Laptop Thursday!

Hello Fantastic First Grade Families!

Today was a GREAT day! We got an AWESOME report from the P.E. teachers! WOO HOO!

Today in Math we rotated through Addition centers. It was our first day of Math Centers and everyone really seemed to enjoy it! After our last rotation, everyone gave a thumbs up on the carpet! Here's a peak at a couple...

Roll A Sum: roll two dice, write the addition sentence, then find the sum!

Quizzing our Math Partners with addition flash cards.

This afternoon we had LAPTOPS! From 1:30-3:00 we practiced logging on, getting on the internet, and going to www.xtramath.org. Xtra Math is an online tool to help your child master addition (and then eventually subtraction) math facts.  The program is designed so that your child can master one set of addition facts before moving to a harder set. We want quick automaticity with these facts in First Grade. In your child's Take Home Folder you will find the instructions for logging onto Xtra Math at home. I highly encourage this a few times a week (it counts as Math homework, so don't forget to check it off!). If you have any trouble logging on at home, please let me know. I want everyone to have this opportunity!

Almost everyone remembered their reading last night! Very awesome! I look forward to seeing more check marks and parent signatures in the morning! :)

Have a great night!

Reading Homework!

Each day we continue to build our Read to Self stamina. We will add 1-2 minutes each day until we can continuously read for 30 minutes. 

Finding our own spot around the room is very important! We shouldn't be close enough to touch our neighbor and we should choose a spot we can stay in the whole time we are reading. 

Some students choose very unique spots to read!

 Reading at our desks is always an option.

Some of us even choose to read UNDER our desks!

Don't forget, reading homework starts tonight! In your child's folder you will find their nightly Homework Log. Remember to sign it once your child has read for at least 15 minutes. If your child forgot to bring their folder to school today, they did not receive a Homework Log. Please make sure their Take Home Folder makes it to school tomorrow so they can put their Homework Log inside.

Have a great night Fantastic First Grade Families!

Curriculum Night

A BIG thank you to everyone who came to Curriculum Night! I apologize for keeping everyone so late, I know you are all very busy people! A lot of information was covered tonight and I hope I didn't overwhelm you TOO much. If you have any questions about anything addressed tonight please do not hesitate to send me an e-mail or give me a call. I will gladly answer your questions or direct you to the person who can.

If you did not make it to Curriculum Night I will be sending all of the information home with your child tomorrow. Please make sure you check your child's Take Home Folder and remove the various papers. There is a lot of information to read over, so let me know if you have any questions or need any clarification!

Remember, reading homework will begin tomorrow night! Make sure your child is reading at least 15 minutes a night and you are signing the Reading Log. It is important that you remember this is REQUIRED homework and I will be checking every day. Just like practicing soccer makes us better soccer players, practicing reading makes us better readers!

Have a GREAT night Fantastic First Grade Families!

Read to Self

When we Read to Self we are:

Looking at the book

Reading the WHOLE time

Staying in one spot

Reading quietly

Treating our books with respect

BUILDING STAMINA!

Fabulous Friday!

Happy Friday Fantastic First Grade Families!

We made it through our first FULL week as First Graders!

We have spent a lot of time this week on what it means to be a Good Listener. It is important that our eyes are on the speaker and our voices are off. This is an essential skill for sitting on the carpet in First Grade. Ask your child what it means to be a Good Listener, they are becoming “Good Listener Experts!”

Today we sorted our names by the number of letters. We discovered that our shortest name has two letters, our longest name has seven letters, and our most common was four letters!

We had a fire drill today at Concord and I just wanted to let our parents know how AWESOME Room 11 did! We were one of the quietest, straightest lines in the whole school and only needed a few reminders. WOO HOO!

Remember, First Grade Curriculum Night is Tuesday August 28 at 6:30 PM. It will last approximately 1 hour and will take place in our classroom. Please plan to attend – a lot of important information will be presented regarding our First Grade Curriculum.

Have a great weekend!

A Few Important Things

Snack – I sent home information about snack at Meet the Teacher Night, but I wanted to address snack again. We will have snack every day after Block. Students should bring ONE SMALL snack each day. Ideas for good snacks are pretzels, apple, banana, cheese stick, and dry cereal. Snack should be something that can be eaten quickly and easily – nothing that requires a spoon please! Students should not bring juice, milk, or any other drink with their snack. Many students have been bringing sandwiches, multiple items, and juice boxes to eat during snack. It looks like a whole meal sometimes! This causes snack to take up much more time than necessary. Please make sure you are sending something small with your child.

Water Bottles – Students MAY bring a water bottle to school that can be used during class. Please only send a reusable water bottle with a lid that pops open and closed. Water bottles with screw caps that come completely off can cause huge messes if not screwed back on completely. Water bottles must always stay on the floor near our desks, we don’t want to spill water on our work!

Each student received their Math book today! We had some very excited kiddos today during Math – I can tell a lot of them really enjoy it! We took some time to explore our Math books to see all the exciting things we will be learning in First Grade. We practiced ripping pages out of our Math books using the perforation and completed the “Kindergarten Review” at the beginning of the book to get our brains into First Grade Math Mode. These pages will be coming home in your child’s Take Home Folder. They do not need to be returned.

If you have not turned in the various forms from the beginning of the year, please send those with your child sometime before this Friday. The office needs to have these by Friday August 24. Thank you!

It’s only the first few days of the year and many of the First Graders are still getting used to being at school all day. So remember, it’s very important for First Graders to get to bed early and eat a good, nutritious breakfast before school!

Have a great night!

First Grade Readers!

Spending some time reading on the carpet today.

 First Graders ready for a full week of learning!

First Graders ready to be goofy!

Happy Monday!

Welcome to our first full week of First Grade! A lot of important things are happening this week.

Each First Grader was given their personal dry erase board today that will be used throughout the year. Our dry erase boards will be used often for a quick formative assessment during various lessons; especially Math. I’m not sure about your house, but at my house we ALWAYS lose socks and end up with mismatched pairs. An old sock is a GREAT eraser for our white boards. If you don’t mind losing a sock, please send one to school with your child to have their own eraser.

Our Take Home Folders are starting to fill up quickly with the various Back to School papers and forms. Please be sure to check your child’s folder every night and return it every morning. If you need to send anything to school, this is the folder it should be put in.

The Entertainment Book Sales started today. Your child was given the Entertainment Book and an order form which is in their backpack. If you choose to buy or sell any Entertainment Books please return the form and money by Friday September 14. Order forms and money can be sent to school any time between now and then. The top selling student will win a Kindle Touch and the 2^nd top selling student will win a $25 Orange Leaf gift card. The top selling class will win a pizza party. However, you are not required to buy or sell any Entertainment Books.

We are practicing being Bucket Fillers in Room 11! A Bucket Filler is someone who is kind, respectful, and happy. A Bucket Dipper is someone who is mean, disrespectful, and sad. Today we read the book Have You Filled a Bucket Today? and brainstormed a list of Bucket Filler and Bucket Dipper actions. Ask your child about being a Bucket Filler! Check out the Bucket Filler website to learn more - http://www.bucketfillers101.com/index.php

Our First "Week" as First Graders!

Our first “week” sure went by fast! We’ve spent a lot of time this week getting to know Concord, our classroom, and each other. We started sharing our “Me Bags” and the students absolutely love learning about their classmates! Many of them have brought in similar items and are making connections to each other. If your child did not bring in their “Me Bag” today, they can bring it in any day next week to share with the class. Our schedule was a little goofy today because of our afternoon Back to School Assembly. Our block time was shortened today, but we had our first Art class of the year with Mrs. Goedde! The students really enjoy block time, I can already tell! I hope your child has enjoyed the first two days of First Grade as much as I have. We talked this afternoon about the big differences between half-day Kindergarten and full day First Grade. They are all ready for our first full week next week! I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Meet The Teacher

Thank you to everyone who came to Meet The Teacher tonight! I enjoyed meeting the students, their parents, and even some sibilings! Thank you to those who turned in most (if not all) of the required paperwork tonight; I know there is a lot this time of year. If they are still at home, please complete and return the various forms within the first week of school. I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL last day of summer and I will see everyone Thursday morning! 

Look Whoooooo's In Our Class!

It's always nice to know who your new classmates will be, so here is the list of First Graders in Room 11 with Miss Greteman!

Alexei B.

Tyler B.

Thomas D.

Kamal E.

Emma G.
Tyler G.

Mollie K.

Jack K.

Peter M.

Carrie M.

Claire P.

Kavan P.

Samuel R.

Brenden S.

Sierra S.

Mila S.

Alex T.
Riley W.

Levi W.