*If you signed up to help with our Halloween party, our “party planner” may be contacting you soon. Our Halloween party will be on Oct. 31st at 2:00 p.m. Parents and other adults are welcome! First graders bring costumes to change into right before the party…we do not wear our costumes to school. (Costumes are not required, of course.) Costumes should not be very scary and should not include pretend “weapons.”
*Since there is no school on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for students, there will be NO SIGHT WORD TEST OR READING BOOK STORY THIS WEEK! We will spend time in class reviewing previous sight words and word families, and we will also introduce some new “word work” activity centers, if time allows.
*If you want to get a head start on practicing the sight words for next week, here they are:
does
met
Mom
want
do
yes
did
but
at
fix
must
that
wanted
sad
am
get
*Today will be our only homework day this week. . .we will have our usual Monday math homework paper and a poem to read at home for our reading homework today.
**During a normal 5-day week, your child should have two types of homework per evening, Monday through Thursday. Homework is due the very next day. ALL BOOK NOTES DO COUNT AS HOMEWORK. On a related note…please be sure to go over your child’s papers with him or her each day. This helps you know what we are working on in class. It also gives you a chance to help your child with certain skills at home, or have him or her re-do any work or problems that may have been difficult the first time around. There may be notes or stickers on papers that are intended to help and/or encourage your child, and he or she may need help reading these. Please make sure folders are “emptied out” at home every day, too.
**A couple of weeks ago, your child brought home a small box to use for storing those little white “homework books” that come home twice a week. It would be a very good idea to have your child save these books and re-read them for practice every now and then!! This would help your child become a more fluent reader, and would give him or her practice with the sounds and phonics rules we’ve worked on in class. Some parents have told me that they have their children re-read one of these “old books” for practice every evening at bedtime. That’s a great way to keep skills sharp!
**Please continue checking your child’s hand for a green stamp every evening. If your child has an “EXCELLENT” stamp, it means he or she had a great day at school, behavior-wise. If the stamp says “GOOD,” it means that he or she had one mark in the behavior book. And if there is no stamp, it means that the child had two or more marks in the behavior book. Your child should definitely be able to tell you why he or she did not get an “EXCELLENT” stamp! (Also…it is helpful to make sure the previous day’s stamp is washed off at home every day, too!!)
**Please make sure your child wears clothes to school that he or she can easily fasten and unfasten independently for restroom purposes. Also, first graders should know how to tie their own shoes, as this is a kindergarten level skill. If your child cannot yet tie shoes, please work on this at home. (It can be embarassing for children if they are in first grade and cannot yet tie their own shoes.)
**Each child reads a different “phonics story” every morning as one of our early morning activities. This gives your child a chance to practice the phonics rules and skills that we’ve gone over in class. The students who faithfully practice these stories on their “yellow cards” are rapidly making progress in their ability to read! I ask the students to read these short, short stories at least two times each, and when time allows, I call kids to my desk one at a time to hear them read their “yellow cards” out loud to me for a grade. Sometimes it is obvious at that time which students who aren’t practicing their yellow cards independently like they should be doing!
**Our “STUDENT OF THE MONTH” is SHAYLEE M! “Student of the Month” is not an academic award, but it is a way to recognize students who show good behavior even in unstructured situations like recess and lunch, have good attitudes about school, follow the rules, make good choices, listen respectfully and follow directions, treat others with respect, etc. In other words, this is a citizenship award. “Students of the Month” are honored at special monthly school assemblies.
**Students can purchase ice cream on Mondays and popcorn on Wednesdays. These cost fifty cents each, or your child can purchase a booklet of snack coupons for five dollars each in the office. PLEASE SEND EXACT CHANGE FOR POPCORN OR ICE CREAM. We are not always able to “make change,” especially if most children are purchasing with coupons. In first grade, the students are responsible for their own snack money or coupons…teachers do not hold this for them or carry money over for the next day, etc.
WISH LIST ITEM:
We could use some BLACK dry erase markers. . . ours are drying out. This is because these we use these a lot to do plastic "review pages" that I have laminated for the kids. This saves on paper and copying, and it makes skill practice a little more enjoyable for the kids than it would be if we were just doing worksheets! The students use BLACK dry erase markers in class since they erase more completely than the colored ones.
***Have your child click on SIGHT WORDS on this web page to practice ALL the sight words we've had so far this year. There are also links on this web page to some fun learning games for your child.
candohelperpage.com/index.html This is a great site to practice basic skills in an interactive test-like format...could help prepare kids for standardized testing!
www.bookadventure.com Take free tests on books you read...this is a great reading motivation site.
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