Weekly Update

Hi Parents,

It's the time of year when the calendar begins to fill up quickly, both at home and at school!  I have many upcoming events to tell you about.  

Fall Party:
I hope to see some of you at our Fall Party on Tuesday.  It begins at 1:00 in our classroom.  Please sign in at the office and get a visitor pass before coming to our classroom.  Since no costumes are allowed that day, please help your child contribute to our festive atmosphere by dressing in something orange or Halloween themed (a Halloween shirt, hair ribbon, etc.).  

Field Trip:
Our field trip to Claude Moore Park and the Heritage Farm Museum will be next Friday, November 3rd.  We'll enjoy a nature walk through the park while we observe seasonal changes and learn how animals prepare for winter.  We'll attend the apples program at the Museum to learn about different types of apples, play some apple games, and press some apple cider.  Your child should bring a disposable lunch on the field trip.  Watch the weather to decide what to wear; layers are best as the temperature fluctuates while we move in and out of the sun in the park.  Children should wear sneakers; no sandals please.  I'll send home a few more reminders next week.

Turkey of the Year:
Turkey of the Year voting began today, and will continue for the next few Fridays! Your child must read to vote for the staff member he/she would like to see come to school dressed in a turkey suit.  One hour of reading equals one vote.  Each Friday, please sign and return that week's voting slip, which came home in last week's Thursday folder.  If you lost the voting slips, please write a note to indicate how many hours your child read during the previous week, sign it, and send it to school on Friday. 

Parent Teacher Conferences:
Conferences have begun!  If your conference is in the morning before school, I will meet you at the front door of the school to let you in since our office staff may not yet be here.  You will not need to sign in.  If your conference is after school, please ring the school visitor bell, be prepared to show your photo id to our office staff, and sign in at the office.  You may walk to our classroom after you sign in.  

American Education Week:
Please mark your calendar for our American Education Week celebration on Thursday, November 16th from 10:45 - 11:30 am in our classroom.  Students will present the ABC's of Thanksgiving.  Our lunch is immediately following the ABC's of Thanksgiving; you may stay to have lunch with your child after our event.  More details to follow!

Pinebrook Veteran's Day Program:
Please read the following message from the Pinebrook office regarding our Veteran's Day Program:

Calling All Veterans!

You are invited to participate in Pinebrook's Veteran's Day Celebration

At Pinebrook Elementary, we love to celebrate and honor our families, especially those who have served or are currently active in the military. We would be honored to have you join us and share your stories with two classrooms of students (parents and extended family military members welcome) for our Veteran's Day Celebration to be held on Friday, November 10^th from 8:00am-10:15am.

Schedule of events:

8:00 – 8:25 Veterans check in at the front desk and proceed to the library

8:30 – 9:10 Program Begins / Veteran's share their story with two different groups of students

8:30 – 8:50 First Session

8:50 – 9:10 Second Session

9:15 – 9:30 Photos of Veterans with their students

9:30 – 9:45 Pinebrook Veterans Day Parade

9:45 - 10:15 Juice, Coffee, Bagels for Veterans

Please RSVP through Google Forms at the following link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeqCiNfjx6aXv_q4WjfRByUFiPoHjSvdiT40rKpP8KQuSPdag/viewform   

Electronic Learning Resources:
Please check the inside front cover of your child's agenda for the log-on information for RAZ-Kids, Dreambox Learning, and Reflex Math.  Many of you have asked me to send this information home again.  Instead, I placed it in the inside pocket of the students' agendas for you to reference all year.  

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Reading:  We will explore cause and effect, prediction, problem and solution, and story retelling with one of my Halloween favorites...Room on the Broom.
• Writing:  We will compare apples and pumpkins and outline the life cycle of a pumpkin.
• Math:  We will finish our patterns unit and begin our addition unit.  We will learn strategies for quickly solving addition facts.
• Social Studies:  We will learn about Veteran's Day, and make a banner to thank all veterans during our annual Veteran's Day event.

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.

We are down a kid this weekend!  Savey is off on a weekend retreat, so no soccer tomorrow.  I love watching him play, but I love a free Saturday too.  Jonah will get some extra attention, we will carve pumpkins, and sit by the fire.  

I hope you have a fun weekend making final preparations for Halloween!  I couldn't resist this meme because I just may kinda be this parent...although I usually hide in the pantry closet to eat their candy....

Weekly Update

Hello Parents!  Happy Friday!

We had lots of birthdays in our classroom this week, and the kids are getting so excited for our field trip and fall party.  It's been an exciting week!  :)

Field Trip:
Our 1st grade field trip to Claude Moore Park and Heritage Farm Museum will be Friday, November 3rd.  Information letters, permission slips and chaperone interest forms went home in yesterday's Thursday folder.  Please kindly return the permission slip and payment as soon as possible.  If you are interested in chaperoning this trip, please kindly return the chaperone interest form as soon as possible.  Please contact me with any questions.

Pumpkins:
If you haven't yet sent your child's small ("pie-sized") pumpkin for our pumpkin investigation, please send it Tuesday...we will be using our pumpkins that day.  

Parent Teacher Conferences:
Conferences will begin next week!  If your conference is in the morning before school, I will meet you at the front door of the school to let you in since our office staff may not yet be here.  You will not need to sign in.  If your conference is after school, please ring the school visitor bell, be prepared to show your photo id to our office staff, and sign in at the office.  You may walk to our classroom after you sign in.  

Fall Party:
Please mark your calendar for our Fall party on Tuesday, October 31st from 1 - 2:15 pm in our classroom.  All families are welcome to attend!  (NO costumes, please.)  I will send a food permission slip home before the party.  Your child must have your written permission to eat any party food   Our awesome team of Room Moms and I thank you for your donations. Your funds will be put to good use, as the ladies plan for our class celebrations.

Check Out Our 1st Grade Symbaloo Page:
Our Instructional Facilitator of Technology, Mrs. Clark, compiled a Symbaloo page for us! Symbaloo is a visual bookmarking tool that makes it simple and fun to organize multiple websites.  Our 1st Grade Symbaloo has links to a variety of sites that cover multiple disciplines...everything from Mouse Skills (check out "Bees and Honey"...I played it last night!), to science, to math, and holidays.  Our Symbaloo sites are a perfect "something more" to supplement your child's weekly homework. You can access the Symbaloo by clicking HERE.  You can access it via the "online resources" page of this blog.  You can also access it by going to the Pinebrook Homepage.  Once there, click "First Grade" under the "Classrooms" tab.  Look to the left under the heading "First Grade".  At the bottom of that list, you'll see "First Grade Symbaloo."  

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Reading:  We will talk about characters in fiction stories.  We will discuss character traits, different types of characters (humans, animals, non-living things), and how characters evolve in stories.
• Writing:  We will explore informational and opinion writing.
• Math:  We will finish our patterns and sorting unit.
• Science:  We will conduct our pumpkin investigations.

Thank you for all you do!  As always, comments, questions, and feedback are welcome!

Don't forget - the kids are off on Monday due to a teacher workday. Enjoy the beautiful Fall weekend!

  

Weekly Update

Hi Everyone,

It's been a short but busy week!  

In honor of Fire Safety Week, our very own firefighter Mr. Zumwalt came to speak to all the 1st graders about fire safety today.  We are so thankful for his willingness to come speak with us!  Please ask your child about our visit with Mr. Zumwalt today!  :)

My son, Savey, is in the Educators Rising Club at Champe.  As part of the club, he'll be coming to Pinebrook with me each Tuesday morning to spend an hour in our class before going to his school.  The kids are really enjoying him, and he's having a ball with them.  Here's a photo of him answering their questions on his first day. Savey has a real heart for little ones.  He's going to love his time as our tutor!

Pumpkins:
We will complete an in-class pumpkin investigation.  Each child will need his/her own small pumpkin.  I sent a note home about this in yesterday's Thursday folder.  Please send your child's small pumpkin to school by Friday, October 20th.  Please write your child's name on the bottom of his/her pumpkin.

Next Week is Spirit Week:
We will have a Spirit Week next week to raise awareness for bully prevention.  Themes for each day are:

• Monday:  Mismatch Day
• Tuesday: Dress Like a Superhero Day
• Wednesday:  Inside Out Day
• Thursday:  Wear 2 Different Shoes Day
• Friday:  Pinebrook Colors or Spirit Wear Day

Fall Conferences:
Thank you to those of you who have signed up for a Parent/Teacher Conference.  If you have not yet signed up for your conference, please click HERE to sign up.  

Fall Party:
Please mark your calendar for our Fall party on Tuesday, October 31st from 1 - 2:15 pm in our classroom.  All families are welcome to attend!  (NO costumes, please.)  I will send a food permission slip home before the party.  Your child must have your written permission to eat any party food   Our awesome team of Room Moms and I thank you for your donations. Your funds will be put to good use, as the ladies plan for our class celebrations.  :)

Extra Clothes:
Because first graders are still prone to bathroom accidents and playground slips, please consider tucking an extra set of clothing (to include underclothes) into your child's backpack.  I will not collect and store the clothes in our classroom.  The extra set of clothing will simply sit at the bottom of your child's backpack until it may be needed.  Thank you!

Water Bottles:
If you're not already doing so, please begin to send a water bottle to school each day with your child.  We do NOT have an in-class water fountain.  The kids get tired and thirsty over the course of our long morning, and water goes a long way toward helping them stay energetic and attentive.  

Looking for Gently Used iPads:
As we approach the Holidays, some of you may be upgrading your technology. Please consider donating your unused/discarded iPad to our classroom.  We use iPads during both Literacy and Math stations for a variety of activities.  The iPads don't have to be the fanciest or the newest models; any size or model will do.  You can reset the iPad to factory settings to erase any personal information and/or data. Thank you!

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Reading:  We will explore setting in the books we read.  The setting is where a story takes place.  We will identify settings, and talk about how settings can enhance stories.
• Writing:  We will explore opinion writing.  We will compare and contrast apples and pumpkins.
• Math:  We will begin our patterns and sorting unit.  You can help!  Look for patterns in our everyday world, identify the pattern unit (the part of the pattern that repeats), and ask your child to label the patterns using the letters A,B,C, and so on.
• Science:  We will learn the parts and life cycles of both apples and pumpkins.

After last weekend's homecoming festivities, I am thankful for a quiet weekend. Here's a photo of Savey and me just before he was introduced at the Homecoming game last Friday.  I simply cannot believe this handsome young man is my son!  :) 

Reach out at anytime with questions, comments, and feedback!

Have a happy weekend!

Weekly Update

Hi Everyone,

Before we start our long weekend, I'm passing along your weekly update.  Today, I'm going to prove to you that I can write a short weekly update.  :)

Please Sign Up for a Conference!

Parent / Teacher conferences will be held at the end of the first quarter.  I am using Sign Up Genius to schedule conferences.  You can sign up for a conference time by clicking HERE.  If you are unable to attend a conference on one of the dates / times listed, please send me an email to make alternate arrangements. 

Important Information About Written Homework:
Your child completed his/her first written homework sheet this week.  Our written homework will always be the same:  in addition to nightly reading, your child will spend one night practicing writing each of our words of the week 3 times.  He/she will then use each word in a sentence.  There are 5 words of the week.  Please note:  our 5 words of the week are in your child's agenda.  He/she writes those 5 words in the upper right corner of the agenda each Monday.  Those are the words your child should practice writing for written homework.  Those are the words your child should use in a sentence for written homework.  Those are the words posted here on my blog under my picture.  Your child should not be using any of our sound of the week words for written homework.  Those are the words pre-printed on the paper your child glues in the lower right corner of the agenda each Monday.  Please let me know if you need further clarification. 

I also completed the homework this week.  :)  Here's what my completed homework looks like.  I think seeing mine may help you ensure your child is completing his/her homework correctly:

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Reading:  We will examine the differences between fiction and non-fiction texts, and explore ways to determine whether a text is a fiction or non-fiction selection.
• Writing:  We will discuss ways in which writers organize their writing.
• Math:  We will finish our number sense unit.  Our patterns and sorting unit comes next.
• Social Studies:  We will discuss fire safety.

Please reach out with questions, comments, or feedback.

I hope you enjoy the long weekend!  We are going to the Homecoming game at Champe tonight because Savey was elected to the Homecoming Court.  I get to walk with "Prince Savey" when he's introduced at the game.  (I seriously can't even type that with a straight face...it sounds silly to my own ears!  I've seen the Prince's bathroom when he's done in it!)  We will use our King's Dominion season passes for the last time this year, and put up some Halloween and Fall decorations.  Cheers! 

Interim Progress Reports

Hi Parents,

A quick note....  1st Quarter Interim Progress Reports ("interims") will be issued Wednesday, October 4th.  Please be aware that not all students receive an interim.  If your child receives an interim, it will be emailed to you on Wednesday, October 4th using the email address on file in your ParentVue account.  You can update and/or verify your email address by logging into your ParentVue account.  If you are unsure how to log into your ParentVue account, please contact the school office.

Please let me know if you have any questions, and I apologize for forgetting to include this in Friday's weekly update.  

Thank you!