Good Morning Parents!
I trust everyone had a wonderful restful weekend with friends and family!! We had a great week diving into learning!
Thank you to all the parents who attended back to school night last week. I trust you received all the information you needed about what our little ones are doing in class. It was great to meet some of the other parents and family members who I had not met yet.
Spelling Tests
This week I will be sending home their spelling tests. They will get a point for each word they spelling correctly. At this point I will not mark them wrong for reversing letters, however as we get more comfortable with our writing, if they reverse the letter in a word they will get it wrong. For the sentences; Convection is starting with an upper case letter and ending with a period. Since there are 3 sentences they can get a total of 6 points for this. Dictation is if they wrote all the words from the sentence. They will get 1 point got each word they wrote correctly. If they misspell the spelling word in the sentence they will not get credit for it.
Vocabulary & Reading
Last week I began working with students in their guided reading groups. In this weeks homework I have included sight words for the students to practice. Most of these words are decodable (you can sound them out), the goal is to recognize them and know them quickly. These are great to put on index cards and make flash cards for your child to have. The goal of timing your child to read the sight words is to encourage fast recognition of the word without having to sound them out. My goal is to continue to adding words each week to the list. This will not only help build vocabulary of the class, but is a great aide in helping the children read fluently. As we get going I will be sending books home with students so they can have more time for reading at home. Also, When our new beautiful library reopens for use, our kiddos will be able to go to the library once a week to get some books!
Take Home Folders
It is important that these folders go home and return to school everyday. Please remind students to bring their folders to school everyday. This is where I send home work that we are doing in class for you to see along with any important notes that I may need you to see. Also, if you need to send me notes such as transportation changes, Dr appointments, or emergencies please place it in your child’s take home folder. I check them every morning. I do tell the kiddies that it is their responsibility as a 1st grader to remember their folders everyday, not their parents. However, since it is early in the school year please guide them in bringing it to school daily as they get use to our routine. Also, please empty the notes sleeve as well as the stays at home side. I notice some of their folders getting full.
Homework
Homework will continue to come home every Monday. Please do not send pages back individually through the week. Keep the entire homework packet at home until Friday. I will collect everything on Friday from their take home folders. Again, its important the students complete their homework. This is reinforcement of what they are learning in class. Again, as we get into our reading and I get comfortable with their reading levels I will be sending books home for the students to read at home. As that time comes I will give more instruction.
Math
We spent all last week reviewing our addition concepts with the students! They are doing a great job with what’s being taught in class. Students will be bringing home work pages that we complete in class for you to see what they are reviewing and learning. If students finish their seat work early in the mornings they are also given extra math sheets to do in class.
Spelling
This week we will begin working on lesson 7 in their spelling books. The spelling words for August were sent home the first week of school. If you misplace them they will be posted online in our news letter as well as included in their homework packet. Spelling tests will be given each Friday. Students will have to know how to spell their words as well as writing dictation sentences with each test. The students do not know what the sentences will be before the test, so they do not have to study them at home.
Bible
Students will still be required to recite their Bible memory verse to me every Friday. We will cover the verse everyday in class, and reciting it at home everyday will be great for them. Last week we finished our unit on creation. This week we will move into learning about Noah, Abraham, and Isaac. How exciting!!! I still get so exciting about the freedom I have to read God’s word in school!! What a blessing!
Writing
Last week the students were able to start writing in their journals. Boy was I impressed!!! We will be working on writing a description about a real person as well as writing using our daily journal prompts. Students will be assessed on this during our first benchmark in October.
Parent Helpers
Last week I put up a sign up sheet for the month of September at back to school night and it was filled up! We use parent helpers Monday-Thursday from 9-10:15am. We do not use helpers on Fridays since we do not do stations. If there is a day that is already full for parent help, and you would still like to come in, please do so!
Show and Tell
We will start having our show and tell groups every Monday and Friday. Please remind the children to only bring out their show and tell during our show and tell time. They are not allowed to have them during class or out at recess.
Teddy
The kids are loving having Teddy in our class! I get so excited to read all their adventures and begin to watch the progress in their writing. In the beginning if your child needs assistance on their writing that is fine. However, they do need to write it. You can help them dictate. Please remind them to write complete sentences with finger spaces in between each word. Teddy will not go home on Fridays. He will stay with me and get a bath 🙂
Fundraiser
We are in the middle of our fundraise that began Last week and will finish in September. There are some great items for sale, and cool prizes for the little ones. Our goal is that each student sell $60 worth of items. All profits will go to FCS to benefit our children. Sell! Sell! Sell!
Reminder
One of my responsibilities at FCS is being the cheer advisor for high school. I do have practice to run after school on Mondays and Wednesdays, with games on Fridays. So I will only be available for a short time after school on these days.
Have a fruitful week!!
Bible Memory Verse
“Noah did everything just as God commanded him.” Genesis 6:22 (11pts)
Spelling Words
not
got
top
mom
God
job
hop
fox
a
and
over
me
good
Important Dates
9-2 Labor Day. No School
9-10 Elementary Pictures
9-10 Elementary Chapel
9-13 Grandparents Day
9-18 – Half Day. School dismissed at 12
9-23 – 9-27 – Parent Teacher Conferences – School dismissed @ 12:00 PM
9-24 Elementary Chapel
9-26 New family partnership dinner
10-8 Picture retakes
10-11 First quarter ends
Spirit Day is every Friday. Please wear your favorite FCS shirt