Ms. Schmalzer's First Grade

Hello, It was fun to celebrate NDLC last week! Students had fun meeting with their third grade buddies, dressing up, and celebrating our school. This week we will be working on a class Valentine project. Our class is a part of a project with 23 first grade classes around the United States. Each student will design a heart valentine to be sent to one of the schools. We will also write a letter about our school to include with the heart. In return we should receive 23 valentines and letters. It should be a fun to start receiving mail! Speaking of Valentine's Day...We do have a class party and exchange Valentines. I will send the sign up and class list next Monday. Upcoming Events: February 14th: Valentine’s Day, wear red or pink February 16th: Funky Friday February 22nd/23rd: No School February 27th: Family Night: Music and Munchies Reading: We are beginning a new reading unit this week called Readers Have Big Jobs to Do.  This week we will teach stud...

Happy New Directions Week!  It’s a fun week to celebrate what makes our school a great place to BE!  Make sure to check out the dress up days and I hope that you are able to make it to one or both of our families nights this week. I am working on my National Board Certification for Early Childhood Education.  As a part of the work that I am doing I will need to collect samples of student work and videotape parts of my teaching. No student last names will appear on the work that I submit. I will be sending home a release form tomorrow (Tuesday) and I would appreciate it if you could sign it and return it to school. Thank you! Upcoming Events: January 23rd: Art Family Night January 25th: Jump Rope for Heart Family Night Reading: This week we will be meeting with our book clubs and getting to know our characters.  We will act out our books and work on changing our voice to match the book. At the end of the week we will celebrate our unit by performing o...

Hello! Let it snow! It was a fun day at recess with all the new snow! At our assembly last week we picked themes for our door decorating for NDLC Week. Our them is BE WRITERS. It will be fun getting it decorated this week! Each class also took on a challenge to make our school a better place. We are working on following the Golden Rule. Don't forget...January is a big month for our school!  There are many informational events taking place to help others learn more about New Directions.  Please share these dates with anyone you think may be interested in learning more about what a great place New Directions is for students to learn and grow! Thursday, January 11th-5:30 PM District-Wide Info Session held at Tanner Early Learning Center Tuesday, January 16th-6:00 -7:00 PM Info Session at New Directions Monday, January 22nd-10:00 AM-1:00 PM Open House for prospective families at New Directions Thursday, February 1st-6:00-7:00 PM-Info Session at New Direct...

Hello! We are very excited to be able to go outside this week...it was a bit tough being stuck inside all last week! Don't forget...January is a big month for our school!  There are many informational events taking place to help others learn more about New Directions.  Please share these dates with anyone you think may be interested in learning more about what a great place New Directions is for students to learn and grow! Thursday, January 11th-5:30 PM District-Wide Info Session held at Tanner Early Learning Center Tuesday, January 16th-6:00 -7:00 PM Info Session at New Directions Monday, January 22nd-10:00 AM-1:00 PM Open House for prospective families at New Directions Thursday, February 1st-6:00-7:00 PM-Info Session at New Directions Families can also call Mrs. Frischmann at 766-6116 to set up individual tours. January 2nd: Classes Resume January 19th: ½ Day for Students and Yearbook Orders due January 22nd: No School for Students January 23rd:...

Hello!   I hope you had a wonderful winter break and that everyone found time to relax and enjoy family. I had a very exciting break...I got engaged! Zach and I spent most of the week celebrating with family and friends. Let the wedding planning begin! It was a lot of fun sharing the news with the kids this morning. January 2nd: Classes Resume January 19th: ½ Day for Students and Yearbook Orders due January 22nd: No School for Students January 23rd: Art Family Night January 25th: Jump Rope for Heart Family Night Reading: We are beginning to a new fiction reading unit.  We will be getting to know the characters in our books like we get to know our friends.  This week we will focus on sneak peeks and thinking “What does this tell me about the characters? How might the story go?”  We will also check our thinking while reading by saying to ourselves “At first I was thinking but now I’m thinking…” We will also look at how characters feeling changes ...