Conferences

I hope that everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving with your families! I know that I sure enjoyed being able to spend so much time with my own kids, and to see family we don't get to see very often. However, I was disappointed in the cancellation of school last Tuesday. I look so forward to meeting with all parents, and talking about how your kids are doing at school. But unfortunately, we'll have to just do what we can, with the amount of time we have. So, if I wasn't able to meet you you because of Tuesday's school closure, then I will be sending your child's report card home tomorrow. Please look through it, as well as the stuff with it, and then let me know if you have any questions. If you would still like to meet with me for a conference, I do have a few times this week after school, but I won't be able to do night conferences. Please let me know as soon as possible if you'd like to reschedule. Again, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Now on to the Christmas season!

*A Few Notes From Conferences

• Please read and sign the Parent-Student-Teacher Compact and return it to school. This just reviews each of our responsibilities to your child's education.
• Make sure you have signed up for Flash Alert, and that the office has your most recent emergency contact information. If you get new numbers or addresses, please let us know!
• Our Title 1 program has purchased an online math program for kids to use to work on math concepts. There are math problems for kids to complete that are directly tied to the first grade standards. This is great for extra practice, as well as for review and something extra. A letter will be coming home with instructions, and user names and passwords. Please get on the site with your child, and have them play around. If you have any questions, please let me know. We will also be doing this at school as often as we can.
• Please make sure you continue to read the blog, and school newsletter. Don't forget that the new Monday envelopes come home on Mondays (or Tuesday this week) with the important papers for the week. Please read the information, and then sign the folder and send it back to school. This will keep you informed of what's going on in class, as well as in school.
  

Turkey BINGO tonight!

Hope to see everyone at Turkey BINGO tonight! We have some great prizes, and cards are only a dollar! Fundraiser pickup is also today starting after school at 3:30 until 7:30. Hope you can make it!

Monday Announcements

Ahhh, after a week of feeling pretty under the weather, I am finally starting to feel better! There are definitely some nasty colds going around, so please make sure you and your family takes the best precautions that you can to stay healthy. In first grade, we are really practicing coughing into our elbow, and lots of hand washing. Here are a few announcements for this week. Hopefully the rain will let up enough to enjoy the amazing fall scenery!

• Conference schedules will come home on Tuesday, so please return them ASAP. It takes some time to fix any blips in the schedule.
• We are having a CAN FOOD DRIVE to benefit Molalla Communities That Care starting today, and running through Tuesday of Conference week. This is a school competition as well, so please send in any donations that you can and help us collect more food than any other class. The winning class gets a ride on a fire truck!
  
• Congratulations to Oytillia and Will who where our Citizens of the Month for October. Way to go!
• There is no school on Thursday due to Veterans Day.
• Turkey BINGO is on Friday Nov. 12th at 7:00pm. Fundraiser pickup is also Friday starting right after school. Book fair will stay open late!
• Halloween pictures will be up tomorrow. Thanks for being patient!
• Word Wall words fro the last 2 weeks, and for this week are: ABOUT, HAD, IF, SOME, UP, HER, DO, WHEN, SIX, SO. Due to the short week, and trying to get assessments done for conferences, we won't be adding any new words this week. We will continue with the word wall next week, so watch for our new words!
  

Beanie Baby Reading Strategies

You may notice a poster coming home on Monday with reading strategies that we've been working on in class. These are the Beanie baby decoding strategies and believe me, they work like magic! Please reinforce them at home when your child gets stuck on a work. For instance, if they are stuck, ask "What would Flippy Dolphin tell you to do?" The kids love these characters, and have really started using them when trying to figure out a word. Let me introduce you to our reading friends!

Stretchy Snake- Stretch it out
Eagle Eye- Look at the pictures
Lips the Fish- Get your lips ready
Chunky Monkey- Chunk the word
Flippy Dolphin- Flip the vowel sound
Skippy Frog- Skip it, skip it
Tryin' Lion- Try it again
Helpful Kangaroo- Ask for help

The kids will also be getting book marks to keep in the book boxes, as well as one to take home to help them remember. Later in the year, we will also introduce some comprehension friends as well. If you would like more information or copies of our posters or bookmarks, please make sure to email me.

Daily 5

We have finally finished setting up our reading block in our classroom! We are using a framework called The Daily 5, in which the kids are given choices for skills to work on. we will have 2 20-25 minutes sessions each afternoon, with mini-lessons before and between each session. During this workshop time, the kids will have a choice of 5 things to work on. They may Read to Self, Read to Someone, do Word Work, Work on Writing, or Listen to Reading. They get to pick what they will do, as long as they don't do the same thing twice (unless they want to read twice). The listening station that we have set up currently has 3 ipods, and since it's in such high demand in the class, we have a rotating schedule. When the kids read, they are reading from their own book boxes, where they have "good fit" books. These are books that are at their own reading level. They can read the words, understand the words, and they are interested in the content. This has become my, and the kids' favorite time of the day. It has taken a LONG time to get it up and going, because it takes a lot of training. The kids all must work independently so that I can pull small groups to work on specific skills. It has been worth the wait though, because it is going so well. If you have any questions about it, or would like to volunteer during this time, please let me know. This is a great opportunity to get involved in the classroom, even just to listen to kids read, or read with them. Don't forget to send in your child's head phones or ear buds if you don't want them sharing.

Pumpkin Patch

Thank you so much to the parents that helped us out at the pumpkin patch! The kids had a great time petting and feeding the animals, running through the hay maze, watching them make apple cider, getting to taste the FABULOUS cider and doughnuts, and picking their pumpkin.Bauman Farms is a great place to visit! Here are some pictures from our trip!

Word List week 7

The words from the word wall for this week are:

they
pink
good
one
me

Please make sure you are practicing these words at home. Thanks!