February/March 2008 Update

Mr. Horner          Fifth Grade

Well, Mr. Horner's class is still going strong. The writing test came and went.  I am very proud of the effort my class put forth.  We are now preparing for our Camp Explore field trip.  It is a great time for students to experience some hands-on science activities in  nature. (I hope the weather is good !)  We just started studying The Great Depression in social studies and have also been learning our states and capitals.  Math is moving along as we study fractions and line graphs.  Our reading stories remain interesting and the class seems to enjoy our new reading series.  I know I will continue to get a great effort from my class during the remainder of this nine weeks.

Mrs. Morell          First Grade

Mrs. Morell's class is moving right along!  We recently celebrated the 100th day of school.  Students brought in collections of 100 items.  We had several unique posters, pictures, and mobiles made using 100 things.  We counted where 100 steps would take us.  Students also wrote about what they would do with 100 dollars.  In reading, students just finished the third textbook.  We have learned many new vocabulary words, and much about how good readers analyze stories.  Students have learned to spell lots of words with the suffixes es, ed, ing, er, and est.  In math students have learned the sums of 10 math facts.  We have also been studying feet and inches.  Science this month has been all about space and objects in our day and nightime sky.

Mrs. McMillan          Pre-Kindergarten

Piedmont Pre-kindergarten class is working on discovering our five senses.  We have focused on both sight and sound. During our sound exploration, we went on a "Sound Hunt" around the school to see what we could hear.  Because it was a rainy day, we could hear the rain pounding on the roof, cars driving by, and even the cows in the pasture. We will continue our focus with the other senses; including smell, taste, and touch.  The Pre-kindergarten students are also learning their last names. Many of them can discriminate between their first and last name.  See you next month!  Spring is just around the corner!

Mrs. Dobyns          Kindergarten

Wow how the time is flying in kindergarten.  February is a busy but fun month.  We have enjoyed writing this month as we made Valentine's and wrote a class book.  We are working in our journals more often and everyone seems to enjoy writing in them.  We are counting by 1's, 5's and 10's to 100.  We are continuing in our study of the letters and have learned most of our "pop corn" words.  These are words that  "pop" up everywhere as we read.  We will continue to work hard learning lots as we anxiously wait for spring.

Mrs. Wiles          Second Grade

It is hard to believe it is almost March and our school year  is flying by.  We have had a wonderful time learning new skills in reading and math.  The stories in our reading books are getting more and more interesting.  We have learned about Helen Keller, firefighters, frogs, pumpkins, and quilts. We can't wait to see what is next! Our math skills are getting better and better. We have started learning our subtraction facts and this week we are ready to learn our -4s.  So far, so good.  We are having fun adding two-digit numbers and have had no trouble at all.  WOW, what a wonderful job all the students have been doing.  We can now tell time in five minute intervals, we know p.m. from a.m., reading a   thermometer to the nearest 2 degrees and much, much more.  Second grade is wonderful!!

Mrs. Strange          Guidance

Guidance activities for the month of February have centered around "Friendship"...discussing... What qualities do you look for in a friend and then what qualities do you have for being a good friend for someone else?  We will be discussing the character word "Trustworthiness" for March guidance activities...Are you honest in your words and actions?...Do you keep your promises?...Do you stand up for your beliefs and do what is right?...Are you a good friend?

Mrs. Smelcer         First Grade

We have been so busy reading, reading, reading.  We love to read and we especially enjoyed reading our play in our book.  We loved being the different characters.  In math, we are learning to measure with our rulers and are learning how to add 9 to a number.  In Science, we are planting grass seed and learning how important water and sunlight are to growing things.  We are looking forward to Read Across America.  We are "packing" our suitcases with everything we would need for our trip.  Come check it our in the hall!  We had  a fun Valentine party with lots of great snacks.  We enjoyed reading all of our Valentine cards!  We are looking forward to Spring Break!

Mrs. Whitley        Second Grade

February may be a short month but we have gotten so much done in this short time.  But then we DO have an extra day!  We missed two days for county-wide illness and then had two other days out during the month.  Mid-terms were sent out and there is still time to bring up grades!  Parent-Teacher Conferences went well.  The whole Second Grade enjoyed a visit from Ranger Rick Martin, from the Forestry Department, who shared Smokey Bear's story with us.  Only YOU can prevent Forest Fires!  Reading stories are so interesting and we are learning SS and Science through these stories.  Subtraction facts are fun to learn using the Wrap-Ups.  We are getting fast on them.  We learned a little about President's Day and about Black American History.  Let's not forget the Valentine's Day party we enjoyed, even though it was a week later!  parents are soooo good about sending in healthy snacks.  Our children participated in writing a class book that was published and they turned out very well.  Several parents ordered their own copies and we have one to keep in our room.  I was impressed.  We are looking forward to Read Across America Day and to our upcoming PTO program. 

Mrs. Barbee        Third Grade

Mrs. Barbee's third grade has been very busy lately!  Last week we celebrated President's Day by learning about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  Each student chose one of these two presidents and wrote a paragraph to tell what made him a great man.  We are working hard to become fluent readers.  We practice reading fluency and reading comprehension skills in class every day.  We have come a long way since the beginning of the year.  In math class, we're working hard to learn all of our multiplication facts.  These must be practiced at home as well.  The students especially enjoy singing the multiplication rock songs.  It really helps us memorize the facts when we put them to music.  We're finishing a social studies unit on the coastal region of  the southeastern U.S.  We will begin a science unit on energy this week.

Mrs. Doan         Kindergarten

Mrs. Doan's class is still working very hard.  Miss Oney, our student teacher, taught us to count by 5's and 10's.  We are learning to count nickels, pennies, and dimes.  We love to pretend to go to the store and count out how much money we need.  Reading is still one of our favorite things to do!  We are able to read a lot of books on our own now.  Friday we finally got to have our Valentine's party.  Check out our pictures and see how much fun we had.

Mrs. French       Third Grade

Mrs. French's third graders have been learning about pronouns in English class. We are excited about the books that we wrote a few weeks ago. They have been published. They are so impressive. They really did a great job of writing and illustrating their books. It was a fun experience. We have been learning multiplication and division facts in math and we are beginning to use them in more everyday ways, such as in story problems and in fractions. In Science, we have been learning how all of the things in our environment depend on each other. In Social Studies, we are learning about our own Southeast region. The students enjoy finding out how the things we enjoy today came about from the things people did in the past.

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