1-7 February 2010
Here's our adjusted schedule for the month, so far! What a wild ride, we'll have:
4th-Report Cards Sent Home-Please sign the report & envelope-return both to school
8th-No School/Selected Parent Conferences
9th-100th Day Bottle Project and related assignments due
11th-100th Day of School-please send in your volunteer acceptance-8:45-10:30 AES GYM
*12th-Valentine Exchange-16 Valentines, bring to school in a bag @ 8:00 a.m.
15th-NO SCHOOL-Presidents' Day Observed
19th-Pizzeria Study Trip-Please send in Euro and permission
This is subject to change, of course! Check out the homework links and continue reading the books and sight words list in the take home Reading Bag.
Welcome to February! The 1st semester of First Grade is now history and we'll look forward to the last half of the year, which ends on June 17th. The students have shown a lot of growth and demonstrate all that they've learned throughout the days they spend at school. We are working very diligently on social skills and following directions to assist in quality and amount of work completed. We've added Reading Counts quizzes to their menu of center activities. These 10 questions quizzes assess their comprehension on stories they've read and help them to read with that purpose in mind.Student's must score a minumum of 7 out of 10 questions to score a point. This, added with Reader's Response Logs, RAZ-kids reading on-line, and Guided Reading Groups in school, will coordinate the kind of readers that will be ready to enter 2nd grade in the fall. Thank you for all your help.
Students are also beginning to read directions independently on daily work, tests, and during center time. During math, the word/story problems, also give them another opportunity to test their comprehension, but selecting appropriate strategies and developing a plan to show, explain, and solve the solutions.
Spelling continues to develop in their written work. We are using our word wall to monitor our spelling of the many sight words, and continuing to 'build' words using what we know about the rime part (rhyming end) of the words we've worked on. We will also practice generating a word list of those we can recall from our memory. These are basically 'words in our heads' that we retrieve without visual prompts. This is important to develop fluency in writing, and reading. Take 10 minutes and practice this skill. All you need is a blank piece of paper, a pencil, 10 minutes, then on your mark, get set, write! Count how many words were spelled correctly, and see how they improve week after week. This is not a copying exercise. It's a mental/mental exercise. A new spiral notebook could be something fun for them to have in their backpack, so they can experiment with words they know and also ones they need to work on.
Please return 1 signed copy of the report card in the envelope provided, and keep the other copy for your records.
Mrs. Petty
Let's have a great week.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
24-31 January 2010
No School on Friday, 29 January: Teacher Work Day
End of 2nd Quarter
Class Valentine Exchange:
Friday, 12 February--Bring your valentines to school with you in a zip-loc bag, ready to go! We'll exchange them during centers after our spelling test, and then open/share them right after lunch.
*Bring your valentines (16 student cards) in envelopes, signed on the back with "From, ______. I will send a list of names, but it is preferred to leave the envelope blank and just sign the back of the valentine. If you bring a treat for everyone, your child can just drop those in their valentine bag that will be made at school. Thanks for your participation. We will NOT have refreshments for our valentine exchange.
Upcoming Events/Reminders:
1. Please return Permission slip and/or 7 Euro for the Field Trip to San Giorgio's on Friday, 19 February--Thank you to all the volunteer chaperones!
2. 100th Day of School: Monday, 11 February: Watch for Information letter/Volunteer to help staff one of the many 'center's in the AES Gym on this day in the morning!
3. 3rd Quarter Family/Home Project: Watch for the packet of information to be sent home about this fun and amazing project combining Math and Language Arts skills. Items needed:
-1 empty, clean/dry 20 ounce (clear) soda bottle w/cap
-Information packet explaining the directions and grading policy
-paper bag (will be sent home)
-1 white, legal sized envelope (coming home in the packet)
-Family help with the project.
Due Date: Send into school NLT Tuesday, 9 February
Have Fun!
Here's a slide show with some examples of previous years' projects!
This week signals the end of the first quarter. We've progressed nicely and will continue working toward the goal of READY FOR 2nd GRADE! Included in the report card results, will also be the IXL Math, and RAZ-KIDS READING reports. I think you'll be pleased with all the information, and for those of you with internet connectivity problems, I understand.
Let's have another great week, although shortened, and include reading daily and writing response journals 2 to 3 times a week. Thank you for all your help.
Mrs. Petty
No School on Friday, 29 January: Teacher Work Day
End of 2nd Quarter
Class Valentine Exchange:
Friday, 12 February--Bring your valentines to school with you in a zip-loc bag, ready to go! We'll exchange them during centers after our spelling test, and then open/share them right after lunch.
*Bring your valentines (16 student cards) in envelopes, signed on the back with "From, ______. I will send a list of names, but it is preferred to leave the envelope blank and just sign the back of the valentine. If you bring a treat for everyone, your child can just drop those in their valentine bag that will be made at school. Thanks for your participation. We will NOT have refreshments for our valentine exchange.
Upcoming Events/Reminders:
1. Please return Permission slip and/or 7 Euro for the Field Trip to San Giorgio's on Friday, 19 February--Thank you to all the volunteer chaperones!
2. 100th Day of School: Monday, 11 February: Watch for Information letter/Volunteer to help staff one of the many 'center's in the AES Gym on this day in the morning!
3. 3rd Quarter Family/Home Project: Watch for the packet of information to be sent home about this fun and amazing project combining Math and Language Arts skills. Items needed:
-1 empty, clean/dry 20 ounce (clear) soda bottle w/cap
-Information packet explaining the directions and grading policy
-paper bag (will be sent home)
-1 white, legal sized envelope (coming home in the packet)
-Family help with the project.
Due Date: Send into school NLT Tuesday, 9 February
Have Fun!
Here's a slide show with some examples of previous years' projects!
 |
 |
| Make a Smilebox scrapbook |
This week signals the end of the first quarter. We've progressed nicely and will continue working toward the goal of READY FOR 2nd GRADE! Included in the report card results, will also be the IXL Math, and RAZ-KIDS READING reports. I think you'll be pleased with all the information, and for those of you with internet connectivity problems, I understand.
Let's have another great week, although shortened, and include reading daily and writing response journals 2 to 3 times a week. Thank you for all your help.
Mrs. Petty
Saturday, January 16, 2010
17-23 January 2010
Welcome to a new week of school. This week we extend a special "HELLO!" to Lily, our new student. She arrives Tuesday, to make 17 students in our class, once again. Isabelle volunteered to be her guide throughout her first weeks of school.
This week, we'll close in on the last nine days of the 2nd quarter/1st semester. I've gathered new data on their achievement and benchmarks/measures of growth in academic areas and you will get the information on their first report card which includes a narrative explaining the data. I would encourage you to step-up the reading with your child. We need to work on fluency (how their reading sounds-smooth, or choppy; labored or easy; too hard or too easy). Finding the just right book, prompting them at difficulty is a learned skill by parents and their teachers. Please re-read the information I sent with you at the first conferences held in early November. If you need a new copy, just send in a note. The flash cards have helped so much, and I really appreciate those of you who have been using them. We currently have 3 students who have mastered 100% of the words. We'll move on to the new list of the 'next' 100 words to know quickly!
For those of you who have not taken advantage of the on-line homework opportunities, I see a vast difference in skill and independence on school work. I have two families who have trouble with technology on a regular basis, with lack of connectivity due to circumstances that cannot be helped. Hop on board and make certain your student uses their usernames and passwords for IXL Math, RAZ-kids Reading, and Sight Words with Samson. We'll begin using these at school, as well.
Thank you for taking on the new Reader's Response Logs. Their writing and efforts to complete the assignments have been so enlightening to me. Your help and assistance makes all the difference in the world. Remember to expect more from them as time goes on. This is about them improving their responses to what they've read, and develop more readily as a fluent writer, with better sentence structure, using adjectives, adverbs, and more complex/compound sentences as they continue writing. Vocabulary development is also a goal of fluent writing that is more interesting. Thank you so much! I have enjoyed responding to their writing with tiny post-its. You're also welcome to write and add comments, also. Join in on the fun. When parents model in their writing, it also helps your child to have fun, enjoy parents' responses to stories, also.
We're working on addition and subtraction to 20 now. We will also begin timed drills on addition and subtraction facts. We're using fact families to teach the nature of reciprocity in these two operations and have introduced multiplication in simple repeated addition sentences. We're working on our flexibility with the 100 chart and the value when it comes to understanding the addition and subtraction of bigger numbers, using manipulatives to help support the understanding, and demonstrating muliplication by using skip counting with the 100 chart, as well. We'll add pennies, nickels, dimes and dollars, soon, as well. It's just another way to show multiplication (repeated addition) and addition larger numbers.
We're planning a February Study Trip, a Valentines' Day mini-celebration, and a 100 day event in the gym, that will be similar to our Johnny Appleseed morning back in September. Your generosity when giving time to the classroom as a volunteer is deeply appreciated. I'll be adding another post soon with all the dates, times and details!
Have a wonderful week and remember to assist and encourage your child with their on-line homework and their continued efforts as authors and illustrators in their Reader's Response Logs!
Mrs. Petty
 |
|
| Make a Smilebox slideshow |
Welcome to a new week of school. This week we extend a special "HELLO!" to Lily, our new student. She arrives Tuesday, to make 17 students in our class, once again. Isabelle volunteered to be her guide throughout her first weeks of school.
This week, we'll close in on the last nine days of the 2nd quarter/1st semester. I've gathered new data on their achievement and benchmarks/measures of growth in academic areas and you will get the information on their first report card which includes a narrative explaining the data. I would encourage you to step-up the reading with your child. We need to work on fluency (how their reading sounds-smooth, or choppy; labored or easy; too hard or too easy). Finding the just right book, prompting them at difficulty is a learned skill by parents and their teachers. Please re-read the information I sent with you at the first conferences held in early November. If you need a new copy, just send in a note. The flash cards have helped so much, and I really appreciate those of you who have been using them. We currently have 3 students who have mastered 100% of the words. We'll move on to the new list of the 'next' 100 words to know quickly!
For those of you who have not taken advantage of the on-line homework opportunities, I see a vast difference in skill and independence on school work. I have two families who have trouble with technology on a regular basis, with lack of connectivity due to circumstances that cannot be helped. Hop on board and make certain your student uses their usernames and passwords for IXL Math, RAZ-kids Reading, and Sight Words with Samson. We'll begin using these at school, as well.
Thank you for taking on the new Reader's Response Logs. Their writing and efforts to complete the assignments have been so enlightening to me. Your help and assistance makes all the difference in the world. Remember to expect more from them as time goes on. This is about them improving their responses to what they've read, and develop more readily as a fluent writer, with better sentence structure, using adjectives, adverbs, and more complex/compound sentences as they continue writing. Vocabulary development is also a goal of fluent writing that is more interesting. Thank you so much! I have enjoyed responding to their writing with tiny post-its. You're also welcome to write and add comments, also. Join in on the fun. When parents model in their writing, it also helps your child to have fun, enjoy parents' responses to stories, also.
We're working on addition and subtraction to 20 now. We will also begin timed drills on addition and subtraction facts. We're using fact families to teach the nature of reciprocity in these two operations and have introduced multiplication in simple repeated addition sentences. We're working on our flexibility with the 100 chart and the value when it comes to understanding the addition and subtraction of bigger numbers, using manipulatives to help support the understanding, and demonstrating muliplication by using skip counting with the 100 chart, as well. We'll add pennies, nickels, dimes and dollars, soon, as well. It's just another way to show multiplication (repeated addition) and addition larger numbers.
We're planning a February Study Trip, a Valentines' Day mini-celebration, and a 100 day event in the gym, that will be similar to our Johnny Appleseed morning back in September. Your generosity when giving time to the classroom as a volunteer is deeply appreciated. I'll be adding another post soon with all the dates, times and details!
Have a wonderful week and remember to assist and encourage your child with their on-line homework and their continued efforts as authors and illustrators in their Reader's Response Logs!
Mrs. Petty
Sunday, January 10, 2010
10-16 January 2010
How does your child 'say' the new year's number? Two-thousand ten, or twenty-ten? We held a discussion on Monday and decided they're both right, so ask them tomorrow evening which they prefer, then mark their answer on the weekly survey on this post!
A busy week and very productive in improving and practicing the Writing Process.
Here are the four steps we practice:
1. Pre-write: setting the topic, determining what we know about it.
2. Brainstorm vocabulary and words that might be used, list them for reference.
3. Rough draft: Compose a main idea sentence, and connect it to other details on topic.
4. Self-edit (re-reading each sentence that's written), and final check with Mrs. Petty
5. Publish: Final copy with all corrections in place.
6. Re-read and post for others to enjoy!
I'm pleased with their efforts on the self-edit step. After each sentence is read they check for: 1. capital letter at beginning of sentence, 2. Reading the entire sentence monitoring their print and correct any missed or incorrect words, 3. Fix up the parts needing corrections, and, 4. Write another sentence on topic.
Our work is posted in the hallway, along with other fun activities on the theme: "What do you do in the Wintertime?"
GREAT NEWS: IXL Math now has audio support!!! This will make it so much easier for your child to complete math assignments. Even though the voice is computer-aided, it still reads the question orally, and can be repeated as many times as needed by each student. Please begin to use the web-site more often. We're adding a chart of how many medals students have earned as they use the program and will post it in the classroom for all to see.
Assessment for 2nd quarter benchmarks has begun and is going slow. I'm proud to announce that most students have acquired more mastery over the list of 100 sights words, and have increased the level of reading over the past 6 weeks. I ask that you monitor your child's reading of the list and word cards you've made. This is helping with fluent reading and improved comprehension. The "SEE-IT/SAY-IT" rule is in place with these words. For those with evidence of mastery there will be a new Sight Words activity for use at home. Please look for this in their reading bag. I have also begun to send home different books for reading at home. Reading Response Logs and Reading Logs will be sent home Monday for homework. Look for directions inside the front cover. Thank you so much.
Next Monday, we will enjoy a day off of school to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday. We will encourage and discuss peaceful ways of solving problems, and practice acts of kindness throughout the rest of the month to show our understanding of Dr. King's principles and beliefs he stooed for.
Enjoy the links for the week!
Mrs. Petty
How does your child 'say' the new year's number? Two-thousand ten, or twenty-ten? We held a discussion on Monday and decided they're both right, so ask them tomorrow evening which they prefer, then mark their answer on the weekly survey on this post!
A busy week and very productive in improving and practicing the Writing Process.
Here are the four steps we practice:
1. Pre-write: setting the topic, determining what we know about it.
2. Brainstorm vocabulary and words that might be used, list them for reference.
3. Rough draft: Compose a main idea sentence, and connect it to other details on topic.
4. Self-edit (re-reading each sentence that's written), and final check with Mrs. Petty
5. Publish: Final copy with all corrections in place.
6. Re-read and post for others to enjoy!
I'm pleased with their efforts on the self-edit step. After each sentence is read they check for: 1. capital letter at beginning of sentence, 2. Reading the entire sentence monitoring their print and correct any missed or incorrect words, 3. Fix up the parts needing corrections, and, 4. Write another sentence on topic.
Our work is posted in the hallway, along with other fun activities on the theme: "What do you do in the Wintertime?"
GREAT NEWS: IXL Math now has audio support!!! This will make it so much easier for your child to complete math assignments. Even though the voice is computer-aided, it still reads the question orally, and can be repeated as many times as needed by each student. Please begin to use the web-site more often. We're adding a chart of how many medals students have earned as they use the program and will post it in the classroom for all to see.
Assessment for 2nd quarter benchmarks has begun and is going slow. I'm proud to announce that most students have acquired more mastery over the list of 100 sights words, and have increased the level of reading over the past 6 weeks. I ask that you monitor your child's reading of the list and word cards you've made. This is helping with fluent reading and improved comprehension. The "SEE-IT/SAY-IT" rule is in place with these words. For those with evidence of mastery there will be a new Sight Words activity for use at home. Please look for this in their reading bag. I have also begun to send home different books for reading at home. Reading Response Logs and Reading Logs will be sent home Monday for homework. Look for directions inside the front cover. Thank you so much.
Next Monday, we will enjoy a day off of school to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday. We will encourage and discuss peaceful ways of solving problems, and practice acts of kindness throughout the rest of the month to show our understanding of Dr. King's principles and beliefs he stooed for.
Enjoy the links for the week!
Mrs. Petty
Friday, January 01, 2010
3-10 January 2010
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Thursday, 7 January is a half-day of school, with dismissal occurring @ 11:15. Lunch will NOT be served on this day.
Welcome back to school and the MOST important part of the year for learning and accelerating progress and learning to prepare for future learning experiences.
We'll begin with creating a new bulletin board "In the Wintertime". I'll post the results in a new slide show for January. We're working on writing more neatly, self-editing each sentence as they finish their written work and appropriate spacing. Some of us continue to work on letter formation, also.
Reading Response Journals will be added to their Reading Bags in this new year, also. I am almost ready to send these home, so expect to see them in their reading bag on Monday, 11 January. Look for the directions inside the front cover of the composition notebook. I will interact with this journals on occasion. :o) We will begin timing reading passages for fluency and accuracy with running records, and occasionally 'record' their reading for them to listen to. Throughout the rest of this quarter, until the end of JANUARY, we'll also complete another quarter's end of assessment and benchmark measurement.
We'll look for self-started journal entries on topics of individual interest or prompts generated by the teacher. Please continue discussing what is happening in the Reading Bags' little books, to help generate 1-2 sentence entries, composed by the use of their own language and interface with the book(s).
There will be a slight change in the reading material they are bringing home. You will see smaller copied books, a new reading log, new high-frequency word lists, and most will begin Reading Counts tests with the leveled readers in guided reading Levels D,E,F,G,H, and on. Please assist by helping them problem solve unknown words. For each test that they score no less than 7/10 questions correct, a point will be given. It's fun to see them blossom as reader's in more appropriate books. These are very different, but remember to let them preview the pictures in order to learn what they'll be reading about.
I have begun testing in Reading and Math for the end of quarter progress reports in 3 weeks. Most have experienced continued growth. We're pushing through our standards and expect more learning to come.
A huge thanks for all your generosity at the holiday time. Your thoughtful gifts were so appreciated and so fun to open. The gift of time will be the most important one for your child in the coming months. Don't pass up the opportunity to watch them grow by reading with them and watching their newly attained skills appear.
Happy new year!
Mrs. Petty
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Thursday, 7 January is a half-day of school, with dismissal occurring @ 11:15. Lunch will NOT be served on this day.
Welcome back to school and the MOST important part of the year for learning and accelerating progress and learning to prepare for future learning experiences.
We'll begin with creating a new bulletin board "In the Wintertime". I'll post the results in a new slide show for January. We're working on writing more neatly, self-editing each sentence as they finish their written work and appropriate spacing. Some of us continue to work on letter formation, also.
Reading Response Journals will be added to their Reading Bags in this new year, also. I am almost ready to send these home, so expect to see them in their reading bag on Monday, 11 January. Look for the directions inside the front cover of the composition notebook. I will interact with this journals on occasion. :o) We will begin timing reading passages for fluency and accuracy with running records, and occasionally 'record' their reading for them to listen to. Throughout the rest of this quarter, until the end of JANUARY, we'll also complete another quarter's end of assessment and benchmark measurement.
We'll look for self-started journal entries on topics of individual interest or prompts generated by the teacher. Please continue discussing what is happening in the Reading Bags' little books, to help generate 1-2 sentence entries, composed by the use of their own language and interface with the book(s).
There will be a slight change in the reading material they are bringing home. You will see smaller copied books, a new reading log, new high-frequency word lists, and most will begin Reading Counts tests with the leveled readers in guided reading Levels D,E,F,G,H, and on. Please assist by helping them problem solve unknown words. For each test that they score no less than 7/10 questions correct, a point will be given. It's fun to see them blossom as reader's in more appropriate books. These are very different, but remember to let them preview the pictures in order to learn what they'll be reading about.
I have begun testing in Reading and Math for the end of quarter progress reports in 3 weeks. Most have experienced continued growth. We're pushing through our standards and expect more learning to come.
A huge thanks for all your generosity at the holiday time. Your thoughtful gifts were so appreciated and so fun to open. The gift of time will be the most important one for your child in the coming months. Don't pass up the opportunity to watch them grow by reading with them and watching their newly attained skills appear.
Happy new year!
Mrs. Petty
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