October 17, 2025
Hello First Grade Families,
We are still in need of a game leader and craft leader for our fall party on Oct.30. Here is the link for signing up. Fall Party
Please check your child's take home folder day!
It is a great way to start a conversation about your child's school day and things they are learning in the classroom.
Curriculum
PHONICS...This week we focused on reading and writing S blends at the beginning of words.
READING...We continue to work on being a word detective and working hard to figure out the "tricky" words in books. This week we focused on using the whole page to figure out what the tricky word is and what is means (vocabulary). We also focused on how when we zoom in on the tricky words we need to use them to understand the whole story. We reviewed how word detectives don't spend their time or energy on snap words. And we have begun looking for blends in our books at the beginning and ends of words. We are trying to "scoop" more parts of the word to make decoding the word easier and quicker.
WRITING...We continue to work through the steps of the writing process. We discussed how to revise our plan in order to revise our story. We are trying to add more to the pictures and the words. We also learned about how to add adjectives to our writing as they make our story more interesting and exciting. Bob, the bearded dragon, came to our classroom one day to help us learn what adjectives are.
MATH....We finished up Unit 2 on fact families using dominoes, pictures, and number stories. We took our assessment today.
SEL - We have been practicing it throughout the entire day. We are learning to become problem solvers and how to have conversations with others when the make us feel uncomfortable, unsafe, or unloved. We have a class chant that we say every morning. See if you child can tell you what we say!
Important Dates:
MONDAY: LIBRARY DAY! Please send back library books.
Oct. 17: Book order was placed today! Thank you for sending in orders.
Oct. 18: AES Fall Fest
Oct. 30 - SURPRISE DAY! Please do not share our theme with your child.
Oct. 30 - Classroom Celebration - We are still looking for a game leader and craft leader to make this time special. See the link at the top of this newsletter. We would LOVE and APPRECIATE your time and talent!
Oct. 31 - NO SCHOOL
Nov. 3-7 - Book Fair Week...see the Alward Action
Nov. 5 - Skating Party 6:15-8:15pm
Nov. 17 and 19 - Parent Teacher Conferences...a sign-up will be coming soon!
Nov. 26-28 - Thanksgiving Break...no school.
October 10, 2025
It is really beginning to feel like fall and we are certainly getting ready for it at school. We still need some help and support with our SURPRISE DAY on the 30th. Here is the link for things we would like to have to make this day special for your child. Pumpkin Day...shhhhh it's a surprise!
We also are looking for a game and craft leader for our fall party in the afternoon. If you would like to help, here is the link for signing up. Fall Party
Thank you for joining us at the football game Friday evening to support Alex. We appreciate you showing up!
Please send daily!
Take Home Folder (please empty it each day)
Water Bottle (the days are warm and so is our classroom)
One Healthy Snack
Curriculum
PHONICS...This week we focused on reading and writing L blends at the beginning of words.
READING...We started our next unit on being a word detective. Each day we get a new mission from the Super Secret Detective Agency. We have learned that word detectives look at words closely and notice when they are reading the right words. We learned about special endings (-s, -ing, -ed) and how they are attached to a base word. When we can notice the endings, it can help us read words quickly.
WRITING...We are working through the steps of the writing proces. We are working on picking ideas, planning out our stories, and writing them across pages. We are writing small moment stories which are stories about ourselves.
MATH... We have been working on fact families this week. We know that a fact family has 2 addition and 2 subtraction equations. We know that we use the same three numbers to write all of the facts. We know that we can move the equals sign in an equation, as equals mean the same no matter what side of the equation it is on.
SEL - We continued to learn about being our best self. We have learned about a "meta-moment." This is when we try to pause our body when we need to and picture ourselves being our best self in that situation. How do we act? What should we say? Then we try to do what we pictured in our brain.
Important Dates:
MONDAY: LIBRARY DAY! Please send back library books.
Oct. 17: Book Orders Due on the Scholastic website.
Oct. 30 - SURPRISE DAY! Please do not share our theme with your child. We still need help! See the top of this newsletter.
Oct. 30 - Classroom Celebration - We are still looking for a game leader and craft leader to make this time special.
Oct. 31 - NO SCHOOL
October 3, 2025
Happy October! We ended this week with some fun things! We earned a pajama day via a SOAR celebration and had Walk-a-thon. Thank you for all of the donations that you collected for this event. The kids were super excited to walk/run through the Mario themed course/obstacles. Mrs. Mucha even dressed up like Princess Peach!
We also had our first Book SOARing Champion - Congratulations Ellie!
We still need:
Take Home Folder (please empty it each day)
Water Bottle (the days are warm and so is our classroom)
One Healthy Snack
Curriculum
PHONICS...We have been working with blends this week. We learned that the most used blends are S blends, L blends, and R blends. We practices blending and segmenting sounds to read and write words with short vowel sounds and blends.
READING...This continue to work with Story Champs. The students are becoming more effecient at retelling all of the parts of a fiction story to the class (characters, setting, problem, feelings, solution, ending). The are doing well using words and pictures to retell a story as well. Please have your child retell stories with you when you are reading with them each night! Thank you!
WRITING...We learned about verbs. We learned that verbs are an action word, a movement, or something we do. We have been reading and writing sentences to hunt for verbs and nouns, as we need them to write sentences in stories.
MATH... We are working with Dominoes this week. We have been using them to write equations and make fact families. We have talked about different ways to "see" the numbers on the dominoes and then talked about the most effecient way (seeing the facts on each side of the domino). We started learning about fact families and how they have two addition and two subtraction facts. We know that they use the same numbers in the addition and subtraction equations, but the location of those numbers changes.
SEL - We have been learning about being our BEST SELF. We chatted about people we look up to and admire. We talked about why we admire them. We discussed the words we would use to describe them (kind, patient, helpful, honest, etc). We talked about how we could be positive role models too and when we do that we are being our BEST SELF.
Important Dates:
MONDAY: LIBRARY DAY! Please send back library books.
Oct. 10 - Last Home Football Game - our class is invited to join making a tunnel on the field this evening. A note was sent home with all the details this week. We hope you are able to join us.
Oct. 18 - Alward Fall Fest 5pm-7pm. There will family fun here at school.
Oct. 30 - Pumpkin Day - We will be celebrating for most of the day with pumpkin theme activities. Look for a sign-up genius for supplies we need to make this day extra special for our classroom community. Shhhh....it is a SUPRISE DAY!
Oct. 30 - Classroom Celebration - I will send out a sign up in early October for donations and volunteers.
Oct. 31 - NO SCHOOL
September 26, 2025
I can't believe how warm the weather is still! I hope you and your family are enjoying some time outside. We had our first Alward Champion Run today! Congratulation to Grayson for SOARing at school! Our SOAR chart is also filling up with SOAR tickets and we will be able to have a celebration soon!
Please keep sending:
Take Home Folder
Water Bottle
One Healthy Snack
Curriculum
PHONICS...We focused on the short /e/ sound. This is a tricky sound for some still. Keep writing cvc words at home. Examples: jet, leg, net, hem, etc. Kids often put an /a/ sound instead....so I hurt my lag.
READING...This week we started Story Champs. It is a program that helps the students retell a story using all of the details they need (characters, setting, problem, feelings, solution, ending). We have been reading stories whole group and retelling the parts and pieces. Then we tell the story to a partner and draw the story independently.
WRITING...We learned about nouns. We know that nouns are a person, place, or thing. The things can be animals, ideas, items, etc. We practiced writing sentences with nouns after hunting for them in the sentences.
MATH... We finished up Unit 1 and began Unit 2. We took the Unit 1 test and it will be coming home soon! On Friday, we started Unit 2 and had lots of fun with dominoes. We learned how to play the game dominoes. And we learned to play "Domino Top It". The kids noticed it is similar to "War" with cards.
SEL - This week we listened to lots of read alouds about different feelings and emotions. We also reviewed the mood meter (happy, sad, calm, mad).
Important Dates:
MONDAY: LIBRARY DAY! Please send back library books.
Oct. 3 - Walk-a-thon Day...Thank you for collecting donations to help us provide great experiences for your child at school.
Oct. 10 - Last Home Football Game - our class is invited to join making a tunnel on the field this evening. More details to come as soon as I get them.
Oct. 18 - Alward Fall Fest 5pm-7pm. There will family fun here at school.
Oct. 30 - Classroom Celebration - I will send out a sign up in early October for donations and volunteers.
Oct. 31 - NO SCHOOL
September 19, 2025
Happy Homecoming Week! Thank you for making this a fun week for your child and our classroom by being spirited and having your child dress for spirit days. We appreciate all you do to support your child at school!
The football players, cheerleaders, band members and HS super fans came to school today to help us celebrate. See photos!
Please keep sending:
Take Home Folder (please empty it each day!). It is a great way to start a conversation with your child about school.
Water Bottle (that doesn't spill when lid is lifted and tipped....THANKS!)
Snack just one, please make sure it a healthy snack to feed your child's brain
Curriculum
PHONICS...We focused on the short /u/ sound.
READING...We continue to build our "Good Reading Habits". This week we worked on fluency by having kids "scoop the words". Many kids are word by word readers still. SO....in order to break that bad habit, we go back and reread the words in scoops by putting 2-4 words together when we reread a sentence. It is a great trick to use at home too!
We have been focusing on vowels a lot! We learned that when a vowel is closed it will most likely make its short sound in the word. But when it is open, it usually says its name. Ask your child to show you what an open/closed vowel looks like in a one syllable word. (went = closed, the e is stuck......go = open, the o can escape)
WRITING...This week we learned about using capital letters in our sentence writing. We learned that we need to capitalize names, I, days of the week, and months of the year.
MATH... We continue to work with making numbers on our number racks in lots of different ways. We are having great conversations about how we are making those numbers and writing equations to go with them to show the number partners. We have been noticing that addition and subtraction work together to make numbers as we use the same numbers in our equations.
SEL - This week we focused on feelings and emotions. We reviews that we need to notice how we and other people are feeling by looking at faces and bodies. We discussed how our feelings can affect our thoughts and things our brains might say when we are feeling a certain way and talked about using positive self talk.
Important Dates:
Sept. 22 - LIBRARY DAY! We will always have library every Monday, except next week due to pictures. Please send the book back on Sept. 15th.
Sept. 26 - Early Release Friday. Kids are dismissed at 12:15pm. Please let me know if your child needs a sack lunch.
Oct. 3 - Walk-a-thon Day...Thank you for collecting donations to help us provide great experiences for your child at school.
Oct. 10 - Last Home Football Game - our class is invited to join making a tunnel on the field this evening. More details to come as soon as I get them.
Oct. 18 - Alward Fall Fest 5pm-7pm. There will family fun here at school.
Oct. 30 - Classroom Celebration - I will send out a sign up in early October for donations and volunteers.
Oct. 31 - NO SCHOOL
September 12, 2025
Well, the weather has warmed up again. You just never know what Michigan weather will bring. Thank you for sending in water bottles every day to help your child stay cool and hydrated.
Please keep sending:
Take Home Folder (please empty it each day!). It is a great way to start a conversation with your child about school.
Water Bottle (that doesn't spill when lid is lifted and tipped....THANKS!)
Snack just one, please make sure it a healthy snack to feed your child's brain
Curriculum
PHONICS...We focused on the short /o/ sound.
READING...This week we learned that "Good Readers have Good Habits". We learned that we should take a sneak peek at the title, front/back covers, and pictures to predict what the book will be about. Then we check our sneak peek by reading the book. We can reread books to find our favorite part. And how to use a reading mat to keep us reading.
WRITING...We continue to work on penmanship with letters and numbers. We are working on the size of the letters, as well as remembering to start at the top to make our writing easy to read. I love penmanship time because we are also reviewing letters/sounds, blending, and reading words.
MATH...We continued practicing solving problems with our number racks. We have been working on how to figure out number stories by asking what information do we know and what are we trying to find out. It is so much fun to hear all of the different ways kids are putting numbers together to get the correct answers. We have been working on how to play dominoes during workplaces. It would be a great game to play at home too!
This week we focused on writing our class charter for SEL. We talked about how we wanted to feel and make others feel in our classroom. We brainstormed things we can do to make people feel that way and wrote our charter. A charter is like a promise because we all sign it saying we will do our best to do those things. (See Photos)
Important Dates:
Sept. 15 - LIBRARY DAY! We will always have library every Monday, except next week due to pictures. Please send the book back on Sept. 15th.
Sept. 18 - Skating Party at Tarry Hall from 6:15 - 8:15pm
Sept. 26 - Early Release Friday. Kids are dismissed at 12:15pm. Please let me know if your child needs a sack lunch.
Oct. 3 - Walk-a-thon Day...We hope that you have been willing to help us collect donations for our school so we can provide the kids with the best educational experiences. Here is the link for you to check it out!
https://www.getmovinfundhub.com/event-webpage/68b087e21c1804.93899774
September 5, 2025
We made it through another 4 day week of learning. The kids seemed really excited on Friday about it being the end of the week. You could feel it in the air!
Please keep sending:
Take Home Folder (please empty it each day!). It is a great way to start a conversation with your child about school.
Water Bottle (that doesn't spill when lid is lifted and tipped....THANKS!)
Curriculum
PHONICS...We focused on the short /i/ sound.
READING...This week we reviewed the skills for being a book lover and how to take care of books. We learned about picking "just right books" using the five finger rule. We practiced shopping for books using that rule. And then we learned about what we do to show we are independent readers (pick a book, stay in one spot, read quietly without disturbing others, and read the whole time). The kids practiced reading their just right books for 10 minutes today. I was so impressed! There are photos on the photos page.
WRITING...We continue to work on handwriting skills. We have been working hard to get our letters the right size on penmanship lines and we are trying to remember to start at the top. I have taught the kids to use "self-talk" to remind them of the strokes we make. If they can learn this, reversals will start to disappear!
MATH...We learned about number racks this week and how to use them. On Monday, we made them using beads and pipe cleaners. See if your child can describe it to you! We then used the racks to make number partners. We practiced writing number sentences whole group. We discussed what we noticed and saw among the partners. Examples: addition: they all equal the same number or there are some with the same numbers in them.
We continue to work on SOARing expectations. We are ROCKing most of them! The one that we are having the hardest time with is keeping our voice quiet when someone else is talking. It is a great skill to work on at home. We read the book Interrupting Chicken to remind the class that it is impolite to do it. Now we are working on putting it into practice. Please practice at home too.
Important Dates:
Sept. 8 - School Pictures....please send back the portion of the paper with the QR code. We need it for pictures!
Sept. 15 - LIBRARY DAY! We will always have library every Monday, except next week due to pictures. Please send the book back on Sept. 15th.
Sept. 18 - Skating Party at Tarry Hall from 6:15 - 8:15pm
Sept. 26 - Early Release Friday. Kids are dismissed at 12:15pm. Please let me know if your child needs a sack lunch.
Oct. 3 - Walk-a-thon Fundraiser. Information will be coming soon!
August 28, 2025
Welcome to our first official newsletter of the school year! We have now been in school for 6 days and we are working hard on getting to know each other so we can be a classroom community that shows kindness, works together, and solves problems with respect.
Please keep sending:
Take Home Folder (empty each day too!)
Water Bottle (no spill...even when the lid is lifted. We have had HUGE puddles on tables/papers/carpet due to water bottles this week...please send a water bottle that doesn't spill when lid is lifted and tipped....THANKS!)
Curriculum
PHONICS...We focused on the short /a/ sound.
READING...We have read lots of book about how to be a friend and friendship skills. We had lots of great discussions and did some activities to go along with them. And we were WILD ABOUT BOOKS! Thank you for sending in your child's favorite book to share with the class. We now have lots of great ideas for books we might like to read.
WRITING...We have been working on handwriting skills this week and reviewing how we make the letters the "school way"...you've got to start most letters at the top. We reviewed pencil grips and are learning to use our "self-talk" when writing to help us form the letters correctly. Example: lower case t....tall down, cross.
MATH...we began our first lessons of Bridges. We worked with "Helping Hands" this week for our lessons. We talked about how we help at home. We graphed our answers and compared our answers using the words most/fewer/fewest. We learned about quilts and the patterns that they have. We made a quilt with our helping hands. We review the attributes of a square, as our quilt is made of squares. We learned that quilts are made in rows of patterns and used our helping hands to make the quilt. Then we counted how many fingers were on the quilt. We counted by 5's as a helping hand has five fingers and made it to 105! Twenty kids plus one teacher. I am so impressed and amazed with their math talk and knowledge!
We also reviewed SOARing expectations. What they look like. What they sound like. And we have begun SOARing at school!
I am super excited to continue to work with your child, as well as you! Wishing you a joyful and blessed holiday weekend!
PS...I added a few photos. Please know it is hard to take pictures while teaching, but I will try to do my best!
If you ever have any questions, please reach out to me hlepard@hpseagles.net