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.