What a super terrific week. Thank you all for making my birthday so special! I was treated with muffins, rice krispy treats, flowers, two gift cards, a Vera Bradley purse, lunch from Steak-Out, ice cream, and Bath & Body Works goodies! We had a fun-filled day. All of my cards were incredibly special and brightened my day!!! I love your children dearly. It's a love so great, and it always saddens me when they leave at the end of the year!
We are continuing to learn our vowel sounds. Students are sounding out written words and learning to read and write sight words. Each student has a 'dictionary' in his/her desk, full of 1st grade words. When they need help spelling a word, I always tell them to look in their 'dictionary' first. If it's not there, I write it in for them. More and more I see students getting out their 'dictionary' before asking for my help. This sort of independence will continue throughout the year. It's amazing (and somewhat sad) how much they mature during 1st grade!
Spelling is going very well. On Mondays, we begin our spelling worksheets for the week. We do the front of the first page together. Then those worksheets become the first Job on the Job Board (to complete after Centers each day). If your child brings home spelling worksheets on Thursdays, then that means (s)he did not complete them during class. ALL students have more than enough time to complete these during the week, and as the year progresses, almost everyone will. It's just a matter of learning to use our time effectively. We'll get there!
This week we also began adding suffix -s to words. After discussing this concept, I wrote up singular naming words on the ActivBoard and students told me the plural form of the naming word. Then each student chose a naming word to write on his/her paper and then wrote the plural form. Students then illustrated each word (pictures below).
When you walk by the classroom, be sure to check out our big blue oxen in the hallway. The students did a fantastic job creating them! And, they loved reading The Big Blue Ox!!!
We have been studying place value in math. Right now we are learning about the tens and ones places. Students are given towers and cubes to represent numbers. We also have some fun flipcharts to go along with our place value study. I'll try to remember to take pictures this week!
During our unit of study, we are learning about farms. We watched two educational videos this week, courtesy of DiscoveryEd.com. One video was on farmers' jobs and the other was all about farm animals. I think we all learned something new (myself included). we are also working on a cute farm book!
We enjoyed going to the computer lab this week, where we typed capital and lowercase letters. I can definitely tell which students spend time typing. This is a great skill to learn. How about opening a Word document each week and letting your child type his/her spelling words?
This coming week we will enjoy music, art, and the Book Fair (Thursday afternoon). If you will not be at the Book fair, you may send money (in a labeled envelope).
Speaking of money, I can no longer accept money that is not in an envelope or Ziploc bag. This past week, I received tons of checks falling out of folders or being handed to me by students. This is just not good practice. I do not want any of your money lost! From now on, please place the money (and form, if required) in an envelope or Ziploc bag. Label the envelope or bag with your child's name and grade, GSES and my name, and purpose for money. For example:
Patrick Reagan-1st grade
GSES--A. Clark
re: Grandparents' Breakfast
I do not want any checks or cash lost or misplaced. Thanks so much for your help with this matter!
Have a great Sunday. I'm sure I'll meet lots of grandparents on Friday!!!!
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