IMPORTANT DATES:
· Dec. 4~ Early Release day for students(1:00)
· 12/11~ POLAR EXPRESS (pajama) Day for 1st Grade
· 12/11~ PTO Family Movie Night. Join us to watch Santa Buddies at 6:00.
WHITE CHRISTMAS Food Drive and Money Collection: Our Student Council is once again sponsoring this worthy cause! The children have been very open to the idea of helping those around us who need some extra help this winter. We are collecting non-perishable food items and any amount of money from now until December 17. Thanks in advance for encouraging your child to think of others during this holiday season.
REMINDERS:
Thank you for continuing to send in Campbell’s soup labels, General Mills’ Box tops, and Nestle Pure Life water bottle labels! Our library day is Friday. Wear sneakers on our PE days, Mondays & Wednesdays!
PTO NEWS: We are taking preorders for the Westminster Elementary School Cookbooks. Each book is $10. If you’ve misplaced your order form, just let me know.
"Christmas Special:" Purchase 2 Discount Cards for $10.00. These make great stocking stuffers, so get them now. Price is only good when you purchase 2 cards. These cards have discounts to many area businesses and are good for the whole year.
Chick-Fil-A 2010 Calendars with over $30.00 in free food. Get your Calendar for $6.00 and the School gets to keep $1.00 for each calendar sold.
Homework: We will have math homework 3 days this week. Thank you for your assistance!
High Frequency Words: The children have done a wonderful job learning to read and spell many of the First Grade High Frequency words. Please continue to review the list that was sent home on Family Literacy Night. (If you cannot find yours, please let me know.) Now, your child has an individual “Skills Card” in his or her 100 Book Challenge Reading folder. Please take time daily to review the skills & strategies on the front of the card, as well as any sight words on the back. Keep these in the folder, as we use them at school, too.
TAKE HOME READERS/100 BOOK CHALLENGE: Thank you so much for all of your support with reading at home. The children are ALL growing by leaps and bounds! Their independent reading is improving weekly, thanks to your help! PLEASE be sure to allow your child to read independently for a minimum of 15 minutes daily. Set a timer. Listen to your child as he/she reads, then sign the reading log and return to school. IF YOUR CHILD has the stamina and desire to read an additional 15 minutes later in the evening, then it is okay to “earn” a 2nd step. Some of the children ARE ready for this, but not all are. As always, please let me know if you have any questions about this program. Fridays are still set aside as an optional, “Free Choice” reading day. The children are welcome to bring home any book from our classroom library to read over the weekend.
Language Arts: We will continue using dictionaries this week, and we’re learning how to use our “Have-a-Go Sheets!” We’re writing about our families and Christmas. We’re learning about story elements such as “characters, setting, problem & solution” in fiction that we read. We are working on reading with fluency, paying attention to commas, periods, question marks, and exclamation marks. We’re even learning how to read when a different character is talking by looking at “quotation marks.”
Math: Our M&M MATH MASTERS program is going very well! Congratulations to Addison, Scarlett, Dakota, Drake, and Mac for already mastering all their facts up to 10+10! The others are well on their way to completing the program. Please continue to review addition at home. We are especially working on memorizing our “double facts”, such as 4+4, 7+7, all the way up to 10+10. We’ve been learning other strategies to help us with our speed in addition, such as the “tricks” of “almost doubles (6+7)”, the 9 trick, and the 10 trick. We will continue ROCKET MATH this week, which is a program that focuses on the MEMORIZATION of the basic facts. You’ll hear more about this in a letter next week.
SOCIAL STUDIES: We are continuing to discuss ways that families have different traditions. Next week, we’ll learn about ways families around the world celebrate different holidays.
