Week of September 29th

Friday is our late start! Students should come to school 2 hours later than normal. Class starts at 9:40.

Pictures are on Wed, October 1st!  An order form came home with your child last Wednesday the 24th. Let me know if you need a new one. This form needs to be turned in no later than picture day. Picutres can not be ordered after your child takes their picture.

We had a great surprise last week!  Mrs. Froiland read to our room about including others to make sure no one gets laughed at or feels invisible.  We even made a person to tell how the boy in the story felt.

We also got to see some magicians on Friday!..basketball magicians!  The students took a yellow form home that gives all the information to participate in the basketball magicians program.  If you would like to participate but funds are tight please indicate, on the yellow form, that you would like a scholarship to participate in the program.

Ice cream Social on Thursday at PV from 6-8pm!!

Come and learn more about the WatchDogs (Dads of Great Students)!  WatchDog pizza night is September 30 from 5:30-7:30 at Pleasantview.  You do not need to be a dad to participate, just a male family member or friend.

Don't forget about the PV 5K-October 11!  Let me know if you need a new registration form.

Math Homework: Continue to work hard on that math homework!  Most of you are getting it finished and handed in the next day.

Reading Homework--Decodable Readers: Reading your readers is extremely important!  It will help you become a better reader.  They will become more difficult soon.  If you are able to read the reader smoothly with no mistakes, feel free to practice reading with a different book at home!

HERE IS WHAT WE WILL WORK ON NEXT WEEK:

Language arts will include:

• Why is the order of story events important?-We will read "Curious George at School".
• Sequence of events
• Short o and the letters l, x, and _s
• Action verbs
• Multiple-meaning words

Math will include:

• Review of Unit 1
• Test for Unit 1
• Addition with pictures (Unit 2)

There will be less homework on testing weeks.  The day of review and day of the test do not have homework.

Week of September 22nd

GREAT WEEK THIS WEEK!  We started our reading curriculum and tested on the phonics for this lesson- short a.  We are getting further into looking for addition partners in math.  Our classroom routine has been established and we are starting to remember all of our jobs without asking what to do or being asked!

CLASS DOJO ANNOUNCEMENT: I have restructured the Class Dojo behaviors to match our positive school wide behavior plan, The PATH of the Storm.  I have created a page within this blog (click on label above) of the new behaviors and I have also sent a new copy home on bright green paper.


FUNDRAISER KICKOFF: Pleasantview will learn about our fall fundraiser on September 22nd.  All students will bring the packet home that afternoon.  Please look for it in their backpack.  The orders are due at school on October 7th.

Our class is doing much better, but just as a reminder...

Take home folders: Please help your child remember to empty their take home folder each night and put it back into their back pack.  I am reminding them to put their mail in the folder before they put it in their back pack each day and stressing the importance of checking it each morning to see if you put anything in it for me (notes, book orders, forms etc.).  It is easier for them to see new items if the old items have been removed.  Thanks!

Math Homework: Math homework has begun!  4-5 nights per week a yellow math homework sheet will come home in your child's take home folder.  This work will focus on what we did in class that day and shouldn't take more than 15-20 minutes to complete.  Homework help is allowed and welcomed.  From time to time a "Family Letter" will be in the take home folder.  This will explain what we are doing in math.  It will also help you understand the homework.  If your child is confused, please write a note on the homework and I will help them the next day.

Reading Homework--Decodable Readers:  There will be a paper book in your child's folder on Monday-Thursday.  Please take some time to read it with them to promote fluency. The first decodable reader had an orange sheet attached to it.  Please save this sheet as a reference for reading activities for those decodable readers. On Friday you will find a blue list of Fluency Sentences.  Your child should be able to read these smoothly.  If they are having difficulty, encourage them to practice the sentences with you.

HERE IS WHAT WE WILL WORK ON NEXT WEEK:

Language arts will include:

• What clues tell you how a character feels?-We will read "The Storm
• Understanding Characters
• Short i and the letters r, h, s, b, and g
• Word family -it
• Nouns
• Context Clues

Math will include:

• Partners for 9 and 10
• Quick Quiz on Lessons 8-14
• Grouping numbers into 5s and 1s
• Doubles, evens and odds
• Quick Quiz on Lessons 15-17

Week of September 15th

We successfully completed week two!  There are a ton of new things that your 1st grader will be experiencing.  As new things come up, I will try to explain them in my blog.  All of the blogs are available in the bottom right corner of this page so you can look back to any one that you want.

Book orders are due on Wednesday!  Remember, you can order online if you want.

Media (Library):  Because our class splits up and joins other classes for specialist, Media will be different for different students.  Your child should know which teacher they join for specialist.  Media is scheduled for the following:  Day 1-Krueger, Day 2-Widman, Day 3-Gustofson.  If this is confusing (I totally understand!), a good way to be certain that students have their library books at school on the right day is to have your child keep their books in their backpack when they are not reading them.  That way, they will always be there when they need them.

Take home folders: Please help your child remember to empty their take home folder each night and put it back into their back pack.  I am reminding them to put their mail in the folder before they put it in their back pack each day and stressing the importance of checking it each morning to see if you put anything in it for me (notes, book orders, forms etc.).  It is easier for them to see new items if the old items have been removed.  Thanks!

Homework: Math homework has begun!  4-5 nights per week a yellow math homework sheet will come home in your child's take home folder.  This work will focus on what we did in class that day and shouldn't take more than 15-20 minutes to complete.  Homework help is allowed and welcomed.  From time to time a "Family Letter" will be in the take home folder.  This will explain what we are doing in math.  It will also help you understand the homework.  If your child is confused, please write a note on the homework and I will help them the next day.

Pink Word Lists:  A list of words will come home for each reading unit.  This list includes 5 weeks of words.  We will work on one list/week. These are words that can't be sounded out, but are sight words instead.  You will find the current list in the right margin of this blog.

Decodable Readers:  There will be a paper book in your child's folder on Monday-Thursday.  Please take some time to read it with them to promote fluency. The first decodable reader will have an orange sheet attached to it.  Please save this sheet as a reference for reading activities for those decodable readers. On Friday you will find a blue list of Fluency Sentences.  Your child should be able to read these smoothly.  If they are having difficulty, encourage them to practice the sentences.

HERE IS WHAT WE WILL WORK ON NEXT WEEK:

Language arts will include:

• What is important about being a pal?-We will read "What is a Pal?"
• Main idea
• Short a and the letters n, d, p, and f
• Nouns
• Reading stories with short a words

Math will include:

• The concept of one more, one less
• Partners for 6, 7, and 8
• Adding in any order

Week of September 8th

Welcome to our 1st grade blog!  I will be posting this blog on most Fridays after school or the last day of the school week.  You may have gotten an email that said you are subscribed.  If you did not get this email, please subscribe on the right side of the screen.  This way you will be notified when a new entry has been posted.

You can find the blog at: www.bachandsbusybees.blogspot.com

The blog will include what we will work on during the upcoming week.  It will show our words to know on the right.  It will also include the specialist days for the week and any upcoming events.  I will write notifications in the blog as well.  If I have already published the blog and something comes up, I will send a paper copy home.

Wow!  What a busy and fun week!

We heard stories, filled in sentence starters, drew illustrations, and started our math curriculum. We also made a book about our week!

We have been learning A LOT about being on the PATH.  

Personal best, Accountability, Teamwork, Honesty

Next week we will:
Review PATH 
Talk about personal health.

We will also be doing some reading and math assessments in order to create WIN (what I need) groups.  WIN is a time during the day when students are grouped with students of like ability so they all get what they need to be their best!  First grade has WIN time for reading at 11:55-12:30.  This year every one will be participating in the PALS intervention that helps all readers read faster and more smoothly.  We will start training all students on how to use PALS next week.

We will continue exploring math.  Next week will bring:

• Exploration of numbers and shapes for 3 and 4
• Finding partners and totals for the numbers 4 and 5
• A quick quiz on what we have learned so far

Other things to know:

• If I am missing any paperwork from open house I will send another copy on Friday the 5th.
• If you have not signed up for a conference time please look for an email from me next week.
• I will also send emails inviting you to join Class Dojo if you haven't already logged in.
• There is a Pleasantview 5K walk/run coming up on Oct 11th.  It will include a 1K for the kids! Sign-up sheets went home on Sept 4th.  There are more by the office if you need one.

Welcome to 1st Grade!!

I am looking forward to a great year with all of you!!