Spelling Fun!

Dear Parents:

Today I introduced the children to a new website that we will be using in our classroom and that they may use at home to practice spelling words. We had a blast with it at school today! I have made a link on the right side of this blog that you may click to take you right to SpellingCity.com. Then you can find our class spelling lists by clicking on my name on the left hand side. Then click Lesson 4 for this week. Next week will be Lesson 5. The list will appear and your child can immediately start using it to practice the words. Then click the Play a Game link and you will find a list of games that your child can play with our spelling words. Try out a different game each evening on SpellingCity! I recommend that you do this with your child at first before letting them go on their own. Each week, I will add the new spelling list on SpellingCity.com. The wall words for the week will be included on the spelling list since the children are responsible for learning to spell the words as well as read them. Therefore, there are 15 words on the list for this week. There is also a practice spelling test that your child can take. That would be great practice on Thursday evening as extra practice before our Friday tests! Have fun!

This week at a glance:

Language Arts/Spelling: In spelling, we are focusing on words with the digraph /k/ck/. In addition to reviewing the "naming part" of sentences, we are learning about the "telling part" of sentences (what someone or something does). Learning about the parts of sentences will lead us to learn about nouns and verbs. When reading, we are focusing on the beginning, middle, and end of a story. After reading several pages of a story, have your child stop and think about what has happened so far. Summarizing parts of a story will help your child understand and remember the whole story.

Handwriting: We are continuing with lowercase letters. Ask your child what it means to "bump" the lines. Each child needs to bring in a small sock to use during handwriting lessons (to hold their chalk and erase their boards). If you have not sent one in, please do so this week.

Writer's Workshop: We are learning strategies for adding to a story and that writer's write with many purposes.

Math: In math, we are using the analog clock to practice telling time to the hour, and are developing a sense of the duration of a minute. We will also be comparing the length of objects using rulers as well as using the rulers to draw straight lines. Both the analog clock and the ruler will be added to our math tool kits. We will also be counting pennies, learning about cents notation, and comparing numbers. Practicing these skills at home would be great reinforcement and help your child to develop confidence in math!

Bryce, Sarah, Anna, and Livvi have fun playing 2 Fisted Penny Addition during math!

Science/Social Studies: We begin our study of the human body this week learning about the skeleton and its major functions. This unit always proves to be a favorite in first grade!

Tomorrow we have a very special visitor coming to first grade! Charlie' stepmother, Michelle Clopet, has arranged for a professional zoologist from the Miami Zoo to bring some animals to share with the children. Part of her job is to put on animal shows and we are very lucky to have her come to do this for us!
Things to remember:

Picture Day tomorrow! Please send in the picture envelope tomorrow if you have not already! Everyone will have their picture made whether you are ordering pictures or not. They will be used in the yearbook.

Book order is due tomorrow!

Word rings come back to school on Thursday! Please be sure to have your child practice spelling the words as well as reading them.

Library books need to be returned by Thursday!

Volunteers this Week:

• Tuesday - Art - Ailsa Hudson (art time has changed this week due to the zoologist)
• Thursday - Library Check-out - Valerie Pillot and Kristen Danielson (2:05)
• Friday - Math Game - Valerie Pillot (9:00)
• Friday - Parent Reader - Liz Jack (2:20)
  

Have a great week!
Susan

Mrs. Eckert was our first parent reader last Friday! You all have BIG shoes to fill now because she was an EXCELLENT model for voice inflection for the children!

Mr. Thompson works with a small group in math.

Dear Parents,

I hope everyone had a fun and relaxing Labor Day weekend! We are back on track at school! Here is a look at this week:

Spelling: We will focus on words with short vowel /i/. Beginning with today's homework calendar, the spelling word sort activity will be a part of Monday night homework (tonight since there was no school on Monday). The children will need to cut the words apart and complete the activity sheet. Please do not send the "baggie" of spelling words back to school. They are to be kept at home. You do not need to keep them in the folder anymore if you prefer not to. We are learning about the "naming part" of a sentence. The naming part (who or what the sentence is about) is usually found at the beginning of a sentence. While reading, we will be working on the comprehension strategies of classifying, categorizing, and making inferences.

Don't forget that the word card ring should be worked on daily at home and returned to school on Thursday. This week's words: hold, soon, so, home, get

Handwriting: We are working on numbers and beginning our lowercase letters. Ask your child about "magic c".

Writer's Workshop: We will continue to work on stretching our words and spelling the best we can.

Math: We will practice counting up and back on the number grid and 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 pennies with one hand and pick up the rest with the other hand. Have your child to 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! I will also introduce the calculator this week and we will be adding this math tool to our tool kit bags.

Your child's Math Journal will be coming home on Thursday for homework this week. Please be sure to complete page 8 together with your child and return the Journal on Friday.

Social Studies/Science: We will 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 card rings are to be returned to school on Thursday.

Math Journal will come home on Thursday this week and MUST be returned on Friday.
Library check-out begins this Thursday! We will have library check-out each Thursday from now on. Please make sure that all library books are returned by then.

Picture Day is next Tuesday, September 14.

Volunteers this week:

• Tuesday - Art - Cynthia Biondi (12:00)
• Thursday - Library Check-out - Julie Piper and Molly Camp (2:35)
• Friday - Math Game - Emily Golden (9:00)
  
• Friday - Parent Reader - Margaret Young (2:20)

It's going to be a great week!
Susan

Thank you so much for coming to Back-to-School-Night even with the wild weather! The first 8 days of school have been wonderful and this week has started out with a bang! Today we enjoyed some of our wonderful "specials" that we are so lucky to have at Shorecrest! The children enjoy Spanish with Senora Bockman-Pederson, Art with Mrs. Rowe, Music with Ms. Diaz-Leroy, and Computer Lab with Mrs. Baralt.

Today we had our first visit to the beautiful, remodeled Computer Lab and worked in Kidspiration 3. If you haven't seen the lab, stop by!


In our classroom:

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. We are in the midst of a study of one of my favorite authors, Kevin Henkes, and many of his books are being used during our Writer's Workshop time.

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! 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. Last week our anthology story was a nonfiction story and this week is a fantasy story. I am also working on individual reading assessments with the children so that we will be ready to begin our small guided reading groups.

We have begun our new handwriting program. Ask your child about "Frog Jump Capitals" and "Center Starting Capitals".

Last week we began Unit 1 in Math which focuses on establishing routines such as calendar and small group work. We played math games such as "Bunny Hop" and "Top-it". 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! The children received their math tool kit bags and their first math tool, the pattern block template. We also began working in our Math Journals and Skills Link books. This week we will work with weather and temperature routines, number stories, and have our first progress check with both oral and written assessments.

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!

We will begin our Parent Volunteers this week on Friday. Sarah Bernstein will come play a math game with us Friday morning from 9:00 - 10:00. Then Kelly Eckert will be our first parent reader Friday afternoon at 2:20. Next week we will add our art parent and library volunteers!

If you have not turned in the signed Parent/Student handbook form from page 3 of the handbook, please do so now. They must be in this week!

Picture Day is around the corner! Tuesday, September 14th will be Picture Day in the LD and ECC. Photo packages will be available for purchase. More information will be coming soon.

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. They will be collecting photos until September 30.

Happy New School Year!

We are having a great beginning to first grade! It has been fun to see "old" friends and to make "new" ones. The children are learning the routines of first grade and are "thinking" and "acting" like first graders. They have brought many smiles to my face in just three days!:)

We have been busy! We launched our writer's workshop, worked in our math books, played math games, read many great books together, began our author study of Kevin Henkes, practiced fire and severe weather drills, and went to PE, Spanish, and music class. Whew! That was just in three days! The rest of this week will be even busier. No time for "rest" in first grade!

Don't forget! Back-to-School-Night tomorrow night begins in the Janet Root Theater at 7:00 p.m. Don't forget to get your raffle ticket at the theater! You just might win a gift card from Sage Dining or front row seats at the best program at Shorecrest - "Commotion in the Ocean" taking place in May! Bring your completed raffle ticket to our classroom where you will learn the ins and outs of first grade!

Our first Spirit Day will be this Friday!

I look forward to seeing all of you tomorrow night! Thank you so much for sharing your precious children with me!

Susan Owen

It smells a little fishy to me...

It has been a busy last week of first grade! We began our week with the shark dissection in the Science Resource Center. They have been waiting all year to do this! First, the children witnessed a dogfish shark dissection performed by our fantastic mom scientists. We reviewed what we have learned about sharks and more. Then we broke into small groups and the children were able to learn so much more about the internal organs as they dissected their own sharks! The wonder and excitement filled the room... along with the smell!















Enjoy the following voice thread that we made to tell you some of the things that we have learned about sharks this year!



Tuesday found us at the Florida Aquarium in Tampa! After a fun bus ride over with laughter and singing, we spent the morning touring the Aquarium and observing all the wonderful creatures of the sea. The dive show and the touch tank were two of the favorite adventures for our class. We then enjoyed a picnic lunch together with all four classes before heading back to school on the bus.
















How many people can say they touched baleen from a whale? Not many! On Wednesday, we did just that! Two of our middle school students, Jacob N. and Justin S. from Mr. Cruise’s midde school science class brought actual baleen and told us all about it as well as many other interesting specimens from the sea. It was so cool!





On Thursday afternoon, we had our final party in first grade. The children had a great time rotating through the four classrooms. We decorated picture frames for our class program photo, made underwater crayon resist pictures, played Ocean Bingo, danced the limbo, and made edible aquariums! M-m-m-m! What fun!














It has been an incredible year! Thank you for sharing your precious children with me. I will miss them so much! Give them a hug every now and then and tell them it's from me!

Thank you for always being there for us. You have helped in so many ways... parent readers, math games, library parents, party planners, science helpers, photographers, and more! We could not have made it without you! I will miss you all! Please stop in and see me next year! Have a great summer!

Susan

Commotion in the Ocean!

Thank you to Erin Ross for the pictures that I put in the following video.

Party Central!

Wow! Room 1-4 was party central last week! We celebrated 4 birthdays and had a final compliment party! In fact, the children earned 100 compliments this year! Way to go!

Happy Birthday, Channing!

Happy Birthday, Lauren!

Happy Birthday, Jonathan!

Happy Birthday, Samuel!

This year, one of our favorite times of the week have been Friday morning math explorations. This past Friday was no different.

One station involved constructing polygons with a particular number of sides and corners.
Here Molly puts the finishing touch on a six-sided hexagon.

Nico, Russ, and Julia worked on elapsed time word problems at another station.

Channing, Jonathan, Oliver, and Samuel work on equivalent fractions with Jonathan's mom.

Lauren and Hailey play math Tic-Tac-Toe.

Rachel, Lauren, Sarah, and Shannon work on fraction number stories at the computers.

It is hard to believe that we are beginning our last week together. We will still be packing in a lot of fun and learning this week! I know that it will go by too fast. On Monday morning, we will be dissecting dogfish sharks! The children have been looking forward to this all year! Many thanks to Sharon Cannella, Jodie Gayoso, and Sandy Epstein for volunteering to help! On Tuesday, we will be going to the Florida Aquarium. I look forward to seeing many of you there! Anyone can join us! If you did not send in your payment of $7.00, you can still join us. However, you will need to pay the admission of $19 at the door. On Thursday, we will have our end-of-the-year party with all four first grade classes. All parents are welcome to join in the fun from 12:30 - 2:30! Friday is our last day together. Dismissal will be at 12:00 noon. Please be sure that your child brings his/her green bag to school each day this week. The children will be bringing lots of treasures home! See you soon!

Susan