Happy New Year!

We had an amazing time in room 123 last week.  I was too excited to see all my sweet firsties on Wednesday morning. From the stories, drawings, talks, and such I think it is safe to say everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Well we are back in the saddle again and moving quite quickly.  We will complete the 2nd nine week grading period a week from Friday.  Be sure you are using your STI at home information to stay up on your child’s grades.  If you still do not have your username you can stop by the front office and they will give it to you.

Many, many thanks to all of you who sent in new supplies for your sweet little one to use.  New crayons, glue sticks, pencils, wet wipes, etc.  If you have not done so, please feel free to send those in as soon as you get a chance.

Did you get to read your child’s Writing Portfolio they brought home last week?  I hope you sat down with him/her and listened to them tell you all about it.  They were beside themselves when I told them they could take them home…….forever!  We started our 2nd semester Writing Portfolios, I would keep it in a safe place so when you get the next one you can see the growth and difference.  You will be amazed at what your little one has learned in first grade!

Read Well Unit 17, /ar/ as in Artic Animals

We will spend this week studying animals that live in the artic.  We will focus on three:  walrus, polar bear, and the penguin.

New Word Wall Words:  are & ask   We will have a comprehensive word wall test toward the end of the week.  The children should be able to read all word wall words introduced this year by sight.  No sounding out.

We will also be creating some Mental Images this week in our poetry journals.  It will be fun to see the different images that the children create based on their prior knowledge.

             

We will continue to work in Chapter 12 number patterns.  We will probably complete Chapter 12 on Wednesday or Thursday.  Watch for the practice page to come home.  We will test the following day.  Then we will move on to Chapter 8 Subtraction Practice.

In Language we will introduce two new rules, numbers 11 &15 on their DOL Language Rules sheet located in your child’s binder. 

Rule 11 – Some words take the place of names. (pronouns)

Rule 15 – A contraction is a short way to write two words.

We will be using these rules in our centers and our DOL throughout the week.  It is a very good idea to go over your child’s DOL each night AND the dictation of sounds and words that is located on the same page.

Tomorrow, Monday is Nancy’s Ice Day.  Send 1.00 if your child would like to order ice. PLEASE  LABEL ALL MONEY SEPERATELY!!!!!

Book orders came home Friday. Return money by Wednesday if interested. If you order on-line our code is GQY4J.

No school on Monday, January 16 in honor of the birthdays of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert E. Lee .

We are doing super in Room 123.  Thank you for sharing your most precious little one with me! I love coming to school each day and seeing their most precious faces and teaching them all I can.  I hope you and your family have a wonderful 2012 and that it is filled with love, learning, and time together as a family.

2012 Hugs!!