January 22 - January 25

I hope that you all had a nice "snowy" MLK holiday!  We had a little discussion today about Martin Luther King Jr. and his adage that "you are as good as somebody else".  I am so glad that my students don't understand the conditions that our country was in during the civil rights movement.  They literally don't understand that kind of division.

Here are this week's happenings:

• Tomorrow is Wednesday--that means send in your sight word or Fry phrase lists for Sight Word Soldiers!
• The "red" PTA bookmark is due on Friday, February 8 for a free movie ticket.  Those can be turned in with a "normal" bookmark also.  
• Most of you have Remind.  That is going to change a little bit and some of you may not be able to receive text messages.  To remedy that simply sign up for the remind app (it's free) and turn on the notifications and the messages will be sent through that app.  If you have any questions please let me know.  This is still the best way to get in touch with you quickly and I will still use it weekly for messages.
• Since we returned in January our behavior has been a bit of a challenge, meaning I have had to remind my students of proper first grade behavior.  That's where the weekly Behavior charts are really helpful.  They are a lifeline to what's happening in our class.  Will you please check these on Friday and talk with your child about their behavior in class.  I have talked to them many times about what it looks like "to learn" and how misbehavior can affect those around them and their ability to learn. If your child tells you that they don't have one please let me know.  I check these in their mailboxes every Friday before they are dismissed to clean up so they should have one in their backpack. 
• We are starting Chapter 5 in math.  This will concentrate on addition and subtraction relationships.  Today we learned how to problem solve "using addition to subtract".  We will focus on related facts (4 + 3 = 7, 3 + 4 = 7, 7 - 4 = 3, and 7 - 3 = 4) in this chapter.  I love to see the light bulb go off as my students "see" that relationship work.
• In reading we are about finished with unit 4.  We will have a little test of knowledge this week or early next week.  Students will be asked to read and write words with /ar/, /or/, and /er/, as well as two-syllable words such as: "sunset", or verbs in the past-tense such as "sounded".  We are also still working on paragraph writing.  Tomorrow students with much assistance will write a descriptive paragraph about marshmallows.  We have started to study the groundhog in depth so that next week before Groundhogs Day we can write a descriptive paragraph about groundhogs. 
• February 4 - 8 is SEP week (parent/teacher conferences).  I will send home appointment times next Monday.  I will keep the same time and day that you attended for our Fall conferences.  If you have a specific day and time that will work best for you let me know via e-mail and we can figure out the best time and day.  I look forward to visiting with all of you during that week.  School will dismiss at 2:30 EVERYDAY that week, including Wednesday. 
• If you want to order Scholastic books (January and February orders were sent home last week) please place that order by tomorrow!  I noticed the Stripes is $1.00 (great book) and if you order one book you can receive a "free" book up to a $5.00 value.  

Happy Reading! (especially take-home books)

Mrs. Armstrong