March News #1

 We are hoping to transition to spring-like weather as March comes upon us. The weekend brought warmer weather and it was so nice to enjoy some sunshine. On Monday, I will be sharing a link to sign up for upcoming Parent-Teacher Conferences. Conferences will take place on Monday, March 13th, and Thursday, March 16th. I look forward to meeting with each of you to discuss the progress your child is making in first grade. Watch for an email on Monday with the link to sign-up. 

Math: With conferences coming up soon, last week we did assessments for each skill tested for the 2nd trimester. I will share these assessments at your upcoming conference time. We also continued to work on adding and subtracting a two-digit number to a single-digit number, as well as adding and subtracting a 2-digit number to a 2-digit number. We worked on using the strategies of drawing tens and ones to help us solve, as well as using the 120 chart. We will complete the lessons on this skill this week, and then move on to comparing numbers using the symbols/words for greater than/less than. 

Reading: Last week, we completed lesson 20 on compound words, cause and effect, and prepositional phrases. We are now ready to move on to lesson 21 this week. Our reading goals will be to read and spell words with "ar", our comprehension skill will be story structure, which means we will identify characters, the setting, and the problem in stories we read. Our grammar skill will be pronouns. We continue to work on being fluent readers and I am encouraging reading multiple times throughout the day. At home, you can also encourage your child to read daily. The best way to increase fluency is to read, read, and read!!! The following high-frequency words will be practiced this week: few, window, shall, night, noise, world, loudly, and story.

Writing: We have been using our spelling words to complete sentences in our journal. This week, we will do writing samples to put in our conference folders on opinion writing and how-to’s. 

Science: This week, we will read and learn  about craters on the moon. This will be the last lesson in our unit on "Spinning Sky". This week/next week, we will review and do an assessment over the concepts we covered within this unit. The assessment will be done together. Last week, we also had a visit from the naturalist. She shared information on animal traits and we had fun doing a group activity as well. The kids enjoyed remnants of some animal traits that she brought to share. 

Music Program: On Monday, your child will be bringing home a note with information regarding the upcoming music program in April. The first grade program will take place on Tuesday, April 4th @ 6:00 PM in the Fairview Gym.

Star Student: Lexi and Kyla were most recently featured. Lexi likes to drink Dr. Pepper and eat broccoli cheddar soup. Her favorite movie is “Matilda”, she takes dance lessons, and wants to be a teacher when she grows up. Kyla likes to drink sunkist and eat spaghetti. Kyla’s favorite show is “Sonic”, she likes to wear her hooded fleece sweatshirt, and she also wants to be a teacher when she grows up. 

Febrauary News #2

  The past two weeks have been “busy” and "crazy" and we have survived celebrating the 100th day of school and Valentine's Day. We have also survived having inside recess on some days. I sent home their "100" day folders last week, and hope you enjoyed reading their thoughts for the "100" prompts. They were so excited to open their valentines on Friday and "Wow" they had a bag full of awesome goodies and wishes. Thanks also for all the "great" goodies I received. I now have lots of chocolate in my treat stash and should be good for that Yummy burst for a while.  They also loved taking the time to enjoy ice cream sundaes. Thanks to all who provided items for our sundaes.

Reading: Our reading goals for this week will be to read and spell words with the vowel teams of oa, and ow, our grammar skill will be future tense within a sentence, and for comprehension we will review sequence and focus on cause and effect.  Our reading goals for the week of the 20th will be to read and spell compound words, for comprehension we will review cause and effect and focus on compare and contrast, and our grammar skill will be prepositional phrases. The following high-frequency words will be practiced and added to our word wall: done, great, laugh, paper, soon, talk, were, work, door, more, mother, old, try, use, want, and wash.

Math:  We have completed module 10. Module 10 focused on representing numbers using drawings to show tens and ones. We also practiced and counted writing numbers from 100-120. Our next module is titled “Understanding addition and subtraction with tens and ones. Our lessons will focus on adding and subtracting tens, using a 120 chart to add and subtract, making a 10 to add, and finding 10 more and 10 less from a given number. Many facts are starting to click and I have noticed that the kids can identify them by recall. We will also continue to review and practice report card skills, equality checks, simple story problems, and our daily math slides. 

Writing: Our focus continues to be writing "how-tos" in our journal.  We will also do a Kindness writing activity in connection with the "Carroll Kindness Makes Cents" fundraiser. As part of the fundraiser, we are also creating a "Kindness Chain". Each time an adult catches them being kind, they earn a link to write their name on, and it is added to the chain. Each classroom has their own chain, which we will be hanging in the hall. 

Science: Our lessons for "Mystery Science" have been "Why do the Stars Come out at Night", and "How can Stars Help You if You Get Lost?". This week, they will  enjoy an activity, where we will be using mini flashlights to project the big dipper on a work mat, as well as our desk. They will bring this project home and they may have to ask for a flashlight to give it a try. We will be reading and learning about the moon for the next two weeks. We also enjoyed a visit from Anjeanette last week. She brought the BeeBots and they really enjoyed learning to program them to make numbers.

Spelling: We continue to focus on the vowel teams. This can be a challenge to remember which vowel combination to use to spell the words correctly. 

Just a reminder that your child may participate in the following “Kindness” Dress-Up Days this week: Tuesday is “We LOVE Being Kind: wear read, pink, or hearts. Wednesday is “Cozy up With Kindness: PJ Day. Thursday is “Shine Bright with Kindness” wear neon. Friday is “Peace, Love, and Inspire Kindness: wear shirts or tie dye.

Star Student: Noah and Parker were most recently featured. Noah likes to drink sunkist and eat at McDonald’s. He takes swimming lessons, and wants to learn more about WWE. When Noah grows up, he wants to be a wrestler. Parker likes to drink milk and eat sandwiches. Parker’s favorite subject is PE and he wants to learn more about “Super Heroes”. When Parker grows up, he also wants to be a wrestler.