Mrs. Pina's Class

I hope everyone is enjoying their first week of summer. The dust is finally settling a bit at my house as we switch into the summer “schedule” or lack there of. It’s always an adjustment from the hustle and bustle of the school year. I already miss my first graders! We had a busy last week of school with the senior walk, the reptile guy, field day and of course our end of year party. Here are some pictures from our week.

It was a fast and furious week filled with a lot of fun. I absolutely adored this each and everyday I had with your precious kiddos. Thank you for entrusting me with them each and everyday. They worked hard and learned a ton and you should be more than proud of them. I know I am.

Thank you so much for all the kind cards, sweet treats and generous gifts. I am looking forward to using my spa gift certificate from the class. It will be a nice relaxing treat. Thank you to Ricki and Shweta for throwing such an amazing end of year party and for their help with all the parties and events throughout the year. I appreciate you!!!! Enjoy your summer! Have fun and stay safe. Please come by and say hello when you all come back as second graders!!!!

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND SHENANIGANS

How did it get to be the last week of first grade? I am very proud of each and every one of my students. They have all made tremendous growth this year. The last week/day of school is hard for everyone, and I am sure there will be lots of emotional times this week. Please try to keep things as normal as possible on the home front to help us make a smooth transition into the long awaited summer break.

We had a surprise author visit this past week. Joy Saxton read us her new book and then walked us through how to write our own story and then act it out. The kids loved it. 

LIBRARY NEWS:

All library books are due back to the library!  If your child has any outstanding books, please return them as soon as possible to the library.  They are taking inventory and closing down for the year!  If your child has a missing book, it will need to be paid for prior to getting your child’s report card on the last day of school. 

 

FIELD DAY REMINDERS:

Our annual field day is Tuesday, May 21st.  We are looking forward to a day full of new and exciting activities!  We are asking the students bring a towel, a change of clothes, and wear closed-toed shoes or water shoes (no flip-flops, please). Some of our activities will involve getting wet! Students are allowed to wear swimsuits as long as they wear t-shirts or cover ups that follow our district dress code policy. The new Comets Field Day t-shirt would be a great choice as a cover-up! Please apply all sunscreen at home, as teachers are not responsible for this.  Students should also bring their refillable water bottles to stay hydrated.

If we have bad weather, Field Day will go on with indoor activities. 

 

FIELD DAY TRANSPORTATION CHANGE:

On Field Day the playground and field side of the school will be set up with lots of fun Field Day activities.  For morning drop-off and dismissal the kindergarten car line will be rerouted to the first grade side of the building.  Thanks for your assistance with this change. We will be back to our usual traffic pattern on Tuesday, May 21st.

 

RECYCLE BAGS NEEDED:

Parents, we need your help! If you have not already, please  send a reusable grocery store bag to school that we can use to store some of the many things that will be going home on the last day of school. The green HEB bags would be perfect for our needs, but if you have a large department store bag with handles (such as Macy’s), that would also work. Please make sure that your child’s name or your family’s last name is somewhere on the bag. Thank you so much for your assistance!

 

END OF THE YEAR PARTY:
On the last day of school, Thursday, May 23rd from 8:30-9:45 (brief set-up from 8:00-8:30; clean-up from 9:4510:00), we will celebrate our amazing year in first grade with a delicious brunch.  We are looking forward to this event and I hope you will be able to join us. Please remember to sign in at the office to pick up your visitors pass before coming to the classroom. As always, thank you for finding child care for your preschoolers. See you then!

REPORT CARDS:
Report cards are coming home on Thursday, the last day of school.

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

May 20: Reptile Guy

May 21: Field Day

May 23: End of the year celebration (8:30-9:45)

May 23: Last day of school

 

HOMEWORK…

1. Read for a minimum of 10-15 minutes every evening.

THIS WEEK AT A GLANCE…

 READING: 
-Responding to reading

WRITING: 

-Create a memory book

-Finish our Handwriting book

MATH:

-Review math concepts from this year

SCIENCE: 

-Finish discussing desert animals (tortoise, vulture, roadrunner, prairie dog, kangaroo rat, jackrabbit, Gila monster, rattlesnake, bobcat, coyote) and their special adaptations for living in the desert

 

Have a wonderful week and an AMAZING summer!  I will miss you all!

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND SHENANIGANS

Wow…what a week! It’s hard to believe that this year is quickly coming to a close!   On Tuesday morning, the First Grade Showcase was such a success!  I appreciate you taking the time to come and let your child show off some of their best work and most recent projects.  The contents of their suitcase were also a reflection of things that are considered strengths as well as areas to work on over the summer.  I am so proud of each one of them and know they are looking forward to next year!  We only have 9 more days in first grade … let’s finish strong, Comets!

 

This has been such a fun year with your child and I have felt blessed to not only teach them, but to watch them grow both academically and socially!

 

“Three of a Kind” was an adorable production!  Thank you for all the support you provided at home helping your child learn their lines and the songs.  Tuesday night’s performance was truly memorable!

On Friday, we had the most wonderful Ocean Day thanks to our room moms, Ricki and Shweta! We created a tranquil, shimmery ocean in a bottle and mingled with octopus, shrimp and crab friends. We sampled delicious seafood, learned a lot about whales, and dove into a sweet blue ocean of jello.  It was an amazing journey – free of itchy sand and sunburns!  Thank you to all of the volunteers who donated food items, supplies, and/or your time.  It was perfect!

Thank you for making last week a special Teacher Appreciation Week with all the handmade cards, sweet treats, lovely gifts and gift cards! This group of children have stolen my heart and I feel blessed to have spent this year getting to know them and their families like I have. I appreciate your thoughtfulness and generosity and hopefully they know how special they are to me too!

 

We also got to show our Kindergarten friends all about 1st grade when they came to visit our rooms for Comet Kickoff. It was great to see them all become great leaders! We read books, answered questions they had about 1st grade and then made a jellyfish craft together that hung in the hall for ocean day.

 

LIBRARY BOOKS:

All books are due back to the library!  If you still have a few around your house, please send those in with your child on Monday.  Lost books need to be paid for so your child can receive his/her report card on the last day of school.

 

END OF YEAR EMOTIONS:

This time of year brings out many different kinds of emotions in children. On the one hand, the students are very excited and are anticipating the upcoming break.  They look forward to having more free time, play dates, sleeping later, and vacations.  However, on the other hand, they are sad to leave first grade and the comforts of our classroom.  Second grade brings about nerves and the knowledge of “starting over.”  These emotions come to the surface in different ways: bugging friends, grumpy behavior, hands on others, overly silly, lots of talking, crying, etc.

To help your child with this upcoming transition, please try to get him/her to bed at a reasonable time at night.  This will help him/her when working through emotions during the school day.  A clear head is helpful when relational issues arise because your child will feel more equipped and able to utilize classroom strategies.  I continue to discuss these things in the classroom and am handling any misunderstandings and/or tears.  Thanks for your continued efforts at home, as well!   They are a precious bunch!

 

RECYCLE BAGS NEEDED:

Parents, we need your help! By Friday, May 17, we need each student to bring a cloth grocery store bag to school that we can use to store some of the many things that will be going home on the last day of school. The reusable HEB bags would be perfect for our needs, but if you have a large department store bag with handles (such as Macy’s), that would also work. Please make sure that your child’s name is on the bag.  Thank you!!

 

OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS IN FIRST GRADE:

“IN-SCHOOL FIELD TRIP”: Soon we will have a special presenter provide an “in-school field trip” experience to help support our wonderful Science learning this year.  Thank you in advance to PTA for providing the funds necessary to make this possible!

THIS WEEK AT A GLANCE:

READING and WRITING:
-Read and respond to text

-Memory book

MATH:
-Understand how to represent and compare whole numbers and the relationship between the numbers

SCIENCE:
-Learn about the desert

-Understand the difference between nocturnal and diurnal animals

-Locate various deserts on a map

-Identify desert landforms

-Learn about desert animal adaptations (tortoise, vulture, roadrunner, prairie dog)

 

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

May 20: Reptile Guy (in school field trip)

May 21: Field Day (1st grade: 9:40-10:40 am)

May 23: Last Day of School & End of Year Brunch Party

Finally, if you know that your child will be leaving school before our last day, Thursday, May 23, please let me know.

 

Thank you!

Have a wonderful week!

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND SHENANIGANS:

FIRST GRADE SHOWCASE: The first grade students and teachers are excited to invite you to come by your child’s classroom on Tuesday morning, May 7, from 7:20 – 7:40 a.m. for our First Grade Showcase.  Your favorite first grader will be ready to show you some of the great work that he/she has been doing this year!  Please come to cheer your child’s hard work and show your appreciation for all he/she has learned in First Grade.  We look forward to seeing you here!

 

We said goodbye to our reading buddies this week. Another hard goodbye to close out the year. We enjoyed a popsicle treat with them and played during a recess together. They have all grown so close this year and helped each other become better readers!

 

Our Superstar this past week was Jade. She was our final superstar for the year and we loved getting to learn more about her and her family!

We had our final parent reader of the year. Blake’s mom came and read to us. Thank you to all the moms and dads that came to read to us this year. We loved having you visit in our classrooms.

A MESSAGE FROM MRS. MARTIN:

Dear First Grade Families:

The combined 1st Grade classes will be performing the musical “Three of a Kind” on Tuesday, May 7th at 6:30 pm in the CCE Cafeteria.  Students should be in the Music Room by 6:15 pm to prepare for the performance.  We will begin promptly at 6:30 pm since there is not a PTA meeting prior to this performance.

Attendance at this week’s early morning rehearsals has been outstanding.  Thank you ALL!  The students are very excited about performing for you!

We are all looking forward to seeing you on May 7th!

 

LOOKING AHEAD …

Ocean Day is this Friday, May 10!  The First Grade room parents have been hard at work helping us get organized for this journey into the ocean.

Thank you to those parents who have notified me about seafood allergies or new food allergies!

Here is the sign-up for this event: Ocean Day!  Thank you to Erin for getting everything organized!

We will also need parent volunteers anytime during the 12:20-2:55 time slot – for setting up, during the event to help students, and for cleanup.  You must be an approved volunteer through RRISD.  We appreciate your help!

 

RECYCLE BAGS NEEDED:

Parents, we need your help! By Friday, May 17, we need each student to bring a cloth grocery store bag to school that we can use to store some of the many things that will be going home on the last day of school. The reusable HEB bags would be perfect for our needs, but if you have a large department store bag with handles (such as Macy’s), that would also work. Please make sure that your child’s name is on the bag.  Thank you!!

 

OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS IN FIRST GRADE:

“IN-SCHOOL FIELD TRIP”: Later in May, we will have a special presenter provide an “in-school field trip” experience to help support our wonderful Science learning this year.  Thank you in advance to PTA for providing the funds necessary to make this possible!

 

THIS WEEK AT A GLANCE:

READING and WRITING:
-Finish Ocean Research Project
-Create and write stories

-Continue to develop our accuracy, fluency, and comprehension through the stories we read

MATH:
-Draw conclusions from picture and bar-type graphs
-Generate and answer questions using information from picture and bar-type graphs

SCIENCE:
-Review Ocean animals and finish up Ocean research
-Ocean Day!

 

 HOMEWORK FOR THE WEEK

1. Read 10-15 minutes every day. Record in the student planner about their story. This will be our final week of homework! These first graders have worked so hard. Continue to read but there will not be any more reading logs in the planners after this week. Finish strong!

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

May 7: First Grade Showcase 7:20-7:40 a.m.

         Volunteer Breakfast in the library 7:15-8:00 a.m.

         First Grade Performance 6:30 p.m.

May 10: Ocean Day

May 20: Reptile Guy (in school field trip)

May 21: Field Day (1st grade: 9:40-10:40 AM

May 23: Last Day of School & End of Year Brunch Party

Finally, if you know that your child will be leaving school before our last day, Thursday, May 23, please let me know.

Thank you!

Have a wonderful week!

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND SHENANIGANS:

GOODBYES ARE NEVER EASY…

Friday was our last day with the chicks.  We are sad to see them go, but are trying our best to understand their needs.  We talked about how quickly they have changed.  They are bigger and LOVE to practice flying across the brooder!  Our heart wishes they could stay forever, but our mind knows that it is time for them to have more space.  My cousin has a farm near Houston and is going to take such good care of them!  We wish these cuties well on their next adventure! I’m sure my cousin will keep us posted on how they are doing. She’s already sent a video to show us how they are exploring their new home.

Our superstar this past week was Macy! We loved getting to learn about our special friend!

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND SHENANIGANS

Oh, my!  What an exciting hatching week we’ve had in First Grade!  Out of 36 chicken eggs, we were fortunate to have 16 baby chicks enter the world in our grade level!  Our class welcomed 5 little cuties that were there to welcome us on Monday morning. We’ve been calling them the “Early Birds” since they weren’t scheduled to hatch until Tuesday. I hope you were able to catch a little of the Live Streaming set up by our fabulous IT, Donna Owen.  What an amazing week!

The chicks are growing so quickly!  They usually outgrow the little brooders after a couple of weeks, so we have arranged for someone to take our babies at the end of this week.  We will miss our chicks, but are so glad that they will have more space to explore and grow. They will actually be going to my cousin’s farm in Katy, TX so hopefully we can get updates on how they are growing.

 

SAVE THE DATES FROM THE FIRST GRADE TEACHERS:

CHICK “SIP & SEE”:

The students have worked hard preparing for our upcoming Chick Viewing Party (for the school body) and a “Sip and See” for all of you.  We will host this event for you on Wednesday, April 24th from 3:00-3:30 in our classroom. You must be in attendance for your child to be able to attend. They will come to you like normal at dismissal. Once the First Grade teachers are finished with Dismissal Duty, we will open the doors for some cute chick viewing and light snacks!  Siblings are welcome for this event!

FIRST GRADE SHOWCASE: The first grade students and teachers are excited to invite you to come by your child’s classroom on Tuesday morning, May 7, from 7:20 – 7:40 a.m. for our First Grade Showcase.  Your favorite first grader will be ready to show you some of the great work that he/she has been doing this year!  Then afterwards you are welcome to attend our Volunteer Luncheon Breakfast in the library until 8:00 a.m. to thank you for all the help you’ve given us this year! We look forward to seeing you there!

OCEAN DAY:  Ocean Day will take place on Friday, May 10th from 1:00-2:50.  Our room moms will soon be in contact detailing how you can help with this big event.  This will be a memorable day as we celebrate all that we will have learned about the ocean and the animals that live there!

 

GETTING READY FOR SECOND GRADE:
Please take a look at the page on our classroom website called “Getting Ready for Second Grade”.  It will give you some tips about what you can be working on at home to help make sure your child will be ready for second grade.  There is also a page called “Summer Suggestions” that will give you specific ideas of things you can do over the summer to help keep your child interested in learning, as well as prepared for the new school year come August!

 

THIS WEEK AT A GLANCE:
READING and WRITING:
-Practice reading words with the bossy “r” (er, ir, ur, ar, or)
-Delve into our Ocean Research Project (activate background knowledge of their animal and draw/label what their animal looks like)

-Continue to develop our accuracy, fluency, and comprehension through the stories we read

MATH:
-Draw conclusions from picture and bar-type graphs
-Generate and answer questions using information from picture and bar-type graphs

SCIENCE:
-Discuss the characteristics of a fish
-Introduce food chains and food webs
-Review interdependence and discuss what happens when one part of the food chain goes missing
HOMEWORK FOR THE WEEK

1. Read 10-15 minutes every day. Record in the student planner about their story.

SUPERSTAR: 

Our superstar this week is Macy! We are excited to learn more about our special friend.

 

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

April 24: Sip and See 3:00-3:30 p.m.

April 29-May 3: Book Fair
May 7: First Grade Showcase 7:20-7:40 a.m.
Volunteer Breakfast in the library 7:15-8:00 a.m.
First Grade Performance 6:30 p.m.
May 10: Ocean Day

Enjoy a “chick-tastic” week!

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND SHENANIGANS

A huge THANK YOU to Alonso’s dad, Mr. Buitrago, Blake’s Mom, Mrs. Ahearn, Shaquille’s Dad, Mr. Hu, Clemente’s mom, Mrs. Cuevas, and Swara’s mom, Mrs. Gaitonde for helping us build our chicken brooder on Friday!  It is perfect!! Now that we have a home built, we patiently wait for the arrival of our baby chicks on Tuesday…fingers crossed!

This week Tyler was our Superstar! We loved getting to know him more this week. We will not have a Superstar next week since we will not be in school on Friday.

GETTING READY FOR SECOND GRADE:
Please take a look at the new page on our classroom website called “Getting Ready for Second Grade”.  It will give you some tips about what you can be working on at home to help make sure your child will be ready for second grade.  In May, I will add a new page called “Summer Suggestions” that will give you specific ideas of things you can do over the summer to help keep your child interested in learning, as well as prepared for the new school year come August!

 

SAVE THE DATE:

Stay tuned for information coming from the first graders on a “Sip and See” on Wednesday, April 24th from 3:00-3:30 in our classroom!

 

PARENT INPUT FORMS:

Parent Input forms for 2nd grade came home recently in the Tuesday folder. They are due back to the office by Monday, April 15th. This helps us prepare staffing for the new school year.  Thank you to everyone who has already turned this into me!

 

THIS WEEK AT A GLANCE:
READING and WRITING:
– Create an invitation for our families to invite them to our “Sip and See”
– Continue recording information in our Science Learning Log about our chicks
– Prepare for our “Sip and See”

-Draft Stories

-Continue research about chicks

-Continue to develop our accuracy, fluency, and comprehension through the stories we read

MATH:
– Use objects and pictorial models to solve subtraction problems

-Review subtraction strategies
SCIENCE:
– Continue learning about our changing chicken eggs and hopefully see some hatch!
– Complete PBL (Problem Based Learning) job

HOMEWORK FOR THE WEEK

1. Read 10-15 minutes every day. Record in the student planner about their favorite part of the story.

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

April 19: Holiday-No school

April 24: Sip and See

April 29-May 3: Book Fair

Here’s to an “egg-citing” week!

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND SHENANIGANS

We are getting very egg-cited around 1st grade. We have been tracking what is happening with our eggs and how the chicks are growing and developing. We had a great time on our field trip to Callahan’s General Store on Monday. We learned so much from them and feel confident that we can now take care of these chicks when they finally hatch. Thank you to Molly Sylestine, Ricki Ahearn, Sarah Schneider and Prafulla Nellutla for helping chaperone our field trip!

This week we started designing our brooders for them to built on Friday, April 12th. We could still use some volunteers so please let me know if you are available next Friday to help build our brooders. We had 4 groups build a model brooder and then each group presented to the class. Once the presentations were finished we voted and we are so excited to see the brooder we voted on get built.

Quinn was our superstar this week and we loved learning more about her!

 

PARENT HELP NEEDED:

For our upcoming chick unit, we need parent help!  Now that we’ve launched this project, we need a few parents willing to help cut wood and assemble our class brooder.  Some of the wood cutting may need to happen before our build day at your house due to heaviness of tools.  The building time will take place during school hours (from 8:00- 11:30ish) on Friday, April 12th.  Email me if you are available to help out on this date.  Thanks so much!

 

SAVE THE DATE:

Stay tuned for information coming from the first graders on a “Sip and See” on Wednesday, April 24th from 3:00-3:30 in our classroom!

 

PARENT INPUT FORMS:
Parent Input forms for 2nd grade came home in last week’s Tuesday folder. They are due back to the office by Monday, April 15th.

 

NIGHTLY HOMEWORK:

This is the start of our final quarter together in first grade.  Spring is in the air and I know lots of students will be involved in many activities.  Please remind your first grader that we still have lots of learning to do (as well as fun events planned) and our expectations will be raised as we work on our final preparations for Second Grade.  I appreciate your continued support at home with nightly reading homework!

 

SUPERSTAR:

Our superstar for this week is Tyler! We are excited to learn more about Tyler and his family!

 

HERE’S A PEEK INTO OUR WEEK:

READING AND WRITING:

-Prepare invitations and posters for PBL Chick project.
-Draft Stories

-Continue research about chicks

-Continue to develop our accuracy, fluency, and comprehension through the stories we read

MATH:
-Use objects and pictorial models to solve problems involving the separation of two numbers
-Subtraction strategies (number -0, number -itself, number -1, count back, count up, using a number line to count back & count up, doubles, neighbors, etc.)
-Decide on most efficient subtraction strategy based on the numbers given

SCIENCE:

-Prepare for the sip and see event
-Observe our brooder getting built
-Record the life cycle of chicks as they develop inside the eggs
HOMEWORK FOR THE WEEK
1. Read 10-15 minutes every day. Record in the student planner about their favorite part of the story.

 

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

April 12: Brooder Building
April 12: Parent Reader (Luke’s family)

April 19: Holiday-No school

April 24: Sip and See
April 29-May 3: Book Fair

 

Have a great week!

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND SHENANIGANS

It was a great week back from Spring Break and it sounds like you all had a nice week off with family and friends. I loved hearing all about your fun break! We hit the ground running coming back! We started exploring subtraction a little deeper this week. We used our addition skills to help us relate to subtraction.

We also got to go and see the 5th grade balloon launch on Friday. The 5th graders make balloons and see how far their designs will float once launched. They also have a hot air balloon as well.

Of course we had a parent reader on Friday. Jade’s mom came and read to us. We love parent reader time!

Did you hear the news?  We have 12 chicken eggs in our classroom that we are observing!  We are very “egg-cited” about those eggs in our incubator!  There is a lot to learn about how chicks grow!

FIELD TRIP ON MONDAY

To coincide with our Science learning, as well as our Spring Project Based Learning project, the first graders are heading to Callahan’s General Store on Monday, April 1st!  We will learn how to care for our baby chicks once they hatch – everything from providing a living space to meeting their needs.  This past week, we brainstormed a list of things that we will need to research.  During our field trip, we will gather some very important information!

Thank you to everyone for getting the permission slips and money turned into me in a timely manner!  We are looking forward to a fun time!

Please remember to read the field trip reminder note that came home on Friday.  The directions are a little different than our first field trip.  Lunch is much later than normal, so it is important that the children bring a healthy snack to eat in addition to their sack lunches.  The snack will be eaten at school before we board the buses.  We appreciate your help with this! Below is a picture of the note in case it did not make it home on Friday.

PARENT HELP NEEDED:

For our upcoming chick unit, we need parent help!  Now that we’ve launched this project, we need a few parents willing to help cut wood and assemble our class brooder.  Some of the wood cutting may need to happen before our build day at your house due to heaviness of tools.  The building time will take place during school hours (from 8:00- 11:30ish) on Friday, April 12th.  Email me if you are available to help out on this date.  Thanks so much!

PARENT INPUT FORMS:
Parent Input forms for 2nd grade will be coming home soon. They are due back to the office by Monday, April 15th.

NIGHTLY HOMEWORK:

This is the start of our final quarter together in first grade.  Spring is in the air and I know lots of students will be involved in many activities.  Please remind your first grader that we still have lots of learning to do (as well as fun events planned) and our expectations will be raised as we work on our final preparations for Second Grade.  I appreciate your continued support at home with nightly reading homework!

 

SUPERSTAR:

Our superstar for this week is Quinn! We are excited to learn more about Quinn and her family!

HERE’S A PEEK INTO OUR WEEK:

READING AND WRITING:

-Introduction to media literacy
-Understand how commercials convey a purpose (to entertain, inform, or persuade)

-Continue research about chicks

-Continue to develop our accuracy, fluency, and comprehension through the stories we read

MATH:
-Use objects and pictorial models to solve problems involving the separation of two numbers
-Subtraction strategies (number -0, number -itself, number -1, count back, count up, using a number line to count back & count up)
-Decide on most efficient subtraction strategy based on the numbers given

SCIENCE:

-Gather facts about chicks from Callahan’s General Store
-Plan and create a 3D chicken brooder using popsicle sticks & wood glue
-Create a list of supplies needed for a full-size brooder
-Record the life cycle of chicks as they develop inside the eggs
HOMEWORK FOR THE WEEK
1. Read 10-15 minutes every day. Record in the student planner about their favorite part of the story. 

 

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

April 1: First Grade Field Trip to Callahan’s General Store
April 5: Western Day (dress like a cowboy or cowgirl)
Parent Reader (Macy’s family)
April 29-May 3: Book Fair

 

Hope you have a wonderful week!

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND SHENANIGANS

It is hard to believe that next week is already Spring Break!  When we return we will only have a little more than nine weeks left in the school year!  We had a great week last week and we are ready for a nice break before we come back and finish 1st grade strong!

Our superstar this week was Vihaan. It was fun to learn more about him and his family.

We also had Raiya’s mom come and read to us as our parent reader on Friday!

IN YOUR CHILD’S BACKPACK:    

Throughout the year, we work hard to monitor and assess our students to determine areas for continued focus.  Three times each year, our Intervention Department administers reading and math screening to help the school staff best target instruction.  This year, for the middle-of-the-year assessments that the students took in January, the State of Texas mandated that all first graders also take several assessments that will identify children at risk for a reading disability, specifically dyslexia.  We received the data late this week that was compiled by our interventionist, and your child’s results are coming home in his/her backpack today.  Please do not panic if you see individual areas considered at risk.  It is information that we utilize to guide instruction and is only one data point in a collection of data that we use when monitoring students.  If there is a history in your family of members having difficulty learning to read (i.e., dyslexia), please let me know.  It is something that definitely runs in families and early identification is helpful for accommodating students.

 

SPRING BREAK READING:    

For Spring Break, the students do not have a reader’s response sheet to complete.  However, please encourage your child to find opportunities to enjoy a good book!  We will jump right back in on March 25, so it is vital that they maintain practice.  Thanks for your help!

CALLAHAN’S GENERAL STORE: 

On Monday, April 1st, we will visit Callahan’s General Store.  This important learning experience will coincide with our Spring Project Based Learning (PBL) assignment.  We look forward to introducing the students to an exciting problem after Spring Break which will require their help.  If you have not returned your child’s permission slip and/or money, please do so by March 27th.  The transportation fee for each child is $6.00.  Just as with the first field trip, please send in exact cash or a check made out to CCE.

We will be able to accept all the parents who want to volunteer for this field trip as long as you are an approved RRISD volunteer.  We ask that you provide your own transportation; carpooling with other first grade parents would be great!  Please remember, no siblings are allowed to accompany you. If you would like to volunteer for this field trip, please email me and let me know.

 

PARENT HELP NEEDED:

For this upcoming PBL assignment, we need parent help.  Once we launch the project, we will get more specific details out to you, but we need a few parents willing to help cut wood and assemble a piece of equipment for each class.  Some of the wood cutting may need to happen before our build day at your house due to heaviness of tools.  The building time will take place during school hours on Friday, April 12th.  Email me if you are available to help out on this date.  Thanks so much!

HERE’S A PEEK INTO OUR WEEK:

READING AND WRITING:

-Introduction to contractions

-Begin a new research project tied to science

-Continue to develop our accuracy, fluency, and comprehension through the stories we read

MATH:
– Understanding the inverse relationship of addition and subtraction

-Use objects and pictorial models to solve subtraction

SCIENCE:

-Wrap up our unit on plants

-Introduce another egg-citing unit in life science!  More coming soon!

HOMEWORK FOR THE WEEK
1. Read 10-15 minutes every day. Record in the student planner about the main idea of the story.

SUPER STAR!

This week, we do not have a star of the week scheduled due to our break.  We look forward to learning more about our special classmate the first week of April!

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

March 18-22: Spring Break

March 25: School Resumes

March 27: Field Trip permission slips and transportation fees due for Callahan’s General Store

March 29: Parent Reader (Jade’s family)

April 1: First Grade Field Trip to Callahan’s General Store

 

Wishing you a relaxing and fun-filled Spring Break!