September Newsletter

Welcome to the September Newsletter! At the beginning of each month, I'll post a newsletter detailing what we'll be learning about, upcoming assessments, how to support learning at home, and more.  I'll add pictures and more information as we go through the month, sending reminders via Parent Square. 

Sept 25 Update

Thanks so much for coming to Back to School Night! It was wonderful to see students sharing their classroom and learning with you.

Here is the information included on the back of the classroom scavenger hunt from the event: 

First Grade Information - Room 105 

Thank you so much for being here! Here is some information about the classroom and year ahead, in no particular order. 

Birthdays: 

We celebrate birthdays by interviewing the birthday person and writing them a special birthday book. Optionally, if you would like to send in a few pictures (printed or emailed), we will share them as part of the interview. Please, no treats. 

Homework:

In first grade, the only required homework is to read 20 minutes nightly. This includes reading to self, reading with someone, or listening to a story. The goal is to foster a love of reading! Readers and Geodes that will come home are great for practicing fluency and accuracy. Occasionally, your child may bring home class work to be finished. I will make a note on the paper, or communicate with you directly if that is the case.  Weekly math family letters have some practice problems on the back, and they are optional. I will post the Family Support Letters from our phonics curriculum on the website, and they have helpful activities as well - let me know if you’d like them printed and sent home. 

Field Trips and Residencies:

Ms. Casey and I are in the process of planning our field trips for the year. Tentatively, we will see a play downtown and go to OMSI.  In previous years we have also enjoyed residencies here at school with SCRAP, a theater company, and a glass artist.  If you’d like to chaperone a future field trip or help with a residency, please be sure you have passed the PPS Volunteer Background Check.

Family Reading Mornings:

Once a month, usually the last Friday of the month, you are invited to join your first grader in the classroom for 25 minutes of reading together. Younger siblings are welcome! If you are unable to attend, you can send someone else in your place (friend, family member, neighbor), and I also invite other special guests from our school staff to join. You do not need a background check for this event. Please sign in at the office as a visitor before coming down to the classroom. Come to any or all of the events!

Family Reading Morning will be 8:00 - 8:25 in Room 105 on the following Fridays: October 23, November 20, December 18, January 29, February 26, March 19, April 30, May 28 

Classroom Volunteers:

I am still determining our needs for the year. Stay tuned! If you are interested in volunteering, please be sure your PPS Volunteer Background Check is up to date. 

Ways to Help:

• Please help your child learn to tie shoes. 

• Please make sure your child can put on and take off their winter coat independently. (label with name!)

• Thank you for checking your child’s home-school envelope each day and keeping any papers at home. 

Reach out with any questions or concerns. jjendrzejek@pps.net – Mrs. J & Ms. Sofie

Questions to Ask Your First Grader

• How was Ana's life changed by books? 

• What were some differences and similarities between the book, Waiting for the Biblioburro, and the documentary clip of the real biblioburro and librarian?

• How do you edit your writing? (read, check, correct) What makes a complete sentence?

• Make up and solve an addition story problem. Now try a subtraction one. 

• What do endings -ed and -ing tell about a verb? (when it's happening) 

• Who was your morning meeting partner this week? What is one thing you learned about them?

• What does it mean to not have a "volcano mouth"? What strategies did the main character Louis try that helped him stop "erupting"?

• How do you want kids in your class to treat you? How do you treat other kids in your class?

• How were you be helpful and flexible when there was a guest teacher?

• What made you laugh this week?

We also took individual pictures just for fun as students were arriving Friday morning. Penny, our class pet/mascot, loved it! Thank you for helping your first grader arrive to school on time. 

Questions to ask your first grader:

• What is new about the packing up routine? (The steps are wait & read, pack, job, wait & read.) How do you do it?

• What was on our ceiling for a long part of the day Wednesday? What happened to it? Who rescued it?

• What does it mean to tap out a word? Can you tap out the word nap? rid? sob? 

• What's one story Mrs. J has read during snack read aloud that made you laugh?

• Which color math group are you in? What are the three different math rounds we do every day?

Sept 16th 

We met our 4th grade buddies today! Students interviewed each other and then drew a picture for their buddy. What did you learn about your buddy today? 

Update for September 11, 2026

Please check out the new Helpful Resources page of this website.  I have added the classroom email directory, as well as the first two family support letters for our phonics curriculum, FUNdations. If you'd like them printed, please let me know and I'd be happy to send them home. 

If your child is getting breakfast at school, please have them bring it down to the classroom when the bell rings at 7:53 -  I'd rather they eat in the classroom so we can get started with our day all together. Thanks!

Your child is bringing home a Fluency Friends packet today - something we work on all week with a partner. If there is a note on it, please complete the starred pages with your child at home and return it to school. 

I appreciate all you are doing to get your child to school on time! We are all still learning the routines and making adjustments as necessary. This afternoon we practiced walking in line in the hallways - a slightly boring but important skill to know so we don't interrupt other class's learning. 

Questions to ask your first grader:

• What is a "4 S Line"? (Standing, hands by your Sides, Silent, Smiling)

• What was the problem in Tomas and the Library Lady? What was the resolution?

• Who was the Secret Student this week? ( Auri!) What did you learn about her?

• Who made you laugh this week?

• What was your end of the day classroom job this week?

• What are the Zones of Regulation? What Zone are you in right now?

• Who is your morning meeting partner? What have you learned about them this week?

Thanks for reading! 

Learning This Month

Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

Caring School Community is our SEL curriculum, and it does a fabulous job of teaching students the social skills needed to be successful in the classroom and beyond. This month is all about how to be a good partner, which students will have each week for our morning meetings and closing circles. How can you show you are listening to your partner? I will also introduce our classroom break space and many tools that will help with self regulation and conflict management: The Zones of Regulation, the Green Zone Tool Box, a "Bug and a Wish", Kelso's Wheel of Choices, and more. 

English Language Arts (ELA)

Our first Module is called A World of Books and the overarching focus question is, How do books change lives around the world?  This month we meet Tomàs, the son of a migrant family working in the fields in Iowa, who discovers the local library in Tomàs and the Library Lady. We will focus on retelling the story using a story map, as well as writing our own narrative retelling of the story. Soon after that we meet Ana and the Biblioburro. 

Phonics/Foundational Skills

We are currently doing a quick review of all the letters of the alphabet and how to write them correctly on the "sky line, plane line, grass line, and worm line." Then in Unit 2 we work "tapping out" CVC (consonant vowel consonant) words like bat or red, as well as trick words like a, and, the, is, and his. 

Students will also participate in "Fluency Friends" time where the goal is to build reading fluency by reading text that provides opportunity to practice the phonics skills we are learning. 

Math 

The first three math lessons (weeks) focus on number partners for 10, adding and subtracting within 10, and using counting strategies to add and subtract. We will also get our math groups up and running, stay tuned for more information about this upcoming classroom routine. 

Social Studies

This month our content rotation focus will be Social Studies. Unit one is all about Families, Culture, and Communities. It is a new curriculum for me this year, and I am excited see how it unfolds and how we build our knowledge and appreciation of those in our classroom community, our families, and beyond. 

Upcoming Assessments

• iReady Inform: Math and Reading assessment window 9/8-9/11. The math assessment was formerly called the diagnostic. The reading assessment is new to us this year. Both are benchmark assessments taken three times a year, and provide me with good data to inform my small group and whole group instruction. They also show student growth over the fall, winter, and spring. The assessments are taken on the computer, in fun and familiar digital environment, with many supports like directions being read aloud, and built in game breaks. 

• Weekly "Comprehension Checks" at the end of each math lesson/week. 

• End of Unit 1 Phonics Assessment - can students correctly write the letters of the alphabet?

School-Wide Monthly Focus: Inclusivity

This is from our Capitol Hill Core Values: Inclusivity & Kindness, Health and Wellbeing, Respect & Honesty, Growth Mindset. It is especially important as we set the tone for the year ahead in our classroom community. 

Supporting Learning at Home

Math home support letters are sent home at the beginning of each week. There are suggested activities to do at home that will reinforce and extend the concept we are currently learning. Try them out! No need to return them to school. 

Read 20 minutes each night. This can be your first grader reading to themselves, or you reading to them, or even them listening to an audio book. This should be a positive time - not a battle. 

See the Helpful Resources page

Important Dates & Upcoming Events

Sept 9 Picture Day

Sept 11 Volunteer Training from 8:30–9:00 a.m.

Sept 16 Early Release - dismissal at 11:50

Sept 24 Back to School Night

Sept 25 Family Reading Morning  - the last Friday of the month from 8-8:25 - come read with us in Room 105!

Family Feedback Survey

Each month I'll ask for feedback about a certain classroom topic. This month is about school supplies. Thanks in advance for your feedback! 

Survey Here