Upcoming Dates:
- NO SCHOOL Friday, September 3 – Monday, September 6
- Tuesday, Sept. 7 – MUSIC
- Wednesday, Sept. 8 – PE
- Thursday, Sept. 9 – ART
- Friday, Sept. 10 – STEAM
Celebrations:
First Grade Family Time – Every Friday, all of the first graders at Georgetown get together for a little assembly! At the assembly, we celebrate our learning and birthdays from the week. We also give awards for the quote of the week, lost teeth, and shoe tying.
This week the quote was- “The only way to have a friend is to be a friend.” Raelynn was the student who showed us what this quote means this week.
OUR LEARNING:
Writing- We started to get into our writing routines again this week. We had three prompts that we responded to- When I grow up, I want to be…., If I was a superhero my power would be…, My favorite Holiday is…. We are also reviewing our handwriting skills.
Math- This week we practiced writing numbers 1-10, worked to make partners of 10 with unifix cubes, and practiced skip counting by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s. Skip counting is a great activity to work on at home with your first grader!
Reading- This week we began learning all about Reader’s Workshop. We learned how to be a book buddy and take good care of our books. We can do this by reading with clean hands, turning the pages gently, and putting books back where they belong. Later in the week we learned about our jobs during a mini lesson and all of Reader’s Workshop. By signing our Reader’s Workshop Contract, we promised to read every day!
Word Study- This week, we spent lots of time reviewing letters and sounds! We practiced blending sounds together to make words, and we listened for different sounds we hear in words.
Social-Emotional- We are continuing to review our SOAR rules and the expectations in the different locations like the cafeteria, the hallway, when we arrive, and dismissal.
Notes for Parents:
- [embeddoc url=”https://emilykuiper.edublogs.org/files/2021/08/All-About-Me-Assignment.pdf” download=”all” viewer=”google” ]
- If your child has not completed their All About Me assignment on Google Classroom yet, feel free to use the paper copy that was sent home in his/her blue folder today.
- Please send in one snack for your child each day. It works wonderfully if these snacks are in a spot in their backpack and not in their lunchbox; this saves first graders any confusion about what they should be eating for snacks and lunches! 🙂
- If you would like to see photos of our learning each week, please make an Instagram account and follow our private class page @mrs.kuipers.class.21.22.
- Our first Scholastic Book Clubs order was sent home in blue folders today! To order please visit scholastic.com/bookclubs and enter our class code VVFCP. Orders are due by Friday, September 24th!
- Please email me a family photo at ekuiper2@hpseagles.net if you have not done so yet.
Upcoming Dates:
- Monday, Aug. 30 – Music
- Tuesday, Aug. 31 – PE
- Wednesday, September 1 – Art
- Thursday, September 2 – STEAM
- First Grade Family Time- we will celebrate any lost teeth, highlight students who have had birthdays, and talk about our quote of the week: “The only way to have a friend is to be one.”
- NO SCHOOL Friday, September 3 – Monday, September 6
- Friday, September 3 – All About Me assignment due
- Tuesday, September 7 – Music
WOW! What an amazing first week! These first graders are ROCKSTARS and have worked so hard this week. Check out what we’ve learned so far:
OUR LEARNING:
Morning Routine – We are practicing using our lockers, taking care of our blue folders, and starting our morning on the right foot. Here is a picture of your child’s morning routine here at school.
Soft Start – No one likes to get right to the hardest jobs when we arrive to work in the morning! It’s helpful for our students to ease into the school day, too, by relaxing when they arrive. “Soft Start” is a time when students can chat with their friends, do a calm activity, and prepare for the day in a non-stressful way. We got to practice lots of soft start choices this week: coloring, play-doh, whiteboards, and more.
Classroom Rules – We have four important rules in our first-grade classroom. This week, we have been practicing what each rule looks like and sounds like! Following these expectations helps our classroom be a safer and more loving place where everyone can learn. At HPS we work to SOAR!
Scoreboard – Mrs. Kuiper loves playing games at school! Our class plays the scoreboard game every single day. Students want to earn “Speedy Wolf” points so they can race toward the finish line! But, we earn “Slow Turtle” points when we are not following classroom rules, because it slows down our classroom learning. At the end of the day, if our class earns more “Speedy Wolf” points, we get a STAR! 10 stars = a class reward (we are working towards an extra recess for our first reward).
Notes for Parents:
- [embeddoc url=”https://emilykuiper.edublogs.org/files/2021/08/All-About-Me-Assignment.pdf” download=”all” viewer=”google” ]
- Please send in one snack for your child each day. It works wonderfully if these snacks are in a spot in their backpack and not in their lunchbox; this saves first graders any confusion about what they should be eating for snacks and lunches! 🙂
- If you would like to see photos of our learning each week, please make an Instagram account and follow our private class page @mrs.kuipers.class.21.22.
- Our first Scholastic Book Clubs order was sent home in blue folders today! To order please visit scholastic.com/bookclubs and enter our class code VVFCP. Orders are due by Friday, September 24th!
Normally, I will post on Fridays to let you know of the week ahead. I hope you and your child(ren) were able to relax and enjoy some time outside this weekend. I am excited for our first full day. They are truly amazing to me!
Take care,
Mrs. Kuiper
Welcome to our first-grade class blog! Please subscribe to our class blog by typing your email in the upper right-hand corner box. I will be updating it with important first-grade information throughout the school year. In addition, please make sure to subscribe to the Georgetown School Blog. Mr. Waldie will provide school-wide information on his blog throughout the school year.
Once you have subscribed and browsed through our blog, please take a moment to complete a few housekeeping items:
1. Our in-person open house will take place Wednesday, August 18 from 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm. Please bring all of your school supplies to the open house! I am so excited to meet you all!
2. Please take a few quick minutes to fill out this brief Parent Survey. This survey helps me to get a better picture of your child as a learner and provides me with some necessary contact information for this year. Thank you in advance!
3. One final optional form is this Shared Parent Contact Info Form. The results will be visible to you, allowing you to contact other parents to set up playdates, birthday parties, etc.
4. Email me with a family picture for your child to have hanging up in our classroom! My email address is ekuiper2@hpseagles.net
5. Take a look at our first-grade school supply list and have fun shopping for these items before our first day of school.
6. Follow our class Instagram page by downloading the Instagram application and following @mrs.kuipers.class.21.22
[embeddoc url=”https://emilykuiper.edublogs.org/files/2021/05/First-Grade-Summer-Learning-Google-Docs.pdf” download=”all” viewer=”google” ]
[embeddoc url=”https://emilykuiper.edublogs.org/files/2021/05/Summer-Reading-List.pdf” download=”all” viewer=”google” ]
[embeddoc url=”https://emilykuiper.edublogs.org/files/2021/05/Summer-Math-Review.pdf” download=”all” viewer=”google” ]
Notes for Parents:
- WOW, I cannot believe that your student is officially a SECOND GRADER! I am so proud of every student… they grew as readers, writers, mathematicians, and most importantly as classroom citizens this year. They navigated a global pandemic, something that none of us have experienced before, with positivity and perseverance. Your child will forever hold a special place in my heart, I truly will never forget these amazing kiddos. Not only did these kids shine this year, but you as parents did as well! It is difficult for me to express my gratitude in words, as there are not enough to thank you for all of the work you did at home. You helped your kiddos and showered them with safety and love at home. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all that you did this school year.
- To retain knowledge and skills learned this year, I strongly encourage your child to continue reading 20 minutes each day (Epic! and RazKids will remain available through this summer), writing 2-3 sentences in a journal each day, and working on MobyMax Fact Fluency for 5 minutes each day. I will also be creating a separate blog post with summer learning resources.
- If you have questions about anything regarding school throughout the summer, feel free to email me!
CELEBRATIONS:
We enjoyed field day during specials where we did a three-legged race, a sponge bucket fill, and more fun games.
Last Day of School- We celebrated the last day of school with an awards ceremony, ice cream sandwiches, and a shaving cream party!
OUR LEARNING:
Sports Day- To start off sports day we created our very own realistic fiction story by rolling a dice. We rolled the dice to choose our athlete, setting, and problem. For reading, we did a sports day comprehension story about baseball. In math we worked on partners of 10 by coloring jerseys, and we even played some basketball with cheese puffs. Each cup they made a cheese puff into had a number under it, so they had to add all three numbers together. The partner with the highest score won!
Lemonade Day- As a class we made some pink lemonade together… it was so tasty! We reviewed our “how to” writing skills and wrote about how to make pink lemonade. For reading, we worked on our retell skills about a lemonade story. After trying both lemonade and pink lemonade, we worked on our graphing skills to see which kind was liked best by the class!
Beach Day- We are SO excited for summer, to kick off beach day we created summer bucket lists! We got to spend one last day out on our beach towels enjoying some of our favorite class books. In math, we caught fish and found seashells to work on our comparing skills.
Notes for Parents:
- We will have no baggie books this last week of school. If you have any laying around at home please send them back to school with your child this week!
- On Friday journals were sent home for the last time. Please write one final note to your child and then keep this special book at home!
- We will be having an optional class and family picnic at Hager Park on Tuesday, June 1 at 5:00 pm. We will meet at the pavilion by the wooden playground! Feel free to bring a picnic dinner for your family if you’re interested. Or, your kiddos can just play at the park together and enjoy some popsicles (I’ll provide those!) All are welcome!
CELEBRATIONS:
Graduation – We enjoyed cheering for the Hudsonville High School graduates as they walked around Georgetown Elementary this week!
First Grade Olympics – Unfortunately we were not able to do first grade olympics this week with the cold, rainy, and windy weather on Friday. Instead, we did some fun rotations with all of the first grade teachers! We will NOT be rescheduling.
Quote of the Week – This week our class gave our quote to MRS. TINDALL for always counting her rainbows!
First Grade Family Time – Here are our winners from this week!
OUR LEARNING:
Writing – We spent this week working on a special first grade memory book! I hope that this special keepsake will help your child remember all of the special memories from first grade.
Word Study – We wrapped up our first grade word study review by studying digraphs this week (sh, ch, ph, th, wh).
Reading– We are ending the year with a review of non-fiction books. We are looking at non-fiction text features such as- Table of Contents, Diagrams, Labels, Headings, Titles, Glossary, Index, and Bold Words.
Math- We took our final math test which covered double digit addition with regrouping. This unit was short but important. Please continue to practice with your child at home throughout the summer!
Upcoming Dates:
- Monday, May 31
- Tuesday, June 1
- No specials- field day!
- Sports Day – wear a jersey and tennis shoes!
- 5pm – Family Picnic @ Hager Park
- Wednesday, June 2
- PE
- Lemonade Day – wear pink or yellow!
- Thursday, June 3
- ART
- Beach Day – wear a beach outfit! (No swimsuits please.)
- Friday, June 4
- No specials
- Early release
- Last day of school!
Notes for Parents:
- Please send your child’s towel back to school this week! With the nice weather we are hoping to do some more outdoor learning these last few weeks of school.
- We will be having an optional class and family picnic at Hager Park on Tuesday, June 1 at 5:00 pm. We will meet at the pavilion by the wooden playground! Feel free to bring a picnic dinner for your family if you’re interested. Or, your kiddos can just play at the park together and enjoy some popsicles (I’ll provide those!) All are welcome!
- Below are the teams for First Grade Olympics which will take place on Friday, May 28th! Please have your child wear gym shoes, comfy clothes, and a shirt that represents their team color.
CELEBRATIONS:
Quote of the Week – This week our class gave our quote to MRS. STRAUB for always making the most of each day!
First Grade Family Time – Here are our winners from this week!
OUR LEARNING:
Writing – We are wrapping up our last unit by publishing our series books. We will work on a series book box and illustrate and create cover pages for each of our stories. Please take some time to sit down and listen to your first grader read his or her stories and compliment them on their ideas, handwriting, punctuation, and details.
Word Study – We’ll be spending these last few weeks reviewing some of the most important foundational skills that our first graders need to know in order to be successful second grade readers and writers. This week, we reviewed beginning blends with S (sc, st, sp), L (bl, pl, cl), and R (br, gr, tr, etc.)
Reading– We are ending the year with a review of non-fiction books. We are looking at non-fiction text features such as- Table of Contents, Diagrams, Labels, Headings, Titles, Glossary, Index, and Bold Words.
Math- We took our unit 7 test and began our last unit for the year! Unit 8 is an introduction to double digit addition. We would like our kiddos to have exposure with some of the methods they can use because this will be a big focus in second grade! This week we learned how we can use the making a ten strategy for pictures, and they were also introduced to the new group below and new group above method for vertical problems. Another method we talked about was adding the tens together first then the ones, and then add to find the sum of the tens and ones.
Upcoming Dates:
- Monday, May 24
- Tuesday, May 25
- Wednesday, May 26
- Thursday, May 27
- Friday, May 28
- STEAM
- First Grade Olympics – wear gym shoes, comfy clothes, and team color!
- Monday, May 31
Notes for Parents:
- Please send your child’s towel back to school this week! With the nice weather we are hoping to do some more outdoor learning these last few weeks of school.
CELEBRATIONS:
First Grade Family Time – Here are our winners from this week!
OUR LEARNING:
Writing – Students wrapped up their realistic fiction series for our From Scenes to Series unit of study! This week we focused on using correct punctuation and using illustrations to tell important details. We learned that writers can use illustrations to give clues about the setting, bring characters to life, tell secrets to the reader, and add extra realistic details.
Word Study – We’ll be spending these last few weeks reviewing some of the most important foundational skills that our first graders need to know in order to be successful second grade readers and writers. This week, we practiced sorting long and short vowel sounds. For example, “cut” has a short vowel sound, and “cute” has a long vowel sound.
Reading– This week we wrapped up our Meeting characters and Learning Lessons Unit. We worked on learning lessons from our books and talked about how the lessons we learn in a book can be like a fortune from a fortune cookie. We made comparisons and practiced giving our opinions about the books we have read. We will end the year with a review of non-fiction books.
Math- We continued learning about shapes this week, and the kiddos learned the names of some 3D shapes as well: sphere, cylinder, rectangular prism, cone and cube. We also learned how we can put both 2D shapes and 3D shapes together to create new shapes. Towards the end of the week, we started studying measurement and what the words longest and shortest mean. We practiced putting items in order from shortest to longest and vice versa. On Friday, we learned we can measure things with length units such as paper clips. We took a quiz over both shapes and measurement this week, and we will be taking our unit 7 test next week.
Morning Tubs- This week we tried out a new morning routine. The kids loved playing and learning with our new morning tubs!
Upcoming Dates:
- Monday, May 17
- Tuesday, May 18
- Wednesday, May 19
- Thursday, May 20
- Friday, May 21
- STEAM
- Library books due for the 20-21 school year!
Notes for Parents:
- For our next early release day on May 21st, we will be making ice cream sundaes! Please sign up here if you are interested in donating an item.
CELEBRATIONS:
Quote of the Week – Last week’s quote of the week went to SABRINA for being a great friend and classmate! This week’s quote of the week went to HUNTER for always showing kindness to all!
First Grade Family Time – Here are our winners from this week!
School Lunch Hero Day – To celebrate all of our amazing lunch heroes, we made this special display in the cafeteria.
OUR LEARNING:
Writing – In writing this week we added some new tools to our writing toolboxes! We learned how to “show not tell” by adding tiny realistic details. Later we learned all about repetition and the importance of patterns in writing. Next week we will wrap up our realistic fiction writing unit and students will publish their very own boxed book series!
Word Study – In first grade, one of the best ways for students to learn something new is through play and practice! We practiced proper use of capital letters through lots of different word games this week. Please encourage your child to capitalize proper nouns and the start of each sentence when they’re writing at home!
Reading– This week in reading we learned about main characters and supporting characters too! This was a great tie in to our writing as it has been so fun creating our own characters. We also talked about changing our voices when our character’s feelings change and looked for clues on how to read our stories.
Math- This week we focused on time in our day and the tasks we carry out at specific times. We also learned how to tell and write time in half-hours which you saw on the first quick quiz that came home! The remainder of the week was dedicated to shapes and their attributes. On Friday, we learned about equal shares and how to create equal shares with various shapes.
Upcoming Dates:
- Monday, May 10
- Tuesday, May 11
- Wednesday, May 12
- Thursday, May 13
- Friday, May 14
Notes for Parents:
- For our realistic fiction writing unit, our final project will be creating a series boxed set. We would greatly appreciate the donation of cereal boxes for this project! Please send in any empty cereal boxes with your child this week.
CELEBRATIONS:
First Grade Family Time – Here are our winners from this week!
National School Principal’s Day – To celebrate National School Principal’s Day, our class wrote about what we think Mr. Waldie does all day. We put all of the notes together in a book for Mr. Waldie!
OUR LEARNING:
Writing – For this unit, our final project will be creating a series boxed set. We would greatly appreciate the donation of cereal boxes for this project over the next two weeks! This week students continued working on their realistic fiction series. We learned how to develop dialogue in our stories and “put ‘said’ to bed” by using other words such as yelled, cheered, or mumbled. We focused on how to make our stories realistic. Students were taught to write about real places and ordinary people and things INSTEAD of ninja cats that fly to outer space. 😉
Word Study – We used our word study time to fit in some assessments this week. We made sure to focus on capitalization skills in our writing and looked for our spelling rules in our reading.
Reading– We have started our final reading unit of the year!! This unit is called meeting characters and learning lessons. We are putting together all that we have learned to really dig into books! It is so exciting to see our students really be able to dig into beginning readers and chapter books. We practiced taking a sneak peek, retelling our story, and worked on reminders of how to read and share with a partner.
Math- We completed our unit 6 test this week and started right up with unit 7! This unit covers geometry, measurement, and equal shares. The first few lessons are all about time and learning how to tell and write time in hours. We began by looking at a clock and the different parts that make up a clock. They learned the difference between the hour hand and the minute hand and that when the minute hand is on the 12, it is an o’clock time.
Social-Emotional– This week Little Penguin shared with us about Self-Respect and Self-Esteem. Students thought about what they like about themselves and brainstormed how our class works together to respect each other.
Upcoming Dates:
- Monday, May 3
- Tuesday, May 4
- Wednesday, May 5
- Thursday, May 6
- Friday, May 7
