Martin Luther King

We will be talking about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. this week. Please take a few minutes to discuss him with your children. There is a wonderful video on you tube that you can watch {HERE}. This is one of my favorite books about Martin Luther King, it made such a moving and powerful video. The kids loved it today, and would enjoy watching it with you!

Here is our newsletter for this week.


Make sure to drive carefully in this weather and be safe. Are you signed up for Flash Alert yet? Make sure you sign up now! This will send you a text and/or email as soon as the decision is made to cancel or postpone the school day. This information is much faster than waiting for the news. Have a great rest of the (short) week!

For more specifics of the activities we will be doing this week, visit my first grade teacher blog First Grade Fanatics.

Monday, Monday...

I hope everyone had a restful weekend, and that you're all ready for a busy week! Please make sure you check backpacks today. I sent home quite a few things today, so make sure you take a look.

Last spring our PTC generously bought me 5 iPod touches to use in my classroom. If they were found to be useful, the thought was that maybe then we'd have a goal to buy some more for other classrooms later. I finally got them into the kiddos hands this last week. They are filled with fun and exciting apps that really help reinforce concepts with the kiddos. We are using this during word work at Daily 5 time, as well as when kids come in in the morning, and as they finish up early whatever activity we are doing at the time. They are also able to earn time on the iPods with good behavior, and it seems to be working for most of the kids. Not everyone has gotten on them, but we are pretty close! I'm currently working on creating a list of favorite apps that are useful and educational for first graders. When it's all done, I will definitely share it with you. Apps are expensive, so of course we are always looking for iTunes donations. :) Here's some fun pictures of some of the kids sharing the iPods with a partner.






I will be out of the classroom on Thursday and Friday, but will be able to check my email. Please make sure to send any changes by note to the office since I will not be there.

Have you checked out IXL yet? Please have your child get on as much as possible. Feel free to explore the site. Please send me an email if you need your child's password or username.

Thank you to those who made it in for a conference last week! It was nice to meet some of you. Don't worry if you didn't get a note for a conference. These were just optional, and regular conferences will be held in November the week of Thanksgiving.

Make sure to get in your Pinkalicious permission slips. We are looking for 6 volunteers per classroom. Please make sure you have been cleared through the district before signing up to volunteer.

We are still in need of weekly volunteers. If you have a few hours to spare, please let me know. We'd love to have you!

Have a great week!

Happy Wednesday!

Hope everyone is having a great week! I meant to get this up on Monday, but hopefully everyone found it in backpacks on Monday. Please make sure to also read the back side. There was a great letter giving you more information on Daily 5.

A few things to note:
* Book orders were sent home this week. This is a fantastic, and cost-friendly way to build your home library. Please send any orders back by next Monday, October 10.
*IXL usernames have gone home. Please have your child getting on the computer to work on IXL at home. Let me know if you need your child's username or password.
*If you got a conference paper, please return it asap. If you didn't get one, and would like to meet, please let me know asap as well.
*Please work on learning to tie shoes at home. I know it's hard for first graders to master {trust me, I have a first grader! ;-) } but it really saves huge amounts of time if they can tie their own shoes.
*Our class is quite chatty, and has some trouble getting focused and following directions. Please just check-in with your child and have a conversation about appropriate times to talk in class. Any support at home is a huge help in reinforcing the expectations at school. Thanks for your help!

Have a great week!

Welcome to First Grade!

Welcome to our classroom blog! I am so excited to have all of your students this year! What potential these kiddos have, I can hardly wait to see what they do this year. This will be a fabulous way for you to stay connected to what we are doing in class this year. I will try to post as frequently as I can to keep you as updated as possible. You will also notice a weekly newsletter coming home on Mondays, which I will post on here as well. Please take a moment to read, it's full of important information.

We've had a crazy few weeks as the kids adjust to first grade. We've been working really hard on following direction, paying attention, and learning how to work as a team. They've been working very hard, and I'm sure they are coming home exhausted! Please make sure they are getting to bed early as they adjust to being at school all day, every day.

Reading homework should be coming home regularly now, except on Fridays. Please take a few minutes to read to your child, as well as having them read to you. I can't stress enough how important it is for the kids to hear good examples of reading. It helps them develop fluency, comprehension, and really boosts their vocab. I know nights are crazy, been even just a few minutes a night will really make a big difference.

We will finally be getting on computers this week, and will be getting our IXL passwords. Please watch for a note coming home towards the end of the week with their login and password. This is an excellent tool for math practice at home. The kids love it, and it will really help solidify their math skills. More information to come...

Please make sure your child is doing their weekend writing homework independently. It is ok to help them with the occasional sounds, but please make sure they are working hard to listen to the sounds they hear, and to write those. This will help them become better writers. The point isn't to have a perfectly written paper, but for them to be doing some writing on their own.

It's going to be a great year! I hope to meet you all sometime soon, if we haven't met already!

Pictures will show up on our blog occasionally. If you do not want your child's picture on our blog, please let me know immediately. If you marked this on your blue form, I will keep their pictures off.

Let's have a great week!

Here is this weeks newsletter for this week:

Clipart courtesy of Scrappin' Doodles

Happy Monday!

• Our May Newsletter is coming home today. Make sure to read it, as it has some important end-of-the-year information and dates.
• Our final book order is coming home today. May and June are included, as are Seesaw (K-1) and Firefly (Pre-K). Don't forget to have your kids reading at home this summer. This is a great resource for cheap books at their level. Book orders are due back by May 18th.
  
• Field trip permission slip is coming home today. Make sure to return it by May 20th.

April Newsletter

Here is our April newsletter. It came home today, along with a bunch of other stuff. Please make sure you go through backpacks tonight. Have a great weekend!

March Newsletter

Here is our newsletter that will go home tomorrow. I am going to experiment on how to post a document. We'll see if this works. To see the full size image, click on the picture.