September 21-25, 2015

GROWTH MINDSET
We will continue to instill the attitude of "perseverance, embracing challenges, and giving our best effort", in our daily activities.  When something is a little more challenging, the children naturally say, "I can't do this".  We want the children to change their thinking and mindset: "I can't do this YET, but I will try and give my best effort, until I can".  Please help your child to change their mindset.  Use the same language at home when they feel defeated by modeling it yourself.

 Here is what we will be doing this week:

READING
This week, we will learn about fiction and elements of fiction.  We will learn about 

the setting; the place and time where the story takes place, the main characters; the important people or animals that do or say important things in the stories, and the plot which is a series of important events in the stories.  We will learn that just like the stories we write, fictions have also a beginning, middle and ending.  We will also discuss the author's purpose in writing fictions.

WRITING

We will continue working on our stories.  The children have done a great job illustrating and writing about some real events in their lives.  This week, they will practice planning their stories across their hand using the first finger to tell the beginning and the next finger to tell the next event.  This will allow children tell their stories with a beginning, middle, and ending.  We will continue to work on reading our stories to make sure they make sense and check for capitals, periods, and sight words.

MATH

This week in math we will review some of the concepts that we learned earlier this year in order to make sure the children have a strong foundation before moving on to count on addition.  We will work on reciting numbers forward and backward from 1-20, skip counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's and tell or record instantly the number of dots or other pictures that are in various structured arrangements.  We will practice counting on strategies.  Counting on will allow us to count and recognize numbers faster.  It also allows us to do addition faster. For example, we will start from 5 and count 2 more and we know that's seven, instead of counting from 1 and going up to 7.

SOCIAL STUDIES
We will continue learning about our state and national patriotic symbols.  Last week we learned about the Liberty Bell, the Statue of Liberty, and the United States Flag.  This week we will learn about our state's flag, Texas motto, and the Alamo.

SCIENCE
In science we will begin talking about matter and how matter can change.  We will focus on what changes happen when heat is added or taken away.  We will do a lot of experiments this week!

THANK YOU!

Thank you for stuffing the folders, and being willing to help in the classroom or outside the classroom.  Your helping hands and hearts are greatly appreciated!
More than anything, thank you for supporting your child's learning at home.  Your child's success and education is a result of us working together! So thank you for being a partner in your child's learning!

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
*Tuesday folders come home.  Please sign and return the folders the next day.

*Agendas:  Please initial the behavior calendar and send it back every day.

*Snack:  Please send a healthy snack with your child every day.

*PE:  Group A will have PE on Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

       Group B will have PE on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.

          *Please make sure your child wears Tennis shoes on those days*

          *You can see what group your child is in on the right side of this blog*

*Library is on Tuesday.

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Sept 23:  Early Release @ 12:45

Sept 29:  School Pictures

               Library Day

Oct 6:  Library Day

Oct 7:  International walk/bike to school day

Oct 12:  Columbus Day- No School

Oct 13:  Library Day

Oct 15:  Science Night

Oct 24:  Harvest Festival

Oct 27:  Library Day

Oct 28:  Early Release @ 12:45

             Skate Night

September 8-11, 2015

READING

We have started to learn about the procedures of reading workshop.   Reading brings joy to our lives and in order to become strong readers we need to practice every day. Whether we are using the classroom library or the school library, we have discussed how to choose a "good-fit" or "just right book".  These are the books that have only a few unknown words in each page and we can read with fluency and ease. As we teach comprehension and thinking skills, it is also important that we can understand the book we are reading. 

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT YOUR CHILD'S READING AT HOME?
Please make sure your child has access to a variety of "just right books" at all times. Public libraries offer a great selection of leveled readers as well as easy-to-read chapter books.
Make the reading time a special time where you and your child can sit together comfortably.  Pick a time in the day that you know your child is not too tired to read. Maybe your child likes to read after school, or before bedtime.  You know when it is the best time.  Sit beside your child, turn off the TV and have your child read to you.  If your child is stuck on a word, read the word to your child quickly so she/he won't lose the flow.  It is also important that you read to your child every night.  Children need to hear the fluent reading with expression from a parent.  Do a picture walk together before reading.  As you read, stop periodically and see if your child has understood the story so far.  Read together, laugh together and make this special time, as joyful as possible!

WRITING

In writing, we will learn about two skills: One is the importance of illustrations in our stories and how to make our illustrations match our words. We will look at many different picture books and discuss how illustrations can enhance a story. The other skill is to say the words slowly (stretch the words), listening for the sounds, and writing down all the corresponding letters. Your child will have independent writing time where he/she will be conferencing with me and working on what has been taught so far.

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT YOUR CHILD'S LEARNING AT HOME?
Provide a writing journal at home.  Your child can decorate the front cover however she or he likes to.  Have your child think of a memory, a place that they have been before, a time they could remember, an activity that they did.  Something true that they have experienced.  It could be just a short ride in the car to HEB, when you both saw a deer on the street!
Have your child draw a picture of that memory first, and then add words to write about it.  When writing, remind your child to start the sentences with capital letters, put one finger space between the words, and end their sentences with a period or exclamation mark. Show excitement, encourage and celebrate every attempt! Share their writing with family members and friends! Let them see that they are real writers!

MATH
We will work on grouping items such as cubes and beans in groups of 10. With any given number, we will discuss how many groups of 10 we can make and how many items are leftover (meaning they are less than ten and can't be grouped as 10). While working with groups of tens and ones (the leftovers), we will discuss the placement of digits in numbers and how each digit has a different value based on its place in a number. We will compare the teen numbers and apply our knowledge in problem solving activities.

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT YOUR CHILD'S LEARNING AT HOME?
Provide some counters such as beans, macaronis, pennies, buttons, or anything in that order for your child and have them count the items.  Your child will probably start counting by ones first.  Some children may count by 2's.  After that have your child record the number on a paper.  Let's say, your child counted 14 beans.  Ask your child, how many groups of 10 can you make with these beans? How many left overs do you have? let your child see that there is one group of 10 and 4 left over.  Ask: Is 14 greater than 13 or less? Show how you can take off one bean and now there are 13 beans.  So 13 is less than 14.  Practice with different numbers and counters and make this as fun as possible.

SCIENCE

This week, we will learn how we use our five senses to explore the world around us. We will also learn about some tools in science that could help us to extend and protect our senses such as hand lenses, goggles, stethoscopes, ear plugs, masks, and gloves.

SOCIAL STUDIES
In social studies we will learn about the leaders and authority figures in our community of school, city, state and country.  We will learn about the important jobs of our principal, mayor, governor and president.

THANK YOU!

Thank you for stuffing the folders and being willing to help in the classroom or outside the classroom.  Your helping hands and hearts are greatly appreciated!  Most importantly, thank you for supporting your child's learning at home.  Your child's success and education is a result of us working together! So thank you for being a partner in your child's learning!

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
*Tuesday folders come home.  Please sign and return the folders the next day.

*Agendas:  Please initial the behavior calendar and send it back every day.

*Snack:  Please send a healthy snack with your child every day.

*PE:  Group A will have PE on Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

       Group B will have PE on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.

          *Please make sure your child wears Tennis shoes on those days*

          *You can see what group your child is in on the right side of this blog*

*Library will begin next Tuesday, September 15.  Please have your child bring their library books back that day.  We won’t have library again until September 29!

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Sept 14:  Open House 6:30-7:00

Sept 23:  Early Release @ 12:45

Sept 29:  School Pictures

               Library Day

Oct 6:  Library Day

Oct 7:  International walk/bike to school day

Oct 12:  Columbus Day- No School

Oct 13:  Library Day

Oct 15:  Science Night

Oct 24:  Harvest Festival

Oct 27:  Library Day

Oct 28:  Early Release @ 12:45

             Skate Night

August 31-September 4, 2015

We had a great start to a new school year! We learned about many school and classroom procedures and expectations. Throughout the week, we reviewed cafeteria expectations, recess and hallway, before and after school procedures. Thank you for sending the signed Daily Agenda to school every day. I truly appreciate your support.

I enjoyed the children's presentation about "Special Me" bag.  We had so much fun learning about one another, our favorite sports, toys, families, friends and pets!  Each one of us is special in a different way.  We closed our presentations with this thought: We are so much alike, but we have differences too.

This year we are going to include “Growth Mindset" lessons in our daily activities.  We want the children to understand and believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work. This mindset, create a love of learning that is essential for great achievements.  This week we learned that there are things that we can do very well and things that we may not be able to do YET, but we know with motivation and hard work, we will be able to accomplish anything.  We are learning to change our words in order to change our mindset.

This week:

READING

We will learn how to read independently to ourselves for a few minutes at a time. Each day we read for a little longer period to build up our stamina. We will learn that strong readers read every day. A picture is worth a thousand words and we can read the pictures as well and retell the story through pictures.  We will talk about our favorite reading memory, when reading felt so good to us.  The children will practice using the classroom library correctly and responsibly.

WRITING

We will begin our first lesson: Introducing the writing tools (papers, pencils, markers and crayons, tape, glue, scissors), and resources such as the alphabet charts, first grade words,  and the prints around the classroom. . I will first model how to brainstorm, sketch, and write about my story, something that I know and care about. The children will then begin writing a true story about themselves, something that they have experienced and has happened to them.

MATH:

This week in math we will explore numbers.  Numbers represent different and specific quantities.  We will think about things that we can count and different ways that we can find the answer to the question, "How many?" At this age some children count individually and some can count by 5 or 10's.  If asked to show 6, some children count one by one and some can show 6 in one move. Our goal this week and forward is to push children to use the benchmarks of 5 and 10 to determine the total amount vs. counting one by one.  We will work on recognizing instantly the quantity of structured arrangements. 

SOCIAL STUDIES:

This week we will be discussing rules, and laws at school, home and in our community. What is the difference between a rule and a law? Why do we need rules and laws? We will discuss the characteristics of good citizenship at school.  We will also identify the leaders/authority figures at school, home, and in our community.

SCIENCE:

In science we will learn about who a "scientist" is and why do we need to learn about science? Science helps us understand the world around us.  Scientists ask questions, make observations, record data, and communicate their thoughts.  We will learn how to follow safety procedures during investigations in order to keep people safe and healthy.

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
-Tuesday: Tuesday folders come home.  Please sign and return the folders the next day.

-Agendas:  Please initial the behavior calendar and send it back every day.

-Snack:  Please send a healthy snack with your child every day.

-PE:  Group A will have PE on Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

       Group B will have PE on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.

          *Please make sure your child wears Tennis shoes on those days*

          *You can see what group your child is in on the right side of this blog*

IMPORTANT DATES:

September 14:  Open House @ 6:30-7:00

August 22, 2015

Welcome to First Grade!

We are going to have a great year.  I am so excited to have been able to meet all of you and I look forward to getting to know you and your kiddo better throughout the year.

This is going to be where I post the learning objectives for each week.  I will send an email when the blog is updated but you might want to just go ahead and follow.

I can’t wait to see all of those cute smiling faces again on Tuesday!

Happy Birthday Summer Babies!

Chase- June 26

Jacob- August 14

Puneet- August 23 (TOMORROW!)

Here are some important reminders:

* Please put your child to bed early each night (between 7:30-8:00) in order for them to adjust to their daily school schedule. School starts at 7:35 and work begins promptly at 7:45. Please allow time in the morning for your child to have a nutritious breakfast and use the bathroom before coming to school. We take a few bathroom breaks during the day but it is still important that they enter the room prepared and ready to go.

* Please have your child wear comfortable clothing. Children must wear socks and comfortable tennis shoes as well. Please avoid flip-flops, sandals, or high heels for girls. Your child will not be able to play, run or have fun in the playground if he/she is wearing uncomfortable shoes.

* Your child needs to bring a medium sized backpack, large enough to hold the Tuesday folder and small enough to fit in our cubbies. Each child shares a cubby with another child, so please avoid getting a very large back pack. Also, please avoid backpacks with wheels as they are not very safe and might cause other children to trip and fall.

* Please send a nutritious snack packed separately from their lunch daily. Examples of snack include: cut up pieces of apples, carrots, crackers and cheese or anything they like as long as it is healthy and nutritious. Please avoid sending chips, cupcakes or cookies. We eat snack mid-morning.

* Our Lunch time is @ 11:30. If you're packing lunch for your child, please let them know that they have lunch and won't be buying from cafeteria. If you choose to buy lunch from cafeteria, there are two ways to pay for it: one way is to pay directly to the cafeteria and the other is to pay on-line. You can find the link on RRISD website under parents section. The link is called PayPams. You can also send the lunch money to me but please put the money in an envelope or a plastic bag with your child's name and my name on it. This way the cafeteria manager knows to whom the money belongs.

* If you choose, you can also send a small water bottle with your child's name on it. I will keep them by the sink if they get thirsty during the lesson. This is optional as we take quite a few bathroom and water break during the day.

* Please avoid sending toys and stuffed animals in your child's backpack. This is against school policy and unfortunately I have to take it away from your child and return it to you if I see one. Thank you!

* Each Tuesday afternoon, your child will bring home a "Tuesday Folder" containing all of the graded work for the previous week.  Please take time to look over your child's papers with him/her and make any corrections.  Folders should be signed and returned on the following day (Wednesday).

* Daily Agenda comes home every day.  Please sign the agenda and send it back to school the next day.  The agenda is a way for us to communicate on a daily basis.

* If you are making any changes regarding your child's transportation on a particular day, please notify me by e-mail or phone or call the office (464-5500), either the day before or on the same day, but please try to call as soon as possible, so I can make the necessary arrangements. If you send an e-mail or leave a voice mail in the last few minutes before the dismissal, I may not have time to get your messages and therefore not be aware of your changes. If your child take the bus home, please let me know the route number so I can put your child in the right bus.

* And last but not the least: Your precious children have been home with you for a couple of months during the summer. Coming to school early in the morning and saying goodbye to you might be difficult for some children. Please help me to help your child to make this transition as smooth and as successful as possible.  For this reason please make your goodbye short and sweet and don't linger at the door too long. Be confident that your child is going to have a great day and she or he is in excellent hands!

I thank you all for your help and support and thank you again for trusting your children with me and for being a partner in their education.

May 26-29, 2015

Tuesday folders will go home for the last time next week.  There was nothing to send home this week!

READING and WRITING
We will begin working on our First Grade memory books, and we will write about all the great memories that we've had in First Grade.  In doing so, we will review the writing conventions, such as capitalization, punctuation, subject-verb agreement, and correct sentence structure.
In reading, we will continue reading fiction books and review some comprehension strategies that we've been working on this year such as making inferences, predictions and connections.

MATH
In math we will review some important concepts that we learned in first grade such as place value, time, measurement, money, shapes and etc.  We will also review patterns and algebraic thinking and solve word problems that involve these concepts.  We will review the steps for problem solving such as reading the problem carefully, underlining important information, using number line, shapes, and tally marks to show our thinking, writing addition, or subtraction sentences to solve the problem and use words to explain our thinking.

SCIENCE
This week we will learn about the amphibians, particularly frogs.  We will learn about their food, habitat, predators and focus especially in their life cycle.

HABIT #6: Synergize: I value other people’s strengths and learn from them.  I seek out other people’s ideas because I know that by teaming with others we can create better solutions than anyone of us can alone.

REMINDERS:
*Specials- A Group:  PE on Monday, Wednesday and Friday
                   B Group:  PE on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday
**Wear tennis shoes for sure on these days!!!!
*Library- Tuesday 11-11:30.
*Send a healthy snack with your child every day.  We will eat snack at 10:30

DATES to REMEMBER:

May 29:  Career Day

June 1:  1^st Grade Awards Ceremony

June 4:  End of the Year Party

June 5:  Last Day of School

May 18-22. 2015

It was an exciting week for the children to visit the Book Fair this week. This couldn't have happened in a better time since we are learning about goods and services and spending our money wisely.  I was so proud when I saw my students adding their money, or knowing how much they need to get back in return.  Real Life applications!! Thank you for supporting our school library! 

VOLUNTEER BREAKFAST
If you received an invitation to the Volunteer Breakfast on Thursday, May 21, I look forward to seeing you to say a big thank you for everything you did for our classroom!

READING and WRITING
We will continue our family writing.  I can't wait to share their writings with you.  They are sweet and precious.  After finishing our family writing, we will start working on our first grade memory books.  We will remember all the great things that we did in first grade and write about those things. As always, we will emphasize on neat writing along with correct capitalization, punctuation, and sentence structure.    
In reading we will continue to read some of our favorite fiction books and review some important comprehension strategies.  We will use the picture clues as well as the text clues to make predictions and inferences, visualize a part of the story or make connections. 

MATH
For the next few weeks, we will work hard on problem solving.  We will review the steps of how to start the problem solving and work on different strategies that have been learning throughout the year.  Reading a math problem is like reading a story.  We need to visualize it first by drawing a relevant picture.  We need to remember the important things by underlining them, and we need to show our steps and strategies such as using a number line, ten blocks and ones, tally marks, and addition and subtraction sentences.  Whatever strategy we use, we also need to write our thinking in words.  These steps will help the children in the long run to do more advanced problem solving in higher grades.

SOCIAL STUDIES
We will continue our unit on economics.  The children have been learning about goods and services and how some jobs produce, or make goods and other jobs provide a service.  We all need money to satisfy our needs and wants, and in order to gain money we need to have jobs.  But we also need to make wise choices and be smart about spending our money.  We will also learn about scarcity problem, when we have unlimited wants and needs and limited resources.

HABIT #5: Seek first to Understand, then to be Understood: I listen to others without interrupting.  I try to see things from their viewpoint.  I am confident in voicing my own ideas.

REMINDERS:
*Specials- A Group:  PE on Monday, Wednesday and Friday
                   B Group:  PE on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday
**Wear tennis shoes for sure on these days!!!!
*Library- Tuesday 11-11:30
*Send orange folders and homework bags back every day.
*Send a healthy snack with your child every day.  We will eat snack at 10:30

DATES to REMEMBER:

May 18-22:  Caraway Canned Food Drive

May 20:  Ms. Smith out (Mr. Sparks will be my sub)

May 21:  Volunteer Breakfast

May 22:  Prezi Viewing Party

May 25:  No School, Memorial Day

May 29:  Career Day

June 1:  1^st Grade Awards Ceremony

June 4:  End of the Year Party

June 5:  Last Day of School, 

May 11-15, 2015

Thank you all so much for all of the wonderful gifts last week!  I feel so loved!  Y’all are the best!

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful moms that I've had the privilege to get to know this year.  I hope you all had a relaxing day!  The world is a better place because of all you have done and continue to do for your children.

Our field trip to the Austin Nature Center was AWESOME!
We had a great day at the Austin Nature Center on Thursday.  The children had the opportunity see many live birds, mammals and reptiles and learn more about these animals. Thank you all for generously paying for the transportation and helping us to help the children have more hands on experiences.

READING and WRITING
This week we will write about our families.  We will think about each member of our family, and things they like and are interested in doing and write about those things.  We will review writing conventions such as capitalization, punctuation and correct sentence structure.  Please review the first grade sight words in your child's blue agenda and be sure to practice those at home.  Your child needs to spell those words correctly before going to second grade.

In reading we will read some of our favorite fiction books and review some important comprehension strategies such as retelling the story, putting the events in the order that they happened and making inferences.

MATH
This week we will work more on using non-standard units such as linking cubes and balancing tools to compare the weight of 3-D objects. We will also review strategies for addition and subtraction and apply those strategies in problem solving.  If you are practicing problem solving with your child at home, please be sure the steps such as drawing a picture to show the problem, the relevant addition and subtraction number sentences, and words to explain their thinking are all shown on the paper.

SOCIAL STUDIES
This week  we will continue our unit on goods and services. Goods are produced and services are provided in our community.  We will identify and discuss examples of goods and services, ways people exchange goods and services and the role of market and services in our community.  As part of media literacy, we will learn about advertisement and how people advertise for either goods or services in our community.  

HABIT #5: Seek first to Understand, then to be Understood: I listen to others without interrupting.  I try to see things from their viewpoint.  I am confident in voicing my own ideas.

REMINDERS:
*Specials- A Group:  PE on Monday, Wednesday and Friday
                   B Group:  PE on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday
**Wear tennis shoes for sure on these days!!!!
*Library- Tuesday 11-11:30
*Send orange folders and homework bags back every day.
*Send a healthy snack with your child every day.  We will eat snack at 10:30

DATES to REMEMBER:

May 11-15:  Book Fair

May 14:  Caraway Fine Arts Night

May 21:  Volunteer Breakfast

May 25:  No School, Memorial Day

May 29:  Career Day

June 4:  End of the Year Party

June 5:  Last Day of School,