Dear Parents:

Another soggy start to our week! While it may cause some cabin fever, I like to look at the positive side of things... we do need the rain! I hope you all enjoyed your Labor Day weekend. It was fun to listen to the children tell about their adventures. It sounds like many of you were busy having a lot of fun! Even though it is a short week of school, we will be busy having fun learning. Here are a few of the things we will be doing in our class this week.

This morning our class made their first visit to the Computer Lab as first graders. It was a rescheduled visit from last week. The children were introduced to making webs in Kidspiration. We will be practicing this skill on our classroom computers now.

Writing Workshop: When writing, it is common for many children to summarize the event on the first page and then, to make the story longer, they add-on other pages. The story is not focused, or in any kind of order, and often does not make sense. We will be working on planning and writing stories/books that span several pages, focusing on one event and thinking about what happened at the beginning, then..., and finally. We'll also widen our writing possibilities learning that writers write for lots of reasons and in lots of genres. Writers make lists, write agendas, write letters, make signs, etc. The real world possibilities are endless! Today we talked about writing stories about other people. In order to find out information about that person, the writer must "interview" them. We interviewed Reid and wrote stories about him. These will be made into a book for Reid and we will read the book at his birthday celebration on Friday!

In language arts, we will be focusing on short vowel /i/ words. This week it is your child's responsibility to make the word sort cards for the spelling word homework. This has been done in class the last couple of weeks so your child should know the routine! These are the spelling words that we have been keeping in the baggie in your child's folder. They no longer need the baggie attached to their folder and do not need to return the words to school. Your child can glue them into the spiral dictionary that I suggested you make last week. It makes a great resource for helping with spelling when writing at home! Also, don't forget that your child is responsible for knowing how to read and spell the sight words on the word ring as well. These should be worked on daily at home and returned to school on Thursday. This week's words are hold, soon, so, home, and get. In grammar, we will be learning about the naming parts of sentences. The naming part (who or what the sentence is about) is usually found at the beginning of a sentence. We will also be working on the comprehension strategies of categorizing (gathering together information that is the same or almost the same) and classifying (giving that information a name).

In Reader's Workshop we have been begun talking about "just right books" for reading. We have talked about finding books that not only interest us, but that are at a just right level for reading. Ask your child about the ways we find books that are right for us and about the "five finger rule". We will be forming partnerships for reading and learning how the jobs of those partners help us as readers. We continue to work on the comprehension strategies of making predictions, asking ourselves (and now our partners) questions while we read, and using picture clues to help us.

In handwriting this week, we are working on the lowercase letters a, c, d, and g which are all made by beginning with magic c. Ask your child what this means! Please send in a clean sock for your child to use if you have not done so.

In Math we took our first written assessment today on Unit 1. These will come home tomorrow. The children are learning how to take tests and "why" we take tests. The main reason we take tests is to let Mrs. Owen and you know what they need help with. We will begin Unit 2 tomorrow. The Math Family Letter for Unit 2 will come home in your child's take-home folder today. Please read it and keep it in a safe place so that you may refer to it if needed. It will give you lots of useful information on what we will cover in this unit, vocabulary used, several "Do-Anytime Activities" that are helpful, and directions for games that you can play at home with your child to help them with the skills we are working on in the unit. This week in class we will practice counting up and back on the number grid as well as working with complements of 10. The children will learn to play a game called "2 Fisted Penny Addition". Please play this at home as often as you can. Here are the directions: Place 10 pennies on a table. Ask your child to grab a handful of pennies with one hand and pick up the rest with the other hand. Have your child provide information using this format: "I have 3 pennies in one hand and 7 pennies in the other hand." Using such language reinforces the idea that each number is a count of objects. Take it further by having them say "3 plus 7 = 10". This is great practice for addition facts! Your child's Math Journal will be coming home on Thursday for homework. PLEASE complete page 8 together with your child and return it to school on Friday!

Social Studies: We continue our character education unit through our author study of Kevin Henkes' books. We will begin our study of the Human Body next week. The children will love this unit! I am looking for doctors, nurses, EMTs, or others that work in the health care field that would like to volunteer to come in to share during this unit. If you are interested, please let me know!

Things to remember:

Word cards (on ring) need to be returned on Thursday.

Our Homework Calendar begins this week! Look for it in your child's folder today! As we discussed at BTSN, please have your child turn in only the homework that is due each day. All homework should be done in pencil only, no ink. Please be sure to always note the reminders on the right-hand side!

Picture Day for the Lower Division is next Tuesday, September 13th.

Volunteers this week:

• Tuesday - Art - Kimberly Burke (12:00)
• Wednesday - Math Game - Mai Nguyen (1:00)
• Thursday - Library Check-out - Eva D'Agostino and Kimberly Burke
  
• Friday - Parent Reader - Mary or Charley Harris (2:15)
  

It's going to be a great week!
Susan

Dear Parents:

It was so good to see all of you at Back-to-School-Night! I know many of you needed to be in the classrooms of your older children but I so appreciate that you all came in for as much time as you could. If you have any questions, please email me and I will do my best to answer them!

It has been a soggy start to our week! Even though we had to have recess inside the classroom today, we had fun! Take a look at some of the activities we enjoyed working together on!

First grade is a busy place to be! Here is a look at some of the things happening in our classroom this week:

We have launched Writer's Workshop, worked on establishing the rules and routines, the process of choosing a topic, sketching it, and then writing about it. We are "stretching" our words and spelling the best we can.

In language arts, we will continue focusing on short vowel /a/ words. The children enjoyed their "practice" spelling test last Friday. This Friday will be for real! The new spelling words are in the baggie in your child's folder. I would suggest that you get a spiral notebook for your child to make a dictionary at home with. Each page can be labeled with a letter from A to Z. Then your child can add (glue or write) the spelling words on the appropriate page in the dictionary and keep it at home to use as a resource. So, he/she would write the word now on the N page. This week, we will also be working on word order so that our sentences make sense. During reading, we are talking about the comprehension strategies of making predictions and asking ourselves questions while we read. We also have begun to talk about genres. I am also working on individual reading assessments with the children so that we will be ready to find our "just right books" for reading!

In handwriting, we completed the capital letters - "Frog Jump Capitals", "Starting Corner Capitals", and "Center Starting Capitals" We have now begun working on lowercase letters. Please send in a clean sock for your child to use when working with the chalboard during handwriting practice.

In Math we will play a game called "Dice-Roll Tally" to investigate equally likely outcomes, work with weather and temperature routines, explore with pattern blocks, base-10 blocks, and geoboards, and practice telling and solving number stories. Don't forget that the math family letters that come home will also provide directions for many of the math games that we play so you can play them at home with your child.

Things to remember:

Word cards (on ring) will come home on Monday and need to be returned on Thursday.

Our Homework Calendar begins this week! Look for it in your child's folder today! As we discussed at BTSN, please have your child turn in only the homework that is due each day. All homework should be done in pencil only, no ink. Please be sure to always note the reminders on the right-hand side!

Parent Volunteer schedules will be coming home tomorrow. Please look for them in your child's take-home folder.

Picture Day is around the corner! September 13th will be Picture Day in the LD and ECC.

Calling for Summer Vacation Photos! The yearbook staff is collecting photos of the student's summer vacation experiences both in and out of the country. If you have a photo that you would like to share for the yearbook, please send or e-mail your photos to Tony Napodano at nap@shorecrest.org.

Have a great week!
Susan

Happy New School Year!

Happy New School Year!

We are having a great beginning to first grade! I am so enjoying getting to know your children. What a sweet, sweet class! No doubt they have told you how busy we are in first grade! The children are already "thinking" and "acting" like first graders. I am so proud of them!

This week in our classroom:

We have launched both our Writing and Reading Workshops and are working on establishing the rules and routines. We have also started a study of one of my favorite authors, Kevin Henkes, and many of his books are being used during these times.

Also in language arts, we are focusing on short vowel /a/ words and writing complete sentences. The children will be taking a "practice" spelling test this Friday. Next Friday will be for real! I will explain more about this at Back to School Night. During the next couple of weeks, I will be working on individual reading assessments with the children so that each child will have "just right" books to read.

We have also begun our handwriting program. Ask your child about "Frog Jump Capitals".

We began Unit 1 in Math which also focuses on establishing routines such as calendar and small group work. We'll be playing math games such as "Penny Dice", "Bunny Hop" and "Top-it". You will be receiving Math Family Letters at the beginning of each unit that will provide directions for many of the math games that we play so you can play them at home with your child! The children have received their math tool kit bags and began working with their first math tool, the pattern block template.

Things to remember:

Back to school night is this Thursday, August 25th! We will all meet in the Janet Root Theater at 7:00 before heading to our classroom. I will talk about curriculum and the other particulars for our class. Don't forget to bring your calendar to record important dates and to help you when signing up for parties and other class activities.

This year every Friday is Spirit Day. Students may wear any shirt with a Shorecrest logo,
Shorecrest Spirit Wear or uniform shirts. They may wear Spirit Wear, uniform, or denim
bottoms.

Picture Day is Tuesday, September 13th in the Student Center.

Please return the following as soon as possible:
handbook form, classroom volunteer forms, photo album sheet, and your child's cover for their
Writing Workshop notebook

Please remember that the children bring their own snack in first grade. If they are buying a school lunch, they still need to bring a snack to eat. They get hungry!

The children are allowed to bring a water bottle to keep at their desks. Please be sure that the
bottle will not sweat or leak!

Please also be sure that containers they bring for lunch can be easily opened by your child.

Word rings will come home each Monday, should be practiced each day (reading and spelling the words), and need to be returned on Thursday.

I am looking forward to a great year! See you all on Thursday night!

Susan Owen

The Countdown Begins!

Where has the time gone? I can't believe there are only 6 1/2 days left of school. The children have grown so much this year. We have worked hard but had a blast at the same time! We will so miss these precious smiling faces and loving hearts!

Last week was another fun-filled week! We began the week with our crab and squid dissection! Many of the children were able to write their name with the squid's own ink! A big thank you to Julie P., Margie Y., Liz J., and John S. for working with the children on this exciting learning opportunity! On Wednesday, the kids had so much fun at Splash Day! Did you see the pictures on E-bytes? That afternoon, two of our middle schoolers, Jacob N. (a former first grader of mine) and Justin S. brought a number of very cool and interesting specimens from the ocean. The coolest was definitely the baleen from a humpback whale! They taught us so much! The children asked wonderful questions and shared their knowledge as well. On Thursday, we celebrated Iona's summer birthday! On Friday, we dissected dogfish sharks! Many thanks to Kelly E., Mai N., Margie Y., Octavia P., and John S. for helping us with this fishy task! We could not have done it without you! Then, Friday afternoon, we celebrated Quentin's birthday - our last birthday of the year! I have posted a ton of pictures from each activity this week! Enjoy!

This week, Jenn Lewis is rescheduled to give a special presentation on her work with penguins. It should be quite interesting and fun! Thank you, Jenn! We will also have our final compliment party on Tuesday afternoon. Leigh Harting has taken this on if you would like to offer her your help. On Thursday, we will be going to the Florida Aquarium. We will leave at 9:00 a.m. Those parents that are chaperoning may follow the bus or meet us at the front of the Aquarium. Remember, that the children should wear their "Commotion in the Ocean" t-shirts with jean shorts/skirts/skorts. This Friday, we will have our last Spirit Day. Children may wear green and gold colored clothing.

Next week, we will have our end-of-the-year party on Tuesday. Students should, again, wear their "Commotion in the Ocean" t-shirts with jean shorts, etc. We will rotate through the three first grade classrooms with different activities in each room. The last day of school will be next Wednesday, June 1st. Dismissal will be at noon.

Please be sure that your child brings the green bag to school each day. We will be cleaning out cubbies, desks, and clearing walls. There will be a lot to send home so we will send a little home each day.

We want to thank each of you for sharing your precious child with us. Each and every child has brought something special to our class. We have watched them grow in every way and they have continued to amaze us. They have brought smiles, laughter, and love. They remind us all the time of why we do this! We will miss each and every one.

Finally, we want to thank our wonderful parents for all the support you have given us each and every day. You have volunteered in countless ways. We could not have done everything that we did this year without you!

Have a wonderful summer!
Susan and Beth

What a Show!!!

Dear Parents:

BRAVO, BRAVO, BRAVO!!! I can't begin to tell you how very proud I am of your children! They were incredible in Commotion in the Ocean! I could not stop smiling all day on Friday! Then, I could not keep from replaying it in my head all night as I tried to sleep Friday night! Mrs. Rauman took a ton of wonderful pictures from the front row and I made a slide show. However, I can't get it to upload here. If and when I do, I will post it for you to enjoy! In the meantime, here are a few random pictures!

Even though the time is short, we will still be very busy in room 1-4! In addition to assessing the children in reading, language, and math this week, here is a look at what else will be going on:

Language Arts/Reading: We will be reviewing the vast sight word vocabulary that we have learned this year (our word wall) and using those words in different activities. We will be using the many reading strategies learned as we read independently, with Mrs. Owen and Mrs. Rauman, with partners, and in small groups. There will be different centers and activities to choose from to continue practice with the many concepts and skills covered this year. Some include contractions, compound words, homophones, verbs, nouns, alphabetical order, etc.

Writing Workshop: We continue with our non-fiction writing unit. Our main focus is on informational writing... writing books that teach! Last week we wrote "All About" books on dolphins. This week the children are researching and gathering information on a sea creature of their choice and using it to write another "All About" book. They are incorporating many features that they have learned about nonfiction writing, such as titles, table of contents, headings, and labeled diagrams. They may also reflect and add their own thoughts about what they are writing about!

Math: We will be taking our unit 9 assessment. During the next two weeks we will spend a lot of time reviewing many of the concepts covered this year!

Science: We will complete our ocean unit this week. We will be learning about some of the other creatures of the sea such as the crab, seahorse, and penguin. We have two special presentations this week as well. Tomorrow (Tuesday) Jenn, Ellie's mom, is coming for a special presentation on the penguin. She has a power point prepared to show us about her work with penguins. It should be quite interesting and fun! Thank you, Jenn! On Wednesday, a former student of mine will be bringing real whale baleen to share with the children. It will be amazing for the children to see it and just how BIG it is! I will take pictures!

Volunteers this week:

* Tuesday - Art - Mai Nguyen (12:05)
* Friday - Parent Reader - Mai Nguyen (2:15)

Other Important Reminders/Dates/Information:

This will be the last week of the formal homework calendar and the red reading folder.

Splash Day this Wednesday, May 18th with a rain make-up date of May 25th. Please send a towel to school with your child and be sure that he/she either brings an appropriate swimsuit to school to change into or wears the swimsuit to school under the uniform. Please remember that each child must wear their regular school uniform at all times except during PE that day. Please also apply sunscreen to your child before coming to school. That will save us time! You may also send a hat with your child as well.

Field Trip to Florida Aquarium May 26th - Students should wear their "Commotion in the Ocean" t-shirts with jean shorts/skirts/skorts.

Last Spirit Day - Friday, May 27th - Children may wear green and gold colored clothing.

End-of- the- Year Party - Tuesday, May 31st - Students should wear their "Commotion in the Ocean" t-shirts with jean shorts, etc.

Last Day of School - Wednesday, June 1st, noon dismissal

See you Friday!
Susan and Beth