     
2011 Heroes!
Ready To Take Flight!
Mr.Ritzen
First Grade Teacher
Discovery Primary, Milton, WA
Click
Here to view the 2010-2011 Fife School District
calendar.
Mr. Ritzen's Superheroes
Click Here For a
Copy of the Discipline Policy That Was Given Out
On The First Day OF School!
Our first question has been posted in the
Discussion
Section of
the website.
Our first question centers
around applying our classroom rubric of (1) Not Yet, (2)
Sometimes,
and (3) Most of the Time.
Throughout the year there will be weekly discussion
questions
that will typically run from Friday to
Friday. I encourage students to go and answer
the
questions with their family. Remember to include your
name in the top box before you
send your response. It might take a day or two for me
to accept your answer or comment
and be posted on the website for others to
view.
Learning Personal Responsibility
Responsibility
and self-seliance are keys to success.
The students in Mr. Ritzen's class will be learning to be
self-directed learners. We do this by using
the classroom system that emphasizes
the importance of checking for accuracy in their work and listening
with understanding. We will really focus on the students
becoming self
monitors of their own work and behaviors. We will be
using the following three point rubric that encourages
students to evaluate themselves:
(1) Not Yet, (2) Sometimes, or (3) Often.
Eli,
Nathan, and Suzanna hold up our self-evaluation
cards
 
Click
above to view the class behavior
rubric.
Click above to view the morning
routine rubric checklist
Our first project
will be about you!
The
students will be doing an "About Me" project. This project
helps us learn about each other.
Each student will have the opportunity to use our classroom
document camera and project and share
their work to the class. The assignment will be given out on
September 7th. More details
forthcoming.
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.
Click
Here For the Directions!
As
the the year progresses you can click above to
view our slide show gallery for each
month.
 
Jump
to Reading/Writing Activities
Jump to Geography
Activities
Jump to Math
Activities
 
Jump
to Science
Activities
Jump To
Citizenship/Participation
Jump to Seasonal
Activities
Cartoon
of the Week!
Comics
are another great way to pique your student's
interest in reading. Besides, it doesn't get any better when
you
combine the two art forms of words
and pictures. My plan is to post a weekly
cartoon for you and your student
to enjoy.
 
Now click on the picture above to create your own
comics online.
Reading/Writing
Activities (back to top)
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, September 10th
the
to
and
he
a
I
you
it
of
in
This school 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.
This year I will 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 (including
weekends). 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
the end of each session (400 recorded
minutes).
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.
Word families and word slides help
in recognizing the
change 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.
 
Click
on the picture to practice "see and say"
words.
Click above to play high frequency words hangman
online
Students will 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.
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.
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Click on the number to view
the different sight word game cards
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Another sight word phrase game that can be played is "Rock,
Paper, Scissors."
Click here for a game board and
directions.
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.
Check the tasks as you complete
them.
_______ 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 see our handwriting rubric.
Click above to practice writing a letter
online.
What
Sound do you hear Polar Bear?
on-o-mat-o-poe-ia  hear it again
The students have been learning about
onomatopoeias.
Onomatopoeia is a word or grouping of words that imitate
the sound they describe. After reading
the book Polar, Bear,
Polar Bear, What Do
You Hear? Students
wrote sentences
with an onomatopoeia of a winter sound.
Click Here for a
list of winter onomatopoeias. The writing is on display
on the wall outside our classroom.
Previous Student Writing
 
Previous
Student Writing
Previous Student Writing
Click on the dog to go
exploring onomatopoeias.
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.
Click above to do a landform jigsaw puzzle.
Math
Activities (back to top)
You may notice that your student has
been writing numbers in red and
green. Red
Light, Green Light
is an activity to
slow the students down when they are forming their
numbers. We want the students to
get a feel for the correct formation of each number and commit it
to muscle memory.
Throughout the year all 100 of the addition facts and 100 of
the subtraction facts will be introduced and practiced
with the goal of mastery. All of the math facts
that will be learned this year are in Quiz Section of the
website.
The students can practice and check their answers. Just click
on the tab labeled "Practice
Quizzes" at the top
left of the website. The sequence starts at the
top with Set A and works downwards to Set
Z.
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.
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.
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There are 4 slices
of pepperoni pizza and
4
slices of cheese pizza. How many slices of pizza in
all?
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_____+ _____=_____
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There are 6 doughnuts
in a box.
1
doughunut is eaten. How many doughnuts are left in
the box?
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_____ - _____=_____
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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.
Click below to
play.
 Making Patterns
Activity
Click below to practice telling time to
the hour.
Students will be learning how to
tell time using an anologe clock. Students will
have their own practice clocks to work with at their
desk.
 Take A Telling Time Quiz!
Students will be identifying and counting coins in math. Each
student will have their own "money bag" with real coins
during our practice time.
Click
above to name the
coins
Click above to count
coins
Students have been learning to compare numbers using the
> (greater than), < (less than), and = (equal to)
symbols.
We like to call it: PacMan eats the bigger number.
Click on Pacman to compare some
numbers
Students have learned to idenify even and odd numbers and
play
various games using this concept and others at idenifying
number
patterns.
Click above to Paint by
number by even and odd numbers
Students will be practicing drawing lines and measuring objects to
the nearest inch!
Click
below to practice reading a ruler using
inches Now
try centimeters by clicking below.
Science
Activities (back to top)
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.
Click on the picture above to view more balancing toys.
Can you explain why each one can balance?
And this year we explore the principles of balance and
motion by examining the science behind what makes a good
roller coaster work. Some of the facts that the class found
out are:
1.
To make a coaster travel all the
way around the track it must start high and end
low.
2. The hills
or loops the coaster encounters must be in order
from highest to lowest to give it enough force to travel up
and over each hill or around the loop without being
pulled.
Click
on the picture to design your own roller
coaster.
Some of the things we will find out about spinning
and rolling objects are:
·
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.
Air and Weather Unit
As
students explore the science of air and weather, they will be
keeping
track of what they learned in a science
journal.
Clouds
Students are learning about different cloud
formations!
Cloud Matching
Game Cloud
Concentration Game
Students will
d0 chalk drawings of the cloud types
  
Students
will be monitoring temperature and rainfall just
outside the classroom.
 
More Weather Tools
Click above to get directions on how to build your own
windvane.
What makes the seasons change?
WINTER in the Northern
Hemisphere
While people in the Northern Hemisphere have winter, those in
the Southern Hemisphere have summer.
During summer in the Northern
Hemisphere, the sun’s light does not have to travel through
as
much atmosphere to reach the ground. This allows more of the
sun’s heat energy to warm the earth.
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
your parents really don't have a secret button
hidden that brings winter!
 Why does the
moon seem to change shape?
Click
on the picture above to check out the weather forecast for
our area.
Insects Unit
The class will be introduced first to meal worms. We
will watch the progression of the life cycle of the meal worms
with the anticipation that they would become darkling beetles.
 
This is a meal worms under our microscope at
10x.
We then looked at him using our microscope at
60x.
They're Coming! Our darkling
beetles will begin hatching
this year.
The beetles are scavengers and usually
live in dark, cool, moist places like under rocks and
logs.
The
darkling emerges brown but should turn black soon.
   
Egg 7-14
days Larva
30-90
days Pupa
10-20
Female lays
days
hundreds
of eggs
Crickets will invaded
our classroom's science unit!
 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.
Click above to learn more about the parts of a
cricket.
Click on the picture above to play "Insect
Hunt"
Click on the cricket to hear its calling song.
 In
science we will also get painted lady butterfly larvae. The
students will learn about the life cycle of a
butterfly which is illustrated
below.
 
 Egg: The Painted
Lady begins its life cycle as an egg that is the size of a pin
head. Eggs are pale green with 12 to 14 longitudinal ridges; they
are laid on thistle, mallow, or hollyhock leaves. The incubation
period is 3 to 5 days.
Caterpillar (larva): The caterpillar eats
continually for 5 to 10 days before it pupates. The yellow-green
striped, purple to black caterpillar has long spines on each
segment. The caterpillar is up to 1.25 inches (3 cm) long. It
builds a silky, webbed nest as it feeds, usually eating thistle,
mallow, malva, hollyhock, sunflower, or canola. As the larva grows,
it sheds its skin (this is called molting). The time between
sheddings is called an instar; each instar has slightly different
coloring.
Chrysalis
(pupa): When the caterpillar has grown to the
right size, it pupates. It hangs upside-down from a leaf or branch,
and attaches itself with a single silken string. An adult forms
from the caterpillar, whose internal structure changes completely.
The chrysalis becomes almost transparent when the butterfly is
about to emerge. An adult will emerge about 7 to 10 days after the
chrysalis has formed.
Adult: When an adult
emerges from the split chrysalis, it hangs upside down and pumps
blood into its four wings, inflating them.Then it waits for its
delicate wings to dry. It can fly a few hours
after emerging.
Click
on the butterfly to see pictures and learn about different
species.
Wow! That’s Biodiversity!
Worldwide, there are approximately 28,000 different species (types)
of butterflies.
Students became a scientist who found a new species of
butterfly. They needed to
color and name their new species in order to share their
discovery with the world.
With discoveries of the students
in Mr. Ritzen’s class, there are additional species
of
butterflies in the world.
Click Here to see the names of our newly discovered
species.
 Biodiversity
is the word we use
to describe the variety of like
on Earth.
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.
The students will
participate in scale model walk of our solar system. The
purpose
is to give the students a feel for the size and distance of the
planets compared to
each other and the sun. Click on the rotating planets on the
left to view our scale
model guide.
Citizenship/Participation (back to top)
This year students will be on the lookout for other
people in the class that demonstrate a hard work ethic and
have demonstrated the ability to make positive
choices. Every Friday the Rocket Award will
be given to a student
and their picture will be placed on the classroom website.
During our weekly Friday meeting, the classmates of the
Rocket Award winner will have an opportunity to share
positive comments and observations about our honoree. All
Rocket Award winners get to sign the special book in the
office and their family receives a phone
call from the principal.
In Apple-Pie
Order
Every Friday our
random "Desk Check" takes
place.
Click on the desk above to view our clean-up
rubric.
Learning Personal
Responsibility
Responsibility
and self-seliance are keys to success.
The students in Mr. Ritzen's class will
be learning to be self-directed learners. We do
this by using the classroom system that
emphasizes the importance of checking for accuracy in their
work and listening with understanding. We will really
focus on the students becoming self monitors of their own work and
behaviors. We will be using the
following three point rubric that encourages students to
evaluate themselves: (1) Not Yet, (2) Sometimes, or (3)
Often.
Click above to
view the class behavior
rubric. Click
above to view the morning
routine rubric
checklist
Students are more than welcome to bring in a birthday treat
for the class.
The class tradition is the birthday person gets to take the first
bite after everyone
else is served and sing happy birthday. The birthday
person usually prolongs that
first bite as long as possible making the others wait with
anticipation.
Class
Points
Students can earn a daily sticker for
their sticker book if we accomplish everything on our list for the
day.
Along with the daily sticker ten points are awarded toward the
classroom citizenship party. We need to reach
350 points for our party. Students can also earn
sports and character cards for being consistent in their
reading
and taking on extra responsibilities. Once we have reached our goal we like
to celebrate and set a new and higher
goal.
 When
you earn 350 points for citizenship and effort, you get a
pizza party!
Students can earn stickers and trading cards by following
directions, meeting an academic challenge, studying
independently, and by helping the class complete everything on
our daily agenda. Each student has a sticker/trading
card folder in which they keep their cache. On Friday,
students are allowed a little time for trading stickers and
cards.
Also on Friday (weather permitting)
we will go out for ten minutes to allow students to earn hole
punches on a card for each
lap around the play field. Once they have reached ten punches
they get a healthy snack (some sort of fruit or vegetable).
Students are learning the importance of exercising their bodies as
well as their brains at school.
In our computer lab students will learn many
skills such as how to copy and paste and navigating and
researching on the internet.
Seasonal Activities (back to top)
September 17th is
Constitution Day in the United States.
Students were given a brief overview of the
Constitution
and related it to their rights and responsibilities here
at school.
Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
Rights
and Responsibilities of room #211
1.
You have the right to ask questions.
2. You have the right to learn in a clean
classroom.
3. You have the right to be head.
4. You have the right to your own private space
5. You have the right to learn.
6. You have the right to be safe.
7. You have the right to make
mistakes.
In October we will learn about fire safety
at Discovery. Students learned about what to do in case
of
a fire, escape routes, and being safe near the stove and other heat
sources.
Using the students as a model, firefighters demonstrate how
fast a fire can grow in size.
 
The
model grew from three students to 48 students in a manner of 4
minutes
Click below to print out a blank
Safe House Mouse Planning Grid
What is your home escape
Plan? A Website question in
October will focus on fire safety and preparedness at
home.
Click on
the school house to view the escape plan for our
school.
Click above to play Sparky's Fire
Escape
Challenge
We
will build Pumpkin Town in October!
Below is a picture of the 2009
version of Pumpkin Town.
While
our town is great, we also came up with some ideas to make it
an even better place to
live.
A
special thanks goes out to Barb White for painting the
impressive backdrop of Pumpkin
Town.
Jose got the honors of
cutting the ribbon to Pumpkin Town
Students did a great job in constructing the buildings
and vehicles.
Click
here for a complete
inventory of our town and some ideas
for what else we might need to make our town a better
place.
A website discussion question will ask what would
you add to
Pumpkin Town if you were the mayor?
Students
learned how to make and label a life cycle
chart.
 
Click on the
pumpkin Then
click
above
to play the life cycle
of to
check your answers.
a pumpkin match game
Jose's Life Cycle of a Pumpkin Chart
The Mystery of the Disappearing Pumpkin
In November students will
examine a pumpkin that was left over from Halloween. The
pumpkin will be placed in a
tub with dirt to be checked during the first week of December to
monitor the decoposation process. What the
students will find is pictured
below.
 
Mash the
pupkins! A
piece of pumpkin will be put
under the The
soil that the pumpkin is kept in will
classroom microsocpe and
magnified.
make for good planting in the spring.
The
dark spots show the most decaying.
These
are the pumpkins that were carved during S.K.I.P.
class.
last year. Students will monitored the decomposition
process
of
the pumpkins in an outside bin with soil. The soil
and
composted pumpkins are then used for planting in the
spring.
To  is
cool
November 2nd is election
and day and students will learn the importance and
responsibility of voting.
The students fill out voter registration cards and then took part
in voting activity.
Click
here to get a sample ballot
Happy
Thanksgiving!
 Click on one of
the reading turkeys to help dress him
for Thanksgiving.
Fill the Plate and Talking Turkey!
Students will make a Thanksgiving game to take
home for the
holiday. Click
on the turkey for a copy of the official
rules
 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 is in November
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.
The class got several compliments and the audience was very
impressed at how the students did.
Click on the
pictures below to view our PowerPoint presentation on the words of
Martin Luther King Jr.
Part 1: A Sneetch Can
Teach! Part
2: The Words Of Martin Luther King Jr.
Half of
the Sneetches have bellies with stars, and half of the Sneetches
have no stars on thars.
The problem is, all of the Sneetch Dads and Mothers want bellies
that look like the ones of the others.
But here comes that sly guy, Sylvester McBean, and his magical
Star-On and Star-Off Machine,
Who says you "You can't teach a
Sneetch!" Or, can you? Click on the picture on the
picture on the
left to play the
game.
In the winter, students will learn to master
an ancient game
The class will begin its study on the
ancient game of mancala. Students will get
to choose their playing stones and will be painting their
own boards in the near
future. Many
believe that Mancala could be the oldest game in the
world. People
have been playing it for 7,000 years or
more!
Click here for a quick slide show about
mancala.
Click on a picture to find out about count and
capture games around the world.
| Antigua |
Burkina Faso |
Cote d'Ivoire |
 |
 |
 |
| West Africa |
Ghana |
Haiti |
 |
 |
 |
| Middle East |
Nigeria |
Philippines |
 |
 |
 |
| Uganda |
Caribbean |
Caribbean |
 |
 |
 |
| Caribbean |
West Indies |
United States |
| |
 |
 |
 |
Click here to see the rules for
mancala in Mr. Ritzen's
Class
Click below to play Mancala Snails Click
below to play the more traditional version of
Mancala
or
February 2nd was Groundhog's
Day!
Click on the groundhog to read a story about
him
Click above to
watch a slide show of
Groundhog's Day
Festivities.
Our class picture day is
in February
In February, the students go Presidential
 Each Student in Mr. Ritzen’s class has a
classroom
number. Each student became their numbered president
for a week. The teacher then presides over the
“Council
of Presidents” and must address everyone by using his
or her President name. This is an introduction to the
early presidents of the United States and is culminated
with a “Presidential” autograph signing in which
the
students gather signatures of each
other.
Click on the White House to take a panoramic tour
Click on the Presidential seal above to view a slide show of
the Presidents in number order.
We the Presidents. Students needed to gather all the
signatures of their fellow Presidents to ratify the Classroom
Constitution.
of
the United States, in order to form a more perfect classroom,
promote and practice the Rules and Procedures for room 211 at
Discovery Primary.
1. Follow Classroom Procedures
2. Wait for directions with no Talking. Raise your hand
for questions!
3. Listen to directions the first time.
4. Change tasks quickly and quietly.
5. Keep your hands, feet, objects, and negative comments
to yourself.
.
 We read
the book Mouse House Senate Mouse which is the
story of how
a mouse congress tries to pass a bill for a national
cheese. The bill was
finally passed with the president signing into law
American cheese as the
official cheese.
Daniel (Martin Van Buren) looks over
his plate
of
American cheese and crackers at last year's
presidential signing party.
You will
get to vist our wall of Presidents on display in the hall
outside our classroom.
 
Where's Abe?
 Speaking of Presidents, our classroom microscope
station will be open for business.
One of activity will be looking at the minute
Abraham Lincoln on the back of a penny
in the middle of the monument. Our microscope has the
capability of 10x, 60x, and 200x.
 Day of school is
in February.
Students will start out with a 100 calorie breakfast
snack. They have a choice of three
different cereals with one serving adding up to 100
calories.
 or
or 
Arjun enjoys his 100 calorie snack
Sometimes on 100th day of school Mr. Ritzen opens up his
store with everything priced at $100. Students go
shopping and write why they have earned $100 and should be
allowed to make a purchase.
The students then will find the following
groups:
50 groups of 2
25 groups of 4
20 groups of 5
10 groups of 10
2 groups of 50
4 groups of 25
5 groups of 20
1 group of 100
Click on the 100th
Day Sign to practice counting by 10's.
We
will have a Valentine’s card exchange in
February.
Click
on the heart above to write a valentine using connecting words
(because/and)
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 try and
find a four leaf clover |
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.
 
Last year Mrs. Ritzen read Frog and Toad
stories to the class on March 24. She visited
as a part of our guest reader program. The
students then went and chose a book to take home
for "New Homes for Used Books"
event.
Working
On Manners At Dave's Restaurant
Thank
you to all that made our luncheon at Dave's in Milton a
grand
success. The students received good feedback from their
table
evaluators and were eager to learn what they did well as well
as
what they need to continue to practice. I am hoping do
it again in 2011.
Check to make sure you have tried everything on your
plate. Don't
eat until everyoe is seved.
Keep your hands
folded and elbows off the
table. Enjoy
some table conversation
In May, Let's Get Ready to Caucus!
In May, for the last two
years, families came to take part in a special process.
The evening consisted of presentations of the top four vote
getters from the previous year's Washington
Children's Choice Picture Book Award, Campaign booths
featuring each book, and opinion papers about which book is best
using the TREE writing strategy. The evening culminated
with a vote by friends and family for their favorite book
based on the presentations by the
students.
Click on each previous Discovery Primary Book
Caucus Winners to view the offical
results
2008
Winner 2009 Winner 2010
Winner 2011
Winner
 
Traction Man is
Here!
Scaredy
Squirrel Library
Mouse
Results Yet To Come!
Mini Grey
Read
Mini Grey's response email to winning
the 2008 Discovery Primary Book
Caucus.
Click Here to print out the Traction Man
cut out Min Grey sent the class.
Daniel
Kirk
Click
Here to view the certificate we
sent to Daniel Kirk the author
of
Library
Mouse.
Click
Here to read a
message from
Daniel Kirk about winning the
2010 Discovery Primary Book
Caucus.
Students are learning the TREE Writing
Strategy for writing an opinion
paragraph. If you think about the parts of a tree, it will
help you remember
the parts of a good opinion paper. The Trunk is like
your topic sentence --
everything is connected to it. The Roots are like
your reasons -- they
support your Trunk. It is important to examine the
Roots. If they are strong,
the trunk and whole rest of the tree will be
strong.
Topic
Sentence
Reasons
Examine Reasons
Ending
Sentence
 As a class we used the TREE format to write a
paragraph
about why Fruit Rollups make a tasty snack. Click on
the
picture on the left to see an example of the paragraph
planning sheet. Students will be using this format to write
an opinion paper about why a book should get your vote
for
our family book caucus night in
May.
Click Here to get a blank copy of
the paragraph planning sheet.
In June students will
learn about four American Tall Tale
Icons. They will be doing a
characterization of each legend and coloring a map of their
travels across the United
States. Our first first exploration takes us into the
stories of Paul Bunyan.
 
Listen
and read a Paul Bunyan
Tale Paul
Bunyan Dress-Up
Game Paul
Bunyan presents
Sourdough Sam in
EGG-CATCHER
Next we will
examine the difference between the facts of the real John
Chapman
and the fiction of the myth he became as Johnny
Appleseed.
Click on the Speaker to hear a song
about Johnny Appleseed 
Click below to read some
facts
Click below to read some
legends
 
 
Click above for a Jonny
Appleseed recipe Click
above to
help Johnny Appleseed
Click above
to Click
above for the
find some hidden
objects
complete
some apple
saying answers
apple
sayings
Meet the Steel Driving
Man
![[JohnHenrySamples_Page_06RIGHT.jpg]](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jNfLasUQDFg/SBNJWvJBAmI/AAAAAAAAA4I/lvwyt9SM6_Q/s1600/JohnHenrySamples_Page_06RIGHT.jpg)
John Henry is a tall tale hero, and
probably
one of the legends that teach us to never
give up. While the legend and the man are
not exactly the same; he can be seen as a
regular guy who was confident in himself,
and never, ever gave up. When he needed a
job, he went and got one, convincing the
boss that he was the right man for it. And
when that job of Steel Driving Man was
threatened by automation, he challenged
that Steam Drill to a contest, and won. He
said he would win for the good of the
workers he and did, against all odds. What
a role model for young and old alike! It's a
shame that John Henry is a tall tale legend
that can remind us what the American Spirit
is really about.
A Comic Strip
Trbute to John Henry by John Steventon
"....he never gave up, and thanks to him, I don't
either."
 
Click above to hear the ballad of
John Henry.
Click below to design and test
out your own train layout!
 The
Cannonball and the Last Ride...
The students will
participate in scale model walk of our solar system. The
purpose
is to give the students a feel for the size and distance of the
planets compared to
each other and the sun. Click on the rotating planets on the
left to view our scale
model guide.
Who's On
First?
Students will study the classic
comedic routine
"Who's on First?" by Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.
Students
will be reading through the
script with a partner, make a diagram
with the line-up players
mentioned in the script (shown on the left),
and be learning a
baseball board game.
Click above to hear "Who's on First?"
After reading the story
Meanwhile... by Jules Feiffer, students wrote about what
will be happening back
in Mr. Ritzen's class when they are in second grade.
A previous
student's writing and illustration.
 
A
Final Thought/Memory
Above
is the cover of my favorite book when I was in first
grade that I share on one of the first days of school.
In fact I was fortunate enough to get a copy of the actual
book I checked out from Northeast Tacoma Elementary. It even
has the check-out pocket in the back of the book with my writing
that shows I once checked out the book on November 23,
1980. It is a version of a 9th century Norse legend that
produces a subtle sense of history and the passage of
time.
| 
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. 
Attention Parents: Our Fall
DIBELS will take place in
September.
