Mrs.+Langer

__Mrs. Langer__ A Recipe for a Great First Grade Class __ Parent Note- /128/24

Helpful Hints for Parents: School begins at 7:45 and ends at 3:05.

Anytime you send money to school please place it in an envelope with your child's name and grade on the front.

Your child may bring a small, nutritious snack to school. This snack will be eaten at first recess. This is optional.

Please let me know at least one day early if you are planning on treating the class for your child's birthday.

Please inform me if your child has a health issue.

Allow time for your child to adjust to school routines. First grade is tough especially in the beginning of the year. The students are often very tired (especially if it is still warm outside.)

Need Ideas to Work on at Home You’ve come to the right place!!! ** Here are some of the skills that we have been or will be working on this year **** : **

Literacy Skills: Beginning, middle, and ending consonant sounds Short vowel sounds Long vowel sounds 2 letter blends (cl,br,st,etc.) Digraphs (ch, th, sh, wh, ng, ck) Beginning to try combinations of vowels (ai, ay, ee, ea, oo, etc.) *Reading, reading, reading!!! (As many books as we possibly can! We know we grow the more we read!)
 * Decoding words with our letter/sound combinations·

Word Play
Compound words Contractions Rhyming words · Alphabetizing Adding endings (-ing, -ed, -s, -es, -est) Adding “silent e” to make vowel sounds long

Story Play to Encourage Comprehension Sequencing story events Predicting what stories will be about or how they may end Exploring characters and story settings Creating plays Making projects to go with books read (We get to be really good writers the more we practice, too!) Words we know Sentences with help, modeling, and encouragement Journals Rewriting stories in our own words Creative stories (with inventive spelling) Letters to people Working on penmanship and handwriting (letter form, size, and placement) Just for fun…Spelling tests
 * Writing, writing, writing!

=*Games that encourage Literacy Development= Vocabulary concentration Word BINGO Boggle Junior Pictionary Junior Scrabble Any activities that encourage Reading and Writing (cards, etc.) CD ROM’s like Jump Start First and Second Grade, etc. Websites for children Math and Problem Solving Skills:
 * Reading and writing numbers to 100


 * Adding numbers up to 20


 * Subtracting numbers from 20 and below

· by 1’s to 100 · by 2’s to 30 · by 5’s to 100 · by 10’s to 100 · backwards from 100-1
 * Counting

· Calendar (year, season, month, week, and day skills) · Telling time to the hour and half hour · Beginning understanding of seconds, minutes, and hours
 * Time

· Coin names (penny, nickel, dime, quarter and half dollar) · Coin values (1 cent, 5 cents, 10 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents) · Beginning to add combinations of coins (1 nickel and 3 pennies )
 * Money

CD’s like Treasure math Storm, Websites
 * Patterning Games that encourage math skills:
 * Estimating Dominoes Puzzles Monopoly
 * Graphing Games that encourage adding or subtracting
 * Measuring with points, cards, dice etc.

But most of all….. ** REMEMBER TO SPEND TIME **
 * TOGETHER AND HAVE FUN!!! **

Mrs. Langer

Reading Strategies for Parents:

When you are helping your child read at home, several strategies may be used to aid in decoding unknown words.


 * Tell your child to look at the picture. You might tell your child the word is something that can be seen in the picture, if this applies to the text you are reading.

// at // in cat, or //and// and //ing// in standing.
 * Tell your child to look for chunks in the words, such as //it// in sit or


 * Ask your child to get his mouth ready to say the word by shaping the mouth for the beginning letter

*Ask your child if the word looks like another word he/she knows. An example would be “Does fed look like bed?


 * Ask your child to continue reading to the end of the sentence-not the line. Often by reading the other words in context, the child can figure out the unknown word.

Does it look right? Does it sound right? Does it make sense?
 * If your child says the wrong word while reading, ask questions like:


 * It is important that children learn to use these strategies independently. When your child “figures out’ a word, you might ask how he/she did it. Telling about their reading helps reinforce learning. Always praise their effort!