Happy Friday, Everyone!
We made it through our first full week of school. I wonder if the kids are as tired as me? While I try to make the first weeks fun and interesting, there are times when rules and procedures are downright boring. I have to talk a lot, and the kids have to be quite attentive. As such, the kids really learned the nuts and bolts of our classroom this week. Next week we'll refine some procedures, and add a few details to the procedures learned this week. We'll continue to get to know each other as we build our classroom community. On that note, I am impressed and thankful with how beautifully the kids are getting along. They're including each other during recess, introducing themselves to each other, and are a very social bunch. :)
Here's some important information for you to know. Please read through to the end. It's a lot this first time around...
Please Subscribe to My Blog!
If you were directed to this post by a link in an email, please take a moment to subscribe to my blog by entering your email address in the box to the right that says "follow by email". You will receive a confirmation email to verify your subscription. Please clink the link in the email to verify your email address. You will then receive an automatic notification each time I've published a message. Please don't skip that important last step -- you MUST verify/confirm your email address to be subscribed.
Schedule Change:
Next week, I will make a slight change to our schedule by moving recess to an earlier time. We currently have a long morning, and it can be difficult for the kids to stay actively engaged from 8:00-11:30. They are building their stamina for school, and for the academic rigors of first grade. So, to give them a bit of a break during this long morning, and to facilitate math in the afternoon, we will have our 30 minute recess at 10:30 / 10:45 each day. (The start time may vary slightly from day to day, but the 30 minute break will not.)
Snack:
Please be sure to send a snack with your child each day. Please limit your child's snack to one item that can be eaten easily and independently. Please ensure your child knows which item in his/her lunchbox is for snack. Please do not send dips, sauces, or other liquids for snack. Please do not send snack cakes with cream or frosting. These things spill and smear easily on our classroom carpet and on our learning materials. If your child bring any of these items for snack, I will ask him/her to save that snack for the cafeteria. Pretzels, goldfish, fruit, granola / snack bars, and raw veggies (no dip, please) make great snacks.
Water Bottles:
First graders are a thirsty bunch. Please feel free to send a water bottle to school with your child each day. Please send a reusable bottle. Please do NOT send water bottles with twist off tops for classroom use...the kids have a very difficult time getting the caps on straight and those bottles typically spill.
Shared Reading Poetry Bags:
Today, I am sending home a gallon-sized zip top bag with your child. The bag is labeled "My Shared Reading Poems", and contains our first Shared Reading poem of the year. Shared Reading is a time for the students to chorally (all of us together) read and/or sing songs, poems, and informational texts. Students practice fluency, intonation, and other good reader skills. As a class, we discuss elements of the text...rhyming words, punctuation, grammar, vocabulary, etc. We identify sight words, consonant blends and digraphs, vowel patterns, and more. Each week, your child will bring home a copy of the text we read that week. I'm sending the bag home so your child has a place to keep all of his/her Shared Reading texts. The bag does not have to come back to school, and if you have a folder or other filing system you'd like to use, please do so! I encourage you to have your child regularly reread his/her poems...to you, to him/herself, to a sibling, a stuffed animal, a pet, etc. This is a wonderful opportunity to practice fluency, sight word recall, and many other good reader skills.
PTA Volunteer Welcome Coffee:
The Pinebrook PTA will hold a Volunteer Welcome Coffee on Monday, September 11th at 8:35 am in the Pinebrook Cafeteria. Please come find out how you can volunteer with the PTA. Younger children are welcome!
Volunteers Needed:
I am in need of parent volunteers to help me stuff Thursday folders and prepare materials. While our school does not have school-wide Thursday folders, I continue to use this communication tool. On Thursdays, I will send a reusable envelope (but I call it a "folder") home that contains school and classroom news and notices, along with your student's graded work. You should empty the folder completely and return it with your child each Friday. It's super helpful to have a parent stuff the folders because I can't always get to it during the course of a Thursday. I am also in need of parent volunteers to help me with copying and materials preparation. If you can help with these things, please click HERE to sign up.
Specials Schedule:
I sent a paper copy of the Specials Schedule home in your child's Back to School Night / Welcome Folder. However, to recap, our Specials Schedule is as follows:
We made it through our first full week of school. I wonder if the kids are as tired as me? While I try to make the first weeks fun and interesting, there are times when rules and procedures are downright boring. I have to talk a lot, and the kids have to be quite attentive. As such, the kids really learned the nuts and bolts of our classroom this week. Next week we'll refine some procedures, and add a few details to the procedures learned this week. We'll continue to get to know each other as we build our classroom community. On that note, I am impressed and thankful with how beautifully the kids are getting along. They're including each other during recess, introducing themselves to each other, and are a very social bunch. :)
Here's some important information for you to know. Please read through to the end. It's a lot this first time around...
Please Subscribe to My Blog!
If you were directed to this post by a link in an email, please take a moment to subscribe to my blog by entering your email address in the box to the right that says "follow by email". You will receive a confirmation email to verify your subscription. Please clink the link in the email to verify your email address. You will then receive an automatic notification each time I've published a message. Please don't skip that important last step -- you MUST verify/confirm your email address to be subscribed.
Schedule Change:
Next week, I will make a slight change to our schedule by moving recess to an earlier time. We currently have a long morning, and it can be difficult for the kids to stay actively engaged from 8:00-11:30. They are building their stamina for school, and for the academic rigors of first grade. So, to give them a bit of a break during this long morning, and to facilitate math in the afternoon, we will have our 30 minute recess at 10:30 / 10:45 each day. (The start time may vary slightly from day to day, but the 30 minute break will not.)
Snack:
Please be sure to send a snack with your child each day. Please limit your child's snack to one item that can be eaten easily and independently. Please ensure your child knows which item in his/her lunchbox is for snack. Please do not send dips, sauces, or other liquids for snack. Please do not send snack cakes with cream or frosting. These things spill and smear easily on our classroom carpet and on our learning materials. If your child bring any of these items for snack, I will ask him/her to save that snack for the cafeteria. Pretzels, goldfish, fruit, granola / snack bars, and raw veggies (no dip, please) make great snacks.
Water Bottles:
First graders are a thirsty bunch. Please feel free to send a water bottle to school with your child each day. Please send a reusable bottle. Please do NOT send water bottles with twist off tops for classroom use...the kids have a very difficult time getting the caps on straight and those bottles typically spill.
Shared Reading Poetry Bags:
Today, I am sending home a gallon-sized zip top bag with your child. The bag is labeled "My Shared Reading Poems", and contains our first Shared Reading poem of the year. Shared Reading is a time for the students to chorally (all of us together) read and/or sing songs, poems, and informational texts. Students practice fluency, intonation, and other good reader skills. As a class, we discuss elements of the text...rhyming words, punctuation, grammar, vocabulary, etc. We identify sight words, consonant blends and digraphs, vowel patterns, and more. Each week, your child will bring home a copy of the text we read that week. I'm sending the bag home so your child has a place to keep all of his/her Shared Reading texts. The bag does not have to come back to school, and if you have a folder or other filing system you'd like to use, please do so! I encourage you to have your child regularly reread his/her poems...to you, to him/herself, to a sibling, a stuffed animal, a pet, etc. This is a wonderful opportunity to practice fluency, sight word recall, and many other good reader skills.
The Pinebrook PTA will hold a Volunteer Welcome Coffee on Monday, September 11th at 8:35 am in the Pinebrook Cafeteria. Please come find out how you can volunteer with the PTA. Younger children are welcome!
Volunteers Needed:
I am in need of parent volunteers to help me stuff Thursday folders and prepare materials. While our school does not have school-wide Thursday folders, I continue to use this communication tool. On Thursdays, I will send a reusable envelope (but I call it a "folder") home that contains school and classroom news and notices, along with your student's graded work. You should empty the folder completely and return it with your child each Friday. It's super helpful to have a parent stuff the folders because I can't always get to it during the course of a Thursday. I am also in need of parent volunteers to help me with copying and materials preparation. If you can help with these things, please click HERE to sign up.
Specials Schedule:
I sent a paper copy of the Specials Schedule home in your child's Back to School Night / Welcome Folder. However, to recap, our Specials Schedule is as follows:
- Monday: Music and PE
- Tuesday: Art
- Wednesday: SEARCH/Guidance and PE
- Thursday: Music and PE
- Friday: Computer Lab and Library
Please ensure your child wears sneakers to school on our PE days.
Lunch:
Our lunch time is from 11:32 - 12:02. You are welcome to eat lunch with your child any day, and you may bring your child lunch purchased from a restaurant (think places like Subway, Panera, or Chick-fil-A). If you'd like to eat lunch with your child, please sign in at the school office and meet us at the cafeteria at 11:32. Please plan to say goodbye to your child in the cafeteria at the end of our lunch period as our instructional day resumes right after lunch.
Important Dates:
Please check the "Important Dates" section of this blog for upcoming events. I will highlight some events in my weekly update, but you can find a complete list in the "Important Dates" section.
Focus Areas for the Coming Week:
Enjoy the long weekend! We've all earned it!
Lunch:
Our lunch time is from 11:32 - 12:02. You are welcome to eat lunch with your child any day, and you may bring your child lunch purchased from a restaurant (think places like Subway, Panera, or Chick-fil-A). If you'd like to eat lunch with your child, please sign in at the school office and meet us at the cafeteria at 11:32. Please plan to say goodbye to your child in the cafeteria at the end of our lunch period as our instructional day resumes right after lunch.
Important Dates:
Please check the "Important Dates" section of this blog for upcoming events. I will highlight some events in my weekly update, but you can find a complete list in the "Important Dates" section.
Focus Areas for the Coming Week:
- Reading: We will talk about how to use our classroom library, and procedures and expectations for Independent Reading.
- Writing: We will complete our Fall Writing Sample. We will begin Handwriting practice, learning about proper letter formation and starting letters at the top.
- Math: We will finish learning how to use our "Rise and Shine" binders...Rise and Shine binders contain students' Morning Work. The binders review and reinforce calendar, counting, place value, and sight word skills.
- Social Studies: We will continue building our classroom community as we explore the qualities of a good citizen in our school, our community, and our world.
Enjoy the long weekend! We've all earned it!
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