update Sept. '07

Welcome to my website!

Our class is pretty much settled now.  We have 19 children in our homeroom.  (Click on Reading link for information about Reading.)

14 of you have joined PTA.  Thank you.  Hope to see you Friday night at the movie, Charlotte's Web, in the cafeteria.  With the tickets from your PTA packet (child should have given you your 5 x 7 tan envelope), you can have free popcorn.  Also, you have tickets to enter drawings for TV/DVD combos and Nintendo gameboys, which will be give away that night.  It should be a very fun night.

Because of so much PE every day, please remind your children to wear comfortable shoes.  Two days we walk alot; the next two days are active games.  When your child is late, s/he sits in our centrum until all classes return from PE.  Please help your child be on time every day.

In math, we're covering a chapter a week here at the first because most of it is review of first grade material.  Therefore, many of these grades are good.  As we enter the second grade material, grades may drop.  Remember, Dr. Buys has declared that drill facts must be learned at home.  Buy some flashcards (addition and subtraction0 to practice with your child every night for 10-15 minutes.  I give a timed test on 100 facts weekly.  Hopefully your child shows improvement every week.  If not, I'll be contacting you.

Writing is in the afternoon.  We're stressing "writing to a prompt", which includes a title, introduction and conclusion, all related to the main idea of the prompt.   Slowly we'll add the details of the body of the piece.

Children are following rules well in the classroom and hallway, except for a few talkers.  On the whole, I find teaching to the majority of the class easy and profitable, without too many interruptions.  Those 2-3 children who are stopping my teaching WILL catch on!  Most of your children are delightful and fun to teach.  Thank you for all your support.