Back To School and The First Full Week

Table 4 building their building

BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT
It was wonderful to meet all of you at Back To School Night. I am very excited about what they year has in store for us and how much we will watch your children grow this year. For those of you who were unable to make it to Back To School Night, you can catch the entire presentation here, minus seeing me, but you can hear my voice, explaining everything. Also, your child came home with the math book for homework and the handouts from Back To School Night, so take a look at those.

STEM FRIDAY 
This week our class began STEM Fridays. Each Friday, the students will partake in a stem activity

Table 1 Building

depending on what we are studying for that period of time. This week the STEM activity was more about learning to work as a team, listening to our teammates, and providing a reason (defending their answer) as to why it should be done a certain way versus another way. Within each table group, students will have a role, although this time it was just about getting to know your table mates. Each table group was asked to build the tallest building. The kids did great and we had a lot of fun, all while learning. They came up with wonderful reasons why one structure may be more sound than another, how balance was important, and why they chose to construct the building the way they did.

Table 2

PTA DRIVE
Please remember to turn in your PTA memberships! PTA provides many wonderful programs and supports the classroom in many ways.

LANGUAGE ARTS
The 105 First Grade Wonders Words may be found on our blog, here under the Language Arts page. The full list is available, as is the divided list, where the words are broken up into lists of 10.

CLASSROOM NEEDS
I have appreciated all of the classroom supplies. Here is a wishlist of supplies:

Table 3

Amazon Gift Cards
Best Buy Gift Cards
Bright Paper
Cardstock Paper
Pool Noodles
Small Stickers

While I am in the process of writing grants for technology for my classroom and PE equipment for our grade level, my goal is to have enough devices in the classroom for a class set. Best Buy and Amazon gift cards will go towards buying devices for the classroom. We also found some wonderful PE games we can play with pool noodles.


DATES TO REMEMBER 
Wednesday, August 30 - PTA BMX Night
Wednesday, September 13 at 1:30pm - Parent Reading Meeting for First Grade Parents
More information to follow for Parent Reading Meeting.

I am still looking for the following help:

• Room parent
• Meet the Master Parent - Once a month art project with the class

I wish everyone a great week and stay cool!