It's Been Awhile!

In case you haven't heard (although I'm sure you have!) tomorrow is Polar Express day! Students are welcome to wear their pajamas, slippers, robes, etc. We will be having Polar Express activities all morning then watching the movie in the afternoon. It should be quite a fun day!

As a separate reminder please continue to have your student turn in their Road to Success minutes each week. I get the majority of them on a regular basis but some I still have yet to see. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, please let me know!

Finally, we are and will continue to be doing a lot more writing in class. As writing pieces come home please review them with your child. They should be using capital letters where appropriate, as well as punctuation and correct spacing.  If you have any concerns or questions please let me know! Thank you and I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season so far!

This Coming Week

• Next week is a short week; Monday is a full day and an early out day on Tuesday. 

• Tuesday we will have a first grade “read-a-thon” from 9:00am-10:00am. Students are welcome to bring pillows, blankets, etc. and should bring their 5 favorite books to read during that time. I will also have books available.

I am so thankful to be able to teach 1^st grade with this wonderful group! I hope you have a great Thanksgiving break!

A note from the PTA

Long-sleeved t-shirts, hoodies and sweats will be available to be ordered TODAY - THURSDAY. You can pick up an order form outside the front office at Butler Elementary. The colors will be red with gray ink or gray with red ink. If you have any questions, contact Stacie Skelton at stacieskelton@gmail.com. This will be the LAST order. They WILL BE delivered before Christmas.
No late orders will be accepted.

Thanks,
Stacie Skelton

First Grade Update

Thank you for a great set of parent teacher conferences. I am so thankful to have your wonderful children in class with me! Here are just a few highlights of what’s been happening in first grade.

•  We have covered quite a bit in reading the past couple weeks. By now your child should know the “sh”, “ch”, “ph” and “wh” sounds. They should also be able to identify all short vowel sounds as well as long “I” and long “a”. They are making great progress but will go even further if you continue to read with them each day, please.
• In math we are completing our addition unit this week and moving into subtraction. Please check out www.pearsonsuccessnet.com with your child’s user-name and password given to you at our conference. That will give you an idea of what we’re covering and allow your first grader to review at home.  
• Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. Thank you for all you do!

Halloween

A HUGE thanks to those who were able to help with our pumpkin carving activity on Friday! It was a blast! Just as a Halloween reminder, costumes are allowed however, no masks or weapons of any kind. It’s going to be a great day!

Just a couple of winter reminders and requests!

Now that it is starting to get colder please make sure your child comes to school with appropriate winter clothing.  Unless it is raining or snowing we still go outside for recess so please send them prepared. Also, with winter also comes runny noses. If you are able to donate our class could always use some more kleenex and Lysol/Clorox wipes to keep ourselves healthy. Thank you for all your support!

Hooray for Pumpkins!

Just in case you missed the note that went home on Monday here is a copy of it. Please let me know ASAP if your child can't bring in a pumpkin for whatever reason. I will make sure that they have one! I have 4 parents that have communicated to me that they can come, a couple more would be great, please let me know if you are able to. Thanks!

Dear Parents,

         With Halloween coming up first grade has an exciting activity planned for this Friday (October 26). We will be weighing, measuring, and carving pumpkins, as well as counting all of our seeds in our pumpkins! If you could please send a pumpkin to school with your child by Friday I would appreciate it. I apologize for not getting this note home before UEA, our schedule got a little hectic. If for whatever reason, you cannot get a pumpkin for your child, will you please let me know ASAP and I will make sure that they have one. This pumpkin needs to be small enough that your child can carry it, but large enough that it can be cut open and seeds counted.

         Because we will be carving and counting we are asking for several parent volunteers. If you are able to come Friday morning from 8:30 to approximately 10:00 please email or send a note back to school by Wednesday please. I look forward to this exciting fall activity! Thank you!

         -Miss Stanger

Happy October!

I can’t believe another week has flown by and that it’s already October! This week especially I have noticed huge improvements, they are learning so much! Something you could be practicing at home that would greatly benefit us in class is finding page numbers within a book. Some have got it down, others could use some practice. Any book will do and just ask them to open up to a page (even within triple digits through 100).

Many papers went home on Friday! Please take some time to look through them and review them with your child. A note also went home about picture day; it is on October 11. Finally, below is information on our reading program for the week (We will be starting this story on Wednesday). Have a great three-day weekend!

Big Idea/Big Question (This is the theme of our unit in class.)	Question of the Week (This is the theme/question for this week’s instruction in class.)
Animals: How are people and animals important to one another?	What can we learn about wild animals by watching them?
Phonics Skills (These are the letters and sounds we are learning in class.)	Spelling Patterns and associated Words (These patterns connect to our phonics skills we are learning this week.)
Short u (ŭ) Final consonant blends	Short u with final consonant blends: bump   crust   dusk   dust   hunt   jump   just   lump   must  trust
High Frequency Words (These reading words should be practiced and memorized.)	Story Words (These reading words are words from this week’s main selection.)
home    many    them    into	elephants   hippos   park   zebras
Oral Vocabulary (Try using these words in your conversations at home.)	Handwriting Practice (Students can practice the writing of these letters in manuscript this week.)
world   forest   desert   chatter  silent   snort   medicine   poisonous	Uu, Qq Letter spacing

Something To Look For...

A couple important notes should have made it home by today. If you didn't see them please ask your first grader and if they don't know, please email me :-)
The first note went home Friday and it was regarding our take home reading program. Your child should have brought home a note about it, as well as 5 books on their reading level. Please look for them and start reading!
The second note went home today about our 100 book contest. I have posted the note about it below. Please look for the note and the paper to keep track of the books your child has read. Let's see how quickly we can get there!
Finally, please don't forget to turn in your Road To Success reading minutes every Monday. Thank you so much for all you do and your support!

Dear Parents:

            As we start the month of October, we also start an activity that has become a tradition at Butler Elementary.  This will be our 9th annual 100 Books Contest.  It will require students reading 100 books to their parents.  

            We have discovered that students make a huge advancement in reading during the course of this contest.  Statistics show that the more reading a child does, the better they become.  Their reading skills sharpen as well as their ability to use reading strategies.  They consume large amounts of vocabulary as well as learn to read new words.  It has become such a landmark for advancement, that our school uses it in its application for funds from the district and state.

            Students can count books that are sent home from our classrooms (that includes A-Z reading books), books that are found at home, as well as books from libraries, stores or various other places.  Students must read these books by themselves, but can and should read to their parents or older children.  Obviously, those that struggle with reading will practice reading books on their level.  Those that are good, advanced readers, will also read books on their level.  If your child is reading a book too easy for them, please do not count it as part of the 100 book contest. We are encouraging students to read books on their level.  Books only count as one reading.  If your child is asked to practice reading certain books a number of times, they can only count the book as one, not the number of times they read it,

            Periodically send the list of books to school where they will be kept and recorded.  Your child will be able to see where they are in relation to the other students in the class.  Several parents use different recording methods at home for their student to see the progress they are making throughout the next 4 months.

            As an incentive to read 100 books, Ms. Waddell has offered herself to become an ice cream sundae.  Students will bring all kinds of toppings, syrups, candies, and nuts to decorate her.  She will only do this IF, 90% of all first graders meet this challenge.  In the past, it has been the highlight of the year.  Older students help younger first grade students read books that can count towards this activity because they know how much fun it is. 

            This will also benefit your student in the “Road to Success” reading program.  If they are reading every night, 20 minutes each time, those books will accumulate quickly.  Yes, we need the titles of each book read.  Please keep a list on your fridge and send it in at least once a month.  Your student will receive a small sticker for each book read.  They will see the huge challenge deplete as they watch the number of stickers on their page grow.

            Please join us as we begin our “100 Books Contest”.  Encourage your child to read books at home and together we will see miracles happen.

Sincerely,

First Grade Team     

Weekly Update

We will be starting this week's story on Tuesday.

Big Idea/Big Question (This is the theme of our unit in class.)	Question of the Week (This is the theme/question for this week’s instruction in class.)
Animals: How are people and animals important to one another?	Which wild animals live in our neighborhood?
Phonics Skills (These are the letters and sounds we are learning in class.)	Spelling Patterns and associated Words (These patterns connect to our phonics skills we are learning this week.)
Short e (ĕ) Initial consonant blends	Short e words: bed   jet   leg   men   net   red   sled   step   ten   wet
High Frequency Words (These reading words should be practiced and memorized.)	Story Words (These reading words are words from this week’s main selection.)
saw   small   tree   you	bird
Oral Vocabulary (Try using these words in your conversations at home.)	Handwriting Practice (Students can practice the writing of these letters in manuscript this week.)
habitat   hatch   survive   chirp  croak   moist	Ee Letter size

Fantastic First Graders!

We’ve had a busy week in first grade! Here are some highlights:

We had our first trip to the library and I was so proud of how well everyone behaved themselves! A note went home about our school library in the red folder. Our library day is Wednesday; each student is allowed to check out two books and both books must come back in order for them to check out new books.

We also had a docent from Red Butte Gardens come into our classroom to help us start our grow lab! The students loved it. :-) Our field trip to Red Butte Gardens is Monday! We will leave the school by 9:00am and return by 1:30pm. Please make sure your child brings a lunch from home unless you noted otherwise on the permission slip. Please, if possible, have your child wear a red t-shirt. No need to go buy one but that will greatly help us, as teachers out!

A note went home this week but just as a reminder on Tuesday October 2^nd at 2pm Mrs. Randazzo will be holding a meeting for 1-3^rd grade parents. She will talk about changes in the approach to teaching reading and spelling. Please try to attend if possible!

Finally, as a couple of reminders:

• Please check your child’s red folder daily

• Don’t forget to track daily and turn in Road To Success minutes every Monday

• Please make sure your child is eating breakfast every morning. Making the transition to staying at school all day and not eating until lunch can make for a long morning!

Thank you for your support and have a great weekend!