Mrs. Lafflam's Class

Lafflam's Latest...

2012-01-11T09:41:00.004-07:00

Parents,

Hello and welcome to a new year! I hope you have enjoyed some much needed time off with your family. My family and I had so much fun over break. We finally made it up to the mountains for the first time since we moved to Colorado. It seems as if we have always just been pregnant or had small babies, so making the trip was always more work than it would be fun. However, this winter break we actually made it to the mountain twice. Andy and I went snowboarding for our anniversary in Keystone and we went back the next weekend to the Winter Park area for more snowboarding and a ski lesson for my 3 year old. I had many bruises and was very sore, but it was all worth it. I am enjoying hearing about the kiddos time off as well. It sounds as if everyone is well rested and ready to be back.

Reading: We are currently working on Unit 3 Week 5 in our Treasures anthology. We are learning about 3 letter blends, long vowel patterns, compare and contrasting (Venn diagrams), and as always making connections to text, self, or the world. Ask them to compare and contrast 2 characters in a story you are reading or even compare 2 different stories. Students are progressing nicely and I am pleased with their progress in reading.

Spelling: We are on our 15th spelling list of the year. You will see the 3 letter blends on the list this week. Have your children identify 3 letter blends in books you are reading at home.

Writing: Before going on break, the kiddos completed their 2nd quarter writing assessment. Most of the mistakes came from capitals and punctuation. The students did very well overall and we are going to start our post assessment today after 2 days intervention groups.

CORE:This week was the start of our matter unit. I have introduced solids, liquids, and gasses to the class. We have also discussed atoms and their arrangement in solids, liquids, and gasses. The student became atoms in solids, liquids, and gasses as they moved around the room yesterday to demonstrate their knowledge. Next Thursday, January 19, we will be turning liquid milk into solid ice cream with our buddies. I will need some volunteers to come and help prep this project at about 1:00 and stick around for our experiment at 1:30. If you are interested, please email me and let me know. It will be so much fun!

Dates to remember...

Monday, January 16- NO SCHOOL MLK Day

Have a great week!

Mrs. Lafflam

Lafflam's Latest...

2011-12-05T16:09:00.005-07:00

Mrs. Lafflam's class won the ROAR traveling trophy!

Congratulations to Grant and Lily (above) and Joey (below). They were the ROAR award winners for November. Keep up the good work!

Here are the actors from the play "A Native American Welcome." They did a fantastic job!

Dear Parents,

Welcome to a very chilly start to December. I hope you are all enjoying the weather and trying to cozy up by a fire or enjoying time cuddling with your kiddos.

I hope you have noticed the first picture I posted. (If not, scroll up and take a look.) We have won the ROAR traveling trophy for the month of November. This means that our class had the best ROAR behavior in all special classes combined during the month of November out of any other primary class. We get to hold onto this trophy for the whole month. I am so proud of our class and the effort they put forth in order to win this award. In addition to the traveling trophy, first grade also won the golden lunch tray for ROAR behavior in the lunchroom. We sure do have a lot to be celebrating!

CORE: We are going to be starting our unit on World Religions. This unit is an overview of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. We will learn the history and traditions of these religions. I love this unit because we are able to teach about differences and similarities between the religions and also teach children the history and beliefs of people of these religions.

Writing: In writing, we are focusing on paragraphs and more specifically the three star ideas (detail sentences). The student are progressing nicely and are going to have a writing assessment for the second quarter during the week of December 12. We will be grading the following areas: capital letters at the beginning of sentences, punctuation, transition words, staying on topic, and complete sentences. After winter break, we will start to teach topic sentences and conclusions. Students will then be responsible for writing their own topic sentences and conclusions.

Reading: We are in our third anthology in Treasures. Our focus has turned to long vowel sounds in spelling as you can see on this week's spelling list. We are also learning about verbs in the present tense and past tense.

A Season of Giving: In this season of giving, I am teaching the kids to understand that it is important to think about others. In writing, we have written about giving to charity and people that are in need as well. I hope to bring awareness to the students and encourage them to think about their family and friends this season and share with them in some way. In order to do this, we will be having a small gift exchange in the class. Students will bring in simple, inexpensive gifts for their classmates. These can be handmade or store bought gifts with the purpose of getting into the spirit of giving. We have 22 students in class. Students will be able to pass out their gifts during the week of December 12-16. They will open the gifts on the day of our class party on December 21.

Dates to Remember:

December 12-16: Bring in gifts for classmates (see above)

December 21: Holiday Party 11:45-12:45

December 22: NO SCHOOL-Teacher work day

December 23-January 6: NO SCHOOL- Winter break

Have a wonderful week!

Mrs. Lafflam

Lafflam's Latest...

2011-11-17T07:43:00.005-07:00

October ROAR winners...Elizabeth for Organization and Peter for Attentive. Congratulations!

Halloween Fun...

Silly group picture!

Fun center activities...

Parents,

I hope you enjoyed seeing pictures of the October ROAR winners and our Halloween Party fun! We really had a blast with the great center activities that our parent volunteers put together. Thanks to Mrs. Canonico, Mrs. Lautzenhiser, Mrs. Fleener, Mrs. Thomas, Ms. Pender, Mrs. Souverein, Mrs. Carpenter, Mrs. Maunsell, and Mrs. Reese.

Tomorrow is our Thanksgiving play, "A Native American Welcome." We have been practicing very hard and look forward to entertaining you. The doors of the classroom will open at 2:45 and we will have 2 showings of the play. There will be a reception of cookies and juice in the Flex room immediately following the second performance. If your child is an Indian, please have them wear brown clothes and if your child is a pilgrim, please have boys wear black pants and white shirts and the girls can wear simple long dresses or plain clothes like the boys. I have hats and bonnets for the pilgrims and headdresses and vests for the Indians. If you own a costume you would like your child to wear, that is fine with me.

Reading: We are finishing up our 2nd anthology in Treasures this week. We will not be working on Treasures next week. So that means, there will not be any spelling lists coming home to study on Monday. The next spelling list that will come home will be on Tuesday, November 29.

CORE: Our play is the culminating activity for our CORE unit on Early Explorers and Native Americans. Our next unit will be World Religions. This unit will last until we go on Winter Break. We will learn about Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The children will be exposed to the history behind all three religions and have an understanding and tolerance of religions other than their own. This is a great time to talk to your child about what you believe in as a family and why.

Dates to Remember:

Friday, November 18-Thanksgiving Play 2:45 in Rm. 113

November 23-25- Thanksgiving Break NO SCHOOL

November 28- NO SCHOOL Collaboration day for teachers

November 30-ROAR assembly day

December 21- 1st quarter ends

December 22- NO SCHOOL work day for teachers

December 23-January 6- Winter Break

Have a fantastic day and I will see you all tomorrow!

Mrs. Lafflam

Lafflam's Latest...

2011-10-25T16:23:00.004-06:00

Parents,

I cannot believe that October is coming to a close. This school year is passing by so fast. Today is the 44th day of school already. I had a great time meeting up with all of you at parent teacher conferences this past week. Thank you for sharing your children with me every day! They are so wonderful to be around and to teach. Each one of them has some unique qualities that make our classroom community run so smoothly. I am impressed with the growth that I have seen so far with these little minds. They can already accomplish so much and are working so hard to succeed!

Here's what we are up to...

Writing: Can you believe that we are learning how to write a 5 sentence paragraph? Well, we are and the kiddos have really done well learning about the greens (topic and concluding sentences) and the yellows (supporting details). Click here for more information. We have been working on identifying the topic and conclusion as well as the supporting details in paragraphs.

Reading: We are already on Unit 2 Week 2 in our Treasures anthologies. This week we are focusing on words with short e in spelling, summarizing stories by choosing the most important events from a story, and we are practicing our retelling. We are reading fiction, non-fiction, and folktales. Next week we will focus on r and s blends (ex. brick or stamp). We will also continue summarizing and choosing the main idea and details from the stories we read in class. Try this at home with your child when reading together as well.

CORE: We are finishing up our unit on Ancient Egypt this week. The students were so excited to make their sarcophagus' and wrap up their mummy animals. We will also learn about Egyptian writing and jewelry in their culture. Next week we start our unit on the Early Explorers and Settlers in America. We will have a play that portrays the first Thanksgiving. Please work at home with your child on memorizing their lines (if they have any) so they are well prepared. The play will be held on Friday, November 18 so mark your calendars! The play will be at the end of the school day at 2:45 with a reception of cookies and juice to follow.

To go along with the theme of our next CORE unit, I will be encouraging students to earn feathers for a headdress for their accomplishments. Students will be asked to do 10 tasks including tying shoes, zipping up their jacket, reading color and number words, and counting to 100 by 5's and 10's to name a few. Students can make a goal to earn anywhere from 1 to all 10 feathers. Testing will be during the week of November 11-18 and headdresses will go home on November 22. Information will be coming home in Friday folders this week.

Dates to remember...

* Scholastic book orders are due this Friday, October 28 by 4:00 P.M. Thank you to all who have ordered books!
* Halloween parade and parties are on Monday, October 31 starting at 2:15. Please come early to get a parking spot and a seat for the parade. There is always great viewing in the gym.
* Testing for November Headdress project will be November 11-18.
* Thanksgiving Play is on November 18 at 2:45. Reception to follow.
* No School- November 23-25 for Thanksgiving break
* No School- November 28 for Collaboration Day

Have a great week!

Mrs. Lafflam

Lafflam's Latest...

2011-10-05T17:22:00.004-06:00

We had a great visit from Mrs. Zach, our school's namesake.

On our first archaeological dig...

The kiddos were trying to find all the chocolate chips in the cookies.

The only tool they had was a toothpick!

Don't they look adorable in their hats?

Parents,

First grade is a ton of fun! We have been working very hard to learn about lots of great topics.

CORE: We have been learning about the Ice Age and Mesopotamia. Our archaeologists worked hard to uncover the "chips" from Chips Ahoy cookies. We learned that archaeologists search for tools and bones from the past in order to tell what happened in history. The students learned about nomads and animals from the past. This week we are learning about Mesopotamia. We have created a map and learned about where Mesopotamia was. It is very interesting to learn about the world 5,000 years ago.

Reading: We are still in Unit 1 of Treasures and we are reading several fiction and non-fiction texts. We are focusing on story structure and plot in stories. We have also focused on story sequence (first, next, and last).

Spelling: Our current focus is working on l blends (sl, pl, and fl). As you are practicing spelling, feel free to incorporate some technology. A really great site that you may want to visit is spellingcity.com. Also, if you have an iphone or an ipad, you can download the spelling lists app for $1.99. For both of these options, you are able to customize the list for your kiddo. They are able to play games while learning and we all know they LOVE that!

Writing: The students have been working really hard on writing a complete sentence with a complete idea, capital letter at the beginning, and a period at the end. We will have an assessment to check their learning this week. So far, they are doing a great job and they seem to be enjoying the topics they are writing about.

Thank you to all who donated books to our classroom from the book fair! The kids have been so excited for me to read the book that they donated. I have never received so many books from the book fair, so thank you a bunch!

Heads Up...

* NO SCHOOL October 20 and 21 due to parent-teacher conferences. I sent home forms in the take home folders today about conference times. Please sign and return them as soon as possible. Thanks!

* October 31- Halloween Parade and Party (end of the day). Please bring costumes to school in a bag. Do not let your child come to school in costume. We do try to have a normal day up until 30 minutes prior to the parade. Thanks for understanding.

Have a great week,

Mrs. Lafflam

Lafflam's Latest...

2011-09-22T19:58:00.003-06:00

Parents,

I hope you have been enjoying your week and learning from your child as we explore many new subjects in school. Here is what we have been up to lately and what is to come...

Reading: We are finishing up in Unit 1 Week 2 in our Treasures reading series. This is actually the 5th week of our reading series, but the first 3 weeks were called Start Smart and were a review of kindergarten skills they learned already. Our phonics focus has been on short a and next week we will focus on short i. Our word families next week are -in, -it, and -iss. We are learning about story structure and story sequence (first, next, and last) in reading. The high frequency words for next week are be, run, ride, to and it. We will also be reading non-fiction texts next week.

Spelling: Next week will be our third week in spelling. Thank you for taking the time to study the words at home with your child. Look for the lists to come home on Mondays in the Take Home Folder. I also sent a list of suggested activities for you to work on with your child. Please remember that the last two words (#11 and #12) are for fun only. I really want the kiddos to learn the first 10 words most of all.

Math: We are in our second week of math groups and the kids seem to be happy in their placements. All students are currently working on Unit 2. We are working on telling time to the hour in my classroom right now. We will be working on exchanging and counting money. Please look for homework to come home on Fridays and it will not need to be returned until the following Friday. Please review all homework with your child before returning it to the math teacher.

CORE: We are wrapping up our unit on the Human Body and we will be focusing on the Ice Age and Mesopotamia next week. We will be learning about archeologists and have an actual dig ourselves!

****Please send in an apple (whole, not cut up) on Monday.****

Heads up...
* Scholastic Book order will close Friday, Sept. 23
* Zach Book Fair starts on Monday. We will go preview the book fair as a class at 11:00 on Tuesday. Stop by at some point throughout the week for a good time and some shopping. All profits go to the Media Center.
* October 20 and 21 are conference days. There will be NO SCHOOL on those days. I will be sending out information about conference time soon. If you are going out of town on these days, please let me know as soon as possible. I will try to fit in most conferences on Thursday, October 20. If you have a preferred time (morning, noon, afternoon) please let me know soon. I have to fit in all conferences by 4:00 due to my daycare situation for my children. Thank you for your understanding.

Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Lafflam

Lafflam's Latest...

2011-09-12T13:25:00.003-06:00

Parents,

We have been really busy here in first grade! Here is what we are up to...

CORE: This week we start our unit about the Human Body. We have cut out life size replicas of our bodies and are going to add on the different body systems as we learn them. This week we will learn about the Skeletal and Muscular Systems. We are promoting "Healthy Eating" for the remainder of our CORE unit. We are asking students to keep track of all fruits and veggies they eat on a record sheet that is located in their Take Home Folder. Students will earn stickers to put on their posters by eating fruits and veggies at home and as a snack at school. Please initial the log if your child eats fruits or veggies at home with you and I will be checking snacks at school. I hope this encourages the kiddos to try some new foods and eat healthier!

Reading: This week we are making our way into Unit 1 Week 1 of our Treasures reading series. Our phonics focus is short a and our word families are -an and -at families. We will read a few stories that introduce our high frequency words jump, not, and up.

Spelling: As you have noticed, our spelling program is starting this week. The kiddos took a spelling pre-test this morning and those who scored 90% or above (not counting the Challenge words #11 and 12) will move onto a challenge list. The spelling test will be on Friday. Please review and practice the words throughout the week. I sent home a paper today that has some activities your child can do through the week to practice the spelling words. You don't have specific spelling homework. Each week the spelling pattern will follow the word family and phonics pattern that we are focusing on in addition to testing some of our weekly high frequency words. These high frequency words are "no excuse" words meaning once they are introduced and practiced in class, the students are expected to write them correctly in all written work. These words are also posted on the word wall for the rest of the year. So really, there is no excuse to get them wrong! :) As for the challenge words, they are for fun and are not part of the overall grade on the test.

Math: Our math rotation will start this week. We are still working out the class rosters and finishing up on some assessments. A letter will come home Tuesday (hopefully) to let you know where your child will be rotating for math. Once the kiddos are settled they will start with Unit 2. Math homework packets will come home Fridays and are expected to be completed by the following Friday. Your child will have a separate math folder for homework and papers to go home. This folder will be brought home and back to school daily, just like the yellow Take Home Folders do.

Things to remember:
* All birthday treats must be store bought.
* Vision and Hearing screening is TOMORROW! If your child wears glasses, please have them bring them and wear them for the screening.
* Monday, September 19-NO SCHOOL due to Teacher Collaboration Day
* Tuesday, September 20- Picture Day

Thanks to Kristy Rouault who came in as our first Mystery Reader. The kids were so excited to hear the story she brought in to share with them. We are looking forward to many more fun times with our future Mystery Readers!

Also, the kids will be able to meet one of the namesakes of Zach Elementary School this week. Grace Zach will be in on Thursday to do her monthly storytelling for first grade. It is always a pleasure to hear her tell stories and we look forward to many fun times with her this year.

Have a fantastic week!

Mrs. Lafflam

Lafflam's Latest

2011-08-27T11:37:00.002-06:00

Parents,

We've had a terrific first week in our classroom. I have enjoyed meeting all of the kiddos in my class and learning all about them, their interests, and families. All the children are so pleasant to be around and we are building a wonderful classroom community. Parents, thank you so much for making sure your child has what they need for first grade. All the students seem ready to go and are excited to get into their school routines. I really enjoyed meeting you all at Back to School Night and look forward to building a great partnership with you in order to benefit your child's education.

If you filled out our volunteer form, I am currently putting together a schedule to send out this week. Thank you all for your commitment and time. I appreciate it more than you know!

Here's what we have been up to in Rm. 113...

Reading: We are making our way through the Start Smart portion of Treasures and learning some poems. We are also reviewing letters and sounds, talking about syllables, and building words using the letters in students' names. This is the first part of the Name Game.

Writing: Students have been playing the second part of the Name Game in writing. In class we write about a different student after interviewing them. We are focusing on capital letters at the beginning of sentences and names as well as punctuation at the end of sentences.

Math: We are working on Unit 1 in math. So far we have played the Monster Number Squeeze, the Penny Dice game, and worked with templates. Students have been working to learn in small groups as we play games. We are also learning the rules while working on our personal white boards to answer math questions in a whole group setting.

CORE: This coming week we will work on our first CORE unit, Maps and Geography. We will focus on the 7 continents of the world and talk about the difference between maps and globes.

Specials: Library is on Wednesday, so please send the books back to school. We have PE on Friday, so wear your tennis shoes.

Notes to Remember:
* DRA testing will be on Wednesday, August 31. Please let me know if your child will not be at school or if your child will be leaving early on Wednesday. We will have a sub that day, but I will just be across the hall from our classroom.
* We will also have a sub on Thursday and Friday, September 1 and 2. My family has a wedding to attend in Lake Tahoe. We will have the same sub on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday so the kids don't have to get used to a new person every day.
* NO SCHOOL on Monday, September 5 for Labor Day.
* NO SCHOOL on Monday, September 19 for teacher collaboration day.
* School Pictures are on Tuesday, September 20.

Have a fantastic week!

Mrs. Lafflam

Welcome!

2011-07-24T11:38:00.003-06:00

Welcome to first grade at Zach Elementary! I am looking forward to meeting all of you and spending this coming school year with you. First grade is a very exciting grade in which students learn about many interesting topics and gain responsibility as well. I am looking forward to teaching you about reading, writing, participating in neat science experiments, and learning about the world in CORE. I can't wait to meet you and start a wonderful year together!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Lafflam