December News #2

 We've been busy in our classroom and we have been working hard. We have just 4 school days before the holiday break and we will continue to stay focused and have some fun too. There will be no new reading skills during this short week.

Math: Last week, we tested over Module 4, which was "Addition and Subtraction" Relationships. We call this "Fact Families. We spent 2 weeks on this module, and used the triangle model as a strategy to help us solve the missing addend/total. We also practice this strategy daily as a part of our "math-warm-ups/slides". I was impressed with how well the kids picked up on this strategy, and how well they used the triangle to help them solve the missing part. Last week, we also started Module 8, which focuses on "Data". Within this module, we will be learning to represent data in the form of tally charts, picture graphs, and bar graphs. Over the holiday break, you may want to encourage your child to do Xtra Math to keep on top of fact fluency, and encourage them to write their numbers to 120. 

Reading: Our reading goals last week were to read and spell words with the long a sound ending in silent e, our comprehension skill was drawing conclusions, and using the illustrations to give us more information about what is happening in the story, and our grammar skill was verbs ending in ed. The kids learned that when a verb ends in ed, the action happened in the past. Within our guided reading groups, the students are introduced to a new book almost daily. I have been pleased with their responsibility of reading at home each night, and returning it the next day. The reread section of our daily lessons move smoothly when the kids have read their books. If you ever feel that the book sent home is too difficult, please put a note in their ziploc. The books sent home are ones we have read/practiced and they should be successful reading it. Encourage your child to take the time to read over the holidays. We also focused on the comprehension strategy of "Main Idea and details" last week, using some fun Christmas passages.

Writing: Our lessons have focused on opinion pieces. When writing in our journals, we have done several I would rather _____ than ______.  An example of one we have done is using; go sledding, or go swimming. We have also worked on stating an opinion about a given topic and using the word because to give 1 or 2 reasons why we chose that. After the “Holiday Break” we will use our spelling words to write complete sentences, as well as writing a sequence for "How-tos".

Science: Last week, we had a lesson on "The Solar System". They really enjoyed putting the planets in order and learning interesting facts about each one. Our mystery science lesson this week is titled, "Sun, Shadows, and Daily Patterns". Anjanette from ISU Extension will visit our classroom this week for our 2nd exploration of "Rolling Things".

Holiday Party: Notes were sent home last week with those who signed up to bring items for our party, which will take place on Wednesday. I have a gift for them, and they have worked on a gift for their family. They will bring home their gift for you on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. The gifts are almost done and we will wrap them as well. They are so excited about their gifts. Wednesday morning will also be a special day, for we will be going to the movie theater to watch "The Polar Express". Your child brought home a note on Friday of last week about this exciting event. The Carroll High School Foundation is funding this trip to the theater, and each student will also receive a kid's pack to enjoy while watching the movie.

Winter Gear: It has been a mild winter thus far with very little snow, but when the time comes, in order to play in the snow, they must wear snowpants, boots, coat, hat, and gloves. If they do not have all of these items, they will stay on the blacktop to play. I also recommend that they bring their “Winter Gear” in a separate bag, which works really well transporting their extra clothes to and from school for it is really difficult to stuff all those items in their book bag, and wet clothes may also ruin folders and papers inside. Please label all their clothing items as well.  I do monitor the locker area after each recess and try to make sure that everything is hung on locker door and put inside. 

Star Student: Crue and Ryder were most recently featured. Crue likes to drink root beer and eat steak. His favorite movie is "Home Alone" and he takes lessons in swimming. When Crue grows up, he wants to be a football player. Ryder likes to drink chocolate milk and eat chicken and rice. Ryder collects football cards and takes lessons in Tae Kwon Do. When Ryder grows up, he wants to be in the Air Force.

The next newsletter will come home after the holidays, therefore, have a "Wonderful" holiday break and I will your child in 2023!!!

December News #1

 We continue to keep busy in our first grade classroom. The first week following the Thanksgiving holiday went by very quickly. In January, we will be administering the winter FAST assessment (segmenting, blending, sight words, and oral reading fluency), and I am looking forward to seeing the growth all the students have made. One goal we have been especially working hard on is reading fluency. The goal in January will be to read 41 words per minute. I have implemented many opportunities at school to increase their fluency, and encourage you to listen to your child read the books sent home almost daily, as well as encouraging them to read extra books too. Within our guided reading groups, we work daily on the FAST sight words, as well as decoding strategies. During our "Journeys" reading time we also work daily on sight words, segmenting, fluency, decoding strategies, and grammar. Within the classroom , we are also working hard on being respectful and responsible. I am very proud of how well the kids are staying focused daily to complete independent work- it is great to see them being so responsible. We are also working on being respectful in line and listening the first time.

Reading: Our reading goals last week were to read and spell words with ch and tch, our grammar skill was understanding what a command is and how to use our voice when saying a command with either a period or an explanation point, and our comprehension skill was sequencing the events in a story. Our reading goals this week will be to read and spell words with sh, wh, and ph, our grammar skill will be to identify the subject and verb in a sentence, and our comprehension skill will be cause and effect. We will also learn about contractions with is and not, as well as adding ing, ed, and s to words. Now that we have become more fluent readers, we will focus on reading with expression, and pausing when we come to punctuation. It is important that the kids understand that speed reading is not being fluent. Good readers read like they are talking, and when reading out loud their audience needs to understand what they are reading.

Math: We have been working hard on Module 4, which focuses on addition and subtraction relationships. We are working especially hard on fact families. Check to see if your child can write the 4 facts for the following fact family (10, 6, 4). We also used the strategy of using addition to check subtraction. This week, we will continue to work on Module 4 lessons and fact families. For daily seatwork, we wii also review/practice addition, subtraction, telling time, and equality. During our "Math Warm-ups" time, the students seem to be catching on quickly to telling time to the hour and half hour, as well as identifying the number of tens and ones in a 2-digit number.

Writing: We continue to focus on "Opinion Writing" and this will be our focus until the end of January. Our main focus when writing in our journals has been to state an opinion and then to give a reason why. We have been using the word "because" between our opinion and reason.

Science: We completed our lessons on "Plant and Animal Superpowers" and will move on to "Spinning Sky". This week, we will have a lesson on the solar system. We will complete a project putting the planets in order after listening to a couple of informational books about space. Space is always a unit the kids get excited about and they enjoy listening and learning about it. We will also do a Mystery Science lesson titled "Could a statue shadow move?" coming up soon.

Star Student: Colten and Lizzy were most recently featured. Colten likes to drink pop and eat homemade pizza. He collects antlers and wants to learn more about birds. When Colten grows up, he wants to be a farmer. Lizzy likes to drink sprite with OJ, and eat pizza. She takes cooking lessons and also wants to learn more about birds. When Lizzy grows up, she wants to be a vet.

With the Christmas holiday quickly approaching brings a lot of "excitement and anticipation" for 6 and 7 year olds. I enjoy being around their enthusiasm this time of the year, and it can be difficult to keep their young minds focused. Therefore, please help me out by praising their nice printing and the papers they have been successful with. 

November News #2

It's hard to believe that we will be celebrating Thanksgiving in less than two weeks and that the holiday season is approaching. We continue to work hard in our classroom, and as I look back to the beginning of the year, I am so proud of the progress that everyone has made in all areas. As readers, everyone has increased their guided reading level by at least two levels. In math, we are becoming more fluent in recognizing our basic addition facts. As writers, we are becoming more independent when writing, as well as creating at least two complete sentences. We continue to focus on starting our sentences with a capital letter and putting a punctuation mark at the end. 

Reading: Our reading goals last week were to read and spell words with the short u sound, as well as ending blends (nt, nd, sk, st, nk, mp, and lp), we identified the sequence of events after reading a story, and our grammar skill was to use a, an, and the correctly. When working on comprehension, we have been using graphic organizers to record our thoughts as a group. This week, our reading goals will be to read and spell words with the digraph "th", our comprehension skill is "Author's Purpose", and our grammar skill is proper nouns. This week, we will be reading an informational story about "Ocean Animals". We continue to have guided reading groups daily, which means they are bringing a book/passage/blending page home to share with you. Thanks for taking the time to listen to your child read and for signing the log sheets. It is amazing to see how many books we have read so far. If you are unable to read the book the night they bring it home, please send it back, for we use that book as a reread for their guided reading group the following day. Thanks! The following high-frequency words were practiced last week: eat, put, give, small, one,  take- words for this week will be: blue, little, water, cold, live, where, water, their

Math: Last week, we continued working on equality. They have learned that they need to look carefully at the symbols and problems on both sides of the equal sign. On Monday, they completed a practice game with a partner and we did our first independent equality quiz. This is an important skill in first grade and one we will be practicing weekly. Last week, we started lessons on “Subtraction Strategies” we started with subtracting all and subtracting zero. This week, we will add the strategies of counting back, counting on, and halves. On Friday of last week, they were given a 120 chart and asked to complete it as far as they could. Writing to 120 is an end of the year goal and this will show me how far they can go, and what we need to work on. Our math time also focuses daily on warm-ups for geometry, problem solving, telling time, counting money, problem solving, number sequences, counting patterns, and fact fluency. We have also been practicing counting by 5’s and they have learned this is an important skill when counting money and telling time too.

Writing: We continue to focus on "Opinion Writing". It is always fun to read what their opinions are in their journals. Last week, we started using the word "because" in our journals to state a reason for our opinion. 

Science: Last week, our Mystery Science lesson was titled “What will a baby plant look like when it grows up?” This week, our Mystery Science lesson will be  titled "Why don't Trees Blow down in the Wind?" This week, Anjanette will visit our classroom for the 2nd time to continue with the “Rolling Things” STEM activity.

Star Student: Brayden and Blake were most recently featured. Brayden likes to drink Mountain Dew and eat tacos. HIs favorite place is the “Dells” and he takes lessons in wrestling and crossfit. When Brayden grows up, he wants to be a vet. Blake likes to drink strawberry milk and eat tacos. She collects colored rocks and her favorite place is grandma’s. When Blake grows up, she wants to be a teacher. 

Please remind your child to dress warm this week and to bring hats and gloves. The forecast looks cold and it always feels cooler on the playground due to being such an open area. You may also want to label your child’s belongings, with more items to be responsible for. If your child is ever missing something, send me an email and I can check our “Lost and Found” table for it, or even check with the bus barn.

Early Thanksgiving Wishes to you and your family. I am so thankful for being your child’s teacher. Attendance in our classroom has been great and I am grateful for each day I have with your child.

November News #1

  Happy Halloween! It looks like we will have beautiful weather to start off the month of November.. On Friday, we had our "Fall Party" celebration and enjoyed treats and juice boxes. We have started a new class ticket challenge, our goal is to earn 10 class tickets for 15 minutes of free time. We will focus on line basics for this class goal. . Many students also  have earned homework prizes.  I have been impressed with how many have returned their "Making Words" homework. The extra practice will build your child's decoding skills, and it's a great way to practice spelling and reading too.

Reading: Last week, our reading goals were to read and spell words with the short o sound, as well as words with the l blends (bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, sl), our comprehension skill was to sequence events after reading using these words: first, next, then, and last, and our grammar skill was statements. We learned that a statement starts with a capital letter and ends with a period. This week, our goals will be to read and spell words with the short e sound, as well as the s blends (sc, sk, st, sp, sw, sl, str), our comprehension skill is text and graphic features of a biography, and our grammar skill is singular and plural nouns. We will also learn about antonyms. We have been doing the comprehension activities together, for these can be difficult tasks for 1st graders to write out and it is a challenge to verbally retell them in their own words. We continue to learn new words weekly and we're reading fun stories. We're also enjoying big books in our large group reading lessons. The big books that we have read are then placed in a literacy center for extra practice. A word wall has also been created in our classroom. High-Frequency words practiced during our large group reading lessons are placed on the wall at the end of the week. Word wall words should "click" when we read. The following High-Frequency words were practiced last week: her, she, now, today, our, would- words for this week will be: after, read, draw, was, pictures, write

Math: Last week, we started Module 3 which is titled "Properties of Operations". Our lessons will focus on the following addition strategies: Represent Addition in Any Order (I call this "turnaround facts"), adding 3 numbers, adding 3 numbers to Solve Problems, as well as Equal and Not Equal. As we practice and learn each strategy, we are working on developing fluency of addition facts. We will complete Module 3 later this week. We will then move on to “Subtraction Strategies”. During calendar, we are focusing on odd and even numbers, as well as using the words "more" and "fewer" when working with numbers. For odd and even, the students discovered that even numbers make a pair, and odd numbers have one left over. At home, you may want to work on the facts using flashcards, or by finding a game online. A good site to find math games is abcya.com. This site has numerous games to reinforce skills in 1st grade. I use this for centers, so your child will most likely know some games they can do. You could also encourage your child to do the Xtra Math program. I sent a letter home regarding this program a few weeks ago with login information. If you need a new letter for this program just send me an email, and I will send one home. 

Writing: I mentioned during conferences that writing a complete sentence was our focus to start the year.  We will continue to practice this by writing in our journals and within our daily written work. I hope you enjoyed the first journal they completed. We are now using one of their notebooks to write in. Our focus now is "Opinion Writing" and the difference between fact or opinion. This will be done in our journals, as well as writing pieces we will create. When writing in our journals, we have done a few like this: "I would rather _____ than ________. An example of one we have done is jump in leaves or jump in the snow. 

Science: Our focus has been "Plant and Animal Superpowers". Titles of Mystery Science lessons we have done so far are: "Why do Birds have beaks?", "Why do baby ducks follow their Mother?", "Why are Polar Bears White?", and "Why do Family Members look alike?" We have also combined these lessons with a program called "Little Thinkers" and our focus has been on animal structures and survival, animal behaviors, offspring survival, and camouflage. We will continue to have lessons on this through the end of November and will soon have lessons on plant movement and survival. The kids love our science time. We also had Anjanette from ISU extension come in for a STEM activity last week titled “Rolling Things”. This activity focuses on mass, gravity, momentum, and friction. Anjanette will be coming again in November to continue with the “Rolling Things” activity. 

Star Student: Dylan and Van were most recently featured. Dylan likes to drink sprite and eat ice cream. Her favorite place is Nana and Papa’s camper, and when she grows up, she wants to be a teacher. Van’s favorite drink is Mountain Dew, and he likes to eat pizza rolls. Van’s favorite thing to wear is his crocs, and he wants to be a police officer when he grows up.

October News #2

 Thanks to all who participated in parent-teacher conferences. I hope that I communicated enough information about your child's progress in first grade thus far and you understand how the report card will look. As I communicated, we are now doing trimesters vs. quarters and there will be just 3 report cards, with the first one being sent home around November 22nd. If you ever have a question or concern regarding your child, please send me an email. I would be more than happy to send home extra materials if you feel your child needs extra practice at home on a particular skill.

Reading: We did not have any new reading goals last week with the shorter week. This week, our goals are to read and spell words with the short i sound, as well as words with the r blends (br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, and tr). Our grammar skill is to write sentences with commas in a series, and our comprehension skill is to identify the Main Idea and details after reading a story. A GREAT BIG THANKS for taking the time to listen to your child read each night and for signing their log sheet. Most students return their ziplocs daily. The best way to increase your child's fluency is to "READ, READ, READ". Guided Reading takes place daily. Please return ziploc with book in it daily, even if you do not have time to read it, for we use that book as a reread the next day for their guided reading group. Thanks!! Our "Words to Know" this week are: why, some, of, make, how, animal, the following words have also been added prior to this week: friend, hold, full, many, good, pull, away, every, call, hear, come, and said.

Math: We continue to work on addition strategies. Last week, we worked on the doubles and doubles plus one. Check to see if your child can solve the following doubles facts: 0+0, 1+1, 2+2, 3+3, 4+4, 5+5, 6+6, 7+7, 8+8, and 9+9. Then see if they can apply what they know about the doubles to solve doubles plus one more: 5+6, 4+5, 3+4, and 7+6. We will also continue to practice writing our numbers in sequences. During calendar and math slides, we have been practicing telling time to the hour and half hour. I have been impressed with how well they are doing with this skill. For some, telling time to the half-hour is tricky, especially when looking at the hour hand and deciding which hour to write down. I told them to think of half-past what hour.

Writing: I mentioned during our conference that writing a complete sentence has been our goal during the first quarter. We will continue to practice this by writing in our journals daily. I hope you enjoyed the first journal they completed. I sent these home with their conference folders. We are now using one of our notebooks to write in. Our next writing goal is "Opinion Writing" and the difference between fact or opinion. This will be done in our journals, as well as writing pieces we will create. 

Science: We have had lessons on “How Animals Survive and How they help their offspring Survive”, “Parent and Offspring Traits”, and “Camouflage for Survival”. We have also had a visit from the naturalist from Swan Lake. She presented a lesson on how animals use their senses.

Ticket Challenge: We have met one classroom challenge so far this school year. Our first was "show and tell", we now need 10 class tickets to earn 15 minutes of free time. In order to earn a class ticket, it is important for all students to follow the basics when walking in the hall, lining up at recess, using the locker area, as well as any class activity involving teamwork. The kids also earn individual tickets. They write their name on the back when they earn one and place it in a designated container. On Fridays, I draw 5 names and they can pick a prize. 

Star Student: Jenny and Amelia were most recently featured. Jenny's favorite food is a peach and her favorite subject is math. She wants to learn more about gymnastics and when she grows up, she wants to be a bus driver. Amelia's favorite drink is lemonade and her favorite food is mac and cheese. Her favorite place to visit is Walmart and she wants to be a teacher when she grows up.

The photos below the girls are from the "Homecoming Parade."

October News #1

 We have officially started the season of fall and with that will bring cooler, windy days. Although, we can't complain for we have enjoyed many warm summery days to start the year and this week sounds like we will experience lots of warm days as well. When the temperature does get cooler, please encourage your child to wear a sweatshirt/coat. Our playground doesn't have much of a windbreak, and we are out in the open, so it feels colder than the thermometer says on many fall or winter days.

Reading: We've been busy working hard on short vowel chunks in our "Making Words" and large group reading lessons. We have focused on learning chunks in words, as well as digraphs, endings and blends. Last week, our focus was reading and spelling words with the short u sound. Our story of the week was a "fantasy" vs. informational text. Our grammar skill was adjectives and using color and number words to describe. We also talked a little about synonyms. As for "Making Words" lessons, I am amazed at how well the kids are sounding out new words and creating them with the letters. Last week, we completed the first unit in our first grade reading program. These lessons are a part of our large group reading instruction. Daily lessons/activities are centered around phonemic awareness, phonics, grammar, and comprehension skills. The lessons have provided the students with new strategies to help them become better readers. The spelling lists also coordinate with the weekly skills. Each week, the list contains 6 words that focus on the phonics skill we're working on, as well as 4 high-frequency words. This week, our reading goals are to read and spell words with the short a sound, as well as reading words with double consonants and words that end in ck, our comprehension skill will be to understand characters and to identify the story message. We are also working on using the sequence words of first, next, then, and last to summarize what we read. Our grammar skill is identifying what makes a complete sentence. 

Math: We are working on lessons in Module 1. We will be learning to understand and use a variety of strategies to solve addition problems. In this module, we will also be learning new math vocabulary. Our vocabulary for this module is: add, count on, doubles, equation/addition sentence, is equal to (=), make a ten, plus (+) and sum. We have worked on the following strategies thus far: Counting on 1, 2, or 3, adding 10, and making 10. This week, we will add the strategies of doubles and using known sums to add.  Our daily “Math Warm-ups” focus on identifying shapes, place value, fact practice, writing numbers, problem solving, telling time, and counting money. We are currently working hard on counting on 1, 2, or 3 when we add, as well as adding 10 and 0. 

Wow!!! I have been impressed with how well the 1st graders are doing with writing their letters. Last week, I gave them the alphabet test again to see how much they have improved with identifying and writing their capital and lowercase letters. We officially made it through the alphabet with our handwriting pages. We will continue to work on writing our letters within our written work.

Writing: Our main focus has been to write complete sentences. A weekly task has been to choose 2 of our story words and to write a sentence using that word. We have been working on writing sentences for many weeks now, and we are focusing on making sure we start our sentence with a capital letter and end with a punctuation mark, as well as making sure it makes sense. Our key words for punctuation are; telling is a period, asking is a question mark, and words that show strong feeling have an explanation point. We also write in our journals with a given prompt. I will share journals and a writing sample with you at conferences.

Star Student: A new display in our classroom is titled "Star Student". Each week, one student will have the privilege to be featured on that display. At the end of the week, a new student's name will be drawn to determine who will be next. In the past, this has always been a favorite, and the kids anxiously await their turn.

Conferences: Most of you have signed up for a time using the link I sent via email. If you haven't signed up yet, please do so. Conferences will take place on Monday, October 10th and Thursday, October 13th. If you haven't signed up, please do so as soon as possible. If you have difficulty signing up, send me an email and I will help you out.  

This is Homecoming Week and listed below are the dress-up days for Fairview:

Monday: Wear PJ’s

Tuesday: Heroes vs. Villains

Wednesday: Career Day

Thursday: Class Color Day- 1st grade wears green

Friday: Wear Orange and Black

September News #2

 We've been busy in our first grade classroom and I would like to share with you some of the exciting things that have been happening.

Reading: We're learning new words weekly and reading "fun" stories. We have also enjoyed some big books in our large group reading lessons. A word wall has also been created in our classroom. High-Frequency words practiced during our large group reading lessons have been placed on the word wall. Thanks also for following up with the "Making Words" lessons at home. The kids have done a "great" job of returning their homework. Once 10 homework lessons have been returned, they will earn a treat/prize. The habit of returning homework promotes responsibility. The extra practice will also build your child's decoding skills, and it's a "great" way to practice spelling and reading too. Do encourage your child to try and write a word in each box if possible. If parents want to help, that's great too, for learning new words is always beneficial and the process of working together promotes success! The cut-up letters do not need to be returned-just the page with the words in boxes. This is week 4 of spelling and lessons from Journeys. Our spelling lists have focused on 6 words that match our phonics skill of the week and 4 sight words. Last week, our reading goals were to read and spell words with the short o sound, our grammar skill was action words/verbs, and our comprehension skill was to sequence important events in a story using first, next, then, and last. This week, our reading goals are to read and spell words with the short e sound, our comprehension skill is text and graphic features, as well as author's choice, and our grammar skill will focus on describing words/adjectives. Check to see if your child can read the following "Words to Know": do, find, funny, sing, no, they, all, me, does, my, here, and who.

Math: Last week, we completed our lessons on 3-D shapes. The following 3-D shapes are ones your child should be able to identify: sphere, pyramid, cone, cylinder, cube, and rectangular prism. Last week, we also started lessons for Module 16, which is titled "Faction Foundations". The learning goals for this module are to identify equal and unequal shares, and to partition shapes into halves and fourths. We will also be starting Module 1 soon, which is titled "Addition Strategies". We have been working on a few addition strategies, such as; adding 0, counting on 1 and 2, and adding 10. Soon, I will introduce Xtra Math, which is a program on their chromebooks and another "great" way to work on fact fluency. Once we start the program, I will send home login information for this program if you want to try it out at home too. The kids have the opportunity to earn certificates when mastering the goals of certain levels.

Writing: Our goal has been to write complete sentences. We continue to write in our journals almost daily. My key words are: Does it start right, end right, make sense, and have good spaces? And, WOW! I have been impressed with how well the 1st graders are doing with writing their letters using lined paper. It's great to see such nice papers and I especially like how hard they are trying to do their best! Good Job First Graders!

Making Good Choices: My goal is for each student to be responsible for their own actions. All classroom rules, as well as rules for the playground, the lunchroom, restroom, locker area, and hallway have been discussed. Listed are the basic rules we all need to remember: Be Kind to Everyone, Follow Directions, Keep Your Hands and Feet to Yourself, and Raise Your Hand if you have a question or response. I do give reminders if these rules are not followed. If several reminders are given, they may have to to stay in for part of a recess to talk about it. If the same behavior keeps happening, a behavior note will be written by the child and sent home to be signed by a parent. If taking away recess and writing a note isn't solving the problem, a phone call or an email will be sent. Let's work together to promote responsibility for their actions. We've been working really hard on following directions, being good listeners, and avoiding extra talking. These are three very important work habits to be a successful student. We are also working on a class challenge of earning 10 tickets for "Show and Tell". Our challenge is focusing on "good line basics".

It's hard to believe that we are halfway through September. We are certainly enjoying the warm and sunny days. The first day of fall officially starts this week. With the changing weather brings the "Do I have to wear my coat?" question. Our recess policy for wearing no coats out to recess is 60 degrees or above. Please send a sweatshirt/coat with your child each day when the change begins. We have already experienced a few cool mornings. You may want to encourage them to keep a sweatshirt/jacket in their bookbag. 

Please make sure your child returns their green take-home folder and reading ziploc daily. Thanks!

Here are spelling words for this week (with no school on Monday, you may want to start practicing. Their list will be brought home on Tuesday)

yet, web, pen, wet, leg, hen, was, did, we, my

September News #1

  One of my goals for the upcoming school year is to communicate with you through a classroom newsletter about what is happening in our 1st grade classroom. Every two weeks, I will update the newsletter with classroom news and send a paper copy to those who requested that. My newsletter will highlight some of the interesting things that have happened in our classroom, and inform you of upcoming events.

To start, I'd like to tell you a little about myself. This is my 33rd year of teaching and my 31st year teaching first grade at Fairview. Before teaching in Carroll, I taught 2 years in Spencer. I am also a graduate of Carroll High School. I thoroughly enjoy the teaching profession, and I look forward to working with your child. Besides teaching, I enjoy spending time with my family. My husband Mike and I live on a farm north of Carroll, he is a grain and livestock farmer. We have 3 boys: Brett, who just turned 28, he graduated from ISU with a degree in Ag Studies and Agronomy, and has joined the family farm operation. He and his wife Anna live in Carroll. Garrett is 25 and graduated from Kirkwood College with degrees in Ag GPS and Ag Business, and has also joined the family farm operation, and Adam, who is 20 and a sophmore at Iowa State. Besides teaching and being a mom, I enjoy my morning workouts and reading. 

I'd like to extend a big thanks to all of you, for getting your child organized for first grade and returning required forms promptly. Thanks!!! During the first 9 days, the kids have adjusted to getting back into a routine, and having to sit more than they've been used to. We have learned classroom rules, as well as expectations for the lunchroom, bathroom, hallway, playground, and locker area. PBIS (positive behavior in school) is implemented in all classrooms at Fairview and all students have the same expectations for all areas listed above. 

 Reading: We've been busy jumping right into the "Journeys" reading series. Last week, our learning goals were to read and spell words with the short a sound, our comprehension skill was to identify the main idea, our grammar skill was identifying nouns and our writing focus was to write a complete sentence. This week, our goals will be to read and spell words with short i, our comprehension skill is to identify characters in stories, our grammar skill is possessive nouns and we will continue working on writing complete sentences. Each week, we will also have a set of "Words to Know". Check to see if your child can read the following "Words to Know": and, be, help, you, play, with, for, he, what, have, he, look, too. We have done most of the written activities together to start the year. I will start to have them become more independent with these activities soon, so I can see what they can do. I wanted to start the year doing most together, so they get used to what the expectations may be.

 Math: The first grade team decided to start with the geometry modules for math. Our math program is called "Into Math". We felt these concepts would be more familiar to the kids and a good way to start the year with something they are somewhat familiar with. We will complete module 15 this week, which focused on "Two-Dimensional Shapes". This week, we will also start module 14 which focuses on "Three-Dimensional Shapes". The goal of these two modules is to identify the shapes and their attributes. Your child is expected to know the following 2-D and 3-D shapres: circle, triangle, rectangle, square, hexagon, trapezoid, sphere, cylinder, rectangular prism, cube, and cone. During our math time, we also have daily practice with identifying the shapes, telling time, counting sequences, identifying coins and counting money, problem solving, and place value. This is done using projected slides. These are our essential first grade skills and ones on the first grade report card. Number Work is also part of math. During the past two weeks, we have worked on addition facts using the counting on strategy of adding 1 and 2 more. This week, we will focus on adding zero. The students use whiteboards for this portion of math. The goal for addition in first grade is to be fluent with facts to 10, although, we will be working on facts to 20 this school year and learning a variety of strategies, and will work especially hard on being fluent with our addition and subtraction facts to 10. 

Writing: The students received a journal, which will be written in almost daily. A sentence starter is written on the board and their job is to complete it with their own ideas. We have also started a quick handwriting review and will review each letter and proper formation on lines. Handwriting is on the first grade report card. Printing letters and numbers correctly will be encouraged on all classroom work.

Guided Reading: This will be a time when your child is placed into a small group at their instructional level. I have done a 1 minute fluency timing. The FAST assessment will be administered soon. You may remember this assessment from kindergarten. In first grade, we assess the following skills: segmenting, nonsense word fluency (decoding), sight words, and fluency (words per minute). I will send your child's FAST scores home once the test is administered. 

We have designated the "green" folder as our take-home folder. Please have your child return this folder daily. A big "Shout-Out" for encouraging your child to complete their "Making Words" homework. I have been impressed with their dedication. When returning the homework, you do not need to return the letters. Having your child use a marker or pen is acceptable too. After every 10 returned "Making Words" homework, your child will get to pick a prize. Guided reading bags have been sent home almost daily, please make sure your child returns their reading ziploc daily, so they have their book for the reread part of group. I realize how busy families are and how little time you may have after school and in the evening, so if you do not have time to read the book, still have them return it. THANKS! I will send home a class list and classroom schedule sometime next week. If you ever have a question or concern, please send me an email at knees@carrolltigers.org 

Picture Day is Friday, September 17th. More information to come once the date gets closer.