Mrs. Jansen's First Grade Class
Weekly Newsletter: January 4, 2016
KEYSOR PRIDE
We are Respectful, Responsible and Safe.
Welcome to the New Year!
Welcome back to school and into 2016! The past five months have been incredible with your children and I cannot wait to begin our next five together! As we move into our first week back after break, we will spend time in class family activities working together in partners, pairs and teams. This work will also coincide with reflection, revisiting of our Keysor Pride expectations, goal setting for 2016 and picking new tables to work with friends at.
Also, we had a great time before break in our first Makerspace visit and are looking forward to our next journey there! The plan is to visit every other week on Thursdays during our writing workshop to enable for the greatest of supports for learning. Once we return from the Makerspace, the children will reflect upon their work within the space. The kids are super excited for their next adventure.
Also, we had a great time before break in our first Makerspace visit and are looking forward to our next journey there! The plan is to visit every other week on Thursdays during our writing workshop to enable for the greatest of supports for learning. Once we return from the Makerspace, the children will reflect upon their work within the space. The kids are super excited for their next adventure.
Special Classes/Activities Schedule:
Monday, Jan. 4th: E Day - Art with Mrs. Lang
Tuesday, Jan. 5th: A Day - P.E. with Coach Widamen
Wednesday, Dec. 6th: B Day - Music with Dr. St. Clair; Wellness Wednesday for walking, running or riding your bikes to school; Purina Dog Show @ 2:00
Thursday, Dec. 7th: C Day - Wellness with Mrs. Ehrlich
Friday, Dec. 8th: D Day - Library with Mrs. Ems
Tuesday, Jan. 5th: A Day - P.E. with Coach Widamen
Wednesday, Dec. 6th: B Day - Music with Dr. St. Clair; Wellness Wednesday for walking, running or riding your bikes to school; Purina Dog Show @ 2:00
Thursday, Dec. 7th: C Day - Wellness with Mrs. Ehrlich
Friday, Dec. 8th: D Day - Library with Mrs. Ems
Tower Garden: UPDATE
While away during break, wonderful growth continued to occur at Keysor! Our tower gardens have taken off and our class had a HUGE part in this! The seeds that were planted just a few short weeks ago, have now begun to sprout creating seedlings in the office and 1st/2nd Grade hallway. Within our school's garden in the 3rd grade hallway, we're almost ready to harvest our first salads to enjoy during lunch!
Reindeers were in our midst!
THANK YOU so very much to all of our families for their work and support in creating a wonderful holiday celebration in class. The children had a great time playing 'reindeer games,' making reindeer hats and enjoying reindeer snacks. Also, a deep "Thank You" of tremendous gratitude is extended to each of you for the extremely generous and thoughtful gifts shared with me. The class gifts of the GORGEOUS poinsettia, dinner gift certificate, festive soap and holiday spending funds were greatly appreciated and well enjoyed! I cannot thank you enough for the wonderful gifts you provided, and those that you do each day, by sharing your children with me! I am beyond grateful!!
Econ City Visit
Also prior to break, we had the pleasure of visiting Mrs. Bartin's class during their Econ City experiences. The second graders had been studying economics and created 'stores' where they could share with Keysor kids various goods and services of their own creation. Many skills were shared, goods purchased and activities enjoyed. The experience by our first graders is a tremendous one, as they will be able to create their own specialty good or service next year!
Sight Word and Sound Focus
With our new year and new quarter, we are also moving into a new study of our sight words, sounds and phonics. Our sight words this week are: get, jump, little, girl, ball
We will also be exploring the long vowel sounds of 'o' and 'i' in words like joke and lime.
Lastly, the children will be learning how to use the vowel patterns in words with 'bossy e' at the end, to create new words of their own. For example, if one can spell plate, then they are able to spell date, late, gate, etc.
We will also be exploring the long vowel sounds of 'o' and 'i' in words like joke and lime.
Lastly, the children will be learning how to use the vowel patterns in words with 'bossy e' at the end, to create new words of their own. For example, if one can spell plate, then they are able to spell date, late, gate, etc.
Writing Workshop: 2015 Reflections, 2016 goal setting and beginning work with creating informational chapter books
Our All About books have reached their end, and the children will be having author shares this week to present their story to their classmates. Additionally, we will ease back into writing, through sharing our Winter Break fun, setting goals for 2016 and then moving into our new unit on creating informational chapter books. This work in chapter book creation will also provide opportunities in research and group experiences as similar research groups will be designed.
Learning about Measurement and Place Value Strategies
As we move into our next unit of instruction in math, we will be building upon our addition and subtraction work during second quarter, through the children learning how to measure different pieces of paper by their length and width and adding those measurements (most often two digit numbers) together. Their measurements will be completed through use of unifix cubes, group conversations and recording of their totals counted within the new unit "Measuring for the Art Show."
Mapping Skills Reflection and Beginning Explorations of Patterns in the Sky
As we begin our week back, the children will be sharing their maps that were created over Winter Break of their room, home, neighborhood and/or community. Please be sure to send in your child's map within their red folders this week. We will pair this sharing with further mapping explorations as well. Then, as we move into the last part of their week, we will move our view of our community to our views above by exploring the sky, both during the day and at night. This study of objects in the sky will present learning experiences over the next month in understanding the sun, stars, planets and an introduction to our solar system.
Mrs. Traci Jansen
Email: traci.jansen@kirkwoodschools.org
Website: http://keysor.kirkwoodschools.org/pages/Keysor_Elementary/Classes/Jansen
Location: 725 N Geyer Rd, Kirkwood, MO, United States
Phone: 314-213-6120 (2164)
Twitter: @TraciJansen