Hello parents,
We have completed our unit on Geology, and our class will be learning about Animal Habitats over the next few weeks. This is such an enjoyable unit for our first graders! We have been doing some dyad reading during our voyager time during this short week, but we will return to our reading groups next week. BOOK REPORTS - Biography / Autobiography reports are due next Thursday, February 28th, so please be sure to have a book selected this weekend. Let me know if you have questions about this report. If you need help with printing, send a file to my email, and I will print it here at the school. DIBELS SCORES - I have received the mid-year DIBELS scores, and I am pleased with the growth that I am seeing in our students. Please be sure that your child is reading each day - I want all of our students to become strong, competent readers before they enter 2nd grade. I asked several students who have made exponential progress to share with their classmates what they are doing to see such growth in their reading. Here are some of their responses:
They all said that they are reading books that are a little bit challenging for them. PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES / EARLY OUT - I look forward to sharing your child’s progress with you at parent-teacher conferences next week (Wednesday and Thursday). If you have not yet signed up, you can contact the front office to set an appointment. WE WILL HAVE EARLY OUT DAYS ON BOTH WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY (Feb. 27,28) next week to accommodate our conference schedule. BOOK FAIR - Stop by to check out our book fair this week. You will find some great books to encourage your child to read. I will have a class wish list available if you are interested. KINDNESS WEEK - Next week we are celebrating Kindness Week. This is a list of the activities if you would like your child to participate: Monday: Kindness day- wear a pink or red shirt with approved uniform bottoms / Give a Compliment Tuesday: Ride the Kindness Wave- wear Hawaiian print shirt or leis with approved uniform bottoms / Random Acts of Kindness Wednesday: Powered by Kindness- wear a superhero shirt or cape with approved uniform bottoms / Smile! Thursday: Don’t turn your back on Kindness- wear your uniform shirt backwards / Tell Someone Thank You Friday: Stomp out bullying- wear your favorite shoes with your approved uniform shirts and bottoms / Fist-bump Friday PARENTS AND PASTRIES - Plan to join us next Friday morning, March 1st as we celebrate the legacy of the great children’s author, Dr.Seuss. Bring some books and find a place to enjoy a shared reading time with your child. The school will be open at 7:45, and we will read until school begins at 8:15. I would love to see you there. Thank you so much for your partnership in this wonderful educational journey! Hello Parents,
This week our class celebrated 100 days of school! They have come so far and learned so much, and yet there is still so much to learn and experience in first grade. I am proud of their hard work. For the next two weeks we are learning about our earth: the layers, volcanoes and geysers, minerals and rocks in the earth, and fossils and dinosaurs. We are also learning about kindness and friendship, and the students are learning how to write friendly letters. Next Friday our first graders have a Dental Health Assembly at 2:00 here at the school. You are welcome to join us if you would like. VALENTINE’S DAY - Next week is Valentine’s Day, and your child is welcome to share valentine cards with each other on Thursday, February 14th. Please have your child sign his/her name on each card, but do not write CLASSMATES’ NAMES on the cards. This will save us oodles of time and will help prevent any peer distress. We will decorate Valentine bags in class for sharing cards, so you do not need to prepare a “mailbox” at home. If your child would like to share valentines with their friends, please keep it simple. Sweets are fine (we will be sending everything home so that you can decide what you would like your child to have). Non-food or healthy treats are even better. (Please be sure that any food treats are store bought and individually packaged.) Of course, simple cards or notes are fantastic as well. We have 24 students in our class, as well as Ms. Dastrup and myself. Let me just say, however, that Ms. Dastrup and I would be delighted with a hand-written note from your child, so if you are buying a 24-pack of valentines, please do not buy an extra pack for our sake. BOX TOPS - We will have a parent volunteer coming to our class next week to collect BOX TOPS, so if you have been saving them at home, please send them to school with your child. Remember that these become money that can be used directly by our school to purchase supplies! FEBRUARY BOOK REPORTS - The book reports for this month will require a little more forethought than most. The assignment is for students to read a biography / autobiography, and then to type a digital report (summary). Because this is a short month, you will want to help your child to get started right away with a book selection. If you do not have access to a printer, you may send a PDF or Word document to my email, and I can print it out here at school. The book options are much broader than our school reading list for this genre. This is a great opportunity for your child to learn more about a real / historical person whom they admire. Let me know if you have any questions. Have a great weekend! Hello Parents,
This has been a great week of learning for our wonderful first graders. We have spent these past couple weeks learning about astronomy. We have learned about the sun and stars, and the phases of the moon. We have learned about the earth’s rotation and its orbit around the sun. We have learned about the 4 inner planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, and the 4 outer planets as well: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. READING GROUPS - I have been so excited about our reading groups during Voyager time. We are working in small, leveled reading groups, and are rotating throughout the week between four stations: 1. Computer time (all of our kids are working with the Imagine Learning program, which is individualized reading instruction - so exciting!), 2. Sight Word practice, 3. Word Work Groups (working with phonogram and targeted reading skills). and 4.. Guided Reading Groups (we are reading stories from the Houghton Mifflin Reading series). We also take time each day to practice our reading and writing skills by using our sight words to read poems and compose great sentences. Ms. Dastrup and I are working together with the groups, but if you would like to be involved in helping the students with their reading during this time, please let me know. We would be happy to have you in our class. VALENTINE’S DAY - Valentine’s Day is coming up soon. We will not have a class party on Valentine’s Day, but we will do some friendship activities and games throughout the week,, and the children will have an opportunity to share valentine cards with each other on Thursday, February 14th. We will decorate Valentine bags in class for sharing cards, so you do not need to prepare a “mailbox” at home. If your child would like to share valentines with their friends, please keep it simple. Sweets are fine (we will be sending everything home so that you can decide what you would like your child to have). Non-food or healthy treats are even better. Of course, simple cards or notes are fantastic as well. We have 24 students in our class, as well as Ms. Dastrup and myself. Let me just say, however, that Ms. Dastrup and I would be delighted with a hand-written note from your child, so if you are buying a 24-pack of valentines, please do not buy an extra pack for our sake. CONGRATULATIONS - Last week at our award assembly, we were happy to honor some outstanding students: Congratulations to Aiden, who received our Academic Achievement Award for the 2nd term. Aiden has been doing great work, and we are proud of him. Congratulations also to Reagan, who received our Citizenship Award. Reagan is very kind, and helpful to her classmates and her teachers. Way to go! A big congratulations to our students who received an award for perfect attendance throughout the 2nd term: Anni, Asher, and Mia. Great job - that is a wonderful accomplishment. I would also like to congratulate Tayli, who gave a wonderful hula-hoop performance at our school talent show today. Nice job! Thank you so much for all of the support you give to your child’s academic growth each day, and for all of the ways you help to support our school. I am so happy to be working with you. Have a great weekend. |
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