Week of May 5th......
Dear Parents,
Happy Cinco de Mayo!!! Last week was a very busy, hectic week culminating in our great 1st grade performances! Everyone was fabulous and we all enjoyed those "happy smiles " on each face that night. As you can see from the header above, we have started our study of Mexico. On Friday we saw a video on the daily life of a seven year old in a small Mexican town....I showed it to the class on the Promethean board we have in our classroom. The students are very excited about this "special board" that we can do so many things on....for example, we have done 2 digit addition problems and each child came up to the board to answer a problem; we have done our Daily Oral Language and each child came to the board to make sentence corrections using the appropriate editing marks we learned all year; we have watched a CD on Nutrition on the Promethean board; we have gone to websites to visit the panda at the Atlanta Zoo as well as a nutrition website and played educational games; and, I am learning more and more each day about what all can be done with this magnificent educational board!!!
As I mentioned above, we have begun our study of Mexico. We will start a "reading activity book" on Monday telling the story of what happens in Mexico on May 5th - Cinco de Mayo....should be a lot of fun and educational. If any of you have items from Mexico that you would be willing to share with the class this next week, I would really appreciate it being sent in with your child and I'll put it on a display table. We will study the people of Mexico and how they are alike and different from us, the language difference from English to Spanish and perhaps learn a few Spanish words, and we will also learn about the customs of the Mexican people as well as the landscape and typography of this country. Should be fun!!
With only 3 weeks of school left, here are the important dates that you need to know:
Monday, May 5th - Last reading night for AR points in the Media Center from 6 - 8 pm.
Thursday, May 8th - Mrs. Wilson's Retirement Party 5 - 6 pm.
Friday, May 9th - Career Day and Volunteer Brunch.
Monday, May 12th - Author's Tea in the classroom from 8:05 - 8:40. (We have been invited to see the kindergarten "Under the Sea" presentation at 8:45) This is a special time with you and your child to celebrate the improvement that you will see in his/her writing over the last nine months. Please plan on attending as it is very important to your child; if for some reason you cannot, please let me know and I will get your child's 4th grade book buddy to be there. Hopefully, you will be able to make arrangements for a parent or another relative to be there. Thanks in advance for your attendance.
Wednesday, May 14th - K-2 Field Day
Friday, May 16th - Celebration Night 6 - 7 pm.
Friday, May 23rd - Last day of School.....This has been a wonderful year for me and hopefully for your children. I have seen young 6 and 7 year olds enter my classroom in August of last year and grow by leaps and bounds during this school year. I have thoroughly enjoyed having your children this year and I will look forward to them coming back next year as BIG second graders to read to my class....they are all treasures that each of you have shared with me this school year. Continue to read over the summer, enjoy your family time together, and see you in August!!!!
This past week we had one of our "in house" field trips called "Zoo to You". The children were able to see and/or touch several different types of animals.....a snake, a huge frog, a baby wallaby, to name a few. It was a great success and enjoyed by all!!
I am sure there are other days and dates, but these are some of the most important ones. We will also celebrate summer birthdays sometime during the last week of school....date TBA.
I will continue to do reading assessments (DRA - Developmental Reading Assessment) on the class as this week progresses....also, in Math we will continue to explore 2 digit numbers in both addition and subtraction. While regrouping IS NOT a first grade skill, I have introduced it and shown it to the class when it has been appropriate.
Here's hoping your week is a good one and look forward to NO MORE HOMEWORK OR SPELLING TESTS after this week!!!!!
Sincerely, Peggy Snook 
