Thursday envelopes
Aloha families of room E-104! I apologize thatI forgot to send home Thursday envelopes today. I will send them home tomorrow instead.
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Aloha and welcome to Mr. Blackburn's First Grade class. Here's a little about me:
First off, I love my job! I genuinely enjoy being a teacher and I appreciate the opportunity to play a small role in helping these kids on their journey through their education. This 2021/2022 school year will be my 11th year teaching first grade at Waikoloa Elementary. Every year has been amazing in so many different ways, and I expect this year to be amazing as well. I have a wife and two kids who are my everything. We love playing at the beach, going hiking or other outdoor adventures. I enjoy running, yep, like actually "enjoy" it haha. I do most of my running around the village, but as often as I can, I love running the amazing trails we have on this beautiful island. Now you can tell your first grader that you know something about their teacher!
I really look forward to working with my new first graders this year. We will make the best of whatever this year brings our way. Mahalo for your support and an especially big Mahalo for all that you do for your child.
Mr. Blackburn
Mr. Blackburn
Posts
Substitute
Room E-104 will have a substitute teacher today (Thursday 9-29). I am part of Waikoloa's instructional leadership team and every month or so have a meeting in Kona with other ILT groups. Today is one of those meetings so I will be absent, but will be back in the classroom tomorrow. The students already know this but I wanted to give the parents a heads up as well.
Here are this weeks spelling words.
Here are our new spelling words for this week.
Hurricane Closure
In case you haven't heard yet, Waikoloa school has been closed tomorrow and Thursday due to the incoming hurricane situation. NO SCHOOL on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. This could be a great chance to get in some extra reading time with your first grader. Be safe out there everybody!
Hopefully yesterday you saw a sheet like this one in your child's homework tablet. Highlighted are your child's spelling words for this week. The sheet also includes some other important words for the week. This does not replace home work, but is an addition to regular homework. Please keep this spelling sheet in a safe place at home so your child can practice for a few minutes every night. Mahalo!
Each week I will rotate students one pocket to the right on our jobs chart. This will give the students opportunities to experience different responsibilities throughout the year.
You may have heard from your child that we started our first grade jobs this week. Here we have one of our fine first graders leading the class in Calendar time.
Picture Day!
Tomorrow 8/22/16 is picture day for first grade. Send your kids ready with those wonderful smiles!
Open House
Dont forget that open house is tomorrow at 2:00! If you are able, please come by and have your child show you around our classroom.
Welcome back to school, and especially welcome to first grade in Mr. Blackburns class! I am really excited for all that this new school year holds in store and am looking forward to seeing great growth in your student this year. I will try to update this blog at least weekly with different things we have going on in room E-104, so check back often. Let's make this school year fantastic!!
Late update on our end of year reading challenge
Summer has been in full swing for almost 2 weeks now and I still have yet give the final results of our canoe race reading challenge. On the last day of school, Team Stingrays and Team Wana had already finished the race leaving Team Dolphins and Team Eels still out on the race course. I told them that if they could read enough books by the end of the day, we would still count it. Team Stingrays and Wana volunteered to read also and donate their extra books read, to the teams still racing. By lunchtime the class had read enough books to paddle team Dophins and Eels all the way to the finish line as well. It was fun to see the kids come together to help each other. So here is the total for books read in this challenge during the last week and a half or so of school: 236 books! Way to go everybody!
I want to express my gratitude for all of my students this past year. We learned and grew a lot in first grade. I truly appreciate each child's efforts in trying to become better at many different things in my classroom. I also appreciate each of the parents of my students. You play a huge a role in your child's education. A special thank you to all the parents who volunteered in the classroom and on field trips this year. I hope you have a fantastic summer! Don't forget to read!
This update should have gone out last night. With 1 more day of reading, we had team Wana come across the finish line. Congratulations team Wana! The next update will include all the books read last night. Will Dolphins and Eels make back to the finish line??
What a race! Over the weekend, team Stingrays had moved into first place with a big lead. After last nights reading though, team Wana made up ground with enough reading to get them only one book away from the finish line at Anaeho'omalu a bay. Team Stingrays however, held on to their lead and read enough books to get across the finish line first for the win! Congratulations! I have a feeling that with only one more book needed, team Wana will be crossing the finish line easily tomorrow. There are two more nights of reading left in this race. Team Dolphins and Eels, can you read enough to complete your voyage around the island before summer? I think you can! Read, read, read!
We had an exciting weekend canoe reading racing! Some teams made some great progress by reading a lot over the weekend. Way to go! Ask your child which canoe is theirs and check out their progress on the map. Team Stingrays is nearing the northern tip of the island. Will they make it back first, or will another team catch them? Stay tuned!
