Reading A-Z Information

In your child's report card envelope today, you should have received a small paper with the Reading A-Z web address and your child's username and password to access Reading A-Z (also called Kids A-Z). Throughout the summer, your child can access this website using this information. This is a app we use in class for students to listen to reading, read books, record their readings, and take quizzes on the books they've read. In the classroom, students read books at their independent reading levels. However, for summer, I have opened up the "Bookroom" which allows your child to access any of the books at any level. Thank you for supporting your child's reading at home!

Items Coming Home This Week

1MW first graders will be bringing home items throughout the week. Please look for the following in your child's backpack:

1. Words Their Way Workbook: This is a workbook that we have used throughout the year to learn about spelling patterns. Some students work through the first book while some are starting the second  book or even in the middle of the second book. No matter where your child is at on the spelling continuum, you can help them throughout the summer to learn more spelling patterns. Your child can show you how we use the sorts!

2. I Can Read Folder:  We have used this binder to collect poems we read during our poetry unit. Students can read the poems throughout the summer.

3. Handwriting Workbook:  Students have practiced how to form capital and lowercase letters in order to produce legible writing. There may be some empty pages from when students were absent or pages we skipped in favor of others.

 4. Portfolio:  On Wednesday, after your child shares his/her portfolio with you during the publishing party, you may take the portfolio home so your child doesn't have to fit it in their backpack at the end of the year.

5. Headphones:  Our iPads have been collected, so we won't need headphones.

6. Realistic Fiction Stories: For our Realistic Fiction Writing Unit, we practiced writing a few stories before we began working on the final one will will publish and share this week. These stories will be coming home soon!

7. Yearbook:  I'll give students some class time to autograph each other's yearbooks. I think that they will be distributed Monday afternoon, so we will spend time on Tuesday autographing so they can take them home Tuesday afternoon.

Finally, students will not be bringing home reading books this week so I can have time to inventory and organize them this week.

Hope to see you Wednesday at 9:00 for our Publishing and Portfolio Sharing Celebration!

Thank you!

Dear Families,

I wanted to thank you all for partnering with me to provide a successful first grade year for your children. I have enjoyed sharing my classroom with such wonderful, enthusiastic students who love to learn. Next school year, I will be returning to Denver, Colorado, after spending a lovely two years in Muscat. I will miss all the TAISM families and friends I have met that have made my stay in Muscat a memorable one. I am lucky to have met you all, and I wish you the best of luck next year and always!

Sincerely,

Michelle

Save the Date!

1MW will have a portfolio sharing and publishing celebration on Wednesday, June 8th, 9:00-9:40. You will receive an invitation in your child's Take Home Folder this week, but I wanted to make sure you had the information a little early so you could make arrangements to join us. We are looking forward to sharing our fabulous work with you!

Elementary Spring Spirit Days

Elementary Spring Spirit Days  Students are invited to dress up on the following days to show their school spirit.  Thursday - May 26 - School Spirit Day - Dress in the TAISM school colors or wear any of your TAISM Spirit shirts, like Terry Fox, Musicals, etc.  Thursday - June 2 - Pajama Day - come in your favorite school-appropriate pajamas! Sunday- June 5 - Free Dress Day - come in your favorite school-appropriate attire. Also, here are some important dates to remember from the newsletter :) Thursday, May 26th: Last Day of After School Activities Sunday, May 29th: Parent Coffee Tuesday, May 31st: Volunteer Appreciation

More thanks!

Wow, what a great Teacher Appreciation Week! I was surprised on Thursday by a lovely package of lotions, body wash, moisturizers, and soap. Thank you so much for the gift! 

I am honored to teach such sweet children each day and I can't believe the school year is almost over. I will certainly miss my students and the wonderful 1MW families I've met this year!

Thank you!

A huge "Thank you!" to the parents who spent time decorating my door for Teacher Appreciation Week. I used to watch Wonder Woman and wanted to be her when I grew up...for those of you younger than me, it was an actual TV show in the 70's! :-)  Such a cute idea and a big surprise on Sunday morning!

Concert Clothing Tomorrow

Students may wear their concert clothes to school on Tuesday. They will not be required to wear their TAISM uniforms. There will not be an opportunity to change clothes prior to the concert as previous years. I will remind them to eat and play carefully that day! :-)

The concert is at 2:30 in the Bosch Center. Hope to see you there!

Important Dates

The K-2 Music Concert is next Tuesday, May 10th 2:30 - 3:30 in the Bosch Center. I can't wait to hear what they've been working on!

The last day for swimming in P.E. is this Tuesday, May 3rd.

There is no school on Thursday, May 5th, due to the holiday. Sunday, May 8th, will be Day 3.

Math Apps

If you are looking for some math apps for your child to use at home that support the work we do in first grade, please check out the list below. Keep in mind that this is a K-2 list that is compiled of activities for a range of abilities.

Math Night is on Monday April 18th

TAISM ES/MS Math Parent Night

TAISM parents are invited to attend an informational and interactive evening with visiting consultant, Erma Anderson

Monday, April 18th at 7:00 p.m.

Location: MS Learning Commons

Scholastic Book Order

Book Orders sent home last Thursday!

Tomorrow Day 2 and Swimming this Monday

Tomorrow (Sunday) is Day 2.

The P.E. swimming unit with Miss Effie begins this Monday (Day 3), April 11th. Please send your child to school prepared and ready to participate.

Students need to bring a bag with the following items in it:

1. Swimsuit (Girls need one piece suits)

2. Towel

3. Goggles

4. Swim Cap

5. Sandals/flip-flops

In the past, students have been able to borrow swim caps from the P.E. Department. However, this is no longer the case. Students with long hair will not be able to swim if they do not have their swim caps. If you have questions, you may email Miss Effie at stonee@taism.com.

New Student Work

Before we left for Spring Break, students posted their opinion writing projects on the student blog. As we worked on this introduction to the writing unit, we learned how to state an opinion and support the opinion with reasons and examples. We even learned how to write a piece that disagrees with an opinion but does so in an appropriate way supported by details. Students brought in a collection from home at the beginning of the unit. They used this collection to write opinion pieces. Their published work is about their favorite item and their least favorite item from their collections. Take a look by selecting the link to the right titled "1MW Superstar Student Work."

We will continue our writing unit the next few weeks and will be reviewing the writing process of planning, writing, revising, editing, and sharing. We will also continue to work on adding details and using conventions such as end punctuation and the appropriate use of lower case and capital letters. We will do this through review writing as we review restaurants, movies, toys, books, and many other things we know a lot about!

We have also been learning how to write online comments about the work our classmates have published on the blog. Please feel free to comment on our work!

Tomorrow is Day 5

Tomorrow (Monday), March 28th, will be a Day 5. As usual, students will need to dress for P.E. We continue to have P.E. outside so it is important that students are prepared for this by having their hats and water bottles each day.

Also, there is no school this Thursday due to Spring Break. School will begin again on Sunday, April 10th, and it will be a Day 2.

A successful Book Week!

A big "Thank you" to Busola (Timi's mom), Jennifer (Kara's mom), Suzanne (Stella's mom), and Madhavi (Jash's mom) for being our guest mystery readers. We enjoyed hearing the stories you selected for us!

Wednesday was Book Character Dress Up Day! We were visited by Spiderman, 2 Batmans, a Candy Kid from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Waldo from Where's Waldo, Sleeping Beauty, Pocahontas, Catwoman, Lego Kid, Captain America, Dinosaur from Danny and the Dinosaur, Ben 10, Cinderella, and Purplicious.

Here we are...acting like our characters!

At 11:40, it was "Stop, Drop, and Read" time. Check it out:

Book Week Events

Book Week is this week!

Read the flyers below for more information about the different activities

we’ll be participating in throughout the week.

Publishing Celebration Photos

Take a look at our Publishing Celebration!

Parents worked hard on their "homework" for the day...providing feedback on a nonfiction chapter book checklist. Students loved all the positive comments and praise for a job well done!

A fantastic time was had by all!

Thanks again for making our celebration a huge success!