Sunday, September 25, 2011

The Apples of My Eye...

Hello to everyone out there in blogging land!!!

I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend!!! I can't believe this week marks week 6 of first grade. We are moving right along. There are many exciting things going on this week. Here is what we are doing academically:

Reading- Unit 1 Review Week (we are not learning new skills, just reviewing those already learned).
Language Arts- Unit 1 Review
Math- Different Ways to Make 10
Science- More inquiry skills
Social Studies- Johnny Appleseed

Please make sure that your child is studying his/her spelling words on their yellow homework contract every night!!! Many of the words can be difficult, so repetition is important. The same goes for reading nightly! This will benefit your child in the long run.

I am having my conference day on Wednesday. I am required by administration to meet with every parent by November 14th. If you are unable to meet with me on Wednesday, please let me know an alternative day/time, and I will do my absolute best to meet with you then.

We will have our Johnny Appleseed Traveling Party on Friday from 9:30-10:40. I need volunteers to help me run our various centers. So far I only have 2 volunteers & I am in need of 5. Please let me know if you can help!! I am also in need of caramel apple wraps for one of our stations!!! I am very grateful for any assistance you can give.

That's about all for now!! Have a wonderful week!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Week of September 19-23, 2011

Hello everyone,

I hope you had another fantastic weekend!! Time certainly flies when you are having fun. I hope your child enjoyed Curiosity Day on Friday and came home to tell you exciting things! We have another eventful week ahead of us this week. Our skills this week are:

Theme- Teamwork
Story of the Week- Soccer
Spelling Word Pattern: Ending blends (-nt, -nk, -st)
Grammar: Writing Sentences
Writing: Working on Handwriting, Personal Narratives
Math: Continuing Subtraction to 10
Science: Continuing Inquiry Skills and Science Process Skills
Social Studies: The U.S. Constitution

Progress reports go home on Monday September 19th. You will receive 2 copies. Please sign the highlighted copy and return it to me. You may keep the other copy. If you have any questions or concerns about your child's progress report, please let me know. We may also discuss any concerns in further detail with a conference.

Come see our classroom at Open House on Tuesday from 6:00-6:45!!!! I will be presenting a slideshow of information about 1st grade and answer any questions that you may have. There will be a sign up sheet for parent conferences the last week of September, as well as our Johnny Appleseed activities which will take place on Friday September 30th. It is imperative that I meet with every parent at least once this year!! Communication and working together is crucial to your child's success. We also have a lot of student work for you to see at Open House. Hope to see you there!!!

In the next day or two, I will post some pictures of our Curiosity Day last week. We went "bananas" over it!! :)

Have a great week!!!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Where does the time go?

Ahhhh! Where has the time gone this past week? I don't think I have ever been so busy in my life! A BIG apology for not updating this blog a few days earlier! We continue to learn many exciting things in class. Here are the skills we are learning this week:
Theme- Pets
Reading- Words with beginning /r/ blends: cr, gr, tr
Language Arts- Question & Exclamation Sentences
Math- Subtraction to 10 (finding missing parts)
Science- The Scientific Process & Inquiry Skills
Social Studies- All About Me!
Writing- We are continuing personal narratives

I hope that your child came home today excited about our visit from Captain Conservation. Captain Conservation came from Florida Power & Light to teach us about ways to conserve energy. We were very excited about his visit!!!






This Friday is Curiosity Day. We will be celebrating the author of the Curious George series, H.A. Rey by completing various Curious George activities in class. We have a few goodies in store for us. Please have your child wear yellow on Friday!

Our PTA fundraiser begins tomorrow. Your child will receive a booklet to fill out to mail to relatives for magazines. Please return these as soon as possible if you choose to participate. Thanks for your support!

Open House will be Tuesday September 20 from 6:00-6:45. Please come and see all of the exciting things we have been creating in our classroom. I will also be discussing some important topics about first grade. I look forward to seeing you there!

Apple Day will be coming in the next few weeks. We will have a "Johnny Appleseed Traveling Party" with many apple themed centers. I will need parent volunteers to help me run the centers. More information to come...

That's about all for now! Enjoy the pictures & have a great week!!!

Monday, September 5, 2011

Week 3!!!

Hello to everyone!
I hope everyone had a GREAT long weekend!! Another week down! We are definitely getting more into our routines and everything is going very nicely. We took our first round of tests on Friday and I was very impressed with how the class did overall. You will receive those tests back within the next few days with a grading explanation attached.
We began centers last week and the students have done great! Everyone was following the rules and getting their work done :).
The skills we are learning this week are:
Reading- Short i words (-in, -it, -iss word families) Keep on practicing those old and new
sight words!!!

Grammar- Types of Sentences
Math- We will finish up chapter 1 addition(another test coming...)and moving into subtraction.
Science- We will continue the 5 senses
Social Studies- Communities and Ways we love America
Writing- Personal Narratives

Homework packets are coming home on Tuesday (please make sure they are returned completed on Friday!!) We are working on handwriting in class, but I could use your help at home also. If you see your child writing his/her letters backwards, please gently remind them how to form their letters and have them correct it. Working together will help your child break that habit :).
Have a fantastic week!!