We have officially started the season of fall and with that will bring cooler, windy days. Although, we can't complain for we have enjoyed many warm summery days to start the year and this week sounds like we will experience lots of warm days as well. When the temperature does get cooler, please encourage your child to wear a sweatshirt/coat. Our playground doesn't have much of a windbreak, and we are out in the open, so it feels colder than the thermometer says on many fall or winter days.
Reading: We've been busy working hard on short vowel chunks in our "Making Words" and large group reading lessons. We have focused on learning chunks in words, as well as digraphs, endings and blends. Last week, our focus was reading and spelling words with the short u sound. Our story of the week was a "fantasy" vs. informational text. Our grammar skill was adjectives and using color and number words to describe. We also talked a little about synonyms. As for "Making Words" lessons, I am amazed at how well the kids are sounding out new words and creating them with the letters. Last week, we completed the first unit in our first grade reading program. These lessons are a part of our large group reading instruction. Daily lessons/activities are centered around phonemic awareness, phonics, grammar, and comprehension skills. The lessons have provided the students with new strategies to help them become better readers. The spelling lists also coordinate with the weekly skills. Each week, the list contains 6 words that focus on the phonics skill we're working on, as well as 4 high-frequency words. This week, our reading goals are to read and spell words with the short a sound, as well as reading words with double consonants and words that end in ck, our comprehension skill will be to understand characters and to identify the story message. We are also working on using the sequence words of first, next, then, and last to summarize what we read. Our grammar skill is identifying what makes a complete sentence.
Math: We are working on lessons in Module 1. We will be learning to understand and use a variety of strategies to solve addition problems. In this module, we will also be learning new math vocabulary. Our vocabulary for this module is: add, count on, doubles, equation/addition sentence, is equal to (=), make a ten, plus (+) and sum. We have worked on the following strategies thus far: Counting on 1, 2, or 3, adding 10, and making 10. This week, we will add the strategies of doubles and using known sums to add. Our daily “Math Warm-ups” focus on identifying shapes, place value, fact practice, writing numbers, problem solving, telling time, and counting money. We are currently working hard on counting on 1, 2, or 3 when we add, as well as adding 10 and 0.
Wow!!! I have been impressed with how well the 1st graders are doing with writing their letters. Last week, I gave them the alphabet test again to see how much they have improved with identifying and writing their capital and lowercase letters. We officially made it through the alphabet with our handwriting pages. We will continue to work on writing our letters within our written work.
Writing: Our main focus has been to write complete sentences. A weekly task has been to choose 2 of our story words and to write a sentence using that word. We have been working on writing sentences for many weeks now, and we are focusing on making sure we start our sentence with a capital letter and end with a punctuation mark, as well as making sure it makes sense. Our key words for punctuation are; telling is a period, asking is a question mark, and words that show strong feeling have an explanation point. We also write in our journals with a given prompt. I will share journals and a writing sample with you at conferences.
Star Student: A new display in our classroom is titled "Star Student". Each week, one student will have the privilege to be featured on that display. At the end of the week, a new student's name will be drawn to determine who will be next. In the past, this has always been a favorite, and the kids anxiously await their turn.
Conferences: Most of you have signed up for a time using the link I sent via email. If you haven't signed up yet, please do so. Conferences will take place on Monday, October 10th and Thursday, October 13th. If you haven't signed up, please do so as soon as possible. If you have difficulty signing up, send me an email and I will help you out.
This is Homecoming Week and listed below are the dress-up days for Fairview:
Monday: Wear PJ’s
Tuesday: Heroes vs. Villains
Wednesday: Career Day
Thursday: Class Color Day- 1st grade wears green
Friday: Wear Orange and Black
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