Happy, Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Fun!

Next week our whole group sound will be /i/ as in insect.  We will be discussing insects along with things related to Thanksgiving.  November will be a fun and busy month!  Word wall words are:

did, in, it, this, sit

Make sure your child is able to read these words upon site for the unannounced word wall checks we will have during the nine weeks period.

In our DOL this week we will not learn any new grammar rule.   We will continue practicing all previous rules learned since the beginning of school.  If you look closely at your child’s DOL you will notice that we have been underlining the NOUNS in each sentence.  Each Thursday we have a worksheet related to the rule for that week that is taken as a daily grade.

We will finish up chapter 3 on subtraction and test on Wednesday.  Be sure your child has finished Chapter 3 in the Practice workbook. Our next chapter in Math will be Chapter 7.   Continue to encourage your child to practice Math Facts at home.  If you are still having problems logging in to Ren Place to practice your facts please let me know.   

The Book Fair Is Here!

The Book Fair will be in the library this week.  We went Friday to preview all that is on sale and there are some great books to choose from this year!  Children may go to the book fair only if they have money. In the past I have had parents come and join us for lunch and then take their children to the book fair.  If your schedule permits and you would like to shop with your child after joining us for lunch you are welcome to! If not they will still be able to shop at our scheduled time.  There are other items besides books for sale, like “Dollar Tree” type items.  Please discuss with your child what they may/may not purchase and label money intended for the book fair. There are volunteers in the library but each day when the children who have money go to the book fair I do not go with them. I always try to encourage them to purchase books that they can read and make wise choices when shopping, however please remember they are pretty much shopping on their own. 

Nancy’s Italian Ice on sale tomorrow.

PTA meeting Tuesday November 8. Treat mom to a night off from cooking and come enjoy pizza, trivia and slide show of Blount activities.

Thank you for all your participation in Red Ribbon Week! It was too precious to see the children coming in each morning in their socks, shades, hats and team shirts! I wish you could have heard the sweet comments to each other about what they were wearing.  This really is such a kind group of friends!

Halloween Hugs to all my favorite firsties!!

Our First Field Trip in First Grade!

A New Beginning!

On Friday we changed desks, got new crayons and new glue to start the beginning of the new nine weeks in First Grade! We are ready!!

 

This week our sound will be /w/ as in wind.  Our word wall words are: we, was, don’t, off & right.  Please make sure that your child can read ALL word wall words that have been introduced this year upon sight.  (instantly)

We will begin learning all about Nouns this week. (Grammar Rule 9) 

We will begin Chapter 3 on Subtraction.  We will still review addition facts daily and will continue to practice our Math Facts in a Flash.  Check your child’s take home notebook to see what lesson we did in class each day.  Please continue to practice flash cards at home each night.  We want the children to memorize their addition facts, we are working on not using counters or our fingers.

• A HUGE thank you to everyone who helped to make our Fall Festival a success.  I think everyone had a great time and our PTA is the best!
• Another BIG thank you to all the parents and grandparents who joined us on our field trip to the Pumpkin Patch.  Everyone had such a fun time and I bet it is safe to say everyone slept well that night! I know I did!!
• This week is Red Ribbon Week.  We will celebrate making healthy choices for our bodies.  Each day has a theme to emphasize

“SAY NO TO DRUGS!”

Monday:  "We are proud to be drug free"  Classes make red chains to hang outside their classroom to show they are drug free.  Each student will sign his/her link in the chain.  The children are asked to wear a RED uniform shirt.

Tuesday:  "Sock it to drugs and slip into good character"  Students wear crazy socks and slippers.

Wednesday: "Hats off to not using drugs"  Students wear their favorite hat to show they are drug free.

Thursday: "We are too cool to do drugs"  Students will wear their sunglasses to shade out drugs. 

Friday:  "Team up against drugs"  Students wear their favorite team's jersey.

• Tomorrow Nancy’s Ice will be for sell for $1.00 please make sure you send your money in a baggie or an envelope marked with your sweet firstie’s name!

Thanks for sharing your precious children with me! Have a wonderful week and as always please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

Hugs!

Whooo’s ready for the Pumpkin Patch??

I hope everyone is ready for a wonderful time at the Pumpkin Patch! Wear some cool and comfortable clothes and get ready to have tons of Fall Fun!!

Our whole group sound next week will be /t/ as in turtle.  We will be learning all about turtles this week! We will be painting a turtle, and have a new poem about turtles to put in our Poetry Journals.  The children love learning about different animals each week! I am always amazed at what they already know.   Our word wall words for the week are: 

at  that  old  open  many

We are moving right along with our Language rules.  Next week I’ll introduce Rule 8, holidays begin with a capital letter.  I’ll also introduce alphabetical order.  We will continue to practice all the previous rules introduced. Keep up the good work on editing sentences and remember language rules.  This little group of firsties are not only sweet, they are SMART!!

In math we will tested on Chapter 6 Thursday so for the next two weeks we will be continuing our study of number sense and practicing our addition facts, including doubles.  I hope everyone is using the Math Facts in a Flash program at home for extra practice! We are working hard at passing our Math Facts all 40 problems correct within the 2 minute time limit. Everyone is making great progress at passing on to the next level, keep up the good work! Let me know if you still can’t access Math Facts at home.  Last week I introduced Math Stations and the children LOVED it! They did a wonderful job working together!

IThis Thursday is our FALL FESTIVAL.  Thank you to the many families that signed up to work a shift at the Fall Festival.  If  you did not pre-order wristbands, you can purchase them at the gate on the night of the Fall Festival. 

IPicture money is due by Friday. I thought the pictures turned out absolutely   precious!! 

IMonday is Italian Ice for $1.00

ITuesday is our library day. If your child is ready to return their book please be sure and send it.  The children are really busy reading and taking AR tests!! Thank you for your help at home.

Upcoming Events:

October 18:  Spirit Night at Burger King (Chantilly Pkwy)
October 20:  Blount Fall Festival at Thompson Park  4:30-7:30
October 26:  Spirit Night at Nancy's Italian Ice
November 1:  Deadline for Just Give Campaign
November 8: PTA meeting
November 11:  No school:  Veteran's Day

Have a wonderful week and be sure and check back for some adorable pictures from our field trip!!

Hugs!

Whooo’s ready to learn??

I hope everyone had a nice, long weekend.  I am sorry for my absence last Friday, I kept thinking I would be able to make it through the week with just a cold.  Thursday I whispered all day and by that afternoon, I couldn’t even whisper.  Needless to say Friday I went to the doctor and rested and I can’t wait to see all my Firsties in the morning.  I am sure I will hear all about the eventful day on Friday!

I don’t know if you heard the good news but the boys and girls in our class have been receiving lots of COMPLIMENTS!! Each time someone gives our class a compliment we get to add a “link” to our Compliment Chain.  When our chain reaches the floor Mrs. Wright brings surprise treats!! Well our chain reached the floor last week, and being in the seasonal mode, we celebrated all our compliments with some yummy Halloween Cupcakes! Now we have started again, who knows what our next treat will be?? We will keep getting compliments and wait and see!!

This week in reading we will focus on the /n/ sound as in nest.  We will also be talking about birds.  Our writing jobs this week will include some poems, painting and even some facts about Christopher Columbus.  Word wall words this week are:  an, and, once, or, round.

Our grammar rule is Rule 7 – The names of the months of the year begin with capital letters.  As always we will be reviewing all rules each day in our DOL.

In math we will finish up Chapter 6 and test on Wednesday. For the next two weeks we will be continuing our study of number sense and practicing our addition facts, including doubles.  I hope everyone is using the Math Facts in a Flash program at home for extra practice! We are working hard at passing our Math Facts all 40 problems correct within the 2 minute time limit.

Continue reading and sending in a note when your child is ready to take an AR test.  The children are doing a wonderful job reading their library books!!

I will be sending home a PTA membership form for families to join our PTA.  Please, please join if you have not already.  We want Room 123 to have 100% membership!

Upcoming important dates:
October 11:  Spirit Night at Jason's Deli
October 13:  Final day for early bird prices for Fall Festival Tickets

OCTOBER 17: Field Trip to the

PUMPKIN PATCH!

DEADLINE TO TURN IN MONEY is

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

October 18:  Spirit Night at Burger King (Chantilly Pkwy)
October 20:  Blount Fall Festival at Thompson Park  4:30-7:30
October 26:  Spirit Night at Nancy's Italian Ice
November 1:  Deadline for Just Give Campaign

Last week Superintendent Barbara Thompson came to read to our sweet First Graders at Blount! She read one of our favorites…..Llama Llama Red Pajama!! She also got to see everyone looking their very best for picture day.  Room 123 has some pretty cool kids!!

Have a great week and please contact me with any questions!

Hugs!

Happy October!!

 

What an amazing weekend! I hope you were able to get outside and enjoy this wonderful weather! We had a busy weekend! We were able to spend all day Sunday with our extended family.  There are a lot of us and we always have the best time together!

{This is my mom’s side of our family!}

I want to thank the sweet moms of James, Katie, and Tate for coming in Thursday to take the class to lunch so that I could enjoy Teacher Treat day.  The food was great and it was a fun treat to eat with my friends.

Sorry for the late notice about team spirit day.  We didn’t find out about it until Wednesday.  Never fear, we always have a BIG team spirit day in November! I will tell you in plenty of time so everyone will have time to get their game day wear ready!!

Take a look at the spirit in Room 123 this week!

 

We had a busy week last week with our Dinosaurs unit. However, I think I may have learned more about Dinosaurs than the children.  These precious ones are smart!!!

LANGUAGE

Next week’s grammar rule will be Rule 7,  days of the week begin with a capital letter. We will also continue to practice all previous rules introduced. Everyone has been doing a fantastic job with their DOL! I am so proud of how quickly the children have gotten into the routine of first grade and adapted to the higher expectations. 

READING

Next week our whole group sound is /th/ as in the word the. We also work on some activities related to our name and how we got our names, we will even share any nicknames some of us may have! We will read one of my very favorite books Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes.  I just love this book!! If you haven’t ever read it I will be glad to share mine with you! It is precious!! Please watch for some homework you’ll need to assist your child with to come home on Tuesday.

We will have another unannounced word wall check in the coming weeks. Be sure your child can read all the word wall words that have been introduced this year.  They must read them instantly.  Word Wall Words are not meant to be sounded out.

MATH

We will begin Chapter 6 in math. I must say the children are doing a good job to have just started Math Facts in a Flash last week!! If you are having trouble logging in at home or need assistance in figuring out how to let your child practice their facts at home let me know.  I will be glad to help you!  If you signed up for the Ren Place Home Connect then you should receive an email each time your child takes an AR test or Math Facts in a Flash test.

AR Testing

Many of the children are so excited to read their books and take AR tests! I love to see this motivation and excitement!! Just let me know by putting a sticky note on their book if they are ready to test.  If you are still unsure if your child is ready to take an AR test or if you have questions about AR, please do not hesitate to contact me.  I will be more than happy to explain or talk you through any part of the AR program!

A Few Reminders

                               October 10:  No school (teacher in-service day)                              
October 11:  Spirit Night at Jason's Deli

October 17: Field Trip to

the pumpkin patch

(info coming soon)
October 18:  Spirit Night at Burger King
October 20:  Blount Fall Festival at Thompson Park  4:30-7:30
October 25:  Spirit Night at Nancy's Italian Ice
November 1:  Deadline for Just Give Campaign

I’ll be sending home another Scholastic Book Order this week. You may order online or you may still send in the paper order form if you want, it is due Thursday October 6^th. If you send in the paper form, you may write one check for all forms payable to Scholastic.

Have a wonderful week!!

Hugs!!