Mrs. Snook’s 1st Grade News

Week of September 25th

Dear Parents,

Isn't this cooler fall weather delightful!?!  I hope each of you enjoyed the weekend with the family even if we had some rain on Sunday.

I have just a few things to send reminders to you.  First, picture day in on Tuesday, the 26th, and these are all prepay packets sent home about 10 days ago. Second, the September reading logs are due by Friday, the 29th. Those that have been sending in reading minutes each week, I have given your child a sticker on an apple for each 10 minutes that he/she read. You will receive a new log the following Monday, October 2nd. Third, I have attached a conference notice to the homework sheet to let me know when you are UNAVAILABLE or even the BEST day for you during conference week-October 16th -  20th. This will help me tremendously in planning that week as I have many younger and older siblings to plan around this schedule.  Thanks for that help!

Scholatic Order forms came home last week. Again, this is totally optional for each family, but if you are interested in ordering, please send in by Tuesday, Sept. 26th.  Again, thanks.

Early this week your child will be bringing home a booklet that he/she made on "Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse" . I would like for them to read it to you, brothers/sisters, stuffed animals, pets, etc. several times and sign on the back to whom it was read. Please send it back in to me.  This will be good reading practice for many of them.

Every two weeks laptop computers are scheduled in our room for one hour.  This Tuesday, the 26th, will be our second time to have them from 8:00 - 9:00.  Mrs. Schulmann brings the portable lapcart down to our room and each child gets his/her own computer during this time.  Two weeks ago we learned how to log in/log off and had a chance to go to KIdspix.  This Tuesday we will be exploring Starfall.com with lots of good reading activities.  Each of them is certainly enjoying this computer time!!

That's about all for this week.  The class continues working on the addition facts and we will start doing a timed test a week to give them practice.  This won't be for a grade at all---please work on addition facts to 12 and even go up to 18 for those who are eager.  We played a Math game Friday called ""Around the World"---ask them about it.   Also, try to help them add on to the larger number instead of counting on their fingers.

Have a great week......Peggy Snook:)

FYI - Just to get you ready for conferences, a first grade report card has E for excellent, G for good, S for satisfactory, and N for needs improvement.  The specials Art, PE, and Music give S for satisfactory and O for Outstanding.  Spelling for the first nine weeks will be an N/A, but I hope to be seeing your child use these words spelled correctly in his/her writing. 

Week of September 18th

Dear Parents,

What a great week we had last week with Fun Friday, graphing of animals brought in, and a movie & popcorn!!  Many of them wanted to wear their pajamas, but we will do a Pajama Day later in the year.

I wanted to let you know about the Literacy Center papers that were sent home this week.  These are curriculum related activities that Mrs. Harrison and I have modeled for the students.  The centers usually last for 2 weeks and then they will be changed out for new ones.  The Literacy Centers are done independently or small cooperative groups during our guided reading time.  If you have questions, please write me a note.

WEE DELIVER (in school post office/mail) starts up at Garrison Mill Monday, September 25th.  Our room address is 206 Watermelon Way, Farmville, GA 30002.  You may write your child a note and mail it here at GM the next time you are in the building.  There is a mailbox located in the front lobby.

Last week we finished Chapter 1 in math and had a test on the material covered.  I will be sending those papers home next week for you.  Chapter 2 in math will be "Understanding Addition"...joining numbers together. Start practicing addition facts to 8.

We go to the media center for a story and check out time every 2 weeks.  (Next time will be Tuesday, Sept. 19th.)  If your child wants another book before or after then, please have them bring in their book and I will let them go and check out another one that day.  Keep your child reading as much as possible.  They will continue to get better and more confident in figuring out difficult words.

Composition books with weekly homework are due by Friday of each week.  If your child finishes it early, you may send it in on Wed. or Thurs.  This week for homework the students will be putting the spelling words in ABC order for the first time at home.  We have been doing this for several weeks in class, so it shouldn't be a problem.  Help them if the need it....Thanks!!!

In Phonics we continue to work on blends, letter sounds, word families, and putting this all together to read or write new words.  We now have reintroduced short o (key word to remember the sound=octopus)and later this week we will have short u-key word for sound=umbrella.

Guided Reading continues to go well...please send back in any books that Mrs. Harrison or I send home in a plastic bag for you to read with your child.  These should come back in the next day after going home in their folders...thanks!  Mrs. Harrison and I will be swapping reading groups for the next two weeks.

In Science we have talked about communities and what that means.  Also, we have discussed the three essential things that we need daily--food, water, and shelter.  Of course, they could name quite a few more such as gameboy, ps2, toys, etc.  This week we will begin a short unit on brown/black bears and hibernation---what does that mean and how are bears starting to get ready in the fall to be able to hibernate?  With the fall/autumn season starting this week, we will continue to notice how trees will be changing, the weather becoming cooler, change in the types of clothing we wear, and the days getting shorter, to name a few.

Apple Project-your homework sheet will explain this project where your child is to choose any three of the ideas and work on them all this week.  They will be due next Monday, September 25th.  Have fun with these and let your child be creative!  They will share their projects next week.

Believe it not, conference week is just around the corner (October 16-20).  In the next couple of weeks, I will be sending you a sheet home for you to let me know the days that you WON'T be available-even let me know some days that would be better for you than others.  I have a lot of siblings in my room and the other teachers and I will do our best to make all conferences for you on the same day.

Finally, if you are in the building this week, come down our hall and check out the new photos of your children!!   

Have a great week!   Mrs. Snook :)

Newsletter/Important Dates for September

Dear Parents,

I hope to update information for you on this blog site.  This is all new for me, so, please be patient as I learn the ropes.  Here are some dates in September that you may want to mark on your calendars:

Sept. 13th -  we start Book Buddies with Mrs. Hohn's 4th grade class.  This will be every Wed. from 1:30 - 2:00.  It should be lots of fun and sharing each week!

Sept. 15th - Fun Friday  *note and information on blog already sent to you*

                - Progress reports go home only if necessary.

Sept. 18th - Reading Night at Garrison Mill Media Center - 6pm

Sept. 20th - Early Release Day-children are dismissed at 12:30.

Sept. 22nd -Spirit Day at GM  *Wear your favorite Garrison Mill shirt*

Sept. 26th - Fall Pictures/prepay envelopes will be coming home to you.

Sept. 28th - Room parents and other moms plan theme center activities (9:30-10:30)

Sept. 29th - Silly Socks and Sneakers Day!

Sept. 30th - Fun Run at GM -  (8am)-check for more information in the school newsletter.

MATH - we continue to work on the digits 0 -12 and making different patterns (ABAB,ABBABB,ABC) as a review from kindergarten.  We have introduced Bar Graphs and will be making one on Friday with the different stuffed animals that are brought in.  New for them is Fact Families taking 3 numbers such as 2,3,5 and making two addition problems and two subtraction problems with them.  (2+3=5, 3+2=5,5-3=2, and 5-2=3)  We will continue working on this as we do lots of number sentences, both addition and substraction, during our daily Calendar Math.  Also, the class is learning about number order as well as greater than and less than.

PHONICS AND HANDWRITING - As you have seen with your child's daily papers, we are reviewing the letter sounds, practicing the correct way to make these letters, listening for them in beginning, middle and ending positions, and doing lots of blending of letters to make words (r-a-n = ran)  I have also started to introduce blends at the beginning of words such as tr, cr, st, and br, etc., so please begin to point these out in your nightly reading with your child. We have reviewed the short "a" and "i" and the key words I use are apple and igloo to help with that sound.

GUIDED READING - Mrs. Harrison and I started our Guided Reading lessons last Tuesday.  We have 3 groups each for a two week period and our groups are a combination of both classes.  After two weeks, we will swap groups so that both of us will teach all of our students during a month period.

I hope this information has been helpful to you and I will send more newsletters as needed.  The class is working together well learning the rules and schedule.  This past week we were given an ice cream party for being the top sellers for Sally Foster....thanks, parents and students!!!  Also, as a class reward for spelling out "Compliment", I brought in a big chocolate chip cookie on Friday and we ate that as a treat at our lunchtime.  We had several parents visiting us for lunch and they got chocolate chip cookies as well!! Keep up the GOOD WORK!

Thanks,   Mrs. Snook:)

F.Y.I. - You may send total reading log minutes in weekly on the sheet, I will check it off as seen, and return it to you.  For each 10 minutes read, your child gets a sticker on his/her apple for this month.  Also, any homework done in the compositition book can be turned in early if the assignments are finished----just make sure it comes in by Friday of every week.   Thanks!

Fun Friday---Sept. 15th

Mrs.Harrison and I have decided that Friday, September 15th will be a Fun Friday in both of our classrooms.  This means that your child may bring in a stuffed animal for the day and we will be graphing the different types of animals.  Also, your child may bring in a sleeping bag or blanket as we will have a movie and popcorn treat during that day.   This is a celebration for a wonderful start to our school year!!