I'm starting my Scholastic Book Club up this week. You should see newsletters come home today with an excited child attached, wanting to buy hundreds of dollars worth of books!
If you would like to buy a few books for your child, there are two ways to go about doing this. First, you can go online and purchase them using my online code PDTZJ. Choose your selections and give them payment, and the books will arrive at our classroom. If you do not want to order online, please send back the filled out attached order form with payment. CHECK ONLY! No cash please. I will enter the order on my account, send in payment and the books will arrive here shortly. Now, you are never obligated to purchase books through Scholastic Book Club. However, if you choose to buy some books, I do earn award points which I use to buy more books for my classroom. So when you buy a book for your child, you help buy one for our class too. I will usually send these home on a Friday near the beginning of each month. You have one week to return payment to me, or order online before I send everything off. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me any time. Thanks for all support! ~Mr. Layes
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...or is it getting colder out. I know, I know. 50 degrees in March feels like summer, but now with the wind, it's downright chilly! I had Mr. Alex bump up our thermostat because it was a bit cold in the classroom too (and Mr. Coconut Rocket doesn't want to freeze). Here's the latest...
Math We are trucking along with our new Eureka math curriculum. After some bumpy lessons at the beginning of the module, kids now have a better understanding of the routines during math and the overall content after daily reviews. You will be seeing more exit slips coming home. Please take a look to see what we're working on. Additionally (pun intended), there is a new topic starting this week, so be on the lookout for another 1st grade Math News coming home. This week we are working on creating number stories where we either have to find the total (9+1=?), or find the part (6+?=9, ?+5=8). These can get tricky when given as a story problem. Here are the standards connected with our work this week: CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.OA.C.5 CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.OA.D.8 CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.OA.C.6 Social Studies This week we will discuss community and school helpers; who are they, what they do, and why they are important. We will also be practicing how to follow directions. Language We are reading several Curious George books this week and learning more about the sequence of a story. Books have a beginning, middle and end, and they use words like first, next, then, and finally to help the reader along. Students will be sorting story cards by sequence and coloring the illustrations accordingly. I have also begun reading with my guided reading groups this week. Some groups will meet 4x/week, others only 2x/week. My hope is to reach and support every child to get them reading at a 2nd grade level by the end of the year (if not further). *Please read with your child every night, and don't forget to send in the completed reading log in on Monday (I had 17 out of 20 on Monday, not bad). **Help your child remember their book bags from home everyday. Thanks! Word work/Writer's Workshop This week we will focus on short vowel 'o' and review short vowel 'e'. Our word wall is being populated with words, and I have seen students trying to find words on there when stumped. Good stuff. Also, we are continuing to work in our handwriting journals (with an emphasis on writing numbers), and have begun starting work in our Writer's workshop folders. Our first piece is a pattern book based around the book Quick as a Cricket. Here, students will fill in the blanks: I am as _______ as a ________ (e.g. I am as fast as a cheetah). Miscellaneous -The Sock Hop is tomorrow night from 6-7:30 in the gym. Come on down, ready to dance, and dress up like Arthur Fonzerelli or Sandy Olsson! -Happy 7th birthday's to Theo and Yousef this week! -Our annual Walk to School Wednesday will take place next week on October 5th. Walk to school with your child and enjoy some refreshments near the basketball courts. -Please keep sending in those box tops! -Please empty their folders every night (except for reading logs), and if your are sending a note or lunch money, please label it! That is all for now. Stay warm our there, autumn is upon us. ~Mr. Layes Wow, what a great group of kids I have. They have been receiving multiple compliments from teachers in the hallways about their good behavior in line. The specials teachers continue to give me rave reviews when my class is with them. And in our room, they are all working hard and having fun along the way. Keep it up.
And you might of heard. Yes, we have a class pet. I wrote a small grant proposal and was awarded enough money to buy our classroom a small fish tank, complete with all accoutrements. Our little red and blue beta fish is now swimming happily in our 3.5 gallon tank along with a little tiki hut and a leaf hammock. His offical name (after having a very democratic election) is Coconut Rocket (Coconut because of the Tiki Hut, Rocket because of his coloring). So there you go. Check the pics page for more. Awesome week! Yay!!! ~Mr. Layes But I hope the beautiful weather sticks around for another few weeks. And I'm sorry if you're a Bears fan. Go outside and bask in the vitamin D to mask your depression. Here's the latest...
***Bookmobile waiver update: Ms. Herbach and I wanted a giant re-do with these. So if you received another waiver form today (even if you filled one in before), please fill it out and send it back in this week. No need to tear the sheet, just send the entire paper back in. If you did not receive a waiver, then you miraculously got and signed the paper with your childs name on it. Kudos. Math This new curriculum is hefty! It's taking a bit longer to teach a lesson than last year, and I'm trying to do it with two separate groups. But the kids are troopers. We are getting to the point of independence with our three iPad math apps (if you need help logging on at home, let me know), which allow me to support students who need a bit of extra help. As for content, you might have seen some number bond dashes or exit slips come home recently. We are working on our partners of 6 through 10 this week (5+4=9, 3+7=10, etc.) We introduced a tool called a rekenrek to help us with our overall number sense (see this video for more info https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjakjKf6Fwk). And here are the standards that we are covering this week. CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.OA.A.1 CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.OA.C.5 CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.OA.C.6 Social Studies We are learning more about how to be a friend in school. Conversely, we are looking at bullying and learning what to do if you are being bullied and who is a safe adult to talk to. We will also learn more about how to focus and which tools can be utilized to be a good learner in school. Language This week we're reading several books including Jack's Talent and When I Was Little. Students will be making text to self connections, and sharing these with partners and the group as a whole. During Daily 5, we will be discussing how to pick a "good-fit" book. Like Goldilocks, students need to find a book that is neither too hard, or too easy, but one that is just right. I will use some fun examples to show them why this is an important skill. Word work/Writer's Workshop Short vowel 'u' and 'e' is highlighed this week. Kids will be using various tools to help them with these. You might have seen our special word wall paper as well come home on Monday. This will help students with their spacing and letter formation as well as spelling. We also began using our handwriting booklets and continuing to write and present our 1st grade news journal every Monday/Tuesday morning. Miscellaneous -Enrichment begins next Monday. Look out for a pink folder coming home this week with details if you signed up. If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Thakker or Ms. Badawi. -Bridget Lantry is turning seven on Thursday. Theo Miller and Yousef Al-Bayati will celebrate their birthday's next week! -There will be a hard lock-down drill on Friday morning. Students will hide in the corner library with voice level 0, with all lights off, curtains pulled and classroom door locked. I will prep them before hand, but I wanted to give you a heads up if they asked you any questions. -No toys in school. This is just a reminder from Principal Ruffino. My kids don't, but let's remember just the same. -And finally, please collect BoxTops for our classroom. Send them in early and often. Thanks!!! That's all for now. ~Mr. Layes All the kids looked great today. Big smiles and all. Here are just a few tidbits.
Picture Day: All students had their picture taken today. If you did not send in an order form, you can still buy prints online (follow the instructions on the flyer I sent out on Friday). Bookmobile waivers: Oops. When I had my mailbox helpers put these forms in the mailboxes, I did not see that individual student names were actually already printed on at the bottom. If you were confused, I understand. If you crossed out a name wrote in your child's name, perfect. If you received one with your child's name on itand sent it back in, kudos. If you did not receive a form, please let me know. Without your signature, kids won't be able to check out books from the bookmobile. Thanks. Reading Logs: I only received 11 reading logs this week. I will give full credit to those who bring it in before Friday. This is the only homework given, and it will be graded and used for narratives. Please read with your child every night. Keeping the log in the purple folder might make things easier for everyone. Thanks. Reading Letter: I'm sending a reading letter home today. It has the words of the week from last week and this week. We will be having a quiz on Friday to check their spelling for both spelling words and word wall words. Please review with your kids. That's it for now. I'll be back Wednesday. ~Mr. Layes |
AuthorMr. Layes hails from the Pacific NW, cut his teeth on the streets of NYC, and now calls the Midwest... home. Archives
September 2017
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