New Behavior Calendar

I sent home the calendar for May today. It has all the events listed that I am currently aware of, please take note and write them in your calendar...there are a lot of activities and events coming up!

The students have only 6 days left to reach their AR goals.

Test tomorrow

We did not get to take our math test today. We will take it tomorrow. I am sending home a math sheet for them to do for homework to help prepare for the test.

Also, be sure the children study and review the phonics and grammar section of the study guide. We will be taking the test tomorrow along with the spelling and sentence test.

AR Stars!

Congratulations to Libby Tompkins, Luke Sikes, and Caroline Renfroe for reaching their goals in AR!! I am so proud of you! Keep on reading :)

AR Stars!!

Congratulations to Weston Garrett, Amy Ramage, Libby Tompkins, and Jaylyn Luker for reaching their goal in AR!!! I am so proud :) Keep it up!

Lexie Terry's Birthday

Lexie gave out invitations last week to all the girls both first grade classes. Please be sure to check your child's binder for the invitation. It's a tea party this Sunday from 2-3:30! Thanks

Costumes for Play

COSTUMES FOR PLAY

The costumes are going to be just a headband with ears and the animals will have tails. The items I am listing below all need to be solid colors. I do not want any shirts with writing. If you have any questions please email me, thanks!

The Little Red Hen

Little Red Hen (Caroline): White dress or shirt

Cat (Anna Kate): Black shirt and black pants or shorts

Dog (Brady): Brown shirt and pants

Mouse (Joshua): Grey shirt and pants

Three Little Pigs

Man (Luke): Overalls or jeans and a plaid shirt

Pigs (Weston, Huck, Joshua): Pink shirt

Wolf (Will): Grey shirt and pants

Little Red Riding Hood

Woodsman (Evan): Jeans and a plaid shirt

Grandmother (Jaylyn): A dress, I will have a nightgown and wig for her to wear

Little Red (Lexie): Dress…I have the cloak

Wolf (Carter): Grey shirt and jeans

Mother (Emory): Anything will work! I will have an apron for her to wear

Henny Penny

Henny Penny (Libby): White dress or outfit

Turkey-Lurkey (Carly): Brown dress or outfit

Ducky-Lucky (Amy): Yellow dress or outfit

Goosey-Loosey (Isabella): grey dress or outfit

Foxy-Loxy (Luke): Orange shirt and Jeans

Cocky-Locky (Jaylyn): Brown dress or shirt

Newsletter Week of April 28th

Spelling Words: fence, chance, twice, center, cider, circus, decide, city, bicycle, fancy, very, every, school, Mother's Day


Sounds/Spellings: Consonant blends: pl, cl, gr, dr, fl, pr, st, tr, sm, br, gl, cr, sl, spr, nt
The children can read these sounds beautifully, what they need to work on is identifying them orally and spelling them. I have put tr in bold because that is the one they misspell the most. The children will hear it as ch and not tr. For practice at home, say a word and have them either spell it out verbally or write it down.

High Frequency Words: where  while

Vocabulary: porch, cement, electrician, hut

Stories: "Homes Around the World" and "Building a House"

Comprehension Skills and Strategies: Predicting, Visualizing, Making Inferences, Cause and Effect, Making Connections, Compare and Contrast, Drawing Conclusions  Focus: Clarifying

Language Arts: Review:Identifying present and past tense verbs Introduction: Irregular Past Tense Verbs and Past Tense Verbs Ending in y

Social Studies: Geography; comparing homes around the world

Math: New Concepts; Story problems with extra facts,  Math Concepts to be tested on: Addition and subtraction families 1-12, shapes, story problems, place value, adding and subtracting three numbers, counting by 2s, money, fractions

Math Test: Friday , May 1st
Pre-Spelling Test: Thursday, April 30th
Spelling and Sentence Test: Friday, May 1st
Reading Test: Thursday, April 30th
Grammar Test: Friday, May 1st

Monday

I will be out on Monday. Mrs. Snead will be my sub. I am sending home next week's study guide today just so I can be sure that they receive it. I will not be sending a homework sheet home next week; this will hopefully give the students more time to practice their play parts. However, I do advise doing the study guide so they can be well-prepared for the reading test next week.

PLEASE BE SURE THEY KNOW THEIR PLAY PARTS!!! The play is May 7th, very soon!!!

Costumes

For the costumes I do not have, I plan on making head pieces. If anyone has any headbands or any materials they would like to donate that would be great! I need to make a headpiece for 2 hens, a turkey, a fox, and a rooster. I also need to make a turkey gobbler and fan, duck feet and beak, a fox tail, and any ideas on what to do for a goose would be great too :) Thank you all so much for your help!

Homework Tonight

I am sending home a grammar pactice test tonight for homework. Please help your child understand the directions and how to determine if a sentence is in the past or present tense. They also need to review the Long and Short e spellings and sounds and how to identify them. The best way to practice at home is for them to write words that have these sounds in them. They can think of things around them or just come up with the words on their own. Be sure they study for the math test as well; all of the concepts they are going to be tested on can be found in the Newsletter for this week.


****Practice plays parts!!

Reading Test

I will be giving the reading test on "Homes" tomorrow. I feel the children are prepared for this test. However, I will not give the grammar and phonics section of the test until Friday. They need a little extra practice on identifying sentences in the present and past tense.

Achieve

I have updated Achieve. All grades show their current average with the exceptions of make-up work.

Following Directions

I am sending home graded papers today. Some of the grades are very low and it is directly related to the children not listening, following, or reading the directions. I always go over the directions with the children several times and ask if there are any questions. I also instruct them to reread the directions once they receive their paper and to always check their work before turning it in. Please remind them of the importance of listening and reading directions and how rechecking their work can help them catch mistakes that they made! Thank you

Graded Papers

Graded papers will go home tomorrow!

Costumes

I have received the costumes from Mrs. Blackwell. We have everything we need for Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, and Little Red Hen. However, I do not have anything for Henny-Penny that I can use. The costumes that I already have are just ears, tails, noses, and props. So I would like the same for Henny-Penny. Any parents that are willing to help me out on this would be much appreciated! I am open for any ideas and/or suggestions. This is the first play I have ever put on and any help would be wonderful! We tried some of the costumes on today and the are absolutely adorable! :)

This Week's Homework

I will not be giving a lot of homework this week or in the coming weeks. I really want the children to focus on practicing their play parts. They will need to read our story in the Hardback Reader and use the study guide for review and of course read their AR books.

Our test in reading is set for Friday but I may move it to Thursday. The story is very short and the children seem to know it pretty well already. I will notify you by tomorrow afternoon whether the date has changed.

Please help your child remember their play parts! Once you believe they know their lines really well, start to practice acting each part out. Remind them to speak loudly and clearly when saying their parts. We are practicing in the classroom everyday from now on until the play date. Some of them know their parts beautifully but some still need a lot of practice.

I know this all seems overwhelming, it does for me as well, but their is a light at the end of the tunnel! Just hang in there! It is going to be worth it! :)

Newsletter April 20th

Spelling Words: knock, knee, know, knife, knew, wrong, wrist, wrap, wreck, write, were, was, when, Thursday


Sounds/Spellings: Review Long and Short "e" sounds and spellings
Long Spellings: e  ea  e_e  _y  ee  _ie_    Short Spellings: e    _ea_

High Frequency Words: four  put

Vocabulary: packed, roof, clay, sturdy

Stories: "Homes"

Comprehension Skills and Strategies: Predicting, Visualizing, Making Inferences, Cause and Effect, Making Connections, Compare and Contrast, Drawing Conclusions  Focus: Asking Questions

Language Arts: Review: Contractions  Introduce: Identifying present and past tense verbs

Social Studies: Geography; comparing homes around the world

Math: New Concepts; 12 addition and subtraction family,  Math Concepts to be tested on: Addition and subtraction families 1-12, greater than or less than, time, story problems, ordinal numbers, adding three 2-digit numbers, counting by 2s

Math Test: Friday, April 24th
Pre-Spelling Test: Thursday, April 23rd
Spelling and Sentence Test: Friday, April 24th
Reading Test: Friday, April 24th

Just a Reminder

JUST A REMINDER THAT WE HAVE THREE WEEKS TO REACH OUR GOALS IN AR!  IT'S ALSO A LITTLE LESS THAN THREE WEEKS WHEN WE HAVE TO BE READY TO PERFORM OUR PLAYS!  IT'S A BUSY TIME!!!!!

Landmark Park Field Trip

For the Landmark Park field trip we have a problem concerning seating.  The Planetarium seats 45.  First grade requires 38 seats. We have l7 parents who have paid to go.  Parents will need to take turns going into the Planetarium. (You can work that out among yourselves.)  The program lasts about 90 minutes and is divided into two parts:  Seasonal Stars and Stories.  The story we will be viewing is Secret of the Cardboard Rocket.

For lunch, Mrs. Hollis and I have thought about having the children pack a picnic lunch and eating at the Park.  We will post more about this later.

AR STARS!

Congratulations to Carter Nelson and Isabella Helms for reaching their AR goals!!!! Awesome job, keep it up!!!

The plastic for the recycling contest is due in the MORNING! Thanks

Lunch Friday

If your child is planning on ordering from the lunchroom on Friday, I need to know by tomorrow what they are getting. Friday is a half day for the upper grades and Mrs. Joni needs to know how much food to cook. I already have the calendars and order forms from the children who normally order but if you are not one that normally orders and plan on it Friday please send this information TOMORROW. Thanks

I have added a few dates to "Dates to Remember". Please make note of them in your calendar. :)

FYI

Next week we begin our second reader.  With all that will be happening in the next few weeks, we will not have time to read all the stories, so I will be skipping some (which you are very welcome to read with your child).

In AR we only have four weeks to reach our goals.  Just a reminder that all the children who have reached their goals each nine weeks get to enjoy a pool party at the Troy Rec Center.  (:

Under Important Dates you will notice that Elementary Honor's Day is May 13th.  That doesn't mean that we stop taking grades after that date.  It just means that at this point in time, your child is on the A or A/B honor roll. Teachers will continue taking grades.

We will be practicing our plays each afternoon.  Please continue to help your child memorize his/her parts.  (This week I will post information concerning our costumes for the plays.)

Don't forget to have your $6.00 in by Friday for our trip to Landmark Park.

Don't forget to collect plastic for our recycling contest! You can now send what you have in, Friday is the last day! 

PLEASE CHECK MY BLOG REGULARLY. THANKS!

FIELD TRIP MONEY IS DUE FRIDAY, APRIL 17th! 

Graded Papers

Graded papers will go home tomorrow. Achieve will also be updated by tomorrow afternoon.

Newsletter April 13th-17th

Spelling Words: claw, hawk, gnaw, awful, yawn, pause, fault, auto, because, caught, such, much, enough, April


Sounds/Spellings: Review all long vowel sounds and spellings

Vocabulary: trapping, attracts, wetlands, insects

Stories: "Plants That Eat Animals"

Comprehension Skills and Strategies: Asking Questions, Visualizing, Making Inferences, Cause and Effect, Making Connections, Compare and Contrast, Drawing Conclusions  Focus: Predicting

Language Arts: Review: Antonyms and Synonyms Introduction: Contractions

Science: Living and Nonliving Things, Parts of plants

Writing: Informative Writing 

Math: New Concepts; 12 addition and subtraction family, greater/less than symbols, carrying to the tens place in addition,  Math Concepts to be tested on: Addition/Subtraction Families 1-12, subtracting two-digit numbers, story problems, counting money, measurements, using a ruler, numbers that are greater, place-value, calendar

Math Test: Wednesday, April 15th
Pre-Spelling Test: Thursday, April 16th
Spelling and Sentence Test: Friday, April 17th
Reading Test: Friday, April 17th

Supplies, treasure box, and candy

Good morning, parents!

We are running low on a few things in the classroom. Most of the children need new pencils and erasers, please send these as soon as possible! They should know if they need them or not.  

We also need more candy and treasure chest items.

Thank you for everything you do :) 

Drawn Down

Draw Down tickets are due by the end of the day today, April 8, 2015.  All tickets must be turned in no later than 8:00 am on Friday, April 10.

Landmark Park Field Trip

The First Grade will be going by bus to Landmark Park on Thursday, May 14th. Parents are welcome to go with us. Cost for adults is the same as for the children...$6.00. This money is due on Friday, April 17th.

Recycling Contest

We have received tons of plastic for the contest. I am so proud but at the rate we are going I am going to run out of room to store it before the last day of the contest :) If possible please collect and store at your home and bring it the week of the contest! If you need to send it to school that is fine. Thank you so much!

FYI

• The "Dates to Remember" have been updated. 
• Our play date has changed from May 8th to May 7th. Please help your child memorize their parts. 
• Monday is a holiday! 
• Next Friday is a half day. Early birds will let out at 11:40, late birds at 11:50, and everyone should be picked up by 12.

Newsletter April 6th-10th

Spelling Words: soil, voice, spoil, moist, coin, boy, toy, Troy, enjoy, destroy, four, for, with, spring


Sounds/Spellings: Review Long and Short u sounds, spellings, and rules. For extra practice at home have the students write words using the spellings for each sound (Long u: u  _ew  u_e   _uer) For short u: Focus on words ending in _dge, _ck, x, _ng (these spellings only come after short vowel sounds)

Vocabulary: petals, bright

Stories: Flowers     "Flowers at Night"

Comprehension Skills and Strategies: Asking Questions, Visualizing, Making Inferences, Cause and Effect, Identifying Sound Words ex. swoosh, Making Connections, Compare and Contrast, Drawing Conclusions  Focus: Compare and Contrast

Study Skill: Using the Library

Language Arts: Synonyms Intro: Antonyms

Science: Living and Nonliving Things

Writing: Descriptive Story

Math: New Concepts; Five-digit addition and Addition and subtraction with four numbers, adding three coins Math Concepts to be tested on: Addition/Subtraction Families 1-11, subtracting two-digit numbers, story problems, temperature, counting by fives, numbers that are ten more than, identifying numbers up to 1,000

Math Test: No Math Test
Pre-Spelling Test: Thursday, April 9th
Spelling and Sentence Test: Friday, April 10th
Reading Test: Friday, April 10th

To the parents that helped out today with the Easter Party, thank you!! It would not have been possible without you. I also want to give a very special thanks to Janet Jones and Kellie Sanders for organizing and hosting the party. Fantastic job! :)

Lunch Tomorrow

We will be celebrating Joshua's birthday tomorrow during lunch. We will be having pizza!! There will be no need to send lunch with your child, you may still want to send a drink and snack :)