Getting Acquainted

The students are quickly getting acquainted to first grade.  One of my adorable firsties said today that he LOVED school and that he wished he could stay here all day!!!!  How sweet is that!!??  I love the enthusiasm of the students in first grade.  All of them so eager to learn and earn your praise.  I just know we are going to have a f-a-b-u-l-o-u-s year! 

Today in your child's blue folder you will notice many papers.  Most of these pages are from morning work.  This work is placed on their desk first thing in the morning so that I can take attendance and lunch count and get the day started.  If the page is incomplete, that is okay.  You may take the time to complete it at home with your child.  If I want a page to be completed and returned to school, I will mark that on the paper.  Do not worry about returning unfinished work, unless I have asked that you do so.  Typically work that I needs to be completed we will do in the classroom.  Sometimes, pages like the morning work, may come home partially finished and that is okay.  You will also notice a large packet in your child's blue folder that pertains to our daily 5 phonics.  We use a program called Fundations to teach phonics to the students in the primary grades.  In first grade, we feel as if the students come in ready for unit 3 in Fundations.  I have given you information that pertains to unit 1 this week in your child's folder.  Next week, I will send home information regarding unit 2.  The following week, you will receive information regarding unit 3.  I just didn't want to bombard you with too much information at once.  If we feel that your child could still benefit from the information from unit 1 and 2, they will receive this instruction during our regularly scheduled RTI time that takes place first thing in the morning. 

Next week, we will continue to learning the rules and procedures in our classroom.  We are currently learning about our reading and math rotations.  This takes some time to get into place, because the students have to do this work independently.  Once the students are ready, we will begin our rotations.  I have added some pictures of our class at recess and during read to self.  We are currently working towards building our independent reading time to 12 minutes so that we can begin our daily 5 stations.  We'll talk more about daily 5 in the coming weeks.  Enjoy your weekend.  Hopefully I'll see you at the new Riley Field for the first football game.  Remember the game starts at 8p.m. tonight due to the heat.  P-I-N-T-O-S!!!!!  GO PINTOS!!!!