Class News

Happy Friday to you all! Thanks so much to all who returned the signed permission slips this week. If you haven't had a chance to send them back to school, please do so by Monday. Payment is also due on Monday. If you'd like to pay online and you aren't sure what your child's student number is, please let me know. I'm happy to help! All other instructions for online payments can be found on my previous blog post... or just click here.

Fall is right around the corner! I'm so looking forward to our Parent/Teacher Conferences.   If you haven't signed up yet, please visit our Google Doc signup to schedule a conference time. Don't forget, you can also sign up to read to the class using Signup Genius. We love having parents come in to read to us!

Next week's skills:

Reading - As a class, we will work on identifying the main idea and supporting details of nonfiction text. Individually, your child will be reading and conferring with me about their reading goal.

Grammar - I will introduce commas in a series.

Writing - We will continue working on narrative stories, bringing our stories to life, and studying the work of other writers.

Math - We will continue practicing place value.

Science - We are finishing our plant unit!

Social Studies - We will be learning about America Folktale Hero, Johnny Appleseed.

Class News

September is flying by and we just wrapped up another great week of learning. I love how eager these kids are to learn!

Today was Green Day! It was such a blast leading the kids on this journey to the Emerald City while reading aloud The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The class received a green "ticket" to enter the Emerald City and documented all of the green items described in the chapter. They came up with an impressive list of items! Check us out in all our green glory. :)

By the end of next week, the Daily 5 will be up and running! The kids have done a wonderful job demonstrating appropriate behaviors during this important time of day.  While they've been practicing the Daily 5 for the past month, I have been administering Universal Screeners to each student.  The Universal Screeners provide benchmark data for reading fluency, phonemic awareness, and all math skills. We will go over your child's results from Easy CBM and CAAS during our Parent/Teacher Conference.  Conferences will take place September 21st through October 2nd.  I'll post the time slots on a Sign Up Genius website next week. Stay tuned!

Because testing is over, I can finally begin independent and small group meetings with your child for Reading and Writing.  Yea!!!  Your child will be reading texts on his/her instructional reading level and conferring with me about reading goals.  We will also confer about writing goals as they continue creating narrative stories.  In Math, we will wrap up number order and begin our focus on base ten number sense (place value - tens and ones). In Science we will wrap up our unit on plants and in Social Studies we will learn about folk tale hero Paul Bunyan.

Field Trip permission slips were sent home in your child's homework folder today. Please sign and return all of the permission slips.  You can send in cash or a check written to Mary Lin Elementary, but I prefer that you pay online. It saves me the hassle of depositing your money and hand writing receipts during the school day. If you pay online (please, please, please), simply click here. The trips are listed in two parts - $17 (Chattahoochee Nature Center) and $41 (School Trips).  Please make sure you pay both.  They are listed under Kristin Guthrie.   Thanks for your support!


As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns! Have a great weekend!

Class News

Wow!  Our class did AWESOME on their very first spelling test on Friday!!!  Nearly every student in our class received 100%. Thank you, parents, for helping your child at home and encouraging them to do their best.  I am so proud of them! I will be sending home this test (and more) on Tuesday. 

In other news today, our class received a special snack for good behavior! They earned this special snack because we (finally) had a day in which no one clipped down below green. Hooray!!! We used class charts to vote on various categories of snacks, and the winning categories were sweet, soft/chewy, and one big piece. Based on their categories, I selected a simple (and delicious) yeast doughnut and the kids were thrilled. They devoured them so quickly, I wasn't able to take a photo!

Next Friday, September 11th, please send your child to school wearing green... as much as possible! As you know, we are reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in class. Next Friday, we will read about the characters entering the Emerald City for the first time. Everything in the Emerald City is green! It's okay if your kids don't know why they have to wear green on Friday - it's actually more fun as they figure it out for themselves while I'm reading. :)

Next week, we'll be back at it in all subjects.  In Reading, we will be adding reading strategies to our CAFE menu and wrapping up our learning of the Daily 5 behaviors.  In SMART, we will focus on the next vowel of Vowel Valley, /i/.  On Tuesday, I will send home a new homework sheet with our Spelling words for the week.  In Math next week, we will continue our learning of number concepts.  Our focus will be on number order and extending number sequences up to 120.  Our Science unit will continue with plants, and in Social Studies we will begin learning about American Folk Tale Heroes.

I had originally asked for students to send in their own headphones or earbuds this month. However, I I recently ordered a set of headphones that we can keep in the classroom.  If you have already sent some to school, thank you!! I will send them back home with your child today.  The kids will begin "Listen to Reading" with The Daily 5 by the end of next week!  

I hope you all have a great 3 day weekend!!!!

Room Parent Info

I feel so fortunate to have such incredible parent support. Thank you ALL for being so wonderful. Kate Carter (Thomas' mom) has kindly volunteered to be our Room Parent. Her information is below.

Kate Carter
katecarteratl@gmail.com

Class News

Greetings parents! It's hard to believe next week will begin our 5th week of first grade. The kids are doing an incredible job, and I'm so impressed with how quickly they settled in. They have become so independent in such a short amount of time! They are unpacking their backpacks in the morning, taking out their folders and turning in their own homework and/or notes from home! If you happen to notice that homework assignments or notes are still in his/her folder, please remind your little sweetie to turn them in when they get to school in the morning. I'm on a solo mission with 23 first graders every single day... I simply don't have time to check every single folder each day. Thank you so much for helping me teach your child independence and responsibility!

If you haven't already, please mark your calendars for Back to School/Curriculum Night next Tuesday, September 1st. I hope you're able to attend so you can learn more about our class and what your child does each day. Following the staff introductions at 5:30pm (in the auditorium), there will be two identical sessions in my classroom that evening. The first session is 6:00-6:20pm and the second session is 6:25-6:45pm. I look forward to sharing our curriculum with you!

Last week, our class focused on identifying the sequence of events during Reading. Next week, we will study text features, graphic features, and author's word choice.

Also in Reading, we will focus on spelling words with the first vowel sound of Vowel Valley /ee/.  In your child's homework folder on Monday, you will find a new homework sheet with our first set of spelling words for the week. The class will take their first spelling test on Friday - I will have more information about that at Back to School night.

In Math last week, we concluded our study of data collection.  The kids have really enjoyed collecting data in various ways while learning how to keep it organized. Next week, we will pursue number sequence to 120. This study of number order will continue to build your child's number sense. Number sense essentially refers to a child's flexibility and fluidity with numbers. It's important because it promotes confidence with numbers. 

In Science, we will continue our plant unit. I am currently incorporating some literature into our plant study. We recently read a charming story called Our Tree Named Steve. Ask your child about it!

In Social Studies, we are going to focus on patriotic words in the songs "America the Beautiful" and "America." Mr. Marvel is going to incorporate these songs into his music lesson too! You will no doubt hear your child humming or singing these songs at home in the near future. :)

Also coming up is CAAS testing. What is CAAS testing? Performance Series/Computer Adaptive (CAAS) is a cross-curricular (Reading, Language Arts, Math and Life Science) computer adaptive test that allows teachers to identify the proficiency level of a student regardless of the student’s current grade level.  This allows schools to accurately place students who might need corrective or enrichment learning. Your child will take the Math and Reading Foundations tests in the fall, winter, and spring this school year. The math test will take place first thing Tuesday morning, September 1st. The reading test is Tuesday, September 8th. Please try to have your child at school on time because our testing will start right after the morning announcements.

Please let me know if you have any questions! 

CAFE and Daily 5

It won’t be long until you hear your child talking about “The Daily Five” and a “CAFÉ” menu. The purpose of this post is to fill you in on what those terms mean, so you don’t have to nod your head while wondering what in the world your child is referring to.

The Daily Five is a way of structuring our reading block so every student is independently engaged in meaningful literacy tasks. These research-based tasks are ones that will have the biggest impact on student reading and writing achievement, as well as foster children who love to read and write. Students receive explicit whole group instruction and then are given independent practice time to read and write independently while I provide focused, intense instruction to small groups of students during Guided Reading.

When it is officially up and running, the students will be engaged in the Daily Five every morning. The Daily 5 is comprised of:
• Read to Self - The research continually shows that the very best way to become a better reader is to practice, practice, practice! Your child will read books at his/her “just right” level each day, practicing reading strategies from the CAFÉ menu.
• Work on Writing - Just like it takes practice, practice, practice to become a better reader, it takes practice, practice, practice to become a better writer!
• Working with Words - Working with words helps children become better spellers and writers. Your child will practice making and spelling words using play dough, stamps, tiles, and whiteboards.
• Read to Someone - Reading to someone helps develop reading fluency and comprehension, and it’s FUN!
• Listen to Reading - Listening to reading helps children develop reading fluency. It also allows them to access texts that they can’t read independently yet.

There are very specific behavior expectations that go with each of The Daily Five components. The kids are currently working intensely on building their reading and writing stamina and fostering our classroom community. I will be spending time learning about your child’s strengths and greatest needs as a reader in order to best plan for each student’s instruction.

The CAFÉ menu is a collection of highly effective reading strategies that the students will be taught to use which will help them become better readers. They are organized into four goals:

• C is for Comprehension: “I understand what I read.”
• A is for Accuracy: “I can read the words.”
• F is for Fluency: “I can read smoothly, with expression.”
• É is for Expanding Vocabulary: “I know, find, and use interesting words.”

During individual conferences, I will listen to your child read, help him/her pick a reading goal, and suggest a reading strategy that will help. I will provide coaching on how to use the strategy, and then meet back with your child at a later date to see if he/she has been able to use the strategy. When the CAFE is up and running, your child should be able to tell you exactly what goal he/she is working on: “I am working on my accuracy” and his /her strategy: “I am looking for small words inside big words to help me read new words”. Research shows that when students know exactly what they need to work on, and why, they are much more successful in meeting their goals!

I hope that this brief introduction to the “The Daily 5” and the “CAFÉ Menu” has been helpful. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at any time!

SMART

Here is a follow-up to the information about SMART I sent home last week in the homework folders.

The SMART Approach is systematic (step-by-step), explicit (working one element at a time), and multisensory (incorporating visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic activities). From single letters, students are taught how to associate sounds with their visual counterparts and blend those letters to read and spell words. The SMART Approach starts with the most frequently used sounds in the English language, and expands by adding more complex elements.

Please refer to the documents below when helping your child at home. Next week, we will finish our review of consonant sounds (Poppers, Leakers, and Neighbors). We will begin our journey to Vowel Valley the following week. With Vowel Valley, we'll focus on a new vowel sound each week and then take a spelling test at the end of the week. I will send home a letter that explains our spelling tests at a later date.

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.

Class News

Wow... week two was another successful week! It's not an easy task to move up the clip chart, but the kids certainly proved they could do it. It's typical for children to be chatty during the first few weeks of school, making it difficult for them to "clip up" on a regular basis. So I'm extremely proud of their progress!

Our first visit to the new Media Center is next Friday at 9:35am. We're so excited to check out the new digs! Media Center policy allows children to have a maximum of 4 books checked out and the books will need to be returned 2 weeks later. If students do not return their books on time, they won't be able to check out new books. Thanks in advance for helping your child remember to return library books every other Friday. 

Next week, I will be reading aloud from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. As a class, we will discuss the characters and their actions. SMART instruction will focus on the "leaker" sounds: f, v, s, z, sh, th. In Math, we are continuing to represent and compare numbers with tally marks, as well as creating charts to organize data. In Social Studies, we will begin learning about our national heritage. Be sure to check out my previous blog post about our Writing Workshop!

Thanks for another great week!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Daily Schedule

Writing Workshop

I hope this post gives you an overview of the work we are doing in the area of writing. As you know, writing has always been regarded as one of the basics in a child’s education—and I can promise you that I will put a great emphasis on writing and that your child will grow in leaps and bounds as a writer. Our emphasis will be on writing, itself; your child will learn to plan, draft, and revise stories, poems, and reports . . . and best of all, to write with confidence and skill.

If you peek at our daily schedule, you will notice that every day, we set aside time for reading, math, . . . and writing. We refer to the time that is set aside for writing instruction as “the writing workshop,” which is a title grown-up authors use. It makes sense to borrow this term from the world of published authors because children learn to write like published authors. Like authors the world over, they are usually writing something for someone. They may be writing stories or book reviews or poems or how-to books . . . and they may be writing for each other, for readers across the school, or for you. Like authors, they choose their own topics and write rough drafts, which they revise and edit before publication.

The writing workshop lasts 30-45 minutes each day. It always begins with the children coming together for a mini-lesson in which I give explicit, direct instruction in the skills they need. Then students write while I confer with individuals and small groups of children whose needs may be similar. Most writing workshops end with me making a second teaching point and with writers having time to read their own and each other’s work.

You can be certain that I will monitor and celebrate your child’s progress so that he/she moves step-by-step toward being able to write more conventionally. This is my job; your job is to admire whatever your child brings home, to make your child feel like a famous author, to enjoy the brave, smart work your child does when he or she is just learning to spell and doesn’t yet have it right but is willing to try anyhow . . . and above all, your job is to be interested in the content of whatever your child writes.

Celebrations will take place for our little authors to share their published stories. I will let you know more about these as the dates approach.

Thanks for your support... and for your child!

Week One, Over and Done!

Greetings parents! Welcome to our class blog. I am so thrilled for this opportunity to communicate with all of you.

The first week of school was a great success! It's such a fun and magical time for first graders (and teachers). We've worked hard to establish routines and classroom rules, as well as make new friends.

Day 1 began with "wanted" poster looking for First Grade Experts. 

We learned about The First Grade Expert Club through a sweet little book that highlights four characters - Responsible Ryan, Respectful Rachel, Ready to Learn Robert and Really Safe Rita. All week long, the kids have been completing activities to show they're experts at being respectful, responsible, ready to learn, and really safe. Their applications have been sent off to the experts for approval and the class will find out their status on Monday. :)

On Wednesday, a homework assignment was sent home in your child's folder. It's incredibly important for me to establish a classroom environment where the students feel comfortable with each other, so we spend a lot of time getting to know each other. I can't wait to learn more about them as they share their  "All About Me" bags next week.

Next week, we are also diving into the curriculum. In reading, we will learn strategies to help with our comprehension and accuracy. We will also review the "popper" sounds from SMART Phonics (Kendore Learning) p, b, t, d, ch, j, k, g.
Our first math unit involves extending number sequences up to 120 and collecting and organizing data. Next week, we will begin representing and comparing numbers.
In writing, we will be starting the school year with an emphasis on personal narratives. The Common Core State Standards require that students develop some proficiency at writing three kinds of texts: informational writing, opinion writing, and narrative texts. Specifically, for narrative writing, the Common Core State Standards expect first grade students to become proficient at writing narratives in which they recount a sequence of events, include some details regarding what happened, as well as temporal words to signify event order, and provide some sense of closure. We have a lot of work to do! :)
Our science unit begins with an introduction to science and later branches into plants and animals. In Social Studies, we will focus on the concepts and enduring understandings of social studies before learning about our national heritage.

Well, this concludes my first blog post. It has been such a wonderful week, and I look forward to all the weeks we have ahead of us. Please sign up to follow this site by including your email address at the top right of the page so you can stay up-to-date with all the posts.