1.1 Classroom News!!!!!
From Ms. Jordan Week of 11-12-13 (No School on Monday!)
Reminders
*We have no school on Monday! Hopefully, I will see everyone back on Tuesday! Our classroom has been a little empty this week.
*Welcome to our new student Isla! She is a wonderful addition to our class.
*I have had some students tell me they have brought their IPADs and other expensive electronics to school. This worries me because the school is not responsible for any lost or stolen items. It has not become a problem in my classroom, but the students do leave the electronics in their backpacks because they are not permitted in the classroom and their backpacks are left outside the room. The best rule to follow is if you are worried about something happening to it, then do not send it to school.
*The new lunch system is in place. I ate lunch in the cafeteria with the students on Monday and it seemed like it was going very well! Everyone had a balanced lunch and one of the students turned to me and said "This lunch is delicious!" If you would like to purchase a pre-paid meal plan for the next semester contact the elementary office. They can give you more information!
*MAP goals will be explained to your child next week. Feel free to work on those goals at home.
*Please send a healthy snack with your child every day. I am having some students come in with candy. That is NOT a good snack for the middle of the day. Please do not send your child with candy as a snack.
*Homework packets are due on Monday. There is no late penalty for homework. At the end of the day, I just want your child getting the extra practice.
*Please make sure your child brings their library books back to school by Friday of each week or they WILL NOT be able to check out a new library book on Friday. If you want to keep the book for longer that is fine, but students have to ask the librarian to renew it.
*Also, make sure students return the books they take home from our classroom library. Some of these books are my library books and I want to make sure they get to back to the right place. Also, some of our class books we have made have been lost! Please remind your child to take very good care of the books they bring home, especially class books. They are priceless because they are YOUR child's work! I cannot simply replace them.
*Swimming is really beginning next week! The students got rained out this week. I will include the details again in this newsletter because I had many students not bring their swimsuits or the proper equipment.
*I sent home a letter about the animal project coming up. Please read that over and email me if you have any questions. It is due on November 26th. I have also emailed you the list of what animal your child picked.
*There will be no school on Monday, November 11th. It is a national holiday
* The "Mes de la Patria" celebration will be during the POD assembly on Tuesday, November 12th in the Elementary School gym. Please come if you want to see your kids sing the song they have learned in Spanish class!!
*LAST REMINDER! If your child is taking a different bus than usual or you are picking your child up, please contact the elementary office. I CANNOT send your child to a different location without a note from the office. THANK YOU!
Welcome to our classroom, Isla!
Social Stuides
Working together to sell our goods and services during our mall activity!
Goods and Services
Still selling and shopping!
Swimming!!! They will officially begin this week since last week we got rained out! :(
From November 6 to the end of the year your classes will have their swim unit for PE. They will swim during their regular PE block.
Students need to be walked down by the TA to the pool. If the weather is ugly/raining/thunder, THE CLASS IS NOT CANCELLED, the PE teacher will have a backup plan out of the water. Never think you need to keep your students in the classroom because it’s raining
Girls can come with their bathing suit under their PE uniform in the morning if they want to. But after they must change into dry underwear. Boys come in PE and change their shorts. Everybody needs a swim cap!! We don’t have any to lend, no swim cap = no swim… Info will be sent out today to parents and next Friday as well
For the younger grades, 1 and 2 we ask for support from the TA to help in the lockers before and after class. Many students simply don’t have the skill to dress/undress/put on sock etc. This is a skill they need to learn.
Here is all the information about swimming! We begin swimming in PE on Wednesday! Please let me know if you have any questions about swimming classes and I can forward your questions to the gym teacher. Also, don't forget your swim cap! This picture should remind you.
Targets for Next Week (Our Goals):
These goals are based on the Common Core Standards, and have been
written in 1st
grade friendly language. The expectation is that each student
will reach the following goals by the end of the unit.
Literacy: The Amazing Animal World
Oral Language/Listening Skills
I can understand when to use correct capitalization, spelling, and
punctuation in writing.
Reading
I can identify main idea and details.
I can identify non-fiction text features and understand how they help
me read.
Writing
I can write narratives in the correct order.
I can write a sentence with a noun and a verb.
Math: Unit 3
I can make sums of ten.
I can follow a frames and arrows rule.
I can count pennies, nickels, and dimes.
I can continue a pattern.
I can tell time to the half hour.
Science: Plants and Animals
I can distinguish between a living and non-living thing.
I can name the five different animal groups.
Words, Words, Words, Oh My!
Vocabulary:
These are the words your child will be learning in school this week. Any additional
exposure to these words at home will help your child have a better understanding of
Students should be familiar with these words, but they are not for the spelling test.
Math
(unit 3 assessment)
Literacy
main idea
detail
non-fiction
glossary
bolded words
heading
table of contents
caption
Science
living
non-living
mammals
fish
birds
amphibians
reptiles
Popcorn Words:
after
back
give
just
live
me
most
our
thing
very
Spelling Words:
We as teachers spent the past week analyzing the spelling assessments of the students. We have found that while most students are able to spell correctly the ten words we were sending home, it wasn’t always being utilized in further writing. The focus will therefore shift from word memorization to identification and application of rules. We feel this will provide a more solid and balanced skill set that addresses reading, writing, and spelling. We will dedicate the upcoming several weeks on long vowel sounds as it is a particular challenge for native Spanish speakers. I will be posting the spelling rule in this newsletter whereas before students were sent home with a list of words.
Their homework will ask them to find more words that follow the rule. The spelling test will continue to take place on Fridays and most words will follow the pattern with a couple exceptions of patterns already introduced and related to the current pattern.
Thank you in advance for your patience and support during this time of evaluation and transition.
Our rule for this week is words with the long a sound and the silent e at the end. (a____e)
Some examples of words with this rule are:
cape
cake
same
made
Coming Soon!!!
*Personalized goals based on students MAP results introduced to your children and used throughout the school day/year.
*Parent RenWeb where I will put the links to ALL my newsletters in case you want to look at old ones
*New way of teaching spelling (Beginning next week!)
*Animal Unit with an at-home component. I sent an email with the details yesterday.
*Last week we had 6th graders come in to read with us and interview us about what books we like to read. This a joint project with a 6th grade teacher colleague of mine. This means that her students will be writing children's books for my students which they will get to read, keep at school, and then bring home at the end of the year. So in this coming soon portion, what is coming soon is a book written for your child!
*I am working on integrating more technology into our classroom. We now have two fully updated IPADs to be used throughout the day! We tried using both of them today during math and it worked really well! The kids were more than happy to share them.
Keep looking for the Coming Soon! portion to see what else will be implemented in your child's classroom in the following months!
Home Fun!
Next week we will be working on classifying animals. Feel free to watch some of these fun videos at home. As always thank you for your continued support! If you have ANY questions, feel free to email me at jrjordan@isp.edu.pa. Have a great week!
Sincerely,
Julie Jordan