What a wonderful week it has been in first grade. We're continuing to get to know each other and get comfortable with our classroom routines. I hope you're not on folder overload at home. The Friday Take Home Folder went home today with our work as well as the spelling post test. Because the weekend is long and next week is again short, we took the pretest today so students have more time with the spelling words which are due next Friday. Please return the take home folder on Tuesday and we'll reload it with goodies.

A few important dates to keep in mind:

• Thursday, September 6 is cap day. Please have your child wear a hat to school. We'll be focusing on words with "short a" that day.
• Friday, September 7 is the field trip to the Outdoor Discovery Center.

Thank you to all the parents who volunteered to chaperone the field trip to the Outdoor Discovery Center. We've been limited to taking only four parents along. I randomly chose four parents and will contact them this weekend. Thank you for SUCH wonderful classroom support!

I feel badly turning parents down who want to be involved in the classroom. On that note, we do have another area we need volunteers. Mrs. Hofman, our librarian, has asked for parents to help with our book check-out on Friday mornings from 9:30-10:00. I know that sometimes it can be difficult to commit every week, but maybe this could be a rotating position between two or four parents? Please contact me if you're interested in helping with our kiddos in the library on a bi-monthly or monthly basis. I can put together a schedule. THANK YOU!

Onto the good stuff. Take a peek at all the fun learning we've been doing this week. You see some picture above of our hunt for habitats. The kids found all kinds of creatures and made observations of their habitats. God created such a beautiful world. We stood in awe of how, from habitat to adaptations, God cares for even the tiniest creatures. How much more doesn't he care for his children?

Science links well with the creation study that we're talking about in Bible. We're memorizing Genesis 1:1 and learning about creation, the fall and Christ's sacrifice for our redemption. A beautiful truth indeed.

Reading! We're getting our book boxes filled with appropriate levels for each child. I've been able to assess students and we're already starting to make individual goals. This is when the growth really starts to happen. Even though there is no formal reading chart coming home to track minutes, please encourage your child to read independently and/or read regularly together. Just like any other learned skill, the more we practice, the more proficient and confident we become.

In math, we've been reviewing number sense, adding and some subtraction. The iPads are a big motivator for kids. They practice dozens of math problems, more than a worksheet could hold, and groan when it's time to end. Teachers drool over groans like that :) I'm working to catch number reversals in your child's written work. If I miss some, please encourage your child to erase the error and write the number correctly. We've worked at writing numerals properly, but some habits die hard.

It's been a little toasty lately. If anyone's got an in with Matt Kirkwood, let him know we can cool things off just a touch :)  We've been drinking a lot of water and blasting our fans. Despite the heat, the kids have been working hard through it all. I'm so proud of them! I would imagine bedtimes are a tad earlier than they were two weeks ago. Thank you for all of your support at home. Enjoy your long weekend and we'll be ready for more action and learning beginning on Tuesday.

                                                        Popsicles in the shade...ahhhh!