Mrs. Phillips 1st grade

thank you

mphillip@houstonisd.org (Mrs. Phillips) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:29:00 +0000

Thank you to all for the warm wishes and prayers sent my way! Keep them coming. This beautiful ornament with the quote, " Anything is possible...the power is already in you." was left on my desk with no name attached. I would love to thank the sender. :-)

It was a BIG treat bumping into many of my 1st graders on Halloween night. It looks like y'all had a wonderful night!

reading groups

mphillip@houstonisd.org (Mrs. Phillips) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:20:00 +0000

It was great for me to get back into our reading groups! The kids are of course are doing great...it's nice for me to be able to sit! Mrs. Wisniewski has done a fabulous job keeping to my routine and moving the kids along to the next level when needed. Today we used our "witch fingers" to help us track the words when reading...glad I snitched a few from our class party last week!

author's chair

mphillip@houstonisd.org (Mrs. Phillips) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:18:00 +0000

I'm pleased to report that the kids have caught the "bug" to write! They've had a fabulous time sharing their short stories and tales...

Georgia O'Keefe

mphillip@houstonisd.org (Mrs. Phillips) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:23:00 +0000

Today we learned about Georgia O'Keefe. We found out that her clear, bright paintings show the beauty she found in the simple, natural things around her. We also found out she loved to paint flowers...up real close...and so do we!

tube request!!!

mphillip@houstonisd.org (Mrs. Phillips) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:14:00 +0000

If you have any toilet paper tubes at home to contribute...we could use them! We will be using them next week! I'm NOT giving you permission to wrap any houses on Halloween...

busy, busy, busy!

mphillip@houstonisd.org (Mrs. Phillips) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:29:00 +0000

Get your calendars out...and make note of the followingdates. It's a busy time of year!

October 30 - March of Dimes Reading Champion envelopes due
November 3 - PTO Meeting 6:30 pm
November 4 - early dismissal
November 6 - Pop ‘n’ Kid campout
November 11 - student-led conferences
November 16-17 - Book Fair at Barnes & Noble 3:00 pm - 8:00 pm
November 20 - fieldtrip to Museum of Fine Arts
November 25-27 - Thanksgiving holidays

Postman Roulin

mphillip@houstonisd.org (Mrs. Phillips) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:34:00 +0000

More van Gogh...Postman Roulin. The kids really do love to watercolor!

finished!

mphillip@houstonisd.org (Mrs. Phillips) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:29:00 +0000

I felt nervous about not being there...but I found out you can paint without making a mess even when I am not there! The kids had to finish their backgrounds since we didn't quite finish last week. Mrs. Rangel is my picture elf when I'm not looking...

My news...

mphillip@houstonisd.org (Mrs. Phillips) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:12:00 +0000

My year this year started with a bang the minute the doors opened on the first day of school! Your kids are awesome and I've enjoyed the last 10 weeks being their teacher. We've spent these last couple of months working hard to establish our classroom norms to help make working and learning together easier for everyone. The children have worked hard learning how our reading groups operate, play math games fairly, work independently, ask questions when they need help and to be good problem solvers. In just a short time, I've seen everyone's reading and writing skills progress to the next level and a sense of community established. With that said, I am confident in saying everyone has had a great start, too!

It's with a heavy heart that I inform you that my last week has not been the healthiest for me. I apologize for not being at school but I hope you know by now that I would be there if I any way could. I am still undergoing more tests at MD Anderson and hope to be back shortly. Mrs. Amanda has done a great job internalizing my routine and will continue to do the best she can. She has a teaching degree, knows the kids and most of all, loves being in our class! When and if the time comes, she has agreed to be my long-time substitute and will have no problems stepping in at a moment's notice.

I regret not having better news. I want to remain positive and give myself the healthiest chance I can. Please keep in touch. The children make me the happiest!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Phillips

PS - I have about a week's worth of photos that still need to be added to the blog. I have a secret elf that takes pictures when I'm not around...you know I'm good for a few blog posts when I find the time!

Spooky Spaghetti

mphillip@houstonisd.org (Mrs. Phillips) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 04:25:00 +0000

Please forgive me if I didn't see you at Spooky Spaghetti! There were so many people...and your costumes were very tricky! It looks like everyone had a spooktacular time! I'll be looking for you on Halloween...

i will be out...

mphillip@houstonisd.org (Mrs. Phillips) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:17:00 +0000

class party

mphillip@houstonisd.org (Mrs. Phillips) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:13:00 +0000

A big thank you goes out to all the parents that helped organize our class party and to all the yummy food that made our pot luck supper so successful! The weather was beautiful and I believe everyone had a fabulous time! Well done.

Picasso witches

mphillip@houstonisd.org (Mrs. Phillips) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:01:00 +0000

I cannot claim credit, the kids drew hilarious witches in Mrs. Cowan's art class...I believe some had Picasso in mind!

Class Party TONIGHT!!!!!!!!

mphillip@houstonisd.org (Mrs. Phillips) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:27:00 +0000

Please forgive my absence on the blog...things are crazy right now. I just want to remind everyone that tonight is our class party. Everyone is encouraged to bring a family favorite dish...homemade or store bought! I hope to see everyone tonight...it should be a great time!

van Gogh's sunflowers

mphillip@houstonisd.org (Mrs. Phillips) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:35:00 +0000

Today we started painting our own version of van Gogh's famous sunflowers after reading, van Gogh and the Sunflowers. This may be a 2 day project...

Art a la Carte

mphillip@houstonisd.org (Mrs. Phillips) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:35:00 +0000

Thank you to Mrs. Dong for preparing a lovely art lesson covering warm and cool colors. She can well prepared and the kids had a fabulous time.

self-portraits

mphillip@houstonisd.org (Mrs. Phillips) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 04:37:00 +0000

Self-portraits were recently finished in the computer lab.

Matisse, part 2

mphillip@houstonisd.org (Mrs. Phillips) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 04:34:00 +0000

This picture does not do their work justice. You will just have to come see it for yourself! To follow-up on the Matisse art a la carte lesson on positive and negative space, I thought it would be fun to make these lovely pots of black and white flowers.

Christopher Columbus

mphillip@houstonisd.org (Mrs. Phillips) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 04:28:00 +0000

Today we finally got around to finishing the lesson on Christopher Columbus that we started on Monday. I swear we just don't seem to have enough time during our busy days! We read a couple of books and a short video on unitedstreaming.com telling the facts. It turned into a discussion whether Christopher Columbus deserved credit for discovering America or not...since Native Americans were already there when he landed. Something to think about.

negative numbers

mphillip@houstonisd.org (Mrs. Phillips) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 04:19:00 +0000

We've been skip counting crazy lately using number lines and 100's boards. Today we ventured into uncharted waters...negative numbers! I think they did pretty good. Your child should have worn home their number line "bracelet" on their wrists showing negative numbers all the way to -40!!!

explorations

mphillip@houstonisd.org (Mrs. Phillips) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:09:00 +0000

Being a half day, it was great that today's Everyday Math lesson was "explorations" day! They literally take what seems like forever but always promise fun while reviewing concepts previously learned!

We used dot patterns on dominoes to review what we know about odd and even.

We used our problem solving skills to find 4 different ways to cover the same shape using pattern blocks and our templates! It was interesting to see how many combinations they could come up with!

Girl Before a Mirror

mphillip@houstonisd.org (Mrs. Phillips) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:34:00 +0000

Today we ran out of time but hopefully tomorrow we can watch a short Unitedstreaming.com video on abstract artist Pablo Picasso's faces. The students created a collection of 3 faces using oil pastels emulating Picasso’s style. The main objective was to let our imagination run wild with the many possibilities. We looked at Picasso’s painting, Girl Before a Mirror for inspiration.

art presentations

mphillip@houstonisd.org (Mrs. Phillips) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:24:00 +0000

The presentations are short and sweet...and they are doing a great job! I love that at this age children seem to have no fear speaking in front of a crowd! We shared a little over half the class today...that's all our time schedule and attention could muster! We look forward to hearing the rest tomorrow!

odd/even

mphillip@houstonisd.org (Mrs. Phillips) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:28:00 +0000

Those pennies have helped yet another math lesson. Today we focused on the difference between odd and even. We found that if we paired up the pennies for any given number that it was even if they all had a "friend" or odd if there was one "odd man out!" We even learned to look in the ones place for 2 digit numbers for a shortcut to find out if it is odd or even!

journal helpers

mphillip@houstonisd.org (Mrs. Phillips) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 22:02:00 +0000

FYI...this week I will be testing the children's DRA reading levels. I got a jump start on Friday and am VERY encouraged by what I see! I would love to be able to do this during my journal time 8-8:30 AM so that I do not interrupt my reading group schedule in our afternoons. If you are scheduled to assist with journal this week, please help keep the noise level to a minimum. If you are not scheduled this week and am dying to help...go for it! :-)