Wow, 2 weeks of school have gone by already! There are never enough hours in the school day to do everything I'd like to do. We are busy, busy little birds!
On the first day of school, Pete the Cat took us on a tour all through the school looking for him. Every time we arrived where he told us he was going, it turned out that we'd missed him and had to keep looking! We finally caught up with that whiskered, blue rascal back in our classroom, where he'd left us coloring sheets with his picture on them.
Everyone is getting along great and we are developing into a nice little classroom community. The students are so polite and also very helpful if a classmate spills crayons, etc. The students love having their own desks and books to work from, and having their own crayons and scissors right in their desks. We are working on being responsible for our own supplies. That reminds me, please help your student be responsible by making sure he/she comes to school with planner (agenda), homeroom folder, and reading folder EVERY day.
Now that our SFA Reading has started, most of my little birdies have an additional teacher for reading. Briefly, this is how the program works: students are tested and placed in a class with other students who are at the same reading level. Our first graders at REE are spread out into about 6 different starting levels (which vary every year), depending on their current reading skills. At the end of each quarter, all students are tested again to check their progress. Most students continue right on track with their current reading teacher. Occasionally some who are struggling need to move back and review skills they haven't yet mastered. And rarely, a student or two will show enough growth (ahead of their class) to move up to a higher reading class. Please sit and work on reading homework with your child every night--Monday--Thursday, and at least once over the weekend.
I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!
Mrs. Brown
