Sourcebook Project

Don't forget that the writing sourcebook project is due Friday, September 3rd. Remember, you can include photographs, stickers, magazine pictures...anything that can be glued or taped down and is flat. I will put it in a page protector in the front of their sourcebooks. These will be helpful to your child when thinking of topics to write about. Below are a couple of great examples of ones that have already been returned.

First Week!

Well we made it through our first week! The class has been doing a wonderful job at picking up on the rituals and routines of first grade. I am so proud of them! Thank you to who came to Open House Thursday night. I wish more parents had attended, I think that the parents who came left with a little clearer idea of what goes on in our classroom and what is expected of their child this year. Take a look at the pictures above that show the students busy during Literacy Skills Block, Readers Workshop, Writers Workshop and Math Workshop. Remember, I can't include photos of your child until the photo/DVD permission slip is returned!

Open House

I hope that everyone will be able to attend Open House tomorrow night, August 26th. It will begin at 6:00 with a brief meeting in the cafeteria. After that, we will meet in Room 5 to discuss our schedule, first grade standards, assessments and grades, homework and ways for you to help your child at home. I look forward to seeing you there!

It was wonderful to meet several of you Friday at Orientation. Don't forget to bring in your supplies as soon as possible. On Monday the students will come home with some paperwork that needs to be completed and returned to the school. It is important that you contact me and the office when any of your phone numbers change.

Our lunch time is from 11:00 - 11:30. Please make sure that your child has lunch money or a lunchbox daily. If they were a Duval County student last year then their free or reduced status will remain in effect for one month. However, everyone must complete a new lunch application each year.

Your child will have homework every night, Monday through Thursday, beginning Day 1. Along with the assigned homework they are expected to be reading or being read to , nightly.

Please make plans now to attend Open House on Thursday, August 26th from 6:00-7:00pm.

Welcome to our Class Blog!

Well, if you are reading this post then you found us!! Welcome to room 5 and our classroom blog. I have been busy getting the classroom ready for your arrival...take a peek at the pictures below. I hope to get to meet you on Friday during our orientation. Don't forget to bring your supplies if you have them by then. See ya soon!

This Week in Room 3....

June 1 - 4

This week we will take finish Theme 10 in our Reading Series. We will also take our final benchmark test for the year. We will continue administering the Developmental Reading Assessments to the students to determine their independent reading level.

In math we will complete our unit on measurement. We will continue practicing addition and subtraction of two digit numbers in math skills block.

Remember, our normal instruction continues until the end of the year. It is important that your child attends school each day!

On Friday, the PTA is throwing our class a pizza party for winning the Box Top contest. Thanks to all the students that have turned in box tops.....our class brought in the most for the school this year!

Thanks to all for turning in your party money in a timely manner. We know that the students will have a great time at our year end celebration.

This Week in Room 3....

May 24 - 27

Please send in your party money as soon as possible if you have not yet done so. The first grade classes may need to change our party plans because of the limited amount of money that has come in so far.

Our class will be shopping at the Scholastic Book Fair in the Media Center on Tuesday.

We have ended spelling assessments for the year. Please have your child continue to practice these words. All lists can be found at SpellingCity.com.

In Reader's Workshop this week we will practice identifying cause and effect in our stories. The students ask themselves..What happened? (effect) and ...What caused it to happen? (cause).

We will continue to practice substituting phonemes in words. This is a phonemic awareness activity. It is all done orally, with not print associated to it. An example is " Say the word 'ship'. Now change the "i" (short i sound) to an /ar/ . What is the new word? "Sharp".
In phonics we will look at comparative word endings -er and -est. The students will learn to use -er when comparing two things. (Pam is taller than Sam) They use -est when comparing more than two things. ( Pam is the tallest girl in the class.)

Our high frequency words are: present, thoughts, able and eye.

In Writer's Workshop we have returned to Narrative Writing. The students meeting the standard in this genre for first grade are able to: generate their own topics; have an engaging beginning; sequence two or more events by using time cue words; add a sense of closure; they may also add dialogue, details, and reactions.

In Math we will continue comparing the capacity of various containers by measuring with sand and blocks. We will also continue two digit addition and subtractions without regrouping.

This week our class will be "visiting" other countries at Parkwood during International Week. We will also be presenting our information on Spain to other classes on Thursday.

Scholastic Book Fair

Our class will be shopping at the book fair on Tuesday, May 25th. Your child needs to bring at least $6.00 to purchase a book. There are a limited amount of books that begin at this price. You may also come shop with your child before school. The book fair ends on Thursday, May 27th.

Coming Soon....International Vacation

As part of the International Vacation at Parkwood, our class has been studying the country of Spain. We have learned many interesting facts about this interesting country. We will be presenting this information next week to other classes at Parkwood. We also will be packing up our passports and "visiting" other countries (classrooms).
Click here for facts about Spain!

From Seed To Plant

The students have enjoyed our study of plants this past month. We have learned about the parts of a flower and what each part does for the plant. We have also observed tomato, daisy and bean seeds to see which one sprouted first. The students planted bean seeds and have been observing their growth. On Tuesday, we took apart dried beans that had soaked overnight in water. The students used hand lenses to locate and remove the seed coat and the baby plant.