Newsletter February 23 - 27

I guess we are finally getting the six weeks more of winter that Punxatawny Phil predicted on February 2.  First graders always see the best in everything--they are so excited about this snow.  They want to "eat all of it" and are begging to go outside for break.

Today I sent home your child's SEP appointment time home.  It is on bright yellow paper.  Please sign that and return it as soon as possible.  If you can't make your scheduled time please e-mail me and we can arrange another time to meet or you can write a day and time that will work for you on the bottom of the sheet, but I will most likely e-mail you back to arrange it.  I look forward to meeting with you all next week.  School will dismiss at 2:30 everyday next week including Wednesday (I know it's confusing for me too).

Our 100-book challenge is in full swing.  Nash has already read 25 books towards his 100 book goal. As I stated in the note, this is optional, but should be easy to accomplish if you are reading every night with your child like I hope you are anyway.  Most nights if you just read one book your child can reach that goal by May 15.  As you read with you child every night I highly recommend rereading of the same text.  It helps your child's fluency rate tremendously to reread the same text as well as practicing sight words.  As you are reading , point out sight words in the text.  If your child is struggling to decode a word help them, but don't give them the word too quickly.  Give them clues  say, "What's the first sound" or chunk up the word, especially if the word has an ending. For example; the word "hunted"--if you have your child cover up the ending /ed/ they can decode /hunt/ and then add the ending ( you can do this with compound words, or words with other ending sounds like /s/, /es/, or /ing/ etc.) If you have any questions about the 100-book challenge please don't hesitate to contact me.

Our school had a spelling bee last week.  Our three spellers were Nash, Kaden, and Chace.  I was so proud of their effort and bravery.  Kaden came back afterwards and said, "that wasn't bad at all!"

This week I am going to start a unit on Penguins.  It will culminate with a book that each student will make about Penguins.  They will learn so much about penguins along the way and they love it.  This unit will integrate, reading, writing, science and art.  It should take the rest of February and most of March to complete.

Today I will test on Unit 7 in math.  We will start right in on Unit 8 tomorrow.  Thank you again  for helping your child with their math homework.  I would encourage you to have your child read the directions  and/or story problems themselves and have them tell you what they need to do.

Today we will also have a dental health presentation presented by our capable school nurse, Mrs. Baumgartner.  Your child will come home with a new toothbrush and hopefully a desire  for better dental hygiene :)

Happy Reading on this cold snowy day!!

Newsletter February 9 - 13

I will be gone tomorrow afternoon.  I have been asked to be on the committee that will help choose a new reading program for the district.  Andria Williams, my student teacher in the Fall will be substituting for me so my students will be in wonderful hands.  She will administer Math Test #6 tomorrow, so please help your child with their homework tonight as this will ultimately help them with their test tomorrow.

Thanks to Dante and Dane for sending some items to help decorate our Valentine's cans.  Remember that I will provide the container, but would love some help with items to decorate them with (stickers, ribbon, etc. anything really would work). I also have had some volunteers to help with our Valentine's day party on Friday, February 13 at 2:30.  We will make frosting heart-shaped cookies and delivering our Valentines.  I sent home a note with a list of classmates.  If you would like to send Valentines and/or little treats with your child you are welcome to.  Please make sure that all of the students receive a Valentine or treat. 

We are still studying the Water Cycle.  Today we will have an ice melting contest, and then write about what happened, using transitional words: first, next, then and last. We learned a lot of about Groundhogs last week.  Ask your child about them, they might surprise you with what they know about groundhogs and their burrows.

Power school has been down today and I was going to get my huge stack of work put into the system.  I have two weeks worth and thus two spelling tests that haven't been handed back yet.  I am pleased with the progress on our spelling tests, especially the sentence dictation portion.  Thank you for motivating your child at home by practicing these words with them if necessary.

On Wednesday, I will send home a letter explaining my 100-book challenge.  Look for that!  Have a nice long weekend--I hope that the weather stays nice for it.

Happy Reading!!

Newsletter February 2 - 6

It was nice to see so many of you at Curriculum Night.  We have such a wonderful school community and it really showed that evening.  Here are a few points of interest:

• Dads and Donuts is this Friday, February 6 at 8:00 a.m.  Dads/uncles/ big brothers please come and enjoy a donut with your child before school starts that morning.
• I sent home a February Scholastic Reading record if you would like to order books those will be due also on February 6.
• I sent home a Valentine's Day Party letter today.  It had a list of all of the students in our classroom.  If you can send items to help with our "Valentine can" decorations or for our little party I would so appreciate the help :)  You do not need to make your own Valentine's box, w will make them in class (Valentine's cans)
• Today we didn't finish our math lesson entirely, but I still sent home math homework.  You can choose to help your child with the homework tonight, or tomorrow after we have finished the lesson. I will test on Unit 6 of math next week, probably on Wednesday. 
• The January reading record is now due.  I sent home a February reading record yesterday.  Please continue to practice sight words with your child nightly, especially if they haven't passed off through List #6 yet.
• Congratulations to Nash and Mariah!  They were our Catch the Vision winners for this quarter.  Also, we had three students with perfect attendance--Edgar, Jordan, and Kelsie--that is an accomplishment too and I am happy to see all of my cute little first graders everyday!

Happy Reading!