Spelling and general notes..

Greetings!

As a way of personalizing our spelling/word work study, we'd like to try something a little different this week, and if it is greeted with success, we can carry it out the remainder of the school year!

We will have our usual spelling pre-test this morning to see which words for the week we already know, and which we need to focus our study on during in-class word work and at home study. If we get all of the words correct today, the children will have 2 options. First, they can opt to study/test the wonderful words for the week! These are the words that are part of our oral vocabulary study for the week and can be found on my blog! They can be quite challenging, but a magnificent goal for the children as we use these wonderful words in conversation all week long!

A second option is self-study spelling. The children that get all of the words correct in the pre-test can opt to go home tonight and create a personal list of spelling words. They can range in number from 5-10 depending upon difficulty in selection. These words should then be emailed to me {have your child type them as we begin to get more and more acclimated with typing proficiency}, that way come Wednesday morning they can be used for word work in the classroom for the week, and I know which words to assess them on come Friday.

I am excited about this change to our routine and welcome your thoughts/feedback as we try it this week!

As a reminder and some updates..

-Please continue to encourage your child to read at least 20 minutes a night. This is critical at this each to help with fluency and confidence! I know with my eight year old son, we have this reading time at bed time, but some days he is just exhausted at this time, so sometimes we need to do this reading time earlier in the day.

-Don't forget to sign up for our student-lead conferences! The link is here! Some of our topics aside from self-reflection on the part of our first grader will be 2nd grade placement, math facts, typing lessons, and homework. :)

-our library day is Thursday, so any home books that are finished can come back to school any day, but we will exchange them on Thursdays.

-please remember to send gym shoes for our gym days {Tuesdays and Fridays} or have your child keep a pair in their locker. Important to remember as it is boot season! :)

-We will have an assembly on Wednesday all about science! Thanks so much to the PTO for allowing this to take place! 

-Friday, January 23rd this week is Mann School Spirit day! Decades Day!

-Mark your calendars for our Big Hearts Little Hands first grade music concert. It will take place Friday, February 13th at 8:20am in the Mann School auditorium! The first graders should dress like a Valentine wearing pink/red/white! :)

Thanks so much for ALL you do!