Here are this week's happenings and notes:
- Tomorrow is our first grade awards ceremony. I have already sent e-mails to those that will be receiving an award that day. You are welcome to attend this ceremony, but be on time because it's brief and I wouldn't want you to miss your child. The ceremony is at 3:00 in the cafeteria.
- I sent home a correct note about our field trips this week. Please look at it--I won't go into details here because it's on the note. Please send $1.00 for the Pumpkin Patch (preferably tomorrow, Tuesday) and send your child with a jacket if it's chilly for both Field Trips.
- Look in your child's folder for a note about the computer program that we are using here in school called Lexia. We were given a grant and part of that grant is that all students reach a certain amount of minutes per week on the program. Some students need 30 minutes others need 60 minutes. Today I was informed that in order to keep this program for next year we really need to strive to get those minutes every week. I sent that home because you can also have your child work on it at home. It's optional, but if you child is absent on a computer day, or needs a few more minutes I will e-mail you and ask for you help and have them log in at home. It's important that you let your child work on this on their own. Of course, you can clarify if they don't understand, but please don't do it for them. They are working on their own level from a beginning assessment so they should be able to work through the levels independently.
- The PTA Fun Run is this Friday, October 19. All students will walk or run around the school as many times as they can in the allotted time. It's super fun with the fire department here as well as SUU cheerleaders and athletes along the way. I just sent an e-mail with our classroom webpage. Please check that out and register your child if you haven't already for a "free pedometer". The PTA has some great prizes for those and contribute and for the class that raises the most money, and if we as a school reach our goal.
- I'm excited about some new things that we will be doing in first grade after we attended a professional conference in Salt Lake last week. The first thing that we will be doing is centered around math. We will now be having intervention days on Wednesdays. Students will be divided into four groups based on their understanding of a certain concept. For example, this week we are really focusing on the addition strategy of "counting on" (7 + 3 = 10--start on the largest number (7) and count on 3 more--say 7 then 8, 9 , 10). After a short assessment on Friday, we will determine what your child needs for the concept. If they "got it" they will be a in a group that will be extended in that concept. If they need extra help then they will be in a group that slows down a bit and gives the extra support needed. We will have these math groups every Wednesday for 30 minutes. We are excited as we feel like this will help all of our students reach mastery of the most important math concepts in first grade. Students may or may not be with me during these groups as all of the first grade teachers will be participating.
- Halloween is just around the corner. I hope that you received the e-mail from Mr. Moyle about our Halloween parade. Just a recap--students can come to school on Halloween dressed up in their costumes. Please no masks, weapons, or gore. We will have a school-wide costume parade from 10:45-11:00. Parents are welcome to come and watch and take pictures etc. I think the best place to view the parade is in the cafeteria where you can sit on the benches but you can stand in a doorway of that school as we parade around most of the halls.
- In our learning this week, as I noted earlier, in math we are solely concentrating on the "counting on" strategy. In reading, the long vowels are being reinforced through reading and through lessons and activities. I love it when my kids point out the vowel patterns that we have learned as we read. I hear many times a day "Mrs. Armstrong that's an "a (consonant) e in 'made' (or other similar words with the silent e). Also, in reading we have moved from learning and hearing different versions of familiar stories to Early World Civilizations, specifically Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. We have learned about the importance of rivers to the people who lived in Mesopotamia thousands of years ago and how they built canals to share the water with those that didn't live on the banks of the Euphrates or Tigris rivers. Today we learned about the writing used in Mesopotamia called Cuneiform and learned about the importance of writing anciently and today.
- Don't forget that next Monday, October 22 we are off for Fall Break!
Mrs. Armstrong
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