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June 19:
YOU MADE IT!!!!!!! Today is the last day of new "lessons". Since Father's Day is Sunday, there is a cute Seesaw for you to make for your Dad or "Dad-like" person. There is also a field day collection of activities. I sugges that you do a few of the field day activities every day until you've had enough. These cannot be done in one day. I hope everyone enjoys Father's Day wtih their loved ones, and have a happy weekend too!
Don't forget:
1-We will meet one last time on Microsoft teams today at 10:00am.
2-I will be driving around to my students homes to deliver goodies and certifiates on Monday between 10 and 12.
3-The school's goodbye wave will be on Thursday, June 25th between 9 and 10:30AM. I attached the letter from the principal below.
June 18:
Welcome to Thursday! Today's virtual field trip is to Disney! YAY! These trips are so much fun, and I hope you are enjoying them as much as I did! I am loving your writing and pictures in Seesaw about all the things you are learning about. One more day to go everyone!
Don't forget, Friday, June 19 at 10:00am, we will meet on Microsoft Teams one more time as a class. I hope to see many little faces!
In addition, don't forget that on Monday, I will be driving around Highland delivering summer goodies and certificates to all my students. I can't wait to see everyone, socially distant, of course. Please remember, I cannot stay to talk, only to drop gifts and say goodbye for summer. I feel like Santa!
June 17:
Happy Wednesday! Today's virtual field trip adventure is all about the Beach! Have fun and don't worry about getting sunburn on your virtual trip...LOL! Let me know if you need anything. I am working on sending out emails with the summer letter and Zearn information.
June 16:
Happy Tuesday! I hope you enjoyed your Space virtual field trip yesterday. Today's adventure is all about Camping! Have fun and enjoy!
My colleagues and I have worked hard on getting you all information for Summer Learning. Below my post is a letter that I will continue to share on my feed for ease of access. It lists resources and things to do with your child to avoid "summer slump". I highly recommend working on these areas over summer to keep your child ready for school to begin. There is a new tab titled "Summer Learning" on the left side of my webpage. It has all the resources listed in the summer letter. Other resources you may want to access are still listed under "Parent Resources" and "My Links". Feel free to use what you need over the summer. It will remain available to all my students and families.
Please let me know if you need help with anything. Thanks for all you do!
June 15:
Welcome back to our last week of lessons! I hope you all enjoy the virtual field trips we have planned for you this week. They are really cool!
I am working on a tab on my webpage for summer things. These links will come in handy over the summer, since our Seesaw and Happy Numbers accounts will end. I highly encourage everyone to check in and do a little school work here and there to prevent summer slide, especially with the detrimental year we've had. Let me know if you have questions or need help.
We will have our last reading group meetings on Microsoft Teams this week. Please have a pencil or crayon and paper to write with. I also wanted to remind everyone that on Friday, June 19th, we will have our last whole class Microsoft Teams meeting at 10:00am. THIS IS A NEW MEETING TIME FOR EVERYONE! Please try to log in so the kiddos can say goodbye to our class. See you there!
June 12:
Happy Friday Everyone! You made it through our last "big" week of plans and learning. You still amaze me daily, and I can't thank you enough for keeping up.
Posted underneath my commentary is an infomational letter from the principals of our building about our special Goodbye Wave and Technology drop off. Please take the time to read, and I truly hope to see all of you there to wave and smile at eachother one more time.
Next week we will be taking virtual field trips! These are SO MUCH FUN, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. Each day will be a different "trip" (space, camp, beach, Disney). On Friday, there will be a special Father's Day activity as well as our virtual Field Day! I will also post these virtual field trips here, so you can access them outside of Seesaw during summer break if you wish.
Have a fantastic Friday, and I will catch up with you on Monday for our last week of "learning". Have a wonderful weekend!
June 11:
Hi Folks and Friends! Today, there is only one assignment. You will be working on a Kindergarten Memory Book today. It's really cute and parents can even print it out (if you have a printer) and save it forever. Have fun!
June 10:
Welcome to Wednesday! I hope everyone is doing well so far through our week. Please let me know if you need anything.
June 9:
Hi everyone! Yesterday, the Superintendant sent a district message to all of the families in Highland that our last day of "new instruction" will be on June 19th. We will be using the week of June 22-26 for making up any missed work. We will not have group meetings the week of June 22-26. The last day of school is June 26th. If you have any questions, please let me know.
In light of these changes, I would like to have our "last" class meeting on Friday, June 19th at 10:00 am. This is a whole group meeting for the kids to chat a bit about summer plans/activities and say goodbye for the summer as a class. Please try to log in for this last meeting together.
I will still be delivering end of the year goodies/certificates to everyone on June 22nd. If you have not replied to my email with your information, please do. I am working on making up a route for efficient delivery. Once I have all my information gathered, I can set up a timeframe for deliveries, and let you all know.
Have a great day and have fun learning today!
June 8:
Happy Monday Friends! I hope you all had a great weekend. We will start to wind down towards the end of this week, and the last two weeks of remote learning will be fun things. Let me know if you need anything. If you haven't checked in with me about June 22nd, please email me your address you will be at on that date. Thanks everyone!
June 5:
Happy Friday folks! Let me know if you need anything. Enjoy your weekend too!
June 4:
Hi Everyone! Welcome to Thursday. Today's math lesson is super fun. You will learn how to measure with your hands! I can't wait to see your work. Let me know if you need anything. I am always here for you! Miss you!
June 3:
Watch out...There are sharks about! Have fun learning about sharks today! They are very neat but very dangerous sea creatures. I can't wait to read your facts!
Don't forget that Groups 5, 6, and 7 will meet on Microsoft Teams today! See you there!
June 2:
Welcome to Tuesday! I hope everyone had a great day of learning on Monday. I loved all your work that I received in Seesaw. Thank you to those that came to say goodbye to Scarlett. It was very sweet.
Don't forget that Groups 1, 2, 3, and 4 will have Microsoft Teams meetings today to go over our book. See you there! Have a fun Tuesday!
June 1:
Welcome back to a new week, and it's a new month too! Happy June! I know a lot of people are feeling burn-out from remote learning, but I have your light at the end of the tunnel. We will only have two more weeks of official lessons/work, and then, the last two weeks will be virtual field trips and field day activities! FUN STUFF!!!!!!
I also wanted to let you all know that I will be trying to organize a way to get my special "end of year goodies" to my students (socially distant of course). Please watch for an email from me that will have more information about that. I also need to confirm addresses and/or if you will be around that last week of school.
Don't forget that we will have a class meeting at 10:00 am today, to say goodbye to Scarlett. I also plan on having another one towards the last few days of school to say "happy summer" and let everyone see eachother one more time. I hope everyone can make it. Keep your eyes on watch for a date and time for that. Have a great week of learning, and as always, let me know if you need help. Miss you!
May 29:
Happy Friday! It's hard to believe that May is done. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone working so hard to maintain school, on top of working from home or being an essential worker. I truly appreciate all you do for your children and communities. Sending you all lots of love.
Since it's Friday, you can take a break if your work is done, and breathe. If you are looking for more, visit our special area pages located on the "my links" tab on my website. See you all Monday at 10:00 am on Microsoft Teams for our class meeting to say goodbye to Scarlett as she moves. If you want to say something special or show her a picture you made, you will have a turn to share then. Have a happy weekend!
May 28:
Hi Friends! If you haven't seen our butterfly release video on Seesaw, check it out. This was their first overnight in nature. Very exciting! In our plans today, there is a wonderful Nature Scavenger Hunt. It looks like so much fun, and I can't wait to see what you all find! The story for today, Rosie's Walk, is also a fantastic story that I know you will love. Enjoy today!
May 27:
How is it Wednesday already! Wow, this week is flying by. Today is the day we will say "be free" to our butterflies. I will video their release after my reading groups in the late morning, and post to Seesaw for you. I know it's a little sad saying "bye" to the butterflies, but it's exciting for them. Just think, maybe there will be more butterflies around here soon! Have fun with your learning and amazing work!
May 26:
Welcome back to a new week! I hope everyone got a chance to get out in the great weather we had this weekend. Here are a few updates:
There will not be a book on Seesaw for guided reading this week. We will still have our group meetings on Tuesday or Wednesday (depending on your group). I am going to teach a phonics lesson in our group meetings. Book assignments for guided reading will resume next monday, June 1.
We now have 4 butterflies! I have posted a video to Seesaw for everyone. I am thinking of setting them free on Wednesday. Unfortunately, we can't keep them long. They need to have some sort of life out in nature, as their life span isn't long. I will be sure to video the release of the butterflies and post that to Seesaw as well.
For math, we are starting a new unit on measurement. This week is measuring length/height. Next week will be measuring weight, and after that will be measuring capacity. This is a fun unit!
See everyone in our meetings! (Don't forget that we have a special goodbye for Scarlett on Teams on June 1 at 10:00am.) Miss you! Keep up the great work!
Butterfly Update May 22: We have one butterfly! WooooHOOOOO! There is a video of it on Seesaw. I am now in butterfly babysitting mode until they all come out safely. I will keep you all posted asap if more butterflies emerge this weekend. Enjoy!
May 22:
Happy Fun Friday! Remember, use today as a catch-up day or, if you finished your work, use today to relax and rejuvenate. Reminder: School will not be in "session" on Monday in observance of Memorial Day. We will resume daily lessons and group meetings on Teams on Tuesday. Enjoy your extra day "off".
If I see any butterfly development over the weekend, I will put it in Seesaw for everyone to see. Miss you all!
May 21:
Keep up the fantastic work this week everyone! I am absolutely loving all the retelling videos/messages in Seesaw. No new news on the chrysalis events. They usually emerge within 7-10 days of going in to their chrysalis, so we should see action in a few days. Keep up the super star work, and I miss you all!
(We will not have any lesson plans posted, or office hours on Monday, May 25 in observance of Memorial Day. Enjoy the no school work day, and remember those who have given all for us.)
May 20:
Wednesday Welcomes! Your work this week is amazing! I am so proud of all of you and your parents teaching you at home. I thank all of you for working so hard during these still trying times.
Don't forget that Groups 5, 6, and 7 will meet on Teams today. Log in at your team time for a live lesson. It's been wonderful to "see" the kids this way. Keep up the fantastic work!
May 19:
Happy Tuesday! I am loving all the Blue Whale facts and writing I am getting in Seesaw! Keep up the great work! Don't forget, Groups 1, 2, 3, and 4 will meet today on Microsoft Teams for their guided reading lessons. Please try to look at the book in Seesaw before you join.
No new developments with our chrysalis stage. The caterpillars/chrysalis are very quiet, but working hard inside of their protective sleeping bag. They will come out as butterflies in about a week. We are so excited!
May 18:
Welcome back to a new week everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend! Don't forget, please watch your guided reading video in Seesaw before our guided reading lesson on Teams. The schedule for each group remains the same. If you aren't sure of your child's day or time for Teams, please email me and I can let you know.
I put a new video of our chrysalis' moving into their net habitat on Seesaw...I have to find a safe place to hang the net...I have 4 cats! I'll try to keep you posted about development. For now, the little guys are doing a lot of work in their chrysalis. I love that the children are loving this project, even from afar. I miss you all!
May 15:
Happy Catch up Friday! All but one of our caterpillars are in a chrysalis, and the one that isn't is heading towards that stage very soon. This is so cool to watch, and I'm happy everyone is enjoying the updates on our "class pets". Keep checking in to Seesaw for new updates. I will try to get some up over the weekend too, so you don't miss any new action.
If you haven't picked up your student belongings at the school yet, there is word that there will be one more chance. I just don't know when that is yet. Keep your eyes on your email for something from the district or elementary school. They may robo-call as well.
Have a happy weekend! It looks like nice weather for OUTSIDE activities! YAY!!!! Just remember, be safe! I miss you all!
May 14:
Happy Thursday friends! I have been very busy helping hand out bags at the school, so I'm sorry if I wasn't available right away. It's all done now, so I am around if you need help. Have fun with your learning today! I'm very impressed with all of the writing, reading, math, and videos I'm seeing in Seesaw! Such fantastic stuff! I'll put up another video of our caterpillars too. Enjoy!
May 13:
Welcome to Wednesday! Enjoy your reading today...it's one of our old favorites! I'll put up a caterpillar update for today too.
May 12:
We have caterpillars!! I made a video and assigned it to everyone in Seesaw today so we can all see the caterpillars doing their favorite thing: EATING! They are bigger than normal, and will be ready to change to chrysalis very soon. I'll post videos daily if I can to show progress for the kiddos. This is so exciting!
Don't forget: Groups 1, 2, 3, and 4 have a guided reading Microsoft Teams meeting today. Group 5, 6, and 7 have Teams meetings tomorrow. I can't wait to see everyone and try to have a group lesson, like old times....well, kind of. We will have these meetings every week, unless notified otherwise.
Enjoy your learning today!
May 11:
Welcome back to a fresh new week Friends! I hope all of the Moms and Mom-like people had a fabulous Mother's Day! You deserve the best and so much more!
The biggest reminder this week is that we are starting guided reading group meetings on Microsoft Teams. I have emailed parents a couple of emails about logging in, your passwords to log in, and your group number and meeting day/time. We will meet every week at the same day/time for each group. If you have trouble getting in or need your log in info, please email me and I will send it to you again. I look forward to "seeing" and working with my students! Enjoy your learning this week! I miss you all!
May 8:
Happy Friday Friends! I am so proud and impressed by all the work everyone is sending me! Keep up the amazing learning! Don't forget, if you are able to join us on Monday, we are having another class meeting/show and tell at 9:00 am on Microsoft Teams. We will also start reading group meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday, depending on your group. I hope you all have a fabulous weekend, and I wish all of the Moms out there a very Happy Mother's Day! You are very special! Enjoy time with your family on your special day!
May 7:
Thursday is here! Enjoy your learning today, and remember Fridays are our day to catch up on missed work or take a break from it all. I can't wait to see your number bonds for today's math! Everyone is getting the hang of these, and I couldn't be happier!
May 6:
Hi there! Thank you for all the cute videos, emails, and messages for teacher appreciation yesterday! They all warmed my heart and make me miss the kiddos and school even more. You are all too sweet!
I sent a few emails yesterday as well. One was to everyone about trying to get our Microsoft Teams schedule up and running for next week. I included the day and time to meet each group, and some general ground rules for successful meetings. Please try to log in if you haven't already. The other email was just for your child, indicating what group they are in, what day, and what time we are meeting. This will be every week starting next week. I am also going to try another whole class meeting on Monday, May 11th at 9:00 am. If you missed the first class meeting, please have your child ready with a show and tell item or news. If you attended our first meeting, I will give you a moment to say hi to everyone.
Happy learning today, and let me know if you need anything. Be sure you check your emails regularly for any important messages or updates from me or the district.
May 5:
Happy Tuesday and Happy Cinco De Mayo! (I still can't wrap my head around the fact that it's May.) If you missed our Microsoft Teams meeting yesterday, I'm going to try to do another one next Monday, May 11th. Please try to log in this week, before our next meeting,and maybe post something in the feed if you feel like saying hi. If you encounter trouble, send an email of the problem(s) to helpdesk@highland-k12 AND send an email to me so I can follow up wtih Tech. They have a lot on their plate, but I need to make sure things work.
Enjoy your learning today, and stay safe and healthy. I'm here if you need anything. <3
May 4:
If you are a Star Wars fan, May the 4th be with you! LOL! Welcome to Monday. I hope everyone had a chance to get outside this weekend. It was such a nice and needed change of weather. This week we will be working with numbers 17, 18, and 19 in math, and learning all about the Butterfly life cycle in science/writing. If you missed the Microsoft Teams meeting, please email me when you have tried logging in, and I will set up a time to meet online. I am going to try to come up with a schedule for next week for our small group guided reading lessons. I hope to keep them the same day and time every week, so schedules can not get too messed up. Lessons won't be longer than 20 minutes. But that won't start until next week. For now, keep up the amazing learning, and let me know if anyone needs help. I miss you!
(I am devestated about the closing of schools for the remainder of our year. I definitely ugly cried after the news conference. However, I plan to continue to provide as much support, and more if needed, as I have been. We can still learn a lot through our new way of schooling. We just need to stay strong. If anyone needs anything, please let me know. I am here to help always. As soon as I hear of any new developements from our district, I will share them with you. For now, stay strong, stay healthy, and stay apart. Love to you all!)
May 1:
Wow! It's May! This is the strangest spring in our lifetime....But I'm glad you are all with me on this remote learning adventure. Happy Friday, and try to relax a bit this weekend. If you need time to catch up, today is a great day to do that. Please be sure to try logging in to Microsoft Teams to make sure the information works. Drop a hello or an emoji on the page. On Monday morning, we will all try to meet at 9:00 am. Log in before 9 if possible, so when I call everyone on Teams, you are ready. Children can have a show and tell item to share. We will be taking short turns in the spotlight. Please try to keep background noises/conversations to a minimum. During show and tell, everyone will be muted except the speaker. I can mute everyone, but only you can unmute yourselves. We will go over this together. See everyone soon!
April 30:
HI folks! Good news: I've ordered a kit and cup of caterpillars to try to live stream from my house. I want everyone to be able to have this neat experience, even if we aren't in school. They should be here within 1-2 weeks. If we miracuously get back to school, these little guys will be tagging along. I am hoping everyone can tune in.
If you have not tried Microsoft Teams log in yet, please do asap. Our first meeting will be on Monday at 9am. If you let me know that your log in worked or not, that would be helpful. If you encounter issues logging in, please email helpdesk@highland-k12.org to help. I'm also trying to keep the tech department posted on issues parents tell me about. I'm trying to get as many kids from our class as we can to participate in our meeting. They miss each other so much. It will help all of us stay strong just to "see" each other.
Your child's log in name is firstnamelastname@highland-k12.org, and their password is their lunch number. If you don't remember it, email me, and I will send it to you.
April 29:
It's hard to believe we are at the end of April. I just wanted to say how thankful I am that I have all of you in my class, and how proud of all the work you are all doing. This is not easy in any way, but you are all so strong and resilient, kids included! Keep up the amazing learning and work!
About Microsoft Teams: I wanted to do a whole class meet up on Monday, May 4th at 9:00am. I wanted to give the kids a chance to show and tell about one thing. Whoever logs in to our first meeting will get a chance to share their show and tell. I can't wait to try this out and see the kids! Try to log in before then, just in case something doesn't work. If you encounter problems, email myself AND the helpdesk at helpdesk@highland-k12.org. They will be the ones to solve any tech or log in issues. I will make sure to follow up with them as well. Good luck!
April 28:
Hi Friends and Families! Welcome to Tuesday! Our newest "thing" is Microsoft Teams. I have sent everyone an email with attachments about how to log in to Teams on any device, as well as what your child's username and passwords are. If you don't know your child's lunch number, please let me know and I can get that to you.
Right now, we are trying to get Teams to work for our kindergarteners to have a bit of "virtual visitation" time with their classmates and myself. Our upcoming goal, after we get used to logging in and behaving in a "meeting", will be to have live small guided reading group lessons. We are still a bit away from that, but we are working hard to get there. It won't take the place of our video book lessons on Seesaw, but be an "extra" for us to interact in a live meeting. We will see how it goes.
I'd like everyone to try to log in to Teams by tomorrow, Wednesday April 29th. If you have any trouble, please email helpdesk@highland-k12 as well as email me. We will try to sort it out before our first live meeting on Monday, May 4th (9:00 am). Here's to a new adventure in our new adventure! Whew!!
April 27:
Hey there everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. On Friday last week, I send a cheering up email to everyone. It included a poem and a flat version of myself. If you didn't recieve the email or cannot print, please let me know, and I will be happy to send you one in the mail. I hope the children enjoy including "flat Ms. Miller" in all their daily adventures and work. Enjoy your lessons this week, and let me know if you need help! I miss you all so very much!
April 24:
Happy Fun Friday Everyone! You made it through another busy week of online learning! Today is "catch up" day, so the lesson plans are short. If you haven't finished work this week, today is the day to catch up. If you finished your work, you can either relax and unwind or check out the special area pages for activites from our specials teachers. Look in your email soon for a super cute and fun surprise from me!
If you need anything, please don't hesitate to let me know. I am here for you! I miss you all tremendously! Have a fantastic Friday and a happy weekend!
Update for April 23: Sorry for the confusion with the Brainpopjr link.The username for Brainpopjr is: highlandel
The password is: brainpop
April 23:
Hi Friends! You are doing such wonderful work this week! I am really impressed with all the ways you are learning to help our planet be a better place. I am also very happy you are enjoying all of our new math videos and activities. You are all rockstars!! Just in case you needed them, I am including the link to order a yearbook and a link to order caterpillars. This way, you don't have to scroll too far down to locate items.
April 22:
Happy Earth Day everyone! Try to be as "planet friendly" as you can today. Maybe try to turn lights off if the sun is out, or turn off the water while you brush your teeth. Little things make a big difference! Enjoy your learning today, and as always, I miss you! Let me know if you have questions or need any help.
April 21:
Happy Tuesday friends! I hope your week is off to a great start. Here are a few things to know. In our math lesson today (videos on seesaw), we will learn how to use math fingers to count past 10. There are 2 videos today, but they are short. If you encounter any glitch issues in a program, let me know. I can't necessarily fix them, but I may be having the same issues. Monday was messy that way. Since there aren't really due dates, you can totally save the work for a different day, or later that same day if it works. No worries. I could also try sending the assignment again or to your email, but if it's a program issue, there isn't much I can do. Let me know if you have trouble.
I am working on guided reading book videos this week to post for next week. I am acclimating to a new program to video record a book on my computer screen! What a learning experience that is! I'm excited to be able to get some form of guided reading out to my students at their levels. Even if it's not in person, at least this is something.
I am also working on another read aloud to post to Seesaw soon. I only grabbed a small collection of books before the closure, and I don't want to run out. I look forward to posting these too!
There is a link below (under April 20 update) for yearbook ordering. The principal sent it to us to post here if you are interested. If anyone has any candid pics from a party or event from our classroom, you can send them to my email and I will forward to the yearbook person. We are in need of some more candids. The photogropher didn't make it in to our room before the shutdown.
Please let me know if anyone needs a phone call for help or just to talk or vent. I am here for you.
April 20: Update- Click the link to find out how to order a yearbook online. Deadline is May 3rd.
April 20:
Hello Everyone! Welcome to a new week. I hope everyone is safe and healthy at home. This week, we celebrate Earth Day (April 22). There are lots of Earth Day lessons to help us learn all about taking care of our planet. Talk as a family about what you do already, or what you can do now to help our Earth be a cleaner and healthier place.
Normally, if we were in session, our class would be having a planting party. We would be planting mini gardens of a few vegetables and flowers, as well as a "plot" of grass. If you are interested in doing something like this at home, here's what you need: a tin loaf pan or pie dish, or something to plant in, potting soil, seeds of your choice, garden stake lables, grass seed, water and a sunny place to have your garden inside until the weather cooperates. Let me know if you plant a mini garden.
We would also be getting our very own set of classroom caterpillars. We would be watching them grow, change, and emerge as butterflies. If you are interested in acquiring your own set of caterpillars to "grow in to butterflies", you can visit the website www.insectlore.com and read all about this fun experience and shop there. There is absolutely no pressure to do so, but if interested, it is a really fun experience that unfortunately we are missing out on in our current school situation.
As always, I am here for anyone that needs help. I miss the children more and more each day, and hope as high as the stars that we get back to school soon. Please send everyone my hugs! Be well!
April 17:
Happy Friday friends! Today starts our first "catch up" friday. If you have not had a chance to get something done, today is a great day to do that. If you have finished all our work for the week, there are a few things you can do in the friday plans, or you can visit special area pages. This gives parents, students, and teachers a chance to recuperate from a lot of work and stress from "online learning". We will be doing "catch up" fridays from now on. I also made more changes to our Monday-Thursday plans. These start next week. Once you are caught up, please spend time with your family, trying to destress from school for the week.
Things to notice next week in Seesaw: Mondays will have some kind of "guided reading" lesson for your child. Tuesday will have a phonics activity. Wednesday will have a sight word activity. Thursday will have another phonics activity, and Friday will be catch up day. There will also be a new math video every day next week in Seesaw so you know what to do with our new "teen numbers" unit. You might notice the videos are of other teachers. We are all trying to help eachother out, and sharing our videos with eachother if we make them. I am waiting for a phone device to help make teaching videos easier to arrive on Sunday. Then I can post all kinds of teaching videos that are of myself teaching.
As always, if you need anything just send me an email. I will help in any way I can if you reach out. I hope you all have a restful weekend. Stay well and I miss you!
April 16:
Hi Everyone! Keep up the amazing work! For math today, there is a cumulative practice of math concepts. Normally, we would have a chapter test similar, but there's not really a way to do this remotely and truly (without assistance from anyone else). For now, just read the directions to your child and see how they do with it. My colleagues and I are trying to figure out if and how we would need to assess children right now. If I gain any insight, I will fill you in. For now, keep up the wonderful work at home and keep posting for me! Let me know if you need any help with a lesson or device or log in. I'm here for you!
April 15:
Welcome to Wednesday! In today's lessons, for math there is MIXED practice. Be careful! Look for the signs before you solve the equations. We are also looking in to becoming avid non-fiction readers. Not just readers of stories, but readers of facts! Many children are drawn to lots of non-fiction books, like big machines, dinosaurs, animals of any kind, cooking, how-to books, etc. Enjoy finding your favorites and learning new facts about your world! Please let me know if you need any assistance. I miss you all so much! I can't wait to see all the work you've done.
April 14:
Happy Tuesday Friends! Great work on your new assignments, especially the sentence dictations! My students rock! There's a nature walk in today's posted lessons. I can't wait to see what you all find! Have a terrific Tuesday everyone!
April 13:
I hope everyone had a great weekend, and a Happy Easter, if you celebrated. It may have looked very different, but the spirit of family is always there, no matter the situation. Today's lessons are posted under the "Daily Lessons" tab. We are doing something new this week: Sentence Dictation. For the days that have sentence dictation practice, you can print the paper from my "Parent Resources" tab (It's at the bottom) or use whatever you have at home. Please remember, do not help your child spell. You CAN remind them to sound out their words, and to think about their writing. Have fun the week's lessons. Spring is a wonderful time of year! Miss you all very much!
April 10
Happy Friday folks! You made it through another week of online learning! Today's plans have a lot of fun activities for "fun friday". Enjoy, and if you need anything, please let me know. I will be posting another read aloud today on Seesaw. It will be under "Announcements". Please log in to see it.
April 9:
We are almost to Friday friends! Keep up the amazing work! I am so proud of all of you! I've been missing school terribly, and seeing children's work, hearing their voices reading, and watching their cute videos makes me happier. We have to stick together in this challenging time. Some seesaw programs have been glitchy. If this is the case with an assignment for your child, you can record them reading it, or video them trying to complete it. Let me know if you need help with anything. Sending all of you hugs!
April 8:
Did anyone catch a peek at the "super pink moon" last night? I saw it glowing from behind some clouds. It's called the pink moon because it's the time of year when spring buds and flowers bloom. Cool! Today's lessons are posted in the "Daily lesson" tab. I am going to post a video about how to do the math problems shortly. That will be posted in Seesaw, so if you need help with your math today, quickly log in to Seesaw to see the video. Email me with any questions. Don't forget my office hours are from 10am-12pm during the week. I also check my email a couple times throughout the day when I'm not in office hours. Just let me know! :)
April 7:Happy Tuesday friends! Great job using Seesaw so far. We are getting used to it. If anyone has not logged in to Raz-kids, HappyNumbers, or Seesaw yet, please do. I'm trying to keep everyone afloat until we meet again. As of right now, we will not be in school until April 29th. Check the school website's main page for any new updates about school. If you have any questions or need help loggin in, please let me know. I'm here to help! :)APRIL 6 UPDATE: Our first read aloud is posted on Seesaw. Log in to see it assigned. Forgive me while I figure out what device works best for videoing...video is a bit blurry. Miss you!
April 6:
Hi Students and Families! I hope everyone had a relaxing weekend. Today's plans are posted in the "Daily Lessons" tab. Just click today's date and it will bring up the document. I am loving all the work and videos friends are sharing on Seesaw. Keep up the great work! I am looking into coypright rules for our new way of schooling and reading a book aloud, so I have not posted a read aloud video yet. When I do, I will let you know, and it will be posted to Seesaw, not the webpage. I encourage everyone to log in to the 3 platforms daily: 1)Seesaw, 2)Happy Numbers, and 3)Raz-kids.
If you are looking for additional activities to work on, I suggest looking at our special area pages (located in the "my links" tab) and the AIS reading pages. (A side note about AIS reading students: you will have work from your AIS teacher on Seesaw, and you have to use a seperate code they provided to you to get in to their "class".)
If your child works on their journal daily, and has run out of writing pages, there is a link to print your own at home under the "parent resources" tab. If you don't have an option to print at home, you can use regular writing paper. You can also share your journal page as a picture or video on Seesaw and I can see it and hear it being read.
As always, stay safe and healthy folks. Let me know if you have questions, and I am happy to help! :)
April 3: Happy Friday! We made it through our first "official" week of online learning! Great work so far; I am very impressed! When school is in session, we usually have "Fun Friday". That means the kids get to do special things that we waited all week to do. One example is that we save our stars from Raz-Kids for fridays to play with and change our robot avatars. Take a few minutes today and change your avatar on Raz-kids just for fun. We also love "flashlight friday". This is when we read with our flashlights. Since we are all home, I suggest building a flashlight friday reading fort if you can. Take a pic and share...it can be in email or on Seesaw. And mostly, HAVE FUN reading!
I am loving all the updates on Seesaw from our students. Hearing thier voices read their journal or talk about a picture is amazing. My heart is happy to hear them. I definitely miss seeing them though. I put up a short "Hello" video on Seesaw. Log in to see it. I will be working on a read aloud this weekend, and will post it to this webpage or Seesaw. As always, let me know if you have any questions, and I can try to help.
April 2:Hi Everyone! I'm noticing more students loggin in to Raz-kids, Happy Numbers, and even Seesaw! Great job! If you haven't logged in yet, I suggest you try today. I recommend about 10 minutes on each program. The kids are familiar with RAZ-kids from school. Happy numbers requires your child to take an initial "placement test" which determines what lessons they need or can skip. Seesaw will have our first assignment posted tomorrow. Links for Raz-kids and Happy Numbers are in "my links". Seesaw directions to log in were emailed yesterday. You can print them out if you wish for easy access. Let me know if you have questions.
Another item for mention is under the "Parent Resources" tab. It's called Animal Reading Strategies. These are adorable animal posters that have different reading strategies on them. Some posted reading lessons mention these. We briefly went over these in class, but children may have not remembered. Please either save these close by on your computer or tablet or print them out for quick referencing. You can even make a "reading strategy wall" where you hang the posters. I will also put up a copy of our "Reading Super Powers" if kids want that as well. They are VERY familiar with these. Have fun!
UPDATE April 1: Technical difficulties fixed (sort of) for now. The links to special areas, speech, ot/pt, and AIS reading are there. They are a little squished, but they are there.
April 1:
Happy April everyone! I have attached a few more links on the "my links" tab for AIS reading. Feel free to browse any websites (even if your child doesn't receive services from them). There may be helpful tips, lessons, or links that are shared. We could use all the help and resources we can get.
I finished the majority of my calls. Tomorrow I will be calling the couple that I left messaes for. I love hearing everyone's voice and hearing about our adventures at home. Teeth have come out, shoes have been tied, games are being played, cooking like crazy, all good wonderful things.
I am going to work on emailing student home codes for the Seesaw program. Keep your eye on your inbox for your child's individual code. We will be introducing Seesaw in Friday's lessons. If you want to play around with it before then, feel free. Let me know if you have questions.
Stay healthy and positive out there friends! We can do this!
**Technical difficulties in the "my links" tab. Specials, OT/PT/Speech, and AIS reading aren't showing. I'm trying to figure that out...if you need a page, please, for now, type in the teacher's name in the search bar at the top of the highland webpage.
March 31:
Hi Everyone! My calls are going great, and if I haven't gotten to you yet, don't fret! I will be calling tomorrow as well. My heart is so full hearing the voices of my students and parents. It is so important to stay connected, even though we can't see eachother.
I have posted work for April 1st. Let me know if you have any questions for any of our posted work. It can even be from a different day. Remember, only work on school things for an hour daily. You can break it up into smaller bits to accomodate schedules, moods, foods, etc.
I also posted a video from Mr. Smith on the links page. He is doing his famous "Mr. Smith Dance" that the kids do in class. Have fun! I am working on posting special area pages/links, speech links, and AIS reading links. It's a process...for sure! You can always search the special area teacher, speech teacher, or AIS teacher, just like you do to find my website. Miss you all and stay well!
Update March 30 evening:
With tears in my eyes and sadness in my heart, I wanted to inform parents that I cannot do a "driveway visit" due to the Governors Travel ban on non-essential people. While I consider my students ESSENTIAL to my career and heart, visits are postponed until the travel ban lifts. If we are still not in session at school, and the travel ban lifts, I will definitely set something up to do the driveway visits. I'll keep you posted. I'm still calling everyone on Tuesday and Wednesday to say hi and answer questions if needed. I am also trying to figure out how to video a read aloud or two for the kiddos to watch. Keep your eyes on your email and the website.
UPDATE March 30:
Beginning this week, I will have "office hours" from 10 am to 12 pm. This means that I will be online, and available right away to answer emails. I will also be checking emails in the evening, just in case. If you have questions about online work, please let me know. I will do my best to help.
Starting on TUESDAY, March 31, there will be DAILY posts with work outlines this week. The posts will be under the "Daily Lessons" tab. I recommend that elementary students only work on school things for 1 hour per day TOTAL.
I am planning to call everyone on Tuesday and Wednesday to "check in" and say hello to my students. If you have questions when I call, let me know.
Our kindergarten team is working on getting a program called "Seesaw" up and running. There will be a practice on Seesaw sent for friday's plans. Look in your email for your child's special code to get in to Seesaw this week.
Welcome to Ms. Miller's Homepage
I miss my students! Please tell them I am always thinking of them and miss our normal school day together.
Please take time to be with your family during this new and trying time we are in. I have posted an instructional letter to parents (click the red "Letter to Parents" at the bottom) to explain the work packets that were sent home on Friday, March 13th.
There are a few links on the "My Links" tab on the left that you can do at home with your child. I will add more as I find useful ones. There is also a fun CVC game under the "Parent Resources"tab.
I also suggest that families teach children to play board games (checkers, chess, connect 4, chutes and ladders, Candyland, etc.), card games, and practice home things like helping with laundry, dinner, dishes, tying shoes, putting on coats, etc. Spend time talking about things interesting to you and your child (favorite books, movies, animals, colors, foods, activities, etc).
