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Click Here to view the 2008-2009 Fife School District calendar. Have A Great Summer! On To Second Grade  Outstanding jobs by Hana, Colton, Brendan, and Dylan. They each posted a response to the question of how to survive in Mr. Ritzen's Class. The student responses can be read in the Discussion Section of the website. Click Here to enter the Discussion Section of the website. Throughout the year there will be a weekly discussion question posted in the Discussion Section of the website. The questions usually run from Friday to Friday. I encourage students to go answer the question with their families. It might take a day or two for me to accept your answer and place it on the website. Don't forget to put your name in the top box and enter the letter code at the bottom to make sure I get your answer. May and June Activities Click Below to watch a video about Northwest Trek 
 Click above to play the Click above to play the game Animal Tails game Footprint Detective 
 Northwest Trek is where the bison roam Kayla listens to different canine calls 
 Dylan comes out of a tunnel at the Discovery
Center
Cody examines grizzly bear tracks
Thank you to the below chaperones
that attended the Northwest Trek Field Trip
 Students
will be working with a partner to set-up a model solar system out
on the play field and taking part in a space walk during
the final week of school. We will be using the chart below as our
guide.
Click below to make your own solar system Click below to make your own planet 
 Spring into Summer!
Click Here to view the slide show of our field day fun and of all our previous monthly galleries.  Students recently watched the classic skit by
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello and colored and labeled a baseball
diamond to keep track of all the player. Click
Here for the complete "Who's on First" line-up card. The
students then used their completed baseball fields to play a board
game.
Click Here for the rules.
 Click above to listen to Click above to listen to read "Who's on First" the script "Who's on First" Thank you to all the friends and families that attended our book caucus in May 2009 featuring the top four vote getters from the 2008 Washington Children's Choice Picture Book Award. Click here to view the results from the 2008 Washington Children's Choice Awards. All the students did an outstanding job on their presentations, opinion paragraphs, and campaigning for their book. The evening was a great success. 
 Voters watch the campaign commercials The campaign teams ready their booths 
 Behind campaign alley Naya reads her opinion paragraph about her book 
 Cayden and Cyrus try and get some votes for their teams A voter casts a ballot The Scaredy Squirrel Campaign Team!  Congratulations to Scaredy Squirrel! The winner of the 2009 Discovery Primary Book Caucus. Click Here to view the vote totals.  Click
Here to read some student ideas as to why Scaredy Squirrel
was liked by the voters.Click on each book below to view the 2009 Disovery Primary campaign teams and commercials for each book. First Second (Tie) Second (Tie) Third  
   Students have started learning 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.  John Luther "Casey" Jones (March 14, 1863
– April 30, 1900) was an American railroad engineer from Jackson, Tennessee who worked for
the Illinois Central Railroad
. On April 30, 1900, he alone was killed when his
passenger train collided with a stopped freight train at
Vaughan, Mississippi on a
foggy and rainy night. Casey's actions saved many lives
and made him a folk hero
who became popular
in ballads sung by
his friend Wallace Saunders. Due to the enduring popularity of this classic song, he has
been the world's most famous railroad engineer for over a
century.
 Click above to hear the ballad Click on the train to build of Casey Jones. your own virtual train layout. Paul Bunyan is a mythological lumberjack who appears in tall tales of American folklore. He is usually portrayed as a giant as well as a lumberjack of unusual skill. The character originated in the work of American journalist James MacGillivray who wrote the first Paul Bunyan article in 1906, and an expanded version of the same article for the Detroit News. Historically, the character has been popular in the northern region of the United States, around Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Watch the cartoon below to learn more!
The truth about John
Henry as the strongest man alive is obscured by time and
myth. His most famous feat was said to be when he was able to
tunnel through a mountain faster than a drilling machine. In
truth there was a real John Henry that could be seen hammering
railrod spikes along the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in Talcott
West Virginia.
Below is a tribute comic written as a trbute to John Henry
  Now that spring is upon us, (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 or cheese). Students are learning the importance of exercising their bodies as well as their brains at school.  Colton leads the pack of runners. 
 In the winter, students will learn to master an ancient game The class has begun its study on the ancient game of mancala. Students will got to choose and trade their playing stones and painted their own playing boards. 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.   Cyrus counts his 48 stones for Mancala Kayla paints her Mancala board. Students have practicee the strategies behind the game of Mancala and are participating in a Mancala Madness Tournament at school.    Dylan and Kaimel Oscar and Brendan Mikayla and Nyla (Front) Kayla and Arionne (Back)  Our First Mancala Tournament concluded on April 3rd. Besides learning the strategies behind the math based game, students shake hands and cite the Player Pledge before each match. 1. I will play fairly. 2. I will pick-up what I take out. 3. I will be a good sport. The winner of each tournament will get to take home and keep the tournament board and stones. Click Here for the final results of our second mancala tournament. Kayla went through our second Mancala Madness Tournament undefeated. 
  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
  
  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) 
Attention Parents:Our class will be doing having its spring DIBELS test was on Wednesday, May 27th. Results will be sent home on Thursday, June 4th and included with your student's reading portfolio on the last day of school. Your student will be tested three times (Fall, Winter, and Spring) during the school year using DIBELS (Dynamic Indicator of Basic Early Literacy) developed by the University of Oregon. A report regarding the results will go home with your students after each assessment period. Click Here to get more information regarding the DIBELS and reading expectations for your student this Spring.  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 Students
will be using to write an opinion paper about why a book should get
your vote for our family book caucus night in
May.
Students are using a paragraph planning sheets to help them right a cohesive paragraph. The example below is an example the class did together about why Fruit Gushers make a tasty snack. This is the same form students will be using to organize their thoughts about why their book deserves someone's vote during our book caucus.   Click Here to get a copy of the paragraph planning sheet.  Attention: Keep reading 10 minutes every night (including weekends). As soon as your student completes a recording sheet have him/her bring it in to class. Remember the next goal is to complete four sheets (400 recorded minutes). 
 Colton and Cyrus at the Read and Lead party. Mikayla and Nyla at the Read and Lead party. 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.    Dylan Marissa Brendan  The students latest word slide is to practice the "pr" consonant blend words. 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. 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. Click Here for our up to date class sight word list.   Click on the picture to practice "see and say" words. Click above to play high frequency words hangman online  Students made 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. 
 Naya and Cyrus S. Kayla and Mikayla 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. 
 Dylan and Cayden Cody and Colton Sometimes the students will make a sight word game board to play with a partner. Not only do the students have to read the word on the space that they land on, they also have to use the word in a sentence. Click Here For The Official Rules!  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.  Katya and Cyrus play Roll, Say, Keep 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.
 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.
_______ 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.  on-o-mat-o-poe-ia  hear it
againThe students have been learning about onomatopoeia. Onomatopoeia is a word or grouping of words that imitate the sound they describe.  Click on the dog to go exploring onomatopoeia. Click above to veiw some onomatopoeia posters.  In our Treasures book we read the story Pelican Was Hungry by Jim Arnosky. However, the author did not use onomatopoeia to describe how the pelican spoke. So, the students wrote a story using onomatopoeia about another bird that was hungry and searching for food. Nyla's writing  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. We recently stopped
at Zimbabwe
in Africa and completed our world
tour. The Nations we are visiting are included in the
song listed below. However, the order of our journey is a little
bit different and based on introduction of sounds
spelling in the classroom.
 Alphabet of nations by They Might
Be Giants!
Algeria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Dominica, Egypt, France, The Gambia Hungary, 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.  The students have been learning about the flag of each nation in our alphabet of nations. click on the flags to the left to do some online coloring of nation flags from around the word.  After reading the non-fiction story When You Mail a
Letter, students practiced 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. Hana gives Marissa directions to follow.  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 learning how to collect and compare
data. In the lesson below, students placed ten each of green,
purple, and yellow Unfix Cubes in a paper bag and then took one
handful of cubes without looking and recorded and compared their
results with other students.
 Cyrus P. finishes recording his results Nalida and Mariah compare their results. 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.    Nalida has a good start. Cody searches for his next number. Cyrus P. found what he was looking for.    Students walk until the music stops. Brendan searches for his next card. Nylan found her next card.  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. 
 Samuel uses base ten blocks to count a big number. Nalida organizes her tens and ones.  Click here to practice counting using tens and ones. 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 bottom with Set A and works upwards to Set Z. In December we completed Addition Facts Set Z and then moved on to subtraction. We have currently completed through subtraction facts set Z and have moved on to double digit addition and subtraction with no renaming. 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.
 Sam spreads out this flashcards to check for accuarcy. Kayla hard at work mastering her addition facts. Students are also using 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. 
 A students work with "double check" dots and circles. Colton takes his job of double checking Mikayla's work seriously. Click below to play another math football game Ready, Set, Hike!  Now that football playoff's are here and students
have gotten good at their addition facts, the students 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    Cyrus and Colton Brendan and Oscar Arionne watches Kayla role 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 have also been 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. Dont Forget Our Book Caucus is this Thursday, May 21st starting at 6p.m. Which of the top four vote getters from the 2008 Washington Children’s Choice Awards will win the Discovery Primary Book Caucus on May 21, 2009 starting at 6:00 p.m.? Click Here for a copy of the the invitation. Your student will be working very hard creating a campaign for a special book. Come help all the students celebrate their hard work by taking part in a special process.
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  Our unit on balance and motion moved forward with the construction of mobiles made with index cards, rubber bands, straws, and paper clips. It took a lot of patience and a delicate for the students to make their mobiles balance just right. They are currently hanging up in the classroom on display. 
 Cody got his to balance Nyla carefully constructs her mobile 
 Colton makes his final adjustment Dylan carefully holds up his mobile Mariah works on balancing her mobile 
 
 What's Oscar's trick for balancing his pencil on a craft stick? Simple: He attaches a wire to the pencil and clips on two counterweights. 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.
Cody balances
the flat side of the paper
crayfish. Nalida
balances the tail using
counterweights. Jesus
balances the nose using counterweights.
·
You need force to start a top spinning.
 Nyla
·
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. 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.
 Come and visit our display of 22 new species of butterflies on the wall outside our classroom.
Where's Abe?  This project helps classmates learn about each other. They cancombine photos, drawings, and pictures cut out from magazines to show their interests. The finished project will be hung in the hallway.
 
 There were just little chunks of the pumpkin A piece of pumpkin was put under the The soil that the pumpkin is kept in will to be found on December 7th. classroom microsocpe and magnified 10xs. make for good planting in the spring. The dark spots show the most decaying.  On Tuesday, November 18th, students went through Discovery's annual health screening and had their eyes and hearing tested. Afterwards, students went back to class and learned about dental health and wrote a sentence and made a plaque attack sticker picture. A brushing chart was also sent home for students to keep track of their teeth brushing habits. Click below to play a game! Click below for a brush chart   Happy Thanksgiving!  Click on one of the reading turkeys to
help dress him for Thanksgiving. Students recently made turkey hanging ornaments and and napkin holders. 
 A Gaggle of Turkeys? Mikayla shows off her napkin holder. Fill the Plate! 
 Students made a Thanksgiving game to take home for the holiday. Click on the turkey for a copy of the official rules After reading some poems that were written in our Treasures Antholgy students learned 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. Click Here to write you own acrostic poem online. 
When it is cold It is icy Near Christmas T is a snowman Except for puddles Rainy days ahead Click below for information on the Peking Acrobats.  Thank you to the following chaperones that attended the Peking Acrobats performance with us at the Pantages Theatre in January. The show was amazing! If you did not get to go on this trip, you will have priority to chaperone on our spring field trip.  Brendan's writing about the field trip. Our class annually does
a presentation during our Martin Luther King
Jr. Celebration assembly. The class will work hard
to prepare to honor a great man. Click on the pictures below
to view the PowerPoint presentation from last
year.
100th Day of school was February 12th  Once a year on the 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.  Brendan   Cayden   Marissa   Students also
brought 100 items to school. The students then found 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. Mikayla groups her marbles  Our Valentine’s card exchange was on Friday, February 13th .    Nyla P.J. Samuel  Click on the heart above to write a valentine using connecting words (because/and)
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.
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Johnny
Appleseed was a legendary American who planted and supplied apple
trees to much of the United States of America. Although
throughout the years the stories of Johnny Appleseed have been
exaggerated, he was a real person.
Working with a partner to practice a skill
or check for accuracy in our work is a big part of a classroom
system. To the left are Sam S. and Nalida practicing
some letter sounds and blending that they wrote down during our
sound spelling dictation. A sample of student sound
spelling and blending is shown below.
Students have
moved from writing on guided paper to writing in journals.
Take A Telling Time Quiz!
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.
Some of the things we will find out about spinning
and rolling objects are:
Look out Below! Students learning about
parachutes.
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. 
Speaking of Science, our classroom microscope station will
be open for business. One of our first activities 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. Students will get to take
home a card with the picture of the back of a penny at
60x. 
Rights and Responsibilities of
room #211 
October 6th through 10th was fire safety week 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. 
In science, students will be monitoring
the process of a decomposing pumpkin. Students poked the
pumpkin and already found signs of darkening and softening.
The students will check on the changes with the pumpkin eventually
being broken down and mixed with soil to be used for planting in
the spring. 
February 2nd was Groundhog's Day
