FIRST GRADE FOOTNOTES



Dear First Grade Families: 3/26/10

Spring is in the air! Check out our bulletin board and see what spring means to the First Graders. Here’s an overview of what we’ve been doing this week:

STAR STUDENT: This week’s star student is Ava Carman. Ask your child what he/she can do to become the star student.

LOST TOOTH: It was Liam Journey’s turn to lose a tooth this week. Appropriately so, the students are enjoying listening to me read Junie B. Jones “Toothless Wonder” to them. We certainly can relate to Junie B. losing her teeth!

MATH: This week we began Unit 6 by learning simple addition and subtraction facts, name-collection boxes, fact triangles and fact families. The students are really getting good at simple addition facts! You can help by picking up a set of inexpensive addition and subtraction flash cards to practice with them at home. The First Graders are also getting really good at solving our Daily Word Problems. Some of them even have the problem solved before I’ve finished reading the problem!

READING: This week we read the fable “The Fox and the Stork,” and learned that being kind to others is the right thing to do. The students shared examples of how friends have been kind to them. It was great to hear the many examples of kindness shown in First Grade.

Next week we will not have a reading story. We will work on the small group books associated with this story, take our theme unit posttest and our mid-year reading test.

BOOK BAGS: Continue to have your child read these level-specific books to you at least two times over the weekend. For some, fluency is the skill they need the most work on. Improvement in this area comes from practice, practice, and more practice and hearing fluent readers read to them. Keep up the good work! The results will be well worth the effort!

SPELLING: NO NEW SPELLING WORDS NEXT WEEK. We will catch up on our grammar work, play sight word bingo, and add to our word wall.

ART: This week’s project was a tissue paper rainbow. Mrs. Hoppe and Mrs. Leonetti spearheaded this craft. Although during the creation of the rainbows our classroom looked like a tornado went through it, the kids had a great time and the rainbows looked great decorating our windows.

Compliments of a state grant, all the grades in Elmer School will be participating in a kite-making craft. This week we got to meet the “artist” who will be instructing us and got a first look at the kites we will be making. A school-wide kite-launching event is scheduled for May 18th.

SUPPLIES: Thank you to all the parents who sent in supplies this week. We appreciate how you take care of all of us!

UPCOMING DATES:
4/1 – ½ day – Easter Egg Hunt/Easter Party
4/2 – No School (Spring Break)
4/5 – No School (Spring Break)
4/9 – Talent Show Auditions
4/13 – Talent Show Auditions
4/30 – Mid-Marking Period 3
5/18 – Kite Launching event
5/19 – Talent Show
5/21 – First Grade Class Trip*
*Our trip will be to the Philadelphia Zoo. Chaperones are needed. Tickets will be $10 payable in advance and you will ride on the bus with your child. A separate information flyer will be sent home shortly.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions/concerns. Feel free to send a note in the homework folder or email me at dmahoney@elmerschool.com.

Enjoy your weekend!

Mrs. Mahoney/Mrs. Johnson