Winter Author Study

Classroom News

Reading: This week we began our author study on Jan Brett.  Students have really been engaged in her stories.  Some of the stories we have read include, The Hat, Annie and the Wild Animals, and Home for Christmas.  Students really enjoy using the borders to tell the story.  They use the borders to help them make predictions about what will happen next and what is happening at the same time that the author isn’t telling you, but the illustrations are.  Our focus is on retelling stories, describing characters, setting, and major events.  As your child reads at home ask them about these things in their own books.

Math: This week we finished up Chapter 5.  We feel the students did well on their test!  Students did well with their first introduction to algebra! 

Writing: Students have loved working on their information books.  They have been coming up with great information stories telling facts about cats, dogs, sharks, flowers, pumpkins, and even Minecraft!  They love to share their knowledge.

We also began a fun writing activity about Santa being stuck in our chimney!  They are very cute!

What We’re Learning Next Week:

Reading: Students will continue to learn about and study various Jan Brett books.  Coming up we will be reading two stories about some pesky trolls and a few stories she wrote that will get us in the holiday spirit!  We will be working on words and phrases that tell a character’s feelings or emotions, comparing and contrasting characters across various stories, and continuing to practice retelling stories including major events and key details.

Math: We will be starting our new chapter, Chapter 6.  In Chapter 6 students will learn how to use place value to model, read, and write numbers to 120.  We will start by counting by ones to 120, tens to 120, and then understanding how tens and ones work using models to find equivalent forms of numbers.

Writing: Students will continue to write information books and work on adding more details and helping readers picture the details by using comparisons.

Phonemic Awareness:

Students will be learning about the ending -nk and –ng this week.

Example: sunk, thing

Please practice at home using spellingcity.com

Important Information

Please be sure to practice sight words with your child each night.  If you are unsure what list your child is on, ask your child’s teacher.

Important Dates:

12/5: Progress Reports go home

12/10: Early Release

11:45

  

                         

Spelling City

Please remember that we have a great resource available to us through Spellingcity.com.  I post students spelling words for the week on the website and they are able to go on and practice the words through fun games.  If you cannot find or remember your child's login that was sent home, please contact me and I will send home a new one.  I can also track to see if your child is using this resource and I would LOVE to see more students taking advantage of it.  :)

Don't forget about xtramath.org either! I can send home a new username and password for that as well. :)

Hot on the Campaign Trail

Classroom News

Reading: The 2014 gubernatorial election may be over for adults however, first graders are just getting started learning about elections.  The kids have been introduced to election vocabulary and the voting process.  We have read a few fiction books about elections and compared and contrasted characters in each selection.  Students have also made a poster for a mock election among the three first grade teachers.  May the best candidate win!

Math: Thank you for completing the Chapter 4 practice test. This is a nice way to prepare for the assessment given in class.  Students performed well on their assessment.  Chapter 5, Addition and Subtraction Relationships, began this week.

Writing: Students have spent time this week publishing a Small Moment story.  The kids were instructed to select their favorite writing piece to publish.  Then, they added titles and cover pages to their work.

What We’re Learning Next Week:

Reading: Our election theme will continue for another week. Students will engage in fiction based read alouds followed by comparing and contrasting characters in the selections.  We will continue to record our thoughts using a Venn diagram graphic organizer. 

Math: Chapter 5-Addition and Subtraction Relationships continued

Students will be learning about fact families.  Fact families are numbers that live in the same house and can be manipulated to make two addition and subtraction sentences.  Students will learn how to use the same numbers in a different order.

Writing: Students will begin their next unit in writing and will learn how to make a basic type of information book.

Phonemic Awareness:

Review long and short vowel sounds with your child.  Remember long vowels say their names!

 Spelling Words

We WILL NOT have a Spelling Test due to the short week.  Keep practicing Sight Words.

Important Information

We look forward to seeing you at Parent/Teacher Conferences.

Important Dates:

11/11 No School-Veteran’s Day

11/12 Parent/Teacher Conferences 4-7

11/13 Parent/Teacher Conferences

1-4, 5-7

                         

Happy Halloween!

Classroom News

Reading: First grade certainly has had their share of monsters!  The kids read three funny books about monsters including The Monster Who Ate Peas, Mostly Monsterly, and Leonardo and the Terrible Monster.  After reading, we retold key details from the selections and used complete sentences to identify and describe the main character and setting.  The kids and teachers really enjoyed our theme.

Math: The teachers are aware that the past few lessons in Chapter Four have been a challenge, especially when students are unable to apply skills taught in class to corresponding homework.  If questions do arise, please feel free to contact your child’s teacher for help.  Also be mindful that all classes have spent time reviewing confusing material.  The practice test will be sent home on Monday and a summative test will be given on Wednesday.

What We’re Learning Next Week:

Reading: Students will begin to learn about the voting process using fun filled fiction books.  Students will learn how to compare and contrast two characters from the same text.  A venn diagram will be used to help us record our thoughts. 

Math: Chapter 5-Addition and Subtraction Relationships

Students will be learning about fact families.  Fact families are numbers that live in the same house and can be manipulated to make two addition and subtraction sentences.  Students will learn how to use the same numbers in a different order.

Writing: Students will continue to revise and edit.  After editing, we will publish a writing piece that is very special to us.

Phonemic Awareness:

Long u

When a word has a consonant-vowel-consonant-silent e pattern, the vowel usually stands for its long sound.

Ex. mule, huge

Important Dates:

11/4 No School-Election Day

11/11 No School-Veteran’s Day

11/12 Parent/Teacher Conferences 4-7

11/13 Parent/Teacher Conferences

1-4, 5-7

                         

Getting Ready for Halloween in First!

Classroom News

Reading: First grade is getting ready for Halloween. We began our next unit by reading Stellaluna, a heart warming tale about a bat who thinks she is a bird. The kids did a wonderful job identifying and describing the main character. We also retold key details from the story with a written sentence and matching illustration.

Math: First grade spent time reviewing addition strategies. Those strategies included adding doubles, doubles plus and minus one, and making a ten with a ten frame. We hope you found the practice test helpful.

Writing: Students learned about an author’s craft and how authors make their stories exciting. We continued writing and editing.

Next Week

Reading: Our Halloween theme will repeat once again next week.  Students will continue to read fiction boos and then describe the main character, setting, and retell a key detail from the selection.  Some of the books we will read include I Need My Monster and Frankie Stein.

Math: Chapter 4 Subtraction Strategies will begin on Monday. Students will learn how to count back. Children will begin to identify patterns as they count back. This strategy lays the foundation for adding and subtracting greater numbers and recognizing patterns between numbers within 100.

Writing: Students will continue working on the writer’s workshop. 

Phonemic Awareness:

Long i

When a word has a consonant-vowel- consonant-silent e pattern, the vowel usually stands for its long sound. 

Life Cycles and Seeds

Classroom News:

Reading: Students began exploring the life cycle of seeds.  We kicked off our unit by graphing our favorite kind of apple to eat.  We found out that students love to eat red apples!  We also conducted a science experiment by cutting into a red, yellow, and green apple to see what happens.  We read several non-fiction books related to seeds.  Students asked and answered questions about the selections we read in class.  This is a skill tied directly to our Common Core State Standards.

Math: Students have continued learning strategies to help them add.  We have learned to count beginning with the larger addend.  We have learned to add doubles and use a catchy doubles song to help us remember our facts.

Writing: Bringing stories to life has been a topic throughout our week.  The kids learned how to unfreeze people in their stories and make them speak.

What We’re Learning Next Week:

Reading: The life cycle of a pumpkin will be used to help students practice asking and answering questions about non-fiction material.  Students will continue to practice what thoughtful readers do… ask thin and thick questions.  Thin questions are easy to answer, typically have one answer, and can be found in the text.  Thick questions are harder to answer, require evidence from the text, and have multiple answers for the same question.

Math: A ten frame will be used throughout the week to help students add 10 and more.  The ten frame helps children keep track when counting 10 or more objects and helps reinforce the idea of grouping 10 and extras, a key to understanding teen numbers.  Students will also learn how to make a ten to add.  The strategy of making ten helps children decompose and compose numbers to help simplify addition.  These are challenging strategies.

Writing: Students will continue working on seed topics and bringing their stories to life.  When appropriate, partners will help one another.

Phonemic Awareness:

Digraphs sh, th

Consonant digraphs consist of two unlike consonants that stand for a single sound that is different from either consonant alone.

Important Information:

Before completing the Tic-Tac-Toe homework please be sure to check which spelling list your child is working on.  If your child is taking the enrichment list, please use the enrichment words for the assignment.

Important Dates:

Pride Night 10/9

Picture Retake Day 10/10

No School-Columbus Day 10/13

11:45 Dismissal 10/15

S.I.P. Day

                         

Week of Sept. 30 - Oct. 2

Classroom News

Reading: Robert Munsch continued to make us laugh with several other books including Pigs, Moira’s Birthday, and Stephanie’s Ponytail.  Robert Munsch has a great website with numerous books on audio.  In your spare time please browse the site (robertmunsch.com) and let your child listen to the books we did not have a change to read.  There are other links to poems and stories.  Have fun exploring!

Math: First grade took a Chapter 2 Math Test on Tuesday.  On Wednesday, we revisited addition once again.  Students have learned how to “count on” when adding 1, 2, and 3.  Please have your child model and practice this skill at home.

Writing: Watermelon and seed topics have continued.  Students have learned how to work with a writing partner.

What We’re Learning Next Week:

Reading: Students will be learning about seeds for the next two weeks.  We will begin our seed unit with a concentration on apples.  We will begin our unit with an apple science experiment.  If possible, please send an apple (red, green, or yellow) to school on Monday for our science experiment.

Math: Students will learn to use doubles facts to add to 20.  Doubles Plus one and minus one are also skills we will learn.  Research shows that many children remember doubles facts more easily than other facts with sums within 20.  It is important for children to be able to identify doubles facts and to develop quick recall of their sums.

Writing: Students will continue working on seed topics and bringing their stories to life.  When appropriate, partners will help one another.

Phonemic Awareness:

Short u

When there is only one vowel at the beginning or in the middle of a word, the vowel usually stands for its short sound.

Final Blends

Consonant blends consist of two or more letters whose sounds are blended together when pronouncing a word.

Important Dates:

10/3

Teacher Institute

No School

10/13

No School

10/15

11:45 Dismissal

S.I.P. Day

                         

Community Helpers

Classroom News

Reading: Our unit on community helpers has come to a close.  Students really enjoyed learning about the responsibilities of those we see in our community on a daily basis. 

Math: Students began working on subtraction.  We used visual representations as well as manipulatives to help with our subtraction.  A few new vocabulary words we learned include: difference, minus, subtraction sentence and subtract.  We also began Gumball Math.  Students have taken a couple of timed tests with fifty fact problems.  In order to progress onto the next level of difficulty, students must earn a 100%.

Writing: The writer’s workshop has continued.  Students have had opportunities to review how to write a story and label pictures associated with their small moment stories.

What We’re Learning Next Week:

Reading: Robert Munsch is a famous children’s author that we will highlight.  His books are quite humorous for adults and children.  If you have the opportunity to get to the library please check out the Robert Munsch section.  Students will be reading multiple books and completing activities linked to the books we read.

Math: Subtraction practice will continue.  We will use pictures to help us subtract, subtract zero, and take apart numbers.  An assessment is planned for the week of Sept. 22^nd.

Writing: Students are doing well with the writing process.  Encourage your child to write a small moment story at home.                          

Phonemic Awareness:

Inflected Endings –s

The letter s can stand for the sound /s/ or /z/.

Inflected Ending –ing

When reading words with –ing, take off the –ing and read the base word first.

Important Information

Please make sure your child has a healthy snack.  Chips, cookies and donuts are discouraged.  One snack and one drink is sufficient for snack.

Important Dates:

S.I.P. Day 9/17

Progress Reports go home 9/19

October 3

Teacher Institute

No School