Mrs. Collins' First Grade

Dear Parents, April, 2012

I am extremely proud of our children’s reading progress this year. They have worked very hard and they have reached great heights. The children have been reading a variety of stories, informational articles, and poems of outstanding authors. The selections are chosen to provide an exciting reading experience and enrichment for our children. We are also working on vocabulary skills. It is important that they use skills to figure out unfamiliar words that your child may encounter in their reading. Comprehension strategies have become more important, because our stories are longer and more complex. Comprehension strategies and skills help your child understand the material that they read. Our children have been working on identifying the topic, main idea, characters, setting, what happened first, what happened next, and how the story ended. Please help your child strengthen their comprehension strategies by asking these questions after you share a story together. By becoming involved and encouraging your child to read more widely, you can play an important role in helping your child to develop their reading skills and enhance their enjoyment.

In language our children have learned that adjectives are words that describe nouns. The children have been presented with words that are used to describe size and shape (large, tall round), words for touch (wet, hot), weather words (sunny, windy), and words for sound (loud, soft). The children have also learned about words with almost the same meaning (Fluffy sits on a mat. Fluffy sits on a rug.). Here are some activities that you and your child may enjoy doing together as we learn more about adjectives. Encourage your child to look through a magazine and locate individual pictures that depict adjectives for size (a big magazine), touch (a furry rabbit), weather (a rainy day), and sound (a loud radio). Does one picture depict more than one kind of adjective (a furry rabbit sitting in the wet rain)? Ask your child to make a list of pairs of adjectives that mean almost the same thing (cold, freezing). Our children are also learning more information on nouns. They are learning that pronouns can take the place of nouns (The woman builds a house. She builds a house.). Your child has learned to capitalize the days of the week as well as the months of the year. I would like to encourage you to take some time each day to talk with your child about the ideas we study in class. By showing your interest and enthusiasm, you will be helping your child in many ways, both in language and in other subjects as well. Your support and concern will certainly be appreciated.

Writer’s Workshop is an important activity for our children. This involves skills that need to be reinforced as much as possible at school and at home. One way to motivate your child to want to write stories at home is to ask them if they would like to write a story and then take it to school and share it with their classmates. They also may want to send their story to a relative or special friend. Let your child draw a picture first. The more writing your child does, the more comfortable they will become with writing and reading.

Our children are becoming math super stars! Their enthusiasm and knowledge is outstanding. Our program for the reminder of the year will emphasize mastery of addition and subtraction facts, an introduction to fractions, and counting money. Problem solving, as always, will be a part of the program. Some of the children have very advanced calculating skills, but panic when asked to choose an operation or think about a problem. Mastering facts is necessary, but children who ultimately will be accelerated in math will need excellent problem solving skills. Your child’s progress in mathematics has undoubtedly been apparent to you. As you continue to work with your child, encourage the use of more complex skills in addition, subtracting, and problem solving. The new skills and concepts your child is learning every day will be retained through practical applications in home situations. Encourage family members to help your child review basic number facts during play or before bed time. Thank you for your cooperation in our mathematics program.

In social studies, our children have been introduced to the concept of the United States as a physical entity. They are learning about directions, map and globe skills, and land and water on the earth as a useful tool in learning about locations and directions. They also will learn that symbols are used on globes and maps to represent actual objects and places. The children will be making their own individual maps of their own community.

I am proud of the progress and success of the children. They have become independent, not only in work habits, but also in their responsibility toward learning. They can seek out information, process it and communicate it to others. This became evident as we worked on our animal reports. Working in groups, the children researched and wrote reports about an animal that was of interest to them. They used encyclopedias, library books, and Zoo Books. They drew illustrations to match their reports. They combined material and selected the facts they wished to be in the report. Some very exciting independent learning and sharing was happening in our classroom.

Thank you so much for your assistance and support.

Sincerely,

Ann Collins

Dear Parents, March 1, 2012

March is always a very busy and interesting month. The children have been actively involved in a variety of projects, events, and experiences in all areas of the curriculum. Our children have really stretched and grown, both socially and academically. They have developed into quite mature and responsible six and seven year olds. I am extremely proud of them. Their growth amazes me and their enthusiasm thrills me. This is a very special and extraordinary group of children. I am so excited that they are mine!

This is the perfect time of the year to think about nurturing our friendships and relationships. Good relationships don’t just happen. They require skills and techniques for relating. We need to treat our children and each other with respect and affection and accept imperfections as well as strengths. We know that children come to value themselves as they have been valued by the significant people in their lives. Give them unconditional love and they’ll respect themselves and others. Open communication is an essential investment in your future. Teach your children to share their feelings. Careful listening, openness, flexibility and understanding provide valuable dividends. Much communication is non-verbal. Show your children silently that your love them. Children should be touched at least 50 times a day. Here are some ways:
* A hug or kiss for no reason
* A smile
* A wink
* A touch on the arm
* A tousle of their hair
* Love notes, words or pictures inn their lunch box, on their
pillows or taped on their bathroom mirror.

Encouraging words are essential for a child’s sense of self-worth:
* You can do it!
* Go for it!
* You’re such a joy!
* Way to go!
* I knew you could do it!
* Hurrah for you!
* I love you!

Each child needs at least twenty or minutes a day of uninterrupted attention from Mom and Dad. Bedtime is an important time to be with your child in a nurturing, loving way. Be close, warm and caring. Read favorite books, sing songs, play a quiet game. Be sure to say, I love you. I can’t wait to be with you tomorrow.” The most important factor in loving effectively is the non-judgmental message: I love you just the way you are.

In reading, we continue to emphasize comprehension strategies
(determining the main idea, predicting outcomes, understanding inferences, learning about sequencing, and summarizing). We are extending these skills by incorporating them into our writing experiences. Writing is utilized daily via the daily edit, journal writing, and writer’s workshop. We continue to work on the skill of extended thinking. To develop this skill, we predict, evaluate, re-evaluate, and summarize the literature we read. This, in turn, offers the child the opportunity to think “beyond the obvious: and to find the hidden meaning”. Their enthusiasm and participation tell me that they are both enjoying and understanding what they are reading. Learning to read is not an end in itself. It is only a means to helping us think better, work better, and to lead better lives.

The children are very excited and involved with our fairy tale unit. The literature has enriched their vocabulary and expanded their thinking progress about comprehension. This specific unit encourages the child to read different versions and compare the events that took place in the story. It also has given them lots of wonderful opportunities to use different writing techniques and strategies.

I am personally excited about this unit because it enables me to utilize a most important teaching too, that of “reading aloud” to my children. Reading aloud is very dear to me because this is how I learned to read. I remember lying in my bed at night, listening to my mom, dad, or grandmother read and re-read these wonderfully magical tales. I never tired of hearing them. Each story and each presenter offered a new and untold adventure inside my head. I wanted to be able to also read these stories. This experience made me even more motivated to learn how to read. This excitement is taking place in my classroom!

Reading aloud is one way of bringing the well written word to the attention of the “ears” of the listeners. It gives the child a chance to hear language at it’s best! Reading aloud begins to establish the cadences of language and offers a good model for a child to imitate. When listening to good literature, the child hears a “new” language in contrast to listening to television and every day language. A teacher’s reading aloud may also open the door to a child who never read for pleasure, merely by modeling enjoyable reading. I, myself, choose books that I enjoy to that hopefully the children will “catch” my enthusiasm. Enjoying good literature is a gift that will last a life time. Just as I never tired of my parents reading to me, I knew my parents never tired of reading to me. I could tell by their enthusiasm that they loved it as much as I did.

I believe that reading aloud tells my children that “I care” enough to take the time out of a busy day to offer a little”treasure” of literature. My parents did this for me and I want to do this for my children. Thank you for your support and help with our reading program.

Writing is an ongoing and daily process in our classroom. Writing is a process not a product. It is made up of several distinct, but overlapping states including thinking, planing, organizing,
composing, and revising. Each stage is vital to the process. Writing not only develops good writing skill, but more important, it enables a child to internalize what they have learned and to clarify their own thinking.

I think that teaching children to write is extremely exciting and challenging. I must view it as a process, taking one step at a time. It is my responsibility to provide the child with opportunities to achieve small successes. In time, one success will lead to another and, in turn, a child will experience confidence and become motivated to “continue to learn to write”

In math we continue to work on fact strategies for subtraction. They are:
1. Counting back – use when 1, 2, or 3 is subtracted
Example: 12-3…think, 10, 9

2. Zeros – use when 0 is subtracted
Example: 5-0=5
Most students quickly generalize that subtracting 0 from a
number does not change the number (the number is the same).

3. Sames – use when a number is subtracted from itself
Example: 6-6=0
Most students quickly generalize that subtracting a number
from itself results in 0.

4. Related facts
Example: 9-4… think, 4+?=9
This strategy works especially well when their understanding
between addition and subtraction is firm.

By using these strategies, the children become more adept at doing math problems. It is important that they memorize their math facts. Although we continue to use manipulatives in presenting a new concept, we are beginning to move into a more conceptual stage. Mastery of math facts is a must in developing successful problem solving skills.

Place value has been emphasized this month in math. Please ask your child how many “bundles” of ten are in the number 87 (the answer is 8). Then ask them how many ones are in the number 87 (the answer is 7). This concept is important in establishing the “how” and “why” of our math system, which is in the base of ten.

We have been working on two factors which provide important insights for developing strategies to enhance our children’s learning. The children have learned how to work harder. They have also learned that t becoming interested in the subject makes learning enjoyable and fun. We should help our children become more able and confident in the process of learning. We also need to assist them in developing key learning skills in learning how to learn. Knowing how to learn results in better performance and this improved performance leads to increased motivation. We will continue to develop these two learning strategies together.

In developing these key learning strategies, there are key principles which are especially important for success in school. The principle of effective approach can be applied to any type of assignment, such as writing a story, solving a problem, taking a test, and listening. Whatever the assignment, successful learners figure out what this effective approach is. The more we can assist them in this process, the better chance they have for a positive learning experience. It is important to become an active learner. Active learners question themselves about the material and try to explain key ideas in their own words. Active students better understand and remember. Children need to be able to create clear relationships between ideas. They must take the time to see how ideas fit together. Another key principle is selecting key information. Being able to identify what is most important can make learning easier. Encourage your children to summarize what they have read, heard, or studied. Children should use all of their learning channels. They include: seeing, hearing, thinking, saving, and writing. The key to remember about these channels is that the more channels used in trying to learn something, the better the learning quality.

Our children are writing beautiful creative stories. Their spelling skills and strategies are truly amazing. Their ability to sequence a story has really improved. They are also very consistent about including the elements of a story. I am so thrilled with their progress!
They all are very supportive of each others work and they celebrate their accomplishments together. We will continue to even work harder on the writing process.

Thank you so much for your assistance and continued support!
I hope that you have a wonderful and safe spring vacation!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Ann Collins

February 1, 2012

Dear Parents,

February has been a very busy and interesting month. The children have been actively involved in a variety of projects, the patriotic days as well as the February holidays. This unit was designed to help our children learn more about our country’s founding fathers. We spent a lot of time discussing the presidents, the United States, and special February events.

In language, our children have learned that verbs are words in a sentence that show action. The children have learned that some verbs end in “s”, “ed”, and “ing” for present to past tense. They have also studied words that are opposite in meaning as well as words that tell where. Our children have learned that verbs are an important part of our language. I would appreciate it if you would take a few minutes each day to discuss the ideas we share in class. Your interest and concern will be an important part of your child’s education. As you read a story with your child, point out some of the verbs that are used. You may want to put four or five verbs on separate pieces of paper and have your child think of new sentences using these verbs. Select a letter of the alphabet. Then ask your child to list or draw as many verbs beginning with that letter as possible. Ask your child to use verbs in sentences. Our children are also learning about adjectives, or those describing words that tell more about a person, place, or thing. Your child will also learn about color words, number words, words for size, and words for shape. Your child will also look at words that compare (small, smaller, smallest) and how they may be used in sentences. Your child’s study of adjectives will help them appreciate how our language can be used. Select a common household object. Ask your child to think of as many descriptive words as they can and tell about each item. Encourage your child to use a color word, a number word, a word for size, or a word for shape as much as possible during the day. Ask your child to locate adjectives in magazine advertisements. You and your child will find these activities both exciting and pleasant. Your support and encouragement will be valuable ingredients in assisting your child in this important subject.

Our children are continuing to acquire important reading skills and they are learning to appreciate reading. They will learn how quotation marks are vital to understanding the dialogue in a story. Your child will also learn to drop a final”e” before adding an “ed” or “ing” ending to a word. The children are engaged in learning how to predict the outcome of a story by evaluating a character’s words or actions or studying plot clues. The decoding skills that have been taught include all the short and long vowel sounds. They also include two vowel sounds for “y.” The children have been involved with alphabetizing activities. Please allow a time for you and your child to read stories aloud. You might want to stop before you reach the end of each story and ask your child to tell what might happen based on the events and words or actions of the characters. Please discuss the possible outcome or outcomes to each story.

February is an excellent time to study money since Lincoln is on the penny and Washington is on the quarter. We will continue to learn about money throughout the remaining portion of the year. Frequent practice counting money will be a great help to your child. A set of rubber money stamps can be very versatile. One way they can be used is to show a designated amount of money on a worksheet. They can practice counting the different amounts of money. Cards can be made using pictures from old magazines. Any amount of money can be designated and printed beside the picture that is placed on the card. Children can supply the correct amount from money stamps, or real money can be used. Encourage your child to count your change. Allow them to pick out the correct amount on money for a purchase and hand it to a salesperson. Let your child count your change after buying something. At home, give your child a handful of coins, specify a certain amount of money and challenge them to see how many different ways they can group coins to get the amount. The ability to count by 5’s and 10’s is necessary. Counting out loud with your child at home is an old-fashioned drill, but it will be very effective! Also, attached to this letter are two dot-to-dot pictures that will give your child practice in counting by 5’s and 10’s. I hope that you are able to share some of these activities with your child.

We have been working on two factors which provide important insights for developing strategies to enhance our children’s learning. The children have learned to work harder and to try their very best. They have also learned about producing quality work and about feeling proud of their work. They have also learned that by becoming interested in the subject makes learning more enjoyable and fun. We need to work together as a team to help our children become more able and confident in the learning process. We also need to assist them in developing key learning strategies in learning how to learn. Knowing how to learn results in better performance and this improved performance leads to increased motivation. We will continue to develop these learning strategies together. Thank you so much for being involved in the education process of your child with me.

In developing these key learning strategies, there are key principles which are especially important for success in school. The principle of effective approach can be applied to any assignment, such as writing a story, solving a problem, taking a test, and listening. Whatever the assignment, successful learners figure out what this effective approach is. The more we can assist them in this process, the better chance they will have for a positive learning experience. It is important to become an active learner. Active learners question themselves about the material and try to explain key ideas in their own words. Active students better understand and remember. Children need to be able to create clear relationships between ideas. They must take the time to see how ideas fit together. Another key principle is selecting key information. Being able to identify why it is most important can make learning easier. Encourage your child to summarize what they have read, heard, or studied. Children should use all of their learning channels. They include: seeing, hearing, thinking, listening, and writing, The key to remember about these channels is that the more channels used in trying to learn something, the better the learning quality.

Our children are writing beautiful creative stories. Their writing skills have really improved. I am very pleased with their progress. We will continue to work even harder on the writing process.

Thank you so much for your assistance and continued support!

Sincerely,

Ann Collins

Dear Parents, January 20, 2012

Our children are using a variety of strategies and resources to engage them more with reading activities. The goal of the method is to promote a love of literature in the classroom, in the school, and at home. The Scholastic Literacy Place is a multilevel, developmental reading program emphasizing reading, writing, listening, and speaking. The goals of the program are to ensure that all students achieve maturity and independence as readers. It is also important that they become highly effective and creative communicators through their writing, speaking, discussions, problem solving, and critical thinking experiences. The literary readers include the best of the children’s literature and the literature bookshelf provides guided literary reading within the classroom. Some of the books have been enlarged to let children read along with the teacher. These are called big books. Repeated readings and follow up activities ensure story appreciation, allow children to build on what they have read and invite them to explore various topics that relate to their reading. The literature readers are literary anthologies organized to theme grouping.

The Scholastic Literacy Place bookshelf includes the best of children’s literature available in a set of paperback editions for each level. We invite you to share in promoting a love of literature. Please visit the local library with your child to find books of interest. It is very important that you include books to read to your child, as well as those your child can read with you. Any good story deserves more than one reading of course. Additional readings can focus on different story elements:
1. Making predictions (Where did Goldilocks go next?)
2. Character motivations (Why did the 3rd little pig build his house out of bricks?)
3. Rhyming words and repeated phrases (let your child chime in and read it often).

Encourage your child to respond to the books. Your child might:
1. Choose their favorite story character and write how they
would have acted out the part of that character.
2. Write their own sentences to retell the story .
3. Write down their own ideas on how they would have solved the
problems in the story.
4. Write down the events that took place during their favorite
part of the story.

By being a participant in the adventure of reading you help ensure that your child will become a successful reader.

The Writer’s Workshop approach to reading emphasizes writing, listening, and speaking as highly effective strategies for improving reading performance and for ensuring that children are interested and successful in reading. The children’s writing will not always be error-free or carefully proofread, but it will begin the process of children expressing themselves, their ideas, reactions, and thoughts. The program provides a developmental reading curriculum for teaching, practicing and applying phonics, comprehension, literary, and critical reading skills. It also emphasizes oral language development, building the background and experiences that all children need to appreciate and succeed in reading.

One of the greatest gifts that you and I can give our children is the love of reading. It is extremely important that our children have the desire to learn how to read. I want reading to have an impact on their lives. It is important for them to enjoy reading. Reading instruction should be effective and interesting. Children should be able to enrich their lives through joyous activities that can lead to the attainment of long range goals of reading. Some of these joyous activities are looking at pictures, listening to a story, drawing, role playing, and painting. My goal from these reading strategies is that
they will help our children enjoy and learn from their reading experiences. When reading for pleasure is encouraged, the love for books and language begins to be developed. However, more time needs to be spent on reading real books than can be provided in school. That is why parent involvement is such an important component of learning to be a better reader. Your involvement in sharing reading experiences with your child will make the difference between a child who can read but chooses not to, and one who will enjoy reading for the rest of their life!

Your children continue to learn new language arts strategies and are involved in the writing process everyday. Their writing is being enriched through a variety of stories, poems, and plays. The children have been working on how to use commas in a series, understanding the topic of a story, summarizing, how to use quotation marks, and long vowel “a”. They are also learning the short and long “e” vowel sounds and to drop a final “e” before adding an -ed or -ing ending to a word. The children have been learning about nouns. They have learned that capital letters are used for the names of people, pets, and places. I would like to encourage you to ask questions and to talk with your child about the new things we are learning. By showing your interest, you will be helping your child in many ways in their schoolwork as well as in their attitude toward learning.

Our children are progressing beautifully in mathematics. I am very pleased with their progress. We have been using new strategies and ideas for classroom games for both developmental and mastery achievement. We have finished our unit on relations, number stories, and mental arithmetic. The children are able to read, write, and order two-digit numbers for objects grouped by tens and ones. We also focused on comparing numbers through 99, recognizing and using ordinal numbers through 10, and skip counting by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s. Our children are presently learning how to tell time. The children will learn to read both digital and conventional clocks. Please practice with your children telling time. I would also like to encourage you to practice math addition fact strategies at home. Thank you so much for your help and support!

Creative writing is an important activity for our children. The more our children write, the more they will feel comfortable about their writing. Once given a topic, the children are free to let their thoughts flow into words. Please encourage your child to write stories on topics that interest them. They should also be encouraged to write longer stories with more details. Please remind them that a paragraph is made up of a group of sentences that tell about the same thing. The children may use creative spelling, the dictionary or other resources to help them spell any new words. Encourage your child to express ideas in a clear, understandable fashion and talk about experiences in the order in which they happened. Look at the writing your child does and please praise their efforts. I would love it if the children would share these wonderful stories with our class at school.

Our children have been busy working in a wonderland of wonderful work. They are progressing beautifully in reading, are whizzes at the phonics rules, awesome spellers, and are good thinkers in discussions. They’ve really come a long way and I am very proud of them. As a parent, you have a tremendous influence on your child’s growth and development. I would like to encourage you to take an active role in your child’s education during this school year. Your support and enthusiasm will go a long way toward helping your child succeed in all academic areas. How our children feel about themselves is a link to their success level. Our message to them must be a positive one based on a desire to continue to achieve just a little more tomorrow than today. We must also teach our children to accept evaluation as a tool and a stimulus for growth and success. Further, we must teach them that school is their job and that learning and achievement are expected. This is not pressure, it is as much life training as in so many other things that we direct.

I would like to sincerely express my appreciation to all my parents. Your children are wonderful! I am having so much fun with them. Thank you so much for your assistance and continued support.

Sincerely,

Ann Collins

This is a wonderful time of the year! The children have been actively involved in a variety of projects. Our children are progressing beautifully in reading. I am very pleased with their progress. The holiday season is a perfect time to read to your child. In addition to language development and listening comprehension, reading is a wonderful shared experience which promotes the feeling of love and acceptance between parent and child.

Please continue to listen to your child read. Sometimes a favorite story can be recorded on a cassette and played again and again by the child, especially if the parent is unavailable. It is sometimes fun to take turns reading paragraphs or pages, or to pretend to be one of the characters in the story. Other good techniques are to encourage your child to guess what will happen next to supply a new or different ending, to discuss the sequence of events, and to deliberately leave out words or change details and see if your child can correct this. Reading should be from a wide variety of sources- fiction books, nonfiction books, biographies, articles, and whatever is of interest to the parent and child.

This is the season to consider giving books as gifts. The books don’t always have to be at the child’s reading level. They can be books to read aloud and share together. Our children have enjoyed reading books by the following authors Eric Carl, James Marshall, David McPhail, and Frank Ash. These authors all have wonderful adventures to share with our children. Their stories are interesting, humorous, and they have enriching vocabulary for first graders.

This month is a good time to write thank you notes to relatives and friends for holiday gifts. It’s a terrific way to practice reading and writing skills. The children are encouraged to write using the phonetic skills they they are capable of. Some may call it developmental spelling; others, invented spelling. The children call it “sounding a word out.” This allows a child to perform at their own ability level and to feel successful about it. Everyone in our classroom is an author. The children have lots of opportunity to write every day. They write in their journals about anything which is of interest to them, sequence literature stories, write about the main idea of a story, create their own topics for stories, and create problem solving stories. While the children are writing I circulate and listen, offering encouragement, pats on the back, and small pieces of advice or suggestions. In small groups and with partners we work together on emitting and revising our stories for publication. I am so proud of our children! Their hard work, spelling, and enthusiasm is unbelievable.

In math, the children have been introduced to the concepts of both addition. They are taught specific strategies which eventually enable them to master the basic facts. Until a child can look at 3 and 2, instantly know that the sum is 5 and the difference is 1, the child needs a strategy for getting the correct answer. Theses strategies are used until the child has internalized and memorized the specific fact. Do not be frustrated if the child is having difficulty memorizing these facts. It takes time and lots of work. It is important that the child understand and use the strategies until memorization is achieved. Thus far, the children have learned to “count on” and “count down.”
They use this strategy when adding 0,1,2,3, or 4 to any number and when subtracting 0,1,2,3, or 4 from any number. Also, ask your child to tell you about our math strategies of “neighbors,” “zeros,” “one less,” and “doubles.” The children love these terms and would be thrilled to share them with you. They are really starting to memorize these strategies and associating them with the math problems. As a result, mastery of simple addition and subtraction problems is as easy as 1, 2, 3.

Attached you will find a brief summary of all the addition and subtraction strategies I will be teaching. Please note that I have taught all the addition strategies and that your child should be able to do and tell you about each one. Also, I have only taught “count-backs” and “parts” of subtraction. Part + part = whole so therefore a whole – part = part is a very difficult strategy for children to understand. I encourage all of you to review this strategy, as well as all the other strategies, daily. This can only reinforce their learning and skills to attain mastery.

As teachers and parents, we have a unique opportunity to enhance self- esteem within children. Research studies show the higher your child’s self-esteem is, the higher their level of academic achievement will be. Self-esteem correlates positively with learning.

It is important to teach our children how to read, write, think, and compute. However, if they don’t learn to love themselves and each other, they are missing one of the most basic skills every person has a need to learn about.

I hope you find the enclosed “Five Keys to Enhancing Self-Concept” as helpful at home as I have in the classroom.

I wish for you and your families a wonderful holiday season. Best wishes for a happy and healthy new year!

November is the perfect opportunity to reflect and understand how grateful I am to be in such an incredible school district.  Our children are such wonderful little people who enjoy learning and coming to school each day.  It truly is such a joy to work and learn with your children every day.  Thank you for sharing your children with me.  I promise to enrich their minds and instill in them the importance of being a life long learner.  The children are learning the importance of liking themselves and always trying to be their very best everyday.

Our children are becoming outstanding readers!  Their reading vocabulary and reading skills have improved immensely.  They have increased their sight vocabulary and they are working on becoming fluent readers.  We are working on reading strategies to increase their ability to sound out new vocabulary words.  Some of these strategies are using picture clues, predicting, consonant digraphs, consonant blends, short vowel sounds, long vowel sounds, rhyming words, finding little words inside big words, and context clues.  Our children have practiced these strategies in whole class activities, in guided reading groups, partner reading, centers, reading games, and using the Promethean board.  The goal is that these strategies will assist them to become more proficient individual readers.

Another area of reading that we are currently working on is comprehension.  Comprehension is the ability to understand and remember the events that happened in a story.  The children have been involved in reading different genres.  They are learning about fiction, realistic fiction, nonfiction, autobiographies, biographies, fantasy, fairy tales, and folk tales. Each genre has it own specific qualities.  They are learning how to recognize and identify these qualities.  Story structure is how the author organizes information. A story has many parts.  It has a beginning, middle, and an ending.  In the beginning, readers learn who the characters are and where the story takes place.  In the middle, things happen to the characters.  At the end, the characters may be different than they were at the beginning because of what happened in the story.  It is important that good readers pay attention to the different parts of the story in order to better understand it.  Some of these comprehension strategies are using picture clues, identifying the genre, the elements of a story, (characters, setting, problem, and solution), sequencing the events in the stories, drawing conclusions, and summarizing.  We will continue to experience and practice using all of these comprehension strategies throughout first grade.  These strategies will help your child understand better what he or she

has read.  You can help your child by having them read short, simple stories to you.  It is important to help your child to read words that are not yet part of the reading vocabulary.  Please stress the pleasure and enjoyment you get from the story and from your child reading to you.  You can improve your child’s reading skills by reading with them daily and by playing word games with them.  Thank you so much for your content effort and for reading with your child.

A major milestone in writing development has occurred in first grade.  The children are actively involved in writing journals in personal journals, reading logs, comprehension sequencing stories, language arts, and science journals.  Writing develops along with other areas of language: speaking, listening, and reading.  This is why reading aloud to children is such a powerful language learning activity.  The understanding of written language increases as the child tries out what they know in real writing situations.  Actual writing activities help the child achieve a greater understanding of the complexities of written language.  Children should use correct spelling when they are known.  They should also be encouraged to attempt spelling of unknown words when writing.  The transition to correct spelling usage develops over a period of time.  Simple sound association and patterns are learned first; more difficult combinations are learned later.  Absolute correctness cannot be achieved all at once.  Correct English usage and spelling are goals that can best be achieved in meaningful writing activities.  Encouragement by adults fuels the child’s desire to write.  Appropriate instruction at appropriate times will increase the child’s power of expression and control of language.

Children whose parents encourage and support their first attempt at writing become more creative writers.  Children learn to write by writing.  It is important to create a print-rich environment in your home where your child has access to pencils, pens, markers, chalk, crayons, and all kinds of paper, as well as a variety of books, newspapers, and magazines.  Let your child see you writing.  It is extremely important that you model and explain what you are doing.  Please read to your child on a regular basis.  Reading and writing are mutually supportive and closely related to oral language.  Try to create a risk-free environment where your child feels comfortable experiencing and learning about writing without correction by an adult.  Answer your child’s questions about writing and spelling simply and directly.  Appreciate the stage in which your child is working.  React as you did when they were learning how to talk.  Your child needs you to be patient, positive, reinforcing, and excited about each attempt at something new in writing.  The timetable for writing development varies from child to child.  Children progress through the stages of writing at different ages.  Parents can help their child’s writing by providing them with varied experiences about which to write.  It is also important to provide an appropriate working space for your child to write.  Please keep samples of your child’s writing and date them.  You will both enjoy looking back to see the growth in writing development.

Please encourage your child to write.  When children have a purpose for writing, it enhances the meaning of the activity.  Children need different materials on which to write such as long strips of paper for lists, stationary for letters, chalkboard, newsprint, and construction paper.  It is important to provide many opportunities for your child to re-read their writing.  Don’t worry if they do not always remember or cannot read what they wrote.  Your child needs your help and encouragement when this happens.  Label or ask your child to label things in your home.  Point out print in the environment, identify words when asked, and answer questions about the meanings of words.  Encourage your child to label their drawings.  Occasionally, help your child to write dictation and make books of your child’s talk written down.  Praise, praise, praise, encourage, and enjoy your child’s efforts.

In science we have completed our unit on the Sun, Moon, and Earth.  The children have learned lots of interesting facts.  They have written their knowledge and observations in their own individual science journals.  Please encourage you child to share this information with you.  I would like to encourage them to keep investigating new information about our planet Earth.

Thank you so much for all of your continued support.  All of your cooperation is greatly appreciated!  I wish you and your family a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

I am looking forward to meeting with you to discuss your child’s progress so far this year.  It is important for us to work together as a team to build a successful educational program for your child.  Please share with me any concerns or questions you may have at any time in order to keep our lines of communication open.  I hope that after our conference you will have a better understanding of all aspects pf your child’s’ school experience.

Learning is so much fun when we do it together..

In language arts we are busy reviewing  the stories and skills taught in our first unit Treasures book.  We have focused on the elements of a story.  The children are able to identify and discuss the characters in a story.  We are also able to explain the setting of where and when the story took place.  We have also been intorduced the the problem and solution in a story.  A great comprehension strategy to use with your child while reading a book is to have them name all of the characters in the story.  Please also have them discuss where the story takes place.  In grammar the children are working on writing complete statements that have information about a topic.  We have also learned that all sentences need a period, a question mark, or an exclimation mark at the end.

This is a very exciting time for our children in math.  The children are continuing to learn how to tell time all around the clock.  Please continue to ask them questions to  help our children become experts at telling time.  I have introduced coins and how to recognize a penny and nickel.  The children are taught to count all nickels first and then to count the pennies.  They must label each coin by writing the amount under the coin to count the total amount of the coins.  Please practice counting money at home with your child.  The children are learning addition strategies to enhance their addition facts.

In Science the children have enjoyed lwarning about the sun, moon, and Earth.  We have talked about the different phases of the moon:  new moon, cresent moon, first quarter moon, and full moon.  Please let your child visit the moon each evening around 7:00 by looking through a window in your home.  This experience will let them personally see the changes in the moon.

The children have enjoyed writing stories and producing many  fun projects.  They have written stories about their home, scarecrows, and pumpkins.  We are using the strategy that all stories have a beginning, middle, and an end.

On Monday, October 30st the children need to bring their Halloween costumes to school with them.  We will change into the costumes at 1:30.  The Halloween parade starts at 2:00,  Our class party will take place in our classroom from 2:30 until3:15.

Thank you so much for your continued support.  Please be sure to sign up for November parent conferences through our school office.

This fall has been an exciting learning experience for our children. We are off to an excellent start! Our children are developing a love for learning. They are feeling good about themselves and their academic skills through day-to-day activities in which they are naturally engaged. It is extremely important to put into the hands of each and every child the tools of learning. They have been learning to read, write, spell, and add. Children need to be aware of the world around them. A child should solve problems and nurture problem-solving activities. They need an attitude that encourages questions. I feel that an atmosphere where children can be related to in a sincere and honest manner is very important. The children have opportunities to make discoveries as a basis for learning. Our children need to have opportunities to be creative. I am encouraging cooperation and leadership among the children. This is to stimulate the children’s desire to help others and to help them achieve more self confidence. Good work and trying to do our best have been a focus every day since school begun. It is so important for our children to take pride in their work and have a feeling of accomplishment. I feel that if I expect the best from your child, I will see great progress. I am looking forward to discussing your child’s progress at conference time.

I am so excited about our children’s reading progress so far this year. Their sight word vocabulary and comprehension skills have really improved. Our reading program is wonderful! When a story is first introduced, I introduce story concepts, develop background experiences, and go over vocabulary needed for the reading. The children are reminded of the strategies they have learned at the end of the previous unit. Then, they read the story in their own books. Comprehension questions are asked through a guided discussion. In part two of the unit, the review and enrichment of skills and vocabulary are provided. The children also enjoy the oral language of the story. In part three of a unit, decoding and comprehension are emphasized. As each strategy is introduced, children are instructed in using it, guided practice is provided, children summarize what they have learned, and independent practice is assigned. Reading for pleasure is so important. I would like to stress that a time be set aside for reading a book just for fun. Would you please give your child 15 to 20 minutes of your time every night to LISTEN to them read? Your cooperation and continued support is greatly appreciated.

Our phonics program has given the children practice in sounding out words they don’t know. Our units have covered short vowel “a” (as in cat) and short vowel “i” (as in sit). I encourage the children to do the writing on their own and to sound out words they don’t know. This “free writing” approach has been a great source of motivation now the children are feeling more confident about writing. At this point in the year, the children have a limited spelling vocabulary. I don’t expect them to spell everything correctly. As we progress through our spelling, phonics, and reading programs, the children will acquire more skills that will be applied to spelling. We will be studying short vowel “u”, “e”, and “o” in the next two months. Long vowels and irregular sounds will be covered later in the year.

In the first unit of our science program, we have focused on the study of the sun, the earth, and the moon. Our children will have the opportunity to investigate facts and keep a science journal for new information about this unit. They will also be involved in a tree observation journal where they will record weather conditions, absorption of the sun’s heat, wind, changes in water, seasonal weather changes, and how people adjust to seasonal weather changes. In weather and seasons, children observe and record weather conditions. They will investigate factors, such as sunlight, temperature, wind, condensation, and forms of precipitation. They will also study seasonal weather patterns and some ways that humans, other animals, and plants respond, including migration and hibernation. We have also expanded our knowledge about the materials of objects. They have learned that objects are composed of various materials and have properties by which the objects can be distinguished. We have described and categorized objects by their color, shape, weight, texture, material, and other properties.

In social studies, we have been focusing on the concept of ourselves. We have discussed the fact that each person is special and has many positive qualities. We have read many books that send a positive message about learning styles, being loved even when mistakes are made, finding positive qualities in oneself and self-expression. From experiencing self-concepts, we shift to families and how they are alike and different. The children will also be involved in a lot of activities that will enhance are character education program.

The children have been working in small groups this month. They have been practicing social skills that have been introduced. The cooperative group social skills introduced thus far are taking turns talking and looking at the person who is talking. Other social skills that will soon be introduced are listening to your partner, using quiet voices and using encouraging words and positive comments. The children first brainstorm what the social skill looks like, and what it would be like if we didn’t use the skill. Once this occurs, we practice the social skill with an activity and discuss how it went. Reflecting on the activity is an important stepping stone towards positive and meaningful group experiences. After practicing a social skill, the children will work in cooperative groups on a task or common goal. Groups are based on ongoing units of study. While working on a common goal, the group will also focus on social skills. At this point, not every social skill is expected to be used in every small group setting. Learning to work cooperatively takes time, practice, and reinforcement. The pay off to practicing social skills is that it will hopefully carry over into your child’s future peer interactions.

In math, we have introduced number order and recognition, addition, graphing, and problem solving. One of our major goals is for children to master the basic math facts. We encourage the children to use math strategies to solve problems. Research has shown that children are more secure with their math facts when they begin with a strategy versus rote memorization. Addition strategies that have been covered so far are “count-ons” and “doubles.” Count-ons are problems in which a 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 is added on to another number. The children look for the larger number and count on the smaller. For example, 3 + 8; start with 8, count on 3 more to make 11. Doubles are addition problems in which any number is added to itself. When introducing the doubles, we try to relate each problem to real objects. For example,
4 + 4 =8 reminds us of a spider with four legs on each side.
5 + 5 = 10 is easy to remember because we have 5 fingers on each hand. The children need to memorize the doubles before we can go on to our next strategy, doubles plus one. Please help your child become a member of the “doubles club” by practicing their math facts at home. The children will learn that since 6 + 6 =12, 6 + 7 must equal one more than 12, which is 13. It is wonderful to see how well the children enjoy and catch on to addition when they understand the concept and apply the strategies.

October is a very exciting time of the year for our children. The children have been very busy with many projects, units, and Halloween activities. Our children just love reading and writing Halloween stories and poems. Our readers have been encouraged to use picture clues as they read new challenging books. Some of the reading selections consist of rhyme, rhythm, and repetition stories. The stories and poems have enriched the children’s vocabularies. They have also enriched the children with reading comprehension strategies. Our outstanding stories and illustrations that accompany their stories prove that they are becoming emergent readers and writers.

Our Halloween party will take place on Monday, October 31st. Our room mothers are “brewing up” an exciting party. I hope you will be able to join us for the annual Tripp School Costume Parade at 2:00 p.m. Your child should bring their costume to school. We will change into our costumes after lunch.

Happy Halloween!

Welcome to the magical land for learning in first grade. I really enjoyed getting to know your child. Each is delightful! Now that your child has begun the new adventure of going to school, let us work together and help them achieve success in this new experience. Tripp Elementary School is a wonderful school and teaching first grade is an extremely rewarding experience. I am looking forward to working with you and your child. It is important that you know that together we are your child’s “education team.” These are your children. They have been nurtured, loved, and beautifully cared for by you. It is that rich experience they bring with them to school. They will be mine for only a short time, but an important one.Your contribution is vital to the success of our children. Please share with me any concerns or questions you may have at any time in order to keep our lines of communication open. Our children are very special and I promise to give them a very happy and successful year in my first grade room.

Learning to read is one of the most important gifts that you and I will ever give our children. “Reading is talk written down.” Children have vocabularies and use verbal expression before they can read. This is why language expression is so important. Children have to hear and use language before they can read and understand it. Reading to children is so important. Reading, listening, talking, and interaction are prerequisites for comprehension. I want to provide our children with the enjoyment of reading.

The influence of the parent as a model for the child is almost incalculable. Parents who build a successful partnership with the school will find their child’s opportunity for learning greatly enhanced. I will be sending home word lists and activities throughout the year for you and your child to experience together. Please take the time to share these activities with your child. Encourage your child to read. Help them recognize the value and need of good books and desirable reading materials. Reading aloud to your child can be a pleasurable experience. Questioning and discussing emphasize learning. When your child brings home schoolwork, review it with them. Encourage your child to explain the purpose of the worksheet. Praise your child. Everyone needs encouragement. Learning is not always easy and work well done should be recognized and so should real effort put forth.

The class is presently involved in a unit entitled, “All About Me,” that will link school and home. Our children are working very hard on their booklets and they are very proud of them. Our first activities have centered on happiness, feeling happiness, and sharing happiness. The unit is also designed to help children become aware of themselves as people and to become more articulate about their own self concepts. It is also designed to help children develop an awareness of their environment. Our goal is too develop a positive self-image. A sense of self-worth of positive self-concept includes a general sense of well being, of feeling O.K. about one’s self and the world, and awareness of one’s self as a person having something unique and valuable to offer in a relationship with other people.

In the month ahead, our math program will first introduce basic addition and subtraction facts. Our children will use their knowledge of number fact as they solve problems involving addition and subtraction. The program also extends the concept of place value to larger numbers. Children will be learning to count, write, and read number words through hundreds. Learning to tell time more accurately is another important part of our program. Children will learn to set and read times to the half-hour. They will also learn the value of pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters as they work with realistic-looking coins in the unit about money.

You can help your child recognize the practical applications of the math concepts they are learning in a variety of ways. Reinforce number facts by having your child help as you shop, cook, garden, and do rep[airs around your home. Point out large numbers on mileage signs as you drive. Encourage them to count coins received as change or given as allowance. Numbers become very real as children see their significance in our daily lives.

Our school provides many programs. As a result, our children often carry money to school. Please write the child’s name, the name of the program, and my name on the outside of the envelope in order that it gets to the proper destination.

Please label all new supplies brought to school, especially gym shoes, lunch boxes, and clothing to be worn outside. Please remember that your child needs a pair of gym shoes to remain at school for P.E. and is their street shoes get wet.

Our class does a lot of language experiences. Please encourage your child to participate. If, at any time, your child wishes to bring something unusual to school{such as a new baby in the family}, please let me know before hand so that I can make the proper arrangements. Whenever there is a change of plans and your child is to go home or elsewhere by some other way than the usual plan, please send a note to me.

Your child has the opportunity to purchase paperback books at a reasonable price form See Saw Book Club. I will send home a monthly order form. If you wish to order from the club, please send the order form with a check made payable to See Saw Book Club for the amount of the purchase. Please send all orders in an envelope with your child’s name on the front. Please do not send cash.

I want to thank you for being such Super Parents! Our children came to school with everything they needed on the first day of school. I really appreciate your conscientiousness. Thank you!

I am looking forward to working with you and your child. We both share the same major concern-you’re “My” child! Let’s keep the communication lines open to assure the best possible year in first grade.

If you have a concern, please feel free to contact me at school {847} 955-3642. Let’s wok together. First graders are very special to me and making their year special is my goal. I am really excited about this school year.