Home Reading Program

The Grade One's have enjoyed the Book Bags.  Thank you very much for working and playing with them! 

It is now time to begin the Individualized Home Reading Program for Grade One.  Each day your child will be bringing home a Leveled Book to read to you.  Please  help him or her read the book to you.  The books are very repetitious and most students will only need a little initial help to read it.  Reread the book at least 2 times.

If your child is in Early Reading Intervention (ERI), he or she will be receiving his or her book from the ERI teacher.  We will let you know if your child will be involved in ERI next week.  This will be in place of the classroom Home Reading Program.  Both programs follow the same procedure however.  At this time ERI hasn’t started yet, but it will start in a few weeks and we will let you know if your child should participate in ERI.  It is an excellent opportunity to help students who need a little more practice and give them a great head start.

I have sent the Leveled book home for your child to read to you.  He or she should be quite capable of reading the book fluently with a little assistance from you. Make sure to read the book with your child, sign the sheet in the bag and send the sheet, bag and book back tomorrow.  If they do not bring their book back or it is not signed that they read it to an adult, I will not send a new book with them.  I realize that you will miss a few nights because we are all busy but try not to miss very often.

Initially, I should be able to listen to all the students read each day.  However, as the Leveled books become longer I will only be listening to 3-5 students read each day.  If your child doesn’t bring a book home it is because I never listened to him or her read.  Just read a book from home that night instead!

When your child has reached mastery on 5 consecutive books at Level Three etc.  I will send a note in the agenda informing you that he or she has moved to the next level of books.  For some children, this will happen quickly while others will take longer to move through the levels.  Please remember that this is an individualized reading program, which moves each child through the levels at his or her own pace.  As the levels become more difficult, it will take longer for the children to achieve mastery.

So, please review the books with your child, as this will help them recognize sight words and use his or her phonetic skills to sound out words.

If you have any questions, please contact me.

HAVE FUN LEARNING TO READ!

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Apple word test is this Friday, September 30!

Wednesday Update

Sorry for not blogging yet this week! 

The Book Bags are very popular!  Thanks for taking good care of them.  Also, thank you for letting me know right away if materials are missing from the bags.  We will continue with book bags until the end of September and then we will switch to the regular Home Reading Program.  Please don't keep the books longer than 2 days as we have only 18 book bags.

Apple Words - the children have been working hard to learn the Apple words.  We practice our Tub words every second day and I can really tell which students have been practicing.
Apple word test - the test is given on a 3 second Power Point.  This is enough time for the children to tell me the word but not enough time to sound it out.  After all, these words are Sight Word recognition only.  I send the test sheets home in the agenda so you can see the words your child knew and the ones he/she missed.

Between the Apple Word practice and the Book Bags, I notice a big improvement in the students' learning.  The easiest and best way for you to help at home this year is with frequent sight word practice and reading the Home Reading books.

Enjoy the wonderful fall weather!

Terry Fox and Apple Word Testing

Terry Fox Run

I talked with the students today about the Terry Fox run and who Terry Fox was.  We watched a video of highlights of his run.  We also acted out his walk and how hard it would be to run the way he did.
If you are able to join us on the walk tomorrow that would be great!  It is very enjoyable!
Also, hot dogs are $1.00 and can be purchased tomorrow even if you didn't pre-order.  Please just note in agenda if there is money in the pouch.

Apple Words
Tomorrow I will test on Apple Words.  If your child is away I will try to test him/her on Monday.  I will send a note home in agenda about his/her results.

Book Bags

Your child brought home a Book Bag.  These books and activities are intended to help foster the habit of reading daily with an adult.
1.  Each bag is different but all contain a book and some kind of activity to foster reading or math skills.
2.  Each book is designed to be READ TO your child but many children will be able to read along with you and may be able to read the book to you after an inital reading.
3.  Each book and activity needs to be completed with an adult.
4.  Each bag needs to be returned after 1 or 2 days or we will run short of bags.
5.  Please put the bag in a safe place where smaller children can't damage it.
6.  Make sure all materials are back in the bag.
7.  Add the sight word or words to your child's Word Ring.  If he or she already has that word on the ring, don't add it again. 
8.  Keep the word ring at home.  DO NOT SEND BACK IN AGENDA, BOOK BAG OR LIBRARY BAG.  The children can just review these words at home.  I don't test on the words but it helps them to build a larger sight word vocabulary than just the Apple words.  I suggest keeping the Word Ring with the Apple words.
9.  If there is an activity worksheet, send it in the agenda and I will look at it and admire it and send it back home again with a sticker!
10.ENJOY THE BOOK BAGS!  THEY ARE MEANT TO BE FUN!

If you have any questions, just email or call.

Apple Words

I am sending home the "Apple" sight words.  These are actually the first 25 Fry Sight words.  Please cut them apart and keep them in a safe place.  It is good to store them in a baggie or a small margarine tub.  Your child will benefit a great deal with extra practice at home on these words.

Please have your child practice the following Apple words this week:  the, in, is, to, it, that, and, a, of, you.
I will test on these 10 words on Friday as well as the following colour words which are not on the Apple words:  red, yellow, green, blue.

I will let you know which Apple words to add for practicing next week.
If you have any questions please email or call me.
Looking forward to seeing you at Meet the Teacher Night tonight @6:30

First Day of Writing!/Peanut Butter Alternative

Today we began writing in our Journals.  The students drew a picture of the thing they did this summer that was the most fun!  Then, I modeled 'writing' the sentence.  Each child then wrote his or her own sentence!  I was pleasantly surprised at how many letters sounds they knew and some even could spell words (way to go, Adam, Ainsley, Burke, Kamryn and Blake!).  I told Mrs. Hunter about it and she was very proud of them also!


We are settling nicely into our routine but it is HOT!  Don't want to complain at all, but they are very tired by about 2:00!  So, we've had lots of Centertime!


I was also very proud of the Grade Ones today as this was the first day the Kindergarten students joined us for Phys. Ed. The Grade Ones acted as teachers and helpers today and did a wonderful job of showing the K's the rules in the gym.  This is especially neat to see because I remember when they were the K's and how little they were!  They grow up quickly!

Tomorrow is a screening by the Division/Health unit for Color vision.  Each child will have a quick screen.  This is new this year so I will let you know more about it tomorrow.

Thanks for all the emails and notes in agendas.  I appreciate the communication.

Andrea Allen passed on some info to me today.  We are a nut-free school but if your child loves peanut butter (and who doesn't!)  there is a great alternative.  It's called Wow butter and can be purchased at Walmart.  I will definitely be checking it out as I love peanut butter!  Thanks, Andrea!

Sight Word Activities

Please make sure to read the previous post sent today.
The following are activities you can use to make learning the Apple words more fun!

Please call me if you have any questions!  Remember to keep practice time short, daily and fun!  Some strategies are:

Swat! – use a fly swatter to swat the word (they love this!)

I spy – I spy a word that starts with “r” (sound).  They should be able to find it and tell you it.

Memory – turn over the word that the parent says.  Count how many turns it takes and beat your record or play against the parent.

Put the words on the frig or a door so they are easily seen.

Count the letters in the words and order them from most letters to least.

Practice printing the letters on a chalkboard, wipeboard, paper etc.

Tub Words etc

We began our 'tub words' today (those margarine tubs you sent)!  These are really just the first Level 1A Fry words (or apple words).  We cut apart 12 of the words (I, in, is, it, the, that, a, red, yellow, to, of, you) and did a number of activities to help us learn to read the words.  Happily, many of the students were able to recognize quite a few words!  And some didn't know any which is quite typical of a grade one class!

Next week I will send home the 25 apple words.  Please cut them apart and use them as flash cards to help your child learn the words.  After a few weeks (I'll set a date)  I will test them on the words.  Now, some will know all the words and move on to the next level.  Some won't know them all and will practice the words for another week or several weeks.  This is an individual Sight Word Program as all the children will learn at their own rate.  I just ask that you do practice frequently!  The night before the test just isn't enough!!!!

I will send a list of activities you can use to have fun learning the sight words in the next blog!

What a beautiful weekend!  I hope everyone had a chance to get outside and enjoy it.  On my way back from the lake last night I saw many farmers harvesting so we are all keeping our fingers crossed that this great weather will last for a long time!

A couple of housekeeping items:

1.  Thank you for sending the agendas back so promptly each day.  That really helps me communicate with you.  Remember that you can also email me at ellen.burzynski@nwsd.ca

2.  Lunch - we 've had many kids bringing food items that need to be cooked and/or assembled.  Please do not send items like this!  Please assemble food or cook food at home and then all we need to do is heat it up.  Lunch is very short!  We have only one microwave and a long line of students.  Also, I am on supervision and/or coaching at noon and am unable to supervise students after the regular lunch break.  Thank you!

We are beginning to learn some sight words this week.  I will also be sending our Rading Book bags later this week.

Have a good week!
Mrs. B.

Thursday Update

Another great day!  We are settling into our routine quickly.  I am really enjoying the students!  They are a pleasure to teach!

Today the students went to the library with Mrs. Hunter.  The books are in their book bags again.  Please keep the books in a safe place.  They will be due on Monday, September 12.  A good idea is to write this in the agenda on September 12th.

Missing School Supplies - thank you for your patience with the missing supplies.  They were shipped to the School Division office in Lloydminster and are being picked up today.  They should all be here tomorrow.

The school will be sending a Monday memo out each week.  Of course, the first one will actually be sent next Tuesday.  The Monday memo can also be accessed through the school website.

Mrs. Burzynski