September 26, 2008

Upcoming Dates

Wednesday, October 1st: Book It Reading Logs Begin
On Monday, you will be getting our first reading log for October in the homework packet. Please read 20 minutes every day (five days a week) and return the reading log after the month ends. More information will be included in the homework packet.

Monday, October 6th – Tuesday, October 14th: Parent Conferences (Dismissal at 1:30!)
Today there is an important paper that tells you your parent conference time. Please return the confirmation section and also fill out the parent input form by TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30th. During conferences, dismissal everyday will be at 1:30PM. Please remember to make arrangements to pick up your child on time!

Wednesday, October 15th: Fairyland Field Trip
Thank you for those of you who have returned the permission slip for Fairyland. We have our four parent chaperones: Maya’s, Naoki’s, Kinako’s, and Jhanvi’s parent. They will be coming with us on the school bus. Please send a DISPOSABLE lunch (paper bag or plastic bag) with your child because we will be throwing everything away after lunch. Remember to LABEL the lunch bag with your child’s name!

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Dear Families,

This was a busy week! Here are some of the highlights:
Poem of the Week: A Little Red Apple
Song of the Week: The Eaton Song
Kindness is: learning a friend’s language

• Language Arts: We started our literacy centers this week. There is a lot to learn and get used to, but we will get better with more practice! Remember that 3 stars in each center is our goal! Please take time to look over the work that goes home in the Friday Folders and help your child to practice some of the skills at home. We continued our dictionaries to S this week and interviewed three new prince or princesses.

• Social Studies: We learned about Johnny Appleseed this week. We read some stories about his contribution to our world by planting lots of apple trees! We also talked about the new season that began on Monday, Fall!

• Computer Lab: On Wednesday, we did a math project in Kidpix on different way to add to seven. Students used different stamps to show math sentences such as 3+4=7 or 0+7=7. Afterwards, we introduced the software program, Type to Learn, to the students. This program is great for teaching proper typing skills and hand placement on the keyboard.

• PE: Mrs. Bachelor had our class this week. We practiced our throwing and catching skills by using tennis balls and plastic milk gallon containers!

• Circuits: Mrs. Bachelor had our class on Tuesday afternoon for our social studies circuit. We learned about our homes and talked about how it may look different for everyone. We shared what was special about our home.

• Math: We finished our chapter on subtraction this week. We practiced reading word problems together and figuring out whether we should add or subtract. It is important to learn to solve problems carefully and accurately!

• Music: We saw our music teacher, Miss Rachel, on Thursday. We listened to different songs and practiced showing high notes and low notes with our bodies.

• Library: Remember we go to the Eaton library every Friday and can check out one book. This afternoon, we also went to the Cupertino library. Students checked out 2 books of their choice, but please remember to return these books on your own. We do not want to mix up our Eaton books with the Cupertino public library books. Thank you! Now that everyone has a library card, please take your child to the library from time to time and let them practice checking out books. They are very capable of remembering their PIN numbers and checking books out on their own.

• Art: We have been working on an apple art project called quilling. We made a shape of an apple, a stem, and a leaf, and we have been rolling strips of paper to fill in the apple. This is a project that students work on when they finish their work and it also is practice for their fine-motor skills.

• Science: This week we started our science unit for the trimester on Solids and Liquids. We introduced examples of solid object such as pencils, erasers, and computers. We talked about liquids such as water, milk, or juice. We also learned that air is not a solid or liquid, but a gas.

I look forward to seeing all of you during parent conference week. Please remember to turn in the confirmation page by Tuesday, September 30th. We will be discussing your child’s progress so far in first grade and what goals we have for the end of the year.

Have a great weekend!