Last Week of First Grade

Hello Team Peake!

It is hard to believe that this upcoming week is our last together in first grade! We have an exciting week ahead of us and will make each minute count as we reflect back on our favorite memories and set goals for the future. I want to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for sharing your child with me this school year and for also sharing your gifts and time with us to make this school year great. It has been such an honor watching these children grow and become more independent learners. It has also been a joy getting to know you as well as your other family members.

I am also looking forward to transitioning with your child to second grade and thank you for this opportunity! I am confident that next year will be even more successful as we continue to  work as a team to ensure that your child meets his or her full potential. I will be in touch over the summer with some fun ways you can help your child continue his or her growth. APS is also sending home a reading packet for each child this week. What a special treat!

If your child is playing a sport or has any extracurricular activity over the summer, please send me their schedules as Henry and I would love to come support them!

Here are a few announcements and reminders:

• Tuesday, May 19th is Field Day! Please make sure your child wears comfortable, athletic gear. Please send in a water bottle with your child that has his or her name clearly marked. They will be able to refill water as they rotate through their field day stations. Thank you Ed Juline for being our volunteer!

• If you have not done so, please send in a self-addressed and stamped envelope with your child so that he or she can receive their final report card. 

• First Grade End of the Year Parties are scheduled for May 22nd from 8:30-9:30. You are welcome to join us in the classroom as we celebrate a wonderful year!

• On the last day of school, Friday, May 22nd, our class will be CAMPING OUT in the classroom! Your child may wear his or her pajamas and bring a sleeping bag or blanket and also a flash light. 

• Please upload any pictures from this school year to our Class Shutterfly site so that all can enjoy the precious memories we have made. :)

A special THANK YOU to our Room Moms, Kathryn Brown and Dawn Dwyer! You have gone above and beyond in helping our class. You two ladies are amazing and we are all very thankful for you!


Thank you all for your continued support!

All the best,

Jean Peake
jpeake@atlanta.k12.ga.us

May 11-May15

Sawubona, Team Peake!

This Zulu greeting is how your child will greet me and his or her friends each day this week as we are traveling through the beautiful and culturally diverse country of South Africa. Thanks to the tremendous efforts of our International Travelers Committee, our school is able to participate in an engaging and fun-filled journey that will leave them feeling as if they have truly traveled to another country.

Please encourage your child's learning by asking him or her to teach you about the different facts that they have learned throughout the week! Team Peake is already off to a fantastic start. Thank you so much to those who have volunteered their time to be with us!

Here are a few important reminders and annoucements:

All library books must be returned ASAP as Ms. Stewart is collecting end of the year inventory. Letters will be going home THIS FRIDAY for overdue notices, so please make sure if any library books are in your home to have your child return those so that you do not receive this letter.

Please send in a self-addressed and stamped envelope in with your child by THIS FRIDAY, March 15th. We will be using these to send home final report cards.

Team Peake filled up the BIG BUCKET OF FUZZIES for the second time this year!!! They have decided that their reward will be to "silly string" their teacher. Oh yikes! The students have truly had excellent behavior and have worked as a team to receive this reward. Way to go, 1st graders!

Congratulations to our newest Star Student, Chris Thomas! We are proud of our hard working and caring friend. We are looking forward to learning more about our friend, Chris and what makes him so special! Way to go!

April 27th-May 1st

Hello All!

We have had an exciting and busy couple of weeks in first grade! The students have loved learning about our neighboring countries, Canada and Mexico and are looking forward to "traveling" to more countries that are represented in our class. We began to dive into the culture of Mexico this week, and had our very own expert, Mrs. Juline, lead us in Spanish Bingo, share a rice drink, and share with us some literature about the upcoming holiday, Cinco De Mayo!

We have many special events coming up as we head into the last few weeks of school.

Here are a few announcements and reminders for the upcoming week:

Our class is scheduled to perform for the Spring Musical on Wednesday, April 29th at 12:15. We will also have a High Touch High Tech in school field trip earlier that day at 9:30 to learn all about plants! Wednesday will be a fun-filled day!

Mothers, you should have received your handwritten invitation to our Mother's Day Breakfast scheduled for May 7th from 8:15-9:15. If you are unable to be with us on this day, your child may invite another special lady to be their guest. I look forward to seeing you and celebrating YOU! We love you, Moms!

This week is a Junior Great Books week for the story Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Please also be reminded of the Computer Adaptive Testing that will be taking place this week. Your child will take the Math portion this upcoming Tuesday morning. Please make sure your child is well rested and has a nutritional breakfast.

Congratulations to our newest STAR STUDENT, Reece Perkins! We are proud of our hard working, creative and independent friend. We look forward to learning more about what makes Reece so special!

March 30-April 3

Greetings Team Peake!

I hope you all enjoyed the beautiful weekend! We had a wonderful week in first grade last week with many highlights including: The Spring Book Fair, our Hero Parade and an exciting Fun Friday with Mrs. Juline! The children have loved learning about American History and studying how individuals and events can impact the way we live our lives today. The children were inventors this week as they created their own invention that would make the world a better place. I was very proud of their enthusiasm for this in class project and look forward to fostering their creativity even more throughout the school year.

I enjoyed meeting with you and your child for Spring Conferences! The children loved taking "charge" of their conferences and creating goals for the next nine weeks. I look forward to helping them reach their goals.

We began "decoding" two syllable words that include open, closed and magic 'e' syllables. The children have LOVED this process of syllabication where they are finding the vowels and consonants in words, identifying their syllable type and dividing the word appropriately. This process not only allows for the children to become better spellers, but helps them improve in their reading as well.

Many of you have asked me how you can assist your child in their spelling. The "green words" we have gone over throughout the year are our spelling rules that your child should be implementing in their everyday writing. Please refer to previous posts which include our spelling rules to see which rules your child should know.

Red Words require the most practice! Some fun ways to practice spelling (that we use often in the classroom) are writing our words in shaving cream, play dough, magnets, chalk etc.) I am finding that some of the Red Words we are studying are harder to memorize than others. For example: 

said, they, were, would, should, could. was

Next week, our new red words are: number, about, friend

Click here to see a list of 100 words your child should be able to read/write upon the completion of first grade.

Next week's green words will include the two "vowel teams" (ea, ee)
ex: seat, sleep, team, beach, sheet

In math, we have been working on adding and subtracting multiples of tens mentally, using a number line and by creating diagrams.

Next week, we will be discovering the many different shapes in our world and their attributes.

We are continuing to write opinion pieces and edit our papers for mistakes.

Important Updates and Reminders:

• Please make sure to let the Front Office know of any plans to change your child's dismissal if you are unable to write a note. It can be difficult to manage these changes throughout the day while I am with your child. 
• Please make sure your child arrives to school by 7:50 so that they can complete their unpacking procedures with ease and have a great start to their day!
• Please remember to send in a nutritional snack with your child each day.
• Please make sure your child reads at least 20 minutes a night in addition to their regular homework.

CONGRATULATIONS to our newest Star Student, Pace Lilenfeld! Pace is a hard working, caring and open-minded friend to his classmates and we are looking forward to learning more about what makes him so special this upcoming week. Way to go, Pace!

March 23-27

Hello Team Peake!

We have an exciting and busy week ahead of us in first grade! The children are eager to share their portfolio's with you and create goals for the last nine weeks of school.

 It is a JGB week so please be on the lookout for an additional homework sheet detailing extra assignments related to our story "King of the Frogs." This tale is always a favorite. I hope you enjoy exploring this story with your child!

Our class is also visiting the Spring Book Fair on Wednesday! If you are able, we would love to have you come to the Media Center during our scheduled time (please see post below) to select books.

On Friday, March 27th, your child will come dressed as his or her hero and present their paragraph to the class. The "Hero Parade" will take place immediately following announcements between 8:00-8:15. If you would like to view this special event and take pictures, we will be passing by the Front Office twice, so that might be a great spot to stand. Please also spend time rehearsing with your child his or her paragraph.

Congratulations to our newest Star Student, Isa Dowdle! Isa is caring to all of her friends and determined to do her best in first grade. We are looking forward to learning more about what makes Isa so special throughout the week! Way to go, Isa!

I will share a curriculum update in the next post!


Thank you for your support!

All the best,

Jean Peake

Spring Book Fair

It's that WONDERFUL time of year again! The Spring Book Fair will be at SRS for the next two weeks and our class is so excited! Our class is scheduled to PREVIEW books this Friday, March 20th from 8:45-9:15. This is a chance for the students to choose books that are interesting to them and make a "wish list."

Our PURCHASE day will be Wednesday, March 25th from 9:45-10:15. You are welcome to join your child in selecting books in the Media Center at this time.

HAPPY READING!

Mrs. Peake

March 17-20

Dear Parents,

We have had a busy and fun-filled past couple of weeks in first grade! One of our class goals has been to become better writers by using adjectives to expand our sentences and make them more powerful to an audience. The students are also working diligently to edit their own papers by correcting capitalization, punctuation and spelling.  I have definitely seen an improvement in their writing. Please continue to make sure that when your child sends in his or her homework that they have checked for any mistakes.

In math, we have also been focusing on adding and subtracting larger numbers to one another by focusing on place value and will continue to work on this next week as well. We have added a couple of new games to our math games tub that help the children practice explore place value and subtraction. The students are always excited to practice new strategies through play with their friends J

The children have LOVED our study of American History and have had lots of questions regarding our new unit of inquiry! Our field trip to the Atlanta History center next Friday, March 20^th will be the perfect way to bring their learning to life as they will better understand what life was like in the 1800’s.

                                           Here’s a look into the curriculum this upcoming week:

Spelling:

Magic ‘e’

make, grade, kite, flute, woke

Red Words: look, has

Grammar:

Identifying base or “root” words with ending and beginning affixes.

Ex: playing (base word is play) unlocked (base word is lock)

Math:

Identifying how place value helps us to add and subtract.

Writing:

Continuing to write an opinion piece.

Reflecting and writing about our progress throughout first grade in preparation for our Portfolio Parties.

Important Updates and Reminders:

Congratulations to last week’s Star Student, Scottie Brown! Scottie is open-minded when she listens to her other classmates and is enthusiastic about learning. We learned many things about our Star Student this week and were proud to display her poster and biography outside our classroom door. Way to go, Scottie!

Our newest Star Student is Sean Pollock! We are proud of Sean for always “thinking outside the box” and participating in all class discussions. We look forward to learning more about what makes Sean so special this upcoming week.

Please mark your calendar for the following dates:

March 16-Teacher workday- No school for kids

March 20- Field trip for all first graders to the Atlanta History Center

March 20- Sarah Smith Auction- Also at the Atlanta History Center

April 6- Spring Break Begins