Happy Friday and Happy Winter Break!

Our first grade class wishes you a very Merry Christmas!

 Thank you for supporting Bauer Elementary and earning us a Marco's Pizza Party! Yum!

Have a wonderful break!

Merry Christmas!

Dear Families,
What a wonderful party we had this morning! So smooth, low key, and fun for our first graders! Thank you for the many hands that made the party run so smoothly. Thank you to the volunteers in the classroom, as well as those that supplied the game, craft, snacks, and ornaments. You are all appreciated! Many thanks to for the class gift of my favorite things! What a treat! Thank you!

We are in the home stretch now. A reminder that your child does not need to pack a lunch tomorrow unless they do not want to have pizza for lunch. It is also pajama day. So fun!

Please check your child's folder for some important information regarding kidsa-z.com. They are super excited to try this at home, and you will need the info on their paper in order to do so. I will post the instructions on here later on as well in case the paper gets misplaced.

If you have not had a chance lately with the hustle and bustle of the holidays, please take some time over break to really look at what your child is doing as a reader and writer. They are blowing me away! First grade is so much fun right now as students are truly taking off! Enjoy!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday together and are able to enjoy this family time. Thank you for the gift of trusting me with your children. It is truly a joy to be their teacher.

Merry Christmas!

First Grade News

There truly is no greater excitement than an elementary classroom the week before Christmas! There is so much energy and joy!

Many students enjoyed being consumers this week at Santa's Secret Shop. I wish you could see their excitement as they pick out the perfect gift for a family member. They are so proud of their purchases! Many thanks to our volunteers for helping to make this a such a successful experience for our students. 

Pizza!

Our exciting news of the week is that we were the class with the most Marco's Pizza orders on Tuesday, and we won the Marco's Pizza Party! Thank you for supporting Bauer and mentioning our class name. Our pizza party will be on Friday, December 22 - perfect timing! Your child will not need to bring in a lunch or order a lunch that day unless they do not wish to eat pizza (they can still eat in the classroom with us). I will provide juice boxes. If there is a parent that would like to donate a bag of carrot sticks and another to donate fruit (maybe grapes or something easy to serve), please let me know. It will be nice to balance their meal a little! Again, thank you for your support!

Christmas Party:

Katelyn Gates and many other parents have been busy planning our Christmas party - thank you! It will be THURSDAY at 9am. Adults are welcomed to attend the party. If you do not have a background check on file yet, please email Mrs. Opple for a link to the form kopple@hpseagles.net. It is a simple form that is very easy to complete. Thanks!

Coming Up:

We have a busy week ahead! Check out the spirit week info that is below as well. Students will still be going outside each day, so on pajama day especially, make sure your child has snow gear to bundle up! (And no slippers please - school bathrooms, the lunchroom...I will leave it at that!)

• Thursday, December 21: Christmas Party - 9am 
• Friday, December 22: Marco's Pizza Party and Last Day of School Before Break
• December 23 - January 8: Winter Break
• Friday, January 12: Early Release Day

First Grade News

What a wonderful celebration we had today for Ms Moore! We were able to celebrate her time with us, enjoy a tasty treat, and shower her with goodies to get her ready for her new classroom (thank you, families!). This is my first time taking a student teacher in my 18 years of teaching. I could not have asked for a better future teacher to work with. We have been so fortunate to have Ms Moore teach these first graders, all while they were teaching her. Scroll to the bottom for pictures from today!

This morning we had our first opportunity to use laptops. Mrs. Chatfield's 4th grade class buddied up with our first graders to teach students how to remove laptops from the cart, how to log in, how to use a reading website, and how to log out and return laptops to the cart. We appreciated their help!

Coming Up:

• December 12: Marco's Pizza Night (be sure to mention my name - we'd love to earn a free pizza party!)
• December 14: Santa's Secret Shop - we will shop at 9:30am
• Thursday, December 21: Christmas Party - 9am (wear red and green!)
• Friday, December 22: Last Day of School Before Break
• December 23 - January 8: Winter Break
• Friday, January 12: Early Release Day

• Reading: This week we continued our character unit. We studied what our characters like and dislike. We also thought about what our characters might be thinking. We have to use the words on the page and the picture to figure out a character's thoughts. Finally, we practiced reading in a storyteller voice to better represent our characters. 
• Math: We completed our unit 3 test this week - it was so fun to see students show all they have learned about story problems. Their work as readers and mathematicians paid off! Unit 4 will begin next week. We will be studying place value and learning about tens and ones. So far we have been working with numbers 1-10. We will move on to 2-digit numbers. 
• Whiteboard Practice: This week we learned about 5 different ways that the /a/ sound (like in day) is made - ai, a, ay, eigh, ey. Have your child write these headings on the top of their board. Then have them read a page from their WEB book (or any book). If they notice a word with the /a/ sound, have them record it in the correct column. If it does not fit in any of the columns, like in the word break, write it on the bottom. This is the /a/ sound, not the letter a. The word have, for example, should not be recording because it does not make that sound. Your child practiced this in reading workshop this week, so it should be familiar to them. They could follow up by writing a sentence with one of the words, remembering to say as they write!

Enjoy these pictures of our celebration with  Ms Moore!

We love you, Ms Moore!

We made an ornament for Ms Moore with our fingerprints. 

Our gift basket for Ms Moore filled with supplies for her future classroom. 

Our yummy treat!

First Grade News

Wow! What a way to return from Thanksgiving break with an amazing holiday program. I was so proud of each student on Tuesday night. They sang their hearts out and truly shined on stage! What a wonderful way to get into the spirit of the holidays. Enjoy these pictures!

Coming Up:

• Friday, December 8: Ms. Moore's last day student teaching with us
• December 12: Marco's Pizza Night (be sure to mention my name - we'd love to earn a free pizza party!)
• December 14-15: Santa's Secret Shop
• Thursday, December 21: Christmas Party - 9am (wear red and green!)
• Friday, December 22: Last Day of School Before Break
• December 23 - January 8: Winter Break
• Friday, January 12: Early Release Day

Next Friday, December 8, will be Ms. Hillary Moore's last day student teaching with us. It has truly been a pleasure to watch Ms. Moore learn and grow with your children. She has done a fantastic job partnering with me to teach your children. She will be a wonderful addition to the profession of education. Our class will enjoy a little celebration next Friday with Ms. Moore. The good news is that she will be staying with us here at Bauer as a long term sub in 3rd grade with Mrs. Scholma's maternity leave January-spring break. Our first graders are happy to know they'll get to see her around our school!

Reading: We continued spying on our characters this week by learning what our characters like and dislike, and looking at the pictures and listening to the words to determine how a character is feeling.

Writing: We have begun a new informational writing unit focused on how to stories. Students explored how to stories and learned text features and brainstormed how to topics to write about. 

Math: We are wrapping up our math unit focusing on story problems. We will take our test next week.

Social Studies: We are learning about economics right now. So far we have learned about needs vs. wants (a great topic this time of year!), goods and services, producers and consumers, and next week we will learn about scarcity. Ask your child to tell you about what we need and how that is different from  what we want. 

Word Work: 

We learned three different sounds for the letters "ea" - the /ee/ sound like in feet, the /ai/ sound like in steak, and the /e/ sound like in bread. Have your child write three columns with: 

1. ea 2. ea 3. ea at the top. Then have them write feet, steak, and bread under 1, 2, and 3. Then have them search in books for more words with ea. Be careful - some words won't fit. Learn actually does not fit - ear says /r/ in the word learn. You may find other sounds, like ear and heart, that would actually make a 4th column. Have fun exploring in books for more words! And as always, be sure to have your child say as they write!

Have a wonderful weekend. Enjoy the sunshine! (And take some time this weekend to get snow pants, boots, etc. ready for next week. Just in case. If we are all prepare, maybe it will hold off just a bit longer....!:) 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yesterday we had Miss Ellie, a retired librarian from the Hudsonville Library, visit and tell us stories. Students are up and down, singing, dancing, listening to books, and listening to storytelling. The stories this time were all about turkeys and giving thanks. Miss Ellie joined us at Halloween as well, and will be coming again at Christmas. It is such a treat for all of us!

Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

First Grade News and Hat Day

It was truly a pleasure to meet with you during conferences. I feel so fortunate to have such a great group of parents to partner with this year. 
Today we had popcorn day and spirit day. Take a look at some of our great hats!

Coming Up:

• November 22-24: Thanksgiving Break
• Tuesday, November 28 : Christmas Program (please see the pink note in folders today)
• Friday, December 1: Early Release Day
• Thursday, December 21: Christmas Party - 9am
• Friday, December 22: Last Day of School Before Break
• December 23 - January 8: Winter Break

Reading: We began a new unit in reading focusing on characters. As your child is reading at home, if it is a book with characters in it, have your child describe what they notice about the character(s) in the book. You can also have them stop midway and predict what the character will do next. 

Writing: We are finishing up our narrative or small moment assessment pieces before thanksgiving break. We will move into writing how to stories in December. 

Math: We have been busy working our way through story problems. This week we moved from unknown partner story problems into subtraction. We also started solving mixed addition and subtraction problems. Have your child practice writing and solving some story problems on their whiteboard at home!

Whiteboard Tip: This week's tip is more of a reading skill than a writing skill. But it's also a very important one for the students to be doing. As readers our words can get pretty long and tricky. While saying each sound and blending them together is important, it is only the groundwork for a much more efficient skill. When we read multi-syllable words, we split up the word by "mouthfuls." Mouthfuls are actually syllables, but it's easier for the kiddos to remember. ;) When a large word is broken up into mouthfuls, it's easier for a reader to tackle one part at a time. (see picture below). 

Our process for teaching this reading is to say the sounds in the first mouthful, sound by sound (putting a dot under each one letter sound and a dash under each 2+ letter sound). Then we blend that first part together. Next, we move on to the next mouthful, saying each of those sounds and blending it together. Finally we go back and thread both mouthfuls together and say the word. This process can be done with any multi-syllable word - see if you can think of words your child has some interest in. Write that word on the left side of the whiteboard. On the right side, split it up by mouthfuls and then have your child go through those sounds with you. 

Here are some examples:

thanksgiving     thanks  gi  ving

turkey               tur  key

eating               ea  ting

potato               po  ta  to

There will not be a newsletter next week with our short week. I would like to take a moment to share my thanks and gratitude to all of you for being such incredible families to work with. I appreciate your partnership and dedication to your child's success! Happy Thanksgiving!

First Grade News

It was wonderful to see so many of you at conferences this week. I look forward to seeing the rest of you next week!
Today we combined with Mrs. Signore's class and I taught word work to all 39 students. Wow! It was a packed house, but it was so much fun to switch things up a bit!

Coming Up:

• Monday, November 13: Book Fair Shopping Day at 11am
• Tuesday, November 14: Night #2 of P/T Conferences
• Friday, November 17: Final day to donate food for the PE Cares Food Drive (We have had very few donations. Please consider donating. You may drop off Tuesday evening at conferences too.)
• November 22-24: Thanksgiving Break
• Tuesday, November 28 : Christmas Program
• Friday, December 1: Early Release Day
• Thursday, December 21: Christmas Party - 9am
• Friday, December 22: Last Day of School Before Break
• December 23: January 8 - Winter Break

Reading:
This week we worked with partners to practice retelling our fiction stories. We used our five fingers to tell what happened first, next, then, after than, and finally with a partner. If your child is reading a fiction WEB book, ask them to use their fingers to retell the story to you. Next week we will dive into our characters unit.

Writing:
This week we continued our 2nd narrative story. We focused on transition words and adding more details to our pages. We will wrap up these stories next week.

Math:
Story problems have arrived! This is a big jump as students work to learn how to read, process and solve story problems. This week we focused on addition stories and counting on. Next week we will shift into subtraction.

Whiteboard Practice: 
This week we were introduced to five different spelling for the /ee/ sound, like in me. We learned the following sounds:
ee, like in sleep
ea, like in clean
ie, like in shield
y, like in funny
e, like in she
Have your child write these five heading across the top of the whiteboard. After your child reads their WEB book, have them go back and hunt through the book for words with the /ee/ sound. When those words are found, have them say as they write the word in the column that matches the /ee/ spelling on their board (example below). Feel free to use library books or any other books at home that your child is reading.
It is incredibly important that your child is saying the sounds and spelling the words correctly. Please correct any errors you see immediately. 

Newsletter Survey Results:
Thank you for taking the time to fill out the newsletter survey I sent. Because my newsletters are for you, I wanted to make sure they are what you want. For those interested, I have summarized what was learned from your responses:
1. The majority of you would like to receive newsletter updates once a week, some every other week. Typically in the fall and winter I will send updates once a week. Once we get closer to spring, they may be closer to every other week. I will continue to try to send these on Friday. On occasion we may have a super busy day in our class (instruction is always a priority), or I may have a lot happening with my family at night (like last weekend!), and am not able to get it out sooner.
2. There were some that preferred an email na blog update with an email reminder to check the blog. The advantage here is that all updates are in one place and you are able to go back to check for important dates later. It also is easier to share pictures with you.
ewsletter, though the majority want a blog update with email reminder to check it. I will continue with
3. All respondents would like important dates and pictures included. The majority of you would also like what we are working on, upcoming units and whiteboard tips.
4. The majority of you like to receive reminders midweek when there is something important happening. All but one respondent preferred email over a text message, therefore I will continue with email reminders.
Please know I am open to all feedback on how to best communicate with you. If you have any further ideas or suggestions throughout the year, I welcome your insight. Thanks again for your time!

First Grade News

I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend. As we get ready for a new week, a few reminders and upcoming dates. I look forward to meeting with all of you either this week or next week!

• Tuesday, November 7: Book Fair Preview - we will take a look at the books and students will make a wish list of items to purchase.
• Wednesday, November 8 and Tuesday, November 14: Parent/Teacher Conferences. If you need a reminder of your time, please let me know ASAP. 
• Monday, November 13: Book Fair Shopping - send money on this day if you wish to have your child purchase books. 
• Tuesday, November 28: Bauer Holiday Music Program

Report Cards: These will be going home in folders on Monday. Please keep in mind this is a standards based report card. Some items are left blank due to not covering or assessing those standards yet. By the end of the year all items will be marked. Some areas are marked now and will be marked again in later trimesters. These scores may fluctuate. A score of a 1 or 2 is not uncommon, especially in November. The goal is 3 by the end of the year.

Whiteboard Tip: This week's tip is more of a reading skill than a writing skill. But it's also a very important one for the students to be doing. As readers our words can get pretty long and tricky. While saying each sound and blending them together is important, it is only the groundwork for a much more efficient skill. When we read multi-syllable words, we split up the word by "mouthfuls." Mouthfuls are actually syllables, but it's easier for the kiddos to remember. ;) When a large word is broken up into mouthfuls, it's easier for a reader to tackle one part at a time. Our process for teaching this reading is to say the sounds in the first mouthful, sound by sound (putting a dot under each one letter sound and a dash under each 2+ letter sound). Then we blend that first part together. Next, we move on to the next mouthful, saying each of those sounds and blending it together. Finally we go back and thread both mouthfuls together and say the word. This process can be done with any multi-syllable word- see if you can think of words your child has some interest in. Write that word on the left side of the whiteboard. On the right side, split it up by mouthfuls and then have your child go through those sounds with you. 

Happy Halloween!

What a wonderful celebration we had today! Many thanks to all of the volunteers that were able to attend, help and coordinate our party, and to those that donated supplies. It was definitely a success. Thank you! And the rest of the day has been smooth sailing. For those trick or treating tonight, stay warm! And candy makes a wonderful after school snack - healthy snacks for our morning are still appreciated!;) Happy Halloween!

First Grade News

What an amazing fall weekend ahead! I hope you were able to get outside to enjoy it. Please see a few quick updates below:

Don't forget to get your book orders in by this MONDAY! Head to - https://orders.scholastic.com/LGVW7 to order. There are some awesome books, many for just $1. Your child is likely starting to read like crazy - how fun to get new books!

Coming up:

• Tuesday, October 17: Marco's Pizza Night. Be sure to tell them my name when you order. We'd love to earn a pizza party!
• Monday, October 23: Book order due
• 10/24 - 10/26: All for Books Coin War. Please send in your loose change! (Feel free to send in anytime before as well.)
• Thursday, October 26: Picture Retakes / Bauer Skating Party at Terry Hall
• Tuesday, October 31: Halloween Party at 9am
• Friday, November 3: Early Release Day (Bauer Be Awesome Shirt Day)
• Wednesday, November 8 and Tuesday, November 14: Parent/Teacher Conferences (notices with times will be sent home next MONDAY)
• Tuesday, November 28: Bauer Holiday Music Program

What we have been working on:

• Reading: We started our work with reading partners this past week. We learned how to take turns while reading with each other. We also searched for words that make the /k/ sound as in bike, rack, cone, and skip, and recorded them in our reader's notebooks. 
• Writing: This week we began writing our small moment stories. I am amazed by the work I am seeing! Continue to encourage your child to "say as they write" anytime they are writing at home. Their practice is paying off.  This coming week we will continue our stories. 
• Math: We will be wrapping up unit 2 next week. We are projected to take our unit 2 test on Tuesday. 
• Whiteboard Practice: To extend our practice reading and writing words with the /o/ sound, we discussed the concept of homophones this week. Homophones are words that sound the same, but are spelled differently and mean different things. We looked at the words rode and road. When we said the sounds in each word it was exactly the same, however when we started spelling it out it was different! To help us understand the meanings and to be sure we could remember the spellings,  we first put a dot under each 1-letter sound and a dash under each 2-letter sound. Then we drew a picture next to each word. To wrap up, we wrote a sentence trying to use both words in the correct context! (see picture) This would be a great activity to do at home with other homophones such as: ate/eight, be/bee, to/two, or any others! Be sure your child is saying those sounds out loud as they write each word in their sentence. Also be sure to correct handwriting and spelling errors! 

First Grade News

Last week we had the opportunity to be consumers at the 4th grade Market Day. First graders were each given 10 "dollars" to spend at the booths set up by 4th grade students. This is part of the 4th grade social studies curriculum, and is a perfect intro for the economics unit 1st grade students will be learning next month. It is such a fun time for our students. Here are some photos from our shopping experience! 

Coming up:

• Tuesday, October 17: Marco's Pizza Night. Be sure to tell them my name when you order. We'd love to earn a pizza party!
• Monday, October 23: Book order due - https://orders.scholastic.com/LGVW7
• 10/24 - 10/26: All for Books Coin War. Please send in your loose change! (Feel free to send in anytime before as well.)
• Thursday, October 26: Picture Retakes / Bauer Skating Party at Terry Hall
• Tuesday, October 31: Halloween Party at 9am
• Friday, November 3: Early Release Day (Bauer Be Awesome Shirt Day)
• Wednesday, November 8 and Tuesday, November 14: Parent/Teacher Conferences 
• Tuesday, November 28: Bauer Holiday Music Program

What we have been working on:

• Reading: This past week we learned how to retell our story using five fingers as we told what happened: first, next, then, after that, and finally. We will start working with reading partners this coming week. 
• Writing: Last week we selected our first individual small moment writing topics. Students planned their stories across their fingers (the same way we retold our stories in reading!), and planned our stories on a timeline. This coming week we will begin writing without lead and what happened first. Continue to encourage your child to "say as they write" anytime they are writing at home. Their practice is paying off.  
• Math: Last week students were introduced to subtraction stories. We will continue to practice this week, and will wrap up our unit at the end of this week.   
• Whiteboard Practice: 
• Whiteboard Practice Idea: This week we learned about 4 different spelling for the /k/ sound: c   k   ck   ke - Here is an activity you can do with your child!
Have your child say and write these four spellings for this sound on the top of their board.




Have your child go on a hunt for the /k/ sound around the house. When they find something, have them say as they write the word in the middle of their boards. You will stop them to error correct any misspellings that occur.
Then ask your child to either dot or dash the letter(s) that make the /k/ sound. Ask them what column it belongs in. Erase the word, and have them say as they write the word in the correct column. Remember to stop and correct them if any errors are made.

• Halloween Reminder: Our party will be taking place first thing in the morning at 9am. Students are asked to wear their costumes to school that day. This should be over their clothes. Once the party is over, students will remove their costumes and place them in their backpacks. (Any parents in attendance may take costumes home.) We tried this time for parties last year, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Any questions, please let me know. 

First Grade News

We loved seeing all of the MAIZE and BLUE in the school today (okay, and a little green and white! :) Spirit days are always so exciting.

Thank you to everyone for sending in your $3 donation to our class parties for the year. If you have not sent your money in yet, please next week.

Conference time request forms went home in folders today. Please return as soon as possible. Thank you!

Coming up:

• Friday, October 13: Early Release Day - Wear your BE AWESOME t-shirt!
• Tuesday, October 31: Halloween Party 9:00am

Here's a quick update on what we have been up to in 1st grade:

• Reading Workshop: We have been using our Reader's Notebooks to record sound that begin with the /w/ sound, spelling /w/ and /wh/., as well as the /ch/ and /tch/ sounds. We have learned about other spots to sit in the classroom during reading and the expectations for those spots. We also learned how as readers we make a move in our mind as we read. We continued with James and the Giant Peach. Ask your child to retell what we have read so far. 

• Writing Workshop: We continued our class story this week about the Walk-a-thon. Thank you for returning the yellow topic idea sheet on Monday if you have not done so yet. 

• Math: This week we learned the strategy of "counting on" to solve addition equations. We learned how to count on and count all, and worked on which was more efficient. 

• Whiteboard Practice Idea: One of the sounds we have been focusing on this week is /ch/. We have identified two ways to spell this sound - "ch" and "tch." Set up the whiteboard with both of these spellings.  With your child, go on a word hunt through their WEB books or books from home to find words that will fit under each heading. Be sure your child is saying the sounds as they write each word! Discuss the patterns they notice (a big one is that "tch" is most commonly found at the end of a word).