It's SEPTEMBER in Mrs. Whitson's room!
Hi Everyone!
We are having the time of our lives in first grade. We have already grown into a wonderful, respectful, caring classroom community. I come in to school happy and I leave happy every single day. Your children are truly delightful. You are incredibly supportive. Thank you!
A few items of housekeeping first:
1. Please be sure your child has his/her name on all their homework papers. I unstaple them and sort them by day due when they arrive.
2. Our spelling program has a Word Preview for the words that are going to be worked on each week. The Word Preview is not a test. When it comes home, just look over it, and you can help your child with the words they missed if you like. We work on those words all week. The Sitton spelling program has no formal tests. The children learn by using the words, which I prefer. Keep the preview at home.
3. The first Home Reading Chart will be stapled to the back of the Sept. 2-5 homework packet. Please record the books your child reads (or that you read with them) for the entire month, and send it back on the last day of the month.Please do me a BIG favor and add up the minutes before sending it back in. You will get a new chart stapled to the back of the homework at the beginning of every month. The top three readers each month will get a certificate and get to choose from the treasure box!
4. Be sure you get all the massive amounts of paperwork that you were given at Meet and Greet and Open House back to me. Here is a list:
green emergency release card
class shirt order and $5
class directory info sheet
PTA directory info sheet
pink PE release form
Receipt of parent info form
Performing arts permission and optional donation
optional class supplies donation checklist
5.Be sure to send either one really big snack or two smaller snacks every day, as we have two snacks a day due to our late lunch.
6. On September 17, 18, and 19, we will be administering the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) to the first graders. You will be receiving more information about it. Just wanted to give you a heads up. Really try extra hard to get your child to bed on time, give them a good breakfast, and send nutrtious snacks those three days.
7. We want to welcome a new student to our room, Alberto Salgado! Jonathan, his brother (!) has been moved to another classroom so he's no longer with us...boo hoo! We will also be getting another new student, Ernestine Peng, on Tuesday, September 2! Put these two cuties on your class list.
8. Thank you for being so faithful sending back the homework. I do not grade it and generally will not send it back home. I look at it mainly to make sure your child understood the concepts, that they followed directions, and that they actually DID it.
9. When you see a "P" on your child's paper, that means it was practicing a skill and that skill was not formally assessed. A "1", "2", or "3" indicates that it is an assessment paper.
ON TO THE ACADEMICS!
Language Arts
The kids will be learning how to do independent Literacy Centers starting September 2. These centers are skills- and standards-based, and the children will do them on their own (after an explanation) while we are teaching Guided Reading in small groups. Any papers associated with these centers will come home at the end of the month. Some centers will be assessed and some will be practice centers. Guided Reading will begin with Mrs. Snook and Mrs. Druhot the week of September 8. Each reading group will cover skills applicable to their levels. You might want to look on Picasso in the Language Arts standards section for specifics about what skills could be covered. Reading, writing, spelling, and phonics are all taught or reinforced during Guided Reading. Science and Social studies themes and books may also be used at that time, as well as in Literacy Centers.
Spelling
Here are the spelling words and skills for September:
Week of September 2: review week; words for review are the, and, of, a, to
skills reviewed are spelling patterns, homophones (to, too, two, etc.)
Week of September 8: Unit 4 words: in, is, you
skills include building good sentences; the 'z' sound of 's' ; the -in and -an word families; adding -s, -ed-, and -ing. **Some of the skills the children learn in spelling are introduced now and are expected to be mastered later.
Weeks of September 15 and 22: Unit 5 words: review 'you', that, it
skills include -it and -at word families; adding -ch to at word family to make -atch; 'ch' digraph; contractions and apostrophes; building better sentences using descriptive words.
I am turning the blog over to Mrs. Timbs for her overview of this month's Math, Social Studies, and Science coverage......she has made a separate blog that has been sent to you the same time as this one.
Other info:
**I will be at an all-day inservice on September 10. Ms. Timbs will be in the classroom doing the teaching. There will be a substitute with her, but Ms. Timbs starts teaching full-time September 8.
**Be sure to look at the new September behavior calendar for all the activities going on sponsored by the school.
**Remind your child that school is their job and they need to always do their best academically and behavior-wise every day. Your reinforcement of the school routine and the importance of education and good behavior keeps your child on track!
** Remember I am available by email or note, or home phone, whenever you have a concern.
** Be advised that, although we work very hard every single day, sometimes we don'tget to everything we set out to do. So The lessons we plan to teach each day are sometimes moved to other days or even weeks! The information in the blog is our goal.
See you here on the blog next month!!
Diana
