Mrs. Snook’s 1st Grade News

Week of January 22nd

Dear Parents,            

The first of the year has started off very well.  I am tremendously pleased with the amount of AR tests I see your children taking on a daily bases.  I do believe the incentive of inviting a friend to lunch after earning 5 AR points has truly stepped up their reading.....whatever works to get them reading/test taking/comprehension check.  We started off the first week back learning and writing about resolutions for the New Year.  I hope you found their "promises" to change/make better certain things they want to work on interesting and insightful.  Those came home in the little Bell Book last week.

Last Wednesday/Thursday was beautiful with the snowfall.  The children had many stories to tell about their activities in the snow.....they also wrote and drew a picture about the adventure.  As you are aware of, we are studying Arctic and Antarctic animals particularly the polar bear and penguins.  This brings in our Social Studies standards using the globe, locating the Arctic and Antarctic areas of the world/talking about the northern and southern hemisphere, and the equator.  The projects that I sent home last week certainly give each child an opportunity to choose activities that fit his/her style.  These four (4) projects are due, at the latest, on Tuesday, January 29th.  If you want to send 1 or 2 in as your child finishes them, please do.  Each project will be presented to the class, so, this would certainly help me to NOT have 60 activities to share on January 29th.

Curriculum News:

Reading - Each of my three groups is reading a book on either January and its monthly activities or a story on penguins.  Lots of new vocabulary is being introduced in these books as well as working on certain skills as contractions and phonics practices.  Later in the month I will be starting chapter books with some of my groups. Also, a gentle reminder to total your child's weekly Reading Log minutes as that helps me tremendously at the end of the month.  December's Reading Log winners are:  1st place - Shelly Chummar 70+ points, 2nd and 3rd places to Brenden and Bryce Daniels with 60+ points.  I cannot emphasize enough how important nightly reading is with your child....reading to them, them reading to you, or shared reading....all of this helps so much in the long run for your child!!  I also need to remind you that your child should be reading AT LEAST 60 minutes weekly, if not more.  Later in the year, I will be increasing this to 75 minutes per week.  Recently, I sent home a Six Flags reading log that will earn your child a free admission ticket to the park this summer if they read 6 hours and list those books.  This completed copy will be due back to me by February 20th as I have to turn them in on that day for you to qualify for the ticket.  Please be mindful of that date.....thank you. Weekly reading minutes can be logged on the Six Flags minute, too.

Phonics -  We have reviewed adding "ing" to words and how to use it in a sentence.  Also, we have introduced new spelling for long a as in tray and "ai" as in rain.  The long i can be spelled with an "igh" as in right, night, light, the "y" as in try, shy, why, and "ie" as in pie, die, and tie.  Please continue to point out these patterns in your child's nightly reading----thanks!  These different spellings of certain vowels are certainly a good example for your child to incorporate their understanding and usage of these phonics skills that we work on daily.

Math - Since being back from the holidays, we have been working on solid and plane figures---check out our math drawings in the hall that use both solid and plane figures such as cone, cylinder, rectangular prism, sphere, pyramid, cube as well as square, rectangle, triangle, hexagon, pentagon, and circle.  Other new words/vocabulary being introduced are corner, side, vertex, and vertices.  The class seems to really be enjoying this chapter.  Coming up in math will be strategies to use in addition and subtraction such as doubles plus one and add on 10.  A website that will be useful to your child at home will be found on www.mathfactcafe.com  Here, your child can practice flashcards especially using the skill of doubles plus 1 --- go in under the "2nd Grade" section to find addition and subtraction patterns to practice.  Great Website site!!!

Writing - This week's snowfall has been a great jumping off point for the class retelling their adventures during a certain event.  Now, with more snowfall over this long weekend, we will continue to work on retelling stories and writing about them.  All the while in their writing, I am looking for spelling strategies we have studied (stop becomes stopped in past tense, story becomes stories, adding "ed" to verbs for the past tense, fox becomes foxes in plural form, and spelling words we have had spelled correctly).

Computer Lab - Last week and this week we are working on a Storybook Weaver writing project in the lab.  Each child chose either polar bears or penguins to write and make a picture of their animal.  We have read, watched, and studied many things in the classroom about the Arctic and Antarctic animals and now they are putting what they have learned into a writing project.  Look for them in the hall later this week.

Upcoming Studies - Towards the end of January we will start studying one of the two countries that are required in the 1st grade curriculum and standards---the other country is Mexico that we will study in May.  Georgia standards require that 1st graders are exposed to/learn about the people of this country, resources of Canada, be able to locate the country on a map, family life-how it is alike and different from ours,their flag, and the country itself.  We have several videos that will help us with all of the above.

In closing, let me say how forward I am to seeing each of you at conferences this coming week.  We will be following an Early Release schedule this week with lunch at 10:41 - 11:11, specials 11:30 - 12:00, and dismissal at 12:20. Conference week starts Tuesday, January 22nd and continues through next Monday, January 28th.  Also, I want to thank you for the warm reception that my letter got this past week about me joining my daughter, Kelly, in Australia/NZ in late March.  Hope to see you this coming Friday night, January 25th at the Garrison Mill Sock Hop from 6:30 to 8:30!!!!

Sincerely,   Peggy Snook

P.S.  Look for new photos in the hall sometime this week from before the Winter holidays.

Week of January 8th

Dear Parents,                

Happy New Year!  I'd like to thank you, as parents, for the beautiful AUBURN blanket I received from the class.....it kept me warm several times over the holidays.

Just a quick note to say "hello" and tell you that Tuesday and Wednesday have been two good days in school so far.  Yes, they are a bit tired, but we've still been working away with different skills.  On Tuesday we talked about what a resolution was for the New Year.  We are working on a booklet that has them write about 3 New Year's "promises" that they want to keep.  Hopefully, you'll see that by Friday or the first of next week.  I'm sure many of you have heard about us studying the Arctic and Antarctaria regions of the world and all of the animals that go along with the two areas - penguins, polar bears, sea lions, whales, snow birds, snow rabbits, etc.  I will do many of my curriculum skills through this study area  -  such as verbs, writing sentences, talking more about nouns both common and proper ones, winter math,  etc.

I promise to give a more detailed description of our class activities either in a news update sheet or on my next blog.  In the mean time, keep your child reading, reading, and reading!  Conference information comes home tomorrow, the 10th, so please return the bottom half of the letter to let me know your time slot is good.  If it isn't, please let me know when will be good and I'll rearrange your time.  Thanks for all you do as parents.....we are a team!

Sincerely,   Peggy Snook           P. S.  We can only hope for some of this weather in January!!!!