Dear Parents and Students,
The students are really embracing the rigor of
our first grade routine. I am very proud of all
the effort they have given this week with the
Go Math and Journeys curriculum. I think they
are also getting into the routine of taking home
their nightly homework and returning the
completed assignments the next day. I have
explained to them that it is their responsibility
to let you know they have homework. I have also
asked that they make sure they empty the
"Stay at Home" side of their folders and give
the papers to you. Finally, homework is not
complete until they return the red folder to
their backpacks. Parents, please remind your
child to put their name on their homework and
yes, they should be the ones writing it, not
you. Thank you.
I'm excited to announce that my "Past
Announcements" page on my website is now
activated. Each week I will place the past
week's announcements there if it is ever needed
for review.
I want to give a big "THANK YOU" to the
parents that donated to the Treasure Box this
week. The students loved the new items to
choose from.
Please continue to work with your child in
learning to tie their shoes :)
In Language Arts (Journeys) our phonics skills
will focus on short i and the letters r, h, /z/s, s,
b, and g. Our comprehension skill will focus on
understanding characters. Students will be
bringing home a new Decodable Reader each
night, Monday through Thursday. In class I
read this book to them, we read it together, and
they practice reading it on their own several
times. At home they should try to read it three
times. If they are struggling I would
recommend you read it to them once first and
then encourage them to read it on their
own. Most words in the books can be sounded
out. Students get to keep these books and may
color them if they want. So that I can monitor
that this extremely important homework
assignment is being completed I request that
you sign/initial the back of the book and
return it. I will then initial it as well and
return it to your child to keep at
home. Students get a point on an incentive
sheet when they return the signed
book. When the incentive sheet if full they
will earn a trip to the treasure box.
This week I will also be starting spelling tests
for the phonics skill of short i. These words can
easily be sounded out and we will be practicing
them all week in class. In the following weeks as
the words may get more difficult I will begin to
place them on my website so students can
practice them at home as well.
In math (Go Math) we will continue to work on
chapter one which focuses on addition
strategies. On Monday they will bring home a
supplemental homework page since it will take us
two days to finish lesson 1.4. The rest of the
week they will bring home the regular math
homework. I will also send home the completed
in-class lesson to support how to complete the
homework. Please follow the directions on the
homework and contact me if you have any
questions.
This week I will be sending home the
ThinkCentral login information. When you
receive it, please practice logging in and
completing the practice assignment I will place
in the "To Do" section.
Hopefully, I will have some volunteers starting
this week in the classroom and we will begin our
Rainbow Words. Students will have 6-8 words
to learn each week. These words are the sight
words/high frequency words. I also call them
the "rule breakers" because many can not be
sounded out. Students need to learn how to
read them and if they learn how to spell them
that is helpful too. They will be tested each
week on the words and once they pass each
color they will move onto the next one. If your
child brings home a list of words, please have
them practice reading them to you.
Our library day is Thursday. Students may
bring their books home but need to bring them
back every Thursday morning.
Thank you for your support and please contact
me if you have any questions.
Mrs. Oldham