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