WOW!! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful class and wonderful parents. This past week I was completely overwhelmed with your kindness and generosity. Each flower, note, sweet treat and gift was very much appreciated! I can't thank each of you enough for making me feel so special. I also want to thank the PTA who served the faculty lunch on Thursday and to Sarah Sheffield who came and kept the children while I went to the luncheon. You all are the BEST! Thank you so much!!
I can't believe that there are only 7 days of school left...is seems as though we just started last week. I am so very impressed and excited how far all of these students have come this year. I truly believe that all of these student will go very far in life. I have been blessed with an amazing group of students this year. I am so sad to see them go, but I am very confident that they will do well in 2nd grade.
We had Honor's Day today. Every student took home an award. If you were not able to attend, please check the B.E.E. book, where you should find your child's award.
This week will consist of some work. Although, I will not take any grades this week. We will be taking care of some make up work and trying to complete those last assessments prior to moving to 2nd grade. If you have questions or need any information, please feel free to contact me.
I spoke with Mrs. Green today, there will not be an end of the year party. We will have ice cream on the last day of school as a treat. I hope that you can make it to school that day and enjoy ice cream with us!
UPCOMING EVENTS:
May 22nd: Grades must be posted.
May 25th: Memorial Day Holiday - No School!
May 28th: Last Day for Students!
May 29th: Teacher Workday!
May 30th: 1st day of summer...for me! WOOHOO!!
Thank you for all that you have done this year!
Ms. Messick
Monday, May 18, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
May 4 - 8, 2009
We had an awesome time at Spirit Day. Thank you to all the parents that helped by providing water, movies, and were present to participate with us! You made the day that much better.
This week in whole group we are focusing on the -y says /e/ as in baby. We will also discuss the soft c sound (it says /s/). We will learn the rules to the soft c and the -y as in baby sounds. There is a pattern that they typically follow and we will learn songs that help us remember when they change. Hopefully, this late in the year, the song will stick better than a poem.
We are still working hard in small group too. We still have 6 students that are trying to graduate out of Read Well 1 and into Read Well Plus. They are much closer and we applaud their progress. Keep reading at home and you will get there.
This week is DIBELS week for us. We will take our tests on Thursday morning. Please try to get plenty of rest the night before and be on time to school on Thursday morning. I feel pretty good about where we are with the possibilities of everyone benchmarking for the end of the year. Regardless of whether everyone benchmarks or not, we will celebrate any success that we accomplish.
Due to DIBELS testing, the library is closed this week. NO ONE will be allowed to check out books in the library. In light of this, we will only take one test a day (if possible). Most of the students are reading outside the level of books in my classroom library, so we are at a point that we are relying heavily on the library for books. While we are talking about the library, students will only be allowed to check out ONE book next week...library rules not mine...so we will also only take one test per day next week too. ALL LIBRARY BOOKS WILL BE DUE ON FRIDAY, MAY 15th, 2009!!!!! Please make sure to turn in all library books next Friday. We will STOP AR testing on the 15th.
This week in Math, we are trying to cover length and measurement as well as weight and capacity. I am going through these sections fairly quickly as I would like to cover 2 digit addition and subtraction before the end of school. I will not test these sections of math, since I would like to take one grade (at least) on the 2 digit addition and subtraction sections.
I am going to try and put together a May calendar of events for 1st grade to send home to you. This is a pretty crazy month, as we will be closing out another school year.
Have a great week!
Ms. Messick
This week in whole group we are focusing on the -y says /e/ as in baby. We will also discuss the soft c sound (it says /s/). We will learn the rules to the soft c and the -y as in baby sounds. There is a pattern that they typically follow and we will learn songs that help us remember when they change. Hopefully, this late in the year, the song will stick better than a poem.
We are still working hard in small group too. We still have 6 students that are trying to graduate out of Read Well 1 and into Read Well Plus. They are much closer and we applaud their progress. Keep reading at home and you will get there.
This week is DIBELS week for us. We will take our tests on Thursday morning. Please try to get plenty of rest the night before and be on time to school on Thursday morning. I feel pretty good about where we are with the possibilities of everyone benchmarking for the end of the year. Regardless of whether everyone benchmarks or not, we will celebrate any success that we accomplish.
Due to DIBELS testing, the library is closed this week. NO ONE will be allowed to check out books in the library. In light of this, we will only take one test a day (if possible). Most of the students are reading outside the level of books in my classroom library, so we are at a point that we are relying heavily on the library for books. While we are talking about the library, students will only be allowed to check out ONE book next week...library rules not mine...so we will also only take one test per day next week too. ALL LIBRARY BOOKS WILL BE DUE ON FRIDAY, MAY 15th, 2009!!!!! Please make sure to turn in all library books next Friday. We will STOP AR testing on the 15th.
This week in Math, we are trying to cover length and measurement as well as weight and capacity. I am going through these sections fairly quickly as I would like to cover 2 digit addition and subtraction before the end of school. I will not test these sections of math, since I would like to take one grade (at least) on the 2 digit addition and subtraction sections.
I am going to try and put together a May calendar of events for 1st grade to send home to you. This is a pretty crazy month, as we will be closing out another school year.
Have a great week!
Ms. Messick
May 1st, 2009 - Spirit Day
We had a great time at Spirit Day. Above you will find a video (sorry that it is such poor quality, I took it with my camera) that was taken toward the end of Spirit day. In the running photo slideshow (on the right side of the blog) you will find photos of other dancing that good times at Spirit Day! Enjoy!
Ms. Messick
Sunday, April 12, 2009
April 13 - 17, 2009
I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend. For those of you that celebrate Easter, I hope that you had a Happy Easter and that the Easter Bunny was good to you! You all deserve it.
Here we are in the last 2 months of school. This is a time when we have to buckle down a little, even though the weather is asking us to play, play, play. Please continue to read with your child EVERY NIGHT!!! This is very important because we have the last DIBELS testing coming up and we will be tested on how many words we can read in a minute. The benchmark goal is 40, but I hope that we are working on goals of at least 60 to 75 words. That way your child will be closer to the beginning second grade goal.
Last week in whole group we covered Q /kw/ as in quilt. This week we will cover J as in Jaguar. We have 11 students that have made it to Read Well Plus. YAY!!! I look forward to getting the other 6 into Read Well Plus...I would like to do that quickly. Please make sure to read every night with your student...this will help tremendously!
We have also been working on Money in Math. We are almost done with the final chapter on Money. When we finish that this week, we will begin working on Time. Please continue to practice counting coins and identify coins with your child. These are important concepts to know by the time you reach 2nd grade.
I sent home progress reports last week, but did not send home any papers. I will do that this week and then again next week. Sorry about that...I did not realize it was so close to time.
I am looking forward to a wonderful week!
Ms. Messick
Here we are in the last 2 months of school. This is a time when we have to buckle down a little, even though the weather is asking us to play, play, play. Please continue to read with your child EVERY NIGHT!!! This is very important because we have the last DIBELS testing coming up and we will be tested on how many words we can read in a minute. The benchmark goal is 40, but I hope that we are working on goals of at least 60 to 75 words. That way your child will be closer to the beginning second grade goal.
Last week in whole group we covered Q /kw/ as in quilt. This week we will cover J as in Jaguar. We have 11 students that have made it to Read Well Plus. YAY!!! I look forward to getting the other 6 into Read Well Plus...I would like to do that quickly. Please make sure to read every night with your student...this will help tremendously!
We have also been working on Money in Math. We are almost done with the final chapter on Money. When we finish that this week, we will begin working on Time. Please continue to practice counting coins and identify coins with your child. These are important concepts to know by the time you reach 2nd grade.
I sent home progress reports last week, but did not send home any papers. I will do that this week and then again next week. Sorry about that...I did not realize it was so close to time.
I am looking forward to a wonderful week!
Ms. Messick
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
March 30th - April 3rd, 2009
Hope everyone is doing good. Here's a quick update, I may add more later this week.
This week our schedule will be interrupted because of SAT testing in 3rd-6th grades. Our morning schedule will be frozen and Mrs. Turk will come to our room around 9:10 to have PE with the class. AR testing will be down due to the library being off limits during testing time.
Our whole group sound is V as in volcano. We are still covering money, identifying coins, their value and adding mixed amounts of money. We are only introducing this skill. There will not be a test for this chapter.Please look over the words below. They will certainly help with Friday's grade. It is also a part of their report card this semester.
small, her, my, yard, glad, no, sleep, there, you, your
They went into my room.
Our Easter Egg hunt is scheduled for April 7th. If you would like to volunteer to hide eggs that morning, please let me know. I have one parent already. Please make sure that you have your child's eggs at school on FRIDAY, APRIL 3RD!!! I know we are just walking across the road for the hunt, but I do need the permission slip to be returned...if I don't get one back, your child will not get to participate in the Easter Egg Hunt! Please do not send chocolate candy in the eggs...it melts!
April 10th is the Weather Day Holiday...don't forget!
If you have questions, please do not hesitate to email me! Have a great week!
Ms. Messick
This week our schedule will be interrupted because of SAT testing in 3rd-6th grades. Our morning schedule will be frozen and Mrs. Turk will come to our room around 9:10 to have PE with the class. AR testing will be down due to the library being off limits during testing time.
Our whole group sound is V as in volcano. We are still covering money, identifying coins, their value and adding mixed amounts of money. We are only introducing this skill. There will not be a test for this chapter.Please look over the words below. They will certainly help with Friday's grade. It is also a part of their report card this semester.
small, her, my, yard, glad, no, sleep, there, you, your
They went into my room.
Our Easter Egg hunt is scheduled for April 7th. If you would like to volunteer to hide eggs that morning, please let me know. I have one parent already. Please make sure that you have your child's eggs at school on FRIDAY, APRIL 3RD!!! I know we are just walking across the road for the hunt, but I do need the permission slip to be returned...if I don't get one back, your child will not get to participate in the Easter Egg Hunt! Please do not send chocolate candy in the eggs...it melts!
April 10th is the Weather Day Holiday...don't forget!
If you have questions, please do not hesitate to email me! Have a great week!
Ms. Messick
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
March 24th - 27th, 2009
I hope that you have all recovered from Spring Break. I also hope that everyone enjoyed some time off and found yourselves doing many enjoyable things during the week.
This week we get back into the swing of things here at school. In whole group we will be talking about Pigs, Penguins, and many other P things...as we are learning the /p/ as in Pig sound. Since it is a short week, I just hope that we can get all the things in that we want to do. If not, we may just have to carry a couple over into next week.
This week in Math we are still working on Money. We are finishing up pennies, nickels, and dimes...we should start the next chapter, which introduces quarters and dollars. So, keep practicing counting money at home. The students seem to be doing okay with this concept, but practice is always helpful.
We are going to work on Rule 17: Use I when you are the person doing something; Use me when something happens to you. We will cover these during Daily Language Review (DLR). We will also do our DLR for the week. Tuesday the student should bring home Monday and Tuesday's DLR then one on Wednesday and Thursday. We will have a quiz on Friday.
Well, I will break the news now...BookIt will end at the end of March, so I have a new challenge for AR to finish the school year out. I am upping the anty for April and May with AR...we will be gearing up for 2nd grade. Starting April 1st (and this is no joke), EVERYONE must take 2 tests a day. We should ALL be reading at least 1 easy chapter book...something like Henry and Mudge by Cynthia Rylant. Start off easy with this...don't just jump into chapter books. Finally, there will be no excuses for not taking two tests...short of being absent...I expect everyone to take two tests. So, please make sure your child has 2 notes and is prepared everyday...2nd grade will be hard on this and I want the students to be ready to jump in and move on!
Nothing major going on this week...if you need something, let me know!
Have a great week!
Ms. Messick
This week we get back into the swing of things here at school. In whole group we will be talking about Pigs, Penguins, and many other P things...as we are learning the /p/ as in Pig sound. Since it is a short week, I just hope that we can get all the things in that we want to do. If not, we may just have to carry a couple over into next week.
This week in Math we are still working on Money. We are finishing up pennies, nickels, and dimes...we should start the next chapter, which introduces quarters and dollars. So, keep practicing counting money at home. The students seem to be doing okay with this concept, but practice is always helpful.
We are going to work on Rule 17: Use I when you are the person doing something; Use me when something happens to you. We will cover these during Daily Language Review (DLR). We will also do our DLR for the week. Tuesday the student should bring home Monday and Tuesday's DLR then one on Wednesday and Thursday. We will have a quiz on Friday.
Well, I will break the news now...BookIt will end at the end of March, so I have a new challenge for AR to finish the school year out. I am upping the anty for April and May with AR...we will be gearing up for 2nd grade. Starting April 1st (and this is no joke), EVERYONE must take 2 tests a day. We should ALL be reading at least 1 easy chapter book...something like Henry and Mudge by Cynthia Rylant. Start off easy with this...don't just jump into chapter books. Finally, there will be no excuses for not taking two tests...short of being absent...I expect everyone to take two tests. So, please make sure your child has 2 notes and is prepared everyday...2nd grade will be hard on this and I want the students to be ready to jump in and move on!
Nothing major going on this week...if you need something, let me know!
Have a great week!
Ms. Messick
Friday, March 13, 2009
March 9th - 13th, 2009
I want to start by apologizing for not posting anything this week. I truly am sorry that I have not been on the ball with this. I think that I have Spring Fever...like many of the students!
This week we talked about /y/ as in Yarn...we also did some work on Yaks. Toward the end of the week we wrote about leprechauns and four leaf clovers. Thank you for allowing your child to wear their field trip shirt. We looked so cute as a green class! It worked out great that we had this color shirt!
In Math this week we began working on Money. This is a hard concept for the students to grasp. Please work with your child over Spring Break...we have only started counting pennies, nickels, and dimes. We have mixed pennies and nickels and pennies and dimes...no combining the three! Help the students remember that we count nickels by 5s and dimes by 10s. We are going to take Money as slowly as possible.
I realize we did not take many AR tests this week. With the library closed for the book fair, we did not have an opportunity to check out books. I would have allowed the students to check out my books, but most of them are reading beyond my classroom library. We did, however, go to the library today (Friday) and check out new library books so that they would have something new to read over the break. Everyone should be prepared to test on Tuesday, March 24th.
I wanted to alert you to a meeting you may want to attend. The school system unveiled the new zoning for the opening of Wilson. Here is a link to the new zones . There will be a meeting at Blount on Monday, March 23rd at 6pm. If you have questions or concerns, please plan to attend. Comments may also be emailed to zones@mps.k12.al.us by March 31.
I hope that you have a WONDERFUL Spring Break! See you in 10 days!
Ms. Messick
This week we talked about /y/ as in Yarn...we also did some work on Yaks. Toward the end of the week we wrote about leprechauns and four leaf clovers. Thank you for allowing your child to wear their field trip shirt. We looked so cute as a green class! It worked out great that we had this color shirt!
In Math this week we began working on Money. This is a hard concept for the students to grasp. Please work with your child over Spring Break...we have only started counting pennies, nickels, and dimes. We have mixed pennies and nickels and pennies and dimes...no combining the three! Help the students remember that we count nickels by 5s and dimes by 10s. We are going to take Money as slowly as possible.
I realize we did not take many AR tests this week. With the library closed for the book fair, we did not have an opportunity to check out books. I would have allowed the students to check out my books, but most of them are reading beyond my classroom library. We did, however, go to the library today (Friday) and check out new library books so that they would have something new to read over the break. Everyone should be prepared to test on Tuesday, March 24th.
I wanted to alert you to a meeting you may want to attend. The school system unveiled the new zoning for the opening of Wilson. Here is a link to the new zones . There will be a meeting at Blount on Monday, March 23rd at 6pm. If you have questions or concerns, please plan to attend. Comments may also be emailed to zones@mps.k12.al.us by March 31.
I hope that you have a WONDERFUL Spring Break! See you in 10 days!
Ms. Messick
Monday, March 2, 2009
March 2nd - 6th, 2009
Wow! It is March and it snowed yesterday! What a wild weekend! I hope that you enjoyed the snow! I know that I enjoyed watching it come and go!
This week in whole group we are talking about /er/ as in Sister. We will do some activities about families since we will be discussing the words sister, brother, mother, and father. We will be finishing up some reading grades this week. There will be a homework check this week, a spelling test, a reading words test, and a word wall check. I know that is a lot in one week, but some of these are normal things that we have done every week. We will take our time and get it all done.
We have skipped to Probability in Math. We are doing the last chapter in the math book...we will be picking up Money next week. I thought we should end the nine weeks on an easy math chapter...then pick up something a little more difficult next week.
We will be putting together our March quilt this week...if you would like to help with the last two quilts, please send the pink sheet back to let me know...right now I do not have anyone signed up!
Since we were under a tornado watch on Friday, I did not get to send home the Scholastic order form...so I sent it today and extended the deadline to Friday, March 6th. I am not sure the order will be here by Spring Break...but should be here by the time we return from Spring Break. Which begins in 9 days!!!
REMINDERS
March 2nd: **PICTURE FORMS MUST BE TURNED IN!!!**If you would like to purchase Spring Pictures money is due no later than Monday, March 2nd. Late orders will not be accepted, however you will be able to mail your money and package information directly to the photographer if you miss the deadline.
March 2-6: Read Across America Week at Blount... More information below!
March 3rd: PTA
March 5th: Teacher Treat Day
March 6th: End of 3rd Nine weeks
March 6th our school will "Walk for Diabetes." If you would send in your collection envelope as soon as possible. This fundraiser is for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. For more information on juvenile diabetes you can visit www.jdrf.org. Thank you for your help and support!
Read Across America Week at Blount:
March 2: Visiting Reader
March 3: Red, white, and black day-Students may wear clothing that is red, white, and/or black.
March 4: Bring your favorite book to share with the class. I have decided not to do the book exchange...so bring a PICTURE book that you want to share with your classmates!
March 5: Book Character Parade-1:30pm-(Come to school dressed as a character from a book. Nothing elaborate-make a necklace sign with name of character and book title).
March 6: Dr. Seuss book/culminating activity in the classroom.
We have a busy week ahead. Please let me know of any questions you may have.
Ms. Messick
This week in whole group we are talking about /er/ as in Sister. We will do some activities about families since we will be discussing the words sister, brother, mother, and father. We will be finishing up some reading grades this week. There will be a homework check this week, a spelling test, a reading words test, and a word wall check. I know that is a lot in one week, but some of these are normal things that we have done every week. We will take our time and get it all done.
We have skipped to Probability in Math. We are doing the last chapter in the math book...we will be picking up Money next week. I thought we should end the nine weeks on an easy math chapter...then pick up something a little more difficult next week.
We will be putting together our March quilt this week...if you would like to help with the last two quilts, please send the pink sheet back to let me know...right now I do not have anyone signed up!
Since we were under a tornado watch on Friday, I did not get to send home the Scholastic order form...so I sent it today and extended the deadline to Friday, March 6th. I am not sure the order will be here by Spring Break...but should be here by the time we return from Spring Break. Which begins in 9 days!!!
REMINDERS
March 2nd: **PICTURE FORMS MUST BE TURNED IN!!!**If you would like to purchase Spring Pictures money is due no later than Monday, March 2nd. Late orders will not be accepted, however you will be able to mail your money and package information directly to the photographer if you miss the deadline.
March 2-6: Read Across America Week at Blount... More information below!
March 3rd: PTA
March 5th: Teacher Treat Day
March 6th: End of 3rd Nine weeks
March 6th our school will "Walk for Diabetes." If you would send in your collection envelope as soon as possible. This fundraiser is for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. For more information on juvenile diabetes you can visit www.jdrf.org. Thank you for your help and support!
Read Across America Week at Blount:
March 2: Visiting Reader
March 3: Red, white, and black day-Students may wear clothing that is red, white, and/or black.
March 4: Bring your favorite book to share with the class. I have decided not to do the book exchange...so bring a PICTURE book that you want to share with your classmates!
March 5: Book Character Parade-1:30pm-(Come to school dressed as a character from a book. Nothing elaborate-make a necklace sign with name of character and book title).
March 6: Dr. Seuss book/culminating activity in the classroom.
We have a busy week ahead. Please let me know of any questions you may have.
Ms. Messick
Sunday, February 22, 2009
February 23rd - 27th, 2009
Sorry about not posting last week. The week started and before I knew it, the week was over. I hope that you all had a wonderful day off last Monday...and we are only 3 weeks away from Spring Break! I am already making plans to do some cleaning out!
This week in whole group we will be talking about U as in Umbrella. Look for us to do some work on the short u sound in words...like bug, rug, etc. We will also talk about Harriet Tubman and other Famous Black Americans. If you have anything that you would like to send to contribute, please feel free to do so! I will try to use whatever you send in!
This week in Math, we are going to skip ahead to Chapter 21 and talk about Fractions. So, get ready to start halving, thirding and quartering things around the kitchen. I find that food is a great way to teach these concepts and an easy way to incorporate helping at home.
Upcoming Events at Blount:
February 24th - Fifth grade writing assessment
March 2nd: **PICTURE FORMS MUST BE TURNED IN!!!**
March 2-6: Read Across America Week at Blount
More information below!
March 3rd: PTA
March 5th: Teacher Treat Day
March 6th: End of 3rd Nine weeks
**ALL picture forms MUST be turned in by March 2nd...any forms turned in after March 2nd, will be returned to the parent and they will have to order their pictures from the website. **
Read Across America Week at Blount:
March 2: Visiting Reader
March 3: Red, white, and black day-Students may wear clothing that is red, white, and/or black.
March 4: Book exchange with a friend-It can be a new or used book to exchange for GOOD!!!
March 5: Book Character Parade-1:30pm-(Come to school dressed as a character from a book).
March 6: Dr. Seuss book/culminating activity in the classroom.
I would like to mention that our class not only made Model Classroom a couple of weeks ago, we also made Master Classroom. So, we will continue to take tests and try to make Book It...but we should not have any more no test days for the rest of the year! Please remember to read with your child every night...we need to continue to read, as it will make the students more fluent. Please try to allow your child to do most of the reading at this point.
Hope you have a wonderful week...and get started making plans for your book character for the parade.
Ms. Messick
This week in whole group we will be talking about U as in Umbrella. Look for us to do some work on the short u sound in words...like bug, rug, etc. We will also talk about Harriet Tubman and other Famous Black Americans. If you have anything that you would like to send to contribute, please feel free to do so! I will try to use whatever you send in!
This week in Math, we are going to skip ahead to Chapter 21 and talk about Fractions. So, get ready to start halving, thirding and quartering things around the kitchen. I find that food is a great way to teach these concepts and an easy way to incorporate helping at home.
Upcoming Events at Blount:
February 24th - Fifth grade writing assessment
March 2nd: **PICTURE FORMS MUST BE TURNED IN!!!**
March 2-6: Read Across America Week at Blount
More information below!
March 3rd: PTA
March 5th: Teacher Treat Day
March 6th: End of 3rd Nine weeks
**ALL picture forms MUST be turned in by March 2nd...any forms turned in after March 2nd, will be returned to the parent and they will have to order their pictures from the website. **
Read Across America Week at Blount:
March 2: Visiting Reader
March 3: Red, white, and black day-Students may wear clothing that is red, white, and/or black.
March 4: Book exchange with a friend-It can be a new or used book to exchange for GOOD!!!
March 5: Book Character Parade-1:30pm-(Come to school dressed as a character from a book).
March 6: Dr. Seuss book/culminating activity in the classroom.
I would like to mention that our class not only made Model Classroom a couple of weeks ago, we also made Master Classroom. So, we will continue to take tests and try to make Book It...but we should not have any more no test days for the rest of the year! Please remember to read with your child every night...we need to continue to read, as it will make the students more fluent. Please try to allow your child to do most of the reading at this point.
Hope you have a wonderful week...and get started making plans for your book character for the parade.
Ms. Messick
Monday, February 9, 2009
February 9th - 13th, 2009
I hope that everyone enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL weekend! I just love this kind of weather...I wish that ole groundhog had not seen his shadow and spring was already on its way! I do hope that spring hurries up and gets here...I am not a very big cold weather fan. I like it for awhile, then I am ready for it to leave!
This week in whole group reading we are studying /g/ as in gorilla. We will be talking about gorillas this week. We will work on our Valentine's at the writing center, as well as some gorilla facts and stories. Look for some fun things to come home at the end of the week. Reading homework this week may have been more than what you normally receive. I am trying to help move some of the groups along quickly, and in doing so I am hoping that the extra homework will help the students skip a unit and move on. Please take your time, do not push, the students will "get it" in their own time. We will move with them.
This week we are working on Chapter 16 in Math. This chapter is about some geometry as well as directional terms (above, below, over, under). Work on these skills at home. Have the students get something that is over their bed or head. It will help in the long run when they better understand these terms.
We will have our normal quizzes or tests on Friday (Spelling and DLR). Please make sure to study for the DLR tests. You should be reviewing each sheet that comes home. The quiz comes directly from the daily sheets that are sent home. We have also started working on our handwriting on the back of the DLR sheets. Please go over the way to write the letters for this week with your child (A and B). We will also introduce how to write letter G this week, since that is our letter of the week.
Many of you are probably worried about AR and points. I understand that many of the students did not get to test on Thursday and Friday of last week. We were trying to make Model Classroom and I am happy to announce that WE DID IT!!!! I have declared this week to be a two test week...with notes for both books. We will keep moving along, but be prepared for this again (in about 4 weeks) as we will be working on Master Classroom.
Going on at Blount this week:
February 11th: Spring Pictures - Students may wear street clothes...BUT they must be within MPS dress code policy. NO spaghetti straps or camo. You will be called to bring other clothing if your child is not dressed properly. I would also like to add to this that your child needs to be wearing clothing that they can wear ALL DAY. Boys can take ties off, but we WILL NOT go to the bathroom to change into or out of our picture clothing.
February 13th: Valentine's Parties - 1:30 to 2:15. If you volunteered to bring something or help, please make sure those things are there on Friday.
Upcoming Blount Events:
February 16th: NO SCHOOL - YIPPEE - President's Day
February 19th: Signed Papers
I hope that you have a wonderful week! Get out and enjoy the wonderful weather, while it lasts!
If you have questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to email me!
Ms. Messick
This week in whole group reading we are studying /g/ as in gorilla. We will be talking about gorillas this week. We will work on our Valentine's at the writing center, as well as some gorilla facts and stories. Look for some fun things to come home at the end of the week. Reading homework this week may have been more than what you normally receive. I am trying to help move some of the groups along quickly, and in doing so I am hoping that the extra homework will help the students skip a unit and move on. Please take your time, do not push, the students will "get it" in their own time. We will move with them.
This week we are working on Chapter 16 in Math. This chapter is about some geometry as well as directional terms (above, below, over, under). Work on these skills at home. Have the students get something that is over their bed or head. It will help in the long run when they better understand these terms.
We will have our normal quizzes or tests on Friday (Spelling and DLR). Please make sure to study for the DLR tests. You should be reviewing each sheet that comes home. The quiz comes directly from the daily sheets that are sent home. We have also started working on our handwriting on the back of the DLR sheets. Please go over the way to write the letters for this week with your child (A and B). We will also introduce how to write letter G this week, since that is our letter of the week.
Many of you are probably worried about AR and points. I understand that many of the students did not get to test on Thursday and Friday of last week. We were trying to make Model Classroom and I am happy to announce that WE DID IT!!!! I have declared this week to be a two test week...with notes for both books. We will keep moving along, but be prepared for this again (in about 4 weeks) as we will be working on Master Classroom.
Going on at Blount this week:
February 11th: Spring Pictures - Students may wear street clothes...BUT they must be within MPS dress code policy. NO spaghetti straps or camo. You will be called to bring other clothing if your child is not dressed properly. I would also like to add to this that your child needs to be wearing clothing that they can wear ALL DAY. Boys can take ties off, but we WILL NOT go to the bathroom to change into or out of our picture clothing.
February 13th: Valentine's Parties - 1:30 to 2:15. If you volunteered to bring something or help, please make sure those things are there on Friday.
Upcoming Blount Events:
February 16th: NO SCHOOL - YIPPEE - President's Day
February 19th: Signed Papers
I hope that you have a wonderful week! Get out and enjoy the wonderful weather, while it lasts!
If you have questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to email me!
Ms. Messick
Monday, February 2, 2009
February 2nd - 6th, 2009
I hope that this finds you keeping warm and toasty. WOW it is cold...and it looks like there will be a nice, warm, springy weekend ahead. Crazy weather...which means we need to do our best to keep ourselves healthy.
This week in reading we are studying bears, bats, and baseball. We are covering B as in Baseball. We will write a book or two. On Monday, we did sneak in a little talk of Groundhog's Day and do some fun writing center work on Groundhogs. But the rest of our week will be devoted to the letter b. If you have any books you want to send for us to share, please feel free. You are also welcome to come in and read one day...just let me know!
We will be continuing our work in Geometry during Math. We will finish up chapter 15 and get started on chapter 16 this week. We are going to push hard and get caught up, since we are a little behind the other classes.
I received a note/email or two about the Spelling tests. I understand that you are concerned. The students should be getting the hang of this...and I expected the first few tests to be a little harsh. Watch for some improvement, as the students are getting more and more accustom to these tests. These tests are listening as well as knowledge tests. If they are not doing both, they will not do as well as if they are. Just know that we work on this EVERYDAY in class, so they are practicing the material DAILY.
Happening this week at Blount:
Feb. 5th - Donuts with Dad (A-L) 7:00 - 7:45 am.
Signed Papers with Progress Reports
Feb. 6th - Donuts with Dad (M-Z) 7:00 - 7:45 am.
***Valentine items are due in class...see pink note sent home Friday (1/30).***
Happening NEXT WEEK at Blount:
Feb. 11th - Spring Pictures
Feb. 13th - Valentine's Parties (1:30 - 2:15)
If you have questions or concerns, as always, do not hesitate to contact me.
Hope you have a wonderful week!
Ms. Messick
This week in reading we are studying bears, bats, and baseball. We are covering B as in Baseball. We will write a book or two. On Monday, we did sneak in a little talk of Groundhog's Day and do some fun writing center work on Groundhogs. But the rest of our week will be devoted to the letter b. If you have any books you want to send for us to share, please feel free. You are also welcome to come in and read one day...just let me know!
We will be continuing our work in Geometry during Math. We will finish up chapter 15 and get started on chapter 16 this week. We are going to push hard and get caught up, since we are a little behind the other classes.
I received a note/email or two about the Spelling tests. I understand that you are concerned. The students should be getting the hang of this...and I expected the first few tests to be a little harsh. Watch for some improvement, as the students are getting more and more accustom to these tests. These tests are listening as well as knowledge tests. If they are not doing both, they will not do as well as if they are. Just know that we work on this EVERYDAY in class, so they are practicing the material DAILY.
Happening this week at Blount:
Feb. 5th - Donuts with Dad (A-L) 7:00 - 7:45 am.
Signed Papers with Progress Reports
Feb. 6th - Donuts with Dad (M-Z) 7:00 - 7:45 am.
***Valentine items are due in class...see pink note sent home Friday (1/30).***
Happening NEXT WEEK at Blount:
Feb. 11th - Spring Pictures
Feb. 13th - Valentine's Parties (1:30 - 2:15)
If you have questions or concerns, as always, do not hesitate to contact me.
Hope you have a wonderful week!
Ms. Messick
Thursday, January 29, 2009
January 26th - 30th, 2009
Well, I guess that I will tell you what has happened this week instead of what we will be doing. I honestly forgot to do this blog/schoolnotes thing this week. I was just so excited about the things that we were going to be doing, that it slipped my mind.
We have had very exciting week here at school. We have completed our first FULL week of The Daily Five. The students really enjoy The Daily Five. This week during The Daily Five, Ms. Selby (Blount's Reading Coach) came and watched as the students did the various centers of The Daily Five. She could see how much they loved this program and how engaged they are during this time. I truly believe that the students will benefit from the exposure to reading, writing and word work that they do with The Daily Five. Other than this, we have been talking about O as in Otter (Short o sound). We have read a couple of books about otters, as well as talked about the octopus. Some of your children have even written their own books about an otter or an octopus. I sure that you have enjoyed reading these, because they love writing and sharing them.
In Math, we finished up with subtraction and have started Geometry. We just got started today, so this will carry over into next week. We will have a few nights of Geometry homework. Keep practicing those addition and subtraction facts, as we will be using those skills again.
I have been grading papers over the last few nights and have noticed that our grades on the Daily Language Review Quizzes are not that hot. Each day (Monday - Thursday) I send home the sheet that we do first thing in the morning. The quiz that is given on Fridays is from those sheets. I take things directly from each day of practice. Please go over these sheets, NIGHTLY, with your students so that they are prepared for the quiz on Friday.
As you know we have added spelling this nine weeks. These grades are also "not that hot!" We practice this everyday in the classroom, so students should be prepared for this test. If you will look in your child's BEE book, you will find a chart with all the sounds that we have covered. Call out those sounds and make words using those sounds. Have your child write the words by stretching the word out and writing the sounds that they hear. Give them sentences...talk about how a sentence starts and ends. These are all things that we do in class everyday and the students should be practicing at home...especially when reading!
I have decided that since the library was closed so much the first week of school in January, I am going to sign up to 4 days on the Book It chart. This will allow some students a chance to make Book It for January, if they are close!
Since I was not here last Thursday (Jan. 22) and did not leave signed papers to be sent home, I am sending them today (Jan. 29). I will send them again on Feb. 5th, just to get back on schedule.
Upcoming February Events:
February 5th - Progress Reports & Signed Papers
February 6th - Valentine's Cards & Shoebox due! (sending home a note on 1/30)
February 11th - Spring Pictures
February 13th - Valentine's Day Parties - 1:30 - 2:15pm
February 16th - No School - President's Day
February 19th - Signed Papers
I hope that this finds you doing well and having a wonderful week!
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to contact me.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Ms. Messick
We have had very exciting week here at school. We have completed our first FULL week of The Daily Five. The students really enjoy The Daily Five. This week during The Daily Five, Ms. Selby (Blount's Reading Coach) came and watched as the students did the various centers of The Daily Five. She could see how much they loved this program and how engaged they are during this time. I truly believe that the students will benefit from the exposure to reading, writing and word work that they do with The Daily Five. Other than this, we have been talking about O as in Otter (Short o sound). We have read a couple of books about otters, as well as talked about the octopus. Some of your children have even written their own books about an otter or an octopus. I sure that you have enjoyed reading these, because they love writing and sharing them.
In Math, we finished up with subtraction and have started Geometry. We just got started today, so this will carry over into next week. We will have a few nights of Geometry homework. Keep practicing those addition and subtraction facts, as we will be using those skills again.
I have been grading papers over the last few nights and have noticed that our grades on the Daily Language Review Quizzes are not that hot. Each day (Monday - Thursday) I send home the sheet that we do first thing in the morning. The quiz that is given on Fridays is from those sheets. I take things directly from each day of practice. Please go over these sheets, NIGHTLY, with your students so that they are prepared for the quiz on Friday.
As you know we have added spelling this nine weeks. These grades are also "not that hot!" We practice this everyday in the classroom, so students should be prepared for this test. If you will look in your child's BEE book, you will find a chart with all the sounds that we have covered. Call out those sounds and make words using those sounds. Have your child write the words by stretching the word out and writing the sounds that they hear. Give them sentences...talk about how a sentence starts and ends. These are all things that we do in class everyday and the students should be practicing at home...especially when reading!
I have decided that since the library was closed so much the first week of school in January, I am going to sign up to 4 days on the Book It chart. This will allow some students a chance to make Book It for January, if they are close!
Since I was not here last Thursday (Jan. 22) and did not leave signed papers to be sent home, I am sending them today (Jan. 29). I will send them again on Feb. 5th, just to get back on schedule.
Upcoming February Events:
February 5th - Progress Reports & Signed Papers
February 6th - Valentine's Cards & Shoebox due! (sending home a note on 1/30)
February 11th - Spring Pictures
February 13th - Valentine's Day Parties - 1:30 - 2:15pm
February 16th - No School - President's Day
February 19th - Signed Papers
I hope that this finds you doing well and having a wonderful week!
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to contact me.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Ms. Messick
Monday, January 19, 2009
January 20 - 23, 2009
I am so impressed with our class. We have started some new Literacy centers and they have taken to them so easily. I am very proud of how well the new centers work and the students are enjoying them.
As I said, we have started new literacy centers and the students love them. Ask your student about what is going on in our classroom. We will finish up the introduction of the new centers this week, by introducing Writing and Listening. Students should be familiar with these already, as we have used both of these centers previously. This week in whole group will be discussing L as in Letter. We will talk about how to write a letter and why we would need to write a letter. We will also talk about lions, along with other words beginning with l.
In Math this week, we will venture into chapter 14. This chapter will take us into subtraction and give us new strategies to solving subtraction problems. On Friday, we will do many activities that involve the number 100, since it will be the 100th day of school.
Grammar this week will cover pronouns and use of pronouns. Students will need to be able to identify pronouns and the noun that it refers to. We will take a Daily Language Review (DLR) quiz this Friday (Jan. 23). Please study the DLR sheets that we do throughout the week, as the quiz comes directly from the daily sheets. Your student should be bringing these sheets home in their B.E.E. books daily.
THIS WEEK:
January 19th - Holiday MLK Birthday
January 23rd - 100th day of school
January 22nd and 23rd - Muffins for Moms
I realize we have not changed our B.E.E. books out yet. I have had some family things going on and have not had time to take care of the preliminary work. I will do my best this week to take care of changing out the B.E.E. books. I know that I will not be at school on Thursday, so please just bear with me. I am praying for good news with the family issues this week!
I also want to tell you about the Library issue. I know that you all want your students to go to the library, as do I. I have not been stopping them from going, the library has been closed, a lot, since we returned to school. The check-out system changed and there was work that needed to be done in the library before the students could check out books. Once that was taken care of, the librarian needed to check books out to individual classes to insure there were no problems with any one's account. She finished that and then there was Class picture day, Teacher Treat day and there were power problems in the 3rd and 4th grade trailers on Friday (1/16)...all activities involved using the library, which meant that it had to be closed to students. I am hoping that this week will allow for a full week of library check-out! Don't worry about BookIt, I will deal with credits for this at the end of the month.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Hope that you have a wonderful week!
Ms. Messick
As I said, we have started new literacy centers and the students love them. Ask your student about what is going on in our classroom. We will finish up the introduction of the new centers this week, by introducing Writing and Listening. Students should be familiar with these already, as we have used both of these centers previously. This week in whole group will be discussing L as in Letter. We will talk about how to write a letter and why we would need to write a letter. We will also talk about lions, along with other words beginning with l.
In Math this week, we will venture into chapter 14. This chapter will take us into subtraction and give us new strategies to solving subtraction problems. On Friday, we will do many activities that involve the number 100, since it will be the 100th day of school.
Grammar this week will cover pronouns and use of pronouns. Students will need to be able to identify pronouns and the noun that it refers to. We will take a Daily Language Review (DLR) quiz this Friday (Jan. 23). Please study the DLR sheets that we do throughout the week, as the quiz comes directly from the daily sheets. Your student should be bringing these sheets home in their B.E.E. books daily.
THIS WEEK:
January 19th - Holiday MLK Birthday
January 23rd - 100th day of school
January 22nd and 23rd - Muffins for Moms
I realize we have not changed our B.E.E. books out yet. I have had some family things going on and have not had time to take care of the preliminary work. I will do my best this week to take care of changing out the B.E.E. books. I know that I will not be at school on Thursday, so please just bear with me. I am praying for good news with the family issues this week!
I also want to tell you about the Library issue. I know that you all want your students to go to the library, as do I. I have not been stopping them from going, the library has been closed, a lot, since we returned to school. The check-out system changed and there was work that needed to be done in the library before the students could check out books. Once that was taken care of, the librarian needed to check books out to individual classes to insure there were no problems with any one's account. She finished that and then there was Class picture day, Teacher Treat day and there were power problems in the 3rd and 4th grade trailers on Friday (1/16)...all activities involved using the library, which meant that it had to be closed to students. I am hoping that this week will allow for a full week of library check-out! Don't worry about BookIt, I will deal with credits for this at the end of the month.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Hope that you have a wonderful week!
Ms. Messick
Sunday, January 11, 2009
January 12-16, 2009
Well, the new year has arrived and we are back to school! WOW, how quickly the Winter Break came to an end! I am excited to be back with the students, believe it or not, I missed them. They ALL brighten my day and make me smile. I do hate to see time off come to an end, however, before we know it, the school year will be over.
As you may have heard, last week our class embarked on new centers during reading time. We are following along with the Daily Five. This is a new way of doing "centers" for reading. Students spend more time reading when doing these centers. I think that these centers will benefit us more than the previous centers we were doing. The student seem to enjoy the 2 centers that I have introduced so far. Hopefully that will continue. Our sound for this week will be -y as in Fly.
We are continuing addition and subtraction through sums of 12. We should wrap this unit up during the week and then begin the next that also has to do with subtraction and fact families. Practice those math facts. I noticed that we had lost a little knowledge in that area, so periodically quiz them on facts that they should know.
I hope that you received the note on Friday(9th) regarding the spelling tests that will be added this semester. These come from our Write Well series, we have been doing these throughout the first semester. There is not a list that can be sent home. We want to know what the students can do with the phonics that they are learning.
Also, on that note was an announcement that told about eliminating the "flip" of the clip prior to being moved to yellow. We will no longer do the "flip", since students have had an opportunity to learn the rules and expectations, students will move directly to yellow if they are found not meeting classroom behavior expectations.
UPCOMING DATES TO REMEMBER:
One day this - week-STAR TESTING
January 13th - PTA meeting
January 15th - Report cards
January 19th - Holiday MLK Birthday
January 21st - 100th day of school
January 22nd and 23rd - Muffins for Moms
Look for the latest DIBELS report and hopefully the STAR test results Thursday with report cards. Sign and return the DIBELS report and one copy of the report card-keep the other. The STAR test is part of the AR program-it will give your child their reading range which will help them to check out books at their level of reading.
As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Have a great week!
Ms. Messick
As you may have heard, last week our class embarked on new centers during reading time. We are following along with the Daily Five. This is a new way of doing "centers" for reading. Students spend more time reading when doing these centers. I think that these centers will benefit us more than the previous centers we were doing. The student seem to enjoy the 2 centers that I have introduced so far. Hopefully that will continue. Our sound for this week will be -y as in Fly.
We are continuing addition and subtraction through sums of 12. We should wrap this unit up during the week and then begin the next that also has to do with subtraction and fact families. Practice those math facts. I noticed that we had lost a little knowledge in that area, so periodically quiz them on facts that they should know.
I hope that you received the note on Friday(9th) regarding the spelling tests that will be added this semester. These come from our Write Well series, we have been doing these throughout the first semester. There is not a list that can be sent home. We want to know what the students can do with the phonics that they are learning.
Also, on that note was an announcement that told about eliminating the "flip" of the clip prior to being moved to yellow. We will no longer do the "flip", since students have had an opportunity to learn the rules and expectations, students will move directly to yellow if they are found not meeting classroom behavior expectations.
UPCOMING DATES TO REMEMBER:
One day this - week-STAR TESTING
January 13th - PTA meeting
January 15th - Report cards
January 19th - Holiday MLK Birthday
January 21st - 100th day of school
January 22nd and 23rd - Muffins for Moms
Look for the latest DIBELS report and hopefully the STAR test results Thursday with report cards. Sign and return the DIBELS report and one copy of the report card-keep the other. The STAR test is part of the AR program-it will give your child their reading range which will help them to check out books at their level of reading.
As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Have a great week!
Ms. Messick
Monday, December 22, 2008
Merry Christmas
I wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope that everyone has a wonderful break from school.
I hope that you take a little time to read. I know that it seems like a drag to read over a break...but it will help so much to read a little bit.
I also want to ask that you please check with your child to see if they need new crayons, twistables, or scissors. We have plenty of glue, and we will be using a new folder after the holidays. If you did not send two 1 inch binders a the beginning of the year, the students will need one after the break. We will change to a new binder in January. I will only change binders for students that have one at school.
I look forward to a wonderful second half of first grade!
Happy Holidays! See you January 6th!
Ms. Messick
Monday, December 15, 2008
December 15th - 19th
Well the final school week of December has arrived and we are counting the days until our break! We are all VERY excited.
This week in whole group, we will be working on the /wh/ as in whale sound. At least we are going to try and work on that sound. The excitement will be hard to overcome, but in class we understand business and fun.
We will also do some fun craft activities. Hopefully, this will help with overwhelming excitement of this time of the year.
THURSDAY:
We are going to cancel the Holidays Around the World that was originally planned for Thursday. Once we got our specialist schedule, we decided that it would be more difficult to try and work around the break time and lunch. We will talk about some of the different customs for other countries in our classroom, but no moving around to other classrooms.
Thursday afternoon is still on though. ALL CLASSROOM PARTIES WILL BEGIN AT 1:30 pm. Any and all parents are invited to attend. If you volunteered for DRINKS, please make sure that you bring JUICE BOXES ONLY, as we can not serve any soft drinks at school. If you have questions or have not volunteered to bring or help out and want to, please contact Cathey Sarris at catsarris@yahoo.com .
FRIDAY:
We will be viewing the movie "The Polar Express". I will be sending home a permission slip for you to sign and return. Students will be allowed to wear their pajamas to school on Friday. I have also told the students that they may bring a beach towel to use on the floor on Friday. We will be having a little snack during the movie...chocolate milk and butter cookies. YUM!
We will do our book exchange on Friday after the movie. Please send a wrapped book that is appropriate for a boy or girl. Please do not spend more than $5 on your book. I would like to have all books at school on Thursday, if possible.
I hope that this holiday season finds your families blessed and in the best of health! I wish you all the most wonderful time off, try to do something fun with your children, remember they are only this age once! Please read over the break!
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!
Ms. Messick
This week in whole group, we will be working on the /wh/ as in whale sound. At least we are going to try and work on that sound. The excitement will be hard to overcome, but in class we understand business and fun.
We will also do some fun craft activities. Hopefully, this will help with overwhelming excitement of this time of the year.
THURSDAY:
We are going to cancel the Holidays Around the World that was originally planned for Thursday. Once we got our specialist schedule, we decided that it would be more difficult to try and work around the break time and lunch. We will talk about some of the different customs for other countries in our classroom, but no moving around to other classrooms.
Thursday afternoon is still on though. ALL CLASSROOM PARTIES WILL BEGIN AT 1:30 pm. Any and all parents are invited to attend. If you volunteered for DRINKS, please make sure that you bring JUICE BOXES ONLY, as we can not serve any soft drinks at school. If you have questions or have not volunteered to bring or help out and want to, please contact Cathey Sarris at catsarris@yahoo.com .
FRIDAY:
We will be viewing the movie "The Polar Express". I will be sending home a permission slip for you to sign and return. Students will be allowed to wear their pajamas to school on Friday. I have also told the students that they may bring a beach towel to use on the floor on Friday. We will be having a little snack during the movie...chocolate milk and butter cookies. YUM!
We will do our book exchange on Friday after the movie. Please send a wrapped book that is appropriate for a boy or girl. Please do not spend more than $5 on your book. I would like to have all books at school on Thursday, if possible.
I hope that this holiday season finds your families blessed and in the best of health! I wish you all the most wonderful time off, try to do something fun with your children, remember they are only this age once! Please read over the break!
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!
Ms. Messick
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
December 8th ~ 12th
I noticed today that we have less than 10 days until Winter Break! WOW, that is no time at all! I can't believe that it is almost here.
In our classroom, we are trying to conduct business as usual. This week we are working on the sound /ar/ as in star and shark. Our work this week will be about stars, farms, barns, and sharks. We will cover lots of information. Please try to reinforce the information at home by reading books about these subjects at home. Go to the Christmas tree FARM and talk about how that is different from a farm that has cows, pigs, and goats. Next week we will try to cover /wh/ as in whale. Knowing that we will be getting out of school on Friday may make that a little harder, but hopefully we will get a little bit in before all of that kicks in.
We completed Chapter 12 in math today. We will test on Chapter 12 on Wednesday and begin Chapter 13. Chapter 13 will work on addition and subtraction to sums of 12. Keep a look out for homework.
We have started doing Daily Language Review. The daily practice pages will come home in the homework folder. These DO NOT have to be returned to school, instead you should practice at home with your student. We will quiz on these on Fridays. I am going to practice the quiz with the students this week, then in January, I will begin taking grades on the quizzes. We will continue to cover the Grammar rules in the BEE Book. We have been working on Verbs.
I hope that you have found the Reading Homework packets helpful. These should help with reading ability and sight words. Over the Winter Break, I will send home some passages to read. I will also make sure everyone has new library books for the holiday. Please read with your student over the holiday. This is the time when 1st grade students make the most progress. I would love to have lots of excited readers when we come back from Winter Break.
Upcoming Events and Dates:
Thursday, December 11th: DIBELS Testing, 10:30 am.
Monday, December 15th: Reading Homework Packets Due
Tuesday and Wednesday, December 16th and 17th: January Quilt Days
Be at the school at about 12:30. I may have more than just quilt stuff for you do to, if you want to stay and help.
Thursday, December 18th (AM): Holidays Around the World
My classroom will be about England. We will make Krackers.
(PM): 1:30 to 2:15 pm HOLIDAY PARTY
Friday, December 19th: Students may wear their PJs. We will watch Polar Express in the morning. We will also have a little snack.
As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me!
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!
Ms. Messick
In our classroom, we are trying to conduct business as usual. This week we are working on the sound /ar/ as in star and shark. Our work this week will be about stars, farms, barns, and sharks. We will cover lots of information. Please try to reinforce the information at home by reading books about these subjects at home. Go to the Christmas tree FARM and talk about how that is different from a farm that has cows, pigs, and goats. Next week we will try to cover /wh/ as in whale. Knowing that we will be getting out of school on Friday may make that a little harder, but hopefully we will get a little bit in before all of that kicks in.
We completed Chapter 12 in math today. We will test on Chapter 12 on Wednesday and begin Chapter 13. Chapter 13 will work on addition and subtraction to sums of 12. Keep a look out for homework.
We have started doing Daily Language Review. The daily practice pages will come home in the homework folder. These DO NOT have to be returned to school, instead you should practice at home with your student. We will quiz on these on Fridays. I am going to practice the quiz with the students this week, then in January, I will begin taking grades on the quizzes. We will continue to cover the Grammar rules in the BEE Book. We have been working on Verbs.
I hope that you have found the Reading Homework packets helpful. These should help with reading ability and sight words. Over the Winter Break, I will send home some passages to read. I will also make sure everyone has new library books for the holiday. Please read with your student over the holiday. This is the time when 1st grade students make the most progress. I would love to have lots of excited readers when we come back from Winter Break.
Upcoming Events and Dates:
Thursday, December 11th: DIBELS Testing, 10:30 am.
Monday, December 15th: Reading Homework Packets Due
Tuesday and Wednesday, December 16th and 17th: January Quilt Days
Be at the school at about 12:30. I may have more than just quilt stuff for you do to, if you want to stay and help.
Thursday, December 18th (AM): Holidays Around the World
My classroom will be about England. We will make Krackers.
(PM): 1:30 to 2:15 pm HOLIDAY PARTY
Friday, December 19th: Students may wear their PJs. We will watch Polar Express in the morning. We will also have a little snack.
As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me!
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!
Ms. Messick
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
December 1st - 5th
WOW! December has gotten off to a quick start. Time is just flying by!
This week in whole group we are discussing /oo/ as in moon and moose. We have been doing quite a bit of work on information about the moon. In small group reading, we have done a little reorganizing. Several students have made quite a bit of progress and have changed reading groups. I know that I sent home quite a bit of reading homework this week, take your time and send it back next Monday. I am going to continue sending extra reading sheets and some sight word work. I hope that you find this helpful.
This week in math we have started skip counting (counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s). We will be challenged with several other ways to count. We will be taking our time with this chapter. I don't want to rush anyone through this section. It is important for the students to be able to count using this method. Practice counting this way at home, using M & Ms, Skittles, Goldfish, or anything else you can get your hands on.
Our grammar rule this week is rule 12, which is Verbs. Wednesday, I sent home the phonogram journal. We have completed our final phonogram for the year, so these folders do not need to be sent back to school. Next week, we will begin doing DOL (Daily Oral Language).
Just a head's up...I plan on putting a packet of reading passages together for Winter Break. This is a major growth period for 1st graders. You will be amazed how well they are reading after the Winter Holidays. I love January during 1st grade, because the students become so much more independent. Please make an effort to spend 30 to 45 minutes reading these passages and practicing oral reading with your child. Please continue to review and learn the word wall words, as well.
Upcoming Events:
12/4: Teacher Treat Day!
12/11: DIBELS Testing @ 10 am.
Please try to be on time and get plenty of rest the night before.
12/18: A.M. Holidays Around the World
P.M. Holiday Parties (1:30 - 2:15)
Have a wrapped book for a book exchange!
12/19: Polar Express...wear your P.J.s.
Hope you have a happy and blessed holiday season!
Ms. Messick
This week in whole group we are discussing /oo/ as in moon and moose. We have been doing quite a bit of work on information about the moon. In small group reading, we have done a little reorganizing. Several students have made quite a bit of progress and have changed reading groups. I know that I sent home quite a bit of reading homework this week, take your time and send it back next Monday. I am going to continue sending extra reading sheets and some sight word work. I hope that you find this helpful.
This week in math we have started skip counting (counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s). We will be challenged with several other ways to count. We will be taking our time with this chapter. I don't want to rush anyone through this section. It is important for the students to be able to count using this method. Practice counting this way at home, using M & Ms, Skittles, Goldfish, or anything else you can get your hands on.
Our grammar rule this week is rule 12, which is Verbs. Wednesday, I sent home the phonogram journal. We have completed our final phonogram for the year, so these folders do not need to be sent back to school. Next week, we will begin doing DOL (Daily Oral Language).
Just a head's up...I plan on putting a packet of reading passages together for Winter Break. This is a major growth period for 1st graders. You will be amazed how well they are reading after the Winter Holidays. I love January during 1st grade, because the students become so much more independent. Please make an effort to spend 30 to 45 minutes reading these passages and practicing oral reading with your child. Please continue to review and learn the word wall words, as well.
Upcoming Events:
12/4: Teacher Treat Day!
12/11: DIBELS Testing @ 10 am.
Please try to be on time and get plenty of rest the night before.
12/18: A.M. Holidays Around the World
P.M. Holiday Parties (1:30 - 2:15)
Have a wrapped book for a book exchange!
12/19: Polar Express...wear your P.J.s.
Hope you have a happy and blessed holiday season!
Ms. Messick
Monday, November 24, 2008
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