May Eve

The kids told me today that it was "May Eve," the night before May begins! We have a fun and busy May to look forward to!
The caterpillars are officially in chrysalis mode! It's been so great to have the students be scientists and observe the daily changes.

Here is some information from the office: 

Reading Skills and Speed Reading Programs:

Program for Entering 2^nd graders

In this program student welcome fluent independent readers. Your child will make significant gains in phonics and word-attack skills fluency, and comprehension, and will develop confidence and a love of reading.

Available at:

Sandy Salt Lake community College Campus (Miller Campus)– 9750 South 300 West

Saturday, June 6-July 11^th, 1:00 – 3:00pm

West Jordan  Salt Lake Community College Campus (Jordan Campus) – 9000 South 3491 West

Tuesday, July 14^th – August 11^th, 1:00 – 3:00pm

Call 1-800-903 -0162 for more information or to register with the Institute of Reading Development

If you have a student entering grades 3-6, I am teaching a Creative Writing Course at Hawthorn this summer! Please email me if you would like more information. 

I have lots of chaperones for our field trip. Thank you so much!

Do you make vinyl letters that can stick on walls? If you do, there are some quotes etc. that I would love in my classroom. Let me know if you are crafty and do this!

I want to give a special shout out to Sara Turman, Dana Ulibarri, and Barbara Askeroth. These awesome moms were our classroom STAR reading tutors this year and helped students read every week. Thank you! 

Don't forget to log in Road to Success minutes! We are 70% of the way to our classroom goal! 

Thanks for all you do! These students are 2nd grade ready! (But I still get the pleasure of teaching them for 23 more days!). Yay! :) 

Notes from the 1st grade

Hello Families,
    We officially have only 27 days left of school. Wow! Time flies! The kids are getting ready for 2nd grade more and more each day.
Here are a few notes:
1) I sent Scholastic book orders home Friday. There are some great deals in these. If you'd like to order, go to scholastic.com and our class code is KGKTL.
2) We are getting closer to our goal to have everyone log their reading minutes and do their homework each Friday but there is still about a third of the class not logging in reading minutes. If everyone does this AND does their homework, each student will earn a Smencil as an incentive!
3) Our caterpillars are getting BIG and FURRY! I predict we might have some cocoons this week. This has been such a fun project for our class.
4) Thanks so much to the parents who emailed me about coming on our field trip. I could use one or two more parents so please let me know if you can make it. Our field trip is the Tuesday after Memorial Day.
5) I am really enjoying the stories the kids are writing and bringing in to share with our class. Keep that great writing coming!
6) The IB Leadership Awards are due soon! I have received two already! Please have your student bring in their form so I can initial the tasks accomplished in class. If you need a copy of the guidelines, please reference the Hawthorn website under "Students" then "IB Leadership."
7) If your student is in the Magic Spellers group, that has concluded for the year. Spelling instruction will be all whole class from now on.
8) Thanks for supporting your student!
-Mrs. Steele

Flying into Quarter 4!

Hello Families,
    We are doing a great job in 1st grade. We are well into our plant unit and our butterfly unit will be beginning as soon as our caterpillars arrive in the mail.

A few notes:
-Don't forget our class incentive (Smencils for all!) if everyone logs their Road to Success minutes each evening this week. Speaking of Road to Success, let's keep logging so we can get to our class goal by June.
-We have a field trip planned for Tuesday, May 26th to Smith's Marketplace (to learn about goods and services) and then to Veteran's Memorial Park for a picnic. It will be 9:30-12:30. Please email me if you can chaperone. We'd love to have you.
-The 1st grade has had a guest speaker for each of our IB units. However, we do not have one lined up for this unit about science. If you or anyone you know would like to present to the 1st grade, please let me know.
-I know it's approaching the end of the year, but we are all out of pencils and almost out of disinfecting wipes and Kleenix. If you could bring some in, it would be much appreciated.
-We are making a "pasta" version of the butterfly life cycle and are in need of: 1 box tricolor rotini, 1 box regular rotini, 1 box rigatoni or penne, and 2 boxes of bowtie pasta. This is such a fun project. Let me know if you can help with any of these items.
-Don't forget about the IB Leadership award! If you need some initials from classwork items to be checked off, please have your student bring it in.
-I assessed all students last week on words per minute read and EVERY student jumped up considerably from their fall scores. Yay!
-This is the LAST week of Math homework! We have finished the entire 1st grade math core! That doesn't mean we are done with math in class, but there will be no more book work. We have review games, story problems, math activities and more that we will be doing during our regular math time daily. A BOOK REPORT sheet will take the place of the math pages. I will go over it with your student. It's not too complicated, but please help your student break it up or begin it early in the week. It can be a lot to do in one night.
Thanks for all you do!

Welcome Back!

Hello Families,
     Welcome back from spring break! I hope you all had fun and restful times with friends and family. The teachers were busy at school today getting ready for our LAST quarter. Wow!

1) As of today (Monday) I haven't heard from anyone about donating items for our plant study (see post below). Please email me if you'd like to help.
2) There have been more and more students not logging in their reading minutes each week on Road to Success It is worth 5 out of the 15 homework points each week. I check on Friday mornings before school to see if at least 20 minutes have been read and logged each evening. I am offering a special incentive!! If EVERYONE in the class does their reading and logs it, each student will receive their own Smencil! (The scented pencils that the kids LOVE). I think we can do it! Remember, all students must log for the class to get their treat.
3) We finished our class read aloud of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and the kids really enjoyed it. Tomorrow we will begin Matilda!
4) We are on our last chapter of math! In the next few weeks, the math homework will be replaced by a book report. I will send out more info as it gets closer.
5) Have you signed up for the Fun Run?! Go to the Hawthorn website for all the details and to sign up.
6) Thank you for being so supportive. I just love this class! The 2nd grade teachers can't wait to teach this bunch but I'm not ready to give them up yet!
As always, please contact me if you have any questions or comments. Have a great week!