Back to Work!

Hello 1C Parents,

I hope that all of you were able to enjoy a wonderful fall break. Thank you to all, who were able to make it your student's conference. It was so nice meeting all of you. It helps us, as teachers, to speak with you one on one about your children so that we are able to get to know your students better and how he/she learns best. It also allows us to discover the goals and expectations that you, personally, have for your first graders. It was a pleasure meeting all of you.

We are back at work. In Math we are still reviewing addition and subtraction and making 10. There are several ways to do this and techniques that are unique to Singapore Math which help the student as they continue through the math curriculum at Great Hearts. We have incorporated manupulatives such as dice and dominoes to help give them a concrete understanding of the concepts.  This makes math fun for them, and adds a new dimension. They have enjoyed this part of math.

Language Arts is full of fairy tales. We have started this unit and will be working through several fairy tales and elements of a fairy tale for the next week or two. We read Sleeping Beauty on Friday and the children enjoyed it very much. I am looking forward to reading more with them.

We are still learning about animals and their habitats, in Science. Hopefully you have seen some sea animals come home. The children have enjoyed learning about them and also making them!

We just finished our Ancient Egyptian unit in History. This week we will be studying World Religions. We will be spending three days on this unit. Due to the sensitivity of this subject I want to assure you that we will be teaching only facts about the three major religions in world history. I have added the material we will be sharing with the students in a graphic organizer. Please refer to the picture. We will begin our studies tomorrow, so please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.




We have several events coming up, school wide. Please keep your eye out for important flyers with important information that will come home in your student's folder.

This Friday is Literary Character day at school. Your student received a green sheet in their folder, last week, that acts as a Character Approval. If your child plans to dress up please fill out the form and return it to school so that I can approve the character. I will then send it back home. We have some fun activities planned for that day. Mrs. Aberouette, our classroom liaison is working on these activities. She will be sending out sign-ups for Friday's events. Please look for them so that you are able to contribute if you so desire.

Below are this week's phonograms. If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me.

Phonograms- October 24, 2016

t, u, v, w, x, y, z, ough, oe, ey, igh, kn, gn,wr, ie, dge, ei, eigh, ti, si

Twas the Week Before Fall Break....

Hello 1C Families!

It's hard to believe that we have almost completed our first quarter of the school year. We have been very busy and we have covered a lot of material. Your children have been a joy to work with and I consider myself very blessed to be their teacher. It has been so fun getting to know each of them, and each and every one adds something very special to our classroom community.

Although, we are closing out the first quarter, we will still be hard at work this week. We will be starting a new unit in math, where we will be "making ten" and learning about other concepts associated with tens. We are continuing our journey through the many stories of Cinderella that are celebrated throughout the world. The students have enjoyed these stories and have been successfully comparing and contrasting each Cinderella story that we read. We will be finishing up our second poem; The Pasture, and should be able to recite it from memorization. In grammar, we are still learning about the many different types of nouns and how we identify them in our sentences and stories.

History is full of all things Egyptian. We continue to study the ancient civilization of Egypt. The students have learned all about the Nile River and why it was so important to the Egyptians. We are now studying what life was like for this civilization and will be talking about mummies and the mummification process this week. As we have looked through several books on this fascinating culture, the children are very excited to learn more about how they lived and what they believed to be true. We are studying the ocean habitat in science and all of the amazing animals that inhabit this huge and, often, mysterious living space.

As you know by now, the book bags have made their return! We were able to fill the bags this week and I am hoping to continue to gather books for our leveled reader library so that we can continue to send home this precious resource with your children. The book log is included with the book. Please have your student read and log and return the book, bag and log by Friday. We will not be sending book bags home, over fall break. 

I hope that you have been able to access the Sign-Up Genius to schedule your Parent/Teacher conference. If you dd not receive the email from Mrs. Aberouette, please contact her so that she can double check your email address and get it sent out to you. I have noticed that some email addresses have been incorrect that appear in my master list that was entered by the office. As all of you know, it just takes one wrong character for an email to be invalid. I am hoping that we will have everyone's correct email addresses by the end of the quarter. I will be asking for email updates at conference time, just to ensure that we have the correct address. In the meantime, please know that you can always visit my blog and find out important information. It is updated every Sunday night. If you do not receive my updated blog email, you may always visit the school website and access it from there.

Mrs. Aberouette's Contact--  KAberouette@yahoo.com

I hope that you were able to attend this past Thursday's kickoff to literacy month. The PSO have worked so hard organizing these fun events. If you were able to attend you should have picked up your child's login information for the Read-A-Thon which begins tomorrow. If you did not attend, then the yellow login sheet was sent home in their green folders on Friday. Please take note so that they may participate in this wonderful and fun event.  

I love to read to the class and I hope that they enjoy it, as well. In honor of the Read-A-Thon I invite each student to bring one of their favorite books to school, this week, for me to read to the class. Any reading that we do in class, counts towards their reading time for the Read-A-Thon. I should be able to get through two books per day. Please keep in mind, no pop culture or pop culture related material, when choosing your books. 

Below are this week's phonograms and some important reminders.

Wishing you, your students and your families a very wonderful and restful fall break! 

Ms. Smedegaard

Phonograms for Sept. 3-Sept. 7

e, h, I, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, au, or, ck, wh, ed, ew, ui, oa, gu, ph

Important Reminders

Sept. 7- Early Release (12:30)

Sept. 10-14- Fall Break (No School)

Sept. 17-18- Parent Conferences (No School)

Sept. 20- Picture Retakes

We Made It To Fall!

Dear 1C Families!

Fall is upon us and I can feel the cool weather setting in to give us some well deserved relief. We have had a very busy month and things continue to be very busy, both inside and outside, of the classroom.

We have finished our unit on Subtraction. I was very impressed with students' scores on both addition and subtraction units. We will continue to work with these concepts as we move into more complex mathematical thinking. Our next unit will be on ordinal numbers. Please continue to work with your child at home, to master basic math facts. This can be done using simple flash cards, or there are several free apps that you can get to help facilitate this review. I will also be sending home the timed math fact review drills. These are strictly optional and do not need to be returned to school. They are just an added resource for you to use at home. We will continue our Rocket Math in the classroom.

We finished up Owl at Home and the students should have brought home their books and corresponding booklets, on Friday. We are now reading about Cinderella and the many different stories about Cinderella that are read around the world. We read the Cinderella story that the children are most familiar with and the story about Egyptian Cinderella on Friday. We spent time comparing and contrasting these two beautiful fairy tales. We will continue reading these wonderful works.

In science we are still concentrating on habitats found on our earth. We are now focusing on the ocean and have many fun activities planned to supplement the children's learning of this magnificent habitat and all that call it home.

Spike continues his adventures with the students! He is having a wonderful time and has had a lot of exciting adventures. I am so glad that the children are enjoying this activity. He will continue to make his journey through our class. Stay tuned for your turn!

Parent-Teacher conferences are fast approaching. Our wonderful parent liaison has set up my conference sign ups. You should have received a separate email from her with the link as well as some other sign up links. Conferences are mandatory so please be sure to sign up for your slot. For your convenience I have the link listed below. We look forward to meeting with you and discussing your child's progress. This is a PARENT ONLY conference, so please plan accordingly.

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/20F084CA9A829A7FE3-class 

Literacy week begins today. The PSO have planned many exciting events to celebrate the importance and enjoyment of reading. You should have received information on these events. A flyer will be going home today which explains the week's activities.

We will be re-instating the book bag process this Friday. Your child will be given a book on Friday to read over the weekend. We chose this format since the children do not have weekend homework. They can read over the weekend and if they have mastered the book they may bring it back anytime after Monday of the following week but before Friday. Please fill out the log enclosed and send back with the book. They will then be given another book on Friday and the process begins again. Those that have been given a chapter book may keep that book until it is finished. Please check in with your child, as they are reading, to verify comprehension. 

Our DIBELS Reading assessment data is in and you will be receiving a letter in the mail, this week, explaining your child's results. I will also have a copy available at your conference and we can discuss them more in detail at that time. 

As you may already know, our nurse has left for a different position. We will miss her greatly but wish her all of the best. The school is actively looking for a new nurse. In the meantime, please be assured that those with persistent health conditions and severe allergies, will still receive the attention that they require. Please explain to your student that unless they are vomiting, have a fever or have had an accident that has caused them significant injury, then we do not have a nurse to visit. We can take care of minor scrapes and scratches in the classroom. Scratchy throats, headaches, and tummy aches without vomiting will be handled with frequent drinks of water, a rest on their desk, bathroom breaks and snack and lunch. If you feel that your child is sick or is running a fever then please keep them home. 

Below are this week's phonogram list and some important dates.                 


Have a wonderful week!

Phonograms for week of Sept. 26-Sept.30

a, c,d ,f ,g, o, qu, b, ar, ay, ai, oy, oi, er, ir, ur, wor, ear, ng, ea, aw

Important Dates

Fall Break- NO SCHOOL  Oct. 10-14
Parent/Teacher Conferences-  Oct. 17-18  (NO SCHOOL)
Picture Retakes- Oct. 20 

Falling Into Week 7!

Hello 1C Families,

We are closing in on the completion of the first quarter! I can't believe how fast the year is going. Your little scholars have been hard at work and are accomplishing so much. Our class has come together and we are a true community of learners.

We have been hard at work in all subjects. We are in the middle of our subtraction unit in math and have been using manipulates to help understand the many ways in which we can subtract. The children love using the whiteboards to work through problems and show their answers. We play games with basic math fact flashcards, use Dice in Dice to form a variety of number bonds and they created their own subtraction word problems, complete with pictures.

We will be finishing up Owl at Home this week. The children have really enjoyed this book. Ask your scholars what types of "adventures" Owl has had. We have used our literature to learn more about nouns and the different types of nouns and have discussed the structure of sentences. We will be using the information that we have learned to improve writing in complete sentences and conveying complete thoughts.

We continue to discuss habitats in science and are finishing up our unit in Mesopotamia. Our next big unit in history will be Ancient Egypt.

Thank you for all of those who have sent in the book bags from last year. Our plan was to send home a new book every Friday for the students to read over the weekend and return to school. We were not able to send books home this past weekend as we are still trying to increase the size of our leveled readers supply in our classroom. With many of the students on the same level, we don't have enough books to send home each weekend. We will be doing this every other weekend until we have increased the size of our library. We still encourage reading with and/or to your children every night. These minutes can be logged using the reading log form that was sent home today with the homework packet. We will keep you updated on the reading bag procedure as our supply of leveled readers increases.

We have volunteer opportunities coming up soon. Mrs. Aberouette, our wonderful classroom liaison, will be sending out sign-ups for these events and also organizing classroom and grade level communication among parents in our class, as well as with the other first grade liaisons. The PSO have some wonderful events coming up for our students. Please watch your email for updates and notices regarding these and other exciting opportunities to volunteer within our school and classroom.

As always, please feel free to contact me anytime with any questions or concerns. Your children are a joy to teach and I feel very lucky to be their teacher!

Below is a list of this week's phonograms.

Have a wonderful week! I feel coolness in the air. I think that fall is coming!!

Phonograms for Sept. 19-23  

r, t, u v, x, y, z, dge, er, eigh, ti, si, ci, sh, ee, th, ow, ou, oo, ch

Heading Into Week Six!

Hello 1C Families!

I can't believe that we are starting week six of school! It's hard to believe that we have been hard at work for almost two months. Fall break is just around the corner!

As you have already realized, your children brought home their book bags this last Friday. We were able to level your readers and get their book bags started. Inside of the bag you will find a book and a log. Please have your child read the book and log the minutes they have read. Once they are fluent in this book then it can be changed out. It is important that not only are they reading the words but they are also comprehending what they are reading. So feel free to ask simple questions about what they've read, in order to solidify and strengthen those comprehension skills. If your child had a book bag last year, and it has not been sent in, please do so during the next book exchange. New students should have come home with a book bag on Friday.

We are reading Owl at Home and the children seem to be enjoying it. We have started our subtraction unit in math and will be working on those concepts. Our unit on Mesopotamia is coming to an end and will conclude on Friday. We will then be moving on to Ancient Egypt. This will begin next week. A very exciting unit that will take us up until the end of the semester.

Spike, our classroom dragon, made the journey home with our first student this weekend! I will showcase his first adventures on next week's Blog.

I hope that the new homework routine is working and is more manageable. Please keep the copy of the week's spelling words at home or safely in their green folders. This will be needed all week so that the words can be dictated and practiced.

I will be implementing my tutoring hours, beginning next week, September 19th. Tutoring is by invitation only. If I feel that your child could benefit from some extra time working on phonograms, Spalding, etc. then you will be receiving a note/email from me sometime this week. I have not solidified my days or times but I will provide tutoring two days per week, after school. If your student is invited, I will let you know the days and times. This tutoring is free of charge.


A few housekeeping items:
~ Please keep toys and stuffed animals at home. When brought to school they tend to interfere with the learning process and run the risk of getting lost or broken.
~ Please be sure that your child is getting a good night's sleep. We realize that, for some, this is their first time attending a full day of school. We work very hard and we have found that some are very sleepy in the afternoon. If possible, an extra hour or two at night, may help with the afternoon sleepiness.
~ Please empty your student's green folder as we send completed work home. If they aren't emptied on a regular basis, they tend to get too full and then papers start falling out and get mixed in with homework, etc.
~ The nurse is very busy and we cannot take children to her office for minor things like small cuts, consistent tummy aches without vomiting and general aches and pains. She has given us strict guidelines as to when it is appropriate to send children to her office. We have instructions on how to handle small issues in the class. This frees up her time to take care of children who are truly sick and need her attention. Children who require regular medications are sent without problem.
~ Now that the school year is calming down and we are getting into a nice routine, I hope that everyone is feeling comfortable and confident. If you do send me an email I will answer within 24 hours. I will check my email on Fridays before 4. In order to preserve my time with my family, any emails received after 4 on a Friday, will be read and answered on the following Monday.

Please see the weekly phonograms and a list of important reminders below.

Thank you and here's to a great week!

Phonograms for 9/12-9/16
e, h, I, j, k, l, m, n, p, oa, gu, ph, ough, oe, ey, igh, kn, gn, wr, ie

Important Reminders:
9/12- Spalding Information Night~ 6-7:30pm (Adults Only)
9/22- Singapore Math Information Night~ 6-7:30pm (Adults Only)
9/23- EARLY RELEASE