We had fun tasting the red and green apples that were brought in last week. After we ate our apples, we graphed our favorite and 12 children liked the green apples while 6 children liked the red apples. I am so sorry that I do not have pictures. My camera broke so I am patiently waiting for my new camera to arrive!!!

A glance at this week in Room 121:

READING

We will focus on "d" as in "dinosaur." We will learn interesting facts about dinosaurs and talk about the word "extinct." We will review the word wall words that have been introduced so far this year. Please remember, these words should be recognized and read within three seconds. We will have two more unannounced word wall daily grades before the nine weeks is over. A blue Read Well Assessment chart has been added to your child's take home folder along with their homework stories. Please read and re-read these stories as research has shown that repeated readings is one of the BEST ways to improve fluency and comprehension. These stories should be read smoothly and accurately.

MATH

We will begin Ch 6, Addition Facts Practice on Tuesday. The children will continue practicing addition facts through 10 and committing them to memory. They will also use addition rules to complete function tables through sums of 10. This week I will introduce Math Facts In A Flash to the children. This is a computerized program that quizzes the children on their math facts starting at the lowest level (additon of 0,1.) The children are given two minutes to answer 40 addition problems and must accurately answer them within the two minutes before advancing to the next level (addition of 2,3.) The Home Connect letter you received a few weeks ago will allow your child to practice this at home. This is a great way to help your child memorize their facts!

LANGUAGE

The children will continue to edit sentences in the morning using rules 1, 2, and 3. Rule 4 will be introduced tomorrow: The names of people and pets begin with capital letters. A daily grade will be taken on Friday using all 4 rules. Please practice the sentences that come each day as these are the EXACT sentences chosen on Friday. You may begin to notice letters, words, and sentences on the back of the DOL paper. This is our write well lesson that is a part of Read Well and may sometimes be used as a daily reading grade.

LIBRARY/AR

Please make sure to send your child's library book with them each day. There are opportunities during the day for the children to read independently at their desk or in a cozy "reading spot." Almost the entire class has become self-motivated to take AR tests, which require their library book so it is very important that it comes to school each day. I am very proud of their AR scores!!! I hope you have signed up to receive e-mails each time your child takes a test so you are aware of how they are doing. :) This information was sent home a few weeks ago in a Home Connect letter. If you need another one, please let me know.

REMINDERS:

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  Nancy's Italian Ice will now be served EVERY Monday, so please send in $1 if you would like for your child to enjoy a sweet afternoon treat!


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  Please consider joining the PTA if you have not already. It is a great way to support our wonderful school!!!


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  If you are new to Blount, please stop by the office to sign up for INOW. This is the website we currently use for grades and attendance. You will be able to log on at any time to check grades and averages.

What a busy week we have ahead! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. I look forward to spending another fabulous week with my fabulous first graders.

Apples, apples, what a treat,
sweet and tart and good to eat.
Apples green and apples red,
hang from branches overhead,
and when they ripen,
down they drop,
so we can taste our apple crop!

*Please send an apple with your child by Thursday. We are going to enjoy them outside while we learn a few facts! We will also get to know all about Johnny Appleseed.

READING

Our whole group reading focuses on the letter "a" as in "ant" and "apple." The word wall words for this week are am, new, out, walk, and put. On Friday, students will recall all word wall words up to this week for a reading daily grade. Also, please note the homework reading stories that have been added to your child's take home folder. These need to be read each night to help prepare them for the unit assessment.

LANGUAGE

We will continue to work on language rules 1 and 2. Please refer to the list in your child's take home folder. This week the children will learn rule 3: The word I is always capitalized. A daily grade will be taken Friday.

MATH

We started Ch 5 today, Addition Strategies. The children will learn how to add using a number line. Look for a review sheet to come home the night before the test. This does not have to be returned; it is simply to help prepare your child for the test.

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES

We are learning lots of fun facts about ants and apples during our Reading time.

HELPFUL REMINDERS:

If your child is absent please call the office at 244-0078 to let our secretary know or send me a quick e-mail. We have a new absentee policy and teachers are required to call and document each absence. This helps me out tremendously as my time during the day is very limited. Thanks so much for your help.

Nancy's Italian Ice will be back on Monday, September 26th. If you would like for your child to purchase a YUMMY little owl, please make sure to send $1 with them.

Thanks for all our wonderful Scholastic Book Orders and being so patient as the online orders got a little confusing. We should not have any future problems with this. I can already tell I have a class full of eager little readers. What a JOY!!! We were also able to get lots of new books for our classroom library. They should arrive within two weeks.

Today you received a Connect to Renaissance at Home letter explaining how you can create an account that will allow you to check your child's progress with AR tests and Math Facts In A Flash. If you have any questions, please let me know and I will do my best to answer them.

On tomorrow, I will send home a STAR report that will give you an idea of where your child is mathematically. It is very similiar to the STAR reading test.

On Thursday, progress reports will be sent home to let you know how your child is doing academically up to this point. Please keep in mind that if you are not satisfied with their grade or know they are capable of doing better, we still have four more weeks to go. I am so very PROUD of how hard they have worked and how much PRIDE they take in completing their assignments.

My apologies for updating late Monday night, but my little one takes up soooo much of my time on the weekend and by Sunday night I am exhausted!

EEEK!!! Signed papers were to go home on last Thursday, but I was absent unexpectedly with a stomach bug. We played catch-up on Friday and I have been playing catch-up ALL weekend long. Signed papers will come home tomorrow with lots of important information. Included in the signed papers will be a scholastic book order (completely optional), a DIBELS report (to be signed and returned with signed papers), and a STAR Reading Report (for you to keep). If you have any questions about this information please do not hesitate to ask me!

We will begin our small groups and I will also explain the Reading Stations to the children. We will most likely spend Monday and Tuesday practicing our rotations and making sure everyone knows where to go and what to do while I am working with small groups. Please look for Read Well homework stories to come home on Wednesday. Remember, there will be one homework story (front and back) for each unit and it should stay in your child's take home folder to be read every night.

We had our first visit to the library on last Tuesday and each child checked out a library book. The children are reminded each afternoon during pack-up to take their library book home as part of their twenty minutes of reading and bring it back the next day. Everyone will get a new book each Tuesday during our class library time. The children were also STAR tested last week in the computer lab and I will be sending those reports home tomorrow. This report will tell you exactly what level books will help your child become a better reader. With this being said, the children will begin checking out books on their appropriate level to begin taking AR tests. AR tests are not required this early in the year but later on I will require that the children take a certain number of tests per week depending on their reading level. For those who would like to begin taking tests, you must read the book at least three times with a parent. Right now the children will be assisted by myself or a parent volunteer until I feel they can do it independently. After they take their test I will let them go to the library to check out another book.

READING

Our letter and sound for this week is "Mm" as in mouse and monkey. Our word wall words are me, our, pretty, going, and ate. In Science, we will focus on monkey facts and in Social Studies we will continue talking about The Five Senses.

LANGUAGE

We will continue working on capitalization at the beginning of a sentence. This week the children will edit sentences that do not have a period at the end. On Friday, the children will need to be able to copy the sentences correctly by using a capital letter at the beginning and a period at the end.

MATH

We will finish Ch.2 this week, which is more Addition Concepts. Please look at your child's homework page in their take home folder as to what lesson was completed each day. Remember that the night before our math test I will send home the review sheet from their math notebook. The homework pages along with the review page should not come back to school; it is simply to prepare them for the test.

MORE BLOUNT NEWS

This week we will rotate our specialists. For the next three weeks, our class will go to Mrs. Brand for computer. Our specialist time is from 1:25-2:00. The children will need headphones so please be sure to send them in if you have not already.

Tomorrow is our first day for the children to purchase Nancy's Italian Ice as a refreshing sweet treat. This is optional for the children. A variety of flavors will be sold for $1.00. This will be sold every other Monday and it is a school fundraiser, not a PTA fundraiser.

IMPORTANT DATES:

PTA membership drive will end on October 7th.

Spirit Night at Jason's Deli is September 13th.

Spirit Night at Burger King on Chantilly is September 20th.

Spirit Night at Nancy's Italian Ice is September 28th.

Our Fabulous First Graders in Room 121!

Welcome back from the long weekend! I hope you were able to spend some time relaxing with your family. Most of our time was spent inside, out of the RAIN!

If you were not able to attend the small group meetings last week, I will be sending home a math workbook with a letter attached briefly explaining it's purpose. Here is a quick look at our short week!

READING

We will focus on the letter "e" as in "emu" and "ee" as in "bee." We will learn different facts about emus and bees. Our fun words for this week are "emu" and "enormous." Be sure to ask your children what they know about our fun words. Our word wall words for this week are see, down, find, good and please. We are still learning routines and procedures for our Reading block so we are not quite ready to begin our groups. However, I will be sending home a letter explaining your child's reading group placement.

LANGUAGE

The children have begun correcting sentences this week. We have learned that all sentences are a complete thought that have a capital letter at the beginning and a period at the end. The children are given sentences and need to be able to identify that each sentences is missing a capital letter at the beginning. We are correcting our work with a red crayon so you will be able to easily recognize the mistakes and reinforce the skill that I will take for a daily grade each Friday. So make sure to spend some time this week writing and correcting sentences. We will have our first grade this Friday.

MATH

We begin each math lesson with our new "Calendar Companion" notebook. Many skills are covered during this time and will be reviewed daily to help stretch our thinking! We finished Ch. 1 and have moved onto Ch.2 this week, which focuses on more addition concepts. Remember when a review sheet comes home the test will be the very next day.

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES

We will spend this week and next talking about our "five senses."

*Signed papers will go home on Thursday along with their DIBELS report and a Scholastic Book Order. Please carefully look over them, sign and return promptly to school.

WISH LIST for ROOM 121

clear page protectors

washable ink pads

colored copy paper (no cardstock)

watercolor paint sets