Adventures in 1st Grade

This week check your child’s folder for conference sign up sheets.  Your child will have the paper in their folder either Monday or Tuesday.  There are limited evening hours and those hours will be given on a must see/ first come basis.  If the times I have available are not possible for you, we can schedule a telephone conference but we will be unable to review your child’s work.

I am pretty amazed at how well our students are reading our rapid word charts and how this is translating to better reading in the classroom.  If you look at the top of this blog you will see a section called downloadable information.  Here you can find our high frequency words that are used in our stories and which your child will be assessed on for the end of the marking period (stories 1-12).  You can print out a copy of these words to go over with your child.

In Language Arts we are learning about “ng” , about the story element “plot”, the contraction” ‘ll” and phrasing in our oral reading.  We are also working with plural nouns, differentiating between 1 and more than 1.  If you would like to read our stories, please look to the right of this page under parent resources and sign in to the Harcourt website.  We are currently on book 2 lesson 10.  If you need info for our district and school name please email me.

My expectation in writing is that students will write at least 3 sentences on a given topic.  They will write neatly with spacing between words and they will sound out words to spell them.  They will use capitals and punctuation most of the time and they will begin to vary their word choices (not “I like… I like…  I like…).

In Math we have just taken our assessment on Geometry.  I was pleasantly surprised at how well most of the students did.  We are now starting our unit on story problems.  Today we went over a problem:  I have 9 toys.  Some are blocks and some are marbles.  How many of each toy could I have.  Show as many combinations as you can.  This is a variation of “peas and carrots” which we learned in the 1st marking period.  Students needed to come up with 5 of the 8 different combinations we could have.  (1 block + 8 marbles = 9 toys, 2 blocks + 7 marbles = 9 toys, 3 blocks + 6 marbles = 9 toys……. 7 blocks + 2 marbles = 9 toys, 8 blocks + 1 marble = 9 toys).    We will be learning how to differentiate between addition problems and subtraction problems.  Students historically have difficulty understanding when they should add and when they should subtract when solving a story problem.

In Social Studies we are finishing up a unit on laws and rules and responsibilities and will be having our assessment at the end of the week.  Upcoming in Social Studies we will be exploring Colonial America with special attention given to the origin of our Thanksgiving tradition.  In Science, we are waiting to receive our new kit on  Solids and Liquids.  In the meantime, we will follow discussions that the students are interested in (i.e.: space, the sun, the seasons etc.).

Questions or comments?  Please email or call.

Dave Ostheimer

This evening, while I was recovering from another bout of Phillies Phever, I decided to try and narrate a book from our Harcourt collection and put it on my blog. While you are reading along, use your mouse to track the print with the pointer.  Ready to read along?  Please click on the link below.  Let me know if this worked on your computer and if you enjoyed this and you would like me to narrate other stories.

Dad, Beth and the Pens

This week we will continue discussing power and authority in Social Studies.  Who has power (can make us do something) in our lives?  Of those people, who has the authority (the right) to use that power (parents) and who uses power without authority (bullies)?

In Language Arts we are learning to identify words with the digraph “th”, words with initial blends “s” and “p” and our story words.  We will also be using our  story words in a sentence both orally and written.  For Reading we will be working on noting details in a story and we will be working on fluency by reading with expression.  Writing will concentrate on mechanics of a sentence, capitals at the beginning, punctuation at the end – with a special emphasis on the question mark, spacing between words and sounding out words to spell the sounds we hear.

In Math, we will continue working with 2 dimensional shapes, identifying shapes, describing shapes and discussing what shapes can make other shapes.

Our computers seem to be up and running and I will be working on having the students work on earobics and starfall during center time.  You can access these sites at home:  www.starfall.com and  www.earobics.com/gamegoo/gooey.html

If your child is absent and has access to a computer, you can go on the Harcourt website and read the stories that he or she misses.  If you look on the side of this page at parent resources, you will see a link for Harcourt Storytown with the username and password listed.  Mondays we usually read the Getting Started Story and work on the other selections on Tuesday through Friday.

Questions or comments?  Please let me know!!

Dave Ostheimer

As promised, here are some pictures that I took last week.

I also promised some information about Junie B. Jones at Borders.  She will be arriving around 6:00 and I know that there will be some children and teachers from other classes.  I am not sure if I will be able to make it due to other family obligations.

Finally, Friday is the last day to order from the new Scholastic Book list.  You can order easily on-line using the info that came home with your child.  If you would like that info again, please email me.

Reports cards should be in your mailbox Monday or Tuesday.  Please remember that your student’s grades are relative to where a student should be according to the Delaware State Standards.  Grades are not A, B, C etc and an EP is not meant to take the place of an A, an MP a B, etc.  An EP means that the student’s work and achievement is consistently above 1st grade levels, an MP means that a student is consistently performing at a 1st grade level.  NP means that the student is not quite at a 1st grade level yet and BP means that the student is  not achieving at a 1st grade level and require a lot of assistance in the classroom.

Unless noted, a BP is not a reflection of a student’s effort in the classroom. Grades are usually not a reflection on effort (although lack of effort may keep a student from reaching a particular level of achievement).  Effort can be reflected in a student’s comments.  Parent teacher conferences are not scheduled until after the 2nd Marking Period but I am available before school, after school or during my planning period by appointment (I have school, grade level and family commitments that need to be scheduled around).  A telephone conference is also an option.

Junie B. Jones will be visiting our local Borders book store on Thursday.  My family and I will try to attend and I know that many of our 1st grade teachers are also planning on attending.  More info will follow.

Have a great week (and I hope to have some new pictures up later this week!)

Dave Ostheimer

On Monday Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, we will be taking our assessment for our 1st two themes in our Harcourt Reading series. Some of the skills we have learned are: short a, short i and short o words, words with -all, plural words, naming and telling parts of a sentence (old school: subject and predicate), story elements: characters, setting, beginning, middle and end and contractions: did not to didn’t, etc.

In Math we are starting with geometry. We will be discussing shapes and how they relate to each other (1 hexagon = 2 trapezoids = 3 rhombuses = 6 triangles). We will continue with story problems (Mrs. Ostheimer said Mr. Ostheimer has to eat 9 vegetables. Some have to be peas and some carrots. How many of each does Mr. Ostheimer have to eat to equal 9 vegetables? 1 pea and 8 carrots: 1+8=9 or 2 peas and 7 carrots: 2+7=9, etc.

In Writing we will be illustrating our Fall writing: What I like to do in the Fall and we will continue to write in our journals.

In Science we will continue our Weather observations and in Social Studies we will continue to talk about rules, consequences and fairness in the classroom, the school, and society as a whole and we will have a unit on Fire Safety.

******* Wednesday is picture day. Please return the envelope that was sent home with your child even if you are not ordering pictures. This information is used to make sure that your child’s photo ends up in the proper class for the yearbook.

Thursday and Friday there is no school for children as the teachers have in-service days.

Questions or comments? Please email me or call the school and leave a message.

Thank you for your support.

Dave Ostheimer

You may have noticed some spelling pages in your child’s folder today.  These are not “required”  homework but the activities will increase your  child’s knowledge of the -all rhyme we are working with this week plus help with his or her ability to spell some high frequency words.  Please keep doing the rapid word reads; I have noticed that many students can read the high frequency words that we’ve practiced with this routine better than the words that we learned before the routine.  For today’s Math homework, if you cannot cut and paste the pictures on the paper, your student can draw the appropriate number of snails and fish.

It is hard to believe but our 1st marking period is almost at a close.  Report cards will be mailed in a couple of weeks.  Parent conferences will occur at the end of the 2nd marking period, in November.  If you have immediate concerns, I will be happy to schedule a time to meet with you during the 3rd week of October.

The PTA is collecting box-tops for education.  Please send any that you find in to school with your child.

Thanks again to those parents who donated supplies to our classroom.

Regards,

Dave Ostheimer

If you would like to order Scholastic Books for your child, tomorrow is the last day for online orders : http://www.scholastic.com/parentordering username: y7wildcats password: y7wildcats (Please note that the username and password are not this years room number but last year’s. I will change them for the next order.) If you would like to order the old fashioned way, please send in exact change or a check made out o scholastic along with your book order.

Thanks!!

Mr. Ostheimer

This week in Science we will finish our study of the weather with an assessment on either Friday or next Monday. In Math, we will continue working on story problems as well as figuring out how many different ways we can come up with a number (1+9=10, 2+8=10, 3+7=10, etc). We will begin Unit 5 in Language Arts, learning the short o sound (as in octopus) and discussing characters, setting, beginning middle and end as our elements of a story. In Writing, we will start a piece on either where we have travelled or how we have helped a family member. I will continue to read from The Magic Treehouse Book 2: The Knight at Dawn and supplement from other picture books (Big Chickens was a big hit last week).
A big “Thanks” to those parents who sent in some supplies last week.

Mr. Ostheimer

p.s.: Here is a cool site with some Science experiments you can do a home.

http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-experiments.htm

Thank you to everyone who came out tonight.  I really appreciate your support and I know that together we can help your child to begin to reach  their potential.  Please read all the information in your folder.  Didn’t get a folder?  Email me and I’ll send one home.

A couple of things I forgot:

If you would like to help out in the classroom (or if you would like a job or two to do from home) please email with your availability and with what you might want to do.  (Some ideas, reading with a child – usually not your own, “translating” what a child has written to what they read to you that they have written – usually not the same thing, copying/laminating/cutting out/ tearing out workbook pages, hanging up work in the hallways, art projects.)

If you would like to contribute supplies for our classroom we are already running out of glue sticks, paper towels, clorox wipes (for those places germy hands get to), ziploc gallon or sandwich bags, brown lunch bags and uncoated white paper plates.  Please let me know if you are interested.

As for homework:  I expect I may have confused some of you.  If I sent it home, I do want it returned.  Please don’t have your child spend more than 20 minutes a night.  Rapid Word Charts should be done first; read, timed and signed every night.

If you forgot to sign in at Open House, please email me your name, and child’s name.

Want to talk about your child?  Email me and we’ll set up a time for a phone conference.

Thanks again and see you at parent/teacher conferences November 17, 18 and 19.

Dave Ostheimer