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October 17, 2017 

Dear Families, 

We have a busy full week of school this week!  We will be finishing Unit 2 in Superkids and take our end of unit 1 and 2 test.  I do not have the students study for this test as we review in the classroom and I use it to help see where your student may need extra help or where they are succeeding.  If there is an area of concern, I will let you know.  In math we are working on ten-frames.  In writing we are beginning to write and answer questions.  We will ask others questions, read stories to help answer questions and use data to answer questions.  In religion we are learning about Holy things in the church and what we can do to be reverent.  Father Tim will be giving up a tour of the church at some point this week.  We will also begin writing our scripts for the Saints Celebration.  Once the scripts are written I will make a copy to send home for your child to practice reading at home.  In social studies we are learning about time.  We are learning that time can be the past, present and future.  It could be the month or the day on the calendar, or the time on the clock.  In science we are reviewing the stages of life and beginning to learn about our habitat, the place that we live.  Just a reminder that tomorrow students must wear their dress uniforms for class pictures.  Please also remember to sign up for conferences next week.  You can find the link above on this page.  If you are unable to meet at any of the times provided please let me know as I would be happy to find a time that works best for you!  

Any questions, comments or concerns please feel free to let me know! 
God Bless, 
Miss Coombs

October 10, 2017

Dear Families, 

We have been busy here in first grade.  We have continued talking about our Saints play that will take place on November 1st at 2:30 in the gym.  This week for homework students are asked to complete research about their selected saint that is age appropriate.  You can look online, watch movies or go to the library to find a book.  We will be using this fact sheet to create our script for the play.  In Reading we have finished our first unit in Adventures of the Superkids working with sh, ch and tch.  Please continue to engage your students to sound out and spell words with these patterns.  We will begin working with question words in unit 2 such as what, why, where and who.  We will also work with th pattern words.  In writing we are working on our first draft of our small moment writing.  We will begin to edit our writing before writing our final drafts by the end of the week.  In math we are continuing to work with subtraction sentences.  We are learning that we can write multiple addition and subtraction number sentences for each part part whole mat.  Last week, in social studies we talked about being a good citizen and this week we will be talking about Fire Safety.  In science we will continue talking about the life stages of adolescent and adult.  Please remember that homework should only take 10-15 minutes a night per subject assigned.  If it is taking additional time please stop your child and send in a note.

Any questions, comments or concerns please feel free to contact me! 
Thank you, 
Miss Coombs

September 26, 2017

Dear Families, 

Today we had a terrifict Tuesday.  We learned and talked about Jonny Appleseed as we begin our journey into the season of fall.  We finished our Superkids Placement Test and will begin Adventures with the Superkids tomorrow leanring about the sh, ch and tch patterns in words.  We also will begin to learn memory words each week to help us read and spell.  In math we are working on finding the missing part.  In Religion we are learning that we are a Child of God and we are each special and unique in our own way.  We will begin to sing "If I were a Butterfly" this week as we will use this song in our November Saints play.  In writing we are going to begin writing about small moments using complete sentences.  We want our children to learn to begin a sentence with a captial letter and end with an end mark.  We also want to encourge finger spaces between words and for them to sound out as many words as they can.  

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me! 
Thank you, 
Miss Coombs 
e.coombs@stpaulkensington.org 

September 21, 2017

Dear Families, 

Today we worked on listening and being kind to friends.  We are trying to find nice ways to talk to friends when something is wrong using our manners.  During Relgion we talked about how God made us like himself.  We finished reviewing what was taught last year in superkids and will begin our new book on Monday.  In math we are beginning to work with subtraction.  In Social Studies we are talking about rules that we have at home vs. the rules we have at school.  

Thank you, 
Miss Coombs

September 18, 2017 

Dear Families, 

We had a busy day today getting back to work.  I hope you all enjoyed your long weekend and had fun at the Berlin Fair!  Today we worked on writing lists of our favorite foods.  We continued to talk about how God is good for creating our world for us.  In Superkids, we talked about if a word has an 's' at the end it is talking about more than one (plural).  In math, we worked on using objects to solve problem.  In Science, we are talking about characteristics of infants and toddlers.  

I cannot wait to see what the rest of the week will bring! 
Thank you, 
Miss Coombs 
ecoombs@stpaulkensington.org 
 

September 12, 2017

Dear Families, 

Wow, we are already halfway through the week.  We have been working hard and continuing to learn procedures in the classroom.  Today we started our small guided reading groups along with working with centers.  In Religion we are learning about the creation story.  In math we are working on understanding number sentences, P+P=W (part + part = whole).  During social studies we are working on learning where we live on the map.  This week in science we will learn abou the life cycle.  

I hope to see all of you tomorrow evening at the State of the School at 7pm in the gym! 
God Bless, 
Miss Coombs

September 6, 2017

Dear Families, 
We have had a busy few days in first grade!  We are continuing to work on our classroom routines as we begin our curriculum.  We want to continue to remind our first graders about appropriate lunch time manners; Sitting in our seats, chewing with our mouths closed and picking up our garbage when we are done.  During Religion we have continued talking about Jesus as our friend.  We practiced making the sign of the cross as well as learning that Jesus died on the cross to show his love for us.  In writing we began to write our hopes and dreams for first grade.  During reading we are working on sorting beginning sounds words and that the ck say /k/.  This week we are learning the procedures for our centers so we can begin to work in guided reading groups.  In math we began our first unit working on addition.  We are teaching students how to put the bigger number in their head and count on.  We want to steer them away from counting all the objects and identify patterns.  In social studies we are learning about the Pledge of Allegiance and the importance of Labor Day.  

Don't forget our All About Me posters are due on Friday! 
Any questions please feel free to email me! e.coombs@stpaulkensington.org 

God Bless, 
Miss Coombs

September 1, 2017 

Dear Families, 

I cannot believe our first few days of first grade are already behind us.  We have worked hard and learned many rules and routienes in first grade.  We are learning to walk quietly in the hallways, follow directions, raise our hands, be nice to others and use our manners.  These are skills that we will work on all year long. In superkids we worked on sorting words by their beginning sounds.  In math we practiced writing our numbers and talked about which is less.   Today I sent home your childs All About Poster.  This can be decorated in any way you would like.  It is due next Friday, September 8th.  We will share the posters and then place them above the lockers for the duration of the school year.  

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. 
Thank you, 
Miss Coombs

August 31, 2017

Dear Parents, 

Today was another fabulous day in First Grade!   We started our day by talking about Jesus being our friend.  We then talked about the Superkids, trying to remember what they all liked.  Please fill out the Superkids online paper that I sent in your child's take home folder today.  This will allow access to online material at home such as games and books to read.  In math we worked on graphing our emoji's.  We also talked about our classroom rules.  

Have a wonderful evening, 
Miss Coombs

August 30, 2017

Dear Parents, 

We had a fantastic first day!  We began our day organizing our new materials.  We learned about our morning routines and our Morning Meeting.  We went on a scavenger hunt to find things around the room and new information about our friends.  We read First Day Jitters, My New Teacher and Me and Amelia Bedelia's First Day of School.  We talked about how we felt coming to school today and drew our first day selfies.  I am excited to see what tomorrow will bring!  

Enjoy your evening, 
Miss Coombs
e.coombs@stpaulkensington.org

August 28, 2017

Dear Parents,

Welcome to first grade!  I am so excited to begin our wonderful adventure.  I hope you were able to enjoy your summer and provide your children with many learning experinces.  I cannot wait to hear about all of the fun you had.

On the first day of school please have your child come with your backpack, school supplies, a snack and lunch.  Don't forget to bring back your summer packet! 

If you have any questions, comments or concerns please feel free to contact me!  

God Bless,
Miss Coombs
e.coombs@stpaulkensington.org
 

June 19, 2017

Dear Parents, 

 As I am saddened to see my first class at Saint Paul School leave and move to second grade, I am excited to welcome the incoming first graders to my classroom.  Our year will be filled with learning, excitement and cherished memories.  Our classroom fosters a positive learning environment where students are encouraged to take learning risks. The children will be able to feel comfortable and invited, knowing that they can be themselves and make educational mistakes freely. My goal is to inspire, encourage, and engage each and every student in the learning process. I can’t wait to have you join me for an unforgettable learning journey.

To best prepare your child for first grade, I am asking that each child read daily for 15-20 minutes. I know this will benefit your child and keep their brain active for 1^st grade. To get ready for Envision Math it’s never to early to practice adding and subtracting.  Below is a summer packet with short activities to help your child prepare.  There is also a Adventure Journal attached.  Your child may write or you may ask your child what they want to write and you can scribe it for them. 

Enjoy your summer, and keep those brains active!

If you have any questions, comments or concerns please feel free to contact me at any time! 

Miss Coombs
e.coombs@stpaulkensington.org

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