End of the Year Newsletter

 The arrival of May has brought lots of anticipation for the end of the school year. We will stick to our schedule and routines as much as possible, but will also have some "fun" to celebrate the upcoming end of the year. I hope that all the moms enjoyed their Mother's Day and I am sure you enjoyed the special projects they created for you at school.

Reading: A great big thanks this school year for encouraging your child to practice their spelling words at home, and for listening to your child read. The kids have had a lot of success with the first grade spelling this year, and with their fluency scores on FAST. Your child's FAST scores for spring were sent home last Friday. Guided reading groups will end on Wednesday, May 24th. This will be the last day a book will be sent home to read. We will use Friday, May 26th to sort our books and clean our book boxes. Thanks so much for encouraging your child to read their books. I am so proud of the progress they have made as readers. Please encourage them to read throughout the summer. To finish the year with our large group lessons, we will review skills and work on comprehension. 

Math: Last week, we started a module on measurement using nonstandard units. We will use tiles, blocks, and paper clips to measure several items. This week, we will also do assessments/skill checks over report card skills. These assessments/checks will be placed in their end-of-the-year folder. To end the year, we will  work on identifying the name and value of the penny, nickel, dime, and quarter. You may want to grab these coins at home and check to see if they know the name and value.

Writing: This week, we will work on a 3 page narrative about a special trip. I will put the completed project in their end-of-the-year folder. The 3 pages will focus on a beginning, middle, and an end to help them think about the order of events. We will finish the year writing in our journals about topics related to ourself, as well as writing sentences using given words. Their notebooks/journal will come home with them the last week of school.

Science: We will finish up our lessons on "light and Sound" this week.. Last Thursday, we also enjoyed our field trip to Swan Lake. We spent all morning there and had 4 different stations that involved exploration. The stations were going on a birdhouse hunt and finding 5 different birdhouses, as well as using binoculars to find birds, geocaching, we went on a walk with the naturalist to explore and our class found a very tiny tree frog and toad. Our last station was a scavenger hunt. We did a lot of walking and the kids were tired when we returned. 

A great big thanks to my mom, Pat Hogan for volunteering her time this year. She came in on Fridays and timed them on their "Read Naturally" stories. I will continue to have her come in for the next two weeks. The kids really enjoyed having her come and they enjoyed graphing the number of words they read and seeing the growth they made.

It's hard to believe that I'm writing the final newsletter for this school year and we have just 12 school days to go. To keep the kids focused, we will still maintain structure and keep our routine somewhat the same. It has been a "fun" and "exciting" year and I have thoroughly enjoyed working with your child. I'd also like to thank you, the parents, for your support and cooperation throughout this school year. The end of the year always brings mixed feelings for me. Of course, there are feelings of happiness because I have watched each of them grow and develop and everyone has made so much progress, and of course there are feelings of sadness, because I have to send them on. It's been a "Great" year! This class will also be a “special” class for they will be my last. After 34 years of teaching, I am retiring at the end of the school year. I have taught 32 of those years as a first grade teacher at Fairview. I have been cleaning out cupboards, therefore, that is why your child has been bringing home extra books to keep. 

Thursday, May 25th will be our end of the year picnic at the Breda park. More information regarding the picnic will come home when the date gets closer.

Wednesday, May 31st  is the last day of school with a 2 hour early dismissal.

May News #1

 The arrival of May will bring lots of anticipation for the end of the school year. We will stick to our schedule and routines as much as possible, but will also have some "fun" to celebrate the upcoming end of the year. It gets more difficult each week to keep them motivated and focused, especially when the weather is so nice.

Spelling: This is week 29 and then we have just one more week of spelling. Woo Hoo! I am so proud of their efforts and for the extra practice that they are doing at home.

Math: We have completed Module 6, which focused on “Put Together and Take Apart Word Problems” and this week, we will begin Module 7, which focuses on “Compare Word Problems”. This will be our final module focusing on problem solving. We are working on listening to what the problem is asking and to focus on key words to decide if we need to add or subtract. We also have “Math Slides” almost daily to review and keep on top of equality, problem solving, counting money, telling time, fact fluency, number sequence, and geometry, as well as an independent equality page almost weekly. I also want to mention that I have been impressed with how many students are doing the homework pages that accompany our daily lessons. Thanks for returning those. The extra practice gives them a better understanding of the skill we are working on.

Reading: Last week, our reading goals were to read and spell words with ie, igh, and words that end with y. Our comprehension skill was story structure (identifying characters, setting, problem, and solution), and our grammar skill was adjectives. This week, our reading goals will be to read and spell words with the suffixes of ful, ly, and y, our grammar skill will be to identify adverbs in sentences, and our comprehension skill will be to understand character traits and author's choice of words. The week of May 8th, our goals will be to read and spell words with syllable patterns, as well as the prefixes of re and un, our grammar skill will be adjectives that compare, and our comprehension skill will be to identify the main idea and key details in stories we read. The week of May 8th will be the last week of new reading skills. We will be using our large group reading time to finish the year with writing and review of skills we have covered.The following words have been added or will be added to our word wall: ball, across, second, large, heard, head, should, brothers, loved, people, everyone, most, sorry, field, only, caught, thought, beautiful, took, minute, friendship, listen, and idea. 

Writing: We will continue writing in our journals a few days each week, and complete narrative lessons. We will also revisit "opinion" and "informative" and do review samples for each.

Science: During the month of May, we will finish up our lessons on “Light and Sound”. Our final Mystery Science lesson it titled “How do boats find their way in the fog?” We will also have some investigations about communicating with light and sound. 

Ticket Challenge: We are working on a “class challenge” of earning 10 class tickets for a movie break and popcorn. We have earned 5 thus far and I am hoping we can make it to 10 this upcoming week. I also give out individual tickets to students for making good choices. Their tickets are placed in a bucket and on Fridays I draw 5-7 students to pick a prize.

Upcoming Events:

Thursday, May 11th field trip to Swan Lake in the morning (we will return in time to eat lunch at school)

Thursday, May 25th First Grade Picnic Day at Breda Park. More details to come as date gets closer in regards to whether you want a school made sack lunch or whether you want to send one with your child on that day.

April News #2

  As we transitioned into more summer-like weather last week, the kids looked forward to each recess to enjoy the fresh air. This time of year is also difficult to keep their minds focused on learning and doing our best. As you look over your child's papers, you can help me out by praising them for their hard work, as well as encouraging them to always do their best. Work habits tend to slide this time of year, especially handwriting. 

 Reading: Our reading goals last week were to read and spell words with the endings of ing and ed. Our comprehension skill was compare and contrast, and our grammar skill was exclamations. Our reading goals this week will be to read and spell words with er and est. Our grammar skill is using the punctuation marks of period, question mark, and exclamation point correctly, and our comprehension skill is the author's purpose. Within our guided reading groups, we are working hard to meet the end of the year FAST goals. Each group is working on the skills they need. Some groups are working daily on reading sight words, and blending nonsense words. Other groups have started working on comprehension skills such as identifying the main idea and important details in a passage. All groups have worked on blending and reading words in short and long vowel booklets. These booklets have introduced many phonics skills such as blends, digraphs, and vowel teams. Once a vowel booklet was complete in group, they brought it home to share/read. I am sure you have seen these in their take-home folders. Thanks for encouraging your child to read at home and signing their log sheet. We have also implemented "Read Naturally" passages within our small groups. These are leveled nonfiction passages that also focus on comprehension. Each week, each group has a new passage that we read/reread all week. On Fridays, my mom has been volunteering to time them on this passage. Their goal is to read it to the end in 1 minute. They have a special folder with a graph to record the number of words they read correctly. This is one way I am focusing on raising their fluency scores for the upcoming FAST assessment. The following words have been added to our word wall: above, bear, even, pushed, studied, surprise, teacher, toward, always, happy, once, different, high, stories, enough, and near.

Math: This week, we will test over Module 13, which is titled “Two-Digit Addition and Subtraction”. I am very impressed with how well they have picked up on the concept of adding and subtracting 2-digit numbers, as well as making a ten when needed. We have practiced using the 120 chart, drawing tens and ones, as well as lining up the numbers. I told them this is a 2nd grade skill and they did very well working hard on these lessons. This week, we will start Module 6, which is titled “Understand Put Together and Take Apart Problems. We will also be using a number of addition and subtraction strategies to solve these word problems.

Writing: We continue to practice writing complete sentences in our journals and on seatwork pages. We have even used our spelling words to write complete sentences. My plan was to start lessons on “Narrative Writing” last week, but we did not have time, therefore, we will start those lessons this week. 

Science:  Before Easter Break, our "Mystery Science" lesson was titled "Light, Materials, Transparent, and Opaque" "What if there were no Windows?" The kids learned what the following science words mean: transparent, translucent, and opaque. I used several different objects and we sorted them using these words. Last week, our focus was “light”. We learned that in order to see, a light source, whether natural or artificial, is needed. They enjoyed a mystery box activity, which used flashlights and objects inside of boxes with a peek hole. 

 Star Student: Kobain was the last student to be featured. Kobain likes to drink Orange Juice, and eat pizza. He likes fishing, hunting, riding dirt bikes, and bonfires. When Kobain grows up, he wants to be a PE teacher.

I have been going through my books and on Friday, I let each student choose 5 books to bring home and keep.

• Autism Acceptance Week in the CCSD

• Monday, April 17: Wear a Fun Hat or Wild Hair

• Tuesday, April 18: Wear Rainbow or Tie Dyed Clothes

• Wednesday, April 19: Dress to Show Something You Love

• Thursday, April 20: Wear Red

• Friday, April 21: Wear Comfy Clothes or PJ Day

April News #1

 It's hard to believe that we moved on to April this past weekend, with our Easter break to look forward to.  We have enjoyed the few warmer days we have had, as well as the disappearance of snow. This is the time of year when the weather changes so much. We have a system in place for recess/coats and it is a big deal to not have to wear a coat. On days when the weather is cold in the morning, please send your child in a coat and put a sweatshirt in their book bag. Signs are posted in the locker area as to what they are to have on at recess. If temps are 60 degrees and above, they do not need a coat. If temps are in the 50's they can wear long sleeves or a sweatshirt. Temps under the 50's we want them to wear a coat. 

Reading: Our reading goals last week were to read and spell words with oo, ou, and ew, our comprehension skill was sequencing events in a story, and our grammar skill was pronouns. This week, our goals will be to read and spell words with ou and ow, our comprehension skill will be understanding the characters in our stories, and our grammar skill will be contractions.. Now that we have become such fluent readers, we are now focusing more on comprehension and listening to what we read. Identifying the main idea of the story and key details is something we make a habit of within our small groups, as well as during our large group reading time. At home, you may want to have your child retell after reading their book to make sure they are absorbing what they have read. On May 10th, I will be testing each student individually using the FAST assessment. We have been working hard to reach our spring goals by working on sight words, blending, and fluency within our guided reading groups. The following high-frequency words have been added to our word wall: buy, city, family, myself, party, please, school, seven, ready, kinds, covers, country, earth, warms, soil, and almost.

Math: We have completed and tested over Module 5, which focused on problem solving using adding to and taking from. The assessment over this module was taken on Friday and will be sent home on Monday. Next, we move on to Module 13, which is titled “Two-Digit Addition and Subtraction”. The lessons will focus on adding and subtracting 2-digit numbers, as well as making a ten when needed. Strategies we will focus on are: using the 120 chart,  drawing the tens and ones, as well as lining up the numbers.

Spelling: I am proud of the kids and their efforts on the weekly spelling tests. The words are becoming more challenging and we have 6 more weeks of words to test over. Please encourage them to practice their words at home. We practice daily at school as well. There are 30 lessons in the first grade reading program. This week is Lesson 25.

Writing: To encourage writing complete sentences, we write in our journals several times a week with a starter idea, seatwork pages are done, and the task at a few of our centers is to write sentences as well. Our main focus the past two weeks has been informational writing. Last week, we completed our informational writing project about an animal. The students worked with a partner on a given animal. They first read two nonfiction books about their animal and identified and wrote 6 interesting facts they found. These facts then became the focus of their writing piece. After completing all pages of their book, I stapled them together and this week they will share their book with a peer who wrote about a different animal. These will be sent home once we share. Our next focus in writing will be narrative pieces. 

Science: Last week, our "Mystery Science" lesson was titled "Light, Transparent, Materials & Opaque". This week, our lesson is titled “Light and Illumination”. We will also have a visit from the Carroll County naturalist this week as well.

Just a Reminder: Our first grade Music Concert is on Tuesday of this week (April 4th @ 6:00 PM) Students are to report to the Fairview music room at 5:45 PM.

Star Student: Maya was most recently featured as “Star Student”. Her favorite food is pepperoni pizza and she likes to drink lemonade. She collects quarters and wants to learn how to knit. When Maya grows up, she wants to be a doctor. 

March News #2

This week is Parent-Teacher Conferences and I look forward to meeting with each of you to share the success your child has had in first grade thus far. It has been a "busy" year and we have lots yet to learn. If you ever have a question/concern before the end of the school year, please call or email me at anytime. If you would like materials to help your child with a particular skill they are struggling with, I can send home things to work on as well. Kids succeed best when the parents and teachers are working together to make that happen. Thanks so much for all the support and help you've given your child thus far. The end of the 2nd trimester was February 28th. Report Cards for the 2nd trimester will be shared with you at your child’s conference. 

Math: We completed our Module on comparing numbers last week. When comparing 2-digit numbers we used the symbols and vocabulary of; equal to, greater than, and less than. Check to see if your child can draw the correct symbol for you when given these two numbers. 78__54, 44__48, 101__111, 112__120, 113__103, 67__67. This week our lessons will focus on telling time to the hour and half hour. 

Reading: Last week, our reading goals were to read and spell words with ir, er, and ur, our grammar skill was using I and me correctly when speaking and writing, and our comprehension skill was drawing conclusions. When drawing conclusions, we focused on looking at the illustrations/photographs in our story to give us information the author did not state within the text.  This week, our reading goals will be to read and spell words with "oo" as in took, our grammar skill will be using pronouns correctly, and our comprehension skill will be cause and effect. The plan is to take the spelling test on Thursday this week. If I feel more time is needed to work on this week’s skills, I will carry it over into the short week following the spring break.  The following high-frequency words will be added to the word wall: baby, begins, eight, follow, learning, until, years, young, again, along, began, baby, father, house, nothing, and together.

Writing: Our writing goal after spring break will be informational writing. The students will work with a partner to read about an animal and gather interesting facts. The goal is to complete several pages to create a nonfiction booklet that is created by them. 

Science:  Our new unit will be on "Light and Sound". Our "Mystery Science" lesson last week was titled "How do they make Silly Sounds in Cartoons?". This week, our “Mystery Science” lesson is titled “Where do Sounds Come From?”.

Star Student:  James and Maddox were most recently featured. James likes to drink pop and eat hamburgers. His favorite sport is soccer and he wants to learn more about math. When James grows up, he wants to be a police officer. Maddox likes to drink mountain dew and eat cotton candy. She collects shells and her favorite movie is “Polar Express”. When Maddox grows up, she wants to be an artist. 

This will be a crazy couple weeks with 1:oo dismissals on Monday and Thursday for conferences and no school through the 22nd for “Spring Break”. Enjoy the extra time with your families!

With more spring-like temperatures hopefully coming soon, the question of "Do I have to wear my coat?" is a big deal. We post signs before each recess to inform the kids what they are to wear at recess due to whatever the temperature is at that time. With this time of year being so unpredictable with the weather, please make sure they bring a coat on days when the temperature is below 50 degrees. They can always bring a sweatshirt in their book bag for those days when the morning is cold and it warms up later in the day. Thanks!

March News #1

 We are hoping to transition to spring-like weather as March comes upon us. The weekend brought warmer weather and it was so nice to enjoy some sunshine. On Monday, I will be sharing a link to sign up for upcoming Parent-Teacher Conferences. Conferences will take place on Monday, March 13th, and Thursday, March 16th. I look forward to meeting with each of you to discuss the progress your child is making in first grade. Watch for an email on Monday with the link to sign-up. 

Math: With conferences coming up soon, last week we did assessments for each skill tested for the 2nd trimester. I will share these assessments at your upcoming conference time. We also continued to work on adding and subtracting a two-digit number to a single-digit number, as well as adding and subtracting a 2-digit number to a 2-digit number. We worked on using the strategies of drawing tens and ones to help us solve, as well as using the 120 chart. We will complete the lessons on this skill this week, and then move on to comparing numbers using the symbols/words for greater than/less than. 

Reading: Last week, we completed lesson 20 on compound words, cause and effect, and prepositional phrases. We are now ready to move on to lesson 21 this week. Our reading goals will be to read and spell words with "ar", our comprehension skill will be story structure, which means we will identify characters, the setting, and the problem in stories we read. Our grammar skill will be pronouns. We continue to work on being fluent readers and I am encouraging reading multiple times throughout the day. At home, you can also encourage your child to read daily. The best way to increase fluency is to read, read, and read!!! The following high-frequency words will be practiced this week: few, window, shall, night, noise, world, loudly, and story.

Writing: We have been using our spelling words to complete sentences in our journal. This week, we will do writing samples to put in our conference folders on opinion writing and how-to’s. 

Science: This week, we will read and learn  about craters on the moon. This will be the last lesson in our unit on "Spinning Sky". This week/next week, we will review and do an assessment over the concepts we covered within this unit. The assessment will be done together. Last week, we also had a visit from the naturalist. She shared information on animal traits and we had fun doing a group activity as well. The kids enjoyed remnants of some animal traits that she brought to share. 

Music Program: On Monday, your child will be bringing home a note with information regarding the upcoming music program in April. The first grade program will take place on Tuesday, April 4th @ 6:00 PM in the Fairview Gym.

Star Student: Lexi and Kyla were most recently featured. Lexi likes to drink Dr. Pepper and eat broccoli cheddar soup. Her favorite movie is “Matilda”, she takes dance lessons, and wants to be a teacher when she grows up. Kyla likes to drink sunkist and eat spaghetti. Kyla’s favorite show is “Sonic”, she likes to wear her hooded fleece sweatshirt, and she also wants to be a teacher when she grows up. 

Febrauary News #2

  The past two weeks have been “busy” and "crazy" and we have survived celebrating the 100th day of school and Valentine's Day. We have also survived having inside recess on some days. I sent home their "100" day folders last week, and hope you enjoyed reading their thoughts for the "100" prompts. They were so excited to open their valentines on Friday and "Wow" they had a bag full of awesome goodies and wishes. Thanks also for all the "great" goodies I received. I now have lots of chocolate in my treat stash and should be good for that Yummy burst for a while.  They also loved taking the time to enjoy ice cream sundaes. Thanks to all who provided items for our sundaes.

Reading: Our reading goals for this week will be to read and spell words with the vowel teams of oa, and ow, our grammar skill will be future tense within a sentence, and for comprehension we will review sequence and focus on cause and effect.  Our reading goals for the week of the 20th will be to read and spell compound words, for comprehension we will review cause and effect and focus on compare and contrast, and our grammar skill will be prepositional phrases. The following high-frequency words will be practiced and added to our word wall: done, great, laugh, paper, soon, talk, were, work, door, more, mother, old, try, use, want, and wash.

Math:  We have completed module 10. Module 10 focused on representing numbers using drawings to show tens and ones. We also practiced and counted writing numbers from 100-120. Our next module is titled “Understanding addition and subtraction with tens and ones. Our lessons will focus on adding and subtracting tens, using a 120 chart to add and subtract, making a 10 to add, and finding 10 more and 10 less from a given number. Many facts are starting to click and I have noticed that the kids can identify them by recall. We will also continue to review and practice report card skills, equality checks, simple story problems, and our daily math slides. 

Writing: Our focus continues to be writing "how-tos" in our journal.  We will also do a Kindness writing activity in connection with the "Carroll Kindness Makes Cents" fundraiser. As part of the fundraiser, we are also creating a "Kindness Chain". Each time an adult catches them being kind, they earn a link to write their name on, and it is added to the chain. Each classroom has their own chain, which we will be hanging in the hall. 

Science: Our lessons for "Mystery Science" have been "Why do the Stars Come out at Night", and "How can Stars Help You if You Get Lost?". This week, they will  enjoy an activity, where we will be using mini flashlights to project the big dipper on a work mat, as well as our desk. They will bring this project home and they may have to ask for a flashlight to give it a try. We will be reading and learning about the moon for the next two weeks. We also enjoyed a visit from Anjeanette last week. She brought the BeeBots and they really enjoyed learning to program them to make numbers.

Spelling: We continue to focus on the vowel teams. This can be a challenge to remember which vowel combination to use to spell the words correctly. 

Just a reminder that your child may participate in the following “Kindness” Dress-Up Days this week: Tuesday is “We LOVE Being Kind: wear read, pink, or hearts. Wednesday is “Cozy up With Kindness: PJ Day. Thursday is “Shine Bright with Kindness” wear neon. Friday is “Peace, Love, and Inspire Kindness: wear shirts or tie dye.

Star Student: Noah and Parker were most recently featured. Noah likes to drink sunkist and eat at McDonald’s. He takes swimming lessons, and wants to learn more about WWE. When Noah grows up, he wants to be a wrestler. Parker likes to drink milk and eat sandwiches. Parker’s favorite subject is PE and he wants to learn more about “Super Heroes”. When Parker grows up, he also wants to be a wrestler.