Newsletter September 25-28

I can't believe that it is the last week of September already.  I also can't believe that SEP conferences are next week. Time flies when you are having fun!  Please look in your child's homework folder or backpack today for an assigned conference time.  Return the signed sheet as soon as possible.  If you need to reschedule your time, please include a time that would work better for you on the sheet.  During SEP week, school will dismiss every day at 2:30 including Early out Wednesday.

This Thursday we are starting our small reading groups.  Some of my students will also participate in reading intervention groups with our highly qualified reading aides.  I will let you know at your child's conference if he or she will be in a reading intervention group.

This Friday, I will test all students on Sight Word List #2.  Please  help your child study these words.  Of course if you child has already passed that list off, I will not retest them.  The September Reading record will be due October 1st. It is worth 100 points.  I hope you are reading every night with your child.  I have some students say, "we don't have homework tonight?"  I remind them that we always have reading homework ( 20 minutes every school night).

This week we are wrapping up our Seasons unit.  We are creating a "Seasons of the Apple Tree" book.  We are also writing an opinion piece about "Our favorite season".  Our common core objective is asking and answering questions to clarify meaning in text.  We will be asking and learning about questioning sentences. 

Have a great Fall week and Happy Reading!  I will see you all next week!

Newsletter September 17- 21

Today I sent home two math booklets  with your child.  One is our "Classroom Number Book" (bright green).  Most of my students completed this booklet in class, but some were absent for a few days and did not finish all of the pages in class.  If you child did not complete the pages in class I put a post-it note on the booklets asking you to help them complete it at home.  These Classroom Number books are worth 25 points.  Send those back with your child when you have completed the pages and I will update their scores.

The other booklet is the "Family Number Book" (bright orange).  This is a homework assignment and will be due October 1st, but it can be turned in anytime before that date.  Your child will complete it using the same format as our Classroom Number Book, but find objects from their individual homes.  I have included a best work example from McKenlee's "Classroom Number Book" as an example.  When your child brings this booklet back I will have them share one page with our class.  This assignment will be worth 25 points.

We received our new math program.  It is called enVision math, and it closely correlates with the new Common Core.  It is a bright, colorful, interactive, and technology- based program that I think my students will greatly learn from and enjoy.  I will start implementing that program in my classroom this Wednesday. Right now I do not anticipate homework with that program, but may in the future start sending home nightly math homework.  So, please watch this blog for information about possible math homework.

Today we started practicing our Reading group schedule.  We still need practice on quiet voices during our Daily Five Centers, but I know it will improve as we continue to work on it. For your information, our "Daily Five" centers are five reading activities that your child participates in while I am working with students.  They are "Read to Self", "Listen to Reading", "Word Work", "Work on
Writing", and "Read to Someone".  Our DIBELS test has been moved to this Thursday, September 20.  Please have your child here at school that day because that testing helps us to correctly place your child in a reading group.

I was told that some of you who use mobile devices to read this blog cannot see the sidebar.  I was informed that if you scroll down to the bottom and click "view web version" you will be able to see the desktop version.  If that doesn't work for  you, I will play around with my settings and see what I can do.

Please continue to help your child with the sight word lists and have them read to you for 20 minutes each school night.  So many of you are using the Take-home library as a resource.  Reading the Take-Home books counts as part of your child's 20 minutes of reading.  Remember to have your child read these books more than once.  The Take-Home library is a Monday through Thursday service.  Still send the books back with your child on Thursday, but your child will not receive a Take-home book on Friday.

Look for new spelling words in your child's homework folder today.  The sentence for this week is "I can hop."  Also, look for an East Elementary t-shirt order form, and information about the PTA sponsored reflections contest. 

We welcomed another student today.  Taylor Linton is now joining us.  I was so grateful for my cute first graders as they welcomed her in with kindness and helped show her the ropes.

I am going to post some pictures of our classroom happenings.  Enjoy and Happy Reading!

"Swinging into First Grade" art and writing project

Amilia is watching the weather.

Emma is painting her self-portrait

Some examples of our classroom self-portraits

Results from our weather watching activity

Newsletter September 10-14

Welcome to our 4th week of school!  I sent home new spelling words with your child today.  Notice that this week's spelling pattern is a bit more difficult and may require some more study at home.  Last week only a handful of my students got all of the points possible for the sentence portion of the test.  Don't be alarmed by that.  It is a big step for first graders to be able to transfer their list of spelling words to other things.  We will continue to work on that in class.  As a reminder, I grade the sentences for correct spelling of words, a capital letter at the beginning and punctuation at the end.  Most of the time it will be a period at the end of their sentence.  I have included the spelling sentence with the list of spelling words to the left of this message.  Scroll down to see it if necessary.  Have you child practice writing the sentence at night as you study the spelling words. 

I hope that you are practicing the sight words with your child.  Remember to send back the little yellow sheet when your child is ready to pass the words off in class.  I will then send home another list.  If they don't quite pass them off in class, I will send the yellow slip home again with another list and the words that they didn't quite master.

Tomorrow (Tuesday, Sept. 11), I will start sending home books from our take-home library.  These books will come home in a big ziplock bag.  These books are on your child's independent level.  If you notice though, that they are consistently too easy or too difficult let me know and I will adjust the level.  Please have your child read these nightly--more than once! Initial the sheet inside the bag and send it back with your child daily and the book will be replaced.  If you haven't signed a permission slip for the take-home library I have included one in your child's homework folder.

I sent home an e-mail (to those that provided one) about a suspicious van at East Elementary. Mr. Burton has composed a letter regarding this matter and I have included that in your child's homework folder as well.  If you have any further concerns about the issue please contact me.

Just a couple more notes.  One is about absences.  Please have your child here in school.  It is difficult to make-up work or to send missing work home because in first grade we do a lot of things in class that cannot be duplicated at home.  The other is about early arrival.  If your child arrives before 8:30 a.m. they will be asked to go to the cafeteria and sit on the stage until the buses arrive. I am frequently in meetings in the mornings and am not here until then and that time is reserved as teacher prep time.  Thanks for helping out with these two issues.

Happy Reading!

Newsletter September 4-7

I hope that you all had  a nice Labor Day holiday.  I did!  We sure live in a beautiful area, as I witnessed yesterday, with my family, as we hiked to Cascade Falls. 

We are getting right back to work after the holiday.  Today I sent home new spelling words.  With only four days this week, you may need to help your child a bit extra at home.  This week I will add a sentence to your child's spelling test.  I will grade the sentences this way:  one point for capital at the beginning, one point for each spelling word spelled correctly, and one point for ending punctuation.

The August reading record is due today!  Please sign the August record and send it back with your child.  The August reading record is worth 50 points.  I sent home a September reading record today, it has apples on it.  The reading records from now on will be worth 100 points.  Please read with your child for 20 minutes every school night.

I hope that you saw my note about sight words in your child's backpack.  If your child did not come home with sight word list #1 (with words that need to still be practiced written on the yellow sheet), then they passed it off in class (I had 9 kids pass list #1 off).  Please work with your child on these sight words every night if necessary.  You can include five minutes of sight word practice as part of your child's 20 minutes of nightly reading.

I included Scholastic book orders in your child's homework folder today.  These of course are optional, but ordering  helps us get free books for our classroom, as well as helps to build your home library.  These book orders will be due Friday, September 14.  The easiest way to order is to use the online code from the letter that I attached to the orders.  You can also send in the order with one check made out to Scholastic. 

School pictures will be Monday, September 10th.  I sent home a picture order form last Friday. All children will have their picture taken, but if you do not send in an order form with payment, your child will not receive a picture packet.  You can send the orders anytime this week.  I will hold them and then give them to the photographers.

We have been busy learning about the weather.  Today we went outside and were "weather watchers".  I can't believe that it is raining now, after what we observed this afternoon.  I took some pictures and will post those later. We continue to practice our handwriting and learning that words convey meaning and have beginning, middle, and ending sounds. We also have learned that words are made up of smaller units called "syllables". 

Thanks to those of you that have offered to bring extra snacks or to those that have just sent extra snacks.   I appreciate it very much!             

I will be gone tomorrow, observing Dual Immersion classrooms in St. George.  I will miss my cute first graders!  I am one lucky teacher!

Happy Reading!