Mrs. Snook’s 1st Grade News

Week of April 30th

Dear Parents,

I hope that many of you were able to come to the Volunteer's Brunch on Friday morning.  All the teachers prepared the food as a way to say THANK YOU for everything you do here at Garrison Mill for us, the teachers, and for your children.  It was such a good variety of food and I certainly hope you were able to enjoy some of it!!!

I will be sending home today, attached to your child's homework sheet, a copy of the book report form each one is to use for his/her book.  Also, there will be a 9 X 12 white construction piece of paper for your child to draw and color a picture about his/her book....please fill in background areas and you make use colored pencils, markers, or crayons.  Have fun with this picture--it will be displayed with your book report.  These two items will be due by next Monday, May 7th.  Take your time, do a good job, and turn them in on  time, or before, if you finish early.

This week will be filled with end of the year assessments that we will be doing.  On Tuesday morning, I will have a 1/2 day substitute while I reassess each child's reading level for the end of the year and be able to compare them to the ones in August.  That will give me the growth range your child has made during this school year.  I have been very pleased with most of the class and growth that they have shown.  I do believe that taking AR tests on their own have improved the story comprehension.  Other assessments to be given this week will be the 4 minutes - 50 addition math problems, a final EXEMPLAR that has hopefully been teaching your child how to solve word problems in Math, and a final writing sample that will also be compared to other writings during the year.  This leads me to remind you about our Authors/Writers Tea from 8:30 - 9:00 on Tuesday, May 15th....please mark your calendar for that event as your child will have his/her writing portfolio from the entire year and be able to show you, read to you, and see how much progress each has made.

Curriculum News:

Reading -  we are finishing up our stories and doing assessment activities on each reading groups book.  Then, each group will start a comprehension story on Mammals with questions about what was read.

Phonics:  We continue to review the long "e"as in me, the double "o" as in moon, and "ow" spelled ou and ow as in round, down.  We will practice many of these words on their white boards they have at their seats.  We will also practice spelling words/dictation sentences on the white board.

Math:  Last week's notes were one week early as we finished Chapter 11 with different stradegies to use in adding and subtracting bigger numbers.  A checkpoint review and chapter test will be given this week and not last week like my newsletter said.  That leaves chapter 12 for us to do with 2 digit addition and subtraction.  Both Mrs. Gasque and I have modeled how to do more difficult problems with regrouping involved for those students that are ready to do that.

Writing:  This will be a writing assessment piece that will be scored by me to look at and see strengths, improvements, and gains that your child has made during 1st grade.

Social Studies:  We will start sometime this week the study of Mexico, our neighbor to the south.  In first grade, we are required to teach about Canada and Mexico.  We will learn about the Mexican flag, people of Mexico, the language they speak, and customs/traditions of the Mexican people.  With Cinco de Mayo falling on this coming Saturday, May 5th, please use some time to let them tell you about things they have learned so far.

Dates to Remember: 

Tuesday, May 1st - Kindergarten Visitation Day at Garrison Mill

Thursday, May 3rd - PTA meeting @ 6:30pm followed by 2nd grade performance at 7:00.

Friday, May 4th - School Spirit Day/wear your GM t-shirt.

Saturday, May 5th - YMCA Night at 6:00pm.

Tuesday, May 15th - Author's/Writer's Tea in classroom from 8:30 - 9:00am.

Wednesday, May 16th - K-2 Field Day.

Friday, May 18th - Celebration Day/Balloon Lift off @ 1:15; also Family Night.

Tuesday, May 22nd - End of Year Ice Cream Social from 12:00 to 12:40.

Friday, May 25th - Last Day of School!!!

Here's hoping that we have a beautiful week ahead of us.

Sincerely,  Peggy Snook

Week of April 23rd

Dear Parents,

I know that your children must be glad the CRCT's are over...I am certainly happy to have those behind us.  Test scores should come in before the end of school or either sent to you in the final report card envelope.  I am proud of each one of my students for hanging in there and doing their best!!

We finished presenting our Rabbit Projects this past week and I was very pleased with the variety of activities chosen.  All of the reports and pictures are displayed in the hall for you to see along with new photos of the classroom during March.

                                                                                                                                                                                  Now for information about the mammal book reports that will be due by Friday, May 4th.  This past Thursday we read an informational booklet that told us what a mammal is.  For example, it gives birth to live young, warm-blooded, produces milk to feed young, has some type of fur, etc.  This week I will read an example of fiction and non-fiction books on mammals.  After each one I will model a written book report on both types of books.  I have about 20 mammal books in the classroom with some being fictional stories on mammals and others being non-fiction mammal books.  Each child will need to make a selection of one of these books or another one from our media center or the public library. Then, depending on whether they chose a fiction or non-fiction book, I have a book report form to fit each category.  That form will probably come home attached to next week's homework sheet on April 30th.  If you have any questions, please write me a note.

Dates to mark on your calendar:

Tonight will be the last AR night in Garrison Mill's Media Center--Monday, April 23rd from 6 - 8 pm.  Each child that attends will receive a gift coupon of 25 cents to the school store.

Friday, April 27th - Volunteer Brunch 8:30am, Career Day, and Parent Centers for April 11:30-12:30.

UPCOMING DATES TO MARK:

Tuesday, May 1st - Kindergarten Visitation and we begin studying Mexico.

Thursday, May 3rd - PTA Meeting @ 6:30pm/2nd grade performance @ 7pm

Friday, May 4th - Mammal book reports due, School Spirit Day - wear GM t-shirt.

Tuesday, May 15th - Author's Tea in classroom; time TBA                  

Wednesday, May 16th - Field Day for K - 2.

Friday, May 18th  - Celebration Day with Balloon Lift Off at 1:15pm/also, Family Night.

Friday, May 25th - Last Day of School.

Curriculum News:

Reading - All of my groups continue to work on comprehension skills ( can they retell the story with details, etc.), characters, setting, problems to solve, vocabulary development, sequencing, and writing a summary of the story.  This last skill is new to them and needs a lot of modeling and reviewing.

Math - we are finishing up Chapter 11 this week with the Checkpoint and Chapter Test to be given this week.  Laptops are this week on Tuesday and we will continue working on some of our math skills.

Phonics:  This will be a lot of reviewing of blending, long and short vowel combinations, syllables, base words, suffixes, and prefixes.

Science/Social Studies:  This will involve our studies of mammals, their habitats, what they eat, where they live, and interesting facts about them.

Writing/Art - The class will be doing a writing selection on his/her favorite mammal. Then, we will do a variety of different types of art work on each animal they have selected in their writing.  The art work should be fun!!!

That about covers everything for this week.  I hope you have an enjoyable work week.

Sincerely,  Peggy Snook

Week of April 16th

Dear Parents,                                            

As you well know by now, the CRCT will be given on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week.  We will begin testing by 8:10 -8:15, so, it is ESSENTIAL that your child be on time (7:55am) with a good, healthy snack.  We will take a snack break between the two sections of each day's testing.  Monday will be Reading, Tuesday will be English/Language Arts, and Wednesday will be Math. This will be their first exposure to standardized testing and they will be tired each day and especially by Wednesday, the last day of our testing.  Third through fifth continues testing Thursday and Friday on Science and Social Studies.  I feel very good about my class taking these tests. Remember how important it is for your child to have a good night's sleep and a nutritious breakfast.....thanks!

To celebrate the end of testing, Mrs. Gasque and I have decided to have a Game Day on Wednesday , 4/18, after testing.  The homework sheet this week has no spelling words or no nightly homework given...only try to increase their nightly reading from 10 to 15 minutes per night.  Don't forget to log in on their reading sheet for April.  We decided for this time that the boys and girls may bring in any sort of game--board game, puzzles, electronic games, etc.   Please be selective in the ONE game you send in, as we don't want any hurt feeling during this fun day!!!

Here are the Reading Log winners for the month of March:  1st place - Milan Pavlovic with 45 stickers, 2nd place - Anna Moseley with 42 stickers, and a tie for 3rd place with 41 stickers each are Hauke Dell and Aleksandra Lezaj.  CONGRATULATIONS  to all and each of you keep up the good reading nightly at home!!                            

There are NEW pictures in the hall that cover St. Patrick's Day and the Leprechaun traps, March Parent Centers, reading parent, free choice centers, and High Touch, High Tech pictures from our "Sound" presentation we had on April 9th.  Stop by and enjoy the newest pictures of our class.

Curriculum News:

With three days of testing, it will be Thursday before we get back to a regular scheduled day.  Each day of this week our Specials will be from 11:30 - 12:00, but lunch will remain at the same time daily - 10:48 to 11:18.  We will continue reading groups that we started this past week working on comprehension, characters, setting, problems, and how they were resolved.  We will also begin on Thursday a unit on Mammals - What makes a mammal a mammal?  We will explore, read, and do a book report later in April on a fiction or non-fiction story of their own choice on a mammal.  More information to come later.

Math - we continue to work on adding and subtraction the bigger numbers, adding 3 digit problems such as 7 + 3 + 6 = ______ and giving your children different strategies to use with each type of problem.  For example, on the three digit problem, we have talked and practiced finding a sum of ten, if possible, and then adding 10 + 6.  Also, if there is a double in the problem or near double, use the strategy of adding the double or doubles +1 or -1 and then adding the other number to it.  We are working hard on getting away from using our fingers to count numbers. STUDY BOTH YOUR ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION FACTS AT HOME...THANKS!

Phonics:  we are reviewing many of the helpful hints in "word attack skill" - how to figure out a word if you don't know it.  We are going over long vowel combinations (oa, ie, ee, ea, ay, etc.), magic "e" words, "wh" and "ch" sounds, blending of letters, and other skills to help each of them decode a word.

Science and Social Studies:  This will be our study of Mammals that will involve both these areas of the curriculum.  I will read several fiction and non-fiction books on mammals after we know exactly what a mammal is, and then I will model on a big poster a book report on a fiction story and then model another book report on a non-fiction story.  Both have different items on them.

Health:  we have been talking about medicines and who is allowed to give them to us.  On Friday, we reviewed some of the rules they should follow -- people who can give you a medicine-- the doctor, mom and day, grandparents, etc., rules to follow about never taking medicine on your own, what to do if you found some pills, and what would happen if you took too much of a medicine.  Good information for them to know.                        

Dates to Remember:

Monday, 4/23 - Reading Night at GM Media Center from 6 - 8 pm.  (AR books)

Friday, 4/27 - Career Day and Parent Centers for April (11:30 - 12:30)

Upcoming activities for May will be the study of Mexico, our neighbor to the south.  More information to come later.

Here's hoping that you have an excellent week and the weather is good to us.

Sincerely,  Peggy Snook

Week of April 9th

Dear Parents,

Here's hoping that each of you had a wonderful Spring Break!!  I know that I did with a 6 day trip to Pawley's Island, S. C. with 4 girlfriends.  It does us all good to get away from the quick pace of Atlanta and enjoy some down time....I hope you were able to rest and relax, too.  With only 7 weeks of school left, I hope your child is rested and refreshed and ready to work hard.

Some important dates to put on your calendar for the month of April...

Thursday, 4/12 - PTA meeting @ 6:30  Election and Speaker

Friday, 4/13 - GM School Spirit Day/wear your GM t-shirt

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, 4/16-18 - CRCT testing grades 1 & 2 (grades 3 - 5 con't Th./Fri.)

Mon. - Fri., 4/16 - 20 - Volunteer Recognition Week

Monday, 4/23 - Reading Night @ 6:30pm in Media Center  (AR tests)

Friday, 4/27 - Volunteer Brunch @ 8:30am, Career Day, and Parents Monthly theme centers 9:30-10:30

Before the holidays, I sent home each child's April Reading Log and a Pre-registration envelope for next school year.  The envelope, if you haven't already turned it in, is due back to me by Wed., 4/11.  Also this week you will be receiving a parent letter from our principal concerning the CRCT test to be given next week.  We will begin testing by 8:15am with 2 sessions each day (50-60 minutes each) and hopefully finish by 10 - 10:30 each of the three mornings with a snack break midway through our time.  It is essential that your child be well rested and on time for them to do their best.  A good, healthy snack should be provided daily....thank you.

Coming home on Monday attached to your child's homework sheet will be Rabbit Project for this week's homework.  Your child may be selective as to his/her interest in choosing different projects to do.  Your selections MUST total 8 points or more and they will be due by this Friday, April 13th.  Have fun with it and let your child be creative.  We will present these projects on Friday to our class.

Curriculum News: 

Science - On Monday, 4/9, 1st Grade will have High Touch, High Tech on "Sound".  Each class will receive an hour and a half presentation with lots of demonstrations and hands on activities.  I remember from last year that this was one of the best HTHT programs.  The students should really enjoy the activities.

Other areas of studies this week===Math, Phonics, Reading, Language Arts, etc. ====  will be reviewing areas for the CRCT.  We will go back over nouns, verbs, and adjectives, ABC order, phonics rules we learned, reading comprehension strategy skills, math problems deciding whether you need to add or subtract to solve the problem, adding 3 numbers together, and adding/subtracting 2 digit numbers without regrouping---yes, we will do some addition with regrouping.  Those are just ideas on some of the things that we will be reviewing this week.  Hopefully, all of you have had time to let your child go on the Garrison Mill website to practice some typical CRCT questions.  It has been very good practice for them when we have done it on our last laptop day with Mrs. Schulmann.  It scores the problems for them and they can go back and see their mistakes.  The CRCT will be in three areas for 1st graders - Monday will be Reading, Tuesday will be Language Arts, and Wednesday will be Math.

One final note before I close this week's newsletter ---- David Mayer and his family have moved to Knoxville, TN over Spring break.  All of us will miss seeing him daily, but we do plan on writing letters to him.  ***Good practice on letter writing skills****  We are going to give him a few weeks to settle into his new school and then we will start sending our letters.  I even took a class picture with the Easter Bunny on his last day with us.  I'll be sending that along with our letters!!!

Here's hoping that you have a great week and keep warm.

Sincerely,   Peggy Snook