February News #1

 With Valentine’s Day approaching soon, I will send home a class list on Friday with your child. We will be creating a bag at school to put our valentines in. Our party will take place on Friday, February 10th due to no school/professional development for teachers on the 13th. Valentines can be brought to school on any day the week of February 6th.

When the weather is too cold, or the playground is not safe to play on, we do have inside recess time. We are lucky to have access to the gym for some of the inside recess times, which gives the kids a chance to be active. When we can't go to the gym, we either play in the classroom, or watch a movie. It is always best for the kids to get outside and burn energy and get fresh air. With the winter weather still here, please encourage them to bring all their winter gear so they can stay warm and play in the snow on those days we are outside.

Reading: Our reading goals will be vowel teams. During the next two weeks our lessons will focus on  reading and spelling words with ee and ea, as well as ai and ay. Our grammar skills will be to write compound sentences, and to capitalize months, days of the week, and holidays. Our comprehension skills will be to compare and contrast, problem/solution, as well as author’s purpose. Soon, we will read a fun story and we will compare two characters and their feelings about taking a trip in "The Big Trip". We will also read an informational story titled "Where do Foods Come From",  and we will write about why we feel the author chose to write this story for kids. For comprehension, we have been doing a written response activity for the main selection from our basal each week. We read the story three different times throughout the week, and for each read, we focus on digging deeper to understand what we are reading using the comprehension skill of the week. Now that we have become such "Good Readers" the stories are getting longer and the kids have noticed this. I'm really proud of the progress everyone has made as a reader. Once again, thanks for encouraging your child to read the books sent home almost daily, and taking the time to listen to them read. It is so much fun watching them grow as readers, and to become excited about getting their new book during group time. The following high-frequency words are ones we will be working on. Check to see if your child can read them: about, by, car, could, don't, maybe, sure, there, first, good, ground, right, sometimes, these, under, and your.

Math: We have worked on 3 different types of problems for problem solving. This skill is difficult, for they really need to listen to what the story problem is asking for. It is sometimes hard when the mystery of the problem is the starting number, or the number in the middle, rather than the outcome. We have worked on strategies to help us solve these types of problems. Last week, we also started working on “Place Value”  . Within this module we will work on identifying and representing the number of tens and ones in a 2-digit number.  We continue to have an equality page once a week as well. We also have "Math Slides" almost daily to review and keep on top of equality, problem solving, counting money, telling time, fact fluency, number sequence, and geometry. I also want to mention that I have been impressed with how many students are doing the homework pages that accompany our daily lessons. Thanks for returning those. The extra practice will give them a better understanding of the skill we are working on. 

Spelling: Thanks to all who have been working hard at home to prepare for the weekly spelling tests. I'm proud of the success the kids have experienced with learning their weekly words. Our "Making Words" lessons have also contributed to helping them become better spellers. Our lessons have focused on a variety of chunks found in words. I have been impressed with the dedication many have had with returning their "Making Words" homework. The extra practice at home is helpful. The kids may grumble about the homework, but it really does make a difference:) They continue to receive a prize for every 10 homework papers they return.

Writing: This week, your child may bring a favorite toy on Friday for an informative writing activity. I will send a reminder via email on Thursday. The following how-tos were done in our journals last week: "How to make a sundae" and "How to do a fire drill”. With the 100th day of school coming soon (February 7th I think!) we will be completing several writing prompts centered around the number "100".

Star Student: James was most recently featured. He likes to drink apple juice boxes and his favorite food is a happy meal from McDonald’s. He collects stuffed animals and his favorite toy is a train set and cars. When James grows up, he wants to be Ryder from “Paw Patrol”.

We are running low on clorox wipes. If you would like to donate some, it would be greatly appreciated.

January News #1

  Happy New Year!! I hope that everyone enjoyed the holiday break and having extra time with their family. I sure did! Winter FAST testing will take place on January 25th. I am looking forward to seeing the progress they have made from fall to winter. We began 2023 by reviewing the rules and expectations and I will continue to encourage the kids to always use their best work habits, and I will need your help as well, to reinforce this at home when looking at papers. Being neat, taking their time, and following all directions are very important.

Reading: Our reading goals last week and this week are to read and spell words with the long i sound using silent e, as well as the long o sound. Our comprehension skills have been compare and contrast, as well as identifying the main idea and important details in stories we read. Our grammar skills have been to use the following verbs correctly: is, are, was, and were. This week we will work on using the question mark correctly. One of our main stories was a nonfiction selection about "Animal Groups" so we practiced comparing and contrasting the different animal groups. We continue to learn new words daily and use the chunks we've learned to help us decode unknown words. The stories we are reading are getting longer, which means we are becoming better readers. Thanks for taking the time to listen to your child read the books that are sent home. I have been pleased with the progress everyone has made and for their enthusiasm for reading. At home, please remind your child to read with expression and to pause when they come to punctuation. I have reminded them that "speed reading" is not "good reading". This week, I will start having the kids read directions with me, so that when they are working independently during seat work, they can go back and reread them if they forget what they need to do. When correcting papers, I will also start marking answers wrong if the spelling is incorrect if the word is displayed correctly on the paper. This will hopefully encourage them to be responsible and accountable for taking their time and working carefully. The following high-frequency words have been added to our classroom word wall (check to see if your child can read them): bird, fly, those, around, bring, both, long, walk, show, because, eyes, or carry, think, before, and light.

Math: We have completed our lessons on using data to create graphs, and to use graphs to answer questions. One tricky question when looking at a graph is "how many more" or "how many fewer". They learned that you need to subtract when a question asks this. We have now moved on to problem solving and will learn about different problem types. Last week, we worked on Join Result Unknown problems, which are problems that ask for the sum of two addends. We also started working on Join Change Unknown problems, which are problems, where one of the addends is the mystery to solve. We will also be using a number of addition and subtraction strategies to solve these problems. The lessons will also focus on using the "Math Vocabulary" of equation and addends. Problem Solving is always tricky for first graders and we are working hard to read the problem at least twice and to listen to what it is asking us to do. Solving Word Problems is on the first grade report card.

Writing: We have completed our lessons on "Opinion Writing" and will now move on to "Informative Writing". We have started some informative practice by writing "how-to" pieces in our journals. Most recently, they wrote about "How to make a sandwich" using the sequence words of first, next, then, and last. Our first informational writing activity will be to write about a favorite toy. On Friday, January 20th, your child may bring a favorite toy to share and write about. It would also be helpful to write down where they got the toy, and from whom. I really enjoy reading their journals and observing the growth they have made as writers. 

Science: We have started our lessons on "Space". Prior to the holiday break, we read about "Our Solar System" and the students enjoyed coloring the planets with markers and putting them in order. After the holiday break, we have had "Mystery Science" lessons. Our lessons were titled "Sun, Shadows, and Daily Patterns", "Sun & Daily Patterns, and this week our lesson is titled "Daylight and Seasonal Patterns. 

Star Student: Quetzal was most recently featured. Quetzal likes to drink juice and eat spaghetti. Her favorite place is the "water park", and she likes to wear dresses. When Quetzal grows up, she wants to be a teacher.

We are running low on clorox wipes. If you would like to donate some to our classroom, it would be greatly appreciated.