Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Mrs. Itson's Last Day in First Grade :((
As you all know today was Mrs. Iston's last day of her internship in our classroom. She has been a tremendous asset to all of us and boy are we going to miss her! I know she has learned a lot and is ready to have a classroom of her own. Thanks to all of you who sent in items to fill the bucket Mrs. Owens got her. I wish you could have seen it! It was packed full with tons of teacher treasures. She was so surprised and so very thankful. The children made her a book yesterday and each child read his/her page today to Mrs. Itson, and she absolutley LOVED it. I must say some of the things the children wrote and some of the pictures they drew were just adorable! We wish her the very best as she completes the second part of her internship placement in 5th grade here at Blount. At least she won't be too far away from us! I have complete confidence she will be an outstanding teacher who will work hard to meet the many unique and different children who come into her classroom. She has been such a blessing to me and our class, I am sure the Lord has great plans ahead for her. I love you Lauri Ann!!
Monday, September 28, 2009
September 28 - October 2, 2009
Wow! We are coming up on week 8~can’t believe how fast it has gone by.
I’m so pleased with the progress we have made in learning our routines and procedures. Thank you for your support by encouraging your child to do their best at school.
SMALL GROUP READING AND WORK STATIONS
Our whole group sound for this week is /T/ as in the word “turkey”.
READING HOMEWORK
Please continue to read every night! Reading and rereading the Read Well homework stories will help build fluency* and accuracy*. This practice each night really helps more than you know, so please make sure you are listening to your child read. Spend a few minutes reading over the word wall words to date also.
*Fluency is the rate at which your child is reading the text.
~not speed reading ~not choppy, robotic reading ~but a smooth even rate, as if you’re speaking to someone.
*Accuracy is how accurately your child is reading the words in the text, making as few errors as possible. The goal for these stories should be 0 errors since it’s familiar text.
ACCELERATED READER
Thanks for helping prepare your child for AR tests. Continue to send in a sticky note when your child is ready to take a test. I would like to see each child take at least 2-3 AR tests a week.
MATH
We are in Chapter 7. I sent the Family Involvement letter home last week. This chapter will focus on subtraction strategies. Homework for math will be Chapter 7 lessons in the math practice workbook. We will test on this chapter probably Thursday or Friday. Look for the Test Review sheet to come home the night before the test.
LANGUAGE -(DOL)
We have covered rules 1-6. Rule 7 will be introduced next week. These rules can be found in the take home notebook. We will continue to practice Rules 1 - 6 in the sentences this week. Be sure to look in the Keep at Home side each day for DOL papers ~look over them Thursday night to prepare for Friday's daily DOL grade. Sentences for Friday come directly from the sentences practiced Monday-Thursday.
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION AND REMINDERS
*We will have a word wall check, Wednesday or Thursday, on the last three weeks of words for a daily reading grade.
*I have ordered TIME for Kids for our class. Thanks for sending in you money for your child’s subscription. We’ll incorporate these in our routine once a week.
*September 15th-30th-Innisbrook Fundraiser-Hope you’re selling lots and lots of wrapping paper to help our school.
*Library Day September 29th-make sure your child brings their library book to school if they are ready to return it and check out another one.
*September 30 - Mrs. Itson's last day with us:(. We will miss her very much! She will spend the next 8 weeks in fifth grade.
*October 1- Signed Papers
Future dates in October to remember:
October 9th-End of first nine weeks
October 12th-Inservice~holiday for children
October 15th Fall Festival~more information to come
October 22nd-Report Cards
Thought for the week:
Expect something great to happen - and it usually will.
Have a wonderful week!!
I’m so pleased with the progress we have made in learning our routines and procedures. Thank you for your support by encouraging your child to do their best at school.
SMALL GROUP READING AND WORK STATIONS
Our whole group sound for this week is /T/ as in the word “turkey”.
READING HOMEWORK
Please continue to read every night! Reading and rereading the Read Well homework stories will help build fluency* and accuracy*. This practice each night really helps more than you know, so please make sure you are listening to your child read. Spend a few minutes reading over the word wall words to date also.
*Fluency is the rate at which your child is reading the text.
~not speed reading ~not choppy, robotic reading ~but a smooth even rate, as if you’re speaking to someone.
*Accuracy is how accurately your child is reading the words in the text, making as few errors as possible. The goal for these stories should be 0 errors since it’s familiar text.
ACCELERATED READER
Thanks for helping prepare your child for AR tests. Continue to send in a sticky note when your child is ready to take a test. I would like to see each child take at least 2-3 AR tests a week.
MATH
We are in Chapter 7. I sent the Family Involvement letter home last week. This chapter will focus on subtraction strategies. Homework for math will be Chapter 7 lessons in the math practice workbook. We will test on this chapter probably Thursday or Friday. Look for the Test Review sheet to come home the night before the test.
LANGUAGE -(DOL)
We have covered rules 1-6. Rule 7 will be introduced next week. These rules can be found in the take home notebook. We will continue to practice Rules 1 - 6 in the sentences this week. Be sure to look in the Keep at Home side each day for DOL papers ~look over them Thursday night to prepare for Friday's daily DOL grade. Sentences for Friday come directly from the sentences practiced Monday-Thursday.
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION AND REMINDERS
*We will have a word wall check, Wednesday or Thursday, on the last three weeks of words for a daily reading grade.
*I have ordered TIME for Kids for our class. Thanks for sending in you money for your child’s subscription. We’ll incorporate these in our routine once a week.
*September 15th-30th-Innisbrook Fundraiser-Hope you’re selling lots and lots of wrapping paper to help our school.
*Library Day September 29th-make sure your child brings their library book to school if they are ready to return it and check out another one.
*September 30 - Mrs. Itson's last day with us:(. We will miss her very much! She will spend the next 8 weeks in fifth grade.
*October 1- Signed Papers
Future dates in October to remember:
October 9th-End of first nine weeks
October 12th-Inservice~holiday for children
October 15th Fall Festival~more information to come
October 22nd-Report Cards
Thought for the week:
Expect something great to happen - and it usually will.
Have a wonderful week!!
Monday, September 21, 2009
September 21-25, 2009
READING AND LITERACY STATIONS
Every week a new unit is introduced in our Whole Group Reading routine. This new unit introduces one new letter sound which serves as the stimulus for all activities that follow. The new letter sound is usually related to an animal and/or science term which gives us our theme that we will be reading and learning about during the week. Our writing jobs also come from the theme we are studying in our whole group reading.
Our whole group sound for this week is /n/ as in the word “nest”. We will be doing activities related to birds.
ACCELERATED READER
I hope you received the note with your child's AR report included. There is no need to return this report, it is simply for your information. Please help your child prepare to take AR tests, ideally 2-3 tests a week. Also, continue to indicate when your child is ready to test by putting a sticky note on their book. Right now I will not let a child test unless they have the note. If children take a test unprepared and make below a 60, it’s very hard to get their average percent correct up. Thank you for your help with AR.
MATH
We are in Chapter 6-I sent the Family Involvement letter home today. This chapter focuses on Addition Facts Practice. This is where I strongly recommend that you make addition flash cards and begin memorizing addition facts. Homework for math will be Chapter 6 lessons in the math practice workbook. We will test on this chapter probably next week. As always, look for the Test Review sheet to come home the night before the test.
LANGUAGE -(DOL)
We have covered Grammar rules 1-6. These rules can be found in your child's take home notebook. We will continue to practice Rules 1 - 6, I will not introduce a new grammar rule this week. Be sure to look in the Keep at Home side each day for DOL papers ~look over them Thursday night to prepare for Friday's daily DOL grade. Sentences for Friday come from sentences practiced Monday-Thursday. We will have a test on these rules Thursday. I'll send a review sheet to practice for the test.
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION AND REMINDERS
*A big thanks to Mrs. Gaeta (Amelie's mom), Mrs. Backus (Sarah's mom), and Mrs. Garrison (Emma's mom) for watching the class while Mrs. Itson and I enjoyed Teacher Treat Day with the other teachers. It was delicious!!
*Mrs. Itson will continue to teach the class this week. Her last day with us will be next Wednesday, September 30th. Please look for a "secret" note to come home with your child tomorrow about a little surprise we are planning for her!:)
*The Montgomery Humane Shelter came today to speak to the children about "Bite Prevention". The children were so well behaved and seemed to really enjoy our guest speaker.
*Library Day Tuesday, September 22nd- make sure your child brings their library book to school.
*September 21 - Blount Spirit Night at Chick-fil-a
*Yea Room 123, we have met our PTA goal of 150% membership!! A big thank you to everyone who joined!
*Please be sure to initial daily conduct calendar EVERY night.
I’m still noticing a few calendars without signatures.
Thanks for the trust and support you have in me with your sweet and precious one.
Thought for the week: When time runs short, remember this verse: "You will always find time for the things you put first!"
Every week a new unit is introduced in our Whole Group Reading routine. This new unit introduces one new letter sound which serves as the stimulus for all activities that follow. The new letter sound is usually related to an animal and/or science term which gives us our theme that we will be reading and learning about during the week. Our writing jobs also come from the theme we are studying in our whole group reading.
Our whole group sound for this week is /n/ as in the word “nest”. We will be doing activities related to birds.
ACCELERATED READER
I hope you received the note with your child's AR report included. There is no need to return this report, it is simply for your information. Please help your child prepare to take AR tests, ideally 2-3 tests a week. Also, continue to indicate when your child is ready to test by putting a sticky note on their book. Right now I will not let a child test unless they have the note. If children take a test unprepared and make below a 60, it’s very hard to get their average percent correct up. Thank you for your help with AR.
MATH
We are in Chapter 6-I sent the Family Involvement letter home today. This chapter focuses on Addition Facts Practice. This is where I strongly recommend that you make addition flash cards and begin memorizing addition facts. Homework for math will be Chapter 6 lessons in the math practice workbook. We will test on this chapter probably next week. As always, look for the Test Review sheet to come home the night before the test.
LANGUAGE -(DOL)
We have covered Grammar rules 1-6. These rules can be found in your child's take home notebook. We will continue to practice Rules 1 - 6, I will not introduce a new grammar rule this week. Be sure to look in the Keep at Home side each day for DOL papers ~look over them Thursday night to prepare for Friday's daily DOL grade. Sentences for Friday come from sentences practiced Monday-Thursday. We will have a test on these rules Thursday. I'll send a review sheet to practice for the test.
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION AND REMINDERS
*A big thanks to Mrs. Gaeta (Amelie's mom), Mrs. Backus (Sarah's mom), and Mrs. Garrison (Emma's mom) for watching the class while Mrs. Itson and I enjoyed Teacher Treat Day with the other teachers. It was delicious!!
*Mrs. Itson will continue to teach the class this week. Her last day with us will be next Wednesday, September 30th. Please look for a "secret" note to come home with your child tomorrow about a little surprise we are planning for her!:)
*The Montgomery Humane Shelter came today to speak to the children about "Bite Prevention". The children were so well behaved and seemed to really enjoy our guest speaker.
*Library Day Tuesday, September 22nd- make sure your child brings their library book to school.
*September 21 - Blount Spirit Night at Chick-fil-a
*Yea Room 123, we have met our PTA goal of 150% membership!! A big thank you to everyone who joined!
*Please be sure to initial daily conduct calendar EVERY night.
I’m still noticing a few calendars without signatures.
Thanks for the trust and support you have in me with your sweet and precious one.
Thought for the week: When time runs short, remember this verse: "You will always find time for the things you put first!"
Sunday, September 13, 2009
September 14-18, 2009
Another nice fall football weekend, hope your team won!
Mrs. Itson, our fabulous intern will begin her full time teaching responsibilities this week. She will be teaching the class all day for the next two weeks. She has been with us since the first day of school and is more than familiar with our procedures and routines, as well as the academic content that we are learning every day. I will be in and out of the classroom and I will also be working with some of the children one on one in areas that they may be a little weak. Everything in our day and your child's academic work will remain the same. I know Mrs. Itson will do a fabulous job and I am more than sure the children will be so sweet for her, as they are for me. Mrs. Itson's last day with us will be Wednesday, September 30th. I would like to do something special for her. I will be in contact with you closer to that time. As always, if you have ANY questions or concerns at all, please do not hesitate to contact me.
We had a good week last week overall-still a few areas we need to work on, like times of transition from one activity to another and lunch time, talking quietly! It all comes down to listening and following directions.
Children receive tickets as a consequence for not following directions and/or rules that we have been learning and discussing since the first week of school. I appreciate the time you take to encourage your child to do their best at school.
SMALL GROUP READING AND WORK STATIONS
Reading groups went very well last week. I had to give several warnings for not being engaged with their task but the children worked really quiet in work stations. We need to keep that up!
Every week a new unit is introduced in our Whole Group Reading routine. This new unit introduces one new letter sound which serves as the stimulus for all activities that follow. The new letter sound is related to an animal character which gives us our theme that we will be reading and learning about during the week and writing about in the writing center.
Our whole group sound for this week is /th/ as in the word “the”. We will be doing activities not exactly related to “th” or an animal but related to our names.
ACCELERATED READER
Please continue to indicate when your child is ready to test by placing a sticky note on the book they are ready to test on. Right now I won’t let a child test unless they have the note indicating you’ve listened to them read. If children take a test unprepared and make below a 60, it’s very hard to get their Average Percent Correct up. Children can’t exchange books from the library until they have tested on it. Of course, if the book is on their level, but is too hard they may exchange it. I have encouraged the children to look inside the books before they check them out to see if they are a "good fit" book. Books can be kept up to a week without an overdue notice being given. So when your child continues to bring the same book home each night, it’s because they haven’t tested on it or they haven’t asked me to go to the library. Each child now has a library card that they can take to the library with to help them choose a book on their level. These levels will be adjusted throughout the year. Library books should come home every night AND come back to school EVERY day. There is time during our day that they can read, I also think this helps establish some responsibility for the children.
MATH
We completed Chapter 4 and have started Chapter 5. Please complete the practice workbook pages for Chapter 5 for homework this week. Also, remember to look for the Extra Practice and Review page to come home the night before a chapter test. I am thinking our Chapter 5 test will be toward the end of this week, it just depends on how the children do with this chapter.
LANGUAGE -(DOL)
We have covered rules 1-3 and 5 & 6. These rules can be found in your child's take home notebook. The class did really well capitalizing the names of their friends and pets for Rule 6. I will introduce Rule 4 this week, a sentence that asks something needs a question mark at the end. Be sure to look in the Keep at Home side each day for DOL papers ~look over them Thursday night to prepare for Friday's daily DOL grade. Sentences for Friday come from sentences practiced Monday-Thursday.
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION AND REMINDERS
*Please remember to send in a check made payable to Time For Kids in the amount of $5.00. I am ready to order our magazines for the year. Thanks!
*A BIG thank you to everyone who ordered books from Scholastic. We receive free books for every book that you order. Also, for every parent that orders online our class receives a $4.00 credit for free books. This is a great way to increase our classroom library and for you to increase your home library. Scholastic always has fabulous prices. If you didn't get a chance to order this time, don't worry I will send home Scholastic forms at the beginning of each month. As ALWAYS, Scholastic orders are simply voluntary, there is absolutely NO obligation to order.
*September 15th-30th-Innisbrook Fundraiser - you will receive a packet tomorrow.
*Library Day September 15th- make sure your child brings library book to school.
*September 17 – Teacher Treat Day - This is when teachers are treated to lunch that is provided by another grade level’s parents. Parent volunteers come and take our class to lunch while I get to enjoy lunch with the other teachers, provided by our fabulous parents.
*September 17 - this year our Teacher Treat Days are centered around a theme. Thursday's theme is "Team Day" so we want everyone to wear their favorite team shirt. They may also wear jeans. (War Eagle:))
*September 21 - Blount Spirit Night at Chick-fil-a
*Please be sure to initial daily conduct calendar and reading log EVERY night.
Thanks for the trust and support you have in me with your sweet and precious one. Have a great week!
Hugs!!
Mrs. Itson, our fabulous intern will begin her full time teaching responsibilities this week. She will be teaching the class all day for the next two weeks. She has been with us since the first day of school and is more than familiar with our procedures and routines, as well as the academic content that we are learning every day. I will be in and out of the classroom and I will also be working with some of the children one on one in areas that they may be a little weak. Everything in our day and your child's academic work will remain the same. I know Mrs. Itson will do a fabulous job and I am more than sure the children will be so sweet for her, as they are for me. Mrs. Itson's last day with us will be Wednesday, September 30th. I would like to do something special for her. I will be in contact with you closer to that time. As always, if you have ANY questions or concerns at all, please do not hesitate to contact me.
We had a good week last week overall-still a few areas we need to work on, like times of transition from one activity to another and lunch time, talking quietly! It all comes down to listening and following directions.
Children receive tickets as a consequence for not following directions and/or rules that we have been learning and discussing since the first week of school. I appreciate the time you take to encourage your child to do their best at school.
SMALL GROUP READING AND WORK STATIONS
Reading groups went very well last week. I had to give several warnings for not being engaged with their task but the children worked really quiet in work stations. We need to keep that up!
Every week a new unit is introduced in our Whole Group Reading routine. This new unit introduces one new letter sound which serves as the stimulus for all activities that follow. The new letter sound is related to an animal character which gives us our theme that we will be reading and learning about during the week and writing about in the writing center.
Our whole group sound for this week is /th/ as in the word “the”. We will be doing activities not exactly related to “th” or an animal but related to our names.
ACCELERATED READER
Please continue to indicate when your child is ready to test by placing a sticky note on the book they are ready to test on. Right now I won’t let a child test unless they have the note indicating you’ve listened to them read. If children take a test unprepared and make below a 60, it’s very hard to get their Average Percent Correct up. Children can’t exchange books from the library until they have tested on it. Of course, if the book is on their level, but is too hard they may exchange it. I have encouraged the children to look inside the books before they check them out to see if they are a "good fit" book. Books can be kept up to a week without an overdue notice being given. So when your child continues to bring the same book home each night, it’s because they haven’t tested on it or they haven’t asked me to go to the library. Each child now has a library card that they can take to the library with to help them choose a book on their level. These levels will be adjusted throughout the year. Library books should come home every night AND come back to school EVERY day. There is time during our day that they can read, I also think this helps establish some responsibility for the children.
MATH
We completed Chapter 4 and have started Chapter 5. Please complete the practice workbook pages for Chapter 5 for homework this week. Also, remember to look for the Extra Practice and Review page to come home the night before a chapter test. I am thinking our Chapter 5 test will be toward the end of this week, it just depends on how the children do with this chapter.
LANGUAGE -(DOL)
We have covered rules 1-3 and 5 & 6. These rules can be found in your child's take home notebook. The class did really well capitalizing the names of their friends and pets for Rule 6. I will introduce Rule 4 this week, a sentence that asks something needs a question mark at the end. Be sure to look in the Keep at Home side each day for DOL papers ~look over them Thursday night to prepare for Friday's daily DOL grade. Sentences for Friday come from sentences practiced Monday-Thursday.
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION AND REMINDERS
*Please remember to send in a check made payable to Time For Kids in the amount of $5.00. I am ready to order our magazines for the year. Thanks!
*A BIG thank you to everyone who ordered books from Scholastic. We receive free books for every book that you order. Also, for every parent that orders online our class receives a $4.00 credit for free books. This is a great way to increase our classroom library and for you to increase your home library. Scholastic always has fabulous prices. If you didn't get a chance to order this time, don't worry I will send home Scholastic forms at the beginning of each month. As ALWAYS, Scholastic orders are simply voluntary, there is absolutely NO obligation to order.
*September 15th-30th-Innisbrook Fundraiser - you will receive a packet tomorrow.
*Library Day September 15th- make sure your child brings library book to school.
*September 17 – Teacher Treat Day - This is when teachers are treated to lunch that is provided by another grade level’s parents. Parent volunteers come and take our class to lunch while I get to enjoy lunch with the other teachers, provided by our fabulous parents.
*September 17 - this year our Teacher Treat Days are centered around a theme. Thursday's theme is "Team Day" so we want everyone to wear their favorite team shirt. They may also wear jeans. (War Eagle:))
*September 21 - Blount Spirit Night at Chick-fil-a
*Please be sure to initial daily conduct calendar and reading log EVERY night.
Thanks for the trust and support you have in me with your sweet and precious one. Have a great week!
Hugs!!
Monday, September 7, 2009
September 8-11, 2009
WOW and THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I have never felt so loved and special as I did this past birthday. All of the gifts, flowers, cards, and candy were so sweet, just like everyone in our class! Thank you so much for remembering me!
I hope everyone enjoyed the long Labor Day weekend. Hopefully everyone is ready to come back to school, well rested and ready to learn!
We are still practicing our rules, routines and procedures. By the end of the nine weeks children should be well established in how our classroom runs. We will continue to work on all of these over the coming weeks. I don’t think I can say it enough, it's EXTREMELY important that these rules, routines and procedures become second nature to the children because this will help create a calm, predictable and organized environment where lots of learning can take place, and some fun along the way.
*Please keep this in mind, first graders receive real grades for conduct, not G’s and S’s as they may have in Kindergarten. Children receive tickets as a consequence for not following directions and/or rules that we have been learning and discussing since the first week of school.
SMALL GROUP READING AND WORK STATIONS
I assuming that everyone received the letter I sent with details of our reading program and homework information. I didn’t have any questions or requests for clarification.
We had a full week of small group reading and work station rotation last week, except for Friday. As I expected, the class caught on quickly to the rotation, just need to work on staying on task for the 25-30 minute period, and working quietly if they are working with a partner. Warnings and reminders are given once, before a ticket is given.
Our whole group sound for this week is /d/ as in dinosaur. We will be doing activities related to that topic.
ACCELERATED READER
I have had several children asking me to take an AR test, however if I didn’t get a sticky note from you saying that you have read to or with your child I don't allow them to test. If children take a test unprepared and make below a 60, it’s very hard to get their Average Percent Correct up. So, right now, I’m not letting anyone take a test without a parent note. Also, children can’t exchange books from the library until they have tested on it. Unless they have by mistake gotten a book that is not on their level. The children now have library cards that tell them exactly what level books they should be getting right now. Of course, as they become better readers, I will increase the level book they can get. Books can be kept up to a week without an overdue notice being given. So when your child continues to bring the same book home each night, it’s because they haven’t tested on it or they haven’t asked me to go to the library. Library books should be brought home and back to school every day!
MATH
We will continue working on Chapter 4 this week. Children can be working on chapter 4 in their Math Practice Workbook. Look for lessons 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 etc. We will test on this chapter at the end of the week, so look for the Test Review workbook page to come home the night before the test.
LANGUAGE -(DOL)
We have covered rules 1-3 and 5 so far.(Skipping #4 for now) These rules can be found in the take home notebook. The class did really well capitalizing the names of friends and pets for Rule 6. We will continue rule 6 along with rules 1-3 and 5. Be sure to look in the Keep at Home side each day for DOL papers ~look over them Thursday night to prepare for Friday's daily DOL grade.
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION AND REMINDERS
*Library Day September 8th- make sure your child brings library book to school.
*Please be sure to initial daily conduct calendar EVERY night. I've noticed several notebooks with no initials. There is a page in the folder that explains how to use the folder.
*Make sure your child has enough money in their lunch account to cover Gatorade and/or Fruit Roll-Ups. You might want to make a plan with your child as to how many days a week they can purchase or pick the day or days they can purchase.
*If you haven't joined PTA, please do so as soon as possible. Due to
proration, teachers will not receive their usually $500 state allocation for classroom supplies so the PTA had graciously agreed to give each teacher $300 to help out. This money is coming directly from PTA memberships so get your grandparents, aunts, uncles and family pets to join so we can reach our classroom goal of 150%. Our class is currently at 133%, so we only need 3 more memberships to reach our goal of 150%.
Thought for the week:
Forget your mistakes, but never forget what they teach you!
Have a super week!
Hugs!!
I hope everyone enjoyed the long Labor Day weekend. Hopefully everyone is ready to come back to school, well rested and ready to learn!
We are still practicing our rules, routines and procedures. By the end of the nine weeks children should be well established in how our classroom runs. We will continue to work on all of these over the coming weeks. I don’t think I can say it enough, it's EXTREMELY important that these rules, routines and procedures become second nature to the children because this will help create a calm, predictable and organized environment where lots of learning can take place, and some fun along the way.
*Please keep this in mind, first graders receive real grades for conduct, not G’s and S’s as they may have in Kindergarten. Children receive tickets as a consequence for not following directions and/or rules that we have been learning and discussing since the first week of school.
SMALL GROUP READING AND WORK STATIONS
I assuming that everyone received the letter I sent with details of our reading program and homework information. I didn’t have any questions or requests for clarification.
We had a full week of small group reading and work station rotation last week, except for Friday. As I expected, the class caught on quickly to the rotation, just need to work on staying on task for the 25-30 minute period, and working quietly if they are working with a partner. Warnings and reminders are given once, before a ticket is given.
Our whole group sound for this week is /d/ as in dinosaur. We will be doing activities related to that topic.
ACCELERATED READER
I have had several children asking me to take an AR test, however if I didn’t get a sticky note from you saying that you have read to or with your child I don't allow them to test. If children take a test unprepared and make below a 60, it’s very hard to get their Average Percent Correct up. So, right now, I’m not letting anyone take a test without a parent note. Also, children can’t exchange books from the library until they have tested on it. Unless they have by mistake gotten a book that is not on their level. The children now have library cards that tell them exactly what level books they should be getting right now. Of course, as they become better readers, I will increase the level book they can get. Books can be kept up to a week without an overdue notice being given. So when your child continues to bring the same book home each night, it’s because they haven’t tested on it or they haven’t asked me to go to the library. Library books should be brought home and back to school every day!
MATH
We will continue working on Chapter 4 this week. Children can be working on chapter 4 in their Math Practice Workbook. Look for lessons 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 etc. We will test on this chapter at the end of the week, so look for the Test Review workbook page to come home the night before the test.
LANGUAGE -(DOL)
We have covered rules 1-3 and 5 so far.(Skipping #4 for now) These rules can be found in the take home notebook. The class did really well capitalizing the names of friends and pets for Rule 6. We will continue rule 6 along with rules 1-3 and 5. Be sure to look in the Keep at Home side each day for DOL papers ~look over them Thursday night to prepare for Friday's daily DOL grade.
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION AND REMINDERS
*Library Day September 8th- make sure your child brings library book to school.
*Please be sure to initial daily conduct calendar EVERY night. I've noticed several notebooks with no initials. There is a page in the folder that explains how to use the folder.
*Make sure your child has enough money in their lunch account to cover Gatorade and/or Fruit Roll-Ups. You might want to make a plan with your child as to how many days a week they can purchase or pick the day or days they can purchase.
*If you haven't joined PTA, please do so as soon as possible. Due to
proration, teachers will not receive their usually $500 state allocation for classroom supplies so the PTA had graciously agreed to give each teacher $300 to help out. This money is coming directly from PTA memberships so get your grandparents, aunts, uncles and family pets to join so we can reach our classroom goal of 150%. Our class is currently at 133%, so we only need 3 more memberships to reach our goal of 150%.
Thought for the week:
Forget your mistakes, but never forget what they teach you!
Have a super week!
Hugs!!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
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