The End of September

Hello, parents. Can you believe it is the end of September already?? Time really does fly by. I have a few items of interest for this week.

First of all, I am sending home (I hope) a print out copy of the 1st grade blog site at WOHE. This is a great resource spot. There is information and child friendly website links on this page. Please check it out. Go the the home page for Willard R-2 Schools, then click on the WOHE site, from there click on the 1st grade classes link, and then you can also click on my page link. On my page, I hope to add a weekly update on what is happening in our class. I will try to always print out the first page of our class page and send it home also. This way, hopefully we can all stay informed. :-)

I would like to congraduate the following students for receiving the first "apple awards" of the year at our Tiger Pride assembly on Wednesday:
Red Academic apples - Camryn and Claire (great writers)
Orange Character apples - Grace and Logan (great responsible behavior)
Yellow Improvement apples - Bryson and Jordin D. (great readers)
Green Team Work apples - Jayden and Jordan W. (great "bucket filling" friends)
Way to go to all!! Remember, parents are always welcome at our Tiger Pride Assemblies. Check the calendar link on the WOHE website for all the dates for the year.

Spelling is coming!!! Be watching for a parent note to come home on Monday explaining our 1st grade spelling program. We are excited to be using a wonderful spelling program that really teaches the students to be life long spellers. It is a little different than your typical weekly spelling test programs; but I LOVE it.

Finally, in class the last few weeks, we have really been working on: learning and then applying reading strategies to help figure out tricky words, beginning addition and story problems, writing sentences/stories so that others can read them, and learning to do our part with our behavior and great ACTIVE listening so we can learn all that we can. It has been a great start to the school year.

Oh, one final note: I would like to say hello, to Emma (our new student) and a sad good bye to Macie (today is her last day).

Have a great weekend.

Welcome

I would like to welcome you to first grade. It has taken me a little time to get to my blog this year. I apologize for that. I will try to update it and send home weekly news as to what is happening in our classroom so you can stay informed. Please check back. :)

As to what has been happening so far this year: We have all been working very hard on learning the rules and routines of a new classroom and a new teacher. We have also taken some time to get to know one another. We know that if we all work our best and treat each other with respect, then we can have fun while we are learning LOTS this year! Here is a little general classroom information that you might find helpful.

Classroom Rules:
1. Follow directions the first time
2. Be nice and polite
3. Be safe
4. Be a good listener

I hold the students to a high expectation in regards to their behavior. I know the students can do it; so then when they themselves see that it can be done, they have an enormous sense of personal pride!

Daily Schedule:
8:20 Morning jobs and activities
8:40 Pledge and roll call
8:45 Read to Self with Guided reading groups
9:10 Whole group reading lesson
9:45 Restroom Break
9:35 Writer's Workshop
10:20 Word Work/Poetry notebook
10:45 Work Station with Guided reading groups
11:05 Special Classes (M-PE, T-Library, W-Art, TH-Music, F-Computer)
11:57 Lunch
12:22 Restroom Break
12:30 Calendar time
12:45 Math
1:35 Theme time
2:05 Read to partner with teacher conferring with readers
2:35 Recess
3:05 Pack up and chapter book read time
3:30 Dismiss