Weekly Update 9/28-10/2

This is an exciting week because… ALL of first grade will be at school! I’m very excited for our class to be together! It will be a busy week of getting to know each other, and settling into routines as a whole class. I am really looking forward to it.

 

This week’s announcements…

*Please make sure your child brings their iPad AND charger with them to school on Monday. Please make sure their iPad is FULLY CHARGED.  Now that all first graders will be at school every day, we will store iPads here at school, and I will be responsible for keeping them charged.  So, I will need the chargers back. If we go into the red category again, then children will bring their iPads home with them at that time.

 *Starting today, your child will bring home a weekly calendar in their OWL folder. It will show you what specials they have each day, special events occurring, and information about their behavior.  You DO NOT need to sign it every day, but it is important to check it. 

*Because there are now 26 bodies in our classroom, masks will be especially important to wear. Your kids have done an incredible job with wearing them…not one complaint! I think it’s harder for the adults than the kids...children easily adapt to new things. I appreciate your support in this area. Thank you!.

*You may have heard that there is no school on October 14^th.  That is incorrect. There IS school on October 14^th for elementary school.  Other dates important to note are as follows:

Tuesday, November 3	Election Day/No school
Wednesday, November 4th	Parent-Teacher conferences in the evening.  There IS school on this day.
Thursday, November 5th	Parent-Teacher conference all day/evening.  There is NO SCHOOL on this day.
Friday, November 6th	No school

*Picture Day will be October 12^th and 13^th. Our class has not been assigned a specific day yet. When I know which day we are scheduled, I will let you know.  This is individual Fall picture day, not class pictures.

*Wondering what’s for lunch each day?  Click on the link below for the lunch calendar. SCHOOL LUNCH IS FREE TO EVERYONE THROUGH DECEMBER!!!

Click on link, then click on “printable traditional monthly” pdf

Lunch Calendar

 

Weekly Update 9/21-9/25

 

Hello, everyone!

Our first week is over!  We survived! This week will, once again, be the hybrid schedule. Beginning September 28th, all first graders will begin coming to school EVERY day! Very exciting!

Here are this week's announcements...

IMPORTANT! Please, please, please make sure your child knows how they are getting home every day. We go to specials at the end of the day…that means they will not be with me, so I won’t be able to remind them which way to go. Also, remind them that if they are meeting a sibling, they need to stay in the meeting spot until big brother or sister gets there. Often times the younger kids will panic and run off looking for their big if they aren’t right there waiting for them.

*Don’t forget…handwriting practice notebooks stay at home. I will assign practice pages. These do not have to be turned in to me.  About once a month I do a handwriting assessment, though, so please make sure they are practicing at home.

 

*The water fountains at school are closed this year. Please have your child bring a filled, spill-proof, water bottle to school daily.  If they drink all the water before the day is over, they are welcome to refill it at school.

*If you haven’t already done so, please make sure to buy your child headphones. I have some they can borrow, but last week I was informed by many children that my headphones were quite simply not good enough LOL.  I will admit they aren’t very exciting and fancy like some headphones! Anyway, please get your child some ASAP. These kids crack me up!

 

*Please make sure your child has their O.W.L. folder with them every day when they come to school.  And of course, their iPad and headphones, too!

 

*Wondering what’s for lunch each day?  Click on the link below for the lunch calendar. 

SCHOOL LUNCH IS FREE TO EVERYONE THROUGH DECEMBER!!!

Click on link, then click on “printable traditional monthly” pdf.

Lunch Menu

So, what did we do in class last week and will continue to do in class this week (and the next week or so after that)?  Read on to find out more...

*ASSESSMENTS! It’s been six months since the children have been in school, and it is imperative that I collect information on where they are academically ASAP. We will be doing both Math and Literacy assessments. This will include assessing children on:

            *Alphabetic knowledge

            *Phonics and phonemic awareness

            *Sight words

            *Spelling

            *Reading fluency and comprehension

            *Counting skills to 100

            *Math fact fluency

            *Adding and subtracting numbers

            *Solving story problems

 

*ROUTINES AND PROCEDURES!

      *This has to do with the expectations about how we run our classroom, and what I expect from them, behaviorally speaking.

*OPERATION FIRST GRADE BOOT CAMP!

      During this time we focus on what it means to be a learner, and learn about learner dispositions. We will learn how to think like a learner, how to solve problems we might have at school, and how to use school tools appropriately.  Additionally, we will learn about the rules we need to follow in order to be safe and able to learn while in school.  

It was a whirlwind week, and we are ready to do it again this week! Have a fantastic week, everyone!

 

Weekly Update 9/6/-9/10

Welcome to the first week of school!

What a way to start the school year!  What an adventure for us all!  Mistakes will be made, tears may be shed (by the adults, not the kids 😊) but we will figure this out.

As I mentioned earlier, I will send out a weekly update every Monday. Here are this week’s announcements:

*School starts Tuesday, September 8^th!  We will meet up at 9:05 in our first Teams meeting. Please go to the Seesaw app to see the day’s assignments and link to Teams meetings.

*A couple things to remember about our return to school:

      -It’s been six months since the children were in school.

      -Most of them attended half-day kindergarten.

What does this mean?  It means we will have to ease them into a full academic day, just as we would have done if school had gone on as “normal”.  We will need to build up their stamina. You will see that every second of the day is not filled. Use this time to allow the children to take breaks, rest, exercise, etc. If the schedule I’ve made is too hectic, you don’t need to worry about turning in assignments during the time period I’ve suggested. As long as it gets done, it doesn’t matter that it's not at the exact time. 

*On Teams meetings....I HOPE that there are no issues in our meetings with regard to lag time, freezing, audio, etc. However, that may happen. I am recording all of our live meetings, so if the lagging and freezing become intolerable, just leave the meeting, and have your child watch the recording later on. Let's cross our fingers the lagging and freezing are minimal. And then cross the other fingers that we can get back to school soon!

*Wednesday is late start, per usual. We will start our Wednesday meetings at 9:20. Teams will say it's starting at 9:05, but we won't start until 9:20.

*I sent an email with information about navigating Seesaw. Here is a link to that video if you didn’t get a chance to watch it.

Seesaw Tutorial Video

*Parent homework is due Monday, September 14^th. I’ve already received a few notes. I love reading your letters!

*School supplies are not due to school until your child's first day of in-class learning. Below is the link to our school supply list.

School Supply List

 

That’s it for now! Have a wonderful week!

Welcome to First Grade!

 Hello 1st grade families!

I am so glad you found me here at weareowls.net! Each week, I will post an update about our class right here on this blog.  You can have this weekly update emailed to you by subscribing to the blog. Here are the directions on how to do that:

 1.  Enter your email in the box under the heading "Follow By Email".  It is in the right hand column of the blog. 

2.  After you sign up there, you will be sent an email that will require you to confirm your subscription.  Sometimes it goes to your junk email, so check there if you don't see it in your inbox. Find that email.

3.Once you've found that email, click the link in the body of the email that will confirm your subscription.  Once you've done that, you will automatically be sent all of my blog posts via your email.  I hope you will subscribe!  

 This is my 25^th year of teaching, and it will be a most memorable year, I'm quite certain of that!  We are embarking on a grand adventure together.  It will be filled with challenge,  success, frustration, fun, mistakes, and engagement. I am looking forward to spending this adventure with your children.  We will hold on tight to each other while we ride this rollercoaster!

If you ever need to contact me with questions/concerns, anything at all, you can reach me via email or phone.  I check my email throughout the day. I will not likely answer the phone during learning time, but you can certainly leave a message. 

bissonnette.jennifer@westada.org

Phone:  208-350-4410

Here are a few announcements for this week...

*Thursday, when you come to school for device pick-up, I will have a remote learning handbook for you that will answer many of your questions about distance learning. Once we get in the "yellow" zone, and we begin the hybrid schedule, I will send home more information that is relevant to in-class learning. I don't want to overwhelm you with too much information. So for now, we will focus on remote learning. I am giving you the school supply list (see link below), but PLEASE DO NOT BRING SCHOOL SUPPLIES Thursday night. We will worry about that once we get in the yellow zone.

School Supply List

*There will be a parent homework assignment given to you on Thursday, but you can also click the link below if you want to view it now.  It is due back to me by Monday, September 14th.  You can send it to me via an email attachment!

Parent Homework Assignment