Week of May 14, 2018

       This week the children will continue to work on their first grade memory book. They will continue to  learn about Hawaii as they prepare for their Hawaiian Luau on Thursday.  Information will come home on Monday letting you know what your child will need to bring to the Luau.  All parents are invited to attend. We will begin around 8:30 in the lunchroom.  This will be the children's end of the year celebration.  I will decorate the lunchroom on Wednesday after dismissal.  If you would like to join me I would really appreciate it.

       Award's Day will be on Wednesday, May 16th.  Parents are all invited to join us in the middle school  gym at 9:15.

       Well, this will be the final blog for first grade.  This has been a great  year.  The children have learned so much and I am very proud of each of them.  I know they will each do well in second grade.  Please continue to keep in contact with me throughout the years.  I hope you all will  have a fun and safe summer. 


                 Remind your child to read and study their math facts a lot this summer. 

Week of May 7, 2018

This week I will be reviewing the children on skills previous learned.  The children will be given their end of the year reading assessment on reading, comprehension, and reading for fluency.


We will go to Lee Victory Park on Friday, May 11th for our end of the year picnic.  Children will not need to bring a lunch.  However, they will need to bring a bottle of water and a blanket.  Your child may bring balls, bats, and other items that they would enjoy playing at the park.  Please make sure your child have their name on these items.Your child will need to wear sun screen. Parents are invited to attend.  We will leave the school around 8:30 and return around 1:30. 


END OF YEAR CELEBRATION  (Hawaiian Luau)
We will be preparing for our End of the Year Celebration.  Our celebration will be on Thursday, May 17th at 8:15.  Parents are invited.   More information will be sent home later in the week about this celebration.  HOWEVER, YOUR CHILD WILL NEED TO BRING A WHITE TEE SHIRT TO SCHOOL BY WEDNESDAY MAY 9TH.  

This week the children will be working on the following skill:

• Inflectional Endings: -ed and -ing
• Words with three letter blends
• Reviewing addition/subtraction facts
• Reviewing adding 10 to a number
• Subtracting 10 to a number
• Learning about the state of Hawaii
• Reading assessment on decoding, reading comprehension, and reading for fluency.
• Reading the Bible story" The Walls of Jericho Falls Down"

CLASSROOM REMINDERS:

• Park Day- May 11th Lee Victory Park
• Awards Day May 16th-  8:00
• End of Year Celebration (Hawaiian Luau):  May 17th - 8:00
• Final Day of School:  May 17th

 

Week of April 30, 2018

This will be a fun and busy week.  The children  will begin the week off with Field Day,  on Tuesday they will go to the Children's Theater, and on Friday their Pen Pals from Whitsitt Elementary will be visiting them at school.

FIELD DAY:
Field Day will be Monday, April 30th.  All parents are invited to come and enjoy the fun.  The children should wear their red field day shirt that they brought home  Friday.  Field Day will begin at 8:30 on the football field.  Your child should bring a lunch on Monday.  It is strongly suggested that you put sun screen on your child and allow your child to bring some water with their name on it.  We will have a picnic outside. After lunch the children will come back in the classroom for other activities.


NASHVILLE CHILDREN'S THEATER:  Tuesday, May 1st
 The children will attend the Nashville Children's Theater on Tuesday.  The children will see the following play.
Dragons Love Tacos
by Ernie Nolan
Based on the book by Adam Rubin

Parents are welcome to met the children at the theater. You may purchase your ticket at the admission booth at the theater. All children should wear their school uniform. We will leave the school around 8:30.VISIT FROM PEN PALS FROM WHITSITT ELEMENTARY:  

Friday. May 4th

Our pen pals will arrive at school around 9:30.  The children will read with their pen pals, play games, and have lunch with them.  Your child will not need to bring lunch to school on Friday.  Your child may wear an Ezell Harding T-shirt and Jeans.

Parents are welcome to come and assist.
ALL STUDENTS WILL NEED TO BRING A PAPER BACK BOOK TO GIVE TO THEIR PEN PALS.  PLEASE SEND THIS BOOK TO SCHOOL BY WEDNESDAY, MAY 2ND.

The children will be working on the following skills this week:

• The children will read and discuss the weekly Bible Story " Rehab Helps Two Spies" Joshua 2:1-24
• The children will be introduced to quotation marks and write sentences using quotation marks.
•  Identify, decode, and read words with /ar/, /air/, /are/,/ear/
• Review addition/Subtraction facts
• Interpret data from a graph
• Work and write addition/subtraction word problems.
• Begin working on their end of the year booklet. 
• Read stories, and do reading and math activities about camping.

THERE WILL NOT BE A SPELLING OR READING TEST ON FRIDAY

FRIDAY MAY 4TH ALL LIBRARY BOOKS (AR BOOKS) MUST BE TURNED INTO THE LIBRARY.

Week of April 23, 2018

        Hip! Hip! Hooray!  The achievement test is over!  The children did a fantastic job on their yearly achievement test.  I am so proud of all of them.  Now we will get back to our every day schedule.  This week will be another busy week.  We will be going to the Discovery Science Museum in Murfreesboro on Wednesday.   Parents are invited to go with us.  If you are planning on attending the field trip please let me know as soon as possible.  You may pay for the field trip when you arrive at the museum.  We will leave the school around 8:15 and return around 1:00.  All children will need to bring a sack lunch and a drink to take on the field trip. Your child will need to wear jeans and an Ezell-Harding t-shirt. 
         On Friday the children will  participate in Ezell-Harding''s  annual field day.  It would be great if your child would also bring a sack luck for field day.  Your child will be given a field day t-shirt to wear on Friday.  Information will be sent home this week from Mr. Riley about field day later.
         This week the children will work on the following skills:

• Identifying, decoding, and reading words with the /wr/, /kn/, and /gn/ sounds
• Write a narrative about the best thing in first grade
• Phoneme Awareness Phoneme Segmentation Drill
• Continue to review addition/subtraction facts
• Identify main idea, details, setting, and plot within a story
• Review compound words
• Continue to work on word problems
• Identifying and writing entire name, address, name of street, city, state, and zip code.
• The children will be working with making, ab, abc, and abcd patterns
• Interpreting data on a graph
• Read and learn about the Bible story " Moses Sends Twelve Spies to the Promised Land" Numbers 13:1-14:35
• Weekly Bible Verse: "O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you." (Psalm 84:12)
• The children will learn about their state of Tennessee

Spelling:

This week the children will not have any spelling words.  They will need to know their address and how to write their address correctly.  They will need to be able to write their entire name, address,  street name, city, state, and zip code.  They will not be able to use abbreviation for city and state.

All Test will be given on Thursday due to Field Day.

Weekly Reminders:

April 25th:  Field Trip (Discovery Science Museum) Murfreesboro, Tn

April 27th:  Field Day

May 1st:     Children's Museum

May 4th:     Visit from Pen Pals from Whitsitt Elementary

May 11th     First/Second Grade Picnic
May 15th     Award's Day

May 17th     End of the Year Celebration

Week of April 16, 2018

       This week the children will be taking their annual achievement test.  They are excited about taking the test and have been well prepared for it. The children will be tested April 17th thru April 20th. The test will begin each day at 8:15. NO CHILD WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO ENTER THE CLASSROOM AFTER THE TEST HAS BEGUN. Therefore, it is very important that your child arrive to school by 7:45 so they will be prepared for the test when it begins.
     
                                      How Your Child can Prepare for Test Taking

• Reassure your child that they do not have to answer all the questions correctly to pass. It is not expected that students answer every question correctly.  There is always room for error. Knowing that they do not have to be perfect will help eliminate some of the stress that comes with testing.
• Tell your child to attempt to answer all of the questions and not to leave any blank. There is no penalty for guessing, and students can get partial credit on the open-ended items.  Teach them to eliminate ones that they know are wrong first because it gives them a higher chance of getting the correct answer if they are forced to guess.
• Remind your child that the test is important.  It sounds simple, but many parents fail to reiterate this. Most children will put forth their best effort when they know  it is important to their parents.
• Explain to your child the importance of using time wisely. If your child gets stuck on a question, encourage him or her to make the best guess or place a mark in the test booklet by that item and go back to it after finishing that section of the test. Students must not spend too much time on a single question. Give your best attempt and move on.
Ensure that your child gets a decent night's sleep and a good breakfast before taking the test. These are essential to how your child performs. You want them to be at their best. Failing to get a good nights rest or good breakfast can cause them to lose focus quickly.
• Make the morning of the test a pleasant one. Do not add to your child's stress.  Do not argue with your child or bring up a touchy subject. Instead, try to do extra things that make them laugh, smile, and relax
• Get your child to school on time the day of the test.  Give yourself extra time to get to school each morning. Your child will not be able to enter once the test has began.
• Remind your child to listen carefully to the instructions from the teacher and to read the directions and each question carefully. 

WEEKLY TEST:  .

There will not be a spelling test, Bible, or reading test this week.

WEEKLY REMINDERS:

• April 17th thru 20th  Achievement test
• April 25th  Field Trip (Discovery Science Museum)  Murfreesboro, Tn
• April  27th Field Day
• May 4th Visit from Pen Pals from Whitsitt Elementary
• May 4th  Last day to take AR test (All library books must be turned in)

Week of 4-9-18


       This week the children will be working on test taking strategies.  We will be reviewing math and reading skills.  It is strongly suggested that you allow your child to review sight words, addition/subtraction facts and read as much as possible.

      The children will also be working on the following skills:

• Identifying, decoding, and reading words with /au/ and /aw/
• Phonemic Awareness Categorization
• Review suffix and prefixes
• Continue to learning about plants (The children will be planting vegetables on Wednesday)
• Working and discuss addition/subtraction word problems
• Read and discuss the weekly Bible story "The People Bring Gifts to make the Tabernacle. Exodus 35:4-36:7
• Retelling and rewriting stories in sequence
• Continue to work for reading for comprehension and fluency.
• Identify the parts of a letter

WEEKLY SPELLING WORDS:

haul, cause, saw, claw, paw, dawn, fawn, auto, saucer, lawn

Bonus Words:  Tabernacle - worship

Reminders:

•  4/10 :        3rd/4th Grade Play
• 4/17-4/20:  Achievement Test
• 4/25:           Field Trip (Discovery Science Museum  (Murfreesboro, Tn) 
• 4/27:           Field Day            

Week of April 2, 2018

        This week the children will be quit busy as they prepare for Spring Sprint.  Encourage your child to go out and get donations.  They are very excited about the opportunity to earn prizes and getting visits from the Castle Quest team each day.
        This week the children will be working on the following skills:

• The children will learn about the 10 Commandments.
• Continue to work with counting pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters
• Learn about liquid measurement: gallon, pint, quart, cup
• Continue to review addition and subtraction.
• Identify and read words with suffixes ful and less
• Read the story "Click, Clack, Moo Cows that Type"
• Identify, decode, and read words with the variant u sound
• Identify the parts of a plant and the process a seed goes through before becoming a plant
• The children will plant vegetable seeds to go in our class planter.
• I will continue to review reading and math skills as the children prepare for their annual achievement test.

WEEKLY SPELLING WORDS:

• moon, tune, flew, blue, fruit, spoon, June, stew, blew, suit
• Bonus Words:  umbrella - commandments

WEEKLY NEWS:

• Spring Sprint and family picnic - April 6 ( Children may go home after they run on Friday)
• Yearly Achievement test - April 17-20
• Spelling, reading, and Bible test will be given on Thursday
• Thanks to all the parents that came to assist with our Easter celebration

WEEKLY MEMORY VERSE:

Children, obey your parents in all things.

Colossians 3:20