Dear Parents,
I will be sending home a newsletter at the start of each
month. In these letters I will be
keeping you informed on what we are doing in each curriculum area. We are three weeks into the school year
already! Wow!
BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT: Thanks to those that made it to our Back to
School night. It was wonderful to see
you all there. I hope that my
presentation gave you enough information to get this school year off to a great
start!
STUDENT TEACHER: Miss
Zeigler has started working in my classroom.
She will be in room 30 Mondays and Tuesdays until lunch and then all day
on Wednesdays. This is her first student
teaching placement so at the start she will be getting to know my class and
observing my teaching, as the semester progresses she will begin doing some of
her own teaching. In the folder today is
a permission slip in order for her to be filmed while she is teaching in my
classroom. This is a requirement of her
program and the film will only be used by her supervisor and herself to help
her to better her teaching practice.
Please sign and return. Thanks.
LANGUAGE ARTS: I am
currently assessing my students and once I’m done reading with each of them I
will place them in flexible guided reading groups. In these groups we will read books that are
at their instructional level and practicing our reading strategies. During that readers workshop time they will
also be working on their reading skills individually as well with books just at
their level. We are also reviewing
phonics, practicing our printing, and working on various reading
strategies. In writing we will start
with narrative writing. We gathered our
writing ideas and now we are writing several different “small moments”, and
learning some writing strategies along the way. Your child will pick one of their rough drafts
to take through the entire writing process.
MATH: We will begin the year with creating routines using
data. I have decided to use Georgia
Math, and a variety of other resources for our in class math curriculum. We will begin each day in math with a daily
math-thinking problem. I use our daily calendar to review money, number sense,
computation, odd/even and passage of time. Then either in small groups or whole
class we will play various math games working on various math concepts. Throughout the year I will send home the math
workbooks for your children to work through at home if they wish.
SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES: In Science we are beginning to work
in our Solids and Liquids science kit. In this kit students will explore solids,
liquids and be able to participate in a variety of hands on experiences to
enhance their learning. In Social
Studies we will complete our first unit about citizenship.
TECHNOLOGY: Our class website can be found at: http://dilworthroom3.blogspot.com/
The West Valley website can be found at: http://www.edline.net/pages/West_Valley_Elementary_School
I will also be using a site called
Bloomz, if you have not accepted my invitation yet, please do join. I already have some pictures posted. Our room parent will contact you via
Konstella. I would like for your child
to bring in a pair of headphones to have to use in the classroom this school
year. They will bring them home at the
end of the school year. They will have
weekly access to Raz Kids in the classroom as well as occasional videos that I
want them to view independently on our iPads.
If you can have them bring them in and label them with their name that
would be great.
HOMEWORK: This week
your child should have brought home a check out book Monday through
Thursday. They are to read that book to
themselves or have it read to them each night.
Remember that reading is something that should be practiced every
evening. In today’s folder is your
homework activity sheet for September.
It will be due back to me on Friday, September 29. I will send home one of these calendars each
month. Just choose two activities to do
a week.
WALK-A-THON: West
Valley’s annual walk-a-thon will be October 7th. Keep your eyes open for information about how
this works and how you can volunteer and support this super fun event. I will be there most of that day to either
help or walk. I will be walking lots of
laps that day! It’s a fun event and I
hope to see you all there. First grade
will have a raffle item you are welcome to bid on for your children too. It’s an after school popcorn and movie party
for the top 5 bidders in each first grade classroom.
I'm looking forward to a wonderful, productive and
successful school year with you and your children.
Thanks for your support, Kathleen Erikson
SPECIAL DATES:
• Sept. 4: Labor Day/Holiday no school
• Sept. 15: Learning Day for teachers, no school
for students
• Oct. 7: WALK-A-THON! 9:00-4:00
• Oct. 5-13: Goal Setting Conferences, school
dismisses at 1:00
• Oct. 16: No School
• Oct. 27: Field Trip to Hidden Villa Farm
• Oct. 31:
Halloween parade
• Nov. 10:
Veteran's Day/No school
• November 20-24: Thanksgiving break
• November ?: Natural Bridges (Monarch
Butterflies)
• December 18-January 2: Winter Break
• January 15: MLK day/no school
• January 26: Learning Day for teachers, no
school for students
• Jan. 30: 100th Day of School
• Feb. 14: Valentine’s Day
• Feb. 15: Pete the Cat 10:00 at the Flint Center
• Feb. 16: Chinese New Year Centers in the GLC
• Feb. 19-23: Winter break
• March 16: Green Luncheon in Room 30 (St.
Patrick’s Day celebration)
• April 23: Hiller Aviation Museum
• April 16-20: Spring break
• May 18: No school
• May 25: First Grade Performance in the GLC at
1:00
• May 28: Memorial Day/no school
• June 4: End of the Year party/first grade
picnic
• June 7: Last Day of School: dismissal at 11:50
