Happy Summer!

Dear Families,

       

We wanted to express how much we have enjoyed getting to know your child and learning together this school year!  When the year started most could not read or write a sentence, count to one hundred, or tell time.  We are very proud of all of our students’ hard work and determination.  It was really those two attributes that allowed them to succeed. Working with them on a daily basis was a joy!  It always amazes us how much they learn to do in first grade.

Thank you for all the wonderful parent support you gave to your child and us.  It was truly appreciated.  We could not have done it on our own and been as successful!  We both have special memories from our first grade class this year J

Enjoy your summer with your terrific kids. Safe travels!

                Sincerely, 

                        Jenn & Kelly

Friday Flyer

Dear Families,

 Happy spring!  We are looking forward to our trip to the Dairy Discovery Farm and Meijer Gardens tomorrow.  The amount of learning that the kids will absorb is greatly anticipated, please be sure to ask for all of the juicy tidbits  from our tomorrowJ! We hope you hear all about it from your first grader.  Thank you SO much to the parent volunteers that took time away from their busy schedules to help with our kids.  You are all very much appreciated!

         During writer’s workshop, we just completed our unit on opinion and persuasive writing.  This week we started our final writing unit of the year titled “Realistic Fiction”.  This showcases great imaginations!

        When reading with your child at home, be sure to give them the cues such as, “that has a vowel team” (ex. “ea” like in (seat) the e says its own name and the “a” is silent) or “that is a silent e word” (like in bike) when they are stuck. 

        In math we are cruising through Unit 7 which focuses on counting, adding, and subtracting groups of 10.  Everyone is working hard!

In science we wrapped up our unit of study on weather.  We discussed spring and reviewed what to do in case of severe weather.  We also started our last science unit of the year, “An Animal’s Life!”  We are currently studying the “animals” we caught outside as we made an indoor habitat for them and will soon study the painted lady butterfly and its life cycle.  Studying these animals up close at Meijer Gardens will be a highlight tomorrow!

In social studies we completed our Junior Achievement program.  A volunteer from the community came in each week for 5 weeks to teach us how things work in a community.  The students are loved learning from “Mr. L!”

It is hard to believe that we only a handful of weeks of school left.  Our students are really starting to look like second graders!

Have a great week!

Jennifer Mason and Kelly Putnam

 

Friday Flyer

Dear Families,

         Book Bingo

          During March is reading month, the first graders will be playing Book Bingo on Fridays.  The purpose is to get more books in the hands and homes of all our first graders.  This will re-energize readers to read more often if they have more books, new books, and for some…just books in their home.  You can help support this by cleaning off your children’s book shelves at home and sending in any new or gently used books.  The books will be used as prizes during our bingo games.  Several years ago we did this and children were leaving school with arm loads of new books to read.  What a great experienceJ!!  Stay turned for more information on March is Reading Month activities we will be participating in as well.

Language Arts

       The past few weeks we have been working hard on preparing for our upcoming conferences.  The children have done very well with the assessments given thus far. J On Thursday the children were introduced to the strategy of “Asking questions before, during and after reading a story”.  I modeled this for them and then they were given the opportunity to practice the first part of writing down questions they have as they review the cover of the book.  This strategy helps readers to activate any schema they may have, as well as do some predicting which helps the brain get ready for words they may see in the text.

During Spelling, we began our unit on long vowels and words that contain the silent e at the end.  As a challenge, I even chose some words with blends at the beginning that also had the silent e.  We have also reviewed / practiced words that begin and end with th-, sh-,and ch-……the children did awesome!!  Super spellers in the making!!

Math

This week we celebrated 100 days of school with lots of activities centered on the number 100!  We rotated through each of the first grade classrooms and did 100 second exercises, did estimation jar activities, read 100’s Day books, and much more!

In math workshop, students continue working on solving addition and subtraction problems and understanding place value.

                                 Science

In science we are doing lots of experimenting in our “Sorting It Out” unit.  We have sorted objects using the properties rough and smooth, flexible and rigid, and we have begun experimenting sorting objects that are magnetic and not magnetic.  Next week we will go “fishing” in our classroom to see which items in our “pond” will attract to our magnets.  We also did some research in computer lab to learn more about magnets. 

                                            Social Studies

We watched a video clip, read non-fiction books, and made Valentine “Glyph” Ladybugs to learn about Valentine’s Day last week.  Thank you for all of the wonderful donations to make our Valentine Party a huge success!

Upcoming dates:

Friday, February 24^th- Conference Time Sheets come home in Friday Folders

Tuesday, February 28^th- PTC meeting 7:00-8:00pm

Thurs, March 2^nd- PTC Roller Skating Party @ Kentwood Fun Spot 3:30-8:00pm

Friday, March 10^th- ½ day dismissal 11:25

Monday, March 13^th- Evening conferences (and Spring Book Fair)

Thursday, March 16th- Evening conferences (and Spring Book Fair)

Friday, March 17- No School

Friday, March 24- Family Fun Night at the high school 5:30-8:30

Thanks for your continued support at home!

Ms. Mason & Mrs. Putnam 

Friday Flyer 

Dear Parents,

        This month we are in need of your help!  If your child wears black snow pants, many students are wearing the wrong ones home.  We have sorted them out here at school and labeled any unlabeled pants with your child’s name.  One student is still missing their correct pair.  Could you please check your child’s snow pants for us, thank you!

        Also, if you know about an end of the day appointment in advance, please email us.  That way we can have your child down in the office on time without classroom interruptions.  We often have multiple students picked up 10-15 early without advance notice and when our classroom receives many phone calls from the office late in the day it disrupts our learning time, thank you for your help with minimizing distractions for our classroom J 

As we enter February, the pace and expectations in first grade continue to accelerate.

The children continue to strive towards working independently, making good behavior choices, and showing that they are ready and responsible with school materials.  Please support your child’s growth at home with these same concepts. 

        This week during our language arts block, we practiced a new comprehension strategy called “track your thinking”.  We used post-it notes while reading for documenting our thoughts. Your child marks areas in the story (with a post-it note) that they love (heart), have questions about (?), something new or exciting (!), important part ( * ), answer to something that makes sense (light bulb), and any text connections (t-s, t-t, t-w). The next time your child is reading at home, give them a stack of post-it notes and ask them to track their thinking for you.  You’ll be pleasantly surprised at what they are capable of doing.

        During Writer’s Workshop we are wrapped up our non-fiction writing unit.  The “All About” books turned out great and are on display in our hallway.  Ask your child what topic they chose to write their books about!  This week we began our unit on poetry.  Your child will be learning about line breaks, stanzas, and how to add “music” to their poetry.

        In math workshop, students are solving story problems with a “missing addend.”  This means that they need to solve problems like 2+__=10 for example.  This is a tough concept but students have come up with many wonderful strategies to solve these types of problems!  Some students are still working on correcting reversals of their numbers, I just point out other numbers on the page for them to notice which direction their number should go. 

In social studies we learned lots about Martin Luther King Jr.  We read stories and did an “egg experiment” to demonstrate that inside we are all the same!  What an amazing person to teach valuable lessons to our first graders!  We also researched famous black Americans in computer lab that have shown persistence (one of our “growth mindset” words) in their lives, we learned about many great role models in our nation’s history!

        In science we are starting a new unit called “Sorting it Out.”  We will be sorting objects by properties such as color, shape, flexibility, etc.  We will also learn about properties of water and investigate magnets in this unit.  Great job scientists!

       

**Upcoming Events**

* February 13^th: 1^st/2^nd grade Music Concert at PAC 6:00-7:00

* February 14^th Valentines Party at 2:15-3:00

* February 16^th PTC Chuck E Cheese night 4:00-9:00

* February 17^th: Half Day of School- 11:25 Dismissal

* March 24^th Family Fun Night at Northview High School- 5:30-8:30

Enjoy your weekend as a family and keep warm!

Sincerely,

Jennifer Mason and Kelly Putnam

P.S. Please send all Valentines to school by Monday, February 13^th so that they can be delivered prior to our class party.  I previously emailed out a class list of names but if you need me to re-send please email me.  Also, we are in need of one, 15 min. game for our Valentine’s Day Party.  If you are willing to help with this please email me.  Thank you! (kputnam@nvps.net)

Friday Flyer

Dear Families,

        Happy 2017! It is good to be back at school and with the kids.  We hope all of you had a great holiday and were able to spend time with friends and family.

        It is hard to believe, but we are about half way through our school year.  March conferences are quickly approaching and we have stepped up the pace for getting ourselves ready for second grade.  Please be sure you are working on sight words (26-75).  Also, don’t forget to have your child practice SPELLING the first 25 sight words.  If you have lost your child’s sight word list please contact Ms. Mason for another one. :)

          This week in language arts, we are finishing up our study of Non-fiction text features.  We have been “pouring over” baskets and baskets of non-fiction books and studying the purpose of all the different features.   We are also working on identifying the main idea and supporting details of the non-fiction books we have.    The children LOVE reading non-fiction books!  If your home book collections don’t contain any NF, please consider visiting the library or book store for some.  It is a GREAT way to recharge your child’s interest in reading…especially during these cold winter days. 

“All About Books” is the new buzz word during Writer’s Workshop for the weeks to come.  We have been studying the experts of “ALL About books”, defining what “parts” are included in this type of non-fiction, discussing topics in which we are experts in such as Dogs, Cats, Soccer, School, Airplanes, etc., picking topics and creating our own table of contents pages.  The EXCITEMENT for writer’s workshop continues!!!

During Spelling through Phonics this week, I introduced the qu- sound and short vowel u and introduced contractions.  The children are able to spell 5 and 6 letter words with blends at the beginning correctly.  Yay!!

In math workshop this week we started Unit 4 on measurement and fractions.  Students are comparing lengths of objects, measuring objects using cubes, practicing telling time to the hour, and more!

In social studies we are working through our mapping unit.  We are making a “Me on the Map” book of our rooms, streets, houses and learning about our city, state, and country as well!  When these map books come home, you may be interested in the last page as students are deciding on some places around the world they would like to visit, lots of great ideas for future family vacations! J Students have enjoyed investigating many different types of maps and sharing their observations.  We will use the Bing Maps website to see maps of the world, our continent, our state, city, and even some of our homes!  Feel free to check out bingmaps.com and try typing in your address. 

In Science we continue learning lots of new things about the weather and seasons and we began discussing/observing topics such as snow, sleet and ice!  We will also read a true story about “Snowflake Bentley.” Wilson Bentley was fascinated with snowflakes and studied them his entire life.  We will be observing snowflakes and will catch them on black paper and look at them under magnifying glasses, we will discover if snowflakes all look alike or different (as soon as the wind chill is above 0 degrees!).  Our first grade scientists have lots of excellent scientific questions!

Don’t forget that January 25th, 26^th, and 27th we have 1/2 days of school.  Our dismissal is at 11:25.  Please make sure to send a morning snack and have their after school plans in place.  Also, January 27^th is sock day J

Enjoy your weekend with your family and thanks for your continued support.

                Jennifer Mason and Kelly Putnam       

Friday Flyer

Dear Families,

       

Happy Holidays!!!  This time of year is so magical and peaceful.  We love spending our day with your children!

 

This week, during language arts, we began our reading unit on non-fiction.  The kids LOVE to listen to and read non-fiction books.  We will learn about how NF is not a story, notice how a NF book is organized, talk about different text features (table of contents, captions, photographs, diagrams, index, headings, & glossary) and how to determine the main idea and supporting facts in many NF books.  If you don’t have any NF books in your home, consider a quick trip to the library to pick some up.  Reading NF books is of high interest to young readers and improves their reading and comprehension skills a lot.:)  Later this month, we will also learn about Hanukkah by reading a story and making latkes (potato pancakes).  We will also be reading “The Legend of the Poinsettia” and discuss how the flower originated in Mexico.  Over the upcoming holiday break, please be sure to continue reading EVERYDAY with your child.  With the longer break we don’t want our reading skills to slip. J

 

In math, we have been working on solving addition and subtraction story problems, understanding place value and equivalence, and investigating counting sequences.  We are always discovering new strategies to solve our math problems!

 

In social studies we are learning all about maps and compasses in preparation for our walking field trip to Meijer next week Wednesday.

Our classroom holiday party will be on Wednesday, December 21st at 2:15 (2-2:15 is our all school recess and set up time).  Thank you to parents that are donating their time and help for this party!  Because of the difficult economic times, we do not do any type of gift exchange among the children.  We celebrate the season and enjoy each others company at the party! 

 

At this time of year we count our many blessings.  You and your child are among them.  We truly enjoy teaching your children and watching them grow both socially and academically.  Thank you for sharing them with us!

May you and your families have a safe and happy holiday. 

Warmly,

       Jennifer Mason and Kelly Putnam

P.S. Please be sure your child is dressed for the weather next week Wednesday, December 7^th as this is the day of our WALKING field trip to Meijer to support the “Helping Hands” project.  For those volunteering for this trip, please arrive at school by 12:20.

*Dec. 22^nd is a PTC spirit day, send in any donation to wear pajamas today! J  This is also our last day of school before break.

Christmas Break: Dec. 23-Jan. 2, school resumes on Jan. 3^rd. 

Friday Flyer

Dear Parents,

         

This week during writing workshop we continued studying the craft of certain authors and added what we learned to our pieces.  For example, Mo Willems uses speech bubbles, writes in large text to convey sound, and uses ellipses.  Kevin Henkes sometimes writes in short choppy phrases to convey action and or emotion.  We are also working on revising our own writing with partners as well as by ourselves. This month we will also begin our Informational Writing unit.

The reading strategies focused on this week were “jumping” into the first 3 sounds of unknown words while thinking of what word would make sense and reading on, practicing retelling our stories with a lot of details, flipping vowel sounds in unknown words from short to long (as well as the two sounds c and g make, and rereading favorite books many times.  This helps with improving our reading fluency. J

Our comprehension strategy this trimester is learning about how text is organized into characters, setting, problem, and solution. We have started to identify these particular parts of a story and filled out a graphic organizer together. 

Next week, our third vowel will be introduced during Spelling through Phonics.  It is the short (i) when found in the medial position in words.  We will continue to practice writing words daily that contain the short (a, o, and i) along with the consonants taught thus far.  We are becoming great little spellers…even some 5 letter words!

          In math, we started Unit 3.  We will be building on our counting skills, working on place value, and we will investigate the structure of the base-10 number system.  Please look for your child’s Unit 2 math packet (on geometry)  in Friday Folders this week.  We are also learning to “attend to precision” as a mathematician.  This means that we are careful mathematicians, we label our work, use numbers and words to describe our thinking, and we use different strategies to check our work.           

In Science we are continuing on with our weather watchers unit. Your child has been exploring wind direction and speed, precipitation, cloud cover and the different signs of fall. Ask your child to give you a weather report for the day!

For Social Studies we learned about Election Day Veteran’s Day this week.  We are so thankful for the right to vote and for the service of all veterans!  We will also be looking at family traditions surrounding the holidays.  Soon, special ‘projects’ will be coming home to be completed and returned, stay tuned!

          Parents, the cold and flu season is upon us.  Please keep your child at home if they are sick.  This is the only time we don’t want to share!  Also, your child must be fever free for 24 hours, without medication, before returning to school.

         

Thank you for your continued support.  Enjoy your weekend with your family!

                                Jennifer Mason and Kelly Putnam

Reminders:

·        11-11-16: Popcorn Day, Picture Re-takes

·        11-14-16: Firemen visit

·        11-18-16: Spirit Day! Wear Your Teacher’s Favorite Color

·        11-18-16 Coupon Book Sale begins

·        The week of November 21st we have school on Monday and Tuesday.  No school Wed.-Fri., Happy Thanksgiving!