Ms. Merritt's Class http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org See what's going on in our classroom! Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:00:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 Week of 11/2 http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/2009/10/28/112/ http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/2009/10/28/112/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:00:35 +0000 vmerritt http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/?p=59 First Grade ELA: We will be working on Lesson 10 this week in our Harcourt series.  Our phonics skill is the diphthong ng /ng/ at the end of words, such as king, ring, and swing.  Our Focus skills is plot.  Our stories for the week are “Frog Gets His Song” and “Soccer Song.”  In writing, we will be working on Dialogue and One and more than one.  We will complete a short vowel sort.

First Grade Math: We will begin a new unit today.  This unit is about adding and subtracting numbers.  We will solve story problems, and complete activities that are related to adding and subtracting.  We will learn the math games how many am I hiding, counters in a cup, and dot addition.  We will work on missing part problems (4+__=7) and will work on ways to make different numbers. 

Third Grade Math: We will continue to work on the 1,000 chart and work with numbers from 1-1,000.  We will review place value, and will be working on combining large numbers.  We will use our sheets, sticks, and dots method to solve these problems.  We will complete two assessment pieces, one dealing with finding numbers on the 1,000 chart and another on combinbing large numbers.

DON’T FORGET: Homework is very important.  It is usually easy for students to complete because I send homework that is on their instructional level.  Please encourage your child to complete their homework as indepdently as possible.  Homework is one way students earn stickers, as well, so please remind them that they need to complete homework in order to earn stickers in Ms. Merritt’s class.

Enjoy the week! Happy November :)

]]> http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/2009/10/28/112/feed/ 0 FINALLY http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/2009/10/28/finally/ http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/2009/10/28/finally/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:51:37 +0000 vmerritt http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/?p=56 Finally the computers are back, and we are up and running on the Internet! The entire district’s computers were knocked out because of a virus for all of October, but now everything is back to normal and teachers and students are able to access computers.  I will begin posting work starting next week (11/2)!  Thank you for your patience and understanding!

]]> http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/2009/10/28/finally/feed/ 0 Week of 9/28 http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/2009/09/22/week-of-928/ http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/2009/09/22/week-of-928/#comments Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:39:35 +0000 vmerritt http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/?p=54 1st Grade Reading: Our story this week is “All on the Map.”  We will be reading and spelling words with the -all ending.  We will be working on making a map of where we live.  We will review classifying/categorizing objects.  We will also work on writing questions/asking sentences, and on our high frequency words.

1st Grade Writing: We will be working on writing about places.  We will write about our school together, and the students will write about their home independently.

1st Grade Math: We will be working on combinations of 9 this week, and will review for our End of Unit Assessment which we will take at the end of the week.

3rd Grade Math: We will cotinue to work on collecting and representing data.  We will work with line plots and comparing groups.

DON’T FORGET: Tuesday 9/29 is ABC Day! Wear your Carrie Downie spirit wear or school colors (blue and white)!

]]> http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/2009/09/22/week-of-928/feed/ 0 Week of 9/21 http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/2009/09/17/week-of-921/ http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/2009/09/17/week-of-921/#comments Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:58:44 +0000 vmerritt http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/?p=52 1st Grade Reading: This week we will be working on the story “Dot and Bob,” and our focus skill will be characters.  We will identify characters in stories that we read, and will discuss what a character is.  Our phonics focus is short o.

1st Grade Writing: We will be working on writing sentences about things this week.  We will also be working on identifying telling sentences.

1st Grade Math: We will be working on a few new games this week to reinforce ways to compose numbers.  “Heads and Tails” Requires students to count the number heads and tails they get when tossing pennies.  “How Many am I Hiding?” is a game that requires students to think about how many are missing from a total number.  We will also work on different combinations to make 9.  We will continue to work on counting, identifying numbers, and ordering numbers. 

3rd Grade Math: This week we will be working on graphing.  We will work on collecting data and representing it on a graph.  We will sort data into categories.  We will continue working with bar graphs.

]]> http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/2009/09/17/week-of-921/feed/ 0 Week of 9/14 http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/2009/09/15/week-of-914/ http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/2009/09/15/week-of-914/#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:53:04 +0000 vmerritt http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/?p=50 First Grade Reading: We will work on reading and spelling words with -ck /k/ at the end.  We will also work on short a and short i for review.  Our stories for this week are “Pick a Sack” and “Get Up Rick!”  Our focus skill this week is beginning, middle, and end.  We will discuss story events using the words beginning, middle, and end.

First Grade Writing: We will continue to discuss the naming and telling parts in sentences.  We will also practice writing caption sentences that tell about a picture.

First Grade Math: We will take an assessment that is related to our game “Double Compare.”  We will continue working with combining amounts, and will play some of our old games to help us review.  We will be working on story problems, as well as on problems with many parts, and different ways to make numbers.  Finally, we will learn the game “Three Towers.”

Third Grade Math: We will review money/coin names and amounts.  We will review combining numbers using sticks and dots to prepare us for our End of Unit Assessement this week.

DON’T FORGET: OPEN HOUSE TUESDAY AT 6:30!

Hope to see you there :)

]]> http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/2009/09/15/week-of-914/feed/ 0 Week of 9/7 http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/2009/09/15/week-of-97/ http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/2009/09/15/week-of-97/#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:47:47 +0000 vmerritt http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/?p=48 First Grade Reading: We will be working on reading and spelling words with short i /i/ in them.  Our stories of the week are “Miss Jill” and “Big Rigs.”  Our focus skill is classifying/categorizing.

First Grade Writing:  We will finish our “Sentences About Me!” writing piece, and will begin talking about the naming and telling parts of sentences.

Fisrt Grade Math: We will learn new math games that help us practice combining/adding numbers.  These games are “Five in a Row” and “Roll and Record.”  We will continue to compare, order, and review numbers.

Third Grade Math: We will be continuing our working with the number 100.  We will make combinations for 100, and represent numbers with hundreds using our squares, sticks, and dots.

]]> http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/2009/09/15/week-of-97/feed/ 0 Week of 8/31 http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/2009/09/01/week-of-831/ http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/2009/09/01/week-of-831/#comments Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:39:43 +0000 vmerritt http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/?p=44 1st Grade Reading/Writing: We will continue to work on reading words with the short a sound in them, and our stories this week are “Sad, Sad Dan” and “The Van”.  We will begin working on good sentence rules (capitals, spacing, and punctuation) and writing sentences this week.  This will be a recurring lesson throughout the school year. 

1st Grade Math: We are continuing our work with couting to 20.  We will work on counting sets of objects as well as rote counting.  We will be taking an assessment in which students must draw 20 circles and label them with the corresponding numbers.  We will also be working on comparing amounts.

3rd Grade Math: We will continue to work on place value, and solving story problems that are related to place value.  We are working mostly with groups of ten and ones.  Students have learned the sticks and dots method to show their work while solving problems. We are also working on figuring out “how many more to go to…” problems.   We will take an assessment this week based on these ideas.

DON’T FORGET – NO SCHOOL FRIDAY, 9/4 AND MONDAY 9/7.

Enjoy the long weekend!!!

]]> http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/2009/09/01/week-of-831/feed/ 0 Week of 8/24/09 http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/2009/08/26/week-of-82409/ http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/2009/08/26/week-of-82409/#comments Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:33:03 +0000 vmerritt http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/?p=41 This week in 1st grade reading, we are working on short a.  We are reading words with the short a sound.  Our stories this week are “Tag” and “Let’s Tap!”  Our HFW words are now, help, and let’s.  In writing, we are working on using letter sounds to write labels.

This week in 1st grade math, we are working on exploring our math tools, such as pattern blocks, geoblocks, and connecting cubes.  We are working on counting and collecting 20 objects accuratley.

This week in 3rd grade math, we are working on place value.  We are also working on solving story problems with 2-digit numbers (ex – 56 + 33, etc.)

Their homework should reflect these topics!

]]> http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/2009/08/26/week-of-82409/feed/ 0 2009-2010! http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/2009/06/08/2009-2010/ http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/2009/06/08/2009-2010/#comments Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:29:14 +0000 vmerritt http://merrittsmessages.edublogs.org/?p=38 Well, it’s official: the 2008-2009 school year has ended, and we will soon be in our 2009-2010 school year! Here are some important dates to remember:

August 13, 14, 17, 18 – Staff Development Days

August 19 – FIRST STUDENT DAY!!!

September 4 and 7 – SCHOOL CLOSED for Labor Day Holiday!

I am looking forward to the new school year :)

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