12/17

What a week in First Grade! Your student should be tired! I am going to go home and go to bed for days! We had so much fun!

Students return to school on  Tuesday January 4, 2022. We will spend the week reviewing expectations, routines, and procedures. We will also be reviewing in most of our subjects. 

Please remember that for each school day students need to have a full water bottle, two snacks, and a fully charged computer. 

Please look ahead for weather and what to wear and pack. Please label everything! Always assume we will have outdoor recess.

I hope everyone has a restful and relaxing Winter Break! 

12/10

 Hello families!

It was another great week in First Grade! This will be a long post!

Tis the Season:

As we are approaching the end of the calendar year, we have several upcoming holidays. Please discuss with your student what your family celebrates and your traditions. Also please discuss how other families may celebrate differently. Usually around this time of year my students start to have discussions about Santa and how he may or may not operate along with Elves on the Shelf. I am writing this so you can talk about this with your student ahead of time.

With the upcoming holidays I know several families that will be travelling. Please let the front office and I know AHEAD of time about any planned absences. This will help me plan and accommodate for students.

Reminders:

STUDENTS NEED TO HAVE CHARGED COMPUTERS! We are entering testing season and it is imperative that students have a computer that is charged. 

Dec. 17th Homework due

Dec. 17-Jan3: Winter Break/NO SCHOOL

Next week's plan:

Overall next week is a review week in all subjects.

Monday: We will be starting our Dr. Seuss author study on Monday. We will read his classic Cat in the Hat. We will focus on rhyming words, we will review digraphs, we will write about how we can encourage the Things from Cat in the Hat to use their self-control, and we will look at Dr. Seuss's life.

Tuesday: We will be reading the Lorax. We will talk about what the moral of the story is, we will also write about how we can help the earth. Students will look at the characteristics of Dr. Seuss' illustrations and we will identify them and then practice them for ourselves.

      

Wednesday: The Sneetches will be our read aloud. Sneetches are so worried about other sneetches that they forget to be themselves. We will discuss that we are all individuals and unique.

Thursday: Green Eggs and Ham will be our read aloud. We will talk about opinions and how its ok to like a certain food more than another or a friend can have a different favorite food than yourself. 

Friday: How the Grinch stole Christmas is the last read aloud for the week! We will have some fun activities like a marshmallow and toothpick igloo contest, bingo, and we will the animated Grinch Movie (also great job parents for ALL filling out the permission slip). Students may dress up as Dr. Seuss characters (fox in sox, sneethces, whos from Whoville, Cat in the Hat, etc).

Fun things that will happen throughout the week!

TOP SECRET *PARENT EYES ONLY*

-Grinch on the Bench will be visiting out room!
-We will be growing Candy Canes from peppermints

12/3

 Hello Families!

This was a great week in First Grade. This is an important communication! 

Tis the Season:

As we are approaching the end of the calendar year, we have several upcoming holidays. Please discuss with your student what your family celebrates and your traditions. Also please discuss how other families may celebrate differently. Usually around this time of year my students start to have discussions about Santa and how he may or may not operate along with Elves on the Shelf. I am writing this so you can talk about this with your student ahead of time.

With the upcoming holidays I know several families that will be travelling. Please let the front office and I know AHEAD of time about any planned absences. This will help me plan and accommodate for students.

Reminders:

STUDENTS NEED TO HAVE CHARGED COMPUTERS! We are entering testing season and it is imperative that students have a computer that is charged. 

Dec. 17th Homework due

Dec. 17-Jan3: Winter Break/NO SCHOOL

Next week (Dec.6 -10) is business as usual. At the bottom on this communication is a description of what we are going to cover and accomplish. The First-Grade teachers have discussed, and we are planning on doing an academic review week (Dec. 13-15). This week will include several fun review activities, that include an author study of Dr. Seuss. I will send more details later. We will need some supplies to help us make that week (Dec. 13-15) magical and fun. Below is a Signup Genius of some supplies we will need. If you are interested in donating, please read carefully, and take notice of the due date and whether the item is "top secret" or not. We will have several surprise activities that will occur and don't want to spoil the fun for the kids.

Sign Up Genius for Dr. Seuss Review week

On Dec. 17th we will end our author study of Dr. Seuss with the 2018, Dr. Seuss's The Grinch. This is currently a SECRET. This animated movie is rated PG. Please fill out the movie permission slip out below.

Updated Permission Slip for The Grinch

Academics (Dec. 6-10):

Moral Focus: Self-Control, waiting calmly and quietly for your turn. This is a great virtue to have in December. Please discuss other ways you can show self-control with your student! 

Phonics: We are going to continue to grow and develop our skills in reading and breaking apart multisyllabic words. These are words like Pan-cake, but-ter-fly, fan-tas-tic, etc.

Comprehension: Students will be looking for and identifying key details in nonfiction text. Key details tell the read the most important information about a subject.

Writing: We are going to continue working on opinion papers. Your students are rocking this unit and I can't wait to send their work home!

Math: This unit in math is strengthen student's addition and subtraction strategies within 20. Students have also been working on doubles. 2+2=4, 4+4=8, etc.

Social studies: We have discussed what locations are special to us and will work on map skills next week. 

11/19

 Hello Families!

Wow, it was full and packed week! I hope everyone enjoys their break and the Thanksgiving festivities. I will be flying to see my family in Texas. We will spend the week camping at a lake! I will not be able to respond to emails while I am away.

Upcoming dates: 

Winter Break: Dec 18-Jan 3rd. Please email me if you plan on leaving for break early!

Reminders:

Students need to bring their computer each day and it needs to be charged.

2 snacks and a water bottle each day.

With cold weather on the horizon please make sure your student has the appropriate attire for outdoor recess. Please LABEL EVERYTHING.

Academics:

Phonics: We will start exploring multisyllable words. We will work with 2 syllable words that have two closed syllables like cac-tus, bed-room, etc.

Comprehension: We will continue to look at non fiction text features and how they help the reader understand more. 

Writing: We will be starting opinion writings! This is fun unit. Students will first learn the parts of an opinion paper and then we will begin to start writing!

Math: We are on to the next unit. We will be using our learned strategies on bigger numbers. We will focus on adding and subtracting within 25.

Social Studies: When we get back we will start looking at locations, land features, and cardinal directions.

11/12

Thank you so much for donating all the toilet paper rolls! We were able to make some fun Kazoos today for our Sound Unit in Science.

Also, thank you to those who signed up on the Thanksgiving sign up I sent earlier this week. If you could please send in the food items on Thursday or Friday that would be awesome. Nonfood items can come earlier than that if you have them ready! We will be making fun cornucopias to eat, and fun Thanksgiving mats and hats!

Homework is due next Friday (Nov.19)

Upcoming events: 

Thanksgiving Break: Nov. 22-26th

Winter Break: Dec.20-Jan. 3

MLK: Jan 17th

Reminders:

• Computers need to be charged every night!
• Water bottles and two snack every day!
• Label all jackets, hats, gloves, scarfs, etc.
• Masks are to be worn at school. Please review with your student the importance of this and please pack extras. Students were doing great for a while with the masks but I have been having to give more and more reminders lately.

Academics:

Phonics: We are going to continue to work on two sound blends like sl, st, bl, etc.

Comprehension: We will be exploring more features of non fiction texts. Students love this unit due to the amount of animal books we read!

Math: We will be continuing to strengthen our addition and subtraction strategies by learning various games. Students love our hands on math centers!

Science: We will be read various texts about sound and will also watch various informational videos about sound and how it works.

11/5

Can you believe it is already November? We are cruising right along in first grade.

 Upcoming events: 

Veteran's Day Assembly Nov. 11

Thanksgiving Break Nov.22-26

Academics:

Phonics: We are going to start exploring blends like bl, sl, st, cl, etc. 

Comprehension: We will be starting a non fiction unit next week. We will start by looking at parts of non fiction books: table of content, glossary, index, etc.

Math: We will be doing a one on one math assessment next week. The purpose of this assessment will be to monitor where your child's math strengths are. This will help me support your student in the areas that they need help in as well.

Science: We will be starting our sound and light unit! We are in need of toilet paper rolls for a fun activity we will be doing next Friday! We are going to explore how sound waves work and listen to several different drums.

10/29

 Wow! This was a fun and busy week! This is a short blog due to all the fun we are having today!😜

Our class raised 167 cans for the food drive, thank you to all that helped!

Upcoming dates:

Nov.1 Early Release @ 1:30pm

Nov 22-26 Thanksgiving Break!

Academics:

Phonics: We are going to continue to look at Trigraphs, three letters that make one sound, -tch and -dge. Trigraphs follow a short vowel sound and always come at the end of a word. Example: witch and judge.

Comprehension: Students will be review all the parts of a narrative story. Setting, characters, problem, attempts to solve the problem and solution. 

Math: We will continue to work on our addition and subtraction strategies and learn some new strategies to strengthening our math tools and skills!

Science: We will continue our engineering unit by looking at simple machines!

Have a very safe and fun weekend!!

10/22

 Hello Families!

We had an awesome week in First Grade!

Upcoming dates: 

Oct. 29th: Dress like your Favorite Book Character Day! Students can dress up for this event. No face paint, students will still need to wear a face mask to comply with Covid precautions. Please make sure your student's costume is school appropriate and they can still go to the bathroom independently. 

Nov.1 Early Release at 1:30pm

Nov. 22-26 Thanksgiving Break

Dec. 20-Jan 2 Winter Break

Reminders: Students need to bring a water bottle, 2 snacks, and their CHARGED computer each day. Also with chilly weather occurring please send your student with the appropriate outerwear. Please label all jackets, sweater, sweatshirts, hats, scarfs, gloves, etc 

Homework is due on Oct. 29th!

Academics:

Moral Focus: We are wrapping up our Respect unit next week. Respect is treating people, and things around you with care. 

Leader In Me: We are discussing Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind. We have been focusing on how we want to end our day. Do we want to end our day full of knowledge or with an empty brain? Do we want to end the day with rewards or negative consequences? Once we know how we want to end the day then we can make decision and choices to get ourselves there.

Phonics: We have reviewed our short and long vowel sounds and we have now learned all our digraphs (sh, th, ch, wh, and ck). Next week we will look at trigraphs, which are three letters that make one sound, -tch and -dge, like pitch and judge.

Comprehension: We have spent the last few weeks identifying the problem in our stories and seeing our characters try to solve that problem. This coming week we will identify the solution in the stories. Students will also have to decipher if the solution was success or unsuccessful at solving the characters problem.

Writing: Students will create their final draft of their favorite party story. We will then move to a new prompt of sharing a time they were scared.

Math: We are moving right along into a new unit in Math. We will be really focusing on addition problems and what strategies work for your student best. This unit uses dominoes as a helpful tool.

Science: We will be continuing to talk about the planning process in engineering. We will have some upcoming experiments that will require us to plan ahead!

10/8

 

Upcoming Dates:

Oct. 14, 15, 18: NO SCHOOL

Oct. 29th: Dress like a Book Character Day! *Info attached to the email!

Headphones: Please talk with your child about whether or not they need new headphones. Several students have made me recently aware their headphones are not working. The cords often get worn out. 

Water Bottles: I am out of cups and the office is out of spare water bottles. Your student needs to bring a water bottle everyday for water. Our normal water fountains do not work, only the water bottle filler works. 

Academics: Since next week is a very short week we will be reviewing all skills in most subjects. 

Moral Focus: Respect: Treating others and things around you with care. Students will start brainstorming how we can show respect throughout the school day.

Leader in Me: We are working on habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind. This will correlate with our Science unit well. Students need to think ahead before they act.

Phonics: Students will review what we have learned already.

Comprehension: We will be building off this week's topic of identifying the problem of the story and look for character's attempts to solve that problem.

Math: We will be reviewing our addition and math skills that we have learned this year.

We will be starting our Engineering and Design Science unit next week. Students will learn to develop a plan for different designs. A big skill that students will need to master will be labeling pictures to communicate to others the different parts of their design.

10/1

 Hello Families!

Yesterday got away from me and I did not have time to send out the blog.

Conferences: It is that time of year! Click HERE for the sign ups. You can pick your time and then I will send you a Google Meet link at a later date to confirm. All conferences will be virtual. We will review your student's academics.

Purple Folders: Please be emptying these each weekend. These are several flyers and work that you will want to see!

Front Office Announcements: Please pack extra masks for your student! Masks tear, get lost, get wet, etc. We are going through a lot of masks.

Friday October 8th: This day is a HALF DAY. That means students will need to be picked up at 11:30 am. We will have morning snack but lunch will not be served. 

October 14-18: Fall Break NO SCHOOL

Academics: 

Moral Focus: In October, we will be focused on Respect. Respect is treating things and others with care. Students will explore how they can show this at school, at home, and around our community.

Phonics: We will be looking at more digraphs (two letters that make one sound). We already know /sh/ and /th/. We will be looking at /wh/ /-ck/ /ch/ digraphs in the future. 

Comprehension: Now that we know narratives have setting and characters we are going to start identifying the problem of the story. Characters are either faced with a problem or create a problem themselves in the story. This is important for them to identify because the problem tends to drive the action in the story.

Math: We will be reviewing our numbers and addition and subtraction strategies and will be taking a unit assessment. There is no need to prep for this. After our assessment we will spend some time working on pairs of 10. 10 is a landmark number within math. It is important that students are really fluent with their addition and subtraction within 10 before moving on.

Social Studies: We are continuing to work on our Citizenship unit. Students have identified several leaders in and around our schools. 

 

9/24

 Hello wonderful families!

It has been a crazy week with a lot going on! Please enjoy a relaxing and restful weekend!

Next week on September 30th, homework will be due! Just a quick reminder I do not accept homework from parents or the front office. I only accept homework from students. It is their responsibility. If your child forgets it at home or in their backpack, ITS OK! They will turn it in when they can. If your child won’t be here that day, they can turn it in when they get back! The homework did require students to work in their Home Connections Math workbook. Please assist your student in tearing these pages out and attaching them to the packet.

Upcoming Dates:

Oct. 8: Half Day for students

Oct.11-13: Parent/Teacher Conferences *More info to come!

Oct.14-18 No school!

Nov. 1st: Early Release

Academics: 

Moral Focus: We will wrap up our conversations about Wisdom and how we can apply wisdom in all areas of our lives.

Phonics: We will be looking at a new digraph next week. It it will be /ch/ as in chin or rich. Ch can come at the beginning or end of a word. Remember digraph is two letters that make one sound!

Comprehension: We will be working on identifying characters in fairytales. Characters are people, animals, or objects that talk in a story. Being able to identify characters in the first step to understanding what roles they play in stories, and also understanding their actions. We will explore their roles and actions later in this unit.

Math: Students are exploring different strategies to solve various word and numerical problems. Next week we will look at missing addend problems. They often look like this. 7+ _=10. What would be the missing number? This skill will expand student’s understanding on how addends work together to get the total or sum.

Social Studies: Students have really enjoyed the citizens unit so far, next week we will wrap it up with identifying leadership needs within the classroom. My goal is to assign students to fill these leadership opportunities.

9/17

 Reminders:

• Please pack 2 snacks a day. Also please revisit where you are packing snacks within their backpack with your kiddo. 
• Discuss if your student is having "hot lunch" this is school lunch or if they are having "cold lunch" that is lunch from home.
• Label water bottles, these need to come to school everyday.
• Cold weather season is approaching.... LABEL EVERYTHING. Sweaters, jackets, coats, *gloves,* scarves, hats, ear muffs, snow boots. You would be impressed by the things students have lost in the past. Just label everything!
• COMPUTERS NEED TO BE CHARGED AND COME EACH DAY
• Please pack extra masks in your student's backpack
• Homework needs to be done each night. You will need to turn this in on September 30th. Remember to attach all workbook pages to the packet!

APEX: We are doing good as a whole class. We are currently in second place out of the whole school in raising money! Please keep sharing and spreading the word. This fundraiser is so helpful for our school... also my class won last year and I would love to keep the bragging rights! 😆😉 I might be a little competitive! 

• Login with the APEX login that was sent home earlier this week.
• Collect pledges and share on parent social media!
• Fun Run is scheduled for Thursday, September 23rd. This will be in the morning. Students can wear athletic bottoms and they will receive an APEX shirt that will come home soon.
• Students will need a big breakfast before school, big and full water bottle (with their name), and comfy running shoes.
• We earned a Stuffie Day, students may bring a small stuffed animal (small enough to fit inside a backpack). This will be on 9/24! 
• I will send lots of reminders and updates!!!

Academics:

Moral Focus: We will continue to talk and discuss wisdom. Next week we will be focusing on how we can show wisdom in our community and home. 

Leader In Me: We are still talking about being proactive. This week we talked about how we ignore or remind others who are off task. We also discussed how we must lead ourselves to do the right things before we correct others.

Phonics: We will be reviewing long and short vowel sounds but specifically working with long and short O! We will be reviewing what a digraph is, which is two letters that make one sound. We already know /sh/ and next week we will learn /th/. 

Heart words: as, with, this, they, if 

Comprehension: We will be looking at several read alouds and searching for words and pictures that show us the setting. Setting is the time and place the story took place.

Writing: We are writing all about books on what makes us happy. Students have done a great job with the writing unit!

Math: We are wrapping up our Math Numeracy assessments at the start of next week and then will be moving back into curriculum. We will be working on  developing strategies to solve problems within 10. 

Social Studies: In our citizenship unit we will talk about fairness and what that looks like in different situations. We will also talk about what to do if something unfair is happening to ourselves.

9/10

Hello Families!

I want to apologize for not sending a communication last week. I was taking care of some health issues. I appreciate your understanding. As always please be checking The Lead that comes from Mike Collins and any other communication from the school.

YOUR CHILD NEEDS TWO COMPOSITION NOTEBOOKS. I have several students without any or only one. Please check with your child to determine if you need to supply one.

Reminders: 2 snacks a day, name on water bottles, name on any sweaters or jackets, and pack extra masks. 

Please email me ahead of any trips your family plans on taking. This will allow me to gather materials. I do need more than two days notice.

Epic App: On your student's computer they can login and use the Epic App. The class code uzu1154  then select your student's name. We have NOT done this in class yet so your student may need some guidance. This is a great site for reading materials!

Academics:

Moral Focus: Student should be able to tell you our definition of Wisdom. Knowing the difference between right and wrong. We have been discussing certain activities and whether or not their are wise or unwise. You can discuss what is wise or unwise at home as well!

Leader in Me: We are still on Habit One: Be Proactive. This habit celebrates be responsible and using wise and helpful language rather than negative and hurtful language.

Phonics: We will be reviewing short and long U sounds, along with digraph TH. This week we learned that a digraph is two letters that make one sound like /SH/. 

Comprehension: We will be working on asking ourselves questions while we read. Readers do this to help them check for understanding as we read our content.

Writing: We are continuing to develop our handwriting but we are also working on our All About books still. Students have developed some awesome plans and we will be editing and revising next week.

Math: We will be pausing our First Grade Bridges curriculum in order to administer the Fall Numeracy assessment. There is nothing to prepare for. This assessment is designed to allow me, the teacher, understand where your student's math abilities is and where areas of strength and weakness are.

Social Studies: We will continue to talk about laws and rules and how these keep our community working. We will also touch base on what our constitution is designed to do since Constitution day is right around the corner!

8/27

 Hello Families!

We made it through our first full week! It was a blast! 

Curriculum night: I have recorded a video with some information HERE and the informational slides are here. Please email me with any questions or concerns you might have.

Purple Folders: These are coming home every Friday. Please empty them and review work and flyers with your student. Put the folders back in your student's backpack so they can return them to school.

Computers: Remember to be charging your computers at home and bringing your computer to school EVERYDAY.

Homework: I am sending home the September homework packet and the Bridges Home Connection workbook. Students will work on the assigned work on the appropriate date. Some assignments are attached to the packet, some are in the workbook. Please tear out the math pages and attach to the packet. The packet is due back completed on Sept. 30.

Snack/Water bottles: Please pack enough snacks for two snack times and a water bottle with your student's name on it. 

Academics:

Moral Focus: Students are going to explore the virtue of wisdom. Wisdom is understanding the difference between right and wrong. We will explore several stories and situations and discuss what wise choices look like.

Leader In Me: For the month of September we will be looking at Habit 1, Be Proactive. This is a great habit that focuses on student's ability's to lead themselves to do the right thing.

Phonics: We will be focusing on short and long a review along with continued review of our consonant sounds. We start heart words, which is a combination of high frequency words and words that cannot be decoded easily. These are important to know and to practice. 

Heart words: the, of, you, and, to

Phonics Resources: This website has some great resources to use at home! PHONICS WEBSITE

Writing: We completed an All About Room 7 book, next we will be creating an All About Landmark Academy book filled with facts about our school.

Comprehension: Students will focus on visualizing while listening or read a story. I will often refer to this as a mental movie. This is important for students to master because this helps assist them in understanding the setting and characters.

Math: We will be continuing adding and subtracting strategies along with skip counting by 2s next week. We will be utilizing a variety of materials to assist us this next week.

Social Studies: We will dive into our citizenship unit. This unit will focus on our school and classroom community and how we can take an active role in supporting each other. This topic will also lend itself to talking about being a good citizen at home and our neighborhoods.

8/20

 Happy Friday! 

Wow, what a week. It started with a flood and then a tornado! It's been crazy and everyone deserves a restful weekend! I am so proud of how our students handled all the chaos this week! 

We have had some new families join our classroom community this week! We are now at 28 students in our wonderful class! If you are new or just haven't filled out the survey please click HERE !

8/26/21: PICTURE DAY! Students are allowed to have a free dress day. Please be sure this is a school appropriate outfit! You can purchase school pictures online or from the order form sent home last Friday. If you plan on sending the physical form in please send it to school in your child's hand so they can hand it directly to me when they walk in. 

Computers: Student Chromebooks need to be charged EVERYNIGHT. We do use them throughout the week and it becomes difficult when students do not charge them.

Academics:

Moral Focus: We will be starting our Moral Focus Curriculum in September and we will be starting with the virtue of Wisdom. This means knowing the difference between right and wrong. If you want to start discussing this at home I am sure that would be helpful.

Leader In Me: We have been discussing how we want our classroom to operate. Students will get to create our classroom mission statement next week. This mission statement will be apart of our classroom culture and will reflect what we want to accomplish in First Grade.

Phonics: Students will continue to review short vowel sounds. This skill is very important to master before moving on to other skills. 

Reading Comprehension: Students will learn and review the parts of a book. Title, author, illustrator, spine, front and back, and page numbers. We will also start working on predictions. Predictions are smart guesses about what is going to happen next in the story.

Writing: As a class we will start working on an All About Our Classroom book. This will work on handwriting and sentence structure. 

Math: We are continuing to review some Kinder skills of counting 1-20 and adding and subtracting within 10. These are foundational skills that are important to the mathematical development of your student.

Social Studies: Students will explore what an exceptional Landmark student looks like, sounds like, and how they act. 

Homework: Read with your student for 20 minutes a day.

8/13

WOW! It has been a great three days! The whole class has learned a lot! 

Picture Day: Picture day is August 26. Student will be coming home with order forms, you can also order online.

Purple Folders: Folders should be coming home today with some work from this week and some flyers. Please empty this and return the purple folder on Monday.

Few reminders:

Water bottles: Students need a full water bottle every day. This also needs to be labeled with their name.

Snacks: I have two snack times so please provide two snacks per day.

Computers: Charge and bring everyday. 

Behavior: Please review basic expectations like raising your hand, taking turns, sharing, kind hands and feet. 

Dismissal: Please discuss in depth on how your student is getting home each day with your kid. If you follow a schedule please email me.

Academics: 

We will be launching into curriculum next week!

Leader In Me: Students have been discussing what leaders do to help themselves and others around our classroom and the school. We will be creating a classroom mission statement together next week. 

Reading Comprehension: We will be exploring different read aloud and discussing our favorite parts of the story. We will be working on expressing this in complete sentences verbally. We will work on the writing in whole sentences at a different point in the year.

Phonics: This the mechanics of reading. We will be looking at our vowels in depth. Every English word has to have a vowel in order to be a real word. It is extremely important that we know our vowel sounds by heart.

Writing: We will be reviewing letter shapes and how to create clear letters while writing. If your student struggles in this area, you may want to work on this at home.

Math: We will be reviewing our numbers and reviewing strategies on adding and subtracting within ten.

Social studies: Students will review our Landmark Creed and discuss the meaning. 

Homework: Student do NOT have homework at this time. We will be starting homework in September. Please read with your student and continue to charge Chromebooks at night.

First Grade Specifics!

Hello wonderful families!

This post is going to be LONG but very important so please read it all. 

I have made a quick survey for you to fill out about your student. Please only fill this out once for your student. It will only take 2 minutes! Please click Survey! 

Things to consider:

• If your student takes nap during the day start  decreasing the time and gradually fade them out of your weekday routine.  This will help your student stay alert and focused through out the whole school day.
• Slowly get into a school schedule. It does take practice and time to get this one down. Don't wait till the first day to wake your student up early. It will not go well for anyone! Doors open at 7:45 am at school and then students are expected to be in their classrooms not later than 8:10.
• Start reviewing some academics! This will help limit summer knowledge loss. Get your student counting, adding, subtracting. Get them writing about their favorite parts of summer and READ! 
• Just talk about First Grade. See if your student has questions, or concerns. 
• Start gathering school supplies! My last post had the list attached. You can scroll back and find it. Please try and make it to the supply drop off! I want to meet everyone but also have the supplies to organize for your student!  * There are no scissors listed on the supply list. I have a class set!
• If you want to go the extra mile you could start teaching your student how to tie shoes! This helps not only your child but me! With 29 coming into our class it tends to be a lot of shoes that need to be tied. My back thanks you! 😜

The following are some things specific to our daily routine in First Grade:

Water bottles: I ask that you send your student with a full water bottle each school day. Make sure it is a water bottle that your student can drink from easily. Pop tops are the preferred water bottle. Please avoid tumblers and wide mouthed bottles, when tilted it can spilled easily.

Lunch: Students have the option of "hot lunch" which is from the school's lunch line and "cold lunch" which is a packed lunch from home. If you plan on sending a packed lunch please make sure your student can easily open all their items. Our lunch crew will be there to assist students but they will often have to wait for help. 

Snacks: I do provide two times during the day for snacks. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. I suggest that you pack HEALTHY snacks ( NO CANDY) . Students should bring SMALL snacks to be able to fit in the SMALL snack times. I suggest putting them in a separate pocket of their backpack than their lunch box if you plan on packing their lunch so they know the difference. If you feel the need you can label the snack with their name as well. Some  families pack a day's worth of snacks and some will pack enough for the week. Not sure what will work for your family!  **Students are PROHIBITED to share any food. This is a safety issue. 

Arrival: Students will arrive at the North doors between 7:45 and 8:10. Please talk to your student about this, as this is different from Kindergarten.

Dismissal: Discuss how your student will get home several times leading up to the first day of school. This is a major source of anxiety for a lot of students in the first few weeks. If your student's pick up varies be sure to remind students daily. I have had parents in the past even make a keychain system. The blue key chain means Driveline, green means Walker. I'm not sure if this will work for your family but just an idea for those who have frequent changes. Last minute changes to pick can be called into the front office or emailed to me.

Chromebooks: Students should bring their Chromebooks on the First day of school in the  protective case that was provided to them in Kindergarten. If you are new or did not check out your student's Chromebook for the summer I will try and locate those for you.

Masks: TBD, as soon as I know I will send out another communication.

2021-2022 School Year Welcome!

Hello families! 

I am so excited to welcome you to First Grade! My name is Jess Crockett and I will be your student's teacher this year. This year will be packed with learning and lots of fun! 

About me!

I'm originally from Texas.

I love sweet tea... really anything sweet. 😍 

I love Mexican food.Yum! 

I love baseball. I grew up watching it with my dad and my husband now coaches in his spare time.

I have a son who is 7 months old name who's name is Tres!

I have a dog named Korra. She typically stars in my writing throughout the school year! She is a four year old husky that loves to talk! 

I love going to see movies! I like all types of movies but scary ones!

Below are important dates and the supply list:

• August 9th 4-5 PM Supply Drop/ Meet the Teacher 
• This is super important! I would love to meet everyone and also I can get your student's supplies all organized before school starts.
• August 9th New Family Orientation
• August 9th Used Uniform Sale
• August 11th First Day of School
• August 24th K-5 Curriculum Night
• August 26th 6-8th Curriculum Night

            Supply List: There are some notes below the list.

The primary composition book needs a area to draw a picture and an area to write.  These can be hard to find so click HERE for an Amazon link to them. 

Headphones: Please work on untangling cords or how to wrap the cord so it doesn't get tangled! It will save us a lot of time later!

Pencil Box: The traditional plastic rectangle pencil box is the best and fits the most, please no pencil bags. 

I will send another blog with more specific information about the first week of school at a later date! 

Final Blog :(

 Hello Families!

We made it! Today is the final day of First Grade! Wow this year was full of twists and turns. Your student has worked so hard and is so deserving of a restful summer. It has been a privilege to serve and support you and your family.  I know these student will continue to grow and thrive not just academically but in all areas of life! I feel so honored to be apart of your student's academic journey. 

This summer I will be travelling home to Texas for the first time in over two years. Tres will get to meet his great grandparents for the first time! I am also excited to be able to go to some Rockies games! 

I hope you and your family have an awesome and safe summer. I will see you and your SECOND GRADER in August.

Love,

Mrs. Crockett

5/14

 Hello Families!

Please be sure to bring in any supplies that you signed up for on MONDAY.

Students will still need to bring backpacks, two snacks, and a full water bottle each day!

Monday is BEACH DAY! I told the class today! 

Students can bring a beach towel to class! We will be doing fun beach themed Reading and Math centers! We will also being looking at what things float and what sink!

Tuesday is LEMONADE DAY! This is still a secret! 

Students will be tasting a couple different types of lemonades. Students will do fun Lemonade themed centers and will work on designing their own lemonade stands.

Wednesday is PARK and BUBBLE DAY (Bubble day is a secret).

Students will go to the park in the morning and we will be back before lunch. In the afternoon we will be on the field doing Bubble day! If weather is yucky we will everything inside!

Students will need to bring:

• Wear Field day shirt!
• Hat (if they want)
• Ball (ONLY FOR BUBBLE DAY, if they want)
• Change of clothes... for after potential dunk tank.
• Please apply sunscreen before school starts. 

Thursday is CAMPING DAY! This is a secret!

We will being doing camping themed centers! Students may bring a stuffed Bear to go along a fun read aloud we will doing! 

Friday: EARLY DISMISSAL @ 11:30!
Be sure to pack an AM snack for your student. Students will still need a water bottle and their backpacks!

5/7

 Hello parents!

This is going to be long but it contains very important info about the upcoming two weeks!

*Be sure to email me if your student is going to miss any days! It will help me with scheduling and grading!

*Thank you getting the permission slips back so quickly!! That was the fastest turn around I've ever had! 

Next week (May 10th-14th): I will be doing end of the year testing in Math for the majority of the week! Students are still expected to follow the rules. Even though we are approaching the end of the year we still need to do our job, which is learn! If you have any school materials that belong to the school please return them next week.

Last week of school (May 17th-21st): I have tried to plan a really fun last week of school. I know your students did not get to celebrate the end of the year last May due to Covid. So there will be some surprises and lots of activities. I do need some help gathering some materials to make this the best last week of school ever! SIGN UP FOR MATERIALS Be sure to carefully check the due date of each material on the sign up. I will need some of the materials earlier than others.

Here is the tentative plan for the week. This may change but I thought I would give a general idea as to what the last week would look like.

Monday: Beach Themed day (THIS IS A SECRET)

• Fun beached themed Reading and Math centers
• Fun beach artwork and stories

Tuesday: Lemonade Themed day (THIS IS A SECRET)

• Lemonade tastings and comparing
• Create your own Lemonade Writing
• Design your own Lemonade stand

Wednesday: Park in the AM and Bubble day in PM (BUBBLE DAY IS A SECRET)

• Students should wear their Field day shirt, bring a change of clothes, sunscreen, and a ball and hat if you choose to. I will send more info later.
• Popsicles (secret)
• Dunk Tank (secret)
• Bubbles (secret)

Thursday: Camp Themed day (SECRET)                                                            

• Camping Centers for Math and Reading
• Trail Mix
• How to make smores
• Fishing games

Friday: HALF day!

• Wrap up First grade 
• Say goodbyes 😖😖😖😖

I will also start sending home school materials at the start of the last week. This is so I don't overload their backpacks! I will TRY and send an email with a list of things coming home each day.

4/30/21

MONDAY: NO SCHOOL!

TUESDAY: Students will need to wear their bright yellow Landmark shirt that was sent home on Thursday. Students may wear athletic bottoms(you may want to pack extra clothes due to some water based field day events). We will be having a movie and board game afternoon for good behavior. Students may bring ONE SMALL stuffed animal to watch the movie with them. It needs to be able to fit inside your student's backpack without adult assistance. Your student can also bring one board game to play with friends. Please be mindful of what game you send. Our students are responsible but small pieces may be lost. I have board games here if you do not want to send any.

PERMISSION SLIP: There is a permission slip form coming home today in Purple Folders. Please sign and return it. First Grade will be walking to the park across the street from the school on the last week of school. 

Over the next several weeks I will be pulling students to have one on one time with me to complete end of the year testing. Please let me know ahead of time if your student will be gone at any point. This will help be with scheduling. 

Reading: We are continuing to review our phonics skills and we will continue our mysteries series.

Math: We will be reviewing our math strategies before we take the end of the year test. 

Social Studies: We will be continuing our American symbols unit. Next week we will be looking at the Statue of Liberty, and the Bald Eagle.

4/23

Four more weeks of First Grade! Where did the year go?

May 3rd: No school

May 4th: Field Day in the morning and Movie day in the afternoon.

May 21st: Last Day of School!

In the upcoming weeks students will be busy with wrapping up the last of our learning content and finishing up with any testing we have. Please be sure to email me AND call the front office if your student is going to be absent for any reason. A lot of the testing we will be doing is one on one with me. It will help me with scheduling if let me know ahead of time if your student will be out.

Students around this time start getting excited and distracted by the thought of summer. I encourage students to continue to do their best to stay engaged. Please review school expectations with your students at home. This will help me keep students learning and growing!

Reading: We have been reading and looking at books with mysteries! Our class is LOVING it. They are always asking to read more! I am currently reading The Haunted Hotel which is in the A-Z Mysteries series by Ron Roy. Several students asked if I could send the series title so they could ask you to purchase it😍 (there is set on Amazon). The reading level is high for some of our students but they would love it if you could read it to them!

Math: We have been working on place value and adding bigger numbers. We are trying to see if our strategies from simpler math problems still apply to the bigger numbers.

Social Studies: We will be exploring national monuments and symbols. Students will be able to tell you the symbols meaning and purpose!

Square 1 Art Fundraiser: Student artwork, stickers, and catalogs were sent home Tuesday, 4/20!  Now it's time to order items personalized with your child's masterpiece.  Personalized items make great gifts, and the school earns profit from every order.  

You can order online or send in your paper order form.  All orders are due by Friday, April 30th.  Thank you for supporting the Landmark Art Department!

4/9

 Hello families!

4/12: In person learning.

4/13 -4/15 *****Virtual Days: I have sent home student's green folder. This has their schedule and a writing packet. Please place this in a safe spot for our virtual school days. I also sent home a baggie with a whiteboard, expo marker, and pencils. This also needs to be placed in a safe spot for virtual learning. 

Please make sure that your student is logging into their meeting times!!

Technology time: Mr. Ellis will not have meetings with the students as of right now. He wants students to do Typing Club or one of his apps for 15 minutes.

If your students see an additional teachers beside me please make sure you check your email for instructions from them.

If your student does not join the whole class meeting or their small group meeting they may be considered absent. I will attach the schedule to the email and to the Google Classroom.

Below is the list of work that needs to be completed each day. The assignments will pop up each morning.

4/2

 Hello Families!

April 9th: Free Dress Day

April 12th: IN Person Learning

April 13, 14, and 15th: VIRTUAL LEARNING AT HOME. More information to come.

Note from Ms. Kenna:

Hello Families,

While preparing for our student art show I noticed I only have one piece of artwork for each of your students.  I typically like to have two pieces per student, but due to quarantine and the craziness of this year I only have one.  If your student would like to bring back a piece of artwork that we created together, I would love to showcase it in the art show.  Please note that this is not mandatory.  Please send in artwork by Friday, April 9th and make sure it is clearly marked with your child's name on the back.  Thank you!  -Andrea Kenna 

Students need to charge their computer each night!!!!!! I had several students unable to complete an assessment because their computers were not charged. I do not have chargers for students here at school. Please remind your student that they are responsible for the care and charge of their Chromebook.

Reading comprehension:

We will be looking at compare and contrast of fiction characters over the next several weeks. Students enjoy this unit!

Phonics: Students will learning about vowel teams ui and ew. Both make the same ew sound. Example: Fruit and flew.

Writing: Students will complete their all about animal reports next week and then we will dive into opinion papers.

Math: We will start balancing equations and finding which equations are true or false. 5+5= 7+3 is a true and balanced equation. 5+5= 1+2 is not a balanced equations so therefor is false.

Science: We are looking at animal classifications and attributes! This fits very well with our writing! The students are so knowledgeable about animals.

3/12

 Hello Families!

Report cards will be in purple folders today! Our Math test will be in there too, however the grade is going to be reflected on the quarter 4 report card. PLEASE EMPTY PURPLE FOLDERS.

PLEASE SEND YOUR CHILD WITH A WATER BOTTLE. I have gone through all my disposable cups and a case of water since I have been back! I don't want your student to be thirsty all day or dehydrated!

Monday: Possible snow day. If we have a snow day our class will have a quick virtual meeting at 8:50 am on our Google Classroom then students will be expected to complete 30 minutes of Dreambox and 30 Minutes of a reading app (I-ready, Epic, ABCmouse, or a combination). 

Friday, March 19th: Students have earned a Movie afternoon with their awesome behavior! 

Phonics: We are going to start reviewing for the next several weeks. I want to send our students into second grade with a super strong foundation in phonics. We will start reviewing with vowel team ai and ay.

Reading: We will be focusing on connections. Students can connect to texts three ways: Text to Self, Text to Text, and Text to World. Text to self is when a student can relate to the character or event in the text. Text to Text is when a student draws a connection from another story. Text to World is when a student can relate the story to a current or past event. 

Math: We are going to explore subtraction strategies! Students have mastered several strategies for addition! We are going to look at which strategies also work for subtraction.

Science: We are headed into Science! We will be practicing information gathering and processing! We want to draw connections between objects and subjects!

3/5/2021

 Hello wonderful families! 

Boy, we got a lot accomplished this week!

If you have any disinfectant wipes that you could donate to the class, we would greatly appreciate it! Wipes help keep our classroom clean and safe!

Phonics: We are going to review our vowel teams next week. There are so many so we are going to dive in them the next few weeks!

Reading: Next week we will be focusing on connecting information across the text. This helps with student's recall. Our class did amazing this week with cause and effect!

Math: We are going to wrap up our geometry unit next week. The class has been having fun cutting shapes into halves and fourths! They are so excited to be learning fractions! Hopefully they will keep that enthusiasm about fraction as they get older!

Social Studies: We are going to look at different types of communities like rural, suburban, and urban. We are going to tie in our weather and climate conversation by looking at why certain towns do certain things. For example: Why do some cities have snow plows while others have hurricane warning systems? 

We are now entering 4th quarter of first grade! Can you believe it? In the fourth quarter I usually bump up my expectations for behavior. Students need to be preparing for second grade. With that being said, please review appropriate behavior for school. This is also the time of year that students get very comfortable with each other. Remind students we still need to be respectful to one another. 

MASKS are still expected to be worn. I have had to remind students to keep their masks on throughout the day. The only times it should be off is when we are eating and drinking or safely distanced!

2/26

 Hello families!

Reminders:

March 2nd: Spring Pictures, Uniforms only!

Students need to be charging their computers at home EACH night. I have had several student computers die during the school day this week.

Students should bring a water bottle each day! 

Phonics: This week we looked at suffix -ed and next week we will explore other suffixes (-er, -s, -es, and -ing) Suffixes come at the end of a base word. For example 'floating,' the base word is float and the suffix is  -ing. 

Comprehension: We are going to start looking at non fiction texts again. The main focus next week will be cause and effect. Effect is what happened and the cause is why it happened. It is important for students to have a clear understanding of what effect and cause mean. You can practice this at home by calling attentions to actions in real life or in texts. I wear a coat (effect) because it is chilly outside (cause).

Math: We are going to continue our geometry unit. The students have explored various 2D and 3D shapes. The students will look at dividing shapes into halves and fourths. This will be a brief look into fractions. A great way to practice this at home would be folding towels 😆. "Fold the towels in half." 

Social studies: We are going to look at the effects of weather and climate on our communities. Climate and weather can sometimes dictate what communities can do. For example a city with heavy snow fall each year would purchase a snow plow, while a city with minimal snow fall would spend money on something else. This ties in really well with our cause and effect unit in reading.

2/19

 Hello wonderful families!

I have really enjoyed this week! It is nice to be back in school and with our amazing students!

Upcoming Dates: 

Feb 22- March 2: Virtual Scholastic Book fair 

March 2nd: Spring pictures (uniform only)

March 22-26: Spring Break

Next week:

Phonics: Students will learn about the three sounds suffix -ed makes along with vowel team ou. Our upcoming heart words are: goes, always, because, own, only.

Reading Comprehension: We will look at several text and determine the lesson of the story. Stories can teach us lesson to make us better people. Students will need to figure out how the characters changed and what they learned along the way. 

Math: We started our geometry unit this week. The students are loving all the shape apps on Clever and all the fun in person centers that go along with this unit. This week we looked at the attributes of 2d shapes and next week we will start to explore 3d shapes. Students need to know the names of both the basic  2d and 3d shapes (rhombus, rectangle, square, hexagon, rectangle prism, pyramid, etc.)

Social Studies: We had to back track and finish exploring landforms! Students loved playing Landform Bingo yesterday. Next week we will explore needs and wants. This is a great unit! I try to put in perspective what in our daily lives are needs and wants. Food vs. toys, water vs. soda, etc.

Few reminders:

Please pack enough snacks for your student, we have two snack times a day.

Water bottles need to have the student's name on them! It seems everyone has very similar water bottles! 

Please reach out anytime if you have any questions or concerns!