Happy to be in First Grade!! :)

What We’re Learning This Week: the week of August 27, 2018

Reading:“Sam Come Back” (Fiction Text) We will be working on identifying the characters, setting and major events of a story in order. 

In the next few weeks, your child will be coming home with their daily book to read in their “book in a bag.” Please remember to read your child’s book-in-a-bag nightly with them. 

Writing: We will be introducing writing workshop and brainstorming small moments.  Students will work on writing about “small moments” as we begin our personal narrative writing unit. We will also be continuing to work on capitalization, end marks and writing detailed sentences through mini-lessons. We will be focusing on the naming and telling part of a sentence.

Grammar: We will be reviewing what makes a COMPLETE sentence (Conventions, spacing, Capital letters, neatness.).. Identifying the naming and telling piece of a sentence. 

Word Study/Spelling:  

Fry Words: the of  and a  to

Short vowel word families will be our focus for this quarter. Word family shares the same vowels/patterns and rhyming words. We are working on short vowel “a” 

Feature/Pattern of the week:- Word Families       at   an

Ex: at, bat, cat, hat, man, ran

Math: Our math lessons each day will include computational fluency, fact fluency, and core math instruction focused on the first grade common core math standards. Computational fluency will help the students to use the most effective and efficient strategies. Fact Fluency is working with both addition and subtraction facts within 10. We are working towards students to complete 15 addition facts in one minute and 15 subtraction facts in one minute. Our core lessons will include hands-on math activities and games that support the common core. 

1st grading period Science and Social Studies:
Science: The Sun
Social Studies: How to be a good Craddock citizen and following school rules.
Homework/Ready to Learn Behavior Chart: See homework and Ready to Learn log starting in September. Thank you for your home support!

Extras:

Blue Ribbon Reader_-packets are due back no later than Tuesday, Aug. 21^st. The Blue Ribbon Reader Even will be Thursday, Aug. 30^thright after school. 

-Please make sure you are sending your child with a peanut free snack for the am.

Reading to a Buddy

Students practiced "Read to Someone" with our story of the week, "A Day of Firsts". 

First Indoor Recess

The students played so nicely together and had a lot of fun even though it was a rainy day! 

What We’re Learning This Week: Week of August 20, 2018

Reading: “Day of Firsts” (Fiction Text) we will be working on identifying the characters, setting and major events of a story in order.

In the next few weeks your child will begin coming home with their daily book to read in their “book in a bag.” Please remember to read your child’s book-in-a-bag nightly with them. (Keep an eye out for the bag) J

Writing: We will be introducing writing workshop and working on various writing activities.  We will also be continuing to work on capitalization, end marks and writing detailed sentences through mini-lessons. We will be focusing on the naming and telling part of a sentence.

Grammar: We will be reviewing what makes a “good sentence.” We are focusing on making a COMPLETE sentence (Conventions, spacing, Capital letters, neatness.).. We will also practice identifying the naming and telling piece of a sentence.

Word Study/Spelling: This week we are going to dive deep into what Spelling time would look like in our classroom. We will be practicing how to take a “Celebrations of Knowledge” aka spelling tests. The students will get familiar with spelling expectations and practicing writing words. Next week we will provide the following areas:

Fry Words:  *The first grade list will be sent home at the end of this week 

Feature/Pattern of the week: - Word Families       

Math: Our math lessons each day will include computational fluency, fact fluency, and core math instruction focused on the first grade common core math standards. Computational fluency will help the students to use the most effective and efficient strategies. Fact Fluency is working with both addition and subtraction facts within 10. We are working towards students to complete 15 addition facts in one minute and 15 subtraction facts in one minute. Our core lessons will include hands-on math activities and games that support the common core.

1st grading period Science and Social Studies:Science: The Sun
Social Studies: How to be a good Craddock citizen and following school rules.

Homework/Ready to Learn Behavior Chart: See homework and Ready to Learn log starting in September. Thank you for your home support!

Extras:

-Please make sure you are sending your child with a nut free snack for the morning. 

-Please send back any paperwork that was passed out during meet and greet 

-PTO information was included in the meet and greet packet.  This gives directions on signing up for volunteering and different events. 

-You will be getting an email to sign-up as a mystery reader soon!. 
-Blue Ribbon Reader_-packets are due back no later than Tuesday, Aug. 21^st. The Blue Ribbon Reader Even will be Thursday, Aug. 30^thright after school. 

First Week of School!

It has been a great first week in first grade!  We have been learning the rules and routines of our classroom, as well as getting to know all of our new classmates!

What We Learned this Week: 
-Routines such as coming to school in the morning, packing up to leave in the afternoon, lunch and recess, walking in the hallway, etc. 

-Class rules that we brainstormed together.  The rules that the students came up with are:
1. Be kind and use kind words
2. Listen to teachers and friends
3. Keep a safe body-hands and feet to yourself
4. Work quietly and remember voice level
5. Clean up after yourself
6. Eat your own snack
7. Use walking feet
8. Be responsible with flexible seating 

-We learned about our classmates through our summer treasure show and tell.  The students loved being able to share memories with their new friends.  If your child forgot to bring something in on Friday, you can send them with a treasure on Monday.  

-We reviewed sentence writing rules and students wrote about their summers.  
Sentence Rules to remember: 
1. Capital letter
2. Punctuation
3. Sentence makes sense
4. Spaces between words
5. Spelling 

Reminders: 
-Thank you to everyone that sent back office and classroom paperwork.  If you have not yet turned everything in, please try to send it back this week!  I also am not able to upload pictures until I receive everyone's blog permission slips back.  

-Our students brought home their poetry binders on Friday for the first time with the two poems we read this week.  Encourage students to read the words they know, but feel free to help them with reading the poems if they need assistance.  Please have the lucky listener sign and return each Monday!

-Please look for a sign-up to come in as a mystery reader coming soon! 

Thank you for your support!! :) 

Important Classroom Information

·        Bring summer treasure to share on the first Friday of School-August 17^th

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·        Snack: We will have snack time every morning.  Please look over nut free classroom information in this packet.  Water bottles are also permitted, but students must take them home daily.

·        Take Home Folder- This folder will come home every day, and it will be brought back to school every day.  Please check it daily.  One side of the folder will be labeled ‘keep it at home’ and the other side will be labeled ‘bring it back’.

 

·        Guided Reading Bag: Your child will have guided reading books that will need to be read and returned the next day. 

·        Lunch money- if you send lunch money to put on your child’s account, please send it in an envelope with your child’s name on it.  Thank you!

·        Bus tag- Please have your child bring his/her sea animal bus tag back to school each day.  We will do this for the first couple weeks of school until we are all comfortable with the bus routine.

·        Homework- Homework logs will come home each month.  They will need to be completed and returned. This will start in September 

·        Poetry Notebooks-Students will receive a few new poems in their poetry notebook each week.  They will be sent home on Fridays, and the child will read their new poems from that week to a lucky listener.  The lucky listener will sign to show they listened to the poems.  The students will bring their notebooks back on Monday and receive a stamp or sticker for practicing their poems at home. 

·        Team Teaching with Mrs. Armbrecht-Mrs. Armbrecht and I will be team teaching this year.  This means that the students will be going to Mrs. Armbrecht’s room to learn social studies, and her class will come to our room to learn science!

·        Recess-The students will go outside and play twice a day.  One recess after lunch and one extra recess later in the afternoon.  Please help keep your child prepare for the weather!  They also need to have their name on the inside of each piece of outerwear.

·        Scholastic Book Orders- Once a month, I will send home scholastic book order forms.  This is a great way to get new books for your child, but it is completely optional.  I will always put the date on the front of the form so that you know when to return the form and payment.  The books are mailed to school and then sent home with your child. 

·        Mystery Readers- Our door is always open to a family member who would like to read to our class. Our mystery reader time is during our read aloud time on Fridays from 12:50-1:10.  Since it is a mystery, we like to keep it a secret until the reader comes into our classroom!  I will be sending out a Sign-up Genius to all of the parents’ emails to sign up for a slot throughout the year.

Welcome to Our Classroom Blog

Welcome to first grade!! I am so excited to be your teacher!  I will be posting important updates and pictures on our blog weekly, so please make sure to check back every Monday for updates.  I am looking forward to meeting everyone on Monday, August 13th from 3:00-5:00 for our Meet and Greet!  Please bring all of your supplies with your name on them.  I am excited for a great year of learning in first grade!