5/12/12 Newsletter

Dear Parents of All-Star First Graders,

     This teacher sure felt appreciated during “Teacher Appreciation Week”! I absolutely LOVED the beautiful “class bouquet” composed of all the different flowers each child brought in! I told the children it was special because each child was “in” the bouquet and because it matched our “dare to be different” work! (At snack time the kiddos showed me which flowers they contributed!) I also loved the cards children made for me. They are “keepers”. Thanks to all for being so thoughtful!

     Our literacy work this past week included work on words with r-controlled vowels. The students developed our class anchor chart with many different “Bossy R” words. Word Detectives were out in force during the week finding “Bossy R” words as they read and adding them to our chart and to our practices. We worked on using reading for a specific purpose: learning about science. The children were introduced to new books about caterpillars, moths, insects to practice reading nonfiction and to go along with our science work. We also started practicing fluency and expression with some readers’ theater plays. Mrs. Bonacquist listened to some more of our kiddos read! Hooray! Mrs. Bonacquist had compliments for our readers, and the students just LOVE that special guest-reader appearance! Our spelling work and practices this past week were also with “Bossy R” words. Did your child tell you about “free picks” for spelling that we just started? They were so excited, I’m betting they did. But just in case they did not, here’s what that means. Each week any spelling words missed on Friday’s test and missed on the pretest of base words are automatically on the spelling list for the new week. Up till now, if that did not make ten words I’ve been adding extra words that fit the pattern. The children have come so far with their reading and spelling skills that THEY are now attempting to fill in any extra words from my patterned lists! We call them “free picks.” (Of course, they still must work with me and during home practices to be sure they can pronounce the words and know their meanings.)  Spelling next week will focus on short oo words (eg. book) and long oo words (eg. food). Please look for that list to come home on Monday.

     Because we had DOUBLE science work some days and morning and afternoon math, we did not have as much time as usual for writers’ workshops. Therefore their “All About” books are still works-in-progress. They also did some personal narrative writing in their Daily 5 Journals. 

     Our math work throughout the week included review of all our money work and practices, practices, practices. Then the students took the end-of-chapter test. Most demonstrated excellent understanding of the money skills, however we will be continuing our practices with money during our morning math sessions. Thanks for the math-fact practices and for sending in the “Weekly Math Facts Logs”! I can truly see an increase in memorization and speed of recall! (Please remember to feel free to cancel out the practice math homework sheet and/or any optional work when you do the fact practices.)  

     Speaking of money, I’d bet every last cent I have that you DID hear about our new science unit: Butterflies! The children prepared their own individual cups with the food and caterpillars. (I did, however, have to administer some “Caterpillar C.P.R.” during the week! I don’t think THAT was in any of the “teacher guides”! LOL)  All week you could see excited scientists in action making their observations with their cups and hand lenses! We’ve taken notes on our observations on a large class science calendar. We’ve also compared needs of caterpillars to needs of humans and made predictions based on observations. (After all the excitement and movement for observations, I’m thinking the caterpillars are glad for the weekend so they can eat and sleep more peacefully! Ha!)

     I have never added any “personal” pictures to this blog, but I’ve made an exception this time. Most weekends find me doing school work, house work, school work, and some reading. Now I am also watching over some new “children”: goslings! TWO families of Canada Geese, with SIX goslings each, have taken up residency on our pond, so I’ve included a couple of pictures of them. (Hope you will make allowances for a “mother” showing pictures of new “babies”! Ha!) My three hummingbirds are also back…hooray! I find myself transfixed watching the goslings and hummingbirds, so if I’m a little later arriving to school you’ll know the reason…LOL!   

     During our “Buddy Work” yesterday the fourth graders helped our kiddos work on the finishing touches for their “Top Ten” Mothers’ Day cards. I hope tomorrow is a very special Mothers’ Day for all of you!

     Thanks again for all your support and help!

     Mrs. V.

Super Scientists In Action

3 Scientists Who Made Excellent Observations

Buddy Work on Mother's Day Cards

My "New Babies"

                                My Hummingbirds!
I'll apologize in advance for the quality of the video. It's our first attempt.
After you start the video (by clicking on the right facing arrow) you can also make it full screen by clicking on the icon at the bottom right corner of the video window. The full screen mode is also available for any of the photos by double, left  clicking on them.

             

5/5/12 Newsletter

Dear Parents of All-Star First Graders,

     Happy Cinco de Mayo and Derby Day! In fairness to both celebrations I am wearing a fancy chapeau and sipping a Margarita as I type this letter…ONLY KIDDING! (However, some might say my letters would be more interesting if I did! LOL)

     This past week more than half the class was sent to the principal’s office! (When my son was in school that sentence most definitely would have caused knots in my stomach! Did you panic a little or did your child tell you why?) Mrs. Bonacquist invited the students to visit to “show off” their skills and read to her! The kiddos were a LITTLE nervous, but mostly SO EXCITED! They couldn’t wait for their turn to go and came back with big smiles and with a fancy pencil from Mrs. Bonacquist! They were so proud of themselves, and I was proud of them too! The remainder of the students will also get a turn to read to Mrs. Bonacquist before the end of the year. Thank you, Mrs. Bonacquist, for thinking of and making the time for this special reading experience and treat!  

     Our literacy work this past week included work on contractions. The students developed our class anchor chart with many different contractions. They were surprised and I was pleased with how many contractions they found while reading!  It was a little extra challenging this past week because the students not only had to find and recognize the contractions, they also had to know the words the contractions stand for! We continued our nonfiction reading work with easy-read books about our social studies and science concepts. I also did a “checkup” on just-right books the students are picking as throughout the week every student read to me one-on-one. The fact that they didn’t want their turn reading to me to end is a good sign of just how well they did! We also did some guided-reading group work on monitoring for meaning. Our spelling work and practices this past week were also with contractions. The in-class spelling practice that impressed me the most was when the students used their contractions in sentences. I predicted that this might be hard for many of the students, but there were lots of two and three star sentences! Hooray! Spelling next week will focus on “Bossy R” words: words with r-controlled vowels. Please look for that list to come home on Monday.

     During our writers’ workshops we continued our work on the “All About” books. Some students have “finished” their rough drafts and have started having peer conferences and making attempts at revising and editing. The majority of students are working on completing their rough drafts. Even in the midst of this hard work, the students were so serious and focused that I just had to tell them it looked like a “college study hall”! They also did some personal narrative writing in their Daily 5 Journals. 

     The money work in our morning-math sessions AND our afternoon math lessons all showed the kiddos are feeling more comfortable with and getting more fluent with the identification of coins, the value of coins, and the counting of coins! Yesterday as we sat in an oval on the rug with the “Baggie Banks”, the STUDENTS WERE IN CHARGE of making up the money problems. (They could only make up a problem for which they knew the answer.) You should have seen some of the challenging problems and the coin-counting fingers flying! Has your child asked you to let him/her count your wallet or pocket change yet? I’m hoping they have or will. Thanks for the math-fact practices and for sending in the “Weekly Math Facts Logs”! I can truly see an increase in memorization and speed of recall! (Please remember to feel free to cancel out the practice math homework sheet and/or any optional work when you do the fact practices.)  

     For our Social Studies lessons this past week we again worked with books called Block Buddy Atlas. The students learned about map keys, borders and other symbols shown on maps, and where our state is on the U.S. map. The students made their own mini-map key and colored New York State the same color. We also found and colored the states that border New York State. We had some science fun with a seed-planting project.

     During our “Buddy Work” yesterday the fourth graders helped our kiddos work on the computers on fun coin-counting/money sites. (A couple of the favorite sites were: www.smartygames.com and www.toonuniversity.com  )  Thanks to Mrs. Kourt and our awesome 4^th-grade buddies for helping us discover more fun ways to practice math!

     Thanks again for all your support and help!

     Mrs. V.  

Fantastic Focus during Writers' Workshop

Money/Coin-Counting Work with Buddies

Science Fun: Planting Seeds

             

4/29/12 Newsletter

Dear Parents of All-Star First Graders,

     This past week was another action-packed week! However, it was not the fantastic efforts of the students or the great amount of work accomplished that impressed me the most. It was the many, many, many random acts of kindness I witnessed throughout the week! A girl had gotten sick on the bus and one of our girls helped her to the nurse…without being asked! When I kept working and working and we were late for lunch (as usual…LOL) three of our boys picked up the disaster of coins on the rug from our math work…without being asked! At the end of the day when we had worked too long and were running late for dismissal (as usual…sense a pattern?) MANY students went around and picked up “town dumps” of others and put up chairs of classmates…without being asked! THREE teachers who were in our classroom commented on how well the class works as a team! The random acts of kindness are actually too numerous to recount, but I want to congratulate my All Stars and their parents! At the risk of sounding “corny” I must say they made my heart happy!      

     Our literacy work this past week included work on compound words. The students developed an impressive compound word anchor chart with many challenging words! During the week the students used their “word detective skills” as they located and discussed compound words found in their readings and added them to our anchor chart. Our graduate student from the College of St. Rose, Ms. Calicchia, worked with a reading group and also with the whole class on a fun matching game using compound words. Ms. Calicchia’s last day with us was Thursday. We gave her a little surprise treat with cards, and she surprised us with a compound-word treat: cupcakes! We’ll miss her! We started nonfiction reading work with books about our social studies and science concepts. These are mostly easy-read science and social studies books so the students could practice monitoring for meaning. Our spelling work and practices this past week were also with compound words. The kiddos worked hard on their individual compound word lists! The spelling unit this coming week will be contractions. We will do some EXTRA spelling practices this week because the students will not only practice the spelling of their contractions, but also work on what words the contractions mean. Please look for that list to come home tomorrow.

     As the students worked in their Daily 5 Journals during writers’ workshop, one student was looking and looking toward our classroom door. I went over and whispered, “What are you looking for?” The student replied, “I wish Mrs. Bonacquist would come in and see us being ‘writing machines’!” I’m always so pleased when the students view themselves as “real writers.”  Our hard work on the “All About” books continued. We started off the week with a lesson and modeling how to build a chapter. Some students who really understood the concept of building a chapter found their writings up on charts to share during our lessons. Quite a few students decided to CHANGE their “All About” topics to topics they really knew more about. I told the students THEY were the authors so it was really their decision, but I thought they made a smart, smart, smart decision! Revising as real authors do!  

     The students seem to love using their “personal banks” (baggies of coins) for our money work during math lessons! The students are more readily identifying the coins and their values. We increased our practices counting by fives and tens. Then…here come the quarters! We developed a class chant to count by twenty-fives. If your child has not yet demonstrated the 25 chant, please ask them if they remember. I also asked the kiddos to involve you in a coin-counting challenge, if you were willing. The children were to ask you to please empty the change out of your wallet or pocket and let them count it. IF they counted it correctly the FIRST TIME, they MIGHT get one of the coins as a reward for their piggybanks. (Again, this is with the condition that the parents must approve.)  Thanks for the math-fact practices and for sending in the “Weekly Math Facts Logs”! I can already see an increase in memorization and speed of recall! (Please remember to feel free to cancel out the practice math homework sheet and/or any optional work when you do the fact practices.)  

     For our Social Studies lessons this past week we again worked with books called Block Buddy Atlas. The students learned about some ways neighborhoods change, what a model is, and what a globe is and shows.

     Soko celebrated her birthday with the class on Monday! Thanks, Soko! Friday the students enjoyed the author-visit presentation by Betsy Lewin! Then during our “Buddy Work” the 4^th graders helped the kiddos write a thank-you friendly letter to Mrs. Lewin…with an illustration for the illustrator, of course! What a fun ending to our week!

     Thanks again for all your support and help!

     Mrs. V.

Guest Reader: Katie

Soko's Birthday Celebration

Authors At Work

Author Visit: Betsy Lewin

Attentive Audience

Buddy Work: Thank-you Letters to Betsy Lewin