Additional Websites For Homework

Look On the Back of Your Child's Homework Folder...
...and you will see usernames and passwords for two additional homework resources for your child.  These are "additional" resources and are not mandatory.  However, they do help reinforce concepts taught in school and children seem to love them! Your son or daughter can now access the following:



This Vocabulary Spelling City website and/or app will gain you instant access to the first grade "trick words" through fun and engaging games. The children particularly like Hang Mouse. It is recommended that you begin practicing the Unit 2 and 3 words first. The website/app provides a spelling test for these words. Your child can practice the words which they spell incorrectly and then move onto the next level. Or they can continue to practice those unit words through various games for additional exposure. It's fun and the children seem to love it!



The i-ready program can only be accessed via a computer or laptop. The child's lasid number has been provided on the given sheet so that your child may login to a program which is specifically designed for YOUR child's own level of reading. Once they master a level, it will automatically move onto the next level.



You may have heard your child mention JiJi the Penguin to you. JiJi is the penguin who helps lead your child through various math problems. The ST in STmath stands for Spacial Temporal as there are no words in STmath! Rather, children are encouraged to watch and figure out what JiJi is asking them to do. So PLEASE do not help your child right away with STmath. The learning is in the trial and error attempts which present a "healthy frustration" for your child. Give it time and watch your child figure it out for themselves. There are little dots which appear at the bottom of your child's screen. These dots indicate your child's failed attempts. Please allow at least 5-9 of these dots to appear before offering help. Chances are that they will figure it out for themselves! Trust me!  

There are step-by-step directions in your child's folder which will help you to log onto STmath. STmath can be accessed by either on a computer or through an app on a tablet. Games which have already been taught in class have been assigned in homework. More games will be opened up for home use as the year proceeds. Your child can also replay a favorite game -- what better way to reinforce a math concept! Have fun!

The First Few Weeks of School

We have had some fun getting to know each other and the rules the past few weeks.  Here are some pictures of what has been going on in the classroom: 

Room 111 Are Bucket Fillers!

The entire first grade has read and discussed the book How Full Is Your Bucket? This book describes how we all have invisible buckets which are either filled by kind and helpful thoughts, actions and words or "dipped into" by unkind thoughts, words and actions.  Each child has his/her own bucket displayed on the wall.  When they are seen being kind and helpful to others or following the rules of the classroom, they put a coupon into their bucket.  

After the children earn 5 tickets, they receive a reward coupon.  You may have seen some of these coupons coming home.  Reward coupons include: lunch with the teacher; sitting in  Check out the books shown below!  The children beg to have them re-read to them over and over again!  Ask your child how (s)he is being a bucket filler at school.

Lately we have been receiving  for our buckets by remembering to do the following upon arrival to school each morning (without being reminded by the teacher).

                                        

This is what we have been doing over the first 2 weeks!

Morning Meeting:

During morning meeting we practice greeting each other; learn to listen when others are speaking and read the "Morning Message." 

Hope and Dreams:

We discussed and shared our Hopes and Dreams for our year in first grade -- you can see them posted on the wall when you come to Open House on Tuesday.

Rules:

After sharing our hope and dreams we discussed and made rules as a classroom that we thought would help us achieve our goals.  They are also posted on our wall.

Here we are acting out the Classroom Rules:

Here are photos of the children relaxing and getting to know each other with play dough on the first of school:

Here we are playing a math game called "Shake Those beans"

Here we are practicing our STmath passwords:

We read, discussed and made connections to the book Chrysanthemum:

We have practiced patterns, counting and adding with a daily calendar activity:

We discussed and wrote about how we can follow the classroom rules throughout the year:

We did a name activity with Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

We practiced and labeled what a good listener looks like:

We learned about "Good Telling" through the book A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue

WELCOME TO FIRST GRADE!

By now you have probably received the Welcome Letter that I sent in the mail!  If not, it should be arriving soon!

I hope your child enjoyed his/her letter and is having fun decorating the puzzle piece!

Here are a few reminders to make the first day of school easy and take away the First Day Jitters (for you and your child):

Transportation Form: Please fill out and send this form to school with your child on the first day of school.  I know that some children may have different dismissal instructions for different days of the week -- please note that on the form. 

Also, I realize that sometimes dismissal on the first day of school is different from other days...if this is the case, please attach a note with your special instructions for the first day of school (for example: your child will usually go to after school on Mondays, but will be a walker or take the bus on the first day of school.)

Bus Sticker:  Please add your child's Bus Number  to the sticker and then attach the sticker to your child's backpack. (If your child is a walker you can just write walker on the sticker).

What to Expect:  The first day of school makes students (and parents) excited and nervous.  Believe me when I say that I still get nervous on my first day of school -- and I've been doing this for 19 years!

We are gong to play name games, get to know each other, explore the classroom, make graphs, orient ourselves to the school, sing songs, read books, draw and play together.  At the end of the day your child will bring home a Communication Folder. 

This communication folder will have a "Keep Home" side and "Send Back" side.  Please have your child bring this folder back to school every day regardless of whether it is empty or not.  This will be our daily form of communication.  Please send any notes to me in this folder and look in this folder every day when your child brings it home to find any written correspondence from me.  

You can also correspond to me via email at farmer@bpsk12.org or just call!  I'm not always available to answer right away but will get back to you at my earliest convenience when I'm not teaching.  If it is an emergency, please call the office. 

Another form of communication is this blog.  Please sign up in the "follow by email" space at the top right hand corner to receive automatic updates every time I post a new blog.  It's simple and easy and looks like this:

Follow by Email

Click on the additional resource tabs on the right to receive more specific information about sight words, apps, free websites and more. I will continue to update these tabs as the year progresses. Look at the upper right hand side and find a tab list that looks like this:

Additional Resource Pages to Explore:

• Home
• Reading Class Blog
• 100 Sight Words for 1st grade
• Apps In the Classroom
• Free Reading Websites:
• Websites for Math:
• Children's Yoga Resources
• Online Book Ordering Through Scholastic
• Math Vocabulary
• Field Trip Photos

Overwhelmed?  Don't be!  I'll go over this again when we meet each other at Open House!  In the meantime, enjoy the remaining days of summer vacation with your child and I will see them on August 31st!