Welcome to the 2011-2012 school year!

Happy Fall!

It has been a very exciting and busy year so far!  We started the year by going on a field trip to buy fish for our aquarium.  Each student chose two fish and carefully put them in the aquarium.  We looked at all the different animals at the pet store. 

Students have been working hard on the ASL poems for the Deaf Children’s Festival on September 27.  The poems focus on the various locations of signs which are identified through colors: red is the forehead area, orange is around the mouth and chin, yellow is the chest, green is when the dominant hand touches the other hand or the arm, and blue is when a sign is in the air.  Examples of each are as follows: Red=DAD, Orange= MOM, Yellow= MY, Green=SCHOOL, Blue=PLAY.

During Science students are learning about plants.  We have discussed parts of plants and what function they serve; roots and stem carry water for the plant and leaves get food from the sun.  Students are also learning about what plants need in order to survive: soil, water, air and light. 

November 28, 2011

Dear families,     
                                                                  
We hope you all had a wonderful  Thanksgiving holiday and a restful week off!
We have 3 short weeks until our winter holiday, so we will be busy.  Remember, this Thursday is our field trip to the Cherry Creek mall to visit signing Santa and to shop for food at Whole Foods.  We will see Santa first and then walk across the street to the Whole Foods grocery store to buy ingredients for a holiday/ cultural recipe (as we study different cultures  and their traditions in S.S.).  Then we will go back to the mall to get lunch.  We would like to get pizza at Sbarro’s, so if you can, please send $7.00 along for pizza.  If you cannot send the money, please send a bag lunch with your child (the school will provide a bag lunch to any child on the free/ reduced lunch program).  Also, we would greatly appreciate any donation to go toward buying ingredients at Whole Foods.

Here is what we are doing during class for the week:
1st grade math:  Addition facts to 10 & math games to wrap up our addition/ subtraction within 10 unit.
2nd grade math: We will be learning on comparing numbers, skip counting, ordinal numbers, odd and even numbers.
Lisa’s reading groups:  We will continue our new books, The Meanies and The Napping House, learning and applying new vocabulary words, recalling sequence of the story and using the story pattern to create our own story.
Stephanie’s reading group: We will begin a new book this week. The students will have their own guided reading book and will be doing a book report on them.
Eileen’s reading group:  
Lisa’s writing group:  We will practice our friendly letter writing by creating a letter to Santa. We are also working on Fry’s vocabulary list(high frequency words) and creating simple sentences.
Stephanie’s writing group: We will write a friendly letter to Santa. We will be using different graphic organizers to help us to organize our thoughts when creating a story.
Social Studies:  We are beginning a unit on land formations around the US and the migration of people to and from different areas.  We will also begin discussing cultures around the world and focus on some of their traditions/ food.
ASL:  We are wrapping up our discussions, investigation and analysis of subject and predicate use in ASL.  We will begin to practice our winter performance.
Reminders:
·         Field trip to Cherry Creek mall : Signing Santa and Whole Foods shopping trip
·         December 16- Jan 3 Winter break

Have a great week!  Please feel free to contact us if you have any concerns or questions.

Stephanie Carson and Lisa Hann

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Dear families,                                                                                                    November 14^th , 2011

We hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

There has been one update to the RMDS calendar, unfortunately the RMDS family Thanksgiving will be cancelled this year due to difficulty in obtaining a venue.  Sorry!  Last week we ended the week with a fun little recognition of 11.11.11!  The kids also presented their wonderful Social Studies projects.  They were fantastic!  Remember next week we have the whole week off due to Thanksgiving vacation. 

Please note that we are planning a trip to visit Cherry Creek mall.  The Signing Santa Claus will be there, but we are also planning to go to Whole Foods to shop for a recipe to make from another culture.  We will be spending December researching and learning about how cultures across the world celebrate holidays.  While the Signing Santa is somewhat of a tradition for the Deaf and hard of hearing programs in the metro area, we want to be respectful to all families and cultures in recognizing differences.  Please let us know if you would rather your child not attend this field trip or if you have any feedback for the trip.

1^st grade math:  Review of subtraction within 10 and addition both vertically and horizontally

2^nd grade math: We are working on identifying the place values and reading the numbers up to 100.

Guided Reading groups:

Lisa’s groups:  We will begin new books.  We will focus on predicting, making connections (text to self, text to text) and on increasing vocabulary.

Stephanie’s group: We are learning on how to write a summary on our book. We will be learning different ways on how to write a summary.

Eileen’s group:  We are working on how to retell on our guided reading book.

Lisa’s writing group:  We are continuing our friendly letter writing and will conclude this week with a letter to Olivia.  We are also working on Fry list vocabulary (both in reading and writing) and creating simple sentences

Stephanie’s writing group: We are working on our noun and verb sentences. We are continuing our friendly letter writing, identifying and naming the parts that a friendly letter has.

Science:  We are continuing our weather unit with a study of air

ASL:  We are continuing our discussions, investigation and analysis of subject and predicate use in ASL.

Reminders:

·         November 21-25^th Thanksgiving/ fall holiday break    NO SCHOOL

·         December 1^st- Field trip to Cherry Creek Mall (Signing Santa and Whole Foods)

Have a great week.  Please feel free to contact us if you have any concerns or questions!

Stephanie Carson and Lisa Hann

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Dear families,                                                                                                    November 7^th , 2011

We hope you all had a wonderful weekend and that you are adjusting to the time change.  We look forward to a more “normal” week of school!  Last week was a very good time and the kids really loved Halloween, spirit week and our field trip.  Our class won third place for participation in spirit week.  Each kid got to pick a little prize.  We also celebrated Savannah’s 8^th birthday on Friday!  This is what our week looks like:

1^st grade math:  Building numbers 7-9 and practice with building numbers 4-6  (making different combinations of the sum).

2^nd grade math: Identifying the place values up to 100.

Guided Reading groups:

Lisa’s group:  We will publish our own versions of our “needs” books and will begin new stories still focusing on good reading behaviors and vocabulary building

Stephanie’s group: We are learning how to write a summary on our guided reading book.

Eileen’s group:  Concluding Green Wilma with comprehension checks and beginning a new book

Writing:  We will reflect on Flat Stanley and write about our favorite parts of the book and the play.  We will begin a short unit on Friendly letter writing.

Science:  We will begin part 1 of our weather unit

ASL:  We will start discussions, investigation and analysis of subject and predicate use in ASL.

Reminders:

·         Please continue your Social Studies project.  This project is meant for parents and families to be involved.  The final product can be as creative or as simple as you wish. 

·         November 16^th RMDS Thanksgiving feast  has been cancelled

·         November 21-25^th Thanksgiving/ fall holiday break    NO SCHOOL

·         December 1^st- Field trip to Cherry Creek Mall

Have a great week.  Please feel free to contact us if you have any concerns or questions!

Stephanie Carson and Lisa Hann

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Happy Halloween from the first and second grade class! We did a lot of Halloween literacy, math, and science activites. We had a spookalicious day! Enjoy the pictures!

The pirates of 1st and 2nd grade class!

The witches of RMDS!

The Glee Club performed “The Thriller” and we loved it!

 Noal made a pumpkin face during snack time.

Kaydence writing Halloween words during literacy time.

We counted the pumpkin seeds by group of tens during science/math time.

Savannah read aloud the book she wrote during her writing class, “The Boy Who Didn’t Pay Attention”.

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Dear families,                                                                                                    October 24, 2011

Hello!  We look forward to a good but maybe colder week here at school!  We are now into our 2^nd grading quarter.  Your child’s progress report and IEP updates have been mailed.  You should receive them soon.  Wednesday is our afternoon and evening for Parent Teacher conferences.  We look forward to meeting with you all! The next couple weeks are busy, please check the reminders below!

1^st grade math:  We are working on ordering numbers and discussing before, after and between.  We will also start addition and subtraction sentences (equations).

2^nd grade math: We will be working on identifying the fact families.

Guided Reading groups:

Lisa’s group:  Working on making connections to our new stories, text to self and text to text.  We will be learning new vocabulary and increasing our reading fluency.

Stephanie’s group: We are learning how to answer comprehension questions and how to write the complete answer. We will learn how to respond to text on the book.

Eileen’s group: We are starting a new book. We will work on several reading strategies and fluency.

Writing:  We will be adding text to our Halloween stories

Social Studies:  We are learning about how to deal with our emotions and respect authority this week.

ASL:  Practicing complete idea expressions and analyzing “sentences” for meaning (does it make sense?)

Reminders:

·         Wednesday, October, 26^th:  Early release day (students dismissed at 12:30, buses will be running) and parent/ teacher conferences

·         Saturday, October 29^th:  Fall Festival- 10 a.m.- 2 p.m.  Come and bring your friends and family!

·         Monday, October 31^st, we will have a parade and then go into class for treats and Halloween fun.  Students should arrive with a costume (if they are planning to participate in the parade) but either wear street clothes underneath or send an EASY change of clothes for after the festivities.  Parents please feel welcome to watch and volunteer to help with some of the fun.

·         Thursday, November 3^rd:  Elementary field trip to the Arvada Center for the Adventures of Flat Stanley performance (this is a shadowed interpreted performance).

·         Next week is spirit week.  RMDS will have a theme for everyday, have your child dress up and have fun (schedule is attached).  On Friday, we will wrap-up the spirit week by having the staff compete against each other in some pajama games!

Have a great week.  Please feel free to contact us if you have any concerns or questions!

Stephanie Carson and Lisa Hann

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 October 10, 2011 

The pumpkin farm trip was a hands-on experience and a lot of language modeling was happening.  We picked out several vegetables and brought the pumpkins home. We had a grand time!

Olivia pulled the onions out from the ground.

Noal found an indian corn!

Kaydence and Savannah have carrots!

Savannah found a beautiful pumpkin!

The class made a vegetable soup. We used the vegetables from our trip.  This fit perfectly into our Science unit about plants unit for science and enforced many of the standards we had learned from that unit.  In addition we were able to use reading skills, measuring skills and sequencing to follow a recipe. The soup turned out to be delicious! Yummy!J

We read aloud, "Growing Vegetable Soup"

We identified the names of the vegetables.

We husked the corn.

Our Vegetable Soup!

Savannah thought the vegetable soup was delicious!

We took a survey to see who liked the soup.

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October 10, 2011

Dear first and second grade families,

Hello! I trust that you all had a great weekend despite the rainy/snowy weather. Last Thursday, we went to the pumpkin farm. The field trip was a hands-on experience and a lot of language modeling was happening.  We picked out several vegetables and brought the pumpkins home. There was a dust storm at the end of our trip but we all made it back to school safely. Please take a look at our class website for few pictures of our trip. We had a great time! On Friday, the class made a vegetable soup. We used the vegetables from our trip.  This fit perfectly into our Science unit about plants unit for science and enforced many of the standards we had learned from that unit.  In addition we were able to use reading skills, measuring skills and sequencing to follow a recipe. The soup turned out to be delicious! Yummy!J

This Wednesday is Unity Day for RMDS. We will be promoting bullying prevention by UNITING our entire school. Please help your child remember to wear something orange. If your child doesn’t own orange, he/she can wear a white shirt and we can use masking tape to “write” UNITY on the front of the shirt.

This Friday is end of the first quarter. All the grades will be in the gradebook so please take the time to enter the website, www.gradebook.com to check your child’s grades. Your username and password was handed out at back to school night and it should be in your parent packet. If you have any questions regarding on your child’s grades, please do contact us.

This week we are learning:

Math:

1^st Grade: We are continuing working on tens and ones and will comparing more and less. We will learn the terms greater than and less than.

2^nd Grade: We are doing math word problems and will have chapter 3 test end of this week.

Literacy:

                Stephanie’s group: We are working on context clues and comparing/contrast the characters in our guided reading book.

                Lisa’s group: We will be doing role play our book. We will be focusing the story elements in our role play. We will begin new book by end of this week about needs of people and pets.

                Eileen’s group: We are reading, “Scarecrow”.  We will be working on identifying the story elements.

 cience: We are wrapping up the plants unit. The students will have a quiz today. We will be checking our celery experiment this week.

 Social Studies: We will begin Social Studies on Tuesday. We will be learning about bullying prevention and unity.

Sincerely,

Stephanie and Lisa

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Dear families,                                                                                                    October 3, 2011

We are happy to look forward to a more structured week here at school.  We hope you all enjoyed a little extra time with your child over the long weekend!  The kids did a fantastic job last week at the Deaf Children’s Festival.  It was awesome to see all the kids from age 3-17 perform at such a high caliber.  We also enjoyed watching Angelynne the Deaf Dog do her tricks.  

** Remember Thursday is our field trip to the pumpkin farm.  You child must return the signed permission forms to school by tomorrow if you haven’t signed them.

Here’s what to expect for the week:

1^st grade math:  Continue to work on place value through 20 and begin numbers 20-30

2^nd grade math: We will be doing reading for math this week: Compare and Contrast math situations.

Guided Reading groups

Lisa’s group:  Complete discussing the story, Are You My Mother?   Begin to practice re-tell

Stephanie’s group:  Starting a new story that will focus on predicting what the character will do next using text for information

Eileen’s group:  Discussing the concept of vocabulary and starting a book called Scarecrow

Writing:  Introduction to nouns and work on a Halloween story with a beginning, middle and end

Science:  wrap-up plant investigation, make vegetable soup on Friday

ASL: Handshape patterns and begin introduction of subject and predicate in ASL

Reminders:

·         Please wear good walking shoes and appropriate clothes for the weather to the farm on Thursday!

Have a great week.  Please feel free to contact us if you have any concerns or questions!

Stephanie Carson and Lisa Hann

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September 26, 2011

Our Student of the Week! Hooray to Savannah!!

There are a lot of things that will be happening this week! Tomorrow is The Deaf Children’s Festival. We will be doing ASL and Deaf Studies activities, performing our ASL pattern poem, and meeting other Deaf students from other schools. Parents and community are welcome to watch our performance at 1 p.m. at RMDS. If you are interested to have your child eat pizza tomorrow for lunch, our Student Body Government will be selling pizza for $1.

We would like to remind you that RMDS will be having half day on Wednesday. Your child will be dismissed at 12:30. Buses will be running as scheduled. Also, there will be no school on Friday due to professional development day.  Since there is no school on Friday, homework can be turned in on Monday morning.  Due to being off schedule this week, we will only be sending home Reading Logs for homework.

We are proud and excited to recognize that one of our students, Savannah Jones became student of the week for the ECE/Elementary section of the school! She has met the criteria to become student of the week. She has demonstrated our ROAR expectations (R=Respect, O=Optimistic Attitude, A=Achieve, R=Responsibility).  HOORAY to Savannah! Keep up with the great work!

This week we are learning…

Math:

                1^st Grade: We are working on tens and ones.

                2^nd Grade: We are using related facts to find missing numbers.

Reading:

                Lisa’s Group: We are continuing working on our story elements.

                Stephanie’s Group: We are wrapping up our retelling strategy and wrapping up our guided reading book.

                Eileen’s Group: We worked on sequencing and will be starting a new book this week.

Science:

                We learned to identify and label the seed parts. We will be planting our beans in a soil.

***Reminder: We will be going to the Miller Farm on October 6^th. The field trip form has been sent home. Please return the form by this Thursday.

Thank you,

Stephanie Carson and Lisa Hann

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Guided Reading

The students are practicing retelling skills on the book they are reading in guided reading time. They have learned to:

1.    Tell the story. Don’t memorize the author’s words.

2.    Be expressive.

3.    Pick what is most important to tell.

4.    Tell details in the right order.

5.    Use role-shifting to represent a character.

6.    Reread constantly to check the facts.

7.    It really takes a lot of practice to get retelling right.

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Seed and plant exploration

We have done several interesting investigations related to seeds and plants.  First, we made our own greenhouses.  We discussed the concept of greenhouses and why plants grow so well in them (they let the sun in, they are warm and moist inside).  Our version of a greenhouse is with a plastic glove.  We put a wet cotton ball and a bean seed in each finger.  We are now observing them clearly through the glove.  They are sprouting and growing!  Then, we did an investigation of a seed.  We dissected a lima bean that had been soaked in water.  We opened it up and examined the inside.  The kids were fascinated to learn that a seed has an embryo (small plant), food storage and a seed coat.  Each child had their own seed to open and examine with a magnifying glass.  It was a great hands-on learning experience.  Ask your child to tell you about it! 

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Dear families,                                                                                                    September 19, 2011

Welcome to another great week at RMDS.

We have been incredibly busy in the classroom! Thanks to all of you who were able to attend our back to school night on Wednesday.  The students were excited to read your notes during our journal time.  Also, last week, we changed aqua’s aquarium to a larger tank. We were able to watch her move around and get settled in!  We also sorted and examined seeds. We also made “greenhouses” for our pinto bean seeds (they should begin to grow this week). This week in class we will be covering the following concepts:

1^st grade math:  Completing our data assessment unit and starting to explore numbers (introducing tens and ones place value).

2^nd grade math: We just completed our chapter 2 test/unit.  We will be working on chapter 3 which focuses heavily on subtraction. We will review and practice our subtraction strategies.

Guided Reading groups:

Lisa’s group:  Shared reading and discussing and identifying various story elements (character, setting, plot).

Stephanie’s group:  We will identify the problem and solution of our story. We will be practicing on how to read fluently with our guided reading book.

Eileen’s group:  Will work on story re-tell and building vocabulary

Writing:  Creating a complete idea through ASL and translating to writing

Science:  continue plant investigation

ASL: Handshape patterns

Reminders:

·         Reading logs start today! Please make time to read with or have your child read nightly.

·         September 27^th, Deaf children’s festival

·         September 28^th- Early Release (buses will be running)

·         September 30^th- No School- Professional Development Day

Have a great week.  Please feel free to contact us if you have any concerns or questions!

Stephanie Carson and Lisa Hann

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                    Science Unit: Plants

 Seeds

Everyone sorted these seeds.

We discussed that seeds come from plants.

We noticed some differences.

Vanessa noticed they are different colors

Noal noticed they are different sizes.

Amya noticed they have different textures.

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Happy Birthday, Kaydence and Amya!

September 12, 2011

Dear Parents,

We had a great week last week. We celebrated two birthdays last week! We sang a happy birthday, had a cake and made  birthday hats. The birthday girls were excited to be a year older. J The students have been observing and taking care of our class pet, Aqua Star, our hermit crab. Aqua is more alert during nights and leaves prints on the sand for us to see in the mornings. We are hoping that he will become more alert in the day so we can see him move, eat, and play in his aquarium.

This Wednesday is Back to School Night from 5:30-7:00 p.m. We hope you can attend this important event to learn what is going on in your child’s classroom. We will be covering our classroom expectations, homework system, and our goal for the year. We also will be handing out a Parent Packet for you to look through and to keep. We hope to see you this Wednesday!

This week we are learning:

Math:

                1^st Grade: Finishing data analysis and beginning to work on number sense for simple addition and subtraction which we will continue to build on throughout the year.

                Second Grade: We are learning to add three numbers and solving word problems by drawing a picture. We will have chapter 2 test this Friday.

Reading: We are working on story elements and retelling strategy.

Writing: We will be working on making our summer vacation summary this week.

Science: We are observing and identifying different parts the plants have.

Many Thanks!

Stephanie Carson and  Lisa Hann

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September 6, 2011

Dear 1^st and 2^nd Grade Families,

Hello! We hope you had a fun-filled weekend! The students had plenty to tell about their weekend in their journals during writing class. The students were given a topic on to write about their Labor’s Day weekend where they drew a picture and wrote a sentence or two about their weekend.  We started modeling on how to use a journal and our expectations on what needs to be in the journal.

Homework will still be sent home today and are due on Friday. Last week, we are proud to say that 100% of our students turned in their assignments on time! Yay! Keep it up!  They earned a ROAR ticket as they were responsible to turn in their assignments on time.

The first and second grade class is excited to introduce you to our new class pet. Our classroom has transformed into ‘Ocean’ themed room and we have been reading aloud different books based on ocean life, sea animals, and anything related to the ocean theme. Last week, we read “Does Anyone Know Where a Hermit Crab Goes?” and we all agreed to have a hermit crab in the classroom. The students have voted that we will name our crab, Aqua Star. The students will share responsibilities to take care of the crab and will do observations on the crab during our science class. Please do stop by and meet our new class pet! J

This week we are learning about:

Writing: We completed our ASL version of Introduction, Body, and Conclusion and now we will be working on translating our ASL model into English print.

Reading: We have begun reading our guided reading book.  We are learning new vocabulary words from our book.

Math:

                1^st Grade Math:  We are continuing our study of data analysis.  We are working with tally marks and will be doing picture graphs.  The kids need to continue to use Venn diagrams as well.

                2^nd Grade Math: We are working on order property and addition patterns this week.

Science: We are having our science class for the next few weeks! We will be learning about plants and its functions.

ASL: We are developing location patterns about me.

Sincerely,

Stephanie and Lisa

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SURF’s UP for a new school year!!  We are doing an ocean theme in our classroom, come by to visit our cool ocean room!

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Dear families,                                                                                                    August 29, 2011

Welcome to another great week at RMDS.

We have been learning routines and rituals in the classroom.  We also are discussing a lot about expectations.  At RMDS, we use “ROAR” to describe great behavior in the elementary school.  R=Respect, O= Optimistic attitude, A=Achievement, R=Responsibility.  If we see any of the students using this behavior, we will write them a ROAR ticket.  They can use these tickets to “buy” small rewards at the ROAR store on Fridays.

Thank you for supporting your child with their homework last week.  Remember, your child will receive a ROAR ticket if they bring it back completed on Fridays. 

This week in class we will be covering the following concepts:

1^st grade math:  Exploring data with Venn diagrams, graphs and tally marks

2^nd grade math: Review simple number concepts

Reading : What are the behaviors of good readers?  Why do we read? 

Begin Guided Reading groups

Writing:  Creating a complete idea through ASL and translating to writing

Social Studies:  All about me

ASL: Location of signs

Reminders:

·         No school on Monday, September, 5^th –Labor Day holiday

·         Please send a small nutritious snack with your child everyday

·         Wear sneakers or activity shoes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays (for PE class)

Have a great week.  Please feel free to contact us if you have any concerns or questions!

Stephanie Carson and Lisa Hann

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Dear 1^st and 2^nd grade Families,

We are very excited to start off the year with your children.  It was nice to work with them and get to know them this week during the assessment days.  Today was a fun, productive day for everyone.  We would like to explain briefly a few of our expectations and systems for the classroom:

Snack:

We will have a short snack time daily (late morning).  Please send a small, nutritious snack for your child to eat everyday.

Supplies:

Thank you for sending school supplies with your child today (If you did not send all the supplies today, please send them with your child next week).  However, we realized there are some additional items we omitted from the list and will need for this school year:

2 packs of index cards  (100 count)                           1 index card box (like a recipe box)

1 Three ring binder (1 ½”)                                             1 pack of Tab dividers

2 pocket folders                                                               1 change of clothes (please send in a ziplock bag with child’s name)

1 pack of #2 pencils (at least 10 count)

Homework/ Monday folders:

On Mondays students will bring home their “Monday folders.”  Inside you will find school related information and their homework packet.  Please make sure to check this each week, and send back any necessary information with your child the next day.  The homework packet is due on Fridays.

Contact Information:

You can contact us via e-mail.

Lisa Hann’s e-mail address: lhann@jeffco.k12.co.us

Stephanie Carson’s e-mail address: sdecot@jeffco.k12.co.us

You are more than welcome to see us before and after school hours.

Save the Date:    September 14^th: Back to School Night

Please come on this important event as you will learn more in depth about your child’s classroom.

Many Thanks! We look forward working with your child this year!

Stephanie Carson (2^nd Grade Teacher) and Lisa Hann (1^st Grade Teacher)

January-February 2012:

During the winter season, you  may see snow or frost.  You will also see bare trees and few animals or insects.  This is a good time for ssome indoor fun, if the weather is too cold to play outside.  Try these activities.

*Color, cut and paste!  Make  greeting cards for relatives and friends.  Send them out and surprise your relatives and friends.

*Make a bread snowflake.  Get one piece of white bread and cut out corners and inside shapes to create a unique shape.  Bake at a low temperature 10-20 minutes, unitl slightly brown.  Take out of oven and hang outside for birds.

*Fill various size jars with jelly beans, gum balls and other small festive objects.  Have your child(ren) guess how many are in each jar. 

Have a fun winter!

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Friendly Reminders:

*No School: February 17 & 20

*Early Release: February 29 at 12:30 p.m.

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Pictures! PICTURES! Pictures!

We acted out the story “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie.”

Kailee acted like a mouse.

Yummy! We baked chocolate chip cookies so we could give these to a Mouse.

They were immersed in the story.

They love water play.

Cheers,

 JM and her students

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December 16-January 3: Winter Break

This is my wish for you: peace of mind, prosperity through the year, happiness that multiplies, health for you and yours, fun around every corner, energy to chase your dreams, joy to fill your holidays!

- D.M. Dellinger

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Pictures! PICTURES! Pictures!

Magnets are fascinating to explore.

Exploring!

Painting for their parents’ xmas present.

Acting out the story “The Hairy Bears” by Joy Cowley

Have a wonderful winter break!

Cheers,

JM & her students

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December 2011

Happy Chilly December!

The winter has arrived in Colorado & it’s always so good seeing snow often.  The students really find the snow amusing.  They get excited easily when they see snowflakes fall in our playground. 

We only have two full weeks in December before our Winter break begins.  We have a busy schedule ahead of us including Winter play on the 14th. 

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Pictures! PICTURES! Pictures!

Madison shared her wish list with Signing Santa.

Alejo exploded his energy in the cool playground at the mall.

The students ordered their own lunch at Sbarro’s.

Whee- what a fun ride in the elevator.

The students simply had a blast.

Exhausted Madison after a fun-filled day!

Have a merry week!

Jennifer & her class

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November 2011

Happy November! Thanksgiving Day is around the corner.   It’s always a nice opportunity to stop and ask yourself  ”What are you thankful for?”  Keep your eyes peeled for our Thanksgiving skit by preschool-kindergarten.  We look forward to celebrating November with different events.  Thank you for all that you do in October.

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Pictures! PICTURES! Pictures!

All smiles to be able to play outside even though the snow is still on the ground.

Alejo had fun playing the cymbals during the drumming session at Arvada Center.

Kailee and Alejo enjoyed the bus ride back to school.

Emma and Madison were being creative in the drama center.

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Friendly Reminders:

November 14: Thanksgiving skit (Preschool-K)

November 21-25: Thanksgiving break

December 1: Signing Santa (Cherry Creek Mall)

Have a wonderful week & enjoy the snow if we get some.

Jennifer and her class

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October 2011

Happy October! This month already went by pretty fast.  We are enjoying October so far.  My class visited Miller Farms in Platteville and got to pick some vegetables such as potato, corn, carrots and onions.  They also brought a pumpkin home.  Growing Vegetable Soup is what we will read this week then we will cook vegetable soup with the vegetables we handpicked at the farm. 

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Friendly Reminders:

*October 12: Unity Day (Wear orange t-shirt)

*October 14: Celebration of the Best Grant (12-1p.m.)

*October 26: Half Day/Parent&Teacher Conference

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Pictures! PICTURES! Pictures!

All smiles for the trip to Miller Farms.

Alejo and his beautiful potato.

Madison picked an onion from the ground.

Kailee proudly showed her corn she picked.

Enjoy the foliage to the fullest.

JM and her class

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September 2011

Happy Fall! The days are getting a little shorter and somewhat cooler.  The leaves are turning beautiful shades of orange, yellow, red and brown.  Birds are flying South and squirrels are collecting food for winter.  You are probably noticing many more changes around you as well.  School is beginning, so during the time you spend with your child, here are some wonderful seasonal activities to do together.

* Make a fall bookmark.  Get a piece of cardboard, and glue decorative fall leaves to it.  Put two large books on top and let sit for a week until leaves flatten and dry.  Use your bookmark with your favorite book.

* Using your five senses, make five list of thing you see, smell, touch, hear and taste during the fall season.

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Friendly Reminders:

Tuesday, Sept. 27: Deaf Children Festival

Wednesday, Sept. 28: 1/2 day of school

Friday, Sept. 30: No school

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Pictures! PICTURES! Pictures!

Kailee and Madison proudly showed their work.

Avi discussed about the safety crossing the street.

Kailee was our bus driver during drama center.

Alejo and Madison acted out the story they were reading.

Noam and Hunter found Magna Tiles very fascinating.

Have a terrific week! Keep coming back as I’ll inform when this webpage is updated.

Cheers,

JM & her class

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Parents: We will be sending home a new snack schedule for the spring semester so please mark down your weeks to bring snack. Also, we will be having some schedule changes due to specialists coming to help us out at different times, so look for that to be sent home as well.

Looking ahead: February will be a month of LOVE for us as we get to do a whole bunch of art and science projects on the heart. We will also be learning about how to write down or draw our thoughts and ideas for others to see. In math we will learn about patterns and how we can make our own. 

 Dates to remember: January 16- No school (Martin Luther King Jr. Day)

January 25- Early release at 12:30

December

Looking ahead: Next month we will  be working on a “Snow” theme. We will learn how to describe different snowmen in ASL class and how to write a story about snowmen in Reading class. We will be doing a bunch of snow art projects and even make some in cooking class!

Dates to remember: December 1- field trip to see signing Santa

December 14- Winter play (Wheat Ridge High School)

December 17-Jan 2- Winter break (See you next year!)

November

Parents: It’s starting to get chilly when we go outside to play. Please make sure to send your child in the appropriate clothes, or keep some here at school if you would like :) Also, come watch us perform a short skit about Thanksgiving with the Kindergarten class! We will have some snacks together afterwards.

Looking ahead: Next month we will go on a field trip to the Cherry Creek Mall to see the signing Santa! We are very excited and will be making cards with some help from the Middle School kids. Also, don’t forget to come see us perform in the Winter Play!

Dates to remember: November 18- Thanksgiving skit with Kindergarten

November 19-27 Thanksgiving Break

October

This month we are focusing on a theme of “pumpkins”!! We had so much fun at Miller Farms and we collected so many vegetables! We made french fries with kindergarten and we made vegetable soup with all our veggies. We are reading lots of pumkpin books and doing pumpkin and Halloween activities. We are up to H in our letter fo the week and are learning about various words and snacks that start with our letter of the week!

We have added and lost some friends in class this month. Abbi and Bella have joined us and are an immediate bundle of fun! Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to Hunter when he moved back to Pennsylvania

Halloween is coming soon and we will be doing a bunch af school-wide activities. We will participate in Spirit Week so don’t forget to dress up! Avi is working with us to learn about feelings and how we can help others with their feelings. We are also doing handshape of the month and are starting with the shape B. We are working our way through counting to 100 days of school and learning to spell our friends names. Whew, preschool is a lot of work!

Parents: Don’t forget about parent-teacher conferences! Come make an appointment with me to check in and see how your child is doing

Looking ahead: Next month we will go on a field trip to the Arvada Center to see the Adventures of Flat Stanley play! We will do writing letter activities after that and take our own adventures with Flat Stanley. We will also host a Thanksgiving lunch with Kindergarten and our parents. Look for more information to come!

Dates to remember: October 26th parent-teacher conferences and early release at 12:30

October 31-Nov 4th Spirit Week

Nov 3rd Flat Stanley field trip

Welcome to the Preschool page 2011-2012!!!

This year we have a great class of 4 students. We have gotten to know each other and are jumping in to a new year with both feet!

This month we will be focusing on an “autumn” theme in center time. We will use some vocabulary related to the fall, work on beginning writing skills, counting and graphing in math, and beginning scientific exporation. In social studies we will be discussing the ROAR system here at school. ROAR means: Respect, Optimistic attitude, Achieve, and Responsibility. We will talk about each category and how we can use them in class. In ASL class, we will begin by learning the 5 different locations for signs. Ask us to show you the location dance!

Parents: please don’t forget to write in our communication books every morning. This is a great way for you to know what’s happening at school and for me to get a feel for what to expect when your child arrives at school. If there are any questions or concerns about this, please let me know!

Looking ahead: next month we will be going on a field trip to Miller Farms and will do many exciting activities related to the farm. We will also celebrate Halloween in class and explore some spooky activities!

Dates to remember:       September 26- Deaf Children’s Festival (Come see us perform!)

September 28- Early release at 12:30

September 30- No school (Professional Development Day)

Hi RMDS families! This week I created an “INFO FOR YOU” wall for students in the cafeteria. I wanted to create a central place to post information for students to read with the goal of summoning discussions and questions among our students. Information posted will change as different events and topics emerge.

RMDS has designated next week (Oct. 10-14) as our Bullying Prevention Week, and your child will be discussing various topics related to bullying and positive school culture in his/her classes. Wednesday, October 12th is Unity Day at RMDS - we’ll be celebrating an unified school community and taking a stand to “unite against bullying!” You should receive a note home this week with your child reminding them to wear ORANGE on Wednesday the 12th. If s/he doesn’t own anything orange, s/he can bring a white shirt and we can “write” UNITY on it using orange tape I encourage you all to discuss bullying  with your children at home - it’s so important that they see the same messages from school at home as well!

This month is also LGBT History Month, and I’ve posted information about notable lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people on the Info Wall. lgbthistorymonth.com is an excellent resource, and each day this website reveals a different LGBT Icon and his/her accomplishments. It’s vital that our children understand, appreciate, and respect the diversity that exists among human beings!

As always, if you have questions or concerns, please email me, give me a VP call, or stop by my office.

Avi

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Hello RMDS Students and Families!

My name is Avi Haimowitz, and I’m the new school counselor here at RMDS. I’m excited for what this experience will bring, and am already getting to know many students well. I will be posting on this webpage from time to time with resources for families with children of varying ages. I’ll also update you about topics of discussion with students, as I would like to encourage families to review some of these topics at home (e.g. emotional health, stress, conflict resolution, etc.). I conduct weekly push-in counseling groups with most elementary classes, and weekly community meetings focusing on various socioemotional topics with middle and high school students. Middle and high school parents: we will also be working this year on developing your child’s ICAP!

For those of you who were unable to attend Back to School Night, ICAP stands for Individual Career and Academic Plan. This is a transition plan now required by state law for middle and high school students, and this fall, all our older students will be setting up accounts and profiles in Naviance. They will be developing goals and exploring information related to life after high school. It’s never too early to think ahead, and I would love to see parents involved in the transition planning process! Please look for a letter coming to you soon with your personalized Naviance registration information (your child will bring one home to you in the next few weeks).

If you have any questions, concerns, or ideas, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Looking forward to getting to know you all!

On October 21st, 8th grade science class had a blast with pumpkin launcher! The record was 171 feet from team Mountain Lion. Both team worked hard on pumpkin launcher with DJ, who took so much of his time to help make this fun and learning experience happen. We look forward to do it all over again next year!!  Great Job 8th graders!

Sports:

Middle School and High School Volley ball team is doing really good.They played two games and won both! Here’s some pictures!  Keep up the hard work!!!  Go Mountain Lions!!

Reminders!!

Thanksgiving break November 21- 25

Our class will not be attending Signing Santa field trip.

Science- Kids had a blast with solar system and learned a lot about planets, moon phases, and layers of sun and earth.

Social Studies- Starting up on Colorado history. Students are currently learning the maps of Colorado and what makes Colorado unique!!!

Math- Students are learning data tables, adding greater numbers, telling times, and they have a great time doing math drills on Friday!!

ASL- We have been focusing on Deaf Culture and learned more about other deaf schools in America. We learned that there are other deaf schools that follows our school’s philosophy, and some that doesn’t. We will be working on communication style,  Identity, how to use VP, how to use guide dog, and many more!!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving break!!!

Patty and Lindsay

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October 25, 2011

Reminder!!! 

Parent/Teacher Conferences is tomorrow, October 26th, 2011. Contact us to make arrangement if you haven’t yet.

Spirit Week is coming up!

October 31st- Halloween Costumes

Nov. 1st- 1980’s attire

Nov. 2nd- Ski/Snowboard/Skateboard

Nov. 3rd- Sports Day

Nov. 4th- Pajamas Day

Science- Learning all about the stars, revolution and rotation, Inner and Outer Planets and preparing for a test on Tuesday, November 1st. Students will have materials to study and be pepared for the test.

Math- Rounding up the numbers!

Reading/Writing- Students continue reading their books and writing great stories!!

ASL- Working on Complete and Main Idea

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October 10, 2011

Reading/Writing-

Currently reading “2095″ by Jon Scieszka, ” The Scarecrow”, “Time Bike”.  They are having a blast reading these books.  For writing- we are currently learning how to write a story.

Science-

Mars! Jupiter! Pluto? We are currently studying the  Solar System! We are learning special characteristics of each planet, the Sun and our mother planet, the Earth. Talk with your child about their favorite planet. Later in the week, each child will pick out their favorite planet and make a model.

Math-

We just started learning all about addition properties.

ASL-

We are wrapping up on Subject and Predicate. We are currently focusing on grapheme. This week is Unity week, so we will be creating a chant as a class to share with everyone on Wednesday.

Don’t forget to wear ORANGE on Wednesday, October 12th. If your child does not have orange shirt, they can wear white shirt and we will add “Unity” on their shirt with orange tape.

This Friday is the end of 1st quarter, we will be sending out grades sometimes next week.

Thank you!!

Patty Germundson and Lindsay Crawford