It's hard to believe that we will be celebrating Thanksgiving in less than two weeks and that the holiday season is approaching. We continue to work hard in our classroom, and as I look back to the beginning of the year, I am so proud of the progress that everyone has made in all areas. As readers, everyone has increased their guided reading level by at least two levels. In math, we are becoming more fluent in recognizing our basic addition facts. As writers, we are becoming more independent when writing, as well as creating at least two complete sentences. We continue to focus on starting our sentences with a capital letter and putting a punctuation mark at the end.
Reading: Our reading goals last week were to read and spell words with the short u sound, as well as ending blends (nt, nd, sk, st, nk, mp, and lp), we identified the sequence of events after reading a story, and our grammar skill was to use a, an, and the correctly. When working on comprehension, we have been using graphic organizers to record our thoughts as a group. This week, our reading goals will be to read and spell words with the digraph "th", our comprehension skill is "Author's Purpose", and our grammar skill is proper nouns. This week, we will be reading an informational story about "Ocean Animals". We continue to have guided reading groups daily, which means they are bringing a book/passage/blending page home to share with you. Thanks for taking the time to listen to your child read and for signing the log sheets. It is amazing to see how many books we have read so far. If you are unable to read the book the night they bring it home, please send it back, for we use that book as a reread for their guided reading group the following day. Thanks! The following high-frequency words were practiced last week: eat, put, give, small, one, take- words for this week will be: blue, little, water, cold, live, where, water, their
Math: Last week, we continued working on equality. They have learned that they need to look carefully at the symbols and problems on both sides of the equal sign. On Monday, they completed a practice game with a partner and we did our first independent equality quiz. This is an important skill in first grade and one we will be practicing weekly. Last week, we started lessons on “Subtraction Strategies” we started with subtracting all and subtracting zero. This week, we will add the strategies of counting back, counting on, and halves. On Friday of last week, they were given a 120 chart and asked to complete it as far as they could. Writing to 120 is an end of the year goal and this will show me how far they can go, and what we need to work on. Our math time also focuses daily on warm-ups for geometry, problem solving, telling time, counting money, problem solving, number sequences, counting patterns, and fact fluency. We have also been practicing counting by 5’s and they have learned this is an important skill when counting money and telling time too.Writing: We continue to focus on "Opinion Writing". It is always fun to read what their opinions are in their journals. Last week, we started using the word "because" in our journals to state a reason for our opinion.
Science: Last week, our Mystery Science lesson was titled “What will a baby plant look like when it grows up?” This week, our Mystery Science lesson will be titled "Why don't Trees Blow down in the Wind?" This week, Anjanette will visit our classroom for the 2nd time to continue with the “Rolling Things” STEM activity.
Star Student: Brayden and Blake were most recently featured. Brayden likes to drink Mountain Dew and eat tacos. HIs favorite place is the “Dells” and he takes lessons in wrestling and crossfit. When Brayden grows up, he wants to be a vet. Blake likes to drink strawberry milk and eat tacos. She collects colored rocks and her favorite place is grandma’s. When Blake grows up, she wants to be a teacher.
Please remind your child to dress warm this week and to bring hats and gloves. The forecast looks cold and it always feels cooler on the playground due to being such an open area. You may also want to label your child’s belongings, with more items to be responsible for. If your child is ever missing something, send me an email and I can check our “Lost and Found” table for it, or even check with the bus barn.
Early Thanksgiving Wishes to you and your family. I am so thankful for being your child’s teacher. Attendance in our classroom has been great and I am grateful for each day I have with your child.
