Congratulations to the first graders! Thank you for a wonderful year!

Thank you so much for a wonderful year. This video is part of my gift to you and the children. I hope you enjoy it! Please feel free to share this link with family and friends. Have a wonderful summer! - Kristin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luk8M_UYaic&feature=youtu.be

June updates

We are very busy these last few weeks of school and having a lot of fun wrapping up the year.  I did not send a note about this, but I didn't send home a fact practice sheet this week for homework.  Their math worksheets and reading log are due this Friday. We will be having our last spelling test this Friday as well.  As a reminder, our first grade class picnic is on MONDAY JUNE 16TH FROM 11 - 12 PM.  We really hope that you will be able to join us.  Please plan on bringing a picnic lunch for you and your child and a blanket or towel to sit on.  We will start in the classroom with a end of year celebration and then move to the garden in back of the school, where we will all have a picnic lunch together, followed by a BIG sheet cake for dessert.  Please let me know if you wont be able to attend so we can make plans to have your child buddy up with a friend! Thanks so much.  

May 18, 2014

We have been getting ready for our upcoming performance of “The Weather Show”.  The children are doing a fantastic job learning all of the songs and working on their lines.  We were able to practice on the stage for the first time on Friday and it went very well.  We will not be sending home the songs or scripts so we don’t spoil the surprise of the show! If your child is worried about learning their lines, please send me an e-mail and we will find a way to fit in extra practice time. Everyone is part of the performance and has a song on stage or lines to read.  We will be keeping costumes and props very simple as we have 75 students in this performance.  We will let you know what the kids should plan on wearing by the end of this week. 

In math, we have completed our units on Time and Measurement over the past few weeks and are currently working on data and graphing. We are reading short chapter books and working on reading for meaning.  We are writing reviews and have been working on catchy introductions and conclusions.  We will be starting our butterfly unit this week!  This is a very busy and exciting time of year for all of us. Thank you for helping your child come to school each day prepared and ready to learn.  I appreciate all that you do to encourage and support them. They are a great group of kids!

April 27, 2014

  Thank you for joining us for our celebration today. We had a great time playing math games with you and showing off our math skills. We have been working hard on adding and subtracting tens and we hope you could see how well we are doing with this!  I am really proud of the children and the progress they have made in math.  Thank you to the parents that supplied our refreshments and our room parents for coordinating this as well.

We have started to prepare for our first grade play “The Weather Show”. You are invited to join us on Thursday May 29^th at 2:15 for this performance.  The kids brought home a note in their folders about this on Friday. We will also be having our first grade picnic on Monday June 16^th from 11 – 12pm. We hope you will be able to join us for these events.  

I also wanted to let you know that Mrs. Delaney, our classroom aide, will be moving to a new classroom at Eagle this week and Mrs. Dorsey will be joining us.  We will miss having Mrs. Delaney with us each day but she promises to stop by and say hello when she can! We would like to welcome Mrs. Dorsey to our classroom. Many of the children remember her from Kindergarten.  We are happy that she will be with us! 

Welcome back!

Welcome back from Spring Break! I hope you and your families have had a great week. We have a lot to look forward to at school over the next few months. 

Our next class celebration will be THIS FRIDAY – April 25^th from 2:30 – 3:15. We invite you to come in and play math games with us! Please send me an e-mail letting me know if you will be able to attend. Thanks! 

Our May and June class celebration dates will be changing and I will let you know more about this VERY SOON. 

Please check out the Eagle home page for important information about this week in which we will be honoring Earth Day and Healthy Kids week.  There is a context for bringing in a “litter less lunch”. 

Jump Rope For Heart deadline is Monday April 28^th if your child is participating in this fundraiser.  More info about this is on the Eagle page as well.

Your child will be bringing home their spelling list, reading log and math homework tomorrow. No homework was sent home over vacation. Homework is due on Friday. 

We will be celebrating Earth Day this week in class so don’t be surprised if your child comes home and encourages you to do all you can to make the Earth happy!

Springtime update!

I hope you and your family are enjoying this spring weather!! The wind is cool but the sun feels so wonderful! I hope your child told you about our visit to the garden to look for signs of spring. Ask them about it! We are working on writing about our "collections" and learning to give our opinion and supporting reasons.  In math, we will be finishing our unit on 2 digit subtraction this week. I am so proud of the children for working so hard on this unit. It is challenging, but they are really catching on.  Knowing their facts makes a big difference.  I will be sending home information on Monday about their fact fluency progress. If your child is not practicing their facts PLEASE help them with this.  I don't want them to get discouraged with the math we are doing. They are wonderful mathematicians and have learned so much this year! My goal is for them to move on to second grade with confidence in their skills.  Also, for reading homework, your child should be doing the majority of reading (if not all) at this time of year.  Its great to read to them as well, but it would be best if that was in ADDITION to their reading to you for 20 minutes.  Let them show off all their great reading skills.  Please contact me if you need help finding books at their level.  Thank you for all that you do to help your children come to school ready and eager to learn.  They are such an amazing group of kids.  I look forward to seeing them each and every day! 

Update - March 30, 2014

Thank you for helping us celebrate our writing on March 21^st. We really enjoyed sharing our work with you. The children brought home their final chapter book for our non fiction unit .  This was our “published” piece of writing. You will notice that we did not correct all spelling and grammar but a lot of work was done in class with the help of a teacher.  Their red folder contains the writing they did as part of this unit. Some of these books were completed and others were not.  This is part of our writing process and not every piece of writing will be completed as we learn about different key elements of the writing genre. We are starting our next unit in writing workshop which is “Opinion Writing”. We will be writing “reviews” to learn about this type of writing.

In Math, we have been working on 2 digit addition and the children have been making great progress with this.  Our next unit is 2 digit subtraction. The children who have mastered their math facts are finding this work to be much easier than those who have not. Starting again this week, we will be taking fact quizzes 2 or 3 times a week and charting progress.  Fact fluency plays a critical role in your child’s success in math and their readiness for the work ahead.  They should be able to give the correct answer to the math fact within 3 seconds if they are fluent.  We need to learn our addition and subtraction facts up to a sum of 10 by the end of first grade.  Please continue working on fact fluency with your child as part of their homework at least 3 times each week.  I will be sending home information this week about your child’s progress with their math facts. 

Please continue sending in boots for recess during the spring until the playground dries out.  Thank you for helping keep our classroom clean.  Hats and mittens are also needed on windy days. 

I am so proud of our class for all the work they have been dong lately.  This time of year is when we are seeing an increase in independence and stamina and start to work more like second graders. It is terrific seeing them take on this challenge and being so proud of themselves when they are successful with something that’s hard to do.  As we say each day in class “Be Brave!” I hope you are enjoying your weekend. 

St. Patrick's Day

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day (a day early). We will be having our class pizza party at lunchtime tomorrow from the PTO for bringing in the most box tops.   Please send in a lunch with your child if they don’t like pizza – or they can go to the cafeteria to buy lunch. We will be having lunch together in the classroom.

We are finishing up our non-fiction chapter books, which we call our “teaching” books because we are teaching our readers about something we are an expert about.  We will be having a special writer’s celebration on FRIDAY MARCH 21^ST FROM 2:30 – 3:15 IN OUR CLASSROOM and we hope that you will be able to join us. 

I will send home a note with the kids tomorrow for you to RSVP. 

Please continue to send in winter clothing for recess each day as the playground gets quite windy and we go outside almost every day for recess. This includes boots since spring becomes mud season! I know the kids are tired of lugging them back and forth but it really helps. Thanks!

We have a graduate student from Saint Rose doing some observations and work in our classroom this month. Her name is Miss  DiBernardo.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

I hope you have had a wonderful weekend!

Weekly update - March 9, 2014

We had a great time celebrating Read Across America this Week and doing lots of Dr. Seuss activities. Thank you for lending us your books so we had plenty to read. I will send them home with the kids tomorrow. 

I just wanted to give a reminder about homework. On Fridays the kids are bringing home their reading logs for the week and their new spelling list to study ad well as their spelling test. On Mondays they bring home their fact practice sheet and math homework sheets.  All homework is due on Fridays, including being prepared for the spelling test.  Our buddies test us on Friday morning. My goal is to help your child become used to the routine of having homework and working on time management to complete their assignments since this is such an important life skill.  The only thing they should really need your help with is reading the directions on the math homework pages to help them get started. The rest of this, including recording their reading on their log, should be something they can do on their own.  Thank you for helping your child as they develop these important skills.

We are working on writing our final books for our nonfiction unit this week. The kids have done a LOT of work on these and we are looking forward to sharing them with you during our March class celebration on Friday March 21^st at 2:30. 

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Weekly Update – March 2, 2014

We will be celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday and Read Across America this week.  Monday is Crazy Hat Day at Eagle and the kids are welcome to wear a crazy hat to school.  If you have any Dr. Seuss books at home. Please write your child’s name in them and have them bring them to school to share.  We will be reading LOTS of Dr. Seuss this week and the more books we have, the better! Thanks for your help with this. We will return them on Friday.

Last week was very busy with our Valentine’s Day celebration and the 100^th Day of School. The kids looked great dressed up as if they were 100 years old.  Thank you for all of the valentines and candy.  I am so lucky to have such a wonderful class!

We have a student from Saint Rose who will be helping out in our classroom this month. Her name is Steevi DiBernardo. She is a graduate student and will be teaching a few math lessons on measurement later this month. 

We are looking forward to a great week ahead. There’s nothing better than a celebration of reading!

February 22. 2014 - Welcome Back!

I hope this snowy vacation has been a good one for you and your families!  On Monday we will pass out valentines and celebrate our belated Valentine's Day together.  Since this is our first day back from break, we will not be inviting parents in to join us and will weave our "party" and celebration into our day.  I will bring in cookies and juice for the kids so we will be all set for refreshments as well.  Thank you to everyone who was prepared to supply treats before break.  We truly appreciate it. :)
On Tuesday we will be celebrating the 100th Day of school with our Kindergarten and first grade classes and have invited the kids to dress up as if they are 100 years old.  It will be a lot of fun to celebrate this special day.  We will take pictures and post them on the blog for you to see.
PLEASE remember:
Valentines for Monday,
100th Day collections for Tuesday,
 library books on Monday,
sneakers for PE on Tuesday and Thursday
and winter clothes for recess each day (and shoes to wear in the classroom). 
I am looking forward to seeing the kids and hearing all about their week off! 

Weekly update - February 7, 2014

Weekly Update – February 7, 2014

We have been very busy this week in first grade! We are making great progress with our teaching books and working on chapters and tables of contents! Ask your child about the books they are currently working on.  In math, we are working more on place value and learning about expanded form, using place value blocks.  In reading, we are working on retell and reading for meaning. 

We have 74 Acts Of Kindness on our kindness chain! Thank you for your help with this.  Our goal is to reach 100 by Valentine’s Day. 

The kids are doing a great job with their homework and I really see that this extra practice is helping them in class.  Thank you for helping them establish great homework routines! 

A note came home on Monday about our Valentine’s Day party, with a list of our students’ names.  Please have your child bring in a box or bag to collect their valentines in. You are welcome to join us for the party on Friday February 14^th from 2:30 – 3:15.  Please RSVP via e-mail so we will know you are joining us.  Thanks!

Have a great weekend.

-

January 26th Update

Weekly Blog Update – January 26, 2014

Dear Parents,

Almost everyone turned in their homework on Friday this week! I am so proud of the kids for this.  Our reading, spelling and math practice is really helping us in class as well.  If your child is still having trouble learning their math facts, I would encourage them to use xtramath.com or the Math Magician website that is linked to this blog on the sidebar.  Thank you for encouraging and helping your child as they become more independent with their homework. 

In writing, we are working on writing “teaching books” and most students are working on their second or third book. We looked at ways to add to our illustrations to make our books even better! We are also reading non-fiction books to help us look at the text features commonly found in non-fiction writing. 

In reading, we are meeting in our guided reading groups and working on comprehension skills and reading for meaning. We discussed the importance of re-reading when something doesn’t make sense and trying to self- correct our reading errors. 

In math, we are learning about counting and number patterns to 120 as well as beginning place value.  We have also been playing addition war and subtraction war using playing cards to practice our math facts as well as xtramath and games on jmathpage in the computer lab. 

Please remember library books on Monday and Sneakers for P.E. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

I hope you are enjoying this weekend. Its great to see the sun shining!

Tips for studying math facts and building fact fluency

Alternative “Fact Practice” Ideas

1)   Make flash cards and practice by showing cards quickly

(3 seconds).  Make a pile of incorrect and a pile of correct, record each session, try to get more correct next time you practice.

2)   Roll 2 dice, add them, write an equation, or subtract them and write an equation.

3)   Play “War”.  Each player puts down 2 cards and adds them then says the sum.  First player to say the sum gets the cards. OR Put down 2 cards and subtract them.  First player to say the difference gets the cards.

4)   Use dominoes.  Pick a domino and write the addition fact shown on the domino horizontally then vertically.

5)   Roll a die and double the number.  Roll a die, double the number and add 1.  Roll a die, double the number and add 2.  Write the equations horizontally then vertically.

6)   Take a deck of cards and remove the face cards.  Draw 2 cards without looking and add or subtract them depending on what you’re working on.  Write the equations horizontally then vertically.

Tips for studying spelling words

Spelling Activity Suggestions

·      Spell words with letter macaroni or cereal.

·      Spell words with magnetic letters.

·      Use alphabet stamps.

·      Cut letters from magazines or newspapers to make words.

·      Use WikkiSticks to bend into the shape of the letters.

·      Use Crayola window markers and write words on the windows or bathtub.

·      Make a word search or crossword puzzle at Puzzlemaker.com.

·      Student writes the word with pencil then goes around it several times with colored pencils to make a rainbow effect.

·      Use Scrabble tiles or give each letter a number value and after writing the word the student can find the “value” of the word.

·      Write words in white crayon then water color paint over to make them appear.

·      Give a written practice spelling test.

·      Spelling bee-orally spell the words.

Weekly Update - Jan 20, 2014

Weekly Blog Update – January 19, 2014

We took our first formal spelling test on Friday and most of the kids did very well! Our fifth grade buddies gave us our tests since we have individualized lists.  Your child brought home their test on Friday.  They are also bringing home their words for next week that follow the –ea spelling pattern.  Please study these words at home to prepare for next week’s test. New spelling words will come home every Friday.  We will be doing spelling activities in class to help study as well. 

We are working on writing “teaching” books in writing workshop.  They are writing nonfiction books about things they are “experts” on. Most of us have started our second book. Ask your child to tell you about the teaching books. 

In reading, I have completed mid year assessments and I am very pleased with the class’ progress. Reading homework is a critical part of their success and they should be reading at home for at least 20 minutes a night 5 times a week.  Thank you for supporting your child’s reading and encouraging them. 

I will be sending home Math homework every Monday and it will be due on Fridays.  There will be worksheets and a page to keep track of fact practice.  If your child has difficulty with the math homework, please let me know so we can make a plan to helper them.  Starting good homework habits is an important life skill for our children and I appreciate your help with this. 

I hope you are having a terrific three-day weekend. The kids will be brining home a project we will be doing in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. tomorrow. 

Weekly update

Homework: 

1.   Reading – 5 nights per week for 20 minutes. Calendars due every Friday. (or a note from you if your child loses their calendar)

2.   Spelling – new list comes home every Friday. Study words at home every night. Each child has their own individualized list. Many of these words are based on our weekly spelling pattern. Tests will be given every Friday at school.

3.   Math facts – practice addition and subtraction facts at home at least 3 times each week. If you need sign in information sent home again for xtramath website, please let me know. I can check your child’s progress through this site.  New website posted on blog for fact practice– Math Magician.  Jmathpage.com also has many games for practicing addition and subtraction. You can also use good old fashioned flash cards. First grade students need to master their addition and subtraction facts with sums to 10 by the end of the year.  Thank you for your help with this. 

4.   Math Practice pages: I will send home practice pages on Mondays. These are due by Friday each week.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful two weeks off and were able to spend some special time with family and friends.  I am anticipating that our first week back to school will be a bit of an adjustment for the kids.  We will be starting many new things in January, but will try to ease into them as best we can.  Please check our blog each week for important updates.  We will be starting a formal spelling program this month and we will also be having more homework, including spelling and math. 

WINTER CLOTHES FOR RECESS:

Please pack winter clothes for recess and include shoes to wear in the classroom.  You may also want to pack an extra pair of socks (or clothes!) in case they get wet outside.  Mittens should be waterproof. Knit mittens and gloves just aren’t warm enough for them to be out for 30 minutes playing in the snow. 

Thanks so much for your help with this!

ALSO, LIBRARY BOOKS DUE MONDAY!

HAPPY 2014!!!!