Hello Parents,
Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me during parent-teacher conferences. I was so happy to share the things that I love about your kids, and to let you know about the good work that they are doing so far in first grade. I am very proud of our class, and I am so grateful for the support that I have received from each of you. This week we have been learning human body systems: the skeletal system, the muscular system, the circulatory system, and the digestive system. We also talked about ways to stay healthy: eating healthy food, exercising, sleeping, getting doctor check-ups and vaccinations, and staying clean. FIRST GRADE C.E.T. = Our human body C.E.T. activities are this Friday. Thank you to all who have volunteered to help, and to those who have donated supplies. PICTURE DAY - School pictures will be taken on TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1st. Please dress your child in his/her school uniform for school pictures. If you would like to order photos, send the school order form with your child that morning. The kids will carry the order forms to the photographer as we take our photos. BOOK REPORTS & READING CALENDARS - Book reports and reading calendars are DUE MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30th. Your child will read a fictional book and decorate the t-shirt to reflect one of the characters from the story. The t-shirt should be cut out and glued onto a piece of construction paper or other decorative paper. CONGRATULATIONS to Ayden for winning the book fair coloring contest for our class. Nice job, Ayden! Have a great weekend!
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Hello Parents,
I hope that you have had some good conversations with your children this week as we celebrated Red Ribbon Week. We have been talking about the importance of developing good habits like taking care of our bodies and our minds, and saying no to friends who ask us to do things that we know are not right. We also talked about sticking together and encouraging our friends to make good choices, and standing up for each other when we see bullies trying to hurt others. We had a wonderful presentation from the Bobby Lawrence Karate studio at our school assembly today. It was a great way to wrap up our week, and to reinforce all that we have learned this week. If you would like to know more about getting your child involved in the Bobby Lawrence Karate program, they are sponsoring a free class for all Odyssey families tomorrow at noon. A flyer was sent home with your child today. This week we read some more Anansi stories, and we created an “Anansi” spider art project. We also learned about symbols of the state of Utah. How many of them do you know? What is the: Utah state capital? flower? tree? bird? insect? fish? Congratulations to our class for winning our second Golden Book Award for having exceptional library manners. PARENT- TEACHER CONFERENCES - Many of you have already signed up for conferences on Wednesday and Thursday next week. If you would like to meet but have not yet signed up, you can schedule an appointment here: www.ptcfast.com/schools/Odyssey_Charter_School Hello Parents, It has been an eventful, busy week. We had our first fire drill and our first school assembly, and our class won the very first Golden Book Award for doing such a great job in the library. We have been practicing our penmanship, making a fall color book, and reading and discussing fables together. PARENT NIGHT - Thank you so much for coming to parent night this week. It was a pleasure to talk with you. I sent home a copy of some important class information for those of you who were not able to make it. NO SCHOOL ON MONDAY - Our school will be CLOSED on Monday, September 2nd for the Labor Day holiday. I look forward to seeing all of your bright, smiling faces again on Tuesday. INSTRUCTOR TEACHER NEXT WEEK - I will be out of the classroom on Thursday and Friday next week. My daughter is getting married, and we will have family coming in from out of state. Our instructor, Ms. Dastrup will be leading our class all day Thursday and Friday morning, and our other first grade instructor, Ms. Passi, will be teaching the class on Friday afternoon. Both of our instructors are very capable and great with our kids, and I am confident that our students will be kind and helpful as they step in. PUPPIES - One of the parents in our class has a litter of the most ADORABLE puppies, and she has offered to bring them in to our class for a visit. I am going to try to set this up for next week. If your child has any allergies that would prevent him / her from being able to handle the puppies, PLEASE LET ME KNOW before school begins next week. OCS CARNIVAL - We are going to have a wonderful time at our SCHOOL CARNIVAL, Monday, September 9th from 4:00 - 7:00. Don’t forget to PRE-ORDER your tickets for games and food by Tuesday, September 3rd. CET LEAD VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY- We are still looking for a volunteer to lead our first grade C.E.T. events. If you are interested, please let me know, or contact Megan Carpenter, who is heading up the C.E.T. program for the school: [email protected] LIBRARY VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES - Ms. Beckstrand is looking for people willing to help in our library. We need library volunteers to come in during our class library time , and also HRP (Home Reading Program) volunteers who can help prepare the books to send home with our students each week. HEARING SCREENINGS - We will have schoolwide hearing screenings on September 13. Please let me know beforehand if you have any concerns or requests that you would like me to pass along to our hearing specialist. I hope that you all will be able to relax and enjoy this wonderful Labor Day weekend. Hello Parents,
We had another great day in our first grade classroom! Congratulations to all of our students (and to all of you parents) for having a successful first week of school! Today we learned the first song in our Core Knowledge book: "Make new Friends (but keep the old)". We read a book calledRibbit! by Rodrigo Folgueira, and we talked about ways that we can make new friends. Our class has done a super job of being kind and inclusive so far! Today we mixed primary colors to make the secondary colors: orange, purple, green. We also began our geography unit. We learned about a globe, and looked at the continents and oceans on our globe. We played a game of four corners and answered some questions to review these new ideas. I will attach a pdf copy of the scope and sequence of the Core Knowledge topics that we will be covering in first grade this year. Our first grade team met together today to evaluate the math and language arts assessments, and we have placed our first grade students into the most fitting leveled classes. We will begin language arts and math classes next week, and you will be hearing from Ms. East, Ms. Skinner, or myself to let you know what will be happening in our respective classes. We're off to a great start! Thank you so much for all of your support. Have a great weekend! Hello Parents,
It is exciting to see our class working together and being kind to each other. We have a great group of kids! Today we did our first lesson in our Core Knowledge books. We learned the saying: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," and we talked and wrote about ways that we can treat people kindly. Along with that, we read the book Me Too by Mercer Meyer, and we learned our class rule #2: Be respectful. The kids worked in teams and drew the best pictures of people and things that they will respect ( https://novotnenews.weebly.com/gratitude--cheers.html). Today we also began our first art lesson about the three primary colors: red, yellow, and blue. We will soon be learning about how they work together to create secondary and complimentary colors. We had a math assessment again today (yesterday we worked on math facts - today we were seeing how well the students can understand and apply math concepts). It was a big job for them, and so we also learned our class rule #4: Do your best. We also had a bonus recess as a reward for their great work. Today the kids had their first music class with Ms. Perkins. Our class has music on Monday and Thursday afternoons. I'm sure that your kids will be tuckered out after their first full day. Have a great, restful evening. I look forward to seeing them again tomorrow! We are off to a great start!
Today we practiced our Morning 5 routine (Backpacks, lunch box, lunch clip, homework folders, and pencils). We passed out school supplies and drew a self portrait. After recess the kids had their first P.E. class with Coach G, and we took our first spelling and math placement tests. After lunch we read 10 Rules of Being a Superhero by Deb Pilutti, and we practiced our class rule #1: "One person talks at a time" as we got to know each other. I enjoyed working with your children. They were very cooperative and eager to learn. I think that this is going to be a great year! I was very happy to meet all of you at Back to School night as well. THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of the school supply donations. It is so amazing to see what happens when everyone is so kind and generous. Working together we can do great things! Have a great evening. Hello! Welcome to first grade!
My name is Ms. Novotne, and I am so excited to have your child in my class this year. First grade is such an exciting time of growth and discovery. We are going to have so many wonderful learning adventures together. BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT - I can’t wait to meet you and your child! Please stop by our classroom anytime tonight between 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.. You can bring your school supplies, meet your marvelous teacher :) , and let your child get a “sneak peek” at our classroom. This is a great way to help ease any back-to-school jitters! There will be a New Parent Meeting today from 4:00 - 4:20 and again from 6:00 - 6:20, so if you are new to Odyssey, I would encourage you to find out more about our amazing school. SUPPLY LIST - A few of you have asked where to find the school supply list. It is on the OCS website, but I will attach a pdf copy with this email. All of our supplies are shared, so you are welcome to take them out of the packaging. Please write your child's name on his/her pencil pouch. The children will keep their own pencil pouch and pair of scissors in their assigned classroom desk. FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL - School begins this Wednesday, August 14th. Your child will need to bring a backpack, his/her homework folder, a home lunch, and a water bottle. Our first day together will be an early out day (dismissal at 1:30 p.m.). LUNCHES - Our school lunch program will begin after labor day weekend (September 3rd), so you will need to send a lunch with your child during these first few weeks of school. You are also welcome to send a HEALTHY snack with your child for morning recess. I look forward to meeting you! Sincerely, Ms. Greta Novotne A warm hello to all of my new students and families!
I hope that you are enjoying these final days of summer. Please join us for Back-to-School Night Monday, August 12th Stop by our classroom anytime between 4:00 - 6:00. You can see our classroom and meet your new teacher! We are going to have a great year together! |
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April 2020
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