Visit from Station 27

Wow! Today we had a surprise visit from fire station 27. I asked some fire fighters to come and talk to our class about fire safety. We were able to see a fire fighter put on all of their gear and felt how heavy their helmet is. Our class asked some amazing questions! The fire fighters even let our class go inside of their fire engine.

What does it mean to sort objects?

In math this nine weeks we are learning how to sort objects. We practiced sorting attribute blocks today by size, shape, and color. We found that we can put the blocks together in groups if they are all big, all small, all blue, all yellow, all red, all triangles, all circles, all squares, all rectangles, or all hexagons. I am so proud of everyone on their first day of learning how to sort objects. Want to help your child at home? Your child can practice sorting coins into groups by same coin, same color, same symbols, and same size.

Red Ribbon Week

Celebrating Red Ribbon Week at our school means we will teach our students to say no to drugs and stay healthy. We have a whole week of festivities to celebrate Red Ribbon Week.


"Red Day" Students wear red to stay drug free. Every student received a red ribbon.

"Go for the goal, be drug free" Students were able to support their favorite team on Wednesday. Ms. Hawas wore the colors of her favorite team, LSU. We had students wear Steelers, Gators, Athletics, Miami Heat, and Jacksonville Jaguars gear. Way to go Ms. Hawas' class for being part of a wonderful team.

"Give drugs the slip" On Tuesday, students were able to wear slippers to school to show that they will give drugs the slip.


We were very lucky to have the TGIF Navy band play music for us. They were amazing! Ms. Rieger, our art teacher, was brave enough to get on stage and play the tambourine with the band. Way to go!!

We had a special visitor today!!!

This week in health, we are learning about fire safety and emergency situations. We were very lucky to have Mr. Stolpman come by and talk to us today about what he does at his job. Mr. Stolpman is an EMT/Paramedic going through the fire academy. He was very excited to talk about fire safety and emergency situations with our class.

We learned that an EMT rides in the ambulance when people are sick or hurt. Mr. Stolpman taught our class when we should call 911 and when we shouldn't call 911. You should call 911 if a fire gets started not if you fall and get sand on your knee at recess. He also taught us that we should learn our address and phone number as soon as we can. Does your child know their address or phone number yet?

Mr. Stolpman helps about 30 people a day. Sometimes he has to drive from Jacksonville to Lakeland to take a sick person to a special hospital. He even has to work 24 hour shifts. I'm am very proud of our class for being on their best behavior and asking so many questions. What curious friends we have!

We had some very brave friends let Mr. Stolpman take their blood pressure and listen to their heart beat. Isaiah even got to hear Ms. Hawas' heartbeat. Ask your child what their favorite part about Mr. Stolpman coming was.

What did you do this weekend?

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. This weekend I was able to watch my favorite team, LSU beat the gators in Gainesville. Did any of you watch the game? Hopefully you were going for Ms. Hawas' team. :) It was an amazing game to be at with my family. What did you do this weekend? I would love to hear from you.

Our first field trip

October 7th our class went on our first field trip to see the play, The Three Little Pigs. We were even able to see some of the characters at the end of the play while we were eating. This field trip was a little short but we sure did have a blast. We danced to the hokey pokey, watched one the pigs dance to her classic music, saw the big bad wolf chase the pigs around the stage, ate lunch as a class, and had a great bus ride back to school. After talking to the class, the three top favorite parts of the field trip were riding on the bus, seeing the part where the big bad wolf blew down the first two houses, and watching the pigs dance. Thank you to Mr. Felton, Mrs. Gregory, Mrs. and Mr. Horman, Mrs. Hubbard, Mrs. Cornish, Mrs. Curry, and Mrs. Davis for chaperoning on our first field trip. We truly appreciate you and hope you had fun as well. Thank you to all parents for getting your students prepared for the field trip.

Our next field trip will be in November to a farm in Hillard. It is a far drive so we are talking to the bus driver to see if chaperons will be able to ride along. I will let you know as soon as I find out. Enjoy the pictures below!

What are students learning in PE?

Coach Brown-Smith is a wonderful person and we are so blessed to have her as our PE coach at Merrill Road Elementary. I was asked to join our class at the end of PE on Thursday watch our class in action. Wow! They are so brave and make quite an amazing team. Way to go Ms. Hawas' class!!!

Stages of Writing

1. Preliterate: Drawing

• uses drawing to stand for writing
• believes that drawings / writing is communication of a purposeful message
• read their drawings as if there were writing on them

2. Preliterate: Scribbling

• scribbles but intends it as writing
• scribbling resembles writing
• holds and uses pencil like an adult

3. Early Emergent: Letter-like forms

• shapes in writing actually resemble letters
• shapes are not actually letters
• look like poorly formed letters, but are unique creations

4. Emergent: Random-letters or letter strings

• uses letter sequences perhaps learned from his/her name
• may write the same letters in many ways
• long strings of letters in random order
• MOST OF OUR KINDERGARTNERS ARE AT THIS STAGE ALREADY. WOW!
  

5. Transitional: Writing via invented spelling

• creates own spelling when conventional spelling is not known
• one letter may represent an entire syllable
• words may overlay
• may not use proper spacing
• as writing matures, more words are spelled conventionally
• as writing matures, perhaps only one or two letters invented or omitted

6. Fluency: Conventional spelling

• usually resembles adult writing

LEAVE A COMMENT AND I WILL SEND HOME A WORKSHEET WITH EXAMPLES OF EACH STAGE FOR YOU TO HAVE FOR FUTURE REFERENCE.

What did you do this weekend?

This weekend I went to my first Jags game and it was so much fun. I am truly a college football LSU fan but I thought I would give the Jags a chance. They beat the Colts. Wow!! What did you do this weekend or what fun activities do you and your family have coming up? I would love to hear from you.

Flag Raising

The first Friday of every month is Flag Raising. This means that students are able to say the pledge and school conduct pledge outside by the flag pole. It is such a wonderful sight to see the whole school saying the pledge together. This Friday we also had a parent play the saxophone for all of us. Wow! It was amazing and everyone was so excited. Feel free to join us for our Flag Raising anytime this year.