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Pot of Gold Wish After reading the story Leprechauns Never Lie by Lorna Balian students will be asked this question: If you found a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow and a Leprechaun appeared and told you that he would add one thing to the pot of gold before you took it, what would you want that one thing to be? The pots of gold will be on display outside the classroom.    Read Across America and Dr. Seuss' birthday is in March. Students got a visit from The Cat in the Hat on March 2nd to promote the importance of reading and share some important facts about Dr. Seuss.   Click above to enter Seussville The Cat talks about reading and Dr. Seuss. Click below to read Green Eggs and Ham  Did You Know: Bennett Cerf, Dr. Seuss' publisher, wagered $50 that Seuss could not write a book using only fifty different words. The bet came after Seuss completed The Cat in the Hat, which used 225 words. The result was the book Green Eggs and Ham. Some say he reached his goal while others say he used 51 words if you count “Sam-I-am” as a separate word. The students will be doing a study of Green Eggs and Ham by finding and puting each of the different words in into a sentence of their own. Click Here to see a list of words an the number of times they are used in Green Eggs and Ham. Click below to read student sentences usin the words in Green Eggs and Ham.    Click above to view Mr. Ritzen's Conference Schedule Spring Conference Rubric Envelopes will be sent home on Monday, March 8th. As you all know, conference
week is scheduled for March 17-19. Part of the purpose of
these conferences will be to review
the rubrics and goals set in the fall and looking at the improvements your student has made to date, as well as coming up with ideas for them to work on as the school year comes to a close. The system that we use in the classroom is based on the three point rubric of (1) Not Yet, (2) Sometimes, or (3) Often. Please take time to go over each of the attached rubrics with your student. I have included a highlighter pen for your use on the rubrics. Upon completion of the rubrics please come up with one goal after the discussion in reading, math, and behavior. There is a space provided at the bottom of each rubric to write the goals. These goals are ones that your student can strive to reach for remainder of the year. In order to use your
conference time as efficiently as possible, I would like you and
your student to sit down together and
complete the rubrics and goals prior to our conference time. My intention is to be able to discuss achievements and goals with you and your student, so please bring the forms to your conference. If you choose you may turn
in the form any time prior to your conference and I will have it on
hand for your
scheduled time. I appreciate your efforts in
being a partner in your student’s achievement. Below
are links to each rubric included in the
packet. If you need any of the supplemental materials mentioned, please email at dritzen@fife.k12.wa.us and I will send them home with your student.
Mancala Madness is Upon US
Decorating the Mancala boards.   Lily Jose   Click here to see the rules for mancala in Mr. Ritzen's Class Let The Games Begin!    Arjun vs. Ethan Jonathan makes his move Daniel battles Eddie Click below to play Mancala Snails Click below to play the more traditional version of Mancala 
or
  This coming year will vault your student's urge to acquire new vernacular. The class has started learning a new word everyday until the end of the year to spice up their conversations and writing. The students were given their own "Words I Use When I Write" books to write each new word. Check back for samples of student writing with some of our new words. Click below to view our vocabulary words through March 16th  We have had volunteers in our class during our reading rotations since October. A new sign-up letter (Click Here) will be sent home in March to establish our next of volunteers. This schedule takes us through March. A new sign-up is for creating a schedule for April and May will be made before students are dismissed for spring break. Click on the month below to view each schedule. March
April May  I have read some Jigsaw Jones mysteries to the class. If you haven't had a chance to check out this series from Scholastic books, I highly recommend them. They are good old fashioned mysteries told in thefirst person narrative. Click Here to check out the books in the Jigsaw Jones collection Click Here to see the ingredients for a good mystery. Click Here for your own mystery writing plan sheet. How well do you know Jigsaw? Click above to find out!  Attention: Keep
reading 10 minutes every night (includingweekends). As soon as your student completes a Read and Lead recording sheet have him/her bring it in to class. Remember the next goal is to complete four sheets by March 22nd (400 recorded minutes). We had 21 students reach the first session goal an attend a rootbeer float party. Click here for Read and Lead important information directions and reminders! Click here for a copy of the Read and Lead recording sheet. Students during reading rotations have decoding practice, read stories to build fluency and comprehension, and independent seatwork practice of whole group phonic skills that have been taught. The stretch and shrink technique is being taught to students when coming across decodable words that they don't know. The stretch and shrink method is when students slowly merge the sounds of a word together upon saying the whole word. This year your student will be working on the following skills:  Catch That Sound Phoneme Isolation 1. Tell the student a word. 2. Have the student break the word into phonemes by bouncing the ball each time they hear a different sound.  We will make a game to listen for the individual sounds in words. We are using words with two, three, four, and five phonemes. Click here to find out how to play. Ethan holds up a word slide  Word families and word slides help in
recognizing thechange in the beginning or ending sound to make a new word. This helps with spelling too.  Click on the picture to practice putting words into families. High-frequency and non-decodable words are an essential aspect of reading fluency. Students will be introduced to five new words each week to master. The words come from E.W. Dolch's list that make up from 50 to 75 percent of the reading material encountered by students. A flashcard and picture cue for each word will be made by each student. The students will do "Sight Word Spelling" on Friday which will be sent home in your student's weekly envelope. The words are introduced in order of decreasing fluency and the weekly and cumulative lists will be posted here. Words to know by Friday, March 26th sit under which read fall why carry own small found Click Here for our cumulative high frequency word list.   Click on the picture to practice "see and say" words. Click above to play high frequency words hangman online Do you want to play a game?  Victoria and Anna play a high frequency board game.  Students can make their own sight word dinosaur board game. 1. Click here for a blank board to fill in with sight words. 2. Click here for the the official rules to our sight word board games.  As the instant sight word practice continues with flashcards and picture cues to help kids identify the words. We often play sight word bingo and other games.  One way to have students practice automaticity with words is to make a game of it. Students play the game Roll, Say, Keep to practice high frequency words. Click on the Dice to view the rules and print a game board and cards. To make it a little more competitive we have also played with each student having their own board and trying to be the first to clear their entire board by rolling the die and reading the corresponding word. Of course sometimes students roll a number without a word on it and lose their turn. Click here to be able to print out the game board and cards.  Christine and Zoë We will also play games using to Dolch Words in context phrases. The students will learn to play "Sight Word Battleship." The game is similar to the version that many people are familiar with, however students use sight word phrases as grid points on their boards.   Click on the picture above for the official rules to Sight Word Battleship. Arjun and Jamie
 Another sight word phrase game that can be played is "Rock, Paper, Scissors." Click here for a game board and directions.  Kaden and Bryan  Reading Comprehension: As students become more fluent in reading, it is important to switch our emphasis from decoding to comprehension. The students are learning to use the following checklist when given a passage during a test taking situation. Click on the picture at the left for a sample of a completed reading passage.
_______ Read the questions first _______ Highlight the keywords _______ Read the questions. Cross-off the answers you are sure are wrong. _______ Choose your answer. _______ Put the number of the question where you
found your answer. Click above
to veiw some onomatopoeia
posters.
 Students will also learn some strategies for spelling a word. What word did the dog not spell correctly? He should have used one of the strategies. To view the strategies, click on the cartoon on the left.
Geography (back to top)  If for some reason your student wants to plan a trip to Mongolia don't be alarmed, it just means we have started our roving tour of an Alphabet of nations. Click on the map above to explore the nations of our world  Alphabet of nations by They Might
Be Giants!
Algeria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Dominica, Egypt, France, The GambiaHungary, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Libya and Mongolia, Norway, Oman, Pakistan Qatar, Russia, Suriname Turkey, Uruguay, Vietnam West Xylophone, Yemen, Zimbabwe Click above to hear the "Alphabet of Nations" by They Might Be Giants  There are no nations that begin with W or X. So They Might Be Giants made-up the nation of West Xylophone for their song. An interesting note is that West Africa is said to be of the earliest places on Earth were the Xylophone was played. Students will practice giving each other directions (North, South, East, and West) on a street map pretending they were mail carriers needing to navigate around stop at specific locations to make deliveries. 
Click on the
compass to practice directions on a city map.
 Students have begun studying about landforms. Landforms are natural features of the landscape, natural physical features of the earth's surface, for example, valleys, mountains, plains, hills,or glaciers. Click on each land form below for more information. 
Students are using independent learning when mastering
their math facts. As a part of our morning routine,
students come in and begin working on math facts using math flashcards they have made themselves to check their own work. Students will also use cooperative learning with their math facts. You might also notice that your student has dots that are circled next to each math problem. Each student puts a "double check" dot next to each problem before giving their paper to a partner. The partner then checks each problem and circles the "double check" dot if answer is correct, or circles the answer if they find a mistake. The partner will then give the paper back and explain any errors that they may have found. Once any errors are corrected, the partner will sign their name to the back of paper indicated that the work has their seal of approval. The students are learning that we all make mistakes and it a good idea to get someone else's to check your work. At the same time students are finding out that looking over someone else's work is an important job that needs to be taken seriously.   Daniel and
Ethan check for accuracy in each other's work.
A completed math fact sheet
Click below to play another math football game Ready, Set, Hike!  Football playoff's are almost here and students
have gotten good at their addition facts, so we made a
math game to get into the spirit. 1. Click Here for the Official Rules! 2. Click Here for a printable football field 3. Click Here to print some mini footballs 
 Arjun and Jonathan Victoria and Anna
So you think you are an addition wiz? Well sometimes you will need to add more than two numbers together. Click on the problem below for some different ways to connect sums. 4 + 4 + 3 = 11  After we have finished introducing and practicing all of our addition and subtraction facts the students' hard work will payoff by moving onto multi-step problems. Your student should take pride in demonstrating that they can complete sheets with all 100 addition facts and all 100 subtraction facts.   Click on the plus sign above to Click the equal sign to check your print out 100 addition problems anwers. (Like you need any help!) for you to solve. 
Click on the minus sign above to Click the equal sign to check you print out 100 subtraction problems answers. (Like you need any help!) for you to solve. The students will also be introduced to two digit addition without renaming. Click on the train below to practice.  27 +42 Click above to play Click above to do a two-digit a two-digit train game. practice sheet online. In addition to just working with numbers, the students will learn the process of using key words when solving math word problems. We will identify the key words "in all" as a clue that we need to put two small numbers together to make a bigger number. We will also identify the key words "are left" as a hint that we need to find the other small number that will add to make the given big number.
Students will also learn how to collect and compare data. In the lesson, students place ten each of green, purple, and yellow Unfix Cubes in a paper bag and then took one handful of cubes without looking and record and compare their results with other students. In first grade reading and interpreting a graph is an important and generalizable skill that your student will use beyond school. 
 Click on the graph above to put your data into a bar graph. Click on the picture above to watch a short movie that answers the question: What is a graph? Beyond the addition and subtraction facts students will practice skip counting as the initial step towards multiplication. Students cut out their own counting by two shoes memory game. Students lay the cards face down and have to turn over the cards in order of two's from 2 to 24. We will eventually use these same cards to play counting by two's Musical walk.  Click on the shoes to print out your own counting by 2's shoe cards.  Click on the picture above to practice more skip counting. The students will also be trained in the concept of using tens and ones to count larger numbers.  Click here to practice counting using tens and ones. In first grade recognizing mathematical patterning is important. Students are learning that a sequence must repeat itself three times to be considered a pattern. We are trying to move students beyond AB patterns and expand on their knowledge of different types of patterning.  Making PatternsActivity Click above to play.
Click below to practice telling time to
the hour.
Students will be exploring the following units from the Foss Science kits. Just click on each unit heading to visit the corresponding website for each science unit. Balance and Motion Unit     Balancing objects is not as tricky as it may appear. There is science behind what makes objects stable. Some key concepts that the students learned are: · Something is balanced when it stays in a position on its own without being held there. · You can tell something is in a stable position if the counterweights are below the balance point. · The trick to balancing anything is to add counterweights below the balance point.
·
You need force to start a top spinning.
·
Fast-Spinning tops are more stable than slow ones.
You can use a guide (paper clip) to steady your spinning top.
·
“Bigger” tops are more stable and spin
longer. Bigger can
mean using large disks instead of small disks, or using lots of
small disks.
·
Both tops and zoomers spin.
·
Tops are put in motion by pushing the straw
around. Zoomers are
put in motion by pulling on the string. Both need a force to start.
·
You can speed up a zoomer by pulling on the string with
more force.
·
Things roll down ramps.
·
Use two wheels the same size on an axle to roll
straight.
·
Use wheels of different sizes to make a roller that
turns.
·
Some things that roll are rolling pins, carts, pencils,
and balls
·
Round things roll.
During summer in the Northern
Hemisphere, the sun’s light does not have to travel through
as
SUMMER in the Northern Hemisphere
Just
as before, when it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it is
winter in the Southern Hemisphere
Does that help you understand
the seasons a little better? Now, you can know with confidence
that Species is the word we use to organize types of living things. For
example: Worldwide, there are
approximately 28,000 different species (types) of butterflies.
Citizenship/Participation (back to top)
This project helps classmates learn about each other. They can combine photos, drawings, and pictures cut out from magazines to show their interests. The finished projects will be hung in the hallway.
Antonio
shares his "About Me" to the class using the document
camera. To  is
cool November 3rd was election and day and students learned the importance and responsibility of voting. The students filled our voter registration cards and then took part in voting activity. Click here to see our voting results! Click here to get a sample ballot Ethan casts his vote! Happy Thanksgiving!  Click on one of the reading turkeys to
help dress him for Thanksgiving. Fill the Plate! 
 Students will make a Thanksgiving game to take home for the holiday. Click on the turkey for a copy of the official rules Talking Turkey 
 Eddie holds up his craft project. Students made turkey door hangars Students weaved Thanksgivingplace mats. 
 Jose's finished placemat. Lily works on finishing her placemat.  I read
aloud Thanksgiving on Thursday to the class and did some activities that reinforced comprehension of the story. Students can also keep track of the vocabulary and the storyline of the book by clicking on the links below for the first five chapters.
How crowded was the Mayflower? 
 Click above to learn the parts of the Mayflower 14 students in an 8 foot square. Our crazy hair day and to dress in purple and gold or crimson and gray for the Apple Cup was on Wednesday November 25th. Huskies Cougars Crazy Hair  Vs. and  Right before winter break students received a goals notebook for 2010. The first goal every student wrote down was to be able to read 40 words per minute on a timed second grade passage during our June DIBELS Testing. Students also shared some goals they are thinking about writing down. Anna said that she is going to write down the goal of making it to the second Read and Lead party in March. After reading some poems that were written in our Treasures Antholgy students will learn how to write an acrostic poem. An acrostic poem usese the letters in a topic word to begin each line. All lines of the poem should relate to or describe the topic word. Below is the acrostic poem that the class wrote together about winter. 
When it is cold It is icy Near Christmas T is a snowman Except for puddles Rainy days ahead Click Here to write you own acrostic poem online. The class did an
excellent job during our two assemblies on Friday
January 15th to honor a great man.
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Attention
Parents: Our winter DIBELs took place January
29th 
hear it again
Take A Telling Time Quiz!
Some of the things we will find out about spinning
and rolling objects are:
Why does the
moon seem to change shape?
Crickets are jumping
insects. Males of most cricket species make a loud chirping sound
by rubbing their forewings together; they do this to attract
females. Crickets chirp faster when the temperature is warmer.
Crickets live under rocks and logs in fields,
grasslands, and meadows. Many crickets are
nocturnal (most active at night). The most common cricket in the US
is the field cricket; the most common one in Europe is the house
cricket (which is stockier). Crickets undergo incomplete
metamorphosis. They hatch from eggs that the female deposits in
soil (or plant material) using her ovipositor. Immature crickets
(called nymphs) look like small adults, but the wings and
ovipositor (of the female) are not fully developed. They molt many
times as they develop into adults. 
