White's World

September 15th-19th

 

              We are begining our 6th week of school and your children are growing and learning everyday! I am so proud of their hard work!!!

Curriculum News:

Math... One of the first grade goals for the children is that they are able to calculate 48-50 addition problems to 18 in 5 minutes by the end of the year. I will send home soon in homework flashcards for your child to make and study nightly. These flash cards are addition facts to 10. Later in the year I will send home addition facts to 18. I will give timed tests every so often to test the children to see how they are coming along. Help your child study these flash cards nightly. It will take studying at home along with working and studying at school in order for your child to master the goal. Look for them next week!

Phonics... We will continue our study of letter sounds, short vowels, blends, and the suffix 's'.

If you are working on vowel sounds with your child here are a few strategies to help them make the correct sound.

   short a...place hand under the chin and drop your jaw

   short e...have the children smile, or pull back on the sides of their mouth

   short i...scrunch up nose

   short o...circle your mouth with your finger

   short u... give the  thumbs up signal for "up"

I will also be sending home a handout stating the rules that we have learned.

Reading... Keep up the good work on those reading logs. They  will be due October 1st. Remember any book I send home to read at night can be written down on the log. Also, if I send home a list of words for reading practice, the amount of time you spend reading the list can be counted.

Books in the Baggies... These are books I have asked your child to take home and read for the night. Please return the book and the baggie the next day. Your child will most likely get a new one the next day in reading group.

Handwriting... Our list of letters is growing. Remember that I sent home a copy of the letter descriptions and how each is made. This will help you to reinforce the letter formation while doing homework. The letters we have covered are... a, d, o, g, c, e, s, f, b, l, t, k, h, i, and u.

This week at computer lab we worked on Kid Pixs. They are learning to navigate the mouse and draw pictures of different types of weather and seasons we have studied.

Also, this is a fun site to work on place value that we are working on in Math. Just click on this link Rainforest Place Value.

We have begun our new unit in Social Studies. Our Earth and Our Country: Home, Sweet Home. If your child does not know their address, please help them at home to learn it. We will be working on the following standards this week.

Students will be able to recall the names of their city, county, state, nation and continent and locate them on a map or globe.

Students will be able to locate all continents and oceans on a map or globe.

Students will be able to describe mountains, deserts, valleys, plains, plateaus, and coasts.

Last we the class went to Google Earth to find our school. They had so much fun and wanted to google at home their houses. Just click on the Google Earth above and it should take you there.

Don't forget to keep sending in your BOX TOPS!

YEAH Anna, she sold the most Sally Foster wrapping paper in our class!!! She will be going with all the other class winners to a "Pump It Up" party. Way to go!!

Character Word for the week.........  "Trustworthiness"

Have a Wonderful Week!!!

Mrs. White

September 8-12

          Wow... What a fun 4 day week we had!!! The children are about to earn their second SPECIAL TREAT!!! Then we ended it with "Movie Night" on Friday! Mrs. Anderson and I enjoyed seeing everyone who made it. My husband had a blast too meeting some of you!!!!

Curriculum News:

Math... We will be working on addition strategies ( adding with zero, counting on, doubles and problem solving).

Math Standard:

Understand addition and subtraction number combinations using strategies such as counting on, counting back, doubles, and making tens.

Phonics... Remember to complete your phonics homework sheet every night and return it the following morning. We are working on blends and letters h, g, and r. When your children are reading encourage them to sound out and use the sounds they are learning. The same with when they are writing. They need to write the sounds they hear. I will be sending a copy of terms that we are using in the Saxon Phonics program.

Phonics Standards:

Isolates beginning, middle, and ending sounds in single-syllable words.

Reads words containing consonant blends and digraphs.

Applies knowledge of letter-sound correspondence to decode new words.

Writing... When they are given a written assignment, they are to give me at least 3 "good" sentences. A "good" sentence is a group of meaningful words that begins with a capital and ends with punctuation. We are heavily working on complete sentences, capitals, and punctuation.

Writing Standard:

Demonstrates an understanding that punctuation and capitalization are used in all written sentences.

Reading... We have started our Guided Reading groups! The children now come to me for a small reading group. While I am in reading group the children have independent seat work and center work. Their independent work is all curriculum based and reinforcement of skills I have taught. Your child have started bringing home a book to read and a coupon to sign that they have read the book with you. Yes, this book can go on their monthly reading log!!!

Reading Standards: ( I will keep adding to this list)

Applies knowledge of letter-sound correspondence to decode new words.

Applies learned phonics skills when reading and writing words, sentences, and stories.

Reads and listens to a variety of texts for information and pleasure.Reads and listens to a variety of texts for information and pleasure.

Retells stories read independently or with a partner.

Handwriting... We have already practiced the following letters... (a, d, o, c, e, s, f, b, l and t). Please help your children and encourage them to use the correct formation.

Science and Social Studies... We have just finished our unit on Weather and Seasons for Science. This week we will start our unit on communities, jobs, and map skills. I intergrate these topics into my reading and writing blocks. The children need to know their address also and we could your help at home. Review their street address, city, and state.

Science Standards:

Identify different types of weather and the characteristics of each type

Investigate weather by observing, measuring with simple weather instruments (thermometer, wind vane, rain gauge), and recording weather data (temperature, precipitation, sky conditions, and weather events) in a periodic journal or on a calendar seasonally.

Correlate weather data (temperature, precipitation, sky conditions, and weather events) to seasonal changes.

Social Studies Standards:

The student will identify and locate his/her city, county, state, nation, and continent on a simple map or a globe.

Technology... Last time we went to computer lab we use Kidpicks. The children had great fun learning to create a picture.

Technology Standards:  

The student uses computer-drawing programs to create illustrations and/or picture stories. (Examples might include using KidPix, Paint, etc.)

Character Word:  This week's character word is "Honesty" !

Have a Wonderful Week!

September 2nd-5th

   

It's hard to believe it is September already! I hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

We went to the computer lab last Friday and had a GREAT time. We will be going every other Friday from 1:10 to 2:10. Two of our Technology Standards we are working on at the moment are:

1.The student uses computer-drawing programs to create illustrations and/or picture stories. (Examples might include using KidPix, Paint, etc.)

2.The student performs basic hardware operating functions. (Examples might include power on/off, use mouse and keyboard).

Friday was just a busy day for us at school. We also went to the media center, found out the rules, and checked out books. We will go again this Friday for Story Time, return our books, and check out new ones. I will try my best to keep us singed up on Friday as our regular day. Your September remember reading log will come home today too. Don't forget to  READ!       

It still may be hot outside but our room is not always the warmest. Please send your children with a sweater or sweat shirt if they are complaining about being cold. I just try to think positive and have layers to peel off or put on.

Last week we started our centers and Guided Reading Groups. The children always seem to enjoy center time. My first grade centers are fun and curriculum driven. It is an independent time in which they get to choose the center they would like to complete and enjoy working with a friend. I do expect them to produce quality work along with working quietly. While they are at centers or completing seat work I pull students for guided reading groups. These groups are not set in stone. As children develop I change groups to meet each of their needs.

       Yes..... It is time for HOMEWORK!

Try to set a time and place each day to help your child complete their homework. Homework is a review, it is not a new skill they have not been taught. I try to balance the amount not to exceed 30 minutes a day. Typically, I send home a math sheet per night, a language art sheet per night and weekly vocabulay words to review nightly. Your child needs to read to you for 10 minutes every night and have you sign their reading log. I can not stress how IMPORTANT it is to help teach your child study skills while they are young. A homework packet will come home on the first day of the week and should be returned on Friday. Their Phonics homework will come home nightly separately from the homework packet. Please return it the following day. It will take them just a couple of minutes to do it. I want to Thank You ahead of time for your help and time with homework.

Science: We have been studing the Weather for the last week or two. The standards that we have been working on are listed below. As the seasons change through the year we will continue to reinforce what we have already learned.

1.Identify different types of weather and the characteristics of each type.

2.Investigate weather by observing, measuring with simple weather instruments (thermometer, wind vane, rain gauge), and recording weather data (temperature, precipitation, sky conditions, and weather events) in a periodic journal or on a calendar seasonally.Investigate weather by observing, measuring with simple weather instruments (thermometer, wind vane, rain gauge), and recording weather data (temperature, precipitation, sky conditions, and weather events) in a periodic journal or on a calendar seasonally.

3.Correlate weather data (temperature, precipitation, sky conditions, and weather events) to seasonal changes.

Phonics: We are learning beginning, medial, and final sounds when we hear and read words. The children are learning to code their words too. They will bring a worksheet home nightly. We will have done the front side and they are to complete the other side for homework and return it the next day. Here are the standards we are working on in class.

1.Distinguishes between long and short vowel sounds in spoken, one syllable words

That's all for this week! Let's enjoy our 4 day week. It will be a while before we have another. :-)

2.Isolates beginning, middle, and ending of sounds in single-syllable words

3.Blends two to four phonemes into recognizable words

We are learning to add and subtract to 10. We are also very busy with our Calendar Math everyday too. A few of our math standards are:

1. Understanding addition and subtraction strategies to 10.

2. Comparing sets (greater then, less then or equal to)

3. Using tally marks, making fair trade with $, working with the number line

All of the standards I have listed today will be worked on this entire first nine weeks. I will continue to add to these standards weekly.

I would also like to welcome Miguel to our class. He joined us last week and is a real pleasure to have in class.

Math:

August 25, 2008

              Wow, it is hard to believe we have already finished our 2nd week of school. The children are already settling down and beginning to understand the rules and the routine. Ask the children to find out more.

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We had fun celebrating Kellen's birthday on Thursday too. The children and I want to thank Mrs. McLean for the delicious brownies.

Happy Birthday Kellen!!!!!!

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            I would like to thank everyone for a GREAT Open House! It was such a pleasure meeting all of you! A special thanks to Mrs. Higgins and Mrs. Bowman for volunteering to be our room mom's. I would also like to thank all the other many volunteers who signed up to help this year. I am very excited and know this is going to be a WONDERFUL year!

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*CHARACTER WORD FOR THE WEEK*

"Respect For Authority"

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Scholastic... See Saw Book Club...

                        

                     I will be sending the September Order form home soon so keep your eyes open. This is a GREAT way to get your children interested in reading. They love to get the books delivered to them at school too. They are age appropriate and the children just love  them. The classroom will also recieve free books throughout the year. I will send a note home soon letting you know the due date and who will be helping us collect the order forms and order the books.

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Reminders...

• Specials... Tuesday and Thursday is PE ...Monday is Art... Wednesday is Music... THIS FRIDAY IS .... Art
• Send Healthy Snacks for your child. They get very hungry waiting for lunch. Lunch is not until 12:34!
• Sweat shirts or sweaters... Your child may need to bring one to school. They can leave it in the classroom or in their bookbag if it would make it easier for you.  Our room can get very cold at times. We already have the sniffles among the children.
• IMPORTANT... please send any lunch money in an "envelope" with your child's name on it. Money gets lost or set on my desk and I have no idea who's money is what.
• BOXTOPS... The contest has begun so save those boxtops and send them in to class. The contest will be ongoing until October 22nd!
• Forms... Please be sure to get all forms into me this week. Also remember to complete the class directory form if you would like your child included. Send it to me and I will get it to Mrs. Higgins. The class shirts are $5.00 and we need to get that money in too. I know all the paper work is overwhelming at the beginning of the year but we will soon have it all completed!!!
• Garrison Elementary Behavior Expectations: Please read those over with your child, sign and return to me as soon as possible. :-)

          

         Mrs. White                           

August 17, 2008

Wow, what a wonderful start in First Grade!!!

Parents, thank you so much for helping make this a great first week of school. I had so much fun getting to know your children. We also had fun reading several great books this week. Some of the books were... (If You Took A Mouse To School,The Day The Monster Came To School and Junie B. (First Grader, Toothless Wonder). You may want to ask your child to tell you a little about the stories or how Junie B. is handling loosing her teeth. 

After reading The Day The Monster Came To School the children made class rules that they would like to follow in our classroom. Then they created their very own monster. They are on the walls by the class rules. Look for them at Open House.

Just a few reminders from the desk of Mrs. White....

• Open House is August 19th at 6:30
• Take home folders come home nightly and should return daily. Please leave the citizenship report in the folder. Take out all other papers I've sent home. I check the folder every morning for transportation changes or any other note you may want me to read.
• Dismissal: Getting your child home safely every day is very important to me. Please let me know on Monday or the day of the change (in writing) how your child is to go home. If your child changes throughout the week I need a note on Monday stating how they are to go home each day. If I am at all in question I will put your child in ASP to be safe. I do not want them going home to an empty house. Thank you for your help in this very important matter.
• Nutritious Snacks: A snack time will be allowed each mid-morning. The students will need to bring their own snacks from home. We go to lunch at 12:34so they get very hungry. Make sure the snack is healthy and something they like.  Please do not send drinks, juice boxes, yogurt or canned fruit. These items are difficult to open and are frequently spilled which causes us to have unwanted "visitors"
• to our classroom. Thank you so much for helping me by sending easy nutritious snacks that fill up your children's stomach until lunch.

• Birthday's: We like to celebrate birthdays in First Grade!  If you would like to provide a birthday treat to share with classmates on your child's birthday or half-birthday (for summer time birthdays), please follow these guidelines:

1. The treats should be pre-cut or individually pre-wrapped. Some  good suggestions are a cookie cake (pre-cut), individually wrapped cookies, doughnuts, snack cakes, or muffins. We will have the treat at snack or at lunch time.

2. Please remember that birthday party invitations need to be mailed and are not allowed to be handed out in class unless all of the students in the class are invited to the celebration.

I would like to welcome our student teacher from Kennesaw University. Her name is Mrs. Anderson and she will be with our class until mid November. I will be working very closely with her over the next few months. Mrs. Anderson was a TOSS student with me last spring too. She has a head start in knowing what I expect. Mrs. Anderson puts the children first and is a hard worker with lots of creative ideas. I am so excited to have her in the class with me!

One last reminder, please plan to attend Open House on Tuesday, August 19th at 6:30 P.M. I will discuss classroom procedures, curriculum, and volunteer opportunities.

      ...Mrs. White

May 5, 2008

Can you believe the year is almost over? Only 15 more days until Summer vacation.The remainder of the year is packed full! Get your calendar out to write all the dates down. I will list the dates you need to know about for the rest of the year!

Hats off to all the first graders!!! What a GREAT job they did last week at their PTA performance! I am so proud of each and everyone of them!!!

Last Week for homework!!!! Homework will be due on Thursday instead of Friday too! The only homework this week will be their book report. Please practice with your child for their oral presentation on Thursday. They are to also draw their favorite scene in their book to share during their presentation. Do your BEST!!!

IMPORTANT DATES:

May 5th... 6:00 Reading Night

May 8th... 5:00 to 6:00 Retirement Open House for all families to come and say Good-Bye to Mrs. Wilson.

May 9th... Volunteer Brunch from 8:30 to 11:00

May 9th... Career Day

May 9th...All library Books are Due! Please look at home too for Monkey's Trick is Missing because it is missing... This is an AR book that I had checked out and allowed the children to take home to enjoy. It may still show up in the room but it hasn't so far!

May 12th... Author's Tea... 8:05 to 8:40.

May 14th... Field Day

May 19th-23rd Last Week of School!

May 23rd Last Day of School! Summer Vacation!

Report cards will come home the following week.

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK!

Mrs. White

April 27,2008

         

              Where has the month gone? Our year is quickly coming to an end! Four more weeks, and they will be busy for all of us. Get your calendar out and get ready to put some important dates down for May.

Time to celebrate!!! The CRCT is over for 1st grade. Your little ones did GREAT! It was so hard to watch them sit there for 2 and 1/2 hours all 3 days with only a 10 minute break. They worked hard but it was very tiring. The children lit up everyday too when the "Test Fairy" came to visit! I had to keep them from racing down the hall after lunch on Thursday and Friday. They were so excited to see if the "Test Fairy" came again.

This week will be very busy!

Monday and Tuesday we will be rehearsing for our PTA performance on Thursday. Then on Wednesday will be having our dress rehersals for the school at 8:30 and 9:30. Thursday night is the performance. Be sure to have your child in my classroom by 6:15 P.M. dressed in the requested outfit and ready to go.

Social Studies Standards: We will be continuing our unit on Mexico. The children will finish up a flip book Monday to bring home as a study guide.  All test questions are covered in the flip book. Review nightly with your child for the TEST ON THURSDAY.

Writing Standards: The children will be writing an informational paper on Mexico. We have already webbed the details and organized our thoughts. This week we will write our rough draft, edit with a peer and the teacher, then publish our final copy. They will be displayed on the wall outside of our classroom. Come by and see them.

Science Standards: We are learning about animals. How are they similar, what do they all need, how are they different, etc. To make it a little exciting we have our in school field trip this week. Thursday the Zoo To You comes to Garrison Mill. Be sure to ask the children about the different animals they saw, touched and learned about.

Math Standards:

We will continue working with double digit subtraction and addition. Just a reminder we do not regroup in first grade.

Reading... I will be testing the children individually during the next two weeks. This DRA test gives me an idea of their reading level and the progress they have made this year. These DRA scores go in their portfolios for their next years teachers. Before I even start testing, I can say to each of you, that I am very proud of the hard work and progress each of your children have made.  It has been a GREAT year!!!!!!!!

Character Word: Patience and Moderation

Patience can be very hard but is a wonderful trait to develop. I think it is something we can start working on when we are little and keep developing it through life. When we are little we have little challenges that need our patience. As we grow older and wiser we have bigger challenges that need our patience. Let's help our children to learn to have patience.

Moderation can be hard to explain to little ones. Teaching our children that going to the extreme is not always the best. Not enough isn't good either. We have to help them understand doing certain things in moderation is the best.

Have a GREAT week!

Mrs. White

April 20, 2008

• ... Yeah, Spring is in the air and the weather is turning beautiful! The days are getting warm so I wanted to refresh everyone about the school dress code.
• No tank top shirts or thin strapped shirts
• No filp flops
• Girls shorts and skirts should be long enough that the child's fingertips touch the hem when standing up straight

Remember the mornings can be cool and the children have walk fit on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. They will be walking outside on the track in the morning and may need a sweater or jacket.

Homework... there will not be any homework this week. The CRCT is this week ( Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday) and that's enough for the children. Laura Miller, the first grade councelor, made up a little song with the children. This is what they need to do for homework. Have them sing you the song... if they forgot the words here they are...

Eat a good breakfast,

Get lots of rest,

Don't be tardy ,

and Do your best!

Mexico... In social studies we are studing about Mexico. The children will be putting on a short readers theator play. The play goes with the story The Three Little Javelinos . We will practicing the next two weeks. The children are very excited and will bring the script home to practice. Please  be sure they return it daily in their take home folder. They are also excited about bringing in different props or costume items from home. We welcome the items and will return them as soon as the play is over. The play will be performed the day of our Mexico Centers, May 2nd.

Character word for the week...

Courage... the ability to conquer fear.

March 30th- April 14th, 2008

March is almost over and April is here! The children are working very hard and I am very proud of them all!

I want to thank everyone for a wonderful birthday celebration! The children's cards were the best! I will always treasure them. I didn't realize how many little artists I had!

Curriculum News:

CRCT... We are reviewing almost daily. Don't forget that you all can review on the Internet too.

Math... Everyone did FABULOUS on their fraction test!!! We will be working on measuring this week. Georgia's Standards are to learn to estimate and measure using a non-standard unit that is smaller than the object to be measured. It is a fun unit the children love to do. I will also introduce in the next two weeks adding and subtracting 2-digit numbers without regrouping. They will see this on the CRCT so I like to introduce it.

Language Arts... We continue to write. This past week we wrote riddles! The children picked the animal they wanted to write about. Did some research and created their riddles. They turned out really cute! This week we will review pronouns, commas in a series, punctuation, and sequencing sentences.

Social Studies...  Canada... The children have been working hard again to learn all about Canada. The book and folder will come home Monday and the test will be on Thursday! It will be very similar to the USA test. Study hard this week!!

Wow, you all are doing a fabulous job reading!!! My AR chart is getting very full!!! Keep up the good job!

READ! READ! READ!

Mrs. Blumentrill, Mrs. Lawson, and Mrs. Robinson...

Thank you so much for coming in on Friday to stay with the class while we had our teacher appreciation lunch! The lunch was wonderful and it was great not having to rush eating to go pick up the children!

Character Word... This weeks word is "Leadership". We can all be a leader!

Have a wonderful week and a GREAT and RELAXING Spring Break!!!

March 22, 2008

March is almost over and so is the school year! Two more weeks until Spring Break, three and a half weeks until we take the CRCT and only 8 more weeks of school and then we are out for the summer. With nice weather and spring sports, this time of the year gets very hard to keep children focused, please try to keep them focused with their homework, reading log and to bed on time as much as  possible. Thanks!

A BIG welcome to Stacey Anderson!!!                                                               She is our TOSS student from Kennesaw University! The children have already fallen in love with her. Monday she will be with us full time until May 2nd. Yeah!!!

We started our Unit in Social Studies on Canada last week. We will finish it up mid week and send another folder home on facts about Canada. The children did a FABULOUS job on their United States Test. The class average was 95%!!!! The Canada test will be next week before we leave for Spring Break!

Math... The children are really mastering their addition math facts to 20! A few are stilling counting on their fingers and using the number line so keep practicing every night! We will continuing to review all concepts and skills from this year. This week we will also work on sums and differences to 20.

Just a reminder... The student council is having a Can-a-Thon. They are collecting canned and dried foods for Must Ministries. Just think if everybody brought in just 1 can they would collect over 600 cans to help feed those in need. I am heading to the pantry to find some things I can bring tomorrow.

The children have earned a SPECIAL TREAT once again!!! I told them this time I would bring in the Treat! I plan to bring something in this Wednesday! They have already earned two letters toward the next special treat!!!

Character Word for the week... MOTIVATION......Motivation can be the key to our success. So we need to help our children understand and know what motivates them. What is it that gives them purpose and direction to their behavior?

I hope that everyone that celebrates Easter, had a wonderful fun filled Easter!

Have a wonderful week!

Mrs. White