Oct. 28- Nov. 1

Greetings Everyone!
 

I hope everyone had a great weekend and an even better start to your week. We have been busy learning and having fun in first grade.  I so enjoyed meeting your child’s Grandparents and Special Friends last Friday! It’s always special to meet family members and celebrate together in the classroom.

October has been an eventful month of learning! We began our new unit of inquiry “Weather All Around.” Please remember that your child’s Weather Safety Plan is due next Monday, Nov. 4^th.  The students will present their plan to the class so please help your child rehearse.

The children are VERY close to filling up their BIG BUCKET OF FUZZIES. Please encourage your child to help the class earn our first big prize by making good choices. TEAM WORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK!

I hope you are enjoying the JGB story this week! It is one of my favorites! I understand that the homework is lengthy, however, it is essential that your child complete all assignments so that they can have the full experience as well as contribute to discussions and activities in the classroom. Our discussion day is this Thursday. I am looking forward to hearing the children’s responses.

Here’s what to look forward to this week:

Reading: Analyzing and Interpreting our JGB story The Mouse and the Wizard.

Phonics: Spelling /ea/ in words such as: team, teal, each, etc. Red Words: all, were, what

Grammar: Possessive nouns. Examples: Mrs. Peake’s scarf, the student’s paper

Science: Studying and creating tools that measure weather.

Math:  Counting and making exchanges for nickels, pennies, dimes. Measuring and comparing lengths of two objects, and finding missing addends.

Announcements:

·      Please be on the lookout for an invitation to our upcoming Thanksgiving Feast on Nov. 21^st.

·      On Thursday, your child may choose to celebrate Halloween by wearing his or her costume. They may not wear masks that cover their face or bring weapons.

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·      I have launched a new Twitter account for our classroom in an effort to provide reminders, helpful educational articles/resources and to give you an even closer look into the classroom. Our twitter is available by invitation only. Please request to follow peakefirstgrade if you are on twitter. This is not a requirement only an additional resource. I hope that you choose to use it!

Our new, curious Star Student is Corey Holt! He is enthusiastic about learning and we are thankful that he is a part of our community. Great job, Corey!

Oct. 21-25

Hello Everyone!
    I hope you all are having a fantastic start to your week! Team Peake had a very successful day today in first grade! It's hard to believe we have already shared 51 days together...we decided that since we celebrate the 100th day of school, why not celebrate the 50th day? Therefore, we decided to have a short dance party during Calendar to celebrate being "half way to our 100th day."
   I want to thank you ALL once again for making my birthday the best yet! I'm not sure if the children told you, but they sang to me 6 times...once in French! One of our sweet friends wanted to coordinate a birthday "get together" and I told them that they would have to wait just one more week because on October 22nd we are planning to meet up with Mrs. O'Meara's class for a spirit night at Boneheads! If you are able to make it, we will be dining out at this fine establishment beginning at 5:30. A portion of their proceeds will go directly to the Sarah Smith Education Foundation. What a great way to hang out and earn some money for our school!

    I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting with you all for Fall Parent Teacher Conferences! As those come to an end, the children and I will be setting individual goals for the next nine weeks. Please continue to read with your child for 20 minutes each night and to read aloud to your child to build vocabulary comprehension.  This will be very important in developing their fluency! They know that great readers reread texts over and over again to read quickly, smoothly and with expression. Click here for a list of highly recommended classics to read to your child.
   Also please continue to practice basic addition and subtraction facts to 20 and skip counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's with your child. When that becomes too easy, challenge them by skip counting by 3's, 4's, 6's, etc.

Here's a look into the curriculum for this week:

Reading: Identifying the main idea and details in a story.

Grammar:  Identifying Proper Nouns and contractions 

Spelling:  Magic "e". When vowel and a consonant are following by an 'e', the vowel says it's name. For example: cut=cute, tap=tape, kit=kite

Red Words: one, by, word

Writing: Writing a story from the perspective of a raindrop going through the steps of the Water Cycle.

Sciences: Identifying the different types of clouds and how clouds affect and help us to predict different types of weather. 

Math: Continuing using frames and arrows to apply different rules in skip counting.

Important Reminders and Announcements:

*Please take a look at the updated "Wish List" tab to the right of our newsletter. 

*Please join us at Boneheads this Tuesday, Oct. 22nd @5:30 for a Spirit Night to raise money for our school and socialize with one another all at the same time. Mrs. O'Meara's friends will also be there to join us! See you there!

* Please be reminded that our Grandparents/Special Friends Day is coming up THIS FRIDAY, OCT. 25TH. First grade is scheduled from 9:00-9:45. A shuttle will be provided at the parking lot at Peachtree Presbyterian Church to bring our special guests to both campuses. Please meet in the auditorium for a special presentation by our students. It is going to be the best Grandparents/Special Friends Day, yet! Thank you to our own Karen Moore for all of her hard work towards this day! 

* CONGRATULATIONS to our newest and bright, star student, ARI BURTON! Ari is dedicated to learning each and every day and always has a smile on her face. She enjoys helping her friends and challenging herself in the classroom. We are thankful for our special friend!

Thank you for your continued support! As always please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Yours truly, 

Mrs. Peake 

Oct. 15th-18th

Hello All!
   I hope everyone enjoyed their Fall Break! I am very excited seeing the children again as we embark on yet another adventurous week in First Grade. We have began a new unit of study on Weather and our central idea is that human safety is connected to understanding weather patterns. Last week we met a real meteorologist and visited his weather van. We created our own "Weather Dictionaries" and used our Science books to understand the basic concepts of weather. This week we will be exploring how to use a thermometer to measure temperature as well as inquire about how and why temperature affects our daily lives. We will also be studying the Water Cycle.

Here's what we will be reviewing this week:

Reading: Identifying the main idea and details of a story, Identifying how characters can change throughout texts.

Spelling/Phonics: Reviewing words with the consonant digraphs (sh, ch, th) and the short vowel sounds. 

Red Words: have, or, from

Grammar: Reviewing plural nouns that follow the following rules: add 's' and add 'es'. Introducing the rule that if a noun ends in a 'y'. ex: 'baby' Then we drop the 'y' and add 'ies' to make 'babies'

Writing: Brainstorming, editing, and publishing a personal narrative.

Science: Exploring the steps of the Water Cycle and understanding how to use thermometers properly when studying weather.

Math: Reviewing basic addition and subtraction facts, telling time, and using the number line and hundred's grid to solve problems relating to addition and subtraction.

  

Important Announcements and Reminders

• This Friday our class will be traveling to the Chattahoochie Nature Center. Please make sure that your child wears his or her blue Sarah Smith Field Trip shirt on this day and brings his or her lunch in a brown paper sack so that it can be easily disposed.

Congratulations to our newest Star Student, Will Samady! We think that Will is principled when he listens to his teacher and his friends and follows directions the first time. Will shows curiosity when he asks questions and explores facts about different animals. We are proud of our new knowledgeable Star Student! Keep up the great work Will!

Our class is getting VERY close to their first big prize of filling up our big bucket of FUZZIES! Please encourage your child to help us reach our goal by following our Essential Agreements each day and coming to school ready to learn! We have to work as a team to fill up the bucket!

Thank you for your continued support at home!!

Gratefully yours, 

  

Jean Peake 

jpeake@atlanta.k12.ga.us