The Gower Gazette
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In the Classroom... July 14, 2017 (Week 1)
Our Book of the Week was David Goes to School. Our objectives targeted using illustrations to describe the characters in the story; we also wanted to think about words in the story that identify feelings. The kids enjoyed this story and we had some great conversations about David and how he felt in the story as well as making the connection to our own feelings.
In writing we discussed the writing process in first grade and what that looks like. We will begin personal narratives next week with a focus on sentence structure (using capitals, spaces, and punctuation at the end).
This week in Letterland we worked with Annie Apple. The kids love singing her song and identifying rhyme words that went with our spelling words: ~ad, ~ap, & ~at. We learned a Kagan Structure called Think, Write, Round Robin. The students worked collaboratively with their table teams to think of words, write them on a poster, and share them with their peers. We took our "practice spelling test" today so that the kids could get use to the format and how the test looks. Next week words will continue to focus on Annie Apple and other word families that she is in.
The kids are doing some great counting in Math. We are working on building our number sense. This week we identified numbers, counted, and represented numbers with objects. We learned about number lines and worked with open number lines. We stayed within 30 this week, but next week we will move on to higher numbers.
Teamwork, community and being a good citizen is our big concept for Social Studies this quarter. The kids are learning to work together, help each other, and what it means to be a member of a community. Ask your child to explain these words: empathy, unity, and community.
As you can see it's been a busy week. We are team building each and every day! The kids are awesome and I just know it's going to be the BEST year ever!
I hope you all have a terrific weekend and enjoy your time with family.
See you next week!
Ms.Gower
July Birthdays:
- Haley- 8
- Tyler- 28
We Could Use...
- HP Printer Ink- 950/951
- Colorful & White Copy Paper
Mark Your Calendars-
- Tues. July 25- Class Social at Sunni Sky's (Parents & Students meet Ms. Gower there at 4:30 to celebrate the start of an amazing year & our upcoming Track Out!)
- Wed. July 26- Fall Pictures @ 11:15
- Fri. July 28- Track Out Day!
- Mon. Aug. 21- Track In =)
- Mon. Sept. 4- Holiday/No School
- Fri. Sept. 8- Early Release
Notes~
- Supplies- Many of the kids have brought in their supplies, but we are still missing items. Please try to get these in on Monday especially their Scholastic's money ($6). I have to place this order soon and I don't want a child to not have it. We use these every Monday for a lesson and then the kids do an activity with it for homework.
- Friday Folders- Your child has his/her Friday Folder in their backpack. Inside you will find their work from the week, school information, his/her practice spelling test and a new list for next week. These items can be removed from your child's folder and kept at home. Please look over their conduct and work habit grades and read my comments. Then initial and add any comments you would like to share with me. Please make sure to send this folder back to school on Monday!
- BYOD- Our classroom is a part of the BYOD initiative where students can bring their device to school to use; however, we have not started it in our classroom yet. I noticed that some of the kids have been bringing devices to school. Please do not send these in just yet. Right now we are focusing on general rules and procedures and I need to talk with the kids about BYOD and what that looks like in our room before the actual devices start coming. We will not start BYOD until 2nd quarter. Also, there is a permission form that has to be completed by both parent and child before devices come to school. Thanks for helping with this. I will let you know when it is time for your child to bring these in.
- Classroom Website- If you haven't checked out our class website yet then please do! There is lots of info on there for you. My Google calendar has important dates listed for the entire year; you can find homework in there, newsletters, and there are even interactive activities for the kids to do. Your child can solve the Math Stumper for a treat, earn lunch with me by taking part in our Read & Respond Blog, and later in the year they can help write a collaborative story on the Write with Me link. Take a peek and let me know if you have any questions about how that works.
- Class Dojo- Please connect to Class Dojo if you have not done so. This app allows you to follow your child's behavior daily and to connect with me. This is my preferred method of contact. It sends messages directly to my phone where email is only when I have a chance to check. I do have office hours set up so any messages sent before 8 or after 5 will not come to me until I open the app. I also do not check Dojo on the weekends as I try to devote this time to my family.
- Parent Survey & All About Me Bags- If you have not completed the parent survey please do so this weekend and return it to me on Monday. You can place it inside your child's Friday Folder. Also, send in the All About Me bags. We will be sharing these on Monday =)
WSES- Embracing the Needs of Every Child!
Email: egower@wcpss.net
Website: msgower.weebly.com
Location: 6800 Dwight Rowland Road, NC, United States
Phone: (919) 557-2770
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/msgower
Twitter: @MsGowerClass