PlEaSe HeLp?

Do you have any Beanie Babies laying around your house collecting dust? Do you know someone who wants to get rid of their Beanie Babies? If so, will you please donate them to our classroom? We need the following Beanie Babies for Reading Fix-It and Comprehension Strategies:

Decoding of Fix-It Strategies Beanies:

Stretchy Snake
Chunky Monkey
Helpful Kangaroo
Lips the Fish
Tryin’ Lion
Skippy the Frog
Eagle Eye

Comprehension Beanies:

Spinner the Spider
Questioning Owl
Rocky Raccoon
Digger the Dog
Iggy the Inferring Iguana
Jabber the Reteller (Parrot)
Fix Up Bear

What do they stand for?

Decoding of Fix-It Strategies Beanies:

Eagle Eye: Readers look at the pictures for clues.

Lips the Fish: Readers get their lips ready and say the first sound in the words. Then they read the word again.

Stretchy Snake: Readers stretch the word and put sounds together.

Chunky Monkey: Readers look for word chunks or parts of the word they know.

Tryin’ Lion: Readers try to reread or even try a new word

Skippy Frog: Readers skip unknown words and read to the end of the sentence. They hop back
and reread it again.

Helpful Kangaroo: Readers ask for help after they try all of the strategies.

Comprehension Strategy Beanie Babies:

Spinner the Spider: Make Connections. Text to Text, Text to Self, Text to World. Activate your background knowledge.

Questioning Owl: Ask questions about the story before, during, and after reading. Who, what, where, when, why.... Ask questions look for answers.

Rocky Raccoon: Visualize as you read!Put pictures in your head as you read. See and think about the story like amovie going on in your head (What dothe characters look like? The actions?)

Digger the Dog: Determine important ideas! Dig for important details. Dig for important information that tells you about the author’s message. Dig and determine the facts.

Iggy the Inferring Iguana: Infer as you read! Make predictions while you read. Draw conclusions as you put information together. Reflect while you read

Jabber the Reteller: Synthesize and Retell! Put the information together and
“think” about what you read. Retell the story or what you learned in your own words.

Fix-Up Bear: Monitor and Fix-Up! ”Think” while you read to figure out when you don’t understand. Use fix-up strategies to understandwhen you are reading (use the meaningclues, word clues, and pictures clues)

Introducing....Mrs. Carlson's First Grade

Letter sent today

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Hello! I have enjoyed getting to know your child the last three days. We have a really awesome class!We have been busy learning already! We have been reading LOTS of books and getting familiar with classroom routines and rules.

Please sign and return your child's planner daily. This is where I write notes and you may write notes to me. I check them every morning. Your child will also bring home and return a “Take Home” folder.

SHOW AND TELL is every Friday. We will have Show and Tell this Friday.

Reading-
We started our new reading program (Daily 5 &CAFE) the first day of school (this is the new reading curriculum K-6 at MNW). We will have three teachers in our classroom from 8:45-10:00 in the morning: Mrs. Waller, Mrs. Toetder, and myself. Students will no longer bring “Guided Reading” books home each night. I do strongly encourage you to read books with your child EVERY night. Try to find books that your child can read with ease and do not become frustrated reading. This makes reading an enjoyable experience.

Math- Your child brought their first “Everyday Mathematics” family letter home tonight. Your child will start to have math home-links almost every night. Please help your child complete these and send them to school with them the following day. The “Everyday Mathematics” program is a very strong program, you will be amazed at what your first grader is learning and understanding. Please keep in mind that the way your child will learn math is MUCH different than the way you learned math. Believe me, the program works! Please keep the “Everyday Mathematics” family letters and the packet that was sent home with you at Open House. These have the answers to the home-links and explain what your child is working on.

Spelling- We will start Word Journeys and Sight Word Spelling next week.

Sight Word Reading- We will start reading and practicing Sight Words next week.

I look forward to the school year! Please contact me anytime with any questions you may have.

Talk to you soon,
Mrs. Carlson

Welcome Back!

Welcome to First Grade! I can't wait to meet you!