May News #1

 The arrival of May will bring lots of anticipation for the end of the school year. We will stick to our schedule and routines as much as possible, but will also have some "fun" to celebrate the upcoming end of the year. It gets more difficult each week to keep them motivated and focused, especially when the weather is so nice.

Spelling: This is week 29 and then we have just one more week of spelling. Woo Hoo! I am so proud of their efforts and for the extra practice that they are doing at home.

Math: We have completed Module 6, which focused on “Put Together and Take Apart Word Problems” and this week, we will begin Module 7, which focuses on “Compare Word Problems”. This will be our final module focusing on problem solving. We are working on listening to what the problem is asking and to focus on key words to decide if we need to add or subtract. 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, as well as an independent equality page almost weekly. 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 gives them a better understanding of the skill we are working on.

Reading: Last week, our reading goals were to read and spell words with ie, igh, and words that end with y. Our comprehension skill was story structure (identifying characters, setting, problem, and solution), and our grammar skill was adjectives. This week, our reading goals will be to read and spell words with the suffixes of ful, ly, and y, our grammar skill will be to identify adverbs in sentences, and our comprehension skill will be to understand character traits and author's choice of words. The week of May 8th, our goals will be to read and spell words with syllable patterns, as well as the prefixes of re and un, our grammar skill will be adjectives that compare, and our comprehension skill will be to identify the main idea and key details in stories we read. The week of May 8th will be the last week of new reading skills. We will be using our large group reading time to finish the year with writing and review of skills we have covered.The following words have been added or will be added to our word wall: ball, across, second, large, heard, head, should, brothers, loved, people, everyone, most, sorry, field, only, caught, thought, beautiful, took, minute, friendship, listen, and idea. 

Writing: We will continue writing in our journals a few days each week, and complete narrative lessons. We will also revisit "opinion" and "informative" and do review samples for each.

Science: During the month of May, we will finish up our lessons on “Light and Sound”. Our final Mystery Science lesson it titled “How do boats find their way in the fog?” We will also have some investigations about communicating with light and sound. 

Ticket Challenge: We are working on a “class challenge” of earning 10 class tickets for a movie break and popcorn. We have earned 5 thus far and I am hoping we can make it to 10 this upcoming week. I also give out individual tickets to students for making good choices. Their tickets are placed in a bucket and on Fridays I draw 5-7 students to pick a prize.

Upcoming Events:

Thursday, May 11th field trip to Swan Lake in the morning (we will return in time to eat lunch at school)

Thursday, May 25th First Grade Picnic Day at Breda Park. More details to come as date gets closer in regards to whether you want a school made sack lunch or whether you want to send one with your child on that day.

April News #2

  As we transitioned into more summer-like weather last week, the kids looked forward to each recess to enjoy the fresh air. This time of year is also difficult to keep their minds focused on learning and doing our best. As you look over your child's papers, you can help me out by praising them for their hard work, as well as encouraging them to always do their best. Work habits tend to slide this time of year, especially handwriting. 

 Reading: Our reading goals last week were to read and spell words with the endings of ing and ed. Our comprehension skill was compare and contrast, and our grammar skill was exclamations. Our reading goals this week will be to read and spell words with er and est. Our grammar skill is using the punctuation marks of period, question mark, and exclamation point correctly, and our comprehension skill is the author's purpose. Within our guided reading groups, we are working hard to meet the end of the year FAST goals. Each group is working on the skills they need. Some groups are working daily on reading sight words, and blending nonsense words. Other groups have started working on comprehension skills such as identifying the main idea and important details in a passage. All groups have worked on blending and reading words in short and long vowel booklets. These booklets have introduced many phonics skills such as blends, digraphs, and vowel teams. Once a vowel booklet was complete in group, they brought it home to share/read. I am sure you have seen these in their take-home folders. Thanks for encouraging your child to read at home and signing their log sheet. We have also implemented "Read Naturally" passages within our small groups. These are leveled nonfiction passages that also focus on comprehension. Each week, each group has a new passage that we read/reread all week. On Fridays, my mom has been volunteering to time them on this passage. Their goal is to read it to the end in 1 minute. They have a special folder with a graph to record the number of words they read correctly. This is one way I am focusing on raising their fluency scores for the upcoming FAST assessment. The following words have been added to our word wall: above, bear, even, pushed, studied, surprise, teacher, toward, always, happy, once, different, high, stories, enough, and near.

Math: This week, we will test over Module 13, which is titled “Two-Digit Addition and Subtraction”. I am very impressed with how well they have picked up on the concept of adding and subtracting 2-digit numbers, as well as making a ten when needed. We have practiced using the 120 chart, drawing tens and ones, as well as lining up the numbers. I told them this is a 2nd grade skill and they did very well working hard on these lessons. This week, we will start Module 6, which is titled “Understand Put Together and Take Apart Problems. We will also be using a number of addition and subtraction strategies to solve these word problems.

Writing: We continue to practice writing complete sentences in our journals and on seatwork pages. We have even used our spelling words to write complete sentences. My plan was to start lessons on “Narrative Writing” last week, but we did not have time, therefore, we will start those lessons this week. 

Science:  Before Easter Break, our "Mystery Science" lesson was titled "Light, Materials, Transparent, and Opaque" "What if there were no Windows?" The kids learned what the following science words mean: transparent, translucent, and opaque. I used several different objects and we sorted them using these words. Last week, our focus was “light”. We learned that in order to see, a light source, whether natural or artificial, is needed. They enjoyed a mystery box activity, which used flashlights and objects inside of boxes with a peek hole. 

 Star Student: Kobain was the last student to be featured. Kobain likes to drink Orange Juice, and eat pizza. He likes fishing, hunting, riding dirt bikes, and bonfires. When Kobain grows up, he wants to be a PE teacher.

I have been going through my books and on Friday, I let each student choose 5 books to bring home and keep.

• Autism Acceptance Week in the CCSD

• Monday, April 17: Wear a Fun Hat or Wild Hair

• Tuesday, April 18: Wear Rainbow or Tie Dyed Clothes

• Wednesday, April 19: Dress to Show Something You Love

• Thursday, April 20: Wear Red

• Friday, April 21: Wear Comfy Clothes or PJ Day

April News #1

 It's hard to believe that we moved on to April this past weekend, with our Easter break to look forward to.  We have enjoyed the few warmer days we have had, as well as the disappearance of snow. This is the time of year when the weather changes so much. We have a system in place for recess/coats and it is a big deal to not have to wear a coat. On days when the weather is cold in the morning, please send your child in a coat and put a sweatshirt in their book bag. Signs are posted in the locker area as to what they are to have on at recess. If temps are 60 degrees and above, they do not need a coat. If temps are in the 50's they can wear long sleeves or a sweatshirt. Temps under the 50's we want them to wear a coat. 

Reading: Our reading goals last week were to read and spell words with oo, ou, and ew, our comprehension skill was sequencing events in a story, and our grammar skill was pronouns. This week, our goals will be to read and spell words with ou and ow, our comprehension skill will be understanding the characters in our stories, and our grammar skill will be contractions.. Now that we have become such fluent readers, we are now focusing more on comprehension and listening to what we read. Identifying the main idea of the story and key details is something we make a habit of within our small groups, as well as during our large group reading time. At home, you may want to have your child retell after reading their book to make sure they are absorbing what they have read. On May 10th, I will be testing each student individually using the FAST assessment. We have been working hard to reach our spring goals by working on sight words, blending, and fluency within our guided reading groups. The following high-frequency words have been added to our word wall: buy, city, family, myself, party, please, school, seven, ready, kinds, covers, country, earth, warms, soil, and almost.

Math: We have completed and tested over Module 5, which focused on problem solving using adding to and taking from. The assessment over this module was taken on Friday and will be sent home on Monday. Next, we move on to Module 13, which is titled “Two-Digit Addition and Subtraction”. The lessons will focus on adding and subtracting 2-digit numbers, as well as making a ten when needed. Strategies we will focus on are: using the 120 chart,  drawing the tens and ones, as well as lining up the numbers.

Spelling: I am proud of the kids and their efforts on the weekly spelling tests. The words are becoming more challenging and we have 6 more weeks of words to test over. Please encourage them to practice their words at home. We practice daily at school as well. There are 30 lessons in the first grade reading program. This week is Lesson 25.

Writing: To encourage writing complete sentences, we write in our journals several times a week with a starter idea, seatwork pages are done, and the task at a few of our centers is to write sentences as well. Our main focus the past two weeks has been informational writing. Last week, we completed our informational writing project about an animal. The students worked with a partner on a given animal. They first read two nonfiction books about their animal and identified and wrote 6 interesting facts they found. These facts then became the focus of their writing piece. After completing all pages of their book, I stapled them together and this week they will share their book with a peer who wrote about a different animal. These will be sent home once we share. Our next focus in writing will be narrative pieces. 

Science: Last week, our "Mystery Science" lesson was titled "Light, Transparent, Materials & Opaque". This week, our lesson is titled “Light and Illumination”. We will also have a visit from the Carroll County naturalist this week as well.

Just a Reminder: Our first grade Music Concert is on Tuesday of this week (April 4th @ 6:00 PM) Students are to report to the Fairview music room at 5:45 PM.

Star Student: Maya was most recently featured as “Star Student”. Her favorite food is pepperoni pizza and she likes to drink lemonade. She collects quarters and wants to learn how to knit. When Maya grows up, she wants to be a doctor.