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!!

So long September!

It is hard to believe this is the last week in September! Room 123 has been an extremely busy place this past month.  Thank you so much for your support of all that goes on in our school and in our classroom.  Take a look at what is going on this week.

READING

Our whole group sound will be /d/ as in dinosaur.  We will spend time learning  new facts about some of our favorite dinosaurs.  This is a review week for word wall words.  Your child should be able to read all of the word wall words to date without hesitation.  Remember word wall words should not be sounded out but memorized and read without any hesitation.  We will have unannounced word wall checks three times during the nine weeks.  All groups should have at least 2  homework story pages by now.  Do not remove homework stories, the children will need these for partner reading.  Practice these as often as possible as part of the 20 minutes of reading. Old homework stories should also be read, research shows repeated readings is one of the best ways to improve fluency and increase comprehension.  Homework stories should be read  fluently (at smooth rate) and accurately (no mistakes while reading the passage).

Many of the children have been taking AR tests! Please continue to send in a note letting me know when your child is ready to take a test.

MATH

We will continue in Chapter 5 and test at the end of the week.  Just look for the review sheet, it does not have to be returned.  We will also continue with our number sense activities.  This week I will introduce Math Fact in a Flash to the children. Math Facts in a Flash is a computer program that quizzes the children on their math facts(beginning with addition) and times them at the same time. Please watch for a detailed letter to come home explaining Math Facts in a Flash.  I hope you read your Home Connect letter that gave you your child’s user name and password to use so you may view and receive by email each time your child takes an AR test or Math Facts Test.  If you are unsure how to do this please contact me and I will help you! I really encourage the children to practice their Math Fact at home because it will help them to memorize their facts instead of counting on their fingers.

LANGUAGE

I am introducing our next grammar rule tomorrow, specific places begin with a capital letter.  Once a rule is introduced we will continue to practice it in sentences.

A Few Reminders

• Nancy’s Italian Ice will be served EVERY Monday beginning tomorrow. YAY!! That will be so much easier to remember!!  Please send in $1 labeled Ice if you want your child wants one.  Flavor choices are Cool Blue and Birthday Cake.

• If your child is absent, please send me an email letting me know.  We are required to document that we’ve made contact with you if your child is out.  An email will really be helpful so that I don’t have to make a phone call during our busy day.  THANKS!

• Our Just Give campaign has been extended to November 1.  Also if you haven’t joined the PTA please do so.  The children will be looking for the 100% to go up by our class name in the lunchroom when everyone has joined.  Membership is $10.

• Our Fall Festival is scheduled for October.  This is a really fun event.  Wristbands can be preordered until October 13th, t-shirts can be ordered until October 1.  These t-shirts can be worn as Spirit wear on Friday.

Have a wonderful week and please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.  Thank you for sharing your greatest blessings with me!

Hugs!

Yummy! Yummy! Applesauce!

Happy Monday!

I hope everyone had a great weekend! We spent a lot of time outside enjoying the cooler temperatures.  Room 123 was smelling yummy on Friday! We made applesauce and the children loved it!! So.much.fun!!!! This week promises to be just as busy as last week! Take a look!

Language

We will continue to work on grammar rules: capital letters at the beginning of the sentence, and periods at the end. Our new rule is the names of people and pets always begin with capital letters.     

Reading

Our whole group reading is /a/ as in apple.  We will continue doing lots of apple related things this week.  We will also learn about John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed) the “father” of apples.

Please refer to the Word Wall Sheet in the take home folder for this week’s words.

We had a good week of learning our reading work station rotations and the children really seemed to enjoy it.  Everyone has a job whether it’s with me in my group or independently around the room.  This will be our routine for reading each day.

Please continue to send me a note if your child is ready to take an AR test. 

Math

In math we will finish up Chapter 2 and test on it Thursday.  Look for the review sheet to come home Wednesday.  Along with working through the math book we will also work with games and manipulatives  to help build their number sense.  I found this definition of number sense that I thought you may find helpful.

“Number sense refers to a person's general understanding of number and operations along with the ability to use this understanding in flexible ways to make mathematical judgments and to develop useful strategies for solving complex problems.”

I will introduce different games using dominos, dice, decks of cards and other manipulatives.  We will use these activities in groups and then they will be added to our math work stations for future use by the children during math work stations.

Science / Social Studies

We will continue working on our Apples unit and Johnny Appleseed

Reminders

New Policy on Absences

If your child is absent, please call the office at 244-0078 to let the secretary know of the absence or, send me an email letting me know of the absence.  If your phone number is  local you will still get the computer generated phone call alerting you about your child's absence.   If I don’t hear from you I will have to call you during the day asking about the absence.  Our day is quite full and finding that time to make a phone call is going to be difficult. This is a new policy from Montgomery Public Schools.  Thank you for helping me out with this new policy.

Nancy’s Italian Ice will be back Monday SEPTEMBER 26.  Your child will need $1 to purchase a Little Owl.  They are YUMMY!!!

Spirit night at Burger King on September 20th.

Box Tops due September 30th

Room 123 is an amazing place to be each day! I feel so very blessed to work with these precious children.  We are off to a wonderful start! Thank you parents for all your help and encouragement as we begin the exciting journey of First Grade! Please contact me if you have any questions about anything.  I am here to help!

Big Hugs!!

Weekly News

I hope you were all able to enjoy this amazing weather this weekend! We are going to have a super busy week filled with lots of fun and learning in Room 123!

READING

We will begin our small groups and I will also explain the Reading Stations to the children. We will most likely spend Monday and Tuesday practicing our rotations and making sure everyone knows where to go and what to do while I am working with small groups.  Please look for a Read Well homework story to come home on Wednesday. 

Several children have been asking me about taking Accelerated Reader tests.  I normally do not start letting the children take AR tests until the second nine weeks.  However, if your child would like to take AR tests then I will allow them to start this nine weeks.  This is not at all required right now.  Later on in the year I will require that the children take a certain number of tests per week depending on their reading level.  For those who would like to go ahead and begin taking tests please make sure your child can read the book independently.   They should read the book three times, for one of the readings I would encourage you to read the book to them. When they are ready if you would simply write me a quick note saying they are ready to take a test on their book.  Right now I will be assisting the children as they take tests, so they may not take it the day they bring me the note.  After they take their test I will let them go to the library and check out another book.  Our class library day is every Tuesday.  So everyone can get a new book each Tuesday regardless as to if they have taken an AR test or not.  I will be sending home STAR Reading Reports tomorrow that the children took on the computer last week.   These reports will tell you exactly what level books will help your child become a better reader.  If you have any questions about AR, the STAR Reading Reports, or Read Well please do not hesitate to ask me!

Our focus sound for this week is Mm as in monkey.  Our word wall words this week are me, our, pretty, going, ate.

During our DOL we will continue to focus on capitalization at the beginning of a sentence and a period at the end of a sentence that tells us something.

MATH

We will continue to work on addition in Chapter 1.  Please look at your child’s homework page in their take home notebook as to what lesson we complete each day.  Remember that the night before our math test I will send home the review page out of their math workbook.  That will be a reminder to you that our test is the next day.  The homework review page does not have to be returned, it is simply for review in preparation for the test.

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES

We will continue our APPLE unit, please send in an apple on Wednesday. 

IN OTHER NEWS

This week we will rotate our specialists.  Our class will now go to Coach Rader for PE for the next three weeks.

Tomorrow (Monday) is our first day to purchase Nancy's Italian Ice as a refreshing sweet treat.  A variety of flavors will be sold for $1.00.  Italian ice will be sold every other Monday. This is a school fundraiser not a PTA fundraiser. 

Thank you to everyone who ordered Scholastic Books, they should be here by the beginning of next week.

IMPORTANT DATES:
August 22-October 7:  PTA membership drive

September 12: Nancy’s Italian Ice $1.00 for sale during school.

September 13:  Spirit Night at Jason's Deli

September 20:  Spirit Night at Burger King on Chantilly

September 26: Nancy’s Italian Ice $1.00 for sale during school.

September 28:  Spirit Night at Nancy's Italian Ice 

Can’t wait to see all my sweet firsties in the morning! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

Hugs!