Dear First Grade Families,

Over the next three weeks, we will be assigning work and monitoring learning on the following websites:

www.kidsa-z.com (RazKids)
www.zearn.org

Please make sure your child is logging on to these websites EVERY day.  Students are required to:

*Read at least 1 book from the “level up” section on Raz Kids each day.  They will listen to the story, read it themselves, and then answer questions to complete the assignment.  That means that they will complete at least 5 books each week.

*Complete a minimum of FOUR math lessons each week on Zearn.  Each lesson takes approximately 20-30 minutes. The first math module is on Shapes.

If you do not have reliable internet access or a computer, Comcast is offering free internet for 90 days.  They are also offering a deal to buy a computer for $99 for all students in the Dearborn Public School District.  We encourage all families to help one another to access the internet so that all students are able to continue their learning online.

If you need your child’s username or password for their Raz Kids and Zearn accounts, please contact your child’s teacher via email.

Mrs. Stanford: stanfoa@dearbornschools.org

Mrs. Alawy: alawym@dearbornschools.org

Mrs. Shell: shelld@dearbornschools.org

Mrs. Neuenschwander: neuensb@dearbornschools.org

Please contact your child’s teacher if you have any questions or concerns and we will do our best to help you. 

We will be checking our email daily and monitoring students’ usage on the above websites. 

Continue to read each day.  Encourage your child to write summaries of the books that they read- even the books they read on Raz Kids!

Thank you for your patience as we continue to work to provide the best for our students,
First Grade Teachers

Open House will be on Wednesday, September 11th from 6-7:30pm. Parents are welcome to come check out our classroom, see what we have been working on, and ask me any questions you may have! I am looking forward to seeing everyone!

Today all the students in the classroom came home with a brand new Scholastic book for them to keep!  This summer, our classroom was lucky enough to receive donations to provide every student with a new month each month!  This month the book that the students received was “Duck on a Bike,” by David Shannon.  We read it together in class today and loved it!  Everyone seemed to especially enjoy the silly picture with all of the animals riding the bikes.  It took us a minute to find the mouse! 🙂  Please read and enjoy this story at home with your child.  Here are some activities you can do at home while reading the book:

*Have your child retell you the story in their own words.

*Haave your child tell you what their favorite part is and why.

*Talk about the -ck pattern at the end of words like duck.  Make a list of more -ck words (truck, sock, quack, wick).

Happy Reading!

Hello!  My name is Mrs. Stanford and this will be my second year teaching first grade in the Dearborn Public Schools District.  I have 8 years of previous teaching experience in other districts. It has been so WONDERFUL getting to know all of my amazing new students for this school year!  We have been working so hard getting to know our new routines, procedures, and the expectations for first grade.  I am proud of all of my students!  Yesterday, a classroom syllabus was sent home that goes over the curriculum, classroom expectations, and other important school information.  Please make sure you read it, and feel free to ask me any questions that you may have.  I am so EXCITED to spend this year watching my students grow and learn together.  I know it is going to be a fantastic year! 🙂

Lowrey is having it’s annual Ramadan Food Drive.  It will run until Thursday May 10^th. That gives us 5 school days to collect as much nonperishable food items as possible for families in our community who are fasting and having difficulty feeding their families. Our goal is that each student bring in a minimum of 5 food items.  Please make sure the food items are not perishable or expired.  We can not serve these items to our families. I thank you in advance for your generosity and compassionate hearts!

The first graders will be performing their Frog and Toad Music Concert on Wednesday, May 2nd at 1:30pm.  Please arrive early as we will be starting promptly at 1:30pm.  The first graders have been working so hard in music class learning all these new songs.  Please come and support their hard work if you are able.  We hope to see you there! 🙂

Hi!  On Friday, December 22nd, we will be having a holiday celebration.  Thank you to all the families that have already donated $3 towards our party.  We will be decorating sugar cookies, having pizza and juice, and playing Holiday Bingo (among other fun activities).  The students are really looking forward to it!

We will be having a coloring book exchange on Friday as well.  If you have not already, please send in a new coloring book wrapped in your favorite holiday paper.  FIll out the “from” but not the “to.”  All students that bring in a wrapped coloring book will receive one.

Winter Break begins after Friday.  We will have two weeks off.  A holiday break homework packet will be given to students on THURSDAY to complete over the two weeks we are off.

Have a great day! 🙂

We will be practicing and building upon the following skills this week:

Reading: decoding words, beginning & end sounds, the -ar word family, making connections, comprehension strategies

Math: addition strategies, even and odd numbers, answering questions about bar graphs

Writing: personal narratives, capital letters, punctuation marks, complete/incomplete sentences

Science: the five senses, sound, pitch, volume

Reading  Bags:

1. Reading book bags will go home daily.  Students will receive 3-5 new books per week.

2. Students must read books for 15 minutes or more per night.

3. Students will complete a reading assignment daily in class.  If they do not finish the assignment in class, it should be finished at home.

4. Book logs should be signed daily by parents.

Hello!  This is just a friendly reminder that Friday, October 13 is a half day of school.  Students will be dismissed at 11:10am.  Thank you! 🙂