First Grade News
by Mrs. Bertschinger
January 19, 2011
FIRST GRADE NEWS FOR JANUARY 23-27
Thank you all for sending 100 edible items to school with your children. I really appreciate your cooperation in helping your child find and count 100 things. We talked about each child's choice and how they came to get 100 in their bags. We also observed and talked about why not everyone had the same size bag, or that they all didn’t weigh the same. We learned that the size of the item determined how big a bag of things we had. Then we included Mr. Kluender, Ms. Bedrous, and Mrs. B in our day 100. They had a bag of 100 things. So we had a total of 25 plates that we had to share our 100 things on. So we had to come up with a strategy or a plan to get all 100 things on 25 plates in one trip around the room. We came up with the ideas of 2 on a plate, 3 on a plate, and 5 on a plate. None of those worked when we counted around the room by counting the 25 plates. Blake Byerley got the right plan of 4 on each plate and we ended with 100 on Mr. Kluender's plate when counting. So we talked about having 100 things in our bags and we must take out 4/100ths of the bag and put on each individual’s plate. When everyone put that fraction on everyone’s plate we then found out that we ended up with 100 things on our plate. We thought that was a pretty good deal-- bring 100 and take home 100. It was a good learning experience. They should have brought a 100 folder home with some things done and some things undone. They can do the papers at home and needn’t bring them back. It was a good day, and we all had fun doing 100 things. We talked about some things we didn’t do that sounded like fun. So thanks again for helping me out.
The flu bug hit us hard this week. We have our own water containers to drink from. We wash and sanitize our hands all the time. We sanitize our desks also. But please, if your child isn’t feeling well in the morning, check their temp. We have had several with high temps when we check them. It isn’t good for them or the rest of us to be here with a temp. Coughs are appearing frequently. Cough drops can be left at the office for their use, when you have filled out the permission slips to do so. Hopefully this will come to an end soon. It is hard from them to retain knowledge when they don’t feel good.
Not anything of vital importance or change is coming this upcoming week. Hope you have a good one.
Mrs. B
WELL HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU
Well we are going to “Put the pedal to the metal” and our “Nose to the grindstone.” We are halfway done with this year. We have covered many skills, but have many to go to get ourselves ready for second grade. We had some difficulties getting settled back into a routine, but I think we will be all geared up to start the next week on a full tank of fuel for the learning process again.
With getting halfway through the year comes DAY 100 OF SCHOOL. IT WILL BE THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, as long as we don’t miss any days between now and then. We do many 100 activities that day, and one of them is to bring in a zip lock bag 100 edible things. We have discussed this several days in school and they do not have to bring it until it gets closer. We have talked about what is appropriate, and a good choice for carrying in our book bags to school. I gave them some ideas: chocolate chips, marshmallows, pretzels, Skittles, M&M, Smarties, Fruitloops, crackers, licorice, sticks of gum, jellybeans, candy hearts, raisins, any candy, or whatever you have in your cupboards or kitchen. I don’t expect you to go out and spend lots of money on this project. If you are having difficulty with this please give me a call and I will help you out. We will share these things with the class and have a fun learning experience with them. NOW REMEMBER THEY ARE TO DO THE COUNTING TO 100, but you can help them with the strategies on how to get this done. We will be going onto probability in the next skill of Math. We have been working on symmetry, patterns, and fractions. Ask your student what we did for fun that was a Math lesson. Hopefully they can tell you.
In Reading we are moving along into Theme Five. We have been reviewing nouns, verbs, and sentence structure. Encourage your child to use nouns and put verbs with them. Nouns are words that name people, places, and things and verbs are words that tell us what those nouns can do. We are working on spelling short vowel words with two and three letter consonant clusters as: Stop and Scrub.
In Social Studies they have been working on Wants and Needs. They are discussing what they are and where they are available. They tie it into the urban and rural areas and what are available in each of the areas.
Again, thank you for all the holiday wishes I received and I hope your holidays were great. Keep reading, and keep working on math at home.
FIRST GRADE NEWS FOR DECEMBER
Thanks for all the cooperation for the Christmas program in getting the children ready for it. Thanks also for coming to the program. I appreciate it and the children are very proud of their accomplishments.
For the rest of December this is what is happening: We are working on geometry for the rest of the month--we are working on plane and solid shapes, classifying and sorting by different attributes and putting into sets. We are describing, classifying, and constructing the plane and solid shapes. Ask your child the difference. In Reading we are starting our Theme four. We have 10 themes to go, so you know we have to kick it in gear for the rest of the year. This quarter and semester ends on December 22. We will be doing some fun things with reading and math. So keep asking your child what is going on. Keep reading AR books. We will be going to the School Store before Christmas. There are some really neat things to buy.
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 22 IS THE LAST DAY OF THE SEMESTER
We will be celebrating that day. The entire school will have a movie and popcorn in the morning and classroom parties will be held after that. Your child needs to purchase and bring a gift they would like to receive. Then wrap the gift and put their name on the outside. When they bring the gift we will put a number on it and for the party that day they will draw numbers to see what gift they get to open.. The suggested price is $2.00 to $3.00. Don’t feel they have to be a toy. Pop, candy, colors, pencils, crayons, and books are great gifts. They may also bring a treat for the class. But please remember that they have to be individually wrapped to carry home. Teachers DO NOT EXPECT a gift. The choice is yours. It is early dismissal that day at 1:50 pm. School will start again on January 3 at regular time. Any questions, give me a call.
I will be sending report cards home in January with a letter of your child’s progress and my concerns if I have any. We need to be looking at student’s progress as to what needs they have as we start the last part of the year.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND HAVE MANY MEMORY MAKING MOMENTS DURING THEM.
MRS. “B”
FIRST GRADE NEWS FOR NOVEMEBER 4TH THROUGH 12TH
Thank you all for coming to the Veteranâs Day Program today. It means a lot to the teachers, the community and your children. What great role models and community members you are!
We will be celebrating AMERICAN EDUCATION WEEK November 13-18. The students will receive a treat each day with a little saying to go with it about education. The âApplesâ they and you wrote on will be on display for everyone to read in the MPR. We encourage the students, the parents and the ENTIRE community to wear the school colors BLUE and WHITE on Friday,November 18. There is an article in the newspaper, a display in the Library window, and several activities planned for all staff and students in school next week. We encourage you to visit your school and discuss with your children what went on in school each day. Education is cooperation between the teachers-students-parents-community. IT IS ALL OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO MAKE THEM RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS.
We are moving onto Subtraction in relation to Addition. Four number related sentences can be written from one family. We are drilling on math facts, playing Around the World, and doing paper work.
In reading we will be moving onto Theme 4. More words and more skills await us to add to what we know already. We are busy busy learning.
DONâT FORGET MATH NIGHT TUESDAY 7 PM. PARENTS AND THEIR K-3 STUDENTS ARE INVITED TO SHARE IN ACTIVITIES AND LEARN WHAT WE ARE DOING IN MATH
CHRISTMAS PROGRAM THURSDAY DECEMBER 1--they need long sleeved shirts and plain colored pants. White, red, or green shirts are preferred.
Until next week. Keep up the good work with behavior. This week much better, but we still need to work!
Mrs. âBâ
FIRST GRADE NEWS FOR WEEK OCT 31- NOV 4, 2011
Well we are busy, busy, busy. We are going full strength into Reading. We are getting more and more new words, at least twice a week. They have been coming home on handwriting paper that the students are writing themselves after we put them on the board, read them, spell them and write them. We are working on HIGH FIVE sentences. All GOOD sentences have to have: CAPITAL LETTERS AT THE BEGINNING, PUNCTUATION MARK AT THE END, A NOUN, and A VERB,AND THEY MUST MAKE SENSE. We are also working on Possessives, Plurals, and Proper Nouns. Ask your student to tell you about them, see if they can, and then use those terms with them at home. Keep reading at home. We are doing well on our charts. Some of us could do a little more testing. Some are on their third chart. The more they read, the easier their educational life will become. We are in our Theme Three of the program.
In Math we have finished the unit on graphing. They should know how to make tally charts, bar graphs and pictographs. They had to use some of this knowledge on the computer tests they did last week. We are now working on subtraction and addition and the many strategies we can use to do the skill. We use counters, number lines, powers we have learned and some still insist on the fingers. So when errors are made, they are careless or lazy ones. The students need to become responsible for checking their work before turning it in. That is an important life skill.
In Science they are working on weather, and in Social Studies they are working on natural resources. They are mostly discussion and participation assignments and grades.
The class has had some difficult behavior problems, in the classroom, in PE, outside for recess, and in other classes. Talk to your child about keeping their hands to themselves, not kissing anyone but mom, dad and siblings; take care of yourself and not tattling on another person, unless you are physically hurt by them. I do not want anyone to be bullied, but the class has become a tattling one, and we spend more time dealing with that than class time on some days. We are handling it here, but I would appreciate some extra reinforcement from the home front. I donât want the playground to become a constant argument place, and not enjoying the recess it is meant to be. They have had a great deal of listening problems in the computer lab, library story time, and PE. If it continues I have told them that those privileges will be taken away and we will just have class all day long. Mr. Kluender came in and talked to the students this week also. So with all of our cooperation we can stop this disturbance before it gets to a major problem for the students. This is a large group of students, who are very social and strong willed. They have to learn to listen, follow directions, and do what they are told to do, even if they donât agree. After all, that is what life and work is all about. We have to deal with it and make it into the best situation we can. They are all good kids, but need direction on how to channel their abilities into good skills for themselves. Many immature activities are going on, pushing, shoving, wanting to be first, who gets done or in the front of the line, who doesnât wear a coat, who gets a drink first, who got more than the other, not telling the truth. These need to stop and I am working very hard on changing that behavior. So I am calling for help from the reinforcements, the parents. Please tell your student to be the best he/she can be everyday they leave the house. Together we can make your studentâs life in school and fun and educational one. We will make them RESPONSIBLE FIRST GRADERS. Thanks for your assistance in this procedure.
The dress for Christmas program is long sleeved plain colored shirts with plain colored pants. Christmas program is Thursday December 1. Veteranâs Day Program is FridayNovember 11at 10 am at Community Auditorium.
Have a good week end and thanks for all the help I receive from the home front.
Mrs. âBâ
FIRST GRADE NEWS FOR OCTOBER 17-21
NO SCHOOL TOMORROWFALL BREAK
Well, we have been busy this week. We have reviewed many reading skills, in hopes that our Reading Test todaywent well for all of us. We have been working on getting our words, that we call High Frequency words, in our vocabulary to be used by us all the time. We also went back and worked on letter formation, as many of us have poor penmanship and it is difficult to read.
In Math we are working on collecting data, recording the data and transferring the data to different types of graphs. Your child should be able to explain tally charts, bar, and pictographs. We have been working on these for the past two weeks. It is difficult for students to collect the data and transfer it onto graphs. Hopefully, we are getting better at it. We graphed M&M colors, our favorite foods, and colors of bikes and many other things. We will be moving onto addition and subtraction related facts in our next chapter.
We continue to work on maps and weather, seasons, and how they affect us in Social Studies and Science.
We will be having our HALLOWEEN party Monday, October 31, around 2pm. We will do an activity in the room and have a snack and then will head down to the multipurpose room for the Pumpkin Guessing contest. The children may bring a mask to wear for the party, as we donât have time to put on costumes and makeup during school. You may attend, but your presence is not a requirement. Your child may bring a treat that is individually wrapped so it may be transported home in our book bags. There will also be a letter forth coming about ChristmasProgram attire-- so be looking for that.
HAVE A GOOD FALL BREAK
FIRST GRADE NEWS WEEK OF OCTOBER 3-7 2011
We are reading in our theme two and getting more and more words. They should have come home with word bags with new words, and several read alone books. Remember they can use these read alone books to mark as readers on the BOOK IT calendar. They donât all have to be read in one night. They will receive a reward whenever they bring it back. Keep reading the AR books and taking tests. We will be going to the School Store before Halloween. I will be sending a list home of all the books read and tests taken in the report card.
Math--we are finishing the first unit of subtraction. It is a hard concept for this group to write a number sentence from a story. I just about have to stand on my head for them to get the addends and sum from the story. We will keep working in this and start the unit on collecting data and graphing the information we find. It is a fun unit and will take us the rest of the two weeks to get it done. We will be making bar graphs, tally charts, and pictographs. So you may have to ask your student what that all means and how we can do those things in our room.
We are going to make ghosts if everyone brought their empty gallon milk jugs by Friday. I have a few extras and hopefully we get them done. We will do an art project once a week for Halloween. We keep adding decorations. You should come see our hall.
Dates to remember:
MONDAY OCTOBER 10NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH WEEK
MONDAY OCTOBER 10HOMECOMING CORONATION 7 PM
WEDNESDAYLATE START TEACHER IN-SERVICE NO BREAKFAST
FRIDAY OCTOBER 14FOOTBAL HOMECOMING ACTIVITIES
REPORT CARDS WILL BE COMING HOME TUESDAY OR WEDNESDAY
HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND !!!!!!!!!!!
MRS. âBâ
FIRST GRADE NEWS WEEK SEPTEMBER 26-30
First of all, thank you to all parents attending parent teacher conferences. The students were represented 100%. That is fantastic and shows cooperation in education to make our students RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS.
We are on our second Theme in reading. We meet more new words, but it is getting easier to sound out the words as we have the skills to do so now. We are moving right along with our AR. The pencils have been disappearing from the reward jar and charts are filling up. That is good. Keep up the reading and remember to start the BOOK IT CALENDARS tomorrow.
Math we are working on subtraction S â A = A. Sum minus and addend equals an addend. We worked with jelly beans in a bag. We found our sum and the addends we could divide the sum into. Then we minus some and found what addend was left. It was fun as we got to eat the addend we minus. We will be working on that this week again.
We are back doing AM everyday, starting Mondayagain. The week was interrupted by receiving a new student Andora Fritz and welcoming Rya Zach back. We now have a roomful of 22.
I am asking each student to bring me an EMPTY CLEAN WHITE GALLON MILK JUG next week by FRIDAY. We need the jug for an art project. If you canât get one please let me know by Thursday and I will help you out. Ask your child Fridaywhat we did with them.
Some dates you may want to be thinking about WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 12 LATE START for teacher in-service. FRIDAYOCTOBER 7 START EARLY OUT. If I am keeping your child for additional help I will always call you by Thursday. School will be dismissed 2:31 here at the elementary building. FRIDAYOCTOBER 14HOMECOMING AND PARADE AND EARLY DISMISSAL.
Not much else to tell you, have a GREAT weekend.
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 5-9---FIRST GRADE
In Reading we are meeting many new words. Please help your child read all the word lists and read alone books I send home. It will make your childâs reading ability stronger. The word bag that will be coming home on Fridays need to be read two times in the days off. They are the high frequency words that all the students should be able to read and are the foundation of the reading program. We use those words daily in our Word Wall Work. They are the ones they will most often meet in their Accelerated Reading Books. We do have some students who have not taken 1 test as of Thursday. So I hope they will be taking tests today. I want everyone to read and test over at least one book a week. We are working with CVC words, and the short vowel a. Next week we work on the short vowel i.
In Math we are starting addition. We are putting part with part and making a whole. We are using the words plus and equal for symbols we put into our sentences. Please have the children show you what we do and how we say it. Please ask your student what we learned for the dayâs number. We are learning an important fact about each dayâs number. Yesterdaywas day 16. Did you know that there are 16 pieces in the chess game that are yours when you start? The students are really enjoying learning things and I have learned some new facts also.
We continue to work on spelling and writing words. I stress everyday correct formation of letters, and refuse to accept letters made incorrectly. Encourage your student to practice good writing skills at home, so they become a good habit. Spelling, writing, and reading work hand in hand in first grade.
I hope everyone is getting settled in. It takes about nine weeks for first grade to get into first grade habits. We work daily with respect, courtesy, bullying, and responsibility. We are working on not talking too much and listening more. We need to work on health habits, washing after using the restrooms, keeping fingers out of our mouths, not eating things that are not foods, and using tissues for your noses. These are all things that take time, and if your child says I am always telling them, I am! Many of these habits will keep us healthy through the year.
Mrs. Johnson plans to return next week for half days. I am not sure which half she will be returning for. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Walling have been covering for her. Social Studies has been discussion of rules at school and at home. Science--they did some rock exploring the other day. They probably can tell you more about that than I can.
Next week will be our first Lyceum. You will have to hear about it from your child. We will also be halfway through our first term. Hard to believe that time has gone that fast. If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know. Be thinking about teacher conferences and homecoming!
Mrs. B
August 29-September 2 First Grade News
Well we are into the first grade reading material. I sent a list of first high frequency words home. Please keep them handy and go over them if your child is not speedily reading through them. We will be adding new words to them weekly and sending home a word bag full for you to drill them on the weekend and days off. Just Kidding!!!! It will be very beneficial to them if you go through them at least once on days off. We really drill with words daily. We spell the word, sound out the letters and say the word on every word we put on the board. The children know the routine and should follow it at home also. I have found that this if very helpful to their learning to read. It helps them establish a way to sound words out in the future also. We will be starting our AR program, now that we know how to sound words out. I ask that they read one book a week and can read as many as they want as long as the keep receiving 100%. If they fall below that I feel they need to read for better comprehension. They will still bring home word lists or read alone books that need to be read to someone, signed, and returned for a reward.
Math--we are starting addition next week. If you have papers home that you donât understand now is your time to pay attention. Accelerated Math is a computer program also, like Accelerated Reading. However, the test is not taken on the computer. It prints out worksheets for the student to do. The computer checks their work and decides if they are ready to test out of the skill, or if they need more practice. These skills are so far what we have covered, but the student sets their own progress, so they may; in time, get to skills that we havenât gotten to. As long as they are able to do the work, they will keep going. As in Accelerated Reading they will accumulate points on tests passed. The student will get tests here also. If they get 5 out of 5 correct they will get 2 points. If they get 4 out of 5 correct they will get a point. No points given for lower scores. They will combine their AR and AM points and receive the privilege to use their points to purchase items in the AR store. I will send home a report of their progress in both areas every nine weeks.
As a class we need to work on being quiet listeners, cooperative workers, and good followers of directions. We have received one Bee this week. They have the same difficulties in other classrooms, as PE, Art, Story time and Technology. We are slow on getting things done in the room as we donât know our jobs in the morning, we havenât sharpened 2 pencils, and we leave our envelopes in the book bags. This coming week we are no longer new to first grade and we say first grade is our job, and if we donât do them we might be fired. So if they say that, they have heard that. With 20 in the classroom, we need a very scheduled day to get everything done. So visit with your child to see how they are handling the schedule. We added A FACT FOR THE DAY. Ask them what day of school today wasand what is important about that number. You may learn something new, I did!
NO SCHOOL MONDAY SEPTEMBER 5---LABOR DAY
HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FIRST GRADE NEWS FOR SECOND WEEK OF SCHOOL
Well we are off and running. We are finishing up the last of the Back To School section of the Reading Book. We will start the new first grade section this coming week. If a Read Alone Book comes home, please have your student read it to you and then sign the book and return it. They will get a reward for reading the book to someone at home that is older than they are. We went to the library and got books for you to read with them. Shortly, they will be bringing books home to you that they will read to you, with some help. I have always had the rule that they read the book three times before bringing it back or taking a test on it. We will go to the library two times a week, until they are reading on their own and then they can go as much as they want. They will be required to take one Reading Counts test a week, with no limit on how many they can take, as long as they are passing tests and doing it on their own.
Math-- we have be working on number recognition and sequencing. Please have your child work on putting the days of the week in order. We will go over this daily until it becomes a habit of knowing them in order, which one comes before or after. I feel it is important to know what day it is. Also, the daily news reporter has to fill in the day, yesterday, and tomorrowâs name. We will be starting our unit of addition. They will need to know which number is the greater. We learn to add by starting at the highest number and counting on. Ask your child about the ten frames we use and how it helps us write and read numbers. Write the number of ten frames filled and then the number of how many are alone. This really helps write the teen numbers, as some of us get them turned around 17 is written as 71.
Handwriting has gone fairly well, but some of us need to practice. The papers they bring home always have plenty of room on them for practice. Please encourage them to practice. No athlete gets better without practice. I always have an example of the correct way on the paper, or correct their errors. They also need to be forming them the correct way for the changing to cursive writing next year. We will finish up on the letter writing next week. We practice all year long as we do writing in all subject areas.
Behavior needs improvement. We talk about how it is our job to come to first grade. We need to be cooperative listeners. We need to pay attention when I am speaking. Too many are talking while I am and then they do not know the direction. We will be working very hard on changing this behavior. We will be working with numbers in our phone numbers and our addresses throughout the year. By the end of the year I expect all to be able to say their address and phone numbers. It is your choice which of your numbers you want your child to know. The one you choose, we will work on. We are doing a new activity this year. We always put up the number of the day we have been in school. This year we are also learning a new fact with each new day. Ask your child what they have learned for day one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight. It has been fun and I have learned things I didnât know. They all have to do with the number of the day. I imagine this information came from some computer website, not my knowledge.
In Science and Social Studies they have been working on the five senses and about themselves. We colored our heads, our shirts, and our pants to look just like us. Then we had to cut them out and put them back together. We are hanging out in the hall, if you get a chance come and look at us. They are interesting.
Have a good weekend!!!!!!!!!
NEWS FOR THE FIRST WEEK OF FIRST GRADE
Well we are off and running. It is a big adjustment to first grade; new room, desks, new teacher, and many things to learn. I will always put the newsletter online. If you need a hard copy, please let me know. If you have email, just send me an email and then I will have your address if you have not already sent it. Thanks to all of you for making the first week of school an easy one for your child. At least, I did not see any major issues on this end of the day. We are using some positive reinforcement in the room, if your child has not told you about them, please ask them. We have used both of the programs in the first few days.
We started Reading this week and will be continuing into next week, as a review. So, if the things we are doing seem repetitious, they are. We will hit the First Grade stuff in about a week. We will also go to the library next week. We will use the library for fun books to begin with and then when we start our Accelerated Reading Program they will be bringing a book home for them to read to you. You can help them with some of the words, but the majority of the reading should be done by them. My rules are that they are to read the book three times, and then take a test on the computer over the book. We start with books that have reading words that are introduced in our reading books, but there are always some words that will be unfamiliar to them. The test will be 10 multiple choice questions over the words, the pictures, and the ideas that they get from the story. It will be slow to start, but they pick it up pretty fast. That will not happen until I feel they are ready to read, and not all students will start at the same time. This is an individual program. They will be required to read one book a week, but may read as many as they can handle. I also will be starting a Pizza Hut program, if available, where you keep track of their 20 minute reading at home. This can be any reading they do with you. Iâll send more information home as the time gets closer.
In Math we are starting the same way as reading. Pretty much a review for the first few weeks. Number recognition, placement, value and writing. I will be sending the proper formation of letters and numbers. Please have your child practice and use the formation correctly at home. They can practice correct formation so it becomes habit for them.
Again if any questions please call me 402-373-4641 home: 402-640-2713 cell: and my email is jobertsc@esu1.org.
Have a good weekend. Mrs. âBâ
