Update September 15th

*On Monday, we will travel by bus to the Day School to visit the Living Lab.  We will leave at 9:20am and return just after 11:00am.  Our focus at Living Lab will be how living things use their body parts and the comparing plants.  Please dress for the outside weather as we will explore the Reed Brook during our visit.

*I hope to see many of you on Monday night (September 17th) from 6-6:45pm for Back to School Night.  We will quickly chat about curriculum and spend time learning about important information for all parents to know.  Please note, this session is for parents/guardians only (no students) in order to discuss what to expect in first grade.

*Starting this week, students will be taking books out of the Library during their weekly visits.  Please be sure to send books back to school each Monday so your child can take out another book.

*On Friday, we will be walking through the Robifulli trail to Crisafulli to meet our 4th grade Book Buddies from Mrs. Boyle's class.  Each month, we will visit our Book Buddies.  We will get to know them and enjoy reading activities together.  Again, please dress student's for the weather.  We will be a Crisafulli from 10-11am.

*September 21st is International Day of Peace.  We hope you enjoy our display of peaceful pinwheels outside when you arrive for Curriculum Night on Monday.

*Students will have a writing ideas homework assignment this week that will be due back to school on Friday.  The paperwork and information about this will go home on Monday.  We will be using these ideas for writing throughout the school year.  Please continue to send it sticky notes on Mondays to help students remember what they did over the weekend. Every Monday, we will write about our weekend and share with our classmates.  Some students get stuck on what to write about and having a reminder from home will be helpful.

*Our Focus in Math This Week:

*data collection

*counting by 1s and 5s

*exploring math materials

*solving simple number stories

*counting larger numbers

*In Science this week, we will explore how animal's body parts help them.  Students will see how animals use their fur, blubber or feathers to keep them stay warm.  

*We will continue building the components of the Daily 5.  Students are building their stamina in Read to Self and Work on Writing.  We will introduce Read to Someone and Work on Words this week.

*In Writing, we will discuss what to do when you think you're done with a piece of writing and how to continue a story.  We will also explore how you can use known words to spell tricky words.

Update September 8th

*On Friday, our class filled our Pom Pom Jar for the first time this year.  Students earned pom poms individually or by whole class expected behaviors.  Pom poms were earned for pushing in chairs, cleaning up quickly and quietly, walking through the halls in a safe way or showing expected behavior.  The class voted on a prize for filling the jar and have decided to have a "Bring Your Stuffed Animal to School Day" this Tuesday, September 11th.  They should bring one stuffed animal from home and it should be small enough to fit in their backpack.  Please help me in congratulating them on a great start to first grade!

**Last week, we began our routine of doing "Weekend News Writing." Each Monday, students will write about something they did over the weekend.  Often times, students forget what they did over the weekend.  Please recap your weekend with your child on Sunday night or before school on Monday.  If it's helpful for your child, write a sticky note with a couple of ideas to bring to school.

**We will continue to introduce the components of Daily 5.  Last week students worked on building their Read to Self reading stamina.  This week, we will introduce Work on Writing and finding I-Pick Books.  I-Pick Books are books that students feel they can read on their own and are of interest to them.

**We will continue our Science Unit- Plants and Animal Parts.  This week, we will find similarities between offspring and their parents.  

**In Math, we will focus on 1-more, 1-Less Number Stories, Comparing and Ordering Numbers and Introducing Tally Marks.  We will also learn the rules of some important math games.

**Our classroom tends to get warm throughout the day.  We take frequent water breaks to fuel our bodies.  Please consider sending your child to school each day with a refillable water bottle.

**We have been working on learning the I-Care Rules in our class.  All teachers at Robinson follow the I-Care Rules.  Students will see these same rules when they visit other classrooms: in the gym, art room, etc.  This week students will be working on an I-Care Rules homework called, Caught Using the I-Care Rules.  Students will be tasked with noticing friends and family members using the I-Care Rules.  This homework will be sent home on Monday and need to be returned by Friday.

Looking Ahead

**Grade One Back to School Night is Monday, September 17 from 6:00-6:45pm. 

These sessions will be for parents and guardians only. This will allow much needed time for teachers to focus on curriculum topics and for parents to ask questions. I hope to greet many of you as I discuss the first grade curriculum.

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

Update June 17th

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads!  Thanks for everything you do for your kids!

We have a very busy, fun and exciting last week of school ahead of us.  It is also supposed to be extremely hot tomorrow (Monday.)  Please dress kids appropriately for the weather.  Shorts and a tshirt/tank top are most appropriate for our building that does not have AC.  Also, please send them to school with a water bottle.  They will have many opportunities throughout the day to fill them up if needed.

Our Activities for the Week Include:

June 18th- Bubbles Day- 
We will have fun with bubbles.  Thank you for donations!

June 19th-Game Day

      Bring your favorite board game or card game from home.  Remember to put your name on your game.  We will share our games with friends throughout the day.  Please do NOT bring electronic games into school. 

Wednesday, June 20^th - Movie Day

     Please bring an extra snack to school to munch on during our feature presentation!

Thursday, June 21^st  – Book & Blanket Day & Move-Up Day

      Bring a towel or blanket and your favorite book to school!  We will enjoy the beautiful weather and cozy up with a great book in the front lawn.  Please also wear sunscreen! 

We will also participate in Move-Up Day. Students will meet their teacher and classmates for next school year.  Letters will come home on Thursday telling you who your child will have as a teacher for 2nd grade.

Friday, June 22^nd  - Last Day of School- 12:20 Early Dismissal

      We will enjoy spending time with our friends today.  Our day will finish with a Pizza Party! Please send a drink in for your child.  If you have not sent in $2 for the pizza party, please do by Tuesday.  I'll be making my call with final numbers to Papa Ginos on Tuesday morning.

Thank you again for a great year! I've enjoyed getting to know your 1st grader, their siblings and all of you throughout the year!

Update June 11th

It's hard to believe that we only have 2 weeks left of the school year.  It's also hard to believe that our baby, Kit, will be 1 year old on Tuesday.  A year sure does go quickly!  We celebrated Kit's first birthday with family and friends this weekend.  We hope you also enjoyed the beautiful, summer-like weather with your family.

The Birthday Girl!

*As we count down the final days of school, each student shares one thing they loved about first grade.  Some said "reading," others enjoyed "making new friends."  I've had to wipe the tears from my eyes a few times.  This is truly a wonderful group of kids. You should all be very proud of their accomplishments this year.  We have so many fabulous readers, amazing mathematicians and incredible friends amongst us!

*We will finish up our last few lessons of the Everyday Math curriculum this week.  Our focus will be on reviewing place value, 2D &3D Shapes and measurement.

*Students have done a good job learning about the Sun, Moon and Stars.  We will complete our final Science assessment on Monday.

1st Grade Spirit Week starts this week!  We also have some fun, community events this week.

This Week's Activities:

Tuesday--We will enjoy the Crisafulli 5th Grade Chorus Performance at Robinson

Wednesday- All School Science Show, hosted by PTO

 Thursday- Red, White and Blue Day- wear red, white and blue.  We will learn about the American Flag!

Friday- Art Day- we will do many fun, art projects!

Next Week:

June 18th- Bubbles Day (If you're able to, please donate bubbles for the year.  Thank you for donations I've already received.)

June 19th-Game Day

June 20th-Movie Day

June 21st- Book & Blanket Day

June 22nd-Pizza Party (last day 12:20pm Early Release)

Update June 3rd

*This Wednesday, we welcome parents to join us for Excellence Fair at 2:15pm.  Students are working hard to gather pieces of work they are proud of to share with all of you at the fair.  Students will display their work at their seats.  Please visit your child's seat and see their work.  I'll leave sticky notes and pens on my reading table.  I invite you and your child to walk around the room and leave comments for their classmates on their work too!  I will have a sign-out sheet if you would like to take your child home at the end of the time.  We ask that you try your best to make arrangements for siblings so that you can focus all of your attention on your first grader and their excellent work!  I also understand if this isn't possible...no worries if they need to come!  If you are not able to attend, please let me know.

*With only three weeks left in school, we will be busy this week and next performing End of Year Assessments.  This week, we will focus on the end of year math assessment, which we'll do over 3 days this week.  We will also do the final writing assessment, which asks student's to write a small moment narrative (much like their weekend news!)  We will begin to write the 100 High Frequency Words on Thursday and finish up early next week.

*This is our last week of spelling practice.  We will focus on word endings. 

*I will not be sending home math homework most nights this week since we are assessing.  We do still have a few math lessons to complete later in the week and next week.  There may be some nights the kids have homework and some they do not.

*In Science, we're learning about the pattern of the moon.

*A notice will go home tomorrow with information about our 1st Grade Spirit Week for the end of the year.  Here's a quick preview of our days:

June 14th- Red, White and Blue Day

June 15th-Art Day

June 18th- Bubbles Day (donated bubbles would be great!)

June 19th-Game Day

June 20th-Movie Day

June 21st- Book & Blanket Day

June 22nd-Pizza Party (last day 12:20pm Early Release)