November 5th

Hey all!!!! Hope everyone is doing great and gearing up for this Holiday season.  We are in here Firstie Land for sure.  This is such a busy time for everyone and there is so much to try to fit in.  I’m going to give you guys a few reminders of upcoming events and then I’ll break down what we are learning.  Fall picture retakes/makeup pictures are next week.  I sent a note home yesterday as a reminder and will send another the day before retakes/makeup day.  Our Thanksgiving Reader’s Theater is next Friday at 12:00 in our room.  It is super cute and I will be recording it and posting on our blog for family members all over to see.  You are welcome to take your kiddo after the performance to start your family time.

Spelling: Here are the words for the next two weeks: but, what, all, were, when, we, there, can, an, your  Please remember to make this a fun time for your kiddos.  I’d love it if, instead of saying the letter, they would say the sounds as they write these words.  It helps instill the actual word instead of the letters that make the word.

Phonics:  We are working on the 3 sounds of “ed”.  “T”  “D” and “ED”  Past tense forms of root words ex:  wantED, walkED, waterED

Math:  We are working on attributes of 2D shapes and word problems.

Writing:  We are still focusing on elements of a good story and individual goals.

Science/Social Studies:  We are researching turkeys and what Thanksgiving is all about.

As always, please don’t hesitate to contact me at any time!!!!

Lots of info

Hey all!  I hope y’all are enjoying this beautiful day.  First, let me apologize for forgetting to send pictures home on Thursday!!!  They will be sent home Monday.  Report cards go out this Thursday.  Can you believe its already been 9 weeks???  This week is also Red Ribbon Week so I’ll break down what to wear each day:

Monday- Wear Red

Tuesday- Wear your favorite jersey

Wednesday- PJ’s

Thursday- Crazy socks

Friday- Roughneck day

I will send a reminder home for the Student Led conferences on October 30th with your time on it this week.  The kiddos can dress up on Halloween day as their favorite book character.  Remember this is a half day for the kiddos and we ask no visitors for lunch that day due to seating for K-5 students.  WHEW!!!  You will notice a new addition in your sweeties Reading Adventure this week.  I am adding a fluency piece that should be pretty quick and painless for all involved!  After your Firstie reads to you, please have them read the fluency phrase while you time them and write their time on the sheet. They will read the same passage all week.  They should improve their time each day and build their confidence in their reading ability.  Don’t worry about where it says wpm.  We will fill that in at Guided Reading so we can set a new personal goal.

Spelling/Phonics:  We will have a spelling test Tuesday on the words: be, this, from, I , have, or, by, one, had, not  Please continue reviewing ALL spelling words as each test goes back and reviews old words too.  We have learned vowels, blends, digraphs and this week we will work on ABC Order.  The week of Halloween we will focus on vowel teams.

Math:  We will continue working on adding sets, numerical order, greater than less than, and counting and identifying numbers to 120.  We will add in 2 dimensional shapes.

Writing:  We have had a great time creating a haunted house and writing about it.  We are also working on a spooky story in class.  The kids should be, at this point, beginning their stories with a capital letter, using finger spaces, and starting to understand what actually makes a story.  They should be using their word wall to make sure they are spelling their word wall words correctly.

Science/Social Studies:  We will wrap up our study on nocturnal animals next week with a very fun activity and we will also be doing some fun Halloween activities.

I want to make sure you all know how much it means to me to have your support with your sweeties.  I am loving each and every one of my Firsties uniqueness!!!!!!

 

 

Week of October 8th

WOW did September fly by!!!!!!  We are off to a great start in Firstie Land. Homecoming was so precious with all their mums and garters.  These littles were super excited all day. I hope everyone was able to see the parade and enjoy Roughneck Days.

On October 30th we will be doing student led conferences.  This is a day that your sweetie gets to spend 15-20 minutes showing you their work, explaining how our day works, and setting a few goals with you.  This is our first year to try this but I think it’s going to be great for them to actually “own” their learning with you and I involved.  I will be sending a paper home this week with a time on it.  If for some reason this time doesn’t work for you please let me know as soon as possible!  I will try to work with you but we only have the one day and, unless another parent needs a different time, it will be very difficult.

Spelling words for the next two weeks: be, this, from, I, Have, or, by, one, had, not

Phonics:  We have been working on blends and will continue to go over blends this week and then digraphs next week.  (blends are two consonants that work together to make one sound ex.  bl in blue or gr in grape and digraphs are the sh, the, ch, wh)  The kiddos worked very hard on vowel sounds and we will continue to review because vowels are so important to their reading and writing.

Math:  We will continue working on joining sets, strategies that we use and number talks.

Writing:  We are starting our class spooky story for October in whole group.  I am meeting with kiddos throughout the week working on them setting writing goals and working on more details.  They are loving our Writer’s Workshop time.

Science:  As most of you know, we learned about Spiders last week and they LOVED it!  This week we will be learning about Bats and then Owls.  I love teaching science and these kids are soaking it up!

As always, if you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me any time!!!

 

Week of September 17th

Well, it is officially the 6th week of school. WOW!!!  I am loving getting to know your sweet kiddos.  They are working so hard to learn routines, stations, rules, and me.  They are doing great!!!!  I always try to give y’all a breakdown of what the next two weeks will look like to give you a heads up on what to say and ask your kiddo about their learning.  We do have an early release next Wednesday for PLC teacher training.  A note will go home about the times soon!  October 5th is our Homecoming and there will be an early release day for that too so that any and all students who want to attend can.  We will release at 1:15 on October 5th for many reasons (traffic being the main one for our bus route).  Your kiddo can wear a mum or garter to school but we will take them off and keep them safe until it is time to be released.  Don’t forget picture day is Thursday the 20th.  Graded papers should be in their folders today.  WHEW!!!! Lots of info.

Spelling:  These are our words for the next two weeks: he, for, was, on, are, as, with, his, they, at  We have highlighted the first 10 words on our spelling list.  I will be holding them accountable for these words in their reading and writing from now on!  I do give an “authentic” spelling grade from their writing 2-3 times in a nine weeks.  This means I grade spelling words that they use when they write.

Phonics:  We should know short vowel sounds and are now working on long vowel sounds and word families.

Writing:  We are focusing on what gets a capital letter and penmanship.  Finger spaces, how we form our letters, and what is a good sentence.  We will begin our first class book this week.  Yay!!!

Math:  We are working on the greater than/less than/equal to vocabulary and signs.  We continue to do number talks to allow the students to share how they see and understand numbers.  We are also talking about addition and subtraction on the number path.

Science/Social Studies:  We are working on color mixing and doing some fun experiments with that.  We are also talking about our 5 senses.  We read and watch some awesome books and videos this week and next week we get to “test” our senses.  This is so much fun for your sweet kiddos.

I will be sending home a Scholastic book order form tomorrow.  You can send a check with your sweetie and I will enter the order or you can go online and order with a card.  My code is GZZHF!  Thank you for supporting me and your sweetie.

 

 

 

Week of September 10

Hey guys!!!  We are off to such a great start.  I hope the kiddos came home talking about baking soda and vinegar!!!  Just a few things to let you know what has been going on in Firstie land.  TESTING, TESTING, TESTING  The first few weeks is all about learning where your sweet babies are and where we need to start this school year.  I know some of the books they are bringing home may be too hard/easy but at least we are getting them in the habit of reading every night again.  Hopefully after this next week we will get to start actual guided reading and they will come home with a book on their level of learning.  I will add to their Reading Adventure as we go along.  I will be sending their first little set of graded papers home tomorrow so you can get a glimpse of where they are.

Spelling:  This is a big week for our Firsties!  They will be taking their first spelling test on Tuesday.  It is a “story line” test and then a dictation on the back.  We will do a spelling preview tomorrow so you can see what your sweetie needs to work on.  The words are a review from K so hopefully they will do great on them.  The words should be in their planner and they are the first 10 words in their spelling word list in their Reading Adventure.  the, of, and, a, to, in, is, you, that, it  After the test, these words will be highlighted and I will hold the kiddos responsible for spelling these words correctly in all areas!

Math:  I will be sending home their first homework on Tuesday.  I TRY to send math homework home on Tuesdays just so you can see what we are doing in math.  I will be totally honest, in a perfect world you will see homework every Tuesday, otherwise, I do have them write in their planner when they have math homework.  We are working on addition strategies (using your finger, number path, counting on) and we will begin number order and patterns in numbers.

Phonics:  We have focused on short vowel and short vowel families.  The next two weeks we will focus on long vowels and long vowel families.  I want the kiddos to remember word “chunks” or families as they read.  (at, and, ake, ug, etc…)

Writing:  We are learning what good writers do and look for.  Punctuation being a stop sign when you write.  What gets a capital letter.  What a good writer does and looks for.  We have started building our “writing stamina”.

Science/Social Studies:  We will wrap up our Author Study on Kevin Henkes and we will begin learning about primary colors and what happens when you mix them.  Yay a cool science experiment will be waiting on those babies almost everyday this week and for sure next week in research.

Please feel free to contact me any time!!!!!!!!!

 

Week of August 26th

Helloooooo my Firstie parents!  What a great first week we have had.  It has been a lot of remembering the CHAMPS guidelines and procedures, classroom rules and procedures, and just learning new friends.  I am so ready to get this learning year started.  This week we will begin logging notes and things in our planners, we will begin to bring books home, and studying words that will help us become awesome readers.

Spelling words for the next two weeks are: the, of, and, a, to, in, is, you, that, it.  These are review words from Kindergarten so they should be pretty easy for our sweeties.  Please make practice fun for example: let them write them in shaving cream(this is a great cleaning tool) sticks in dirt, air writing, writing on your back then theirs to try to figure out, etc…

Reading:  I was planning on sending home their reading journals this Monday but I got a little behind so it will be Tuesday before reading logs and journals will come home,  However, on Monday they will pick out a self choice book to bring home.  Beginning Tuesday, I will send home  a red reading journal with awesome “tools” for our readers to get started.  Please read the note (more encouragement to come) and read with our sweeties.

Math: We are reviewing number concepts and beginning number talks.  These kiddos are going to grow so much this year!

Science/Social Studies:  We will begin an author study on Kevin Kenkes that focuses on good character and friendship.  I will be doing a science experiment with the kiddo on Friday that goes along with this concept.

Writing:  This week we will be focusing on what makes a good writer and the characteristics of a good story.

As always, if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me!  I already love your sweet kiddos!  This is going to be a great year!