Mrs. Vella's 1st Grade Super Stars

Marshmallow Mansion STEM Project

Posted on November 11, 2016 by darsie.vella

http://qacblogs.org/quinsie.bischoff/files/2016/11/tower.jpeg

I just wanted to let you know this month we will be doing our STEM project which involves building a tower with toothpicks and marshmallows. You have all signed the yearly permission slip which allows your child to eat sugary treats and drinks with parties and STEM projects.

I will be allowing the students who can refrain from eating the “dirty” marshmallows while they build the tower with to have a small handful of clean marshmallows after the project is over.

If your child for whatever reason is allergic to anything and that information is not in Aspire please update that so I can be aware of any allergies. If you have a problem with them eating the marshmallows please email me. Thanks!

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Weekly Reminders

Posted on November 11, 2016 by darsie.vella

1- Please check your student’s green folder nightly.

2- PLEASE make sure you send your student with their backpack, homework folder, and “Baggie Books” EVERYDAY!!…
    I am not replacing any “Baggie Books” if there is NOT a signature on the reading log. I am assuming that, 1. It is because you want them to work on reading that particular book a little while longer, or 2. That you just haven’t read with your student yet. AGAIN, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR STUDENT COMES TO SCHOOL PREPARED EVERYDAY!

3- Thanks in advance to those who will graciously donate to our classroom basket. Donations will be accepted until
     November 29th.

4- FRIDAY:
Homework due: My Math Worksheets 9-12, Math Timings 8.9, and 10’s , HF     Spelling, #1 Reading Fluency Story
Spelling test
  *Students are welcome to show their Quest pride by wearing their school spirit shirts (with uniform pants)

5- SUNDAY:
    Weekly Reading Minutes Recorded on your student’s “Book It Reading Log”

6-TUESDAY:
     Library Day

7 –Parent Survey: Please take a few minutes to fill out this simple survey…
We are asking all Quest First Grade Parents to fill out the ” How is Everything Survey. We do this as part of our school accreditation process. Please fill out the below form:
Parent Survey

8-November Parent Teacher Conferences:
Here is the most current list for Parent Teacher Conferences. If you have not signed up yet, PLEASE do so! Click below to complete an online sign up for Parent Teachers Conferences.
Conference Sign Up

Thursday November 17th:
3:20   Lucas
3:35
3:50
4:05
4:20

9- Scholastic Book Order DUE FRIDAY, November 18th. Look for another Scholastic coupon in your student’s homework folder tomorrow. Click here for easy online ordering, our class code is JBTR2 : Scholastic Book Club

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Holiday Basket Winner…

Posted on November 11, 2016 by darsie.vella

The votes have been counted and the winning theme for our classroom basket is:

Baking with Kids

Your donations are needed to make our classroom basket a success. Donations will be collected beginning now until November 29th. Here are a few ideas for possible donations:

Measuring Cups
Measuring Spoons
Cookie Cutters
Kid Friendly Bakeware
Colorful Mixing Bowls
Cookbooks
Cake, Cookie and Brownie Mixes
Frosting
Fun Sprinkles
Special Jams/Jellies
Chocolate Chips
Marshmallows
Rice Cereal

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Library Reading Challenge

Posted on November 11, 2016 by darsie.vella

“WHERE IN THE WORLD WILL READING TAKE YOU?”

This year for the library’s reading challenge, we will submit reading minutes to travel across the continents. At the end of the year one class per grade will win the fabulous prize for the most reading minutes. In addition, the student(s) with the most reading minutes will qualify for a prize.

What is your role in this reading challenge? Simply click on the “Library Reading Challenge” tab on our class blog and complete the online form each week. Because these reading minutes will only be available to the librarian, you will still need to complete our regular reading log to receive homework credit for reading.

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Happy Belated Birthday Alex

Posted on November 7, 2016 by darsie.vella

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Yes we “CAN”

Posted on November 7, 2016 by darsie.vella

Wow! Thank you so much for the amazing canned food donations! Although our grade did not win the free dress-down day, our class brought in some cans of food for local food banks! If every student brought in 6 cans of canned food we could win! Thank you so much for your generous donations! If you were unable to donate this time and would still like a chance, we will still be collecting canned food donations through November 7th, and these donations will also count toward another possible dress-down day!

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Subtraction Strategies Poster and Helpful Link

Posted on November 7, 2016 by darsie.vella

It’s hard for the kids to switch over from addition to subtraction. Many are getting confuse on their homework so please spend a few minutes working with them. Here is a helpful poster with different Subtraction Strategies that can help them.

Helpful Link for Subtraction using Part Part Whole:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yid5a3qxWIs

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Congratulations October Star Students

Posted on November 7, 2016 by darsie.vella

October Stars with 100% Math, Spelling and Reading H0mework!!
Ryder
Lucas
Ashtun
Boston
Bristol
Alex
Waylon

These students will receive a coupon for a free Wendy’s frosty. Congratulations for a job well done!!! I am VERY proud of you and your efforts to be a successful student.

October Pizza Hut “Book It Readers”
Waylon
Mackenzie
Kasen
Alex
Bristol
Rome
Conner
Boston
Ashtun
Lucas
Ryder
Desaray
Anthony
Cid
Kaitlyn

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Homework for November 7th-11th

Posted on November 7, 2016 by darsie.vella

*ALL MATH AND SPELLING HOMEWORK IS DUE FRIDAY November 11th.
**ALL READING MINUTES ARE DUE MONDAY November 14th.

There are 5 components to this weeks homework:
1- My Math Worksheets 9-12
***Last chance to turn in My Math Homework Lessons 5-8 for credit
2-Math Timings eights, nines, and tens
3- NEW Reading Fluency Story #1
4-Reading minutes (20 minutes/day or a total of 100 minutes/week)
***WEEKLY READING MINUTES MUST BE RECORDED BY SUNDAY FOR CREDIT. LATE RECORDED MINUTES. WILL NOT BE RECORDED FOR CREDIT.
5- Spelling

free-mathematics-clipart-clip-art-pictures-graphics-image-6

free-mathematics-clipart-clip-art-pictures-graphics-image-6

1-My Math Homework for the Week:
Monday Lesson 9: Subtract from 6 and 7
Tuesday Lesson 10: Subtract 8
Wednesday Lesson 11: Subtract from 9
Thursday Lesson 12: Subtract from 10

2- Math Timings eights, nines, and tens

Worksheets: Please complete every other problem (alternate between evens and odds so your child gets practice doing story problems AND “Vocabulary Check”/ “Test Practice” problems each week). If your child wants to do every problem they are certainly free to do so! 🙂 Please check your child’s answers for accuracy!
Practice your fluency timing repeatedly: “Adding 8, 9, and 10.” Record your best time and score each day. [By the end of first grade, the target goal is to finish all 25 problems in 1 minute and 15 seconds, with 90% accuracy (23 out of 25 problems correct).] Click here for extra timings: Fluency Timings
Helpful Hint: All of these facts use the strategy of “counting on”.

I LOVE TO READ!!
3- NEW THIS WEEK!!! One Minute Reading Fluency. Lesson #1 from this link: Phonics Fluency Stories
This daily one-minute timed fluency reading will help your student become a fluent reader. It will also count as reading minutes. Time your student for one minute. Record the number of words they were able to read CORRECTLY in one minute.

*Want to save paper? Have your student read the passage online, then simply record their CORRECT words read/minute each day on their spelling homework form.

4- Reading: 20 minutes/day or a total of 100 minutes/week:
RECORD YOUR READING MINUTES ON THE “BOOK IT” READING LOG located in your student’s green folder.
***There are several sources for reading: “Reading for all Learners” also known as”Baggy Books,” books from the school library, books from home, as well as the public library. Students may also use our online reading program Raz-Kids. Our class Raz-Kids login is: dvella0 (That’s a zero)

I am sure you noticed that your student brought home their “Baggy Book” Friday. They were so excited!!! I explained to your student(s) that I, along with the other first grade teachers, have spent a large amount of our money to personally purchase these books. Replacement of any lost or damaged books will be the responsibility of the student/family. PLEASE, help your student take care of these books by keeping them in the plastic bag until being read.
Books are to be returned daily in the plastic bag, then, placed inside their green homework folder. In order for your student to pass off each book, they must have fewer than 3 mistakes/book. They must also have a parent, guardian, or volunteer signature on the reading log.

ipad users….
I have some wonderful news for you. The company called Academic Success For All Learners has a fabulous app for only $10. The $10 allows you to get a whole set of eBooks. I would suggest starting with the first set (RED) which contains 27 ebooks. These are the same books we will be using for our class “Baggie Books.”
Here is their web site: www.iseesam.com
Their phone number is (435) 755-7885 you can ask for Andy if you have any questions.

***CHECK OUT THIS SITE FOR BOOK ON LINE READ BY FAMOUS PEOPLE It’s fantastic!!! http://www.storylineonline.net/

Don’t forget about reading comprehension! Understanding what you are reading is just as important as being a fluent reader!!! PLEASE use these Re-Tell Ropes whenever you are reading with your student checking for understanding. THIS HELPS STUDENTS PREPARE FOR OUR LANGUAGE ARTS WORK ON FRONT ROW AND DIBELS TEST COMPREHENSION.

spelling writing-clip-art

5. Phonics and High Frequency Words
High Frequency Words
Here is the link to print our weekly spelling homework form: New Weekly Spelling Homework **Remember if you choose not to print off and use this form you need to make sure your student is writing each word and the sentence daily on paper, and that all writing is nice and neat as well as organized like the form, and that the papers get turned in on Friday for credit.
Our spelling test will be Friday, November 4th.

NEW WORDS:
an
their
will
her
can
PHONICS FOCUS WORDS:
map
not
rib
SENTENCE:
This is not their map.

The spelling words and sentence are worth 16 points/day this week. The spelling test will be given Friday.

***Your student needs to write EACH spelling word once in the 1st 5 boxes and the 3 Phonics words in the following 3 boxes. There should be plenty of space to write the sentence once on the 2 lines provided at the bottom of each page on the form.

I am still seeing a lot of incorrectly formed letters and letter placement! PLEASE, PLEASE , PLEASE LOOK AT YOUR STUDENT’S WORK. IF THEY HAVE PLACED ALL LETTERS IN THE CORRECT SUPER,!!!! IF NOT, HAVE THEM “REVISIT” AND FIX THE PLACEMENT OF EACH LETTER/WORD.

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Weekly Reinders

Posted on November 4, 2016 by darsie.vella

1- Please send in your canned food donations. Our students really want to see administration kiss a pig

2- Thanks to all those who have already voted for the theme for our classroom basket. If you have not yet voted there is still time, but don’t delay voting will close Friday, November 4th. Click here to vote: Classroom Basket Theme Voting

3- FRIDAY: Early Out 1pm
*Students are welcome to show their Quest pride by wearing their school spirit shirts (with uniform pants)
**All Math and Spelling Homework due Tomorrow.
***We will be having our spelling test tomorrow also.
****Remember to record Reading minutes on the “Book It” reading log by Sunday. I put the minutes in my grade book on Monday.

When I was looking through student Homework folders today, I noticed that many of the hats were colored in but no minutes were recorded. Parents, please make sure you record your student’s minutes read.

4- Parent Survey available to share with us your feedback to help us better your child’s experience here at school every day. Parent Survey

5- We will start our moon calendars next week as we begin our Sun, Earth and Moon unit.

6- Mark your calendars: Grandparents and Pastries on Wednesday, November 9th — 8:00-8:25am.

7- Scholastic Book Order DUE FRIDAY, November 18th. Click here for easy online ordering, our class code is JBTR2 : Scholastic Book Club

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