YG First Grade Newsletter December 13, 2007 Volume 15 ART SHOW FRIDAY November 14th. 11:30 - 12:00 Cafeteria Come early to pick up your child this Friday and come to the cafeteria to view our beautiful art creations. Lunch will be eaten in the classrooms from 11:10 - 11:30 this week. Artist in Residence, Jan Durkas Both first grade classes completed five art lessons with our Artist in Residence, Jan Durkas from November 26 - December 5, 2007. Each class lasted fifty minutes. Students enjoyed exploring line, color and shape. Students worked with cool and warm colors. Students worked with several media including:water colors, poster paint and pastel crayons. They made four art pieces. The first piece was a free drawing with a blue painted background wash. The second was a free drawing with poster paint. The third art piece was a line drawing using masking tape. Students made a house and then painted over it with green tempera. The masking tape was removed, leaving a negative space drawing. Finally students did a self portrait. If they used a warm pastel to make their faces, they painted their faces using a palate of purple, blue or white tempera. If they used a cool pastel, they painted their faces using pink,orange or white. These faces were cut out. Student made a background of watercolors or tissue paper and starch. They cut out their faces and glued it onto their backgrounds. Come view all the wonderful creations at our Art Show on Friday, 12-14 at 11:30. Spelling Tests We have been taking in class spelling tests. So far the students have completed their short a and short i tests. We are happy to report that all students are doing well. This week we will have a short o pre and post test. You will find the short a and short i pre and post tests in your Thursday envelopes this week. If you want to help your child with their short o post test for this week, please study the blue slipped short o spelling words which were sent home LAST week as part of our class Houghton MIfflin reading worksheets. During the week, the students will be bringing home reading sheets with either short u or short e spelling words for the pre and post tests for next week. Valley River Center Singing Performance We are confirming the following drivers for our field trip next Wednesday, 11-19. Donguri Class: Tracey B, Robin S, Hali B., Keri L., Anna M., Barbara and Don MB., Clarice L. 7 more Seatbelts needed. Kabocha Class: Pam Q., Yukino W., Aisa J. 14 more Seatbelts needed. Thank you for volunteering. Movie Day Friday: November 19 ---12:30 - 2:50 As part of our Positive Behavior Support Program, Students will earn the opportunity to attend Movie Day next Friday by earning ten specially colored WOWs. We want to encourage all students to do their best to be Safe, Respectful and Responsible to all teachers and students at Yujin Gakuen every day. Having a whoa written by any staff this week or next, will have students in study hall working on catch up work or other assigned work. Breakfast Club Year 3 We have a dedicated group of twelve first graders attending Breakfast Club everyone morning in room 13 on Monday through Thursdays. The students take turns reading with Linda Sensei everyone other day. They also take turns working on laptops reading on Raz-kids.com. Students have a username and a password so their work can monitored. On Fridays, students go to the library and choose library books to read with Linda Sensei. Calendar of Events December 3 - January 31: First Grade Breakfast Club in Room 13 8:00 - 8:20 December 11: Early Dismissal 12:10 December 14: Art Show - 11:30 in the Cafeteria December 19: Valley River Center Singing - 9:30 - Car field trip. Bring your booster seats. December 21: Last Day before Winter Break December 22 - January 7: Winter Break January 8: First Day back for students January 14: First Grade District Testing begins February: Asian Celebration at the Eugene Fairgrounds. April: YG Auction at LCC - Hawaiian Theme May: Children’s Day Celebration at YG. September 2008: Yujin Gakuen 20th Anniversary Eugene Celebration and Back to School Picnic. April 2008: Yujin Gakuen 20th Anniversary Auction and Gala 20th Anniversary Eugene Celebration and Back to School Picnic We will be celebrating our 20th Anniversary of the beginning of Yujin Gakuen next year in 2008. (1998-2008). We have several big events planned throughout the year and would love to have first grade parents play an active row in organizing the events. Please take time to think about what time of year you have more time and energy to help out. PTO officers are taking the main chairmanships for each of the events. They are looking for volunteer committee members to contribute ideas, time and energy to make each event a success. We are very fortunate to have visionary and creative leadership in our Parent Group. Let’s all give our time to the event of our choice so we don’t burden any one person with the workload. Please look for more information on each event and when the volunteer sign up sheets come home, we hope to see your family on one of the 20th Anniversary committees and thank you in advance for helping out at the many, fun PTO sponsored events this school year. doing worksheets with either short u or short e spelling words for the pre and post tests for next week. Valley River Center Singing Performance We are confirming the following drivers for our field trip next Wednesday, 11-19. Donguri Class: Tracey B, Robin S, Hali B., Keri L., Anna M., Barbara and Don MB., Clarice L. 7 more Seatbelts needed. Kabocha Class: Pam Q., Yukino W., Aisa J. 14 more Seatbelts needed. Thank you for volunteering. Movie Day Friday: November 19 ---12:30 - 2:50 As part of our Positive Behavior Support Program, Students will earn the opportunity to attend Movie Day next Friday by earning ten specially colored WOWs. We want to encourage all students to do their best to be Safe, Respectful and Responsible to all teachers and students at Yujin Gakuen every day. Having a whoa written by any staff this week or next, will have students in study hall working on catch up work or other assigned work. Breakfast Club Year 3 We have a dedicated group of twelve first graders attending Breakfast Club everyone morning in room 13 on Monday through Thursdays. The students take turns reading with Linda Sensei everyone other day. They also take turns working on laptops reading on Raz-kids.com. Students have a username and a password so their work can monitored. On Fridays, students go to the library and choose library books to read with Linda Sensei. Calendar of Events December 3 - January 31: First Grade Breakfast Club in Room 13 8:00 - 8:20 December 11: Early Dismissal 12:10 December 14: Art Show - 11:30 in the Cafeteria December 19: Valley River Center Singing - 9:30 - Car field trip. Bring your booster seats. December 21: Last Day before Winter Break December 22 - January 7: Winter Break January 8: First Day back for students January 14: First Grade District Testing begins February: Asian Celebration at the Eugene Fairgrounds. April: YG Auction at LCC - Hawaiian Theme May: Children’s Day Celebration at YG. September 2008: Yujin Gakuen 20th Anniversary Eugene Celebration and Back to School Picnic. April 2008: Yujin Gakuen 20th Anniversary Auction and Gala 20th Anniversary Eugene Celebration and Back to School Picnic We will be celebrating our 20th Anniversary of the beginning of Yujin Gakuen next year in 2008. (1998-2008). We have several big events planned throughout the year and would love to have first grade parents play an active row in organizing the events. Please take time to think about what time of year you have more time and energy to help out. PTO officers are taking the main chairmanships for each of the events. They are looking for volunteer committee members to contribute ideas, time and energy to make each event a success. We are very fortunate to have visionary and creative leadership in our Parent Group. Let’s all give our time to the event of our choice so we don’t burden any one person with the workload. Please look for more information on each event and when the volunteer sign up sheets come home, we hope to see your family on one of the 20th Anniversary committees and thank you in advance for helping out at the many, fun PTO sponsored events this school year. 1 . First Grade YG Newsletter 1 December 6 , 2007 Volume 14 Home Reading Program Envelopes Needed Before the holidays, we want to take inventory of all Home Reading Program Books Please send it back to school this next week so we can send you home a new book. If the envelope is misplaced and the books are lost, we need a replacement book from your own home library. I don’t normally need $ for lost books except from the three students who are checking out additional “special” books and tapes. Those lost books and tapes will need to be replaced if lost, and so I will need $ from them. First Grade Testing 1/14/08 New dates for first grade testing at YG is 1/14/08. Students will be asked to read a mid year first grade reading passage for a minute. They will also be asked to read the pre-primer 1, 2, and 3 word lists in 30 seconds. We are currently having Marilyn test all students on their High Frequency Word Mastery for lists one and two (pink and yellow). If you get a yellow slip with the lists, please take note and practice those high frequency words with your child. Photos for newsletters accepted Sayaka Sensei and Nancy Sensei always welcome digital photos for newsletters. Please send them to us. . Singing at Valley River Center Field Trip 12/19/07 Please find in your Thursday Envelopes an invitation to drive students and be a chaperone for this event on the last Wednesday of the school week before the winter break. We leave at 9:30 for a 10:00 performance. We will sing “Everyone Has Something They Can Do,” “Doremi” and “Kabocha” in English and Japanese, and “Donguri Koro” in Japanese along with the clock song and first grade song. We return to school at 10:45. First Grade YG Newsletter 1 December 6 , 2007 Volume 14 Home Reading Program Envelopes Needed Before the holidays, we want to take inventory of all Home Reading Program Books Please send it back to school this next week so we can send you home a new book. If the envelope is misplaced and the books are lost, we need a replacement book from your own home library. I don’t normally need $ for lost books except from the three students who are checking out additional “special” books and tapes. Those lost books and tapes will need to be replaced if lost, and so I will need $ from them. First Grade Testing 1/14/08 New dates for first grade testing at YG is 1/14/08. Students will be asked to read a mid year first grade reading passage for a minute. They will also be asked to read the pre-primer 1, 2, and 3 word lists in 30 seconds. We are currently having Marilyn test all students on their High Frequency Word Mastery for lists one and two (pink and yellow). If you get a yellow slip with the lists, please take note and practice those high frequency words with your child. Photos for newsletters accepted Sayaka Sensei and Nancy Sensei always welcome digital photos for newsletters. Please send them to us. . Singing at Valley River Center Field Trip 12/19/07 Please find in your Thursday Envelopes an invitation to drive students and be a chaperone for this event on the last Wednesday of the school week before the winter break. We leave at 9:30 for a 10:00 performance. We will sing “Everyone Has Something They Can Do,” “Doremi” and “Kabocha” in English and Japanese, and “Donguri Koro” in Japanese along with the clock song and first grade song. We return to school at 10:45. First Grade YG Newsletter NOVEMBER 29, 2007 PAGE 1 HIGH FREQUENCY WORDS In next week’s homework packet, you will receive the last of the high frequency words needing to be mastered for the January first grade district testing. Study the high frequency words on the pink, yellow and blue sheets to be able to read all the words on each sheet in thirty seconds or less. We will have Marilyn begin testing our group one and two students to see how everyone is doing. Look for a yellow slip attached to the word list with your current score. We stop at thirty seconds, so you will see a line indicating how far they got. The testers go across the page from left to right. Mastering these high frequency words will increase your child’s reading fluency. Happy Reading! FIRST GRADE NEWSLETTER VOLUME 13 Breakfast Club begins December 3, 2007 Please respond by tomorrow. November 30 to accept your invitation. We sent out invitations to a group of first graders to join Linda Caldwell for reading fluency practice every morning from 8:00 - 8:20 in the library. Thanks to an Eugene Education grant for $2000.00, we are able to offer this special tutoring time free to families who accept. As always, breakfast is available in the cafeteria from 7:45 a.m. We will ask Ruby to dismiss Breakfast Club students at 7:55 to meet Linda in the Library by 8:00. SINGING AT VALLEY RIVER CENTER ON WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2007 Yujin Gakuen First Grade has accepted an invitation to sing at Valley River Center on the morning of the last Wednesday of school before the winter break. Once we find out the times, we will send home a request for drivers and chaperones. Students will be singing:”Donguri”, “Kabocha” in English and Japanese, and “Everyone Has Something They Can Do.” Please dig out the song sheets and practice singing these songs every night. This is our outside school performance for the winter as we are not scheduled for Asian Celebration or Japan Night this year. We will also look through our holiday song books to see what other snowman/holiday song we can add. “Pilgrim and Native American Children” enjoy pie at the Thanksgiving Day Feast YUJIN GAKUEN JAPANESE IMMERSION SCHOOL NOVEMBER 29, 2007 PAGE 2 Calendar Saturday, December 1 UO concessions at the Moschovsky Center Mon. December 3: 8:00 - 8:20 First Grade Breakfast Club starts in the library. Tues., December 11: 10:15 - 10:45 Cal Young Jazz Band Winter concert in the Cafeteria. Friday, December 14 12:10 Early Dismissal Monday, December 17 Canned Food Drive Donation Deadline. Tuesday, December 18: 6:30 PTO Meeting in the cafeteria. Wednesday, December 19 First Grade Valley River Center Performance. Friday, December 21 Last Day of School before Winter Break. Tuesday, January 8 First day back for students. Testing starts. THANKSGIVING FEAST HOME READING PROGRAM Some families are taking advantage of our Home Reading Program where first grade students turn in their Home Reading Manilla envelopes every other day or so to get a new book to read each night. Many more students can be turning in their envelopes each day to get a new book. We have hundreds of books we can share with families to help increase reading fluency. This takes a dedication of family time each night. We want to increase student reading fluency to 100 words per minute by the end of the school year. Students are reading around 25 words per minutes at this time. We are talking about quadrupling the reading fluency rate and this takes LOTS of practice. Check out the reading norms sheet we shared with families at conference time to set your goals for each term. CANNED FOOD DONATIONS December 17th is the deadline for the Canned Food Donations. Please bring what you can to donate to less fortunate families this holiday season. The barrels are by the front office. CAL YOUNG JAZZ BAND CONCERT Tuesday, 12/11/07 Parents are welcome to join us for a band concert this morning after recess from 10:15 - 10:45. We understand that Allan will be joining the band on his trumpet. Friday Spirit Day Don’t forget to wear your YG t-shirts every Friday and show your school spirit. WEDNESDAY POPCORN DAY A dedicated group of parents offer popcorn to YG students for 25 cents every Wednesday after school. It’s delicious. Thank you. Fundraising at the Duck/OSU Game on Saturday, December 1 We invite you to join PTO members at the Moschovsky Center Concessions to help with fundraising for YG. $3000.00 can be raised if 37 parents can donate six hours of their time on Saturday. ARTIST IN RESIDENCE, JAN DURKAS, PORTRAIT ARTIST, SHARES HER SKILLS WITH FIRST GRADERS. Students learn about shape, line and texture as they produced two pieces of art using oil pastels with a blue wash and the 2nd piece with poster paint. Art Show 12/19 11:30. PTO MEETING DECEMBER 18 PTO members make important decisions about spending fundraised money at their meetings. Fundraising for technology was voted on at last month’s meeting. Join up and take part in these important discussions and decisions to support curriculum at Yujin Gakuen. Next meeting is Tuesday, December 18 from 6:30 - 7:30. Free childcare is offered. 1st Grade Newsletter z 11-21-07 Yujin Gakuen Japanese Immersion Elementary School vol. 12 z Thanksgiving Lunch in the Classrooms z Students had lunch in their classrooms today, Wednesday, 11-21-07. They were dressed in school made costumes as Pilgrim or Native American children. Dessert was pumpkin or a fruit pie provided by the weekly snack families. Students started a Thanksgiving packet which they put in their backpacks to finish up during the holidays with their families. They may be kept at home as a special Thanksgiving present. Halloween Parade and contest winners It was a fun morning guessing who all the new friends we had in the classroom. Rarely do students have the opportunity to come dressed in a costume to school. Many were beautiful and cute. Others were scary! Here we see skeletons spider men, bunnies, Cinderella, cowboys, princesses, witches doctors, and brides. Sayaka Sensei was an Asian Alice in Wonderland to complement Jacque Alonso, our technology coach. Nancy Sensei was a purple gowned wizard. Allan Kocho Sensei came as a long haired zombie in contrast to his punk rock mohawk haired tattooed teen costume from Akimatsuri. Celebrity Readers Come to YG  On November 13, 2007, fifteen Celebrity Readers, including the Oregon Duck, came to Yujin Gakuen to read to various classes. To our first grade classes, we were honored to have Mark Christensen, Pilot, and father of Kira (5th), Marisa (3rd), and Drew (K), Johann Schneider, Policeman (Garrett 4th), Rick Apker and Dan Finney, Firefighters, both Kinder parents. Also at Yujin Gakuen on Tuesday were Superintendent George Russell, Mayor Kitty Piercy, YG Assistant Principal, Carolyn Hopkins, Kim Stark KEZI News Anchor, and Valerie Steele, Radio Personality, Rod Cullen, Firefighter, Eric Hubbard, Police Officer, Dennis Nakata, Radio Personality and Golf Coach, and the U of O Cheerleaders. The Oregon Duck was scheduled for the first grade class, but he was delayed, probably with all the picture taking, and never made it to room 13. Thank you to Ruby Bauer for contacting all our Celebrity Readers and inviting them to our school. Important Dates Dec 14, Fri 12:10 Dismissal Planning Day Dec 21 Last day of school before the break Jan 8 School starts back for students Jan 8 Winter testing for students begins Pizza Hut We need your total minutes turned in each end of the month to give out the Pizza Hut free personal pan pizza awards. Our goal for reading minutes recorded is 200 each month. Students are reading to parents and visa versa. Keep it up! Yellow High Frequency Words Remember to practice reading these words each day. The goal is to read them all in less than 30 seconds. Congrats to Donguri Class Everyone in Donguri class is up to date with returning all the homework assignments as of November 9. Omedetoo! Yujin gakuen Japanese Immersion Elementary School vol. 11 z Thanksgiving Feast z Students will have lunch in their classrooms on Wednesday, 11-21-07. They will be dressed in school made costumes as Pilgrim or Native American children. We ask that snack families for this week bring a pumpkin or a fruit pie for us to have as dessert on this Wednesday. We need napkins and forks too. Happy Thanksgiving to all our families. Thistledown Farms Field Trip Thank you to all our parent volunteer drivers. We had a great tractor ride to the pumpkin patch where students selected their pumpkin to bring back to the classroom. In class we estimated and measured the pumpkin’s height, circumference, and weight. We made a watercolor drawing of a side and top view of the pumpkin. Finally we decorated the pumpkins and had the entire school judge which were the scariest, funniest, most creative and most beautiful pumpkins. At Thistledown Farms, students tallied the color of vegetables and fruits they saw in the store. The hay maze was fun and the barnyard animals were very playful. Pumpkin Decorating Contest Winners! Most Creative: Lindy McCool, Samantha Price Most Beautiful: Haven Burley Claire Lin, Sriyani Cunarathne Funniest: Erhard Nielsen, Violet Ivy Scariest: Martha Brasted-Maki, Caleb Burt and Taishi Johnson West Eugene Wetlands Field Trips Both field trip days were cold and brisk. Students were divided into three groups and hiked for an hour and a half . We saw lots of different signs of animals including tracks, crushed grass paths, ducks and learned about the nearby Great Blue Heron nesting tress.Vegetation we saw included thistle, Queen Anne’s Lace, Himalayan Blackberries, willow trees and cattails. Soil, water and plants make a wetland 1st Grade Newsletter  z Reading z In English class, all students are able to successfully read sentences and stories with cvc, consonant, - vowel - consonant pattern words. The goal now is to increase reading fluency and reading rate. This comes only with a lot of practice. Keep up the practice of having student share with you what they completed in class each day attached to the blue slips. We do tally and keep track of the signed blue and yellow slips returned to school for the treasure chest drawings. When student “complain” they aren’t chosen, we remind them to turn in those signed blue slips to increase their chances of being pulled. 5th Grade Reading Partners Fifth trade reading partners come read with our first graders every Thursday afternoon. The half hour went by very quickly & was fun!! z Water Color Self Portraits Parent Teacher Conferences Nov. 1 & 2  Sayaka Sensei and Nancy Sensei are looking forward to the parent teacher conferences in a few weeks. We have fifteen minutes per family, or seven and a half minutes per teacher so we need to be efficient with our time. It will help out a lot to make sure you are ten minutes early and if you turn in the purple pre-conference sheet so we can be prepared to address you questions and concerns. Look for another opportunity to lets us know your goals for the conference on the purple pre-conference sheet in this Thursday’s envelope. Thank you.  West Eugene Wetlands  Donguri Homeroom 13, 11/5, Kabocha Homeroom 12, 11/9  Drivers Monday 11/5 are: R. Seno, A McCool, N Lopez, K Lutje, H.Hurley, A. Chatwood Friday, 11/9 are: Y Wu, J Carpenter, G Nielsen, M Bates, M Perez, A Johnson, P Quan Lunches Ordered Monday, 11/5: Calvin, Ivan, Noelia, Kashi, Keagan L. Friday, 11/9: John, Keagan J., Sarah, Caleb   YG First Grade Newsletter October 18, 2007 Volume 9 Thank you Volunteers Sakaya Sensei and Nancy Sensei are grateful for all the volunteers who have signed up to help out. You make a great difference in our program. We are looking for another Homework checker on Friday 10/19 and two Homework checkers on Friday, 10/26 4j District Pre-Primer 1 High Frequency Words to be Tested. On January 8, 2008, the 4j District Testers will once again come and test our first graders on their reading skills. In January, all first graders will be tested to see how many letter sounds they know in a minute. They will be given a one minute reading fluency test on a mid-year first grade text. A major skill which impacts students’ oral reading fluency is their familiarity with high frequency words. Thus, every two seeks starting from next Monday, our first grade students will be bringing home a list of 24 words which they will need to learn and be able to read in 30 seconds. Once this is mastered, we can be assured that they are on their way to reading fluently. Each list has 24 words. The colors of pink, yellow and blue correspond to Pre-primer 1, Pre-primer 2 and Pre-primer 3 reading levels. West Eugene Wetlands Fieldtrips Donguri Homeroom 13: Monday, November 5, 2007 : 9:10 - 12:00 Confirmed Drivers: R. Seno, A. McCool, N. Lopez, K. Lutje, H Burley Lunch orders received for: Calvin, Ivan, Noelia, Kashi, Keagan L. One more needed. Kabocha Homeroom 12: Friday, November 9, 2007 : 9:10 - 12:00 Confirmed Drivers: Y. Wu, J. Carpenter, G. Nielsen, M.Bates (John), M Peres, and A Johnson. Lunch orders received for: John, Keagan J., Sarah. Bring: Lunches and a booster seat if you weigh more than 40 pounds and are less than 4’ 9”. Dress for weather. Thistledown Farms Field Trip Wednesday, October 24 from 9:10 - 10:45. We have all the seatbelt offers we need. Thank you. However driver “paperwork” still needs to be processed BEFORE they can have students in their cars. Confirmed and approved drivers in Donguri Group are: R. Seno, A. McCool, K Lutje., M Acord, B Brasted Maki, N Lopez Lopez. The following drivers need to turn in their latest insurance forms and make sure their background checks are on file with Diane before they can drive. G. Kau, S. Moffett, T. Floyd (Zach), N. Lopez Lopez, H Burley, and T. Bates. In Yellow Kabocha Group 12, confirmed drivers are: Y. Wu, K Pruitt, P Quan (Claire)..The following need to turn in their latest insurance papers and make sure their background checks are processed BEFORE they can drive on this trip. They are: P. Burt, and Michelle Hubbard (Khloe) Jill Carpenter( Annie) and Gabriela Nielson (Erhard (need processing), are on the waiting list to drive in case insurance forms aren’t in and background checks aren’t processed in time. Being on Time We are proud that so many first grade families bring their students to school on time. Let’s minimize those tardy slips and plan on being in the building at 8:20 every morning. Conferences We would like to make best use of your conference time. We are sending home again Pre conference sheets so that we may prepare to answer any of your questions. For instance, we have noticed an interest in the scope and sequence of first grade math. We will prepare one to share with families. http://everydaymath.uchicago.edu/ is the website you can go to for more information about Everyday Math by University of Chicago. Kanji Sayaka Sensei has taught Kanji characters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Ichi, Ni, San, Yon, Go, 一、二、三、四、五、last week and it will be in next week’s Monday homework. This week she is teaching 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. roku, nana, hachi, kyu, jyu, 六、七、八、九、十．These are called Kanji and are chinese characters with Japanese pronunciation. YG First Grade Newsletter  October 11, 2007 Volume 8 Homework Guidelines •Japanese Homework will now come home on Mondays in an envelope. Parents, make sure you go over the assignment each day and check off the boxes as you do them. Japanese homework is due the following Monday. Kanji characters have been introduced from 1 - 4. Students will be bringing Kanji flash cards home next week. Hiragana test will be on Wednesday next week. •English Homework only will come home in the pocket folders on Mondays. It is due on Fridays (or on Thursday on no Friday weeks.) Parents need to correct the math and Explode the Code. You can star or sticker corrected pages. Return the Reading Record Card weekly. Signed blue slips, parent notes, book orders, volunteer slips, yellow slipped work, and old homework can be returned any time during the week into the classroom mailbox or in the Friday Homework Folder and Thursday envelope. Thank you. West Eugene Wetlands Field Trip Monday or Friday, November 5 or November 9, 2007 Donguri Homeroom 13: Monday, November 5, 2007 : 9:10 - 12:00 Bring: Lunches and a booster seat if you weigh more than 40 pounds and are less than 4’ 9”. Dress for weather. Confirmed Drivers: R. Seno, A. McCool, N Lopez, and K Lutje. 1 more needed. Kabocha Homerooom 12: Friday November 9, 2007 : 9:10 - 12:00 Bring: Lunches and a booster seat if you weigh more than 40 pounds and are less than 4’9”. Dress for weather. Confirmed Drivers: Y. Wu. Four needed. Thistledown Farms Wednesday, October 24 from 9:10 - 10:45. We have all the seatbelts we need. Thank you. Confirmed and approved drivers in Donguri Group are: R. Seno, A. McCool, K Lutje., M Acord, The following drivers need to turn in their latest insurance forms and make sure their background checks are on file with Diane before they can drive. G. Kau, B. Brasted Maki, S. Moffett, T. Floyd (Zach), N. Lopez Lopez, H Burley, and T. Bates. In Yellow Kabocha Group 12, all drivers need to turn in their latest insurance papers and make sure their background checks are procesed before they can drive on this trip. They are: Y. Wu, P. Burt, K. Pruitt, Michelle Hubbard (Khloe) and P. Quan (Claire). Jill Carpenter is on the waiting list to drive. Don’t forget your booster seats and plastic bags. Dress for weather. Students weighing more than 40 pounds and who are less than 4’9” need a booster chair. Students who weight less than 40 lbs need a car seat. Purple Check In Cards Sayaka Sensei has designed a check in card for some first grade students to encourage them to have work habits and social skills that help them learn better in class. The goals on the card are that they following directions, work quietly, and keep hands and feet to themselves. If the students meet the expectation for the study period, they earn a happy smiley face. Parents are requested to review the check in card and return it the next day with their signature. We will use these check in cards to guide our parent conferences on goals and expectations for this school year. If any parent would like to meet before November 1 to discuss their child’s progress, please e-mail us at imamura@4j.lane.edu, smatoba@uoregon.edu, call us at 687-3590 to make an appointment, or stop by after school. Vision Screening Student Vision screening will be held in two weeks. The plan will be to hold vision screening in the cafeteria for: YG -Thursday, October 25th, 8:40 -10:10. Parent Volunteers requested. Call Diane. 687-3590 Halloween 10-31 Please come dressed to school in your costumes on October 31 if you would like and if the costume is comfortable enough to study in all morning. The parade will be from 11:00 - 11:20. If you have a bulky costume, you can change into it before the parade. song and “Donguri Kororo” for each class We will do a Halloween art activity before lunch. Since we have lunch at 11:40, we won’t be having special foods for this party. Wed. and Friday 12:10 Pick Up Parents, please wait until 12:10 to come into the building on early dismissal days. Sally Foster Our goal for sales this year is $18,000. As it stands right now, we are at about 12,000 with 112 students participating. Although main sales are closed, the children may still sell both Sally Foster and Magazines. All new orders will be placed with the reorder at the end of October. Ashley - 11 students $2173 Takako - 15 students (am and pm) $1013 Nancy - 10 students $$547 Sayaka - 5 students $269 YG First Grade Newsletter  October 4, 2007 Volume 7 Treasure Chest, Posters Winners and WOW prizes. First graders earn treasure chest prizes by reading blue slipped work at home. They help the class earn stickers on the “Be helpful” chart. They earn WOW prizes by being respectful, safe and responsible. Blue Slips and Treasure Chest By now you have probably heard all about our weekly treasure chest drawings. We put all the signed blue slips into a container. We have a drawing once a week of ten names. The first ten different names get to choose an item from our treasure chest of recycled “treasures.” Names not chosen are tallied. We keep track of those blue slip tallies to make sure students are reviewing finished work with their families. The more signed blue slips in the bucket means a better chance of having your name be one of the first ten drawn each week. Poster Winners Poster winners are drawn whenever the class earns a Classroom Wow. A Classroom WOW can be from other staff members who notice the great behaviors of our first grade classes or from the homeroom teachers for having great fire drills, etc. A Classroom WOW is also earned whenever the class fills up the Class Goals chart with twenty stickers. Our class goal has been “Be Helpful” for the last three charts . Five Classroom WOWs means that the class earns five- ten minutes of extra recess. Both classrooms have earned that the first month of school. When all students in the class have won a poster, we will start over again. with all the names to draw from. WOWS, Whoas and Red Tickets This year we are working our best to encourage students toward helpful behaviors by rewarding the positives. Yes, several students have been written up with Whoas. In the classroom, those have mainly been for repeated non-compliance and repeated disruption of learning. Let’s keep those to a minimum and instead work on earning WOWs. 25 Wows earns the student a red ticket to take to the office to win a weekly drawing. Those red tickets stay in the jug all year for a chance to be drawn. Wow Badges and Class WOW Prizes We have WOW badges students can earn for their first 50 WOWs. After that, each 50 earns a silver, gold, etc . star on the badge. In the past, first graders have earned over 200 - 300 WOWS. Let’s practice school and teacher expectations and earn those WOWs. Many WOWs have been written up during reading group times for paying attention, and following along with your finger and eyes. With each red ticket earned, there is also an automatic class WOW prize to choose from as well. Donguri, Acorn Group Homeroom 13 Treasure Chest We would appreciate donations when you do your cleaning and organizing of gently used items. We put these items into the treasure chest for students to choose from when their blue slip names are picked. We give away 10 items per class, or 20 treasures a week. Thistledown Farms - Revised 10-6-07 We have all the seatbelts we need. Thank you. Confirmed Donguri Group drivers are: R. Seno, A. McCool, G. Kau, B. Brasted Maki, K. Lutje, S. Moffett, T. Floyd (Zach), N. Lopez Lopez, T. Bates, and M. Acord In Yellow Kabocha Group 12,. Confirmed drivers are: Y. Wu, P. Burt, K. Pruitt, and P. Quan (Claire). Don’t forget your booster seats. This field trip is scheduled for Wednesday, October 24 from 9:10 - 10:45. Thank you. A big Thank You to the parents who have been volunteering for the 1st Grade! We appreciated your time and efforts. Donguri, Acorn Group Homeroom 13  Sayaka Sensei likes to have volunteers on Mondays from 12:30-1:00 or 1:00-1:35 and Fridays from 10:15-11:00 to help Donguri Group Math. Nancy Sensei has math on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:30-1:35 as well. Kabocha, Pumpkin Group Homeroom 12  Sayaka Sensei like to have volunteers on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:30-1:35 to help Kabocha Group Math. Nancy Sensei has math on Mondays from 12:30-1:35 and during the week in the morning. We need helpers to work with individual students. Please sign up on the volunteer calendar or just show up. YG First Grade Newsletter October 4, 2007 Volume 7 continued Sayaka’s Announcements •Japanese and English/English and Japanese Dictionary information is coming home soon. We are able to get a discount if we order 50 or more copies through Yujin Gakuen. We are asking other classes to go in with us. The cost will be around $30.00 •Sayaka Sensei will be starting WOW Winners every Friday. Students will take ONE WOW and put it in a jar. Otouban San for the week (Classroom leader) will pick three WOWs out of the jar. These three lucky students will get a prize. •Sayaka Sensei will be passing out Fantastic Fall Behavior Tickets (yellow) to students who have been listening with their EYES AND EARS, and working and lining up quietly. Examples of desired behaviors are: working hard in the classroom, picking up pencils and crayons, helping their friends speak Japanese in the classroom, and trying to speak Japanese in the classroom themselves. •Sayaka Sensei started introducing the sounds of Kanji Characters from one to ten. Studetns are very excited to learn how to read the new Kanji Characters. We are so pround of them!!Students just know hoow to read the Kanji, but are not writing them yet. The following Kanji characters have been introduced: 一 (ichi)　二(ni) 三(san) 四 (yon or shee) 五 (go) 六 (r(l)oku)　七(nana or shichi) 八 (hachi) 九 (kyu) 十 (jyu) Japanese Homework Packet Thank you for supporting your child at home! As a class, we are able to read 46 hiragana characters between 45 to 55 seconds! Japanese homework should get easier as the year progresses and your child becomes more familiar with the system. Hang in there!! First Grade Newsletter  October 1, 2007 Volume 6 Parents, thanks for attending Curriculum Night. Twenty stalwart families attended curriculum last Thursday night. The highlight was definitely Sayaka Sensei’s brochure featuring children’s artwork adorning her classroom. Students have been learning patterning in Math. They have made striking bulleitin boards featuring their happy smiles at their “desks”, handprint leaves on a floor to ceiling tree, along with origami morning glory flowers gracing the hallway outside the class. In Nancy Sensei’s classroom, parents were shown the class website on the 4j /YG school website. Featured pages included a calendar of events, homework assignments, curriculum, a class blog site as well as featured technology links. Several pages of first grade activities can be viewed in a slide show format. Families can feel free to copy and print photographs of their children. The headings of the other pages will give you an idea of activities to expect during our 2007-8 school year. Outside Nancy Sensei’s classroom, parents saw a game board completed by first graders featuring their favorite colors, pizza topping, animals, subject in school and holiday. The game involved finding other students with similar favorites and asking them to sign their gameboard. Black and white photographs were framed with the students’ favorite colors. Homework Credit. Students receive their homework packets on Mondays in their homework folders. Also included in the folder are a parent instruction sheet, Reading Record sheet, and sometimes a Family Math Homelink. Completed homework is due back on school on Friday. Incomplete work can be turned in on Monday. Please send a note on Friday letting the teachers know when we can expect it. If extras are available, duplicate assignments that are still missing on Tuesday will be sent home to be completed. If your child is having difficulty with the level or amount of homework, we can make accommodations to meet their rate and level of learning. Yellow Slips and Blue Slips Missed work due to absences or unfocused work habits during class time will be yellow slipped and sent home to be corrected and completed in a timely manner and returned to school with the yellow slip attached. Yellow slipped work that is not returned to school in a timely manner will result in students missing one of their technology or P.E. periods to work on unfinished work in class. P. E. time is increased by 50 minutes this year from last year. Students all will have a minimum of an hour of P. E. a week. As far as technology, that also has increased from 35 minutes last year to 70-110 minutes this year. Students are working on reading and math concepts. which are pre-taught or reinforced in the computer lab to support our reading & math program. Blue slips will be brought home daily by students since there is new work to be done each day. Starting from this week, some students are asked to use their phonic lessons words in creating original sentences and poems. Capitals, periods, and correct D’nealian penmanship will be encouraged. Please congratulate your child for bringing home those blue slips which they are to share with you what they did/learned in class each day. We value students completing work neatly and accurately each day. Don’t forget to add those sharing minutes to the monthly reading record. Houghton Mifflin Reading Program It is good to be done with the Kindergarten Review. The First Grade Theme 1 Week 1 had “Cats” as it’s organizing feature. Students had available to read up to sixteen books/stories this week for the theme. Vocabulary books, Phonics Books (5 stories), Leveled Books (4), Anthology stories (3), the Big Book and two Independent reading stories made the sixteen story selections. It was a challenge to keep track of which teacher; Jeanne, Ruby, Marilyn, Nancy or a parent was leading which of our four groups per classroom. Week 2 letters are included in this week’s homework packet. Dogs, school and poetry are the featured themes. Thistledown Farms Parents, please check your calendars for your availability. Thanks to the Seno Wu, and McCool Family, we have available 14 seatbelts for the field trip. Sayaka Sensei and Nancy Sensei will add seven or eight more seatbelts. We require 24 more seatbelts for everyone to be able to go. We would like to save our bus trip allotment for longer field trips to which both classes attend (Mt. Pisgah, UO Natural History Museum, Public Works). Single class field trips without enough drivers will have some students remaining at YG and learning with the other class while part of the class represents the first grader, attends the scheduled trip and reports back to the rest of the class. In such cases, students will take turns attending trips. Driver’s children will be invited to attend trips for which their parents are available to drive. We welcome grandparents as field trip drivers as well. Room Parents Thank you Tammy. Goss (Tyler) and Pam Quan(Claire) for being our room parents. Please support them when they call..If you have ideas for our Halloween Party, please contact them. FIRST GRADE NEWSLETTER VOLUME 5 Yurie, Marina, Yuko, & Sayaka, pose with our Kabocha first graders.  Sayaka Sensei and Nancy Sensei are looking for volunteers from our families and YG community to take the place of three full time assistants. We are depending on both Japanese speaking parents and English speaking parents to take things home to correct as well as to come in and help during our afternoon math lessons after lunch each day. Stuffing Thursday envelopes and checking in, correcting and filling homework folders on Fridays is also a big job for which we need a steady cadre of volunteers. If you have older children at North Eugene HS who want community service hours, we could use helpers at all times of the day to escort first graders to and from PE while the teachers remain in the classroom to instruct their small groups. ***Families can bring plates and napkins instead of snack during their week Kokeshi Interns from Tokyo Woman’s Christian University and Waseda University with Sayaka Sensei, Students have completed the Houghton Mifflin Kindergarten Review and now we are ready to start the first grade program. We have grouped the students into two groups. There is an anthology which all the students read. These are theme based stories which teach strategies for becoming fluent readers. Houghton Mifflin has four strands of instruction. They are an ELL, or English Language Learner Strand, Below Level, On Level and Above Level Strands. These are the leveled readers which our instructional assistants, Jeanne, Ruby and Marilyn will read each day with our students. Our small group reading times are when half of the students are at Technology or PE. We will strive to do our best to meet the rate and level of your child’s learning. The Home Reading Program books are another opportunity to practice reading fluency. Group 2 takes home phonic and vocabulary readers each week with HW to keep and practice reading at home. Thank you Interns! It has been our privilege to host three interns from Tokyo Women’s Christian University these past three weeks. They arrived the week before school started and laminated and cut and taped all the wonderful things you see in the classrooms. Rie, Yurie and Marina took turns helping Nancy Sensei as well and were invaluable in Sayaka Sensei’s classroom. We are missing you! Let us know if you want to be our Room Parents. The Halloween Party is coming up . YG First Grade Newsletter  September 21, 2007 Volume 4 First Grade Students are Doing Well with their Daily Schedules. Our students have adapted well and are doing great with the mid-morning and mid-afternoon switches from English classes to Japanese classes and visa versa. It is the teachers who are still challenged remembering when to send first graders to P.E. and Technology on time. All students did their best on their 4j Reading Tests on Monday and Tuesday of this week and results will be available to us soon. Wednesday, October 24: Thistledown Farms. Car Field Trip. Drivers requested. We have a 9:30 tour. We will leave YG at 9:10 and leave Thistledown Farms at 10:30. Students bring a plastic grocery bag to carry their pumpkin. We encourage students to select pumpkins they can carry by themselves since the pumpkins will be used for math and art activities and will stay at school for a week before going home on Halloween. Heavy pumpkins tend to be dropped, rot and need to be thrown out and don’t get a chance to be in our pumpkin decorating school wide contest. Each chaperone will lead a tallying activity in the store. Students will be tallying the number of vegetables and fruits of certain colors they see in the store. The cost of $2.00 per student plus 15 ($124) will come out of our activity funds. Families, please make sure your school fees are paid up. If not, please send $2 for the field trip. Japanese Class Notes from Sayaka This Wednesday, the students, interns and I played a Japanese circle game outside called Toryanse.. Ask your child what they had to do in this game. The interns read a Kamishibai story “Otamajyakushi – a Tadpole story.” Kamishibai is a picture story on card with the words on the back. Friday is the first Japanese quiz on hiragana from a i, u, e o – na ni, nu, ne no, in order. Please study by completing and turning in the homework for the week. Sally Foster Sally Foster orders are due October 2. The online ordering works well for out –of- town and out-of- state relatives. All Sally Foster money raised will go to Technology. First grade is requesting another projector, stand and speakers for the Japanese Classroom. It would also be a “dream” if we could get a Smartboard. Don’t’ know what these new technologies are? Come visit the computer lab. Jackie Alonzo is our new Technology specialist. First graders have 70 – 110 minutes in the Tech Lab a week. That is 280 – 440 minutes a month per student. That is up from 70 minutes a month per student in Kindergarten. Calendar of Events: •Thursday, September 27: Picture Day. Send your order money to your homeroom teacher. Students will be taking their picture order form and check to the library when they take their pictures. If you are ordering pictures, the money needs to be turned into the photographer at the time of the photo shoot. •Thursday, September 27: 6:40 – 7:20. Curriculum Night Kabocha/ Pumpkin Group Homeroom 12 meets with Sayaka from 6:45 – 7:00. Donguri /Acorn Group Homeroom 13 meets with Nancy from 6:45 – 7:00. Kabocha /Pumpkin Group Homeroom 12 meets with Nancy from 7: 05 – 7:20. Donguri /Acorn Group Homeroom 13 meets with Sayaka from 7:05 – 7:20. Please do not ask us to assess individual students at this time. We would like to talk with you privately about your student’s progress either at conference, or anytime before that by special appointment. •Friday, October 26: Fall Festival: There will be a first grade booth that will need parent organizers and helpers. •Thursday, Friday November 1, 2: Parent Teacher Conferences. You will be assigned a 15 or 20 minutes slot to talk with us. We will be setting goals for your child for the school year. The teachers will try to meet together unless we fall behind. Please have your questions prepared. If your assigned time does not work for your family, please call Diane to reschedule. She will have the master schedule in the office. We lost a ½ a day of conference time this year, so the two days will be packed. Room Parents Do you like planning parties? (Halloween, New Year’s, Valentines, Children’s Day (May). Would you like to coordinate with and get to know other first grade parents? We need two – four room parents to recruit helpers for events such as the Fall Festival. There will be a first grade game booth. Also, prior to Auction time in April, we will be needing parents to organize the class basket (select a theme and collect the items), and get a volunteer to think of and lead a first grade art project. It would be nice to plan a first grade picnic before the weather gets bad so we can meet the ten new first grade families. No Peanuts Please - Snacks and Sharing. Families are asked to contribute a snack item once every six weeks for 24 students. We don’t allow peanut products into the classroom. Also products processed in facilities which processes peanut products are not allowed. Please read the ingredients on the boxes carefully. Fruit is a great choice. You can send the snack on any day of the assigned sharing/snack week. If your child would like to share a favorite poem, story or an event, please let the teachers know. Field Trip Policy Students earn their participation on our field trips this year by showing their teachers that they are responsible. Directions of adults must be followed promptly. Students are safe. They walk in parking lots, buckle in and speak quietly in cars. Students are respectful. Students show good manners as they are representing Yujin Gakuen in a public setting. Some field trips are joint trips where the combined classes go together. Others have classes going separately. Any students that remain at school will join the other first grade class or have work to do under Linda Sensei’s supervision 1st Grade Newsletter  9/13/07 by Nancy Imamura & Sayaka Matoba Volume 3 The Second Week in the First Grade Classroom !3 September 13, 2007 Dear Parents and Guardians, We are off to a great start in the first grade classrooms. We are very excited about having your child in our classrooms and are enjoying getting know each student better each day. During the first couple weeks we will be focusing on getting to know about each other, our school and the classroom rules, and routines. This week we started more academic lessons including math, Japanese writing, and English reading. We also had fun learning new Japanese songs which are connected to the Hiragana alphabet and math concepts. We appreciated your time filling out the sheet “Tell Me About Your Child,” It helps us to get to know your child quicker and better. If you have not returned the sheet, please do so. Also, we want to thank the families for donating snack this week to our classrooms. The children really look forward to having a little, “brain food” right after their third recess at 1:50- Thanks! You are doing a great job of getting your child to school on time, well fed, and rested. Tardies have been kept to a minimum. Thank you for getting your kids to school by 8:20.! Your child might bring home an orange behavior reminder form from the teachers. It will ask you to help remind your child to help learning in the classroom take place by being a good listener, looking at the teacher, keeping their hands on their desk or lap and most importantly, not making distracting noises and or talking to their neighbor. District testers come Monday 9/17 and hope to get first graders tested in two days. Eat a good breakfast to do your best. They will test student knowledge of letter names, letter sounds and their ability to segment ( hear sounds in words). YG First Grade Newsletter  September 10, 2007 Volume 2 First Weeks of First Grade Whew! It has been a busy, exhausting week of learning new routines and learning teacher expectations and procedures. Sayaka Sensei and Nancy Sensei are so happy with our new homerooms, but we see there can be lots of improvement in student behaviors so we can have the best learning environment. YG Rules and Classroom Goals We've talked over the school expectations of "We are Respectful," "Our School is Safe", and We are Responsible" and have expanded it to reflect our Classroom Goals for the 07-08 school year. Our Classroom goals in both classes are: "Yorokobi" - Be Cheerful, "Tasukeai" - Be Helpful, and "Shinsetsu" - Be Kind to Others. This week the class is working their way to earn 20 stickers on the "Be Helpful" card. Once they do, the class earns a Classroom Wow, and we choose a poster winner. Homeroom 12, Kabocha - Pumpkin Group and Homeroom 13, Donguri - Acorn Group Student Schedules We hope everyone is understanding the Donguri and Kabocha Schedules of the Day. Last week we did not have Technology and P.E., so we did not follow it to the letter, being busy with sharing procedures and all, however, the specialists tell us they are ready to start teaching this week, so we are very excited. Parent Volunteers Needed We both could use parent volunteers in class during our Everyday Math teaching times. They are Mondays - Friday in the afternoon from 12:30 - 1:30. If you enjoy math and want to spend an afternoon with us, we would be most grateful. We always need a dedicated group of parents to commit to coming in weekly to “stuff” Thursday envelopes and get them ready to pass out. Also, parents to check in homework on Fridays and “stuff” the homework folders with the next week’s assignments are essential to our teachers’ sanity and first grade program. Ruby always appreciates parents who want to read stories to our classes and help students find their books for the week. Students can check out an English and a Japanese book a week. Our Library times are Friday afternoons from 12:30 - 1:30. Brummitt-Taylor Music Listening Program Our Composer of the Week was Franz Joseph Haydn. We listened to Symphony # 6, "Le Matin" - "The Morning". Students identified when the sun came up and when the birds were singing. For Week 2 in September, we are listening to the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, specifically the “Horn Concerto No. 1”. It features the French Horn. First Week’s Memories So what was your fun memory of the week? Was it seeing your friends again? Was it getting to eat in the cafeteria? Was it getting new reading books? Was it getting your new school box full of new supplies? Was it listening to "Follow Me" at the Listening station, or learning to use the classroom computers? Was it reviewing the Kindergarten songs with Sayaka Sensei such as “Head and Shoulders” - “Atama- Kata”? Go to our first grade Blog site and see the responses. http://blogs.4j.lane.edu/imamura/. All responses are screened before being posted. Homework Packets and Folders Everyone is receiving their homework folder this week. We went over the English Explode the Code 1 Short Vowel packet in class today and did a few examples for each page so students should be recalling what they are to do for each page. Students will be getting a packet a week to complete during the school year, and will be getting through it in a third of the time it took to do it this week by the end of the year. We are starting with short vowels, will move up to blends, and end with long vowel packets. We use this opportunity to also practice D’nealian handwriting when students write their words, especially on the last page. If you feel your child can test out of this level by passing an end of the level test, which involves being able to write down dictation sentences with short vowel words, please let us know, and we can have Marilyn give an assessment on her Assessment days from 11:00 - 11:15 during the week. 4J District Reading Testing Testers come the week of September 17 - 21 to test all YG first graders on their knowledge of letter names, sounds and segmenting. We are spending this week and next on Kindergarten Review and will delay the start of the first grade Theme 1 till the week of September 24. Eugene Celebration and “Chomp, Stomp and Romp this Friday, 9-14. It was great to see so many of you at the Eugene Celebration YG Parade last Saturday. We hope we can see you at the PTO sponsored “Chomp, Stomp and Romp” on Friday, 9-14 from 5:30 - 7:30. Sayaka Sensei will represent the first grade as Nancy Sensei will be out of state. Home Reading Program We are sending home the Home Reading Envelopes with each student this week. Everyone received either a short vowel or a blends book to read. When you are ready for a new book, please turn in the envelope into Nancy Sensei’s Mailbox. Parents can “check off” on the envelope to tell Ruby if the books was just right, too hard, or too easy to guide the next book to be checked out. At MINIMUM the envelope should be turned back onto school on FRIDAYS to have a book to read for the weekend. If your child is a fluent reader and is ready for chapter books or want to specialize on a series or a particular author, we can accommodate that. Please let us know. RECORD ALL MINUTES read during the week. We have a classroom goal of 100 minutes in September. From October, they can earn a Pizza Hut Certificate for a free Personal Pan Pizza. Most months will have a goal of 200 minutes. Everything counts. When your child reads to you the completed work attached to the blue slips, write down those minutes. You can count books read from your own home library. You can count bedtime minutes when you read to your child. Research indicates 15 minutes a night of students reading to you is needed to improve fluency. Modeling oral reading by parents is also an essential component towards developing an appreciation and enjoyment of life long reading. Snack and Sharing Families are asked to bring to share a snack for 25 students once every six weeks. Please make sure the snack is peanut free and not processed in a plant that produces peanut products. It can be brought anytime during their assigned snack week. If students would like to share a story, book, poem or event, they can let the teacher know during their snack week. Y G First Grade Newsletter  September 5, 2007 Volume 1 Meet Your Teachers Nancy Imamura and Sayaka Matoba are your first grade homeroom teachers this 2007-2008 school year. They are assisted by Ruby Bauer, Instructional Assistant, Marilyn Krumdieck, Instructional Assistant, Jeanne Mandrapa, Instructional Assistant, Jacqueline Alonso, Technology Teacher and Nick Shanks, Physical Education Teacher. Nancy Imamura, English Nancy has been a teacher at Yujin Gakuen since 1989. Previous to that she taught for 1 1/2 years in Los Angeles, California, 4 1/2 years in Bloomington, Indiana, and a year in Charlottesville, Virginia. This year will be her 25th year in the teaching profession. Nancy is married to James, a Professor of Physics at the University of Oregon Institute of Theoretical Science. Her daughter, Megan, is also a teacher and subs in Lane County and hopes to land a position in the Portland area. Her son, Ryan, is a senior at Stanford University majoring in Economics and plays Varsity Soccer. Her son, Eric, is a Junior at the University of Hawaii, Manoa in Honolulu and is majoring in International Business. All three children are alumni of Yujin Gakuen. Information about our first grade class can be found at: https://web4j1.lane.edu/~imamura. The YG First Grade blog site is at the 4j blog site which is: http://blogs.4j.lane.edu/imamura/ This year is the first year for the Houghton Mifflin Reading Program. There are over 700 new books in our classroom to read. Readings in Social Studies and Science will supplement our existing First Grade Curriculum. Sayaka Sensei plans to match her Japanese curriculum to some of the reading content themes this year. We both anticipate a busy, fun filled year and can’t wait to meet all our new first grade families. Sayaka Matoba, Japanese This summer, Sayaka graduated from the University of Oregon with a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education with a focus on Teaching and Learning. She was born and raised in Yokohama, Japan. She has been in the United States for five years. Sayaka enjoys playing sports and playing the piano in her spare time. Sayaka loves being around children. She looks forward to the challenges of the school year. She hopes that her classroom will be an “Oasis” for our first graders; a comfortable environment where they will thrive and learn. Nick Shanks, Physical Education Please welcome our new PE teacher, Nick Shanks. Nick just finished the PE Masters Program at OSU and also holds a license in Early Childhood & Elementary Education as well as in Adaptive PE. Nick has wonderful knowledge, creative ideas, and an enthusiasm for this position. Nick will make a great contribution to both Physical Education programs at Yujin Gakuen and Corridor. Jacqueline Alonso, Technology Jacque just finished her Masters in Elementary Education at the UO with an emphasis in Technology Integration. She has her own education blog, which has a lot of quality education links you might want to check out. The website is: http://jacqueseducationblog.blogspot.com/ Jeanne Mandrapa, Instructional Assistant  Janne teaches in both the Japanese and English first grade classrooms. She will be helping with both Japanese and math. At Yujin Gakuen, Jeanne helps in all the other Japanese classrooms, is our English Language Learner (ELL) teacher and teaches in our after school Homework Club. You can also see her outside supervising at recess. Ruby Bauer, Instructional Assistant Ruby is our Yujin Gakuen Library Assistant. Since we don’t have a librarian, Ruby is in charge. She welcomes parent volunteers to keep the library running smoothly. Ruby also spends an hour a day in our first grade English classroom checking in and out books for the Home Reading Program and works with a Leveled Reading Group. She also works outside supervising at recess. You will also see her supervising breakfast in the morning and in front of Yujin Gakuen as you arrive to school each morning.  Marilyn Krumdieck, Instructional Assistant Marilyn works in the first and second grade classrooms. She also helps in our Special Education Program in Yulan Graham’s Workshop. Marilyn will be leading a Leveled Reading Group in our class as well as doing ongoing assessments for our new Houghton Mifflin reading program. http://everydaymath.uchicago.edumailto:imamura@4j.lane.edumailto:smatoba@uoregon.eduhttp://blogs.4j.lane.edu/imamura/https://web4j1.lane.edu/~imamurahttp://blogs.4j.lane.edu/imamura/http://jacqueseducationblog.blogspot.comshapeimage_1_link_0shapeimage_1_link_1shapeimage_1_link_2shapeimage_1_link_3shapeimage_1_link_4shapeimage_1_link_5shapeimage_1_link_6