It's a NEW YEAR

I hope that you have had a wonderful vacation! I hope that we are now ready to get back to work and do our best to learn all we can. Let's make a resolution to read at least 20 minutes every single day! We would all become even better readers if we did! If we practice, we will get better! Looking forward to seeing you.
Love,
Mrs. Reeder

Thanksgiving week

Just wanted to remind you how much I appreciate the time you spend with our student. Your time one on one with him/her is probably the most valuable work they do. Thanks so much. This week, with only two school days, we will not have spelling words or vocabulary words. So I am sending home the words for the week of November 29th through December 3rd.
I hope you have a wonderful thanksgiving vacation and that you and your children enjoy being together.

Thank you so much for coming and meeting with me. I enjoy your children. They are precious. Thank you for sharing them with me. And thank you for all your help.
Mrs. Reeder

What's coming?

We enjoyed the field trip. A big thanks to all those who went with us. We've written a book about it. I hope to have it put together for each of you at parent/teacher conferences. Your child should have brought home a note with a time for your appointment. Please send it back to let me know if I should schedule another time for you. Thanks again for your help. Please keep reading - 20 minutes every day. If you are reading on Sat. and Sun., please put it in the planner so that I can give your child an extra drawing slip. They get one for 5 days and 2 for 7 days. Thanks so much.
Mrs. Reeder

Zoo Field Trip

Last Monday - the 4th of Oct., we sent home a note about our zoo field trip coming up on the 26th of Oct. I've received several back - thank you. If you didn't see the note, please check last weeks information and look for the orange note. If you cannot come with us, it is especially important to have a phone number where I can reach you if there is an emergency. If you already have an account with our lunchroom, you do not need to send extra money for lunch. If your child doesn't normally eat school lunch, we would request that they do so for the field trip. It is $1.75. They usually make peanut butter and jam sandwiches and have chips and carrot/celery sticks with juice and a cookie. We request this particular lunch so that we don't have to haul the cooler into the zoo and meet in a certain area for lunch. The chaperons can carry the lunches in a back pack and eat with their group when and where it is convenient for them. We are excited for this trip and hope the weather will hold out. visits this week and have another pet coming on Monday. Thank In the fall, the zoo isn't too crowded.
We enjoyed the kitten's and the dogs'visits this week. Thank you, parents, for sharing with us.
Thanks again for your help in letting your child read to you 20 minutes each day. It really makes a difference if they get that practice.
Hope to see you at the zoo and/or parent/teacher conferences in November.
Mrs. Reeder

Our zoo trip is Tues, October 26th. We would love to have parents go with us. But parents may have to furnish their own transportation (you can car pool) and we can't have siblings on the trip. I'm sorry. We will send more information home soon. Please check the weather for that day and have the children dress accordingly.

We are talking about pets next week. If you have a pet that you would like your child to show and tell, please send me a note letting me know when you can bring it. We would need a parent to bring it and to take it home after we've talked about it. The best times would be right after school starts - 8:30 or before lunch - about 11:00 or before school is out - about 3:00. I would like to schedule it somewhat. Even if it took us two weeks to do it. So if you could send a note with your best day and your best time, I would send it back to you. Also, help your child know how you care for their pet and think of things they like to do with the pet. We like our sharing times to be more "Show and Teach" instead of just show and tell.
Thanks,
Mrs. Reeder

Book Orders, thanks and pictures

Just wanted to remind you that if you are interested in the books from the book order, I need them returned by Monday, October 4th. Please make checks payable to Scholastic and put it and the order form in an envelope with your child's name on the outside. Thank you again for all that you do to read with your child. Reading is a skill that takes a lot of practice to be able to do well. Your 20 minutes a night is a very important part of that. Thank you so much for all you do. Next week, if you want, we will share pictures of your child as a toddler. (Our reading theme is growing up.) We will return the pictures the next week.

Sorry I am so late this week. I hope that this helps you. Next week, we will be talking about growing. If you would like, you could send a picture of your child as a toddler. If you put it in an envelope with your child's name on the outside, we will return it after we have tried to guess who each one is. Thank you for listening to your child read. We have had more students return their planner having read 100 minutes or more than any other first grade class since school began this year. Together, we can help your child learn.

Yeah! We're beginning our spelling and vocabulary work this next week. So when you come to our blog now, you can find our spelling and vocabulary words there. Please listen for the sounds so that you can learn more about reading and writing. I am so thankful for the time and care that you give "our" children. I love working with them. Thanks, Mrs. Reeder

We're wild about learning!!

I hope you had a great summer. It's a fine time to be out and about. To see new things and do fun things. How can we take the good things from summer and include them in school? We do a lot of reading and writing in first grade. Can you talk with your parents about things you did in the summer that you might want to write about and put in a journal to read with your friends?

I am looking forward to seeing you all. I hope we work hard together and learn a lot.

Summer Is Almost Here

The weather hasn't shown it well, but we are close to the end of our 1st grade year We've all done a lot of growing! As far as I can see, it has been a positive experience for all of us. This next week is the last week we will do spelling, vocabulary, etc. work. The final week we will clean up, go to the Roy Aquatic Center, present plays to each other, and other fun things.

I just wanted to pass on a tip that might help your child understand when to use the "oy" or "oi" spelling, which we are studying this week. In our list this week the "oy" is always used at the end of the word, and the "oi" is followed by a consonant. Parents, thanks for all your work. Thanks for what you do for us.

And thanks for all your support throughout the year. With last weeks tests I sent home a page from the superintendent about the summer reading program. Please note that this year the Barnes and Noble in Layton will donate a free book--from the list on the back of the page--to any child who reads 10 grade level books or 1000 pages over the summer. You may want to keep that chart handy, so you'll remember t0 write book names and page numbers during the summer.

Hope you have a great summer! Stop by and say "Hi" in the fall.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Reeder

Last Call for Reading Lists

Wow! We are in the final stretch. We know so many of the reading tricks. Now we need to practice, practice, and practice. Then we will become great readers. Thanks Mom and Dad, for taking the time to listen to us practice. We know that it isn't always easy to find the time but it helps us become much better at this new skill we are acquiring.

Remember we have a goal of knowing all the words on the 6 word lists by the end of April. Most of us are already there. But there are 8 of us working on that last list and a few who have a couple other lists to do too. Let's make a big push for finishing that goal before the 29th of April. Our reward--an extra recess with Mrs. Anderson--will be on the 30th of April. It should be great fun. I know we can do it if we try!

Thanks for all you do.
Mrs. Reeder

An update

Dear Parents,
I just wanted to thank you for your donations so we could have our spring party. I also wanted to help you know that even though we are sending home the vocabulary words and spelling words on Monday, because of the short week we will not be testing on them until the following Friday. We just wanted you to have a head start on them.
Thanks again for your help and support. Reading is a skill that takes practice to learn to do well. I appreciate the practice and the positive experiences you have with your child as they learn to read. It can be a bond for you through your lives.
Thanks,
Mrs. Reeder

Thank You!

A big thanks for taking the time to come in and meet with me. I love sharing your child with you. And I really appreciate your input as to how we can best help them grow and learn in first grade. There are so many wonderful doors to open in their world. And reading is one of the most important ones. Please continue to listen to your child read for 20 minutes each day. This will do amazing things for their reading ability.
Thanks so much.
Mrs. Reeder

It's Next Year!

It is 2010 - next year - but we're still here together. We have 5 more months to learn much more! We have some amazing readers in our room! I'm very proud of you. Many of you take 20 minutes everyday - even Saturday and Sunday - to read. Remember the more we read, the better we get. So let's all read our 20 minutes every day.
Love,
Mrs. Reeder