Newsletter for the Month of December 2012

Dear Family,

Due to our very busy December schedule, we are sending home one newsletter with important information and dates so you can mark your calendars.

Important Dates:

December 10^th- Secret Santa’s workshop and the Salvation Army food drive begins. We will send home reminders when your child’s classroom is scheduled for Santa’s workshop.

December 14^th- Foothill students will travel by bus to Sierra High School to watch the S.H.S.  Winter Program. Students will load the bus at 8:45 and will arrive at 9:15. A slip will be sent home for you to sign if you don’t want your child to go on this trip.

December 19^th- The K-1 Winter Program was changed to this Wednesday. The program will begin at 7:00. Our classroom doors will open at 6:30. Please bring your child to his/her classroom at 6:30. You will be required to pick your child up in our classrooms after he/she performs. Please do not pick them up in the cafeteria after they sing. It gets very busy and we want to make sure your child is safely returned to you and checked out with us.

December 20^th- This Thursday will be our last day of school before vacation.  It is a late start day. First Grade will wear pajamas to school and have breakfast in our classrooms for our party. We will be reading the book Polar Express. More information will be coming home regarding our parties.

January 7^th- Back to school!                             

Math: This month we will be learning and practicing even and odd numbers.  Students will be practicing time to the hour. We will be introducing adding and subtracting 2. Students will also be learning about pairs. Ask your child to help you with sorting socks at home to reinforce pairs. Students will be using the word symmetry and symmetrical in math lessons to describe objects that are the same size and shape.

Science/Social Studies: Due to our busy schedule this month with learning our Christmas songs and working on gifts and art projects we will continue science in January. We will be talking about different Christmas traditions which are part of our Social Studies curriculum.

Some parents have showed interest in IPAD and IPHONE apps. Here are some suggestions we have for you: Splash Math, Mathmateer, Hangman Math, Pocket Zoo (This supports our science standards), and Storybuilder.

A fun website on the computer is Starfall.com. This is a great website for reading at different levels.

Our First Grade Team, mrs. Badella, mrs. Cunningham, and Mrs. Dunn, would like to wish all of you a wonderful and loving Christmas filled with happiness and blessings.  Thank you for the joy your children bring to us every day.  Merry Chrismas.

 

Newsletter for November 26,2012

Dear Family,

Phonics/ Spelling:  This week in phonics we will introduce the sounds: i_e and o_e. In spelling our focus will be the cedilla c-( ce and ci make the /s/ sound.) Our red words for the week are:  once, come, here, Mr., your

Math:  Students will continue to tell time by the hour this week.  We will be working on using manipulatives to help for concrete understanding of addition and subtraction math facts.

Science: We will start our study on raccoons. Students will learn what raccoons eat, where they live, and what they look like. The science objective is to learn the needs of raccoons and their habitat. Look up some fascinating facts about raccoons on the computer with your child.

Important Dates:

December 14- Students will travel to S.H.S. to attend the High School Music program.

December 20- K-1  Christmas Program: 7:00

December 21- Vacation starts

Important Reminders: Don’t forget to send a white t-shirt with your child for our Christmas program. J



Newsletter for the Week of November 13, 2012

Dear Family,

Phonics/ Spelling:

This week in phonics we will introduce the sounds: a_e,s, ce,and ci,.

In spelling our focus will be sk, qu, y, _ing, _ang, _ink, and _ank. Our red words for the week are:  some,come, were, Mr., here

Math:

Students will learn to tell time by the hour this week. We will finish our math lessons to 50. We took our math benchmark test for the first trimester last week and will now resume regular lessons.

Science:

We will continue our study on owls. Students are finishing their owl reports after our wonderful visit with our guest speaker Steve Byrd.

Gobble- gobble- gobble, I heard the turkey say-When Thanksgiving comes around-I think I’ll run away!!!!

Important Reminders:

Thanksgiving vacation Nov. 19- 23.

Late Start Day Nov. 30.

 

Newsletter for October 25, 2012

Dear Family,

Phonics/ Spelling:

This week we will be reviewing red words that were introduced this first trimester.

Math:

We will be working on math facts and subtracting this week. We will practice a lot using manipulatives and fact families:

4+1=5, 1+4=5, 5-1=4, 5-4=1

Homework will be math facts and fact family worksheets.

Science:

We will introduce owls this week. We will cover science standards of what animals need to live and what they need in their habitat.  Students will learn what owls eat, where they live, and what they look like. This month we will have a guest speaker coming to teach us about owls.

First Grade will have their Halloween parties on Wed. at 1:30.

We will be testing this week and report cards go home Nov. 9^th.

Important Reminders: Late start Friday- Nov. 2^nd

Time changes over the weekend

Thanksgiving Vacation is Nov. 19^th-23^rd.

 

Newsletter for October 22, 2012

Dear Family,

Phonics/ Spelling:

This week in phonics we will introduce the sounds: wh, er, ir, and,  ur .

In spelling our focus will be ch, _tch, and ar. Our red words for the week are:

one, two, four, said, were

Math:

 Students will learn their take away   one math facts and adding 0 this week. Practicing math facts at home with manipulatives such as pennies or beans, helps children to see how they can add 1 more with better understanding.

Science: 

We will continue our study on bats. We will cover science standards of what animals need to live and what they need in their habitat.  Students will learn what bats eat, where they live, what they look like, and other fascinating facts. We will also compare bats and birds.

Halloween Parties:

Your child’s teacher will be sending a note home about classroom Halloween parties. The Halloween parade for K-2 will begin at 8:45 in the quad.

Newsletter for the Week of October 15, 2012

Dear Family, 

Phonics/ Spelling:

This week in phonics we will introduce the H brothers; th, sh, ch, and ar like in armadillo.  In spelling students will learn the ZLFS rule: When a one-syllable word has a short vowel sound followed by the sound /z/, /l/, /f/ or /s/, it is usually spelled zz, ll, ff, or ss. Our red words for the week are:  one, two, four, they, do.

Math:

Students will learn their plus one math facts this week. We will be measuring the weight of pennies and other objects with a scale. We will also be reviewing the concept of shortest to tallest.

Science:

We will begin our study on bats. We will cover science standards of what animals need to live and what they need in their habitat.  Students will learn what bats eat, where they live, what they look like, and other fascinating facts.

Art connecting to Literature:

We will be reading the book Stellaluna and doing a directive drawing as our art project.

Home Support:

Thank you for listening to your child read each night! They are so excited to bring new books home each week. 

Dear Family,

Phonics/ Spelling:

This week in phonics we will introduce x and z.  In spelling we will review j, f, short vowel e, long vowel e, and x.

Our red words for the week are:

one, they, he, what, do

Math:

Due to minimum days we will only have math facts for homework this week. Please have your child practice the doubles rap and complete both sides of the math fact sheet for homework each night.

Science:

Students planted seeds last Friday. This week we will watch them grow in our windows and write about the process.

Important Reminders:

School will be released Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday two hours early.  There will be school next Monday on October 15.

Thank you for reading with your child at home. It is the key to their success!