Happy Friday!

Reader's Workshop

This week we have started our regular Reader's Workshop routines and things are going smoothly! Right now we are establishing good reading habits as well as learning strategies from the CAFE (Comprehension/Accuracy/Fluency/Expanding Vocabulary) menu. So far the students have learned how to "check for understanding" as well as "cross checking" while we read. We will continue to practice these strategies all year long as well as many others that we will add to the menu.

Today the students shared their favorite book and we made some connections among classmates. Two students even brought the exact same book! We found that some students had an interest in animals, while others liked books about planes or stories by Dr. Seuss! Here are some pictures of students showing off their favorite book to a buddy.

Snack Milk Money/Field Trip

Hi everyone!
I just wanted to make sure everyone understands that if your child is purchasing milk for snack time, they need 50 cents, exact change, daily. It goes down at a different time in the day than the lunch money. The snack milk money has to be daily, I can't take $1.00 (or more) and use it the same way as pre-paying for lunch. The mornings are very hectic so if the children are getting milk at snack time it needs to be the exact change just for that day. Sometimes the children are confused when there is extra money in their binder and they pull it all out and are not able to tell me exactly what it is for. I appreciate your help!


Next Friday, September 20th, we are going apple picking! Next week we will spend some time in an apple unit,doing many fun activities related to apples. Permission slips will be sent home soon. Unfortunately each First Grade class can only take one chaperone so if I get many responses I will have to pull a name randomly!

I will be back to post some more pictures tonight. I have my own daughter's First Grade open house in a bit. :)

Reminder to wear red tomorrow!

Hi everyone!
Just a reminder that tomorrow is "red day"! If your child can wear something red, that would be great! Also, I will be sending home a notice tomorrow asking that each child bring their favorite book to school on Tuesday. If you want a head start at getting that together, you can send it in tomorrow. Thanks! Don't forget to answer my new poll!

Some First Day Photos

Hi Everyone!
We wrapped up our first short week of First Grade! Looking forward to starting to get into our regular routine/schedule starting Monday! Thanks to all of you that offered to volunteer at some point this year. For right now, I will be emailing parents only about the literacy center time, since that is what is up and running beginning next week. Next will probably be Writing Workshop. I appreciate your help and will try to get back to all of you that replied before the end of the month. As always, feel free to send an email with any questions! Here are some pictures of your beautiful children.

 

Day One = Complete!

Our first day of First Grade (23 students) went very well! Of course there were plenty of yawns around the room towards the end of the day. Most of these kiddos will have to get their bodies adjusted to a full day of school so expect them to come home exhausted and maybe saying school is "boring". The first couple of weeks are about managing the classroom, rules, expectations, and routines. We practice, practice, and practice. I know this can become tiresome for the children but it is important that we are consistent in routines during these next weeks.
Today we read Wemberly Worried and talked about feelings and charted feelings about the first day of First Grade, introduced ourselves, learned calendar and morning message routines, took a tour of the building, discussed things we did in the summer and what we are looking forward to this school year, had a quick introduction to our clip chart behavior plan (more to come about this) and much more. The students were also introduced to their OWL binders. 

Tomorrow I will send home information regarding birthdays, volunteers, behavior chart, water bottles, and other miscellaneous information regarding our classroom. I did not want to overwhelm you on the first night! PLEASE NOTE: I made an error regarding the cost of school lunch. It is $2.50.  Thank you!

Please make sure your child comes in with a healthy snack and a drink (or 50 cents for a milk) each day. It is very helpful if your child knows whether their 50 cents is for snack time milk or lunch time milk! I believe that lunch went well and there were no issues in the cafeteria. I checked on the kids during my lunch and all seemed great! I hope the children are all snug in bed and ready for day two of First Grade!