Optional October Family Homework

Happy Friday!

Attached below is a calendar of things you can do as a family that have educational value for first graders. You can download the calendar and do the activities whenever is best for you. Nothing needs to be turned in to me for this homework, it is more just a resource for you as parents if you are looking for extra ideas to do at home that promote learning. If you end up doing some of the activities on this October calendar and want to send me an email about what you enjoyed most, I would love to hear about it. I simply want it to be a fun family resource for you, instead of  “another thing you have to do.”

Click the picture of the calendar to download the PDF file you can print at home. Even though the journal page says to turn it in at the end of the month, you don't need to--it is more just a tool for family reflection.

Take Care,

Mrs. Weathers  

Book Orders and Friday Folders

I will put in a book order on Monday, October 1st. I've noticed that a lot of people have ordered online and I have a few paper orders that were turned in to me. If you want to get an order in by Monday, you still have time!

Also, today the green folders will be coming home with lots of fun things- including WRITING HOMEWORK. I talked briefly about this at parent night last week. There are instructions on the front cover of the homework you can take a look at. Please have it turned in next Friday. Feel very free to email me if you have any questions about the assignment.

Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Weathers

Picture Day!

Well, picture day came and went in first grade. Everyone looked great, there were no tears before, during or after, and the kids got their smile on! (As far as I know everyone got their picture packet in that wanted to order pictures- if you happen to find that was not the case, I believe you can still send it in to the company by mail)

 I figured on picture day it seemed fitting to post some pictures on the blog….

In other news, we had a great day in B2. We talked about where we live and our community. Often times I tell kiddos they live in Oregon and they say, “no, I live in Keizer!” We read a great book that starts with kids having a bedroom, then a house, then a street, then a neighborhood, then a city, then a state then a country. The book goes on and on (which we will finish at another point in the year), but it was great to discuss those ideas as a group. We did some addition today, which they told me was “so easy”- which makes me glad to hear! We still have a long way to go with computational fluency and learning strategies to solve and addition problems, not to mention story problems.  But, I am glad they think it is easy at this point. We have had a couple conversations about how sometimes when we learn new things the concepts are tricky and we get frustrated because it is a new idea. Other times, when something comes easy to us we think it is so fun and super easy. Either way, I’m glad they were excited to do addition today—the skip counting seemed a bit overwhelming yesterday. We will continue to work on lots of math concepts. There is so much to learn and a whole school year ahead of us to take advantage of. 

100's Champ

Yesterday in math we played a game that involved counting by 10's from 0-100. Not only is it a math game, but it it teaches students how to listen to others, take turns, be a good sport, and work together. Basically we go around in a circle and count by ten's. If you are the person that says "100" you sit down. We keep going until there is only one person left.

We also did a little math activity that involved skip counting by 2's. (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, etc).  It is something that seems to be new for most all the kids, so we will keep practicing. If you find a time at home to skip count by 2's, feel free to practice that skill.

Take Care,
Mrs. Weathers

Picture Day!

THIS Wednesday, September 26th is PICTURE DAY! Today you will find the order form in your child's backpack today after school. Please send it in either tomorrow or Wednesday. Thank you!

Volunteer Schedule

Hi Parents!

If you indicated you wanted to volunteer in our classroom, hopefully you received an email from me this morning about a day of the week and a time to start. If you wanted to volunteer in the classroom and I didn’t get an email to you this morning,  please let me know. Also, if you still want to volunteer and haven’t turned in the form, please let me know and I can get you on the schedule.

Monday

Charla 10:30-11:00

Tuesday

Liz 10:15-11:15

Thursday

Charla 10:30-11:00

Tonya 1:30-2:30

Friday

Cindy 9:30-10:20

Shayla 10:30-11:30

*** If you are not on this schedule and you turned in a form,  it is because you indicated you would like to do projects from home. I don’t have a schedule for those things, but will email you when projects come up. Thanks!

Jog-A-Thon News

Our class will be running on October 5th from 9:55 to 10:20. The parent club will deliver shirts in the morning that your child will put on over their own shirt. I would suggest sending them in a long sleeve shirt that they can put the t-shirt over. I find that unless the weather is super terrible kids don't need their coat since we run hard for 25 minutes. Please join us around the track and cheer us on! Let me know if you have other questions about this exciting event!

I guess I should pratice my running skills this week... I too will be running (walk/jog/run) that whole time!

Take care!
Mrs. Weathers

Happy Friday!

Thank you to all the parents who came out to parent night last evening. It was great to share a little more with you about the learning taking place in B2. I heard some great feedback from parents and was able to answer some questions. If you weren't able to join us last night, feel free to send me an email if you have any questions or wonderings about anything. There were a few handouts which will also be available at conferences in November (nothing super important). I heard from lots of families that these first graders are tired! We have been working hard and adjusting to full days of school. This morning, we slowed things down a little and made a mini book "In the Fall". We did some shared reading using words from the "-ack" family. Of course we worked more on handwriting and letter formation as well as word work listening for beginning sounds (t and g today). This afternoon the students have PE and library. We will come back and have some time to finish work that didn't get done throughout the week, clean our desks, get new seats, do some writing and go to an assembly with the whole school. It is our Jog-A-Thon kick off assembly. Today, your child will have information about J-A-T in their backpack that you can take a look at when they get home.

Please, please, please keep reading everynight and find opportunities to practice writing when you think of it. Your kids are awesome. Thanks for trusting me with them each day!

Take Care,
Mrs. Weathers

Wonderful Wednesday!

Good Afternoon!

It was a great day in B2! Students got right to work on their morning jobs and I was able to meet with reading groups. Today we worked on handwriting so much! In an effort to improve the writing skills of students in our school we are all giving it a strong push this year to work on the following things (the bullet points are examples of what we do in B2):

Providing time for students to write...

• morning journal time
• writers workshop
• writing promts
• reading response notebookss

Teaching students the writing process...

• brainstorming
• writing drafts
• revising and editing
• publishing

Writing for a variety of purposes/audiences...

• write to 4th grade buddies
• write letters to family members and friends
• make lists
• write a paragraph to exaplain
• write a story to remember or imagine

Teach Students to become fluent with handwriting, spelling, sentence fluency and word processing...

• tracing modeled writing ( WE SPENT A LOT OF TIME HERE TODAY)
• sight word/star word memorization
• student dictionaries
• typing writing on the computer

Create an engaged community of writers...

• teacher modeled writing
• sharing
• choices in writing
• feedback from other students, teacher and parents
• publish writing and share it beyond the classroom.

If you find opportunities for your child to write at home please take advantage of them (a shopping list, a recipe, a journal about fun family times or letters to somone). Later in the year I will send home more specific writing homework but right now look for the informal opportunities to practice writing skills at home.

Take Care,
Mrs. Weathers

Before Reading

Whenever I read with students I like to activate their prior knowledge on a topic and get their brain thinking what the book might be about. I do this both when they are doing the reading and when I am doing the reading and they are listening. This helps kids have a purpose for reading or listening to a book.

Today we read Swimmy by Lio Lionni. We talked about making a prediction for what the story is about. The kids used the sentence frame “I predict the story is about ______” when they talked with a partner at the carpet. Then we shared ideas as a whole class and here is what we came up with.

Who do you think the story is about? (Characters)

“A Fish” – Stephen, Emily

“An octopus” – Kaden

“A dolphin” – Madison

Where do you think the story takes place? (Setting)

 “In the water” – Zayvian

“In the Ocean” – Jesus

“ At a lake or by the beach” – Jacey

What do you think the problem in the story is? (Conflict)

“brothers get angry at him and get eaten by a whale” – Mikayla

“a shark is eating people or a fish” – Sophia

“A shark is eating a dolphin” –Sammy

What will the solution be? How will the problem get fixed? (Resolution)

“If they are at a school the fish might tell their teacher” – Dylan

“A shark will die” – Stephen

“A fisherman will catch the fish” – Jacey

The students followed this up with an entry in their reading response journal. “Today we read ___________. It was about ______________.” Then they illustrated the page. Other things we worked on in reading today were the “-at” word family and beginning sounds (r and s). If you write some words in the “-at” family (sat, rat, hat, mat, etc) tonight at home I bet your kiddo’s can read them! Tonight during reading at home (15 minutes or more), look for words in your story that start with “r” or “s”. 

Happy Reading!

Mrs. Weathers

I Like My Name Because…

Today we read the book Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. It is a good book about how we all have a special name.

I also wanted to bring a little writing and math to the story. Each student wrote in their journals: My name is ___________. It has ____ letters. I like it because ___________. Lots of students wanted to share why they liked their name, here are some of the reasons.

I like my name because…

… it is from a movie
… it is means something about God
… it reminds me of school
… it is nice
… it reminds me of when I go outside
… it is like the sun
… my mom loves it
… reminds me of playing princess at recess
… I was named after a good soccer player
… it is short
… it is about God and if I ask him something it will come true
… it reminds me of the sky
… it is after a real flower
… it is after an animal
… it’s not too long
… it sounds like Michael Jackson
… it is fun

Also- give your kids a huge high five for working quietly and staying on task all morning so I could do reading groups today!

Have a great day!
Mrs. Weathers

A Fabulously Fun Friday In First Grade!

Friday was a very full and fun day! B2 had PE, music, and reading response, followed by a trip to the Naturescape where we cleaned the pond of rocks, and worked in the butterfly garden! Then we had our buddy class time with Mr. Jorgensen's 4th grade C6 room. We worked on an art/writing project to get to know one another, and they wrote to us and read letters in our awesome buddy journals. We will write back to them before our next meeting time.

Friday was all about awesome kids, tired teachers, and a super fun day at school. What's not to love about first grade?!

Tired teachers! :)

Community

This week we talked lots about taking care of our class, school and local communities. Our class is learning how to get along, solve problems, and work together. Tomorrow we will be helping our school by working outside in the naturescape. We will also be building our school community tomorrow as we meet our 4th grade buddy class and work on an art project together.

"With hearts and helping hands, we can accomplish anything in our community!"

Matt Myers Visits B2!

B2 had a very special visit from children's book illustrator Matt Myers, who was born and raised in Oregon, but now lives in Brooklyn, New York. Matt has illustrated several children's books including Clink and Tyrannosaurus Dad. Matt is also a very accomplished painter, and you can see his work at his website: www.myerspaints.com

Several classes gathered in B2 where Matt talked about his books, drawings and characters, and answered questions from the children. Matt also drew pictures for the kids, making unique pieces of art out of each request for them.

Here are some pictures from the day...

Book Orders

I wanted to let you know that I usually put a book order in at the end of each month. The forms will come home now and then  in the green folders and you can turn them in whenever. There is usually a couple week wait before the books get back to us at school. Please pay with a check if at all possible! Thank you!

RAH Folder

Good Morning B2 Families!

Everyone is doing a great job turning in their RAH folders. Please remember to read at least 15 minutes each night, even on the weekends! This is the single most important thing you can do at home to help your child in their reading improvement this school year.

Happy Reading!
Mrs. Weathers

First Grade Favorites

It was an exciting week in first grade! All of your kids did an amazing job adjusting to a full week of school, learning to get along with others and following rules. I asked the students on Friday afternoon what some of their favorite things were during the week, and here are some of their responses:

Our Forest Ridge Pledge

Part of our educational focus is to care for our animal, environmental and human community. In class we brainstormed on ways to care for each of these three areas and these are some of the ideas students came up with:

Animals
Feed them.
Be careful.
Help when they get hurt.
Water.
Milk when babies.
Make sure they aren't hungry.
If they need a home, take care of them.

Environment
Pick up garbage.
Clean and healthy food.
Clean water.
Plant plants (trees, roses) for oxygen.
Keep the earth green, plants get water.
Recycle cans.

Humans
Feed people.
Healthy choices - eat fruit, eat vegetables.
Help them walk, hurt? Take to the dr.
Be respectful of all people.

Welcome To The B2 Blog!

Welcome to the B2 blog for this year! This will be the very best way you can stay connected with what's going on in B2. Please check in for pictures, information, books we are reading, special events, and anything else that may be important or fun for you to know about! Please consider becoming a member of the site (over on the right side) and you'll be notified when new information is available here!

Have a great day,
Mrs. Weathers