Thank you!

Thank you so much for your generosity this holiday season! I was overwhelmed with the sweet gifts, notes, cards, and kind words. I am so lucky to be your child's teacher and I appreciate your kindness. Have a great holiday break! See you in 2015!

The Holidays have arrived to Room 122!

Hello Families,
   First of all, thank you for attending the holiday concert this past Wednesday! The kids were so excited to perform for you and they did a great job! We are a very talented class. 

      This Friday we will be doing our class service project cleaning desks for the school. I really appreciate all the disinfecting wipes you have donated. We will still be collecting them up until Friday. 

     The quarter will end mid-January. Please check your student's grades. If there is a "0" the item was either sent home to complete or it is from homework not received. Let's work together to help your student. 

 Please continue logging in reading minutes on the Road to Success website. The kids and I think we can meet 50% of our minutes goal by January!

We have had a wonderful few weeks of lessons about Christmas Around The World! Thank you to those who donated items for our edible holiday wreaths. We have made fun  projects for Kwanzaa, Sweden, France, Italy and more! This is true "IB" learning in action! 

There IS homework this next week. However, I will not be sending any work home over the break. Enjoy time with family and friends, but remember reading every day is always good! 

I am so fortunate to teach this amazing class of students. I appreciate each and every one of them and have loved seeing their growth so far this year! 

Inspirations!

Inspirations 2014-15:  What a Wonderful World

Hawthorn’s Goal is 150 Entries to earn an award for the entire school!

Let’s show all of the other charter schools what amazing artists we have at Hawthorn Academy!  You can even earn credits towards your IB Leadership Award!

Go for it!

Collecting Entries on 12/12 and 12/19 before school starts in the Learning Center. 

 

For more information, rules, Q & A and entry forms: 

• Contact amara.gulsby@gmail.com orstephdykstra@live.com
• fliers in the school lobby
• Inspirations blog site with official rules and information athttp://www.charterinspirations.blogspot.com

Holiday Service Project

Hello Families!
      This year for our holiday service project the 1st grade team has decided to serve those closest to us: fellow students at Hawthorn! We will be visiting every classroom K-6th grade and cleaning their desks with disinfecting wipes and leaving a note with a candy cane in their desk as a fun surprise! The 1st graders LOVE wiping desks before the end of the day (now you can have them do it at home....I promise they love it at school!) and it'll be neat to teach them that service doesn't have to be for unknown people but we can serve our neighbors as well. We are asking each family to try and donate a container or two of wipes for this project. Please bring these in by Dec. 12th if you are able.
Thank you!

This week

We won the Road to Success trophy this week! I am so proud of the class! Keep up that great reading! This week we are working on Map skills, counting back to subtract, and learning our phonogram rules. The kids know what list number they are on in phonograms. It's a class goal to have everyone on list 3 or above by December. (List 1=first 20 List 2=second 20, List 3=third 20, List 4= last 10 and review 10).
Thanks for all your support! From parents who grade tests for me at home to star reading tutors, you all make Hawthorn awesome!

Estimation Station

Hi families,
   In an effort to increase student number sense I have decided to create a new activity called Estimation Station where students take guesses as to the amount of items in a jar. I think beginning with 15-20 items and increasing into the hundreds would be good. I am envisioning a new jar every week or so. If you are interested in making some jars, please let me know! Items that could be used: buttons, pennies, erasers, skittles, beans, gumballs etc. The 1st graders will love it! Please let me know how many items are actually in the jar. You can have it back or donate it to our classroom math tool collection. Have a great rest of your week!

A very Hawthorn Halloween!

What a FUN day we had! A huge thank you to the parent helpers and volunteers. It was so great to see so many of you at the costume parade. Hope you had a happy Halloween!

Our fabulous class! 

Weekly News

Hi Families!
   Just a few reminders this week. There are Book Order catalogs going home on Friday. Please order online if you are interested. Our class code is KGKTL on the Scholastic site.

Friday is Halloween! Yay! Your student may come to school in a costume but they must bring a change of clothes for after the parade. They can wear dress down if they qualify with box tops or their uniform. If at all possible, please try and send your student with their uniform under their costume. This will make the quick change so much easier.

The spelling test will be on Thursday this week due to Halloween festivities on Friday.

In order to get full points for homework (and a sticker on the folder), please make sure reading is logged by Friday morning (I don't care how many days as long as it's at least 80 minutes per week).

Thanks for all you do! 1st grade rocks!

ps) we learned all about desert environments today, ask your student what they learned. :)

Quarter 1 is over?!!

Where does the time go? We are officially done with quarter one! I am so proud of each and every one of your students! This week we worked with our IB unit about weather and how places change over time. We also started a new math chapter all about addition strategies. I am so grateful for all your support of our classroom.....I can't wait for 3 more quarters with this amazing group. A few reminders as we move into November soon:
1. Please make sure your student has their folder with them on the first and last day of the week.
2. Don't forget to log reading on Road to Success. Last week our class got 2nd place in reading minutes!
3. Please reinforce 1st grade quality handwriting and finger spaces on writing at home.
Feel free to contact me anytime. Have a great weekend!

Pumpkin Day

A huge thank you to those who donated and helped with pumpkin day! The kids had so much fun. We counted and sorted seeds, made predictions, worked together, designed Jack O'Lanterns, measured pumpkins, floated them, and more!

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Drug Free is the way to be!

It is officially Red Ribbon week where we are talking about healthy choices! Check out our awesome decorated door! 

IMPORTANT: Tomorrow (Tuesday) I will be sending home the permission slip for our pumpkin patch field trip (Wed the 15th). Please sign and return by Friday! Thank you!

Thank you to those who donated plastic bottles. I will still be collecting them until Friday for our math "subtraction bowling" activity.

Keep reading and logging on the Road to Success site!

Next week is fall break Thursday and Fri, the 16th and 17th. Enjoy!

Pumpkin day is coming!

Pumpkin day is coming! Mrs Evans our wonderful room mom is helping to coordinate our fun day happening October 15th. We could use a few more helpers for our trip to the patch that day at around 12:30 ish. Please let me know if you can come along. Also ask your first grader about our cool color blending lesson from art today! Finally, keep up the great work with Road to Success. Each student in our class earned a free bowling pass that will be in their Friday folder. Awesome job! The red ribbon theme day information is also going home in folders and was sent in an email from Dr. Swensen.

Glad to meet you!

It was so nice meeting you all at conferences this week. You should all be very proud of your students. This week we will be starting our subtraction unit and wrapping up our first IB unit about community helpers and the common good. Remember to keep reading and logging in on Road to Success. Our class came in 2nd last week! Yay!

A very Grand week!

What a fun week we are having in 1st grade. We are working on personal goal booklets that the students will share with you during conferences. It was great meeting the students' grandparents today. They loved the 1st grade "classroom tours." Please note Thursday is an early out day and there is no school Friday. See you Wednesday or Thursday!

First Grade Rocks! Best Class Ever!

The title of this post comes from the lyrics of our class song we sing at the end of the day Fridays...and every word is true! We have lots going on this week!

1) If you have not signed up for a conference yet, please do!  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AtjEZqVWOLtldC1oVU1rRzZaMnhEUjlZT0tzVmpzQ0E&usp=sharing 

2) We came in 3rd place on the Road to Success minutes this week at Hawthorn! Yay! Thank you for helping your student log each evening.

3) We are collecting Box Tops to help our school. The first dress down day is Friday and I am giving out wrist bands tomorrow to the students who qualify for dress down for bringing in box tops. If your student doesn't receive one, bring in some box tops next week in a baggie labeled with their name and they can try to earn one next month.

4) On Friday new Scholastic book orders are going home. There are great deals in these and our class code is KGKTL  if you wish to order online.

Thank you for all you do! I just love the community at Hawthorn!

-Mrs. Steele

Goldfish Graphing

We had so much fun with our "Fun Friday" activity yesterday.....

we collected "data" and graphed the results!

Conference sign ups

Hi parents,
       Please sign up for a conference time sometime this week. Here is the link: https://webmail.hawthornacademy.org/owa/redir.aspx?C=DkfdMPki-k6cA6_qiDT9UwmNOAhcn9EIjU_tzAxud-r2fMS6pN8cP40VUTqfjVKviVtU0hEFCkw.&URL=https%3a%2f%2fdocs.google.com%2fspreadsheet%2fccc%3fkey%3d0AtjEZqVWOLtldC1oVU1rRzZaMnhEUjlZT0tzVmpzQ0E%26usp%3dsharing

Addition, and Phonograms, and Communuity Helpers: Oh my!

The 1st graders are doing a great job this week. Here is our board this morning working on our best handwriting. Please reinforce this concept at home as we really want the students to have excellent penmanship.They are rocking their phonograms!

Thank you so much for being on top of the reading logging for Road to Success! Let's make it a class goal to have the most minutes per week in the school! Keep reading!

The students loved Pizza Friday last week. If you would like your student to have pizza, please make sure there is money in their lunch account (this is the easiest way) or submit an envelope with payment ($1.50/slice) on Friday with their name on it. Also, Friday mornings I ask the kids if they are getting pizza, please make sure your student knows if they are to get it or not.

On Friday I will be sending home picture retake forms. The date and information are on these forms.

Some people wanted a clarification on folders. They come to school Monday empty and go home Monday evening with new homework. They come back on Friday to school with the completed homework packet and will go home that day with their work from the week or any other school fliers.

The students made community "buildings" today in art using the toilet paper rolls many of you donated. This goes along with our IB unit of "Sharing the Planet."

I have been updating Aspire grades throughout the week. PLEASE update your contact info in Aspire so that you are getting all the necessary information.

This class is wonderful. I love coming in each morning! Please let me know if you need anything.

Smiles,
Mrs. Steele 

Mobile Lab Fun!

The kids are loving our mobile lab time on Tuesdays and Thursdays! 

Weekly news

Hi first grade families! I sent two emails out today. One about collecting toilet paper rolls for art class Wednesday and another with pizza Friday details. Tomorrow the students will turn in their folders with their homework. The folders will go home again on Friday with their completed class work from the week. Please return the empty folder on Mondays. I am also sending home Scholastic book order catalogs tomorrow. There are some great deals in them. For ordering, please follow the instructions on the home page of this blog, we have a class code. Finally, ask your student about their phonograms, we have learned the first group this week! Check out phonogrampage.com. It's a great resource. Your children make me smile everyday. This year will rock!

Sharing our planet

Hi families,
We are off and running with our first full week! I am so impressed with your fantastic students! I wanted to let you know our first IB unit of study is "sharing our planet." We will be discussing how communities work together for the common good. It'll be a fun unit. Please note that Wednesday is picture day! Students can turn in their orders that day or they can bring it Tuesday and I'll give it back to them on Wednesday. Homework was distributed today. In order to get full credit, students must do 3 things: record 20 min of reading per evening on Road to Success, complete the math pages (3-4 a week) and do the language sheet. Folders and completed work are due on Fridays. I will be making a volunteer schedule soon and will keep you posted. Have a great week!

First Day!

The kids have officially completed their first day of first grade! We learned each other's names, worked on our procedures and rules, and had our first lunch AT SCHOOL (this was a big relief to many of them!!). Your children are wonderful and I have high hopes for this school year. Please keep working on their ID numbers if they are a student who will be buying hot lunch. A few parents have asked me if milk is available for purchase. It is 30 cents a day and the student can use their lunch account.

Road to Success

I have posted the Road to Success info on the RTS section at the top of the blog. Happy Reading! Please note our class log in code is 15490.

Back to School Night on Monday!

Hello Families,
     The first day of school is fast approaching and I cannot wait to meet you and your student! Back to School Night is Monday evening at 6:00. In the meantime, please contact me if you have any questions or concerns. My email will be leslie.steele@hawthornacademy.org but currently it is leslie.allnatt@hawthornacademy.org. I got married one month ago and am in the process of changing my name so I didn't want to confuse you. We will have a GREAT year. Here's a sneak peek of our classroom.
Smiles,
Mrs. Steele :)

Meet Mrs. Steele

My name is Leslie Steele and I am thrilled to start here at Hawthorn. I am from Sandy, Utah and I am a proud Gonzaga University graduate (Go ZAGS!), and majored in History and English while there. During college, I worked as a Montessori Preschool aid in Spokane. There I discovered my passion for teaching and upon graduating from Gonzaga, was admitted to a Masters in Elementary Education program through Valparaiso University in Indiana.

        I taught for two years on Chicago’s South side as part of my graduate program (1^st grade for a year and then a multigrade classroom of 1^st and 2^nd graders). I loved working with a diverse population and enjoyed my time living in the heart of the city. I received my Masters in Elementary Education in May of 2011. 

        When I’m not teaching, I like to lesson plan at Starbucks, go for hikes, travel, spend time with friends and family, and bake.  I just got married this summer and my husband, AJ, is a 9^th grade teacher. We love education! J