Thank you to everyone for responding and choosing 3 convenient times for the  October conferences.  Please check your child’s folder this week for a confirmation note detailing your conference time.

Mark Your Calendar!

• Friday, October 9 - Kiker Field Day. Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately. Also, it is recommended to apply sunscreen before coming to school, wear a hat, and bring an extra water bottle. We look forward to a very fun-filled day!
• Monday, October 12- Student holiday/parent conferences.  
• Friday, October 23 - Report cards go home
• Friday, October 30- Book Fair preview only
• Saturday, October 31- Kiker Fun Run

Reminders:

• Library day is this Thursday!
• Enrichment fees are due NOW!  This fee helps to fund our fall and spring field trip and class t-shirts. If you have not yet submitted your payment of $22.00 for the entire year or $11.00 for the fall semester

Specials -

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
art	P.E.	Music	art	P.E.

Homework -

read 10-20 minutes every night.  Look for the small guided reading books to practice at home.

Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe / week 1 : man ran can cat hat mat not up

Look for the green poetry folder to come home on Wednesday.  Practice 2 poems, record them in the reading log  and return the folder the next day.

Math homework will start next week!

This week in:

Reading - This week we will begin guided reading instruction.  The students will bring home small books that we have read together.  They should practice reading the books at home to practice reading strategies and for fluency. This week we will begin to explore expository text features.  We will focus on the text feature photographs and think about how photographs help us better understand  a text.

Writing -This week in writing we will continue working on our stories.  We will work on problem solving when we are unsure of the spelling of a word.  We will practice using the word wall and using a writer’s toolkit with sound cards.

Math -  We have been working on place value.  The children have learned that the place of a digit in a number matters and depending on its place a digit can represent tens, or ones.  This week we will learn about composing and decomposing larger numbers 100 to 120.

Science -  This week the students will continue science/health/social studies rotations.  They will go to Mrs. Watson’s class and learn about Scientific Inquiry.

Fall conference sign up forms will be coming home this week in your child's white Kiker folder. Please select 3 times that would be most convenient for you. I will try my best to accommodate your choices, but times will be scheduled based upon earliest forms returned. You may also complete the Google form using this link - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1IAzZISSnTzzEBhnfYc77ELcjoF1Woc7A7U8fcl4BULo/viewform?usp=send_form .

Reminders:

• Library day is Thursday!
• Enrichment fees are due NOW!  This fee helps to fund our fall and spring field trip and class t-shirts. If you have not yet submitted your payment of $22.00 for the entire year or $11.00 for the fall semester

• Monday, October 12- Student holiday/parent conferences.  Please look forward to an email or notice in your child’s white Kiker folder for an opportunity to sign up for parent conferences.

Specials -

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
P.E.	Music	Art	P.E.	Music

Homework -

read 10-20 minutes every night.  

Look for the green poetry folder to come home on Wednesday.  Practice 2 poems, record them in the reading log  and return the folder the next day.

Spelling homework will start next week!

This week in:

Reading - Every week we continue to build reading stamina by reading to self every day.  The students also read with a friend and have really enjoyed reading poems to each other.  This week we will continue to work on the comprehension strategy of identifying the problem and solution of a story.  We will also categorize words into nouns and verbs to help us determine meaning of new vocabulary.

Writing -This week in writing we will continue working on our stories.   We will learn how to write in complete sentences.  A complete sentence is a complete thought that tells who or what the sentence is about, and what happened. It starts with a capital letter and ends with a punctuation mark.  We will also learn how to use our word wall list to spell the first grade sight words correctly.

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT YOUR CHILD'S LEARNING AT HOME?

Please encourage your child to form the letters correctly. Almost all of the letters in alphabet start at the top move to the bottom.  Some children have the habit of forming the letters from the bottom to the top and this will affect their handwriting as well as speed in writing.  Also please have your child practice writing their names neatly starting with capital letter and then lowercase letters.  

Math -  We have been working on place value.  The children have learned that the place of a digit in a number matters and depending on its place a digit can represent tens, or ones.  This week we will learn about decomposing numbers and describing the numbers in expanded form.  For example, 34 is actually 30 and 4 and 52 is 50 and 2.  We will also compare numbers using number line.   We will review the vocabulary, greater and less than.  For example, looking at a number line, what number is one less than 17? or 16 is one less than what number? We will apply our knowledge of number line and number comparison to solve everyday math problems.

Science -  This week the students will start science/health/social studies rotations.  They will go to Ms. Sebek’s class and learn about Whoa and Go foods.

Thank you all so much for helping your child complete the Family culture “quilt square”.  The students did a FABULOUS job presenting their squares and sharing about their families.  It was very enjoyable! Thank you all again for your support at home.

Reminders:

Library day is Thursday!

Friday, Sept. 18 - Deadline to pay the Kiker 1st grade enrichment fee. This fee helps to fund our fall and spring field trip and class t-shirts. If you have not yet submitted your payment of $22.00 for the entire year or $11.00 for the fall semester, please try to submit your payment by this Friday.  Enrichment fee scholarships are available.

Monday, October 13- Student holiday/parent conferences.  Please look forward to an email or notice in your child’s white Kiker folder for an opportunity to sign up for parent conferences.

Specials -

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Music	Art	P.E.	Music	Art

Homework -

read 10-20 minutes every night

This week in:

Reading - We are continuing to build our reading stamina by spending time reading to self each day.  We are also learning about what readers think when they are reading.  We will continue to sequence events into beginning, middle and end and identify the problem and solution of fiction selections.

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT YOUR CHILD'S READING AT HOME?

Make reading time a special time where you and your child can sit together comfortably.  Pick a time in the day that you know your child is not too tired to read. Maybe your child likes to read after school, or before bedtime.  Sit beside your child, turn off the TV and have your child read to you.  If your child is stuck on a word, try some of the strategies from the help page that was placed in last week’s folder.  It is also important that you read to your child, if not every night, at least some of the time.  Children need to hear fluent reading with expression from a parent.  Do a picture walk (talk about the pictures) together before reading.  As you read, stop periodically and see if your child has understood the story so far.  Read together, laugh together and make this a special time.

Writing - We will continue writing stories about our lives.  This week we will learn how to "zoom in" on one thing and write about a small moment in time, something in our life that happened over a small few minutes.   We will read stories or part of stories that have those moments in them and see how famous authors writes about those times.

Math -  We will explore placement of digits in numbers and how the value of the number is affected by the placement of the digits.  We will use magnetic ten frames to help us build numbers.  We will learn to compare teen numbers.  We will apply all of this knowledge in problem solving activities.  We will also learn how to construct a tally chart.

Science -  In science we will learn about properties of objects and how we can classify objects as solid, liquid, or gas. We will investigate each state of matter and determine the special characteristics of each one.  We will also investigate the changes of matter and what causes matter to change.

It’s hard to believe we have been in school for two weeks already. We had a great start to a new school year! We learned about many school and classroom procedures and expectations. Throughout the first two  weeks, we have reviewed cafeteria, recess and hallway expectations and along with community building within our classroom and expectations of effort.  It was great seeing so many parents at Thursday’s Back to School Night. I hope I answered a lot of questions.  I am sure there are more to come as the year continues. If you have questions or concerns please contact me.

I enjoyed the children's presentation about their "Special Me" bag.  We had so much fun learning about one another, our favorite sports, toys, families, friends, pets and so much more!  Each one of us is special in a different way.  The children got to ask and answer questions and reflect on how each of us are different and alike in many ways.

Reminders  

Tuesday, September 8, Vision/Hearing screening. Please try to make sure that your child is present.

Thursday, September 10, Picture Day.  Order forms were sent home in Friday’s folder.  Have your child dress appropriately and wear a smile!

This week’s specials schedule -

Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
P.E.	Music	Art	P.E.

HOMEWORK

READING -reading logs will be sent home beginning Tuesday, September 8.  A parent letter explaining the reading logs and tips for reading with your child will also be in the folder.

SOCIAL STUDIES  - As we begin our identity and cultures unit, we will be building a “families quilt.”  A “quilt square” with directions for its completion is being sent home in Tuesday’s folder.  The quilt square will be due Friday. September 11.  Your child may return it to school anytime this week when they have completed it. In addition to magazine photos, feel free to use google images. Here is my sample.

This week in first grade:

Reading

The students are doing a wonderful job building their reading stamina in the Read to Self workstation.  They LOVE going to the classroom library to browse and choose books in Read in the Library workstation.  We are still working on choosing “just right” books. The favorite workstation is the Listen to Reading workstation.  They are working on becoming independent problems solvers with the technology.  They are mastering using a CD/tape player (old technology) and using the website “Tumblebooks” to choose and listen to books. We will continue to make predictions about what will happen next in a story and about what characters might do or say, and retell a story by telling about the beginning, middle, and end in the correct order.

Writing

We continue to learn what writing is like in first grade: Introducing the writing tools (papers, pencils, markers and crayons, tape, glue, scissors), and resources such as the alphabet charts, first grade words, and the print around the classroom. I will continue to model how to brainstorm, sketch, and write about my story idea, something that I know and care about. The children will then begin writing  true stories about themselves, something that they have experienced and want to share.

MATH

This week in math we continue to explore numbers.  Numbers represent different and specific quantities.  We will think about things that we can count and different ways to find the answer to the question, "How many?" At this age, some children count objects one at a time and some can count by using sets of 2, 5 or 10.  If asked to show 6, some children count one by one and some can show 6 in one set.  Our goal this week and forward is to push children to use the benchmarks of 5 and 10 to make different sets instead of counting one by one.  We will continue to work on recognizing instantly the quantity of structured arrangements.

Social Studies/Science

This week’s unit is identity and culture.  We will be exploring families, holidays, customs, celebrations and traditions and why they are important to our families and communities.

THANK YOU!

Thank you for being a partner in your child's education.  I appreciate all of your help and support!