Denn/Wilson first grade blog

Spelling List for Week of March 8th

2010-03-09T06:52:00.000-08:00

This week we will focus on the -oa and -ow patterns for the long o sound. The challenge list is recommended for students who spelled 10 or more of the words correctly on the pretest Monday. Please decide together what list is best for your child this week.

Spelling List:
boat
road
show
snow
yellow
loaf
coat
soap
blow
pillow
once
wild

Challenge List:
shadow
pillow
swallow
raincoat
roadside
approach
tomorrow
marshmallow
splinter
straight
through
strength

Reading Corner

2010-01-29T12:50:00.000-08:00

For the past few weeks, we have been focusing on the comprehension strategy of making mental images or visualizing. We learned about how all students are artists while we read. We are constantly creating visual artistic representations of what we read in our minds. Our mental images are different because our schema are different.

This gave us a great chance to revisit how we make connections with a text based on our prior knowledge and experiences. We have LOTS of experiences to share!

This month we will shift our focus to the comprehension strategy of inferring starting with how readers are able to determine the meanings of unknown words by using their schema, paying attention to textual and picture clues, rereading and engaging in conversations with others.

Spelling Lists for the week of February 1st

2010-01-29T12:12:00.000-08:00

Spelling List:
ask
asked
plan
planned
help
helped
jog
jogged
call
called
again
soon

Challenge List:
omitted
omitting
occurred
occurring
starred
starring
target
charming
starter
charcoal
sparkle
darkness

Spooky Mummies from our fall party!

2009-11-05T10:24:00.000-08:00

Making Scarecrows with our buddies!

2009-11-05T10:23:00.001-08:00

2009-11-05T10:22:00.000-08:00

We had a great time meeting our third grade buddies!

Conference scheduling

2009-10-27T10:36:00.001-07:00

Thanks for returning your conference request forms. We are scheduling conferences this week and will send the confirmations home with Thursday folders this week. If you have a conflict, please give us a call and we'll reschedule. Thanks!

Spelling Words for Week of October 26th

2009-10-27T10:32:00.000-07:00

We are focusing on the short u sound this week...

Spelling Words:
run
jump
cut
bus
must
nut
sun
rug
up
bump

Word Wall Words:
many
into

Global Market Coming to Sunset Hill

2009-10-27T10:14:00.000-07:00

Sunset Hill Elementary PTSA invites you to our 2nd Annual

GLOBAL MARKET

Saturday, November 7, 2009
10am – 4 pm

Featuring fine, hand-crafted items from:
*Ten Thousand Villages* *Expo Peru* *Paloma Fair Trade Jewelry*
*Sisi-K Clothing* *Salsa Betty* *Earth Mother Designs* *Bead for Life Project benefiting Women of Uganda*
*My Green Closet - Organic Children’s Clothing*
*and much more!*

Great opportunity to Support Sunset Hill students, Fair Trade Artisans (local and worldwide), and to buy beautifully handcrafted items for
gift giving (and a little something for yourself!)

* Sunset Hill Elementary Gymnasium *
* 13005 Sunset Trail; Plymouth * 952-334-6396 *

Spelling List for week of October 5th

2009-10-05T11:17:00.001-07:00

Spelling
Week of Oct. 5-9
Unit 1 Week 4
1. nap
2. naps
3. sit
4. sits
5. win
6. wins
7. fit
8. fits
9. hit
10. hits
11. her
12. too

Peek at the Week September 24th

2009-10-03T14:58:00.000-07:00

Weekly Updates...

Taking home our "just right books" is a new routine so it will take a little while to get in the groove, but please help the kids remember to return their books each morning. They should be bringing their book envelopes home as well as their reading logs and both need to be returned the following day.

Reading

We have started all sorts of new routines this week. We've been devoting a lot of time to self selecting books that are at our own individual reading levels (just right books). This is a difficult skill that will come with time and practice, but is well worth the effort. Our guided reading groups are up and going. We started our weekly spelling routines and we’re checking out our “just right books” every morning. In reading workshop, we have focused on good reading behaviors and the difference between realistic stories and fantasy. We are also working on retelling or summarizing a story using the beginning, middle and end.

Math

The children had their first written assessment of the year for unit 1 this week and did pretty well. Look for those assessments next Thursday in the Thursday folder.

Science

We started our Pebbles, Sand and Silt unit this week. We investigated 3 types of rocks and charted the things that are same and different with rocks.

Health

We are focusing on fire safety. We will be having the Plymouth Fire Department come visit us next Friday for Fire Protection month!

Book Nook Readers
Fri. Sept. 25..Catherine Wolff
Fri. Oct. 2……..Amy Sakayan

Ways to get involved at Sunset Hill

2009-10-03T08:40:00.001-07:00

Thanks to all of you who have been helping out during Book Nook and hallway reading! As the year progresses, we will have several other opportunities to be involved including chaperoning field trips, helping out with classroom parties, or just swinging in when you have a few minutes to lend a hand.

Here are a few other suggested ways you can get involved here at Sunset Hill...

Interested in Kids College?
Call Stacy Shamblott @ 612-281-6489 or stacyandmatthew@comcast.net
Call Heather Bissonnette @ 952-546-1723 or
kiddanceheather@aol.com

Interested in Doing Partners in Art?
Call Catherine Christiansen @ 763-593-9783 or
clchristiansen@comcast.net

Interested in helping in the Media Center?
Call Eugene Kelly @ 763-512-1428 or
eugene_monica_kelly@yahoo

Interested in helping with the Gift Wrap fundraiser?
Call Jodi Glaser @ 763-559-1033 or
mjeglaser@comcast.net

For additional volunteer opportunities, contact
Sonya Johnson
Volunteer Coordinator
sonyajohnson@comcast.net—763-227-3207

THANKS FOR ALL YOU DO!

Looking for your feedback!

2009-10-03T08:38:00.001-07:00

This year we combined our open house and curriculum
night. If you have any input you would like to
give us regarding our September 2nd informational
night, please print out the form in the September 17th
enews folder found on the Sunset Hill website and
drop it off in the office.

Have you gone paperless?

2009-10-03T08:35:00.000-07:00

We are encouraging all of our families to sign up for
our electronic Thursday folders. There is a link titled
“esubscriptions” on both the district and Sunset Hill
website. Adding your email address to that site will
allow us to send you electronic copies of many of the
papers that go home in Thursday folders—including
this newsletter. The downside is that we have no
way of exactly knowing which families have signed
up for this feature. We are working on a way to
gather this information.

Our First Trip to the Nature Center!

2009-10-01T12:22:00.000-07:00

We were able to get our visit in to the nature center before the rain came!

MATH EXPLORATIONS

2009-10-01T12:20:00.000-07:00

We've also had our first math explorations day. Always a favorite!

Getting to know our new classmates

2009-10-01T12:18:00.001-07:00

We interviewed each other about all the fun things we each did over the summer months!

Reading Corner

2009-10-01T09:39:00.000-07:00

We are really getting the hang of using some of these new decoding strategies! Ask your son or daughter to do the motions we've learned for each of these strategies. I especially like their expressions when they do the "Hmmm..does it make sense?" strategy!

Look at the picture for help
Look at the first letter of the word
Finger frame the word
Look for smaller words that you know within the bigger word
Go back and re-read the sentence
Ask yourself, does it make sense?

Welcome to Room 5's Classroom Blog!

2009-10-01T07:27:00.000-07:00

We are off and running! New routines are in place, new friends have been made and we're ready for all the incredible learning that will take place over the next few months!

Liz Denn teaches in the mornings on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as well as full days on Friday. Mari-Lynn Wilson teaches in the afternoons on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as well as full days on Monday. We communicate daily and believe that consistent classroom routines as well as a positive climate are vital to your child's success here at school. We work closely together to provide a smooth and consistent classroom in terms of behavior expectations, teaching styles and curriculum. You can contact either one of us anytime!

In the morning, the students will be busy doing a variety of literacy activities. In reading, we will focus on learning new decoding and comprehension strategies, "reading how we speak" (reading fluently) , finding connections with the text we read and learning to choose a "just right" book. During writing workshop, we will begin to help the students find their own voices through their writing as well as the tools necessary to get their beginning stories down on paper.

In the afternoon, we study math and more! We spend everyday in math routines and reflexes as we use the Everyday Mathematics curriculum. This is a wonderful program that helps the students to start "thinking" mathematically. We spend at least an hour a day in Math. In Social Studies we focus on the four district strands: Citizenship, History, Maps and Globes and Cultural Awareness. Our science curriculum touches on Air and Weather, the Human Body, Magnets and Plants and Seeds.

Please don't hesitate to call if you have any questions or concerns. Feel free to reach us by email or we can be reached by phone at 763-745-5965. Anything shared with one teacher will be communicated with the other so if sending an email, please address it to both of us. Thanks!