General
Welcome to First Grade!
Submitted by Mrs Nikolic on Thu, 2007-08-23 15:44.
Importance of Learning Sight Words
Submitted by Mrs Nikolic on Fri, 2007-04-20 13:58.During the past few weeks, the students have been working on sight words in our spelling program. Many of these words cannot be sounded out because they do not follow decoding rules, so they must be learned as sight words. Children need to recognize these automatically. This ability helps them become more fluent in their reading. As children become more fluent, they are better able to attend to the text they're reading. In other words, they can better understand, or comprehend what they read.
While they are in the early grades, students are introduced to different sets of these words. One of these sets is the Dolch set. This set is composed of the 220 most frequently found words in the books that children read.
You can play games with your child to help your child master these words. Make flash cards, create bingo cards, or make as second copy of your flash cards and play a memory game! If you want to play the memory game, turn the flash cards over so that the side with the words written on them is not showing. The targeted goal is that the player needs to be able to read the matching words they find. Of course, the winner of the game is the one with the most matching pairs!
Earth Project
Submitted by Mrs Barringer on Tue, 2008-04-29 11:55.
Reading Centers
Submitted by Mrs Barringer on Wed, 2008-03-05 10:25.Reading centers are a big part of our week. Children practice meaningful literacy skills while I work with guided reading groups. I thought you might enjoy seeing some pictures of the children as they work in centers. Enjoy! :)
Reading nonfiction books at the classroom library:Â
Practicing phonics skills at the computer center:Â
Listening to a book on tape at the listening center:Â
Sorting compound words at the word study center:Â
Lunar Eclipse
Submitted by Mrs Barringer on Wed, 2008-02-20 08:21.Dear Parents,
I heard a report on the radio that I thought you might find interesting. There will be a total lunar eclipse tonight. The weather channel is reporting CLEAR skies, perfect for viewing! If the children haven't seen one before, they might enjoy viewing the eclipse before they go to bed. It should start around 7:30 with a total eclipse between 9:00-9:30. The next one is due in 2010. Have fun viewing!!!! :)
Jan Brett Email
Submitted by Mrs Melissaratos on Tue, 2008-02-05 16:10.
Dear Jan Brett,
Hi, we are a first grade class at Todd Hall School in
Illinois. We are reading your books in our class. We love your books. We all like The Gingerbread Baby book because the Gingerbread Baby is cute. We read The Mitten, and then retold the story in
our own words. We made paper mittens and put the animals in the mitten. In the book The Hat, we liked when the sock got stuck on Hedgie. How do you
get your ideas for your books? They are really good. Do you have any new books? You are a great author.
Thanks,
Room 210
Dear Ann Melissaratos' class,
Investigating Solids
Submitted by Mrs Barringer on Thu, 2008-01-24 14:06.The kids had a blast during today's science lesson. Partners worked together to investigate properties of solids. Together they conducted experiments to determine if different solids stack, roll, are hard or soft, are magnetic or not, and whether they sink or float. After completing our investigations, we compiled our information into a class chart. Check it out below! Ask your child what they learned about solids today!
Will it sink or float?
 Our Properties of Solids Chart:
Winter Clothes
Submitted by Mrs Barringer on Tue, 2008-01-22 10:31.Dear Parents,
Your child has an extra change of clothing at school, but many of them have summer clothes. Please send an extra change of winter clothes to school with your child as soon as possible. Include pants, a shirt or sweater, underwear, and socks. We continue to go outside for recess, and occasionally children come inside wet or muddy. Accidents do happen, too! Â
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter!Â
Great Reading Web Site
Submitted by Mrs Nikolic on Tue, 2008-01-08 06:29.
 
   Please visit Kids' Lab. This is a wonderful web site that offers kids practice in various reading skills.
Happy Holidays!
Submitted by Mrs Melissaratos on Fri, 2007-12-21 12:41.Happy Holidays!
A special thank you to our Room Moms Christine Dyer and Dorcas Doi and all the parents that helped with our party. The children had a GREAT time!!! Please enjoy the following pictures taken at our party.
