Welcome to 1st Grade!

Dear New 1st Grade Families,

Welcome to the 2018-2019 school year! I am thrilled to be your child's teacher, and look forward to being your partner in educating your child during the year ahead. Please be sure to check out the "All About Mrs. Mueller" tab above to learn more about me and my family. Also, please subscribe to this blog to receive email notification on blog updates. (You should receive an email once you do. If you don't see an email in your inbox, check your spam folder. They often wind up there.) If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at hmueller@hpseagles.net.

For those of you wanting to get a head start on school supplies, here is the suggested 1st grade list:

• 24 count box of crayons
• Pre-Sharpened Pencils, standard yellow #2 pencils work great (shared with the classroom)
• 2 Glue Sticks
• A pencil box - 5x8, standard size, please. A flat, smooth surface on top makes it easy to tape name tags to.
• WHITE, 1" clear view binder (the kind with a clear sleeve on front cover that paper can be inserted into)
• 3x3 Post it notes (for the classroom) 
• Scissors (Optional - I do have a class set, but they are aging!)
• Thin Crayola markers
• An empty Pringels container - standard size (if you have more than one, please send in extras!)
• A framed picture of your family (this will be returned at conferences in November)
• Box(es) of tissues

I will also send out a sign up genius as we get closer to the start of the year with some other helpful items for the classroom. Our open house will take place on Wednesday, August 22nd 6:30-7:30pm. I look forward to meeting you all then!
Enjoy the remainder of your summer, be sure to read to your child often, make lots of memories, and I will see you before we know it!

For your children,
Holly R. Mueller (pronounced Miller)

Updates/Reminders

No formal newsletter today, just a few updates/reminders:

1. LIBRARY BOOKS: Today was our last day of library. Please make sure all library books are returned ASAP. If your child does not bring home a book today, that means they have one already at home that is past due. Please start looking! Thanks!

2. WEB BOOKS: The last time these will head home is next week Thursday. Please make sure your child returns his/her WEB book bag by Friday, June 1.

3. 2ND GRADE BRIDGE NIGHT: A reminder to make sure you have Monday, June 4 7:30-8:00pm reserved for one parent to attend this meeting. A note with an RSVP will go home on Tuesday. Keep your eye out for a yellow note!

4. BEACH TOWELS: Your child may bring one beach towel to school to keep here for the final two weeks of school. There may be a few times when we are able to head outside for reading, and having towels to sit on helps. These will be stored in their lockers.

I think that is it for now! Be sure to check the Bauer Bits for other important dates and details for the final weeks!

Field Trip!

I am pretty sure that our field trip could not have gone any better. What an amazing day with some amazing kiddos! Thank you to the many volunteers that joined us for our trip today. You were a fantastic group. You will definitely have some tired (and sandy!) kiddos this evening!
Enjoy these pictures:)

We started off on a hayride at the farm. 

Next we headed into the barn to meet some animals. We were able to touch baby ducklings, chicks, a lamb, bunnies, and more. 

Our third station was fishing!

And Marissa caught one!

Pony Rides!

Duck, Duck Goose while waiting to head to the park. 

Some pretty awesome kids!

The beach was amazing! Absolutely beautiful!

And half of the crew took a little nap on the way home. Precious!

Such an amazing day - wonderful memories made! 

First Grade Update

Coming Up:
Friday, May 18: Spirit Day - Sports Attire
Thursday, May 24th Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast - 8:45am-10:30am 
Thursday, May 24th: 1st grade field trip 
Monday, May 28: No School
Monday, June 4: 7:30-8:00pm - Second Grade Bridge Night - One parent per family plan to attend
Friday, June 8: Last Day of School, Early Release Day

Assembly:
We enjoyed a wonderful assembly from the children's singing group Gemini yesterday. Ask your child to share with you what their favorite song. Check out their music and find performance dates when you can see them in concert: https://www.geminichildrensmusic.com/ 
Check out some pictures and videos below. 

Routines:
Anyone else feel like the nights are jammed full this time of year? Between baseball games, soccer games, playing outside, and more, our nights seem to be anything but routine in the spring. This time of year, especially as students are anticipating the end of the school year approaching, keeping to a routine when possible is key. I am noticing more students forgetting to bring a snack, less WEB books being returned, library books, etc. While some routines will naturally change as the seasons change, remember how important it is for children to have a good night's sleep and keep to some sense of routine. (I keep trying to remind myself of this with my own family!)

Library Books:
Yesterday we had 9 students missing their library books. We switched our library day to this Monday instead. If your child has not returned their book yet, please help them search at home for it and place it in their backpack.

Reading and Writing:
We have completed our first animal research story. These first graders worked hard and wrote some amazing pieces! It is so fun to watch students researching, taking notes, writing in their own words, and learning some interesting facts along the way. This week they chose a new topic to write about. Some students chose another animal, some chose other topics such as: weather, trains, seasons, and more. This will be the final piece to work on together before our on demand assessment piece.

Math:
The past two weeks we have explored 2D and 3D shapes, as well as halves and fourths. Ask your child to point out the following shapes in their environment: sphere, cube, rectangular prism, cone and cylinder. We will move into measurement using nonstandard units of measure.

First Grade Update

Just a few quick dates to share:

Coming Up:
Friday, May 11: Early Release Day - Gemini music assembly 
Friday, May 18: Spirit Day - Sports Attire
Thursday, May 24th Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast - 8:45am-10:30am 
Thursday, May 24th: 1st grade field trip 
Monday, May 28: No School
Monday, June 4: 7:30-8:00pm - Second Grade Bridge Night (see below)
Friday, June 8: Last Day of School, Early Release Day

Second Grade Bridge Night:
On Monday, June 4, please plan to join me in our classroom for a night we are titling "2nd Grade Bridge Night." Please plan to send at least one parent to this event. Your children have made tremendous strides with literacy this year. This meeting will be important to wrap up 1st grade and make sure you have everything you need to know to help make the summer and transition to 2nd grade as smooth as possible. If childcare is needed, please let me know ASAP. Please let me know ASAP if this will be not be possible for your family to send one adult. 
If you have any questions, please let me know! 

Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast:
We have had some pretty wonderful parent volunteers in our classroom this year. They have read with your children, made copies, sorted data binders and more! 

Please join me in thanking: Cat Rische, Katelyn Gates, Tim Nolte, Vanessa Nolte, Renee DeGood and Joy Lamfers. 

These parents have generously given their time and efforts by volunteering at Bauer Elementary this year, and as a result, the BES Staff would like to invite them to a Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast. Thursday, May 24th 8:45am-10:30am in the Teacher's Lounge. Whether they have made copies, read with students, organized events or countless other things, we want to thank them! Parent volunteers, please join us for this open house style breakfast.
(Knowing this fell on the day of our field trip unfortunately, please stop in at 8:45 before we head out to grab a quick bite to eat!)

First Grade News

It has been such a wonderful SPRING week of sunshine! Finally! It was a very busy week. Please see below to check out what has been happening!

Coming Up:
Monday, April 30: Class book order due
Friday, May 4: Field Trip Permission Slip Due
Friday, May 11: Early Release Day
Friday, May 18: Spirit Day - Sports Attire
Thursday, May 24th: 1st grade field trip 
Monday, May 28: No School

Book Orders:
If you are interested in ordering books from the book order, please have your order in by Monday, April 30. This will be the last class order before summer. I love seeing the great titles some of you have chosen for your children already! Head to www.scholastic.com - our class code is LGVW7.

Family Read Aloud Books:
Those that are participating in the family read aloud this time around will be receiving the book and study guide home today. Have fun reading!

Reading and Writing:
We have learned so much about our animals! We have researched and written about their life cycle, homes, food, and fun facts. Ask your child to share what animal he or she is writing about and what they have learned. Next week we will be writing our introduction and conclusion. It is exciting to see students apply all they have learned as readers and writers as they research and write!

Math:
We have begun unit 7 and have learned how to tell time to the hour and half hour on both analog and digital clocks. Any extra practice students can get at home, especially to the half hour, would be great.

Social Studies:
Some students have mastered writing their address independently, others are still working on it. Next week we will practice drawing maps of spaces and using a key to do so. 

First Grade News

We are back and rolling. I hope everyone had a wonderful spring break. Hold on tight - the next 8 weeks will absolutely fly by (yes, I said 8 weeks. Yikes!). We are working hard and have a lot to accomplish to be ready for 2nd grade!

Coming Up:
Monday, April 16: Family Read Aloud form and money due
April 19: Mother/Son Bowling
Monday, April 23: Bauer Art Show 5:30-7:30pm
Monday, April 30: Class book order due
Friday, May 11: Early Release
Friday, May 18: Spirit Day: Sports Attire
Thursday, May 24th: 1st grade field trip - details to come next week
Monday, May 28: No School

Family Read Aloud, Part 2:
Hopefully you received the blue note that came home Tuesday about our next family read aloud: The Mouse and the Motorcycle. I wish you could have seen the excitement in the classroom when students saw the note in their mailboxes! We looked for a book that was a little shorter this time, and one that was still a minimum cost. If you choose to participate, please be sure to send in $2 by Monday. If you already have the book and would like to participate, please return the note indicating this. If you have recycled the note already, an email will also work.

Book Order:
I will also be sending out forms for one final book order on Monday. This is a great chance to stock up for the summer. There are several other inexpensive read aloud options available through Scholastic. Keep in mind that there are hundreds more titles on the website, so be sure to browse there. You can order at https://clubs.scholastic.com. Our class code is: LGVW7

Addresses: 
We have begun working on learning to write our addresses. Some students have had a head start by practicing at home. Thank you for your work. We have practiced Hudsonville, MI 49426 thus far. Next week we will add on house numbers and street names.
Students were introduced to Google Earth today - talk about some excitement! They would enjoy exploring this site at home if possible. They could enter their address, a relatives address, favorite vacation spots, and more!

Reading and Writing:
We have begun new reading and writing units that work hand in hand. Each student selected an animal to write about. They have been researching this animal, and are writing an information book about it. It is so exciting to see students reading with such purpose. If your child would like to do any online research at home and print out what he or she finds, they may bring it in to use the information in class. Ask your child what animal they have chosen!

Math:
We are wrapping up unit 6 with our test next week. Our next unit starts with telling time to the hour and half hour. Feel free to start exposing your child to these at home on a digital or analog clock.

Word Work:
If you have not done so yet, grab those whiteboards and have your child practice writing his or her address this weekend. This will be so helpful heading into next week!

Reading and Frobscottle!

It was an exciting day in 1st grade today! We chose a book on Monday that we thought a kindergartener would like to hear. All week we practiced this book - making sure we were reading like storytellers, using our reading finger, stopping to talk about the book, etc. Today students were paired up with a kindergartener to read their book to them. They did a fabulous job! Enjoy these pictures.

And of course the most exciting moment, out Book Club Lunch for The BFG! Students enjoyed eating their lunch in the classroom. They had a special treat of Frobscottle! (Easy to make at home - lemon-lime soda, strawberry or raspberry lemonade, a squirt of whip cream, and a few pop rocks on top.) It was a hit! We then joined in a circle and discussed the book with some questions. We were able to break into two groups to allow for more students to share their comments, with Mrs. VanBergen leading the 2nd group. I wish I could have recorded their comments! It was evident that they truly enjoyed this read aloud. My favorite question was "What did you like most about reading the BFG with your family?" The most common response was enjoying spending time with their family. Other answers included cuddling, seeing my mom or dad have to try to read the big words, helping my mom or dad to read the big words, and more. Thank you for joining in and giving your child this experience! There were a few students that did not finish the book yet. The ending was not given away today, and they are hoping to still have a chance to do so (the book is different (and better) than the movie anyway!). Please take a moment to complete the following survey to share your feedback to help us improve in the future: Family Read Aloud Survey. This is completely anonymous. Thank you for your time!

First Grade News

It has been a busy week in 1st grade! I enjoyed meeting with half of you this week, and look forward to meeting with the rest of you on Tuesday. 

Coming Up:
Monday, March 19: Dress like a book or movie character
Tuesday, March 20: Parent/Teacher Conferences (look for notes in folders today)
Wednesday, March 21: Book Fair Shopping
Monday, March 19: Finish The BFG at home
Thursday, March 22: The BFG Book Club Lunch 
Friday, March 23: Hudsonville Eagles or Bauer t-shirt 
Thursday, March 29: Read and Feed, pajama day - look for a list of food items we are in need of next week
Friday, March 30: No School, Spring Break Begins
Friday, April 13: Early Release Day, Wear your Bauer shirt

The BFG:
It has been fun to see students come in with such excitement after finishing The BFG. While Monday is the goal, our lunch will be on Thursday, so if you cannot swing Monday, please wrap up by Thursday. 
Students are responsible for their own lunch for our book club lunch on Thursday. Cold lunch may be easier if that is an option, however any students with hot lunch may go to get their lunch. 

Reading:
We have been busy in reading learning and reviewing strategies reader's use. (You have been excellent models of many of these with The BFG!) Some of these include: using our reading finger, matching our voice to punctuation, stopping at confusing parts, reading all the way through a word, and more. 

Writing:
We are nearing the end of our first independent small moment/narrative story. We wrote narrative stories in the fall. It is so exciting to revisit this genre this time of year - it really shows their growth as writers! I am really enjoying reading their stories. 

Math: 
We wrapped up unit 5 with our test this week, and we have moved into unit 6. We will be sorting, counting, recording and comparing data in this unit. 

Social Studies:
As I mentioned to those that had conferences on Wednesday, we will be starting our maps unit after spring break. Your child will be responsible for writing his/her address independently, including last name. Any advanced practice is encouraged.  

First Grade News

Wow - talk about a jam packed week! Monday Miss Ellie came to share stories with us, Tuesday author Aaron Zenz presented to us, on Wednesday Amy Dahlman from the Children's Advocacy Center was here, and it was Reading Night at Bauer, Thursday was our pizza party, and we made it to Friday! Phew! We definitely were busy building memories as we continued our journey through first grade this week.

We have a lot of important dates coming up with Reading Month. I will list those for the upcoming week as we go. Refer to the reading calendar if you want to see further out.

Coming Up:
Monday, March 5: Wear a shirt with words, bookmarks for bookmark contest due, email or bring in a picture of your family reading together
Friday, March 9: Early Release Day, Wear your Bauer shirt, Bring a flashlight to school to read with
Wednesday, March 14 and Tuesday, March 20: Parent/Teacher Conferences (look for notes in folders today)
Monday, March 19: Finish The BFG at home
Friday, March 30: No School, Spring Break Begins

Reading: 
We have circled back to learning what good readers do to read accurately, smoothly, and read for meaning. We have been working hard at making sure we use our reading fingers to slide our finger while reading, and making sure our eyes are on the words while we are reading. If you notice your child reading at home without sliding their reading finger, please remind them to do so!
We also had some fun reading Dr. Seuss books for Dr. Seuss's birthday.
How is The BFG going at home? I have loved hearing students share how much they are enjoying reading with you! Remember to pace your reading to be done by March 19.

Writing:
Thank you for sending in the small moments topics papers. Students have some great ideas! We started writing a class story about our visit from author Aaron Zenz this week. We will wrap the story up next week and start writing independently.

Math:
This week we have been exploring numbers on a 1-120 chart. We have looked for patterns, added numbers, and more. Feel free to practice equations on whiteboards with adding and subtracting multiples of 10. For example: 62+20=   19+20=   80-50=   60-20= 
Make sure one of the numbers has zero ones for addition, and both numbers have zero ones for subtraction.

Our door that we decorated for Reading Night. With the theme of "Rollout the Red Carpet" we were asked to select a book title that turned into a movie. It isn't a surprise that The BFG was a winning vote!

Mrs. Dahlman from the Children's Advocacy Center presented to our class. 

What joy having a pizza party brings!! Thank you, families! 

And thank you to parents that donated extras!

First Grade News

We have a lot coming up in the weeks ahead. We will be very busy leading up to spring break.
Please look for the teal March is Reading Month calendar that came home in folders today. There are many important dates and events listed. Please let me know if you have questions!

Thank you for supporting Bauer and buying Marco's Pizza - we won again!! :) We will enjoy pizza for lunch next week Friday, March 2nd.
We are looking for donations of juice boxes, carrots, and grapes (or any easy to serve/eat fruit) to round out our lunch. Please let me know if you are able to donate one of these items. Thank you!

Coming Up:
Through February 26: Bring in 1-4 used books for book trade (see below)
Saturday, February 24: Father/Daughter Dance
Tuesday, February 27: Author Aaron Zenz visits Bauer
Wednesday, February 28: Reading Night at Bauer 6:30-7:30pm - hope to see you there!
Friday, March 2: Marco's Pizza Lunch
Friday, March 9: Early Release Day

Conferences: 
Conference notes will be sent home next Friday, March 2. The times ad days remain the same from the fall. Please try to make the time work for you. If for some reason it does not, we may be able to swap with another person's time, but hopefully we can stick to the original times mostly. 

The BFG:
There sure is a lot of excitement in our classroom over reading The BFG! A huge thank you to so many families for making this a priority in your home. Students have shared how much they are enjoying that special time of you reading to them. I hope you are enjoying it as well. Remember to stop often to discuss the story with them, and use the discussion questions when possible. This discussion is a huge aide in comprehension. Reading around 50-60 pages a week will help to keep you on track for finishing by March 19. Please let me know if you have any feedback or questions at any time. 

Reading:
We have begun working on reading small passages and being able to identify who, what, when, where, why and how from the passage. We then use those answers to create a sentence to summarize the passage. We have also been practicing looking at the pictures of the book closely before starting to read the page. We do not want our eyes to look at the pictures while reading (this leads to errors), so we look at them closely first. 

Writing:
We have finished our opinion unit and will moving back into narrative or small moment stories next week. Your child will be bringing home another topic sheet to list ideas of small moments to write about. Please look for this and send back within the week. Thank you for your help!

Math:
We are rolling in unit three. We have been solving story problems with teen totals and story problems with three addends. 

Quick First Grade Update

What a wonderful week full of love and care for each other! Our final class party was a huge success! Many thanks to our numerous volunteers, and to Katelyn Gates for organizing all three parties. Students loved opening their valentines fro their friends. Such a fun day! Enjoy the pictures below.

We have many things coming up with March is Reading Month. Please see below:

Coming Up:
Now - February 26: Bring in 1-4 used books for book trade (see below)
Monday, February 19: The BFG Books sent home and Family Read Aloud begins
Tuesday, February 20: Marco's Pizza Night (we'd love another pizza party!:) 
Saturday, February 24: Father/Daughter Dance
Tuesday, February 27: Author Aaron Zenz visits - Book order link: Aaron Zenz Book Order
Wednesday, February 28: Reading Night at Bauer (details listed on previous post)
Friday, March 9: Early Release Day

Family Read Aloud:
Look for a bag coming home on Monday with the book and more. I am excited for your families to enjoy reading this book together!

Red Carpet Book Exchange