Dear First Graders,

     Abracadabra!  Did you tell your parents about the magician that came to visit us? He did some really neat tricks and taught about the values of respect for self and others, honesty, and responsibility.

    On Wednesday, we enjoyed a great book read by a mystery reader! Did you know Norman Bridwell wrote a series before his Clifford books about the Witch Next Door!

   Speaking of authors, we are getting ready for our writing celebration by working in pairs to edit our stories. We can't wait to share our final pieces with you on Tuesday, October 31st at 12:30.  

 Bear Hugs,

Growing Our Minds

Dear First Graders,

    It was really interesting to learn about some of the holidays friends in our classroom celebrate.  Shuli's mom shared some of the traditions and taught us a bit about some of the Jewish holidays that happen this time of the year.

   Is their a tradition or holiday that your family celebrates and would like to share with our class?
We LOVE to learn! 

   Looking ahead to mystery readers, we have Wednesday November 1st, 22nd, and 29th from 8:30-8:45 open if anyone would like to book a spot!

Bear Hugs,

Hogwart's Mania

Dear Friends,
   
      The excitement is building for our Hogwart's Night at Rosendale! As we earn points for our team in P.E., we are also working on how to respond to the announcements each morning saying where our team stands. We have been talking about being optimistic when our team is down and remember this is about having FUN!

    We have had a busy week celebrating a friends birthday!

    We also had a mystery reader share a book about friendship. We talked about how it is so important to have many friends and to give others a chance. This makes school fun and exciting, even when one of our friends is absent!

    Our reading bags are continuing to come home most weekdays! I started a new way of tracking with the log inside the bag. Please keep the log in the bag that way I know if your child read the story and is ready for a new book or not. I know how busy nights can get and it is OKAY if there is a day when we need to resend.  Keep up the great work at home!

Bear Hugs!

Thinking Thursday!

Dear First Graders,

    We are doing a fantastic job as thinkers within our classroom! This may have been a short week, but we have learned a ton.  The fire department came on Tuesday to talk to us about how important it is to practice our fire drills at home and have 2 ways out!

    We are also becoming fantastic authors! We have been writing stories from our lives.  Keep those ideas flowing!

   

We enjoyed a great story read by our mystery reader!



   I have been having fun using our movement breaks to keep our engines running just right!








Here is a snap shot of some gorgeous fall flowers we created in art!

Bear Hugs,

Hats Off to a great week!

Dear First Graders,

     Wow, this week was packed with learning and FUN!  You did so wonderful that I give you all Monday off! Enjoy!

     Here is us getting ready for our class picture (don't worry the real deal will be centered and hopefully feature us all smiling!!).

Here we are on HAT day rocking our style!

      Mrs. Brennan (far right) joined us for the photo op! She has been working with our class during our free time Friday.  We have been working on using an I message to solve problems that arise with our friends. It is amazing how our friends can solve their own problems through using I messages and  compromising with one another.

      Be on the look out for your child's Friday letter. We enjoyed reading what you wrote back last week!

Bear Hugs,

Wonderful Wednesday

Dear First Graders,

     Today we celebrated our first friend's birthday of the school year! It was so cool that his dad was also our mystery reader!

       This week we started taking our reading bags home. We are continuing to learn our routines and are just beginning to meet with me for reading groups.  I'm hoping that by next week we will be in full swing. This will mean that the books we take home will be ones we have read together. Please remember to mark the day off on their reading calendars. These can come back on Oct. 31st for a trip to the prize box! If your child does not bring a book home, Raz-kids is a great resource for finding just right books.

Bear Hugs!