November Updates

Wow! We're already half-way through November! Time is flying!

Our field trip to Toco Todo is this Thursday, November 18th. I had plans to email them to you today but do not have your email addresses with me. Permission forms will therefore go home tomorrow. Please send them back to school, preferably on Wednesday, along with the Bs. 25. Thanks for understanding!

Also, don't forget that tomorrow, Tuesday the 16th, is a half-day. Other important dates coming up include...

• Friday the 19th: White Tiger Day (white tiger tee shirts and jeans)
• Monday the 22nd: Crazy Hair Day (any kind of crazy hair; jeans are allowed with crazy hair)
• Tuesday the 23rd: International Day (traditional outfit/costume from any country)
• Wednesday the 24th: Team Day (team color)

Wednesday, November 24th is a half-day and begins our Thanksgiving vacation. Classes will begin as normal on Monday, November 29th.

We are also continuing to bring in items for needy children in Bolonia. Our class should bring in games and shoes if possible, but other items are also welcome.

Even though Thanksgiving is not a Bolivian holiday, I hope you are able to reflect on God's great blessings and how you can share them with others during this season.

Thank you for all you do to love, help, discipline, challenge, care for, listen to, and encourage your first grader. You parents do a wonderful job!

October Happenings

We are already coming to the close of the first quarter! I have counted each day of the past eight weeks with your little ones a blessing. They are truly a joy to teach.

Thanks to all of you who donated items, bought raffle tickets, helped to organize and came out for the Spring Festival last Saturday! It was a great success, and I hope that everyone who came enjoyed themselves. I loved seeing all the families that make Highlands a wonderful community.

Here's what's happening this month:

• In reading, we just celebrated choosing and reading books that are just right for us. We're continuing to learn fundamentals of reading and how to read with fluency.
• In writing, we will be "writing for readers," using words from the word wall, sounding out words, remembering to space, etc. so that others can easily read our pieces. (We just celebrated "Small Moment" writing. This is a correction from the September announcements. Sorry!)
• This week we will review math concepts since the beginning of the year (counting and comparing numbers, patterns, adding and subtracting, word problems) in preparation for the first quarter assessment.
• Word Study continues to help us understand how words and letters work to help us in reading and writing.
• We just finished our unit on plants and will begin our Social Studies unit on good citizenship.

Important Dates:
October 14 and 15--Teacher-Parent Conferences. You will receive a time slot from Valeria for one of these days to discuss your child's progress in first grade.
October 19--Half-day

October 28--Kindergarten/First Grade field trip to Toco Todo

Happy birthday to these lions:

Ms. Yuki--October 5

Amelia--October 13

Thank you for your continued help with your child's weekly homework. Please also make sure your first grader practices reading and writing the spelling words as well as committing the Bible verse of the week to memory.

Thanks again, parents, for helping your first grader. You make my job easier, and your caring and loving support makes a world of difference in your child's life. Keep up the good work!

Spring Festival

Don't forget that Highlands' Spring Festival is this Saturday, October 2nd! Please bring in art supplies for the basket that will be raffled off. For each item you purchase, your child gets to nominate a teacher to be dunked with water or receive a pie in the face! Also, as you received in your email, FOOD AND RAFFLE TICKETS ARE DUE TOMORROW, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29. Please send those in as soon as possible. This Friday, October 1st, is "Crazy Dress" Day in honor of the festival, so your first grader does not have to wear the uniform and may wear anything that's wacky and tacky. I'm looking forward to seeing each of you and your children at the festival! It will be a fun day!

Mid-September Updates

Hello, parents! The copier was not working properly last Friday when I tried to make copies of our spelling words and the Bible verse to memorize for this week. I sent home a copy of this yesterday (Tuesday), but just in case, I am posting the spelling words and Bible verse here:

red

yellow

look

was

on

have

Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. ~Psalm 90:2

Some important reminders:

• Scholastic catalogs will go home tomorrow, September 23rd, and need to be returned with orders no later than October 5th.
• Spelling quiz on all word wall words up to this point next Friday, October 1st
• Reading and Writing Celebration (with our fourth grade Book Buddies) on Friday, October 1st
• Highlands' Spring Festival on Saturday, October 2nd
• Thank you for helping with your child's weekly homework. If your student needs extra help, please have him or her bring it to school and I will do my best to assist.
• Please also remember to read in English with your child every night. This will help immensely in his or her success as a reader and a writer!

Thanks for all you do to love your child and help him or her be a successful first grader!

September Updates

It's hard to believe it is already September! Time flies when you're having fun, and we have been having fun in first grade! Here are some recent and soon-to-be happenings in our class:

We have our first reading and writing celebration tomorrow to remember strategies and successes from the past few weeks! Monday we will start our "Just-Right Books" reading unit and our "Writing for Readers" writing unit.

In Science, we've been studying animals and will start our plant unit next week.

In Math, we're continuing to practice counting, comparing numbers, and recognizing and developing patterns. We'll also be doing a lot of adding and subtracting in the coming weeks.

We will continue to add six new words to the word wall each week. These are the spelling words written on the index card attached to the homework packet. Please practice these at home. There is a spelling quiz every Friday.

In Bible we will learn a new characteristic of God every week. There is a corresponding Bible verse that will be on the index card as well. Please practice and memorize at home. Scripture memorization is part of the Bible grade (and it's just wonderful to know them by heart!).

Important Dates:

Thursday, September 9th--HIS Parent Meeting

Tuesday, September 14th--Half-day (dismissal at 12:00 noon)

Monday, September 20th--Holiday (no classes)

A very happy birthday to these lions:

Danna--September 5th

Sanjay--September 8th

Progress reports will go home next week. Please take a look to see how your child is doing thus far, sign, and return. Thanks to you parents for your support of your children, of me as their teacher, and of the school! You are treasures!

New Website and Date

Hello, friends!

Here is the animal website we visited today. It has lots of fun facts and games about mammals and other animals that we will learn about soon.

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/gamesforkids.htm

Also, we will rejoice in our reading and writing successes with a celebration on Friday, September 3. Let's work hard during the next couple weeks to be ready!

August Announcements

Welcome to your very own website, lions! You can come here for reminders about important events in our classroom and at school. There is also a list of fun websites you can visit to help you be the smartest first grader you can be. Remember: Take PRIDE in yourself, in the special way God made you, and in all that you will accomplish this year! ROAR!!!

Important Upcoming Dates:

• September 14–Half-Day
• September 20–Holiday (No School)
• Click to view the 2010-2011 Highlands’ Calendar

A very happy birthday to these special lions:

• Maura–August 22
• Natalia–August 23
• Manuela –August 25
• Michelle–August 25

Check out these websites for fun reading, writing and math games. I will add more as I find them:

• http://www.abcya.com/first_grade_computers.htm
• http://pbskids.org/ (Clifford, Curious George, and Arthur are all characters in books we read)
• http://www.apples4theteacher.com/math.html
• http://www.apples4theteacher.com/langarts.html
• http://www.brainpopjr.com/(has a free trial, but then requires a paid subscription)
• http://www.vocabulary.co.il/first-grade-vocabulary-games/
• http://www.bemboszoo.com/ (similar to ZooPhonics, which we use to learn letter sounds)
• http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/learn.jsp?lnkid=TNav:SA:home&ESP=SA/ib//acq/main_tnav_SA///nav/txtl//// (listen and help create a Clifford story by clicking on “Clifford Interactive Storybooks” under “Language Arts”)

I look forward to a fantastic first grade year with you! I am so happy you are in my class!