Character Traits

Students at our school learn about and try to live by five character traits:
beneficence - being kind to others
empathy - understanding how others are feeling and seeing things from their perspective
integrity - doing the right thing even when no one is watching
stewardship - take care of our world and our place in it
perseverance - continuing to try even when things are challenging

We have read several books about each trait to help us understand them better. You can see the titles of some of them in the pictures below.

Common questions that I ask during our closing circle each day is: How did you show a character trait today? or Did you see someone else show a character trait today? You could ask these same questions at home, too.

Self-Portraits
Last week, we drew our self-portraits. We noticed lots of similarities and differences in our hair, eyes and skin. We talked about how we were different on the outside in some ways but the same on the inside in some ways. We are crew. (Click on the picture to see a larger version.)

Homework 
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 1.12 Thermometers

Character Trait ~ Beneficence

Beneficence means doing kind things for others without expecting anything in return. We are all very good at showing beneficence. We read several books about characters who showed beneficence such as Ordinary Mary's Extraordinary Deeds and Reach Out and Give. Ask your child how he or she has been showing beneficence and encourage them to notice when someone at home is showing this trait. During our closing circle, we often talk about ways we saw crew members showing beneficence during the day.

Homework
No homework for the weekend. Enjoy some great books with your child.

Register for Bootcamp!

Check out our Kidblog page. Every crew member now has at least one post up - some have many posts. Feel free to share our crew blog or Kidblog page with your child's grandparents.

IA
Our IA next week is PE. Please help your child remember to wear appropriate footwear.

Crew News September 5, 2013

Character Trait ~ Integrity
Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching. It includes other components such as telling the truth, doing what you say you will do and not blaming others for our mistakes. We read the books, It Was You, Blue Kangaroo and A Special Thank You. Ask your child about integrity and how they can show it at home and at school.

Homework
No homework for the long weekend. Enjoy some good books with your child.

IA (Integrated Arts)
Our IA next week is Art.

Crew News August 30, 2013

Character Trait - Empathy

Another character trait that we have learned about is Empathy. Empathy means thinking about how someone else feels.  We are all good at noticing how someone else is feeling. We are now working on the next step of thinking about how to help others when they are having a tough time. We are learning that really thinking about how someone is feeling helps us decide how to help them.

Homework
No homework for the long weekend. Enjoy a few good books with your child.

IA (Integrated Arts)
Our IA next week is PE. Please help your child remember to wear appropriate footwear.

Important Dates
September 2 - No school - Labor Day
September 6 - No school for students - Teacher Professional Development Day
September 11 and 12 - Fall Voyage for 1st Grade
September 13 - Day of Rest for 1st Grade
October 4 - Boot Camp

Crew News August 21, 2013

Character Trait - Stewardship
Another character trait that we have studied is stewardship. The short definition of stewardship that we use in first grade is: taking care of our world. We know that we need to keep all parts of our world clean and in good order. This includes our playground, our classroom, our hallways, our school, our homes and our community. We have stewardship day every Tuesday. During this time we all clean and organize our desks. We also go on stewardship patrol at random times during our week. During this time we clean up our classroom or hallway. We all are very good at taking care of our classroom and school. You might try using stewardship patrol at home. You never know, it just might give you the help you need in keeping up with all of the household chores you have to do.

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 1.10 Tally Marks

Crew News August 13, 2013

Character Traits
At our school, we have five character traits that we try to uphold and live by. They are beneficence, empathy, integrity, perseverance and stewardship. We are learning all about these traits right now so we will be able to live them for the remainder of the school year.

The first trait that we have learned about is perseverance. Perseverance means continuing to try even when things are challenging. We can demonstrate this so many ways at home and at school. We read have read several books about perseverance. Ask your child to tell you about the cow who learned to swim in Sink or Swim.

Lochen's Injury
Normally I wouldn't write a blog post about a playground injury but in this case I am making an exception. Lochen bumped his head on the concrete tunnel during lunch recess yesterday. As you probably know, head injuries can bleed a lot. This injury was no exception. Lochen's face, hair and arms were covered with blood. It really worried the crew so I wanted to let you know what happened as I am sure your child mentioned it to you last night. Lochen did go to the emergency room and has one staple in his head to keep the small wound closed. Below is a photo of his staple. He shared his story during morning meeting today and we all took turns taking a look at his staple. We are so glad that Lochen is better today and that the healing has already started.

Crew News September 12, 2012

Empathy

The last character trait that we learned about was Empathy. Empathy means thinking about how someone else feels. We read two books about Empathy, That's Not Funny and Reach Out and Give.  We are all good at noticing how someone else is feeling. We are now working on the next step of thinking about how to help others when they are having a tough time. We are learning that really thinking about how someone is feeling helps us decide how to help them.

Library
We have library tomorrow. Please help your children remember to return their books.

Homework 
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 2.6 Telling Time

Crew News September 7, 2012

We learned about stewardship last week. Stewardship means taking good care of things and helping to keep our world clean. We have gone on "Stewardship Patrol" in our classroom several times. This means that we all look for things that need to be put away and put them where they go and that we look for trash to throw away. We show excellent stewardship in our room. Ask your child how they can show stewardship at home.

Homework
No homework for the weekend. Enjoy some good books with your child.

 IA (Integrated Arts)
Our IA next week is Music.

Crew News August 29, 2012

Character Trait ~ Integrity
Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching. It includes other components such as telling the truth, doing what you say you will do and not blaming others for our mistakes. We read the books, It Was You, Blue Kangaroo and My Big Lie. Ask your child about integrity and how they can show it at home and at school.

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 1.12 Thermometers

Crew News August 28, 2012

Character Trait ~ Beneficence
Beneficence means doing kind things for others without expecting anything in return. We are all very good at showing beneficence. We read several books about characters who showed beneficence such as Ordinary Mary's Extraordinary Deeds and Be Polite and Kind. Ask your child how he or she has been showing beneficence and encourage them to notice when someone at home is showing this trait. During our closing circle, we often talk about ways we saw crew members showing beneficence during the day.

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 1.11 Explorations

Crew News August 21, 2012

Character Trait
We will be focusing in on one character trait at a time. First, we have been studying perseverance. Perseverance means continuing to try even when things are challenging. We read the book Sink or Swim about a cow who wants to learn to swim and perseveres through many problems to finally become successful. Perseverance is a great trait to remember when we are learning something new. Ask your child how he or she can show perseverance at home and at school.

Crew Code

Homework
Be ready for our Voyage tomorrow. Come with sunscreen on, a lunch and 4 snacks, a water bottle and any other gear that you did not bring today.

When we return to school, you can meet us for pick up over by the end of the school that is next to the Early Childhood Center. We will not be standing in our regular spot by the bike racks.

Crew News September 29, 2011

Character Trait ~ Stewardship
We learned about the last character trait last week. Stewardship means taking good care of things and helping to keep our world clean. We have gone on "Stewardship Patrol" in our classroom several times. This means that we all look for things that need to be put away and put them where they go and that we look for trash to throw away. We show excellent stewardship in our room. Ask your child how they can show stewardship at home.

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 3.2 Odd and Even Numbers

Crew News September 16, 2011

Empathy (Interactive Writing)

We are learning about empathy. Empathy is understanding and caring about others. We read two books about empathy, Understand and Care and It Was You, Blue Kangaroo. In Blue Kangaroo, the little girl was not showing empathy. We show empathy everyday.

-by Ms. Jill’s Crew

Homework
No homework for the weekend. Enjoy some good books with your child.

IA
Our IA next week is Music.

Compliment
Our crew received a compliment from the custodian yesterday. He said that our classroom was the easiest to clean because the students do such a nice job of keeping their things picked up off of the floor. Ms. Dee and I have noticed this about them, too.

Crew News September 7, 2011

Character Trait ~ Integrity
The character trait were are learning about this week is integrity. Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching. It includes other components such as telling the truth and doing what I say I am going to do. We read the book, A Very Special Thank You to learn more about integrity. In this book a group of children find a wallet and have to decide what to do with it. They do the right thing and learn about integrity. Ask your child about integrity and how they can show it at home and at school.

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 2.4 Numbers Before and After

Library
We have library tomorrow. Please help your child remember to bring back their library books.

Crew News August 31, 2011

Character Trait ~ Beneficence
Beneficence is the character trait that we have been studying this week (and a few days before our Voyage). Beneficence means doing kind things for others without expecting anything in return. We are all very good at showing beneficence. We read several books about characters who showed beneficence such as Smile, Ordinary Mary and Because Ben Hugged His Mother. Ask your child how he or she has been showing beneficence and encourage them to notice when someone at home is showing this trait. During our closing circle, we often talk about ways we saw crew members showing beneficence during the day.

More on the Math Test
Yesterday's math test came home today in the green homework folder. The test consists of two parts. Part A includes those concepts that your child should have mastered at this point and Part B includes concepts that have been introduced but do not need to be mastered at this point. Everyday Math is a spiraling curriculum which means that we are constantly reviewing and using concepts that we have previously learned.

When marking your child's test, I simply circled items that were incorrect, underlined directions that weren't followed and wrote a letter "B" by numbers that were written backwards. Students also completed a self-assessment and an open response problem. I did not make any marks on either of these pages.

The open response lets me know who is already able to apply skills we have been learning and if they are able to express their thinking in drawings and in words. This is typically very challenging for all students at this point in the year. As we move through the year the goal is for all students to be able to explain their mathematical thinking and reasoning orally and in written form - either drawings or words.

I use the results of each test to help me determine who needs more help with certain concepts and who may need some enrichment around certain concepts. I am sure that you can see those same things as you look at your child's test.

Finally, you may be able to see that simply taking a test by filling in blanks was a challenge to some students. As I mentioned yesterday, this is probably the very first written test that most of the crew has ever taken. Taking a test will become easier as we go through the year.  When I look at a student's test I am looking for understanding of a concept rather than test-taking skills. So please don't worry if filling in blanks was a challenge for your child. I can see if they understand a skill and they will get better at test-taking.

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~Home Link 2.1 Telephone Numbers

Library 
We have library tomorrow. Please help your child remember to return their books (if they haven't already done so) so that they can check out new books.

Crew News August 16, 2011

Character Trait
We will be focusing in on one character trait at a time. First, we have been studying perseverance. Perseverance means continuing to try even when things are challenging. We read the book Sink or Swim about a cow who wants to learn to swim and perseveres through many problems to finally become successful. Perseverance is a great trait to remember when we are learning something new. Ask your child how he or she can show perseverance at home and at school.

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 1.9 Calendars