September 24th 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 find pairs of numbers with sums of 10. We will also play our first math scoot game - Friends of Ten!  We will count objects by 1s and 2s, recognize dot patterns on dominoes as representations of numbers, and practice writing the numbers 5 and 6.  Additionally, the students will solve addition story problems using pictures and labeling numbers with unit labels.  We will continue practicing routines and procedures for all of our math centers, as well as learn a few new math centers!

Today we played a math game on the educational website www.abcya.com called "Guess My Number".  The kids really enjoyed this game and asked if I would share the website with you.  This website is full of many wonderful educational apps (and some that are just for fun)!

Look for additional information in the Thursday folder and in your email later this week regarding our all school fundraiser for the Fun Run!

Special Points of Interest

• Please return the parent volunteer letter by Wednesday if you're interested in volunteering in our classroom
• Wednesday, September 26th - Fun Run Pep Rally
• Friday, September 27th - Brew Crew Day (Wear your Brewers Gear)
• Friday, September 28th - No School - Professional Development Day
• Friday, October 5th - Fun Run!

September 17th 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.  During this time, we focus on the process of reading and the 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 learn the proper formation for writing numbers 3 and 4.  We will also create a graph using data to make a tally chart, explore the concept of equally likely outcomes using dice, and solve number stories by drawing pictures.  The students will play a number grid game to practice counting by ones and tens on a hundreds chart.  Additionally, we will continue learning new math centers and continue practicing procedures for math centers.

Please remember to check your child's Seesaw account.  We have added our first two items and will be adding more throughout the week.  We will be learning how to record our voice later this week, which will be very exciting!

This week we will continue working on our school and safety social studies unit.  We will be learning about the American Flag and the Pledge of Allegiance.  The students will also learn about maps through a wonderful interactive read aloud book called Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney.  After reading the book, the students will work in a group to create a map of our classroom.

                                  

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.

Friendly Reminders

• Monday, September 17th: MAP Reading 1
• Wednesday, September 19th: MAP Reading 2
• Thursday, September 20th: MAP Math 1
• Monday, September 24th: MAP Math 2
• Friday, September 28th: No School- Professional Development Day

Seesaw!

All of the students learned about Seesaw today and they uploaded their first picture!  Make sure to register if you haven't already and look at your child's account so you can see their first masterpiece.  We will be using Seesaw a lot throughout the school year so be sure to check it often! :-)

MAP Assessment Information

Our Fall MAPS assessment is coming up this week! Here are a few notes regarding the assessments:

• NEW THIS YEAR: We will be taking the assessments using Chromebooks with a regular computer mouse. To help familiarize students with the Chromebooks, we are partnering up with a 3rd Grade class, who will help the 1st Graders learn how to use them prior to taking our first MAP assessment.
• Both the Math and Reading assessments will be broken down into halves so students will not be taking the whole test at once. 
• Please be sure your child gets a good night's rest and a healthy breakfast!
• I will walk the students through a practice test, so they know what to expect.
• Our testing schedule is as follows:
• Monday 9/17: Reading 
• Wednesday 9/19: Reading
• Thursday 9/20: Math
• Monday 9/24: Math
• The MAPS assessment results help me to further personalize instruction so that each child's individual academic needs are met. 
• As always, if you have any questions, just let me know!

Scholastic Book Order

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

Dear Families,

Please remember to place your Reading Club orders this Friday, September 14th.

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 10th Newsletter

Dear Parents and Guardians,

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, 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!

In math this week we will begin learning some of our math centers.  We will continue counting to 100, starting at any number, compare two two-digit numbers and use the terms "greater" and "less than", discuss and compare data using tally marks, and investigate the number line by skip counting. We will also learn the proper number formation for 1 and 2.  Additionally, we will continue to engage in mathematical conversations during our daily Number Talks.  Finally, we will continue practicing math center procedures.

Many items will come home in your child's red folder (take home folder), please help your child become responsible for bringing their red take home folder to and from school each day.  If you have a note with a change of going home plan, please feel free to send it to school in your child's red folder

                                  

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.

Welcome!

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.  Throughout the year we will also 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