Class Newsletter
Class News
***Remember to sign up for a conference by October 27th . We like to see everyone for a conference this trimester. Thank you!
Class News
March 9, 2020
Dear Parents,
We will not have spelling this week due to our minimum days. We selected animals for our animal reports today. Most of the work on the reports will be done at school. There is just one assignment that requires a little help at home. Your child has brought home his/her animal information card today. Over the next few days please help him/her find the necessary information requested for the form, then return the information page and the card on Thursday. We will begin writing our reports in class on Thursday using the information that you help your child gather from the animal profile card. If your child does not have his/her information he/she will not be able to complete the class assignment independently. The rest of the animal report project will be done in class.
We will continue to work with telling time to the half hour,skip counting by various numbers, as well as addition and subtraction facts to 20 in math before moving on to geometry and fractions.
Please remember to mark your calendars for our field trip. Our trip is to the Sacramento Zoo on Friday, May 22nd. We will leave school at 9:00 and return by 1:55. The permission slip will be sent home after spring break. If you are cleared to volunteer and you would like to help with one or both of our trips we would love to have you join us. You will be able to help us look for mammals, birds, reptiles, and insects.
This week I will send report cards home with the children who are not having conferences. Please sit down with your child and let him/her tell you about what he/she notices regarding growth in his/her skills. Each child has made very positive progress and this is something to be celebrated and recognized.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Shier
March 2, 2020
Dear Parents,
Our spelling words all have the “long a” vowel sound using the “ai” and “ay” vowel teams. We have conferences next week. We will have minimum days the week of March 9th -13th. All students are released at 12:55 that week.
We will begin studying attributes of mammals, birds, reptiles, insects and amphibians as well as, finishing up some weather studies.
Your child will be selecting a wild animal for a report. Each child will choose a different animal and become the class “Expert” on that animal. We will create animal reports to share with the class. This will be your child’s next public speaking activity. We will do the majority of the report at school. We will just need you to help read the animal card that comes home next week and help him/her gather the requested information. A report form will accompany the animal card.
If you are fingerprinted and available on Friday the 22nd of May, we would love to have you join us as we go and look for mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and insects. We will be going to the Sacramento Zoo. We will send more information about that trip as the date gets closer.
Thank you for all that you do,
Mrs. Shier
** We are in need of some hand sanitizer. If you are able to send a bottle we would be grateful.
February 24, 2020
Dear Parents,
Our spelling words all have the long “u” vowel sound. We will continue work with addition and subtraction in math before moving on to our next topic.
The children have been using their QR Codes to log on to the Benchmark Reading site in class. They are learning to navigate the site and are enjoying the opportunity to reread some familiar books and try some new selections. If you have a device (phone, tablet or home computer) your child can access the Benchmark site through our Antelope Creek school site. Your child knows to go to “Benchmark” and then log in with his/her QR code. In the event that you have lost your child’s QR code, I am sending them again for added reading practice.
The scheduling option for our upcoming conferences opened on February 22nd and is open until February 29th if you would like to schedule a conference. The conference is not mandatory for all students, but if your child is working below grade level in any area, as indicated on our last progress report, it is recommended.
We will study about dental health this week and continue our weather studies before moving on to our life science unit.
Our next animal related trip will be in May to the Sacramento Zoo. That date is still to be determined, but I wanted to have you start thinking about joining us. The more adults the better, that way we can break into small groups to tour the zoo. If you are fingerprinted and cleared to help at school we would love to have you join us for our zoo trip!
We are awaiting bus confirmation for the zoo. I will send notes and permission slips as we get closer to the date.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Shier
January 21, 2020
Dear Parents,
This week we are working with the long “o” vowel sound in spelling. We will continue working with numbers to 100 in math, as well as practice our math facts.
We will be working with nouns this week as we look at sentence structure. The children know that nouns name things and are an important part of a sentence. We will also continue to work with story mapping strategies that help us plan a five sentence story.
We will learn about Chinese New Year as we continue our social studies lessons regarding customs and traditions.
Day 100 will be here on Tuesday, January 28th . We will celebrate our 100th day with our super snack and some special projects. Please help your child collect 100 edible items and send them to school in a bag so that we can combine them into our super snack.
We will be reciting our poems on Thursday, January 30th. Please make sure your child has had plenty of practice so that he/she can be successful. This score will be utilized for our next report card as his/her presentation grade. He/she will receive points for the written portion, the illustration, reciting and returning the poetry books unharmed. Thank you for your help. I’m sure they will do a terrific job!
We are continuing our weather studies in science. We have learned about various types of clouds, what causes weather, the water cycle and wind. We have conducted several experiments, please ask your child to tell you about them. They are super scientists!
Thank you again for your support,
Mrs. Shier
January 13, 2020
Dear Parents,
We will be celebrating our 100th day of school on Tuesday, January 28th. One of our activities requires some help from home. If you could help your child place 100 edible items in a bag that would be terrific. We will be making a “Giant Day 100 Snack”. I have included a note this week with a variety of suggestions.
Our spelling focus this week will be the long “a” vowel sound. It is our first list that focuses on long vowels. We will continue to work with place value in math as well as, comparing numbers, story problems and addition and subtraction to 20 in math.
We will begin our study of weather and this will continue over the next several weeks. We will conduct an experiment this week that proves warm air rises and it is that mix of warm and cool air that creates wind. We will make our first wind catchers next week and take them outside to experiment and see if we can catch wind.
Just a reminder, our Poetry Project is due, January 30th. Please help your child practice his/her poem. The more practice the better! I will be right next to each child as they recite their poem and will help them if they get stuck. I will be their safety net! We will collect all materials on that day.
Thank you for everything,
Mrs. Shier
January 6, 2020
Dear Parents,
Welcome back! I hope that you had a terrific vacation with your child. I sure missed them! We will continue to work with triple letter blends in spelling this week. We will be working with numbers to 100 in math. We will continue to compare number values, skip count by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s to 100 and work on addition and subtraction strategies.
We will begin studying weather in science. We will be learning about the water cycle, clouds, weather patterns, weather in other places and how it affects people. We will learn the characteristics of three types of clouds. We will learn how weather can help us and also be destructive. We will also look at animals and behaviors of various animals in winter.
We have a special home work assignment this month. Each child was given a poetry book. He/She needs to select a winter poem to memorize, recopy, illustrate and recite. The poetry assignment came home before the break. The children will have until January 30th to complete the assignment and be prepared to recite the poem to the class. The children need to return the poetry book and their poetry assignment by January 30th. A portion of your child’s score comes from returning all materials, and completing neat work on the written portion of the assignment.
Thank you,
Mrs. Shier
December 9, 2019
Dear Parents,
We will have a busy week working on a variety of projects. We will continue with our nonfiction focus as well as adding a few fiction stories. Our nonfiction story will be about reindeer, but we will also read about fictional reindeer too! We will learn about habitats, food and several other interesting facts.
We will work with addition facts to 20 this week in math. We will be working with geometric shapes and telling time to the half hour in our Number Corner activities.
We will be studying traditions in different places and in social studies, as we look at holidays around the world. We have already studied about Russia and Mexico. It is interesting to see what children in other parts of the world do at this time of the year. These lessons reinforce our map studies as well.
We have our Penguin Patch shopping time on Tuesday and our trip to the theater on Wednesday. We are excited for both of these events!
In science we will transition to our weather and the water cycle studies. We will study about various types of weather. We will use tools to measure the temperature, amount of rainfall and the speed of the wind. We will also study about snow and hopefully, if the weather cooperates, we will be able to use snow at school to have a snowball fight. I am hoping for snow at my house and if we are fortunate enough to get snow this year I will bring some to school.
Thank you for your continued support,
Mrs. Shier
December 2, 2019
Dear Parents,
We will work with “th, sh and ng” blends at the end of words in spelling this week. our language arts theme focusing on stories having a narrator. We are reading a variety of fiction stories and focusing on the narrator.
We are continuing our math fact practice, as well as, telling time to the hour and the half hour. We will also be working with three dimensional figures this month.
We will conduct matter experiments this week. Please ask your child to tell you about mixing matter. We will make a substance that when sitting still in a bowl looks like a solid, but then when it is touched it acts like a liquid and we call it Oobleck. We learned that it is a non-newtonian fluid, meaning that it is matter that has properties of both a solid and a liquid and that it behaves differently based on the amount of pressure you apply to it!
Oobleck:Step 1: Measure out two parts cornstarch and one part water. Step 2: Mix the water and a few drops food coloring together in a dishpan, then add the cornstarch. Step 3: Mix the Oobleck by hand to ensure an even consistency. Do not try to push through the mixture as if mixing batter, as that will prove very difficult. Instead, keep “lifting” the Oobleck from the bottom of the bowl to the top by dipping your fingers under it, until an even consistency is reached.
Your child will bring home another “Extra Credit” calendar for use during the month of December due to our long break. If he/she would like to earn a reward they will just need to complete three items in each row, have you sign the paper and then return it to me after Winter Break.
The children have earned another party! That makes a total of 17 for the year. They are working hard and making terrific progress academically, as well as socially. I am proud of them.
***Please remember to get your child’s permission slip sent back for our upcoming field trip on December 11th. Our book order is due on Friday, December 6th.
Thank you again for your continued support,
Mrs. Shier
November 20, 2019
Dear Parents,
Thank you for helping your child with his/her poem. The children did a wonderful job on their first poetry assignment! They were all quite proud of their accomplishments. Our next assignment will come home in December and be due in January.
We have new spelling words this week that all have final consonant blends.
We began studying matter last week. We used two solids and a liquid to make a class project that your child will bring home this week.
Thank you to all who ordered books from our Scholastic book order. We have received some terrific books for our classroom because of your orders!
We will continue to practice addition and subtraction facts to in math, along with “Fact Families”.
In social studies we will continue to learn about “Life Long Ago” and “Important Historical Events”, two standards on our report card. We will be learning about the first Thanksgiving and discussing how we still have some of the same traditions.
Remember, over the break, your child can access our school website to practice math facts and reading through our K-1 Links. Just go to http://aces.rocklinusd.org . Your child also has his/her extra credit calendar of activities to complete if he/she would like to earn 10 Talon Tickets and a prize. Your child just needs to choose three things to do each week, show you whatever he/she was required to complete and then have you sign the calendar before returning it. The extra credit is due when we return from Thanksgiving Break. I hope that you have a wonderful break.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Shier
October 21, 2019
Dear Parents,
We will have review words in spelling this week. We will practice some of our high frequency words. We will not introduce new reading books this week due to assessments for report cards.
We will continue to work with addition and subtraction facts in math. We will be focusing on various strategies to do our calculations. We have offered counters, number lines, fingers, drawing pictures and our brains as strategies for solving problems. We will look at a strategy called “Touch Points” later this week. Touch Points is a strategy for adding that some children enjoy. We offer multiple strategies in order to help students find one that he/she is comfortable with until he/she gains automacy, where he/she just knows the addition or subtraction fact.
I look forward to seeing you at our conferences November 4th – 8th. Next Monday, the 28th, is a minimum day with all students being released at 12:55.
**Just a reminder, our poetry project is due on November 14th. The children will be reciting their poems in front of the class that day, so be sure your child has been practicing. The poetry pages need to be returned. The returned materials are part of their overall score. **Also, our next book order is due November 8th. There are some nice books that would make terrific holiday gifts. I can keep them a secret for you by wrapping them in bags before sending them home.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Shier
***Remember to sign up for a conference by October 27th . We like to see everyone for a conference this trimester. Thank you!
October 7, 2019
Dear Parents,
Our spelling focus for this week is the short “u” vowel sound. We will continue to work with addition this week as we look at various strategies, along with fact families to show the relationship between addition and subtraction.
We are sending home a Poetry Project this week. The directions are on the front of the project. Please help your child choose a poem and begin practicing. He/She will be scored on how well the poem was memorized, how loud and clear the poem was recited and the return of the poetry packet. I will be sitting next to each child as they recite their poems and will be ready to help if they need it.
We want to thank all of the wonderful families who signed up to help with the carnival thus far. It should be lots of fun! I can’t tell you how much we appreciate your help! I hope you will all be able to attend on Friday the 18th and that you will have a nice time with your child
Exciting News!!! The Box Tops contest is back! Please send in as many Box Tops as possible! The winning class will receive $100! My class won last year and boy did the children enjoy spending the money. The contest is in effect until October 30th.
I have also given each child a sentence starter poster to be kept in his/her folder. The poster will help with writing at home and at school. Thank you for making sure that the poster is put back in the homework folder each day so that we can use it at school.
We have just started a unit of study about bats and have learned that bats are mammals and that they inhabit every continent except the Polar regions. We will be continuing to study the continents and oceans. Your child should be able to sing a song about all of the continents and oceans. Please ask him/her to sing the continent song for you! They should be quite good at it! In the near future the children will be making their own world map to bring home and the map will help them with the song. We will also be focusing on fire safety this week as it is National Fire Prevention Week. We are very busy!
*** We will be working in the school garden on Wednesday. We have an opportunity to work with two Master Gardeners. Please have your child wear shoes and clothes appropriate for planting and weeding in the garden. This will be a monthly opportunity that ties into our Life Science studies. It will be a wonderful hands-on science experience!
Thank you,
Mrs. Shier
September 30, 2019
Dear Parents,
We are moving right along through our curriculum and the children are doing well.
Our spelling focus for this week is the short “e”vowel sound. We will work with addition facts to 12 this week as we look at various strategies. The children will try to decide which strategy works best for them. We always remind ourselves that we are all different and a strategy that works for us may not be the one that works best for our neighbor.
We are beginning our second unit in our new reading program. The focus is on many kinds of characters. We will be focusing on fictional characters and characters from fables. We will be learning about nouns, verbs and adjectives in our grammar activities.
We will begin studying the continents and oceans. We use this geographical information throughout the remainder of the year as we study communities, cultures, weather and history. We will also make our own world map during our studies. Your child should be able to sing the continents and oceans to you by the end of the month. He/She should be able to name all seven continents and four of the major oceans!
We will be working with “Fact Families” in math. We will focus on how three numbers can work together to create addition and subtraction number sentences.
In science we will continue our health studies. The children are doing a great job at lunch time recognizing if they have a balanced meal or not. They are striving to have one food from each food group at lunch time.
Just a reminder, our next book order is due on Friday, October 4th. We appreciate your orders!
Thank you to everyone who has helped their child return his/her book bag each Friday. This helps us so that we can begin filling them on Monday for the upcoming week’s reading practice.
Thank you again for everything,
Mrs. Shier
September 16, 2019
Dear Parents,
Our spelling vowel focus will be the short “o” vowel sound this week. Please refer to the Weekly Benchmark Reading note to see this week’s spelling and high frequency words.
We have a spelling site that is a terrific place for extra spelling practice. The site is called Spelling City and I will put our weekly spelling words on this site. If you follow the link below it will bring you to our class page. You do not need to register. Just go to the link, then simply click on the current week’s date and your child will have access to a variety of activities that utilize our weekly words. We have played some of the games in class and the children really enjoy them, especially the Word Search and Hang Mouse games. Aside from games, you can print our weekly list, take practice tests, and utilize the teaching activities to help with spelling practice. These activities are all free, no membership is required. Simply follow the link and have fun with spelling!!! www.spellingcity.com/pshier or you can also access the spelling site on the on the Antelope Creek Web Site by having your child go to K-2 Links and clicking on “Shier Spelling”
We are learning to annotate and cite references in our reading in response to text dependent questions. We are also working on finding key details in our reading.
We are continuing our “Healthy Me” studies in science. We are learning what it means to have a balanced diet and how different food groups do different things for our bodies.
Thank you to the families who ordered books from our first Scholastic Book order.
Thank you again for your continued support,
Mrs. Shier
September 9, 2019
Dear Parents,
We are beginning our first unit in our new Benchmark Advance reading program. Up to this point we have been working with the “Review and Routines” portion of the program along with initial assessments to give us a baseline for each student. The focus for our first unit is in your child’s homework folder. You will receive a printout each week that tells you our spelling words, high frequency words, the unit theme and phonics focus. We will have a spelling test each Friday that will include both the spelling and high frequency words. We call the high frequency words “sight” words because they are words that have irregular spelling patterns. We will practice the words at school, but they can be practiced each day at home as well.
We will send our weekly reading bookbags on Tuesday. The books and bags stay at home until Friday. We are going to work hard to establish the pattern of taking them home on Tuesday with two books to read and returning them on Friday. The books will usually be familiar books that we have used in our reading groups. Your child should read one book Tuesday, the other on Wednesday and reread one or both on Thursday, then return the bag on Friday so that we may fill it for the next week. Your child should complete two boxes on his/her reading log each week, one box for each of the books in the bag.
Thank you to the families who ordered books from the Scholastic Book Order. Each time you order we earn books for our classroom. The next order will go home soon.
The children continue to do very well. They are adjusting to all of their new first grade responsibilities and are absolute shining stars!!!!
** We are still in need of a bottle of sanitizer. If you are able to send one we would be grateful.
Thank you for your support,
Mrs. Shier
September 3, 2019
Dear Parents,
Thank you for your support with our homework. Most of the children are now in the habit of taking the folder home, doing the work on the “Return to School” side of the folder and bringing it back the next day. The work and occasional note that is on the other side of the folder is for you to take out and keep. This week we will continue to work with the spelling words that were introduced last week. We will have our first spelling test on Friday.
The children have started to have writing homework or math homework along with spelling. I am sending another spelling list in case you do not have the list from last week. The spelling homework for Monday is to write each word, then choose three of the words and use them in sentences. Your child should have this homework paper in his/her folder. Reading books and will begin coming home next week . At this point, we are just asking for one and two sentence responses when we have writing homework.. As we become more proficient, I will require three sentence responses (or more if your child likes to write!). I will let you know when we bump up the expectation. Know that when we are asking for three sentences on homework we will be doing four or five on class writing assignments.
When helping your child with his/her writing, please remind him/her that if there is a prompt at the top of the paper to help spell some of the words that he/she may need. They are also encouraged to do “best guess” spelling in class or use a “Try Card” which is where they try to spell the word that they want on a scrap of paper, then take the paper to an adult for the correct spelling. Often times the child is just missing one or two letters because they get so good at sounding out words. They are thrilled when I tell them how close they were to the correct spelling. So, feel free to help your child as much as he/she needs, especially at this point in the year. Writing is a tough area to master and we do not want to frustrate them.
I am also sending home our district’s 320 sight word list. I am sending all 320 words for you in the event that you would like to go beyond what we are doing in class. We are responsible for 175 words in first grade, but many children like to try and reach a much higher goal! Each child will receive individual lists in his/her bookbag next week along with reading books to practice. We will work on each list for a period of time, then move to the next list. Please practice a few words on the list each night along with reading a book.
We are in need of a bottle of hand sanitizer for our class to share one that would be wonderful!
Thank you,
Mrs. Shier
August 2019
Dear Parents,
Welcome to another school year! I am pleased to be your child’s teacher. We have an exciting and wonderful year ahead of us. We will begin the year with reading assessments and review activities in language arts and math. We will review all letters, their sounds and proper formation. We will review proper number formation and one to one correspondence to 20 in our math studies. In science we will be studying nutrition and healthy habits. Our social studies lessons will revolve around citizenship, rights and responsibilities.
Academics aside, our most important activities at this time of the year are to get to know one another, learn new procedures and feel comfortable in our new surroundings! That is a tall order, but we are working to make sure this happens as quickly as possible. Thank you for helping with this process.
We are sending home our Homework folders with our first homework assignment. It is your child’s Star of the Week poster. Please help your child complete the poster and return it to school by Friday, August 23rd. We will be choosing our first Star of the Week on the 23rd.
Our official start to homework will begin soon. We will start with spelling words, math, writing assignments. I will explain our homework procedures in greater depth at Back to School Night.
Please feel free to e-mail or send a note regarding questions or concerns that you might have and I will get back to you as soon as possible. I look forward to seeing you at Back to School Night on Thursday, August 22nd.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Shier