Week 5 Highlights

Notes for Parents:

  • Please be sure to send back your child’s baggie books every day so your child can swap out his/her book! 
  • We began sight words on Friday! Your child brought home their first set of sight words. These can be incorporated into the 20 minutes of reading each night. Read the sight word parent letter to learn about fun ways for your child to practice these words.
  • All Walkathon forms are due by Monday, September 30. This is our only fundraiser fo the year!   
  • Interested in volunteering in our classroom? We would love your help as a morning baggie book volunteer or an afternoon sight word volunteer! Follow this link to see available slots and to sign-up. Feel free to bring in younger siblings. Mrs. Kuiper has toys that siblings can play with while parents are reading with students.
  • The deadline to register for the Hudsonville Turkey Trot is October 9! Click here  to register! Mrs. Kuiper will be there to cheer you on.

CELEBRATIONS:

 

Quote of the Week – This week’s quote went to LILA for always trying her best.

Lost Tooth Club – Bryson, Jacob, and Kinsman got an award for joining the lost tooth club!

Shoe Tying Club – Olivia, Evelynne, and Kashen got an award for joining the shoe tying club!

  

Walkathon – Our class had so much fun walking around the track and playing games at the walkathon!

OUR LEARNING:

Reading– We are learning strategies for reading tricky words! Students can look at pictures, break the word into chunks, or look for other words inside of the tricky word. 

Writing – We learned how to bring our stories to life! We can make characters move, talk, think, and feel in our stories. 

Math – We took our first unit assessment this week and our first graders did an AMAZING job! I was so impressed. We began Unit 2 by exploring different addition strategies.  

Word Study – Our special word study buddy, Rasheed, helped us learn about blends and digraphs this week! We looked for blends (two letters that go smoothly together, like “br”) and digraphs (two letters that make one sound, like “sh”) in our names and in some snap words! 

Upcoming Dates:

  • Monday, September 30
    • MUSIC
    • Star of the Day: RJ
  • Tuesday, October 1
    • PE
    • Star of the Day: Dominic
  • Wednesday, October 2
    • ART
    • Library
    • Star of the Day: Kashen
    • Celebrate Miyah’s birthday
  • Thursday, October 3
    • STEAM
    • Star of the Day: Carter
  • Friday, October 4
    • MUSIC
    • Star of the Day: Miyah
  • Monday, October 7
    • Culver’s Night

Week 4 Highlights

Notes for Parents:

  • Your child began Baggie Books this week! Please read the enclosed books each night and return the bag to school EVERY day so your first grader can swap out his/her book. 
  • The Walkathon is this Friday, September 27. This is our ONLY fundraiser of the year, and it is HUGE for our PTC! Please return these fundraisers in your child’s blue folder before this Friday. If you would like to walk with your child at the walkathon, our class’ time slot is from 9:45-10:30 am.   
  • Interested in volunteering in our classroom this semester? We would love your help! Follow this link to see available slots and to sign-up. 
  • Picture Day is this Thursday, September 26. Please return your picture day order form by Thursday morning. 
  • The deadline to register for the Hudsonville Turkey Trot is October 9! Click here  to register!

Celebrations:

Quote of the Week –  This week’s quote went to ELISE for her excellent listening skills! 

Lost Tooth Club– Allison got an award for joining the lost tooth club!

Our Learning:

Reading– We continued learning about reading habits by agreeing to “drop bad reading habits” and “pick up good habits.” Students spent lots of time reading in partnerships this week, too. On Friday, our 4th grade buddies came down to read to our 1st graders!

 

Writing – We learned how to “unfreeze” the characters in our stories by making them talk or move through pictures or words. We are continuing to add details to our small moment stories.  

Math – We wrapped up unit 1 by reviewing partners of 10. We will be taking our unit 1 assessment this week! 

Word Study – Our special word study buddy, Rasheed, helped us learn about a few phonics skills this week, especially short vowels and consonants in our names.  

Upcoming Dates & Spirit Week:

  • Monday, September 23
    • STEAM
    • PJ Day
    • Star of the Day: Emma
  • Tuesday, September 24
    • MUSIC
    • Crazy Socks Day
    • Star of the Day: Colton
  • Wednesday, September 25
    • Library
    • PE
    • Crazy Hair Day
    • Star of the Day: Bryson
  • Thursday, September 26
    • ART
    • Picture Day 
    • Star of the Day: Elise
  • Friday, September 27
    • STEAM
    • Walkathon
    • Hudsonville Spirit Day! Wear blue & gold
    • Star of the Day: Charles

 

Week 3 Highlights

Notes for Parents:

  • Walkathon paperwork came home with your child on Monday. This is our ONLY fundraiser of the year, and it is HUGE for our PTC! Please return these fundraisers in your child’s blue folder before the Walkathon on September 27.  
  • Interested in volunteering in our classroom this semester? We would love your help! Follow this link to see available slots and to sign-up. You must complete the background check form before coming in!
  • If your child participates in a fall sport, please email me their schedule! I LOVE supporting our first graders outside of school, too. ❤️
  • Remember to return library books every WEDNESDAY!

CELEBRATIONS

Quote of the Week – Each week, our class learns about a new quote and spends the whole week trying to embody that quote. At the end of the week, Mrs. Kuiper awards a friend from our class who really shined with that quote’s energy from throughout the week. This week’s quote went to JACOB for always being up for a challenge! 

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, give awards for the quote of the week, along with awards for lost teeth, shoe-tying, & birthdays from the week. Here are our “award-winning” first graders from today’s family time. 

10 Star Reward – We did it! Our amazing class of first graders earned 10 stars! We celebrated by playing on the 4th and 5th grade playground! ❤️

OUR LEARNING:

Reading– We are “building good reading habits” in first grade! This week, we learned the importance of setting goals, reading smoothly, and scooping up words. We each got our own special reading spots around the room and we got “peanut butter, jelly, & marshmallow fluff” reading buddies.  

Writing – We continued our small moment storytelling this week by writing our OWN stories! Students learned different strategies for spelling tricky words.

Math – We are becoming experts at number partners! For example, the partners of 6 are 1+5, 2+4, 3+3, etc. We have been using our workbooks to practice writing these partner equations for 6, 7, and 8. Plus, we’ve started using computers for tech time. We use the MOBYMAX app to practice our addition and subtraction fluency every day! 

Social & Emotional – We continued learning about our emotions this week and had lots of good conversations about the importance of recognizing our emotions – good or bad. We also learned about facial expressions and how those can be clues as to how a person is feeling. 

STAR Assessments – WHEW! We did it! Our first graders are required to take an online reading and math assessment at the start of the school year. Our fourth grade buddies from Mrs. Estefan’s class came down to our classroom to help us log onto the computers for the first time, and they helped us if we needed directions repeated during the assessments. We are ALL done and super grateful for our amazing fourth grade buddies! 

Word Study – We started our phonics workshop this week by studying the most important words in the world: NAMES! We met our class mascot, Rasheed the lion, and began studying his name!

Upcoming Dates:

  • Monday, September 16
    • STEAM
    • Star of the Day: Jacob
  • Tuesday, September 17
    • MUSIC
    • Star of the Day: Aaron
  • Wednesday, September 18
    • P.E.
    • Star of the Day: Kinsman
  • Thursday, September 19
    • ART
    • Star of the Day: Will
    • Mrs. Kuiper will be gone in the morning for a training! 
  • Friday, September 20
    • STEAM
    • Star of the Day: Allison
    • Early Release @ 12:15 pm

 

Week 2 Highlights

Notes for Parents:

  • Information about classroom birthdays came home in your child’s blue folder on Tuesday. This document is also linked here on our blog.
  • Please practice shoe-tying with your first grader! This is a BIG BIG help for us as we have lots of little shoes to tie each day. 

CELEBRATIONS

Star of the Day – We had three star students in our classroom this week. Each student shared an “All About Me” page and was the line leader! Information on Star of the Day came home in your child’s blue folder on Tuesday. The “All About Me” page will come home in blue folders the Friday before your child is our Star of the Day.

Quote of the Week – Each week, our class learns about a new quote and spends the whole week trying to embody that quote. At the end of the week, Mrs. Kuiper awards a friend from our class who really shined with that quote’s energy from throughout the week. This week’s quote went to EMMA for being a kind friend! 

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, give awards for the quote of the week, and celebrate birthdays from the week. Here are our “Quote” & “Birthday” first graders from today’s family time. 

OUR LEARNING:

Reading We started reader’s workshop this week by learning about how we will spend our reading time each week. We also learned how to take a “sneak peek” at a book before we start reading. Plus, we practiced book shopping from our classroom library!

 

Writing We began our “Small Moments” writing unit this week! To begin, we learned about the difference between a watermelon story & a seed story. Then, we wrote a small moment story together about open house! 

 

Math This week’s math lessons focused on simple addition and subtraction from 0-10. We used our math workbooks for the first time, and we wrote lots of partner equations. 

 

Social & Emotional We met Mr. Penguin, a stuffed penguin who will help us talk about our emotions throughout this school year! We brainstormed lots of different emotions and made our own chart to show different feelings. We ended the week by making a penguin craft!  

 

SOAR All of Hudsonville Public Schools are focused on SOARing this year! Be Safe, Own It, Act Responsibly, & Be Respectful. We added some new SOAR posters to our classroom and talked about how we will SOAR in the classroom, on the bus, on the playground, and more. 

Upcoming Dates:

  • Monday, September 9
    • ART
    • Star of the Day: Lila
    • Birthday Celebration: Lila
  • Tuesday, September 10
    • STEAM
    • Star of the Day: Emmett
  • Wednesday, September 11
    • MUSIC
    • Library
    • Star of the Day: Alesha
  • Thursday, September 12
    • PE
    • Star of the Day: Kennedy
  • Friday, September 13
    • ART
    • Star of the Day: Evelynne

 

Our First Week of School!

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, making our lunch choices, 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, book boxes, blocks, putty, and more.

Reading – We learned how to be a “book buddy” this week! Our classroom library is full of books, and we practiced treating these books appropriately. We have some stellar readers in our classroom! In addition, each student got the chance to pick out a “beanie buddy” to read to. Here are pictures of our beanie buddies!

Bathroom Buddies – Since first grade classrooms do not have a bathroom inside the room, we are learning all about how to use the restroom quickly and appropriately. 

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. Our classroom rules are follow directions quickly, raise your hand to speak, make smart choices, and be kind. Ask your child if he or she can show you the hand motions to go with each rule!

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. 

Notes for Parents:

  • Please send in two snacks 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! 🙂 
  • Information about classroom birthdays will be sent home with your child on Tuesday. This document is also linked here on our blog.
  • Please practice shoe-tying with your first grader! This is a BIG BIG help for us as we have lots of little shoes to tie each day. 

Upcoming Dates:

  • Tuesday, September 3 – ART
  • Wednesday, September 4 – STEAM, Library
  • Thursday, September 5 – MUSIC
  • Friday, September 6 – P.E.

Here are some more pictures from our FIRST week of FIRST grade!

First Day of School!

Our first day of school is this Monday, August 26! We can’t wait! 

First, thank you so much for taking the time to come to open house and check out our classroom! I know you were given a lot of information in your child’s blue folder and the yellow envelope that came home with you.  The yellow envelope contains many school forms that need your attention. Please read through these forms, complete them, and return them with your child THIS WEEK. Thank you to those who donated extra supply items, too. ❤️First grade is definitely a busy place, and it is amazing to have these supplies on hand to begin our year!!  

Here are a few reminders for things to bring on Monday: 

  • Send your child’s “ME Bag” with 2 items in it to help us get to know a little something about them.  Be sure to write their name on the bag.
  • Send a note for end of the day plans IF they are different than what you stated on your parent survey or in the confirmation page you checked at open house.  
  • Gym shoes and an extra set of clothes (if you haven’t brought them in yet).
  • A lunch from home OR make sure your child knows what hot lunch choice they will be having.  There are 2 hot lunch choices each day (blue or white). Here is the link to the August/September menu for lunch options.  If needed, check out the Hudsonville Food Service website for payment information and information about setting up a hot lunch account. 
  • 2 healthy snacks for your first grader.  We will have a morning snack time and an afternoon snack time every day.  
  • Any completed paperwork that you have from the Open House packets. Please put this in your child’s blue folder.  I will be sure to deliver the papers to the correct places! 

Upcoming Dates: 

  • Monday, August 26 – ME Bags, Art

  • Tuesday, August 27 – STEAM
  • Wednesday, August 28 – Music
  • Thursday, August 29 – PE (Make sure your child has gym shoes at school by this day!)
  • Friday, August 30 – NO SCHOOL
  • Monday, September 2 – NO SCHOOL
  • Tuesday, September 3 – Art
  • Wednesday, September 4 – STEAM
  • Thursday, September 5 – Music
  • Friday, September 6 – PE

As always, be sure to email me if you have ANY questions. Thanks again for sharing your amazing child with me this year!!

See you soon,

Mrs. Kuiper

Open House!

Open House is just one week away! I cannot wait to meet you and your children on Wednesday, August 21st from 6:30-7:30pm. 

If you’ve already purchased or collected the following items, please bring them with you to Open House! This will save us lots of time on the first day of school, and will make your first grader’s backpack much lighter. 🙂 

Things You Can Bring to Open House

  • Gym Shoes

  • School Supplies (refer to this school supplies blog post)

  • Wish List Items

  • Headphones 

  • Change of Clothes in a Ziplock Bag (These will stay in our lockers just in case we need them.)

Additionally, please be sure to complete our parent survey at your earliest convenience. As always, if you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me at ekuiper2@hpseagles.net.

Counting down the days until I get to see your wonderful first grader!

First Playdate!

WOW! We had an AMAZING turnout for our first playground playdate this evening. It was so nice to get to meet you and your first graders, and it makes us even more excited for this upcoming school year! Here are some pictures from our playdate:

 

We have 2 more playdates left this summer, and we’d love to see you there! Here’s the information regarding these dates: 

WHERE: Georgetown Elementary Playground (in the front of the building)

WHAT: Meet your first grade teacher & play with other first grade friends who may be in your class!

WHEN: Tuesday, August 6 @ 10-11 am

             Monday, August 12 @ 2-3 pm (*new date*)

Hope to see you soon! Please email me at ekuiper2@hpseagles.net if you have any questions.

Playground Playdates!

Starting each new school year is such an exciting adventure! Sometimes it can also feel a little scary, especially with a new teacher. I would LOVE to meet you before school starts to ease any worries and start our year off on the right foot! Come meet the first grade teachers and spend time playing with friends (both old & new) before school officially begins.

WHERE: Georgetown Elementary Playground (in the front of the building)

WHAT: Meet your first grade teacher & play with other first grade friends who may be in your class!

WHEN: Monday, July 29 @ 6-7 pm

             Tuesday, August 6 @ 10-11 am

             Monday, August 12 @ 2-3 pm (*new date*)

I can’t wait to meet see you soon!  Please email me with any questions at my new e-mail ekuiper2@hpseagles.net.

School Supply List

I hope you are all having a FANTASTIC summer! I can’t believe it’s already July!  If you’re out and about hitting the summer school supply sales, please check out the following school supply list for first grade: 

[embeddoc url=”https://emilykuiper.edublogs.org/files/2019/06/First-Grade-School-Supply-List.pdf” download=”all” viewer=”google” ]

Please e-mail me at ekuiper2@hpseagles.net with any questions. See you next month!

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