First Grade Newsletter
February 7th, 2019
Important Dates:
February 11 - 15th: Friendship and Kindness Week
Tuesday, February 12th: 1st Grade PTA program "Camp Barksdale (see details below on times)
Thursday, February 14th: Friendship Party
Monday, February 18th: President's Day (NO SCHOOL)
February 25th - March 1st: Read Across America Week
Monday, February 25th: Class Picture Day
Friday, March 1st: Book Character Dress Up Day / Read Across America
Six Flags Reading logs are due
Friendship Party and Valentine Boxes
Our Friendship Parties will be in our classrooms with our friends. The teachers have some fun activities planned for the classroom party. No parents are needed for this party. We are taking the opportunity to deepen our friendships and spend time with one another opening our Valentine's and playing games.
Kindness and Friendship Week
Breakfast with a Buddy
Book Character Dress Up Day - March 1st!
Read Across America week is February 25! In honor of Dr. Seuss birthday on March 2, students can come to school dressed as their Favorite Book Character on Friday, March 1!
** Don’t forget to bring shoes for PE/fitness and be sure that you follow the dress code.
First Grade Musical "Camp Barksdale"
Our first grade program is fast approaching! If your child is participating in this fun night on Tuesday, February 12th, please see the information below from Ms. Gaines.
Please have your students dropped off by 6:20PM at the PASAR door. Your student will go to the library to warm up with me before the performance. The PTA meeting begins at 6:30 and the performance will follow after at 7:00PM.
The theme is Camp Barksdale. Please have your students wear blue jeans and a bright colored shirt. It does not have to be a button up, it just needs to be a bright shirt without a design on it.
Your students and I have had a blast working on this program. I am excited for us to put it all together. Thank you for your continued support!
Lunch
Helpful Reminders
Parents, we could use your help! We are having a lot of behavior issues throughout the grade level and could use some parent reinforcement of expectations from home. We are having difficulties with students who are speaking disrespectfully to friends and teachers, students who are being physically aggressive (mostly playing) with one another and having a hard time working in the classroom without interrupting the teacher when she is talking or friends when they are working.
We work very hard to reinforce these skills during the school day, but even after reminders and lessons about appropriate school behavior, many of these behaviors are continuing.
We would appreciate it if you would sit down with your child and remind them of your expectations for their school behavior and high expectations for their quality work. Remind them of expectations in the mornings and check in with them in the evenings and ask about their day and the choices they have made that day. This will help them know that this is important to you and will be much appreciated by all of the teachers who work with your child.
Something to keep in mind is that there are usually two sides to every story, so please ask your child what role they played in any situation they bring up. Help them think through ways to solve the problem appropriately. Telling the teacher is not always the best first response. We talk about big problems and small problems and multiple ways to solve both without having to resort to hurtful physical or verbal responses. They should be able to tell you the problem solving strategies they are learning about and explain how they can be responsible members of our school community. Thank you for your help. This is the best time to start teaching these lifelong skills.
Six Flags Read to Succeed
Don’t forget that students can earn a free ticket to Six Flags by turning in their Six Flags Reading Log by the March 1st deadline. Students who have logged 6 hours (360 minutes) of reading time will receive their ticket in May. Please contact Mrs. Edwards at paige.edwards@pisd.edu with any questions.
** This is EASY for first graders because they should be reading 100 minutes a week. Use their Reading Log to record their reading over the past four weeks onto the Six Flags Reading Log & VIOLA - a FREE ticket to Six Flags! **
What Are We Learning?
Language Arts and Social Studies
Math
Science
This week we began a new Engineering Unit that focuses on Earth's Materials and how to use them to create useful products. Students will be learning about what soil is made of and why we need it. They will also begin exploring how the properties of different materials can have an impact on a final product.
IMPORTANT: For this unit, your child will need to bring a ziplock bag filled with 10 rocks. All rocks must be smaller than your child's fist.
First Grade Team
Email: firstname.lastname@pisd.edu
Website: https://sites.google.com/a/pisd.edu/first-grade-barksdale-elementary/
Location: 2424 Midway Road, Plano, TX, United States
Phone: 469-752-0100
Twitter: @bbengaged1