Mrs.

Kuzmenkos First Grade News

September 2012

Back to School
Hope everyone has had a fun filled summer. Welcome back to the school routine. It is off to a rolling start already. My goal is to make this a rewarding, challenging, exciting and fun school year. As an educator, it is my job not only to teach but to help your child become a lifelong learner. We have had a wonderful and very busy first week of school. We have started off by getting to know each other and our classroom. For the next two weeks we will be learning about color and number words. We will also begin reading and sight words. Our main goals for the first few weeks are to get to know the daily schedule, and also the rules and expectations in the first grade. Hopefully the first graders self-confidence will grow as they learn their way around. I will be doing a lot of observing and getting to know each childs strengths and weaknesses. I am super excited about the awesome group I have this year!

Rules of Our Classroom

Be Be Be Be a good listener kind to everyone and everything safe the best student you can be

Parent Involvement
In October I will start having volunteers. Closer to October I will send a schedule home for those who would like to help. In order for me to better communicate with you, I would like to have every parents email. Please email me with your childs name as the subject, include your name and contact information. Email is the easiest way to get a hold of me. I check it twice a day, before and after class.

Technology in First Grade

Technology can always make learning a little more fun and add to the variety. We have a few computers in our classroom that we will be using for learning games and activities. One of our reading activities will be to listen to a book read aloud with the use of a CD player and headphones. For those of you who have access to the internet, I will provide a few websites for extra practice in various subjects. Technology is a part of our everyday lives and I want each child to become comfortable and knowledgeable.

Snacks, P.E, & ART!

Please make sure that your child has a nutritious snack every day. P.E. is on Tuesday and Friday. Please make sure that your child wears appropriate clothing and shoes. Art is on Thursday. Your child may get paint on their clothes so please be sure they are not wearing anything extra special.

Reading Homework
Reading homework will consist of you reading to your child every night. I will also include reading material for your child to read. Please read the material until your child is fluent reading it. You may need to read it several times during the week in order for this to happen. I will provide a reading chart for you to fill out and return every Friday. This reading homework will help us meet the reading standard goals for first grade. Reading Standard Goal 1.7: Acquire Fluency. Reading at least 150 regular and irregular sight words and reading aloud fluently.

This Years Highlights

Science
- Life cycle of a plant and an animal (1.S.3.1.1) (1.S.3.1.2)* - Four seasons (1.S.4.1.1) Social Studies - Timeline of personal and family history (1.SS.1.1.1) - Using a map and globe (1.SS.2.1.1) Language Arts - Retelling stories (1.LA.2.3.4) - Editing drafts for errors (1.LA.3.4.1) Math - Counting forward by 1s and 10s to 100 - Counting backward by ones from 20 (1.M.1.1.1) Art - Painting with watercolors, tempera - Sculpting with clay *In parenthesis is the Idaho Standard met

Contact Information Reminders to Parents

1. Weekly Homework Folders will go home every Friday and need to be returned the following Friday. 2. P.E Tuesdays and Fridays 3. Art Thursdays 4. Nutritious snack every day 5. Volunteers in October! Mrs. Elena Kuzmenko Phone: 208-250-3261 Email: Kuzmenko.elena@meridianschools.org

Idaho Content Standards

Our educational goals for the first grade are guided by the Idaho Content Standards. To become more familiar with these standards please visit the website I have provided below. Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns regarding these standards. We are in this together to make sure your student is successful and provided with all the help they may need. www.sde.idaho.gov/site/content_standards/

I look forward to working with all of you so that together we can make this year both enjoyable and time filled with learning. Please do not hesitate to contact me. No question is a waste of my time and I am happy to help.