Ms. Klunejko’s First Grade STARS

• Welcome to Ms. Klunejko’s 1st grade web page.

ABOUT MS. KLUNEJKO
My name is Melissa Klunejko and I have been teaching first grade at St. Paul the Apostle for 12 years. I live in Comstock Park with my three children Samantha (13), Shawn (11), and Chad (8). We also have a cat named Claude.

I graduated from Rockford Public Schools, then proceeded to earn my Bachelor’s at Central Michigan University. I obtained my Master’s Degree in Reading in 2003 from Grand Valley and I also received my Reading Specialist endorsement with it.

I enjoy doing many things, such as my kids’ sports (football, cheer, wrestling, baseball), rollerblading, reading books, gardening, going to the beach, and music events/concerts. I also am a HUGE fan of the Detroit Red Wings and MSU football/basketball/hockey!

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Contact Information: 949-1690 ext. 225
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Ms. K’s Rules/Procedures Booklet
Open House Booklet

Ms. K’s Newsletter of the Week
Class_Newsletter_Sept_16_2011.pdf

Ms. K’s Links to Great Websites for Kids/Parents
Reading Rockets
FunBrain
Scholastic’s Reading List for First Grade
Six Traits Writing/Journal Prompts
Jan Brett’s Sight Word Lists for First Grade
Saint of the Day
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Too bad that the Tigers are out of the game now…but what a great MSU win!!!! GO GREEN! Now that was a great game!

Week of October 17th

• October 20th is the First Grade Mass at 8:30 AM. Please come! The kids and I will begin planning it next week.

• Please make a note to help your child to remember to bring his or her library book back on Fridays. They will not be able to check a book out until they have returned the previous week’s checkout. Thanks!!

• Behavior sheets will be going home each day! Please initial and return back every day. Thanks SO much! The week of the 24th will be the last week for Behavior Sheets.

• This is a short week, since we will be having an inservice on Friday and there will be no school. The kids are really into the routine and the procedures of first grade! I am SO proud of these kids.

• For Language Arts, the children are learning to spell short words that have the short vowel /a/ or /i/. Most of the children are getting their beginning and ending sounds down pat at this time. Please make sure that your child is practicing the Popcorn Words that I sent home a couple of weeks ago. Let me know if you need another copy.

• In Math, the class is learning how to use ‘touch points’ on the numbers to help them add bigger numbers (bigger than 1, 2, or 3). Some of the children know their facts, which is GREAT. I’m trying to get away from using fingers for help. One way is these touch points (Touch Math). I can show you at conferences what this is. I am expecting the children to memorize their ‘plus ones’ and their ‘doubles’ facts up to 5+5 by Thanksgiving.

• In the beginning of November, I will be assessing your child for the first benchmark notation of the school year. I will not be able to listen to your child read the envelope fluency books, so as you turn these in signed, I am trusting that the children can read these rather smoothly. I will continue to trade out the books at this time, but will not be able to listen to them individually that week. Thanks!

• We discussed Christopher Columbus and how he made the first trip over to the Americas to explore it for Social Studies!

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How can I know my school has a quality reading program?

Good schools and good teachers (including St. Paul’s!) do the following:

• Conduct ongoing assessments to determine whether students are making progress Mrs. Balke and I work in tandem to do this

• Change students’ reading group placements during the year based on the ongoing assessment results I do this periodically throughout the school year

• Teach phonemic awareness and phonics in small groups This is done with Mrs. Balke for the kids who need it. I take kids in small groups and work on the phonic/spelling sounds/writing techniques of the week as well

• Use a variety of teaching methods to keep children motivated and excited I use hands-on activities, fun songs/chants, and try to incorporate humor and fun into skills that the children will need for reading/writing

• Use a variety of interventions to ensure that all children succeed Here at St Pauls, I have the reading specialist endorsement needed to detect reading problems in children, as well as making sure that advanced readers get the learning/challenge that they need. St. Paul’s also offers a Resource Room with Mrs. Balke, plus I am trained in Response to Intervention, which is a program designed to obtain help/intervention for a struggling child with academics/behavior. GRPS has an excellent Child Study program which we participate in if needed.

The teaching of reading in particular requires skilled and caring teachers who know how to deliver research-based reading instruction. Talk with your child’s teacher and ask two important questions:

1.Do you provide explicit instruction to the students?

2.Is your instruction based on a recent assessment?

Then observe a reading lesson. A good lesson will focus on one or more of these elements:

Phonemic awareness
Are the students playing games with the sounds in spoken words? For example, “Sun, sock, and sand all start with s. What is another word that begins with that sound?” You should be hearing me do this all the time!!!

Phonics
Do small groups of students work with letters and sounds? Do you see reading materials that contain the letters and sounds they’re studying? The fluency envelope books should contain all the letters/sounds/sight words that we are working on. Plus, our spelling lists are review of the phonetic sounds/spelling patterns that the children have learned the week before. Our Working With Words sector of the day focuses on explicit phonics instruction in a FUN way! There are books available for pleasure reading in the classroom that have these phonetic sounds prevalent in the stories.

Fluency
Once kids begin to read books, are they reading and rereading familiar books and poems? Does the teacher listen to the students read aloud? We have familiar poems, fluency reading envelopes, reading pattern books that are available at pleasure reading time, etc. Familiar print and stories are always available in my classroom!

Vocabulary
Are the students talking with each other and the teacher? Does the teacher share interesting words? I call new words ‘three dollar words’ that the kids might not know the meaning to. I like to share interesting and new words with the kids and utilize them in everyday speech. There are new vocabulary words introduced in each reading anthology story of the week. I encourage pleasant conversation and good social skills in how to respect and treat one another, not in only words, but the tone of voice as well.

Comprehension
Does the teacher teach strategies to help kids understand what they read? Are students encouraged to ask and answer questions about what they’ve read? With each story of the week there is a ‘strategy’ that we focus on for comprehension. Asking questions throughout the story is something I always do with the children by modeling. I like to know that they are doing that as well when they’re reading their own stories. It takes practice, but they will get there.