Upcoming Reminders:
Friday, September 28th - Fundraiser Money and Orders Due. Be sure to return the coupon book! Monday, October 1st - Open House 6-7 pm Tuesday, October 2nd - HAT DAY / send a food item or 25 cents Tuesday, October 9th - McTeacher Night at McDonald's 4-8 (I will be there!) Friday, October 19th - Fall Party and Dismiss at 12:30 Thursday, October 25th - Parent Teacher Conference (sign up during Open House) Monday, October 29th - Parent Teacher Conference CHECK OUT "SNAPSHOTS OF FUN" for parade pictures! It was a wild day, but the kids had a terrific time on what they called a "field trip". We read a non-fiction text about Raccoons and reported our learning on a facts page. These will be on display for Open House. We also read "Chester Raccoon and the Big Bad Bully". Kids identified characters, setting, problem, and solution. We discussed bullying and what it really means, and also ways to deal with bullies in a positive way. Math provided more options for solving addition and subtraction story problems. An understanding of numbers, numerical order, and mathematical symbols is very important. Please count with your child daily if you know he/she can't count forward and backward from 20. In phonics we've finished reviewing short vowel sounds, spelling three letter words, and letter formation. We will continue with the rules of phonics to help kids find structure in reading and writing. Next week we will be reading Little Red Riding Hood, retelling including all key details, discussing the problem and solution, and contrasting and comparing two versions. *Writing: Continuing writing about small moments or true stories we want to share. We hope to have published books on display at Open House. *Phonics: Double endings- ff, -ll, -ss *Math: Finishing Topic 2 and testing on Wednesday. Review lessons from Topic 2 to help prepare your child. We will begin Topic 3 which is more Addition & Subtraction *Science/Social Studies- Habit 5 Seek First to Understand then to be Understood *Your child's current DRA (reading level) will be sent home on a form that explains what level students should be reading on at this time. During conferences I will provide ways you can support reading growth. Reading every day to and with your child does make a difference! Check out "Snapshots of Fun!" I am a picture nut!
I'm blessed to have this group of kids. No one is hurting anyone physically, and it is rare when someone is mean verbally. They seem to genuinely care about each other and filling buckets often. Many are a bit chatty, but that is in every group of kids and adults. So much learning is happening! Math is a bit of a struggle because of the pace we keep. I read directions to kids and walk them through several problems to explain what we are focusing on. Sometimes they can work through problems afterward on their own, but often I have to read the lengthy directions. I try hard to be sure you know when we do the entire lesson together so you can talk about the pages to be sure your child understands what we did. Also, problems should be completely correct. When kids complete pages alone, you will know that as well. Either way, please review math for the day and complete the homework together if you see that there is some confusion. This week we hit several standards: *Fluently adding within 10 - some kids are still unable to add correctly. *Use doubles to add within 10 to solve problems (very difficult if counting fingers gets the wrong answer). *Use near-double facts to count on and solve problems quickly (knowing doubles is a must to understand). *Use a ten frame to solve addition problems within 5, then add more to make 10 (the ability to see it in our minds quickly). *Use the same addends to write two DIFFERENT equations with the same sum. Additional practice with you will help with understanding and your child becoming more fluent. We do these things every day, but we had to learn them in school. It is hard for kids this young. In Word Work/Phonics we have focused on medial sounds and using the short o sound within words. I make sure kids are realizing their mouths and faces are moving differently for each vowel sound. Writing at home helps with the concept! Reading over words on our learning pages is a terrific idea. Kids are stretching small words to spell them phonetically, but larger words need to be spelled using word families, and sight words we find within words, digraphs (th, ph, sh, sn...). In writing kids actually got a nice chunk of time to write!!! I try so hard, but we have a packed schedule all day. We partnered to read our stories to a friend for ideas how to make them better. We review sentence structure to be sure our writing is complete. In the kids words, "There must be a vowel for every syllable in a word. The first letter of the sentence must be capitalized. Put spaces between words. Add punctuation. Write in complete thoughts. Write neatly". I am quite proud of the efforts kids are putting into their ideas. It is alot to think about for everything to come together as a story - then to edit too? We have started working with editing spelling of sight words, capital letters, and punctuation. I hope to have student books ready for Open House on October 1st. Reading tests (DRAs) are complete! We will begin reading groups next week. I will try to get you a note about your child's current reading level asap. We started reading buddies with preschool Tuesday. I hope to see kids become even more excited about reading when they know a little buddy will be expecting a story each week. We enjoyed the story "Chrysanthemum" during group reading. We discussed being ourselves and being proud of who we are. Kids worked toward defining vocabulary words: dreadful, appreciate, beamed, wilted, giggled. We searched in the x-text for answers to questions that were text-dependent such as "Why did Chrysanthemum repeat her name when she said it?" We bounced from this book into "Monster Manners" to discuss how to be a good listener and a good friend. Fundraiser packets were sent home Thursday. The coupon book inside is $25. It was sent home so you can show potential buyers what the coupons are. If you do not intend to participate in the fundraiser, send this book back immediately in the large envelope so you are not charged for it. If you throw the entire packet away, you will be charged. Fundraiser orders and money is due back September 28th. If you have questions, please contact the office. I'm just the middle-man! Next week is Spirit Week to celebrate the district-wide parade on Friday. A letter was sent home Friday from first grade that explains spirit day attire. Kids can participate if they want to, but do not have to at all. Picture day is Thursday, September 20th. Send your child in picture clothing. They can change clothes for Spirit Week right after. Kids will be getting their Tiger t-shirt (for free) on Friday morning. They will change in the classroom either before or after Community Time. REMEMBER THAT FRIDAY IS AN EARLY DISMISSAL AT 12:30. Important Dates: Monday September 17th - "Merica Day - red, white, and blue, stars and stripes Tuesday September 18th - Tie-Dye Wednesday September 19th - Pajama Day Thursday September 20th - Picture Day then Tacky Tourist Day Friday September 21st - Tiger T-shirt day, parade in Willard, 12:30 dismissal Friday September 28th - fundraiser order forms and money due Monday October 1st - Open House (info sent next week), sign up for conferences Tuesday October 2nd - Hat Day (send a canned food item or 25 cents) Tuesday October 9th - McTeacher night on W. Chestnut 4-8 pm Friday October 19th - Fall parties Thursday October 25th and Monday October 29th - conferences Our district will be using a new reporting system for student progress called "Empower". The new push is to use "Proficiency Scales" (or P Scales) to report the level of success students are reaching. The pieces are not in place yet, but teachers are beginning to introduce students and families to P Scales. I introduced my kids to them Thursday. We used blowing up and tying a balloon as our "anchor" lesson. The kids had a blast learning how to blow up a balloon. Many of them learned that they could also tie the balloon! A few were very sad that they couldn't quite get the hang of it. We scored their P Scales according to their success or lack of. We then read "Leo the Late Bloomer" about a young tiger who couldn't do anything right - yet. We discussed how we all learn at different speeds, and we all have different strengths. Those who couldn't blow up their balloon simply couldn't do it yet. With practice and additional instruction, the ability will come. We continued the lesson Friday and achieved success for another student. My hope is to show kids that a "3" is where we want them to be, but often we start at a "1" and grow from there. As a Leader In Me school, we work toward living by the 7 habits. One habit is "Begin with the end in mind" and deals with goal setting. We set our classroom goal for 14 out of 17 kids to read all 25 sight words on list one by October 10th. We charted what the kids can do to practice and what I can do to help them. A P Scale marked with the current success was sent home with each student. The scale shows the number of words necessary to achieve a "3". Kids should be using the practice sheets sent home to read over each day. Our goal and progress is posted outside our classroom door. We continued to work on classroom expectations, manners, and positive behaviors. We read about friendship and how to be a good friend. With donated fruits from our families, we made "Friendship Salad" by mixing fruit cocktail, pears, and mandarin oranges. We talked about our differences - that in some ways we are alike, but often different. We have to accept everyone as part of our classroom. Then I tried to add a rotten banana! The kids did not want it mixed in their fruit. I told them the rotten banana was that one person who ruined the learning and fun for everyone. We all agreed that we do not want to be the rotten banana. Then, the kids devoured all ten cans of fruit. Next week: *Handwriting practice Oo-Zz. When practicing at home, be sure your child begins letters at the top and moves downward. *Phonics - short o sound as in "hot" and a review of /a/, /i/, /u/ *Math- Topic 2 begins with "Adding Doubles" *Social Studies - how to be a leader and not a bully *Writing - We have discussed choosing a small moment to focus on. Kids can write five to six pages easily out of a trip to their favorite restaurant or a party. Next week we are going to focus on giving kids time to write and then to read their stories to a writing partner for peer-editing support. Upcoming Reminders: Tuesday, September 11th - Hat Day - students who donate a canned food item or a quarter may wear a hat to school. Suggested items to send: mac n cheese, hamburger and tuna helper. Thursday, September 13th - Fundraiser Kick-off Monday, September 17th-21st will be spirit week. Watch for details. Thursday, September 20th - Picture Day Friday, September 21st - Homecoming Parade 10:00 and Dismiss at 12:30 |
AuthorMrs. Christine Bailey Willard South Homepage
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May 2019
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