Monday Update...August 30th

I will post the Monday update each week on here, just in case the one I send home is misplaced.  This will exclude the birthday’s and Stellar Students due to student names.

What an amazing week we had last week. Our class is moving smoothly into a daily routine, where learning is our main goal! OPEN HOUSE is THURSDAY at 6:30, I will start promptly. Please come I have so much information to share and I will be able to answer all your questions!

· Check your child’s behavior passport in the last sleeve of their folder.

· ME BAGS were due today. Please help your child put theirs together and send in tomorrow. Include a photo of family, item representing hobby, favorite book, and any other item that is special.

If you have not done so please send in $5 for our first grade T-shirt and a spare set of clothes in a Ziploc baggie (which will be returned at the end of the year).

· Remember Monday and Friday is PE; please wear tennis shoes. Closed toes shoes must be worn every day! Students will check out library books on Thursday at Media. Get excited!

· On the newsletter are story words. Those words are words that if they know they will have an easier time reading their weekly story they take a comprehension test on. I put them in the newsletter so that you know they are getting exposed to them at school and are there if you want to have your child read them to you at home.

· On Friday I will assess their sight words week 2. Remember they do not get a grade each week, but I do highlight the words they KNOW in their HOME folder. Students do not need to spell these, like it says in the Homework expectations page in their HOME folder. They need to be able to look at the words and read it within 4 seconds.

· This Friday will be their first dictation. Refer to the newsletter to see the phonics skills and examples.

· Check your food for box tops. If you need me to resend the sheet with the products let me know.

· NO SCHOOL next MONDAY, September 6^th

SCHOOL WEBSITE: http://jbe.levyschools.org/r/home

THIS WILL USUALLY BE HALF A PAGE...I am “wordy” at the beginning of the year! See you all on THURSDAY at 6:30!!

Sweet Faces and Reading Centers

 

The class of 2010-2011 is the best class yet! I am loving their sweet faces!  This week the students participated in reading centers.  We had a writing center where they could color a picture then write a sentence about it.  Many student wrote about their families.  This first week back is rough for the students when they are use to spending their days with siblings and parents over the summer.  Another center was reading on the circle time rug.  The students enjoyed checking out some of the book bins we have in our class library.  They used letter presses and play dough to spell out words. The students were excited to show me their names stamped out. They will be excited to know I got another set of letters this weekend while down in Tampa visiting my family.    They also enjoyed a computer rotation on STARFALL.  Soon the students will be using the Earobics program, but students names are still be imputed and moved around from last years classes.  I enjoy these first few days when the students are meeting their new classmates and beginning to form friendships.

Writing Sentences!!

Reading GOOD books!

 

Making Words!

Enjoying Starfall!

Looking forward to this week and learning more about your little one and how they learn!

Check out the post below with this weeks happenings :)

What’s in store for next week?

FAIR Testing….We begin administering the Florida Assessment of Instruction in Reading.  This assessment will help Mrs. Inman and I put together our reading groups.  FAIR assesses the students ability to decode words accurately and fluently (smoothly yet quickly) while still understanding what they read by answering right there questions and questions that require inferring.  We will be assessing the students vocabulary as well during this first assessment window.  Some students will have further testing to see what we should be targeting during our small group time.  I am using our center time and our direct instruction writing time to administer the assessment.  All other instruction should remain intact.  Let me know if you have any questions. 

Remember Me Bag’s are due Monday if your child has not brought one in.  The items to be included are below. 

1. a family picture

2. an item to represent your child’s favorite hobby

3. your child’s favorite book

4. any other interesting item that your child would like to share.

 

OPEN HOUSE is Thursday at 6:30 PM in our classroom.  Attending is extremely important because it the one time I can explain things and it gives you all the chance to ask your burning questions about the school year. 

Friday will be the first official dictation assessment with short a and e cvc words.

EX. fat, jet, sad, hen

I am sure I am forgetting something it has been an exciting but tiresome week.  Have a safe and fun weekend with your families!

We Have the Best Class!

What an amazing first day we had!  Here are some things we learned and did:

• We learned about our school’s Positive Behavior Support ABC’s
• They were introduced to what a syllable is and how many syllables we have in our name
• Participated in daily data and helped complete our math wall
• We read about a teacher who had first day jitters and discovered many of us felt the same way
• We sang the beloved ABC song to begin refreshing those letter sounds.
• We talked about things we like to do.  Many students love to play with their pets, friends and participate in sports. 
• We read how Chester raccoon’s mother loved him so much she told him the secret of the kissing hand.  Chester’s mothers love made him feel good about going off to school! 
• Got to meet the our new PE coach…Coach Griffith!  Look for a handout she has prepared for you all in your child’s home folder tomorrow night. 

I can’t wait to get tomorrow started!  Look for your child’s HOME folder tomorrow night, because it has many important things in it. 

Meet the Teacher

We had a great turn out at “Meet the Teacher!”  Thirteen students came out to meet me and get aquatinted with our classroom.  Once they completed the classroom scavenger hunt they knew where many important things were.  Meeting the students gets me even more pumped to get the year started.  Next week will be busy for the little ones but full of fun and new friendships!  First day here we come!

Is it time already?

Is it time for new Crayola crayons to be put out and names to be written on name tags? 

Our school theme is “Get Wild About Learning” again and each hallway chose a habitat last year.  Our hallway was the tropical islands last year, and even though I am the only one still around from that vote  I decided to keep it the same in front of our room.   I have a new set of starfish of course, that I cannot wait to meet next Friday at Meet the Teacher! 

Now as you step into the room you enter a different world.  A world of sports, primary colors and all things TEAM!!  

Come on in for a look!

Put your book bag up in the Locker Room first!

Find your seat!

Check out the library !

Come sit and enjoy a story in our new reading corner on the “big summer purchase” a cute classroom rug.  We are ready to add things to our reading wall and pick out good fit books for our green book bags so we can begin learning how to read to self with stamina!

Class computers with hopefully 2 more for our center rotations.  Above the computers will be our writing area.  The trash can is for “outlaw words” such as, like and love when we learn how to write with varied sentence structure. 

A new place to display student work over the other computer table.  I used the cabinets to display work last year but I want to put their self portraits there this year.  So the cabinets will be bare until the students arrive.  I did add picture labels to drawers  so the students can find different class supplies they need.  

Something new and really exciting for our class is in this box!        Do you know what could be in it?

A SMART BOARD!!!!!!

         

Which will hopefully go right under the overhead screen.  Once the SMART board is in place I will put my magnetic word wall back up to the left.  I just hope maintenance gets it up next week because I have big plans for it. 

 

My big plans are to do my math calendar time on the SMART board which would mean I could take down most of this wall for other Anchor charts we make through out the year.  So this area is a big work in progress, hanging on the chance the SMART board gets mounted next week! 

 

I can’t wait to meet my 18 first grade little darlings next Friday at MEET THE TEACHER from 10-12.