It's hard to believe that our first week of school is over already! We had such a great time getting to know each other and learning how to work together. Please be sure to ask your child to show you what a person looks like when they are being a good listener and how we solved the problem of switching our desks! It was a huge challenge to find seats for everybody this morning.
Today was pretty special because we got to meet our math teachers today. Some of our friends have Mrs. Kimmel, some have Mrs. Towsen, and some will be staying in our room working with me and Miss Conrad. Today was just an introduction to our math class and our teachers. We'll be starting right up with place value this week so be prepared to hear lots about ones, tens, hundreds, thousands -- right up to millions!!
Another fun thing we did today was learn our first Daily 5. We talked about picking a good fit book using the IPICK method, and we also talked about Read to Self. We made it to 6 minutes and 7 seconds before somebody got wiggly and we had to stop the timer. For the first week of school, that is great. Our goal is to be able to read on our own for 15 - 20 minutes!
Our other great news is that almost everybody in our class can open their lockers on the first or second try! After how frustrated we all were on Monday, it was pretty amazing to see how good we are at our lockers already. We are all pretty proud of ourselves. :)
I hope everybody has a wonderful final weekend of summer! I look forward to hearing the kids' stories when they come back on Tuesday.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Two Exciting Days!
It has been two very exciting days in the Bair's Den! Our first days of school have been filled with meeting new friends, getting to know each other, touring the building, and learning about the things we need to do to stay safe and have a great time at Bear Creek.
On the first day of school we spent a LOT of time learning how to do our lockers. And we mean a lot. Some of us thought we would never, ever be able to open our lockers. Then all of the sudden, today we got it! So many of us were cheering because we opened our lockers on the first try! It just goes to show you that when you work hard and keep trying you eventually figure it out.
Today we spent a lot of time learning about all of the different areas in and around the school and what we need to do to stay safe and keep Bear Creek bully free. We got to meet new people in Mrs. Towsen's class, we learned about the appropriate way to act on the bus and the walking path (we even sang a really cool song while we were on the path!), and Dr. Spagnolo shared the most important rules to follow here at Bear Creek. These rules stay with us all the time in our agendas so if any parents or family members would like to learn more you can look for the rules in the first few pages of our agendas. A special thank you to Mrs. Domines and Mrs. Boksan who came in this morning to help our class get through all of our stations.
Tomorrow is another exciting day. We get to spend the entire morning getting into the routine of our class, and then in the afternoon we have more stations. Tomorrow we'll learn about BEAR time, visit the playgrounds and learn a little bit more about the cafeteria.
One important reminder for parents. Fourth grade parent night is TOMORROW NIGHT!! Please come to school at 6:45 to hear about Bear Creek, our PTO and our classroom.
On the first day of school we spent a LOT of time learning how to do our lockers. And we mean a lot. Some of us thought we would never, ever be able to open our lockers. Then all of the sudden, today we got it! So many of us were cheering because we opened our lockers on the first try! It just goes to show you that when you work hard and keep trying you eventually figure it out.
Today we spent a lot of time learning about all of the different areas in and around the school and what we need to do to stay safe and keep Bear Creek bully free. We got to meet new people in Mrs. Towsen's class, we learned about the appropriate way to act on the bus and the walking path (we even sang a really cool song while we were on the path!), and Dr. Spagnolo shared the most important rules to follow here at Bear Creek. These rules stay with us all the time in our agendas so if any parents or family members would like to learn more you can look for the rules in the first few pages of our agendas. A special thank you to Mrs. Domines and Mrs. Boksan who came in this morning to help our class get through all of our stations.
Tomorrow is another exciting day. We get to spend the entire morning getting into the routine of our class, and then in the afternoon we have more stations. Tomorrow we'll learn about BEAR time, visit the playgrounds and learn a little bit more about the cafeteria.
One important reminder for parents. Fourth grade parent night is TOMORROW NIGHT!! Please come to school at 6:45 to hear about Bear Creek, our PTO and our classroom.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Open House!
After two and a half long days of meetings, my afternoon was very special. I was so excited to get to meet SEVENTEEN of our friends! I have never had the chance to meet so many kids at Open House. Everybody had the chance to write out their own name tag so we know what names and nicknames people like to be called, the kids picked their seats for Monday, and everybody also had a chance to do their first 4th grade writing assignment on the Smartboard! I wanted to see why everybody was excited for fourth grade, and here's what your friends all had to say:
It looks like meeting new friends is definitely the number one reason people are excited for fourth grade. Meeting all of you is why I'm excited too! I can't wait to meet the whole class on Monday, and I am super excited for a great year!
Friday, August 17, 2012
Getting to Know Mrs. Bair
I thought it would be fun to share a little about myself before the start of the school year. Maybe you'll find that we have some things in common!
This school year will be my 15th year teaching in Elizabethtown. I taught most of that time at Rheems, but I spent at least one marking teaching at every elementary school when I taught elementary technology. Since I started I have taught 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, a 4th / 5th multiage class, and elementary technology. I enjoy teaching different grades because it helps me understand how kids change and grow and what I need to do to help them be their best as they move through each grade.
I LOVE using technology to connect with other teachers and classes. Over the past two years my students and I have used our class and personal blogs, Skype, videos, and Storybird to connect with our families and classes in Texas, Michigan, Massachusetts, Arizona, Canada and Australia!! I have learned that having a real audience to read and respond to our pieces and listen to our reading and speaking helps us with our writing, our reading and our speaking skills. In addition to using technology to connect with other classes, we use it to practice skills and to create projects to demonstrate what we have learned. If you scroll back through last year's posts, you can see some of the projects the students created and shared.
Even when I'm not in school I spend a lot of time connecting with teachers and learning new ways to help prepared kids for their futures. But I do still manage to have lots of fun! My husband and I have two wonderful fur babies, Maxx and Snickers, that we adopted from the Lancaster Humane League. We go for lots of walks!! I enjoy exercising and recently completed a running / kayaking event! I also like hiking and camping with Mr. Bair, reading, spending time with friends and family, and going to the beach.
I left out a lot of information (like all of my favorites!) so you will have some questions to ask me when we are getting to know each other the first few days. I hope you'll think of some questions for me because I know I will have lots of questions to ask you! Only 10 days until our amazing adventure begins!
This school year will be my 15th year teaching in Elizabethtown. I taught most of that time at Rheems, but I spent at least one marking teaching at every elementary school when I taught elementary technology. Since I started I have taught 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, a 4th / 5th multiage class, and elementary technology. I enjoy teaching different grades because it helps me understand how kids change and grow and what I need to do to help them be their best as they move through each grade.
I LOVE using technology to connect with other teachers and classes. Over the past two years my students and I have used our class and personal blogs, Skype, videos, and Storybird to connect with our families and classes in Texas, Michigan, Massachusetts, Arizona, Canada and Australia!! I have learned that having a real audience to read and respond to our pieces and listen to our reading and speaking helps us with our writing, our reading and our speaking skills. In addition to using technology to connect with other classes, we use it to practice skills and to create projects to demonstrate what we have learned. If you scroll back through last year's posts, you can see some of the projects the students created and shared.
Even when I'm not in school I spend a lot of time connecting with teachers and learning new ways to help prepared kids for their futures. But I do still manage to have lots of fun! My husband and I have two wonderful fur babies, Maxx and Snickers, that we adopted from the Lancaster Humane League. We go for lots of walks!! I enjoy exercising and recently completed a running / kayaking event! I also like hiking and camping with Mr. Bair, reading, spending time with friends and family, and going to the beach.
I left out a lot of information (like all of my favorites!) so you will have some questions to ask me when we are getting to know each other the first few days. I hope you'll think of some questions for me because I know I will have lots of questions to ask you! Only 10 days until our amazing adventure begins!
Follow Our Class On Twitter
Our class has a Twitter account to keep families updated on homework, important events, special projects and all of the fun things that are going on in the classroom! Each week one of our students will be our official Tweeter and will be responsible for sending out a tweet or two about any of the items mentioned above.
If you are part of the Twitter world and would like to follow us you can find us here on our home page! If you're not part of Twitter and would like to be, sign up is very simple and can be done on Twitter's home page. I also hope to have some time for parents and families to sign up at Back to School Night on August 29th if you need assistance.
Welcome & Our Special Schedule
Hi everybody, and welcome to The Bair's Den! I am looking forward to having each of you in my class, and I hope you are just as excited as I am to be starting a new adventure at Bear Creek School!
Please check back here every day, and you will be able to find out a little bit more about our classroom, see some pictures (and maybe even a video!), and find out more about what our days will be like in The Bair's Den!
All of our specials will be held from 11:25 - 12:10. Each day I will update our homework page to remind you which special we will have the following day so you can help your child remember their sneakers, recorders or library books if needed.
- Day 1 ~ Library
- Day 2 ~ Health (students should always wear sneakers for Health)
- Day 3 ~ Music
- Day 4 ~ Art
- Day 5 ~ Phys Ed
- Day 6 ~ Technology
I'm hoping that all of you will be able to come and join me on Thursday, August 23 from 2:30 - 3:30 for our Open House. Come and see the school, visit the classroom, make your name tag, pick your first book, pick your seat and meet some new friends.
I cannot wait for our new year together to begin!
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