Mrs. Jansen's First Grade Class
Weekly Newsletter: September 7, 2015
KEYSOR PRIDE
We are Respectful, Responsible and Safe.
Easing into our Daily Routines, Learning Experiences, and Fun-Filled Times Together!
Thank you to all of our families who joined us during our First Friday Reading this past Friday. The children had a blast reading with you and sharing their book boxes that were created from our classroom learning library. As we move into our fourth week together, much continues to be underway both inside and outside of our classroom. I'm looking forward to meeting with many families this week and next, during our upcoming Intake Conferences. Additionally, there are many exciting events outside our classroom, including our Scholastic Book Fair (where proceeds will be shared with Keysor) and our first Wellness Wednesday, where classmates can walk or bike to school. The more families participating through walking or biking to school, the merrier!! For every five students who participate, we will add a paw print to our Wellness board near Mrs. Ehrlich's Wellness room on the first floor. I'll be walking with my boys and hope to see you out and about too! Also, not to forget!, our class has earned their first TWO Pawfect Class awards, from their wonderful jobs in Music and Library! Way to go to our class friends!!
Special Classes/Activities Schedule:
Monday, Sept. 7th: No school - Labor Day
Tuesday, Sept. 8th: D Day - Library lesson with Mrs. George, in our classroom; PTO meeting @ 7:00 p.m.: ABC's of Keysor; Free school-age childcare provided
Wednesday, Sept. 9th: E Day - Art with Mrs. Lang; Wellness Wednesday (walk or bike to school)
Thursday, Sept. 10th: A Day - P.E. with Coach Widaman; Picture Day; Intake Conferences in p.m.
Friday, Sept. 11th: B Day - Music with Dr. St. Clair
Tuesday, Sept. 8th: D Day - Library lesson with Mrs. George, in our classroom; PTO meeting @ 7:00 p.m.: ABC's of Keysor; Free school-age childcare provided
Wednesday, Sept. 9th: E Day - Art with Mrs. Lang; Wellness Wednesday (walk or bike to school)
Thursday, Sept. 10th: A Day - P.E. with Coach Widaman; Picture Day; Intake Conferences in p.m.
Friday, Sept. 11th: B Day - Music with Dr. St. Clair
What is Beautiful? Project
Last week the children shared what was beautiful or special in their lives, as based upon what they brought in their designated white lunch bag. These conversations led to an additional list, to our interactive writing one, that shared special moments in their lives, the first item received of a collection, and things that are in nature, are each beautiful in their own way. At the beginning of this week, our concluding sorting and writing aspects of this project will be completed.
Continuing in our Classroom Community
The children have really been growing in their reading lives within the classroom, through daily practices in "Read to Self" and "Read to Someone." We will continue with this growth this week, and provide for further one-on-one assessments in identifying current reading levels. Additionally, we'll continue in our shared reading experiences identifying classroom expectations through reading several stories including Pigsty by Mark Teague. Can you guess what aspect of our classroom we'll be thinking about through this tale?
Making New Friends: Across First Grade
As shared during our Parent Information evening, we spent some time last week during our "Making New Friends" aspect of the day, learning a little more about our friends in other First Grade classrooms. Together last week, Ms. Pryor's and our classroom enjoyed walks and times together around Project IDEA, learning about their favorite parts of First Grade together, their family and interests. This week we'll continue with our other First Grade friends classrooms.
Sound and Sight Word Practice: Short a Word Family (ad, ap, ack) & New Sight Words
The children are doing a great job in practicing and working with their new word family sounds and sight words. Last week we began with the short a word families of 'at,' 'an' and 'ag.' This week, we will extend upon the short a sound with the 'ad,' 'ap,' and 'ack' families. Words would include: had, bad, cap, map, sack, lack. Additionally, building upon our First Grade sight words: can, do, play, like, had, shared last week, the children will practice with their new words this week: use, an, there, want, how.
Organizing and Collecting
Throughout the past few weeks, the children have been playing with numbers in learning games, building our class 120 chart, and thinking about quantities of items. This week, we will begin to build upon these concepts through our new unit, "Organizing and Collecting." We will begin with taking inventories on items in our classroom, organizing them into packs of ten, and creating a class inventory chart. Be forewarned that some of these collection strategies may extend to home! ;)
What is a Scientist?
As we finish off our "What is Beautiful?" project where the children have enjoyed learning about each other and similar interests, we will be moving into conversations thinking about "What is a Scientist?" The children will discover how each of them are scientists, who love discovery, play, and exploration. We'll have some beginning experiments that will identify attributes of everyday objects, through the use of our senses. These beginning conversations will lead into our two - three week unit to come.
Mrs. Traci Jansen
Email: traci.jansen@kirkwoodschools.org
Website: http://keysor.kirkwoodschools.org/pages/Keysor_Elementary/Classes/Jansen
Location: 725 N Geyer Rd, Kirkwood, MO, United States
Phone: 314-213-6120 (2164)
Twitter: @TraciJansen