Update November 1st

*On Tuesday, it will be School Store for first grade.  Students are able to purchase small school supplies.  We suggest that you send in no more than $2 for students to spend at School Store.

*We will begin writing our Non-Fiction books "All About Me."  Please send in a photograph of your child to use in their book.  You can also email me a picture and I will print it out.

*This week in Spelling, we will focus on words that end with e.  We call these words King Ed words.  King Ed sits at the end of the word telling the vowel before him to "say your name."  For Example kit becomes kite with King Ed at the end.

*In Math, we will learn about frames and arrows, which will help us practice addition and subtraction facts. We will also practice using a calculator to help with skip counting.

*In Social Studies, we are learning about being good citizens.  We are also learning about leaders in our country (Neil Armstrong, Clara Barton and George Washington.)  We are talking about common character traits of these leaders: brave, hard worker, caring.

*In handwriting, we will continue to work on our lowercase letters.  I'm encouraging students to begin using lowercase letters when appropriate.  Please encourage your child to start their letters at the top for proper letter formation.

*The class once again filled the pom pom jar from showing expected behavior in our classroom.   Last week they voted to watch a "movie." We watched an episode of Super Monsters on Netflix on Halloween morning.

*On November 21st, we will welcome author and illustrator to our school to teach the first graders about being a writer.  I am in need of one more parent volunteer for this time (11:50-1:20.) Please email me if you are available to help.

*We had a great visit with Mr. LaCoste this morning.  I posted a quick video of the students singing "Don't Give Up on Me" on the seesaw app.  Also, be sure to follow the Robinson School Facebook page for more videos and photos which will be uploaded later today and over the weekend. https://www.facebook.com/WPSRobinsonElem/

Looking Ahead:

November 5th- School Store

November 11th- No School (Veteran's Day)

November 21st, 12:10-1:10 - Author Visit- Emilie Boon (I am in need of two parent volunteers.  Please email me if you are available.)

November 25th- No School, 2-8pm Parent/Teacher Conferences

November 26th- 2 Hour Delay- 8:30-10:45 Parent/Teacher Conferences 

November 27th- 12:20pm Early Release

November 28 & 29- No School

Update October 25th

*This Thursday, October 31st at 12:45pm, is our Harvest Party.  Thank you to the parent volunteers and parents that have signed up to donate items for the party! Students may bring costumes in school to wear only during the Harvest Party.  The costumes should be brought to school in a bag with your child's name on it.  No face paint, masks or weapons will be allowed.  

*In Math, we will practice counting on the number line, counting to add/subtract and skip counting.

*In Social Studies, we learned about leaders and rights/responsibilities.  This week we will create a list of leaders in history and present-day.  We will learn about Neil Armstrong and discuss his character traits.

*In comprehension, we will continue to learn about Non-Fiction features: table of contents, glossary, labels, captions, index, bold words.

*In Spelling, we will work on pattern words that rhyme with -all, -ill and -ell.  I will continue to send home spelling lists.  The activities are optional assignments.

*Star of the Week: I will be the first Star of the Week in our class.  On Friday, I will share personal photos, collections and some of my favorite things with the class.  Each Friday we will choose a new Star of the Week.  Every student will have a chance to share.  When your child is chosen, you will receive a letter with information and a poster for your child to fill out.  My hope is for everyone to have their own special time to share a little bit about themselves.

Looking Ahead

October 31st at 12:45- Harvest Party
November 5th- School Store
November 11th- No School (Veteran's Day)

November 21st, 12:10-1:10 - Author Visit- Salina Yoon (I am in need of two parent volunteers.  Please email me if you are available.)

November 25th- No School, 2-8pm Parent/Teacher Conferences

November 26th- 2 Hour Delay- 8:30-10:45 Parent/Teacher Conferences 

November 27th- 12:20pm Early Release

November 28 & 29- No School

Update October 18th

*Thank you for sending in donations for our three school parties.  If you have not sent in the $6 donation for parties, you can send it in with your child in their BEE Binder.   I will go out this weekend to get supplies for our first party, the Harvest Party!

*In Math, we begin Unit 3.  Our focus this week is finding the parts of a number story and their totals.  We will also play domino top it.  Domino Top It is a game you could play at home if you have a set of dominoes.

*Domino Top-It*

1.    Place all of the dominoes on the table face down.

2.    Each player turns over one domino and counts the dots on each end of the domino.

3.    In turn, players say the number model corresponding to their domino; i.e., 4 + 7 =11 (for 4 dots on one end and 7 dots on the other).

4.    The player with the largest sum takes all of the dominoes from that round.

5.    Play continues until all dominoes are gone.

6.    The player with the most dominoes at the end of the game is the winner.

*Reading Groups are going really well.  Some of you have noticed students coming home with reading response journals in their reading bags.  Most of the time I send these home just so you can see what we're working on in reading group.  If I'm expecting the students to do any work in them at home, I will mark that on the reading log.  

*We will begin to learn about Non-Fiction features this week.  We will find features in a read aloud book and then students will explore other non-fiction books from our classroom library to find features.  

*We will begin a social studies unit focusing on Civics.  This week our focus will be on discussing groups we are part of  and the roles different people play.  We will also learn the word "citizen" and talk about what good citizens do at home, school and in our community.

*In Recess Club, we will review expected behaviors and students will share expected behaviors they noticed over the week.  We will read the book How to Lose All of Your Friends and make a list of unexpected behaviors at school.

Looking Ahead

October 31st at 12:45- Harvest Party
November 5th- 1st Grade School Store

November 11th- No School (Veteran's Day observed)

November 25th- No School, 2-8pm Parent/Teacher Conferences

November 26th- 2 Hour Delay- 8:30-10:45 Parent/Teacher Conferences 

November 27th- 12:20pm Early Release

November 28 & 29- No School

Update October 13th

There is no school Monday, October 14th or Tuesday, October 15th.

*Since this is a short week, we will not be sending home a spelling list.  I will send home math homework on Thursday only.

*In Math, we will finish up Unit 2.  Our focus during this unit has been on solving addition and subtraction number stories and using multiple strategies and tools to solve.  We will finish this week with a math assessment to check where students are and allow me to plan for the next unit.

*Last week in writing, we focused on the inside story of our small moment stories.  The outside story is what happened.  For example: We went apple picking with our cousins.  The apples were high up on the trees and hard to reach.  My big cousin had to help me."  The inside story is how you felt.  For example,"It was the best time ever!"  In first grade, many students inside stories are simply "it was fun."  Last week we created a list of interesting and different ways of saying "it was fun."  This week, we will create a list of ways to say "it was not fun."  Students will practice using these interesting ways of sharing their inside story in pieces they have already finished.

*Last week, we began Recess Club.  In Recess Club, we use the new Mindfulness Space in our school to learn social skills needed to navigate first grade.  Last week, we reviewed what expected behaviors we should see at school (listening to the speaker, hands are for helping, safe bodies.)  This week, our focus will be on what we think friendship is and what is expected and unexpected in friendships.  We will read a book called "You Are Friendly" by Todd Snow.  Student's training assignment for the week will be looking out for expected and friendly behaviors.  They will also practice expected behaviors at recess, school, home, one the bus and in the community.

*On Friday, we will meet our 4th grade Book Buddies from Crisafulli. The 4th graders will come to visit us at Robinson.  Each student will be paired with one or two 4th grade buddies.  They will converse, read with one another and get to know each other over the course of the school year.  Next month we will travel to Crisafulli.

*Just recently, we welcomed a new student to our classroom.  Everyone did such a great job of welcoming her! I have updated the friendship list with her contact information.  You can access the list here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10idzniGVzYc9hg9ncmcAe6JUzbt0Jvw-RYWB8-vHCI8/edit?usp=sharing

Update October 7th

*This week, the students welcomed a new fish into our classroom.  Our fish is named Chicken and he is very happy to join our classroom.  Students are taking turns feeding Chicken and reading to him during Read to Someone.

*In Math, we will practice using a calculator and work on change to more and change to less number stories.

**In Writing, we are writing "small moment" stories.  Small moment stories are taking a big story like going on a trip and picking one small moment from the trip to write about.  For example, the plane ride or your favorite ride at Disney.  

*In Science, we will talk about what body parts help different animals to survive.  We will observe our new fish, Chicken.  We will also discuss how parents take care of their offspring.

*On Wednesday, we will have an all school community meeting to talk about the "i" in Spirit, Inclusion.  Our class will lead community meeting by teaching the school a morning greeting we do often called Snowball.

*If you have not signed up for Seesaw yet, please join us. I'm updating often with student work and fun information about things going on in our classroom. The link to sign up and follow your student's work is here: https://app.seesaw.me/s/438-654-585

*Last week I emailed volunteer times to everyone who sent back a volunteer form. If you think you signed up to volunteer in our class and you haven't heard from me, please send me an email.

*Our Harvest (Halloween) party is on Thursday, October 31st in the afternoon. We have 3 parties in first grade. I am asking each student to send in a $6 donation to help with the costs of the 3 parties. If you could send in the donation by the middle of next week, that would be helpful!

Looking Ahead:

Monday, October 14th- No School, Columbus Day

Tuesday, October 15th- No School, Professional Development

Update September 29th

*On Saturday, along with my girls, my mom and some great teachers from Robinson, I walked in the Middlemiss Family 5k.  The 5k supports the Joseph Middlemiss Big Heart Foundation and the LaCoste Family.  The weather was perfect for the event.  It was nice to see so many Robinson families!

*On Wednesday, we have picture day!  Please send back forms students need to have their pictures taken Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.  We are lucky to have the first time slot for pictures so the kids will still be camera-ready!

*On Friday, we will welcome our first Mystery Reader.  This year, I'm trying to schedule Mystery Readers on or close to their child's birthdays.  I know many of our students have summer birthdays (I'm one of them) so we can do those any time of the year or closer to the end of school.  If you haven't signed up to be a Mystery Reader, please send me an email. 

*I will be working on getting the volunteer schedule done and schedule any new mystery readers this week!  September really flew by! I hope to start with volunteers sometime next week.

*The second week of spelling homework will begin this week.  This week was are working on words with the short vowels a, o and u.

*The plants that went home on Friday are kidney bean plants.  Students had observed their seeds for two weeks in their original paper towel habitats.  They observed and transplanted them on Friday before going home.  This week in science, we will observe how different animals and plants take in air, food and water.

*In Math, we will continue to practice addition and subtraction number models (facts/equations.)

*In handwriting, we have finished our review of uppercase letters.   The class are now experts! We will begin to practice lower case letters.

Update September 21st

The weather is perfect this weekend.  We spent some time at the Maker Farm on Friday afternoon and then spent this morning at dance class for Arya and Kit.  I can't wait to hear about all of your weekend's on Monday when we work on "Weekend News."

*In school this week, we will take part in "Start with Hello" week.  Over the course of the week, we will participate in activities to increase kindness, make new friends and create a sense of community in our school.  

On Monday, every student and staff member will wear a name tag.  Kids and adults will be encouraged to say hello to someone new.  In our class we will practice, "Hi, I'm Mrs. Conway.  What's your name?"

On Wednesday, students are encouraged to wear their favorite socks, sneakers/shoes. We will talk about where our shoes have traveled.

On Friday, we will wear anything that will bring smiles to others.  Examples include, a smiley face shirt, bright color, emoji shirt, Robinson shirt, LaCoste Strong shirt.  We will talk about small acts of kindness and spread these across our school.

To learn more about "Start with Hello" week, take a look at this website. https://www.sandyhookpromise.org/startwithhelloweek

*Starting this week is Spelling Homework.  On Monday, students will receive their spelling list as well as a Spelling Tic Tac Toe.  Students will have activities to choose from to practice their words.  We encourage two nights of practice each week.  If your child already knows the words, you do not have to do the activities.   New activities are shared each week to work on spelling words.  If you find an activity that works well for your child but isn't on that week's list, please do it!! We will also practice these words in class this week.  On Friday, we will have a spelling check-in.  

* Unit 2 will start on Monday.  Our focuses this week are:

*counting on (starting at 5 to count up 3 more)

*turn around facts (1+2=3 so 2+1=3)

*2 Fisted Penny Addition (combos of 10)

*Subtraction Number Stories

*In Daily Five, we continue to practice Read to Self, Read to Someone, Work on Words and Work on Writing.  We will introduce Listen to Reading (Raz Kids) this week.  Last week we began reading groups (the earliest we've ever been ready since they've been working so well independently.)

Looking Ahead:

October 2nd- Picture Day

October 14th- No School, Columbus Day

October 15th- No School, Professional Development for Teachers & Staff