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!

Newsletter January 26 - 30

Remember that this Thursday, is Curriculum Night as well as the PTA sponsored Multicultural Night from 6:00 - 7:00.  You can come and visit our classroom anytime during the hour and enjoy the multicultural displays and performances the rest of the time.  It is an open house, and I will be handing out DIBELS scores that night and can explain them if necessary.  If you cannot make it I will send those results home.  I hope to see many of you with your wonderful children and families that night.

Dads and Donuts is coming up on Feb. 6.  This is an opportunity for Dads/uncles/ big brothers etc. to bring their child to school for a doughnut and some reading before school starts.  It will begin at 8:00 am. and if you have to leave your child before 8:30 am. they can stay in the lunchroom before coming down to our classroom.

We are now working on Unit 6 in math.  This is a unit mostly about counting patterns and place value.  Most of you received Unit 5 test back.  Let me remind you how I grade math tests.  I mark the answers that are wrong, and then have my wonderful high school helper, Miss Marinn help the students "correct" the answers they missed.  Your student will come home with a test that looks like they should have received 100%.  If the test has been corrected it will say, "corrected by and the date" so you will know that it has been fixed. I still keep the original score for grades, but I feel that this immediate self-correction with help is valuable in helping my students understand why they missed a particular problem.

I sent home our 100 day homework activity last Friday.  It will be due by this Thursday, January 29 (100th day of school). If you have any questions about this activity please contact me through e-mail or note, or phone call :)  Next week, I will send home the requirements for our 100-book challenge.  Watch for that note to come home with your child.

Happy Reading!!! (and don't forget sight word practice)

Newsletter January 20 - 23

I hope you all have a nice three day weekend.  Today we read the book "Martin Luther King's Big Words".  We will continue a discussion and writing opportunities this week about Martin Luther King's life and words of peace, togetherness, and harmony.

I have decided to change the format of Curriculum Night on January 29 at 6:00-7:00p.m  Rather than a Reader's theater performance I will be having an open house that night.  You are welcome to come and visit our classroom anytime during that hour.  I will be happy to talk to you about your wonderful child, and we will have some classroom work on display that night as well.  Then you can enjoy the PTA sponsored multicultural night the rest of the evening. 

The 100th day of school is next Friday, January 30.  I will be sending home a little optional homework assignment for that day.  I say, optional, but most of the kids love this little activity.  Watch for it by the end of this week.  We will also start our 100-book challenge after the 100th day of school.  Watch for information to come home about this fun challenge.

We finished up Unit 5 in math today and I will test tomorrow as well as start Unit 6.  Please help your child with their Chapter 5 Unit Review tonight if possible, as that will help them for the test tomorrow.

The DIBELS reading scores are back.  I was thrilled with the progress of most of my students.  I will send home a printout of your child's scores as soon as I receive them.  If you have any questions regarding those scores please don't hesitate to contact me.  I would be happy to discuss DIBELS scores during Curriculum Night next week.

Have a wonderful evening and Happy Reading!

Newsletter January 12 - 16

We are now starting the 3rd quarter of school.  I will get grades printed out this Wednesday and send them home with your child this Thursday.  If you need to turn in anything from last quarter please turn it in by Wednesday.  Especially home reading records.  Those are worth 100 points and really bring down your child's percentage if they are not turned in.  I am not asking for dishonesty, just making sure that if you child has read that they turn in the reading record.  These minutes also help with our PTA sponsored reading program.  The first amount of minutes to "arrest Mr. Moyle" will be tallied by this Friday.  We hope to reach 1,000,000 minutes as a school this time. I think that we are close by not quite there yet.

Today I sent home a Scholastic books flyer and order form. Order will be due this Friday, January 16.  I sent home our classroom's online code (blue paper).  Using the online code is the easiest way to order books.

We are finishing up chapter 5 in math as quickly as we can.  The district as adopted a district-wide scope and sequence for math.  We are supposed to be on the same page with the other schools in the district.  We are a little bit behind so we are catching up--that is why you might have noticed that we have had homework every night in math.  I do think the my students are getting the hang of related facts so I don't feel like I am jeopardizing their understanding of the the concept by moving through this chapter as quickly as we can.  I plan to finish up by next Monday, and start testing on Chapter 5 next Tuesday.  We will start right in on Chapter 6 next Tuesday, if all goes as planned:)

Today we started our unit on Water.  Today we discussed that "water is everywhere" and discussed the many uses of water.  We will do an art/writing activity based on this topic.  We will then move into the Water Cycle.  Remember that we will be doing a little readers theater on the Water Cycle.  I will send home parts for that reader's theater at the end of this week.  We will be performing the reader's theater during Curriculum Night on January 29 at 6:00.  Please let me know if your child will not be able to make it that night (thanks to those that have already informed me). 

This Thursday we will be having our DIBELS assessment at 10:45.  Please have your child here that day, unless they are sick of course.  I will send home results from that test as soon as they are made available to me.

Happy Reading!

January 5 - 9

Happy 2015!! To tell you the truth, I always struggle waking up and coming back after a long break, but it only takes one smiling face, or hug from one of my darling students and it's like I've never left.  I hope that you all had a lovely holiday season.  Today, it was so much fun to watch my students build snowmen at break--we had perfect snowball building weather and snow.  I love my job and I love first graders!

I sent home January's reading record today.  The December reading record is now due!  It needs to be handed in by Friday, January 9.  That date is the end of the 2nd quarter.  I will get grades together and send a printout next week, probably next Thursday.

Next week on Thursday, January 15 our class will be taking the second installment of the DIBELS reading test.  I sent home a double-sided paper today filled with "nonsense words".  Please help your child with these words as they will be tested on similar types of nonsense words on the test.  The goal is to have the students read the "whole word".  The words are all in CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) form and all of the vowels will be short sounds.  Some students will say "fail" for "fal" for example.  You can use this as part of your 20 minutes of reading time.

We finally started chapter 5 in math today.  Today we worked on story problems where there was a missing part.  I taught my students that they could use several strategies to figure out the missing part.  They could "add" or "subtract" to find the answer.  It depends on the individual child which strategy they prefer and makes sense to them--sometimes they use one strategy for one problem and then the next time use a different strategy.  Thanks for helping keep up with your child's math homework.

I'm giving you a heads up about our school's Multicultural Night/Curriculum Night on January 29 at 6:00.  Our class will "perform" a little reader's theater on the water cycle that night.  Watch for a part to come home next week.  We will practice that in class too.  Mark your calendars for that night.  If any if you know now that you will not be able to make it that night let me know so that I can adjust "parts" if necessary.

I left my camera at home so I will try and load the Christmas pictures (gingerbread house building) onto my computer and add them to this blog later in the week.  (I can't make any promises, but I will try :)

Happy Reading!