First Grade Newsletter and Pics 10-8-26

 Hello! We've had a great, short week and you survived the first week of homework! It feels like we are starting to really get the hang of first grade. The kids took their first UFLI assessment which you will see in folders. If you look at the top right hand corner, you will see how I score each test. I look at how they do with new concepts/sounds (1-6), Irregular Words/Sight Words (7-8), Sentence Dictation (how many words are spelled correctly), Capital usage in sentences, Punctuation usage in sentences, Spacing in sentences and handwriting. Next week's sound is the short u sound.

We are bringing home three class books tonight. These may stay at home to be shared with anyone that wants to listen to them. They are great for practicing fluency as we read. Plus, they love to share their pictures! :)

We learned about homophones (words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings, such as knight and night). They got really good at thinking and noticing new ones!

Miss Lily taught us a lesson on kindness. We made a kindness quilt and played a really fun four corner game. Ask your child about it. 

We have had lots of people spending their gems on Show and Tell Coupons. The shares have been so interesting! It's great to hear the kids speak in front of their classmates. They do a great job with it and we actually learn some new things!

Firefighter Pete came today and spoke about smoke alarms and home exit plans. Have you checked your batteries recently? We will go to the fire station next Friday!

We worked together and figured out there were Halloween lollipops in the Guess Box. It only took six questions! I may never win haha.

THANK YOU to everyone who ordered off our Wish List. Thank you also to those of you who continue to send things in for our prize box!! We couldn't do what we do without you! We are all set on toilet paper rolls and milk cartons now. Thank you again!!!

Important Dates

* Friday, October 9 - Teacher Inservice - No school for students.

* Friday, October 9 - Book orders are due. I'll probably do them Saturday morning. Our classroom code is DV68C. That's all you need to be able to order on www.scholastic.com.

* Monday, October 12 - No school 

* Now - Friday, October 23 - Mrs. Shannon is ready to display some family made pumpkins. These should be fake, craft pumpkins dressed as your family's favorite book character. If you choose to participate, pumpkins can come in anytime through Friday, Oct. 23rd.  Let's decorate the library!

* Friday, October 16 - Field trip to Veazie Fire Station - Bus leaves at 9:50. Everyone is welcome.

* Friday, October 23 - Flex Friday / Hullabaloo and Trunk or Treat

* Thursday, October 24 - Acadia Virtual EEK of Ecology Program - Thank you Caitlin Lynch for sharing this information with us. We will be learning all about the spooky parts of Acadia National Park's Ecology! This is a virtual presentation! (Whenever you stumble across something you think we might like, send it my way! I'm always looking for new learning opportunities.)

* Friday, October 30 - Dress like a book character (pretty much any Halloween costume has a book to go with it so don't stress over this!) OR pajama day! Your choice! We'll be having lots of Halloween themed activities! 

These are so much fun to use during UFLI! 

They were generously bought this summer off our Wish List!

The kids love using them, especially when they get five minutes to

draw a picture at the end of our lesson. :)

Happy Long Weekend!

First Grade Newsletter and Pics 10-2-26

Hi! Can you even believe it's October?! Our first month of school went so fast! We finished up our Routines/Friendship unit. (Well, that really continues all year but our focus is changing!) We will start our first science unit on sound and light. We will also be doing lots of fairy and Halloween reading. 

This week we had two field trips! On Monday, we went to Cole's Transportation Museum in Bangor. It was great! We did three different stations: 1. Listened to the book, If I Built a Car by Chris Van Dusen. We then invented our own car through drawing and Legos. 2. We went on a scavenger hunt throughout the museum. First Graders are WAY more observant than teachers! 3. We had a tour that explained the history of transportation. It was so much fun and very informative! 

Thursday, we went to the UMaine Witter farm. We saw calves that were only two weeks and adult cows. We got to see their new robotic milking and brushing system. It was really cool to see the cows actually line up on their own to get milked. They could go through either system whenever they wanted. This field trip went along with the Mrs. Wishy-Washy books we read in class. We are currently making our own version of one!

Our Mid Trimester Progress Notes came home today. If your child's didn't make it, let me know.

We use our computers for various subjects in first grade. We also use them to take beginning and end of the year assessments. We do not use them daily and a lot of time it is a choice. I sent home a list of passwords in case your child wants to use any of the programs at home. 

We learned about John Chapman, Johnny Appleseed. We made applesauce and read about the season of the apple tree. We also read some other apple books to see if we could figure out if they were fiction or nonfiction. We looked at text features in the nonfiction books such as the table of contents, index, glossary and labels. We wove apple baskets and wrote adjectives about ourselves on the apples in the basket. We also made paper apples and wrote on the apple cores about what kind of apple treats we like best.

We learned some hand clap partner songs. They are: A Sailor Went to Sea, Double This and Miss Mary Mack. It's great for coordination, crossing the midline, social interaction and most importantly, fun!

UPCOMING EVENTS

* THANK YOU to everyone who ordered off our Wish List. Thank you also to those of you who continue to send things in for our prize box!! We could use tissues and Clorox Wipes if anyone wants to grab one at the grocery store this weekend.

* Thursday, October 8 - Firefight Pete visits.

* Friday, October 9 - Teacher Inservice - No school for students.

* Monday, October 12 - No school - Holiday

* Friday, October 16 - Field trip to Veazie Fire Station - Bus leaves at 9:50. Everyone is welcome.

* Friday, October 23 - Flex Friday / Hullabaloo and Trunk or Treat

* Friday, October 30 - Dress like a book character (pretty much any Halloween costume has a book to go with it so don't stress over this!) OR pajama day! Your choice! We'll be having lots of Halloween themed activities! 

Happy Weekend!