Mrs. V's All Star Learners Classroom: December 2013

Dear Parents of First Grade All Stars,

With all the exciting events this past week, it would be close to impossible to open with the most popular happening! The week included sledding on saucers during P.E. classes, celebration of three December birthdays, holiday gift projects, our class holiday party, and the whole-school sing-along! The children came in rosy-cheeked, exercised, and oh-so-happy with their P.E. sledding fun on Wednesday and Thursday. When I asked Mrs. Young how the class was for P.E., she replied, "Awesome!" (Gold coins were awarded for All-Star behavior!) Maddy, Diana, and Calla all celebrated their December birthdays with their classmates. Thanks for celebrating with us, Ladies. Happy birthday Maddy, Diana, and Calla! Throughout the week the children made and decorated a "My House" gift project and two gift decorations. (I was thinking the custodian might not be speaking to me after decorating with foamy stickers and glitter glue, but thankfully he took it in stride! Thanks!) Then the children wrapped their two gift decorations. You might think I am a "crazy woman" having first graders wrap presents, but you would have been so proud to see their teamwork! "I'll help you!" could be heard all over the place! This true holiday spirit honestly did my heart good! (I'm hoping the Traditions Poster, "My House" project, and two wrapped gift decorations made it home to you "in one piece", but I know since your children made them for you that they will be loved even if they didn't exactly survive the trip.) Our fantastic Room Mothers, Mrs. Stein and Mrs. Vener, yet again organized a wonderful class party! Thanks, Mrs. Stein and Mrs. Vener! The children LOVED the clever "snow globe" project Mrs. Stein planned for them and enjoyed all the yummy treats. Thanks to all who supplied the super treats and who were able to come celebrate with us. At the start of the party the students presented the "Good-Elf Awards" they had made to their classmates. I LOVED seeing the kiddos smile when they read why their classmates thought they deserved the "Good-Elf Award"! Great, big thanks to all for the many wonderful cards, kind words, and generous gifts! Honestly, working with your children is my BEST gift, but I appreciate your kindness and generosity! On Friday we ended out the day and the week with the whole-school sing-along. Our kiddos got to "perform" during the singing of "The Twelve Days of Christmas". They used both actions and their cleverly decorated "goose eggs" for the "Six geese a-laying" parts. They were truly "into" it and didn't miss a beat!

You might think with all those special, exciting events that work did not happen. Well, since I am very stubborn and no quitter (LOL), I'm happy to say that is not the case. Throughout the week we did review activities for all the short-vowel sounds and for the long a sound. We also did a REtest of the B.C. spelling priority words to see which words were truly "cemented" and which words will need to make a "repeat performance" on spelling lists. (On January 6th our regular spelling routines will resume and your child's long e words and priority words list will come home.) Students were again the stars of our D.O.L. (Daily Oral Language) as they worked to use their proofreading and editing skills to find punctuation, capitalization, and grammatical mistakes in the sentences. The children also read-to-self and with a partner to practice building reading stamina and monitoring for meaning. Warning: cute story coming! After a reading session, two students came to me and said, "We just did a 'book talk', Mrs. Valentini." I had not asked the children to do book talks this time, they just took it upon themselves to follow-up their reading with this super way to check for understanding. Talk about motivation! Go, Readers! O.K., I can't resist...one more impressed-with-my-kiddos story! This one is a WHOLE CLASS story. On Wednesday after recess when the children had taken off their winter gear, I found the WHOLE CLASS on the rug, and EVERY SINGLE CHILD was either reading-to-self or with a buddy...again without being directed to do so. Remember what I said earlier about "my best gift"? Well, 23 out of 23 students put a gold coin in for All-Star behaviors! I PROMISE this will be my last "brag" about our kiddos...for this year at least - ha! As the children read and wrote in their writers' journals, I was able to finish listening to 23 out of 24 students read to me to check levels, accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. When several adults came in the room they expressed to me how surprised and impressed they were with the focus and work of our "Reading Machines" and "Writing Machines"! This Mother Hen was puffing up with pride. THANK YOU again for all the awesome at-home reading logs you've been sending in. The children are very proud to hand them in to me and to share what they are reading at home. Reading to, with, beside your child is not only a fun together time, but also a tremendous motivator that helps to build the love of reading as well as skills. I truly appreciate your at-home reading time with your child!

In order to help keep the focus for math in the afternoons, we used the foamy ten frames all week. We worked on adding to make tens, making tens to find larger sums, ways to "tackle" word problems, and problem solving with pictures. We also continued our fact practices in class. Any short, at-home practices of addition/subtraction facts would be a great help, too. Thanks!

Due to the whole-school assembly on Friday, we were not able to have our regular "Buddy Work" session with Mrs. Kourt's fourth graders. However, this did not stop the special connections that have developed between the buddies. The fourth graders made a surprise visit to give the awesome book marks they made to their first-grade buddies. The book marks had poems about their buddies using their names, kind compliments, colorful art work, and were even laminated! The first graders loved them! There were smiles and "buddy hugs" all over the place. Thanks so much for the special gifts, Fourth Graders!

To those who celebrate Christmas, please accept my deepest wishes for a very merry Christmas! I wish all of my All-Star Families health, happiness, and all the best for 2014! I wish you special times with family and friends over the break. Enjoy!

Thank you again for all your fantastic support at home.
Respectfully,
Mrs. V.