Weekly News

Open House was a great success. Thank you so much for your attendance at the Open House. I hope you found it informative and enjoyed spending some time in the classroom! If there are any lingering questions or concerns about first grade, our routines and policies or my philosophies, please let me know. I am happy to clarify or discuss further. If you were unable to attend, we’ve place the packet of information in your family mailbox. I am putting the finishing touches on the family contact lists. I will distribute them as soon as I have all of the information.

I realized a few details I left out of the Open House presentation:

HOMEWORK: My goal for homework in first grade is that it is an enjoyable family experience. If that means parents help with the writing or a child opts to draw vs. write, that is fine. It is more about the content than the output at this point.

READING: Similar to homework, my goal for reading is also that it be an enjoyable experience for children. It is absolutely fine for parents, siblings, babysitters, or any other adults to do the majority of reading if that is most comfortable for your child. In fact, there are many benefits to children of all ages listening to fluent readers read. They are hearing what good reading should sound like and will try to replicate this in their own reading.

Also, some children are reluctant to read aloud to adults or family until they are sure they’ve got it right and will make minimal mistakes. If this is the case for your child, we are happy to send books home with them that have been practiced in reading groups. It may ease that initial reluctance to read aloud at home.

FLEXIBLE GROUPING: I mentioned that we place children in groups for reading and math based on a number of factors (skill level, interest, prior experience with the topic, specific skill to practice, etc.) These groups are very flexible. We might change groups on weekly or monthly depending on individual progress and need.  This is quite different from the grouping some of us may have experienced during our school years in which groups stayed the same the entire year, regardless of progress. If you have any questions about your child’s progress or placement in various groups, please ask. We are happy to share about what skills we are working on.

READING BUDDIES

We had our second meeting with our reading buddies. It is so wonderful to see both groups excited to read together and get to know each other.

LITERACY CENTERS    

We will continue Literacy Centers this week. This week, we are practicing choosing centers and moving among the centers. Other centers currently include: Name-Face Match, Making Books, Word Study (make our Word Wall Words with play dough), Read the Room, and Read to Self.  As we become comfortable with these Centers, I will add more choices.

WORD WALL WORDS:           a     I      the

We will be including Word Wall words in the newsletter every week. Word Wall Words are high frequency sight words. They usually cannot be sounded out like some of the other words we will study in first grade. Please help your child to learn these sight words. Some ideas for practicing and learning these words are:

1.  Make flash cards.

2.   Post the words on your refrigerator or other location for daily practice.

3.   Ask your child to find these words in books, magazines, or newspapers.

We added 3 words to our Word Wall this week.  We will try to commit these words to memory, but the Word Wall will serve as a permanent place to look for spelling clues.

COMMUNITY

Last week, we used the answers to our Friend Questions to create individual pages for our first class book: Meet 1MC. We have each illustrated our page with things we like and attached a photograph. The book will be displayed in the classroom library for all to read!

We will also used Venn Diagrams to compare and contract our interests with another peer in the class. We thought about 2-3 similarities and differences and placed them in the correct spots on the Venn Diagram. W eused the information from our Friend Question Posters, talking with peers and asking our friends additional questions. These diagrams will be displayed in the hallway.

This week, we begin to explore our families and learn about all of the different kinds of families there can be. We will continue to use the language of “something in common…...” as well as build on the practice of celebrating differences.

FIRST GRADE WISH LIST

We welcome donations of the following items for our classroom:

·      Legos, old ones that your family is no longer using.

ASK YOUR CHILD…

These questions can be conversation starters to discuss the week in school.

·      What did you do during Choice Time this week?

·      How did you decorate your page for our Meet 1MC book?

·      What math games did you play this week?

·      How do you play Sparkle?

·      What books did you read with your third grade reading buddy?

Open House

First Grade Open House
Friday
September 28th
8:15- 9:00 am
Meet in the library after drop-off.
After a few words with our principal, families will be directed to classrooms for more information with teacher.

1MC WEEKLY NEWS ~ SEPTEMBER 20, 2012

It has really been a great third week of school! The class has been engaged in so many new activities. We have continued to strengthen our community connections, and practiced the routines we will use all year. We successfully began Literacy Centers and have enjoyed the first grade privilege of checking out books from the library. There are so many more great things to come!

CLASSROOM ROUTINES

We have done lots of practicing of our routines. These include:

1.      Morning meeting (greeting our classmates, reading the message and schedule, and playing a game).

2.  Quiet Signals (the chimes).

3.  Clean-up routines

4.   Lining up (push in chairs and make a calm, quiet line).

5.   Following our class rules (1. Be kind to everyone. 2. Be safe and Respectful. 3. Focus on your work. 4. Have Fun.)

COMMUNICATION I check email regularly (Katrina_McNamara@brookline.k12.ma.us) and will reply as quickly as possible. You may also leave a message on the classroom phone (617.879.4430) or with the Devotion School office (617.879.4400). 

If you would like to be “invited” to the blog please let me know. If you prefer the paper copy, I will put it in your family mailbox each Thursday.

ILLNESS

Please carefully read the document “When to keep your child home from school.” Thank you in advance for following these guidelines to speed your child’s recovery and keep germs and illnesses from spreading in our class. If you have any questions regarding these guidelines, please direct them to our school nurse.

If your child will be absent due to illness or a doctor or dentist appointment, please let us know via email or note. You may also call or email the school office. Thank you.

LIBRARY

We had our first Library Program visit this Wednesday. Ms. McDonnell read us 3 interesting and funny books about the beginning of school. We will listen to stories in the Library every 3 weeks on Wednesdays.

On Friday we will visit the Library for Book Exchange. We will learn how to use our library card, how to put a book back in the right spot, and what to do once we’ve chosen a book.  There are so many books to choose from, and everyone will be able to find a book of interest. The books will stay in the classroom in the library area. We are looking forward to returning our books and picking out new ones each Friday morning.

Students can visit the school library after school with a parent, babysitter, grandparent, etc. The library is open until 3 pm. At this time, students do not need their library card, are able to check out more than 1 book, and may take those books home.

READING BUDDIES

We will meet our third grade Reading Buddies from 3D on Friday afternoon. Each Friday afternoon, we will get together to read books, or do projects and activities throughout the year.

HOMEWORK

Homework will come home every Friday. Homework will be due back the following Thursday. In first grade, homework is a parent and child experience. Please help your child succeed with these tasks and let me know if an assignment is particularly challenging for your child. In first grade, we want homework to be a positive experience and a chance for students to further connect with the classroom material and topics.

LITERACY & MATH

We are working closely with the Literacy and Math Specialists to assess students’ current knowledge and comfort level in both areas. In the coming weeks, we will use this information to create small reading groups, math lessons, games and centers. We are continuing to build our classroom community and explicitly practice our daily routines, so that we are ready to add in the academic pieces soon.

LITERACY CENTERS    

We began Literacy Centers this week. Literacy Centers is the bock of time in which small group reading instruction (Guided Reading) will occur. While teachers are working with small groups, the rest of the class will be engaged in independent work and games.  This week, we are practicing choosing centers and moving among the centers. We have learned some Word Games such as Rhyming, and Letter/ Sound Bingo. Other centers currently include: Word Search, Making Books, Word Study, Read the Room, and Independent Reading. As we become comfortable with these Centers, I will add more choices.

WORD STUDY

This week, we continued our study of the names in our class. We played a “memory” game, matching classmates’ pictures with their names. We also started to identify color words. We made a list of colors, and talked about the beginning sounds of each color.

We placed our first words on our Word Wall (names and color words). The Word Wall is a resource where we will place sight words. Throughout the year, Weekly Word Wall Words will be words that are not necessarily easy to sound out or spell. They will also include the most frequently used first grade sight words. We will try to commit these words to memory, but the Word Wall will serve as a permanent place to look for spelling clues.

COMMUNITY

We are finishing up our Friend Questions. We practiced communicating about our commonalities. Following Friend Questions, we opened the discussion for students to share things they have in common with classmates. We used the specific language, “I have something in common with _________. We both ______________________.” This helps students to identify ways they are similar and opens the door for future communication and connections.

Next week, we will use the answers to our Friend Questions to create individual pages for our first class book: Meet 1MC. We have each illustrated our page with things we like and attached a photograph. The book will be displayed in the classroom library for all to read! We will also use Venn Diagrams to compare and contract our interests with another peer in the class.

SNACK

We will have a morning snack every day. Please pack a nutritious, filling, low-sugar snack for your child each day. We eat lunch at 12:40pm everyday, so our snack is very important to keep us energized during our long morning. Please encourage your child to eat his or her entire snack so they do not get too hungry before lunch.

FIRST GRADE WISH LIST

We welcome donations of the following items for our classroom:

·      Legos, old ones that your family is no longer using.

REMINDERS

Please wear sneakers in PE days: Mondays and Wednesdays. It is a great idea to wear sneakers everyday in first grade.

Please dress for the weather. We will go outside for recess every day (unless it is raining). As the weather shifts from day to day, or throughout the day, please send your child with jackets, sweatshirts, etc. If it is raining and stops by recess time, we will still go outside, so rain jackets and rain boots are helpful on rainy days.

ASK YOUR CHILD…

These questions can be conversation starters to discuss the week in school.

·      Which Literacy Centers did you try this week?

·      What is did you draw using Drawing Cards during projects?

·      What new game did you play this week?

·      What did we work on in Art class with Ms. Allain?

·      What is something you had in common with one of the friends in our class?

WEEKLY NEWS 

We are continuing to enjoy first grade and build our community of learners.  Students are becoming more comfortable with school and the routines.

CLASSROOM RULES

We considered our “Hopes and Dreams” for first grade and identified some rules we would need for our class so that everyone could reach their goals and enjoy first grade. We came up with a very long list. We grouped rules together into four main rules that would cover everything and be easier to remember. We signed our rule sign to show that we all think these rules are important and we will all try to follow these rules and help our friends follow them.

1.      Be kind to everyone.

2.   Be safe and respectful.

3.   Focus on your work.

4.   Have Fun!

ITEM DROP OFF

Please see the last page for the new policy on dropping off items for your students.

COMMUNICATION

I check email regularly (Katrina_McNamara@brookline.k12.ma.us) and will reply as quickly as possible. You may also leave a message on the classroom phone (617.879.4430) or with the Devotion School office (617.879.4400). Keeping the lines of communication open is a priority for me, and I am happy to work together to make this a successful year for your child. I will send a weekly newsletter, sharing our themes of the weeks and including important updates and reminders.

In an effort to cut down on paper, and to increase the sharing of information, I have created a class blog. This is a private blog (meaning I will invite families from our class only), in which I will share the newsletter, school and classroom news, as well as links to interesting, educational sites. If you would like to be “invited” to the blog please let me know. I can invite you through the email address you provided through the family information sheet, or a different email address. If you opt to sign in to the blog, I will not send you a paper copy of the newsletter. If you prefer the paper copy, I will put it in your family mailbox each Thursday.

LIBRARY

We will begin out Library program on Wednesday. About every 3 weeks, we will go to the library and our librarian, Ms. McDonnell will read and discuss books and authors with us. We will begin our weekly Library Book check-out next Friday.

We will go to the library every Friday morning for book exchange. Students are allowed to check out 1 book, as long as their previous book gets returned. For the first few weeks of book exchange, we will keep the library books in the classroom, rather than bringing them home. This way, we will always have them to return on Fridays.

Students can visit the school library after school with a parent, babysitter, grandparent, etc. The library is open until 3 pm. At this time, students do not need their library card, are able to check out more than 1 book, and may take those books home.

HOMEWORK

Homework will come home every Friday. Homework will be due back the following Thursday. In first grade, homework is a parent and child experience. Please help your child succeed with these tasks and let me know if an assignment is particularly challenging for your child. In first grade, we want homework to be a positive experience and a chance for students to further connect with the classroom material and topics. Other than “Writing” portions of homework, grown-ups may record children’s answers if writing and spelling are challenging, or children and grown-ups can share the writing process. We are focusing on the content, not necessarily the output at this point.

Another expectation is that students and families read for at least 15 minutes every night. This can be parents reading to children, children reading independently, parents and children sharing the reading, or any of the activities on the READ-O section of the homework. Reading may also be done using texts in written in the language spoken at home.

LITERACY & MATH

We are working closely with the Literacy and Math Specialists to assess students’ current knowledge and comfort level in both areas. In the coming weeks, we will use this information to create small reading groups, math groups, games and centers. We are continuing to build our classroom community and explicitly practice our daily routines, so that we are ready to add in the academic pieces soon.

WORD STUDY

We began to study the names of the children in our class. We are also sorting names by beginning sounds, number of letters, and other characteristics. Many students already recognize other students’ names. We will identify, explore and practice color words next week. As a class, we were able to match students’ pictures with names and alphabetize our list of first names. We will continue to observe the beginning sounds of words.

 SNACK

We will have a morning snack every day. Please pack a nutritious, filling, low-sugar snack for your child each day. We eat lunch at 12:40pm everyday, so our snack is very important to keep us energized during our long morning. Please encourage your child to eat his or her entire snack so they do not get too hungry before lunch.

FIRST GRADE WISH LIST

We welcome donations of the following items for our classroom:

·      Legos ~we would like to make a Lego center for Choice Time. If you have Legos that you are no longer using at home and would like to donate them to our class, we will put them to great use!

REMINDERS

Please wear sneakers in PE days: Mondays and Wednesdays. Your child may not be able to participate in some activities without sneakers. It is a great idea to wear sneakers everyday in first grade.

ASK YOUR CHILD…

These questions can be conversation starters to discuss the week in school.

·      What songs and games did we learn in Music?

·      What did you notice when you sorted our class names by the number of letters in each name?

·      What did you learn about one of our friends during “Friend Questions”? What do you have in common with some of your friends in our class?

·      What is one of our classroom rules? How will you help to follow this rule?

more news for this week...

IMPORTANT DATES
•    Monday, June 11th: Devotion Carnival, after school.
•    Monday, June 18th: Last Day of School.  School ends at 12 pm, Lunch will be not be served.

LUNCH ON JUNE 14TH
There will be a special lunch in the cafeteria on Thursday, June 14th. It will be sub Sandwiches or Salads. In order for the cafeteria to have enough of each type, we will be taking orders on Wednesday, June 13th. Please discuss these choices with your child so he or she can order on Wednesday. The choices are:
•    Italian Sub
•    Ham and Cheese  Sub with lettuce and tomato
•    Turkey Sub with lettuce and tomato
•    Chicken Caesar Salad
•    Greek Salad
Bagels and PBJ will also be available. The sub or salad lunch is the special and is the same cost as a regular school lunch.

FAMILY BREAKFAST   
Thank you for your enthusiasm and support at our family breakfast! The kids were so excited and proud to show off all of their great work and first grade progress this morning! Thank you also for all of the delicious food and necessary paper goods that you shared. Our breakfast was a huge success because of your help.

END OF SCHOOL YEAR
Please let us know if your family will be traveling or if your child will be missing any of the last days of school. We want to send home all of your child’s supplies and work, and ensure that everyone gets a chance to say goodbye to friends.

MATH
We will practice thinking about equal signs as a balance to solve non traditional math equations ( for example: 1 + 4 = 2 + 3, or  10 = 9 -1).

* Thank you for your understanding and questions about last week’s super challenge. It was just that: a Super Super Challenge. It was the Problem of the week, which is a bi-weekly math problem posted by the math department and open to all Devotion students in all grades. It was sent in homework to give a super challenge and a big thinking question for students who want more challenge that our regular math homework or even the challenge homework. Just thinking about that problem was a success! And it was interesting to see the variety of strategies for approaching the problem, or approaching a part of the problem. Hopefully, it did not cause too much stress and/ or concern about the level of math expected in first grade.

SCIENCE
We did a science exploration to examine 4 different types of insect mouth parts. We used common objects and tools to replicate these mouth parts and then tried them out. We learned about Chompers or Tearers (like a beetle), Needle Mouths (like a mosquito or flea), Sponge Mouths (like flies), and Proboscis (like a butterfly). We will continue to discuss other insect adaptations.

*Children have been asking about the beetles and where they will live over the summer. Some children have said that their parents would love to have beetles as pets. (I know this might not be true). I have not announced this to the class, so no ideas have been planted for children to ask you. However, we have a large amount of beetles, and they could make lovely pets. If you would like some pet darlking beetles for your home (to keep, no need to return them), please let me know; I am happy to share them. They are quite easy to take care of: they live in a dry oatmeal base and enjoy being fed potatoes, apples, or carrots every few days. They prefer indirect light and are incapable of crawling up the side of the container, so they cannot escape our open container!

SUMMER READING AND SUMMER MATH
Next week, Ms. McDonnell and Ms. Boss will be talking with our class about summer reading and summer math, respectively.  These activities are highly encouraged, but not mandatory.  They are created to be easy to transport on vacations and fun. These activities are meant to continue the momentum of first grade, keep students thinking and engaged over the summer, and ensure that students are ready to roll in second grade. Both activities are flexible in terms of the activities and time involved. There are small prize incentives for returning completed work in September. If you have questions, please contact Ms. McDonnell, Ms. Boss, or myself. The documents will also be posted on the Devotion PTO website.

ASK YOUR CHILD…
These questions can be conversation starters to discuss the week in school.
•    What types of insect mouths did we learn about? How did we demonstrate the different mouth types?
•    What was your favorite part of our breakfast?
•    What are you looking for in a friend?  Can you name 3 people that you would make a good friend for?
•    What are some things you wrote in your letter to your next teacher? What is important for your next teacher to know about you and how you learn best?

Weekly News

IMPORTANT DATES
•    Thursday, June 7th: Family Breakfast 8 -8:45 am.
•    Monday, June 11th: Devotion Carnival, after school.
•    Monday, June 18th: Last Day of School.  School ends at 12 pm, Lunch will be not be served.

WORD WALL WORDS
We are spending time these last few weeks reviewing all of the Word Wall Words we have learned all year. We are also taking a look at homophones, words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings. For example: I am going to school. And I have two hands.

FAMILY BREAKFAST   
Thank you in advance for signing up to bring food and items for our family breakfast. We are so excited to welcome important parents, siblings, family members and friends into our classroom to share all of our learning. If you are unable to attend our breakfast, please let Stephanie or I know; we will make sure to have a sibling or special teacher attend the breakfast with your child.

END OF SCHOOL YEAR
Please let us know if your family will be traveling or if your child will be missing any of the last days of school. We want to send home all of your child’s supplies and work, and ensure that everyone gets a chance to say goodbye to friends.

MATH
We have wrapped up Chapter 9 which focused on Fact Families and Input/ output (noticing patterns in numbers and operations). We will continue to integrate and apply these skills for the remainder of the year. We will also reinforce concepts of addition, subtraction and equality. Specifically, we will practice thinking about equal signs as a balance to solve non traditional math equations ( for example:
1 + 4 = 2 + 3, or  10 = 9 -1).

SCIENCE
After a week and a half of observation, we let our Painted Lady butterflies go on Wednesday afternoon. They were ready for the great outdoors and real flowers. We let them out in the Devotion Garden, so they would have ample plants to land on and minimal people running around. It was lovely to watch the butterflies emerge from our net. Many of them landed on our students and others opted to fly high and out of the garden. Luckily, the weather was great for the butterflies to adjust to their new homes. Unfortunately, some students noticed after school that a few butterflies died. We talked about possible reasons: the playground got crowded, their wings might not have been strong enough, they weren’t used to the environment, or some butterflies had a short lifespan. 

All of our mealworms have now turned into beetles, so we still have many beetles to observe in our classroom. We will also spend the next two weeks exploring attributes and adaptations of various insects.

COMMUNITY
These past week and through the end of the school year, we will be focusing on our many great accomplishments and the strong community and friendships we have built this year. We are reflecting on the many things that we have learned and the great qualities of our friends.

SUMMER READING AND SUMMER MATH
During the next two weeks, Ms. McDonnell and Ms. Boss will be talking with our class about summer reading and summer math, respectively.  These activities are highly encouraged, but not mandatory.  They are created to be easy to transport on vacations and fun. These activities are meant to continue the momentum of first grade, keep students thinking and engaged over the summer, and ensure that students are ready to roll in second grade. Both activities are flexible in terms of the activities and time involved. There are small prize incentives for returning completed work in September. If you have questions, please contact Ms. McDonnell, Ms. Boss, or myself. The documents will also be posted on the Devotion PTO website.

ASK YOUR CHILD…
These questions can be conversation starters to discuss the week in school.
•    What happened when we let our butterflies go?
•    What was your favorite part of our concert?
•    What is a homophone? Can you name some homophone pairs?

1MC WEEKLY NEWS ~ May 11th, 2012

IMPORTANT DATES
•    Thursday, May 31st: Big Book Bazaar, Book Fair. Stay tuned for information. Our class will go at 11am.
•    Friday, June 1st: First Grade Concert. 8:30 am, Devotion auditorium, Stay tuned for details.
•    Monday, June 4th: ALL LIBRARY BOOKS MUST BE RETURNED BY THIS DAY. No more books may be checked out, Library Inventory.
•    Thursday, June 7th: 1MC Family Breakfast. 7:55- 8:45 am. More details to follow.
•    Monday, June 18th: Last day of school. School ends at 12 noon, no lunch to be served.

WORD WALL WORDS
our               out            house            down     
This week we are focusing on the combinations of letters that make the “ow” sound. OU and OW make the “ow” sound.  OW can also make a long O sounds like in snow.

END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR/ NEXT SCHOOL YEAR
If you know that you will be moving or leaving Devotion School (either before the last day of school on June 18th, or before the start of next school year), please let the office and the classroom teacher know. This can be done verbally or through writing with me. The office will need more information including your ending date and forwarding address. Please stop into the office to complete this paperwork.

WRITING
We are currently working on a class Writing Unit writing How To Guides. We thought about something we know how to do that we could teach someone else through writing and illustrating instructions. We have been working to think of all of the steps needed so the instructions make sense to our readers.

MATH
We have moved into Chapter 9. We began by exploring Cuisenaire Rods, 10 colored , mutli-length blocks.  We used these rods to make patterns and number sentences. (Red + Green = Yellow). This led us to learning the term fact Family. We continue to use these fact families to strengthen our math facts skills and reinforce the our general knowledge about addition and subtraction. (For example, “If I know that 3+4=7, then I also know that 4+3=7 and 7-3=4 and 7-4=3)

SCIENCE
We continue to observe our mealworms move through their life cycle stages and. Our caterpillars have grown so large and many of them are in the chrysalis stage. We will transfer these pupae into a butterfly net so when they emerge as butterflies, they have lots of space to spread their wings. We continue to read and discuss many other insects and characteristics of insects.

COMMUNITY
We continued learning about Mexico this week. We read a book called Family Pictures. This books contains paintings depicting the childhood events of the author, Carmen Lomas Garza. She grew up in Texas near the border of Mexico and her family is from Mexico. She described the events that she painted. We were able to compare and contrast her life to ours. Some things she did we different that things we do, and some were the same. We also noticed different foods, plants and architecture in her paintings. We will learn more about Mexico and Mexican culture.  

1MC WISH LIST…
We would greatly appreciate the following donations”
Glue Sticks 
Old T-Shirts (any size and color)-  We will be cutting them up to use for a project, so they will not be returned.
Paper shopping bags (like Trader Joe’s, etc. ~ We will use these to send supplies home at the end of the year.)

ASK YOUR CHILD…
These questions can be conversation starters to discuss the week in school.
•    How have our caterpillars changed?
•    What are you writing about for our “How To” book for Writing?
•    What is a Cuisenaire Rod? How can we use them to help with Math?
•    What is a fact family?