Adventures in 1st Grade

I am no longer going to update this site but, instead, am going to start a new ad-free blog on weebly.com.

The new address for Adventures in 1st grade is mrostheimer.weebly.com and I’ve even started to add new links on the parent resource page.

Let me know what you think and thanks for reading!!

Thank you to all the parents who were able to come today for our Wilbur’s Wonderful Writers.  I was really proud of our students’ writing and everyone got up to read! (I’m not sure I could have done that when I was in 1st grade!)

Tomorrow is a 1/2 day.  Students get out at 12:42.  We are off on Monday for Memorial Day and then have a full day for our last day on Tuesday, June 1st.  I have already had a couple of parents tell me their child will not be here on Tuesday.  Please let me know if tomorrow, Friday, will be your child’s final day of 1st grade.  I will be very sad if I don’t get to say good-bye and tell each and every student how proud I am of all they have accomplished…. 1st grade is tough!!

I sent home a slip for you to sign if you would like some work for your child this summer.  For those of you who signed up, the packets will come home tomorrow.  Even if you do not want the work please READ WITH YOUR CHILD EVERYDAY THIS SUMMER.  During the 1st month of 2nd grade they will once again take the Dibels assessment for reading and they will be expected to read 60 words per minute.

I hope you all have a safe and healthy and fun summer filled with excitement and adventure.  My family and I are driving North to Canada and will eventually make our way to Newfoundland.  I hope to see plenty of whales and icebergs!  I look forward to hearing of your child’s adventures when they visit me next year as a 2nd grader!!

Thanks for a great year!!

Dave Ostheimer

Today you should have found a field trip permission form in your child’s folder.  Please return it ASAP with $6.00 (cash only) for our trip to Bellevue State Park in May.  If your child is buying a lunch at school, please fill out the lunch form.  If you would like to join us, you will need to drive there and there is a cost to enter the park ($3.00 per car, I believe).  It is a very fun trip where we explore the park environment and look for organisms in the pond.  You get to explore, too!

Today we also started our last 6 week unit in Reading.  It is hard to believe that our school year is almost over!  I am impressed with the progress many of our students have made in Reading.    Some students have gone from 10 or less words per minute in August to over 70 words per minute (with few errors!) in April. What I notice about these students is that their reading logs are filled out almost every night. Reading to or with your child every night really helps!!

In Math we are finishing our unit on patterns and skip counting.  Please count with your children by 2′s, 5′s and 10′s.  Again it is the little things you do at home with your child that help them achieve in the classroom.

In Science we received our woodland organisms, millipedes, pill bugs, moss and pine seedlings and are awaiting our pond organisms – snails, guppies and water plants.  Every table group has a terrarium and will soon  get an aquarium!

Questions or  comments?

Please call or email

Dave Ostheimer

Hard to believe but there are only 8 weeks left in the school year.

We will be studying organisms in Science – look out for field trip notices coming home soon.  There should be room for 2 chaperones on the bus but others may meet us at the park and join in the adventure.

The National Geographic Giant Map will be in our school (Thanks Mrs. Madonna!!) and we will be exploring it on April 16.

This Wednesday (weather permitting) we will have a class “picnic” where students share the book they did their book report on.  This is students only.

At the end of May, we will have a celebration of our students’ writing where parents, grandparents etc will be invited to listen to our efforts and share in some refreshments.  Look for info about that party coming at the beginning of next month.

In Math we are studying patterns and are getting ready to delve more deeply into skip counting.  Ask your student to count by 2′s, 5′s and 10′s.  See if they can count by 2′s starting with 1 (all the odd numbers).  Count backwards from 20, if that is easy try 30, 50 or even 100.  These are skills that will be very important in 2nd grade.

Thanks!!
Dave Ostheimer

Please read to/with your child every night!!

This week is Spirit Week as we get ready for our 2nd – 5th graders to take the DSTP.

Monday – Crazy socks and hat day.

Tuesday – Twin Day : We can all be twins in B4.  Please wear jeans and either a red or white shirt.

Wednesday – Dream Job Day:  Wear what you would to your dream job.

Thursday – Sports jersey/clothing day

Friday- Dress-up Day (Formal clothes not costumes!)

This week we will be working on long a sounds that have -ay in Language Arts.  We will continue learning about descriptive words (adjectives) adding words for taste, smell, sound and feel to our color, size and shape words.  Using these words, we will work on describing a favorite place.  We will also continue our discussions on cause and effect.

In Math, we finished our Unit on Measurement and we will now work on making “10″.  Students will work on knowing what number they need to add to another to equal 10. For example, if I have 2, I need 8 more to make 10,  2+8=10. Please look in your student’s folder on Monday for number cards, scoresheets and directions for a game you can play at home to help your student with this concept.  Please return one completed scoresheet by Friday.  An extra scoresheet is included in case you feel your child can benefit from some extra game play.

In Science we will finish up Solids and Liquids.  In Social Studies we will work on our Economics unit, focusing mainly on goods and services and needs and wants.

Please sign and return your student’s Unit 4 Language Arts assessment.  If you have misplaced it, email or call me and let me know.

Questions? Please email or call me.

Let’s hope for a snow free week!

Dave Ostheimer

Your child may have come home today and told you something was different in our class.  Today we had our first visit from a Wilmington University student.  Mrs. Knapp is a Practicum student who will be with us once or twice a week for the next month to observe and help out in the classroom.  She will also be teaching a lesson some time in the future as she prepares for her student teaching experience next year.

As our read a loud, I am reading the Magic Treehouse Series book “Sunset of the Sabretooth”.  In this story Jack and Annie find themselves in a prehistoric era and find a cave full of paintings.  I found, on the Internet, a site that lets you explore a site in France full of these paintings.  We looked at it a bit today but, if you or your student would like to see it more up close, here is the link.

http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/index.php?lng=en#/en/00.xml

Here’s hoping to no new snow next week!

Dave Ostheimer

As you may have heard there is no school again Tuesday February 9.  http://schoolclosings.delaware.gov/ If your child is sitting around bored, don’t forget you can access our reading book via the links on this page.   Go backwards and read stories with them that they are familiar with or go forwards and preview our upcoming stories.  For Math practice try :  http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/laac/numbers/chi.shtml or one of the sites on the links.

Have fun!!

Mr. Ostheimer

I found this activity on-line. It is not something we cannot do at school so maybe you might try it at home.
Chill pieces of smooth glass (pie plate or casserole or maybe even a small mirror) and aerosol hairspray or artists’ fixative in the freezer or outdoors. (Note: These items need to be chilled so they don’t melt the snowflakes.) When you’re ready to catch snowflakes, spray one side of the glass with the hairspray or fixative. Have students hold out the glass, sticky side up, to collect falling snowflakes. Next, place the glass in a chilly area where it won’t be disturbed for several hours. Once the snowflake imprint is dry, it doesn’t need to be kept cold. For added fun, examine the snowflake imprints under a microscope.

We just finished our Theme Test for Unit 4 in Language Arts and will begin working on Unit 5.  Expect to see the test home on Monday or Tuesday for your signature.  In Science we will finish up with Solids and Liquids and in Math we are finishing our Unit on Measurement.  In Social Studies we will be learning  about Black History Month and discussing the contributions of African American thinkers, inventors, artists , musicians and athletes to our shared culture.  If you have any books, articles, videos, ideas,etc you would like to share, please let me know.  We will also be learning  about our Presidents, especially George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, why they were important, what they are famous for and a bit about the legends that surround them.

On Thursday February 11 we will be exchanging Valentines. (No school on Friday 2/12 or Monday 2/15.)  If you do not want your child to participate, please let me know. If your child is going to bring in Valentines, please make sure you have one for everyone on the class list that I will send home tomorrow.  If a child is not on the list,  please respect their wishes and do not give them a Valentine.  The exchange will take place after 2:00.  There will not be a party.

Any questions, comments, ideas?  Please email or call me.

Thanks,

Dave Ostheimer