Star Student

Congratulations to our newest Star Student, Jacob Moran! Jacob shows enthusiasm for learning each day! We are proud of our Star Student and look forward to learning about what makes him so special this week!

Happy New Year!

Can you believe it is already 2015? Time flies when you're having fun! I hope that you enjoyed the Holidays with your families and friends. I loved hearing the children's stories about all of their adventures over the break. We have much to be proud of from 2014, but I am confident that 2015 is going to be even better as we continue to grow and learn together!

Today we began a new unit of inquiry on Animal Survival. Students will be exploring the Arctic and Antarctic regions throughout the next few weeks and studying the unique animals that live in these harsh environments. Our central idea is: living things adapt in order to survive. The students had many questions today and are eager to explore the Polar Lands. They also learned a new song today to help them learn the names of all 7 continents. You might want to ask them to sing it to you, it's pretty catchy!

Here's a look into the curriculum this week:

Reading

Identifying strategies to use when reading for specific information in a Non-Fiction text.

Spelling:

triple consonant blends: spl, scr, thr, spr

ex: splot, scrap

red words: use, an, each

Writing:

Using the brainstorming, drafting and editing process to write our new year's resolutions.

Math: 

Telling time to the hour using analog and digital clocks.

Important Announcements and Reminders:

• Please remember in addition to the Monday-Thursday homework sheet, your child should be reading 20 minutes a night. We are working on becoming fluent readers by reading smoothy, quickly and with expression. Rereading the same book will help your child to build this fluency and build confidence!
• I am looking forward to meeting with you for your Winter Conference. Please bring any questions that you may have. Each conference will begin and end on time so please plan to arrive promptly at your scheduled time.

As always, thank you for your continued support!

All the best!

Jean Peake 

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