Week of October 24th-27th

Hello Families!

Last week was an exciting week for our first grade class! We had fifth grade visit our classroom on Friday to help our class with pumpkin investigations and on Friday we all decorated our pumpkins! They look awesome!

Field Trip:
Our 1st grade field trip to Claude Moore Park and Heritage Farm Museum will be Wednesday, November 8th. Information letters and permission forms went home in Thursday folders last week. Please kindly return the permission form and payment as soon as possible. Thank you to everyone who already has! Please contact me with any questions. Chaperones will be determined this week. 

Fall Party:
Please mark your calendar for our Fall party on Tuesday, October 31st from 12:15-2:00 pm in our classroom. All families are welcome to attend! (NO costumes, please). You received a permission form in Thursday folders a few weeks ago. Some students still have not returned their permission form. They are due tomorrow. Your child must return this permission form to participate and to eat any party food. Our amazing Room Moms and I thank you for your help! 

Check out our 1st Grade Symbaloo Page!

Our Instructional Facilitator of Technology, Mrs. Clark, compiled a Symbaloo page for us! Symbaloo is a visual bookmarking tool that makes it simple and fun to organize multiple websites.  Our 1st Grade Symbaloo has links to a variety of sites that cover multiple disciplines...everything from Mouse Skills (check out "Bees and Honey"), to science, to math, and holidays.  Our Symbaloo sites are a perfect "something more" to supplement your child's weekly homework. You can access the Symbaloo by clicking HERE.  You can access it by going to the Pinebrook Homepage.  Once there, click "First Grade" under the "Classrooms" tab.  Look to the left under the heading "First Grade".  At the bottom of that list, you'll see "First Grade Symbaloo." 

Focus Areas for the Week

• Reading: We will be working on retelling our stories using character names, setting, problem and solution. We will also we working on connections to self and other texts. 
• Writing: We will continue to work on handwriting skills and word study sorts
• Math: We will finish our Number Sense unit and take a short test. Then, we will begin our Patterns unit.
• Science: We will continue learning about pumpkin life cycles and day and night.

Library will be on Thursday this week. 

I hope everyone has a fantastic week!

Friday the 13th! :)

Hello Everyone!

It has been a short but very busy week as always!

In honor of Fire Safety Week, a parent from Mrs. Lomardo's class is a firefighter and came to speak to all the first graders about fire safety today. We are so thankful for his willingness to come speak with us! Please ask your child about our visit with Mr. Zumwalt today! :)

Pumpkins:
We will complete an in-class pumpkin investigation on Thursday, October 19th. Each child will need his/her own small pumpkin. I sent a note home about this last week. Please send your child's pumpkin to school by Thursday. Also, please write your child's name on the bottom of the pumpkin.
Fifth grade students from Mrs. Noel's class will be supporting our students in the pumpkin investigation and creating videos on the iPads to upload to our school's Loudoun Creates YouTube channel! SO EXCITING!

Next Week is Spirit Week:
We will have a Spirit Week next week (October 16-20) to raise awareness for bully prevention. Themes each day are:

• Monday- Mismatch Day
• Tuesday- Dress Like a Superhero Day
• Wednesday- Inside Out Day
• Thursday- Wear 2 Different Shoes Day
• Friday- Pinebrook Colors or Spirit Wear Day

Fall Conferences:

Thank you to those of you who have signed up for a Parent/Teacher Conference. If you have not yet signed up, please do so at your earliest convenience.

Fall Party:

Please mark your calendar for our Fall Party on Tuesday, October 31st from 12:15-2:00 p.m. in our classroom (Room 3). All families are welcome to attend! (NO costumes please) A food permission form went home with your child yesterday. Your child must have written permission to eat any party food. Our awesome Room Moms and I thank you for your donations. 

Extra Clothes:

Since first graders are still prone to bathroom accidents and playground slips, please consider tucking an extra set of clothing (including underclothes) into your child's backpack. I will not collect and store the clothes in our classroom. The extra set of clothing will simply sit at the bottom of your child's backpack until it may be needed. Thanks!

Water Bottles:

If you are not already doing so, please begin to send a water bottle to school each day with your child. We do NOT have an in-class water fountain. The kids get tired and thirsty over the course of a long morning and water goes a long way toward helping them stay energetic and attentive.

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Reading- We will talk about making predictions and using what we know from the cover of a book to think about what a story may be about
• Writing- We continuing to work on handwriting, as well as, talk about how to add details to our stories.
• Math- We will be finishing up our first unit (Number Sense) and students will have their first math test the following week. Our next unit will be Patterns.
• Science- We will learn the parts and life cycles of both apples and pumpkins!

Have a SUPER weekend!

Conferences, Fall Party, and Pumpkins...Oh My!

Hello Everyone!

This post is full of important information, so please read through the end!

Please Sign-Up for a Conference!
Parent/Teacher conferences will be held at the end of the first quarter. I am using Sign Up Genius to schedule conferences. You can sign-up for a conference time by clicking HERE. If you are unable to attend a conference on one of the dates/times listed, please send me an email to make alternate arrangements.

Important Information about Homework:
Starting on Monday, October 10th, your child will be coming home with a weekly sight word homework assignment. The assignment will be given at the beginning of each week and will be due each FRIDAY.  Your student will be receiving a list of five sight words that they are to practice writing throughout the week. Sight words for each week will also be listed in your child's agenda book. Several students are also still not completing their nightly reading homework. I cannot stress enough how important it is for your child to be reading at least 15 minutes each night. I also request that you list what was read, number of minutes, and signature each night so I am aware whether or not your child read.

Fall Party:
Our Fall Party will be held on Tuesday, October 31st. All parents are welcome to join in on the fun...but you will probably be put to work :)

If you are able to come, please come in 30 minutes prior to the party start time to help set up.

Pumpkins:
The paper was sent home yesterday about our upcoming Pumpkin Investigation. I am asking that each child bring in one small pumpkin by Thursday, October 19th.  We will be observing, measuring, and decorating our pumpkins!

Focus Area for the Upcoming Week:

• Reading: We will be learning how a reading partner can help us with identifying unknown words and learning skills to decode unknown/difficult words.
• Writing: We will continue to work on our nice neat handwriting and correctly forming our letters. 
• Math: We will work on our number sense unit.
• Social Studies: We will finish up with seasons and discuss fire safety.

I hope you all enjoy the long weekend! :)

Hillary