Hello First Families!

Please check the sign up genius for our gingerbread celebration this Friday.

First Grade Families,

I have sent out a Sign Up Genius for our holiday party.  We will be making gingerbread houses on December 18th.

We are in need of the following items:

playdough (homemade or store bought)

dry erase markers

glue sticks

Thank you in advance for any donations you are able to make.  We truly appreciate everything!

First Grade Families,

I would like to start motor moms/dads soon.  This activity will be on Friday afternoons.  I have one parent who has volunteered, but I need one more.  Please email or send me a note if you are interested in helping.

Thanks!

Hello First Grade Families!

Winter is here and the students need to be dressed for the weather.  Please make sure that you are sending your child with boots, snow pants (when we have snow), winter coat, hats and mittens or gloves.  It is also important to have your child practice getting their winter gear on quickly.  We will be going outside two times a day as long as it is not too cold.  Please make sure to label everything with your child’s first and last name to prevent items from getting lost or mixed up.  It is also helpful to send your child with a large bag to store their winter clothing when we are in the classroom.  Boots tend to get slushy and wet.  Please send an extra pair of shoes so that your child does not track the wet, winter mess into our classroom.  If your child will be wearing shoes or boots with laces, please practice tying together.  It is important for you child to be able to take care of themselves as much as possible when they are at school.

Thanks for your help and Happy Thanksgiving!!!

The following are some websites to help strengthen first grade reading and math skills.

MyOn Reading – This is to strengthen reading.  Students have taken an online reading test through the program and filled out an interest survey.  They have books that are in their own “library” and there are quizzes at the end.  The district has bought subscriptions for every student so all you have to do is go to the website and then look for DuVall.  Fill in their user name which is their student number (listed on their report card) and the password is their birthdate; two digits for month, two digits for day, and four digits for years.  For example, if your child’s birthday is January 5, 2009 their code would be 01052009.

MobyMax – This is to strengthen reading and math.  The district has bought subscriptions for every student so all you have to do is go to the website and then look for DuVall.  Fill in their user name which is their student number (listed on their report card) and the password is their birthdate; two digits for month, two digits for day, and four digits for years.  For example, if your child’s birthday is January 5, 2009 their code would be 01052009.

NWEA Games – this is made by the NWEA and there are different games your child can play to help strengthen their skills.

IXL – you will have to pay, but it does have the required knowledge for first grade and the children can be tested similar to the NWEA so they will learn computer testing skills.

NEED TO KNOW:

• There is no school 11/25-11/27
• The DuVall pledge is at the end of the blog if you would like to practice it with your child.

SPELLING:  Since we only have 2 days of school, we will not have spelling words until after the Thanksgiving recess.

WRITING:  We have started our unit on opinion writing.  We have a published a piece on the story, “Duck! Rabbit!”.  This writing will be in the hallway.

READING:  All students should be bringing their book bag home every day and the book bag needs to come back to school the next day.  Every child needs to read the books in their bag at home, even if they have read it before.  Rereading books helps with a child’s fluency. During our reading lessons we are learning:  how to read for punctuation and how to pay attention to interesting words.

MATH:  We will continue working on number stories.  The students will learn to use manipulatives to act out the problems, draw a picture, construct a number sentence and orally explain their thinking when they solve the problem.

SOCIAL STUDIES:  Our focus in this unit is how the needs and wants of the family are met.

Here is the DuVall Pledge:

I am a DuVall Student

I am honest and courteous.

I respect myself and others.

I am responsible, I do my work every day.

I have integrity, I make the right choices.

I value diversity and I am a peacemaker.

I am a good citizen and I am a lifelong learner.

HOORAY FOR ME!

HOORAY FOR DUVALL!

I AM A BUCKET FILLER!

Translation of this blog can come from the link on the right side of the screen.

Hello First Grade Families!

The spelling words for next week are “all” words.  Here is the list: all, fall, tall, ball, small, hall.

I wanted to clarify a few things on the spelling homework.  The homework is meant to teach the students responsibility.  It should not take very long to complete.  On the word hunt the students should be looking in their reading bag books to try and find their words.  If they cannot find them it is fine to just put a zero.  Please do not spend hours trying to find their words in print.

     NEED TO KNOW:

• Our class Halloween party is Friday, October from 2:15-3:25 in room 102. The parade will be starting at 2.  Please make sure your child has their costumes in bags.  They will put their costumes on after lunch.
• There is no school on Tuesday, November 3^rd due to voting day. There is a ½ day on Friday, November 6^th for records day.
• We are coming to the end of our Social Studies unit, “How Do We Learn About the Past?”
• The DuVall pledge is at the end of the blog if you would like to practice it with your child.

SPELLING:  We are working on the “ar” chunk!  The words for the week are: car, are, art, far, star, yard

WRITING:  We just completed our “past, present, future” writing.  These stories will be hung in the hallway outside our classroom.  We will begin a short writing piece about things that we are thankful to have in our lives.

READING:  All students should be bringing their book bag home every day and the book bag needs to come back to school the next day.  Every child needs to read the books in their bag at home, even if they have read it before.  Rereading books helps with a child’s fluency. During our reading lessons we are learning:  how to read for punctuation and how to pay attention to interesting words.  We are also using our strategies that we have learned to help ourselves when we read.  Please do not stop your child every time he/she makes an error.  We want the students to monitor their own reading.  After the reading is finished, you can ask your child to go back to the page where he/she made a mistake.  Tell them that they got “tricked” and will need to reread carefully.  If they continue to make an error, direct them to look at the letters in the word, check the picture, reread and try the word out.  We want the students to use the visual information in the words along with the meaning of the story in the pictures to decode unknown words.  The rereading helps them to remember what the story is about.

MATH:  We will be working on story problems as well as using the number line for addition.  The students have also taken their first timed fluency test this week.  They had to complete 30 addition problems in 5 minutes.  We will continue these tests so that the students become fluent in basic math facts from zero to ten.

SCIENCE:   We are beginning to study Matter and Magnets.

SOCIAL STUDIES:  We are wrapping up our first unit, “How Do We Learn About the Past?”

Here is the DuVall Pledge:

I am a DuVall Student

I am honest and courteous.

I respect myself and others.

I am responsible, I do my work every day.

I have integrity, I make the right choices.

I value diversity and I am a peacemaker.

I am a good citizen and I am a lifelong learner.

HOORAY FOR ME!

HOORAY FOR DUVALL!

I AM A BUCKET FILLER!