IMPORTANT DATES:
9/11 Texas Roadhouse Spirit Night, 4pm-8pm
9/15 PTA Fundraiser Due
9/16 Early Release at 12:30
9/16 Vote for SPLOST
9/17-9/19 CogAT testing--Don't be late to school!
9/24 Mellow Mushroom Night, 5pm
9/26 Fall Festival at Dowell
10/3 Fall Festival Raindate (in event of rain on 9/26)
10/9 Publix Math Night
10/10 Pumpkin Patch Fieldtrip
CLASSROOM NEWS:
1) Accelerated Reader (AR) has begun!! We visit the Library on Thursday (9/11) to checkout books. The AR books have colored dots on them. Most students are reading pink dots. Each grading period we will set a goal for the students. The goal is usually set by passing 2 AR books a week. The students attaining the goal will be rewarded with a pizza party and certificate of achievement. Our current goal is to pass 8 AR tests by Oct. 10. AR IS NOT USED AS AN ASSESSMENT FOR THE REPORT CARD. It is a tool used to increase the student's reading and comprehension skills AND to practice the multiple choice testing format. Students must read the book twice. This means they read, or you read to them, or you take turns reading pages.
2) CogAT Testing next week will be for ALL first grade students. This test is given primarily for identifying the Cognitive Abilities of students that would benefit from the gifted class called Target.
3) Our class has NOONE that has joined PTA for this year, except for the teachers. I would like to encourage you to send in your $5 membership donation to join PTA. This does not require you to attend all the PTA events or to sign you up for volunteering. It is a financial gift to support activities at Dowell. Checks can be mad out to Dowell PTA and placed in an envelope marked the same.
4) PTA is having a new Spirit Night this year at the Texas Roadhouse in Hiram. This will take place the second Thursday of each month EXCEPT October. There will be a flyer going home. Students are encouraged to wear their Dowell tshirts. Please let your server know you are from Dowell in order for us to receive 10% of the bill as a donation.
5) You may be noticing math fact worksheets coming home incomplete. These worksheets have a picture of an animal on top, and contain 16 problems. To increase performance on addition facts, we are giving two timed tests each week, on Wednesdays and Fridays. They have two minutes to do as many of the problems they can.
CURRICULUM:
MATH- We have finished learning many strategies for performing addition. These included: using cubes, using a number line, using 2 color sided chips, counting on by putting the largest number in your head and count on the other number. The vocabulary has been: addition, add, plus, equals, sum. We will continue practicing our addition facts, as well as do more work identifying numbers using place value (tens and ones). Examples: 43 is 4 tens and 3 ones, also identifying the pictures of tens(rods) and ones (cubes) to represent the numbers. How can parents help their child? Practice the math facts up to 18 (9+9). If your child is having difficulty, use beans or cereal to have them count each number and add them altogether. If your child does well, start memorizing the facts, no use of manipulatives or fingers. Also, if you notice the timed tests coming home with a lot of empty answers, have your child complete the answers to those problems.
PHONICS-As we review letter sounds we are spending two weeks on each short vowel sound. We have finished the short a sound, as in cat, and we have just begun the short i sound, as in pig. Not only do the students need to identify the sound, they are to spell c-v-c (consonant-vowel-consonant) words. We are practicing these words in word families, such as _ip, _in, _ick, and brainstorming words with those endings. We then write these words in sentences. Students are also reading short xeroxed stories with those sounds. The highlighting on those stories are from us locating words with the sound we are focusing on. Once we move to the next short vowel sound, students are expected to use the vowel sound correctly as they write. How can parents help their child at home? Save and reread the xeroxed stories that come home several times until they can be read perfectly. (Those books do not need to be returned.) Also, as word lists come home, keep practicing those words together. Iwould recommend you reading them together in different ways: make flash cards, have them write the words, then read them to you. Another enrichment activity would be to identify those words in reading books. Finally, have your child write more sentences with those words.
WRITING- We have been working on Ideas for writing. Students have trouble creating their own stories. We have used several graphic organizers to help them. One is the shape of a flower. They list the topic in the middle, and the petals are to support the topic. Ex: topic is lion. Petals are have a mane, roar, run fast, a big cat. Then they take that graphic organizer and write one sentence about each petal to create a story. We have recently introduced a sequencing wheel graphic organizer to assist in putting events in order to create a story. We are focusing also on the conventions of using a capital at the beginning of sentences and periods at the end. No capital letters should be in the middle of the sentence. How can parents help their child at home? Have your child write up to five sentences about a vacation you went on, or about what you did together over the weekend, or plan steps to clean up their bedroom etc. Write, write, write! DOES YOUR CHILD REVERSE LETTERS?? They need to have this corrected by January. Whenever you see papers with letters written incorrectly, have the erase and fix them. We do not always correct these at school, as we may be focusing on a more complex skill for them, and correcting these mistakes make the writing task more frustrating. USE SEQUENCING WORDS such as first, next, then, and finally when writing.
READING COMPREHENSION- The first performance standard is to sequence events of a story in order. We introduced this for two weeks and we will continue throughout the year with this skill. We incorportated the sequencing into their writing. Now we are identifying the literary story elements of characters, setting, problem, solution. We are doing this with fairytales. We began writing fairytales as well using stickers to help them visualized the story they create. What can parents do to help their child at home? After you read a book with your child, ask them to retell the story to you in order, using the first, next, then, last vocabulary. Also, while reading, have them identify the characters in the story, the setting (where the story takes place), what problem is in the story, and how the problem was solved. ALSO, read AR books with your child.
SOCIAL STUDIES- The unit we have been working on is identifying where we live, including the planet Earth, the continent of North America, the Country of United States of America, the state of Georgia, the County of Cobb, the city of Marietta, and the street the school resides or their home address. We are moving on to identifying landforms: mountains, valleys, hills, plains, plateaus, oceans, rivers, lakes. What can parents do to help their child at home? Ask your child simple questions like: What state do we live in? Also, use a map and identify the places your relatives live. As you drive around, identify the various landforms you see (Lake Alatoona, Stone Mountain, Kennesaw Mountain, etc). Compare the sizes of lakes and ponds, rivers and streams. When you watch tv together, point out the landforms or country on the program. Also, point out street signs.
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