Update Week of Sept 4th

Hello!  I hope you enjoy Labor Day Weekend with family and friends!  I had such a great time meeting and getting to know the class this week.  What a great group!  We practiced many classroom routines and will continue to practice everyday routines in the coming weeks.  Students will continue to build independent skills with morning, lunch and afternoon routines.  One of our goals in first grade is to foster independence with everyday tasks both at school and at home.

**If you have not returned any important forms to school, please do so this week.  Getting the office updated on important student information is essential.  Forms that need to be returned are: Living Lab Permission Slip, Robifulli Trail Permission Slip, Allergy Information, Student Handbook Info, Dismissal Form and Email Address Sign Up.  Thank you.

**Each week I will update the blog with important information about our week.  When I do update the blog, I will send out an email to let you know.

**I was informed this week that on days that we have a half day of school, breakfast will not be served at the Before School Program.  The reason for this is because there is no staff in the cafeteria on half days.

**Please continue to send water bottles into school.  We take many water breaks throughout the day and I like to have students keep water bottles on their tables while we're in class.

**We will begin our Science unit "Plant and Animal Parts" this week.   This week we will focus on how plants and animals are like others of the same kind.  For example, what makes a dog a dog and a tulip a tulip?

***We will begin Unit 1 of our Everyday Mathematics 4.  This unit will build upon skills already learned in Kindergarten or Pre-1st.  We will play familiar games like Monster Squeeze and Bunny Hop. In addition, we will continue to learn about the math tools that will help us throughout the year.  Students will practice basic counting, skip counting and counting on the number line.

**We will begin to establish the routines of Daily Five.  Please visit the Reading & Daily 5 page on my blog to learn more.  This week we will begin exploring "Read to Self" and the 3 ways to read:

1. Read the words

2. Read the pictures (make up your own story)

3. Retell the story (retell a story you have listened to before)

**Students will practice reading and writing the 25 Kindergarten Spelling Words over the next three weeks.

Looking Ahead:

Monday, September 17th 6:00-6:45pm First Grade Curriculum Night, parents/guardians only please.

August Update

Dear First Graders and Families,

I look forward to meeting and learning about your families this school year! We will have a great time this year learning and creating in Room 3.  

I've attached the back to school newsletter I'll send home on the first day of school for your reference. 

On the first day of school, we will meet our first grade friends in the cafeteria of the school.  Once everyone has arrived, we will walk together down to our classroom to get our day started.  During the first week, we will spend time getting to know our classroom, getting to know our school and getting to know each other.  I love to learn about my first graders and their families.  I hope you'll like learning about my family and me!

I had a great summer at home with my girls, Arya (age 3) and Kit (age 1.)

**If you have not sent me your email address, please do!  I will be updating this blog each school week for information about what we're doing.  cconway@westfordk12.us