September 26th Newsletter

Dear Parents and Guardians,

This week in literacy we are working together as a class to write our own version of the book "In a Dark, Dark Wood" which is a class favorite!  Our version is titled:  "In a Dark, Dark School."  We choose what happens in our story, and the students take turns coming up to the big book we are creating and write some of the letters and words.  This is important because we teach and reinforce many things at this time, such as using spaces between words, proper letter formation, sound and letter correspondence, using our word wall to correctly spell some words, capitalization, punctuation and more!  Stay tuned for photos of our book!  We work at this a little each day, so our shared reading, centers, interactive read aloud and writing workshop are all still going on.  This week, the listening center, buddy reading center and word work center will all be added to our work board.  We're staying busy!  

This week in math we will be working on counting up and back on a number grid, learning our telephone numbers, and practicing single digit addition.  Watch for the Unit 2 Family Letter to come home as well as Home Links for lessons 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3 will also be coming home this week.

In science, we will be studying many animals we see during the fall season.  We will be reading and writing about these animals as well as seeing some of them up close on our field trip to The Shalom Wildlife Sanctuary this Friday!

We are looking forward to our first field trip this Friday!  We are excited to see the animals up close in their habitats, which will enhance our fall animal study.  Please remember to send a cold lunch and something to drink with your child on Friday.  Also, remember to dress your child for the weather, we will be outside almost the entire time that we are gone.

Special Points of Interest

• Due to our field trip this Friday, we will have IMC on Thursday this week.  Please have your child return their IMC books on or before Thursday so they can get new books!
• Please return the parent volunteer letter by tomorrow if you're interested in volunteering in our classroom

September 19th Newsletter

Dear Parents and Guardians,

During our literacy block we continue to learn new centers.  Our class has made this their time to shine!  They've been consistently focused, hard working and respectful of others during this time of our day.  It is so important that we carefully teach the routines and behaviors that are necessary during centers so that it is a successful time for students, allowing teachers to meet with small groups of students.  As we focus on doing our best work, using quiet voices, and taking care of materials, our students are becoming increasingly more responsible and independent.  Even in these few short weeks it has been exciting to see such growth!

We are also learning a lot in our shared reading and interactive or community writing time.  You'll learn more about this time at Curriculum Night (tonight), but in short we focus on the process of reading and process of writing, together in the whole group.  We have been noticing how sentences start with a capital letter and end with punctuation (periods, question marks and exclamation marks).  We have even discussed commas and quotation marks!  We will continue to review these concepts throughout the year.  This week we will also be examining the author's choice of words and how they make us feel because analyzing text should even happen in first grade!  

In math this week, we will be working on problem solving skills, writing tally marks to show a number, and looking at weather and temperature routines.  Look for the first homework sheets to come home this week - Home Links 1.12, 1.13, and a tally mark practice sheet.

This week we will continue working on our school and safety social studies unit.  We will also learn about the American Flag and the Pledge of Allegiance.

Friendly Reminders

• Please remember to send back the field trip permission slip if you haven't done so already.
• Scholastic book orders are due today!  Shop Online: scholastic.com/readingclub Class Activation Code: JBVLX

Scholastic Book Order

Shop Online: scholastic.com/readingclub
One-Time Class Activation Code: JBVLX

Dear Families,

Please remember to place your Reading Club orders by Monday, September 19th.

You can shop and submit your order online or return the order form with payment directly to me. No matter how you order, every purchase you make earns FREE Books and educational supplies for our classroom.

The arrival of the book box is always a highlight - thanks for making it happen!

Happy reading,

Mrs. Majinski

Ordering online is fast and easy:

• REGISTER at scholastic.com/readingclub
• ENTER the Class Activation Code at the top of this letter
• CHOOSE from thousands of print titles, value packs, and Storia eBooks
• SUBMIT the order to me by the due date at the top of this letter
• EARN FREE Books for our classroom too!

September 12th Newsletter

Dear Parents and Guardians,

This week will be exciting as we learn some of the literacy centers we'll be using to practice what we learn in other parts of our day.  We'll learn the big book center, the writing center, the poetry center, and the independent reading center.  

As young children learn to read, it is important that they read many, many texts.  This is because of the opportunity that reading a large number of books affords them to decode challenging words, to learn what kinds of books and styles of writing they enjoy, and to practice the words that appear most frequently in text, which is extremely supportive of young readers.  Our centers are designed to help our students explore many texts, and read many of them on their own.  Only a few centers involve working with words in isolation, because we want children reading words in the context of sentences which makes reading more fun and motivating!  Think of it like riding a bike.  Just holding the handlebars isn't much fun.  The fun part is riding the bike, which demands holding the handlebars, balancing, steering, and peddling!  Ask your son or daughter about the centers they learned about today!

In math, we will be learning about naming numbers before and after a given number and how to use a number line.  We will also be working on our daily math routines.  There will not be any math homework this week.  

In social studies, we are working on our school unit.  This week we will learn about the jobs of people in our building.  Mrs. Little, Mrs. O'Morrow and Mr. Jeff will be talking to the kids about what they do here at Thorson.

Friendly Reminders

• Picture day is this Tuesday, September 13th!  If you would like to purchase photos, please return the order form that you got at the beginning of the school year.
• Curriculum night is next Monday, September 19th.
• Please empty your child's red folder each night.  Many children are returning their red folders still filled with the previous day's items.  Please look over your child's work with them and return necessary items back to school.
• If you have not sent an old sock to school for our dry erase boards, please send one or more to school with your child soon.  I greatly appreciate it!

September 6th Newsletter

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Welcome to a new school year! I hope you had a fun and relaxing weekend!  In our Literacy block this week we will be sharing a few great stories, be sure to ask your child about Buddy and Earl, and the Elephant and Piggy characters!  As we share fun stories about friendship we are getting to know each other, building our sense for stories, enjoying stories together, and developing or maintaining the love of reading we all want our kids to have!  This time of our day is called Interactive Read Aloud, and we sit together on the rug in a circle, so that when we discuss different parts of the book we can all see and hear each other.  This is a critical piece to building the kind classroom environment where students feel comfortable taking risks and learning about and respecting one another.  We will also be working on Community Writing this week, which is where we work together to create labels, messages, and anchor charts that help solidify our understandings of new concepts and stories.  Stay tuned for more components of our literacy block in upcoming blog posts!

This week you will be receiving an Everyday Math family letter. Look for it in your child's red take-home folder. You will receive a family letter at the beginning of each unit. This family letter provides you with answers to all of the homework problems. It also explains the topics we will be covering throughout the unit.  Please keep this in a safe place so you are able to refer to it throughout the unit.

In our first few days of school, we will also be going over all of the rules and routines.  A behavior agreement will be coming home today, and it needs to be signed and returned to school.  It will be coming home in your child's red take-home folder.  Please help your child become responsible for bringing their red take home folder to and from school each day.

                         

Do you have an old sock laying around the house that doesn't have a partner?  We would love to use it in our classroom!  If you could send an old sock (or more than one sock) to school with your child, it would be greatly appreciated.  They make wonderful erasers for our white boards.

New School Year

Dear First Grade Families,

I am so excited to start a new school year and teach all of your new first graders!  It is always so exciting to watch them grow and develop their skills throughout the year.  Each week this newsletter will include helpful information for that week or upcoming weeks.  The curriculum that is being taught will be included.  This will give you the opportunity to know specifically what your child is learning about and you will be able to reinforce these skills at home.

During the first few weeks of school, much of our time is spent learning routines and school/classroom expectations.  As first graders, they also have their own desk.  Throughout the year we will learn about staying organized and being responsible for things such as our take home folders and our materials.

If you have any questions, please contact me at anytime. 

Thank you,

Mrs. Majinski