Mrs. Vella's 1st Grade Super Stars

Scholastic Book Order

Posted on November 17, 2015 by darsie.vella

Dear Parents,
Your child came home with two Scholastic Book Orders today. I realize that the month is half over however, I want you to know that I have talked to Scholastic to see if I can get our flyers by the end of the month for the up coming month to no avail. I am however, not going to close this order until THE END OF THE MONTH…November 30th.
***If you can’t wait to get the official book order/flyer, I do believe that you can always go on line to look at what books and specials are going on for any given month. Please look through the two flyers as there are some terrific books and great deals going on. BOOKS ALWAYS MAKE GREAT INEXPENSIVE CHRISTMAS GIFTS. Remember we get points which help get new books for our classroom library when we have a big enough order.

IF you are ordering books for a gift let me know and I will allow you to come pick them up in the classroom so they can remain a surprise. Click here for easy online ordering, Our class code is JBTR2: Scholastic Book Club

Posted in Class News | Leave a comment

Fall Thanksgiving Activities

Posted on November 16, 2015 by darsie.vella

I have some fun activities planned for this week centered around Fall and Thanksgiving. I would love to have extra hands to help so if you have time this week, particularly on Friday afternoon (11:30-1:00) I would greatly appreciate it. Also, I am open to having parents plan and execute activities this week too, so if you have time and or have an activity that you would like to do PLEASE feel free to let me know so we can plan a time and make preparations.

Posted in Class News | Leave a comment

Parent Teacher Conferences

Posted on November 16, 2015 by darsie.vella

Thursday we will be having Parent Teacher Conferences.
3:30-3:50 Jason
3:50-4:10 Tyson
4:10-4:30 Corbin

Posted in Class News, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Popcorn Fundraiser

Posted on November 16, 2015 by darsie.vella

We are excited to be partnering with Hoppin’ Poppin’ Kettle Corn for our fundraiser. Order forms were sent home with all students (I did notice that 2 unknown students in our class dropped their forms on the ground as they were leaving our classroom – please let me know if you didn’t receive a form and I will make sure your child brings one home).

Please return the order forms and money to the Q1 or Q2 office by November 30th. There are 2 delivery date options, December 4th or 11th. Parents will need to pick up orders between 2-3:30PM in the Q1 Gym.

We are excited to announce that the funds raised from this event will be designated to field trips, clubs and future activities for all the students at Quest Academy.

If you have any questions, please contact a member of the POQA Board.

Posted in Class News | Leave a comment

Homework for November 16th -20th

Posted on November 16, 2015 by darsie.vella

Homework is due every Friday. I will no longer accept ANY homework if it is more than one week past the due date (unless other arrangements are made due to health or being out of town). ALL LATE OR MISSING HOMEWORK WILL RECEIVE A ZERO. In order to get the “Pay Day” prize students must have 100% homework turned in.

1 Math Homework:
Monday Review Lesson 13: Relate Addition and Subtraction
Tuesday Lesson 14: True and False Statements
Wednesday Review and Test Chapter 5
Thursday Review and Test Chapter 5
Friday Thanksgiving Projects

Complete every other problem (alternate between evens and odds) on the worksheets that will be coming home in the blue folder on Monday. Please check your child’s work for ACCURACY.

Happy Reading:
2. Reading 20 minutes per day, THEN record it on the BOOK IT READING LOG in your childs’ GREEN HOMEWORK FOLDER. There are several sources for reading: books from home or the public library and Starfall as well as our online reading program Raz-Kids. Our class Raz-Kids login is: dvella0 (That’s a zero at the end).

Again I will be looking at your students weekly total for grading credits for but will NOT pull the reading log until the end of the month which, if completed, goes toward getting paid. Students will receive their FREE personal pizza coupon when they have read 80 minutes a week (or more) for 4 weeks.

MONDAY IS LIBRARY DAY. PLEASE make sure your child has their library book in their backpack prior to Monday. Students will not be allowed to check out a new book until the previous book has been returned.

A HUGE thanks to all the kids (and parents) in our class who have been reading and filling out their “TOWER OF BOOKS CHALLENGE.” We are now in first place!!!!! I know we can continue if we all do our part so keep reading all the different books, check them off when you have 5 which earns your first then continue until you have a total of 10. If you have lost your paper or have any questions let me know.

3- Timed fluency practice worth 20 points. For this week’s fluency page click here: Timed Reading Fluency Practice
This daily one-minute timed fluency reading will help your student become a fluent reader. It will also count toward your 20 reading minutes. Time your student for one minute. Record the number of words they were able to read in one minute.

4- High Frequency Word homework. Here is the link to print our weekly homework form: Weekly Homework Form

High Frequency Words for this week are:
said
out
if
some
would
REVIEW WORDS:
what
about
have
SENTENCE
The hat is from dad.

SPELLING SENTENCE 7 POINTS POSSIBLE ON TEST (1 point for each correctly spelled word, 1 point for beginning the sentence with an uppercase letter, and 1 point for the correct punctuation mark at the end of the sentence.)

Posted in Homework Posts, Language Arts Homework, Math Homework, Spelling and Weekly High Frequency Words | Leave a comment

Veterans Day Recap

Posted on November 16, 2015 by darsie.vella

Veterans Day was an especially special day for me and our first grade classes. I had been contemplating how to teach the kids about Veterans Day, the significance and sacrifices that are made daily by the many men and women in today’s armed forces.
Then, ….I had a brilliant AH HA moment. I was fortunate to get a hold of my son-in-law who is currently deployed. He had a little bit of time in his schedule to talk with our students, answer questions and share a few crazy stories.
Our students got so much more from being able to talk to a “live” veteran who is currently deployed than they would have ever done just by having a discussion as a class etc. When we got back to our classroom, the kids made cards which we’ll be mailing off shortly. I don’t think there are many families who aren’t touched in some way by current world events. Please take a few moments to talk with you student about all the sacrifices being made by members of the armed services and how they are trying to help the world become a better, safer, happy place to live. You may also want to talk about things they can do to be supportive good citizens.

Posted in Class News | Leave a comment

Important Reminders

Posted on November 10, 2015 by darsie.vella

1-  Check your child’s green folder nightly.

2- Please dress your child properly for the weather. We strongly recommend labeling coats, gloves, etc.

3- Monday:
Library day- if you have not yet, please return the practice library book

4- FRIDAY:
   ALL Homework due
(Spelling tests will be given on Monday to allow more practice time throughout the week at school and home.)

5- Please help your student answer the Question of the Week on our blog. Each student will have an opportunity to post a question throughout this school year.

6- Help us earn playground equipment by collecting Box Tops and Campbell’s soup labels.

7- How is your moon watching coming along? I know it can be crazy with the weather so just do your best. I saw several great watchers documentation when checking folders today! Great job to all my little astronomers!
To see when the moon is rising, setting, and which phase it is in, here’s a great link to follow:  Moonrise, moonset, and moon phases

8- Our Scholastic Book Order is due November 30th.  Your Scholastic orders help our classroom library earn FREE books. And books are great Christmas gifts.  If you are ordering books for a gift let me know and I will allow you to come pick them up in the classroom so they can remain a surprise. Click here for easy online ordering, our class code is JBTR2: Scholastic Book Club

Posted in Class News Posts | Leave a comment

Posted in Class News | Leave a comment

Homework for October 9th -13th

Posted on November 10, 2015 by darsie.vella

Math Homework:
Monday: Lesson 9 Subtraction from 6 and 7
Tuesday: Lesson 10 Subtract from 8
Wednesday: Lesson 11 Subtract from 9
Thursday: Lesson 12 Subtract from 10
Friday: Lesson 13 Relate Addition and Subtraction

Complete every other problem (alternate between evens and odds) on the worksheets that will be coming home in the blue folder on Monday. Please check your child’s work for ACCURACY.

1. Math Homework for the week is due every Friday. I will no longer accept ANY homework if it is more than one week past the due date (unless other arrangements are made due to health or being out of town). ALL LATE OR MISSING HOMEWORK WILL RECEIVE A ZERO. In order to get the “Pay Day” prize students must have 100% homework turned in.

Happy Reading!!
2. Reading 20 minutes per day, THEN record it on the BOOK IT READING LOG in your childs’ GREEN HOMEWORK FOLDER. There are several sources for reading: books from home or the public library and Starfall as well as our online reading program Raz-Kids. Our class Raz-Kids login is: dvella0 (That’s a zero at the end).

Ipad users….
I have some wonderful news for those of you who have ipads. A 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.

Again I will be looking at your students weekly total for grading credits for but will NOT pull the reading log until the end of the month which, if completed, goes toward getting paid. Students will receive their FREE personal pizza coupon when they have read 80 minutes a week (or more) for 4 weeks.

A HUGE thanks to all the kids (and parents) in our class who have been reading and filling out their “TOWER OF BOOKS CHALLENGE.” We are just a book or two behind Mrs. Dunmeyer’s class. I know we can win if we all do our part so keep reading all the different books, check them off when you have 5 which earns your first then continue until you have a total of 10. If you have lost your paper or have any questions let me know.

3. Timed fluency practice worth 20 points. For this week’s fluency page click here: Timed Reading Fluency Practice
This daily one-minute timed fluency reading will help your student become a fluent reader. It will also count toward your 20 reading minutes. Time your student for one minute. Record the number of words they were able to read in one minute.

4. Weekly High Frequency Word homework. Here is the link to print our weekly homework form: Weekly Homework Form. Feel free to use this form however, you can also have your student write the words and sentence each night on notebook paper. Having your student practice reading and writing their words and sentence daily helps then become better readers and writers.
THIS IS DUE EVERY FRIDAY and helps go toward earning a monthly “Pay Day” prize. In order to gegt the prize students must have 100% homework turned in.

High Frequency Words for this week are:
we
what
about
up
play
REVIEW WORDS:
friend
there
with
SENTENCE
I have a box of pens.

SPELLING SENTENCE 8 POINTS POSSIBLE ON TEST (1 point for each correctly spelled word, 1 point for beginning the sentence with an uppercase letter, and 1 point for the correct punctuation mark at the end of the sentence.)

Posted in Class News, Homework Posts, Language Arts Homework, Math Homework | Leave a comment

Important Head Phones Information

Posted on November 6, 2015 by darsie.vella

Dear Parents,
We have a few students who have not brought headphones to use at school and some who no longer have working headphones. We use our headphones EVERY SINGLE DAY, often all at the same time, and we do not allow students to borrow other students’ headphones because of liability in case they are broken, etc.

Will you please ask your child if she/he has a working set of headphones at school, and, if not, could you please send a pair of headphones with your child to school as soon as possible?

Thank you very much!

Posted in Class News | Leave a comment

Homework for Novenber 2nd-6th

Posted on November 1, 2015 by darsie.vella

1. Math Homework:
     Monday November 2        Lesson 4- Subtraction 0 and All
     Tuesday November 3        Lesson 5- Vertical Subtraction
     Wednesday November 4 Lesson 6- Problem Solving Strategy: Draw a Diagram
     Thursday November 5      Lesson 7 Compare Groups
     Friday November 6            Lesson 8 Subtract from 4 and 5

*Complete every other problem (alternate between evens and odds) on the worksheets that will be coming home in the green folder on Monday November 2. Please check your child’s work for ACCURACY.

PLEASE use the use the Chapter 2 Subtraction Vocabulary Cards. There are also some blank cards so feel free to make some that you think your student would benefit from. Practice them daily!!!-
Have your student practice math facts on Starfall in student links.

I love to Read!
2- Reading 20 minutes per day, record on reading log on our Weekly Homework form. There are several sources for reading: “Reading for all Learners” also known as”Baggy books” from school (Coming soon), books from home or the public library and our online reading program Raz-Kids. Our class Raz-Kids login is: dvella0 (That’s a zero) Star Fall Talking Library is another resource

Remember we are working on earning “Book It” Pizza coupons. Students will receive their FREE personal pizza coupon when they have read 80 minutes a week (or more) for 4 weeks. It’s Pay day!!!!

**There are so many students that are close to finishing up their first 5 books for the Library Book Stacking Challenge this Year. Parent if you need another copy of the book list let me know I can get you a copy. I really want our class to win this challenge and we will with your help and support.

3- Weekly High Frequency Word homework. Here is the link to print our weekly homework form: Weekly Homework Form

High Frequency Words for this week are:
an
their
there
her
can
REVIEW WORDS:
friend
when
one
SENTENCE
She is with the dog.

SPELLING SENTENCE 7 POINTS POSSIBLE ON TEST (1 point for each correctly spelled word, 1 point for beginning the sentence with an uppercase letter, and 1 point for the correct punctuation mark at the end of the sentence.)

4- Timed fluency practice worth 20 points. For this week’s fluency page click here: Timed Fluency Practice
This daily one-minute timed fluency reading will help your student become a fluent reader. It will also count toward your 20 reading minutes. Time your student for one minute. Record the number of words they were able to read in one minute.

Posted in Homework Posts, Language Arts Homework, Math Homework | Leave a comment