Happy Holidays!

Wow! Just a few more days until the Winter Break! It amazes me how fast time flies, and it amazes me how much first graders grow and change during the year! One of the biggest changes is in reading ability. Every child in this class has made gains with their reading fluency, accuracy, and comprehension. During the break, please take time to read to and with your child. Encourage them to read independently as well. The way to become a better reader is to...read!

A few reminders for this week:
Spirit Day is this Wednesday.
Friday is a half-day of school. It is also our annual pajama day. We will have our class party in the morning. All parents are welcome to attend. We will enjoy breakfast and make a craft. Later that morning we will meet in the theater for a lower division sing along. It's a lot of fun!
We will not have reading folders this week, and our spelling test will be Thursday. We're doing it on our white boards, so there will not be a copy sent home. It's a fun way for the fun week!

Robust Vocabulary:
captured, mercy, struggling, compatible, amiable, relax

Wishing you and your family a great week!

December 7-11

**Update! Due to the rain this morning, we will be hosting Town Meeting next Monday, December 14th. Keep your fingers crossed for no more rain!**

We are happy to share the attached voicethread. This is a project that all first grade classes worked on as part of our study of the human body. Enjoy!






We hope that you can join us as we lead Town Meeting on Monday, December 7th!

Robust Vocabulary for December 7-11
cozily, interrupted, triumphantly, accomplishment, ambition, admire

Hope you have a great week!

November 30-December 4

It was nice to have all the children back after the Thanksgiving break. We are hard at work again! There is much to learn before the next holiday break.
Here are some important dates to remember:
Monday, December 7th we are leading our Town Meeting at 8:10 in the morning. If you would like to join us, please meet at the flagpole. We are sharing a short story in a reader's theater format. It will be brief. Town Meeting is usually finished by 8:30.
There is a Math Parent Workshop at 8:30 on Wednesday, December 9th. It will begin in the theater and end in our classroom. You will have the opportunity to see a math lesson in action!
The Holiday Gift drive ends on December 11th.
Our annual Pajama Day will be Friday, December 18th. More information will be provided later.
Robust Vocabulary words for this week:
approached, energetic, pace, blunder, reassure, excel

November Happenings

We enjoyed having Dr. Carmack visit the class last week. The students learned the different parts of the eye and were even quizzed at the end to see if they remembered what they learned. Dr. Camack did an excellent job teaching the children how our eyes work. Thank you!

This Wednesday, November 18th, is Spirit Day.
Next week we are only in school on Monday and Tuesday. We will not have a homework packet, spelling test, or reading folder activity that week. We will celebrate Thanksgiving in class on Tuesday with a "feast" from KFC! Since we will not have our "feast" until then end of the day, we will enjoy lunches as usual on Tuesday.

This week's robust vocabulary words are:
astonishing, continue, doubt, transform, examine, devour

Have a wonderful week!

Book Fair

Today we browsed the books at the book fair. The excitement in their eyes was precious. Books hold a special place in every teacher's heart! Each child has a "wish list" of books they want. If you are able, please take some time this week (it ends on Thursday) to stop by the book fair with your child. It's open at 7:30 and stays open until 5:00. Perhaps you can go before school or after. If not, please let me know when you send in money for your child to shop during the school day, and I will do my best to find time for them to go.

I hope to see you all at "Poetry in the Park" on Wednesday. We're keeping our fingers crossed for no rain!

Robust vocabulary for this week:
reward, handsomely, cruel, greedy, consequences, regret

October Fun Stuff!

We had so much fun last week!  On Thursday we learned in our pumpkin centers.  They listened to and wrote stories, made a mini-book, completed math problems, were artistic, and made a snack...all involving pumpkins!  On Friday, we greatly enjoyed the costume parade followed by the Fall Festival.  It was a good time for all!

This week's robust vocabulary words are:  nuzzled, pranced, raging, adapt, intriguing, inhabit

Be sure to ask your child about the "avatar" that they made!

Have a wonderful week!

Reminders...

During these busy days, I thought it might be helpful to give you a few reminders.
*Fall Festival is this Friday. Please have your child wear his/her costume to school. They will have the opportunity to change after the parade. Uniforms are not required for the festival. Please remember to sign-out your child before you go the the festival. The sheet will be located on the whiteboard in the classroom. Bring your cameras! This is a very fun event!
*Due to the Fall Festival we will not have a spelling test on Friday. We are also giving the children a break from the reading folders. But, please, encourage them to continue to read at home.
*Spirit Day is this Wednesday.
*Poetry in the Park is November 11th beginning at 8:30 a.m. I sent the poem home to practice. Many of the students have already memorized the poem!

Robust Vocabulary words this week:
ashamed, mused, soared, athletic, awkward, superb

Authors Sharing

We have all enjoyed our Writer's Workshop.  It is especially nice when our young authors share their writing with their classmates!  Our focus during our Writer's Workshop has been to tell a true "small moment" story that has a beginning, middle and end.  This week we will work on telling our stories using at least five good details in our writing.  I can't wait to hear their stories!

Other important reminders:

*The reading folder is due on Monday.

*Word cards are due on Thursday.

*Fall Festival is next Friday!

*Please send in a pumpkin small enough to fit in the palm of your hand by next Monday.

*Our library book check-out day is Tuesday.  Please remind your child to bring their books.

Robust Vocabulary Words for this week are:

claimed, dine, groaned, classify, function, nutritious

I wish you all a wonderful week!

Compliment Party!

What a great class!  We have been in school for only 37 days and they already earned their first compliment party!  A special thank you to Tanya Cruise for bringing in ice cream sandwiches for the students to enjoy.  

October 5-16 Updates

We have been busy, busy, busy in first grade! Thank you for meeting with me to discuss your child's progress during our conferences. We are continuing to learn about the human body.
Last week we focused on our brains. The first picture shows one of our students holding a sheep's brain! What brave students we have! By examining the sheep's brain, we can learn about our own brains. We will continue to focus on our nervous system and learn about our five senses this week.
Posted above are also photos of Dr. Friedman speaking to our class about our bones. The students also has the chance to listen to their heart. Thank you so much, Dr. Friedman for volunteering your time! We all enjoyed your presentation and learned a lot!
Robust Vocabulary for this week:
chorus, odor, shoved, assemble, consume, enthusiastic
Robust Vocabulary for next week:
applauded, chatty, gather, duty, envy, resent
Have a great week!

Pep Rally!

Here are a few photos from the Pep Rally last Friday  Enjoy!

Updates for September 21-October 2

Wow! There is so much going on in first grade! I have already had a couple of parent/teacher conferences. You will find a reminder of your conference day/time on today's homework calendar. Please let me know if you are unable to attend, and we will reschedule. I look forward to sharing your child's work samples and discuss progress made. This is a great opportunity to ask me questions, and no question is too small!
The students have enjoyed going to the Science Resource room. Last week we had a guest speaker. Lisa Peck, a high school science teacher, spoke to first grade classes about skeletons. The children were able to meet "Seymour the Skeleton". Seymour will spend some time in each first grade classroom as we continue to learn about our Human Body.
We have been learning how to tell time, count with nickels and pennies, and create number sentences in mathematics.
Please continue to encourage your child to read at least 10 minutes every day. My students know the answer to this question. What's the best way to become a better reader?
Robust Vocabulary for this week:
horrible, invigorated, presented, aid, persistent, sweltering
Robust Vocabulary for next week:
commotion, muffle, overflowing, locate, search, symbol

The Importance of Routines

Today we counted the 18th day of school. By now the students are well into our class routine. Here's a sample of our daily routine:
We begin our day with bellwork, calendar, and Writer's Workshop. After writing we typically have a snack break followed by Shared Reading. Most days the students go to PE after Shared Reading. After PE we have Guided Reading/Centers. Then we're off to lunch! After lunch they read silently for about ten minutes, and then I read aloud to them. Math follows this oral reading time. Most days we have an afternoon special (Music, Spanish, Science Room) then recess. The afternoon also has time for a Science or Social Studies lesson. We end our day reviewing what we did/learned.
This routine varies slightly from day to day, but it's still usually in a similar order. Your children have adapted very well, and I'm so proud of them! It's important that they have a routine in place for completing their homework. Please take a few minutes each day to ensure that they have the work completed and in their bag to return to school the following day. Please help them to remember to return their word cards on Thursday as well.
Thank you for your continued support. We are truly a "team"!

Other News:
Picture Day is Tuesday, September 15th
Robust Vocabulary for this week:
ambled, politely, pouted, considerate, routine, unexpected

Centers

Centers are an important and popular part of our day.  The children participate in two centers each day that focus on math, technology, art or literacy.  Be sure to ask your child what they did during their centers time!

Robust Vocabulary for the week:  especially, memorize, sensed, capacity, haul, proud

Hoping you all are having a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

Open House and Other Important Stuff!

The students are taking turns with the Me Stew pot.  This is a wonderful opportunity for us to learn more about your child as well as building up your child's confidence as a public speaker.

Thank you Parents for a wonderful Open House Night!  It was nice to meet with all again and speak about curriculum and first grade expectations.  Thank you for taking time to write back to your child.  They loved reading your responses about what you did in first grade!  

Our Weekly Specials:

PE- Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday  10:00-10:30

Art-Tuesday 8:20-9:05

Music-Friday 12:20-1:05

Spanish- Monday & Wednesday 2:00-2:30

Lunch- 11:30-12:00

Recess- Most days 1:00-1:30

Computer Class- every other Friday 9:15-10:00

Library Lesson-every other Friday 9:15-9:45

Book checkout- Tuesday 2:05-2:35

Parent Reader- Friday 2:15-2:35

Reminder:  This Monday we begin our homework packet.  The week's spelling words and word card words are on the calendar.  Please help your child remember to return the homework due each day and that word cards are returned on Thursday.

*This week's robust vocabulary words are:  escape, fright, nearby, cram, solution, strategy

The expectation for these words are that they will understand the meaning of the word by the end of the week.  

Have a fabulous week!

First Day!

What a great start to our year! It was hard to tell who was more excited...me or them! We spent the day getting to know routines and learning about each other. I look forward to learning more about each child as I begin reading and math assessments. Be on the lookout for the "Me Stew" pot. Every child will have the opportuntity to put items in the pot to share with the class. This is another great way for classmates to learn about each other as well as practice public speaking skills.
A big thank you goes out to all of my wonderful parents! We had 100% of our families represented at Meet the Teacher yesterday. I look forward to seeing you all again next Thursday evening for Open House. Much important information will be shared them, so I hope you will all attend. See you then!

Welcome!

The beginning of a new school year is always an exciting time! The classroom has been cleaned, bulletin boards are on display, pencils have been sharpened, and I can't wait to meet my new students!
I hope that all my students and their families will be able to attend Meet the Teacher on August 18th. It would be helpful to bring your school supplies. The first day of school is August 19th, and dismissal for lower division students is at noon.
Be ready for a wonderful journey in first grade.
We're going to have a great year!