THANK YOU

Just wanted to say thanks for all you do for your child and our school:) Our carnival basket "Howell Pride" turned out great and raised some money that will be put directly back into our classroom!  The February president reports were outstanding:)  Thanks for helping your child with their props and with memorizing their four first grade fun friendly facts about their president!  I was very impressed:)

February Family Project

February Family Project

What better way to celebrate President’s Day than a Family Project? Your child is going to have a chance to teach the class about a president, but they need YOUR HELP. They will be teaching each other on February 23rd, 24th, or 25th (see below for day).

Please help your child learn about his or her president. He or she will have to find four facts about his or her president. Be sure to help him or her find four facts that are interesting to them. They may find it more interesting as to what kind of pets the president had rather than a war that was fought.

For the presentation he or she may dress up as the president and tell four facts, sing a song about the president with four facts, draw a picture about the president including four facts, make a book about their president with four facts, or be as creative as possible to teach the class four facts about their president. Attached is a rubric to help you! I will be filling out the rubric after each presentation!

Here are a few websites to help children learn about his or her president…
• http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Stories/PeoplePlaces/Georgewashingtonicecream
• http://pbskids.org/wayback/prez/secrets/index.html
• http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/subjects/uspresidents.htm
If you need any other assistance or have any questions, please let me know.

The children last year had a great time learning some interesting facts about all of the presidents! Some of their favorite facts were about pets, nicknames, and other facts first graders find interesting. Have a great time with this!

Thank you in advance! Ms. Benear :)



I will be scoring the presentations with this rubric:

Name_______________________________________

1. ___The name of the president was clearly stated.
The president was __________________________

2. ___Used a strong speaking voice.

3. ___Looked at the audience while speaking.

4. ___Used props, pictures, or illustrations to make the
information more interesting.

5. ___Taught four first grade friendly facts about their president.

Comments:____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


___/5

HOWELL PRIDE

HOWELL PRIDE

Our carnival basket theme this year is "Howell Pride!"  We thought it would be nice to support our town and have a basket that shows where we are from:)  For those of you who do not know, every classroom compiles a basket (theme of their choice) to be raffled off the night of the carnival.  All the money collected for each basket goes straight back into the classroom that made the basket.  Tickets are $1 a piece and the winning ticket pulled gets to take the basket home!  So please help us out by donating anything to do with Howell Pride!  And don't forget to put some tickets in our basket the night of the carnival:)  We are also in need of someone to donate the basket/item to house all the Howell gear we collect, so let me know if you are interested or if you find something fun that will work!

Any questions, please ask!  Ms. Benear :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Happy New Year 2011...Wow!

Just wanted to touch base and let you know about a few things.

1. Don't forget about the family project for January...the HOW TO project due Friday, January 14th! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

2. We will begin our Rebecca Sitton Spelling program this week. Your child will have 5-6 words to work on each week. We will be working on these words during school hours too! I will write the new words on the blog every Monday as well as send the list home with your child. An explanation of the Sitton spelling program will be coming home today as well:)  Please be sure to help your child study and learn these words at home!

3. Please send an extra bag to school with your child to hold outdoor clothes if needed...the children are having a hard time fitting everything in their backpack. I had one parent ask if it was ok to leave extra snow pants and shoes at school so her child did not have to bring them home each day...YES!!! If you have extras your child may leave them in his or her locker!

4. Writing folders are coming home today!  Please have your child read through his/her writing pieces with you and together decided on the best/favorite piece to bring back to school to publish!  Please talk with your child about their writing, we have been working on using a bold beginning and an excellent ending.  Your child's pieces should show improvement in spelling, punctuation, ideas and organization at this point!  They are doing great:)

5. I will begin January testing next week (week of January 10th) so be expecting reading books to come home that are new and have not been practiced in class as they normally are!

I think that is it for now....thanks for a great 2010:)  Looking forward to all the leaps we are going to take together in 2011!  Please continue to encourage and support your child at home, they are doing great in class and I am so proud of each and every one of them:)

Welcome back!  Ms. Benear

January Family Project

First Grade Family Project

Each month we will be sending home instructions on a project your child will need your help with. These family projects will coincide with a grade level content expectation (GLCE) that we are working on at the time. Please help your child prepare to present his or her project to the class. Thank you so much in advance for taking the time to do these projects with your child. These projects help connect home to school.

January
The project for the month of January is a HOW TO project.

 

Be sure to use the attached packet to help you complete this project.

A HARD COPY HAS ALREADY BEEN SENT HOME

1. Please help your child brainstorm and list activities you can do together as a family. (ex. Make a sandwich, play a game, brush your teeth)
2. Choose one of the activities and decide what items you need to perform the activity. (peanut butter, jelly, bread, knife, plate, etc.)
3. After you have collected what you need, do the activity with your child. While engaged in the activity, be sure to talk about what you did FIRST, NEXT, THEN and LAST.
4. When you have finished the chosen activity please have your child draw a picture and write a sentence for each step of the activity. Be sure to begin step one with FIRST, step two with NEXT, step three with THEN, and step four with LAST.
5. Please return this family project by Friday, January 14th

Thanks so much!  Ms. Benear :)

Polar Express Party

All Aboard the Polar Express

Our Polar Express celebration will be
Wednesday, December 22nd from 10:00 – 11:30 am 
Please let me know if you will be able to join us and help or if you are able to bake train sugar cookies!

We need your help to make sure this party is a great one. Please let me know if you are able to come in and help. The party will be from 10:00 – 11:30. The children will board the Polar Express…get a ticket (punched by a parent)…sit on the train and listen to the story. When we are finished with the story, the children will go to various centers around the room (headed by parents). They will have hot cocoa, decorate train cookies and make some Polar Express crafts. It will be an exciting morning. That afternoon we will watch the movie and compare it to the book!

Here is a list of the items needed for the Polar Express party.  Please send in the item that has your child's name next to it by Monday, December 20th!  If you are unable to get that particular item, please let me know as soon as possible.

Thank you so much!  Ms. Benear:)

1 package of bells - Jason B.
1 container of vanilla icing - Abby, Hannah, Alaina
1 container of oats - Justin
Holiday candy sprinkles - Aiden
Christmas colored ribbon - Dylan, Andrew G., Stephen
1 pack of Christmas bulbs (plastic that hang on a tree) - Raleigh, Gabbey, Lilly
Christmas colored yarn - Elayna
Food coloring - Jason N.
1 bag of marshmallows - Liam O.
1 package of Christmas colored beads - Bryant, Ella, Nolan, Sara
1 package of bells - Kendall
25 plastic spoons - Liam T.
25 paper plates - Andrew T.
1 package cocoa cups with lids - Lindsay, Brevin

Family Turkey Project

Family Turkey Project

Dear Families,
Please work with your child and make a turkey to present to the class any way you desire. Use anything you have around the house to make the turkey!

Discuss what materials might be suitable to use to make your turkey, decide how to attach materials, etc. Talk with your child about this project and work together to create it.
Please send the turkey to school with your child by Friday, November 19th!

Each child will have a chance to show the class their turkey and tell them…
1. What materials were used?
2. Who helped them?
3. How they made the turkey?
4. What is their favorite part of their turkey?

This is an exciting project for the children. I am looking forward to seeing some “VERY FINE TURKEYS”!

Have some family fun with this one…anything goes!
Thanks, Ms. Benear