posted every Tuesday, and reached our October goal will be choosing a free book from me next week. Your November Reading Log was in with your materials that you picked up. Our goal for November will be 16 days; please start using your November calendar this Sunday, November 1st.
MATH:
Kudos to Holden and Emily; they earned their beginning subtraction XtraMath subtraction certificate and got to hear their names on morning announcements! Adela is also to be congratulated; she earned her beginning addition XtraMath addition certificate and will hear her name on announcements on Monday! We completed Math 4 Today Week 9 and solved a “Problem of the Day” each day in our Math Journal. We also counted forward and backward to 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders! We finished up work in Chapter 2, “Subtraction Concept;” we’ll be reviewing for our test on Monday and Wednesday, and then taking it on Thursday. We’ll then begin Chapter 3, “Addition Strategies.” We’ll also continue our small Guided Math Group; please complete 15-20 minutes of your IXL recommendations each day, as well as XtraMath during center time. Thanks for your help this past Wednesday Mrs. VanBoldrik.
SEL/SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
We went through our Second Step “Bystander” Poster strategies this week, and wrapped up our week with the read aloud, Wanda Witch and the Bullies. We started our week discovering “Who invented candy?” with Mystery Doug. I’ve really enjoyed seeing/hearing about your new candy ideas too! We finished up our “Sounds and Lights” Unit talking about shadows and will do our Seesaw activity when we hopefully have sun next week. We’ll also begin our Social Studies Unit on Government, just in time for our presidential election.
SEESAW WORK:
Please be sure your student is posting their work to Seesaw each day. If your child still hasn’t posted all of their work, please have them do it tomorrow as I will be working on grades this weekend!
HELPING HANDS:
Hugs and thanks to this week’s “helping hands:” Student of the Week ~ Abigail, Pledge Leader ~ Raiden, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Joey, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Liliana, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Jamilah, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Aubrey, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Julia , and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Emma, Gabe, Lailah, and Santi.
Hard to believe the first quarter is over! If you’re trick-or-treating, be sure to stop by my home tomorrow. Mr. Baytala and I will hopefully be watching the Hawkeyes and Bears win this weekend! Whatever you’re up to, I hope your weekend is safe and wonderful too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
October 23, 2020:
Happy Friday! Thanks Mrs. Vrtis for coming in this past Monday to read one of Emily’s favorite stories, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus on her birthday! We liked seeing her neat Unicorn show & tell too! Hopefully some of you got to see Mr. Beringer’s wonderful presentation about Foster at Tuesday evening’s school board meeting! He loved all of the posters, signs, and well wishes he got today at the conclusion of National Principal’s Week! I attached a picture of our message to the Friday Forecast email. Here’s a look at what’s been keeping us busy this past week, and what’s coming next week . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:45.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember to post a picture of your reading (October 18-24th ) on your October Reading Log Seesaw activity by 2:30 to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:45.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Wear your orange today to support Anti-Bullying Awareness Month! The 2nd Quarter material pick-up is today (8:45-11:45 a.m. and 12:30-3:00 p.m.) at Foster. If you’re unable to make these, let me know, and we could set a time to possibly pick up at my home. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Our Cycle 4 Spelling Test will be this morning. STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:45.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on an Art, Gym, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:45.
Friday:
Happy Birthday Santi, and Happy Pumpkin Day! I’m looking forward to seeing all of your Halloween costumes today on Zoom! We’ll enjoy lots of fun, engaging cross-curricular activities today. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child checks in at 1:35. The afternoon will be spent working on more of our “Pumpkin Day” activities. We’ll be meeting with our buddies from Mr. Hall’s class too. Santi’s birthday celebration will be at 2:45.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email. I began doing an audio version this week; thanks parents for your supportive emails about this; it will continue to be provided as a daily Seesaw “activity” :)! Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends at 3:15 p.m. We set alarms each morning for small group and whole group lessons. Again, our end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up is at 2:45.
*Just a reminder, your student will need a clean, label-free glass jar, liquid glue, and a paintbrush for the pumpkin lanterns we’ll be making on Friday. (All other materials you’ll need will be in with your packet pick-up materials on Wednesday.)
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed seeing Zack’s show & tell today! Nathan will be in the spotlight next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we began reading The Little Red Pen and have talked about how the main character (Highlighter) used initiative, collaboration, and perseverance. We’ve continued talking about story elements, questioning, main idea and details. We also started using our break-out rooms, working on Interrogative sentences and questioning. Remember to complete 15-20 minutes of your IXL recommendations each day during center time. Way to go Joey, Liliana, Brooklynn, Samantha, Abigail, Julia, Billy, Adela, Emma, and Emily; they all earned mastery on our Cycle 3 Spelling Test! We then began working on Skills Block Cycle 4 with the following short u words on Wednesday: rug, fun, up, hush, slush, and quick. The high frequency words are: when, your, there, use, and each. Weekend News and journaling were also on our agenda. In handwriting this week, we worked on upper and lowercase L,l and K,k in our Handwriting Without Tears Printing Book. Ms. O’Neill, thanks for your assistance on Wednesday!
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Practicing rhyming words would be a great idea!) Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.
OCTOBER READING LOG:
Our October goal is 17 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Be sure to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (October 18th - 24th) on Tuesday by 2:30 p.m to be part of our weekly free book drawing! This week’s winners were Samantha and Octavius!
MATH:
High fives to Liliana; she earned her beginning subtraction XtraMath subtraction certificate they got/will get to hear their names on morning announcements! We completed Math 4 Today Week 8 and solved a “Problem of the Day” each day in our Math Journal. We also counted forward and backward to 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders! We’ll be finishing work in Chapter 2, “Subtraction Concepts” next week; we’ll be concentrating on subtracting all or zero, taking apart numbers, and subtracting from 10 or less. We’ll then begin reviewing for the test. We’ll also continue our small Guided Math Group; continue to complete 15-20 minutes of your IXL recommendations each day, as well as XtraMath during center time. Mrs. VanBoldrik, thanks for your help this past Wednesday finishing up our FastBridge testing!
SEL/SCIENCE:
We continued learning more anti-bullying strategies as we completed our “Bullying is NOT Cool” booklet this week. Mystery Doug’s lesson had us curious about “Why are so many people scared of bugs?” I loved seeing all of the colorful centipedes you made! We also continued work in our “Sounds and Lights” Unit, discovering “How boats find their way in the fog.” (I liked hearing your thoughts about ways to communicate with sound.)
SEESAW WORK:
Please be sure your student is posting their work to Seesaw each day. We post their Language Arts Journal, Math 4 Today, Math Journal and any GO Math pages together. I will send back any activities that need to be checked and corrected; please help your child with notes or suggestions I may give them, and when they’ve completed their correction(s), remind them to post a new picture on the activity. Again, please remind your child to tap on edit not copy and edit when correcting/revising their work. (We went over this together again this past week.) Other cross-curricular activities across the different subject areas may also be assigned throughout the week. Time is given in class each day to complete these. After our Guided Math time each afternoon I’m happy to give assistance during our independent work time, so please encourage your student to take advantage of this. Weekly activities will generally be archived Sunday evening, so please let me know via email should your child need extra time to work on any of these activities.
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks so much to this week’s “helping hands:” Student of the Week ~ Zack, Pledge Leader ~ Abigail, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Brooklyn, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Billy, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Josias, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Nathan, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Sofi , and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Samantha, Lily, Xavier, and Adela.
Relaxing, cheering on the Iowa Hawkeyes, and lesson planning are on my agenda for tomorrow. Sunday, Mr. Baytala and I are heading up north to spend the day with Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn! Whatever you’re up to this weekend, I hope it’s safe and wonderful too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
October 16, 2020:
Happy Friday! Hard to believe October is half over already! High fives go out to Emily, who was chosen as one of October's Lion Leaders! Here’s a glance at what’s been happening and our week ahead . . .
Monday:
Happy Birthday Emily! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day birthday wrap-up at 2:45.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! PTA’s Pumpkins & Pizza Prepaid Order Form is due today. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember to post a picture of your reading (October 11-17th ) on your October Reading Log Seesaw activity by 2:30 to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:45.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Wear your pink today to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Our Cycle 3 Spelling Test will be this morning. STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:45.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on an Art, Gym, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:45.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child checks in at 1:35. The afternoon will be spent working independently on completing any of this week’s activities. I will be on the entire afternoon should you need any assistance. Please be on for our end-of-the-day Friday Fun activity at 2:45.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*The Foster Lion Leaders of the month are chosen based on qualities such as character, leadership, and citizenship, not necessarily academics. Lion Leaders demonstrate excellent behavior inside and outside the classroom, are well mannered, and respectful to both peers and teachers. Lion Leaders display excellent citizenship by aligning themselves with the Foster Pride Pledge. Lastly, Lion Leaders show exemplar character through their compassion, honesty, trustworthiness, responsibility, optimism, and loyalty in creating a positive school environment.
*PTA’s “Pumpkins & Pizza” Event ~ Thursday, October 29th (Pick-up will be in front of Hille School ~ 5:00-7:00 p.m.) I have emailed the pre-paid order form to you; this is due this Tuesday, October 20th.
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email. Centers and activities will also be on our Seesaw Announcement page.
* Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends at 3:15 p.m. We set alarms each morning for small group and whole group lessons. Again, our end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up is at 2:45.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed seeing Samantha’s pompom craft show & tell on Tuesday! We liked getting to know more about Holden this week, and thought his Mickey Mouse Club Racetrack was really cool too! Zack will be highlighted next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
We took our Unit 1 Reading Test at the beginning of the week, and then began Unit 2, reading and discussing The Most Magnificent Thing. I really enjoyed seeing your thoughts and pictures of what you considered a magnificent thing! We’ve talked about story elements, questioning, main idea and details. Taking the jump rope and name game challenge were also fun! During small group time I started our “Concepts of Print” assessment. Again, please be sure you’re completing 15-20 minutes of your IXL recommendations each day during center time. Due to our days off, we’ll be taking our Skills Block Cycle 2, test on the following words on Wednesday: it, in, dig, lip, kid, and mat*; high frequency words are: words, but, what, and were. Weekend News, September News, and journaling also kept us busy. In handwriting this week, we worked on upper and lowercase E,e, rhymes and punctuation in our Handwriting Without Tears Printing Book. Ms. O’Neill and Ms. Scolaro, thanks for finishing up our FastBridge assessment this past Wednesday.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Practicing rhyming words would be a great idea!) Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.
OCTOBER READING LOG:
Our October goal is 17 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Be sure to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (October 11th - 17th) on Tuesday by 2:30 p.m to be part of our weekly free book drawing! Our winners this week were Lailah and Nathan!
MATH:
Kudos to Samantha and Joey; they earned their first XtraMath certificate for successfully completing the beginning addition section, and got/will get to hear their name on morning announcements! We completed Math 4 Today Week 7 and solved a “Problem of the Day” each day in our Math Journal. We also counted forward and backward to 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders! Continuing work in Chapter 2, “Subtraction Concepts” will keep us busy next week; we’ll be focusing on modeling taking apart, using pictures and subtraction, and subtracting to compare. We’ll continue our small Guided Math Groups next week; please be sure you’re completing 15-20 minutes of your IXL recommendations each day, as well as XtraMath during center time. Thanks Mrs. VanBoldrik for your help this past Wednesday!
SEL/SCIENCE:
This week’s Second Step lessons were about anti-bullying. We enjoyed reading and discussing Resisting Bullying, Kids Speak Out Against Bullying, and How to Deal with Bullies Superhero Style this week, as well as beginning our “Bullying is NOT Cool” booklet. This week’s Mystery Doug lesson had us curious about “Why do owls say hoo?” We also continued work in our “Sounds and Lights” Unit, discovering “How we could send a secret message to someone far away.” (I think we all enjoyed playing each other’s Coding Activity Game!)
SEESAW WORK:
Please be sure your student is posting their work to Seesaw each day. We post their Language Arts Journal, Math 4 Today, Math Journal and any GO Math pages together. I will send back any activities that need to be checked and corrected; please help your child with notes or suggestions I may give them, and when they’ve completed their correction(s), remind them to post a new picture on the activity. Please remind your child to tap on edit not copy and edit when correcting/revising their work. (We went over this together again this past week.) Other cross-curricular activities across the different subject areas may also be assigned throughout the week. Time is given in class each day to complete these. After our Guided Math time each afternoon I’m happy to give assistance during our independent work time, so please encourage your student to take advantage of this. Weekly activities will generally be archived Sunday evening, so please let me know via email should your child need extra time to work on any of these activities.
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks a bunch to this week’s “helping hands:” Student of the Week ~ Holden, Pledge Leader ~ Lailah, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Santi, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Jamilah, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Raiden, Math 4 Today Helper ~ Emma, Problem of the Day Helper ~ Ben , and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Brandon, Octavius, Sammie, and Emily.
Parents/helpers thanks for all of your assistance this week! I’m planning on sleeping in tomorrow; relaxing, planning, and Seesaw post checking, as well as cheering on the Bears will also be on my agenda this weekend! I hope you have a great one too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
October 9, 2020:
Happy Friday! I hope you’re enjoying the beautiful weather on your day off today! Thanks families for picking up your October packets at my home last Sunday or at school this week; hugs and thanks to Grandma Phyllis for helping put those together for us! We were so happy to help Sofi celebrate her birthday this past Monday! Thanks Ms. Villalobos for reading one of her favorite stories, Little Fairy’s Magic Garden; we liked seeing her birthday show & tell too . . . her new Nintendo Switch. Thanks too to Mia, Zack’s sister, for reading Charlie the Ranch Dog, when we celebrated his birthday yesterday. He’s going to share his birthday show & tell on Tuesday! Here’s a peek at our abbreviated week ahead . . .
Monday:
Columbus Day ~ no school for students or staff
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember to post a picture of your reading (October 4-10th ) on your October Reading Log Seesaw activity by 2:30 to be a part of today’s free book drawing. We’ll be taking our Unit 1 Reading Assessment today. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:45.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Our Cycle 3 Spelling Test will be this morning. STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:45.
Thursday:
Happy Thursday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on an Art, Gym, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:45.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day Friday Fun activity at 2:45.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*If you haven’t yet, please do remember to sign up for PTA; your membership will support all the wonderful programs the PTA provides for our children/families, and you’ll get a really neat calendar! I emailed you the membership form and information telling you why sponsoring PTA is so important. You can also follow PTA on Facebook and Twitter; their webpage is frpta142.com (I just got my cool calendar!)
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email.
* Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends at 3:15 p.m. We set alarms each morning for small group and whole group lessons. You’ll notice, I’ve moved our end-of-the-day Zoom wrap-up to 2:45. (With so many of us sharing our daily journal entries, I’m happy to push the time so everyone can share, and we can be done by 3:15.)
*We’re once again using the Standards Based Report Card this year in 1st Grade. The following is being used to assess your student’s work this year:
Mastery/M ~ Consistently understands and applies the standard
Developing/D ~ Making progress toward understanding and applying the standard
Concern/C ~ Minimal to no progress toward understanding and applying the standard
*As we continue to take assessments, it’s crucial that students take these on their own with no assistance from home. I know it’s sometimes difficult to see your child struggle, but I need an accurate measure of where they are at this point in time! I repeat directions multiple times and am happy to assist your child with the process!
*Parents/Helpers, again, please continue to be cognizant that background conversations are heard when your child is unmuted, so be sure these are respectful and appropriate for our children’s ears!
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed getting to know more about Samantha this week; she’ll be doing her show & tell on Tuesday! Holden will be in the spotlight next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we continued reading/talking about different tools and how they help us. Story elements, questioning, main idea and details have also been on our docket. During small group time we continued to do Heggerty Phonemic Awareness together. Please be sure you’re completing 15-20 minutes of your IXL recommendations each day during center time. We’ll be taking our Unit 1 assessment on Tuesday, and then beginning work in Unit 2. Due to our days off, we’ll be taking our Skills Block Cycle 2, test on the following words on Wednesday: it, in, dig, lip, kid, and mat*; high frequency words are: words, but, what, and were. We worked on our Weekend News, and journaled about different story elements, responding to fiction books we chose from Epic; we also wrote and answered some questions about our stories, as well as shared the main idea and details for some nonfiction stories. In handwriting this week, we worked on upper and lowercase G,g, magic c letters (a,d,g, and o), U,u, and I,i in our Handwriting Without Tears Printing Book. Ms. O’Neill, Ms. Scolaro, and Mrs. Martens, thanks for assisting with our FastBridge assessment this past Wednesday.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Practicing rhyming words would be a great idea!) Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.
OCTOBER READING LOG:
Our October goal is 17 days; please initial your child’s calendar each day after they’ve read/have been read to for 20 minutes. Be sure to post a picture of this past’s week’s reading (October 4th -10th) on Tuesday by 2:30 p.m to be part of our weekly free book drawing! This week’s winners were Octavius and Jamilah!
MATH:
High fives to Abigail; she earned her first XtraMath certificate for successfully completing the beginning addition section. We took our Chapter 1 “Addition Concepts” this week. Way to go Liliana, Gabe, Brooklynn, Samantha, Octavius, Billy, and Emily; they achieved Mastery on all 3 sections. Earning Mastery on 2 sections were Joey, Holden, Abigail, Nathan, Lily, Lailah, Brandon, Julia, Emma, Raiden, and Josias, and on 1 section ~ Santi, Xavier, Adela, Sofi, and Sammie . . . wonderful! We also completed Math 4 Today Week 6 and solved a “Problem of the Day” each day in our Math Journal. Counting forward and backward to 120 each day with our Fluency Exercise leaders was also fun! We’ll continue work in Chapter 2, “Subtraction Concepts” next week, focusing on modeling taking from and taking apart. We’ll continue our small Guided Math Groups next week; please be sure you’re completing 15-20 minutes of your IXL recommendations each day, as well as XtraMath during center time. Thanks Mrs. VanBoldrik for your help this past Wednesday with our FastBridge probes.
SEL/SCIENCE:
This week’s Second Step lessons were about being assertive. We played “My Turn, Your Turn,” sang our learning song, role played different situations where we could be assertive, and named our snail puppet . . . Snaily. We enjoyed watching the video and talking about this week’s Mystery Doug question, “How can you tell if a plant is poisonous?” We also continued work in our Sounds and Lights Unit, thinking about the questions, “What if there were no windows?” and “Can you see in the dark?” I enjoyed seeing all the different things you were able to find in your homes that were transparent (see through), translucent (kind of see through), and opaque (can’t see through).
SEESAW WORK:
Please be sure your student is posting their work to Seesaw each day. We post their Language Arts Journal, Math 4 Today, Math Journal and any GO Math pages together. I will send back any activities that need to be checked and corrected; please help your child with notes or suggestions I may give them, and when they’ve completed their correction(s), remind them to post a new picture on the activity. Please remind your child to tap on edit not copy and edit when correcting/revising their work. (We went over this together this past week.) Other cross-curricular activities across the different subject areas may also be assigned throughout the week. Time is given in class each day to complete these. After our Guided Math time each afternoon I’m happy to give assistance during our independent work time, so please encourage your student to take advantage of this. Weekly activities will generally be archived Sunday evening, so please let me know via email should your child need extra time to work on any of these activities.
HELPING HANDS:
Hugs and thanks to our “helping hands” this week: Student of the Week ~ Samantha, Pledge Leader ~ Octavius, Good Morning Song Leader ~ Lily, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Brooklynn, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Brandon, Math 4 Today Helpers ~ Gabe, Holden, Xavier, and Billy, Problem of the Day Helpers ~ Aubrey, Brooklynn, Nathan, and Adela , and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Liliana, Julia, Sofi, and Raiden.
Thanks once again parents/helpers for all of your assistance this week! I’m looking forward to spending the long weekend with Mr. Baytala, Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn and FaceTiming with Ashleigh, Henry, and Pierre! I hope your extended weekend is wonderful too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
October 2, 2020:
Happy Friday! Thanks Mrs. Harkenrider, for coming on our Zoom yesterday to read one of Nathan’s favorite stories, The Good Egg, for his birthday. We also enjoyed seeing his Squirtle show & tell. Octavius, it was great to see you and your family at the PTA Dine -Out on Our October Packet Pick-Up will be at my home's driveway Sunday (9:30-11:30 a.m. and 4:00-6:00 p.m.) Please check your email for more information. Here’s a glance at our week ahead . . .
Monday:
Happy Birthday Sofi! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day birthday wrap-up at 2:50.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember to post a picture of your reading (October 1-3) on your October Reading Log Seesaw activity by 2:30 to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 2/List 2 Spelling Test will be this morning. Our FastBridge Math Probes will also be today. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at 1:35 today; we will be taking our Chapter 1 Math Test (I will help with alarms in the morning.) Our end of the day wrap-up is at 2:50.
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:50.
Thursday:
Happy Birthday Zack! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember, you should be working on an Art, Gym, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be sure your child is on at their Guided Math time (I will help with alarms in the morning.) and our end of the day birthday wrap-up at 2:50.
Friday:
Teacher Institute Day – No School for Students. PTA Dine-Out at Blaze Pizza (159th and Harlem) 1:00-8:00 p.m. (I’ll be emailing the flyer to you.)
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*If you haven’t yet, please do remember to sign up for PTA; your membership will support all the wonderful programs the PTA provides for our children/families, and you’ll get a really neat calendar! I emailed you the membership form and information telling you why sponsoring PTA is so important. You can also follow PTA on Facebook and Twitter; their webpage is frpta142.com
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email.
* Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends at 3:15 p.m. We set alarms each morning for small group and whole group lessons.
**We’re once again using the Standards Based Report Card this year in 1st Grade. The following is being used to assess your student’s work this year:
Mastery/M ~ Consistently understands and applies the standard
Developing/D ~ Making progress toward understanding and applying the standard
Concern/C ~ Minimal to no progress toward understanding and applying the standard
*Thanks again parents/helpers for beginning to pull back a bit. Once your child is on and I’m teaching a whole class or small group lesson, please do go and do other things that you need to get done. I am on all morning and afternoon to assist your child; remind them that they can request assistance from me if they need it.
*Parents/Helpers, again, please continue to be cognizant that background conversations are heard when your child is unmuted, so be sure these are respectful and appropriate for our children’s ears!
*As you see above, students will be off Friday, October 9th (Teacher Institute Day); everyone will be off on Monday, October 12th (Columbus Day).
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed seeing Aubrey’s tooth show & tell. We also liked getting to know more about Ben this week and seeing his Barry the Teddy Bear show & tell. Samantha will be highlighted next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we enjoyed learning about many different kinds of tools. We’ve talked about good questions, and answering those. We’ve also continued to talk about characters, setting, plot, problem, and solution. During small group time we continued to do Heggerty Phonemic Awareness together. We’ll be finishing up our first unit in EL next week, and starting Unit 2. We’ll complete Skills Block Cycle 2, with our test on the following words on Tuesday: rag, sad, am, tan, cap, and wax*; high frequency words are ~ this, from, or, and one. I loved hearing your Weekend News and seeing your pictures. The rest of the week we journaled about a math tool and how it helped us, story elements from a fictional book on Epic, main idea and details from a nonfiction book on Epic or Tumble, and some good questions. For handwriting this week, we worked on lowercase v and w, and upper and lowercase T,t, A,a and D,d in our Handwriting Without Tears Printing Book! Ms. O’Neill. thanks for your help this past Wednesday too.
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Practicing rhyming words would be a great idea!) Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words. I am also giving a sentence using skill and high frequency words.
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER READING LOG/SCHOLASTIC BOOK ORDERS:
Our reading goal for August/September was 24 days! Those students who read at least 4 days each week and posted each Tuesday by 2:30 p.m. earned a free book from me; way to go Liliana, Ben, Nathan, Julia, Adela, and Sofi! Also reaching goal were Samantha, Holden, Abigail, Octavius, Brandon, Jamilah, and Xavier . . . super! Our October goal is 17 days. Please be sure to initial your child’s October Reading Log each night they read/are read to for 20 minutes; you need not write the titles of the books read. On Tuesday by 2:30 p.m., please take a picture of their log (October 1st – 3rd ), and upload it to the Reading Log Seesaw Activity on the October 6th slide. Students who read at least 2 days last week will be in our book drawing. Reading at least 4 days the last full week of September and our book winners this week were Ben and Sofi. If you still want to order from Scholastic, go to www.Scholastic.com Next, you’ll click on the top tab ~ Book Clubs, then Connect to Your Teacher; put in our class code: LD9Y9, and then create an account (if you haven’t already when your child was in Kindergarten.) You can then shop by grade, collection, flyer (always has some specials) or book finder. (If you need further assistance with this, please let me know, I’d be happy to walk you through the process.) This month’s book orders will be due by tomorrow at noon. (We will set up a pick-up time at school or my home once books are delivered; you can also choose to have your books delivered to your home.) The advantage of ordering online is there is a 50 cent discount per book, and if you order $25 or more, your child gets a free $5 book pick.
MATH:
Kudos to Brandon, Lily, and Billy; they earned ther first XtraMath certificate for successfully completing the beginning addition section. This week we completed Math 4 Today Week 5 and a “Problem of the Day” each day in our Math Journal. We also practiced counting forward and backward to 120 each day, while doing our Fluency Exercises. Next week we’ll be reviewing for, and taking our Chapter 1, “Addition Concepts,” Test. We’ll then begin Chapter 2, “Subtraction Concepts.” We’ll continue our small Guided Math Groups next week; addition activities on Seesaw, IXL, dice work, and XtraMath have been part of our center activities. Thanks Mrs. VanBoldrik for your help this past Wednesday.
SEL/SCIENCE:
We spent this week talking about “self-talk” in Second Step. We played “My Turn, Your Turn” and named our puppy puppet . . . Chocolate. Mystery Doug had us curious about the question, “How do phones work?” We also continued our Sound and Light Unit, making a cup-a-phone and guitar.
SEESAW WORK:
Please be sure your student is posting their work to Seesaw each day. We post their Language Arts Journal, Math 4 Today, Math Journal and any GO Math pages together. I will send back any activities that need to be checked and corrected; please help your child with notes or suggestions I may give them, and when they’ve completed their correction(s), remind them to post a new picture on the activity. Other cross-curricular activities across the different subject areas may also be assigned throughout the week. Time is given in class each day to complete these. After our Guided Math time each afternoon I’m happy to give assistance during our independent work time, so please encourage your student to take advantage of this. Weekly activities will generally be archived Sunday evening, so please let me know via email should your child need extra time to work on any of these activities.
FRIDAY FUN:
For Friday Fun today, we played “Halloween Jingo.” We had lots of winners ~ Xavier, Lily, Octavius, Liliana, Sofi, Joey, Ben, Nathan, Adela, Samantha, and Brooklynnn. They’ll receive a special surprise in our October pick-up bag. Our August "Back to School" Jingo winners (Lily, Sofi, Ben, and Samantha) will also be receiving their special surprise.
HELPING HANDS:
High fives and thanks to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Ben, Pledge Leader ~ Jamilah, Good Morning Song Helper ~ Julia, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Santi, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Sofi, Math 4 Today Helpers ~ Emily, Josias, Abigail, Sammie, and Joey, Problem of the Day Helpers ~ Josias, Abigail, Sammie, Samantha, and Holden, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Aubrey, Brooklynn, Adela, and Emma.
Thanks again parents/helpers for all of your assistance this week! Relaxing, going through Seesaw posts, and lesson planning are on my agenda this weekend. Mr. Baytala and I look forward to cheering the Bears on to another victory Sunday, and I hope to see many of you here before or after, for our October packet pick-up! (If neither of the above times work, please do let me know, so we can schedule an alternate time.)
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
September 25, 2020:
Happy Birthday wishes go out to Mr. Baytala, my wonderful hubby, and Mrs. Huber, one of our super instructional assistants! We enjoyed celebrating Brandon’s birthday on Zoom this past Monday; thanks Mommy for reading one of his favorite stories, Pig the Pug. We liked seeing his BOT BOTS show & tell too! Thanks Mr. Beringer for coming in today to read a Johnny Appleseed story to us! Here’s a look at our upcoming week . . .
Monday:
Happy Monday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is at our 1:35 check-in and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:50.
Tuesday:
Happy Tuesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Remember to post a picture of last week’s reading (September 20th~26th) on your August/September Reading Log Seesaw activity by 2:30 to be a part of today’s free book drawing. Our Cycle 2 Spelling Test will be this morning. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is at our 1:35 check-in and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:50. Tonight is PTA's "Dine Out" at Freddie's (159th right past Harlem) from 5:00 - 9:00 p.m. Be sure to mention that you're with the Forest Ridge PTA. (Our PTA then earns 20% that helps support all their wonderful programs for us!)
Wednesday:
Happy Wednesday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is at our 1:35 check-in and our end of the day wrap-up at 2:50.
Thursday:
Happy Birthday Nathan! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Please be sure to post a picture of this week’s reading (September 27th-30th) on the August/September Reading Log Seesaw activity. Remember, you should be working on an Art, Gym, or STEAM activity during our 1:05-1:35 “Specials” time. Please be sure your child is at our 1:35 check-in and our end of the day birthday wrap-up at 2:50.
Friday:
Happy Friday! Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon and 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is at our 1:35 check-in and our end of the day Friday Fun at 2:50. Scholastic online Book Orders are due today.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*Our Foster Spirit Wear sale ends today; you may order online at https://foster2020.itemorder.com, and your order will be delivered directly to your home!
*If you haven’t yet, please do remember to sign up for PTA; your membership will support all the wonderful programs the PTA provides for our children/families, and you’ll get a really neat calendar! I emailed you the membership form and information telling you why sponsoring PTA is so important. You can also follow PTA on Facebook and Twitter; their webpage is frpta142.com
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email.
* Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends at 3:15 p.m. We set alarms each morning for small group and whole group lessons.
**We’re once again using the Standards Based Report Card this year in 1st Grade. The following is being used to assess your student’s work this year:
Mastery/M ~ Consistently understands and applies the standard
Developing/D ~ Making progress toward understanding and applying the standard
Concern/C ~ Minimal to no progress toward understanding and applying the standard
*Thanks again parents/helpers for beginning to pull back a bit. Once your child is on and I’m teaching a whole class or small group lesson, please do go and do other things that you need to get done. I am on all morning and afternoon to assist your child; remind them that they can request assistance from me if they need it.
*Parents/Helpers, again, please continue to be cognizant that background conversations are heard when your child is unmuted, so be sure these are respectful and appropriate for our children’s ears!
*There will be no school on Friday, October 9th and Monday, October 12th (Columbus Day Weekend)
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We liked getting to know more about Aubrey this week. Ben will be in the spotlight next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
This week we enjoyed many books about autumn, apples, and Johnny Appleseed. Mr. Beringer was our “mystery” reader today. We’ve continued to talk about characters, setting, plot, problem, and solution. We’ve also been sharing some questions. During small group time we continued to do Heggerty Phonemic Awareness together. We began our first EL Module, Tools and Work, exploring what we know about tools and how they help us; we also learned more about chef tools. We began work on our EL Skills Block Cycle 2, focusing on short a. Following are the words that will be on our test Tuesday: rag, sad, am, tan, cap, and wax*; high frequency words are ~ this, from, or, and one. Monday found us writing our “Weekend News,” and the rest of the week fall, Johnny Appleseed, and apples have been part of our journal entries. We also practiced writing our capital letters, magic c, and plurals in our Handwriting Without Tears Printing Book! Thanks Ms. O'Neill for your assistance this past Wednesday!
*Students will be tested on the above/given skill words. I will also be giving 4 other “application” words (words that are using the same skill but that have not been previously given to your student.) (Practicing rhyming words would be a great idea!) Your child will also need to know how to spell the given high frequency words.
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER READING LOG/SCHOLASTIC BOOK ORDERS:
Please remember, our reading goal for August/September is 24 days! Please be sure to initial this each night your child reads/is read to for 20 minutes; you need not write the titles of the books read. On Tuesday by 2:30 p.m., please take a picture of their log (September 13th-19th), and upload it to the Reading Log Seesaw Activity on the September 29th slide. Students who have read at least 4 days each week will be in our weekly book drawing; Emma and Billy were this week’s book winners! On Thursday, October 1st, please do take one last picture of your log showing this week’s reading (September 26th – 30th) on the October 1st slide. Students reading at least 4 days each week and posting their work each Tuesday will get a free book from me. Several parents have asked about ordering books from Scholastic; we’ll be doing a class order this week: go to www.Scholastic.com Next, you’ll click on the top tab ~ Book Clubs, then Connect to Your Teacher; put in our class code: LD9Y9, and then create an account (if you haven’t already when your child was in Kindergarten.) You can then shop by grade, collection, flyer (always has some specials) or book finder. (If you need further assistance with this, please let me know, I’d be happy to walk you through the process.) This month’s book orders will be due by Saturday at noon. (We will set up a pick-up time at school or my home once books are delivered; you can also choose to have your books delivered to your home.) The advantage of ordering online is there is a 50 cent discount per book, and if you order $25 or more, your child gets a free $5 book pick.
MATH:
Kudos to Emily; she earned her first XtraMath certificate for successfully completing the beginning addition section. Working on Math 4 Today Week 4 and “Problem of the Day” in our Math Journal, started our Math lessons each day, as well as doing our Fluency Exercises while we counted forward to and backward from 120. Next week we’ll continue work in Chapter 1, “Addition Concepts, focusing on adding in any order, putting together numbers to 10, and addition to 10; we’ll then begin reviewing for our Chapter 1 test. We also started our small Guided Math Groups this week; addition activities on Seesaw, IXL, dice work, and XtraMath have been part of our center activities. Mrs. VanBoldrik, thanks for your assistance this past Wednesday!
SOCIAL STUDIES/SEL/SCIENCE:
We were introduced to Studies Weekly this week. We read and discussed the first issue which highlighted being a mem bber of the community . Second Step lessons this week focused on following directions. We were introduced to the “Learning Song,” and played a harder version of “My Turn, Your Turn.” We journaled about our favorite listening skills too. Mystery Doug had us wondering about the question, “Why is it so hard for firefighters to put out wildfires?” We also made and experimented with a kazoo and a music ruler.
SEESAW WORK:
Please be sure your student is posting their work to Seesaw each day. We post their Language Arts Journal, Math 4 Today, Math Journal and any GO Math pages together. Other cross-curricular activities across the different subject areas will be assigned each day. Time is given in class each day to complete these. After our Guided Math time each afternoon I’m happy to give assistance during our independent work time, so please encourage your student to take advantage of this. Weekly activities will generally be archived Sunday evening, so please let me know via email should your child need extra time to work on any of these activities.
FRIDAY FUN:
For Friday Fun today, we enjoyed seeing our 5th grade buddies and doing an apple graphing activity together!
HELPING HANDS:
Hugs and thanks to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Aubrey, Pledge Leader ~ Emily, Good Morning Song Helper ~ Abigail, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Josias, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Sammie, Math 4 Today Helpers ~ Brooklynn, Lily, Lailah, Octavius, and Brandon, Problem of the Day Helpers ~ Billy, Joey, Liliana, Gabe, and Xavier, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Ben, Samantha, Holden, and Nathan.
I’m heading up to Michigan this weekend to celebrate Mr. Baytala’s 65th with dinner near the St. Joe river tonight! The weather looks like it’s going to be beautiful, so we’re hoping for some beach time tomorrow. Lesson planning and watching the Bears game are on the agenda for Sunday. Hope you have a wonderful and safe weekend too!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
September 18, 2020:
Birthday Octavius! Thanks Daddy for starting our morning with Octavius’s favorite story, Little Dino’s Big Roar. We also enjoyed seeing Sam, his teddy bear. We hope you enjoyed seeing/hearing all of our special birthday messages! Gabe, we enjoyed hearing Mommy read your favorite story, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, this past Monday on your birthday; we liked seeing your cool Fortnite nightlight too! We hope you also enjoyed seeing/hearing all of our special birthday messages! Parents/Caregivers, a big hug and thanks for ALL of your help and patience with our MAP testing the past few days. I couldn’t have gotten through it without you and Mrs. H.! Last week we welcomed Sammie to our Room 122 Remote Family, and today we had another new addition . . . Brooklynn . . . welcome! Early birthday wishes go out to Brandon; his birthday is tomorrow and we’ll be celebrating on Zoom with him on Monday and to Ms Katz, one of our fantastic 1st Grade Teachers; her birthday is on Sunday! Here’s a look at our upcoming week . . .
Monday:
Happy Birthday celebration day Brandon! (Please be sure to send a special birthday message to Brandon via our Seesaw activity.) Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is at our 1:35 check-in and our end of the day birthday celebration wrap-up at 2:50.
Tuesday:
Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is at our 1:35 check-in and our end of the day wrap-up at 3:00.
Wednesday:
Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page. Please be sure your child is at our 1:35 check-in and our end of the day wrap-up at 3:00.
Thursday:
Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Please be sure your child is at our 1:35 check-in and our end of the day wrap-up at 3:00.
Friday:
Happy Birthday wishes go out to my wonderful hubby Mr. Baytala and Mrs. Huber, one of our super Instructional Assistants! We'll also be celebrating Johnny Appleseed's birthday early (September 26th) today with many fun cross-curricular "Apple Fest" activities. Today is the last day to order Foster Spirit Wear; see below. Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. Please be sure your child is at our 1:35 check-in. We'll be meeting with our 5th Grade Buddies from Mr. Hall's class this afternoon for some apple tasting fun; look for more information to come home via email early next week; this will go right into our end of the day wrap-up!
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*Our Foster’s Spirit Wear sale kicked off last Friday and will continue through next Friday, September 25th; you may order online at https://foster2020.itemorder.com, and your order will be delivered directly to your home!
*If you haven’t yet, please do remember to sign up for PTA; your membership will support all the wonderful programs the PTA provides for our children/families, and you’ll get a really neat calendar! I will be emailing you the membership form and information telling you why sponsoring PTA is so important. You can also follow PTA on Facebook, Twitter, their webpage frpta142.com
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule and needed materials the evening before via email.
* Please do continue to remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends at 3:15 p.m. We set alarms each morning for small group and whole group lessons.
*Thanks again parents/helpers for beginning to pull back a bit. Once your child is on and I’m teaching a whole class or small group lesson, please do go and do other things that you need to get done. I am on all morning and afternoon to assist your child; remind them that they can request assistance from me if they need it.
*We'll be celebrating Johnny Appleseed's birthday next Friday with many fun "Apple Fest" activities. Your child will need their favorite apple for an afternoon activity with our 5th Grade Buddies.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We liked getting to know more about Gabe this week; his poster was at his Grandma’s so he’ll be presenting it on Monday. Aubrey will be highlighted next week.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
As I advised you via email, we got the wonderful news from Mrs. Ehrhart that our kids now also have access to Tumble Books (www.TumbleBookLibrary.com) The username is d142 and the password is reads. We’ve also continued enjoying books on Epic this week. Characters, setting, plot, problem, and solution have all been part of our daily discussions. Next week we’ll begin our first EL Module, Tools and Work. We continued work on our EL Skills Block Cycle 1, working with rhyming words and talking about how books open doors. Midweek next week, we’ll begin Cycle 2; our first Spelling List will be coming home via email then. Writing our “Weekend News” and journal entries with our neatest handwriting has also kept us busy. (If you haven’t already, be sure to post these to Seesaw.)
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER READING LOG:
Remember, our reading goal for August/September is 24 days! Please be sure to initial this each night your child reads/is read to for 20 minutes; you need not write the titles of the books read. On Tuesday, please take a picture of their log (September 13th-19th), and upload it to the Reading Log Seesaw Activity on the September 22nd slide. Students who have read at least 4 days each week will be in our weekly book drawing, and those students reading each week and reaching goal for the month will receive a free book from me. This week’s book winners were Samantha and Holden.
MATH:
High fives to Samantha and Octavius who earned their first XtraMath certificate this week for successfully completing the beginning addition section. We worked on Math 4 Today Week 3 and “Problem of the Day” in our Math Journal; we then uploaded them each day! We’ve continued doing daily fluency exercises (counting forward to and backward from 120.) Next week we’ll be taking our first Quick Checks; parent(s)/helpers, please do not assist your child with these; I need to know what concepts they are grasping and those they may need extra work on. We’ll be working on putting together, problem solving, our mid-chapter checkpoint, and adding zero. Center time will be spent on IXL, XtraMath, and Seesaw activities.
SOCIAL STUDIES/SEL:
We’ve been working on Second Step lessons on whole body listening and enjoyed playing the game My Turn, Your Turn. We journaled about our favorite listening skills too. We also celebrated Constitution Day yesterday; we liked learning about the Constitution and were able to create our very own law on an engaging Seesaw activity.
SCIENCE:
We started our week with Mystery Doug and the question, “Has anything like the coronavirus ever happened before?” We’ve continued talking about sound and wrapped up our week with our “Listening Walk.”
SEESAW WORK:
Please be sure your student is posting their work to Seesaw each day. We post their Language Arts Journal, Math 4 Today, Math Journal and any GO Math pages together. Other cross-curricular activities across the different subject areas will be assigned each day. Time is given in class each day to complete these. After our Special each afternoon I’m happy to give assistance during our independent work time, so please encourage your student to take advantage of this. Weekly activities will generally be archived Sunday evening, so please let me know via email should your child need extra time to work on any of these activities.
FRIDAY FUN:
For Friday Fun today, we enjoyed seeing all of postings for Gabe’s and Octavius’s birthdays. We also continued our “Color” Scavenger Hunt finding and sharing our “pink” items!
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks a bunch to this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Gabe, Pledge Leader ~ Sammie, Good Morning Song Helper ~ Samantha, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Ben, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Holden, Math 4 Today Helpers Nathan, Adela, Sofi, Emma, and Raiden, Problem of the Day Helpers ~ Octavius, Brandon, Jamilah, Santi, and Julia, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Lily, Lailah, Xavier, and Billy.
Again, THANK YOU for all of your assistance this week parents/grandparents/helpers; I truly appreciate it! I went on a beautiful walk around the golf course after school today with my sister-in-law Lisa. Relaxing, going through Seesaw posts, lesson planning, and hopefully seeing the Sox win are on the agenda for tomorrow! Mr. Baytala and I look forward to going to dinner with Kyle and Brooke after the Bears game on Sunday too. I hope you also have a great weekend! C u on Monday!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
September 11, 2020:
Happy Friday! We were proud to wear our red, white, and blue today as we celebrated “Patriot Day,” remembering those who perished September 11, 2001, and honoring all of the heroic first responders! We were happy to meet and do our Scavenger Hunt this afternoon with Mr. Hall and our 5th Grade Buddies. Here’s a peek at our week ahead . . .
Monday:
Happy Birthday Gabe! (Please be sure to send a special birthday message to Gabe via our Seesaw activity.) Foster’s Spirit Wear sale kicks off today; you may order online at https://foster2020.itemorder.com, and your order will be delivered directly to your home! Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon and 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page.
Tuesday:
Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page.
Wednesday:
Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be onZoom at 8:45. We’ll be taking our Reading MAP Test today.* STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use ourquick link on our Seesaw Announcements page.
Thursday:
Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. We’ll be taking our Math MAP Test today.* Students may work on their STEAM or another Art activity this afternoon. Please note, I have a meeting I must attend this afternoon at 2:30, so we’ll be having our end-of-the-day Zoom at 2:00 today!
Friday:
Happy Birthday Octavius! (Please be sure to send a special birthday message to Octavius via our Seesaw activity.) Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*An email came home from Mrs. Ehrhart on Tuesday about our upcoming MAP Testing (Wednesday and Thursday); here are some
important reminders and instructions that were given:
1. Check to see if your child has the NWEA application on their District iPad. Open the application and ensure it takes you to the
log-in screen.
2. This assessment will help the district determine your child’s knowledge and how we can support their learning. As much as you
want to help, we need the students to complete the test on their own. We ask that you act as a proctor would at school and
monitor them completing the assessment.
3. The First Grade test has audio that will read to the students. Remind these young learners to click the speaker for each question.
4. I’ll be available to help with any technical issues, however, the Zoom and NWEA MAP applications cannot be opened
simultaneously on the student iPad. We suggest Zooming on an alternate device to get the teacher’s attention if support is needed.
Otherwise, you can message through email.
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule the evening before via email.
*Parents, the class will continue to be muted on Zoom; students will unmute themselves when called upon. Please continue to be cognizant that background conversations are heard when your child is unmuted, so be sure these are respectful and appropriate for our children’s ears!
*Thanks parents/helpers for beginning to pull back a bit. Once your child is on and I’m teaching a whole class or small group lesson with your child, please do go and do other things that you need to get done. I am on all morning and afternoon to assist your child; remind them that they can request assistance from me if they need it.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed getting to know Liliana this week through her poster presentation. We liked seeing her Graduation Bear show & tell today! Next week Gabe will be in the spotlight!
LANGUAGE ARTS:
We’ve continued enjoying books on Epic this week. Talking about characters, setting, and plot, as well as asking and answering questions has kept us busy. We also wrote our “Weekend News” and daily journal entries. (If you haven’t already, be sure to post these to Seesaw.) We’ve been saying sounding, and spelling short vowel words this week using our Elkonin sheet and practicing our neatest handwriting. I worked with our small teams each morning on our letter sounds and Heggerty Phonemic Awareness. Thanks Ms. O’Neill for helping with our Spelling Inventory on Wednesday! We also began our first Phonics Skills Block cycle today.
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER READING LOG:
Remember, our reading goal for August/September is 24 days! Please be sure to initial this each night your child reads/is read to for 20 minutes; you need not write the titles of the books read. On Tuesday, please take a picture of their log (September 6-12th), and upload it to the Reading Log Seesaw Activity on the September 15th slide. Students who have read at least 4 days each week will be in our weekly book drawing, and those students reading each week and reaching goal for the month will receive a free book from me. This week’s book winners were Joey and Emily.
MATH:
Kudos to Nathan, Holden and Liliana who earned their first XtraMath certificate for successfully completing the beginning addition section. We’ve continued working on our daily Math 4 Today and “Problem of the Day” in our Math Journal and uploaded them each day! We’ve also been doing daily fluency exercises (counting forward to and backward from 120.) On Wednesday we started Chapter 1 “Addition Concepts” in our Go Math! book. Mrs. VanBoldrik and I focused on our introductory pages. We worked on using pictures to add to the rest of the week. Center time has been spent on XtraMath, IXL and Seesaw activities. Next week we’ll be working on modeling adding to and putting together.
SOCIAL STUDIES/SEL:
This week we’ve continued learning more about each other through our journal entries and the name game. Today we talked about Patriot Day, the heroes that helped on 9/11, and the heroes that continue to make a difference in our lives. We wrote a special message to a hero on our Seesaw activity and shared a picture of our “patriotic” selves too!
SCIENCE:
In Science we watched and learned more about how our hair grows with Mystery Doug. We also began our Light and Sound Unit, learning about vibrations through the neat “How do they make silly sounds in cartoons?” Mystery Science lesson. I think we all enjoyed “making” a rainstorm! Today we shared what we know about sound (what sound does where it comes from, and how it helps us), as well as what we’d like to know about sound. (Do you want to know how it is used? Where it comes from?)
SEESAW WORK:
I’ve continued to post different activities across the different subject areas. Time has been given in class each day to complete these. After our Special each afternoon I’m happy to offer assistance during our independent work time, so please encourage your student to take advantage of this. Weekly activities will generally be archived Sunday evening, so please let me know via email should your child need extra time to work on any of these activities.
FRIDAY FUN:
For Friday Fun today, we continued our “Color” Scavenger Hunt with our 5th Grade Buddies, finding things that were red, white, and blue.
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks to all of this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Liliana, Pledge Leader ~ Julia, Good Morning Song Helper: Billy, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Aubrey, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Adela, Problem of the Day Helpers ~ Sofia, Emma, Raiden, and Emily, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Josias, Abigail, Joey, and Gabe,
Again, parents/grandparents/helpers, thanks for all you continue to do to assist with your student’s learning; I truly appreciate it! Please do remind your child that school begins each day at 8:45 a.m. and ends at 3:15 p.m.! Mr. Baytala and I look forward to spending the weekend with Kyle, Grayson, and Quinn, I hope you have a wonderful one too! Go Bears!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
September 4, 2020:
Happy first Friday of September! I was happy to see Emily and her family at PTA’s Oberweis event this past Monday! Our class was so glad to help Billy celebrate his birthday yesterday :)! Mrs. Petraitis, thanks so much for sharing one of his favorite books, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss. Happy early Birthday wishes (tomorrow, September 5th) go out to Mrs. Hanrahan, our wonderful school nurse; she had a special surprise awaiting her today, and we sang “Happy Birthday” to her on Zoom! Here’s a peek at our abbreviated week ahead . . .
Monday:
Happy Birthday to our super secretary, Mrs. Leon! (We’ll sing “Happy Birthday” to her on Tuesday!) It’s Labor Day . . . no school for students or staff!
Tuesday:
Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be onZoom at 8:45. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page.
Wednesday:
Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be onZoom at 8:45. STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. You can use our quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page.
Thursday:
Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Students may work on their STEAM or another Art activity this afternoon. Please note, I have a meeting I must attend this afternoon at 2:30, so we’ll be having our end-of-the-day Zoom at 2:00 today!
Friday:
Today is “Patriot Day;” we remember those who perished September 11, 2001, and honor all of the heroic first responders! Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon at 1:05. (This is a change; please use Ms. Capouch’s link today. . . not Mr. Fawkes’.)
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*Epic is free to our kids 6:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. I sent all of you a flyer with information about your child enjoying it after school hours, up to 2 hours per week.
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule the evening before via email.
*This week I began taking small groups in the afternoon to get to know your child and their needs a bit better. (I will be pushing these groups to the morning next week; please see below for your child’s team’s time.)
*Due to the holiday weekend, we’ll be meeting with our 5th Grade Buddies from Mr. Hall’s Remote Class for the first time next week.
*Parents, the class will continue to be muted on Zoom; students will unmute themselves when called upon. Please continue to be cognizant that background conversations are heard when your child is unmuted, so be sure these are respectful and appropriate for our children’s ears!
*I so appreciate all of your assistance, but please do start pulling back a bit and letting your student take charge of their own learning. I am on throughout the morning and afternoon, so even when your child is working on independent activities, I’m available to help when needed.
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
We enjoyed getting to know more about Joey this week; we liked his Monster Truck show & tell too. Liliana will be highlighted next week; she’ll present her poster on Monday and may also bring a show& tell one day.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
Enjoying books from our September collection, as well as others in Epic has been on our agenda each day this week. We’ve talked about characters, setting, and plot, as well as asking and answering questions. I also enjoyed hearing your “Weekend” and “August News” and your daily journal entries. (If you haven’t already, be sure to post these to Seesaw.) We’ve been saying sounding, and spelling some short e, i, and o words this week. We’ll begin our first Phonics Skills Block cycle next Wednesday. Ms. O’Neill and I will be giving a Spelling Preassessment. Parents/Helpers, it is vital that we get accurate information, so please do not assist your child during this test! We started our Handwriting Without Tears book this week and have been working on our neatest handwriting on our laminated Elkonin sheet too! I worked with our small teams each afternoon on our letter sounds and Heggerty Phonemic Awareness. These small team meetings will be moving to the morning next week: Red Team (9:15-9:25)/Blue Team (9:25-9:35)/Green Team (9:35-9:45)/Orange Team (9:45-9:55/Purple Team (9:55-10:05) (If your child forgot what team they’re a part of, I’ll list them on our Monday evening email.)
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER READING LOG:
Remember, our reading goal for August/September is 24 days! Please be sure to initial this each night your child reads/is read to for 20 minutes; you need not write the titles of the books read. On Tuesday, please take a picture of their log, and upload it to the Reading Log Seesaw Activity on the September 8th slide. Students who have read at least 4 days each week will be in our weekly book drawing, and those students reaching goal for the month will receive a free book from me. Our first book winners this week were Brandon and
MATH:
We’ve been doing a “Problem of the Day” each day in our Math Journal and uploaded them each day! We’ve also been doing daily fluency exercises (counting forward to and backward from 120); using our laminated sheets and our red/yellow chips has also been fun. Next Wednesday we’ll be starting Chapter 1 “Addition Concepts” in our Go Math! book. We’ll be focusing on our introduction pages as well as learning about using pictures to add to and modeling adding to.
SOCIAL STUDIES/SEL:
This week we’ve continued learning more about each other with our “Rainbow of Me” project, our different journal entries and drawings. Today we learned more about “whole body listening” with the engaging video, Cookie Son Learns to Listen with His Whole Body; we learned how to play “My Turn, Your Turn” too, and then got a chance to share our ideas on our Seesaw activity. We also learned more about Labor Day today with a read aloud from Epic, and followed up with a journal writing activity, “What does your family do on Labor Day?”
SCIENCE:
In Science we watched and learned more about hiccups with Mystery Doug. We also talked about our 5 senses, completed a cool Seesaw activity, and realized we use them in lots of ways.
SEESAW WORK:
I’ve been posting different activities across the different subject areas. Time has been given in class each day to complete these. I’m happy to offer assistance each afternoon during our independent work time, so please encourage your student to take advantage of this. Weekly activities will generally be archived Sunday evening, so please let me know via email should your child need extra time to work on any of these activities.
FRIDAY FUN:
For Friday Fun today, we started our “Color” Scavenger Hunt. I enjoyed it, and I hope you did too J!
HELPING HANDS:
Thanks to all of this week’s “helping hands”: Student of the Week ~ Joey, Pledge Leader ~ Liliana, Good Morning Song Helper: Aubrey, Calendar/Weather Helper ~ Gabe, Thought of the Day Helper ~ Ben, Problem of the Day Helpers ~ Samantha, Holden, Nathan, and Lily, and Fluency Exercise Leaders ~ Octavius, Brandon, Jamilah, and Santi.
I was so happy to see all of your smiling faces on Zoom each day! Parents/Grandparents/Adult Helpers, again, thanks for all of your assistance this week! Mr. Baytala and I will be spending the long Labor Day weekend in Michigan! I hope you have a safe and relaxing one too! C u on Tuesday!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
August 28, 2020:
Happy first Friday of 1st Grade! Yes, we’ve made it through our first week of remote learning :)! I’ve enjoyed getting to know more about you and have loved seeing your smiling faces each day! Here’s a glance at our week ahead. . .
Monday:
Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Ms. Capouch is this afternoon and 1:05.
Look for her quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page.
Tuesday:
Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Art with Ms. Mueller is this afternoon at 1:05. Look for her quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page.
Wednesday:
Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. STEAM with Ms. Troike is this afternoon at 1:05. Look for her quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page.
Thursday:
Happy Birthday Billy! Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. An art activity is yours to enjoy this afternoon from Ms. Mueller.
Friday:
Our Zoom window opens for parents’/adult helpers’ questions at 8:30. Students should be on Zoom at 8:45. Gym with Mr. Fawkes is this afternoon at 1:35. Look for his quick link on our Seesaw Announcements page.
THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW:
*Epic is free to our kids 6:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. If you would like your child to enjoy it after school hours, there is a free 30-day membership now being offered. Go to www.getepic.com for more information.
*I’ll continue to send our daily schedule the evening before via email and will also be posting it via Seesaw Announcements.
*Next week I’ll begin taking small groups to get to know your child and their needs a bit better. (I will let you know your child’s exact time(s).)
*I’m also going to be putting the class into “teams” next week to promote our class community!
*We’ll be meeting with our 5th Grade Buddies from Mr. Hall’s Remote Class for the first time next week.
*Parents, the class will continue to be muted on Zoom; students will unmute themselves when called upon. Please continue to be cognizant that background conversations are heard when your child is unmuted, so be sure these are respectful and appropriate for our children’s ears!
*I so appreciate all of your assistance, but would like you to start pulling back a bit and letting your student begin to take charge of their own learning. (Whispering or giving answers to them all the time will hinder their ability to become independent thinkers/learners.) Letting them help get their supplies ready for the upcoming day is also a wonderful idea!
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
I hope you enjoyed getting to know more about me this week. Joey will be in the spotlight next week. He’ll present his poster on Monday.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
We’ve been enjoying reading and discussing many “first grade” books this week. I’ve also enjoyed hearing your “First Day News” and your daily journal entries. (We posted these to Seesaw today.) We’ve been saying, sounding, and spelling some short a words this week with our letter tiles. Exploring Epic has also been fun! We’ll continue reviewing skills next week. I hope to see your best handwriting every day! We got to meet our terrific Title I Reading Teacher, Ms. O’Neill, this week. She’ll be working with our class each Wednesday during our Language Arts block.
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER READING LOG:
Our reading goal for August/September is 24 days! A calendar was in the packet you picked up from my driveway. Please be sure to initial this each night your child reads/is read to for 20 minutes. Each Tuesday you’ll be taking a picture of their log, and uploading it to the Reading Log Seesaw Activity. Students who have read at least 4 days each week will be in our weekly book drawing, and those students reaching goal for the month will receive a free book from me. I'll be sending an email about ordering Scholastic Books early next week.
MATH:
We’ve been doing a “Problem of the Day” each day in our Math Journal and will upload a picture of our entries for the week today! We’ve also been doing daily fluency exercises and “getting acquainted” with our different math materials (Laminated 10 frames, number lines, number bonds, and part/part/whole sheets, as well as our red/yellow “chips.”) We’ve been reviewing/writing our numbers and number words too. On Wednesday, we got to meet our wonderful Math Interventionist, Mrs. VanBoldrik; she’ll be working with us each Wednesday during our Math block.
SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we’ve been talking about ways we can be respectful, responsible, and safe, in conjunction with our PBIS program. We’ve also been talking about Zoom Rules and proper use/care of our iPads. Getting to know each other has been paramount this week too, and I think we’ve been enjoying learning about each other’s favorite colors, animals, foods, and desserts. I hope everyone enjoyed our “Name Game” today too! Next week we’ll continue learning more about each other through more fun, engaging activities and also begin our Second Step program.
SCIENCE:
We’ve watched several neat “Mystery Science/Mystery Doug” videos this week and shared what we’ve learned from them. I’ve really liked seeing your drawings too! Today we enjoyed a “Science Scavenger Hunt!”
SEESAW WORK:
I’ve been posting different activities across the different subject areas. Time has been given in class each day to complete these. I’m happy to offer assistance each afternoon during our independent work time, so please encourage your student to take advantage of this. Weekly activities will generally be archived Sunday evening, so please let me know via email should your child need extra time to work on any of these activities.
FRIDAY FUN:
Each Friday, during our end-of-the-day check in, we’ll be enjoying a special activity together. Today we played “Back to School Jingo.” Your child received their “board” in the materials given by me, and used their Math chips as markers.
HELPING HANDS:
Next week, we’ll begin our “virtual” class jobs. Jobs such as Pledge Leader, Calendar/Weather Helper, Morning Song Leader, Thought of the Day Helper, Student of the Week, Problem of the Day Helper, Fluency Leader, and Calendar Helper will be given on a weekly rotating basis so that each student has a chance to participate in all jobs! These jobs will teach your child responsibility as well as help him/her contribute to our remote classroom community!
It’s been wonderful getting to know all of you this week! Parents/Grandparents/Adult Helpers, thanks for all of your assistance this week! Mr. Baytala and I will be heading to Michigan for the weekend! I hope you have a relaxing and wonderful one too! C u on Monday!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala
The ABC's of First Grade ~ August 24, 2020:
Welcome to Mrs. Baytala’s Remote Classroom! I hope you all had a wonderful summer! First days always make us a little nervous, but I am looking forward to working with, and getting to know, each of you this year! Following are our “ABC’s of First Grade; please be sure to look them over with your parent(s)!
About Me ~ I earned my Masters Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Olivet Nazarene University. I completed my undergrad from Northern Illinois University with my Bachelor's Degree in Elementary and Special Education; I’ve also completed my Gifted Verification and Google I Certification. I was honored in 2016 to be a nominee for the Golden Apple Award! This is my 22nd and final year at Foster; I’ve taught Kindergarten, 3rd Grade, 4th and 5th Grade Reading, Class Reduction, and I’m excited to be back in 1st Grade for my eighteenth year! I am married to my wonderful husband Glenn and have two children who were also educated in District 142. My daughter Ashleigh graduated from Eastern Illinois University and relocated to New York City with her boyfriend Henry and their cat Pierre; she is a Customer Success Consultant with Zendesk; my son Kyle graduated from the University of Iowa and is a Sales Rep for Zingit Solutions; he’s blessed us with two precious grandsons, Grayson (5) and Quinn (3)! My husband Glenn retired from the “craziness” of the Options Exchange and enjoys extra time in Michigan relaxing and beach glassing! In my free time, I enjoy watching my grandsons, spending time with my family in Michigan, reading, walking, and searching for beach glass!
Attendance ~ Our school day will begin each day at 8:45 a.m. It is very important that your child is logged in on time every day! Attendance will be taken each morning. Please let the office know if your child will be absent.
Birthdays ~ Birthdays will be celebrated on the student’s actual birthday or as close to their half-birthday as possible. Birthday students will receive special surprises/birthday song from their classmates and me on Seesaw and Zoom. Parent(s), let me know if you would like to read one of your child’s favorite stories on Zoom, we will set up a convenient time for you!
Class Materials ~ The class supply list can be found on the home page of the District website. On our virtual Open House video, you’ll find a slide with “Supplies” that your student will need. Please be sure to have these near where your child will be working each day.
Curriculum ~ We’ll be delving into the common core standards in all subject areas. We will be using EL Education for Reading, Phonics, Spelling, Language, and Writing. We will also be working with Michael Heggerty’s Phonemic Awareness. We will be reviewing/learning the traditional manuscript printing for handwriting too using Handwriting Without Tears. We’ll be utilizing Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's Go Math for Math; this also has corresponding practice/homework pages, which will generally be given for homework. For Social Studies, we will be implementing the Social Science Learning Standards through the Illinois Board of Education and using Studies Weekly. Exploring the NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) in Science will also be on our agenda this year, and we’ll utilize Mystery Science/Mystery Doug and Traverse Bay Modules through NGSS.
Discipline/PBIS ~ This year, our entire district is again utilizing the wonderful PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention and Support); we’ll also be using the SEL Second Step program.
Email ~ My email is [email protected] . Please feel free to contact me at any time. I will do my best to get back to you within 24 hours.
Fifth Grade Buddies ~ About once a week/every other week, we will be reading with our buddies from Mr. Hall’s remote fifth grade class! This is a great opportunity for our students to bond/work with older peers!
Grades ~ First grade will once again be utilizing a quarterly Standards Based Report Card with the following grading scale: M ~ Mastery/D ~ Developing/C ~ Concerned. Report cards will list standards for each subject area covered in first grade. Parent-Teacher conferences will take place twice during the year. Feel free, however, to schedule a Zoom conference at any time to discuss your student’s progress, achievement, behavior, or any other issues/concerns you may have. Please encourage your child to do his/her best every day!
Homework ~ Much of our work will be done during our remote learning time, but some may need to be finished afterwards. Reinforcement pages and writing may also be assigned.
Honor System ~ During our remote learning time, quizzes and tests will be given. I am happy to go over directions as needed, but these quizzes/tests must be completed by you, without help from home.
Illnesses/Absences ~ Please dial Foster’s number, dedicated just for absences (708) 803-8213, as soon as possible if your child will be absent. If you know in advance, please email me the days he or she will miss. There is a district vacation form parents will need to fill out from the parent handbook if he or she will be absent due to a vacation.
Jobs ~ Each week, remote jobs will be assigned. Jobs such as: Student of the Week, Pledge Leader, Morning Song Leader, Thought of the Day Leader, Problem of the Day Helper, Fluency Exercise Leader, Calendar Helper and Weather Helper will be given on a weekly rotating basis so that each student has a chance to participate in all jobs! These jobs will teach your child responsibility as well as help him/her contribute to our classroom.
Kindness ~ It is important that we create a learning environment where each student feels valued and appreciated. I expect students to be kind to one another and to use their words when describing their feelings. We will work towards “filling our buckets” each day!
Learning Goals ~ Students learning will be aligned with the common core standards. Mastering concepts covered by the standards is an important goal. We’ll also be working on social and emotional skill development. Applying concepts to real life and being a critical thinker/problem solver is another key goal.
Many Changes ~ We all know that there will continue to be changes throughout the year, and we’ll need to smile and be flexible!
Newsletter ~ Our newsletter, the Friday Forecast, will be published on our class Weebly page each Friday. The quick link is http://d14-sbaytala.weebly.com It is important to review the weekly newsletter for upcoming events and important information. Our weekly Friday Forecast, as well as other important information throughout the year will be published on our Weebly page.
Office ~ Check in with the office should you need to visit our school.
Phone ~ Foster’s telephone number is (708) 687-4763. If you wish to speak to me directly, you may dial my extension (5322).
Questions ~ Feel free to contact me if you have any questions throughout the school year. The best ways to contact me are through e-mail and phone.
Reading/Scholastic Book Orders ~ In your “Welcome Supplies” from me, I sent August, September & October Reading Logs. Please keep your logs in whichever folder you would like to use for Reading/Language Arts. I would like your child to read/be read to 20 minutes 4xs per week. I will be making a Seesaw activity for each calendar, where your child may take a picture of their calendar each Tuesday, beginning . You may also order Scholastic books online. Our class code is LD9Y9. These will be delivered to my home or school, and we can then schedule a pick-up day/time.
Schedule/Specials ~ We will have Gym twice a week (Mondays at 1:05 and Fridays at 1:35) and Art (Tuesdays at 1:05) and STEAM (Wednesdays at 1:05) once a week (this quarter) via Zoom.
Student of the Week ~ We will have a new student in the spotlight each week. Those students who will be Student of the Week during the first quarter will receive their poster with their welcome materials. When it is your week, you will present your poster to the class and may also bring a special show & tell to Zoom.
Study Buddies ~ One morning a week (to be determined once other scheduling has been completed), I will offer “Study Buddies.” We will meet from 8:15 - 8:45, and students may come on a "need" basis. I will offer extra assistance and classwork help.
Toys ~ Please do not allow your child to have toys near their “work” area.
Up-to-date ~ Please keep me up-to-date on any important changes in your child’s life.
Virtual Behavior ~ I expect your very best behavior every day during our Zoom sessions; we will be going over Zoom expectations on Monday and reviewing them throughout the next few weeks.
Water bottles ~ Please be sure your child keeps their water bottle and/or any food or drinks away from their iPad.
X-tra practice ~ If you are looking for extra resources to help your child at home, site URL’s will be emailed soon and also published on our Weebly.
You’ve Got a Friend in Me ~ Every Friday, students will have the opportunity to learn new things about their classmates. Different questions will be posed, and your student will be able to share their answers with me and their classmates.
Zzzz ~ Make sure your child gets plenty of sleep so that he/she is prepared to do his/her best during our remote learning!
Zoom ~ Remind your child to be on time and do their best each day during our Zoom sessions!
Again, I know these are unusual circumstances, but I am so happy to be your teacher, and I’m looking forward to a “mouse”velous year, learning and growing together!
Love & Hugs,
Mrs. Baytala