Newsletter 9/30

Mrs. Besselman’s Bulletin                                  9/30/13

Goals for the week:

To begin a writers notebook.

To work with patterns.

To create and use different types of graphs.

To combine and compare numbers.

To practice addition.

To compare and contrast.

To know our math facts for adding 0, 1.

To practice our math facts for subtracting 0, and 1.

To continue to practice words with short a and short i.

To practice writing sentences using uppercase letters and punctuation.

To work independently in our centers.

To work in reading groups.

To read and write words in the -at , an, am, as, ad, word families, as well as the –ig, -in, -it,

 To listen to When This Box Is Full.

To identify and put in order the months of the year.

To make a class birthday graph.

To write about our favorite month.

To identify the beginning, middle, and end of a story.

To continue to study the science of insects.  We are studying the life cycles of our mealworms

To identify four Seasons and write about the Fall.

Word study words to know: am, at, cat, sat, bat, fat, as, has, can, an, man, the, to, had, van, sad, bad, fad, ham, rag, zag, tag, bag.

Word study words this week : We will continue unit four, in big, is, have, did, if, it, pit, sit, lit, fit, wig, jig, pig, zig, in, pin, fin, tin, bin, win,

Homework :

Monday night: complete a READO square

Tuesday night: Math facts (first in math passwords were sent home in back to school night packet)

Wednesday night: 100 things about me book, please complete the next page.  Encourage children to use a topic sentence.  Then add at least one detail sentence.

Thursday: use spelling menu to study Word study words, we will continue units 1-4.  We did not assess last week due to apple activities.

 Request and Reminders:

Empty folders as much as possible each night.

Make sure your child knows the month and day of his/her birthday for our class activities this week!

Newsletter 9/23

Mrs. Besselman’s Bulletin                                  9/23/13

It was nice to see you all at open house!  My email for those who would like to communicate by email is pbesselman@wcasd.net.  I am also available by phone.  You may also send a note in the take home folder. 

Goals for the week:

To continue to count and write 1-20.

To count forward and backward.

To order numbers.

To identify numbers using greater than and less than symbols.

To combine and compare numbers.

To identify more and fewer.

To listen to My Five Senses.

To learn about Johnny Appleseed.

To have fun with apples, measuring, counting, sorting.

To continue our Science Units, Insects.

To compare and contrast.

To continue to practice words with short a and to introduce short i. 

To practice writing sentences.

To work independently in our Daily five centers.

To begin reading groups.

To read and write words in the –at, -am, -as,- an,- ag,- ad, word families.

Word study words your child should know:  at, am, cat, sat, bat, fat, as, has, can, an, man, and the red word, the, had, van, sad, bad, rag, and the red word to.

To complete unit 4 in our project read/word study our new words are:  in, big, is, have, did, if, it, sit, lit, fit, wig, jig, fig, pig, zig.

To read about and use our 5 senses.

To welcome Fall.

Homework :

All week: collect pictures and items and decorate your writer’s notebook cover (front and back)  cover with contact paper if possible. Send finished book on Monday, next week.

Monday:  choose a square on the READO board to complete.

Tuesday:  study math facts  all the + and – 1.

Wednesday:  100  Things about me, complete the next prompt.

Thursday:  choose and activity from the spelling menu to practice the words for this week.

Friday:  Home senses activity

If you wish to keep READO and spelling menus in your folders so they do not get misplaced that is fine.  

 Request and Reminders:

·       Pack a snack each day.

·       October read aloud will come this week.

·       Scholastic orders for September will be placed this week.  Please order online  or send cash in a marked envelope.

Newsletter 9/16

                                           September 16, 2013

Mrs. Besselman’s Bulletin

  I am happy with how the children are settling into our class routines and the full day of school!  Please speak to your child about the importance of listening.

Goals for the week:

To continue to count  accurately and write 1-20.

To order numbers one through twenty.

To identify more and fewer.

To use a graph.

To listen to One Red Rooster.

To learn more about the Constitution on Constitution day.

To begin to learn about Johnny Appleseed.

To introduce our science unit (insects).

To identify rhyming words.

To read number words and color words.

To make predictions about a story.

To continue to practice words with short a. 

To practice reading  words in the –at and -am word family.

To introduce and work with unit 1-3 word study words.  (at, am, cat, sat, bat, fat, As, has, can, the, an, man, had, van, sad, to, bad, rag)

Homework :Monday: Word Work:  practice reading and writing word study words unit 1-3. You can find a list of all units for this year if you would like to work ahead on harder words.  Go to my website under files and documents.  You can also visit my portaportal for websites and games that reinforce our studies!

Tuesday: Read and discuss our  Scholastic News Magazine

Wednesday: Back to school night

Thursday night: Work on Writing:  our 100 things about me book will come home tonight.  Complete the first page

Next week for homework we will be decorating our writer’s notebooks.  You will be asked to use pictures and decorations that will make the book special for you(pictures that will inspire your child to write! Animals if they like animals, Barbie if they like Barbie, sports if they sports).  I will also be asking you to cover the books with contact paper when you are finished.  You may want to begin working on collecting pictures and purchasing contact paper over the weekend.

* Pack a healthy snack each day!!

*     Book orders sent home or online orders are due on the third Friday of the Month always.  Our code for online is GXF4L

Newsletter

Mrs. Besselman’s Bulletin                                                                             September  9,   2013

   We had a great week last week and the children are doing well learning our routines.  This week we will begin to dive more into the books!   These goals are just for you to have a general idea what we are working on during the day.  We do much more than I have listed here during a school day. 

Goals for the week:

To continue to learn our new school routines.

To continue to make new friends in our class.

To review the short vowel a, and to build and read words using a.

To review writing and counting from 1 to20.

To put words into alphabetical order.

To listen to Annie, Bea, and Chi Chi Delores.

To have fun with the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.

To discuss things we do at school.

To use a Venn diagram.

T o identify and use verbs.

To note details in a story, to use them in our pictures and writing.

To learn about our school community and compare it to schools in the past.

To begin to learn about insects in our science unit.

Word study words from units 1-3 (short a sounds): at, am, cat, sat, bat, fat, as , has, can, an, man, had van, sad, to, bad, rag.

Homework:  Read at least 15 minutes each night in addition to homework sent home!

Monday:  Get some rest!  We have a full week!

Tuesday:  Practice spelling and writing short a words from unit 1-3.  You can do this on paper or on a whiteboard or chalkboard.  You can use flash cards or starfall.com.  Whatever works for your family.    

Word study words from units 1-3 (short a sounds): at, am, cat, sat, bat, fat, as , has, can, an, man, had van, sad, to, bad, rag.

Wednesday:  take all the +1 cards from your addition flash cards. Practice these cards

Thursday: Name practice sheets (only the first letter of Each name should be uppercase)

Friday: We will do an assessment every Friday (during class) using the word study words of the week.

Requests and Reminders:

*Wear sneakers on gym days Tuesday.

* Back to school Open house is on September 18, 2013

*please empty folders each night of contents on the left side L= leave at home, Right side R= return to school.  I realize it is the first couple weeks so this may not always be completely accurate but we are working on packing up skills.

* Please send in a snack each day, it is not provided.

Back, Back in the First Grade Groove!

Looking forward to meeting some new friends soon!

Reminders

Just a reminder that Wednesday is our last full day.  If there is a change in dismissal route please send a note.  Our last day of school is Monday June 17.

Special First Grade Days coming this week:

June 10^th through 13^th

Monday, June 10^th – Movie Day : You do not need to bring in anything for this day.

Tuesday, June 11^th – Buddy Read Day: Bring in 2 or 3 of your favorite books from home to share with a first grader from another class.

Wednesday, June 12^th – Puzzle Day: Bring in a puzzle from home.  We will work with other students from another class to complete them.  Let’s see how many puzzles first grade can finish!

*Afternoon (class only) end of year celebration today!

Thursday, June 13^th – Board Game Day:  Bring in a board game or card game from home and we will enjoy playing games with another class.

 Look for your End of Year Video to come home this week!!!

Last Newsletter!!!

Mrs. Besselman’s Bulletin                               6/3/13

Goals for the week:

To continue counting coins.

To count by 2’s, 5’s, 10’s.

To use skip counting to solve multiplication type problem solving.

To use place value.

To tell time to the hour and ½ hour.

To learn more about vowel pairs.

To continue to practice long vowel rules.

To know there are rules to follow when dividing a word into syllables.

To review alll the phonics rules we have been learning so far.

Word study words this week.  Review all units

To continue to use capital letters and punctuation in sentences.

To self edit our writing using our writer’s eye.

To listen and respond to Enzo the Wonderfish and Swimmy.

To learn about fish and sharks.

To identify structure in a story.

To use action words ending in ed and ing.

To summarize a story.

To write a story.

To practice reading with fluency.

Homework :  

Tuesday: send in book review sent home Monday for the June Bulletin board.

Wednesday: We will have field day from 8:45-10:45.  We will be outside the whole morning, so please send your child to school with suntan lotion already on! Please make sure that your child wears comfortable clothes and sneakers. You may want to send in a change of clothes as well because many children get wet at the water stations.

Special First Grade Days coming next week:

June 10^th through 13^th

Monday, June 10^th – Movie Day : You do not need to bring in anything for this day.

Tuesday, June 11^th – Buddy Read Day: Bring in 2 or 3 of your favorite books from home to share with a first grader from another class.

Wednesday, June 12^th – Puzzle Day: Bring in a puzzle from home.  We will work with other students from another class to complete them.  Let’s see how many puzzles first grade can finish!

*Afternoon class only end of year celebration today!

Thursday, June 13^th – Board Game Day:  Bring in a board game or card game from home and we will enjoy playing games with another class.

 Look for your End of Year Video to come home next week!!!