9.7.13 Newsletter

Mrs.
Donzes 1st Newsletter (2013-2014 school year) September 7, 2013 Important Dates
All Sept: Dont forget to read to/with your child and record it on the September Reading Calendar. Goal is: 15 minutes 5 times a week. Your child will earn a Pizza Hut Personal Pan Pizza starting in October. In September your child will get to pick something out of our Way to Go or You Did it bucket. Sept. 13: School pictures Sept. 17: Constitution Day Sept. 23: Bring in favorite kind of
apple (note will go home as a reminder) Sept. 26: Johnny Appleseeds Birthday/apple theme for week
Classroom News
Welcome to a new year! We are off to a great start in our first grade. The kids are learning the names of their new friends and they are learning the routines and procedures of being in first grade. Your children are wonderful! They seem very excited about this school year and I am delighted to be their teacher! We have a lot to be excited about even though weve only been in school a few days. You will read about some of what we are doing on the next page. It was wonderful meeting you at open house last week. Of course there were a few things I forgot to tell you about. One was our Clip Chart for behavior. This is a simple discipline strategy for promoting positive behavior. I will attach a picture of this chart, so when you hear your child or myself refer to clipping up or down, you know what we are talking about. IMPORTANT: The other thing I forgot to have you do was for you to write down the size t-shirt your child wears so we can order it for the walk-a-thon. Please send a note so I can let the PTO know. A few of you did write down your childs size at our open house-but I forgot to remind everyone to do this. (Or quicker yet, e-mail me at: kdonze@rockfordschools.org and tell me the size. Youth S (6-8) M (10-12) L (14-16)
Sept. 24: Late start day Oct. 4: Walk-a-thon in the pm
Special Schedule:
Monday: P.E. and Art Tuesday: Music Wednesday: Computer Lab Thursday: Library Make sure books
are returned by Thursday morning so your child can check out another book.)
Friday: P.E.
I have an All Ears letter that was written by Mary Jo Goethal, a speech pathologist in the Rockfo rd School District a few years ago. It has great information in it about language and I plan to send it to you monthly.
Mrs. Kim Donze Email address: kdonze@rockfordschools.org Blog:: kimdonzeclassroom.blogspot.com (This is not current yet, will be shortly.) Office Phone #: 616-863-6362, Classroom phone #: 616-863-6363 ext. 4721
Word Wall Words: Sept. 9-13 at, *there, *is, we, go

The words with the * indicate that it is a red word and so it does not follow a rule for spelling.
What Were Learning Reading: We have spent time looking at books this week, and
reading new poems and songs in our poem folders. Next week I will be assessing the students and give them some leveled and genre books to keep in their book boxes at school for Read to self time. The children will learn there are 3 ways to read a book and how to choose a book.
The skill work this week will be to learn the at family words. (It is underlined.)
Sept. 16-20 him, *some, be, am, little

Skill work: am family and short /i /sound
Math: We have spent most of our math time learning about the
calendar this week. Next week the kids will get their math journals, and home links (homework) will go home. Please make sure your child understands the directions. You may need to assist a little and look it over to see that it was done correctly. Then have them pack it in their folder to be returned the next day for credit. Please make sure your child has his/her name on their papers for credit. Thanks!
Sept. 22-27 *have, with, then, as, so

Skill work: en word family, short /e/, review short /a/, open syllable words (so/be/me), and introduce /th/.
Writing: We have spent most of our writing time doing beginning

of the year assessments, but I am impressed with their ability to come up with ideas to write about. Everyone has put great effort in their writing, and I am excited. I will show you all the growth they make this year at conferences. You will be amazed!
Science:
The Monarch caterpillars arrived!! We are thrilled and
we will keep you posted on all the stages they go through in the next few weeks. I will send some pictures soon. Im sure the kids will also keep you posted on their life cycle.
Social Studies: We have been writing
Belmonts Best
Mrs. Thelen will invite these kids to eat their lunch with her during the week of: Sept. 23: Devin Fisher Sept. 30: Taeshon Wilson
PTO has purchased a book for each child again this year and they will receive it at lunch on their special day.
our social contract togetherthese are the rules we will follow in our classroom.
We will also be learning about the Constitution this month.
Other Information Here

We will be starting Belmonts Best in a few weeks so please get that orange paper filled out and return it soon. (It was in the handout at open house.) I sent home a book order a few days ago. If you would like to go on-line to order books for your child you will need to register at the web address: scholastic.com/readingclub The activation code is: LQBV6. This is something new for me this year but Im willing to give it a try. I heard parents really like ordering books this way.
Here are some pictures of the many things we are doing/learning about in our classroom!
Here is our first day in first grade! Look at their smiling faces!
Here is the clip chart we use to monitor our behavior. Each day the students start on Ready to Learn and they clip up or down from there. You can also see the Social Contract we wrote and signed. The faces above the social contract was a cute creative art project we made to remember the new friends we have in our first grade class.
This is a close up of one of the 5 monarch caterpillars we received this past week. The other picture is the netting where they live with an abundance of milkweed plants, which they feed on. We are not sure how old the Larva are at this time, but guessing 7 days. At 12 days old they will go into the J-Stage and then form a Chrysalis. The pupa stage (Chrysalis) lasts 9-14 days, and then the chrysalis will darken and appear to be black on the day the butterfly emerges. We will keep you posted!

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Mrs.

Sept. 24: Late start day Oct. 4: Walk-a-thon in the pm

Word Wall Words: Sept. 9-13 at, there, is, we, go

Sept. 16-20 him, *some, be, am, little

Sept. 22-27 *have, with, then, as, so

Writing: We have spent most of our writing time doing beginning

The Monarch caterpillars arrived!! We are thrilled and

Social Studies: We have been writing

We will also be learning about the Constitution this month.

Other Information Here

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