Newsletter March 25 - March 29

Ok--I'm not going to promise a day for a Power School print out.  I hope you are o.k. with "you'll get it when you get it".  I take my massive pile of grading home almost nightly and then something comes up in my personal life that takes precedence.  I'm so glad though that I see continued reading every night by most of my students--keep it up!!!

Here are this week's happenings:

• Our next spelling test is tomorrow, Tuesday, March 26.  Lists were sent home last week and words are on this blog (view web version if on your phone to see the list).
• I failed to mention that we got a new student a couple of weeks ago.  Daisy came to us from Three Peaks Elementary.  My students have welcomed her with open arms. Our Zeke also came back last Friday from Enoch.  It's nice to have him back in our class!
• The PTA representative over the reading program (bookmarks) gave me a list of students and where they are in relation to getting their "Gold Eagle" at the end of the year.  I am going to send home notes about that information along with bookmarks so that if you just neglected to have your child fill one of those out you can do that.  I will send home notes to those students that are nightly readers and are close to the Gold eagle and also who are nightly readers who are not close.  Watch for those by Wednesday (yes, I'm making a promise).  I am sorry about all of the ways you are expected to account for your child's reading--I really need to ponder and figure out how to streamline this (calendars, 100-book challenge, PTA bookmarks, blue notes etc.) I will include on the note about the PTA bookmarks how many books your child has read towards our 100-book challenge.  Right now we have 10 students who have turned in 100-book lists for our challenge.  Students have until May 15 to complete this!
• Sight Word Soldiers is still every Wednesday--thanks again to Adam's mom for helping us carry out this program. 
• In math we just took our Chapter 6 test.  This test focused on counting forward from a given number, counting by tens from a given number, recognizing tens and ones in a two digit number and understanding that 10 tens = 100 and then adding more to that (103, 109 etc.).  I will send home those tests in the next couple of days.  If students miss problems on the test our math aide, Mrs. Mackey helps them make corrections and then I retest on the missing problems.  We will also have interventions or enrichments this Wednesday based on that math test.  We will start Chapter 7 tomorrow.  This is a short chapter that deals with comparing numbers (think: greater than, less than and equal to).  Students will use their knowledge of tens and ones to compare numbers and learn to use the symbols >,<, and =. 
• In reading we are continuing to learn about pronouns to replace common or proper nouns.  We just learned the 'kn' spelling for the /n/ (sound) and are in the process of writing paragraphs about animal habitats.  
• We have started our Fairy Tales unit.  We have read:  Sleeping Beauty, Rumpelstiltskin, Rapunzel and the first part of the Frog Prince.  It's fun because these stories are the original versions, not the versions that most have seen on TV or on the movie screen so we can talk about similarities and differences between these versions. My students are very engaged with this timeless tales and are learning about difference elements of fairy tales as well as learning new vocabulary.  Today we learned about "deny" vs. "admit".  

I hope you enjoy this beautiful Spring weather today.  A good dose of vitamin D is always good for the soul!

Happy Reading!!

Mrs. Armstrong

Newsletter March 18 - March 22

I haven't managed to catch up on third quarter grades yet so I didn't get a Power School printout sent home last week like I mentioned in my last newsletter.  I will do my best to get those out by this Friday.  I hope that since we are just in first grade you aren't waiting on pins and needles for your child's grade printout :)

Here are this week's happenings:

• Tomorrow, March 19 at 3:00 in the cafeteria is our first grade awards ceremony.  I just sent e-mails to those students who will be receiving awards during that ceremony. The awards presented at that ceremony are attendance awards, Catch the Vision and Most Improved Student along with Lexia certificates.  The PTA reading awards are giving out monthly (second Thursday of the month).  Students have two more months to finish this PTA reading program for the Gold Eagle reader.  The last day to turn in bookmarks for the PTA awards is May 3.  
• Our 100-book challenge is heading in the right direction!  I have a couple of kids who are very close to the 100 book mark where they will join Kash.  Remember the last day to hand in lists for the 100 book challenge with be May 15.  We will have our Pizza lunch the following day on May 16 for those that meet the challenge.  
• Our next spelling test will be tomorrow (list with sun, kiss etc.).  I sent home lists last week.  New words will come home on Wednesday with the test the following Tuesday, March 26.
• In math we are wrapping up our unit on place value or counting and modeling numbers this week.  Today we modeled and wrote numbers from 100-110 and tomorrow we will do the same with numbers from 110-120.  We especially concentrated on the fact that 10 tens = 100 and tomorrow we will show 11 tens = 110 and then we add "more" to those numbers (ex. 10 tens and 8 more = 108 or 11 tens and 8 more = 118).  Our test for this unit will be this Friday.  On Wednesday we will have interventions or extensions on tens and ones to prepare for this test.
• In reading, we are just getting into our new book Grace.  We are learning about pronouns, how to make our sentences better using adjective and propositions and learning alternative spellings for consonant sounds.  We will begin a graphic organizer for writing a descriptive paragraph on an animal habitat of the student's choice and complete those paragraphs by the end of the week.  
• Our Animal habitat unit just concluded today (that's why we are ready to write paragraphs).  Today we learned about endangered habitats and how we can help or have contributed to endangering habitats.  Tomorrow we will start our new unit on Fairy Tales.  I think my students will like this unit (maybe not as much as animals habitats--they loved that one), but they enjoyed an earlier unit on Fables and Folktales and I think they will like going back to some fiction tales.  Students will learn about the elements of fairy tales that distinguish them from other types of fiction.  They will also learn that fairy tales have elements of character, plat, and setting that are found in other types of fiction while also enjoying the stories.  
• St. Patricks Day got away from me, but tomorrow we will read a book called "The Leprechaun Who Lost his Rainbow" and do a writing/art activity based on that book.  
• With the end of the year around the corner please continue to work hard and finish strong with your child especially reading every night!  Those students that do this regularly really do make greater improvements throughout the year. 

It's nice having a birthday, even when you maybe want to forget at my age in first grade because my students made today such a nice day for me.  They were so excited and told me many times "Happy Birthday"!  I have such sweet students.

Happy Reading!!

Mrs. Armstrong

Newsletter March 4 - March 8

This week is the last week of the third quarter.  I will work on grades and send home a Power School printout next week.  Remember that next week we have Monday and Tuesday off (March 11 and 12).  Enjoy your short week!

Here are this week's happenings:

• I hope that you saw the note I sent home about two upcoming field trips.  I won't go into detail here but please try and send the $2.00 by this Friday and if you can help walk with us please send me an e-mail.
• Spelling words were sent home today.  The test will be this Friday, March 8.
• We just started a new unit in reading today where we will continue working on alternative spellings for consonant sounds and start writing narratives.  Today we learned about spellings for /s/ (s, ss, c, ce, and se).  These "new" alternative spellings will be in the reader "Grace" where we will follow Grace and her family on their farm and all of their adventures.
• In math we are learning how to model numbers using tens and ones.  The last couple of days we have modeled 1 ten and ones (example 15 = 1 ten and 5 ones or 10 + 5 = 15).  We will have our intervention Wednesday on counting on by tens (38,48,58, 68 etc.).  Some students will extend that knowledge and others we will slow down and practice counting by tens. 
• We are continuing our study of animal habitats.  Today we learned about the Tropical Rainforest habitat.  In the next few days we will learn about the freshwater and saltwater habitats.  Students will at the conclusion of this study write a descriptive paragraph about their habitat of choice.  This week we are writing out about favorite season (opinion paragraphs).  I am really pleased at the progress my students are making in writing.  I hope that you saw the last journal that was sent home.  
• Our 100-book challenge is going strong.  I have a lot of motivated readers!  Kash today was our first student to reach the 100 book mark!! Congratulations to Kash!  He read a lot of Pete the Cat books :)
• Don't forget to send back sight word lists for Sight word soldier this Wednesday.  
• We will not have library this week as our librarian is out of the country.  We will have library the following Thursday, March 14.  I will try and send a "remind" message about our library day.  Many students are not bringing their books back to exchange on Thursdays.
• Tonight is the PTA talent show at 6:00.  We do not have an participants from our class that I am aware of but you are welcome to attend.  We have a phenomenal PTA they spend countless hours on the behalf of our school! 

Happy Reading!

Mrs. Armstrong