August

Welcome to first grade! We are off to a great start. The first couple weeks of school are always full of procedures and learning classroom expectations that will help our classroom run smoothly. We have been working hard on school work though!

One of the expectations for first grade is that students will be able to write their numbers to 120. This is something you could work on at home with your child. We have spent math time and our Success time (the time of the day where we re-teach a math concept or reading concept students are struggling with) working on writing our numbers.

Our reading time has been filled with testing recently. I have been reading with students to find out their Fountas and Pinnell reading level. Please do not be surprised if your child has stayed at the same level he finished Kindergarten at or even went down a level. This is not unusual for the beginning of the school year.We will re-test in December/January and that will be a better indicator of where your child is at.

The students have already been split into small guided reading groups. These groups will change as students grow as readers. Each group is led by either a first grade teacher or one of our wonderful paraprofessionals who have been trained in teaching guided reading. These groups meet every day for 30 minutes. It is a wonderful way for the students to get more individualized attention and assistance. Please do not stop reading at home with your child though. They can never have too much reading practice!

We practiced writing our spelling words with chalk today. It was a great day to be outside and the students enjoyed it.

 

 

 

I'm looking forward to getting to know your children better this year! Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.