Weekly Update September 12th-16th

Hello! It’s already been a week since we’ve been back in the swing of things!  I’ve enjoyed getting to know this class so far.  It’s going to be a fun year!  Planners went home last night for the first time and they all came back signed! Please continue to check and sign nightly.  This is a great spot for a quick note too.  Books will be coming home for the first time tonight.  They will be choosing two books at first to bring home.  As books become longer they may start to bring only one book home.  This is not meant to take a huge part of your child’s evening...only about 10-15 minutes of practice!  

Upcoming Events:

September 14: Picture Day

September 15: Dot Day (Wear Dots!)

September 16: Fitnesss wear Friday
September 16: Fox Cities Kids Fun Run
September 20: No School for Students September 9-23:Safety Week
September 19: PSC Meeting
September 22: Family Night: Hot Dogs and How to Help 5:30-7:00

The NDLC online store is open until Sept 25. There are sample sizes in the office. They will be out during our family night as well. The code is NDLCSpirit and the link is: https://eaglegraphics.itemorder.com/

This is a quick link for you and your family to get registered for the Fox Cities Kids Fun Run this Friday evening. This is a fun, easy way for our school to earn up to $1000. Be sure to find NDLC from the list of school names as you are registering. Thanks!
https://secure.getmeregistered.com/get_information.php?event_id=122671

Reading: Our first units title is Building Good Reading Habits.  The first part of our unit focuses on establishing structures, expectations, and values during reading time.  We are working on developing good habits before (sneak peek), during (check your sneak peek), and after reading (retell or find your favorite part).  We are also focusing on reading more and setting goals.  Yesterday we made reading mats to help us keep track of our reading. Later this week we will focus on rereading to make our reading voices sound smoother and scooping up words in phrases so we don’t sound like robots when we read! :)

At Home Reading:

As children are learning to read, we reinforce their efforts throughout the day in different ways.  During the school day, reading instruction takes many forms.  The students participate in read-alouds, shared reading, word study, small group instruction, and independent reading workshop.  Another important component to this work is the at home reading students do.

Students will be bringing home a book bag with a book inside for your child to share with you.  This is a book that your child chose from his/her reading workshop book box.  The following are some things to keep in mind when reading the book:

• This is a book that your child chose.  You may find that the book is easy or a bit hard.  If the book is easy, compliment your child on the good job that he/she is doing.  I encourage the children to reread books; it is a great fluency-builder!  If the book is too hard, don’t hesitate to read the book to, or with, your child.  Talk to your child about what the author was teaching you about (non-fiction) or retelling and talk about what was happening in the story (fiction).
• This is part of your child’s homework in first grade.  Please return the book the following day and your child may choose a new book to share.  I will send home books Monday through Thursday.
• It should take between 5-15 minutes to read the book., depending on the length. You can stop after 15 minutes if the book is longer, and continue it another day.
• Enjoy this special time with your child!

If you have any questions about this process, please do not hesitate to ask!  First grade is a magical year and I know you will be amazed in your child’s growth!

Writing: We are jumping into our Small Moments: Writing with Focus, Detail and Dialogue. First graders are thinking of an idea (a thing they do, a thing that happened to them, a strong feeling, or any other way they can think of a story), planning it by telling it across the pages of their booklets, sketching it across their booklet pages, writing the story and then going back and revising to add more by thinking of who, where, how, when, what and adding that to their story. This week we will be using strategies to spell words, zooming in on the small moments-just telling one part of our day, not the whole day, and working with partners to add more to our stories.

Word Work:  We are beginning to review our kindergarten word wall words. We are also focusing on a  “Student of the Day.” Each day we learn about a new student by seeing what they brought in their bag and interviewing them to learn more. Then, we write a news article together about what we learned. We hang these articles in our room and read them regularly together! We also add the student’s name to the word wall.

Math: In math we have been busy learning our routines and becoming familiar with our math tools. Students have math toolkits where they keep their math journals and tools. Each day we focus on a number of the day and students show the number in a variety of way. We are also focusing on numbers up to ten. We have been noticing groups of 5 in numbers 5-10 and using 5 groups to help us visualize 5 without having to count. We have also spent time learning that mistakes help us grow, and mathematicians take their time when problem solving.

Content: He have established our hopes and dreams for first grade and displayed them in our classroom.  By the end of the week we will have our classroom rules established so that we can all accomplish our school work and hopes and dreams this school year.  We will be moving on to our first science unit at the end of the week and it will be Organisms.  This life science unit teaches students the concept of Organisms and helps them develop an understanding of living things. In this unit, they will learn about:
-The interdependence between the environment and organisms
-How to create and maintain a woodland habitat that contains pine seedlings, moss, pill bugs and Bess beetles
-How to set up and observe a freshwater habitat where they introduce aquatic plants, pond snails and guppies

As always if you have any questions, let me know!
-Samantha

WELCOME BACK TO THE 2016-2017 SCHOOL YEAR!

We had an awesome first day! It was very busy...we met new friends, celebrated Jaxon's birthday, had gym, music, library, and an assembly!

A few reminders:
Breakfast- If you would like your child to be participating in the classroom breakfast please let me know. Today there were not any students who chose to take it.  It will be available every morning, just remind your first grader to ask for it.  

Water Bottles- It's very hot in our classroom this week.  Water bottles are encouraged!

Snack- Please try to remember to send a snack with your child.  We will be having morning snack at 9:50 each day.  Lunch is at 12:00.

All About Me Bag- Stating on Thursday and for the next 18 school days each student will have the chance to be the star of the day.  I will send home a slip and a brown paper bag a couple of days before explaining what items they can bring in to share.  This is an exciting way to learn about each other!

Let me know if you have any questions!  I'm already looking forward to Day 2 :)
-Samantha

Last Day!

It was a great year!  I will miss all of you!  We took one last class picture and enjoyed some freezies yesterday :) Have a great summer!

Summer Practice

Hello!  I've had several ask for ideas on what to work on over the summer.  I've included a few ideas!  If I think of more I will add to list :)

Reading

Links to book lists at different levels. Reminder: The reading level that is listed on the report card is your child's instructional level.

Levels C-I

Levels H-M

Level L-P

This school year we read Upside-Down Magic as a read aloud in our class.  Many of the students enjoyed this book and were looking forward to book twos release on May 31st.  It is at higher reading level so it might make a good read aloud at home...although I have never read it so it is just a suggestion! Here is a link to the book: http://www.amazon.com/Sticks-Stones-Upside-Down-Magic-2/dp/0545800498


Make Reading and Writing Fun!  Make a couple choices a week! 

1. Read 20 minutes out of your book bag/box
2. If you are in a book club, read your assignment and jot a thought to share
3. Have a family member read aloud to you or take turns reading to each other
4. Look at the writing you’ve done lately and set some goals.  Write them down and keep them next to you when you write
5. Write a book recommendation for a friend or family member
6. Call a family member and tell him or her about your reading or writing goals
7. Help write a grocery list
8. Write a poem for someone
9. Read book reviews online and make a list of “must-reads”
10. Find a friend and read the same book.  Set goals and make a plan to chat
11. Have a “reading marathon” - gather up a bunch of books, magazines and or newspapers, and read until you need to stop
12. Spend time writing a mystery/fantasy/historical fiction/sci fi/realistic fiction story
13. Draw a picture and write labels and give it to a friend or family member
14. Make a comic strip
15. Read a video game “cheat” book
16. Read and follow the directions for a game
17. Research something for your family
18. Write a letter to convince someone to do or think something
19. Write a survey question and ask people their opinion and then use this in a piece of writing
20. Read and follow a recipe
21. Write a “how-to” for someone in your family or a friend
22. Reread your favorite picture book
23. Read a story to a sister or brother
24. Read a story to someone on the phone
25. Write a play
26. Take a scene from your book and write a script
27. Write a letter to a friend or family member that lives far away
28. Write questions and interview someone.  Take notes during your interview!
29. Plan a trip (real or made-up) by researching places to go, things to see, and how you’ll get there
30. Read to a pet or stuffed animal

Math

Math Facts! It is important to continue to practice math facts through 20. This will be very helpful for second grade math. Flash cards are the best way to practice these.

Our math workbooks will be coming home at the end of this week and they are a great resource to see the variety of work that we have done over the past school year.  Writing your own story problems could be fun!  Also, having your child explain to you how they know that their answer is correct will help with their understanding.

Here are a few helpful math links

Math Worksheets

Games

Have Fun :) 

I hope that all students have a fun and exciting summer.  They have all worked very hard the past 9 months and deserve a relaxing break! I look forward to hearing about their growth in second grade!

Weekly Update May 16-20

Hello,

Wow!  I can’t believe how fast this year has gone!  They will be second graders soon J

On Friday we have our community walking field trip.  Remind your student to wear comfortable walking shoes.  Also, if you indicated on the field trip form that you will be joining us, I look forward to seeing you!  We plan to leave at 8:30 a.m.

On Friday, we celebrated the success of the Knowledge-a-Thon.  We decorated cookies because they are all one smart cookie and at the end we had an awards ceremony.  Our class won first place for the highest average score!  You can see in the pictures below how excited and proud we were of our hard work!

At the end of the year, fourth graders host "mini-courses" where they teach a skill to our 5k-3rd graders.  If you have empty egg cartons, please send them in with your child this week.  We have a group that needs them.  Thanks! 

Upcoming Events:

Friday, May 20: Community Walking Tour Field Trip

Monday, May 23: Family Event at the Kaukauna Public Library 6-7 PM

Thursday, May 26: Early Dismissal 

Friday-Monday, May 27-May 30: No School

Wednesday, June 1:Mini Courses/ Field Day

Thursday, June 2: Last day of school for students. Early Dismissal

Let's celebrate the last few days with a special GOOD-BYE!

5/23 G Green Bay gear and grapes

5/24 O Oranges and wear orange

5/25 O Odd day and Oreos

5/26 D Dot day: Wear dots and dot art

5/31 B Book buddies and wear blue

6/1 Y Yummy popsicles and yoga

6/2 E Exercise gear

Curriculum Updates:

Readers' Workshop: We are continuing our nonfiction study. This week we will learn ways nonfiction readers can take notes about what they are learning so they can share with their partner. Some ways we are organizing our learning is by using T-charts, Venn Diagrams, Webs. We will also be comparing and contrasting books about the same topic to grow and change our thinking and notice when information doesn't match. We can compare and contrast books by asking, "Why is this important?" or "Why do you think this keeps showing up in all the books?"

Writers' Workshop: We are starting our poetry unit. This week will study other 1st grade poets to see what we can learn about writing poems. We we also be exploring poetry centers to get our poetic juices flowing. The centers include: illustrating a poem with watercolors, listen to songs, read song books, see ordinary objects with new eyes and add more poems to our poetry anthology. 

Word Study: We will continue to work on using all of our words from this year. Our goal is to not only write them isolation, but also spell them correctly in our writing. We are working on short and long I words this week!

Math Workshop:  This week we will be finishing up our work with measurement, shapes, and time. On Monday we used paper clips as a form of measurement. We will review time and shapes and plan to take our unit test on Thursday.  We are taking the End of the Year first grade assessment.  It will be exciting to see how much we have grown as mathematicians in first grade!

Social Studies: We will be finishing up our community centers week and then ending our week with our walking community fieldtrip in which we will be touring the Piggly Wiggly, Times Villager, stopping at Dick's Drive-In for ice cream and eating lunch and playing at Horseshoe park. First graders are super excited for this field trip! 

As always if you have any questions let me know! Have a great week!

-Samantha 

Weekly Update May 9-13th

Hello,
As the year begins to wind down, we are still very busy in first grade.  Read below to find out what's happening!

Thank you to all who made me feel very special during Teacher Appreciation last week!  I love being a part of the New Directions family! Your support and willingness to be a part of your child's education this year has been amazing. Thank you! 

The Penny War has begun! Read below to learn more about this exciting activity.

Upcoming Events:

May 12: Family Night 5:30-7:00-Tailgate and Trail Night
May 20: Community Walking Tour Field Trip-Please return the permission slip and money by Wednesday. 

May 26: Early Dismissal 

May 27-May 30: No School

June 1: Mini Courses/ Field Day

June 2: Last day of school for students. Early Dismissal

Curriculum Updates:

Readers' Workshop: We are continuing our nonfiction study. This week we will spend more time growing our reactions to what we are reading. We can think things such as, "In my opinion..." or "I agree/disagree with the part where..." to help us grow our reactions. We'll also be noticing when what we read doesn't match what we thought and change our thinking. We'll work on asking questions such as, "How do..?" "Why do..?" "How come...?" and "Why would...?" to help us think deeper about the text. Readers can use the information they do find to suggest possible answers to their questions. Partners have been reading books about similar topics and sharing and growing their thinking together.

Writers' Workshop: We are finishing up publishing our series books. We are working on blurbs to get our readers interested in our books, and All About the Author page to teach the reader more about the author, and fancying up our pictures and making a catchy cover for our celebration at the end of the week. 

Word Study: We will continue to work on using all of our words from this year. Our goal is to not only write them isolation, but also spell them correctly in our writing.  This week we are focusing on short e and long e words.

Math Workshop:  We will continue learning about shapes this week. We will be composing 2-Dimensional shapes using other shapes, learning more about 3-Dimensional shapes and composing some of our own, and beginning to learn about measurement by measuring with length units. 

Social Studies: We are continuing our study of communities. This week we will add to our map of our playground and begin our community centers. Centers will include: reading and making a map, building a community location, and exploring community helpers. We're getting very excited for our community field trip next Friday!

Hello New Directions Families,

             As you know the Kaukauna Public Library has a lot more space for more books. Student Council would like help from the families at New Directions Learning Community to raise money for purchasing more books for the library.  Student Council is organizing a Penny War to buy books so there are more available for checkout. 

A Penny War works like this: Pennies count as one cent each as you would expect but each silver coin, bill or check reduces the number of points from that container by the amount of the coin. (e.g. a nickel reduces the points by five, a dime by ten, a dollar by 100, etc...). Teams can then place silver coin and paper money into their competitors jars. 

All the books purchased with the money New Directions donates will have a donor’s plate inside the front cover telling everyone we donated the books. Our Penny War will run from Monday May 9 - Friday May 13. (So get your coins/bills ready.)

 Our goal is to raise $500. If each student brings in at least $3.00 we will exceed our goal. 4th graders will present our donation to the Kaukauna Library on May 31. 


Thank you for supporting NDLC and the Kaukauna Public Library. 

Weekly Update May 2-6

Hello,
Happy May! This morning we filled our May calendar with events for the month….and it is definitely busy!  This week we are beginning some of our end of the year assessments.  On Monday I started PALS testing and again on Friday I will be testing students.  It is exciting to see how much they have grown this year!  

Upcoming Events:

May 12: Family Night 5:30-7:00-A note will be coming home today
May 20: Community Walking Tour Field Trip-A note is coming home today

May 26: Early Dismissal 

May 27-May 30: No School

June 1: Mini Courses and Field Day

June 2: Last day of school for students. Early Dismissal

Curriculum Updates:

Readers' Workshop: We are continuing our nonfiction study. This week we will continue to work on determining what's important by using the "5 W's (and H)" Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?, putting information together by noticing how sections fit together, and coming up with our own ideas about what we're learning by thinking, "The idea I'm having is..." or "I think..."

Writers' Workshop: We are getting ready to publish our series books. Students have worked hard to create fiction characters, give their characters a problem and add details to make their stories come to life. We will be working on adding in punctuation, making our writing readable, using our favorite authors to give us ideas about what we can add to our stories, and use our illustrations to tell important details.

Word Study: We will continue to work on using all of our words from this year. Our goal is to not only write them isolation, but also spell them correctly in our writing. We have also been adding many new poems to our poem binders!

Math Workshop: Last we practiced telling and writing time to the hour and half hour. Telling the difference between the hour and minute hand can be tricky sometimes, so keep practicing at home. This week we will begin to explore shapes. We'll learn about the properties of squares, other rectangles, triangles, and circles. We'll also split shapes into equal parts and compose 2-dimensional shapes.

Social Studies: We are continuing our study of communities. This week we will be learning about community helpers, neighborhoods and maps. We will be exploring our playground and drawing a map using a birds eye view. 

Summer Literacy Night

 

When: Monday,  May 23^rd  6-7pm 

Who: Friends and Families of New Directions

 Where: Kaukauna Public Library

 

Why:  To get a jumpstart on summer reading and writing!

 

  Come and get registered for the summer reading program, get a library card (if you don’t already have one), make a summer reading and writing kit and check out the new library!

 

*Students will still have a summer reading program presentation in classrooms and are still able to return summer reading program registrations to school.