3rd 6-Week Learning GOALS

Every six weeks the students work on goals.  The following are our reading and math goals for the 3rd six-weeks.  I hope they help you focus in on specific areas to work on at home.  A lot of our homework is based on getting the students to acheive these goals.  Thank you for all you do at home, I have sure enjoyed working with this class. 

Reading:
I can read sight words without sounding them out.  (61-90)
I can read 23 words correctly per minute on the IRI passage.  (January)

Math:
I can count backward from 20.
I can write numbers to 75.
I can use pictures, symbols to solve subtraction problems from up to 9.
I can use a picture to solve an addition word problem. 

Let me know if you would like more information on these goals and the state standard objective they are written from. 
Mrs. Burrell

November News

Dear Parents,
     Thank you to all that supported our Book Fair, Grandparents Day, Halloween Party, Red Ribbon Week, the Art program and all the happenings in October.  The week of Thanksgiving we will not have any homework. Enjoy being with family and friends and thnking about all that you are thankful for.  I am thankful for this amazing class and the people in their lives that have taught them so well.   As we begin November I wanted to make you aware of the upcoming events:
Nov. 8th – Family Math Night (6-7:00 pm)
Nov. 13th – McDonalds Night (I will be there from 5:30-6:00)
Nov. 15th – Thanksgiving Feast (please send in 50 cents and the food items assigned)

Nov. 16th - Art Day; Please send or wear appropriate clothing.
Nov. 20th – End of 1st Trimester (2nd 6 weeks)
    6 Week Goals
Reading:
I can read 60 sightwords
I can read 18 wpm
Math:
I can count by tens to 100
I can write to 50
I can use pictures, symbols or objects to solve addition problems
I can subtract up to 9

Nov. 21st - Record Day- NO SCHOOL!

Nov. 23rd & 24th – Thanksgiving - NO SCHOOL   Again, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.  Thanks again for all you do! Mrs. Burrell

Happy Halloween

Thanks to all of you that made our party a success. Here are a few pictures of the FUN.

Math Night

What: Family Math Night
When: Thursday, November 17, 2012
Time: 6:00-7:00
Where: Ellis Elementary

Dinner Time Chit Chat

Dinner Time Chit Chat
 

Here are some more questions to spark conversation with your first grader:

1) Ask them what they know about fire safety.

2) Create an evacuation plan incase of a fire at your home.

3) Ask your child if they know their address and phone number.



Class Party/Art Day

The students have been working so hard to earn a good behavior party. After 6 long weeks they will be receiving it on Friday. We need your help to make it a success.  We would love to have everybody bring in their favorite bag of candy.  We will be sharing and each child will take home a bag of mixed goodies.  We will open some and save some. The extras will be saved to use throughout the rest of the year. We would appreciate the help in making their candy party a success. Thanks!

Art day will be Oct. 19 please send an art shirt or wear appropriate clothing on that day.

Thank you

Thank you for supporting our school carnival.
This week is a short week, however the homework load is the same. Feel free to turn it on on Wednesday if you are done early or Monday if you need more time.
The students have been working so hard, I hope you all enjoy having Thursday and Friday off. 
We have a couple hours to visit with parents on Thursday for parent_teacher communication meetings. I have sent out a few requests and times in the homework folder, please sign and return asap.  If you did not receive one, I hope to be able to schudule a time to meet. More information will be coming.
Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Burrell

Butterflies

The students have asked about the caterpillars they saw in my class last year.  So here is a picture of one butterfly that emerged last spring.  We will be receiving caterpillars this spring as well, so they can look forward to that.

Our classroom

For those that have not been able to come to our class I thought I would post a couple pictures of our class. This year we are focusing on writing. So you will see a picture of a cup. This stands for C.U.P.S capitalization, understanding, punctuation, spacing and spelling. We will be using this for all of our writing, so when you work at home please utilize this. There are also a couple pictures of our schedule and our objectives that are posted daily for students to know what they will be learning.  We will begin the year reviewing our letters with the chicka chicka boom boom tree.  Please work on letter sound fluency at home if your child is still struggling with these, we will do our best but at this point we will be sounding out words and comprehension is affected greatly the longer it takes.  Thanks again for all you do, together I hope to help your child reach their potential.

Dinner Time Chit Chat

DINNER TIME CHIT CHAT

     I will try my best to post some topics or ideas for questions you might like to ask your child when they get home from school.  We all know the most popular question to ask is, "How was your day?" and the most likely response is "good".  Well I hope to change that so you can open a line of communication with your child about their learning at school.   I like to call these dinner time chit chat, (but they can be utilized whenever there is time)

1) What is the red zone

2) Ask them the rules of our classroom (they might even show you the actions with them)

3) What is our school motto (I am responsible and always learning)

4) What happens if they leave their nametag on their desk?
5) Why should we tell the truth?
6) What does it mean to stop others from learning?

ABC's of First Grade

Back-To-School-Night

Back-To-School Night will be Wednesday, September 7th.

Families with children in grades 1-2 will meet in the gym for upcoming events and PTA information from 5:30-5:45. They will then be able to visit their child's classroom from 5:45 to 6:15 or 6:15 to 6:45.

Families with children in grades 3-5 will hold their PTA information meeting in they gym from 5:50-6:10 in the gym. Classroom visits will be from 6:15 to 6:45 and again from 6:45 to 7:15.

Parents will only need to attend one of the sessions in the gym as the same information will be covered in both sessions.

Welcome Back To School

Welcome to First Grade!
I hope you were able to get my postcard in the mail.  I really am excited to meet all of my new students.   I hope that we will be able to build strong relationships with each other, with our classroom family and our school family.  You are now an Ellis Falcon and we believe in our motto and hope you will too, "I am responsible and always learning."  This applies to the teachers as well as each student.  As a teacher I look forward to the many learning opportunities I gain from teaching first graders and the insight I can get from the parents. I look forward to meeting and hearing from all parents.  This year there will be a few different ways to communicate with me.  The best way to contact me will be through e-mail.  My address is burrelma@sd25.us.  You are always welcome to call at the school 237-4742, just know I can only talk before and after school usually.  Notes sent in the homework folders or with a student are great too, but again this way they might get dropped or lost to and from school. You are also welcome to post a comment on this blog.  I am always looking for suggestions and ways to improve my teaching, so feel free to leave feedback. 

Most information for Ellis will be sent and posted from Infinite Campus.  Please make sure you utilize this amazing resource that will hold ALL important dates, events, and REPORT CARDS.   If you need help accessing this contact our office staff.  I will be posting on this Blog at least once a month.  I will try and give an overview of the units and themes we are learning about that month.  Please watch for more detailed information weekly in our Classroom Newsletter.  Our Classsroom blog will be a great tool for educational information. I have web addresses posted that I encourage each student to go to and play the fun educational games at home.  I also plan on posting great apps found on Ipads to utilize on the go.  The blog will also have links to the weekly spelling words.

Students start school on Wednesday, August 28.  Please make sure to send supplies with your child to school on the first day, and let them know how they will be getting home.  We will have transportation forms to fill out that morning to make sure we get each child home safe, so be sure to stop by the classroom.  If you are not able to stop by just make sure your child has a note about how they are getting home.  If you would like an older child to pick up your first grader they need to meet outside.  Thanks for being patient these first few days.  More information will be coming soon.  Our Back-To-School Night is September 5th.  I hope to see you there! 

Mrs. Burrell

Happy New Year

I can't believe January is here and already half over. We will take the IRI January 17th and parent teacher conferences will be January 26th. WATCH FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT PTC. Just a reminder about star student week. If your child has a summer birthday please feel free to celebrate it the Friday of their star student week. Keep up the hard work. Now is the time to push to make sure we get each student at their potential by the years end. Thanks again, let me know if you have questions.