February already?

Wow! I can’t believe it is already almost February! Although it did seem like April outside this weekend.  Wasn’t it wonderful??? I must say I have missed all my sweet little Firsties! Hopefully we will have a much more normal week along with lots of learning and fun.  February is my absolute favorite “craft” month, I think it is because I love some glitter!!! So I stocked up this weekend at Wal Mart! Can’t wait!!!!

Our focus letter is /b/ as in bat, word wall words are – black, by, little, does, first.

We will continue to practice DOL Rules 1-16, along with adding rules 17 & 18. 

Rule 17 – Use I when you are the person doing something.

Rule 18 - Use we when you are the person doing something.

In Math we will complete Chapter 13 this week.  Be on the lookout for the review page to come home the night before our test.  Most likely Tuesday.  Our next Chapter in Math will be on Symmetry!

A few dates to remember:

Monday, January 31 - Cookie Dough orders are due.

Tuesday, February 1 is the rezoning meeting at Carr Junior High from 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm.  If you have questions about rezoning please go to the MPS website.

Thursday, February 3 - Progress Reports and Signed Papers

Monday, February 14 – 1:30 Our class Valentine Party!! So sweet!! I will send home a list of all our sweet first grade friends this week.  Please make sure and help your child address a card to every friend in our class.  Our wonderful room mom, Amanda Smith will be in touch with everyone about what we will need for the party.

If you would like to send in any antibacterial wipes, that would be most helpful.  With all of the sickness going around we are going to be doing some extra cleaning each afternoon.  I also have been asking the children to wash their hands with soap.  We are using the germx in emergencies but for this sick season I like them to use soap.

I can’t thank you enough for your kind words, prayers and cards during this sad time for my family.  My grandfather was 90 years old and lived an amazing life! I am truly blessed with such precious parents and children this year!! Thank you!!

Have a wonderful week and please let me know if you have any questions.

HUGS!!

Room 123 is 100 Days Smarter!!

We had an absolute wonderful time on the 100th day of school.  It was just a 100 party all day in Room 123.  Many of the children said, this was a fast day, can we do this everyday?? Everyone worked so nicely together we played many games, did several puzzles, and had lots to snack on! (The 100 way of course!)

Data Collection & Graphing

      

A whole week full of fun & learning!

I hope everyone had a nice weekend! I am actually really excited to be going to school this week for the entire 5 days.  Room 123 does really well on a schedule, we like to know what is next, and after that, but when are you going to…… you get the picture?  So I must say I am probably one of the few who is looking forward to a full week!  We will continue to be learning and having fun at the same time.  We will also mark a milestone this week, the 100th Day of School!! Wow! I can’t believe we have been in school 100 days!

In reading this week our focus letter is /o/ as in otter. Last week in Language Arts I did not introduce ABC order, instead we started learning about adjectives.  I assume you all figured that out after reading their DOL.  We will begin talking about ABC order this week.  We will also continue to discuss many of the parts of speech we have learned this year. (nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns)

In Math we will begin Chapter 13 Addition & Subtraction Facts to 12. We will be counting on to find sums, adding doubles, adding three numbers, and counting back to subtract.  Please be sure and go over any math work that comes home in your child’s take home folder.  Also, I hope you are taking advantage of practicing the Math Facts in a Flash at home.  The children are super excited about it and seem to really be catching on to the memorization of the facts!

Our AR testing was a little off last week due to the short week and the Library was closed all day on Thursday.  Hopefully we will be on a normal schedule this week.  Please be sure and send in a note when your child is ready to take an AR test on their library books.  Beginning this week I will not allow the children to take a test without a note from home. 

As I said earlier the 100th Day of School is this Wednesday, January 26th.  We are going to have a marvelous time doing lots of activities the “100” way! I sent notes home with some of the children asking for certain items to be brought in.  If at all possible please send your item in by Monday or Tuesday at the latest.  This is in case I don’t think we have enough.  Then I will have time to run by the grocery store before the big day!!

We will celebrate Valentine’s Day with a class party on Monday, February 14th.  In preparation for the party I need 2 volunteers to buy 1 pack of the white gift bags with the handles on them. They sell them at Michaels and come in a pack of 12 together.  If anyone would be willing to pick up a pack that would be great!  We will decorate the bags and use them to collect our valentine cards. I usually try to go ahead and get the bags early, sometimes if you wait to close to Valentines Day they are gone.   Let me know if you can help out with this!

A few dates to mark on your calendar:

Tuesday, January 25:  Blount Night at Jason's Deli

Wednesday, January 26:  100th day of school

Friday, January 28: Box Tops are due

Monday, January 31:  cookie dough orders are due

Tuesday, February 1: Community Meeting at Carr Junior High 5:00 (to discuss rezoning our school district)

Thursday, February 3: Progress Reports and Signed Papers

1 am looking forward to a wonderful week back with my precious firsties!! Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Have a super week!!

HUGS!!

January Family Projects!

First Grade Update!

I don’t know about you, but I could get used to having Mondays off!! I hope everyone enjoyed their extra long weekend!

Beginning this semester each child will be required to pass with 80% or higher a minimum of three AR tests a week.  I reminded the class last week before we left to be sure and have a library book to take home to be ready to test on when returning to school on Wednesday. Hopefully everyone has had some great reading time this weekend! I know I have!!  If you have signed up for the Ren Place Home Connect then you will receive an email each time your child takes an AR test that tells you their score.  If you have not done this or have ANY questions concerning this please do not hesitate to ask me.  I will be more than happy to answer any questions and help you.

In reading our focus letter will be /l/ as in letter and lion

We will continue our DOL rules.  We will review rules 1 – 16 and we will begin discussing alphabetical order.

We will finish Chapter 12 this week and test on Friday. Look for a review sheet to come home on Thursday.  I hope everyone has been able to log on to Math Facts at home so your child can practice their math facts.  If you are having trouble please let me know so I can hopefully help you.

We will have a word wall assessment at the end of this week.

Everyone needs to replenish crayons, markers and glue sticks.  When your out shopping please pick up a new box of 24 crayons, some glue sticks and a new pack of markers. The zippers on many zipper pouches are broken, so please check with your child to see if they need a new zipper pouch as well.

MPS is considering rezoning district wide.  Go to the MPS website and to read the proposal. There is also a map of proposed changes on a bulletin board to the left of the front office at school.   There will be a community meeting on Tuesday, February 1 at 5:00 at Carr Junior High.  (This meeting was originally scheduled for this Thursday.) 

Wednesday, January 26th we will celebrate the 100th day of school! Our day will be full of hundreds of fun activities as we celebrate this very important and fun day! One of our 100 day stations will include some yummy treats.  I will be sending notes home later this week asking for a few items. 

Have a great week! (What’s left of it!) Thank you for trusting your child with me!!

Hugs!

Polar Express & Party Day Pictures!! Finally:)

 

                  

                       Happy New Year!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! I am looking forward to seeing all of my sweet first grade friends tomorrow! I know everyone will have so much to share!

In reading our focus letter will be /e/ as in Ed or engine. Our word wall words this week are:  make, when, red, do, take, into, ten, went, to.

Beginning this semester each child will be required to pass with 80% or higher a minimum of three AR tests a week.  I will be sending home a detailed letter tomorrow explaining this requirement.

We will continue our DOL rules.  This week we will not learn a new rule.  We will review rules 1 – 15.  We will begin to write on notebook paper this week!

In math this week we will be discussing number patterns, even and odd numbers, and ordinal numbers.  We will also begin using the computer program Math Facts in a Flash.  Please look for a detailed letter to come home explaining this program tomorrow in your child’s notebook. 

Thursday we will take Class Pictures.  The children are required to wear uniforms. I will be sending home information this week if you would like to purchase a class picture.