Mrs. Eichberger’s

First Grade Newsletter

September 30, 2004

Language

Our field trips nourished our minds for wonderful and meaningful writing activities.   Our writings have been preserved in a keepsake book.  You are welcome to look at them anytime you are in our classroom.   You may also check out the great pictures at http://www.onekama.k12.mi.us/e2005/g1e/

I have started to listen to your children read in small groups and individually.  Once I have listened to all the children read, I will assess them place them in their literacy groups. 

Finished Work

Today we read the Autumn Story from the Brambly Hedge series.  The story is of Primrose the mouse who gets lost while gathering food for winter.  The children wrote about their favorite part.  Your child did their work with full support, partial support, or independently.  I ask that each child try and sound out their words.  Full support means that the child dictated their sentence and I or an aide wrote it out for them.  Partial support means that they were given assistance with sounding out the words, and reminded of sentence structure.  Our goal is to have each child write independently or with partial support by the end of the year. 

We discussed the elements of the calendar, and made a calendar for the month of October. We have also been practicing forming our numbers, recording tallies, and solving number stories.  Example….. Mr. Hughes caught 10 fish.  He put 2 back in the water. How many did he have left?  Also Mr. K had 3 apples.  Miss Schultz had 5 apples.  How many apples did they have all together?  The children draw symbols for each subject and calculate the answer in their heads.  This is a great activity you can do at home!  Example… There were 12 eggs in this carton. I used 2 to make a cake.  How many are left? 

Fire Department

We will be walking to the Onekama Township Fire Department next Wednesday, Oct. 6.

Snacks

As mentioned in our first newsletter, we have a classroom snack cupboard, just in case someone forgets a snack.  If you’d like to donate saltine or graham crackers, apples, or granola bars, please send some in with your child. I appreciate the healthy snacks that you have packed for your children — fruit, crackers with peanut butter or cheese, 100% fruit juice. Please do not send cookies or candy bars.