News From Our Classroom

This is a printed copy of the front page of my blog:       www.mrsdgr1.blogspot.com 
A blog is an online place that I use to provide information about our class that I update weekly.  I have tried to include useful information about which you might have questions using the different tabs of this blog:  The Newsletter which is the front page of the blog;  Sites & Links useful to first graders;  Important dates and events; helpful Parent Information about working with this age learner; Classroom Rules;  Homework for the week; Web Sites we will use this week; iPad Apps we will use this week.  Please go to my blog page to check out all of these tabs.

         Hello.  Well, the second week of school has been almost as hot as the first!  I can't wait until this heat wave breaks, and the weather becomes more "fall-like".  It's hard for us all to be in school and focus our attention on learning when we are uncomfortably warm.
         We have had two "School Evacuation" drills since last Thursday.  (These are what we used to call "Fire Drills".)  Our class has done a great job walking quickly and quietly  to our meeting spot both times we have had to evacuate.  I did speak to the children beforehand about the need for them to be quiet so that I can hear Mr. Brown or the other teachers in case there is a real problem, and we have to do something unexpected like meet in a different place.  I was especially proud of this class on Tuesday afternoon when our class got separated by other classes, and the children went quietly up to our meeting spot and were waiting quietly and patiently for me once I could reach them.  With just one practice, they knew EXACTLY what to do, and did it perfectly!!!
          TOMORROW, we will need to do another kind of drill -- a LOCKDOWN.  It is to help the children know what to do if we should ever have to protect them from some danger from outside the building.  I don't have to tell you about how different the world is now-a-days-- you've all seen the headline about Columbine or Sandy Hill.   I am VERY concerned that an unexpected lockdown might frighten your child, but the educator in me KNOWS that lives can be saved if the children know what to do ahead of time.  I am telling you about the upcoming lockdown because I want to give YOU the chance to introduce this sensitive topic to your child before it actually happens in such a way that lets him or her continue to think that school is a safe place, and that he or she needn't worry about "bad guys lurking outside the building".  I will have a brief talk in the morning with all of the children, and will tell them what we will need to do, but I wanted YOU to have the chance to present the information first in a way that is right for YOUR child.   I would have wanted the opportunity to introduce the topic to my own daughter (when she was this age) because she frightened very easily.  In a LOCKDOWN, we would try to remain still and quietly out of sight of doors and windows.  The lights will be off in the classroom, and we will go together into hiding.  The three most important factors are: 1) That we are hidden  2) That we stay together  and 3) That we remain quiet so that it is difficult for someone outside of our room to know where we are.  Please talk with your child TODAY about how important it is for him or her to follow these three steps.  Reassure him or her that I will take good care of him and keep him safe, but that we have to be very still and quiet until Mr. Brown comes into our room to let us know that everything is safe, and that may take some time. You, as the person who knows your child best, can explain to your child what LOCKDOWN is and why we practice it. My primary job during such a crisis is keeping your child and his or her classmates safe.  I will do all in my power to keep "my children" safe until they can be returned to you.  You should know that communication with the "outside world" is very limited in a "Lockdown" situation, as phone lines will NEED TO BE OPEN AND AVAILABLE TO EMERGENCY RESPONDERS, so please do not attempt to communicate with the school during a LOCKDOWN.   Should we ever need to leave the building, I have all of the numbers, addresses and emergency contacts you gave the school in my "smartphone", which is on me at all times.  In a REAL emergency, office personnel or I would get in touch with you to let you know where we are, how we are, and when and where you can reunite with your child.  Needless to say, I would stay with your child until he or she can be reunited with you.  What a world we live in, huh?!    Please talk to your child.  We are required to have several Lockdowns this year, as well as MANY evacuation practices.

      I don't know if your child told you or not, but I started my fall baseline assessments of your child's current abilities last Thursday.  Sight word evaluations were started last week, and will be finished this coming week.  In addition,  DRA reading tests will be given this coming Wednesday and Thursday mornings.  Because the tests become invalid when children not yet being assessed can "listen in" on their classmates' assessments, a sub will be with my class Wednesday and Thursday morning so that I can evaluate the children's reading skills in my back room where there is more privacy.  I will be with the kids in the afternoons on those two days.  Sandy Cole will "sub" for me in the mornings.  Hopefully, I will be able to get all of the children done in those two mornings.  It is my hope that I will be able to process the information over the weekend, and be able to begin Reading Groups some time next week.
        We had a brief addition to our class on Thursday.  Some fifth graders brought us what was first thought to be a monarch caterpillar.  Our first Science unit of the year (and one that remains ongoing throughout the year is about animal life cycles), and the whole monarch caterpillar/ butterfly metamorphosis is an exciting way to introduce the topic, so I was pretty excited.  By Friday morning, our caterpillar was not looking very well, and had stopped eating.  It turns out that the caterpillar was a swallowtail caterpillar, and it was getting ready to "winter", so it was ravenously eating parsley.  Because this kind of caterpillar does best outside at this time of year, we let him return to his outside world.  So, we are looking for a monarch caterpillar to observe in our classroom over the next few weeks, as they get ready to go through their metamorphosis.  Monarch caterpillars live exclusively on milkweed plants.  Should any of you "outdoor-type" people come across monarch eggs or caterpillars, please put them into a covered container (with breathing holes) and send it into school with your child.  Together, we will watch the stages this creature goes through in the process of becoming a butterfly.  If you do send in a monarch caterpillar, please also send in a supply of leaves from the milkweed plant.  I will refrigerate them so we have a supply of food for our visitor.  Thank you for helping with this project.

         As you can tell from the papers that have been coming home, we have been working on strengthening our "number sense" in Math.  We started with the number 1, and have talked about the many ways 1 can be represented.  We have done the same for the numbers 2 - 6, and will continue to do so through 10.  Simultaneously, we are learning about patterns in Math.  The children have been using materials in the classroom to build various patterns, and we are learning to "name" them:  AB , ABC,  ABB, and AAB are all patterns we will know how to recognize and how to "build" during the month of September.  Our hardest task will be to recognize when something is a pattern, and when it is not.  We will learn to look for "repeating units" as a way of recognizing patterns.  Ask your child to tell you what he or she knows about patterns as these worksheets come home.
        Most of you have signed and returned your child's iPad contract sheet to me.  The children started using the iPads last week, but the two or three children who have not returned the contracts cannot use the iPads as of today.  The iPad is proving to be a beneficial educational tool, so please return those signed contracts if you have not already done so.  So far, the children are using the apps "Memory4You" (to improve memory skills), "TeachMeKindergarten" (I will put them into "TeachMe FirstGrade" in a few weeks, but they are already familiar with the Kindergarten version, so they can use it independently while I assess), and "Number Natives" (again working on that number sense). They seem to be enjoying these apps.  Speaking of technology, ask your child what a "Smartboard" is, if you don't know.  We use the smartboard several times a day to make technology-based learning a regular part of our classroom.  In addition, your child also has regular access to the four classroom laptops as one of his or her "centers".  Right now, the two programs which your child uses on the laptop are: www.wedolisten.org (a program of books your child can read or listen to) and "PoopDeck" (a pirate-themed program children can use to "read" CVC words  like "bed" or "cat" or "pot" or "bug".  He or she earns pirate booty for each correct answer.  Though we don't go to "centers" every day, we do  several times a week.  Ask your child what centers he or she has done so far.
        That's all for this week.  Please talk to your child about LOCKDOWN, and about the importance of trying to do his or her best on the assessments he or she will be taking during the next few weeks.  I'll write again over next weekend!