I want to thank any and all parents who attended the Parent Meeting last Wednesday. It was a huge success. There will be a meeting each month. These meets will be very beneficial to you as a parent so that you know what is going on in the building with the students, the staff, and the curriculum. If you were in the groups who were able to visit my room, I hope you were pleasantly surprise by our amazing first graders. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me or ask me at student pick up. I am here for you.
To be completely transparent, I am not in the building on Monday, October 3. I needed to help my oldest child with something in Colorado Springs. She is a cadet at the United States Air Force Academy. She doesn’t ask much of use as parents, but needed us this Monday. I will be back on Tuesday, October 4th and quickly bring myself up to speed on anything that occurred in my absence.
- Monday, October 3 – Thursday, October 6 – Spelling Homework – Last week we practiced each day and expectation together. This is the first week for your child to complete the activities at home. Please use both the front and back of each page. This will conserve paper and make the booklet last longer. Please monitor spelling and printing. Return to school on Friday morning.
- Friday, October 6 – This is a half day of school with the release at 12:05. It is also a Pajama Day for a fundraiser. Donate $1 and wear pajamas all day.
English Language Art (ELA)
Spelling
We took our first spelling test last week. Your child will have 2 grades. The first grade will be for the spelling itself. It will be written as the total correct over the total amount of words. Remember, there will always be 3 words that match the spelling pattern that we did not learn. Those are called cold words. They show whether or not your child understands the spelling patterns learned and can apply them to make new words. There is also a printing grade. On the report card it falls under L1.1 This is graded as a 1, 2, 3, or 4. It is similar to the report card. 1 exceeding expectations of a first grader, 2 meeting expectations, 3 progressing, and 4 concern. Our goal it to show change over time and improvement in the area. Remember, printing is our way to publish for others to read. It is important that your child becomes fast and flexible with printing the correct way.
Reading
We have started Unit 1 Benchmark. We are annotating text together. We are doing shared reading and writing in our Unit 1 Benchmark booklet. Unit 1 is about how living things grow and change.
Starting this week I will start meeting with small groups for guided reading instruction. This instruction will be at your child’s reading level as indicated on the Developmental Reading Assessment. Your child will have a book bag and a book inside. Please sit with your child and allow them to read to you. Then sign their Literacy Log card and send both the book and card back to school the next day. By working together, your child will make the most progress.
Writer’s Workshop
We had a 5 day write last week to get an initial writing score. We will start Writer’s Workshop instruction this week. We will be taking a topic from ideas, on a Circle Map, to a published piece. This takes time. I will keep you posted on the progress.
Math
This week we are working with the equal sign. REALLY, it is a symbol used for algebraic express of an equation to show that both sides are balanced or they are the same. Kind of crazy to think that your first grader is doing basic algebra.
Social Studies
My goal last week was to discuss power with authority and power without authority. Things always take a bit long and sometimes our plans get pushed back a bit. We will be discussing this concept in Social Studies this week.
Science
Science is actually meshing with our Unit 1 benchmark. Last week, we learned that living things have a life cycle. We learned about a frog and the life cycle of a frog. This week we will learn that plants, specifically an oak tree, has a life cycle too.