Author: nknight-lucas

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Positive Parent Point!
“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” ― Emilie Buchwald

Calendar:
October 18th - Science Family Fun Night
October 31st- Halloween Party
November 7th & 8th - Parent Teacher Conferences. Please return your conference sign up form ASAP. Please contact me or the office if you did not receive one.
November ??? - Thanksgiving Break
Special points of interest:
Library—We go to library every Thursday at 9:10am. Please help your child to remember to bring his/her library book back on Wednesday.
PE—Students are expected to have PE shoes on
Snack—Your child is expected to bring his/her own snack to school on a daily basis. Please let me know if this is an issue for you.
Water Bottles—Students are allowed to have a water bottle in class. I do ask that students bring them home on a daily basis and bring them to school filled.

Dix Street Elementary 1st Grade
October 12, 2012

Mrs. Knight-Lucas
nknight-lucas@otsegops.org
616-885-8946

First Grade Visits the Museum & the Post Office!

Dear First Grade Families,
Happy Fall! Can you believe that we are already ending the sixth week of school and we are well into the month of October. I am amazed at what an outstanding group of kids I have the pleasure of teaching and learning with this year. They are on the ball from the minute they walk into the classroom until they greet me on the way out the door. At the beginning of the school year we read a story called “Have You Filled a Bucket Today?”. We learned that every time we do or say some good we are being bucket fillers and that every time we do or say something bad we are being bucket dippers. Everyday throughout the year we are focusing on being bucket fillers and filling up our marble bucket. Each time we fill our classroom bucket the students will be able to vote on a marble party of their choice as a reward for being bucket fillers. Please continue to encourage your child to make “bucket filler” choices.
Last week we took our first walking field trip to the Otsego Historical Museum and the United States Postal Service. The students enjoyed seeing the artwork of the peers as well as some of their own. Also on display was the artwork of middle/high school students. Our students had the opportunity to see what future art classes might include. During our tour at the post office the students got a chance to see what a day in the life of a postman might look like. We had a behind the scenes look at how the mail is delivered to the post office, unload and sorted into rural and city routes as well as P.O. boxes. Our visit to the post office kicked off a year long initiative to become young writer’s and to use our classrooms writing center to write letters to family members or classmates.

Camper of the Week!
Alex Raseman

Favorite Book: Ninja books
I am good at: Building things
Favorite Winter Activity: Sledding
Favorite Summer Activity: Beach
Favorite Subject: Reading
When I grow up I want to be: a football player
I want to learn more about: Math
Favortie Food: Ice Cream
If I had a million dollars: I would build a great big house
I wish that: I was a dog

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Camp Curriculum

Rewiring
This year first graders will be focusing on learning syllable types. They are learning that syllables are chunks of letters and that those chunks make up words. Knowing the syllable types will tell them what the vowel’s job is in a syllable. The first syllable type that we focus on for several weeks is a closed syllable. A closed syllable contains only one vowel, the vowel is protected by one or more consonants and the vowel is a sounder. We have covered closed syllable /a/ & /i/ and /a/ & /i/ word families.
Daily 5
Daily 5 is a combination of five literacy activities that the students work independently on throughout the morning. Students are now choosing from three of the five literacy activities which include read to self, work on writing, and work on words.
Writing
In our writer’s workshop first graders begin becoming great writer’s by picture planning and writing at least one complete sentence that matches the picture. We are working on writing more than one sentence to tell about our picture as well as learning and practicing Focus Correction Areas (FCA’s). There are several FCA’s that we are working on and they include: picture planning (picture as big as your hand), complete sentences begin with a capitol and end with a punctuation mark (spaghetti & meatballs), spacing between words (finger spaces), and spelling words based on what we hear.
Math
We are now switching for math based on mathematical awareness. This exciting opportunity allows us to focus on the needs our students with greater intensity. We are currently building math fact fluency for addition and substraction through five. This is a skill that is expected upon entering first grade. Most students have quickly mastered addition, but need additional practice with subtraction. The first set of new math facts in first grade begins with doubles (a number plus itself). After a weeks time it is exciting to see how quickly they are acquiring them.
Science
We will continue to learn about animals, animal classification, their habitats and what they eat.

Donations Needed

Dry Erase Markers
Index Cards

Birthday’s

Macy Haase - October 5th
Brayden Willover - October 9th
Lily Koehl - October 12th

Fire Station Field trip
We will be taking a field trip to the fire station on Monday, October 22nd at 9:00am. The fire truck will be picking us up at Dix Street and we will be walking back. Please let me know if you would like to join us.