Mrs. Klan's First Grade

Hello, Families!
Wow! I cannot believe December is only a couple days away. We have a few weeks before our winter break, so we will be working vigorously until then 🙂 Many of the students are asking to borrow books from my personal library. I want to encourage them to read at home and I am so glad that they are enthusiastic about books. I just ask that you please take care of the books, as I am hoping they will last for many years 🙂 Here are our spelling words this week:
Spelling Words:

1. fish

2. wish

3. push

4. fresh

5. wash

6. mash

7. so

8. do

9. find

10. three

Math: We will be starting our unit on measurement, so please help your child measure things around your home, as this will give them great practice. Also, please continue to practice counting change money and telling time.

Social Studies: We are talking about needs, wants, goods, and services.

Science: We are studying seasons, changes in weather, severe weather, and weather instruments.

As always, it is so important that you read with your child each evening. I promise this is the best way to improve in all subject areas.
Let’s have a great week!

Hello Families,
We will not have a spelling test this week. I hope your holiday is restful, happy, and spent with your loved ones. I am sending home plenty of new books that your children have chosen to read over the break. This will help us keep the momentum going, and is a wonderful activity to do together.

Tomorrow is Game Day and Pajama day (they must bring in a dollar to wear pajamas). They may bring in a toy or game from home with your approval. They are responsible for making sure that their game is not lost or damaged. Thank You!!

Hello Families,
I am really enjoying getting to know you during Parent Teacher Conference week(s). Please look for an appointment reminder this week, and if the time is not convenient, please contact me to reschedule. Here are our spelling words this week:

Spelling

Words

1. she

2. shop

3. shut

4. show

5. ship

6. shout

7. him

8. he

9. us

10. on

We are working on telling time to the hour and half-hour, so if you would like your child to bring a clock home to practice, please ask. Also, please start practicing counting change (coin money) at home, as this will really make this concept easier for him/her.

Here are some great Math and Reading Websites to try at home: abcya.com, starfall.com, softschools.com

Have a Great Week!

Hello Families!
I cannot believe it is November already. I am really enjoying watching your children grow, especially in Reading. I will continue to stress the importance of having your child read from his/her bag of books each evening. I am sure most of you have noticed higher leveled books are continuing to come home, which is AWESOME!! Your children are learning so many reading strategies to help themselves when they are stuck. Here are some of them that they should try before you jump in to help them:
1. Say each sound slowly at first then faster (blend the sounds)
2. Check the picture for help
3. Look for chunks in each word (er, ing, ar, th)
4. Skip the word and come back to it
5. Reread

Your child may bring home a math or reading center game. Please help your child play this game or complete this activity. They must return the game as it was (neatly), because other children will take it home another day.

Here are this week’s words. I noticed that many children had trouble on last week’s test. I give the students many opportunities to practice their words in school, but many of them need extra practice at home. I am not as concerned about spelling the word correctly as I am about them learning and applying the spelling pattern. For example, if they can spell sat, then they can spell hat and splat using the at chunk.

Conferences are coming up, so I will be sending reminders home very soon. If you are unable to meet at your appointment time, please contact me so we can set something up. I want to meet with all of you 🙂

Have a wonderful week!

Hello Families! Here are this week’s spelling words:
Spelling

Words

1. far

2. park

3. farm

4. car

5. are

6. star

7. come

8. blue

9. here

10. help

It seems that many students are forgetting to complete or submit homework. Please encourage your child to be responsible about doing his/her homework and putting it in his/her folder to return to school. Our homework always reinforces what we are doing in class and is a great way to teach responsibility. I will be sending some children home with a math or reading center. I will have to rotate the centers, so your child will not bring one home every night. Please take time to play the math game or complete the reading center with your child. These activities will hopefully be fun for you and your child and also provide an opportunity for him/her to strengthen skills in these areas.

I will send information about our Fall Celebration early this week.

Until soon…Mrs. Klan 🙂

Hello Families!
Thank you to all parents who joined us on our trip to Erwin’s Orchards. We had a fabulous time! Here are our spelling words for the week:

Spelling

Words

1. red

2. bed

3. sled

4. men

5. then

6. when

7. not

8. one

9. my

10. me

Math: Please work with your children on counting by 2’s and fives. These are skills that will help them learn many math concepts such as telling time and counting money. Please see me if you would like ideas about how to practice this.

Science: We are going to be testing objects to see if they sink or float this week. It should be loads of fun, and they will learn about buoyancy!

Social Studies: We are wrapping up our unit on learning about the past, present, and future.

Reading: Please practice reading with your child every night. When he/she gets “stuck” on a word, encourage him/her to look at the picture, blend the sounds, and think about what would make sense.

Have a great week!

Hello Families! I hope you are all enjoying this beautiful weather we are having. Let’s hope that it stays warm and dry for our field trip this Thursday. Here are our spelling words for the week:

1. bug

2. hug

3. rug

4. sun

5. fun

6. run

7. we

8. little

9. down

10. see

All of the students are doing so well on their spelling tests, so keep up the great work at home. Please also continue to read with your child each evening. The books in their bag are at their level and will allow them to practice the strategies that we are learning in class. When your child is “stuck” on a word, encourage him/her to look at the picture for clues and then “stretch” the sounds. They should say each sound in the word slowly at first and then at a faster pace. We are aiming for independence 🙂

Here is a fantastic website for your child to play math games : abcya.com

Have a great week!

Hello Families! We have a short week, so enjoy the well-deserved time with friends and family. Please find time to have your child read to you from his/her bag of books. This will make it easier for them once they return to keep their stamina and momentum going. We will not have a spelling test until next Friday, but here are the words anyway. Most of the children spelled like rock stars on Friday’s test 🙂 Keep up the great work at home. This group is so smart and I am so excited for them to take on all the new learning. Your support and reinforcement at home is so important and so appreciated. Thank You for all that you do to enhance their learning and growth.
Spelling Words

1. kid

2. hid

3. rid

4. pig

5. wig

6. big

7. it

8. in

9. said

10. for

Greetings, Families!
I am so excited to be your child’s first grade teacher. We are already getting to know one another and I know we have a great group this year! I will do my best to share information on my blog, but please never hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. Here are some updates:

Reading Bags: Your child will bring home a reading bag every night and he/she is expected to practice reading the books in there each evening. I am just beginning to assess the students and very soon, the number of books will be increasing. Please try to listen as your child reads and (I know this is hard), but try not to interrupt the reading to “help out” or correct his/her “mistakes.” We are aiming for independence, so let him or her use the clues from the pictures, blend the sound, and think about what is happening in the story (these are all strategies we are working on) before you jump in and help. If you have any questions about the book level or ways to help your child at home, I am ALWAYS available to you.

Spelling: We start spelling this week. Please see the note about spelling that will be sent home on Monday. Here are this week’s words: ran, can, van, map, tap, cap, the, to, and, you

We are trying to help the children see the “an” and “ap” word patterns so that they can apply it to spelling other words such as : plan, fan, stand, snap, trap etc.

Homework: Beginning on Monday, your child will have homework each evening. It will always be a skill that we are working on in class. I NEVER want this to be a stressful experience for you or your child. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. Completing and submitting homework is a great way to practice being responsible

We have been talking a lot about our classroom rules and procedures this week. I expect the children to be kind to one another and to me, which means they are using their manners and speaking nicely to others. I have talked to them about inviting others to play at recess, as I do not allow them to exclude others. Please help reinforce acts of kindness, using manners, and speaking nicely to others. Our classroom is a happy, productive, and safe place for your child and others.

Snack: Please continue to send a healthy snack to school with your child. I usually have Cheerios for those who do not have a snack, but I sometimes run out 🙂

Thank You!

Hello Families, here are a few updates:

Homework: Please continue to make completing and submitting homework a priority. Some children are forgetting their writing notebooks or math homework at home, and I ask them to complete it in class. I give them these assignments for several reasons. It teaches them to take ownership of a responsibility and it reinforces the skills we are learning about in class. This is also one way to communicate what we are working on during the day.

Reading from our bag of books: As always, this is something I take very seriously. I cannot stress enough how important it is for your child to read each evening. It helps them practice all of the strategies that we introduce in class and gives them opportunities to build stamina and fluency. I am beginning to test the children on their reading levels and I have been so proud of their progress so far! Keep up the awesome work.

Bake Sale: Some of the notes that went home had the wrong date. The bake sale is on Friday, April 24th.

Have a great weekend!