September 22 Newsletter

Mrs. Bali’s First Grade News

September 22, 2017

Review of our Week:

         In math we have been working on taking apart, taking from and subtraction in story problems. In our reading program, we have started reading stories.  We have finished all of our interviews. I will have the pages your child wrote put together in a book at SEPs.  I am very impressed with the writing abilities of each of the students.  In Social Studies we are learning about our community. We wrote about what we want to be when we grow up.

SEP’s:

         I am sending home a paper that tells you when your SEP is.  I need you to sign it and mark if you can make your appointment or not.  If you can’t make it please let me know as soon as possible, so I can reschedule it.  We coordinated with other teachers, so please try to make your appointment.  Remember school gets out everyday at 2:30, even on Wednesday.

Homework:

         It is very important that your child is doing their reading for 20 minutes every night. I really need you taking the time to listen to your child read.  I have several who have already moved up a level and several who will be ready to move up a level with in the next couple of weeks.  I can tell they are reading at home.  As I start reading with each child next week, I will be able to see who else is ready to move.

         I just wanted to let you know, you don’t have to turn your child’s math packet in.  I am not grading it for homework.  You can turn them in, but you don’t have to.  I just wanted to send them home as some extra practice, if you wanted to have your child do it.  It has helped review and pre-teach some of these math concepts. I will do this with each chapter.

Trackers:

         We are using trackers in our class for a while.  I want each student to track their own behavior.  I only have them bring them home if they are getting 1s or 0s.  A 1 means we were focused some of the time, finished some of our work, and we followed some instructions, but we could have done better.  A 0 means we were not doing those things.  If your child has been bringing trackers home, we will visit at SEPs to see what we can do to improve these things.

FYI’s:

* I just wanted to thank you all for sending the snacks when your    child was the leader. Please make sure your child is getting a good breakfast.  If they would like to bring a snack for themselves they can do that.

         * Now that it is starting to get colder outside, please make sure            your child is bringing a jacket everyday.

Upcoming Events:

·      Monday, September 25 – PTA Family Movie Night                                                            5:00 & 7:00

·      Friday, September 29 – Family Fun Day

·      October 2-6 – SEP Week (School gets out at 2:30)

·      Wednesday, October 4 – Hearing Screening

·      Thursday, October 12 – Picture Retakes

·      Friday, October 13 – Family Fun Day

·      Friday, October 20 – Family Fun Day

·      Monday, October 23 – No School (Harvest Recess)

·      Friday, October 27 – Family Fun Day

·      Tuesday, October 31 – Halloween Party

·      Tuesday, October 31 – Carve Pumpkins with dads

September 15 Newsletter

First Grade News

September 15, 2017

Review of our week:

         In math we started on Chapter 2, Subtraction Concepts. I was very happy with the scores from the math test.  I am sending them home today.  If your child wants to fix the ones they missed, they turn it back in for 100%.  We have started reading stories in our reading program and I am very happy with how well they are reading.

Office Things:

         I just wanted to remind you or make you aware if you didn’t know already about a few things.  Whenever you come to the school to read or anything else you need to check in at the office and get a visitors pass.  The other thing is if your child is gone, we need you to call the office and excuse them.  Mrs. Griffith has to call the parents of every child who is absent and see why they are not at school.  If they are going to be gone it is good to let me know, but will you please let Mrs. Griffith know also.  I don’t always have time to tell her.

Reading Parents:

         We will start reading next week.  If you or a grandparent would like to come in and read, we would love to have you.  Let me know if you are able to. When you come in I will have you listen to a child read 1-2 stories out of their Readers and then practice their sight words.  Soon, they will have books I am reading in Guided Reading Groups with them.  After awhile I will have you do fluency readings with them.

Sight Words:

         I have gone through the sight word lists I have and placed your child on a list they need to work on.  I sent most of these home last week.  They may only have 1 or 2 they need to work on.  When they have practiced and can read them with mastery, which is being able to read each word in a second (see it, say it) please sign the paper I have attached and return it.  I will have them pass the list off and get the new list.

        

Homework:

         I have some really fun prizes for those students who reach the reading goal.  The reading goal is at least 5 nights every week.  Even if every apple is not filled in please have your child turn in what they have read (when it is due). Please make sure you sign your child’s reading record.  It is very important your child is doing their reading homework.

Family Fun Day:

         I attached a copy of the paper on Family Fun Day to my email last week.  Usually they will be on Fridays, but if that does not work let me know and we can set up another day. I have dates listed in the upcoming events.  If there is one of those dates you would like, let me know.  If you have any questions please let me know.

Snacks:

We are finished with snacks and we won’t be doing them after today. If your child would like to bring their own healthy snack to eat at first recess, they can.  Please, don’t send candy.

Upcoming Events:

* Monday, September 18 – Parent Literacy Training in the gym 2:30-3:30 (There was a flyer that came home about this.  It will be really good if you can make it.)

*   Friday, September 22 – Family Fun Day

·      Monday, September 25 – PTA Family Movie Night                                                            5:00 & 7:00

·      Friday, September 29 – Family Fun Day

·      October 2-6 – SEP Week (School gets out at 2:30)

·      Wednesday, October 4 – Hearing Screening

·      Thursday, October 12 – Picture Retakes

·      Friday, October 13 – Family Fun Day

·      Friday, October 20 – Family Fun Day

·      Monday, October 23 – No School (Harvest Recess)

·      Friday, October 27 – Family Fun Day

·      Tuesday, October 31 – Halloween Party

·      Tuesday, October 31 – Carve Pumpkins with dads

(I will give more information about some of these, as it gets closer.)

September 8 Newsletter

Mrs. Bali’s First Grade News

September 8, 2017

Review of our week:

         We are almost finished with our unit on fables and fairy tales.  We will start a unit on the human body next week.  Each day we interview the leader and I am really seeing some improvement in our writing.  We have also been working on sentence structure. We did the chapter review yesterday, and took our math test on Monday. 

        

Homework:

         You and your child need to be reading for 20 minutes every night. We will start the Take Home Library next week.  These books are on your child’s independent reading level, they should be reading them to you.  They may seem easy and that is because they are or they should be.  They are one level lower than where I have them instructionally.   I would like your child to read the book a couple of times.  After they have read the book have them tell you what happened in the book and ask them some questions about the book for comprehension.  I did the assessments over the last couple of weeks to find their reading level.  By the time we start in our guided reading groups, some of them will be ready to move up.  Please, be patient with their take home book level until we start guided reading groups.  If your child is on a higher reading level, they won’t move through the levels as fast.

         I am going to send home the extra math practice sheets for the chapter.  You can have your child do these for extra practice, or you don’t have to. If your child does them, they do not have to turn them in. I want their reading to be the priority.

Reading Parents:

         I would like to start having parents come in and read with the class in 2 weeks. They can be moms, dads or grandparents.   I have included a list of the parents who signed up to come in and read.  If you can and would like to come in and read with us, we would love to have you.  Let me know if there is a day that would work for you.  

Sight Words:

         I will be sending home a list of sight words for your child to practice at home.  Once they can read these words fluently, they will be able to read all the books on their reading level.  Many times it is the sight words that hold their progress back.  I would really appreciate it if you would help them with these words.  There are 11 different lists.

         

Reminders & FYI:

* Please make sure your child is here on time.  We cover a          lot of very important math concepts in our opening.  We are also doing bell work or finishing up from the day before.  I would really appreciate it if you had your child here on time.

     

* Remember Library books on Tuesday. I have asked my     class to keep their backpacks in their backpacks, so they are here every week.  Thanks

* Don’t forget to link your Smith’s Card to our school.  Ask grandparents and neighbors to do it also.  The school really makes a lot of money with this. 

* Please have your child wear their favorite T-Shirt on Tuesday.

Leaders for next week:

         September 11 – Lucas

         September 12 – Madilynn

         September 13 –Mason

         September 14 – McCoy

         September 15 –Sheryl

*Please send a snack if you can.

Upcoming Events:

·      Thursday, September 14 – School Pictures

·      Friday, September 15 – Family Fun Day

·      Friday, September 22 – Family Fun Day

·      Monday, September 25 – PTA Family Movie Night

·      Friday, September 29 – Family Fun Day

·      October 2-6 – SEP Week (School gets out at 2:30)

·      Wednesday, October 4 – Hearing Screening

·      Thursday, October 12 – Picture Retakes

·      Friday, October 13 – Family Fun Day

·      Friday, October 20 – Family Fun Day

·      Monday, October 23 – No School (Harvest Recess)

·      Friday, October 27 – Family Fun Day

·      Tuesday, October 31 – Halloween Party

·      Tuesday, October 31 – Carve Pumpkins with dads

(I will give more information about some of these things as it gets closer.)

Reading Volunteers

Reading Volunteers

8:40-9:10 or 11:15-11:45

Monday –    Briyana Ortega 8:40-9:10

Tuesday –   Amy Wittwer 8:40-9:10

                  Jennifer Thompson (Either time)

Wednesday – Carrie Leavitt 11:15-11:45

Thursday – Jenilee Nelson 11:15-11:45

Friday –      Christie Stucki 8:40-9:10        

Family Fun Day

Family Fun Friday

         We would like to get to know about your family.  You need to pick something that is either unique about your family, something you enjoy doing, or anything you would like us to know about your family.  You need to find a book that ties to whatever it is you want to tell us about your family.  I would like as many members of the family as possible to be involved with this.  Then when it is your Friday you will come in, read the book to us and make a short presentation to our class about the thing you have chosen.  You can also dress up if you would like to.

         For example if your family loves to go fishing or camping, you would need to find a book about this subject.  When you came to class you would read the book then you could, either show pictures of when you have done these things, tell stories, show us how to do it or what ever you would like to do. 

So, to do a Family Fun Friday you need to:

         *Let me know

         *Pick an idea

         *Find a book

*Have as many family members involved as possible.  (This also includes coming to the school to do the presentation.)

*Come up with a presentation.

*BE CREATIVE!

         If you have any questions please let me know you can either call me or you can also email me.  If you need some help finding a book on your subject you can ask me, talk to Mrs. Stucki our Librarian or go to the city library.