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.
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