Valentine's List

I just wanted to pop in and give you our student list for Valentine's Day...in addition to a quick update.

The Valentine's Day party is on Friday, Feb 12, after the first recess (9:45). The list of students is as follows...
Haleigh Alaga
Bridgett Barwick
Trenten Bryant
Sammy caudill
Michael Christie
Sophia Gambril
Jacob Giberson
Jack Hervey
Taylor Klauer
Ruben Sammet
Kelly McGinn
Sophia Morales
Mack Neider
Ava Riccabona
Vito Riccabona
Carson Spencer
Heath Whitted
Sarah Whitwam

We are halfway through Chapter 15 in math and moving on to Chapter 16. Everyone needs to continue practicing their math facts, both addition and subtraction. I have sent home copies of the timed test to help your child study. Mastery of these facts is very important for future math. We are continuing our unit on famous Americans, and have learned about Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, and next week we will be on to Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Ruby Bridges, and Betsy Ross. The students are really enjoying learning about these important people. They are writing, expository style, about each person which will later be put together to make a book. In addition, we have just finished a unit on weather, and will soon be moving on with a unit called "To Good For Drugs" in which the kids will learn about staying healthy, setting goals, decision making, managing emotions, and communicating effectively. It's a great program and a lot of fun for the kids. Finally, we will start practicing the songs for our play, "The Ugly Duckling" next week. Updated information will follow as we get moving along. I believe the actual show will take place right before Spring Break. This will be fun and exciting for the kids and everyone will be included. Ok, that's all for now. Have a great rest of the week!

Latest Update

Hello Again,

Wow, these weeks are just flying by!! Last week certainly was interesting with all the exciting weather...it was a wonderful time to start our weather unit. We are learning about all different kinds of weather as well as learning how to read the thermometer. What a great "real" show we had to supplement our studies. In addition, we are continuing to learn about famous Americans. We finished up Martin Luther King and did some wonderful expository writing as a conclusion. Next week we will learn about Ruby Bridges, then Abraham Lincoln, Rosa Parks and George Washington. We will be writing about each special American so you will be able to see what amazing writers your children are becoming. In math, we just finished up Chapter 14 and will begin Chapter 15. For the nightly math practice, the homework workbook pages are a perfect supplement to what we are doing in class. We are continuing work with phonograms and new word wall words. New words are: by, about, your, use, and write. I am so impressed with how well everyone is reading and writing! It is so fun to watch them grow and mature. Please remember to read each night with your child and to turn in the reading logs each Friday. I am still missing a number of logs each Friday! Thanks for all your support and for having such great kids! As always, if you have an questions or comments, please feel free to email me anytime.

Quick Update For The Upcoming Week

Hello Everyone,

I hope you enjoy the long weekend. Looks like the rain will be coming in for the next week so let's all prepare. Next week we will be finishing up chap 13 in Math and starting chap 14. Remember to practice math as well as read with your child, and to record this on the weekly reading log. Addition and Subtraction cards along with the Math Homework Workbook are great sources of practice. We will also be finishing up our discussion of Martin Luther King and doing some expository writing about him. The kids have been fascinated with learning about Dr. Martin Luther King. New word wall words will be as follows: our, try, good, says, and say. I have been so impressed with the progress your children have been making. Thanks for your support. We have also been learning how to respond to literature with answering questions about what they have read. Comprehension is key so it would be a good idea to ask your child questions about what they have read to make sure they are comprehending. Sometimes this is harder for some than others. So...have a great weekend and enjoy the wet weather.

Welcome Back

Happy 2010 to everyone! The staff and I started back to work yesterday with meetings all day. We spent most of the morning learning about our new phone messaging system. I hope you all received my first ever phone message yesterday and it came through loud and clear. I will be using this messaging system occasionally...It is just another way to improve the school's communication.
We have a busy week ahead. I hope you all had a fabulous vacation and your kids are ready to start the second half of first grade! Boy, time goes fast doesn't it? We will start with a full day today filled with math review, a new unit on weather, a new unit on famous Americans and we will begin writer's workshop this week as well. As you can see, a lot is planned and I am sure everyone will be ready.
Just as a reminder...please remember to fill out an turn in your reading/math practice logs each week!!

Quick Update

Hello again...time for a quick update as we head towards our winter break. We have been very busy this week using the globe and talking about where many of our holiday traditions began. We have been learning about the many different holidays that we celebrate this time of year, reading some stories, singing some songs, and creating some holiday art. In addition we are continuing with our phonograms and our dictation sentences, so look in your child's folder for this work. We are finishing up Chapter 12 in math tommorrow so it would be a great idea to reinforce the concepts by doing the math homework pages from the homework folder that was sent home at the beginning of the year. We are starting Chapter 13 next week, so if you are looking for ways to keep your child busy over the break, the Chapter 13 homework pages would fit the bill!! Another great idea would be to keep your child studying the word wall words...new words for this week are your, ran, run, stop, and how. Our holiday party will be next Friday at 12 noon. If you are interested in helping please contact Justina Bryant, Trenten's mom. And don't forget about the field trip next Wednesday to the Junior High. If you are a driver, please make sure your insurance forms are updated in the school's office. Thanks.

Time is Flying!!

Wow, only less than three weeks until winter break. I hope you all had a restful week off and enjoyed the time with your family. The kids are back to business and working hard as usual. I am quite impressed with how much the writing is improving and it is so much fun for me to watch!! We continue to work on writing complete sentences with capitals and proper punctuation, as well as correct spelling of word wall words, proper spacing and neat writing. New word wall words this week are: two, more, once, made, and ago. In addition we continue to work on new phonograms each day. Look for these in the dictation papers that come home. We have just finished chapter 10 in math and are on to Chapter 12 ( we already did pages of chapter 11 at the beginning of the year). From this point on, every Tuesday your child will be taking two timed math tests, one subtraction and one addition. After they pass with 3 minutes, it drops to 2 minutes and finally 1.5 minutes. Then they move on to another test. I try to make this as stress-free as possible but I understand some kids have a hard time relaxing with such a task. Please try to let your child know that they are doing great!!! And by the way, they are doing great!! Please remember to turn in the field trip forms I sent home for our field trip on Dec 16. Thanks and have a great week!!

Thankful Thoughts

This week is a week about giving thanks and we certainly have a lot to be thankful for! We talked a lot about the many things we are all thankful for, made a Thanksgiving placemat,, made a Thanksgiving card using our hand as the turkey, and discussed how we all will be celebrating Thanksgiving. May you all have a wonderful long break!!

We are still working on writing our numbers, 1-100 in four minutes. Everyone is progressing nicely. When we return from our break, we will begin our addition and subtraction timed math tests. The goal of this weekly activity is to help your child memorize his/her math facts through 10 which is a first grade standard.

Our first grade homework is being expanded starting the week we return from break. You will notice on the Reading Log, there is an additional box to check off. Each child will still be expected to read to his/her parent for 20 minutes each night from a book at his/her reading level and now will also be expected to do some math review/practice for 20 minutes also. Some suggestions for math practice/review are; use flash cards, complete math worksheets, do mental math, work on a math program on the computer/Geosafari/Leapster , count coins, card games, dice games, board games and sort/classify objects.

Don't forget that this Friday is Spirit Day/Backwards Day so be creative and enjoy joining in on the fun!