First Grade Newsletter, Volume 4
 
YG First Grade Newsletter  September 21, 2007 Volume 3 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.
Friday, September 21, 2007