Mrs. Micetich's Class

February 3rd Newsletter

2012-01-31T11:09:00.000-08:00

Important Dates
February
14 – Valentine's Day Party
20 – President's Day – No School
28 – Early Dismissal – 12:00
March

2 – End of the trimester

Author of the Month
Tomie dePaola is our author for the month of February. We have been reading his books every day for the past couple of days.

Christian will be our student of the week next week.

100 Days of School
The 100th day of school is on Wednesday, February 8th. So far we have collected 5 items for our Have a Heart..Lend a Can project. We're hoping to collect 100 items by Wednesday. Thanks for your support!

Valentine's Day Party
Our Valentine's Day party will be on Tuesday, February 14th from 2:00-3:00. The children will pass out their Valentines before the party. Do not address the valentines, just have your child sign his/her name. This makes passing them out much easier. There are currently 17 children in the class since Andrew moved last week. Thanks.

Reading
The stories from our anthology for next week are: Red-Eyed Tree Frog and the poems The Snake and The Toucan.

Comprehension Strategies
The children will be practicing the skills of predicting and inferring.

Vocabulary Words
The vocabulary words for next week are: boa, caterpillar, eyed, eyes, iguana, katydid, macaw, moves, poisonous, tongue, and toucan

Phonics Skills
The children will be learning about the vowel pairs ai and ay. We will also review the long e vowel and the vowel pairs ee & ea.

Grammar Lesson
We will be focusing on naming words for one or more.

Spelling Words
Next week’s spelling words are: bus, pot, swim, cube, tune, used, excuse, little, down, & useless

January 27th Newsletter

2012-01-24T11:07:00.000-08:00

Important Dates

January
27 – Pajama Day (reading incentive)
30 – Book Orders Are Due

February
14 – Valentine's Day Party
21 – President's Day – No School

Emma's dad came in this week (since she was the student of the week) & talked about his profession - being a fireman. He went over safety rules & showed us all the gear a firefighter has to wear in order to be safe. The children really enjoyed the presentation!

Monthly Reading Charts
Our January reading chart is due on Tuesday. A new chart for February will be sent home soon. Happy Reading!

Dominic will be our student of the week next week.

In computers this week, we worked on making a word search using the names of family members. Your child may use this program (with your permission) at home also. The website is: www.puzzlemaker.com
Have your child show you how to do it. They were very excited about this program.

The 100th day of school is on Wednesday, February 8th. In past years, we have asked each child to bring in 100 objects to school. This year we are asking each child to bring in 5 (or more if possible) cans of food for the food pantry to go along with our service project. Any canned goods or nonperishable food items would be appreciated. We are hoping to collect at least 100 items per classroom which would be a big help to the local area. A note will be coming home explaining the “Lend a Hand … Bring in a Can” project.

Reading
The stories from our anthology for next week are: EEK! There’s a Mouse in the House and Animals Big and Small.

Comprehension Strategies
The children will work on noting details and asking questions while reading a selection.

Vocabulary Words
The vocabulary words for next week are: barn, dancing, elephant, laying, marched, mercy, mouse, tangled, and rhyming words.

Phonics Skills
The children will work on the following skills: blending long “e” (CV, CVCe), vowel pairs “ee", " ea”, long “o” (CV, CVCe), long “u” (CVCe) and final clusters “ft”, “lk”, and “nt”.

Grammar Skills
The children will learn about naming words for places and things.

Spelling Words
Next week’s spelling words are:
cod, lot, snap, bone, nose, home, globe, live, give, & tadpole

January 20th Newsletter

2012-01-19T10:40:00.000-08:00

Important Dates
January
25 – Early Dismissal – 12:00
27 – Pajama Day (reading incentive)
30 – Book Orders Are Due
February
14 – Valentine's Day Party
21 – President's Day – No School

****I am sending home a book order this week which should arrive before Valentine's day. Orders are due by Monday, January 30th. Please make checks out to Scholastic Books. Thanks.

Emily will be our student of the week next week.

Our Valentine's Day party will be on Tuesday, February 14th from 2:00-3:00. The children will pass out their valentines before the party. Do not address the valentines, just have your child sign his/her name, this makes passing them out much easier. If you signed up to help or to bring food or paper products, someone will be contacting you soon. Thanks.

Math
In math, we have been working on comparing numbers. We have been using the terms greater than, less than, one more, one less, ten more, ten less, & putting mixed up numbers in order. We have been using number lines, number grids, and computer games to practice these concepts. Thank you for having your child complete the weekly math homework. It helps to reinforce the skills that we are working on at school.

Reading
We will be reading The Sleeping Pig and What Is a Desert?

Comprehension Strategies
The children will be learning about story structure and summarizing a story. We will also talk about how to read a social studies article.

Vocabulary Words
The vocabulary words will be words that name fruits and vegetables and the following words: began, celebrate, coyote, cricket, howl, rabbit, tail, and watermelon.

Phonics Skills
We will be working on long o (CV-CVCe), long u (CVCe), final clusters (-ft, -lk, -nt), long i (CVCe)(review), and segmenting phonemes.

Grammar Skills
We will be identifying naming words for people and animals.

Spelling Words
six, pad, smell, bike, time, smile, prize, like, have, & bridesmaid

January 13th Newsletter

2012-01-10T11:25:00.000-08:00

Important Dates
January
16 - No School - Martin Luther King's Birthday
25 – Early Dismissal – 12:00
27 - Pajama Day (Reading reward)

February
14 – Valentine's Day Party
20 – President's Day – No School

Last Friday we started a new Exploration Station. The students will be learning about the flag, monuments, and famous Americans, such as George Washington, Martin Luther King Jr., and Abraham Lincoln. This unit also discusses voting – how it works and why it's important to vote.

Mitchell was our student of the week this week.

After reading The Mitten by Jan Brett, the children colored and cut out the characters and stored them in a mitten bag. We then worked on retelling the story using the important facts and details. Ask your child to retell the story to you.

Reading
We will be reading The Kite and How to Make a Kite.

Comprehension Strategies
The children will be working on reading directions, cause/effect, and monitoring/clarifying.

Vocabulary Words
The vocabulary words will be weather words and:
anywhere, beautiful, convinced, easy, news, perfect, raining, weather

Phonics Skills
Our phonics lessons will be centered around blending long i words. We will also review the soft sound of “g” /j/ and “c” /s/.

Grammar Skills
We will practice using I and me in sentences.

Spelling Words
ran, hat, scarf, came, grape, name, cake, only, old, & baseball

January 6th Newsletter

2012-01-04T10:56:00.000-08:00

Important Dates
January
6 – Ide Movie Night at PV
16 - No School - Martin Luther King's Birthday

25 - Early Dismissal - 12:00

Please remember to return your child's green reading anthology if you haven't done so already. Thanks.

Thank you for all the gifts and cards you sent to me, our classroom, and our aides. The pencil sharpener is so much better (and quieter) than the one we had before!
I enjoyed the holidays, but it felt good to get back to school and see the children again. I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday also.

Math
We have just started Chapter 10 this week which deals with counting tens and ones.

Author of the Month
Jan Brett is our author for the month of January. We read a couple of her books this week. She gives many picture clues in her books that help children to predict what might happen next.

Computers
We explored Jan Brett's website as a group in class and will do so individually during computer time next week. We worked on the game called Mouse Concentration which can be found under Computer Games.

You may also access this website at home. It has many different activities for children to do. Her website is:
www.janbrett.com

Reading
Our stories for next week are Me on the Map and Children of the World.

Comprehension Strategies
We will be working on summarizing, making generalizations and reading a map.

Vocabulary Words
Our vocabulary words are: ball, countries, country, earth, giant, special, street, and town

Phonics Skills
We will be blending long “a” words with the CVCe pattern. We will also be working on the soft c and g sound and the final consonants nd, ng, and nk.

Spelling Words
Our spelling words are: sad, let, trip, blue, orange, gray, black, one, by, & color

December 16th Newsletter

2011-12-08T11:54:00.000-08:00

Important Dates
December
16 – Classroom Holiday Party
19 – Winter Break Begins
January
3 - Classes Resume

- Reading Anthologies Are Due Back

Your child can return his/her December reading log on January 3rd when we return from the holiday break. I am sending home January’s log on December 16th so you can begin recording the books they read in January starting January 1st.

Earlier this week I sent home a paper with 3 columns of words on it. I explained to the class that these were words that we have learned in the past 3 stories & they should take some time at home to practice reading them. The word cards can be torn apart and made into a bang game or a memory game, or just used as flashcards. Please have your child practice reading over break. This helps to build their confidence and reading skills. Thanks!

Cookie Exchange
Thank you to everyone who took the time to bake cookies and send in food for the cookie exchange. It was all very delicious. My children were thrilled with the cookies (and so was I)!

Reading
We will be reading the following stories: Moving Day and Hermit Crabs.

Comprehension Strategies
We will be working on comparing and contrasting.

Vocabulary Words
Our words will be: grow, light, long, more, other, right, small, room, and these

Phonics Skills
The children will be working on digraphs:
sh, th, ch, wh, tch
We will also be reviewing initial blends such as: gr, cr, fr, dr,tr, fl, cl, sl, st, sn sw, & sp

Grammar Lesson
We will review the use of exclamations.

Spelling Words
The spelling words are:
bed, wet, prod, holly, party, story, happy, so, my & family

Happy Birthday to . . .
Mary, Natasa & Andrew

December 9th Newsletter

2011-12-05T12:46:00.000-08:00

Important Dates
December
16 – Classroom Holiday Party
19 – Winter Break Begins
January
3 - Classes Resume

Reading Books
We will be completing our second reading book next week. I will be sending it home at that time. Please listen to your child read the stories and help him/her with any unknown words. Practicing reading is very important at this age. Please return the book by January 3rd. Thanks.

Author of the Month
We explored the Chris VanAllsburg website and played some of the games on it. The children enjoyed the memory game and the puzzles. If you would like your child to play some of these games at home, you may go to www.chrisvanallsburg.com

We will also be watching The Polar Express next Thursday as a part of our reading celebration. This book was also written by Chris VanAllsburg.

In math, we have been working on reading graphs – bar, picture, & concrete graphs. We also played some games in the computer lab to go along with this concept.

Reading
Our stories will be: Caribbean Dream, Dad’s Big Plan, Dog School, and Daycare for Dogs.

Comprehension Strategies
We will be working on sequencing events, monitoring and clarifying.

Vocabulary Words
Our vocabulary words will include question words: who, what, when, where, why and noise words.
We will also work on the words: car, hold, their, walk, down, must, scrub, hurt, hear, learn, and would

Phonics Skills
We will be working on triple clusters (scrub, strap, split, etc.). We will also review short “u” words and work on using a 'y' at the end of a multisyllable word.

Grammar Lesson
We will work on asking questions both orally and in our writing. Actions words, (verbs) will also be reviewed.

Spelling Words
The spelling words are:
hop, fit, grin, duck, neck, clock, lick, go, no & broomstick

December 1st Newsletter

2011-11-30T13:37:00.000-08:00

Important Dates

December
2 – No School
16 – Classroom Holiday Parties – 2:00
19 – Winter Break Begins

January
3 – Classes Resume

Our holiday party will be on Dec. 16 from 2:00-3:00. Parent helpers will be allowed in the room at 1:50. (No siblings are allowed due to limited space.)

FYI - all first grade classrooms will not be doing a gift exchange this year. The teachers have purchased a small gift for each child in their own classroom.

Reaghan will be our “student of the week” for the week of December 5th.

Author of the Month
We finished reading Leo Lionni books for the month of November. We visited the Random House website about Leo Lionni and were able to watch a couple of short videos explaining how he made his drawings and what he was like growing up. It was very interesting.

Reading
Next week we will be reading four stories. The Secret Code is about a blind boy who uses Braille to read. Zack and His Friends tells the story of four children who put on a play together. In the story Two Best Friends, two girls learn how hard it is when one of them has to move away. Our final story is nonfiction and explains How Mail Gets to You.

Comprehension Strategies
We will be working on the skills of evaluating, comparing/contrasting and retelling/summarizing.

Vocabulary Words
Our vocabulary words will include sensory words and words & symbols on signs. Also the words: best knelt, rest, sign, and snack

Phonics Skills
We will be working on clusters with “s” (sled, stick, etc.,) and reviewing clusters with “l” (black, glad, etc.). We will also work on short “e” words and silent letters: kn, wr, & gn.

Grammar Lesson
We will be learning about pronouns.

Spelling Words
ox, run, from, buzz, cross, less, miss, there, they & crossroad

November 18th Newsletter

2011-11-14T10:55:00.000-08:00

Important Dates
November
18 – End of the trimester
23, 24, & 25 – No School – Thanksgiving Break
29 – Report Cards
29 & 30 - Conferences
December
1 – Conferences
2 – No School

Thanksgiving Break
Since next week is a short week due to the Thanksgiving Break, there won't be a newsletter. I hope you all have a relaxing and enjoyable Thanksgiving with your families.

Andrew will be our “student of the week” for the week of November 28th.

Jr. Achievement
Our class finished Jr. Achievement this week. This program lasted for 5 weeks and covered the following topics: families, needs & wants, jobs, and paying for needs & wants. Our presenter was Mrs. Rourke from the McDonald's Corporation. She came into our classroom once a week for 30 minutes to teach each lesson. These lessons coordinate with our social studies curriculum.

Due to Thanksgiving break, we will begin the reading lesson on Monday, November 28th.
Reading
Our stories will be An Egg is an Egg, Fluff is Missing, Go Away Otto! and Helping at Home.

Comprehension Strategies
We will be working on the comprehension strategies of summarizing, drawing conclusions, responding, and reading for information.

Vocabulary Words
The vocabulary words will be: children, come, family, father, loves, mother, people, picture, your, black, block, Fluff, and plan.

Phonics Skills
We will be working on words with clusters with “l” (block, plan, etc.), blending short “o” words, clusters with “r” (train, crow, etc.) and contractions with ‘s.

Grammar Lesson
We will working on plurals.

Spelling Words
red, win, drum, will, bell, doll, skull, said, here & windmill

November 10th Newsletter

2011-11-09T06:19:00.000-08:00

Important Dates
November
11 – No School – Veteran's Day
18 – End of the trimester
23, 24, & 25 – No School – Thanksgiving Break
29 & 30 - Conferences
December
1 – Conferences
2 – No School

Math
Last week during library time, the students were shown a video explaining the Math-a-thon program. This program is a fundraiser for St. Jude's Hospital in Chicago. If you would like your child to participate in it, return the form (filled out) to school. The librarian will send home either a booklet or a CD depending on which one you requested. Thank you for supporting local charities.

Last week I sent home a sheet with your conference time on it. Please sign and return the bottom of the sheet to me if you haven't done so already.

Our student of the week for next week will be Sam.

Exploration Station
We just started a new unit in science dealing with weather. Our first topic that was covered was hurricanes & tornadoes. We read books and then compared & contrasted the 2 types of weather using a Venn diagram. We also played on a website which allowed the children to change the size & strength of a tornado and see what happens. You may want to have your child show you how it works on your computer at home. Here is a link to that website:
http://whyfiles.org/013tornado/3.html

Reading
Next week we will read four stories. Hilda Hen’s Scary Night is about a brave hen that crosses the farmyard at night. In The Trip, we will read about a mouse family that visits the art museum. At the Aquarium is a nonfiction selection with beautiful photographs of fish and other marine animals. Our final story, Why Sun and Moon Live in the Sky is based on an African tale.

Comprehension Strategies
- categorizing, classifying, questioning and rereading

Vocabulary Words
The vocabulary words are: blue, color, green, also, funny, many, like, some, and brown

Phonics Skills
-using double consonants such as -ff at the end of words

Grammar Lesson
-when to use “a” or “an” in a sentence

Spelling Words
up, man, crab, off, cliff, stiff, cuff, come, some, & stuffing

November 4th Newsletter

2011-11-01T11:07:00.000-07:00

Important Dates

November
4 – Movie Night (at PV)
8 – Picture retakes
11 – No School – Veteran's Day
18 – End of the trimester
23, 24, & 25 – No School – Thanksgiving Break
29 & 30 - Conferences

December
1 - Conferences

2 - No School

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
If you haven't turned in your October reading calendar yet, please do so by Monday. Thanks.

Math
In math, we completed chapter 6 and will be taking a test over it on Monday. We will be starting chapter 7 on Tuesday which covers related subtraction & addition problems to 12 (such as 5+7=12 and 12-7=5).

Reading Anthologies
Please return your child's reading textbook by Nov. 7th if you haven't done so already. Thanks.

Reading
We will be reading four stories. Pearl's First Prize Plant which is about a little girl who plants a seed and watches it grow. Our other stories, Ham and Eggs, Miss Jill's Ice Cream Shop, and Making Ice Cream are about things we like to eat.

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

Vocabulary Words
Our vocabulary words for the week are:
all, call, eat, every, first, never, paper, shall, and why

Phonics Skills
We will review blending short vowel sounds, double consonants, plurals, final consonants ck, s as (z), and verb endings s, ed, & ing.

Grammar Lesson
We will be working on putting letters in alphabetical order.

Spelling Words
Our spelling words for the week of November 7th are: dog, bran, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, you, your, & Saturday

October 28th Newsletter

2011-10-21T13:29:00.000-07:00

Important Dates

October
31 - Classroom Halloween Parties
1:40 – Parade, 2:00 – Party

November
8 – Picture retakes
11 – No School – Veteran's Day
18 – End of the trimester
23, 24, & 25 – No School – Thanksgiving Break

Reading Anthologies
We have completed our first anthology (reader) and I am sending it home with your child. Please have your child read the stories in it to you or to a brother or sister. Please return them by November 7th. Thanks.

Pizza Hut Book-It Program
Please send in the October reading logs anytime after October 31st. Everyone who completes their log will get a Pizza Hut coupon. New logs will came home soon.

Picture Retakes

Picture retakes will be on Thursday, November 8. If your child is having retakes done, please return his/her original package of pictures. If your child is new to the district, he/she may have a picture taken also. Thanks.

Reading
Next week we will be reading two stories. One story is about animals that live in a cold part of the world. The other story is about what happens to animals and plants during the four seasons. While we are reading, we will practice identifying the main topic and supporting details.

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

Vocabulary Words
Our words for next week are: look, of, see, animal, bird, cold, fall, flower & full.

Phonics Skills
-/ar/ sound

Grammar Lesson
We will talk about using common nouns.

Spelling Words – List 6
The following words will be tested on Friday, November 4 :
at, yes, slug, arm, hard, scarf, card, are, all, & morning

October 21st Newsletter

2011-10-18T11:03:00.000-07:00

Important Dates
October

21 – Family Halloween Party at Ide 6:30-8:00
21 – Progress Reports Go Home
27 – Early Dismissal – 12:00

28 - Spooky Story Day
31- Classroom Halloween Parties

November
8 - Picture Retakes
11 – Veteran's Day – No School

On Friday, October 28th, we are having Spooky Story Day as a part of our reading rewards. Have your child wear all black that day and bring a Halloween book from home to share. If you don't have one at home, I have extras that the children may use.

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 Monday, Oct. 31st 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 made our own colorful animals using a shape template and markers. The children then wrote a couple of sentences to tell about their animals. They did a nice job!

Reading
During the week of October 24th we will be reading stories about bugs. In Quit It, Bug! , two children try to have a picnic on a log and a bug wants to go to his home in that log. In A Surprise for Zig Bug, some bugs think they are swimming in a pool, but it is really a jug. We also have a Science Link story called Insects.

Comprehension
- summarizing and story structure

Vocabulary
The vocabulary words are:
are, away, does, he, live, pull, they, where, quit, up, zig, zag, bug, & jug

Phonics
The sound of /qu”/
blending words with the CV and CVC pattern.
review the short “e” sound also.

Grammar
We will focus on using proper nouns.

Spelling
Our test will be on Friday, October 28th for the following words:
on, but, plum, quick, quiz, queen, squid, to do, & squirrel

October 14th Newsletter

2011-10-12T11:21:00.000-07:00

Important Dates

October
21 – Family Halloween Party at Ide
27 – Early Dismissal – 12:00
31 - Classroom Halloween Parties

November
8 – Picture retakes

Calder will be our “student of the week” starting the week of October 17th.

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 Monday, Oct. 31st, 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.

Lieutenant Tabisz and firefighter/paramedic Jamie Tunk came to our school and talked about fire safety. We learned about choosing a special meeting place in case of a fire, how to “stop, drop, and roll,” and that we should never go back inside to get something we forgot. They also showed us the special gear that firemen wear and we talked about how it sounds when firemen speak with their oxygen tanks on.

Reading
Next week we will be reading stories about problems characters have and how they solve them. In Val Can Help, Rob and Val help each other make a snowman. In The Bunnies and the Fox, two small bunnies fool the fox by making a big snow bunny that scares him away. We will also read a science article about animals that live in the woods.

Vocabulary
Our vocabulary words for next week are:
do, for, I, is, me, said, you, get, help, kid, next, yes & yet
Comprehension Strategies
- fantasy/realism & noting details

Phonics Skills
- /ng/ sound

Spelling Words
- in, leg, glad, ring, sang, strong, lung, be, was, & length

Grammar Lessons
- recognizing the capital and lower-case forms of each letter

We will be starting chapter 5 in our math books during the week of October 17. In this chapter, children will be working on addition fact strategies, such as counting on, doubles (4 & 4 = 8), & doubles plus one (4 & 5 = 9). Some children understand these concepts very quickly, and others it takes repetition and a lot of practice to master them.

October 7th Newsletter

2011-10-06T10:49:00.000-07:00

Important Dates

October
10 – Columbus Day – No School
11 – Teacher's Institute – No School
21 – Family Halloween Party at Ide

27 – Early Dismissal – 12:00
31 - Classroom Halloween Parties

We will not have a student of the week for the week of October 10th since it is such a short week.

Spelling
We will not be having a spelling list or test for the week of October 10-14 since it is such a short week.

Writing
This past week, the children chose a gourd to decorate any way they wanted. Then they drew a picture of it and added several details. After that, they used the picture to help them write a few sentences about the gourd. We worked on using describing words. The class was very creative with this project.

During the month of September we worked on Education City, Mathblasters, and I-Station in the computer lab. I-Station is a program that works on letters, sounds, and reading skills. The children's progress is monitored in this program.

Reading
For the week of October12th we will be reading two stories. A Lot! A Lot! is a funny story about a group of cats that cook a big feast for themselves. The other story, A Party for Bob is about a boy and his surprise birthday party. We will also be reading a math link called Shapes Are Everywher

Comprehension Strategies

- questioning and noting details within a story

Vocabulary
Our new vocabulary words are:
five, four, in, once, three, two, upon, what, box, did, got, hot, lot, & wag

Grammar
- using capitals and periods in sentences

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 1st grader is receiving the same science & social studies curriculum. The topics for this theme are: Native Americans, pioneers, Navajo Indians/hogans, Christopher Columbus, & Pilgrims.

Enjoy the nice weather and good luck to all the marathon runners this weekend!

September 30th Newsletter

2011-09-27T11:02:00.000-07:00

Important Dates

October
10 – Columbus Day – No School
11 – Teacher's Institute – No School
28 – Family Halloween Party at Ide
31 - Classroom Halloween Parties

Thank you for participating in our magazine fundraiser. It was very successful once again.

Book-It

As a part of our reading incentive program, our school has decided to participate in the Pizza Hut Book-It reading program beginning October 1. Children will receive a coupon each month for a personal pan pizza if they return their reading calendar/log at the end of the month. A reading calendar and record sheet will be sent home soon. Please try to read with your child each day & put your initials on the calendar on the days that you read. Please turn it in at the end of October. Thanks.

Thursday Night Homework
Most of the children have been doing a nice job of completing their homework and turning it in on time. Homework is sent home on Thursday and needs to be returned on Friday or the following Monday.

Reading
During the week of October 3rd we will be reading two stories from the anthology about pigs and other farm animals. A Big Hit is about two pigs who play a game. Pigs in a Rig is about some pigs who win prizes. Let’s Go to the Fair is a social studies article where we learn about things people see and do at a county fair.

Comprehension Strategies
-evaluating and cause and effect

Phonics Skills
-/th/ sound
-blending words that have the cvc (consonant-vowel-consonant) pattern

Vocabulary Words
Our vocabulary words for next week are:

a, find, have, one, to, who, big, hit, it, pig, ran, & sit

Grammar
-using punctuation in sentences

Spelling Words
Our spelling words for the week of October 3rd are:
us, sad, flag, this, with, that, thank, me, we, & thinking

September 23rd Newsletter

2011-09-20T11:29:00.000-07:00

Important Dates
September
27 - Magazine Turn In Day

29 –Picture Day & Magazine Turn In Day
30 – Early Dismissal – 12:00
October
10 – Columbus Day – No School
11 – Teacher's Institute – No School
28 – Family Halloween Party at Ide
31 - Classroom Halloween Parties

Exploration Station
We started “Exploration Stations” on Friday. This week we learned about Native Americans, where they lived & some of the different types of homes they built. The children made their own hogan using a bowl and paper towels.

Our new vocabulary “BIG Words” are: plead, amble, grateful, challenge, deserve, & deceive. We introduce new words every other week and try to use and listen for the old ones throughout our day.

Raza will be our student of the week next week.

Reading
Next week we will be reading two stories from the anthology about pigs and other farm animals. A Big Hit is about two pigs who play a game. Pigs in a Rig is about some pigs who win prizes. Let’s Go to the Fair is a social studies article where we learn about things people see and do at a county fair.

Comprehension Strategies
- evaluating and cause and effect

Phonics Skills
- /ch/ sound

Vocabulary Words
Our vocabulary words for next week are:

a, find, have, one, to, who, big, hit, it, pig, ran, & sit

Grammar
- using punctuation in sentences

Spelling Words
Our spelling test went well on Friday. Our new words for the week of September 26-30th are:
if, hot, blot, chips, lunch, chest, much, he, she, & chicken

Have a great weekend!

Have a good weekend!

September 16th Newsletter

2011-09-15T06:23:00.000-07:00

I will send out a master list for the student of the week date that you chose at curriculum night. If you forgot to sign up or if you were unable to make it to curriculum night, then I put your name in a slot that was still open. There will be a note in the bag that will be sent home the Friday before reminding you of the time you are to come in & read or share your occupation. Thanks.

Important Dates
Sept. 16 – Magazine (Little book) turn in
20 – Magazine orders turn in day
30 – Early Dismissal – 12:00

Book Fair/Ice Cream Social
The book fair & ice cream social was a big success once again.Thank you for your generous donations to our class for the book fair. We were able to purchase several books. Thanks!

Author of the Month
Last week we read Mr. Seahorse by Eric Carle. The book discussed the different ways that fish & sea horses cared for their eggs. We painted a piece of paper many colors and then cut out a sea horse and added a wiggly eye. This is how Eric Carle makes the illustrations for his books. We also visited Eric Carle's website and did a little exploring on it.

Spelling Tests
We will have our first spelling test on Friday, September 23rd. We will be focusing on the “sh” sound. We will write & practice spelling these words throughout the week. The list of words for next week are:
am, get, clap, ship, fish, shut, wish, I, the, & shampoo

Reading
We will begin our reading series next week. We have an anthology called Here We Go! We will read two stories in it about some playful animals. On The Go! is about a cat and a dog who take a swim in a pool. Mac the Cat is about a lovable cat that makes a mess of the house.

We also will read a non-fiction story entitled Pet Cats and Big Cats. This will help us learn to read science articles. We will also make a chart comparing pet cats and big cats.

We will practice the comprehension strategies of predicting, sequencing, and evaluating.

Vocabulary words - We will review the high-frequency words: go, the and on.

Grammar lessons will focus on using capital letters at the beginning of sentences.

Enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend!

September 9th Newsletter

2011-09-08T08:37:00.000-07:00

Thank you for attending curriculum night. It was good seeing everyone again! If you forgot to sign up for a conference time, I will send you a note with times that are still available. Thanks.

Author of the Month
Recently we read The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle. We discussed treating others the way we wanted to be treated and also talked about time. We noticed details throughout the book and made predictions as we went along. After we finished reading the book, we made ladybugs out of construction paper and hung them in our classroom.

Important Dates
Sept. 12 – Magazine Sales Kickoff
Sept. 15 – Fall Book Fair/Ice Cream Social
Sept. 30 – Early Dismissal – 12:00

Meda will be the “student of the week” next week and will share her poster on Monday. The bag will go home on Friday and needs to be returned on the following Thursday or sooner. If you didn't get to sign-up for a certain week at curriculum night, then I will choose a date for you & send the information home with your child.

Reading Calendars
We will be sending home reading calendars beginning in October. Even though we are not starting our reading incentive until then, it is still important that you read with your child each night. This will help him/her to recognize basic words & will also help to build their confidence in reading. Thanks.

Every two weeks the class will be introduced to a new set of BIG words. We go over their meanings and use picture cards to display them on our bulletin board in our classroom. Whenever we come across one of these new words while we are reading, the students should quietly tap the tip of their nose. Our words for next week are: clumsy, rescue, fierce, suspense, delightful, and capture.

Reading
We have been working on recognizing sight words. The words that we reviewed were: I, my, a, the, like, & see.
We have also been reviewing letters, their sounds and how to write them correctly. We are doing letter sorts to start the year. As the school year progresses, we will be doing blend sorts, and also word sorts.
We are also practicing writing sentences using a capital letter at the beginning and a period at the end. We'll continue doing this throughout the end of the year.

Have a relaxing weekend!

September 2nd Newsletter

2011-09-01T11:48:00.000-07:00

Everyone is doing a great job of finding their bus at the end of the day. Please remember to send a note if your child is going to picked up from school. If I don't receive a note, then your child will be placed on his/her regular bus.

Important Dates
Sept. 5 – Labor Day – No School
Sept. 6 – Book Orders Are Due
Sept. 8 – Curriculum Night – 6:30 p.m.
Sept. 15 – Fall Book Fair / Ice Cream Social
Sept. 30 – Early Dismissal – 12:00

Author of the Month
We read a different Eric Carle book each day this week. We worked on prediction and inference skills. Eric Carle books are good books to begin the year because he uses number words, color words, and repetition throughout them.

Our library time with Mrs. Bouton is on Wednesday. We also have a short checkout time on Monday afternoon. The children are allowed to checkout 2 books at a time.

We will be having computer time each week on Tuesday from 2:25-3:10. Since we will be doing PBIS activities next week, computers will begin the following week.

Curriculum night for 1st grade is on Thursday, September 8th at 6:30 pm. in the gym. Mrs. Hansen will speak for a short time, then you will go to your child’s classroom. I hope to see you then.

We will be using the Houghton Mifflin reading series this year. We already did some activities from the series this past week. The beginning of the year is a review of some common sight words and also uses stories with patterns, such as, “I like...” or “I see...” We have started writing a sentence to go along with some of the basic sight words. I have been stressing using a capital letter at the beginning and a period at the end. It takes the children a while to remember to do this on their own.

Enjoy the long Labor Day weekend!

June 3rd Newsletter

2011-06-01T09:44:00.000-07:00

Important Dates

June 6 – Full day of school

7 – Report cards/Last day of school - 10:00 Dismissal

ABC Countdown

6/6 - “Y” - Yahoo! It's the last full day of school.

6/7 - “Z” - Zoom out of school day.

This year sure went by quickly!

It was fun watching everyone mature, learn to read, and also begin to write stories.

This was such a nice class! I enjoyed working with all of your children. They were very polite and caring. I received many compliments from other teachers (music, gym, substitutes, etc.) telling me how nice the children were. You have done a great job of parenting your children at home & it shows.

I would love to hear from everyone over the summer. My address is:

Mrs. Micetich

250 W. Division St.

Coal City, IL 60416

Please remember to include a return address so I can write a short note back. I love to get mail and I’m sure that they do too. Have a great summer!

End of the Year Picnic

Thank you to all the people who helped to plan this event and also to the parents that volunteered in any way to make sure this picnic was a success. Your gift of time is truly appreciated.

Fun Websites to Use This Summer

www.primarygames.com

www.puzzlemaker.com

www.coolmath4kids.com

www.teachkids.com

www.starfall.com

www.funbrain.com

Headphones

Your children's headphones will be placed in a bin & stored to be used next fall in second grade. They will be distributed to your child's teacher in August when the class lists come out. Some of the headphone wires are starting to wear out. If your child tells you he/she needs a new pair, then they probably do.

Have a great summer!

May 27th Newsletter

2011-05-24T13:36:00.000-07:00

Last Day of School

Our last day of school will be Tuesday, June 7^th. School will be in session for approximately one hour. Report cards and registration packets will be handed out on this day. If your child is unable to attend on this day, you may pick up his/her report card and packet the following week in the office. They cannot be handed out early.

Summer Reading Suggestions

It is important to continue to read with your child every day this summer. It is also important for them to read to you. This will not only better prepare them for 2^nd grade, but it will also increase their confidence and comprehension skills.

Here are some popular kids' book selections for you to enjoy!

Frog and Toad by Arthur Lobel

Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish

Henry and Mudge by Cynthia Rylant

Arthur by Marc Brown

Horrible Harry by Suzy Kline

Cam Jansen Mysteries by David A. Adler

Clue Jr. by Parker C. Hinter

Jigsaw Jones Mysteries by James Preller

Junie B. Jones by Barbara Parks

Magic Tree House by Mary Pope

Important Dates

May

27 – Hat Day

30 – No School – Memorial Day

June

1 – Bubbleman Assembly

3 - School Picnic

7 – Last Day of School/Report Cards – 10:00 dismissal

End of the Year Picnic

Our end of the year picnic will be on Friday, June 3^rd. We will be going outside (weather permitting) for quite a while in the morning. You may want to put some sunscreen on your child that morning to make sure he/she doesn't burn.

The PTO will be supplying lunch which will consist of a piece of cheese pizza, a yogurt, a Goldfish graham cookie, & a drink. If your child does not like pizza, just send a sack lunch to school that day. Thanks.

ABC Countdown

5/31 - “U” - USA Day – wear red, white & blue

6/1 - “V” - Video Day

6/2 - “W” - Walt Disney Day

6/3 - “X” - Xchange Autographs

Have a fantastic Memorial Day weekend!

May 20th Newsletter

2011-05-11T14:05:00.002-07:00

Important Dates

May

20 – All library books need to be returned

27 – Sunglasses Day

30 – No School – Memorial Day

June

3 - School Picnic

7 – Last Day of School/Report Cards– 10:00 dismissal

Happy Birthday to …

Julianna Sapiega

Jurica Museum Field Trip

Thank you to all the parents that went on our field trip to the Jurica Museum this week. The children were well-behaved & seemed to enjoy the trip.

ABC Countdown

5/23 – “P” - Partners/Puzzles

5/24 - “Q” - Quiet day (Whisper only)

5/25 - “R” - Read with a friend

5/26 - “S” - Sports day

5/27 - “T” - Top your head with a hat

Spelling Tests

Our Friday spelling tests will be done as of Friday of next week. Have your child keep a journal or diary during the summer to keep their writing and spelling skills up to par.

Reading

In our anthology we will be reading Days with Frog and Toad.

Comprehension Strategies

We will be working on monitoring, clarifying, cause and effect, and how to read a chart.

Vocabulary Words

Next week’s vocabulary words are: beautiful, birthday, delighted, giant, pleasant, smaller, & sorry

Phonics Skills

We will work on base words and –er and –est endings.

Grammar Skills

We will work on comparing using –er, and –est.

Spelling Words

Our spelling words for next week are: deepest, newer, faster, richer, highest, warmest, kindest, smaller, coldest, & lighter

Enjoy the warmer weather this weekend!

May 6th Newsletter

2011-05-04T13:37:00.000-07:00

Important Dates

May 6 – Movie Night

13 – Early Dismissal - 12:00
16 – Jurica Museum Field Trip
30 – No School – Memorial Day

June
3 - School Picnic
7 – Last Day of School

Jurica Museum Field Trip

During the week of May 16^th , all 1^st grade classrooms will be taking a field trip to the Jurica Museum in Lisle. Since the museum isn't big enough for the entire grade to go together, we will be going on different days. Our class will be going on Monday, May 16^th. We will be leaving school at 9:10 and will be returning around 11:45. We will be eating lunch at school as usual.

I need 4 chaperones to help out with this trip. If you would like to go on this trip with us, please send me a note or an e-mail and I will get back to you. Thanks.

Our chicks starting hatching on Monday. One chick hatched during the day. The others hatched later that night and into the next day. We had a total of 8 chicks hatch.

The children seemed to enjoy this unit and have learned a great deal. The chicks will be leaving on Friday, but several of them will be returning weekly, thanks to Mrs. Fish. We will observe any changes that have taken place since they were gone.

Reading

In our anthology we will read Fireflies for Nathan and The Firefly.

Comprehension Strategies

We will be working on summarizing, sequencing, and reading a poem.

Vocabulary Words

Next week’s vocabulary words are: appear, beacon, favorite, journey, monarch, promises, warn & whispers.

Phonics Skills

R controlled vowels

Grammar Skills

We will be working on describing words for things we taste, smell, and feel.

Spelling Words

Our spelling words for next week are: car, start, arm, far, yard, dark, large, jar, appear & monarch

Have a Happy Mother's Day!

April 29th Newsletter

2011-04-26T12:50:00.000-07:00

Important Dates

April

29 – Poem in Your Pocket Day

May

6 – Movie Night

13 – Early Dismissal - 12:00

16 – Jurica Museum Field Trip

30 – No School – Memorial Day

June 3 - School Picnic

7 – Last Day of School

Our chicks are due to hatch on Monday or Tuesday of next week. I'm sure you'll hear about it when they do:)

Math

In math, we have been working on counting pennies, nickels, dimes, & quarters. One of the best ways to learn this concept is to use money on a daily basis. Give your child a handful of coins & help him/her to count them. Start out with all pennies, all nickels, all dimes, etc. Then put 2 types of coins together. If they can do that, then try 3 different kinds of coins. Happy counting!

Computers

The boys got to work using the laptops this week. We played the game called “Coin Critters” in computers this week. It starts out by having the children click on the heads up coins of pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, & half dollars. The game progressively gets more difficult. Some children had difficulty identifying the coins while others were able to count the total amount of a given set of coins. Keep practicing at home please.

Reading

Next week we will read Two Greedy Bears and a Math Link, Fraction Action.

Comprehension Strategies

We will be working on predicting and inferring. Also, we will learn how to read a cartoon.

Vocabulary Words

Next week's vocabulary words are: appetite, argued, arguing, bigger, equal, hungrier, journey, larger, stomachache, thirstier

Phonics Skills

We will be working on r-controlled vowels: ar, er, ir, and ur. We will review vowel pairs oi, oy, aw, and au.

Also, we will be working on suffixes –ful, -ly, and –y.

Grammar Skills

We will be learning how to describe things we hear.

Spelling Words

Our spelling words for next week are: store, corn, for, more, or, morning, afford, before, explore, & ignore

Have a nice weekend!

April 21st Newsletter

2011-04-19T13:10:00.000-07:00

Important Dates

April

22 – Earth Day/ No School

28 – Spring Open House/Book Fair

29 – Poem in Your Pocket Day

May

6 -Movie Night

16 – Field Trip – Jurica Nature Museum

April 22^nd is Earth Day. Please remember to reduce, reuse, & recycle!

Ide Open House/Book Fair

Our Open House/Book Fair will be held on Thursday, April 28 . All family members are welcome to come to it. We hope to see you there.

Reading Incentive

As a part of our reading incentive, April 29^th will be “Keep a Poem in Your Pocket Day.” The children should bring a short poem to keep in their pocket. During the day they will be allowed to pull it out and read it to a friend.

Chick Update

Our chicks are alive and doing well. We have nine eggs in our incubator. We candled the eggs on Monday and also on Thursday. We were able to see the veins and the embryos much better on Thursday. The children were very excited about it. Ask your child to tell you about it.

Reading

We will be reading The Surprise Family and Watch Them Grow.

Comprehension Strategies

We will work on questioning, comparing/contrasting, and making generalizations.

Vocabulary Words

The vocabulary words for next week are: built, chickens, danger, expected, feathers, gathered, gizzards, taught, vacuum cleaner, & bird words

Phonics Skills

We will work on vowel pairs; oy, oi, aw, au, suffixes: -ful, -ly, -y, base words, and prefixes.

Grammar Skills

We will be working on adjectives.

Spelling Words

The spelling words for next week are: coin, soil, boy, oil,

toy, point, moist, destroy, only, enough

Have a Happy Easter!

2011-04-07T10:55:00.000-07:00

Important Dates

April

21- Early Dismissal – 12:00

22 – No School

28 - Spring Open House/Book Fair

Chick Embryology Unit

We began our “Chick Unit” this week. We have been reading books, graphing, examining and labeling parts of an egg, and doing experiments. Our fertilized eggs will be arriving on Tuesday, April 12th and then the real fun begins. It is a truly amazing experience and the children are excited to learn about the development and growth of eggs & chickens. Ask your child on a daily basis what is going on with the eggs/unit. Our eggs are due to hatch on or around May 3rd.

Paolo will be our “student of the week” for the week of April 11th.

Character Counts

Our pillar for the month of April is “citizenship.” Please have your child wear purple on Fridays to support this theme. Thanks.

Reading

Next week we will be reading The New Friend and some poems about friendship.

Comprehension Strategies

We will be working on story structure, how to read a poem, and evaluating.

Vocabulary Words

Next week’s vocabulary words are: birthday, city, cookies, empty, party, seventh, soccer, & years.

Phonics Skills

We will work on base words and endings –es, and –ies. Also, we will discuss prefixes un- & re-, and review sounds for y.

Grammar Skills

We will learn when to use was and were.

Spelling Words

The spelling words for next week are: dishes, dresses, boxes, beaches, wishes, kisses, classes, brushes, children, & family

Enjoy the weekend!

March 25th Newsletter

2011-03-22T12:04:00.000-07:00

Important Dates

March
25 – Crazy Hair Day
- 1st Grade Paper-making Assembly
28 – Spring Break Begins

April

4 – Classes Resume
4 – Reading Anthologies Are Due
4 – Chick Unit Begins
5 - Teacher's Institute – No School
21- Early Dismissal – 12:00
22 – No School
28 - Spring Open House/Book Fair

First Grade Music Concert
Our 1st grade music concert was a success. Thank you to Ms. Wyse and all the students for their hard word in preparing for this program. Everyone did a nice job!

Erik will be our student of the week for the week of April 4th.

The response to the “Helping Japan Coin Donation” was tremendous! While collecting the coins over a 2-week period, WE RAISED $ 1,127.56!! The students, parents, and teachers at Elizabeth Ide really contributed to raising the awareness about the importance of helping the people of Japan. Our donation will be donated directly to the Red Cross organization. Thank you for supporting our Character Counts program mission to help the people of Japan!!

Chick Embryology Unit
We will begin our “Chick Unit” the week of April 4th. We will have eggs incubating in our room from April 12th until they hatch approximately 21 days later on May 3rd. This is an exciting unit for the children. You will be amazed at how much they learn about chickens. Please remember to ask your child what he/she learned each day. Many of our projects will be available for you to see at our Open House on April 28th.

Reading
When we return to school on April 4th, we won't be having a new story in reading. Instead, we will be working on chick activities and doing some writing activities.

We will still have “Power Hour” from 10:30-11:30 and will do reading activities during that time. We will have a list of 8 spelling words that go along with our chick unit. The test for these words will be on Friday.

Spelling Words
The 8 spelling words for the week of April 4th are: chicken, chick, hen, rooster, sac, wings, egg tooth, & embryo

Have a relaxing Spring Break!

March 18th Newsletter

2011-03-14T11:53:00.000-07:00

Important Dates
March
18 – Movie Night – at Prairieview
23– First Grade Music Concert – 7:00
25 – Crazy Hair Day
- 1st Grade Paper-making Assembly
28 – Spring Break Begins

April
4 – Classes Resume
5 – Teacher's Institute – No School
21 – Early Dismissal

Sarah will be our “student of the week” next week.

Movie Night
Movie night will be on Friday, March 18th at Prairieview. Despicable Me will be the featured movie. Please arrive between 6:30 & 6:45.

Reading anthologies are being sent home this week. Please listen to your child read these stories next week & over Spring Break. They are due back on April 4th.

First Grade Music Concert
Our 1st grade music concert will be on Wednesday, March 23th at 7:00pm in the Lakeview Junior High gymnasium. Students should arrive at 6:45pm and meet their teacher in the auxiliary gym. Since the theme is Bugz! , our class is asked to wear a yellow solid shirt with black pants/shoes. Thanks

Reading
We will be reading When I Am Old With You from our anthology. There is also a technology link about inventions called Inventions Then and Now.

Comprehension Strategies
The strategies we will work on next week include the following: monitoring clarifying, noting details, and using headings.

Vocabulary Words
The vocabulary words are: canoe, cards, cedar, field, fields, Grandaddy, imagine, mind, remember, and tired.

Phonics Skills
We will be learning about the long “i” sound spelled “y”. We will review base words and endings –ed and –ing.

Grammar Skills
When to use “is” and “are.”

Spelling Words
The spelling words for next week are: by, my, cry, try, fly, why, pry, multiply, buy, & guy

Have a relaxing weekend!

March 11th Newsletter

2011-03-08T12:58:00.000-08:00

Important Dates
March
18 – Movie Night – at Prairieview
23– First Grade Music Concert – 7:00
25 – Crazy Hair Day

- 1st Grade Paper-making Assembly
28 – Spring Break Begins

April
4 – Classes Resume
5 – Teacher's Institute – No School

Annie J. will be our “student of the week” next week.

First Grade Music Concert
Our 1st grade music concert will be on Wednesday, March 23th at 7:00pm in the Lakeview Junior High gymnasium. Students should arrive at 6:45pm and meet their teacher in the auxiliary gym. Since the theme is Bugz! , our class is asked to wear a yellow solid shirt with black pants/shoes. Thanks.

Math
We just started chapter 16 in math this week. This chapter deals mostly with fractions.

Movie Night
Movie night will be on Friday, March 18th at Prairieview. Despicable Me will be the featured movie. The doors will open at 6:30 pm. There will be no admittance after 6:45 pm.

Reading
Next week, we will be reading Johnny Appleseed and Life Cycle of an Apple.

Comprehension Strategies
The following comprehension strategies will be covered next week: predicting, inferring, drawing conclusions, reading a time line, and viewing photographs.

Vocabulary Words
The vocabulary words for next week are: apple, bread, cider, clothes, river, stories, years, young

Phonics Skills
We will work on base words and endings, vowel pairs “ou” and “ow” and syllabication (VCCV Pattern).

Grammar Lesson
Action words with -ed endings.

Spelling Words
Our spelling words will be: checking, telling, missed, filled, sleeping, bluffing, planted, walked, jumping & landed

Have a good weekend!

March 3rd Newsletter

2011-03-01T13:02:00.000-08:00

Important Dates

March
4 - No School due to Conference Week
7 – No School - Casimir Pulaski Day
23– First Grade Music Concert – 7:00
28 – Spring Break Begins

April

4 – Classes resume

Author of the Month
Patricia Polacco is our author for the month of March. Many of her books are about events that happened to her and her family when she was growing up. These books discuss problems & feelings that many children have but may be afraid to talk about, such as being bullied, not being able to read, and sibling rivalry. The children enjoy listening to these books and discussing them as we go along.

Happy birthday to Annie J. next week!

Chrissa will be our “student of the week” for next week.

Conferences
Thanks for coming in for conferences this week. It was good to see everyone again.

Science/Social Studies
Our Exploration Stations have ended for the year. We will still be doing units on recycling and chick embryology to go along with our Science & Social Studies program.

Reading
In our anthology we will read the nonfiction selection, See How They Grow BUTTERFLY. We will also have an art link entitled Earth.

Comprehension Strategies
We will be working on identifying the topic, main idea, details and summarizing.

Vocabulary Words
The vocabulary words for next week are: butterfly, caterpillars, changing, chrysalis, danger, enemies, nectar, orange, suit, suits, science words, color words, and pattern words.

Phonics Skills
Vowel pairs ow, ou, and syllabication (VCCV pattern).

Grammar Lesson
We will be learning about present tense.

Spelling Words
The spelling words for next week are: house, cow, out, down, now, found, pouch, crowded, always, & ready

Enjoy the four-day weekend!

February 25th Newsletter

2011-02-23T08:33:00.000-08:00

Important Dates
February
25 – End of the Trimester
25 – Fuzzy Friend Day (Bring a stuffed
animal to school for our reading incentive)
26 – Snowflake Ball 6:30-8:00

March
1 – Report Cards
4 - No School due to Conference Week
7 – No School - Casimir Pulaski Day
23– First Grade Music Concert – 7:00
28 – Spring Break Begins
April
4 – Classes resume

We will not be having a student of the week next week since we will be off of school on Friday.

Happy birthday this week to . . .
Alexander and Annie M.

Summer Birthdays
If your child has a summer birthday and would like to celebrate it during the school year, just drop me a note or an e-mail. You do not have to send treats. We usually let that person be the line leader for the day and also give him/her a sticker & a pencil. It just makes them feel special for the day:)

In math, we have been working on geometric patterns. We just completed chapter 14 and will begin chapter 15 soon.

Character Counts
Our pillar for the month of March is “fairness.” Please have your child wear orange on every Friday in March. Thanks.

Reading
The stories from our anthology for next week are: The Forest and Saving the Earth.

Comprehension Strategies
We will be working on categorizing, classifying, and summarizing.

Vocabulary Words
The vocabulary words are: about, because, draw, happy, teacher, part, tiny, tells, loves, planted, added, and compound words.

Phonics Skills
In phonics we will be reviewing the oo, ew, ue, ou, u_e, and long “i” (ie, igh).

Grammar Skills
We will work on action words (verbs).

Spelling Words
The spelling words for next week are: cup, cups, frog, frogs, tree, trees, gloves, birds, because, & about

Have a great weekend!

February 18th Newsletter

2011-02-16T13:47:00.000-08:00

Important Dates
February
21 – President's Day – No School
24 – Spring Pictures
25 – End of the Trimester
25 – Fuzzy Friend Day (Bring a stuffed animal to school for our reading incentive)
26 – Snowflake Ball 6:30-8:00

March
1 – Report Cards
4 - No School due to Conference Week
7 – No School - Casimir Pulaski Day

Student of the Week
Kevin will be our student of the week next week.

Conference Slips
Conference slips will be coming home this week. Please return them as soon as possible. If you are unable to come to the conference time that is scheduled, please let me know & I'll try to fit you in at a time that is convenient for the both of us. Thanks.

Black History Month
Since February is black history month, we have been reading some books to go along with this theme.
The class really enjoyed the book called Almost to Freedom. It's a story about slaves escaping to the North as told from a doll's point of view. Ask your child to tell you about it.

Reading
The story from our anthology for next week is: If You Give a Pig a Pancake. There is also a health link entitled Blueberry Pancakes.

Comprehension Strategies
The children will work on the following strategies: questioning, fantasy and realism, how to read a recipe, and viewing categories.

Vocabulary Words
The vocabulary words for next week are: born, bubbles, closet, favorite, maple syrup, music, piano, probably, & remind.

Phonics Skills
Next week the children will be working on vowels oo, ew, ue, ou, u, u_e, and the long /i/ as in ie and igh. They will also be reviewing the oo sound and compound words.

Grammar Lesson
We will be reviewing pronouns.

Spelling Words
The spelling words for next week are: food, moon, room, soon, too, zoo, balloon, moose, toothache & raccoon

Enjoy the long weekend!

February 11th Newsletter

2011-02-09T13:58:00.000-08:00

Important Dates
February
14 – Valentine's Day Party
15 – Reading Anthologies are Due
21 – President's Day – No School
24 – Spring Pictures
26 – Snowflake Ball 6:30-8:00

Thank you for making the school's service project a success! Our class collected 103 items for our Have a Heart..Lend a Can project. They were very excited when they reached the 100 mark. Thank you for being so generous!

Alexander M. will be our student of the week next week

Math
We just started Chapter 13 in math. We will be studying solid shapes (3-D) & plane (flat) shapes. There are a lot of new vocabulary words in this chapter, such as sphere, cube, cylinder, pyramid, rectangular prism, etc. The children are doing a fine job with it so far.

Reading
We will read the stories Lost and On the Move.

Comprehension Strategies
Next week we will work on sequencing, monitoring, clarifying, reading a diagram, and recognizing signs.

Vocabulary Words
The vocabulary words for next week are: building, buildings, city, disappears, elevator, friendly, library, part, scare, and worry

Phonics Skills
The children will work on the o sound made when using double o as in the words book and look. We will review the oa and ow vowel pairs.

Grammar Lesson
We will be working on proper nouns for places and things.

Spelling Words
Our spelling words will be: look, book, took, good, foot, cook, hoof, crook, school and police

Have a fantastic weekend!

February 4th Newsletter

2011-02-04T07:50:00.000-08:00

Important Dates
February
14 – Valentine's Day Party
21 – President's Day – No School

On Friday, I am sending home the reading anthology that we just finished. Please have your child practice reading the stories. I think some of you will be amazed at the improvement your child has made since the beginning of the year. The books are due back on Tuesday, February 15.

Katie will be our student of the week next week.

The 100th day of school is on Wednesday, February 9th. So far we have collected 57 items for our Have a Heart..Lend a Can project. We're hoping to collect 100 items by Wednesday. Thanks for your support!

Valentine's Day Party
Our Valentine's Day party will be on Monday, February 14th from 2:00-3:00. The children will pass out their Valentines before the party. Do not address the valentines, just have your child sign his/her name. This makes passing them out much easier. Thanks.

Author of the Month
Tomie dePaola is our author for the month of February. We have been reading his books every day and explored his website at www.tomie.com .

Reading
We have a story and two poems in our anthology next week. The story is That Toad is Mine. The poems are Hug O’ War and Sharing.

Comprehension Strategies
The children will work on summarizing, problem solving, using rhyme and how to read a poem.

Vocabulary Words
The vocabulary words for next week are: agree, book, books, candy bars, fault, food, hop,toad, lemonade, shared, and toys.

Phonics Skills
The children will work on the following skills: vowel pairs oa, ow, ai, ay. They will also begin to learn about dividing words into syllables.

Grammar Lesson
We will work on proper nouns for people and animals.

Spelling Words
The spelling words for next week are: boat, slow, coat, grow, show, toad, coast, know, coach, and throat.

Have a nice weekend!

January 28th Newsletter

2011-01-26T13:07:00.000-08:00

Important Dates
January
28 – Gym Night
31 – Book Orders are Due
February
14 – Valentine's Day Party
21 – President's Day – No School

Juliana R. will be our student of the week next week.

Our January reading chart is due on Monday. A new chart for February will be sent home soon. Happy Reading!

The 100th day of school is on Monday, February 7th. In past years, we have asked each child to bring in 100 objects to school. This year we are asking each child to bring in 5 (or more if possible) cans of food for the food pantry to go along with our service project. Any canned goods or nonperishable food items would be appreciated. We are hoping to collect at least 100 items per classroom which would be a big help to the local area. A note will be coming home explaining the “Lend a Hand … Bring in a Can” project.

Reading
The stories from our anthology for next week are: Red-Eyed Tree Frog and the poems The Snake and The Toucan.

Comprehension Strategies
The children will be practicing the skills of predicting and inferring.

Vocabulary Words
The vocabulary words for next week are: boa, caterpillar, eyed, eyes, iguana, katydid, macaw, moves, poisonous, tongue, and toucan.

Phonics Skills
The children will be learning about the vowel pairs ai and ay. We will also review the long e vowel and the vowel pairs ee & ea.

Grammar Lesson
We will be focusing on naming words for one or more.

Spelling Words
Next week’s spelling words are:
day, say, play, may, way, stay, away, holiday, evening, & near

Have a fun weekend!

January 21st Newsletter

2011-01-20T06:26:00.000-08:00

Important Dates
January
28 – Gym Night
31 – Book Orders are Due
****I am sending home a book order this week which should arrive before Valentine's day. Orders are due by Monday, January 31st. Thanks.

February
14 – Valentine's Day Party
21 – President's Day – No School

Emily will be our student of the week next week.

Next week, January 24-28, Elizabeth Ide will be implementing an approach to discipline called Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS). PBIS is a proactive systems approach to establishing the behavioral supports and social culture needed for all students in a school to achieve social, emotional, and academic success.

We will begin by establishing clear expectations for behavior that will be taught, modeled, and reinforced across all settings and by all staff. Our week will culminate with a juggling celebration assembly.

Valentine's Day Party
Our Valentine's Day party will be on Monday, February 14th from 2:00-3:00. The children will pass out their valentines before the party. Do not address the valentines, just have your child sign his/her name, this makes passing them out much easier. If you signed up to help or to bring food or paper products, someone will be contacting you soon. Thanks.

Reading
The stories from our anthology for next week are: EEK! There’s a Mouse in the House and Animals Big and Small.

Stay warm this weekend!

January 14th Newsletter

2011-01-12T13:05:00.000-08:00

Important Dates
January
17 - No School - Martin Luther King's Birthday
28 – Gym Night
February
14 – Valentine's Day Party
21 – President's Day – No School

Exploration Station
Next Friday we will begin a new Exploration Station. The students will be learning about the flag, monuments, and famous Americans, such as George Washington, Martin Luther King Jr., and Abraham Lincoln. This unit also discusses voting – how it works and why it's important to vote.

Claire will be our student of the week next week.

There will be no power hour (switching of classes) for the next two weeks due to benchmarking (reading assessments). We will still be reading the stories from our reading anthology and will be going over the skills that go along with each story. We will be having our spelling test on Friday, but there will not be any challenge words for those two weeks. Thanks.

Reading
We will be reading The Sleeping Pig and What Is a Desert?

Comprehension Strategies
The children will be learning about story structure and summarizing a story. We will also talk about how to read a social studies article.

Vocabulary Words
The vocabulary words will be words that name fruits and vegetables and the following words: began, celebrate, coyote, cricket, howl, rabbit, tail, and watermelon.

Phonics Skills
We will be working on long o (CV-CVCe), long u (CVCe), final clusters (-ft, -lk, -nt), long i (CVCe)(review), and segmenting phonemes.

Grammar Skills
We will be identifying naming words for people and animals.

Spelling Words
go, bone, so, nose, home, no, also, woke, telephone, and wrote

Have a good weekend!

January 7th Newsletter

2011-01-04T12:59:00.000-08:00

Important Dates

January

7 – Ide Movie Night at PV
17 - No School - Martin Luther King's Birthday
28 – Gym Night

Thank you for all the gifts and cards you sent. I enjoyed the holidays, but it felt good to get back to school and see the children again. I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday also.

Math
We have just finished Chapter 10 which dealt with counting tens and ones. We are starting Chapter 11 which will deal with comparing and ordering numbers.

Computers
We explored Jan Brett's website as a group in class and will do so individually during computer time next week. We worked on the game called Mouse Concentration which can be found under Computer Games.
You may also access this website at home. It has many different activities for children to do. Her website is:
www.janbrett.com

Reading
We will be reading The Kite and How to Make a Kite.

Comprehension Strategies
The children will be working on reading directions, cause/effect, and monitoring/clarifying.

Vocabulary Words
The vocabulary words will be weather words and:
anywhere, beautiful, convinced, easy, news, perfect, raining, weather.

Phonics Skills
Our phonics lessons will be centered around blending long i words. We will also review the soft sound of “g” /j/ and “c” /s/.

Grammar Skills
We will practice using I and me in sentences.

Spelling Words
Our spelling words for next week are: five, nine, kite, ride, like, time, prize, smile, write, and light.

Have a superb weekend!

December 17th Newsletter

2010-12-14T13:01:00.000-08:00

Important Dates
December
20 – Winter Break Begins
January
3 – Classes Resume
3 – Return Reading Anthologies &

December Reading Logs

Thank you to Mrs. Hansen for coming into our classroom this week and completing a “caring” project with the students. These projects each month go along with our character counts program which helps to foster good character/behavior in our students.

December Reading Logs
Your child can return his/her December reading log on January 3rd when we return from the holiday break. I am sending home January’s log on December 17th so you can begin recording the books they read in January starting January 1st.

Jr. Achievement Class
Our junior achievement classes finished this week. Mrs. Rourke taught a lesson on working and earning money for the work being done. The children then got a chance to spend (pretend to spend) their money on things they wanted or to save it for later. The children did a nice job on this activity.

Cookie Exchange
Thank you to everyone who took the time to bake cookies and send in food for the cookie exchange. It was all very delicious. My children were thrilled with the cookies (and so was I)!

Happy Birthday to …
Chrissa, Jack, & Nora

Reading
Our stories for next week are Me on the Map and Children of the World.

Comprehension Strategies
We will be working on summarizing, making generalizations and reading a map.

Vocabulary Words
Our vocabulary words are: ball, countries, country, earth, giant, special, street, and town.

Phonics Skills
We will be blending long “a” words with the CVCe pattern. We will also be working on the soft c and g sound and the final consonants nd, ng, and nk.

Spelling Words
Our spelling words are: make, came, take, name, gave, game, place, skate, today, and are

Have a very Merry Christmas!

December 10th Newsletter

2010-12-07T12:45:00.000-08:00

Important Dates
December
17 – Classroom Holiday Party
20 – Winter Break Begins
January
3 - Classes Resume

Our student of the week for the week of December 13-17 will be Nora.

Reading Books
We completed our second reading book on Thursday. I will be sending it home soon. Please listen to your child read the stories and help him/her with any unknown words. Practicing reading is very important at this age. Please return the book on (or before) January 3rd. Thanks.

Happy Birthday to …
Paolo & Michael

In math, we have been working on reading graphs – bar, picture, & concrete graphs. We also played some games in the computer lab to go along with this concept.

Holiday Party
Your child can bring in the book for our book exchange anytime. We will be exchanging books during our holiday party which will be on Friday, December 17th from 2:00-3:00.

Reading
We will be reading the following stories: Moving Day and Hermit Crabs.

Comprehension Strategies
We will be working on comparing and contrasting.

Vocabulary Words
Our words will be: grow, light, long, more, other, right, small, room, and these

Phonics Skills
The children will be working on digraphs:
sh, th, ch, wh, tch

Grammar Lesson
We will review the use of exclamations.

Spelling Words
The spelling words are:
she, fish, much, chin, shell, chop, shoe, chair, their, & where

Have a relaxing weekend!

December 2nd Newsletter

2010-11-23T09:02:00.000-08:00

Important Dates
December
3 – No School
17 – Classroom Holiday Parties
20 – Winter Break Begins
January
3 – Classes Resume

We do not have a student of the week this week. Michael will be the student of the week next week.

Character Counts
The character counts pillar for the month of December is “Caring.” Please have your child wear red on Fridays throughout December.

Reading
Our stories will be: Caribbean Dream, Dad’s Big Plan, Dog School, and Daycare for Dogs.

Comprehension Strategies
We will be working on sequencing events, monitoring and clarifying.

Vocabulary Words
Our vocabulary words will include question words: who, what, when, where, why and noise words.

We will also work on the words: car, hold, their, walk, down, must, scrub, hurt, hear, learn, and would.

Phonics Skills
We will be working on triple clusters (scrub, strap, split, etc.). We will also review short “u” words.

Grammar Lesson
We will work on asking questions both orally and in our writing. Actions words, (verbs) will also be reviewed.

Spelling Words
up, us, but, fun, run, cut,
jump, plum,walk, when

Winter Holiday Party
Our holiday party will be on Friday, Dec. 17 from 2:00-3:00. Parent helpers will be allowed in the room at 1:50. (No siblings are allowed due to limited space.)

Holiday Gift Exchange
The first grade classrooms will not be doing a gift exchange this year. Our class will be having a book exchange as a part of our party. A separate note was sent home by our room mother explaining the guidelines.

Have a wonderful weekend!

November 19th Newsletter

2010-11-17T11:27:00.000-08:00

Important Dates
November

23 – Report Cards
24, 25, & 26 – No School – Thanksgiving Break

29 - Book Orders Are Due
30 - Conferences

December
1 & 2 – Conferences
3 – No School

Thanksgiving Break
Since next week is a short week due to the Thanksgiving Break, there won't be a newsletter. I hope you all have a relaxing and enjoyable Thanksgiving with your families.

Jr. Achievement
Our class started Jr. Achievement this week. This program lasts for 5 weeks and will cover the following topics: families, needs & wants, jobs, and paying for needs & wants. A volunteer from a local business will be coming into our classroom once a week for 30 minutes to teach each lesson. Our presenter will be Mrs. Rourke from the McDonald's Corporation. These lessons coordinate with our social studies curriculum.

Michael will be our student of the week for the week of December 6-10.

*Due to Thanksgiving break, we will begin the reading lesson on Monday, November 29th.

Comprehension Strategies
We will be working on the skills of evaluating, comparing/contrasting and retelling/summarizing.

Vocabulary Words
Our vocabulary words will include sensory words and words & symbols on signs. Also the words: best knelt, rest, sign, and snack

Phonics Skills
We will be working on clusters with “s” (sled, stick, etc.,) and reviewing clusters with “l” (black, glad, etc.). We will also work on short “e” words and silent letters: kn,wr, & gn.

Grammar Lesson
We will be learning about telling sentences.

Spelling Words
get, men, ten, yes, red, pet, tent, bell, friend, & know

Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving!

November 12th Newsletter

2010-11-08T13:31:00.000-08:00

Important Dates
November
12 – End of the trimester
23 – Report Cards
24, 25, & 26 – No School – Thanksgiving Break
30 - Conferences

December
1 & 2 – Conferences
3 – No School

Math
Last week during library time, the students were shown a video explaining the Math-a-thon program. This program is a fund raiser for St. Jude's Hospital in Chicago. If you would like your child to participate in it, return the form (filled out) to school. The librarian will send home either a booklet or a CD depending on which one you requested. Thank you for supporting local charities.

Character Counts
Our pillar for the month of November is “Respect.” Please have your child wear yellow on each Friday in November.

On Friday, I am sending home a sheet with your conference time on it. Please sign and return the bottom of the sheet to me as soon as possible. Thanks.

Our student of the week for next week will be Dominic.

Reading
Our stories will be An Egg is an Egg, Fluff is Missing, Go Away Otto! and Helping at Home.

Comprehension Strategies
We will be working on the comprehension strategies of summarizing, drawing conclusions, responding, and reading for information.

Vocabulary Words
The vocabulary words will be: children, come, family, father, loves, mother, people, picture, your, black, block, Fluff, and plan.

Phonics Skills
We will be working on words with clusters with “l” (block, plan, etc.), blending short “o” words, clusters with “r” (train, crow, etc.) and contractions with ‘s.

Grammar Lesson
We will work on recognizing the difference between a sentence and a non sentence.

Spelling Words
on, not, got, box, hot, top, pond, doll, they, why

Have an enjoyable weekend!

November 5th Newsletter

2010-11-02T10:35:00.000-07:00

Important Dates
November
5 – Movie Night (at PV)
10 – Picture retakes
11 – No School – Veteran's Day
12 – End of the trimester
23 – Report Cards
24, 25, & 26 – No School – Thanksgiving Break
30 - Conferences

December
1 & 2 - Conferences

3 - No School

Book-It
If you haven't turned in your October reading calendar yet, please do so by Monday. Thanks.

Math
In math, we completed chapter 6 and took a unit review test covering chapters 1-6. We will be starting chapter 7 which covers related subtraction & addition problems to 12 (such as 5+7=12 and 12-7=5).

Reading Anthologies
Please return your child's reading textbook if you haven't done so already. Thanks.

Student of the Week
Courtney will be our student of the week next week.

Comprehension Strategies
- categorizing, classifying, questioning and rereading.

Vocabulary Words
The vocabulary words are: blue, color, green, also, funny, many, like, some, and brown

Phonics Skills
- contractions, short “i” words, verbs ending with –s, -ed, -ing, and possessives with ‘s.

Grammar Lesson
- action parts of a sentence and capitalizing the first word in a sentence.

Spelling Words
Our spelling words for next week are: trip, grab, crab, trap, drip, grin, crack, brown, when, & this

Remember to set your clocks back this weekend & to change your smoke detector batteries. Have a great weekend!

October 29th Newsletter

2010-10-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

Important Dates

October
29 - Classroom Halloween Parties
1:40 – Parade, 2:00 – Party

November

2 - No School - Teacher's Institute
5 – Movie Night (at PV)
10 – Picture retakes
11 – No School – Veteran's Day
12 – End of the trimester
24, 25, & 26 – No School – Thanksgiving Break

Reading Anthologies
Please remember to return the reading anthology to school no later than November 5th. Thanks.

Pizza Hut Book-It Program
Please send in the October reading logs. Everyone who completes their log will get a Pizza Hut coupon. New logs will came home soon.

Picture Retakes
Picture retakes will be on Wednesday, November 10. If your child is having retakes done, please return his/her original package of pictures. Thanks.

Student of the Week
Amanda will be our student of the week for next week.

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

Vocabulary Words
Our vocabulary words for the week are:
all, call, eat, every, first, never, paper, shall, & why

Phonics Skills
We will review blending short “a” and short “i” words, double consonants, plurals, final consonants -ck, -s as (z), and verb endings -s, -ed, & -ing.

Grammar Lesson
We will learn about possessives with 's and parts of sentences.

Spelling Words
in, it, him, big, sit, did, dish, milk, who & said

Have a safe & Happy Halloween!

October 22nd Newsletter

2010-10-18T06:32:00.000-07:00

Important Dates
October
22 – Family Halloween Party at Ide
29 - Classroom Halloween Parties

November

1 - October Reading Logs Are Due

1 - Field Trip Permission Slip & Money ($7.00 cash) are Due

Anabella will be our student of the week next week.

Spelling Tests
Under the reading column is a new addition. We now have spelling words. There will be a spelling test every Friday from now on (unless otherwise notified in the weekly classroom newsletter). The words will appear in our newsletter each week so be watching for them. You can also check my blog.
*Next week's test will be on Friday, October 29th.
**Please make sure you read the note being sent home explaining our spelling curriculum.

We will be going on a field trip to North Central College in Naperville on Friday, November 12th to see the play, The Jungle Book. A permission slip is being sent home & is due back Nov. 1st(along with $7.00 cash). We are asking everyone to pack a sack lunch & a snack that day just in case we get back a little late for lunch. We will be departing school at 9:30 and should be arriving back around 12:00.

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

Vocabulary Words
Our words for next week are: look, of, see, animal, bird, cold, fall, flower & full.

Phonics Skills
We will cover the vowel sound of short “u” and double final consonants (i.e. glass, fall, etc.).

Grammar Lesson
We will talk about making proper sentences.

Spelling Words
Our spelling words for our very first official spelling test are: an, at, can, cat, had, man, catch, add, have, and what.

Have a good time at the family Halloween party at Ide!

October 15th Newsletter

2010-10-12T15:50:00.000-07:00

Important Dates
October
18 – Book Orders Are Due
20 – Early Dismissal – 12:00
22 – Family Halloween Party at Ide
29 - Classroom Halloween Parties

Student of the Week
Alex S. will be our student of the week next week.

Lieutenant Tabisz came to our school and talked about fire safety. We learned about choosing a special meeting place in case of a fire, how to “stop, drop, and roll,” and that we should never go back inside to get something we forgot. He also showed us the special gear that firemen wear and we talked about how it sounds when firemen speak with their oxygen tanks on.

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. 29th and will parade outside beginning in front of the school and then we will circle around to the back of the school. After that, we will 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.

Next week we will be reading stories about bugs. In Quit It, Bug!, two children try to have a picnic on a log and a bug wants to go to his home in that log. In A Surprise for Zig Bug, some bugs think they are swimming in a pool, but it is really a jug. We also have a Science Link story called Insects.

Comprehension
- summarizing and story structure

Vocabulary
The vocabulary words are:
are, away, does, he, live, pull, they, where, quit, up, zig, zag, bug, & jug

Phonics
- the vowel sound of short “u”
- blending words with the CV and CVC pattern.
- review the short “e” sound also

Grammar
We will focus on using action words.

Math
We just started chapter 5 in our math books this week. In this chapter, children will be working on addition fact strategies, such as counting on, doubles (4 & 4 = 8),a & doubles plus one(4 & 5 = 9). Some children understand these concepts very quickly, and others it takes repetition and a lot of practice to master them.

Have a great October!

October 8th Newsletter

2010-10-06T12:55:00.000-07:00

Important Dates
October
11 – Columbus Day – No School

18 - Book Orders Are Due
20 – Early Dismissal – 12:00
22 – Family Halloween Party at Ide
29 - Classroom Halloween Parties

Student of the Week
Nathan will be our student of the week next week.

Computers
During the month of September we worked on starfall.com and I-Station in the computer lab. This month we are going to practice math facts using the program called Mathblaster and will continue to work on I-Station which is a program that works on letters/sounds and reading skills. The children's progress is monitored in this program.

Writing
This past week, the children chose a gourd to decorate any way they wanted. Then they drew a picture of it and added a few details. After that, they used the picture to help them write a few sentences about the gourd. We worked on using describing words. The class was very creative with this project.

Reading
Next week we will be reading stories about problems characters have and how they solve them. In Val Can Help, Rob and Val help each other make a snowman. In The Bunnies and the Fox, two small bunnies fool the fox by making a big snow bunny that scares him away. We will also read a science article about animals that live in the woods.

Vocabulary
Our vocabulary words for next week are:
do, for, I, is, me, said, you, get, help, kid, next, yes & yet

Comprehension Strategies
- fantasy and realism
- noting details

Phonics Skills
- short "e" sound and blending short "e" words with cvc or vc patterns

Grammar Lessons
- using naming words (nouns)

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 1st grader is receiving the same science & social studies curriculum. The topics for this theme are: Native Americans, pioneers, Navajo Indians/hogans, Christopher Columbus, & Pilgrims.

Have a happy Columbus Day!

October 1st Newsletter

2010-09-30T10:56:00.000-07:00

Magazine Sales
Thank you for participating in our magazine fundraiser. It was very successful again this year.

Important Dates
October
2 – Market Day @ LV
11 – Columbus Day – No School
20 – Early Dismissal – 12:00
22 – Family Halloween Party at Ide
29 - Classroom Halloween Parties

Book-It
As a part of our reading incentive program, our school has decided to participate in the Pizza Hut Book-It reading program beginning October 1. Children will receive a coupon each month for a personal pan pizza if they return their reading calendar/log at the end of the month. A reading calendar and record sheet was sent home earlier this week. Please turn it in at the end of October.

Student of the Week
Jack will be our “student of the week next week.

Thursday Night Homework
Attached to Thursday’s homework was a list of high frequency words from the first 3 themes of our reading book. I will be attaching a list like this every 3 weeks. Please read over these words with your child. You could also have the children write the words a second time in the blank spots, tear them apart, & play a matching memory game with them. Enjoy!

Character Counts
Our first pillar that we will be focusing on is RESPONSIBILITY. Responsible students bring their green folders to school every day, keep their desks organized, and do their best work. Please have your child wear green on every Friday during the month of October to show that they are responsible.

Reading
Next week we will be reading two stories. One is a funny story about a group of cats that cook a big feast for themselves. The other is about a boy and his surprise birthday party.

Comprehension Strategies
Next week we will be practicing questioning and noting details within a story.

Phonics
Lessons will be introduced on the short “o” vowel sound. We will also be blending the short “o” sound into words that have the cvc and cv patterns.

Vocabulary
We will be working with words that have the short “o” sound such as box, got, hot, lot. We will also review short “a” and short “i” words.

Grammar
We will continue to work on capitalizing names and correct word order in sentences.

Enjoy the nice weather while you can!

September 23rd newsletter

2010-09-21T12:46:00.000-07:00

Book Fair
Once again, the book fair was a success! Thank you to everyone who donated money for books to the classroom. I was able to purchase several new books for our room. They'll get put to good use.

Important Dates
September
30 –Picture Day
October
2 – Market Day @ LV
11 – Columbus Day – No School
20 – Early Dismissal – 12:00
22 – Family Halloween Party at Ide
29 - Classroom Halloween Parties

Many of the children have been wearing “silly bandz” to school. Unfortunately, like any toy, they are a distraction to your children. We are asking you to instruct your child to keep their “silly bandz” at home. This will prevent us from having to take them away in the classroom. Thank you for your cooperation, we appreciate your help in trying to keep the children as focused as possible during their school day.

Annie M. will be our student of the week next week.

Next week we will be reading two stories from the anthology about pigs and other farm animals. A Big Hit is about two pigs who play a game. Pigs in a Rig is about some pigs who win prizes. Let’s Go to the Fair is a social studies article where we learn about things people see and do at a county fair.

Comprehension Strategies
- evaluating and cause and effect.

Phonics Skills
- short “i” sound
- blending words that have the cvc (consonant-vowel-consonant) pattern.

Vocabulary Words
Our vocabulary words for next week are: a, find, have, one, to, who, big, hit, it, pig, ran, & sit.

Grammar
- using punctuation in sentences.

Big Words
Our new vocabulary “BIG Words” are: plead, amble, grateful, challenge, deserve, & deceive. We introduce new words every other week and try to use and listen for the old ones throughout our day.

Have a long, relaxing weekend!

September 17th Newsletter

2010-09-14T11:08:00.000-07:00

Reading
We began our reading series this past week. We have an anthology called Here We Go! We read two stories in it about some playful animals. On The Go! is about a cat and a dog who take a swim in a pool. Mac the Cat is about a lovable cat that makes a mess of the house.
We also read a non-fiction story Pet Cats and Big Cats. This will help us learn to read science articles. We also made a chart comparing pet cats and big cats.
We practiced the comprehension strategies of predicting, sequencing, and evaluating.

Phonics lessons worked on the short “a” vowel sound. We will be blending words that have the cvc pattern (consonant, vowel, consonant).

Vocabulary words - We reviewed the high-frequency words: go, the and on.

Grammar lessons focused on using capital letters at the beginning of sentences.

**Spelling words will not be introduced for a few weeks.

Important Dates
Sept. 24 – No School – Teacher's Institute

Student of the Week
We will not have a student of the week next week since there is no school on Friday.

RTI (Response to Intervention)
RTI started this week. The children have been changing classes from 10:30-11:30 each morning. They have been placed in a classroom with other students at the same instructional reading level. These levels have been determined through test scores collected this fall.

Math
We have been working on Chapter 2 (Addition) in math. We had new vocabulary words such as zero, addend, & sum. We are also working in our Thinking Journal which deals with problem solving.

Author of the Month
Last week we read Mr. Seahorse by Eric Carle. The book discussed the different ways that fish & sea horses cared for their eggs. We painted a piece of paper many colors and then cut out a sea horse and added a wiggly eye. This is how Eric Carle makes the illustrations for his books.
We also visited Eric Carle's website and did a little exploring on it.