News from Fantastic 1st Graders!
Mrs. Leidig's Learners - a Weekly Newsletter
A few of the skills we'll be learning this week:
MTSS (Reading Switches): This week, my group will be focusing on words containing the "oi/oy" sound, as in "toy" and "point".
Writing: This week, we will be finishing up our prompts about clouds, such as "One day, something odd fell from the clouds....", or "...a cloud flew into my classroom!"
Daily 5/Guided Reading: We will continue working in our stations of "Read to Partner", "Read to Self", "Work on Writing", "Listen to Reading", and "Word Work". I will also be pulling students to re-test their levels on the nightly books and to continue to monitor their words per minute fluency rate. They will also have some additional program practices the first part of the week during this time.
Phonics: Sight words - Please continue to help students work on words each and every night these last 5 weeks of school! Let's see how many of the kids can make it to the end...if your child has passed all 10 pages, please see how many of them they can remember and read correctly! :)
Nightly books - The word list and nightly books are an important part of your child's routine this year, and continuing to have them do it every night also helps to keep them in the routine of learning in the classroom. We hope to keep things as structured and routine as possible clear through the end of the year - it really helps with behavior and focus too! Speaking of books, please begin to check for books at home that belong to the library or to myself and send those back with your child. Library fines are also due at this time. Thanks!
Phonics Skill - Our skill this week is words containing the long "oi/oy" sound, as in "moist" and "boy".
Math: We will continue in our weekly math journals, as well as our "calendar math". We will finish up our unit on measurement this week. The 3 of us teachers have been experimenting with scanning and emailing math worksheets to the kids on their iPADS to save paper. This has been an adjustment! I'm always amazed at how tech-savvy they are! Students are still taking 1 addition and 1 subtraction timed test on Mondays and on Fridays with daily iPAD fact practice in between.
Science/Social Studies: This week, we will be finishing up a few things on trees/conservation/clouds from last week, as well as moving on to life cycles of some animals, such as frogs and butterflies.
Odds and Ends
Book Orders: These will be in any day and I will get them sorted and sent home. The LAST one of this school year will probably be sent home towards the end of this week or so. A few parents have mentioned wanting some reading materials for summer, and that's a great idea! I will probably be contacting most of you by the end of this year with a few reports on progress, as well as some ideas of areas that should be worked on through the summer to stay sharp! I will also be providing some resources, strategies, and support ideas as the time gets closer.
Junior Achievement: Once a week, students get to learn about different aspects of community with Sarah. :)
Upcoming Events
Elementary Music Program: The 1st-4th graders will have their Spring Music Program at the High School this Tuesday night at 7:00 pm. They have been working very hard (...and I know, because our room is on the other side of Mrs. Munyon's wall...!) :) and they sound GREAT!
1st Grade Author's Tea: This will be held May 8th from 2:25-3:15 pm in our classroom. Students will have a chance to share some of their writing projects with you from the year and to show their growth. More details to come!
P.E.S. Olympics: The end of year "fun day" will be held Thursday, May 14 from 8:15-10:30 a.m. here at the school. The kids enjoy some fun activity stations that morning in small groups on the blacktop. We are in need of parent volunteers to help with these games! If you'd be willing to help out, please let me know ASAP. Thanks so much!
A Reason to Celebrate!
Have a great week!
LeAnn