Red Ribbon Week Is Here

This week we will be celebrating Red Ribbon Week. Today, we participated in a kick-off event with the DEA coming for an assembly. After the assembly, we were able to tour the different vehicles and meet the police dogs, who work for our community. In honor of Red Ribbon Week, we will have dress up days that will culminate at the end of week with our Jog-a-Thon. Here is a list of the dress up days for Red Ribbon Week:

1. Monday - Wear a red ribbon
2. Tuesday - Crazy Socks
3. Wednesday -Sports Day
4. Thursday - Wear Red
5. Friday - Jog-a-thon/Spirit Wear

Our wonderful room parents have been working hard for our Jog-a-thon. You should have received a Sign Up Genius from our room parents with items that will be needed and volunteer opportunities. Please check your email for this important information. We are the...are you ready for it...THE

BLAZING MONSTAR RUNNERS! Please make sure your child either wears their spirit wear for Jog-a-thon or the Tony Tobin colors. All monies raised from the Jog-a-thon will go straight back to our school for programs and other wonderful opportunities for our students. Please help raise money for this awesome event.


Items Needed for Class:

Next week we will be doing a fun Halloween activity. We are looking for bottles of Glitter Glue like this:

Please have your students bring the bottles to class. All colors are perfect.

Social Studies:

This week we are starting Our World. We will be labeling maps and talking about the continents, oceans and our planet.

Language Arts:

We are starting Unit 2, Week 1 for Language Arts. Please check out the specifics on the page labeled "Language Arts" on our website.

Math:

We are continuing with subtraction. Continue working with your students at home on explaining their answers as they do them in homework.

Enjoy your weekend!

October Fun

It seems as if the weeks are flying by at a rapid pace. This month has a lot of fun in store for the students in room 21.

Next week, we have the Book Fair. We will be visiting during our library time on Friday, October 13 from 2:35 - 3:20. If you would like to visit earlier, please do so because sometimes by the time we get to the end of the week, some things are gone.

Our room parents sent out an email earlier in the week. If you did not receive the email, please let them know and email them at firstgradecommunication@hotmail.com You may email them at this address anytime you have questions. I will also add to the contact page, here on the website.

Jog-a-thon:
The school Jog-a-thon is Friday, October 27. Please, please think about gathering funds for this great

event. A 100% of the proceeds go right back to our school for field trips and other programs and events for our kiddos.

Other Important Information:

• We are asking parents to provide headphones in a ziploc baggy, labeled with your child's name for them to use during Chromebook time or computer time. These will be stored in a secure place for only your child to use. 
• We just received our log-on for the McGraw-Hill Connected account. At parent teacher conferences you will be receiving a login card for you to keep at home, so that you may access your child's account at home. Please note: we have been practicing taking our unit tests on the Connected website. The practice tests will not be included in your child's grade at the end of the semester. These are just practice tests to get your child used to logging on and taking unit tests online.
• If you did not sign up parent teacher conferences, please contact me and I will let you know what times are available.

Have a fantastic weekend and I will see everyone on Monday morning!

Welcome to Fall!

 These are the weeks I love the most. When we have fallen into a routine and our classroom seems to run smoothly in these early days of fall. Now, if the weather could just follow suit to those fallish feelings, then all would be good.

We have been hard at work, here in Room 21.

Language Arts
For a Language Arts update, don't forget to check out the weekly poster under the tab Language Arts, here on the blog. This week we are changing our comprehension skill to asking and answering questions about the story or pictures within the story. We are going to be working on non-fiction text and our phonics skill will be short o. Our writing focus still remains on informational writing. As a class, we explore a topic sentence, then on our own it's time to make sure we use capital letters at the beginning of sentences and punctuation at the end. The goal is to have four sentences in our writing, extracting information from the text.

Math
In Math, story problems about joining and coming up with equations to match the story problems have been the focus. We will have the rest of the Unit 1 test on Thursday, October 5. A study guide is attached in the homework.

Science
Next week we will begin our exploration of light in our sound and light unit. Thank you to all of you
who donated supplies for our class. There is still time to donate...check out last week's blog for a list of items needed. Monday would be a great day to send those in.

Mobymax
Your students received logins for Mobymax. Anytime you are using www.mobymax.com/signin/mrsk21 It will take you to our login page for our class. The students have simplified logins and your student has chosen two pictures for their login. Please use those to login.

Mobymax, please use this link

Next week, we will be using our connect-ed logins for Language Arts. Please bear with me as it is a timely process to get the logins created, have the students login at school and then provide you with the links. We are getting their slowly.

BYOD
If your child is participating in BYOD, please have your student bring their devices on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. These will be the days we will be utilizing them.

Have a fantastic weekend!

And the Beat Goes On...

SCIENCE MATERIALS NEEDED
As we begin going from sound to light next week, there are some materials we are in need of in order to conduct experiments in the classroom. Here is the list of needs:

1. Shoe boxes
2. Flashlights - Please send these in labeled with a name, so that we can return them when we are done).
3. Small handheld mirrors - Please send these in labeled with a name, so that we can return them when we are done.
4. Tinted/Foggy Cups - (12 of them)

All of the help you can give is greatly appreciated.

BYOD:
We are going to begin BYOD next week in the classroom. Our days to Bring Your Own Device will be on Tuesdays and Fridays. If you have not filled out a BYOD for your student, please do not send

a device. The BYOD form must be filled out in order for your student to bring their device.

BOOK ORDERS:
Please place any book orders by Friday, October 6 via our website under the tab marked Scholastic Book Orders. If you have any questions, please let me know.

LANGUAGE ARTS:
Please check out the Language Arts page on our website for the Unit 1, Week 3 unit update. It will tell you the phonics skill we are working on and comprehension skill.

ROOM PARENT INFORMATION:
Two wonderful mothers, Mrs. Glennon and Mrs. Gray, have offered to co-room parent for our room this year. They need a roster for the class ASAP, which means I will be providing them with names and emails, so they can communicate with you directly regarding all the fun happenings for the classroom. IF YOU DO NOT WANT YOUR EMAIL INCLUDED IN THE ROSTER, PLEASE EMAIL ME BY MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 TO LET ME KNOW.

PTA MEMBERSHIP DRIVE:
This is the last week to get those PTA Memberships in. Please know that the money from PTA goes toward wonderful programs like the Family Movie and BMX Nights, field trips, and many other others to support our students.

IMPORTANT DATES:
September 25-29 - Because Nice Matters Week (Please check the weekly homework on the homework page for dress up day information).
October 2 - Sign Up Genius Opens For Parent Teacher Conference Week
October 16-20 - Parent Teacher Conference Week (MINIMUM DAYS ALL WEEK)

September 18-22

Language Arts:

 This week in Language Arts we will be focusing on short i for our phonics skills. Our comprehension strategy will still be focusing on visualizing while read because good readers use words and illustrations to pictures in their minds in order to understand what they are reading better. We are also working on picking key details out of a text using the illustrations and the words.

Math:
In Math, we are focusing on making various numbers using the terms part, part, whole. As a reminder our Unit 1 #1-8 math test will be on Friday. Please make sure to go over the study guide with your student at home. You will be able to find that under the homework tab on our website.

Science:
We are continuing our light and sound unit. On Monday and Tuesday will be studying sound by

hearing different pitches and trying to figure out what make the different pitches. We will complete that part on Tuesday by making a Kazoo, which your student should come home with.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
Homework starts this week. You can find it under the homework tab on our website. Please note: your child will not be turning in their homework on Friday. Instead, they will be asked to explain one of the problems they solved for the week. Please make sure they are prepared to do this, as this will reflect on their homework grade. There is no need to print out the weekly homework cover sheet or the Math Assessment sheet. Sometimes in class, I will have them do the math on a white board or just a sheet of paper. That way it saves on paper and the ink to print it out.

Reading Groups are also beginning this week. Your student will be coming home with a book bag on Monday or Tuesday depending on when I meet with their group. Please make sure their book bag gets returned to school each day, otherwise, they will not be able take another book home until it is returned.

Word Clubs: On Tuesday your child will be coming home with their words clubs list. I am hoping to

have Word Clubs on Tuesdays and Thursdays, however, it depends on volunteers. Please remember that Words Clubs are completely volunteer ran. Our wonderful volunteers sometimes get sick and have other commitments, so if your child doesn't come home with a Word Club list every Tuesday and Thursday, please know they will get it the following time we have Word Clubs.

We look forward to making this a great week!

Room 21 Weekly Update

Language Arts
Our new Unit, Week 1 for Language Arts is up and on the Language Arts page of our website.

This week in comprehension we are working on using text and illustrations to find the key details in a story. Our comprehension strategy is to visualize (good readers use words and illustrations to visualize) or make pictures in our mind to help us understand text.

Math:
We are still plugging away through Unit 1. Unit 1 focuses on parts/wholes and how to make different numbers. Our Unit 1 test will be on Thursday, September 21. A study guide will go home in next week's homework packet.

Science:
We are beginning to work on our Sound unit. This week we are taking a "Sound Walk" to listen for sounds we might hear when we walk around our school. We will also be working on building a Kazoo in class and figuring out what helps make the noise that the Kazoo will make when we blow into it.

Parent Reading Afternoon:
Please join us on Wednesday at 1:30pm in Room 16 for Parent Reading Meeting. I will be sending home a reading packet today via email for you to bring with you to the meeting. This is a great meeting for our first grade parents because we will go over strategies you can utilize at home to help your child become a great reader.

                                                      Picture Day

Picture Day is this Thursday, September 14. No money is due or packet the day of pictures.

NO SCHOOL FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15. 

Let's Get Connected!

BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)

I have been going back and forth with the idea of having my class bring their own devices. While I know some parents have heard of 3-5 grade doing and now some 2nd grade teachers, I think it truly is

important to have a device for each child. We are in the age where digital literacy is truly important and it doesn't necessarily just encompass your child knowing how to use a device like an iPad or a phone. They need to learn keyboarding skills, be able to collaborate with others through things like Google Docs, be creative (remixing media or creating their own) and be safe and respectful when exercising these digital literacies.

I have already thought about storage for the devices when we are not in the room, to keep them safe. I already have rules and procedures in place, as well, for when the students are using the devices. Please watch the video below provided by our district regarding the BYOD program:

BYOD Video

If you would like your child to participate in BYOD - please note, phones are not included in the BYOD. Phones are still able to access content that goes around our firewalls, they are not necessarily hooked up to our internet provider, and it's not easy to search for information via a phone because it is so small. If your child has a laptop, Chromebook, or iPad with a keyboard, these devices will be supported.

I am sending home the BYOD agreement this week in your child's Wednesday envelope. If your child has a device and they would like to participate, fill out the BYOD and send it back to school. I will let you know when your child can start bringing in their device. They are not allowed it to bring it in, until the BYOD is filled out and returned. Should you have any questions about the BYOD, please feel free to contact me. I will be more than happy to answer your questions!

PRODIGY

In your child's Wednesday envelope a paper went home for Prodigy. Prodigy is a math based program, where I enter "assignments" based on what we are studying and the game focuses on those skills for a specific amount of time. I was able to get a little more than half of the class logged on and connected to our class. On the paper sent home was your student's username and password. Please stress that this important and they should not give it to anyone else. I will be logging the rest of the class on starting Monday and then everyone should be connected and ready to go.

CLASS DOJO
If you have not connected to Class Dojo yet, please do so. For those of you, who have not connected, I will be sending a reminder email through Dojo on Monday.

PTA MEMBERSHIP DRIVE
Don't forget to take the time to sign up to become a member of the PTA. Our PTA helps fund wonderful things like our field trips, Chromebooks for our classrooms, Chromebook carts, Family Fun Nights and the list goes on. Remember our BMX Night will be held this Wednesday, September 6. 

DATES TO REMEMBER:
BMX Night - Wednesday, September 6
1st grade Parent Reading Meeting - Wednesday, September 13 at 1:30pm (More info coming)
Picture Day - Thursday, September 14

I hope everyone has a great week and enjoys the short week!