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st Grade is Hoppin Fir

Dear First Grade Families, I can not believe how fast February is gong!! I am sending home conference notes today, and looking forward to conferencing with you in a few weeks. To be honest, I will be excited to welcome March. I am ready for spring! We had a wonderful Valentines Day party. The kids were so cute reading each others valentines and then personally thanking each person! I took a few pictures that I am going to add to this newsletter. There was a lot of red and pink in our room that day. I want to thank the parents who planned and carried out a great party. They were: Mrs. Genter, Mrs. Motta, and Mrs. Belcher. It was wonderful seeing so many other parents as well who were able to visit us. Thank you!! We take advantage of every minute we have in our first grade class. Our days are filled with non-fiction writing, math, Daily 5, reading, our special Edward read-a-loud and more. I dont know if the kids have been keeping you updated on Edwards journey, but reading The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane has been the first thing we do each morning. We cant wait to find out what happens next. There is a lot of emotion in this book! We are experiencing it along with the main character, Edward. You may also be hearing about our new behavior chart. It is a Clip Chart and the kids are excited about it. It is a nice way to manage behavior in a way that rewards good behavior (and not just the bad behavior. ) You will hear more about it in another letter and see it at conferences.

February 22, 2013

Word Wall Words:
(6 words each week in February.)
(Red word can not be sounded out.)

Feb. 25-March 1 may, never, cold, myself, today, off Skill

work: review family words and opposites

March 4-8 give, first, much, tell, stop,

Skill work: review family words , st blends, and Bossy r

March 11-15 work, keep, must, try, once

Skill work: -ust family, long vowel e/ee/, long vowel i with y

Contact information:
kdonze@rockfordschools.org
Classroom phone: 863-6363, ext. 4721 Office phone: 863-6362
Blog: kimdonzeclassroom.blogspot.com

Belmonts Best
All the children in our room have celebrated Belmonts Best with Mrs. Thelen this year! A BIG THANK YOU to the
PTO for purchasing the books the children received on their special day!

Special Schedule:
Monday: P.E. Tuesday: ART Wednesday: LIBRARY
Please note that all library books must come back to school by Wed. morning in order for your child to check out another book.

Thursday: P.E./ COMPUTER LAB Friday: MUSIC

Mark your Calendar:

March 1 & 15 March 6 & 7: March 8: March 15:
Popcorn Days (25 cents a bag) Conferences

No school Carnival (We could use more donations

for the silent auction basket. Our theme is Book Lover.) These need to be turned in by March 1.

Math Information

Quarter will be introduced next week. The Fact Triangles that come home as a home link do not have to come back. They are a great way to practice math facts. Dont throw them away. Every child is trying to beat their time and get more math problems done correctly in the timed 2 minutes tests. Subtraction tests are coming soon. We had one today, but it was not timed. We hope to finish up unit 6 next week. Lets hope for NO snow days! The next unit 7, will be on Geometry and Attributes. This is a fun unit!

March 20: March 28:

Favorite Sports Team Day No School

March 29-April 7: Spring Break