Leonardo...what a guy!

We are having so much fun learning about Leonardo Da Vinci! What a guy! We learned that he invented pliers and wrenches...who knew? He also wanted to get things right! He worked on the Mona Lisa for four years. He wanted to get it right...and he did. Fourteen thousand people a day go to see the painting at the Louvre in Paris. Artists love to study how life-like the hands on Mona Lisa look. But there were a few years that they couldn't go see her because she was stolen! See if your child can tell you the story of the "Mystery of the Mona Lisa". It's a good story!

 Check out our slideshow in the post below! How fun is that?  You can make it full screen.   The show is in number order so be sure to ask your child what number they are so you know when to look for your child's work of art!

 I have received about half of the "Portal Challenge" papers back. It is IMPORTANT that I receive yours, I really need to know that you can access our homework. I will start posting weekly homework after Fall Break. You are responsible for printing it out each week.

 Thank you also for being so patient while we work through this new hoop we are jumping through with new volunteering policies. Mrs. Taylor has kindly put together our first volunteer schedule for October. I will send it home to all families on Friday. Look through it and see if your time works for you. If you don't see your name but would like to volunteer, let me know. Our first schedule is more of a "draft" as we get everyone's needs met (or try to...:) )!

 I changed up our schedule a bit yesterday and it seemed to work much better. I am working with three blocks of an hour and a half instructional times and by the last block...right after lunch...our sweet angels are more wiggly than sweet so I've changed it up a bit with some math in the morning and the afternoon and language in both blocks also. It seems to fit better with their attention spans. I am really looking for 100% focus for 100% of the time....and we're getting closer everyday!

 I hope you have fun plans for over Fall Break! Don't be surprised if I post over the break...be sure to check! Enjoy!!

Our cool slide show!

Week 3 is in the books...:)

What a fun week we had!  This class is DARLING...yes, with all capital letters!

We are really getting into a good routine.   Our days Monday-Thursday are structured in the same way so the kids know what to expect.  Our Fridays have many twists and turns.  Speaking of Fridays, this Friday is our first birthday celebration.  We will be celebrating our September birthdays:  Ella, Zandir, and Mrs. Taylor.   Ella and Zandir's families....please e-mail me and let me know what you could bring for the party.   We are looking for a sweet treat and a drink.  Keep in mind...we are a peanut-free room!   We will celebrate from 3:00-3:30.

So...I spelled out a bit of my philosophy of homework in the last post.  We will be starting spelling/word study homework after the break.  Be looking for a post all about that during Fall Break.   Remember we have a break next week!  Yee-haw!

The other part of our homework will be posted weekly on our portal.   Since we've had so many problems with the portal, I've been hesitant to start posting homework there.  In order to alleviate paper issues and copying costs on our end, I do ask families to print out homework from home.   I am going to use this week as a practice week.   Please check to see that you can log into the portal.   In order to do that, please follow these steps:

1.  Go to www.northstarcharter.org
2.  Look on the top right corner and click on "Polaris Portal Login"
3.  For user's name:   child's first name.child's last name   (don't forget the period between the two names!   Also it is your child's given name not nickname.   So for example, mine would be:    carin.chochrek)
    For password:  it is password-1   (password is NOT capitalized)
4.  Scroll down until you see my picture.  Click on that.
5.  Then click on "documents" on your right hand side.
6.  Click on the portal challenge.
7.  Print it out.  Have your child fill it out and sent it back to school.

When I have everyone's challenge, I will start posting homework on the portal!

While you are on the portal, be sure to log into Powerschool.    The Powerschool username and password is the same as the portal log-in.  You can see your child's first grades for his/her concept test and language test that they took on Friday.

On Friday, we started learning about our artist of the month, Leonardo da Vinci.  We will continue our study of Leonardo as we do a fun art project with our awesome art moms on Friday.  A big thank you to Brandi Smith and Lindsey Burnett who have kindly volunteered to take on art instruction every other week!



Mrs. Taylor and I are busy putting together the parent volunteer schedule.  We will begin our volunteer schedule after Fall Break.   If you haven't stopped in to get the materials for fingerprinting, please do so this week.   I so appreciate all of your willingness to jump through this hoop knowing that it is a great protection for our students.

We have another fun week in store for us as we learn about Johnny Appleseed!

Have a great week,
Carin

Picture Day TOMORROW plus some thoughts on homework...

Two posts in a weekend...yikes!  I must have a lot to say!   I did forget to remind you that it is picture day tomorrow.  They usually try to get through all the elementary classes in the morning.  The pictures are both for individual and for our class picture.  Send in the picture envelope tomorrow if you are planning on ordering...

Speaking of first grade pictures.  Check this one out circa 1974!   Tell the kids I'll punch their good behavior cards three punches if they can figure which one is me.   (The answer is at the bottom of this post.  If they get it right, they just have to tell me they got it right and I'll happily punch away.)

I also said I would start my philosophy on homework blog post.   I said start, because I realize it's going to take a couple of posts.   I have tried 18 different ways of doing homework over my 18 years of teaching.   I have never got it "right" for everyone.   I have learned making all parents happy with homework is very difficult...if not...sigh...impossible.    Take last year, for example, I send a survey home at the end of the year for parents to give me feedback.  I take the feedback very seriously.  I'm always striving to be a better teacher and without getting feedback...it's hard to get better.   So I asked, "How did homework seem throughout the year?"    Here are some comments I received:

• "Homework seemed a lot initially but I realized it was more of a concentration factor."
• "Loved the homework and folder organization."
• "I appreciated the routine.  It was just challenging enough but not overwhelming."
• "Homework was easy to understand--our only problem was getting in a routine to get it done."
• "It was a lot for my child to do and when math and reading were added it was very overwhelming."
• "The homework wasn't hard -- concept wise."
• "It was appropriate, but not challenging.  My girl likes to do it all on one night and then we are looking for other things to do on the other evenings."

So there you go....same homework, different families....very different feelings about it.  My goal this year is to make homework more personalized for your child and your family (more in blogs to come!) but for now know these are the parameters I'm working with....

Traditionally, you take your child's grade and add a zero to calculate minutes of homework expected each evening.  So for first graders, that would be 10 minutes.  For second graders, 20 minutes, etc.   However, as you know, we have all chosen to send our children to a school that raises the bar on "normal".  We have high expectations for our students.   But I also know that these are six and seven year old kids that work hard all day and deserve to play hard at night.   I asked about extra-curricular activities-- we have pianists, soccer players, baseball players, and dancers...just to name a few. They need time to pursue those activities as well as those family activities that we all cherish.  So I won't be asking for much more than the 10 minutes...probably more like 20 minutes.  I also want to insure that those precious 20 minutes are well-spent.  I don't want your child working on "busy work".    I want these minutes to add to their school experience not subtract from it.

So now knowing how I feel about time, how should we best spend it?

We have one given at North Star and that is timed math tests.  While I believe math is so much more than memorizing facts, I have found that when students have a good grasp on their facts, it frees up mental space to do the real deep mathematical thinking.   I LOVE teaching math and my hope is that your child will leave with a developed number sense and a love of problem solving after spending the year with me...:)   However, we do have timed tests.  Some of your children will thrive with the timed test program, others will struggle.   I will say without a doubt that if your child struggles, it does not mean that they aren't a strong mathematician.  In fact, some of the children last year who could do the most deep problem solving struggled with the timed tests.   I will say also that ALL children benefit from practice.  If they are going to struggle, they will struggle less with practice.  If they thrive in the timed test area, they will grow and thrive more.  I had students who made it through addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and mixed facts in ONE YEAR.   Taking it a step or a test at a time.  If they keep up the pace, it can be done.   It can NOT be done without practice.  So I do ask that your child practices once without being timed and once being timed each evening.   If done without stalling on your child's part, that is approximately 3-4 minutes of your time.

So now I'm left with only 16-17 minutes to be filled productively.   Obviously reading is our top priority in first grade.   I hope you read all the inspiring reading quotes this week!   I LOVE teaching reading (hey, what don't I LOVE teaching???  answer: nothing!!)!   You are going to see tremendous growth in your child this year.   Again, this only comes through putting in the time.   In order for your child to be motivated to read, we do have a reading challenge.   My challenge to them is to read 100 books this year outside of school.   Be on the lookout for the specifics this week in your child's STAR book.   These are books they may have at home, books from the library, and books I may send home as part of their reading group.    You decide how much time you'd like to spend each night reading.  I would like to leave you with this article that I read many years ago and has ALWAYS stuck with me.  It's one of those "ah-ha" moment articles that I hope also makes you realize the importance of establishing this daily habit early.  This is from an article, "Can I skip my reading tonight?"

Let's figure it out -- mathematically!

Student A reads 20 minutes five nights of every week;

Student B reads only 4 minutes a night...or not at all!

Step 1: Multiply minutes a night x 5 times each week.

Student A reads 20 min. x 5 times a week = 100 mins./week

Student B reads 4 minutes x 5 times a week = 20 minutes

Step 2: Multiply minutes a week x 4 weeks each month.

Student A reads 400 minutes a month.

Student B reads 80 minutes a month.

Step 3: Multiply minutes a month x 9 months/school year

Student A reads 3600 min. in a school year.

Student B reads 720 min. in a school year.

Student A practices reading the equivalent of ten whole school days a year.

Student B gets the equivalent of only two school days of reading practice.

By the end of 6th grade. . . if both Student A and Student B maintain these same reading habits:

Student A will have read the equivalent of  60 whole school days

Student B will have read the equivalent of  only 12 school days.

One would expect the gap of information retained will have widened considerably and so, undoubtedly, will the student's school performance.

How do you think Student B will feel about him/herself as a student?

Some questions to ponder: Which student would you expect to read better? Which student would you expect to know more? Which student would you expect to write better? Which student would you expect to have a better vocabulary? Which student would you expect to be more successful in school ....and in life?

Oh my goodness, this has gotten long.  I will quit blabbing at you...:)   And keep talking another day....

So did they get it right?

Also....I like I said before we spend a lot of time the first few weeks trying to get our "chattiness" out and our "focus" in.   Looks like I may have spent a few times back at my desk myself....hehehehehe....:)

Have a great week!  Look for more blog posts this week! Carin

A few tidbits from our week

Yummy!   One of our "wonders of the day" took us on a trip with Maya and Miguel of PBS Kids.  The wonder was, "Who is your abeula?"   The game was a cooking game with grandma (abeula).   One of the recipes was "Indian Mango Lassi".    Well, most of us had never had a lassi....except for Disha and Samay!   They told us that lassis were super yummy!  So we printed out the recipe.   You should have gotten it in your Friday papers.   Can I just say DELICIOUS?!!   I have already had two!

Our Friday schedule is different than any other day of the week.  I gave you a good idea of what our schedule was in our star book but I should have put a disclaimer that "we are still tweaking our schedule".   For example, we may be moving art to the mornings and assessments to the afternoon.   We do assess on Fridays.   Yesterday, we took our first concept test (math) and phonogram test.   For the concept test, we went step by step and did it together.   Next Friday, we will take the SAME test but this time individually.   

We also did one of my favorite lessons of the week!   It was based on this book given to me by my partner teacher, Ms. Miley!  (Thank you, Ms Miley!!)

First graders (and adults alike) can get frustrated when they are trying to draw something and it doesn't look "just right".   Here's a great review..

"Ramon loves to draw: "Anytime. Anything. Anywhere." When his older brother laughs at one of his pictures and points out that it does not look like a real vase of flowers, a dejected Ramon crumples up all of his efforts. However, he soon learns that his younger sister has hung the discarded papers on her bedroom walls. When he declares that the picture of the vase doesn't look like the real thing, she says that it looks "vase-ISH." The child then begins to produce paintings that look "tree-ish," "afternoon-ish," and "silly-ish." His "ish art" inspires him to look at all creative endeavors differently. The watercolor, ink, and tea illustrations have a childlike charm. Set against white backgrounds, the quirky line drawings and restrained use of color combine to create an attractive, unique picture book. The small size lends itself to one-on-one sharing and thoughtful examination. Ish, like Leo Lionni's Frederick (Knopf, 1967), encourages readers to see the world anew. - Shawn Brommer, South Central Library System, Madison, WI" 

We drew all sorts of fun "ish" drawings!   The kids were FANTASTIC! 

LOVE IT!!!!

The kids have been getting very good at bringing their STAR books to school each day.  Keep it up!!  It helps them SO MUCH with their organization.   If your child does not have a second binder, please get them one this weekend.  We use it to organize many things in their desk.  Speaking of desks....oh my!   We had our first big clean out on Friday!  The world is definitely divided into "Felix and Oscars"....:)   Do you remember the Odd Couple?

We had our Felixs help out our Oscars!   

Your child should have brought home their Poetry Journal.   This will be coming home each weekend and is always the only homework your child will have on the weekends.   Oh homework....I will be writing another post about that tomorrow....

Have a great weekend!

Also keep in mind all the kinks are NOT worked out of our e-mail system yet.  I am NOT receiving all emails from you.   It's very spotty so please continue to use my personal email for any pressing concerns or questions.  IF you haven't heard from me regarding an email you sent, please don't think I'm ignoring you!   I am not a flake....really....

Oh PARENT VOLUNTEERS, how we LOVE you and how we NEED you!!!!

Mrs. Taylor and I are working on getting the schedule together.  Depending on the capacity that you are helping, we may need to have a fingerprint and background check so I will be in contact with you regarding that.   There is a fee associated with the check so we can chat about that when we figure out exactly who has volunteered to do what.   

Thank you so much!

Carin

Hocus, Pocus....Everybody Focus...

Hi Fabulous Families,

What a fun and enthusiastic crew I have this year.   I'm so thrilled with this group of first graders!   They have done an excellent job hanging in there for the whole day.  Like I have said before, first grade is a BIG transition.   They are asked to do things they haven't done before like learn ALL DAY LONG!....oh yeah, and raise their hand to talk....:)

This week is all about learning to stay focused on the task at hand and raising our hands to talk. You may have heard that your child has had to go back to their desks during a group time....and it's probably true.  I've had to send quite a few kids back away from the group so that they could "re-group" or in the words of our favorite Mrs. Gardner (for you newbies, she was last year's amazing Kindergarten teacher), "get your power back".   I always feel bad when I have to send kids away and I seem to have to do it a lot during the first few weeks but then it gets oh-so-much better!   I find if I'm really tight at the beginning of the year, it makes the rest of the year a breeze.

So my message to you is this...don't be alarmed if your child has had to go back to their desk or they report that their classmate has had to go back to their desk.  It really is just a reminder to them to raise their hand to talk....such a seemingly simple request but one that is actually quite difficult when you are six and the day is long and you have so much to say....:)

Our reading rainbow rotations are in full swing.   Each day they read from their book baskets, work on a handwriting sheet (hence the reason for no handwriting homework), and meet with me to read or with Mrs. Taylor to work on their journal entry.  The last two days, I tested the kids on short /a/ words.  If your child did well, you will not hear from me about that assessment.   If they struggled with the concept, I will send you home a sheet with the words to practice.

We will begin sight word assessment today and will build a personal word bank for them to practice each day.

Math is one of my favorite parts of the day!   We devote an hour and a half to math each day.  Our schedule is laid out in your child's STAR book.  I will go over in detail what each section means in another post.  For now, keep practicing the Mad Minutes each night.  My goal is for every child to pass A by the end of this week.  If you do not think this is a realistic goal for your child (because you have practiced each night and they still aren't getting it), please let me know and we can come up with some strategies to help them.

Speaking of STAR books, I hope you enjoyed the cover of your child's book and the explanation of exactly what the book was.   We talked about how STAR was an acronym for Students That Are Responsible.    The acronym is NOT MTAR or DTAR for Moms That Are Responsible or Dads That Are Responsible.   It is not YOUR responsibility to get the STAR book in your child's backpack or your responsibility to get the book out of your child's backpack, it is THEIR responsibility and THEIRS alone.   I know it''s hard when they mess up (which they will) but in time they will become responsible and what a wonderful life lesson that is!

Have a great day and I'll leave you with a few sweet words from Mother Teresa...

A Post About the Firsts of First Grade...

Hey Fabulous Families,
       We did it!  We finished the FIRST week of FIRST grade.   It was awesome!   I will keep saying it....this is an amazing group of kids!!

      One of the things I LOVE about our school (and believe me, I love A LOT of things!) is the great emphasis on kindness.   As part of our character education, the elementary grades will be choosing an emphasis each month.   The month of September is all about RESPECT (Can you hear Aretha Franklin singing???).   It's a great way to start the year because our school and class principles are built on respect for ourselves, others, and property.   I will be looking for examples of students that go above and beyond the "expected" norms of respect.   They will be our stars for the month.  So here's to our first "star" of the month!   Congratulations to Johnny!
Johnny noticed that some students forgot to push their chairs in when we came up to the carpet.  He pushed them in without being asked or without pointing out that he had done it (a favorite first grade technique).    Yay!

      We also celebrated our first birthday of first grade....Happy 7 to our very own sweet Ella!   On birthdays, the birthday child comes in to find a birthday "balloon" above his/her desk, our birthday bear, a sign,  and a number card waiting to be signed by all of his/her friends!   At morning circle, we make a human birthday cake...it's always fun and it's good for some giggles and smiles.     We will celebrate Ella's and all other September baby birthdays on the last Friday of the month.

      HOPEFULLY, your child brought home his/her poetry book.   We will add a new poem each week.   This week's poem is inspired by the jitter juice we drank on the first day to chase away our worries about first grade.   We did directed drawing of the butterflies.   The students were very good sports....usually directed drawing can lead to tears from a few but they all hung in their like champs!   They have a post-it note in the book for a collection of initials of people/pets/stuffed animals that listen to them read.  I will tell you right now I have heard that poem about 20 times and I sincerely apologize if your child is anything like mine...:)  As you can see, one post-it note just wouldn't suffice.

There is a lot of emphasis on reading fluency when we test for our IRI (Idaho Reading Indicator) and the best way to become a fluent reader is to read known texts repeatedly.   Poems are fun, short texts that are enjoyed by children.   Encourage your child to read this poem to you, themselves, pets, and other family members.  As they become familiar with the poem, have them vary their voice inflection to make it interesting to listen to (over and over again!!).   Please have your child return the poetry book on Monday.

They should have also brought home a packet of work from this week.   As you can see our main emphasis in math was:
*investigating active addition using pictorial examples (the kangaroo sheet)
*the commutative property of addition -- the order of addends does not change the sum (the clothespin sheet)
*+0 strategy in addition.   We learned a song called "Zero, Zero"....my favorite part... "When you add zero to a number, it stays the same.  You don't have to think or use your brain."

In the upcoming week, we will start Reading Rainbows!  Reading Rainbows is just the name I give for our station rotation in reading.  It's a good way for students to get smaller group instruction.   They are divided into six learning groups of five students each.  Each day, they will either see myself or our awesome para-professional, Mrs. Taylor in a small group for literacy instruction.   This is also a great time for having parent volunteers.

Speaking of parent volunteers, I am in the process of collecting all the data and will try to put together a schedule soon.   We LOVE parent volunteers in our room.  

I will print up a schedule and send it home next week so you'll have a better idea of how your child is spending his/her day.

Have a restful and wonderful weekend!   Looking forward to seeing your cute kiddos on Monday!
Carin

I think we got it all worked out and some FAQs!

Did they tell you who A.L. was?   That was their assignment last night!


Good news!  I think the e-mail server is up and running.   After this post, I will start answering the e-mails that came my way.  I am so sorry that you had no communication back from me for a few days.  Now you know that if you don't hear back from me, something is amiss!  I really do try to get on e-mail messages ASAP!

Another great day was had yesterday in our class....a little long but GREAT!  I told the kids there really would come a day when I would say, "Time to go home!" and they would say, "Already???!!". That day doesn't usually come for a month or so.   The first days of first grade are long for the kids.  Don't be surprised if your little one is EXHAUSTED at the end of the day.   Don't be surprised if your little one even says that they don't like school (it happens...:) ).    A long day of learning is hard for the little ones.   For most, it is their first experience going to school for such a long period of time.   There are a lot of demands put on them that are obviously different from their carefree summer days.    HOWEVER.....after having done this for eighteen years.....I will GUARANTEE you it does get better!   They won't fall asleep on their way to basketball practice (Emma!..:), they won't cry at the drop of a hat, they won't be grouchy after dinner.......and best of all, they will say they LOVE first grade and they may even say they wish it was longer!

If you read the "ABC's of First Grade" (in your welcome packet), you may have read that we had Science on Thursdays.    I know some of you did because your doll babies kept asking when was Science...:)    Because of scheduling, we will not have Science with Mrs. Rex until the second trimester.    We will be doing fun science activities in our classroom though!  In fact, we will be having a scientist of the week...be on the look out for that fun infomation!

Another question that seems to be coming up is about "Mad Minutes".    Timed math tests, as you may know, are a staple at North Star.   My system is a little different than in other classrooms.  I am using a program that breaks the facts into very small increments meaning each step means just a few new problems your child hasn't seen before.   The addition levels are A-Z.   Each sheet has 40 problems but they are only required to get 30 correct in one minute.   They have an opportunity to pass off daily.   If your child is on a level for more than two weeks, I would encourage additional practice at home.   Our goal is to get the students through all addition levels and through at least half of the subtraction levels in the year.   Last year, many students knocked that goal out of the water by going through all addition and subtraction levels with 30 correct, back through the end section with 40 correct, all multiplication levels, and all division levels.  It is possible!   It does take hard work and isn't easy but many are up for the challenge.  It is your job as parents and my job as a teacher to make sure that "comparison doesn't steal their joy".   I used to celebrate each step as a class but I realized that made the students hyper-aware of who was where and either made them feel great (if they were on top) or feel awful (if this timed test thing isn't their forte).    Now, I encourage you to do the celebrating at home and have them make personal goals for themselves.  They will be getting a personal tracker in their homework binder in the coming weeks.

I love your kids!    We've been having a great time getting to know each other.  Yesterday we played a "Find A Friend" game.   When it came time to find a friend who loved first grade and they all shouted, "Me!".   I am shouting "me", too!   I love first grade!

Have an awesome Friday!
Carin

Don't let comparison steal your joy!

Hey Fabulous Families,

We are collecting quotes this year in our agendas.   Yesterday's was "Don't let comparison steal your joy!".   We are still figuring out the glitches of the day (like exactly how long it takes to change shoes for first graders...yikes!) so not everyone was able to write down the quote....but I definitely wanted to share that one with you.   First graders often find themselves sitting next to someone who does something better than they do (reading, doing math, handwriting, etc.) and can start to compare themselves to them.   We talked about feeling joy about who we are and where we are without using others as our "thermometer".   We will use quotes throughout the year as part of our character education, handwriting program, and discussion springboards.   I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

If your child does not have 2 3-ring binders and 3 composition notebooks, please try to get them as soon as possible as we are starting projects that require them.

Their 3-ring notebook with the agenda needs to come home and to school daily.  It is SUPER IMPORTANT!!

I LOVE this class.   They are kind, sweet....and oh so smart!!!

Have a great Thursday!
Carin

 

FIRST Day of FIRST Grade!

So...we did it!   We made it through that first day!  The first day is always a whirlwind of activity.   There are so many "new" things, so many questions, and so many procedures to learn!

I was a little frazzled because my computer wouldn't work (and still won't!!).  (Mr. Mac.... I might just send it home with Ella...:) )

Our day went a little something like this...

We came into the room at 9:00 (note the new start time and that coverage on the playground does not begin until 8:50).   Because it was the first day, some people needed to unpack.  If your child does NOT have the following items, please help him or her to get them as soon as possible.   These are the NECESSARY items:

*highlighter

*dry erase marker

*2 pencil boxes

*a deck of cards

*Pink pearl eraser

*Spiral bound notebook

*3 composition books

*scissors

*2 1-inch 3 ring binders

*plastic magazine holder

We have enough of all the other items that we can share but we really need to have those things as soon as you can.  If you are unable to get them, let me know and I will help you out!

We practiced our "mad minute" routine.  Each morning when the students enter the room, they will start work on the practice side.   After the practice, we take a one minute timed test on the test side.   Six students passed the first test on the first day!  Wow!

After our practice, we played a little name game.  It was great to be able to make a big circle so we could see everyone's faces.   I have typically arranged my room in rows but I really wanted to be able to make a circle and with rows we have NO room!   I was so pleased at what great listeners the students were during the game.  We found out we have 2 students in our room who have names with 4 snaps (syllables).  See if your child remembers who they are...:)

We were having so much fun that I was surprised to look up and see it was time to go to our all-school assembly.  I told them that if they ever wondered what 1,000 looked like...they would be able to see!   We had about 1,000 people at our assembly!  It was so fun to see them looking around to see what 1,000 looked like...:)

Dr. Rogien addressed the whole student body about our three guiding principles of our school:
1. Respect yourself

2. Respect others

3. Respect property

He also emphasized that all students need to have gym shoes.   The school paid $12,000 to get the gym floor redone because of grit from shoes.   Be sure your child has a special pair of shoes for P.E.   They may leave the shoes at school.

After the assembly, we came back and talked about how we were feeling about first grade and how some of us may have been feeling nervous.   We read some cute books about the first days of school.   We started learning our first poem, "Jitter Juice".

Each day for the first 26 days of school, we will review each of the letters of the alphabet.  Today was A day.   We learned the four sounds that "a" makes.   Be sure to ask your child if they remember all 4 sounds.   We also started a list of students who had names that had an "a" in them.

Lunch came next!  Fun stuff!

After lunch, we made "jitter juice" after they imagined what they thought might be in the juice and what it might look like.   They enjoyed it!   I need to remember to try some next time!

We then had a great discussion about what math is.   They were full of very smart answers.  We did some work with "subitizing".   Subitizing means the ability to recognize a number of items without counting them one by one.  We looked at groups of shoes and the kids shared their strategies--it was great!

The students then went to music.   Gotta love it!!

We had a rushed pack-up....we will change that for tomorrow.   

If your child was unclear about homework, here is an explanation:

1.  Your child is to practice their "mad minute".  If your child had a three ring binder, I put it behind their agenda.   Practice may or may not include a one minute timing.   You choose the best way for your child to practice.  In order to pass the mad minute, they do need to get 30 correct in one minute.  Backwards numbers are considered wrong, so be sure to have them go back and correct backwards numbers.

2.  Your child is to finish their handwriting sheet.   I am unable to watch each child make each letter but if you could help me by looking at the correct formation and see if your child is making the correct strokes, I would be very appreciative.  For example, watch to see that your child is starting at the top of the A as shown by the stroke marks.

For the first few weeks, the homework will be similar.  I will be sending out more information soon!

Here's to a great second day...and the hopes that my computer will soon work!