A Fresh Start!

Tomorrow begins the first day of our second nine weeks of school.  I can’t believe that we have already finished our first nine weeks.  WOW! The children have learned so much and really adapted well to the routine and structure that comes with first grade.  Oh, but we have so much left to learn!! I have so many new things to teach these precious little ones, tons of books that I haven’t read to them yet, many, many games and crafts, the list goes on and on.  The first nine weeks we get the rules, routines, and procedures in place, the rest of the time, we fly!  So get ready, you are going to be even more amazed at what your little one is going to learn!

Tomorrow is Tuesday…..that means three things.    1.  Our class will visit the library.  So if your child is ready for a new book, return your old one.  If not, no big deal, when they finish they can return it and check out a new one.  2.  Children my wear their blue first grade t-shirts and jeans! 3.  It is the first day of the second nine week grading period.

I am sure most of you heard that I was out Friday and our class did not have a substitute.  I try my best not to be out often, and when I know in advance I can get a good reliable substitute.  However, sometimes children get sick, and you think they are getting better, then in the middle of the  night they wake up with a really high fever.  Which is what happened to me! Mary Hunter had a fever virus that we kept for a good 5 days.  She is doing much better, but was a sick little girl!  I am sorry that the children were divided up among the other first grade classes on Friday, but I know they were well cared for!

I totally missed signed papers last week, I think I had too much on my mind. (brain overload) I will send signed papers home tomorrow.  Papers that come home tomorrow will be the last of any papers that go into the first nine week grades. Report Cards will come home Thursday, October 14th. 

Many thanks to everyone who attended PTA last week!  It was a great meeting, and the chicken fingers were DELISH! I hope you are planning on stocking your freezer full! I sure am! Please tell your friends and neighbors about them! The last day to sell Chicken Fingers is October 19th.

I hope you and your family are moving together! Make sure you are participating in “PLAY 60” and taking the challenge to participate in the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award (PALA) Challenge. Make this a time for your whole family! Let your children set their own goals with your guidance.  They are more likely to reach their goals if they have a part in setting them!  

Don’t forget to mark your calendar for out field trip to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival is Wednesday, October 20th.  That same day is Spirit Night at Chik Fil A.  Don’t worry about cooking, come visit with friends and support our school at the same time.  Be sure and tell them you are from Blount!!

I didn’t order Scholastic Books this weekend because I was afraid some children would turn in money on Friday when I was out.  I will place the Scholastic order tomorrow night.  I have added extra days to the online ordering in case anyone wants to order.  The books will be here the beginning of next week!

Language

We are moving right along with our Language rules.  We will continue reviewing rules 1-8.  I'll introduce rule 9 tomorrow-names of holidays begin with a capital letter. Students will make corrections to sentences Monday and a grade taken on Friday.  It would be helpful to save the papers that come home Monday-Thursday and review them for the grade on Friday. Some Thursday's I may take a grade on a worksheet that is specifically related to the rule introduced for the week.

Whole Group Reading Sound

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 a word, which is related to the theme we will be reading and learning about during the week and writing about in the writing center.

This week our sound is /i/ as in insect.

Don't forget to read word wall words every night until mastered upon site.  Mastered means they read them as soon as they see them.  Word Wall words are not meant to be decoded, they are to be memorized! Words for this week are:  did, sit, in, it, this.

Please make sure to have your child read Read Well homework stories each night to increase fluency and accuracy.  I describe fluency as the ease of the reading rate, as if in conversation, not robotic.  Repetitive reading of familiar text will help build fluency.  Accuracy is the reading without mispronouncing words in the passage.

ACCELERATED READER (AR)

Now that AR testing is up and running, your child will have opportunities throughout the day to take a test, after unpacking in the mornings, during reading centers and anytime after that as long as we not involved in math instruction.  Until I can release full responsibility to your child for reading independently in class and test on the book, be sure to let me know with a sticky note that your child is ready to test. Eventually your child should take a test on their library book before returning it to the library.  We have been talking about how to pick out a "just right book"-one that's not too hard or too easy.  However, I'm going to make the children a library card with a suggested range that your child can choose from.  These levels may need to be adjusted up or down if necessary. Testing is still optional at this point.

Math

We are continuing to work on subtraction. We will begin on Chapter 8 Monday as well as various activities to help with this skill. Please remember to watch for the Review page to come home the night before our test.

You’re a star……..so keep shining!

Thank you for sharing your sweet stars with me!

Hugs!