First Grade News and Pics 9/5/25

 Hi! We survived our first four day week! We are still working on routines as we add something new each day. We started our math books this week and three computer programs! Today was Cactus Day. We learned about cacti, made a cactus, measured out 66 feet to see how tall one could get and even ate one! We wrote about how we will stick to our goals this year to become a better: friend, listener, reader and many more! Ask your child what they want to be better at and how they will accomplish that. 

We are doing lots of counting to 100, backwards and forwards. Today we did a Math Scoot that had us moving around the hallway to figure out which number came before or after the given number. Ask your child about it. We will start counting by 2,5, and 10 next week. Feel free to practice if you get bored in the car :). 

We do lots of independent, at your own pace work in Grade One. Today was our first day with a To Do list. They did GREAT! They had four have tos on their list and then three choices to pick from (in case they finished early). 

I am sending home all your child's computer passwords in their folder tonight. Feel free to use them at home. They know how to get to the programs through my classroom portaportal. This is not homework. I just know some of them like using the programs we do in class. So far, we've used Prodigy, Boddle and Epic. You can check out the other things on our portal, too. If any password gives you trouble, just shoot me an email. Sometimes I mistype.

Behaviorally, we are working on whole body listening to make sure we don't miss directions. This helps us to follow directions the first time they are given (something I know all of them do at home already haha). We're also working on bossing our brain. For instance, when someone gets told to not put their head in the sink to soak it you should boss your brain and not go put your head under the spout. It's early in the year and it's first grade, we'll get it. :)

We worked with the whiny a sound in UFLI. It's when a is with m or n. They're not so nice and a whines about it. That's why it doesn't have the regular short or long a sound. We practiced sounding out three letter words with a in the middle or beginning. You could try some at home. :)

UPCOMING DATES

* Friday, September 5 - Book Orders are Due. You can order online anytime at www.scholastic.com and our Class Code is DV68C.

* Monday, September 8 - Peer Helpers Begin

* Friday, September 12 - Baby Picture and Name Day (you will get more info next week)

* Wednesday, September 24 - School Picture Day (info coming soon)

* Thursday, September 25 - Field Trip to Conant's Apple Orchard. Bus leaves at 8:50. Parent chaperones are welcome. Permission Slips will come home next week.

* Friday, September 26 - Cooking!! Our first FLEX Friday!!

Pictures from the Week!

Look how long a cactus can be!! 66 feet!

Math Scoot

3D Cactus

Short A games

Yay, for following directions!

Edible Cacti!

Short A Cactus Word Find

Morning Slides

Penny - Dice Game

Learning some new programs.

Happy Weekend!

First Grade Newsletter and Pics 8/29/25

 Hi! What a great first three days! Your kids are amazing. They are getting the hang of their new routine very quickly which is exciting to see. Our first unit of the year is School Routine and Friendship. Hopefully, you will hear lots of talk at home about our school family and how we work to make sure everyone in our class feels safe and happy.

You might have heard about our GEM boxes! The kids earn gems for being kind, listening, trying their best, following directions, using an appropriate voice level, walking in the hall and more. We count our gems twice a day (during snack and during afternoon break). When they have 10 gems they can choose to trade them in or keep saving. 10 Gems will one of the following things: Treat Box or a coupon for one of the following:  Pajama Day, Hat Pass, Stuffy Day, Show and Tell Day or Read to another class. If your child comes home with a coupon, the item those chose will be circled on the back. It is good for the next day or next day you remember. 

We started learning some of the Secret Stories! We learned that when a and u are together, au, they are in love and love everything. All they can do is say, "auuuu". We will add aw to that next week. These little stories help the students remember the sounds. 

In UFLI we are doing a review of the vowels. This week and next will be the short a sound. After, the kids get used to the UFLI routine, I will be sending home homework for it. Most likely, Sept. 15th. 

We've played many number and letter games already! Hoping the dust off those summer cobwebs and get those sounds solidified. We read two big books and worked on many ELA skills: directionality (which way we read), words vs. letters, making sure what we say makes sense with what we are reading in the story and the actual letter/sound combination. They will get tired of me saying, "Does that make sense? Does it look right? Does it sound right?" If not, we reread. 

Some other key first grade phrases that we've started are: Boss your brain. We make our own choices, good or bad. We are working on bossing our brain to do the right thing in learning and play. Eye Glue. We make sure our eyes are glued to the letters, words or numbers we are working with. This helps with the next phrase, Muscle Memory. By glueing our eyes to what we are doing, we create more muscle memory!

We started reading from our book boxes. We went over the three ways to read: read the pictures, read the words and retell the story. By taking a picture walk, the kids can get their minds ready for the vocabulary that will be in the story.

We got to use many of our STEM materials. What creative builders we have! It's also great to see the kids working cooperatively as they invent!

Handwriting is an important skill in first grade. Letters and numbers should always start at the top and work toward the bottom. We are working on using all lowercase letters unless it is supposed to be a capital. We are also working to make sure letters are going in the correct direction. It will come!

We've had every special this week already! Ask your child what they enjoyed about each one.

We started reading Pixie Tricks! It's a great chapter book series by Tracey West. Ask your child about it.

I know how exciting birthdays are! It is okay to send in a special snack for your child's birthday. We just ask that it is store bought so we can see the ingredients. Also, if you get cupcakes, PLEASE, get the mini ones. They never eat the entire big ones and they are so messy. You do NOT have to send something in. The kids know they do birthdays at home so they don't expect it. However, I know some like to. We have 13 students and 2 teachers. If you send in party invitations, there has to be one for every child. If not, you will need to send them out from home.

I like to give lists of dates for as far in advance as I can. I will continue to update and remind you each Friday. I know how busy life gets. You can also always check the blog!

Some Upcoming Dates to Remember

* Monday, September 1 - No school. Labor Day.

* Friday, September 5 - Book Orders are Due. You can order online anytime at www.scholastic.com and our Class Code is DV68C.

* Monday, September 8 - Peer Helpers Begin

* Friday, September 12 - Baby Picture and Name Day (you will get more info next week)

* Wednesday, September 24 - School Picture Day (info coming soon)

* Thursday, September 25 - Field Trip to Conant's Apple Orchard. Bus leaves at 8:50. Parent chaperones are welcome. Permission Slips will come home next week.

* Friday, September 26 - Cooking!!

Pictures from the Week!

Feel free to screenshot any of your children. I don't mind at all!

Happy Long Weekend!