Newsletter April 16-20

Today we finished an art, writing and math activity on "How to blow a bubble".  On Friday, we all tried to blow a bubble and graphed our results.  Today we wrote a  "How to" piece on blowing bubbles, and finished with an art project.  We are continuing with our map unit this week.  It is taking longer than I anticipated.  Jagger's Flat Stanley was the first one to arrive back in our classroom.  His Flat Stanley visited Colorado Springs. 

I sent home April book orders today.  They will be due this Friday, April 20.  There are several wonderful non-fiction titles available this time.  Especially titles that will complement our unit on soil, seeds, and plants.

I wanted to make you aware of two activities that we will be having at the end of May.  One is swimming at the Aquatic Center on May 18.  This will be our Field Day activity.  In order for this to work, we need at least four parents from our classroom to come and swim with us.  Yes, I mean put on your swimming suit and get in the water.  The other is our Reading Picnic the last day of school, May 25, at 1:00.  I will send more information home on these two activities.  I just wanted to let you know now so that if you needed to make  arrangements at work.

Several children are coming to school before 8:30.  Please do not bring your children to school before 8:30.  They will not be supervised.  I use that time for prep and sometimes I am in meetings.  Please read the following letter from Mr. Burton regarding this matter:

A note from the Principal

Dear Parents,

I would like to ask for your support in helping us address the issue of students arriving at school too early.  We ask that students not arrive earlier than 8:30 AM.  This allows for appropriate supervision for the students and ample time for teachers and staff to prepare for the day.  I would like to express my appreciation to you for your willingness to support us with this issue. 

Sincerely,

Steve Burton

Principal, East Elementary

 

Thanks for all that you do for your child's education.  Happy Reading!

Newsletter April 9-13

Welcome Back!  I hope that you all had a nice Spring Break--mine was glorious! We only have seven weeks left of school, or now 34 days left.  I have seen so much growth in my students.  Please keep reading each night with your child.  Remember our 100-book challenge.  We have 30 more school days for your child to reach that goal.  Ask them where they are and set a goal to reach 100 books. Congratulations to Jazlyn!!  She the second student in our class to reach the 100-book mark!

Next week, we are going on another walking field trip to SUU for Bard's Birthday Bash.  This is a fun activity.  Last year, we participated in the maypole activities, we "jousted", were able to watch a comedy improv group, and of course had cake for Shakepeare's birthday.  I sent home the permission slip today.

I hope you  have seen the Flat Stanley assignment and sent it somewhere outside of Cedar City.  When your friend or family member sends it back, have your child bring it back and we will highlight where their Flat Stanley visited.

Today we learned about spheres and cones and did some fun "jelly bean" math activities.  We even enjoyed a cone with a sphere of ice cream in it! I plan on finishing up with our map unit this week, so that we can move onto plants and life cycles for the remainder of the year.

Just a reminder that on April 25th the first grades will be performing a the awards assembly.  We will perform at 10:00 and 10:45, but remember the first graders receive their awards at 10:00.  Speaking of awards, if  your child really wants to earn more Eagle tickets through AR tests, you are welcome to come with your child and use my computer after school.  AR tests cannot be done at home.

Even though a break was great, I was happy to see your children today.  They are a fun bunch to teach!  Happy Reading!

Newsletter April 2-3

April Fool's Day sure brought us some cold weather.  We are still planning on our Easter Egg hunt for tomorrow, April 3.  We may have to modify our plans though, and have it here on the school grounds.  If you haven't sent plastic, candy-filled eggs yet, you can still send them tomorrow.  Thanks to those that have sent them already. I could still use a volunteer to help hide the eggs.  Please contact me if you could help tomorrow at about 1:30.

  We will not have spelling or sight words this week.  I will send home a new list when we all get back on April 9.  The March reading record is now due.  I sent home the April reading record with your child today. Your child will not have math homework over the break, but please try and squeeze in some reading!

Mr. Burton asked me to inform you that if you are interested in requesting a teacher for next year, those requests are due by April 16.  The forms are in the office.

For the school awards assembly on April 25, all of the first grade classes are performing.  We will do a few songs centered around Earth Day.  You are welcome and encouraged to come.  The performance times are at 10:00 and 10:45 that day.  The 10:00 assembly is where the AR awards are presented for first graders.

Congratulations to Boston he was our March Catch the Vision award winner!  He is a wonderful student and friend!

Have a wonderful, safe, and hopefully warm Spring break.  I am finally posting some pictures of our class, make sure you scroll down to see them!  We are having fun in First Grade!

Hooray for Boston--he has read 100 books!

Dr. Seuss' birthday activities.

We loved our baby chicks.

Happy 100th Day of School!

We wrote "How to Catch a Leprechaun" stories

Newsletter March 26-30

We are going on our walking field trip to SUU this Thursday to see Peter Pan.  We have a few extra tickets and I would love having a parent come and walk with us.  If you could come please let me know.  It is really nice to have an adult at the end of the line as we walk over.  We, remember will leave here at 9:15 and be back before lunch.

I sent home permission slips for our Easter Egg hunt today. It will be next Tuesday, April 3 at 2:00. Please sign and return those.  I also sent home a note about sending plastic Easter eggs.  If you could please help us by sending 12 plastic candy- filled eggs. I have  had a couple of students already bring eggs. They brought pre-filled eggs.  That might make it a bit easier for you if you send that type.  For the Easter egg hunt, I could also use some parents to help take the eggs over to the park earlier and help "hide" them.  With six classes of first graders, we will have hundred of eggs.  If you could help there too, please let me know.  I would need you around 1:30 to help with that.

We are continuing with our Map unit.  Today we talked about directions.  Ask your child about "Never, Eat Soggy Waffles" and see if they can remember why we learned that.  On Thursday, watch for the Flat Stanley assignment to come home.  Our class loved the book, Flat Stanley so much that we are now reading Stanley, Flat Again!

Keep reading for our 100-Book challenge!  We have 35 more school days left to complete that incentive.  I will cut it off on Friday, May 18.

Have a wonderful day and Happy Reading!

Newsletter March 19-23

I am going to discontinue our Poetry performances on Fridays.  I have so many children that do not bring their poetry journals back, or that haven't practiced the poems at all that I have decided to discontinue.  It takes a lot of time to get the poems leveled, put into sheet protectors etc. and I can see that for more than half of our class it is ineffective because they aren't even participating because they haven't practiced the poem.  I will send their poetry journals home with them this week.  Use the poems in there already as reading  practice at night.  Thanks to those that diligently helped their child with the poems.

If you haven't noticed already, I haven't sent home the decodeable books either for the last couple of weeks.  I copied off through week 25 this summer and Mr. Burton has asked that we be careful with our copies.  I decided that is one area where I can cut back.  I find those books on the floor or falling out of backpacks all of the time.  It too is very time consuming to copy them, fold them, and staple them.  If you were diligently reading those and would like them, I probably have a couple of copies left from last year, and I can gladly send those home. The reason why I sent those home was to reinforce the spelling pattern or rule. As you study the spelling words, reinforce the spelling pattern.  This week for example it is the /igh/ sound. 

We are going to go on a walking field trip to SUU to see Peter Pan on Thursday, March 29.  We will leave in the morning by 9:15 and be back by lunch.  I will send home a permission slip tomorrow.  Please sign it and return ASAP.

The first grade classes are planning an Easter Egg hunt on Tuesday, April 3.  We will go to main street park in the afternoon for the hunt.  We are asking as a donation for each child to bring 12-filled plastic easter eggs for the hunt.  This is optional, but appreciated!  More information will be coming home about this activity shortly.

I will print out and send home grades for the third quarter this Wednesday.  Look for them in your child's backpack on Thursday.  I can't believe we really only have one more quarter left of school.  Each year goes be quicker than the last.  Keep reading with your child at home every night.  This is a time of tremendous growth in first graders.

Congratulations to Boston!! He has read 100 books for our 100-book challenge!  He has been working hard!

Hopefully, spring weather will make an appearance this week.
Happy Reading!

Newsletter March 12-16

It was nice to visit with all of you last week.  If you have any more questions or concerns please don't hesitate to contact me. 

This Friday, March 16,  is the end of the third quarter.  If your child has any homework that hasn't been turned in please turn it in by then.  I will print off grades and send them home next Wednesday. 

Please continue to read with your child!  Here is a great fluency tip--time your child as they read.  Get out a timer, or use your watch and see how fast and accurately they can read their book, time them again and see if they can read it faster the second time.  Make sure that they are still reading each word and not skipping over any, I don't want accuracy to be affected. This might be a fun way to help increase your child's reading fluency.

We started our mapping unit today.  They kids really like this unit.  We are half-way through the book Flat Stanley and a "Flat Stanley" will be headed your direction for a fun at home assignment.  Watch for the assignment later next week.

I am sending home March Scholastic book orders tomorrow, Tuesday, March 13.  If you would like to order any please send the orders in by Friday, March 16.  That isn't much time, but with SEP's and the book fair here, I didn't get them out at the beginning of the month like I usually do.  Remember that using the online code is the easiest way to order.  I really liked the leveled readers flier this time.

The weather is definitely spring-like!  Have a wonderful week and Happy Reading!

Newsletter March 5-9

It is SEP this week.  School will dismiss every day at 2:30 including Wednesday. I look forward to meeting with all of you.

I will  not send home a poem this week for our Poetry Performances.  With shortened days, and two birthdays, we will not have time to fit them in this week. Keep reading and keeping track of the books that your child reads for our 100-book challenge.  Remember that the lists of books need a parents signature for me to count them. February Reading records were due March 1. The March reading record has been sent home. If you haven't sent the January reading record please send that also.

We had a fun time last week celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday.  I made, and my students tried green eggs and ham on Friday.  I had students standing in line for seconds and thirds!  I will post pictures soon!

In science, we will finish up our unit on Force and Motion.  We have talked about push and pull. This week  we will discuss, write about, and experience the different ways objects can move.  We will be doing this using hot wheels.  Thanks for those that have sent hot wheels.  With  so many boys in my class this year, I thought I could find a few to borrow.  We will then learn about Newton's 3 Laws of Motion.  Like I have said before this class is full of inquisitive, smart scientists.  They amaze me!

It is Grandparents lunch this Tuesday, March 6 at 11:30.  Your child's grandparent is welcome to eat lunch with your child that day.

I will see you all this week.  Don't forget about the Book Fair in the library and Happy Reading!