December is here!

                      December 4, 2015

Dear Families,

I hope you had a happy and healthy Thanksgiving. I am so thankful that the weather finally has been warm enough for the children to play outside for some of the days. With the breaks, we have been able to get a lot accomplished. Math Unit 4 will be finished next week and should come home before Winter Break. We will also finish another Literacy Unit (3) and Social Studies Unit (3). You will be able to view grades on the Parent Portal until December 7 when the portal will close for teachers to input grades for the report card. Report cards will come home on January 14.

By this time of year, first graders should know at least the first 50 sight words. I will be testing students to make sure they know them. I will send a list soon if your child needs more practice. Please help them learn these important words. Thank you for all you do to help your child be most successful.

The Pizza Hut Book-It program continues this month. I will take November sheets for another week. I sent December’s sheet home on Tuesday.

 With Winter Break nearly upon us, I want to wish you Happy Holidays. If you need ideas for stocking stuffers or little Hanukkah gifts, crayons (If you sent in two boxes at the beginning of the year, I will give them their next box in January.), markers and glue sticks are in need of replacement.

 Our party on the 17^th will be a breakfast theme from 8:30 – 9:30.

Students may come to school in their pajamas. Thank you for your support. Happy Holidays!

                                                                                                                                           Sincerely,                                                                     Susan Stark

Happy Thanksgiving

November 20, 2015

Dear Families,

Student Council is still collecting Box Tops for Education. Please send in all that you have on the collection sheet. We have more if you need a new one. They will be collected monthly and counted throughout the year. Thank you for all you sent in already.

This is our third year for Standards Based reporting in our District and our first year that grade book has been open through Infinite Campus. Semester report cards will be going home soon. All of us have been working diligently to show you how your child is doing in the interim. At conferences, I told you about how in math, literacy, social studies and science you can expect an evidence packet which shows how your child has done on the current benchmarks. The same scores can be viewed on Infinite Campus grade book.

As of this Friday folder, you now should have 3 packets for math. Unit 4 will go home prior to Winter Break. You should also have two literacy packets, one Social Studies packet and a Science packet covering our Earth, Moon, Sun unit of study. Before Winter Break, you will have another literacy packet and a couple of social studies packets covering geography. It was a big change for all of us these past 2 years. I believe it is for the best, accomplishing the highest goal of communicating with you how your child is doing compared to the standard. It helps me know what I need to work on to assist your child in meeting that standard or when to push to exceed the standard. My greatest hope is that by the time you get the report card, it will only be confirmation of what you already know about your child.

Next week, we will have our first ever full week break. Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving. I am thankful for you and your children. I love my job!

Sincerely,   Susan Stark

Happy November!

October 30, 2015

Dear Families,

Happy Halloween! This week just sped by. I can hardly believe it is almost November! I want to thank all of you that helped organize and run our Halloween activities at the party. Mrs. Johnson took on the role of party organizer and did a fantastic job. Thank you to her great team – Mr. Johnson, Mrs. Hilyard, Mrs. Saenz, Mrs. Martinez and Mrs. Shults.  Also thank you to all who donated items for our party.

I truly feel blessed with the most wonderful group of parents. It isn’t hard to see why your children are caring, supportive of each other and eager to learn and help. I want you to know that I appreciate what all of you do every day.

I picked the volunteers for the November 10^th field trip. Please contact me if you haven’t received information about whether you are going or not. I have not received all the permission slips (a new one will come home in the Friday folder if this pertains to you) and/or money for the trip. If you are having trouble paying online, just send in cash or check. If you already paid, I have received confirmation.

We have been going to the library individually when needed. In the classroom, we are reading for 20 minutes (Read to Self). That is followed by 5 - 12 minute rotations of Word Work, Work on Writing, Listen to Reading/Library Visit, Raz-Kids (or other literacy computer based program) and Read to Partner. The goal is to be on-task and productive throughout reading time. Many children meet these goals daily. They are the ones who are becoming stronger readers and writers. Periodically, I assess each child to assure they are reading right at their instructional level. Sometimes it means moving the whole group slower or faster. At other times, it means one or more students will change groups to meet their needs. With flexible groupings, no one is forced to catch up to others or slow down to wait.

Our Everyday Math 4, Unit 3 continues for another week or so. Last week the Unit 2 packet of benchmark papers and grades went home. I hope you have had a chance to review it with your child. The grades have also been posted. Let me know what you think about having access to grades.

A message from PTO:

We are kicking off our winter drive early this year due to the need of our sister school North Mor.  They are in great need of gently used or new winter coats and boots.  With the fast approaching cold weather the drive will be from October 26th until November 16th.  The collection box is in our room.

November 5th: fundraiser deliveries: please make sure you have someone to help your child if your order is large or contains frozen food.

November 12th: 1-item parties from 12:35-1:55 pm - more details to follow.

November 13th: Limo rides from 1-2 pm - more details to follow.

November 17th: Chipolte spirit night from 4-8 pm.  

We were focusing on the phases of the moon this week. Since the sun was not very cooperative this week, we skipped the sun portion of our Patterns in the Sky. Hopefully, we will be able to address the sun soon. Please point out the moon whenever you can.

Please send in your pumpkin recording sheet. I’ll accept it all next week. The November recording sheet will come home in the homework folder.

Sincerely, Susan Stark

 

Happy Fall

September 25, 2015

Dear Families,

Wednesday was the first day of fall. In the morning, you can feel the chill in the air. You can see the leaves turning beautiful colors. I love autumn! Our first Spirit Night fundraiser of the year is at Mooyah in The Orchard Town Center. On Tuesday, September 29th, from noon until 9:00, Mooyah will donate 15% of all sales generated by Prairie Hills back to our school. But if our sales surpass $1,000 they will donate 20%! Just be sure to mention you are with Prairie Hills when ordering; no flyer needed.  In addition to raising money for our students, all purchases made at Mooyah during the month of September also benefit the No Kid Hungry campaign. 

Our fall fundraising envelopes are due Friday, October 2! Just remember if every student sells at least one item or a $10 donation they will get to attend the one-item party!

In reading, everyone is in a reading group based on their reading ability. I want to remind you that homework should not be a battle. You are the best judge of what your child can handle. Send me an email, note in the folder or give me a call. I want your child to LOVE school. Hopefully, last week’s note helped answer some questions in this area.

As promised, I am going to talk a bit about writing this week. We teach writing with Interactive Writing, Guided Writing, writing mini lessons and Independent Writing with conferences. Interactive Writing (IAW) is where the students and I share the pen to write a story we negotiate together. Together, we go through the steps an author must go through to write a story, a list, a poem or a letter. Along the way I teach punctuation, grammar, sentence structure, word choice, organization, fluency, and try to help the budding authors develop a style. Guided Writing is where I meet with small groups that have similar writing abilities or have similar needs. Independent Writing is where everyone is writing about a topic of their own choosing. I am floating around conferencing with students on their writing. At conferences (October 8), I can be more specific with you.

 In math, we continue to focus on number concepts – counting (forward and back by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s), graphing, number combinations for 10 and using the number grid to solve problems. I will share the results of their first unit test with you at conferences. I am sure you will be pleased.

In Social Studies, we are finished talking about past, present and future and we will be able to share this first unit with you at conferences. I realized that I didn’t send the personal timeline in the Friday folder and sent it in the homework folder. I hope I didn’t stress anyone out. I just needed for you to give your child some things in their past to put on their personal timeline. This week we will complete the timeline and take a look at traditions.

October is Read Aloud Month and the beginning of the Pizza Hut Book-It program. It is based on reading (student reading or being read to) 20 minutes each night (the Pizza Hut program will continue with new monthly goals until March). If your child meets the goal, he/she will earn a certificate for a free Personal Pan Pizza at Pizza Hut. We will be using a color sheet for your child to keep track. Do not turn it in weekly. Return it by the first week of November to be eligible for the pizza. This is not extra reading. This is just an extra incentive for completing the reading homework – book bags and other reading you are asked to do daily. This can either be you reading to your child, reading with your child or reading by your child (or any combination of these).

If you have a specific question or concern, you may write in the comments section and I will address your question. As always, feel free to call or email with any concerns or just to check in. I also check email at home, so often times this is the quickest way to contact me.

 Please find the October book order in the Friday folder. I will send it in on October 2. Thank you for your support.

Sincerely, Susan Stark

susan.stark@adams12.org

720-972-8804

P.S. As you look at your child’s papers, you might notice a coffee stain on some of them. My husband had a little bit of coffee left in his cup he put by the computer. My daughter knocked the cup off and onto my very organized student file folder stored carefully by the usually food and drink free computer. I am sorry.    

September is in full swing!

September 18, 2015

Dear Families,

It’s hard to believe that we have been in school for about five weeks. The weather is getting a little cooler and I can tell fall is right around the corner. Before long, I expect to see the little white flakes tumbling out of the sky.

At school, we have been very busy learning. Our volunteer schedule began this week and I want to thank you. Everyone was so supportive and wonderful! I love assistants!

Since first grade is your child’s first real encounter with reading, it is natural to wonder how things are going for your child. Many parents have questions about levels, how their child is doing compared to other children and why I choose the books I do for their child. I will try to briefly explain a few things here. At conferences, I will be better able to individualize the explanation. Conference time is coming (Oct. 8). Watch for the Sign-up Genius invitation.

Books can be leveled by many different standards, but there are some common elements that are addressed. These include, but are not limited to, placement of text, repetition of sentence patterns, vocabulary, familiarity of objects and actions, illustrations and language structure. Learning to read is as developmental as learning to talk and children pass through similar stages, but at different rates. We use a system of leveling that uses numbers in our District. By the end of Kindergarten, we like to see children knowing all their letters and sounds and reading a level 3 on unseen text. So it follows that our expectation for the beginning of first grade is knowing all the letters and sounds and reading a level 3 on unseen text. By the end of first grade, the expectation is level 16-18 and knowing 100 High Frequency Words by sight. Remember, not all children pass through the stages at the same rate. Those that pass through more quickly are challenged with harder texts. Those that need more repetitions will get an additional dose of direct instruction to meet the grade level expectation. That is where we are right now – determining how your child’s needs can best be met using our testing to make a good fit (your child with other children with similar abilities).

Sometimes, a book will come home in a book bag that seems wrong for your child. You may even wonder if I am not accurately getting to know your child. Don’t despair! I carefully choose a book for your child’s group based on the number of new words in the book, the accessibility of the concepts and the level of the group.

There are times when after doing the “reading work” in group, your child may have the text committed to memory – remember they have less to remember on a daily basis. That is OK and a valuable part of learning to read. It is important to have your child point to each word. The goal is that after they have read a book they will have a larger bank of words to draw upon for the next book. At other times, it will seem as if the book is insurmountable. Soon, I will have a strategy card in the book bag that you can fall back upon to help your child. Gradually, I will teach your child many strategies. Since the English language is irregular, phonics can only help so far. Early readers need to use the structure of language and the meaning of language as supports to get to the unknown words.  Book bags began coming home on Monday. Usually book bags will come home Monday through Thursday. Next newsletter I will address writing.

Our first class book is complete and will begin to go home this week. Remember to send the book back as soon as you are finished, so the next family can enjoy it. Eventually, I hope for it to make its way around to all our families. I think you will enjoy the book. Bo Bear, our traveling bear will begin his weekend visits today. He comes with a bag, books and a journal for you and your child to write about his adventures at your house. I want your child to write as much as possible, but it is OK for your child to dictate to you as you write it. He, too, will come to everyone’s house.

For Social Studies, we celebrated Constitution Day on Thursday and signed our constitution

(which is our LARKS rules). In Social Studies, we also have been discussing the Language of Time. We sorted objects from long ago and the present. Then, we made a book about our past, present and future. Rounding out the unit, we studied a calendar and all the things we can learn from it.

As we begin out next unit of families and timelines, we will need your help to fill out a paper that will be used to assist your child with completing a personal timeline. Please find it in your child’s Friday folder. We wanted to give you the weekend to find the dates. A close estimate is fine.

In math, we have just finished our first unit on numeration and had the assessment this week. As always, thank you for your support. I couldn’t do my job without it.

Sincerely,

Susan Stark

The difference between setting and characters

https://youtu.be/NnK-iPF-8TI
https://youtu.be/HTpTB4fxigQhttps://youtu.be/lnUnxzNZzk8

Happy September

September 4, 2015

Dear Families,

       Thank you for returning the Friday Folders! I received 100% of them! Wow! I hope it helps to have all the notes and papers for the week coming home at one time. I have found that it is the best way for papers to make it home. I have told the children that when they return the folder, they will get a sticker on it. It can be a wonderful learning tool to have your child responsible for putting the folder back in their backpack after you have looked through the contents together.

Next, I want to address homework. Our first sheet of math homework went home on Wednesday. In our classroom, homework consists of 3 subject areas. First, we have home reading which will be explained in depth on another paper entitled Home Reading which will start on the 14^th. It runs Monday through Thursday. Second, I will be sending the home links from the Everyday Math 4 program. They serve the purpose of connecting what we learned in school to the home. Third, I will send home spelling words on Monday, the 14^th (or the first day of the week on any week that has at least 4 days). This page is due on Friday.

Of course, if your child needs to finish something from the day’s work, it will be in their backpack that day. Additionally, I want to encourage you to read to/with your child for 20 minutes, 4 times a week. Feel free to add more reading time or other homework. However, I strongly caution you to avoid overloading your young child. Research shows that 10 minutes of homework (+ 20 minutes of being read to) is sufficient for a first grader. Please remember that this is your child’s first real experience with homework. If they are resistant, back off a little. Reading, writing, exploring numbers and learning to spell should be a pleasant experience. Incentives are in place for those who do their homework, so hopefully, this will help. 

For reading this week, we broke up into groups and began getting used to rotating through centers. We will complete the reading and writing tests, along with MAPs (which is a computer-based test in literacy and math), by next Friday. I am now in the process of making sure I am meeting everyone’s needs. We began a poem this week to read, talk about and use to learn skills such as rhyming words, letters, letter combinations and grammar.

           For Writers’ Workshop this week, we learned about building our stamina for writing.

Now that we have learned how to make books, many stories are being written. We also began learning and writing our own meaning for the LARKS rules. With our Positive Behavior System in place, everyone works together for a more supportive learning environment. I am trying to use Class Dojo right along with my teaching so you can get a little window into our world.

In math, we have been working on tally marks, correct number formations and learning new games to help our understanding of number concepts. We will take the MAPs test in math next week. Our morning work has been addressing review of kindergarten math skills. It will evolve as we learn new first grade skills.

In Social Studies, we have been comparing schools of long ago and now. As we progress, we will also cover timelines and calendars. Using words like past, present and future, we will get a sense of time.

Thank you for your continued support. If I can be of assistance in any way, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Susan Stark

August 28, 2015

Dear Families,

This is just a quick note to thank you for turning in all of the paperwork that you were given at Open House and 100% of the Friday Folders. I am only looking for coins for a couple of children to use in math You will get a paper copy of the note.

There are two more notes in the folder this week. One is a form for you to update regarding your child’s health and emergency contact numbers. The other is an invitation from our wonderful PTO to join them as they support our students. Please consider sharing your time with them and us.

 

Please find the first book order in the Friday Folder. This is a service I am offering to you this year. You may pay online using the code on the order form or with a check made out to Scholastic Books.

It has been a busy and fun week and a half. Please join me in welcoming Isabella and her family to our school and class. We now have 21 students. If you ever have any questions, please feel free to contact me at school either by phone, note, E-mail or in person. I encourage you to sign up for class Dojo. I started sending pictures this week. J If you need sign-up information again, jot me a note in the Friday folder.

q  Book order by next Friday, September 4^th, if you are interested.

Sincerely,

                                                          Susan Stark

susan.stark@adams12.org

720-972-8804

Welcome to a New School Year

August 17, 2015

Dear Families,

            Welcome back to school! I look forward to getting to know all of you and hearing all of the fantastic stories about summer adventures. For the people who don’t know me, this is my 12^th year at Prairie Hills and my 32^nd year of teaching. I have spent equal amounts of time in first and second grades, with one year in Kindergarten and one year in third. I am happy to be in first grade this year. My husband and I have five children – 3 boys (39, 26, and 17) and two girls (12, 11) and one granddaughter (5). My background in Special Education has given me the foundation to teach children not curriculum. My desire is to reach every child where they are at. I truly believe in the importance of our partnership as we go through the year. You know your child better than anyone in the world and we work hard to keep up with the best practices when it comes to teaching your child. Together we will assure your child will have a successful year in first grade.

I’d like to take a minute to share with you my philosophy of teaching young writers. Written language is learned in much the same way as oral language. Just as a baby babbles, attempts sounds and words, puts words together and communicates, a young writer follows a similar pattern of scribbling, attempting letters and words, putting words together and communicates. With both forms of language goes the assumption that with good modeling and lots of practice the learner will achieve mastery. I believe all children will learn to write. I want to go a step farther. I want all children to need to write in much the same way they need to talk. I hope many will even love to write and will “live like a writer.” Ralph Fletcher, in his book What a Writer Needs, urges us, “Don’t be afraid to live like a writer. Writers explore.”

When I live like a writer, I become a better writer myself. When I paid more particular attention to what a writer needs, I found the students produced longer, more coherent pieces as well as more pieces. Young writers need tremendous practice writing. You’ll probably recall when your child went through the different stages of playing with words and asking question upon question – What’s that? Where are we going? To more thought-provoking questions – Why is the sky blue? Why did Grandma die? As frustrating as this can be, your child was learning about language. In Katie Wood Ray’s book, About the Authors, she tells us that young writers need to make lots of stuff. “It’s this making of something that matters so much to them and drives their work across the year.” I will continue this practice along with implementing a Writers’ Workshop format.

We will begin the year making “stuff” – books, journals, pictures, letters, notes, etc. As the year progresses, we will cover many units of study in writing to refine our craft. For first grade we are responsible for demonstrating proficiency in these genres – personal narrative, opinion writing, and simple report – All About __ and Question and Answer Report.

These will become units of study for a time. We’ll also cover things that will help us become better writers – writing clear description, choosing a topic, revision, how to structure text in a new way, making illustrations work better with the written text and how to peer conference to name a few of the areas covered.

The summer of 2011 permitted me the luxury of reading two books to add to my knowledge base: CAFÉ and The Daily Five. Mrs. Hastings purchased

these books for the staff. My next newsletter will give a more detailed review of how I am fine tuning my literacy instruction. The best part is how I can help the students build their stamina for independent reading. I was surprised at how well first graders can build their stamina for reading when given the structure and support. I can hardly wait to get started with a new group!

It promises to be an exciting year. Watch for my periodic newsletters on our blog and on the school’s website for other notes about what is happening in our classroom. Look for the blog address in my closing. It also will be connected to our school website. Some letters like this one will focus on only one subject area. Others will cover all of the subjects with just an update or two. I hope you will use this tool to help you know what is going on to be an effective partner. I believe we need each other to make your child’s year be the best! Please feel free to contact me with any concerns or questions or just to talk about one of your favorite people. Welcome to our community of learners.

                                                            Sincerely,

Susan Stark

720-972-8804

susan.stark@adams12.org

http://firststarkstars.blogspot.com/