Dec. 15-19

Dear Parents, 

We have an exciting and fun-filled week ahead of us in first grade! We will be reviewing and extending upon the previous weeks' curriculum as well as continuing to look into the exciting story of Rumplestiltskin. Please make sure that your child completes his or her assigned JGB homework along with the additional homework sheet that goes home Monday-Thursday. 

You should have received an email from SignUp Genius requesting that you sign up for a Winter Conference during the month of January. Please sign up for your conference by this Friday, Dec. 19th. I am looking forward to meeting with each of you!

Thank you, Dawn Dwyer, for your wonderful weekly reminders on Shutterfly! They are so helpful as we do have a busy week ahead in first grade. 

If you were unable to read the message on Shutterfly, here are some reminders about the upcoming week from Dawn.

Tuesday - Book Exchange. Remember to send in a wrapped book.

Tuesday - Teacher Raffle. Remember to send in money so your children can buy a ticket for a special afternoon with Mrs. Peake! Tickets are $1 and sold before school b/t 7:30-8:00.

Wednesday - Teacher Raffle. Last day to buy tickets b/t 7:30-8:00 for $1.

Thursday - Library Day. Send in your books.

Friday - HOLIDAY PARTY at 8:30.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week! I hope to see you soon!

All the best, 

Jean Peake 

Newsletter Dec. 8-12

 

Dear Parents,

What an exciting time to be in first grade! Our students are enthusiastic about our new unit of inquiry entitled: Helping Others. Our central idea is that helping those in need is one of our responsibilities as a member of a community. This week we have brainstormed different scenarios where members in our community might need help and ways to help them, identified the differences between needs and wants and created an action plan for our two fundraisers that will benefit the Ronald McDonald House.

 We have also been working on decomposing numbers in math into tens and ones. We have also been working hard to improve our problem solving strategies in math using our newest research based curriculum: Math Exemplars. I absolutely LOVE this program and the children do too! They are so proud of what they can show when given a story problem. When we are given a problem, the students must use the Problem Solving Procedures to not simply answer the problem but demonstrate a complete understanding of the mathematical concept.

Your child visits the Media Center each Thursday at 8:30 to check out books. They choose one AR Book and one book that they are interested in having read aloud to them at home. Their AR Book is a book that is on their reading level that they can read independently. Once they have read their book three times, they will take a quiz on the computer to check their comprehension. Your child may take his or her AR book home to read to you as well as long as that book is returned to school the very next day. Please help your child to keep up with this responsibility by asking them about their books each Thursday J

 

Here’s a quick look into the curriculum for next week:

 

Reading:

JGB Story Rumplestiltskin. A homework sheet explaining Monday and Wednesdays assignments will go home.

                                  Phonics:

Continue working on the “FLOSS” rule. When a short word ends in f,l,s,or z after a vowel, you double to consonant.

Ex:

buff

class

buzz

well

Red Words:

can, said, there

Writing:

Students will choose a gift to give to the world. Students will explain why they think their gift would be beneficial to all people.

Mathematics:

Continuing to explore place value and using problem solving strategies to solve complex problems.

Important Announcements and Reminders:

-First Grade is raising money for the Ronald McDonald House during the month of December. We are holding two separate fundraisers: a Candy Cane Gram Sale and a Teacher Outing Raffle.

-The Candy Cane Gram Sale will take place Dec. 9^th and 10^th. All SRS students may buy a gram for 25 cents to benefit the local RMH

-The Teacher Outing Raffle will take place December 16^th and 17^th. Your child can buy a ticket for $1 for the chance to spend the afternoon with one of the fabulous first grade teachers J

*I have encouraged the children to ask you if they can serve in any way around your home (wash dishes, sweep the floors, feed the dog, etc.) to earn quarters for these fundraisers. *

-Our class is having a Book Exchange on Dec. 16^th. A letter went home in your child’s Wednesday Folder including details about this upcoming event.

-A letter went home in your child’s Wednesday Folder about sharing Holiday Celebrations. If your family celebrates a holiday other than Christmas and you would like to come in and share your traditions with us, please send me an email.

-Our Class Holiday Party is scheduled on Dec. 19^th @ 8:30.

-We will be holding “Winter Conferences” in place of the Fall Conferences that did not take place. Thank you for your patience as I spend this time instructing and gathering as much information as possible about your child. This will help me to have a productive conference with each of you. These conferences are tentatively set to take place during the month of January. You will receive a Signup Genius invitation to choose a time that is convenient for you. I am looking forward to meeting with each of you and discussing your child’s progress in first grade!




Congratulations to our new Star Student, Yamil! He has done a wonderful job following the Essential Agreements and is caring to his friends. WAY TO GO, YAMIL!

Nov. 17-21

Dear Parents, 

I hope everyone enjoyed their families this weekend and stayed warm! We had a very successful first full week back together in first grade last week and we are looking forward to yet another great week of learning. The children chose to compare the weather in Atlanta to the weather in Sydney, Australia each day. I was very impressed by all of the connections that were made about weather patterns and the different changes that can occur. 

We have a very exciting week ahead as we will be celebrating Thanksgiving! We hope that you will be able to join us in the classroom for our Feast. We have so much to be thankful for at Sarah Smith. The week before Thanksgiving is always such a precious time as the children reflect upon their families, friends and blessings. 

Here's a look into the curriculum this week:

Reading:

Comparing and Contrasting throughout various texts.

Spelling:

R blends (ex: brim, grit, prom, trick)

Reviewing l blends and s blends.

Red Words:

what

all

were

Writing:

Writing a persuasive paragraph from a Thanksgiving Turkey's perspective. 

Social Studies:

Identifying the historical significance of Thanksgiving and comparing the lives of the pilgrim children to our lives today.

Math:

Focusing on problem solving strategies with addition and subtraction.

Important Updates and Reminders:

• CONGRATULATIONS to our newest Star Student, Anna Baesman! Anna is principled because she always tries to do the right thing. We think Anna is also balanced because she enjoys playing soccer and reading new books! We are proud of our new super star and look forward to learning more about what makes her so special. Way to go, Anna!

• Please be reminded that our class will be performing "A Tribute to Liberty" this Thursday at 10:15 in the music room. Our class' Thanksgiving Feast will follow immediately and will take  the place of lunch that day. We hope to see you at both of these special events.
• Please continue to send in a snack with your child each day as our emergency snack stash is dwindling again.

Thank you for your amazing support! Please let me know if you have any questions!

All the best, 

Jean Peake 

jpeake@atlanta.k12.ga.us

Nov. 10-14

Dear Parents,

      I hope you have all had a fantastic week! The children and I had a very productive couple of days last week and are looking forward to our first full week together of learning. Thank you for all of your encouragement as I have returned to the classroom. The children made me feel so special each day and we are so happy to be back together! We accomplished much during our three days together. We reflected on the past few weeks of first grade and the Essential Agreements that we set at the beginning of the school year. We decided that in order to learn as much as possible we must all try our best to follow those agreements. If we can work as a team, our class may fill up the BIG BUCKET OF FUZZIES! They are so close!

Here’s a look into the curriculum this week:

Reading:

Identifying the characters in a setting through various texts.

Phonics:

“Double consonant s blends with short vowels”

ex: slap, stop, spit, skid, spin, spat, spun

Red Words: said, can, there

Grammar:

Identifying verbs.

Social Studies/Science:

Comparing and contrasting the daily weather in a foreign city to the weather in Atlanta.

Math:

Using the number line to find the missing addend.

Ex: __+3=10

Writing:

Brainstorming, Editing/Revising and Publishing an informational piece.

Important Announcements and Reminders:

Congratulations to our newest Star Student, Aarush Singh! Aarush is a caring friend and shows curiosity in the classroom when we are learning something new. Way to Go Aarush! We are proud of our new super star and look forward to learning about him this week.

·      Please make sure to send in a nutritional snack with your child each day. We have many children who rely on our emergency snack stash each day.

·      If you are sending in lunch money with your child, please place it in a sealed envelope with your child’s full name as well as my name labeled on the front.

·      Each child is allowed to check out 2 books at a time from the library. I encourage the children to choose one book that they can read independently and one book that they would like their parents or siblings to read aloud to them. The children and I will discuss in more detail how to make “good book choices” this week. Please also encourage this at home.

Please mark your calendars for the following dates and events

·      November 12^th Picture Retake Day

·      November 15^th Join our class for a cool treat at Menchies from 1-2 to help raise money for our school and help build our class community. A percentage of the proceeds will go directly to the Sarah Smith Education Foundation.

·      On November 20^th Our class will  be starring in a Thanksgiving Performance titled “Tribute to Liberty Musical” in the music room beginning at 10:15. Immediately after this performance, our class will be having a Thanksgiving Feast in the classroom during our regular lunchtime.  The children will be creating our menu. A letter will go home with your child on Monday, with an item that they would like to bring to our feast. Please make sure to check your child’s Red Folder for this special note. We are looking forward to this special day!

Thanks for your continued support!

Mrs. Peake

Hello from Mrs. Winters

Dear Parents,

I hope you all had a wonderful time celebrating Halloween!

As my last day approaches on Tuesday, I cannot believe how quickly the time has flown by.  I want to thank you all for your support and positive feedback the past few months.  I have really enjoyed getting to know you and your children, and I am so grateful that I had this opportunity.  I will miss the students and I am looking forward to visiting throughout the year.  
I just wanted to let you know that I appreciated each day I had with your children.
I will miss you.

Sincerely,

Bonnie Winters

See you soon!

Greetings Firsties and Families,


I hope each of you are well and enjoying the wonderful world of first grade! I know there has been much excitement the past several weeks with field trips, the Fall Book Fair, Grandparents' Day, the SRS Fall Festival, etc. and now I'm sure everyone is gearing up for Halloween! I will miss seeing all the children in their costumes on Friday and hope you will post pictures to our Shutterfly website!

Henry and I would like to wish everyone a Happy Halloween! Henry went to his first Neighborhood Halloween Party dressed as a football, and I dressed up as an Auburn football player, WAR EAGLE!

Please be aware that my return date is Wednesday, November 5th. After this date, our main form of communication will be via email and this blog, so please check this website regularly for updates as it will be the best way to stay informed about what your child will be learning and experiencing in the classroom.

 Thank you so much for your amazing support during this special time. I am truly grateful to be welcomed back by such a caring group of children and parents. We are going to have a fantastic year of growing and learning together in first grade!

See you soon!

Jean Peake
jpeake@atlanta.k12.ga.us

Hello from Mrs. Winters

Week 7

Dear Parents,

We had a wonderful trip to the Chattahoochee Nature Center on Thursday.  We all learned so much and the day could not have been any prettier.  Thank you so much to Vara Jones and Mara Perkins for volunteering.  The students and I were so grateful to have you both there.

I also want to thank the mystery readers for coming in to the classroom and sharing such great stories.  The children look forward to your visits and love listening to the books you share.

Thank you all for the wonderful lunch on Friday.  It was very thoughtful and appreciated. You are all wonderful to work with.

Here is a brief run down of what we have been doing and what is coming up this week:

In phonics we were learning about the short e sound.  We will be working on the sh blend this week.

In reading we are reading stories and completing writing activities based on the skills we are learning.  We are writing 4-5 sentences several times a week.  We are really concentrating on capitalization and punctuation marks.

A science project will be coming home on Monday.  I will explain the activity tomorrow and a hand out will come home to explain this assignment.

In social studies we will be learning more about deserts.  We have been working on landforms, but we will go into detail about deserts.

Thank you for sending in emergency snacks.  I am providing snacks to most of the class everyday and that is the reason why we are going through them so quickly.

Thank you all for your suport.  Your children are wonderful and a joy to work with.

Sincerely,

Bonnie Winters

Hello from Mrs. Winters

Week 5

Dear Parents,

I cannot believe we are a week into September.  The children loved meeting Henry and seeing Mrs. Peake on Wednesday.  They had a wonderful time at the park.
I hope all of you are receiving emails at this time.  If you are not getting updates please notify me.

In math we are leaning about the equal sign.  We are balancing numbers and practicing this with manipulatives.  We will continue this through the week.  We will also explain our answers through pictures or using complete sentences. 

In reading we are working on sequence of events.  We are also retelling stories in the correct order.
We are also reading with a partner for extra practice.

We are writing about our hardworking families but are still missing a few family photos.  If you have not sent a family picture in please do so this week.  We will be displaying this activity on our bulletin board.

In social studies we will begin learning about landforms.  We will learn about rivers, oceans, mountains, deserts, etc.

I am looking forwarding to a wonderful week.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Mrs. Winters

THANK YOU!

Hello Team Peake!


I hope each of you are well! I want to thank you (students and families past and present) for the well wishes you have given our family for the recent arrival of our sweet baby boy Henry Hawkins Peake...we are absolutely in love with our precious miracle and thankful for each moment we get to spend with him! What a HUGE privilege it is to be a parent.


I want to thank you also for signing up to volunteer in our classroom! Like I tell the children, "Teamwork makes the Dream Work!" Dawn Dwyer and Kathryn Brown have done a fantastic job in creating our class' Shutterfly website. Please visit this site https://mrspeakesfirstgrade.shutterfly.com/ to continue to be involved in your child's learning at school!


Please remember that our class will be celebrating the beginning of the school year and our new class family at Nancy Creek Park at 4:00 on September 3rd. I hope to see you and the children there! I sure do miss my sweet group of first graders and parents! I look forward to catching up with you all!

All the best,

Mrs. Peake

Hello From Mrs. Winters

Week 4

Dear Parents,

We ended the week with a Fabulous Fun Friday thanks to Dawn Dwyer, Jeri Moran and Dave Moran.  They planned great activities and the children did a wonderful job playing games involving teamwork.

We will begin working in math groups within our classroom this week.  We will work on adding plus 1, plus 2, plus 3, etc...

In reading, we will continue working on setting and characters.  We are writing three sentences and focusing on capital letters and punctuation marks.
We will also be working on "My Hardworking Family".  If you have not sent a family photo in yet please send one in this week.

In Social Studies we read the book "Me On The Map" and we are making maps of our homes, streets and even favorite rooms in our house.  The students are enjoying this activity.

We took our second spelling test on Friday and most of the children did very well.  We are practicing phonic daily and using our spelling words in sentences.

The air conditioning works very well in our classroom and many of the children are complaining that they are chilly.  Please pack a sweatshirt/sweater with your child each day so they can be comfortable throughout the day.

I hope you all enjoy the long weekend.

Sincerely,

Bonnie Winters

Hello from Mrs. Winters

August 24, 2014

Week 3

Henry Peake was born August 21, 2014 at 2:12am.  We are so excited for Mrs. Peake and her family.  The students made cards for her Friday afternoon.  We cannot wait to meet Henry!

We had a very busy week.  We took the math portion of the CAAS Test on Friday.  Thank you so much to Mr. and Mrs. Baesman who came in to help log the children onto the computers.
We will be taking the Reading portion of the CAAS on Wednesday morning.  Please encourage your children to eat a healthy breakfast. 

We took our first Spelling Test on Friday and everybody did very well! I will send them home this week. 

We are learning about temperature and story problems in math.  The students are really interested and enjoy making up math stories.  We will continue with math story problems this week.  We will also be taking a math assessment test early this week.

We are also working on writing complete sentences with a focus on captial letters and punctuation marks. 

I think we are set for a while with Emergency Snacks.  Several parents have dropped off snacks, paper and ink for the computer.  THANK YOU SO MUCH!

It was really nice meeting you on Monday night.  I really appreciate your support.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I am looking forward to seeing your children on Monday.

Sincerely,

Bonnie Winters

Hello from Mrs. Winters

Week 2

Dear Parents,

Hello from Mrs. Winters.  I cannot wait to meet you on Monday evening.  Your children are wonderful and I am thrilled to have this opportunity to fill in for Mrs. Peake. 

I will give you a brief overview of our week.

In math we have been learning about tally marks and using them daily to count everything including our school lunches.

During our Social Studies lessons we have been learning about Georgia and where it is located on the United States map.  The children are having fun learning about their state.

We are working on short stories in reading and we are concentrating on characters and setting.  The children are writing one to three sentences about the stories and illustrating them as well.

We also have snack everyday.  Please pack a healthy snack and a water bottle.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Sincerely,

Bonnie Winters

Welcome Mrs. Winters!

Dear Parents,

Hello.  My name is Bonnie Winters.  I am so excited to be part of the Sarah Smith Family for the next few months.  I graduated from Temple University with a Bachelor’s Degree and received a Master’s Degree in teaching from Arcadia University.  I have taught in school systems in Pennsylvania, Florida, and Georgia. Most recently I have focused on tutoring students in grades one through six.   

 I truly enjoy working with children and I cannot wait to return to the classroom full time.  I am thrilled to have this opportunity to get to know your children and help them strive to reach their fullest potential.

Please feel free to get in touch with me.  My email is bonnieewinters@gmail.com.

Best regards,

Bonnie Winters

Snack

This is a friendly reminder to continue to send in a nutritional snack in with your child each day. Our snack time is late in the afternoon, therefore, your child may plan to save his or her snack in their lunch box. Also, we have a few peanut allergies in the classroom, so let's also please keep our classroom a "peanut free" zone.

Thank you!

Popsicles in the Park

Please mark your calendars for an exciting class event, Popsicles in the Park! Our class will be gathering together on September 3rd at Nancy Creek Park after school at 4:00 for playing and a cool treat! Be on the lookout for an invitation in your child's Wednesday Folder. 

Looking forward to seeing each of you there!

Mrs. Peake 

Week 1

Dear Parents,

We had a wonderful first week of learning and growing together in first grade! This is a special group of children who have come to school ready and eager to learn each day. I can tell it is going to be a great year!

"Team Peake" spent the week getting to know one another and learning about how we can work together as a community. We began by setting up a list of Essential Agreements to follow for the rest of the year. I was very impressed by the decisions the children came up with for our class. Here is the list of the Agreements that your child has agreed to follow throughout the year:

1. Be Respectful.

2. Be Helpful.

3. Be Safe.
4. Be Thankful.

5. Be Patient.

Please make sure to discuss these agreements with your child as well as how following them will contribute to them having a successful year in first grade!

Important Announcements and Reminders:

• This past week we discussed the concept of a community as a place where we live, work and play. We discovered that there are many communities in which we are a part of, including our homes. We will be working on a writing assignment entitled "My Hard Working Family" where your child will reflect upon his or her job at home as well as the jobs that each member holds. A letter went home in your child's Wednesday Folder asking for a family picture. Please make sure to send a picture of your child with his or her family by August 15th. 
• First grade will be having Orientation on August 18th beginning at 6:30 PM. Please plan to be present for this important evening. Mrs. Winters will be delivering important information about the upcoming school year and how you can help your child have a successful year!
• Please make sure that you are sending in a nutritional snack with your child each day. Snack time is every afternoon at 1:15. 
• Please visit the "Wish List" tab if you are interested in donating items to our classroom. Thank you to those who have donated items from this list already! 

Thank you for your continued support! 

All the best, 

Mrs. Peake 

PE Days

Please note that your child will have PE on Tuesdays and Fridays this year and will need to wear/bring appropriate shoes in order to participate!

Back to School!

Dear Future Parents and Students, 

Can you believe it is almost that time again? My absolute favorite day of the school year, Celebration of Learning, is almost here (August 1st from 5-7)! I cannot wait to meet you as we begin an exciting new year of learning and growing together in first grade! Please feel free to explore this website for useful information about the school year. Our classroom blog will be the BEST way to stay connected to what your child is learning and experiencing at school, as it will be updated regularly. Please Bookmark this site so that you and your child may easily access it from home.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your summer with your child and I look forward to seeing you soon!

All the best,

Jean Peake