October 31st Newsletter

            

 Important Dates

November

          3– No School

          4 – No School – Teacher’s Institute

     26, 27, & 28 – No School –

                             Thanksgiving Break

Halloween Party

    Thank you to all of the parents that helped out with the Halloween party and also to the parents that brought in paper products, food, treats, etc.  The party ran very smoothly.  The children had a good time.

Book-It

      I collected the October reading calendar today. I will be attaching the pizza slips to them over the weekend and returning them to you. The November calendar should be in your child’s folder. Thanks.

 

Author of the Month

Our author for the month of November will be Leo Lionni.

We do not have a student of the week for next week since it is such a short week.

Comprehension Strategies

         We will be discussing important characters in a story and sequencing events to retell a story.

Phonics Skills

We will be using double consonants such as -ll at the end of words.

Grammar Lesson

We will be working on plurals.

Spelling Words

red, win, drum, will, bell, doll, skull, said, here, windmill

          Next week we will be finishing up topic 4 which deals with subtraction. We will be taking a test on Friday over what we have learned in this unit.

    

      Thank you for attending conferences this past week.  It was good seeing all of you or talking with you on the phone.  Enjoy the four day weekend.  Hopefully the weather will be nice for you.

****Remember to change your clocks on Sunday and to also change the batteries in your smoke detectors.

October 24th Newsletter

                    

 Important Dates

October

          24 – Family Halloween Party at Ide

          28 – Conferences

           29 – Conferences

     30 – Wear black & orange

          31 - Classroom Halloween Parties

November

     3 – No School

          4 – No School – Teacher’s Institute

     26, 27, & 28 – No School –

                             Thanksgiving Break

       Our class is starting the Jr. Achievement program next week.  This program will last for 5 weeks and will cover the following topics:  families, needs & wants, jobs, and paying for needs & wants.  Our presenter is Chris Olsen, a volunteer from the DeVry Education Group.  He/she will come into our classroom once a week for 30 minutes to teach each lesson. These lessons coordinate with our social studies curriculum.

      Spooky Story Day

     As a part of our reading rewards, on Thursday, October 30, all students are being asked to wear orange and black and to bring in a Halloween book from home to read at school.  If you don’t have one at home, I have extras.  Thanks.

      

     After reading the story, Boo to You!, by Lois Ehlert,the class made a spooky looking cat using paper, leaves, and seeds. The children really enjoyed this project.

Comprehension Strategies

          We will focus on making predictions and inferences and how to read a social studies article.

Phonics Skills

          We will review some basic sounds.  We will also be working on words that end with the letters – ff.

Grammar Lesson

          We will be working on when to use “a” or “an.”

Spelling Words

Our spelling words for the week of October 28th are: up, man, crab, off, cliff, stiff, cuff, come, some, stuffing

    We do not have a “student of the week” next week due to our Halloween party being on Friday.

Have a great weekend!

October 17th Newsletter

                      

 

 Important Dates

October

          24 – Family Halloween Party at Ide

          28 – Conferences

          29 - Conferences

          31 - Classroom Halloween Parties

November

     3 – No School

          4 – No School – Teacher’s Institute

Halloween Party & Parade

        Please come and watch our parade.   It will be outside (weather permitting) in the back of the school.  We will begin at 1:40 on Friday, Oct. 31 and will parade outside beginning in front of the school and will circle around to the back of the school.   We will then return to our classrooms for our party.  

    The students should bring their costumes to school. We will help them get dressed prior to the parade.  Since the students will have a treat and a drink at the party, no additional candy treats are necessary.

            Author of the Month

            Our “author of the month” for October is Lois Ehlert.  This week we read Color Zoo and Color Farm.  We are working on making our own colorful animals using a shape template and markers.  The children will then write a couple of sentences to tell about their animals. 

Comprehension Strategies

     We will concentrate on topic, main idea, details, summarizing, and evaluating.

Phonics Skills

We will be reviewing short vowel sounds.

Grammar Lesson

We will work on alphabetical order.

Spelling Words – List 7

       The following words will be tested on Friday, October 24: dog, bran, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, you, your, Saturday

           

Joshua will be our “student of the week” from October 20-24.

      In math we have been working on missing parts of 10, such as 9+?=10 and using a table to solve a problem.

    During library time this past week, Mrs. Hayes took her classes to the computer lab and worked on keyboarding skills.  Since we were gone on Monday, our classroom will be working on this with her next Monday.

Have a fabulous weekend!

October 10th Newsletter

 Important Dates

October

10 – Early Dismissal – 12:00

13 – Columbus Day – No School

24 - Family Halloween Party at Ide

28 – Conferences

29 - Conferences

            31 - Classroom Halloween Parties

November

        3 - No School

            4 – No School – Teacher’s Institute

Halloween Party

        Please come and watch our parade.   It will be outside (weather permitting) in the back of the school.  We will begin at 1:40 on Friday, Oct. 31, and will parade outside beginning in front of the school and will circle around to the back of the school.   We will then return to our classrooms for our party.  

    The students should bring their costumes to school. We will help them get dressed prior to the parade.  Since the students will have a treat and a drink at the party, no additional candy treats are necessary.

    In math, we have been working on using a ten frame to help us learn how to add numbers up to 10.  We always start on the top row and move from left to right.  Ask your child to tell you about it.

Ieva will be our “student of the week” during the week of October 13-17.

Conference Sign-ups

    Conferences will be held on Tuesday, October 28 from 3:45-6:00 and Wednesday, October 29 from 3:45-7:15  I will be sending a link along with this newsletter for you to sign up for a time on the computer.  The conference will be held in our classroom.  If none of the times work for you, I will try to find a time that is convenient for both of us.  If you do not have a computer, you can send me a time that works for you and I will enter it into the computer.  If those times are already taken, then I will send you a schedule of the times that are left once everyone has signed up.

      Progress Reports

    A progress report is being sent home with your child on Friday, October 10.  Please look it over, sign it, and return it to school. 

Reading

Comprehension

     We will work on summarizing and story structure.

Phonics

We will be working on the sound of /ar/ and blending words with the CV and CVC pattern.

Grammar

We will focus on using common nouns.

Spelling Words – List 6

at, yes, slug, arm, hard, scarf, card, are, all, morning

Enjoy the long weekend!

October 3rd Newsletter

 Important Dates

October

7 – Literacy Night

8 – Picture Day

10 – Early Dismissal – 12:00

     13 – Columbus Day – No School

        24 – Family Halloween Party at Ide

31 - Classroom Halloween Parties

         

Exploration Stations

     We have started doing Exploration Stations on Fridays.  These lessons go along with our science and social studies curriculum.  There will be 5 lessons taught over a 5 week period.  Every teacher will present a lesson each week.  The teachers will rotate to a different classroom each Friday.  This way we know that every 1^st grader is receiving the same science & social studies curriculum.  The topics for this theme are: Native Americans, pioneers, Navajo Indians/hogans, Christopher Columbus, & Pilgrims.

Author of the Month

            Our “author of the month” for October is Lois Ehlert.  She has written and illustrated many books.  We will be reading quite a few of her books throughout the month.

         

Grammar

We will be introducing proper nouns, such as the names of people, cities, states, and countries.

Comprehension Strategies

We will be working on fantasy, realism and noting details.

Phonics Skills

We will be reviewing the /qu/ sound.

Spelling Words

On, but, plum, quick, quiz, queen, squid, to, do, and squirrel

Student of the Week

There won't be a "student of the week" next week due to the early dismissal on Friday.

Math

      In math, we have been working on different ways to solve subtraction problems.  The different strategies are: comparing, using part-part-whole, and taking away. The homework that has been sent home recently stresses these strategies. These are difficult for some children to understand.  Ask your child to tell you about them.  

Enjoy the weekend!