Week of 10/15/12

Hi there!

October is such a fun and busy month!  The kids are really starting to become good readers and falling into the routine of the classroom and school day very nicely.

This week the Orland Park Public Library had their librarians come in to talk to the kids about some of the new and exciting books they have at the library.  If you get a chance to check it out, the library has a lot of exciting activities and events coming up.

We are continuing to work on writing complete sentences with capital letters and the correct end mark.  Please practice this at home as well since the students are reminded multiple times daily to write with capital letters and end marks.  It needs to become an automatic skill for the students in order to become better writers.  As soon as we get the hang of writing a good simple sentence, we will begin adding descriptive words to make our sentences more meaningful.

The moment you and your child have been waiting for is finally here!  We got our SMART board on Wednesday and the kids are really loving it!  Thank you to all of you who donated to the fundraisers and PFE last year for our children to get the amazing opportunity of having a SMART board in their classroom.  We are working together to figure the SMART board out and how to best use it in our classroom.  I am hoping that for American Education Week we will have something fun and exciting to show you and that you can do with your child when you come into the classroom.  Our time for American Education Week is November 13 from 10:20-11:10 so put that on your calendar and keep it open! :)

Your child will be tested on all of the High Frequency Word Flashcards that have been sent home each week because they are finishing up Unit 1 in reading.  The words they are being tested on are:
down
jump
not
up
it
over
too
yes
be
ride
run
come
good
on
that
very
help
use
now

They are finishing another Topic (chapter) in math and will be taking their test on Monday.

Please let me know if your child does not celebrate Halloween and/or will not have a costume for Halloween and would like to wear one.  We can figure something out.

Also, we will be learning about the election process, the candidates, and even placing our own votes as well in the classroom.

Also with the election coming up, our classes will be reading the book, "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" by Mo Willems.  The students will hear reasons why the Pigeon should or why the Pigeon should not drive the bus from Mrs. Kester's first grade class and then on November 5th, they will get to cast their vote in favor of, or against, the Pigeon.  It will be a lot of fun!

That is all I have for now!  Let me know if you have any questions! :)

Week of 10/8/12

Hi families!

Sorry it has taken me so long to update my blog but it's been a crazy couple of weeks!

I hope you enjoyed your long weekend and I hope your kids enjoyed it as well!

Here is a look at this week, we only have a couple of weeks left until the end of the first quarter so please make sure your child finishes their homework.

A reminder that all library books are due on Tuesday if we have the previous Monday off.  The library books were due today so if your child forgot, please send it in tomorrow and they will be able to check out a new book in the morning.

We are supposed to get our SMART board tomorrow morning so we are very excited about that and to begin using it!!

Tonight I sent home three times each for the spelling words.  Please return these to school tomorrow.

Please return the September reading calendars as soon as possible so we can put our next decade book on the wall for all to see.

For those of you that did not get a chance to sign up for a parent/teacher conference at open house, I will be sending home a sheet of available times for you to choose from and return to school as soon as possible.

Your child is taking their math test tomorrow on Topic 2 and then we will begin talking about five and ten relationships.

I think that is all for now.  Please enjoy the rest of the week and enjoy your weekend as well!