Community Day Updates

May 30, 2020

Hello everyone! This coming week will be the last virtual community day. We will be playing games and just hanging out with each other. I am planning on doing a scavenger hunt and a read my lips game. I also encourage your child to dress up, whether it be fancy, in a costume, whatever! It's a celebration and should be fun!

If you have not yet signed up for a conference time via Sign Up Genius, please do so ASAP! Make sure to note if you prefer phone or zoom. Also if you would like to have your child assessed for growth please let me know as soon as possible so I can schedule that with you! Take care and have a wonderful weekend.

Here is the link. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0445AFAF23A6FB6-endofyear

May 20, 2020

I have created a sign up genius for end of year conferences. Here is the link. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0445AFAF23A6FB6-endofyear

Also OFS would like to feature student artwork on our facebook page. If you child as created something and you'd like to have it featured please email me a photograph and I will submit it!

May 18, 2020

Hello everyone! I can't believe the school year is almost over! What a strange year it has been. Conferences will be help via zoom or phone call in June. If you started the year with OFS and would like and end of year assessment done on your child to see how much growth they have made please contact me to set up a time! Hope you are all well!

REMINDER! Please label all of our student's items (backpacks, water bottles, lunch boxes, jackets) so they can be easily returned if lost!

May 7, 2020

Hello wonderful families. My apologize for not updating last week. This week I started talking to the kids about the 7 Habits of Heathy Kids. This is a wonderful book that teachings great life skills. I'll be finished out the school year reading stories from this book and adding a follow up activity slide after each story.

I had some technical issues this week. The ability to share from my ipad mysteriously disappeared! I had to zoom from my computer which is very very different. My apologys if there was any confusion caused from this.

I can not believe the school year is almost over. It saddens me that I will not get to send your kids off to first grade in person. In the next few weeks I will be setting up conferences to be done virtually. I can also offer end of year assessments virtually should you want to know how much growth your child has made this school year. Take care and enjoy the sunshine! Oh and HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY on Sunday!

Teacher's pay Teacher's is a wonderful site full of units created by educators. Many of the units I teach use resources from this site. I have created a class fund page, if you would like to make a donation click on the link below.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/ClassFund/Ms-Chris-5606?utm_campaign=ClassFund%20Page

April 20, 2020

Hello! The weather has been so beautiful lately! I hope you are all able to get outside and enjoy the sunshine. This week I will be reading Pete the Cat: I love my White Shoes. I've emailed you all supplemental activities that go along with the story as well as this weeks phonemic awareness lessons. If you do not have a printer at home and would like some of the things I am sending please email me and I would be happy to print them for you. Have a lovely week and hug your kids for me!

April 10, 2020

Hello Everyone! I hope this finds you all healthy. I am so excited that the sun has finally decided to shine! It makes being stuck at home much more bearable when we can be outside in the yard! We finished up Dr. Seuss this week, and for the next three weeks I will be reading Pete the Cat stories and sharing activities to go along with them. Since we are not returning to school, we've decided to not move into our life cycles unit (which is such a magical unit when it can be done in person). Instead we will be discussing healthy habits... more on that later. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Give hugs to your kids from me! Take care.

April 7, 2020

Hello Everyone,

Due to privacy issues I have to remove the zoom codes from this website. Please write them down or print out the message I sent via email. The codes and class times should remain the same for the remainder of the school year. Sorry for any inconvenience. Hope you are all safe and healthy! Hug your kids for me! I miss them so much!

April 2, 2020

Hello! It was so lovely seeing all the kids via zoom this week. My heart hurts with how much I miss them. I hope you are all staying sane and healthy. Please reach out if you need ANYTHING from me (extra work, a phone call to your child, an individual zoom meeting). Next week I will be finishing up Dr. Seuss with the Book One Fish, Two Fish. I will be emailing out supplemental activities that go with the story on Monday along with the weeks phonemic awareness activities. There will also be an example of an art project at the end of the slide show that you can do at home. Below are the zoom links and times for next week. Take care. I will be opening the zoom meetings15 minutes early from now on so that the kids have time to visit with each other (and me) before I start the lesson.

March 20, 2020

Thank you to everyone who logged in and participated in our Zoom classes this week. It was awesome to see all the smiling faces! Next week we are off for spring break, but we will resume classes on March 30th.

Here are the zoom links and times for classes:

• Ms. Chris (0900) zoom number 189 250 901
• Ms. Victoria (0930) zoom number 646 021 0137
• Ms. Michelle PE (1100) zoom number 767 360 8369
• Ms. Tammy Music (1130) zoom number 508-980-7309

Stay safe and healthy! I'll be around so please reach out if you need anything at all!

March 15, 2020

Hello everyone! Just an FYI I will be doing a 0900 zoom session on each of your community days this week. I will be reading Fox in Socks and have some activites to go along with it. I've emailed you all this weeks phonemic awareness lesson plan. I hope that you will do this with your child each day at home.

PE will be doing Zoom session at 10:15 each day and can be accessed with the code 767 360 8369.

Music will occur at 11:00 each day and can be accessed with the code 189 108 569 passcode 340873.

Some fun websites to check out while we are out of school are:

• Gonoodle.com
• suessville.com
• scholastic.com/learnathome
• mysteryscience.com

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need anything at all! I am here to support each and every one of you! Take care!

March 13, 2020

It is with great saddness that I inform you that there will be no community days for the rest of this month. I am going to miss all of the kids terribly during this time off. Please continue with school as usual at home, and update your portfolios weekly.

I will be offering a couple of short Zoom classes while we are unable to meet. I will continue sharing Dr. Seuss books and activities, do our daily phonemic awareness exersizes and add in some math lessons. I will also try to share resources that you may enjoy throughout this time. The details are still being worked on as to what time classes will be offered each day, but as soon as I have the details I will share them with you.

We had a ton of fun last week with our Dr. Seuss activities. Please enjoy these pictures from Tuesday and Wednesday classes.

March 8, 2020

Hello wonderful families. I apologize for being off the grid for a while. I was hit pretty hard with allergies. Today is the first day I feel somewhat human, though I am still sneezing like crazy!

Hope you all rememebered to set your clocks forward!

Next week we will continue our author's study, and continue to enjoy the works of Dr. Seuss.

Sign ups for the March 13th field trip are set up. I will be attending the morning sessions at BRG. Hope to see some of you there!

Reminder there is no school the week of March 23'd. Enjoy your Spring Break!

February 29, 2020

Happy Leap Year Day everyone! I can't belive how fast this year is flying by. We had a great week last week learning a bit about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. During the month of March we will be doing an authors study on Dr. Seuss. It should be a super fun unit for the kiddos! There will be a field trip in March too, so keep your eye out for locations.

This week 3 students earned their letter name and sounds trophy. Congratulations to Asa, Griffin, and Finnley. I am so proud of you and how hard you are working!

February 21, 2020

Thank you everyone who met with me for conferences! I have spoken with 99% of you so that is a fantastic result. Don't worry 1%, I'm still planning to meet with you too! :-)

Next week we will finish out February by discussing President's Day and learning a bit about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. We also have big buddies, and will be working on life sized portraits! In March we start our authors study of Dr. Suess. It should be a fun month!

Ms. Sarah is starting a “Friendship Club” for K-5 kids after school on Thursdays. It runs from 2:45-3:45, kids will play games, do projects, and have fun while making friends and learning about what it means to be a friend (sharing, compassion, listening, etc.). Anyone is welcome! A link to sign up went out earlier in the week if you are interested.

Enjoy this lovely weather ya'll! Have a fantastic weekend.

February 14, 2020

Happy Valentine's day wonderful families! We had a great week celebrating the 100th day and Valentine's day. Thank you everyone who contributed.

Reminder, there are NO classes next week due to parent/teacher conferences! We will be discussing President's Day when classes resume after conference week.

If you are planning to have your child drop in to one of the afterschool clubs, Sarah Guilfoy needs to be informed at least 24 hours in advance (so that she can prepare). Please email her directly at sarah.guilfoy@oregonfamilyschool.com as she is the person coordinating the After School Program.

February 7, 2020

This week is sure to be a fun-filled one! We will be celebrating both the 100th day of school (which officially is Feb. 12th) and Valentine's Day! Class list's are located in last weeks update.

Next week is conference week. I look forward to meeting with you all (those I haven't already met with). Reminder there are NO community days next week.

School begins at 9:00 each day and ends at 2:30. Please do not drop off your child early or pick up your child late unless you have made arrangements with your teacher. This is often a time of day when we are prepping and/or meeting with parents or other staff members.

January 16, 2020

Hello wonderful families. This week we continued to study animals in winter and focused on hibernation. Next week we will take a break from that study to focus on Martin Luther King Jr.

It is cold and flu season. Please do not sent your child to school if he/she has a temperature. If your child has been ill, they must be fever free for 24 hours before returning to school. Thank you for your support on this!

In honor of the upcoming 100th day of school I am asking your child to do a little "homework" assignment. I would like the students to compile and share 100 collections. You can get some great ideas via pinterest. Please send in their 100 collection the week of the Feb.10th. We will also be exchanging Valentine's that week. This will occur at the end of the day. I will post class lists at the beginning of February.

Most of you have signed up for conferences. If you have not yet signed up please do so as soon as possible as slots are filling up!

Stay safe and warm this weekend. There is no school on Monday in honor of MLK day!

January 10, 2020

It was so great to see all the smiling faces this week! I truly missed your kids so much over break, and it is so wonderful to be back at work. As most of you've seen, I have set up a sign up genius for February parent teacher conferences. There will be no community days the February 18-21, but your child is still expected to school at home. If you have not get signed up for a slot, please do so ASAP. I will also attach a link at the end of this update.

Next week we will continue our animals in winter unit and will be focusing on hibernation. I will also be continuing with mid-year asssessments.

February 12th is the 100th day of school. Valentine's day also falls during that week. We will be celebrating the 100th day during community days that week and will end the day with a Valentine's exchange. I will post class lists as the date approaches.

Don't forget to upload to your portfolio if you have not already. Have a safe and wonderful weekend. We are suppose to get a lot of snow!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0445afaf23a6fb6-midyear

January 5, 2020

Happy New Year and happy new decade wonderful families! I hope you all had a restful and wonderful break. I am excited to get back to work and see all of the kids smiling faces!

This month we will begin midyear dibels assessments. These are the same assessments we did at the start of the year and it is simply to check for growth in your student. Results will be discussed during conferences in February.

We are also beginning an animals in winter unit this month. We will be discussing adaptation, migration, and hibernation. It should be a fun unit. Here are a few wish list items we can use for this unit and for our classroom in general:

• mini marshmellos
• toothpicks
• glue sticks
• white tempra paint
• markers

Random item: I have a tape dispenser that is very glittery. It has gone missing from my classroom. In the event that it accidently ended up with a student will you please return it to the classroom: Thank you :-)

Lastly, just a reminder to regularly upload to your child's portfolio again starting this week. I look forward to seeing you all on your community day! Take care!

December 15, 2019

Thank you for your patience. I had a busy weekend taking care of personal items and then judging at the regional bouldering competition. This is the last week of school before break. I can't believe it. I am going to miss the kids so much! We are hoping to do a book exchange this week. Please send in a wrapped, gender neutral book for this. If we do not get enough books, then we will have to cancel this event, but we hope not to!

My class has big buddies this week. We will be doing an art project with Ms. Zoe's class. Should be fun!

We are also hoping to finish out our study of all the different gingerbread stories by decorationg cookies at the end of the day. We will not allow the kids to consume the cookies during class, but if there are any issues with your child touching gluten please let me know! I hope you all had a safe and wonderful weekend. See you soon!

December 13, 2019

I apologize for the inconvenience, but today was very busy for me. I will be updating the website in detail by Sunday. Please check back!

December 6, 2019

Hello Everyone! We had a great week in our new classroom. I think that the kids really enjoy the new space, and several of you have commented on how much you like it. If you haven't had a chance to pop your head in please feel free to do so!

Saturday at 12:00 in downtown Bend is the annual Christmas Parade. OFS will have a float in the parade. If you can make it, come downtown and show your support!

The last week of school before the winter break we would like to have a book exchange with the kids. If you would all bring in one wrapped gender neutral book, that would be wonderful. If possible please bring your book to the next community day! Some favorites among the kiddos are Pete the Cat, No David books, Mo Willems books, Dr. Seuss, etc.

We also plan to do a gingerbread man cookie decorating activity the last week. I know several kids have food intolerances. Please let me know if your child is one of them.

Don't forget to upload to your child's portfolio! After a week off of school, I thought I should send a reminder about that. :-)

Congratulaion to Ben for earning his letter names and sounds trophy this week! We are so proud of you!

December 1, 2019

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving week and enjoyed the snow! My week was mostly spent moving and setting up the new classroom, which is coming along nicely! If any of you have outside toys that you are no longer using and would like to donate, we would be happy to take them off your hands!

UPDATE: The Foundational Literacy class that was meant to start tomorrow is postponed until next week. We currently are without heat, and the propane wont be filled until sometime tomorrow. I apologize for the inconvenience, and look forward to starting this up next week!

This week in commuity day we will be starting a unit studying the various versions of the Gingerbread Man books. It should be a lot of fun! I have a variety of math and literacy activities planned to support this mini unit.

Finally, I would like to congratulate Greyson on earning his letter names and sounds trophy! Way to go!

November 19, 2019

I emailed this letter today, but wanted to post it on here as well..

Dear Wonderful Families,

We are excited to announce that the Kindergarten and K/1 classes will be moving into the blue house on campus property after the Thanksgiving break. We will be sharing a space which will allow us the opportunity to team-teach and level instruction more effectively. There may be some minor changes to the daily schedule but for the most part it will remain the same. Moving to the house allows us to have a classroom that can and will celebrate our students and their achievements. We will not have to put up and take down each week. We will be able to hang student work up on the walls, giving the kids more ownership over their learning environment. We are committed to making this transition as seamless as possible. Please do not hesitate to ask any questions or voice any concerns.

Warmly,

Ms. Chris

November 15, 2019

Hello wonderful families! This week we continued to talk about Veteran's day and the different branches of the military. We will move into more Thanksgiving things next week. Next week is the last week of school before our break, so we will be having Big Buddies. I know the kids will be so excited!

In a couple of weeks the kindergarten classroom will be moving into the blue house that is located on the campus property. The K/1 class will also be moving. We anticipate doing more team teaching once we are situated, and are very excited to have a classroom that will reflect our students and their learning (meaning we can hang things on the wall!)

If you have not yet had a chance to check out Lexia, I encourage you to do so. It is a fun and engaging program for the kids that will help support your child's learning and growth as a reader. Let me know if you need any help.

Finally a huge congratulations to Sophia, Truett, Abigail, Callahan, Elijah, Marcus, Peter, Gabriel, Liam, and Nico for knowing all of their letter names and sounds!

November 5. 2019

My apologies for not updating the website last week. It was a busy week of conferencing. It was a pleasure to meet with each and every one of you and touch base on your child's growth and learning.

This week we began discussing Veteran's Day. We are discussing what a Veteran is, why they are so important, and briefly touching on the 5 branches of the armed services. The kids are creating a flag to hang in your window at home to show support for our Veteran's. Next week we will continue to talk about Veteran's Day, and begin to discuss the Thanksgiving holiday too.

We are focusing on 2D and 3D shapes this month. If you have the opportunity try and reinforce this by using terminology such as sphere when talking about a ball, cyclinder when having a can of sparkling water, cone- what better way than with icecream, and cube when discussing anything box shaped.

So many kids know or almost know all their letter names and sounds. To celebrate this I will be giving the kids trophies when they mastered these skills. It is a fun way to celebrate learning and earn a trophy!

If you are using Lexia (which I hope you are-because it's a great program) please let me know how you and your child are liking it (or disliking). If you want a parent account and I haven't set one up for you, please contact me and I will.

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

October 25, 2019

We wrapped up our unit on apples and pumpkins this week. Unfortunately I forgot to bring in the apple sauce I made, so we did not get to taste test the sauce...oh-well!

The kids had a great time with their big buddies this week. They got to know each other a bit more by completing a buddy book. Hopefully your found this in your child's backpack.

Next week there is no community day. Thank you everyone for signing up for a conference time. I have 100% of my families signed up, which is very very nice. I look forward to speaking with you all soon. When we resume community days in November we will be switching over to focus more on social studies and will specifically be covering Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

October 18, 2019

We had a wonderful time this week tasting apples and carving our class pumpkins. It was so fun to see what apple the kids preferred. It turns out that the majority of the kids preferred the golden delicious apples to any other! Next week we will be taste testing apple sauce. I will be making homemade applesause this weekend for the kids. If you do not want your child to participate in this taste testing please let me know.

Next week we we will be meeting with our big buddies from Ms. Zoe's class again in the afternoon. The kids will be completing a book together to learn about each other.

Thank you to everyone who signed up for conferences! Just a reminder there is no community day during conference week.

The weather is turning cold. Please make sure you send your child to school with a jacket as we do go outside every day. Please write your child's name inside the jacket as our lost and found is already huge!

Have a wonderful weekend!

October 11, 2019

Boy was I spoiled this week! Our class got a ton of apples donated from many of you, a pumpkin for each community day, and CHOCOLATE for me! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Next week we will be taste testing apples, doing sink/ float experiments, and carving pumpkins.

Parent/Teacher Conferences are the last week of this month. Here is the link to sign up: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0445AFAF23A6FB6-parentteacher

There will be no community day's during conference week. If you would like an activity packet to work on that week please let me know.

Have a safe, happy, and warm weekend!

October 4, 2019

In community day this week we had a wonderful time learning about the life cycle of a pumpkin in preparation for today's field trip to the pumpkin patch. The kids did a wonderful job with the crafts, and had a blast making their silly pumpkins for art! Next week will will transition into apples and will focus on them for the next couple of weeks. We will be doing a TON of apple activities including, taste testing, making apple sauce, measuring ourselves with apples, seeing if apples sink or float, patterning, and even making an apple volcano. I am in need of apple donations so if you can send in some red, green, and yellow apples please let me know, I would greatly appreciate it! Also if you are against having your child taste test the apples and apple sauce please message me so that I can comply with your wishes.

I am sad that I will not be at the pumpkin patch today. I wil be leading the Misery Ridge hike at Smith Rock. If any parents want to pick up a pumpkin to donate to our class that too would be appreciated.

Reminders: Picture day is coming up.

Don't forget to upload to your child's portfolio.

FYI: Parent/Teacher conferences are scheduled to occur at the end of this month. I will be setting up a sign up genius to schedule with you all, so be on the lookout for that in the near future.

September 27, 2019

This week we finished up our unit on community helpers. The kids did a great job identifying important people in the community. Next week we will switch our focus to the life cycle of a pumpkin in preparation for the pumpkin patch field trip on Friday Oct. 4th. During the month of October we will be focusing on pumpkins, apples, how leaves change, and the changing of the seasons. We will also continue working on shapes, patterns, numbers 1-10, and directional awareness.

Most of the About Me posters have been shared so if your child would like to bring in something to share each week they are more than welcome. Just remember it needs to be something they are learning about at home or something they proudly earned (like a trophy) etc. Please do not send in toys for share time.

I sent home envelopes for picture day this week. If I did not hand one directly to you please check your child's backpack.

Donations: I am looking for help collecting red, green, and yellow apples starting October 8th. If you are able to donate apples please let me know! I am also hoping to get a pumpkin donation for each class (3 pumpkins total). These will be used for STEAM activities.

I look forward to checking out all your portfolio's this week! Thank you everyone for being so great about getting your portfolio's update each week. I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and if we really do get snow, keep warm!

September 19, 2019

What a great second week of school. The kids are already learning the routines and getting along so well. There have been a lot of tired kids at the end of each day, but I imagine their stamina will improve as the year progresses.

We did several activies this week involving community helpers, and will continue our community study next week but with more of a focus on family.

I am SUPER excited to announce that my class will be teaming up with Ms. Zoe's class once per month for big buddies. The kids will read books together and do small projects together. I think it is so great for the kindergartener's to have older kids as role models. Big buddie's will occur the last full week of each month at 12:30. This coming week will be our first meeting with Ms. Zoe's class.

Finally, a HUGE thank you to ALL of you for posting to your child's portfolio's. There were some hiccups, but we seemed to work through several of them. I had a chance to look through each child's portfolio. You will notice that I will comment each week on something. TOMORROW is the next day to update. Some of you sent updates today, which is great! I look forward to seeing everything your kids are doing at home.

I hope you all have a safe and wonderful weekend. See you next week!

September 12, 2019

Tomorrow is the day you should be uploading to your child(ren)s portfolio file. I have shared these with each of you. If you are having trouble accessing their file please let me know ASAP, as this is what we will use for the entire school year. If you do not upload to your child's file, you will get a friendly reminder from me to do so. This is a requirement of homeschooling so please make sure you upload each week!

The information I posted previously on accessing the Epic website is only free during school hours. If you try to log on after school hours they ask you to pay for a subscription. Also I guess the class page I tried to create does not show up, so just choose your child's animae pic from the main page and go from there. The kindergartener's all have 2 log in pictures because initially they were not added to Epic, so I manually added them and the school did as well. Just choose one log in photo and use that for the year. I will try and see how to delete the additional profile as soon as possible.

Next week we will begin our community helper's unit of study. This is a great time to visit a fire station, police station, library, etc.... Also if any of you want to come in and talk about your job, we would welcome you as a guest teacher to inform us about what you do! If you would like to be a guest teacher please send me an email or text and we can make arrangements!

I want to extend a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who donated supplies to our classroom. Your support is SO appreciated. I am so excited about the school year! It was so fun catching a glimpse of your child's personality this week, and I look forward to getting to know them more and more as the year progresses!

I hope you all have a safe, fun , and relaxing weekend!

Warmly,

Ms. Chris

September 9, 2019

Hello! I am so excited for this week! I can't wait to start working with you and your kids. This week we will be doing Chicka Chicka Boom Boom focused activities as we learn the rules and procedures and get to know each other. Also, I realize that many of you did not start school officially last week. So this week everyone will need to upload their weekly summary and photo-documentation on Friday. I will be reviewing these and will send friendly reminders if I do not get your post. Make sure you are checking the website each week for updates and don't forget to label your child's belongings! See you all this week!

September 4, 2019

Hello everyone! You should have all recieved an invitation from me to access your childs portfolio file. This is the first week that you need to upload your summary and photo-documentation of learning. I created a file under your child's name labled "week 1" please upload this weeks files to that folder and then in the future you should be able to create folders under you child's name for each week of school (week 2, week 3, etc) to document evidence of learning . This NEEDS to be done weekly for accountability as mandated by the state of Oregon. If you have any questions about this please let me know. I am so excited for next week and hope you and your child(ren) are too!

Next week is the soft start week. You should have all recieved an email from the school with the schedule. The morning group will meet in their teachers room from 9-9:15 before moving on to other stations. The afternoon group will meet from 12-12:15 in their teachers room before moving on. This allows the kids to once again visit their classroom.

I have sent everyone an invitation to share you child's portfolio file, so that you can easily update it each week. Some of you have not been able to open it because you do not have a gmail account. I've changed the settings and you SHOULD be able to accesss it now. If not, please text or email me and let me know. I look forward to seeing you all soon!