Ms. Laurel's Blog

First Grade Mice

Weekly Newsletter

Week of 11/9 – 11/13

It was great having conferences this week and getting the chance to sit down and check in with most of you!  If you have any additional issues you want to discuss with me, please let me know and we can find a bit of time before or after school to chat!

I can’t believe we are already two months into the school year and Thanksgiving break is coming up soon!  In the next week we will be “previewing” some things in math, language arts and science that we will be working on in December and beyond.  In language arts we will start working on digraphs, (the sounds that ch, sh, th, wh, and ph make in words) while continuing to work with our short vowel sounds.  In math we will start working on addition.  Though we do a lot of work with equations and solving math problems, we also do a lot of hands on work to understand the practical application of addition in our every day lives and to understand equations and what the ‘equal sign’ actually means.  In science we will soon be studying the weather.

That brings me to field trips!  In December we will be going on two field trips!  On Dec. 9^th we will be going to the Chabot Space and Science Museum with the Kindergarteners to do a class called Wacky Weather!  I will be asking for one or two parent chaperones soon, so keep an eye out for that email!  On Dec. 15^th we will be going to the Botanical Gardens with the 2^nd graders.  If you haven’t already heard, we have been working in the garden with the 2^nd graders and have already prepared the soil and planted some lettuce, fava beans, kale and herbs.  Again, I will probably need one or two chaperones for that field trip!

Don’t forget that Wed. Nov. 18^th is our annual Harvest Festival.  Please join us if you can!  The first grade class is responsible for bringing drinks!  Mel recently sent out and email with all the info!  Over Thanksgiving break I will be sending home some light homework…mainly word wall review and a reading log, and probably a journal.

During the month of December I love to have the parents come in to share some holiday traditions.  Whether it is reading a favorite family holiday book, or bringing in a special family holiday treat…if you have any ideas of ways to share your favorite holiday tradition with the students in class please let me know.  We can work out when you can come and what you would like to do.  Just email me and we can figure that out!  I also have a ‘holiday party’ on the Friday before winter break, December 18th!  Usually I ask parents to bring some holiday goodies, I make cookies for them to decorate, and we drink hot cocoa and watch the Polar Express!  I invite the parents to come for the party!  There will be more info about that later, but I just wanted to throw it out there!

Make sure you all stay healthy!

Thanks!

Ms. Laurel

First Grade Mice

Weekly Newsletter

Week of 9/28 – 10/2

This week I was really able to take a step back and see how far the children have come since the first week of school.  They have started to grasp the classroom routines and they know what I expect of them!  That is so great to see in these first few weeks of school! This week we started our language arts centers, and again the students grasped that routine quickly!

A quick review of what we are working on in the classroom.  We have started studying short vowel sounds, starting with A and E, which I am sure you saw in the homework.  We practice these in class, in our word wall words, and in centers.  Over the next few weeks we will be working on all of the short vowel sounds.  In math we are working on a few different things…graphs, odd and even numbers, 2-D and 3-D shapes, and counting patterns.  These are themes that run through math throughout the whole year and often practiced during our morning meeting while doing the calendar.  In science we have been doing a short unit on dinosaurs and next month we will start learning about the 5 senses and the human body.  If anyone has any good ideas about field trips related to the human body, I’m all ears!  We are also starting a short unit on community jobs, and what people in our community do, such as fireman, policeman and garbage men.  The parent job questionnaire in the homework packet is to go along with that.  If anyone would like to come in and do a presentation on what they do as their job, it is always welcome during this unit.

As you know, our class mascot is the mouse, and each year I like to fill the classroom with little reminders of our mascot.  I usually buy some stuffed animals, posters, anything to do with mice to put around the classroom.  So if you ever see anything that you think would be perfect, and would like to donate it to the class, it is more than welcome!

Also, on back to school night I had a ‘wish list’ but I forgot to bring it to your attention.  If you are interested in fulfilling my ‘teacher wish list’ it is mainly gift cards to help with things we do in the classroom.  Blick or Longs for art supplies, grocery stores for cooking with the kids, Lakeshore for classroom supplies, etc….

Finally, a few reminders…it is very important to be on time to school in the mornings.  With only 7 students, if 2 or 3 are late it is hard to start the day with only 4 or 5 students.  Also, book orders are due on Oct. 10^th, there is NO school on the 9^th or 12^th and Picture Day is Oct. 20^th.  As always, if you have any questions or comments about anything, please do not hesitate to contact me!

Thanks!

Ms. Laurel

As I mentioned, our new class mascot is the mouse!  If you find any pics please have your child bring them in to school, we are going to be working on our class ‘mural’ sometime next week!  Also, please bring in those family photos….our family bulletin board is looking pretty empty!  Don’t forget Back To School Night is this Tuesday at 6:30.  Fliers are up on the sign-in board.  Please do not bring your children…this is a parent only information night.  I’ve got a lot to tell you all about!  First grade is a big year!  :-)  Also this year, People’s Grocery will have a table at Back to School Night.  They will be selling ‘grub boxes’ which are boxes of seasonal fruits and vegetables.  If you live in West Oakland the boxes are $12, if you do not they are $24 (essentially sponsoring a West Oakland family).  I do not know too much about it, but they will be there to answer questions on Tues. and for even more info follow this link  http://www.peoplesgrocery.org/article.php/grubbox.

Finally…Cosmo will be visiting us on Wednesday!!!  Ann will be coming on Tuesday to talk with the kids about what Cosmo has been going through, and then Cosmo will be coming on Wed. morning to visit for a bit!  Ann has asked me to remind you all that Cosmo’s radiation and chemo has weakened his immune system, so please remind your children to was their hands frequently and we will be using hand sanitizer in the classroom along with frequent hand washing.  Please let me know if your child has a cough of sniffles so that we don’t have anyone that is sick in the classroom when Cosmo is there.

I think that is all!  I hope to see all of you on Tuesday night!

Ms. Laurel

- Library card

- Family picture

- Mice pictures

Welcome to Ms. Laurel’s First Grade Blog.  This is new for me this year, but I am going to do my best to utilize this blog to post the weekly newsletter, pictures, field trip info and homework info, among many other useful things!  Please check back often to see what’s new!

Ms. Laurel