MAY/JUNE MCMONTHLY NEWS

May will be filled with many spring-time activities, and we will still be working hard!  We will have several rehearsals to prepare for our Barnyard Moosical  play later this month.  We are excited about our roles!

LANGUAGE ARTS

Our reading challenges have been exposing us to larger vocabularies and comprehension strategies that help add deeper meaning to the stories we read.  We continue to review short and long vowels, blends, digraphs, and sight words.  We have also been enjoying paying more attention to the characters in our just right reading.   Learning about different types of poetry has been our focus in Writing Workshop.

MATH

We will soon begin to make sense of “multiplication”  by  putting together groups that contain equal parts.  Likewise, we will soon make sense of the big-kid word “fractions” by splitting bigger groups into fair shares.  As always, it is beneficial to encourage your child in math by using real-life examples or everyday objects to help understand these tricky concepts.

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES

The class scientists have enjoyed learning about the plant cycle and giving our plants lots of TLC.  We are proud to have our “Thyme” re-planted later this year in our school garden.  Soon, we will learning about another cycle and will be hatching our own butterflies!  As we travel throughout this busy time in June, we will be enjoying geography concepts and locating places on maps (although we’ve used our classroom map throughout the year!)

TECHNOLOGY

We are very busy whenever we’re able to get to the Computer Lab.  We have also been lucky to have Penguin Cold Cash and Gold Medal Math on our classroom computers, programs that were actually created by a former Ox Ridge student!  We soon hope to start typing our final Writers Workshop stories!

MAY REMINDERS

Tues.  5/1 – Thurs 5/3:            Book Fair

                        “The Road to Reading”

Wed 5/3:              Our class makes

Wish Lists at Book Fair

Tues., May 8:  Summer Reading

Library Visitors

Fri., May 11:             Barnyard Moosical

Music Performance

(Families, come early for good parking & seats!)

Fri., May 18:             Bill Thompson, Author Visit

Fri., May 18:            Scholastic orders due

(Last of this year - Will send home 5/14)

Fri., May 25:            School Spirit Patriotic Day

(Wear red, white, & blue)

Mon., May 28: Memorial Day, no school

Thurs., May 31:  Field Day, 1:00-2:30

Fri., June 1:             Raindate for Field Day

MAY BIRTHDAYS

Tuesday, May 8:            Kelcie Petrone

JUNE REMINDERS

Wed., June 6: Author & Memory Share,           

1:30-3:00  Mrs. Mc’s Classroom

(Ice Cream & Popsicle Celebration)

Thurs., 6/14:            Shortened Day

Last Day of School

JUNE BIRTHDAYS

Thurs., June. 7:  Lily Bradbury

Tues., June 12:  Richie Almy

JUNE/SUMMER BIRTHDAYS

June 18:         Brendan Barrett

August 3:         Ryan Smith

OTHER IMPORTANT NOTES

What a busy time of year!   I am hoping you can all come on the afternoon of Wednesday, June 6^th.  We will be having our Author and Memory Share combined with an ice cream and popsicle celebration.  We will meet in the classroom first, and weather permitting, head outside after that.  Feel free to bring other family members with you for this exciting, culminating activity!

Our last Word Study will be the week after Memorial Day weekend.  We will be having an informal spelling bee early in June for fun!  We learned so much!

Thank you for your generous contributions to Pennies for Patients, Box Tops, and the other numerous school fundraisers.  The last day to collect box tops for this year’s class contest will be Friday, May 18.

Thanks also to those involved with the scenery for the Barnyard Moosical play to be performed in May by all first graders.

Thank you for the clever costume ideas.  Your children will look adorable!

All volunteers, continued thanks to you!

If your child has borrowed some of our classroom library books or materials, please return them to school by June 1st.  Thanks!

SIGHT WORDS

April/May

after                           him

again                           its

always                       just        

around                      pull

as                             read

ask                           sing

because                     their

been                           then

before                        these

best                           us

both                           very

call                             walk

does                           wash

don’t                           were

draw                           which

found                         why

goes                           would

had                           your

EARTH DAY EXCITEMENT

We have been very, very busy since returning from vacation!  Enjoy a few pics from our Earth Day cleanup endeavors.

 
 

Right before our Earth Day vacation, we were lucky to have Mrs. Almy and Mrs. Debano in our classroom for a pep talk on protecting our environment.

Usually the last photo taken can be a goofy one!

2nd Steps Social Skills

Our 2^nd Steps and Social Skills lessons that took place before and after April break revolved around Solving Problems and Fair Ways to Play.

The "Safe Talk" sponsored by Kids in Crisis was around the same time and was so informative!  The students were given the chance to practice the safety yell, the pinky pull, and ask some questions in a small group setting.

The students practiced the steps in Problem Solving :

Say the problem

Think of solutions

Explore consequences

Pick the best solution

* It is important for children to realize that they must not act impulsively or aggressively.  If they have strong feeling before they try to solve a problem, they first need to calm down.  Then, they will be in a better, clearer-thinking position to take the time to explore consequences.  With practice, children will realize that if they think through the effects of their choices, they will be able to pick a solution that solves the problem and also takes people’s feelings into account. 

The solutions they may come up with could involve:  compromise with safe and respectful solutions, thinking of the other person’s point of view, sharing, trading, and taking turns.

You can try some exploring consequences scenarios by thinking about “If….. then…..” and hopefully better solutions will be picked as this skill is developed.

Possible scenarios:

*You and a friend arrive first in line, but only one person can be “first.”

*You climbed on the same part of the equipment someone else is on, and there’s only room for one of you.

*You want to play “tag” at recess and a friend wants to practice some dance moves.

*A classmate took all the lego wheels at choice time and you wanted to build a race car.

*The magazine picture you wanted to use for symmetry was taken by somebody else.

*A classmate grabbed a book you wanted for DEAR time.

APRIL MCMONTHLY NEWS

***Mark Your Calendars for some Family Activities nearing the end of this school year***

Fri., May 11 – 1^st grade Musical

Thurs., May 31 – 1^st grade Field Day

Wed., June 6 – Our Class Memory Share & Final Celebration

IN LIKE A LAMB, OUT LIKE A LION

Wow, the weather expression was a little opposite this month after such nice, warm days turned into recent rainy, cold weather and weekend flurries!

LANGUAGE ARTS

We have been paying more attention to using expression and smooth words in our just right reading, so we understand the great stories we enjoy!  With Word Study, please remember to keep reading and writing with old spelling patterns as we learn new patterns.  We have been recently focusing on Authors as Mentors in our writing endeavors.  Starting with Dr. Seuss, we continue to investigate the “craft” and techniques of many authors and what makes us enjoy books so much!

MATH

To help us understand bigger math problems, we are also using counting strategies in a much more advanced way than we did earlier in first grade!  

We soon return to shapes, attributes and measurement, and we anticipate some cool activities working with symmetry. 

BIRTHDAYS

Monday, April 2:            Anna Debano

Thursday, April 5:             Olivia DeVicaris

Thursday, April 12:    Axel Tabaschek

REMINDERS

Thursday, April 5:         Scholastic orders due

Friday, April 6:        No School, Good Friday

Monday, April 9:               No School, Staff Dev.

Wed., April 11:         Safe Talk Program

Thurs., April 12:            Recycle Program

April 16 - 20: School closed, April vacation

April 23-27:              After-Earth-Day Week:

Save energy by keeping lights off as much as possible

Wed., April 25:         In-school enrichment

The Bruce Mobile (Bruce Museum Butterfly Program)

Fri., April 27:          Author Visit, Stephanie Green

UPCOMING DATES

Monday, April 30 – Thurs., May 3:

The Road to Reading Book Fair

(Scholastic orders will go home the next week)

Friday, May 11:     1^st Grade Music Performance

Thursday, May 31:   Field Day, 1:00 - 2:30

Friday, June 1:  Raindate for Field Day

Wednesday, June 6: Memory Share/End Year Celebration

Thursday, June 14:  Last day of school for students

The Springtime gets so busy at Ox Ridge with a myriad of activities.  Please be on the lookout for schedule changes and additions.

A TON OF THANKS

• Thanks for your support for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society with the "Pennies for Patients" fundraiser!  The fundraiser will continue up until April break.  
• Thanks for your support for "Box Tops for Education!"
• Thanks for your support with the Daffodil Drive!
• Thank you, Volunteers, at school and with your home support!
• We are one very lucky classroom.

MONTHLY WORDS

could

every

get

good

her

how

look

once

ran

round

start

thank

that

them

there

think

under

warm

when

white

 

2nd Steps Social Skills

The first graders have started a new unit in Social Skills:  PROBLEM SOLVING

Research has shown that students with stronger problem-solving skills are more likely to be academically successful, socially adjusted, less impulsive, and less aggressive.  However, they may need coaching and practice on how to handle certain situations.  

When people have strong feelings, they sometimes don't think clearly.  

There are 3 important steps the students are learning:  

1. Before tackling the situation that is making them feel so mad or frustrated, they need to CALM DOWN, something we have practiced for several months.

2. Use words to SAY what the problem is.

3. THINK of lots of solutions.

(The "S" in "say" and "T" in "think" help begin to spell the word "STEP" which the 1st graders will soon investigate further.)

Some books have wonderful scenarios that children can relate to, especially regarding friendships:  Frog and Toad, Little Bear, George and Martha, the Arthur series, Franklin, Froggy, and much more!

Here are some scenarios your child can practice, but they should always remember to calm down first.  Then SAY the problem and THINK of solutions.

• You and a friend want to sit in the same spot in the cafeteria
• You and a friend arrive at the beginning of the line at the very same time
• A friend forgets they were going to play a game with you at recess
• A classmate stepped on your new crayon and broke it
• A classmate's plant is growing quicker than yours is

*Think of how we figure out math problems and other academic areas.  We need to say the problem and think of solutions, so we learn more and feel better about figuring it out!  We can apply this to many areas of our lives.