Wow! We can’t believe that May is already here! We intend on having a great ending to our already wonderful school year. The month of May is a busy one with the zoo trip, Pre-K graduation, and our play day at the Summit Park. We are heading to the Sedgwick County Zoo on May 10th at 8:30am and will return by 2:45pm. This will be a good “pre-test” for the pre-k to see how well they hold up with being at school ALL day!

On May 15th we will be having a Pre-K Graduation ceremony at 6:00 pm where the children will perform a few songs and be awarded a diploma for completing Pre-K at Jefferson! We look forward to family and friends coming out and celebrating with their child! We will also have a slideshow of pictures from throughout the school year so parents can see all the fun activities in which the children have participated. 

Our play day will be on May 22nd at Summit Park. Please send your child in appropriate clothing every day, but especially on those field trip days! The last day of school is the 23rd. Please make note that if your child is in the PM class they will be dismissed at 1:10 pm. Remember to read with your child this summer!! Thank you so much for everything you have done for your child and us teachers!

As the year comes to an end, we want to leave you with a few ideas to help your child stay school-ready. First, read every day if you can. Read to your child, read with your child, have him read to you. Read books, magazines, road signs, menus, business signs--everything! Don't forget to practice letter names, letter sounds, handwriting and sight words. Write words in the sand with a stick. Make letters out of play dough. Write sentences on paper using different colors for each sentence or word. Use your imagination and have fun with it.  

Next, keep working on number sense. How many ways can you make 10? 17? 12? Some numbers that are equivalent to 10 are: 5 + 5, 12 - 2, 4 + 6, 15 - 5 and so on. Use tally marks, piles of noodles, rocks in the driveway--anything to demonstrate "how many" and cement the idea that teens are "ten + so many more." Count aloud to 100 (or more) by ones, fives and tens. Keep working on time to the hour and coin names and values.  What numbers do you see around you, and why are they important?    

Finally, have fun and be safe. Make sure your child can tie his shoes, button, zip and care to personal needs. Does your child know his address?  Your phone number? Or an emergency phone number that isn't 911?  How to buckle a seat belt? Think about vacation and what your child will need to know to stay safe.  

Have fun, and we will see you in the fall!  

PS--Be looking for info about our last Cool Cub Award Assembly and Play Day.

How beautiful it is to see so many flowers blooming! It is wonderful to take in all the sights, sounds, and smells of spring! The month of May will be very busy! In science we will be studying different animals in the zoo and rainforest. We have also been studying butterflies.

In math we are still working on math facts, telling time, and counting money. Some activities you could do at home to help your first graders with these concepts would be; put some change on the table and have them count it, make your own addition and subtraction flash cards, and also ask them to read the time for you!

In reading we are continuing to work on our sight words and those words with tricky endings. The weather has been so nice and the kids want to play outside, but please remember to pull aside some quiet reading time (you could even read outside). Be sure to ask your first grader questions about the story they are reading to you!

We have many summer birthdays. If you would like your child to celebrate his/her birthday at school, please check with your child’s teacher if you would like to send a special treat.

As the school year winds down, we have been reflecting on the amazing developments that have occurred in our first grade classrooms. The students have grown in so many ways.
Dates to Remember!!!
May 13: Mother’s Day
May 14: Field Trip to the Zoo
May 22: Play Day
May 23: Last Day of School
Thank you for all your hard work! —Mrs. Baker, Mrs. Gingerich & Mrs. Haury

This is it- the end of the year! It has truly flown by! Thank you all for giving us this opportunity to spend a year with some really amazing kiddos!  We encourage you to keep their skills sharp over the summer. Students often show backsliding at the beginning of the next school year after the long summer. We'd like to avoid that. 

Here are some of the skills that are most important for students to work on: reading, reading and reading, of course! Read for fun, read different types of literature- websites, magazines, etc., read what interests your child most!  Have your child reread the same book again if it isn't "easy" for them to read or they cannot talk about the book. In math, fact practice in addition, subtraction and even multiplication is very helpful. Also, practicing addition and subtraction with regrouping and counting money are skills that can get rusty without continued practice. One of the best and easiest way to practice is to use educational websites. Again, Mrs. O'Brien's wiki has a lot of tried and true websites the kids love. Once they get to eldoradoschools.org, the students know how to navigate to the different websites. 

We hope all of our students enjoy third grade! All of Jefferson will miss them terribly- don't hesitate to come and say hello as we love to watch them grow up!! Once again, thank you!!