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!

Yum, Yum Applesauce!

Today we wrapped up our focus on apples by making applesauce. We did a great sequencing activity, learned some new words, did a writing activity, a little bit of graphing and voila! We cooked it all day long, and it was Yum-my! Thanks for sending in the apples!

Don't forget our fundraiser starts today! The kids all brought home their packets to look at. Please only allow them to sell to people they know. With budgets as tight as they are, this really helps raise money for our classrooms, field trips, assemblies and supplies. The fundraiser goes until October 10th, so sell, sell, sell! Thanks for supporting our school!
Have a good weekend.

IXL

Today we FINALLY got to get on the computers! I introduced the kids to the website IXL, which our school has purchased accounts for. Each student has a username and password, and can access the site from any computer. This is an AMAZING tool for practicing and reinforcing math concepts that we are learning at school. A note with more information will come home today, including your child's log-in information. Please keep this in a safe spot. Practice at home is so much fun for the kids, and really helps them advance in their math skills.


Don't forget, tomorrow is late start. We are making applesauce tomorrow so please make sure you've sent in your apple. Have a beautiful afternoon!

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

Announcements

Hello families! My we have been busy little first graders this month! It's crazy how time flies, and how close we suddenly are to the end of the year. We still have so much to do, so make sure the kiddos continue to get enough sleep. I know it's hard with the longer days, but they really do so much better when they're well rested.

Reading groups are ending tomorrow, so we will really have time to do some fun bug activities! This is one of my favorite units all year so keep an eye on back packs for some great stuff.

Please send in any library books you still have at home, or the money to replace them. They will begin to hold kids in during recess who haven't brought them back yet.

If you still haven't brought your zoo permission slip back, please do so immediately. The deadline was last week, so we need them now.

Math and Literacy night is tomorrow Wednesday May 24th. This is a great family activity from 6:00-7:30. We hope to see you there!

Don't forget our music program is next Wednesday, June 1st at 7:00pm. Please try to get here a few minutes early so we can have the students prepared.

We are assessing beginning this week, and I'm so excited for the first graders to show you all how much they have progressed this year. Thanks for letting me have the opportunity to work with all of your fantastic kiddos!

Spring Projects

Hello families! We are getting ready to do some very important next week. But, we need your help! We need each child to bring in a recipe and a glass jar. Peanut butter jars, jelly jars, mason jars, mayo jars, glass drink jars, anything will work. The more interesting shape, the better. So go through your recycle, and send one in! Please just make sure that the wrappers are removed, and they have been washed out. If you are able to send in more than one, we would really appreciate it. Thanks so much!

Healthy Earth Tree

I am so sorry it's been so long! Mrs. Johnson and I recently started a teacher blog, and it's taken up much of my computer time. But I'm back!

This week we are celebrating Earth Day, which is Wednesday April 22nd. Today the kids will bring home a few leaves for their family members to participate in an Earth Day activity. We are making a healthy earth tree, with pledges of what we will do to help keep the earth healthy. Please take a minute to write down something you will help do on the leaf, and return them to school tomorrow. We will be making our own leaves at school on Wednesday, and then we will be displaying them in the hall, along with staff leaves. Please join us in keeping the earth healthy!

If you'd like to view our teacher blog, you can see it http://firstgradefanatics.blogspot.com/
You can also click on the button on the side of this blog. Have a great day, and get out and enjoy the sunshine!