Welcome to 1st Grade

Hi Families!  I am so excited to start a brand new year with your child!  I just wanted to give you a few pieces of information.  We are having our open house on Tuesday, August 22 from 5-7.  I can't wait to meet all of you!

I also want to put the supply list on here so that you can refer to it if you need to.  If you have any questions, you can email me at jegilde@mcbain.org.  I check my email daily.

Here's the supply list:

1 two-pocket plastic folder

2 boxes of 24-count crayons

4 large glue sticks

1 package of pencils (these will be shared so if your child has special ones, he/she may want to leave them at home for homework)

1 box of Kleenex

1 pencil box (hard case that will fit crayons, pencils, glue sticks, etc.)

1 bottle of sanitizer

2 wide ruled spiral notebooks

Looking forward to a great school year!!

Week 4

I can't believe that we are starting our 4th week already!  It is going fast. We have gotten ourselves into somewhat of a routine (I think).  First grade is totally different from Kindergarten so there is a lot of new routines for them to learn.  They are quick learners though and we are off and running!!

I didn't know if you noticed or not, but every Monday I give a spelling pretest with a test on Friday.
Because this is new to all of them, I will be making adjustments over the next few weeks as far as how many words your child will have.  The range is from 5-10.  If your child continues to do well, his/her spelling list may be adjusted to different words or more words.  For their very first test I was very pleased with the outcome.

We also took our very first reading test on our iPads on Friday.  We read through and answered them all together as a whole group and will continue to do this every week for the next few weeks until they get the hang of taking a multiple choice test.  The test has a short story with 5 comprehension questions that go with that story.  It also has phonics skills as well as some grammar skills that we work on through the week.  These are always done online so you won't see a copy of them coming home.  I will send a progress report with report cards that will show you how your child has done on his/her test.  We don't take grades in first grade so we look at the scores and ask ourselves where is it that your child needs help.  I don't freak out at a failing grade but look at it more in depth and see what it is that your child is struggling with so that I may better help him/her.

Wee will be having our first student of the week this week!  We will take an opportunity throughout the year to honor your child for an entire week!  Every student will get to be the student of the week.  It will coincide with their birthdays or half-birthdays.  An All About Me Poster will come home on the Friday before your child's week to be there and will have a paper attached that says what each day is for your child.  Monday, your child will share the All About Me poster with the class and then it will hang in the hallway.  Tuesday, your child will bring in something for show and tell to share with us.  On Wednesday, your child will eat lunch with me.  Thursday, your child will bring in a favorite book.  Your child can choose to read it, or I will read it for him/her.  On Friday, we will be making a book for the student of the week and everyone will make a page for the book for your child to bring home.

Here are some new apps that we learned this week:

We have been reviewing and learning the beanie baby strategies that help us remember what to do when we see a word that we don't know and how to help us remember our stories.  We have been adding them to our CAFE wall.  CAFE is an acronym.  The C stands for comprehension - I understand what I read.  The A stands for accuracy - I can figure out tricky words.  The F stands for fluency - I can read not too slow and not too fast, but just right.  The E stands for expanded vocabulary - I can tune in to interesting words in the story.  We have added quite a few strategies under comprehension and accuracy.  Here are the ones that we have learned so far:

Remember that we have a math test coming up on Tuesday!!  Have a great week!!

the first week is in the record books

We had a very fun, exciting, and busy first week!!  I was completely exhausted by Thursday!  I'm sure your sons and daughters were too!!

We learned lots of procedures on how first graders do things.  We learned 5 simple classroom rules:

We also learned how our behavior clip chart works.  If you move your clip up, you get extra dojo points.  If you move your clip down, you lose dojo points.  If you have any questions on this, please let me know.

Here are the apps that we have learned so far in class.  Feel free to add them to your devices as well so that your child may practice at home.

If for some reason you DO NOT want your child's picture taken and used on the school Facebook page, please let the office know.

Please feel free to send in flip top water bottles that don't spill when tipped over.  It gets pretty warm and it's nice when they can drink at their seats while working.

It's been really hot these past few days!  If you would like to send a water bottle in with your kiddo that is a leak proof, flip top that would be awesome!!  I can't allow bottles that have a screw on top because we have iPads at our desks and we can't get them wet!  If you have any questions, please let me know!!

Welcome to first grade!!  If you are planning ahead and are visiting my blog to get a sneak peak at first grade, I have supplied you with a supply list.  Below are the supplies that your child will need this year.  It's best if supplies are brought on open house night, but if you don't have them then, please have your child bring them the first day of school.

Supply List for Mrs. Gilde

1^st Grade 2016-2017

1 two-pocket plastic folder

2 boxes of 24-count crayons

4 large glue sticks

1 package of pencils (these will be shared so if your child has special ones, he/she may want to leave them at home for homework)

1 box of Kleenex

1 pencil box (hard case that will fit crayons, pencils, glue sticks, etc.)

1 bottle of sanitizer

March 28-April 1

Math:

This week’s topics:

·      Finish up Pencils for writing Day 2

·      Understanding Equivalence –name collection boxes

·      Reviewing more place value

·      Using place value with pennies, dimes, and dollars.

This week we will be talking more about place value and what it means to have more than one way to say a number (name collection boxes).

Writing:

We will finish up our animal reports on Monday and start presenting them on Tuesday and Thursday.  Our next unit will be writing how-to books.  This is always fun and interesting!

Wonders 

Unit 5 Week 1

“See It, Sort It”

This week’s Essential Question:  How can we classify and categorize things   

This week’s vocabulary words:

distinguish, classify, organize

*comprehension skill:  Point of view

*comprehension strategy:  make and confirm predictions

Spelling Words

cart

harm

barn

happy

arm

key

art

yarn

High Frequency Words

none

four

Sight Words

four

large

none

only

put

round

Homework:

Reading folder 10 minutes each night.  Be sure to write it on the calendar for a free personal pizza at the end of the month.

Home links: Monday-Thursday

Spelling test:  Test on Friday

FYI:

The end of the marking period is fast approaching.  It will end on April 1.  Report cards will come home after spring break.  We will be having parent teacher conferences but only for those kids who I think need one or if you would like to meet with me as well.  They are only as needed in the spring.   Let me know if you would like to meet with me and I can have that arranged.

Report cards will be coming home after spring break.  Please be sure to contact me if you have any questions or concern.

Important Dates:

PE:  Mondays and Fridays

Music:  Wednesday

March 28:  Read with a  flashlight

April 1:  Camp Out Day – Pajamas, trail mix, and a movie

April 1:  End of the marking period

April 3-8:  No school – Spring Break

April 21:  Special Person’s Day (more info. To come after spring break)

March 21-25

Math:

This week’s topics:

·      Explorations

·      Recording Near Doubles strategies

·      Introducing Making 10

·      Pencils for writing club (day 1)

This week we will continue to practice near double strategies to help them with their addition.  We have also learned a doubles rap.  Be sure to ask your child to sing it to you.  This hopefully will help them learn their doubles facts.

Writing:

All we have left for our animal reports is to put in our 5 facts that we learned.  They have done a great job following directions and using their ipads appropriately.  Can’t wait for them to share their final projects this week!!  If I can figure it out, I will put them on my blog, for you to see.

Reading:

This week is a review week.  There will not be a spelling test.  We will be reviewing main idea and details and vowel teams. 

Homework:

Reading folder 10 minutes each night.  Be sure to write it on the calendar for a free personal pizza at the end of the month.

Home links: Monday-Thursday

Spelling test:  No Spelling Test this week

FYI:

The end of the marking period is fast approaching.  It will end on April 1.  Report cards will come home after spring break.  We will be having parent teacher conferences but only for those kids who I think need one or if you would like to meet with me as well.  They are only as needed in the spring.   Let me know if you would like to meet with me and I can have that arranged.

There is a review week for reading this week so we won’t have a spelling list or skills to practice this week.  We will review what we learned in this past unit.

Important Dates:

PE:  Mondays and Fridays

Music:  Wednesday

March 21:  Delayed Start

March 21:  Alex’s birthday

March 24:  Read with a flashlight

March 25:  Good Friday- No school

March 28:  Read with a  flashlight

April 1:  Camp Out Day – Pajamas, trail mix, and a movie

April 3-8:  No school – Spring Break