A few things...

First, there was a miscommunication. I know I told a few of you that the MAP test was rescuduled yesterday. I was told that they would cancel it yesterday and have them take it another day. It seems that the message was not passed to the computer lab, so the students who were at school yesterday did end up taking the MAP test. The students who were absent yesterday, were pulled out of class today to make the test up. So everyone has finished the tests now. I am sorry about the miscommunication. The results for the test will not be available for a few weeks.

Second, the money for the Christmas costume was due today. I forgot to remind you yesterday about it. If you have not sent it yet, please send the money tomorrow.

Lastly, tomorrow our class will perform the doubles song during morning lines. If you would like, it would be great if you could practice it at home tonight with the actions. Your student should know the actions. I gave the link for the song on last weeks Grade 1b News post.


Thank you! 

Two Important Announcements

1. Tomorrow will be a half day. Students will leave at 12:00pm. There is a notice coming home about this today. Please be sure to check the channel books. School will resume as normal on Wednesday, unless we inform you otherwise.

2. Tomorrow our class will take the Math MAP test. Please be sure you child gets a good night rest and eats a healthy breakfast. Thank you for your support.

On Sunday, we took the Reading MAP test. I am sorry that I was not able to inform you ahead of time. I didn't know until the day of. 

Please note

There is no behavior report today. We were very busy at the end of the day with art and making paintings. So, unfortunately we did not have a chance to fill out our behavior report.

It will come home tomorrow and include today's color as well.

Reminder

Hello Parents,

Just a reminder that Sunday is Picture Day. Please make sure that your students come in proper uniform attire. Please no PE pants or shirts.

Thank you!

Grade 1b News: Nov 18 - Nov 22

Reading: This week in reading, we learned about Proper Nouns. Also, we didn't have Guided Reading groups because instead, Miss Miranda did reading assessments for everyone to see how much our reading is improving. Everyone is doing very well!!! Thank you to the parents for all of your hard work at home to help with our reading success!


Writing: This week in writing, we learned when to add a period to our sentences, where to put a capital letter in our sentence and what happens if we forgot to add spaces in between our words. Next week, we will be choosing a story to publish. Publishing means that we will choose one story to bring all the way through the writing process and make a final copy!!! When we finish, we will have a publishing celebration where we all get to share our finalized story with the class!


Math: In math we learned about how to subtract all or zero and how to make vertical subtraction sentences. Also, our class is learning a song called Doubles. We have added actions to the song and we are practicing with Grade 1a. When we have perfected it, we will perform it in front of morning lines. Here is the song    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljPKoNJH1Jg

Science: We continued to learn about the difference between living and non-living things. We learned what living things need to stay alive. Then we practiced identifying living from non-living.

Social Studies: We did not have Social Studies this week because we used this time to have a Library session since we hadn't gone in a few weeks. However, on Thursday, Miss Miranda taught the class about the American Holiday of Thanksgiving, since it was Thanksgiving. We had a class discussion about things that we are thankful for. Then we had a small writing assignment to write about things that we would like to give thanks for.

In IT this week, we did the reading and math MAP practice test. Our whole class did such a great job being focused and trying our very best and remembering to NEVER give up, even when it gets hard!!! I was sooooo impressed with our class! They deserve a lot of praise for their efforts! I know that they are going to do an amazing job when it is time to take the actual tests!

Thursday was Sports Day!! We had so much fun!! Unfortunately, I was too busy leading my team to take photos. However, the school was around taking photos that they will be uploading to the school website.

Also, Salma and Nour both lost TWO teeth this week!!! Salma lost both of her front teeth on top, and Nour lost both of her front teeth on bottom. Here is a picture of them.

Homework Update and Reminders

I have posted the next two weeks worth of homework on the homework page. Please be aware that the assigned work may change because we are heading into some more challenging concepts, so we may need to spend more than a day on them, which may affect the homework schedule. Therefore, it is important that you still check it often. I will make a post to notify you if I have adjusted it.


Reminder: Tomorrow is a half day. Also, it is Sports Day. Please make sure that your student comes in their colored shirt for their team. Also, some of the activities involve water, so if you would like, you may send a change of clothes for the ride home.

Thank you!

Reminder and A Mistake

Reminder: Thursday is a half day and we are no longer accepting transportation changes on half days. So if you need to change the transportation for Thursday, please send it on tomorrow. 

Yesterday, I was told that we would be taking the MAP test today. This was an error. Instead, we practiced the Math MAP test today. I believe that our actual tests will be sometime next week, but I am unsure. I will let you know ahead of time, when they are scheduled. I am sorry for the miscommunication. 

Also, since Thursday is Sports Day, we rescheduled our library session for today, so you should expect to see library books coming home today. 

-Thank you! 

MAP Testing

Tomorrow, our class is taking a MAP test. MAP stands for Measures of Academic Progress. This test is school wide from KG1 - Grade 12. It is a computerized test that is intended to measure your student's progress. It is not a test that gives them a grade.

This is not a test that they would study for or need to be worried or stressed about. If you want to help their success, simply be sure they get a good night's sleep and a healthy breakfast and snack tomorrow and maybe some positive encouragement. Remind them to try their best.

Yesterday we took a practice test and everyone did exceptionally well. Tomorrow's test is the Reading MAP test. This will measure their performance in various Reading and Phonics skills. The test is meant for teachers to understand where the students strengths and weaknesses lie so we can be more informed as we plan our instruction in the classroom.

Also, the test is adaptive, which means that it will adjust the questions based on your student's skill levels. Therefore, the more questions they answer correctly, the harder the questions will get. Likewise, if they answer a hard question incorrectly, the questions will get easier to match their level. This means that no matter what, there will be questions on the test that they will not know the answers to, because the test is going to try to find out what they know and don't know.

Again, remember that this test is not something that you or your student should be worrying about. I spent a lot of time letting the students know that it is not something to be afraid of or to be worried about. I told them I just want them to be very focused, take it seriously, and try their very best, but not to be worried if they don't know an answer. Please help me build confidence in your student about this test.

There will be a similar Math MAP test coming in the next few weeks as well.
Thank you for your support!

Homework Update and Plastic Files

~~For the homework, I have added practicing sight words for 5 minutes each day. I have explained it on the homework page. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me or send a note. Thank you.

~~If you notice that one of your student's files is ripped or breaking, please try to replace it with a new one as soon as you get the chance. The purpose of them is to keep notices, books and homework safe and clean. If the file is falling apart, it is no longer protecting what is inside. Unfortunately, the files are not durable enough to last all year, so you will need to replace them as they wear.
As a reminder, here are the colors required for each file:

Home Folder: Clear
Reading File: Yellow
Homework File: Blue
Computer File: Green
Arabic Files: Red





Please try to stick to the appropriate color as it helps keep your student and the teacher's organized.

Thank you for your cooperation!

Sports Day!

Sports Day is on Thursday from 10am to 12pm. It is also a half-day so students leave at 12pm.

We will have teams for sports day and each student needs to wear a colored shirt of their team. Here is the list. Please make sure that your student comes to school on Thursday wearing that color. Also, have them wear their PE pants for this day.


Red Shirts: Eyad, Nour, Youssef
Blue Shirts: Gasser, Yassin
Green Shirts: Hashim, Omar F., Omar N., Ziad
Yellow Shirts: Leena, Salma, Zeina


Thank you!

Grade 1b News - Nov 4 - Nov 15

This is our classroom news for the last 2 weeks.

Reading: We have worked on learning what a noun is and rhyming words. We also practiced the consonants N, D, P and F and the short a vowel sound. We also learned these new words and practiced using them in our writing: play, with, be, help, you, and.

Writing:  We have been learning more strategies to help us spell words correctly in our stories. We also learned what a complete sentence is and what we should do when we think we are finished with a story.

Math: We learned how to use a number line and we continued to practice counting on. We also learned about doubles and near doubles in addition. Also, at the end of last week, we moved onto our subtraction unit and will beginning practicing subtraction in the coming weeks.

Science: We finished our senses unit and then we began our next unit on plants and animals. Last week, we learned what the difference is between a living and non-living things and practiced identifying them in the world.

Social Studies: We learned about our extended family. What is an aunt, uncle and cousin? We also made family trees. Our monthly value is Responsibility, so we also practiced learning about being responsible.

Art: In art, we made stick figure portraits and outlined them in different colored pencils.

Sight Word Practice

During conferences, I let many of you know that I would be sending sight word flashcards home for you to use to practice at home. These flashcards are coming home today and it will include a letter explaining different ways for you to use these.


Also, I wanted to give you some online resources for practicing sight words. Here are some great websites that have games for practicing sight words.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/hfwords/starwords/gamefs.shtml#

http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/magazines/edition1/swfs/icanread/index.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/dynamo/den/spelling/index.htm

http://www.starfall.com/n/matching/sight-words/load.htm

http://www.kerpoof.com/#

www.starfall.com

http://www.cookie.com/kids/games/sight-words.html

 http://www.sadlier-oxford.com/phonics/grade_k_1/high_fre/hifreq1.htm

http://www.gamequarium.com/readquarium/sightgames.html

http://www.mrcpl.org/literacy/lessons/sight/index.html

http://www.dolchword.net/dolch-word-games.html

Also, I know many of you have Iphones, Ipads, a tablet or smart phone. Check the App Store for games about sight words. I know there are many games out there. This is just another idea to use for practicing sight words with your child! 

Homework Change

It slipped my mind that there is no school on Thursday and I have already assigned homework for Wednesday.

So instead of turning homework in on Wednesday, you can just keep it over the weekend, and turn it in on Sunday, so that you can complete Wednesday's homework.


As a reminder, there is no school on Thursday for the Islamic New Year.

Enjoy your holiday.

Transportation Changes Notice

Transportation changes on half days will no longer be accepted unless the school is informed one day ahead of time.

Please be sure to call or send a note to the school on the day before the half day. Otherwise, your change will not be accepted.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Halloween!

Sorry I am behind in posting. The internet both at school and my home has been very slow and in and out lately and it has set my blogging back a bit.


We had such a great day on Halloween and we finished off the day with some trick or treating around school. We also watched a science video about Halloween that taught us all the cool things about cats, spiders and skeletons!

Here are some great photos from Halloween!

Princess

Dracula

Super Man

Spider Man disguised!

Spider Man Revealed!

Awesome Pirate Face!

Where's my treasure!

Tinkerbell!

Scream!

Teletubby!

  

Batman disguised as a Teletubby!

 

Trick or Treating!

Arabic and Religion Blog

The Arabic and Religion teachers have created their own blog to post their news and homework.

From now on, please visit their new blog to get the Arabic and Religion homework.

Here is the blog: http://arrelmoegpschoolelementary.wordpress.com/

It is also listed on the right side of this page under the "My Blog List."

Thank you!

New Value of the Month

This month's value is .....

Responsibility is a very important value and something that students need to begin learning when they are young. We talked about what being responsible means in class and at school. This is a great opportunity for you to discuss with your student about what being responsible at home, in your community or in your religion looks like also.

 The teacher's are keeping their eyes out for very responsible kids. We have been doing great so far!

Book Fair Ending

Tomorrow is the last day of the book fair. If you want to purchase books from your student's wish list and haven't done so yet, please send money with the wishlist tomorrow.

Thank you for supporting our book fair!

Parent Conferences

Thank you to all of the parents who made it in to meet with me! It was great to meet with everyone!


Don't forget to send in your signed progress report.
Thank you!

Email

My GP School email is not working. If you need to contact me over the weekend, you can email me at mrs.benfer@gmail.com

Hopefully on Sunday, I can get the GP email fixed, but until then, please email me on the gmail account.

Thanks!

Don't forget your meeting time

Here is the schedule of the parent meetings for Sunday.

Please try to be on time because if you are running late, then our meeting will have to be cut short or you may have to wait until I have a free time again. I tried to leave some open blocks so that there would be time to catch up if a meeting runs long, but you can see that many meetings are back to back, so if you are 15 minutes late, you could miss your meeting.


I hope to see you on Sunday.

                        Parents Meeting Schedule

Timing	Student Name
8:15 – 8:30	Salma
8:30 – 8:45
8:45 -9:00
9:00 – 9:15	Eyad
9:15- 9:30	Gasser
9:30 -9: 45	Omar F.
9:45 – 10 :00	Hashim
10:00 -10:15
10:15- 10:45
10:30-10:45	Omar N.
10:45 – 11:00	Zeina
11:00 -11:15	Yassin
11:15 -11:30	Leena
11:30- 11:45	Lunch
11:45-12:00	Lunch
12:00- 12:15	Lunch
12:15 -12:30	Ziad
12:30-12:45	Nour
12:45 -1:00	Youssef

Book Fair

We have a book fair going on at school until Nov 8.

Today your student will be coming home with a "Wish List" of books. We went to the book fair and looked around and the students got to write down books that they would like to buy. I asked them to choose books that were not too hard for them. The wishlist also lists the price of the book.

If you wish to purchase any of the books for your child, please send money with them next week along with the wish list and we can purchase them during school.


There are a lot of great books and resources at the book fair. I only allowed the students to write down books that they would be able to read themselves, but there was so much more that they liked and wanted. If you want to purchase other things for them, you can come visit the book fair with them. When you are here during conference day, you can take a look around then. There are tons of books, work books, computer games, audio books and some toys.

If are not able to make it in to the book fair but would like to purchase some books, please send the money to school with your student.

Progress Reports

Progress Reports will be coming home today with your students in a large white envelope.

Please sign them and you can return them to me on Sunday during your parent meeting. If you miss your meeting, please send the signed report back to school with your student.


I look forward to seeing you all again at conferences on Sunday! As a reminder, there is no school for students on this day.