Week of October 3, 2016

Dear Families,

We have had an exciting week! Thank you to all our parent helpers this week!

Our caterpillars have changed into their chrysalis state and soon will become butterflies.

This will be our first week of "Cougar Time," RtI – instructional reading groups. Monday will be a practice and “Getting to know” the students day. Cougar Time will be Mondays-Thursdays, 8:30-9:30. There is more information about RtI on our First Grade Webpage. altavista.unionsd.org

Here is a list of some of the websites we have been working on in class. http://bit.ly/AVFirst (It’s case sensitive)

I will send home a copy of your child’s log-ins on Monday. If you’d like them sooner, send me a quick email and I can get that to you for the weekend.

Don’t forget to register for the Alta Vista Walkathon. Even if you can’t make it that day, your child will receive a t-shirt with a $40.00 donation. The t-shirts are usually passed out in class on the Friday before the event. So far we have 12 friends from room 1 signed up! www.altavistawalkathon.org

Please remember library books for Monday.





Have a great weekend!

Week of September 26, 2016

You may have heard from your first grader, we are observing caterpillars.  Each student has a small container on their desk and each day we have been observing and recording any changes to size and action in our Caterpillar-Butterfly Journal. 

For Sharing, please help your child prepare 3 clues written on paper.  They should prepare by writing three descriptive words or sentences.

Monday will be our first Art Vistas lesson from 11:00-12:00, there is a volunteer sign up on our Shutterfly site.

Wednesday will be our first Clay project around 9:30, and the volunteer sign up is on our Shutterfly site as well.

Wednesday, September 28th is a School Spirit Day.  Wacky Wednesday meaning wear mismatched or backwards clothes.  Some other ideas were long funny socks; I know a lot of our students have these.  ;)

Friday, September 30th is School Picture Day.  If you wish to order pictures, please do so by Friday morning.  You can order online or with the form sent home last week.  For online orders, go to mylifetouch.com and use the Picture Day ID: BY416706Q0

We’ve been working with the iPads in our classroom.  Some of the Apps we have been using are Lexia Core 5 Reading, Zearn Math, Spelling City and Adobe Spark Video.  This year we are using mainly your child’s Google ID and password to log into their accounts.  I will be sending the account information home to you next week, then you can access all of the paid programs we have subscriptions to.

Today at 5:00 our school website is going though an upgrade.  Some information might be missing at first as we go through this transition.  Please let me know if you can’t find something on the new site.

Please remember to bring your child’s Alta Vista library books back on Monday.  I already have many of them.

I hope you have a great weekend!

Week of September 19, 2016 (Math homework samples for packet #4)

 

We had our first SPARK PE today, thank you to Peyton K.’s mom and dad! 

This morning we had an assembly about the Walk-a-thon, coming up on Saturday, October 15^th.  Whoo hoo! Don’t forget to register!  The Home and School Club will send out an email with the website and the time registration is opening.   The first 100 registrants will receive a Mini-Bundlet certificate.

Monday will be our first library visit.  We will visit the library Mondays from 9:30-10:00.  Students will be able to check out 1 book each week.  If your child forgets their book the following week, they cannot check out a new book.

On Friday (September 30^th), we will take class pictures.  You can purchase pictures online or with the order form that was sent home today.

I hope you can make it to Movie Night - Tonight!  The Inside Out Movie, starts at 7:30 and concessions begin at 6:00.  It’s good to have a meeting spot (before the movie starts) in case you get separated from your child.

If you have any questions or concerns about the homework or if your child is spending more than 20 minutes a day on the packet, please let me know.  If you would like help with the Eureka Math please see these homework help videos.  We saved the link to our First Grade Information Page. http://altavista.unionsd.org/Page/206

Currently we are in Module 1 (First Grade) of Eureka Math.  The Lesson is located at the top of the page.  I will also post a couple pictures on our blog of what we reviewed in the packet.

Have a wonderful weekend

Homework #3, Math Examples

Homework #3, Math Examples

Week of September 12, 2016

This week we will start Bear Share (sharing). Please see our class website for your child’s share day and assignment. Your child should be prepared with 3 simple clues describing their item. In turn they will get to choose 3 students to guess before revealing their share.

Mileage Club will start on Friday the 12th. Mileage Club is on Mondays and Fridays during lunchtime. This is a great way for students to talk with friends and exercise at the same time. There are some rewards along the way for laps walked on the field.

On Friday, September 16th, the AVHSC will host Back To School Movie Night! Located on the large field. Featuring, Inside Out! Admission is free and the whole family is welcome (no dogs please.) Pizza and food trucks will be available, or feel free to bring a picnic dinner. Concessions open at 6pm and the movie starts at 7:30pm. *No Bikes or Scooters Allowed.

If your child would like to buy lunch from the cafeteria, the fee is $3.50. Each student in our school has an account and if you’d like to add money to his or her account online, you will need your child’s student ID. If you need that number, send me a quick email and I’ll be happy to get it for you.

Week of September 5, 2016

It has been three fantastic weeks of first grade! We are already on day 12! We are still working on procedures and rules, and everyone is trying their best. We're still getting used to the longer day of first grade, and getting better each day. :)

It has been warming up after lunchtime the last few days, therefore students need to drink more water. I allow water bottles on student's desk, unless it becomes a toy. Please feel free to bring a water bottle from home.

Today I sent home homework packet #2. For the Weekly Book Report, please always use a book of your choice. The first one, we used the same book in class for example purposes.

Today we had our first PE Class with Coach Sierra. Ask your child how they liked it. We will have PE with Coach Sierra every Thursday.

Next week, I will start some of our assessments with the children for Math and Reading.

If you haven't checked out our First Grade Webpage, please do. There is a lot of information on our First Grade Information Page.

Just a reminder, there is no school Friday 9/2 and Monday 9/5. Have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend.

Week of August 29, 2016 (homework examples)

Dear families,

It was nice to meet all of you at Back To School Night.  Feel free to email me or stop by after school if you have further questions.  Thank you for all that you have signed up for - to help our class this year!  I know each of you are busy in work and home life, your help makes a BIG difference in our class! 

I apologize for the lengthy email but I wanted to mention a few more things at Back-to-School Night:

We will begin the Recess 101 PE (funded by the AVHSC) with Coach Sierra on Thursday.  Please be sure your child is wearing sneakers and comfortable clothing. 

On Mondays we will take a Spelling Pre-test and on Fridays we will have our Spelling Test.  We practiced our first Pre-test today.

We had our first meeting with our 4th Grade (Miss Saba’s class) Buddies.  We will meet together on Friday mornings for about 20 minutes.

Homework Packet no.1 was sent home today.  It will be due on Thursday, September 1st or Tuesday, September 6th.  Your child may do the pages in the order of his/her or your choice.  Today, we spent some time working on the packet, I will post some pictures with examples on our blog. The last page of the packet is a Book Report and Word of the Week page; I will collect and keep these to make a book for each child at the end of the year.   

The week of September 12th, we will start our BEAR SHARE (Sharing).  I updated the schedule and assignments on our classroom web page and attached the schedule to your BTSN packet.

The week of September 26^th, we will begin Special Person of The Week.  The schedule is on our web page and a copy is in your BTSN packet.

**Students may have water bottles on their desk throughout the school day.  However, please do not send juice or sports drinks for inside the classroom.

As a safety precaution classroom doors are locked during the day.  If you are coming to school to volunteer, please sign in at the office to get a sticker badge (even if it makes you a minute late to help). 

If you haven’t done so already, please fill out the online AVHSC Volunteer and communication distribution.  Here is the AVHSC website with the links: http://www.unionsd.org/page/343

Attached is our weekly newsletter, some things change throughout the week, but we are usually on course.

Have a restful weekend!