Thank you for an AMAZING school year! I truly am so grateful for all the relationships I have formed with your kiddos. They will always hold a special place in my heart. I am SO proud of all the growth they made academically, socially, and behaviorally this school year. I have you all to thank for that… it could not be done without your support at home. I appreciate all the kindness you have shown me and the partnership we created to help your child succeed as a first grader. I hope you all have an incredible summer!

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CELEBRATIONS

Talent Show: It was so fun to have our talent show in person again this year! We sure do have some talented kiddos at Georgetown. 

5th Grade Clap Out: We cheered on the fifth graders as they walked out of our school one last time before heading to middle school next year!

2nd Grade Tour: We were able to team up with a second grade classroom to learn more about 2nd grade. The first graders were able to tour the room and ask questions to learn what second grade is all about!

Dog Playdate: Mr. Blauwkamp brought in our dog, Tucker, so the kiddos could meet him. It was so fun watching them chase him around!

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THEME DAYS

Lemonade Day: As a class we made some lemonade together… it was so tasty! We reviewed our “how to” writing skills and wrote about how to make lemonade. For reading, we worked on our retell skills about a lemonade story. After trying both lemonade and pink lemonade, we worked on our graphing skills to see which kind was liked best by the class! For word study, the kiddos tried to make as many new words as they could using the words ‘cold lemonade’.

Sports Day: In the morning, we were able to go check out some fifth graders’ space exhibits in STEAM. For math, we worked on partners of 10 by coloring jerseys, and we even played some basketball with cheese puffs. Each cup they made a cheese puff into had a number under it, so they had to add all three numbers together. The partner with the highest score won! We also completed a sports reading comprehension passage. The kiddos also earned some awards for the school year. I loved watching their faces light up as they guessed who would get what award. It was such a sweet moment as they cheered for their friends!

Beach Day: We completed a summer bucket list and talked about what we are looking forward to most this summer! We then got to enjoy some ice cream sandwiches at recess… yum!

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PICTURES

Click here to see our pictures from this week!

Just wanted to send a little note to let you know that your child is coming home with a stuffed backpack! Everything that came home today can now stay home. Please still send in backpacks and blue folders because they have a few items to go home yet. I was hoping to send home their writing portfolios today, but their backpacks were too full. In their backpacks you will find, their red review folder for the summer. This will be a helpful resource for you all to give your kiddos ideas of things to do and a way to keep up on some skills over the summer. I do have a handwriting packet that will come home with some kiddos tomorrow too, so if you see that in their blue folder, you can transfer it to their red folder. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions!

 

One more day in grade one! As a reminder, it is a half day and students will be dismissed at 12:15 pm.

Upcoming Dates:

• Monday, June 6 – Gym 
  • Lemonade Day – wear pink or yellow
• Tuesday, June 7  – no special due to talent show
  • Sports Day – wear sports attire
  • Talent Show
• Wednesday, June 8 – Gym, last day of school (Early Release)
  • Beach Day – wear beach themed clothes, NO bathing suits

Notes for Parents:

• Please send in any library books and/or baggie books that you may still have at home as soon as possible. Thank you!
• STAR reports were sent home today. If you see some scores crossed out that is because students accidentally took the test twice during that testing period or they finished too quickly the first time and had to re-take it. Please remember that this is only one representation of your child’s learning!
• If you signed up to donate any items for our theme days coming up, please make sure to send them in by the date listed on the sign-up. We really appreciate your help in creating a fun-filled last week for our first graders!
• Next week, I will be sending home red review folders with your child. The folder contains optional summer work to help retain all of the skills learned in first grade. You can also take a look at the Summer Academic Note for more ideas. I encourage you to find a rhythm and schedule that works for your family to build in some “school/learning time” each day. It is very typical to have a summer slide with academics and this will hopefully help reduce some of that slide from happening! Students will also have access to our learning apps on Clever all summer long. Their login information will be on the back of their review folder.

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CELEBRATIONS

Outstanding Movie Day: We had a schoolwide PBIS celebration today… movie day! Our students have worked so hard to SOAR (be Safe, Own it, Act responsibly, be Respectful) this year. We are so proud of their outstanding work. We watched Charlotte’s Web with Mrs. Cooley’s class!

Ice Cream Celebration: We also had our last 10 star reward which was an ice cream celebration. Our ice cream sundaes were delicious!

First Grade Family Time – At the assembly, we celebrated our learning and birthdays from the week. We also give awards for the quote of the week, lost teeth, and shoe tying.

This week the quote was- “Endings are not always a bad thing, it just means something new can begin.” Today we had a special award for those that kept all their teeth this year. The friends who received this award were Anora, Cecily, and Will!

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OUR LEARNING

Writing: This week we created memory books – writing about our favorite specials, our favorite class memory, and our favorite books. We listed some of the friends we have made and got their autographs. We also put together our writing portfolio which we hope you will enjoy (coming home Monday). This has published pieces of our work from each unit. Be sure to celebrate your little author!!! They have come so far! 

Math: We worked on some place value review in math this week. This is a big skill in second grade and it was one of the trickiest skills our first graders had to learn in math this year. Keeping up with some place value work this summer will be very beneficial for your child! Even something as simple as writing and/or saying a two digit number and asking them how many tens and ones it has will go a long way.

Reading: This week we wrapped up our final unit of reading, Readers Get to Know Characters! We practiced thinking about what is happening in the story, imagining what characters might say by looking at the pictures, and rereading to smooth out our reading voices.

Word Study: We finished up some vowel sorts this week and put all our word study skills from this year to the test to complete one last phonics check!

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PICTURES

Click here to see our pictures from this week!

Upcoming Dates:

• Monday,  May 30 – NO SCHOOL (Memorial Day)
• Tuesday, May 31 – Gym
  • Popsicle Playdate @ 6:30 pm (K/1 playground)
• Wednesday, June 1 – Art
• Thursday, June 2 – STEAM
• Friday, June 3 – Music

Later Dates:

• Monday, June 6 – Lemonade Day
• Tuesday, June 7 – Sports Day, Talent Show
• Wednesday, June 8 – Beach Day, last day of school (early release)

Notes for Parents:

• If you have not emailed me to let me know if you and your child can make it to the popsicle playdate, please do prior to next week. The playdate will be on Tuesday, May 31 at 6:30 pm on the k/1 playground at Georgetown. I would love to know if any siblings are coming along as well that way I can plan for how many popsicles to buy. Looking forward to a fun night!
• Please look for more information on our special theme days (listed above) on the paper that was sent home today! If you would like to help donate items for these days, please view the sign-up HERE. Thank you in advance for your help!

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CELEBRATIONS

Grad Walk: The Hudsonville seniors did a celebratory walk around Georgetown and we had so much fun cheering for them! Cora even got to see her big sister!

First Grade Family Time: At the assembly, we celebrated our learning and birthdays from the week. We also give awards for the quote of the week, lost teeth, and shoe tying.

This week the quote was- “Count your rainbows not your thunderstorms.” We had no new friends join the lost tooth or shoe-tying club. Keep practicing those shoes at home… only 1 more week to join the club!

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OUR LEARNING

Writing: We wrapped up our last unit by publishing our series books. We created a series book box and made about the author pages for our series. Please take some time to sit down and listen to your first grader read his or her stories and compliment them on their ideas, handwriting, punctuation, and details!

Math: This week we took our unit 8 math test on two-digit addition. I am so proud of the growth our first grade mathematicians have made this year!

Reading: This week we continued learning about the characters in our books. We learned about character feelings and how to identify character feelings by looking at facial expressions and body language. To take it a step further, we practiced matching our own voice and gestures to these feelings as we read out loud.

Word Study: We spent this week reviewing vowels. We reviewed the long and short sounds for each vowel, and then completed some sorting activities with vowel sounds.

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PICTURES

Click here to see our pictures from this week!

Just wanted to send a reminder about library and baggie books being due tomorrow. This is our last time having to return books for the school year! Please remember to send them in so we can work on getting all the books organized and filed back into the library for next year. Thank you for providing such wonderful reading support for your kiddo at home this year!!!

Upcoming Dates:

• Monday,  May 23 – Music
• Tuesday, May 24 – Gym
• Wednesday, May 25 – Art
• Thursday, May 26 – STEAM, library and baggie books due
• Friday, May 27 – NO SCHOOL
• Monday, May 30 – NO SCHOOL (Memorial Day)

Later Dates:

• Wednesday, June 8 – last day of school (early release)

Notes for Parents:

• If you have not yet, please send in a cereal box by Monday, May 23.
• Please look in your child’s blue folder for a math review page. We will be taking our unit 8 test on Tuesday, and I would like them to have some extra practice with the skills beforehand. (More details in the math section.)

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CELEBRATIONS

Sports Day: We had a great time dressing up in sports gear and having an extra recess to play soccer! It was so great to hear everyone cheering each other on and playing just for fun. 🙂

Mystery Reader: This week Mackenzie’s grandma surprised us as a Mystery Reader! She read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Thank you for sharing this fun read aloud with us!

First Grade Family Time: At the assembly, we celebrated our learning and birthdays from the week. We also give awards for the quote of the week, lost teeth, and shoe tying.

This week the quote was- “Life is like ice cream, enjoy it before it melts.”  We had no new friends join the lost tooth or shoe-tying club. Keep practicing those shoes at home… only 2 more weeks to join the club!

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OUR LEARNING

Writing: Students wrapped up their realistic fiction series for our From Scenes to Series unit of study! This week we focused on using correct punctuation and using illustrations to tell important details. We learned that writers can use illustrations to give clues about the setting, bring characters to life, tell secrets to the reader, and add extra realistic details. 

Math: We started unit 8 this week which is an introduction to double digit addition. We would like our kiddos to have exposure with some of the methods they can use because this will be a big focus in second grade! A method we learned was the making a ten strategy with the use of drawings, and they were also introduced to the new group below and new group above method for vertical problems. The last method we practiced was adding the tens together first then the ones, and then adding to find the sum of the tens and ones. This is a very short and tricky unit for first graders, and we will already be taking our test next week. I sent home a review page if you would like to take some time and practice some of these strategies with your child before our test on Tuesday. Here is a poster with all the strategies as well! My suggestion is to pick a favorite strategy and stick with it. 🙂

Reading: This week we focused on how we can get to know characters in our books. We learned how we can learn more about characters by looking at the front and back of the book and by looking for pictures and dialogue. 

Word Study: We spent this week playing many different review games to practice capitalization rules!

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PICTURES

Click here to see our pictures from this week!

Zoo Pictures

Just wanted to send a friendly reminder that library and baggie books are due tomorrow! This will be our LAST time getting new library books as well as new baggie books. Next week, they will need to return their books on Thursday since we do not have school on Friday, but they will NOT be getting new books. Crazy to think that we are already at that point in the school year!

We had a fantastic time at the zoo yesterday! We are SO thankful for everyone’s help and flexibility. It was our first field trip in a few years and it felt so great to have the ability to do that again. I loved seeing the the kids enjoying themselves, and they did an AMAZING job representing Georgetown. Thank you again to all the wonderful chaperones and all the parents who were able to come as guests… thank you, thank you, thank you!  

 

Here is an album of the all the pictures that I had or were sent to me. I hope you enjoy looking through them. 🙂

Upcoming Dates:

• Monday,  May 16 – STEAM
  • Sports Day – wear sports themed outfit (appropriate for school and weather)
• Tuesday, May 17 – Music
  • John Ball Zoo field trip
  • Wear Hudsonville apparel (if your child has any)
• Wednesday, May 18 – Gym
• Thursday, May 19 – Art
• Friday, May 20 – STEAM, library and baggie books due (last time getting new books for both)
  • Cereal box due

Later Dates:

• May 27 & May 30 – NO SCHOOL (Memorial Day weekend)
• June 8 – last day of school (early release)

Notes for Parents:

• Please remember to email me if you will be attending the trip as a guest AND if you would like to take your child home with you or have them ride the bus back to school with us. Also, please see the checklist below that will be coming home on Monday as a way to help you prepare. Thanks!

• If you have not yet, please send in a cereal box with the top flaps cut off for your child’s character series writing (with his/her name on it). It should be large enough to fit a piece of paper. 

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CELEBRATIONS

Star Students: We had our last round of star students this week and they were Harper, Paige, Chase, and Makenna. They had the chance to be the pledge leader for the day and eat in the classroom with me at the end of the week! I loved getting that extra time with each of them and seeing their personalities shine. 🙂

Mystery Reader: This week we had two mystery readers this week. Our first mystery reader was Will’s grandpa and he read Pearl and Squirrel Give Thanks. Caroline’s mom also surprised us as a Mystery Reader! She read The Napping House. Thank you for sharing these fun read alouds with us!

First Grade Family Time: At the assembly, we celebrated our learning and birthdays from the week. We also give awards for the quote of the week, lost teeth, and shoe tying.

This week the quote was- “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”  We had no new friends join the lost tooth club. Will joined the shoe-tying club this week. Congrats, Will! 

Birthdays: We celebrated Caroline and Sadie’s 7th birthdays this week. Happy birthday, Caroline and Sadie!

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OUR LEARNING

Writing: For this unit, our final project will be creating a series boxed set. We would greatly appreciate the donation of cereal boxes for this project by the end of next week! (see note and instructions above.) In writing this week we added some new tools to our writing toolboxes! We learned how to “show not tell” by adding tiny realistic details. Later in the week, we learned all about repetition and the importance of patterns in writing. Next week we will wrap up our realistic fiction writing unit and students will start to publish their very own boxed book series!

Math: In math we learned how to order objects from shortest to longest as well as longest to shortest. We also learned that we can measure using objects like paper clips to see how long something is. We talked about how it’s important to use the same size object otherwise our measurements will be inaccurate. For example, we can’t use large and small paper clips, we would need to use either all small or all large. We completed our third quick quiz of the unit as well at the unit 7 test. The kiddos did an excellent job with these skills!

Reading: This week we continued learning about Nonfiction Text Features. We found Diagrams, Captions, Bolded Words, Labels, and Glossaries in our Nonfiction books. We learned that these text features help us understand the topic deeper and help us navigate our nonfiction books. 

Word Study: In addition to adding lots of snap words (sight words) to our word wall this week, we also focused on capitalization. We reviewed when to start words with a capital letter (dates, names, places, I, start of sentence, etc.). We also took a close look at our stories we’ve been writing to make sure we used correct capitalization. 

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PICTURES

Click here to see our pictures from this week!

Upcoming Dates:

• Sunday, May 8 – Mother’s Day, Caroline’s birthday 🙂
• Monday,  May 9 – Art
  • Scholastic Book Orders due
• Tuesday, May 10 – STEAM
• Wednesday, May 11 – Music
• Thursday, May 12 – Gym
• Friday, May 13 – Art, library and baggie books due

Later Dates:

• Tuesday, May 17 – John Ball Zoo Field Trip
• May 27 & May 30 – NO SCHOOL (Memorial Day weekend)

Notes for Parents:

• I hope you all have a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend and you enjoy the sweet gift your child made for you! 
• Please send in a cereal box with the top flaps cut off for your child’s character series writing (with his/her name on it). It should be large enough to fit a piece of paper. 

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CELEBRATIONS

Safari Day – We had a fun fast Friday celebrating Safari Day! It was a great way to get us ready for our zoo trip in a couple weeks. We did a writing craftivity called Wild About First Grade, and they had to write about their favorite part of first grade. We then attached their writing to a safari animal’s body. We also did some measuring of safari animals which was a great way to introduce a new skill we will be learning more about next week. We also got to enjoy a yummy safari snack, Zebra Cakes!

Star Students: Our star students this week were Cora, Mackenzie, Jack, and Caroline. They had the chance to be the pledge leader for the day and eat in the classroom with me at the end of the week!

First Grade Family Time: At the assembly, we celebrated our learning and birthdays from the week. We also give awards for the quote of the week, lost teeth, and shoe tying.

This week the quote was- “Throw kindness around like confetti.” We had no new friends join the lost tooth or shoe-tying club. Keep practicing those shoes at home… only 4 more weeks to join the club!

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OUR LEARNING

Writing: This week students created their very own character that they will use for their realistic fiction series! They used a character web to describe what the character looks like, where he/she lives, and what kind of trouble he/she could run into! Students began writing book one of their series. I was blown away by their creativity! For this unit, our final project will be creating a series boxed set. We would greatly appreciate the donation of cereal boxes for this project over the next two weeks!

Math: We learned all about equal shares this week! The kids learned how to divide shapes into halves and fourths. We also played around with shapes and realized that we can create new shapes by putting different shapes together. The kiddos were also introduced to 3D shapes which included sphere, cylinder, cone, cube, and rectangular prism.

Reading: This week we started a new unit talking all about Text Features we find in NonFiction books. Things like the table of contents, fun facts, and maps are different kinds of Text Features. We focused this week on Titles and Table of Contents. 

Word Study: This week we learned from our bloopers when we read.  We focused on the mistakes we make when we read.  We tried a few tricks to help us remember tricky words like Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants to spell BECAUSE and Father And Mother, I Love You to spell FAMILY.

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PICTURES

Click here to see our pictures from this week!