Sunday, August 28, 2011

Home

Week of August 29th

Be sure to check each of the pages this week for updates! There will be new announcements, spelling words, and new dates to add to your calendar!


Monday, August 22, 2011

How to use this blog REVISED

So with a little help I was able to figure out how to add a new feature to my blog! I now have different pages to visit other than just the Home page. The other options are Spelling, Calendar, and Announcements. Each week I will give updates in the different categories as information comes along. Hopefully this will allow you to more easily find exactly what you are looking for!

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Week of August 22

As promised, our first spelling list of the year... Every week we will have 12 words and a sentence. Later on in the school year there will be two sentences. Please be sure to practice at home. It really makes a difference!

words from the "at" family- Spelling List A:
at, bat, cat, fat, hat, pat, rat, sat, flat, mat, the, and
Sentence: The cat sat.

Calendar items: Tuesday, August 23- Parent Information Night (PIN) from 6-7pm. There will be free babysitting and light refreshments. There will be 4 tables to rotate through with mini-discussions on the school's goals for this year, a place to voice your concerns and give your opinions, and ways to improve the partnership between home and the school. Come and learn more about what's coming up this school year and you can be involved!

Wednesday, August 24- Entertainment Book Fundraiser Starts. One of our school goals is to raise money to update our technology and this fundraiser is HUGE for our school. There are always such great savings in the books. Even if you sell only one book (to yourselves or whomever) it can help our school greatly!

Wednesday, August 31- Open House from 6-8pm. Stop by, check out the classroom, and see your child's work! At 7:00 I will have a meeting going over homework, the Saxon math and language arts programs, the behavior plan, and any other questions or concerns you may have.




How to use this blog...

Hello, thought I'd give a few pointers about what's going on with our blog...

Every week I will post the spelling list as well as give reminders about important dates and events happening both at the school and in our classroom. I also will post pictures of different activities such as dances (I have a few to post from the back to school dance), field trips, and such. Also, sometimes there are important things that come up during the week that can't make it into the newsletter in time. This is where I will pass that information along to you.

Also, I have included some links to some of my favorite educational websites for children as well as some websites that are important to our class. I have a link to the public library system. There are so many resources, classes, fun family activities, and much more available through the public libraries for very little or no cost. Its of course, also a great place to go to help your child develop a love of reading. I also have a link to a retirement community, Fellowship Square, where our class does several community service projects. Its a great place and the residents love interacting with our students. Also, I have a link to World Care, an organization that helps with disaster and other types of relief. Our school and sometimes class often end up doing some type of drive to help people in other parts of the country and the world.

So, please check our blog often! There will be frequent updates on what's going on in our class and in the school!




Monday, August 15, 2011

Welcome New First Graders!

Welcome to first grade and room 14! It has been great getting to know all of your children! It looks like we have a really good group, and I'm excited to get things under way!

We'll start this week with our phonics and math curriculum. The first few weeks are a review of letters, letter sounds, and other concepts taught in kindergarten. We'll also start some social studies lessons about school, friendship, and community. We'll continue to go over classroom rules and procedures as well. Also in these first few weeks I'll do some assessing to see what the children know and where we need to start. After the assessments are over, we'll start centers where students will be able to work on activities more at their own level. We have a lot planned and are ready to get going on it!

Please check your child's folder daily. There are important papers going home almost every day and homework will start this week! Also be sure to fill out and turn in any paperwork sent home.

Important Paper Checklist:
-Emergency information (purple)
-Behavior plan (yellow)
-Bully policies (white)
-Classroom expectations (blue)
-Dentist paper (this may seem silly but even by sending in a paper declining teeth cleaning at school, our school can get extra assistance to those who need it. We just need the papers back saying either yes or no...)

As mentioned before, homework starts this week (nothing to intense, we're just easing into it). Almost every day in class we will be doing the front side of a worksheet in both phonics and math. These worksheets give the students some individual practice on things we have gone over earlier in the lessons. The back sides of these worksheets will be homework. Students may be able to work on them during class if time allows. Otherwise they will be expected to finish the work at home or in after school if they attend that program. Homework does not have to be turned in to me daily. I understand that there is often not time every night to get everything done. ALL HOMEWORK IS DUE EVERY FRIDAY.

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me via email at b_thies@hotmail.com or leave a message for me at the school. I'm looking forward to a great year!