Week of October 1st

• HFW to know: jump, move, run, two
• Conference signups close October 10th. Please click the link, if you haven't already:  http://www.ptcfast.com/schools/Redwood_Elementary
• I'm looking for 5 volunteers to attend our field trip to Avon Lake Public Library on October 24th from 1-2:15 pm. If you are interested, please email me at kimberly.kozar@avonlakecityschools.org I can take the first 5 volunteers that email and I will email you back with a confirmation that we will be expecting you! Thank you:)
• Author Assembly Book Order forms Due: October 9
• Save the Date: Holiday Concert December 12th: 12:30-1:00pm first grade only
• Drawing/ Coloring Contest for "Dress Up Mrs. Orr for Halloween" is due 10/15
• Important Dates:
• Oct. 11- Conferences, No School
• Oct 12- No School: NEOEA Day
• Oct 20- Pumpkin Festival @ Redwood 
• Oct 24- ALPL Field Trip 1:00pm
• Oct 26- End 1st Quarter
• Oct 29- No School: Staff Professional Development day
• Oct 31- Halloween Parade 9 AM, class party
• Walk on Wednesday Theme Days: (Students Walk with class):
•  2:30PM Week 2 Oct 10th – Wacky Hats (or just a hat)
• 10:00AM - Week 3 Oct 17th – Bright Colors (wear your brightest colors)
•  1:30PM Week 4 Oct 24th – Invite a friend – we will be on our ALPL Field Trip and won't be participating, but that's okay :)
•  9:05AM Week 5 Oct 31st – Halloween Parade

Jersey Day, Nature Hunt & Scaredy Squirrel... OH MY!

Jersey Day

Living and Nonliving Nature Hunt with Buddies

• Phonics: We learned that two consonants that make 2 separate sounds are called blends. Examples are: fl, cr, bl, st, and many more! Here's a link to the blend video we watched if your student wants to watch it again https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQgJnpE7IL8
• HFW: good, come, pull, be
• Math: In topic 2 were learning to count forward on a number line, doubles (2+2, 5+5), near doubles (if 2+2=4, then 2+3=5), and facts on a ten frame. 
• Writing: We wrote about our pets or if we could get a pet what it would be. The kids had to include what their pet eats, what they do with their pet, a name, and what it looks like.
• Science: We went on a nature hunt with our 3rd grade buddies to observe, draw, and label 3 living & 3 nonliving things outside.
• Reading: We focused on "What makes a pet special?" We read A Pig for Cliff, Flip, and  What Pets Need. We read Scaredy Squirrel and learned all about the author Melanie Watt. 
• Innovation Room: We even went to the Innovation Room and pretended we were Scaredy Squirrels. Our quest was to tape tubes to the wall in a zig-zag pattern so that the acorns would roll from the top tube, through the middle tubes, and land in a basket. This took TEAMWORK, IDEAS,  PERSISTENCE, TRIAL and ERROR, and many many TRIES to complete the task! Check it out below:

Important Dates:

• Oct. 11- Conferences
• Oct 12- No School: NEOEA Day
• Oct 20- Pumpkin Festival @ Redwood- more info coming home soon
• Oct 24- ALPL Field Trip 1:00pm
• Oct 26- End 1st Quarter
• Oct 29- No School: Staff Professional Development day
• Oct 31- Halloween Parade 9 AM, class party

Walk on Wednesday Theme Days: (Students Walk with class):

o   9:05AM Week 1 Oct. 3^rd – Cleveland Pride, AL Pride, etc.

o   2:30PM Week 2 Oct 10^th – Wacky Hats (or just a hat)

o   10:00AM - Week 3 Oct 17^th – Bright Colors (wear your brightest colors)

o   1:30PM Week 4 Oct 24^th – Invite a friend – we will be on our ALPL Field Trip, but that's okay :)

o   9:05AM Week 5 Oct 31^st – Halloween Parade

Paper Towel Tubes Needed!

Omega Man came to our school to teach us to be kind, be caring, be respectful, to work hard, not give up, and to be a hard worker. He motivated us to be Dream Makers, not dream breakers. 

• Our class is going to visit the Innovation Room to build a special activity, so we are in need of EMPTY paper towel tubes and toilet paper tubes. If you have any to donate, please send in the empty tubes by September 28th.
• This week's High Frequency words: down, out, up, very
• Reading- Big Question: What is it like where you live? We read Go, Pip!, I Live Here, and Six Kids, and City Mouse Country Mouse to help us learn and compare city life to country life. We discussed schools, playgrounds, apartments, traffic, stores, and farms. The kids crated their own flip books with pictures and labels of places we can find in our suburb, Avon Lake. We are learning fiction vs. nonfiction, realistic fiction, and fables.
• Writing- We wrote about Omega Man in our journals and wrote the topic sentence together. We are learning that every paragraph begins with a topic sentence to introduce the main idea of our writing. We continue to practice capitals, periods, neat handwriting, and the correct spelling of High Frequency words using the word wall.
• Phonics- bonus letters: l,f,s,z,t and mark with a *  Example: puff*, hill*, buzz*
• Math- We finished Topic 1: Solve Addition and Subtraction Problems to 10, and took the quiz. We will move onto Topic 2: Fluently Add and Subtract within 10.

• Conferences are Thursday October 11th 7:30 A.M. to 7:00 P.M. Our sign up for Redwood Parent-Teacher Conferences is online! Online Sign-up's start FRIDAY 9/21 at 9AM! Simply go to http://www.ptcfast.com/schools/Redwood_Elementary and you will be able to sign up for a time slot for one or all of your children that attend Redwood. The website will open for live sign-up at 9:00 A.M. on Friday, September 21st and will close, Wednesday October 10, 2018. If you have questions about the sign up process please do not hesitate to contact your child's teacher. If you do not have internet access, please send a note to your child’s teacher and a time will be scheduled for you. There is NO SCHOOL for students on Thursday October 11 and Friday October 12, 2018.
• Spirit week is 9/24-9/28. 
• 9/24 Mon.- Workout Gear 
• 9/25 Tues. -Jersey Day
• 9/26 Wed-picture day
• 9/27 Th- Throwback Thursday
• 9/28 Fri- Maroon and Gold
• Redwood students are welcome to walk in the homecoming parade with Redwood's float. Bring a bag of candy and meet at Blesser Park @ 10:00am.

• 9/14- Redwood Spirit Wear order forms due
• 9/26- Picture Day- Bring in picture forms or order online
• 9/24-9/28 Spirit Week, see picture above 
• 9/29- Homecoming Parade

This week in:

Reading: Our essential question was "What do you do at your school?" We read the stories Jack Can, Nat and Sam, and The Rules at School to compare other schools with ours. Vocabulary words: recognize, common, subjects, learn, object

Phonics: We focused on the sound of short a, as in apple, and practiced tapping out 3 letter words with short a. We used magnet boards to build the words, dry erase boards to write the words, and finished by working with the poem "Fat Cat."

High Frequency Words to Know: what, school, not, does

Math: We continue to explore part-part-whole models, comparing how many more & how many less, representing story problems with pictures, and working with math counters to add two parts of an equation. Next week we will finish Topic 1 and quiz.

Class Party Volunteers

  

  

We had an unexpected, short 2 day week but still worked hard! We reviewed the following High Frequency Words: little, like, see, has, look, me 
We practiced finding equations for story problems using the part-part-whole model with picnic plates and dry erase markers. We read a Scholastic News Magazine and watched a video about being polite and using manners in school. At the end of the day, our class was able to login to their Chromebooks and play ABCya's Sight Word Bingo!

Reminders:

• Here is the link for the Head room parent sign ups and class parties: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0948AFA822A5FE3-head1

• Wed. Sept 12- PTA meeting 7pm
  
• Picture Day: Wednesday Sept. 26- Order online or send in the paper form if you wish to order pictures!

Weekly Update

This week in class we discussed how each of us are all different in very special ways by reading the  book Elmer. Then, we created our own colorful Elmer Elephants for the hallway and wrote what makes each of us one of a kind! We continue to practice neat handwriting by using the sky line, plane line, grass line, and worm line correctly.

In math this week, we began Topic 1: Solving Addition and Subtraction Problems to 10. Our focus for lesson 1 & 2 was creating part-part-whole robots. See if your child can draw a part-part-whole robot for you, explain it, and write a matching number equation.

In reading, we are reviewing letter sounds, high frequency words from kindergarten, tapping out 3 letter words, and reading simple books. Be sure your child collects all of the paper books that come home in a Ziplock bag. Pull them out to read on a rainy day, a car trip, or for practice anytime!

High Frequency Words from this week: little, where, play, my, here, the, look, favorite, this, we

Reminders:

• No School Monday, September 3rd- Labor Day
• Highlighter on the corner of math papers means it is homework, and due Fridays. 
• First grade boys had a 5 minute boy scout information meeting today and will bring home a flyer with more info to join.
• Indian Princess and Indian Guides flyer came home earlier this week, if you're interested.

First Week!

We had a great week in room 1! I have learned so much about my new students and I'm looking forward to getting to know each child better as the year progresses. This week we took the time to learn about our classmates by creating an All About Me foldable, which is displayed in the hallway for everyone to see. We learned the rules of our classroom and the rules to follow during recess and lunch. We've been reading stories about the first day of school that helped us discuss positive friendship traits and feelings.  After reading Billy the Bully, we created a class poster called Heart Smart. We say "Before you speak, think and be smart. It's hard to fix a wrinkled heart!" Ask your child if they can explain what happened in the story and talk about the wrinkled heart poster. In our language arts curriculum, called Wonders, we read our first two stories: Elephants and The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Your child should be able to read the following words we reviewed this week: he, can, I, like, do, to, you.

A few reminders:

• Remember to subscribe & confirm your email to receive automatic updates from this blog. 
• Every Friday, a Reading Journal will come home with a new entry that we worked on all week. Check the blue paper inside for directions to complete each weekend.
• If you wish to order books from the scholastic magazine, the due date for ordering is August 31. You can order online using our class code GZDXL or by sending in the order form and a check. The magazine was included in the folder from Open House. Here's the link https://clubs.scholastic.com/home Click on "parents" to get started.
• Friday, August 31st, bring in a canned food for the SOUPer Bowl. Avon Lake will be having a non-perishable item drive for the Souper Bowl Competition with Avon. Students can wear a hat if they bring in a non-perishable item to donate.

Welcome to First Grade!

Welcome to first grade! My name is Kim Kozar and I am looking forward to starting my 10th year at Redwood Elementary.  I am eager to meet my new class on our first day of school-August 22nd! It's going to be a wonderful year filled with great accomplishments and amazing memories.

Students and Parents are invited to join me for Open House @ Redwood on August 20th anytime between 4:30 and 6:30 PM in room 1. Please have your child bring his or her supplies this night and the student info sheet I sent home through the mail. Your child will be able to see the classroom, meet classmates, and sort supplies to help make your child's first day run smoothly.

Get a head start on subscribing to this classroom blog by entering your email on the left side of this page. You MUST check your email for subscription confirmation to accept updates. Subscribing will allow you to automatically receive blog post updates through email to stay up to date on all of the fun and exciting adventures happening in our class!

Please use this blog to find more information about the events and expectations of first grade. The tabs at the top contain a lot of details on what we're learning, links to important websites, and current academic ideas your child should know.

I am excited to start the school year and meet my new students in just 2 weeks!
~ Mrs. Kozar

8 Days Until Summer!

Thank you for stopping by our book report night to see what first grade baked up! The children did a fantastic job on their book reports and used the skills they learned all year to present their best work!

• May 21-25 is Bike to School Week. As part of the health and wellness initiative, all of the elementary schools in Avon Lake will be participating in Bike to School Week again this year from May 21st through May 25th. All students are encouraged to ride their bikes to school. There will be a designated parking area for the bikes around our bike rack next to the flag pole. Please go over bike safety rules with your child. Please note: Students in grades K-2 should not ride alone to school, please ensure they have a responsible adult or group to ride with. Remember…be safe and wear your helmet!
• May 22- Silly Hat or Crazy Hair Day- Bring in a $1 donation for Imagination Library
• May 25- Field Day! Wear tennis shoes and dress for the weather. Our time is 12:50-2:50 pm. There is also a PTA picnic @ 11:30 to thank PTA members and helpers :)
• May 28- No School, Memorial Day
• May 31- Last Day of School, Report Cards home

May News

Senator Gayle Manning Presents Redwood with Award

for Disability Awareness Week

• Imagination Library Fundraiser is a city wide fundraiser to help young children receive books to promote early literacy learning.  The Avon Lake Public Library and about 8 day cares/preschools are participating.  The goal of the fundraiser is to raise $1,000 with each elementary building raising at least $100 by May 31st.
• Thank you for returning the West Side Market field trip forms. I will put together groups of students & chaperones and send home final details/ times. Chaperones will lead a short scavenger hunt at the market while buying 1 want and 1 need (no refrigerated items). 
• Book Report Night- Wednesday May 16th @ 6:00 pm. Come to Redwood to see our first grade book reports! Each student has chosen their own book to read and complete a report on in class. We are creating paper cakes to present to you on this special night. Please have your child bring in an apron (if you have one) to wear. No need to buy one, it's just an extra prop. Stay for a bit to walk around the gym and cafeteria to check out our hard work!
• Eagle Naming Contest- Return to school by May 18. We have 3 eaglets!
• Spring Pictures- If you purchase package, keep the pictures! If you do not want to purchase the pictures, return them back to school at no charge. 
• If your child is absent, please remember to call the attendance line and not Redwood's main office number. The ATTENDANCE LINE is: 930-8291.