Thursday, October 3, 2019

September 13, 2019

Dear Room 2 Families,                                                                              Friday, September 13, 2019


Important Dates:

Sunday: September 15th:12:00 pm -4:00 pm Wayland Carnival Day: Wayland Middle School 

Tuesday, September 17th:School Picture Day

Wednesday, September 18th: Early Release Day at Happy Hollow: 11:30 am (no lunch will be served)

Thursday, September 19th: Curriculum Night, Grades K-2…

Note: Our K-2 Curriculum Nightwas originally scheduled for 6:30 pm but has since been changed to a 7:00 pm start time. 

     We've continued to work on establishing our classroom environment by familiarizing ourselves with first grade life.  Children have taken part in several “getting to know you” activities during Morning Meeting and Open Circle. We’ve practiced how to get into our Morning Meeting setting safely, calmly and cooperatively. We've discussed rules, expected behavior, and positive work habits during our first few meetings as well. Our class is also working on fostering friendships and creating connections between children by sharing what’s important and special to them with their Important Boxes.  If your child hasn’t made an Important Box yet, he or she still has plenty of time to do so. Please see the blurb below from our Move-Along Day Letter last June….

“There are some children in our class who you may know already and others that you will be meeting for the first time. We’ll spend time getting to know each other in the first few weeks of school. One way to introduce yourself to the class is to make an Important Boxto bring with you on the first day of school. You can ask a family member to help you make your box or you can put it together on your own. An Important Box is a shoebox filled with things that are important to you or about you. Examples of things that might go in your Important Box are pictures of people, pets, or places, a special rock or shell that you found or is part of a collection, a model or special art project that you’re proud of, or a ticket to a baseball game. Include anything that tells us about what is important to you! Be sure to include a picture of your family so that you can introduce them to us. You may decorate the box any way that you want to. Please include up to 7 items in your box. We will be sharing these boxes during the first weeks of school.”

     The past 2 weeks have been busy with lots of other activities as well. During our first fire drill of the year, kids did a great job getting out of the building quickly, safely and quietly. Many thanks for supporting your children in these first weeks of transition into first grade. Kids have come to school well rested and eager to participate in activities.

Who is....?

 Here are the folks who will be a part of your child’s first grade experience this year:

Margie Cohen: I am excited and honored to introduce you to Margie Cohen, our Room 2 Teaching Assistant this year! With a wealth of experience as an educator and parent, Margie is a second teacher in the classroom who provides support, wisdom, experience, love, and care to these fabulous first graders. Though I’ve known her for years as a Happy Hollow colleague, this is the first time I’ve had a chance to work with her closely in the classroom setting. What a gift she is to our classroom community!

Ginette Coffey: Mrs. Coffey is our special education liaison. She will be in the classroom for some language arts and math lessons. She will also run small groups during Reader’s Workshop and Math Groups (Math RTI or Response to Intervention) 2 times a week. Even if your child is not on an education plan, he/she may occasionally work with her. 

Christine Hayes: Mrs. Hayes is our reading specialist. She will work with small groups of children during Reader’s Workshop. She will help with reading assessments next week. She will be meeting with small groups of children several times a week (beginning mid-October) as determined by the results of our literacy assessments. 

Deede Bergeron and Laura O’Brien: These 2 ladies are my first grade classroom teacher colleagues. Your child may work in a math group or reading group with one of them or both of them during the school year. The children will see them on field trips, in the hallways, and on the playground as well. 

Julie Pond (Room 1) and Terri Vitti (Room 1B): Ms. Pond and Ms. Vitti are first grade teaching assistants in the other two classrooms who also help out on the playground and in the cafeteria during lunch. 

Leslie Basterache: Ms. B. willspend Wednesday mornings from 8:30 am to 9:15 am in Room 2 while we attend a first grade teachers meeting (PLC: Professional Learning Community).

Shaila Ahmed and Lynn Kennedy:Mrs. Ahmed and Mrs. Kennedy are our Happy Hollow building substitutes. They may occasionally help out in class if they are not assigned to another classroom on any given day. They LOVE first graders and always enjoy spending time with us!

Beth Santomenna:  Mrs. Santomenna is our guidance counselor this year. She will join us Friday mornings for Open Circle.

     We've been enjoying literacy experiences through a number of read-alouds. Several of our class favorites during read-aloud include:


A Fine, Fine School by Sharon Creech
Beautiful Oops! By Barney Saltzberg
Hunter’s Best Friend at Schoolby Laura Mallone Elliott
Missing Math: A Number Mysteryby Loreen Leedy
If…by Sarah Perry
Jack’s Talentby Maryann Cocca-Leffler
Which Would You Rather Be? By William Steig





     We really enjoyed our reading adventures this week. Children are welcome to borrow any of these books from our classroom library if they wish to share them with you at home!





     Another great resource for borrowing books is our Happy Hollow Community Bookstop! Yesterday, we took a little in-house field trip down the hall. We showed the kids how to sign out books and several choose to do so during our indoor resource. When your child has finished sharing the book at home, please have him/her return it to school and we will assist them in returning it to the bookstop. We encouraged kids to borrow books during recess, at the end of the school day, at BASE pick up, etc. The bookstop has an AMAZING selection of diverse books; true treasures at Happy Hollow.





Reader’sWorkshop
   
     Our reading program is off to a smooth start! The children have quickly become familiar with the structure of Reader’s Workshop in first grade.  Each child will have a selection of appropriate reading material in his/her book bag in the next few weeks.  They are currently enjoying a selection of leveled books and a variety of picture books, reading words and pictures to the best of their ability. We've been listening to children read various leveled books as we assess their current skills. What an exciting time for first graders as they begin to embark on their journey into reading, or as they continue to discover the wonderful adventures that books provide us with! We will start small group work in the coming weeks after all the literacy data has been collected, analyzed, and groups have been formed. Children will meet in small groups to reinforce/practice skills, strengthen fluency, and learn comprehension strategies. We will have more on that in the coming weeks and will share your child’s information at our conference. 

     We’ve also introduced 2 of our Reading Strategy Beanie Baby Buddies, Eagle Eye and Lips the Fish. Eagle Eye reminds kids to look at the pictures for clues to help figure out unknown words. Lips the Fish cues kids to get their lips ready; to say the first few sounds of the word out loud and then read to the end of the sentence and say the sounds again. More strategies to come next week!


Writer’s Workshop

We’ve used several books to jump-start our writing activities these past few weeks. 
Kids shared ways they can “fill someone’s bucket” with acts of kindness after listening to the story Have You Filled Someone’s Bucket Today?by Carol McCloud. We connected it to putting jewels in our classroom jewel jar for making good choices and being kind and inclusive with classmates, friends outside of school, family members, and more. We also wrote a book called Things I Like; this activity gave kids a chance to share their interests in written form. We can’t wait for you to see them at Curriculum Night! Ask your child about his or her “Which Would You Rather Be” idea that we worked on this week. Today, we created our first entry in our journals. 



Word Work/Phonics and other Literacy Information

   We’ve started our word work program, Fundations. We’ve reviewed some of our consonants and vowels and have worked on forming the letters with sky-writing and on white boards. Kids will also work with magnetic letter boards to reinforce letters and letter sounds. They have carried over routines and practices nicely from kindergarten and are becoming familiar with first grade expectations during Word Work…BRAVO to this amazing group of learners! J



Math

      We’ve also been reviewing counting and writing numbers through 40 (counting forwards and backwards). A great activity to practice in the car is starting at a given number and counting backwards. For example, start at 24 and count back to 16, or start at 40 and count back to 27. It’s also helpful to start at 40 and count all the way back to 0. If your child has mastered counting through 40, continue along the number road and do these same exercises with greater numbers for a challenge. We’ve also been playing games and doing activities which review and reinforce concepts of greater than, less than, and equal to. Here are the math standards for our current unit:

·      1-1 correspondence and counting objects accurately
  • Counting accurately up to 40 and recording the number properly (our year-end benchmark is to count to 120)
  • Counting on from any number within 40
  • Counting backwards within 40
  • Comparing numbers within 40

In October, we will begin our unit, Decomposing Numbers To 10. I will share more about this unit in our next newsletter. There is always plenty of practice for students as well as extension activities!



Homework and Important Papers Folder

     Each day your child will bring home his/her “Homework and Important Papers Folder” with notices and completed work. Please use it to return any notes or forms to school. We'll send some of your child’s work home to you once we’ve taken a look at it. We'll be keeping some pieces for your child’s portfolio, which will be very helpful when looking at your child’s progress during conferences. Please check your child’s folder at the end of each day, (or ask him/her to open the folder and share the papers with you) asking questions about our activities so that you can get a general feel about your child’s day.  We'll be sending newsletters home with explanations and details about various activities and upcoming events.  You may want to read certain parts of the newsletter with your child to remind him/her of our activities if your child is one to say “I don’t know” or “I don’t remember” when asked about his/her day. This is more common than you think so we'll do our best to provide you with as much information as possible so you’re feeling fully in touch with your child’s school experience. Paper copies of newsletters will be sent home at first and then we’ll be posting letters online on the Happy Hollow website. Please let us know if you prefer paper copies; we will be happy to send one home with your child.


Homework

     Many of the children have been asking for homework. They are so eager to show us how grown up they are! We told them that homework for first graders in Room 2 consists of 10-15 minutes of reading each day, either independently or with a family member. As we’ll explained at Curriculum Night, kids may read on their own or they may read to an adult or a sibling; they may even read to a family pet or stuffed animal! ANYTHING that makes them proud to be a reader and gives them plenty of practice. Again, it is equally valuable to be read to, so if your child is tired after a long day, reading to him or her will offer a valuable voice in tone and fluency. Plus, you get the treasure of curling up together with a book! Lots of outdoor play and family time are also wonderful ways to spend time after school. Building strong bodies, appreciation for others and for nature, fostering creativity and strengthening confidence all enrich the whole child.


Volunteers
     We will be looking for parent volunteers to help out in class this year after we’ve had some time to establish routines within the classroom and to get to know the children. We’ll have parents in as volunteers beginning in mid-October. This could be anything from helping out with activities, sharing family traditions, to being a Guest Reader in class. We love having parents in class, both to help out with activities, and so that you can see how the children learn and grow in their school environment. Keep an eye out for emails about signing up to help in class. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at 508-358-8641.  
We hope you all enjoy the weekend ahead!

Take Care,
Lise Weig and Margie Cohen 


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