Families,

We have kicked off the month of October and are starting 2 new units next week! Take a peek at what’s ahead:

Important Dates/Reminders:

• Thank you to everyone who donated for our Walk-a-Thon! We surpassed our goal and are excited to use these funds to support our learning here at Alward!
• Change Wars have officially started! If students have any spare change they would like to donate, they can bring it in! The money will go to All for Books to help children access books BUT the class that raises the most gets to keep their total to purchase classroom books!
• Scholastic Book Orders are due by 4:00p.m. on Wednesday, October 16th. Please place any orders online using the class code NNX2P. Thanks!
• Our next Early Release Day is Friday, October 18th. School will be dismissed at 12:15.
• Alward’s Annual Literacy Night will take place on Wednesday, October 23rd from 6:00 – 7:30p.m. We hope to see you there!
• A reminder our 2nd grade social studies day will be Friday, October 25th. Since we only have a few of these days this year, please try your best to have your child at school on this day!
• Our Halloween party will be Thursday, October 31st from 1:15-2:00. We have some wonderful parents planning a festive party for us and hope to see you there! More information to come and you MUST have a background check completed in order to attend!

Reading: We are starting unit 2 where we will dive into nonfiction texts. We will learn how nonfiction readers notice, learn, and question, and ask themselves, “what is this book teaching me?”

Writing: We will start unit 2 in writing where we will focus on writing nonfiction stories. We will learn how to inform a reader about a topic using facts and details.

Phonics: We will look at look at rhyming words (noticing when spellings don’t match, using rhyme patterns to read smoothly, and writing our own rhyming books).

Math: We will continue to learn strategies to help us solve story problems.

Have a great weekend!

Miss Reisdorff

Families,

We are underway in our learning and are starting to make some cool connections between our phonics, reading, and writing lessons! We also are looking forward to a spirit week. Take a look at what is ahead in 2nd grade:

Important Dates/Reminders:

• Spirit Week: Monday (comfy clothes), Tuesday (Hawaiian clothes), Wednesday (neon day), Thursday (destination shirts), Friday (eagle gear)
• Keep sharing the link for our class for Walk-a-Thon! As of right now we have less than half of our class registered (to register your child click the link here: https://www.getmovinfundhub.com/register?school_uuid=5d2e05bfcd92b). All of the money raised will go to support students at Alward and the class that raises the most will get $100 towards their classroom! Walk-a-Thon is scheduled for September 27th.
• Scholastic book orders are due today by 4:00pm! If you are interested in purchasing books, please place your order online using the class code NNX2P.
• Our library day is Monday, so please make sure your child brings their books back by Monday morning so they can check out new ones!

Reading: We will continue to look at how to solve tricky words, self-monitor during reading, and how to notice the details our authors use.

Writing: We will look at authors and try different craft moves we see in their stores (how to write in powerful ways and word choice).

Math: We will look at different types of story problems and how we can solve them!

Phonics: We will learn about “troublemaker words,” punctuation, and capitalization.

Have a great weekend!

Miss Reisdorff

Families,

Our blog is up and running again! Check here each Friday for updates on our up coming week! I will always post important dates and reminders as well as what we will be accomplishing academically.

Important Dates/Reminders:

• Last week a green paper came home with a list of our 2nd grade Social Studies dates. Please mark these on your calendar and try to avoid scheduling conflicts on these few Fridays. Thanks!
• Scholastic book orders are due Friday, September 20th. If you choose to order books, please do so ONLINE using the class code NNX2P.
• We are getting ready for our school Walk-a-Thon on Friday, September 27th! Please register your child using the link below! The money goes to funds at Alward and the class that raises the most gets $100 to spend on their classroom (our class is currently in ___ place)! https://www.getmovinfundhub.com/register?school_uuid=5d2e05bfcd92b

Reading: We will look at reading strategies to help us when words get tricky! We will check the picture and think “what would make sense?,” we will use what’s happening in the story, and we will look through the whole word, part by part.

Phonics: We will continue to look at long vowels and silent e, vowel teams, and “exception words.” We will also learn more snap words and look at r-controlled vowels.

Writing: We will continue to work on our narrative writing and look at how to add a good beginning, end, and details.

Math: We will learn how to add 3 or 4 numbers together and strategies to solve word problems.

Have a great weekend!

Miss Reisdorff

Families,

I am so excited to be moving up to 2nd grade! Check out our class supply list below:

• 1 box of tissues
• Pencil box/pouch
• Colored pencils
• Markers
• Scissors
• 2 glue sticks
• 1 yellow highlighter
• 3 folders (green, blue, yellow) *with 3 prongs in the middle
• 3 wide ruled notebooks (green, blue, yellow)
• Earbuds/headphones

I will provide crayons, pencils, and erasers!

Here are some wishlist items for our classroom (and check out our Amazon wishlist):

• Post-it sticky notes
• Hand sanitizer
• Clorox wipes
• Dry erase markers
• Felt

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3RXDD6Y0JHLDJ?ref_=wl_share

Thank you and I look forward to teaching your child for our 2019-2020 school year!

Miss Reisdorff

Families,

The countdown to our field trip to John Ball Zoo continues and we are getting close! I can’t believe that our Memorial Day Program is already next week. Take a look at our long list of important dates/reminders as we finish up the school year!

Important Dates/Reminders:

• We are still working on learning our addresses. Students will need to be able to say this verbally by the end of the year. Please practice your address with your child at home (house number, street name, city, state, and zip code).
• Our last day to switch out baggie books will be Tuesday, May 21st and they will all be due by Thursday, May 23rd. If your child does not return their baggie book by this date or it is lost, please send in $3 to cover the cost of a new book. Thanks!
• Our book fair “look day” will be on Tuesday, May 21st and our “buy day” will be on Thursday, May 23rd.
• Alward’s End of the Year Celebration will be on Monday, May 20th from 5:00-7:00pm. This is a fun time for us to get together and celebrate all of our hard work and learning during the school year! There will be food/drinks/snacks to purchase and I will be in the dunk tank from 5:15-5:30
• Alward’s Memorial Day Program will be on Friday, May 24th. Check out the Alward Action for more details and come join us as we sing, run, and celebrate our brave veterans!
• There will be no school on Monday, May 27th due to Memorial Day.
• Our Field Trip to John Ball Zoo will be on Wednesday, May 29th. If you were not chosen as a chaperone but still wish to join us, you are welcome to meet us at the zoo (you will be responsible for paying your admission). Please make sure your child has a packed lunch for that day!
• Our last day of school will be an early release day on Friday, June 7th! Summer begins at 12:15!

Reading: We will review strategies for figuring out tricky words and retelling the story.

Writing: We will begin our final writing unit of the year: information writing. Students will be writing about an animal they know a lot about and create their own non-fiction text.

Math: We will continue to explore strategies to help us solve 2-digit addition equations.

Have a great weekend,

Miss Reisdorff

Families,

Another week down, another week closer to the end of the year! The end of our week was very exciting as we watched our butterflies emerged from their chrysalises! We had fun keeping watch on our butterflies: Muscles, Billy Crawler, Bolt, Kimmy, and Lightning. Take a look at what is ahead in 1st grade:

Important Dates/Reminders:

• We are still working on learning our addresses. Students will need to be able to say this verbally by the end of the year. Please practice your address with your child at home (house number, street name, city, state, and zip code).
• Alward’s End of the Year Celebration will be on Monday, May 20th from 5:00-7:00pm (more details to come).
• Our book fair “look day” will be on Tuesday, May 21st and our “buy day” will be on Thursday, May 23rd.
• Our last day to switch out baggie books will be Tuesday, May 21st and they will all be due by Thursday, May 23rd. If your child does not return their baggie book by this date or it is lost, please send in $3 to cover the cost of a new book. Thanks!
• Alward’s Memorial Day Program will be on Friday, May 24th (more details to come).
• There will be no school on Monday, May 27th due to Memorial Day.
• Our field trip will be on Wednesday, May 29th at John Ball Zoo. If you are not a chaperone, you are still welcome to attend (you will have to meet us there and pay the admission fee).

Reading: We will work on making text to text and text to self connections with our topic bags.

Writing: We will fix and fancy our writing and celebrate with a writer’s celebration and do our final small moment story cold write for the year.

Math: We will finish up unit 7 and take our test on Tuesday. We will begin unit 8 which will cover strategies for adding 2-digit numbers (ex: 57 + 35).

Word Study: We will look at the “ck” and “ke” ending and the “ch” and “tch” ending.

Have a great weekend…and Happy Mother’s Day to all of our amazing 1st grade moms!

Miss Reisdorff

Families,

We are officially in our last full month of the school year! This month will have lots of exciting and fun events as we begin to wrap up the end of the 2018-2019 year.

Important Dates/Reminders:

• Our next Early Release Day will be on Friday, May 10th. Dismissal will be at 12:15.
• Alward’s End of the Year Celebration will be on Monday, May 20th from 5:00-7:00pm (more details to come).
• Our book fair “look day” will be on Tuesday, May 21st and our “buy day” will be on Thursday, May 23rd.
• Our last day to switch out baggie books will be Tuesday, May 21st and they will all be due by Thursday, May 23rd. If your child does not return their baggie book by this date or it is lost, please send in $3 to cover the cost of a new book. Thanks!
• The Alward Memorial Day Program will be Friday, May 24th (more details to come).
• There will be no school on Monday, May 27th due to Memorial Day.
• Our field trip to John Ball Zoo is on Wednesday, May 29th. I will be picking chaperones early next week so stay tuned! Remember, I can only choose 5 so if your name is not chosen you are still welcome to join us at the zoo but will need to pay the adult fee. We hope to see you there!

Reading: We will look at punctuation and how that changes our voice/expression when we read and review retell strategies (thinking beyond the text).

Writing: We will add feelings, details, and a good ending to our small moment stories.

Math: We will explore 3D shapes and learn how to measure/order objects by length.

Science/Social Studies: We will continue to document the changes/progress our pupa are making as we anticipate them turning into butterflies! We will document our noticing in our scientist butterfly journals. We will also continue to work on rules and responsibilities and why these are important.

Have a great weekend!

Miss Reisdorff

Families,

We are approaching our last week of April! It is starting to feel like the end of the year will be here before we know it! We have lots of things ahead for us in 1st grade so take a look:

Important Dates/Reminders:

• Field Trip money and permission slips are due Friday, May 3rd. If you have an issue with the cost of the field trip please email me.
• Our next Early Release Day is Friday, May 10th. Dismissal will be at 12:15.
• There will be no school on Monday, May 27th because of Memorial Day.
• Our field trip to John Ball Zoo will be on Wednesday, May 29th.

Reading: We will learn how to solve tricky words by thinking of our topic and looking at the syllables, using whats happening in the pictures and story to figure out tricky words, and practice reading fluently.

Writing: We will continue to use Mo Willems as our mentor author and practice adding the 3 W’s, speech bubbles (thinking vs. talking), bold words, and a variety of punctuation marks.

Math: We will look at different shapes and identify their attributes (2D and 3D) and separate shapes into equal shares.

Science: We will continue to make observations in our butterfly journals and learn about the frog life cycle.

Social Studies: We will learn the importance of rules and responsibilities and how to take a position on an issue (ex: should students be allowed to run in the hall).

Have a great weekend!

Miss Reisdorff

Families,

I hope you all had a good week and were able to stay dry! Thank you to everyone who donated blue and green tissue paper–I appreciate it so much and we will put it to good use with our Earth Day craft tomorrow! Take a look at what is to come this week:

Important Dates/Reminders:

• Scholastic Book orders are due Friday, April 19th by 4:00p.m. If you choose to order, please submit it online using class code: NNX2P.
• A pink note about our field trip to John Ball Zoo is coming home today. It will provide information on the date and time, cost, and chaperone opportunities.
• Our next Early Release Day is Friday, May 10th. Dismissal will be at 12:15.

Reading: We will compare and contrast our stories, identify the main idea, find new vocabulary words, and connect words to our topic.

Writing: We will continue to work on small moment stories and try to add things we admire from Mo Willems. We will work on planning our stories and our story beginnings.

Math: We will continue to learn to tell time and look at writing time in hours and half hours.

Science: Instead of word study we are going to begin our unit on butterflies and learn about their life cycle.

Have a lovely weekend!

Rebecca Reisdorff

Families,

Welcome back from Spring Break! We had a great week sharing about our adventures when we were away and getting back into the swing of things. We started a new reading unit and took a quick break from writing to focus on social studies. Take a look at what is ahead:

Important Dates/Reminders:

• Alward Carnival is tonight from 5:30-8:30! For those of you going, have a great time!
• This will be our last week of our Special Person Days. We have loved getting to celebrate each student in our class and what makes them special!
• Scholastic book orders are due Friday, April 19th by 4:00p.m. If you are interested in ordering, please do so online using the class code NNX2P.

Reading: We will use our topic bags to make connections between fiction and non-fiction, make text to self connections, and compare and contrast our books.

Writing: We are going back to small moment stories and using Mo Willems as our “mentor author.” We will look at all of the great things he adds into his stories (ex: dialogue, speech bubbles, bold words, etc.) and how we can add them to our own!

Math: We will review and test on unit 6 (data collection and comparison bars) and begin unit 7 where we will learn how to tell time.

Word Study: We will review the letter patterns we have learned so far (ai and ay, ea and ee, and oa and ow).

Have a great weekend!

Miss Reisdorff