Dr. Stevenson's Blog

November News

Hello everyone; it's finally fall and the weather has been nice lately.  We are working hard, but are very excited about all the holidays that surround this time of year.  Please remind your children to be on their best behavior everyday at school!  Currently we are finishing up learning about Thomas Jefferson, which leads us into Lewis and Clark and Sacajawea.  We even signed our name to the Declaration of Independence!  The week before Thanksgiving we will be taking an "expedition" around the school to learn about the journey of Lewis and Clark and the Louisiana purchase, as well as make some trades with Sacajawea.  In Science we will also learn about Sound, how it is made and how sounds help us.  I n math, please continue to practice counting money, making fair trades, and recognizing shapes and solids.  Keep reading every night with your children and remember to sign your child's folders and check for important communication from me or the school. 

Your child has already brought home a pamphlet about his/her Square 1 art.  Purchases from this program go to the art department to buy supplies for the children.  Also, the Book Fair is coming!  We saw the video today and will be making our wish lists next week on Wednesday.  If you are able to come in on Wednesday the 11th from 10:10-10:30, we would love help with this!  Also, I am able to make a wish list for the classroom.  If you are able and would like to purchase a book for our classroom, we'd greatly appreciate it!

Teacher Fun-raisers are coming up.  See flyer in your child's folder.  The money goes to the Blackwell Foundation which purchases technology for the school.

Please turn in your child's Jump Rope for Heart permission slip that also came home on Monday.

Upcoming important dates:

Thursday, Nov. 5 - 5 Guys Night; PTA meeting 6:30

Monday, Nov. 9 - Stevie B's Night

Wednesday, Nov. 11 - Picture retakes and Book fair wish list day

Nov. 16-21- Scholastic Book Fair

Thursday, Nov. 19 - Chic-fil-A in morning carpool, Book Fair Family Night 5-7, pizza available for purchase

Friday, Nov. 21 - Hat day, bring $.50 to support the American Cancer Society and wear a hat

Nov. 23-27 - No School - Thanksgiving Break

October News

Fall is in the air and the children are excited!  As Halloween and other holidays begin to approach, the children are very excitable.  Please remind them to be on their best behavior every day at school.  We finish the first 9 weeks tomorrow and report cards will go home on Friday, October 16th.  Please sign the white card in the appropriate spot and return it to school in the envelope provided.  We have and early release day coming up this month on Wednesday, October 21st.  Students will be dismissed at 12:20.  Please sign your child's folder every night.  It is important that I know we have daily communication.  Also, if your child's transportation changes from its' usual and regular way, I must have a note in writing.  This is a school rule and is essential to ensuring that your child gets home safely every day!

Please note the following areas we are working on in class now:

Writing - narrative genre - writing/telling stories   

Math - counting money up to $1.00 and making fair trades for money amounts, math facts to sum 12

English Language Arts - multiple phonics skills, comprehension, grammar skills and sight words

Science - the water cycle

Social Studies - Thomas Jefferson

Important Dates to remember:  Monday, October 12th - Stevie B's night, refer to behavior log for other important events such as this.

November 11th - Make up picture day

* Have your child complete this fact family for a treat - 2, 5, and 7 (you can give them the hint that they need 2 addition sentences and 2 subtraction sentences)

Fall Festival

Please see reminder below:

Hi PARENTS, Fall Festival is THIS Friday. Please send in your class

donations, gift basket donations and cookie donations in the next few days.

We really appreiciate all you do to help out with this fun, exciting night.

Also, just an idea....we are in need of small prizes for the games so if any

of you have Happy Meals toys or can make a trip to the dollar store we would

really appreciate anything you can contribute!!

Kindergarten – Large bags of candy (NO CHOCOLATE!)

1st Grade – Small prizes for games – check the Dollar Store for jacks, cards

toys, etc.

2nd Grade – Small prizes for games – check the Dollar Store for jacks, cards

toys, etc.

3rd Grade – Individual bags of chips

4th Grade – Canned sodas (please send in Coke, Diet Coke, or Sprite or like

off-brands)

5th Grade - Canned sodas (please send in Coke, Diet Coke, or Sprite or like

off-brands)

***Please send in donated items by SEPTEMBER 30TH **

Cookies, Cookies, Cookies

To make the Cookie Walk a success, we need cookie donations.

Please send in 12 cookies in a Ziploc Baggie with a description of the

cookie on the outside. Cookies can be store bought or homemade.

See you all on Friday!

  Nikki Brown

770-231-5669

More September News

Just an update to make sure that you saw the letter that come home about taking measures to ensure that our children are staying well!!!  If you are able to purchase and send in some Clorox, Lysol or other type antibacterial wipes for us to clean our tables and surfaces it would be greatly appreciated.

Also, yearbook order forms went home yesterday.  They are $22 before the holiday break and $25 after the holiday break.  Order forms are also posted on the Blackwell School website.

Extra treat assignment for your child:  Name two types of Landforms and draw a picture of each; bring it in your folder. 

September News

We are well underway in first grade now!  We have finished all of our initial assessments in order to deliver the best instruction for your child.  So far in Math we have concentrated on number order and representing numbers in general.  Now we are focusing on addition and learning our math facts to 12.  Please practice these with your childat home.  Wal-mart or any school supply store sells flash cards.  You can even find them in the dollar store!  We just finished studying weather and seasons in Science and are currently learning about Where we live, including city, county, state and country.  We will also learn the 7 continents and oceans, as well as, landforms and what they are and look like.  In Language Arts we are concentrating on short vowel sounds, word families, and appropriate first grade vocabulary.  We are also learning the characteristics of good readers and writers.  We are learning how to make connections to our reading with ourselves, our world, and other literature in order to improve our comprehension.  Please make sure to read to, with, or listen to your child read every night.  This is very important.  We are also still learning rules and procedures for different activities that might take place during the day while the teacher is working with small groups for differentiated instruction.

This week we are taking the CogAt.  It is very important that your child gets a good night's rest and eats a good breakfast before coming to school to take this test.  Of course this is a good habit to be in every day!

Please remember to have your child wear sneakers every Friday.  Our schedule is different every Friday for specials for the different groups of children since our class is split up at this time.

If you read the blog, have your child answer this question for a special treat:  Who was our helper during the CogAt testing?

See below for important dates:

Monday, September 14 - Stevie B's Night - Please come so our class can win a pizza party!

Thursday, September 17 - Chic-fil-A in morning Carpool and Skate Night

Friday, September 18 - First grade t-shirt orders and  money due

Thursday, September 24 - Chic-fil-A night

Friday, September 25- Hat day, support the American Cancer Society

August News

Well, we are off to a great start this year!  I am so excited about my class.  We are going to have a great time learning together this year.  If you haven't already done so, please fill out and return all forms as soon as possible.  Also, make sure you join the PTA.  They do so many great things for our school.  Please utilize the school's website.  There is a wealth of information that can be found there.  Please continue to check your child's folder each night.  Tuesday is the day that schoolwide communication will be included in the folder.  Check below for upcoming important dates.  See you soon!

August 25 - 6:30, Open House

August 20 - Chick-fil-A biscuits sold in morning carpool

August 27 - Chick-fil-A Night

August 28 - Hat Day, bring $.50 - Support the American Cancer Society