7-13 March 2010
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: Our class won the Grade Level Popcorn Party for February! We'll have fresh popcorn delivered to our class on Friday. Keep on savin' those BOX TOPS!! Thank you---
Blustery March has begun and we've had snow, rain, wind, and sun all in a matter of the first five school days. Keep sending in those jackets!
We've begun our "Go for the Gold" Reading Challenge. The new reading log was sent home in your child's Reading Bag yesterday. Please record reading activity daily, as we'll total the progress and compete for our gold medals throughout the next 5 weeks. Here is the benchmark information to meet your child's goal(s) for the week:
1st Grade Goals:
50 minutes/week, and/or 10 books/week, and/or 2 Reading Count points per week
You can choose any or all of these options when recording your child's work on the new reading log.
Of course, winning medals is fun, but this helps to solidify progress in reading and supports fluent, automatic reading of books with expression and phrasing. We're also working toward the end-of-year benchmark of Guided Reading Level I/Developmental Reading Assessment Level 18. This is the mark for which 1st graders are considered 'on grade level' at year's end. Many will exceed this mark. I'm so appreciative of the home reading program support you've offered to your child throughout this year. Between the books sent home, the on-line access to e-books, and the library books for read to purposes, they've progressed nicely up to this point. Keep the habit of reading alive in your home! Thank you so much--
I'm making one last call for all Study Trip Permission slips on Monday. I am required to submit all chaperone names and info for security reasons and look forward to having all students paid, slips submitted, and ready to go. We'll hope for sun, and then some more sun. We're headed for another lengthy walk, but it's good for us, right? :-)
The completion of the reader's response logs are also encouraged 2-3 times a week. I have adjusted my promise to respond to their logs to once a week. Between the writing process editing and final copy work, the time slips away. I have 5 students who are doing such a great job on this additional homework assignment. Please ask your student where their log is. It should be kept in their Reading Bag with their books.
Some students have received 100% on their recent High Frequency word test. This means that they are able to read the four rows of 25 words quickly, and without error. This makes such a difference in their comprehension of story and rate (fluency) of reading their leveled stories. Please keep reading those flashcards and if you're still waiting on making them, do it this week. We still have enough time to make a difference for the end of year progress measures.
We had a wonderful visit from our new assistant principal, Mrs. Murray, about safety concerns in and outside of the building. The students were very respectful and great listeners for her presentation. Now we're working on implementing her requests through our actions while at school. Places to be extra careful: playground, stairways,halls, and cafeteria. Ask your child about all the items she had to talk to us about.
Continue with the on-line links. The students are now quite amazing logging in with their many usernames and passwords to the RAZ-kids, IXL Math, Sight Words w/Samson, and Spelling City sites. The skills included on these sites offer a vast amount of extra practice in the many math, reading and spelling skills needed to become effective 2nd graders next year.
Once again, thank you for all you do. Have a wonderful week.
Mrs. Petty
