Schedule for the Week of 10/3 - 10/7

Monday (D) - PE
Tuesday (A) - Art & Music
Wednesday (B) - Media Center
Thursday (C) - Music
Friday (D) - PE

Please remember to return library books on days we visit the media center and bring gym shoes on days we have PE.

Odds and Ends

As we come to the end of our 4th week (its going by so fast!), I wanted to answer some of the questions that were asked on this week's Home-School Sharing section of our grade level newsletter.

Word Work
Our word work program is in full swing!  We are continuing to add words to our word wall, and take part in the Spelling Challenge on Fridays.  Please remember that the words/spelling patterns that come home will increase in difficulty as the year progresses, so if your child can read AND write these words fluently, please do not worry about practicing these at home.  Words Their Way sorts this week included short vowels, long vowels, beginning/ending consonants and blends, depending on your child's group.  Other than practicing the Spelling Challenge words, there is no Word Work homework at this time.

Math Placement
Math class placement forms were sent home yesterday.  After getting to know your student as a mathematician and carefully assessing their current skill levels, the first grade teachers worked as a team with our Instructional Specialist, Mrs. Moss, to determine the best math class for your children.  The official math units will begin on Monday.  Please look for further math correspondence to come home next week from your child's math teacher.

Respect Circle
Our grade level morning meeting happen every Friday and include character education, team building and group tasks/activities.  This past week we have focused on taking turns talking and raising our hands when we would like to speak.  This upcoming week we are working on conflict resolution by using "I feel...when you..." statements, as well as learning the difference between tattling and reporting.  We are defining reporting as letting an adult now if someone is or is going to be hurt, id something is going to to broken, or if there is something dangerous happening.  If this is not the case, we are encouraging to children to use their new conflict resolution skills to talk it out first before asking for teacher assistance.

Reading Levels
Our district testing window opens on Monday.  During readers workshop, I will be reading and assessing all of the children to find both their independent and instructional levels.  This will help to form guided reading groups based on similar skills.  This should be completed in the next few weeks.

If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to ask.  I am happy to help answer them for you.  Have a great weekend!

Volunteer Opportunities

Below are a list of links for volunteer opportunities for Room 112!  We welcome your help in our classroom and really look forward to working with you this year!

Please click on the below link(s) that you are interested in and sign in using your Sign Up Genius account.  This is the same account you used for conferences in kindergarten.  If you do not have an account, please create one as you will need it to select times for conferences and other activities throughout the year using this site.

Descriptions and further information regarding each program can be found in each link.  The links can also be found on the left side of our blog at any time for your convenience.

Thank you in advance for your help!

Morning Managers
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080a4ba4a822a46-morning2

Mystery Reader
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080a4ba4a822a46-mystery3

Fresh Fruit Friday
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080a4ba4a822a46-fresh3

Scientist with a Twist
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080a4ba4a822a46-scientist

Strep Throat

 SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICES

BIRMINGHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS

OAKLAND COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

COMMUNICABLE DISEASE CONTROL

Strep Throat has been reported in your student’s grade level at Harlan School.  The invasion period may be 1-3 days after exposure.

Observe your child for symptoms during this period.  Keep your child home if he/she shows signs of illness.  Attacks of this disease may vary in severity, some may be very mild.  Either severe or mild cases may have serious complications.  It is usually from mild attacks that the disease spreads because the parent does not recognize the disease and fails to call the physician.

Cases of Scarlet Fever, Diphtheria, Smallpox, Tuberculosis, Infectious Hepatitis, Typhoid Fever and Salmonella (intestinal infections) should be reported to the Health Department immediately.  Children who have recovered from these diseases, except Scarlet Fever, must have clearance through the Department of Health in order to return to school.

Popcorn Day

This is a gentle reminder that tomorrow, September 20, will be Popcorn Day.  Each bag costs $0.50.  The PTA will cover students who forget their money.  If your child has allergies and you do not want them to eat the school popcorn, please let me know.

Thank you!

Picture Day

This is a gentle reminder that Picture Day will be this Thursday, September 22.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Curriculum Night Reminder

On Wednesday, September 21, Harlan will be holding our annual Curriculum Night.

The first grade teachers will hold two presentations, at 5:30 PM and 6 PM in the media center.

We hope to see you there!

Schedule for the Week of 9/19 - 9/23

Monday (B) - Media Center

Tuesday (C) - Music

Wednesday (D) - PE

Thursday (A) - Art & Music

Friday (B) - Media Center

Please remember to bring gym shoes on days we have PE and return library books on days we visit the media center.

PE with Mr. Price

Wow, were the kids excited to have their first PE class this year!  We have already finished the Pacers test, and can't wait to see what Mr. Price has is store for us next!

All the World's a Stage

If you haven't had a chance to see Mrs. Cooper's new music classroom that she created on the stage, it is a must see!  She did a fantastic job of creating a full learning environment for all of her students behind the curtains!  Great job, Mrs. Cooper!  We are loving singing in your new classroom!

Readers Workshop

This week we began our Readers Workshop!  As part of the process, we discussed what we, as readers, need to be successful.  Our class created an anchor chart to remind us of what they decided was needed.  This includes staying as quiet as a mouse (their suggestion), having books that interested us and kept our attention and having a comfortable spot to read in (that is supposed to be a pillow).

To practice using our quiet voices, we were introduced to the whisper phones.  These enabled us to read our books out loud to ourselves, without creating distracting noise to those around us! The first graders did a fantastic job of using these!  It was so quiet, you could hear the bubbling water from some of the animal tanks and the soft sounds of crickets chirping from the dragon tank. Very relaxing!

We have also practiced sitting with a partner.  Our first partner lesson included sitting EEKK!  This stands for "Elbow to Elbow, Knee to Knee."  We even learned a short poem to help us remember how to read with a partner:

Elbow to elbow,

Knee to knee.

I'll read to you, you read to me.

With the book in the middle 

so we both can see!

Next week we will begin using our "credit cards" to go shopping for books at our just right level. Stay tuned for more adventures in first grade!

Media Center with Mrs. Stayer

Today was our first book check out day of first grade!  Here we are with our selections and our media specialist, Mrs. Stayer!

Please remember that we visit the media center on B days (B is for Books).  Our next visit will be on Monday, September 19. The children should bring the books they checked out back to school on that day so that they can choose new books to "beep" at the check out counter. 

Our first Readers Workshop

Today we had our first Readers workshop!  We practiced how to read a book 3 ways (read the words, read the pictures, retell the story) and made a book mark to help us as a reminder.

We also discussed building up our independent reading stamina.  Today we successfully read quietly for 3 rounds of 3 minutes!  Tomorrow we will begin adding time to that each day as we begin to apply decoding and comprehension strategies in our books independently as well as in guided reading groups!

Working with Our Special Teachers

We are already having a fantastic time in our specials classes this year! This year we will be able to enjoy art, PE, visit the media center and take advantage of first grade's double music schedule to get ready for our first concert at Harlan!

Specials classes are also referred to as Unified Arts or UA classes. 

Room 112 with our art teacher Mr. Fackler

Room 112 with one of our music teachers Miss Leader

For music this year, we will be having half of our classes held in Mrs. Cooper's new classroom on the stage, as well as having music class with Mrs. Cooper's student teacher, Miss Leader, in our classroom!

Stay tuned for more pictures as we explore all of the specials classes at Harlan!

Welcome to Room 112!

Hello First Grade Families!

It was a pleasure meeting so many of you on Meet the Teacher Day and spending this past week with your fantastic children!  I can already tell we are going to have an amazing year full of learning and adventures!  I also wanted to take this opportunity to go over some important reminders.

Please remember ...

• school begins at 8:44am 
• the tardy bell will ring at 8:49am
• our specials time is at 9am, so we may not be in the classroom if your child arrives late
• pack 2 peanut/tree nut free snacks SEPARATELY from your child's lunch box
• school dismissal is 3:50pm
• Curriculum Night will be held on Wednesday, September 21

If you have not already done so, please send in the completed dismissal and allergy forms to school as soon as possible.  Also, please send in your child's completed September Pride Post (apple) if you have not had a chance to already.

You should have received your first newsletter of the year on the first day of school last week.  Please remember to fill in your child's reading log each night and return it on Fridays.  Weekly newsletters come home every Monday.

Please let me know if you ever have any questions, comments, compliments or concerns.  I look forward to working with you and your family this year!

Best Wishes, 

Scott

Specials Schedule for First Grade

A Days - Art & Music
B Days - Media Center
C Days - Music
D Days - PE

A year-long calendar of our ABCD schedule was placed in the back of your child's yellow homework folder for your reference.

Please remember to return library books (once we being checking them out) on days we visit the media center and wear gym shoes on days we have PE.  You are welcome to leave a pair of gym shoes in your child's cubby if you would prefer.

Schedule for the Week of 9/12 - 9/16

Monday (A) - Art & Music
Tuesday (B) - Media Center
Wednesday (C) - Music
Thursday (D) - PE
Friday (A) - Art & Music

A Peek at Our Week!

We have had such an amazing first week of 1st grade!  In addition to playing lots of "getting to know you" activities, we also reviewed the Harlan Habits of Respect, Responsibility and Kindness and began to build our classroom community!  

Harlan Habits in action:

Respect - We participated in our first Respect Circle, which is our grade level morning meetings on Fridays. 

Responsibility - We began packing up our own folders at the end of the day.

Kindness - We celebrated the birthdays of our principal, Dr. Thompson, and our custodian, Ms. Markeeda by singing to them as a grade level.

Here are a few of our favorite activities form our first week:

After talking about how everyone can get a little nervous when they do something for the first time, we read the book First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg.  In this story, we followed the main character, Sarah, as she gets ready for her first day of school.  She is so nervous that she doesn't even want to go!  The children loved the book, especially when we fins out in the end that Sarah is actually the teacher!  To help us with our first day jitters, we made a special concoction called Jitter Juice!

This included a mixture of bravery (white grape juice), magic potion (sparking water) and color changing bubbles!  Here we are enjoying our jitter juice.  We all felt a little more confidant after this!

At the end of our first day, we played with a special play dough called The Magic Mix!  This all-white dough came with a very special poem that explained its magic:

Magic Play Dough,

Oh so white,

I make this wish

with all my might!

If another color does appear,

its sure to be a GREAT school year!

After saying the magic words, we began squishing and mushing our dough.  Right before our eyes, our once white dough started changing colors!  It looks like everyone will have a great first grade year!

We also reviewed math concepts such as partners of 10, counting on and three addends, discussed our classroom pets, read lots of books (our favorites so far are But No Elephants! by Jerry Smath and The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak), shared our favorite reading memories, learned all about the "big kid's playground" and practiced our hand signals to help us communicate without interrupting!

I can't wait to see what this year has in store for us!  We are off to a fantastic start!