Ms. Turner and Mrs. Leland’s 
Fabulous First Graders

April 24, 2013


Dear Families:

By now you have probably already discovered that your child is becoming a bird expert! Our current Project Based Learning (PBL) is in full gear and the students are not only loving it, they are doing an AMAZING job tackling the information.  They can describe why beaks and bills are shaped a certain way, and guess what the bird eats based on its beak shape.  They know why birds don't fall off trees when sleeping, why ducks have webbed feet, and what is needed for a bird habitat.  We are really looking forward to birding in a natural habitat this Friday!

Today your students began scientific drawings of birds. They formed expert groups to help critique each other's work, and made revisions to their own art based on these critiques.  These are still a work in progress, but just wait until you see the improvement! The first graders really blew me away today- they embraced the natural struggle of the revision process AND continued to seek out each other's feedback to improve their work. See the idea for this lesson here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqh1MRWZjms

We are so excited about birding, we added an additional field trip.  Look in you student's backpack for a yellow permission slip that was sent home today.  We are going to take a bus to Juanita Park in Kirkland on Wednesday, May 8.  Let us know if you can come birding with us!

Enjoy the sun,

Kristi Leland & Amanda Turner

klleland@seattleschools.org

abturner@seattleschools.org

class phone: 206.252.2516

Ms. Turner and Mrs. Leland’s 
Fabulous First Graders

March 5, 2013


Dear Families:

How is it already March? Your student is almost two-thirds through their first grade year at QAE.  They have already learned so much, yet we have so much more we want to explore with them!

We are studying coins and time in math.  Your student should be able to identify and name the value of individual coins, and is working towards counting, or adding, money.  First graders should also be able to tell time to the hour and half hour using a digital and analog clock.  Both money and time can easily be practiced at home, so please quiz your scholar whenever you think of it!

We still practice our math facts each week, and have a timed math facts quiz twice a week.  We did subtraction for the first time today and I was amazed at how well our students did!  A few parents have shared this practice site with us, so we are passing it along in case your mathematician wants more practice at home:  http://www.webmathminute.com/default.asp

We are also exploring the roles families and neighborhoods play in our lives in our new storypath unit, Families in Their Neighborhoods. Your students have already created a beautiful frieze in our classroom depicting our fictional neighborhood.  This week, they are creating the characters they will play in our story!

Hope to see many of you tomorrow for World Read Aloud Day.  Don't forget that tomorrow is an early dismissal and there is no school on Friday, March 15th.  


Best,

Kristi Leland & Amanda Turner

klleland@seattleschools.org

abturner@seattleschools.org

class phone: 206.252.2516

Ms. Turner and Mrs. Leland’s 
Fabulous First Graders

February 19, 2013


Dear Families:

Happy 100th day of school!

It was such fun to celebrate this milestone with your first graders today.  The students counted and sorted the 100 items they brought in from home, and we had a gallery walk to examine all of the treasures.  They each made a crown with 100 dots on it, made a lego sculpture with 100 legos, and created a book about what they will be like when they turn 100 years old.  Look for pictures and student work from the day on our website or student portfolios soon. 

The first graders are truly "100 days smarter."  They are working on measuring objects with nonstandard units and are becoming more fluent with their addition facts.  Each student is creating their own "All About Penguins" book and has become a penguin expert.  They are reading more fluently and more accurately, and it is a thrill to watch them "get lost" in their books.  Besides the academics, the students are growing socially as well.  Our community has a nice feeling to it and the students are working on becoming more empathetic to each other- thanks for the guidance, Baby Jack!

Thank you!
Thank you to all the parents who helped make both our Writer's Celebration and our Valentine's party successful.  There is a lot of behind the scenes work to organize the food and activities, and we appreciate all you do.

Best,

Kristi Leland & Amanda Turner

klleland@seattleschools.org

abturner@seattleschools.org

class phone: 206.252.2516

Room 136 News

Ms. Turner and Mrs. Leland’s
Fabulous First Graders

January 9, 2013

Dear Families:

Happy New Year! We were so pleased to return to school this week and see the students’ bright and shiny faces.  They all seemed to have a lot of fun adventures over break, which make for great writer’s workshop stories!

The new trimester of school brings lots of fun new learning endeavors.  We are starting a nonfiction unit of study, in which the whole class will study penguins.  Eventually the students will form groups to create a poster and presentation about an animal of their choice.  Get ready to be educated by your little expert!

We are also beginning our new science unit and a new social studies unit.  In science, we will explore physical science through the study of balls and ramps.  In social studies we will study families and neighborhoods through a storypath unit.  Storypath is an interactive, hands-on way to learn social studies in which students “become” characters they create and have to solve critical incidents with their groups. 

Thank you!

Thank you to each and every family for making us feel so valued over the holidays.  We really appreciate the gifts and goodies and are looking forward to using our gift cards! The handwritten notes from the students were especially nice. Thank you!

Queen Anne Manor

We have another walking field trip to Queen Anne Manor scheduled for January 25th.  We will need to leave school immediately after lunch, around 12:50pm.  Please let us know if you would like to chaperone!

Best,

Kristi Leland & Amanda Turner

klleland@seattleschools.org

abturner@seattleschools.org

class phone: 206.252.2516

Room 136 News

Ms. Turner and Mrs. Leland’s 
Fabulous First Graders

December 12, 2012

Dear Families:

Happy 12-12-12! The students were really stumped this morning when we asked them if we were going to have 13-13-13 next year.  Eventually we figured it out as a group; ask your first grader why this day won’t happen. 

Your student is also learning about nouns and adjectives.  We are already seeing more “colorful” writing in Writer’s Workshop from our adjective work!

We don’t have a lot of new items this week, but below is a recap of Ms. Leland’s newsletter from last week. 

1. Chaperones to QAM this Friday at 12:45
We are heading to Queen Anne Manor this Friday for a final wrap up of our generations project.  The kids will be presenting their quilt squares sharing what they learned from the residents.  We will be leaving at 12:45 and hope to be there at 1:00.  We should be done by 2:00 at the latest.  2 or 3 helpers would be appreciated.

2. 3 dozen cookies for Friday
These can be bought or made, either way is perfect!  We were hoping to bring a treat to QAM to share with the residents after our presentation.

3. Chaperones to QAM NEXT Friday at 9:45.
We'll be crafting with the residents and could use one or two parents to help us walk over there.  I'll have all the crafting things ready to go.  It should be a fun, relaxing event.  We'll be finished around 10:45.

4. Early departures for December break.
If your family is heading out of town early (before the 21st) for vacation over break, please let us know.  The kids are working on holiday "gifts" and we want to make sure they are able to bring theirs home.  Thank you to the families who have already let us know about their travel plans.

Items Requested

Due to student demand, each student now has their own pencil bag with 4 fresh pencils for each week.  Students earn small prizes and/or congratulations for keeping up with their own pencils and not breaking off the eraser for the whole week.  To keep this project afloat, we would love if each student could send in 2 boxes of pencils (preferably Ticonderoga).  We are also in need of Clorox wipes to keep our desks clean and work areas germ-free!

Finally, progress reports will go home on Friday, December 21st.  Please sign and return the empty envelope; the report is yours to keep.  Also note that school closes an hour early that day for Winter Break. 

Best,

Kristi Leland & Amanda Turner
klleland@seattleschools.org
abturner@seattleschools.org
class phone: 206.252.2516

The posts from earlier in this school year are still available at the Weekly News Archive.