Monday, May 3, 2010

FIRST GRADE MAY/JUNE MCMONTHLY NEWS



May will be filled with many springtime activities, and we will still be working hard!  We will have several rehearsals to prepare for our Three Piggy Opera play later this month.  We are excited about our role as the play's singers and musicians!

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.  Learning about different types of poetry is our focus in Reading and 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.  Soon, we will be 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 have been able to do some grown-up work in the Computer Lab using the Destination Reading program.  We have become adept at trying some Smartboard templates, locating letters on the keyboard, and manipulating objects and words on the screen.  We will learn a cool new concept called Google Scratch this month.  We soon hope to be typing our final Writers Workshop stories!

MAY REMINDERS

Mon. 5/3 - Wed. 5/5:          Book Fair
Thurs. May 6:          Butterfly "Bruce Mobile"  (In-school enrichment)
Fri., May 21:           Three Piggy Opera Music Performance, 9:30, Common Room
          (Girls, please wear a pink top and Boys, please wear a brown top.)
          (Families, come early for good parking and seats!)
Fri., May 21:          Last Scholastic orders due (Will be sent home 5/17)
Fri., May 28:          School Spirit Day, Patriotic Day (Wear red, white, and blue)
Mon., May 31:          Memorial Day, No School

MAY BIRTHDAYS

Thursday, May 20:          Anna Passaretti
Friday, May 21:            Julia Lucak

JUNE REMINDERS

Tues., June 8:          Field Day, 12:30 - 2:00  (Raindate 6/10)
Wed., June 16:          Ice Cream Celebration, Memory Share, 1:30 - 3:00  Mrs. Mc's Classroom
Mon., June 21:          Shortened Day, Last Day of School

JUNE/SUMMER BIRTHDAYS

Wed., June 2:          Huntley Pizzarelli
Wed., June 23:          Jackson Wood
Thurs., June 24:          Katie Chandler
Sun., July 11:          Jack Bailey
Sat., July 17:          Garrett Stauffer

OTHER IMPORTANT NOTES

Thank you for your input for our class Memory Share Day.  What a busy time of year!  I am hoping you can all come on the afternoon of Wednesday, June 16th.  We will be having our Memory Share combined with the ice cream 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 Spelling test will be right before Memorial Day weekend.  We will be having an informal spelling bee early in June for fun!  We've 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 bos tops for this year's class contest will be Friday, May 21.

Thanks also to those involved with the scenery for The Three Piggy Opera play to be performed later this month by all first graders.

Thanks to the hard work during March Math Madness!

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 the last week of May.  Thanks!






MAY SPELLING WORDS


#25 - ED Endings

wanted
hopped
framed
watched
played

#26 - Compound Words

sunshine
homework
baseball
into
mailbox

#27 - Plurals

butterflies
foxes
beaches
teachers
children

#28 - Summer Fun

summer
vacation
swimming
travel
picnic

MAY SIGHT WORDS


always
around
ask
been
before
best
both
does
found
goes
its
pull
read
sing
their
these
us
very
which
would
your

Thursday, April 8, 2010

DATE CHANGE FOR JUNE

Please mark your calendars for the first grade Field Day!
The new date will be Tuesday, June 8th from 12:30-2:00.
The rain date will be Thursday, June 10th from 12:30-2:00.
Thank you!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

DATE CHANGE FOR MAY

Please mark your calendars for The Three Piggy Opera!  The 1st grade music performance has been changed from Friday, May 14th until Friday, May 21st in the morning.  Thank you!

Monday, March 29, 2010

FIRST GRADE APRIL MCMONTHLY NEWS



IN LIKE A LION, OUT LIKE A LAMB

Wow, the weather expression held very true this month.  We hope all families are back on track after our unexpected hurricane-like storm.  The children had many stories to share, and we are so glad to all be safe!

LANGUAGE ARTS

We are focusing on comprehension strategies in our stories, as we continue to review short and long vowels, blends, and sight words.  We have also been enjoying paying more attention to the characters in our just right reading.  This week we will have our "All About" project celebration that follows our non-fiction writing unit!  Our next writing unit focuses on Realistic Fiction where stories are true to life, but may not have happened.  Be on the lookout for Spelling Bee news.  As we keep learning new patterns, remember to keep practicing our old spelling patterns! 

READING HOMEWORK INFO

In addition to our "paper" homework that we do almost daily, we should be reading approximately 15 minutes on our own, so that we can continue to build fluency and understanding - even on the weekends!  (Thanks for encouraging your children.)

MATH

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

BIRTHDAYS

Thursday, April 1:        Grant McIntyre
Wednesday, April 21:  Ava Comey
Thursday, April 29:      Michal Depczyk

REMINDERS

Wednesday, March 31:  Overtime Athletics makeup class (for the 2/10 snow day)
Wednesday, March 31:  In-school enrichment, Space author, Andrew Chaikin
Thursday, April 1:          School lunch:  Hamburger/Cheeseburger and Managers' Choice
Thursday, April 1:          March Math Madness ends
Thursday, April 1:          Class Spirit Day, Clothing Clash day
Thursday, April 1:          School in session storm make-up day (Staff Development postponed)
Friday, April 2:               No School, Good Friday
Monday, April 5:            Library author visit, Pat Hubble
Wednesday, April 7:       Character project due
Friday, April 9:               Library author visit, Anthony Coccia
Friday, April 9:               Scholastic orders due (going home on 4/5)
April 12 - 16:                 School closed, April vacation
April 19 - 23:                 Earth Day Week, save energy by keeping lights off as much as possible

UPCOMING DATES

Mon - Wed, May 3-5     Dive Into Reading Book Fair
Thursday, May 6:            In-school enrichment, The Bruce Mobile (Bruce Museum)
Friday, May 14:              Music Performance, 9:30 tentative
Tuesday, June 1:             Field Day, 12:30 - 2:00, (PLEASE NOTE DATE CHANGE)
Tuesday, June 8:             Raindate for Field Day, 12:30 - 2:00 (PLEASE NOTE DATE CHANGE)
Monday, June 21:           Last day of school for students

OTHER NEWS

The Springtime gets so busy at Ox Ridge with a myriad of activities.  Please be on the lookout for a classroom survey coming home soon regarding our final classroom culminating activity.  I will try my best to schedule the "Memory Share" on the date the majority chooses.  I'll let you know as soon as we confirm the dates for our Memory Share and end-year on-site picnic.

We have been such hard workers that we have decided to write in our "Highlight of the Week" journal once a month but will try our best to blog our highlights weekly.  Keep an eye out!

Our first grade will help support Miss Blake's Earth Day efforts in saving as much electricity as possible while we are in the classroom during the week after April vacation.  Let's hope the entire school participates.  We can make a difference!


A TON OF THANKS

  • Thanks for helping to participate in Trash-Free Tuesdays.  What a great way to recognize Earth Day every week.
  • Thanks for your support for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society with the "Pennies for Patients" fundraiser coming up in April!
  • 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
look
ran
start
that
there
think
under
warm
when
white

APRIL SPELLING WORDS



# 21  The Ouch Brothers  ou/ow

outside
house
flower
shower
how

#22  The Sorry Sisters  au/aw/a

August
draw
tall
crawl
autumn

#23  Ahoy Mates  oy/oi

foil
enjoy
oyster
spoil
choice

#24 - Contractions

can't
I'm
wasn't
it's
you're