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First Grade News
Sept 30, 2008
Dear First Grade Parents,
September has certainly flown by here in school! The children have been industrious this
month, learning the routines of school, applying themselves to lessons and work demands, and
learning about their new classmates through work and play. I am delighted with their efforts to date
and with their willingness to keep in control of themselves, evident with an almost full pompom
container! Be sure to ask them by the end of the week what this means!
I am attaching to this newsletter an info sheet on weekend book sharing which will begin on
Friday, Oct. 3rd. Have fun reading together! It has been a busy month assessing children to get a
baseline of skills in the area of reading through the DIBELS assessment (Dynamic Indicators of Basic
Early Literacy Skills) and DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment). These two tools will be helpful
in determining the needs of all first graders in order to differentiate instruction to help them move
forward on the reading continuum. I look forward to beginning guided reading groups to strengthen
concepts about print, phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency skills.
I am looking forward to having parent helpers assist our first grade readers with one-to-one
reading on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2-2:30. Hopefully, those days and time slot will not pose
conflicts. I will ask my room mothers to get in touch with those who have signed up to volunteer to
see what day works better. My goal is to have parents in to school one Tuesday or one Thursday
each month (eight parents have volunteered). Thank you in advance for your willingness to help out!
The children have worked diligently as mathematicians on number skills, pattern work,
geometry, and measurement activities this past month. We have worked in whole groups, small
groups, with partners, and independently to explore these concepts. As you have seen this past
month with the math homework sent home, your role is instrumental in helping to foster additional
reinforcement in order to strengthen these math skills. As the year progresses and we spiral through
the same math concepts, the level of difficulty will increase. I will be determining who will need
extra support, whether it be one-to-one or small group work and who will need to be challenged
with additional activities. I am seeing the benefit of some of my stronger students assisting
classmates in explaining and providing help, and providing opportunities for building confidence and
character. As I’ve told the children before we are “a community of learners” playing and
collaborating together! We, the first grade team, are continuing where the kindergarten teachers
have left off building respect, responsibility, and resourcefulness in our students!
Just a reminder to please review the work that comes home daily in the children’s homework
folder to review errors, corrections on formation of letters, or to see notes that are written on
paperwork. I would appreciate your help in having your child complete any unfinished schoolwork or
homework that’s sent home. I understand how busy families are and accept homework completed
either overnight or the following night. Reading books for 20 minutes should be occurring each
night. Please refer to the handouts from the Open House to help guide you in conversations about
the books you or your child may read. “Reading is thinking” and a dialogue should occur to help
push kids’ thinking deeper.
If your child is still tired or cranky when arriving home from school, please understand that they
are still adjusting to school and having a short rest time and nutritious snack, and fresh air will help
get them through until bedtime. Bedtime should be at a reasonable time whether they appear tired
or not, reading books in bed, listening to soft music or doing quiet activities to wind down will help
them get to sleep at an appropriate time in order to be ready for school the next day.
As you have been informed, morning meetings with Ms. Nikas in the cafeteria begin this week.
My class is on the red team and meets every Monday morning beginning on Sept. 29th. Please
remind your child to bring a few books to look at while waiting for the meeting to begin.
Just a reminder to check my teacher web page every so often at the Boxford School website for
any announcements or reminders. Thanks so much!
Happy Fall!
MaryAnne York
Weekend Book Sharing
As part of your child’s reading program, I would like to ask you to take some time each weekend
to read with your child. S/he has chosen very special books that have been practiced all week long.
Every Friday, your child picks new books to put in their “just right” reading bags for the week. These
are not the only books that they will read, but they are their book selections for their daily
independent/bookbag reading time. Throughout the week, your child uses these books to practice
strategies to build and reinforce reading skills. Also on Fridays, your child will select one of their
books, putting it in their weekend bookbag to take home and share with you over the weekend.
Please have your child return it to school on Monday.
As this is the beginning of the school year and I am currently administering reading
assessments, bear with your child with their choices. For most students, reading is still brand new
and they will try to “retell” the story using their own words. As they become more comfortable with
reading and gain more skills, they will begin to read more accurately. For those students already
reading, I am working with them on choosing books at their level, reading with fluency, and
decoding more difficult words. Besides developing decoding skills, it is necessary for them to
comprehend what they read, remembering character names, text vocabulary, sequence of events,
and to think more critically in order to be a more successful reader.
Weekend reading can be a very exciting and sometimes nerve-racking experience for children and
sometimes for you as well. They want you to be proud of them, no matter what level they are at.
Please find the time to sit one to one on the weekend, as well as nightly for this reading interaction.
Your child will benefit greatly! Here are some suggestions that may be of help to you while reading
with your child.
ALLOW YOUR CHILD TO MAKE MISTAKES!
When children learn how to read, they need to become comfortable with using the strategies they are
learning in class.
TRY NOT TO GIVE THE ANSWER!
Rather than answering the question, “What’s this word?” with a simple answer, try encouraging your
child to be a problem solver. Ask them what they have learned to do when they get stuck. Say
instead, “Use your strategies.”
WHAT ARE THE STRATEGIES OF SUCCESSFUL READERS?
Using a variety of strategies will help your child find a way that is helpful for their type of learning
style.
• Look at the pictures for clues.
• Skip the word, read on for clarity, then go back and re-read.
• Guess the word, and then make sure it fits the meaning.
• Guess the word, and then make sure it fits visually.
• (Visually means looking at the length of the word, or at the letters/sounds at the beginning,
middle, or end of word.)
• Sound it out together.
• Use familiar word parts as a starting spot (word chunks/families, word endings, vowel sounds,
etc.)
• Give a rhyming word… “that word rhymes with cat!”
POWER STRUGGLES
Sometimes your child just won’t read to you! This is most often attributed to their worry that you
won’t be proud of them if they are not successful the first time around or if they are tired even if they
insist they are not. Try not to get caught in the struggle. Here are some suggestions for this
particular situation.
• “How about if I read a page and then you read a page?”
• “Can we read it together?”
• “Let me read to you but I might need some help” (purposely making mistakes lets them see that
it’s okay to not be perfect.)
• Enjoy this time together! This should be fun, not a test of your child’s reading ability.
• Find a cozy place where you can spend this time alone with your child.
Thank you in advance for the efforts that you make each day helping your child feel successful and
excited about reading. Please let me know if you have any struggles or have successes that you
would like to share.
Please help your child return their book in its weekend bookbag each Monday. Do encourage your
child to read their book repeatedly throughout the weekend to siblings, friends, relatives,
babysitters, etc. The more your child reads, the better reader s/he will become.
Happy Reading!
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