Okay, I can't believe there are only 11 days left of 1st grade. This has been a great year and I am so proud of the effort the kids have put in this year.
This week we finish up our last lesson in Language Arts. As you may have noticed the homework was minimal this week and there will be none for the last two weeks. We are working on words with long i like "mind" and long o like "cold". We are also reading my favorite story from "Frog and Toad Together" and will be discussing characters, details and plot. The last two weeks we will be writing our own stories. These stories will be between 10 and 20 sentences long, have a title, characters, a setting and plot including a beginning, a middle and an end.
In math we will be working on 3 dimensional objects such as spheres and cubes. We will continue our work with time and money and skip counting. In Science, we will continue to discuss the "Circle of Life", and, if time allows, play a great playground game called "predators and prey". In Social Studies we will finish our Unit on Maps as well as our Junior Achievement program and will take the district's common assessment.
Speaking of assessments, we are in the middle of our Dibels Reading Fluency assessment and I am very proud of the progress I have seen from every student.
This summer the Colonial School District is putting together a Summer Reading List and program. Mrs. Howell has said that she plans on giving prizes out for those students who complete the assignments. I have a read an article that states that reading as few as 4 books over the summer will help your child retain the reading skills that they have learned this year. Reading is just like exersizing, the more you do the stronger you get! I would love to see the kids come back to school in August reading at least the same number of words per minute as they did when they left (and that will be up to you)! I have 5 parents who have requested summer work for their children. If you would like some, as well, please let me know.
I know that a few of our classmates will not be returning to Wilbur after the summer. If there is anything I can do to ease their transition, please do not hesitate to email me.
Dates to remember: Friday May 27, early dismissal. Monday May 30 Memorial Day - no school. Tuesday May 31 Field Day from 12:30 - 2:30 please put sunscreen on your child before they come to school and have them bring a water bottle. Friday June 3 - Last Day :(
The final week of school we will be doing a school wide "Brain Busters" competition. This is an "outside the box" thinking competition that will run in the classroom, across the grade level and across multiple grade levels. The activities are modeled on the "Odyssey of the Mind" program an amazingly creative, parent led program that some schools in the area participate in. (You can google it for more information - although videos on youtube will show problems that take months to solve not minutes.) While "Brain Busters" is going on, we will be doing some "projects" in the classroom. If you know of something easy, engaging and creative that we can do or you have some special skill that you may be able to teach to first graders, please let me know. If you come across any shoe boxes, empty 1/2 gallon milk cartons or orange juice cartons (rinsed well please), or round lids from jars or plastic containers, I will be collecting them at the end of next week - and then we'll figure out something to do with them!
This week we finish up our last lesson in Language Arts. As you may have noticed the homework was minimal this week and there will be none for the last two weeks. We are working on words with long i like "mind" and long o like "cold". We are also reading my favorite story from "Frog and Toad Together" and will be discussing characters, details and plot. The last two weeks we will be writing our own stories. These stories will be between 10 and 20 sentences long, have a title, characters, a setting and plot including a beginning, a middle and an end.
In math we will be working on 3 dimensional objects such as spheres and cubes. We will continue our work with time and money and skip counting. In Science, we will continue to discuss the "Circle of Life", and, if time allows, play a great playground game called "predators and prey". In Social Studies we will finish our Unit on Maps as well as our Junior Achievement program and will take the district's common assessment.
Speaking of assessments, we are in the middle of our Dibels Reading Fluency assessment and I am very proud of the progress I have seen from every student.
This summer the Colonial School District is putting together a Summer Reading List and program. Mrs. Howell has said that she plans on giving prizes out for those students who complete the assignments. I have a read an article that states that reading as few as 4 books over the summer will help your child retain the reading skills that they have learned this year. Reading is just like exersizing, the more you do the stronger you get! I would love to see the kids come back to school in August reading at least the same number of words per minute as they did when they left (and that will be up to you)! I have 5 parents who have requested summer work for their children. If you would like some, as well, please let me know.
I know that a few of our classmates will not be returning to Wilbur after the summer. If there is anything I can do to ease their transition, please do not hesitate to email me.
Dates to remember: Friday May 27, early dismissal. Monday May 30 Memorial Day - no school. Tuesday May 31 Field Day from 12:30 - 2:30 please put sunscreen on your child before they come to school and have them bring a water bottle. Friday June 3 - Last Day :(
The final week of school we will be doing a school wide "Brain Busters" competition. This is an "outside the box" thinking competition that will run in the classroom, across the grade level and across multiple grade levels. The activities are modeled on the "Odyssey of the Mind" program an amazingly creative, parent led program that some schools in the area participate in. (You can google it for more information - although videos on youtube will show problems that take months to solve not minutes.) While "Brain Busters" is going on, we will be doing some "projects" in the classroom. If you know of something easy, engaging and creative that we can do or you have some special skill that you may be able to teach to first graders, please let me know. If you come across any shoe boxes, empty 1/2 gallon milk cartons or orange juice cartons (rinsed well please), or round lids from jars or plastic containers, I will be collecting them at the end of next week - and then we'll figure out something to do with them!