HEADING WEST

Coach Seirer and I are heading to the mountains for one of my favorite times of the year! I've told the children that I'm on my way to see Santa's reindeer. We'll be spending 5 days in Estes Park for Elk Fest. If you've never heard an elk bugle it is the most amazing experience. The aspen trees are just beautiful. It's the peak time for Autumn in the Rocky Mountains!

BOOK IT

Pizza Hut is once again offering the Reading incentive program for our students. Information will be sent home tomorrow. The program begins October 1 and ends March 31. Our goal to earn a free personal pizza is that your child will read for 200 min. this month. Fill out the minutes read on the calendar log sheet and return at the end of the month. I highly encourage our first graders to participate in the Reading Book It Club. Anytime we can put books into the hands of our children good things will happen. I wish for my students the love of reading! What an adventure it can be.....snuggle up with a good book and your child!

HOMECOMING

On Friday, September 27 Wakefield School will celebrate Homecoming. We are playing the Osborne Bulldogs. The First Graders will participate in the Homecoming Parade. The parade begins at 2:00 p.m. in the front of school. It ends at the football field. We will watch the parade as it passes by school and join in at the end. We hope the children will wear their Flyer T-shirts or our school colors of blue and white. Girls may bring pom-poms and the boys may bring a football to carry. The children will be dismissed at regular time on Friday. The crowning of the queen and king will be prior to the game. Kickoff is at 7:00 p.m. Come and support the Bombers!

Here is a picture of the children last year at the Homecoming Parade!

SNACKS

The children enjoy a snack with their morning milk. I've provided graham crackers, Honey Nut Cheerios, and Teddy Grahams. We are running out of snacks now. If you would like to send in something simple and fast that I could pass out the children will greatly appreciate your kindness. Kathryn's mother sent in Vanilla Wafers and Fruit Loops. The Vanilla Wafers were a big hit. They are already gone! Thank you Tina!

LIFT

The first session of LIFT classes are coming to a close this Friday. The children have worked very hard to practice reading phonic sounds. Be sure and help your child at home check out these websites. Two of our LIFT groups have worked on CVC patterns.(consonant-vowel-consonant) The first reading site reinforces using short vowel sounds. My group is progressing nicely. The next level will be working with digraphs. (sh,ch,th,wh) Thank you again for supporting your child's learning and listening to him/her read a book every night!

READING
http://www.softschools.com/language_arts/phonics/missing_vowel.jsp
http://www.softschools.com/language_arts/phonics/games/ch_sh_wh_th_sounds.jsp

PLAY DAY AT THE PARK

So proud of the First Graders for earning 100 good behavior marbles! Their reward was a Play Day At The Park. It was a beautiful day! The children had so much fun playing outside at the museum park. Keep up the good work little bees!

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FIRST DAY OF FALL

HaPpY 1st Day of Fall! What a beautiful day it is! I'm ready for pumpkins, cider, apple pies, cooler weather and the changing of the colors! The children have earned 100 Good Behavior marbles...proud of my little bees! I'm taking the First Graders to the Museum Park for a play day Monday afternoon. Hoping for another fall like day!

TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM

Here it is again....already time for Technology Fun Friday! We will explore these websites for reading and math on lap top computers today. The Bees and Honey game is pretty simple but it prompts control of using a mouse and tracking using their finger as the bees are counted. There are 3 different levels of this game. In the game of Number Track the children will review counting order. Quite simple but they enjoy dragging the numbers to their correct places. In the explore option the children may create their own number track! I really like the even and odd number game. The children have been learning about even and odd numbers in class this week. This would be a great game to practice at home. Starfall.com is one of my most favorite reading sites. The games are wonderful for sound blending! The First Day of Fall is Sunday! I'm ready for some fall like weather...HaPpY Fall to you!

MATH
http://www.tvokids.com/games/beesandhoney
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/ks2numeracy-properties-and-ordering.html#ntrack

READING
http://www.starfall.com/n/level-a/learn-to-read/load.htm?f

CHANGE IN SCHOOL CALENDAR

In case you haven’t received a message….school will be in session ALL DAY this Friday, September 20. We will NOT be dismissing at 1:00 for teacher inservice. Plan on a regular day of school with dismissal at 3:15. Thank you!

FUN FRIDAY COMPUTERS

Check out the "Technology in the Classroom" links posted each Friday.

SUNNY D LABELS

Please collect and send in your Sunny D Labels. We can earn 20 free books for our class if we collect 20 Sunny D Labels. The offer ends November 30. We can do it.....start collecting!

JAMES - STUDENT OF THE WEEK

TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM

The children are enjoying using the lap top computers in the classroom. I heard them taking that tomorrow is Friday Fun Day and that means COMPUTERS! I'm very pleased with our progress in Core Math. The children surprised me with one lesson on how quickly they could put a cut apart number chart together. We have some smart little bees! Here's a new math website we'll explore tomorrow during our computer time. Be sure to look back at last week's computer lesson that I posted. Those sites were really good. We'll also be working on them again during computer time.

MATH
http://illuminations.nctm.org/activitydetail.aspx?id=75

LIFT

LIFT is short for.....Learning is Fun Together! Today the children started new learning groups. LIFT is a time where students will work in small groups on reading skills in concentrated lessons. Groups are mixed with students from grades K-1st. Students will remain with the same group for 3 weeks. Each child has been evaluated and placed according to their needs. The students will be pre and post tested during their LIFT time to monitor their progress. There are 4 staff members working with groups during our LIFT time. Groups will work on a variety of skills during the year. Some examples are Letter sounds, Consonant Vowel Consonant patterns, Silent E, Blends, Digraphs, and advanced skills such as R-Controlled Vowels and Consonant Clusters, Silent Consonants and Consonant Digraphs. I will be supervising a group that is working on CVC words (consonant vowel consonant). At parent teacher conferences I will share more information on MTSS and the strategies we are using to improve our reading program. Here is a list of websites that my group will work on in LIFT class this week. http://pbskids.org/wordworld/characters/game_frm.html
http://www.softschools.com/language_arts/phonics/missing_vowel.jsp
http://www.ictgames.com/machine.html
http://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/kentict/content/games/flags.html
http://www.starfall.com/n/level-a/learn-to-read/play.htm?f

WORDS, WORDS, WORDS

The First Graders will be taking their first spelling word test this Friday! Words to study were sent home today. Think of fun ways for your child to review the words at home. Try using magnet letters to practice at home. If they have markers they may practice writing their words using markers. Spray some shaving cream on a cookie sheet and let them write the words in the shaving cream. Computer word programs are also a good way to practice words as they type each word 3x. The following website is an excellent online spelling game. You will need to type in the words to practice.
http://www.spellingcity.com/

Vocabulary words were introduced today for our new stories this week. The children brought their words home in a yellow envelope. Please help them review (read words) tonight and sign the back of the packet. Remind your child to bring their yellow packet back tomorrow in the Homework folder. If your child knows the word you may place a star in the corner. When your child earns 5 stars they have mastered this word. At the end of each unit all words will be tested and a final grade given. It is very beneficial if your child keeps up each week with mastering the weekly words. To add a variety in practice as time progresses you may ask your child to place 5 words in ABC Order. They may also write sentences using their words. Send back any extra work your child does at home and I will recognize them in the classroom! Our class rules say....Rule #5 - Keep your dear teacher HaPpY!

HAPPY GRANDPARENTS DAY!

On Sunday, September 8th we honor our grandparents! Grandparents are our heritage and are essential members of our families and communities. That is why this special day, National Grandparents Day, is set aside every year. Take the opportunity to spend some time with your grandparent, give them a call and let them know how special they are! The children made a special gift for their grandparents in class Friday. I hope they will be able to share with their grandparents. HAPPY GRANDPARENTS DAY!

TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM

This year the children will explore websites on the lap top computers and ipads. I will post sites each week that you may check out at home with your child. Today will be our first to explore using lap top computers. The children will learn how to access the Happy Hive Website. I have posted 2 phonics games and 2 math games. The children will enjoy coloring the 100 Number Chart using color patterns. Number sequence is another great review. Letter sound review games provide practice in using consonant sounds. Clifford makes everything fun....try the Phonics Sound game. Here are the links to the sites that we will work with today. Click on the link to go to the games!

MATH:
http://www.apples4theteacher.com/math/games/100-number-chart-one.html
http://www.kidport.com/Grade1/Math/NumberSense/G1-M-NS-Sequencing.htm

READING:
http://www.ictgames.com/phonic_fighter4.html
http://teacher.scholastic.com/clifford1/flash/phonics/index.htm

PICTURE DAY

Friday, September 6 is PICTURE DAY! Remind your child to wear their SMILE to school. Please return the picture packet with the background color selection of your choice. Pictures begin around 8:20. First Graders are 4th in line to have their pictures taken.