Monday Update

We read one of our all time favorite books today, "Where the Wild Things Are", and then painted some adorable wild things of our own. 

Thank you to all our parent volunteers... some of whom have started already!   Mrs. Gupta, Ms. Santana, Mrs. Dimitrou, Mrs. Fornia have been in to help photocopy, to help read with students, to help pass out art supplies, and to generally help out in the room.   We are excited to have our art docent, Ms. Darab, come in to do our first art docent lesson.  Thank you to everyone.

We have our first field trip coming up this month.  We will be going to Craven's Pumpkin Patch on October 28th.   This is always a great field trip!

We also have a party scheduled for Monday, Oct. 31st.   Mrs. Adam and Mrs. Dimitrou have already started planning the festivities.   There is an all school parade that day at 2:15 and children are invited to bring their costumes to school so they can change into them for the party/parade.

Goal Setting Conference Week

Dear Parents of our Wonderful First Graders,

This week, our schedule is quite a bit different due to conferences.

Monday, October 3rd is a half day, students will be dismissed at noon.  Mrs. Morissey will be teaching that day rather than Ms. Subcleff.  

Tuesday and Thursday are half days as well, with noon dismissal.

Wednesday Oct. 5th will be a regular dismissal at 2:00. 

Friday there will be NO SCHOOL for students, as it is a district teacher work day.   

 

Mrs. Morissey will be leading all the conferences, but I am more than happy to make it in if you would like me to be there as well.   Please send me an email and I will arrange my schedule accordingly.  Likewise, I am happy to meet separately on a Monday before or after school if that is something you would like.

 

 

And . . . Our volunteer program is just about to begin!  We look forward to work as a team towards the success of our first graders.  Beginning Oct 10^th the program will be under way.  This week the final schedule will come out and we will be in contact with the parents that have signed up with us.  Thank you so much to all you parents who have said you can come in to help with our students.  We are so thankful to have you.

Speaking of volunteers,  thank you to Pooya Darab, Nima's mom, for helping out in the school library during our class's Monday library time.  She is there every week helping Mrs. Caddock, our librarian,  check out books, etc.

 

If you are looking for a small volunteer opportunity, our individual and class pictures are on Monday Oct. 10th at 11AM.   If there are any parents that want to come in just at our picture time (arrive 10 minutes earlier), to help me make sure first grade hair is brushed, clothes are straightened, money envelopes are sealed, and we are all looking our best, that would be extremely helpful.  Just let me know and make sure to check in at the office before coming to our room.

Thanks so much for all you do.

 

Monday Mini-Report

Abstract Tree Silhouettes done in tempera paint.  

We learned all about primary colors (red, yellow, blue) and making secondary colors (orange, purple, green).   As you can see, your child created their own lovely colors with only red, yellow, blue, and white!

Today, please look for a math review sheet coming home with your child.  We will be giving a math assessment for this unit this week (Comparing and Ordering Numbers), and it would be helpful for your child to complete the review we sent home today. 

Mrs. Morissey has been doing some reading assessments and soon we will be sending home books that are just right for your child's level.   While she was assessing on Thursday, I was able to come in and do another art project with the class.   We learned about the artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser.  He paints very colorful paintings including these kinds of faces: 

We practiced drawing contour line drawings with Sharpie to create a face without lifting our pens from the paper!  This is pretty tricky, but they did a great job.

This Friday is our school's dance marathon!  Thank you to everyone who has turned in pledges.  This looks to be a really fun fundraiser.

Looking ahead, school pictures (individual and class) will be taken on Monday, Oct. 10th.

Monday Mini-Report

Happy Monday,  

Look at our warm and cool landscapes we created today.  Your children did an amazing job!  And I'm so proud of them for using only warm or only cold for either the sky or the hills.

It was kind of messy, as you can see!   We get a lot of use out of those babywipes you sent in.   This is also probably a good time to remind everyone that Mondays are a great day to dress for mess.

Each week, I will be displaying our artwork in the hall.  As I take down the previous week's artwork, I will be collecting them so that I can compile them in ONE neat book for each child to take home with all his or her artwork for the year.   Actually, it ends up being about 3 books during the year.  Look for the first of these books right before the winter vacation.

Today we started writing in our journals.   What enthusiastic writers we have!   It was fun to hear them share their writing today.  

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend curriculum night.  We enjoyed seeing all of you there.   If you did not get a chance to sign up for conferences, Mrs. Morissey will be contacting you so you can sign up for a spot. 

This week, our class learned about dental hygiene and were terrific listeners to our guest dental hygienist who came in to speak.   Remind your children to fill in their teeth-brushing chart.

In math, students are working on comparing and ordering numbers.   At home you can reinforce what we are learning by using  "greater tha and less than" when talking about two or more numbers.

This week we will be giving 1st grade reading assessments. I will be teaching Thursday morning while Mrs. Morissey gives some of these reading assessments.  Mrs. Morissey will be able to discuss these with you at conference time.  

Have a wonderful week.

Happy Monday!  We had a wonderful day today.   We studied the artwork of David Hockney (who is famous for his pool paintings) and painted swimming self-portraits.   I think they are all adorable.  You can see them up close in the hallway outside our room.

Your child should be bringing home a September calendar that we filled out in class today.   Each month, we will be creating a calendar page that they can take home and put on their wall.

You can also ask your child about the book Ish that we read today.    We learned that our artwork doesn't have to look like anyone else's and that it doesn't even have to look exactly like what we are trying to draw.   For instance, our swimming portraits look self-portrait-ish.

Curriculum Night:

Tuesday at 6:30 pm.   We will be going over the 1^st grade curriculum, 1^st grade expectations and any other questions that need answering. There will also be a chance to sign up for your Teacher-Parent-Child Goal setting conferences. They are quickly approaching, Oct. 3, 4, and 6^th. Be thinking about a time that works well for you and come prepared with a few good time slots.

SANDBURG STUDENT HANDBOOK:

 Please take a minute to look through it with your child, sign the single paper and return that to me. You and your child have hopefully taken a chance to look through it together.

VOLUNTEERING IN THE CLASSROOM:

YEAH! We are so glad to know there is interest and enthusiasm! We will have our sign-up sheet available at Curriculum night and plan on getting volunteers scheduled and ready to go the first week of October.  Until then be thinking of how you might like to contribute to this great bunch of kids! Also, there will be many opportunities that PTSA will be requesting support from parents throughout the year.  Maybe this is the job for YOU! J

 If you have any questions please let us know. Have a great day and we’ll see you Tuesday