I know you have all been anxious to come help out in class, and as kids are getting settled into routines, I would like to invite you to join us in class starting next week. If you would like to volunteer in class to read with students in the morning, I'd love to have a volunteer in the mornings to read with students during the first 45 minutes of class during soft start and morning meeting. Help on Tuesdays and Wednesdays would be great.
I could also use help on Friday mornings up until 9:15 with more prep work for the coming week. Sometimes it may be prepping, other times it may be reading or supporting students in their morning activity. If you would like to come in please post a comment for which day you'd like to come for next week so that others can see if the time slot is already filled. -Tuesday AM reading (1 volunteer) -Wednesday AM reading (1 volunteer) -Friday AM prep/reading (1 volunteer) Thank you for all your support!
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This week our focus in class was how to be thoughtful about our work, it is one of our class rules. We talked about not just being thoughtful during writing, reading, and math, but also how we act thoughtfully when cleaning up or treating each other with respect. Reading/WritingOn Thursday students came up with personal goals related to reading or writing that they are working on to become better writers or readers. Ask them what their goal is so that you can help them to practice at home too! MathWe are continuing to practice different methods of adding numbers up to ten. We have used a number rack as well as a ten frame as two tools that can support adding two numbers. With the ten frame mat students took turns being the write or builder: the writer tells the builder how many dots to put on the mat, the together they count to see how many empty squares are left over. From this they can create an addition equation: 3 dots + 7 empty squares=10.
This week we focused heavily on our first class rule: being fair and friendly. On Tuesday every group acted out mini plays of different scenarios on how to act fair and friendly in tough situations, groups were given a mission to solve and had to work together to solve it, and we practiced being fair and friendly with our pets too. Jogathon and VolunteersThe Jogathon is coming up, packets went home Wednesday with more details about it. We will be tye dying t-shirts next Friday, September 30. If you are interested in volunteering to help please email me at [email protected]. We will need up to 4 volunteers to help out, I will just take the first 4 to email me back. Volunteers will help set up at 12:40, and can stay until the end of the day. Remember that if you are volunteering you need to check in at the front office to have a record check and confidentiality form signed. New Class PetsMeet our new class pets! Squirrel and Simon are 4 months old, and will be joining our class Friday. We will be learning how to care for bunnies, and have some new friends to read to during reading time. Play Space
At a young age routines and consistency are so important to make everyone feel comfortable and ready for class. As we go into week three, we are continuing to practice what our class time should look and feel like. In the morning we are trying to create a calm environment of hands on learning/play time. To help encourage this calm environment, please help remind your son/daughter to enter class quietly, and match this with your voice as well. I admit I have not been good about enforcing this until all the drop offs have happened and there is less in an outs of kids and parents. MathIn math we have continued to work on counting by 2's and 5's, and have also taken a pre-assessment to get an idea of where students are starting at the beginning of the year. Please refer to last week's post for tips on working on counting by 2's and 5's. CommunityThroughout the year we will be focused on communities, but for 5-8 weeks at a time we will be "going places, seeing spaces". Our first unit is about building our classroom community, getting to know each other, and the routines of our classroom. Earlier this week we created a birthday graph to represent all the birthdays in our class. We also had a day where we talked about multiple intelligences, and what our strengths were individually. We then shared how our strengths contribute to our classroom. Our future units will be going to outer space, learning about bee communities, and our local community. Play SpaceThe Huckleberries are responsible for caring for the bees, the labyrinth, and the corn maze this year. Last week we did some exploring to become familiar with these areas, plant some tulips around the labyrinth. and Evan taught them a little about bees. This week they got a chance to see how honey is harvested, as well as take part in the packaging of the honey. It has been pretty sweet!
It has been so wonderful getting to know all my new kids this past week. During our first morning meeting when I asked them to share what they are most excited for this year, almost half the class said "reading!" It is going to be a great year. This first week has been a lot of getting to know each other, learning classroom routines, and getting prepared to use materials for the year. Thank you soo much to the parents who have already been generous with their time and resources. I didn't quite catch who all donated tissues in the rush of the first day, but thank you for the tissues! And a special thank you to the Corless family who bought and replaced all the hooks outside. We all appreciate it! Math In math our first graders are practicing counting by 2's and 5's. We are looking at it conceptually, so at home make sure that you are not simply having them practice counting by 2's and 5's, but that they are getting the chance to see groupings of 2's and 5's. They still need to see 2 or 5 items grouped together to understand where we are coming up with 5, 10, 15, 20... We have also been practicing using tally marks to group 5's. I have posted websites in the resources section that cover concepts that we will work throughout the month of September. I will update these monthly, not necessarily by the week that we are practicing them. Reading In case you missed it, or misplaced your copy, here is the handout given out at Parent Night for supporting reading at home. Remember, students should be reading every night for homework! Supporting Your Child’s Reading At Home Reading is one of the leading indicators of success in school, which is why we ask that your child reads every night for homework. Here are some ways you can support your child in their reading: Read aloud frequently from easy books that your child would like to read but can’t yet. Sit side by side so you can look at the pages together. Point to the words occasionally, and underline them with your finger as you read. Pause and make room for the child’s predictions, questions, and comments about the story, the illustrations, and the language. Beginning readers sometimes substitute a word that doesn’t make sense- or even sound like English. Try to bite your tongue and give them enough time to hear the miscue and correct it themselves. If they don’t hear it, wait until the end, then gently question, “Did that make sense to you?” or “You read _______,” repeating exactly what was read. “Does that sound right?” Then say, “Try it again, and think what might make sense.” Encourage and praise a beginning reader’s self-corrections and informed guesses. Ask questions that focus on your child’s preferences, feelings, and opinions about the books he or she reads and the stories you read aloud. Ex: “What did you like about the book? How did it make you feel? What was your favorite part? Who was your favorite character? How would you compare it to other books about ______ or by _______?” Parent Night Huckleberry Notes
2016-2017 Ms. Fety Ms. McCarthy [email protected] [email protected] huckleberrynorth.weebly.com huckleberrysouth1-2.weebly.com Emails are ideal for communication. Please check out our websites, it includes important information, supplemental resources, and weekly newsletters. Philosophy: Our goal is to help each student build strong habits of mind alongside academic excellence. Using their growth mindset students will be asked to work hard, take on challenging problems, persevere, and pursue their individual curiosities. Young students are capable of great academic accomplishments. Themes: All of MRA is pursuing the questions “How do I impact my community?” and “How does my community impact me?” In the Huckleberries our year will be framed around the idea of Going Places and Seeing Spaces. Fall: Outer Space Winter: Local Communities Spring: Honey Bees Homework: Reading! Students are expected to read on a daily basis. Parents can read to students, students can read to parents, siblings and friends can read to each other, students can partner read with someone, and students can listen to audiobooks. Occasionally there might be additional homework to support what is happening in class. General Information:
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Important DatesMay 22 Independent Project
Presentations Begin June 2 Donuts for Dudes Archives
June 2017
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